Author's note: Hey! Hey! As promised, here it is! Enjoy!
Chloe emerged on the other side of the rubbles that once stood as walls and ceiling. The others were there waiting for her, but she barely payed them any attention. She felt shaken to the core.
Finally, Lucifer admitted that he needed her as much as she needed him. But something had been preventing him all that time from giving in. Something big! Something he never dared to speak of. Was it in connection with that vulnerability thing, or was it something else? She was well determined to make him spill out everything about it once he was out of the woods. The time when she was letting him come to terms with his problems at his own pace was over. She would not let him any choices this time, she would ask the whole truth. No! She would demand it of him! And they would deal with it together. At this point, whatever it was, be it the fact that he was the Devil himself, she didn't think it could make any differences about what she felt for him.
But the silent way Lucifer had answered her plea to hold on just a little more, with a sad longing smile, resembled too much how he had acted just before vanishing for Vegas. She realized that he didn't believe in his chances to get out of there alive. Everything he just told her suddenly awfully felt like an adieu.
Her already rapid heartbeat cranked up another notch. She closed her eyes and tried to cling to the fading hope that everything could turn out alright for him. For them.
She was pulled out of her reverie by a comforting hand on her shoulder. Still feeling rattled, she turned slowly towards a very distressed Dan.
"Do you think…? Tell me it was all only nonsense." He pleaded.
Chloe shook her head softly. "I don't know, Dan. I don't know anymore. But I think it could be time to acknowledge the possibility that Lucifer might not be as crazy as we would like to believe."
Dan only nodded silently.
She wasn't sure what was disturbing her more between the facts that she actually voiced that thought, or that Dan was not rejecting it.
"Actually, it makes a whole amount of crazy sense when you think about it." Dan said musingly. "And Charlotte does have a few Goddess' skills and attributes…" He added with a small smile.
Chloe chuckled in spite of the completely impossible situation they were in. "I'm sure she does."
They both burst out laughing uncontrollably. Were they losing their sanity? Probably. Chloe couldn't care less.
Detective Williams brought them down to Earth. "I don't like to interrupt, but shouldn't we be looking for a way out?"
Chloe and Dan did their best to reign in their giggling.
"Haaa! Yeah! I guess you're right." Managed to say Chloe between two persistent giggles.
She racked her throat and finally got a grip on herself, and on her sanity. Her life was getting so crazy!
"Right… Do you know if there are other survivors? She asked the detective.
"The good news is that the jail section seems to be untouched. Strangely, I didn't find a guard over there. I'm afraid the dead body I found in the main corridor near the entrance of this room might be him. I really can't explain what he was doing there at the time of the bombing though."
That was indeed very strange. What could have brought the guard to leave his post and come all the way here? Chloe had no idea. They went to inspect the body that was lying a few feet behind a bunch of rubbles partially obstructing the opening of the main corridor. Williams had apparently moved aside some of the debris to get to their room.
It was definitely the guard Chloe had seen earlier this morning, and he was very dead. From what she could see with the little light they had from the flashlights, the poor guy had been very unlucky. He didn't show any evident injury aside from a gaping wound over the side of the head. A bloodied piece of concrete lying beside him confirmed that he had been hit during the explosion. She shook her head sadly.
Williams didn't let her lose more time with her inspection and went straight back to the most pressing issues. "I'm not exactly sure which way out we should work on. Maybe Detective Decker and M. Phillips could stay here and start digging through the back way, as not to lose time. In the meantime, Detective Espinoza and I could go get a better look at the main stairs now that we have flashlights. Earlier, I just got a peek with my cell phone's light. Maybe there's still a possibility to get out that way. It's worth a look."
It made sense. So Chloe and their witness went back inside the room to start working on the debris while Daniel followed Williams through the main corridor.
Chloe became disheartened as soon as she got a good look at the pile of rubbles facing them. The explosion had rendered the back way indiscernible. She prayed that the main stairs presented a better option, otherwise she feared they would never make it out in time to save Lucifer.
She thought back about Lucifer's actions to save them. He had sacrificed himself without a second thought to protect them. What an amazing man! Or should she say, Devil? Or angel? Whatever! But how did he find out that a bomb was about to go off?
While starting to work on the rubbles alongside their witness, she took a better look around the devastated room to try and understand what exactly happened. The epicenter of the explosion looked to have been very close to the back access. She didn't remember seeing anything suspicious around that area nor any hiding place for that matter. Near the entry that led to the interrogation room where Lucifer and Charlotte were still waiting, she could see pieces of the table that once stood in the center of the room. She thought Lucifer might have used it to protect himself and them in the process. It would explain how he survived.
Still, how did he know something was about to blow up? Maybe he found the bomb or heard it right before it went off and he only had the time to throw it that far. But where was it hidden? It wasn't as if there was a lot of hiding possibilities in the room. Under the table? Or in the big locker that now rested under tons of debris? It had to have been planted here during the night, for sure. Then why not hide it in the interrogation room where they would keep Damon Phillips? With the bomb in here instead, it would only have successfully killed the Mafia assassin if the door was opened. What a wild guess the bomber had taken! Unless… Unless the bomber was down here to triggered the bomb himself. That way he could have known that the door was open. But she had seen no one down here with them. Except… for the guard, who had suspiciously left his post just before the bombing and who was now dead.
Chloe shook her head in incomprehension. If it was him who had done it, wouldn't he have taken cover before triggering the explosion? It made no sense. Then who else could it be? There was no one else down here who would have known that the door was open and that it was the perfect time to act. No one, apart from…
Williams!
A chill went up her spine as the realisation hit her like a rock. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Williams would have known when to trigger the bomb. He could have brought it in here with him this morning. Chloe thought back about his suitcase that had stayed behind when he went to the restroom at a very convenient time. Too convenient. What about the guard? It suddenly seemed evident. Williams had killed him afterwards with a blow to the head to make it pass as having happened during the explosion. But why? Certainly to eliminate any possible witnesses of what he was about to do. Which certainly was to finish the job; eliminate his target.
It would be much easier for Williams to kill all the witnesses with his gun, but it would also make it more difficult for him to explain how it happened if he planned on keeping his place as a detective. So the best option for him was probably to separate and kill them one by one in a way to put it on the explosion. A lot harder to do for sure, but a lot safer for his future. Which meant that Daniel, Lucifer, Charlotte, and she were also his targets now.
Daniel!
She grabbed the flashlight and started running towards the main corridor. Williams was about to kill Dan! There was no greater certainty. Behind her, Phillips complained about the sudden darkness around him, but Chloe didn't give him a second thought.
She ran as fast as she could through the darken corridors with her flashlight and gun firmly in hand in front of her, weapon ready to be fired. The noise she was making with her advance prevented her from hearing clearly what was going on farther in the basement, but she wouldn't allow herself to slow down. She couldn't afford being too late. She just wasn't ready to lose the two most important men of her life in one single day. Surely Williams hadn't had time to kill him yet. Dan wasn't that easy to fool, right? She grimaced at that utmost uncertainty.
At last, she reached the hall where the main stairs were supposed to be. Suddenly, her beam of light passed over something with human-shaped appearance lying on the floor. She quickly brought back her light on what was effectively a body, to also discover someone standing over it and in the process of throwing something in her direction.
Caught off guard by her appearance, Williams nonetheless reacted quickly. As soon as he saw the beam of light sweep across the hall and spotted Decker's raised gun, he took a swing and threw at her the rock he had already used to knock out Espinoza. She saw him at the last second, which didn't let her time enough to fire at him before the rock hit her square in the abdomen. She bended over under the shock just long enough for him to draw out his gun and aim at her.
In the meantime, Lucifer was getting weaker by the minute in his mother's arms, as his consciousness was slipping away.
If only she had her powers back! Lately she had sporadically felt surges of power coursing through her human body, such as boosts of strength when she was very angry or the feel of energy going through her fingers in the most improbable moments. Unfortunately, it had always lasted less than a second and she didn't seem to have any control over it. With luck, she might be able to move a few of the biggest rocks obstructing the path leading outside, but she knew she could never get enough control over her powers to make a real difference. Moreover, she knew for a fact that her frail human shell was not strong enough to support the wielding of a great amount of celestial energy.
Too soon, it became difficult to keep Lucifer awake. Charlotte just knew that if he fell asleep, he would never wake up again.
"Lucifer! You have to fight to stay alive. You can't just give up!" She begged.
Lucifer forced his eyes open. "Why should I Mom? It's useless, there is nothing keeping me up here anymore. I have said my farewell to Chloe, it is now time for me to make my exit. It was a nice dream, but a dream nonetheless."
Charlotte understood that he wasn't talking about his dream of living freely on Earth as much as about the one of having the chance to really be with his detective. She knew he would certainly feel differently if he believed to have a shot at being with her. All Charlotte's machinations and manipulations to reach her own selfish goal didn't seem so important anymore in the face of the very real possibility of losing her son.
"Lucifer, there is something you need to know. I don't think your Father created Chloe to manipulate you." At that, his already closing eyes shot wide open. Now that she had his complete attention, she continued. "I never really believed that, even if I don't know for sure why he did it. I only wanted you to believe it so you would help me get my revenge against Him. Truth is, with each century that went by after your Fall, before I joined you in Hell, I saw your Father getting sadder and sadder about your predilection. And yet, he kept telling me that someday, you would understand and come to see your wrongs, but that you needed to figure it all out by yourself, without us interfering or forcing your hand. He said that only when you were ready, then could he make a gesture to help you come back to the light. Not before. At the time, it became one of the things that spurred my anger towards Him; to know that it saddened Him to see you suffer in Hell and yet knowing that He would not lift a finger to get you out of there or even let me help you. Now I wonder, if that gesture he planned to make once you were ready might not be Chloe. She might not be a poisoned gift after all. She very well might be all that you ever wanted."
Lucifer was speechless. He even wondered if his dying could be making him imagine all of this. Was there truly a chance that Chloe was a peace offering gift from his Father? Could he ever dare to entertain the mere possibility?
In spite of his silence, Charlotte knew that she had gotten to him. "Lucifer! Please, you have to fight to stay alive. All might not be lost for you Son."
Lucifer couldn't stop the new warming hope that blossomed inside his chest. Maybe Chloe's love for him was real after all. Maybe his Father had made her so perfect that she could see and love the infinite part of him that was not irremediably darkened. If only he could survive this day, maybe he could come to accept that gift.
But life was slipping away from him as fast as water flew from a broken dam. He chuckled in derision at the cynicism of the situation. Only now, when it was too late, was he starting to believe that he had a real chance with Chloe. Only now, after having pushed her away time and again.
"If you die and go back to Hell, I will follow you my Son, but I'd prefer you wouldn't. I hate that awful place and I sure don't look forward to spending the rest of eternity down there."
Charlotte watched him fight with his last remaining strengths to stay in this world, but he was irremediably slipping away.
Her world fell apart when she saw his eyes flutter closed and felt his body go limp in her embrace as he lost consciousness for the last time.
She truly was ready to go down with him, but the thought that he would have to face Hell once more and suffer for eternity was just too much for her to accept. She feared it would crush and destroy him. He might even get trapped into a cell of his own, from which she probably only had a slim chance of helping him escape. She knew that if she could, she would gladly give up her life if it meant sparing him from facing that ordeal.
Suddenly, everything became clear. She knew what she had to do.
In a moment of complete clarity, she tenderly took her dying Son's head between her hands and kissed his forehead one last time with all the love she felt for him.
In a blinding celestial light, the Goddess of Creation poured into her son every single last drop of the heavenly power that inhabited her human shell.
Author's note: Only one chapter left for this short story. I'm just starting writing it and am hoping to finish it before the end of the week, and hopefully before. Let me know if you like the way it's taking. Thank you so much for reading and for all the wonderful comments you left me. I adore you all!