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- Third-person point of view -
Lilly-Mae had been drowning in sorrow, but no one saw her struggle. After weeks of heavy emotions gushing down her lungs, she had sunk to the very bottom of the deep blue sea. The lowest point of her life had led her straight into Lucifer's hands, surrounded by nothing but raging hell flames as she was doomed to suffer for eternity.
June second, two thousand and eleven. The Angel of Thursday sat on the backseat of the Impala, his head once again replaying everything that had happened that one night as he stared out into the darkness.
Almost ten months ago Lilly had walked straight into the cage on his watch, and he still had not forgiven himself for it. After all that time, not a single one of them could believe they didn't see it at the time. Everything the Prince of Darkness had done to her had Lucifer written all over it. If only she talked—if only she had come running into their arms from the first time she laid her eyes on that deer skull.
Dean's conversation with his younger brother sounded like static to the angel's ears as he imagined Lilly's face vividly. Her bright smile, her beautiful eyes. His eyes lowered down to his body as he felt that strange feeling going through him again. Something warm and comforting. Cas's gaze was focused on his chest as he made sure nothing bright was shining from underneath his skin because that's exactly how it felt. He wished he could label it, the feeling. He wanted to be able to describe it down to the smallest of details, but couldn't. The only thing he did know was that it was attached to Lilly and since she had left his side that very place where that feeling was located, felt empty more often than not. Like a void, as if the day she hooked her pinky into his, she had taken something from him and could only feel it when being close to her, or remembering her bright soul.
Even though it had been ten months since she had entered hell, it had not been that long since the angel last saw her. For almost eight months he guarded her, or at least tried. He hadn't left the cage since it all went down, staying by her side every second of the way.
He watched her being tortured, being abused, and manipulated in every way possible. Lucifer tried his hardest to get out of her what he wanted, but without success. Castiel was by her side, the only thing keeping them separated the thick warded metal bars of the cage.
"Open it!"
Lucifer's roaring went through Cas's head, making him flinch slightly as he remembered the power behind his words. He wanted Lilly to open a rift so he could simply walk out, but she wasn't stupid. Or just maybe, she was. Putting her own sanity on the line to defend a corrupted, selfish species that would do as he asked in a heartbeat if they stood in her shoes.
Nothing but rage and pain flowed through the blue-eyed angel for what felt like eighty years, because time works differently down in the pit.
Meanwhile topside, the brothers tried finding a way to free Lilly without giving Satan himself an invitation to join her. Time was limited, however. They knew Lilly would break at some point because anyone would. Not a single soul could process the stuff Lucifer put her through. Castiel himself was on the verge of losing his mind just by having to watch, let alone go through it himself.
