Castiel didn’t respond at first when Mika stated that she didn’t trust him, but she was thankful for his efforts to bring Dean back into the fold. Truthfully, he had only done it on orders, and he had been too late to commit to those orders. Dean Winchester was only alive, as long as he was useful, and unfortunately, Castiel knew that. He tapped his fingers against his leg as Alastair’s voice broke through the silence around them once again, echoing off the walls. Then, came Mika attempting to appeal to his humanity, which he wasn’t even sure he could humor…but he did.

As she told him that what they were doing wasn’t right, Castiel felt a glimmer of doubt in his stomach. He turned his eyes away from her, staring at the ground near her feet for a moment. Truthfully, Castiel hadn’t done much of his own research on this deal. He was following Uriel, who was following order from their superiors, something Castiel was afraid to even begin to question.

“Uriel…” Castiel started, ignoring Mika’s angry words as they echoed Dean’s personality almost too well. He raised his hand in frustration, dropping it quickly against his side, “Uriel receives revelation from our superiors. Who am I too question their will? I don’t like this. I would much rather just use the brute force that we have always used to get through to someone like Alastair, but the superiors believe that THIS is the action. This is what we have to do. And…”

Castiel turned his eyes up to the ceiling briefly, listening as he felt Uriel return but in a different part of the warehouse. He narrowed his eyes, hearing the voice of a young woman, and he tilted his head, “And his methods are to be questioned…by humans, not angels. Is Sam Winchester here?”

Castiel asked the question absentmindedly, and he turned his eyes back to Mika’s, both questioning her and warning her. If Sam Winchester was in the building, everything was going to fall apart, and it was going to fall apart quickly.



Duke felt a bit of relief at Esme’s words, even if everything in him wanted to lock her in the basement and make her stay. He could pick her up. He could carry her down and she wouldn’t have much of a say, but she would hate him for it. So, as she pressed a kiss to his nose, and her words sank in, he sighed, “Alright…I believe you. But you don’t jump in unless it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t wanna have to patch you up when this is all over. Okay?”

At her request to go to the RV and grab some things, Duke’s heart fluttered but he choked down the excitement, just enough that she couldn’t tell the difference between the excitement and his nervousness…something he was getting way too used to doing around her. It felt like lying, which he hated. He stood from the floor, pulling her with him with a nod, “Alright. We’ll grab what you need, and we’ll head out. Cason, text me that address. We gotta get there before…”

As Duke turned to walk out the back door with Esme, Sam stepped in, breaking the news to them that the angels had taken Anna. Duke’s eyes turned to saucers, and without looking around at anyone else, it hit him that they had to hurry. This was turning into more than just Dean being forced to do things he would never want to do. This was turning into a hostage situation, a stalemate and quite possibly a hostage exchange between the Winchesters and the angels.

“Alright. Let’s go. We gotta go.” Duke said quickly, pushing past Sam with Esme in tow. He pulled her toward the RV, and he quickly patted himself down as he released her, shaking his head, “I’ll be right back. I gotta run into the house for a second…”

After she was out of his eye sight in the RV, Duke waited for the door to closed and then he slid around the side of the RV and out toward the lot, jogging as lightly as he possibly could on the gravel. If he could get to the truck and get out of the lot, he could make this work on his own. There was a chance he could make it in time, and with Cason’s help, they could finish this…together. The girls didn’t have to be in any danger.

He pulled his truck keys from his pocket, opening the drivers door and slamming it behind him as he entered the truck with shaky hands. He turned the ignition and frowned. Nothing but clicks. The radio came on. The lights came on, but the truck didn’t start. That wasn’t possible, “What the hell?!”

A knock at his window caused Duke to flinch, turning to the window to see Bobby standing there, holding his starter relay in his hand. He dangled it by the wires and Duke opened the door, dropping heavily onto the concrete. He threw his hands up and Bobby sighed, “You’re not runnin’. Not this time. Not alone.”

“So this is what we’ve come to? We’re tearin’ my engine apart?” Duke scoffed back at Bobby, glancing toward the RV as he waited for a very pissed off Esme to come out at any moment.

“It’s your starter relay. I can put it back in within thirty seconds. But it was enough to allow that girl to catch up with you, and force you to take some backup. I may be a hick…but I’m not stupid, and you’re my son.” Bobby scolded Duke, stepping a bit closer. He poked Duke in the chest and took a deep breath, “This is bigger than you and your savior complex, boy. You need backup, and Mika ain’t out there just runnin’ around waiting for you to show up, anymore. Take…Esme.”

“And if I get her killed? Hmm? Who gets blamed for that? Who would I blame for that?”

“She’s a grown woman and she’s not letting you out of this lot. So, here’s an idea…DON’T GET HER KILLED!” Bobby shouted at him out of nowhere, which caused Duke to flinch, turning his eyes to the ground like a little boy as Bobby seethed in front of him. After a moment, Bobby calmed down enough to place a hand on his shoulder, “No one…is dying tonight, son.”



Cason watched Nat’s face as she seemed to relax a bit. Her sheepish smile told him that, as she voiced the source of her concern. Smiling softly, Cason nodded and he pressed a quick peck to her upper lip, “I know…I know. But there’s nothing that’s going to stop me from getting back to you. I had an iron rod shoved through my spine, and I still managed, didn’t I? I’m a bit harder to kill than that…”

He laughed softly, and reached both his hands up to rub her upper arms in the best effort he could give to soothe her, “And you’re right. I’m the only one that can do this. I’m the only one who won’t act on emotion, as long as you’re not there. So, you can help me stay alive by staying here…”

As soon as Cason finished his words, Sam burst through the door and Cason could smell the demon blood all over him before he ever spoke. But hearing that Anna had been taken, Cason growled loudly and closed his eyes. His entire plan shattered, right there on the floor. Now that the angels had Anna, they had leverage, “Why would the angels take her? What would they even want with her, if they’re planning to keep Alastair alive, for now? It makes no sense.”

As he spoke his questions aloud, he pulled away from Nat and quickly approached Sam, shoving him, “And how could you let them?! You’re full of demon blood. Is she?! What? You both went on a bender, together? So, now the angels have a demon nuke that they can torture and bend to their will, because you couldn’t keep Ruby away from her for one night.”

Cason lowered his voice and he leaned a little closer to Sam, “And now, chances are, I have to die and break your sister’s heart…because of you.”

He stepped away from Sam, and walked quickly to Bobby’s desk, grabbing a pen and a sticky note. He wrote the address to the warehouse, only about 45 minutes away on the piece of paper, and he walked back up to Sam, slapping it roughly against his chest.

“They’re here. Get there fast and you better hope…BEYOND hope that Anna is still alive when you get there. Or Ruby’s next on my list, whether you’re shielding her or not.” Cason seethed at him, and without saying goodbye, he disappeared, reappearing in a dark corner of the boiler room, just out of sight of Castiel and Mika.

“I can hear you.” Castiel muttered softly, turning toward Cason. Cason froze momentarily, a bit of fear bubbling in his stomach before he gathered his defiance and courage and slowly stepped out of the shadows, his eyes first shifting to Mika, before back to Castiel’s face. “If you’re here to save him, I’ll have to stop you.”

“I’m not here for anyone but you, bud. We need to talk.”



Anna opened her eyes, blinking in the dim light of the room Uriel had stashed her in. As she came to, she pulled at her right arm, realizing that both her arms were tightly locked to a pipe nearby with a twisted and mangled set of handcuffs. As she shifted to sit up a bit straighter, she looked down at her ankles and they were also chained to the same pipe. She was still only in Sam’s t-shirt, and she had no idea where she was. A soft sob left her throat and she tried her hardest to listen for any sign of anyone that she knew, but all she heard was the roar of water rushing through pipes and clanging of metal pipes around her.

“Hello?!” She called out, and after a few seconds, Uriel appeared in front of her and he chuckled.

“Ah. You took a while to recover, little one. There’s not much use in screaming. No one but your girlfriend downstairs can hear you, and she can’t come to you.” Uriel explained simply. Anna turned her eyes up to him, as she attempted to appeal to some sort of sympathy. Maybe if she made herself as small and weak as possible, Uriel would simply let her go.

“Please. Please let me go. Whatever you’re wanting Sam to do, I won’t stop him. I won’t get involved. I’ll just walk out the door and I’ll walk…I won’t even call anyone.” Anna pleaded, but Uriel only laughed harder, before mocking her, tilting his head back and forth.

“Stop groveling. I know your type. You and Sam Winchester…the special ones…the kings and queens of Hell. You’re one of Azazel’s favorites, destined for greatness. Yet here you are, crying at my feet…begging me to release you. If I had Sam Winchester in my hands, a knife to his throat, you would trow yourself on a fire to save him. It’s who you people are.”

“Us people?” Anna asked in a tiny voice, still not sure what her connection with Sam was, after all this time. They were like magnets, but no one had ever really explained to them why.

“Yes. You people. The abominations sent to serve as the leaders of the apocalypse. You’re drawn to each other like moths to a flame and how lucky for the two of you that you’re the only two left? It’s poetic. You’ll die for each other, over and over. You’ll kill for each other. You’ll sacrifice others for one another. And in the end? You’ll kill each other. Lilith will have you, one way…or another.” Uriel explained calmly. He shook his head, pointing toward the door to his left. “And the only thing standing between her…and you? Sam Winchester. Dean Winchester. Alastair remaining alive. Mika Chambers…remaining alive. It’ll all be over within the hour. I’ll smite you. Sam Winchester will lose his soul to all that demon blood. He will finish his story. And we…win.”

“You’ll never win because he’ll come for me. He will come for me. He always does.”

“He’s not coming…for you. He’s coming for his brother. See? In this whole tangled web you’re woven into? The Winchesters will always choose each other. That’s why we needed you both.” Uriel explained, stepping away from Anna to walk in a circle.

“You didn’t bring Dean here for information. You brought him here to kill him.” Anna realized out loud, scanning her eyes all along the floor around Uriel’s feet. “You brought us both here to kill us…all of us.”

“Just the ones that would interfere with my orders.”

Esme watched Duke, knowing he was more than likely still thinking about locking her up and forcing her to set this one out, but it seemed her kiss on his nose helped her words sink in a bit. She nodded at his response to her jumping in if things got bad. “You have my word. I won’t jump in unless absolutely necessary.” she told him honestly. After her request to go to the RV, Esme thought she felt something other than nervousness come from him for a split second, but she shook it off. She knew going to the RV would give him a chance to run off without her, but she hoped he wouldn’t. Once Duke helped her to her feet, she went to follow him out the back door, but Sam came bursting in with news about Anna being taken by the angels. Esme’s eyes widened to saucers, knowing that this whole thing had just worsened for them. This had gone from going and saving Dean from doing something he didn’t want to do to a possible hostage situation and hostage exchange, and she didn’t like it one bit. She couldn’t help but hope that Anna was alright.

Esme nodded at Duke’s next words and followed him out the back door past Sam. “Don’t worry, Sam. We’ll get her back.” she told him before the door closed. At the RV, she stopped briefly as Duke let her go and patted himself down. “Alright.” she told him. ‘You better not leave me.’ she thought as she jogged up the steps into the RV and shut the door behind her. Once inside, she quickly slipped off her boots and walked over to the bed, picking her jeans off the floor. She wanted to change into a pair of jeans quickly. By the time she got her sweatpants off and one leg in her jeans, she heard Duke’s truck door slam. “You gotta be kidding me!” she growled. She quickly slid her other leg into her jeans, buttoned them, and did her belt going to the door. She stopped hearing voices, and she sighed. “Thank you, Bobby.” This allowed her to return to her bag, grab a hair tie, and pull her hair back into a low ponytail. Grabbing a few other things and placing them in her pockets, then walked back to the door, slipped her feet into her boots, grabbed her jacket, yanked the door open, and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

Esme angrily made her way across the gravel to where Duke had his truck parked, listening to the conversation between Duke and Bobby as she put on her jacket. She had just come around to the other side of the RV when Bobby yelled at Duke, causing her to flinch slightly and pause in her steps momentarily. ‘Is that what all this is about? He’s afraid he's going to get me killed.’ she thought. She closed the gap, glaring at Duke even though he was still looking at the ground. She approached Bobby, softening her face as she looked up at him. “Thank you for stopping him, Bobby.” she said gratefully, standing on her toes and kissing his cheek. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees he needs backup on this. Could you please quickly reinstall that so we can get going? The sooner we leave, the better.” Esme then quickly walked around the truck to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in. “You’re an asshole, you know that?” she told Duke angrily before shutting the door and crossing her arms over her chest.

MIKA

No matter what the motives were for Castiel raising Dean, Mika was still thankful because he literally brought back the light of her life and the one person she saw a reason to live in. It still scared her how badly she fell mentally when he died thanks to Lilith's hounds, how willingly she let grief just rule her life and body for those four months he was gone. Just one of the many reasons she was more determined to be there for Dean and keep him alive. It was partially selfish of her, but she never wanted to feel that lost ever again. She now knew what it must have felt like when Dean thought she was dead as teenagers.

Seeing Cas turn his eyes away from her made her wonder if he was beginning to doubt the legitimacy of this whole plan. Could she really get through to him? Make him begin to think for himself and not blindly follow orders that she had serious doubts about? She didn't know, but not seeing anyone else in the room with them to try, she figured she had to. She listened to his reasoning and she didn't buy a single word that came out of his mouth. It didn't feel like it was just that simple. Especially when he mentioned how he only knew of the orders through what Uriel told him. It all felt too suspicious to her. She watched as he looked up at the ceiling, sensing something new in the building she presumed, or more than likely Uriel's return which meant she didn't have long to try and get through to Castiel. “Cas I get it, you wanna be a good soldier but can you seriously stand there and believe what Uriel has been instructing sounds remotely believable or normal of your superiors? It's so clear to me he's going rouge on this” she practically pleaded in her frustrated state of mind.

“As for if Sam is here? How am I meant to know Cas? We got no cell service down here and I'm actually keeping up my end of the bargain of not telling anyone where we are” she replied, with a sigh.

When Cason showed up a few minutes later, she wondered initially who Castiel was talking to, until Cason showed his face. She gave him a questioning look, wondering why he was here, only to have her silent question answered as he said to Castiel that he was there for him.

NATALIA

Cason reminding her that even on death's door, he still found his way back to her and saved her life single handedly, made Nat nod once more. He was right, and she had trust in him; he'd come back unscathed. At his words saying her staying back was the best help she could provide in keeping him alive, she gave him a small smile. “I'll stay here, for you” she replied as Sam's entrance just completely drowned out her words back to Cason. Sam's words made her go wide eyed, in disbelief that angels would burst into their motel room and kidnap Anna when they wanted Dean so much. None of this made any sense to her whatsoever.

She watched as Cason pulled away from her, her hands reaching out to try and stop him going towards Sam, but he slipped through her fingers. She didn't know what to do as she watched Cason push Sam and scream at him for letting angels take Anna. Yet it was the accusations of Sam being high on demon blood that shocked her the most. “Sam…no” she sighed, raising a hand up to her mouth. She didn't speak loud enough for anyone to really hear her, she couldn't even walk over and stop Cason from being aggressive with Sam, she was just too stunned to stop her two favorite people from going at each other verbally. Anna being hopped up on demon blood she always expected, but she didn't expect it from Sam. How could he keep such a big thing from her like this?! It felt like such a betrayal. If Sam had ANY kind of responsibility in Cason possibly dying as he said, she didn't think she could ever forgive Sam.

As Cason walked away from Sam, she looked at Sam with contempt and confusion in her eyes. She didn't know how to react to his current state of what he just declared to the room, whilst Duke and Esme had made a quick exit to the RV. “How could you Sam?” She asked him, eerily calmly, but she just watched him look away.

SAM

As Duke and Esme headed out, Sam stepped aside for them to leave, giving Esme a nod to acknowledge what she had said to him. “We have to” he simply said back as she left the room, only to have his focus rapidly go to the one person he was actually dreading seeing and hearing the news…

Cason storming over to him and shoving him was no surprise. He knew Cason would be angry at him when he said what happened, so he just took it. “It wasn't our plan okay? We didn't want to do it!” He replied to Cason about the demon blood consumption. “We couldn't get rid of Ruby no matter how hard I tried…she was forced feeding Anna and would have kept going if I didn't drink her blood, I had no choice” he explained. “Then this angel showed up after Nat called and before I could even get between him and Anna, she was gone. Said he had to get her away from me…take away my chokehold so not to distract me…” he said, trying to remember everything Uriel told them both. “That's all I remember” he finished, deciding to ignore the comments about being at fault for possibly breaking Nat's heart if Cason dies trying to fix his mess.

As Cason walked away to Bobby's desk, he looked at Natalia with apologetic eyes, but the moment he saw the way she was looking at him, he had to look away when she asked him how he could drink the demon blood. He didn't have answers for her, knowing this was her finding out what had been going on behind her back. That for the first time, he had pulled a Dean level move and kept her in the dark over something. He only looked up again when Cason walked back to him and slammed the post it note on his chest with the address of a warehouse on it. He just nodded at him, taking hold of the note and checked it over. “I'm getting them all back…I swear to you Nat…I'm ending this” he swore to her but Nat could only look away from him. “Get them back and maybe I'll talk to you again” she said coldly, walking away, into the main room and flopping herself down onto the couch, back to Sam. Sam sighed, knowing he deserved the cold shoulder treatment before exiting out the back door and decided to take Mika's impala again as Dean's was still out of action.

Getting in, he started up the engine and began the drive to the warehouse, hoping he would make it in time.

Duke could feel Esme’s eyes on the side of his face as she glared at him. He had only felt that look, maybe once, the entire time he had known Esme. The thought of how angry she must be made his entire body shudder. Bobby simply backed up, dropping his hand from Duke’s shoulder as Esme approached him, thanked him for stopping Duke and kissed his cheek.

“Always.” Bobby muttered with a soft smile, giving the little starter relay a tiny toss into his other palm. He shot one more glare back at Duke, nodding his head toward the cab of the truck to tell Duke to shut his mouth and get in. He then stepped away from them both and walked around to the front of the truck, the hood still slightly ajar from his sabotage. He opened the hood, propping it open, and reached his hands in, replacing the part as he said he would, in less than thirty seconds.

Duke climbed into the truck, but not before Esme called him an asshole, which caused him to flinch. There was no teasing in her voice at all. She was legitimately angry with him, and just the thought of it caused his stomach to cramp painfully. He was almost physically unable to accept that Esme could even be angry enough to lash out at him. As Bobby slammed the hood and gave it a pat, telling them that they were good to go, Duke gave him a thumbs up and quickly turned the engine over, placing the truck in drive.

He drove in a semi circle, and then began their slow drive to the gates of Singer Salvage with a soft sigh. He didn’t turn to Esme, just stared out the windshield as he tried to find the words to say to her, anything that would make her hate him a little less.

“Listen…I know you’re pissed. And I know exactly why you’re pissed.” Duke started gripping the steering wheel tightly as he turned them onto the highway and he pulled his phone, glancing down at the address that Cason had texted him at some point. He recognized the area they were headed, but there was really nothing there. He had only been there once, for a vampire hunt. Narrowing his eyes for a moment to try and roll the reasoning for the location over in his mind, he found nothing and came back to trying to fix things with Esme. Speeding up on the highway, Duke glanced to Esme briefly.

“When we get done with all this, you can take a swing at me, if you want. I know, right now, you really want to. I get it. And I know that sayin’ I’m sorry ain’t gonna do nothin’ to fix it.” Duke explained slowly, gripping the steering wheel like it was going to disappear beneath his hands, “I’m not sorry for tryin’ to keep you away from this war. I’m not. I can’t live without you and you know that. These bastards can do whatever they want to me, but you and Mika? That’s the end for me. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost either of you. So, no. I’m not sorry for tryin’ to keep you safe. But I’m sorry for lyin’ to you…”



Duke pulled into the lot, and quickly turned the engine off, parking far enough away from the warehouse that they likely wouldn’t be heard, unless the angels sensed them in some way. He stepped out of the truck and quickly jogged over to Esme. Even if she was angry with him, they weren’t in the position to be pissy with one another. He waited for her to climb down, and then picked up her hand.

“So, I’m goin’ for Dean. I got more of a chance of gettin’ through there if Cason’s here. He’ll get me through. I also have Mika as some backup. You go try and find Anna. Maybe you can feel her emotions.” Duke offered quickly, taking Esme’s face between his hands as he stared into her eyes, “I love you. I love you more than anything on this planet and I need you to know that before we go in here. No matter what you do after this is over…you go in there with that in your head.”

He scanned her entire face, before pulling her face to his for a rough and passionate kiss. As he pulled back, his eyes were full of resolve, realizing that there was a real chance neither of them came out of this alive. He nodded his head, his hat barely tipping as his blue eyes lit up with mischief and he stepped away form Esme, reaching into the back of his truck. He grabbed his backpack, and tossed it onto his back, before jogging off toward the warehouse without another word, disappearing into the shadows.



“You really shouldn’t have come.” Castiel grumbled at Cason, when Cason finally convinced the angel to say three words to him. They walked in a circle, at a distance from each other, just outside the door from Dean and Alastair. Something Dean was doing to Alastair caused the demon to cry out, but his voice was muffled by what sounded like water…or his own blood. Cason gritted his teeth at the mental image, and he shook his head.

“Why, because your boss said to kill me if I did? But you…you’re having second thoughts about those orders. Why is that?” Cason asked in a soft voice, his eyes narrowed, studying Castiel. He watched ever twitch of Cas’ fingers. Ever brush of his shoes on the dirty floor, even the way Castiel’s vessel seemed to be sweating from the stress. “Where is he, by the way?”

“He went to receive revelation. And it seems, he has Sam Winchester.” Castiel muttered quietly, causing Cason to shake his head.

“No. Not Sam. He has Anna.” Cason explained, and that’s where he saw it. Castiel turned his eyes up to meet Cason’s, his eyes full of confusion, doubt and betrayal. Uriel hadn’t told Castiel of his plans. Uriel was using him as a hammer. Cason huffed a small and quiet sigh of relief. He could get through to the angel. He could feel it. “So, now that you know he kept that from you, tell me, why are you having Dean do this?”

“Because he’s doing God’s work.”

“God’s work? Wow. Torturing. That’s God’s work?” Cason chuckled loudly, stepping away and walking in the same old circle as Castiel did the same. Cason glanced to Mika, giving her a single knowing nod as if to say ‘I’ll fix this’. “See, last I saw, that’s the work of Hell…not Heaven. You have a torture master and his student, locked in a random room in North Dakota and…”

As he spoke, Alastair cried out and he could swear he heard Dean laugh. The sound obviously had an effect on Castiel, which Cason would happily exploit.

“Who are you, a demon to question the will of God?”

“What if it’s not the will of God, man? Do you know your higher ups? Not God. The people giving the orders. Do you know them?” Cason asked, and Castiel’s eyes scanned the floor, as if he was looking for an answer he had never thought to seek. He then glanced up at that same place on the ceiling, as if he could see Uriel. Cason nodded. “What if your ‘father’ doesn’t want this? Do you really think he would ask you to do this? Would he consider this righteous…or is that giant dick you brought with you pulling those strings, and sending you down a path of those good old ‘good intentions’. Buddy, we know where that leads. I’ve been there.”

“I don’t have to listen to you.” Castiel grumbled, and he began walking in a circle again as Alastair went rather quiet for a moment. Cason’s ear perked up, and he heard Dean talking. So, he continued his work.

“No. You don’t. But you are listening. Wanna know why? That feeling, deep in your gut? The one that’s nagging and clawing into your throat right now? That’s called doubt.” Cason explained, holding his hand out to Castiel. “All you have to do is shake my hand and this is over. I’ll pop into that room, gather what’s left of Dean Winchester, and I’ll be on my way. Me and you? We can work on this together. We’re a lot a like, if you would just talk to me. Two sides of the same coin.”

“I’m nothing like you!” Castiel snapped suddenly, as Cason scanned the angel’s eyes, seeing nothing but doubt and remorse. Cason nodded, long and smooth, pressing his lips together in faux understanding. He then placed his hands on his hips. “You should go.”

“Well, I don’t think I should leave until…”

“Uriel won’t hesitate to smite you when he gets here. Go. I won’t ask again.” Castiel barked at him, and Cason winced, but his mouth turned up in a smirk as he turned his eyes to Mika. He had broken Castiel. Castiel was showing him mercy. Castiel was saving his life. That meant, Castiel could be brought…to their side.

“Alright. Alright, I’m leaving.” Cason nodded, glancing up at the ceiling to listen for Anna’s heartbeat. As soon as he heard it, humming loudly from the demon blood, he nodded again and stepped over to Mika. “Do not leave him alone. Keep talking to him. Eventually, he will break. I’ll see you back at the house when it happens.”

He pressed a proud kiss to Mika’s temple, and then disappeared, reappearing on Bobby’s couch near Natalia, completely unharmed and in one peace. He fully…FULLY planned to go back later in the night and work on the angel some more. But for now, he would let him stew.



Uriel chuckled as Anna finished explaining what exactly Lilith had told her about her purpose. He shook his head and he kicked a bit of dust on the floor.

“And did she tell you that Sam would have to kill you?” Uriel asked her, his voice now level and calm, as if they were just having a conversation. Anna nodded, sniffling as she calmed herself and settled into being locked up for the time being. As long as Uriel was talking, she would stay alive. She knew that much. The chains rattled a bit as she shifted in her spot, curling her legs as best she could into a pretzel.

“Um. Yeah. She kind of mentioned it. She didn’t give any details.”

“Considering how this ends for you, I feel absolutely confident in saying this. All those roads, you, the demon blood, the grand picture…it all leads to Lucifer.” Uriel chuckled, turning his eyes back to her with a smirk. Anna’s eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything at first. They knew about Lucifer. They knew that the seals were breaking to set him free, but in the back of her mind, Anna had hoped he was still a myth.

“Lucifer wants me?”

Uriel laughed, shaking his head and he pointed his finger at Anna as he did so, “Now that! That’s the Winchester narcissism rubbing off on you, little one. No. You’ll never have the pleasure of meeting him. But you play a very important role, probably the most important. And to fulfill that role, Lilith needs your body, not your soul.”

“Lilith wants to possess me? That’s why she wants me?” Anna asked, her eyes welling up with tears again. The sight caused Uriel to roll his eyes, clicking his tongue against his teeth sadly.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be dead, long before she even bothers to pick you up. Sam Winchester will have no idea, and he’ll be exactly where we need him to be. Have you ever heard the story of why Lucifer fell from grace? The real story?” Uriel asked in a softer voice. Anna shook her head, conceding to buying time by listening to his story. Uriel crossed his arms over his chest, and he nodded. “Well, I’ll go get you a bottle of water, and then it’s time for you to be educated about my brother. I’m feeling…judicious.”



Dean turned from Alastair, his face shocked as Alastair revealed to him that he was the first domino…the first seal. His spilling blood in Hell had started this whole thing, and he never even knew. Dean closed his eyes as Alastair continued, a single tear falling down his cheek as he gripped Ruby’s knife with white knuckles.

“When we win, when we bring on the apocalypse and burn this earth down, we’ll owe it all to you, Dean Winchester.” Alastair sang out to him. And Dean shook his head a bit, causing Alastair to pout in a mocking way, his ears catching the dripping sound behind him. “Believe me. I wouldn’t lie about this. It’s kind of…a religious sort of thing with me.”

Alastair glanced down and behind him, seeing the edge of the devils trap, washed away. He followed the drips of water up to the ceiling, smirking at the luck of a leaky pipe. Either he had a stroke of luck that could change the cosmic future of the world, or someone was letting him out. Alastair didn’t believe in luck…not really.

“I don’t believe you are lying. But even if the demon’s do win, you won’t be there to see it.” Dean grumbled, deciding to just kill Alastair and deal with the angels after. However, when he turned around Alastair was standing there, not chained. Not bound. He was free.

“You should talk to your plumber about the pipes.” Alastair teased, before punching Dean so hard that he stumbled back against the cart of tools, causing them to clang around on the floor loudly.

Esme sat silently in Duke’s truck, her arms crossed over her chest, her head leaned back against the seat, and looking out the passenger window as Bobby reinstalled the starter relay. She was more hurt than angry at Duke for attempting to leave her behind after agreeing to let her back him up. She fully understood his want and need to protect her, but they weren't dealing with your garden variety monster this time. They were dealing with freaking angels. There was no way in hell she was letting him go this alone, and Duke should have known that. He should have known she’d find a way to follow him if he left her behind. How could Duke even think she’d be okay with him leaving her behind with angels involved? At the sound of the hood slamming, Esme was pulled out of her head. She looked out the windshield and gave Bobby a thankful nod before returning her gaze out the passenger window. Esme remained silent as Duke started the truck, drove the semi-circle, and through the slow drive to the gate. When Duke broke the silence, she sighed silently but didn’t look over at him, just listened to him talk.

She took note of his pause and saw him pull his phone and look at it from the corner of her eye. Cason must have sent him to address at some point, and that’s what he was looking at. Before Duke started talking again, Esme shifted her gaze out the windshield, catching the brief look Duke gave her out of the corner of her eye. He was right; she did want to take a swing at him right now, and he was right about saying sorry wouldn’t fix it. Esme closed her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw and fists as he continued. ”Of course, you're not sorry for trying to keep me out of it.” she said in the softest of whispers so he couldn’t hear her. After a moment, she took a deep breath through her nose and slowly let it out through her mouth. “I’m not upset with you wanting to keep me safe, but did you ever stop to think how it would affect us if anything happened to you?” she questioned, her tone still angry. “Did you think about how we would get through losing you?.... I’ve lost you once, Duke. I won’t sit on the sidelines and let it happen again if I can help it.”

Esme raised a hand to her chest to fiddle with the pendants on her necklace, pausing her words momentarily, and sighed. The memory of the nurse telling her that Duke didn't make it came back to her briefly caused her tightly closed eyes to burn with tears threatening to fall. She pushed back the tears and mentally shook the memory away. She wasn't going to lose him tonight, not if she could help it. Esme was going to bring him home along with Dean, Mika, and Anna. They were all going to come home. Opening her eyes, she looked out the windshield. “You heard how well I took losing you last time. Can you imagine how bad it could be if I lost you again? How much more damage could I cause?....” she sighed heavily through her nose, shaking her head. “Plus, you know as well as I do that this isn’t a one-person rescue mission, even with Cason planning to pop in later. As good of a hunter as you are, no one would have let you go alone.”


After Duke pulled into the lot and turned off the engine, Esme took a deep breath and slowly let it out to collect herself, which gave Duke enough time to jog around the truck before she opened the truck door. As soon as she climbed down, Duke took her hand, and she looked up into his face as he spoke. “That sounds like the best way to do this.” she said before Duke took her face into his hands. As he stared into Esme’s eyes, she stared back into his, her features softening as he spoke again. She may have still been upset with him, but she knew she couldn’t go in completely mad because she knew there was a chance neither one of them would come out of this, but she tried to stay positive. Bringing up her hands, Esme rested them on the sides of Duke’s neck. “I’ve always known, and I love you, too. There’s nothing that I love more than you. Nothing.” she told him. Before she could say much else, he pulled her into a rough and passionate kiss that she quickly returned. When Duke pulled back, Esme saw the resolve in his eyes before he nodded to her.

She nodded back, seeing his eyes light up with mischief, and then reluctantly let him step away from her. She watched him grab his backpack, toss it onto his back, jog off towards the warehouse, and disappear into the shadows. “You better come back to me.” she whispered. Taking a deep breath, Esme jogged towards the warehouse and into the darkness, looking for a way into the building. After finding a way into the warehouse, she looked around with a flashlight she pulled from her pocket before concentrating on everything she could feel in the building, trying to hone in on just Anna’s emotions. Dean’s emotions were the first and the strongest, and if she was honest with herself, they scared her. She had never felt anything this intense come from him. Yes, she had always known he felt things more intensely than most, but this was new to her, telling her they hadn’t made it there in time to keep him from having to torture Alastair. Esme moved on from Dean, brushing over Alastair because she didn’t like what she felt from him. She then felt Mika’s worry for Dean and her distrust of Castiel, followed by Castiel’s doubt.

“Where are you, Anna?” Esme mumbled. She briefly picked up on Duke before she felt Anna, and a small, relieved smile came to her lips. “There you are.” she sighed. Concentrating harder on Anna’s emotions, Esme could feel Anna somewhat close. She was led to a room in one of the far corners of the warehouse. Carefully looking through the window on the door, she could see Anna sitting on the floor and chained in place, and she was alone. Trying the doorknob, she found the door locked like she figured it would be. “Don’t worry, Anna. I’m going to get you out.” Esme told her through the door, looking at her through the window. “Are you alright?” Esme then moved from the window, knelt in front of the door, placed the flashlight in her mouth, and pulled her lock kit from her breast jacket pocket. After several failed attempts, she sighed heavily through her nose in frustration. Just when she thought she had it, something prevented the lock from turning. Taking to her feet, she returned the lock kit to her pocket and studied the door as she removed the flashlight from her mouth. The door was solid, and it would take quite a bit to break it down.

Esme still attempted to ram the door and kicked it a few times, but not much happened. She wasn’t giving up yet. She still had one more option in her tool box. It was one option she didn’t use very often, but she saw no other way that would get the damn door open other than shooting its hinges or lock. Placing her flashlight between her neck and shoulder, Esme took a breath and rubbed her hands together while whispering, her eyes lightly glowing a light purple. She then hovered her hand over the doorknob; it glowed brightly and melted beneath her hands. Pushing the door open, she ran to Anna's side, dropping to her knees to look her over quickly. Being this close to Anna, she could tell she had drank demon blood, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” Esme told her. “Now, let’s get you out of the chains and meet up with the others.” Looking away from Anna’s face, she looked down at the handcuffs and chains on Anna. Esme placed one hand on the handcuffs and her other on the chains on Anna’s ankles, being careful not to touch Anna’s skin, then softly mumbled some words, causing her eyes to glow lightly once again.

After a few seconds, the handcuffs and chains crumbled away under Esme’s hands. Looking back into Anna’s face, the glow faded from her eyes as she pulled her hands away. “Are you good to walk out of here?” Esme asked her. “We need to get down to the basement.” She scanned Anna’s face briefly before taking to her feet, then held out her hands to help her off the floor.

NATALIA

When Sam ignored her question as to why he was doing this and just left in a hurry, Natalia sighed. Running a hand through her hair she looked around the room, now very much on her own as everyone had left to either get Dean and Mika back or talk Castiel into joining them. Sitting on the couch, she wondered what to do, her foot rapidly tapping the floor. She wasn't getting any good feelings from the situation. She couldn't get how Sam looked pumped up on demon blood out of her mind. It was haunting as she never wanted to see her brother looking like that. It also saddened her to think he felt he had to do it to help Dean and Mika. Sitting still was just not an option for her at this moment in time, so she got up and went to Bobby's stash of alcohol behind his desk, poured herself a drink of whiskey and put the bottle back where she found it. Walking back to the couch, she lifted the glass to her lips and forced herself to only sip the drink even though she was wanting to just down it in one go.

So much of her didn't want to disturb Bobby, but she also didn't want to be alone. Downing the drink, putting the glass on the empty table, she looked out the window to see what Bobby was actually doing. She couldn’t spot him from where she was so she turned back round, standing up and deciding to just go outside to get some air. Every now and then she would check her phone for any kind of update but unsurprisingly, there was nothing. Walking over Dean's car, she saw the damage she did in daylight and actually winced. “How he didn't kill me for this I'll never know” she muttered to herself, reaching her arm through the broken window carefully and unlocking the door from the inside, where she took out the hammer she had thrown through it and inspected the rest. She saw the glass everywhere on the seating that wasn't outside on the gravel and I ew she had to clean it. It was the least she could do for Dean in time for when he returned home.

Looking around, she found one of Bobby's toolboxes and walked over to it, putting the hammer down on top of it before looking for a dustpan and brush, finding one, grabbing it and walking back to the impala. By hand, she swept all the glass that was on the seat into the dustpan and cleaned it up. Satisfied that the inside of the car was now glass free after she also swept up the floor, she carried the lot to the outside bin and chucked the glass fragments inside it. She hoped the small action would be enough to start her apology before putting the pan and brush down and heading back inside. Going back to the couch she sat down and a while later Cason returned beside her. Looking across at him, she saw him utterly unharmed which was a good sign, “hey, so..do you think your plan is working?” She asked him.

MIKA
As Cason and Castiel circled each other and started talking, she kept back and watched on. Ready to defend Cason if she thought it was warranted. They all hurt Nat by not helping Cason, she wasn't going to make it happen again. She looked towards the door when she heard spluttering, coughing and screaming from the other room. She didn't like it, she couldn't help but have a feeling if was getting closer to Dean getting more hurt. That dread only got worse when it suddenly got quiet for a moment and all she heard was Cason and Castiel talking with each other. Forcing her eyes back to the other two, she saw what Cason saw. Castiel was breaking, he was doubting everything Uriel had told him. He was actually listening to what Cason was saying to him, more than when she tried to get through to him. When Cason then finished speaking, agreeing to leave at Castiel's mercy, she gave a nod to his request in keeping Cas talking. Taken off guard internally at him kissing her temple, she let him leave to go back to Nat before looking back at Castiel.

“He's right Cas, you know he's right. I can see the doubt in your mind, it's written all over your face. You wouldn't have made Dean do this because you know it's not just or righteous.” She spoke calmly, stepping up to him a little bit more closely, not taking her eyes off of him.

Then it happened, she heard commotion in the room and her head snapped towards the door. Dean was in trouble, she could feel it in her gut and soul. “Open the damn door!” She barked at Cas, giving him a look that said she ain't playing anymore to make him open it. When the door opened, she stormed in with no real plan. Dean had ruby's knife, she had nothing. She just had to save Dean. Grabbing a crowbar off the ground swiftly, ignoring it was hurting her hand as she smacked it right around Alastair's head, just hard enough to make Alastair drop his eyes from Dean and turn his attention to her. With him now facing her, shebquickly grabbed Ruby's knife and plowed the knife into him, but missed the heart. “shit” she muttered as she took a step or two back, almost tripping over the crowbar she had moments ago dropped.

“Ah my students little lover!” He coyly teased, walking toward her, pulling the knife out of his shoulder and chucking it on the ground. “this'll be fun!” He smirked, Mika keeping her eyes on him to try and predict his next move. “I’m more to him than that” she replied, “I'd say!” He closed the gap, sniffing her, “there's definitely a fire in you, an ancient fire” He grinned, making her shudder at his closeness, understanding why Dean was actually scared of this guy. Without a second to open her mouth to retort back to her, he balled his fist and threw a punch, making her stagger backward as her head snapped sideways before she regained her balance and punched him back with all her might. She had to fight long enough for one of the others to get Dean out of here. “get Dean out of here!!” She barked out, hoping someone would hear her as she held her own as long as possible until she could no more.

Alastair grabbed her by the collars of her vest top, lifted her off the ground so she couldn't get a footing and slammed her against a pillar. She gasped as she felt the wind completely get knocked out of her lungs, and felt some kind of shank go through her spine. With a flick of his wrist, the chains that previously held him down now flew across the ground, up the pillar, over a pipe, back down and round her neck. Her skin burning hot as the iron coated chains touched her skin. She felt her feet lift up off the ground higher as the chains pulled her up, ripping the shank that was in her back out again, nothing below her to grab onto, the soles of her boots just sliding off the pillar as she felt herself being hung, the pillar scraping up her back as a guide for the chains, blood marking her trail upwards. Her eyes wide and full of fear. “now you stay right there for teacher. Class will be in session soon” Alastair coyly instructed, finger waving at her, going to turn back to focus on whoever else would be stupid enough to follow Mika inside the room, when Sam barrelling in eerily calm, arm reached out.

“Let them go and why are the demons killing Angels?!” He demanded to know answers, Mika watching as she scrambled trying to break free but each time she did, it just got tighter around her neck, and the less she was beginning to be able to move the lower half of her body. Her fingers unable to get under the chain to try and make some breathing space.This was it...this was truly her time to die after surviving an attack she shouldn't have years ago. Her extended time was done, game over. Tears welled up in her eyes as the realization hit her heart as well as her mind. She could barely struggle anymore, her flailing getting slower. Her vision blurred, voices becoming nothing but an echo and she couldn't even see where Dean was to say goodbye. She just hoped the others would look after him when she was gone, and look after Bobby. Oh god, Bobby. She couldn't say goodbye to Bobby, her Uncle, pseudo father, the man who basically raised her all through her teen years. Tears began to fall down her face.

“Dean…” she choked out, barely loud enough to even be considered a whisper. She didn't want to die like this, not here, not now. “Dean!!” She could have sworn she heard someone shouting at him, was that Natalia? Cason? Anna? Sam? She couldn't make it out. It could have even been Esme or Duke for all she knew, but their voices just all blurred into one sound. A voice seemed to scream again, but it was no good, she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer as she felt the last breath escape her lips, her head dropping down, her arms limp by her side, eyes closing. She was gone…..and she never got to say goodbye to any of them. She just wanted to see Dean one last time, die in his arms and not hanging like some demon trophy. She didn't even know if they got to Dean and got him off the floor, she didn't know if they killed Alastair or at the very least sent him back to Hell. She just wanted Dean….to feel his arms around her. To tell her it's going to be all okay and she isn't dying or dead.

SAM

Sam kept driving to the address that was on the post it note Cason gave him. Like Duke in his truck, he knew of the address, or at least the area of the address. The fact it was bare there, he knew why Uriel and Castiel chose that area of all places to hold Alastair. No humans could just stumble upon what they were doing and think they were all psychopathic humans just torturing someone. Though that didn't mean he particularly liked it. It meant he would have to be careful when he got there, making sure he did all he could to not get spotted and aware that Duke and Esme had a good head start on him. “Anna please be okay…” he kept muttering to himself to get himself through the drive. His hands were shaking from the demon blood coursing through him as he gripped the wheel tightly to lessen the shakes. He couldn't bear the thought of Uriel hurting Anna in any way and if he did, Sam was determined to kill the angel himself with his bare hands if he had to.

—-

At the location, he saw Duke's truck but not either Esme or Duke. “Dammit Duke!” He hissed, knowing Duke was no doubt just going in with no real plan. Turning the engine off, taking the keys out of the ignition, he opened the door and got out after pulling up behind Duke's truck. Normally he would have gone to the trunk and grabbed some weapons but he didn't see the point now, he was the only weapon he needed. Slapping the roof of Mika's car for good luck, he headed inside, hoping he would spot Duke and Esme at some point. He walked through the grounds, finding a way inside and sneaking around. It was then he found the hallway he needed with the room in question ahead of him.

Storming ahead, he noticed the carnage around everyone, but he didn't let himself focus on it, deciding to solely focus on Alastair in front of him as he lifted his hand and focused on slamming Alastair against the wall and pinning him there. “Let them go and who’s murdering angels? How are they doing it?” He demanded, keeping his focus. “You think I'm going to tell you?” Alastair choked out, “yeah I do” Sam replied with a twist of his hand and making Alastair's eyes roll back to the whites.

“It's not us! We're not doing it” Alastair told him. “I don’t believe you”

“Lilith isn't behind this, she wouldn't kill seven angels. She'd kill a hundred, a thousand!”

Sam paused what he was doing as his nose began to bleed a little bit, which made Alastair sneer. “Oh go ahead, send me back. If you can!” He smirked in a slight sing-song tone. “I'm stronger than that. Now I can kill” Sam replied matter of factly, holding his hand right out, focusing and pulling Alastair out of the body with a golden flickering and crackling. Alastair starts screaming before he falls silent and his body falls to the ground dead.

Cason glanced up at Nat as she asked if his plan was working. He thought about it for a moment with his lips pursed and then he tilted his head to the side, considering his answer before nodding, “I think so, yeah. I gotta let it sit for a bit, if nothing goes wrong. If something goes wrong, hopefully someone will have the brains to go outside and call…”

He scooted a bit closer to Nat and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, just needing to feel her close to him for a moment. He still felt a bit…guilty? For leaving her behind, and for not giving her much of a choice or any agency, which wasn’t like him with her. Or at least, it hadn’t been when he had first met her. Maybe things were too deep now, for him to keep himself from practically tying her down, and he needed to find a way to deal with it, other than physically keeping her out of hunting. She would go insane.

“You haven’t been going insane while I’ve been gone, have you?” He asked gently, reaching his hand up to brush his thumb across her cheek. He thought for a moment, and then he sighed and shook his head, “Until I find a way to keep you tethered to me in some way, I just can’t have you running around near Angels. They’re unpredictable and ruthless…real similar to demons. The one in the trench coat? I think he may be coming to our side, which scares me almost more than when he was against us…”



Dean took another heavy blow to the face, then another and a few more, before he finally dropped to the ground, flat on his cheek with a groan. He wheezed, spitting a mouth full of blood, before defiantly picking his head up from the floor, just in time to see Mika blast the side of Alastair’s head with a crowbar. Reaching out to Mika, Dean was startled, when the arms that came around his torso weren’t hers. They were Duke’s.

“I got ya bub. I got ya. C’mon. We gotta go…” Duke started, before Mika stabbed Alastair and for a moment, Duke thought that she had killed him. His heart hammered with excitement, but seeing Alastair pull the knife from his shoulder and toss it aside like it was nothing caused Duke’s heart to sink. He sat Dean back down and slowly stood from the floor, his body low and ready to pounce if something went down. The wind flew out of his lungs as Alastair actually punched Mika, but she got him back, and Duke continued to step forward toward the demons back.

Castiel showed up next to Dean, wrapping an arm around Dean’s waist to hoist him to his feet. As Cas began to turn and walk out of the room with Dean, Dean peered up from his swollen eyes and in tandem with Duke, he cried out, his voice soft and hoarse but Duke’s echoing in the room, “Mika! No!”

“No, no, no, no, no. You son of a bitch!” Duke screamed, realizing that Mika wasn’t just chained to the pole, she was gravely injured, judging by the blood trail that was left as she was raised up the pillar. As Alastair turned to him, glaring down at him, Duke felt his throat tighten and he brought both his hands up, clutching at his chin as Alastair choked him. Just as he began to see stars, Sam barreled through the door and he slammed Alastair against the wall. Duke fell to his knees, but he quickly scrambled to his feet, coughing to try and catch his breath.

“Mika! I’m not leaving. Get off of me! Mika!” Dean cried out, trying to wrench himself from Castiel’s arms as his heart shattered in his chest. The longer he was away from Mika, the more he could feel her slipping away from him, until he couldn’t feel her in the room at all. His struggling in Castiel’s arms began to slow as his body went cold and numb, and he fell to his knees, Castiel simply leaning with him, until they were both on the ground.

“Dean, there’s nothing you can do. We need to go.” Castiel said simply.

“No! I won’t leave without her! I won’t!” Dean cried out, his face almost touching the floor until he heard Sam torturing Alastair, in what felt like an entirely different universe. He raised his head, watching his brother use his powers like they were second nature to him, and the ease in which Sam wrenched information out of Alastair drew the pit in Dean’s stomach even further down toward his feet. He was going to lose Sam and Mika, all in one night. But suddenly, Sam caused Alastair to spark and die, the simplicity of it shocking Dean’s heart and causing his ears to ring as he stared at Sam with wide eyes, struggling to breathe. “Sammy. Mika…”

Duke dragged his feet as he pulled his lip between his teeth, stifling a deep sob that broke from his throat as he approached Mika, where she hanged. He reached his shaky hands up, running his fingers along the chains as Mika’s blood rolled down the pillar, soaking into the front of his shirt as he stepped closer. He finally found one of the ends of the chain, and pushed it through another part, the chain falling loose, but still holding her body up a bit. Duke reached up, bracing her limp body by her armpit for a moment while he freed the rest of the chain, and her body fell forward onto his chest. With a strangled whimper, he stumbled back, and then leaned forward, falling with her onto the floor.

“Please, babygirl. Please. C’mon.” Duke’s shaky voice called out to her, as if there was a chance she would come back to him. He rolled her slightly, pressing his hand to her back, where he pulled it back, covered in enough blood that he closed his eyes tightly, tilting his head back with a soft sob. This wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair. Of all people, Mika deserved it probably the least. Duke placed his bloody hand on the back of Mika’s head and he brought her forehead up to touch his, his tears falling over her cheeks as he broke. It felt as if he had lost half of his soul. Someone had reached into his chest, ripped his soul in half and pulled it out, crushing it. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I was supposed to protect you…I always did. Please…”

Duke felt warmth against the side of his head, and a heavy weight pressing against his side as Dean crawled over to him, and leaned in. Duke didn’t budge, just tilting his face against Dean’s as they both cried, feeling every ounce of the other’s emotions, all at once. Duke knew that Dean had lost the one person on this planet that held him together. She was his constant and his peace. Without her, Duke couldn’t imagine the road that Dean might go down.

“Dean.” Castiel called out to them, and Dean didn’t budge, until Duke placed a hand on the back of Dean’s neck, squeezing gently. “Dean you have internal bleeding. I need to heal you.”

“No. Not until you bring her back.”

“I can’t.” Castiel muttered sadly, and he shook his head, standing above Dean and Duke.

“Why not?!” Dean cried out, causing Duke to flinch, but Castiel was unmoved as he reached down and grabbed Dean’s arm, disappearing with him. He reappeared outside the door with Dean, and leaned Dean back against the door, pressing his palm to Dean’s forehead. Dean’s wounds healed immediately, and he took a deep breath, glaring at Castiel. “Why can’t you bring her back?!”

“It’s complicated. Bridging the gap between life and death his hard enough, when it’s required of us. We can’t just interfere…especially not with Mika, and the nature of her death.”

“You mean to tell me that she died…” Dean started to question Castiel, but he couldn’t even finish the sentence as the absence of pain caused his stomach to cramp painfully, and he turned back to the door, pulling it open. He stepped into the room, his eyes falling instantly on Duke, cradling Mika in his arms, rocking with her as he cried. Dean rolled his shoulders for a moment, and then he stepped forward, reluctantly squatting on the floor in front of Duke. He didn’t speak to him, shoving an arm under Mika’s back, smearing his skin with her blood, and then he pushed his other hand under her knees, standing with a groan from the floor, and pulling Mika away from Duke. Duke didn’t move much, staying on his knees as he watched Dean silently press a kiss to Mika’s forehead, and then he walked out of the room with her.

Duke turned his face back to look at the floor in front of him, his entire body numb and shaking as a few random tears fell down his cheeks. He wasn’t even sure he was alive, outside of the heavy thud of his heart pounding in his ears. In that moment, he wanted to sink into the ground, or wrangle up some demon to make a deal that Mika would hate him for, for the rest of her life. He wanted to kill every demon that existed on the planet, and at the same time, he wanted to go with her. It was short sighted, and he would leave plenty of anguish and mourning in his wake, but it would be better than this feeling.

His own death flashed in his mind a few times, thinking that this must have been how Esme felt when he died. It didn’t feel fair. It didn’t feel real. At the same time, he was feeling everything at once, and he knew…he didn’t want to live without Mika, not after all these years. As he brought his hands up in front of his pale face, he just stared at them blankly, barely blinking. This wasn’t real…



Anna’s head snapped up as she heard Esme’s voice, her heart hammering in her chest with excitement. Esme had come for her! Which meant that someone was likely with her, which meant that maybe they were getting out unscathed, and no one was going to die. She looked up toward the window of the room and rattled her chains, before swallowing heavily at Esme’s question.

“Yeah! He hasn’t hurt me yet. I’m just stuck here!” Anna called back to Esme. Anna’s foot tapped nervously against the pipe it was chained to as it seemed to be taking Esme a while to get through the door. Of course the door was reinforced and heavy. Uriel would never trust Anna not to find a way to break free from her handcuffs while high on demon blood, and if she could break free of the handcuffs, some flimsy door wasn’t going to hold her back.

But Anna’s eyes went wide as the doorknob was melted from the door, and the door swung open. She stared at the door for a moment, as Esme ran to her, and her eyes caught up, turning to look at Esme. She wanted to ask her how the hell she had managed to melt a steel doorknob, but she didn’t have it in her to ask. She just wanted to be released from the chains.

“Y-you look good too. I’m assuming Duke is with you?” Anna asked, but she couldn’t carry on her questioning, which was eventually going to land on the subject of Sam. Esme crumbled the handcuffs and chains with some sort of power that Anna could have never dreamed that she had. In shock, Anna scanned Esme’s eyes, watching the bright light fade from them with wide eyes. She nodded nervously at Esme’s question, and she scooted back against the wall, sliding her body up onto her feet without touching Esme’s hands.

She nodded quickly once again at the instructions Esme gave, but before she stepped off to hurry downstairs, Anna shuddered and she couldn’t help but ask, “Esme…are you…are you a witch?”

She didn’t expect an answer, and shook her head, closing her eyes tightly with her brow furrowed, “You know what? Don’t answer that. Let’s go help the others.”

Anna stepped off finally from her place against the wall, and she jogged out the door, looking around the warehouse for any sign of a stairwell. Luckily, the lights were brightly shining down on the only stairwell in the hall, and Anna scoffed at their luck, running toward them, keeping at a pace to keep Esme close. She rounded the top of the staircase, quickly running down the stairs, almost taking two at a time as she only thought of one thing…to get to Sam before he got himself killed.

As she reached the boiler room, she could hear the chaos taking place in the other room, and she ran toward the door. As soon as she reached the door, she could hear Sam screaming at Alastair, and her heart dropped to her feet. Alastair would kill him. He would kill him and in the most brutal and creative way possible. But her eyes…landed on Dean.

“DEAN!” She cried out, as she pulled the door open and sprinted toward him, reaching back and grabbing Esme’s hand. No matter what, they needed to stay together. The questions could come later on. As she approached Dean, she looked up, just as Sam killed Alastair and the wind was knocked out of her lungs. Everything around her went silent, and Anna watched Alastair’s body slump over, dead. She couldn’t tell if the ringing in her ears, and sudden slow motion of the entire room was relief, or if she was afraid of Sam, in that moment. Sam had killed Alastair with his powers, snuffed him like it was nothing. Anna willed her heavy legs forward, as Sam panted. She crashed into his back, her eyes wide and her breathing ragged and terrified as she wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him for dear life. If she could have cleared her mind enough, the sight not far from his feet would have broken her, but she could see and hear nothing else other than Sam’s shirt against her cheek, his hot skin radiating against hers as she listened to his heart hammering.

“He’s dead. It’s over. He’s dead.” She breathed, panting as her heartbeat synced with Sam’s and she closed her eyes tightly.

As Esme stood with her hands stretched out to Anna, she watched Anna react to what she had just seen her do. She sighed inwardly and held up her hands. “Yes, I came with Duke.” she told her as she stepped back, showing she wouldn't do anything to Anna. Of course, Anna would be wary of her after seeing her melt the steel doorknob and then crumble the handcuffs and chains under her hands. She didn't mean to scare Anna in any way with her magic, but it was the only way to free her quickly. Thinking about it now, she should have given her a bit of a warning before going straight into it. And now, out of the whole group, Anna was the only one who knew Esme could use magic. She wondered if Anna would bring it up to anyone later after they were out of there. The first person she could see her telling was Sam. Momentarily getting lost in her thoughts, she didn’t see Anna nod to her instructions, but her next words pulled her out of her thoughts. A slight smirk played at the corners of her mouth at the question. ‘Of course, you’d ask that.’ she thought.

Esme had already started to shake her head when Anna told her not to answer. She may not know what exactly she was, but she was sure she wasn’t a Witch. She may know how to use magic thanks to her Godmother, who was a fairly powerful Witch, but that didn’t make her one. “Yes, let’s.” she responded with a nod. Once Anna stepped off, Esme followed closely behind her, looking for a stairwell leading down to the basement. Lucky for them, it was lit up brightly. Esme could have laughed at the luck, but now was not the time to laugh. Following Anna to the staircase, she could feel her stomach cramping with anxiety already for what they would find. Pieces of her visions flashed before her eyes as they descended the stairs. She wished she wouldn’t have to see any of it, but something told her that no matter how much she wished, she would see exactly what she saw in her visions. Before they reached the boiler room door, Esme could already feel the emotions radiating from behind it, and she didn’t like it at all. Then, she could hear the chaos taking place in the room.

Esme swallowed heavily as she ran to the door with Anna and heard Sam yelling at Alastair. Her stomach cramped more, fearing that he was going to get himself killed. When Anna opened the door, Esme didn’t have a chance to take anything in with her eye before Anna cried out Dean’s name, grabbed her hand, and pulled her toward Dean. Her eyes became saucers as they landed on Dean, with Anna pulling her closer. He looked exactly like he did in her vision. Pulling her gaze from Dean, she looked over at Sam just as he used his powers to kill Alastair. She watched as she watched Alastair’s body spark and slump over. At that moment, Esme didn’t know if she should be scared of Sam or relieved that he killed a major threat, as if it were nothing. Anna’s movement pulled her gaze from Sam, and she looked around the room, her eyes falling on Duke. She felt frozen where she stood as she stared at his back, watching him free Mika’s body from the pillar before he collapsed with her to the floor. Her eyes welled up with tears as he looked just like he did in her vision.

“No. Out of everything I saw, I didn’t want this to be true.” she whispered softly to herself. “Mika didn’t deserve this.” Hearing Duke’s words to Mika’s body, Esme wanted to go over to him, but she was still frozen to the spot, her whole body feeling like lead. It only got worse and was followed by an aching burn in her chest when Dean crawled over to Duke and cried with him. It was all becoming almost too much to handle. Esme knew that she would lose him mentally if she didn’t go to Duke soon. She knew that he’d run off and become reckless and get himself killed. She also knew that they could lose Dean as well. Taking a breath, Esme was about to walk over to them when she heard Casteil speak to Dean, causing her to narrow her eyes at the angel. She wanted to yell at him for not stepping in and stopping this from happening. Esme flinched just as Duke did when Dean cried at Castiel, pulling her slightly from her frozen state. When Casiel disappeared with Dean, Esme looked at Duke’s back sadly as she sniffled.

Her mind was racing with thoughts of what Duke would do once they got out of the warehouse and back to Bobby’s. She knew he more than likely wouldn’t do anything until the numbness wore off, but she knew he would do something that would result in him doing something stupid. Esme was once again pulled from her thoughts when Dean re-entered the room, now healed, walked over to Duke, and took Mika’s body from him without a word. She watched as Dean placed a kiss on Mika’s forehead and then left the room. When Dean was out of sight, Esme looked back at Duke, her heart dropping at his state. Willing herself to move from her spot, she quickly went to Duke and dropped to her knees in front of him as he brought up his bloody hands and stared blankly at them. Esme forced back her tears as she looked at Duke’s blood-soaked hands, trying to be the strong one for them, then looked into his pale, tear-stained face. “Duke, My Love?” she said sadly before gently pulling his hands from in front of his face. She wanted to tell him it would be alright, but she couldn’t because she felt like it wasn’t.

“Look at me.” Esme told him as she gently took his face into her hands. “I’m here…. I’m here, My Love.” She scanned his face, trying to read his thoughts, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs. She knew he blamed himself for Mika dying and was devastated about losing her; she could feel that strongly, and it caused her chest to burn intensely with pain. She knew he probably wanted to track down a demon to make a deal to bring Mika back, and he probably wanted to kill every one of them at the same time. But what she could never think of was him wanting to die with her, even if she should have. It was a thought she couldn’t allow herself even to touch on. ‘Don’t check out on me now. Not until we get back to the truck or home so I can take care of you.’ she thought. Esme leaned forward a bit, then gently pulled Duke’s face closer to press their foreheads together gently. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened. In no way is this your fault.” she told him softly but matter of fact. “And I’m sure she’d tell you the same…. I may not have known her well, but I know she wouldn’t want you blaming yourself for what happened.”

Closing her eyes briefly, Esme lightly sighed, then nuzzled her forehead against his to comfort him a little. Placing a soft kiss on his lips, she pulled back just enough to look into his sad blue eyes. She wanted to believe that if Mika hadn’t gone with Dean in the first place, she’d still be alive, but she knew that Mika would have found another way to get to the warehouse, and the outcome would have been no different. Almost as if it was fated to happen, not that she totally believed in fate. If she were to blame anyone for this, she would blame Castiel. He had brought Dean and Mika to the warehouse and was there through it all, but he did nothing to stop Alastair from killing Mika. Thinking about him standing there doing nothing made her furious, and she clenched her jaw. Mentally shaking her head, she focused back on Duke as she fought to keep control of her emotions and not let the emotions in the room overwhelm her. Her main objective was to get Duke outside, into his truck, and back home. “Now, I need you to stand up so we can get out of here and go home.” she told Duke softly. “We’ve been here long enough.”

Releasing Duke’s face, Esme moved to his left side, slipped her hand into his pocket, pulled out his truck keys, and slid them into her pocket. He was in no shape to drive, and there was no way she would let him try. She then draped his left arm over her shoulders, wrapped her right arm around his waist, placed her left hand on his stomach, and hoisted him up off the floor with some difficulty. “Come on. Nice and slow.” she said softly once she felt Duke and herself were steady. Esme slowly led Duke to the door, holding him close to her, half fearing he’d run off. Once at the door, she opened it and pulled him through, down the hall, up the stairs, through the building, and out the next door. Once outside, she took a deep breath and led him to his truck. “We’re almost there.” she told Duke. At the truck, Esme pulled the keys from her pocket, unlocked the driver's door, opened it, and made Duke sit in the seat. She stuck close to Duke, mostly to watch him as the others got settled for the ride home. She couldn’t even bring herself to look towards Mika’s car or at Dean. It was far too painful at the moment while trying to stay strong for Duke.

Once they got back home and she got Duke to calm down and rest, she could break down in her own space, but until then, she would do her best to keep it together. She placed her hand on his thigh and looked into his face, her features soft and caring. “Please don’t bottle what you’re feeling.” she started in a loving tone. “I won’t force you to talk to me, but know I’m here to listen when you’re ready.” Esme brought up her free hand and gently placed it on Duke’s cheek. “All I ask is that you don’t hide from me…. I love you, and I want to be there for you.”

MIKA

Mika began to stir awake on a dark floor, the pain in her back and neck still evident enough to make her reach round with a hand and feel her back but felt no puncture wound. She then lifted the same hand round and up to her neck, but felt nothing there either. “What the hell?!” She gasped to herself, as she forced herself up onto her feet. Looking around she saw nothing but darkness all around. “Dean?! Duke!!” She yelled out, her voice only echoing all around her but no sign of any of them replying to her. “Where am I?” She asked herself, suddenly feeling cold, colder than she had ever felt before. She could have sworn she was just fighting Alastair, and for the briefest of moments thought she had beat him.

“Dean!!” She yelled out again as she began to force herself walking forward even if there was no sign of going anywhere in particular. Wrapping her arms round herself rightly, she kept trudging forward desperate to find the others, desperate to find Dean but with each step she began to remember more and more of what went down in the warehouse. Alastair shanked her on a pillar, then hung her with iron chains. She died…she actually died. “No…I can't have…” she began to talk to herself, wishing that a different outcome would come to fruition. The fear now set in that she was dead and she had no idea where she ended up, tears welling up in her eyes. It certainly didn't feel or look like Hell, and it most definitely didn't seem to Heaven so where was she? She had to find a clue from somewhere. So she did all she knew how to do…keep moving forward until she found something to help herself.

NATALIA

Hearing that Cason thought his plan was working made Nat nod. She really hoped it had begun to set the wheels in motion to work as she didn't know how their group could honestly stand against the angels on their own. They needed an angel on their side in her opinion if they were to have a single hope in winning this fight. As he scooter closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him and placed a hand on his thigh. She could feel he needed to be close to her as much as she wanted to be close to him, still worried about the others being in the proximity of Alastair and two angels. She still couldn't help but feel something bad was going to happen, despite trying to convince herself she was just being pessimistic because it was in her nature to be so.

His question made her smile slightly but not because she was happy, shaking her head. “Not too insane. I began the process of tidying up Dean's car for when he gets back. Cleared out all the glass anyway…” she explained as he stroked her cheek. At his next words, she listened. If any other person had said that to her she would have been creeped out, found it a red flag or controlling, but in their lives, especially her as a hunter, she understood why he wanted to do all he could to give her every advantage of never getting hurt. Hearing that Angels were just as unpredictable as demons, and certainly as ruthless was both surprising and yet not surprising all at the same time. She saw how cruel Uriel was, him calling her a demon whore still rang through her mind and that was nothing compared to what they were making Dean do right now. “If Cas is coming onto our side, I completely understand why that would terrify you more than him not being on our side, but I can't help but feel like we need him on this side of the fight. A man on the inside so to speak.” She replied to him truthfully. Giving his leg a gentle squeeze she sighed. “I just really hope this bad feeling I got in the pit of my stomach is wrong” she sighed.

“It feels like I only just got a family again, I don't think I can't handle losing any of them..not again” she admitted to him, knowing whatever she said to him would remain with him and not go anywhere else, unless it really needed to in a life or death situation. She leaned her head against his as they waited for any kind of sign that the group were heading back or an update of any kind.

SAM

As Sam regained his breath and composure, he let himself compute the fact that the badly thought out plan actually worked. Alastair was dead. He felt Anna's small frame crash into his back and her arms wrap around his waist, but he could barely move initially. Like Anna, he couldn't take notice of the sight off to his left near his feet as he took in her shaky words of Alastair being finally dead. He couldn't torment Anna anymore, or Dean. One big threat was finally defeated and now they had Lilith to focus on. He slowly placed his hands on Anna's arms, holding her to him closely as he let it sink in. “I'm sorry I went behind your back…” he whispered to her before finally looking down and seeing Duke cradling Mika's dead body. He felt like the wind just got knocked out of him, part of his mind wanted to see anyone other than Mika dead on the floor. He didn't want to believe he wasn't quick enough to save both Dean and Mika. “....m..Mika?” He stammered, finding it difficult to get her name out of his mouth for the first time in his life. His hands began to shake against Anna's arms, hearing Duke begging Mika to wake up and apologizing for not protecting her. That was exactly how he himself felt, as he was so convinced that him turning up and killing Alastair would save and protect her and Dean. He was convinced they would all come out of this alive and relatively unscathed, but he was wrong.

He was oh so wrong and now he's lost his older sister. The one woman he always saw as becoming the official sister he grew up with. That it would have always been him, Dean, Anna and Mika, against the world and the four of them would be the formidable endgame. Gripping tightly onto Anna's arms, he forced himself to keep it together as he saw Dean crawl over to Duke and Mika, sharing the moment of grief together. He felt so out of the situation, his mind beginning to completely disassociate, his tears as quickly they began to fall, seized. He couldn't even acknowledge the begging to Castiel to bring Mika back or Dean being taken out of the room to be healed against his will. He couldn't even truly acknowledge Dean re-entering the room and taking Mika's body from Duke, leaving Duke in the ground or Esme coming to Duke's side. It was only when Dean reached the doorway that he turned to his brother, “get to the car, I parked behind Duke's truck…I'll help get everyone else out” he said, but there was absolutely no emotion in his voice. A sure sign he had disassociated himself from everything.

“We gotta go…” he said to the others, knowing the moment he got outside he would have to call Bobby. He waited for Esme to get Duke off the floor and when they were all good to go, he followed Esme and Duke back outside, holding Anna's hand firmly in the hopes it would stop shaking. Pulling his phone out, keeping a hold of her hand with his free hand, he speed-dialed Bobby's home number and waited for him to pick up. He had no idea how he was going to tell him his niece died at the hands of Alastair, but he knew he had to.

“Bobby…it's Mika…she's uhh…she's…gone. Alastair killed her…” he stammered out when Bobby eventually answered, still feeling pretty mentally distant from the situation as he walked closer to Mika's car and where Dean was holding Mika's body. He glanced down at Anna, letting go of her hand to pull out the car keys, handing them to her whilst giving her the look to request she helped Dean get Mika's body into the car by unlocking the car for him, whilst he was on the phone. He needed help as he mentally couldn't deal with it all on his own and he hoped Anna could decipher his look.

Duke barely even registered that Esme had dropped to her knees in front of him, as his ears roared with numb sadness. He didn’t fight her as she lowered his hands from in front of his face, and spoke to him. He didn’t want to be told that any of this would be okay, or that he was going to survive this, or anything. He didn’t want the outcome to be anything other than Mika coming back…

But as Esme’s hands came to his face, he tilted his head back just a bit and reluctantly looked into her eyes, his own simply pools of vacancy and tears as the shivers started in his body from the shock. As Esme tilted his head back toward her and she brought her forehead to his, Duke sighed as more tears erupted and spilled over his cheeks. He finally closed his eyes, just letting himself cry for a moment at her words. It was his fault. He would tell Mika to her face, if he could. If he had acted, grabbed that knife and cut that son of a bitch’s throat, she would still be alive, but he froze. He was too late.

As Esme’s lips pressed to his, Duke sniffled and he kissed her back, although he instantly felt guilty for that too. He didn’t deserve her grace or her love, in that moment. He deserved this pain. He deserved to suffer. But he opened his eyes and scanned over her face, his own tired and sad, like he was far away.

Duke hadn’t even thought about walking out of that room, until Esme mentioned it. It was like the floor was going to swallow him whole, and he would just be there forever. But at her words, he barely had the energy to nod his head, confirming that he was willing to leave with her. He didn’t move as she reached for his keys, but as she slipped his arm over her shoulder, he willed his legs underneath him and did his best to help her with his weight, standing with her. As Duke’s boots shuffled on the floor, he turned his eyes to his stomach and groaned as he and Esme walked out the door of the store room. He was covered in blood, so deeply that it was gluing his shirt to his stomach. It was Mika’s blood. The more that his body shifted, the more he was aware that it was drying, and she was actually…gone.

The stairs were the hardest, as he willed his heavy legs to guide him, and not to crush Esme under his weight, or cause her to fall down the stairs, hurting them both. He was thankful once that cold air hit them outside the door. He took a deep inhale, and to his dismay, his mind cleared a bit, crashing all the reality around him. He sobbed quietly, blocking out the sound of the truck door opening from his mind. But then Esme was guiding him to his truck seat and he climbed in, heavily falling onto the leather seat as the numbness began to bleed its way into his limbs again, and he leaned against the seat.

Once again, Duke almost lost that numbness as Esme’s hand came to rest on his thigh and she asked him not to bottle his emotions. If he didn’t bottle them up, in that moment, he would run off. He knew that much about himself. He would die if those emotions were let go. But he met her eyes, staring down at her over his nose as his face fell blank once again, and a tear fell down his cheek. He nodded, “I um…Okay. I love you. I do…”

And for what felt like the first time, he snarled his nose and then closed his eyes tightly, sobbing as he leaned forward, just needing to fall apart with Esme. He reached his own numb hands out and slid them through the hair on the sides of her head, touching his forehead to hers as he cried.



Anna kept her arms tightly around Sam’s waist as he apologized for whatever he thought he had done wrong, but as he saw Mika, Anna caught the name that he barely managed to get out of his mouth, and she furrowed her brow. Looking up at his face, she followed his eyes, turning her own eyes down to the floor with a gasp of shock, her eyes flooding with tears as they widened. Anna tightened her grip on Sam’s waist, feeling his hands shake against her, and she cried against his back, turning her eyes from Mika’s body. She couldn’t look at her, not like this. Mika was one of the people who took up for Anna the most, saw her as human, even if she took Dean’s side on a lot of issues. She had been kind and understanding. She had rooted for Anna and Sam.

She was good, and even in Anna’s anger, she couldn’t stand the thought of Dean losing Mika. The thought made her stomach feel sick, and she closed her eyes even tighter. She almost winced as Sam tightened his grip on her arms, his entire body rigid but still, as if he was having trouble processing what he was even seeing. She could feel the numbness in him as his heart rate evened out. As Dean stepped back into the room, Anna focused her attention on him, just watching him as he coldly took Mika from Duke, leaving the poor guy sitting there in a pool of blood…alone. As Dean walked toward the door, she could hear Sam’s voice rumbling in his back, even and measured. He was completely numb.

Anna didn’t even try to say anything to him, just unwrapping herself from his waist and taking his hand. She could feel his hand quivering against hers and she tightened her grip, which was answered by his fingers tightening around her hand. It almost hurt, but she would let him cling to her for dear life if that’s what he needed. He needed her…

As Sam pulled his phone and called Bobby, Anna’s stomach clenched painfully, and she whimpered quietly, knowing that there was no way that Bobby would take that phone call well. Mika was all Bobby had, as far as blood went. That much, Anna knew. She was his world, and now she was gone. Anna was honestly scared for him. She was scared he would fall apart, and fall into habits that could hurt him. Another person that would need to be cared for, during this. Sam releasing her hand brought her out of her thoughts and she frowned, but took the keys from him, staring up at his face. He was asking her to handle Dean. Despite the bad blood between her and Dean, Sam was silently asking her to push it aside, and help him. With a soft nod, Anna didn’t think twice. She walked over to the back seat, as Dean stood there, staring blankly across the dark lot, just holding Mika’s body against his chest as if she would disappear if he let her go.

“Let’s get her in the car.” Anna whispered, as she unlocked the back door and gestured for Dean to lay Mika down. “Dean, c’mon…”

Dean snapped out of his staring, just glancing down at Anna’s face with a blank stare and a solid jaw that she feared might break his teeth. She softened her eyes, and reached a hand out, brushing the backs of her fingers against his cheek.

“Let’s get her in the car so we can get her home.” Anna cooed to him, pushing the door behind him open a bit wider with her foot. She reached up and pushed his head down a bit, which to her relief, he allowed, ducking with Mika still in his arms. He carefully sat down in the seat, and moved her, with a bit of help from Anna to where Mika’s head was laying on his lap. “There. Let’s go home, Deano. Alright? I need to close the door. Move your leg.”

As Anna instructed him, Dean moved his leg into the car and he brushed his fingers through Mika’s hair, leaning his head against the leather seat with a sigh. She barely caught sight of his face breaking into a sob as she closed the door and stepped away, giving him space. She didn’t go back to Sam, simply walking around to the drivers side. She unlocked the door and then sat down behind the wheel, deciding that she would be the one to drive them back to the house.



“We can’t think about that…” Cason said softly, as Nat voiced her worries out loud. He could understand that she was feeling a bit worried, just like hew as about the whole situation. There wasn’t really a good outcome to this situation. No matter which way the wind blew, someone was going to come out hurt. Cason felt a bit of a knot in his own stomach, and he was tempted to pop back in, and check on Mika for some reason. He couldn’t quite place that knot, but he wondered if it was a sign of something. Maybe it was just Natalia’s anxiety rubbing off on him. But that thought came crashing down, as Bobby answered the phone.

Cason reluctantly turned and stood from the couch, walking over to Bobby’s desk. He placed both his hands on the desk and watched Bobby as he spoke to Sam. What Cason had thought was just an update, or a call for help, quickly sank in as a call to let them know that things had gone horribly wrong. Someone hadn’t made it out alive.

As Bobby took in Sam’s shaky but emotionless voice, his eyes widened and he couldn’t speak. He had to have heard him wrong, and as Cason scanned Bobby’s face, it dawned on Cason that one of the girls was dead.

“Bobby?” Cason called out to him, as Bobby didn’t speak. He just stared off into space wide eyed, and slowly placed the phone back onto the receiver, his eyes pooling with tears as he froze. Cason leaned a little closer to Bobby’s face and he patted the old man’s cheek gently, “Bobby! Who was that? What’s the update?”

“S-Sam.” Bobby stuttered out, his eyes finally falling on Cason’s face, as Cason raised his eyebrows and he held his hands out to tell Bobby to explain. Bobby shook his head, and he tried his hardest to keep his emotions in check, Dean would need the support. Hell, all the kids would need his support. He shook his head slowly, “Mika’s…Mika didn’t um…”

“Oh no.” Cason sighed, realizing that after he had left Mika in the warehouse, she had died. He left her and she had died. He couldn’t even imagine what blame was being placed on the other side of that aisle, but Cason definitely felt guilty. He shook his head, as a bit of his human emotion became jumbled with the dark smoke that flooded his brain, flooding his eyes with black, “I was just with her! I was just with her. How did this happen?”

“I don’t…I don’t know. I don’t know but I need a minute. I need a minute to um…they’ll be bringing her back. Oh god Duke…” Bobby sobbed suddenly, gripping the edge of his desk as the full weight of what was happening hit him all of the sudden. Cason winced and he tapped his foot on the floor for a moment, before placing a hand gently on Bobby’s shoulder.

“Go. Get yourself together so we can…so we can help them with this. Let me see what I can do, alright? Go.” Cason ordered Bobby, as Bobby gathered himself enough to stand. Bobby snatched a bottle of scotch from the corner of the desk and he quickly ran toward the kitchen, slamming the kitchen door open as he stomped into the garage. Cason turned and quickly walked over to Natalia, wrapping both his arms around her to hopefully catch those overwhelming emotions he knew would wash over her like a wave. Mika was dead…

Mika…the other leader of the group, the mother, the voice of reason, the moderator and the closest thing to a parent that Nat had likely ever had. She was dead. Cason held her tightly, reaching a hand up to pull her head down to his shoulder, giving her all the space to cry and let her emotions out on him as he glared into the distance, tumbling options for helping over in his brain.

Esme looked deeply into Duke’s eyes as he looked into hers, seeing his face go blank as a tear rolled down his cheek before he nodded at her words. Her features softened as he spoke, then broke down in front of her. She sighed softly as Duke reached out, slid his hand through the hair on the side of her head, and then touched his forehead to hers. As she stood there, she gently took her hand from his cheek, reached up, removed Duke’s hat from his head, and tossed it on the truck's dash. Esme then raised her hands, placing one on his cheek and the other on the back of his head. “There you go. Just let it all out, " she said soothingly, stroking his hair softly. “I’m here. I got you.” It took everything she had not to break down with him and not wince at the pain growing more painful in her chest and heart. It tore her up inside seeing him this upset and crying this hard. He had always tried to keep from breaking down in front of her, which was something she couldn’t ever remember seeing him doing but had heard it from behind closed doors a time or two in the past.

Tears escaped her closed eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Esme wanted to take away all his pain and his guilt. She wanted to hop into the truck and drive off with him, away from everything that was a reminder of what happened. Other than being there for him and using her empathy, she didn’t know how else to help him through all his pain and guilt. A thought finally crossed her mind as she held Duke’s head against hers. Not only did she have to worry about Duke going off the reservation and Dean, but there were also Bobby and Natalia to worry about. Esme didn’t know how they would all bounce back after this loss. Thankfully, they were all together and could get through it together. Most of her worry was on Duke and Dean. Duke would possibly bolt when the numbness wore off, but when it came to Dean, she wasn’t sure what he might do. Other than taking his frustration out on someone in the group. That was just something they’d all have to deal with when it happened. After a few long moments of letting Duke have a good cry, Esme pulled back just enough to kiss his forehead.

“I think it’s time we get everyone home.” she spoke softly against his forehead. Esme kissed Duke’s forehead again, then the bridge of his nose, before pulling her face away. She took this moment to finally look over at Mika’s car parked behind Duke’s truck. She swallowed hard, and her stomach knotted as she looked at the car. Everyone but Sam had gotten in. As she looked at Sam, she could see how disassociated he was. “Sam?” she called over to him. “We need to get everyone home.” She knew he wasn’t driving after seeing Anna in the driver’s seat, but she wanted him to feel like he had control over a little of what was going on and maybe give him that push he might need to get into the car. Looking at Sam momentarily, Esme turned her gaze back to Duke and brushed some hair from his face. “Alright, My Love. Scoot over so I can get in.” She tried to keep her voice even but knew she didn’t do a great job of it. Once Duke scooted over, she pulled the keys from the door and climbed up in the truck.

After she was in and shut the door, she placed the key in the ignition and started the truck, then used both hands to wipe away the tears from her cheeks with a sniffle. Turning towards Duke, she reached over, took his hand in hers, and gave it a loving squeeze as she looked at him softly. “We’ll be home soon.” she said as she placed her other hand on top of his. She looked into Duke's face and scanned it, sighing heavily, followed by another sniffle. Esme wanted to say something comforting to him, but she wasn’t sure what else she could say that would get through to him at the moment that wouldn’t sound like she was repeating herself. The main thing she wanted him to know was that she was there for him and that he didn’t have to go through all this pain alone. He didn’t have to bottle up his emotions and push them down. Esme also wanted to pull him toward her, force him to lay down in the seat with his head on her lap and rest on the drive home, but something told her he’d fight her on that or he’d lay down but stare at the roof of the truck and let his mind wander back on what happened.

MIKA

”there has to be a way back…there just has to be. I can't leave the others yet” she spoke to herself, her eyes darting all around her, trying to find some kind of light in the darkness. Noises were echoing all around her but she couldn't pinpoint exactly where from. Sometimes they got louder, other times they felt they were further away. “Come on girl…you gotta keep moving” she tried to motivate herself to keep moving. Her legs wanted to give out from under her and just stop, but her mind kept telling her not to give in to that desire. She still didn't want to believe she was dead and this was some kind prison she was in. She had to try and just wake up or find an opening in this darkness to start waking. Anything to get back to the others. “They need me…I can't go yet…” she muttered to herself when more sounds seemed to get louder from behind her, causing her to start running, her footsteps echoing.

NATALIA

Deep down Nat knew Cason was right. She couldn't think so negatively just yet. Her family were competent hunters, and hunters that wouldn't let anything happen to each other no matter what. “You're right…I gotta stay positive” she replied, pulling her shirt sleeves over her hands when she looked up and saw Bobby answer the phone that began to ring. She let Cason stand up and walk over to Bobby's desk, watching the two men as Bobby went wide eyed. That meant only one thing…one of the group was seriously hurt or dead. Her breath seemed to just stop in her throat for a moment as she watched Cason try to get answers out of Bobby, seeing how slowly he put the phone back on the receiver. This felt like it was to do with Mika, and she didn't want to hear that her anxiety of this mission was coming true. She listened to Bobby as he began to stammer out words he couldn't bring himself to say and the moment the sentence trailed off, she knew what he was getting at. Slowly standing up, she shook her head as it set in what had happened. The world felt like it was crumbling all around her, she had lost her sister, the only mother figure she had left in her life. The one person who could stop Dean and herself from putting heads for long periods. This had to be some kind of nightmare, it just had to be. Some sick joke the group were playing and when they all got back, Mika would be walking in declaring how they all punked her.

It was a lot less painful to think of than the truth. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched Bobby just stand up, grab his scotch bottle and leave the room before Cason quickly walked back to her. If he hadn't gotten to her and wrapped her up in his arms, she would have run outside to cry alone, part of her still wanted to do that, but all she could muster was to bury her head in his shoulder as he tilted her head onto it and the floodgates opened. She just started bawling as she gripped the back of his jacket tightly. “She can't be dead…it's not fair!” She sobbed, her whole body shaking against him. “It's not fair” she repeated against his shoulder, unable to stop the tears from flowing as thoughts of how she wished she told Cason to stay with Mika at the warehouse, she wished she went with the group, wished that she begged Cason to bring Mika home, even if meant Mika went kicking and screaming. She wondered how Castiel could have this happen, he was an angel, he should have kept her family safe! He should have stopped this.

As reality continued to set in, she felt her legs start to give out from under her, causing her to just drop to the floor, pulling Cason with her due to being unable to let him go. She was terrified in a deep part of her mind that if she let him go, she would lose him too. If only she had begged Mika to not go, to stay home with her. Maybe she would still be alive.

SAM

When Bobby didn't reply to him, Sam knew his words had completely destroyed the man emotionally. “I…I'm sorry Bobby…” he said on the phone but he knew it was pointless, Bobby wouldn't answer no matter what he said on the phone. He heard Cason in the background asking for the update before the phone ended and Bobby had hung up on him. Ending the call on his end, putting it in his pocket he glanced over at the whole group, watching how Esme was trying to get Duke in the truck and then at Anna who was just about getting Dean in the back of Mika's car. This drive home was going to be absolutely the most difficult drive ever. He watched as Anna walked round to the driver's side of the car, clearly deciding she was going to drive instead of him, something he was thankful for, but also a part of him wished he was driving so he didn't have to think about the truth that was in the back seat. He slowly looked back towards Esme as she called out his name and told him they had to get going, giving her a simple nod, unable to do anything else, he walked over to the ‘66 impala and straight round to the front passenger side, opening the door and getting in, sighing heavily as he sat down.

Closing the door behind him, he just stared out in front of him, unable to say much more for a few moments. “I've warned Bobby” he then managed to get out. Normally he would have given the signal to the truck when they were ready to drive, but he couldn't. It didn't feel right somehow. Leaning his head against the window, he stayed staring forward, trusting Anna to get them home. A deep part of his mind knew that Mika wouldn't mind Anna driving her car, in fact, Mika would have probably given Anna the keys and asked her to do the driving so she could rest if she was still alive. It's just who she was. Just as Dean would do it to him, Mika would do it for Anna no doubt. He couldn't even bring himself to look behind him at the back seat, knowing just by the muffled sounds that Dean was sobbing whilst he kept hold of the love of his life. He was so disassociated from reality, he didn't think he could ever get over this, yet somehow he would have to because there was absolutely no way Dean would. He had to be the one who had to be there for his siblings and he just didn't know how. This loss was as devastating to him as when he lost Dean to Hell four months ago.

—-----

Sam couldn't say a single word as they drove back to Bobby's, just stared blankly out the window that he had his head leaning against. Knowing Mika was in the backseat but not breathing and making some kind of dark humored quip was tearing him apart even if on the outside he was just numb and still. He knew deep deep down that Duke would probably go rogue, but it was how Natalia and Bobby would react that worried the most after Dean. Even if he couldn't show it, there was a little part of his mind screaming to be allowed to worry about the others, but it felt like that part of him was just hitting a brick wall. He just silently cried the whole drive.

Duke didn’t move or say anything on the drive home. He simply leaned his head against the window of the truck and watched the trees go by. Luckily, his mind didn’t wander much. For the most part, it was blank, like a fuzzy static screen on a tv. As they pulled into the familiar lot, Duke glanced up at the old ‘Singer Salvage’ sign swinging above the entrance. He sighed, knowing that they were coming home without Mika. Bobby was going to be devastated. Most of all, Duke wasn’t entirely sure he could stay in the house. He wasn’t sure he wanted to. Having Mika back, where he could pick her brain and lean on her whenever he wanted to was like a dream and now? She was just gone. No phone to call. No hearing her tired voice on the other side when she needed him for support.

As the truck came to a stop, Duke didn’t move at first, but then he realized that Dean would be coming through with Mika’s body. Duke wasn’t even sure he could look at her, in that moment. He wasn’t sure he could look at anyone. He just wanted to be alone. He wanted to stew, and cry. He wanted to beat himself up on his own terms.

He reached for the door handle, forcing his heavy legs to swing over the side of the truck as he opened the door. He dropped heavily onto the gravel, and closed the door, just standing there for a moment. He zoned out and stared at the rocks below his feet and then turned back to the window of the truck, patting on it to tell Esme he was going ahead. With his head hung low, Duke staggered over to the RV and he opened the door, slowly walking up the steps and closing the door behind him.

Day 1

Duke didn’t leave the RV. He simply sat at his table, rolling over his options to bring Mika back in his mind. He wondered a few times if they should go ahead and burn her body, give some closure to the family and let her rest. But those thoughts were fleeting, as he continued his search for options.

Day 2

Duke exhausted every option he could think of. Aside from possibly contacting a crossroads demon, there was nothing to do. He drank half a bottle of whiskey, actually spoke to Esme a few times coherently, and stared out the window a lot, watching the sun rise and set across the lot.

Day 3

It was day 3 that Duke began to lose his ability to not confront Dean. Dean was keeping Mika’s body, because Dean believed he could bring her back. Dean was the one that was working behind everyones back. The thought caused Duke’s stomach to cramp painfully, that Dean would throw himself back into Hell in order to bring Mika back. As bad as Duke wanted to see her again, touch her again, and have her back home, that was the last thing that Mika would want.

“I have to talk to Dean…” Duke spoke suddenly after a long while of silence with Esme, as he lay in his bed. He was staring at the ceiling, as he tried to decide how to confront Dean in a way that wouldn’t end in a horrible outcome. But his emotions bubbled back up again. He didn’t want to fight Dean. He didn’t want to rip any hope away from Dean. But no one else was going to. “We-we can’t just leave her down there in the basement. We need to burn her body. We…we don’t know where she is, or what she’s going through. We have to.”

Duke swung his legs over the side of the bed and he grabbed a flannel from the back of the bench at the kitchen table, sliding it over his arms before starting on the buttons. It was the most active he had been in days, and honestly, his muscles were screaming about it, as were his joints. The numbness was gone and he could no longer lay still, or sit still.

“I don’t know if you wanna come with…but I gotta talk to him.” He said quickly, finishing the buttons on his flannel. He then climbed partially back onto the bed, pressing a kiss to Esme’s lips quickly, before stepping off the bed and into his boots, “I’ll be back, okay?”



Dean spoke to Mika in whispers the entire drive back to Bobby’s. He told her how much he loved her. He asked her to fight back to him. He promised her that she would have a body to come back to. He just repeated those things over and over again. As they pulled into the lot, Dean didn’t move, simply burying his face in Mika’s hair as Anna pulled the Impala to a stop and turned the engine off.

“Dean, do you need help getting inside?” Anna asked, looking over the seat at him. She did her best to avoid looking down at Mika in the process and Dean nodded his head.

“Can you get the door to the basement for me?”

“The basement?” Anna asked, confused as to why Dean would want her to let him into the basement. Sure, there was an outside door, but there was nothing in the basement he would want access to, with Mika’s body other than…the panic room.

“Yeah. Just help me with the door?” Dean croaked out, and even though every bone in Anna’s body wanted her to protest the idea of just…storing Mika’s body, she slowly nodded her head and opened her door. Dean opened his door and he kicked it open, scooting to the edge of the seat as he awkwardly scooped up Mika’s body, and scooted out of the car with her, standing to his feet with a groan. Anna quickly jogged over to the outdoor basement door, wanting to get back to Sam as quick as she could, since like Esme, she was the most lucid one of her little family dynamic. She was happy to find that the door was unlocked and she pulled it open, stepping in and walking over to the panic room door. She cranked the dial and opened the door for him, knowing that he was headed there before he ever asked. After he walked inside, Anna just left the door open, not staying behind to watch him. She ran back out the basement door, closing it behind her, and then over to the car to be as close to Sam when the dam finally broke as she possibly could.

Day 1

Dean didn’t move from the panic room. He sat by Mika’s body, talking to her, promising her everything short of the moon as he believed that at any moment, she would wake up and be just fine. He was in absolute denial.

Day 2

Dean came out of the panic room only to use the restroom and to grab the occasional beer. The rest of the time, he stared at Mika’s face until his eyes burned and his body ached. Any time…at any time she would wake up. Day 2 was also the day when Dean began to contemplate a deal. He wasn’t sure about the deal, but it was beginning to cross his mind, the longer she was dead.

Day 3

The idea of a deal crossed Deans mind more consistently. He already knew what he would say to the demon, and what he was willing to offer. Immediate payment, and Mika gets away…completely unharmed. He sat there with her, explaining his plans, while he discussed with the side of her face every reason he was making the decision. He wanted her to move on and he wanted her to live as simply as she could, away from hunting, away from the curses.

But Day 3 was also the day that Duke would break…



Anna was stuck to Sam’s hip for all three days. Late in the evening on the third day, she sat with him on the hood of the Impala, their legs tangled and her body impossibly close to his, as if one of them was going to disappear any second. She didn’t know if it was Sam or herself that was so attached, that was clinging to the other. All she knew was that she was fine with it. As long as he was close, they were both safe. They were safer together. She looked up at him, as he wasn’t looking at her, and brushed her fingertips across his hair, and over his ear with a soft sigh.

“How are you feeling today? Think you can eat?” She asked him sweetly, slipping her other hand into one of his, squeezing his fingers gently.

She frowned as Duke’s RV door opened and she heard his boots on the gravel, something she didn’t think she would hear for a while as he had been pretty much locked in the RV with or without Esme for days. Where was he headed?

Esme was quiet the whole way home, but she kept a close eye on Duke as she drove. While making sure to keep her focus on the road, she also made sure to watch Duke’s face and keep tabs on how he was feeling. Esme wanted to ensure she stayed on top of any change in him so she could jump into action if she had to. Duke’s face remained blank for the most part, and all she could feel was grief, pain, and guilt from him. But that didn’t stop her from worrying about what was going through his mind as he remained quiet for the entire trip. Esme knew he had a lot to think about on the way home. It was just which one was the most prominent. The sorrow of losing Mika, blaming himself for her death, or wanting to bolt so he could cry, stew, and beat himself up on his own. None of which she wanted to leave him alone with, but she knew he would need a bit of time to himself at some point, which honestly scared her. As they pulled into the lot, Esme glanced up at the ‘Singer Salvage’ sign swinging above the entrance just as Duke did.

Her stomach knotted painfully, knowing how devastated Bobby was going to be once he saw Mika’s body. She was devastated; she and Mika had just gotten on good terms, and now she’d never know where it would have led. Esme could have seen them working well together to keep Duke and Dean on the right path, but now she would never know if that was true or not. She sighed heavily as she parked Duke’s truck in its usual spot and killed the engine, pulling the keys and shoving them into her pocket. Esme looked at Duke to watch him for a moment, noting how he hesitated to get out of the truck, which tore at her heart. When Duke opened the door, stepped out, and closed the door, Esme opened hers but didn’t get out. It wasn’t until after he patted the truck window did she get out of the truck with a nod. “I’ll be there in a bit.” she told him as he walked to the RV.


Esme didn’t leave Duke alone except to use the bathroom and to get food from the kitchen for them. She kept his truck keys on her and only ever bothered him to see if he needed anything, which usually resulted in a shake of his head. She left him alone for the most part.


Once again, Esme mostly kept to herself, only talking to Duke to see if there was something he needed, and she actually had him speak to her coherently a few times. The only time she left the RV for a length of time was to go take a shower, but not before asking Sarah and Anna to keep an eye out for Duke, even though she had taken his truck keys with her. Esme finally broke down in the shower after holding in her emotions for so long.


Esme lay next to Duke silently. After the past few days, she felt mentally and emotionally tired. She hadn’t had much sleep due to her sleeping so lightly that whenever Duke would move, she’d wake up and keeping tabs on his emotional state. When Duke spoke after such a long silence, she nearly flinched. Tilting her head, she looked at Duke as he spoke and nodded. As Duke got out of bed, Esme sat up in the bed and watched him as he grabbed his flannel. “I agree, but you know as well as I do it’s going to be hard to get that through his head right now.” she told him. She wholeheartedly agreed with Duke that they needed to burn Mika’s body, but convincing Dean of that was going to be easier said than done. Esme also knew that things could go south very quickly, depending on how Duke handled this. A feeling of dread came over her as she sat there watching Duke. She didn’t see things going smoothly but knew it had to be addressed for all their sakes. They all needed closure, and Mika needed to be put to rest. She deserved a hunter’s funeral, not having her body rot down in the basement of Bobby’s house.

Esme didn’t know if she could step foot in the house or even the basement just yet, the emotions were still incredibly strong in the house, but she also didn’t want Duke having to do this alone. Before she could fully make up her mind on what she wanted to do, Duke had returned and climbed partially back on the bed after talking quickly. She kissed him back when he kissed her quickly, then watched him as he put on his boots. “Okay.” she replied with a nod. “Just be careful.” She added the last bit a little softer than she had intended. After Duke left the RV, Esme sat there momentarily in thought, contemplating what she should do. She finally decided she couldn’t just sit there and wait for whatever came of Duke going and talking to Dean. Willing herself off the bed, Esme grabbed her flannel, slid it over her arms, and buttoned it as she walked over to the door. Grabbed her jacket, she slipped it on, and then stepped into her boots before walking out of the RV. Esme didn’t go inside, she chewed at her lip and paced outside near the outdoor basement door, listening for the moment she may have to run in and try to stop anything between Duke and Dean that she felt coming.

MIKA

the sounds got louder and Mika continued to run. She was now terrified she was stuck in some kind of limbo with no way out. What had it been now? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? She didn't know anymore. She felt weaker than when she first woke up in this dark place.

Then she finally saw it. A light in the distance. The first light she had seen and she knew she had to reach it. Forcing herself to keep running, she went to the light and the closer she got the more she realized it wasn't just a light. It was a..bird? “What the hell?” She gasped, continuing forward and when she got close enough, she dropped to her knees beside the injured bird, unable to remain standing any longer. The longer she was stuck in this void of darkness, the weaker she felt. “What are you doing here, beautiful thing?” She asked, not expecting a reply but she did get one, at least, in her head she got one. “Don't fret my child. Yes I'm dying but if your family can burn your body we'll be okay” it said, looking Mika in the eyes. “Wait…are you a…” she trailed off and as if the bird understood her, nodded it's head weakly. “We are stuck in this void due to Dean's inability to let you go. I hear him talking to you in the waking world. We can't move on until he does”. Being able to somehow understand the bird unnerved Mika, but now that was down on a ground, or what she guessed was ground, she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep. There was a tiny bit of warmth from the bird that made her strangely safe, a warmth that she felt like she had always felt since her teenage years, but couldn't place why. "He'll bring me back... he'll find a way..." Mika said, before she felt a wing wrap over her. "You must stay awake" she heard be said, but it was too difficult.

NATALIA

When the others finally arrived home, Nat somehow found the ability to get off the floor and rush to the kitchen door, opening it and looking out whilst remaining firmly in the house. She had hoped what they got told was all a lie, that Mika would just walk over to her and hug her tightly. But that wasn't to be. She saw Mika's limp dead body in Dean's arms as the group got out of their cars and went different ways. She watched as Dean carried Mika to the outside basement door and went straight down with her. Tears welled up all over again as she watched how this was now their reality. She leaned against the doorframe watching as Duke went straight to the RV, his shirt and hands covered in Mika's blood, Sam just statue-like by Mika's car before he crumbled to the ground at Anna's return. This can't be happening, Nat always saw Mika as this formidable woman who was untouchable. She didn't think anything or anyone could kill her. She didn't know how to accept this situation. “This isn't fair…” she cried, hugging herself.

Day 1

Nat didn't move from the bed once she had been taken to the bedroom the night before. She spent the whole day just laying on her side, back to even Cason, hugging her pillow and crying. She went mute for the whole day, refusing to eat and drink whenever she was told to do so. She was aware of the daylight turning to nighttime through the window, but she never moved. She didn't see a point in doing anything if Mika wasn't there to pull them all together and tell them it would all be alright. Without the one person she respected more than anything in her life, what was the point in doing anything?

Day 2

She managed to be convinced to take a bath, but she was still devoid of much emotion for the most part. She felt like she was only going through the motions for other people, namely Cason, but if they weren't around then she wouldn't have done even the most basic of things. She began to think of how they could bring Mika back, if she could beg Cason to find a demon who would do it but then she realized Cason would never let her make such a deal. So she knew that option was out of the question. She wondered if she could convince Castiel to bring her back, having not known Dean had already tried that at the warehouse. Then she wondered if there was anything else, monster or witch who could help them, but every time her mind went blank.

At one point she found the courage to go downstairs and check on Dean, but the moment she heard Dean talking to Mika's body, begging her to just wake up, she couldn't take it anymore and left, going straight back to bed.

Day 3

As day three arrived, she began to be more responsive. She got out of bed, she finally ate something and drank more that wasn't solely alcohol. She even got out of the bedroom and sat on the couch, wrapped up in the throw blanket that Bobby always kept over the back of the couch, curling into Cason's side now she felt she could give him some kind of attention instead of shutting him out. She knew there was no other option now other than burning Mika's body and saying goodbye once and for all. Mika wasn't coming back and they had to all accept that, but convincing Dean of that was going to be a completely impossible task.

“We gotta convince him to burn her body…” she remarked, not realizing that Duke and Sam were also thinking the same thing. “He can't keep her down there, she's a hunter…she deserves better than this…” she managed to say without tearing up for the first time. Looking over her shoulder when she heard the RV door open and close, she looked out the window and saw Duke walking across to the house. He looked about as bad as she would expect him to, but she was worried about why he was walking over. “Duke…” she sighed, part of her wanting to just hug him when he got in, but he had a determined look on his tired face and she had a feeling he was thinking the same thing as she was. She held her breath as she watched Duke walk over, before she scrambled back down and over to Cason, still wrapped up in a throw blanket bundle.

SAM

Back at Bobby's, Sam was still too numb to help Dean get Mika's body out of the car. He felt like an awful brother but he just couldn't focus. He opened the door and got out of the car, just standing there as Anna managed to help Dean and be mentally in the moment enough to help. Although he was seemingly to anyone else, watching Dean and Anna, he wasn't paying too much attention to the sight before him. He only really snapped out of it just enough when it finally sunk in where Dean wanted to take her body. “Dean…I…” he didn't even know what to say and found himself cutting his sentences off before he could finish as he knew no words were going to be the right ones. He could barely look at Mika's limo body in his brother's arms, the blood all over her back, the hanging marks and bruises around her neck, it was just too much to take in. He looked down at the gravel trying so hard not to break down in front of his brother when he was minutely aware of Duke climbing out of the truck and heading straight to the RV.

As he stared at the ground, he saw Dean's legs just walk away from the car and towards the outside basement door, following Anna downstairs and inside. Now he was alone outside and he didn't know how to handle his emotions. If he had just got to the warehouse sooner, he could have stopped Mika from going in there and confronting Alastair. Tilting his head up at the night sky he finally broke, his body slumping against Mika's car as he finally broke down in tears, his body feeling too weak to stand. He only managed to stay standing long enough for Anna to get back to him before he just crumbled to the ground.

Day 1

He couldn't bring himself to step anywhere near the basement door inside the house. Sam remained on the couch for the majority of the time during the day, but by nightfall he walked out and spent time in Dean's impala. He couldn't even look at Mika's car as it just brought up the memories of seeing her body on the back seat and Dean whispering to her as if she was just asleep. He didn't sleep that night for fear of being haunted by how it all went down in the warehouse. He didn't even eat or drink, or think of ways to bring Mika back, even though he wanted nothing more than to turn the clocks back and save her.

Day 2

Still wasn't eating, but had got convinced to at least drink so he didn't get too much more dehydrated and pass out, but that caused him to turn to alcohol. He stayed close to Anna but he barely said a word and when words did get out of his mouth, they mostly consisted of how guilty he felt and that it was his fault. Sleep was on and off, due to waking up with a start after dreaming of Mika coming back spiritually and seeking revenge on them all. He knew it was absolute crap, and she wouldn't do that, but his mind was twisting his grief greatly. He remained glued to Anna for comfort and paranoia that she too would disappear from his life if he let go.

He only managed to step near the basement once, opening the door and listening intently to see if he could hear Dean, but he couldn't. He thought about going down there to convince Dean to burn her body, but he couldn't gather the courage to do so. When Dean did come upstairs, he tried to make contact, but each time he chickened out at the last second, just seeking with his eyes help from anyone who thought they could get through to Dean.

Day 3

By day three of grieving, he couldn't take it anymore. They had to burn her body, give her the proper hunters funeral Mika rightly deserved. They couldn't store her body in the panic room forever. Sitting on the impala and staring straight forward as Anna remained impossibly close, he blinked to refocus his eyes when she spoke up before nodding. “I'm far from okay still but I can't help but keep thinking Dean needs to give Mika the fu..funeral she deserves” he sighed, swallowing down the lump in his throat that threatened to bubble up once again. “but yeah…I can try eating,” he then added, finally looking at Anna, puffy eyed. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, finally feeling like he had a bit more control over his own body.

At the sound of the RV door opening and boots hitting the gravel, he glanced over and saw Duke heading straight to the house. He really hoped that Duke wasn't going to start something with Dean in the house when there were still two other people grieving inside. “We better follow him in…” he commented to Anna, then saw Esme appear outside but she didn't completely follow Duke inside. Forcing himself to get off the impala hood, he took Anna's hand, not wanting to go over to Esme on his own or into the house alone. He then picked her up and pulled her off the car and back onto the gravel ground before walking slowly over to Esme. “Is Duke going to do what I'm dreading him to do?” He asked her.

Dean didn’t even hear Duke’s footsteps as Duke stepped into the basement and just stood at the door of the panic room. Dean just sat there in his chair, seemingly a permanent fixture spot for him over these three days. He tapped his foot nervously as the options rose up in his head, over and over, like a movie. He had memorized them by heart.

After a few moments, he reached a hand out and he brushed his fingers along Mika’s cold hand and he gave a sad smile, “I’m going to fix this. I’ll fix this. Don’t you worry. I’m gonna leave for a little bit. When you wake up…don’t be scared. Don’t be scared, alright? Duke will take care of you. Sam…Sam will be here. And I love you. No matter what you’re feeling when you wake up, just know that I love you…more than anything.”

After a few moments of just staring at Mika’s closed eyes, Dean nodded and he stood from his chair. He turned to the open door, and no one was waiting there, anymore. He could walk up stairs, avoid everyone, and he could get this done. He could offer himself up, and he would never have to see the fallout. Mika would be okay, and that was enough.



Anna continued rubbing at Sam’s ear gently as he finally blinked and answered her question. It was definitely a start. He was able to speak. Anna listened intently, nodding at his assessment of his own emotions before nodding a bit deeper at the thought of giving Mika a funeral. They had to convince Dean, one way or another. There wasn’t anything left to do, but to burn Mika’s body. Part of Anna thought that they may have to go behind Dean’s back to do so, in order for Mika to not just rot in the basement, while Dean held onto some false hope he could bring her back…or worse, he actually found a way to bring her back.

As Sam agreed to try and eat, his eyes finally come to meet hers, she softly smiled up at him, a rare smile…only for him. The hug that came soon after was welcomed, and Anna didn’t bother with words. She just pressed her head against his chest, letting him take whatever comfort he needed from her, until they both turned to watch Duke as he left the RV and headed for the basement door.

“We should definitely keep tabs.” Anna agreed with Sam. She moved her legs out of Sam’s way, so he could untangle himself and climb off the hood. She then kept still as Sam pulled her from the hood and onto her feet, obviously refusing to be separated from her for more than a split moment. She wrapped her fingers around his and followed him as he walked over to Esme. Anna stepped a bit closer to the basement door, peering through the window as Duke stood outside the door, but when Duke stepped away and began to walk upstairs, Anna frowned.

“Hey, I’m going to um…I’m going to go grab some food and drinks for us, alright? We can have a picnic on the hood later.” Anna said awkwardly. She had a feeling there would be no picnic. She had a feeling things were about to boil over. She brought Sam’s hand up to her lips and she pressed a kiss to his knuckles, “I’ll be right back, okay?”



Cason had spent the three days attempting to take care of Nat. He had worked hard to keep her eating and drinking. He had convinced her to take a bath. He knew that the question of demonic deals was starting to rumble around the entire house. The couple of times that he had walked past Bobby’s desk, while Bobby was half a bottle deep in scotch, he read the Latin texts in the books Bobby was jotting down notes for. A lot of them had to do with demon deals, avoiding the actual payout by trapping and killing demons, something that Cason didn’t have the heart to explain the ramifications of. But if he had to, he would absolutely step in and be the bad guy in Bobby’s story…to protect him.

On the third day, he sat with Natalia on the couch, wrapping his arms around her tightly, to give her some hope of safety, while he could. When Nat spoke up, Cason was half worried she was having another wave of anguish, and he tightened his arms around her a bit, pressing his lips to the top of her head, but she was speaking with reason.

“I agree.” He replied simply, frowning at the thought of burning Mika’s body. But the alternative was somehow worse. She could be trapped somewhere as a spirit. Her body could be used at pretty much any time for demonic reasons, with or without warding. Luckily, she was in the panic room. So, they couldn’t get in. As Nat stood from the couch, Cason followed her gaze, his brain burning for a moment over whether to stop Duke from approaching Dean, but no…this bandaid needed to be ripped off and if anyone could convince Dean, it was someone that he valued, like Duke or Sam. Sam didn’t seem up for it. Duke would do.

When Nat came back to him, Cason wrapped his arms back around her, but he was preparing himself for Duke to explode. When Duke’s footsteps echoed in the hallway to the basement, Cason frowned, realizing that Duke actually didn’t mention anything to Dean and was likely coming in for some food or some drinks. He stayed still, just watching him, until Dean walked up not too far behind him. Cason tensed, and he held onto Nat a bit tighter, things were about to bubble to a head and he couldn’t let her get between them.



Duke stood by the door of the panic room as Dean spent his time with Mika’s body. The longer he stood there and listened to Dean make all kinds of promises, and professing his love to her, Duke grew angrier and angrier. A new wave of emotion overcame him, and he tilted his head back, whimpering as the feeling of her limp body in his arms washed over his brain. He pushed away from the wall, and drug his feet as he walked up the stairs, into the living room. They needed to burn her body. They needed to burn her body and get her put to rest, otherwise, Dean would do some stupid crap to bring her back. Or a demon would use her. Something…something bad was going to happen, if they didn’t burn her body. But judging by Dean’s tears, and the fact that Dean fully planned to lock her in that panic room…for God knows how long, the chances of her burning were basically nil. No one was going to buck up against Dean, at this moment.

Shortly after he stepped into the living room, he heard the door of the panic room close, and Dean’s footsteps followed, slowly walking up the stairs into the living room. Dean instantly wrapped his arms around Duke’s back, sniffling into the back of Duke’s head, before pressing a kiss to his hair. Duke’s fists clenched and he pushed down his emotions, “We-we need to burn her, Dean.”

“No.” Dean said simply, letting Duke go and pushing past him, to walk to the kitchen. Duke instantly followed after him, his anger boiling little by little the longer he watched Dean pretend that Mika wasn’t dead for good. No one could even mourn her, because of Dean’s inability to let her go. Duke stepped in front of Dean and Dean glared at him through teary eyes, “Let it go.”

“I’m not gonna let it go! We need to burn her body. We need to let her go! The only reason she’s layin’ down in that basement is because you can’t decide what stupid ass idea you’re gonna use to bring her back. She wouldn’t want that from you.” Duke tried to reason, but Dean growled and tried to take a step forward. Duke held strong, placing a hand on Dean’s chest. “You always gotta have it your way, don’t you? Don’t you?! You make decisions for other people and you use them up and throw them away as soon as they’re no good for you anymore. How many years did…”

“Watch it. Think of your next words very carefully, Jason…” Dean warned Duke, a lot of old feelings bubbling up to the surface, as they glared at each other. 

“How many years did that girl mourn you like the dead, while you were bedding down…playin’ house with Esme? You control everyone but yourself. You controlled me! You tried to turn Esme against me! And it worked! It worked, Dean! When you split, I got left out to dry, like always. I got left alone! I was the one who suffered! And now, once again…Mika is the one who suffers. All…for you!” Duke suddenly raised his voice and Dean nearly flinched at the anger he saw on Duke’s face. He never knew that Duke was so angry about how their little trio had separated, but thinking back on it, and Duke’s obvious feelings for Esme, he was right.

“You’re right. You’re right about us…me and you. But you’re wrong about Mika. Mika made her own choices! Mika was the one who stayed away from ME! She was the one who chose to leave, not me! Esme was the one who chose to leave! Not me! I don’t force anyone to do anything…it’s their choice.” Dean yelled back at Duke and Duke suddenly burst into tears, shaking his head with a frustrated growl.

“You didn’t give Sam a choice! You didn’t give me a choice! And now, you’re not going to give Mika a choice because you’re so damn scared to be alone, you would rather take away all their choices…so they don’t leave you. Because everyone…leaves you, Dean. You’re poison! You’re…” Duke screamed, but as he spoke, Dean suddenly tackled him, shoulder to sternum, landing on Duke on the living room floor. Dean straddled Duke, and squeezed his thighs, holding him in place. But as Dean raised his fist to punch Duke in the face, he stopped himself. “Do it! You’ve wanted to for a long time…since that day sittin’ right in there at that kitchen table. You’ve wanted this fight. So do it!”

“No.” Dean growled, sneering as he loosened his thighs and stood up from Duke. Duke instantly swept Dean’s legs from under him, and rolled to stand to his feet. 

“Get up! Get up right now!” Duke screamed, waving his hands. Anna stepped into the living room, from the kitchen, coming to ask Cason if he wanted her to make some food for Natalia. She knew Bobby had gone out to grab a few things…namely more alcohol for everyone, but as far as she knew, Nat hadn’t eaten much, like Sam. She skidded to a halt in the doorway, and Duke glanced up at her briefly, only for Dean to land a hard punch against Duke’s jaw.

“Sam?! Sam!” Anna screamed, running out the back door again, to fetch Sam and try to break up this fight. The way they were looking at each other, she was pretty sure a lot of tension was coming to a head, and they were going to kill each other.

Duke stumbled, but turned and punched Dean hard across the nose, grabbing his collar. He pulled Dean closer and hit him again, Dean’s knees buckling with the second punch, Duke being the only thing holding him up for a brief moment. Duke released Dean as soon as he knew he had his feet under him.

“You’re the worst thing that ever happened to Mika. I should have talked her out of taking your stupid ass back. She don’t deserve to get wrapped up in your…self servin’ mess.” Duke gasped, and Dean growled, tears and blood mixing on his face as he ran at Duke again, pinning him to the wall with his shoulder. The slam knocked the wind out of Duke and he began to cough, crying out as Dean rammed his shoulder into his sore stomach all over again, slamming his back against the edge of the stair railing. 

Dean pulled back, and threw a punch straight against Duke’s cheek, knocking him out for a second, as Duke slumped to the floor and fell onto his side, blood pooling under his mouth as he gasped for breath. 

“Of all people…to lecture me on being poison. You’re poison. You ruin every life you touch. You break people! You run away when things aren’t comfortable! You BROKE HER HEART ALL THOSE YEARS AGO! You broke my heart!” Dean screamed at Duke’s lifeless looking body, his screams coming out as sobs as the tears flooded his cheeks, dropping in small puddles on his shirt. “I LOVED YOU! I love you, man. But Mika…she’s everything. And you want to tell me to just…let her go? Stay down…”

Duke came around, coughing and spitting a small puddle of blood on the floor beneath him as he rocked up onto his hands and knees. He was dazed, but determined to get onto his feet. He began to stand, falling to his knees once. Before Duke could stand fully, Dean placed a foot on his back, and forced him back to the ground.

“STOP! Stay down! Just…just stay down.” Dean begged him. Turning to try and put some distance between them. He didn’t want to fight Duke, and it was obvious the fight was over. Duke was barely stirring.

As Dean shook his head, trying to take the ringing out of his ears, Duke suddenly wrapped his arms around his throat, and Duke swept his legs, using his body weight to drop Dean onto his face on the floor. They both lay there for a moment, groaning and exhausted. Dean rolled onto his back, taking some heaving breaths, as Duke crawled over to him, straddled his hips and pulled him up by his collar.
“You don’t love anyone…” Duke sobbed, drops of blood splattering against his hand from his face as he held Dean’s face close to his own and sneered at him. He suddenly head butted Dean, causing Dean to cry out, and his head to go limp as Duke pulled him back, almost nose to nose. “You never loved me. You never loved Mika. You’ve never loved anyone but yourself.”

“Duke…” Dean groaned as Duke sobbed, leaning his forehead against Dean’s to catch his breath. “You…You know that’s not true.”

“That’s your problem. You don’t believe you’re ever wrong when you hurt the people you came to love…” Duke sneered, and Dean reached both his hands up, silently begging Duke to stop. But Duke pushed Dean back a bit and landed a solid blow to his jaw, letting Dean’s head drop against the floor. 

Cason couldn’t stay where he was sitting anymore. He pushed Nat forward and he stood from the couch, walking over to the two, after simply letting them get the fight out of their systems. As it stood, now, Duke had a massive upper hand, and if Cason didn’t step in, Duke was going to make a mistake he would regret for the rest of his life.

“That’s enough. C’mon. That’s enough.” Cason called to him, reaching out to grab his arm as Duke fully planned to punch Dean again. Duke wrenched his arm away from Cason and he shoved him away, pointing a finger at him.

“I will kill you. Don’t touch me.”

“Okay. Alright buddy.” Cason held his hands up and then placed them on his hips, trying to decide how exactly to break up the fight. He really needed Sam. He needed someone large enough to wrangle Dean while Cason managed to pull Duke away. “I’m not gonna touch you, but is this really what you want? You’re gonna kill him. Esme’s gonna walk in on all of this.”

Before Cason could even finish his sentence, Dean punched Duke weakly, not giving in, as Cason tried his hardest to talk them down. Duke growled at the punch and shoved the back of Dean’s head against the floor, stunning him long enough for Duke to continue trying to catch his breath.

“He’s not ruinin’ lives anymore. If that means we call his buddy angel to come fix him up after I’m done with him, so be it.”

“And when the girls get in? What are you gonna do? What are they gonna think?” Cason asked him, as Dean began to struggle again, waking up from the hit to the head. Duke tightened his grip on Dean’s jacket and Cason reached a hand out, ready to stop him, hoping that someone…anyone would walk in and stop this, before he had to break one of their limbs.

When Esme came out of the RV, she hadn’t even noticed Anna and Sam sitting on the Impala talking. Her mind was so focused on Duke wanting to speak with Dean and what could come of it that everything else was drowned out. Besides Sam, she felt Duke was the only other person in the group who could get through to Dean with Mika gone. She continued to pace, chewing on her lip and avoiding looking through the window. Esme knew that a fight could possibly break out over Duke confronting Dean about needing to burn Mika’s body. It felt inevitable. She was no stranger to any of their fights, which back in the day was mostly a scuffle. However, she had witnessed a few times where they threw punches. But something about this time told her this would turn out much worse than a scuffle and a couple of punches thrown between the two. When Sam and Anna approached her, she nearly jumped out of her skin, not hearing them cross the gravel. She looked up at Sam, sighing softly at his question. She saw Anna out of the corner of her eye looking through the window into the basement but didn’t take her eyes off Sam.

She let Anna talk to Sam before she answered Sam’s question. “I’m afraid so.” she started. “Other than you, I feel like Duke is the only one who can get through to Dean about needing to give Mika the funeral she deserves.” Esme sighed heavily as she closed her eyes briefly before a visible shiver overtook her from all the emotions flowing from the house. “I didn’t want him going in alone, but I’m having difficulty going into the house. The emotions are too strong and overwhelming.” she admitted. “But I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Esme brought a hand up to her aching chest, and another visible shiver ran through her body as her face went pale. She felt Duke’s anger rising quickly. Esme looked to the back door moments before Anna came out screaming for Sam. “Oh no.” she breathed. Anna’s screams told her that Duke and Dean were in a nasty fistfight, just like she feared would happen. She turned her worried eyes to Sam. “We have to step in and stop that fight. I’ll get Duke.” she said quickly. Without waiting for a reply, Esme ran to the back door, pulled it open, and ran inside.

Upon entering the kitchen, she could hear the fight, and her stomach cramped painfully. She hoped she and Sam could break it up before it got too out of hand. She ran through the kitchen and to the doorway, stopping in her tracks at the sight in the living room. It was almost worse than she could have imagined. Esme felt frozen on the spot until she heard Cason talking to Duke, saying she would walk in on this. She winced when Dean punched Duke, clearly not giving up the fight, then winced again, seeing Duke shove Dean's head against the floor. They were both a bloody mess, and she could see they had tears mixing with the blood on their faces. This couldn’t go on much longer. Esme opened her mouth to call out to Duke, but he spoke to Cason, causing her to shut her mouth and listen as Cason replied to him. Her heart ached as she watched the scene unfold in the living room, hearing what was being said. She could pretty much piece things together even though she missed much of what had been said in the beginning. She had to find a way to help Cason and Sam stop this fight from going further.

Esme finally willed herself to move when she saw Duke’s hands grip Dean’s jacket, and then Cason reached out to stop him. “Duke! This has to stop!” she called out. “If this keeps going, you’re going to kill him!” She ran over to Duke and Dean, thinking of what she could do or say to bring this fight to a stop. “Please, Duke, stop. I know you don’t want to kill him.” she begged him, then placed her hand on his. She hoped her voice and touch would bring him enough out of his rage to think clearly and see how much damage he had done.

Duke stopped for a split second as he heard Esme's voice call out his name. He didn't even know she was nearby, but hearing his name snapped his head up for a moment as Dean growled weakly beneath him. Before Esme could reach him, Duke shrugged Cason's hand off his shoulder and turned his angry eyes back down to Dean, who wasn't really fighting him anymore. But then Dean's hand came up to wrap around Duke's wrist that he was holding up.

"No..." Duke growled, twisting his arm out of Dean's grip. Another touch came to his hand, and Duke instantly reacted, assuming it was Cason grabbing him to make him stop. Without another word, Duke twisted his body and he threw a punch at the person closest to him. That fist came in contact with Esme's nose, the sickening sound the blow made causing Duke to wince before he ever realized who he had hit.

Cason dropped his shoulders, realizing that this was the end of the fight. There was no way Duke wouldn't be pulled out of his rage after hitting the ONLY person that he loved with all his heart.

Esme didn't have any time to dodge or block Duke’s fist with how fast he reacted to her touch. She never saw it coming, even if she should have. Never did she ever think Duke would hit her, not even in a state of rage, but it did happen. When Duke’s fist connected with Esme’s nose, she cried out as she stumbled backward from the force of the punch. Holding her now broken nose in her hands, she was in utter shock and could barely wrap her head around what had just happened. Esme lifted her watery gaze to Cason first, blinking quickly to clear her blurred vision. She saw his shoulders drop, then looked to Duke, who was still straddling Dean.

She didn’t move from her spot as she looked at Duke and Dean, taking in the state they were both in more clearly. “Duke?” she called his name softly yet sternly, pain evident in her tone. “This fight needs to end now before anyone else gets hurt. You’re not the only one who wants to put Mika to rest, but do you really think beating Dean to death is going to make it happen easier?” She slowly stepped closer to Duke. “I also know it’s not just Dean’s inability to put Mika to rest that brought on this much rage.” Esme slowly stepped around in front of Duke and placed a gentle hand on his arm. “It’s time to stop, Duke. Take a deep breath.” she told him. “We will give Mika the funeral she deserves. Deep down, Dean knows it’s the right thing to do.”

Duke heard Esme's voice as he turned his eyes up to look at Cason, who was still standing beside him. It was then that his stomach dropped. Cason was untouched, unharmed and was now just staring at him in shock and sadness. Duke looked down at his bloody hands, and Dean's face, and after a moment, he willingly dropped Dean roughly on the floor as Esme spoke to him. His hands began to shake as he realized how bad his anger had come over him, and how much damage his rage had actually done.

Duke flinched at Esme's touch, like a scared animal, but as he turned his puffy eyes up to see her face, he realized that he had, in fact, hit her. Instantly, his eyes softened and he tilted his head, reaching his shaking hand out to touch her cheek. Every ounce of rage turned to regret, and a new type of anguish that settled somewhere in his feet as he looked over her nose and what he had done.

"Oh god..." He sobbed, dropping his hand to Dean's chest. Dean didn't move, just taking deep breaths as he lay there, his own anger completely squashed by the uncharacteristic outburst, and violence. It was over. Duke's shoulders slumped for a moment as he cried openly, something that he would never have done...

"Let's get you cleaned up." Cason spoke softly to Duke, trying his best to offer an olive branch and help Esme, but all it did was bring Duke back to the reality of what he had done. With Cason wrapping an arm around Duke's, Duke stood from the ground and he instantly stepped over Dean onto shaky legs, limping toward the kitchen, "Where are you going?!"

Duke only stopped briefly, grabbing Ruby's knife from the open duffel on the kitchen table. He then pulled the kitchen door open and stomped through it, as Cason looked to Nat for any sign of what to do about the situation. The kid was going to get himself killed.

Esme wasn’t entirely sure she was getting through to Duke until he looked up at her with puffy eyes. She saw the moment he realized he had hit her in his rage. She watched as his eyes softened and his shaky hand touched her cheek. She tilted her head into his touch, feeling as his rage turned into regret and anguish as he looked at her nose. Esme’s eyes softened as she looked into his puffy eyes. As she sobbed and dropped his hand to Dean’s chest, she knew Duke would never forgive himself for hitting her, even though she wasn’t mad about it or holding it against him. She watched both Duke and Dean; their anger had been completely squashed, and neither had anything left to fight each other anymore. Esme knew it had to do with the uncharacteristic outburst and violence. As Duke openly cried, she gently squeezed his arm before Cason stepped over to Duke and spoke to him, then reluctantly stepped back as Cason helped Duke to his feet. She gave a look of thanks to Cason for the help but soon grew tense as things changed quickly. When Duke stepped over Dean and limped to the kitchen, her stomach knotted painfully.

She saw the look on Duke’s face as Cason lifted him from the floor. She knew the emotions that were pouring off him. He was going to bolt, which knocked all the wind out of her. She felt like she was losing him all over again. Duke grabbing Ruby’s knife from the duffle on the kitchen table only confirmed everything she felt was happening. “Duke, don’t do this! Please!” she called after him before the door closed after he opened it and stomped out. Esme couldn’t control the fear and worry that overtook her. Duke was hurting emotionally and injured from his fight with Dean. She couldn't see it ending well. She would surely lose him again if he ran off now. She had to try despite still having his truck keys in her pocket. If she was fast enough, she could get to him before he could hot-wire his truck. Esme ran to the kitchen, then through it. As soon as she grabbed the door handle, she heard Duke’s truck roar to life and then peel out of the lot. Yanking the door open, she ran into the garage, seeing Duke drive off. “Duke! Come back!” she screamed at his truck. “Don’t do this to me.” she breathed, tears filling her eyes, watching his truck disappear from her sight.

Esme nearly collapsed on the gravel with how badly she was shaking. She couldn't run after him and couldn’t get in her car to drive after him; it was still being repaired. Her chest ached and felt tight, making it hard to breathe. As much as she didn’t want to, she would have to ask Cason to help her find Duke and bring him back. It was her only option other than borrowing a car and searching every place she came across for Duke. They had to find Duke before he got himself killed. Turning on her heel, she quickly walked back into the kitchen and to the living room, worry written on her face and tears in her eyes. “Cason?” she said, barely getting it out. “I feel I have no right to ask you this, but I have to. Can you find out where Duke’s gone and help me bring him back? With the states he’s in, I’m afraid he’s going to get himself killed.” As Esme looked at Cason, her eyes were almost pleading with him to help her, and they showed just how scared she was that something was going to happen to Duke. “I’ll owe you one.” she added.

NATALIA

As thankful as Nat felt for having not pushed Cason completely away, that he was still by her side, she also felt guilty that she still had him when Dean didn't have Mika. It somehow didn't feel right that the rest of them had the people they loved when Dean didn't. It was a feeling that had been bubbling up in her as she became more willing to let Cason in and near her. So much of her wanted to express that but she felt like she would be hurting people if she did, so she kept it to herself as she sat on the couch, tightly in Cason's arms. She also felt heard when Cason agreed that burning Mika's body was for the best, even if it was a sad thought. She wanted Mika back more than anything, but it wasn't fair to leave her in the panic room forever. She may have had the reassurance that demons wouldn't get to her in there, but who's to say Angels wouldn't take her or something else would get in there? She wouldn't have put anything past anything after these three days of thinking and dwelling on the grief.

She looked up when Duke made it into the house and down to the basement. She instantly felt on edge and gladly stayed curled into Cason as he held her to him tighter than before. Seeing Duke soon come back upstairs, she could tell he was angry and hurting even more after no doubt seeing Mika's body and hearing whatever crap Dean was spouting to her. She watched him intensely as Duke walked into the living room, getting surprised that Dean soon appeared behind him and hugged him from behind. Nat didn't even notice that she was holding her breath the entire time when Duke clearly said what they had all been thinking but too scared to say it to Dean. As Dean sternly shut down the idea and stormed off into the kitchen, she followed him with her eyes. She watched as Duke followed him, trying to get through to Dean. The anger rising in the room told Nat that this was not going to end well and it was making her nervous for what was about to explode. She listened to the hurtful words that Duke was saying to Dean, she never knew how badly the lot of them broke apart way back when. She never knew Mika was the one who once walked away from Dean, resulting in him finding Esme all that time ago. She didn't know how much of that hurt that Mika experienced, Duke knew about.

As the words came out of his mouth, she saw Dean just tackle Duke onto the living room floor, making her flinch and yelp. Curling into Cason even more out of fear of seeing the two men begin to throw punches at each other through their grief of losing Mika. Mika wouldn't want this from them, she loved them both dearly and this would absolutely destroy her seeing them like this. Tears fell down her face out of fear, having never witnessed her brother be this violent to another person before, especially to someone he cared a lot for. “What do we do?” She asked Cason, her fright clear in her voice as she looked up at him, terror in her eyes. “Mika wouldn't want this Cason…” she told him, too scared to get anywhere near the two men fighting so brutally. She couldn't even shout for Bobby as he was out supply shopping.

When Anna finally stepped in, unaware of what was breaking out, Nat glanced over at her, her eyes begging for Anna to get help when she watched as Anna ran back outside screaming for Sam. As Cason pushed her forward, she let him get up, hoping he could put an end to the fighting when she couldn't move from the couch.

Seeing Anna run back outside to get Sam, she couldn’t do anything but just watch as the boys fought brutally with each other, too scared to get involved. She looked on as Sam and Esme came bursting in and tried to break it up, only to have Esme hit in the face, her nose taking the full brunt of Duke’s strength. Gasping and darting further back into the couch, shaking from seeing her family just destroying each other through grief. “Please stop…” she whimpered, her voice just being drowned out by everyone else trying to reason with Dean and Duke. Tears streaming down her face, her hands gripping the blanket round herself even tighter. “Please…” she cried, wishing more than ever that Mika was here to stop them both from killing each other. Mika would know what to do, she’d have to get through to them…but this was because of Mika this time.

When Duke finally conceded and got up, she hoped they could all now just talk like normal people, but then Duke went and did the next stupidest thing imaginable. As Cason looked at her, she initially shrugged until she heard the sound of the truck leaving the lot and Esme asked Cason to go after him. “She’s right, please Cason, go after him, he’ll get himself killed otherwise” she said sadly, wiping her tears with the back of her arm, still trying to calm down from what just happened. “We’ll…we’ll talk with Dean…” she added, glancing at Sam and Dean.

SAM

Sam looked down at Anna when she awkwardly spoke about going to get them all some food, in a makeshift attempt to make a picnic at the impala. He didn't want her to leave, she was a calming presence to him and he was worried that if she left, she'd never come back like Mika hadn't. Even though she had left him for a few minutes several times over the last three days. He sighed and gave a nod when she reassured him she would be back. Letting her hand go, he shoved his hands in his pockets and watched her head to the back door that led straight into the kitchen, hovering beside Esme wondering how he was going to tackle THE conversation with Dean when Esme confirmed it was what he was dreading. He hadn't even seen him the last three days, knowing exactly where his brother had been holed up. It felt like though as quickly as Anna had gone inside, she was screaming his name and running back out.

Everything that he had felt the last three days went straight to the back of his mind and he bolted towards the house the moment Anna started screaming his name in a panicked tone. “Right” he agreed as Esme spoke out what he was just thinking. They had to stop Dean and Duke from fighting before Bobby got back, even though he didn’t know Bobby was even out. As Esme made haste toward the house, he quickly ran to follow suit, also stopping dead in his tracks when he saw just how bad it had gotten in such a short moment. “Dean, stop this!” he called out as he saw Dean throw one hell of a punch to Duke’s face before wincing at seeing Duke slam Dean’s head onto the floor. He glanced around seeing how Cason was trying to de-escalate the fight whilst Natalia looked absolutely terrified on the couch.
He eventually made his feet move and went straight to Dean, squatting down to try and break the two men apart but Duke had such a firm hold on Dean’s jacket. For a split second, he thought Esme had gotten through to Duke as he seemed to pause and hear Esme’s voice, but then his hopes shattered as quickly as they came into his head and Dean raised his arm and grabbed Duke’s wrist. “Dean stop!!” He lectured, tugging at his brother from under his arms, his hands looped up to his shoulders ready to yank him back when Duke punched Esme right in the nose. Wide eyed, he paused but didn’t let go of Dean, “Duke…” he simply gasped before yanking Dean back a little, keeping him on the ground as they all took in what Duke just did.

As Duke eventually stood up and Cason tried to offer an olive branch, he thought it was finally over. That Duke would just go to the bathroom and clean up and that would be it. But yet again Duke went and did something stupid, he got up, walked over Dean and limped to the kitchen, grabbing Ruby’s knife and stormed out. Sighing, he knew one of them had to go after the man. He even saw Cason look at Nat as if asking what she thinks they should do, only to see Nat initially shrug. He then pulled Dean up onto his feet and checked him over, seeing just how badly Duke injured him. “This isn’t the answer Dean…this would shatter her heart if she saw that, you know that right?” He spoke softly but sternly. “He’s right, they all are. We HAVE to lay her to rest in a hunter’s funeral, it’s what she’d want and you know it” he told his brother.

“I know it’s hard to accept, we’re all grieving her, we’ve lost a sister too but you’re not the only one who would know what she would want. Leaving her to rot down there is not how she’d wanna be remembered. So PLEASE Dean, don’t do anything stupid like Duke is blatantly doing and agree to burn her body” he begged her, tears in his eyes as he looked at Dean. “Please…” he begged again.

Duke walked quickly to his truck. As he patted his jeans pocket, he realized that his keys weren’t in his pocket and thinking about it, he wasn’t honestly sure where they were. He didn’t have time to go searching Esme’s things trying to find them. He had to go. He had to go right then or he risked hurting even more people in the house. He wasn’t safe to be around. The only thing he could think about was revenge…and hate…and pain.

To his relief, when he reached the truck, the door was unlocked. He pulled the door open, and quickly reached below the steering wheel, pulling the panel open. He reached into his pocket, pulling his pocket knife, and stripped the wires to the starter, touching them together. They sparked, and Duke reached in with his hand, pressing down on the gas pedal to bring the truck to life. He carefully let off the gas, and he used the knife to press the metal of the wires against the steering column, crimping them together so the truck would stay running. After that, he tossed Ruby’s knife across the seat and climbed into the truck, putting it in gear as quick as he could, before peeling out of the parking spot.

Unfortunately, he heard Esme screaming at him, as he drove off, but he didn’t slow down. Even if she wanted him around, out of habit, she would never forgive him for hitting her, for hurting Dean or for showing that level of rage. It wasn’t him, and he knew it, but there was no way he could explain that to Esme…not now. He passed through the ‘Singer Salvage’ sign and out onto the road, not entirely sure where he was planning to go.

Duke reached across as he drove, and he pulled one of his cellphones from the glove box, flipping it open and speed dialing a number. The person on the other line picked up relatively quick, as Duke glanced up at himself in the rearview mirror and sniffled, “Hey Raina. That thing you said Chase couldn’t handle a few days ago with the demons…”

The person on the other line spoke for a second and Duke nodded his head at no one, tightening his grip on the steering wheel as he tightened his jaw.

“Yeah. I know I said I had bigger issues. But some time just opened up and I need that address for tonight. Call it a sudden urge to work.” Duke explained and the woman continued asking him questions, which was making his blood boil the more he had to explain himself. “No. No the Winchesters won’t be with me. I got this though. Text me the address.”

Duke hung up the phone, not willing to answer anymore questions. After a few moments, his phone chimed, and he read the message, knowing the exact location. He wasn’t sure he was in the shape to fight anyone, with his injuries and how tired he was, but he was sure going to try. Blaze of glory or not, he had to kill something…

————

A bit later in a warehouse just south of Sioux Falls

Duke slit the throat of a female demon, dropping her to the ground with disregard before turning in a squat toward a male that was patiently circling him, stalling for backup. Duke knew what they were doing. He had already killed five of them. There was no telling how many were coming from there. His eyes were dilated, his face a constant bloody snarl and his hand held Ruby’s knife as if it was his life blood as he stared down the demon.

“I’m finishin’ this…right here. I want Lilith.” Duke growled and the demon laughed, his head fully thrown back in a cackle, before turning to a giggling pout.

“You’re so adorable. What you want is Alastair. I can smell it. But unfortunately for you, the blood junkie with the mutton chops finished him off before you could get to him. Shame about your sister, really…she was…special.” The demon sneered at Duke, as Duke gripped the knife tighter, his blood boiling at the fact that a demon would even dare to bring Mika up, after what they did to her. 

“Shut your mouth and tell me how to get to Lilith.”

“One hot piece of ass dies, and suddenly, the Winchesters send their little…blonde…ticking time bomb to kill Lilith? And while he’s half broken. Wow. Escalation. What good is it going to do your sweet little soul to kill her? She’s not…”

“She’ll do!” Duke screamed suddenly, holding the knife out in front of him as the demon took a step forward. 

“And you’ll feel nothing. Just like right now. You have gallons…GALLONS of demon blood all over your hands, washed in it like holy water, and you feel…nothing. But you’re about to feel a lot…of pain.” 

As the demon finished his words, the panels that covered the roof of the warehouse began to flutter in the wind, the lights flickering and buzzing above their heads. Then, the doors on all sides burst open, and demons poured in. There were close to a dozen of them, if Duke was counting right. He was screwed…

“Alright. Well come on! I know which direction I’m goin’…so I’m gonna send as many of you black eyed sons of bitches to Hell as I can on my way upstairs.” Duke called out to them. They didn’t move, just standing there, which caused Duke to tilt his head to the side, confused. 

“Who are you to the Winchesters?” A male demon asked, stepping forward through a small crowd of demons, his head tilted as he pointed a knife Duke had never seen before at him. It was long and silver, almost like a bright little sword. “Oh, you’re wondering about this? Angel squabble. They’re being picked off…apparently by their own. And when they drop? So do these little guys. Can kill almost anything. I’ll ask again, who are you to the Winchesters?”

“Dead weight. A liability. Thorn in the side. I ain’t nothin’ to them they can’t lose.” Duke shrugged, his voice hoarse and tired as he stared the demon down casually. 

“You came here…hurt. Your face is busted, your hands are bruised and if I can hear that right, you have a cracked rib. This is a suicide mission for you.”

“There are worse ways to go out, I guess. At least I know where I’m goin’…Already been there. Already done that. Look, if you think takin’ me or killin’ me is gonna drive you right into the arms of the Winchesters, I got bad news for you. If you haven’t noticed…they ain’t here. They didn’t come after me.” Duke slurred, his eyes fixed on the silver blade that was twirling around in the man’s hand.

“It almost grosses me out to have to kill you.” The demon spoke up, his nose snarled at Duke’s lack of care for his own wellbeing. “Wait a second…I recognize that accent. You’re…Dean Winchester’s little blonde friend. What’s the name again? Hatfield.”

“Let me guess…just spitballin’. You a McCoy? Is that what the beef is here? It’s been like 200 years. Get over it already.” Duke smirked and the demon chuckled lightly, taking a step forward. Duke took one step back, stepping into the chest of a much larger demon, who wrapped his arms around Duke’s body, stomping his foot against the back of Duke’s left knee and dropping him hard onto his knees on the floor.



Cason felt Sam at his side as Sam began to pull Dean away from Duke, before Duke ever left. Cason took a step back, holding a hand out to try and stop Esme from running after Duke. There was no way she could stop him if she tried, and even if Cason could pop into the truck and do his best to stop him from running off, Duke was upset and he had a knife that could kill Cason with one good swing. After a few moments, Cason did turn around to look at Nat, his head tilting with sympathy at how terrified she seemed.

He didn’t have much of a chance to run over to her, or to check on her, when Esme came back. His head snapped to her as she called his name, scanning her face and his own face flooding with sympathy as she explained that though they didn’t have the most sound history, she was asking him for a favor. He had already decided to go after Duke before Esme ever asked him. He nodded his head and held up a hand, telling her to stop with her offers, as she said she owed him.

As Nat agreed with Esme from behind him, Cason took a deep breath, “I’ll bring him back, and then we’ll decide who owes who, alright? What I need from you, is permission to bring him back by any means necessary. He doesn’t like me. I can’t guarantee he’s going to come willingly.”

He turned, as he waited for the go ahead from Esme, walking over to Nat with a sad look on his face, “And I’ll be back. Alright? I’m gonna come back for Esme. She can come to back me up with him. I’ll be back.”

Cason leaned in and kissed Nat deeply, wiping her tears with his thumbs, before pulling back and pressing his forehead to hers, scanning her eyes with a look that he knew she would read as ‘I’ll take care of you’. Then he stepped back and he disappeared, reappearing outside of a train yard at first. He listened, his head buzzing with sounds from his contacts as he placed the order out for them to ask around, or drop into a few places. Within seconds, several of them said the same place, described Duke and used the name ‘Hatfield’.

“There you are…” Cason smiled, before disappearing and reappearing just outside the warehouse where Duke was losing his hand, and it felt as if he was going to lose it rapidly, and bloody…and willingly. Cason sighed, before disappearing once again and reappearing in Bobby’s living room, wrapping his arm around Esme without a word. They both landed in the parking lot of the warehouse, and Cason quickly pulled Esme into a shadow, pressing her back against the side of the building.

“No matter what you hear…not matter what you’re feeling, you stay here. I will call your name when it’s safe. But right now? I have to go and kill my way in. I’m gonna have to try and convince him to come with me. I might need help with that. But there are a dozen demons around him, right now. You can’t go with me.” Cason explained calmly, but his eyes were serious and worried. “He found himself a nest and he’s going to lose unless I go get him.”



Dean groaned as Sam’s arms wrapped around his body, realizing that it was over, but also, Sam was there. He had issues besting Sam on his best day, but in the shape he was in, he had to just submit to being pulled across the floor by his baby brother. Being pulled to his feet made his entire body feel like lead, as he stumbled against Sam and took a deep breath, rocking on his feet. He grabbed Sam’s shirt tightly in his fist, using his brother’s larger frame to hold him up.

But Sam just echoed Duke’s words. Sam was right, and in some small part of Dean’s brain, he wanted to argue with him, and tell him not to talk about Mika as if she had a choice. But that would likely start another fight that he couldn’t win. He turned his eyes up to look at Sam’s, seeing how large and teary they were. His own swollen eyes softened, and the tears bubbled up, as he couldn’t really say anything.

Unfortunately, Sam and Duke were right…

Dean leaned in, exhausted and emotionally devastated and he nodded, before leaning his face on Sam’s shoulder, all of the emotion from the past few days crashing down around him in what felt like his first tears since Mika died. She was gone. There was nothing he could do to bring her back. He was holding onto her too tight, and it wasn’t right. This whole thing wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair, but he was being selfish. Dean broke, his quiet sobs shaking his shoulders as he wrapped an arm around Sam and he clutched the back of his shirt for dear life, finally allowing himself to mourn.

“Should I um…should I get a bed ready for him?” Anna asked, her own voice quivering with sadness as she watched Dean just release all of his emotions on Sam, now that they were touching. Anna whisked a tear away from her cheek, and she didn’t wait for Sam to answer her, simply turning to walk up the stairs, “When he calms down, bring him up. I’ll patch him up. Bring an ice pack.”

Once in Mika’s room, Anna looked around, trying to avoid reminders of Mika. She removed a few of Mika’s things from view, placing them in the closet so that Dean wouldn’t have to simply stare at them. She then walked to the bathroom, and rummaged around until she found a large first aid kit. She grabbed it, and a couple of towels, tossing them on the bed.

Esme saw Cason’s face flood with sympathy as soon as he turned to face her after she called his name. When she asked him for help getting Duke back, she wasn't looking for sympathy from him. All Esme wanted was Cason’s help since she couldn't do this alone without possibly being too late when she finally found Duke. After everything she and Duke had been through after meeting back up and reconnecting, she couldn't and wouldn't lose him like this. With losing Mika and hitting her, Esme knew Duke wasn't in the right headspace and knew he would do something reckless that could get him killed. When Cason held up a hand to stop her from continuing after she told him she’d owe him, she did and took a deep breath as Natalia agreed with her. It was then that Esme realized how terrified Natalia was from the whole fight between Duke and Dean. She felt bad she hadn't noticed it before, even if she was distracted by trying to get through to Duke. Esme also knew that seeing Duke hit her must have also affected her. Hell, it surprised her that Duke hit her. She thought she had gotten through to him enough for him to know it was her and not Cason.

Esme’s attention went back to Cason as he answered her plea for help. A little relief came to her face as Cason agreed to bring Duke back, but her eyebrows slightly knitted together at what he said next. His words, ‘by any means necessary,’ echoed in her head. Esme knew Duke didn't like Cason and would no doubt fight Cason trying to bring him home, but the thought of using excessive force to bring him home didn't sit well with her. However, she knew it would more than likely come to that. Sighing heavily, she reluctantly nodded to Cason’s back as he walked over to Natalia. “Alright. Just don’t do anything more than you have to.” she told Cason as he kissed Natalia. Esme didn’t move from her spot until Cason stepped back from Natalia and disappeared. With Cason looking for Duke’s location, Esme took this time to tend to her nose, clean the blood from her face, and grab an extra knife from the duffle in the kitchen. She had just returned to the kitchen when Cason reappeared and wrapped an arm around her. She had just enough time to take a deep breath and hold it before he disappeared with her and reappeared with her at a warehouse.

Esme didn’t release her breath until Cason pulled her into a shadow and pressed her back against the side of the building. As Cason spoke, she looked up into his face, taking in his words and her eyebrows knitted together. Of course, he’d tell her to stay back while he went in and dealt with the problem on his own. He should have known that wouldn’t sit well with her. Esme understood he was trying to keep her safe and out of a situation she couldn’t get out of, but this was Duke they were going in for. There was absolutely no way she could sit on the sidelines while Cason went in and took care of the demons surrounding Duke. Other than her godmother, Duke was the only other person she had to live for on this planet. She had to go in and at least do something to help him. As Esme looked up at Cason, her gaze almost turned into a glare despite seeing the seriousness and worry in his eyes. “Like hell, I’m staying here on the sidelines.” she told him sternly. “I’ll let you do the majority of the killing and stay out of your way, but I’m going in too.”

Even though her eyes held worry, they showed that she was determined to go in and help kill the demons surrounding Duke. “If the roles were reversed and that was Nat in there. Could you stay on the sidelines while I went in?” Esme asked him, looking into his eyes. “I seriously doubt you could. That blonde, reckless idiot in there is my world. We’re going in together to get him, kill those demons, and then taking him home. Even if we have to force him.”