Ch 33
River scrambled backwards away from Gabriel. He casually followed her retreat, his eyes flicking occasionally down the street where one of his brothers had just descended. "I tried calling you, Jellybean. You didn't answer," River stuttered, grimacing as a particularly large shard of glass embedded itself in her hand.
"Runt of the litter, I think you said," he continued, his silky voice edged with annoyance. "I risked my life for you. I killed five innocent people plucking your ungrateful ass out of that hospital."
"I am very grateful, Gabriel. But you know…the End of the World and all."
Gabriel stopped walking and smiled. "You wanna see the end of the world? I've got just the place for you." He snapped his fingers and the street was empty.
Dean's stomach lurched and he had a severe case of vertigo as he landed in a dark, stone hallway. Gone was Chuck's cluttered, messy kitchen. He closed his eyes briefly, the image of River's agonized face when Castiel told them he couldn't send her seared into his brain. He gripped the Demon Blade tightly in his hand and took a deep breath. His brother was here somewhere and was about to make a deadly mistake. He pushed aside his hatred for that murdering white eyed demon, Lilith, and focused on his task. He ran down the stone hallway, turned a dark corner and saw the lifeless bodies of several dead demons. Sam had apparently already been here and killed Lilith's entourage. A door stood open at the end of the hallway and he could see Lilith struggling against unseen bonds, her chest heaving as she drew in painful breaths. Sams looming form strode into his line of vision and he tore down the hallway, screaming for his brother. Ruby stepped into the doorway, smirking as she slammed it in his face. "NO!" Dean pounded his fists into the door, Lilith started screaming again, "Sam! SAMMY! I'M HERE, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!"
The door remained locked and Lilith's screams grew weaker. Dean kicked the solid wood door in frustration turning around and looking for something, anything to help him with the door. His eyes settled on a tall, iron candelabra. He used it as a battering arm against the locked door and never stoped yelling his brothers name. Lilith stopped screaming and he heard Ruby give a triumphant holler, then muffled yelling coming from his brother. The stone building gave a sudden shudder, cracks appeared under his feet. He slammed the candelabra into the door a final time and the lock broke. The door swung open and he strode in, Demon Blade gripped in one hand. Lilith lay dead, her dark blood spread out in a circle in the center of the room.
"Dean! I didn't know! I didn't know!" Sam yelled, holding his head in hands staring at his older brother.
Ruby was walking around the circle of blood, smiling triumphantly, "I did it! I did it for you father!" The floor under the blood began to crumble and fall away a brilliant, luminous light shining through. "He's coming! Sam he's coming!" she screamed happily. She finally noticed Dean stalking towards her, his dark jade eyes lit with murderous rage. "You're too late! You're too late!" she bellowed.
"I don't care!" he yelled back. Sam grabbed Ruby behind the arms pinning her to his body. Dean rushed forward and shoved the Demon Blade into Ruby's heart, she convulsed twice around the blade, ethereal orange light crackling under her skin before she died. Sam tossed her lifeless body aside with a disgusted grimace. The building gave another dangerous lurch, bricks rained down from the ceiling. Sam stood still, rocking slightly on his feet staring at the bright light.
"I didn't mean…I didn't know," he was repeating quietly to himself.
Dean grabbed him by the shoulders, "Sammy snap out of it! We need to go, now!" He pushed his younger brother in front of him back towards the door. A high pitched roar emerged from the light filled hole in the middle of the floor. The Winchesters stopped in their tracks, the sound of Lucifers voice in their brain was too much, the pain was immediate and searing. They squeezed their eyes shut against the pain and tried to prepare themselves for imminent death.
"Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking. I've turned on the seatbelt sign, we are preparing for our final descent." Dean and Sam cautiously opened one eye each. Over the course of their relatively young lives they had seen many improbable things. They currently found themselves elbow deep in one of those improbable things. They were sitting side by side in the middle of an airplane, crammed on either side of them were passengers putting their trays into the appropriate upright position and fastening their seatbelts. "What the hell?" Dean muttered looking at his brother. Sam starred back with shocked eyes and shook his head in bewilderment.
"Looks like a lovely evening in Ilchester, Ladies and Gentlemen-" the captains voice broke in over the intercom.
"Weren't we just there?" Sam asked.
"We'll be landing approximately- holy shit!" The plane suddenly veered left, turbulence rocking the plane so hard the emergency oxygen masks fell from the overhead compartments. The captain struggled to right the plane as a blinding white light filled the sky outside. The shaking continued for several more seconds.
Dean white knuckled the hand rests on either side of him, "Shit, shit, shit." He muttered under his breath. The plane finally descended and landed with barely a bump on the runway.
"What the hell? What the hell was that? How the hell are we alive?" Dean grumbled as they ran out of the airport. Their first stop was long term parking where Dean hot wired a car.
"Where are we goin'?" Sam asked unsurely.
"We need to get back to River. I left her at Chucks, Cas didn't have the mojo to zap us both…" Dean said glancing over at his brother. The remainder of the drive was spent mostly in silence, both brothers having too much on their minds and no way to verbalize it.
Chucks house looked little worse for wear from the outside. Inside however was another story, nothing remained upright or hanging from the walls, bookshelves were toppled over, pictures lay in broken frames on the floor and the kitchen looked like some giant explosion of red paint had gone off. Dean and Sam crept quietly through the house, looking for signs of life and finding none. A board creaked in the hallway and the brothers froze, straining to listen. More furtive movement as someone or something moved out of their line of sight. Sam snuck forward moving his huge body cautiously towards the hallway. "Aaahhh!" Chuck darted out from behind the wall, wildly swinging the plunger he had grabbed from his bathroom upstairs. The hard rubber plunger made contact with Sam's forehead and the giant man stumbled back with a grunt. "Sam? Dean? You're alive? Are you ok?"
Sam rubbed his sore head and glared at the prophet, "Well my head hurts but besides that…"
"No…I mean my last vision, dude, you went full Vader," Chuck looked at the much taller man with wide eyes, "Your body temperature was 150, your heart rate was 200. Your eyes went totally black."
"Your eyes went black?" Dean asked quietly.
Sam blinked several times then looked over his shoulder at the worried face of his older brother, "I didn't know."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Where's Cas and Riv?"
Chuck shook his head, "Cas is dead. The archangel smote the crap out of him. He kind of exploded all over my kitchen like a water balloon filled with chunky soup."
"Shit, Cas, you stupid son of a bitch," Dean ran his fingers through his har, "Where the hell is River?"
"I don't know. Cas told her to run. She did….What the hell…Is this a molar?" Chuck had scratched his ear and found a chunk of Cas stuck to him. "Ughh this sucks ass."
Dean pulled out his phone and held it to his ear. Rivers phone rang several times before finally switching to her voicemail. "Hey, Princess. It's me. We're ok, we're at Chucks. Call me ASAP." He stared at the phone for a second, debating with himself before he started swiping through the screens.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked him.
"I installed a tracking app on River's phone. Don't fucking tell her, she'll kick my ass. I just…I just wanted to know where she went if that fuck Loki took her anywhere." Dean smiled wanly at his brother. "Oh thank god, she's just down the street. She must be hiding out somewhere." He brushed past his brother and the Prophet and followed the little green dot on his phone. Dean jogged quickly down the street, his red dot met then quickly passed River's green dot as he stared at the screen. He stopped and turned in a tight circle. There were abandoned lots on either side of the street, providing no coverage or suitable hiding spot. "River!" he yelled while simultaneously dialing her phone again. Dean's heart froze as he heard the unmistakable riff of Led Zeppelins 'Whole lotta love' coming from a dirt pile a few feet to his left. He bent down and sifted through the dirt until he found her phone. He was about to stand when he saw something glinting in the early morning light. He grasped the delicate gold chain, attached to it was the brightly colored lollipop charm that had adorned River's neck for months. He tucked the necklace and the phone into his jacket pocket and rubbed his fingers together. What he had mistaken for a pile of dirt was actually ash, dark grey and silky smooth against his fingers. "God damn it, sweetheart."
"Did you find her?" Sam asked as Dean walked back into the Chucks destroyed home. He was helping Chuck stand one of his bookshelves right side up. Dean paced a few times in the short hallway before grabbing a chair that had the misfortune of being within arms distance. He picked it up with a rage filled growl and smashed into the wall.
"Hey, I liked that chair," Chuck mumbled morosely.
"Dean?" Sam watched unsurely as Dean pulled the demon knife out and sliced his palm open. He scribbled a sigil on the wall in his blood then punched a hole in the dry wall next to it.
"Hey, man! Come on! First my chair, now your blood is all over my wall and…that hole! Come on this has been a really stressful day!" Chuck moaned.
"This is just in case any more of those feathered assholes show up. 'cause you know they will." Dean growled.
"Where's River?" Sam asked again. "Dean, did you find her?"
Dean's hand clenched around the necklace in his pocket, "She's gone Sam. Ok? Nothing left but her phone and…."
"Chunky soup?" Chuck piped up unhelpfully.
Sam looked at Chuck and back to his brother, "No. No." He shook his head in disbelief staring as his brother tried to regain a sense of composure.
Dean sighed, "No chunky soup. Just ash. Fuck!" He punched another hole in the wall.
"Oh no!" Chuck moaned again.
Dean took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'll fix it, ok?"
"No it's not ok…it's the Angels. I can feel them. They're coming."
Dean shot his brother a 'told you so' look and turned towards the kitchen. Zachariah and two other well dressed Angels appeared before them. "Thought we'd find you here." He looked around the gore splattered kitchen in disgust. "Dean, it's time to stop this nonsense. Come with us."
"Keep your distance, asshat!" Dean yelled.
Zachariah smiled, "You're upset."
"Yeah, you could say that! You blew up my friend, scorched my girlfriend and oh yeah! Jump started the apocalypse. I'm a little miffed."
The Angel smiled again, "More sarcasm. And lets just clarify a few things. Number 1: Collateral damage is to be expected especially if you stand in the way of an Archangel. Number 2: We didn't start the apocalypse. Right, Sammy?" Zachariah leered over Dean's shoulder at the tall hunter. "We just let it happen. You two had the paths laid out in front of you and you took them…you had the opportunity to stop your brother! And you couldn't do it!" He paused, taking a deep breath and straightened his suit. "Lets stop this petty arguing, ok? It's 'apocalypse now' and we are back on the same team, like it or not."
"Why the hell would I trust you now?" Dean growled.
"Because you want to kill the Devil. We want to you help you kill the Devil. Understand this, Lucifer is powerful in ways that are indescribable. Now is the time to strike, hard and fast before he finds his vessel."
"Wait, Lucifer needs a meat suit?"Sam asked.
Zachariah smiled, "He is an Angel. And those are the rules. When he touches down thats when the real party starts. Four horsemen, oceans of blood, fire falling from the heaven, yada yada yada…You can stop him Dean. You just need our help."
Dean smirked, "Man you have to got think I am some gullible mark. After the bullshit you pulled? I don't want anything from you."
"What part of this do you think is up for discussion? You think you can rebel? Against us? Like Lucifer did…why are you bleeding?"
"Little insurance policy. Figured it would just be a matter of time before you dicks showed up spewing some new angle to screw over humanity." Dean stepped back and slammed his bloody palm into the sigil he had drawn on Chucks wall. Zachariah and his angelic goons disappeared in a flash of light.
"Well, that's just gonna piss them off even more," Chuck mumbled unhappily behind the brothers.
"Don't worry about it man, you're still their prophet right?" Dean replied. He rubbed his eyes tiredly then looked round at the disaster that was Chucks house. "We'll help you clean up some of the…Cas in your kitchen." They spent the next few hours trying to make Chucks house livable again before the Prophet finally asked them to leave so he could wash the bits of Castiel out of his hair. Dean apologized again for the holes he had punched in the wall and Sam apologized for letting Lucifer out of his cage. They drove further into the city until the found their type of motel complete with hourly rates and working girls standing guard in the hallways. Sam left Dean in the room to get their weapons and equipment settled while Sam went out for some basic supplies and food. He returned quick enough toting burgers and a six pack. "Here take this," Sam tossed his brother a small cloth bag as he set the take out bag down amongst their guns and boxes of bullets.
"What is it?" Dean inspected the black cloth bag it smelled faintly of cloves and had several small bulges.
"It's a hex bag. It'll keep the Angels off our asses. Demons, too." Sam answered.
Dean nodded, "Where'd you get them?"
"I made them," Sam told him quietly. "I..uh..Ruby showed me how."
Dean considered the he bag for another moment before setting it down, "Speaking of…how you feeling? You jonesing for some bitch blood yet?"
Sam took his jacket off slowly and shook his head, "No. No, It's weird actually. I feel great, better then I've felt in months. It's like when we got Shazamed onto that plane I got cleaned up."
"Like supernatural methadone," Dean said thoughtfully.
Sam shifted on his feet nervously, "Dean-"
"Sam don't. It's okay, you don't have to say anything," Dean turned away from his brother and rooted through the bag of take out.
Sam let out a short chuckle, "Well that's a relief. 'cause what can I say? 'I'm sorry. I screwed up?" He glanced around the room and noticed River's beat up olive green duffle bag on the bed next to Deans. "You think she's really gone?"
Dean's jaw tightened as he followed his brothers eyes to the bag. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cracked, charred phone and the stupid necklace that had been a permanent fixture around Rivers throat and handed them to his brother. "Phone still had some juice when I found it…I thought she dropped it in a pile of dirt. It was ash. So yeah I think she's really gone."
Sam ran his thumb over the burnt 'Goonies' case River had been stoked to find during one of their infrequent stops at a real mall. She had begged Dean to take her to an actual shopping mall a few months back so she could stock up on fancy smelling lotion and 'cute' underwear. "Dean, when I die I will not die in fucking granny panties. Ok?" The mall ended up having a pretty legit arcade and she had left the brothers to compete at Skeeball so she could shop in peace. When she returned, arms full of little pink bags and smelling like a flower shop threw up on her, her prize find had been the cellphone case. "Dean, I messed up. I can't ever make this right-"
"Then stop bringing it up!" Dean yelled a little more harshly then he had meant. Sams jaw clenched and he nodded his head. "Look, all I'm saying is- Cas knew the risk. River knew the risk. They went down fighting and that's that. So we made a mess and now we clean it up."
Sam nodded, "Yeah, ok."
"Ok. Well lets pretend this was any other hunt," Dean started, "Whats our first step?"
"We uh…we find the thing we're gonna hunt." Sam answered.
"So all we gotta do is find the Devil." His older brother said smiling.