A/N: Alright ladies and gentlemen. Time to amp up the pain level. Yeah. I won't go easy on you and our sweethearts. Be ready for the gruesomeness, hurt and angst to continue, here and in further chapters. Enjoy! ;)

Recommended Songs:

Ruelle - Find You

A Storm is Comin - Liv Ash

When the Sun Goes Down - Laney Joney

Chapter 2 – Emergency

[Ruelle - Find You]

"Lucifer?! Lucifer are you still there?! Talk to me! Say something!"

She listened anxiously, pensively, but when she didn't hear another word from him, a sharp clench pinched through her chest and she started to tremble. Listening past her thumping pulse in her ears, she could make out the faint sound of drizzling rain and a roaring thunder at Lucifer's end. It wasn't telling her much, but he seemed to be in the proximity of the storm yet not somewhere outside in the heavy rain. A very thin silver lining. Keeping the line to Lucifer open, she checked her GPS connection to his phone, beyond happy that they had both installed the tracking app to their phones in case of an emergency.

And this is a freaking emergency, alright?! Oh god, I hope he didn't- No. No! I mustn't think like that! He's fine. I'm sure he's fine. He has to be. He's the freaking Devil. He can take everything, right? He is immortal, god-damnit!

Her movements were subconscious, professionally trained and instinctive. She collected her badge and gun from her small safe, put on her holster and secured her weapon. Hearing the successful beep on her phone, she checked the location of the small red dot on the map, copied the address and sent it to Maze with the words: Lucifer needs help. Meet u there.

A door squeaked open and a concerned looking Trixie stepped out of her room, the teen magazine she had been reading, still in hand. "Mom? What's going on?"

"Hey sweety. I've got an emergency going on. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

"Is Lucifer in trouble? I heard you calling his name," Trixie asked, her eyes wide with worry.

"That's what I need to find out. You stay here, sweety." Quickly stepping up to her, she pulled her daughter into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. There was no time to explain, not that she knew anything else she could really tell her. But she was glad her daughter was a strong character. Despite her being worried over what could happen in her job, Trixie was aware how much she loved her job and how she wanted to help people in need. And even from a young age on, Trixie had a good empathetic understanding when people needed care as well. "Love you, monkey."

"Love you, too, Mom. Be safe."

"Will be." Heading to the coat pig, she put on a decent rain jacket, grabbed her keys and stormed out of the house to her car. The signal of Lucifer's phone was showing up in South Gate. If it would have been daytime and sunny, she knew it would easily take her almost an hour through traffic, but now in the dark and with the rain falling in sheets, she could make it in thirty minutes, if she'd floor it. Pulling out of the driveway, she let the engine rev and sped down the street, her muscle tense.

It had all been going so well the past few weeks. She had come to terms with her being a miracle from God, her and Lucifer had made the step into a relationship with truly mindblowing sex, and they were doing great at working together as a team. She was beyond impressed to see how much he was thriving with both Trixie and Charlie, even though he hated admitting that, always playing the sleek Devil, but she could always see straight through him. He was deeply caring for them, and while his behaviour oftentimes seemed quirky, it came from a place of love and she knew that he would go to unthinkable lengths for all of them.

He was a stubborn nut to crack, but a very passionate and loving Devil on the inside. He wasn't comfortable with her knowing his weak spots, so she didn't point them out in public. Only in sweet banter when he had teased her first, she would fight back a little dirty. She was aware that his hurt ego would heal and he would be back to his dashing smile and wacky innuendos in a matter of seconds.

But now she was afraid it was all slipping away with every mile she drove and every traffic light she skipped. The thought of losing him was pulling the floor from beneath her feet and made her mind and heart stumble into a dark, scary abyss. It worried and confused her, that he said he was hurt, after he had explained to her multiple times that he was immortal, unless he was in her close proximity. Maybe he had been close to her when he got hurt, she wondered as she took a sharp left turn, leaving behind two cars hitting their brakes with an upset honk.

Maybe he's gotten himself into trouble with some shady people he's made deals with… Maybe some crazy, sick folks… underground people... Or maybe one of his siblings... Didn't he say, only celestial or infernal weapons could hurt him, like Maze daggers?

She didn't notice the tears escaping her as she tried to force away pictures of him wounded and bleeding. Whenever he had been hurt around her, he always had a tendency to downplay things, but he wasn't necessarily insane when he threw himself in front of a loaded gun. Quite the contrary. She had seen the shimmer in his eyes afterwards, that deeply anchored devotion, letting her know he would protect what he loved with his life, without second thoughts. He was self sacrificing, and the Devil was very humble about it.

A lightning strike above her lit up the road, showing just about how little her car's headlights had been able to reveal in the darkness. The streets weren't even able to divert the rain quickly enough, causing the water to stand about two inches high. Thick black clouds still hung low above the city and, glancing to the horizon, she couldn't see for the storm to be over anytime soon. Checking her phone, she saw she was just a few turns away from Lucifer's location. Hitting the gas further, she sped over the crossroad ahead and followed the signs to the warehouse district. One abandoned red-brick warehouse lined up next to another, old manufacturing sings from tire, tobacco and clothing productions of times long gone.

Slowing down, she took a last turn towards the blinking dot of her destination. A lone standing warehouse with tall, rectangular windows came into her view. It was surrounded by bare ground that had completely flooded up and transformed into a sticky, muddy mess. Taking the barely visibly paved entrance onto the property, she spotted a lone standing SUV, manoeuvred around it and parked towards the front entrance of the building. Reaching over to the side pocket of the door, she grabbed her flashlight, pulled her jacket's hoodie up and stepped out into the pouring rain. Her boots immediately sank into the mud and the sharp wind was whipping the rain against her, soaking her jeans within seconds where they weren't covered from her jacket.

A roaring engine and a pair of headlights sped around the corner and up towards her. Just about to jump out of its way, the car stopped. As the headlights and engine were turned off, she flicked her wrist up, aiming her flashlight and revealing Maze who darted towards her in her usual leathery outfit - without a jacket.

Right. Demon. I doubt she ever feels cold.

[A Storm is Comin - Liv Ash]

"According to his phone, he's somewhere inside this building," Chloe said without a greeting and headed straight to the massive steel door at the front of the warehouse. A thick iron chain with a broken padlock and bolt cutter laid right in front of the door, halfway sunken in the mud. It looked rusty, fitting to the weathered and abandoned building. With a shaky hand, she pushed the handle and pressed against the door. Creaking, it scrubbed over the concrete floor of the building, making way into an ample hall. Her heart thundering along with the raging storm hailing down, she quickly strode into the hall, aiming the flashlight through the darkness. "Lucifer?! Lucifer, where are you?!" she called out, frantically looking behind old barrels and dust-covered machines.

But the warehouse gave them no sign of Lucifer's whereabouts. Puddles of water had formed beneath various holes in the roof and made the wind howl through. A rustling made her turn to the side, spotting that the windows were all barred with wood panels and old, yellowish plastic sheets, torn and weathered, fluttering in the breeze that managed to creep inside. It was a distracting sound added to the drizzle and thundering, but she figured she needed to give a call a try to be heard. If not from her ears, then perhaps from Maze. Quickly dialling Lucifer's number, she let it ring and listened. "Can you make out his phone?"

"Yeah," Maze pressed and walked past her at a quick pace. "It's coming from this way," she muttered through clenched teeth. "And I can smell blood."

Her throat tightened. He is hurt. He said he was. Following her through the hall, she caught up with her and eventually heard the quiet ringtone. Rounding the corner of a wooden crate, she was lucky to have landed on her right foot as she laid eyes on a body. Stumbling to the side, she flashed the light down. A man, mid thirties, tousled, dirty blonde hair, wild beard and a knife stuck in the chest.

Okay… Not Lucifer.

"Shit!" Maze cursed, pulling her attention a few feet further towards the back corner of the hall.

Quickly stepping around the body, she rushed over to Maze, seeing her crouch down. The second she laid eyes on Lucifer's body, she felt her heart crack. "Oh god…" she breathed, shocked. He laid slumped down on his side facing towards her. His eyes were closed and his limbs were bent in an uncomfortable way. One hand, looking dark somehow, laid still next to his cellphone on the ground. Falling to her knees in front of him, she put her flashlight down and carefully picked up his head, gently caressing his cheeks. "Lucifer?" she asked carefully, but he didn't react. Remembering to go for the most important thing, she checked his pulse. It was there. Not too faint.

Good. GOOD!

Excitedly releasing a relieved laugh, she froze immediately after, when she turned his face more into the field of the flashlight.

There was blood.

Lots of it.

It was smeared over his lips and chin, and looking back down to his hands, she saw them both covered in blood as well, even going up to his elbows. But there didn't seem to be any wounds.

What the fuck…

"Decker…" Maze pressed lowly, her voice trembling. The demon looked at her with glistening eyes before lowering them to Lucifer's back.

Following her glance and leaning in to look at Lucifer's back, she felt her guts twisting and needed to look away. Forcing down the bile in the back of her throat, she shuddered. Taking several shallow breaths, she eventually managed to turn to carefully look at him again.

His wings were gone. Clearly somehow taken off of him in an act of gruesome violence, torn or broken, she couldn't tell exactly. All that burned itself into her mind was the blank white of bone and ripped flesh that hung at the stumps of the once most beautiful pair of wings in celestial existence. "Oh my... god…" she choked, tears burning in her eyes.

Who the fuck would do something sick like that?! Holy shit!

Licking her dried lips, she returned her focus on Lucifer's face and tenderly brushed her thumbs over his smeared cheeks. "Lucifer? Hey… Hey, can you hear me? I'm here. Open your eyes. Please, Lucifer, open your eyes. Come on..."

A weak, choked groan vibrated from Lucifer's mouth, barely able to be heard above the storm. Her hopes were rising. He wasn't gone. His pulse was more or less okay. And despite what had been done to him, he was getting back his senses. The Devil was a god-damn fighter. Quite literally. "Lucifer… come on… You have to open your eyes for me," she sweetly urged between sobs, watching as his brows pinched in discomfort and he murmured out another low groan.

"Fucking hell, Lucifer. Open your god-damn eyes!" Maze growled out all of a sudden. But despite her sharp tone, her expression was tense and she seemed concerned, giving away that she was also rather shocked about Lucifer's condition. It didn't stop her though from giving his ear a little pinch. "Wake up!"

"Nnnnghuuugh!" Lucifer groaned out weakly, his eyes fluttering open. Just a moment ago, he had been wrapped into nice comfortable darkness. Admittedly, it had felt cold, icy even. But at least he hadn't felt that tormenting pain in his back anymore. Eyes blinking, a wraithlike, warm but still blurry silhouette came into his view.

"Lucifer! Hey!" Chloe cheered through tears, brushing a greasy strand of hair from his forehead.

That silhouette looked surreal. It was a face, and that voice… It was heavenly… and familiar. "Mother Teresa?" he murmured, wondrous and heartbreakingly innocent.

Releasing a tearful laugh, she shook her head, continuing to caress his cheeks. "No… Not quite. It's me. Chloe."

Upon hearing her name his heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened, his vision sharpening. "Detective!" The shape of her elegant face finally turned to its full glory and his lips curled up into a pained but genuine smile. "You're here…"

"Yeah, and me," Maze commented with a grumble.

Tilting his head, he spotted his demon and let out a huff. "Lovely."

Ignoring their little bantering, Chloe's mind was racing over the situation. Lucifer was hurt. Badly. He needed treatment somehow, get himself checked, but that was hardly possible, given that his condition involved real, freaking angel wing stumps growing out of his back. Then there was also a dead body laying near them with a knife sticking out of his chest. This had to be properly investigated. "Lucifer, can you tell me anything about what happened to you? Do you know that man over there?"

He swallowed and frowned, trying hard to concentrate and recall anything whatsoever, but there was just a blank white noise in the darkness of his memory. No images of places he'd been to or things he's seen and no snippets of conversation that he had popped up in his mind. Nothing. And that scared the shit out of him. This had never happened to him before. Ever. Even in his wildest nights of drug consumption, he had never been having such a blackout before. If he had been awake during the last couple of hours, he should be able to remember something. And somehow he couldn't even recall how his wings had been taken from him. Shaking his head at her, he released a shuddering, sobbing breath. "I don't remember anything… I… I don't…" He trailed off shortly, gathering fuzzy thoughts to be put into words. "Detective… My…" Swallowing, he closed his eyes, hating that he felt so weak, hating that he couldn't keep his voice from trembling. "My… My wings... They… they are..."

"I know, Lucifer. I know," she sobbed, nodding, wanting to relieve him off the pain of having to put his torment into words. To think that nothing could be more world-shattering than seeing an angel's wings being butchered off turned out to be a royal misjudgement. Seeing Lucifer's expression and hearing his broken and shocked voice were even worse. He knew what had been done to him. And while it could be called somewhat of a good thing for him to have no recollection of the how and who, this was all just making it worse. With Lucifer not knowing anything, they had to start at zero. "Okay… listen. I need to call this in," she began carefully, thinking over how exactly to go on about this. She looked at his stumps. They mustn't be seen from her colleagues. Frowning at him apologetically, she nudged her chin towards his back. "Can you somehow… I mean… Is it possible to somehow… make them disappear?"

"Are you fucking insane?!" Maze shot back at her furiously. "Your presence alone is already putting him in so much more pain! What makes you think that he could just draw back his freaking-"

"Mazikeen! Enough!" Lucifer cut back angrily, grunting and huffing through clenched teeth at the effort to shout. Licking his blood stained lips, he looked at her sternly. There was no need to be so angry towards Chloe, even though he understood where it came from. "I asked... the Detective to bring you... for a reason," he stated through heavy breathing. "Do you have your knives with you?"

Chloe frowned, unsure of what he wanted and feeling a strange, heavy pull in the pit of her stomach. "Lucifer, what are you-"

Maze's face paled, her lips curling in sudden rage, her voice shaking. "No fucking way! You're not making me do that again to you! I'm not under oath anymore!"

"I am asking you in humility, as a friend," he pressed, the pain and suffering of not only his wounds, but also of what had been done to him, so evident in his expression. "I'm begging you, Maze. Please."

She scoffed and ground her teeth, looking at him for a long moment. At first her eyes held defiance and anger, but they gradually softened, shifted with contemplation until eventually she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Fine…" she hissed, fighting to keep her voice from shaking, but it sounded tearful nonetheless. "You'll owe me."

The conversation was hard to grasp between the Devil and his demon, and it took Chloe several moments to understand. But as Maze reached behind her back and retrieved one of her curved daggers, she startled awake from her ignorance. "Wait! What?! W-w-what are you doing?!"

"Detective…" Lucifer quietly breathed, reaching for her wrist, gently caressing and squeezing. When her troubled eyes met his, he weakly smiled, but it turned into a troubled grimace of pain and sorrow. "Please… I… I don't want them like this. I rather have them all gone. It will be fine. Trust me. Besides… Can't have them be seen from your human police friends now, can we?"

It was unfair the way he could talk about his own self mutilation while smiling at her and keeping in mind the sanity of her colleagues. Unfair, touching and very much disturbing. Wiping away her tears with her free hand, she looked at the dagger, at Maze and back at him. "You're insane," she sobbed, but it was a weak attempt at making him change his mind and she knew it.

"Funny how you realise that just now, Detective," he quipped with a short laugh, but groaned as his twitching muscles reminded him of the raw wounds on his back. "It's gonna be okay." Nodding back at Maze, he shifted around on the ground to give her better access to his back. Focusing back on Chloe, he held her troubled and anxious gaze, but suddenly she moved, scooped towards his head and took a hold of him under his arms. With a careful pull, she lifted his upper body to rest in her lap, and let her fingers shakily comb through his sticky hair. Swallowing, he closed his eyes, finding a sanctuary for the short moment. He knew the pain of what was to come. But Maze had been wrong. It wasn't worse with the Detective around. It was better. Not necessarily less painful. But less destructive. Less consuming. Less lonely.

[When the Sun Goes Down - Laney Jones]

Sharing another glance with Maze, Chloe lowered her head in reluctant compliance. While her fingers continued to cradle Lucifer's head in her lap, her eyes were fixated on the morbid looking stumps.

Maze placed her left hand between Lucifer's shoulder blades and took a last, calming breath. Then she positioned her dagger at the top of the right stump in a flat angle and, without taking another breath, sliced in between the main wingbone and the socket of his shoulder blade.

The moment the knife sunk into his flesh and Lucifer's guttural scream tore through the warehouse, she could feel a part of her soul break away and shatter into a million pieces. Blinking away fresh tears, she tightly held onto Lucifer's head, feeling as he was trembling and panting. His fingers were cramping on the ground as he writhed in pain and as she shortly glanced to his back again, Maze took off the first chunk of bone and flesh and put it aside. The crescent looking wound reminded her of when Lucifer had shown off his body towards her for the first time, involuntarily also giving her a close look at his scars. She wondered how back then they had scarred, because right now, it seemed he was rather bleeding to death than being helped.

Maze held her dagger next to Lucifer's head, tension written all over her face. "Heat please," she simply said and waited.

Huffing through his clenched teeth, Lucifer lifted and turned his head, spotting the bloodstained dagger. For a moment he hesitated, but only a split second. Then he raised his hand and tightly gripped the blade, feeling it slice into his palm. It hurt, but it was oh so pleasant in comparison to the pain in his shoulders. A delightful distraction. Focussing his mind as best as he could, he tapped into his divine powers. His ability to turn things on was not only working in a sexual or mechanical way. He could pretty much make the molecular structure of metal change and very literally heat things up if he willed it so. It started like a small, weak glow of an ember and gradually grew into a soaring heat, burning into the flesh of his palm. Once hot enough, he pulled away, lowering his trembling, burnt hand and resting his face back in Chloe's lap.

She hadn't seen him do something like that before, but somehow it came as no surprise he was actually able to make things burn. She watched as Maze did not wait a second to cauterise the wound. So that's how they did it before… Pressing the bright, yellowish shining blade against the raw flesh, she scarred his body and stopped the bleeding with an unsettling calmness as if she had used burning iron a hundred times before. She shuddered, thinking Maze most likely had done so in hell.

Lucifer grunted and tensed beneath the burning pressure. She could feel the film of sweat on his forehead and in his neck. Not giving him a break, Maze dagger sank down again and with a powerful thrust, slipped between the left wingbone and shoulder blade. Seeing as he dug his fingers into the concrete floor and broke into it, Lucifer erupted another soul-shattering scream and her fingers pressed him harder against her, wishing for her touch to have any amount of soothing effect to the agony he was going through. "Shh… it's okay. You've almost made it through," she encouraged him, gently scratching through the short hair on the back of his head.

He was beyond thankful for her presence. Did she have any idea? There was another searing cut and when suddenly there was a weight literally lifted off his shoulders, he whimpered and clutched onto Chloe's jacket, the reality of the situation once more crashing down on him. His wings were gone. Gone. He shuddered, unsure of how exactly or even if they could grow back. And that made him sob and cry even harder. For a long time he had not thought fondly of his wings, seeing them as a chain keeping him enslaved and in an obsequious position towards his Father. But he had come to realize they had nothing to do with God, but everything with himself. They were part of him. Part of his identity. They were limbs, just like his arms and legs. And now they were gone. Something of him was gone.

"One more time, please," Maze murmured, holding the dagger towards him.

Doing what was asked of him, Lucifer heated the curved dagger anew. The sizzling sound and smell of burnt flesh filled the air and at long last it was over. Trembling and panting, he felt Chloe's fingers touch his cramped up hands and he slowly looked up with pink, puffy eyes.

Smiling down at him, awkward and tearful, Chloe gently pulled his hands closer. He felt icy to the touch and it was worrisome. Sniffing the remains of her own pitiful ordeal of being forced to watch this butchering, she turned towards Maze. "Would you please get a blanket out of my trunk? I'll call this in now."

"Sure," Maze nodded, wiped the dagger at her leather pants and let it disappear behind her back. Picking up the two stumps from the ground she headed back to the door and out of their view.

Calling the station, she explained about the dead body and needing an ambulance. Although she could see Lucifer roll his eyes, she stayed persistent. He did suffer from severe blood loss and despite him being otherwise an immortal angel with supernatural healing abilities, right now he was anything but that. Being told that her team as well as an ambulance will be sent to her location, she hung up and took the blanket Maze brought her. Draping it carefully over Lucifer's back and tucking it around his front, she pulled him closer and rubbed his arms to get some warmth back into him. "The team will be here soon." Glancing up at the demon, she could see her glare ahead with anger not directed at her. She knew that look. "Maze… you know I need to investigate this with my team."

"Oh, I won't be in your way, Decker" she muttered. "But I'm not gonna just sit around and do nothing. I'll search for this scumbag my own way and let you know if I find out anything that is helpful."

"M-Maze," Lucifer pressed with a warning tone, exhaustion written all over his face.

But his loyal demon friend rose her chin in defiance. "Forget it, Lucifer. I'm not letting this pass and just be handled by huma-"

"Maze!" he grumbled to cut her off. Seeing her shoulders sink a notch, his voice immediately softened. "Thank you."

Jaw clenching, she refrained from showing much more emotion than what she already had and instead just nodded at him once, knowing that nothing more needed to be said. Accompanied by a roaring thunder and flashing lightning, fitting to the walking havoc she was, she turned around and left the warehouse.

"She's become such a softie, hasn't she?" Lucifer weakly huffed in jest, pulling his knees closer to curl up in the blanket and rest against Chloe. Eyes drifting to the pool of blood next to them, he swallowed. He hated that she had seen him like this and what she had to witness. And he hated that he couldn't remember what happened, because the gap in his memory made room for thoughts, for speculations and for fears to rise.

The dead man with a knife stuck in his chest was a mystery to be solved just like that of his severed wings and amnesia. And it was scary to think that perhaps he had forgotten about something horrible that he had done himself. The blood on his hands was not his own, or was it? What if it really turned out to be from the man? It was just all too much. Too much pain, confusion and fear to endure, and yet he felt he couldn't slip away into the comfortable darkness again to be rid of it all like he had when he listened to Chloe over the phone.

Tears welling in his eyes again, he looked up at her. "What happened to me?" he whispered, his voice cracking. "And what have I done?"

A/N: You've made it! Another chapter with blood and gore and a suffering Lucifer! :D Yes… I know, I'm evil. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are anxiously waiting for more! I'll see you in the next one!

- Luni