Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural! I only own this idea and my two OC's!

Eleanor

With a sigh, Eleanor sat down in the living room. Her entire day had been spent searching for any kind of information on the Ark, though what they had found was nothing that they didn't already know and it was starting to make her quite annoyed. The Ark was what had made Crowley kidnap her child, knowing it would lure the Winchesters to him. If she could take the Ark back from him, she'd have her revenge on him. After all, it was him that Lily was having nightmares about now.

She looked around her at what had become her new living room for what seemed to be the rest of her life. It was dusty and there were still some old decorations placed a little here and there, indicating that a woman had lived in the house once. The room looked like it could use a nice cleaning though it was nothing that she could think about right now.

Soft and quick footsteps were heard running towards the doorway that led into the living room and soon, Lily appeared in the doorway, a huge smile on her lips as she ran up to her mother.

"Hey there, sweety," said Eleanor, smiling as she brushed away some stray hairs that had fallen in front of the little girls face.

"Uncle Sammy found a book!" said Lily as more footsteps were heard out in the hallway and Sam soon appeared in the doorway, holding a book in his hands and a serious expression on his face.

"You need to come," said Sam, the smile on Eleanor's face fading slightly as she lifted Lily into her arms, following Sam into the kitchen where Bobby and Dean were seated, beer bottles on the table along with some other, closed, books.

"What did you find?" asked Eleanor as she sat down next to Dean, Lily in her lap.

"A sentence that didn't quite fit in with the rest of the descriptions of the Ark," explained Bobby as Sam sat down opposite of Eleanor, his finger searching for the sentence on the page.

"Here," said Sam, glancing up at Eleanor to see if she was listening or not before looking back at the page. "… what was inside the Ark was never truly established and, apart from the stone tables, many other artefacts are believed to be hidden here… later on the author has written; together these artefacts could do many things. If the two stone tablets could move a sea apart, then what can't these other artefacts do?"

"What, you believe those artefacts are some kind of weapon?" asked Eleanor.

"That's exactly what we think," said Bobby. "What other purpose would it have to Crowley then if it was a weapon, aye? Does he want to split a sea into two so he can walk there? Does he want to read the actual Ten Commandments? I highly doubt so."

Eleanor looked over at Sam again who was looking at her as well. "It's been days, nearly a week… He must have opened the thing already," she said.

"Yes," said Dean. "Which raises the question; why hasn't he done anything yet?"

Eleanor leaned back in her chair, Lily staring at Sam who in turn didn't seem to notice it. Things were starting to become difficult now. After all, they had no clue as to where Crowley was nor did they know for sure that this is what the Ark could be used for. In fact, they knew nothing for sure. Everything was just theories and speculations. The book Sam was holding was written by an author who was interested in religion. He wasn't an actual professor nor was he there when those unnamed artefacts were placed in the Ark. It was just a theory that sparked some interesting ideas in the heads of the group of hunters.

"Nothing weird has happened? No strange weather phenomenon?" asked Eleanor, looking over at Bobby who shook his head.

"Nothing at all. No demonic activity," said Bobby. "It's been quiet… too quiet."

"Like they're planning something?" asked Eleanor, earning a shrug from Bobby.

"I don't know. All I know is that I don't like it," said Bobby.

"You think he can open the gates to purgatory with the Ark?" asked Sam solemnly, earning a look from everyone around the table, even Lily who was still staring at him.

"He might. I mean, we don't know what he can do with it," said Dean. "But if he can do that, then it would fit in on why he wanted it in the first place."

Sam nodded, finally realizing that Lily was staring at him. He simply nodded his head at the girl before looking back at Dean again.

"You saw anything down where the Ark was hidden? Any symbol or anything else?" asked Bobby. "A clue to what it could be used for?"

Sam shook his head, Lily jumping down from Eleanor's lap. "No," he said. "It was just an old tomb. There were symbols everywhere but those were just to keep the demons and angels away from the Ark. Nothing even indicated that it could be used for anything."

Lily waddled over to Sam, her hands holding a tight grip on the end of the long jumper she was wearing, as if she was intimidated by the tall man.

"You're a hundred percent sure?" asked Dean.

"Yeah," said Sam. "Just a couple of crucifixes and some treasure. But most of the gold had already been stolen."

Lily tucked on Sam's sleeve, making him look down at her. He furrowed his brow slightly as Lily placed her hands on his knee, looking up at him through her thick eyelashes which she had inherited from Dean, most certainly. Eleanor watched with an amused smile on her face as Sam move his arm out of the way, Lily immediately starting to climb up into his lap. After a few failed attempts, it seemed to cross Sam's mind that she actually wanted to sit in his lap so, he placed his hands underneath her armpits before lifting her up with ease, sitting her down in his lap. He glanced at Eleanor and Dean before adjusting her so she was seated comfortable for both him and Lily. However, the moment Sam let go of her, she threw herself against him, leaning up to his ear and whispering something to him.

Sam's eyes widened as he heard her words.

"Of course!" exclaimed Sam, earning a satisfied look from Lily, almost as if she had been keeping whatever she had said inside of her for so long that she felt a huge burden go away from her after she'd told him this. "Cas! He's an angel!"

Eleanor raised his eyebrows, "Yes, Sherlock."

"Meaning, he should know something about the Ark, right?" said Sam, patting Lily's head awkwardly. "Good girl."

"Wait, she came up with that?" asked Dean, gesturing to his daughter. "And not us?"

"She said she wanted to see Castiel again. Never mentioned anything about the case," said Sam, shrugging.

"Either way, clever girl," said Eleanor, earning a smile from Lily.

Eleanor

They were all seated in the living room again, Dean and Eleanor sitting in the sofa while Sam leaned on the armrest, his arms crossed over his chest. Bobby was standing in the doorway, leaning against it while Lily sat in front of Dean's feet, playing with some of her toys. The room was silent, apart from the invented language that Lily was talking quietly to herself as she played.

"I called him hours ago," said Dean with a sigh. "He should be here now."

"Maybe he's busy," said Eleanor.

"He's been busy a lot lately," said Sam, the tone he used sounding bitter which earned him a look from Eleanor. "Haven't you noticed it? I understand what's going on up there after the entire apocalypse was prevented but still… he's different from what I remember him."

Eleanor furrowed her brow. She had known the angel for quite some time now, though she hadn't noticed anything strange about him. Apart from the time when he had changed a normal knife into one that could kill demons just as easily as Dean's knife. He had looked different, as if he knew something dark, a dark secret that he was keeping from the rest of the world and it was eating him up from the inside out. And now that she thought about it, Cas never explained how he knew that Crowley was there. After all, wasn't he shielded? Unless he wanted to be found which of course made sense since that was their theory to why he had taken Lily and not them immediately. Though, there was a strange feeling in the pit of Eleanor's stomach that made her think that there was something more to this, something they didn't know about yet.

"Come think about it… how did Castiel find you?" asked Dean, turning to look at Eleanor.

She glanced at him, remembering the first time they had met and the panic he had caused inside of her as she thought that he had been a demon come to hurt them. It had been on Lily's first birthday, two, almost three, years ago.

"He-" started Eleanor but was interrupted by the sound of wings fluttering.

All of them turned to where the sound had come from, finding Castiel standing there. His eyes roamed over all of them, even Lily, before a sheepish and careful smile appeared on his lips.

"Hello," he said, nodding his head slightly. "You needed my help?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "Did you know what Crowley wanted us there for?"

"Crowley wanted you there?" asked Castiel quietly, his eyes narrowing.

"Yes," replied Sam, his tone still bitter. "He used Lily to lure us in there in order for one of us to give some blood away and open the door he needed opened. Not to mention the fact that the place was demon proof."

Castiel's gaze fluttered down to the floor before he looked over at Lily, watching her play for a while. Eleanor furrowed her brow as she wondered why he wasn't asking more questions. Shouldn't he be wondering what door Crowley wanted opened? Should've he be asking them what Crowley had found? Or did he already know this?

"He used Sam to get to the Ark," said Dean, earning a shocked expression from Castiel, though it didn't look as shocked as Eleanor had expected it to look.

Perhaps he did indeed already know this…

"You have any angel-knowledge about what the hell he wants to use it for?" asked Bobby.

"The only thing in there are the stone tablets," said Castiel, looking over at Bobby. "It says so in the B-"

"You mean there's nothing else in there? Nothing that can be used for anything else?" asked Dean, narrowing his eyes at the angel. "'Cause if there is, and you're not telling us…"

Castiel narrowed his eyes at Dean as well, cocking his head to the side. None of them were glaring at each other, but simply trying to see what the other one was thinking. Eleanor figured Castiel was slightly better at this, him being an angel and having some telepathic abilities.

"Artefacts? Other than the stone tablets?" asked Castiel before he looked away from them, his mind seeming to be thinking something through. "There… might be other artefacts in there."

"Like what?" asked Sam, his bitter tone gone and replaced by a curious tone.

"Powers to wipe people from the surface of the planet, to shift them into parallel universes or to change the course of history," said Castiel, his eyes avoiding to look at anyone. "Though, these haven't been proved to actually exist since none have found the Ark until now."

"You think that Crowley wants to wipe someone from existence? Kill someone important?" asked Bobby.

"I don't think anything. I am still quite baffled by the idea of Crowley having the Ark," said Castiel quickly.

"I tried to make you guys find it first. I wiped a lot of the symbols away so you guys could sense it… You didn't feel anything?" asked Sam, making Eleanor look at him.

He sounded as though he didn't trust Castiel anymore and it bothered her. She didn't dare to believe that Cas would go against them. Not after all the time that they had spent together and after all the help he had given her with Lily.

"No," replied Castiel simply, not looking at Sam but over at Lily again. "She'll turn four soon."

Eleanor furrowed her brow as she watched the angel walk over to Lily, crouching down in front of her. Lily looked up at him and smiled, reaching out her hand to him which he took, a smile spreading over his face.

"Yeah, next month," said Eleanor, nodding her head.

Castiel looked up at her, his eyes piercing her soul as he gave her a worried and serious look to which Eleanor's heart started to beat faster.

"Keep her safe. Keep her here," said Castiel before standing up again. "And whatever happens… don't let her go outside."

"What?" asked Eleanor before Castiel disappeared in front of their eyes.

"The hell was that all about?" asked Dean, his voice sounding agitated, probably because of worry for Lily and because Castiel hadn't been clear on what he meant.

Eleanor slid down from the couch, sitting down on her knees next to Lily, wrapping her arms around her to which Lily didn't protest.

"Dean…" whispered Eleanor as she looked up at him, her lip quivering slightly as her grip tightened around her daughter. "What did he mean by that?"

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