Hello everyone! Sorry this update has taken so long, I hit a bit of a brick wall with it about halfway through the chapter. But I've sorted it all out. I won't keep you from it for too long so enjoy! Thanks so much for getting this far!

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Chapter 13

Dean killed the engine of the Impala. Slamming the door shut behind him, he drew his gun and walked in to the abandoned warehouse not far from Rufus' cabin, where he had left Sam asleep on the couch. Maybe his brother could forgive Castiel simply because "it's Cas," but Dean was weary of the Devil. He wasn't called Satan endearingly, and he still remembered all the Hell they went through to lock him up. He wouldn't let it be for nothing just because Cas was suddenly pining for the glory days. Life got rough for all of them. It didn't give Cas the right to make such an obviously bad call.

He flicked the light switch experimentally, pleased to discover that the place still had electricity. He assembled all of the ingredients for the angel summoning spell, and, once they were all properly blended in the bowl, scraped a match aflame and dropped it in. He glanced around the room, but saw no one.

"Lucifer," He called, "c'mon, you stubborn bastard. I just wanna talk." He paused, trying to sound less irritated. "I think we ought to talk, man. You like talkin,' I'm ready to talk this time."

A flutter of wings. Dean turned at the familiar sound of an angel's approach. He saw the human vessel the Devil had overtaken during his attempt at frying the world, hardened expression on his face. Amusement danced in his eyes. "Talking isn't enough, Dean," he said, "You have to be willing to listen, too."

Dean smirked. "Fair enough." He flicked open his lighter and dropped it at his feet, igniting the Holy oil he had poured in a large circle where he predicted the Devil would show up behind him. The flame spread and formed a ring around the angel quickly, trapping him. The human had the upper hand now.

"I'll talk, you listen," Dean declared.

Lucifer watched the flames spread, turning to see the ring completed. When he turned around again, his eyes were furious, and boring in to Dean's. "That's not how a conversation works, Dean. I can see why Cas is so confused. How often is it only you talking and expecting him to listen without then listening to him?"

"Don't assume to know anything about me," the hunter snapped, "or about Cas. You don't know shit."

"Don't I?" Lucifer inquired, "You're Michael's vessel for a reason, Dean. 'As it is in Heaven, so shall it be on Earth,' as I'm aware Gabriel explained to you. I knew Michael better than any of my brothers. What's that expression? He was my better half?" He thought for a moment. "No, no, that's couples. Joined at the hip?" He shook his head. "Regardless, we were close. I think I may know you better than you know yourself."

"Shut up," Dean growled, "I said you're going to listen. I'll keep it simple since I can see you can't keep quiet for long. You were a soldier, right? Consider this a direct order: back the Hell off of Cas. Keep away from him. Keep away from my brother. Keep away from all of us. You do whatever the Hell you want. I've honesty moved on from giving a crap about you, I've got bigger problems to deal with than you now."

The Devil's eyes sparkled. "Oh?"

"Some bitch named Naomi. She's been trying to hunt Castiel down. I don't need to be worrying about two angels who won't leave him the Hell alone."

Lucifer scoffed. "Naomi's a pawn, a desperate control-freak who's clinging to the old ways. You haven' seen a kiss-ass until you've seen Naomi. She was always trying to get a meeting with God to tell him how well she'd obeyed His orders. She's not a problem, she's an itch that keeps migrating. I'm doing for Castiel what you won't, I'm listening to him, trying to help him. You want me to stay away from my family when he needs me? You won't see it happen."

"He doesn't need you."

Lucifer laughed. "Why? 'Cause he's got you? Does he have you, Dean? Or do you have him? I'm thinking it's the latter. You're a monster hunter with a God weapon at your disposal, a soldier of Heaven. I'll bet Cas has certainly come in handy on your hunting trips. And yeah, he's a soldier, so he likes to feel useful to someone on a mission, so he doesn't outwardly mind it. This may have escaped your notice, however, but in a human body, an angel will act awfully human, especially when they've inhabited their vessel as long as Castiel has. He values your friendship, and you don't seem to value his back. You value his use, but what happens when he actually needs you? You tell him a human mistake he's made is his fault when your record is far from spotless either. You want me to just abandon him? I won't. Because of you. You're not doing anything for him. Someone has to help him. So here I am."

Dean toed the flames. "You're not in a position to be pissing me off, man," he snapped, "I've still got half a jar left of that oil, and I ain't afraid to pour the rest of it over you and deep-fry myself an archangel. You stay the Hell away from all of us. I don't have to explain anything about myself or Cas to you. This is what I'm offering you. Stay away from him, or I will kill you."

Lucifer tensed his shoulders, staring straight at Dean. His wings, unseen to the human, were flexing and fraying at the sound of the challenge. Glancing up a moment, he noticed the intact sprinkler system. A grin spread across his features. He looked down at Dean smugly, and turned the sprinklers on. Dean jumped as water cascaded down all around them. The Holy fire started to extinguish.

"I'd like to see you try," the Devil sneered.

Locking his jaw, Dean reached for the handle of the angel blade tucked carefully into the back of his pants and held it in his expert right hand. He shifted his weight while he waited for the inevitable pounce, calculating the enemy before him. The angel was stronger and more experienced in fighting, and most likely faster, but Dean was patient, and he was clearly not, no matter how much he pretended to be. He was also pissed off at being cornered, so that would be clouding his judgment at least a little, and Dean was more accustomed to pushing emotions aside during a fight. He'd just need to play on the defensive until his opponent made a mistake. He silently hoped it would not take him too long.

Once the flames extinguished, Lucifer surprised Dean by not springing immediately. Instead he squared his shoulders and took a careful step to his left, attention locked on the human. He grinned menacingly. "Well?" He ventured.

Dean scoffed. "Me attack first? Wouldn't be very strategic in this case."

"So you are capable of thinking," The Devil remarked, "and all this time I thought you were just a pea-brained ape. Then again, your father raised you as a soldier, so it makes sense that you'd find your sense in this situation. Tell me, Dean, did dad give you the full soldier training? Purge all emotion, cold steel all the time, protect your brothers at all costs? Or just brother, in your case."

"Yes," Dean growled defensively.

A flash of white teeth as the Devil's grin broadened. "So did mine."

Dean laughed then, a hollow, grating sound that irritated the archangel to the point of grinding his teeth. "Well you've done a shit job living up to it, then. Starting a civil war in Heaven? That's your definition of 'protecting your brothers at all costs?' Making the demons and giving them the ability to kill angels? That's looking out for your brothers? If I didn't know any better I'd say you hated them, that you wanted them all dead. You killed Cas with a snap of your fingers a couple years ago. You don't give two shits about your brothers you hypocritical son of a bitch."

The Devil lunged then, and Dean only narrowly dodged him. Fists flew threw the air, some of which Dean blocked, some of which landed him in the shoulder or in the arm as he twisted in defense. When Dean began to tire, the Devil increased his pace as well as the strength of each swing, until finally a poor block gave way for him to land a debilitating blow to the human's ribcage. Dean stumbled, winded, and Lucifer cracked the toe of his boot against Dean's sternum. The Winchester flopped to the ground, catching himself on shaking arms.

"Oh, I've wanted to do that for a while," The Devil hissed, and stomped down directly on the sight of one of Dean's kidneys. His arms gave way, and his cheek smashed against the unrelenting cement floor. "You still haven't learned how to pick your battles, you foolish, naive child."

Another kick to his side for good measure, and then he pulled him up by his hair, forcing the Winchester onto his feet again. Dean sliced the air, trying to at least injure the angel, but his blade found no purchase. With his free hand, Lucifer smacked the weapon out of the human's hand. "I know it technically evens out the playing field a little more, but this has never been a fair fight." He twisted the human around and caught him in a headlock. Dean began thrashing violently, trying to free himself from the Devil's vice-grip. "Calm down, Dean, I'm not going to kill you. That would not only invalidate all of Cas's efforts of the past year, but also royally piss him off, which would set all of my own efforts back a couple millennia. But I am going to relish in the opportunity of finally teaching your stupid ass a lesson about picking fights with angels."

He dumped the human on the ground unceremoniously then, and waited until he was on his feet again to land a blow to his stomach, then grab his head thrust it down to meet painfully with his knee. Dean dropped to his hands and knees, trying to breathe through the pain. His hands scraped along the ground around him, absently hoping to find the angel blade dropped somewhere near him. Blood gushed from a split lip and trickled out his nose. His breaths came in sharp intakes as he struggled to form them through what Lucifer's keen ears could detect were cracked ribs. Smug satisfaction washed over the Devil at the sight of the Winchester at his feet like this again.

A flutter of feathers indicated an angel's approach. Lucifer's eyes flicked up to spot Castiel on the opposite side of the room. A fleeting, acute panic flashed through him, and then it was gone. He had accepted that Castiel would be upset with him for touching the Winchester the moment he decided to spring. Squaring his shoulders, he met his brother's eyes.

"Castiel," he acknowledged calmly.

Horror flowed across Castiel's pale features before settling as anger. Lucifer could feel his Grace stirring furiously. "How dare you," he sneered.

"How dare I?" Lucifer echoed incredulously. "Cas, he summoned me here and trapped me in holy oil then threatened to set me on fire with it. If this were a court case I think I'd be let go on self defense."

Castiel gestured to Dean, still trying to catch his breath. "That is not self defense. His ribs are cracked, his nose is broken, he's concussed, and one of his kidneys is enflamed. That is not self defense, Lucifer, that's assault. I've asked of you repeatedly not to hurt Dean." His eyes narrowed. "Enough. Enough of all of this. Leave me alone."

Lucifer's mouth parted slightly in shock as the former soldier crossed the room to heal his friend. He felt something inside him give at the sight of Castiel's choice.

Pivoting in to the swing, he cracked his fist against Castiel's temple, sending him spinning to the ground. His face collided with the ground with a painful thud, unable to catch himself from the suddenness of the attack. Recovering quickly, he scampered to his feet enough to lunge and tackle the Devil at his waist. They wrestled for dominance for a long time, Castiel's fury aiding him in strength. When an opening presented itself, Lucifer flipped Castiel onto his back and pinned him by the wrists, sitting on his hips to trap him between his knees.

"This is appalling, Castiel," Lucifer growled, "How can you choose him over your own family?"

"You're not my family!" Cas shouted.

"I am the only one of our brothers who still accepts you and still you turn me away in favor of some ungrateful, selfish, broken, insignificant ape! I have tried to be patient with you Castiel but fucking Hell you're honestly still as delusional as when I found you in that hospital."

"Let me go!" Cas fought desperately to throw the Devil off of him. It was no use; his grip was still superior.

Even in a different context, the words still stung. He shook it off. "No," he growled sternly.

He felt the solider's Grace stirring furiously beneath him. It radiated strength and determination and white-hot anger. He cocked his head; Grace was warm, but it was not hot. Yet Castiel's temperature was definitely rising. Pulsations erupted from under the fail skin. His eyes flicked up to the angel's blue eyes, which where open and tight in concentration. A faint glow, growing brighter with each pulse, emanated from them. Lucifer's eyes widened in horror.

"Cas don't-" The floor on either side of him singed with the faint outline of Cas's wings. He changed his sentence. "-Dean, shield your eyes!"

For a moment all the Morningstar could feel was heat. Hatred was the next feeling to register; not his own, but Castiel's, used as a weapon to hurt and possibly kill. His vessel blisters and burns from the intensity of the flash. His wings, not manifested and normally safe from harm, were not beyond the reach of an angel's flared Grace, and he felt many of his feathers singed clean off the skin. It was all over in an instant. But his own pain barely registered to him.

When the white-hot flash dissipated, Castiel was still, his face stoic and his muscles relaxed. Lucifer picked himself up from where he had been tossed by the intensity of the younger's Grace an scrambled to his side, searching desperately for any signs of life.

"Cas," he called after healing his vessel's vocal chords, "Castiel."

The light had not retreated back in to the vessel, it merely spread throughout the room. That was bad. Hyper-expansion of an angel's Grace was a last resort, a unique ability that, when done properly, was powerful enough to kill any enemy, even Leviathan. In training it was taught only in theory, never demonstrated nor practiced because of its potential outcomes. An angel's Grace was their life force, and "flash flooding" it, as they referred to it, often resulted in the angel's death. Rate of expansion and a lack of proper control over the force of the flash caused all of the bound energy to escape itself and be released back in to the world. Even now Lucifer could still feel an electricity in the air. He cupped his brother's face.

"Castiel," he pleaded, voice threatening to crack, "Come on, wake up. Wake up. Don't you dare die on me like this."

Dean dropped the arm he had used to cover his eyes to look at his friend. "What happened? What did he do? What do you mean he's dead? Can't you bring him back?"

"Not from that," Dean had never heard the Devil sound so broken, "There'd be nothing to bring back, he'd just be gone. Cas, dammit, wake up, pull yourself together!" The pun was lost to him. He needed his brother to wake up. The skin beneath his hands was cold, and if there was an energy beneath the still shell, he could not feel it. He hoped that was just the result of burnt-out receptors in his vessel and a Grace that felt like it had a nasty hangover.

The vessel's chest expanded with a sharp intake of air, and then the piercing blue eyes opened. Lucifer felt a stirring of energy beneath it; weak, but still there, kicking back to life. He ducked his head and released the breath he had been holding. Relief washed through his entire body and resonated down into his Grace.

"Cas, you absolute fool," he breathed almost fondly. "That could have killed you. You know there's no coming back from that."

Cas's eyes shifted as he recovered from the haze. "Dean," he croaked.

"Dean's fine," Lucifer reassured him softly, "he covered his eyes in time. I'm impressed, actually. First time he's ever listened to me." He reached out to pet Cas's hair. If he minded he made no effort to stop it.

"You warned him?"

"Cas, you berated yourself for a year after he wound up in Purgatory, when that wasn't even your fault. I can't even begin to imagine what it would have done to you if you had actually killed him just now. At least you had an intended target, and weren't just flooding as much as you could reach." He adjusted himself so he could stroke his brother's hair more comfortably. His vessel was still repairing itself.

Castiel sat upright, groaning as he did. Lucifer guided him up, moving his hand out of his hair to rest supportively on his back. Cas jerked away from the touch and stood, ignoring how weak he felt.

"Leave me alone," he repeated. He strode to Dean's side, where he touched a finger to his forehead to heal his injuries. Once Dean had his breath back, he stood as well.

"Cas," Lucifer called, still seated on the scorched floor.

"I meant what I said, Lucifer, I've had enough of this. You say that I am free to choose my own path now, and this is the one I choose. I am still their shepherd, and I still want to help Dean, because he still stood beside me when I asked him to. You talk and you make empty promises but I'm done listening to it all. So just let it go."

The Morningstar's expression dropped. He felt an aching in his chest; not his Grace, something of his vessel's. "I can't," he almost pleaded, "Don't you see, Castiel? I can't. I let them all down. And now here you are, and you're well on your way to making the same mistakes I did, and I won't let that happen. I won't let you lose Heaven, too, not the way I did. You need your brothers. I've lived so long without them and I've figured out how, but that doesn't mean you should. Because it hurts, Castiel, it hurts to lose them. So much. And I can't see that happen to anyone else." He swallowed thickly. "Especially not you."

The sentiment didn't register with the soldier, but Dean picked it up. The Devil's entire visage had changed. The arrogance was gone, the confident stance and the mischievous glint in his eyes. He looked almost small from his position on the floor, legs tucked underneath him, shoulders slumped, looking up at Castiel as if he were the only thing that mattered in the universe. Though his features were relatively schooled, his eyes gave away his desperation. And the way he had hesitated, as if he wanted so desperately to say those words but feared Cas's response…

He glanced at Castiel, whose jaw was tight with frustration. "I'm done playing these games. I'm not your pawn."

Lucifer fidgeted nervously. "They were never games, Castiel. There was never a trick. But it's okay. This is the path you've chosen, and I'll respect that. I just hope that you've made this decision based on objectivity, and not impulsivity. That was my first mistake, all those years ago. I mistook countless hours of frustrated thoughts for clear, objective reasoning, and look what's happened." He met his brother's gaze again and held it. Silence hung in the air between them to punctuate his sincerity. "But I meant what I said, too."

His eyes shimmered, and then he was gone. No dramatic exit, barely even a flutter of his wings. He left almost as silently as he arrived that first night he found Castiel in the human sanitarium. Cas glanced around, taking in the absence of Lucifer's Grace, and noted that he no longer felt a presence in his mind, either. He felt alone. It was yet to be decided whether this felt good or bad.

Dean exhaled heavily. "Well, that was… You okay, man?"

Cas ducked his chin. "Yes."

"What did you do, anyway? That bright light, I mean."

"I flooded my Grace, used it as a weapon against him."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "You can actually do that?"

"I've done it a few times, though not quite like that. That sort of sudden pulse is normally reserved as a means to an end only. It's very easy to die from it."

"He said he couldn't bring you back from that."

"No. The explosion of energy is so powerful and sudden that sometimes the energy can't regroup, can't find it's way back in to the vessel. It just gets lost. There's no coming back from that. You burn out."

The Winchester regarded him for a moment. "So why'd you do it?"

Cas turned to meet his eyes. "Because he hurt you, and I knew it would effectively harm him back. Because he threatened you and that was the only way to prove to him how serious I am about him backing off. I admit that I had begun to trust him, Dean, but that was conditional upon his promise that his intentions were pure. He lied, and I'm sorry the proof of that came in the form of him hurting you. But I'm done listening to him. You were right."

Dean smiled warmly, and patted Cas on the shoulder. "Yeah, I always am. C'mon, let's get out of here. I've got the Impala outside so we've gotta drive. You can ride shotgun this time if ya like."

Cas smiled affectionately back. Following Dean out of the decrepit warehouse, he glanced fleetingly over his shoulder at where the scorch marks of his wings lay singed onto the dirty floor. Then he turned back around and squared his shoulders, lengthening his strides to catch up again.

[xxx]

I'm rather excited (and a little sad) to inform you all that I've got a good chunk of the plot outlined from here until the end, which is helping tremendously with keeping my writing consistent and on track. But that also means that there is an end in sight and I'm going to start building up to it. It's as exciting to think about as it is upsetting because I've really enjoyed seeing this story evolve and take shape, and now all that there is left to do is fill in the details on the outline, more or less. The way it's looking right now you can expect at least 4 more solid 4,000 word chapters out of me before I wrap this thing up. Whether or not it ends up overlapping with season 9 will depend on how long it takes me to write it and where season 9 actually ends up going. For now, enjoy my extremely long-winded "what if" scenario :)

Also a huge thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story and everyone who continues to find it. This is the first multi-chapter fiction that I've ever really stuck with this long, and probably the first one that's going to get a proper ending. All of you made it possible because for the first time I didn't get discouraged while writing something and give up. All of your wonderful comments have kept me going and it's the reason I ever made time to finish this and really commit to it. There were times I felt like abandoning it because I thought my ideas had dried up and then someone would comment unexpectedly and it'd be the reminder (and kick in the ass) I needed to open this fic up again and keep going because I wasn't (and am not) done yet. So thank you so much all of you. You make my day every time.