The 'tour' as Chuck had dubbed it was a bit different than what Ana had been expecting. Honestly she thought it was going to be a look of the inner workings of the place. The bright white halls with doors at every turn leading into singular heavens, like she had seen in visions that had focused on Cas. What she was actually seeing was much better and yet worse in some ways. Chuck led her through each separate heaven of her family and friends of her father and uncle. First it was Jo and Ellen, the Roadhouse at its finest, the two of them together taking chairs down from tables like they were getting ready to open for the day. They stood outside in the gravel parking lot and watched through the window as the two women chatted and laughed as if nothing in the world was wrong.
"Is Ash here too?" Ana asked, not taking her eyes off of the mother and daughter.
Glancing at her for a moment he shook his head, "No, his heaven isn't the type of place that should have visitors, but he's happy there. That's what matters in the end."
She chuckled at that, only being able to imagine the weird heaven that Ash would have. "Can I go say hi?" If there was one thing she always hated about her visions it was that she was able to learn about these people and grow to love them without ever being able to meet them.
"Not to them, no. There are a few people we will see that I'll let you talk to, but not them. They're very happy and completely unaware that they're living in a loop of their favorite times. Meeting you would only ruin that." He explained, already knowing the few that she would be allowed to meet. "I wanted you to see this though, to see that even after they went up after some of the worst your world has to offer that they're at peace here."
"Trying to prepare me for something?" With one last look at the women she turned her focus to Chuck, knowing that being God meant he did very little without reason.
He only shrugged in response before pulling them away from Jo and Ellen and into another heaven. "I wouldn't say I'm preparing you for something, per se, but I think there is something to learn with these visits."
With a glare Ana turned her attention away from God to look around, trying to decipher where they were now. It looked to be a college campus, if the almost dorm looking building in front of them was anything to go by. As she studied her surroundings the main door to the building flew open and out ran Kevin Tran, a pile of books in his arms as he hurried away from them. "Kevin's best memories are of school?" she turned with a smirk to look at Chuck as they walked after the young man.
"Does that honestly surprise you? Though he did find a friendship with Sam and Dean, he was pulled into the world that your family lives in without any warning, in a way much more rough than most of the others. Normal is where Kevin is happy, so that's what he has here." The explanation made sense and they stopped as the young man ran past a group of people and into another building.
Ana shook her head, "You would think that being late for class wouldn't be the best memory."
"Some people thrive in chaos." Chuck said with a knowing smile before pulling them into a different heaven.
Sam sat down on the dingy motel bed with a grunt, his hand pressed as hard as he could manage against the wound on his hip. The vengeful spirit he had just spent the evening with was pretty hell bent on not being stopped and had been harder to take down than he originally planned. Not that much was easy now that he was hunting by himself. He would need to take a break soon with this wound, the one that he had gotten across his right shoulder blade about a week before wasn't healing right either and he would need to get both of them treated. If he could make it back to the bunker and Dean was sober enough or Connor could be pulled away from his research long enough one of them could fix him up. That was a rather large if though considering the amount of blood he was losing. Black dots began to pop into his vision and he knew in that minute he was screwed. The last thought he had before he passed out was a quick prayer to Cas and Gabe, hoping one of the angels would get to him before it was too late.
"Get your damn ass out of bed!" The words were yelled, making the ringing in Dean's head worse. Rolling over to face the opposite side of the bed he hoped that the angel would get the message and leave him alone.
Gabe clenched his jaw, trying to control the urge to beat the crap out of the man who hadn't left his bed in days. He had watched as Dean attempted to self medicate for the first month, now that they were breaching the end of the second he couldn't take it anymore. He and Cas had decided that though they had yet to come up with a trace of either Ana's body or soul, the idea they had would be enough, and it was time to put an end to the way the Winchester men were spending their time. Thankfully they didn't have to worry much about Connor, the witch had attempted to get some information from the Council library a few weeks ago and once Niall had noticed the state his nephew was in, paired with the plan that he had been forming the, entire Council put him on lock down. They had placed a spell on him that kept him from using his magic and there was a group of witches keeping an eye on him at all times. They would be able to deal with him later. "Dammit Dean, are you just going to give up that easily? Is that the new Winchester way?"
"Go away." His voice was weak, hell, Dean was weak. He could feel his body beginning to shut down and he didn't have the care to try to make himself better.
"No way in Hell, bucko." Gabe grabbed the blankets from the foot of the bed and pulled them onto the floor. "Would Ana have given up on you? No, she wouldn't have. Not for a damn minute. So get your ass out of this bed, go shower because you smell like death, and then put on your thinking cap."
Dean gathered what little strength he had left, grabbing the knife he kept on his bedside table and then threw it at the angel, missing him by a good foot. "She's gone, she's not coming back, what's the damn point?"
"We have a lead." Was all Gabe said as he moved around the bed and placed his fingers on Dean's forehead. He healed the damage from the alcohol and removed any that was currently in the man's system. "Now get the Hell up."
Cas had already been on his way to Sam when he'd heard the man's prayer. He and Gabriel had decided it would be better if Gabe handled Dean since he would need what Gabe referred to as a "righteous kick in the ass" and Sam wouldn't need much convincing to come back to the bunker so they could get to work on their lead. Once he was in the hotel room he had tracked the younger Winchester brother to he looked around a moment before his eyes landed on the man passed out on the bed. "Sam!" he was at the side of the bed in seconds and working to heal the wounded man. It took a couple of minutes due to the severity of the open gash on his side and the infected cut on his shoulder, but once it was done Sam shot straight up with a surprised gasp.
It took a bit for Sam to slow his breathing and calm down before he looked up at Cas with a tight smile, "Thanks Cas."
"You are welcome. You should have called sooner though, you would have bled out if I hadn't been able to come." Cas took a step back as Sam stood up from the bed.
With a nod Sam rubbed a hand over his face, "I didn't realize how bad it was until I blacked out there otherwise I would have. Hey, have you heard from Dean? I tried calling him yesterday to check in and didn't get an answer."
Cas shook his head, "I haven't, but Gabriel is with him now. We need to get everyone back together, we have a lead on Ana."
"What?" Sam had been moving to the bag he left by the door, but stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of his niece's name. He had given up a while ago on the thought that they would be able to bring her back.
"We have a lead and we need to come up with a plan. Get your stuff together and I'll fly you back to the bunker."
A small smile played on Ana's lips as she looked at the house in front of her, "Please tell me I can actually talk to them?" she asked with an excited glint in her eye.
"Yes, John remembers everything from his time back on earth and they would both be very happy to see you." Chuck explained, meeting the young woman's smile with one of his own before she was racing up the stairs to the house.
She knocked quickly, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she listened to the footsteps until they stopped and the door swung open. Her smile grew bigger once she was met with the face of her grandfather.
"Ana?" John asked, shocked that she was standing in front of him. "What are you doing here?" He asked, arms opening as the girl rushed to hug him.
"It's a long story, I'll fill you in on everything." She promised, holding herself to him a moment longer before taking a step away as a voice came from further into the house.
"John, who is it?" Mary's voice carried through the main room as she made her way toward the front door. It was strange that anyone would be in their heaven, the two were more than aware of where they were, but it didn't bother either of them that they were dead as long as they were together. Once her eyes landed on the young girl who stood in front of her husband she frowned in confusion.
Closing the door John placed an arm around Ana's shoulders and steered her toward his wife with a small smile, "Mary, this is our granddaughter."
Mary took a moment to study the young girl, she did have Dean's eyes and knowing that John had met her while he was back on earth she had no doubt that the redhead in front of her was indeed her granddaughter. It was shocking at first and then she sucked in a deep breath as she realized what this meant, "You died?"
Ana nodded as she let out a slow breath, "In the most Winchester way possible, taking out the bad guys."
"Oh honey." Mary took a few steps forward and enveloped the girl in a hug, holding her tight as her eyes met John's for a moment. Taking a step back she held Ana at arms length and gave her another look over, "I want to hear all about you and your life and after we've had some time together we're going to find a way to get you out of here. There's no way my family is going to be more broken than it already is." The determined tone in her voice something that she hadn't used in all her time in heaven.
Chuck still stood outside of the home, listening in to the conversation with a smile. Things were going to be just fine. With that thought in mind he left Ana in the care of her grandparents to check on her family that was still living. It wouldn't be much longer before they were reunited, but there were still a few things that needed to happen before that could be done.
A/N: So the updates are few and far between. I honestly never know when I'm going to have an idea for the next chapter, so bare with me. If you're still reading this, I love and appreciate you and you're support.
