Epilogue: "A Grave Error"

The darkness was so pervasive in this little pocket of Beverly Hills suburbia that not even the street lights could penetrate as Azrael landed in the neatly manicured back yard. Her wings snicked quickly out of sight as she cocked her head and peered through the window.

She knew the occupants wouldn't see her. As usual, it was easy to skulk in the shadows, humans never the wiser. Even Lucifer and Amenadiel wouldn't see. Not if she didn't want them to.

At her heels, Gabriel and Raquel landed, wings vanishing with little pops that didn't register on any audible human scale.

"Confirmed Mikey was lying, huh?" Otherwise, they would have already clasped Lucifer in unbreakable, celestial chains. And his twin would likely already be inside cackling with uncontained glee.

"I fear a grave error has been made," Raquel said sadly, eyes unblinking as they shifted to observe the reunion occurring inside. After a moment, he added a hesitant, "Perhaps – maybe - more than one."

That was the understatement of their very long, immortal lives. Azrael knew how he felt. She had wallowed in her own measure of guilt over how she'd treated her favorite brother. But that any of her other siblings thought they'd made a mistake, much less admitted it aloud, was a change of heart she never expected to see. Ever.

Inside, Lucifer had an easy, relaxed smile on his face only pinched in resigned discomfort when Trixie pushed herself into his space and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. He patted her head with one hand while the fingers of his other flexed at Chloe's hip.

And her girl Ella waited in the wings for her turn, bouncing at the child's heels and just itching to get her arms around her surrogate brother. It was the best decision she'd ever made manipulating events to ensure the two found one another.

"Humans are frail, fallible creatures but they possess an unmatched capacity for a love," Gabriel surveyed the scene with awe in his voice, "that burns as brilliant as Lucifer's stars."

Remiel suddenly joined their little jaunt into celestial voyeurism, wings WOOSHING out of sight as soon as she landed beside her siblings. "I was – perhaps – too - hasty."

Azrael observed her judgmental siblings closely. Could see their curiosity, and maybe a bit of longing, over how easily Lucifer moved between his human friends. How they smiled and welcomed him into their unlikely, mismatched family unit.

"I find that I – want to learn more," Gabriel admitted quietly.

"It is true." Raquel confirmed. As if he was unable to believe it. "Hell no longer requires a warden. Lucifer's watch is truly over."

"His punishment, you mean." Azrael corrected. She would always feel guilty about never visiting him. But that was her guilt to bear.

"Semantics." Remiel answered dismissively.

"Not to him," Azrael whispered quietly, eyes focusing on her favorite brother. She couldn't imagine leading a rebellion against her father, but neither could she fathom being so totally and completely abandoned by her siblings.

"He can come home." Gabriel breathed, voice tinged with a sliver of hope.

The only time she'd spoken to Lucifer after his Fall she'd told him that the entire family had been rocked after he'd been sent to hell. But that hadn't been the half of it. The reverberations of his rebellion could be felt to this day in the Silver City. In the unmovable hardness of some of their sibling's hearts toward him. The unmitigated fury in others. In the unbelievable thawing of some, too.

Azrael smiled warmly as Lucifer settled onto the couch with Chloe, their fingers wrapped together, eyes softer than she'd ever seen them when they landed to his partner. With only a briefly affronted glare, he even patiently answered Ella and Trixie's dual rapid-fire questions.

"He's already home."

Earth was, after all, where her brother's heart lived.

END

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