The Song Remains the Same

I was summoned to a motel room to see that Sam, Dean and Castiel were standing around a table with the spell to summon me. "Prayer phone works, too, you know."

"We couldn't risk it," Castiel told me. "They could have been listening."

"And they could be listening to us right now," I told them. "What is the point of being a secret on the inside if we keep having these private little chats, huh?"

Dean tossed a hex bag toward me. "That's why we got these." I caught it. "Smartass. Can't hear us. Can't see us. Don't even know where we are. Cloaks all of us, including you, so you can relax."

I looked at the hex bag in my hand.

"What do you know about Anna being captured by the Angels?" Castiel asked.

I sighed, lowering the bag to my side. "Everything."

Sam realized what I meant. "You were there?"

I nodded. "I tried to warn her away. She didn't listen. She didn't know that they had been watching me. They took her back to the prison up in Heaven. Torture her back into shape."

"What do you know of her escape?" Castiel asked.

I scoffed. "Escape." I looked at them to see that they were serious. "She didn't escape. She was let out. There is no escaping that prison unless you're suicidal." I paced around them and the table. "She was jail broke by a group of rogue Angels?"

"More rogue Angels?" Sam asked.

"You thought it was just me and Cas?" I asked. "No. We're the good rogue Angels. The ones that want peace and save everybody. There are others who want to kill some to save some."

"Kill who?" Sam asked.

"Well, you and Dean, for example," I answered.

"What?" Dean asked.

"So Michael and Lucifer can't use you as vessels to participate in the grand finale," I explained. "Anna and her group of rogues want you dead."

"Really?" Dean asked. "Anna? I don't believe it."

"It's true," I told them.

"So, she's gone all Glenn Close, huh?" Dean asked. "That's awesome."

Castiel and I were confused.

"Who's Glenn Close?" Castiel asked.

Dean walked closer to Sam. "No one. Just this psycho bitch who likes to boil rabbits."

I sighed. "But they want to kill you two, the vessels."

"We're not the only ones," Dean told me.

"What, that guy Nick?" I asked. "He's burning away as we speak. No. You two are the only vessels that matter. You know what that means? If they can't take either of you, their whole plan short-circuits. No fight, no Croatoan virus. The Horsemen go back to their day jobs."

"Even if they could... kill Sam and Dean, they would just bring them back to life," Castiel told me.

I shook my head. "Not if they scatter their cells across the universe. They'll never find them. Not all of them." I looked at Sam and Dean. "The things that they say, just over Angel Radio? It's deadly creative and crazy. Things that your worst nightmares wouldn't even touch."

"How's that going?" Sam asked. "How's the Colt working out? Or your search for God to prove to the Angels that you're on their side? Is anything working?"

"No, Sam, come on," Dean told him.

Sam looked from Dean to Castiel and me. "Guys, what do you think? Does Anna have a point?"

Dean looked at Castiel and me.

Castiel looked from Dean and me to Sam. "No. She's, uh, Glenn Close."

Sam shook his head, looking down.

"Are you listening to yourself?" I asked. "Are you actually thinking about giving in, after everything that we've done, and everything you and I talked about?"

Sam didn't answer.

"Sam?" Dean asked.

Sam sighed. "I... I just don't want the universe to go up in flames because of us, Dean. If Anna's way saves everyone else..."

I shook my head. "No. We'll find another way."

"Why do you care?" Dean asked.

I looked at them, slightly incredulous. "Why do I care? Maybe because you're the friends that I am in the middle of this war for."

Castiel seemed understanding, yet surprised that I felt the same as he did. "You've changed."

"So have you," I told him. "Maybe too late, but we have. So we'll just have to find Anna."

"Oh, yeah, the chick that wants to gank us," Dean told us with honest sarcasm. "Why poke the bear?"

"She will keep trying," I told them. "She won't give up until you're dead. So we kill her first."

I heard the voices on Angel Radio getting even louder than usual, holding a hand to my ear, looking up.

"Octavia?" Sam asked.

"They're doing something," I told them.

"Well, that's not vague," Dean told me sarcastically.

I gave Dean a look, lowering my arm to my side.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"The rogues?" I asked. "I could hear them. They're sending Anna back to 1978."

"What?" Sam asked. "Why 1978? We weren't even born yet."

"You won't be if she kills your parents," I told them.

"What?" Sam asked.

I walked closer. "Anna can't get to you because of Cas. So she's going after them."

"Take us back right now," Dean told us.

"And deliver you two right to Anna?" Castiel asked. He looked at me. "Or expose you for everything that you have been doing for us, and what you plan to do? I should go alone."

"They're our parents, Cas," Dean told him. He looked at me. "He's right about keeping our secret weapon... well, a secret, but we're going."

"It's not that easy," Castiel told them, stepping away.

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Time travel was difficult even with the powers of Heaven at my disposal, and it took more than one to do so," Castiel explained.

"The powers of Heaven, which got cut off for both of you," Sam realized. He looked at me. "Well, you still have more leeway than Cas does, but you said that they cut you off some to make you prove to them that you weren't rebelling."

"They did," I told them truthfully.

"So, what, you're like DeLoreans without enough plutonium?" Dean asked.

Castiel shook his head. "I don't understand that reference."

"I can send you back," I told them. "And then I can bring you back." I looked at Castiel. "With your help I'll be strong enough to do both, but it'll weaken the both of us."

Dean stepped closer. "They're our mom and dad. If we can save them, and not just from Anna... I mean, if we can set things right, we have to try."

I sighed, looking away.

*

After dark, Castiel put a ceramic bowl and an Angel blade in a duffle bag.

I turned to Castiel, Sam and Dean. "Ready?"

Sam took the bag from Castiel, pulling it over his shoulder. "Not really."

"Bend your knees," Dean told him.

I sighed, hesitating.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I wish I could go back," I told them. "But..."

"Can't without exposing yourself," Sam finished. "It's okay. We get it."

I took a deep breath, looking up. "Just be careful back there. Don't make all of this for nothing by dying there."

"You show your love in the most weird ways," Dean told me.

I rolled my eyes, looking at Castiel.

Castiel nodded.

Castiel and I, together, were able to send the three of them back to 1978.

I knew that Castiel wouldn't be able to do much in the past because the amount of power it would have taken would make him weak.

I wouldn't be able to do much in the present because the amount of power it did take did make me weak.