JustAnna

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

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 and Dean

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.

Bobby and Cason

“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.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean and Cason

Dean smirked at Lexi’s simplicity, nodding his head. He was just about to tell her to go and grab her jacket so that they were all ready, when he heard the upper door open, and he glanced up toward the sound to see Anya and Natalia stepping back in. As Anna filed into the room, soon after, and Dean and Anya shared a small and simple conversation, Dean tapped his fingers on the table nervously. His shoulders tensed as Anya asked about Sam, but he didn’t say anything. He simply turned his eyes toward Natalia, practically begging everyone to just keep on task.

The look on Natalia’s face when she spotted Sam told him that it would be unlikely, but as she stepped over to Cason, pretending that she never caught a glimpse of their brother, Dean relaxed his shoulders a bit. He scoffed as Nat shoved Cason’s feet off the table, causing Cason to huff in annoyance, but then Cason seemed to melt as Nat sat on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her.

“Sammy! Good of you to join the realm of the living!” Dean called out to his brother, standing from his seat. He pushed his chair back in and picked the bag of weapons he and Lexi had packed off the floor by a bookshelf. He then held up a hand, “I’m gonna go pack the car. Lexi, you can come if you want. The rest of you, get dressed, grab a snack and a drink and let’s get ready to get this done.”

He patted Sam’s chest on his way by, choosing not to discuss whatever had happened between Sam and Anna. They had to help Anya, and then it was up to Sam to bridge that gap with her, when the time came. For once, he would let Sam just deal with his mistakes on his own, and not play cleanup crew. He stood near the stairs, holding a hand out to invite Lexi to follow him with a smirk.

“Well, doesn’t this feel like old times?” Cason mused to Natalia, chuckling against the side of her face before he kissed her cheek. “You dressed and ready to go? I mean…you’re dressed, but are you comfortable? I’ll fill you in on everything on the way there.”

“I’ll ride with you guys. It’s…it’s her first hunt. Probably better if she has Sam along for the ride.” Anna chimed in awkwardly, shoving her hands into her pockets as she rocked forward on her feet. Cason leaned forward and he lowered his voice so that only Anna and Nat could hear him.

“It has nothing to do with the fact that you and Sam can’t be in the same room without…things happening?”

“We’re past it.” Anna shrugged turning her eyes away from Cason’s face.

“Past it? Like…thirty seconds past it, and you’re good. Wow. So, bringing you was the right move.” Cason muttered sarcastically, and Anna rolled her eyes, flipping him off before she walked over to join Dean. She would wait in the car, rather than be interrogated by Cason like a parent.

Anya

Anya raised her eyes from the table as Sam announced that he was in the room. She took in his appearance, and tilted her head a bit, but she chose to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. Surely, Anya’s idea for Sam to have a full conversation with Anna hadn’t led to anything he would regret. That just didn’t seem like Sam. Anya stepped over to him, and she flattened her hand out over his chest, straightening a deep wrinkle that prevented the buttons of his shirt from laying flat.

Once she reached the bottom of his flannel, she unrolled a bit of the fabric for him, doing it as casually as she could, to make sure he didn’t notice her suspicion and she gave his flannel a tug, before signing to him.

“You okay? Ready to go?” She asked him, turning her eyes up to meet his, finally. She gave him a sweet smile, before gently reaching back and pulling her phone, to make it easier for him, “Cason found where we’re going. We were just waiting for you, and now you’re here. So, let’s go find the demon, gig it, and we can get back here in time to take one of those cars out there down to the fields and watch the very nerdy and very impressive meteor shower that I don’t think Sam Winchester would miss, on purpose.”

Anya used their mutual nerdiness to try and relax some of his tension, showing him that she was still right there in his hands, if he wanted to spend time with her. But first, they needed to kill this demon. She turned the phone to him, letting him read the message and then smiled sweetly over the top of the phone, raising her eyebrows in a way that said ‘please?’

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

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, Duke and Castiel

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

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.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean - A bit later

Dean sat at the table in the war room, waiting for Cason to arrive so they could pack up and roll out, hopefully. He fidgeted with the pages of the book he was combing through, when Cason randomly appeared in the chair across from him. Dean instinctively reached his arm out across Lexi’s chest next to him, but he relaxed quickly as he realized it was Cason.

“Jesus Christ, Cason…” Dean sighed, and Cason smiled widely propping both his feet up on the edge of the table, his arms behind his head. Dean raised his eyebrows and held his hands out, “Well?”

“Yeah. I know where he is. I know who he is. He’s tricky, smart, quick but he’s also kind of an idiot. If we can get to him, and overwhelm him, we should be able to kill him pretty quick. You got angel blades?”

“Yeah. We have plenty. Let’s go.” Dean called out, glancing up at the small window above the stairs. It was now getting dark, and Anya and Natalia should be back any minute, which meant they could roll out and get all of this over with. Cason shook his head and held up a hand, “What?”

“Where are Sam and Anna?”

Dean winced, and he turned his eyes down to the table for a moment, before looking back up at Cason with a sheepish shrug of his shoulders, “You brought her here. They are…catching up, if the sounds coming from her room were any hint. They’ve been back there a while. I’m not going to get them.”

“Alright, then let them get it out of their systems. When they come back, we’ll pack up and leave. I’m most definitely not going out there without your other half. We need the experience with this guy, and Anna’s quiet probably wouldn’t hurt anything either. She’s sneaky and she won’t leave anyone behind…including her ex’s girlfriend or whatever she is.” Cason sighed, waving his hand around. He pulled the knife from his boot and began twirling it around his fingers as Dean sat back in his chair and turned to Lexi.

“So, you prepared for a late night hunt? You need to change or anything?” He asked her with a smirk, as they waited for the others to get back into the main room.

Anna

Anna lay there on her bed, staring at the familiar ceiling as she brushed her hand through Sam’s hair, just taking in all of the familiar emotions around her. It was tempting to just stay like this with him, forever, familiar and loving. There was something so simple about it. As her fingers combed through his sweaty hair, a painful pit of knowing began to creep back into her stomach. She knew that their time together was coming to an end, and probably for the last time. She rolled over, gliding a hand over his bare chest and up his jaw with a sigh, before propping herself up to look down at his face.

“So...the girl down there. You’re close to her, aren’t you?” She asked earnestly, with no malice or judgement in her voice as she twirled a strand of his hair around her finger, just lovingly scanning his eyes. She could see the answer, the longer she stared at those hopeful hazel eyes that she missed so much. And there was her closure. She would never stop missing him. She would never not mourn what they had. But Sam was an inch from beginning again, which is all he had wanted for her. She understood that, now. There was a chance they would always fall together. They were destined to. But Sam’s emotions were torn, and she could see the hope in his eyes, just with that little question, “Then we should help her.”

Anna brushed her fingertips over his eyebrow, down to his jaw, and she gently leaned down, pressing a loving and deep kiss to his lips. As she pulled away from the kiss, she nuzzled Sam’s nose and then carefully pulled away from him, sitting on the edge of the bed. She reached down and grabbed her clothes, beginning to redress with her back to him, “I love you, you know that, right?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him, and then pulled her shirt on, standing to button her jeans and shove her feet back into her boots, standing full dressed with her arms crossed, “And I’m a phone call away. Even if it’s awkward. Even if we say things we shouldn’t…I would like to know that you’re okay.”

Anya

As the sun began to sink down over the hill beside them, Anya buried all three knives she had been holding into the side of the tree, none of them bouncing, for once. She stood up straight and puffed out her chest, turning to Nat with a proud look on her face. She couldn’t believe how quick she learned things, and honestly? It was a relief. If she was going to get into hunting, she was going to have to learn quickly, so she didn’t put herself or anyone else at risk.

She pulled her phone, glancing up at the sky before typing, “We should probably go check and see if the others have found anything. I also really want a drink.”

With a small giggle, Anya pressed play and then walked over to the three, grabbing the handles of each individual knife, pulling them from the wood with a bit of effort. She turned back to Nat and walked the knives over, handing them to her. After a few moments of helping Nat pack up, Anya walked back toward the bunker garage with her, feeling a lot more confident and a little tired and thirsty. She couldn’t wait to tell Sam how much safer she would be on the hunt. She knew he still wouldn’t want her out there any more than he had already seemed to protest, but at least she knew what she was doing.

Anya pulled the garage door open, and she entered the bunker, coming out onto the landing above the others. Dean glanced up and he smirked, holding out his hand to quietly ask her how things went.

“I’m okay.” She signed back to him, and he tapped his fingers on the table with excitement before signing back a ‘Good’ that he had learned from eavesdropping on her conversations with Sam, while she was teaching him. Anya slowly descended the stairs, just as Anna rounded the corner from the corridors, flattening her hair and pushing it behind her ears awkwardly. Dean said nothing to her, just let her pass him as Anya watched her, wondering if she was okay.

Dean shrugged his shoulders when Anya made eye contact with him, letting her silently know that he had no clue where Anna had been. But Cason turned to her and signed, “You ready to go, soon?”

“Tonight?” She asked him back and he nodded. “Okay. Sure! Where’s Sam?”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean was almost hoping that Lexi would have the same optimism that Anya did about how this hunt was going to go down, but as she walked over to him and explained that she felt the same way his internal gut feeling was telling him to feel, Dean sighed. Anya was either going to have her heart broken, or maybe…just maybe she knew that there was no way to really get her way with this. Sure, getting her voice would be more convenient for her, but she managed, and it wasn’t worth losing her life over.

“Yeah, I have to agree…” Dean sighed again, glancing down at Lexi with a sad nod. He turned, needing a bit of contact as he admitted a bit of defeat, “We have to go into this with the mindset of getting her out of the deal, not finishing it. The demon dies, and Anya comes out of it and rides off into the sunset with my brother, like nothing ever happened. If she comes out without a voice? We make it work…”

He reached his hand out and cradled Lexi’s face, reaching for that touch that he craved when the pit in his stomach was growing. He couldn’t pinpoint if it was nervousness, hopelessness, or a mix of many emotions, but holding her face in his hand made the feeling calm, just a bit.

“And this is normally where I would start barking orders, but the only order I’m going to give you is to be careful…” His voice raised at the end, as if he was more asking her to take care of herself, than ordering her to. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “We’ve lost enough. And we’ve lost a lot to dumb, in and out cases that weren’t supposed to be able to go south…and yet they did. This can’t be one of those hunts.”

Anna

As Sam paused, Anna furrowed her brow, realizing that for the first time, Sam was having second thoughts about sleeping with her. Every time they had met up, Sam had been the one that seemed to fall into HER arms. It was as if he was trying to make up for lost time, or right his wrongs, make it up to her in some way. This time, however, he hesitated. Anna sighed, realizing that he may put a stop to things, but as she conceded to stopping and asking him to leave the room, he leaned in and kissed her again, this time deeper.

Melting into the kiss, Anna released his hand and she brought that hand up to his chest, pushing him back as she took a step between his legs and walked them back toward the bed. Before his legs reached the edge of the mattress, she pulled back from the kiss and she brought her hand up, tangling her fingers in his longer hair as gently as ever. She trailed the hand down, brushing her fingers over his lips with a soft smile.

“It’s okay Sammy…” She whispered, before leaning back in and covering his lips in a deep and familiar kiss, sealing her fate and likely making a decision that would throw her into months of missing him, regret, and a hollow chest. But for tonight? It was worth it.

Anya

Anya was super proud of herself when Natalia smirked at her choice of places to stab an enemy. Anya stayed still as Nat praised her, nodding a thankful nod as she couldn’t sign or type with her hands full. As Nat began to demonstrate how an enemy might disarm her, Anya watched her hands, seeing the knife fall to the ground, before her eyes turned down to Nat’s leg. The flip was a bit quick, but Anya could feel every movement in her muscles as she landed onto her back and the handle of Nat’s knife came down to her chest, like she was stabbing her with it.

With a breathless chuckle, Anya nodded and absentmindedly signed, “There’s always hope.”, forgetting for a moment that Nat didn’t know ASL like her boyfriend. She reached her hand out and took Nat’s, standing from the ground and shaking her shoulders out. She pulled her phone from her pocket, and typed.

“That seems simple enough. It’s all leverage and timing. Luckily, I was a dancer when I was younger.” As she pressed play, she giggled silently, and then typed another message, “So, if I get separated from the group, at least I would be able to use this to hopefully buy myself some time. I assume demons aren’t as easy to kill as humans. Buying time is better than dying.”

Anya pressed play on the second message with a shrug and pouty eyes, in her mind playing it smarter rather than harder. She was going to be out in the open with four seasoned hunters and a demon that was on their side. Surely, she wouldn’t be on her own for long. Although, she did remember something that had happened to her dad, before he disappeared and she decided to share it with Nat, giving her a heads up.

“My dad was lured out by the demon at one point. The demon pretended to have my voice and it called out to him. Because it was using nicknames and dad had never heard it, he assumed it was me. It’s crafty. So, I don’t know what other tricks it would have up its sleeve…”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean smiled a bit brighter when Lexi mused at the idea of killing a demon. He wanted to see it. He wanted her to get that high, of being able to stop what they had thought their entire lives were unstoppable. But he still had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, letting her hunt with them at all. He knew that part of it was trauma from losing Mika…twice. He had lost Anna…twice. He had watched everyone he had ever loved die in some horrific way, and the fear of dragging new people that he was attached to into his business scared the hell out of him, hunter or not.

As she stepped away from him, Dean grabbed a few more of the angel blades from their rack and pulled a duffel bag, tossing it on the counter. He shoved the angel blades inside, and then thought about something that Cason had said. The demon could have never given Anya her voice, even if it wanted to. She was basically born without it. It wasn’t some sort of deal that caused it, as far as they knew, which meant that the demons, outside of the crossroads, couldn’t interfere. Only angels and crossroads demons had that kind of juice.

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts and he glanced up, pointing to the shelf that held literally hundreds of gallons of holy water, a dispenser on the bottle at the top. That was Sam’s idea, “Yeah. We kinda keep it on tap. I don’t know why we never thought about it before we had the bunker, but it comes in handy. We can grab some bottles and flasks and at least make sure everyone has plenty with them.”

With a smile, Dean pointed toward the older clay bottles above the water, “And that is Holy Oil. Good for trapping angels. Like I said, we’ve learned a lot…gathered a lot. It’s why we win.”, he said with pride, opening a drawer in front of him. He pulled a few empty metal flasks and then dipped back in for some salt canisters, placing them into the duffel. Cason’s words were still bugging him, and he decided to bring them up, since it was only himself and Lexi in the room.

“Cason mentioned something about demons not having the juice to give Anya her voice back. We don’t think that she believes it’s going to happen when we get there, do we? I mean, from the way she talked, she’s never had a voice. It’s not something she made a deal with…” Dean explained his concerns, hoping that they weren’t going to bring Anya out of this broken and disappointed.

Anna

Anna almost scoffed at Sam’s apology, expecting it to remain so simple, two words that she had wanted to hear since the day he left. But now? The words felt hollow. They felt useless. There was just too much hurt for her to accept an apology from him, but she needed it. Once again, her emotions were tearing her mind apart, and she growled softly, covering her eyes with both hands as she stood in front of him, just trying to process. But as he continued, Anna thought back to how he looked while he was undergoing the trials. A tug of sympathy hit her chest, rumbling up in a bit of anger, as if he was attacking her for being upset…playing on her emotions.

But he was right. During the trials, he was so sick he was seeing things, at times. She was there…the whole time, until he left her. She could still see, in slow motion, his body collapse in front of her when his fever got to the point that it took him out. If Dean hadn’t showed up and helped her drag him into that bathtub of ice, he would have died…visions or no visions.

She nodded absentmindedly, and dropped her hands from her face, staring off toward the foot of the bed with a whispered, “I know…”

As Sam stood from the bed, Anna took a step back and she held out her hand, as if she was fighting him off from touching her. But like always, when he said the words ‘look at me’, she turned her sad blue eyes up to his and she let out a soft sob. She could still see parts of his smile behind his eyes, even though they were full of tears. She could still hear him talking, back when his voice was softer and less broken. The memories just made it harder to look at him, as he began to ramble through all of the ways she could hurt him back, get some sort of revenge.

She shook her head softly. She didn’t want any of those things. She didn’t want any more hurt. She wanted to come home. But was this home, anymore? It felt like home. It smelled like home. Dean’s cheap beer reminded her…of home. She glanced down from his eyes as he picked up her hand and let out a small huff of sad amusement at how perfectly their fingers seemed to intertwine, even after all the time apart. Their heartbeats synced immediately, and Anna shook her head again.

“I don’t know that there’s anything that can make it better.” She whimpered honestly, stepping closer to Sam as she looked up into his eyes. She took a deep breath, and brought her other hand up to place it against his chest, just feeling his identical heartbeat thumping beneath her fingers, “M-maybe one day we can. I can come back, and things can just…work themselves out. A different world…”

After a moment of just letting the proposition linger, Anna stood on her tiptoes and she pressed a feather light kiss against Sam’s lips, falling into the old habits, like clockwork. In a different world, this would be as natural as breathing. For the moment? Falling back into each other’s arms would have to be closure enough…

Anya

Anya was rather happy with the way her conversation with Natalia was going. Nat seemed an open book with those that she trusted, and she seemed to be gaining a bit of Nat’s trust with every bit of conversation. When Nat moved the conversation forward, Anya shrugged at the correction of her assumptions, and she took the knife from Nat, holding it tight in her hand. She simply held it, pointing it at nothing for a moment.

Nat’s explanation on how to hold the knife properly caused Anya to raise her eyebrows, and she adjusted her hand around the knife, mimicking what Nat was teaching. She already felt more confident, just holding a knife properly in a way that would allow her to stab any demon or human that came at her. She almost wished she had learned this earlier, well before meeting the Winchesters.

As Nat offered for Anya to come at her, Anya shook her head at first. She didn’t want to risk hurting Nat, but at the same time, she had to assume that Nat was at least just as fast as her brothers. From what she had gathered from Dean, he was very confident around knives…and guns…and all of it. So, she squared her shoulders with a small nod, changing her mind.

She turned toward Nat, and glanced over Nat’s chest and torso, thinking about her first move. She decided to aim for the center of her chest and she lunged forward, stopping the knife just before it could poke Nat’s shirt or make any contact with her skin. Surely, the path to the heart was right through the center of the chest.

All Roads Lead To You

Dean

Dean caught Esme’s movements from the corner of his eye, as she brought her hand to her chest, fully buying into the mystery and ‘role-play’ quality of both of them wearing masks. A girl after his own heart. The purr of her voice as she spoke sent a bit of a spark down Dean’s spine and he clenched his jaw, tilting his head to the side at her words, especially when she leaned in and he felt her lips against his ears as she spoke. He shuddered, another jolt of electricity shooting down his spine.

Raising his eyebrows, heat building around his collar a bit as she mentioned her ‘boyfriend’, playing into the fantasy of the night even more. In that moment, Dean was tempted to whisk her away, forgetting about the job they were there to do. The way she looked, the sound of her voice, the heat of her touch, it was all coming together to unravel him to his core and honestly? He was falling apart internally at the mental images that rumbled around in his brain.

“See, I’m half tempted to walk you up those stairs, find a nice quiet room and wreck all that pretty makeup…” Dean spoke low, a small smirk on his lips as his lips brushed against her cheek. He then pulled back, just enough to brush his nose against her cheek, and then to look her in they eyes as he kept himself close, “But I’m here on business. After I finish with my business? Oh yeah…screw your husband.”

Dean’s lips curled into a seductive smile, and he brought his lips close enough to brush against hers as he finished his sentence, the urge to kiss her right there in the stairwell making his arms feel like lead, “Wait for me at the bar? I’ll make you forget all about him in no time…”

Duke

Duke spun the lady around, as she began to get to her point, and she leaned in close to his ear, tugging at his earlobe with her teeth, before whispering, “It’s in tender office upstairs. The double doors at the end of the hall. You know what else is there?”

Duke smiled, brushing his hands up her sides gently, until he reached the side of her neck, tilting her head to the side to place little kisses from her ear down to her collar bone.

“A giant…leather…couch, just for us.” She purred, practically melted in his hands. Duke chuckled, and he tilted her head back to look her in the eyes, raising his eyebrows.

“How ‘bout this…” He cooed, cradling her jaw. He brushed his thumb across her lips, smearing a bit of her bright red lipstick as he did so, “I’m gonna go get pictures of it for my boss, and then? I’ll come back and get you, and we will go find my driver. Ever joined the mile high club? Private jet?”

The woman shuddered and she shook her head submissively. So Duke flashed her a wide smile.

“Alright. Then you go get you a drink, and we’ll see about fixin’ that problem.” Duke cooed to her once again, pinching the tip of her chin, before he quickly unwrapped himself from her and began weaving his way back through the crowd. His neck and cheek were covered in red lipstick, but he had the info, and Dean would hopefully be happy with that. If it was that easy to get to the women in the mansion, Duke might eek out a good night, after all. Stepping back up to Dean and Esme, he paused, letting Dean finish…whatever it was they were doing. Then he cleared his throat and stepped closer to them.

“The necklace is upstairs in the big office. Double doors, end of the hallway.” Duke announced proudly, absentmindedly placing a hand on Esme’s lower back as Dean pulled his face back from hers, but stayed close to her. Duke and Dean shared a glance over her shoulder and then Dean turned his eyes back to Esme’s.

“Wait for me? I’ll be back in no time.” Dean started, but Duke tilted his head and sighed uncomfortably.

“Man, I think it’s gonna take both of us, at least at first. I need to get us in, and then you can work your magic.”

“And why exactly do ‘you’ need to get us in?” Dean asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Because I’m the one who’s taking home the owner’s ex wife.” Duke beamed, tipping his hat at Dean, who’s eyes widened, before he and Duke laughed like teenagers. Dean shrugged his shoulders and he turned his eyes down to Esme.

“Alright. Will you be okay? Grab a drink. We’ll be back and then it’s fun for the rest of the night. Promise.” Dean asked her, his green eyes screaming from the dark color of his mask as he scanned her eyes. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Duke pressed a tight kiss to the side of Esme’s cheek, and he jogged up the stairs, getting to work before Dean could ever step away.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

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…”

A bit later

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.

Cason and Castiel - A Bit Later

“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.

Anna

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

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.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Castiel

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

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

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

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.”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean decided to drop the conversation about Natalia as soon as he saw Lexi’s smile drop. She definitely didn’t seem to want to talk about it anymore, and he was happy to let it go, if it would ease ANY of the tension in the bunker. As she stepped inside and picked up one of the angel blades, Dean shoved his hands in his pockets and he just watched, having to chuckle as she commented on the craftsmanship of the blade.

“They are pretty nice. It’s the dicks that carry them I don’t care for as much.” Dean chuckled, shaking his head. Hearing that her fiancé’s nerdiness for swords and blades rubbed off on Lexi just made him tilt his head back with a smirk that said ‘interesting’. He walked a little closer, picking up one of the blades and spinning it on his palm, “And if you’ve picked up on a few things, then that means you’re good with one of these. I would say that comes way…way in handy in this line of work.”

He held the blade up in the light, watching the way the light flickered onto the wall next to him and then he turned his eyes back up to Lexi with a bright smile, “And you wanna know the best part? These things? They can kill demons. Not smoke ‘em out. Not send ‘em back to Hell…kill them. Dead as they would be if we shot them with the Colt. Hell, they can kill anything, and we have a ton of them, one for each of us.”

Anna

Anna tilted her head, dropping Sam’s hand as she placed her hands on her hips and listened to him explain that he was as good as could be expected. She was genuinely glad to hear it, although she did wonder if things would have been easier for him to handle Dean’s grief and binge drinking if she had come home. She was good with Dean, after some healing between them. Maybe she could have kept him off that ledge, but at least he seemed good for the moment. He seemed almost healthier than when they dropped her off.

“I’ve been good.” She replied when he complimented her, but quickly he started explaining himself, and Anna took a deep breath, not quite sure how to handle Sam actually talking. They normally didn’t talk. They just…let the past sit there, festering until the next awkward moment. Around and around that bend. He had also never stated that he might have been wrong, which took Anna aback. He was saying everything she had wanted to hear from him for months, but never thought he would say out loud. But as he continued speaking, Anna’s heart plummeted. He was protecting her after she had died. It made her feel like dying was an inconvenience, like if she could have prevented it somehow, he wouldn’t have left. He would still be hers. She would still be home.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that things have been stable, or normal.” Anna started, sniffling as she began to pace back and forth, slowly in front of him. She took a deep breath, pushing down the anger that suddenly began to bubble up, now that they were spilling their guts to one another, “I mean, unless you count Duke having to sit with me until dawn most nights, right after you left, because I woke up screaming for you. I still dream about you. I dream about the look on your face, while the light faded from my eyes. I saw your face. Did I ever tell you that? I watched you, until the very end…”

Anna’s voice broke, and she let out a soft sob, gritting her teeth, “And I was there for you, through everything. Dean even promised me, and you know he doesn’t make promises…he promised me you would come back. He promised that he would come get me, and yet here we are. I get it. You were scared. You were scared you were going to watch me die, or that I was going to have to live without you but all you did was make me have panic attacks every time the phone rang…”

Anna stopped and she squatted for a moment, collecting herself by pushing her hair back from her face and wiping both her hands over her cheeks to try and reign in some of her emotions. Standing to her feet again, she sniffled and turned back to Sam, holding her hand out.

“Did you stop and think for one second about what I might have wanted? That maybe I was scared too, and all I wanted was to be there for you? Or that maybe after everything we have been through together that I could handle what was coming? Or did you just…think of yourself without so much as speaking to me about what you were feeling. That’s not you, Sam.”

She pointed a finger at Sam’s face, and then went quiet for a moment, beginning to pace again as she grappled with the confused emotions that were rumbling around in her brain. Part of her hated Sam for what he did to her, and the other part of her just wanted him to tell her to come home and they could start over like nothing had ever happened…

Anya

Anya hadn’t heard the entire story of Mika and Dean’s relationship, but she knew that Mika had been close with the Winchester’s entire group. From what Anya knew, they had all split up after her death, in one way or another. So, hearing that Dean had known Mika forever, Anya’s eyes softened into a sad frown. She could tell that Dean was still struggling his way back to normal, or at least whatever was normal for him. But thinking of him being so worse off that those closest to him would fear he was going to kill himself, Anya couldn’t help the pit that formed in her stomach.

Anya changed her face back to a neutral smirk as Natalia mentioned that she was actually happy to have a mole on the inside. She nodded, and pulled her phone, typing a quick, “Ask me anything. I’m an open book. But I might have some questions too…about Sam.”

When Natalia asked her if she knew how to use a knife, Anya typed another message, letting it play, before sliding her phone in her back pocket and out of the way, “I assume you just stab them with the pointy end and hope for the best. But I also assume there’s more to it than that, or you wouldn’t have me in a muddy field to teach me how to do it right. So, I’m your student. Show me…and let’s talk.”