The Beginning of the End

18. Prophecy This, Prophecy That

"Miss Lopez, are you sure?" Lucifer checked again for about the fourth time.

"Lucifer, c'mon. You have to tell me! I can't help if you don't. You know, as detectives, sometimes we have to get our hands a little dirty to get to the bottom of a case!"

Lucifer sighed and shifted uncomfortably, scooting himself up farther on the mahogany desk. Ella had slouched herself exasperatedly in the plush desk chair.

"Very well," Lucifer sighed, wondering where to begin. When he decided where the most important details were, he once more, tried to warn Ella.

"Miss Lopez, before I begin, I must warn you that you might not like what you hear. I am a very different creature in Hell; I have to be to assert my power over the demons and do what I need to do. If at any moment you need me to stop, please tell me."

He looked into her tender chocolate brown eyes with an ancient seriousness and warning, his tone smooth and firm. Ella straightened up in her chair, not breaking her eye contact with him.

"Lucifer. I'll be fine. I promise." She insisted.

Taking a deep breath, Lucifer told Ella all he knew that could help her formulate her plan.

***

Lucifer balled and relaxed his fists, taking a deep breath while steeling himself and checking his emotions before entering this particular door. He had visited a few particular perpetrators during the last, well, for him, decades.

It had been quite a taxing and grueling job getting the denizens of Hell in order. He continued every day, every waking moment, to prove his dominance. He was forced to bring out certain sides of him that, now, he'd rather keep buried and hidden from the world. The task he set out to do has proven difficult because of this still small voice in the back of his head, reminding himself that he told Chloe that she would never have to see anything monstrous ever again.

His heart would clench, he seemed to forget how to breathe, a moment's peace was no where to be found.

All of this pain turned numb when he looked around. Chloe wasn't here. Chloe was on Earth. She was living her life, raising her child, putting bad guys behind bars, and not having any kind of normal-people fun. Lucifer thought about her all the time, whether he wanted to or not. He always wondered if Chloe would handle things down here the way he was or if she would approve of his actions.

Then he remembered what his job was as the devil. He didn't want to do it, really he didn't. He saw the demons fighting and watched and rewatched loops. For the first time in his entire existence, he saw this suffering from a new point of view. These were no longer damned souls whose punishment he was in charge of seeing to; these 'lesser beings' he once believed them to be weren't evil because of a few awful choices they made during their lives. Sure, some of them he didn't feel any sort of remorse for; the worst of the worst deserved to be here: the serial killers, child molesters, the truly sickening.

Instead, Lucifer saw people. Human beings, capable of much good and much bad. Many, he realized, weren't that different from the friends he'd made on Earth. Some he didn't particularly favor, like Dan, but their sins really weren't all that horrendous. They were only here because their guilt told them to be, guilt that wasn't subconscious. They knew they had done wrong and should have righted it.

Part of Lucifer wanted to tell them that; help them, in some way, see the light of their situation. It's what the good detective would do. That wasn't in his job description though. They needed to figure this out on their own. As much as he loves to the cheat the system, the detective taught him well that it doesn't serve anyone well to cheat their way out of things; the best things in life were earned through hard work and determination.