The misdirect was on the tip of his tongue... then it died.

When he changed into a dog before as a joke, and Alastor's reaction. That... was his final moment. And he arrived here shaped like a deer.

Some force out there was particularly cruel.

He was his daughter's father. That fact, and his inadvertent cruelty in triggering him, tugged at his heart.

Lucifer sighed, eased back, stared at the ceiling. It was... it was only fair.

"...They made a spectacle, an example of me, the day I Fell. Enough that they filled the council chambers as full as they could with any who wished to watch the troublesome Morning Star finally be judged."

His eyes closed.

"Some of the voices shouting at me from the stands were voices I knew. Friends. ...Or so I thought. At least the fall itself didn't hurt."

But the spears, the words, the things thrown at him that would bruise his spirit more than his body? Those hurt like a bitch.

"If I borrow any platitudes from up there, I counted just two blessings: The fall didn't shatter us, and... I had Lily with me."