So here is the epilogue for this story. I hope you like it.


CHAPTER 8 - EPILOGUE

Ella looks out the window for the whole drive to gather as much information as possible so hopefully, Chloe will have enough to locate her. The brunette sends pieces of her surroundings each time she recognizes a specific landmark. She feels rather confident her actions remain unnoticed to the thug behind the wheel. Between what she provided and the ping of her cell all should turn out just fine and she should be in and out in a blink - or at least she tells herself.

On her part, Chloe follows the small dot on the map, reassured a bit as she sees it ping to a stop near Jet's place, and very close to the alley where she investigated earlier on. Ella confirms her fairly strong guess when she sends her the latest update right before she's asked to get out of the car.

The driver, who stayed silent for the whole drive and didn't give her the time of day - apart from a few glances in the mirror - unlocks her door to signal they reached their destination.

"This way Zeta." his voice is monotone.

He walks towards the end of the alley and the wall, Ella not far behind. However, the woman is smart enough to keep a bit of distance in case anything turns sour. She sees him get close to the brick wall and discreetly takes out her phone, just in case and more out of instinct than anything. This pays off when she sees the driver enter a combination and hears a trap door open. She barely has time to hit "Send" to let Chloe know before he turns to her. However, she's not quick enough to pocket the phone, so instead, she pretends to look at something and switches off the shared interface in case the driver decides to take a look. She sees - from the corner of her eyes - the confirmation the video is now deleted as he holds out his hand.

"No phones allowed." he simply says.

Ella nods and hands her device to him. He switches the screen on quickly and pockets the smartphone. He then points towards the hidden door so she can walk in, alone.

As Ella follows the stairs and the dim light, she can't help but feel like one of these action movie stars entering the underground lair of any bad guy, but also like the protagonist of a horror movie stepping straight into where she shouldn't. She takes a deep breath to calm all the adrenaline coursing through her veins and reminds herself that this isn't a movie but real life. She takes one last look at the exit as the trap door shuts behind her.

"No way but down," she whispers before she continues her way down the stone steps.

Chloe parks near the alley where Ella's last location pinged but doesn't go in yet as she waits for the confirmation the driver is gone for good. For now, the car is still there. Soon enough, the detective sees the driver type something on his phone before he finally gets behind the wheel and drives off. Chloe lays low in the car so he doesn't notice her while he passes her by. Once the detective sees him leave her rearview mirror, she carefully opens the car door and hurries towards the alley. She walks as silently as possible, aware of all her surroundings before she reaches the same dead-end as before. She takes out her phone and looks at Ella's video for the 100th times. She zooms in, out, pauses to see all details and the right combination before she gives it a try. Evidently, it fails. She squints her to try and see past the driver who obscures part of the solution. After one last rewatch she thinks she has the combination but doesn't know where the first brick is. She scrutinises the wall for any clues as to what this first step is. After some intense staring, she notices a small indent on one of the bricks. She takes a closer look and suddenly everything connects as she sees the small "alpha" there. She checks the video one last time to make sure she guessed right. It takes her another couple of tries, but she manages to open the door hidden under a manhole cover behind her. Before she steps in, she opens the camera on her phone, pushes the contrast to its maximum and sends several pictures to Lucifer. She completes her text with detailed instructions on how to activate the lock. She first takes a photo of the brick with the "alpha" indent, then the one with "beta" and so on, until she finishes with the "zeta" brick. Satisfied when she sees the two small ticks indicating the Devil read her texts, she puts her phone on silent, warns Lucifer and Dan she's going in and repeats the command to storm in if they get no news from her within the next ten minutes. Much like Ella earlier, Chloe watches the door close after her.

The Devil - for his part - is at the door the minute he gets the message from Chloe, ready to drive there. He goes through her message one last time.

" Just in case, here is how you can get in. But so far all is good and Dan has been informed as well. I'm going in. " he reads once more.

He hesitates for a moment to follow after her, torn between his promise to her, and his concern. But then again, he did promise to let her go alone, but not to get in a bit after she did, and since Chloe sent him the way in, it would be a waste to discard this information. Happy with his loophole, Lucifer finally decides to drive to the alley to see for himself. Besides, she said all was fine, but you can never be sure what will happen in such a situation.

As he steps outside, he realises Chloe took their only car. He shrugs and instead decides to use his power to get there. He doesn't often use teleportation ability - or rather a distortion of time and space that looked like teleportation to the common eye - when he travelled from one point to another as it could lead Humans to see things they shouldn't, but he figures this time is a necessity. He reappears in the alley barely a minute later and takes out Chloe's pictures to enter the combination. Just as he's about to press the keys, he feels a chill down his spine and freezes. Now this one he identifies without an issue - to his utter disdain. He doesn't bother to turn around.

"To what do I owe the displeasure of your visit?" his voice is filled with anger and resentment.

"Lucifer." the other simply replies.

"Yes, that is my name, but don't use it in vain," he smirks before he finally faces his brother. "Have you finally decided if you'd rather displeased Dad for eternity or break your holy promise with the Master of Hell?" the Devil taunts further. However, Lucifer is slightly disappointed when he doesn't get a reply. He brushes it aside and instead speaks again. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some places to be, and you're not invited." he finishes as he walks towards the wall again.

But before he can reach it, Amenadiel places himself in between, a smirk now on his lips.

"Do you mind?" Lucifer asks. When no reaction comes, his tone is more menacing. "Move." he almost hisses, his voice low.

Amenadiel simply smiles smugly. "Make me."

Lucifer looks back at the other angel, curious as to why Amenadiel would interfere. He vaguely entertains the idea to outspeed him, but soon realises this solution is impossible. Pushed by his curiosity, the Devil finally inquires.

"I know I fill your fantasies and boring day to day routines, but why are you doing this?" he smirks to hide his doubts. "I mean apart from being an annoying Daddy's boy?"

The opposite archangel doesn't reply straight after the question. Instead, Amendiel looks Lucifer straight in the eyes, almost as if defying him to make him move, or guess his intentions. When Lucifer stays still and silent, the older brother gives in.

"The Divine and Humanity don't and shouldn't mix."

"You're still stuck on that same broken record, are you?"

"How do you think your human would react if she discovered who you are, what Mazikeen is, and how that hole in her living room appeared? How do you think she'll feel when she realises you can throw a full-grown man through a wall?"

Lucifer smirks. "Well, first of all, this happened because of you . You're the one who came in demanding ridiculous things like the fact I should go back to Hell and take my demon with me. And then you pissed me off, so one thing led to another and you ended up in this wall." he pauses. "Which I had to get repaired by the way, so I'll be sure to send you the bill. You can't even begin to imagine how much it costs…" he stops mid-sentence as realisation dawns on him. "Wait, don't tell me you dared do what I think you did?" Amenadiel's silence is all the Devil needs to confirm his theory. Lucifer chuckles nervously. "You, Daddy's boy, Amenadiel the Great, Mightiest enforcer of Dad's will on Earth, dared to go against one of his most important rules and brought a human back from the dead." the Devil stops to take in the news and the immovable expression of his brother. "And just to cover-up a silly hole in a wall," he adds, not sure what all this means. Lucifer continues as Amenadiel remains stoic. "No, this doesn't make sense, even for you," the younger archangel adds.

Amenadiel lets it unfold as the Devil slowly works his way to understand the reasons behind all this. Then Lucifer's eyes open wide, as he remembers how he felt when he came across the repairman and the geek in the alley.

"The poor lad was a test, wasn't he? You used the excuse of this to test something before you went for the main course. But why?"

"You know why." Amenadiel simply replies.

"Are you still stuck on this?" Lucifer asks. "As I told you before, I'm not going back. Do I need to say it in Assyrian or Hebrew so you finally register?" he taunts him - his tone laced with anger. When Lucifer gets no reply, he continues. "Why him though, he is insignificant?"

"Indeed he was. As you said, he was simply a mean to an end. I started to watch more closely after you started to work for the LAPD…"

"You Perv'." Lucifer interrupts him.

"And I realised you would need someone to fix the wall. All I had to do was find the right candidate and let Mazikeen find the information by herself about this handyman specialised in discreet repairs." Amenadiel continues as he ignores his brother's comment.

"To what end? I mean apart from playing Frankenstein, what do you gain from this."

"I realised I've been going at this problem all wrong, and because I couldn't force you back to Hell, all I had to do was remove what - or rather who - kept you here. These mortals you're so fond of. Remove the ties, and you'll be begging me to take you back to Hell, with no return to this place possible since you decided to rid yourself of your only travel option."

"Chloe," Lucifer says in a breath as Amenadiel's twisted plan finally makes sense in his head.

"The Divine and Humanity don't mix, and I'm about ready to do anything to bring balance to this world again." he reiterates.

Lucifer sees red in an instant and growls as he moves to hit his brother. Amenadiel blocks him easily and sends him crashing against the dumpster, the metal bin almost folding in two with the force of the blow. Lucifer is on his feet almost immediately after, his rage numbing the pain.

"This time I'm fighting back," he says through gritted teeth before he lands a punch in his brother's abdomen.

Amenadiel grabs his ribs in pain as he expected Lucifer to aim for his upper-body once more. But soon enough, the pain subsides and he's back into the game. The fight between the Fallen and the Mighty goes on for minutes, each of them hitting, sparing, deflecting blows until Lucifer manages to get the upper hand on the powerful holy soldier. The Devil finally pins Amenadiel to the ground and with his left fist - using all his remaining strength - lands a massive jab. Lucifer smiles as he hears the jaw bone crack under the force of it and his eyes shine bright red as he hits him again, rendering his opponent unconscious.

Lucifer hurries to stand up, fully aware the KO will not last long and that this is his only window to get to Chloe. He refocuses his mind on how to open the trap door and momentarily forgets Chloe probably already got out. As soon as the passageway is available he rushes in, not even aware the door closed behind him until he stumbles straight into the swearing ceremony of Ella. He stops as he understands what he just did, and how he's going to get out of this situation.

He takes a quick look at Ella and slightly relaxes as he doesn't see any signs of Chloe. After a moment, he takes in the group around Ella, and finally the Alpha at the very end of the room. Slowly, the Alpha lifts his arm and points it towards the Devil.

"Kill him," he orders.

A guard appears from nowhere and points a gun towards Lucifer. The Devil starts to smile, ready to unleash his mojo on the henchman. But before he can say anything, he feels himself pushed out of the way and hears the detonation of the gun. He looks beside him and sees Ella fall to the floor as she took the bullet for him. Lucifer catches her before she hits the ground and lays her down softly.

"Miss Lopez…" he starts as Ella drifts away.

Then a wave of anger as he rarely felt before overtakes him and his eyes flame up, soon followed by the rest of his Devil appearance. In the next seconds, all Hell breaks loose - literally. The Devil first takes out the guard who shot his friend and crashes him against the nearest wall, satisfied and he hears some of his bones crack upon impact. He then makes his way to the others, all now quivering in fear. Only the Alpha appears calm on the other side of the room. His rage runs free and he knocks the cultists one after the other, now heading for the Alpha.

The coward feels his near end and uses the last of the general confusion to escape through the back door near his station and into another part of the alley. The last man approaches Lucifer and manages to club him. The Devil groans as he feels the pain in his knee, meaning Chloe isn't far. He hurriedly discards him, as if the guy is nothing more than a fly, and quickly makes his way back to Ella, getting his face and body under control right in time as Chloe, Dan and the SWAT team barge in.

Lucifer takes a look at them and smirks as he sees the Alpha cuffed and led by Chloe inside the room. Of course, his Detective would catch the bad guy. However, Chloe soon leaves the perp in the hands of the SWAT as she sees Ella on the floor. She yells at Dan to call the ambulance for immediate transport to a hospital and rushes to her friend's side. She quickly looks at Lucifer to make sure he is fine and she sees his eyes return to normal. She doesn't need a drawing to know what happened to these men, but this is by far the least of her worries.

She checks Ella's pulse and breathing and sighs in relief as she can feel a steady heartbeat, but staggered breathing. She does a quick check before the EMTs finally get here and presses on the bullet entry wound. It looks like a clean shot - through and through - and it doesn't look like any major artery is hit. The pain caused by the pressure put by Chloe brings Ella back to reality and she groans as she sees Chloe and Lucifer. The EMTs finally walk in and navigate through the room, as the rest of the SWAT team picks up the cultists to bring them in. Once Ella is on the stretcher and on her way to the ambulance, Chloe stands up to ride with her to the hospital. She quickly turns to Lucifer.

"She'll be okay," she says, as much for her benefit than his. "I'll text you the hospital address and let you know once she's out of surgery. Meet me there?"

Lucifer simply nods and slowly stands up, exiting after Chloe, still shaken that Ella could have died by his carelessness.

About five hours later - USC Medical Centre - Los Angeles

Lucifer has been waiting at the precinct for Chloe to confirm to him that Ella was out of surgery and back in her room. Lucky for him, the hospital is only a couple of miles away. As he gets there, he doesn't bother to ask for Ella's room number as Chloe already provided the information to him. From what his lover told him, Ella had been in surgery for about two hours but they had confirmed that, although she would need a rather lengthy recovery time before the forensic genius could go back to work, the bullet didn't cause any major damage, and she's now stable with a ninety per cent chance of having very minor to no after-effects at all.

Lucifer stops before he opens the door. He knocks softly until he hears a faint "Come in". He slowly enters and smiles at Ella and Chloe. Chloe stands up to greet him and encourages him to walk further into the room.

"So you can knock." she jokes, in an attempt to lighten the tension, but with little success, she realises as she sees Lucifer's forced smile. She squeezes his hand before she speaks again. "I'm gonna get something from the cafeteria, can I get you anything?"

"I'm good," Lucifer replies.

"Okay." she turns to Ella. "I'll be right back."

Ella nods and stares at Lucifer. Then Chloe exits to give Lucifer and her friend a bit of time together. Lucifer takes a step closer to the hospital bed. In all his time on Earth, the hospital was the one thing he couldn't get used to, and which made him feel oddly uncomfortable. Maybe because his first experience was straight after Chloe got shot. He pushes the thought aside for later use, maybe during one of his sessions with Linda. He remains silent, not sure where - or how - to start. Finally, he goes for his usual care-free devilish persona to hide his discomfort.

"Glad you're not dead, Miss Lopez." he gives her his facade smile.

"So am I." Ella smiles in return, happy at his light opening.

Then she pauses, deep in thought, as if she wanted to ask something forbidden. Lucky for her, Lucifer is clairvoyant for once and understands her hesitance.

"You saw it, didn't you?" he asks, his voice soft and as gentle as he can make it.

Ella nods and takes a breath. "I'm not sure I can voice all I saw because of the whole painkillers in my veins right now, but you're not a method actor, are you?"

"No," he confirms as he prepares himself for the obvious rejection to come.

"Okay." Ella simply replies. "That explains a lot actually," she adds as Lucifer looks at her surprised. "Does Chloe know?"

"She does."

"Okay," she repeats.

"So are you, okay?" he asks, a hint of a joke in his voice. "You're not broken, or going to try and kill me, you know because you believe in Him?"

"Yes, no and no," Ella replies, proud of herself to have remembered all his questions in her dazed state. "You've never lied to me and I know you." she simply states. "But you and I are going to have a serious talk when I'm out of here." she smiles. "I have a billion questions for you."

Lucifer gives her his first real smile since she went to the swearing. "If that's what it takes." he jokes. He hesitates for a moment. "I'll let you rest now. We still have work to do. I'll let Chloe know I'm heading back to the station."

"It's not your fault." Ella quickly says before he leaves, her speech slightly slurred.

"What?" he turns around.

"Me getting shot, it's not your fault," she explains.

"Miss Lopez…" he starts.

Ella tries to gather her thoughts. "I would have done this no matter who you are or who I thought you were. And Chloe and Dan barging in would have resulted in the same outcome," she says, not sure if what she meant to convey made sense to him.

"I…" Lucifer starts to argue before he finally decides to indulge her. "Thank you for saying this." he continues. "Give me a call when you're cleared to go home, and I'll give you the contact of an outstanding nurse, free of charge of course," he concludes.

Ella gives him a giddy smile. "Sure." She shows the door. "Now go and catch some killers."

He opens the door and before he exits turns back. "Ella?"

"Yes?"

"Glad you're not dead."

"So am I." she repeats as he closes the door.

About two hours later - LAPD Precinct - Los Angeles

As shared with Ella, Lucifer informs Chloe he heads back for the precinct to help - or just keep busy as Chloe understood - and she confirms she would join him once she's made sure Ella is settled completely in her room and has all she needs for the next week. When the Detective arrives at the precinct, she finds Lucifer seated at her desk, deep in thought. She puts her hand on his shoulder, the gesture both natural and intimate. He turns to her and smiles. He stands up to give her her chair back and sits on the edge of her desk. Chloe searches his eyes and puts her hand on his knee.

"How are you doing?" she asks, her voice filled with tenderness and concern.

"I'll be better once she's out of the hospital," Lucifer answers, voice filled with guilt.

"It's not…"

"My fault." he interrupts her. "But it is," he adds. "Had I not followed in like this, things may have been very different, but Amenadiel implied you might be hurt, and I just ran in like an idiot," he says. "Although he only delayed the moment, as I was almost done when he arrived, so…" he admits. He frowns as he hears Chloe's chuckle. "Did I say anything amusing, Detective?" he asks, not sure why she would mock him when he decided to open up to her.

"No." Chloe immediately replies. "But maybe next time you'll listen to me." she winks. When Chloe sees her joke doesn't work as she intended but only adds confusion to his guilt, she looks for his eyes again, her fingers drawing patterns just above the knee. "Joke aside, you helped us a lot by not listening to me." she starts. "You took out these guys and this helped us beyond what you can understand. It saved a lot of possible casualties on our side." she sees Lucifer is slightly more relaxed now. "In regards to what happened to Ella, unfortunately, it would have happened, whether you were here or not." Chloe finishes.

"What do you mean?" Lucifer asks.

"They made her before the ceremony and planned to kill her after the swearing anyway," Chloe replies, emotional as she imagines that this could have ended in a completely different way. "They wanted to know what she knew before they did anything." she locks her gaze with Lucifer's. "So you barging in may have just been the necessary wrench in their plan which saved her life." she finishes. She smiles as she sees Lucifer understands her point and the situation. "But that doesn't mean that you have to stop listening to me," she adds for good measure.

"We'll see about that," he replies.

"So…" Chloe tries.

"Yes?"

"Ella told me she knew I knew about your other face." she starts. "But she didn't have the time to say more before she fell asleep. So my amazing detective skills allowed me to guess she saw your face after she got shot." She continues after Lucifer nods. "She seemed OK with it and handled it better than I did."

"Blame the morphine." Lucifer jokes.

"Yeah let's go with that." Chloe agrees. "Once she's out, let me know if I can do anything to help you with the talk ." she laughs. "Before she dozed off, she shared some of her questions for you, and given her catholic upbringing, this is going to be a fun part for you." she pauses, just to make sure he got her joke. "Like for example…"

"Chloe," comes Dan's voice from behind her

"Yeah?" Chloe replies but leaves her hand on Lucifer's lower thigh.

"Most of the perps have talked." he starts, staring at Chloe's hand before he shakes his head and continues. "Their confessions align, and it confirms the Alpha planned Jet's and Gordon's death."

"Okay," Chloe says.

"In exchange for information, they were offered a deal. They'll still get charged as accessories to murder and will get at least five to eight years with a chance at parole if they behave."

"What about the boss? Who is he? You do know we need his confession to close this. Without this, all is for nothing." Chloe says.

"He hasn't said a word since we took him in, not even for a lawyer," Dan admits. "But according to the others, he's a gruntled ex-employee who got fired because he tried to sell some of the techs they created. The case didn't go to court, but both CEOs made sure he could never get a job in any other companies, no matter their area of expertise. From there, his life went down the drain and one night after a very drunken evening he had a car accident on the way back to his place and stayed in a coma for two weeks before the hospital unplugged him." he pauses for a bit. "He woke up by some miracle just after his heart flattened."

Chloe looks at Lucifer as she understands he knew something they didn't. But before she can speak, Dan continues.

"We called his family after they gave us the name, and apparently after he came back from the dead, his life completely changed and he said he now had a holy mission after speaking with an angel to bring this company down." Dan shakes his head. "This doesn't make any sense if you ask me. I think they're all crazy, which is why it's never gonna hold up in court if we don't get his confession."

"Detective, can I talk to you in private?" Lucifer asks once Dan is finished.

"Sure," Chloe replies and stands up to lead him to an empty conference room.

Once the door is closed, Lucifer tells her all that happened with Amenadiel, and why all of a sudden this man seems to have inextinguishable hate for the company he used to work for, and why he sees his mission as divine. When they walk back out, Chloe walks straight to Dan and asks him.

"Give Lucifer five minutes with him, no video, no sound."

"Chloe…" Dan starts.

"He hasn't called for a lawyer yet, right?"

"No, but…"

"You confirmed it yourself, we need his confession, and a man who renounced his right to a lawyer and hasn't said anything in more than five hours alone in a room is not going to say anything." she waits for her information to sink in. "You've seen Lucifer work before, you know what he can do." she simply adds.

"Chloe, I can't…"

"It's the only way, Dan, trust me on this." Chloe pleads.

Dan thinks it over for a moment and takes a look at the new Lieutenant in his office before he finally agrees. "He's in room 3. You have five minutes, not a second more."

"I'll be out in less than that," Lucifer replies, his voice lower, eyes on the brink of red.

As expected, the Devil exits the interrogation room less than three minutes later, rearranging his cuffs as he walks back to Dan. He gives the smaller man a big smile.

"I believe you'll find your suspect ready to tell you anything you wish," he tells Dan.

Dan is tempted for a moment to ask how he did it but soon realises some things are better left unsaid.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to Lux, make sure Maze hasn't killed any tenants yet." Lucifer looks at Chloe before he leaves.

Chloe seems to be hesitant about what to do before she finally decides her next move. She grabs his face and kisses him. The kiss is over as briefly as it started, but before she lets Lucifer go she looks into his eyes.

"Meet you there once I'm finished with the paperwork?"

Lucifer takes in Dan's face and smiles. "Well, of course, I'll be waiting then." he takes one last look at Dan before he heads out. "Daniel," he says before he finally goes.

Dan looks at Chloe, but for the second time in a very short time, decides to leave this part unsaid. He finally clears his throat before he leaves, unhappy with this situation, but lets it go - for now - as he sees Chloe's beaming smile.

"See you around." he finally says as he makes his way back to his office.

Chloe makes her way to hers as well as her phone vibrates. She takes it out to see a text from Lucifer.

"Thank you for letting me see his face. I'll cherish it forever."

She laughs and pockets her phone, her brain now switching to full focus on getting her paperwork done as soon as possible so she can join the Devil at his penthouse.

***THE END***


So first I wanted to thank you all for following this story and all your feedback, no matter which form they took.

It has been a pleasure for me to write this one, although the last chapter was really hard and has not been betaed (my doing really ;)). Not sure if it's the fact that it's the last chapter, or the global current situation, or even the fact that I've been completely obsessed with Rizzoli&Isles lately, but I kept changing and changing everything, so... But enough rambling!

I do hope you enjoyed this last instalment. I may not publish for a bit, at least in the Lucifer topic, but feel free to check my profile for some fics I may publish in other fandoms (like Rizzoli... Told you I was obsessed ^^).

Anyway, thank you again to all of you for your comments, feedback, likes and everything. And a huge THANK YOU to ManuHerz79 because even if I decided to publish this one still kinda rough, she did an amazing job with the rest of the chapters :).