Thanks for the follows, faves, and review, as always! They really do mean a whole lot.

I was hoping this chapter would have been longer, but it doesn't seem so. Either way, here we go!

Oh how glad and happy when we meet
I'll fly away
No more cold iron shackles on my feet
I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory
I'll fly away in the morning
When I die hallelujah by and by
I'll fly away

Balthazar turned the radio off, preferring to drive in silence than to hear any song like that. Though, the silence left room for thought, so he just stared out of the front window. Not sleeping wasn't really helping his current problem, but it didn't really matter anymore, did it? It wasn't like he'd get much worse.

He hadn't heard her voice again since she screamed at him, and he was thankful for the quiet, but she was still there. He'd still catch glimpses of her every now and then. In the back seat, beside him in the front, sometimes on the side of the road out in the dark and rain. He was trying very hard to ignore her, but it was getting harder and harder. If it really was Catherine – and it wasn't – he would almost believe that she wanted to speak out but was afraid of him panicking again.

Just his mind playing tricks, trying desperately to make her seem real. He'd have the real thing shortly. Gabriel wouldn't bring by Castiel until the morning. Dawn might have been barely one or two hours away at this point, but he couldn't afford to wait. Bartholomew would be looking forward to their visit at this point.

Catherine didn't approve of his choice to move ahead, shown clear enough by her angry stares and scowling.

He bit his tongue. Not her, he would think to himself. Just his mind telling him it was foolish to go alone on so little energy.

He drove through the darkness, around a small town and straight to the docks near the water front. No, he didn't know where Bartholomew and his men would be, but it was a good enough area. He would pick it if he were the one leading most of Heaven's armies now. So, he parked the car some distance away and got out.

"Balthazar."

His back hit the car from jumping, but he didn't look up from the ground. Her voice was close by; he didn't need to see her, too... He ignored the voice and gathered his blade and a gun from the backseat, slamming the door behind him.

The rain wasn't that bad. There wasn't any thunder or lightning. Just a shower that turned the world darker than it really was. The rain looked like oil hitting the ground.

She wasn't there. Rather, he couldn't see her now. Balthazar readied his blade in front of him and began to walk. He couldn't see anything outside in the rain with him, which wasn't very surprising. It was dark, the rain made it that much harder to see, and he hadn't slept in about two days or so. He wasn't sure how many would be out here. He wasn't even sure this was the right place.

The rain was cold, though. It seeped into his jacket and through his clothes, freezing him even more than what he already felt.

Footsteps. Or was that the rain hitting the concrete? It sounded like footsteps. Was he paranoid? Should he just slice his own throat and jump off a pier before he screwed up and had someone else killed?

Someone rushed at him from behind and he had already brought his blade down on them before even looking to see who they were. By the light pouring from them as they died, he knew it was an angel and that he was in the right place. Two more came and he killed them just as quickly, before four more of them tried to rush him at once.

"Balthazar."

His blade sang through the air, cutting the throat of one brother and disarming another sister. Two more were dead – three more – and the last tried to block his blows before he fell as well.

"Balthazar."

He quickly turned to the voice to try and make it shut up, but she only looked back to him, standing on top of a shipping container next to the angel he was looking for. Bartholomew smiled down at him through the rain. "Hello, brother," he smirked, then nodded to the bodies. "You're very good at that."

Balthazar only watched him before he glanced back to Catherine. She didn't do or say anything. Her face revealed no emotion. Just blood next to her eye, her neck purple and cut open, her torso bloodied with sigils. The rain went right through her, reminding him that she wasn't there, but it did no good. He felt like he was on trial. That she blamed him. She might as well. He all but stabbed her himself.

"Alive." Bartholomew's voice brought him back and Bal looked over to him, not understanding what he was saying. "He wants him alive."

It only took a second for him to realize that his brother wasn't talking to him. Balthazar turned back around, his temple meeting something strong and solid head on. He couldn't recall falling, but he felt the wet ground underneath him and heard the rain play music from far away.

To a land where joys will never end
I'll fly away

The rain was gone. He couldn't hear it or feel it hitting him. The only thing he could hear was the buzz of electricity and all he could smell was rusted iron and mold.

Balthazar coughed, attempting to open his eyes to see the blurry world. He looked to be in an old meat locker or something. A room of metal with a bolted, sealed door and one light bulb dangling from the ceiling, blinking every now and then just to toy with his sight more. The room was small enough and no one else was there. Bal assumed that the door was locked, too.

He wants him alive. Bartholomew must have meant Michael. And why not? Balthazar had killed three of his little so-called generals, a handful of his loyal soldiers, and knew some of Gabriel's movements. He was obviously more valuable alive, though being taken prisoner wasn't exactly the plan.

His body felt sluggish and the world had yet to stabilize. He wondered how hard they had hit him. After some maneuvering, Bal managed to brush his hand against his chest, realizing that his grace was still there. They had taken his blade but not the grace. Surely they knew it was there. They had to be able to see it.

He coughed again, shivering against the concrete. He was so cold that his body ached. Balthazar groaned and watched the light buzz for a moment before blinking off again. When the light came back on, she was standing by the door.

Balthazar flinched back, hitting the wall behind him, but didn't close his eyes. He focused on her feet until the light began to blink again. Off, on. She was gone. Off, on. She was back. His eyes closed and he tried to raise himself from the ground, feeling something drain down the edge of his face. Probably blood. They had hit him quite hard.

He took a deep breath and glanced over to check if she was still there. She was. Gone and here again. Gone and here.

"Go away." His voice felt as rough as it sounded. His throat burned just from speaking. Balthazar balanced himself with his arms and looked over to find that her feet was still firmly planted in the same spot. "Go. Away," he growled, hoping that he at least sounded fierce.

The light blinked again and she didn't leave.

"Do you know what go away means?" he spoke louder, pushing himself further up until he finally found a sitting position. His back leaned against the wall. "It means leave," he said, "Leave and don't come back. Just go." She stayed and he grew angry. "I'm sick of you! Just go!"

The light went out again, blinking on to reveal that she was suddenly standing in front of him. He jumped against the wall and screwed his eyes shut. For what felt like a long time, he stayed that way, refusing to open his eyes again on the chance that he would see her. Perhaps he should just roll over and finally try to get some sleep instead of trying to find a way out. That seemed much more preferable, but he just took a few deep breaths in the silence for now.

"I'm here."

The voice was quiet and spoke slowly, as if it knew what was going on with him... or was just as slow and tired as his mind. He grimaced, refusing to look. "You are not here," he answered back, "Catherine is not here. She's dead or worse because of me and she's not here."

"I'm-"

"Stop it!" Balthazar opened his eyes and finally looked up at her. She honestly looked hurt, and he just stared for a minute or so, before quickly bowing his head to look away. "Just stop it." He took a few shaken breaths, then shook his head and began to mumble. "I'm so stupid... I should have left you in Sioux Falls."

A silence passed and he, surprisingly, tilted his head back to look at her once more. He didn't fidget, grimace, try to hide, or anything. He only looked up to her and took in the whole scene for the first time since he found her in the grass. The blood, the bruises, the pale skin, it was all exactly the same as he remembered, but her eyes had a small light deep within them somewhere that could be mistaken for anything. He just watched and studied the ghost for a long time. Ghost, shadow, mirage, whatever it was. It still looked like the last time he had seen her and the only real image of her that he could even recall anymore.

"I loved you." The words hung in the air as if it was all that really needed to be said, while the light flickered against the darkness beyond her. She didn't leave. She didn't reply. Not that he really expected either at this point. "I still love you," he continued on, as if the pause wasn't there, "despite myself. I knew better. Forbidden. Disgusting. Wrong." His head fell back against the wall, but his eyes didn't leave her. "I never really believed all of that over glorified bull about how wrong it was to bed or care for one of you. At first, it was all just Michael blowing his usual smoke and I didn't give a damn either way. I never cared for anyone else that deeply aside from a very few in my family, so what did I have to worry about? But it wasn't really about superiority, was it? It's about our differences, our lifespans, our... connections that we can make, our bonds to one another. It was about protecting ourselves from you, that's all. And I knew that. I knew better. I was willing to risk it and later I was willing to die for it, but I never dreamed that-... I never dreamed that the reason I would lose you would be because I loved you... I know why you left. I know why you went out there, and I should have known better. I should have never told you what I felt. What I planned. I never should have told you. Stupid."

His eyes screwed shut, but he took a deep breath and looked back to her again. "I should have left you in Sioux Falls," he said again and began to look pass her. "I'm so stupid... Now you're gone. Because I'm stupid. Because I love you. Because of me, you're gone and you're not coming back... It's over." A beat of silence passed and his shoulders slumped. "It's over."

The light continued flicking in and out of existence while his head slowly bowed again and he stopped moving completely. She still stood there in front of him, though, but he didn't acknowledge her or ignore her. He just sat there, allowing whatever was going on to just happen until Michael finally cut his throat. Maybe that's what he was really running so hard to this entire time. Maybe he was just looking forward to it.

"Bal..."

The voice was still there, but he hardly heard it. It sounded like it was far away, as was his small cell and the damaged light.

"Bal, I'm here... Balthazar."

Nothing.

"Balthazar!"

The door unlocked loudly and slowly swung open. He didn't bother to look up and see Bartholomew's smirk, but he did hear a hum and then footsteps, before two pairs of hands grabbed his arms and hauled him up.

The graces clinked against each other as Gabriel made space to fit them all. Kevin didn't really know of any real way he could help out, so he just handed the graces to the angel as the other looked at each one of them for a second and put it in some seemingly random place. After a while of doing this, it had started to look like a really tight circle, spiraling out from the pencil in the middle.

"How will this help you find out if her soul was destroyed or not?" Kevin asked, hardly even causing an interruption as he handed over another crystal.

Gabriel looked it over, too, turning it around in his fingers before finally setting it down along the edges. "Her body was in the middle of all those graces when we found her," he answered, "or when Balthazar found her, really. Do you know what happens when a soul is completely destroyed?"

Tran frowned and handed him another. "No."

"Neither do I," Gabe smirked, taking the grace and hardly looking at it before placing it down somewhere else. "As far as I can tell, no one knows what happens. A soul is more powerful than anything else in the world. That's why they're traded and bartered and – in some cases that includes a trench coat toting angel – used as weapons. Balthazar himself bought and sold a few souls when he ditched Heaven with the weapons he stole. It's the only thing that's worth any real value."

"So," Kevin squinted his eyes, thinking, "you're saying if her soul was destroyed by Michael in that spot, there would have been some sort of... celestial implosion or something."

Gabriel smirked. "Cool but no." He set down another grace, noting there weren't very many left now. "Angels have lots of different jobs, but we're soliders first and foremost. What we protect is Heaven and all its contents, especially the souls. We weren't only tasked with the job by Dad. It was more like... a purpose. Like a mom with her kid or something."

Kevin watched him for a second. "I'm, uh... not following. What does that have to do with-...?"

Gabe took the last grace in his hand and wagged the crystal at Tran. "My point is, if a soul – any soul – was suddenly destroyed or just vanished, angels would know about it. Their graces would know about it. I'm just trying to figure out whose grace was where so I can find out which ones were closest to her body."

"But were they there when she died?" Kevin asked, handing over the eraser as the last piece.

"I don't think so," Gabe sighed. "Michael would have had a bigger hissy fit than usual if he were that close... But if the graces were over her body later, that means at least one of them went to her for whatever reason. So that must mean-..." He placed down the eraser in a space just large enough for it to fit, yet he stared down to the pattern, his thumb not leaving the last piece. "Balthazar."

Kevin blinked at the abrupt change in subject. "What?"

Gabriel looked down to the graces and then off to the far wall, before speaking quietly. "Balthazar's grace covered her body..."

The other looked between the table and the angel. "Coincidence?"

The main entrance door fell open with a loud bang and Dean's voice reverberated off the walls. "Honey, I'm home!"

Kevin walked around the tables to greet them, but Gabriel only turned deftly to Sam, Dean, and Castiel's return. Tran was happy enough to see them and even embraced the tallest brother. "Find what you were looking for?"

Sam sighed. "No, not really. Whatever informants we might have had were dead by the time we got there. All of them. No evidence. Nothing. Whatever we or Michael might have, they're scared of Lucifer more."

Dean only groaned at the explanation, placing down his things on the table, but Castiel held on to his bag and looked to his older brother instead. "What's wrong?"

Everyone looked to Cas, then to Gabriel who did admittedly seem somewhat troubled. He glanced around to them all and watched Kevin open his mouth to try and explain, but the archangel beat him to the punch. "I know what happened."

They all stopped to look at him again. "What happened?" Dean asked, "What happened when?"

"When Catherine died," he answered and held up the eraser. "I know what happened."

"I'm here! I'm here! Balthazar!"

The voice continued screeching on his ears, but Bal just continued being hauled along like he couldn't hear it anymore. All the voice was going to do at this point was persist until he was dead, which didn't seem like it was going to be for too much longer anyway.

"Balthazar!"

Bartholomew's men dragged him through dark hallways and into a warehouse. Its high windows showed the first rays of dawn peeking in and he noticed the sky had no trace of the night before. Even the rain was gone. Barty himself led the group and all Balthazar did was stare at the other's back.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

He wondered if he even really remembered her voice or if the sounds he had been hearing were only what he wanted them to be. He wanted to believe it, of course. He wanted to. Now, though, he just felt broken. He'd lost everything again, but this was so much worse than the first time. They took everything. Why was he the one always faced with everything being taken?

"Balthazar!"

The angels pushed him down to kneel. When he fell to their bidding and didn't move, one of them grabbed a tuft of his hair and pulled his head back hard to look up to Bartholomew standing over him. One of them had a blade near his throat, but he just kept breathing, not looking away from the angel before him.

"Balthazar, I'm here!"

Bartholomew continued smirking down to him, a hand reaching out and gently gliding over his captive's neck. "We've been waiting for you to get this far. I should take this time to thank you for thinning out the competition a little bit. Dirty business for a guy like me."

"I'm here!"

"Now..." Bal furrowed his brow, while his brother's fingers found the chord around his neck and drew on it until his grace appeared from beneath his shirt. Bart's smile grew. "There's our heretic."

"I'm here! I'm here!"

Bal's breathing quickened, trying and refusing to put the pieces together. Bartholomew's hand wrapped around his grace. "Can't believe you never knew. Michael's been looking everywhere for this."

"Baltha-!"

Bal lurched forward as the chord snapped from his neck. He froze, watching his brother turn away from him with his grace and her soul dangling precariously in his hand. For the first time, he tried to listen as hard as he could.

But the world was silent...

"Catherine!"

Ahhh, this has been my favorite chapter to write in a long time. I think the next chapter will be longer. I have a lot planned for the things coming up.

So, how do you guys like the beginning of the end? Did you see that coming at all? Be honest.

Review, follow, etc! This isn't over yet, guys!