Author's note: Thanks a lot to Ghastly Eternity for beta-reading and to Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, skittleAcullen, midnight0211, L. Greene, BloodyRosie, Maddy Love Castiel, AzzaBby, Mello18 and Kid'sDarkWolf for last chapter's reviews.
Two chapters left...
38
The field they had chosen to summon Lucifer to was far enough from everything that there shouldn't be any casualties among civilians. Furthermore, they had decided to just show their numbers openly since none of the present people would come as a surprise to the devil, anyway. This way nobody could be somehow ambushed alone, at least.
Jo was currently doing her very best to squeeze the life out of the younger Winchester, Ellen and Bobby luckily had been satisfied with a short, tight hug each.
Castiel just stood by awkwardly until Sam patted his shoulder with a crooked smile which the angel took as an invitation to hug the other man tightly for a moment. Saying that this came as a surprise would have been an understatement.
"Do me a favor and keep Dean out of trouble, alright?" the younger Winchester addressed the angel with a small smile.
"I don't believe that any individual could accomplish that, Sam," Castiel replied apologetic. He would have really wanted to grant what might very well be his friend's last wish, but he could not guarantee that Dean would even let him keep him out of trouble!
"We'll help you with that, feathers," Ellen stated warmly and definitely.
Of course, they'd all do everything to make sure that the older Winchester would get back to his feet and the angel was right, that wouldn't be a one-man job.
"You two idjits will be the death of me," Bobby grumbled.
The older hunter had already watched each one of them die before and he really couldn't say that that was making things easier.
"I won't cause any new grief from today on, at least," Sam shrugged and got a hard shove against his shoulder from his brother for his troubles. Alright, he should have known that Dean would not appreciate that sort of gallows humor.
"Not funny!" the older Winchester ground out.
He gave his younger brother a short, manly hug. To tell the truth, he was a little afraid that he'd never let go of Sam, if he didn't force himself to step away again quickly.
So, this was it. Everything had been said and done. Now they could only let Lucifer find them and hope for the best.
The younger Winchester stood next to Gabriel and gave the archangel the tiniest smile.
"I'm ready," Sam stated.
He took his partner's hand and made him put his palm against Sam's chest. "Let him come."
The archangel nodded tightly and erased the sigils Castiel had put on both Winchester's ribs again. He seriously doubted that his fallen brother would let them wait for long, but he stayed right next to the younger Winchester, holding his hand, anyway.
On second though, Gabriel reached for the collar of the overshirt Sam wore and pulled it down a little. If the circumstances had been different, Dean would have commented on the hickeys that were clearly to be seen over the collar of his t-shirt now.
"That's so childish, Gabriel," Lucifer spoke casually instead.
"That's just to show you that Sam will always have been mine before he was yours," Gabriel replied scathingly. It was rather hard for him to just keep standing there and not try and take the younger Winchester and run. Not that they'd get far, but the impulse to try it was there, anyway.
"Seeing how I get him from now to all eternity, I can live with that," Lucifer replied with a small smirk.
Sam squeezed Gabriel's hand before he decided that the verbal pissing contest had gone far enough.
"Let's stop talking about him like he is not here," the younger Winchester stated.
"Or like this is a bad porno," Balthazar quipped unhelpfully. The angel had chosen to stand close to Castiel and as far from Lucifer as possible, but that didn't mean he wanted to show the devil any fear he might have felt.
Dean shot the annoying angel a hard look for the comment. Like he seriously needed to think about stuff like that in the situation they were in!
"As you wish," Lucifer said nearly charmingly, "You called, I came running. So?"
It was then that they got their assumption that the devil would not show up alone confirmed. There weren't that many demons around, but still enough of them to be worrying. Luckily, that came as no surprise and the humans, gods and angels had arranged themselves in a way that they could protect themselves against attacks from any side before Lucifer had shown up.
"I want to make a deal with you," Sam told the fallen angel, meeting his gaze unwavering.
"I am sorry, but I have outsourced this sort of activity to your friend Crowley and his underlings years ago," Lucifer replied with a slight shrug, "Which reminds me, I've got to find a new leader for that department."
Crowley had not been found and eliminated for his betrayal yet, but it was only a matter of time. Besides, a new king of the crossroads was needed, anyway.
"Ah, I can't say no to you, Sam," Lucifer added after a short moment, "Let me hear what you've got!"
The devil's nonchalant tone and behavior was in stark contrast to the very tense atmosphere. Both, the demons and team free will were itching for a confrontation. Dean especially would have appreciated the chance to get rid of some frustration and Fenrir and Jörmungandr had been waiting for this moment ever since they had been forced to flee from the last meeting.
"I want your word that you'll leave my family, and that includes everyone you see here, alive and unharmed," the younger Winchester stated seriously, "In return I'll say yes to you."
Lucifer tented his fingers and held them under his chin in consideration.
"You'll understand that I can't make promises about anything Michael might do," he stated thoughtfully, "Also, I'll have to protect our body, so if any of them do anything stupid…"
He didn't finish the threat, but he didn't have to, anyway.
Sam nodded to those conditions. They were pretty understood. It wasn't like they were really planning to stick to any deal, but for the moment being they had to act like they did.
"And, Sam, I am afraid they will do something stupid," the fallen angel added, shaking his head sadly, "You all wouldn't have gone to such lengths to get that key, if you didn't intend to use it."
It didn't come as a real surprise that Lucifer knew about the rings and what they did, but it definitely made things more complicated. As if they needed to be any more complicated!
"Do you want this, or not?" the younger Winchester asked unapologetically.
"Oh yes, I do," Lucifer answered with a hint of a smile, "And I will stick to my word. Everybody who does not take a stand against me will live and remain unharmed."
Strangely enough, Sam believed that, but he also believed that the fallen angel had only made that promise, because he knew that none of the people present would walk away without a fight, anyway.
"Then yes," the younger Winchester said silently but clearly.
Gabriel held his partner's hand tightly until Lucifer's current vessel fell to the ground lifeless. A clear sign that his brother had left the building and was going to occupy his new vessel any moment.
"What have you done?" Lucifer hissed at Gabriel immediately after he snapped his new eyes open.
"What I had to," the archangel replied, obvious that he was relatively content with himself.
"That's a definite deal-breaker!" the fallen angel shot back angrily.
The others did not quite understand what the two brothers were going on about, but they didn't get the time to think about the question for long before the demons charged them.
Balthazar and the three pagan gods were acting as their first line of defense, with Ellen, Jo and Castiel taking care of the few demons that managed to get by them.
Dean threw the conjoined rings of the four Horsemen to the ground and started to say the spell they needed to open the cage while Bobby stayed close to him. The older hunter was mostly there to make sure that somebody would be able to finish the incantation in case Dean couldn't. It couldn't hurt to have a backup, after all.
Hel had just finished another one of the demons as her father caught her eye and something about him grabbed her attention for a moment too long. Even she had to admit that the yelp that escaped her when a bunch of demons threw themselves at her at once was undignified, but luckily nobody was likely to have heard it over all the noise they were making.
Fenrir was at his sister's side immediately and together they managed to get rid of the attackers easily enough. A couple more had made it past them in the meantime, however.
Castiel had never missed his angelic powers as much as he did that very moment, but he was by far too busy to linger on those feelings. Besides, he found that using a gun had its merits, as well. At the very least, it was satisfying to shoot the demons, even if it would not kill them for good.
Not too far from them, Lucifer and Gabriel were having their very own battle, though it seemed to be more of a battle of their wills this far.
"I would have thought you had learned your lesson after last time," Lucifer spat and finally drew his blade.
If the archangel had been a little scared that it wouldn't be that easy to wrap his mind around the idea that the body didn't belong to his Sammybear any long before, he surely didn't have any of those worries left. Lucifer's presence shone through so clearly, that Gabriel saw nothing else but his fallen brother.
"We both know that I'm awfully thick sometimes," Gabriel replied nonchalantly. He still was very glad to hear Dean say the last part of the spell, though. He knew he wouldn't have made it through a lengthy battle.
The entrance to the cage opened with a swoosh and it was suddenly getting very windy around them.
Gabriel had made a point of making sure everybody understood that they should do everything not to get too close to the hole that had just opened, because there was no getting out again of that one.
Balthazar was the first to get the great idea to make sure that a couple of demons got too close to it, however. He felt overly generous for making sure that Lucifer wouldn't be lonely in his cage this time around, too.
The two archangels had started to attack each other in earnest the second that the cage had been fully opened and it looked like Lucifer would prefer throwing his brother into his old prison over killing him. He probably viewed that as a fate worse than death, though.
Ellen was too busy with the demon she was just struggling with to notice that Fenrir had elbowed one away from himself and had accidentally sent the demon straight over to the older Harvelle that way.
Castiel saw the enemy coming and quickly got in the way. In his hurry he did not manage to get into a good fighting position before the demon was already on him, however.
Knowing that he couldn't do anything more against Lucifer at the moment, Dean didn't hesitate and ran over to his friend. He'd be damned if he lost his brother and his best friend at the same day!
The demon still managed to imbed a short knife in the angel's shoulder before he got the demon killing knife straight through his throat.
"Cas, you okay?" Dean asked, immediately helping the other man up and taking a quick look at the wound before he had to pay attention to the remaining demons again.
"I believe so," Castiel answered just a little shakily. He was no stranger to physical pain, after all.
The fight here would not go on much longer, anyway. If Lucifer was not thrown back into the cage soon, then it was a foregone conclusion that the fallen angel would win and even if he should for some reason decide not to kill them all immediately, they all would be dead men and women walking afterward.
It was by no means easy for Bobby to point a gun – the Colt to be exact – at the young man he had viewed as one of his sons for a long time, but at the same time he knew that it was no longer Sam and he also knew that the younger Winchester would have expected him to do everything to beat Lucifer and help Gabriel. The older hunter took a deep breath, aimed carefully and fired at the devil.
Lucifer howled both in anger and pain. The Colt might not kill him, but it could wound him and he really didn't need to lose any of his power at the moment being.
Gabriel took his chance to give his brother a hard push, but the devil managed to grab the shorter archangel's hand and pull him toward him.
"I'm not going alone," Lucifer hissed and grabbed Gabriel's hand tighter. They both were getting sucked in slowly but steadily, as things were.
"Probably not, Balthazar already threw a couple of companions in for you," the older Winchester suddenly stated with a cruel smirk as he held the back of Gabriel's jacket, "But you won't take him!"
Hel had also gotten a hold on her father's shoulder to make sure he would not be dragged in with the devil.
Dean wasn't even completely finished talking when Jörmungandr changed back into his giant snake form for the couple of moments he needed to let his tail spring forward and give Lucifer that last hard jab they needed.
Most of the last remaining demons ran for the hills the second the cage closed after their master. The very few that stayed were killed by Fenrir and Balthazar while Ellen and Jo already worked on Castiel's wound.
Bobby stood close to Dean and put his hand on the younger man's shoulder without words. They both were thinking pretty much the same thing, anyway. At least it had worked, not that that made anything much better.