AN: "Crossing the Rubicon": to pass the point of no return, sometimes in an act of insurrection (rebellion).
We've come to it, friends. Thank you to everyone who has stuck through to the end—those who have sent me your lovely reviews of encouragement and have followed this story either from the very beginning, or somewhere along the way.
Though I'm happy to say this ending…really isn't the end.
Do You Recall
"I bet you she's the one
Who helped you come undone…
Chain reaction, shades of passion
We surrender, lose control
Chain reaction, strange attraction…"
– Journey, "Chain Reaction"
XXVII: Rubicon
Castiel appeared to Dean in a dream with something "important" to tell him and gave coordinates to follow. Then the hunters knew the holiday was over. To Bobby's resigned exasperation, they didn't have time to clean his tinsel-covered house before they left.
On the drive out, Elena made a call to Val apologizing for not being able to visit Hill City as soon as she'd hoped, but she would call again when they could make it.
As far as they could tell, the coordinates had led them to an abandoned warehouse. The night made it difficult make out much in the dark; flashlights could only help so much. But they could hear electricity popping, sometimes sparking off remnants of machines that looked to have been crashed into one another. In short, the place was in shambles.
"It looks like a bomb went off here," Sam muttered. At that point it was obvious something had gone down. The problem was what, and by who. Dean eventually found a large collection of warding symbols painted in blood on one of the wall panels. It was the same as the one Anna used to banish Castiel and Uriel months ago.
"So what…Cas was fighting angels?" said Sam. Dean turned from the sight and continued his scrutiny on the rest of the room.
"I don't know."
That was until they found Castiel, lying flat on a wooden board. When they were able to wake him, he looked uncharacteristically flustered, even panicked.
"Whoa, Cas, you okay?" Dean asked. They helped the angel stand, and he patted himself down and backed away from them as he took in his surroundings.
"C-Castiel," he said. "I'm not Castiel…it's me."
"Me?" said Sam incredulously. "Who's me?"
"Jimmy," said the man, shaking his head. "My name's Jimmy."
"…And where the hell is Castiel?" Dean asked.
"Gone…he's gone."
.
.
Jimmy Novak from Pontiac, Illinois didn't remember much from the past year of being possessed by an angel, or even how said angel was suddenly ejected from his body. And he was hungry. Mostly for cheeseburgers. Understandable, but it also didn't help much. Jimmy didn't even remember what it was Cas was supposed to tell them. But he did know that he had a family, and he was ready to go back to them.
Dean was all for it, but Sam wasn't so sure.
"I say we get him to Bobby's," he said, secure in the fact that Jimmy was inside the motel still eating while the three of them talked outside, a safe distance from the door. "Maybe all he needs is hypnosis, or a psychic, or maybe Cas will just drop back into him."
"What," Elena interjected. "Like what Pam did for Anna?"
"Maybe."
Dean hesitated, then shook his head.
"I dunno, man."
"Dean, back there, that was angel-on-angel violence," said Sam. "Now, I don't know what's going on, but it's big. We can't just let the only lead we got just slip away."
Again, Dean shook his head.
"What?" Sam said.
"Remember when our job was helping people, like getting them back to their families?" he asked.
"You think I don't want to help him too?"
"Sam, he's got a wife and kid that probably think he's dead," said Elena. "Maybe they're even still looking for him."
"Look, we'd be doing him a favor," Sam said.
"How?" asked Dean.
"If we want to question the guy, you can damn well bet that the demons do too."
.
.
Of course, Jimmy didn't take too well with that idea. It was no surprise to Dean. Against his better judgment, he allowed his brother to stop the man from going to his wife and daughter and, for lack of a better term, Jimmy more or less became their prisoner.
In the morning, he was gone.
Dean wasn't in a rush to go after him. In fact he took plenty of amusement in his brother's prickly attitude and Elena's good mood. She was always more of a joy in the daylight hours when she got actual sleep. Though nearly having a heart attack by an angel appearing next to her in the backseat tends to put a monkey wrench in anyone's morning.
Anna was less than impressed by them losing Jimmy so quickly. She couldn't stay to chat, but by what she told about Cas getting dragged back to heaven, it didn't sound like a pleasant trip home.
Nor was it for Jimmy. They got there just in time before demons could take his family away from him. Sam tried using his powers, though it looked as if he didn't have the same strength that so completely destroyed Alastair. The second demon fled from her body before Dean could stab her with Ruby's knife. But now wasn't the time to question Sam. They piled the Novaks into the Impala and sped away from the modest family home and drove as fast as the ice-slicked streets would allow.
.
.
"You were right," Jimmy told Dean.
"I'm sorry we were," he replied.
"Yeah but…I don't know anything."
"I don't think they're inclined to believe you."
"Even if they did," said Sam, "You're a vessel. They're still gunna want to know what makes you tick."
"Which means vivisection, if they're feeling generous," continued his brother. Elena remained quiet as each Winchester laid out the cold hard truth.
"I'm going to tell you once again," said Sam. "You're putting your family in danger. You have to come with us."
Jimmy looked back at Amelia and Claire huddled together in the backseat, wishing not for the first time that he hadn't been such a complete idiot.
"How long?" His voice was as dejected and pitiful as he looked to all three hunters. "And don't give me that whole, 'we'll cross that bridge when we get there' crap."
Sam rolled his eyes.
"Don't you get it? Forever. You can never be with your family," he said. "Demons are never going to stop. So you can either get as far away from them as you can, or you put a bullet in your head. And that's how you keep your family safe. But there's no getting out, and there's no going home."
Elena was shocked. Not as shocked as Jimmy, but enough. She glanced over at Dean, who hid his reaction well. He did look the least bit surprised at his brother, though it didn't look as if he disagreed.
"Well don't sugarcoat it, Sam," Dean muttered.
"I'm just telling him the truth. Someone has to."
Looking completely at a loss, Jimmy slowly turned away from them and walked back towards the car. Elena glared up at Sam.
"You didn't have to be a complete dick."
"I didn't see you setting him straight."
"Obviously you had it covered," she said tersely. "You're acting as if it's his fault demons are on his ass!"
"I'm not saying that."
Elena could see that he didn't entirely mean that. She turned to him incredulously.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"All right, the two of you cut it out," Dean said in exasperation. "Before someone throws a punch."
"If I do, he'll deserve it," Elena snapped, and walked away from them. Sam rolled his eyes.
"You just chill out," Dean told him. Sam's lips thinned into an annoyed line.
"I'll find the wife and daughter a car," he said, and left Dean standing in the middle of the sidewalk with his arms crossed. He didn't want to think about the headache was going to have when this was over.
.
.
Sam stayed in the Impala, but Dean and Elena watched as Jimmy parted with his daughter and his wife, lingering with his daughter Claire. He kissed her forehead and her hair as he hugged her close and told her he loved her, like a father was supposed to, and affectionately told her to "be good."
Elena could vaguely remember her dad when she was a little kid. He did the things a father was supposed to do too, until her mom was gone and she wasn't a kid anymore.
She watched Claire. The girl's fingers curled into her father's shirt in desperation, a scared face that was trying too hard to be strong in spite of tears rolling down a young face that couldn't be older than eleven or twelve years old.
It was like a punch to Elena's gut, but she forced herself to tear her eyes away.
Jimmy let her get into the Impala first and climbed in after. It wasn't until Dean began driving away that she had the courage to glance beside her and see the emotions Jimmy Novak was desperately trying to keep locked in by looking out the window. The guilt clawed at her, along with the sympathy.
This wasn't Castiel anymore. This was an ordinary guy who loved his family.
None of them deserve this.
When she couldn't take the inner struggle of her own indecisiveness any longer, she tentatively laid her hand on his arm. He looked over at her, blinking away his pain.
"For…for what it's worth," she said quietly, tentatively. "I'm sorry."
At first he looked like he didn't know what to say. She took her hand back and he marginally relaxed.
"You're right…it's not worth much," he said, his lips hinting at a sad smile before he turned his head back toward the window. "But thanks."
She wanted to sigh, but instead nodded and turned back toward the road. Her eyes briefly flicked to the rearview mirror and caught Dean's.
Another person's life we successfully ruined.
.
.
When Jimmy was asleep, Dean thought it safe enough to bring up Sam's power shortage back at the house. He was finally able to admit that Sam was scaring him, for which Elena was glad, because Sam needed to hear it. What she wanted to call bullshit on was how he claimed to be "scaring himself."
Obviously he wasn't scared enough if he broke his word to her about there "not being a next time."
He was saved by his cell phone ringing. The curious thing was that it was for Jimmy.
It was Amelia, or more accurately, the demon Sam couldn't exorcise wearing Amelia.
Jimmy gave them the play-by-play of the conversation after hanging up. Something about meeting in an abandoned warehouse about ten minutes from his house if he wanted to keep Claire breathing for another hour.
Dean went about thirty miles above the speed limit to get there in half an hour, and despite it obviously being a trap, he let Jimmy go in alone while the three of them went through the back, going along with Dean's "plan." It was just as well that they got jumped by four other demons and were dragged into the warehouse.
"Some plan," Sam muttered.
"No one bats a thousand," Dean shot back, looking over at him through a bruised eye. The blonde demon holding him in place held up Ruby's knife for Amelia to see.
"You know what's funny?" she said.
"You wearing a soccer mom?" Dean retorted.
"I was actually bummed to get this detail: picking up an empty vessel. Sorta like a milk run," she smiled. "Now look who landed in my lap?"
"Yeah, well you got us," said Sam, who smirked the slightest bit despite a cut lip. "Let these people go."
"Oh, Sam. It's easy to act chivalrous when your Wonder Girl powers aren't working, huh?" She chuckled and drew a gun from her pocket. "Now for the punch line. Everybody dies."
Dean tensed to dive for Sam if she pulled the trigger on him, but instead, she turned and shot Jimmy, who crumbled to his knees and tried in vain to stop the flow of blood from his midsection.
"Waste little orphan Annie," Amelia tossed over her shoulder at one of the demons holding Sam, and she started walking out from the room. The demon left Sam's side and passed Jimmy, sprawled on the floor and trying to breathe through pain as well as get to his feet. But before he could even touch an unconscious Claire strapped to a chair, she woke and her restraints burned off with a thought, the demon killed with a simple touch. Jimmy watched with horrified eyes as realization donned on him.
"Castiel…"
The distraction was enough to let the hunters catch the remaining demons off guard, with Sam tackling the blonde woman to the ground and Dean and Elena handling the other two after Claire, or more accurately, who was possessing her, smote the last. From Dean's eyes, most of everything was a blur of being punched repeatedly and flashes of light out of the corner of his eye, until suddenly the sinister face above him was burnt out and tossed away. The intense light blinded him for a few moments, but when it cleared Elena was helping him to a sitting position and he could see Sam straddling a demon.
Elena gasped, and Dean almost felt like he was going to be sick. By the time Sam pulled away from the demon's bloody neck to see Dean, Elena and Castiel staring at him, the wildness was back in his gaze. He stretched out a hand, and Dean's eyes widened with shock before he realized Amelia was behind him, and he pulled both himself and Elena out of the way.
This time there was no power shortage, and the demon was sent straight to Hell.
.
.
In his dying breaths, Jimmy begged Castiel to take him as a vessel and leave his daughter alone. Castiel obliged, leaving the real Amelia to comfort her daughter through tears of both relief and grief for the husband she would never have again.
"Cas, before you go," said Dean. "What were you going to tell me?"
The angel turned slowly, now healed of all his vessel's previous injuries.
"I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean," he said. "I serve Heaven, I don't serve man. And I certainly don't serve you."
.
.
Sam wanted Dean to be mad. He'd rather have him screaming at him then…then "tired," or "done." Anything but the blankness he saw in his brother's face as he drove through the rain. Elena wouldn't look at him. He couldn't look at himself.
And then Bobby called, and they rerouted to Sioux Falls to deal with whatever it was that the old hunter had uncovered about the impending Apocalypse. He greeted them with his usual cheerfulness and led them down to the panic room in the basement.
"Go on in, I wanna show you somethin'," he told them. Sam walked in ahead.
"So what's your big demon problem?" he asked, then turned to see grim stares.
"You," said Bobby, and he closed the heavy door, locking it behind him.
.
.
"How long you think he's been on the stuff?"
Elena sighed and watched the half empty beer between her hands on the table.
"It's my fault, Bobby." He gave her a deadpan look, but she continued before he could reply.
"If I hadn't ditched him after…after Dean, he wouldn't have shacked up with Ruby. All that shit she was talking about helping him use his powers?" She shook her head and drank.
"You couldn't have known," he said, shaking his own head. She snorted.
"That's everyone's bullshit excuse."
"Dean's not blaming you," Bobby pointed out after a moment, taking a swig of his own beer. Elena looked up at him blankly. Dean had once, though he'd showed up on her porch to apologize for it. That didn't mean he didn't still feel that way, even on a subconscious level.
"And how do you know?"
Bobby's expression turned longsuffering, but before he could give her his two cents, Dean walked in from the basement, looking worse for wear. Then Sam's screams reached the living room. Bobby broke out the whiskey.
"How long is this gunna go on?" Dean asked, his gaze on the fireplace. Bobby sighed.
"Here, let me look it up in my demon detox manual…oh wait, no one ever wrote one."
"That's helpful, Bobby. Thanks," Elena said, sipping at her glass. She smoothed her hand down Dean's arm. His response was delayed, but he squeezed her hand when she slipped it into his.
"No telling how long it'll take," said Bobby. "Hell, or if Sam'll even live through it."
The couple looked up at him sharply, but when the old hunter's phone rang Dean turned away, slipping out of Elena's grasp.
"Suck dirt and die, Rufus. If you call here again, I'll kill ya."
Dean looked back over at Bobby with raised brows.
"What's wrong with Rufus?"
"He knows."
Elena sighed when the phone rang again.
"I'm busy you son of a bitch. What do ya want?" Bobby answered, but his face went slack at what he heard on the other line.
.
.
The seals were being broken, one after the other and much faster than they ever had been. It prompted Bobby to wonder out loud whether they should let Sam in on the fight, considering his abilities. Both Dean and Elena were pretty vocal on the rebuttal.
"Look, I know you hate me for suggesting it—I hate me for suggesting it," said Bobby. "I love that boy like a son. All I'm sayin' is, maybe he's here instead of the battle field…because we love him too much."
After an obvious inner struggle, Dean went outside to call on Cas. Elena gave him his space, staying inside with Bobby to pour through ancient text for anything that would give them an edge on Lilith. After an hour or so Sam's screams weren't dying down, and it was hard to restrain herself from going to help him, no matter how he'd disappointed her.
"Bobby," she said quietly, after another half hour of fruitless reading.
"Yeah."
"When uh…when I moved from Sioux Falls…I'm sorry I never called."
He looked up briefly at her, then to the last bit of whiskey in his glass before returning to the book on his desk.
"You were too little to know," he said. "Ain't your fault."
"I was taking care of Jamie by the time I was seven," she said. "Mom couldn't and Dad was barely home. If I could do that, I could've managed a phone call every now and then."
Bobby gave her a dubious look.
"You really wanna play this game?" he asked. "'S not like I was around much to take a call…but I coulda made time to make one."
She allowed herself a small smile.
"You're not exactly Bobby Hallmark."
He rolled his eyes.
"Did you have a point in all this, or are you just in a self-deprecating state of mind?"
"I dunno, it's just…with the end of the world being nigh and all that, I didn't want you to think I never cared."
Bobby looked up and this time met her eyes, but once again, Dean came back into the living room with the semi-unhelpful news he got from Castiel. It made neither Bobby nor Elena very enthused.
"Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you willingly signed up to be the angels' bitch?" asked Bobby. Dean gave him a long look. Meanwhile, Elena was trying to put a cap on her anger. After everything the angels had put them through, nearly killing them all and toying with them, he decided to join them?
"I'm sorry, you prefer 'sucker?' After everything you said about them, now you trust them?"
"Come on. Give me a little credit, Bobby. I've never trusted 'em less," said Dean. "I mean they come on like shady politicians from planet Vulcan!"
"Well then why in the hell did ya—"
"Because what other option do I have?" he exclaimed. "It's either trust the angels, or let Sammy trust a demon."
And then Elena's anger deflated. Bobby regarded Dean through calmer eyes as well.
"I see your point."
There was a pause in which the quiet was a bit too quiet. Elena realized she couldn't hear Sam shouting anymore.
"You hear that?" Dean asked. Bobby nodded.
"That's a little too much nothing."
.
.
Sam had to be physically restrained with the withdrawal of demon blood tossing him about the room and inducing a seizure. They wrapped his ankles and wrists with towels under the chains so it wouldn't chaff his skin, but it didn't make them feel any less awful.
"I'm gunna ask this one more time," Bobby said after a half hour of arguing. "Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"
"Bobby, you saw what it was doing to him down there. The demon blood is killing him!" said Dean.
"No, it isn't. We are."
"What?" Dean and Elena spoke at nearly the same time.
"I'm sorry, I can't bite my tongue any longer," said Bobby. "We're killing him, keeping him locked up down there. This cold turkey thing isn't workin'. If…If he doesn't get what he needs, soon, Sam's not gunna last much longer."
Dean stared at Bobby for a moment, but eventually shook his head.
"No. No, I won't give him demon blood, I can't do it."
"And if he dies?"
"Then at least he dies human!" Dean ran a hand over his face, wiping away sweat while feeling the burn behind his eyelids. "I would die for him in a second…but I won't let him do this to himself. I can't."
He shook his head again.
"I guess I found my line. I won't let my brother turn into a monster."
Bobby couldn't say anything after that. Neither could Elena, even if she wanted to. They fell asleep together on the couch while Bobby dozed at his desk, head pillowed by his crossed arms. Come morning, though, Bobby was shaking the two awake and they were examining a very empty panic room with busted Devil's Traps. There was no way Sam could've gotten out alone, but he knocked Bobby out and hotwired his car.
Ruby was the unanimous culprit.
"How'd she even touch the door?" Dean asked.
"You think she's got the mojo?" said Bobby.
"I didn't think so…I dunno, man."
"What difference does it make? How he got gone isn't important as where he got gone to."
"Yeah well, at this point I hope he's with Ruby."
Elena gave him a curious look.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"'Cause killin' her is the next big item on my to-do list."
"I thought you were on call for angel-duty?" Bobby called after Dean, who was already on his way down the hall.
"I am on call—in my car on the way to kill the bitch."
"One thing," said Bobby, stopping Dean.
"What?"
"Sam don't wanna be found, which means he's gunna be damn near impossible to find."
"…Yeah, we'll see."
.
.
"So, you're saying he's taking the most conspicuous trail to be more inconspicuous?" said Elena. Dean didn't take his eyes off the road to answer,
"Basically, yeah."
"Okay…I guess that makes sense, if he's trying to throw you off."
"Yeah…apparently he's been doin' that for a while."
Elena looked over at him with both sympathy and concern, but she also knew Sam.
"You know, I don't think he was doing it just to kill Lilith," she said. This time he did look over at her, incredulously.
"Oh yeah? What else then, 'cause that's the big excuse I've been hearing every damn time."
"The whole thing with the angels having a 'plan' for you? Dean, he wanted to help you," she told him, and sighed. "When you were gone…Sam started on this whole thing because he wanted to save you."
Dean was quiet for a bit, his expression blank.
"Are you saying this was my fault?"
It was her turn to look at him incredulously.
"Damn it, Dean—of course not!" she exclaimed, then stopped to continue more calmly. "I'm trying to say that no matter how fucked up it is…he did it with the best intentions."
With everything Sam and Dean had been through, to get here, where Dean hardly knew his brother anymore…that just seemed like a piss poor excuse.
"That's not good enough, Lena."
.
.
They found him, found his room, and found Ruby. Dean was so close, so close to killing her with the satisfaction of seeing the fear in her eyes. But Sam. Sam stopped him. He told Ruby to run, and she did, while Dean couldn't believe his eyes. He shared a look with Elena and she slipped out of the room before Sam could stop her. He called after her, but she refused to listen to someone who refused to keep their word, knowing they would break it. Nor could she look at him knowing she had a hand in what he'd become.
Instead she took the stairs as fast as she could without rolling an ankle and followed the head of dark hair making a run for it, through the lobby and outside. It was a busy city, even at night. Several people on either side of the street, but she could pinpoint a shorter woman with a petite frame weaving in and out of sidewalk traffic.
The cold air in her lungs only boosted her adrenaline and kept her running. Belatedly she realized she didn't have the knife, or even the Colt to help her once she caught Ruby, but she figured following her into a dark alley was a smarter decision than letting her go.
"Demons, you're all alike aren't you?" she said. Her voice echoed on the walls. "Always duck and hide, come crawling out like cockroaches."
And then a knife was at her throat.
"At least I'm not dumb enough to follow one into the dark."
Ruby's voice was smooth in Elena's ear, the blade biting into her skin. Before Ruby could tense up, Elena grabbed the woman's wrist and reeled her elbow back sharply. It connected with a loud crack, and she wasted no time in pulling the demon close and jabbing her elbow into Ruby's throat. She choked, but ripped her arm away to throw a succession of kicks and punches that finally caught Elena in the temple, then the stomach, then the jaw.
That last one had her backpedaling into the brick wall, and she sunk to the floor. The demon stood over her, knife in hand, until Elena swept her feet from under her and tackled her into the dirt. Though they were about the same build, the hunter had the advantage of being slightly taller and heavier and was able to pin her down by straddling her. They both reached for the knife, but after a few moments of both of them clawing and straining it finally made its way to Elena's finger tips.
"Won't kill you," she said, pushing down on the knife with all her might despite Ruby pushing against her wrists. "But it'll give me enough time to send your ass back to Hell."
Ruby's eyes flashed black.
"You first," she said, and kneed Elena hard in the ribs, following up with a swift punch to her cheek. Ruby was able to roll out from under her and land one more solid blow that had Elena's vision swimming. When it finally cleared and she could pick her head up from the ground, the demon was gone.
"Damn it!" she swore, and punched the ground so hard her hand ached afterwards.
Slowly she pushed herself up onto her feet and jogged back to the hotel. The room Sam paid for was completely trashed, but Sam wasn't in it. Just Dean lying in a pile of shattered glass trying to catch his breath.
"What the hell happened?" she asked, helping him sit up and brushing the glass out of his hair. He grabbed hold of her arm for support, but she could still see his eyes roaming over her bruised face and the lingering on the cut on her neck.
"You okay?" he wheezed.
"I'm fine," she snapped. "What. Happened?"
"He's gone, Lena," he said around a coughing fit, shaking his head. "…I told 'im to never come back."
She was shocked for a moment, but recovered enough to help him stand.
"Come on, let's get out of here," she said, making him lean on her as much as he needed. "We'll take the elevator this time."
.
.
Elena came down Bobby's stairs from washing the blood off her face at hearing crashing noises, as well as both him and Dean raising their voices at one another. She was about halfway down the stairs when she heard Bobby say,
"You are a better man than your father ever was…so don't be him."
She watched Dean turn around, and then vanish by a touch from Castiel. Both Bobby and Elena's warning shouts were too late.
"Goddamn it!" he swore loudly, laying a heavy fist on his desk that was curiously bare of all his books and binders and notes. He looked up at her when he heard her feet hitting the bottom stair.
"We have to find a way to track Sam," she said quickly. "The angels are probably taking Dean to stop Lilith, and where she is, Sam will be too."
"If the angels knew where Lilith was, why didn't they help us get to her months ago?" Bobby pointed out. It gave Elena a queasy feeling.
"Unless that's not their plan," she said.
"But why wouldn't they want to stop the Apocalypse from happenin'?"
"…I don't know," Elena admitted. "But Castiel took Dean for something. Maybe they didn't know where she was until now."
Bobby gave her a dubious look.
"Regardless of what they're planning," she said with a shake of her head, "Dean's not going to let Sam take her on alone. He'll find a way to get to him."
"Sorry for rainin' on your wishful thinkin' parade, but Sam could be anywhere," Bobby said, "And now not even Dean knew where he went."
One of the phones started to ring, and he hesitated only for a moment before answering, his face down turning when he heard the voice on the other line.
"What do you want now, you son of a bitch?"
Elena sat down hard on the couch and wracked her brain. Who in the hell would know where to find Sam besides the angels?
"How many?"
She didn't have the time or the backup to start questioning demons for Ruby's whereabouts, nor would she come or tell her anything if Elena summoned her.
"You realize I'm almost six hours out."
Her eyes widened in realization.
"All right," Bobby sighed long-sufferingly into the phone. "I'll make it in five hours, maybe."
"Bobby," Elena said when he hung up the phone.
"What?"
"I need you to take me to Hill City."
.
.
"You're lucky this is on route to where I'm supposed to be headed," he said sourly. "I hope for your sake you've got an actual plan."
"You know, you could do with less snark in your life," she remarked. "Yes, I have a plan! I just need my car to get there."
After a mostly quiet few hours of speeding out of Sioux Falls and into Hill City, Bobby jerked to a stop at her driveway.
"You don't have Sam and Dean backing you up now. You know that, right?" he asked pointedly. "You're talking 'bout walking right into the Lion's Den with a non-magic knife to maybe stop the end of the world."
"I find Lilith, I find Sam. I find Sam, I probably find Dean," she reminded. "I won't be alone."
Elena got out of the car and unlocked the garage, revealing a midnight blue Chevy Camaro once she yanked the protective tarp off. Bobby pulled out of the driveway, but stopped short at the mailbox. Elena looked up in confusion when he killed the engine and went into his trunk, then pulled out something she couldn't quite make out until he was walking toward her.
"First piece I got. Take care of it an' it'll take care of you."
He placed the steel pistol in her slightly shaking hand. She looked down at it, then up at Bobby.
"Beretta 92?"
He nodded and started down the driveway toward his car with his hands in his pockets. At the driver's side he hesitated at her call, and looked back at her over his shoulder.
"Thanks, Uncle Bobby," she said with a small smile. Again he nodded.
"Fifteen silver rounds," he said. "Make 'em count."
.
.
Dean didn't think Cas had it in him…but he pulled through and decided to help him. What he didn't expect was interrupting Chuck in the middle of a special order.
"Th-Th-This isn't supposed to happen," Chuck stammered, then at whoever was on the other line with him, "No, lady, this is definitely supposed to happen, but I've gotta call you back."
He hung up the phone at stared at the hunter and angel helplessly.
"So the angels did get you," he half-whispered.
"What, you dream that too?" Dean asked.
"N-No," Chuck said, surprised. "Elena said…"
"Elena? She was here?"
"She was looking for Sam," Chuck said quickly as Dean stepped closer. "I told her where I…dreamed he'd be now."
"Well tell me."
Chuck scrambled to find his manuscript and flipped to the pages he knew Dean needed to see. He read them hastily, past what he already knew about Lilith's death being the final seal, and paused at finally seeing the location. Ilchester, Maryland.
"Where's that, a convent?" he asked.
"Yeah, but, you guys aren't supposed to be there. You're not in this story," said the prophet.
"Yeah well, we're making it up as we go," said Cas, earning a look from Dean, until the room began to shake and a whirring noise he was all too familiar with filled the room.
"Aw man, not again!" Chuck shouted, his hands going to his head. He and Dean ducked when the kitchen light blew out.
"It's the archangel," said Castiel. "I'll hold him off—I'll hold them all off, just stop Sam!"
Cas laid his hand on Dean's forehead and suddenly the noise was gone, replaced by eerie silence as he found himself in the middle of a hallway. It was dimly lit with candles hung along the walls. He ran down the long stretch of corridor and turned the corner, only to smack into a smaller frame and topple over to the ground. He would've drawn his knife if he hadn't recognized the pained groan that sounded under him.
His eyes widened in surprise.
"Lena," he then sighed in relief. She looked relatively unscathed, besides the cuts from her previous tousle with Ruby.
"Is this payback for me falling on you?"
Dean didn't answer as he got to his knees and hefted her by the waist to her feet, until they were both standing.
"We've gotta find Sam," he said quickly. She nodded and sprinted along with him around another corner and down the hall, where double wooden doors were open to a large room. Inside, Sam had Lilith pinned to the ground with a hand outstretched. Before either Dean or Elena could call out to him, Ruby smirked over her shoulder at them and closed the doors.
Dean ran forward and called out his brother's name while banging on the doors as loud as he could. Elena joined him, though their voices were being drowned out by Lilith's agonized screams.
"Sam…Sammyyy!"
The noise died down momentarily, but neither Dean nor Elena let up, despite Ruby goading Sam on from inside. And then Lilith's laughter, which cut off abruptly to her screams once again, long and painful to hear until there was nothing and Dean's throat was hoarse. He caught his breath and leaned against the door, resting his forehead against it.
"Dean, over there!" Elena grabbed his arm to pull him away from the door. She nodded toward the long candle stand down the hall. He caught her train of thought and ran over to grab it, not paying any mind to the candle he knocked over. She moved out of the way, allowing him to bulldoze straight through the doors. There was a trail of blood from Lilith's body on the floor and flowing into a circle, while Sam sat haphazardly to the side, his eyes wide and haunted.
"You're too late," Ruby said to Dean and Elena over her shoulder. Both glared.
"I don't care," Dean said, and stalked forward. She smirked, but before she could tense for a fight, Sam stood up and held her where she stood while Dean stabbed her between the ribs with her own knife, making sure to twist it for good measure. Her dead body fell to the floor, leaving Sam and Dean to stare at one another—one close to tears, one wary.
"I'm sorry," said Sam, and it was the most genuine thing Elena had heard come out of his mouth in a very long time.
The blood circle on the floor began to glow and the force of the cage unlocking had the entire room quaking.
"Sammy, let's go," Dean said, grabbing onto both Sam's jacket and Elena's arm. Dean's name fell from Sam's lips as he grabbed onto Dean's leather jacket, holding him in place for the briefest of moments.
"He's coming," Sam whispered.
Dean pulled him and Elena toward the doors that slammed shut. They pushed with everything they had and rattled the knobs that wouldn't turn. But a distant roaring was getting closer, and a whirring sound pierced painfully in their ears with a force that brought each of them to their knees. As the portal grew to the edge of the blood line Dean was sure they were going to be ripped apart by whatever came out if the noise didn't first. White hot light blinded him and made him shut his eyes, and the roaring grew.
And then there was nothing at all.
Stay tuned for the sequel.