Chapter 25

Brooklyn

Dean, Sam, Rowena, and I are all inside of an old church that is half abandoned. Dean and I are spray-painting warding's onto the floor while Sam holds a wooden cross. Rowena lurks in the background with her spell ready.

Finishing up, I let out a loud sigh, "I hate this," I said as Dean stands next to me, looking at our work.

"Yeah, me too."

Sam spoke up, "Where the hell is Crowley? I mean, we're essentially all set up."

Dean tossed the spray can, "Yeah, I mean, he's the one that boxed us into doing this. You'd think he'd have the decency to..."

"Show up?" We all turned, seeing Crowley standing there with the horn in his hands. "He does. Because without the bait, well... a trap really isn't a trap, is it?"

I can't help but scuff and point to the Horn, "That's it? Doesn't look like much, does it?"

"First impressions can be deceiving, little Brooklyn. Look at you," He nods towards me.

"I'd rather you didn't," Dean said, making any smile on Crowley's face fall as he looks at Dean.

"You know what I mean!"

Dean waved his words away and walked over, taking the horn from Crowley, "For the record, we still think this is a bad idea. We should be using Lucifer, not icing him."

"I'm well aware after Brooklyn's little firework moment," Crowley said, gesturing over towards me. "So I'll be standing right here should you hesitate. The hand that giveth can so quickly taketh away."

"Yes, we getteth it," Dean said and walked over, setting the horn in one of the pews.

Crowley made his way towards his mother who smiled devilishly at her son, "So, Mummy, you never did say exactly where you'd been this whole time."

"Same as you, Fergus. Hiding. Once the Dark Prince knew I was alive, I wouldn't be."

"No mucking about like last time. The warding and the holy fire won't keep an archangel but for a moment. If he shows up at all."

Dean noddd, "Oh, he'll show. He's too hungry to take Amara out, and we've got the blaster to do it."

"Who's to say he wants her dead?" Crowley asked?

"That's why we're using me," I said, taking a knife and cutting my hand before dripping some of the blood into a bowl. "Lucifer's always had a little "thing" for me and if he senses that I'm the one asking, he'll show, even if it's just for a show."

Pulling out a hanky, Dean takes my hand and ties it around the wound, making me smile slightly. Once finished, I step off a little bit while Dean tosses a match into the potion to begin the spell. Thunder crashes outside and we all look around, on guard. Rowena leaves the room to hide behind a near-by door, still able to see us. Lucifer suddenly appears, standing on the painted warding.

"Sam, now!" Dean yelled.

Sam lights a match and drops it onto the holy oil, which lights into a ring of fire around Lucifer. He is trapped. He smirks and looks from the fire to me, making me swallow my fear as best as I can.

"Hi ya, Brooklyn," Lucifer smirks at me, giving me a small wave. Dean, out of habit, stands and lightly steps in my direction, pulling Lucifer's attention from me to him. Lucifer continues though and gestures towards the circle, "I'm sorry. Your prayer implied that I'd be... joining the team, but I'm just not feeling the warm and fuzzy here."

"There's some fire for the warmth, touch your head if you want fuzzy," I said with a smirk.

Lucifer slipped his hands in Cas' trench coat pockets, smirking. Even in Cas' body, that smirk still sends chills up my back. "Oh, I love this new side of you Brooklyn. All tough and fearless. Though your wedding said something a little different."

"So he was invited!" Crowley yelled, gesturing towards Lucifer as he looked at Dean and me.

"Can if Crowley!" Dean and I say at the same time.

We notice Lucifer's eyes looking away from us and to the Horn on the pew. "Wow. There it is. Powered up by Dad himself. Well, that bad boy plus me... That ought to take her out all right." He claps and rubs his hands together in glee, "Let's get to it. Douse the flames."

No one moves or says anything, causing Lucifer to hold his breath, "Or don't?"

Dean cuts his hand and presses it against a spell etched on the wall. Lucifer starts to shake, as Castiel wakes inside him. "Cas! Castiel, show yourself!"

Cas starts to come back, breathing heavily as he looks up, "Dean?"

"Cas."

"What are you doing? What's... What's going on?"

I speak up, grabbing his attention, "Cas, listen. We don't have a whole lot of time. You have got to-" Before I can finish, Cas writhes and shakes as Lucifer regains control.

"Cas!" I yell, but Lucifer is still returning.

"Castiel, show yourself!" Dean orders again.

We paused, watching Cas look at the ground for a moment before laughing with glee and raising his head, revealing Lucifer as returned. "Whoo! Uh, he's got to what? You kids... ooh, you almost had me there for a minute, but these mail-order spells... they're just not what they're cracked up to be, are they?"

Panic starts to set in and Dean yells, "Cas, expel him! You got to kick Lucifer out! Do you hear me?!"

Lucifer shrugged, "Honestly, I think he's happy with the arrangement. I mean, he did invite me in and all." He nods towards the Horn, "Hand over the weapon. What do you say? Or we can just wait for this warding to fail and I'll take it."

As if on cue, the spell starts to die down and the warding begins to fail.

"Tic Tock kidos," Lucifer smirks.

Suddenly, Crowley smokes out of his meat-suit and enters Lucifer, causing his body to slump back into a chair and Cas' to go limp, standing.

We all stand there, looking astonished at what just happened. I guess if anyone can bring back Cas in a fit of anger, it's Crowley. But he's also one to piss off Lucifer more, so I guess 50/50.

We're stuck in a wait as we either sit in a pew or pace. It isn't until Sam speaks do we finally pull our attentions away from whatever our minds are thinking.

"You know, he's been gone a long time. I mean, what do you think is going on?"

"Probable nothing good. I mean, Cas asked for this so he may not want to leave. And who's to say Lucifer isn't pulling his strings?"

Dean and Sam, look at each other, nervous.

Rowena suddenly speaks up from the back and points to the ring of fire. "Can't you people do anything right?! Whilst all this dithering goes on, we're losing time! Look... the warding's beginning to fail."

Sure enough, the fire is diming to practically nothing at this point.

Suddenly, the sound of sizzling is heard and we all turn to the source which is Crowley's body. Burnt into his forehead reads the words, "Help me".

"Guess the big bad demon couldn't do it alone after all," I say as Sam runs and recites a spell by memory while holding the cross up to Lucifer. Dean tosses holy water onto Lucifer as Sam continues the chant. Suddenly, red smoke exits from Lucifer and Crowley is back in his own meat-suit, gasping awake.

"Crowley," I say, hope in my voice.

Shaking his head, Crowley stands shakenly for a moment. Whatever wounds he had are now healed. "Useless. Lucifer's hold on him is too strong."

"The fire!" Rowena yells before quickly hiding again.

As we look at the fire, it vanishes and an irritated Lucifer stands there, "Ah. Trick me? You lied to me. You know, I could have been your warrior." He suddenly smiles devilishly at us, "Ah. Who needs ya?"

Quickly, Crowley vanishes, leaving us alone once again.

"Well. It's just like Crowley to leave right when the party's getting started." Lucifer turns to Dean, Sam, and I, "Have a seat." He motions and, without control, we are forced into chairs, unable to move. "As much as I get a giggle out of you three, and I do, there comes a time when every relationship has... run its course. So..."

Lucifer closes his fist and I start to hear choking, making me look at Sam and Dean to see them struggling and gasping for breath. "Lucifer stop this!" I yell, gripping my chair tightly.

Suddenly, whatever force that was holding me vanishes and I'm quick to grab the holy water. I'm about to throw it on Lucifer when his free hand throws me harshly through the wall of the church and into the night sky. My body hits hard onto the ground and I can already feel the cuts and small stabs of the wood on my skin.

I fight my eyes that want to close and instead I turn and look up at the parked Impala. My eyes squint together and I'm sure my mind is playing tricks on me as I notice Amara walking towards the church.

"Amara?" I whisper, confused.

Amara walks over to me, pausing to look at me before walking through the hole I created.

One of my angles, if not both, are defiantly sprained and I the pain in my ribs tells me I have a few broken ribs. None the less, I push myself up to a sitting position and manage to shift and shimmy myself to the hole, looking through it at the scene inside.

Lucifer has the Horn in his hands and Dean and Sam are still locked to their chairs. Amara is standing, watching Lucifer as he holds up the Horn of Joshua. It glows red as he absorbs its power. His eyes turn white and he conjures a ball of fire into his other hand. He aims it at Amara, throwing it as a beam of white light engulfs her. But then, the light dies down to nothing and Amara remains standing, without a scratch. She lifts her hand and draws Lucifer effortlessly towards her. He drops the Horn of Joshua in shock and his face forms a look of fear.

"I think you and I need to have a nice, long chat, nephew."

"Brooke!" Yells towards me, making me look over at him.

Amara turns to look at Dean before raising her hand and releasing Dean and Sam from Lucifer's grip. Dean is quick to run to me, looking me over. He notices the blood that is dripping from different parts of my body and even I'm surprised I'm still conscious.

Suddenly there is the sound of a snap and my body glows for a moment before fading, revealing all my wounds and broken bones have been healed. It takes Dean and me a moment before we notice Amara starring at us and lowering her hand.

She healed me.

There is a blinding flash of light, which envelops Amara and Lucifer and causing all of us to cover our eyes. Once the light has vanished, we turn to find both of them gone.

Dean takes one of my arms and helps me up while Sam reaches over the broken wood and helps me over it with Dean to follow right behind. The three of us stand together, looking over at Rowena who walks out with the same look we have on.

Disbelief.

With the plan a bust, once again, we find ourselves heading back to the Bunker while Rowena drifts off on her own.

Dean and I sit at the map table while Sam walks off, returning with beers. We drink a few before Dean reaches from his spot next to me, laying his hand on my thigh, "How you feeling?"

"Well, the pounding headache as turned into a nice buzz," I say with a smile.

Sam smiles slightly at my words before sighing, "So, Rowena and Crowley... like mother, like son, huh? They both took exactly one split second to take off when things started going south."

"Yep," Dena agreed.

"I'll be honest I thought Lucifer had a shot. Apparently, uh, archangel plus God power doesn't trump God's sister."

Dean thought for a second, "But if the thing has to be used by God's chosen, then maybe an archangel who got the boot doesn't qualify. Either way, horn's out of ammo, so..."

"So, back to square one," I say.

"Yep," Dean agreed, all of us taking a swig of our beer at the same time.

There is a small moment of silence before Sam speaks up again. "Listen, um... I know I came down on the side of wanting Cas to deal with Amara, so..."

Dean stopped his brother, "Well, that's what he wanted, though, right? Besides, didn't we say that we were gonna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other doesn't agree with?"

"Yeah, um... Yeah, we did say that."

"So..."

"Okay. So, that's our policy."

"Which sounds damn good."

At his words, Sam chuckles and nods in agreement.

"Aw, look at my boys, making up," I say, throwing my arms around both of their shoulders and kissing both of their cheeks.

Sam chuckles at the action, "I think you're a little more than buzzed."

Removing my arms, I say, "Well, we're not starting work again till tomorrow, so tonight I'm having fun." I stand and push the chair away before walking towards the hallway. I stop and turn to Dean, smirking, "Coming, Dean?"

Dean doesn't waste a second before he's racing to stand and follow me, "Yup, right behind you!"

"And what about me?" Sam asked?

"Ah, you, wait there. I'll be back," Dean said, holding up a finger.

"Maybe!" I yell, before Dean grabs me and half lifts me up in a fit of laughs as we rush to our bedroom.

I love those cute moments at the end with Dean and Brooke. Their so damn cute together! I wish she was on the show!!!