Unfound

Chapter Sixteen

Season 12, Episode 15 – Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell: A hellhound escapes Hell and must be hunted. Castiel searches for Kelly Kline.

Castiel entered the diner. He sighed a little. It was just like any other diner that Sam and Dean had dragged him to over the years. He didn't understand the appeal. But this was the best lead he had had since losing Kelly in the first place.

He approached the waitress who was just leaving a table. "Hello," he greeted. "I'd like to speak to your manager if I could," he flashed the FBI badge that Sam had made him.

The waitress didn't have to respond to him, as the man in question came bounding over. "Hiya!" He said. "I'm, uh, Herb Nelson. I run this joint." He glanced at the badge, which Castiel was holding upside down. "Pleasure to meet you, Agent…Solange."

Castiel snapped his badge closed and tucked it into his interior pocket and tried his best to channel Dean and Sam. "I'm, uh, I'm here about…"

"Oh, I know why you're here. Uh…follow me," Herb said quickly. "Quietly," he added, leading the angel to a heavy metal door that had many locks on it.

"What is this?"

"Well…you know..." He shut the door behind them. "Can't be too careful. They're always watching, listening."

Castiel looked around the room and noticed all the news clippings up on the wall. It wasn't far off from what Dean and Sam did when they were on a case, but he was beginning to feel dread creep in when he noticed the contents. "They…are?"

"Oh, yeah. But we're safe in here. Reinforced steel. Nothing's gettin' through this sucker."

"Mm, yeah," Castiel agreed vaguely, regretting his decision to come here at all.

"Aah. So, uh, you're here about that woman who was abducted."

"Yes. Kelly Kline. In this article, you said, uh, you said she was taken by an alien."

"Well, not just aliens. Reptilians. You know…like the Queen of England."

"Right. Ok, well, that's helpful. Thank you so much for your time," he moved to leave. He should have known that this was another dead end.

"And I – I got proof," the man called after him, making Castiel stop in his tracks. Where the man couldn't see, Castiel rolled his eyes before turning to face him once again. The manager pulled a tape out of one of his desk drawers. "Most sheeple can't handle the truth. But not me. I'm woke. It's uh…" he fumbled while putting the tape into the player. "…why I don't use, uh, new tech. Anything past '96, it's a trap. You know…Palm Pilot. It's more like Tracking Device. Am I right?"

"Right," Castiel agreed, without actually knowing what exactly he was agreeing to.

"Exactly, now watch this." The TV sprang to life. "I got this footage from the motel down the street. I'm friends with the manager, you see."

Kelly Kline appeared on the screen, looking quite pregnant. "Ok, that's Kelly Kline, there, you see? She'd been in town a couple of days. She'd been here a couple of times – nice lady. But you see how preggers she is? I'm guessing she's another alien – a brood queen if I've ever seen one. But wait…watch…"

In a beam of light, a man appeared outside the door of the motel. He turned to the camera and his face quickly but distinctly changed to look like a large lizard. The video cut out.

"There! Did you see that?" Herb asked excitedly. He rewound the tape to replay the scene. Castiel didn't need to see it though. This confirmed his suspicions. And it both made him feel better and worse at the same time.

"A lizard," Castiel deadpanned.

"Like I said, reptilian. Now, the local cops, they think there's something – they don't believe me. Think there's something weird with the camera or it was just some kids playing a prank. But, I mean, that's why you're here."

Castiel ejects the tape and puts it in one of the pockets of his trench coat before heading to the door, not acknowledging the man.

"The – the FBI Man in Black," Herb continued. "Well, you know, beige."

Castiel left and sighed. This was the fourth "lead" that he had followed that had led to something as patently ridiculous as an actual lizard man.

In South Carolina, it had been a woman that looked suspiciously like Kelly.

He had quietly watched her from his car, ready to jump in, when a man, who looked suspiciously like Lucifer's vessel, which was extraordinarily worrying, had met her outside their home. He had been ready to call Sam and Dean in for backup when the illusion had dissipated and he saw that it was not Kelly at all.

That had been the most normal.

In Arkansas, the lead he had been following led him to a tea party. (A concept that Castiel thoroughly did not understand). There had only been women at the tea party. They were all pregnant and they were all named Kelly. Even the waitresses.

Castiel, of course, at that point had greatly begun to suspect that the intel that he had been chasing had been planted. He wasn't sure who it had been – although he could make some educated guesses.

Delaware had led him to a lonely seaside resort. However, when he arrived at the room that he had believed that Kelly Kline was staying in, he had opened it and found the room filled to the brim with angel figurines and dolls. Each one had a little piece of the grace he had believed he had been tracking to the Nephilim child yet to be born.

He had promised himself that this lead was going to be his last. At the very least he had believed that he might be able to find the being that was creating these elaborate ruses for him to follow.

The reptile had sealed the deal. None of the false leads had been aimed at killing him – so he had ruled out demons. Angels, for the most part, wouldn't have bothered. They were all a little bizarre but lacked the truly cruel twist that would have come if Gabriel had been behind them. Not enough sweets either.

The only person he could think that had this kind of power, didn't have any great particular love of him and would be willing to waste the magic, time, and effort on such a thing was Harry. Which not only annoyed Castiel, but put him in a tough spot. He was sure that this meant that the third Winchester knew where Kelly was. And he guessed that if Harry was involved, so was Gabriel. Likely, he was the one guarding the woman and her baby. Castiel could see the wisdom in that, but he didn't trust Gabriel. The archangel would do anything to protect Harry, but he didn't know where that left Kelly. The question was whether to confront the man himself or to simply tell Sam and Dean and see if they could get the information out of their brother.

In the end, it was a bit moot because when Castiel left the diner and approached his truck outside, he stiffened to see someone standing in his way.

"Nice day out," the other angel said.

Castiel dropped his angel blade into his hand.

"Hello, brother," the intruder greeted.

"Kelvin," Castiel said evenly.

"Oh? You remember? We only met once, so…"

"What are you doing here?" Castiel demanded.

"Same reason as you. Track down Kelly Kline and that unholy bun she's got in her oven. So, what do you say we help each other out?"

III

Dean's phone rang. He smiled when he saw who was calling. Currently, he was sitting in the war room while Sam was out on a mission for the British Men of Letters with Mary. The situation made none of them happy, but they couldn't think of a better way to keep an eye on Teddy. He had been selected to stay behind with Harry because apparently the two of them couldn't be trusted to "keep their tempers," according to Sam. So, he was doing research. But this call would be a welcome reprieve.

"Your majesty," he answered. Harry looked up from his own book and raised an eyebrow. "It's been too long. Last I heard you were wrestling dragons in Romania."

There was chatter on the other end. Dean glanced up at the door to the Bunker. "Yeah, of course, you know you're always welcome." He ended the call and stood. "Charlie and Luna are here."

With a flick of a hand, Harry opened the door to let the two women in.

Only, it wasn't just them.

"Ron!" Harry called out, seeing his best friend step in from behind, looking around with wonderment.

The three of them came down the stairs.

Dean gave Charlie a hug and gave Ron a suspicious glare.

Ron didn't mention it as he went over to exchange a quick hug with Harry. "You didn't say you were coming when we talked the other day," Harry said as pulled away. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, of course."

"You talked to him?" Dean asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Because I'm his best mate," Ron snipped. Dean and Ron had never learned to get along. And it didn't appear that that was going to change anytime soon. "And I didn't know," he said in response to Harry's question.

"We came as soon as we could," Luna said, waiting for her chance to hug Harry. "Hermione will be along as soon as it clears diplomatic channels."

"Great," Dean muttered.

"You don't like Hermione, Dean?" Charlie asked, surprised. "She's a badass bitch."

Dean thought that Charlie had one of those words right, but he wasn't going to say that out loud. He did, however, make a face that Harry didn't miss.

"You must be Charlie," Harry said, changing the subject and turning to face the redhead. "I've heard so much about you."

Charlie beamed and came over and gave him a hug.

"Who from?" Dean frowned. He hadn't told Harry much of anything about Charlie. He didn't think Sam would have either.

"From Luna, of course," Harry said, returning Charlie's hug.

"Is it true that you outmaneuvered a Hungarian Horntail?" Charlie asked, ignoring Dean altogether.

"Er – I don't know that I'd describe it that way…"

"Oh! And you broke into Gringotts – and lived to tell the tale? 'Cause you know, that is some high-level hacking, my dude. Luna told me about the enchantments and…"

"Charlie," Luna said gently, seeing the overwhelmed expression on Harry's face. It had been a while since he had been faced with such blatant enthusiasm.

"Right. Sorry. Just – you're adventures sound amazing. So magical and fun. I read so many stories with adventures like yours growing up but to have actually lived it…"

"Was considerably less magical and fun," Dean responded.

Charlie looked a little crestfallen. "Right. Yes. Right. Of course, I'm sorry."

Harry shot Dean a bitchface. Dean hated the fact that both his younger brothers did that now.

"It's alright. It was fun. A lot of the time. But that was mostly because of my friends like Ron, Hermione, and Luna, of course," he said kindly.

"I see what you mean, Luna, he is nice. Especially for a Winchester," she punched Dean in the arm to show that there were no hurt feelings.

"Hey!" Dean protested. "Sam and I are nice."

That elicited a snort from Ron and an eye roll from Charlie.

"How's Teddy?" Ron asked Harry, changing the subject from the alleged niceness of any Winchester.

Harry frowned. "He says he's fine. But we're working to figure out how to get him out of this soul bond. I don't trust those arseholes – especially not for the rest of the time he has on his contract."

"As well you shouldn't," Luna said. "We've got some news for you. Some good, some bad…"

III

Castiel sat at a bar with Kelvin – they were both drinking water.

"So, how are things in Heaven?" Castiel asked, not really making small talk, but because he was honestly curious.

"Functional," Kelvin replied. "You know, there's the usual infighting, but…let's just say that Lucifer having a baby on board and Gabriel bringing back that abomination has brought us all together. You know this is an all-hands-on-deck situation, Castiel. Including yours."

"Ok. So, you're here for my hands?" Castiel asked skeptically.

"We want you. Look, you got more field experience than the next thousand angels combined."

"I think you overestimate me," Castiel said honestly.

"I don't. Look, I know you're working with the Winchesters. This means that the abomination is not your top priority. We're fine with that. He hasn't made any big moves. Yet. Sam and Dean – their hearts are in the right place, but wouldn't it be better to have us waiting in the proverbial wings? All the power of Heaven behind you?"

Castiel did not believe that this was even possible. Never even considered that his brothers and sisters would help him. Not after all that he had done.

"You ever miss it? Upstairs?" Kelvin asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Earth. It's quirky. It smells like hay. But it's not home, is it?"

"I don't believe that I'm welcome in Heaven."

"No, you're not. They still hold a lot of grudges up there. But what if I told you, you could come back? That all your sins could be forgotten? Forgiven?"

There were a surprising number of people that had been offering Castiel forgiveness recently. He felt the same way about all of them, even though the motives were different. "I would say that you're lying."

"Oh, but I'm not. You help us track down Kelly Kline, and you will be welcomed back into the fold."

"Right," Castiel said sarcastically. "And you have the power to do that."

"Oh, no, I can't. I'm just the messenger. But Joshua can."

That surprised Castiel. "Joshua. I thought he stepped aside."

"He did. But like I said, an all-hands-on-deck situation. Imagine it, Castiel – free to come and go as you please, part of your family, your true family, again. Look…the Gardener's got a plan. All we ask is that you hear us, hear him out. For the greater good."

It was tempting. Possibly too good to be true. But Castiel knew that if anyone had a chance of finding Gabriel, it would be Heaven. Not that he planned on revealing that particular piece of information with any of the Heavenly Host just yet. But if he could know what the angel's plan was, he could possibly protect Kelly from it. He sighed. He guessed that the answer was clear.

III

"And, moving on to, um, case 41, Awar, a Rank Three demon, claims to have six babies, but then Morax, a Rank Two demon, took two of his babies, which would with Awar with…"

Crowley held up four fingers, bored.

"Um yes," the demon continued, "four babies."

"Which, I think we can all agree, isn't enough babies, for a decent meal," the second demon laughed.

Crowley couldn't believe that he had to sit through this.

"No, not at all. Um, Awar is looking for compensation in the form of – "

"I don't care," Crowley interrupted. "Moving on," he made a gesture to move the proceedings along. Really, this was all quite below his pay grade.

"Oh," the second demon said, clearing his throat. "Me either. Moving on to case 42."

"This is a good one," the first demon said, excitedly. "It's on tort reform."

"Yeah," Demon two said, ready to start outlining the case to Crowley when the King's phone rang. He held up a finger as he saw "Moose" coming through on his caller id.

"What the hell do you want?" Usually, it was Squirrel that called. But Crowley wasn't really happy to speak with either of the Winchesters right now.

"Uh – Crowley," came the hesitant voice of the largest Winchester. "You're probably still upset about the whole…"

"Upset?" Crowley growled. "No. I'm totally over how you and your little band of misfits sent my son back in time…to die!"

"Yes, I understand how that would be upsetting," Sam said, using his sympathetic voice. Which Crowley wasn't buying for a second. "But we have a little bit of a situation here, and…"

"Oh, well, in that case…Bye," Crowley went to hang up.

"Hellhounds!" Sam said quickly before he could. "One of your dogs is going after people who didn't sell their souls."

"Not possible," Crowley said.

"You sure about that?"

Crowley lowered the phone and talked to the two demons in front of him. "My hounds…You have anything to tell me?"

The looks on their faces told Crowley just about everything he needed to know.

"Well…we didn't wanna bother you…It was Ramsey. She got out, my lord."

"Have the kennel guards killed," Crowley said without hesitation. "Painfully," he added. He put the phone back up to his mouth. "I'll be right…"

He appeared in front of Sam and Mary. "here," he finished.

"Mm," Sam said.

"You miss me?" Crowley asked. He looked around. "Where's Squirrel?"

III

Harry stared down at the file with horror. "How did it come to this? When I was Head Auror, I knew that they had some dodgy practices, but this is…"

Honestly, if he had still been human, he might have thrown up.

Ron shifted a little uncomfortably. "We think they've been manipulating the wave of anti-hunter sentiments both at home and in the States."

"But they're hunters!"

Luna shook her head. "They see themselves as above all of it. Not just hunters, but also supernatural creatures, which includes the wizarding world," she said.

"But, this…" Harry put the file down on the table, which allowed Dean to pick it up.

"This is a witch?" He asked, looking at the pictures of the corpse. "What did they do to her?"

"They extracted her magic," Luna explained.

"You can do that?"

"They can now," Ron said darkly.

"What are they doing with it?"

"We don't know yet," Charlie responded. "That's the bad news. It looks like research, mostly, but they somehow detected the tap that we made into their angel radio communications and locked us out. That's why we're here, I'm hoping that I can look more closely into the computer system here in the Bunker, I can understand the warding that they've put up."

Dean nodded his approval. "Mi Bunker es su Bunker," he said. "It's too bad that Sam isn't here, I'm sure that he'll be devastated to miss out on a nerd session."

"That's alright, I've got Luna," Charlie beamed. "Not that Sam isn't awesome, but Luna is a genius."

Luna blushed a little.

"We're gonna have to look at the computer room – and, honestly, we should have started two days ago, so if you don't mind…"

"Go ahead," Dean waved them on. "Let us know if you need anything. Like beer. Or sandwiches."

"Nothing I love more than a man makin' me sandwiches," Charlie teased as she grabbed Luna's hand and led her deeper into the Bunker.

Which left Ron, Dean, and Harry alone in the War Room.

They stared at each other for a couple of moments.

"So…you're running secret organizations now?" Harry asked his best friend, lightly. "You didn't mention that before."

The tips of Ron's ears went red. "It's not much of one," he muttered. "I'm not Dumbledore. Charlie and Luna aren't the Order of the Pheonix."

"Is it just Charlie and Luna though?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

The look on Ron's face revealed that it was not.

Dean gave Ron an appraising look. He didn't like the man. But he had never really seen him as anything more than an extension of his annoying wife. The comic relief of the trio.

"The whole idea for it came from you, you know," Ron said. "Not Dumbledore."

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. That whole operation you had running here in the States. It was impressive. And far more massive than any of us knew before you…"

"Died," Dean finished for him.

Ron glared. "Yeah. That. We thought it was just to protect these aresholes, but it was so much more, wasn't it?"

Dean's face became steel.

Harry shifted a little uncomfortably. "It didn't start that way."

"Yeah, well, neither did this," Ron said. "Did you know it took Ginny nearly a year and a half to find all of your safehouses? Even still, we're not sure we got them all. What were you trying to buy a property in every single State?"

Harry looked down.

"You were, weren't you?" Ron demanded.

"Well, maybe not all of them," Harry said. "Did you figure out the pattern?"

"There was a pattern?"

"Wait. You own safehouses all of the country?" Dean asked. "Why didn't you tell us that? That could have been useful, you know."

"I left them all to you," Harry frowned. "Did you not tell him that?" He asked Ron, surprised. "My will was quite clear."

Ron snorted. "Your will was a piece of crap, mate. Yeah, you left all your assets in the States to them, but you didn't bother to say what all of those were. You looked like one paranoid bastard, you know. A dozen different aliases. Once he gets over the shock of you being back, I'm pretty sure that Percy's gonna have some words for you. It's been a full-time job, managing it all."

"I left it all in a list, but for Sam and Dean's eyes only," he frowned. "Did you not go to the will reading, Dean?" He asked his brother.

Ron scoffed. "They refused to come back to England after your funeral. Naturally, we were all grieving a bit much to have gone into full details about it then."

"We were a little busy. You know – on the run from Leviathan and trying to stop the world from ending. Again," he defended. "Sam spent a whole friggin' year at Hogwarts, you could have involved him then."

"He just as much of a stubborn prat as you!" Ron shouted. "Wouldn't look at a single financial document. Said he didn't want any of it."

"We didn't want your pity money!"

"It wasn't pity money, it was what Harry wanted, but per usual, you didn't give a flying fuck about what he wanted. Only your own selfish desires," Ron sneered.

"Hey…" Harry started to interrupt.

"We were selfish? Us?" Dean interrupted, ignoring Harry entirely. "Where were you when he needed you? In England, playing politics. Badly. He needed friends and since you couldn't be bothered, Sam and I stepped in."

"He was never suicidal until he met the two of you!"

"He met us when he was fourteen. And he was an alcoholic before he ever came back to the States."

"Yeah, because he was so upset at the shit way that your father treated him. If you hadn't rejected him in the first place, he wouldn't have…"

"Don't you talk about my dad that way," Dean interrupted. "You don't know a friggin' thing about our dad. He wouldn't have allowed him to become a friggin' war general as a seventeen-year-old. I think having to fight in a war made him more of a headcase than anything that happened after he spent a summer with us."

"HEY!" Harry yelled, having heard quite enough. This was mortifying. And heartbreaking. Both men stopped yelling and turned to Harry. "Stop talking about me like I'm not in the room," he said.

"Yeah, well you weren't in the room for a long time, were you?" Dean asked, not ready to drop his anger.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Ron defended. "Harry, come on, you don't need this wanker. Let's get the girls and go."

"Ron…"

"He doesn't want to go with you," Dean sneered. "He wanted nothing to do with you when he got back. Who did he come to? His family. You can leave Charlie and Luna here, but I want you out of our Bunker."

Ron recoiled.

"DEAN!" Harry yelled, upset. "It's not true, Ron," he said, pleading to his best friend.

"Then what is true?" Dean asked, not backing down one bit.

Harry sighed. "It's complicated."

Dean looked triumphant. Ron looked crushed.

"Ron, it wasn't like that, that's not why…"

"I'm going to go see if Charlie and Luna need help," Ron said, getting up from his seat at the table and moving swiftly out of the room.

Dean leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table.

"Dean…" Harry started.

"What?" Dean asked. "Did I say anything that wasn't true? You were terrified of them. I've got your back, man, don't worry."

Harry fixed him with a frosty stare. It wasn't a familiar bitch face, like what Sam would do, it was something…deeper than that. Dean felt his stomach shift a little.

"You're an idiot," was all Harry said, before, he left the room too.

III

Dog growls could be heard outside of the Impala. "She's here," Sam said to the young woman that was being unfairly targeted by one of Crowley's hellhounds. The hellhound pounced onto the Impala, denting the hood and cracking the windshield. "It's ok. It's ok. Stay calm," Sam said.

"We should leave," she argued.

"No. I gotta take care of this. It's the only way she'll stop." He grabbed an angel blade from his bag. "Stay in the car!" Sam commanded.

"Ok," she replied, sounding more than happy to stay out of the fight.

Sam got out of the Impala, wearing the glasses treated with holy fire so that he could see the beast. Only seconds later, the dog is on him, knocking the glasses off and pinning him to the ground. Sam was pretty sure this was going to be it for him when the girl he had just told to stay in the car saved him by hitting the hellhound on the head with the cooler from the Impala's backseat. That gave Sam time to get to his feet.

He could no longer see the hellhound though. Looking closely at the ground he saw pawprints in the dust. As the dog went in for the kill, Sam stabbed her with the angel blade. She fell to the ground, dead.

Sam let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

Just minutes later, Mary and Crowley caught up with the two of them. Mary's eyes went wide when she saw the car.

"Dean's gonna kill you," she said.

Sam grunted.

"So, it's over?" The young woman asked.

"It's over," Crowley confirmed, looking a little mournfully at his dead dog. He was surprised when the woman hugged him suddenly. "Yeah, dog dead," he said, shifting away from her. "Must be going."

"Hey, Crowley, wait a second," Sam said. "Um…thank you."

Crowley gave him a cocky smile before disappearing.

"He seems nice," the woman said.

Mary looked like she couldn't quite believe that anyone would call the King of Hell nice. But she couldn't deny that he had been helpful. "Let's go," she said.

Sam nodded with agreement.

III

Mary and Sam were standing outside of the car she had driven to town. "Mom, are you sure…"

Mary sighed. She had been steeling herself for this conversation with Sam since she had come to town. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on Teddy," she said. "And I'm helping people."

Sam looked at her warily. "They've been keeping him safe?" He asked.

"As far as I can tell. I don't have a lot of contact. I had to do a lot of damage control for not disclosing who Harry was. I think they believed me that I didn't know but they're watching me. But they've kept their word – he hasn't been out in the field since the vampire incident."

Sam nodded stiffly. "Just…stay safe."

Mary smiled at him softly. "You do the same. And take care of your brothers, would you? I shouldn't say it, but you are far more level-headed than either one of them."

He smiled a little at that. "Of course, Mom."

"Good boy," she said, getting into the car. "I'll be in contact whenever I can."

III

Harry set Luna, Charlie, and Ron up in a safe house nearby. One of the few that they had not discovered yet. Which was surprising, considering its close proximity to the Bunker. Harry wondered if he had subconsciously chosen this place because of the wards. He hadn't spoken much to Dean since his argument with Ron and had chosen to sequester himself to the magical section of the Bunker. Which was fine with Dean, as he was still steaming.

Sam came home to find Dean sitting miserably by himself in his room, headphones on full blast.

"How's Mom?" Dean asked immediately, turning his music off as soon as he saw his youngest brother.

Sam sighed. "I think she's fine. I worry about the British Men of Letters, though."

Dean snorted. "No kidding."

"You mentioned that Charlie, Luna, and Ron stopped by? How'd that go?" The look on Dean's face told Sam everything that he needed to know about how that went. He wondered if he needed to go find Harry to see what damage had been done.

"Charlie was about to download some magical data onto – you know, I don't even know. But she and Luna are going through it at a safe house not far from here. I'm sure you can get all the specifics from them later. They're coming over again soon," he said the last part with disgust.

"I thought you liked Charlie and Luna," Sam frowned.

"Yeah. Luna's weird, but she makes Charlie happy, so she's cool."

"Ah. Ron then."

Dean scowled.

"He's not my favorite either, you know," Sam said.

"Really?" That surprised Dean, who had thought that Sam was buddy-buddy with all of Harry's British friends.

"Yeah. He was a real dick the year I was at Hogwarts. Hates my guts."

"Did he hurt you?" Dean asked, heckles rising.

"No, no, of course not," Sam said. He was going to say more, but Dean's phone rang.

"Cas, what's up?" He answered, putting the angel on speakerphone so that Sam could hear the conversation too.

"Hey, I think I know where Kelly Kline is," his friend responded. "Or rather, who she's with."

"Yeah?" Dean asked hopefully. He found it hard to believe that anything was working in their favor.

"She's with Gabriel."

"Harry's Gabriel?" Sam asked. "Great, so where's Gabriel?"

"I have no idea. He's too well hidden."

"Didn't you find him once before?" Dean demanded.

"Yes. But I suspect he's moved," Castiel responded. "I'm sure that your brother knows where he is, though."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other. They figured that Harry knew exactly where Gabriel was, but they doubted that he would tell them if he hadn't already done so.

"All right," Dean said to Cas. "We'll ask him. Let us know if you find anything."

"Of course," Cas responded. He hung up.

"He sound weird to you?" Dean asked Sam.

Sam shrugged. "He's always a bit weird about Harry, isn't he?"

Dean grunted in response.

III

Kelly didn't know if archangels slept or not. Gabriel would often disappear for hours at a time – but she wasn't confident if that was because he was resting or if he had gone out to find some prostitutes. Either seemed likely for the angel.

It seemed that angels were nothing like how they were described in the Bible. Or how she had grown up thinking they should be.

She put her hand on her belly. She was showing more than she should be in this part of her pregnancy. Kelly didn't know what Gabriel had done to the doctor that had made a house call to come and see her, but he had seemed convinced that she was in her third, not first, trimester.

Wisely, she hadn't corrected him.

She contemplated her situation here. Gabriel had given her everything she needed. Clothes, food, fresh air, medical care, entertainment. There had not been a single request he had denied her – not even a walk on a beach. Kelly even talked to her parents more regularly than she had when she had been working for the President.

But she knew a cage when she saw one. And a jailor, no matter how pleasant (if not slightly inappropriate at times) still meant that she was a prisoner.

Lately, she had been having dreams. Dreams that lulled her in with visions of her raising a golden-haired child with a beautiful laugh and an even more beautiful soul. Kind, caring but stuck in this condo with her.

As he got older, he got sadder. He would ask his mother why he wasn't allowed to leave. To have friends. She could feel his sadness growing and growing. To the point where he begged her to just let him go to Heaven and leave this Earth.

She would wake up sobbing, her child leaving her because he just couldn't handle the life that she had given him. Instead of her dying in childbirth, her son would be doomed to a life of solitary loneliness.

When she was finally able to cry herself back to sleep, the dreams would change.

If she left this place, she would not have the creature comforts that she was currently enjoying.

It would be tough for a little bit, but a man, one whose face she couldn't quite make out would take them in. Love them. Both her and her son.

And Jack would be happy.

Her dreams had been like this for weeks. Relentless. Endless sadness rectified by endless happiness.

Kelly was finally at her breaking point. She watched as Gabriel disappeared into the room that she presumed was his bedroom – although she had never gone in there herself.

She put her hand to her belly and thought, prayed, 'I chose your happiness over mine, Jack,' she thought to him. Her mind was made up. It might take her some time, but she would start preparing now. Gather, observe, and then get on the road. Away from this to a place where, someday, her son could be happy.

III

Sam found Harry in his room. His brother had his nose buried in a book, which was not that common of a sight. Harry liked research just about as much as Dean, but after years of being forced into it by Hermione, grumbled slightly less about it.

"Oh, Sam, you're back," he said, looking up.

Sam gave him a bitchface. Harry's skill at interpreting them wasn't as good as Dean's, but he knew that this one meant something along to lines of – 'Don't play dumb.'

"How much of it did you hear?"

"How much of what?" Harry asked innocently. Which might have worked. If Sam wasn't more experienced with brothers. For having not grown up with them, Harry's facial expressions mirrored Dean's often enough that Sam could see straight through him.

Sam didn't justify that with a response, just raised his eyebrows.

Harry relaxed his shoulders a little. "Fine. All of it."

"That's what I thought," Sam said. "And?"

"And what?" Harry asked stubbornly.

Sam fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Is she with Gabriel? And do you know where that is?"

"Haven't the foggiest," Harry lied.

"Harry…" Sam said with a warning in his voice. It was at times like this when he felt like the oldest of the brothers. Both Harry and Dean could be such children.

"Fine. So, what if I do? You going to force the information out of me, take Kelly Kline from an archangel, and then kill her and her baby?" Harry asked fiercely. "She's safe where she is."

"Harry, we don't want to kill Kelly and her baby, but that child…"

"Is a child. A baby."

"But if the wrong people get their hands on them…"

"She's with Gabriel. I can't think of anywhere safer for her to be. Castiel can't find her, can he? That means that any other angels will have an equally difficult time."

"He's been following her trail, it's only a matter of time…" Sam caught the look on Harry's face as he said that. It was fleeting, but there. "What did you do?" He demanded.

"Didn't do anything," Harry said.

"Uh huh, sure," Sam said. He hoped it was nothing stupid.

"The point is, Kelly is safe. You and Dean don't need to worry about her. I think we have bigger concerns at the moment."

"Bigger than the birth of the Devil's son?"

"Yeah. For starters, the Devil himself…"

"Lucifer's in his cage," Sam said.

A look of immense guilt crossed Harry's face. Sam felt his heart beating faster. "Lucifer is in his cage," he insisted again.

"About that…"

III

"And you didn't think to tell us until just now?" Dean was incensed. "How long have you known?"

Harry squirmed. "Not that long. Gabriel told me…"

"When did you last talk to Gabriel?" Sam interrupted also extremely displeased. He had thought that they had gotten past the secret keeping.

"Just before the whole thing at the British Men of Letters compound," Harry admitted.

Dean slammed his hand down on the table. "God damn it, Harry."

Harry flinched.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sam asked.

"I wasn't trying to keep a secret!" Harry insisted. "It just…slipped my mind."

"It slipped your mind that the Devil is not in his cage? This is Lucifer we're talking about." Dean wanted to cry. Which, of course, he wouldn't. But he had thought that they had it taken care of. Only to be proven wrong. Again.

"I know, I know," Harry said. "But he hasn't been causing trouble. And if he could have found Kelly and the baby, he would have already."

"Call Cas," Sam said suddenly. "He needs to know."

"Oh, come in, it's not…" The twin glares he got from Sam and Dean shut Harry up.

Dean pulled out his phone to call the angel. It rang. And rang. "You've reached my voicemail. Now, make your voice … a mail."

"Damnit, Cas," Dean said into the phone. "Lucifer's still out there. Call me back." He hung up. "You better hope that he's ok."

"Or what?" Harry asked.

"Or…"

"Dean…"

"Or, I'll rip your throat out," Dean finished. "Really man? You haven't changed at all have you? You're the same selfish dick you were before you died."

Harry stepped back as if stung. For once, Sam didn't feel like correcting Dean. When Harry looked to him for support, he just gave him a steely face.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, almost desperately.

"Do you at least know where he is?" Sam asked, on edge.

Harry shook his head. "No. He's hidden from me."

"Of course," Dean said, throwing his hands up. "That would be too much. What about Cas? Can you at least find him?"

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated. Finding other beings was something he was usually good at. But he felt…nothing. He opened his eyes. "He's not anywhere," he said, panicking.

"What'd'you mean?" Dean asked.

"I can't find him."

"But you can't find Lucifer either," Sam said.

"I can't, but I can feel him. If I wanted to, I could talk to him. But I…I can't feel Castiel. I think…I don't think that he's on Earth at all."

Dean wanted to scream.

"It's ok, Dean, we just talked to him, right?" Sam asked, trying to keep himself calm as much as he was trying to calm down his brother. "Maybe…maybe he's just figured out how to hide. You know, while searching for Kelly."

"Or he's dead," Dean said.

"Or he's in Heaven," Sam pointed out. "You can't access normal Heaven, right? Maybe he decided to reach out to them, after all."

Harry shook his head. "I can't." That seemed like the most likely reason that he couldn't find Castiel. It hadn't ever occurred to him before – but he had never been in direct angel communication with an angel physically in Heaven. He could hear angel radio – but only when they were loud and angry enough.

"You better hope he's in Heaven," Dean threatened.

Harry felt panic start to bubble up. He knew this time would come, just didn't think that it would be so soon. Especially not over Castiel, of all people. "I'll just – I'll go," he said. "Just to check on Ron and Luna," he said when he saw that Sam was protesting.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Dean said harshly.

III

Harry had promised himself that he wouldn't run away anymore. This action only partially followed that promise. It wasn't like he was going far. He was going to give his brothers time to cool off. Or the time to decide that he had outlived his usefulness.

Of course, he had meant to tell them about Lucifer right away, but he understood why they would doubt him. He hadn't been exactly forthcoming in his former life, nor had he even told them everything now. He was keeping secrets – he couldn't deny that.

But it still hurt like hell.

It hurt enough for him to once again wonder if he was doing the right thing, being here, on Earth.

He couldn't seek solace in a bottle (although he had been tempted to ask Gabriel for Ambrosia several times since coming back) and it wasn't like there was a mind healer that he could go to either. He scoffed at the idea in his head. 'Yes, Healer, you see I was a wizard, but then I died, destroying the happiness of all my friends and family. Now, I'm an angel, and all I want is to either be human again or to simply return to Heaven where I can't hurt anyone anymore.'

They'd lock him up. Or want to, at least.

He flew into the house where his friends were staying. He was invisible because he was racked with indecision.

In the small living room, Luna was sitting upright on the sofa, a book in her hands. Nestled against her was Charlie, who was lying down, taking up the rest of the space. She was fast asleep.

They looked happy.

So happy that Harry couldn't bring himself to feel any jealousy. Luna deserved this. Luna deserved the world.

After a couple of moments, Luna gently patted Charlie on the shoulder.

"Sunshine, I think we should get you to bed," she said gently.

"But I'm comfy here," the redhead mumbled back, still half asleep. Luna kissed her lightly on the head.

"I know, but your neck will hurt in the morning."

Charlie just nestled in tighter. "You'll give a potion to make it all better, babe," she said.

Luna laughed quietly. "Come on, Charlie, let's get you to bed."

Charlie sighed. "Mm'kay," she got up. "Love you."

"Love you too," Luna said, helping her up. Harry could swear that she saw Luna's eyes flicker over to him.

Sure enough, before he could make his mind on whether or not to whisper out to her after she got back, Luna came back down the stairs.

"You seem sad, Harry," she said simply.

He made himself visible.

"You could see me?"

She hummed back at him. "I couldn't see you. But I could see you."

Somehow that didn't surprise him.

"How are you doing, Harry?" She asked him sincerely.

Harry felt warm tears start to roll down his face. No one had asked him that in a long time. The answer was not well.

She came over to him and gathered him in a hug without saying anything. They just stood there for a couple of minutes until Harry pulled back.

"Do you want to talk?" She asked. He nodded his head. "Let's go somewhere else. Don't want to wake Charlie or Ron," she said.

"You ok flying?"

Luna grinned. "I'd love nothing more than to fly with you."

Harry put his arm around her shoulder and flew the two of them to the one place that he had always been the most comfortable.

Even though it was the middle of the night, the lights from the castle still shone in the lake. The air was thick and magical. Harry breathed out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. He was home. Finally.

"Hogwarts is happy to see you," Luna said.

Harry didn't respond to that, but he didn't doubt it. He was happy to see it.

"What's the matter?" She asked gently.

Harry sighed. "Everything."

"Tell me about it."

And he did. Everything – because he wasn't sure how much of an explanation she had gotten on anything. He started with Gabriel coming to find him. He talked about the terror he felt being back. The doubts. About Ginny and Sam. And how he just kept getting it all wrong. He cried through a lot of it.

Luna just listened.

"I just – I don't know how to be anymore. It's like I'm a monster – one of the kinds that Sam and Dean are going to have to kill to protect the world. I just want to contain it before too much damage is done and help as many people as I can before it's time."

"Harry James John Winchester Potter," Luna said sternly, surprising him with all his names. "You are not a monster. I have never met anyone less monstrous than you."

"But I just told you, everything…"

"Harry, do you think monsters question whether or not they are monsters?"

"No?"

"No, they do not. Now, I've listened to you – now you will listen to me," she said.

It was with an air of authority that he wasn't used to hearing from his friend, so he just stared at her.

She seemed satisfied that he wouldn't interrupt her.

"You, my friend, are so filled with love that you did and would again sacrifice your life so that everyone you love has the best possible chance to live full and happy lives. And your love is felt by so many. Not just your friends and your family, but all the people you worked with, who you taught, who you led. You even love those who have hurt you the most."

"I do not!" Harry scoffed, knowing that she was referring to Castiel.

"You do. You love him because your brothers do and that makes him family. Your love is so deep and enduring that you can forgive the man responsible for your death because of who he is to Sam and Dean. But what you need now is to see how much you're loved. Unconditionally loved for every flawed part of you. I love you. Ron and Hermione love you. Sam and Dean and Gabriel and Castiel and Mary, all love you. Ginny loves you."

Harry looked down and blinked back tears. "She doesn't."

"She does. More than she can handle. More than she can explain. She loves you enough to hold you accountable for loving yourself. She loves you so much that she isn't going to let you hurt her again because she knows what that would do to you."

"I – I can't be anything to her anymore."

"You can't be her friend?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know what her desires are – I haven't asked, but, Harry, at the end of the day what do you think she missed the most about you? She missed her best friend."

'Oh,' Harry thought. "But I'm not human."

"Harry, you are the most human person I know."

"But – " he looked back at his wings. Which he knew Luna could see.

"Those don't take away your humanity."

"Don't they?"

"No," she said fiercely. "What does it mean to be human, anyway?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted.

"No one does for sure. But to wonder about your humanity and to contemplate what it means – that seems very human to me."

The sun was beginning to rise over the lake.

Harry thought on it. The two of them sat in total silence for what felt like hours. And maybe it had been. He felt a surge of hope.

Luna smiled at him.

"There you are," she said. "Ready to go home?"

He smiled back at her. "Yes," and he truly meant it.

"Good," she replied. She held out her hand.

He took it and flew them back.

AN – Harry's pep talk of the chapter brought to you by Luna! It'll maybe actually sink in one of these days. And yes, our boys are always arguing with each other. Sometimes I have no control over them. They just love to bicker.

This chapter's scene from the episode it's based in are mostly just to keep the plot grounded in canon for the time being. The Hell Hound getting loose is too much of an important plot line to this season to leave out.

I'm going to be updating the tags soon for some of the darker stuff that is coming up. I think it's still mostly canon typical, but I don't want to blindside anyone, so please keep an eye out for those and specific content warnings on upcoming chapters.

As always, thank you so much to everyone who interacts. I know how lucky I am to have all of y'all and please know that you really help me keep writing.