Gavin dropped the scotch he was sipping on and almost pissed himself when his father, sister, Claire, Alex, Sam, Dean, God, and a redhead woman he'd never seen before appeared in the middle of the war room. He had instinctively reached for his gun, but gave a sigh of relief when he saw it was just the others.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he demanded, putting his gun down.
"What's the word?" Dean asked, frowning at the blinking monitors.
"What's the word? The bloody sun is broken, that's the word!" Gavin exclaimed, turning his laptop towards Dean. It showed various news clips from all around the world of people desperately trying to explain what was happening. "People all over the world are freaking out. And you!" he added, pointing at Claire angrily. "I've been calling and calling! I thought you were dead! Don't you ever do that –"
The entire room was stunned as Claire closed the distance between herself and Gavin, grabbing his jacket and yanking him down to her level. She pressed her lips against his, shutting him up mid-rant, and Gavin relaxed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer as Claire stood on her toes and tilted her head. Alex and Sara exchanged grins, Dean pulled ten bucks out of his wallet and handed it to Sam, Castiel looked taken aback, Rowena had no bloody idea what was going on, Crowley looked annoyed, and God was smiling.
Claire pulled away suddenly, leaving Gavin dazed.
". . . ever again," he finished quietly.
"Life's too short for this flirting bullshit," Claire said, stepping away.
"I – yeah. Yeah, I agree. Completely."
"I feel . . . very uncomfortable," Castiel said, brow furrowing as he frowned. Sam almost chuckled at Castiel's paternal instincts.
"Hell's bell's, what's all this?" Rowena asked Crowley quietly.
"That," Crowley replied, lips pursed. "Is your grandson."
"My what?"
"Her what?" Gavin asked, suddenly jerked out of his blissful daze as he exchanged looks with his father.
"For God's sake, Fergus, how many more are there?!" Rowena exclaimed. She glanced at Chuck. "No offense, dear, Charles."
"No, none taken," he assured her, sitting on the table heavily, looking worse by the second.
"To be fair, you would have met this one, had you stuck around back in the day," Crowley continued, heading for the liquor cabinet.
"I have literally no idea what's going on," Gavin said faintly.
"We're getting drunk," Dean said, heading for the kitchen. "That's what's going on."
Claire, Alex, and Gavin sat on the table of the telescope room, no one saying a word. The silence was practically deafening, but really, what could be said? The world was ending, and no one was trying to do a thing.
Sara entered, setting down a tray of tea and sipping at her cup gingerly, staring off into space.
"What's going on down there?" Alex asked quietly.
Sara sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Well, Dean and Castiel went to get more beer, my father is doing his very best to get drunk, Sam is trying to find a plan B, and my grandmother is flirting with God."
"Why aren't they doing anything?" Claire demanded.
"They're tired. They've given up," Alex said in defeat. "This is it. Even without God's power, there could be hope. But with the Winchesters down and out . . ." she shook her head. "It's all over."
"Don't say such things, Alex," Sara told her, but she couldn't even find the energy to properly scold her. She was worried, too.
"The girls at school always did say the day I got a boyfriend would be the day the world ends," Claire admitted. Gavin tried to give a smile, squeezing her hand, but even he was looking lost in the situation.
"This isn't the first apocalypse the boys have gone through," Claire continued. "They can fix this."
"Not if they don't try," Alex sighed.
Sara couldn't take the sitting around – she never was very good at sitting still. She made her way back downstairs, stopping when she heard Dean and Castiel's voices. She frowned – they'd just left, surely they weren't back already? She crept towards the door, listening to the conversation at hand. After catching the gist of it, she turned and ran back up the stairs.
Gavin, Claire, and Alex glanced at her as she burst through the door, excitement evident on her face.
"They've got something," she exclaimed.
Claire didn't like the looks of the old asylum, mostly because hospitals – no matter what kind – totally gave her the creeps. But now, as she clutched a shotgun loaded up with rocksalt to her chest, she couldn't help but feel a small sense of excitement.
Then again, chasing ghosts was pretty exciting.
"Round 'em up," Dean told her. "Chase them out of the halls into the main room where Sam and I are. Don't let any slip past you and if they attack, blast the hell out of 'em."
"I know the drill," she promised.
Dean nodded. "Right. Sam went to piss the ones downstairs off. You go mess with the ones upstairs."
Claire nodded, making her way up the creaking, graffiti-covered stairs towards the third floor. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, EMF reader whirring in her pocket.
Soul collecting was heavy work, man.
She heard rustling behind her and spun around, stepping out of the way as a woman in a hospital gown screamed in her face, eyes crazed. Claire cocked the gun and pulled the trigger, blowing the ghost into a curl of smoke and ash. Claire turned and pressed her back to the wall as she listened, swinging the gun to her left and shooting into the face of a wheelchair-bound inmate. They dissipated as well, and Claire could feel the air around her crackle with electricity.
"C'mon, ya crazies," she sang as she made her way around the rooms, creeping into corners. No one came at her, no cold spots, nothing. She frowned. "What the hell?" she muttered, returning to the hall.
She stopped, though, feeling eyes on her. Slowly, she turned.
An entire horde of insane, dead mental patients stood in a mass, staring at her. Some were terribly disfigured, some were giggling with delight. There had to be fifty, at least, all staring at Claire.
The wheelchair ghost was in the front. He raised his hand, giving Claire a slow little finger wave and smiling crazily.
"Aw, hell," Claire said as the ghosts started sprinting towards her.
She spun around, sprinting down the stairs, heavy footsteps and angry yells behind her as she ran through the sanatorium.
"Did you find some?" she heard Dean call.
"Something like that!" she yelled back as outreached fingers grazed her hair and the back of her shirt.
She turned the corner, taking long, running strides and sliding into the room baseball-style.
"Claire?" Dean frowned, looking down at her, then up at the mass of angry ghosts. His eyes widened. "Aw, hell!" he started firing off rounds to keep them at bay. Claire scrambled into the corner, shooting her own gun. A moment later Sam entered the fray, bringing more than a few ghosts into the room with him.
Claire screamed when her gun was pushed away with a burst of power and a ghost shoved her onto her stomach, straddling her sides and grabbing her hair. Sam was on the ground nearby, being choked by a ghost. He shouted at Dean.
Dean threw the crystal Rowena had given them into the air, shouting the magic word, and Claire rolled over as the ghost disappeared. All the spirits in the room were sucked into the crystal, and the boys and Claire sat still for a few moments, catching their breath.
"Alright," Claire said brightly, grabbing a windowsill and pulling herself up. She clapped her hands together. "Where to next?"
Sam and Dean looked at each other, exhausted, and remembering when they had that much energy. Damn, they were getting old.
"Excuse the mess, darling, the help has been absolutely horrid these days."
Sara hadn't been expecting this when she'd thought of her father's kingdom. She'd been rather surprised to learn he conducted most of his business here on earth, and in a regular old building to boot. But as she entered the building behind her father, she realized the outside was deceiving, and the inside was much more palace-like.
"I'm not really sure why you asked me to come," she admitted as she followed him through the maze of stone passages.
"Because I have a sneaking suspicious the world might end, and should it do so, I'd prefer to spend my last moments in the company of the only thing I love," he replied, and Sara felt her heart squeeze.
They entered a large, dark throne room, and with a snap of his fingers Crowley lit the torches. A large chandelier also sprouted light as the flames of the candles danced to life.
The room was much more like what Sara had been expecting. Stone walls and flooring, with cabinets, tables, and furniture made of rich antique woods. A large red carpet sprawled across the floor, and on top a pedestal sat a large throne.
Crowley went straight to a wall on the far side of the room, pulling a tapestry aside and revealing a large, intricate looking safe. He waved his hand over it and the door opened. He busied himself going through the contents, and Sara roamed the room, examining her surroundings. Cabinets held various trinkets and antiques. A large metal cart held weapons of all sizes and types. Sara ran her hand over the arm of the throne as she examined a painting of her father on the wall.
"Have a seat," her father said, watching her. He was holding an ancient looking wooden box. Sara glanced at him, then at the throne.
"Go on," he urged her, and Sara did as she was told, nervously. Sitting in a throne may seem like a little thing, but it really did have a fantasy-like feel to it, she considered as she leaned into it. She felt like the Queen, or Dumbledore, or Moriarty when he stole the crown jewels.
Crowley looked amused. "I don't let just anyone sit there," he told her. "But for a princess, I think I can make an exception." He gave a small bow, and Sara rolled her eyes.
"Princess of Hell," she grinned. "Every little girls dream."
"Well, it should be." He sat the box on the table, and Sara stood, joining him.
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's where I keep my most valuable possessions," he replied, opening it. He tsked. "Bullocks. Just as I thought."
"What's wrong?" Sara frowned.
"The key to the souls vault has been taken. No doubt while Lucifer was in power. Oh, well. I'm sure the vault has been emptied by this point, anyway. Demons get rowdy without authority."
Sara glanced at the contents. She caught a look at a few things – an ancient looking hexbag, an even older book written in Enochian, a lock of golden hair Sara was certain belonged to her mother, a printed photo of her father kissing an older, bearded man, and . . .
Sara grimaced. "Oh, Dad, is that a human finger?" she looked away.
He chuckled, closing the box and replacing it in the vault. "I am a demon." He shut and locked the safe.
"What now?" Sara asked hesitantly, wringing her hands.
"Now? We go back to the Bunker, and hope Moose and Squirrel have gathered enough souls for whatever spell it is Rowena intends to cast. Then we wait for the apocalypse, or for a Winchester to get lucky enough to avoid it."
"That's all?"
"Darling, that's all we can do." He looked around, disgusted with the lack of minions scurrying about, avoiding eye contact and doing his biding. "Take a good look, Sara. If anything should happen to me, this is yours."
Sara looked at him, shocked by the statement. "What?"
"Hell. The entire kingdom goes into your control."
Sara blinked. "But – but I'm not . . . I'm not a demon."
"Neither was Lucifer. No, you're not a demon – you're stronger. And strength wins down here." He turned to her, and for the first time Sara realized just how much power meant to her father. She felt a little scared. "I'd rather die than give up all that I've built, my entire kingdom. But should anything happen, you'll be groomed by my loyalists to take over – and I've no doubt you'll do it with ease."
But I don't want it. "Nothing will happen to you," she said instead.
"Let's hope. For now, though, we need to return to the bunker – hopefully Cas will have had more luck in heaven."
"Heaven was a bust."
Alex turned away from her various monitors and controls in the basement to glance at a dejected looking Castiel. She frowned.
"No one would help?" she asked.
"No," Castiel replied. He sighed, sitting down. "Have you heard from the others?"
"Claire is on her way back with Sam and Dean," Alex said, checking her phone. "They cleaned out Waverly Hills. Sara says the souls from Hell are a bust. Will the souls from Waverly be enough?"
"I don't know," Castiel admitted. "I've never done anything like this."
"To be fair, I don't think anyone has done anything like this," Alex shrugged. "What exactly is this?"
"If I understand the plan correctly, though I sometimes don't," the angel began. "Rowena is building a bomb from souls that will engulf Amara in a vast, overwhelming amount of light that will destroy her. Rather or not that stops the sun from dying remains to be seen."
"Okay," Alex said slowly. "But how are we going to get close enough to Amara to set the bomb off?"
Castiel opened his mouth to reply, then stopped, and frowned. His brow furrowed, frown deepening as he considered.
"I . . . hadn't thought of that," he admitted sheepishly.
Alex smiled a bit. "It's good to have you back, Cas."
"It's good to be back," he admitted. "Lucifer was a rather aggressive roommate."
"I'll bet." Alex examined her monitors, watching as various news networks freaked out over the impending doom.
"I understand Kevin has moved on," Castiel said after a moment, and Alex swallowed. She nodded.
"That is a shame," Castiel admitted. "I liked him. He was a good man."
"Yeah," Alex said softly. She fiddled with a pen, glancing at the angel. "Have you ever been in love, Cas?"
He frowned. "That's a . . . strange thing to ask. And difficult. Yes, I suppose I have. I fell in love with humanity. I suppose it's my driving factor in trying to save it now."
Alex swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Why do you ask?"
"I just . . . wanted to know," she said quietly, blinking back tears. "When it stops hurting. To lose what you love."
She looked down in surprise when Cas laid his hand over hers. She looked into his eyes, finding them as sad and suffering as her own heart.
"It doesn't," he said simply.
He stood. "The boys and Claire are back – and Sara and Crowley as well. We should join them."
Alex wiped her eyes, nodding, and followed the angel up the stairs.