Cowboys and Angels (A Dean Winchester/ Supernatural FanFiction)

Chapter 24: Angel with a Shotgun

Chapter 24: Angel with a Shotgun

This seemed to be becoming a regular thing—me passing out at inopportune moments I mean; though, this time it wasn't quite my fault. My entire body hurt, and moving was a struggle. Every limb felt heavy, and I wanted to sleep more than anything else, but something in the back of my mind compelled me to open my eyes and get up.

Where I woke up; however, was not anywhere close to where I had started. I cracked my eyes open, expecting my senses to be overcome by bright lights, but was met with an almost warm glow, contrary to the cold ground that was under me. I pushed myself up, my muscles screaming in protest.

Pain split through my back, and I cried out, reaching back and feeling around. Blood had soaked through my shirt—coming from two gashes I had gotten previously that I thought had healed. Wiping the blood now on my hand on my jeans, I blinked slowly, clearing the fuzziness from my vision, looking around in earnest.

I appeared to be in some kind of cell, black stone walls surrounding me. Upon further inspection I found that they felt warm to the touch, and had a faint orange-ish red glow to them. This definitely wasn't the library, and I'd even go as far as to say this most likely wasn't some earthly place either. Shaking my head, I pushed myself onto my feet, heading towards the front of the cell towards the barred gate.

Upon approach, the gate creaked open, and I peered out cautiously, finding that I wasn't the only one present. Dark hallways expended outward to both my left and right, and cells lined every inch of the walls. Almost transparent figures filled each cell, many of them strewn out across the ground as if exhausted, and others grasping at the bars blocking their way and moaning, whereas others had been elevated to a sense of panic and were screaming.

I cautiously headed outside of my cell, looking around warily. Something about this place was familiar. I had been here before—or it felt like I had, part of me had been here; part of me was still here. This was Hell. The realization struck me suddenly, with an alarming swiftness that one only expects to happen once in a lifetime at a pivotal moment. This was that moment for me—I was in Hell; Death had sent me to Hell.

My heart was racing now, and like before, when we had gotten back to the house in the pouring rain, something was compelling me to run, but this time I was unaware of my destination. The souls in their cells grabbed at me as I rushed by, my feet connecting hard with the dark stone below me, the path ahead barely visible in the semi-darkness.

I will admit, Hell was much cooler than I expected, temperature wise of course. Terror was pulling at every one of my nerves, and my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest, but the further I ran, dodging grabbing hands wishing for the freedom I had, the hotter the air seemed to become, and the more I could breathe, as if I was being pulled towards something familiar.

Soon I felt I was nearing my destination, wherever the hell it was, but of course reaching it would be too easy without one trial. Just as I reached an arched stairwell, my eyes adjusted to the darkness, a sharp hand reached out for me. I tried to dodge it, but I missed by a small margin. Flinching, I waited for it to come into contact with my body, but a bright burst of light repelled its cold touch, and a scream rocked the air around me. I watched as the light enveloped it's almost lucid form, turning it to dust that floated to the floor.

Like before with the wendigo, I had been protected by some unforeseen power from what mostly likely would've been my inevitable death. I had a feeling, as I proceeded up the stairs, that I was about to get answers.

The stairs lead to another smaller hallway, far darker than the rest, and far quieter due to its lack of cells. There was a doorway shrouded in shadow at the end, and I could feel heat flowing out from the crack under the door. I moved forward with some caution, but all of the apprehension that had gathered in my chest had faded, and was replaced with curiosity. I placed my hand on the door, the metal hot, and pushed it open.

The room was inevitable covered in obscurity, enveloped in something darker than darkness can described; it's like it was nothing—a void. I stepped forward, jumping when a voice echoed around me.

"At last, she has finally come." I looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint a source, but there was none, until I saw a pair of what appeared to be glowing, bony wings, embers burning away at the already withered feathers hanging from the decrepit form.

"To join us, after thousands of years in obscurity," another deep voice called out, far more menacing than the first. "Gabriel always favored you."

***

A/N: So, it's been almost 3 years since I last touched this. It's also been about that long since I've seen Supernatural. After the struggle that was season 9 and 10, I decided it was time to throw in the towel. 

This fic was my child for almost 3 years, but I moved on and slowly lost interest. I started this chapter as you can tell above, but I should have known better than to think I could finish it. As for how it was supposed to end?

As many of you predicted through my VERY heavy handed foreshadowing, Grayson is indeed the vessel for an angel—more specifically a female archangel and the long lost sister of Lucifer, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael. I don't remember what I was going to name her, but she was cast from heaven after trying to defend Lucifer because he was her brother. Gabriel saved her from being slain by Michael and Raphael and threw her forward in time, where her soul fell into a 16 year old Grayson Smith, who was in the hospital dying from cancer. Grayson miraculously recovered and would go on to be the main character of this story. 

Gabriel retrieved her grace after it fell to earth and hid it away in Hell with Lucifer. That's what this chapter was supposed to be about. After Grayson finds out about the angel inside of her, she goes on a search through Hell for the archangel inside of her's missing grace. Once she retrieves it, she regains her powers and the archangel takes over. She then returns to Earth to save Sam, Dean, and Cas from being slain by the reapers sent after them by Death. Once she accomplishes that, the archangel inside of Grayson explains the situation to the brothers and Cas before letting Grayson take over for a moment to tell Dean that she loves him, and they ascend to Heaven to confront God about the situation of the angels and their free will. 

I thought about a sequel, but obviously I was getting way ahead of myself. I don't miss this fic, but I do miss Grayson on occasion. She makes me nostalgic. I won't be updating this anymore, but I figured I would wrap it up with a small note after almost 3 years of not updating because this fic meant a lot to me at the time. My writing has also greatly improved. 

I just wanted to thank everyone for reading. I don't regret writing all of this, despite how cringe-y it is. I appreciate all of the sweet comments and the votes everyone has given me over the years. They kept me going for a while, but I can only pretend I'm interested in something for so long. 

If anyone is interested, I've moved to posting my writing on:

Tumblr: blackwxtchmccree

AO3: ValkyriaRising

It was a fun few years. Hopefully everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it at the time. And if you've read this far, thank you again. ~SilverRaine/Hannah