Lucifer plopped himself behind the wheel of the vessel. "Get away from him you bitch," he shouted.

"Oh Lucifer," Amara said. "My my. Standing up for siblings instead of terrorizing them. How you've changed."

"Get. The Hell. Away. From. My brother."

She tilted her head. "Why would I do that?"

"Two days max bitch, two damn days. Then the Winchesters will be here and an Archangel, they will destroy you."

"No Winchesters and one Archangel," she corrected. "I'd like to see them try. Sam's good as dead once he's in the building that, by the way, they don't know is, and Dean's a vegetable in my presence. One Archangel, the shell of a seraph and the shell of another Archangel."

Lucifer laughed. "Do you honest to dad think Dean will let Sam anywhere near me? I killed him, drove him insane. Sam's not dying, not with two archangel's and a brother to protect him."

"We'll see Nephew. I could smite you right now."

Lucifer cocked his head. "You could," he drawled. "But you won't."

Amara stepped up to him, his face inches from her own. "And why's that?"

"Because God," he whispered. "If I die Cassie dies. Then there's no way for you to lure dad down here if both of his favorite sons are dead."

"Then I can do so much worse than kill you," Amara replied in an equally quiet and low tone. Her eyes searched Lucifer for any fear but found none.

"Go ahead," he said loudly, startling her. "Leave Cas alone but do whatever you wish with me."

Lucifer no! Cas yelled, his voice weaker than ever before.

Lucifer gritted his teeth. It will keep you safe. He gave an empty laugh. Maybe you can tell the other Angels and they won't try and kill me or worse, send me back to the cage.

Brother I will, Castiel promised. The whole of Heaven will know of this. What you sacrificed.

Lucifer felt pain shoot through his back. He cried out as Amara ripped her claws through his tender wings. Great feathers fell and blood dripped, in the muted distance he could hear himself screaming. But the only thing in this world right now was the pain, the hot trickles of blood on his back, his glorious gold wings being torn from his body. Did he regret it? No. Cas was alive and safe inside of him, sheltered as Amara blocked the pain from going through to Castiel.

Lucifer, Cas said calmly, soothingly. Concentrate on me, on my voice.

Lucifer realized Cas was doing the same thing he himself had done earlier, to distract from the pain. Thank you Cassie. I...my wings.

Hold on brother. Gabriel, Sam and Dean will be here soon. It will be alright.

Outside of Lucifer's less painful section of the world, Amara was gouging away at Lucifer's great wings with blazing claws, a slow and cruel way to destroy such elegant things. "Damn you Lucifer," she hissed, ripping out a particularly tender piece of skin and scraping the delicate bone structure beneath.

Lucifer howled in agony. He looked at her, breathing heavily, involuntary tears on his cheeks, slicing through grime and blood. "I never though I'd say it," he said, his eyes lidded. "But Dean Winchester deserves better than you."

All the air in his body left him as Amara made a cutting motion with her hand. Lucifer struggled, the rope chaffing his wrists. "Do not speak to me that way!" He voice carried anger, hate, but also sadness.

Lucifer let out a crazed laugh. "Please! You know it to be true! The Righteous Man and The Darkness? It's like the beginning to a bad joke."

Amara dug an archangel blade into Lucifer's left wing. "Continue on this path and we'll see how much wing you have left."

He raised his eyebrows but said nothing. His body was aching, his wings screaming. More than anything Lucifer wished he was passed out, but he stayed awake. For Cas, for his younger brother.

"You need a break," Amara said. "I can't waste all my techniques immediately." She waved her hand and a circle of Holy Fire sprung up around him. "See you in...oh, a half hour."

Lucifer closed his eyes and sunk into unconsciousness.

"So Cedar Rapids," Sam said softly. It was later now. About two hours had passed since Dean had received the reply. The sun was high in the blue sky.

"Yeah. Should take us a day or two." Dean had been quiet, extremely quiet. Though these last hours he had stated the location and asked to drive (Gabe had healed them both) but that was it.

"Dean man, talk to me," Sam said, fiddling with his hands. "Look, you can't keep this in. It eats you up."

"I'm fine Sammy." He looked straight ahead, staring at some point in the distance that Sam couldn't see.

Sam sighed and drummed his finger on the leather of the seat. He leaned back, letting his body relax. He was exhausted, physically and mentally, his dreams had been of fires since the poltergeist incident which had robbed him of a good nights sleep for ages. Gabriel was back and alive, they were on a suicide mission to save Lucifer, and Dean was falling to pieces. Just as he began to drift off he heard the roar of fire in his ear, the sound of a crash and startled yell that meant the floor had caved in, taking Dean with it, nearly killing him. Sam could remember in great detail the weight of his brothers body against him and the soft cough that alerted him that Dean was, in fact, alive. Sam sat up, eyes wild.

"You okay?" Dean asked worriedly.

Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm good. Keep your eyes on the road," he added, noticing a semi rumbling down the road towards them.

Dean pulled back into the correct lane and chuckled. "Wouldn't it just be great if, after surviving so much shit, we were killed cause I wasn't paying attention to the road?"

Sam glared at him. "Not funny."

Dean smirked. "Aww, it is a little."

"Not really."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

They rode for an hour or more, neither speaking out loud. Sam silently asked if Dean wanted to stop and Dean wordlessly said no. They conversed like that, like how they had done when they were little and about to be dropped off at Bobby's. Sam offered to drive and Dean rather forcefully declined. They bickered about small things like that until Dean doubled over, swerving the car off the road. He staggered out and dropped to his knees.

"Dean!" Sam shouted.

Dean retched, pain shot through his body like a missile. He staggered to his feet only to have Sam force him back down. "S'mmy," he coughed.

"I'm here," Sam whispered. "It's okay, breathe Dean. Just breathe." He was freaking out, his hands trembled. "I'm calling Gabriel." He pulled out his phone, scrolling through the contacts until he found 'Gabriel' in them. He picked up on the first ring.

"Trickster here," Gabe answered lazily.

"Gabe, somethings wrong with Dean. Get over here now." Sam fought to keep panic out of his voice as Dean began to cough up tiny red flecks. "Shit Dean," he murmured.

"I'll be right over." He paused before saying, "don't expect this to happen often. It's Cas's job to take care of you."

"Right, right," Sam said. "Thanks Gabe." He dropped down besides Dean who appeared to be having trouble breathing.

"Sam," he said, "Amara she..."

In a flutter of wings Gabriel appeared beside them. "What did you see?" he asked, his voice urgent. "Tell me!"

Dean looked up, his eyes wide and tearful from pain. "It's Amara," he coughed.

"What did she do Dean?" Sam asked, fear threatening to choke him.

Dean looked faintly sick. "She d...destroyed Lucifer's wings."