Chapter Text
Over 6,000 years. That is how long it has been since they first met in Eden. A time when all four of them were happy. But for Lucifer, It wasn't enough. He believed that these humans were limited. Their potential not being realized. Lucifer wanted to introduce "Free will" to them, to let them choose for themselves and not be subservient.
At least, that is what he tells people.
The first to have a taste of "Free will" would be Lilith, the woman he fiercely loved with a passion. Already from the start, she had a rebellious spirit, questioning the angels and Adam. That fiery spirit was what drew him to her.
Lucifer held up the forbidden fruit to her and It was no surprise that she readily accepted the fruit. With a single bite, she felt a sense of euphoria she had never felt before. She had newfound knowledge and she needed to share it.
"How do you feel?" Lucifer asked. "Do you feel ... different?"
"I feel amazing! How could I be so blind!? We must share this with Adam and Eve!" Exclaimed Lilith.
"We will." Lucifer replies.
The two of them trudge through Eden and soon come upon Adam. The first man and the first in Eden. He was the pinnacle of curiosity, studying the animal patterns, trying to understand the different materials around Eden and building new inventions. Adam loved to build as much as he loved to gardened. When they chanced upon him, he was already working with some wooden poles he fashioned and feathers.
Adam hears rustling and turns to see Lilith and Lucifer emerge from the forest.
"Come see my new invention! I believe I can make wings like the angels using these wooden poles I fashioned from the tress and these feathers I took from the swans." Adam points at the materials around him as he mentally tries to piece them together. He had inspected Lucifer wings and some of the birds as well up close before and now he just needed to know how to piece them together.
Lucifer was sure that Adam would accept the fruit just as Lilith had. After all, Adam was his first and best friend. Lucifer was there when he was first introduced and before Lilith and Eve were created, the two of them had hung out in the garden nearly everyday. Lucifer regaling him with tales of Heaven and Adam excitedly showing Lucifer around the garden about everything he named and every new discovery.
While they had their quarrels when Lilith was introduced, their friendship had prevailed. With time and communication, Adam had begrudgingly accepted that Lilith was not the one for him. She and him were too similar and would butt heads constantly. Overtime, a sibling relationship had been established between Adam and Lilith. All became well when Eve was introduced to them. Adam and Eve fell head over heels for each other immediately and Lucifer was glad their friendship continued to be strong.
To their utter surprise, Adam rejected the apple.
"Why are you holding the forbidden fruit? You know Sera and the others have forbidden us from eating, let alone touching it." Adam questioned.
Lilith was ready to open up and share with Adam about what she experienced but Lucifer brought his hand up to stop her. He knew Adam. If they push too hard, he will fight back and soon enough, he won't even listen to them. Therefore, he tried a gentle, more encouraging approach. He didn't want Adam to know that Lilith had bitten the apple and panic so he showed the other side of the apple to Adam.
"Adam, please. Sera and the others were wrong about the fruit being your death. The fruit can grant you the answers to the questions you have always asked when we first met." Lucifer pleaded to his first and best friend, lifting the apple and letting it shine in all its glory. Practically begging for the first man to bite into it.
"You're wrong!" Adam shouts. How can Lucifer speak ill of the other angels!? While they weren't around as often as Lucifer, they were still beings that Adam trusted. Especially Sera, the first being he ever saw when he first opened his eyes. Sera was the one who taught him how to walk, the one who showed him around the garden and the one who comforted him during the first thunderstorm. Sera had found him curled up in the cave like a frightened child. She had approached him and embraced him in the warmest hug he had ever experienced with her wings gently wrapped around him.
Adam backs away from them with a look of confusion and pain. The angels couldn't be wrong but here was Lucifer telling him otherwise. It doesn't make sense!
"Its okay Adam. We're talk more about this later okay? I promise that I mean no harm to you." Lucifer felt guilty. The look of pain that Adam was showing had hurt him like never before. How was he to convince his best friend that what he offer was to his benefit? Regardless, now wasn't the time to push.
Lucifer and Lilith retreated back into the forest. Perhaps with Eve, Adam's wife, he would be more receptive. With that, they began their search for the future mother of humanity.
After several minutes, Adam had calmed down from the encounter. Something was wrong and he wasn't sure what. Was it the angels? Was it Lucifer? Why did he try to convince him and not Lilith too? The apple looked whole so he didn't get Lilith to bite the apple?
"They hate me? They want to get rid of me?" Adam ponders and logically, this seemed right to him. His best friend now hates him and wants him dead. So Lucifer lied about the apple so that he would take a bite and return to dust. But why?
This was too much for Adam. He needed someone. Someone to tell him what is right and what was wrong. He needed Sera or one of the other angels to clarify what is happening. Without a second thought, Adam begins his search around the garden for Sera or any other angel. He knew they would patrol and sometimes spend time with him or the others. He had to inform them of what has happened.
-
Lucifer and Lilith soon found Eve gathering assorted berries and tree sap. Eve was humming a melody so enchanting that several birds were flying around her and singing in tune with her. If they can convince Eve to eat the apple, than Adam would soon follow and they will be happier than ever before. While Eve may not be as resistant as Adam, they didn't want to take any chances. Before approaching her, Lucifer bites into the apple. The apple now has two bite marks.
"Eve?" Lilith approaches her. "What are you doing?"
"Oh Lilith! Adam had asked that I gather some berries and tree sap for him. Have you seen his new invention? He says that we may be able to soar like Lucifer and the angels soon! He is so smart isn't he!?" Eve excitedly tell Lilith.
Smart isn't the word Lilith would use. While Adam's inventions usually fail or require more fine tuning and several more tries, she does admit that he has the drive and will to learn from his mistakes and keep trying. Credit where credit is due though, he invented the curtain which blocked the sunlight which allowed them to sleep in. A new word that she learned after biting the apple perfectly describes Adam. Determined.
"Eve, I have a fruit here that I would like you to try." Lilith steps closer and holds up the apple to Eve. Eve stares at the fruit before blinking and jumping back in shock.
"That's the forbidden fruit! Adam said that we should never eat or touch it!" Eve exclaims.
"Because it would be our deaths? But look." Lilith shows the fruit in its entirety to Eve. Pointing to the two bite marks. "Adam and I have bitten into the fruit and nothing bad has befallen us. Instead, we are blessed with the knowledge that the angel possesses and want to share it with you."
After some hesitation, Eve replies. "Where is Adam? Why isn't he here than?"
"You know Adam, still working on those wings. With his newfound knowledge he immediately went to building." Lilith replies.
To Eve, that made sense. Adam was curious and a little impulsive so with the knowledge that this fruit supposedly gave, he would work on making something new.
"I -" Lilith cuts Eve off before she can say more.
"Don't you trust me?" Lilith amethyst eyes stares into Eve emerald eyes. A looking of begging and pleading for her to accept the fruit offered.
After what felt like hours but had only been a minute at most, Eve nods her head.
"I trust you." Eve raises the apple to her lips and takes a bite.
-
After close to an hour, Adam had found Sera patrolling the gardens. "Sera!" He calls out desperately. Sera head whips to look at Adam, never hearing him call out to her so desperately before. She flies down and lands in front of him with her arms open to embrace him. Adam immediately jumps into her arms and both of them hug each other tightly.
"What is wrong Adam? You seem very troubled." Sera ask. She has never seen Adam this upset before and it worries her.
"Its Lucifer! I think he wants to kill me." Adam says in a panic with tears in his eyes.
"What!?" Sera feels herself flare up, several eyes appearing over her humanoid form as she looks into the sad golden eyes of Adam. Someone dares to harm her son! Adam! She will not stand for this.
Sera takes a moment to compose herself before returning to her more calm and collected form. Perhaps it was simply another argument that Adam and Lucifer were having that was blown out of proportion.
However, Sera fears were soon realized as Adam explained what had transpired earlier. With the mention of the forbidden fruit, Sera had to call upon Michael and the others to resolve this situation. She releases Adam from her hold, though reluctant to do so. She didn't want to let go when he was in such an emotional state but she had to perform her duties.
"Adam." Sera looks to him with resolve in her eyes. "I'm going to gather the rest of the angels and we will resolve this when we return. In the meantime, I want you to go and find Eve and keep her away from Lucifer. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sera." Adam replies, wiping the tears from his eyes. With that, Sera quickly takes to the skies and returns to Heaven.
Adam runs into the forest, yelling out for Eve.
"Eve! Where are you!? Eve! ... Please!" Adam continues to call out to her for the next ten minutes before finally he heard her beautiful voice.
"Adam?" Eve calls out.
-
Eve couldn't believe what she was feeling after taking that bite. Questions that had plagued her mind were immediately answered and most importantly, her love for Adam had increased tenfold. With the knowledge of Good & Evil, Eve is more than certain that her husband was all good and perhaps more so. Words she had never heard before suddenly filled her mind and she wanted nothing more than to cradle Adam and whisper those loving words to him. Her mind starts drifting to lust filled thoughts of having her way with Adam. But before she could race off to find him, Lucifer and Lilith stopped her.
"Why are you stopping me? I have to find Adam! There is so much I want to say and share with him!" Eve was feeling elated and needed her husband to share in her joy.
"We have a confession to make." Lucifer said. "Adam never ate the apple."
Now with the truth out, Eve smile drops.
"You lied to me!? Why!?" Eve felt anger and wanted to slap Lucifer but Lilith stops her.
"Please listen Eve. We offered the apple to Adam but he refused. We wanted him to share in this marvelous wonder but he didn't want to hear it. So we came to you instead." Lilith holds onto Eve hands and look into her eyes. "Please understand. You are the only one who can convince him to eat the apple. Once you do, the four of us will go back to as it was. We'll be laughing and smiling once again. You've eaten the fruit, you know its not bad and no one died."
Eve looks at the fruit in her hand. Yes, she never died and she only feels better than she ever felt before. This fruit is a good thing ... right? It has to be.
"I will. I will convince Adam to eat the fruit." Eve says with determination in her eyes. Eating the fruit has only made her feel more love for her husband so surely if he ate the fruit, the result would be the same for him.
The three of them move through the garden at a quick pace to locate Adam. They reached the area that they first found him in but the makeshift wings that he was creating was left in the same state as they saw it earlier. Next they tried the cave that they resided in but he was not there either.
Lucifer hears the flaps of powerful wings and he looks up to see Sera flying up to Heaven in a mad rush. This is both good and bad. Good that they know the general direction Adam is in but bad because Sera knows. He informs the two women and now it has become a race against time to find Adam and have him eat the fruit before the other angels return.
As they sprint in his direction, they soon felt relived to hear his voice calling out for Eve.
All three of them were ready to confront the first man but Lucifer and Lilith opted to stay behind. They knew he would not be pleased to see them and Eve was their only hope now. While Eve doesn't know why, Lucifer had cautioned Eve to have Adam eat the fruit before Sera returns or risk losing him.
"Adam?" Eve calls out.
-
"Eve!" Adam calls out to her when he sees her, a wide smile spreading across his face as relief washes over him. Eve, his beloved fashioned from his rib. The woman he fell so deeply in love with, the one he held close and cuddled with every night. She was the one he would playfully tickle, teasingly asking for his rib back as they shared giggles and kisses.
However, his happiness did not last long. His gaze trailed from her face to her hands, where he saw the forbidden fruit, bearing three distinct bite marks.
"Why!? Why do you have that!?" Adam points to the fruit in her hands.
It couldn't be! The woman he loved more than anything in the garden had betrayed him! Sweet Eve would never!
"Adam, please listen to me!" Eve begged as she approached him. "I have eaten the fruit, and it's not what the angels are saying it is! It doesn't kill you; it gives you knowledge! Please, Adam, just one bite!"
Adam is perplexed and worried. If Eve ate the fruit and is still here, then it means the angels were wrong. The fruit doesn't grant death.
Or was she tricking him? Sera wouldn't lie to him, so perhaps Eve never ate the fruit and is conspiring to kill him as well. JUST LIKE LUCIFER! ... But that is impossible, those time spent together, the love they shared. They couldn't be a lie ... could they?
Eve can see the hesitation and panic in his eyes. She reaches out and holds his hand before bringing up the fruit and taking another bite to prove the legitimacy of what she is saying.
Adam sees her swallow the fruit and knows for sure that Eve speaks the truth, but despite this, the doubt in his mind says there is a reason the angels forbid it.
Eve raises the fruit to his mouth. "Please, Adam. Eat it."
Adam looks at the fruit. The temptation to do so is there, but the doubt in his mind is stronger than the temptation. He just has to wait; Sera will soon be back, and all this will be cleared up for him.
"I'm sorry but no." Adam says. Eve is shocked. She hadn't expected him to turn her down of all people.
A loud boom overhead signals the portal from Heaven opening. The angels will arrive shortly. Eve is running out of time.
Eve must, no, she will have Adam by her side come hell or high waters. Seemingly out of options, Eve tackles Adam to the ground. While she may be shorter and smaller than Adam, his guard was down, and Eve was more determined than ever to be together with him. She brings the apple to his mouth and forces it into his mouth.
Adam is panicking. Eve has never been so aggressive before, and the very fruit that was forbidden is in his mouth. He wants to fight her off, but he can't bring himself to hurt her. Eve knees him in the gut, forcing Adam to bite down on the apple in pain. When she hears the satisfying crunch sound, she removes the fruit and covers his mouth with both of her hands.
"SWALLOW IT, ADAM! PLEASE!" Eve cries out. The angels are fast approaching.
Adam swallows, but the chunk he bit was too big and becomes lodged in his throat. He begins choking.
Seeing his distress, Eve quickly gets off him and sits him up, hoping he'll cough up the obstruction. He coughs and spits out most of it, but he still feels a small piece lodged in his throat. Eve hopes it will be enough.
Sera and the other angels descend with a forceful impact, surrounding the couple. Sera had seen what was happening as she approached and moves to pull Adam away from Eve, holding him tightly against herself. She places her hand on Adam's head and checks him over, letting out a breath of relief.
"He is still pure. A piece is embedded in his throat, but it has not affected him. Thank heavens."
Eve is distraught upon hearing what Sera had just said. No! She won't let Adam be taken away from her!
Eve quickly picks up the fruit and charges towards Adam while he is cradled in Sera's arms. Michael stops her before she can get anywhere near them, knocking her to the ground and stabbing the fruit before setting it ablaze with his sword. He picks Eve up, holding her tightly by her shoulders, and demands to know what has happened. Eve explains what transpired between her, Lilith, and Lucifer. She had been tricked, she said, claiming that they insisted Adam ate the fruit before her, so she had to do the same.
Several angels soon emerge from the trees with their swords brandished, Lucifer and Lilith in cuffs. Michael's look of disappointment is evident to everyone around as he stares at Lucifer. Approaching him, Michael brings his sword up to Lucifer's neck.
"It is never enough for you, is it? We looked the other way when you insisted on taking Lilith for yourself. Even when you begged to stay in Eden with them, we looked the other way. But now, now you choose to corrupt our perfect creation!? Because of you, evil has been introduced into the world through them!" Michael shouts, reprimanding Lucifer.
"I gave them free will! The freedom to choose!" Lucifer defends.
"You created us to be perfect, but we are nothing more than pets to you! Experiments!" Lilith exclaims.
"What's done is done. You have ruined our creation! Fortunately, not all is lost. Adam is still clean, and perhaps we can still salvage this," Michael says, looking around before stabbing a hole into the ground, creating a massive pit.
"Lucifer, for your transgressions, and Lilith, for your willingness to partake in the fruit, we sentence you both to an eternity in darkness! You will never see the light of Heaven nor Earth!"
"Michael, please!" Lucifer pleads. But before any more words could be said, the angels rip his wings off in a flash and toss both Lucifer and Lilith into the pit. Their screams can be heard for a while as they descend before the pit closes up.
Eve can only watch as their fate is sealed. Is this what awaits her too? Why did she eat that apple? Why did she trust them? Now she is going to lose the love of her life, and it was all because of THEM!
Adam is able to catch his breath just as he sees Michael approaching Eve.
"Eve, seeing as you were tricked. We have decided to be more lenient with your punishment. You are to leave Eden and wander the Earth for the rest of your mortal life." Michael points towards the Eden gates as it opens.
Eve would rather die than be without Adam. To live her life without him would be hell. She wants him. She NEEDS him. To her surprise, Adam had risen out of Sera arms and came over to Eve defense.
Sera tried to reach for Adam, to stop him but it was too late.
"Michael, please. I beg you. Spare Eve. She was tricked by Lucifer and Lilith. She didn't know." Adam is on his knees beside Eve, trying to shield her the best he can.
"She did know. She knew the fruit was expressly forbidden but still chose to eat it. Her punishment is warranted." Michael sternly says.
"Than I should be punished as well!" Adam retorts. Everyone gasp and Sera quickly jumps forward to Michael side.
"Adam, you need not be punished. You are still pure and despite eating the fruit against your will, you resisted temptation and spat it out." Sera rebuts. "Do not fret Adam, we will simply fashion you a new wife from another rib."
Eve winces at her words and nuzzles more into Adam side. Adam in response, holds her closer.
"No. I failed my duties as a husband to protect my wife. I failed in preventing her from falling into temptation. I failed to be by her side when Lucifer and Lilith were tricking her. As head of the family, its only fair that I bear the blame as well." Adam gulps before nervously speaking his next words.
"I will leave the garden with her."
"NO!" Sera shouts but before anything could be done, Michael holds up his hand and stops her.
"Very well. Adam, you are hereby cursed to toil for your food. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken." Michael declares. "However, because you resisted temptation, we promise you a place in Heaven upon your death so long as you remain pure."
Sera feels her heart ache as she watches Michael declare their punishment. This may be the last time she will ever see her son Adam.
"As for you, Eve, we will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you," Michael declares to Eve.
Eve couldn't be more ecstatic. While it is sad that they are being expelled from Eden, she still has Adam in her life. Though the prospect of painful childbirth is daunting, her desire for her husband remains strong, and since Adam rules over her, it means he will never leave her.
They both stand and walk towards the gate, ready to start their new life. But before they leave, Sera calls out.
"Adam."
Adam turns around and looks to Sera. She approaches him and opens her arms wide. Without hesitation, Adam jumps into her embrace, giving Sera one last hug before they have to leave.
Sera can't help shedding a few tears as she holds him, not wanting to let go because once she does, she'll never know when she will see him again.
"Promise me, Adam. Promise me you will be good, okay?" Sera looks into his golden eyes, pleading.
"I promise ... Mom." Adam promises. Sera had always corrected him in the beginning whenever he tried to call her mom, but this one time, she truly believes to be his mom.
"Goodbye ... son." Sera kisses his forehead and reluctantly releases her hold on Adam. He slowly parts from her and returns to Eve's side, who looks slightly jealous.
Hand in hand, Adam and Eve leave the garden.
As soon as they step out, the gate to the garden disappears, and they find themselves in a foreign world.