I did all I could to improve the wardings that were there, but with the Rift being so close… It was something Lucifer would be able to lock on to soon, if he hadn't already. And that Rift was still messing with my abilities. I frequently had to take breaks so I wouldn't over-exert myself. During these breaks, I intermittently brought some damp towels and water bottles up to Mary and Kelly. It was the least I could do, and they seemed grateful for the efforts. Kelly stopped me before I left the first time, though, locking her hand around my wrist.
"Castiel is a good man." She said, her voice insistent. "You're lucky to have him."
"Thanks." I smiled at her, patting her hand lightly. She needed to be calm, I think. That was what Mary had been doing, anyways. But it still seemed like she was worried.
"You and him will watch over Jack, right?" She asked. I couldn't power the kid down now, not in the middle of labor. She knew that. She knew, and she didn't even want to power him down. She wanted him as he would be.
And she wanted me to take care of him.
"Of course." I promised, glancing over at Mary. "We all will."
"Good." She let me get back to doing wardings then. I left Mary with a few sheets of paper that had angel-banishing sigils on them. They would work, but I couldn't promise that they wouldn't mess with Kelly or the kid.
We chose not to tell Kelly that part.
Once I finished the new warding, I dialed Crowley's number on the landline at the house.
"Hello, this is Black and Brimstone and Hellfire Castle," Crowley greeted. "What would you like to order today? We're having a special, anything you want in exchange for your soul."
"I need your help." I said. "This is big. This is really big."
"Is this you asking or the Winchesters?"
"Me." I stated. "They don't know I'm asking. They're…" I glanced over at the Rift. "Busy, for the moment."
"And how do I know that I won't be stabbed on site?"
"Please." I requested. "Crowley, this… I don't think I can do this. It's too big. It's…" I took a breath. "I'll deal with Sam and Dean, I promise. I'll take the blame. But I need someone who can work spells with me, or else I can't do any of this. This isn't me being scared or worried, this is me literally saying that if I do this on my own, I'm going to die." I let out a hoarse laugh. "Hell, I'm probably dying either way, but I'd rather make sure the job gets done if I do bite the dust." There was a pause on the other end, followed by some rustling.
"Any ingredients you need from here?"
"Whatever you think is necessary to deal with something… Something that could cross between universes and potentially break it." I heard more rustling, followed by the sound of paper being unfolded.
"Give me ten minutes." He requested. From there, the line went dead. I let out a sigh of relief, hanging the phone back in its holder. I knew if I did this on my own, it would sap everything out of me, and with the way that Rift was messing with me… I wasn't certain if everything I had would be enough.
I took a seat watching the Rift, a bottle of water in one hand and a power bar in the other. I needed to recharge, re-evaluate, and have at least some sort of a plan when Crowley got here. With two people working a spell, we could potentially work the Rift from both sides and make a better attempt at warding it's power to silent. Hell, there could be something that Crowley would see and I would completely miss. I wished Rowena was here to help too, but…
But she wasn't, and that was all I could think on the matter. I couldn't lament, I just had to accept it and keep moving. I had to take control before it overwhelmed me.
I threw out some different minor spells, seeing if there was any change with prolonged proximity to the Rift and if anything was seeping through to our end. Nobody from their side had come to here yet, though, so that was in our favor. But with us crossing over in to there… It was going to cause some major problems, but I couldn't tell as to when.
Sam, Dean, and Cas crossed back over a few minutes later. I stood up to greet them, asking if they were alright.
"No, I think we're pretty far from all right." Dean stated honestly. "I mean, we've got Lucifer on this side," he pointed to the ground beneath his feet for emphasis. "We've got Mad Max World on that side." A point towards the Rift. "I mean, yeah, we've been down before, but this? I-I mean, I don't even know where to start."
"I had an idea." I stated, gaining their attention.
"Great, what is it?" Sam asked.
"You're not going to like it." I replied. Once those words left my mouth, I felt a small displacement of air beside me.
"Oh, come on!" Dean shouted, pointing next to me. "Him?!"
"I called him." I told them. "I'm sorry, I needed help from someone who could work magic too."
"Hello boys. Again." Crowley greeted.
"I can cast some spells." Castiel pointed out. I shook my head.
"This isn't something that angel magic will work well in." I told him. "And I don't want to put you at risk like that. That place… It took more work than it should've to light a flame in my palm, and even more to extinguish it."
"What, I'm expendable?" Crowley asked. I shook my head.
"No, but I also know Kelly trusts Castiel more than you, and she'll need all the protection she can get once Lucifer gets here."
"What about the wardings you put up?" Sam asked. I shook my head.
"They'll stall him from the house, but with this thing here," I pointed to the Rift. "If I can feel it, I'm certain that Lucifer can detect it too, and I have no idea how to close it. I can't ward it from him on my own, much less do that and set up something that would bind Lucifer long enough to be effective."
"Actually," Crowley commented, rooting around his pocket. "I think we can close this." I turned to him, confused until he held up a piece of paper in his hand. It was… It was the spell I'd scribbled down so long ago, the one I didn't know the purpose of. He handed it to me, and I looked over the workings once more. He'd added to it, finishing the spell, adding in a second part that I hadn't even seen; adding in his part.
That was what had been so familiar. The strangeness that I felt in the other world… It was the same feeling I'd had when I looked at this spell.
"Crowley, I wrote this down… I don't even know how long ago I started working on this!" I exclaimed.
"After Lucifer's child was conceived?" He asked. I looked back through my memories, trying to think. Had I started this before or after Jack existed?
"Yes. No." I shook my head. "I… I don't even know when I started this. I didn't know what it did. I kind of just… Just pushed it aside, more or less."
"After or before the Darkness?"
"After… After Amara and Chuck left." I decided. That sounded right. "But other than that… I don't know when I started this."
"I think it was after the child existed." Crowley said. "I think that somehow, somewhere in your being there was a part of you that knew something big would be coming, and tried to prepare. You just didn't know it yet."
"And what if it was before?" I asked. "What if this was started before any of that?"
"Then we're extremely fortunate." He answered. "Because this spell will close that Rift." I widened my eyes, looking from the paper to the demon. He was right.
This would work.
"If it's closed…" I could feel the wheels in my brain working. "Can… Can anything from our side trapped on the other come back?"
"No." Crowley offered me a small, devilish smile at that. "I was thinking the exact same thing."
"Hold on, Wondertwins." Dean cut in. "What are you two thinking? What's the plan?"
"Do you think you can kill Lucifer?" I asked, turning to face them.
"Bobby's got a gun that might work." Sam replied. "It shoots bullets made from angel blades."
"Cool." I commented. Crowley huffed.
"I've done that already." He muttered.
"Well, we've got a plan too." I said. "If those bullets don't work… We can still trap him."
"How?" Sam asked. I just pointed at the Rift behind him in response.
"If we time it right, we can close the Rift with Lucifer inside." I said. "We can give him the apocalypse world he wants, and leave him there for good." I smiled at Castiel, and saw him smiling back at me. "We can do this. I really think we can."
"If you have faith," Castiel said, reaching forwards. I gripped his hand tightly, feeling… Driven. I could do this. "Then I have faith as well." He concluded.
"I don't like this." Dean commented, looking at all of us. "But… But it's the best option we have."
"Are you sure it'll work?" Sam asked.
"It's gonna take some luck." I admitted. "A lot of it. But I think it's our best option, especially if the bullets can't kill him. And either way," I glanced back at the Rift. "That needs to be closed, before our world becomes the same. This will work." I felt assured in my words, assured that I was right. "I know it will."
"Alright." Dean agreed. Sam nodded as well.
"What do you need?" Sam asked. Crowley lifted a bag as I looked over the spell.
"I grabbed everything I could off of the list." He said, handing the bag to me. I looked over what he had in there and compared it to what the spell would require. It looked like he had almost everything, save for one or two things I already brought. I stopped at one of the ingredients. Angelic grace…
I couldn't ask that of Cas. I couldn't… He needed to be an angel, that I knew. We needed him to stay him. We needed him to protect Kelly and… And Jack.
I glanced over at Crowley. He was watching me cautiously, not saying a word. I went down the list a little more, and saw the last ingredient that he had added.
A life.
To stabilize the Rift and close it, we needed angelic grace and a life. In an instant, the answer came to me as how to solve both problems with one person.
"The angel grace has bonded completely with you." Castiel had explained. "As long as there is a small part of it inside of you, you will never die, your body will age at an extremely slower rate if at all, and by almost all rights and definitions, you should technically be considered a… a Nephilim."
"But I'm not." I remembered feeling very compelled to say that part. "I wasn't born like this, it just kind of happened and… you said almost. What's the almost?"
"It may be bonded with you, but it can also still be removed from you. If that happens, a part of your soul really will be missing, then. You will become fully human, and any other side effects would be indeterminate until that point."
"So what you're saying is, if I lose the grace, I'll die."
"No, I don't know what would happen." He responded. "Just nothing good."
I nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah." I said, glancing back over at Crowley. He knew. Of course he knew. He always knew. "We have everything."
