Heaven and Hell

We Need Your Help

Ellie slowly comes to in a room with wooden floors and walls, the lights from the ceiling shine bright she can barely see as her eyes start to open. She is still dressed as she was in Indiana. She wipes her eyes trying to adjust to the brightness, she groans slightly and stands up. Everything slowly comes back to her and she gasps as she remembers her last memory was her brother being cut up, she looks around the room trying to figure out where she is, trying not to cry imagining her brother being dead. 
"It was a dream, I am sure of it, he's not dead. But where the hell am I." Ellie says to herself out loud as she looks around the room. 
"It wasn't a dream, Eleanor." A voice comes out from behind, she whips her head round to see the man in the trench coat. She automatically takes a step back and looks into his blue eyes. 
"You." She breathes out, she starts to walk towards him. "Who the hell are you?" She shouts, she checks the back of her trousers for her gun and silently curses when it's not there.
"I'm Castiel. An angel of the Lord." He answers, Ellie looks at him and shakes her head, she looks up and starts to laugh. 
"I mean, you're kidding, right? This is some sort of joke." Ellie snaps, Castiel tilts his head to the side as if to be studying her.
"I don't joke and I certainly do no 'kid'." He tells her, she furrows her eyebrows at him and steps a bit closer towards him. 
"So... er.. if you are an angel... where the hell is your halo and harp?" She asks, Castiel looks at her as if she's stupid and she just nods and takes a step back. "Right... of course.. stupid stereotype... But er... I think I am gonna need more proof than just your word." Ellie explains. Suddenly the lights flicker and from behind Castiel, his wings start to appear in the shadow, her jaw drops at this. The lights stop flickering and the image is gone. "You know, that is pretty cool. You should start doing that for money." Castiel again doesn't laugh at this. "Okay, so not into a humour...." 
"Are you done with your rambling?" Castiel asks the youngest Winchester, she raises her eyebrows.
"Rude." She mutters. "But yes, why am I here?" 
"We need your help." The angel explains, Ellie can't help but stare into his eyes. 
"Need my help with what?" Ellie asks.
"With saving Dean Winchester from Hell." Castiel tells her. Ellie takes a deep breath in, trying not to think about her brother being in hell. 
"Where's Sam?" Ellie questions avoiding the topic of her brother in Hell. 
"He is not of import at the moment." Castiel states. Ellie straightens at this statement and moves closer towards the angel again. 
"Not of import?! That is my brother you son of a bitch." Ellie snaps at him. No one, not even an angel of the Lord will stop Ellie from seeing her brother, Castiel quickly recognises the anger on the young woman's face.
"He is safe and well, you will be reunited in due course, but we need to focus on the task in hand." Castiel explains. 
"Task in hand?! What are you on about? A few minutes ago I was pinned up to a wall watching my brother be a hellhound's chew toy! Do you expect me to just sit here like a good little student and start taking notes?!" Ellie states staring the angel into his eyes, as the angel looks at the youngest Winchester in her eyes, seeing the pain and torment she's been through, he cannot help but feel sympathetic but as he looks deeper he starts to feel an emotion that he can't quite recognise, as they stare at each other for what feels like eternity, they do not notice that there is another presence in the room. 
"Castiel." The voice calls out. Ellie and the angel whip their heads round to see a middle aged man standing in an all black suit. 
"Uriel." Castiel says back. Ellie looks between the two still trying to wrap her head around the whole situation. 
"Who's this clown?!" Ellie blurts out trying to understand what is going on. 
"I'd suggest you keep your mouth shut until you are spoken to, woman." Uriel states to her. Ellie raises her eyebrows at the man, she assumes he is another angel and all the fear she was initially feeling drains from her body as she stares at him. 
"Please tell me you did not just call me 'woman'! Who knew that angels could be such sexist douchebags, you shall address me by my name or do not address me at all." Ellie snaps at him, Castiel cannot help but inwardly smirk at this and feel a bit relieved that she is someone who will stand up to the cocky angel. 
"You do know who you are talking to, don't you?" Uriel spits back at her. 
"Yes, I get it. Oh my! An angel of the Lord! You know I am liking your friend a lot more than you right now." Ellie states to the grumpy angel, Castiel starts to feel something in his stomach that he can't quite put a finger on. "Look, I don't understand what is happening here but I need to see my brothers." 
"This is why you are here, Eleanor. We need your help to save your brother... You will see Sam in due course but if it calms you to know - he is okay. But we cannot allow you to see him." Castiel explains. 
"It's Ellie. And if you think I'm not gonna see my brother then you can stick this whole thing where the sun don't shine." Ellie spits at the angels. Uriel grabs her face and pulls her in close to his face.
"Listen here, human. All you need to know is Sam Winchester is alive. But I suggest you listen to what we are saying if you want to save Dean because I am already getting sick and tired of you and I trust me when I say I could not care less about leaving your brother rotting in Hell. So shut up and listen." Uriel hisses at her. Ellie pushes him away from her and straightens up, clenching her jaw. 
"Okay, fine. What do you need me to do?" Ellie says with a sigh. 
"We are going to need your help getting in and out of hell." Castiel explains. "We angels cannot go in and out easily, we need someone to go in and open the door for us." 
"And that person is me?" Ellie asks looking at him in disbelief. 
"Yes. It has always been you, you are the Winchester boys' protector. You have been all your life." Castiel states in a matter of fact tone. 
"Well, family look out for each other." She shrugs and then wraps her arms around herself. "So, what have I gotta do to save Dean?" 
"Have you heard of purgatory?" Uriel asks. 
"What? Like the space between heaven and hell? That's a myth isn't it?" Ellie questions, Castiel and Uriel shake their heads. 
"Oh, it is far from a myth. It is real. And it is the only way to access Hell without raising any alarm bells." Uriel explains, Ellie nods. 
"Okay... So, I'll go through purgatory... That won't be too bad will it?" She asks them. Castiel quickly looks down and then back at the Winchester. 
"Purgatory is where every bad creature goes, vampires, shapeshifters... Everything you kill... So, when you get there, you will have a lot of enemies. We can get you there but we cannot be sure about the exact location we drop you, so you will have to find the door to Hell yourself, we aren't sure how long that will take." Castiel explains. Ellie starts pacing, her arms still tightly wrapped around herself, she quickly looks up at the blue-eyed angel and feels her stomach become knotted, she quickly shakes her head, taking her eyes off of him. "I will be able to hear you if you pray, I can give you some guidance when you get down there but I cannot promise your safety." Ellie stops pacing and looks at the two angels 
"Alright I'll do it. But I have a couple of questions first." Ellie says. Castiel nods and she continues. "So firstly, how am I meant to find this doorway to Hell?"
"In Purgatory, there is one stream. You need to follow the direction of the water, you need to keep following it until the end. It might not feel like it, but it will end. At the end is a cave, the entrance to hell is through this cave. Once you are in Hell, you'll have to perform a spell." Uriel answers. 
"A spell? I am not a witch." Ellie points out.
"Anyone can perform this spell, it will require you to paint a symbol on the door of Hell, in your blood of course." Uriel informs her, she throws her hands and nods quickly. 
"Of course! Of course it would have to be blood" Ellie states with sarcasm. 
"Watch it." Uriel snaps, she puts her hands up in self defence and gives him a sickly sweet smile. 
"The symbol in on this piece of paper, keep it with you all the time when you're in there. The words you have to say are also written on it." Castiel explains, handing her a piece of paper, she studies it closely before putting it in her pocket. 
"So all I gotta do is walk through the purgatory and kill every evil thing that happens to wanna kill me too, follow a stream for god knows how long, open a door to Hell and perform a spell." Ellie states, the angels watch the youngest Winchester closely as her face contorts into a manic smile. "Alright, sign me up. If it will get Dean back, I will happily do it. Oh, and one more question. Cas, I hope it's alright to call you that, it will just make it easier. Why did I keep seeing you every now and then throughout the year?" 
"Because I needed to make sure you were the right person for the task, and I watched you closely this year. I am happy that you are the one to do this." Castiel explains, Ellie can't help but smile at the blue eyed angel as he gave her a half hearted compliment. 
"Well, I mean... Of course I am the right one. I am the best Winchester after all, but hey speaking of Winchesters can I at least tell Sam I am okay? He will be worried sick, and Bobby." 
"No. No one can know you're alive. I have heard rumours of your brother associating himself with a demon, if any one of those cockroaches figure out you are alive this plan will fail." Uriel tells her, Ellie looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. 
"What, do you mean Ruby? Lilith sent her ass back to Hell." Ellie states. 
"Well, in anyway this is the only way we can do it. You will be able to see your brother as soon as you've completed this task." Uriel huffs, getting fed up with the woman in front of him.
"Alright, alright grumpy. I get it. Just a few more things, how do I get out?" Ellie asks. 
"When you have done the spell to let us in, we will then be able to join you there, then we will find your brother and get you both out." Castiel explains. 
"Okay, cool. So I just gotta fight off a load of monsters for god knows how long. Cool. Cool. It's funny isn't it, that kinda is like Hell but then I gotta do all of that to actually get to Hell." Ellie chuckles a bit, when she looks up and sees that neither of them are laughing she quickly stops and straightens up. "Alright then chuckles, send me down." 
"Wait. Take this." Castiel says as a silver blade slides out of his sleeve and into his hand. "This is an angel blade, it will kill any creature in there, including demons." Ellie smiles and takes the blade examining it closely, Uriel comes up to Castiel.
"Brother, is it wise to give her your blade? I mean look at her, can she be trusted?" Uriel questions, Ellie snaps her head up and looks at him. 
"Can I be trusted? Look here junkless, when my family is involved I don't mess around. If there is even a slither of a chance of saving Dean then I will do it and I would die for the cause. When my brothers are involved I highly suggest you don't piss me off." Ellie spits at him, Castiel cannot help but inwardly smirk again at this as the woman in front of him becomes more and more unpredictable. "That brings me on to another point, if I am not allowed to see Sam then you better make sure nothing bad happens to him because mark my words I will kill you all if I come back to find him dead. You have even given me the blade to do it with." 
"The Winchester boys' protector. Look at you. So much fire in there, I hope that saves your life when we send you down towards the pit." Uriel sneers at her. 
"Speaking of, I'd suggest you send me down there before I do something I definitely won't regret." Ellie spits out as she moves towards him, before she can get any closer Castiel puts a hand on her shoulder and like that the scene immediately changes around her. The angel reluctantly removes his hand from Ellie's shoulder as she spins round observing the surroundings, as far as the eye can see there is only woods. There is an eerie silence which causes her to tighten her grip on her blade. Purgatory.