Chapter Thirty-Two

Okay, before you guys get to the story, I need a favor. Is there anything in this story you guys are waiting for answers on? I am getting close to the end and wanted to make sure I closed all the open plot lines I could.

Is there anything I have left unanswered?

The information they had gotten from Dean from his future trip had been helpful, to say the least. Well, it only really provided two helpful bits of intel: ditch the Colt and get the axe. Mostly, the trip just hammered home the point that they needed to move quickly. According to Dean, a future where they lost the Battle of Armageddon did not look at all pleasant. So, that meant that any information Dean had gathered that could give them an edge had to be looked into immediately.

Which is what had led them here.

Buffy snuck through the woods with Faith, Angel, Spike and five of the most skilled Potential Slayers Buffy had: Kennedy, Molly, Rona, Annabelle and Vi. They were the girls that had improved most in the lessons Buffy gave each day, and they were the only ones Buffy trusted to hold their own. And that was what Buffy was hoping for as they approached a vintage little vineyard built in the middle of the trees.

As they came within fifty yards of the building, Buffy held up her hand, telling them to hold their position.

There were people walking into and out of the vineyard, and a few appeared to be keeping guard as they circled the building. Buffy peered closer, seeing their black robes, bald heads and—more importantly—scarred symbols where their eyes should have been.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Buffy muttered.

"You recognize them?" asked Angel in a whisper.

"Yeah, ran into them four years ago," whispered Buffy, glancing back at Angel, "in the First's lair."

"They work for Lucifer," said Angel.

"Yep," nodded Buffy. "The Harbingers."

"Any special way to kill them?" asked Faith.

"Nope, they're human," Buffy told them. "But they are annoyingly agile, for blind guys." She looked over at Angel and Spike. "Don't underestimate them. They seem to have some kind of sixth sense to make up for the blindness."

"You know, your whole 'goin' in under the cover of darkness' thing isn't really makin' much sense anymore," muttered Spike.

"Shut up," Buffy snapped. "Same thing goes. You guys know how to use the night to your advantage. Make it count." She looked over at everyone else. "The rest of us go on my signal."

Angel and Spike snuck off into the night, heading towards the vineyard.

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Dean stood in the shadows of the cemetery, watching the figure stalk among the gravestones. As the man stopped in front of a grave marker, Dean stepped forward, walking towards the guy. As he got within fifty feet of him, the guy sensed his presence and turned to attack. The man swung a fist, which Dean easily deflected. The man prepared another punch, and Dean caught the fist, placing his hand on the man's forehead.

The man struggled as Dean tried to hold him still long enough to concentrate. Dean poured every bit of himself into the task at hand, feeling the power course from himself and into his hand. The man's eyes and mouth lit up, light pouring from them. The man yelled as the light coming from him grew before it seemed to burst and fade to nothing.

Dean lowered the man to the ground, quickly placing two fingers on his forehead. The man gasped as he woke, staring up at Dean in confusion.

"What—" the man stammered. "What happened? Where is—"

"It's okay," Dean told him. "It's over now."

The man stared at him. "He…he's dead? I'm free?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, he's dead."

The man let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah," Dean brushed off. "Just get outta here."

The man stumbled to his feet, heading off into the night.

You're getting very good at that, Dean, said Castiel's voice in his head.

"Damn right," muttered Dean. "I hardly have to concentrate anymore."

I believe you are ready, Castiel told him.

"Ready?" asked Dean.

To take on Michael.

Dean hesitated, shocked. "Are you sure, Cas? I mean, Michael's pretty hardcore."

I am sure. I believe in you, Dean.

Dean shuddered slightly at the tender moment Castiel had just caused. "Dude, not that I don't appreciate the support, but you gotta lay off the chick flicks."

"Dean."

Dean turned to see Gabriel standing on the base of a big tombstone, resting his elbow on the top of it. "Gabe."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Do you give all the angels nicknames?"

Dean smirked. "Why, you hate it?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Nah, it's actually kinda growing on me." He jumped down onto the grass, stepping towards him. "I see you and your girlfriend are getting to know each other better. Should've known the butch thing was an act." He smirked cockily at him.

Dean rolled his eyes. "What did you pop in for?"

"I got good news, better news and bad news," said Gabriel.

"Okay…" said Dean, crossing his arms and waiting for the punch line.

"The good news is I found Death, the better news is he's gonna give us his ring, and the bad—"

"Whoa, wait." Dean put up his hand. "He's actually helping? Death, the head honcho of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse…wants to stop the apocalypse."

Gabriel shrugged. "Hey, I'm not complaining."

"So, what's the bad news?"

"He won't give me his ring."

Dean frowned. "But you just said he would."

"No, I said he won't give me the ring."

Dean's frown deepened. "What?"

"He will only entrust his ring to the one human this whole plan is riding on."

"Me?" asked Dean. "Why me? Why not you?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes, sighing in an annoyed fashion. "As he puts it, he's not going to hand over that big of a bargaining chip to another one of the petulant children fighting for their Father's attention."

"Well, he sounds fun," muttered Dean.

"Oh, you'll love him." Gabriel took hold of Dean's arm. "Come on."

"Whoa, whoa!" said Dean, yanking his arm out of the archangel's grip. "We're just gonna hand Michael's vessel over to the devil's right hand man? That doesn't sound suspicious to you?"

"Of course it does, Captain Obvious. That's why I'm going with."

Dean sighed, trying to think it over. "What do you think, Cas?"

I believe it's worth a try, Castiel told him. Gabriel will keep you safe.

Dean shrugged. "I guess I'm in." He closed his eyes and released his unconscious hold on Castiel's grace.

Castiel's essence flowed out of him, and Dean opened his eyes, glancing over to see Castiel pulling himself off of the ground behind a nearby gravestone.

"You gonna be able to get home from here?" asked Dean.

Castiel nodded. "I will call Sam."

"Okay, then," said Dean, stepping over to Gabriel. "Catch ya later."

Gabriel raised his hand and placed it on Dean's shoulder, disappearing with him.

*************************************************SPN/BTVS************************************************************

Buffy watched the Bringers circle the vineyard, about five total. After a few moments, a shadow descended from the roof onto one of the Bringers before darting into the darkness again. As another Bringer came to investigate, a second shadow attacked, bringing him down.

Buffy looked back at Faith and the others. "Get ready."

Buffy braced herself as she watched Spike leap out at another Bringer as it charged. Angel quickly joined in as the final two Bringers rushed the other vampire. Once the last Bringer hit the ground, Buffy took off with the other girls close behind. They met the two vampires at the entrance to the vineyard.

"We don't know how many are in there," Buffy told them. "Be ready."

"You got it, B," said Faith.

Angel yanked open the door, and Buffy charged into the building, emerging into the main room. Thirty sightless faces turned in their direction.

"Oh, crap," muttered Buffy.

The Bringers charged towards them, hacking the slashing at them with their curved blades. Buffy dodged and fended off each attack as the numbers coming at her slowly dwindled. The most they got on her was a scrape along her arm, but she was more worried about the others. In the heat of the battle, she was unable to keep track of anyone else. As soon as she dispatched her final foe, she glanced around the room.

Dead Bringers littered the floor as Angel took on the last one. Spike ripped off a corner of his shirt and wrapped it around a pretty deep cut Vi had sustained on her leg. Kennedy, Rona and Molly were pretty banged up, but looked as though they were unscathed, for the most part. It was Annabelle who had Buffy's immediate attention.

"You're gonna be okay," Faith told the Potential. "You're gonna make it."

Buffy knelt next to Faith, staring down at the girl. Blood soaked the front of her shirt, which had been pushed up to reveal a stab wound in her stomach.

"What happened?" Buffy asked.

"She froze," Faith told her. "She isn't bleeding very much anymore, though. She reacted just in time to block the blow a little. Looks like he didn't hit anything vital. She'll be fine."

Buffy placed a hand on Annabelle's shoulder. Annabelle looked up at her as she grasped the cross necklace around her neck.

"She's right, you know," Buffy told her. "I've seen plenty of worse injuries than that. Heck, I've had worse injuries than that."

Annabelle smiled up at her, wincing in pain.

Faith looked over at her. "Go get your groove on, B."

Buffy nodded and stood, heading towards a staircase at the back of the room. Climbing down it, she emerged into a room full of wine barrels…nothing but wine barrels.

Buffy's stomach dropped as she looked around the completely empty room.

********************************************************SPN/BTVS***********************************************

Dean appeared with Gabriel in a pizzeria, looking around at the bodies all over the restaurant dining room.

"Oh, my—" began Dean in shock.

"God?" came a voice with a slight trace of a British accent. "Not quite."

Dean looked over to see a man sitting at a table with his back to them.

"But close," the man finished.

Dean slowly approached the man with Gabriel in tow, observing what he could. The man wore a black coat, and he appeared to be especially thin, almost like a skeleton. A wooden cane leaned against the table next to him, and an ancient scythe—the same scythe Alistair had had at the funeral home before he'd died—on the table next to his plate. As Dean stepped up next to the table, he spotted the silver ring with square white stone on his hand.

Dean's gaze slid from the ring up to the man's face. "So, you're Death?"

Death calmly paused in his meal, looking up at him. Dean felt a chill run down his spine as those dead, sunken eyes stared coolly into his.

"Yes, Dean, I am," said Death. He went right back to his pizza. "Join me. The pizza's delicious. I offered some to Gabriel, but he refused. Not enough sugar for his callow palate, I assume."

Gabriel shrugged. "It's true."

"Sit down," Death told them.

Dean and Gabriel took seats at the table across from him.

Death took a slice of pizza and placed it on Dean's plate before locking his stare on the hunter. "I've been wanting to talk to you."

"I heard," said Dean, watching the Horseman warily. "Couldn't wait to meet the one and only guy Slayer, huh?"

Death just stared at him for an uncomfortable moment. "You have an inflated sense of your importance. To a thing like me, a thing like you, well…Think how you'd feel if a bacterium sat at your table and started to get snarky. This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm old, Dean. Very old. So, I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you."

Dean swallowed nervously, wondering if the conversation was leaning more towards "I'm gonna wipe you off the map now" or "I'm gonna help you out."

"However, right now, you're digging at something, Dean," Death went on. "I want you to keep digging. You should eat before it gets cold."

Dean glanced down at the pizza, wondering if it was poisoned. Then again, if Death wanted to kill you, all he had to do was snap his fingers, so…Dean took a bite of the pizza as Death watched.

"Good, isn't it?" asked Death.

"So, what am I digging at?" asked Dean.

"The end," said Death. "Of everything."

"The end?" asked Dean.

"Yes, Dean, the end," said Death. "The final battle, Armageddon, Judgment Day, the apocalypse, the Day of Reckoning—Whatever you want to call it, it is the end of all things, one way or the other. When the time comes, the future of both sides will be in your hands or in his."

Dean frowned. "Did you just steal that from The Matrix?"

"Or did The Matrix steal it from me?" said Death.

Dean glanced over at Gabriel, smirking. "Now, how can you argue with that?"

Gabriel shrugged. "You can't."

Dean looked back at the Horseman. "So, what do you get out of this?"

"Lucifer has me bound to him," said Death. "Some unseemly little spell. He has me where he wants, when he wants. That's why I couldn't go to you. I had to wait for you to catch up. He made me his weapon. Hurricanes, floods, raising the dead. I'm more powerful than you can process, and I'm enslaved to a bratty child with a tempter tantrum. The Battle of Armageddon is the only thing that will take the bullets from Lucifer's gun."

Dean frowned in confusion. "But if Lucifer wins, how will that help you?"

Death frowned, exasperated that Dean hadn't gotten it on his own. "When I said the fate of the world rests on the two of you, I was not referring to Lucifer."

"You weren't?" asked Dean.

"Lucifer will lose, one way or another," said Death. "The only uncertain outcome is at whose hands he will meet his defeat."

Dean continued to frown at him, still not understanding.

Death rolled his eyes, holding up the ring on his finger. "I understand you want this."

"Yeah…"

"I'm inclined to give it to you, on one condition."

"Okay. Like?"

"You have to do whatever it takes to bring Lucifer down."

"That's the plan."

"Whatever…it takes. Should you fail to kill Lucifer, I need a promise. You're going to let your brother jump right into that fiery pit."

Dean's eyes widened slightly.

"No matter what happens, Lucifer must meet his end, either by your hands…or your brother's," said Death. He slid his ring off, holding it out to Dean. "Well, do I have your word?"

Dean hesitated, thinking through his choices. He'd already promised Sam that they would discuss that option later, but Dean had hoped it wouldn't come to that. After all, if Dean came through and killed the devil, they wouldn't need the Horsemen rings.

"Okay, yeah," agreed Dean, reaching for the ring. "Yes."

Death pulled the ring out of his reach, giving him a hard, scrutinizing look. "That had better be 'yes,' Dean. You know you can't cheat death." He dropped the ring into Dean's hand.

Dean held the ring up in front of him before putting it into his pocket.

"Now…"

Dean looked back up at him.

"Would you like the instruction manual?" asked Death.

**************************************************SPN/BTVS************************************************************

Buffy stared around at the vineyard, finding nothing but wine barrels.

Dean was wrong… Buffy thought. It wasn't here…This was all for nothing…

She didn't know how she was gonna face the others when she came back upstairs empty-handed. She turned, scanning the whole room, but only able to see the endless barrels. As she closed her eyes in frustration, a whistling sound reached her ears.

Buffy's eyes snapped open, and she listened closely, following the sound through the room. As she came around a barrel, she spotted a trap door propped open in the floor. Buffy pushed the barrel to the side and pulled the door all the way open. She jumped down into the hole, walking down a sloped ledge until she stood in the cavern. In front of her was a large slab of rock, but what grabbed her attention was the thing sticking out of the top of it.

It was an axe. No, more than an axe; a scythe. Its silver and scarlet blade curved away from a silver and wooden handle that ended in a point: a strong, sturdy stake. But what attracted Buffy to the scythe was more than just how it looked. There was something about it—an aura—that drew her towards it. It felt as though it was…

Mine…

Buffy stepped forward and grasped the handle, giving it one sharp yank. With a metallic clang, the scythe came loose from the stone—

Take that, King Arthur.

—and Buffy held it in her hands. The power that emanated from it was beyond anything she had ever felt before. She had no idea what she had just found for herself, but it had to be a winning game piece. She could feel it in her bones.

Buffy turned and headed back up into the building, stepping out of the staircase. The others looked over at her as she held the scythe in front of her.

"Whoa, B, nice arsenal," said Faith.

"So, that's it?" asked Kennedy.

"Yep," said Buffy.

"Bloody hell, Buffy," said Spike. "You could slay a whole Turok-han army with that thing."

"Let's hope," said Buffy. She stepped forward and knelt next to Annabelle. "Let's get her home."

Angel knelt over the Potential and gently pulled her into his arms as she winced in pain. "Sorry."

Buffy led everyone out of the vineyard and back towards her neighborhood.

I know what you're thinking: Where's Caleb? Well, I never did like him much on the show. Plus, the First only needed Caleb because it was incorporeal. Now, Lucifer is topside and doesn't need a right hand man. So, bye-bye, Caleb.