We already know the ending

When the credits roll down slow

I'll hurry back

To you

- Restless by Cold War Kids, Episode 3x06

Epilogue: Hurry Back to You

Despite what the stories may say, happily ever after was not the end.

Not that Lucifer believed in happily ever afters. Few events in his millennia of existence brought him happiness, and 'ever' implied a permanence that so very few things in this universe could achieve. Humans were fleeting, fragile things, and love even more fragile still.

So there was just 'after'.

This was after: standing in the lobby of the hospital, crowding around the healing Detective as she was finally deemed healthy enough to go home with little more than a scar to document her brush with an archangel.

Dan was talking to the nurse, Trixie running between him and the vending machine, trying to wheedle her way into a pack of frosted chocolate cakes. Ella tipped her head towards the sky, smiling to herself or whatever lied beyond, her faith restored as her fingers rest gently against the cross hanging from her throat. And then there was the Detective herself, hobbling slowly towards the exit, tired and battered but stronger than any force of nature. She was using Lucifer as a balance, gripping his forearm for support as she forced herself to walk. She refused to listen to any of Lucifer's protests that just because the doctor said she could get up and put weight on her wound didn't mean she should.

The glare Chloe gave Lucifer would have been enough to kill a mortal man. Seeing it only made Lucifer grateful that she was still alive to be annoyed at him.

Outside, the sun was warm and shining. The air was clear and devoid of the stench of bleach. Chloe closed her eyes, taking it in.

Behind them, the sliding doors hissed open.

"I'll go get the car."

Dan suggested it and no one volunteered otherwise. Ella followed closely behind him, the pair thick as thieves these days. Lucifer only hoped it was the shared trauma and not a shared sexual attraction. He could barely suppress a shudder at the thought of the chaos that would ensue if Ella and the Douche became an item.

Trixie stayed behind to hold her mother's hand. Strangely enough, she held Lucifer's other hand as well. Even stranger, Lucifer didn't pull away.

Chloe cocked her head to the side. She had her investigating face on, and Lucifer could hear the gears in her brain turning. "If Dan has to get the car, but he wasn't the one to bring me, how did I get here?"

"Well I flew you, of course. The ambulance was taking too long."

"It's true Mommy! I saw everything," Trixie said, her voice overly dramatic and wonderstruck in the way only a child's could be. "Lucifer's wings were huge! They took up nearly the whole room and they were so white, like that time you took me to New York to see Daddy's family and it snowed two feet. Except this was better because Lucifer's wings were glowing!"

"Yes, child, let's keep that to ourselves shall we?" Lucifer hushed Trixie's enthusiasm, as she had grown louder as her story went on and was starting to attract attention from the passing patients. "Children, hallucinations, pretty sure it's terminal."

The passerbys gave Lucifer a strange look before moving on. Trixie was also giving him a strange look.

"Where did they go, by the way?"

"Where did what go?"

"Your wings, dummy." Trixie pulled at the collar of his jacket for good measure, as if she thought he was stuffing them in his suit. "Where do you put them?"

Thankfully, the rumble of an engine saved Lucifer from enduring any more inane questions. Dan stopped the car at the curb and got out, elbows resting on the top.

"Trixie, why don't you go get buckled in, okay?" Chloe suggested, urging her to go to Dan as to save Lucifer more suffering.

Trixie gave Lucifer one lingering studious look before running to the car. Dan opened the door for his daughter, making sure she was secure. As much of a douche as Dan could be, Lucifer could never call him a bad father.

"I don't see how you endure it, Detective. The spawn's interrogations are relentless."

"She's just happy that we're both okay. It's her way of showing she cares." Strange as the offspring could be, Lucifer found the sentiment touching. He look to the car to find Trixie waving at them. They both waved back.

The Detective started taking, and somewhere along the way Lucifer stopped paying attention to the words and let himself be lulled by the Detective's voice. It was such a soothing, pleasant sound - comforting even. Lucifer never thought he would find himself enamored with a woman based on voice alone, but that was just one of the many mysteries of Chloe Decker. He would gladly listen to the Detective talk until the world ended.

"...and I'm sure there's a dozen cases piled up on my desk waiting for us when we get back."

Lucifer stalled in his step. He cocked his head, looking at Chloe with absolute befuddlement.

"Get back to what, Detective?"

"The precinct. You know, since you'll be staying." Chloe stilled, the happiness slipping from her face. "You are staying, aren't you?"

The resounding yes was on the tip of his tongue, itching to be freed. Lucifer's soul ached for all he had left behind: for his Corvette and Lux and work and the Detective herself. The temptation was great, too great for even the Devil to combat. Which was why he had to remove the temptation altogether.

"Detective, you know as well as I the disaster that would come to Earth should I stay." Every word was a knife in Lucifer's heart, and in Chloe's. How selfish was it to leave after he ruined her life yet again. "Hell needs a King."

Chloe closed her eyes, tears leaking through the edges. Lucifer hated that they were because of him.

"You promised."

That was true. Lucifer did promise. But the Detective was healed now, standing on her two feet just as she did before he waltzed into her life, and would continue to do when he waltzed out.

"Come on Chloe, we have to go."

Damn the Douche for ruining a moment! Lucifer pulled Chloe close to him, wrapping her in his arms. She was the only person he would willingly hold, the one person who taught him what it meant to crave connection, and there he was, throwing it away.

You are doing this for her. She is safer this way.

The excuse was stronger before his absence gave way to Michaels' chaos. But he had to believe that this was for the best, that holding the demons at bay gave the Detective and her offspring and everyone else Lucifer cared about the chance to live a relatively safe and normal existence. That's all he wanted.

He pulled away from the Detective, not ready to say goodbye.

"You're not going back to Hell."

Lucifer turned to see Azrael standing in front of them, her small yet proud stature bent under the newfound weight she carried, but not broken. Amenadiel stood by her side. Dan and Ella got out of the car to see what was going on, Trixie leaning up to see out the back window.

"I beg your pardon?" Lucifer asked, looking between his siblings, waiting for the punchline. "What's going on here?"

"You are not going back to Hell, Lucifer," Amenadiel said, stepping forward to place a hand on Lucifer's shoulder. "You are staying right here where you belong. On Earth. With us."

"Forgive me, brother, but have you forgotten about the hoards of angry demons who are bound to realize I've gone at any second? The longer Hell goes without a king, the greater the risk of an uprising. I have to get back before they - "

"You're staying, Lou," Azrael said, stronger this time. She held out one hand to stop him, her chin stuck out as if he dared to defy her, and looked him straight in the eye. "I'm going."

"No. Absolutely not."

The rejection was automatic and immediate. Just the thought of sending his little sister into the bowels of Hell, full of demons twice her size with twice the bite, was repulsive. He would not subject anyone else to the horrors of Hell, least of all Azrael. This would not stand. This would not -

"I've made up my mind," Azrael said, as if she could hear his inner protests.

"I won't allow you to go. Do you hear me, Azrael? I won't allow it."

"You've already lost so much. You deserve to be happy, Lou." The pain and grief in her eyes reflected Lucifer's own. "And I...I need to do this. I need to serve my punishment for killing Michael. It's the only way I will be able to accept what I did."

"Azrael, I..."

It was rare it happened, but Lucifer didn't know what to say. An eternity of existence and this was the kindest, most selfless thing anyone had ever done for him.

"It won't be forever," Azrael said, her eyes wide and pleading. Damn her for that look! She knew it always got her whatever she wanted. "Please, let me do this."

It won't be forever. The words rung in Lucifer's ears. No, certainly not forever. Forever to an angel meant to the end of the universe, but forever to a human was a handful of years, decades if they were lucky. The span of one lifetime.

Lucifer was not ignorant to the gift Azrael was giving him. He looked at Chloe, her face full of hope, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. She would never tell him what to do, never try to force him down a path, but it was clear what she wanted. She wanted him to take Azrael's offer. He wanted that too.

Lucifer pulled Azrael into a tight hug, hiding his face in the crown of her head. It wasn't to hide misty eyes. Absolutely not.

"Anything goes wrong, anyone steps a toe out of line, you let me know and I'll deal with it, alright? Promise me that." Azrael nodded, though Lucifer knew it was more to humor him than any intention she had of actually following through. Azrael was more than capable of handling herself. Still, it eased the knot of guilt in Lucifer's chest to have her agree to his terms. "Good. Can't be having the only sibling I tolerate flayed alive by an overeager demon."

Amenadiel rolled his eyes. He knew Lucifer was joking; Lucifer was glad to have more time with Amenadiel, even if Lucifer would never admit it out loud.

Azrael pulled away to say her goodbyes to Ella, Trixie, and Dan, but Lucifer couldn't hear them. Not overtop of the shock that sent his heart beating in his ears. There was hugging on Ella's part and Trixie's, and begrudgingly on Dan's. Azrael could never pass up a chance to hug even the most unwilling of participants.

Azrael gave a two-finger salute and then she was gone, spreading her wings and taking off for Hell.

Lucifer exhaled a shaking breath.

Was this what freedom felt like? A sheer and utter sense of terror?

A hand in his drew Lucifer's attention. Chloe stood by his side, looking not where Azrael once stood, but directly at him.

"She will be alright, Lucifer." It was Amenadiel who spoke, confident and sure as he always was. He stood on Lucifer's other side, staring where Azrael once stood. "She is strongest of us all."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to repay her."

"Some favors are just that: favors." Amenadiel said, looking at the friends they had gained. Their small, dysfunctional family, perfect in every way. "The best thing we can do is enjoy them while they last."

Amenadiel gripped his shoulder, then walked away.

"Are you alright?" Chloe asked.

"What a spectacularly idiotic question, Detective," Lucifer huffed, no real heat to it. Chloe's lips curled up into a smirk, ready to banter back. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that question, seeing as though you were the one to get stabbed and all?"

"I'm more than fine," Chloe replied, her smile luminescent and content in a way he had not seen before. "I've got everything want."

The intensity of Chloe's admiration, her love, was overwhelming. Lucifer was going to need time to get used to that, and to resist the urge to shy away from it.

"You sure you didn't hit your head on the way down?" he asked, just to make sure.

Chloe laughed and Lucifer did too.

"Come on," she said, tugging on his wrist towards where the others were gathered.

"In a moment, Detective. I just need to..."

Lucifer had no reason to stay behind, but he needed a moment. Chloe, wonderful, incredible, beautiful Chloe seemed to understand, reading his desire like an open book. She nodded and let go, joining the group and pulling Trixie up into a hug. She probably should not be doing that; she'd pull a stitch. But they looked so happy, all of them, smiling and laughing and unharmed.

How could Lucifer had gotten so lucky? How could he possibly deserve something like this?

Chloe smiled and beckoned him over. Whatever the reason - whether it be a cosmic fluke of his Father's oversight - Lucifer was done hanging on the sidelines.

Chloe was right.

He had everything he wanted.

..._...

The throne room was dark and messy. Azrael navigated it carefully as not to trip, her long cloak sweeping across obsidian floors. Before her sat a throne, though not as magnificent as the one she had passed on her flight down, one that towered high on a perilously thin stalagmite.

It was hers now. All of it.

Azrael's hands hovered over the arms of the throne, hesitant to touch. The weight of responsibility was immense. It scared her...

...but so did the rustling coming from behind.

Blades in hand, Azrael spun just in time to stall a gruesome-looking demon from clawing her. The point of her knife pressed into the apple of its throat, moving in time to its shocked swallow. Large black eyes went wide and guilty with shock. Clearly it expected such a small angel to be easy prey.

Claws lowered themselves to the demon's sides. The demon stepped away, placating.

"I yield."

Its voice was a gravelly rasp, and none too friendly. Azrael would expect nothing less from a demon. If they were all so easily subdued, however, this job might prove far easier than she expected.

Azrael sheathed her blades, but did not let her guard down. She released her wings, making a statement that further subdued the demon. Their pitch black body and razor-sharp edges made for good protection.

Something in the demon's possession glittered.

"What do you have there?" Azrael stepped closer to see that it was a crown - bent and worse for wear, but a crown nonetheless. "Bring it here."

The demon grunted but obeyed, hobbling over to hand the crown over to Azael. She took it in her small hands, pale skin standing in sharp contrast to gnarled, burned claws.

"What do I call you?"

The demon cocked its head, once more surprised. Maybe this was when Lucifer reduced the impudent demon to ashes. But this was Azrael's kingdom now. New ruler, new rules. And she would need allies if she wanted to make a get anywhere.

"Squee."

"Pleased to meet you, Squee. I'm Azrael." She stuck out her free hand for the demon to shake. Squee was definitely looking at her like she had a few screws loose, but he took her hand anyway. "I'll be ruling Hell for a while, Lucifer's orders."

Squee grunted. "Is that so?"

"It is."

The two stared each other down, locked in a battle of wills to see who broke first.

It was Squee who broke.

Azrael smiled, victorious. "Squee, I think you and I are going to be good friends."

Squee grunted again. He muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like crazy fucking angels.

"So," Azrael said, placing the crown on her head. The heavy metal fell lopsided, but the hellfire ignited all the same, coating the crown in a halo of flames. It must have looked quite ridiculous. "How does it fit?"

Squee flashed a crooked grin. "I think fits you just fine, My Queen."

Around them, Hell rumbled her approval.

Long live the Queen.