Never, in one million years, would Dean Winchester - a simple Hunter from Lawrence, Kansas - have thought that he would be facing the end of everything. That this is how it would all unfold, the end of the world, total and complete damnation. Never, would he have thought, that it would be because of him.
Dean watched, wincing, as Tandy fruitlessly attempted to barge the door open with her shoulder. Her face was strained, peppered in beads of sweat and her long, blonde hair flowed freely down her back, tangling into strands that were like coils of golden rope.
He'd be damned, as beautiful as she was, that this would be his last memory, the last thing that he would ever see. He'd be damned if he let it all go to waste. He'd be damned if he didn't pull Sam back from the brink, before he crossed over into the darkness forever.
Drawing his gun, his face feral, Dean pointed it at the doors of the cathedral, hell-bent that if this was it, that if he couldn't save Sam, if he couldn't have him, then no one could. He would bring this whole, blasted place to the ground around them, and he would do it with a smile.
Tandy's heartbeat sounded loudly throughout her ear drums, louder even than the wet thud of their bloodied fists as they hammered them against the stern, oak doors of the cathedral.
Before Ruby had sealed the doors shut - casting them a shit-eating grin over her shoulder that had caused Tandy's throat to close over and her blood to course hotly through her veins like molten lava - they had spied Sam's silhouette through the darkness. He had his back faced towards them, unflinching, uncaring, as though he couldn't even hear their haggard breathing, their heartfelt pleas or broken screams as they bounded towards him, footsteps echoing across the cold, concrete walls.
This was it, she thought helplessly. Doom's Day had arrived and this was how it was all goin' to end.
Tandy banged against the door violently, senselessly. Her palms ached, fists slick and swollen. Dean thrashed away alongside of her, unhinged and desperate.
"Sammy!" He wailed, panting heavily. He stepped back and cocked his gun, his green eyes wild, filled with rage and chaos and fear.
Tandy groaned and pushed herself away from the door, stumbling backwards. Her shoulder ached from where she had attempted to barge it open and she wouldn't have been surprised to find that if she looked down, it would be dislocated.
She sighed and spared it a fleeting glance any way. It wasn't. That didn't mean it didn't hurt like a dang bitch though.
Dean levelled his gun at the dark panes of wood and sneered. "Block your eyes!" He ordered quickly before steadying his hands and shooting the door to pieces. Splinters and debris flew through the air like shrapnel and Tandy quickly shielded her gaze from view.
She glanced at Dean, helpless, as the door held fast, unwilling, unable to give way. Their earthly weapons weren't enough. Bullets, knives, their fists, they weren't going to cut it. The didn't have the right juice. They were fighting a preternatural enemy. They felt like ants amongst god's and when Dean peered back at her, for the first time since meeting him, she saw her hopelessness reflected in his citrine gaze.
An arm appeared between them suddenly, seemingly from out of nothingness, and Castiel pressed his palm flat against the surface of the door. His fingers were spread a part, his nails ripped and bloody, having been torn away from their beds completely in his previous scuffle. His eyes glowed brightly, flowing with Grace and he grunted. Light funneled through his outstretched appendage and the door released a shuddering crack before flying wide open, the remaining splinters disintegrating beneath his white-hot touch.
"Go!" He groaned, the urgency in his tone overshadowed by sheer exhaustion. Clearly he was depleted, the last of his energy spent.
Tandy quickly placed her fingers on the angels dirty cheek, a silent thank you forming on her lips, as she met his fading gaze. In that moment, she no longer feared him but rather, she admired him, his strength and his courage. She no longer questioned his loyalty. There was no doubt about it. He was one of the good guys.
Castiel nodded, solemn, and Tandy followed Dean through the opening and into the cathedral.
Inside, it was airless, dank and malodorous. If Tandy thought that the convent had appeared eerie from the outside then she was startled to find that inside was much, much worse. Despite the gravity of their situation, the atmosphere within the cathedral was still and oddly placid, almost as though a calmness had overtaken them, like the ones that often settled in before a raging storm broke free. If it was anything like the storms that wreaked havoc across the bayou, she wondered, then they were about to be faced with complete and utter pandemonium.
Tandy drew in a deep, shuddering breath, taking in the scene before her.
Sam was slumped over the steps that lead towards the alter. His hair was damp, disheveled, and he seemed unable to make sense of his surroundings, disoriented. Ruby cradled his face adoringly between her fingers, whispering a string of felicitations. Gratitude, congratulations. Something wasn't right. A woman's body - blonde-haired and disturbingly pretty, despite the empty look in her gaze - lay crumpled at their feet.
Tandy rushed forward and placed her fingers against the woman's throat, confirming their worst fears. Lilith - Queen of the Damned and the First Demon - was gone. Dead. Vanquished. Her body, her vessel, a young, innocent woman, lay exsanguinated on the floor.
Having spotted a blade - a demon blade - the demon blade, the one that Dean had spoken to her of, lying mere feet away from her, Tandy dove forward and snatched it up, examining it in her hands. It was only then that she noticed, through her vague disarray, that Lilith's blood had began to trail across the ground with purpose, forming a circle within the center of the cathedral. A sigil. A door.
Fearlessly, righteously, Dean advanced upon the black-eyed skank, and wordlessly, as though through means of telekinesis, Tandy threw him the demon blade and he caught it in his right hand.
Ruby stood and turned to face him, grinning wickedly. "You're too late." She breathed.
"I don't care." Dean spat back.
Sam, having at last recovered from what had just occurred, from the devastating act that he had just committed, stepped forward and gripped Ruby from behind. He held her in place, matching the menacing glare in his brother's gaze as Dean plunged her own blade through her chest.
Dean captured Ruby's gaze, forcing her to look at him, forcing her to understand that he was the one to kill her. That retribution had been paid. He watched, disgusted, as the electricity coursed violently throughout her vessel, crackling madly, before it was snuffed out completely.
Sam dropped her body and it fell limply to the ground, brown eyes still and lifeless. He glanced up as Tandy came between the two brothers, his eyes wet, swimming with remorse.
"I'm sorry." He whimpered.
At that moment, an opening appeared in the center of the doorway, the doorway that had been created by Lilith's sacrifice, a doorway to Lucifer's prison, and blinding light began to funnel out from its core. No. Tandy thought, horrified. Not light but Hell fire.
Suddenly, there was smoke. It coursed through the small prayer room, almost subduing the hellish light that continued to grow, and disappeared almost as quickly as it had come.
Following the smoke, a dark, reverberant chuckle penetrated the silence and a tall, gaunt figure appeared before them, tipping up the brim of his top hat with a skeletal paw.
"Hello, child." He drawled, meeting Tandy's gaze with eyes akin to the color of anthracite and lined in black khol. He stepped forward and raised his long cane so that he could tap it against his sharp dress shoe, briefly eyeing the Winchester brothers.
He then brought a bottle of rum to his thin lips and re-captured Tandy's stunned gaze.
"Correct me if I'm wrong", he said, grinning wickedly. "But you look ta to be in need of a favor, no?"
