Chapter 7

The first thing I noticed was the IV's, and I felt like groaning. At least I was alive, but that wasn't saying much when I knew my Father wasn't going to let the brothers or me leave the infirmary easily. With my eyes still closed, I gave the IV's a test pull only to discover- that yes, my Father wasn't going to make this easy… I was restrained to the bed. Cracking an eye, I took in my surroundings, and I could see both brothers to my right still unconscious. Their powers were slowly healing their injuries, but my grace always gave me an extra boost.
I still couldn't believe how badly the three of us had gotten injured protecting Heaven. Protecting? Suddenly, I couldn't even remember why we did it, but deep down, I remembered that there was a good reason for it. Something that was just out of my reach in my mind, but it was important. Every time I tried to reach for it, the idea slipped past my grasp. What was this importance to Heaven and this idea? I hissed trying to just push the annoyance out of my thoughts, and I heaved myself to a sitting position- as much as the cuffs would allow.

Other than the brothers, who were looking much better than the last time I saw them, we were the only ones in the infirmary- which shouldn't be shocking. We had never used this ward before as demons didn't get hurt only their meatsuits and who cared about that? And at that very thought, I felt a twinge of despair in my chest- apparently, my body cared about those other trapped in their subconscious. It was weird to… care? for something other than my Father, the brothers, and the war. I couldn't help but briefly wonder if the brothers were suddenly feeling as well.

With a mighty tug, I freed myself from both cuffs- seriously, Dad had to try harder if he wanted to keep me put. I moved to jump from my bed only to find myself in an angel cuff that blocked my angelic powers. I couldn't help but think- well played Father.

"Why'd you do it?" a voice chirped.

I glanced towards the infirmary door to see a young red head, and I could immediately tell he was an angel. Castiel stood next to him; the angel looked good which made me wonder how long we had been unconscious. I couldn't help but search for my weapon, but it wasn't in my near sights. I decided to just down play everything and hope a demon walked by.

"Wake up?" I smiled wickedly. "Something some of us have to do sometimes."

"Lucifer's palace has been in chaos since you three fell unconscious," Castiel said, his eyes focused solely on me.

That moment, one of the brothers began to groan signaling they were waking up, but I was a little busy not breaking eye contact with the two celestials that could probably kill us all in our current situation.

"Well we're waking up now," I growled pulling the chain on my foot silently. No point in letting the angels know I was completely defenseless.

The red-headed angel stepped into the room, Castiel not far behind. They ended up at the foot of my bed, and I couldn't help but glare as the new angel touched the leg that had the cuff on it.

"Lucifer knew that you wouldn't stay once you woke up," he sighed cocking his head. "Fortunate for us…"

I felt rage touch my veins, but for once, I was actually smart enough to hold my tongue. I would open my mouth if I felt the angels move towards the brothers. They wouldn't touch Dean or Sam if I had my way.

"I enjoy your timing," I hissed, narrowing my gaze.

"And completely by accident," the angel admitted, his tone staying rather bland. "We sensed your grace flare up when we were leaving and decided to see how Lucifer's generals were doing." The red head's eyes trailed over to Dean and Sam.

"Fine thank-you," I couldn't help but reply. I loved still being sarcastic. "We're still in one piece."

"Only thanks to Gabriel," the angel continued. "At first, I didn't understand why she would order us not take you three."

So I had been right- Gabriel had purposely let us go. I couldn't believe we had been found out, and I berated myself for it. If the angels knew, there was a chance Lucifer knew too… Dean, Sam, and I would be dead- executed- if Lucifer knew of our betrayal.

"We do have charming personalities," a voice groaned from my right. I chanced a glance to see Dean pushing himself upright. I could see the devils trap on the ceiling above the older brother. My Father really did know us well.

"Why'd you do it?" Cas asked, and for a moment, I was thrown by the question.

"We were bored," Dean shrugged deciding there wasn't a point in denying it. He was probably right- what would denying do now? Gabriel obviously knew that we had purposely protected Heaven- collateral damage was now our priority.

"Helping our brethren doesn't seem like a proper pastime," the other angel commented, but before the idiot could go on annoying us, Cas held up his hand and quieted the other.

"You will be killed if Lucifer finds out," Cas said, his eyes focusing on Dean.

The elder Winchester only shrugged, "Who said he'll ever find out?"

"We don't plan on saying a word," I added.

"And if we do?" the other angel threatened.

"If you're trying to convince us to join you," I hissed, "you really suck at it."

"Angels suck at everything," Dean retorted not a second after me. "They are, after all, just glorified pigeons."

"You saved angels!" the younger one cried. His gaze flickered to Dean. "You saved my life from a demon. I want to know why."

"Boredom," I answered wanting to be free of this bind.

"We didn't like Samhain," Dean added; we exchanged a quick glance. We hadn't expected to wake up to this.
Cas seemed to sense our reluctance to have this conversation, and he quietly shut the door to the infirmary with his grace. That somehow didn't make me feel any better. The Winchesters and I had done a lot to the celestials since we took power; I wouldn't blame them for wanting to enact some kind of revenge… I paused again with that thought- why was I having these feelings? I wouldn't blame them? What was going on?!

"You three will be coming with us," the red-head continued moving closer to my bed, and I seized the chance.

I grabbed the angels hair and flipped him onto my bed and straddled the boy. Even with my powers subdued, I could still chant a few Latin words to make his grace flare up, and that would attract demonic attention.

"We have a simple problem with a simple solution," I sighed keeping my hand around the angel's neck. Cas didn't move from where he stood, and I knew he was unsure of his options. "I'll let your angel friend go if you let us go."

"Don't," the angel groaned from underneath me; I couldn't help but smile- on the inside, I was thinking how wrong this was.

"We promise not to kill either of you," Dean added. "We're demons, we have to uphold our deals."

"Let us both walk out of here," Cas bargained.

"No way," Sam hissed pushing himself up. "It's bad enough what we did out there. We can't both let you leave."

"He's right," I said casting a look at Castiel. "One of you have to stay."

"Castiel," the angel said, his voice staying strong and calm. "We'll both stay here."

"The demons find you in here," I started, "your friend here will be tortured and killed."

"Well there went them actually maybe having some humanity," the angel scoffed, and I glared.

"We're doing you a favor," I hissed. "You wouldn't be able to get out of here without demonic assistance. Getting in is one thing, but that's because we let angels get it. We proof our building so you can't get back out."

"Make your choice Cas," Dean said, and I knew he was smiling, but his voice wasn't as strong as it usually was. "We can keep you both, or you can save your friend there."

The next thing I knew, Dean was stepping away from his bed- the devils trap broken. He set his brother free and then myself free. I grinned as my powers came back full force. I stayed on the angel, knowing still empowered didn't mean anything since we just woke up.

"I'll escort you out," Dean said to the angel I was pinning.

"And how do we know he," Sam referred to Cas, "won't try to follow."

"Take a binding mark," I suggested from my position.

"Don't even," the angel started but I covered his mouth with my hand.

"I don't like hearing your chirping."

"It'll force you to follow simple orders, like sit, stay, come, if allowed," Sam shrugged explaining it to Cas.

"I know what it is." Cas was staring at me, and I knew it even if I couldn't see his eyes.

"We can't take him out," I said nodding towards the angel underneath me, "unless you take the mark because we have to be sure you stay here."

"Fine." It was with some reluctance, but it was permission- which was required for such a mark.

Dean dragged the angel up once I was off of him, and as the elder Winchester left the room, I placed my hand on Cas's arm. With a slight burning sensation for us both, I placed the binding mark on him- it could only be removed by me.

"Stay," I ordered once the mark was in place. "Sam, lets go find Father before he shows up here."

Leaving Castiel, Sam and I moved to the throne room. Hopefully, Dean would figure out what we were doing and meet us there once the younger angel was safe from the base. We did keep our promises- that other angel would be let free.

Lucifer's face was priceless when Sam and I walked into the large room. Alastair and Lilith were there gaping at us as well. My Father looked ready to move to my side; instead, he gave me a small nod of acknowledgement and waved us over.

"How'd you get out?" Lilith asked Sam.

"Angel let us out," he joked, and Lucifer's head snapped up.

"We took care of it," I explained. "Just don't be shocked if you see your brother, Castiel, wandering around."

"You're letting your pet free roam?" Lucifer asked, and I could see some hidden fury in there.

"He has a binding mark," I smiled. "He's as harmless as a puppy right now."

My Father didn't seem happy with this answer, but he accepted it and went back to whatever he was explaining before we appeared. It was some human camp; I recognized the area. We had always assumed hunters lived there, but we had been too busy dealing with angels to really care.

"Why are we going after hunters now?" Sam asked for us both.

"We need more humans to die to become demons," Lilith replied. "The attack on Heaven drained our forces."

"No shit," I snapped, trying not to think about that attack.

"Where's Dean?" Alastair asked, looking around.

"Right here," the elder Winchester answered walking up. He looked slightly exhausted, but he quickly straightened his shoulders and looked at the map. "So are we three?" he asked referring to Sam, himself, and myself. "Going to this base for recon?"

"You just woke up," Lucifer countered.

"And I'm already going stir-crazy," Dean shrugged. "Recon isn't that bad."

My Father looked reluctant, but we all knew how denying us three anything would turn out. We'd just go anyway.

"Don't take more than a day," Lucifer ordered, and we gave him a short nod.

As we were leaving, I turned and asked, "How long were we out?"

"A month."

I processed this and kept walking with my cousins. We returned to the infirmary to find Cas still standing exactly where we left him. I waved him to follow us, and now the four of us made our ways to our rooms. At south end of this palace-like building was Dean, Sam, and my rooms. We had rooms there were interconnected but separate all the same. When we weren't working, we were here.

The angel looked rather reluctant to follow us into the common room that we all shared, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. It was a rather plain room- weapons were splayed across the wall- it was less of a common room and more of a training room.

Cas took a seat on the only furniture in the room, and the rest of us went about choosing simple blades and a few guns to take with us on this recon mission.

"Why'd you save Heaven?" the angel asked, breaking the rather comfortable silence.

And for once, I answered truthfully, "I don't know."

"We'll be leaving for a day," Dean continued ignoring the question. "You stay here and out of sight. Demons would just love to fuck with an angel."

"Where are you going?" Castiel questioned.

"Human base," Sam shrugged. It didn't matter what we told this angel. There wasn't anything he could do about it with that binding mark.

"You're attacking a human base?" The angel suddenly sounded worried.

"We just woke up," I retorted. "We don't have the energy for an attack… Just some recon."

We finished grabbing our weapons, and together we moved towards the door. Only a single question halted our movements.

"Do you remember being hunters?"

. . . .

The three of us huddled in a nearby tree. The hunter base had no idea we were sitting so close, and the last thing we intended was for them to find out. We stayed out of sight and took notes.

Since Cas had asked more Dean and Sam that very important question, 'do you remember being hunters?', we hadn't spoke at all… and I knew why.

The brothers knew they were hunters, sort of knew their family history- but they knew it because they had been told… Truthfully, I knew that Sam and Dean didn't remember before- but I did… and I was beginning to understand why I was feeling so bad about it all.

Some of my humanity was seeping through, and with that came memories I had suppressed. Before I had gone darkside, I had done something to the brothers- to protect them from themselves… I had used some of my grace to protect a piece of their humanity- that's why we were feeling again. Cas was amplifying my grace, and pulling that small piece of my grace out of Sam and Dean…

Our humanity was returning...

From the hunter base, we watched a gruff hunter walk about calling out orders, "Get this place in order."

Next to me, I heard Dean whisper, "Bobby."

I realized then it wouldn't be long before Dean and Sam remembered the before times… and I suddenly realized Lucifer's most prized generals might get caught in the middle of the war. The lines might be rearranged…

OOC:wow, I haven't updated this in forever, and I'm sorry for it. I'm going to see if I can get back into it by starting with this then moving to Hidden Wings 2… my muse just disappeared for a bit. Sorry, but as usual R & R.