The aftermath of the fight made everyone silent. Diana was still in the meeting room with Tony and the rest of the Avengers, but in her anger she'd told everyone else to leave.
Rachel was walking around the upper floor of the building, strutting past everyone with nowhere to go. Until she found Meg sitting on the steps, drinking a bottle of scotch.
"Got some for me?" Rachel asked plainly as she sat next to her.
Meg said nothing, just handed her the bottle.
"I think that we were truly all better off before this all started", she said after drinking.
Meg turned to look at her and smiled. "Then you wouldn't have met your sister. Or me. Or Bruce."
Rachel snorted at this, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I'm truly the girl to sacrifice everything for a boy", she said the last bit with much bitterness in her voice.
Meg said nothing.
"When all this is over, I'm going to go home", Rachel said softly. "Finish school, become a doctor and forget any of this happened. Assuming I don't die first."
Meg opened her mouth, then closed it, and after a moment said: "Without Bruce." It wasn't a question.
"Without Bruce", Rachel said without hesitation. She didn't know why she was saying it or if she meant it, but she had never missed home this much in her life. She missed the certainty, the feeling of belonging somewhere. She missed going for a cup of coffee with Harry and hanging out with Meredith, Arizona and Callie at the hospital. She missed watching tv-shows till it was too late to even go to bed anymore. She missed her home, the warm nature of Florida and the DC that she'd known when she had been a child.
Just then she heard footsteps behind her, and as she turned around, she saw Bruce looking at her, and from the look on his face she knew he'd heard what she'd said.
"Hi", she stood up anyway, a bit awkward in her high heels.
Meg bit her lip, looking between the "happy couple".
The look Bruce gave Rachel now actually hurt her a lot, because it was the kind of look that said "I should have known", and that was the last look he gave her before walking off.
"Oh, fuck this shit..", Rachel muttered, handing the bottle of scotch back to Meg and shouting: "Bruce, wait!" but he was already far behind.
Considering that she was still wearing her dress and the high heels, Rachel simply kicked off her shoes and then ran after Bruce.
Meg turned back to look down the stairs she was sitting on to find Castiel staring at her from the bottom of them.
"What?" she asked.
"Were they fighting?" Castiel asked awkwardly, not moving.
Meg gave him a crooked smile. "It's rude to eaversdrop."
"Oh, I wasn't eaversdropping, I was looking for you", Castiel hurried to say. "I.. I know we're really supposed to be solving this thing with Lucifer, but you and I.."
Meg blinked. "Go on."
"We didn't get to dance much, did we? Sam showed me a few movies, and they always had a lot of dancing. I know it's not like the pizza man, but-"
Meg walked down the stairs, careful not to step on her dress and grabbed his hand. "Let's go dance then."
Castiel opened his mouth to say something, but then instead just followed Meg.
"We have no idea where Lucifer is, so there's no chance in catching him off guard", Clint announced the obvious. The meeting room seemed quite empty with only the Avengers (minus Bruce) and Diana inside. Sam and Dean had also joined. And, of course, Crowley was there, too.
"I'm sure Castiel can find him if necessary", Diana snapped.
"Or I", Crowley said. Diana sighed and turned to look at him.
"Well, can you?"
"Possibly", Crowley smirked.
"He wasn't able to make Lucifer go away, why would he be able to find him?" Tony asked impatiently, making Diana look at him. "I think we should give the sword-"
"No!" Dean shouted. "No. Only for one life?"
"If it were a human life, you'd say yes in an instant", Diana snapped. "But no. It's a vampire."
"They are monsters!" Dean yelled.
"Like me? Like all of us? Villy?" Diana shouted back.
"Stop this!" Natasha shouted in frustration. "This is getting us nowhere."
"I think we need a break", Tony said, and without waiting pulled Diana gently up from her chair and led her out of the room. Diana could feel everyone's gaze on her as they walked.
"Was that really necessary?" she demanded as they were outside.
"What?" Tony asked in disbelief.
"You totally made me seem out of control", Diana said. "They need to feel that I'm in charge so we can go and save Katherine-"
Tony groaned. "Clint was right. We can't find them, so we either make the trade or-" his face suddenly lit up. "Or we tell him we'll make the trade and when he shows up.."
"We'll grab Katherine", Diana finished. "Could it work?"
"Maybe", Tony said, heading back to the meeting room. "You stay out for a while, cool off."
Before Diana had time to protest, Tony had slapped the door shut in front of her.
She groaned, ready to go find one of the girls or maybe something to eat when she almost ran into that Jackson Whittemore. He had been standing behind her.
"Jeez, make a sound or something. Don't sneak up on people", Diana snapped, walking past him.
"I thought you had superpowers", Jackson said, following her.
"Well, I don't have one that detects creeps who walk behind your back", Diana said and kept on walking, and so did Jackson.
"Why are you following me?" she snapped.
"Uuh-"
Then Diana realized. "The girls asked one of you to look after me, didn't they? And they wanted it to be someone I didn't really know, like you, so I would not suspect it. I'd pass it off just as you trying to get to know me. Or trying to hit on me or something."
Jackson smirked a little. "And if I was trying to hit on you?"
She knew he wasn't, but his little flirting amused her. "Then I'd tell you I have a boyfriend."
"And then I'd tell you that you definitely don't look like a one man's girl", Jackson said.
Diana's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying I look like a whore?"
"No!" Jackson said quickly. "No, no, that's not what I meant."
Diana smiled a little. "Well, as long as you're here, we might as well go down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Come on."
Jackson chuckled, following her.
Inés and Klaus were in one of the empty rooms, sitting on a couch, staring at the black screen of the tv. Actually, Inés was. Klaus was just awkwardly sitting next to her. He was supposed to have left, but Inés had asked him to sit with her, and to his own disbelief, he'd said yes.
"Are you ok?" he finally asked.
"No", Inés said. "My friends blame me for everything just because I'm not as close-minded as they are. How stupid can they be? There isn't just.. good and bad people in this world. It's not all black and white."
Klaus looked at her and smiled. "I agree. But just to say, I really am not the nicest guy you could find."
"Who ever said I want nice guys?" Inés asked roughly, turning to give him a quick look before turning on the tv.
Katherine opened her eyes to find herself crucified by small but long, wooden nails all over her body. Lucifer shot her in the head the moment they got to this dark place she couldn't identify. She tried to slide out of them, but only felt a terrible, stabbing pain throughout her body.
"They're dipped in vervain." Lucifer came out of the shadows.
"What do you want from me?" Katherine's voice was sour, she could barely talk.
"You? Nothing. You're just a distraction."
"What, you mean like bate?"
"Exactly."
"Why me? No one will risk their lives for me."
"No one?" Lucifer crossed his arms.
When Katherine said nothing, Lucifer started walking around her.
"You're very close to one of the girls, the one I'm most interested in."
"Diana." Katherine said. "Why?"
"She has a connection to one of my children."
"Demons? Meg? You're looking in the wrong department."
"I know who's close to Meg. I didn't mean her."
Katherine thought for a moment, and then guessed.
"Crowley?"
"Good job." Lucifer smirked as he stood in front of her again. "
"What does Diana have to do with him?"
"Oh, everything. Crowley has been human around the time you were."
"And?"
"And he had a son. That son had a son, and, well, centuries later we got Diana. She has his blood."
"And what does this matter?"
"The less you know, the longer you live."
Katherine chuckled weakly. "You're gonna kill me anyways."
"You never know." Lucifer smirked.
"Bruce, Bru... BRUCE!" Rachel caught up with him, but he was still very far away from her, and ignoring her, they reached an underground layer that really looked like a big cave.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Wayne! God, dam-" Rachel tripped against a rock she didn't see from her dress and fell face-first to the ground.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" she got up, and found Bruce right in front of her.
"Thanks for the help." she said sarcastically.
"Thank you, too."
"Bruce, I didn't-"
"Yeah, no, sure, you didn't, of course. Whatever, Rachel. You planned to play it as it is so it would seem like everything's fine, like you and I still have a future, when you told me you want to have it. Then when it's all over you planned on moving on and leaving me here."
"Can you listen-?!" Rachel was caught off guard by the huge echo. She looked around, and realized they really are in a huge cave. "What is this place?" she automatically asked.
"It's my bat cave." Bruce quietly said. "The cave I was going to show you, but heard not what I wanted to hear from you as a result."
"Bru-"
"You know, you're just like the other Rachel." with that, he turned around and started walking deeper into the cave.
That struck Rachel hard. The first time ever, she felt anger towards Bruce.
"Excuse me," Bruce froze. "what did you just say?
"Let me go." he turned his head to his left side and looked at Rachel.
"Oh, no." she walked up to him and turned him around. "You did not just call me a selfish slut."
"You do realize she's dead, right?"
"You do realize you were okay with me calling her that days ago, right?"
"Because I thought you were different."
"Oh, Bruce Wayne thought I am different. You don't even know me. You're a pretty, rich boy from Gotham that has an alter-ego of a dude in a bat suit that doesn't know me at all. But I know me, and I know that I'm not her, so don't compare. And don't blame everything on me."
"You mean like you blame everything on Ines?!" And that was the first time Rachel heard Bruce shout like that at her.
"Are you seriously serious?"
"Just look at yourself!"
"Are you comparing these situations, too?!"
"Let me go and you won't have to ever hear that or anything else from me ever again!"
Rachel didn't believe that was Bruce, but she was sick of all of this to the throat, she wanted to get it over with.
"Gladly." and she let him go, and started to walk away herself.
"Go save Katherine, maybe this whole slut thing is in your blood."
Rachel stopped, and slowly looked at him the way he did earlier at her. To her surprise, these words didn't hurt her as much as get her angry, but she managed to take hold of it.
"Now tell me, who's the asshole here?" she said. And on that note, went back to the base.
"You have a plan?" Villy said when she saw Dean walking out of the meeting room.
"It's in development. We go there-" Villy put a finger on his mouth to shush him.
"The barrier's off, angels may hear us."
Dean held her by the wrist and moved her hand to the side.
"We restored the barrier, and it's now fully angel and demon-proof. It had a small glitch last time, but Bonnie made sure of it now."
"Okay." said Villy. "So, what's the plan?"
"We go there, with the sword, distract him, free Katherine, and run."
"That's obvious. How exactly?"
"I told you, it's still in development. We're thinking something to do with Diana, since we figured she might be somewhat of importance because of her connection to Crowley. Why else would he take Katherine?"
Villy smirked, and without further ado, kissed him softly. That did come as a surprise to Dean. But he held on to her waist, and kissed her back with more passion. After Villy pulled aside, she said:
"Just in case it doesn't work." And, with that, walked away.
"This is bad." Marty said to Soff and Ems. "Why exactly us? You'd think it's cool to have superpowers, but..."
"I don't even know." said Soff. "What are we gonna do when this is all over? Just... sit there and go about our normal lives?"
"I don't know, maybe that's what I'll do." Marty said.
"Yeah, maybe." Soff sighed.
Ems didn't say anything, and the girls sat in silence for a few moments.
"You know what I think?" Ems finally said. "I think this never will be really over. I mean, I do believe we'll stop Lucifer and everything, but this, our powers, people here, this won't just go. I think it's with us to stay, if not forever, then for a long, long while. It's something new that happened in our lives and something not everyone gets. This part of our life is here, and it's here to stay, whether we like it or not."
Rachel got back to the base to find Meg and Castiel walking out of the ballroom.
"Hey, are you ok?" Meg asked uncertaintly.
"No", Rachel scoffed. "That motherfucking asshole just.. ugh", she let out a frustrated groan. "I'm gonna go change my clothes."
Meg sighed, gave Castiel a look, he nodded, and with that, Meg followed.
She found Rachel in the wardrobe, putting on a black top and black jeans to match them.
"I hate him", she said. "He said I'm like his ex. The ex who broke his heart. She was a slut. I hate Bruce so much", she wasn't going to cry, she didn't cry.
Meg sighed. "You broke up?"
"IS THAT NOT OBVIOUS?" Rachel yelled.
Meg nodded. "Sorry. No need to yell. Do you think you can work it out?"
"No", Rachel said roughly. "Have you not been listening? I hate him."
"I think you love him", Meg said bluntly. "And that's why you hate him."
Rachel shook her head. "You're as stupid as he is."
"No, I'm not, thanks very much, but I'll let that pass", Meg scoffed. "What exactly happened?"
"He told me that I'd been pretending with him, pretending to be happy, and that I had been planning on leaving him all along, and he.. called me a slut."
Meg raised her eyebrows. "Men."
"Yeah. Men", Rachel said, sitting on the floor of the wardrobe. "I can't bear to see him anymore."
Meg sighed. "Rachel-"
"No, I have to leave. I have to go. Because.. I'm only causing trouble anyway. Klaus wants to drain my blood, let him", Rachel said as she got back up. "It's selfish of me to say no."
"You are not sacrificing yourself because your boyfriend called you a slut", Meg said in disbelief.
"HE WAS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Rachel shouted so loudly that she was sure everyone could hear her.
Meg tensed, afraid Rachel might use her magic on her.
"Okay", she said after a moment of silence. "What do you want?"
"I want you to leave me alone", Rachel said roughly. "Go."
Meg nodded and with that closed the door to the wardrobe.
Rachel sat back on the floor and just finally gave up. She started to cry more than she'd cried in a very long time. She'd screwed up, badly, and she knew she'd be too proud to ever admit that. So she'd be alone. Forever. Well, it was what she had wanted anyway. Right?
Jackson and Diana were in the cafeteria, eating pie.
"You were the one who caught me when I fell, right?" Diana asked casually as they ate.
"Yeah", Jackson said, surprised she remembered.
"Well, aren't you a real prince charming", Diana gave him a crooked smile.
"Yes, well, no offence, but even if I'm prince charming, you're not a princess. Even in that dress. You're some wicked witch", Jackson smirked.
"Yes, with my powers, that is very fitting", Diana said mildly. She grabbed the last of his pie and stuffed it in her mouth in one go.
At this Jackson merely laughed, and was just about to say something when the door to the cafeteria opened and Tony was standing in the doorway, looking at them in confusion.
"Oh", he said. "Hi."
"Hi", Diana said after she'd managed to swallow. "What's up?"
"Well, I just... if you wanted to work on the plan... you know, before we resume the meeting...", Tony gave Jackson a glare. "But it looks like you're busy already."
"I'm not busy", Diana snorted. "I'll come with you", she stood up, gave Jackson a smile and then walked off. What she couldn't see was that Jackson still had his eyes on her as she walked.
"Have you seen Rachel?" Tony asked as they walked.
"No, why?" Diana asked.
"I called Bruce to find him, he's at the Bat Cave. Apparently he and Rachel broke up", Tony said.
"What?" Diana's eyes widened. "That is-"
"Well, according to Bruce, Rachel was acting like a major slut", Tony said defensively.
"That's what he said? Major slut?" Diana asked in disbelief. "Really?"
"He may not have used those exact words, but yeah", Tony snapped. "You know, I just knew it."
"Knew what?" Diana glared at him angrily.
"That she'd hurt him."
"Oh, you knew, now, did you?" Diana hissed as she walked closer. "Why did you know that?"
Tony said nothing.
"You know, I am not interested in hearing you insult one of my best friends just because your friend called her a 'major slut'", Diana snorted. "He doesn't even know her."
"He's known her as long as I've known you", Tony snapped.
"Then maybe you don't know me, either", Diana said coldly, and that caught Tony off guard.
There was a moment of silence before Tony spoke up again: "Yeah, maybe I don't", with that he walked off, leaving Diana cursing due to her own hasty words.
"So, what do you want to do with all this free time we have?" Katherine asked lazily as Lucifer stood in front of her.
"I don't know, we could talk about both of our long lives, our best decades, worst ones", Lucifer said.
"Well, considering that you've been in a cage for most that time, I don't see there's much to talk about", Katherine smirked.
"Ha, you're funny", Lucifer said plainly. "Very funny." He got out a blade that was dipped in vervain. Katherine had been sipping vervain for years, but it still hurt when stuck in a blade.
Katherine eyed the knife wearily. "What do you want?"
"I want you to do everything you can to make sure I get my sword. And Diana", Lucifer said.
"You can have your fucking sword. But you'll never have Diana", Katherine said.
"And what makes you say that?" Lucifer asked in a casual tone.
"Because our friends would rather die than let you have her."
"But friendship really can't mean that much to them, considering they let me take you", Lucifer smiled.
"Well, fine, her boyfriend, then", Katherine smirked. "And no one could move when you took me."
"I'll kill him first. Then Meg, the traitor. Then her angel boyfriend. And then the girl who is Meg's new best friend, Rachel. And then the girl who has become Niklaus' girlfriend, Ines, I believe. And then everyone else until there is no one else left but me and Diana and Crowley", Lucifer said as he walked closer. "And the Winchesters."
"And what will you do then?" Katherine whispered.
"What I do best", Lucifer said. "What do you think the devil was made for? To rule. To guide. That's what I'll do."
Katherine felt shivers run through her spine before Lucifer stuck the knife right her ribs, causing her to scream.
Albie and Atie were walking around the halls, listening to the random talks they heard as they passed by people.
"Do you think we'll survive this?" Atie asked.
"Honestly?" Albie scoffed. "No."
Atie nodded. "And even if we do, others won't. I feel like this is getting out of hand. Now with Katherine gone.."
"And the powers acting out. And Lucifer showing up", Albie agreed. "I don't know. What do you think we should do?"
"I'd want to say we should fight", Atie said. "But what's the point?"
"Yeah, but we're not really the group to give up, are we?" Albie asked.
"Group", the words tasted raw in her mouth as Atie repeated them. "Yeah. Some group we are."
Albie couldn't say anything to this, because she knew, just as much as Atie did, that they wouldn't stay the same group for long.
"We all need a rest." Nick said as everyone, except for Rachel, was back in the meeting room. "We have a lot of unanswered questions for which our heads hurt too much to comprehend right now." As he spoke, Meg drew a table with these questions on the wall next to the three bubbles she drew of their three enemies earlier. She wrote:
Where is Lucifer?
What to do with Crowley?
How to save Katherine?
What is wrong with the girls' powers?
Why is no protection working against Lucifer?
What about Loki and The Joker?
"Time is running out, we can't just sleep." Diana said.
"Three hours." Fury stated. "Not more, not less. Then we get back to this."
"We don't sleep." said Alice.
"Neither do I." Castiel said.
"Three.Hours." Fury gave everyone an angry glare, which made everyone leave. He was last as he shut the lights off.
"Where's Rachel?" Aria came up to Diana as everyone scattered to their rooms.
"I don't know." Diana said. She looked at Tony, but he gave her back a cold look and almost instantly looked away. She decided to look for Bruce instead, and spotted him walking with him.
"She's in the wardrobe." Meg came up to the girls. "And not in her best mood."
"What happened?" Aria asked. "Is it about Bruce?" Both Meg and Diana looked at her.
"We heard her scream in the wardrobe, I'm guessing things are bad."
Diana looked back at Bruce and noticed he was almost out of her sight.
"I'll talk to Rachel and get her back to her room and we'll tell you everything. Right now, I'm not sure what's going on myself. But I'll get back to you." Diana quickly said, before going after Bruce. Halfway through her way to him, she stopped. What good is this? What's he gonna tell her?
She decided to talk to Rachel instead, and opened the wardrobe.
"Great, can't wait to sleep." Jackson stretched as he and Albie were walking to their rooms.
Albie chuckled "Someone's tired."
"You have no idea." said Jackson, taking off his tie.
"We're not sleeping anytime soon." Derek Shepherd came up to them.
"You're very funny, Derek." said Jackson sarcastically, but Derek gave him a serious look.
"What, seriously?"
"Yes."
"'We' as in...?" Albie asked.
"Us." Meredith popped out. "We found something on your powers."
"Oh..." Albie said. "Should I be happy or...?"
"We're not sure yet." said Derek.
"What's going on?" Lauren came up, and Albie gave her a cold look. "You told them about the powers." she looked at Derek and Meredith.
"Yes, we did. And I don't remember asking for your permission." Derek said to her.
"Callie! Arizona!" Meredith called out for them. "Albie, you come with us, too. And we'll need Bonnie, Castiel and Meg as well."
"Them? Why?" Albie asked.
"You'll see, just get them and all go down to the lab, I'll catch up with Callie and Arizona."
So they all went down, and Meredith caught up.
As Ines entered the girls' room, she daw all of them, minus Albie, Rachel and Diana, sitting on the couches and chairs in front of the TV, discussing something, but they stopped as soon as they saw her enter and gave her a cold glare before Atie turned on the TV and they turned their attention there.
"Are you all going to hate me for the rest of my life now?" Ines asked, but none of the girls even looked her way, and that hurt her.
"Whatever, friends." she said, throwing herself on her bed and going under the covers. Everyone had already changed.
The girls were watching the news, and Ines could hear about all the hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados and other chaoses happening.
"We're not gonna win this, are we?" Aline asked.
"I believe we will." Emily said. "You know me."
"We also know you're the only one who does." said Soff. "This is just too messed up. Too many problems at once. How much can a person handle until they explode?"
No one said anything for a long moment.
"If I said I believe we will win this, too, will anybody listen?" Ines said, still lying down on her bed.
No one answered.
"Whatever." she said, burying her face in her pillow.
"You can't just ask us to be okay with what you did, alright?" Atie snapped. She couldn't keep it in herself anymore.
"Atie!" Sara gave her a glare.
"What 'Atie'? What? She needs to understand that what she did was wrong and-"
"I do understand that what I did was wrong." Ines sat up cross-legged on her bed, and held a pillow in her lap. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do anything when I heard Lucifer. I'm sorry I didn't do anything when I heard Sara, Rachel, and Diana in pain. I'm sorry for rooting for Rose after she threatened to take Tony away from Diana. I'm sorry for Klaus liking me. I'm sorry for liking him back, if this makes you happy. BUT YOU CAN'T BLAME EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED HERE ON ME!" Ines ripped her pillow in one, loud swoosh as she shouted, covering the whole room in feathers. Her scream sent shiver down everybody's spines. She sounded more hurt than ever, and her ripping her pillow apart in her hands in a second as she shouted only added to the effect.
"Ines, calm down." Villy said. "We're not blaming everything on you."
"Sure you're not." Ines weakly said.
"But it doesn't necessarily mean we have to forgive you, either." Villy finished.
"Of course." Ines said. "I thought as much." she then lay down, and covered her head with her blanket.
"There you are." Albie said to Meredith as she came down with Arizona and Callie.
"Here I am." Meredith responded. "And here's what we found." She and the rest of the medics approached the dest where they had all the experimentations and Diana and Rachel's DNA.
"As you know, it's mutation, caused by magic, that gave you your powers." Meredith said.
"Well, yeah." said Albie.
"It's not that simple." Derek started. "You see, even mutated cells die out. These ones," he held up samples of Rachel and Diana's blood. "didn't. Moreover, the mutation isn't there anymore."
"Meaning?" Albie said.
"When we first started examining the cells and DNA," Jackson said. "It took us a while to find out it's a mutation, way longer than usual. Before that it was just this thing in the cell itself that we couldn't find an explanation for."
"We assumed it was your powers." said Meredith.
"But then, when we found the mutation, we assumed that was the cause." Jackson continued. "Except now, the mutation is gone. These are alive and healthy cells."
Meg put two and two together. "So, whatever it was, when they first got their powers, they entered their body, then made their cells mutate and then... evaporated?"
"Or gone deeper inside." said Arizona.
"How deep?" Albie asked.
"Very deep." Answered Arizona. "Beyond the body. So, it's not the adrenaline acting out anymore."
"You mean, like, into their... souls?" Bonnie said.
"If they're still souls." Castiel noted. "Albie, I'll need to look into you."
"Look into me? Wh-"
"I need to touch your soul."
"O...kay?"
"You need to let me. This will hurt, but try not to move. And somebody, please, hold her. And..." he took a look at everyone. "wear oxygen masks and close the doors. Just in case her power goes out of control."
Everyone listened, and Albie went with it. After everyone was ready and Jackson was holding Albie, Castiel repeated:
"Try not to move."
As he inserted his hand into Albie's chest, she screamed. And, just as Cas expected, chlorine emitted into the air.
After Cas was done and Bonnie made all the gas vanish, everyone listened to the angel.
"What did you see?" Meg said. He didn't answer anything.
"Cas, what did you see?"
"The powers went into her soul... or... whatever... that is." he finally said.
"Is this where I'm supposed to be worried?" Asked Albie. She didn't faint after this, unlike everyone else does.
"I know it's coming from there because of your powers going in action. It's a natural response. But I don't know if that's a soul or not. It's... many things I've seen, but nothing like I've ever seen before."
"English, please?" Meg said.
"What I felt was... it was a human soul, but not only. I also felt a demon."
Everyone went quiet on that note.
"So... I'm... we're...?" Albie couldn't form this into proper words.
"And an angel." Cas finished.
"Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Now this is turning into a real madhouse- What are you doing?" she looked at Bonnie who had placed her palm on Albie's shoulder.
After she let go, she said:
"These are not witch powers. They were masqued as ones."
"How did I not realize it before?" she added to herself.
"So, what are they?!" Albie exclaimed.
"They're not witchlike, they're demonic and angelic." Bonnie said. "The angel energy is the same I felt emitting from Lucifer. And Lucifer makes demons."
"So, this was his plan all along?" Callie said.
"Yes." Cas answered her question. "We know what you are." Cas looked at Albie. "You're something new. There are Nephlins, half Angel, half human. There are Cambins, half demon, half human. You, all twelve of you, you're both. Lucifer made you, and Lucifer wants you. And no matter how much he wants the sword, he wants you more. And no matter what he says to any of you or to Katherine, he still wants you. And we can't let that happen."
As soon as Diana opened the wardrobe door, she knew that her friend was hurt. No matter how she'd lie, no matter how she'd pretend to say she's ok, she was not.
"Hey", she said.
"I don't feel like talking", Rachel said quietly. Her eyes were red, but there were no tears anymore.
"What happened?" Diana asked gently as she closed the door to the room.
"Bruce broke up with me. He called me a slut and compared me to that horrible ex of his", Rachel whispered. "I could see it in his eyes. He hates me." She looked up at Diana, who was standing in the doorway. "And I don't care."
"He is an ass", Diana announced.
Rachel smiled a little.
"Why did he say those things, though?" Diana crossed her arms. "Was there any particular reason?"
"I was talking to Meg and he overheard mesaying that.. that I wanted, after all this, to continue my life without him."
Diana sighed. "Did you mean it?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you have to go tell him you didn't mean it", Diana said, pulling Rachel up from the floor.
"No", Rachel said suddenly. "I don't want to. I've spent so much time and energy on him, making sure that I didn't hurt him in any way, I.. all of it is too much. I don't want to be with him."
"Is that the grief talking, or the real you?" Diana asked.
"The real me. You know me well enough. It's easier this way. And since he's the one who left me, I don't have to feel guilty about it."
Diana pulled Rachel in for a hug and hoped she'd start crying or something to let out all her emotions, but she didn't. She merely hugged her back.
"I am always going to be here for you, you know that, right?" Diana asked.
Rachel sniffed. "Yeah. I know", she pulled away from her friend and averted her gaze. "So, what's going on with the rest of the world?"
"We still don't know how to save Katherine, but we're working on it. And you know Jackson?" Diana wanted Rachel to have a distraction.
Rachel smirked. "The hot, new Jackson?"
"Yes. Anyway, he and I had a bite to eat at the cafeteria."
"I hope that was meant as a literal statement, not a code for something pervy", Rachel snorted.
"No!" Diana said quickly. "I'd never cheat-", then she paused. Were she and Tony truly together? Rachel's break up had gotten her to wonder...
"I know", Rachel broke her from her thoughts. "Can we go sleep for a little bit? Or, do we have a plan to save Katherine?"
"No, not yet. Let's go", Diana led Rachel out of the wardrobe and they walked through the halls towards the bedrooms.
On the way, however, they ran into Tony and Bruce.
Bruce refused to look at Rachel, just marched right past them, and Rachel, too pretended she hadn't even seen him. Diana, on the other hand, gave both the men a death glare before leading Rachel to the bedroom.
"Where are you going?" she asked as she saw that Diana had not followed her into the room.
"I left things unfinished", was all Diana said before she was gone.
Rachel turned to look at the girls in the room to find them all staring at her.
"Are you ok?" Ems asked.
"Perfect", Rachel spat out before sitting on her bed, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. She noticed that no one was talking to Ines, but she didn't know what to say to her. Until she did.
She slowly sat on her bed and gave Ines a small smile.
Ines looked at her in suspicion. "What?"
"I'm sorry. About how I've been treating you", Bruce's cold words still echoed in her mind as she spoke. "It's not right to blame you for everything. We all make mistakes. And even if... even if you truly like Klaus, I guess it isn't a mistake."
"Why? Because he's so charming?" Ines snorted.
"No", Rachel smiled. "Because we don't get to choose who we love."
Ines was just about to say something, maybe ask if she was ok when the door opened and Albie burst into the room.
"Okay, so yet again, things just got a hell of a lot weirder", she announced.
Meanwhile, Diana found Jackson still in the cafeteria, this time looking around the place, observing all the different foods.
"Picking your poison?" Diana smirked as she joined him in the room.
Jackson smiled as he saw her. "Yeah, I figured you might come back, so I waited."
"Wow, you really are a prince charming", Diana said in sarcasm as she grabbed a slice of pizza and ate it in a whole.
Jackson looked at her in admiration.
"What?" Diana demanded after she'd finished her slice.
"Nothing, I just think..", Jackson sighed. "Never mind, it would be inappropriate with you, and-"
"Hey", Diana snapped. "If you've got something to say, you say it."
"I think you're beautiful", Jackson said quickly, and Diana had to admit that she was a little taken back by that.
"Really?"
"Of course", Jackson said as if it was obvious. "I.."
"Thanks", whatever more Jackson had to say, Diana didn't want to hear it. She didn't need any more drama. "Thank you."
Jackson gave her an awkward smile before grabbing a slice of pizza for himself, too. And as he did, Diana couldn't help but to observe him and make a mental note that he was quite beautiful, himself.
"So, we're demons?" Atie asked in disbelief. "Demons?"
"No, like hybrids. Demons, angels, part human, I don't know. The point is that it was Lucifer's plan all along and he wants all of us", Albie said seriously. "We need to get out of here."
"And go where?" Rachel asked. "The safest place to be is here. And even if we do get out freely, we'd have to be on the run for the rest of our lives. And all our loved ones would be in danger. And considering that you all have basically been whoring with at least one guy each, they are in danger, now, too, so I hope you didn't get attached to them."
"You're one to talk", Aria said.
"Yeah, well, if Lucifer wants to kill Bruce, I'll be happy to help him", Rachel said roughly. Of course, she didn't mean it, but oh, it felt good to say it and see the shocked looks on their faces.
"What do we do, then?" Ines asked. "Maybe the others can keep us safe, protect us. And we can protect ourselves."
"Maybe they can protect us from Lucifer, but ourselves?" Albie asked. "That is a whole other matter."
Atie opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. Finally she said: "We shouldn't save Katherine. We shouldn't even try. That would only give Lucifer a chance to grab us. I think we need to lay low."
"And what would Smiley say about that?" Rachel asked. "We will not leave a man behind. Or a woman. Not Katherine. Not after everything she's done for us. And besides..", she cursed herself for admitting this, after what Bruce had said. "She is my blood. I'm not leaving her, either."
The others agreed. "So we fight", Emily said. "That's the only way."
"It'll be a bloody fight", Aria said.
"I know", Emily said. "But we can do it."
The others weren't that sure.
"You know..", Rachel bit her lip. "We have the Doctor and the TARDIS. I think that if we get Katherine away from Lucifer, the most rational thing for us to do is to get out for a while. Leave. Go somewhere where he can't follow us. And once we are there, we can plan our next move."
"And where would we go?" Villy asked.
"I don't know. Somewhere beautiful where you can see the ocean and actually feel the seasons", Rachel smiled with a vague imagine of a wonderland like that in her mind. "Somewhere we wouldn't be the cursed angel demon girls. Somewhere where we could just.. be."
That was an idea the others liked even more than they could say. But how to do it? That was a matter of its own.
"Where is Smiley?" Marty asked after a moment of silence.
"She's hanging out with Jackson", Rachel said.
"My Jackson?" Albie asked in shock.
"No, Jackson Whittemore", Rachel said in amusement.
"Really?" Sara asked. "Huh. You know, I could see it, them."
"She is with Tony", Albie reminded her.
"Nothing lasts forever", Rachel said.
Rachel was walking around the upper floor of the building, strutting past everyone with nowhere to go. Until she found Meg sitting on the steps, drinking a bottle of scotch.
"Got some for me?" Rachel asked plainly as she sat next to her.
Meg said nothing, just handed her the bottle.
"I think that we were truly all better off before this all started", she said after drinking.
Meg turned to look at her and smiled. "Then you wouldn't have met your sister. Or me. Or Bruce."
Rachel snorted at this, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I'm truly the girl to sacrifice everything for a boy", she said the last bit with much bitterness in her voice.
Meg said nothing.
"When all this is over, I'm going to go home", Rachel said softly. "Finish school, become a doctor and forget any of this happened. Assuming I don't die first."
Meg opened her mouth, then closed it, and after a moment said: "Without Bruce." It wasn't a question.
"Without Bruce", Rachel said without hesitation. She didn't know why she was saying it or if she meant it, but she had never missed home this much in her life. She missed the certainty, the feeling of belonging somewhere. She missed going for a cup of coffee with Harry and hanging out with Meredith, Arizona and Callie at the hospital. She missed watching tv-shows till it was too late to even go to bed anymore. She missed her home, the warm nature of Florida and the DC that she'd known when she had been a child.
Just then she heard footsteps behind her, and as she turned around, she saw Bruce looking at her, and from the look on his face she knew he'd heard what she'd said.
"Hi", she stood up anyway, a bit awkward in her high heels.
Meg bit her lip, looking between the "happy couple".
The look Bruce gave Rachel now actually hurt her a lot, because it was the kind of look that said "I should have known", and that was the last look he gave her before walking off.
"Oh, fuck this shit..", Rachel muttered, handing the bottle of scotch back to Meg and shouting: "Bruce, wait!" but he was already far behind.
Considering that she was still wearing her dress and the high heels, Rachel simply kicked off her shoes and then ran after Bruce.
Meg turned back to look down the stairs she was sitting on to find Castiel staring at her from the bottom of them.
"What?" she asked.
"Were they fighting?" Castiel asked awkwardly, not moving.
Meg gave him a crooked smile. "It's rude to eaversdrop."
"Oh, I wasn't eaversdropping, I was looking for you", Castiel hurried to say. "I.. I know we're really supposed to be solving this thing with Lucifer, but you and I.."
Meg blinked. "Go on."
"We didn't get to dance much, did we? Sam showed me a few movies, and they always had a lot of dancing. I know it's not like the pizza man, but-"
Meg walked down the stairs, careful not to step on her dress and grabbed his hand. "Let's go dance then."
Castiel opened his mouth to say something, but then instead just followed Meg.
"We have no idea where Lucifer is, so there's no chance in catching him off guard", Clint announced the obvious. The meeting room seemed quite empty with only the Avengers (minus Bruce) and Diana inside. Sam and Dean had also joined. And, of course, Crowley was there, too.
"I'm sure Castiel can find him if necessary", Diana snapped.
"Or I", Crowley said. Diana sighed and turned to look at him.
"Well, can you?"
"Possibly", Crowley smirked.
"He wasn't able to make Lucifer go away, why would he be able to find him?" Tony asked impatiently, making Diana look at him. "I think we should give the sword-"
"No!" Dean shouted. "No. Only for one life?"
"If it were a human life, you'd say yes in an instant", Diana snapped. "But no. It's a vampire."
"They are monsters!" Dean yelled.
"Like me? Like all of us? Villy?" Diana shouted back.
"Stop this!" Natasha shouted in frustration. "This is getting us nowhere."
"I think we need a break", Tony said, and without waiting pulled Diana gently up from her chair and led her out of the room. Diana could feel everyone's gaze on her as they walked.
"Was that really necessary?" she demanded as they were outside.
"What?" Tony asked in disbelief.
"You totally made me seem out of control", Diana said. "They need to feel that I'm in charge so we can go and save Katherine-"
Tony groaned. "Clint was right. We can't find them, so we either make the trade or-" his face suddenly lit up. "Or we tell him we'll make the trade and when he shows up.."
"We'll grab Katherine", Diana finished. "Could it work?"
"Maybe", Tony said, heading back to the meeting room. "You stay out for a while, cool off."
Before Diana had time to protest, Tony had slapped the door shut in front of her.
She groaned, ready to go find one of the girls or maybe something to eat when she almost ran into that Jackson Whittemore. He had been standing behind her.
"Jeez, make a sound or something. Don't sneak up on people", Diana snapped, walking past him.
"I thought you had superpowers", Jackson said, following her.
"Well, I don't have one that detects creeps who walk behind your back", Diana said and kept on walking, and so did Jackson.
"Why are you following me?" she snapped.
"Uuh-"
Then Diana realized. "The girls asked one of you to look after me, didn't they? And they wanted it to be someone I didn't really know, like you, so I would not suspect it. I'd pass it off just as you trying to get to know me. Or trying to hit on me or something."
Jackson smirked a little. "And if I was trying to hit on you?"
She knew he wasn't, but his little flirting amused her. "Then I'd tell you I have a boyfriend."
"And then I'd tell you that you definitely don't look like a one man's girl", Jackson said.
Diana's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying I look like a whore?"
"No!" Jackson said quickly. "No, no, that's not what I meant."
Diana smiled a little. "Well, as long as you're here, we might as well go down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Come on."
Jackson chuckled, following her.
Inés and Klaus were in one of the empty rooms, sitting on a couch, staring at the black screen of the tv. Actually, Inés was. Klaus was just awkwardly sitting next to her. He was supposed to have left, but Inés had asked him to sit with her, and to his own disbelief, he'd said yes.
"Are you ok?" he finally asked.
"No", Inés said. "My friends blame me for everything just because I'm not as close-minded as they are. How stupid can they be? There isn't just.. good and bad people in this world. It's not all black and white."
Klaus looked at her and smiled. "I agree. But just to say, I really am not the nicest guy you could find."
"Who ever said I want nice guys?" Inés asked roughly, turning to give him a quick look before turning on the tv.
Katherine opened her eyes to find herself crucified by small but long, wooden nails all over her body. Lucifer shot her in the head the moment they got to this dark place she couldn't identify. She tried to slide out of them, but only felt a terrible, stabbing pain throughout her body.
"They're dipped in vervain." Lucifer came out of the shadows.
"What do you want from me?" Katherine's voice was sour, she could barely talk.
"You? Nothing. You're just a distraction."
"What, you mean like bate?"
"Exactly."
"Why me? No one will risk their lives for me."
"No one?" Lucifer crossed his arms.
When Katherine said nothing, Lucifer started walking around her.
"You're very close to one of the girls, the one I'm most interested in."
"Diana." Katherine said. "Why?"
"She has a connection to one of my children."
"Demons? Meg? You're looking in the wrong department."
"I know who's close to Meg. I didn't mean her."
Katherine thought for a moment, and then guessed.
"Crowley?"
"Good job." Lucifer smirked as he stood in front of her again. "
"What does Diana have to do with him?"
"Oh, everything. Crowley has been human around the time you were."
"And?"
"And he had a son. That son had a son, and, well, centuries later we got Diana. She has his blood."
"And what does this matter?"
"The less you know, the longer you live."
Katherine chuckled weakly. "You're gonna kill me anyways."
"You never know." Lucifer smirked.
"Bruce, Bru... BRUCE!" Rachel caught up with him, but he was still very far away from her, and ignoring her, they reached an underground layer that really looked like a big cave.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Wayne! God, dam-" Rachel tripped against a rock she didn't see from her dress and fell face-first to the ground.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" she got up, and found Bruce right in front of her.
"Thanks for the help." she said sarcastically.
"Thank you, too."
"Bruce, I didn't-"
"Yeah, no, sure, you didn't, of course. Whatever, Rachel. You planned to play it as it is so it would seem like everything's fine, like you and I still have a future, when you told me you want to have it. Then when it's all over you planned on moving on and leaving me here."
"Can you listen-?!" Rachel was caught off guard by the huge echo. She looked around, and realized they really are in a huge cave. "What is this place?" she automatically asked.
"It's my bat cave." Bruce quietly said. "The cave I was going to show you, but heard not what I wanted to hear from you as a result."
"Bru-"
"You know, you're just like the other Rachel." with that, he turned around and started walking deeper into the cave.
That struck Rachel hard. The first time ever, she felt anger towards Bruce.
"Excuse me," Bruce froze. "what did you just say?
"Let me go." he turned his head to his left side and looked at Rachel.
"Oh, no." she walked up to him and turned him around. "You did not just call me a selfish slut."
"You do realize she's dead, right?"
"You do realize you were okay with me calling her that days ago, right?"
"Because I thought you were different."
"Oh, Bruce Wayne thought I am different. You don't even know me. You're a pretty, rich boy from Gotham that has an alter-ego of a dude in a bat suit that doesn't know me at all. But I know me, and I know that I'm not her, so don't compare. And don't blame everything on me."
"You mean like you blame everything on Ines?!" And that was the first time Rachel heard Bruce shout like that at her.
"Are you seriously serious?"
"Just look at yourself!"
"Are you comparing these situations, too?!"
"Let me go and you won't have to ever hear that or anything else from me ever again!"
Rachel didn't believe that was Bruce, but she was sick of all of this to the throat, she wanted to get it over with.
"Gladly." and she let him go, and started to walk away herself.
"Go save Katherine, maybe this whole slut thing is in your blood."
Rachel stopped, and slowly looked at him the way he did earlier at her. To her surprise, these words didn't hurt her as much as get her angry, but she managed to take hold of it.
"Now tell me, who's the asshole here?" she said. And on that note, went back to the base.
"You have a plan?" Villy said when she saw Dean walking out of the meeting room.
"It's in development. We go there-" Villy put a finger on his mouth to shush him.
"The barrier's off, angels may hear us."
Dean held her by the wrist and moved her hand to the side.
"We restored the barrier, and it's now fully angel and demon-proof. It had a small glitch last time, but Bonnie made sure of it now."
"Okay." said Villy. "So, what's the plan?"
"We go there, with the sword, distract him, free Katherine, and run."
"That's obvious. How exactly?"
"I told you, it's still in development. We're thinking something to do with Diana, since we figured she might be somewhat of importance because of her connection to Crowley. Why else would he take Katherine?"
Villy smirked, and without further ado, kissed him softly. That did come as a surprise to Dean. But he held on to her waist, and kissed her back with more passion. After Villy pulled aside, she said:
"Just in case it doesn't work." And, with that, walked away.
"This is bad." Marty said to Soff and Ems. "Why exactly us? You'd think it's cool to have superpowers, but..."
"I don't even know." said Soff. "What are we gonna do when this is all over? Just... sit there and go about our normal lives?"
"I don't know, maybe that's what I'll do." Marty said.
"Yeah, maybe." Soff sighed.
Ems didn't say anything, and the girls sat in silence for a few moments.
"You know what I think?" Ems finally said. "I think this never will be really over. I mean, I do believe we'll stop Lucifer and everything, but this, our powers, people here, this won't just go. I think it's with us to stay, if not forever, then for a long, long while. It's something new that happened in our lives and something not everyone gets. This part of our life is here, and it's here to stay, whether we like it or not."
Rachel got back to the base to find Meg and Castiel walking out of the ballroom.
"Hey, are you ok?" Meg asked uncertaintly.
"No", Rachel scoffed. "That motherfucking asshole just.. ugh", she let out a frustrated groan. "I'm gonna go change my clothes."
Meg sighed, gave Castiel a look, he nodded, and with that, Meg followed.
She found Rachel in the wardrobe, putting on a black top and black jeans to match them.
"I hate him", she said. "He said I'm like his ex. The ex who broke his heart. She was a slut. I hate Bruce so much", she wasn't going to cry, she didn't cry.
Meg sighed. "You broke up?"
"IS THAT NOT OBVIOUS?" Rachel yelled.
Meg nodded. "Sorry. No need to yell. Do you think you can work it out?"
"No", Rachel said roughly. "Have you not been listening? I hate him."
"I think you love him", Meg said bluntly. "And that's why you hate him."
Rachel shook her head. "You're as stupid as he is."
"No, I'm not, thanks very much, but I'll let that pass", Meg scoffed. "What exactly happened?"
"He told me that I'd been pretending with him, pretending to be happy, and that I had been planning on leaving him all along, and he.. called me a slut."
Meg raised her eyebrows. "Men."
"Yeah. Men", Rachel said, sitting on the floor of the wardrobe. "I can't bear to see him anymore."
Meg sighed. "Rachel-"
"No, I have to leave. I have to go. Because.. I'm only causing trouble anyway. Klaus wants to drain my blood, let him", Rachel said as she got back up. "It's selfish of me to say no."
"You are not sacrificing yourself because your boyfriend called you a slut", Meg said in disbelief.
"HE WAS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Rachel shouted so loudly that she was sure everyone could hear her.
Meg tensed, afraid Rachel might use her magic on her.
"Okay", she said after a moment of silence. "What do you want?"
"I want you to leave me alone", Rachel said roughly. "Go."
Meg nodded and with that closed the door to the wardrobe.
Rachel sat back on the floor and just finally gave up. She started to cry more than she'd cried in a very long time. She'd screwed up, badly, and she knew she'd be too proud to ever admit that. So she'd be alone. Forever. Well, it was what she had wanted anyway. Right?
Jackson and Diana were in the cafeteria, eating pie.
"You were the one who caught me when I fell, right?" Diana asked casually as they ate.
"Yeah", Jackson said, surprised she remembered.
"Well, aren't you a real prince charming", Diana gave him a crooked smile.
"Yes, well, no offence, but even if I'm prince charming, you're not a princess. Even in that dress. You're some wicked witch", Jackson smirked.
"Yes, with my powers, that is very fitting", Diana said mildly. She grabbed the last of his pie and stuffed it in her mouth in one go.
At this Jackson merely laughed, and was just about to say something when the door to the cafeteria opened and Tony was standing in the doorway, looking at them in confusion.
"Oh", he said. "Hi."
"Hi", Diana said after she'd managed to swallow. "What's up?"
"Well, I just... if you wanted to work on the plan... you know, before we resume the meeting...", Tony gave Jackson a glare. "But it looks like you're busy already."
"I'm not busy", Diana snorted. "I'll come with you", she stood up, gave Jackson a smile and then walked off. What she couldn't see was that Jackson still had his eyes on her as she walked.
"Have you seen Rachel?" Tony asked as they walked.
"No, why?" Diana asked.
"I called Bruce to find him, he's at the Bat Cave. Apparently he and Rachel broke up", Tony said.
"What?" Diana's eyes widened. "That is-"
"Well, according to Bruce, Rachel was acting like a major slut", Tony said defensively.
"That's what he said? Major slut?" Diana asked in disbelief. "Really?"
"He may not have used those exact words, but yeah", Tony snapped. "You know, I just knew it."
"Knew what?" Diana glared at him angrily.
"That she'd hurt him."
"Oh, you knew, now, did you?" Diana hissed as she walked closer. "Why did you know that?"
Tony said nothing.
"You know, I am not interested in hearing you insult one of my best friends just because your friend called her a 'major slut'", Diana snorted. "He doesn't even know her."
"He's known her as long as I've known you", Tony snapped.
"Then maybe you don't know me, either", Diana said coldly, and that caught Tony off guard.
There was a moment of silence before Tony spoke up again: "Yeah, maybe I don't", with that he walked off, leaving Diana cursing due to her own hasty words.
"So, what do you want to do with all this free time we have?" Katherine asked lazily as Lucifer stood in front of her.
"I don't know, we could talk about both of our long lives, our best decades, worst ones", Lucifer said.
"Well, considering that you've been in a cage for most that time, I don't see there's much to talk about", Katherine smirked.
"Ha, you're funny", Lucifer said plainly. "Very funny." He got out a blade that was dipped in vervain. Katherine had been sipping vervain for years, but it still hurt when stuck in a blade.
Katherine eyed the knife wearily. "What do you want?"
"I want you to do everything you can to make sure I get my sword. And Diana", Lucifer said.
"You can have your fucking sword. But you'll never have Diana", Katherine said.
"And what makes you say that?" Lucifer asked in a casual tone.
"Because our friends would rather die than let you have her."
"But friendship really can't mean that much to them, considering they let me take you", Lucifer smiled.
"Well, fine, her boyfriend, then", Katherine smirked. "And no one could move when you took me."
"I'll kill him first. Then Meg, the traitor. Then her angel boyfriend. And then the girl who is Meg's new best friend, Rachel. And then the girl who has become Niklaus' girlfriend, Ines, I believe. And then everyone else until there is no one else left but me and Diana and Crowley", Lucifer said as he walked closer. "And the Winchesters."
"And what will you do then?" Katherine whispered.
"What I do best", Lucifer said. "What do you think the devil was made for? To rule. To guide. That's what I'll do."
Katherine felt shivers run through her spine before Lucifer stuck the knife right her ribs, causing her to scream.
Albie and Atie were walking around the halls, listening to the random talks they heard as they passed by people.
"Do you think we'll survive this?" Atie asked.
"Honestly?" Albie scoffed. "No."
Atie nodded. "And even if we do, others won't. I feel like this is getting out of hand. Now with Katherine gone.."
"And the powers acting out. And Lucifer showing up", Albie agreed. "I don't know. What do you think we should do?"
"I'd want to say we should fight", Atie said. "But what's the point?"
"Yeah, but we're not really the group to give up, are we?" Albie asked.
"Group", the words tasted raw in her mouth as Atie repeated them. "Yeah. Some group we are."
Albie couldn't say anything to this, because she knew, just as much as Atie did, that they wouldn't stay the same group for long.
"We all need a rest." Nick said as everyone, except for Rachel, was back in the meeting room. "We have a lot of unanswered questions for which our heads hurt too much to comprehend right now." As he spoke, Meg drew a table with these questions on the wall next to the three bubbles she drew of their three enemies earlier. She wrote:
Where is Lucifer?
What to do with Crowley?
How to save Katherine?
What is wrong with the girls' powers?
Why is no protection working against Lucifer?
What about Loki and The Joker?
"Time is running out, we can't just sleep." Diana said.
"Three hours." Fury stated. "Not more, not less. Then we get back to this."
"We don't sleep." said Alice.
"Neither do I." Castiel said.
"Three.Hours." Fury gave everyone an angry glare, which made everyone leave. He was last as he shut the lights off.
"Where's Rachel?" Aria came up to Diana as everyone scattered to their rooms.
"I don't know." Diana said. She looked at Tony, but he gave her back a cold look and almost instantly looked away. She decided to look for Bruce instead, and spotted him walking with him.
"She's in the wardrobe." Meg came up to the girls. "And not in her best mood."
"What happened?" Aria asked. "Is it about Bruce?" Both Meg and Diana looked at her.
"We heard her scream in the wardrobe, I'm guessing things are bad."
Diana looked back at Bruce and noticed he was almost out of her sight.
"I'll talk to Rachel and get her back to her room and we'll tell you everything. Right now, I'm not sure what's going on myself. But I'll get back to you." Diana quickly said, before going after Bruce. Halfway through her way to him, she stopped. What good is this? What's he gonna tell her?
She decided to talk to Rachel instead, and opened the wardrobe.
"Great, can't wait to sleep." Jackson stretched as he and Albie were walking to their rooms.
Albie chuckled "Someone's tired."
"You have no idea." said Jackson, taking off his tie.
"We're not sleeping anytime soon." Derek Shepherd came up to them.
"You're very funny, Derek." said Jackson sarcastically, but Derek gave him a serious look.
"What, seriously?"
"Yes."
"'We' as in...?" Albie asked.
"Us." Meredith popped out. "We found something on your powers."
"Oh..." Albie said. "Should I be happy or...?"
"We're not sure yet." said Derek.
"What's going on?" Lauren came up, and Albie gave her a cold look. "You told them about the powers." she looked at Derek and Meredith.
"Yes, we did. And I don't remember asking for your permission." Derek said to her.
"Callie! Arizona!" Meredith called out for them. "Albie, you come with us, too. And we'll need Bonnie, Castiel and Meg as well."
"Them? Why?" Albie asked.
"You'll see, just get them and all go down to the lab, I'll catch up with Callie and Arizona."
So they all went down, and Meredith caught up.
As Ines entered the girls' room, she daw all of them, minus Albie, Rachel and Diana, sitting on the couches and chairs in front of the TV, discussing something, but they stopped as soon as they saw her enter and gave her a cold glare before Atie turned on the TV and they turned their attention there.
"Are you all going to hate me for the rest of my life now?" Ines asked, but none of the girls even looked her way, and that hurt her.
"Whatever, friends." she said, throwing herself on her bed and going under the covers. Everyone had already changed.
The girls were watching the news, and Ines could hear about all the hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados and other chaoses happening.
"We're not gonna win this, are we?" Aline asked.
"I believe we will." Emily said. "You know me."
"We also know you're the only one who does." said Soff. "This is just too messed up. Too many problems at once. How much can a person handle until they explode?"
No one said anything for a long moment.
"If I said I believe we will win this, too, will anybody listen?" Ines said, still lying down on her bed.
No one answered.
"Whatever." she said, burying her face in her pillow.
"You can't just ask us to be okay with what you did, alright?" Atie snapped. She couldn't keep it in herself anymore.
"Atie!" Sara gave her a glare.
"What 'Atie'? What? She needs to understand that what she did was wrong and-"
"I do understand that what I did was wrong." Ines sat up cross-legged on her bed, and held a pillow in her lap. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do anything when I heard Lucifer. I'm sorry I didn't do anything when I heard Sara, Rachel, and Diana in pain. I'm sorry for rooting for Rose after she threatened to take Tony away from Diana. I'm sorry for Klaus liking me. I'm sorry for liking him back, if this makes you happy. BUT YOU CAN'T BLAME EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED HERE ON ME!" Ines ripped her pillow in one, loud swoosh as she shouted, covering the whole room in feathers. Her scream sent shiver down everybody's spines. She sounded more hurt than ever, and her ripping her pillow apart in her hands in a second as she shouted only added to the effect.
"Ines, calm down." Villy said. "We're not blaming everything on you."
"Sure you're not." Ines weakly said.
"But it doesn't necessarily mean we have to forgive you, either." Villy finished.
"Of course." Ines said. "I thought as much." she then lay down, and covered her head with her blanket.
"There you are." Albie said to Meredith as she came down with Arizona and Callie.
"Here I am." Meredith responded. "And here's what we found." She and the rest of the medics approached the dest where they had all the experimentations and Diana and Rachel's DNA.
"As you know, it's mutation, caused by magic, that gave you your powers." Meredith said.
"Well, yeah." said Albie.
"It's not that simple." Derek started. "You see, even mutated cells die out. These ones," he held up samples of Rachel and Diana's blood. "didn't. Moreover, the mutation isn't there anymore."
"Meaning?" Albie said.
"When we first started examining the cells and DNA," Jackson said. "It took us a while to find out it's a mutation, way longer than usual. Before that it was just this thing in the cell itself that we couldn't find an explanation for."
"We assumed it was your powers." said Meredith.
"But then, when we found the mutation, we assumed that was the cause." Jackson continued. "Except now, the mutation is gone. These are alive and healthy cells."
Meg put two and two together. "So, whatever it was, when they first got their powers, they entered their body, then made their cells mutate and then... evaporated?"
"Or gone deeper inside." said Arizona.
"How deep?" Albie asked.
"Very deep." Answered Arizona. "Beyond the body. So, it's not the adrenaline acting out anymore."
"You mean, like, into their... souls?" Bonnie said.
"If they're still souls." Castiel noted. "Albie, I'll need to look into you."
"Look into me? Wh-"
"I need to touch your soul."
"O...kay?"
"You need to let me. This will hurt, but try not to move. And somebody, please, hold her. And..." he took a look at everyone. "wear oxygen masks and close the doors. Just in case her power goes out of control."
Everyone listened, and Albie went with it. After everyone was ready and Jackson was holding Albie, Castiel repeated:
"Try not to move."
As he inserted his hand into Albie's chest, she screamed. And, just as Cas expected, chlorine emitted into the air.
After Cas was done and Bonnie made all the gas vanish, everyone listened to the angel.
"What did you see?" Meg said. He didn't answer anything.
"Cas, what did you see?"
"The powers went into her soul... or... whatever... that is." he finally said.
"Is this where I'm supposed to be worried?" Asked Albie. She didn't faint after this, unlike everyone else does.
"I know it's coming from there because of your powers going in action. It's a natural response. But I don't know if that's a soul or not. It's... many things I've seen, but nothing like I've ever seen before."
"English, please?" Meg said.
"What I felt was... it was a human soul, but not only. I also felt a demon."
Everyone went quiet on that note.
"So... I'm... we're...?" Albie couldn't form this into proper words.
"And an angel." Cas finished.
"Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Now this is turning into a real madhouse- What are you doing?" she looked at Bonnie who had placed her palm on Albie's shoulder.
After she let go, she said:
"These are not witch powers. They were masqued as ones."
"How did I not realize it before?" she added to herself.
"So, what are they?!" Albie exclaimed.
"They're not witchlike, they're demonic and angelic." Bonnie said. "The angel energy is the same I felt emitting from Lucifer. And Lucifer makes demons."
"So, this was his plan all along?" Callie said.
"Yes." Cas answered her question. "We know what you are." Cas looked at Albie. "You're something new. There are Nephlins, half Angel, half human. There are Cambins, half demon, half human. You, all twelve of you, you're both. Lucifer made you, and Lucifer wants you. And no matter how much he wants the sword, he wants you more. And no matter what he says to any of you or to Katherine, he still wants you. And we can't let that happen."
As soon as Diana opened the wardrobe door, she knew that her friend was hurt. No matter how she'd lie, no matter how she'd pretend to say she's ok, she was not.
"Hey", she said.
"I don't feel like talking", Rachel said quietly. Her eyes were red, but there were no tears anymore.
"What happened?" Diana asked gently as she closed the door to the room.
"Bruce broke up with me. He called me a slut and compared me to that horrible ex of his", Rachel whispered. "I could see it in his eyes. He hates me." She looked up at Diana, who was standing in the doorway. "And I don't care."
"He is an ass", Diana announced.
Rachel smiled a little.
"Why did he say those things, though?" Diana crossed her arms. "Was there any particular reason?"
"I was talking to Meg and he overheard mesaying that.. that I wanted, after all this, to continue my life without him."
Diana sighed. "Did you mean it?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you have to go tell him you didn't mean it", Diana said, pulling Rachel up from the floor.
"No", Rachel said suddenly. "I don't want to. I've spent so much time and energy on him, making sure that I didn't hurt him in any way, I.. all of it is too much. I don't want to be with him."
"Is that the grief talking, or the real you?" Diana asked.
"The real me. You know me well enough. It's easier this way. And since he's the one who left me, I don't have to feel guilty about it."
Diana pulled Rachel in for a hug and hoped she'd start crying or something to let out all her emotions, but she didn't. She merely hugged her back.
"I am always going to be here for you, you know that, right?" Diana asked.
Rachel sniffed. "Yeah. I know", she pulled away from her friend and averted her gaze. "So, what's going on with the rest of the world?"
"We still don't know how to save Katherine, but we're working on it. And you know Jackson?" Diana wanted Rachel to have a distraction.
Rachel smirked. "The hot, new Jackson?"
"Yes. Anyway, he and I had a bite to eat at the cafeteria."
"I hope that was meant as a literal statement, not a code for something pervy", Rachel snorted.
"No!" Diana said quickly. "I'd never cheat-", then she paused. Were she and Tony truly together? Rachel's break up had gotten her to wonder...
"I know", Rachel broke her from her thoughts. "Can we go sleep for a little bit? Or, do we have a plan to save Katherine?"
"No, not yet. Let's go", Diana led Rachel out of the wardrobe and they walked through the halls towards the bedrooms.
On the way, however, they ran into Tony and Bruce.
Bruce refused to look at Rachel, just marched right past them, and Rachel, too pretended she hadn't even seen him. Diana, on the other hand, gave both the men a death glare before leading Rachel to the bedroom.
"Where are you going?" she asked as she saw that Diana had not followed her into the room.
"I left things unfinished", was all Diana said before she was gone.
Rachel turned to look at the girls in the room to find them all staring at her.
"Are you ok?" Ems asked.
"Perfect", Rachel spat out before sitting on her bed, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. She noticed that no one was talking to Ines, but she didn't know what to say to her. Until she did.
She slowly sat on her bed and gave Ines a small smile.
Ines looked at her in suspicion. "What?"
"I'm sorry. About how I've been treating you", Bruce's cold words still echoed in her mind as she spoke. "It's not right to blame you for everything. We all make mistakes. And even if... even if you truly like Klaus, I guess it isn't a mistake."
"Why? Because he's so charming?" Ines snorted.
"No", Rachel smiled. "Because we don't get to choose who we love."
Ines was just about to say something, maybe ask if she was ok when the door opened and Albie burst into the room.
"Okay, so yet again, things just got a hell of a lot weirder", she announced.
Meanwhile, Diana found Jackson still in the cafeteria, this time looking around the place, observing all the different foods.
"Picking your poison?" Diana smirked as she joined him in the room.
Jackson smiled as he saw her. "Yeah, I figured you might come back, so I waited."
"Wow, you really are a prince charming", Diana said in sarcasm as she grabbed a slice of pizza and ate it in a whole.
Jackson looked at her in admiration.
"What?" Diana demanded after she'd finished her slice.
"Nothing, I just think..", Jackson sighed. "Never mind, it would be inappropriate with you, and-"
"Hey", Diana snapped. "If you've got something to say, you say it."
"I think you're beautiful", Jackson said quickly, and Diana had to admit that she was a little taken back by that.
"Really?"
"Of course", Jackson said as if it was obvious. "I.."
"Thanks", whatever more Jackson had to say, Diana didn't want to hear it. She didn't need any more drama. "Thank you."
Jackson gave her an awkward smile before grabbing a slice of pizza for himself, too. And as he did, Diana couldn't help but to observe him and make a mental note that he was quite beautiful, himself.
"So, we're demons?" Atie asked in disbelief. "Demons?"
"No, like hybrids. Demons, angels, part human, I don't know. The point is that it was Lucifer's plan all along and he wants all of us", Albie said seriously. "We need to get out of here."
"And go where?" Rachel asked. "The safest place to be is here. And even if we do get out freely, we'd have to be on the run for the rest of our lives. And all our loved ones would be in danger. And considering that you all have basically been whoring with at least one guy each, they are in danger, now, too, so I hope you didn't get attached to them."
"You're one to talk", Aria said.
"Yeah, well, if Lucifer wants to kill Bruce, I'll be happy to help him", Rachel said roughly. Of course, she didn't mean it, but oh, it felt good to say it and see the shocked looks on their faces.
"What do we do, then?" Ines asked. "Maybe the others can keep us safe, protect us. And we can protect ourselves."
"Maybe they can protect us from Lucifer, but ourselves?" Albie asked. "That is a whole other matter."
Atie opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. Finally she said: "We shouldn't save Katherine. We shouldn't even try. That would only give Lucifer a chance to grab us. I think we need to lay low."
"And what would Smiley say about that?" Rachel asked. "We will not leave a man behind. Or a woman. Not Katherine. Not after everything she's done for us. And besides..", she cursed herself for admitting this, after what Bruce had said. "She is my blood. I'm not leaving her, either."
The others agreed. "So we fight", Emily said. "That's the only way."
"It'll be a bloody fight", Aria said.
"I know", Emily said. "But we can do it."
The others weren't that sure.
"You know..", Rachel bit her lip. "We have the Doctor and the TARDIS. I think that if we get Katherine away from Lucifer, the most rational thing for us to do is to get out for a while. Leave. Go somewhere where he can't follow us. And once we are there, we can plan our next move."
"And where would we go?" Villy asked.
"I don't know. Somewhere beautiful where you can see the ocean and actually feel the seasons", Rachel smiled with a vague imagine of a wonderland like that in her mind. "Somewhere we wouldn't be the cursed angel demon girls. Somewhere where we could just.. be."
That was an idea the others liked even more than they could say. But how to do it? That was a matter of its own.
"Where is Smiley?" Marty asked after a moment of silence.
"She's hanging out with Jackson", Rachel said.
"My Jackson?" Albie asked in shock.
"No, Jackson Whittemore", Rachel said in amusement.
"Really?" Sara asked. "Huh. You know, I could see it, them."
"She is with Tony", Albie reminded her.
"Nothing lasts forever", Rachel said.