"Fruit from the tree of life. Blood of a most holy man." Rowena says, getting the ingredients for the spell to open the rift out.
"Dean." Sam calls getting his brother's attention and Sam tosses him a pack of glow sticks.
Rowena pulls a hair out of Dean's head.
"Ow." He whines.
"Something from the other side." Rowena puts his hair into the bowl.
"Hey. How's Gabriel?" Sam asks Cas when he walks in.
"He said he needed a minute alone. He wanted to extract his grace by himself. "In private."" Cas says. "So I left him alone in Dean's room."
"You what? No." Dean complains. Sam and Larissa share amused looks.
"I hate to interrupt, but I can't be the only one to notice the rather glaring hole in our plan." Rowena says. "We open up the rift, it gives us a day to find and save your mom and the boy. And it's a very big world over there and you're not even sure where they are, so..."
"She's right. The clock may run out on us." Cas says.
"Yeah. It might." Sam agrees.
"Yeah, well, we don't have any better ideas." Dean says.
"Mm, that's inspirational." Rowena remarks.
"Here it is!" Gabriel walks in. "The final ingredient -- a fresh serving of archangel grace." He puts a vial on the table. Rowena picks it up, the group looking at the small amount of grace in there that doesn't even fill up half of the vial.
"This is what you call a serving?" Rowena asks.
"That is the jet fuel of divine emissions. It'll be more than enough to get the job done." Gabriel says.
~ ~ ~
Rowena prepares the spell, everybody getting ready to go through the rift when she opens it. She recites the spell and the rift appears.
"Okay, everyone ready?" Cas asks.
"Yeah, all right." Sam says.
"Let's do this." Dean says.
They move towards the rift, but stop when it flickers. It slowly starts to fall sideways, everybody's heads falling with it until it completely disappears.
"Okay." Dean mutters.
"Wow." Larissa mumbles.
"Well, that was... fast." Cas says.
"Very, very fast." Sam says.
"One could even say premature." Rowena comments.
"Um... I thought it would be enough." Gabriel defends.
"All right, great. What do we do now?" Sam asks.
"The hell if I know." Dean says.
"You do know. We all do." Cas says.
"We need archangel grace. Gabriel's obviously running a little low and we don't know how long it'll take him to recover. So that leaves exactly one source on earth."
"No." Sam objects, shaking his head.
"I don't like it either, but there is no other way." Cas says. "We need Lucifer."
~ ~ ~
Sam, Larissa, Dean, and Cas are in the kitchen. Dean is leaning against the counter, Cas is leaning against the table, Larissa is sitting on the table, and Sam is sitting on the steps.
"Obviously, I want to get mom and Jack back. It's all I want. It's all I can think about. But we've been down this road before." Sam says. "Teaming up with Lucifer--"
"We're not teaming up with him." Dean tells his brother.
"We just need his grace." Cas says.
"Oh, "just."" Sam remarks, rolling his eyes.
"We've trapped his ass before." Dean says.
"Yes, and every time, it ends up the same way, with the Devil being on the loose again." Sam says.
"Look, Sam, I was used by Lucifer, too. It was the worst possible violation. So I-I'm not taking your reluctance lightly, but he is already out there, and we've been ignoring it and avoiding dealing with him because we're afraid." Cas says. "We let Lucifer out of the cage, and he has never stopped being our responsibility."
"Okay, but Cas, you don't fully get it." Larissa argues. "Sure, you've been possessed by him, okay, bond over that. But Sam spent a whole ass year and a half in the cage with him. You can't compare anything of your baggage to that. Because whatever you've been through and Sam's cage time, it's not the same."
"Look, he-he necessarily mean he gets it to the full extent, but... you know, you get it." Dean says and Larissa rolls her eyes.
"So?" Dean asks his brother after a few moments.
"No, you're right. You're right. I don't like it, but it's our only choice. Another fun, great choice." Sam says sarcastically.
"Well, hey, bright side is, even if we do pull it off, we still only get 24 hours in the apocalypse world. And Rowena's right. We'll be lucky to even hear a word of mom and Jack, much less save 'em, so..." Dean clicks his tongue, giving two thumbs up.
"You really know how to be an optimist, Dean." Larissa comments and he smiles at her.
"Wait a second." Sam mumbles.
"What?" Cas asks.
The four rush into the library.
"Guys?" Dean calls, not seeing the witch or archangel.
Rowena yells out before stumbling out from behind a bookshelf. Her hair is messy and she's missing one shoe, her clothes also not as neat as before. Gabriel pops his head out from behind the same bookshelf, his hair messy and he's only in his shirt and jeans. He steps out, leaning on the pillar, a book placed in front of his crotch.
"Uh... we were just..." Rowena says.
"Reading. Books. Here in the, uh, library. Which is the room we're in right now." Gabriel says. Larissa's jaw slacks, the three hunters staring at them while Cas stares at the floor.
"Did you lot arrive at a... decision?" Rowena asks.
"Sam has a plan." Dean informs, pointing back at his brother with his thumb.
+++
Lucifer is stuck on his knees on the floor, leaning forward, and Rowena's magic is also keeping his hands tied behind his back.
"Hey." Larissa whispers, grabbing her husband's hand. "You all right?"
"Yeah. Y-yeah, I'm fine." Sam nods. Larissa squeezes his hand, leaning up and kissing his cheek. She reaches her other hand up, cupping his cheek so he looks at her.
"I'm right here, okay? He can't touch you." She quietly assures. Sam nods, forcing a small smile. He kisses her on the forehead, squeezing her hand.
"He's awake." Rowena informs, everybody turning to Lucifer.
"Oh, hey, Sam." Lucifer greets. Sam's grip on Larissa's hand tightly. "Oh, look at this. All the people I love to torture in the same room. What's the occasion, guys?" Rowena cautiously walks over and puts the bowl for the spell in front of him.
"Ah. Okay, I think I see what's going on. You're planning a trip to save mother Mary, and you need my grace. Is that about it?" Lucifer asks.
Cas grabs Lucifer's hair, pulling his head back.
"Good guess." Cas says. He slices Lucifer's throat, his grace flowing from his neck to the bowl. After Cas lets go, the grace only drips out in small amounts.
"Okay, you could've done this back at the bar. Could've drained me, killed me. What's this really about? Humiliation? Revenge?" Lucifer asks.
"Nah, those are just bonuses. See, we got a lot of work to do back in apocalypse world, but not a whole lot of time to do it. So I realized something. I realized we could use you." Sam says. He nods to Rowena who gathers the power and says the spell, throwing her hands out, the rift forming.
"Use you not to just crack the door open, but to keep it open. So we're gonna drain you. We're gonna keep on draining you." Sam says.
"Like a stuck pig." Dean says.
"Grace on tap. Sorry, bro." Gabriel says even though he isn't.
"And then, when we get back, then we'll kill you." Sam says.
"Cool." Lucifer says.
"You gonna be okay back here?" Sam asks Rowena.
"Aye. Someone needs to keep an eye on the devil. Go. Save your mum." Rowena tells him.
"You ready?" Gabriel asks Sam.
"Ready." Sam looks back at Larissa who nods. Sam goes through the rift. The others follow and they all fall down a hill as they get to the other side.
Larissa crashes on top of Sam, both groaning in pain.
"I think your knee just prevented any more kids." Sam groans.
"Sorry." Larissa winces, rolling off of him. Sam groans as he gets up, grimacing in pain. He reaches down and pulls Larissa up.
"You okay?" He asks.
"Yeah. Yeah, well... doing better than you." She chuckles and Sam gives her a bitch face.
"Yeah, thanks a lot." Sam mutters and Larissa softly laughs.
"Hey, long as you can still perform well. We can adopt." She says.
"Okay, can you two stop? Go back to fighting? Please." Dean says.
"Well, you two look comfy." Larissa comments. The brothers' gazes follow hers to Gabriel's face in Cas' crotch.
"Oh, boy." Gabriel mutters. He quickly gets up. "Yeah. Well, that was... fun. I could've used a heads up about this landing site."
"Yeah. Thought we'd get spit out in the same spot, but this isn't it. All right, well, Charlie -- the other Charlie -- said that Mary and Jack have an outpost in Dayton." Dean says.
"Okay. Let's get our bearings and head that way. Cas, where are we?" Sam asks.
"Uh, Kentucky. Northeast Kentucky. Or what used to be Kentucky." Cas says.
"Which means that's north." Dean points a direction. "Okay, so Dayton's that way. Roughly. Two days by foot but... that way."
"All right." Sam says.
+++
"You seem different since we got here." Dean tells his brother.
"Really?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, like you're lighter, happier, more energetic." Dean says.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just, you know, mom and Jack, and... you know, I mean, we've been working at it so hard for this for so long and now we're finally here. We're close. Can't you feel it?" Sam asks, letting a small chuckle out.
Larissa softly smiles at him, happy that he's doing better.
They hear a girl scream.
"Not our world, not our problem, right?" Gabriel asks.
"Nice try." Larissa says, the hunters rushing off, Cas and Gabriel following until they get where the others are.
Dean points his shotgun at the monster and Sam chops its head off. They turn to the two people, Dean helping the girl stand up, while the guy gets up on his own.
"What the hell was that thing?" Dean asks.
"What do you mean? A vampire." The girl says.
"It's not like any vamp we've ever seen." Sam says.
"Who are you?" The girl asks.
"I'm Sam. Uh, Larissa, Dean, Gabriel, and Cas." Sam points to each of them. "We, uh..."
"We're not from around here. Tell me, what makes a bloodsucker look like that?" Dean asks.
"Starvation. When Michael's armies started to wipe out the humans, they didn't think about monsters or what happened to 'em when their food source dried up. Turns out, not eating makes them wild. Nothing but pure, stupid appetite." The guy explains.
"Which way you headed?" The girl asks.
"North." Dean says.
"To Dayton? We were going that way too. We heard the rebels, Jack and Mary, set up a satellite colony there, an outpost." The girl says.
"Wait. What do you mean you "were"?" Sam asks.
"Me, Floyd, the rest of our group. We were crossing north through the Morehead tunnel... stumbled into a whole nest of those things." The girl says, motioning to the dead vampire.
"Nine of us went in. Only me and Maggie came out." Floyd says.
"This tunnel, is it the only way north?" Dean asks.
"There's a mountain pass, but it's a long way around. Tunnel's the quickest route." Maggie says.
"If the long way is the safe way..." Gabriel says.
"No. We're already two days out from Dayton as it is. We don't have time for a detour." Sam says. "Listen, we've faced worse than a nest of vamps before. Much worse. So if you still want to get to Dayton, we'll keep you safe. As far as we're concerned, we're going through that tunnel."
+++
They reach the Morehead tunnel.
"All right. Here's the plan. Stay close, keep walking. Anything moves, kill it." Sam says.
"Let's do this!" Dean exclaims. They all have glow sticks around their necks as well as holding flashlights. Sam peels back the metal covering to the tunnel and everybody walks in, Sam getting in last.
Larissa waits for Sam to get in and he gives her a reassuring smile, walking close behind her.
Floyd starts yelling and Maggie screams, everybody turning and preparing to fight.
"Sorry. Tripped." Floyd says. Larissa rolls her eyes.
They continue through the tunnel, stopping when they hear snarling and chewing noises. They all point their flashlights, seeing a vampire crouched over and eating one of Maggie and Floyd's group members.
"Wait, wait, wait. Let me." Sam quietly says, making his way to the front of the group.
The vampire turns to Sam and hisses, Sam cutting its head off. They all walk past it, continuing through the tunnels.
A vampire jumps out and grabs Maggie who screams.
"Maggie! Maggie!" Floyd yells. Dean manages to get the vampire away from the girl and it runs off down a side tunnel.
"You all right?" Dean asks Maggie.
"Mm-hmm." Maggie nods.
"Let's keep moving." Dean says.
They continue to hear noises as they move through the tunnel, more alert than before. They reach an open room that has water dripping from a hole in the ceiling, some light able to get in.
"Hey. We got a blocked passage over here. Need to move some rocks." Dean says. Gabriel and Cas walk over and start to move the rocks.
"Guys!" Maggie yells.
"Dean." Sam calls, looking down a side tunnel.
A vampire jumps out and grabs Floyd, the man yelling.
"Floyd!" Maggie screams. She runs to help him as vampires attack Sam, him getting them off.
"I've got it. I've got it." Sam says.
More vampires rush out, Larissa fighting a couple off. Larissa slices two heads off before getting tackled by a different vampire.
Larissa struggles against the vamp, trying to reach her machete which fell out of her grasp when she fell. She looks around, freezing when she sees two vamps pinning Sam to his knees and one of the vamps bites into his neck.
"No!" Larissa screams.
"Lissy! Dean!" Sam yells. The one vamp pulls out a chunk of flesh with his teeth, blood spurting from his throat.
"No!" Larissa screeches, tears springing to her eyes at the blood escaping Sam.
"Sammy!" Dean screams.
As the two vamps drag Sam's body down the tunnel, Larissa hits the vamp on top of her. She grabs her machete and just before the vamp touches her, she slices its head off.
"Sam!" Larissa runs down the tunnel Sam's body got dragged down. The one vamp is sucking on his blood and Larissa kicks him away before slicing his head off. The other vamp charges at her, but she cuts his head off immediately.
Larissa looks down at Sam's body, his empty eyes staring up at the ceiling.
"No. No, no, no, no." She whispers, dropping to her knees. "No. No, please. Please, baby." She quietly sobs as she cards her fingers through his hair. "I just got you back. Please, no." She sobs, her forehead falling onto Sam's chest. "No."
She doesn't hear Cas run in, the angel looking at the scene sadly.
"Larissa. Larissa, we have to go." Cas says, grabbing her arm.
"No! No!" She cries. "No, I'm not leaving him!"
"We have to!" Cas yells.
"No! No! No!" Larissa sobs as Cas pulls her away from Sam. She grips onto Sam's arm until Cas pulls her out of Sam's reach. "No!" She cries. She continues to wail and struggle against Cas as he drags her down the tunnel, stopping Dean.
"Dean. Dean!" Cas gets his attention.
"What?" Dean asks.
"He's gone." Cas says.
"No!" Dean yells, going to rush forward, but Cas holds him back.
"We don't have time!" Cas states. "We can't save him."
Larissa sobs, losing her balance, falling against the wall as she continues to cry, starting to hyperventilate.
"Come on." Dean says after a few moments.
"What? N-no, we can't leave him." Larissa hiccups. "We can't just--"
"Rissy, Rissy." Dean grabs her shoulders, gently shaking her. "We will come back for him. I promise." She can see in his eyes that this is the last thing that he wants to do.
"But what if... what..." Her voice breaks.
"We'll come back. We'll figure it out." Dean assures.
+++
They're walking and Maggie approaches Larissa.
"Larissa?" She asks, getting the woman's attention. "Um, about your friend, uh..." She trails off when she notices Larissa's hand twisting her wedding ring around her finger. "Oh. A-about your husband, I... I'm so sorry."
Larissa manages the smallest of smiles at the young girl before starting to walk again.
~ ~ ~
They reach an area that has a number of boards that have sigils on them.
"We must be getting close to Dayton. On the outskirts at least." Maggie says. Cas groans, not walking further.
"I-I-I can't. This... warding is too strong." Cas says.
Gabriel goes to one of the sigils and draws the angel blade down the middle. He puts his hand on it, all of the sigils burning off. A guy with a rifle rushes out from behind a tree.
"Whoa." Cas mumbles. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're-we're not here to fight." He says. "We're just looking for..." Cas trails off as he sees Mary walk over with another armed guy. "Mary."
"Castiel?" Mary asks. She spots Dean, making her way over to him. "How did you even find us?"
Mary hugs Dean and he hugs her back.
"Dean... where's Sam?" Mary asks, pulling away from the hug. She looks into Dean's eyes as a single tear falls down his face. The look in his eyes is enough to tell her where the younger man is, Mary's face falling at the realization.
They follow Mary to the camp, Larissa trudging behind the others, barely looking away from her wedding ring that has blood on it, along with her blood stained hands from touching Sam.
"No, he can't be dead. He can't be dead." Jack argues.
"Jack, I--" Cas tries.
"Couldn't you bring him back?" Jack asks Cas. "Why didn't you bring him back?" He asks Gabriel.
"I'm not strong enough." Gabriel says.
"Jack... if we could've, we would've. I'm so sorry." Cas says.
Meanwhile, the three Winchesters are standing a bit away and Dean fills a water bottle up.
"We have to go back, get his body." Dean says.
Dean grabs his gun, starting to walk, and Larissa follows. Mary follows them, but they stop when a bell clangs. The group look around and Larissa freezes at what she finds at the entrance.
Sam, bloodstained and covered in dirt, steps into the camp.
"Sammy." Larissa whispers in shock.
Sam looks at his brother and wife. He walks forward a little, stopping as another person walks in. Larissa's eyes widen when Lucifer walks in behind Sam.
Dean looks at Sam confused, Sam lowering his head, not able to look at his brother before Dean's gaze turns back to Lucifer with an angry expression.
"Hello, son." Lucifer smiles at Jack.
Sam cautiously looks at his family, though his wife and brother's gazes are still fixed on Lucifer.