Connor sat at the long table in the Council meeting hall with Niall, Caoimhe, and Valera. As his eyes scanned them he fought back the frustration he felt about the fact that they had locked him in an iron cell, just having let him out a few days ago. Part of him knew they were right to do so. He had been treading down a dangerous path, but he was willing to do anything to bring Ana back. The only thing stopping him from continuing his search at that very moment was the problem they had brought to his attention. Rogues. When they launched their attack on the group months back it was clear that not all of those who were involved were there that day and now it seemed that those remaining were continuing on with whatever part of the plan that worked to their benefit. With Michael and Lucifer out of the picture the four of them were lost on what that plan was, but it was clear that part of it was a direct attack on the High Council itself. The families were all being targeted, so far no one had been hurt bad enough that they couldn't fix the wounds with a little healing magic, but it had gotten so bad that everyone had been instructed to stay within the old castle for protection. There was one certainty however; whoever it was among them that had turned against the group was working with these rogue witches. They knew too much to just be coincidence and it was that problem that they were focused on. The traitor needed to be found and dealt with before the rogues succeeded in wiping them out completely.
"So-" Mary leaned forward, arms resting on the kitchen table as her eyes focused on her granddaughter as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just learned "- you killed Lucifer and Michael?"
Ana nodded, glancing quickly between her grandparents. They had been sitting in the kitchen while she explained everything that had happened since John had returned, her hands fidgeting under the table while she relived some of her worst memories. "With the help of Connor, Gabriel, and another angel named Sera. I was able to kill them."
"And you died because of the amount of energy you were channeling?" John frowned as he said the words. In the short time he had spent with his family on Earth he had seen how strong Ana was, so he was a little confused that something like that had killed her.
"Considering that I was not only using my own magic, but Connor's, as well as grace from two angels my body just couldn't handle it. Gabriel's grace alone is enough to kill me, but because I was channelling their combined power out of me almost as fast as it was coming it took a while before it burned me up." She tried to explain as best as she could, but even having experienced it first hand, it was hard to put into words.
Mary sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, still a little confused but deciding to move past it. "Okay. So Michael and Lucifer are dead, that's good, but so are you and that's just not going to work. You said Chuck brought you here because your heaven wasn't ready yet?" When she received a nod from her granddaughter she stood up and nodded to herself, ideas rolling through her head about how to return Ana to her living family. "Alright, well we keep it that way. Too many things aren't adding up and that leads me to believe that you're not going to stay here for much longer."
John shook his head with an amused smile, he knew what the determined look on his wife's face meant. "What are you planning?"
"I think it's about time I had a little talk with Chuck." Was the only answer she gave as she headed for their front door, remembering that Ana had said that he had been in their yard when she had come inside. It was time to give God a piece of her mind.
"So what's this lead you have?" Dean asked as he ran a towel through his hair, frowning at the length of it while he studied himself in the small mirror on his bedroom wall. He needed a haircut and something needed to be done about the thick beard that had taken over his jawline.
Gabriel watched him as he leaned against the door frame. "I'll go into detail once Cas gets here with Sam."
Dean sighed at the mention of his brother, who he hadn't seen in a couple of weeks, and his mind trailed back to the dark path he had been focused on during the quick shower he had just finished. Not only had he lost his daughter, but because of how low he'd let himself get he probably had lost his brother too. "Which will be when?"
But before Gabriel could answer Sam's voice echoed down the hall. "Dean?"
The archangel and the hunter shared a look before leaving Dean's room and heading toward the library, which was where Dean assumed his brother was waiting for him. His steps slowed just before the doorway, giving himself a few extra seconds to try to prepare for however Sam was going to react to seeing him. Nothing could have prepared him for the wide smile that almost split his younger brother's face as he finally entered the room.
"Man, it's good to see you up and moving." Sam said as he took a step forward to wrap his brother in a hug. The last time he had been to the bunker the only thing Dean was getting out of bed for was to grab another bottle of whiskey and he was pretty much living in the same pair of sweats and a wrinkled tee shirt.
Dean only hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms tightly around Sam, glad to see that though he may have been trying to self destruct that somehow his brother was still on his side.
With a strong pat to his brother's back Sam was the first to pull a way, taking a moment to raise a skeptical eyebrow at his beard, "You didn't even look this bad coming out of purgatory." he teased, running his knuckles against his own, clean shaven, jaw just to push the jest a little further.
"Hey, at least I know that I need a haircut and I'm not living in denial like you have been for years." Dean threw back with a grin, seeming pleased with his response.
"Not that I don't love the back and forth going on here guys, but can we get back to why we're actually here." Gabe interrupted before the brothers could get carried away. He waited for them to give him their attention before sharing a quick look with Cas, ready to divulge the lead they just recently acquired. "We've located Ana's soul."
Dean and Sam both stood frozen, each of them needing a minute to process what exactly that meant in regards to bringing her back. "That's good right?" Sam wondered why neither angel seemed happy about what they had found.
"It's in heaven." Cas spoke with a sigh, more frustrated with the situation than anything. "Though we don't know specifically where in heaven." He moved around the table that they were all standing next to then pulled out a chair and slumped onto it.
"What Cas is saying is that we're both able to sense her there, but we can't narrow it down, and trust me we've tried. We even went as far as to go into any separate heavens we thought she might be in and came up with nothing." Gabe leaned against the table next to his brother, knowing that he must have looked as dejected as Cas did.
The Winchesters shared a long look, an unspoken understanding that they were ready to do whatever it took to bring Ana back, even if they had to flip heaven upside down to do so. "So what's the next step?" Dean finally spoke up. He was happy to have something to go off of, even if it wasn't the best information, at least they knew that Ana's soul wasn't lost somewhere.
"Since we know for a fact that she wasn't there before, or at least not in a part of it that we have access to, this proves without a doubt that dear old dad is involved." Gabe explained, gritting his teeth. He had been in a frenzy for the months she had been dead trying to find her soul and knowing that his Father was involved had him royally ticked off. "We're not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet, but that does remove all of the other possibilities that we were worried about."
It took only a moment before Dean's mind was switching from being all consumed by grief to what his daughter liked to refer to as 'hunter mode' and he was already trying to piece together possible plans. "Good, so we know where her soul is. If Chuck has her soul then he most likely has her body as well since they both went missing around the same time. Where do we go from here?"
Gabe grinned as he watched the hunters' eyes fill with a little hope. "Well we've got a couple of different ways we can do this." He glanced at Cas, who was currently sitting with his head tilted back and glaring at the ceiling. They had already discussed the options and had thankfully narrowed it down to two. "We can either take a group trip to heaven with Connor and hope that he can work some magic that will help us locate her or we can try to take it up with Chuck directly."
"Neither option will be easy." Cas slowly lowered his head so that he could look at the Winchesters. "Getting the three of you into heaven will no doubt cause some backlash from our siblings and tracking down our Father has been impossible lately." Though his words were clearly the last thing any of them wanted to hear, it was the truth they needed to face very quickly.
"I'll call Connor." Dean decided as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He hoped that the witch would be well enough to work some magic for them, the last time they had since the younger man he was in almost as bad of a shape as Dean had been. Dealing with douchebag angels would probably be easier than trying to find Chuck and maybe if they caused enough of a scene in heaven they would force Chuck's return.
The Winchesters in heaven all stood in the front yard outside of the family house, John and Ana near the steps as they watched Mary have a stare down with God. "So you always planned to send her back?" She questioned, having a hard time believing that since he had yet to do it.
Chuck smiled, "Of course. There are things that still need to be taken care of and that can't be done without Ana." He turned his attention to the witch they were speaking of. "Though your family is very capable, they won't be able to do what's needed to save your daughter's life."
His words had the three all dropping their jaws in shock. Though Ana had included her pregnancy and the loss of her baby in the cliffsnotes version of her life that she had just given her grandparents, it seemed that they were just as lost as she was. "My daughter is alive?" Ana questioned as she stepped away from John, not stopping until she was directly in front of Chuck.
"Of course she is. There's a prophecy about her after all and if you want to keep her from becoming the next big evil the world has to deal with you need to get to her quickly." He offered with an excited look, very proud of the plot twist he created. "I've just been waiting until the time was right and it nearly is."
It was hard to keep her anger from boiling over, Chuck had kept her here for however long with the knowledge of her daughter and hadn't mentioned a word of it. "Where is she?" Her words were clipped as she kept herself from becoming physically violent toward the man in front of her. It probably wasn't the best idea to assault God just as he seemed ready to bring her back from the grave.
"The rogues took her." He turned away from the Winchester women, hands spreading through the air, clearly seeing some sort of picture that the rest of them weren't able to. "Basically the spell they performed during that fight took the baby from you and placed it into one of the women working in their little group, so that they could raise her on dark magic and use her as a tool to get whatever they wanted." Slowly turning back to face them, he continued on, "Tiberius Isauricus from the High Council is the brains behind this specific plan. I believe that they were looking for their mole before you died, he's the one they're looking for. Now, go find your daughter." With that he snapped his fingers and the witch's soul was no longer in heaven. Turning his focus to John and Mary his smile transitioned to something a little more gentle and a lot less crazy. "You won't be seeing anyone else from your family for many years. Hopefully that brings you a little peace of mind." With those last words and a slight shrug of his shoulders God disappeared.
