For a demon like Meg, pain was nothing new. She was born from it. She was created from pain and fear and smoke. She rose from the depths of Hell as the daughter of Azazel, apprentice of Alistair, follower of Lucifer and her true name struck fear into the hearts of all the tortured souls locked in their fiery cages. For centuries she had suffered, she had burned and screamed and endured. She had been tortured endlessly until suddenly, it stopped. Until suddenly, it was her turn. It was her turn to inflict terror and hurt, and Lucifer be damned if she didn't enjoy every second of it! She loved being the one with the knives in her hands. She loved being the one with all the power, knowing she could do whatever she liked to whatever it was that cowered beneath her. Pain and fear were old friends, and she welcomed them with open arms. She was a demon after all. She was darkness, and isn't darkness where it all comes from?

Meg did not fear Crowley, the so called King of Hell. No, her fear was reserved for something much deeper than him. She wasn't scared when his slave scum surrounded her that day at Sucrocorp. She wasn't scared when they bound her so tight it broke the delicate skin on her meatsuit. And she wasn't scared when they beat her and cut her and burned her. Pain was nothing new and so she endured a year of his almost laughable attempt at torture. It hurt of course, but she didn't care. She knew the end would be coming soon. Either Crowley would kill her for lying to him about the crypts, or she would escape and enjoy sending him into oblivion, nice and slow and messy. It would take a while for either of those things to happen, but that was fine by her. Demons could wait a long time.

But now, the waiting was over. Her cloudhopper and his favourite human pet were inside with the crypt and Crowley was right there in front of her for the taking. He had been her cause for months, and she served it will every bone in her meatsuit's body. It almost consumed her, and now her cause was coming to an end. She would serve it until it was complete, or she would die trying. But as her glare drifted over the pompous bastard, she could feel a change inside her. Her cause, the one that had kept her going ever since the apocalypse, began to shift. She no longer wanted to kill Crowley for revenge. Yes, she still wanted to kill him, but the reason for it changed. As she gripped her angel blade in her hand, only one face and one thought flickered across her mind. Castiel. He was her cause now. She would kill Crowley to protect him. She would follow him across the world, to make sure he was safe. She would do anything for him so long as he stayed alive. Her last words with Sam rang in her head.

You fell in love with a unicorn. It was beautiful then sad then sadder. I laughed, I cried, I puked in my mouth a little...and honestly I kinda get it.

That stupid cloudhopper was her unicorn, but she had known that for a while now. He made her want something other than darkness. He was her light, her opposite, the yang to her yin as the humans sometimes put it. She didn't know how it happened, or why. She only knew that he was her cause, and that she would do anything, go anywhere for her cause. And it didn't scare her.

Meg turned to Sam. "Go. Save your brother." Castiel was hers, and Crowley was her obstacle. It would be her that would go into this fight and no-one else. Besides, if Sam died too, who would look after him? The last words came out without her realising. "And…my unicorn."

Sam understood. It was up to them now to protect her Clarence. Fate could do what she wanted to her, she had passed her reason for fighting onto them and it was their burden now. Sam left, and Meg was alone with Crowley.

"Timone and Pumba…" Crowley began to stroll over lazily, enjoying this feeling. They both knew how this would play out and he wasn't going to waste one second of it. "Tell you their big plan? Did they share that little chestnut with you?" Meg kept her face blank and flickered an eyebrow. Crowley would tell her anyway so there was no point showing any of her cards. Crowley's eyes glinted as he looked directly at her. "They mean to close the Gates of Hell, sweetheart. They mean to kill me, and all the demons." He gestured to her with his stolen angel blade. "You included."

Meg froze for a fraction of a second. So this was her fate. If she wasn't killed by the arrogant son of a bitch standing in front of her, then she would be killed by Clarence's pets. She was trapped and there was no escape this time. But she didn't waver. So be it. She didn't know where demons went in death, but it didn't scare her. She made her peace with Oblivion long ago and if this was her time, then so be it.

She let out an excited gasp. "You had me at 'kill you', Crowley." She drawled. Despite himself, Crowley looked impressed. He looked at her with something akin to respect.

And then he attacked.

Whenever Meg fought her battles, it was rarely with hand to hand combat. She was more subtle than that. She was manipulative and could twist people to do her dirty work for her. She was the puppet master who controlled the strings. She said to Dean once, the best torturers never get their hands dirty, and she was the best. But that didn't mean she wasn't unwilling to get her hands dirty when the time came, especially if it was Crowley who would feel it. She had been longing for the sensation of his blood running over her hands, dripping from her blade. Her fiery hatred fuelled her weakened body, and she fought him. She fought with everything she had, but it wasn't enough. Her meatsuit was small and weaker than his. It was no contest and they both knew that. He toyed with her, he made her bleed, he made her hurt. He made sure she was beaten into the ground.

Pain was nothing new to Meg, but she still felt it. She felt the blows and the stabs. She felt the blood run down her face, and she felt it seep into her clothes. She could smell it, and it stank. Meg knew that she would die, but she refused to die on her knees. She tried to stagger up onto her feet, but Crowley grabbed her by her collar and hauled her up.

He smirked as he looked down on her. "I could beat on you for eternity." He rasped.

Meg hurt, but she hid the pain well. She let out a low chuckle. "Take all the time you want, you pig." She choked. She didn't care what he did to her anymore. This was about something else now.

A car door slammed and they both turned to look at the source of the noise. Meg could see the human pets in the car, but no unicorn. He had gone and that was enough for her.

"No Cas in the back seat." She struggled to say. "Your stone is long gone."

This was it. She had served her cause. Her Clarence was safe and that was all she wanted. She didn't care about some tablet or stone that could help decipher it. She didn't care about the demons or the angels or the humans. She didn't care what happened to her or the rest of the God damn universe. Clarence was away and hidden, and that was all that mattered. All she could do now was fight the only threat she could.

Without giving a shit about the consequences, she rammed her angel blade into the motherfuckers shoulder. She knew it wouldn't kill him but it was her last defiant act. At least it might be able to buy them all some time.

She didn't try to run as Crowley turned on her, all Hell's fury blazing in his eyes. She didn't try to resist as he grabbed her arm. And she didn't try to fight him off as he drove his own blade into her stomach.

This was like nothing she had ever felt before. None of the torture in Hell compared to this. She couldn't scream as she felt her true form burn under the meatsuit. She couldn't move as her body was scorched and ripped apart from the inside out. She could only think about her angel, and pray to whoever would listen that they would protect her unicorn.