"You know what boys," I say, leaning up over the back of the front seat. All morning on the drive down to Carthage, I was trying my best to keep the mood as light as possible. The whole drive I got them to sing along with Dean's tapes with me, told them the corniest jokes I could think of, whatever it took to keep them laughing. About five minutes ago Jo called and said we were about five minutes out of town. The mood darkened a little bit, but not as much as I imagined. As I place a hand on Dean and Sam's shoulder, they turn their heads and look at me, eyebrows raised. "I just wanted you boys to know that despite the fact that y'all can major pains in my butt," I look at them both, giving them pointed looks before giving them smile. "I love both of y'all." They both let out groans as I push myself over the seat and give them both kisses on the cheek. I set back down on the seat, but rest my arms on the back of their seat, riding like that until we get into town.
As the Impala rolls down a street of the deserted looking town, Sam and Dean stick their phones out the window, trying to get a signal. "You getting a signal?" Sam says.
"No, nothing." Dean says as he pulls his phone back into the car. "Nice and spooky."
He sticks his arm out the window and waves Ellen forward as the Impala comes to a stop. "Place seem a little empty to you?" Ellen says as they come to a stop next to us.
"We're gonna go check out the PD." Dean tells her. "You guys stay here, see if you can find anybody."
"Okay." Ellen says, nodding her head. Jo gives us all a small smile as Dean drives the Impala down the road.
~o.O.o.O.o~
Dean's Point of View
"Dammit," I grunt as we walk out of the police station. We walk down the street until we spot Ellen and Jo's car. I wave an arm to flag them down as we walk up to it. "Station's empty." I tell them.
"So's everything else." Jo says from the passenger seat.
"Have you seen Cas?" Ellen asks.
"What?" Sam says. "He was with you."
"Nope. He went after the reapers." Ellen says, shaking her head.
"Reapers?" I say.
"He saw reapers? Where?" Rhiannon asks.
"Well, kind of everywhere." Jo says.
Me, Sam, and Rhiannon let out a groan as Jo and Ellen get out of their car. I check the barrel of my fully loaded shotgun as Jo and Ellen load themselves down with weapons. Before we start down the street, I grab Rhiannon's sawed-off shotgun out of her hands, checking to make sure it was still loaded. As I hand it back to her, I give her a look, silently telling her to stick close to me. She nods her head a tiny bit, only that I would notice. I place a hand on the side of her face, giving her a soft look only she would understand. A tiny smile fleets across her face before she pats my arm. I drop my arm to my side as Jo and Ellen walk up to us, letting us know they were ready to go.
"Well, this is great," I say as our group starts walking down the street. "Been in town twenty minutes and already lost the angel up our sleeve."
"You think, uh, you think Lucifer got him?" Sam says, speaking our unspoken thoughts.
"I don't know what else to think." I say with a sigh.
"There you are." A voice calls out from the distance.
We all stop walking and turn towards the voice. At the end of the street is a small woman with long dark hair, dressed in heels and a leather jacket. "Meg." Sam says, identifying the woman.
"Shouldn't have come here, boys." She says with a shrug.
"Hell, I could say the same thing for you." I say. I pull the Colt out of my jacket and aim it at the demon.
"Didn't come here alone, Deano." Meg says, a smug look on her face. She shifts her weight over to one foot as she looks down beside her. Suddenly, the sound of dogs growling and barking sounds from beside her. Dread fills me as I immediately recognize the sound. The large foot of the invisible creature splashes a puddle next to Meg's foot.
"Hellhounds." I shout at her, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.
"Yeah, Dean. Your favorite." Meg says, a smug smile still planted on her face. I hear the sharp intake of Rhiannon's breath. I had finally fully told her about me going to hell, so she knew what the hellhounds meant to me. "Come on, boys and gal. My father wants to see you."
"I think we'll pass, thanks." Sam says. I could practically hear the smugness in his voice, trying to hide the fear I knew he was harboring.
"Your call." Meg says with a shrug. "You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard."
I turn my head and look at everyone in my group. My eyes finally rest on Rhiannon, who gives me a wink and then a small nod. "When have you known us to ever make anything easy?" I say to the demon. I shift my aim with the Colt slightly, firing a round at the invisible hellhound. Blood spurts from it as a whimpering sound emerges from it.
"Run!" I hear Sam yell. I turn and take off running with the group following closely behind Rhiannon. Suddenly, I feel the strong paws of a hellhound on my back pushing me to the ground. I let out a yell, and see a flurry of blonde and brown hair, wiping back to look at me. I vaguely hear Jo and Rhiannon yell my name as they start firing rounds at the hellhound on top of me as it backs away, whimpering.
"No, stay back!" I yell at them. Suddenly, I see Jo of them being knocked to the ground.
"No!" I hear Sam and Ellen yell as they run back to us. I watch as the invisible beast rips into Jo's side, blood spurting everywhere. The clawing finally stops as Sam and Ellen start hitting it with salt rounds. Once the beast is gone, I scoop Jo into my arms. I look to her right, where Rhiannon had been standing next to her, firing off rounds along with, but don't see her.
"Dean!" I hear Rhiannon scream. I turn, with Jo in my arms, and look down the street. I watch as a hellhound drags her down the street, blood spraying from her shoulder. She stops in front of Meg, who reaches down and scoops her up by the neck. I move to go to her, but stop when I see her shake her head, just a little bit, silently telling me to help Jo. Without thinking about it, I turn and run after Sam and Ellen to a nearby hardware store. I run into the store and set Jo down by the counter.
"Go," she chokes out. "Go get her." I stand up and run back to the door, but stop when I see Sam wrapping a chain around the handles.
"Get them off there Sam," I yell at him as he lays down a salt line.
"I can't Dean!" he yells back at me.
"Rhiannon is still out there!" I yell at him, fighting him trying to get to the door. As if to answer me, I hear the hellhounds scratching at the door, trying to get it.
"We can't Dean," Sam says quietly. He gives me a sad look as the realization starts to sink in.
"No," I say defiantly. "No, she will be fine." I look back at the door one last time as I hear Ellen yell at us that she needed help. "She'll be fine," I say again, not totally convincing myself. "She'll be fine…"
~o.O.o.O.o~
Rhiannon's Point of View
When I come to, I feel the warmth of fire on my face. I slowly open my eyes and see a line of fire in front of me. I vaguely hear my name as I turn my head and look up at the ceiling.
"Rhiannon!" I hear the gruff voice say again. I sit up slowly, grabbing my shoulder as pain shoot from it after being dragged by the hellhound. "Rhiannon!" I turn my head to the left and see Castiel standing there, looking at me.
"Cas?" I say, my voice groggy. I stand up slowly, looking at my surroundings. I look around and see that I'm encaged in a ring of fire, holy fire no doubt. I look over at Cas and see he's trapped too. "Cas, what's going on?" I say, gaining some strength in my voice.
"Rhiannon," Castiel says again. "Are you okay? Are Sam and Dean okay?"
"The boys are fine," I say, nodding my head. "I don't know about Jo, a hellhound got her the same time as me. I'm fine, though my shoulder is pretty mangled up though. Cas, why am I in holy fire?"
"Oh, dear Rhiannon," I hear a familiar voice say. Chillbumps crawl up my spin as I hear him walking towards us. I turn my head and see Lucifer and Meg walking towards us. "I thought you were smarter than that."
"Yeah, well, it's hard for me to focus when part of my body is throbbin in pain after one of your mutts dragged me down the street," I snap back at him.
"It was my understanding," Lucifer says, coming to a stop in front of me. "That Meg did offer to bring you too me peacefully, but you declined."
"Oh for Pete's sake," I say, getting really exasperated with this guy. "I thought I told you once: I. Am. Not. Gonna. Help. You." I say, putting an emphasis on each word.
Lucifer gives me a smile like I was the cutest kitten in the world. "I know that dear," he says. "I figured that out after you regained control of yourself from Haniel. I won't make that mistake twice." What? I hear a voice say in my head suddenly. What does he mean? Haniel's voice says, a slight panic to her voice.
"What do you mean?" I ask him.
He sweeps his hand at me, motioning towards the holy fire. "I will not be requiring Haniel's assistance anymore," he says. I brace myself, waiting for a full out temper tantrum from the angel in my head…but hear nothing? Haniel? I think to myself. Anyone home? Did you hear that? "Your will is obviously stronger than I imagined, so asking her to kill Michael's vessel will be impossible." He says. He turns and looks at Castiel. "So give my congrats to our brother, his plan worked out."
"That still doesn't explain the holy fire," I say loudly, recapturing his attention. "Why do you have me trapped in holy fire? I'm human. I'll just walk right through it."
"Oh you will?" he says. He sweeps his hand towards me. "Go right ahead." I walk up to the edge of the fire, bracing to march right through it, but stop. I feel like I can go through it, but at the same time I feel like I can't. I snap my head up as Lucifer lets out a laugh. "See? You can't. Oh, you can, but it will either kill you, or make you wish you were dead."
"Cause I'm…" I say, trailing off, remembering Gabriel's words.
"Part angel," Lucifer finishes for me.
"I got the Winchesters pinned down." Meg says after a few moments of silence. "For now, at least. What should I do with them?"
"You better leave them the hell alone!" I yell at her, anger raging through me like I had never experienced before. Meg looks over at me, an amused look on her face. "You better hope I don't get out of here," I say staring Meg down.
She lets out a manic laugh as she walks over to me and comes to a stop in front of me, only the fire separating us. "What are you gonna do?"
I give her a menacing look, watching as her smug smile disappears and fear creeps into her eyes. "Like I said," I say calmly, a smug smile on my face. "You just better hope I never get out of here."
"Leave them alone." Lucifer says, finally answering Meg.
"I—I'm sorry, but are you sure?" She says, turning back to face him. "Shouldn't we—"
"Trust me, child." Lucifer answers her, taking her face in between his hands. "Everything happens for a reason." He rubs a thumb across her cheek as I repress the urge to gag. "Well, Castiel, you have some time." Lucifer says, turning to Cas. "Time to change your mind?" Instead of answering him, Cas just stares him down. "No? Okay," Lucifer says, nodding his head. "Well, if you two will excuse me, but I have an appointment to make." A split second later, he disappears, leaving just me, Meg, and Cas in the dark, damp basement.
Meg gives us a smug smile as she leans against a nearby wall. "Go ahead and get comfy you two," she says. "We're gonna be here a while."
~o.O.o.O.o~
"You seem pleased." I hear Cas say. I look over at him and see him staring at Meg. A movement of his hand catches my eye.
"We're gonna win. Can you feel it?" Meg says, a smile on her face. She pushes herself off the wall and takes a couple steps towards Cas. "You cloud-hopping pansies lost the whole damn universe. Lucifer's gonna take over heaven. We're going to heaven, Clarence."
"Strange, because I heard a different theory from a demon named Crowley." Cas says to her.
"You don't know Crowley." Meg says, a new edge to her voice. I look down at Castiel's hand and watch as he moves it, as if he were turning something.
"He believes Lucifer is just using demons to achieve an end, and that, once he does, he'll destroy you all." Castiel tells her.
"You're wrong. Lucifer is the father of our race. Our creator." Meg says, anger in her voice. "Your god may be a deadbeat. Mine—mine walks the earth." Suddenly, a pipe falls from the ceiling, knocking Meg through the fire and into Castiel's arms. He grabs her and places a hand on her forehead; nothing happens. "You can't gank demons, can you?" Meg says. "You're cut off from the home office and you ain't got the juice. So what can you do, you impotent sap?"
"I can do this." Cas says. Suddenly, he spins her and around, throwing her over the fire. Meg starts to scream and Castiel uses her as a bridge and walks out of the fire.
"Cas!" I yell at him. "What about me?"
He looks around the room, ignoring Meg's screams. "There's no water here," he says. "I can't get you out. I'll go get the others and come back and get you."
"No Cas," I say shaking my head. "We don't know what Lucifer is doing. We need to all get out of here at once."
It takes Cas a minute, but he finally realizes what I mean. "No, Rhiannon," he says. "You are not going through that fire."
"I'm getting to Sam and Dean," I say, already having my mind made up.
"I won't be able to heal you once you go through," Cas says, a slight panic to his voice.
I look down at the fire, take a few steps back, and then look back up at Cas. "You better get me to a hospital quick then angel," I say, giving him a smirk. I take a deep breath before sprinting towards the fire. As I pass through it, unimaginable pain rips through my body. As I feel myself falling, a see a bright light and then pass out.
~o.O.o.O.o~
Sam's Point of View
The ground starts to rumble as I hear a fluttering of wings. I look over and see Castiel standing next to me, with Rhiannon lying limply in his arms. Before anyone can say anything, the familiar sensation of being transported hits me before I realize what's going on. After the sensation is gone, I look up and see we're in front of a hospital. "Cas," I say, chasing after him as he walks as fast as possible towards the e.r. entrance.
"What's wrong with her?" Dean yells after him.
I watch as Rhiannon's head bobs up and down, almost grotesquely. Cas doesn't answer me as we walk into the er. "I need help," Cas shouts.
A couple nurses race up to us with a stretcher. "What happened?" one of the nurses ask as Cas lays her down on the bed.
"I'm not sure," he tells her. "We went to pick her up and found her in her home like this."
The nurse gives him a look as they race away with Rhiannon, doctors shouting orders and nurses reading off numbers. I turn my head to look at Dean, seeing the look of complete horror on his face. "You can wait in here," a woman in scrubs says, pointing towards a little empty room off to our right.
We walk in the empty room in silence. "Cas, what happ-" I start to say. I'm cut off though by Dean throwing a punch into Castiel's face.
I fly over to Dean, who is still throwing punches into Cas's face and pull him away from him. "What did you do to her!?" Dean screams at him. "What happened to her!?"
"Dean calm down!" I yell over top of him. At my words, he calms down some, but is still fuming. "Cas," I say as the angel rubs at his face. "What happened?"
"Lucifer had her trapped in holy fire," Cas says.
"Holy fire?" I say.
"When I got out of my fire, I told her I would come back for her, but she refused," Cas continues. "She ran through the fire and then-"
"But why would the fire affect her?" I say, cutting him off, trying to spare Dean the details.
"She's part angel," Dean answers instead of Castiel. "Right?" Dean says, looking directly at Cas. "That's what Gabriel said."
"So is she…?" I ask after a moment's silence. I didn't want to say dead afraid it would send Dean over the edge.
"No," Castiel says quickly. I hear Dean let out a sigh. "But she was close." He adds quietly.
We all stand around in the room in silence, looking at anything but each other. As the silence grows around us, I wait to hear Rhiannon's south accent chirp up quietly, what do we do now?
~o.O.o.O.o~
"Are you Ms. Hasslehoff's family?" I hear a voice say. I look up and see a man in a white lab coat standing at the entrance to the waiting room.
Dean nods his head and stands up. I follow suite and stand up behind him. Cas had long since left. "Yes, I'm her husband," he says. I'm slightly taken back by that, but don't say anything. "This is my brother," he says pointing back at me. "How's she doing?"
The doctor lets out a sigh as he takes his glasses off and rubs the back of his hand across his forehead. "She's stable," he finally says. "But she's still in critical condition."
"What does that mean?" I ask him. "What exactly is wrong?"
The doctor lets out another sigh. "On the outside, she looks okay, besides the large gashes on her right shoulder. No ligaments or muscles were torn, so she'll still have full mobility of that once it heals up." He says. "But the inside…"
"What about the inside?" Dean says through his teeth, starting to get frustrated with the doctor. I bump him in the back with my elbow; I understood his frustration, but Rhiannon would be pissed if she knew he was getting short with a doctor.
"She had major organ failures," the doctor finally says. "One of her lungs collapsed, part of her liver shut down, she even had a couple heart attacks, and there were a couple others too. The main thing we were, and still are concerned about is the swelling of her brain."
"She's going to be okay, though, right?" I say hopefully.
The doctor looks down at the floor and shakes his head. I reach forward and grab onto Dean's shoulder, partly to hold him back if the doctor gave us bad news, partly so he would now I was there for him. "Like I said, she is stable right now," the doctor says. "We got her liver working again, a chest tube is in place to help her lung and the other organs are starting to recuperate. But like I said, there was some major swelling in her brain. We got it to go down some, but if it doesn't decrease dramatically in the next couple days…"
He leaves the possibility hanging there, not saying it, but letting it still crush us. I give Dean's shoulder a squeeze as I watch his head fall. After a couple seconds, he picks it back up. "I want to see her," he says, his voice thick. "I want to see her now."
The doctor nods his head. "A nurse will walk you up to her room." I mumble my thanks to him as he walks out of the room and an older woman takes his place. She tells us to follow her as she starts from the room.
We follow her through numerous hallways, elevator rides, and doorways until we finally come to a doorway. Before she lets us in, she steps in front of the doorway. "I just want to warn you," she says. "We have her sedated. She is hooked up to numerous machines and a couple iv's. She also has a tube pulling fluid off her lungs and a ventilator. If you have any questions about anything, just feel free to ask one of the staff members."
"Thanks," Dean says. I could tell he was getting anxious. The nurse gives us a kind smile before turning and opening the door. I know the nurse had told us about all the machinery hooked up to Rhiannon to prepare us for it, but no amount of explaining could have properly prepared us. I had only twice before in my life been freaked out by seeing someone lying in a hospital bed, both times had been Dean. This time though, it was different. I had never seen someone so strong, so courageous, look so small, so fragile. The machinery hooked up to Rhiannon just made her look smaller, sicker. For once, she actually looked her size, instead of the large life-force she presented herself as.
I walk over to her, following Dean, and stop on her right side. I watch as Dean continues and walks over to the other side. We both pull up chairs and sit down. I look up at her, expecting her to open her eyes at any moment and give us a wink. We both sit there for a few moments in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. I look over at Dean, his face was blank, zero emotion on it as he looks at Rhiannon's face. Finally, he moves. "You should head to Bobby's." he says, his voice hoarse and thick. I start to protest until he stops me. "Don't argue, just do it. Cas zapped the car back, so it's out front. Head over to Bobby's, get some rest. When you come back, bring Bobby with you, I know he'd like to see her."
"Do you want me to bring anything else; a couple changes of clothes for you?" I already knew Dean was going to refuse to leave the hospital.
He weakly nods his head as he slowly turns his head to look at me. When he looks at me, my breath catches in my throat. I could practically see the fear in his eyes, much like he had when he first got back from hell. "That would be fine," he says, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Okay," I say standing up. I reach down and give her hand a squeeze. "I'll be back in the morning."
Dean doesn't say anything as I walk to the door. After I'm in the hallway, I go to pull the door shut. As I'm pulling it shut, I hear an almost strangled sound coming out of the room. I poke my head back in and see my brother with his head laying down on the bed, over Rhiannon's hand. Looking at my brother's hunched over form, I feel the weight of Rhiannon's letters I still had in my pocket. I watch as his shoulders move up and down, in time with the sobs that were escaping from him.
