18 Hours Later
It starts differently this time.
Chloe's not in the gallery, but on her front step, the outside air heavy and oppressive, buzzing with insect and telephone wires. They make her ears ring, and she can't hear anything other than her labored breaths pushing their way out of her mouth.
When she opens the door, her house looks the same: all the furniture is there, breakfast half-eaten on the counter, Trixie's arts and crafts spread out on the kitchen table. It looks lived-in and inviting and warm. And there are feathers falling, floating in the air as if someone had burst her pillows open. Except these feathers are too large to be used as down, too soft and too radiant to be wasted on furniture. They still burn her skin as they glance past her on their way down, coating the hardwood in a carpet of white.
Innocent laughter fills the air, a familiar sound that douses Chloe in a tidal wave of fear. Trixie bounds down the hall the next moment, shrieking with joy as she jumps to catch the feathers before they touch the ground as if they are snowflakes.
She wants to scream, 'Trixie, no baby! Run away! You're gonna get hurt!' but her throat is swollen shut, like the feathers have clogged her throat.
Trixie plays in the feathers as they burn her pale skin raw, turning her into something horrific - something red and scarred.
Then Trixie looks up, and it's not her eyes Chloe meets, but the Devil's.
The sound of beeping startles Chloe back into reality. She gains her bearings enough to recognize the smell of smoke coming from the oven, and pieces two and two together.
She curses as she rushes to pull the burnt sandwiches out, waving a towel around to dissipate the smoke. Her hands fumble for the latch to the window, hoping the fresh air will please the alarm and get it to shut up. She has a bad enough migraine as it is, and seven cups of coffee - eight, she corrects as she starts a fresh pot - has only succeeded in giving her jitters. The lack of sleep could have something to do with it as well, but that is besides the point.
When the smoke clears and the beeping subsides, Chloe examines her work. Only blackened slabs remain of what were supposed to be Hawaiian sandwiches.
So much for breakfast...
"Mommy..." Trixie mumbles, wiping her eyes as she scoots onto a barstool. "Is the house on fire?"
Chloe's breath catches and she has to take a moment to appreciate how rosy and unmarked her daughter's skin is. There isn't a single thing wrong with her, not a scratch on her body.
It was only a dream, she tells herself.
"Nope, I was just making some breakfast," Chloe answers, tossing the ruined meal into the trash. Trixie watches the whole scene rather confusedly, giving Chloe a funny look.
"It's okay, I'm not hungry."
"You're going to eat something young lady," Chloe insists, going over to the pantry and surveying the options. The only thing remotely breakfast-like available that does not require any cooking skills on Chloe's part is a box of the sugary cereal Maze loves. Chloe cringes. The stuff is terrible - nothing but processed sweetener sure to send Trixie into a sugar high - but there are no other options. She sighs and brings the box over, depositing the box in front of her daughter.
Trixie's eyebrows shoot up as she gives her mother an even more surprised look. "Mommy, are you alright? You never let me eat this."
"Think of it as your reward for being such a good girl."
"But I haven't done anything," Trixie points out. Chloe's smile falters, and she wonders why today of all days her daughter is trying to argue getting fed sweets when all she does every other day is finesse her way into getting chocolate cake. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm just fine Monkey, I promise," Chloe assures her daughter, hoping this time she sounds more convincing. She pets back pieces of Trixie's wild bed head before reaching up in the cabinet to get a bowl. She also fetches the milk and a spoon to complete the set. "Now eat your breakfast and go get ready for school."
Miraculously, Trixie obeys and pours herself a hefty bowl of the rainbow colored cereal. Chloe tries not to cringe at all the empty calories and rotten teeth that would result. But she isn't even half way into the bowl when a large groan from the sofa has both of them jumping out of their seats.
Trixie bounds over to the sofa like a bullet, shouting, "Maze!"
"Hey tiny human," Maze manages a pained smile, wincing as the little girl bowls into her at full force. Chloe knows that wounds like those, even with whatever supernatural healing Maze possesses, have to hurt.
"What happened? Why are you hurt so bad?"
Trixie's eyes go wide and glassy, tears only moments away as she presses Maze for answers. Chloe stays quiet, hanging back to keep her distance without ever taking an eye off of Trixie and where Maze's hands were in relation. Any hint of movement towards her blades and ...
Her blades! That's why the one used to murder Pierce looked so familiar. It was the same one of two that Maze kept on her person at all times. But...that didn't make any sense. If Maze never parts with the blades, then why would Pierce have one in the first place?
"A bad man tried to hurt my friend, so I had to hurt him back," Maze rasps, a generalized version of what had to be a bigger story.
Chloe fills in the gaps pretty easily. The bad man, all the bumps and bruises, Pierce having one of her blades, his concealed violent tendencies. There confirms Chloe's theory about the missed calls from Linda as well. Maze must have gone to check up on the therapist first before crashing on Chloe's couch for the night.
"Did you stop him?"
Maze looks to Chloe for an answer, one that she happily provides for her daughter's peace of mind.
"Yes, Monkey. The bad man can't hurt Maze or anyone ever again."
"Good," Trixie says resolutely, nodding her head.
Silence washes over them, and Chloe finds herself becoming exceedingly uncomfortable with the closeness of the two. Despite the lack of apologies, all bad blood seems to have washed away. Trixie is playing with the ends of Maze's hair, and Maze is looking at Trixie fondly, almost like she has missed her. It is too much.
"Hey, Trix, why don't you finish getting ready for school?"
Trixie nods her head, though reluctant to let Maze go without a final look-over, and bounds out of the room back into her own. Chloe lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. As much as she tells herself that Maze is hurt, that Maze is her friend, that Maze is not a threat, letting a demon that close to her daughter is hard. So hard. Thankfully, Maze does not seem to notice the tension in Chloe's every muscle, nor the distance she keeps by sitting down on the opposite couch. Or if she does notice, Maze says nothing about it.
Instead she fixes Chloe with those dark, mischievous eyes.
"You got Pierce."
Chloe nods, the whole situation surreal. She is talking to a demon, of all things...a demon who happens to be her roommate. Former roommate? What does one classify someone who burns all their bridges in a fit of rage, storms out without saying why, disappears for weeks, and then returns out of the blue covered in wounds? Put like that, the whole scenario sounds eerily familiar to someone else...
"Is he dead?"
Chloe shakes herself from her thoughts, returning her focus to the demon. "Yes."
"Good." Maze sounds just as Trixie had: satisfied with the outcome.
"Not good," Chloe amends, the gravity of the situation settling back in. "Now there is no one to prosecute for the murder of Charlotte Richards."
"What?" Maze pulls herself up into a sitting position, clearly surprised. "Charlotte's dead?"
It is then Chloe remembers that Maze had gone AWOL since the bachelorette - now guessing it was most likely because Pierce had her holed up and tortured somewhere - and was not around for the latest turn of events.
"Pierce shot her two days ago in cold blood," Chloe affirms, and as much as Maze professes not to like the woman, she seems affected. "Now that he's dead, we don't have a case. We have his fall guy, and witnesses who will attest to attempting to cover it all up, but without Pierce there is no one to charge."
"Bastard," Maze hisses, her eyes narrowing, and for a second Chloe thinks she glimpses the demon beneath her skin. "I will go to Hell and drag his miserable soul back up here myself."
Chloe does not doubt that Maze means what she says, especially when said with such venom.
"Pierce was stabbed by one of your blades," Chloe continues, feeling the need to let Maze know this particular detail. After all, those blades are really special to her. At their mention, Chloe watches Maze pat down her torso, knowing exactly where they should be and scowling once she notices that one is gone. Still, there is one more detail that is niggling at the back of Chloe's mind, one terrible notion that she has not been able to shake. "I think...I think Lucifer was the one who did it."
"Are you sure?" Maze asks, looking skeptical though much more attentive. There is something else behind those dark eyes now, not just a desire to know but a fear of knowing.
"When I walked into the room, I saw him leaning over the body. They were the only ones in there, and I saw...I saw h-his - "
Chloe is unable to get the words out without feeling her skull pound and her mouth go numb. Without seeing those eyes.
"You saw his Devil face," Maze finishes, able to connect the dots. She sounds like she's been in this position before, that she's seen reactions like this before, and Chloe wonders just how many people have seen what she's seen. "You know."
Maze sounds defensive and apprehensive, and that makes her prickly. Maze always gets this way when she is uncomfortable, when she is expecting the worst. And really, who can blame her? Just a few hours ago, Chloe was ready to kick Maze to the wind, lock the door, and never look back.
"Yeah, I know, and it's...a lot to process," Chloe admits, running a hand across her forehead while she tries to explain herself. "I'm doing the best I can, but I-I just - "
"I get it, Decker," Maze sighs, casting Chloe a sideways glare. The unspoken 'shut up' is clear. "So, why does Lucifer's face change suddenly make him the murderer?"
"Like I said, he was the only other conscious person, and when he turned around he looked - " Chloe got choked up just thinking about the furious crimson eyes, the scarred face. " - h-his eyes were so...they were so angry a-and vengeful, and it felt like I was in the room with evil - "
"He isn't evil. He punishes evil," Maze snaps rather forcefully, and Chloe is abruptly reminded of Maze's true nature. The demon then cocks her head, and continues to mock, "But hey, what does it matter what you think? You're only the one person he cares about more than anything in this miserable world."
Chloe is stunned into silence, unsure of what to think of this new revelation. Out of all the outcomes the morning could bring, she did not expect to be berated by a demon. Out of all the secrets Maze could divulge, her status as Lucifer's favorite person is most unexpected, and yet, not surprising at all. How could it be a surprise when he has all but admitted it himself?
Softer memories flutter through Chloe's mind now, ones of laughter and camaraderie. Gentle moments spent swaying in strong arms to the sound of eighties music while golden tin foil confetti fell from the ceiling. He did that all for her...
"What are you doing?"
Chloe looks down to see Maze wrestling her own body, wincing with every move as she tries to become mobile.
"Angels aren't allowed to kill humans. It's celestial rule number one," Maze explains, grunting as she puts her feet on the floor. "If Lucifer really did kill Pierce, then I need to get to him before he does any more damage."
"Are you serious Maze?" Chloe balks as she stands to counter Maze's movements, encouraging the demon to lay back down. "You are in no shape to go anywhere."
Suddenly, this whole situation seems a lot less ridiculous. Because here she is, trying to keep her impulsive roommate from trying to do something dangerous, just like she has a thousand times over. It's so painfully normal that she fights the simultaneous urge to laugh and cry. The only thing that changes this time is that Maze folds pretty easily, her weakened muscles giving out at the first sign of resistance.
"Someone has to go save his ass, and judging by how wonderfully the reveal went over, you sure as hell aren't going to do it," Maze grumbles, and though she hides it behind a mask of annoyance, she looks worried.
"Lucifer..." Chloe struggles over his name. "I'm sure he can handle himself."
Maze barks out a mirthless laugh, tossing her head back against the armrest as she does so. "Damn Decker, you really are stupid."
"Excuse me?"
"You're his partner, and yet you don't know the first thing about him," Maze accuses, her tone harsh but Chloe can't help but feel like it's deserved. "Just think, for once in your life. He has his Devil face back. That means he did something big to get it, and now he's probably in a darker place than he was when he killed his brother."
"He what?"
"It's not important," Maze waves the subject away, and Chloe knows better than to bring it back up. At least, not now. "All that matters is making sure he doesn't self destruct like last time."
"What happened last time?"
"You tell me. You were the one who was there when he decided to use himself as a shield to protect that miserable human."
Her memories take her back to the shootout in a glass office, the sniper on the balcony taking shots precariously close to Lucifer's perfectly-tailored suit and yet, he kept spurring the man on, hurling insults and taunts as if adding fire to a flame, daring the sniper to do his worst. She used to think Lucifer was just taking things too far, per usual. That he was just putting on a good show. But now...
"You don't think he'd try to..." Chloe can't finish the thought. As terrifying as those crimson eyes are, the notion of Lucifer - her Lucifer - taking his life is unbearable.
"I don't know," Maze shrugs, as completely in the dark as Chloe. There was once a time Maze knew Lucifer like the back of her hand. Now, not so much. "He has one of my blades, and without you around it's the only thing that can kill him. It wouldn't do it in the way you think; just send him back to Hell the long way round. But I think he wants to suffer. I think he believes he needs to be punished."
"What do you mean, without me around?"
"You make him bleed," Maze draws the word out longer than necessary, giving Chloe shivers. "You make him mortal."
Chloe's head swims with information, new details coming in faster than she can process, and she has already been woefully behind ever since she caught a glimpse of that horrifying face. She shuts everything else out and reconciles Maze's words with what she knows. She knows that Lucifer says he's immortal, yet he bled when she shot him. But he looked so surprised, in genuine shock...as if he had never felt pain before. And his words...
If it's any consolation to your pride, Detective, it appears you make me vulnerable as well.
Chloe groans, rubbing at her temples. What makes her so special? Isn't it bad enough that the Devil has wormed his way into her heart, but now she has to be his version of an Achille's heel?...whatever that entails!
"Why?" is the only question she finds herself capable to ask. Why is it always me?
Maze sizes Chloe up for a second, as if debating saying something, before pursing her lips in a thin line. "Not my place to tell."
"Mommy, are you ready to go?"
Chloe looks up to find Trixie standing by the door, her backpack slung over her shoulders, a curious look on her face as she takes in the two adults caught in the middle of an argument. Chloe knows that Trixie isn't dumb. Trixie knows that something is going on with the adults in her life - mainly Chloe - but, as terrible as she feels about the secrets, Chloe wants to keep Trixie out of things for as long as possible. Or at least until things start making sense again, which at this rate could take years.
"Yeah, Monkey, let's go."
She stands up, brushes the imaginary feather dust off her knees, and grabs her keys. Thankfully the tremors in her hands have died down enough that driving won't be an issue. Normally, she could call Dan when she isn't feeling well, but Dan needs time to grieve, and Chloe needs every excuse she can get to put distance between her daughter, herself, and the supernatural.
"Bye Maze! I'll see you later! Feel better!" Trixie shouts over her shoulder, which only encourages Chloe to push her out the door faster.
This time, Maze notices.
"Don't leave him like this Decker!" Maze shouts to Chloe's backside as she's halfway out the door. "There's more at stake than just your feelings!"
Chloe slams the door behind her, walking as fast as she can to her police cruiser.
Maybe she is running away. Maybe she is chasing after normality with a passion. Maybe she is acting the coward. But as much as she wants to care and act as if everything is okay, she can't. Nothing is okay. Nothing makes sense and everything hurts and she can't even tell if it's anger she's feeling or absolute heartbreak. Right now, she doesn't even feel comfortable in her own home, and how can she be expected to come to terms with her new reality when she is never given a moment's reprieve from couch-crashing demons, burning feathers, and bottomless crimson eyes?
So she pulls a page out of Lucifer's book.
She runs.