Going Up
Rowan had sorted out about a few hundreds of souls and there were still more. She had placed at least one in each level of Helheim and she also gave Crowley her approval of the souls he wanted in Hell. They had done horrible things in life and she was glad to get rid of them. Just looking at them she was repulsed, but it was worse because she had seen how they had lived their lives.
Crowley had called them out, gesturing for them to gather at the other channel that had remained empty since the souls had gathered in the waiting room. They all walked up to Crowley, grinning as they stared at Rowan who ignored them, too busy sorting out the thousands waiting to be placed.
"Why are we called up for, man?" one of the men had asked Crowley.
"Why can she service us with her fine ass?" another of the men asked, pointing at Rowan. They all started moaning like they were dying to touch that fine ass.
"This way is quicker." Crowley replied, gesturing to his channel. "And you'll find just what you deserve here." He added with a dark grin, walking towards the escalator. The souls followed and once they descended the escalator, were welcomed by a group of demons that escorted them further into Hell.
The souls had stayed pretty happy with the coffee and pastries, talking to the souls beside them, asking how they died. The question was difficult to avoid when some of them had blood all over with fatal wounds clear to the eye.
There was the odd one that demanded they wouldn't wait any longer, but when they got close to Rowan, her eyes flashed darkly and they was afraid of what they saw in her eyes. They went back to their seat where the others around asked what they had seen; only they couldn't say. They just felt fear.
Crowley had brought out his Hellhounds, just to remind the souls that no bullshit was going to be tolerated. Now that they were dead, they could see these beasts and they were fearful; no way were they going to cause Rowan any problems.
And it was sort of obvious now to the souls that Crowley led the other souls to Hell, because those beasts were so ugly and horrible, no doubt they were Hellish creatures.
So when Rowan waited for them, they hurried up, spoke nicely, and did exactly as she said. It was safe to say they were thankful not to go to the other escalator.
Crowley checked in on Rowan, curious to see how she was doing. She was quickly typing things into the profiles, making decisions and having the souls sorted out. She was confident and relaxed, even creating a system that works best for her; getting information down before the soul came up to her, so it made things run quicker.
"How you feeling, Love?" he asked her and she glanced away from her iPad with a smile.
"Perfect." She replied, her eyes glistening, as having souls in her Helheim made her feel stronger. He gave her a slight smile and watched as she quickly sent souls to the levels, having Gadreel and her Draugar walk pretty damned fast. "I should be able to get on that problem with Metatron pretty soon." She added as another soul was sent to Helheim.
"And you'll come back to sort more souls." Crowley said and she turned to him with a slight frown. It wasn't that he didn't believe she wanted a little vacation with him; it's that he knew there'd be thousands of souls not being sorted in her absence.
"I've been thinking of getting more draugar to help." She said, looking a little disappointed as she knew the responsibility really did fall on her shoulders alone.
"Couldn't you astral project; be with me and your ghostly self sort them out?" Crowley asked with a straight face, despite the dark glimmer in his eyes. Rowan smiled and tilted her head slightly, fighting the urge to stroke his somewhat stubbled cheek.
"They'd certainly be scared beyond death." she said, getting a little grin out of him. "I could try." She added and felt his hand graze hers just before he had to call off one of his Hellhounds that was growling at a soul for trying to sneak over to the portal that opened up every few minutes.
Rowan returned to her iPad, sorting out soul after soul.
When she had the last soul sent to Helheim along with Agmundr, she turned to Bjarni and quickly blurted out the instructions. If she was going to start on her project of disabling Metatron and swindling the souls out of Heaven, she couldn't take too long to leave.
"Someone has to check on the levels once in a while. The rest have to stay up here for the incoming souls. Gadreel and I will be back when we can." She said and reached for his hand, blowing Crowley a kiss before vanishing from the Underworld.
Rowan and Gadreel stood in an empty field under a cloudy sky. She glanced over at him and saw this fiercely strong clench of his jaws, as if he was willing to do something so bold that it might be considered suicidal. He looked away and spoke like he was saying a prayer.
"I pray to all the angels that can hear my voice now. I call upon a meeting you'll want to assist. Come now." he said and Rowan looked down to the ground as she could hear the angels discussing. Most of all, a voice louder than them all spoke atop, telling them it was pointless to try; Heaven now belonged to Metatron and he was the new God.
Rowan looked up at Gadreel who gave her an awkward smile.
"I thought it best not to say my name. That might draw Metatron's attention and we want him to stay where he is." He said and she smiled in agreement.
After a few seconds, angels began appearing and just looking into his eyes, they recognized him. They stared at him in horror and as the crowd grew, they weren't pleased to have been summoned by the angel that had failed Eden.
That disgraceful angel, Gadreel.
"You." One said with disgust and as he took a step forward, Rowan did as well with a fierce look in her eyes. The sky grew dark above with her power, concealing anything that Metatron could possibly see. The angels now stared at her, uncertain of what to make of her.
Another angel stepped forward, and didn't stop until he was closing enough to Gadreel. His eyes were warm and, as Rowan looked at him, she knew it had to be none other than Castiel. He turned to the other angels and it seemed they didn't trust him much either.
"Please, listen. It is important." Castiel said and stood next to Gadreel. Rowan relaxed her fierce expression and placed a comforting hand on Gadreel's arm before she addressed all the angels.
"You want back in Heaven?" she asked them and their eyes remained on her in silence. "We have a way." She added and watched as their expressions revealed confusion and doubt. "We can open Heaven." She concluded and the angels clearly didn't believe her.
"And Metatron?" another angel asked, as he stepped forward.
"How will you defeat him? He's so much stronger." Another said, but the way the others looked at her, she was considered higher up on the rank. Still, it meant nothing to Rowan.
"The Angel tablet gives him strength." Castiel said, making it clear that without it, Metatron would just be another angel.
"And you think taking it from him will work? You are sure of yourselves." She said, looking mostly at Gadreel with a sharpness in her eyes. "Is this your way of redeeming yourself?" she asked and Rowan stepped in front of him in a protective manner that she couldn't resist.
"He doesn't need it from you." She said, that fierce look returning in her eyes, making them glow slightly. The angels seemed unnerved and the high ranking angel replaced her harshness with a disconcerting look. "Do you want Heaven opened?" she asked and the angels reluctantly nodded their heads. Rowan smiled and raised a hand where a scroll appeared. The high ranking angel frowned in response, already knowing where that was going.
"Are you some demon? You expect us to make a deal?" she asked, nearly spitting her words out.
"Do I look like a demon to you?" Rowan asked, letting her aura of power shining through, that ghastly astral projection shimmering, making the angels gasp and back away. Rowan felt so strong and powerful, as if, in a way, she was feeding off the energy in Helheim. "I am Rowan, formerly known as Hel, Goddess of Helheim, Queen of the Underworld." She said and the angels were bewildered, glancing at each other and at Castiel with confusion. But Gadreel? That perplexed them the most. Why was he standing so firmly with this Goddess?
"There is a deal involved and I suggest you agree to it." Gadreel said and the angels stared at him, as if wondering why he was doing this. Rowan wanted to tell them that they forced him to seek refuge in the Underworld; that if they hadn't tortured him, locked him away all those years, that he would have stayed with them. However, Rowan knew these angels didn't see passed the tip of their noses.
"I will open Heaven for you, if you release all the souls to me." she said, and the angels became very upset. The high ranking one stepped forward with defiance.
"Never. They belong in Heaven." She said and Rowan only gave her a sinister smile.
"That's where you're wrong." Rowan replied, taking a step forward, scaring the angel, forcing her back. "Long ago, Helheim was the afterlife for all souls. It will be again and there's nothing you can do about it. You will surrender the souls to me or I can send Metatron my regards." She added, tilting her head to her right, batting her eyelashes, which frightened the angels because it was the skull facing them, her eye glowing brightly.
She extended her hand, letting the scroll unravel.
The high ranking angel looked at it, feeling the stares of all the other angels. What were all those souls to them if they couldn't get in their own home?
She reached out and took the scroll. It simply said that Rowan would open Heaven, defeating Metatron, in exchange for the forfeit of the souls to Helheim. She reached into her pocket for a pen, about to sign the contract, but as Rowan narrowed her eyes, the angel gasped as the pen somehow pricking her finger. Instead of blood dripping onto the paper, it was a luminescence fluid.
Rowan quickly took it and folded it up, placing in beneath the lace of her dress, slipping it beneath her sweetheart neckline; more or less, between her boobs.
"Good doing business with you." She said and she turned to Gadreel, giving Castiel a slight smile. That high ranking angel wasn't pleased that the contract took a bit of her grace rather than her signature, but there was nothing she could do, now that Castiel, Gadreel and this Goddess had vanished.
They stood in the playground, in front of the sandbox. The place was so quiet and deserted that Rowan wasn't quite sure. It wasn't that it felt like a trap, it was just so eerily quiet.
Castiel and Gadreel walking into the sandbox glancing at her as she joined them, as if they too felt just how silent the playground was. Gadreel extended his hand to her where she took it with a warm smile. They were in this together.
The portal opened up and it was an uplifting feeling, and not the religious type. They were pulled up into Heaven and, once there, were standing in an old looking room, sort of like a high school boiler room. Castiel walked to the door and cautiously opened it. The hallway was white, but the lighting was dimmed quite a bit, as if to say this part of Heaven wasn't used often. Castiel poked his head out and turned back to them, nodded that the coast was clear.
They stepped out into the hallway and it only made Rowan think of her father.
Crowley had said that, like demons, once an angel is killed, they simply cease to exist. There's no soul that moves on. Once they die, it's like they never existed. Her father was dead and there was no getting him back.
Her father only existed in her, as she shared his birthrights, as she held onto the few memories of him, and as she held a relationship with her only living brother, Fenrir. If she could get her brother Jormungand back, even if it was risky, why not try?
Crowley had suggested that she talk to Dean about Purgatory and she was going to take him up on that recommendation. She was willing to bet that Dean, of all people, would understand because she knew he'd do anything to save and keep his brother safe.