A/N: Sorry about the couple days it took me to update. I had quite a few things to work on, but I should be updating again by the end of the weekend. Thank you for all the story alerts and reviews! As always, please read and review.


Chapter 6

The seals were glowing like stars, the light illuminating the archangels' faces. However, instead of making them look more holy, they seemed to have deep crevasses in their bodies, left by the light on their faces. They looked pleased with how the ritual was progressing, dark looks of satisfaction in their eyes.

Dean pulled his attention away from the angels and the sigil and back to Castiel. His eyes were fixed on the glowing wall, and although he was very close to unconsciousness, his face was set in an immeasurable expression of sadness and guilt. Dean shook his shoulders again, returning the cerulean orbs to his face. The worst part of his gaze was that he looked defeated, as if he deserved the fate he had been given.

"We're going to get out of here before that wall busts open, okay? I don't think we want to be anywhere in the vicinity." Dean said, setting Castiel's head back on the ground and going around to his back. "We just need to get these things off of you first." Castiel didn't say anything, and merely let Dean pick up his hands without resistance. His hands were ice-cold, and the fingers were turning slightly blue at the tips, which couldn't be a good sign.

Dean slipped his fingers underneath the manacles, searching for a weak point. Castiel hissed and his fingers twitched. The skin underneath the manacles was red and slightly singed, as if the manacles had been burning the skin, and Dean felt angry at the angels who had done this to him. Shaking the chain back and forth, Dean could find no reasonable place to break it, and he followed the edge to the ground, where it was fastened to a ring in the ground. Pulling on it with all his strength, the ring didn't even budge, and Dean figured he had to find a key to open them.

His attention was drawn again to the angels standing next to the wall. The light, instead of continuing to gain power, had simply stopped and held steady, and the steady rumbling that was pushing through the edge of consciousness had stopped. Sealtiel frowned, holding out a hand as if to check what had gone wrong. Nothing happened, and he turned back to the pair on the ground.

As if talking to himself, the angel muttered. "Must not be enough blood." He started toward Castiel, as if to pull more blood from the angel, and Dean stood up quickly and stood in front of Castiel, keeping him away from Sealtiel.

"You're not doing anything else to him. Back off." Dean growled, mustering enough anger to give the archangel pause.

"Interesting, that you choose to protect the life of the one who has betrayed you." Sealtiel said, tilting his head in curiosity.

Dean said nothing to this, only pulled out his shotgun and levelled it at the angel's heart. Sealtiel shook his head, amused. He flicked his hand dismissively, and Dean went flying through the air. He flew to the edge of the room, hitting the table full of weapons.

Sam turned around from his frantic search through the piles of papers and herbs for something useful. He reached a hand down and pulled Dean to his feet, and Dean started heading back for the angels, but Sam stopped him.

"Wait a second. You need a key or something." Sam said, dropping to his knees and sifting through all the trash on the ground.

Dean stood there impatiently, bouncing on the balls of his feet, wanting to help Castiel. Sealtiel had leaned down and placed his hand on Castiel's forehead, and closed his eyes as though he were rooting deep inside him, looking for something hidden away.

Castiel cried out and his eyes began to glow, so Dean took off running toward the angels. Without bothering to think about the consequences of what he was about to do, he took aim at the angel and pulled the trigger, hitting Sealtiel in the heart. The angel didn't do as much as flinch, but kept his eyes closed as Castiel was burning.

Dean changed tactics, running full-tilt at the angel, intending to tackle him if nothing else worked. Usually, an angel could never be moved by an ordinary human, but Sealtiel was distracted with Castiel, and Dean had anger on his side. With all the force he could muster, Dean crashed into the angel. While Dean went flying off to the side again, cracking his head on the wall, the force was enough to make Sealtiel falter, stumbling back from Castiel. Castiel collapsed back on the ground, his eyes shut tightly, but Dean was relieved to see that they had stopped glowing.

Sealtiel turned toward Dean with an annoyed expression on his face. Dean tried to get to his feet, shaking his head at the stars obscuring his vision. "I was ready to tolerate your annoyance because you posed no threat, but now you are slowing down the ritual, and I will not tolerate that." Sealtiel walked forward, his hand extended toward Dean. Dean stumbled backward, still having difficulty walking straight.

Before Sealtiel could lay his hand on Dean, Jegudiel called for Sealtiel's attention. During all this time, he had been standing near the wall, attempting to add further sigils to stabilize the ritual. The wall began to grow brighter once again, and Sealtiel abandoned Dean without a second thought. He joined Jegudiel by the wall as it began to break apart under the force of the sigils carved into its wall.

"Dean!" Sam called from the other room. He triumphantly held up a pair of keys that he had unearthed in the scattered possessions on the table. Dean held up his hand, and Sam tossed them, Dean catching them in his hand.

He ran back to Castiel, dropping down to the pool of blood once again. Sam joined him, standing between the two of them and the angels, who weren't paying the three of them any attention now that the ritual was working. There was a low rumbling noise and a high whine almost too quiet to hear coming from all around the room.

Sam looked worriedly around them. "Dean, we need to get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this."

Dean grunted and shook Castiel's shoulders again. This time, he did not respond, and Dean was worried he did not have much time left if they didn't do something to help. Dean lifted his arms, and fit the brass key into the lock, unlocking the cuffs. They fell off and landed on the ground, and Dean pulled his hands carefully around to the front again, wincing when this motion caused more blood to leak out. Pulling his penknife out of his pocket, he ripped a length of fabric off of his overshirt, knotting it around Cas' wound, although he knew it wouldn't do any good to stop the bleeding.

Motioning toward Sam to help him, Dean put his arms around Castiel's shoulders and lifted him upward. Unintentionally, this movement jerked Cas up too quickly, and his eyes flew open, a torn cry coming from his lips.

"I'm sorry, Cas, but we need to get you out of here right away. Just hold on for a minute." Dean said, wincing. Sam reached down to grab Castiel's feet, but an incredibly loud crash echoed through the building as something hit the roof outside with incredible force.

The Winchesters stumbled a little bit, and stared as the ceiling started splintering apart under the weight of whatever was on top of the building. Sealtiel and Jegudiel turned around from the wall, staring intently upwards. When nothing moved again for a few seconds, the two archangels lifted their hands in unison and pulled a brass support from the ceiling. This caused plaster to rain down in excess as whatever was up there was pulled down to the main floor.

Sam and Dean jumped in opposite directions to get out of the way, Dean pulling Castiel with him as the something crashed to the floor in a shower of dust and smoke.

Dean cursed as he saw that him and Castiel were cut off from the exit now. Looking down at the floor, Dean's breath caught in his throat as he noticed what had crashed through the ceiling.

Dick Roman lay sprawled on the ground in a very undignified manner. He turned his head, and Dean could see there was something very wrong with him. His eyes, nose, ears and mouth were overflowing with the black liquid that was the signal of the Leviathans. It was practically pouring out of him as if trying to escape. His back was distended as something tried to push its way out of him. All over his body, bits of his skin were being pushed outward as if there were hundreds of things inside him trying to break through.

Dick growled, a deep sound coming from his throat, and he shook his head with force, pulling himself to his feet. The black ooze was bursting from all areas of him now, sliding down his skin. With a look akin to murder, he stepped toward the angels, his large teeth sliding out in his anger.

Jegudiel was the first to jump in toward Dick, punching his fists into Dick's rubbery skin. Dick yowled in an animal manner. It was now clear that he was mostly Leviathan instead of thinly veiled human, and that something was pulling him apart.

As the archangel and the creature fought furiously, Dean noticed something that Dick didn't because of the advantage of his distance from the fight. Jegudiel wasn't trying to beat down Dick, but simply kept throwing punches and pulling backwards. He was drawing Dick closer and closer to the gaping hole in the wall, which had started to suck small bits of debris inside it. The wind was blowing everywhere, throwing dust into the air which made it hard to see.

Dean threw Castiel's arm around his shoulders, and started dragging him toward the exit while the angels and the Leviathan were distracted, stumbling under his weight.

"Sam, go start the car! Quickly!" Dean shouted, knowing they would need to drive away right away once he and Cas got outside. Sam ran toward the door, pulling the car keys out of his pocket as he went.

The gaping hole in the wall had started to howl as if sensing the proximity of something that belonged inside. The wind increased, and even Sealtiel had difficulty staying upright. Jegudiel and Dick went flying dangerously close to the opening of the hole. With an almighty gust of wind, the heavy table in the other room shifted a few inches closer to the far wall, while the numerous weapons went flying off the floor and toward the wall. Dean ducked his head as they went soaring toward the portal. Castiel was barely conscious, and that last gust of wind had knocked Dean off his feet, pulling both of them toward the portal, wind gusting around them in a furious cyclone.

The jolt of hitting the floor with such strength was enough to wake Castiel up temporarily. He opened his eyes all the way and saw the open portal and the Leviathan fighting the angels. Sealtiel had joined the fray as well, and while he didn't fight as furiously as Jegudiel, his blows were more strategically placed, and all three of them moved right to the edge of the hole, seeming oblivious to the danger so close.

Right before the next gust of wind arrived, Sealtiel stepped back again, allowing Jegudiel to grapple with the Leviathan himself. Looking down on the two of them with a superior expression, he disappeared in a flap of wings, his duty finished. The second he flashed out of existence, the next gust came. It was the most powerful one yet, and Jegudiel and Dick tumbled out of sight through the hole, the last sight of them still fighting against each other, their faces twisted into a grimace of hate.

Dean and Castiel were yanked forward by the wind, both of them sliding across the ground uncontrollably. Dean scraped his boots on the ground trying to slow himself down, but it was like sliding down an ice-covered hill on a sled. There was no stopping them, and both Castiel and Dean realized simultaneously that they were going to fall through the portal as well.

Castiel turned to face Dean's frightened hazel eyes, and couldn't help but feel heavy-hearted that Dean was going to die with him, in this empty place.

Dean's feet went over the edge first, and he was pulled into the deep darkness beyond the roaring breach in space. Castiel was yanked through second, and the two of them fell into the dark together, still gripping desperately to each other's hands.