Woo wee! Finally got this one done! Not much to say but warning: You will probably hate me at the end of this chapter. Not going to lie, I expect to be blasted and strangely enough very much look forward to it. :D

Time for the round of thanks! Thank you to Ziggymia123, BranchSuper, Splishboom, FansCastiel, superloudean and LastBishop for your awesome reviews! They fuel the muse and she appreciates it! Also thanks to Vakarianx3 for the fav and Astraea's Judgement for the fav author though I don't know if it's for this story but appreciate it anyway!

On to the chapter!

I do not own Supernatural.

Chapter Fourteen

Sacrifice

It was raining as well in New Orleans, Louisiana, but the occupants of the house hardly noticed. They were gathered around the television in the living room watching a family movie. Every once in a while laughter broke out. Their backs were away from the window so they could not see the person watching them from outside.

Though rain soaked and frozen, Chelsea felt nothing as she watched the family enjoy their time. Her eyes never strayed from Tamara. She saw her play with her daughter, tickle her son into a fit of laughter, give her husband a loving glance. It was like she remembered nothing. Maybe she did not even know the hospital was gone. Perhaps she had been given that gift, one extra day before her world, too, seemed to crash down. But at least Tamara would be alive, while she was…well, where she probably should have been all along.

Chelsea wiped the tears from her face, though it hardly made any difference in the rain. This was worth it, her soul and all the pain. Somehow it was worth it. Her thoughts strayed to Cas a moment. How he must have hated her now and she deserved that but he had to understand. Her life was not his to decide and she had to fix whatever she could. Every path before her had been bleak. This at the very least had a bright spot in it.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, suddenly warmer than it had usually been. There was no need for her to turn around. She knew who it was.

Suddenly the world was spinning, wind seemed to come at her from all directions and she could have sworn she heard the sound of wings. But it happened so quickly she hardly had time to focus on it. One second she was in the rain, the next Chelsea was in an abandoned apartment. She was sitting upright on an old, upholstered chair facing out a window with curtains that barely hid anything. Something told her this was 21st street, the place where Sam would say yes.

"Enjoying the view?" Lucifer asked from somewhere behind her.

Chelsea's grip on the armrests tightened. "Why am I here?"

"I seem to recall the deal being that you come with me."

She turned to him, the marks on his face more prevalent and numerous now. "You and I both know that there is more to the deal than that."

He chuckled slightly. "And yet you came anyway," he paused, walking toward the window. "You see, the thing about deals is that the average consumer gets ten years before they have to pay it back."

Ten years? To her that seemed like an eternity. She could go back to everything, have a good life while it lasted, see Tamara…see Cas. But, it still brought up a question.

"Again, why am I here?"

"I may have made a slight alteration on the deal. You see, until this whole Sam saying yes business is done and over with, you're going to be my guest."

Chelsea tilted her head to the side, much like Cas. "Why do you need me here?"

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." With that, Lucifer walked out of the room. Chelsea did not dare follow or attempt to leave. It would not do her any good nor would it help her deal. For all she knew, he would break it off and Tamara would go back to being nothing more than another victim in a hospital fire.

Pulling her knees up, Chelsea looked around the rest of the room. The walls were falling apart; the floor was littered with trash. It was not exactly a place she pictured for a pivotal moment of the Apocalypse but then again much was opposite of what she knew. She sat there for a long time listening to the sounds of the city below her. Every now and again cars would pass by, people would engage in conversation and sirens would blare in the distance. The sounds of Detroit were almost comforting. They were normal, a far cry from what she had been dealing with the past couple days.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself in her apartment again. It was during a heat wave when the building's air conditioning busted. Her windows were wide open with no hope for a breeze and several fans were on, threatening to blow a fuse somewhere. She was leaning on the windowsill, waiting for the wind that would never come, listening to the sounds of the city much like she was doing now. She noticed after some time that no matter what the temperature, the city never changed. All the same sounds were made. The conversations were the same, the cars still drove by and the police were certainly still out, only the look of it all changed.

Chelsea opened her eyes. She had to stop. There was no going back to that simple life. The sooner she accepted it, the saner she would be, hopefully.

She stood up now and began to roam around the small apartment. There was not much to it. She was not even sure if there was running water available. Moving to the door, she looked out the small peephole. There was a man leaning against the wall on the other side, looking down the hallway for a brief moment. In an instant, though, his head snapped over and he smiled, eyes turning that familiar, horrid black. Chelsea gasped and backed away. Even if she considered leaving, there would be no way to do so.

Moving back to the window, Chelsea began to pick at the peeling paint, thoughts drifting over anything but the present. Suddenly a high pitched noise interrupted her thoughts. It grew louder and louder until she hit the ground in pain, attempting to cover her ears. The world began to turn white.

Suddenly everything stopped. When Chelsea looked back up, she was no longer in the apartment but amongst piles of long forgotten vehicles. She was back at Bobby's somehow, the dark of the night illuminated by a light in the distance and a small fire set below. She squinted at the elaborate set up before her.

"A summoning ritual," Chelsea said, realizing it was from the 'memories' that had been implanted in her mind. She tried to move toward it but found herself frozen in place. Confused, Chelsea began to look around for some kind of explanation but found that no matter how hard she tried, her head would not move either. This frightened her.

"My, my Castiel, you certainly do not disappoint." Chelsea felt herself turn and face Lucifer. "I knew you would come for her, but this soon? What has this human done to you?"

"Let her go, Lucifer." She heard Cas say. Chelsea could not see him, but it sounded as though his voice came from exactly where she stood. Then suddenly it all made sense. Earlier Cas had spoken of seeing the world from her perspective and now she was seeing it from his. It must have been another 'side effect.' She began to wonder what else could possibly happen to them.

"Now you know I can't do that," Lucifer said, crossing his arms. "She agreed to the deal after all."

"A deal filled with half truths. She knew nothing when she decided to go with you." Cas sounded ready to attack him. She prayed that he would not.

"I'll admit that when I spoke of it to her, I left out a few things but from what I've seen, Chelsea knew exactly what she was getting into."

She felt his hands curl into fists, felt his frustration and sadness at it all. If only she knew what he was thinking. He was silent for a very long time, only making her more curious.

"Take me instead." Chelsea felt her heart drop.

"No!" she shouted, suddenly finding herself back in Detroit. Chelsea stood up quickly, searching for her phone but finding that it was not on her person. She needed to talk to someone, get him to stop. He could not go through with this. He was not dying for her. She would not let him.

She was just about ready to storm out into the hallway and take on the demons when she heard the floorboards creak. Behind her stood an amused Lucifer and an ashamed looking Cas, though when his eyes landed on her, he seemed to perk up ever so slightly.

"Don't do it, Cas," she whispered. "Don't make the deal."

"How do you know?"

Chelsea walked up to him and stopped mere inches from his face. "It doesn't matter how I know. You can't do this, Cas. They need you."

Cas lowered his head. "My part has been played. The rest is up to the Winchesters. I can no longer help them."

"Yes, you can. You're an angel. You know things that they don't."

He looked back up at her, a hint of a smile on his face. "You know as much as I do, Chelsea and from what I've seen, you are better with shotguns. You are much more useful than I am."

"Cas, I am not going to let you die for me," Chelsea said, ignoring his compliments. His smile disappeared. Oh God.

She turned to Lucifer. "Take it back." He did not say anything, only continued to look amused. "I said take it back!"

He chuckled and in that moment, he really was the Devil that she had been told about: cold, calculating, the embodiment of evil. "Now, Chelsea, why would I do that? I finally got what I want. Well, not exactly what I want. Let's consider it a bonus."

"What are you talking about?"

"Castiel here has been quite the pain, always getting in the way and ruining things. You trap him, he gets out. You hurt him, people like you go and save him. Even Heaven couldn't get rid of him permanently. So I decided to give my way a try. However, that does require agreement on his part, so I needed a little bait and as fate would have it, there was a human that he would do anything for."

Chelsea said nothing for a while. Her eyes simply scanned the room as she pieced it all together. It all made sense. This was why he had taken such an interest in her. And she had walked right into this plan of his, after all the warnings, after everything everyone had said, she had willingly walked into the obvious trap.

She looked over at Cas. If he was surprised by this revelation, he did not show it. He simply stood there as though he had heard nothing and kept his gaze fixed on anything but her. Suddenly, she felt angry. She was always angry at the wrong moments.

"You were supposed to hate me, Cas," she said through clenched teeth. He looked up at her, confused. "You told me not to do it and I went ahead with it anyway! I lied to you! You were supposed to hate me, forget about me. I'm just another stupid human making a stupid decision. You were not supposed to throw your life away for me!"

Again Cas looked down but only for a brief moment, as though he were gathering his thoughts. When he locked his gaze with her again, his eyes were clear, filled with determination and acceptance. "I was angry at you, Chelsea, that I will admit, but I could never hate you. I don't want to hate you." And for one moment, she hated him for saying that.

"I'd hate to interrupt this moment, really I do, but Castiel and I have some business to take care of," Lucifer said, crossing the room to stand next to Cas.

"What business?" Chelsea asked, looking to Cas for answers. He looked away again.

"Ten years is too long a time to wait so Cas had to sweeten the deal."

It happened very fast and yet it all took place in slow motion. Chelsea saw the glint of silver, the blade that she had seen so many times. It dropped from Lucifer's sleeve and made a move toward Cas. She began to shout in attempt to warn Cas but when he looked at her, she could tell he knew it was coming and he was not going to resist it. He made no sound as the blade plunged into his lower back, but Chelsea did. She screamed with all her might, running to catch Cas before he hit the floor.

He stood on his knees for quite some time, a look of surprise on his face. Perhaps the sensation was unexpected or the feeling of death. For a moment he looked around the room like he was not quite sure of where he was. When Chelsea knelt down and grabbed his collar to hold him up, he smiled. Then his eyes rolled back and he proceeded to fall the rest of the way, dragging her down with him.

"Cas!" Chelsea cried, her voice breaking. "Cas, look at me!"

He managed to, though it seemed to be difficult for him.

"You're going to be okay, Cas, okay…I just…I'm going to fix this," she said hysterically, tears pouring down her face. She placed her left hand on his side and pressed down, not knowing the point considering he was bleeding on the other side as well.

"You can't…you'll die," he replied weakly, flinching in pain.

"In ten years!"

He shook his head. "Not long enough…I won't let you go to hell."

"Well, I'm not letting you either," Chelsea said, gaining determination in her voice. She grabbed his coat and started wadding it together to provide better pressure. She did not know whether Lucifer was there still or not but it did not matter to her. There would be no giving up. She could not live like that.

"Yes, you are," Cas replied, grabbing for her hand. She slapped him away.

"Oh, so you can have a say in whether I die or not, but I don't get any for you? That's not how this works, Cas."

"Chelsea…"

"No Cas! I am not going to stand by while you die and do nothing!" She shouted. "I care about you too much to do that!" A silence fell between them. Slowly his hand reached for hers again and, while she still worked, she did nothing to stop him. Eventually he gripped her hand. He seemed to be trying to close it around hers but was having difficulty, so she grabbed his hand tightly. There was nothing she could do except try to make him comfortable. Moving toward his head, she propped him up on her knees.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Maybe that was all he could manage.

"It's a little late for that," she replied, attempting to smile, but it seemed to only make her frown deepen. He did manage to smile until he began to cough. It did not last very long, producing a small amount of blood from his mouth. She took her free hand and went to wipe it away. And then she did something else. Leaning down, she placed a small, simple kiss on his lips. He did not react but she could have sworn his eyes were brighter before he closed them one last time.

For a while, all Chelsea could do was watch him and then she remembered that there may have been an audience. She looked over and saw Lucifer still there, though he was staring out the window, his look of amusement gone. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"Is this what you wanted?" she asked, voice cold as steel and just as piercing. "Did you want your entertainment? Did it please you to see him suffer?"

"I could have ended it whenever I wanted. You seemed to be the one determined to drag it out."

"Don't you put this on me! I didn't want any of this!"

Lucifer turned away from the window. "And yet, it's all your fault, isn't it?"

Chelsea began to breathe hard, her anger overwhelming. "Get out," she commanded. He did not move. "Get out!" She did not care if God himself was standing before her. Strangely, Lucifer obeyed, disappearing from sight.

Looking back at Cas, Chelsea placed him down, feeling the dam break, threatening an endless supply of tears. She placed her head on his motionless chest and stayed there. She was not sure how long she was there and she did not care. She could not leave him. This time there was no arguing.

And in the dead silence of the room, a voice echoed.

If you make that deal with Lucifer, the Winchesters will never win.

It was all about Cas. It always had been.

And now, she had let the world die.

Yes, I know. I feel the hate. But remember! I fix whatever I break!