Chapter 35

Dean

There was a crash in the back of the makeshift dining room as I continued to try and calm the kids. They were close to hysterics, all speaking at the same time, yelling at each other occasionally, each trying to be heard above the others. Sawyer turned first, seeing my wife appear out of nowhere.

"Holy shit," he whispered, forcing me to turn and follow his gaze.

Grace was kneeling, holding out her hand towards me and shaking her head. "Don't freak out," she was saying as we all turned. "She's okay. She's just not here."

"Mom?" Charlie shrieked, running towards Grace and Serra's collapsed form. "Mom! Oh my god, what happened? Is she okay?"

Grace was standing with a globe-sized red ball of something…I couldn't tell what it was, hovering above her right hand. She held out her left to Charlie. "Baby," she began, louder than Charlotte, "baby, no, no, no. This isn't what it looks like. Your mom's okay. She's just not in this body anymore."

"What?" Charlie screamed, pushing past Grace and staring down at her mother's body. "Mom?"

Liberty and Glory both had their hands over their mouths, seemingly understanding what Grace was saying. "Oh my god," Lib murmured. "She's dead."

"Just for a minute," Grace answered. "I know I should have been able to keep everyone in the loop at the same time, but there's a lot of moving parts."

Everett was approaching slowly, his mouth open as he watched Charlie and Levi kneel at their mother's feet. "Mom, what is that?" he asked, gesturing towards the large, red, floating ball.

"It's Sam's blood," Grace answered offhandedly. "Well, not all of it, but a lot of it."

"Blood?" Sawyer replied, sounding panicked. "That's a lot of blood."

Grace was closing her eyes and holding out her left hand again, shaking her head. "We need to all just chill," Grace exclaimed, "Just back off and sit."

Everyone, including myself, followed orders immediately. The six Winchester kids found seats without hesitating, and Sawyer slid to the floor, sitting where he had been standing.

"Okay," Grace stepped over Serra's body and turned in a complete circle, looking for something. She pulled out an old ice chest and opened it, guiding Sam's blood into it. "Okay, look. Lucifer is holding Chuck in Jordan. He's trying to take his grace and use it to become the new god."

I couldn't stop myself from dropping my mouth open, "Holy shit," I whispered. "He's not succeeding, is he?"

Grace licked her lips and smiled slightly, looking like she had a secret. "I know we've talked about it once or twice," she breathed. "But it's true. I realized it while we were in the desert, watching Lucifer kill Serra." She turned towards Charlie's gasp and held up her hands, "She's fine. She's pissed, but she's okay."

"Where is she?"

"She and Cas are in Heaven, waiting for a new body," Grace replied to Charlie, pointing skyward. "I am headed there shortly to make sure that Sam's blood cycles through that new body before hers does. She'll never have to inject his blood for abilities again. It'll just be a part of her." Grace turned to our kids and took a deep breath. "We've been talking about Dad taking Michael for the last decade or so. This is it." My wife turned towards me and took a shaking breath. "We're going to go at Lucifer hard and fast. He's not going to know what hit him."

"Grace?" I whispered, seeing her differently for the first time.

"You guys were all right on the money from the beginning," she continued, staring at me from her icy blue gaze. "Lucifer can't become the new god," she breathed. "Because I am."

…

Serra

The round room I was in had no windows and no doors. Cas was with me but wandered aimlessly through the room as if he couldn't see me.

"Cas!" I yelled for the eighth time or so, "I'm right here!"

The angel didn't answer but continued to pace. "I really hope your sister has a plan that is more developed than this one," he stated.

I stood next to him, waiting impatiently. Grace knew what was happening, but it didn't make me feel any better about the situation. This was the first time that I had to get a new body, and really, I wasn't a fan. Grace couldn't have come up with a different way to save me from Lucifer? Was this really the best she had?

Yes, it was, Grace's voice echoed through my thoughts. And if you don't shut up for a second, your kids are going to have a mental breakdown and it's going to end up taking even longer.

I sighed inwardly. "Fine," I spat. "But hurry the hell up. It's weird up here."

…

Grace

I closed my eyes and tried to organize the thoughts that were constantly running through my head. Between my kids, Serra's kids, my husband, and Cas, there were a lot of words to contend with. Not to mention the general population as they pleaded with me to save varying members of their families from the demons, hell hounds, zombies, mutants, and monsters that still terrified the world.

They were next on my list.

I turned to watch my husband's reaction. "How you doin', Dean?" I asked, listening to his thoughts and watching his face. "You okay?"

"You're the new god?"

I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Not yet, but you're not actually surprised. You just want to know how I did it."

Dean pursed his lips and shrugged. "Yeah," he nodded. "And?"

The truth was that I hadn't thought about it before it happened. Being in the same location as Lucifer and the spell work that he had been attempting had thrown all the pieces together. He had been carrying Chuck's extracted grace around with him and it had rejected him from the beginning, still in constant search of a new host body.

That new body just happened to be me.

"Chuck sealed this destiny from the beginning, back when he told everyone that we were out of bounds," I explained. "He knew that we'd be the ones to take Lucifer out, once and for all."

Dean stared at me, his jade eyes hard. "Not trap him," he ventured, lifting an eyebrow. "You're talking about killing him."

I nodded.

"What about Sam?"

"Sam will be fine. I'm going to extract Lucifer."

Pressing his lips together, Dean didn't seem surprised that I spoke with such finality. "You sound like you have a plan."

"First time for everything."