Warning: Character Deaths

K. Chapter 44

Back at Chuck's house, Barachiel did behave- for the most part. He was still glaring at me when I walked in with Cas a few steps behind me, but Barry didn't comment. On the other hand, I would have taken the ass's comments over Gabriel's lecture about not running away with so many enemies around. The brothers were just grinning at me the entire time.

"So I can restore their memories," Ruby said drawing my attention from the scolding angel. "But I can't restore their ages."

"Get to it demon," Barachiel growled.

"We have to kill the witches that did this to us?" Dean asked.

"Apparently," Sammy responded crossing his arms in front of him as he did. "Shouldn't be too hard. We've hunted witches before."

"And this time, Rachel is sitting right here," Gabriel snapped glowering down on my smaller statue. "Safer for her and the child."

"Right," I nodded. "Since I can't use my powers technically." Of course, my stomach chose that moment to lurch, and I ran directly to the bathroom before throwing up my guts. "Oh perfect, back to morning sickness." I retched again, but I felt someone stand behind me and pull my hair back. "Thanks Cas…" I was able to get out before emptying my stomach the rest of the way.

"Maybe we should call Dad," Dean suggested. "Three against three are better odds."

"I could try calling his cell," Sam said, "but I think we can handle it."

"Better safe than sorry," I added walking back from the bathroom, my throat burning.

"There's only one problem with that," Gabriel muttered, and we all stared at her. "Dean, Sam… your Dad is dead, he has been for awhile now."

While usually strong, I watched both brothers look taken back with this new information. They didn't say another word but gave a numb nod. I could only frown; after all, I had just discovered my own parents were dead. On that thought, I looked over to Orfiel- by technicality my Mother, only by blood though. She refused to meet my gaze.

"So," I sighed. "I'm stuck here while the brothers get to go do something?"

"For your protection," Suriel assured.

I rolled my eyes. "I was never one to be grounded."

"Well, you are," Orfiel said drawing my attention back to her. "Deal."

"Rachel," Cas hissed into my ear. Damn, he knew me too well; he knew when I was about to say something I really shouldn't. I felt his hand wrap around my arm, not too tight but a sort of a warning grip. Sighing, I kept silent.

"I hate tracking witches," Dean complained.

"Probably should start now," Sam replied, and I still was silent. One, I was trying not to make a sarcastic comment, and two, I had a feeling if I opened my mouth, vomit might come out.

The brothers walked to the door, and I finally decided to speak. "Good luck!" I called giving the two a grin.

"I'll get to work on restoring their memories," Ruby muttered leaving for the kitchen. Now I surrounded by five angels and one human. Chuck was rubbing his temple, and I finally noticed he was staring at me.

"I'll go with the brothers," Suriel shrugged following Dean and Sam from the house. "Someone has to make sure they don't do something stupid."

"It's what they do best," I joked.

"Perhaps we should talk," Cas whispered into my ear, but I gave him a quick shake of the head.

"When I actually have all my memories back and back to the right age," I returned, "then we'll talk."

I moved away from the angel and to the kitchen. My stomach was growling after I had just emptied it. An apple sounded good, and I should be able to keep that down at least. I realized rather quickly that my Mother was following me while Gabriel had returned to scolding Barachiel on other things. I did my best to ignore her while I grabbed something to eat- Damn, no apples. Instead, I munched on a few slices of bread. It was the only thing I decided to deem safe in this house. Ruby was at the kitchen table mumbling something in Latin.

"What do you want?" I relented in asking. I plopped my butt on a kitchen counter.

"We should talk," Orfiel sighed giving me a frown.

"About what?" I replied. "About the fact you abandoned me? About how you started all this shit? Or how to some point that Melissa and Chris's death is somewhat your fault too?"

"Rachel," she said exasperated.

"You left me," I hissed. "I don't even need all my memories to know that. You were my blood, and you left me."

"Not because I wanted to."

"What? Because you had to?" I laughed dryly. "That's bullshit, and we both know it. My real parents are dead because you thought my Father would hold to his word. I shouldn't be alive…"

"I'm sorry."

"So am I," I whispered. "I'm sorry that I ever remembered that you were my blood." With that, I left the room.

. . . . .

Dean and Sam weren't exactly sure where to start to look for witches, but they were hunters. Some lead would appear; from what the Winchesters gathered, the witches knew when their spell was tampered with or Alistair would not have tracked Rachel to question her about her returning memories. They figured the three were still in town, admiring their work. That in mind, the brothers put on the persona of FBI and started to check for unusual deaths- hex bag-like deaths.

A few strange deaths appeared- nothing too horrible-, but Dean's instincts were screaming at him: wrong, wrong, wrong. A Winchester always went with their gut. Sam was more into the clippings of newspapers, so Dean let his younger brother go about that while he went to a morgue to check the bodies to start. Afterwards, he'd check the homes for hex bags.

Once Dean left with the Impala, Sam relaxed back in his library chair and ran a worried hand through his locks. Keeping secrets from his brother was not something he enjoyed. Unlike Dean and Rachel, the younger Winchester had all of his memories- every single one. He remembered Dad dying, he remembered Rachel being a Nephilim, he remembered Dean going to Hell- everything. He had even when he was stuck as a five-year old; he just wasn't going to tell anyone this. The demon blood running through his veins probably was the reason for his memories still being intact, but he wasn't going to open that can of worms if he didn't have to.

To some point, he hoped Ruby couldn't fix their ages. The less Dean remembered- the better. Dean was Dean again- it was like that part of him was never left in Hell. It was sort of a chance to restart their lives, but he knew that the demon would find a way to reverse this… then things would be back to Sam having to hold all the weight in the world.

The second Suriel returned with books, Sam pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind. Rachel and Dean might trust the celestials, but Sam was still wary of the winged creatures.

"I needed newspaper clippings," Sam sighed when he looked at the books. "These won't help us find the pattern."

"Oh," Suriel frowned before moving to find exactly what the hunter wanted.

"Recent ones," Sam continued not wanting to look through eight year old clippings.

Dean stepped from his Impala dressed in another immaculate suit. He grabbed an id from the back and moved to the morgue building to talk with the doctors- he needed to figure out how the last three died. These killings couldn't be just random- or he hoped not since it'd be impossible to find and kill these bitches.

"So doctor," Dean drawled staring down at the first body. The entire face was gone- blown away by a shotgun. "Suicide?"

"It just doesn't make since," the doctor sighed. "I knew the young man, and he was happy. He had a girlfriend, he was about to propose, and then this." The doctor shook his head in sadness. "Just doesn't make sense."

"What about the other two? Suicide as well?" Dean prodded hoping to get as much information as possible.

"The other was a nineteen year old girl graduating this year," he continued. "Overdose… The last was a fifteen year old girl, hung herself in the bathroom."

"So one gunshot suicide, handing, and overdose?" Dean summarized.

"Why is this the FBI's concern?" the doctor returned narrowing his older eyes at the hunter.

"You don't find three suicides in less then a week unusual?" Dean countered. The doctor only sighed and ran his fingers across his closed eyes.

"Figure out what is going on to these kids," the doctor finished before walking away unable to even look at the bodies any longer.

Dean couldn't tear his eyes away on the other hand. His mind was churning all of this information- all of them were young: high school young. The school's would be a good place to start… Gender didn't seem to matter. Dean's best guess that the three they were looking for either attended high school or maybe were teachers- someone close to the students.

With this information, Dean bid the doctor a polite good-bye and headed back to Sam with his information learned. Walking up the stairs to the library, Dean looked around. He had this nagging feeling he was being followed. For now, he ignored it and continued inside.

"I'm thinking the three are either teachers or students… Something close to high school," Dean explained. "I can pose as a substitute and you a student."

"The witches will know who we are before we know who they are," Sam argued though he did remember what the three did look like: goth-like.

"Better than sitting here and waiting for them!" Dean growled.

"Boys?" Suriel said trying to keep the testosterone-boys from mutilating each other.

. . . . .

I was so bored. The angels except for Cas ignored me. Chuck wasn't sure what to do with me, and my Mom had disappeared quite some time ago. I was really fucking bored! I would take to do anything now; I just needed to expend some energy. The only time I was busy was when my stomach started to do flips, and I had to once again go into the bathroom to empty the contents of my stomach.

That was where I was at when Gabriel walked calmly in and handed me a wet washcloth. She gave me a sympathetic smile and waited politely while I cleaned myself up a bit.

"Morning sickness I could go without," I mumbled once I was back to my feet as unsteady as that was.

"Yes well it is a part of life," Gabriel replied smiling at me as she did so.

"Part of pregnancy that could seriously be cut out," I complained following the angel from the bathroom. She obviously wanted me for some reason other than to watch me puke. We stopped at the couch, and I stared at it. "What do you want?"

"I wish to check the pregnancy myself," Gabriel instructed. "Lie down and lift up your shirt."

"You've got to be kidding me," I said, my mouth totally agape.

"Human doctors aren't going to take well to what you're carrying," Gabriel continued.

"So I need a celestial doctor?" I mumbled but still complying. I laid comfortably on the couch and rolled my shirt up to my bra. "How are you going to do this without an ultrasound machine?"

"I do not need one," she smiled placing her freezing hand on my belly. I felt warmth immediately following, and I found all my muscles relaxing. "I just want to see how it…"

"He," I corrected remembering the time Chuck told me I was having a boy. "It's going to be a boy."

"How he is doing," Gabriel smiled before closing her eyes and focusing just on the task at hand. "Wings?" she asked suddenly.

"Can I give birth to something with wings?" I returned. "I'm pretty sure human bodies are not meant to deliver such a hybrid."

"We'll figure something out when you're closer to being due," she replied, and before I could continue, I felt a searing pain in my skull. Years of forgotten memories flashed in front of my eyes, and I couldn't help but hiss at the sensation.

"I think I restored their memories!" Ruby cried running into the room.

"Oh you did," I moaned placing a palm against my pounding forehead. "Gabriel I remember everything now. Being Lucifer's daughter, the alternate dimensions… all that fun."

"Good," Gabriel nodded pulling her hand away from my stomach. "He seems to be doing fine. I will continue to check on you every so often though."

"That's fine," I smiled sitting up and pulling my shirt back down. It was nice remembering everything again- especially how to use my grace. I had to be careful since my body probably couldn't take an overload of use… I also… I also now remembered my time being undercover as Rach. I remembered my time with Cas and how he was treated. I was happy to have that hole filled even if the memories weren't that good.

"We have a problem," Barachiel snarled walking into the room and meeting my gaze.

. . . . .

Dean made his way into the school first; Sam would follow in a few minutes. The elder hunter was making his way to the office when he overheard a conversation between a counselor and a student.

"So you want to kill yourself?" the counselor coaxed.

"Yes," the student whimpered.

"How?" she pressed.

"I don't know… I thought about cutting my wrists," the student sobbed.

"Then you should sweetheart," the counselor cooed, and it clicked with Dean then. The witches were counselors coaxing students to tell them about how they would commit suicide, and with the right hex bag, the poor teenager later would commit the act.

Of course, inside a high school wasn't the smartest place to attack, so Dean pressed on to the office to get his pass. He was subbing in gym class; that would be fun to make students run.

"Give me a lap!" Dean called and blew his whistle. Yes, watching other people run was a nice change. Sam was in his next class, and he had every intention of running him till he puked.

The students grumbled as they ran the laps, but before Dean could continue his ranting, an older woman walked into the room. She had boy-cut black hair, and Dean's hunter instincts immediately kicked on. He had a pretty good idea that the female sauntering towards him was one of the witches. Her grin was even malicious.

"Keep running," the hunter called out just as the witch placed a finger on his chest. "What do you want?" he hissed under his breath.

"I figured your little instincts would pick up on me," the witch giggled. "I just radiate power, and I knew you'd feel it the moment I walked in." She placed her palm flat against his chest, but the hunter didn't move, didn't flinch. "I didn't expect you to be so delicious though."

"Didn't see me when you turned me into a five-year old?" he whispered trying not to let the students hear what they were saying.

"Not really," she purred standing on his tip-toes and breathing into his ear. "Why do you want to go back to your older self? You're in your prime without your memories of anything horrible…"

"I need to go back to my older self," he snapped. "We can do this the easy way or hard way…
"I like hard," she growled flicking her tongue against his ear.

"I bet you do," Dean growled giving the witch a small push. He had to keep a full fight from happening here. Thankfully, Sam chose to walk in right then.

"Leave us alone, we'll leave you alone," the witch finished before leaving the gym.

"That's one of the witches!" Sam exclaimed once he was close enough to his brother. "What did she want?"

"Truce," Dean explained.

"What are we going to do?"

"Kill them. They don't want us back to full strength."

"They're the three guidance counselors here," Sam whispered as the other class filed out. "It won't be easy." Both brothers smiled- when did they do easy anyway!

"Give me a lap!" Dean laughed.

. . . . .

"What do you mean my Mother is missing?" I cried staring incredulously at Barachiel.

"She's just gone," Barachiel explained with his usual 'duh' tone. "After what you said to her you disgusting Nephilim…"

"Barachiel!" Gabriel reprimanded. "Do you know where she is?"

"I cannot sense her," he sighed.

While the angels argued, I went to Chuck. He had been silently pale in the corner the entire time. His eyes met mine, and I knew immediately that he knew exactly where my Mother was.

"Chuck," I begged.

"You can't go," he whispered, but I pressed him harder for her wherabouts. Even when he told me one of his latest visions, I gave him a small smile.

"She's my Mother," I stammered. "Please…"

"She's meeting with Lylith to get a deal for you and your son. She wants you to be left…" Chuck opened his mouth. "The devil's gate…"

Chuck didn't need to finish as I immediately focused my grace on going to the infamous Devil's gate. The angels didn't even see me disappear from the house, and I landed silently in the graveyard. Lylith was standing there with my Mother.

"Mom!" I cried rushing forward just in time to watch the demon thrust something through my Mother's chest- Lucifer's blade. "No!" I screamed almost stopping dead-in-my tracks. I watched in horror as my Mom's limp body collapsed to the ground.

Even with the demon so close, I rushed over and held Orfiel's bloody body to my chest- not another one. I couldn't bury anymore family! I stared down at my Mom struggling to take a few more breaths, my tears splashing against her cheeks.

"You shouldn't have done this," I whispered.

"I wanted to make you safe," she struggled to say. I pressed my hand to her bloody stomach hoping to staunch the blood flow though I knew it was useless. "I wanted to be a good Mother…"

"You are…" There was nothing I could do when Orfiel's eyes closed, and her grace exploded out. The force threw me against a tombstone, and I could only stare at my Mom's broken body- her wings' shadows stretched across the grass. It was my fault- had I not said those horrible things. She would not have… She wouldn't have come out here to protect me.

"Sorry," Lylith cackled. She was in an older body now- a tall blonde. "I'm done making deals with the Winchesters."

I pushed myself slowly to my feet- my sixteen year old body not being able to take this kind of abuse. The demon took a step towards me and chucked me against another stone slab. I heard the familiar crack of ribs, and I couldn't help the cry that escaped my lips. First my Mom dies, and now, I was going to get captured or worse. Stuck in this state, there was nothing I could do.

"You won't be around to see the apocalypse my sweet," Lylith teased. "Unlike your Daddy, I don't see a need for you. Other seals can be broken. He doesn't need your grace, he's strong enough on his own."

"He doesn't know," I panted out. "He doesn't know you're going to kill me, does he?"

"No," Lylith shrugged throwing me against the gate itself. "It's better this way… Good-bye Nephilim." She raised her hand, and a bright light filled my vision. It was strong, and I thought of creating a shield to protect myself, but if I did survive, I would need my energy… though I wouldn't know how I would breath past this day. "What?" I heard Lylith mutter a few seconds later. I was still alive- but how?

Glancing down, I could only smile. I was back to being twenty-one. Pushing myself up, I gave the demon a glare that should have killed her. The brothers did it- they killed the witches. We were all back to normal! Lylith only stared at me before opening her mouth to escape this graveyard, but with my powers, I trapped the demon in her vessel.

"Where do you think you're going?" I hissed. "This party has just begun." Raising my hand, I threw the demon this time against a grave marker- the very stone crushing from the force. "Maybe the apocalypse will wreak down on this Earth," I growled chucking the demon into another gravestone. "I only know one thing…" I took precise steps toward the very demon that just murdered my Mom.

"What's that?" Lylith snarled, blood dripping from her lips. I was now directly in front of the demon.

"You won't be around to see it," I whispered into her ear and pressed my palm against her chest. I had never though of trying this before, but now… With my Mother dead, I could focus on no other thing but killing Lylith. I forced my grace into her body- almost like I did with Castiel that one time-, but instead of leaving it like I did with the angel, I ripped it right back out. I heard Lylith screaming the entire time as my grace overpowered her tainted being and destroyed it. I watched as light exploded from her possessed body, and when I stepped back, exhausted, I watched the human collapse to the ground. The girl's body was alive- her chest was rising and falling. That wasn't my concern though.

With what energy I had left, I crawled back over to my Mom's body and held her hand. The blood staining the grass, and I wanted to look to heaven and scream why! Why was it the Winchesters always having to lose everyone?

"Mom," I whimpered. My body was aching from the use of grace, and I could only hope if I survived this night then so did my baby boy. I wasn't sure how what I just did would affect him, and I could only pray he was okay… yet somehow I knew he was. Especially after what Chuck told me…

In my thoughts, I didn't hear the thundering of hooves. I glanced up in time to see a black stallion with blazing red eyes and a rider cloaked in black galloping my way. A blade gripped in his or her hand and held high to strike me down. I survived against Lylith- was I to now die from this Horseman? I didn't have the energy to move- how do I survive again?

Just before the rider stuck me, a new figure appeared out of nowhere and knocked the rider from the horse. The stallion screeched with the loss of its rider, and the new figure quickly grabbed me and pulled me from the Devil's gate.

The next second I realized I was falling on Chuck's kitchen table. The angels looked freaked, but I was covered in blood. The brothers were there at their right ages- their grins disappearing the moment they saw me. Or not… Their gazes went past me. Glancing up, I saw the last person I thought would be my rescuer.

"Rach?"

Chapter 45: Interlude: Castiel and Rachel- Rachel's mom is dead along with Lylith. Finally something is going right, but that doesn't mean everything is right. Rachel is still pregnant and now armed with horrible information- things she shouldn't know… Castiel and Rachel sit down to talk about the son the Nephilim will eventually bear, and how close the apocalypse is to actually rising.

OOC: Sorry guys, I decided to kill off Rachel's Mom, but now Lylith is dead as well (time to celebrate), but it won't last. Rach is now back, and still working for the good guys. The arc after the interlude will be the last before the sequel!!! READ AUTHOR NOTE BELOW… oh and Review please!

Author Note: I'm taking suggestions for the sequel. Any ideas or things you guys would like to see happen to the characters- put them into the review. I'm writing the outline for the story now, and your suggestions are very helpful!