IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is completely unrelated to Anna's storyline. Alternate universe. I really ought to finish Anna's series before I post this one and certainly before I post Gabriel, but I've hit a bit of a block on all things fanfiction and I'm hoping that posting what I already had written will help coax my muses out of hiding. Hope that doesn't confuse anyone too much.

PART TWO – JOHN

Chapter One – A Walk in the Garden

"Why are you saying this stuff?"

"I want you to watch out for Sammy, okay?"

"Yeah, dad, you know I will. You're scaring me."

"Don't be scared, Dean."

Heaven wasn't quite what John had expected on the very rare occasions that he thought about eternity, but he'd take it over hell any day. He had his boys to thank for that freedom and the satisfaction of seeing Yellow Eye's death that finally let him rest. He had his boys to thank for a lot- and probably an apology or two to make- when he saw them again. And he would see them again. John was determined to figure out a way to travel between individual heavens by the time his sons joined him there.

It really never occurred to him that either of them might end up in hell after everything they'd done, everything they'd given up to protect people- if he got into heaven it was an easy assumption that they would too- so when an odd man claiming to be an angel pulled him from his heaven into a massive garden to tell him that both his sons were going to suffer through hell if the future was left untouched, he was understandably horrified.

Although threatening the angel delivering the message was maybe not the wisest thing to do.

"What did you say?!" John growled, one fist clenched tightly around Joshua's collar. The angel's mildly chiding expression did little to sooth his temper.

"Your sons are going to go to hell," Joshua stated patiently. A wave of his fingers was enough to force John to still before he could follow through on his impulse to punch the angel. Joshua's lips twitched into an understanding little smile even as he gently pried John's fingers from his shirt. "If the future is left untouched. Do try to focus, John. I'm trying to give you a chance to change things."

There was a moment of silence, then John he lowered his fists, barely noticing that the paralysis was suddenly gone. "What?"

"I can send you back. You can save your sons." Confident that he had Winchester's full attention at last, Joshua felt free to go back to sweeping as he spoke. The steady, familiar rhythm of his broom against the path fed calm into his soul even as he described the painful downfall of his brothers and sisters and his Father's beloved human race. He told a tale of death and crossroads deals, of demons and hell gates, of angels and seals and chosen vessels.

"They're determined to start the apocalypse now. It isn't time. This isn't how Father meant for it to be, but they stopped listening long ago." Joshua leaned on his broom and studied the human who would soon hold the fate of the heaven, earth, and hell in his hands. Despite being somewhat overwhelmed, fierce determination overshadowed everything else in John's soul. "Everything hinges on your family, your sons, which gives you the power to change things. But it has to be your decision. Do you want to go back?"

John didn't hesitate.