November, 30th 2015

I don't own any of the characters, CW and Eric Kripke do!

Beta for this Chapter: -

A/N: Hey there my loyal readers :)

Hello~ So it's almost December haha. I didn't plan for this. Actually I'm almost finished with the story but I still have to edit it some. This chapter is not beta read at all and I can't do it rn so I'll just post it and hope there're not so many mistakes. I hope you like it and please tell me if you do but also if you don't?

Enjoy~ :3

Chapter 25

Your hands protect the flames
From the wild winds around you

Cas' body was filled with pain beyond imagining but he still managed to warn his brother. He was of course aware that Michael would notice soon enough but he couldn't risk anything, especially when the mixed presence of Michael and Dean was still so foreign to him and he didn't know how much angel and how much human reigned over his big brother right now.

"Wait, I can fix you up.", he heard Dean whisper. At least it sounded like it might be Dean.

"No, you have to go, he's killing everything in his path-"

"Shut up, Cas." Well that was definitely Dean speaking. A hand floated over his abdomen, lightly touching its healing hands to it. Surprisingly, the hurt was gone immediately. But that was an angel blade wound, how-

"Shhh. Now let's go." Michael put a finger to his lips, silencing Castiel's question with a secretive smile. He instead grabbed his little brother's shoulder and with a flutter of wings, they were out of the room.

Outside, the chaos waited for them in the form of the devil himself.

Lucifer strode down the street with a step that just showed how sure of himself he was. Despite that this seemed to be a surprise attack, the former archangel seemed to take his sweet time to get to his destination, the only motel on the road. Michael had thought that the battle would be somewhere else, he had thought for some time that their destination for that was that cemetery so that's why he hadn't thought about evacuating the little town they were staying in yet. As Lucifer strode down the street, demons were whirling around him, searching for hosts on the street, entering innocent people one by one. People with now black eyes stepped out of houses, left their lawn and joined the march down the street. This motel at the end of the road was occupied by mostly Michael's allies but there were several other people staying here and Michael had never planned on getting the people around here involved in any of this.

By now, the rest of his team found themselves face to face with Lucifer. Gabriel was already toe to toe with his brother, blocking his path to the motel at the entrance to the parking lot. Just a few meters away from his little brother, Lucifer stopped in his tracks. He didn't look worried at all, surrounded as he was by several of his highest ranking demons, now in the bodies of some innocent people just for the hell of it.

"You look better, Gabe. Has big brother fixed you up?"

"You don't have to answer him, Gabriel." Michael chimed in from behind. He had Castiel tailing behind him and walked right up to where Gabriel stood, Sam and Abby close behind him, having noticed the commotion outside. They were stocked to the gear with weapons and held a canister obviously filled with holy water. Sam shared a short not with him and Abby a smile. Jesse wasn't out yet but that was fine with Michael. They had discussed this, even though the location was different, the plan was still the same. Lucifer looked over when Michael joined.

"Oh? The General shows himself after all. I thought you might be busy..." his gaze trailed to Castiel, eyes squinting when he saw that the wound in his stomach was gone, just a bloody hole in the shirt was left. Had he planned on annihilating all of Michael's allies while he tried to fix Cas?

"Well, sorry to disappoint but I've actually been waiting for you. It's so nice that you show up all by yourself without me having to look for you." Michael smiled a smug smile, making full use of Dean's face to make it even cockier. Lucifer tried not to look phased and smiled back, now face to face with his older brother again.

"I thought a little visit to your headquarters shouldn't hurt. See what my favorite brother and vessel are up to." His eyes flew around the little assembly in front of the motel, staring at Sam especially long. Sam of course tried to stare back but it was hard staring at Lucifer. His vessel was becoming undone right in front of their eyes, bright celestial light shining through in several places, making it hard for the mortals to look without being blinded. Plus, Sam felt the devil trying to enter his mind again just by looking and he was glad for Abby's hand and for Dean to step in front of him at the right second, shielding him from the insanity swirling in those eyes.

"Well, as you can see, we're doing just fine." Michael deadpanned. The smile didn't disappear from Lucifer's face. There was a creeping feeling in Michael's stomach that something was off. He was planning something for sure, entering innocent people was far too gentle and even hurting Castiel couldn't seriously be something that he thought could stop Michael from doing anything. In his head, he went through his list of weaknesses and with a sudden realization he saw that they were all assembled here, around him. Sam, Bobby, Adam, Gabriel, Cas and by now even Abby were all so important to him that losing them was going to shake him no matter what. Lucifer's numbers were still growing as they spoke. In his mind, Michael called for angels to reinforce them but he heard their cries, heard that they were all busy dealing with other enemies, other threats to mankind. He heard the two angels protecting Lisa cry out to him about an attack and he gritted his teeth. Lucifer knew what he was doing. He knew that in this case, numbers were his best choice. To wait until a weak spot presented itself. As Michael thought all this, Lucifer's smile only grew wider.

"We'll see about that…" whispered the devil. And within a split second, he was in front of Michael, blade drawn and making his first move.

And just as suddenly as Lucifer made his move, the battle broke out around them. Demons attacked, hunters and angels countered. Gabriel was slaying Demons so fast no human eye could comprehend while Michael was kept busy by Lucifer himself, blocking and attacking. He hadn't brought out his sword yet though. The problem with it was, that once he got his sword out, the flames were sure to follow around him. It was his flaming sword of prophecy after all and making a firestorm in this close a battle would surely not only hurt demons but his friends as well. He'd bet his halo that Lucifer had counted on that as well, because as it was, it seemed that every attack the fallen angel made was directed to keep Michael as close to the ones he fought with as possible and it made it difficult for Michael to counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw demons being exorcized out of the innocent people, he saw how Gabriel tried his best to not harm the vessels while expelling the demons (they had agreed to that. It took longer but it was what all the hunters and Michael agreed on: No more causalities than necessary) and he saw how the demons got more in number even when exorcized. How their expelling to hell didn't hold as their master was with them on earth and Michael understood. Understood that this was not how he could win. To get to Lucifer, he had to unleash his full power, had to draw him out full in the open and he had to use his sword and he had to use the power he gained by being in his true vessel. Fighting while paying so much attention to his surroundings wouldn't do. It would just hurt the people around him. He already saw how some of them tired out, how Sam and Abby stood back to back, how Bobby tried to shield the still far too unexperienced Adam from the blunt attacks of the demons. He could see how Castiel and Gabriel were trying to get the demons away from his own fight. Several of them tried to stab Mchael in the back while Lucifer occupied his front. Of course it wasn't that easy to trick the mightiest archangel but it sure distracted him. It was frustrating, he could burn all the demons out of their shells, he could kill them within the blink of an eye but being with Dean he knew that these were people, they were all people falling victim to demons. The angel side in him wanted to ignore those comments. This was ware, there were bound to be causalities. But Dean insisted, said if there was another way they should take that one. Wasn't the human race god's favorite creation? And how could Michael disagree with that argument?

When their blades met one more time, Michael stopped to hiss at his brother over the yells and noises around them.

"Stop this, Lucifer. Stop bringing innocent people into this. This is between the two of us, not them."

"HA!" Lucifer laughed in triumph. He almost threw his head back but had to parry a swing of Michael's blade. "I knew it. That Winchester vessel made you soft. You let his human side have too much control of you." Another grin flashed across the devil's face while he got closer to Michael again.

"Guess what? It will be your downfall." Lucifer hissed, teeth pressed together while forcing his blade closer to Michael's stomach. In the last second, the older archangel could swipe it away and he jumped backwards to try and get more footing. But unfortunately for him, he had been thinking too much about Lucifer's words. His two sides were arguing about how right the devil was and he didn't sense the presence behind him, the lowly demon, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, making Michael lose his footing.

Everything seemed to slow down around him. He saw Lucifer's grin widen, saw his burnt wings fluttering in excitement and suddenly, the Morgenstern was right in front of him, one hand grabbing his fighting arm, blocking him from parrying and holding him in position at the same tame and the other hand thrust his blade forwards, right in the direction of its destination:

Dean's heart.

And he would have succeeded, had his opponent been any other than Michael himself. As it was, another blade deflected Lucifer's. His flaming sword. At the mere contact, a shock wave was sent from the center, sending both angels flying and dividing the fighting crown around them completely as if a bomb had exploded in their midst. Even the high rank demons, Gabriel and Cas had not seen this coming. Where the blades had met there was a circle of white hot flames on the floor.

Slowly, Michael regained his bearings. Everybody had paused or was blown away by the blast and he was the first to recover. Unfortunately, he had only deflected his brother's blade from its original path but not completely blocked it and he held his stomach where the deep wound gashed blood and leaked grace. He hissed but got up either way.

"Michael!"

"Dean!" he head both his brothers and the others scream for him when they saw what happened. The archangel didn't spare them a glance, his gaze on Lucifer. In the moment their blades met, the flames of his sword had hit the former angel. Lucifer was struggling to get up, his midsection badly burnt and several strands of grace leaking out, making the high pitched noise even more unbearable.

"I'm fine.," Michael answered his brothers. "But this can't continue." With a hand still pressed to his hurting stomach, he lifted his flaming sword. The white flames surrounding it burned so hot that none of the demons or hunters dared to step closer. And this was its dormant state. He could not risk actually using the sword again around here.

Before Lucifer could even get up or react, the eldest archangel fluttered his wings, appeared before his brother, grabbed him, and disappeared.

Icarus is flying too close to the sun
Icarus's life, it has only just begun

Standing on the cliff face
Highest foe you'll ever grace
It scares me half to death

Look out to the future
But it tells you nothing
So take another breath

Your hands protect the flames
From the wild winds around you

~Icarus, Bastille

Yeah. Michael wants to keep everybody safe but with him hurt and Lucifer confident that he can win, was that really the best choice?

You'll see next chapter :D We're nearing the end as you may be able to tell.

Pleeeease write a review, I wanna know if you're still interested D:

~Thanks for reading!