Author's Note: In the first draft of this, I spared Bobby's legs. But, that didn't work out. I made a trade, and spared some other people later. Let me know in reviews what you think about how I wrote Ember's demon powers.

I do not own Supernatural. I do own Ember.

***Ember POV***

May 14, Very early morning

Ember woke up to the sharp smell of smelling salts.

It wasn't a gentle wake-up. "Balls, it's been near to twenty minutes!" Bobby exclaimed. "I thought I'd lost you. What happened?"

Ember grabbed his arm. "Sam and Dean. Have they called? Can you reach them?"

"I've been trying," Bobby said, not missing a beat.

"Keep trying!" Ember exclaimed.

"What happened?" Bobby said sharply, and Ember told him.

"Balls!" he exclaimed when she was done. "Where was this?"

"No idea!" Ember exclaimed. "God, it just looked like a convent! I don't know, there was an alter…"

But Bobby was already on the computer, researching convents.

It was barely two hours later, however, when Ember's phone finally rang. "It's Dean!" she screamed, nearly leaping out of her chair.

"Hey," Dean said on the other end of the line.

"What happened?" Ember said on the other end of the line. "Dean, I had a premonition, and you should know, the last seal can't be destroyed by Lilith, it is Lilith! The last seal is that-…"

"We already know," said Dean. "It's already happened."

"WHAT?" said both Ember and Bobby, who was listening by way of speakerphone.

"Wait, you had a premonition? Are you sure?"

Ember described what had happened in the premonition.

"Well, that's exactly what happened," said Dean. "I guess it's because-…"

"Lucifer has risen, yeah," Ember said, "That's what I was thinking. Dean, how did you get away? It sounds like you're driving. Are you safe?"

"Yeah," said Dean, and he explained what had happened after the last seal had been broken, including waking up on the plane. "We jacked a car near Ilchester."

"We're on our way," Ember told him.

"We're going to Indiana to see Chuck," Dean said. "Cas took me to see Chuck so that we could find the convent where Sam was going to be with Lilith… but by the time Castiel zapped me over to the convent, there was a really angry archangel on his tail. Can you meet us there?"

"Sure thing," Ember said.

It was late evening by the time Bobby and Ember arrived in Indiana, however. They were just outside the town of Bloomington when four demons accosted them, stopping them in the middle of the road.

Ember glared at them, determined. "I can take three," Ember said confidently. "Can you hold off the other until I finish the exorcism?"

"Are you sure-…"

"Yeah, I think so, but you'll have to fight one for a good 30 seconds. Which one do you want?"

"I'll take the girl," Bobby said.

Ember froze three of the demons with her force powers, and began the exorcism. "Exorcizamus te-…"

"For Lucifer's sake," the woman said, dodging Bobby's blows. "If you're going to exorcise them, just do it. You don't need the damn exorcism, not now that Lucifer's free."

Ember paid the demon no mind. "Omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursion infernalis-…"

"Fine, whatever, don't believe me," the demon woman said, and before Ember could continue with the exorcism, she watched, as if in slow motion, as she slid her knife into Bobby's lower back when he took a turn too slow.

Bobby crumpled, and rage enveloped Ember. She wasn't sure what happened after that, but suddenly the three demons she was holding were gone – not exorcised, Ember knew, but killed, somehow, by her. All three hosts gave Ember frightened looks and ran for their lives.

"There you go," the demon woman said, shooting Ember a wide smile. As Ember turned toward her, however, a cloud of black smoke erupted from the woman's mouth, and the demon was gone.

"Damn it!" said Ember. "Bobby?" But Bobby was curled on the ground, bleeding profusely.

***Dean POV***

May 14, Afternoon

Dean would never have admitted it, but he was swirling with emotions. He was worried about Bobby. Bobby had been very lucky, and survived the stabbing, but at a great price; the doctors said he would never walk again, at least not properly. Bobby didn't talk to anyone for days, and when he did speak, he was grumpy and mean.

Then there was Castiel, who had apparently been killed by Raphael the archangel, but brought back from the dead, presumably by God. He was happy his friend was back, particularly in light of the fact that Castiel had protected Dean at great cost to his own life, but God remained a mystery to everyone.

Meanwhile, Dean couldn't have been more proud of his girlfriend. He even wondered, for a very small second, if maybe he loved her. He could tell that she blamed herself, at least partially, for Bobby's stabbing, though both he and Sam had reminded her that Bobby likely wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for her. She had done everything Dean had taught her when it came to first aid, and even so Bobby had barely survived. Still, she was obviously shaken. She had handled nearly as much as he had the previous night – a premonition, the killing of three demons, and Bobby's stabbing – and had come out of it with at least a partial win, rather than (for example) allowing Lucifer to roam the Earth freely, as he had.

Speaking of which, Dean was also incredibly upset with his brother. Upset didn't even begin to describe it. Something had broken between them, something big, and eventually he would have to deal with it.

Most of all, however, he was worried – about Lucifer, and about the news that he had been brought back from Hell to be Michael's vessel in the apocalypse.

"That's bullshit," Ember said. "Don't you ever agree to that, I don't care what they bribe you with."

Dean fully agreed. "Screw the angels, and the demons, and their crap apocalypse. They want to fight a war, they can find their own planet! This one's ours, and I say they get the hell off it! We take 'em all on, we kill the devil, hell, we even kill Michael if we have to! But we do it our own damn selves!"

But when Dean headed outside with Sam, he admitted the truth. Ember had stayed inside with Bobby. For the moment, there was no longer anyone around that he felt he needed to be strong to protect. "I can't keep pretending that everything's alright, because it's not," he told Sam. "And it's never going to be. You chose a demon over your own damn brother. Despite Ember! And look what happened! You were the one that I depended on the most! And you let me down in ways that I can't even…" Dean sighed. "I just don't think that we can ever be what we were… you know? I just don't think I can trust you."

***Castiel POV***

May 14, Night

Castiel appeared in the hospital where Bobby was being treated. Bobby was asleep, and he had no visitors that Castiel could see at first glance. He could sense that Ember was in the room, however. Sure enough, when he looked closer, he was able to see her thin outline. She was more powerful, then, with Lucifer out of the cage now. Castiel wondered if she was aware of just how much her power had grown since Lucifer's release.

A second after Castiel's entrance, Ember showed herself. "Hey, Cas?" she said.

Castiel hadn't seen Ember in almost two weeks, since he had just come back from being tortured in Heaven and refused to tell the brothers what he had learned. He hadn't actually spoken to Ember since that day in the hospital, so long ago, before he had realized that Uriel had betrayed them. It was only two months ago, but it felt like two hundred years. Was Ember still mad at him, as she had been then? "I may be a half-demon, but I'm pretty sure I'm more righteous than you today."

Castiel allowed himself to feel again the sensation that he often felt when she was around, only now it seemed to be stronger. It overwhelmed him for a second – he was so drawn to her for a moment that he took a subconscious step toward her before he shook himself out of it. "You don't have anything mean to say this time," he observed.

"Dean told me how much you've helped," she confessed. "Thank you."

Castiel nodded, a wave of relief washing through him that he didn't understand. He had helped a lot, though it had been too little and too late, in the end… Still, Castiel felt more excited than he probably should have that Ember had forgiven him for past transgressions.

Castiel forced himself to focus on business. "I was hoping you would be here," he said. "Night shift, again?"

"Yes," she said. "Why are you here?"

"I have already given Dean and Sam protection from the angels," Castiel said, "But it has occurred to me that you will need it as well."

"Protection?" she asked.

"Your hex bags will not work for long," Castiel said. "Lucifer will be too strong. With Sam and Dean, I carved old Enochian sigils on their ribs. But with you being half demon, yours will be more painful. If you do not allow this, however, you will not be able to travel with them as you will give away their location."

Ember sighed. "On my ribs?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then, go ahead."

Castiel was surprised. "You would trust this?"

"I trust Dean," Ember said.

"This will be painful," Castiel said. He moved closer to her. He didn't trust himself to touch her, but he realized that he had to. What was this feeling he felt when he was around her? And why was the thought of her trusting Dean suddenly making him so angry? Castiel splayed his hand across her ribs and created the sigils meant to protect her from Lucifer. She cried out, and Castiel had to hold himself back from holding her to make sure she was okay. The urge to reach out to her surprised him, and he yanked his hand backward as if her touch had burned him.

Slowly, she gritted her teeth and gave him a huge smile. "Thanks, Cas."

"No problem," he said, and left before he had more time to think about how she made him feel.

***Ember POV***

May 17, Late Evening

Ember had a lot to worry about. Her worries were as follows:

1. The apocalypse. This included the fact that Dean had been labeled "The Michael Sword", and that Lucifer had risen.

2. Ember's increase in powers, which apparently included the power of premonition, and killing demons (and whether this brought her one step closer to "going dark side").

3. Bobby. The brothers and Ember were sticking around the hospital until Bobby was released and they felt comfortable sending him home.

4. Sam. Ember still had a lot of questions that she knew Dean hadn't thought about.

There wasn't much Ember could do about Worry #1 at this point, not when she was still waiting for news. There also wasn't much she could do about Worry #2, aside from spend long nights at the hospital during "non-visiting hours" making sure that Bobby was safe from demons looking for information.

Castiel stopped in one night and managed to somewhat assuage Worry #3. "You might want to check with some of the other angels, because I cannot tell you for certain," Castiel said. "But the powers you're using, as I think Bobby has already theorized, aren't inherently bad."

"Because I'm killing demons, not humans?"

"Not entirely. Killing demons itself is a heavenly, good act, however you do it, but that doesn't mean it won't bring out your darkness. The deeds that may or may not tempt you to darkness are a bit more hazy, but to my knowledge, there are two factors that would cause you to go 'more demon.'" (Here, Castiel put his fingers into the air, using mock quotes.)

"The first factor is what the powers are used for, such as if you were using your powers to kill humans or angels, or to torture," Castiel continued. "If you went on a killing spree of demons and killed a significant amount of hosts in the process, for example, it might tempt your dark side. But you were killing demons to defend yourself and your friends, and sparing the hosts… I would really not worry so much about it."

Ember nodded, digesting this information. "What's the other factor?" she asked.

"The other thing that brings out the darkness is the means by which you obtain demonic powers," said Castiel. "You, being half demon, have them naturally. They are a part of you. Sam, meanwhile, is another story."

Sam was Worry #4, and this was the worry that Ember found herself obsessing over. She didn't get to confront Sam about it, however, until a few days after Lucifer's arrival. It was the night before Bobby was due to be released from the hospital, and Dean was at home doing some maintenance on the Impala. Sam was trading watch shifts with Ember, who had just awakened. "Hey, Sam, wait," Ember said. "I need to talk to you about something."

She could see on Sam's face that he knew exactly what she wanted to talk to him about. His face was twisted with guilt and shame, but he allowed her to speak first.

"Look, I don't even know what to say about what happened," Ember said. "I mean, I know you well enough to know that you're your own worst critic… and if you weren't, I know Dean has probably given you hell for it." Ember knew that something had broken between Dean and Sam. Dean had only made a couple of brief comments on the subject, but Ember understood that Dean no longer trusted Sam and was very upset about it. She knew that, eventually, this would come to a head. It was nearly impossible to hunt with someone you don't trust; Dean had taught her that.

Sam looked relieved that Ember wasn't going to rehash how upset everyone was, but Ember continued. "There's one thing I can't figure out."

"What's that?" Sam asked, his relief turning to wariness.

"I'm not stupid about demon blood like Dean is," Ember said. "You'd have had to drink more than what Ruby could give you to kill Lilith."

Sam froze, and paled slightly. There was a beat, and he shook his head. "You don't want to know," he said softly, and walked away.

Ember didn't see Sam again after that for several months. The next morning, the brothers were called out to River Pass, Colorado to deal with a town infested with demons, leaving Ember behind to watch over Bobby. After their experience in River Pass, Dean and Sam decided to separate for awhile. When Dean came back to Sioux Falls to pick Ember up to go hunting again, he came alone.

And that was fine with Ember.