The first thing Chloe noticed was the light.
It hung above her like a white sun, painfully bright against her eyelids. The second thing she noticed was the steady beep of hospital equipment somewhere beside the bed.
Then she heard Lucifer's voice.
"Well, look who's back."
Chloe opened her eyes slowly.
Lucifer sat beside the hospital bed in a dark suit, though his jacket was gone and the shirt beneath it looked slightly wrinkled.
"How long have I been out?"
Lucifer leaned closer, his face completely serious. "Five years."
"What?!"
His smile appeared immediately.
Chloe glared at him, still groggy from the pain medication. "You're such an ass."
Lucifer's expression softened despite himself. "There she is."
Chloe tried to sit up, then winced as the movement pulled at the bandage around her neck. Memories returned in fragments. Jimmy, the gunshots, and Lucifer not getting hurt.
"He was firing at you. Why are you not more... dead? You didn't wear the vest."
Lucifer lifted one shoulder. "You're having a very hard time with the immortal thing, aren't you?"
"Must've been delirious from the blood loss."
"Whatever helps you sleep, my dear."
Chloe watched him for several seconds.
He looked tired.
Lucifer Morningstar always looked polished, confident, and impossible to embarrass. This version of him sat beside her bed with his hands folded together, his gaze dropping whenever she looked too closely.
"What happened to Jimmy?"
Lucifer's eyes darkened slightly. "He got what he deserved."
The answer stayed between them.
Chloe could not tell whether Jimmy had survived or Lucifer had killed him. She was also confused about whether the horrifying face she had seen in the shattered glass had been real or a hallucination caused by blood loss.
She did know one thing.
Lucifer had saved her.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead if you hadn't helped me. So, thank you."
Lucifer blinked as if he had not heard her properly. "I'm sorry. I missed that last part."
Chloe gave him a small, irritated smile. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Besides, you're far too interesting to let die."
"You saved my life because you find me... interesting?"
"Wildly irritating as well," Lucifer said, his grin returning despite the shadow in his eyes. "But yes."
Chloe watched him for another long moment.
"So now what?"
Lucifer brightened as if he had been waiting for the question. "Well, obviously I've proven myself as an invaluable crime-fighting tool. You're a pariah in the department. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, don't you?"
Chloe stared at him.
"Who the hell are you?"
Lucifer opened his mouth.
"I told you. I'm..."
"Lucifer!"
Trixie's voice interrupted him before he could finish.
The door opened, and Trixie rushed into the room with Dan close behind her. The little girl crossed the room at full speed and threw herself against Lucifer before Chloe could even react.
Lucifer smiled as he patted Trixie's back.
"Now, now. That's enough, child. Save some of this unpleasantness for your mother."
Trixie pulled away from him and climbed carefully onto the edge of Chloe's bed.
Chloe's eyes filled when she saw her daughter safe and smiling. She reached for Trixie, and the little girl curled against her side carefully.
Dan stood near the door, his expression caught somewhere between relief and exhaustion.
Lucifer looked toward him, then nodded at Chloe. "I think she's one hell of a homicide detective, don't you?"
Dan looked at Chloe for a moment before answering. "Yes. She is."
He stepped closer to the bed. "I'm happy for you."
Chloe searched his face, uncertain whether she believed him. "Not sure you are, or just relieved I didn't cause problems again."
"I'm trying to compliment you."
"Okay... I'll take it... thanks. And how 'bout the department... They happy for me?"
Dan gave a small, uncomfortable smile. "Gettin' there."
The answer told Chloe everything.
"You need to be more careful," Dan added. "You should've had backup."
Lucifer stood so quickly that Trixie looked up at him in surprise.
"She had back up."
Dan looked toward him.
For a moment, something unspoken passed between them. Dan clearly disliked Lucifer. Lucifer clearly enjoyed that fact far too much. Still, Dan looked toward Chloe again and gave a reluctant nod.
"Thank you. For helping her."
Lucifer smiled brightly. "That's hard for you, isn't it? Not to be a douche."
Dan's mouth fell open.
Lucifer was already walking toward the door.
"I'd stay for the family reunion, but it's giving me IBS. Look forward to seeing you soon, Chloe-"
"I don't-"
"Bye now. Glad you're not dead."
Lucifer left before Chloe could finish.
He paused outside the doorway for half a second and looked back.
Chloe sat surrounded by the people who loved her. Trixie leaned against her shoulder. Dan stood nearby, trying to look less worried than he clearly was. The entire scene felt almost peaceful.
Lucifer stood there quietly.
Karl had promised himself he would stop the story from bleeding the same way twice.
He had saved Delilah.
He had found Chloe.
And despite everything he had done differently, Chloe had still been shot.
His hand tightened around the Pentecostal Coin inside his pocket.
Then Lucifer turned away from the hospital room and walked down the corridor alone.
...
...
[Outside Lux] [Night]
Lucifer pulled his Corvette toward the curb and stepped out with his keys already raised toward the valet. The young man smiled automatically as he reached for them.
Then he froze.
One second, he was moving. The next, his hand hung inches away from the keys while his smile remained trapped across his face.
Lucifer looked toward the street and sighed.
"Damnit. I was hoping you had finally found a hobby that did not involve stalking me across Los Angeles."
Everything around him had slowed into a strange, distorted silence. Cars crept along the street with their headlights stretched into pale ribbons. A woman in a red dress stood halfway through a laugh near the entrance, though the sound had slowed into a deep and unnatural hum. A loose piece of paper drifted down from somewhere above, barely falling through the air.
Across the street, Amenadiel stood beneath a streetlamp.
Lucifer slipped his hands into his pockets and crossed the road. His brother waited in the center of the empty lane.
He stopped a few feet away.
Amenadiel studied him carefully. "I have been watching you, Lucifer."
Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Perv. You should really learn the difference between family concern and deeply unsettling behavior."
Amenadiel ignored the joke. "I am not sure I like what I see."
"That makes two of us," Lucifer said. "I saw you wearing that coat from across the street, and I immediately felt concern for the future of fashion."
"You are showing restraint," Amenadiel continued. "Mercy. You saved the singer and protected Chloe Decker. You let that producer live when you could have done far worse."
Lucifer's smile faded slightly.
"Scared I'm turning away from the Dark Side, brother?" he asked. "Worried I might finally give you some competition for Father's favorite child?"
Amenadiel's eyes narrowed.
"Do not mock this. The human world can be more painful than Hell, Lucifer. Stay here long enough, and you will feel things you have never felt before."
For a few seconds, Lucifer said nothing.
"Do not threaten me, Amenadiel," he said quietly. "You will not win."
A flash of anger crossed Amenadiel's face. "Then go back."
Lucifer stared at him for a moment before realization settled across his expression.
"You are the one who feels threatened."
Amenadiel's jaw tightened. "My hatred of you grows stronger with every visit."
Lucifer's smile returned, colder than before. "Wouldn't have it any other way, pal. I look forward to eating your heart one day, assuming you ever grow one."
Amenadiel held his gaze for another long moment before turning away. He walked into the slow-moving traffic and disappeared between the frozen cars. Lucifer went back to his car.
The world snapped back into motion.
The valet blinked, caught the keys, and looked confused when Lucifer gave him a tired pat on the shoulder.
"Try not to scratch her," Lucifer said.
...
[Inside Lux] [Upstairs penthouse]
Lucifer went straight for the piano.
Maze stood near the bar with a small dagger balanced on the tip of one finger. The blade spun in a silver blur until she caught it cleanly in her palm.
Lucifer dropped onto the piano bench and rested his hands above the keys.
"I sense your disapproval, Maze. What is it this time?"
Maze watched him without smiling.
"I don't understand why you saved another human life."
Lucifer looked down at the piano keys.
"There is something different about her," he said. "That is all you need to know for now."
Maze stepped closer, the dagger disappearing somewhere beneath the folds of her jacket.
"Maybe it is not her that is different."
Lucifer looked up at her.
"Is this where I ask, whatever do you mean?"
Maze folded her arms across her chest. "Stop caring. You are the Devil. Humans die. Humans hurt each other. Humans make terrible choices, then cry when somebody makes them pay for it."
Lucifer's fingers settled against the keys.
"Yes," he said quietly. "I am."
But the certainty never reached his eyes.
Maze noticed.
Lucifer began to play, letting a slow, eerie version of "Gimme Shelter" drift through the penthouse.
Maze watched him for another minute before turning away.
For the first time in years, she could not decide whether Lucifer was becoming weaker. Or whether he was becoming something far more dangerous.
...
...
[That night] [Docks]
The abandoned warehouse stood near the water, surrounded by rusted shipping containers, broken fences, and the distant sound of waves hitting the dockyard.
Inside, one weak overhead light swayed from a long chain.
Jimmy Barnes sat tied to a wooden chair beneath it. Maze nabbed him from the hospital on Lucifer's order.
His hospital clothes were wrinkled, and his bandaged torso showed through the open front of his shirt. Panic had drenched his face long before Lucifer arrived. He had spent the last several minutes listening to Maze pace through the darkness around him, her boots tapping softly against the concrete floor.
Every time Jimmy tried to ask where he was, Maze gave him a smile that made him regret speaking.
Then the warehouse door opened.
Lucifer walked inside wearing a dark suit and an expression so calm that Jimmy immediately began shaking harder.
"Please," Jimmy said, his voice breaking as Lucifer came closer. "Please, don't kill me. I saw your face... I saw it... Please, spare me."
Lucifer stopped in front of him.
"What did you see, Jimmy?"
Jimmy swallowed hard.
"I saw your eyes. Your face changed. You were not human."
Maze leaned against a nearby support beam, clearly enjoying every second of his fear.
"He is catching on," she said. "That is adorable."
Jimmy turned his head toward her. "Please, I will pay you. I have connections. I can get you whatever you want."
Maze smiled slowly. "I already have everything I want."
She stepped closer and rested one hand against the back of Jimmy's chair.
"And tonight, I have you."
Jimmy flinched so hard that the chair scraped against the floor.
Lucifer sighed and walked around him slowly. His face transformed into his devil form.
"Oh god!" Jimmy pissed his pants as tears rolled down his face.
"Oh please, no more tears," Lucifer said as he stopped right before him. "God wouldn't have sent me if he wanted to save you."
"I'm sorry, please..." Jimmy continued to beg.
"Maze," Lucifer looked up at her. "I want you to torture him in the most brutal way possible, but he must not die. After you're done, ship him to Somalia." He blinked behind Maze.
She could feel his breath on her neck.
He put his hands on her waist and kissed her neck before whispering, "Take your time. There's no rush. After you're done, I'm gonna eat your pussy, and maybe if you squirt, I'll fuck your ass."
With that, Lucifer vanished, leaving Maze wet. She licked her lips as she looked down at Jimmy.
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