"You're a new burden that he was handed. You're a weak, helpless thing. You think that they care about you, love you? You're a job, a job none of them wanted. And you-" Michael stopped talking abruptly as I appeared in the doorway.

"Jack? Go help Sam."

Jack stood from the map table, making his way over to me. As he passed, I grabbed his arm, stopping him briefly.

"Wait. Don't believe anything he says. He's lying."

"And I can still hear you," Michael called over.

I glared at the archangel, letting Jack go and making my way warily over to the table.

"You have questions," Michael smirked at me.

"You masked your true form from me... why?"

"What's wrong? Do you not like being able to see this pretty face more clearly?" he taunted.

I bit my lip, avoiding his gaze as I touched my wedding ring on my finger.

"I'm surprised," he continued. "After the way you reacted when he first said yes, I thought you wouldn't be able to stand being near me."

"The others were busy getting ready," I replied, still not looking at him.

The archangel hummed before going silent for a few minutes.

"Tell me," Michael finally spoke. "Why do you love this world enough to risk your own life?"

"Tell me," I countered. "Why do you hate this world enough to burn it to the ground?"

"Because I can. Because... me and my brother- my Lucifer- when we fought in my world, we thought that God would come back, give us answers- why he'd gone, what we'd done- but instead, do you know what happened? Nothing. No God. Nothing. And now... now that I'm in here-" he tapped Dean's temple, "now I know why. God- Chuck- is a writer, and like all writers, he churns out draft after draft. My world? This world? Nothing but failed drafts. And when he realizes that they're flawed, he moves on and tries again."

"No, that's not how..." I shook my head. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he doesn't care!" Michael yelled. "About you, me- anything. Now, at first, I thought I'd do better. Show him. Be more God than God. But now... I just want to burn every one of his little worlds until I catch up to the old man."

"And then what?"

"Even God can die," he smirked.

I swallowed, continuing to play with my ring as I thought over his words.

⁘

"Let me."

"Ellie, you can barely look at him out here. How could you possibly handle this?"

"I was useless last time, Sam! Let me help this time!"

"You will be helping this time," Sam replied. "Jack and the others will need help dealing with the monsters on their way."

"Sammy, please," I begged.

"You heard what he said before. Last time he was possessed, he said it was like he was drowning. This time it will probably be worse."

"So let me get through to him! I need to be the one to do this."

Sam sighed, running a hand over his face.

"Only one person besides Cass can do it, and I really think it should be me," he tried arguing one more time.

"Look, I know you're his brother, but this time, I really feel like I should be the one to do this, Sam. Please."

Sam sighed again, finally giving in. Fifteen minutes later, I was hooked up to the old British Men of Letters machine that Lady Bevell had used to help me break my mom out of her mind control. Across from me, Sam was attaching electrodes to Michael's head.

"Cool science project," Michael said. "I give it a solid B minus."

"Okay, in theory, Ellie should be connected to Dean's mind," Sam said. "Cass, you should be able to hitch a ride with her."

"Oh, Cass... I believe in you," Michael quipped sarcastically.

"What do we do?" Jack looked to Sam.

"Pray," Cass told him.

"And make sure no one kills them," Sam added.

"Well, I like this plan," Michael smiled at me. "See, out here, I'm all chained up. But in there... you're all mine. So... what are we waiting for?"

Sam backed up beside Jack as Cass placed his hand on my shoulder and turned on the machine.

⁘

Cass and I were walking together in a black, empty space.

"Cass... where are we?"

"In Dean's mind," the angel responded.

"Then where's he?"

"That is an excellent question."

Cass raised his hand, light emanating from his palm. There was indistinct shouting, and as Cass looked around, Dean's voice sounded mixed with others.

"We had a deal!"

"Wait. Hold on, okay?"

"We're coming."

"You can't escape me, Dean. You're gonna die! And this, this is what you're gonna become!"

"Somebody help me!"

"No!"

"There's so much," Cass muttered.

"Your own father didn't care whether you lived or died."

"It's about who's the bigger badass."

"So much trauma in Dean's mind, so many scars," he continued.

"Well, yeah, Dean's been through a lot, but he's strong," I replied.

"Ellie... you've all been through a lot, and Dean is more than strong. What I meant was, if I knew... if I knew what I was looking for, I could just-- I could simply go to it. But because Michael has Dean trapped away, drowning, I have to wade through all of Dean's most terrible memories."

"Cass, wait a second. Would Michael bury Dean in trauma?"

He dropped his hand, the voices stopping as he turned to face me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Michael said it himself. The reason he left Dean in the first place was because Dean was fighting back so hard."

"So, if Michael wanted to keep Dean placated..."

"Dean thrives on trauma," I continued. "I mean, he's had to his whole life, right? It keeps him alert, keeps him ready, but if I wanted to distract Dean, I- I'd... I'd give him something he's never had before."

"Contentment," Castiel nodded in understanding.

"Exactly. So maybe, instead of looking through his bad memories, maybe let's, uh... maybe let's look through the good memories."

Cass raised his hand again, Dean's voice echoing around us once more, this time sounding happier.

"I think I'm adorable."

"This, uh, this is probably going to come out wrong, and I know it's usually accompanied by some long ass speech that's all mushy or whatever, but like I said, we aren't exactly a traditional couple and this is really long overdue by, like, years, so... I'm just going to go for it. Will you marry me?"

"Strippers, Sammy, strippers! We're on an actual case involving strippers!"

"Finally, I'll stay here, hook up with the posse. 'Cause you know me, I'm a posse magnet."

"Hey, see if they got any pie."

"There. I love you, Ellie Bear."

"This bar-This bar- This bar- I've never had anything this nice."

"Rocky's still isn't for sale."

"Rocky's still isn't for sale."

"Wait a second," I piped up.

"Still working that ghoul thing in Wichita with Cass. They should be back tonight."

"So that sale you want so bad, well, it's just not gonna happen."

"Yes. Definitely..." I nodded more confidently.

"You just gonna leave the drunk guy out there with all the booze?"

"Cass... This never happened. There. Let's go there."

Cass's eyes glowed blue and suddenly we were standing in Rocky's Bar. Dean turned from behind the bar to face us, breaking into a wide grin.

"Hey! There they are. Kill a ghoul, get a beer."

"Dean?" I asked.