Okay guys, so I know several of you have been waiting for this for a long time. First of all, this is a sequel to my story "Worth Fighting For" and if you haven't read that one, you may want to before diving in to this.

Here's a recap of what happened in that story for those of you who need a refresher: An AU starting right after they killed Dick Roman and Dean and Cas got blow to Purgatory, Sam and Meg team up to get them back. Meanwhile in Purgatory, Cas starts coming back around to himself and after a lot of peril, leading to Meg being captured by Crowley, Sam is able to get into Purgatory and find Dean and Cas just as they find the portal Benny told them about where they could escape. Cas gets out with them, but when he finds out Crowley has Meg, they go to rescue her (which leads to love confessions). Unfortunately, the angels find out Castiel is back and capture him and Meg and drag them to Naomi. Naomi brainwashes Cas, which leads to him almost killing Meg and the Winchesters before Meg is able to snap Cas out of it and he kills Naomi. They're all a little damaged, but they're safe for now and decide that what they really need in a vacation.

This story takes place six months after the first one, picking up at the point in Season 8 where Abbadon comes through the time portal with Henry, so this is a combination AU of Season 8 and 9. Meg is now living with TFW at the bunker and her and Cas are in an established relationship.

(There's also a small mention of the other story in this verse "As You Wish" but that was written as a standalone.)

Anyway, without further ado, I hope you enjoy! Some lines of dialogue in the first couple chapters will be taken from 9x2

Even the Darkest Nights

A Supernatural Fanfic

Chapter One

Meg was in a dark building, looking for a way out. Every time she turned into a new corridor or went through a door, there was only another hallway in her path, endless, dark, and she was completely lost.

"Hello?" she called finally, frustration and trepidation overcoming her better judgment. "Castiel?"

She started running, and flung open another door, and this time she did find someone.

Naomi.

The angel who had kidnapped them and tried to brainwash Cas was standing right there in front of her, smirking.

"You," Meg snarled. "You're dead."

"Am I?" Naomi asked. "Because I think I'm still there. Inside you. Inside Castiel—you really think a few months of recovery can truly erase what I did to him?"

"Stabbing you in the throat helped," Meg said firmly, reaching for a blade, but she had none.

"You think I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to him, but you're wrong," Naomi said, stalking toward her, a smug expression on her face. "You are the worst thing that happened to him. You may as well have let me have him because he will be lost eventually if he stays with you." Meg's back hit a wall and Naomi crowded into her. "You're just a demon, Meg, a filthy, perverted, human soul. You cannot hope to touch anything without destroying it. Your very presence corrupts."

Meg felt like she was suffocating as Naomi seemed to grow larger, denouncing her.

"You will destroy your angel. You can't help yourself. It is the only thing you know how to do. You are only cementing Castiel's fallen state. If you truly loved him, you would let him go."

"No," Meg whispered.

"Then watch him die, because that will be the only outcome."

Meg started awake, the nightmare clutching at her like cold fingers as she took a shuddering breath, trying to fight against the suffocating feeling of it.

There was a rustling at her back and warmth suddenly engulfed her, accompanied by the scent and feeling of fresh rain and thunder.

"Meg, are you all right?"

She turned in Castiel's arms and reached out to pull the angel closer to her, simply pressing her lips to his and feeling his essence crash over her, chasing the last of the darkness away. He hummed slightly and tucked his hands against the small of her back, pulling her flush to him.

Finally she pulled away and looked up to meet his still slightly concerned eyes. "Just a nightmare. The usual."

Castiel furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything. They all had their nightmares they had to deal with. Meg was just glad she didn't have to sleep all the time like humans did, though sleep was becoming more of a habit than she would like these days, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of.

A lot had happened in the last six months or so since she and Sam had rescued Dean and Castiel from Purgatory, and the mess that had followed, but Meg still couldn't get Naomi out of her head, and she was sure Cas was going through something similar. After all, Naomi had physically been in her angel's head. Meg was certainly glad that bitch was dead, but part of her wished it hadn't been so quick.

But after that, things had been good for a while. They'd had their vacation to put themselves back together, gone to the beach for a week and it had been nice. Meg and Cas had finally gotten the time to truly explore their relationship like a normal couple—as if there was anything normal about them, but at least they'd gotten to pretend. Getting to feel each other out, with Castiel sane once again, and Meg committed to their side now had been…interesting. But…nice. He'd even taken her out to dinner to a little beachside café, and boy, if the Winchesters hadn't looked like the happiest, proudest brothers when Cas had asked her out on a date. She still wasn't sure if Dean and Sam had actually put him up to it or not, but it had been nice and they'd both enjoyed it. They'd enjoyed other things too.

Meg still treasured the memory of that first night they made love, after they had killed Naomi and both needed a little something to forget everything they had been through. It had been…better than anything she had expected. For one, she certainly hadn't expected her awkward, blushing angel to turn into the warrior he truly was in bed, but damn, Castiel was not exactly the shy virgin she had pictured. And she didn't think all of that had come from the pizza man.

But as always, good things had to come to an end; they were all warriors, and obviously they were going to get back into hunting. For a while, there had been routine hunts, monsters falling back on their old ways now that the Leviathans were gone. There had been a few hairy moments, one case with a witch putting Cas into a coma. Meg still shuddered when she thought about how close she had come to losing him. But it had been business as usual, and they couldn't really complain about it, especially when everything had come out in the wash.

And then there had been the completely unexpected. Sam and Dean's grandfather, Henry Winchester, had come from the past, bringing a Knight of Hell with him. Meg even was too young a demon to remember the Knights of Hell but she had of course heard the stories, and Abbadon had been one of the most feared of all, the only one who had escaped Cain's executions. So, of course, it had to be her that had popped through. And now she was in the wind, drumming up a demon army that they were going to have to do their best to stop. If only a Knight of Hell could be stopped so easily.

Henry Winchester had unfortunately died, killed by Abbadon herself, but there had been some good to come out of the whole ordeal. It happened that Henry had been from a society called the Men of Letters, and they had a bunker in Lebanon Kansas, and before he died, he gave Sam and Dean the key to the place. So they had all gone there and had made the place their home.

Meg had to admit it was cozy enough for a bunker, and there was plenty of space for all of them. Not to mention the massive amount of lore that the place contained; books, artifacts and everything a hunter could possibly dream of.

Yet apparently nothing that could kill a Knight of Hell—at least nothing they had found yet.

Meg exhaled as Castiel slowly traced the new tattoo on her shoulder—a sigil he had crafted himself to keep her in her meatsuit when Sam and Dean had to exorcise demons. There were a few issues they had run into hunting with her, but so far they had been able to figure ways around those, and with this, she would no longer be in danger of being sent back to Hell if the boys had to quickly exorcise something in the heat of battle.

"What's wrong?" Castiel asked her.

She shook her head. "It's just…we have so much work to do, don't you think we should get a break from saving the world?" And wasn't it ironic that she was part of this small effort to save the world now? She really had fallen—by demonic standards, anyway.

"Unfortunately, we seem to be the only ones with the skills to do so," Cas told her.

Meg sighed and flopped onto her back. "I'm just tired, is all."

Castiel hooked an arm around her waist and pressed his face against her hair. "That's not what you said last night," he rumbled in her ear, sending a flush of heat into her core. Meg growled under her breath. She really should be angry at how easy it was for this angel to get under her skin, take her apart, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. Not really. And she was so worried that she was nothing but a demon. She almost snorted. Nah, she really should stop worrying about that.

"We really need to get up though," Meg said with a groan, shoving Cas away and slipping out of bed reluctantly to grab her clothes before she decided never to move again. "As much as I would love nothing more than to stay in bed with you all day, we have a world to save."

Castiel smiled at her softly. "See, you do care."

"Shut up," she grumbled, but turned to hide her own smile. She still couldn't figure out how she had been so lucky to deserve this beautiful creature in her life.

She slipped into the adjoining bathroom and tried to brush some semblance back to her hair. Catching a glance of her reflection in the mirror, she frowned as she looked tired even to herself—and she was sure that had nothing to do with what her and Cas had indulged in the night before. She'd felt tired off and on after hunts lately, which led her to needing naps, which might be refreshing except for the fact that they almost always ended in nightmares.

She sighed, finished dressing and then left the room, heading toward the kitchen where she could hear Castiel greeting the Winchesters. She walked in and Dean looked up from where he was pouring coffee.

"You want a cup?" he asked her.

Meg nodded and slid into the seat beside Castiel at the table. Sam nodded a greeting to her from where he was looking at his laptop.

"So, is there a new case?" Meg asked hopefully as she accepted the cup of coffee from Dean. Anything to get her mind off her stupid insecurities.

"Actually, yeah," Sam said.

"I got a call early this morning from a hunter who used to know Bobby," Dean said as he sat down with a bowl of cereal. "Said that several hunters have gone missing lately and were never seen again."

"Except, when I did a little digging into reports in the areas they were supposed to be working cases in, I found them. Dead," Sam said, turning the computer around so they could see. "Not only that, but the bodies were found with extensive amounts of torture done to them. That's three hunters now that have turned up like this."

"Bobby's friend, Irv, was letting everyone know that something was hunting hunters," Dean added.

"You think it's Abbadon?" Castiel asked grimly.

"I think she might have gotten it into her mind to grill hunters for our location," Dean replied. "We know she wants to find the bunker, but apparently it's warded well enough to keep even a Knight of Hell away."

"So you're going to walk right into a trap, is what you're saying," Meg said blandly.

"No, we're going to be ready for a trap," Dean said. "There's a difference."

Cas gave a longsuffering sigh. "History has not given credence to that opinion."

"Trap or not, we can't let Abbadon just go around killing other hunters when she's looking for us," Sam said firmly, closing his laptop.

"No," Castiel agreed. "So maybe we should plan a trap of our own."

"What are you thinking?" Dean asked.

"Abbadon's ready for you and Sam to show up, but she's not ready for an angel and a demon."

"Yeah, an angel and a demon who are a little low on power and couldn't defeat her any more easily than two hunters," Meg said wryly. "Good plan, Clarence."

"We would be a distraction while Sam and Dean set up a trap. Use those devil's trap bullets."

"Which worked so well last time?" Meg demanded.

"As long as we properly dispose of her, she should stay gone for a while at least," Dean mused. "Give us time to find a more permanent fix."

"Yeah, not likely," Meg scoffed. "Knights of Hell are kinda invincible. That's their thing."

"Then hacking her up in pieces and burying her all over the country may be our best bet," Dean said. "We just need to get her out of the way. I mean, I'm not for Crowley at all, but I will admit that there was a lot less demonic deaths when he was running Hell."

"And Abbadon is only starting her reign of terror," Cas pointed out grimly. "It's only a matter of time before she starts something big."

"How big?" Sam asked warily.

"Lucifer big," Castiel said. "If she defeats Crowley and takes over Hell, do you really think she will stop there? There was a reason she targeted the Men of Letters. So there would be no one to stop her when she marched against the humans. And now it looks like she's doing the same thing to hunters."

"Then we'll stop her in whatever way we can," Dean said.

His phone rang then and he frowned as he saw the number. He answered it. "Who is this?"

His face changed as he heard the voice on the phone and instantly put it on speaker.

"Abbadon," he said and everyone was instantly alert. "What do you want?"

"What do I want? Just a little chat, Dean," came the sultry voice from the other end of the line.

"Then talk," Dean said tersely.

"Not like this," Abbadon said firmly. "I'll text you the coordinates of where I want you to meet me. And you better hurry. I've got something you want. You know a hunter named Irv? I've got him and a girl, and they'll both die if you don't show up as soon as reasonably possible. Will you be there, Dean?"

Dean's face was dark. "Fine. But if you touch them in the meantime…"

"You'll what? Kill me?" She laughed. "That didn't work so well for you last time, did it? I look forward to seeing you again."

The call ended, and the four of them just looked at each other.

"Well that scraps our plan," Dean muttered. "She's called us out, so she knows we know it's a trap."

"Well, there's more than one way to set a trap," Meg said, standing up. "We may still be able to figure something out yet."

"Let's do it from the road," Sam said, already having plugged the coordinates into his phone. "We've got a long drive."

The drive didn't take as long as it probably would have if Dean hadn't been the one at the wheel. During that time they discussed possible ways to, if not stop Abbadon, then to at least slow her down. Still, though, the best they were able to come up with was a hail of demon trap bullets and holy fire, and Castiel was not confident that would work out in their favor in the long run.

"Too bad we don't have a flame thrower," Dean muttered as they parked outside of the old abandoned town Abbadon's coordinates had led them too. A place just outside of Eugene, Oregon.

"That may not be the best idea when we have a demon and an angel working with us," Sam commented.

Dean shrugged. "True. Okay, everyone ready?"

Castiel pulled his angel blade out and held it in a ready position. It may not do much to Abbadon, but it would do more than a normal knife at least and she would likely have demon lackeys hanging around. He glanced over to Meg and saw she had one of her own.

"Ready," he said.

They made their way into the town, which had warning signs posted around it telling of dangerous chemicals.

"What the hell happened here?" Dean asked.

"Apparently a local chemical plant sprung a leak and they had to evacuate three square blocks," Sam provided, looking around. "Guess it's still contaminated."

"Wait, this whole place is poison?" Dean asked, eyes widening.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Nice place for a meet and greet," Meg said. "It has Abbadon all over it."

"Awesome," Dean muttered, and cupped a hand over his groin protectively.

"I don't think that's going to help," Castiel said as he followed Sam and Meg into the town, casting around. It seemed deserted, but he could sense several processes nearby. He just wasn't close enough to detect whether they were human or demon. He did know that he didn't detect anything strong enough to be Abbadon. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

Dean glanced around the deserted area. "Okay, let's split up. Sam and I will go this way, Cas, you and Meg continue up the street. See if you can find a place to set up our ambush."

Castiel nodded and he and Meg split off, heading further down the line of abandoned shops and restaurants.

"This places gives me the creeps," Meg muttered, clutching her angel blade tightly in her hand.

Castiel nodded in agreement. "I don't like this. Abbadon must know we're here and yet I can't sense her."

"Let's get the hunters and get out then," Meg said.

A sound coming from a nearby bar caused them to turn around. Castiel and Meg shared a look and moved cautiously toward it.

They went through the slightly open door, blades raised and ready, but the only occupants were two humans tied back to back in the center of the room.

"Meg," Castiel called, hurrying over. "Irv?" he asked the man, tugging the gag from his mouth.

"Yeah, that's me," the man said. "The girl there is Tracy."

"You're both hunters?" Meg asked as she worked with Castiel to cut their bonds.

"Yeah," Tracy said, shrugging the ropes off.

"We're here with the Winchesters," Castiel told them as he finished untying Irv as well. "Why did Abbadon want you?"

"She capturing and torturing any hunter she can get her hands on," Irv said ruefully. "Trying to get info on Sam and Dean."

"What for?" Meg asked.

"Wants to know where they are," Irv shook his head. "But if they're here, we need to find them and get them out of here now. This whole thing was a setup."

"Yeah, no kidding," Meg snorted.

Castiel helped Irv to his feet and reached into his coat for an extra blade. "You take them back to the car, I'll go find Sam and Dean," Castiel told Meg.

She turned to the door, but cursed. "Yeah, I don't think we're getting out of here that easy. Demons at three o'clock."

Castiel glanced out the window of the bar and saw two demons in army fatigues walking up the street.

"Okay, we'll go together then," he said.

They burst out of the bar as soon as the demons crossed in front of it, and didn't even give them time to pull their guns up. Castiel charged one of the demons and Meg took the other. He grabbed the assault rifle, deflecting the barrel before the demon could send off a hail of bullets, and stabbed him in the crook of the arm so he dropped the gun. The demon howled, but the sound was cut off by Castiel's blade driving into his chest. The demon sparked out and slumped to the ground. Meg's opponent fell a second later and they glanced back to the hunters.

"Come on, the car's not far," Castiel said.

"Look!" Tracy suddenly cried in warning as three more demons came down a side street, running toward them.

"I hate demons," Meg growled, and stood her ground, bloodied blade at the ready.

Castiel met one of the demons head on, slashing with his blade. The demon swung the gun he was carrying up and slammed it into the angel's face, causing Castiel to stagger back a step. He shook it off, but he was off balance now, and the demon easily took him down with a kick to the chest. Castiel fell with a grunt, blade flying from his hand as the rifle was leveled at him.

"This may not kill you, halo, but it will sting," the demon sneered, eyes flashing black as he readied to pull the trigger.

A blade shot through his throat and Castiel rolled to the side just as bullets smacked the ground right where his head had been. He grabbed his blade and leapt to his feet, finishing off the final demon who was charging at Meg's back now that she had turned to finish off the demon about the shoot Castiel.

They both looked at each other, a little breathless.

Meg smiled. "My hero."

"As are you," Castiel replied, smiling back.

They beckoned the hunters forward and ran back down the street to the place they had left the Impala. Castiel looked around, wondering why Sam and Dean hadn't been alerted to the sound of fighting by now, and somewhat worried by that fact.

But first they had to get the rescued hunters to safety, and thankfully the Impala was just a block away.

Castiel pointed to the car. "There, wait for us there until we come back with Sam and Dean. There are weapons in the trunk if you need them."

"We should go with you," Irv protested.

Meg shook her head. "Sit this one out. We came all this way to rescue you, you don't want to just undo our work for us, do you?"

Irv looked slightly miffed, but he nodded. "Okay, but if you don't come out in ten minutes or so I'm coming in after you."

Castiel nodded, seeing the stubbornness he had come to know from all hunters in the man, and turned with Meg to head back into the town to see what had happened to Sam and Dean.

However, the instant they turned, a figure appeared in front of them, a smirk on his face.

"Hello, Cas," Crowley said, then flicked a look to Meg. "Whore. Fancy a chat?"

And with that Castiel felt himself gripped tightly from behind and carted through the void.

Sam and Dean scouted out the old buildings, looking for any sign of life, demon or otherwise.

"Something about this seems wrong," Sam said as he stepped over an old tire.

"It's a trap, Sammy, of course it seems wrong," Dean said, but he knew what his brother meant. He'd expected way more demons than this. He wondered if Irv and the girl were here at all.

"Still…" Sam said and then there were distant sounds of a struggle a few streets down. Sam spun around to look at Dean.

"Cas and Meg," he said.

They ran off in that direction, but they didn't get ten yards before a figure dressed in black stepped out from a doorway and clotheslined Sam with their arm.

Dean skidded to a stop as Abbadon revealed herself, tossing her red hair back with a smile.

"Well, alone at last," she said, kicking Sam in the stomach before he could get up.

Dean didn't hesitate. He pulled his gun out and emptied the clip into her chest.

Abbadon took a step back, then smirked, pulling up her shirt to reveal a Kevlar vest. "Nice grouping. Should have aimed for the head."

Dean heard the other demons too late. They surrounded him and grabbed his arms, disarming him and holding him tightly.

Abbadon hauled Sam to his feet and shoved him toward two more demons before she strode over to Dean, a satisfied smile on her face as she reached up to grab his chin. "So nice of you boys to come when I call. How about we have a little talk?"

So due to Whumptober, I'm still a little behind on my writing, so I'm going to be posting this story only on Fridays. But, if I do write any one-shots I will post them on Monday.

This Monday you can look out for a brotherly Cas and Gabriel one-shot :)