Chapter Twenty: Killing Lily Sunder's Regrets.

She felt her heart near her throat with Ishim's every step, fear clouding every sense; Ishim pulled her to her feet and marched her over to Castiel.

"Where is Lily, Castiel?" Ishim asked, his angel blade casually held to Reina's side.

"I don't know, Ishim." Cas shook his head.

Ishim clucked. "Tsk-tsk. Wrong answer, Castiel." Swiftly, Ishim nicked Reina's forearm.

"AAH!" Reina barked a short scream, biting the rest of it down, out of surprise of the attack. She felt the blood trickling through the cut and felt a dissociation from her body. For the first time, she had a wound that large on her body.

"Where did you meet Lily? Where is she?" Ishim shouted, holding Reina by her neck, his angel blade pointed at her gut.

"I truly don't know, Ishim," Cas replied, pain in his voice. "All I know is she's alive."

"How?" Ishim cried out and cut a little nearer to Reina's wrist. She cried out, louder this time because it was a deeper cut. Tears streamed through her eyes.

She looked at Cas and mouthed: Sorry.

"Don't hurt her. She has nothing to do with what you did back then. Just let her go, Ishim. You can do whatever you want to me." Cas pleaded. Reina shook her head, realizing she couldn't bear Cas to be the one getting hurt. She'd always thought she would either pass out or beg for mercy in such situations, as she had before, but this time was different. She felt a strength inside her, despite the pain.

Ishim kept nicking her, in different places, his questions having stopped. It had become more about hurting Castiel through her. She could barely register how much time it had been.

"Tell me the truth, or I – Ishim cut her wrist, so large, that she could feel the blood flow fast. "Tell me before she passes out, Castiel. Tell me the truth, and I will heal her."

"Don't do this, Ishim!" Cas shouted, straining against his restraints.

"No one will save you. Just answer me. You are alone, and your friends are going to die. The Winchesters aren't here to save you. Neither is Lily."

She was about to pass out when her dizzy head heard a voice, and she thought maybe she was imagining it.

"Oh, but they are. His friends are here."

That voice could belong to none other than Dean Winchester.

"And Lily is right here." A female voice came from behind the two boys, who parted to let Lily Sunders through. Dean slashed with his blade at Ishim, who dodged it. Dean and Lily advanced on Ishim, while Sam ran to Reina.

"Her hands!" Cas shouted.

Reina barely heard anything else, her head swimming. She felt someone grab her injured arm and cover it, and untie her hands.

Sam laid her at Cas's feet and untied Castiel. Reina leaned against the chair as Cas bent down to heal her. The last thing she heard before she fainted was Cas. "I'm so sorry, Reina."

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"Is she - okay?" Sam asked as he settled her at the foot of the chair. "You've healed her, haven't you?" Cas checked her forehead.

"Yes. But she has fainted from the exertion. Let me see Bobby." Cas and Sam raced over to Bobby, who had just come around.

"What's happening?" Bobby asked as Sam propped him up while Cas checked for injuries.

"He's fine, physically," Cas reported.

"Ishim – did he capture us? And where did you boys come from?"

"I'll answer everything, Bobby –

They turned around to see Dean and Lily had cornered Ishim, who was bleeding a deep angel blade wound.

"Hey Cas, want to teach this scumbag a lesson?" Dean said, not taking his eyes off Ishim, and kicked him in the gut. Ishim reeled back and slumped unconscious.

"He's mine, Dean Winchester," Lily replied, taking a step towards Ishim.

Cas stood up slowly; his shoulders slumped under an invisible weight that reflected in his eyes. He walked over to Dean and Lily.

"I – I am truly sorry, Lily." Cas bowed his head down. "I didn't know. And I'm very sorry for what we did to you. Ishim may have been the architect of what happened to you, but I will not deny my part in it. All I can do is ask your forgiveness for my ignorance."

"For so long, the only thing I have ever thought about was revenge. With every bit of magic I do, I lose a bit of my soul, and now – I –

"Feel nothing." Sam completed the sentence. "You can't feel emotions, just logic."

"I used to dream," Lily said. "Every night the horrors of what happened to me used to visit me. But now," she shrugged, looking away at the ceiling, "I don't dream."

No one said anything for a moment. Castiel and Lily looked at each other for a long pause, when she finally said, "Castiel, I believe you. All I want to ask of you now is that you leave. All of you. Leave Ishim to me." She pointed an angel blade at the injured angel lying down at their feet.

"I –

"Come on, Cas," Dean spoke gruffly, but there was infinite kindness in his expression. "Let's go."

Cas took a look around him; Ishim wounded; Sam holding up Bobby; Reina lying unconscious; Lily looking calculatingly at him; and felt Dean's hand on his shoulder. "Lily, if you ever find out, that after all, you cannot forgive me, I shall be waiting." Dean felt Cas's shoulders relax as he moved away from the whole scene.

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Reina felt a lull of motion, and her stomach lurched. She could feel the bad taste of it in her mouth, acid, and blood. She slowly opened her eyes, her body feeling alien to her.

And then the memories crashed in.

"Cas!"

"I'm here." A voice came from her right. She turned around to find Cas and she almost cried and leaned into him.

"It's all fine, Reina. You're safe." She heard his soothing voice and felt his awkward and gentle pats, as she tried to stop sobbing.

"You're okay?" She asked, as the tears stopped and she sat up.

"Yes." He nodded.

Slowly she looked around, to find herself on the backseat of the Impala, wedged between Cas and Sam. Bobby had turned around from the front seat to look at her.

"How you doin' kid?" He smiled at her.

She returned a small smile. "Okay, I think?"

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"We drove out to meet Lily, and she just transported all of us here, even Baby." Dean was explaining how they got to the warehouse in time. "Sam found her in record time, even with Rowena's help that was pretty fast work."

Reina sank back, listening to them fill in the gaps for her, telling her about what Lily said, and that she'd forgiven Cas.

"Oh, I wanted to meet Lily. Can't believe I missed her." Reina said.

"Well, you snooze you lose," Dean replied, and Reina looked at the back of his head, shocked.

"I wasn't snoozing!"

"You were. Pretty hard. Snoring too."

Meanwhile, everyone else in the car was struck silent, wondering why Dean was being so playful all of a sudden.

"Was not!" Reina retaliated, with a laugh.

Suddenly something poked her in the chest – and she remembered the phone she'd stuck into her bra. She slowly pulled it free so it slid down, coming out from underneath her sweatshirt. "Your phone, Bobby."

"Why er- why was the phone in your shirt?" Sam asked Reina as she handed it back to Bobby.

"We were in the crash – when I texted you. I heard footsteps outside the car, and I needed to hide it. I thought maybe whoever took us wouldn't check me too thoroughly, so – She shrugged. Sam laughed. "I thought if you were going to track us, it could be useful." She added softly.

"It was a good idea. I was tracking the phone – and if Lily hadn't shown up, we were planning to follow you anyway, so good thinking."

"But why did you contact Sam about Lily? Even I didn't suspect Ishim until he crashed into us." Cas asked.

"I guess - it was an instinct. I don't know how to explain, but see, I'd seen Ishim lie to you before, so I knew what it looked like. And I felt wrong, the way he spoke to you. So, I decided to take a chance. Because if Ishim wasn't guilty, Lily Sunders wouldn't be alive till today."

Cas nodded, agreeing with her logic. "Well, it was a good thing Lily did show up –Otherwise, I might have been powerless to stop Ishim from killing you, thought Cas, although he didn't say it.