The last thing she remembered was a forest and Dean finally finishing what needed to be done, now she was coming to on the hardwood floor of some rustic, run down looking bar.
"Hello, Avarin." She vaguely recognized the man's face but from where?
"It's been such a long time. Don't strain yourself, just take it nice and easy." It finally dawned on her.
"Chuck?" he smiled but she just looked on, confused. "Why am I here? Where is here?"
"It's fantastic, isn't it? It's a place of my own creation." Okay, maybe she hadn't died, maybe she'd just gone mad and was dreaming.
"That's it…I'm just delusional."
"Afraid not, Avarin."
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
"Because that's your true name." she quirked a brow at his insistence "No, my Name is Grace…at least, I think it is."
"Yes, that was your name when you were human, it appears though, that some of your former abilities broke through the barrier."
"When I was human? And Barriers, what barriers?" Chuck just smiled and held out a hand to help her off the hard floor, she took it and brushed off her clothes.
"It's been so long, my little Ava." She looked at him like he was insane now, "Okay, chuck, this isn't funny, what's going on?" he gripped her shoulders and looked into her eyes, "Oookay…this is awkward."
"Avarin, I'm your father." She hesitated for a second before cracking a smile and laughing, "No…my father is John Winchester, and you're crazy." Chuck frowned and ushered her over to one of the booths,
"This might hurt a bit."
"What're you—JESUS!" he touched her forehead and memories came flooding back, of him before he was well…him, and of a woman with reddish hair and dark eyes clad in black, of the first angels created, Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer…memories of Castiel, memories of Cain and Abel as children…
"Stop…" more memories flooded her mind, helping chuck create life on earth, tasked with forming gardens and nature itself, her favorite thing being the stargazer lily's and water with it's ability to reflect whatever it wanted someone to see, including different sides to one's self.
"STOP!" there was a sudden surge of energy as she blasted him back and her body slumped against the high rise booth seat.
"I remember."
"We have a lot to talk about."
It had been almost a year since Grace had vanished from their life, the Day Dean had killed her he'd sent Sam to the store and left the sleeping angel Lay. They'd held a funeral but it had been small since none of them knew many people, Cas had taken it the hardest and since then he'd been kind of a hard ass, actually they'd all been stressed, Dean had relapsed without going full demon, and Sam had just become more stressed after it all went down.
"Anything?"
"12 voicemails. LoJack on the Impala has clearly been disabled. So a big heaping scoop of nothing. We need Rowena to hold up her end of the bargain—now." Cas looked annoyed as he turned, exasperation was clear.
"What?"
"Nothing." Castiel sighed as he began to pace the room, "it's—it's just if she removes the mark using "The book of the damned" what of the consequences?"
"Which are what?"
"Dean said—"
"Dean guessed!" Castiel looked taken-a-back at Sam's sudden outburst, but he understood why.
"Cas. What're we supposed to do, huh? Just sit on our asses, do nothing?"
"No, we find Dean."
"And then what?! The only thing that stopped Cain was death. Do you wanna kill Dean? Because I don't. not even after…" Sam stopped as the angel narrowed his eyes.
"Grace…" both men sat in an uncomfortable silence now, since the youngest of the Winchesters had died everything had been tense, Dean had left not long after, Sam was pissed he'd let Dean send him off and Cas…well Cas took it the hardest, he had actually attacked Dean for not telling him their hidden agenda.
"She's gone…and neither of us got to say goodbye." There was a distant look on the angel's face as Sam's voice softened.
"The only way I know how to save my brother is to cure the mark. and, yes, I know there will be consequences, we save Dean."
"So, I'm not an angel?" Chuck smiled, sitting across from her, "No, you're my daughter."
"You understand how weird this is, right? I was on earth for 23 years as Grace Winchester now all of a sudden I'm God's Daughter?"
"I understand, it's a lot to take in."
"A lot to take in? My life was a lie!"
"I'm sorry about that."
"You looked me in the eyes once and told me I wasn't even in your supernatural books, was that a lie too?"
"You weren't supposed to be…"
"What kind of—who the fuck does that!?"
"Ava, calm down, let me explain." He snapped his fingers and a large glass of hot chocolate appeared in front of her.
"Don't call me Ava, and how did you—"
"Like I said, I'm your father, and Avarin is your real name."
"I'm like Luke fucking Skywalker… I swear to…well, you, if you tell me that Star Wars is really an alternate reality to ours I'm going to smack you." He shrugged, "Okay, then I won't tell you."
Chuck shifted the topic back to where it needed to be, "You were in the books, but you were never meant to become a main character, I had no intention of ever making you a Winchester, but as I worked on the manuscripts I realized, those boys needed you."
"And Castiel?"
"That was…unexpected." She sipped on her hot chocolate as he spoke "You kind of rewrote the story a bit, much to my dismay."
"What?"
"You took on a mind of your own after a certain point and I lost control of your character in the books."
"So…?"
"So, to put it bluntly you became a sentient character, took control despite having no memories of who you really were."
"And that's Gods daughter?"
"Correct."
Horns blared in the distance as Dean came to on the carpeted floor of his hotel room, groaning he pulled himself off the floor to check his phone, seeing 12 missed messages from Sam he tossed his phone to the side and let his beer run down his face as he knocked it back to wake up.
"I'm good." He looked over at the pictured he'd given to Grace, the night before he'd done what he'd needed to and ran a hand down his face, "I'm good."
"Hello, Boys" Rowena sat at her desk, sipping whatever kind of teas she had made that morning, "Just in time for tea—u-unless something on your mind?"
"Five things, actually." He cocked the gun as the red haired witch turned to look at him, "Hollow tips with witch-killing brew."
"How exciting for you. Your NRA will be beside themselves with pride."
"No more games, Rowena. Do the spell now."
"Or what exactly? Come on, Samuel! You and I both know that's nothing but a bluff. Charlie may have cracked the codex, but who's going to read it if I'm gone? Not to mention handling the ingredients, getting the measurements just right—unless, of course, either of you have spent years of your life studying with the greats, mastering the intricacies of high witchcraft? But forgive me. Maybe you have." She sat back down and sipped on her tea.
"I know you're upset. We all are. Poor dean. Let's just have a nice wee cup of tea…and negotiate." Sam un-cocked the gun and put the safety back on as he stepped towards Rowena.
"What do you want?" the ginger chuckled "Oh, well, we know what I wanted, soiled the sheets on that one, didn't we? Let's talk about what I'll take—My freedom guaranteed and the codex." Castiel looked between the red head and his friend,
"Sam, you can't be—"
"Do you know which spell?" Rowena looked at his with certainty in her eyes,
"I do."
"Sam. This is a mistake."
"So, that's the story." Grace stared at him incredulously, "Wait a minute, so not only am I god's child, THE GOD, but I have a crazy ass aunt who hated what you made and wants to destroy it so things can go back to the way they were when it was dark in the universe?"
"Your aunt is a very…jealous woman, that's why I sealed her away in a box."
"A box…"
"Yes."
"And you never thought to just—oh I don't know, destroy the thing?"
"I can't destroy, I can only create." Grace gave him a blank look "But all those plagues, like the one on Pharaoh, and the flood with Noah?"
"Those were unfortunate, but with Noah, something had gone wrong and I needed to start over, you know, it was actually you who chose the rain."
"Wait, what? Are you really telling me I flooded the earth?" he just smiled "I've never been prouder, I was just going to have the angels wipe out humanity, but you came up with a better idea, it was a very proud father moment for me, Ava."
"Sumsu mimma ezebu ila ma ikkibu lu." Rowena looked up from the codex "S-Something made by god, but forbidden to man."
"Forbidden?" Sam paced the room as the red head explained, "The forbidden fruit?" Cas suggested, but it was doubtful the codex could have been talking about the apple from the garden.
"No." there was just no way it was possible. "The actual apple is the first ingredient?" there was no way they were serious, but Rowena just shared a look with Castiel and Sam gave up.
"Sumsu mimma Ezebu Lu."
"okay, uh, what's next?"
"Something made by man, but forbidden by god."
"Okay, well, god forbade false idols, right?"
"The golden calf." Another spot on guess by the Angel, but of course, he'd been around since the dawn of time so naturally he'd know the answers. Sam just looked tired.
"Wasn't that destroyed?"
"Sumsu Mimma Sen Arramu." Sam crossed his arms as she continued reading.
"Great. What's the third ingredient?"
"Oh." She sounded uncertain if she should tell them.
"What."
"The third ingredient, it's impossible."
"What is it?"
"Loosely translated—my heart." Castiel, tired of the back and forth pipped up again,
"It's not impossible at all."
"Not my literal heart, feathers. Something I love, the spell calls for me to kill it."
"A sacrifice?"
"Precisely. The book will grant freedom from the curse, but it wants something in return."
"Well, then give it." It was plain and simple, but it wasn't easy, "Bring me something I love, and I'll kill it. I want my freedom too much to make a fuss over that. The—the problem is, I don't love anything."
"What about Crowley?" Castiel suggested to the witch.
"Happy to kill him, let's not call it love."
"I don't believe you. Everyone loves something…" he trailed off, his mind wandering to Grace as he touched Rowena's forehead, "A polish boy, Oskar."
"I'm sorry, Oskar? You saw Oskar?" looks like they'd found what she loved, Sam broke up the conversation, "Who is he?"
"Who was he? Uh, A peasant boy—his family helped me through some difficulties 300 years ago." Sam's cell phone going off halted the conversation.
"Rudy, what's up?"
Dean scrubbed his hands clean in the bathroom is some shabby motel, but as he stared at his reflection he suddenly saw Grace staring back, his expression shifted to grief as he reached towards the reflective surface and punched it, shattering the glass and then knocking the built in hair dryer clear off the wall. Proceeding to trash the room before collapsing onto the bed.
"I'm sorry…" he looked at the picture of Grace he kept on the bedside table, "I was supposed to protect you!" he sobbed, a shell of a broken man right now, "Instead I killed you…I drained the life from your eyes and I buried you." He threw the bedside lamp against the far wall, watching it shatter.
"I made you suffer, living life on the road…you could've got out, lived a normal life, with Cas even, but you kept coming back to pull Sammy and I out of the fire…it wasn't even your job!" he threw the other bedside lamp,
"It wasn't—wasn't your job…"
"Dean blames himself…" Chuck had turned on one of the Bar's TV'S and it showed Dean as he trashed his rented room
"It wasn't his fault…" she looked at the TV screen, seeing part of the only family she had known for her 23 years on earth, in tears.
"You have to send me back." She looked at him, there was something in her eyes, something he recognized "I plan to send you back, but now's not the right moment, Avarin."
"I cant stand to watch him suffer, I convinced Cain to give him the mark in the first place, this is my fault."
"You convinced Cain?" she said nothing "Even with that wall up you still managed to astral project, that's impressive."
"Whatever you call it, this is still my fault. I have to fix this…"
"Don't tell me that's Queso." The droll, mundane voice of Death filled the emptiness of the Bar.
"Yeah—yes, Queso and, uh, Taquito's and Tamales. Homemade by yours truly. All with the bad fat." The horseman sniffed at the death inducing food "Considering it an offering."
"For?" Death pulled one of the Taquito's off the try and dunked it in the cheese dip,
"I want you to kill me." As Death ate the Taquito he walked towards one of the bar stools, "What I find truly fascinating, Dean…mm. that's good. Is that you and I both know that I've bene burned by you Winchesters before, yet you still call."
"Yeah, I know, but not this time, okay? No games, no second thoughts." He set the tray down at the table the horseman chose "I know you know what this is. I know you know what it can do. I've tried to fight it. I've tried to beat it on my own. And I-I can't. I got no moves left—except you" Death examined Dean's arm, seeing the Mark of Cain,
"well, I never thought I'd see the day. My goodness. Dean Winchester has tipped over his king. But I won't kill you, Dean."
Dean stared at the reaper with narrowed eyes, "You're death."
"And that mark on your arm is the first curse. Nothing can kill you."
"Okay, well, forget killing me. Can you get rid of it?"
"I could."
"But…"
"Creatio Ex nihilo god created the earth out of nothing—or so your Sunday-school teacher would have you believe."
"What, so genesis is a lie, eh? Shocker."
"Before there was light, before there was god and the archangels, there wasn't nothing. There was the Darkness." He conveniently left out the bit about who Grace really was, to save him the difficulty of explaining How god had a child.
"A horribly, destructive, amoral force that was beaten back by god and his archangels in a terrible war. God locked the Darkness away where it could do no harm, and he created a mark that would serve as both lock and key, which he entrusted to his most valued lieutenant, Lucifer. But the mark began to assert its own will, revealed itself as a curse, and began to corrupt. Lucifer became jealous of man. God banished lucifer to hell. Lucifer passed the mark to Cain, who passed the mark to you, the proverbial finger in the dike."
"Well, that is just Fan-friggin-tastic, isn't it?" Dean sat at the high rise table, put off by the story, "So I could remove the mark, but only if you're willing to share it with another to ensure the lock remains unbroken and the Darkness remains banned." Dean shook his head, he already knew his answer.
"I'm not doing that…Not to anyone."
"What f I told you I could relocate you somewhere far away, not even on this earth, where you would still be alive, but no longer a danger to yourself or others?"
"Dean."
"I gave it a shot, Sammy"
"Listen to me—whatever you're doing, whatever you've done, please…" he could hear dean chuckle on the other end of the line
"Hell, I even worked a case. I gave everything I had to beat this thing down"
"I saw. I saw Rudy."
"Well, then, you saw what I did."
"No, that wasn't you."
"Sure as hell felt like me. Brother, I'm done."
"No. no, you're not. Dean."
"Grab a pen. It's time to say goodbye."
"Send me back!"
"No, this is between the two of them, you can't interfere—not just yet." Grace watched the Screen.
"If not now, when? And also…how long did I wander before I arrived here?"
"About a year." Her eyes widened "I've been gone that long?"
"Afraid so, Ava...Grace, sorry." She sat back down in the booth, and with a snap of her own fingers this time, refilled her hot chocolate mug with something a bit more…strong.
"you know that stuff will kill you."
"I'm already dead, technically." He quirked an eyebrow at his daughter as he watched the T.V screen.
"Yeah, Okay, Fair point."
Sam pulled up to what used to be Juanita's Mexican restaurant and hurried inside.
"Hey."
"Sam." Dean stood with Death behind him, in the middle of the now deserted cantina, "What is this?"
"We need to talk."
"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't. there is another way. You don't need to go with him. You don't need to die! If this is about Grace…"
"It's funny you say that, and this has nothing to do with Grace, She's gone Sam…and she's not coming back."
"We don't know that." Sam hadn't given up hope that there was a way to bring her back, but Dean on the other hand, "It's been almost a year, Sammy. And Truth is, when I left, I thought the only way out was my death. Well, I was wrong, Sam. It's yours."
Sam walked towards his older brother, "What? He's gonna…gonna send you into outer space?"
"No, well, he didn't say outer space."
"This is madness, Dean!"
"Far from it, I'm afraid" Death was now sat on one of the barstools, Cane in hand as he watched the brothers go back and forth, Sam looked at Death spitefully,
"No one's asking you."
"Hear him out!" Dean shouting was never good, it meant things were desperate.
"Our conundrum is simple, Sam. Your brother cannot be killed, and the mark cannot be destroyed, not without inciting a far greater evil than any of us have ever known."
"What evil?" what could possibly be worse that what they'd faced thus far in their lives?
"The darkness."
"What the hell is that?"
"Well, what does it sound like? Does it sound like a good thing?" Sam looked lost, "Even if I remove Dean from the playing field, we're still left with you, loyal, dogged Sam, who I suspect will never rest until he sets his brother free—will never rest until his brother is free f the mark, which simply cannot happen, lest the darkness be set free." Sam looked uncomfortable as the horseman got in his face.
"Then there was the time you stood me up." Sam walked around Death, towards his brother, "You Killed Grace…and you traded my life."
"I had no choice, Sam! She had to die, He told us himself!" He motioned to the Reaper, "And now here I am, willing to life with this thing forever, as long as I know that I and it will never hurt another living thing."
"This isn't you. This doesn't make any sense."
"No, it makes perfect sense. If you stop thinking about yourself for one damn minute."
"It's for the greater good." Death pressed on in his attempt to convince Sam this was the best option, Sam turned, Facing the reaper with anger on his face.
"Was Grace's death for the greater good, huh? She's been dead for a while now and the world's still crap, there's still monsters, people are still dying. Did she die for the greater good?"
"Your sister is more powerful than you know, She's currently with her father, and no, not John Winchester, her real Father."
"You're trying to kill Sam?"
"Death does what he want's, I don't control him." She was watching her brothers do the same act they'd done for years, this trying to save the world y sacrificing the other was becoming old.
"Dean should know by now nothing with the Winchester line is absolute, he can have Death send him to an alternate universe, and Sam will go to the end of the earth to bring him back, they're…we're all he has left." Chuck looked across the table at his daughter once again.
"You understand so much, and yet so little. There are infinite universes, and each universe has a you and a them, in one universe the you I put on earth is a school teacher who doesn't even know that Sam and Dean exist. And in Another, Sam finished law School and became a lawyer, Dean's is the CEO of a major company and you…well, human you, she died and nothing in the world changed, everything kept spinning."
"You're trying to tell me, they don't need me?"
"No, that's not what I'm telling you. I'm saying, Dean could have kept you alive, he could have ignored Death's prophecy, but in the string of things, we still would have wound up at this exact moment, in one universe or another." He directed her back to the T.V screen
"It's almost time to send you back"
"You'll never, ever, hear me say that you—the real you—is anything but good. But you're right. Before you hurt…anyone else, you have to be stopped at any cost. I understand." Sam let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and looked at the floor.
"Do it." Death came forward with his scythe, holding it out for Dean, "Please. Do me the honor." Dean took the scythe in his hands and for a second looked like he was about to kill his little brother.
"Close your eyes." Deans voice was almost normal now as he looked down at his little brother, "Sammy, close your eyes."
"Wait. Take these." He fished something out of his jacket pocket "And one day, when you find your way back. Let these be your guide. And they can help you remember what it was to be good…what it was to love." Sam set the Polaroid's on the ground, the ones of them with their mom, before Grace came along and the same picture he'd carried with him after he'd killed her, the one where her bangs were lopsided, and she had a big grin on her face, despite missing her two front teeth.
Sam sighed as he prepared himself for what came next. "It's for family you must proceed, Dean. To become what you are, to become what you've become is a stain on their memory. Do it. Or I will." Dean stared down at the photographs, hesitance playing in his eyes as he held the scythe still.
"Forgive me." He turned, and he swung the scythe right through death himself, neither brother could grasp what had just happened as the reaper crumbled to dust before them.
"It's time." Grace stared at Chuck with uncertainty, "Just a few minor things before I send you back to Sam and Dean. Be careful not to over due it, your body will still be adjusting to all your abilities returning, you may also experience some fatigue, but that will go away, you should also expect to sleep less, being a cosmic wave of energy you'll find you don't need it much once you've adjusted."
"Well, you've taken to this parenting thing rather quickly."
"Yes well, you are my daughter. Now, go. Those boys need you, and don't do anything with Castiel that a father wouldn't approve of." Grace smirked at him as he rose his hand in the air, about to snap her back to earth,
"A bit too late for that. But not to worry, no little halfling's will come out of it." With a snap of Chucks fingers, Grace was back on earth.
"This is good. Dean, this is good, the—the mark is off your arm. Nothing crazy happened. You get your baby back." Sam pushed the keys back into Dean's hands as the eldest looked around,
"Yeah. I'm sure everything's perfectly fine." Electricity crackled in the air and both brothers looked up as lighting spread through the clear sky, a sudden bolt hit the ground, Dean walked towards it to investigate.
"Dean?" as he got closer he saw blonde hair splayed around whatever had hit the ground "Uh, Sammy?" Same came over to see what Dean had found and stopped, staring down in shock, there, in a semi-large crater, was Grace, same as she'd looked almost a year ago.
Neither brother knew how this was possible as they'd buried her behind the bunker, but Death had said she'd be back…well, before they'd killed him, of course.
As more lighting struck Dean slid down into the crater to grab his sisters body, "Sammy, a little help?" Sam knelt down so Dean could hand her up to him and climb out just as another bolt struck down,
"Get her in the car." Sam didn't ask any questions as black smoke started erupting from holes in the ground.
"Car. Now!" Both brothers hurried to the Impala, Sam laying Grace flat in the back seat before hurrying to the passenger side. As soon as they were all secure, Dean started the car, threw it into reverse and tried to speed out of there, or he would have if Baby hadn't gotten stuck in a large pot hole.
Neither brother could do anything but lock the doors as the cloud of black smoke sped towards them.
"Dean!"
So. Welcome to the first chapter of 'Shards of Stardust' this is the sequel to 'An Angel's Grace'. Updates for this might be a bit scarce with school going on right now, but I hope you enjoy it as it does progress.
Please review, I love hearing from my readers, plus it keeps me motivated.