CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"This devil's trap is old Enochian. He's bound completely." Cas is saying as Dean and the girls look at a demon through a small window on a door.

"Fascinating." Dean says as he grabs the twins and pulls them with him. "Where's the door?"

"Where are you going?"

"Hitch back to Cheyenne, thank you very much. Then I'm taking them home."

Uriel suddenly shows up in front of them, after they walk past him, and Dean moves the girls behind him. "Angels are dying, boy." He says.

"Everybody's dying these days." He says, and Nyx and Elena look at each other. "And, hey, I get it. You're all-powerful. You can make me do whatever you want, but you can't make me do this." He looks at Cas over the girls' heads.

"This is too much to ask. I know." Cas says as he walks over to them. "But we have to ask it."

"Okay. Hey, hi." Nyx raises her hand. "The little pawn that's literally getting dragged around by everyone would like a few answers please. Like why the hell Dean can get answers out of a demon when you holier than thou angelic soldiers can't. Or why mine and Elena's brains felt like they were in a frying pan yesterday after I brought her back to life." She looks at each of the three men. "Someone? Anyone? Please?"

"Can I explain the first part to you later, please?" Dean asks, and she looks up at him.

"Well, that depends, will you actually do it?"

"Yes."

"Okay." She nods. "The next one?" She looks between Uriel and Cas.

"Yeah, I'd kinda like an answer to that one too." Elena agrees.

"That burn..." Cas starts, and they turn to him. "It was a link forming between your minds — making you more powerful."

"Meaning what, exactly? We should stay out of graveyards?" Nyx asks.

"We know what Anna told you."

"Mm. Right, Anna." She nods. "You know, I actually kinda liked her. Too bad she's one of you douche-nozzles again."

"I think I'm done with questions for now. I don't really like the answers." Elena says as she leans against the table next to her.

"Chicken." Nyx says, and her sister narrows her eyes at her.

"Well, excuse me for not being used to angels and demons. This is all still pretty new to me." She says, and her sister shrugs.

"I want to talk to Cas alone." Dean says as he looks at Uriel.

"Ooh, I like that idea." Nyx says.

"Dude, what's gotten into you?" Elena asks, and she simply shrugs again.

"I think I'll go seek...revelation." Uriel says, gaining their attention. "We might have further orders."

"Well, get some donuts while you're out." Dean tells him, and Nyx chuckles, but stops when Uriel does too.

"Ah, these two just don't quit, do they? I think I'm starting to like you." He says, and Nyx's face scrunches in disgust.

"Don't like me. Ever." She says, and he disappears.

"You guys don't walk enough." Dean says as he turns to Cas. "You're gonna get flabby."

"Tough crowd." Nyx mutters when Cas just looks at him.

"You know, I'm starting to think junkless has a better sense of humor than you do."

"Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison. Ask anyone."

"Oh, that explains so much." Nyx nods, and her sister chuckles as she looks at her.

"What's going on, Cas?" Dean asks as he takes a step toward him. "Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?"

"My superiors have begun to question my sympathies."

"Your sympathies?"

"I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You, the girls." He says, and the girls both stand up straight and turn to face him. "They feel I've begun to express emotions, the doorways to doubt."

"Like when you apologized for threatening to kill Jeremy?" Nyx asks, and he nods.

"Yes." He turns away from them. "This can impair my judgement."

"Well, tell Uriel or whoever... You do not want me doing this." Dean says as he walks past him and looks at the demon on the other side of the door. "Trust me."

"Want it? No. But I've been told we need it."

"You ask me to open that door and walk through it... You will not like what walks back out." He tells him, and Nyx can hear the strain in his voice.

"Oh my God." She mutters, and his head turns in her direction. "Your nightmares, the reason they want you to do this... Alistair said that you had promise."

"What's going on?" Elena asks as she looks between the three of them.

"Nothing." She shakes her head. "Because he is not going in there. Cas, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"For what it's worth... I would give anything not to have him do this." The angel says.

"Then grow a pair and tell your superiors to shove it." Nyx says, and Cas looks at her. "Or tell me why I'm here so that I can do it."

"No." Dean turns to look at her. "You are not going anywhere near him."

"Cas, why are Elena and I here?" She asks, ignoring him.

"Magic already exists within the blood of the Petrova doppelganger." He says, and she nods.

"Yeah, we learned that. Klaus, Qetsiyah, Silas, a lot of really annoying Travelers. Skip forward to today, will you?"

"By having two of you, you will be able to access that magic on your own. But it creates something more. It's difficult to explain." Cas says, and the twins look at each other.

"Wait, so... Nyx has been right this whole time? We're two halves of what was supposed to be one doppelganger?" Elena asks. "Us being twins — that really is some cosmic—"

"Mistake is the word I've been using." Nyx says. "We were created for some centuries old angelic prophecy?" She questions.

"Not angels. Heaven." He says. "You are not like us, though you do hold some similarities."

"The healing." She mutters. "But what's with the bringing vampires back to life as humans?"

"A sort of...rebirth." He says. "You're able to access the magic now because it was magnified through your death and resurrection. And now you're both human."

"And you're saying that we're...heaven's creation?" Elena questions.

"And you want us to help get information out of the hell spawn." Nyx scoffs. "We were never gonna be normal. That's nice."

"So, what do you need us to do?"

"Nothing." Dean interrupts, looking at the twins. "You two are not going in there."

"That's not your decision." Nyx says as she looks at him. "I know you think that I can't protect myself, but you're wrong."

"No, you're wrong." He says as he walks over to her. "I know damn well that you can take care of yourself. I taught you everything that I knew, and you only got better every day after that. You have been kidnapped a ridiculous number of times, but you have gotten out every time. I've seen you fight, I know just how well you can hold your own. And after every punch and every loss that you have taken, you are still standing here trying to protect everyone but yourself. The reason that I'm so protective of you isn't because I think that you can't protect yourself... It's because in the nearly thirty years that I've been alive, you and our kids are the best things that have ever happened to me. I don't protect you because I think you're weak, I do it because you're important to me. And I can't live without you in my life, Nyx. I just can't."

She doesn't know what to say to that, so she doesn't say anything. Her jaw tightens as she looks up at him, and she takes a deep breath before looking at her sister.

—

"His voice is annoying." Elena says as she and her sister lean against the wall by the room's entrance. They're in the room with Alistair now, and Dean has tools to torture him.

Nyx chuckles as she looks over at her younger sister. "You've spent far too much time around me." She says. "You should really be more careful. You're supposed to be the light to my darkness." She smirks at her.

"I remember you." Alistair says, looking at the twins. "One of you was there that day with the angels. In the barn."

"You got one chance. One." Dean says, wanting to take the demon's attention away from the girls. "Tell me who's killing the angels. I want a name."

"You think I'll see all your scary toys and spill my guts?" Alistair questions.

"Oh, you'll spill your guts, one way or another." He tells him. "I just didn't want to ruin my shoes."

"Well..."

"Now, answer the question."

"Or what? You'll work me over?" Alistair asks. "But then, maybe... You don't want to. Maybe... You're a-scared too." He hums.

"Why does he sing so much?" Elena whispers to Nyx.

"Shh." Her sister glares.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Dean asks, trying not to focus on the girls.

"Not entirely. You left part of yourself back in the pit." Alistair says, and Nyx pushes herself off of the wall. Elena grabs her arm, and she stays where she's standing. "Let's see if we can...get the two of you back together again, shall we?" He continues, and Elena lets go of her sister when she feels that she won't do anything rash.

Dean makes a clicking noise with his mouth as he turns away from the demon. "You're gonna be disappointed." He tells him.

"You have not disappointed me so far." He says. "Come on. You got to want a little payback after everything I did to you — for all those pokes and prods. Hm? No?" His questions are making both of the twins angry as they listen. "Then... How about for all the things I did to your Daddy? Had your pop on my rack for close to a century."

"Can't stall forever." Dean says from where he's working on something with all of the torture tools that he brought in.

"John Winchester — made quite a name for himself. A hundred years. And after each session, I'd make him the same offer I made you. I'd put down my blade if he picked one up." He says, and Elena's watching the reactions of both Dean and Nyx.

"Just give me the demon's name, Alistair."

Dean doesn't seem too affected, but Nyx is getting angry as she listens to Alistair.

"But... He said, nein." Alistair chuckles, he doesn't seem to be listening to Dean at all. "Each and every time. Damned if I couldn't break him." He says as Dean shrugs out of his jacket. "Pulled out all the stops. But John — he was...made of something unique. The stuff of heroes. And then came Dean."

"You really do like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Nyx asks.

"Mm, Dean Winchester. I thought I was up against it again." He continues, not acknowledging her. Dean takes a drink out of his whiskey bottle. "But Daddy's little girl — he broke. He broke in thirty. Just not the man your Daddy wanted you to be, huh, Dean?"

"What kind of a man would want their son to withstand torture?" Elena questions, and she looks at Dean when he starts slamming things down on the table in front of him.

"Now... Now, we're getting somewhere." He says, smiling at how bothered Dean clearly is by his words. "Holy water? Come on!" He seems annoyed with what Dean's putting together. "Grasshopper, you're gonna have to get creative to impress me."

"I have a few ideas." Nyx mutters as she and her sister look at each other, both of them angry at this point.

"You know something, Alistair?" Dean speaks up, gaining their attention. "I could still dream, even in hell. And over and over and over, when I wasn't dreaming about my girl, you know what I dreamt? I dreamt of this moment. And believe me... I got a few ideas." He says as he fills a syringe with the holy water and then walks back over to the demon. "Let's get started."