My Heart Will Go On

Balthazar had gone back in time to save a ship by the name of the Titanic from sinking. Everyone had survived, which led to 50,000 descendants.

And now more and more of those descendants were dying, because Fate, Atropos, was killing them to right the wrong.

Sam and Dean went to check only one of the many places that Atropos was killing the survivors.

Atropos made them and was trying to kill them inside of a building, stopping time, turning the gas dials open on several stoves. Time restarted.

"Hello?" Dean called. His flashlight died. "Oh, come on."

"You got a lighter?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Dean answered. "Okay."

Dean pulled out the lighter, trying to flick it.

"Oh, come on," Sam told him. "It's out of juice or something?"

"It shouldn't be," Dean told him.

The lighter finally sparked, the gas in the air catching fire.

Castiel and I pulled them out before the ignited gas reached them, teleporting very far away into a clearing in a woods after dark.

Sam and Dean looked around in confusion, turning to face us.

"Cas," Dean told him in relief. "Ava."

"Hello, Dean," Castiel told him. "Sam."

"Hey, thanks, man," Sam told us. "Where are we?"

"White Russia," I answered.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Are you aware of what your frat bro did?" Dean asked.

"We're aware," Castiel answered. "Balthazar can be impetuous."

"Well, riddle me this," Dean told us. "If Fate's going after the boat people, why'd she try to waste me and Sam?"

"Well, I imagine she harbors a certain degree of rage toward you," Castiel answered.

"What did we do?" Sam asked.

"Nothing of import," I told them sarcastically, stepping past them. "Just the tiny matter of averting the Apocalypse and rendering her obsolete." I turned to face them. "I think maybe she's a little irritated about that. And then you go and dangle yourselves in front of her..."

Dean looked at Sam. "So we've pissed Fate off personally."

"If I know her—and I do—she won't stop until you're dead," I told them.

"Awesome," Dean said sarcastically. "So what do we do?"

"Kill her," Castiel answered.

"Kill Fate?" Sam asked.

"Do you have another suggestion?" Castiel asked.

"No," Sam answered. "I'm—I just mean, uh... Can you even do that?"

"Balthazar has a weapon that will work against her," I told them.

"Of course he does," Dean told me. "Yeah. Boy, that guy's just got it covered, doesn't he? You need new friends, Octavia."

"I'm trying to save the ones I have, Dean," I told him. "We'll have to draw her out."

"All right, well, uh, she's gunning for us," Sam told us. "She's bound to surface again eventually."

"We'll make it easy for her," I told them. "I think you have an expression for it. 'Tempting Fate'."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look, looking at Castiel and me as if asking if we were serious.

I smiled a small smile.

*

The next day, in Chester, Pennsylvania, Sam and Dean were walking down the sidewalk.

"Okay, so, we're just gonna meet our fate any time, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "Just walk. Act normal."

Sam and Dean walked past a set of stairs.

A skateboarder sailed right past them, leaving.

"Okay," Dean said.

"That's fine," Sam told him.

A bicyclist rode down the steps, toward them, swerving around them, leaving.

Sam and Dean watched him go nervously, continuing on.

A man with three large barking dogs walked down the steps.

Sam and Dean exchanged a nervous look, slowly starting to walk upstairs.

The man and the dogs continued past them without delivering harm, leaving.

Sam and Dean nodded, walking along. They stopped walking.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Dean told him.

They had stopped in front of a group of street performers who were juggling swords and hatchets.

"All right, just—just keep walking," Sam told him.

"Sam, they're jugging knives," Dean told him. "And hatchets."

"Yeah, I know," Sam told him. The jugglers switched the knives and hatchets out for torches. "Can't avoid fate."

Sam and Dean walked between the jugglers, remaining unharmed. They came across a man with a jammed nail gun.

The man pointed the jammed nail gun at Dean, trying to unjam it.

Dean cringed. "Ah."

Nothing happened.

"All right," Sam told him. "I don't get it."

"I don't either," Dean told him. "Who do you got to kill to get killed around here?"

"Maybe Cas and Ava were wrong," Sam told him.

"Look out!" a man called.

A huge air conditioner fell out of the building Sam and Dean were passing, falling directly toward them, about to crush them.

Time froze.

*

Sam and Dean were still directly under the falling air condition. Time was still frozen.

I approached them.

"Octavia," Atropos told me.

I turned to face her. "Atropos. You look well."

"I look like stomped over crap, because of you and your friends," Atropos told me.

Castiel walked closer. "All right, let's talk about this."

"Talk?" Atropos repeated. "About what? Maybe about how both of you and those two circus clowns destroyed my work. You ruined my life."

"Let's not get emotional," Castiel told her.

"Not get emotional?" Atropos repeated incredulously. "I had a job. God gave me a job. We all had a script. I worked hard. I was really, really good at what I did. Until the day of the big prize fight. And then what happens? You throw out the book."

"Well, I'm sorry," I told her. "But freedom is more preferable."

"Freedom?" Atropos repeated. "This is chaos. How is it better? You know, I even went to Heaven just to ask what to do next, and you know what? No one would even talk to me."

"There are more pressing matters at hand," Castiel told her.

"But I don't know what happens next," Atropos told us. "I need to know. It's what I do."

"I'm sorry," Castiel told her. "But your services are no longer required."

"You know what?" Atropos asked. "I've kept my mouth shut. I could have complained, I could have raised a fuss, but I didn't. But you know what the last straw is? Un-sinking the Titanic. You changed the future. You cannot change the past. That is going too far."

"It's Balthazar," Castiel told her. "He's erratic—"

"Bull crap," Atropos told him. "This isn't about some stupid movie. He's under your orders, Castiel. You sent him back to save that ship."

"No, I didn't," Castiel told him. "Why would I?"

"Oh, maybe because you're in the middle of a war and you're desperate?" Atropos suggested. I looked at Castiel in confusion. "Come on. This is about the souls."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told her.

Atropos looked at me. "That, I believe. That Angel went and created 50,000 new souls for your friend's war machine."

"You're confused," Castiel told her.

"No," Atropos told him. "You can't just mint money, Castiel. It's wrong. It's dangerous. And I won't let you."

"You don't have a choice," Castiel told her.

"Maybe I don't," Atropos told us. "So here's a choice for you. If you don't go back and sink that boat, I'm gonna kill your two favorite pets."

"I won't let you," I told her.

"Oh, yeah?" Atropos asked. "What are you gonna do?"

"Do you really want to test me?" I asked.

"Okay," Atropos told us. "Fine. But think about this. I've got two sisters out there. They're bigger, in every sense of the word. Kill me? Sam and Dean are target one. For simple vengeance. You're not fighting a war or anything, right? You can't watch them every millisecond of every day. Because maybe you've heard. Fate strikes when you least expect it."

I looked behind Atropos to see Balthazar raising a blade to kill her. "Balthazar, stop."

Atropos turned to see Balthazar.

Balthazar stopped. "Ah. Awkward."

"Set things right before I flick your precious boys off a cliff just on principle," Atropos told us.

"Uh, sweetie, before we go, um, I could remove that stick from your—" Balthazar started.

"Don't try me," Atropos told him.

"We'll leave it inserted, then," Balthazar told her. "All right, then. Let's sink the Titanic."

Time unfroze.

Sam, Dean, Castiel, Balthazar, Atropos and I disappeared.

The air conditions crashed to the ground.

I went back in time to sink the boat, still wondering about what Atropos had said.

I had noticed something off about Castiel a while ago.

I just didn't know what it meant.