They arrive to Hell. It looks like some kind of dungeon and Melody hear only screams. It is very warm, but she forces herself to keep the hoodie since she's got the angel blade there. She hears the demon mutter under his breath.
"Now you will automatically find your way back here when you're done. Remember: you only have 48 hours, or 91 "Hell days" and six hours, give or take." She nods and starts walking. She walks down a few corridors, then she comes to some stairs, that goes down. She's got a feeling she should follow them. She walks downwards for days. After one Hell-week, she reaches the bottom. It's totally black, except for torches that gives enough light to show her she's in a tunnel. She walks right in it, and walks for a few more days. Weirdly enough she doesn't get tired. At the end of the tunnel she walks into a great hall. It got a perfectly round shape and there is torches en the wall, and some enormous candles on the floor. In the middle there is a great throne made out of skulls and bones. On it sits an old man. His hair is black, and he is very skinny, she can easily see the sharp bones under his white skin. She had walked right into Death's hall. She swallows nervously.
Sam paces in the library, more worried than Dean had ever seen him.
"Dude, calm down. She'll be fine. She could kick both our asses without any help. And she's got both the knife and Cas's angel blade, plus Cas's hex bags. Death won't hurt her, we both know that he's very calm. Scary, sure, but calm and pretty cool. She'll make it so you can sit down." Sam glares angrily at him, then continues pacing.
"I'm sure she'll manage those parts. I'm worried about the freaking Cage! The Devil is inside it, you know. I'm sure he loves torturing our brother, and he won't be happy that she's trying to take him out. And if they comes out, I'm not so sure Cas's hex bag will cover them both, and she'll have to defend them both." Then he goes back to being quiet. Dean sighs. He won't let Sam's worry make him more worried and nervous than he already is, even tough he tries his hardest to try not to show it, that may calm Sam a little bit.
She licks her lip and walks towards Death. He looks down at her.
"You don't belong here, you're not dead. What are you doing here?" then he looks like he's realizing something.
"What does the Winchesters want? They must think it's very important, if they send someone to Hell to find me." Melody is surprised that Sam and Dean seems to have met Death a few times already. Her mouth is dry, and she swallows before she starts talking.
"They want to bring their brother out of the Cage, and says you're the one who's got the key." Death sits back, and waves with a finger and a chair appear behind her.
"Sit." She does as she's told.
"Yes, Adam Milligan." Death continues. "I thought they'd forgotten him. It's nice to know they still care for more people than each other and that angel… Castiel. They're right about that I've got the key. But before I decide if I'll let you in or not, tell me how you met them, what your relation to them is and how come it's you that are walking straight into Hell, and not them. If I remember it right, they rather sacrifices themselves than let someone else do something risky or die." Melody is not too nervous now, and responses.
"Well, I met them when they were on a hunt where I lived and killed a… Wendigo, that killed my family. Now I live with them, and Sam is my boyfriend. Me and Castiel managed to convince them to let me go, since they would get attacked by demons as soon as they arrived, and an angel would draw a bit too much attention, but I'm not exactly someone the demons are after. They're not happy about it, but they let me go anyways." Death looks like he approves of her answer.
"You chose the sensitive and smart Winchester, that's good. Even though he's had problem with women before. And you made them do the smartest thing, instead of letting their feelings decide it for them. You could do them good. I'll let you in the Cage. But just know: I'll not be able to help you once you're inside. I've got no power over the Devil. If it gets really extreme, I can try to slow him down while you run for it, but it might not do so much. He's the most powerful here. But whatever you do, when you get hold of the soul you're after, run. Never stop and never loose your grip of the soul. Let's go, you have about 70 days left, am I right? It will take a while to get in and out of the Cage." Death starts walking, without looking back at her. They walk through a big, metal door. They walk in total darkness for about three days. At the end of the tunnel, there is one hell of a big door. Even when she tilts her head back, Melody can barley see the top of it. Death walks towards the door.
"Remember that the soul you're after are the one that's probably torn apart. Good luck." Then he puts his ring in a hole in the door. It swings open, and a strong wind sucks her in.
Cas appears in the library. Dean rushes up from his chair.
"Cas! How long time did she get to do it?" Cas looks up at him.
"48 hours. It may sound like too little time, but in Hell-time it's about 91 days and six hours. The demon is waiting for her in Hell, to save her some time, and he will bring her back to the exact spot where they left." Dean sits down again, taking a deep breath.
"That's good. She's got plenty of time. The demon was generous." Cas nods. Sam goes back to pacing, after stopping to listen to what Cas had to say. Dean rolls his eyes.
"Dude, chill! Your pacing is driving me nuts! If you can't sit still, do something useful, like make some pie or something." Sam goes straight to the kitchen. Dean rubs his temples in frustration. Cas places one hand on his shoulder, trying to take after the movement they used when they tried to calm someone. Dean looks thankfully at him, and Cas smiles a rare smile.
The Cage is big. Melody doesn't see the end of it. All she sees is floor of metal. She starts running forward, feeling the clock ticking. She hears someone sobbing, and runs that way. When she comes to the place where the sobbing comes from, nothing is there. The sobbing sound echoes around her. She thinks that Lucifer is probably playing with her mind. She continues running, trying to ignore the sounds of men, women and children sobbing and screaming in pain. Sooner than she expects, she sees a form in the floor, covered in blood and shaking. She speeds up, and sees Adam, or rather his soul. She bends down over him, and he screams at her in fear. She tries to calm him down.
"If you see Lucifer, Michael or someone that has been hurting you… I'm not them. Lucifer is probably playing with your mind. My name is Melody, and I'm trying to get you out of here, on orders from your brothers." He stares at her.
"Sam and Dean? Not possible, they don't care about me. They've left me here for centuries."
"It's only been five years on earth. And they're trying to save you now, right?" she stands up again, offering him her hand. After a moment's hesitation, he takes it. Melody hear could laughter. Suddenly another person stands before her, and she assumes it's Lucifer.
"They finally tries to get their brother out huh? I've been waiting for it. You better get moving then. I won't stop you, Adam does not belong here, he was put here by accident. It's Michael you should watch out for, he's grown real fond of him. It's his work you've seen on Adam. If you don't believe me, just ask Sam or Dean which are more violent, angels or me. And I should warn you, if you get out, that little hex bag of yours won't cover both of you, so you better be prepared to fight. Now you better run, and send my love to the Winchesters and that angel of theirs." Then he's gone. Melody is a bit confused, but starts running. She notices she knows exactly where to run, but she can't tell if Lucifer is helping her, or it's just her. Soon she sees the door. But another person jumps in the way. Michael.
"I really don't want to let little Adam go, you know. We've been having so much fun." While he talks Melody reaches the inside of the hoodie, and grabs the angel blade. She jumps towards Michael, and he's a bit too surprised to react immediately. She cuts him right over the chest, pushes him aside and jumps out of the door. It closes just before he comes out. Death is standing beside them, looking a bit impressed.
"Good. You have about 14 days to get out of here. While you was inside, I took myself the freedom to bring you a chain too chain you two togheter, it will be easier to fight the demons after you two then." He chains them. Melody is surprised how gladly both Death and Satan tries to bring Adam out of Hell.
"There. You better start running now if you're going to get back on time." Melody wastes one second to nod at Death as a thank you, then she starts running. She runs through the black tunnel, through Death's hall, through the next tunnel, up at the stairs, and manages to come to the corridors after six days. She does a headcount and figures she's got eight days left. She figures it's better to run and leave Hell before her time is out, than taking it easy and miss it by one minute or so. And they've reached the demon-area, so it will take some time to kill the ones that attack them too. She runs and comes halfway, before the first demon appears. She grabs the knife and the demon attacks immediately. Not too wise, she thinks when she runs the knife right through it. She runs forward, and doesn't stop to kill the rest of the demons, she just cuts them so they don't run after them. She runs around the corner, and the demon she travels with stands there. He looks impressed.
"You're back half an hour, or three days, early. Wanna stay a bit longer?" he asks and winks. She just shakes her head.
"Well then. It would be amusing to watch you defend yourself and the other soul though." Then he smiles and takes them back.
They suddenly stand in the narrow alley again. Adam collapses on the pavement. Melody kneels beside him, while the demon disappears. Adam is shaking, his wounds bleeding. She starts panicking when he begins to cough blood. She looks around the alley, searching for Cas, Sam or Dean. No one is there.
"For God's sake, Cas! You better come here now, we're out of Hell and he's wounded, so get your ass here right now!" she says, more to herself than to Cas, but with a sound of wings he stands beside them. Without looking at her, he kneels at Adam's side, putting his fingers at Adam's forehead. The wounds disappear, and Adam stops coughing, but he falls asleep too. Cas throws Adam over his shoulders, and then he looks at Melody again. He smiles, and she hugs him.
"So good to see you again. The Cage wasn't that fun." He looks down at her.
"We better get back home. Both you and Adam needs rest." Then he grabs her shoulder and the fly back to the bunker. Had Cas really called the bunker "home"? Melody wondered if she should mention that too Sam and Dean, but decided that she'd let Cas start calling it "home" in front of them first.
They land in the library. Dean starts shouting at Cas.
"Dammit Cas! You can't just fly away like that, she should be out of Hell soon, and then you need to…" he stops when he sees Melody collapsing on the floor, and Adam over Cas's shoulders, already asleep. Sam jumps off his chair and runs too Melody.
"Mel! How are you? Are you hurt?" he almost shouts, but she's too tired to answer. Cas puts one hand on Sam's shoulder, signaling for to stand up.
"She's just fine, Sam. Not a single bruise. She's just tired. She spent almost three months in Hell, and most of the time she was in Lucifer's Cage. She just needs to rest. She'll be fine. It's Adam you should worry about, he's the one who's been tortured for centuries." Sam nods, and looks at Adam. Dean is sitting next to him, checking how he is. Then he lifts Adam up.
"We should get them to bed. They both need to sleep. Then we can ask Melody about it." Sam nods and carefully lifts Melody up, carrying her to her room to sleep.
Melody wakes up in her bed. Her head is aching, but otherwise she feels fine. She tries to remember the reason why her head hurts, then she remember everything.
"Adam!" she gasps, jumping out of bed, not even noticing that someone has taken off her clothes, replacing that with her nightwear. She runs out of her room, finding Sam, Dean and Cas in the kitchen, Sam and Dean drinking some coffee. Sam notices her, and jumps up, almost tipping his cup of coffee over. He hugs her and kisses her hair. When he lets go Dean hugs her instead. She hugs him back, then starts talking.
"How's Adam, and how long have I been sleeping?" she asks.
"Adam is still asleep, he's got a lot to recover from, but if he doesn't wake up soon, we'll have to wake him up to give him something to eat. You've been asleep for about two days." Cas answers. Right then Adam walks into the kitchen.
"I heard my name?" he says with a sleepy voice. Melody goes to him and hugs him.
"How are you feeling?" she asks.
"Just fine. How are you feeling? I mean, you was the one fighting." He asks, looking at her with a warm, friendly tone.
"Fine. My head aches a bit, but I wasn't expecting it to be totally pain free." She smiles. Adam turns his gaze to his brothers.
"Any chance I can get some coffee too? It's been a while you know." And smiles. Sam jumps up and makes Adam a cup of coffee. Then they all sit down in silence for a while.
"So, you had to fight?" Sam asks Melody.
"Yup. Not on the way to the Cage, but Michael got in the way, then there was a few demons. Nothing worse." She answers happily. Sam looks surprised.
"Not even Lucifer?"
"Nope. He just let me take Adam and get out of the Cage, I think he also helped me find the way out of the Cage too, and he warned me about Michael. He said I should ask you two about it. Which are worse I mean. Angels or Lucifer?"
"Angels. Definitely." Dean answers without hesitation. "No offense, Cas." He adds. Cas just nods, an almost invisible smile at his lips. Melody continues.
"Satan also told me to send you three his love. He was a bit disappointed that it wasn't you that showed up." Dean almost chokes on his coffee. Melody and Adam laughs at the chocked faces of the Winchesters and Cas.
When he's drunk all his coffee, Adam starts talking.
"Okay if I join you four here? I mean… I've got nowhere else to go, and I think I might start hunting, and I think this is the best place to be then." Sam smiles.
"Of course, Adam! You're our brother after all." Adam smiles, and they continues their breakfast in comfortable silence.