A WIERD REUNION

He did not have to look twice to know that they had reappeared right outside Lux; the familiar surroundings were clear evidence that they were now in the original Los Angeles... his Los Angeles. 

It had been a guess, but it had worked. 

Lucifer felt a thrill just confirming that he was now not under the control of the so-called Order of the Omniverse. He wasn't sure whether it was a momentary thing or if it would last, but one thing he knew for certain: his freedom had come after encountering that scepter—the scepter that almost everybody in that dimension was after.

However, he would play his usual game; there was no need to change. There was no need to rush into the crush. He would let them sweat it out, and then the winner would hand over the prize to him... for safekeeping, of course.

"Will you put me down?" a hand pushed against his chest, and only then did he notice he was still carrying Gamora in his arms. 

"Oh... here you go." 

He let her gently onto the ground as he suddenly became aware of clicks and flashes behind them. Turning, Lucifer was astounded to see a crowd of onlookers gathered in front of them; most of them were taking videos on their phones, and others had actual cameras clicking and flashing madly.

"Well,Hello there" Lucifer greeted the onlookers, taking a step forward. He flashed his usual devilish smile just as the crowd broke into cheers. 

"See... this is how it's supposed to be," Lucifer turned to Gamora. "People here know how to appreciate my presence. See, they missed me. They have probably been camping here for weeks now, awaiting my return."

Gamora raised an eyebrow. 

Everything on this planet was really strange to her, but even then, she could swear that the crowd was not here out of missing the guy. It was clear most were just trying to get a better angle of his wings, and some were trying to capture her face. It was annoying.

"Lucifer,"

suddenly a familiar voice rang from the crowd; his heartbeat accelerated as he watched the two figures approach faster from the crowd. "Detective, Mazekeen... I can't tell you how much I have missed you."

Chloe and Maze suddenly stopped, their eyes running rapidly between the two people in front of them. Confusion was written on their faces. 

The crowd behind them tried to shift their view from where Chloe and Maze had blocked them. Chloe, on the other hand, was making weird gestures to Lucifer with both her arms, but seeing that the guy did not seem to get it, she rushed towards him.

 She was so close when Lucifer suddenly opened both his hands and pulled her into a suffocating embrace.

"Believe me, Detective, I did not wish to disappear like that... those three weeks have been the longest in my entire immortal existence," Lucifer rumbled on, barely giving Chloe any time to speak. 

"Lucifer... Lucifer..." Chloe yelled as she pushed back against Lucifer's chest. "What are you doing? Your wings are unfurled."

Suddenly, Lucifer let go and was actually surprised to see that the wings were still out. "Bloody hell," he had completely forgotten about them. With a quick reflex, he folded them, and the crowd now erupted into an even louder applause. 

Lucifer threw a totally confused expression toward the crowd before looking back at Chloe, who was clapping along with a feigned smile.

Suddenly, Lucifer threw another look at Gamora, and everything clicked. "You mean, these people thought I was acting... how utterly preposterous... yet here I was thinking they missed my long absence," Lucifer cursed as he turned to Chloe. 

"How about you, Detective? Did you miss me?"

"Uuh," Chloe stared at the man as if he barely made any sense, and truth be told, Lucifer looked and sounded confused. 

"You two get a room already... you closed your shift less than five hours ago, and he misses you already?" Mazekeen scolded as she approached, her attention, however, was on a different person.

 "Nice paintwork," Maze declared as she approached Gamora with calculated steps, a dangerous glint shone in her eyes.

 "Where the hell did you get her? I have never seen her before," she said, throwing a questioning look towards Lucifer.

Chloe, who had now pulled herself free from Lucifer, turned to see who Maze was referring to. Another surprise crossed her face. She turned bewildered to her friend. 

"You are joking, right? Isn't she...is she not your sister?" Chloe asked, but looking at the cold look on Maze's face, she began to realize that she might be serious. "Yeah... the demon thing and all, but my god... that is quite a resemblance," 

Gamora herself had an even colder glare on her face. She took a momentary glance at the guy who had brought her here, and seeing that he was not focused on her, she realized that this was her chance for freedom. She just had to play carefully.

Both Chloe and Maze had now turned to Lucifer, who for a while now appeared lost in his own thoughts. Some things were not making sense to him...

 What did Maze mean when she said they had just ended their shift less than five hours ago? Clearly, the last shift he had done with the detective had been close to three weeks before he had been snapped out of this version of Los Angeles... now... now... he stared around confusingly. It could not be...

But even then, as he struggled to come to terms with what he was witnessing, Lucifer realized that it would not be the craziest thing he had seen. 

Mazekeen was dressed exactly the way she had been the night she had left to go out with the detective and the doctor... that had been the same night he had disappeared as he was about to play his piano.

"Well, I will be damned if it's true," he suddenly reached out and grabbed Chloe's phone. "What in my bloody name is this?" he exclaimed as he saw the date on the phone. 

It was exactly the date of the night he had left. So... so, it meant that even though he had spent almost three weeks inside the world he had been pulled into, only five hours had passed on this side... which meant nobody in this dimension even knew of his long absence... well, maybe Amenadiel since he had left him in the serving counter... but even that could be easily ignored... I mean, he could give any excuse, and it would hold without any problem.

This new revelation brought a range of mixed emotions... when he had planned to come back to this dimension, even though for a short while, Lucifer had expected to be faced with a lot of questions... he had not expected his reception to be... well, to be nothing but another normal night. 

Part of him was happy about the outcome... but the other part, ...not so much. 

The fact that his absence had gone unnoticed meant that he now had an even harder time trying to explain things... especially to his brother, the doctor, and more especially the detective... 

Mazekeen, not so much... he actually had plans for her... besides, she was already used to accompany him on most of his expeditions... this one wouldn't be much different.

But what would he tell the rest... what...

But then a thought occurred to him... maybe he did not have to do that...he did not have to say a thing... he could just play along with whatever chance had presented. 

The fact that his ability to traverse between dimensions had returned, coupled with the fact that time seemed to be passing abnormally slowly here, meant that Maze and himself could always drop by every once in a while... they could just give an excuse of being out of town on some errand.

"This is brilliant" Lucifer exclaimed, much to the confusion of the two ladies standing next to him. 

"What is..." Mazekeen asked bewildered. Lucifer, however, had no time to answer; he had just turned to scan where Gamora had been a few seconds ago. There was no sign of the green woman.

review fam..and stones too