This Broken Gospel

by Emilia Christine

Sequel to Distant Serenity. The wall put up in Sam's head by Death has been broken and the Leviathans have been let loose from Purgatory. Natalie and the Winchesters must now find a way to stop them from wreaking havoc. All the while, Death's warning to Natalie will come to a head in a way no one thought possible. Season 7. [DISCONTINUED]

1. Angel Hunting

A/N: I am back and it feels so good to have this chapter done! I've had the hardest time in writing this and I am still not fond of it, but I do hope that you all like it. And I hope you all are excited for what's to come!

Let's get on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural

---

Natalie walked up the porch steps and opened the front door, peering her head in. "Aunt Clara?" She called out before stepping fully into the house. Natalie closed the door behind her as Clara made her way down the stairs.

"Hey, Nad."

Natalie flashed a quick smile, silently thinking how it was so gratifying to see Clara, after everything that has happened, there was a lot that Natalie needed to tell her. "Hi."

Clara, immediately, brought Natalie into a quick hug, which Natalie made sure to keep it going for a while longer. Clara seemed to have caught onto this and gave Natalie a few gentle rubs against her back. "Are you okay?" She asked as she pulled away.

Natalie huffed out a laugh. "Am I okay? No, I'm not, which is why I came here and also the reason why I called for Jake and David to meet us here as well."

"Well, David just called me not to long ago. He said him and Jake were not that far out, they'll be here soon."

"Good." Natalie nodded and rubbed at her tired eyes.

"Nad. Is everything alright?"

Natalie blew out a tired breath and looked back up. "There is just a lot that I need to tell you."

"Well, come on, let's go to the kitchen and we can talk."

Turning around, Natalie allowed Clara to guide her over into the kitchen when she suddenly decided to try and spark up a conversation.

"How are Sam and Dean?"

Natalie sighed, thinking back to how Sam was before she came up here. When they dragged him out of the lab, Sam was limited to nothing, but an oblivious state. Terrible shaking and looking wildly around him, Sam seemed to be completely lost within himself, whatever mental horrors were playing behind his eyes, it was throwing harsh punches at him. He wasn't able to focus on anything for more than a second.

During the ride back to Bobby's, Natalie had tried to converse with Sam, get his focus on something to help keep him in line and in tuned with everything around him. The minute they reached the house, Sam immediately passed out, sleeping through the entire night and all of the day after.

When Natalie left to come back to Clara's, Sam was awake for only a brief moment. He seemed a little lost, delirious, unsure of what he was seeing or thinking. Natalie observed the behavior for only a short time, before Sam fell back asleep. It was worrying for Natalie. He just seemed so "out of it" and to her, it was just the beginning of something far more worse.

"Uh." Natalie groaned as she took a seat at the island. "Not good. Nothing is going right, Aunt Clara. Everything is...taking a turn for the worse."

Clara leaned her elbows on the counter. "What happened?"

Natalie looked up at her, thinking of a way to give Clara a simplified explanation of what happened. "It's, um, Sam's wall..." Natalie paused to make sure Clara remembered what she was talking about and a nod from Clara told her to continue. "It's gone. The wall that was supposed to keep Sam safe, it's no longer there. So now, Sam is walking around with all of his memories of hell spilling out."

"I don't understand." Clara admitted. "He's only had the wall for a few months, how can it just break like that?"

Natalie gave Clara a grim look. "Cas."

Clara furrowed her brows. "What about him?"

"He broke down Sam's wall." Natalie saw the confused look on Clara's face and continued. "Trust me, it's kind of a long story, but, I'd rather tell all of it once David and Jake get here."

"Okay." Clara quietly agreed. "How are you doing then?"

"Angry, worried...actually I'm more scared then anything else." Natalie timidly admitted.

"I can see. The fact that you admitted the truth first hand instead of coming up with an excuse. Things must really be bad."

Natalie breathed out a laugh. "I think right now, there's no use in making up how I feel. It's so easily detectable."

The conversation was interrupted by the front door opening, both Clara and Natalie looked over and saw David and Jake walk in. David looked over in the kitchen, giving Natalie a quick nod as he closed the front door.

"Hey, Nad."

Natalie smiled. "Hey, David. Hey, Jake."

Jake and David sauntered over into the kitchen and both stopped at the counter and looked between Clara and Natalie. "So, why did you call us out here Nad?" David asked.

Natalie pressed both hands down onto the counter and took in a deep breath. "Okay, so first off, there's a bit that I haven't told you guys. So, Cas had been working with Crowley for the entire year."

The look on their faces made Natalie pause in order for her to take them in and she nodded her understanding of their shock.

"I know, we were surprised as well. But, Cas and Crowley were working to open the doors to Purgatory. This whole, civil war was going on in Heaven and Cas was trying to use the souls from Purgatory to stop Raphael. He was desperate. We tried to stop him, but...Cas opened the doors and he..."

Natalie paused and slowly shook her head, feeling her body give a shake at the memories from that night at the lab, how cold and harsh Castiel was towards all of them and leaving Sam to rot in his own mind.

"He essentially became the new God. Now, I called you two out here because I'm gonna need your help."

David and Jake both nodded their willingness to listen.

"I need you two to keep track of everything. Anything that may be suspicious, whether it be miracles or mass killings, anything you think could be him, I want you to call me. And, if you manage to see him on the T.V. or anywhere, you call me. Cas, he's, uh, using a man by the name of Jimmy Novak as his vessel. Look him up, I'm pretty sure you'll find some kind of photo to identify him with."

"Why are you so concerned about the fact that Castiel is now the new God? Shouldn't that be a somewhat good thing?" Jake asked.

Natalie shook her head. "You didn't see him that night, when he changed. It was like, he wasn't even Cas anymore, like something else took over his body. He's going to punish every single angel that followed Raphael and...who knows what he might do here. He said that he was a better God, so that leads me to believe, he's going to try and 'help' however he can."

"What are you going to do if we do find him?" Jake questioned. "I mean, don't you think going after Castiel, now that he's like this, isn't a good idea?"

Natalie hesitated and gave a half shrug, agreeing with him. "I know. We actually don't know what we're going to do. But, Bobby is trying to figure it out."

"I'm curious." Clara spoke up. "You told me about what Cas did to Sam...why did he do it?"

Natalie looked down at her hands as she began to her fingers against her knee. "When we found out that Crowley was alive, we tried tracking him down. But, we never told Cas, because, we were suspicious, since Cas was the one who burned Crowley's bones. We had to make sure that he didn't get in the way. But, when he finally admitted it to us and we learned about his plan to crack open Purgatory, we tried everything. We tried so hard to get him to not do it, but Cas wouldn't listen to us. So, finally, he got fed up. Gave us one last warning, to stay out of it and to let him stop Raphael, of course we didn't listen. Therefore, I suppose as leverage...Cas broke down Sam's wall. To get us to stop getting in his way."

Natalie looked up and saw the bewildered looks on all of their faces. She honestly didn't blame them for feeling like that. David and Jake never had the "pleasure" of meeting Castiel, but from what Natalie had told them, they both felt that Castiel was someone who they could trust. Right now, that seemed to be out of the question.

"Wait, Sam's wall...that was the reason you had me drop you off at that one place. Dr. Robert's place, right?" Jake suddenly asked.

"Yeah." Natalie nodded.

"So, you went through all of that and, what...Castiel just takes it away like it was nothing?"

Natalie simply shrugged at Jake's words which only made him scoff his own disbelief. "Honestly, I could care less about what I went through. The fact is...Sam is not okay. He may say that he is, but I know. But, there's nothing I can do. I'm at a stand still. I'm worried about Sam, but we need to find Cas before something much worse happens."

David nodded silently. "Well, Jake and I will set up our own surveillance, get a few of my connections to keep an eye out as well. We'll find him Nad."

Natalie nodded, relieved that she had David and Jake to help her, honestly, she knew that they would. There was no way either of them could push her away when she was looking for assistance. And for that she was incredibly grateful for.

"You know, I've been thinking about, when I first started hunting with Sam and Dean...how everything was so simple. It was just hunting...going and finding monsters to kill. And now it's all just over complicated."

"It's the life, Nad." Clara offered. "That's just how everything works in this job."

"I know." Natalie quickly responded. "It's just, I feel like, for some reason, this time...everything is going to be different. I don't know how, but, absolutely nothing is going to be the same anymore."

With her final thought given, Natalie pushed herself off the chair, feeling that she had already brought down the mood enough for the day. "Well, that's really all I needed to tell you all. I need to change out my clothes and then I need to head back." Natalie gave the three of them a quick smile before dashing up the stairs towards her room.

….

Stashing the rest of the new set of clothes she was going to bring, Natalie zipped up her bag and straightened her back, taking a quick glance around the room. A sudden grim and sad thought came over her. The last time she had actually been able to sleep in her own room was a few months ago, actually it was longer than that. Of course to Natalie, it felt like no time had been wasted. She had never really given it much thought, the fact that she was away from home more than her dad was when she was younger. The last time she saw her sister felt like ages ago and phone calls can only do so much. Not to mention the fact that Emily would be turning one very soon and Natalie was most likely going to miss it.

Natalie realized, while standing in the comfort of her room, she had become her father. Going on hunts and only able to call her family when she had time, which wasn't as often as her dad did. She felt almost distant from all of this, what it was like to have a constant, stable home, not one that was a traveling hunk of metal or a rundown motel. She became the one thing her father didn't want her to be and it made her feel disappointed with herself.

Her eyes then settled upon her dresser and stationed above it, on the wall, was her mirror which was decorated on the edges with various pictures she had placed there during the last year. Walking over, Natalie settled on two of the images. One, which was of her family on one of the camping trips her mom took them on and this one was special, because it was the first camping trip her father was able to go on with them. Natalie had found the photo downstairs in one of Clara's boxes and asked if she could have it, which Clara had no problem with.

Natalie reached up and gently pulled the photo off the mirror panel and brought it closer. She remembered when the picture was taken. They all had finally reached the top of this one path they had taken that went up a steep hill. Natalie, Marina and Andrew had only made it halfway when they began to complain. It was only met by their dad's over the top motivational attitude, pushing them to continue on. His hyped up energy seemed to only annoy his kids even more, since they were so tired from the hike. But, when they finally got to the top, Natalie remembered that all complaints and tiredness had went away when they were able to over look the entire forest. Clara, who had gone on the hike with them, called for a photo to be taken and the five of them quickly situated themselves for the quick photo.

Natalie smiled at the memory, letting out a quick laugh at how accomplished they all felt, then it all disappeared when they realized they still had more to climb. Natalie looked up at the second photo and pulled it off the panel. It was a photo that was taken of Natalie, Marina, Clara and Emily, who was only five months old at the time. It was a random day in which they all went out to the home of Ethan's parents. If Natalie was remembering it correctly, it was his brother's birthday and it was Natalie's first real gathering she had experienced in a long time.

Looking at the picture, Natalie could tell that the event had an impact on her by the way she was smiling in the picture. It was genuine, not forced. Probably the first time, after Sam jumped, Natalie was able to sport something like that. Natalie brought the two photos over to her bag and placed them in one of the pockets, knowing that she had no pictures that she kept in her possession and these two were the perfect candidates.

A small tapping at the door garnered Natalie's attention and when she looked over, she was greeted with the sight of Jake, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"You, uh, all ready to go?"

Natalie nodded, finishing with zipping up the pocket where the photos were currently stashed in. "Yeah, just needed to get a few more things."

Jake nodded, his eyes casually moving over to the photo mural she had on her mirror and his attention seemed to stay on that for a brief moment. "Are you okay, Nad?" He asked, still keeping his focus on the photos.

"No."

Natalie's straight forward answer caused Jake to look at her, surprised. "No? You're not going to try and give me some kind of excuse?"

Natalie laughed. "No. I think, me making up how I feel is starting to lose its spark."

Jake's surprised expression soon turned grim. "Things are that bad, huh?"

Natalie scoffed. "You have no idea Jake. Sometimes I wish that I could just freeze time and just live for however long I want to, before facing all of this again."

"Sounds like paradise to me. What I would give to get a break from all of this."

Natalie casted Jake a hesitant look, which Jake was able to catch very quickly. "If you and David don't want to help me, I mean that's completely fine..."

"No, no, no..." Jake quickly interrupted. "Nad, we'll always help you. That's not what I was talking about. I mean just a break from everything in general. The job...the stress."

Natalie nodded.

"Especially for my dad, you know. I can't remember the last time he was able to actually have time to just lay back and not have to worry about anything."

"It's a rarity, especially for us and what we do." Natalie commented.

"Yeah, but, even when I was younger, my dad always managed to find time...you know? Just a brief moment where he didn't have to worry about a job. Everything use to be actually...simple."

"I know exactly how you feel." Natalie huffed out. "I mean, like I said downstairs, when I first started hunting with Sam and Dean, it was simple. Find the monster and kill it. Then the whole...Apocalypse mess happened and...simplicity just went out the window."

"Well, not saying that this is a bad thing, but, you meeting Sam and Dean just kind of changed everything."

"No, you're right. That's something I've thought about a lot. But, the more I think about it, every action we make is just another domino being toppled over, creating more things for us to deal with. It's never-ending...or, at least, it feels that way."

"Well, we're gonna fix this. We're gonna find Castiel, don't worry Nad."

Natalie accepted Jake's reassurance all to easily. From the past couple of days she's had, Natalie could use that kind of assurance, even it was just filled with nothing except hope. "I hope so."

Turning to look down at her bag, Natalie could feel another thought thrust upon her and she looked back up at Jake, taking in a quick breath.

"Listen, Jake, um..." Natalie took the few steps towards him until she was standing in front of him. "I never really said thank you. For everything that you and David have done for me, especially with helping track down Elais. I know that was absolute hell."

Jake huffed out a laugh. "It wasn't easy and it was down right frustrating at times. But, Nad you don't need to thank us. It's what we do, right? Help each other."

"I'm just waiting for the day when you both turn me down for help." Natalie commented.

"That's never going to happen Nad."

"Anything can change, Jake. That's the nature of it all."

Jake crossed his arms, eyes narrowing slightly. "Why are you so convinced that we would stop helping you?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I guess I'm just being a real Debbie Downer about everything right now."

"Well, you have every reason too. Plus, it doesn't help the fact that you are worried constantly about Sam." Jake halted, seeing the confused look on Natalie's face. "I'm not saying that you being worried is a bad thing, its just...Nad when was the last time you focused solely on yourself?"

Natalie lowered her gaze, pondering on the question. "It's been a while." She quietly admitted. "I can't really get myself to start thinking that way. Too much is going on, my focus is elsewhere."

"Well, take it from me, you should start doing that more often."

Natalie let out a quiet laugh. "You're starting to sound like Andrew."

"That's the big brother instinct coming out of me, since, I am older than you." Jake gloated lightly at the end.

Natalie's eyes narrowed as she gave him a small gentle shove in his shoulder. "Only by a few months, don't start giving me that typical excuse."

"It's a great and completely logical excuse." Jake retorted, finishing off with a small laugh. "And I think if he were here right now, he'd be telling you the same thing."

"Yeah, he would." Natalie's smile faded and her gaze fell, her expression turning somber. "I miss them, Jake. My dad, my mom...my brother."

Jake nodded. "I know. I miss my mom too. But, I know that, I wouldn't be who I am today, if my mom had not died. That probably sounds harsh, but, it's the truth. And I know, that if none of this had happened, you probably wouldn't have met Sam and Dean."

Natalie pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It's still not fair though."

Jake gave a quick shrug. "This will be cliché, but, life isn't fair Nad. Especially, with what we do, we are always bound to get screwed with something."

"You always know how to give a good talk, don't you?"

Jake flashed a grin. "I'd like to think that it's my specialty."

Natalie hummed out a laugh. "Well, keep it up. Because I think I'm going to be needing a lot of it." She turned quickly, grabbed her bag from the bed and turned back towards him. "I guess I need to get going."

"Yeah." Jake nodded. "I'll call if my dad and I find anything on Castiel."

"I appreciate it, I really do."

"It's no problem Nad."

Natalie slipped her arms through the straps of her bag and nodded. Natalie walked out of the room and in the midst of her walk, she reached up and quickly brushed Jake's hair, which he retaliated by pushing her hand away, only forcing Natalie to laugh as she made her way down the stairs.

---

Sam sucked in a quick breath and realized that he was lying on his side, his sore eyes blinked open to nothing, but, blurriness. Sam felt like crap. Actually, correction, he felt like complete shit. Sam groaned and gently began to roll onto his back, finding out that he was settled in a bed in one of the spare rooms upstairs and the one thing that immediately threw him off was that neither Dean or Natalie was sitting by his side. He expected to see at least one of them waiting next to him.

Regardless of the fact that he was totally alone, Sam was hit by a massive wave of nausea with every little move he made. It pounded senselessly in his head and there was an agonizing pain that was throbbing behind his eyes. The tightness that he was feeling in his legs was annoying enough that Sam decided to try and get out of bed.

But, Sam was finding it very difficult to focus himself on just getting that simple task done. His mind was running with new memories and information from his period in the cage. He couldn't selectively pick out a memory, they were all clustering together in this massive ball that felt like it was doubling in size. The pressure he felt building made his head feel like it was going to explode any minute.

Even amongst the fast paced memories, Sam took notice that he could hear multiple voices swirling around in his ears. Some he recognized, such as, Dean and Natalie's, the other, he had no way of distinguishing who they belonged to or what they were saying.

Dean's voice was the first to come through clear as day. Sam could hear him, his brother's pleas that were uttered to Sam while he was unconscious.

"You gotta wake up, Sammy. Please. Wake up.

The voice was so clear, Dean could've been saying them to Sam right at that moment, and that's what he thought. Sam pressed his hand up to his forehead as he rolled towards the side of the bed.

"...getting up...dean..." Sam slurred out.

He hadn't realized how weak and sore his body was. His attempt at trying to garner enough strength to support himself had failed and by the time he was nearly dangling near the edge, Sam paused, his chest heaving with heavy breaths. Sam moved his hand away from his forehead, feeling a constant softness that was wrapped around his palm. He tried his best to remember what had happened to his hand, but he was coming up empty.

Sam blew out a scoff at his failed attempt at recalling what happened. "Dean..." Sam said, his voice a lot more clearer, but his throat felt dry and scratchy.

Sam went back to try his best to conjure up what strength he could. It was a feeble attempt on Sam's part and he easily went over the edge of the bed. Sam didn't noticed he had fallen out of bed, only the abrupt sudden impact with the wooden floor stirred him.

Sam rested his cheek against the hardwood surface, sighing at the relief that it brought to his over heated face, which had been worked up by overexerting himself to get out of bed. With Dean's words still swirling around in his head, Sam could hear Natalie's voice mixing in, her words drowning out Dean's. But, Sam could hear the desperation in her voice.

"...come back to me, Sam."

Sam's eyes scrunched closed, Dean and Natalie's words morphing into one another until he could only hear Natalie. The pleading and desperation he could hear from her, the sense of hopelessness that underlined it, it was too much for Sam to withstand. But, in his clouded mind, Sam knew that he had gotten one task done. He was awake, which is what Dean wanted and now Sam needed to get to Natalie, or in this case, make sure she knows that he was up and running. Sam didn't have the mentality to remember that this was from a few days ago. Even if this information wasn't current, it was giving Sam the motivation to get up and move, even though he was currently lying face down on the ground.

Breathing out a strained groan, Sam pressed his weak palms against the hard surface and moved to rest his forehead against the wood. He weakly pressed down, only managing to get his body just a few inches off the ground when he stopped and fell back on his stomach. His left hand was throbbing and his arms were twitching from the exertion that was being forced on them.

What the hell's wrong with me?

Sam heaved out an annoyed breath, not knowing why his body was all of a sudden so weak to even move just slightly. It was just his head that was killing him, why was the rest of his body not cooperating? As intense as his internal argument was, Sam could hear a slow, steady hum begin to fill his ears and it gradually turned into obnoxious drumming that pounded against his ear drum. Now, this he could do without.

"Sam? What the hell are you doing on the floor?" Dean's question rang through Sam's intensive drumming.

Sam turned onto his side, feeling Dean's hand on his shoulder, helping to guide him. "Had to wake up..."

Dean scoffed at Sam's mundane answer. He secured his hold under Sam's arms and gently pulled him up into a sitting position, settling his back against the side of the bed. "Well, that's a great way of showing me that."

"...she wasn't here when...I woke up." Sam slurred out, sucking in a quick breath afterwards.

"What?"

"...nad...she's not here."

"Yeah, I know bud." Dean answered quietly.

"...where is she?" Sam questioned.

"She'll be back soon. Said that she needed to do a few things." Dean assured his brother, seeing that he was still a little delirious.

Sam scrunched his brows together. "...how long have I been out?" He asked, feeling like he was becoming more coherent the longer Dean had him talking.

"A few days. Here let's get you off the floor."

Dean pulled Sam's left arm around his shoulders and secured his other arm around Sam's right side. In a quick motion, along with the use of Sam's leg power that he provided, Dean pulled Sam up far enough to where he could easily sit him back down on the bed.

"Though you kind of woke up randomly." Dean added, causing his younger brother to look at him, confused. "It was only for quick moments, like you were startled out of a dream and then you fell right back to sleep. Here." Dean handed his brother a bottle of water, which Sam took, using his bandaged hand.

Sam paused, his arm still raised as his eyes assessed the bandage that was wrapped around his palm. Dean watched Sam, both remaining silent as Sam tried to pull back the memory of how he got this injury.

"You alright, Sam?" Dean questioned, his head angling towards Sam's face.

Sam flexed his hand, opening and closing his palm, feeling the stitching in his hand tug with each time he moved his fingers. Suddenly the memory came back, being back at the lab, Castiel leaving them behind and him falling. A shard of glass got stuck in his hand and he faintly remembered Natalie pulling it out and that's when the memory went fuzzy.

"Yeah." He breathed out. "It just kind of came back to me." Sam answered, gesturing with his injured hand.

"How's your head doing, by the way?" Dean asked.

Pulling up a chair in front of Sam, Dean sat down and motioned for Sam's injured, which he offered without much hesitation. Dean pulled back the bandages to assess the injury.

"Um. It's fine, I guess." Sam answered, unsure of what was really going on in his head.

"Really?" Dean asked doubtfully, his brows raising for effect, though his eyes remained focused on Sam's palm.

"I mean it. I'm not sure. It all just seems really jumbled. I can't just pick out a selective memory, it's all coming in one big wave."

Dean didn't know exactly what to think of it. He was worried, yes, Sam's memories were all spilling back into his mind, but how exactly it was occurring was nothing short of a mystery for Dean. He wasn't sure if he felt better that it all came at once or if he would feel better if it came one at a time. At least, during the latter, Sam would be able to recover somewhat from each memory. Either way, each option wasn't Dean's preferred choice.

"At least you're coherent now." Dean commented. Taking out a new roll of bandages, Dean began to wrap it around Sam's palm.

"Heard anything about Cas yet?"

Dean ticked a visible grimace and decided to leave the question open until he was done with Sam's hand, which was completed quicker than Dean was anticipating.

"Dean." Sam pressed again, knowing that his brother was trying to avoid the subject.

"No, Sam. We haven't heard anything yet and to be honest, I'd rather keep it that way for now. Don't even worry about Cas right now."

Sam sulked down in his posture, slowly nodding his head at Dean, which took the older brother by surprise. Sam would've usually had something to say, but Dean could only guess that Sam didn't have the energy to put up a front against Dean, which he was thankful for at the moment. Just thinking about what Castiel did make Dean feel almost nauseous.

"How's the car?" Sam suddenly asked after the memory of seeing the vehicle wrecked came back to mind.

Dean looked over at him. "What?"

"The car. Last time I remember, it was a total wreck."

"Oh, right," Dean raised his brows. "Out in the yard, trying to fix her up. The only good thing is that it's keeping me occupied."

Sam nodded silently. "So, it really is quiet out there right now."

"Nearly silent."

Sam was content, for now. Or at least, that's how he thought he felt. Honestly, Sam knew that even if they did find another job, they wouldn't take it. One, Dean would insist that Sam should take more time to rest and two, Sam would agree with him. His feeble attempt to try and get out of bed ended up with him lying face down on the floor. Needless to say, Sam was in no condition to just hop right back onto the road.

"I think that's actually a blessing right now." Sam commented before taking a long drink from his bottle, nearly drinking the entire thing, stopping when the bottle was halfway empty.

Dean raised a brow at his brother. "You thirsty?"

Sam tried to scoff, but it came out as just a weak breath. "Shut up."

Placing the water bottle down on the night table, Sam came up with the quick idea that he was going to take a shower. For one, he had been sleeping for a few days and he felt gross with his hair sticking in various directions, he just wanted to get clean.

"I'm going to take a shower." He announced as he tried to push himself up from the bed, which Dean was quick to stand by his side.

"You sure that's a good idea? I mean, will you even be able to stand in there?" Dean asked, unsure, as he kept a firm hold on Sam's arm, keeping him balanced.

Sam casted his brother a look. "Of course."

"Really? This is coming from the guy who fell out of bed because he was trying to get up."

"I was still disoriented Dean, I'm fine now. See?" Sam pulled his arm out of Dean's grasp and gestured to himself, showing that he was completely capable of standing on his own two feet without his older brother trying to monitor his every move.

"Yeah, right."

"Dean. Seriously." Sam snapped in annoyance. "I'll be fine. I'm not as dizzy."

"Fine, I'll give you the benefit of a doubt." Dean answered.

Sam hummed at Dean's acceptance as he began to sorely walk out of the room.

"Just know that if you pass out in the shower, I'm gonna have to haul your ass out of there. Just remember that."

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head as he sauntered out into the hallway, managing to mutter "Whatever."

---

Natalie parked the car a little farther away from the garage and turned off the ignition. Reaching over to the passenger seat, she picked up her bag before stepping out of the car. Holding onto the bag handle, Natalie shut the car door and began to walk towards the beaten Impala, where Dean was now back at his work, which was trying to restore it.

Stopping near the car, Natalie slid her hand into her pocket. "Are you sure you're gonna be able to get this thing looking like new?"

Dean paused and leaned out of the car, looking up at her. "Nice to see you too, Nad. And yes, I will be able to. I've done it before."

"That's no surprise there." Natalie retorted lightly as she turned to look up at the house. "Is Sam awake?"

"Yep." Dean wiped his hands with a small towel. "Been up and running for about an hour now."

"How do you think he is?" She asked, turning her gaze back to him.

Dean shrugged. "He says he's fine, he seemed fine, aside from the fact that he was a little...delirious when he first woke up, but it got better."

"Do you really think that he's fine, Dean?"

Dean looked down at his hands, which were still stained with grease from the car. "No. I mean he says he is, but, we have no way of knowing what's going on in his mind right now."

"Yeah." Natalie breathed out.

"So..." Dean pushed himself out of the car and picked up his beer, which was sitting on one of the tool boxes. "How was your trip?"

"Fine, I guess. It wasn't anything special. But, I talked with David and told him to keep an eye out for anything that might be related to Cas."

Dean nodded. "Did you tell them everything?"

"Pretty much. I didn't go into painstaking details about it all, but, it was enough to get them started."

Dean hummed. "So, what did you tell them to watch out for, exactly?"

"Anything that might seem a bit off...you know, miracles being performed or weird killings, maybe. Also told them who he was using as a vessel, that way, they could keep an eye out for him."

Dean didn't respond, but judging by the look on his face, there was no doubt that he seemed to have a problem with this. Well, maybe not exactly a problem, but he was skeptical.

"You think they'll find him?" Natalie went onto ask.

"I'll be honest, Nad. I hope they don't."

Natalie furrowed her brows at Dean. "What do you mean?"

"We try and find him, how pissed do you think he's going to be? You saw how he was that night at the lab. From what I saw he was very close of just...wiping us out of the picture. I'm just saying that us going after him is not exactly a good idea."

"You might think that, but I don't." Natalie replied, earning a small scoff from Dean. "Listen, you really want us to just leave it alone? And let him do whatever the hell he wants?"

"Cas is not Cas anymore Nad. He cracked down Sam's wall and left him to drown in that mess. You're telling me that going against him is the logical decision."

"I'm not saying that we should put up a full front against Cas."

Dean raised his arms up. "Then, what? If we do manage to find out what Cas is doing, what do you expect us to do about it?"

"I don't know."

"Exactly. We don't have a clue of how to handle this. So, for right now, just leave it alone. And if we do get info on where he is, we'll take it from there. Alright?"

Natalie was quiet, her lips pursed to the side. Usually, by now, there would be a long debate going on between both of them. But, there was no motivation. Dean didn't want to hear it and Natalie didn't want to be the one to start it.

Instead, she merely nodded her head. "Fine. You get back to working on the car, I'll be inside."

Natalie turned and walked over to the porch, taking the few steps slowly and opened the front door. Walking in, she closed the door quietly behind her and sauntered into the kitchen. She set down her bag at the kitchen table and looked into the next room, where Bobby and Sam were both sitting at his desk, reading through books.

Natalie could feel a small smile appear. Sam was awake and up and by the looks of it, he seemed...fine, which honestly confused her. Castiel broke down Sam's wall, he should be dealing with some kind of brutal repercussion. Not that she wanted him to go through that, but it was something that was expected and warned about. And now, here he was just sitting there, almost like nothing had happened.

Natalie had been so caught up in her thoughts, she never noticed that Bobby had called her name quite a few times in the past minute. When she finally came to, she saw Bobby and Sam both staring at her.

"What?"

Bobby raised his brows. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm not the one you should be asking." Natalie commented as she walked into the room and made her way over to Sam. "How are you feeling?"

Sam shrugged. "Fine."

"Really?" Natalie asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Well, I mean, I don't feel one hundred percent, but, I'm better than I thought I would be." Sam answered truthfully.

"I'll take your word for it then." Natalie said. "Have you found anything Bobby?"

"Nope. Nothing." Bobby set down the book and sighed. "I've just been reading at random, hoping to find something that would help."

"Mind if I give it a shot. Might as well, since there's nothing else for me to do."

"Sure, why not. Knock yourself out." Bobby stood up from his chair, offering it to Natalie, who quickly sat down. "I'll go and see how Dean's doing."

Natalie nodded and watched silently as Bobby left, then her attention turned to Sam. "Are you gonna go to?"

Sam thought for a moment and then shook his head, turning back towards the desk. "No. I'll stay here with you...help you out."

Natalie smiled. "Well, it seems like you've been at this since you woke up...so, if you want to take a break from it that's fine. In fact, I think that's a good idea."

"I'll be fine Nad."

"Okay."

Natalie looked down at the book Bobby was reading and pulled it towards her, flipping the book open.

"So, uh...when I woke up, you weren't here." Sam's words caused Natalie to look up at him. "Where were you?"

"Oh. I just, uh, took a trip back out to Aunt Clara's. Talked with her and then I told David that he needed to keep an eye out for..." Natalie paused and sighed when she began to think about Castiel. "...you know."

"Oh."

Natalie's brows creased at Sam's monotone answer and saw that the expression on his face seemed almost somber. The reason, Natalie couldn't come up with one on the spot, but she was curious.

"Hey." She leaned her elbows on the desk and leaned forward. "Are you alright?"

"No. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. It's just, when I woke up..." Sam paused at the expectant look on Natalie's face and he suddenly realized how ridiculous he felt about himself.

"You woke up alone. Felt a little down about that, didn't you Sam?"

Sam's face froze at hearing Lucifer's voice creep up behind him. "Never mind. I was just a little curious as to where you were."

Natalie nodded skeptically at Sam's words. "Sorry, I wasn't with you when you woke up. Really wish I was."

"No, it's fine Nad, really."

"Oh, you little liar."

Sam sighed at hearing Lucifer's snarky reply. "Um, by the way, have you been able to find anything about Caden yet?"

Natalie shook her head. "No. I tried praying to him, multiple times, nothing. I don't know where he is, or even if he's...alright."

"I'm sorry."

Natalie looked up at Sam, surprised at his apology. "Why are you sorry?"

"It's just, I know Dean and I were a little...skeptical about him. But, he helped us many times and even saved your life. The more I think about it, he was really the only angel who didn't hide anything from us."

"That's because he was always left out of everything. Even Cas told Balthazar that Crowley was alive, but not Caden. And I can only assume it's because of our connection with him." Natalie washed a hand down her face. "I just feel guilty."

"Why?"

"If Caden had not met me or decided to help me in any way, he wouldn't of gotten into this kind of mess. Not going against Cas would've probably saved him in the end."

"You don't know that Nad. I mean, for all we know, Caden could've found out on his own and he could've still gone against Cas. It's not your fault."

"That's not what Balthazar said."

Sam scoffed. "You're going to take what he said to heart?"

"He told me that, ever since Caden got involved with me, he was getting himself into more trouble. Said that he learned from the best. Don't really know how to feel about that."

"You can't change what happened Nad. Caden made his choice, therefore, anything that comes after that is his fault. It was his doing."

"Yeah, I guess."

Natalie picked the book back up and began to read through the page that she had stopped on, hoping that it would take her mind off of Caden. Other than Sam, Caden was also another topic that she became worried about. Castiel disappeared with him that night in the lab and she had not had any kind of contact with him since.

What happened to him? Was he alive? Or was he dead? Did Castiel force him into some kind of unbearable torture for going against him?

While keeping a watch over Sam when he was unconscious, Natalie's thoughts would often be interrupted by the thought of what happened to Caden? For a while, she actually thought that he was dead and for a while, she felt that was probably best. It was certainly better than the thought of him being forced to go through whatever kind of torture Castiel would've put him through.

But, in a sense, what Sam had told Natalie, about Caden making his own choice, it was all true. Caden, when Natalie first met him, he was a typical angel, following whatever orders he was given. A good warrior. But, in the few times that Natalie saw him after their first meeting, she could see small changes were taking place. Caden would start to show emotions, most importantly, confliction and doubt.

Especially when she passed on the information about Castiel. Caden's loyalty that he expressed to Castiel and to her, it was conflicting to him. He didn't know how to process the fact that Castiel would keep something like that from him and work with a demon. Essentially, Caden was working alongside Crowley and he didn't even know it.

Natalie drew out a long yawn as she settled more into the chair, trying to get her focus to narrow down on just reading for-well, she didn't exactly know where she was supposed to start at. But, she hoped that by just reading, she'll find something that would prove useful for them.

Sam had only managed to keep his focus on the book for a short time. He found himself staring at Natalie, his eyes roaming over her face. Thinking back to when he first woke up, finding that no one was with him. Granted, Natalie was out at Clara's and Dean was most likely gone for only a minute or two by the time he woke up. But, Sam, from the few times he actually passed out, when he would regain consciousness, the first thing he saw was Natalie staring down at him. It was a sight he grew to expect whenever he would wake up from an episode. And for some reason, when he woke up and didn't see her there, he couldn't help but feel disappointed and feel the urgent sense of wanting.

The one memory Sam could see vividly was being in that lab with everyone else, with Natalie by his side. But, even then, his mind was acting as a full bowl that was mixing everything together, creating one big mess. There was no moment for him to really relish at being able to see her, after the massive mind meld he went through in that panic room. And before he knew it, Sam slipped right back into unconsciousness.

Now that he was able to see her and actually have a conversation, after everything that went down, Sam felt like, oddly, things were trying to get put back into place. But, that was a long shot from where they were all standing now. There was no way things could return to how things were, not even mildly close after everything that happened.

Sam even came to the conclusion that whatever kind of tension or awkwardness that had been evident between, it seemed so foreign now. And he would think so. After it seemed like Sam wouldn't make it, of course anything that had to do with this relationship business between Natalie and Sam would no longer be evident. Sam was glad for this. It was suffocating to him and he was fairly certain that it was the same for Natalie.

Sam felt himself slip back into that questioning state of where he stood on this foundation that Natalie created. What did he feel? Yes, there was still the matter of trying to find Castiel, but as of now, in this silence, Sam was granted the time to actually think about it again and he was only met with his own confliction, once again.

"You poor, poor clueless guy."

Lucifer's voice rang through the silence, though of course, Natalie didn't hear a thing. Sam breathed out a quiet breath.

"I swear this whole tugging going on in your mind is frustrating right now. Just make up your mind. You already know the answer."

"Shut up." Sam quietly snapped.

Natalie jumped slightly and looked up at Sam, who had his head turned to the side like he was looking at someone and her eyes followed towards the same direction. "What?" She spoke up.

Sam quickly looked at her, seeing the confused expression written on her face. "Nothing."

Natalie could see that Sam was fidgeting almost, his fingers tapping against the table and he looked almost, annoyed, like he was trying to ignore something. "You said, shut up, I heard you."

"Sorry, it's just, um...it's nothing. Sorry." Sam quickly answered.

"Now Sam, when are you going to start telling Natalie the truth? You know lying isn't good."

Sam shut his eyes, hands slowly closed into fists, so tightly that his knuckles started to turn white. Natalie immediately shut the book and set it down on the table, thinking that Sam was finally dealing with some kind of episode from his wall breaking down.

"Sam? Hey." Natalie began, thinking that if she got him talking it would help. "Hey."

Sam bit on the inside of his cheek, allowing himself to look up at her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just, my head still sort of hurts. I'm fine."

Natalie pursed her lips together. "I need you to promise me something then."

"Yeah, Sam. You will be able to promise her something."

Sam scrunched his eyes closed, head hung down, his face contorting into something Natalie couldn't quite pinpoint. Natalie reached forward, her hand lightly grasping onto his enclosed hand.

"Sam." She waited for him to look at her. "I need you to promise me something, can you do that?"

Sam took in a breath and nodded.

"If something starts to happen, I want you to tell me. Okay? You have to promise me that you won't keep it a secret. This isn't something that you can just hide away. You don't have to trudge through this alone, Sam. So promise me that you will say when it gets to much. Promise?"

Sam moved his gaze down to her hand that was resting on his fist. Lucifer's taunts were still making their annoying presence heard, but, Sam could feel the tension in his shoulders begin to release. Talking with her, it was helping. Hoping that it would help more, Sam fully opened his hand, turning his palm up and held Natalie's hand in his own, her own grip tightening. Sam kept a hardened look on their entwined hands, mentally forcing himself to focus on this, what was happening right now. He was awake and Natalie was here with him. That's all he needed right now. This solid foundation of what was true to him was formed. He knew now that this is what he needed to hold onto during these taunting sessions.

"I promise." Sam finally answered.

Natalie kept her eyes on Sam's, waiting for any other kind of clarification from him that he was telling her the truth and Sam could see it resonating in her eyes. Sam answered with a reassuring squeeze and a faint smile, his own way of telling her that he was telling the truth. Natalie gave a quick nod and they both released their holds on each other.

---

Researching now has been placed at the top of Natalie's least favorite things to do. In all honesty, she never really like researching, but now, she was frustrated and exhausted from all of the reading she had been doing for the past few hours. And she didn't come up with anything. Nothing she read through proved to be of any value for them. The only way Natalie answered to this, was to read through more books. As much as she loathed at the idea, Natalie trudged on through more of Bobby's books. Sam even got tired from it all, eventually taking a break from their reading session and going out to talk with Dean and Bobby, which Natalie didn't have a problem with.

When she was finally alone, Natalie began to think about where exactly her and Sam were now, which was incredibly selfish of her and Natalie tried her best to push it out of her mind, but she couldn't. She remembered what she had told Sam. That once this whole thing with Castiel had been dealt with, then they might be able to finally settle it. Now, the issue with Castiel was far from being handled and Sam's head was a free range for anything to start making his life a living hell. The minute Sam's wall was broken, Natalie knew that any chance of them actually coming to a conclusion of this anytime soon had been demolished.

Natalie's way of appeasing her mind was to just continue reading, but even that was becoming a dull distraction. In her own vain attempt to keep herself focused, Natalie switched on the TV and left it on one of the news stations. If there was going to be anything that would gain their attention, it would be reported on the news. The newscaster's voice bounced softly around the room, creating a easy noise that helped lull Natalie back into reading.

"This just in. The death of 200 religious leaders is now under full investigation..."

Natalie slowly looked up from the book, towards the TV.

"These killings have been spanned out over the past few hours. The Vatican have yet to make a statement about the events, but some are already calling it an act of God."

Natalie slowly leaned forward in her chair, setting the book down on the table, her eyes glued on the television.

"He didn't look like how we all expected." A woman on the screen soon appeared. "He didn't have a beard, no robe. He was young and...sexy. And he also had a raincoat on."

Natalie rolled her eyes at the woman's compliment of Castiel's features and huffed out a breath. "Looks like we now know what you're doing Cas."

Natalie went to stand up from the seat when she paused at seeing her phone light up with a message. Picked up the phone, she stood up to her feet and scrolled through the messages that Jake was sending her.

"Guess you probably already know about the religious leaders. Dad and I have already tracked down a few more, they'll be on the news soon. Also, several groups are now disbanding, including the Ku Klux Klan."

Natalie hummed to herself. "I'm not gonna complain about that one."

The sound of footsteps walking into the kitchen caught Natalie's attention and she snapped her head up, seeing Dean walking into the room. "You still in here, reading?"

"Yeah." Natalie replied nonchalantly. "Look at this." Natalie walked over next to Dean and pointed at the TV which was still showing the headline about the leaders. "200 religious leaders have been killed in the past few hours. Jake just messaged me saying that a few more have been killed and that several religious groups are disbanding."

"And you're sure that this is Cas?"

"A woman on the news said that he, "had no beard, no robe and was sexy. Also, he had a raincoat." I'm pretty sure that it's Cas, Dean." Natalie replied coolly.

"He really is taking this job seriously." Dean commented, though there was no sarcastic tone in his voice.

Natalie silently nodded, watching the screen for a while longer. "What are we going to do?"

"There's nothing we can do, Nad."

"So, what, you just want us to sit here while Cas is out there wreaking havoc like this?" She asked, staring up at him.

"It's the only thing we can do. We can't just go in, guns blazing, when we have no idea how to stop him."

"Well, then we need to find a way to stop him."

"Have you found anything yet."

Natalie sighed. "No. Not yet."

"Well, if you find anything...let us know." Dean turned and walked out of the house.

"Dean wa-" Natalie stopped and allowed her head to hang back for a moment, trying to gather herself. She turned back towards the desk and sat down in the chair.

Natalie ran her hands down her face and blew out a breath before pulling the book back towards her. Flipping through some of the pages, Natalie ended up on a section about reapers and what their function in the supernatural world was. She lazily read through the paragraphs when she was suddenly struck with a memory.

"Reapers...reapers..." Natalie continuously repeated the word, her brows furrowing as she tried to sort out this memory that sparked up. Her eyes then widened at the realization. "Reapers...Death. It's Death. Of course!"

Natalie shot up from her chair and in her attempt to run out of the room, banged her hip against the side of the desk. "Dammit." She hissed as she ran out of the house and towards the garage where she saw Bobby, Dean and Sam talking.

"It's Death!" Natalie called out, startling the three hunters. She came to a halt in front of them, her chest heaving slightly from hard breaths. "It's Death."

Natalie looked quickly between the three of them, only to receive confused and expectant looks from them. "What?" Dean finally asked.

"What we've been looking for? It's Death. He's the one who can stop Cas." Natalie answered.

"How is Death going to do that?" Bobby asked curiously.

Natalie looked over at Dean. "Remember when you and I went up to Chicago, to get his ring to open the cage? Well, Death told us that he would reap God someday..." Natalie's sentence trailed off, waiting to see Dean remember what she was talking about.

Dean's face finally lit up. "Right. So, if he can reap Cas..."

"Then he'll be able to stop Cas and all of this, all that he's doing, will be over with."

"And how exactly are we supposed to get Death to answer us?" Bobby asked.

"Simple." Natalie replied with a small smirk. "We summon him."

"Summon Death?" Bobby clarified, earning a quick nod from her. "And what makes you think he'll actually do it? I mean, he already did you a favor."

Natalie's expression faltered. "Right...um, I don't know. Maybe, we can catch him in a good mood."

Bobby scoffed out a laugh. "Great answer, Nad."

"It's better than us just sitting on our asses, letting Cas do whatever the hell he wants." Natalie quickly retorted. "This is our only chance."

Dean shrugged. "Well, if we do this, then you have to be the one to ask Death."

Natalie furrowed her brows. "What? Why me?"

"Honestly." Dean said. "Because I think, out of all of us, Death likes you the most."

Natalie scoffed in her own disagreement. "I think like is to strong of a word to be using with Death."

….

Natalie placed the last ingredients for the summoning into the bowl, pulled out a few matches, lit them and threw them into the bowl, igniting a huge flame. Setting down the matches onto the table, the four hunters looked up to the satisfying sight of Crowley standing in the middle of their devil trap that they had scrawled on the floor.

Crowley, who seemed a little dazed from this, looked around him and groaned in frustration. "Oh no. You've got to be bloody joking!"

"Hey, Crowley." Natalie greeted with a huge smile. "Long time no see, right?"

"Why did you summon me? My new boss is going to bloody kill me if he finds out that I'm talking to you lot."

Natalie tilted her head curiously. "Your new boss? And who would that be?"

"Who do you think it is?" Crowley snapped, the mockery in his tone caused Natalie to scoff out a laugh. "It's Castiel." Crowley finished.

"Wait." Sam stood up from where he was sitting and walked towards Crowley. "Cas is your new boss."

"Of course he is. He's everyone's boss right now, he's got the upper hand on everything. And if he finds out that I have been conspiring with you three..." Crowley let out a huff. "He'll have my head that's for sure."

"Sounds like a fair trade to me." Natalie commented.

Crowley rolled his eyes at Natalie's comment. "What do you all want?"

"We need you to give us a spell to bind Death." Dean answered.

Crowley looked between the four hunters, expecting to see some kind of hint that they were joking...they weren't. "Seriously. You want to bind Death? Enslave him. You all are playing some kind of joke on me, aren't you?"

"No, we're serious Crowley." Natalie said.

"Well, sorry to burst all your bubbles, but I can't do that."

"Why not?" Dean asked. "Lucifer was able to do it."

"That was Lucifer." Crowley reminded.

"It's just a simple spell Crowley. All you have to do is give us it and we'll let you go." Sam added.

"You all are so clueless aren't you? You aren't just talking about binding anything, this is Death we're talking about. He's this huge power and you want to trap him! You all are delusional!"

Natalie gave an annoyed groan. "Alright, Crowley we get it, we're crazy and stupid. But, Death is literally the only thing we have left and he even told Dean and I that he will be able to reap God. That's why we need him."

"Why can't you all just leave it alone? Clearly, these are the only two people on this planet who will be able to squash us into nothing. This is a suicide mission and I'd rather not help you with killing yourselves."

"Then I guess there is only one thing to think about Crowley." Natalie said. "Do you really want Cas to keep a reign on everything? Or would you like to see him stopped? Because if you give us that spell, we'll be able to."

Crowley actually began to consider the crazy idea and his eyes narrowed at them. "What even makes you think that Death would be willing to do another favor for you all?"

"We'll have him tied down." Dean answered.

"And you're going to challenge Death like that? Not a very smart thing to do Dean." Crowley scolded.

"If I could convince Death to make a deal with me, to get Sam's soul out of Lucifer's cage, then I'm sure we'll be able to get him to wipe out Cas." Natalie added, although deep down, she was skeptical about it herself.

"How do I know that this plan won't fall apart?" Crowley asked, his eyes narrowing.

"This is the only thing we've got." Natalie answered. "Now, we can either sit on our thumbs and let Cas do what he wants..."

Crowley gave his own shrug of agreement with Natalie's statement.

"Or. You can help us get Death and he can make sure that Cas is off your back end. I mean come on Crowley, I know you hate having someone high above you, looming over your shoulder like that. So, what's it gonna be?" She finished, her brows raising for effect.

---

Natalie stood in front of a large table, her arms folded across her chest and pursed together as she shook her head at the sight she was looking at. "Dean. This really is not us at our best." She finally commented.

Dean walked back over to her and paused to take a look back. "I know, but, what were we going to do about them?" He gestured to the two people who were tied up in chairs.

"This really isn't..." Natalie groaned as she rubbed at the side of her face. "We just broke into their home and freaking tied them up..." She paused when she saw Dean readying the ingredients for the spell. "And now, we performing a summoning spell in front of them. What the hell?"

"Sometimes you have to do things you wouldn't normally do."

"When has anything we've ever done been normal?" Natalie questioned.

Dean thought on the question for a moment and shrugged. "Very true."

Natalie pursed her lips as she began to recollect the events that led up to these poor two people to be tied up, after they broke into their home. Crowley finally cracked, agreeing to give them the spell that would help them bound Death. Most of the ingredients they already had, except for one. It was something that Bobby described as, "an act of God crystallized forever". Natalie literally felt dumbfounded when she heard that, thinking that it was something Crowley made up to throw them off, but no, it was an actual thing.

Bobby managed to track down the object through an auction and the people that bought it, lived nine hours away from South Dakota. Then off they were. But, Natalie never expected to walk in on Dean tying people up in chairs. That was certainly a scene that earned Dean a hardened stare not only from Natalie, but Bobby and Sam as well.

"Come on. Let's get to work." Dean quickly commented.

Natalie nodded and turned around, helping Sam and Dean move a few of the lounge chairs out of the way. As Sam and Dean went to work on a coffee table, Natalie stationed a huge chair next to a small table and set out a bag of food and soda. It was Dean's idea, as a way to most likely keep at bay most of Death's annoyance he would feel once he realized what they had done.

Turning around, Natalie walked back over as Bobby set down the bowl of ingredients. Folding her arms over her chest, Natalie took a moment and looked back at the man and woman, bound and gagged in their chairs, looking at them with a mixture of fear and confusion. Natalie couldn't help but cast them a small apologetic smile before turning back around.

"You three ready?" Bobby asked.

Dean shrugged. "Let's just get this done and over with."

Bobby turned back towards the bowl and took out the paper that Crowley had given them. "Te nunc invoco, mortem..."

The entire room began to shake, the various glass cases that were occupying the area were shattering from the force.

"Te in mea potestate defixi. Nunc et in aeternum!"

Natalie looked up at the sound of something snapping and saw huge cracks were cutting into the roof of the home and running down the length of the walls, only to stop halfway. The shaking then stopped abruptly, the silence filled with the sound of a few pieces of glass falling onto the floor. But, there was no sign of Death. Natalie looked over at Sam and Dean, who both were thinking why he wasn't here.

"Hello?" Dean suddenly spoke out. "Death?"

"You must be joking."

Natalie quickly looked over and saw Death, with the most annoyed look on his face. Natalie could see Bobby back up as Dean took a few steps towards him.

"Listen, Death...this isn't what it seems." Dean began.

"No. It just seems like you all bounded me." Death held up his arms, revealing a bond that was tied around his wrists.

"It's for a good reason though. We just need you to hear us out first. You want a pickle chip? They're the best in the state."

"You really think it will be that easy to soothe me Dean? Now, this is really about Sam's hallucinations, isn't it?"

"Wait, what?" Natalie turned quickly to Sam, who was expressing a guilty look on his face.

"Sorry, Sam. There is only one wall per customer." Death turned back to Dean. "Now, unbind me."

"We can't." Sam suddenly spoke up, causing Death to turn his gaze back to him. "At least, not yet."

"You all should know then that this isn't going to end well for you."

"We need you to kill god." Dean said.

"Pardon?"

"Kill God." Bobby clarified. "You heard right. Your...Honor."

"And what makes you think that I can do that?"

"Because..." Natalie stepped forward. "You told me and Dean that, when we came to see you in Chicago."

"Then why should I?"

"Because we said so, and we're the boss of you." Natalie, Sam and Bobby both turned slowly to Dean, their eyes wide and set in a hardened stare. "I mean...respectfully." Dean added.

"Amazing." Castiel's voice filtered through, causing everyone to turn their attentions on him.

Natalie couldn't help but cringe at the sight of Castiel, his face looked horrible. Almost like his skin was beginning to melt.

"I really didn't want to kill you, but now..."

"You can't kill us Cas." Dean interrupted. "Death is our bitch. We won't die, even if God pulls the trigger."

"Annoying little protozoa, aren't they?" Death said, the annoyance in his voice evident. "God? I must say, you look awfully like a mutated angel to me. Your vessel's melting...you're going to explode."

"No, I'm not. When I have finished everything that I need to do, I'll repair myself."

"You think you can because you think you're under the weight of all those souls, yes? But, that's not what you should be concerned about. There are things much older than souls in Purgatory, and you gulped those in, too."

"I have control over them." Castiel retorted, a slight smug look on his face.

"For the moment..."

"Wait, what do you mean by older things?" Dean asked.

"Long before God created Angels and man, he made the first beasts-the Leviathans."

"Leviathans?" Natalie repeated.

"I personally found them entertaining, but he was concerned they'd chomp the entire petri dish, so he locked them away." Death shook his head at Castiel. "Why do you think he created Purgatory? To keep those clever, poisonous things out. Now Castiel has swallowed them. He's the thin membrane that is keeping those things from coming into your home."

"Enough." Castiel called out.

"Stupid little soldier you are." Death mocked.

"Why? Because I actually dared to open a door that he shut? Where is he exactly? I did a service, taking his place. I'm cleaning up one mess after another."

"Quite the humanitarian you are."

"And how would you know? What are you then? A flyswatter?"

"Destine to swat you, I think. You really think that you were the one called to do this. I know God, Castiel. And you are no God."

"Okay, can you both just put your junk away. Just kill him now!" Dean ordered.

Castiel slowly turned towards Dean, his eyes locked in a blank stare that caused Natalie to grow tense.

"Fine." Death spoke as he raised his hand. Castiel then snapped his fingers, causing the bonds around Death's wrists to disappear."Thank you. Shall we kickbox now?" Death asked as Castiel turned back to him, not giving him an answer.

Death sighed and walked over to the table where the bag of food was and sat down. "You know I had a feeling I'd be reaping someone very soon."

Natalie looked back over to where Castiel was standing only to find that the angel was gone.

"Well, he was in a hurry."

The four hunters descended into silence, watching as Death began to eat the food, occasionally stopping to take a drink from the cup. Natalie looked around at the others, each of them wanting to say something, but a little intimidated from doing so. Natalie's eyes landed on Dean, who was gesturing at Death, signaling for her to start talking.

Natalie furrowed her brows and gave a quick shake of the head, mouthing "Why me?". It was only met with Dean giving her another gesture to talk. Natalie answered this by rolling her eyes before taking a few hesitant steps towards Death.

"Um..."

"Save it, Natalie." Death spoke up, placing the cup back down on the table. Natalie's mouth immediately closed and her lips formed into a thin line. "You should know that I am not someone you can just summon to fix up messes that you make."

"I know." Natalie quickly spoke. "And I get that you're probably fed up with us coming to you for favors, but you should know that we wouldn't do this if we had no choice."

Death wiped with mouth with a napkin. "And to think, pulling Sam's soul out of the cage, that was a huge favor I did for you, after you failed at the deal."

"Yeah, you're right. That was a huge favor you did for all of us. And I know, that this is asking a lot of you, but, you have to be able to give us something that could help."

Death finished wiping his mouth with the napkin and then looked up at her. "Why should I help you though?"

Natalie hesitated for a moment. "Maybe, there's just a small shred of decency in you and perhaps, maybe, mercy. There's just no other options for us to use and trust me, if there was, then we wouldn't have summoned you. So, please, is there anything that you can give us?"

Death kept his eyes on Natalie and, normally, she would uncomfortable or intimidated by his staring. But, Natalie had spent time with Death that no one else has and she was able to gain a little bit more of an understanding of him. And perhaps, it helped her not to be as cautious of him as she was before the whole deal went down.

"Okay." Death took his cane and stood up from the seat. "There is one thing that you can do. The only hope you have is to get him to return all the souls back to Purgatory. As quick as you can. To open up the door again, everything you need is back at the lab."

"How exactly are we going to get Cas to agree to do this?" Natalie asked.

"That, you will need to figure out on your own."

"But, the door opens in the eclipse and that's over." Bobby reminded.

"I'll make another. 3:59 Sunday morning, just before dawn. Be quick." Death looked back over at Natalie. "And don't thank me. Clean up your mess."

Natalie nodded silently, allowing Death a clear path for him to walk by so that he could make his exit.

"And Natalie..." Both Death and Natalie turned to each other at the same time. "Remember. Eyes peeled and be alert."

Natalie furrowed her brows at him, but the rest of the message was read through his eyes and Natalie could feel a breath hitch in her throat. He was giving her another addition to his warning he had given to her already. Natalie watched Death walk out of the room and her eyes closed, a heavy sigh escaping.

Looking over at Dean, she shook her head. "Eyes peeled. Just add it onto his warning."

---

The car ride back to Bobby's was quiet. No one tried to start a conversation. Although, Sam could tell that Natalie was purposefully avoiding trying to talk with him. She was pissed and he knew why. In fact, Sam knew that Bobby and Dean were also upset with the fact that Sam would be hiding something like that from them. Hallucinations? He was keeping that from them, after Natalie had asked him to promise he would speak up if something started happening.

Still, maybe avoiding Sam was a little to much, but Natalie was upset and she had every right to be. She didn't know if it was directed more towards the fact that Sam lied and kept this from her, or the fact that something was going wrong with Sam. Most likely, it was a combination of both. Either way, she was taking it out on Sam in her own way and a part of her did feel guilty about it. Sam was still recovering from having his wall tore down and Natalie was giving him the silent treatment, perhaps one of the most childish ways she could approach this.

Once they reached the house, Natalie immediately retreated upstairs, spent most of the time talking with Jake, seeing what else he was able to give her about Castiel's whereabouts since they last saw him. It was her own way of not having to confront Sam just yet. She wanted to be able to have her own time to cool off before she went rattling off on Sam, which she didn't want to happen.

Sam wasn't going to let Natalie stay cooped up in that room for any longer. He already heard what Dean had to say about his hallucinations. Dean said exactly what Sam knew he would. That he should've said something and to not keep something like that from them. Sam could only surmise that, that was exactly what Natalie was going to say to him. Sam and Natalie had just started to actually push themselves onto a road that no longer involves awkward silences or short conversations between them. Sam wasn't going to let that slip away.

Natalie pulled her knees up to her chest, her eyes staring down at her phone, which was sitting in front of her on the bed. Jake had sent Natalie a message about a campaign office and all of the volunteers were brutally slaughtered just a few hours ago.

All the while, processing this information, her mind was now buzzing with Death's words. Again, more with this damn warning that he had given to her before. If anything, the only thing that Death managed to do was make her feel more paranoid. Perhaps, he did know what was going to happen, but he just wanted to mess with her. Yet, both he and Tessa said that he had no idea what was going to happen. Natalie was at a frustrating stand still. The more she thought about it, Natalie wished that Death had no said anything to her. Her mind would be in a lot more ease if he had just kept his mouth shut.

Natalie rested her forehead to her knees and blew out a sigh. Whatever happened to just the simplicity of hunting monsters. Before we had to worry about an Apocalypse or this whole mess with Cas. Natalie thought bitterly to herself. Perhaps "simple" was too strong of a word to use in this field, but really, whenever Natalie could look back on it, there was a level of how simple things went down. Now, when she thinks about Castiel, what he did and the whole situation of getting Sam's soul back, it was all complicated.

A small knock on the door stirred Natalie out from her thoughts and she looked up, seeing Sam standing in the doorway. Natalie felt her gaze lower and moved back over to the phone.

"Cas just wiped out an entire campaign office a few hours ago." She informed, her voice sounded so small to Sam.

"Yeah. Dean and I watched a clip on some news website." Sam answered.

"Well, when are we going to head out. We have to get Cas there on time."

"Dean, said that we're not going."

Natalie snapped her gaze up. "Why? This is our only chance of stopping him."

Sam shrugged. "Dean doesn't think we'll be able to convince Cas to let the souls back in Purgatory."

"Well, then we just wasted that time with Death for nothing." Natalie scoffed as she stood up from the bed and turned to look out the bedroom window.

"Are we not going to talk about it?" Sam suddenly questioned.

"About what?" Natalie asked.

"Nad, I know you're upset with me..."

"Upset?" Natalie snapped as she turned to look at him. "You promised me that you would tell me if something started to come up. You promised. And then you just lied to my face."

"Nad, please, just listen to me. I didn't want you to know..."

"Why? Because you wanted to keep it to yourself and handle it on your own, is that what you were going to say?"

"You and Dean, you all had a lot to deal with. Other priorities...and I didn't want to add onto the heap."

"Sam. You are the number one priority. Yeah, Cas is something that we need to take care of, but you are the main concern. You can't just shut us out like that."

"I know and I'm sorry. But, Nad, it's fine. I can tell what's real and what's not real."

"Sam that's not the point." Natalie pressed her hands up to her face, groaning in frustration. Her hands moved away from her face. "You may think that you have a grip on reality, that you can tell what's real. But, Sam, who knows where you're going to be in a few weeks or in a month. This could get worse...so much worse. That's why I need you to tell us if something is wrong. You can't be playing fast and loose with this right now. Please, don't keep something like this from us...not anymore."

"Nad..."

"No, Sam. This is not up for debate. No more, alright? Just, please, will you actually promise me this time...that you will speak up if it gets worse."

"And, what if I don't?" Sam lightly challenged.

Natalie raised her brows and scoffed at Sam's question. "Really? Is that the card you're going to be playing right now?" Natalie huffed out a breath. "Well, then fine. Do what you want."

Natalie placed her phone in her pocket and began to walk out of the room when Sam's arm stopped her. Natalie kept her gaze forward, not giving Sam the benefit of her looking at him. From the corner of her eye, Natalie could see Sam turned to her, keeping his arm out in front of her.

"You seriously think I would do that?"

"You've already done something like it..." Natalie quietly answered and gently pushed his arm out of the way, but remained next to him.

"I already told you why I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, I know." Natalie finally turned to look at him. "And I'm to stubborn to accept it. We just want to help you, Sam."

"You can't Nad."

"Since when has that ever stopped us from trying?" Natalie walked out into the hallway and stopped to turn back to Sam. "You know what, I'm not gonna ask you to promise me this time, because I know you'll just avoid it. But, you should know that if it gets worse...you need to say something."

"We don't know if it's going to get worse, Nad. For all we know, it could just be temporary thing."

Natalie hummed to herself. "Yeah, maybe." She answered, not sounding convinced. "I don't think this is the case Sam. Just please, speak up, because if it does get bad...we might have to go through with almost losing you again...and I am not going to go through that...not anymore. So, can you at least spare us that kind of torment?"

Natalie didn't wait for Sam to reply, instead, she turned back around and made her way down the hall and to the stairs. Reaching the bottom of the steps, she turned and made her way into the kitchen and pulled her phone back out of her pocket.

"Natalie."

A sudden voice made Natalie jumped and turn to see Castiel, bloody, standing against the kitchen threshold.

"Cas?" Her brows furrowed at his condition, which has worsened since she last saw him.

"Sam...he prayed to me...I heard him."

Natalie stood frozen for a brief moment, then placed her phone back in her pocket and took a few cautious steps towards him. "Okay."

"I need help."

Natalie looked around the room, pondering and then pursed her lips together before looking back at Castiel. "Okay...maybe you just need sit down for a little bit...we'll get ready to go to the lab..."

Natalie reached her hand out for him to take a hold of her arm as support. Castiel moved his right arm towards hers, his hand taking a weak hold on her arm. As he stepped away from the wall, his legs gave out and Natalie quickly wrapped her arms around him, keeping him up.

"Sam! Sam! Get down here!"

---

"We need to make sure that the area is clear." Castiel said as Sam gently lowered him down to the ground, his back resting against one of the lab cabinets.

Natalie and Dean both quickly went to work with moving the various tables away from the wall they would use to open the door. During all of the hustle that was going on in that lab, Natalie vaguely saw Sam leaving the room, apparently to go and get the blood that they needed for the spell.

Turning to the wall, Natalie grabbed the last table and began to move it towards the opposite part of the room. Resting it near the wall, Natalie stood in place as she could hear a part of Dean and Castiel's conversation.

"If there was time, if I was strong enough, I'd fix him. But, I just wanted to make amends."

"Okay."

"Is it working?"

"Does it make you feel any better?"

"No. You?"

"Not one bit."

Natalie looked down at the contents on the table and sighed. Castiel screwed up, big time and she knew this. But, her time of being truly pissed at him had now waned. She only felt frustration at the situation that has been created since that night. If he had just listened to them, none of this wouldn't have happened.

Now, Natalie felt somewhat...sympathetic towards Castiel and it honestly confused her. After what he did to Sam, Natalie felt that she could never really forgive Castiel and really she might not be able to. But, Natalie knows what it's like to get pulled into something that wasn't exactly right. Granted, Natalie and Castiel were never on the same line, but, Natalie did things that she regrets immensely. Castiel was just, unfortunately, sucked into the whirlwind that hit him at a time of weakness. He was desperate.

It wasn't as if Castiel was going into this totally blind. He knew that there were risks to opening Purgatory, but he was blind by how out of control everything would turn out. He was like a child, being told by the parent not to do something and in an act of defiance and rebellion, did it anyway and now he suffers from the consequences. But, this was not like a little kid being punished after layering the TV screen with glue. This was something so much bigger than every single person who was in this room.

Natalie finally relented and turned to look at Castiel. The amount of guilt that was written all over his face was Natalie's answer. His actions won't be something that she will forget and maybe, down the road, she might learn to forgive him. But, right now, Natalie just wanted to help him. Get those souls back to Purgatory and they'll deal with whatever happens after that.

Natalie turned her attention over at Bobby, who was looking out of the lab window and then down at his watch. Turning around, he walked over to Castiel and gave him a quick pat on the shoulder.

"Just hang in there Cas. Just a few more minutes."

Natalie's eyes followed Bobby as he went and stood next to Dean, both of them descending into a conversation she couldn't hear.

"Natalie." Castiel's voice is what caught her attention and she quickly looked down at him.

Stepping away from the table, Natalie walked over and knelt down next to him. "You need me to do something?"

"No." Castiel shook his head, weakly. "I wanted to tell you something..."

Natalie nodded for him to continue.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I truly am. And I know it won't be easy, but I do hope that you and the others will understand."

Natalie pursed her lips together and slowly nodded her head. "A lot has happened, Cas. Let's just focus on helping you and then we'll work on apologizes. Okay?"

"You probably are curious about...Caden."

Natalie's face froze at the mention of the angel. "Yeah, I am. This is probably an inappropriate time to ask but...can you at least tell me if he's alright?"

Castiel's face scrunched up as he braced his arm against his stomach and let out a groan. At this, Natalie reached out and gently held onto his arm. "He's...he's not alright."

"That's what I was afraid of." Natalie admitted.

"Okay, Cas." Bobby walked back over to them. "It's show time."

Natalie sighed and gave Castiel a quick squeeze on his arm. "Okay, Cas. Here we go."

Natalie and Bobby both took hold of Castiel's arms and gently lifted him up to his feet. Slowly, they guided him over to the wall, where Dean had just finished drawing out the sigil, and positioned him just a couple of feet away from it. Bobby was the first to step away, though Natalie kept her hold on him just a little bit longer, making sure that he would be able to support himself.

Natalie slowly released her hold on him and took her time in stepping back towards Dean and Bobby. Natalie took a moment and looked around, seeing that Sam wasn't in the room with them.

"Where's Sam?" Natalie whispered to Dean.

"I didn't find him. I don't know where he is." Dean answered quickly.

"Maybe, I should go find him."

"Just, wait a minute, Nad."

Natalie sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, her mind now buzzing with where Sam could possibly be. Her thoughts took over until she could no longer hear Bobby performing the incantation. Natalie was brought out of her thoughts when the wall began to crack open, the black hole sucking in air. A bright stream of light shot out from the opening, engulfing Castiel, bright enough to where Natalie, Bobby and Dean had to shield their eyes from it.

"Creaturae terrificae quarum ungulae et dentes nunquam tetigerunt carnem eius ad mundum nostrum nunc ianua magna, aperta tandem."

Bobby finished the incantation, his eyes closed to a squint at the brightness and as quick as it appeared, the stream of light retreated back into the opening and the hole closed up and Castiel quickly fell to the floor.

"Cas?" Dean quickly rushed over and knelt down by Castiel's limp form. Bobby and Natalie follow quickly in suit.

Bobby knelt down on the other side and pressed his hand against the side of Castiel's face, allowing the three of them to simmer in a tense silence.

"Is he alright?" Dean finally asked.

Bobby shook his head. "He's cold."

"Is he at least breathing?" Natalie decided to ask.

"No." Bobby replied.

"Maybe angels don't need to breathe." Dean timidly offered, earning a soft gaze from Bobby.

"He's gone, Dean."

Natalie washed a hand down the side of her face, letting out a heavy sigh. "Damn it, Cas, you child." Dean quietly chastised as he stood back up to his feet.

The abrasions and injuries on Castiel's face slowly healed and his eyes fluttered open, which prompted Natalie to throw a quick, light hit against Dean's arm, causing him to look back down at Castiel, who sucked in a deep breath.

"Hey! Cas, you alright?" Dean bent down and helped pull him back up to his feet.

"That was unpleasant." Castiel commented as he took a quick sweep of himself. "I'm alive."

"It sure does look like it." Bobby replied, a small relieved smile crossed his face.

"I'm actually quite astonished." Castiel answered as he looked up at them. "Thank you. All of you, for what you did. And I promise that I will find a way to redeem myself to you."

"Alright, Cas." Dean reached forward and took hold of Castiel's arm. "Let's just get you out of here." Dean paused and turned to Natalie. "Nad, can you go find Sam?"

Natalie nodded silently, before turning around and walked towards the lab door. Before she could barely make it to the door, Castiel's cry stopped Natalie dead in her tracks and she turned back around, sharply, seeing Castiel doubled over, his hand on one of the lab tables.

Natalie walked closer to Dean, her wide eyes glued on Castiel's body making jerking and spastic movements.

"You need to run now! I can't hold them back!"

"Hold who back?" Dean asked quickly, watching as Castiel's body jerked, trying his absolute best to keep control of them.

"They held inside me...the Leviathan! You need to run!"

Dean reached for Natalie's hand that was gripping on his arm and then turned to her. "Nad, you need to go find Sam. Right now, okay, go!" Dean said, gently pushing for Natalie to leave.

Finally able to grasp Dean's words, which had been difficult since she was to caught up with what was going on with Castiel, Natalie finally nodded and ran out of the lab. Her heels clicked furiously against the cement ground, the noise bouncing off the walls. When she came to the end of the hallway, she immediately turned left, knowing that's way she needed to take to get to the storage room, which was where Castiel had sent Sam.

In the short distance it took, Natalie stopped at the opening of the storage room, her hand resting against the metal threshold. She glanced around the immediate area in front of her, before stepping fully into the room.

"Sam?" Her voice reverberated off the walls. She walked towards the back of the room, where a row of shelves began to go left and she followed it, finding nothing there. Where else could he have gone?

Natalie turned around and walked out of the room, pausing in the middle of the hallway, she looked left and then right. Thinking that he could've taking either way, but randomly, she decided to go right again, knowing there were other rooms down the hall.

She broke out into a run again, her chest heaving with heavy, painful breaths and made it feel like her throat was burning. Several doors were coming up on the right side and she would pull on the handle, finding that each one was locked. Finally, she reached a door that was open and when she stopped at it, looking in, Natalie saw Sam standing against a wall.

Her brows furrowed as she took a quick check down the hall, to make sure that Castiel hadn't come after her. Then, Natalie took a few cautious steps into the room, feeling herself grow worried from Sam's expression. He looked terrified and she could only surmise that he must be suffering from another hallucination.

Natalie stood right in front of Sam, but he didn't even notice she was there. He just kept on shaking his head, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing in his case.

"Sam?" Natalie took slow steps towards him, making sure that she didn't do anything to startled him. "Sam?" She asked again, but this time she reached her arm out and pressed her hand against his cheek.

Sam reacted immediately, flinching at her touch and his hand flew out, pressing against her shoulder as if he was trying to push her away. Natalie couldn't help but gasp in surprise. The amount of force that went into it was what surprised her.

"Sam." Natalie moved closer and framed his face with both her hands, forcing his eyes to look at her.

Sam paused, his eyes blinked a couple of times as he took in his surroundings. A look of confusion etched into his face as he didn't remember coming to this room.

"Are you okay?" Natalie asked. Sam, as he tried to reorient himself, reached up and took Natalie's hand into his grasp, pulling it away from his face. He had remembered how this simple touch had helped him back at Bobby's, during one of Lucifer's verbal torments. He was using it as the basis for his reality.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine..."

"Really? I don't think you are." Natalie answered. But, Sam didn't answer her, he was to confused and delirious about his hallucination, he couldn't exactly think straight.

"Where's Cas?"

Natalie pursed her lips, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. "I don't think it's good Sam. Something happened."

"What?"

"Come on." Natalie tugged him forward by the shoulder, making sure that her hand never left his. "Let's just get you out of here."

---

Okay, so how did you all like it? I'll admit, I was not to fond of this chapter, which really sucks since this is the first chapter in the new story, but, I'm just glad that I was able to get it done! So, until next time!