This chapter will break the one hundred thousand word barrier for this story. To celebrate I'll be adding another, slightly shorter chapter today or tomorrow also. It'll only be about three thousand words but I figured I ought to do something since my long absence meant I missed I missed my hundred thousandth chapter view from you guys.
Thank you for all the encouragement and support. I hope you guys are enjoying this story. I'm having a fantastic time writing it. It's been brilliant.
Harry turned the page of his newspaper, contentedly sipping the butterbeer in front of him and ignoring the bustle in the shop. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was always busy around this time of day, but Harry always stopped by to see George and Ginny anyway. At the moment he was packed away off to the side on an old chair trying not to get in the way, but he enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. He believed it was nigh on impossible to not enjoy one's self here.
He glanced up as his wife brushed past to grab a box of puking pastels. She offered him a smile before scurrying on her way. Harry took another bite of his sandwich, wishing the Aurors had allowed him to pick a different time for lunch so he could enjoy the small break with her.
He folded the paper neatly in front of him and instead watched children and the occasional harried looking parent hustle past. It was all so lively…so very wrong, Harry' mind supplied, though his conscious mind couldn't seem to fathom why.
Something was definitely off though. Was that the third or fourth time he'd seen the kid with the horrible orange scarf run past with his hands laden with brightly colored boxes? And now that he thought on it, didn't that kid resemble a younger Ron in some ways? Almost like Harry had warped the kid in his mind to suit some image of childhood innocence.
The room seemed much dimmer now and the people all seemed to slowly come to a standstill in the room; not one moved. No one spoke. Some had even frozen mid-step. Harry was more than a little alarmed. His eyes darted from one figure to the next willing them to move but afraid to speak for some reason he hadn't quite figured out.
Harry shoved himself up, half eaten sandwich forgotten as it dropped from his hand onto the floor. None of the immobile people seemed to notice. They simply held their places. Their unnatural stillness made it seem as if he were in a room full of mannequins.
Harry turned and found himself face to face with George. A wide grin split the man's face in a disturbing mockery of his normal, good natured smile. There was a malicious spark in George's too bright eyes, but he wasn't moving either. He was simply staring at Harry and grinning. And now that Harry looked the same grin was etched onto the faces of every one of the still people. A sudden hand on his shoulder made him jolt and he nearly punched a concerned Ginny in the mouth.
"Harry?" she asked kneeling. "What's wrong? You look terrified."
His eyes darted around the room, but just as soon as the people had stopped moving they started again. They moved about the room as if the little episode had never happened. Harry opened his mouth to speak but Ginny cut him off.
"I was thinking we could take the kids to a muggle theater tomorrow. You said you had a day off yeah?" she asked glancing his way as she shelved whatever she'd been carrying before she checked on him. The dialogue was familiar as if he'd heard it before, ran it through his mind over and over.
He swallowed thickly but he nodded an affirmative. "Gin…did you…" he glanced around confused.
"What?" she asked turning back to him. He felt his eyes widen at blood on her face. She seemed completed unperturbed by it, but it ran in little rivulets down her forehead and Harry knew she must be hurt very badly to be bleeding like that.
"Ginny!" he said rushing to her side in a panic and as he approached she seemed to lose her footing as she stumbled into his arms and he lowered her to the floor in concern. She was watching him now with pain, and fear, and love in her eyes and he felt his heart breaking all over again because he knew she was already dead even if he wasn't sure how he knew that, but here she was dying again and he didn't even know why.
Tears streamed down Ginny's face and she opened and closed her mouth a few times desperately.
"Ginny!" he said pushing her hair back and urgently trying to recall even a single healing spell. "No, no, no, no, no! Ginny!"
She grasped the hand he had laying near her heart and held it as tightly as she could. Her mouth still worked trying to produce words, but all she was managing was this odd gurgling sound that only frightened him more. He watched her lips as they formed the words 'I'm sorry' over and over until, with a shudder, she stilled in his arms. He let out a cry clutching her tighter to him as memories flooded through his mind.
Going to work. Having lunch in the shop. Placing bets on a Quidditch match with Ron. Flooing Ginny and being asked to pick up groceries. Taking an extra five minutes trying to decide whether or not to buy that toy Rose had been asking Hermione and Ron for all week. Leaving the shop. The chaos in the streets. Apparating home. Finding nothing but blood and destruction.
He wailed clutching Ginny tighter still as he lifted his eyes to the immobile bodies of his children. They were sprawled on the floor in roughly the same area as if they'd been huddling for protection. He could feel something inside of him splintering from the grief and pain. He gathered his children into his arms as well, unwilling to let them lay there as if their deaths meant nothing to him.
He knew. This was the Tuesday it all ended. The worst day of his life. The day he lost everything. He could feel his energy gathering just like it had that day, focusing outwards with the intent to destroy.
The images were old and familiar and so dreadfully real. His heart clenched painfully.
A sharp sensation on his face made him blink. If he didn't know better he'd say he'd just been slapped by someone. Some of the power slipped harmlessly away.
A hand grabbed his wrist bringing his attention back to Ginny as she got up jerkily from his lap. "It's your fault." She said with accusing eyes.
He didn't have the heart to argue.
"They're dead because of you!" she screamed letting out a sob.
She was right. He knew she was right. If only he hadn't taken the extra time at the grocery store. If only he'd come straight home instead of flooing Ginny. Maybe he would have been there to protect them. How could he leave them unprotected, defenseless?
"You have to make it right, now!" she declared.
Was it just him or did she sound less upset and more scheming now?
"You have to make it right."
He nodded. Another sharp pain across his cheek. The room seemed to flicker. How odd. He could have sworn he'd just seen a room completely different from this one.
"Do you know how to make it right Harry?"
Harry shook his head not willing to keep his eyes on Ginny. He stared at his kids unmoving when they had previously been so full of life. He'd wanted to watch them grow. He wanted to hear about their adventures and be there when they needed a father and give them everything they could ever want in life; all the things he'd never had as a child. Now they were gone.
"I'll tell you how to make it right Harry." Ginny cooed. "I can always tell you how to make it right."
"-out of it!" another voice seemed to echo in the room.
"You just have to listen Harry and everything will be okay." Ginny slowly moved their daughter from Harry's hands. "You just have to listen to me and their deaths can be repented."
Harry felt something flare in him. How could she say that? There was nothing he could do. They were gone and it was his fault. How could something like that be forgiven? Something was so utterly wrong with this. He slapped away her hands and glared even as the tears kept coming. "No!" he yelled and the vase at the far end of the room exploded.
She looked at him with sympathetic eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but Harry cut her off.
"You're not her." He whispered almost in reassurance to himself.
"What?"
"You're not her!" he said staring at her fixedly. As soon as he said the words with determination key memories flooded back into his mind. The warehouse. The syringe and the liquid. Going back in time. Micheal. "Lucifer."
Ginny's understanding and sympathetic look folded into one of cruel condescension and minute surprise. "This would all be so much easier if you'd just give in."
"Never."
"Need I remind you…you nearly did just now?"
Harry glared viciously.
"Oh well, I tried the easy way. Let's take the road less traveled." Ginny vanished and Harry immediately felt as if two hands were gripping his brain and squeezing.
He cried out in surprise but immediately struck out. He could feel Lucifer's energy shift as if it had been thrown. He blinked and he was most certainly in a different room. This looked like a cheap motel and a blonde woman was knelt in front of him. Anna.
"Are you there?" she asked trying to meet his eyes. "Come on. Say something." She was obviously worried.
Harry was focused on Lucifer's energy which he could feel ramping up for another attack. Apparently he couldn't force it from him like he'd hoped to do with his last attack. A brilliant thought struck him. If he couldn't throw Lucifer out, maybe he could trap him. He waited for the energy to try to attack again before he forced his own magic to envelope it making a little prison that was inescapable for the moment.
He almost wanted to sigh with relief being back to the real world again. He wanted the nightmares of his past to remain just that.
Anna raised a hand again but Harry caught her wrist. "Don't slap me again." He said frowning at the hand. "It's really irritating."
She narrowed her eyes. "Harry?"
He nodded making to stand.
"And Lucifer?"
"Trapped in here." Harry said tapping his head as he made it to his feet. He spotted a slumbering angel on the bed. Apparently the trip had been even harder on Castiel than it had been on Anna. "I was always terrible at occlumency when I was young but having as long as I've had to work on it gives anyone an advantage."
"Trapped?" she said eying him. "For good?"
Harry shook his head.
"Then how do we get rid of him?"
"I have a few ideas. Why did you take me here?"
"I didn't realize Castiel was asleep. I thought he might be able to help if Michael came looking for us."
Harry nodded. It would have been a sound plan if she hadn't just been trying to kill the Winchesters. He doubted Castiel would have anything pleasant to say about that when he finished his power nap. "So, still planning to kill the Winchesters?"
She gave him a long, hard look before heaving a sigh. "No." she said averting her eyes. "Even if I was it's pretty clear I won't be able to. Even their parents have guard dogs."
"Good." He said sitting on the bed somewhat amused by Anna's labeling of Michael as a guard dog.
"How do I know it's really you?"
"Decent question." Harry shrugged. "I'm not particularly sure how you could ever be sure. Perhaps I'm not even sure myself."
She nodded hesitantly thrown off by his odd phrasing. She wasn't entirely sure how someone could check either. She could ask about his opinion on Sam saying yes to Lucifer, but Harry could easily lie about it. She supposed it came down to how committed he was on removing Lucifer's presence. If he showed hesitance he probably wasn't in his right mind. "So what now?"
"We get rid of Lucifer."
"How?"
"I have ideas, most of them require returning to the present first." He said with a frown. "Did anyone grab Miss Harvelle?"
She shook her head. She doubted Michael would send the girl back to her own time out of the goodness of his heart either.
"Could you pop back and grab her then?" Harry said rubbing his temples. "I imagine trapping their friend in the past will hardly win the Winchesters over."
"Michael…"
"Is gone…" Harry said tilting his head just the slightest bit. "Can't you tell?"
She shook her head. "I haven't been able to sense my brothers or sisters for a while now." She sounded forlorn.
Harry nodded. He had suspected as much. It was what had stopped her from realizing Castiel was asleep. "How did you find Castiel?" Even he had barely felt Castiel's presence since returning and there was no way she could have found him that way if she couldn't even tell if Michael, one of the most powerful angels, was on Earth or not.
"I skimmed it from one of the Winchesters earlier, the name of the hotel and the room number." She said frowning before she popped out of his sight. A moment later there was the familiar rush of wings and Jo was slumped in Anna's arms.
"Two unconscious people, a drained angel, and a basket case." Harry said glancing at the living occupants of the room. "We're shaping up to be a fantastic team."
"The Winchesters were gone." Anna said depositing the slight girl on the bed next to Castiel. "Even Mary and John."
"Yes, I figure Michael had a pep talk with Dean and then sent all of them back home." Harry eyes travelled to Jo and he noticed Anna had neglected to grab his bag with the water bottles.
"Do you want to queue me in on your plan to get Lucifer out of your head for good?"
Harry shot her a sidelong glance. "I'm still working on it."
"Great." She muttered. "Sounds reliable."
The room seemed to flicker before Harry's eyes. He knew Lucifer was fighting to regain control. He kept seeing Ginny flickering in and out of existence near where Anna was standing.
"Don't you remember our vows Harry?" Ginny's voice whispered sweetly to him. "As long as we both shall live."
Harry suppressed the presence again, forcing his mind firmly into reality. "Let's get back to the right time period before something else decides to happen." Harry said forcing himself from the floor.
Anna nodded lifting Jo.
Harry's eyes shifted to Castiel sleeping on the bed and Anna's complete disregard for the other angel. He rolled his eyes gesturing for her to hand him Jo. "Grab Castiel." He said shifting Jo to one arm.
Anna showed distaste for the action but didn't ignore the command.
"I should have enough power to get us all back." Harry said sounding utterly exhausted to her. "Hold on tight and don't let go. I don't want you flung off to who knows where. I doubt you'd have the energy to get back on your own and I don't feel like looking for you."
Anna locked her free arm around Harry and tried not to smile at his words. The man played coy, but she knew he cared.
Time travel was vastly different with Harry than it had been for Anna on her own. For one she didn't feel like she was being wrung of heavenly energy, which was nice. Perhaps more importantly the process wasn't instant. She watched as the world seemed to spin around them. Colors and shapes blurred past with no pattern or reason. It was quite disorienting. She barely managed to keep her hold on Castiel.
When they were back on solid ground Anna felt the need to blink a few times to reacquaint herself with the contrast of the average sight of Bobby's salvage yard after the odd transportation visuals.
She saw Harry falter under Jo's weight and quickly made to help him with the girl.
Bobby's front door slammed open and the whole gang was there; every one of them holding some sort of gun. Harry found Bobby somewhat comical holding a shotgun while in a wheelchair.
"The welcoming committee is here." Anna muttered to Harry.
"Brilliant." Harry replied with a strange lopsided grin even though his tone was scathing. Anna spared him a glance noting that he wasn't acting quite himself.
Ellen marched forward her own shotgun swinging dangerously. She stopped a few feet from them and leveled the damned thing, not at Anna, but at Harry. "Tell me why I shouldn't load you full of buckshot right now." She said angrily.
"Can we all stop trying to kill each other?" Harry said tiredly. "We're supposed to be a team for fuck's sa…"He trailed off, mind suddenly in overdrive as he thought.
"Harry?" Anna asked sounding worried. She lowered Jo toward her mother so she could turn to him.
Harry held up a finger. "Thinking." He said eyes darting about the place.
"Cas?" Dean asked having joined Ellen in front of them. His gun wasn't aimed at either of them, but he still had it at the ready in case someone made a wrong move.
"He's still sleeping." Anna said nudging the angel off of her shoulder. "We found him like that."
"Brilliant!" Harry said, actually sounding genuinely enthused this time.
"What's brilliant?" Sam asked having followed his brother though he seemed keen not to have to stand next the angel which had not so long ago killed him in cold blood.
Harry turned smug eyes on the brothers. "I've figured out how to remove the drug." He said with a half smirk. "…supposedly. Can I get a glass of water? I'm absolutely parched."
Bobby chucked a flask at him irately.
Harry's nose wrinkled as he barely caught it. "Holy water again?" he said unscrewing the cap and taking a large drink despite his obvious distaste. "That's just as foul as I remember."
Bobby shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers."
Harry glared. "I'm not a beggar."
"So what's our cure all here?" Dean cut in sensing a colossal bitch fit coming. He'd spent enough time with Sam to have developed a sort of sixth sense for them. Then again, they happened so often with Sam that he was perpetually prepared for them.
"Death." Harry said frowning.
"Death? Like the horseman Death?"
"No, I mean you need to kill me." Harry said grimacing at the mere thought. "Temporarily at least. That's how I removed the foreign presence last time."
"Last time?" Dean mocked. "Does it happen often?"
Harry fixed an unsettling gaze on the man and let it linger a moment too long. "Only one other time."
"Was that Lucifer too?" Sam asked watching the sort of off way Harry was staring around. It was almost as if he wasn't all there.
"No." Harry said simply not really focusing on the Winchesters.
"Who was it? God?" Dean said the name mockingly, but he thought the reasoning sound enough. If the Devil was the only one who could plausibly do it now then perhaps God was the one who'd done it in the past. After all, as far as Dean knew the only people who credibly might have more power than Lucifer were God and Harry.
"No." Harry answered again simply and they were sure that was the only answer they were going to get, but Harry continued after a long pause. "He was my parent's murderer."
Shocked silence rang through the air, but Harry didn't seem to realize anything was off about what he'd just said. He didn't seem to show any sort of emotion about the words either. Sam wasn't sure if he should be saying something sympathetic or not.
Dean visibly shivered. "God, it's weird to think you had parents. I swear it would be more appropriate for you to have hatched or something."
Sam scowled at his brother who simply shrugged in response. Anna shifted uncomfortably from beside Harry.
Harry set his gaze on the elder Winchester for a few moments but didn't say anything, and Sam started to think he was insulted by what Dean had just said.
"Your parents were murdered?" Sam asked thinking of nothing else to say to break the silence.
"Yes." Harry said and his voice was still devoid of emotion. "Actually…" Harry turned his eyes to Sam and watched him curiously. "My mother died in my nursery when I was an infant and the house burnt down afterward. Life is curious sometimes, no?"
Sam looked absolutely horrified at the casual jab at his mother's death, but Dean had bristled at what Harry had said and looked ready to throw a punch. Bobby looked utterly pissed as well. Anna released Castiel and moved in such a way that it was obvious to those in front of her that they wouldn't do well to try anything.
"It's odd that I'm mentioning that." Harry paused a moment head tilting just a bit. "The rune must be affecting my reasoning skills. I don't usually share my past."
The tension drained from Dean's shoulders. Punching Harry right now would be like hitting a mentally impaired child for spilling milk.
Ellen shook her head in exasperation. "So what do we need to do?" she asked shifting her daughter who was stirring lightly. "I take it we can't just shoot you right here and now? There needs to be some sort of ritual or something?"
Harry frowned at her. "I suppose…yes." He said moving past them without further warning.
They were left there reeling in his absence. After a second all eyes turned to Anna.
"You're not still trying to kill us are you?" Dean asked warily.
Anna turned her gaze on the man and gave him a sympathetic look. "No, Dean. I'm not."
"Or our parents?" Sam butted in eying Anna distrustfully.
She shook her head.
"Well, you'll have to understand if we don't just take your word for it." Bobby said snidely wheeling himself toward the house. Sam helped Ellen with Jo and they retreated as well.
Dean knelt next to Castiel and lifted the unconscious angel staggering under the weight. "Fuck, he's heavy." Dean gritted out.
"I could take him." Anna offered. "Even weakened I'm stronger than a human."
Dean sent her an annoyed glance. "Thanks for the offer but I'm fine princess. What made you change your mind anyway?"
Anna blinked at the sudden change of topic. Then she heaved a great sigh fixing him with a pointed stare. "Harry has a way of explaining things that makes you feel like an idiot for not understanding sooner."
Dean snorted.
"He explained why my plan would never work in a way even I couldn't disagree with."
Dean shot a glance at her. He looked ready to say something when Castiel twitched and nearly fell out of Dean's arms in result. Dean lowered Cas' feet to the ground. "Cas, you with us?"
Castiel's eyes slowly opened glancing about. He nearly pushed Dean behind him when he spotted Anna next to them watching curiously. He probably would have succeeded too if he weren't so weak.
"Whoa Cas, chill." Dean said placating. "It's alright."
Castiel's normal state of confusion reared again at that proclamation. "Where's Sam?"
"Inside with Bobby and the others." Dean answered.
Castiel only then seemed to realize where they were. "How did were return to the present?"
"A lot has happened since you blacked out Castiel." Anna said with a small frown.
"Harry dragged you guys back here from the look of it." Dean said glancing back at Anna to see if he was right. She nodded.
"Why aren't you trying to kill him?" Castiel asked, fixing Anna with a disbelieving stare.
"Would you prefer I was?" she asked offhandedly.
"No one touches the Winchesters." Castiel growled back, again trying to put himself between Anna and Dean.
"Calm down." Ann said moving toward the front door. "I do not seek their destruction any longer."
Castiel watched her go in confusion before nearly toppling over once the perceived threat was gone. Dean barely kept him upright. "What has happened?" Castiel asked eyes searching Dean's imploringly.
"A lot." Dean said shaking his head. "I can catch you up later. Right now I'd like to know what they're doing inside."
Castiel nodded allowing himself to be shepherded toward the door.
The door opened to a scene of confusion. It was obvious Harry had sequestered the study for whatever he was doing. More mirrors than Dean was even aware Bobby owned were scattered about the room in supposedly strategic positions. All Dean could see was disarray. In the center of the room a small pile of chalk and a bowl of…something lay. Harry was busy drawing sigils or runes of some sort with the chalk onto the floor. They looked particularly complex. "We'll need the colt." Harry said distractedly, not looking up.
"The colt." Sam said with confusion. "What are we going to do with that?"
Harry stopped and turned toward Sam and a bit of that familiar condescension had sparked in his eyes. "You're going to shoot me with it…what else?"
"You want us to shoot you with a gun that permanently kills everything?" Sam asked disbelievingly.
"Had I not made that part clear?" It sounded like something Harry would normally say but there was not bite this time. His whole demeanor was just…off.
"Right…I'll just get that then…" Dean said helping Cas to a chair before turning to retrieve the gun.
"What are all the symbols for?" Bobby asked, having shooed Ellen off to care for her daughter.
Harry finished up his last one and turned to Bobby dusting off his hands. "Just making sure whatever is in my head is good and dealt with when this is all over."
Bobby didn't recognize a single one of the odd symbols.
"Got it." Dean said returning to the room and eying Harry a bit uncomfortably.
"Right." Harry said drawing a circle on the floor around himself. "This is going to be unpleasant." He signaled Dean who pulled out the colt hesitantly.
"You're sure it won't kill you permanently?" Sam asked eying the gun in Dean's hands.
"Positive." Harry replied with a smile which Dean found disturbing. "It should kill whatever is inside me though. It may be part Lucifer, but it isn't actually him so it doesn't have the strength to withstand the colt."
"Is your personality going to reset?" Dean asked with a frown. "Because goody two shoes Harry is starting to freak me out a little bit."
Harry's head tilted a bit to the side and Dean had to suppress a shiver. "It's odd you should say that."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked curiously.
"This is a lot closer to my original personality than how I normally act. Even if a bit…duller."
"Is duller even a word?" Sam said instantly and cringing when he realized he'd just given his brother more nerd ammo. Still, he'd never really heard Harry say things that weren't 'proper English'.
Harry shrugged, uncaring.
"Your 'original' personality?" Dean asked skeptically.
Harry turned his unnerving green eyes on the older brother. "You tend to become a bit more cynical when you've lived through the millennia several times over. The sarcasm was always there, it just intensified with practice." He said eying the brothers who happened to be closest to him. "And I believe whatever Michael did to the rune may have cause acute brain damage. Rather unfortunate really. I'm not really sure how much of it will be fixed. We'll have to see."
"I'm not sure I feel that great firing a gun at someone with brain damage." Dean said with a frown.
Harry shrugged. "Then give it to someone else."
"That's not what I meant." Dean said scowling.
"Now's not really the time to develop a high moral standard Winchester." Anna reminded although it would be apt to say she seemed the most worried of all of them.
"I'm not entirely sure what to expect." Harry said, eyes focusing on the gun. "So, for your own safety don't enter the outer circle until you have my go ahead…or if I haven't moved for several days. I imagine I might start to stink the place up a bit if I somehow die permanently."
"Yeah…that's definitely not helping me feel better about this." Dean said with a frown.
"Just shoot." Harry said with a sigh, closing his eyes and looking a little too relaxed for Dean's taste.
Dean hesitated sharing an unsure look with Sam.
Dean saw Harry wince without any discernible reason. His hands raised to his head gripping his temples. His eyes shot open and he locked gazes with Dean. There seemed to be some sort of inner battle going on. "Shoot now!" he yelled sounding borderline desperate.
When Dean hesitated the gun was snatched from him by Anna. She pulled the trigger and they all watched as the bullet hit the dead center of Harry's forehead. He pitched backward and remained completely immobile save a few sparks near the bullet hole.
Dean yanked the gun out of Anna's hand only to notice the angel's hands were shaking noticeably. She didn't meet anyone's eyes. "I will return." She said before vanishing in a rush of wings.
"I feel like I just watched a snuff film." Dean said staring at Harry. Sam nodded in agreement.
"How long do you think it'll be before I can use my study again?" Bobby said gruffly staring at the mirrors scattered about the place with distaste.
Dean shrugged. It would be a waiting game now.
Anna popped into the house where she'd last seen Jesse and sat down roughly on the couch. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting Harry to come up with to get rid of Lucifer's control but it certainly wasn't this. She placed her shaking hands in her lap and stared at the floor. She'd killed many people before on orders. She had no idea why it felt different this time.
"Heya Sis."
Anna nearly jumped out of her own skin at the unexpected voice. Her eyes shot to Gabriel who was leaning casually against the door frame watching her with his usual amused expression. Life always had been a giant game to him. "Gabriel? What are you doing here?" she said watching him warily. "I haven't seen you since-"
"I bolted from heaven all those years ago?" Gabriel said pushing himself from the frame with a smirk.
"You're not…back with them are you?" she wasn't sure if she could get away if he decided to capture her.
He shook his head. "Back with those stiffs? Nah. They're boring. Always have been." He said pulling out a candy bar. "I heard from my buddy Harry that you went AWOL and started trying to off the Winchesters. Kudos to you I suppose. Those chuckleheads needed a good beat down. They're way too full of themselves."
Anna suppressed a smile. "So you joined Harry too?"
Gabriel shrugged. "The guy's a damned good businessman. He could talk you into anything if you gave him long enough."
Anna doubted it took very much talking to get Gabriel on Harry's team. He had, after all, been in a very precarious position, much like Anna herself.
"Where is he anyway? If you're back here I assume Harry got everything straightened out."
"At the Singer Salvage Yard dead…for the moment." She threw in the last bit when she saw the way his eyes narrowed.
"Any particular reason he's dead? Last I checked he was fine…well…mostly anyway." Gabriel said with a smirk. "He was in better shape than the world anyway."
"You know about the drug Lucifer gave him?"
Gabriel nodded.
"He thought dying would remove its effects." She said rubbing her face. She'd lost a lot of her heavenly energy making that trip to the past. She felt almost human now perhaps that was why her hands were shaking so badly.
"Are all the angels in your unit odd?" Gabriel said eying her.
"What do you mean?" she asked caught off guard not only by the question, but the nonchalant way he asked it.
"Well every angel I've met from your unit has had something odd about them. You and Castiel rebelled, for different reasons true, but still…then there was Uriel. I met him once. Oh, he didn't like me too much once he figured out who I was. Still, last I heard he was trying to form some sort of team to overthrow Michael. I'm not sure how I feel about that really." Gabriel rambled not seeming to notice Anna's reactions to any of it. He was talking to amuse himself, as usual, so he didn't much care.
"Where's Jesse?" Anna finally cut in tired of listening to Gabriel's meaningless words. "Is he safe?"
"Yup." Gabriel said with a wide grin. "Can't say I enjoyed staying here with him though. The kid's creepy. He never talks he just sort of sits there and watches you." The angel shuddered in remembrance.
"Maybe he just doesn't like you?" she offered with a small smile.
Gabriel had never looked more insulted. "Who wouldn't like me? I'm awesome!"
Anna snickered at the indignation in his tone. She had to admit that Gabriel was unlike any of her other brothers. He hardly acted like an angel at all. She'd never really had the chance to meet him before now. He had abandoned Heaven ages ago, not long after her creation and long before she ever attained a decent rank. Even if he had stayed she would rarely have seen him herself because he was an archangel and she was a foot soldier. The hierarchy of heaven was a rigid one.
He was not what she had expected from one of the great leaders. She had once met Michael long ago and held a short conversation with him about her position in the heavenly army. It had been the only time she'd really held a conversation with him and she'd immediately disliked him. Knowing he was her leader only drove home her decision to remove her grace even harder.
"I think I'm going to return." She said standing. Her hands were steady again. Somehow, probably unintentionally, Gabriel had steeled her nerve.
Gabriel huffed. "Well, tell Harry to hurry up. I don't want to be stuck babysitting forever. It's not exactly my idea of a dream job."
"I'm sure he won't mind hurrying back once he's alive again." She said with a laugh, mood considerably lifted. After all, if people like Harry and Gabriel had chosen the side of the humans she couldn't really be wrong in doing the same could she?
XXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxx
At least one person remained in the room at all times. Everyone was somewhat anxious to see Harry up and moving again. If the colt had somehow killed the man they would have lost a valuable ally in fighting the apocalypse. Several hours passed with no result, but remembering Harry's rather vague warning no one stepped through the outer circle.
When the ten hour mark passed a strange sigil very near to Harry lit up like a beacon startling Sam who'd taken watch at that point. He eyed it nervously, unsure what the sigil meant and whether its lighting had been a good or bad thing. He supposed some good came of it, as the light had startled him from drifting off. He'd been pretty close to succumbing to sleep beforehand.
He wasn't sure if he should tell someone about the light or not. He glanced at the clock; half past two. Unless something more serious happened he supposed it could wait.
The way the light reflected off of the mirrors was odd. It seemed sort of wavy like something was distorting the reflection. He shrugged. It wasn't particularly important.
His interest was dying down again by the time anything happened. His head was starting to lull to the side when his eyes caught sight of something. He blinked himself awake again watching as something seemed to almost slide from Harry's head, near the wound. Sam leaned forward careful not to cross the chalk line, and it was a good thing he hadn't. Not a second after he'd leaned as far forward as he could to stare at the strange phenomenon it darted towards him, lightning fast. It smacked some sort of invisible barrier right in front of Sam's face and he recoiled violently with a shout of surprise toppling the chair backwards and rolling across the floor before he came to sprawled stop on the far wall.
Almost instantly Sam could hear pounding footsteps from one of the bedrooms hustling his way. Sam's eyes were locked on the thing that tried to attack him as it bounced around the circle faster and faster seemingly panicking when it could find no exit.
"Sam, what's-!"
Sam flung out and arm stopping Dean from crossing the circle where his foot had almost done such.
Before their eyes the thing bounced a few more times, slowing in its attempted escape. It smacked the invisible barrier one last time right in front of Sam before letting out a strange low pitched squeak and shriveling. In a matter of seconds it started turning to dust.
"What the actual fuck was that thing?" Dean asked, eyes wide.
"No idea." Sam said staring at the dust warily. "It came out of Harry, but I don't know what it was."
Dean's eyes snapped to the unconscious, possibly still dead, man on the floor. His eyes caught the shining sigil curiously but he didn't say anything. He probably wanted to ask Sam what it was but it wasn't like Sam had any answers this time. He and Bobby had dug through quite a few volumes on ancient runes and they still hadn't uncovered what any of the symbols meant. Castiel had passed out again soon after everything happened so he was virtually as useless as the books were on this matter.
A rush of air behind them drew their attention to the returning Anna. She looked much more composed than when she flown the coop earlier. A tan messenger bag was slung over one shoulder and Dean spotted a scotch bottle peeking from the top. She raised an eyebrow at their startled expressions. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Then she frowned as if considering her own words. "On second thought, knowing your records with the supernatural, you might have. Were there any ghosts?"
"Nope. No ghosts." Dean said turning his gaze back to Harry. "Just weird bouncing black masses coming out of corpses."
Anna looked unsure about how to respond to that. Sam supposed he couldn't blame her for being unsure.
"I think his fingers just twitched." Dean announced watching Harry's left hand intensely as if he could make it happen again if he stared hard enough.
"Maybe he's waking up?" Sam asked hopefully. There was an awkward tension in the room right now with only Sam, Dean, and Anna present; with her recent murder attempt and all.
Anna flipped the light switch she was standing next to and the room became much brighter. Sam had, had only one of the lamps on before trying not to use too much energy at night. Under the now harsh glare Harry's subtle movements were much more obvious. Every once in awhile a finger or foot would twitch.
"Should we wake everyone?" Sam asked watching the movement curiously.
"Why would you do that?" Anna asked not taking her eyes from Harry.
Sam opened his mouth to supply an answer but couldn't really find one. The sleeping habitants would wake up eventually there was no need to deprive them of sleep when they had no idea how much longer Harry would just be laying on the ground twitching. For all Sam knew Harry might have been twitching since he took watch from Bobby. And Dean, Anna, and himself should be more than enough to tackle any potential problems even if the angel still looked drained.
Sam retook his seat with a sigh. Dean dragged a chair up next to him obviously too awake now to try to go back to bed. Anna sat herself in a chair on the opposite side of the room where she could see Harry's face. Sam was grateful for the company of his brother. Being alone in the room with Anna probably would have been too much for his already stretched politeness.
Harry groaned and one of his hands balled into a fist. Sam and Dean shared a look before turning back to the man on the floor.
Anna stood to move to Harry's side. As her foot made to pass over the outer circle it hit resistance and the rest of her body, unable to stop in time hit the invisible wall as well. Dean tried not to snicker at the angel's stunned expression. He was helped in his endeavor when Harry slowly rolled onto his side and pushed himself up into a sitting position.
He seemed to be doing a full physical check, cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders among other things. When he was obviously satisfied that at least his body was in working order he glanced about the room spotting the other three.
"How do you feel?" Sam asked eying Harry with open wariness. He hoped beyond hope that the colt had worked on killing the small bit of Lucifer that had been clinging to Harry's mind.
"Brilliant." Harry said sounding genuine about the assessment and cracking his neck. "Could do with some firewhiskey…no wait…this one doesn't have it. Who are you again?"
The Winchesters shared a worried look.
Harry didn't seem to care still testing himself out. "Don't mind me if I say something odd. My head hasn't quite finished re….pairing the damage yet. My memory hasn't quite caught up." He paused for about two seconds in the middle of the word and then kept going as if he didn't realize he'd done it.
"You don't remember who we are?" Sam said pointing to his own face as if his indication would clarify something for Harry.
Harry frowned. "Samuel Winchester aka Sam; brother to Dean Winchester, vessel to the angel Lucifer, attended Stanford for approximately four years before being dragged back into the family business, one of the keys to starting the apocalypse, visions suggest he will spend a significant amount of time in he…" Harry stopped abruptly and put a hand to his head blinking twice before turning a harsh glare on Sam. "Fuck that was annoying. Don't do that again."
Dean and Sam were staring at Harry as if he'd grown another head.
"Visions suggest what?" Sam said wide eyed.
"Nothing." Harry bit out harshly, rubbing his temples. "Oh I hate getting shot in the head. It always screws with something. Next time aim for the heart Anna."
"Memory caught up then?" Anna asked kneeling just outside the circle.
"Mostly." He said glancing at the still shining sigil beside him. "The ward activated? Did something happen?"
"That depends…" Sam said also glancing to the strange symbol. "What's the ward supposed to do?"
"Ward things." Harry said, a hint of amusement in his voice. When Sam looked ready to open his mouth and complain about the vague description Harry continued. "Specifically it detects ill intent. I set it up to trap anything that entered the circle that had ill intent. If it activated something inside must have wanted harm of some sort to befall either me or someone else in this room." Harry glanced around. "I don't see anything though."
"Well there was this thing…" Dean said with a frown.
"Thing?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow.
"Sort of hard to describe." Sam agreed. "It was about the size of a softball, but we didn't get to see much detail. It sort of…came out of your head and then it was bouncing around trying to get out of the circle until it sort of…died." He gestured to the pile of dust near him.
Harry stood on wobbly legs and moved over to the pile toeing it with his shoe. He seemed to come to a conclusion about it because he turned his back on it a moment later, instead moving toward the sigil.
"So your head…it's all you in there?" Dean said eying Harry's back.
"All me." Harry agreed kneeling at the symbol. All he did was draw his finger through it and its light flickered out as the lines were broken.
"Wait, all that thing had to do was break the lines and it would have been free?" Sam asked glancing at all the other sigils and wondering how well protected they'd actually been.
"Only I could have broken that line." Harry said with a shake of his head. "I used some of the last of my magic to make sure of that. Didn't want a repeat of Michael, did we?" Harry spat the angels name like it disgusted him. It probably did, considering what the angel had done to him.
"Glad to have you back." Sam said with a small smile. It was a massive weight off of his shoulders knowing they hadn't just lost the guy who would probably be the tipping point in this war.
"Glad to be back." Harry said rolling his shoulders again and taking the clothes that Anna offered him. "It's brilliant not having someone fucking with my head again. I'd almost forgotten how thinking clearly felt." He paused halfway to Bobby's bathroom.
"Something wrong?" Anna asked warily.
Harry shook his head and they could all see the strange smile on Harry's face. "No, I just had a craving for treacle tart. I hadn't had that craving in a long time." He gave no explanation continuing on his quest to change clothes.
They all watched him until he disappeared behind the wooden door.
"Can I be the first to say it's weird hearing him say he wants anything besides scotch?" Dean said loudly frowning in the direction of the bathroom. "And that smile was damn weird." He finished more quietly.
Sam nodded in agreement. He turned to Anna who didn't seem nearly as worried. "Is there any way to test and make sure that he's really him?"
Anna shrugged. "I've never seen anything like what Lucifer did to him. I wouldn't know what to look for." She paused. "But I think it's gone."
"What makes you so sure?" Sam asked frowning.
She shrugged. "He felt…off before. I don't get the same feeling." She said retaking her seat.
"The guy's craving British deserts! How is that not off!" Dean said throwing his arms in the air for emphasis.
"Well he is British…" Anna said giving him a bewildered look.
"I meant the fact that he's craving sweets in general." Dean countered. "I've never even seen the guy eat. I wasn't sure he did."
"He doesn't have to…" Anna supplied. "But his health would deteriorate if he didn't eat for long periods of time, just like a human but slower."
The brothers took a moment to absorb the detail.
"Besides, he used to be essentially human." Anna continued. "I'm sure he has quite a few culinary preferences. Not to mention odd habits and such. I think you two dehumanize him too much."
Just then the bathroom door opened, abruptly ending their conversation. Harry walked out wearing a nicely cut suit. "Did you really grab one of my Westwoods to wear at a salvage yard?" Harry said frowning and straightening the jacket.
"You have more than enough to spare." Anna pointed out. In fact, she'd had no idea what she'd been grabbing. Angels didn't have fashion schools and she'd never been particularly well off with her human family, upper middle class at most.
Harry frowned, but didn't contradict her simple statement. It was true that he had more than enough suits to replace this one even if it was torn to pieces. Instead he glanced at the clock. It was half past four which meant in London it was about half past ten. "I'll be back." He said popping out of the study and on to secluded alley in London to go in search of treacle tart.
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My friend's first comment upon reading that first little section of the chapter was 'Well, that escalated quickly'. XD
I hope you guys enjoyed that. I'll be uploading the mini chapter soon. It'll be a small piece that will take place partially in London and partially back at Bobby's. It will introduce a character and an item that readers should be familiar with.
I'll be updating erratically now because of my work schedule. Sometimes it'll be fairly quick, like this time. Others might take two or three weeks. Either way no one panic. I won't be throwing in the towel on the story or anything even i there's a really big gap between updates.
Well, 'til next time!
~Kanathia