Chapter 20: Final and Moments

The average person gets around 569 million breaths in their lifetime. That's 569 million moments where your body is doing something you aren't thinking about. Some are mundane: sleeping, eating, watching television. Some are exciting: seeing a friend after a long time, getting a good piece of news, using a skill you thought you'd forgotten. Some are life-changing. For the Winchester brothers, life tended to be a series of relentless and often very bad moments. Losing their mother, watching their father gradually lose himself as he pursued an unknown killer, war, death of loved ones, confusion, hatred, and now-risking their lives to save the world from the end of days…

As Sam pointed out prior to their entry into the chapel, it was a trap. Before they were ten feet through the door the two men were pinned by demons-wearing what Dean assumed had been professional boxers-and shoved to the floor. Their hands were quickly tied behind their backs before the brothers were roughly yanked from the floor and shoved forward with knives pointed at their spines. The one behind Sam scowled as he barked, "Walk!" The two complied.

Inside the chapel was somehow even more disturbing than outside. While the countless bodies of agents strewn among the wrecked cars might have been possible to block from memory or try and falsely re-categorize as the traumatic left-overs of a pile-up, the interior was quite deliberately horrifying. Dean knew what the inside of a human looked like-he'd known enough when he'd seen the results of some of the Japanese attacks-but with the environment he was being forced to walk through it was hard to tell where one person ended and another started.

Sensory overload coupled with bodily horror is the best way to describe the environment the two were being forced through. It appeared as though the former narthex into the chapel proper had been redecorated by the demonic tenants, as literally every square inch was plastered with human or animal remains. Between the countless mangled corpses and the overwhelming stench of iron and onsetting rot it was hard to process everything going on.

As the doors to the chapel were opened it was clear that the décor had been continued into the much larger room. The walls and ceiling were coated in the same menagerie of bones, entrails, and God-knows-what-else. And in the center of the stage sitting beneath an inverted cross was the same little girl from before. She appeared to be sipping something from a small tea-set, giggling as she kicked her legs back and forth in the manner that many small children do when they are impatiently awaiting some sort of gift. "Thank you Agaliarept, Satanachia." She nodded at the two men who shoved the brothers forward before standing back slightly themselves.

"Who are you?" Dean asked, trembling with rage or fear-he himself was not sure.

"I am known by many names… the first wife of Adam, the child-snatcher, temptress and corrupter, Lamia, and of course Lilith." She bared a sickening smile as her neck again cracked and her eyes flashed to a milky white.

Sam and Dean exchanged a quick, confused, and horrified glance. While neither of them had heard of Lilith, they knew what a demon with power looked like. And for a demon to claim to be the first wife of Adam and be capable of the level of torture and murder present around them… Lilith was clearly a force to be reckoned with.

"What do you want with us?" Sam asked glancing around, as it was clear that she wanted them alive or they would have been turned into a red splatter like so many others lining the walls and ceiling.

"It is not what I want, but what is necessary. You two are far more important than you realize… And for now that means I need to keep you alive." She said as her child form hopped from the communion table and turned to face the stained glass behind her just barely illuminated with the moon. She looked into the glass and began to speak about herself, clearly lapsing into a monologue about how demons and angels weren't so different and some other nonsense about the duality of nature and how it was inevitable that evil would triumph…

While she was busy pontificating to herself Sam quickly looked to see what the two guards were doing. At the moment one looked somewhat bored while the other was playing with his knife. Sam knew he could exorcise one of them without issue-he'd been practicing for the last year while the seals were breaking and knew he could manage one of them, but probably not both. At least, not at the same time. He looked over at Dean. His brother seemed to also be formulating a plan. Dean still had the angel blade tucked inside his jacket, but with their hands bound it was difficult to manage anything in the few seconds they'd have before Lilith realized what was going on…

Sam looked at Dean for some sort of signal. Dean looked unsure, but after two nods they sprung into action. Sam managed to exorcise the demon behind Dean within a few seconds, with Dean diving to the ground to use the knife he'd been fiddling with to undo his bonds. As Sam recovered and dodged the demon behind him, Dean reached into his jacket and tossed Sam the angel blade, who grabbed it-barely managing to avoid another slash from the demon attacking him-before he stabbed the demon charging at him through the chest, causing a spark of light and energy before it collapsed to the floor. Sam lunged the few feet from the first row of pews up to the stage and stabbed Lilith clean in the center of her back as she was just turning around to see what was causing the commotion.

As Sam withdrew the blade and stepped back the fatal wound began to glow as Lilith smiled. "I knew I could count on you Sam. You are a worthy vessel for my master…" The light flowing from her suddenly turned a blinding white as the brothers felt themselves being flung backward as if the light were more than mere photons and actually physically launching the two as it filled the room.

**SPN**

130 River Grove Lane was supposed to be a lumber storage facility, but after the untimely death of the owner of the property, Greg Peters of Peters and Sons Lumber, it had been vacant the last six years. Well, nearly vacant with the exception of a few unwilling visitors who arrived there the night of April 7th, 1959.

When Sam and Dean realized that they were not dead, merely relocated, there was a small sigh of relief before the disorientation and nausea of sudden and unwanted instantaneous teleportation caused the two to double over to the floor and vomit the meager contents of their stomachs onto the concrete floor. As the brothers eyes adjusted to the dim lighting they realized they weren't alone.

"Cas! You're alive!" Dean nearly jumped up before steadying himself from the woozy effects of trying to recover from the "blink hangover" as the two had dubbed the supernatural teleportation usually facilitated by Cas.

The angel similarly appeared glad to see Dean, standing up from the floor where he'd been sitting, "Dean! You are okay! I was worried what would happen, after Lilith banished us here and we discovered we were unable to escape I was certain something bad would happen. How did you escape without killing her? I was certain she would have coerced you some way."

"We didn't… I killed her." Sam whispered meekly, causing the other angels lurking in the shadows to gasp.

"We had no idea that we were supposed to keep that bitch alive. So, when we got the chance Sammy ganked her… Is that bad?" Dean asked, swallowing the bile that had suddenly returned to his throat.

"Yes." Cas stated, his continence growing grim. "We have failed."