God blinked back into the school, onto the stage, for one more time as Trixie.

And as that young girl, God stood alone and deep in thought.

Chloe had decided to forget. He had felt her choice as he was discussing the terms of a break with Azrael, and had stopped, struck by it more strongly than he had expected.

He'd pulled himself away from that scene then and focused fully on his weary daughter instead, repairing some of the damage done to the fabric of her being by the Third's disruption, before working further to restore more lives lost using the First's scroll trick.

Every life but Lucifer's.

The knowledge that he had destroyed his son with his own ignorance had eclipsed the entirety of every moment of anguish he had felt as Trixie under the Third's control.

Mark had come close. But Mark was restored, and would live a long, rewarding life now.

Lucifer was lost.

And so it was that God stood as Trixie on the stage, his being focused inward entirely, staring down at the wound the Third had made through a young girl's hand.

The cut was ugly.

He could heal it with less than a whim.

But he did not.

Finally, he looked outward, with a young girl's heavy sigh.

And he scrunched up her face.

Because Chloe and Samael were doing something naughty behind him.

Giggling, whispers, and moans rose from behind the wall of heavy fabric.

"Unbelievable!" Trixie squeaked, flinging the entire curtain back with a wave of her hand. "This is my school!"

There was a loud cry, a wild yelp, and a flurry of wingbeats.

And suddenly Chloe was standing, wide eyed and wild of hair, clothed with two strategically placed wing tips, arching from Samael, who stood behind her with similarly unkempt locks and his arms looped around her waist.

Scowling.

"Father!" Samael snapped. "Do you mind?! We were conversing in private!"

Chloe actually snorted, then quickly covered her mouth.

"Hi, God," she said brightly, then started giggling, while trying to hide it behind her hand again.

Trixie's jaw dropped, her eyes focused entirely on Samael.

Because...

Because...

With a small sound, God fell to a little girl's knees.

And stopped everything.

Every single thing. Every molecule in the universe, every facet of himself made flesh, every son and daughter.

And he began to cry.

Something his race did not do outside of a material body.

But something he very much needed to do in one, now.

Somehow... Lucifer was here.

Absorbing the moments he'd missed, God understood how.

Over eons of contact, the void stone in Lucifer's ring had linked with his son's essence, and, at the moment of death, had snared a fragment of Lucifer's soul.

Another piece of his wayward son had stayed with Samael throughout the remaking, showing itself as the bleed God had noticed before. Lucifer's immense love for Chloe had preserved him in that moment.

That part of him had never truly been extinguished.

When Samael wore the ring, he recognized something familiar inside, and delved for it.

And the two fragments snapped together, linking all of Lucifer's long past, with the entirety of Samael's present.

They were now one.

His son was restored.

The tears fell.

And Lucifer tsked.

Trixie's head shot up, her face wet with tears.

"Father. Is this really necessary? We were enjoying ourselves."

God as Trixie blinked furiously.

Samael - Lucifer - was looking down at him.

Unfrozen?

HOW

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"Father, you invented sex. I do not think I have to explain how it is enjoyable."

Trixie shook her head quickly.

"No! How are you talking?!"

Lucifer smirked.

"You invented speech also... I am concerned - perhaps your omniscient mind is going?"

Then his face softened. Withdrawing from Chloe while still artfully shielding her with his wings, he stepped forward.

And sat in front of God.

"Hello, Father."

"Lucifer..." God squeaked as Trixie, "how are you doing this?"

His beautiful son smiled, then reached out to take Trixie's wounded hand.

And healed it with a bloom of light.

"With love, Father."

Trixie stared down at her hand, now completely whole in his, and back at her son.

Lucifer held onto her hand, and lifted eyes soft with peace to meet her own. "I am doing it with love."

Then he grinned, just a little wickedly.

"As in, I love myself too much to allow anyone else to control me."

God's eyes widened.

And as a young girl, he laughed.

A lot.

Finally, he decided to answer his own question, having gleaned it from the moment.

"You are using the energy of love as a barrier to my manipulations. You used the same to defeat the Third."

Lucifer smirked. "Is that not what I said?"

Trixie smiled at him, squeezing his hand in her own. "Not just your love for yourself, though, is it?"

His son's head tilted thoughtfully. "No. I feel it and draw it from everything, everywhere."

Trixie smirked. "That's me."

Lucifer smiled and shook his head. "No, Father. From everyone. I am connected to everyone. Every single being here. I feel their love. I do not know how else to describe it."

Trixie yoinked on his hand. "That's still me, silly! How many times do I have to say 'I am everything'?"

Lucifer simply smiled at him.

Not anymore

Frowning, she drew her hand back. "And now putting your thoughts into my mind. You have changed, Lucifer."

He looked at her without guile. "You can call me Samael, if you wish."

Trixie grinned, feeling like her twelve-year-old self. "Can I call you Sammy?"

"You may not."

"No fun."

The smile fell from her face, and she looked down at her healed hand.

No longer holding the wound she'd intended to keep.

"I am sorry, son."

Lucifer nodded. "Yes, I feel that."

"I'm sorry I did something so incredibly ignorant."

"You did not know."

God's human throat grew tight with the beginning of fresh tears, and he closed Trixie's eyes. "I'm sorry I did that to you. Caused you so much fear. I'm sorry I destroyed you."

Lucifer sighed.

"I am not."

Trixie's eyes snapped open.

"What?"

Lucifer propped his chin on his hands. "I am not sorry you destroyed the old Lucifer."

She reared back from him. "How could you possibly mean that?"

Lucifer smiled softly.

"Father, what was I able to do, as the newly reminted Samael, that I would never have been able to do as the old Lucifer? What one important thing?"

Trixie's eyes widened.

"Defeat the Third," she cried.

Of course! His words made more sense now.

She smiled, thankful that he had found some peace with the act.

Lucifer shook his head slowly.

"No, Father. Something far more important."

Trixie cocked a small eyebrow at him.

His thoughts were closed to her now - she couldn't glean the answer that way.

So she shrugged, lost.

Lucifer leaned back to stare at her. "For all of your talk of the small miracles, Father, you are quick to overlook the one most important to me."

His son stood then, wings sweeping wide, and walked back behind Chloe, placing a soft kiss upon her frozen temple.

And God understood then.

Feeling like the dumbest omniscient being to ever exist in any universe, he nodded.

"You were able to heal Chloe."

Lucifer smiled. "Yes, Father. She would have died in my arms if you had not done what you did... and that in itself would have destroyed me."

Closing his eyes, he looped his arms around her waist again. "And I would gladly be remade time and time again, if that meant her life were spared."

When he next opened his eyes, they were blazing.

"However, Father, the next time the urge strikes to lock your romantic rivals into a rock, I would ask that instead of forcing me to wear it, you take that rock and shove it up your-"

"Sammy!" Trixie snapped over him. "I get the point!"

"Good," he said, the fires receding. "Then, Father, I forgive you. Now stop calling me Sammy, and restart reality please, I wish to resume this particular conversation with Chloe."

With a small sigh, Trixie sat back against her legs. "He wasn't a romantic rival, you know."

"Whatever you must tell yourself. Reality please, Father?"

Trixie glared at him for a moment, before her expression softened.

"The Third... frightened me."

Lucifer frowned. "An odd thing for you to admit."

She nodded. "He was... unstable. His songs were exquisitely beautiful, but so full of chaos. I sensed in him the potential for glorious workings, but also the inability to strengthen and sustain them. I saw entire realities and civilizations extinguished in shuddering agony, not from within, but by his own careless hand."

Trixie looked down at her own hands.

"I didn't feel I had a choice. I was trying to protect the worlds that could have been. And then, honestly, I became so engrossed in everything I was doing in my own workings, I forgot I'd locked him away."

Lucifer made a noise somewhere between a sigh and groan.

And he left Chloe's side again to stand before Trixie.

He held out his hand.

Trixie grasped it, and he tugged her to her feet.

"Father," he said softly. "I am thankful I exist, I cherish the human race, and the worlds you have created are wondrous. But mother was right. You are a complete control freak. Chaos has always scared you. And while the Third may have laid waste to realities as you feared, he may also have surprised you. He may have created wonders far beyond your own, because he dared go outside of the rules on which you rely."

The smile he gave her was kind. "Chaos can be terrifying. It can certainly be destructive. I know I was. But chaos sometimes brings the most unexpected marvels to light. You negate those possibilities, reacting to it with such fear."

God looked up at his wonderful son with young eyes.

He was so proud.

"Do you think I should do it?" he asked, in Trixie's young voice.

The smile slipped as Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"I'm going to do it," Trixie said with a smile, and a little fear, but she squeezed Lucifer's hand hard, and that seemed to help.

"Father, what are you talking about?"

Trixie turned, to look out from the stage on which she stood, over the empty seats.

And she grinned.

This was so exciting!

"Father," Lucifer said in a low voice. "You are being enigmatic again. I have learned that good things do not always follow."

"I'm going to embrace chaos!" she cried, throwing her arms out wide. "I'm going to let them all write their own futures!"

"Ah."

Lucifer was quiet for a moment.

"As long as I am not blamed if it goes poorly," he finally said, "I applaud you."

Trixie grinned. She turned back to look at Chloe.

Lucifer extended one of his wings to obscure her view.

"I just need to make a few... adjustments," she said, looking up at him.

"Father."

Trixie raised a hopeful eyebrow. "Minor adjustments?"

"Such as?"

Trixie started counting off on her small fingers. "Restore Dad's memory, restore Ella's memory, restore Sarah's memory, restore Mark's memory, restore Mrs. Harris' memory, resto-"

"Father, please spare me the litany of your individual manipulations. What of Chloe? What are your intentions with her?"

A soft smile lit Trixie's face. "She's my mom, and we're going to be a family again. But she can't know I'm God, so I'm going to fix that one little bit."

Lucifer stared at her sternly. "Do not think of removing that fact from my mind again."

Trixie squeezed his hand. "I won't, son. I'm going to do something really important instead."

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Trust you," she said, gently and proudly. "You'll know, and I won't. But you can't tell mom."

Lucifer smirked. "I have never liked the word 'can't', Father. You ask much."

"Please," God said, as the smile faded from Trixie's face. "I'll scare her if you don't, and she doesn't need that. I won't understand why, either, and I'm already in for a lot of therapy with all of the stuff I've seen as Trixie. I can't just erase it, either, because the Third stomped all over everything. This will be hard enough."

Releasing a soft sigh, Lucifer stared at her for a long while, then slowly nodded.

"Agreed."

"Yay!" Trixie yelled, jumping in place as she tugged on his hand. She was feeling very much like her old self again.

"Oh, and another thing."

"Yes?"

Grinning, Trixie stepped away from him, wrapping the last little layer of malleable reality around the barrier her son had created against her manipulations. Something she could grasp easily to do what needed to be done.

"No having sex in my school," she said, before waving enthusiastically. "Bye bye!"

And she whisked Chloe and Lucifer away to somewhere much more suitable.

Hi everyone :) It's been lovely to read how much so many of you enjoyed the last few chapters :D I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled also that it seems I kept a little element of surprise until the end there, even though I felt it was important to reassure folks that Lucifer would be back.

I hope this chapter goes some of the way to explaining how.

The story is not finished. I have, as always, a few more chapters to go. Will be writing tonight and tomorrow, hopefully that will get them done. Since they've just been reunited, I would like nothing more than ten more chapters of Deckerstar. :)

Thanks for reading! :D I hope you all have a great weekend. :)