Sophia's Chronicles
A/N:
This chapter will be the first of a two-part 'episode' that represents a crucial point in the story's timeline. Just to recap, Sophia has been trying to free Lucifer from his cage ever since she prevented Cas from opening Purgatory, with the help of Khaos. She had Sam and was trying to coerce him into accepting Lucifer again but Zara – her vessel – set him free when Sophia had momentarily left to chat with Khaos. In that fateful meeting with Khaos, Sophia finds out about his ulterior motive to get her son to the anti-matter universe to restore the balance between the two universes, to which she says 'screw you' for the right reasons. Still, Khaos appears persistent and eerily confident that He will get what He wants. Meanwhile, the Winchesters want to get some revenge and prevent Sophia from opening the cage by using the weapons of God that Cas previously had in his possession and are working with Crowley, who wants to overthrow Sophia to become the King of Hell. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 39: The Levee Breaks Part I
(Winchester POV)
Warded Underground Base, Jetson, Kansas – 11 July 2011, 11.06am
"You've got to be kidding me. You had the damn vessel and the spawn of Satan and you let them both go?!" Crowley stared at the boys with eyes wide open and a frown that could kill. "Please tell me you're kidding."
Dean turned back to Crowley while Bobby and Sam loaded the weapons onto the back of a van. "It wouldn't have mattered whether we had them or not. We still got the goods."
"Unbelievable!" he exclaimed with a forced whisper.
"I don't know what you're complaining about," Sam's head emerged from the back of the truck. "I'm back but you still get your end of the deal. You help us gank Sophia with the weapons. But you don't lay a finger on the kid, got it?"
"Getting a soft spot for Satan junior? I expected more from you, Sam," Crowley remarked.
"That's the new deal," Sam stated, his voice getting firmer when talking about Luc. "You bring us the kid, unharmed."
Crowley simply shrugged. "As long as I get to kill Lucifer's whore…" He dug his hands into his deep coat pockets, ruminating on what a great trophy Sophia's head would make.
Bobby approached Crowley, holding a cloth-wrapped item in his hand. "Fate-killing blade." Crowley reached out to take the weapon but Bobby withdrew his hand, stopping Crowley. "You'd better show us the body. With burnt wings and everything," he ordered. "And the blade still in her."
"Alright, Jesus," Crowley relented. "I wouldn't dream of deceiving you, Bobby."
"Save it," Bobby snapped. He handed the blade to Crowley.
"Sam, if you'll be so kind to tell me where the bitch is holed up," Crowley requested.
"No problem," Sam replied. He couldn't wait to rain hell on Sophia, the pain from the torture still fresh in his memory. He handed Crowley a piece of paper on which he'd noted the coordinates of the location. It had taken him a while, but some scouring on Google Maps helped him pinpoint the place. Just as he gave Crowley the palm-sized note, their environment seemed to have dimmed considerably. The men – and demon – looked skyward, but all they saw were clouds. However, it had been cloudy all morning, so what could have caused the sudden change?
Crowley squinted at the sky. "Something's up with the sun…"
"This seem like a bad omen?" Dean reckoned. Previously, it had only looked like it was going to rain. Now, everything looked like it was almost sunset. Something was definitely wrong.
Bobby opened the door to the driver's seat and fumbled with the radio. The monotonous voice of a female reporter blared through the speakers with a constant static rumble. "Reports are now flooding in that a solar eclipse is taking place. NASA experts have no explanation for this phenomenon and are calling it a 'surprise' eclipse. The public is advised not to stare at the sun without proper eye protection…" Bobby shut off the radio.
"It's probably nothing," Sam speculated. He looked to Crowley, who was still staring at the sky, curious. "Right?"
"Probably…" Crowley agreed. "Probably not." Crowley's attention turned back to his immediate surroundings. "Who cares? I have an archangel to kill." With that, he vanished.
(Sophia POV)
Sophia's House, Illinois – 11 July 2011, 11.06am
"Here comes my coldest day…" I sang to Luc. "With chill and snow. Blood freezes in my veins. I am Prince of Cold." His once charming baby giggles had now evolved to a wide smile of awe, now that he was a growing toddler. It just showed the depth in his thoughts, which I could not read but knew were there. I wished he would have been a baby forever. "That was a song about your father. You see, he is made of a core of ice and he rules the laws of coldness, just like how you and I rule the laws of nature."
"Where is my father, Mommy?" he asked out of the blue. Truly, I had not expected that question. I didn't think his thoughts had wandered to those kind of things. I probably shouldn't have been surprised since he was not a baby anymore. I suppose it was a good time as any to tell him the truth.
"When you were but a seed in my womb, some bad people put your father in a cage. But I promise you, Luc, you will meet him soon. Mommy's trying to get him out," I explained.
"Oh," he looked down at the ground, sullen. There was a sinking feeling in my chest to see him bothered by this.
"Don't be sad, okay? You'll see him soon and we'll be whole. The three of us," I caressed his head.
"Okay," he said, but his eyes told another story. Just a toddler and he was already capable of masking his true emotions. It worried me but I hoped it would be resolved in due time when I got Lucifer out. The thought did occur to me to consult Lucifer and tell him everything about his son. Every fibre in my body wanted to. I just felt queasy thinking about it because I didn't want him to wait any longer when I brought him news of his son. It must be horrible learning of such wonderful things while being confined in the cage. If Lucifer was to know his son, it must be outside the cage. I needed to find him a vessel no matter what, and the ache in my heart told me as much.
That was when the sky darkened. Heavy clouds migrated speedily across the sky, being ushered by strong winds. Then, like the sun had just switched off, the light diffused away slowly. I looked on to see if this would change but it did not; the skies only became gloomier. There, as the life-giving light faded from the field, I saw Zorg and his companion standing as they always had been – moody and stoic, unmoved from the position they were in since they landed here. Their dead eyes stared right through me. A shiver ran throughout me as I thought I heard a whisper saying, "It's starting."
Suddenly, a purple lightning pierced through the air and struck some point far ahead in the distance. As the lightning faded out, flames roared into the sky and I heard faint screams. This was it then – the prophecy. Khaos was just trying to scare me into submission and I had no intention of giving in, no matter how many fires he started. Those would only kill humans anyway. Go ahead, my thoughts said. Try your worst.
(Winchester POV)
Red Rose Motel, Jetson, Kansas – 11 July 2011, 1.02pm
"So… what, we just sit back, relax and wait for Crowley to call?" Sam looked over to his brother, who was intently watching Dr Sexy MD on the TV in their motel room.
"Yeah, gotta take a break whenever we can catch one, which isn't very often these days," Dean answered, eyes still glued to the TV screen. Sam remained silent, unamused neither by the TV show nor his brother's demeanour. His thoughts drifted to Zara and he wondered if they made the right call in letting her go. As though reading his thoughts, Dean said, "She's gone, Sammy. Nothing you or I could've done about it."
"I-I know. But still…" Sam gulped. "We could've at least tried. We failed her, Dean."
"I know," he replied, his own expression becoming sombre. Dean thought back to Carthage, Missouri, when he'd agreed to take Zara on their suicide run to shoot the devil with the Colt. It had gone against his every instinct to take her with them, but given that she seemed to be able to use that strange artefact that Lucifer had given her to hurt angels, he had thought that bringing her along would have been a confidence booster. Now he could only reflect on this as a colossal mistake – his mistake. Zara had trusted him to take care of her and he had failed her. He couldn't help but feel that everything that happened with Sophia was his fault. Even though he couldn't understand why it had taken her so long to come to her senses and free his brother, he felt some inkling of sympathy for the girl. Who knows what she'd been through?
That very day that Zara had dropped Sam off with them and left, they'd wanted to get some more information from her, like what did Sophia really want, what her weaknesses were. Dean had been the one to call Zara, since Sam had used her phone to call him.
Earlier…
It felt like forever before she picked up the phone. "Zara?" Dean asked.
"Sorry, Zara can't come to the phone right now," her spine-chilling voice said. "Dean."
"Sophia," he growled, his jaw tightening. Bobby and Sam exchanged shocked expressions, now fully terrified of the turn of events. The woman they'd met just hours earlier, who helped Sam and showed an unshakeable resolve to do right by the archangel child she loved, was no longer reachable, their shared gazes seem to convey. Dean put the call on speaker.
"The one and only."
"You listen to me, you evil cunt…"
"Dean, please, language."
"I will find a way to end you for all the things you've done. Torturing my brother, hurting Zara, all those people you killed and hung up on trees like Christmas decorations."
"I see you've been keeping up with my work, then? I'm flattered."
"Yeah we'll see how flattered you feel when I see the life go out of your eyes and your wings burn to dust," he threatened.
"Such a loud bark for something so small… that's really cute," she taunted. "Too much bravery becomes foolishness, Dean. No matter, I'm still gonna get what I want."
"Not if I can help it. You still need my brother. And guess what, I'm not letting you take him away again."
"About that… You know what I realised? When you love someone, things don't have to be perfect. Love can overcome all obstacles. I think you'd know a thing or two about that. Besides, Sam is sooo two seasons ago!"
Dean tilted his head in confusion. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that all I need is a consenting vessel to um… how do you say… 'pop Satan's box'. I don't need Sam after all. So I guess I'll see you when your sad little world goes up in flames. Toodles!" she cut the call.
Now…
That conversation replayed in Dean's head. It was after the phone call that they realised how truly important it was that they found where Castiel had stashed the weapons. It wasn't easy, but with enough digging, they'd tracked it down to the underground base in Jetson. Despite his efforts to forget Zara, that short interaction with her – while a human still stood in that body – remained in his mind. Having become so used to associating her with Sophia, it was unnerving to see her as… herself. It just made it harder to think about driving a blade through her even though he knew it was the only way. She was a mystery he couldn't understand. How could anyone willingly accept an evil archangel like that back into their body again? After disobeying said archangel? Something had always been off about her, he thought. But it didn't matter to dwell on it. She was going to die anyway. He tried his best to put it out of his mind and enjoy the short amount of time he had left before anything bad happened again.
"Looks like we got a situation on our hands," Bobby entered the room with food and a newspaper in his arms. "This solar eclipse ain't the only freaky thing in the sky. Now there's purple lightning and fires everywhere."
"Can't even watch one episode of Dr Sexy without the world falling apart," Dean lamented as he switched the channel to news. Videos came on of people running from points where purple streaks struck repeatedly and flames erupted explosively. Then the news presenter brought up a world map with red circles indicating where the lightning had been known to have struck.
"This isn't even biblical. This is… I don't even know what to call it," Sam mused. "What could be causing this?"
"Beats me. But it ain't natural, I'll tell you that," Bobby commented. "Something's really wrong."
"What're we thinking, huh? Angels?" Dean asked.
"Or just the one that wants to release Satan," Bobby surmised.
"I don't know. If she wanted to destroy the world, don't you think she would have done that already?" Sam huffed. It seemed a bit too easy to blame Sophia for this. Surely there was something else going on?
"You heard her, Sam. She wants to release Lucifer. And if she's already done it, this could be it," Dean reasoned. "The unholy team-up could be causing this."
"It's only been three days! You think she could have found someone willing by then?" Sam posited. The two men looked at him, pondering his question.
"I hate to say it, but Moose is right," a snarky British voice said.
"Aren't you supposed to be busy?" Bobby asked.
Crowley smirked as he regarded the boys. "Don't worry, I'm still on it. Just paid Hell a visit to get backup. And I checked – Satan's still in the cage. So whatever this is, it's not them."
"Well that's comforting," Dean said. "But if it isn't Lucifer and Sophia, what has the juice to pull this off?" And that was the question that worried them.
Raziel's Office, New York – 11 July 2011, 1.18pm
In a mere span of two hours, there had been a number of humans alarmed by the sight of the darkened skies and streaks of purple lightning followed by fire. Naturally, such unusual events were of interest to the angels too, especially my former apprentices who were normally consulted on such things. For that reason, I found myself standing in this loft on a high floor of an apartment building that overlooked New York City, staring out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Raziel's office was disguised as an ordinary apartment with minimalistic decorations that showed a refined taste. With its mahogany theme, spaciousness and neatly-arranged items, it was a stark contrast to Shemsiel's cluttered office and presented a lovelier environment for getting work done. Raziel had called me to get my opinion of things. I felt hesitant to share what exactly was going on because I knew that the involvement of a primordial being reminiscent of Amara definitely constituted a cause of panic. They would probably think the world was ending, which it was not – I would not let that happen. What would be even worse was if they knew why exactly Khaos would do such a thing – to coax me into sacrificing my son. Thus, I thought it best to help them mediate whatever situation was unfolding instead.
"Oh, what a wonderful surprise," Raziel greeted. "You brought the child."
"Uncle Raz!" Luc ran over to Raziel and threw his arms around Raziel's knees, not letting go for a good fifteen seconds. Raziel chuckled and patted him on the head.
"Is it Bring Your Kid To Work Day? Because we should have that more often!" Shemsiel quipped as the rest of the team emerged from a room set up for meetings. One by one, they took turns to hold and coddle Luciel, keeping them occupied for a good amount of time while Raziel came over to talk to me. His eyes held that same concern he always had, like he was always worried about one thing or another being the end of everything he and his team cared about, except this time the threat was tangible. Being their leader, he always shouldered their burdens and sometimes I worried that it would take its toll on him.
"So you saw what's happening, then?" he asked.
"Yes, it's worrying," we both looked out the window, observing the dusky landscape. Lights were turned on around the loft as though it was sunset but the digital clock on the wall read 13:25.
"This inexplicable solar eclipse and now, lightning and fire. Over fifty countries all over the world have been hit so far. Frankly, we don't know what to make of it. I was hoping you'd have some answers."
My gaze pierced through the clouds, looking at the sun directly. The moon was positioned directly in front of the sun, revealing only its white corona. From this perspective, the moon appeared as a black sphere, reminiscent of an unforgiving black hole. "Whatever's happening, it's more imperative that we find a way to deal with it. We need to shift the moon out of the way and put out the fires," I suggested. By this time, the team had settled down from their coddling session and were gathering near us.
"Yeah, we should get on it," Raziel agreed. "But I worry that there is too few of us for all the incidents of this strange lightning."
"Go to Heaven. I'm sure the angels will listen to you and are willing to help. How are things in Heaven, by the way?" I asked.
"The angels are still reeling from news of Castiel's death. They believed he would lead them after the war but now they have no leader, though they are trying to get things in order. Lots of large meetings take place regularly and everyone tries to pitch in, so it isn't so bad. It could be better, of course," Raziel reported.
"Sounds good. So you guys can go and get some help from the angels for the lightning and I'll see if I can do something about the moon," I suggested.
"Um… Sophia…" Dinah's eyes stared at something past me. I followed her gaze out the window to a small patch of greenery which they called Central Park. I held my breath as I placed a palm on the window and looked closely. Something wasn't right with the trees. A first glance would make it seem like nothing was wrong since it was dark and little could be seen clearly, but I felt something change. Strange vibes reached me from the ground and it felt like it wasn't just the park that changed. It was the earth itself. The green canopies of the trees slowly but gradually dulled in colour like all the saturation had just been sucked out of them. I didn't know yet what was wrong, but I had the strong feeling that I had to deal with this immediately.
"I should go," I took Luc's hand and left.
Sophia's House, Illinois – 11 July 2011, 1.31pm
When my feet touched the ground, I could barely suppress a gasp. I froze where I stood, scanning the landscape. All around me were the withered stalks and rotting leaves of my plants. My precious plants! This death and decay extended for acres around me. Every single thing I grew lay dead at my feet. I exhaled sharply, my stomach dropping just at the sight of the greying field. My lower lip quivered as I put a palm to the ground. My awareness extended outwards into the soil, trying to feel for life, but I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing, except for Dog. I felt the mutt cowering in some corner among the dead plants, frightened by his surroundings. No weeds, no insects, no snakes or spiders but Dog had been spared, like some kind of cruel joke. This had to be Khaos.
"Those look like they could use some water," a voice I hadn't expected to hear said.
"Crowley," I uttered as I stood up and gathered myself. "I've been looking for you."
"So I've noticed," he replied with a furtive calm. As I studied his smug expression, I noticed he was holding something in his hand. I recognised its make – it was the blade that could kill the Fate sisters. A Heavenly weapon. I didn't think it could hurt me but I wasn't going to take the chance.
"Fancy blade," I remarked, drawing out my own. I stood protectively between him and my son. "Too bad you won't get to use it."
"Be as fearless as you want, but today is the day I take you down," Crowley swore through gritted teeth.
I huffed. "You and what army?"
"Funny you should ask," he smirked. He made a gesture with his free hand and a deep rumbling sounded in the distance. As I looked on, a thin black line emerged above the trees in the distance and then, over time, it grew larger and larger. It looked like a giant black, smoky wave rushing towards me. The rumbling sound soon took on the form of a large chorus of screaming souls as the wave got closer. Demons. How could this be? Soon enough, a whole battalion of what could have been every demon in Hell stood behind him, all spaced out on my land, extending for miles. "This one, since you were wondering."
If Crowley thought that this would work, he was the greatest fool who ever lived. I scanned the crowd, observing every demon that stood in front of me. "What are you waiting for?" I projected my voice so they could all hear me. "Take this traitor down!" I ordered. But no one budged.
"Oh you see," Crowley scratched the back of his ear as he walked a few steps to his right. "Thing is, they don't really like you anymore. Tired of you taking too much maternity leave, it seems. And your lap dog, Timothy, isn't really a people's favourite either so…" All of this came as a surprise to me. I thought things were going well in the kingdom. It sure seemed that way the last time I visited, which was a mere few days ago. It seemed so strange how the demons changed sides to support Crowley all of a sudden. Everything about today was strange, I thought.
"You're making a huge mistake," I announced. "If you side with Crowley, I won't hesitate to smite you into oblivion."
"You're way outnumbered," a demon spat out bitterly.
Crowley turned slowly to see this demon, impressed by her outburst. She, in turn, smiled shyly at him and he returned the expression. "What she said," he supplemented. "You can either surrender now and make this quick, or it will get ugly and I'm sure you wouldn't want junior here to be witness to that."
Luc stood silent, observing with a troubled manner all that was conspiring here. He hadn't said a word since we got here and I suspected he knew that things were going wrong. I remained determined to make him feel safe again. "You leave my son out of this!" I uttered through clenched teeth.
"No worries, I have no intentions of hurting the child. I promise," Crowley said. What his motive was, I couldn't be sure. But it made no difference. "So what's it going to be?"
I weighed the odds and unfortunately, they weren't in my favour. I couldn't put up a fight when I had my son to worry about. There was no way out of this if I fought him. Exasperated, I turned to the Agents of Khaos, who were standing close by, eyes fixed on me as usual. "So? Aren't you gonna do anything about this?" If they didn't hesitate to kill Dog, why would they when it came to the demons? Especially if the demons had a good chance of taking me down in this moment? I couldn't give Khaos what He wanted if I was dead.
"Not our problem," Zorg replied with his nonchalant, monotonous voice.
"Of course it's your problem!" I yelled.
Crowley turned hesitantly to a demon near him. "Who is she talking to?" I heard him whisper.
"I don't know, sir. There's no one there," the demon replied, following my gaze. Meanwhile, I stared blankly at Zorg and his friend, unable to believe them. How could they just stand by? I still didn't get it.
"Whatever, let's get this over with," I heard Crowley say, right before his arm swung confidently and hurled the blade at me. I held my breath. I felt my flesh being pierced and blood pouring. My neck craned downwards to see the blade. It was buried deep in my abdomen. Caught off-guard, I staggered back as my hands encircled the hilt of the blade. I expected to feel pain but nothing happened and my essence was still intact. Slowly, I grabbed the blade and pulled it out, wincing as I felt the blood gushing out. It felt disgusting and stained my dress, but all was well when I healed the wound.
"Well that was a bust," I chuckled as I dropped the blade onto the ground. The air was thick with tension and I could see the limbs of the demons flexing, ready for battle. Crowley and the demons now looked at me with a resolve in their eyes like they only had one option left. And so did I. I picked up Luciel, spread my wings far and wide and took off before anyone could react. The demons charged after me, their war cries resounding like a celestial choir. I was now on the run.
(Winchester POV)
Red Rose Motel, Jetson, Kansas – 11 July 2011, 8.45pm
"Dude, this is starting to freak me out," Dean said as he peaked out the blinds at the sky. The outside world looked just like it did in the morning. The solar eclipse hadn't passed and it seemed like the blocked sun was becoming a permanent fixture in the sky. It was supposed to be night and it was still just as dark as it was before.
"Only now?" Sam huffed. "This just confirms it. Something supernatural is going on."
"Question is, what do we do about it?" Dean sat back down at the table with a beer.
"I've tried looking it up but I got jack-squat," Bobby said. "Doesn't look angelic, doesn't look demonic, not gods or goddesses."
"What about God? Like 'capital G' God?" Dean speculated.
"What about Him?" Bobby questioned.
"Couldn't He pull off something like this?"
"He's God. Who're we gonna ask?" Bobby rebutted. Dean relented with a nod of consideration.
"Bad news, gents," Crowley popped in again. He dropped the bloody blade onto the table with a noisy clang. "Blade's useless."
They simply stared at the blood glistening on its surface. "How are you alive?" Sam asked.
"Like I said, I went to Hell for backup," he explained. "But I guess there's good news too. All of Hell is scouring the planet for our favourite archangel."
"That's more demons than we'd like on the surface," Bobby remarked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"Relax, Bobby, it's only until we find her. Then I'll do as I said. A deal's a deal, after all," he reassured them.
"Okay, if the blade didn't work, then what? How're we gonna kill her?" Dean asked, eyeing the blade with the itching temptation to wipe the blood off of it. Useful or not, it was a well-made weapon and he could appreciate that.
"The only thing that can kill her is that blade she has," Sam spoke up. "But she has telekinetic control over it so I doubt that'll be any help." In that moment, an ear-deafening thunder split through the air, causing them to jerk. It was much louder than ordinary thunder, and that said something.
"Now what?" Dean sounded annoyed. They turned the TV back on again and this time the weather reporter looked really anxious.
"In what seems to be a worldwide phenomenon, we see here a large hurricane forming off the shore of South Carolina. Scientists say they have never seen a hurricane forming this fast or big before. When it hits the shore, the hurricane is predicted to hit every state on the East Coast. The public is advised to seek shelter immediately…" Dean muted the TV. The images on the screen looked extremely distressing. Thousands of people could be expected to die if this carried on. Whatever was happening, it just seemed to be getting worse by the minute.
"Is this the second apocalypse?" Crowley wondered out loud. The three men looked at him like he was supposed to know something about it. "Unfortunately, I'm just as clueless about this as you lot. Whatever's happening makes the apocalypse look like fun times. At least then we had the horsemen's rings to stop what was happening. Now it seems like no one knows what's going on…" Crowley went on.
This triggered a strange line of thought in Dean's head as he replayed the memories of the apocalypse. The hopelessness, the fear, the strange weather events, chasing down the Horsemen's rings… Then it clicked for him. "Death could do it," he simply stated. Now everyone turned to him. "We need a spell to bind Death."
"Bind? Enslave Death? You having a laugh?" Crowley thought he'd just heard the most absurd thing in his life.
"Lucifer did it," Dean argued.
"That's Lucifer," he shot back.
"But it would work," Sam supported his brother. "It's the only option we have."
"You really believe you can handle that kind of horsepower? You're delusional!" Crowley looked between the two brothers.
"Death is the only player on the board left that has the kind of juice to take Sophia," Dean reasoned.
"This is suicide," Crowley shook his head and sighed.
"Look," Bobby interjected. "If we don't stop her, she's gonna let Satan loose on the world. All she needs is one consenting vessel. It's just a matter of time, and then you can say goodbye to being King of Hell and the world will end. For real this time." If it isn't ending already, he should have added.
The room fell silent as Crowley dug his hands into his pockets, considering his options. "I need a drink," he said before he vanished into thin air.
A/N:
Shit is hitting the fan, folks. Everyone's out for blood – Sophia's blood – and she has a kid to worry about. And all of this while she is trying her best to put her family of three together. Things cannot get worse… or can they? What will Sophia do to deal with this onslaught?
Anyway, thanks for the follows/favourites/reviews! I cannot state enough how much I appreciate all of you. This fic is going to be one hell of a ride from now on (even more so than before) and I cannot wait to show you guys what I have in store.
That song that Sophia sings to Luc in the beginning: Prince of Ice by Bendida (pretty cool symphonic metal song, check it out)