Hellmouths are for Lovers

Chapter Twenty

In the blink of an eye, Sam ungracefully slammed against the wall, collapsing into a heap as he slumped to the floor, and Castiel's hand clamped onto Ruby's neck. As their eyes met, rage and darkness swirled inside Castiel's eyes and Ruby tried to fight. A white, searing light filled Willow, burning the demon from inside, much like Buffy had done to Lilith. As she felt her soul, or whatever demons had, fracture and corrode away, she lamented for the beautiful dark world she had fought to bring forth, and shed a tear that she would never walk in it.

Free of the demon, Willow fell to her knees at Castiel's feet as the others spilled into the room. Sliding to a full throttle stop on his knees, stopping at her side, Dean lifted Buffy into his hand to inspect the damage.

"We must leave," Cas interrupted, "It will begin shortly."

There were no heartfelt I love you's exchanged. No grandiose, time stopping movie-esque goodbye kiss. Just Buffy's limp form cradled in his arms, unresponsive despite his shaking and calling of her name. She was gone before he could even touch her skin, meet her eyes, kiss her lips. Eyes wide, mouth slack, he fought the pressure compounding in his chest and head from reeling emotion so that she could think straight. But, no matter how rational he tried to be, only one answer came to him. There was only one way to fix this.

"Bring her back," Dean said in a small, broken voice that scared them all more than any fierce outburst.

"Dean..." Castiel protested, urgency in his tone.

"I said... BRING HER BACK!" Dean's rage exploded at a nuclear level.

"I'm still very weak from the sigil, Dean. I can save Buffy, or I can get us to safety," Cas countered, "We must leave."

"Save her," Dean threatened darkly, using the only real leverage he had, "or, I'll say yes."

"Listen to reason you stupid, Son of a Bitch!" Bobby barked, grabbing Dean by his collar sternly, "Ain't no time. We gotta leave!"

The blood was forming recognizable patterns on the floor beneath their feet.

"Michael!" Dean shouted, straining against Bobby's grip, holding his head towards the ceiling.

"You left me no choice," Cas replied, and placed his hand on Dean's head.

"Dean Winchester says yuh..."

Fallling on top of Buffy, Cas knew he would suffer Dean's wrath when he returned to the land of the living. But, Cas had mere seconds before the inevitable, and the wrath of an angry Winchester brother was still less than that of Lucifer, even if only slightly.

"Keep hold of Dean," Cas instructed to Bobby, then spun around to speak to the others scattered about him, "Leave no one behind—everyone take someone's hand, help the incapacitated," people moved swiftly in all directions, lifting the dead weight of unconscious bodies, or quickly reaching for hands, and Cas directed his attention to Giles, "Moving this many will drain my grace—I will watch over her here. You need to return so that you may watch over her there. Make sure she understands what she must do."

Nodding, Giles indicated he understood, and glanced back to the collapsed forms of Dean and Buffy. Unconsciously, Dean had protectively draped himself over Buffy when he had fallen to the floor, and Giles knew what he had to ask of Buffy was going to be cruel. In the time it took the others to find each other, he had already faded into nothing without the notice of anyone.

"Dawn!" Xander shouted when his hand moved through open air behind him reaching out for his wife, "C'mon!"

Something had averted Dawn's eyes, "Wait!"