Author's Note: Now things really start to get interesting… I don't own Supernatural.
***Castiel POV***
June 22, Early Morning
Castiel knew he shouldn't be here. Here was the last place he should be – at the house that had been made weeks ago by Metatron's camp, with a girl he didn't deserve. And yet, he couldn't leave. Just a few more hours, he kept telling himself. A few more hours of watching the way that her hair fell across his arm, and how peaceful she looked as she slept…
He wondered, truly, if he would ever be able to force himself to leave this bare-looking living room with the one large couch. If Ember didn't want to leave, perhaps he would stay here for eternity. He had a promise to keep, he thought, to stay until she awoke in the morning, but then he had to leave. He could still fight against Metatron. Angel by angel, he could still convince them there was a better way. He had to.
He just had to work up the inner strength. Truthfully, it had been heartbreaking to leave Ember the first time, and Castiel had no idea how to attempt a second round.
Suddenly, Ember's phone rang, and she shot upright. She answered it sleepily, but as the caller spoke her eyes got wider. "What do you mean?" She gasped. "Oh my God, Gadreel? The dungeon?! I'm on my way."
What's going on?" Castiel asked when Ember hung up the phone.
"When Sam and Dean got back to the bunker, Gadreel showed up, saying he was looking for you. He couldn't get into the bunker because of the warding we put there for the kids, but it didn't matter. Dean attacked him with the First Blade, and -…"
"What?" said Castiel sharply.
"Yeah, and Sam had to hold him back, and Krissy saw what was going on, and came out and helped!"
"Oh no," said Castiel. "The bunker was supposed to be safe for them!"
"Exactly!" Ember said. "So they locked Dean in the dungeon, Krissy says. And Sam went to go look for Gadreel, because Gadreel ran off after Dean knifed him."
"I had asked Gadreel if he wanted to switch sides," Castiel said. "He killed for Metatron, but overall I think he feels misunderstood."
Ember wrinkled her nose. "I don't care how he feels, he needs to stay the hell away from my children."
"We need to get back there now," said Castiel.
And so, the two set off for Lebanon, Kansas, both of them in Castiel's car.
***Ember POV***
June 22, Dawn
Ember and Castiel arrived approximately the same time as Sam showed up with Gadreel. Gadreel was hurt badly, visibly bleeding from the chest. Castiel moved immediately to heal him.
"Don't!" Gadreel said. "Your grace!"
But Castiel ignored him and, with an apologetic look toward Ember, healed him anyway.
"Thank you," the other angel said.
"We should talk somewhere safer," Castiel answered. "Can you erase the angel warding? Just in the front room."
Upon coming inside, however, all four of them smelled sulfur immediately. "I tried to stop them!" Krissy said, appearing suddenly in the main room of the bunker. "But neither of them listened."
Over the next few minutes, the group of angels, men, and teenagers was able to put together that Dean had summoned Crowley to help him break out of the dungeon and go after Metatron.
"He and Crowley have been bromancing over the Blade ever since Dean got the Mark."
"Great," Ember rolled her eyes. "Let's add that to the list of things he didn't tell me."
The group ignored her. "The Mark?" Gadreel asked.
"The Mark of Cain," Castiel clarified.
"So that's what Dean cut me with - the First Blade. In a way, that could be useful," said Gadreel.
"Slow down," said Krissy. "What's the Mark of Cain?"
"I'll explain everything to you, Kris, just give me a few minutes," Ember told them. "Go to your room for now, and in a few minutes I promise I'll come get you."
"But-…" Krissy started, but Ember gave her a look, and she begrudgingly headed for her room. Ember made a mental note to thank her for helping hold back Dean, and also soothe over her feelings about the incident with Crowley – later, perhaps, when this conversation was over.
"Metatron is more powerful than ever, but if Dean has the First Blade and the mark, that might give us our best chance," Gadreel was saying.
"You're joking, right?" Sam asked angrily. "An hour ago, we were ready to throw Dean into a padded cell, and now you say he's our best chance?"
"Hear him out, Sam," Castiel said, and Ember felt a flash of annoyance toward Cas. She didn't want anything to do with this angel, and she definitely didn't like that he was in the bunker.
Sam seemed to feel similarly. "Oh, right. Excuse me. Sorry, guys. Uh, sorry I'm a little less than eager to hear that our best chance is - is arming the warhead and hoping it hits the mark. This is not a bomb we're talking about. This is my brother."
"And your brother would not be in this alone," Gadreel countered. "We can help."
"How?" asked Sam and Ember.
"I believe Metatron has found a way to tap into the Angel tablet, harnessing its power to give him powers equivalent to -…"
"God, right?" Sam filled in. "I mean, that's what this is all about, isn't it? Metatron wants to be God."
Gadreel nodded.
"Great, well, that basically makes him unstoppable," said Sam.
"Not if we can break the connection between Metatron and the tablet," said Gadreel. "That would make him just an ordinary Angel."
"Where's the tablet?" asked Castiel.
"Metatron's office," said Gadreel.
"In Heaven?" asked Ember.
"I can get us to the door," Gadreel answered.
"And then what?" asked Ember. "Does anybody else think that this plan is most likely not going to work?"
"Why would they let you in?" asked Sam. "If Metatron's number two shows up with Heaven's most wanted…" he shook his head hopelessly.
"Sam, we have to try," answered Castiel.
***Ember POV***
June 23, Noon
The next day, Crowley and Dean found Sam and Ember while looking for clues of Metatron's location. As Ember watched Dean get out of the Impala, she was struck immediately with how attractive he was, how hot he was, how much she wanted him-
What the hell is wrong with me? Ember asked herself. She had had sex with Castiel the night before last, and there was literally no appropriate reason for her to be having these thoughts. Granted, she had been growing closer to Dean – again – for two months now, but this was way over the top. She wanted to be with Castiel, regardless of whether or not it was requited.
"Sam, whatever kind of intervention you think this is, trust me, it ain't. I'm not gonna explain myself to you," Dean said.
"Yeah, I sort of got that. I just thought you might like to know that while you two have been playing, uh, odd couple, your real friends, like Cas, like the angel you stabbed, Gadreel -they're out there right now risking their asses to help you win this fight."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean asked. He was sexy when he was mad… what the hell?
"A fight, I might add, you made that much more complicated when you decided to stab the one angel who could actually get us to Metatron," Sam answered.
"You mean the angel that took you for a joy ride?" Dean asked. "The angel that slaughtered Kevin? That angel?" He was right, Ember thought. Why were they working with Gadreel? Gadreel had betrayed Sam. Dean was right, he needed to die.
What the hell? Another voice asked. Gadreel is with Castiel. You remember, Castiel? You slept together two nights ago? Castiel and Gadreel are trying to break open Heaven. Dean has been hanging out with Crowley… Dean…
"Who you let in the front door in the first place," Sam said. "You tricked me, Dean. And now I'm the one who wakes up in the middle of the night seeing my hands killing Kevin, not you. So, please, when you say you don't want to explain anything to me, don't. I get it. And I also get that Metatron has to go. And I know you're our best shot to do that."
"I'm gonna take my shot, for better or worse," Dean said. Go Dean, Go!
"I know," Sam said.
"No matter the consequences," Dean said. What consequences?
"I know," Sam said again. "But if this is it, we're gonna do it together."
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
That evening, at the first possible opportunity, Ember pulled Sam aside. Dean was getting gas at a gas station, and Ember had texted Sam that she needed a moment alone with him.
"What's going on?" Sam asked her.
"Something's wrong with me," she said immediately.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ever since Dean got the First Blade, it's like… we've been growing… closer."
"Well, that's good, right? I mean, I'm probably not supposed to say, but he's wanted you-…"
"No, Sam, listen, it's not like that!" Ember said. "I'm in love with Castiel! I keep thinking about Dean all the time, but when my head is clear, then I only think about Castiel-…"
"Ember, you're my best friend, but do you really think now is the time-…"
Ember realized she wasn't explaining herself properly. "Sam, that's not it!"
She was so flustered, and she had even begun to cry. She could tell by the look on Sam's face that he was alarmed, suddenly. "Remember what it was like with Famine? How everybody was going crazy with… hunger, for… for whatever?"
"You're saying that's how it is with you and Dean, and Cas?"
"No," Ember said, calming some. "Just Dean."
Sam looked surprised. "I thought at first I was just growing closer to him because he was around more, and he was trying to win me back, and he was taking care of the kids. But ever since he killed Abaddon, it's gotten worse. And then, over the past few hours, it's been… unbearable. Like, it feels like when Famine was around, like he's all I can think about. And I can't help but think – didn't he kill that reaper since I saw him last? Tessa? That's the only thing that's changed?"
"I don't understand," Sam said, his eyebrows furrowing. "Are you saying that you're more… attracted to him the more people he kills?"
"The more people he kills with the First Blade," Ember said, nodding, another frightened tear escaping her eye. "I don't understand it either, but it's the only thing that fits."
"How does that fit?" asked Sam.
Ember shrugged. "Half-demon," she reminded him. "We don't know what my magic does, not entirely, or even its abilities."
"So…" Sam looked at Ember and spread his hands wide, as if asking, "What do you want me to do about it?"
"I don't know, Sam, just… keep me from jumping his bones, okay? Until we figure out what the hell is going on!"
It was at that moment that Dean came into the gas station to pay for his gas. "Are you two ready to go, then? What's the hold-up?"
Ember shot Sam a terrified look as her thoughts immediately returned to Dean, but there was no time to say anything else.
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
Finally, they had found Metatron. "He's up there," Sam told Dean. "About a mile up the road. There's a homeless encampment. The way the folks are talking, he's got them convinced he's some kind of new Jesus or something."
Dean nodded. "You good?" Sam asked.
Ember nodded, though she was only halfway listening. Dean…
"Yeah, I'm good," Dean said.
Sam reached over and picked up the First Blade, handing it to Dean in silence.
"Listen, Sammy, about, um, you know, the last couple of months…" Dean began.
"I know," Sam said. "So, before we find something else to fight about… Are you ready to gut this bitch?"
He turned to pick up his bag, but as he turned around once more to face Dean, Dean punched him, knocking him out cold.
Ember woke up as if out of a stupor. "Dean!" she screamed.
Then she saw his fist heading for her face as well, and then she saw no more.
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
Ember woke up to find large hands picking her up. "Ember," said Sam softly.
"Wha!" Ember said, awakening immediately and with a start. "Sam!" she said, looking up into his face.
Something was wrong. His face was shining with tears. And then she saw it. In the passenger seat of the Impala sat a lifeless Dean. His body was beaten and bruised, and in his chest was a large, gaping wound. She screamed, and began sobbing. The world was breaking open. Everything, everything was ending. Ember had never felt pain like this – not when she was younger, not when Carl died, not when she and Dean broke up, not even when Castiel dumped her. It was pure and total agony, both physical and mental.
She refused to be moved from his side, even when they returned to the bunker, and Sam went to have a drink.
She was there, therefore, when Crowley appeared. For the first time in hours, she looked away from Dean. "You got him into this mess. Now make it right," she spat venomously.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" he said, shrugging.
Crowley turned to Dean, who still lay lifeless, and began to talk. "Sam, bless his soul, is summoning me as I speak. Make a deal, bring him back. It's exactly what I was talking about, isn't it? It's all become so... expected. You have to believe me. When I suggested you take on the Mark of Cain, I didn't know this was going to happen. Not really."
"Make it right, Crowley," Ember spat at him again.
"I mean, I might not have told Dean the entire truth," Crowley said, turning toward Ember. "But I never lied. That's important. It's fundamental. But...there is one story about Cain that I might have... forgotten to tell him." Crowley paused dramatically. "Apparently, he, too, was willing to accept death, rather than becoming the killer the Mark wanted him to be. So he took his own life with the Blade. He died. Except, as rumor has it, the Mark never quite let go. You can understand why I never spoke of this. Why set hearts aflutter at mere speculation?"
Some inkling from long ago stirred, and Ember felt distantly that she should care about his words. But nothing mattered, now, except that Dean was dead, and Crowley hadn't moved to fix it…
"It wasn't until Dean summoned me... No, it wasn't truly until he left that cheeseburger uneaten...that I began to let myself believe. Maybe miracles do come true." He looked at Ember closely then, as if he were studying her, and Ember felt a chill go down her spine, though she wasn't sure why. "And two, for the price of one!" he continued. "Old magic, I think. A demon blood bond. When both have demon ties, and one falls, so shall its mate. An old conversion method… antiquated, really, but not unheard of."
Ember could feel that part of her was terrified – truly terrified, as though something terrible was about to happen. But surely it already had happened, because Dean was dead…
Crowley turned back to Dean. "Listen to me, Dean Winchester, what you're feeling right now - it's not death. It's life - a new kind of life. Open your eyes, Dean. See what I see. Feel what I feel. And let's go take a howl at that moon," Crowley said. He placed the First Blade in Dean's hands.
The moment the First Blade touched Dean's hands, Ember stopped caring about everything. She stopped caring that Castiel had overthrown Metatron, and that the door to Heaven could be used by all angels again. She didn't care that the ghosts in the veil were once more able to get to Heaven. She didn't care about Josephine getting ready for college, or Aidan getting ready for his senior year, or Krissy at the bunker. She didn't care about Sam, or even, miraculously, about Castiel, the man she loved.
And she didn't care about anything for a long time.