"Bing."

The elevator door opened and a young woman entered Lucifer's penthouse, her hair waving as she walked. She put on a seductive smile when she spotted Lucifer sitting at his bar.

"Hello, Ms. Williams," Lucifer said with a charming smile when he saw her. He helped her out of her jacket while examining her face and body thoroughly with his eyes. She looked quite attractive, like one of the many other women he had over at his penthouse in the past.

"Thanks for inviting me," Ms. Williams said, still smiling at Lucifer.

"I'm glad you came tonight. May I serve you a drink?" He turned to the bar, poured some whiskey in a second glass, and gave it to the woman.

She emptied the glass in one go, then leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, "I'm all yours tonight."

"Sounds great." Lucifer smiled and moved closer to her. He touched her by the shoulder, then moved his hand up to her face, carefully observing her reactions. Then he looked directly into her eyes.

"So, what is it that you truly desire?"

The expression on her face started changing. The seductive look in her eyes went away and changed to a state of confusion to a realization that seemed to hurt her so much that she started to cry.

"I wanna be back with my ex-boyfriend," she said while wiping away her tears. "I miss him so much. It was a mistake to leave him."

"I see…" Lucifer said and pulled back from her. "I think you should go to him and talk about it. It might not be too late yet."

"Really?" said the woman under tears. "Thank you so much."

She took her jacket and left the penthouse without looking back at Lucifer even once. Lucifer kept sitting at the bar, turning his empty glass around in his hands, lost in thoughts.

"The babysitter? Really, Luci?"

Lucifer turned around when he heard the familiar voice behind him. His face showed a neutral expression but he couldn't hide the irritation in his voice when he replied.

"And what are you doing here? Coming to annoy me?"

"I came to check on you, Luci." Amenadiel stepped forward from the darkness of the rest of the room and stopped in front of Lucifer.

"I don't need you or anyone else to check on me, dear brother, so leave me alone," Lucifer replied and turned back to the bar. He grabbed the bottle of whiskey, refilled his glass, and emptied it in one go. He didn't want to see anyone at the moment and he certainly didn't want to talk to Amenadiel.

"Well, I think it's necessary," Amenadiel said.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. His brother could be such an annoyance.

"How did you even know I'm here?" asked Lucifer.

"I've been watching over Chloe since you left. She seemed off since yesterday and when I visited her earlier today, she told me what you did after coming back."

"Great." Lucifer poured himself another glass of whiskey, deliberately ignoring what Amenadiel said about him.

"What's the matter, Lucifer? What exactly are you trying to do here?"

"That's none of your business. And now leave." Lucifer's mood got worse.

"Do you have any idea what you put Chloe thr—"

"I said leave!" Lucifer turned around and threw his empty glass toward Amenadiel who evaded it with ease. The glass burst when it hit the ground and made Lucifer even more angry.

"I'm not leaving before you tell me what's going on, Lucifer," Amenadiel said in a calm voice that fueled Lucifer's anger even more.

Lucifer glared at his brother with an intense stare for a few seconds, then decided it was not worth it and started moving toward the elevator.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Amenadiel, grabbed Lucifer by his arm, and turned him around so he would face him. Lucifer's eyes became narrow.

"Which part of leaving me alone do you not understand, brother?" he growled, trying to shake off Amenadiel's grip, but Amenadiel grabbed Lucifer's arm with all his might.

"You're really trying to piss me off, aren't you," Lucifer said. His eyes started glowing while he was channeling all his devil power in himself. Without any further warning he unleashed his power and sent Amenadiel flying through the room.

Amenadiel groaned when he hit the bookshelf behind him and several books fell on top of his head. But it only took him a second to recover and come back at Lucifer with all of his angel power. It was so strong that he brought Lucifer down and they both continued fighting and punching each other on the ground for several seconds. In the end, Amenadiel found a position to restrict Lucifer under him.

"Go away," Lucifer hissed at Amenadiel, trying to mobilize his powers again.

"Not until you tell me what's going on, brother," Amenadiel replied and pressed his weight even more down on Lucifer.

"No," Lucifer said in a firm voice, staring at Amenadiel before he continued to speak. "Not here." Lucifer's words were now a mere whisper and took Amenadiel so by surprise that he loosened his grip.

Lucifer immediately took advantage of it and pushed Amenadiel away from him. The attack was so strong that Amenadiel was flying again a few meters through the room, this time crashing into the elevator door. Before Amenadiel could come back at him, Lucifer got up and started running to the balcony. Amenadiel reacted instantly and followed Lucifer but it was too late for him. Lucifer had already spread his wings and was flying away into the night.

The city under Lucifer was well-illuminated, like an endless sea of lights. Every other time this could have been a pleasant flight, but not today. Lucifer could already sense Amenadiel coming after him. He tried to fly faster with some abrupt changes of direction, but the presence of the other angel behind him didn't go away. On the contrary, it seemed to come closer and closer.

Lucifer flew toward the skyscraper center of Los Angeles, hoping to shake off Amenadiel between the tall buildings. He went up and down, left and right, but Amenadiel kept getting closer. After a few minutes of a wild flight between the skyscrapers, Lucifer finally landed on one of the tallest buildings. Amenadiel immediately appeared from the darkness behind him.

A couple of minutes passed while Lucifer was just standing there, looking into the night, his back toward Amenadiel. When he finally turned around, Amenadiel found a completely different Lucifer standing in front of him. All the fury was gone from him and he only looked like a broken image of himself.

"Luci…" Amenadiel said, his voice sounding soft when he saw his brother's face twisted with pain. He took a step toward him but stopped when he saw Lucifer taking one step back at the same time.

"Let me help you, brother," Amenadiel continued.

"You can't help me. No one can." Lucifer's voice was full of resignation.

"You don't know before you try." Amenadiel looked firmly into Lucifer's eyes.

More time passed by with neither of them saying a word. Finally, Lucifer broke the silence.

"Do you know why I went back to hell?"

"I tried to ask Chloe once but she didn't really say much. Something about a weird prophecy and that the world will end if you don't go back and keep the demons in check."

"Well, good. Then you already know everything."

"I still don't understand," Amenadiel said. "I've never heard of any such prophecy. I tried to make you go back to hell in the past because I was worried about throwing things out of balance, but I've realized that nothing bad was happening with you being here."

"It's not only about me being here. That part alone was perfectly fine."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem… is that me being here and finding my first love will trigger evil to be released and hell coming to earth. That's what the prophecy is about."

"That's still something I've never heard about before."

"Me neither, but we've both seen that it's very true. Or do I have to remind you of what happened to Charlie?"

"No… I clearly remember."

"See, and I don't want a repeat of this. Not for Charlie, not for you and Linda, and certainly not for the Detective. Especially not for her."

"So that's why you left?"

"Yes. I went back to hell to protect the Detective and her life. She…" he stopped, searching for words. "She's a good person. She deserves to have a good life. Without worrying about weird things happening around her and supernatural beings trying to destroy her life."

"Then what made you come back to earth?" asked Amenadiel.

Lucifer stopped speaking. He didn't feel like talking further. What was the point of it anyway? There was nothing he or anyone else could do. This was just a waste of time. But Amenadiel didn't seem to give up. He kept standing there, waiting for Lucifer to tell him more.

"After I stayed in hell for a while," he continued, "the demons accepted that I'm back and started to calm down. But it still seemed different than before, something was still wrong. And then I heard that there was one demon who found a way to go to earth. And that he planned to destroy what would give me a reason to come back here. So I decided to come and deal with it before he… hurts someone."

"I see," Amenadiel replied. "Do you have any clues who this demon might be and how to find him?"

"No." Lucifer shook his head. "But I imagine he will try to get closer to the Detective and other people or places that are close to me. So I'm checking all the new faces to find out their true intentions. To see if they're harmless or a demon in disguise."

"That's why you invited the babysitter. And why you're going on dates with different people."

Lucifer didn't reply to the obvious statement. In the past he would have bragged about his exciting life but right now it was only stressful. There were just too many new people to check. And he took no joy in meeting them.

"Why don't you tell Chloe about it?" asked Amenadiel. "She could also look out for strange things. And she would feel better about the situation if she knew what was going on."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Lucifer stayed silent. He averted his eyes from Amenadiel and looked into the distant night sky, trying to keep his composure. Why couldn't Amenadiel just leave him alone? He had tried so hard not to think about the Detective and to focus on what he had to do. Finding the escaped demon was the most important goal. He couldn't let his feelings overwhelm him and put the mission or anyone else at risk. When he looked back at Amenadiel, his eyes were filled with pain.

"I… don't want her to come close to me and get hurt again when I have to leave."

"And you think you're not hurting her if you come back into her life and treat her worse than a stranger?"

Amenadiel's reply was like a slap in Lucifer's face. First there was the shock—and after a few seconds of realizing the situation it started burning from the pain.

"Telling her you're going on dates. Did you think she would be fine with that?"

"But this was never a problem in the past. She knew that I met a lot of people all the time. It was normal."

"In the past maybe, but it's different now, and you should know that better than me."

Lucifer stared at Amenadiel and started to wonder how much Chloe told his brother about what had happened between them before they parted.

"And even worse," Amenadiel continued, "telling her to stay away from you. Can you imagine how much this hurts if it comes from the person you care about the most?"

"She… she started asking me too many questions. I… I had to make her stop so she wouldn't come closer."

"That's just cruel, Lucifer." Amenadiel shook his head.

Lucifer kept staring at Amenadiel without saying a word. It was never his intention to hurt the Detective. He came back to protect her after all. All he wanted was her to be safe and that she had a good life.

"Okay, I get that you had your reasons for going back to hell," Amenadiel said when Lucifer stayed silent. "I don't agree with how you ended things with Chloe and how you didn't tell anyone else about it. But if that's the way you wanted to end things, then you shouldn't have come back like this. You could have done all these investigations without appearing in front of Chloe and it would have been less hurtful for her. What were you thinking, Luci?"

Amenadiel's speech was followed by another long silence. Lucifer felt unable to respond, unable to even think about Amenadiel's words with a clear mind. Something had gone badly wrong and he couldn't understand completely what he had done. Trying to wrap his mind around it, the burning pain inside him only grew stronger and stronger.

"I'm sorry, Lucifer…" Amenadiel said, his voice being soft again. "I didn't want to blame you. I only wanted to understand."

"Well," Lucifer replied with a fake smile, his eyes full of hurt, "apparently I didn't think about it at all. But that's just who I am, right? Wherever I go, whatever I do, I only hurt the ones around me, and especially the ones that care about me."

"Lucifer, I'm really sor—"

"Enough of this." Lucifer cut him off with a cold voice. "You should really leave me alone now before more bad things are happening."

"I can help you," Amenadiel said and took a step closer to Lucifer.

"I said you can't!" Lucifer took a few steps back until he reached the edge of the roof. There was no railing or anything else that could hold someone back. One more step meant inevitably falling several hundreds of feet down to the ground. For humans at least.

Lucifer had no intention to jump to death. It was pointless anyway as he couldn't die and even if he did, he would only wake up back in hell. And this was something Amenadiel surely knew as well. Still, he didn't try to come closer to Lucifer.

"Please leave me alone, brother," Lucifer said once again.

Amenadiel looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't. Lucifer was preparing himself for a reaction but there was none. It almost looked like Amenadiel finally accepted that he wanted to be alone. Lucifer let some more time go by but nothing was happening.

Lucifer nodded slightly, signaling that he was done here. Without looking back at Amenadiel, he turned around and took the last step over the edge. The few seconds of free fall felt like a strange rush. Then he spread his wings and used the acceleration from the fall to get away from the building fast. Amenadiel's presence slowly faded away behind him.

The lights of the city under Lucifer seemed to shine even brighter than before, so much that they were blinding him. He stopped caring if Amenadiel came after him and took the fastest route back to the penthouse to escape the blinding sea of lights. After a few minutes he finally landed on the balcony. Thankfully, there were no signs of Amenadiel being behind him.

Lucifer avoided looking around and walked with quick steps toward the inside of the penthouse. The balcony was the most painful place of the penthouse as it was the last place where he saw the Detective, the place where he left her. He tried to avoid it as much as he could to not have to think about her.

When Lucifer came close to the large windows he was frightened by his own reflection in the glass. He looked horrible after his fight with Amenadiel and the flight through the night. His hair was a mess and on the right side of his face was a large bruise. He touched his face with his hands to see if there were more problems when he noticed the faint shine of tears in his eyes.

Shocked about the emotional state he was in he turned away from the window and went inside the penthouse. For a short while he was wandering around aimlessly inside, then he realized that this would drive him crazy and that he had to force himself to sit or lie to calm down.

He went to his bedroom and sat down on the bed. The silk bed sheets felt cold under his hands. It was an unpleasant feeling but he didn't feel like getting up again. He lied down on the bed, staring up to the ceiling, and it felt like the coldness around him grew deeper with every passing minute, making him painfully aware of his loneliness. Lucifer couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed someone's company next to him. It had been a while—now all his interactions with other beings seemed distant and not of any importance. He turned his head to the side and his nose caught a faint scent of what felt so distant yet so familiar to him.

Lucifer opened his eyes wide in surprise. This was impossible. How could he smell the Detective's scent? He moved his head around more, pressed his nose into the pillow, and took in a deep breath. The scent was so weak that he couldn't tell if it was real or if he was imagining it. Lucifer let out a bitter laugh. As if this day wasn't bad enough already, now his mind was also playing tricks on him.

Images of the Detective started materializing in his mind. The Detective at work, at her home, at Lux, at the penthouse. Her annoyed face when he did something stupid, her laughing face when he said something funny, her caring face when they were alone. Lucifer tried to fight against the images, but he couldn't stop them from flooding into his mind anymore.

There was the beach, where she kissed him the first time. It was a soft and shy kiss which came as a surprise but at the same time made him feel so light and ecstatic.

More images flickered by until he was standing outside the house where he fought Cain. Where he tried to convince the Detective yet again that he was the Devil and where they shared their next kiss.

A warm feeling went through his body when he remembered her soft lips on his, and her hand holding his face gently. He missed the Detective—he missed Chloe—so much.

The way she looked at him.

The way she made him feel good.

How she gave him the feeling that he deserved happiness.

That even the Devil deserved to be loved.

Chloe…

More images appeared, of all the things that happened after his devil face reveal when everything only went down.

And then, Chloe and him, both standing on the balcony. He was about to leave when she started pleading with him to change his mind and stay with her.

I love you.

Lucifer gasped when he remembered Chloe saying those three words. They made him feel so happy but at the same time he could feel the panic crawling up inside him.

He couldn't stay. If he stayed he would destroy her. He could not let this happen.

Chloe…

Chlo…

No, no, no. He couldn't get too close.

Detective. She was the Detective.

Chlo…

No!

Forget, forget, forget.

Lucifer covered his eyes with his hands and tried to erase the images in his head. He had to stop thinking about Chloe… the Detective before he would lose his mind.

He had to stop. No more thinking. There was nothing to think about. Nothing. Nothing… Everything went black, an endless ocean of nothingness that pulled him closer, trying to drown him.

Lucifer welcomed the feeling of numbness which eased his pain at least for a few seconds before his thoughts went back to remembering more past events with Chloe. And then he couldn't stop screaming anymore. This was going to be a long night.