49. The Light in the Dark

"Reports are flooding in—a seven-point-six earthquake in Portland, eight-point-one in Boston, more in Hong Kong, Berlin, and Tehran. The U.S.G.S. has no explanation but says to expect a six-figure death toll."

This was just the latest news report Dean, Cas, Bobby, and I were all watching from a store window. I kept a fist to my mouth. Hold it together, Dakota. We're not done yet. Losing Sam to Lucifer was a hell of a blow, though. One I didn't expect to hurt so much.

"It's starting," Cas noted.

"Yeah, you think, genius?" Dean retorted.

"You don't have to be mean."

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol...Just wait for the inevitable blast wave."

"Yeah, swell. Thank you, Bukowski," Dean sassed the angel-now-human. "She means how do we stop it?"

"We don't. Lucifer will meet Michael on the chosen field, and the battle of Armageddon begins."

"Okay, well, where's this chosen field?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, there's got to be something we can do."

"I'm sorry, Dakota. Dean. This is over."

"You listen to me, you junkless sissy," Dean snarled. "We are not giving up!" Dean looked at me and Bobby. "Bobby?" Now I looked to the older man. My lips parted as I saw no hope in his stature or his eyes. No, not him too. Not Bobby.

"Bobby?" I whispered.

"There was never much hope to begin with," the older hunter admitted. "I don't know what to do."

I swallowed down a nasty comment or two. Cas and Bobby could roll over and let the world go to shit, but Dean and I weren't going to. He and I were alone in this. There was a chance that we could still fix this. How, we still needed to figure out. But there was a way.

There always had to be a way.

Bobby, Cas, and I watched as Dean decided to walk away from the apocalyptic news reports. I didn't blame him, but I didn't want to be around the other two right now. Standing around them was sucking the hope out of me, what little I had left. I decided to tail Dean and found that he made his route back to the Impala.

"Going somewhere?" I asked.

Dean spun around. "No. Making a call."

"To who? Lisa?"

"No. I think I might know someone who knows where this showdown is gonna happen."

I nodded. "Mind if I listen in?"

I didn't see why it was necessary to sit in the Impala to do the phone call. But it was nice to sit down, though this was the last thing we should be doing. We needed to find Lucifer and Michael before they duked it out.

Dean put the call on speaker. It rang a few times before a voice answered.

"Mistress Magda?" asked a mousy voice.

I looked at Dean.

"Um, no, Chuck," Dean responded.

"Oh, uh, Dean. Uh, wow. I, uh, I didn't know that you'd call."

"Who's Mistress Magda?" I couldn't help my curiosity.

"Oh, Dakota, you're still alive. Well, of course you would be. I would know if something happened to you."

"Right, right, because you're still writing." I remembered meeting him at that Supernatural convention a while back. That was how we ended up meeting Crowley thanks to Becky's knowledge about the Colt.

"Whatever happened to Becky?" Dean butted in.

"Didn't work out. I had too much respect for her."

"Boy, you really got a whole virgin/hooker thing going on, don't you?"

I hit Dean on the arm. "Stay on target!"

"Dakota's right, this can't be why you called."

"Sam said yes," I told Chuck bluntly.

"I know. I saw it. I'm just working on the pages."

"Did you see where the title fight goes down?" Dean asked.

"The angels are keeping it top secret—very hush-hush."

"Aw, crap."

"But I saw it anyway. Perks of being a prophet. It's tomorrow, high noon—place called Stull Cemetery."

"Stull Ceme—Wait. I know that. That's—that's an old boneyard outside of Lawrence. Why Lawrence?"

"I don't know. It all has to end where it started, I guess."

"All right, Chuck. You know of any way to short-circuit this thing?"

"Besides the rings? No. I'm sorry."

"Well, do you have any idea what's gonna happen next?" I probed.

"I wish that I did. But I-I just—I honestly don't know yet."

"All right, thanks, Chuck." Dean ended the call.

"So, what are you thinking?" I looked to Dean. "Road trip to Lawrence?"

"You want to be there for that, Dak?"

"This is Sam we're talking about. I'm not going to go run and hide and wait for this to all be over." I sniffed. "So, what's the plan?"

"We go talk to him."

I looked at him strangely. "Really? That's your plan?"

"Have you got a better one?"

"Well, no—"

"Then it's the only one that we've got, Dak. Sam is still in there, you and I both know that. If I can somehow break through to him—"

"Well, what if you're not enough?" I asked. "That's where I'll come in. You may be his brother, but I'm his girlfriend. Not that I'm saying he'll listen to me over you or anything, but you might not be enough. If Lucifer's got an iron grip on Sam, we're going to need all the firepower we can get."

Dean sighed. "Okay, fine. I guess there's no point in trying to persuade you to stay away."

I smiled grimly. "No chance in Hell."

We shuffled out of the Impala, and Dean opened the trunk to make sure everything was in order. I crossed my arms over my chest. We're coming, Sam. Lucifer is going down. We're not going down without a fight.

"You goin' someplace?" Bobby's voice rang in the air. I turned to see him and Cas coming down the alley. "You're goin' to do somethin' stupid. You got that look."

"We're gonna go talk to Sam," Dean said.

"You just don't give up."

"It's Sam!" I protested.

"If you couldn't reach him here, you're certainly not gonna be able to on the battlefield."

"Well, if we've already lost, I guess we got nothing to lose, right?"

"I just want you both to understand—the only thing that you're gonna see out there is Michael killing your brother"—Cas inclined his head towards me—"your boyfriend."

"Well, then, we're not gonna let him die alone," I said stubbornly. I looked to Dean. "You ready?"

"Let's go."

Nobody said words to hold us back. Dean and I got inside, he started the car, and we began our trek to Stull Cemetery.

* * *

"What, no music?" I asked Dean.

We'd been on the road for a little over an hour, and not once was the radio turned on. I mean, sometimes music would be playing. You'd think to keep us calm we'd have something to listen to.

"Do you want it on?"

"Up to you." I looked out into the night.

"Listen, Dak, I know you want to help Sam, but, if things get too rough, and you know there's no way out—you run. I don't care how it happens. If I die, and Baby is still kicking, you take her and drive as far away from them as possible. J-just take care of her if it comes to that, okay?"

My brows rose. "You would seriously give up your car to me?"

"I'm not gonna let her be destroyed then and there."

"It must be something special." I looked around the Impala.

"She's been through a lot. She's home."

"But you and I—"

"Enough with that, Dak," Dean waved me off. "I know we're not ones for trusting people, but you're one of the good ones. I've seen it for a while now. And that's the bad part about you being a part of all this: you're good, you deserve something better than this."

"There's no better for me, Dean." I leaned back into the seat. "I lost my family thanks to demons, I got ran out of town. I lost everything because of them. I don't have a 'better.'"

"You ever tell Sam this?"

"I told him all the details," I murmured distantly. "I guess he never told."

"He's pretty good about keeping secrets." I picked up on the slight dark undertone in Dean's voice, but I didn't get into it. "But I get why he didn't say anything. I'm not asking for a life story, Dak."

"Good, because I don't think I can retell it again." I snorted a laugh. "Even in this world we live in, good things try to thrive. In the end, they're snuffed."

"Don't say that just yet. He's still in there."

"Even if we get to him, Dean, he doesn't want out of Hell."

"Wait, how do you know that?"

"Hm?"

"Did he tell you that he didn't want to be saved?"

"Um, I, well, uh..." Shit. Fatigue is my enemy.

Dean nodded. "You weren't asleep earlier, were you?" His tone wasn't accusatory, more like knowing.

"Yes, I was," I snapped lightly. "I just wasn't around the time you were talking to him."

"I will say one thing," he got onto a different topic. "You're not bad for a hunter."

The corners of my mouth twitched. "Thank you."

"But there's something I don't get."

"And what's that?"

"When Satan disappeared, why didn't he take you along for the ride?"

My eyes narrowed in front of me. "Dean, I'm Lucifer's toy, not his bride. I suppose I'm nothing to him now. He has what he wanted." I shrugged. "I'm disposable now." I pursed my lips. "Although, if he had taken me along, I would have tried to get through to Sam."

"I will give you props for hanging in here with us, Dak."

"I was on the streets when Sam found me, Dean. I'm no stranger to surviving." I yawned.

"But this is bigger than the streets. Way bigger."

"And stranger."

"It's okay to sleep, I've got this."

"You sure?" I blinked sleepily.

"Here, I'll prove it." He turned a knob on the dashboard, and low music began to play.

I readjusted in the seat. Between the Impala's purr and the low music playing, the combination got me very sleepy. Though Dean didn't see it—I think—I smiled as I heard him begin to sing quietly to himself.

**I personally like the title of the chapter. If you look into it, you'll see why :)

I like Dean and Kota's dynamic. Even he's got a soft spot for our puppy (yes, I have deemed her a puppy. Because she is).

So few chapters left...**