Author's Note

Hey guys guess what? I'm doing voiced tweets for you on my twitter account! You can find the link to follow me in my profile (or just search for me, it's the same name as this account) Hear me speak! If you care to. Also I'm really tired and I'm sorry for such a late update, I hope this is satisfactory for you guys, I tried to make it longer lmfao took an extra week to keep the quality up there instead of just tossing shit at you guys ;)

As well I'm really glad that no one's planning on ditching me XD We're close, I've been saying that forever but we're close! Anyway enjoy!

"Didn't I tell you?" Haniel leaned forward with a smile that was slowly fading and a saddened expression lurked over the rest of his usually calm face.

"Tell me what?" Zeruch felt his heart sink as he looked up, taking in an expression he was far from used to.

"Rochel is gone."

Flying overhead Dean was making a point of not looking down, but the rest of the party did, Rochel was the first to react to the sight below them. "Oh my god in heaven…" he flinched and covered his mouth, turning his head toward the sky again but looking back because he couldn't deny the lost one last look. The massive pile of bodies was indecently high, from what they could see it could only be assumed that all the recent dead were resting there.

Castiel's expression soured at the sight but he didn't say much about it, eyes focusing on the figure at its base instead. "Dean," he pointed, "There."

Dean looked down and felt his stomach churn even further. The bound form of the heavenly father barely moved as they circled round. Chuck's head was hung and his limbs as still as death, no one needed to speak to know that everyone feared the same thing. Energy surged between Dean and Castiel as their bond flared to life. "Son of a bitch…"

Anna touched down, letting go of the others immediately and booked it across the distance between her and her partner, "Chuck!" Her distress was clear and a cause for anxiety in the others, losing the person you cared about wasn't something any of them wanted to go through. Rochel curled his lower lip into his mouth, biting down on it and turning away, hoping with everything he had that he wasn't about to witness what he thought he might. Chuck sat motionless on a chair propped up a few feet from the start of the corpses, his limbs bound and as noticed from above, his head was dropped forward and eyes closed, hair matted with dirt and grime and sticking to his brow. "Chuck," she dropped down next to him and hesitated before shaking him, a hand coming around and feeling for a pulse. "He's alive." She breathed after a moment, her heart almost stopping entirely.

The relief nearly washed Castiel back down to calm but he knew that just because Chuck was alive didn't mean that their troulbes were over. His eyes darted about, his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. His father was beaten and unresponsive and the monster responsible for it was nowhere to be seen. "Son of a bitch…" he repeated Dean as he was at a loss for any other words. "Haniel!" The angel's voice ripped through the eerie quiet of the evening, frantic and angry. "Where are you, Haniel?!"

"Such passion in this one," Haniel's smooth voice rolled over them as he strolled around the body pile, his gaze flicking over Rochel like it didn't faze him. "You've always been that way, haven't you?"

Castiel snarled and stepped closer, though not intending to walk away from the others, very conscious of where Dean was first, Rochel, Anna and Chuck after. "You wouldn't know, Haniel. I was never one of your angels." Blue eyes remained stiffly on the psychotic being across from him, stealing glances in Zeruch's direction. He thought the angel would have already reacted to the lost lover in their midst, but nothing had happened. 'He doesn't recognize Rochel…' He realized after a moment, Zeruch had barely given the other angel a passing glance, standing stoically at Haniel's side.

The moment felt like it dragged on, felt like it was going to drive everyone present completely insane. But not soon enough. Rochel couldn't take it anymore and marched forward, his jaw raised and eyes firmly drilling holes into Zeruch's head, "You don't even recognize my face, do you?"

Zeruch's gaze snapped over, his ears were burning and the look of nonchalance had faded entirely, giving way to recognition and heartbreak. He knew that voice, it haunted his dreams at night, laid out the paths of his nightmares and forced tears when he thought he had none left. "Rochel?" It was barely a whisper but he managed to utter his lover's name. "Rochel is that you?"

The angered expression on Rochel's pale face lightened and he nodded, "It's me, Zeruch."

Haniel made a 'huh' kind of sound and shrugged, "Guess the humans didn't kill him after all."

"You know damn well they didn't," Rochel snarled, his temper flaring and hands clenching into fists, "You lied to him on purpose, you just wanted him to join your twisted cause because he's the strongest you've ever had."

Haniel could feel the fiery stare on him and glanced back toward his Power, a smile widening on his face again. "You son of a bitch." Zeruch looked horrified, that he could go so long thinking Rochel was dead and all this time they could have been together, all this time that he could have been without his nightmares. "You manipulative-"

"You knew what you signed on for," Haniel pointed out, knowing by now he wasn't in a good position. He hadn't expected it to go this way, that the other side would pick Rochel up, even find where the hiding angel was located. "Kudos to you guys, by the way," He looked over at Castiel with a laugh, "Rochel was pretty well hidden, how on earth did you find him?"

"Little birdy told us." Dean spat snarkily, "Now give it up Haniel! Your sick little game is over."

"What, you think the angels are going to stop just because you kill me? This isn't going to end any time soon, Winchester."

Chuck coughed and squirmed a little, looking up toward Anna who had gathered him in her arms, held tightly against her torso and no chance of escaping without her knowledge. "You're wrong," he strained, attention shifting his way, "You're wrong and you know it, Haniel."

Castiel smiled back at his Father though the warmth in his eyes faded quickly as he stepped toward Haniel much more threateningly as his eyes flashed brightly, "I think it best that you step down now." He growled out, the ground beneath his feet starting to quake.

"What?" Haniel lifted the glass tube from beneath his shirt, fingers tracing the top playfully, "You want this to end without a fight?" Castiel burst forward but it was too late, the vial had broken and the grace trapped inside was freed. The shockwave sent Castiel hurdling backward, his feet digging into the ground though still unable to balance himself. Haniel hunched forward, something squirming in his back, pressing at the skin and stretching it until it tore open completely. Bloodied white wings shot out of his flesh, tearing a sharp cry from him as it split his skin, the wings stretching and fanning open. "Good god," he wheezed, lifting his head a little dizzily, "That was fantastic!"

Rochel made a face as Zeruch wrapped his arms around him, "Freak…"

"Yeah," Zeruch nuzzled their cheeks together, more transfixed by having Rochel with him again than Haniel's crazy tendencies.

Dean put a hand on Castiel's shoulder; the angel glancing back briefly though all they needed to do was exchange a nod. Nothing more needed to be said out loud as they launched forward again, magic flaring to life as Haniel straightened up, ready to receive them.

"We're almost there," Sam held tightly to Gabriel, glancing back at the others as they swarmed in, they had quite the crew. They were a powerful force and weren't ever meant to be messed with. The archangels were all present as well as a few teams that were surprisingly talented. Sam wouldn't want to be on the opposite side from this group, at least not again. It hadn't ended well last time and he doubted it would go any better for Haniel's army. Haniel wasn't present, after all, their genius tactician was missing which at least lessened their advantage of numbers.

"You aren't going to like this," Gabriel called over his shoulder, "But there's one hell of a greeting down there."

Sam looked to where his partner was pointing and felt his stomach drop, the ground below suddenly started to flutter and move as if it were alive. And in a way, it was. The angelic army charged upward from the ground, coming to meet them with weapons drawn. "It's starting, you guys ready?"

"BRING IT!" Garth cried out as he and Balthazar dove at the incoming battle head first, the angel's wings tucking in close for a better dive-bomb effect.

Michael winced when they made contact with the first angels below, thinking they decided to go for a head-butt manoeuvre. However the angels they struck went hurdling to the ground at alarming speeds and the eldest had to laugh, "Holy battering ram."

"It gets the job done," Bela mused, "Come on, let's get in there."

It didn't take any further prompts for the rest of them to charge right back, Gabriel knew Sam's grip was phenomenal, they'd done so many different flying exercises, each time he'd been shocked to see Sam still clinging to his back. However he was also carrying Lucifer and without any powers his brother might as well be a child. The plan was for the rest to fight the onslaught while Sam and Gabriel took Lucifer to shut the gates, it wasn't so easy. The mess of wings beating the sky was difficult enough to navigate through, but they weren't being ignored either. In fact their enemies knew to focus on Sam, to try and single him out. Of course in doing so they were brutally taken down because Sam's patience had worn dangerously thin.

"Son of a bitch!" The younger Winchester cursed as another impacting blow was barely evaded; Gabriel's wings tucking in close to narrowly avoid being singed by surging energy. "We'll never make it there in time!"

"SAM!" Jet's voice reached them but Sam couldn't see him, too many bodies, too many distractions and assaulting limbs. They were encasing Sam and Gabriel, swarming them specifically and making them almost immobile. Sam was starting to feel like they were in a cocoon, or one of those Indiana Jones type ruins where the walls start moving in to crush you. They struggled to break free, attempts at sending out shockwaves to pound back but it was too difficult to focus, every single flailing body beat against them relentlessly, knocking Sam forward, striking his head repeatedly and causing some serious delirium. Gabriel snarled in a way that vented his frustrations but there wasn't anything he could do other than push back. He had to hold onto Lucifer and now Sam wasn't responding as quickly.

For a moment the world felt like it was spinning, like it was going to fall away at any moment, until a reverberating shock made their encasing tremble. At first it meant nothing but another was followed by the booming sound and bass of thunder and soon it was happening like rapid fire. The shockwave pounding harder and harder, louder and louder until it cracked the air around them and the last of the angels swarming them fell away. Sam looked around dizzily before Gabriel sent a healing wave through him, "What-"

"I think you need a body guard," Jet grinned before he had Camael blast another swarming group, the same thunderous sound erupting from the aftershock, and another sudden crack as he rammed his staff into an angel flying by.

Sam smirked, "Thanks, Jet."

"What would you do without me? Seriously," Jet laughed, knowing that if he hadn't been there then one of the others would have probably accomplished the same thing. "Well come on, we'll clear the way."

"Good idea." The others could hold their own, Raphael and Annie weren't having any trouble and Michael was never someone to worry about. Garth and Balthazar seemed alive so Sam figured they'd make it through this fight like they always did.

With that the two teams blasted their way downward, the graveyard finally in sight and the gates pulsating dangerously. Sam could feel it, feel the life squirming beyond the gates, feel the anticipation and dread in the air. His heart was beating irregularly and he did his best not to think about it, about the stories when he was a little kid. God exists, angels exist, even goddamn Lucifer exists. It's only logical to believe that demons would too. Fear held fast to his soul as the thumping and hammering of his heart started to fall in line with the intensifying beat of the gates. Lucifer's partner, he was meant to be Lucifer's human and he was meant to stand beside the angel even in the face of hell. It was terrifying; to stand against demons and the monsters he'd always been scared of. As he'd grown humans had taken over as the monsters in his mind, humans could arguably be the root of all evil. But something about knowing that any moment he might come face to face with a real monster, a real nightmare, frightened him.

"They can't hold it!" Lucifer shouted, catching Sam's attention immediately.

"What do you mean?" Sam yelled back, the immense noise of a battle above them was drowning out almost all sound in the area, they could hear the clashing of swords, the air shaking and trembling from its weight. Sound could barely travel under these conditions and it was starting to be as difficult to speak to one another here as it would be in a live concert.

"I mean the gates are opening now! We should have had days!"

"How the fuck did Haniel manage to open it that fast?" Jet snapped, "Is there some secret magical trick to it?"

"There is…" Lucifer muttered though only Gabriel could have heard him. "He'd have to send a demon's soul inside along with the rest of them, it jump starts the process."

'Shit…' Sam looked down anxiously when he noticed several flashing lights escaping the gate, like little lasers flashing out all originating from where the doors should be touching. 'It's too late… we're too late.'

"Now what?" Gabriel had slowed down but Lucifer adamantly demanded he continue downward by yanking on him.

"Hurry! We can still do this." His command was heeded and Gabriel continued, Jet and Camael catching up fairly quickly.

Jet looked back toward the swarm above them and realized that the angels had stopped following. "What is…" He squinted and furrowed his brow, "What's stopping them from following us?"

"No idea," Camael had a bad feeling about it but he was fairly embarrassed to admit he didn't know something. It wasn't every day that the gates were forced open on Earth, it wasn't knowledge that he was expected to have though he wished he'd looked into it.

Just as they decided to dismiss it one of the stray beams of light from the doorway shot their way, striking Jet in the shoulder. Most would assume it was just light, but their assumptions were clearly wrong as it sent the stubborn man hurdling from his angel's back. A sharp cry erupted from his throat as the impact launched him right off of Camael, it all seemed to happen so fast and for a moment no one knew how to react but the angel of judgment was swift and caught Jet's ankle. Only after swinging his human upright again and tossing him back into the right position did Camael ask, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Jet looked at his shoulder where his shirt had been singed and the skin below damaged. "So uh… Don't get hit by that shit guys."

"Noted." Sam smiled, glad that Jet wasn't terribly phased by the assault.

They finally touched ground, realizing that the beams of light were getting bigger and more frequent. Sam looked to Lucifer to see what the archangel was up to and realized that he was walking right for the gates. "What are you doing? Lucifer!"

"We need to close it, remember?" Lucifer paused and glanced back.

"You can't get near them, they'll tear you apart." Gabriel frowned, "What are you doing?"

"The only way to open them is to stand directly in front of them and recite some ancient crap. I've got the reverse enchantment memorized but it works the same way, I have to be standing right there," He pointed to a spot that had been previously prepared for the earlier ritual, a single body laying next to it. "That's the body of our demon sacrifice, which means we definitely can't wait."

Sam looked at the body and noted its familiarity but didn't have time to reflect on it, "Lucifer you'll die if you do this."

"That's not guaranteed." Lucifer smirked, "Please, when have I ever been self sacrificing?"

His words invited a little bit of relief into the others, it was true, he'd never been the type to jump in front of a tank for someone. So why would he do that now? Hell on earth sounded like his kind of place.

"Son of a bitch…" A familiar voice caught their attention, all eyes snapping to the sacrifice and Sam felt his stomach drop. Crowley sat up, though it wasn't entirely him, or it didn't fully look like him. His head wasn't on straight and his neck was far too long for him to be human. As the business man struggled to stand his body shifted and twitched strangely, his skin looked wrong, like it wasn't actually skin but made of something much tougher. He snapped dark eyes in their direction and his face appeared to do some kind of morphing that could only be done in movies, or so Sam thought. An inhuman sound growled and screeched out of him as he started away from the doors.

"Crowley!" Sam didn't know where he found the nerve to speak but somehow he had it. That grotesque face angling toward him again, this time starting to resemble a human. "How did you get out of there?"

"You think it's so easy?" Crowley's voice broke into a multi-tone for a moment as he snarled at him, "As if I'm some meager demon that can be taken out by a regular angel's sword?" He started laughing, a sound that curdled the blood and froze limbs. "AH! Haniel it won't be so simple!" The demented and delusional creature seemed to turn into a dark shadow before vanishing, flashing along the ground and gone.

"Holy fuck what was that?" Jet muttered, wide eyes snapping over to Sam again.

"Crowley…" Sam swallowed nervously, very relieved that he wasn't going to be on the receiving end of a demon attack. He wasn't so sure he could take it, really. Everyone else knew he could, knew that Sam Winchester was strong and that when it came down to the wire Sam always pulled through and stepped over his fears to do what was necessary. But he wasn't nearly as certain.

"Lucifer!" Gabriel shouted as he looked for his brother, spotting the weakened angel before the gates, hands held over the bloodied symbol and mouth moving as he chanted in a language that Sam and Jet were completely lost on. Gabriel tried to run forward but as Lucifer continued several shockwaves pulsed and sent him backward again, repeating and increasing in strength. Gabriel went back to Sam instead, wings curling around him and protecting him from the slamming energy waves as they flashed over them. He loved his brother, sure, but Sam would always be his world and he'd sooner defend Sam then run in to die with Lucifer.

Camael did the same for Jet, noticing that despite how strong Jet was he was still being pushed back and the force of each strike was worsening. Jet looked through any opening he could, watching as a pedestal rose from the etchings in the dirt, Lucifer flinched repeated as not only the weight of the gates pushed down on him but the lights continued to hit him, the beams were larger and much more likely to skim him even if they were far above his head. "He's struggling…"

"Nothing we can do for him." Camael grit his teeth, he knew the moment Lucifer had uttered the words 'self sacrificing' that this could not end well.

Jet glared forward with a sense of wrong filling him as he watched Lucifer strain himself. "What the fuck… This isn't right."

Sam felt his heart aching as he and Gabriel had to continually step away, out of the light's path. Lucifer let out an anguished sound as his back was singed and he fell against the risen pedestal that was starting to look much more like an altar. His limbs trembled as he gasped and heaved in breath, trying to lift himself up again. Sam felt Gabriel's wings close on him harder and realized he'd taken a step forward. His angel pulled him back in, a blast of light striking one of the archangel's wings and tearing a cry from his lips. Sam knew he couldn't stay there, couldn't try to help because whatever he did would get Gabriel hurt, get him killed and he'd never forgive himself for that.

But could he forgive himself for this? Lucifer was divinely his, meant for him and he was going to just stand back and let this happen? Watch him die?

Lucifer pressed his hands onto the altar, gripping its sides and starting to attempt to move it. He could feel his head getting a little light, could feel his muscles straining and the slip of his bloodied hands on the stone. He had to do this. He needed to do this. After everything he'd ever done to Sam, to his brothers and sisters, he needed redemption and this was the least he could do for them. He had to close the gates; maybe saving their lives would earn him something more than the disgusted looks and fear he'd been getting until then. Maybe he'd be more than 'the devil' and his name might bring a feeling of enlightenment and not dread. He might be able to be more than the monster he was born to be.

Honourable Mentions:

First I'd like to say that there were so many for last chapter! So happy and impressed :D Second I'd like to mention you all but this space isn't big enough XD

We Your Help: I don't mind if you post stuff like that, doesn't bug me (sucks that we lost but meh, the other fans actually had something to gain by it, we just had the 'gloating rights' right? I mean I'd say if their fandom can become canon by winning that poll then we should support them. I don't watch that other show or ship that other group but come on; we're all fans of something and should be like a community of people. It would show other fans that if we yell loud enough something happens right? Right! So congrats to the Sterek shippers). Also we're all hoping Cas gets his wings back lmao

KatyOnACloud: You just called me 'old dog'. You're awesome lmfao

Guest: Thanks for taking the time to read it ;)