Notes:
I'm taking a lot of liberties here. Either things like this haven't happened in the show, or haven't been explained and I just - fit them to the story.
Still don't have a beta for this so any and all mistakes are mine. If you see something glaringly wrong or off, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.
If anyone with beta experience wants to take a look at the remaining chapters to this, please let me know.
Chapter 2 – "Not on my watch"
The din of angry voices around Chloe continued to fade as she focused entirely on the man she loved. Drawn, as always, into his deeply expressive eyes. Moisture clung to the fluttering lashes like little bits of glowing stardust as he tried to stay conscious.
Lucifer raised a trembling hand to her cheek and she caught it as he exhaled her name again. A barely audible whisper. She leaned forward and pulled him closer, fat tears dripping onto his blood-splattered skin. This couldn't be happening. Not again. Would they never get a chance?
Chloe choked on a sob as the broken, "I love you," resounded loudly in her ears even though it was really a breathy, wet whisper that sounded too much like goodbye. She instantly regretted trying to pry those words out of him in the evidence room. Michael had preyed upon her fears. And she'd fallen for it. She knew Lucifer loved her. He'd shown her in deeds too numerous to count.
With a WHOOSH, another angel appeared, dark wings snicking out of sight the moment her feet landed beside her fallen brother.
"Rae Rae?" Chloe could dimly hear Ella exclaim as Lucifer's eyes fluttered.
"An official escort, Azrael?" A breathless Lucifer struggled with every word as his eyes turned glassy. "How – kind."
Chloe glanced pleadingly up at Azrael and was taken aback at how much the young angel's furious gaze looked out of place on her cherubic face.
She plucked a blade out of her mismatched clothing and pointed it toward Gabriel and Raquel.
"Let Amenadiel go. Right now."
The brothers stared at her in shock but their iron grip on Amenadiel's arms loosened enough for him to twist out of them. His eyes landed on the dagger and widened in shock. "How…?"
"Down feather. It'll work faster. And hurry."
Michael took a hesitant step forward, eyes less manic, but tone firm and commanding. "This isn't your place, Azrael."
Azrael leveled her blade at him and a glimmer of hope sparked deep inside Chloe's breaking heart when Lucifer's twin pulled up short at the much smaller angel's threat.
With another WOOSH, Amenadiel's wings burst into view and silence fell as Azrael carefully selected a small downy feather and severed it from its place. The angel's wings shuddered briefly and he rolled his shoulders like one would smooth out a minor irritation.
"If they don't fall out naturally, they have to be severed very carefully," Azrael said instructionally to no one in particular. Though Chloe assumed it was for every human in the room. "And it can't be his own."
Chloe's gazed tracked Amenadiel as he knelt carefully beside Lucifer and flattened his hand atop a drooping wing. The anguish on his face hurt her heart as his apologetic, "I'm sorry, Luci," reached her ears.
"It will be quick," Amenadiel said softly and she gently wrapped her palms around Lucifer's shoulders, careful to avoid the bloody wings.
Without another word, Amenadiel's hand quickly wrapped around the demon blade jutting out of his fallen brother's back and yanked.
Lucifer's back bowed but he was too weak to pull himself out of her embrace. And his sharp grunt of pain sent a stab of heartache through Chloe. She held his head in her lap with one hand and rubbed his shoulder gently with her other in a vain effort to comfort him. More blood seeped out of his mouth and she heaved back a sob.
"Not on my watch, Lu. Hang on." Azrael knelt at his side and stared hard at Chloe. "You have to turn away and close your eyes." She looked over at Dan, Trixie, Ella and Linda, standing frozen in place. "All of you do. Turn away. Now."
Chloe rested her cheek against Lucifer's and squeezed her eyes shut just as Azrael placed the downy feather atop the oozing wound. She couldn't see what happened next but when his body went rigid, she could hear the puffy groan of relief that burst from his lips before he relaxed against her.
"Ok, you can look now."
Chloe lifted her head to look into the young angel's smiling face.
Amenadiel stepped forward, focused on the blade in her hand. "How?"
When Chloe looked down, she could see that while Lucifer hadn't moved, was still panting in pain even, his eyes also held a curious investment in his sister's answer.
Azrael dismissed him with an amused wave of her diminutive hand. "You think I can't track down my Dad given property? And – you know the key couldn't remain on Earth."
Michael stalked closer, eyes hard. "You shouldn't have interfered, Azrael."
Chloe wrapped her arms tightly around Lucifer as if she had a prayer in hell of protecting him if another angel intended him harm. But she needn't have worried as the much smaller Azrael went toe to toe with his twin.
"Lu isn't going back to hell, Mikey," Azrael intoned with a certainty that caused hope to bloom in Chloe's heart.
His nose wrinkled at the nickname and Chloe had a feeling there was a story behind it that she hoped she would one day hear. "That's not your decision."
The Angel of Death turned her nose up defiantly at Lucifer's twin. "Nor is it yours."
"Why are you doing this?" Chloe asked, genuinely curious. Lucifer had never even mentioned a twin before Michael had showed up to steal his life but there was obviously ingrained hatred between the two.
Michael's head swiveled toward her but the disgusted look on his face exposed his true opinion of her kind.
"I am charged with upholding our divine father's commands and it's time my rebellious brother returns to his rightful place." Michael sneered at Gabriel, Raquel and Remiel. "Now you see how he will always rebel. Always disobey father. Your praise was misguided."
"As I've told you. Repeatedly. Hell no longer needs a guardian." Amenadiel growled, eyes angry slits as he stared Michael down.
"Hell will always need a guardian," Michael denied immediately.
Gabriel, Raquel and Remiel appeared to have a full conversation with a few very pointed, contemplative looks between themselves.
Raquel tilted his head and regarded Michael with a calm, measured demeanor. "Have you requested our aid under false pretense?"
At the same time, Gabriel admonished, "You nearly killed a human. A child. You know that is forbidden."
"Oh please. She was in no danger. I knew Samael would stop the blade." He glared sanctimoniously at his hesitant siblings. "If you're too squeamish to assist me then go home and I will handle this myself – as usual." Michael stalked forward. "After all, it isn't the first time I've cast him into hell." His head tilted, as if gleefully recalling a past memory. "Sadly, the Fall this time will be considerably shorter."
Remiel pursed her lips and with a WHOOSH, her wings extended in a graceful arc around her shoulders. With a curt nod to Amenadiel, she vanished in a brief gust of wind.
Gabriel turned to Amenadiel, "We will confirm your claim."
Wings burst from Gabriel and Raquel's backs and they regarded their Fallen brother contemplatively before they followed on Remiel's heels.
As Azrael and Amenadiel positioned themselves between their injured brother and the advancing Michael, Lucifer grunted and on shaking limbs pushed himself to his feet. Chloe wrapped an arm low around his waist as he wobbled on unsteady legs, his drooping wings doing nothing to help with his balance.
"Don't," Lucifer warned and Chloe could have sworn his eyes flashed gold for a brief minute.
"You're going home, Samael," Michael hissed.
"That. Is. Not -" Lucifer grit his teeth on every word.
And with a speed Chloe would never have expected he possessed in his injured state, she was pushed back toward Dan. In the same smooth motion, Lucifer liberated Azrael's blade from her hand.
"-My. Name."
Shocked gasps echoed through the precinct from angel and human alike as the sword instantly lengthened in Lucifer's hand and flames burst along the entire breadth of the blade.
A disbelieving look flashed across Michael's stunned face.
"That blade can kill father. He must not be allowed to wield it!" Wild, rattled eyes met Amenadiel and Azrael's.
"Go home, Michael," Lucifer demanded, jaw set and eyes flashing. Despite his injuries, he cut an impressive and imposing figure as he stalked toward Michael.
"He killed Uriel with it!"
Chloe's heart thundered against her ribcage at this newest revelation. Lucifer didn't kill. Not unless -
"Uriel wasn't on some holy mission from Dad. He came here to kill mother," He spared a brief sorrowful glance at Chloe. "And the Detective."
- and there it was. Chloe's eyes widened. He'd killed for her. That was twice now. That she knew about. She tried not to think of the implications. There would be time later. She hoped.
"You're not strong enough to fight me, brother," Michael stalked forward, eyes full of divine justification.
Lucifer stumbled backward, gritting his teeth as his wings dragged broken and bloody on the floor. But his gaze hardened and with a grunt of extreme pain, he raised Azrael's blade skyward and snarled. "I won't have to."
"No!" Amenadiel bellowed as Michael lunged.
"Lu!" Azrael shrieked.
Chloe screamed. Trixie screamed. Linda crouched in front of Charlie's carriage. Ella prayed to the Big Guy though Chloe knew it would be in vain. Dan's arms came heavily down around his daughter and Chloe.
They were all thrown backwards as a burst of bright light enveloped the blade, coursing down from the heavens in rivulets of pulsing, golden power. Lucifer's hand trembled and he grit his teeth as his other hand moved to the hilt to steady the shaking blade.
Chloe found herself being pulled sharply backward and she immediately struggled against the familiar grip until Trixie's hand slid into hers. Dan guided her back toward the others and together they gawked as the glow sank like liquid sunlight into Lucifer's skin.
"Go. Home." Lucifer spoke with the commanding tone of one who expected obedience. Of one who had been and still very much was, a King.
With a growl of manic desperation, Michael lunged but found himself rebuffed by the reverberation of light as it expanded out from the blade in Lucifer's trembling hand.
With a roar of barely contained agony, Lucifer sank to his knees and lifted his face skyward, eyes glowing gold as the power to forge the very stars coursed through him. Celestial light sang through the blade like the hum of an ancient melody and Michael was buffeted so hard that his wings extended with an abrupt WHOOSH. With a snarl of defeat, he fled under the indefensible onslaught of the raw power of Creation.
Azrael fell to her knees and she exchanged a fearful glance with Amenadiel before her wings unfurled with a SNAP. She vanished in a swirling mass of twitching feathers, leaving Amenadiel to deal with the celestial meltdown.
"Holy Lightbringer, Batman," Ella exclaimed in wonder beside Chloe as they helplessly watched the light flow steadily down Lucifer's trembling arms.
"Let it go, Luci!" Amenadiel roared as he struggled to breach the brilliant barrier surrounding his brother.
With her heart in her throat, Chloe wondered if the infusion of light would burn Lucifer from the inside and succeed in killing him where Michael failed. Or – if he was inadvertently creating a star in the middle of the very planet. Neither a preferable option.
They watched helplessly, unable to move as the light grew more intense. Though it was a peaceful melody, it was wrapped in a vibration so strong that she could feel it in her very bones.
But Amenadiel pushed forward, trying desperately to reach his brother as he struggled for control.
Just as the reverberation of celestially summoned power reached a dangerous tipping point, Amenadiel bellowed one final time.
"Samael! Let go!"
Amenadiel surged through the light and desperately cupped Lucifer's trembling hands in his own. Kind, determined eyes implored that he release the awesome power he'd called upon to defend himself and those he loved.
With a final howl of anguish, the light vanished as quickly as it came, leaving a shivering Lucifer prone in Amenadiel's arms. The blade hit the floor, fiery light snuffed out the moment it left the Lightbringer's hands.
Chloe nearly sobbed with joy as Amenadiel protectively enveloped the man she loved in his arms and held tight as he convulsed. His head dipped and lips pressed a gentle, soothing kiss into dark, sweaty hair.
"You stupid, stupid idiot," Amenadiel exhaled an exhausted breath as Lucifer remained stunningly oblivious in his embrace.
Chloe watched with growing relief as Amenadiel tightened his arms around his delirious brother. His unblinking eyes still glowed with a golden hue as a gentle hand affectionately cupped Lucifer's cheek in an attempt to interrupt the constant convulsion of his long limbs.
"What's wrong with him?" Trixie's concerned whisper pulled her attention from the most heartwarming gesture of sibling love she had ever seen.
"That's starfire, man." Ella's voice echoed loudly. "Holy shit. Did he almost create a star in the middle of the planet?!"
"Ella..." Chloe admonished but grudgingly had to admit the stupefied observation made more than a little sense. She'd wondered the same.
Lucifer, the man she loved, who loved her, was God's Lightbringer; the angel who had made the very sun and stars.
The weight of that knowledge was unbelievably heavy. She'd spent an entire night in his bed being demonstrably shown a level of gentility and electrifying pleasure, by the biblical devil of all people, that she'd never before experienced. He had an underlying strength and power that he kept hidden. Dauntingly so.
But he wasn't just the devil. There was so much more she didn't understand. That she didn't know. But she wanted to. She wanted to spend a lifetime learning everything about her unbelievably flawed and emotionally scarred angel.
An overwhelming need to hold him bloomed beneath her sternum, leaving her gasping for breath. She knelt in front of Trixie, pushed mussed strands of hair behind her daughter's ears. "You wait here, Monkey, okay?"
But Dan's arm darted out and stopped her from leaving their side. "Where are you going? He'll fry you to ash."
Chloe understood his concern. She really did. It had only been a few days since he'd learned the Big Celestial Secret, after all. But she pried his fingers from her arm and said with a certainty she knew in her heart to be true. "No he won't."
She approached slowly, each determined step meant to make a not-quite-coherent Lucifer aware of her presence rather than spook him and risk a power surge of celestial proportions. When Amenadiel's wary gaze fell apologetically on her, she slowed.
"He would never forgive himself if he hurt you."
"He won't," Chloe replied with a confidence she hoped would override the skittish fear. "Please. Let me try."
At Amenadiel's infinitesimal nod, she carefully crossed the distance that separated them and slid to her knees. She reached for Lucifer's quivering hands still lying limp in his lap but there was no acknowledgement of her presence. His golden eyes simply stared unblinking into a headspace she couldn't penetrate.
"Lucifer," she whispered gently, one gentle hand cupping his whiskered jaw while the other closed around his trembling fingers.
She leaned closer, into his eyeline and implored, "Please come back to me."
When there was no acknowledgment, nothing in him that recognized her presence, she pressed gentle lips to his forehead. "I love you. Please, Lucifer."
After a few long moments of simply sitting and offering comfort though gentle touch, his eyes flitted sideways to settle on her. His lips were chapped, dry as he whispered an achingly painful, "I couldn't see my stars." He inhaled a shaky breath. "In hell. It was the greatest –punishment of all."
Chloe swallowed deep around the sudden lump in her throat and didn't bother to wipe away the tears.
Relief crossed his face as he gazed at her like she was his one and only lifeline. "But – I can see them now."
Unmitigated joy spread across her face as his fingers tightened around hers, driving away the piercing gold until all that remained were little flecks of light swimming in his dark eyes.
A few more long moments, and they cleared even more. "D-Chloe?"
There would never be a time when she didn't delight at his use of her given name.
"Hey." She could feel the tense lines of his body and so she slid her hand around the back of his head to scratch lightly into his hair. She hoped he remembered how much he'd enjoyed the soothing gesture as they lay together only a few short days ago in his ridiculously large bed.
His eyes fluttered closed and he hummed softly as her fingers continued to gentle the dark strands. After a few moments, he inhaled a shaky breath, lips twisting in a grimace of pain as he tried to lift himself out of Amenadiel's arms.
"Gently, brother. We have time."
While one hand remained comfortably entangled with hers, he roughly cleared his throat and disdainfully wiped blood off his mouth with the back his other.
"No," Lucifer rasped, his carefully hidden wince unmistakable due to their proximity.
He glanced up at Amenadiel with regret and Chloe could feel panic bubble up from where she'd banished it to the deep, dark recesses of her heart. She turned questioning eyes to Amenadiel as Lucifer continued. "I need you to do one more thing."
Amenadiel's eyes slid down his brother's prone form and across the limp and bloody wings fanned out on either side of them. The strong shake of his head ratcheted up Chloe's growing panic.
"No." Amenadiel's quick, firm denial rocked the foundations of already her already frayed nerves.
"You're the only one who can," he breathed unsteadily, his normally playful, expressive eyes a deep reservoir of anguish.
"I – can't."
"They won't heal, Amenadiel."
Sudden understanding thudded so sharply in her chest that she couldn't stop the audible gasp that burst from her lips. No. Not this. No.
Lucifer's eyes slid across her horrified face like an intimate caress and the forced smile revealed the attractive dimples normally hidden by his closely-cropped scruff. "It's all right, darling. This isn't the first time I've lost them."
"Lucifer," she began, breathless, head shaking and hands clutching his in denial. Last time had been his choice. Now – it wasn't. She felt tears well again in her eyes.
His tired, resigned eyes shifted to Amenadiel. "Please."
She sobbed. Once. To get it out of her system. He didn't need to see it. Not now. She needed to be strong for him. She huffed a deep breath, set her shoulders and gave his hands a reassuring squeeze. She was here for him. Whatever he needed.
"Help me," Amenadiel intoned with such an ache in his voice that Chloe simply centered her balance on her knees and opened her arms.
Amenadiel slowly stood and pushed a sluggish Lucifer into her embrace. His head listed heavily on her shoulder as she struggled to determine the best way to place her hands to best support him and not be in Amenadiel's way. She finally settled for threading one through his dark hair and the other across the top of his shoulders to hold him tight to her body.
She pressed her lips to his damp forehead and whispered a heartfelt, "I love you," while Amenadiel lifted the discarded hell-forged blade off the floor and glared at it like it was the most offensive object he'd ever laid eyes on.
Tears dripped down her cheeks as Amenadiel flattened a steady hand between Lucifer's shoulder blades. He inhaled slowly, an attempt to center and calm himself for the offensive task he'd been asked to perform.
Chloe sobbed when he made the first deft cut and Lucifer's body went rigid in her arms. With each decisive, surgical cut, she could see the crush of misery settle in Amenadiel's wet eyes.
Lucifer hissed his agony through clenched teeth while fat tears fell unhindered where she rested her cheek atop his head. She whispered, "I love you," over and over into his hair, hoping it would give some measure of comfort while Amenadiel carved the beautiful, snowy wings from his body.
When the piercing howl of baby Charlie's cries echoed through the quiet room, Chloe's eyes shifted toward her friends and her heart somersaulted with angst.
Dan held Trixie tightly in his arms, her head pressed to his chest, her view blocked. Determined to prevent her from being traumatized by the severing of an angel's wings right in front of her eyes.
Ella knelt on the floor, cross pendant clutched tightly in white fingers, tears streaming down her normally bright, cheery face.
Linda bounced with the screaming Charlie, eyes wet and lips trembling.
As the bloody wings fell heavily to the floor, Amenadiel stepped back and dropped the demon blade with a disgusted grimace.
Dead weight finally lifted from his sagging shoulders, Lucifer took a few deep, centering breaths and pushed himself upright. He swayed, unsteady against her for a few more moments. The disorienting pain likely a heady combination of the amputation, being healed with a feather and the residual star power he'd summoned with Azrael's blade.
"You'll understand if I don't - linger," Lucifer cast a dispassionate look at the wings even though Chloe knew their loss hurt more than he revealed. She was getting better at recognizing his tells. The ones he hid under a veneer of disarming grins and irreverent innuendo.
With a tender, weary smile and a shaky, grateful hand to her cheek, Lucifer weakly trudged out of the precinct.
He didn't look back.
And she suddenly felt overwhelmingly bereft.
Amenadiel just stood rooted in place, aghast at his part in this celestial mutilation.
Before Chloe had a chance to react, Trixie collided against her side. "Go with him!"
"Monkey-"
"Lucifer needs you." Chloe was struck by the firm desperation in her daughter's wet eyes. In the set of her stubborn jaw. That was her side of the family all the way.
Chloe glanced around as everyone came forward, even Linda, baby Charlie now calm in her arms. She wondered if he'd felt the celestial trauma.
"We've got this, Chlo," Ella reassured, blood-shot eyes somber as she glanced at the floor now littered with crimson-hued feathers and a pair of severed angel wings.
Even Dan gave her a sharp nod, lips pursed with what she could only assume was an inner battle with his own demons.
She gave Trixie a lingering kiss to the top of her head. "If you're sure?"
Trixie gave her a shove. "Go."
"Ok," she agreed. "I'll call you later." With a final, mournful glance at the brutalized wings, she hurried after Lucifer, hoping she could catch him before he got behind the wheel of his car.
Angel or not, he was in no condition to drive.
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