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Rowena and Crowley led the company towards a secret corridor behind the throne of Hell. The bricks moved away and the opening was barely big enough for Sam. He had to bow his head as he walked through it. There was not enough space for them to walk side by side, so in a row, they followed the Demon and the Witch.

As they walked through the dark, bevelled corridor, it got warmer with each meter they dropped. Alexis started to feel a bit claustrophobic and reached for Sam's arm who was walking in front of her. She didn't like small places and she dearly hoped they would reach the end soon, seeing as they had been walking for quite a while now. And as if that was the cue, they reached the end.

"Welcome to Limbo," said Rowena which caused some funny look from the others.

"Limbo?" Serena repeated in confusion. She had heard of that before but she was pretty sure Rowena didn't mean the Limbo from the film Inception.

Crowley ignored them and descended the stairs that led towards a platform. Sam noticed only now that the room - or space - they were in, was illuminated by a circle of flames, and in the middle of it was a cage. For a moment, Sam was afraid they were already by the Cage of Lucifer, but there was no one in it.

"Limbo, yes," Rowena repeated, her voice spinning as if she was explaining something to a child, mockingly. "The furthest reaches of Hell. It is the closest place to the Cage's actual location."

Gil was about to ask something, but the Witch raised her hand to stop her from speaking up. "We need to be here for the Cage Projection, as I explained before."

The Cage Projection was a special summoning ritual that allowed the user -- in this case Rowena -- to project a spirit's consciousness from Lucifer's Cage, virtually summoning their essence. The spirit is still bound within the cage, so they aren't free, but they can still use their powers should there not be proper wardings.

Now was Michael not dangerous, they still convinced Rowena to use wardings in case Lucifer travelled up as well. If Michael was alone and they had assessed the state of his mind, the Witch could drop the wardings so that the archangel could leave the Cage. Even though they hoped Michael not to be dangerous, years of torture by Lucifer cannot be good for your mental health. Even for an archangel. They just hoped for the best and that Michael was still approachable.

Rowena set course towards the altar, a few meters away from the cage, and the hunters, companions, and Doctors followed her. On the altar was placed several bowls, herbs, liquids in small bottles, a dagger, and a black candle.

Sam didn't like the thought of being so close to Lucifer but still set several paces towards the cage, so that he could inspect it. It was a small, iron cage branded with an Angel Trap. Sam was pretty sure the fire was holy fire. It enclosed all of the cage and he could feel its warmth.

Alexis placed a hand on his shoulder and he curiously looked at her. "You shouldn't be that close by the cage. Who knows what'll come up."

Sam hesitated for a moment, but still nodded. She was right. He didn't trust Rowena.

"Ready?" Rowena's poisonous voice rang through the space. As no one said something, she took that as a 'yes' and started to perform the Enochian incantation, that would activate the security layer.

"Foh roh deh gah lah moh ray,

Mah hoh tah."

She recited it two times and then continued to the summoning spell.

"Foh reh say-lah."

Rowena threw several drugs in the bowl in front of her on the altar, and a storm set up. The wind blew hard and almost put out the holy fire, but luckily, it kept on burning.

For a moment, Alexis closed her eyes, hoping it would indeed only be Michael, but when she opened her eyes, two tall figures stood in the shadows of the cage. One with fierce, red eyes, the other with piercing, blue eyes. The bright colours slowly decreased, returning to their vessels' normal colours as they stepped towards the edges of the cage and into the light.

"Sam... Dean..." Lucifer hummed when he saw the Winchesters. "It has been a long time... To what do we owe the pleasure?" He glanced at Michael who was swung back against the cage by an invisible force.

Dean cursed, he shouldn't be able to use his power! He shot an angry glare at the Witch but before he could do something to her, Sam was suddenly teleported inside the cage.

"NO!" Alexis shouted in despair.

Lucifer laughed maniacally and threw his arm around Sam's shoulder who could barely breathe because of his fear. He was back in the cage. With Lucifer. The terrible scenarios of what happened to him when he was in the cage before, displayed itself in front of his eyes. In his mind, he was once again being tortured by Lucifer.

"No worries, I just wanted to say 'Hi' to dear old Sammy." He paused for a moment, his eyes flashing red for a split second. "Who left me all by myself when he was saved by Death himself."

Alexis set her jaw and had run towards the cage if Serena hadn't stopped her.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" she spat at the blonde, but Serena shook her head. She fixated her look at Rowena.

"Get Michael out of the cage." There was no time to assess his mind, they just had to take the guess.

"If I lower the wardings, Lucifer can get out as well." Rowena threw back her head and laughed, just as mean as Lucifer did only a few seconds ago.

Eleven and Ten sped towards the cage and pointed their sonic screwdrivers at it. "No, he won't," they announced in unison, and Rowena's laugh faded away.

Dean rolled his shoulders as he took a few menacing paces towards the Witch. "Get Michael and Sam out of there, or you won't see daylight ever again."

Rowena's eyes flew between all of the people, but she was outnumbered. Crowley, her son, just stood there, doing nothing more than observing. Maybe she could just run away? But as soon as that thought flew through her mind, Castiel suddenly stood behind her. There was nowhere to run.

"Fine," she spat at them and with another Enochian spell, she dropped the wardings. Michael threw Lucifer away from Sam and with his angelic power, they teleported out of the cage.

Lucifer let out an outragous scream when he noticed he couldn't do anything as the Doctors held him inside the cage.

"Now send him back to where he belongs!" Dean bellowed and quickly, Rowena did as he said. She prepared the mixture of herbs and liquid and lit up the black candle in front of her. With the dagger, she cut in the palm of her left hand and she used that blood to draw an encircled pentagram with various Enochian runes on the smooth surface of the altar.

Meanwhile, Ten and Eleven started to have trouble to keep the devil in the cage. "A bit faster would be nice!" Ten shouted.

"You heard what he said," Dean growled at the Witch.

"Yes, yes." She spat in her right hand and clapped her bloodied hands together.

"Anan avar kavak!"

With another outragous scream, Lucifer was banished back to his real Cage, and they all let out a sigh of relief when the devil was no longer there.

Rowena wiped off her hands on a cloth and smirked. "Well, I would say that went-," but before she could finish that, Dean had already hit her in the face.

Rowena grimaced and spat out some blood on the ground.

In a blink of an eye, Crowley stood beside Dean and prevented him from beating up his mother.

"Come now, Dean. You knew she would try something. I would say this was the least worst thing that could have happened."

Dean's eyes spat fire, why could never follow their promises?

"Besides, don't you have something better to do? Saving the United Kingdom, perhaps? Be a darling and leave us be."

Dean growled something beneath his breath, but Sam started to run upstairs; he wanted to be as far away as possible from everything that had happened today. Alexis quickly followed him, and one by one, they started to get back upstairs. Back to the Tardis. Dean hesitated, temptation to hit the treacherous Witch once more running through his veins.

"Come, Dean." Serena's voice managed to get him out of his anger just enough to think clearly. "Let's get out of here," Serena begged and Dean agreed.

He walked towards her, standing at the foot of the stairs.

"This isn't over yet," Dean warned the King of Hell and his mother before he climbed the stairs as well. They would pay for what they had done to Sam, who was reviving his nightmares once again.

But right now, they had a country to save.

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A/N: Yay! Michael has finally joined us!

I know it actually isn't possible for him to leave the cage without a vessel, but well... Just work with me here, alright?

Let me know what you think, and see you next chapter!

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