Laying in bed surrounded in the darkness of her room, Ana ignored everyone that stopped by her door. It had been three days since she had let Dean come in and speak to her, since then she had locked the rest of them out even going so far as to place the strongest spell she could muster on the door so that Connor couldn't break through or teleport in. All of the others in the bunker had stopped by to try to get her to let them in; a five person round of 'good cop/bad cop' was playing outside of her door. Charlie and Sam both taking the calmer side, trying to coerce her out with food or coffee. Then there was Connor, Dean and Kellen who had first started off trying to be calm, but when she wouldn't even respond to them each man quickly lost control of their anger and began to yell, bang, and threaten if she didn't let them in.
None of it phased her, not much at least. She barely moved, still facing the wall, still wearing the same clothes that she had worn during the battle with the rogues. There was not an ounce of motivation left in her body to do anything but keep herself away from her family. She just wanted to be alone for the foreseeable future.
"Days." Dean spat, "It's been days and she refuses to answer any of us, she hasn't eaten or drank anything. We've tried everything else, you've even tried to break past whatever spell she has up and nothing is working." He pointed at Connor who had called his plan an over exaggeration. "But the first time I offer up an idea that might actually work and I'm the one that's crossing some imaginary line?! We have no idea what shape she's in! You know as well as I do what could happen if she goes off of the deep end! Do you really want to risk that?"
Connor sighed, "Dean, if she were doing anything like that I would feel it through our bond. She's doing nothing to block me out of that, I feel every ounce of pain and grief and anger that she's feeling. Ana's done nothing to harm herself."
The hunter pushed himself up out of the chair he had been sitting in and moved away from the table, "That doesn't mean shit right now, you and I both know that." Shaking his head, Dean spun back around to glare at the witch, "I'm going to do this whether you like it or not."
Before Connor could argue the two were separated by the golden haired archangel appearing between them. "You rang?" Gabriel questioned, turning to look at Dean. It didn't take him long to pick up the tension in the room, part of that being the expressions on Sam, Charlie, and Kellen's face as they sat staring at the two men on either side of him. "What's going on?"
"You've missed out on a lot." Dean spoke through gritted teeth. They had tried to contact both Cas and Gabe after things had settled slightly once they were home, but it seemed that their prayers weren't being heard.
Gabriel rolled his eyes, "Excuse you, but Cassie and I were trying to track down the line of angels in Heaven that are working for Gadreel. It seems that he's turned more of them against us than we originally thought." He took another look around the room, noticing that Ana wasn't among those sitting there. "What exactly did we miss?"
"Not everyone made it back from the fight with the rogue witches." Sam spoke, watching as both Dean and Connor choked up at the thought of the loss they were all still trying to process. The pain of it hadn't faded any, but they had to shift their focus to Ana seeing as how she was still with them.
"Ana?" Gabriel was instantly filled with fear, he should have felt something if she had gotten fatally hurt during the battle.
Connor pulled in a shaky breath, "The baby."
The archangel visibly deflated at the news, "What happened?" his words held a hint of anger, someone had harmed the child that was growing in the woman who he had claimed as his favorite witch and no one screwed with the people Gabriel cared about.
"Ana was surrounded by three rogues, they did some spell that wiped any sign of the baby from her body. The witch that checked on her said it was as if she had never been pregnant in the first place." Dean answered, forcing himself to keep his cool as he explained. "Which leads us to the problem we're having now. She's locked herself in her room, put up some crazy strong spell that not even Connor can break through, and she's been in there for days. I want you to bust in. Archangel power trumps crazy powerful witch magic, right?"
"Unless she's got sigils up or holy fire waiting for me I shouldn't have a problem getting in." Gabe looked around the room, none of them were handling the situation well at all. "I'll go talk to her." he assured them before flying out of the library and landing in Ana's room. Though it was dark in the room the archangel was easily able to see the young witch laying on her bed, her eyes open though it looked as if they weren't actually seeing anything. "Oh, princess." he sighed, she was a wreck. Her face was pale, her hair was greasy, and she just looked so fragile.
Ana should have been expecting this, there was no way that Dean or Connor would just let her be. She should have known that when she hadn't been assaulted by the loud knocks on her door that they were planning something. "Why can't I just be left alone?" she muttered, wishing that she had been prepared for one of the angels to try to talk to her, but honestly she had been so lost in her pain that she'd forgotten that neither Cas or Gabe had any idea what happened.
"Because you've locked yourself in here for days and everyone is worried about you." Gabriel stated matter-of-factly, "Now get up. You are in serious need of a shower and food." He fully understood that she was grieving, but he always prefered tough love to coddling in situations like this.
Eyes slowly blinking, she didn't even glance in the angel's direction, "Just go away." her response was clipped. Was it too much to just be left alone, after what she had been through you think that everyone would be alright with her doing whatever she needed to try and move past it.
"No can do, kiddo. You either get up and at least eat something or I'm going to bypass the lovely spell you've placed on the door so Dean, Connor, and Kellen can come in to deal with you." He knew better than to ask Sam or Charlie to be tough with her, neither of them would be able to keep it up long.
"Or you could get the hell out." She snapped and threw a surge of power out at the angel. They had no right to tell her to do anything and even if Gabriel's powerful grace could contend, even overpower her magic, she just wanted him to leave.
Gabe barely budged when her power hit him, she hadn't used a strong attack and he hoped that meant she wasn't actually trying to hurt him. If that was what she had been trying to do this whole thing was worse than he had expected. "Anastasia, that's enough. You're grieving, I understand that, but that doesn't give you the right to ignore the basic needs of a human body. In case you hadn't noticed, you're not the only one feeling pain in this family and you're not making that any easier for the others by acting like some potential suicide risk! What do you think it would do to us if you just gave up? Let yourself starve to death in here and ignored the pleas of the people who love you? This loss isn't just yours, it's all of ours, and if you don't get out of this room to take care of yourself we're going to lose you too!" The fact that she had still yet to even look at him sent his anger over the edge. He quickly forced himself into her line of sight and met her red eyes with a glare, "Is that what you want?!"
Standing up quickly, she returned the angel's glare. "No! What I want is to be left the hell alone!" The room began to shift and she had to focus really hard to keep herself on her feet, between standing up too fast and having not eaten in days it seemed that the toll was being taken on her body. "Is that just too much to ask for?" she had thought the words would come out angier, but she was slowly losing control of her body.
"Ana!" Gabriel lunged forward just as her eyes rolled back in her head, her body beginning to fall toward the ground. He caught her before she hit the floor, quickly setting her down on the bed before turning toward the door and waving the spell away. Dean and Connor had been waiting outside for a while, listening in on their argument and now that Ana had just proved that she was in as bad of a shape as he thought she was he knew that they needed to be a part of what he did next. "Get in here!" He called to them, turning his attention back to the unconscious witch.
Connor didn't waste any time opening the door and storming into the room, "Did you really have to yell at her like that?" he questioned, moving to sit down on the bed next to Ana.
"Screw that, what just happened?" Dean fully supported the argument Gabriel had been presenting to Ana, it would have been the same one he argued had he been able to get in the room. The only thing he worried about now was why his daughter was out cold.
Gabe sighed, "She fainted. Days without proper nutrients will do that to a human." he studied her a moment before turning to look at Dean. "I can heal her, get her back in tip top shape, but if she doesn't want to take better care of herself it won't be long before she's like this again."
Connor turned to look at Dean, knowing that they needed to let Gabriel heal Ana so that they could talk to her about what she was doing to herself without having to worry about her passing out again.
"Do it." Dean told the angel, his eye's meeting Connor's and they shared a look of understanding. They wouldn't let her get this bad again, even if they had to tie her down and force feed her, she wouldn't be allowed to grow this weak again. There was no telling what was going to happen next in the world and they couldn't risk Ana not being able to protect herself should something big happen.
With a quick nod Gabe touched his fingers to Ana's forehead and used his grace to heal her without waking her up. "She needs to sleep so I'm going to leave her like this. That also gives you guys some time to figure out how you're going to fix all of this." he gestured toward Ana with a wave of his hand as he looked at the other two men in the room. "I need to get back to Heaven. Pray if you need us." He added before disappearing from the room.
The remaining men took a moment to study the witch laying on the bed, the only light in the room filtering in from the hallway. "How are we supposed to fix this?" Connor asked, knowing that he had enough trouble getting through everyday himself, but now he was supposed to push Ana to do the same.
"I don't know." Dean spoke truthfully. Getting a person through coming back from the dead, from hell? He could do that, but this- this was so much more than he had ever had to prepare for. "She's hopefully going to sleep for a while, let's go see if any of the other's have an idea of where to go from here."
With one last long look at the sleeping woman, both men slowly moved to leave the room. Their family wouldn't make it through this if they didn't get everyone on the same path, a path that would lead them to healing. The only thing working against them other than the general stubbornness of everyone involved was time. Would they have enough time to figure this out? Gadreel still had a plan to raise Michael and Lucifer, if they weren't in a better place by the time that happened, there was little to no hope that they would win.
The first sound to escape Ana's lips in hours was a groan, one that clearly expressed how unready she was to wake up. Pushing herself up on her arms, she glanced around the room before her eyes landed on the clock. Not that she had any idea what time it had been when Gabriel had appeared in her room, but if the feeling in her body was anything to go by she had been asleep for hours. Testing her limits, she pushed herself into a sitting position and realized that she felt physically fine; no longer weak. It was the freedom from the poor physical state she had let herself fall into that helped clear Ana's mind and she knew that there was only one option. Her family wanted her to come to terms with what had happened, but she couldn't do that with them all breathing down her neck.
Her decision was quickly made, now all she had to do was gather all of her things and get out of the bunker before anyone noticed. Grabbing the duffle bag that she kept on the floor by her closet she began to throw things inside, not bothering to even look at the pieces of clothing she was grabbing. Moving around to the other side of the room she grabbed the pistol on her bedside table, pausing to drop the magazine to check how many rounds it held. With a quick nod she pushed the mag back into place, dropped the gun in her bag, and then grabbed the extra box of ammo she kept hidden under her bed for emergencies. Picking the bag up again, she moved it toward the vanity where she kept things like her hair brush and the small amount of makeup she owned. Placing anything she thought she might need in the bag she was about to zip the bag up when she was frozen in place by her reflection in the mirror. Ana heaved a sigh, she looked like hell, and if she planned on getting around without drawing too much attention to herself this wasn't going to work. Grimacing at the thought that she would need to take a shower and that it would eat up her time, she also knew that there was really no other choice. Moving back to her closet Ana picked out a clean pair of jeans, tee shirt, and a pull over hoodie. With her last stop being at her dresser for socks, underwear, and a clean bra she was ready to get through the quickest shower she would probably ever take. She opened her door slowly, peeking down both sides of the hallway, waiting to see if she could hear any movement from down the hall, but when nothing gave her the indication that her family was awake she snuck her way across the hall to the bathroom.
The shower was indeed the shortest Ana had ever taken; cleaning her hair and body in record time before jumping out, drying off, and getting dressed. She exited the bathroom in the same way she had her bedroom, thankfully it seemed that everyone was asleep for the night and that she would be able to leave without having to lie to anyone. Once back in her room she sat down long enough to put on her boots before she was up again and grabbing her bag. Taking one last look around the room, she took in a deep breath, this is what she needed and that's all that mattered in that moment. With that thought in mind she teleported far away from the bunker, states away, landing on a dark road just outside of a brightly lit town in Oregon.
Moving her duffle bag so that it was slung across her body, Ana began to walk toward the lights, hoping that this idea would work. If she had teleported to the place she planned on staying Connor would be able to track her and if she didn't get some sigils on her body fast Gabe and Cas would be able to find her. The plan was to get to the city, hitch a ride toward California, and draw the basic hiding sigils she could remember on her arms. When she had finally settled somewhere she was sure that she wouldn't be looked for at, she would find a more permanent solution to stop the angels from being able to track her, but for now drawing on herself would just have to do.
Per normal routine Sam was awake before everyone else the next morning. He had already gone for a run, taken a shower, made coffee, and had a bowl of cereal all before Dean even came out of his bedroom. The tenants of the bunker hadn't stayed up long after Gabriel had left, there was a short discussion about trying to come up with a plan to help Ana and then everyone had retreated to their own rooms. By the looks of it Dean had gotten a little more sleep than he had been getting lately and that small bit of information made Sam feel a bit better. "Morning." He greeted as Dean moved around the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee.
"Morning." The elder Winchester grunted in return, filling up his cup before turning around to look at his brother again. "Have you seen Ana yet?" he questioned, having assumed that once his daughter had woken up and realized what they did that she would be pissed.
Sam shook his head, "No, you're the first one I've seen since I woke up." he shrugged, standing up to put his dirty bowl in the sink. "She's probably just sleeping in. It was hard enough getting her up in the morning before hand, after the last few days she's had I wouldn't be surprised if she's up even later than normal."
Considering his brother's words, Dean nodded in agreement, Sam did have a point. Turning to open the fridge, he opened the leftover box of pizza that sat on the shelf and grabbed a slice from it. No one had really felt like cooking so most of their meals were either delivery or takeout. If Ana felt up to eating today maybe he would offer to actually cook a meal, he'd pretty much do anything at that point to get her to eat. Taking a bite of the cold pizza Dean grinned at the disgusted look on his brother's face, "Just because you're weird and don't like cold pizza doesn't mean that the rest of the world's inhabitance can't enjoy it."
Rolling his eyes, Sam shook his head, "I know it's a little soon, but I think I found a case." he changed the subject, moving toward the table where he had his laptop set up at, "Obviously neither of us is ready to take it, but we should pass it along to someone."
"Do you ever turn off that gigantic brain?" Dean questioned, knowing for a fact that it rarely happened and that when Sam was feeling particularly tense that his need to keep busy only grew.
"Shut up," Sam turned his laptop so that Dean could see the screen, "Basic animal attack cover story, I'm betting it's a werewolf." He was almost one hundred percent certain that it was a werewolf, the lunar cycle was right and the photos that he had hacked out of the local police database looked exactly like a werewolf attack.
Dean nodded, "Call Garth, he's got a line of people he can send to take care of it." he took another bite of his pizza, it would be a while before any of them took up a hunt again. "I'm going to go check on Ana." he added, mouth full of food before he turned to leave the room, ignoring the disgusted sound that had just come out of his brother's mouth. There was no doubt that Ana needed to rest, it had been evident by the dark circles under her eyes that though she'd been in bed since they returned to the bunker that she hadn't actually been sleeping. All he wanted to do was check on her, if she was still asleep he would just leave her to rest and wait for her to wake up on her own.
Ana had walked all of the way into the city and instead of trying to hitch a ride with someone who wasn't a possible serial killer or sexual offender, she decided to run the rode in true Winchester fashion by hotwiring a car. Part of her felt bad because it was someone else's car and they probably needed it, but at the same time she just needed to get as far away from Oregon as possible. Once her family realized she was gone it wouldn't take long before Connor tried to track the trail her magic had left. As she drove through the night she grew more and more thankful that she had either been healed by Connor or Gabriel, she was betting on the latter since Connor's healing spells weren't that great, and that she had gotten decent sleep on top of it.
By the time the sun broke through the horizon she was a few hours passed the border into California and feeling ready to stop, she needed to get rid of the stolen car anyway. Pulling over on the side of the highway, she looked around the abandoned road before teleporting away and hoping that because it was such an early hour that she would be able to land somewhere no one would see her. There was little chance that Connor would be able to find that exact spot on the stretch of road where she had teleported, which meant that he wouldn't be able to track her, but she also needed to refrain from using her magic after this last jaunt. She couldn't risk Connor or the angels using it to track her.
Landing in an alley, Ana gave a quick glance around before she was assured that no one had been around to see her appear out of nowhere. That was the last time she would be using her magic for a while. There were things she needed to get straight with herself before she was ready to face Connor again, before she could even think about doing anything to stop Michael and Lucifer. What had happened mere days ago had completely shifted her view of herself and her life, this was her solution to figuring it all out. Walking toward the end of the alley, she had little idea where she was, but she knew that she needed to get somewhere with food and an ATM. Her plan to make it through this time was tapping into the savings account she had set aside for a college fund and pull all of it out. By paying for everything in cash or even setting up a different bank account under a false identity her time on the road would last a while longer before her family inevitably found her.
Pizza in one hand and coffee cup in the other Dean knocked lightly on the door, hoping it wouldn't wake her, but he didn't want to just barge in case she was awake. When he got no response, he opened the door slowly stopping when he could see her bed. Giving himself a moment for his eyes to adjust, he paused when they fell on the empty bed in the room, maybe she was already up and they had just missed each other. It was a large place and with double entrances into the main rooms it was easy to pass someone. With a shrug, he closed the door again, ready to loop back through the library and into the kitchen; he really wanted to see how she was doing after the fight she had with Gabriel last night. Passing the open bathroom door on his trip back down the hall, he knew for sure that Ana wasn't in there, and as he made his way through the empty library he hoped that she was in the kitchen getting her normal breakfast of mass amounts of coffee and toast. When he entered the kitchen again to Sam sitting in the same place he had been when Dean left, he frowned, "Ana hasn't been through here, has she?" He questioned, earning a confused look from his brother.
"No? Was she not in her room?" Sam cocked an eyebrow at Dean, seeing the first signs of panic setting into his brother's eyes and tense shoulders.
"Not in her room or her bathroom or the library." Worry was beginning to set in, if she was up why wouldn't she have stopped to talk to anyone? Or to at least get something to eat, even though Gabe had healed her it had still been three days since she had anything.
Sam sighed, that only covered about a third of the places Ana could be in the bunker. "She's probably with Connor or in the firing range. You know as well as I do that when she has stuff to work through she likes to do it with her pistol and about a hundred rounds of brass."
Forcing himself to calm down, Dean nodded. Sam had a point, shooting was Ana's form of release like working on the Impala was his. Setting his coffee mug down on the table and tossing his pizza in the garbage, he left the room again, now on a mission to find where his daughter was hiding. Taking the route through the library, he double checked to make sure she wasn't there before heading down the hallway toward Connor's room. The closer he got the more the silence around him rang in his ears, if Ana had been practicing her aim he would have been able to hear the sounds of the gun fire from here. Stopping at Connor's door Dean knocked quickly, his foot tapping the floor as he waited for it to be answered.
Connor had been awake for a while, but hadn't bothered to get out of bed yet. When the knock came at the door he was able to tell that it wasn't Ana, "One minute." he called, finally being able to sense that it was Dean. Grabbing a shirt out of his dresser, he quickly pulled it on before opening the door.
"Please tell me that Ana is with you." Dean spoke in a rush, a sinking feeling pulling at his stomach.
"No, I haven't seen her since we left her room last night." Connor offered, brows furrowed as he took in the hunter's anxious expression. "Why?" he asked slowly, beginning to think that something was wrong.
Dean swore, "Because she's not in her room or the kitchen or the library and Sam hasn't seen her this morning either." he turned around sharply and began to jog down the hallway, the feeling in his stomach only growing worse as he stopped to throw open the door to the shooting range and finding it empty. Moving across the hall, he looked inside the reloading room and when she wasn't there either made his way toward the garage, praying to anyone listening that she was there. Barging into the garage he frantically looked around, hoping for a sign of Ana's red hair hiding behind any of the cars there. It sunk in once he saw no sign of her and that all of the cars, including her own, were where they were supposed to be.
"See her?" Connor questioned, not being able to sense her, but she could have easily blocked herself from him. Maybe she just needed a little space after the argument last night.
Dean shook his head, just no realizing that Connor had been trailing behind him the entire way. "She's gone."
A/N: So Ana ran away from home. Kind of reminds me of Sam leaving for Stanford, they both went to California. What are you guys thinking of the last couple of chapters? I promise it's not going to be all gloom and doom, there's a silver lining hiding not far in the future for these characters, but it is the Winchesters so things can never go smoothly. Anywho, I'd love to know what you think. Thanks for reading :)
