Fight Fire With Fire

36. Open Arms

[Alpha and Omega]

;)

In the power plant, everyone was unconscious on the floor. Sam went over to Dean and Natalia and helped them up.

Dean grunted. "Check on him."

Sam kneeled next to Chuck. "Hey. Chuck?"

Dean and Natalia knelt next to Castiel and each put a hand on his shoulder. Castiel stirred and looked up at Dean and Natalia. "Dean. Natalia."

"Cas? Hey, is that you?" Dean asked.

Sam asked Chuck, "Hey, can you hear me?"

Chuck woke up and rolled onto his back, groaning and scrunching his face in pain.

"Lucifer is gone," Castiel informed. "Amara ripped him from my body."

Azrael let out a relieved sigh. "I'm so glad to hear."

"To where?" Natalia wondered.

"I don't know."

Dean and Natalia helped Castiel up. "Come on."

Castiel, Azrael, Natalia and Dean walked over to where Sam was kneeling next to Chuck.

Sam asked, "Are you, uh... H-How do you feel?"

"Ohh." Chuck groaned. "You know when you're driving and a bug hits your windshield? I'm the bug."

"So, what Amara said about you..."

"Dying. Yeah, whatever she did to me, I can feel my spark, my light fading. And when it's gone..."

"Okay, well, t-tell us how to fix you," Dean said.

"You can't. I-I-I suppose she could, maybe, but that's never gonna happen."

A door slammed in the background followed by footsteps. Dean and Natalia stood, pulled out their guns, and pointed them in the direction of the sounds. Chuck was hanging on to Sam as they all looked expectantly at the door.

Rowena walked into the room. "So that was a gun in your pockets."

"Well... that was a complete and utter dog's breakfast, wasn't it?" Crowley replied.

Castiel frowned. "I didn't know dogs had breakfast."

"Cas is back," Dean and Natalia stated.

"Just curious — has anyone bothered to look outside?" Rowena asked.

There was a siren wailing in the distance as the door to the power plant opened and Rowena, Dean, Sam, Chuck, Castiel, Azrael, Natalia and Crowley walked outside. They were looking around as Rowena tapped Dean and Natalia on the shoulder, turning them around and pointed to the sky. They all looked up and saw the sun burning brightly. The sky around it was bright red/orange, as if it was on fire.

"What is it?" Dean and Natalia asked.

"It looks like the sun is—" Sam began.

"Dying," Castiel and Azrael finished.

Natalia frowned. "Why would Amara do that?"

"The sun is the source of all life on earth. Without it, everything just... just wastes away."

"Let's get the hell out of here," Dean decided.

Chuck snapped his fingers and they were all transported to the War Room in the bunker.

"You," Crowley said.

"Still got a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm not dead y..." Chuck pulled away from Sam's support only to collapse against him again.