But Not Forgotten: Part Seven
Part Seven
Donna Temple-Noble had seen a lot of things in her life, even if she’d forgotten them for a little while. She’d seen Pompeii burn, moons made of diamond, ice planets, heard the singing of the Ood in both captivity and freedom. But there was something about the sight of that tiny girl hauling around a great bloody moose of a man like an oversized rag doll that struck her as just plain strange. Donna hadn’t really known want to expect, really, but this wasn’t it. She almost laughed around the gag Dean had stuffed into her mouth.
Nathaniel saw Donna and broke out into a smile that made her look like a twelve year old. “Hello, Donna,” she said, like seeing her had lifted a great weight from the angel’s shoulders. Maybe it was just that she’d put Sam down on the concrete floor of the basement. Dean had picked the house, citing it as the place of a particularly nasty haunting he and his brother had taken care of a while back. Despite the ghost being history, the house remained untenanted, making it the perfect place for the exchange.
Behind her back, Donna’s hands shook. She could feel the heat from the lighter’s flame near her back, threatening the ropes tied loosely around her wrists and waist. So many things could go wrong, and it would all be over for all of them. Donna hadn’t been this scared since the Sontarans had stolen the TARDIS with her trapped inside. The angel looked down at Sam, then up at Dean. “He’ll wake soon. Take your brother and go.”
“Sammy,” Dean whispered brokenly, everything apparently forgotten but the man on the floor. Dean went for Sam while Nathaniel continued to smile at Donna.
She’d given Donna the exact same smile when she’d appeared in the office and told Donna “Be not afraid.”
Everything had caught fire after that.
“If you say ‘Be not afraid’,” Donna mumbled around the gag, “I’m going to scream.” It came out somewhat less than coherent, but she suspected from the kicked puppy look Nathaniel gave her that she understood what Donna had meant. Mentally, Donna counted down the seconds as the angel crossed the floor to her, waiting until just the right moment…
Then she dropped the lighter.
The holy oil went up, the fire racing across the basement floor, following the trail Dean had made from where Donna stood to the circle that Nathaniel had just stepped in to. The angel looked shocked as the fire closed around her -- Dean had claimed the fire would trap Nathaniel, but Donna wasn’t entirely convinced. Donna shook off the ropes and yanked out the gag, scrambling back from the fire and Nathaniel. The little angel remained within the circle of fire while Dean pulled his brother upright.
“What have you done?” Nathaniel whispered, spinning around as if a way out might open up behind her. “What have you done?”
***
“Don’t blink,” Amy said in a stage whisper. Nobody laughed, so she let her grin fall away as she approached the circle of fire. The angel trapped inside watched her, face as still as stone. “So, hi again!”
“Step away from the angel please, Amy,” the Doctor murmured in that tone that Amy had come to recognize as Don’t argue and be ready to run. Amy took a few steps back from the fire, the angel still watching her. “Hello, Nathaniel.”
The angel looked from Amy to the Doctor, tilting her head slightly to one side. “I have nothing to say to you, Time Lord.”
“Really? People usually have so much to say at times like this,” the Doctor said coolly, pacing around the basement before raising his sonic screwdriver and switching it on, scanning Nathaniel. The angel turned slowly to follow his progress. “This is interesting… No demands for release? No ‘You will face my holy wrath’?”
“What would be the point? I’m going to be dead soon.”
***
“God dammit, Sammy! You know angels are dicks with wings, why’d you listen to that one?”
A heartwarming Winchester family reunion, Sam thought. It didn’t matter; he knew Dean wasn’t actually angry. “I wasn’t exactly spoiled for choices. I woke up in a cemetery with Nathaniel standing over me. Then we were attacked by demons. It’s been a busy day.”
Dean rocked back on his heels, lips pursed. “Take off your shirt.”
Sam wasn’t the only one in the room to give Dean a stunned look. By the basement door, Mickey whispered to Martha about Americans being weirder than Time Lords while Martha shushed him. Donna, perched on the dusty remains of a couch, let out a bark of laughter. “I feel like I should be stuffing money down someone’s pants.”
Dean didn’t bother to look even a little sorry. “You got raised from Perdition. You should have a handprint, and I wanna see.” He hiked up the sleeve of his own shirt, showing off the handprint that was just as red and raw looking as it had been almost two years ago. Dean didn’t see it, but Castiel shifted his weight slightly, looking away. Sam shrugged off the flannel shirt and pulled up the sleeves of his tee, revealing arms that bore nothing more than a few fading scars, the kinds earned from a lifetime of hunting monsters and fighting demons. Dean looked at the unmarked skin, pursing his lips. “Pants,” he said flatly.
“No,” Sam replied, his tone just as flat.
“We should be thorough,” Donna pointed out helpfully, getting a look from Martha. “What? I’m married, not dead!”
“It’s gotta be somewhere,” Dean went on. “So come on, off with the pants, Sammy.”
Castiel exhaled slowly. “Nathaniel has not marked Sam. I would be able to sense it.”
Dean shot Cas an irritated looked while Donna and Martha’s faces fell in disappointment. “Explain?”
“I needed a way to keep track of you at first.” Castiel crossed his arms, shifting his weight again and looking down at the floor. Beneath him, he could feel the circle of holy fire; Sam had figured that out by the way Cas kept avoiding a certain five foot wide, roughly circular chunk of the floor no matter where he went in the room.
“That is so creepy,” Dean muttered. “And I’m getting real tired of all this crap. Lets just gank the bitch and go.”
Castiel shook his head slowly, studying the part of the floor he’d been so carefully avoiding rather than look at Dean. “Nathaniel has been Raphael’s right hand in this. I cannot let this chance to gain information pass.”
Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam interrupted him with a quiet, “She got me out of Hell. That’s going to be worth something.”
“I would like to know how she managed to pull that off,” Castiel pointed out with a grim expression.
Martha paced the length of the floor, looking thoughtful. “But isn’t it this Raphael we need to be worried about? By now he’s got to know the trade didn’t go off, and he’ll be looking for us, right?”
“He won’t find us,” Castiel said confidently, but neither Sam nor Dean shared the angel’s confidence.
“So, Martha, you wanna learn how to make an angel banishing sigil?” Sam asked as Dean produced a pocket knife. Cas shot the brothers a dirty look; on anyone else, Sam would have called the angel’s expression a pout.
“What are we going to do about Raphael?” Martha pressed insistently. “When he shows up? Stick him in a circle of fire?”
Castiel pursed his lips, drumming his fingers on his thigh. “That would only be a temporary measure,” he reluctantly admitted, “and I cannot take him in a straight fight. The Doctor and I have been working on a solution, but he is an archangel.” He exhaled slowly. “The only one who has ever killed an archangel was Lucifer.”
“Who is still safely locked away in the Cage,” Sam finished.
“So why not put Raphael in the cage?” Mickey asked as the basement door opened with a shriek of rusty hinges. The Doctor half danced into the room, twirling his sonic screwdriver between his long fingers, spinning to face Mickey.
“Did you,” the Time Lord asked slowly, “just suggest that we open up the cage containing two of the most powerful beings in existence so we can shove another one in?” Mickey sighed wearily and nodded. “Mickey Smith, you are brilliant!”
“I have a gun,” Mickey warned, “and I’ve been having a very bad day. So I think I’d be justified in shooting you if you’re making fun.”
The Doctor took a moment to look hurt. “I’m not joking.”
“Okay, how the hell are we supposed to do that, smart guy?” Dean growled. “The rings disappeared when the cage closed -- no key.”
The Doctor smiled widely. “I’ll have you know that I am very good at opening locks.”
***
Even standing outside the circle of fire, Castiel was aware of how dangerous it was. Nathaniel stood in the center, watching him with bitter resignation while a little voice of caution in the back of Castiel’s head reminded him that while she was just a cherub, fire was Nathaniel’s element. He had been there for the first lightning strike, when Nathaniel had whispered to that first burning tree, coaxing the fire until it spread to the grass and the other trees. Much of that early forest had burned that day, while Nathaniel sang to the flames.
Really, they should have taken that as a sign of things to come.
Rory Williams stood closest to the flames, borrowed angel blade in his hand, just in case Nathaniel found a way out. The human had proven disturbingly good at fighting and killing angels, and he wasn’t likely to be goaded in to doing anything stupid. Dean clattered down the stairs behind Castiel, calling up to Sam that now was a great time to give Martha the grand tour while Sam accused his brother of being a crude jackass and unfit for human company. The Doctor came down last, shutting the basement door behind him.
“Hello again, Nathaniel!” the Time Lord said with a cheery smile. Nathaniel didn’t respond; she had eyes only for Castiel.
“Get on with it.”
“You’re going to tell us how you got in to Lucifer’s Cage, Nathaniel.”
For a moment, Nathaniel’s lip curled up. “A little light torture before the execution, then. That explains Dean’s presence.”
Castiel felt Dean bristle, but thankfully (for once) the human held his tongue. Dean’s time with Lisa, it seemed, had taught him something.
“Or will it be the other one?” Nathaniel nodded towards Rory. “You’ve turned him into a very effective weapon against your brothers, Castiel. Much better than your Righteous Man.”
“Nobody’s going to kill you,” the Doctor said gently, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the trapped angel again, studying the results intently.
Nathaniel cocked her head to one side. “Are you lying, or do you really believe that?” She looked again to Castiel. “Tell me, Castiel, how many of us have to die before your pride is satisfied? Or shall you follow the Doctor’s example and wipe us all out, as he did?”
“My pride has nothing to do with this,” Castiel insisted with a growl.
“Your pride has everything to do with this!” Nathaniel hissed back, coming to the very edge of the fire. “In your pride, you laid claim to the Righteous Man, and that was where it all started! You preach of free will, but you demand we choose what you want, and all the while you wash your hands in our blood! So get on with it. At least for me, the fight will finally be over.”
Castiel stood before Nathaniel, on the edge of the holy fire, skin prickling as the flames nipped at his Grace. “I never wanted this.”
“You chose it when you chose him,” Nathaniel spat.
“Lady, you should be on your knees thanking Cas for not ganking your feathery ass,” Dean said darkly, coming up beside Castiel.
“I was dead the moment you double crossed me. It’s only a matter of when.” Nathaniel turned her hard, hot gaze on Dean. “If you had an ounce of sense, you would take your brother and go before Crowley’s demons find him again.”
If the Doctor hadn’t moved so that he was behind Nathaniel, Castiel would have missed the fascinated expression on the Doctor’s face as he looked from his screwdriver to the cherub, a slow smile spreading across his face. Dean, meanwhile, swore expressively. “God dammit, what does Brimstone Breath want?”
“The same thing as us, I suspect,” Castiel pointed out. “How Sam got out of the Cage without just breaking it open.”
“What if she did?” Dean demanded to know.
“We would already know. Lucifer and Michael would have come after us first.”
“Fuck,” Dean sighed, raking his hands through his hair. There was no real force, no rage behind the word this time, even as he stomped up the basement steps, growling about demon proofing the house.
“You didn’t have to tell us that,” the Doctor noted, tucking his screwdriver back into his tweed jacket.
“I made a promise, and I intend to see it kept.”
***
Martha sprayed the cut with something antibacterial that really stung more than the cut had. Sam made a show of wincing, and she grinned up at him, slapping an adhesive bandage over the cleaned out cut. “Need me to kiss it better, too?” she asked sweetly. The grin fell away as she studied the freshly drawn sigil. The blood hadn’t even begun to turn brown yet. “Does it have to be your own, or can you use someone else’s?”
Sam gave the sigil a thoughtful look, watching a bead of blood roll down the faded wallpaper. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Usually, we end up having to use them by the time we’ve finished them. Doesn’t leave much time for testing things out.” He flipped the knife in his other hand, catching it easily by the blade and holding it out to Martha. “Ready to give it a try?”
“Is this some kind of hunter initiation?” Martha teased, taking the knife and wiping it down, eyeing the blade critically. “How you didn’t end up dead from infection before now…”
Sam laughingly told her, “No, you don’t get to call yourself a real hunter until you’ve done a salt and burn in the rain. We should put the next one up near the front-”
Dean came thundering up the stairs from the basement, slamming the door behind him. “Forget the angels for now, we need to get demon proofing.”
Sam and Martha exchanged a quick look. “Mickey and Donna are on salt detail,” Martha told the elder Winchester helpfully, “and Amy’s putting up the sigils for keeping angels out.”
“We were gonna start on the Devil’s Traps after that,” Sam added.
Dean exhaled sharply, closing his eyes and nodding. “Holy water?”
“Water’s off here,” Sam noted.
“We can raid the TARDIS,” Martha pointed out. “I think I remember where the swimming pools are, unless they’ve moved again.”
Dean visibly relaxed, even if it was just a little bit. “When were you gonna bring up the ‘chased by demons’ thing?” There was a bit of anger there, but Sam knew it was just Dean being Dean.
“When are we not chased by demons?” Sam retorted.
“Can you two save the squabbling for a bit later?” Martha sighed, running the knife across her palm, drawing forth a thin line of blood. “We’ve got work to do.”
Dean rocked back on his heels, slowly grinning at his younger brother. “I like her.”
***
“I don’t like this,” Castiel said, not for the first time, even as he helped the Doctor with the machine that had begun to fill one wall of the basement. He shot a look towards Nathaniel, who continued to glare balefully from within the fire. She’d gone silent after her rant, refusing to answer any questions. Not that the Doctor required any more answers from Nathaniel; the readings of the sonic screwdriver were more than enough to give the Time Lord what he needed to get into Lucifer’s Cage; he’d announced as much with considerable good cheer before scurrying off to the TARDIS, dragging Castiel with him to hunt for the parts he would need for his machine, prattling on about frequencies and shattering glass with the right tone.
“Got a better plan, have you?” the Doctor asked. “Me, I’ve had enough of killing,” he went on softly, “haven’t you?”
Castiel refused to respond, instead kneeling in front of the machine and screwing a panel closed. Even in it’s inactive state, he could feel it resonating with the Music of the Spheres. Sonic, the Doctor had said. They would lock on to the vibrational frequency of the Cage and open it with a one way door for just long enough to shove Raphael in. If Michael or Lucifer noticed, they could force the door the other way, so they would have to be fast.
But, loathe as he was to admit it, Castiel didn’t have a better plan for stopping Raphael, so the angel said nothing.
“It’s almost done.” The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver hummed, and the machine attuned itself to the frequency. “Ready to end this war, Castiel?”
“Yes,” Castiel said fervently, ignoring Nathaniel’s glare. Truthfully, Castiel would have executed the cherub already if he didn’t think she might still be useful, and he still might have to do so… even if it meant proving that she was right. When the war was over, Castiel knew that he couldn’t afford to have any dissent, so Nathaniel might have to be used as an example. He didn’t want things to come to that; he’d seen enough of his brothers and sisters die by his hands and by his orders for a thousand lifetimes. But he also knew that he couldn’t afford any threat to himself and the Winchesters to remain. Sam and Dean had earned their rest a thousand times over, and Castiel would do whatever it took to see that they got it.
***
Mickey scraped at the paint on the window, grumbling all the while. “We just got this crap up, now we’re taking it down?”
Dean was adding lines to a ward in front of him, shooting the occasional glance towards his brother and Martha. They had their heads bent close together, talking quietly. “You could always go help Cas and the Doctor.”
Mickey shuddered dramatically. “And have Nathaniel glaring at me the whole time? Pass. I’ve had enough of angels.”
“I hear ya, man,” Dean muttered. “Dicks with wings.”
“You remember Cas is an angel, right?” Sam said, tearing himself away from his conversation with Martha to give Dean one of his better bitchfaces. “And Anna was alright until she went crazy.”
“Who’s Anna?” Donna asked as she came through with Amy, passing around bags of potato chips that they’d scrounged up from the TARDIS.
“Another redhead who had something ancient and unknowable locked up inside her head.” Dean tore open a little bag of salty goodness, dumping all the chips into his mouth in one go and crunching them noisily. “She went nuts and tried to kill us before we were born.”
“Can’t imagine why she’d wanna do that,” Donna managed to say with a completely straight face.
“With those manners, I can’t imagine why anyone would want you dead,” Amy told Dean sweetly.
“When I told Santa I wanted to be double teams by redheads this year, this was not what I meant,” Dean mock-growled. Sam threw his bag of chips at his brother, bouncing them off Dean’s head.
The basement door swung open with a screech, Castiel drifting in to the room like a dark cloud. “We’re ready. I have informed by people that I am here and have Nathaniel. That should be enough to draw Raphael out, with him knowing about Donna.”
“Lets do this, then.” Dean smirked, rubbing his hands together as a truck rammed through the wall, gas peddle held down by half a brick, followed by the demons who had set it in motion.
“Get them! We’ll bring them to Crowley in pieces!”
***
Rory didn’t sigh, though the Doctor could tell that he was sorely tempted to as the floorboards creaked loudly above him and the fighting started upstairs. “Just once would be nice,” he said to nobody in particular.
The Doctor just shook his head. “Quickly.”
Rory was already racing up the stairs before the Doctor had finished speaking the word; Amy was up there, and that was all that mattered. The Doctor stayed in the basement with the machine and the captured angel.
“That would be the demons,” Nathaniel noted. The Doctor turned towards her with a faint smile while the angel stared up at the creaking ceiling.
“Speaking to us again? Lovely.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Dust fell on Nathaniel, and she brushed it off with a resigned sigh. “It’s over. Once Raphael is taken, Castiel will have no more use for me. I will die with my cause.”
“You’re awful certain about him killing you for someone who isn’t dead yet.” The Doctor watched Nathaniel closely.
“Why do you care? You are notoriously vicious with those who threaten your companions.”
The Doctor perched on the edge of his machine, crossing one leg over the other. “Lets call it an academic interest.”
Upstairs, the battle raged while the Time Lord and the angel watched each other. “Why are you down here? I can’t go anywhere, nor can your… overly complicated lock pick.”
“You got out of Lucifer’s Cage, you’ve managed to survive more than one encounter with dear old Cas, and when you’re let loose, things tend to burn down, so forgive me if I think it would be a good idea keep an eye on you. Remember that city in Mesopotamia? You burned it to the ground in less than a day.”
Nathaniel pointed a finger at the Doctor. “That was not my fault! There was a drought!” She scowled. “And the same could very well be said for you. I may have burned cities, but you burn worlds.”
“And what do you think will happen to this world, if your Raphael has his way?” The Doctor paced across the basement, standing at the bottom of the stairs with a thoughtful frown. It had gotten quiet up there, and the air felt far too heavy, like right before a thunderstorm. In her circle of fire, Nathaniel turned slowly, eyes still on the ceiling. “Oh… no.”
The Doctor raced back to his machine, long fingers scrabbling over the controls, turning the machine on and making it sing even as the basement door squealed open, the steps creaking under the weight of the last free archangel in the world.
Lightning slammed into the Doctor, a genuine bolt of divine retribution, followed by a chuckle like a roll of thunder as the Doctor fell into darkness.
***
The mortals hung on the wall like so many decorations, held in place by Raphael’s power. Castiel stood in the middle of the basement, surrounded by holy fire. In Nathaniel’s unfettered presence, it leapt up almost high enough to obscure the captured angel’s bruised and bloodied face. Raphael concentrated on the machine, occasionally throwing a smirk at his captives. “You’ve done very well, Nathaniel.”
A smile twitched across Nathaniel’s face, fading as quickly as it had appeared while she watched the humans and the Gallifreyan while they struggled against the unstoppable force of Raphael’s will. The archangel had forced them in to silence after allowing them to threaten, curse and berate the two angels impotently. Raphael had finally grown tired of it, demanding silence while he worked the Doctor’s machine.
“You have brought me my greatest enemy, his allies, the last Time Lord, and the keys to Lucifer’s Cage.” He caressed the Doctor’s humming machine lovingly. “Magnificent. Father is truly with us in this.”
“We can send the humans on their way and begin now, then?” Nathaniel asked, perking up. Raphael turned from the gently singing machine, eyebrows rising slowly as his shoulders twitched, and the archangel started to laugh.
“Let them go? Nathaniel, your sense of humor needs work.” Raphael shook his head, barely hiding his smile behind a hand as he flicked a switch and making the humming rise in pitch. “We still need them.”
“We have the machine, we have the traitor,” Nathaniel ticked the points off on her fingers, “and we have the Doctor. The others serve no purpose.”
Raphael turned his back to the machine and walked across the basement to stand in front of Sam, who continued to struggle. The man’s mouth worked ceaselessly despite no sound coming out, no doubt trying to let Raphael know exactly what he thought of the archangel. “You forgot about Lucifer’s vessel, sister.” He tossed a pleased little smirk at Dean, who was silently screaming at him. “We need somewhere to put our fallen brother when we let him out of the Cage.”
“There are others,” Nathaniel pointed out. “The bloodline of Lucifer isn’t so small that there are no other options.”
“But none so well suited as Sam.” Raphael clasped his hands behind his back and sauntered to the very edge of the circle of fire, gazing in to Castiel’s angry, battered face. “He’s already said yes. There is no barrier between Lucifer and that… abomination. And when Lucifer rises from the Pit, Castiel, you will get to watch as the fallen one uses Sam’s body to rip Dean and the rest of your allies apart.” Raphael laughed again, a roll of thunder that shook the house. “I think that ties everything up nicely.”
Nathaniel stared at the archangel, her expression growing slowly more horrified with each word from the archangel‘s mouth. "Brother, this is... unnecessary. It's cruelty for the sake of cruelty."
Raphael shot Nathaniel a surprised look, seeming to really listen to what she was saying for the first time. "Are you... questioning me, Nathaniel?"
The cherub opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again as she paced around the room, until she was standing between the humans and Raphael. When she finally spoke, she sounded as surprised as Raphael looked. "Yes."
Raphael's expression went from surprised to thunderous, hand raising to smite his suddenly insubordinate follower. Before he could bring his fingers together in a snap that would render her vessel so much chunky liquid, Nathaniel pulled the holy oil fueled fire from the ring that imprisoned Castiel and threw it right in the archangel's face. Raphael howled in surprise and pain, the whole house rattling as angelic flesh sizzled and burned. “How dare you!”
The humans fell from where they hung, Rory going to Amy’s side while Dean bolted to Sam’s, and the Doctor raced between the spreading flames to his machine. Fire radiated out in all directions from Nathaniel and Raphael, only just avoiding Mickey, Martha, and Donna as some of it splashed against the wall where they had been pinned. The three scrambled out of the fire’s way, but they still got scorched. Castiel, freed from the now broken ring of holy fire, moved between Sam and Dean and the two angels, pushing the raging fire away as best he could with his Grace.
“Go!” Nathaniel barked, throwing up a wall of fire in front of Raphael, blocking his way to the humans. “I keep my promises, now go!”
Raphael pushed through the wall of flames, ignoring his sizzling flesh as he took Nathaniel by the shoulder, ramming his blade beneath her ribs. The fires flared high and hot for a moment, briefly taking the shape of wings, then died down to nothing more than normal fire, supported only by what fuel was already there, no longer supported by the righteous rage of an angel. Sam grabbed Dean by the arm, hauling him up the burning stairs. Rory shoved Amy after the brothers, letting Donna and Mickey go up before him before racing up the stairs after.
“Doctor!” Martha called, following Rory up as the fire started eating away at the ceiling. The Doctor didn’t look up from the humming machine, flipping switches and spinning dials.
“With you in a moment!” he called over Raphael’s pained howls. Nathaniel’s body hit the floor as Castiel pushed forward, blade in hand.
In a straight fight, Castiel couldn’t have hoped to take Raphael. But the archangel was wounded, half blinded by the first and final act of the cherub’s defiance, and Castiel was angry. He parried Raphael’s clumsy blows, and while he wasn’t able to do more damage, he was able to keep the archangel off balance and away from the escaping humans or the busy Doctor. The machine screamed, shaking the burning house as badly as Raphael’s screams as a swirling, sucking void opened up where a wall had once been, sucking in the flames in the basement and pulling at the three ancient beings.
Castiel rushed forward, barreling in to Raphael and forcing him into the screaming void.
Castiel knew that it would swallow him too, trapping him in the Cage with Michael, Lucifer, and Raphael, but it was the only way to be sure of trapping Raphael. Castiel could feel himself being pulled in by the undeniable gravity of the Cage, lifting him off his feet and pulling him in after the screaming Raphael, only to be caught by the back of his overcoat by the surprisingly strong hand of the Doctor.
“Hang on!” the last Time Lord shouted, hauling Castiel back from the brink while clinging to his machine with his other hand. Castiel grabbed hold of the machine as the pressure from the vortex grew. The Doctor set himself to shutting down the machine, his feet threatening to go flying out from under him. Castiel watched as Nathaniel’s body slid in, flopping about like a discarded rag doll. The ceiling collapsed, flaming wood crashing down and being sucked down into the Pit. “Come on, come on!” The Doctor hit the machine with his fist, making the humming finally stop. The voice swirled closed, but the noise did not abate. More of the ceiling came down, along with flaming chunks of the second floor.
Castiel grabbed the Doctor, teleporting them out of the flaming house and into the clean, open air.
Epilogue
Donna Temple-Noble had seen a lot of things in her life, even if she’d forgotten them for a little while. She’d seen Pompeii burn, moons made of diamond, ice planets, heard the singing of the Ood in both captivity and freedom. But there was something about the sight of that tiny girl hauling around a great bloody moose of a man like an oversized rag doll that struck her as just plain strange. Donna hadn’t really known want to expect, really, but this wasn’t it. She almost laughed around the gag Dean had stuffed into her mouth.
Nathaniel saw Donna and broke out into a smile that made her look like a twelve year old. “Hello, Donna,” she said, like seeing her had lifted a great weight from the angel’s shoulders. Maybe it was just that she’d put Sam down on the concrete floor of the basement. Dean had picked the house, citing it as the place of a particularly nasty haunting he and his brother had taken care of a while back. Despite the ghost being history, the house remained untenanted, making it the perfect place for the exchange.
Behind her back, Donna’s hands shook. She could feel the heat from the lighter’s flame near her back, threatening the ropes tied loosely around her wrists and waist. So many things could go wrong, and it would all be over for all of them. Donna hadn’t been this scared since the Sontarans had stolen the TARDIS with her trapped inside. The angel looked down at Sam, then up at Dean. “He’ll wake soon. Take your brother and go.”
“Sammy,” Dean whispered brokenly, everything apparently forgotten but the man on the floor. Dean went for Sam while Nathaniel continued to smile at Donna.
She’d given Donna the exact same smile when she’d appeared in the office and told Donna “Be not afraid.”
Everything had caught fire after that.
“If you say ‘Be not afraid’,” Donna mumbled around the gag, “I’m going to scream.” It came out somewhat less than coherent, but she suspected from the kicked puppy look Nathaniel gave her that she understood what Donna had meant. Mentally, Donna counted down the seconds as the angel crossed the floor to her, waiting until just the right moment…
Then she dropped the lighter.
The holy oil went up, the fire racing across the basement floor, following the trail Dean had made from where Donna stood to the circle that Nathaniel had just stepped in to. The angel looked shocked as the fire closed around her -- Dean had claimed the fire would trap Nathaniel, but Donna wasn’t entirely convinced. Donna shook off the ropes and yanked out the gag, scrambling back from the fire and Nathaniel. The little angel remained within the circle of fire while Dean pulled his brother upright.
“What have you done?” Nathaniel whispered, spinning around as if a way out might open up behind her. “What have you done?”
***
“Don’t blink,” Amy said in a stage whisper. Nobody laughed, so she let her grin fall away as she approached the circle of fire. The angel trapped inside watched her, face as still as stone. “So, hi again!”
“Step away from the angel please, Amy,” the Doctor murmured in that tone that Amy had come to recognize as Don’t argue and be ready to run. Amy took a few steps back from the fire, the angel still watching her. “Hello, Nathaniel.”
The angel looked from Amy to the Doctor, tilting her head slightly to one side. “I have nothing to say to you, Time Lord.”
“Really? People usually have so much to say at times like this,” the Doctor said coolly, pacing around the basement before raising his sonic screwdriver and switching it on, scanning Nathaniel. The angel turned slowly to follow his progress. “This is interesting… No demands for release? No ‘You will face my holy wrath’?”
“What would be the point? I’m going to be dead soon.”
***
“God dammit, Sammy! You know angels are dicks with wings, why’d you listen to that one?”
A heartwarming Winchester family reunion, Sam thought. It didn’t matter; he knew Dean wasn’t actually angry. “I wasn’t exactly spoiled for choices. I woke up in a cemetery with Nathaniel standing over me. Then we were attacked by demons. It’s been a busy day.”
Dean rocked back on his heels, lips pursed. “Take off your shirt.”
Sam wasn’t the only one in the room to give Dean a stunned look. By the basement door, Mickey whispered to Martha about Americans being weirder than Time Lords while Martha shushed him. Donna, perched on the dusty remains of a couch, let out a bark of laughter. “I feel like I should be stuffing money down someone’s pants.”
Dean didn’t bother to look even a little sorry. “You got raised from Perdition. You should have a handprint, and I wanna see.” He hiked up the sleeve of his own shirt, showing off the handprint that was just as red and raw looking as it had been almost two years ago. Dean didn’t see it, but Castiel shifted his weight slightly, looking away. Sam shrugged off the flannel shirt and pulled up the sleeves of his tee, revealing arms that bore nothing more than a few fading scars, the kinds earned from a lifetime of hunting monsters and fighting demons. Dean looked at the unmarked skin, pursing his lips. “Pants,” he said flatly.
“No,” Sam replied, his tone just as flat.
“We should be thorough,” Donna pointed out helpfully, getting a look from Martha. “What? I’m married, not dead!”
“It’s gotta be somewhere,” Dean went on. “So come on, off with the pants, Sammy.”
Castiel exhaled slowly. “Nathaniel has not marked Sam. I would be able to sense it.”
Dean shot Cas an irritated looked while Donna and Martha’s faces fell in disappointment. “Explain?”
“I needed a way to keep track of you at first.” Castiel crossed his arms, shifting his weight again and looking down at the floor. Beneath him, he could feel the circle of holy fire; Sam had figured that out by the way Cas kept avoiding a certain five foot wide, roughly circular chunk of the floor no matter where he went in the room.
“That is so creepy,” Dean muttered. “And I’m getting real tired of all this crap. Lets just gank the bitch and go.”
Castiel shook his head slowly, studying the part of the floor he’d been so carefully avoiding rather than look at Dean. “Nathaniel has been Raphael’s right hand in this. I cannot let this chance to gain information pass.”
Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam interrupted him with a quiet, “She got me out of Hell. That’s going to be worth something.”
“I would like to know how she managed to pull that off,” Castiel pointed out with a grim expression.
Martha paced the length of the floor, looking thoughtful. “But isn’t it this Raphael we need to be worried about? By now he’s got to know the trade didn’t go off, and he’ll be looking for us, right?”
“He won’t find us,” Castiel said confidently, but neither Sam nor Dean shared the angel’s confidence.
“So, Martha, you wanna learn how to make an angel banishing sigil?” Sam asked as Dean produced a pocket knife. Cas shot the brothers a dirty look; on anyone else, Sam would have called the angel’s expression a pout.
“What are we going to do about Raphael?” Martha pressed insistently. “When he shows up? Stick him in a circle of fire?”
Castiel pursed his lips, drumming his fingers on his thigh. “That would only be a temporary measure,” he reluctantly admitted, “and I cannot take him in a straight fight. The Doctor and I have been working on a solution, but he is an archangel.” He exhaled slowly. “The only one who has ever killed an archangel was Lucifer.”
“Who is still safely locked away in the Cage,” Sam finished.
“So why not put Raphael in the cage?” Mickey asked as the basement door opened with a shriek of rusty hinges. The Doctor half danced into the room, twirling his sonic screwdriver between his long fingers, spinning to face Mickey.
“Did you,” the Time Lord asked slowly, “just suggest that we open up the cage containing two of the most powerful beings in existence so we can shove another one in?” Mickey sighed wearily and nodded. “Mickey Smith, you are brilliant!”
“I have a gun,” Mickey warned, “and I’ve been having a very bad day. So I think I’d be justified in shooting you if you’re making fun.”
The Doctor took a moment to look hurt. “I’m not joking.”
“Okay, how the hell are we supposed to do that, smart guy?” Dean growled. “The rings disappeared when the cage closed -- no key.”
The Doctor smiled widely. “I’ll have you know that I am very good at opening locks.”
***
Even standing outside the circle of fire, Castiel was aware of how dangerous it was. Nathaniel stood in the center, watching him with bitter resignation while a little voice of caution in the back of Castiel’s head reminded him that while she was just a cherub, fire was Nathaniel’s element. He had been there for the first lightning strike, when Nathaniel had whispered to that first burning tree, coaxing the fire until it spread to the grass and the other trees. Much of that early forest had burned that day, while Nathaniel sang to the flames.
Really, they should have taken that as a sign of things to come.
Rory Williams stood closest to the flames, borrowed angel blade in his hand, just in case Nathaniel found a way out. The human had proven disturbingly good at fighting and killing angels, and he wasn’t likely to be goaded in to doing anything stupid. Dean clattered down the stairs behind Castiel, calling up to Sam that now was a great time to give Martha the grand tour while Sam accused his brother of being a crude jackass and unfit for human company. The Doctor came down last, shutting the basement door behind him.
“Hello again, Nathaniel!” the Time Lord said with a cheery smile. Nathaniel didn’t respond; she had eyes only for Castiel.
“Get on with it.”
“You’re going to tell us how you got in to Lucifer’s Cage, Nathaniel.”
For a moment, Nathaniel’s lip curled up. “A little light torture before the execution, then. That explains Dean’s presence.”
Castiel felt Dean bristle, but thankfully (for once) the human held his tongue. Dean’s time with Lisa, it seemed, had taught him something.
“Or will it be the other one?” Nathaniel nodded towards Rory. “You’ve turned him into a very effective weapon against your brothers, Castiel. Much better than your Righteous Man.”
“Nobody’s going to kill you,” the Doctor said gently, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the trapped angel again, studying the results intently.
Nathaniel cocked her head to one side. “Are you lying, or do you really believe that?” She looked again to Castiel. “Tell me, Castiel, how many of us have to die before your pride is satisfied? Or shall you follow the Doctor’s example and wipe us all out, as he did?”
“My pride has nothing to do with this,” Castiel insisted with a growl.
“Your pride has everything to do with this!” Nathaniel hissed back, coming to the very edge of the fire. “In your pride, you laid claim to the Righteous Man, and that was where it all started! You preach of free will, but you demand we choose what you want, and all the while you wash your hands in our blood! So get on with it. At least for me, the fight will finally be over.”
Castiel stood before Nathaniel, on the edge of the holy fire, skin prickling as the flames nipped at his Grace. “I never wanted this.”
“You chose it when you chose him,” Nathaniel spat.
“Lady, you should be on your knees thanking Cas for not ganking your feathery ass,” Dean said darkly, coming up beside Castiel.
“I was dead the moment you double crossed me. It’s only a matter of when.” Nathaniel turned her hard, hot gaze on Dean. “If you had an ounce of sense, you would take your brother and go before Crowley’s demons find him again.”
If the Doctor hadn’t moved so that he was behind Nathaniel, Castiel would have missed the fascinated expression on the Doctor’s face as he looked from his screwdriver to the cherub, a slow smile spreading across his face. Dean, meanwhile, swore expressively. “God dammit, what does Brimstone Breath want?”
“The same thing as us, I suspect,” Castiel pointed out. “How Sam got out of the Cage without just breaking it open.”
“What if she did?” Dean demanded to know.
“We would already know. Lucifer and Michael would have come after us first.”
“Fuck,” Dean sighed, raking his hands through his hair. There was no real force, no rage behind the word this time, even as he stomped up the basement steps, growling about demon proofing the house.
“You didn’t have to tell us that,” the Doctor noted, tucking his screwdriver back into his tweed jacket.
“I made a promise, and I intend to see it kept.”
***
Martha sprayed the cut with something antibacterial that really stung more than the cut had. Sam made a show of wincing, and she grinned up at him, slapping an adhesive bandage over the cleaned out cut. “Need me to kiss it better, too?” she asked sweetly. The grin fell away as she studied the freshly drawn sigil. The blood hadn’t even begun to turn brown yet. “Does it have to be your own, or can you use someone else’s?”
Sam gave the sigil a thoughtful look, watching a bead of blood roll down the faded wallpaper. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Usually, we end up having to use them by the time we’ve finished them. Doesn’t leave much time for testing things out.” He flipped the knife in his other hand, catching it easily by the blade and holding it out to Martha. “Ready to give it a try?”
“Is this some kind of hunter initiation?” Martha teased, taking the knife and wiping it down, eyeing the blade critically. “How you didn’t end up dead from infection before now…”
Sam laughingly told her, “No, you don’t get to call yourself a real hunter until you’ve done a salt and burn in the rain. We should put the next one up near the front-”
Dean came thundering up the stairs from the basement, slamming the door behind him. “Forget the angels for now, we need to get demon proofing.”
Sam and Martha exchanged a quick look. “Mickey and Donna are on salt detail,” Martha told the elder Winchester helpfully, “and Amy’s putting up the sigils for keeping angels out.”
“We were gonna start on the Devil’s Traps after that,” Sam added.
Dean exhaled sharply, closing his eyes and nodding. “Holy water?”
“Water’s off here,” Sam noted.
“We can raid the TARDIS,” Martha pointed out. “I think I remember where the swimming pools are, unless they’ve moved again.”
Dean visibly relaxed, even if it was just a little bit. “When were you gonna bring up the ‘chased by demons’ thing?” There was a bit of anger there, but Sam knew it was just Dean being Dean.
“When are we not chased by demons?” Sam retorted.
“Can you two save the squabbling for a bit later?” Martha sighed, running the knife across her palm, drawing forth a thin line of blood. “We’ve got work to do.”
Dean rocked back on his heels, slowly grinning at his younger brother. “I like her.”
***
“I don’t like this,” Castiel said, not for the first time, even as he helped the Doctor with the machine that had begun to fill one wall of the basement. He shot a look towards Nathaniel, who continued to glare balefully from within the fire. She’d gone silent after her rant, refusing to answer any questions. Not that the Doctor required any more answers from Nathaniel; the readings of the sonic screwdriver were more than enough to give the Time Lord what he needed to get into Lucifer’s Cage; he’d announced as much with considerable good cheer before scurrying off to the TARDIS, dragging Castiel with him to hunt for the parts he would need for his machine, prattling on about frequencies and shattering glass with the right tone.
“Got a better plan, have you?” the Doctor asked. “Me, I’ve had enough of killing,” he went on softly, “haven’t you?”
Castiel refused to respond, instead kneeling in front of the machine and screwing a panel closed. Even in it’s inactive state, he could feel it resonating with the Music of the Spheres. Sonic, the Doctor had said. They would lock on to the vibrational frequency of the Cage and open it with a one way door for just long enough to shove Raphael in. If Michael or Lucifer noticed, they could force the door the other way, so they would have to be fast.
But, loathe as he was to admit it, Castiel didn’t have a better plan for stopping Raphael, so the angel said nothing.
“It’s almost done.” The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver hummed, and the machine attuned itself to the frequency. “Ready to end this war, Castiel?”
“Yes,” Castiel said fervently, ignoring Nathaniel’s glare. Truthfully, Castiel would have executed the cherub already if he didn’t think she might still be useful, and he still might have to do so… even if it meant proving that she was right. When the war was over, Castiel knew that he couldn’t afford to have any dissent, so Nathaniel might have to be used as an example. He didn’t want things to come to that; he’d seen enough of his brothers and sisters die by his hands and by his orders for a thousand lifetimes. But he also knew that he couldn’t afford any threat to himself and the Winchesters to remain. Sam and Dean had earned their rest a thousand times over, and Castiel would do whatever it took to see that they got it.
***
Mickey scraped at the paint on the window, grumbling all the while. “We just got this crap up, now we’re taking it down?”
Dean was adding lines to a ward in front of him, shooting the occasional glance towards his brother and Martha. They had their heads bent close together, talking quietly. “You could always go help Cas and the Doctor.”
Mickey shuddered dramatically. “And have Nathaniel glaring at me the whole time? Pass. I’ve had enough of angels.”
“I hear ya, man,” Dean muttered. “Dicks with wings.”
“You remember Cas is an angel, right?” Sam said, tearing himself away from his conversation with Martha to give Dean one of his better bitchfaces. “And Anna was alright until she went crazy.”
“Who’s Anna?” Donna asked as she came through with Amy, passing around bags of potato chips that they’d scrounged up from the TARDIS.
“Another redhead who had something ancient and unknowable locked up inside her head.” Dean tore open a little bag of salty goodness, dumping all the chips into his mouth in one go and crunching them noisily. “She went nuts and tried to kill us before we were born.”
“Can’t imagine why she’d wanna do that,” Donna managed to say with a completely straight face.
“With those manners, I can’t imagine why anyone would want you dead,” Amy told Dean sweetly.
“When I told Santa I wanted to be double teams by redheads this year, this was not what I meant,” Dean mock-growled. Sam threw his bag of chips at his brother, bouncing them off Dean’s head.
The basement door swung open with a screech, Castiel drifting in to the room like a dark cloud. “We’re ready. I have informed by people that I am here and have Nathaniel. That should be enough to draw Raphael out, with him knowing about Donna.”
“Lets do this, then.” Dean smirked, rubbing his hands together as a truck rammed through the wall, gas peddle held down by half a brick, followed by the demons who had set it in motion.
“Get them! We’ll bring them to Crowley in pieces!”
***
Rory didn’t sigh, though the Doctor could tell that he was sorely tempted to as the floorboards creaked loudly above him and the fighting started upstairs. “Just once would be nice,” he said to nobody in particular.
The Doctor just shook his head. “Quickly.”
Rory was already racing up the stairs before the Doctor had finished speaking the word; Amy was up there, and that was all that mattered. The Doctor stayed in the basement with the machine and the captured angel.
“That would be the demons,” Nathaniel noted. The Doctor turned towards her with a faint smile while the angel stared up at the creaking ceiling.
“Speaking to us again? Lovely.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Dust fell on Nathaniel, and she brushed it off with a resigned sigh. “It’s over. Once Raphael is taken, Castiel will have no more use for me. I will die with my cause.”
“You’re awful certain about him killing you for someone who isn’t dead yet.” The Doctor watched Nathaniel closely.
“Why do you care? You are notoriously vicious with those who threaten your companions.”
The Doctor perched on the edge of his machine, crossing one leg over the other. “Lets call it an academic interest.”
Upstairs, the battle raged while the Time Lord and the angel watched each other. “Why are you down here? I can’t go anywhere, nor can your… overly complicated lock pick.”
“You got out of Lucifer’s Cage, you’ve managed to survive more than one encounter with dear old Cas, and when you’re let loose, things tend to burn down, so forgive me if I think it would be a good idea keep an eye on you. Remember that city in Mesopotamia? You burned it to the ground in less than a day.”
Nathaniel pointed a finger at the Doctor. “That was not my fault! There was a drought!” She scowled. “And the same could very well be said for you. I may have burned cities, but you burn worlds.”
“And what do you think will happen to this world, if your Raphael has his way?” The Doctor paced across the basement, standing at the bottom of the stairs with a thoughtful frown. It had gotten quiet up there, and the air felt far too heavy, like right before a thunderstorm. In her circle of fire, Nathaniel turned slowly, eyes still on the ceiling. “Oh… no.”
The Doctor raced back to his machine, long fingers scrabbling over the controls, turning the machine on and making it sing even as the basement door squealed open, the steps creaking under the weight of the last free archangel in the world.
Lightning slammed into the Doctor, a genuine bolt of divine retribution, followed by a chuckle like a roll of thunder as the Doctor fell into darkness.
***
The mortals hung on the wall like so many decorations, held in place by Raphael’s power. Castiel stood in the middle of the basement, surrounded by holy fire. In Nathaniel’s unfettered presence, it leapt up almost high enough to obscure the captured angel’s bruised and bloodied face. Raphael concentrated on the machine, occasionally throwing a smirk at his captives. “You’ve done very well, Nathaniel.”
A smile twitched across Nathaniel’s face, fading as quickly as it had appeared while she watched the humans and the Gallifreyan while they struggled against the unstoppable force of Raphael’s will. The archangel had forced them in to silence after allowing them to threaten, curse and berate the two angels impotently. Raphael had finally grown tired of it, demanding silence while he worked the Doctor’s machine.
“You have brought me my greatest enemy, his allies, the last Time Lord, and the keys to Lucifer’s Cage.” He caressed the Doctor’s humming machine lovingly. “Magnificent. Father is truly with us in this.”
“We can send the humans on their way and begin now, then?” Nathaniel asked, perking up. Raphael turned from the gently singing machine, eyebrows rising slowly as his shoulders twitched, and the archangel started to laugh.
“Let them go? Nathaniel, your sense of humor needs work.” Raphael shook his head, barely hiding his smile behind a hand as he flicked a switch and making the humming rise in pitch. “We still need them.”
“We have the machine, we have the traitor,” Nathaniel ticked the points off on her fingers, “and we have the Doctor. The others serve no purpose.”
Raphael turned his back to the machine and walked across the basement to stand in front of Sam, who continued to struggle. The man’s mouth worked ceaselessly despite no sound coming out, no doubt trying to let Raphael know exactly what he thought of the archangel. “You forgot about Lucifer’s vessel, sister.” He tossed a pleased little smirk at Dean, who was silently screaming at him. “We need somewhere to put our fallen brother when we let him out of the Cage.”
“There are others,” Nathaniel pointed out. “The bloodline of Lucifer isn’t so small that there are no other options.”
“But none so well suited as Sam.” Raphael clasped his hands behind his back and sauntered to the very edge of the circle of fire, gazing in to Castiel’s angry, battered face. “He’s already said yes. There is no barrier between Lucifer and that… abomination. And when Lucifer rises from the Pit, Castiel, you will get to watch as the fallen one uses Sam’s body to rip Dean and the rest of your allies apart.” Raphael laughed again, a roll of thunder that shook the house. “I think that ties everything up nicely.”
Nathaniel stared at the archangel, her expression growing slowly more horrified with each word from the archangel‘s mouth. "Brother, this is... unnecessary. It's cruelty for the sake of cruelty."
Raphael shot Nathaniel a surprised look, seeming to really listen to what she was saying for the first time. "Are you... questioning me, Nathaniel?"
The cherub opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again as she paced around the room, until she was standing between the humans and Raphael. When she finally spoke, she sounded as surprised as Raphael looked. "Yes."
Raphael's expression went from surprised to thunderous, hand raising to smite his suddenly insubordinate follower. Before he could bring his fingers together in a snap that would render her vessel so much chunky liquid, Nathaniel pulled the holy oil fueled fire from the ring that imprisoned Castiel and threw it right in the archangel's face. Raphael howled in surprise and pain, the whole house rattling as angelic flesh sizzled and burned. “How dare you!”
The humans fell from where they hung, Rory going to Amy’s side while Dean bolted to Sam’s, and the Doctor raced between the spreading flames to his machine. Fire radiated out in all directions from Nathaniel and Raphael, only just avoiding Mickey, Martha, and Donna as some of it splashed against the wall where they had been pinned. The three scrambled out of the fire’s way, but they still got scorched. Castiel, freed from the now broken ring of holy fire, moved between Sam and Dean and the two angels, pushing the raging fire away as best he could with his Grace.
“Go!” Nathaniel barked, throwing up a wall of fire in front of Raphael, blocking his way to the humans. “I keep my promises, now go!”
Raphael pushed through the wall of flames, ignoring his sizzling flesh as he took Nathaniel by the shoulder, ramming his blade beneath her ribs. The fires flared high and hot for a moment, briefly taking the shape of wings, then died down to nothing more than normal fire, supported only by what fuel was already there, no longer supported by the righteous rage of an angel. Sam grabbed Dean by the arm, hauling him up the burning stairs. Rory shoved Amy after the brothers, letting Donna and Mickey go up before him before racing up the stairs after.
“Doctor!” Martha called, following Rory up as the fire started eating away at the ceiling. The Doctor didn’t look up from the humming machine, flipping switches and spinning dials.
“With you in a moment!” he called over Raphael’s pained howls. Nathaniel’s body hit the floor as Castiel pushed forward, blade in hand.
In a straight fight, Castiel couldn’t have hoped to take Raphael. But the archangel was wounded, half blinded by the first and final act of the cherub’s defiance, and Castiel was angry. He parried Raphael’s clumsy blows, and while he wasn’t able to do more damage, he was able to keep the archangel off balance and away from the escaping humans or the busy Doctor. The machine screamed, shaking the burning house as badly as Raphael’s screams as a swirling, sucking void opened up where a wall had once been, sucking in the flames in the basement and pulling at the three ancient beings.
Castiel rushed forward, barreling in to Raphael and forcing him into the screaming void.
Castiel knew that it would swallow him too, trapping him in the Cage with Michael, Lucifer, and Raphael, but it was the only way to be sure of trapping Raphael. Castiel could feel himself being pulled in by the undeniable gravity of the Cage, lifting him off his feet and pulling him in after the screaming Raphael, only to be caught by the back of his overcoat by the surprisingly strong hand of the Doctor.
“Hang on!” the last Time Lord shouted, hauling Castiel back from the brink while clinging to his machine with his other hand. Castiel grabbed hold of the machine as the pressure from the vortex grew. The Doctor set himself to shutting down the machine, his feet threatening to go flying out from under him. Castiel watched as Nathaniel’s body slid in, flopping about like a discarded rag doll. The ceiling collapsed, flaming wood crashing down and being sucked down into the Pit. “Come on, come on!” The Doctor hit the machine with his fist, making the humming finally stop. The voice swirled closed, but the noise did not abate. More of the ceiling came down, along with flaming chunks of the second floor.
Castiel grabbed the Doctor, teleporting them out of the flaming house and into the clean, open air.
Epilogue