Welcome to Chapter 8, aka 'oh no'

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Chapter 8: Gods, Angels, and Eldritch Abominations

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"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I never expected you to be so careless, brothers." A smug voice echoed in the hospital room. Flatlines and desperate coughs accompanied the voice, yet it had not an ounce of worry for these alarming sounds. "I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if an archangel, hell, even a common angel, managed to get the drop on both of you, but two humans? I feel like we're losing our touch, War."

"Save it, Pestilence," a balding man shot back. "We all know the Winchesters are no common humans, what with all that vessel nonsense."

"Ah yes, we're part of this charade whether we like it or not." Pestilence grimaced as he glanced behind war where an elderly-looking man lay unconscious in a wheelchair. "How unfitting. I mean look at us; going around with cars, causing petty minor conflicts." the middle-aged man scoffed as he glanced around the dying hospital. "One would think we're petty creatures blindly following a bratty child, whose plans are being beaten by two other children, equally insignificant to what we are-what we used to be."

Pestilence took out a metal briefcase. Upon opening hundreds of mini lights erupted, revealing dozens of bright coloured orbs. War looked away in disinterest, gingerly massaging his hurt appendage.

"Look at Famine! He's a former shell of what he once was, once reigning over the cosmos, now reduced to needing to eat souls to construct a simple sentence!"

Pestilence opened the unconscious man's mouth, and a surge of wind rushed through the room, causing the curtain to flap wildly as the blue and black souls were absorbed into the comatose being's gaping mouth.

The reaction was instantaneous; the elder being took a sharp inhale, eyes shooting wide open and nearly bouncing up on his chair. However, any semblance of energy soon vanished, causing the elder to collapse against his wheelchair.

"Famine, welcome back!" Pestilence drawled with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. War watched in disinterest, taking a sip of a nearby glass of whiskey.

"Fragment…Reaper…" the feeble Famine muttered, his voice barely audible.

War nearly choked on his drink. "What?"

"…Grim…Reaper's…fragment…"

"You talking about Asura, ol' buddy?" Pestilence said in jest. "He's old news; showed up about a year ago only to vanish without a trace." The horseman frowned in mock concern. "You didn't get brain damage from those 'nasty humans', did you now?"

The elder let out a sickly cough. "New- second!" The man coughed up more bile. "A second one…young…"

War glanced to Pestilence whose mocking smile slowly turned into a carefully blank expression.

"A second fragment," Pestilence repeated.

Famine slowly nodded, the movement still causing him to cough in pain. "Yes. With Winchesters… a child."

War frowned in disbelief. "Death's fragment?"

"You know other Old Ones that have even had a first fragment, War?" Pestilence snapped at the man. When he received no response, the Horseman turned to the elder. "So, Famine. Brother." Pestilence's face twisted into a menacing smile. "Tell me about this child."

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'The Elysian Fields Hotel', proclaimed a neon blue sign, recently installed. 'Deluxe Rooms' advertised a smaller golden sign under it.

Dean parked the Impala at the parking area and craned his neck to look around. There was graffiti on the walls, but the area was rubbish-free, there were cars parked outside and it didn't smell of garbage.

Reputable enough, but not too high-class. Better than the hail.

Inside was even better.

Dean looked around the luxurious entrance of the hotel, taking in the tastefully outdated décor, the soft jazz music playing in the background and a hint of air freshener, all of it having the air of newness, a place not yet worn by time. He couldn't help but raise his eyes at the deceptively luxurious appearance of a hotel in the middle of nowhere.

Sam followed behind him, having an equally surprised reaction. The Thompson sisters came in right after, Liz letting a small whistle while Patty looked around in awe. Kid was the last person to enter, hands in his pocket, gaze locked to the ground, unperturbed the hotel's deceptive interior.

Dean suppressed a frown at the Grim Reaper's troubled mannerisms. He had been relatively quiet through the ride, but Dean wasn't too worried. From being still worried by Adam's resurrection to having him be the only way to kill Lucifer so far, some stress and even withdrawal were expected.

Yes, Dean had to be positive about this. Otherwise…

"Hello, Sir." Dean but his tongue to stop himself from frowning as a slender man looking like someone straight out of a fancy fifties hotel gave him an unnervingly perfect smile. Even his name-tag looked fancy, it being a metal-like golden badge with the name… Chad engraved on it.

Chad?

"If you could just fill this out please," the man said as he passed Dean a guest form in a perfect manner one only saw in old-timey movies.

Liz, Patty and Kid were further in the lobby, Liz collapsing on a comfy armchair with a pleased sigh. Around them, other guests went to and from the place, a middle-aged couple basking at a giant fireplace while a younger pair was lounging in one of the loveseats.

"Busy night," Dean said as he faced… Chad.

"Any port in a storm, I guess," Chad pleasantly said as he tapped away at his keyboard with such speed it made Dean go cross-eyed. He blinked, and the next thing he knew a key was presented in front of him. "Your key. Don't lose it now."

Just as Dean got his key, Chad rose his eyebrows in what he could only describe as aristocratic concern.

"Sir, I believe you have a little," Chad gently tapped at his own neck, "shaving nick there."

Before Dean even managed to touch the spot where he was apparently bleeding -he was pretty sure he hadn't shaved recently- Chap pulled out a white handkerchief. From where Dean had no idea.

Tentatively, Dean got the handkerchief and dabbed at the spot. There was a faint trickle of blood at the handkerchief when he pulled it away. Before he could even ask where to put the handkerchief, Chad had whisked it away and placed somewhere under the counter, hopefully in a bin.

Huh, so apparently Chad wasn't seeing things. But how…?

No, it didn't matter. Positive attitude. There were safe, they were warm, and they were sheltered from the storm. Plus, his stomach growled. Sam was probably hungry too, and so were the kids.

"You wouldn't happen to have some sort of restaurant, would you?"

Chad gave him a coy smile. "Buffet. All you can eat." He cupped his mouth with his hand as if letting Dean in on a secret. "Best pie in the tri-state area."

Ok, that was definitely unnerving.

Dean glanced at Sam who gave him an equally weirded-out look. So he wasn't imagining things.

"We'll check it out," Sam politely said as he and Dean walked away from the desk and towards the kids.

"We going to bed now, finally?" Liz moaned as she looked up at the brothers and stretched. "The car's so uncomfortable…"

Dean frowned. His baby was perfectly comfortable. He had slept in it multiple times.

"Hotel has a buffet. We're going there first," Sam said.

As if suddenly coming alive, Liz got up, Patty following her example.

"I'm not hungry," Kid said, in a lower tone than usual.

"Come on, just come for the company, kiddo," Patty playfully said, grabbing Kid by the elbow.

"…Very well," Kid acquiesced, as he eventually got up as well.

Relieved, Dean and everyone headed for the buffet. Hopefully, any weirdness was temporary.

Plus, pie always made things better.

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Kid looked at the pie that had been enthusiastically provided to him by an over-excited Patty with what could only be described as a thousand-yard stare.

Around him, the Winchesters and Thompsons made small talk with each other. Sam was suspicious about the storm, while Dean told him in no complicated terms to 'not worry about it'. Patty was gorging herself on the cake as Liz watched with increasing concern. Occasionally, Liz would try and get Kid into their conversation, but he gave her short non-committal answers.

There was no point in saying anything in the first place. Kid had no time to form any particular opinion on the storm, the hotel or the food.

He couldn't stop thinking about Adam's resurrection. About Zachariah's last words.

The only explanation that made Zachariah's words sound like one of a sane being was that he had been referring to Asura when talking about the Grim Reapers. Asura was the only 'kin' Kid had besides Father, but if that was the case then…

Asura couldn't be back. He had been sealed on the Moon, bound by his own Black Blood and by Crona's sacrifice. For Asura to be involved in Adam's resurrection, he would have had to be freed first, which then brought up the question of what could break Asura's prison.

The only answer Kid could think of was the Death-binding ritual since Asura was, as much as Kid hated to admit it, a Grim Reaper. However, even if someone managed to repeat the Death-binding ritual, why hadn't Kid been summoned again with it? He had been when Father had been trapped.

Again, his thoughts ended up with no conclusion. Kid could only speculate, he had no solid proof, no evidence that Asura was back.

"I said," came Dean's voice as Kid realised a little too late that he was being addressed, "how are you holding up?"

"I'll be fine," Kid responded, still staring at the uneaten plate of cake, "if that's what has you worried."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kid saw Dean glance at Liz who in turn gave him a defeated shrug. "Look, we're all dealing with a lot here, and you're no good to me burnt out. It's like I said, Sam. We got Bobby sniffing everywhere for us and so far, we've got nothing."

"I doubt that's because of lack of activity," Kid dryly said.

"Hey, you never know. Maybe we got lucky."

Kid felt his mood sour, so he didn't respond.

"I don't know about you guys," Dean continued as he grabbed his now-empty plate and eyed the buffet, but I am going to enjoy tonight."

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"So lemme get this straight; you guys carry shotguns, a magical demon-killing knife, more guns, a small clinic's worth of bandages, even more guns, a small stash of painkillers enough to tranquilise a herd of elephants, but you don't have anything for a stomach-ache?"

Dean held back a moan as he struggled up the stairs, clutching his stomach. Dammit, he really should have held back on that cake. But, it was delicious, and after that hot brunette in the red dress had rejected him, Dean had seen it prudent to get some extra cake.

What a mistake that had been.

"This doesn't usually happen…" Dean heard Sam's voice come from somewhere behind him. He let out a burp.

Looking back, he saw Sam give him a disapproving look. "Dean."

"Just give me a Coke and I'll be as good as new." He burped again. "Man, this hotel really goes all out when it comes to food."

Using the wall for support, Dean let Sam pass him by as he was pretty sure he was the one that had the key to their rooms. Speaking of, Dean had been wary about renting a room at this place; considering their numbers, most middle-to-high class hotels would refuse to accommodate five people in one room and instead split them into two rooms. He never had to worry about that with motels as most owners were rather flexible when it came to such trivialities as room occupancy limits, but he had been wary Chad would try and separate them into multiple rooms.

Then again, Dean thought as Liz, Patty and Kid passed him by, maybe it would be nice if he and Sam could get some proper alone time. At this point in their alliance, he had little fear of Kid and the sisters running away or trying to pull something. Dean wanted- chose to view his newfound lack of suspicion as a positive.

Just as Sam was about to unlock the door, Dean pried himself off the wall and slowly hobbled towards him. There was nothing more he wanted now than to lie in bed and wait for his stomach to do the trick.

Then Dean saw a ruffed-up Castiel standing right behind the doorway and all thoughts of getting a good night's rest were thrown out the window.

Dean could only stare wide-eyed at Castiel, who looked like he had taken part in several street-fights in which his opponents had used brass knuckles. His trench coat was dirty and hanging off one shoulder, his shirt's upper buttons were gone, the tie was missing completely. His face was swollen on one side as if he'd walked face-first into a wall and his eyes were bloodshot.

Sam opened his mouth to speak but Dean was the first one to have a go. "What happened to you?"

"We haven't seen you since Zachariah-!" Sam cut himself off, "where have you been?!"

"On a bender," Castiel slurred and Dean had to do a double-take because angel boy Castiel did not slur. Also, was it imagination, or was Cas giving off a strong alcohol smell?

There were a lot of things Dean wanted to ask Cas, including but limited to how much he'd drank to see if the angel had beat the Winchester's personal record.

A swaying Anna appeared by Castiel's side, her usual black jacket missing was her blouse was coming undone in the same manner as Castiel's shirt.

"They're finally here?" she slurred in a manner similar to Cas.

Sam switched his confused stare from Cas to Anna. "You too?!"

"Cas I can understand cause his plan and worldview were pretty much shattered," Dean said, figuring Cas was too hammered and had already moved on from the rock-bottom depressive phase to reckless abandon, "but what happened to you?"

"I'm an angel too," Anna slurred. "Also, peer pressure," she considered with a tilt of her head, followed by a grimace at the movement. "So far, I'm not enjoying the headache."

"Had no idea where to go so I headed to Bobby's." Castiel stepped aside and pulled Anna back with him with a whine as they moved past the entrance. "Turns out you have a package," he dryly said.

His surprise and mild amusement being replaced with confusion, Dean stepped inside their room to note they had more uninvited guests besides the angels.

Dean blinked. He must be seeing things. "Gideon?"

The man was standing by one of the beds, his shoulders hunched and his head down, muttering to himself. His clothes were torn, what parts of the skin they could see were bruised and he looked as if he had been dragged through the mud.

Throwing a quick look at Sam's own confused expression confirmed the fact that Gideon was in fact in their room and looking worse for the wear. Had something happened at Blue Earth? A real demon attack this time?

Just as all these thoughts and questions were brewing on his head, Dean noticed another anomaly in the room, a lying figure by Gideon. Their slender frame had made them barely visible as their frame sunk in the soft mattress. Other than black torn clothes and androgynous frame, their only other distinguishing characteristic was their hair, messy, pink and haphazardly cut.

The sight filled Dean with dread, despite his newfound commitment to a positive attitude. Just what had happened to Gideon and who was that mysterious unconscious person?

A gasp from behind drew his attention and Dean turned around.

Liz was staring wide-eyed at the bed and, interestingly enough, most of her shock seemed to originate from the unconscious stranger rather than Gideon, if her gaze was any indication. "is that…?"

Kid stepped forward, tentatively. His eyes too were wide, and his mouth a thin line. His expression resembled less one of surprise like Liz's and more of a dreadful guess come true.

Dean's gut twisted.

"Crona," the Grim Reaper stated.

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Kid wanted the Earth to swallow him whole. Perhaps if he managed to reach the plant's core he could get a clue on why the Universe denied him a moment's reprise.

His plan after they left the buffet was to find a nice private area and have a long talk with Liz and Patty. He was planning on telling them his encounter with Zachariah, the fact that Adam's soul had disappeared- no, had been taken from him- when he tried putting it to rest, that Asura might be freed from what everyone thought was a temporary but inescapable prison. It would be a lot to reveal, especially since all Kid had was speculation, but if anyone deserved to know that'd be Liz and Patty. They had stood by him before, they had supported him before, and part of him selfishly hoped that maybe they would have the right words to reassure him, the same way they tried to help him in their own ways with is obsessions.

As for Sam and Dean, Kid briefly considered if he should tell them, if he should let them in on the clusterfuck that was the Grim Reaper family tree and its history. Kid knew more about them than they knew of him, including their status as vessels and hints of a dysfunctional family life gleaned from their interactions.

However, any such thoughts had been quickly squashed. No matter how important these facts were to the Winchesters, Kid felt they didn't compare to what secrets of his own he needed to spill to inform them of Asura's existence and true capabilities. Just as when the two had started acting less jumpy and more trusting towards the Grim Reaper, Kid wasn't too keen on telling them about his insane brother -if Asura was technically his brother with the fragment nonsense which he still hadn't fully figured out himself- that had tried to make everyone on Earth as mad as he was. No, all the Winchesters knew of Kid and his family was the brief interaction Kid had with his Father in the past and it would stay that way. Kid couldn't trust the alliance he had with Sam and Dean to not degrade to how it was once they first met if they found out about the depths of madness and level of destruction a Grim Reaper could sow. Not only would Kid jeopardise his own safety, but he would also risk Patty and Liz's safety too, and that was unacceptable.

Patty and Liz had a right to know about his worry about Asura's return. Kid did not trust Sam and Dean -or Anna, Castiel or Bobby- in knowing.

But then, just when they entered their room to get some rest, Crona was at their bed. Crona, who had been sealed on the Moon with Asura, and whose presence here, on Earth, meant only one thing;

Asura's prison was broken.

Kid felt as if the floor under him had given away and the only reason he hadn't yet plunged into the abyss was because pure shock suspended him in a stasis-like state.

Questions like how the angels had come by Crona, how Gideon was involved, or even Crona's state were sidelined by the major mystery of why and how Crona was no longer on the Moon. If Asura's prison was broken, how had that happened? Pure coincidence? Was someone else involved? And if yes… was it a rogue Witch faction? Were Medusa or Arachne not truly dead?

Someone poked him in the ribs and Kid looked up to see an uncomfortable Liz throw him a glance before turning to two very confused Winchesters.

Dean gestured to Crona. "You know who this is?"

"…Yeah," Liz answered when it became obvious Kid would not -could not- speak. "They're Crona and…"

"We thought they were gone!" Patty spoke up, pursing her lips at the unconscious Crona.

Sam grimaced as he turned to Dean. "Another resurrection-?"

"No," Kid cut him off. The Winchesters looked at him in confusion, but Kid couldn't bring himself to say anything more.

"Crona…" Liz spoke up again, grimacing in discomfort and not knowing exactly what to tell and what to keep secret, "wasn't exactly dead."

"They look pretty out of it though, sis," Patty said as she walked towards the bed and poked Crona, who remained still.

"Is- Are they unconscious?" Sam asked, eyeing Crona's limp form with concern before turning to Castiel. "Have you healed them?"

"Don't have much Grace left. Zachariah's spell was powerful." Castiel slurred as he rubbed his eyes before trying to focus on Crona's form. "They look fine."

"They're unconscious!" Sam protested.

"Passed by a pharmacy a state ago," Anna spoke up with a frown. "Humans have medicine, right? For hangovers and," she pointed in Crona's general direction, "that."

Castiel slowly turned his head from Crona and Anna, in the world's slowest consideration. "Yes. Good plan."

"Wait," Sam spoke up, "you said you don't have a lot of Grace left-!"

Castiel and Anna vanished with a whooshing sound. Even the wind left in their wake swirled in a pattern that could only be described as tipsy.

Kid, who had been paying some attention to their interaction, felt his mood worsen. So, the angels had not healed Crona, so there was no telling if their unconsciousness was because of physical reasons. Then again that meant that Kid wouldn't have to worry about the angels of all beings wanting to know about Asura, so that was a positive. Somewhat.

Dean scoffed. "Drunk angels. Well, I've seen everything now."

"What now?" Sam asked.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Crona," Liz hesitantly began. "They can heal pretty much everything – But they're human!" She quickly said before Sam or Dean could speak up. "I guess since they aren't a Demon Weapon I guess you two would see them as more human than me and sis?" she whispered to herself before shrugging. "Whatever. What I'm trying to say that Crona will probably wake up on their own if we wait a couple of hours."

Kid couldn't help but agree to Liz's words. Despite Crona's soul being human, their body's blood had been fully replaced by Black Blood. Though a horrific procedure from what little hints Crona had dropped before, it did give them immense regeneration capabilities, on par to Immortals and even Great Old Ones.

However, what if any 'damage' Crona had suffered went beyond the physical? Being stuck with Asura and keeping their prison in check would put a great toll on one's mind and on their soul.

A quick check with is Soul Perception confirmed that Crona's soul was as it should be; mostly blue, with a hint of red, courtesy of all the soul's they'd eaten before -and oh dear, that was another thing Kid would have to reckon with when Crona awoke. Ragnarok's soul was adjacent to Crona as well, but it too was still, as if unconscious.

However, Kid's quick check was just that; a surface examination. He would have to spend more time and give a closer look to check if Crona's soul had been truly unchanged ever since they got trapped at the Moon.

"Who are they?" Sam asked, turning to Kid and the sisters and crossing his arms. "How do you know them?"

Great. Another question Kid couldn't fully answer.

"Can't you wait until they wake up?" Liz nonchalantly said -an act, Kid suspected- and he had never been gladder she was here with him. "It's a long story."

Just when Sam was about to protest Dean put a hand and then rubbed his forehead. "Fine."

Sam shot his brother a scandalised look. "Dean."

"Sam," Dean shot back with an even stare of his own.

The two exchanged a long look.

Sam was the first to break eye contact. "Fine," he acquiesced before pointing at the sisters and Kid. "But the moment they wake up, we're getting an explanation."

"Sure thing," Liz coolly said, though this time Kid could detect the rising dread in her voice. Kid shared her sentiment, as he wouldn't know where to start or what to include in the first place.

He had to work on that. He had to give Crona's soul a closer look, and if they woke up before Dean and Sam got to them, get some answers in private. Maybe… maybe he was jumping to conclusions in assuming Asura's prison was broken.

"Padre!" Dean said in a cheerful tone as he turned away from Crona and the rest to Gideon. The man so far had stayed quiet, though his hunched face and obscured face made Dean's smile waver. Nonetheless, he casually strode to where he was and was about to place a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Didn't think we'd meet again so soon-"

"No!" the Gideon recoiled from the touch as if electrocuted.

Dean stepped back as Gideon curled further within himself, head held tightly with both hands.

"Padre-?"

"Dead, dead, everyone dead," the man muttered through chapped lips. "It, town, bright light- dead…"

As Dean and Sam gave each other disturbed looks, Kid took a step forward. Crona wasn't the only one who had been brought to them. Why was Gideon here? Had he been involved with Crona? Perhaps if he got the man to talk he could get some desperately needed context for Crona's reappearance.

"Mr Gideon-"

Gideon's eye went wide as the sight of the Grim Reaper and he scuttled back until his back hit the wall. "No! Back!" His yells faded to whimpers as Kid did take a step back.

Kid could only watch as the tension left Gideon's and he slumped forward, once gain curing in on himself. "Dead…" he choked out. "Leah…"

Disappointed, Kid headed back to where Liz and Patty were. At first, he thought Gideon was frightened by his Grim Reaper nature and his incoherent ramblings were a result of the death of his daughter. However, the presence of Crona made him suspect his madness had other causes -or at least a catalyst.

"What happened to him?" Sam asked, frowning in concern at the man's condition.

Wordlessly, Dean slowly walked close to Gideon, making it closer than Kid before the man let out a whimper.

"Padre? Gideon?" When Gideon did look up, Dean gave him a hesitant smile. "Remember us?"

"Dean," Gideon breathlessly said as he turned to the other Winchester brother. Sam."

Dean leaned in with increasing confidence, while Sam himself also took a step forward.

With no warning, Gideon started sobbing, hiding their face again in their hands. "Gone, all gone… Nothing left…"

Kid held back a sigh at the brothers' attempt. He'd glimpsed Gideon's soul with his Soul Perception. The priest's soul was a ball of frantic incoherent energy, its movement more akin to an asylum inmate than your average human. He doubted they could get anything out of him now, if ever. The best they could do for him now was leave him undisturbed. Hopefully, his mind would recover on its own.

Just when Den was about to speak up, the pone in his jacket buzzed, eliciting a yelp from Gideon.

Taking several steps back until he was at the other side of the room with everyone else, Dean took out his phone, looked at the caller ID and frowned. "Bobby? Hold on…" He opened the phone, put it on speaker and held it out for everyone.

Static was the first thing they all heard, as Bobby's voice struggled to come through. "…finally got to you, where…" his voice got overtaken by static, "…you been? Signal's…" came the static again, "…off."

"We're caught in a storm," Dean said, raising his voice as if that would break apart the interference.

"A very biblical one," Sam added.

"Wouldn't… surprise me…" came Bobby's static-filled voice. "Reports… freak storms all over." He paused while the static intensified. "… Castiel?"

"Castiel?" Sam repeated. "Yeah, we saw Castiel, he and Anna showed up and dumped Gideon and…" he glanced at Crona, "another person in our room. Do you know anything about that?"

"I... called them. Priest… carrying teen… mumbling nonsense…" Bobby paused as static crackled louder. "…knew your names."

"Figures," Dean muttered before speaking up. "Do you have any idea what's up with them?"

"…No…" Despite the increasing static, the meaning of Bobby's one-word sentence was as clear as day. "Loosing…" was the last thing they heard from Bobby as the line went dead.

Sam didn't hide his disappointment, while Dean listened, his lips a thin straight line as he pocketed his phone.

As they all stewed in silence, Kid briefly wondered if he could give the brother a background on Crona, omitting any and all information on Asura. He could tell them of Crona as the child of Medusa, an ancient Witch whose apparent goal had been the spread of Madness, how she had experimented on Crona or that purpose, infusing them with the Black Blood and merging them with the Demon Weapon Ragnarok. Of how Crona had been a major target of the DWMA and their fear of turning into a Kishin Egg and, if Medusa had her way, a true Kishin, like Asura had been- was.

No, the Winchesters would try to kill Crona and as understandable such an action was, Kid could not allow them to do so. Crona might even know what had happened with Asura and why Kid had encountered him when putting Adam's soul to rest.

Still, that did not mean Crona was off the hook. They had eaten souls, their own soul on the verge of becoming a Kishin Egg, if not something worse if Medusa's final experiment had turned out a success.

Yet, Crona had essentially sacrificed themselves to seal Asura. Where Kid hadn't been able to complete his Lines, where Maka's Grigori soul and their Team Resonance had been wavering, Crona was the one who had reached out to them and dealt the final blow from within. If it hadn't been for Crona then who knows what else it would have taken to seal Asura away?

The Grim Reaper's hands tightened into fists. If- when Crona woke up they and Kid would talk. He'd give them a chance to explain themselves and then he'd decide what to do with them. Normally a soul eater wouldn't get such treatment, but Crona had defied their expectations before.

Kid could only hope he was making the right choice.

"What now?" Sam asked.

The silence was broken up by giggling coming from outside the room. Two voices, one masculine and the other feminine, whispered to each other in hushed tones but were still audible through the paper-thin walls of the hotel.

The happy sounds coming from the couple were in sharp contrast to the depressing aura of the room.

Liz rolled her eyes as Patty let out a giggle.

They all heard the door unlock and any sounds coming from them vanished. Apparently, the walls were thicker between rooms.

Kid glanced at Crona again. No matter what he would tell Sam or Dean, he had to talk to Liz and Patty beforehand. Maybe they'd noticed something he hadn't-

A loud bang from the next room's direction shook them all out of their thoughts. Dust fell off the ceiling shortly after as their whole wing shook.

Sam blinked. "What the…?"

Dean reached for his gun. "Let's go-"

"There's no one in the room," Kid informed them, causing them to stop dead in their tracts. "I can't sense any soul."

Dean frowned. "But you heard them-"

"They were there before," Kid added, frowning as well. He had seen the soul's couple, but then had focused his attention elsewhere. "Not now."

"People can't just vanish in thin air…" Liz said.

"Unless it's a magic trick!" Patty added.

"We should tell reception," Sam said as they all exited the room. Kid was the last one to leave, not wanting to leave Crona unsupervised. Still, it probably wouldn't hurt for a few minutes.

"One quiet night," Kid heard Dean mutter, "is that too much to ask?"

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Liz couldn't get but get goosebumps as they headed down the stairs to the reception.

Honestly, she had high hopes for tonight. They were in a proper hotel this time, not some dodgy motel. The place looked nice, smelled nice, it even had nice food.

But, as Liz was following after the Winchesters, Liz supposed al this 'luxury' was too good to be true. What better way to spend a night at a decent hotel than worry about an unconscious acquaintance who may or not still be an enemy? After all, even if Crona had helped them seal Asura, they had done countless other crimes and hurt who knows how many people.

Still, at least now they knew Crona was still alive. Maka would be the most excited among them when Liz got to tell her. Speaking of…

Liz slowed her pace until she reached Kid, who had both hands in his pockets and walked with a slight slump. Kid had been pretty out of it since Zachariah, but Crona's appearance only made it worse. She could only hope what was making him so worried were the same concerns she had about Crona, like what to do if they woke up, what to tell the Winchesters, if they should finally contact the Academy.

"Hey," she softly said, causing Kid to look up at her. "Something on your mind?" she asked, trying to lift the mood by a redundant question.

The two along with Patty stopped just outside the lobby while Sam and Dean headed for the reception. Finally, some alone time.

"Can't believe Crona's back guys!" Patty said in a hushed voice. "You think they're alright?"

"I hope they don't attack us when they wake up," Liz answered with a grimace. She glanced at Kid, who was looking away.

Liz cleared her throat. "What do you think, Kid?" she asked, feeling like a pre-school teacher.

No answer.

Liz let out a sigh. "Not a mind reader."

"…This is the worst timing."

"Tell me about it," Liz immediately said, secretly glad Kid was talking to her now.

Kid's frown deepened but he didn't answer and any of Liz's previous cheer vanished into thin air.

Just when Liz was about to prod further, she spied the Winchesters approaching them

"We need to talk when we're alone," Kid whispered to her, his voice barely audible. Liz managed to squash most of her surprise, but still couldn't help but give Kid a stare, which he did not reciprocate.

"That was," Dean began.

"Creepy," Sam responded.

"Broke the needle." Dean shot back, before noticing Kid and the sisters. "But hey, wasn't worse than meeting a Grim Reaper who knew way too much about us."

Liz rose an eye at the attempt at a joke. How had Kid and the Winchesters met again? "What happened to the couple?"

Sam shrugged in annoyance. "Apparently, they 'checked out'."

Liz frowned. "That doesn't make sense. And what about the bang-?"

"Exactly," Sam agreed.

"So yeah, besides the creepy receptionist, we got nothing-"

"He's not human," Kid spoke up causing everyone to fall silent. He was staring intensely at the lobby, in a manner Liz recognised as using his Soul Perception. "The receptionist. In fact…" he glanced around them, including above and below, "a lot of people here aren't human."

Liz felt her throat constrict. Not human? Usually not a good sign. "The hell are they?" she whispered.

"Old Gods. Powerful, but limited."

Liz paled. She didn't know where these supposedly 'Old Gods' ranged between demons, angels, or Great Old Ones, but their namesake made her assume the worst.

"Gods?!" Sam hissed before taking a moment to compose himself. Liz was happy to note that both brothers had gone pale, which meant she wasn't overreacting. "How many are they?"

"A lot. Many of them are staying in rooms." The Grim Reaper closed his eyes and scoffed. "I should have noticed that sooner. I should have scanned the place the moment we stepped inside-"

"No time," Dean cut him off. "People are disappearing, and we got Gods masquerading as receptionists."

Sam considered Dean's word for a few seconds and went even paler. "You think they…?"

"They…?" Dean paused, taking a few seconds to process Sam's words before turning a slight shade of green. "Oh, ugh."

Liz was not appreciating the cryptic nature of their conversation. "They what?"

"We search the kitchens first," Dean said to Sam.

"Wait, you never answered my question-!"

"Someone needs to guard Crona," Kid spoke up and Liz would have normally cussed him out and demand more answers, but Kid did have a point.

Sam looked among them. "Should we split up?"

"Bad idea," Dean said.

"We can't carry Crona or Gideon with us and they're defenceless-"

"Look guys," Liz spoke up, having already come up with a plan that would minimise creepiness and maximise her, her sister's and Kid's safety, "me and Patty will go with Kid first to make sure everything's fine on your end, and then one of us can join you guys." Ideally, she hoped they could delay the latter part as much as possible, but knowing Patty and Kid, they'd probably be eager to join whatever fray there was.

She glanced down to where Kid stood, still looking away, hands clenched.

Well, she stood corrected. At least Patty was eager among the three.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kali adjusted her necklace, an elegant metal string lined with human skulls.

She had come across it in a Bazaar decades ago and just could not resist picking it up. However, she had yet to wear it, as she found it too obvious, too much of a giveaway of who she truly was.

But, there was no point for being too subtle now, here. After all, she had gone the extra step and assumed an ordinary human form. She could indulge in some ominous jewellery.

Baldur, handsome as always, walked behind her and gave her a charming smile, one that would have any other deity swooning. "You're beautiful."

Well. Kali was going for terrifying, but Baldur was too naïve and would probably try to befriend a starved tiger if given the chance. She supposed she should take that as a compliment.

"You're sweet." Kali tried reciprocating Baldur's smile, but hers only lasted for a moment before turning into a grimace. "I hate sweet."

After all, one of these days Baldur's innocence would get him killed.

There was a knock on the door and Kali spied Mercury standing just outside their room. Cautious. How smart of him. Or maybe Kali's reputation preceded her. "The last guest has arrived. Preparations are complete."

"So everything's ready?" Baldur asked. "What about the Winchesters?"

"Suspicious. They're searching the hotel, but so far are only finding dead ends," Mercury noted with a hint of amusement. "And I have their blood."

So, not just smart and cautious. Capable too.

Kali gave Mercury a smile. It would be a lie to say she didn't enjoy a mostly hidden grimace at her expression. "Excellent."

"There is one complication though," Mercury said as he took a step back. "They have guests."

Kali rolled her eyes. Just when he thought him capable. Romans. "Put them in the pantry."

"I fear one of them may not be human," Mercury carefully said.

Kali paused. She glanced at Baldur who seemed equally confused. "One of ours?"

"I don't think so," Mercury answered. "From the aura I sensed, I would guess they are a Reaper."

Kali scoffed. Reapers were terrifying only to those unwilling to face death. "That's what has you worried? Reapers aren't known for their strength. Just send someone to take care of them." She made a mental list of the resident Gods, removing any she considered wimpy. It was a very short list. "Ganesh should be more than capable." Though not as strong as her, Kali trusted Ganesh as he was one of her own. He would get the job done.

Baldur clapped his hands just as Mercury politely excused himself. "Excellent. Now that that's taken care of," he flashed Kali a bright smile, and at that moment she supposed all the ancient records extolling his beauty had a hint of truth in them. "Let's get this show on the road."

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The moment they entered their room Liz collapsed on one of the comfy armchairs in an overly-dramatic fashion.

"And this place looked so nice…" she said with a moan, letting her head drop back for extra emphasis.

When she received no response, Liz brought herself up to see Kid standing over Crona. Patty was rummaging through the mini-bar while Gideon had retreated to a corner, mumbling to himself.

Her frown turning into a pout, Liz stood up and tapped Kid on the shoulder. "Come on then, let's get started."

Kid looked back at her with a distraught look. "What?"

Liz held back a sigh. "We need to get our story together." She glanced at Crona and Gideon. "'Cause I got no way to explain this," she said with a wry and slightly desperate smile.

Despite Liz nonchalant attitude, mentally she was inches away from stuffing her head in a pillow and screaming. But, she was trying to stay calm for Kid and Patty's sake. When it came TO Patty, it was because she was her big sister and Patty had already seen her at her lowest before, something Liz had promised to herself not to happen again. As for Kid, it was good for him to have at least one level-headed person to keep him calm, now more than ever.

Liz made a move to push Kid towards the shove, but he didn't budge. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Asura," came Kid's blank reply.

Ah. Great. The one topic Liz had thought would be brought up eventually, but not the very first thing Kid would think out. Then again considering the Grim Reaper's nervousness, which occasionally bordered on paranoia, maybe she should have expected Kid to go for the nuclear option and start their talk with the Kishin.

"I figured you'd want to talk about that," Liz lied. "But we can worry about him later after we sort this Apocalypse mess out-"

"I'm afraid we're already too late," Kid said and Liz went silent. "I fear Asura's prison may have been broken-"

"Woah, hold on!" Liz cut him off, letting off a nervous laugh. "Jumping to conclusions much? Crona hasn't even woken up yet." Upon getting no answer from Kid, her smile faltered. "But, um, if you're that worried I guess I can call people in the Academy and have them take a look-"

"Who brought Adam back?" Kid asked, voice hollow as if echoing someone.

"Huh?"

"I couldn't stop thinking about it. I still can't," Kid admitted briefly closing his eyes and fiddling with his hands.

"Uh… Angels?" Liz hazarded a guess.

Kid shook his head. "No. Powerful or not they are limited. Adam's soul would have been at the precipice between life and death and he wouldn't have been this… lively."

Liz gulped. This conversation was going in the worst direction possible. "So what you're saying is…"

"Only a Grim Reaper could have brought Adam back."

"But you didn't and Hell's got Lord Death, so who…?" Liz paused in horrified realisation. "You're kidding."

Kid barely suppressed a grimace as he nodded. "Asura, mad or not, remains a Grim Reaper."

Liz made several false starts because the scenario of Asura being free once again and getting actively involved with the Apocalypse went beyond the stuff of nightmares and ventured right ahead into madness-inducing territory. "Ok so, even assuming Asura managed, somehow, to escape, why would he work with Heaven?"

"He might be forced to. Bound, like Father." Kid looked down, his frown slowly morphing into a frightened expression. "It's the only explanation I can think of, why Zachariah said what he said, Adam resurrection, Crona suddenly appearing-"

"Hold on," Liz cut him off, her abstracted fears replaced by a very imminent one as Kid's words became more rapid and unhinged. "Let's not jump into conclusions."

With a fake smile, Liz guided Kid to the small couch at the end of the room, away from Crona and Gideon, who was kept busy by Patty -she must have noticed Liz and Kid were having a serious talk and wanted to leave them alone, her sister was smart like that.

As Liz sat down with Kid beside her, her mind raced. There had to be something, something that was off about Kid's theory. Even if what Kid was saying had a hint of truth to them, now was not the time, not when they were in a hotel room with a madman and surrounded by whatever the hell these 'old gods' were. If Asura had been bound the angels would have to repeat the ritual that caused Lord Death and Kid to disappear and hold on-

Liz placed her hands on Kid's shoulders, holding back a triumphant smirk. "Nothing happened to you, right?"

Kid looked up and gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

Liz's face dropped. "Come on Kid. You didn't just suddenly decide to vanish off the face of the Earth again." Kid flinched at her words and Liz cleared her throat, feeling a pang of guilt. She didn't mean it that way. "Like, you said that Asura was bound to Heaven, but that means that the angels would have to do that spooky ritual thingy, right? And last time that happened, you were dragged along with it…" she trailed off, letting Ki complete her line of thought.

Kid frowned, a nice change of expression from his previous one of abstract terror. "But since then I haven't been called or transported or done anything of the sort…"

"Which means that no one's done the ritual thingy!" Liz excitedly completed Kid's line of thought. "And like, didn't Hell need like a whole bunch of demons? Angels strike me like jerks, but not the kind of jerks who'd sacrifice a whole lot of their group just 'cause."

Kid gave her a long look before switching his gaze to the floor, brow knit in thought. "You're right, but still…" He looked up at her. "What else could it be?"

Liz sighed. "I don't know." Nevertheless, she managed to give Kid a small smile. "But stressing yourself out ain't helping."

Kid reciprocated the smile, but moments later it dropped as he continued staring at the floor.

Liz her back a grunt. So, the pep talk and verbal affection weren't enough. Time for the one thing Liz had never been good at, but still tried her best at; physical affection.

Slowly as to not surprise him, Liz enveloped Kid in a small hug. Upon not getting any negative reaction from Kid she hugged him closer, only for Kid to embrace her as well moments after.

"It'll be fine," Liz softly said. "We'll figure this out."

With a defeated sigh, Kid let his head rest against Liz's collarbone. "I hope so too."

"Group hug!" Like a cougar, Patty took one, two leaps and pounded on them, warping her hands around them with rib-crushing pressure. Liz let out a small laugh, genuine this time.

The three stood like that for some time, eventually disentangling when Liz let out a cough in account of having wasted most of her precious air by laughing. Patty was giggling as always, and Kid had a small reserved smile as well.

Liz gave the two a grin. Mission accomplished.

"Ah," Liz said and almost smacked herself on the forehead. "We still gotta figure out what we're telling the paranoid duo…"

"Speaking of which," Kid said and his gaze became briefly unfocused. Liz guessed he was using his Soul Perception to check up on Sam and Dean.

Kid's head shot up as if he'd been struck with electricity. "Are you kidding me?!"

Liz almost jumped on her seat. "What?!"

"They're surrounded," Kid said through gritted teeth. "I think they may be captured." His frown deepened. "And there are a lot of humans all bunched up together close to where they are."

"Think they got found out?"

"Almost certainly," Kid said as she stood up, Liz and Patty following his example. "They can't win against them, but if we go and help them…"

Kid stared at ahead and Liz followed his gaze, where an unconscious Crona and a muttering Gideon where. Right, they were supposed to guard these two.

Liz sighed. So much for the heart-warming moment they just had. "You go. Me and Patty can fight, and you're no pushover on your own," she added when Kid was about to protest. "We can hold the fort, you go save their asses."

Kid scowled at the door's direction before turning to Liz and Patty. "I won't be long. Feel free to terminate with extreme prejudice anyone who attacks you."

"Will do," Liz coolly said, Patty's form already glowing.

With one final nod Kid left the room, making sure he closed the door behind him with a solid thump.

"Hopefully," Liz muttered to herself.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kid ran through empty hallways, occasionally passing by an occupied room where one or more of the old gods were. Any people, no any humans, that were previously roaming the hotel were gone, replaced by dead space, silence marking their absence.

Frustration flared up inside Kid. Dammit, he should have urged them to leave this viper den, but he had been too distracted. Even at the foyer Kid hadn't paid much attention to the deities' souls, thinking the deities simply wanted to be left alone, and that their meeting was akin to a meeting of the Witch Council; secretive and exclusive, but overall harmless.

Kid reached the dining area, empty and silent, and paused. On one hand, he just had to head down one of the hallways ahead of him to reach the room where Sam, Dean, and a bunch of other deities were. On the other head, Kid could take a brief detour and head into the kitchen and reach the area where the humans were kept. For what purpose they were all kept bunched together like this, he didn't know.

Voices came from behind Kid and he dived under a table. People -deities, his Soul Perception helpfully provided- marched into the room, talking amicably with each other.

Taking a peek from the small holes on the intricate tablecloth, he made out three deities, a number confirmed by his Soul Perception.

Hiding instead of directly confronting the deities might be perceived as a cowardly move by an amateur, but Kid had been trained to know better. At worst Kid would avoid a meaningless confrontation which would only slow him down; at best, the deities would be huge morons and divulge sensitive information about any of their plans when they thought no one could listen in to them.

Besides, Grim Reapers struck best from the shadows.

"I can't believe you'd do something so bold Tezcatlipoca!" One of the deities said, a wide-shouldered pale man with long red hair and an equally long moustache, dressed in winter gear.

"I'm curious of how they taste," said the other deity, an elderly bearded man with curly grey hair and wearing a plain long robe.

"All in good time, Teutates, Ba'al Hammon," said the third deity in an even tone. One of his legs writhed like a snake and a long yellow horizontal band run across his face. Most importantly though, he wore a complicated fashion piece that looked as if it'd been stolen from an abstract art painting competition and transformed it into clothing. It was the type of garment that had Kid bite his tongue to prevent him from crying out at beholding this monstrosity.

Still, their appearances or names didn't set off any red flags to Kid. They also didn't seem to be of high rank within this gathering, so confronting them would be a waste of time. He just had to wait for them to walk out of the room.

"But if you are ever in need of a demonstration…" Tezcatlipoca trailed off meaningfully as he took out a small cloth bag and rattled it. Kid had initially disregarded the bag, focusing on the deities fingers and mouths, all bloody and staining their clothes and facial hair. However, when Teutates and Ba'al Hammon stared at it as if it contained gold, Kid took a look at it with his Soul Perception.

For the next few seconds, the Grim Reaper stood frozen in place.

It had been initially difficult to pick up the contents of the bag with his Soul Perception, if there was anything there in the first place. His surroundings were obscured by the bright multicoloured Wavelengths of the deities.

Souls. The bag contained human souls. Freshly killed.

Kid fidgeted in place, almost storming out and making a beeline for the bag. These beings had no business possessing souls let alone prance around with them as if they were something as insulting as treasure.

"Still," Ba'al Hammon thoughtfully said, "you know we are forbidden from…"

Like hell they were! No one, mortal or not, was allowed to harm souls! Any that did would perish.

Teutates huffed. "Who's gonna do anything about it? The only being that can is busy being a lackey for the Devil."

Kid scowled. Teutates must have been referring to Father's capture by Lucifer. Even if his words were true, he had in no position to be this disrespectful, let alone consider Father's temporary setback as permission to meddle with souls. Imprisoned or not, souls were not to be trifled with. As Grim Reaper, Kid wouldn't allow it.

Kid was just about to gracefully step out from under the table and give these deities a good talking-to when Tezcatlipoca's next words had him frozen in place again.

"Which is why we must take advantage of our situation," Tezcatlipoca calmly said as he pulled out a soul -mall trembling with fear at the unnatural environment the poor thing found itself in- and regarded it with a hungry gleam in his eye. "To claim the strength we have deserved from time immemorial. A right taken from us by a being that, though more significantly powerful from us, is equally conceited as that bratty angel." He brought the soul closer to his face, closer to his mouth. "With these, we can even the playing field-"

A knife flew between the soul and Tezcatlipoca's tongue, grazing the latter appendage and making the deity take a step back and drop the soul.

"Don't you dare," Kid said as he emerged, gaze laser-focused on Tezcatlipoca and his bag of souls.

"What on Earth…?" Tezcatlipoca cut himself off as he glared at Teutates and Ba'al Hammon. "Is he one of yours? An ambush-?"

"Do not insult me," Kid cut him off. "I would rather die than be associated with such depraved beings like you."

"Oh dear, you're one of those," Ba'al Hammon said with a roll of his eyes. "Look, child, it matters not what Pantheon you come from, what you did is considered rude-"

"Do not fucking patronise me," Kid cut him off, still staring at a silent Tezcatlipoca. "Drop the souls."

"Why would I?" Tezcatlipoca calmly inquired, going so far as to raise the bag of souls as if inspecting them "I acquired them after a series of succulent meals. They're mementoes."

Kid narrowed his eyes. Considering the blood and that apparently the souls came from a 'meal'… "So, you are luring humans in to eat them?" It would explain why the humans had been stashed way in the kitchen area. "This whole set up was that you could have a buffet?"

Teutates let out a jaunty whistle. "Someone's new here-"

"You keep quiet," Kid cut him off. "You're only digging yourself into a deeper hole."

A part of Kid's mind was glad he had been the one to head out instead of Liz and Patty. Despite Liz's easily spooked nature, Kid had no doubt that the Thompson sisters would be able to stomach the cannibalistic nature of the hotel. Well, cannibalistic to Liz, Patty and the Winchesters, not so much so for Kid and the deities. However, souls were the Grim Reaper's territory, and though Liz and Patty could act with Kid's jurisdiction on such matters, retrieving souls was a tricky business.

No matter, Kid had to ensure the souls' safety first and foremost. Then he would head to Sam and Dean, get them out, get Liz and Patty and finally free the poor humans.

"You're not one of us, are you?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

Teutates gave the god a wide-eyed look. "What?!"

"I cannot think of anyone here foolish enough to challenge me like this," Tezcatlipoca continued.

"Careful Tezcatlipoca," Ba'al Hammon spoke up. "If we've been infiltrated by Heaven or Hell…"

"If so, that's the wimpiest looking demon or angel I've seen," Teutates grumbled. His brow knitted in thought and moments later, he let out a triumphant yell. "Aha, I know who you are!"

Kid raised an eyebrow though he still didn't look away from Tezcatlipoca. Was Teutates familiar with his Sanzu lines and what they stood for?

"Yeah, I heard Ganesh grumbling about it," Teutates continued as the two deities listened in anticipation. "Said the Winchesters brought a Reaper with them and he had to go deal with it…"

Kid held back a smirk. They thought he was a Reaper. If he wanted to, he'd have already reaped their clueless souls. Honestly, how could they be so cocky and self-assured at a time like this? Unless…

With growing dread Kid scanned the deities' soul again, this time more in depth and peering further than the blinding glow they gave off.

Tezcatlipoca soul was blood red, with scab-like growths on its surface. A Kishin Egg, though unlike any Kid had come across. The result of one of an old god consuming who knows how many poor unfortunate souls.

Well. This changed things, including but not limited to how Kid planned the outcome of this meeting.

"You've already eaten," Kid accused Tezcatlipoca.

"So you are a Reaper," Tezcatlipoca shot back. The deity's face remained neutral but Kid didn't care for how he would react to the accusation. The outcome would remain the same.

Teutates guffawed. "A bit bold for a little Reaper, ain't you? Poor little skeleton gonna give us a lecture on something-?"

"I prefer a more hands-on approach," Kid said as took a step towards the brightly-dressed deity.

Tezcatlipoca's back hunched, Teutates reached for his sword while Ba'al Hammon stood up straighter.

The Grim Reaper held back a scoff. Fools always refused to accept the inevitable. "Tezcatlipoca's life is already forfeit. Yours does not have to." He narrowed his eyes. "Step aside."

"Forfeit-?" Ba'al Hammon asked with raised eyebrows.

Teutates took out his sword, blade glistening as if newly-forged. "Shit, so Hell's targeting us too-?"

Both deities were interrupted by a giggle that turned into a full-out fit of maniacal laughter.

Kid looked ahead unimpressed as a hunched-over Tezcatlipoca clutched his belly, rubbing the tears of his eyes. A mad glimmer reflected off the deity's abyssal pupils as he stepped forward, towards the Grim Reaper.

"I'd like to see you try! Do you know who I am, Reaper?!" The deity thumped his chest. "I am Tezcatlipoca of the Aztecs! I have flooded temples with the blood of my sacrifices and I will not be threatened by a mere-!"

Kid tackled Tezcatlipoca and the deity fell down with an undignified groan.

It shouldn't be a quick or messy fight as Kid did not want to even allow Tezcatlipoca with a chance to counterattack. No, he would take care of him with one simple manoeuvre, no matter if it cost him a minute or so. Thus, Kid chose the simple plan of pining Tezcatlipoca, placing his hands around his neck and squeezing.

Power crackled under the skin of Tezcatlipoca's neck, rendering it rock hard and preventing Kid from snapping it. Or at least it would do so for as long as Tezcatlipoca had the strength to do so. Judging from his increasingly frantic and desperate movements, including the writhing snake at his leg having buried its fangs deep into Kid's calf, it wouldn't be long now.

Kid glanced at the other two gods. Teutates made a motion to swing his sword but Ba'al Hammon placed a hand in front of him and shook his head. Teutates looked conflicted but eventually seethed his word and made no other effort to assist his peer, instead staring at the struggling Tezcatlipoca with increasingly raised eyebrows. Ba'al Hammon simply adjusted his collar.

Good. Kid had no time for distractions.

Kid looked back down at Tezcatlipoca. The stubborn deity still had some fight left in him, though Kid's tight grip and a steady flow of his Grim Reaper wavelength rendered him weaker by the second.

A shot of pain came from Kid's leg as Tezcatlipoca's snake trashed its head around, dragging its fangs a few centimetres around skin before they too came off, resulting in the snake pulling back and wrapping within itself in agony. Kid's grip didn't falter one bit.

… This would have been done much neater if Liz and Patty were with him. A couple of precise headshots would be all that it took and Kid wouldn't have this trashing, bloody mess.

Slowly but steadily Tezcatlipoca's thrashing grew weaker and his power subsided, rendering his neck softer.

Eventually, a threshold was reached; Tezcatlipoca's limbs went limp and Kid finally managed to dig into the skin, muscle and sinew, crushing it and then retracting clenched fists.

Kid closed his eyes as Tezcatlipoca's soul rushed at him, disappearing the moment it was completely encapsulated by the Grim Reaper's soul.

It was done. Now Kid just had to take a moment to heal, gather the rest of the souls and-

"Go on then," Ba'al Hammon said in an impatient tone and Kid turned to stare at him. "You've done what your master ordered you too. Run along now." He even dared to make a shooing motion and at that moment Kid seriously reconsidered about letting him live.

Taking in a very deep breath, Kid slowly stood up, making sure to reach out and grab Tezcatlipoca's bag and gently hover his hand over the stranded souls.

"Who else among you has been eating souls?" Kid said in a blank tone as he watched each soul disappear, finally safe.

"Ah, so that's what this is about," Ba'al Hammon said in a guarded tone. "Only Tezcatlipoca as far as I know."

"Listen," Teutates spoke up with a sombre and hesitant voice. "If you're trying to write a report of something, give it a rest, the Apocalypse is happening-"

"Who else?" Kid insisted. When the last soul finally passed on, he discarded the bag and looked up at the deities who took a step back. "And who has condoned the practice?"

"We don't know," Ba'al Hammon said, raising his hands in a pacifying gesture. "This is why we're here after all. To present a united front against the Apocalypse-"

Kid stopped listening after that. Tezcatlipoca mustn't have been the only deity to take advantage of the lack of the Grim Reaper's oversight. There must be others. Sam and Dean's abduction might even be related to it.

He needed to get Liz and Patty. Hell, it would be safer if they got Gideon to carry Crona and come along with them, just so they could move effectively without having to worry about their safety.

Kid activated his Soul Perception, just in case any other deity wanted to ambush him. Besides Teutates and Ba'al Hammon, there was no one else in Kid's immediate vicinity. He made a cursory check towards the room Patty, Liz, Crona and Gideon were in, just to make sure they were there.

There was a deity in their room. Liz and Patty's close were close to each other, probably wielding each other, dashing madly as a deity's soul pulsed with power…

Cursing up a storm, Kid raced back to where came from, leaving behind two very confused deities.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

"Shit," Liz managed to let out, transforming just in time when a trunk broke the wooden floor where she'd been standing moments earlier.

Patty fired off several shots, each one hitting their assailant but none of them even scratching his skin. Instead, he turned towards them, raised his trunk again and...

"Shit!" Liz transformed and rolled away from the attack, now clutching patty's Weapon form. She fired off another barrage of shots, this one just as ineffective as the rest.

"I don't think we're getting him sis!" came Patty's voice.

"I know!" Liz said as she had to roll from another attack. "Fighting a fucking elephant is not something I've done before!"

Liz thought she'd been smart about positioning herself inches away from the door when someone had knocked it, Patty pointed towards it. She thought she would be doing what Kid would say was a prudent tactic and take out a potential opponent before they had a chance to even make a move.

She had expected for their room to be crashed into, either breaking the door in two or tearing it off its hinges.

What she hadn't expected was a long period of silence, followed by a resounding crash and a giant pearly white tusk protruding from the door, its end inches away from her neck.

Things had gone even worse later on when it turned out their bullets didn't even penetrate this deity's -and goddammit how the hell had Liz found herself fighting homicidal gods again?- thick hide.

Liz dodged another attack. Any temporary relief from escaping the huge table-wrecking trunk vanished when her back hit the wall, knocking the breath out of her. Patty transformed and helped Liz get up, just in time to avoid another trunk-lung that cracked the wall behind them.

As Liz managed to stand up and face their attacker, a goddamn literal fucking elephant, she gained a brief glance at the other side of the room. Thankfully, the unconscious Crona and cowering Gideon hadn't attracted the elephant's attention.

Liz fired again but at this point, she wasn't even disappointed when her bullets bounced off. Dammit, if this guy gave them some room Liz could get a better aim and take his eye out or something.

"Let's not drag this out," the elephant spoke, somehow. "Come in quietly and I won't have to hurt you"

"Fuck off and die!" Liz said, her mind defaulting to insults when all of its mental faculties were working overtime in not getting her killed.

"You're the only ones here? In this room?" the elephant asked again, voice surprisingly calm despite the rampage he was causing.

Liz let out a growl. Dammit all, had Kid noticed they were attacked? Had he also been attacked while on his way of getting Dean and Sam?

No matter; he'd come for them eventually. Until then, she and Patty would just have to hold on.

"Just you wait, jackass!" Liz said with a cocky grin. "Got a couple of pals coming over soon and together we're gonna kick your ass!"

"You tell him, sis!" Patty joined in.

"You mean the Winchesters? We've already captured them," the elephant calmly explained and Liz's grin faltered. "Unless you're referring to the Reaper that was supposed to be with you-"

"Grim Reaper, actually," came Kid's voice and Liz's smile turned feral again.

The elephant paused, both he and the sisters looking at the doorway when Kid stepped in, glaring at the deity. Despite his ruffled hair he otherwise looked unharmed. Well, his hands were bloody but his clothes looked fine and Liz couldn't see any wounds on him, so he was most likely fine.

"I came across some other deities and we had a similar misunderstanding," Kid continued. The elephant temporarily froze and Liz and Patty, taking advantage of his hesitation, transformed into their Weapon forms.

Liz held back a giggle at being wielded by Kid. She wasn't sure what had transpired when he was alone, but she could feel his anger and frustration come off in waves. The elephant was toast.

Speaking off, the elephant had now fully turned to Kid, still not attacking. "Grim Reaper?"

Liz scoffed. She didn't understand why the 'Grim' caused such a change in attitude, but it didn't really matter now.

"You're dead meat, pal!" Patty exclaimed, echoing Liz's thoughts.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean were having what was decidedly not the time of their lives. Dean in particular had a hard time staying positive in this mess.

First, they found out they were in a hotel set up to lure poor humans caught in the middle of a terrible storm, like the world's most boring retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Then, after they reached the kitchens, they found out the reasons humans were lured here was to serve as hors-d'oeuvre for some type of pagan god convention, human sacrifice very much included in it. Then they'd been captured by said bloodthirst gods, strapped to a chair and presented before them like the world's unluckiest prisoners. In the process, they also found out that if they ever wanted to leave this place they'd have to take out entities such as Baldur, Mercury, Baron Samedi, Thor, Zao Shen, Isis and freaking Kali the Destroyer.

Right now, he and Sam were sitting into two uncomfortable dinky chairs. They were technically not restrained so they could try making a run for it, but both of them knew that if they tried something like that they'd die before taking a step.

Across then, a dozen gods were seated on a three-sided conference table, with each one having a bright-red nametag proclaiming their title. The most worrying deity among them, Kali, was seated at its centre. Another deity sitting by her, with the name Baldur, written in calligraphy on his bright red nametag.

Baldur sat up with a smile, tapping his glass to attract everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen thank you for coming," he politely began. "In all my centuries, I never thought I'd see this many Gods under one roof."

"Gods?" Sam hissed next to him, a vein popping out of his neck.

"And before we get down to brass tacks, some ground rules," Baldur continued, his tome more amused than serious. "No slaughtering each other. Curb your wrath" he said, stealing a coy glance at Kali. "Oh, and keep your hands off the local virgins. We're trying to keep a low profile here."

"Where the hell is Kid?!"

"Oh, we are so, so screwed," Sam continued, not really helping with Dean's goal of keeping calm, goddammit.

"Where the hell is Kid?" Though he'd never admit it, the perks of working with a Grim Reaper was that there'd never been a question of whether they could kill any of their opponents thus far. He figured gods would be in the killable category too. Hopefully.

"We all know why we're here," Baldur continued unperturbed, his gentle features switching to a sombre look. "The Judeo-Christian Apocalypse looms over us-"

The doors behind them swung open and the only reason Dean didn't jump was because he had reached top-bottom when it came to sudden death situations that nothing short of a date with Lucifer would shake him anymore.

Still, he and Sam looked behind them to see deities march into the room. Dean couldn't spot any nametags, unfortunately.

"Ba'al Hammon, Teutates," Baldur said with a polite nod, though his smile was tight-lipped. "As I've said before you've been split into groups to help communication-"

"Tezcatlipoca's dead," one of the gods cut Baldur off. Probably Teutates, as he looked stereotypically Celtic.

Kali stood up. "How?

"Reaper. You said you'd sent Ganesh but-"

"I have sent Ganesh," Kali cut him off and glanced at one of the empty seats of the table.

Surely but surely, Dean felt some of his cheer return. A deity dead and another one missing? He knew of one person that could do something like that, as well as nag them about not organising the Impala's trunk later when this was all said and done.

"You're smiling," came Kali's voice. Dean's smile faltered when all gods turned to look at him.

Dean gave them a mocking innocent look, his mood already lifted. "Don't look at us, we haven't moved-"

Dean choked, unable to breathe. His coughs turned into frantic hacks as blood poured out of his throat, trailing down his nose, his eyes felt weirdly wet too-

"Kali," Balder gently said and as if nothing had happened, Dean could breathe again. "They're no use to us dead."

"Dean-" Sam said, helping him get upright and frowning at the trail of blood now running down Dean's face.

"A Reaper beat Tezcatlipoca?" One of the gods, Odin his nametag proclaimed, scoffed. "I've been saying that old fool's lost his touch."

"On one hand we fear we're being targeted by Lucifer," Ba'al Hammon spoke up. "But on the other hand, it may be that only Tezcatlipoca in particular was a target-"

"I've sent Ganesh. Unlike you weaklings, he can take care of a simple Reaper-"

Kali went quiet as heavy footsteps were heard outside the doorway, accompanied by a lot of yelling. Ba'al Hammon and Teutates retreated into the room as the noises grew closer behind the closed doors.

Then, silence.

Just when Dean was about to cough to relieve the tension, the doors were forced open a large man crushing through them and tearing them off their hinges. Dust particles obscured the view as a relatively small silhouette became visible and picked the fallen man as if he was made of feathers.

"Hello, Sam, Dean," came Kid's voice and Dean would be lying if he said he was relieved to hear his voice. "The rest of you as well."

"What is the meaning of this," Baldur began, enraged, but paused when the dust settled. Kid had guns in both hands, both pointed at the unconscious man's head.

"Nobody move, assholes, or the elephant gets it," came Liz's voice from one of the guns.

"Heya dudes, what's up?!" Patty joined in as well.

"It's him!" Teutates proclaimed, pointing at Kid. "The Reaper that killed Tezcatlipoca!"

"Everyone stand down," one of the deities said, dressed in a top hat and already reaching for a packet of cigars.

The room went silent when Kali stood up, her gaze fixed on Kid, her mouth a thin line.

Kid kept Patty pointing at Ganesh but slowly turned Liz to face Kali. A faint trickle of blood ran from his lips but he was otherwise unaffected.

"Stand down please," the deity, Baron Samedi his nametag read, repeated with a tired sigh.

Kid glanced at the deity. "Baron. I would say it's a pleasure but time is short and the circumstances are unfortunate."

The Baron respectfully inclined his head. "I warned them of the consequences of soul-eating. I'm guessing you did what you have to do," he said as he inspected one of his cigars before taking out a match and lighting it.

"The hotel has a no-smoking policy," Mercury spoke up.

Baron Samedi gave Mercury a long look before taking a ludicrously lengthy drag from his cigar and nonchalantly blowing the smoke in the messenger God's direction.

"Now, now, let us not go over hysterics over this new development," Baldur reassuringly said, and even Kali's glare softened in intensity.

Taking advantage of the brief calm, Baldur gave Kid a polite smile. "So, would you care to introduce yourself?"

"My name Death the Kid," Kid said, still aiming Patty towards Ganesh and the other towards Kali. "I am a Grim Reaper."

The room erupted in yells and shouts.

"You're lying-"

"But these are Lines of Sanzu-"

"The Grim Reaper is bound by Lucifer-!"

"This is my father you're referring to!" came Kid's voice among the cacophony.

As Dean watched the chaos before him, he couldn't help but smirk. At least the gods were as confused about Kid's existence as the Winchesters had been. That was reassuring, wasn't it?

"I can confirm all this," the Baron spoke up, his voice barely audible.

Dean frowned. How did this Baron dude know about it?

"Baron Samedi. Loa of the dead, Dean," Sam helpfully whispered to him, which made sense to Dean. Same territory and all that.

"Enough!" Kali yelled in a reverberating voice, shutting down all arguments.

The goddess and Grim Reaper exchanged a long look. "What do you want?"

"I would ask the same thing," Kid replied. "What is your business with the Winchesters?"

"Good question," Dean spoke up, "what do you want with us?" Hopefully something other than the stereotypical 'kill them' routine.

"The purpose of our meeting here is simply to come up with a way to stop the Apocalypse," Baldur said with a pacifying gesture.

"Yeah and have a feast," Dean muttered under his breath. "Psychos."

"That's…" Sam began with a frown, "that's what we're trying to do too. With Kid."

"Michael and Lucifer's vessel," Baldur began, causing Sam to flinch and Dean to raise an eyebrow, "conspiring with a Grim Reaper against the Apocalypse?"

"It would explain why it hasn't happened yet," Kali began, giving the brothers a calculating look. "But the question remains of what we should do with you two."

"Uh," Dean hopefully began, "let us be on our way and pretend none of this happened-?"

"We kill them!" Zao Shen angrily said in a language Dean didn't understand and a tone he did not like. Judging from Kid's narrowed eyes at the god's words, his gut feeling was correct.

"No one is killing the Winchesters," the Grim Reaper said any positive mood Dean had evaporated.

"Why are you protecting them?" Baldur asked.

Dean wasn't expecting a sappy answer like 'they're my friends', but he did expect something along the lines of 'I appreciate their company' or 'they're good people' or simply 'I'm not a homicidal prick like the rest of you lot'.

"My aim is to stop the Apocalypse and free Father," a couple of the gods rose their eyes at the title, "from Lucifer's bindings."

Or that. Well, family was important and all that.

"Then we have similar goals," Baldur diplomatically said with a careful smile. "I'm sure we can come to a mutual understanding."

Dean rose his eyebrows. Were the pagan gods offering their help in stopping the Apocalypse?

…Should Dean accept their help? It'd be a lie to say they didn't need it -after all, there were many problems that could be solved by siccing a few pantheons at them- but there was also the fact that this bunch here were a bunch of human-eating psychos, judging by the mere existence of this hotel. Hell, Dean was a hunter, firmly on the side of humanity so even let these assholes go, not even mentioning working with them, would be a breach of his ethics.

"I'm listening," Kid said, and Dean bit his tongue from protesting. Hunter or not he still did not want to face Kali's or any other deity's wrath yet until they had a good plan to counterattack them.

"Simple. The only way the Apocalypse can be stopped was to slowly take out Heaven and Hell's chips." Baldur gestured towards the Winchesters. "The most important ones being their vessels."

"We're already doing that-" Sam spoke up.

"In fact, I'm surprised you haven't implemented a more permanent solution," Baldur continued and Dean felt pit form in his stomach. Kid's eyes narrowed. "With the Winchesters being alive, they can still be swayed into saying yes. I'm sure they've been tempted many times already."

Sam shifted uncomfortably and Dean threw him a glance. It would a be a lie to say Baldur's words were bullcrap but…

Actually, you know what, Baldur and the rest of his posy were jackasses had no idea what he and Sam had gone through, the depths they'd been plunged into while still denying Lucifer and Michael of a yes, so screw them for even bringing it up-

"But they will not be able to consent if they're dead," Baldur continued and Dean's blood drained from his face. Unconcerned, Baldur politely inclined his head towards the Grim Reaper. "And if you were to hold on to the Winchesters souls, the angels won't be able to revive them once we kill them, making sure they will never get their vessels."

Dean heard Sam's breath hitched, as his own heart skipped a beat. Could… could Kid do that? Would Kid do that?

Dean's growing dread was accompanied by seething anger, laser-focused on Baldur. Maybe when Dean had a bit too much to drink he would think up of scenarios like that, but screw Baldur for thinking they could make this decision for him. Most importantly, he wouldn't let anyone hurt Sam, even if Dean died and he had to figure out to haunt the shit out of someone.

The thing was, if Kid did side with the gods, the Winchesters would be truly screwed, and Dean would have fucked up by not going with Sam's gut the first time they met Kid, where he suggested they try and take him out.

"No," Kid said after an excruciatingly long period of silence. "They're choosing to resist of their own free will and I will not violate that."

Dean let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. There was some strange wording and not as much conviction as Dean would have liked, but at least Kid passed his minimum standards of being a decent person.

Odin scoffed. "This is ridiculous, oh come on!" he added when several of the seated deities flinched. "Death disappears for almost a millennium and then one of his fragments shows up and bosses us around?!"

Dean rapidly blinked in confusion. Death had disappeared, at least as far as the pagan gods were concerned? Also, what the hell was a fragment?

Sam looked equally confused as well, and Dean's growing dread now included the realisation that, though allies somewhat, they still knew very little about Kid and the Grim Reapers in general.

"Say we kill the Winchesters," Odin continued, unperturbed by his peers' protests. "What's he gonna do about it?"

"I'll kill you," the Grim Reaper said as a matter of fact, eliciting even more protests.

"Everyone," Baldur spoke up, "let us all be civilised here-"

"Stand down, Odin!" another deity spoke up, Isis written on her nametag. "Are you mad, trying to pick with a Great Old One?!"

"Don't fucking patronise me!" Odin shot back. "There's a dozen of us, you think we can't take down an unknown fragment like him-"

"Fragment or not he's a Great Old One you moron," Isis cut him off with a hiss.

Dean had to move his head back and forth to catch the speakers, getting increasingly lost in the terminology. Fragment? Great Old Ones?

"I'm also here to eliminate anyone who has consumed souls or has condoned such an action," Kid spoke up and the room went relatively silent. "I would say I'm pleasantly surprised that I cannot detect any other Kishin Eggs within the room..." he trailed off, giving each deity a small glare, "but I would be lying as it seems there are those among you who consider if not condone the practice."

Ba'al Hammon rubbed his brow, having stayed silent during the previous argument. "So that explains Tezcatlipoca."

Odin rolled his eyes but said nothing.

Zao Shen was the one who stood up this time and banged on his table. "This is an insult-!"

"Anyone who practise or condones the act of eating souls, God or not, will be executed," Kid calmly said as if reciting a law. "You are all aware of this, yet I already had to take out one of your compatriots whose soul was well on its way to becoming a Kishin Egg," he continued and any protests soon died down. "You are already aware that anyone who breaches that rule will find themselves in direct opposition with the Grim Reaper."

"Oh, so now you care about eating souls," Odin muttered. Strangely enough, the deities went completely silent instead of arguing with each other like any other time Odin spoke up.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kid asked and Dean frowned as well. From what he had seen, Kid had a one-track mind when it came to soul eating.

"It was all fine and dandy when one of you did it," Odin continued and Kid's frame eased in a way Dean recognised as one of being inches away from attacking, "but we try to get in on the deal and all bets are off-"

"Can't we all just get along?" came a booming voice and everyone turned around to what was left of the entrance.

Dean blinked, as a smiling man who looked the stereotype of a deadbeat younger brother strutted into the room. Gabriel. No doubt he would have dramatically flung the door open again if there had been anything left of it.

Gabriel's smile faltered when he finally took in Kid, the unconscious Ganesh and a red-faced Odin, as well as two Winchesters looked moments away from having a heart attack. "Well, you seem to have gathered a crowd-"

"You!"

Flinging Ganesh aside, Kid lunged at Gabriel, firing Liz and Patty and hitting Gabriel in the chest, who took a step back. "Archangel Gabriel!"

"Woah there!" Gabriel said as he stepped just outside of Kid's punching range. His hands briefly glowed but it was gone moments later and he gave a grimacing smile at Kid. "I'm Loki-"

"You can't hide the contents of your soul," Kid growled as he fired Liz and Patty and lunged again, only to be dodged. "What is Heaven planning with Asura?!"

Oh great, more names and terms Dean didn't know about. Asura?

Also, if Kid knew Heaven was planning something, it was the first time Dean or Sam had heard of it.

A torrent of fire erupting between Kid and Gabriel, the flames licking the top of the ceiling.

"We're not insured for fire damage," Mercury said and doubled over spitting blood.

All eyes turned to Kali, who was resting her head on her hands looking like she wanted nothing more than an all-day spa treatment. She took in everyone's expected gazes, closed her eyes, took a deep sigh and rubbed her forehead.

"Thanks, sugar," Gabriel said, earning a grimace for Kali. He looked at Kid, who looked at the inferno as if considering ways of getting through it. "Great, so we got a, uh… whatever you are, who's lost his marbles," he said, giving the deities a sleazy smile. "Pft, Gabriel, I'm Loki-"

"Drop the guise, Gabriel. We know," Kali said as she rubbed her forehead again. "And he's a Grim Reaper."

Gabriel's smile progressively fell at Kali's words until all that was left of it was a grimace. "Oh."

"You are coming with us," Kid said as he turned towards Sam and Dean. "And we're leaving-"

"I have the Winchesters' blood," Kali cut him off. "They're not going anywhere."

Kid took a step towards Kali, only for another pillar of fire to erupt between Kid and the deities' table, the fire hot enough for Dean to pull away, frowning at the singed ends of his leather jacket.

Kid raised his guns towards her. "If you think this is enough to protect you-"

Dean cleared his throat, attracting the attention of multiple deities, a Grim Reaper and an archangel. "Uh, let's take five?"

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

"I can't believe they gave us some privacy," Dean said, and though Sam appreciated his brother's attempt at lightening the mood, it didn't help.

In fact, the only thing that could help Sam relax right now, seated in a side room from the main conference area and no doubt monitored, would require nothing short of an elephant tranquiliser. His legs were shaking at a rapid pace, equals parts angry, confused and scared.

"What," Sam let out through gritted teeth, "the hell was that?"

"Tell me about it," Liz said as she stretched before lounging on a sofa next to Patty. The two had come with them -something about a show on good faith about Kid not pointing guns at everyone and also keeping an eye on them as well. "Man, it was so weird-"

"I'm talking about you too," Sam said, trying and failing to keep his tone calm. "What did the Gods mean about Death disappearing? About the Grim Reapers being involved in eating souls?"

"Uh…"

Sam turned to Dean for support. "You heard them too, didn't you?" Sam did know Dean was also in the dark from his confused reactions before. This wasn't a case where Sam was purposely left in the dark for some inane reason; there was something about Kid, about the Grim Reapers in general, something important that had been kept a secret from them.

Dean nodded and Sam looked back at the sisters, expectantly.

"Uh, look," Liz began with a pacifying gesture. "It's a long story..."

Sam leaned back and crossed his arms. "We got all the time in the world."

Liz grimaced. To Sam's frustration, she made no effort to reply.

Dean let out a sigh. "Look, this isn't about managing a city in the middle of nowhere. We get that there are things you don't want to tell us, but you can't keep stuff that has to do with the Apocalypse a secret from us."

Dean glanced at Sam and he nodded in support. Frankly, Sam wouldn't have been this diplomatic, but among the two he was more paranoid when it came to trusting people, especially inhumans. Dean, not so much. He had Castiel, whereas Sam had Ruby.

Moreover, they had stumbled upon a secret, Sam was sure of it. Skeletons in the Grim Reaper's closet, and by God Sam was going to unearth them.

Liz frowned and didn't speak.

"Let's start from the beginning," Sam began. Even if she wasn't talking, he could at least gauge her reaction to what he was saying. "What as that about Death vanishing from millennia."

Liz rolled her eyes and let out a scoff. "Oh that. Look, Kid's dad just isn't a social guy, you get what I mean?" she nonchalantly said. "Like, he's our headmaster but we don't see him much either."

Sam frowned. "So he disappears for long stretches of time. Not suspicious at all-"

"Look, he can't leave Death City, alright?" Liz cut him off. "Or well, couldn't until Lucifer did the binding spell thingy…"

Sam and Dean shared a look. That matched what Kid had told them when he told them a story of his childhood.

Moreover, Sam now had already formulated a strategy with getting Liz to talk, not just from this encounter but from when they'd asked her about Death City as well. Liz had a tendency to defend Kid, and his father by extension. She would try to correct any outrageous and malicious theories the brothers formulated, accidentally sharing the truth as a result. Thus, the more they got Liz to talk and the more the Winchesters theorised based on worst-case scenarios, the more they'd get out of her. Plus, if she didn't speak up after they proposed a theory, then their guess wouldn't be nearly as bad as the real thing but hopefully, they wouldn't come across such a case.

"And you know for a fact Death couldn't leave Death City?" Dean asked.

"Yup."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked. "What if he was lying about it-?"

Liz looked away. "Eh, a couple of years ago we had someone that was causing a lot of trouble," she began, and Sam hid a smile at his strategy's success. "Death was after them, but he stepped outside the city's boundary and he couldn't catch him. His attacks just bounced back inside the city."

Sam nodded. Even if he already knew about the Grim Reaper being stuck in Death City, there was now another testimony to corroborate the fact as well as a baseline about how Liz would go on about saying the truth. "How did Death end up stuck like that?"

"…Don't know," Liz said after a long time with a shrug.

"Do you think it could be another binding ritual?" Dean asked Sam to the younger brother's pleasant surprise. He wasn't sure if Dean had caught on to Sam's strategy and was playing along, but it did help his strategy.

"But then who did it?" Sam asked, goading Dean along. He stole a glance at Liz, who looked had been staring at them. She looked away, but it was obvious she was listening in. "Maybe it was like the opposite of what we're dealing with right now. Seal Death, so the Apocalypse doesn't happen-"

"That's not it," Liz spoke up.

Sam suppressed a smirk. "So you know why he's stuck."

Liz's eyes widened, and she looked away again. "I told you I don't-"

"Then unless you tell us, we'll just go with my theory-"

"No, you," Liz cut herself off. "Ugh... Kid's gonna hate me…"

"Does he know the reason?" Dean asked.

"Ugh, it's… complicated," Liz said and rubbed her brow. "And uh, he didn't know for a long time too-"

"What is it?" Sam cut her off.

"Ok so…" Liz trailed off and Sam grimaced. Though Liz wouldn't likely outright lie to them, she was probably going to be as vague as possible. "There was this dude and uh, he was really bad news. Like, he ate the souls of lots of people and pretty much went mad. And uh, he technically worked with -or I guess under- Death…"

Sam took in a deep breath. On one hand, it was understandable that a being as old as Death may have some less than savoury acquaintances, but he couldn't help but feel there were a lot of things Liz had glossed over. It felt like they were getting a summary of World War 1 but a disaffected high school student.

"But!" Liz said before either of them could speak up. "The two had a falling out about the whole soul-eating business, and Death ended up having to seal the guy, but in the process he stranded himself in Death City."

Ah, so Death had done something to stop the soul eating. However, that only brought up the question of how that acquaintance ended up in eating souls, or why Death had allowed them to do so for what he understood was some amount of time.

"So that explains Odin's comment about soul-eating," Dean muttered.

"Alright, next thing," Sam said. "Great Old Ones."

"Oh that," Liz said with a dismissive wave of her hands. "It's just a fancy term for a bunch of very old and powerful beings. Death's one of them, and Kid's one too, I guess."

Guessing from her reaction it wasn't earth-shattering of a revelation. Of course, Sam hadn't yet asked about what other beings would be considered Great Old Ones, or they had some sort of special attribute that classified a being as a Great Old One…

"Why did they keep calling Kid a fragment?" Dean asked, breaking Sam out of his thoughts.

"Uh… it's a weird Grim Reaper term for a kid?" Liz said with a clueless shrug. "Not much to it."

Sam nodded. Fair enough, that also made sense. Now onto the last term that troubled him. "Asura."

Sam knew he'd hit jackpot when Liz flinched at the name and looked as if she wanted the Earth to open up and swallow her whole.

"Uh…" Liz slowly began. "I… don't know…?"

Sam leaned in closer. There was something there, and he was getting some clear answers for once-

"Oi, don't bully sis," Patty spoke up. She had kept silent, looking between Liz and the Winchesters, occasionally glancing at the room's door where Kid and the deities were.

"Do you know what Asura is?" Dean asked.

"Oh!" Patty said and Sam's heart skipped a beat in anticipation. "Nope! Is it a candy?"

Disappointment aside, Sam gave Patty a perplexed look. He couldn't tell if Patty was genuinely clueless, or if was she acting clueless like her sister.

"Why the hell are we the ones getting grilled anyways?" Liz complained and crossed her arms. "We saved your asses from those assholes who wanted to eat you, and now you think we're like, in league with them or something?"

"They know more about you than we do," Sam said.

"So does every soul eater," Liz shot back with a wry smile. "We're kinda infamous in bad guy circles."

"So are we, but the reactions we get are more like 'oh, don't kill us' rather than 'hey there fellow, how about we work together and kill a bunch of humans'," Sam said.

"Of for fuck's sake…" Liz muttered and gestured where they deities where. "These assholes got no fucking clue about what they're on about."

"And you do," Sam said unconvinced.

"Yup," Liz confidently replied. "And I say you got nothing to worry about, so trust me on this as a fellow fucking human being."

Sam rolled his eyes but said nothing. Liz wasn't what he would call an ordinary 'fellow fucking human being', though he wasn't going to say that when her sister was in close proximity as he wasn't a fan of getting shot in the face.

The four of them stewed in silence.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kid watched the gods squabble with increasing irritation.

Despite Baldur providing seats for Ba'al Hammon and Teutates in order to accommodate them, the table broke in argument the moment these two spoke. Currently, they were arguing about whether soul eating had been explicitly encouraged or not and conversation was progressing at a snail's pace. A few more gods had arrived as well, though most of them stood at the sides and didn't take part in the conversation. Ganesh was seated on the opposite side of the room, nursing a growing bump on his head with an icepack provided by Kali.

As for Gabriel, he had been nicked by Mercury and the blood was provided to Kali-as far as Kid understood it was to make sure the archangel couldn't teleport away, which was a precautionary measure he more than approved. Currently, Gabriel was sitting in one of the chairs where the Winchesters sat before, watching the agreement with increasing amusement. Their eye met, and the archangel gave Kid a grin that he probably aimed to be menacing, but came out as pained.

"You said we had to find a way to fend off the Apocalypse," Teutates accused Baldur. "Tezcatlipoca took it to heart, he was just following what you said-"

"Anything that wouldn't get the rest of us killed," Baldur replied in with a strained tone. "I thought the qualifier was implied, as I assumed everyone gathered had been some trace of intellect."

Kali let out a small laugh. Teutates sent her a small glare but visibly deflated when Kali simply stared back.

Kid let out a sigh. This was getting them nowhere.

"As far as I can see," the Grim Reaper spoke up and everyone went silent, "it's obvious soul eating was not something encouraged by your group, but a rogue member's desperate attempt to defeat Lucifer. Understandable, but no less reprehensible."

Baldur fell back in his chair and massaged his temples. "Good. I'm glad we could clear this misunderstanding."

"Tezcatlipoca's still dead," Teutates mumbled, by a shared glared between the gods shut him up.

"What I don't understand is what you hoped to accomplish by this hotel charade," Kid continued.

"Our plan was to lure in the Winchesters. Summon a storm, guide them our way and force them to take shelter," Baldur helpfully explained.

"But they had guests," Odin said with barely hidden contempt. Kid gave him a small glare but chose not to speak time. Now was not the time to pick petty fights.

"Then why keep the rest of the humans?" Kid asked. He was aware a couple of the gods here had a taste for human flesh, but he still didn't understand why they would go through with this. He supposed some of the gods saw the humans like lower forms of intelligence, similar to how some humans had no moral qualm about eating a pig or a cow. It still didn't explain why they went through so much effort, including disguising themselves as staff.

A lot of the gods looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Well, we did plan for this to be a celebration as well a strategy meeting," Baldur diplomatically said. "It helped with our recruitment efforts-"

"And they just taste nice, you know?" one of the gods said among the crowd.

Kid's frown turned into a scowl and Baldur's smile fell. "I don't."

Silence fell among the room, interrupted by irregular coughs.

"Needless to say," Kid continued, "you will be releasing the humans-"

The gods protested, some even going so far as to stand up while voicing their displeasure.

"Why do we have to?!" an outraged Odin asked. "We're not going to eat their souls!"

"If you don't," Kid spoke up among the cacophony, "Sam and Dean will try the damnedest to free them. Considering I'm not going to stop them and I'm not going to let you kill them, you can guess how things will play out from then."

The protests died down, though several gods still grumbled between them or glared at Kid whenever the Grim Reaper wasn't looking at them.

"We will be releasing the humans," a tried Baldur acquiesced. "One of us can see to that after our meeting is adjourned. I'm guessing the other two that were in your room with you are also of limits."

Kid nodded. "Very much so." He had been using his Soul Perception to keep an eye on Crona and Gideon. Thankfully, so far they hadn't left their rooms. Crona had yet to stir though, and their soul didn't show any signs of waking up. "Is anyone here a healer? They require medical attention, and I would be grateful if they could be attended to."

A couple of deities hesitantly raised the hands, including Ganesh. Kid gave the latter a questioning look.

"I'm not one to hold grudges," Ganesh said with a shrug.

"I can see to them," Mercury offered, giving the Grim Reaper a polite bow and placing a cup of tea in front of him. "In the meantime, please enjoy our refreshments."

As Mercury left the room, Kid took the tea and stood back as the gods began talking to one another, mostly in hushed tones.

In good news, at least this situation seemed to have been resolved peacefully. Sam and Dean would be let go; Kid, the sisters, Gideon and Crona had immunity.

Once again, his gaze fell on Gabriel. Though Kid didn't particularly know or care about the angel's fate, the fact that he was the Archangel Gabriel meant that he must be familiar with Heaven and their line of thinking. Considering Kid's worry about Asura -and the dead ends that came from speculating about his revival- made Gabriel an excellent source of information, but only if the angel was in a mood to cooperate.

Just when Kid walked to Gabriel, Kali stood up as well and was facing his direction.

"Do you want to speak with him?" Kali asked Kid, inkling her head at Gabriel's direction.

Kid nodded. "Though I would wish for some privacy-"

"Excellent," Kali said, her face still neutral as she walked towards Gabriel Kid following after her. "I have some questions of my own as well."

Gabriel was humming to himself, occasionally flashing a couple of smiles at the deities, until he noticed Kid and Kali approach him.

"Archangel-" Kid began.

"Grim Reaper," Gabriel cut him off in a humorous tone and ignoring Kid's scowl. "Or is it little reaper? I mean, you are rocking the suit, but I'd say you look more high-school goth than grim-"

"Gabriel," Kali said.

"Kali!" Gabriel replied, much more excitedly this time. "Haven't lost that spark I see." When Kali's expression didn't change, Gabriel's smile fell again. "how long have you known?"

Kali's face stayed neutral and Gabriel's smile twisted into a grimace. "Long enough. Now answer the questions."

"Look, whatever you're trying to do, don't," Gabriel said to Kali. "I've skipped ahead, I know how this story ends-"

"Yours, not ours," Kali cut him off. "I swear, the arrogance…. You do not know what we're capable of." Her gaze strayed to Kid. "And we have allies."

Gabriel looked between Kali and Kid. "He? Kali, you know what you're dealing with, right? Lucifer isn't just going to lose to some, whatever part of the Grim Reaper you are, assuming he does help you out in the first place and you end up like the Witches."

"I'm right here," Kid said. "And we are now allied with the Witches-"

"Bite me," Gabriel shot back to Kid.

Kali watched the two argue with a faint smile before she leaned down to Gabriel, the archangel pressed his back against the chair. "In any case, we'll need this..." she reached into Gabriel's jacket and pulled out a shimmering angel blade, thrumming with energy.

"I don't think that will be enough to kill Lucifer," Kid said as he eyed the angel blade. Though more powerful than the ones Castiel and Anna used, considering Lucifer's past he might have become something more powerful than an archangel… just like Asura's Grim Reaper nature had been twisted and hidden-

Kali studied the blade with an appreciative look. "But he can be killed."

"Everyone can." Kid said, earning a smile from Kali.

"I'm keeping it in any case." With one final look, Kali pocketed the blade. "That is all. Hopefully, we'll never see each other again, Gabriel," she said to the archangel with a menacing smile before turning Kid. "Let me know if he's being difficult."

Gabriel watched Kali depart and blew his cheeks. "What a goddess-"

"What do you know of Heaven's plans?" Kid cut him off.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Listen, I've been going freelance for a couple of millennia now. Trying to get information about Heaven's plans from me is like an ancient Roman what they think of modern Italy."

Kid narrowed his eyes. He had no idea if Gabriel was telling the truth. In any case though, it wouldn't hurt to try and pry some answers from the archangel. After all, out of everyone in this room, Gabriel knew Heaven best. "How far would Heaven go to counter Hell's armies?"

Gabriel frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Would they sacrifice their own? Humans? Would they employ rituals they perceive as immoral?" Kid said, letting himself trail off in the end. If he could just get Gabriel to confirm that Heaven wouldn't be desperate enough to try and bind Asura…

Gabriel shrugged. "Gonna have to be more specific than that. How many people are we talking about? And uh, not so sure what you mean about immoral."

Kid frowned. He feared Gabriel was now also trying to get information from him, but he might as well be genuinely clueless.

"If Heaven could," Kid began, "would they try to bind a Grim Reaper as well?" He made sure to lower his voice so no one could overhear them. Though Kid did get quite specific, Gabriel now didn't have the excuse to say the question was too vague. Plus, Kid hadn't mentioned Asura; If the archangel pried farther, Kid would lie and say he worried about himself being bound to heaven. It would be believable enough, and Kid did occasionally worry about such a possibility when he got some reprise from worrying about everything else.

Gabriel took too long to answer, tilting his head in an exaggerated thinking gesture. Kid felt like he was being mocked. "That's supposed to be Hell's thing, no? Getting the Pale Horseman, Death, daddy-o, whatever you call them, to do their bidding."

Kid let out a deep breath and kept his face neutral to hide his disappointment. Though Gabriel implied Heaven wouldn't try and bind a Grim Reaper, Kid already knew Heaven did bend try and bend the rules -Adam's resurrection being the most recent example. Considering Gabriel has said that he hadn't keep up with Heaven, it meant Kid reached another dead-end.

Just when Kid turned around to leave, Gabriel cleared his throat and mumbled: "But I don't think Heaven would object to getting Great Old One of Order."

Kid froze. Had Gabriel just…? "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh you know," Gabriel nonchalantly said. "Hell does have Death, do they now? Everything's going according to plan. But, if Heaven hasn't been keeping up, then they'd try catching up in any way they can," he continued. "I'm sure if they came across a powerful, and useful being that simply didn't call itself Death, or a Grim Reaper, or whatever name Heaven thinks would make them the Pale Horseman, then sure, they'd give it a go if they were desperate." Gabriel gave Kid a once-over. "But that's not you, is it? You do call yourself a Grim Reaper and have Death in your name, so Heaven, pedantic flying monkeys they are, wouldn't really bother with such a small fry."

Kid blinked. Was Gabriel toying with him? Had he just thrown out the true title of Kid, Asura and his Father as a way to confuse and stress Kid out just to troll him? Gabriel hadn't actually said anything of importance, only that Heaven wouldn't likely try and get Kid. That's what all these qualifies had been for right? Unless…

Unless Gabriel knew about Asura. Asura, who called himself a Kishin, the God of Fear, and whose associating with Death had been kept a secret.

"Get to the point," Kid said, his voice and expression carefully blank.

Gabriel shrugged. "I have. Don't think you have anything to worry about. But," he added, just when Kid's dread was starting to lessen, "let's just say there was a hypothetical person, one who was a Great Old One of Order but refused any associating with the Grim Reaper title, death, but still held a significant and unique power then…" he trailed off and raised his eyebrows in a mocking innocent look, "Heaven would be all over them."

It was like the flood had been taken out of Kid's legs. Gabriel had said everything but Asura's name. Every part of his little speech laid out that Heaven would bind Asura if given the chance.

But had they? Kid still didn't have an explanation for the discrepancies Liz raised, of why Kid hadn't been summoned again like when Hell bound Father.

But, if the ritual transported all the Grim- Great Old One of Order into a location and bound one of them, why hadn't Asura been there as well? Kid's first guess had been that Crona's prison kept Asura in place, but Father's binds to Death City had been broken, and they had been older and probably more powerful for them to restraint Father's soul. So why hadn't Asura's prison broken as well? Had Asura's prison been broken and Kid hadn't noticed?

No, if Asura had been freed, Kid would notice, the Academy as well. The first time Asura had been freed a wave of madness rushed over the whole world yet no such thing had happened after Hell's ritual.

Maybe Kid had it wrong all along. Maybe he hadn't been dragged along with Father just because he was a Grim Reaper as well.

Kid had been within Father's soul when the Ritual took place, and because of their unique connection as parent and child, the two had resulted in Kid being summoned Maybe if Kid had been away from Death City of if he had had a fallout with Father, like Asura had, Kid wouldn't have been summoned.

So, if Heaven repeated the ritual and Asura was the one to be bound -how was that determined? Soul size or power? Age?- then it made sense Kid wouldn't be summoned along as he had no such connection with Asura.

... Crona did though. Crona was the reason Asura had been imprisoned, so when summing Asura it made sense Crona had been dragged along too.

Then there was Gideon. Kid hadn't paid much attention to the man, being more preoccupied with Crona, but his condition was just as worrying. Why was Gideon the one who found Crona though and how had he ended up like that? Last Kid saw the man he was still a priest at the small town of Blue Earth that had been deceived by the Whore of Babylon. Even if the man had been devastated by the death of his child, the tight-knit community wouldn't have let him wonder about like a madman. Plus, the townspeople would want to keep around Gideon; a lot of them were religious, and they would probably seek out people of God to turn to.

Unless something had happened to Blue Earth as well.

The binding ritual required a lot of sacrifices. Willing sacrifices, from what Dean and Sam had told him. Heaven would either have to sacrifice a lot of angels, putting them at a severe disadvantage, unlike Hell who could easily replenish its demon forces, or find other beings that would willingly sacrifice themselves for Heaven's sake. Considering faithful Christian humans were the ones most sympathetic to Heaven, then they could be persuaded to sacrifice themselves for Heaven's sake. All it would take would be a tight-knit Christian community, preferably one that was so devoted or wanted to repent for some past mistake and Blue Earth fit all these descriptions.

So angels would have to appear in Blue Earth, explain that if they could still be swayed despite being swayed by Hell's forces, and all they had to do was consent to a ritual that would end up with their souls in Heaven and give God's faithful forces a powerful 'ally' to counteract Hell's forces. Some people, like Gideon, would refuse, but maybe they would be unfortunate enough to see Asura rise, helpless against their maddening Wavelength, and when they came about again, mind shattered, all that was left were the corpses of their fellows and a new presence, the one that had kept the Kishin at bay and had been summoned as well during the ritual. Crona and Gideon.

It all made a frightening amount of sense. There were no more discrepancies, just a terrible truth.

"Hey? Hey!" came Gabriel's voice and Kid jerked as he focused on the archangel. "You blank out often-?"

"I have to leave," Kid said and turned around. He had to tell Patty and Liz. He would have to alert the Academy and the Witches, because if Aura was back then it was likely the Clowns were too -but there hadn't been a wave of Madness like last time, so maybe Heaven had forbidden Asura from using his Madness?

Worst of all, Sam and Dean would have to know as well. If Asura had been summoned and bound by Heaven, they now had a Grim Reaper by their side, a Grim Reaper that had already resurrected their dead half-brother, that if they tried to face without knowing their full capabilities, they'd die, or worse. The Kishin was too big of a threat to hide, so the Winchesters would have to learn of the darkest aspects of the Grim Reapers -hopefully, Kid would be able to omit talking about the Madness or Order-

"Wait, hold on, I go so much more to tell," Gabriel said, his voice stuck between despair and annoyance. "If you leave, I might as well tell what I know about a certain Great Old One of Order to some of the lovely fellas here-"

Kid faced Gabriel again. "What?"

To his credit, Gabriel managed to look as cool as a cucumber even when faced with a Grim Reaper's death glare. "Well, I just think that since my dirty secret is out, yours should be too," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "I mean you can try killing me but I'm pretty sure Kali has dibs on that, so if you do she's gonna get pissed off at you and oh boy, you would not like her when she's angry."

Dammit all, it was if Gabriel could read Kid's mind. "What secret?"

Gabriel flashed his eyebrows. "Pick and choose. I know a couple." He leaned forward. "Say, what happened with Asura? I'm guessing your daddy-o is the who one who made him as well, so that's gotta be awkward," he said with a mocking grimace and Kid's scowl deepened. "Trust me, I've had my fair share of uncomfortable family reunions-"

"What do you want?" Kid cut him off, voice strained. He recognised blackmail when he saw it and it was a goddamn disaster that he found himself in such a position when he had to go and warn everyone-

Gabriel let out a predatory smile. "I'm an easy-going guy, so I'm just gonna ask one thing." His smile fell. "Get me the hell out of here."

"So you can go warn Heaven?"

"Oh for- why do I have to keep repeating myself," Gabriel muttered before giving Kid an even look. "I'm out. The Apocalypse is happening and there's nothing any of these…" he looked around the room "hopeful idiots can do about it, but I'm not having a part in it."

Well, Kid had nothing but Gabriel's words that he would stay out of it, but he didn't have much of a choice now.

Kid rubbed his eyes. "Give me a couple of minutes and work something out."

"I'll be waiting," Gabriel said, leaning back on his chair and crossing his hands.

Kid left Gabriel nursing a growing headache. Did he have enough time to explain the situation to Liz, Patty and the Winchester's? Probably not. Maybe Kid could convince them to escape and let Gabriel say whatever he wanted to the deities. However, Sam and Dean would probably ask questions and who was to know the deities wouldn't try to pull another stunt like this?

The Grim Reaper took a deep breath. Blend in. He had to blend in first and look as if he wasn't having a panic attack.

He looked down on his laps. He was still holding the tea Mercury had offered him. It had gone cold, but the cup's flowery design was very nice and symmetrical. A sip wouldn't hurt.

The tea tasted a bit strange, probably because Kid had let it go cold. His gaze caught Mercury's and he gave the deity an appreciative nod. Mercury reciprocated the gesture before going back to standing close to the doorway, keeping an eye out on the gathered.

Kid took another sip and frowned. Cold or not, he was sure tea wasn't supposed to taste acidic-

A cough bubbled in his throat but Kid suppressed it. More came and Kid covered his mouth, his other hand trembling and causing the teacup to rattle against its saucer. His stomach burned and Kid fell to his knees clutching his midsection. His heartbeat grew faint and his vision blurred; his body was shutting down.

Poison. Kid had been poisoned. He would recover, but it would take some time and why was the tea poisoned-?

Deities gathered around him and Kid slowly brought himself up. He wanted nothing more than to keep laying down and let his body detoxify at peace, but he couldn't afford to appear weak.

"The tea," Kid let out and pointed at the now broke teacup, voice hoarse.

Baldur looked at Kali in horror. "Mercury."

Putting aside any questions of why Mercury poisoned him, Kid activated his Soul Perception and scanned for Mercury's soul. He cursed hen he could only catch flashes of the deity's soul, darting around the hotel with dizzying speed.

Mercury's soul appeared where Crona and Gideon were. Gideon's soul then moved along with Mercury's lead to an area where many other human souls were. What was he trying to do-?

Kid gasped when he felt Gideon and the other human souls pass away. Why…?

A new Wavelength coursed over the building and Kid stumbled. His vision was overtaken this time by a faint green, caused by a soul rivalling Father's size, just like Famine's had.

"A horseman is here," Kid breathless said, eliciting gasps from some of the deities and causing Kali to frown. "I need to get Liz and Patty-"

"We're being betrayed," Baldur said at a loss.

"You," Kali turned to Gabriel. "Guard with the Winchesters. Any wrong move and-"

"And you'll skewer me. Love you too, honeybuns-"

Gabriel barely had enough time to dodge a fireball aimed at his head.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Pestilence looked appreciatively around the modest hotel room, stepping over rotting corpses that would serve as excellent incubators for his creations. "And to whom should I be grateful for this gift?"

Honestly, it was a surprise he had even gotten what he could only call as a gift. Though there were means to contact him, the only entities that could, never bothered -or when they did it ended up in futile conversations and/or shouting matches.

"Me," came a voice and a thin figure stepped out of the shadows. Absolutely no fat on him and a terrible choice for an incubator, Pestilence noticed. "Mercury."

Pestilence nodded at the name and looked around again. It had been more than enough time for all fund things to come about from the corpses. All Pestilence had to do was harvest them and spread them again. It had been a long time since he'd been free to have as much fun as now, even if he was under a brat's command. "Well, this has been a pleasant surprise. Now if you'll give me a moment-"

"I'm here to talk," Mercury cut him off and Pestilence's temper flared.

The Horseman raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"In fact, I was hoping you could contact Lucifer for me," Mercury continued, ignorant of Pestilence's anger. Understandable really; Pestilence viewed himself as an excellent actor and a big part of acting was pretending you didn't want to strangle your co-workers or a random annoying passer-by, like this little Mercury.

"He's quite high up in the hierarchy. Don't think he'd like to talk," Pestilence said, trying to make light of the situation, but it only made him angry. So this little godling though he was no better than a mere messenger?

"I have a lot to offer," Mercury continued, unfazed, which only grated on Pestilence's nerve. "Including his and his brother's vessel."

Pestilence feigned surprise by raising his eyebrow. "Both of them? How unexpected," he said with barely-concealed sarcasm.

Honestly, what a debacle; Lucifer and Michael thought themselves as supreme beings but couldn't even construct their own bodies on the physical world for crying out loud. Instead, they had to leech of a body from one of the measly humans, just like they leeched off the power of the Horsemen.

Honestly, even Death, whose power was confined to the spiritual realm, was able to construct a body and manifest in the physical world with little difficulty. Hell, his fragment had done so as well, even if Asura technically cheated by using the remains of a deceased human as a template.

Speaking of, Pestilence was reminded Famine mumblings about a second fragment belonging to Death that accompanied the brothers. Assuming Famine hadn't gone senile yet, the fact that the Winchesters were here meant that…

"Aha," Pestilence said with barely concealed glee after scanning the area with his Soul Perception. "You have the fragment too."

Mercury frowned. "The Grim Reaper? You can have him too if that will suffice," he quickly said with a bow that was intended to be respectful but came off as mocking to Pestilence. "In exchange, I request amnesty and asylum for-"

Mercury's words died in his mouth as he choked in his own bile and fell to his knees. Pestilence checked his watch; It had taken such a long time for his creations to act, but these so-called Gods did tend to have stronger constitutions.

"I'm afraid you don't understand the position you're in, little Mercury," Pestilence muttered as he looked from his watch to the dying deity. "I don't negotiate with insects." He grimaced when Mercury grasped at one of his legs. Pestilence withdrew his leg before stepping and breaking the deity's wrist. "I only crush them."

Mercury let out a pained hacking cough as he tortuously gasped for breath.

"Well, I am partial to locusts, but they are an exception," Pestilence casually added as an afterthought.

When no response came, Pestilence looked down to see a still, dead deity.

"Aha, I knew it wouldn't take as long for my dears to do their jobs. I knew you wouldn't be a complete waste of time," Pestilence said with a smirk. "And, you do have something that piques my interest…"

He activated his Soul Perception and focused on the Grim Reaper's fragment, though it took him several seconds to locate it. Honestly, its soul was so small! It was barely larger than some of the weaker deities' souls and had three broken Lines of Sanzu around it, preventing it from growing any larger or more powerful. Honestly, what was Death thinking?

Oh well. It only made things easier for Pestilence. He supposed he could just swoop in like that and spirit him away, but he had been prepared! He had found the correct ingredients, which had been such a pain to gather; he had even kept a couple of dozens of hospitals patients alive just for this moment! From what he saw, he just had to quickly pop back out for a few seconds to get the ingredients and just use roughly a couple of the deities here and he would be set!

"Toodles!" Plans made, Pestilence gave a cheery wave at Mercury's rotting corpse, maggots already feasting on it.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Sam was tapping his floor in a distracting rhythm that was the height of distraction for Dean. Then again, Sam had more than enough reason to be worried. There was some commotion coming from the other room; Baron Samedi told Patty and Liz that their presences were required and the two had following him, leaving SAM AND Dean behind.

Honestly, the more Dean thought about the situation the more he empathised with Sam's foot-tapping.

The door opened again with a resounding thud. Dean looked up hoping to see the sisters or Kid and figure out what the hell was happening-

Instead, Dean saw Gabriel enter and his mood took a nosedive.

"Heya-" Gabriel cheerfully began.

"Gabriel," Dean growled. "Figured you'd play into this somehow-"

"Not the time," Gabriel shut him off as he grabbed Dean by the shoulder and dragged him to where Sam was, making sure to grab the younger brother's shoulder as well.

Sam and Dean exchanged confused looks.

"Uh," Sam began. "What are you doing?"

"Hopefully escaping," Gabriel said as he looked at the door expectantly. "Just gotta wait for your little Reaper to make his move on Kali and I'm zapping you out of here."

Sam and Dean shared another series of increasingly confused looks. "You're working with Kid? Since when?"

"Since he's got things that are better stayed hidden-" Gabriel cut himself off and let go of Dean to place a hand on his mouth in a mocking gesture. "Whoops I did not say this part out loud, did I?" He gave them a smirk. "Think I got a bad case of the motormouth."

Dean could only blink at the avalanche of information, each one more confusing than the other. "Wait," he said, "what's happening?"

"Yeah," Sam added. "What is Kid hiding?"

Dean gave him a disapproving look, as with them being surrounded by bloodthirsty deities, now was not a good time to have their weekly 'should Kid be trusted chat' but Sam reciprocated with a stubborn look of his own.

"Ask him yourself," Gabriel casually said. "You're the ones working with him, ain't you?" His smirk widened when Sam and Deane exchanged another series of uncomfortable silent looks. "Ooh, guessing you got issues-"

"You know what, shut the fuck up," Dean spoke up, his growing irritation of Gabriel outpacing any growing suspicions about Kid. "You're just gonna deliver us to Michael and Lucifer aren't you?"

Sam raised his eyebrows catching up to Dean's line of thought. "Like when he Groundhog-day-ed us?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I don't have to do anything. Don't misunderstand me, Michael and Lucifer are gonna wear you to their prom, but not here," he said and looked to where the deities where. "Not now."

Dean frowned. "Why not here?"

"Dean," Gabriel and Sam said at the same time.

"What?" Dean asked with a smirk of his own. "I'm just asking that since you're so eager for us to do our part, why can't we just call Lucifer and Michal to pay a visit and hash it out with these lovely deities-"

"Don't," came Gabriel's voice, having a frightening echo to it and fully living up to his archangel nature.

Dean, however, too fed up with all this bullshit, bit down on his existential dread and pulled himself away from the archangel. "Ok, you know what, let's cut the crap. I see right through you, you know that? The smart-ass shell, the whole 'I could give a crap" thing? Believe me, it takes one to know one'," Dean rambled. "And it just leads to a whole lot of drinking and stupid decisions."

Gabriel wiped an imaginary tear off his eye. "Wonderful speech; truly moved me. Just for that I'm gonna go out there and try and reconcile our differences," he said with a mocking tone. "Sure Kali's gonna try and stab me in the fricking heart with the fake angel blade she stole it off me, but hey, that's what friends are for, right? Just like you two are now such good buddies with a fricking Great Old One of-"

The doors were flung open again and Kid ran in, wielding Liz and Patty.

"Grimmy! How's it hanging?" Gabriel quickly said, his tone acting from shocked to casual in a moment's notice.

Before Dean or Sam could react, Gabriel gave them a hearty slap on the back that had them gasping for breath. "I'm just doing what Kali said, keeping dumb and dumber here away from heroically barging into the little deity meeting in and reenacting an episode of Care Bears-"

Kid looked at the three with a confused look, before it was wiped away by a sober expression. "We need to leave, now."

"What's happening?" Dean managed to let out between gasps. Of course, they wouldn't get anywhere with Gabriel and of course something terrible would happen that would have them running like headless chickens without answering any of their actual burning questions.

Worst of all, Dean had thought he could go on with a cheery smile and a can-do attitude. Honestly, what a disaster.

"One of the Horsemen is here."

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kali could only watch helplessly as more Gods poured into the conference room, one more panicked than the other. They spoke quickly with each other with hushed tones. If the appearance of a Grim Reaper had been unnerving, then this would be the tipping point to panic.

All Kali knew was that some coward had called upon Hell's forces and now one of their goons was strutting around the hotel as if they owned the place. If it had been up to Kali's choice she would have all of them find the bastard and annihilate them before they had a chance to make a move. Baldur however, had chosen to gather everyone here and wait until their unwanted guest reached them so they could collectively fight him and thus increase their chance of success.

Hmph. As if Kali would need help putting down a so-called horseman. Despite their label, anyone working under that petulant Lucifer shouldn't be too hard to take down. The only exception would be Death, as they represented something eternal, a concept Kali the Destroyer was intimately familiar with, but that was about it. Even when it came to the little Grim Reaper, Kali had no doubt she could have taken him down too had he not taken Ganesh hostage like a coward.

"There's a lot of us missing," Baldur muttered to Kali as he took another headcount of the room. "You think it's Lucifer himself-?"

'I don't care," Kali cut him off. "Whoever it is sealed their fate the moment they stepped here-"

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure," came a casual voice and the room went silent.

Suppressing her rage, Kali pushed her way to the front, Baldur following after her openings. She came across a thin man standing against the doorway. His skin had an unhealthy pallor to it, his glasses were smudged, and the gleaming smile he gave to everyone was predatory, as if fangs were hidden between his stretched lips.

As if being woken from a dream, Ganesh jerked before lunging straight for the mysterious being. "You will not come in any further-!"

Ganesh hadn't even taken a few steps when he doubled over, clutching his stomach and moaning in pain. The stranger's smile widened.

Gasping, Ganesh tried to stand up only to fall to his four. He wretched, bile rising from his throat while his shirt was stained with deep reds and sickly yellows at the abdomen. Kali could only watch as someone who was technically her kin collapsed to the floor, letting out a few pained throes before going completely limp and unmoving.

"Not much of a 'placer of obstacles' now, is he?" The being dusted his hands and let out a low whistle at the dead God. "Phew. Let's not try that again now, shall we?"

For the first time in millennia, Kali couldn't move. Like nothing, Ganesh had been…

"Well tough crowd," Pestilence said with a mock shiver and tiny wave at the lack of a response. "Hi everyone. I'm Pestilence." He eyed everyone, his eyes darting between their tags. "Hey, these are very helpful. Think I can get one too-?"

"Stop mocking us," Kali finally manage to let out, still staring at Ganesh's corpse. His shirt caved in weirdly as it laid across his belly as if he had been eaten from the inside out-

Pestilence clicked his tongue. "How rude. Didn't you mother goddess or whatever your deal is teach you manners?"

"You can't do this," Baldur let out, stepping in front of Kali, who would have thrown him out of the way if she could just get her body to move- "We're Gods-!"

"Oh you definitely are," Pestilence cut Baldur off with a nonchalant nod." So's the big YHWH that's caused this mess." He gave them another wide sickening smile. "But I'm Pestilence."

When no one spoke, Pestilence placed his hands in his ratty jacket pockets and paced around Ganesh's corpse. "You know, I can empathise with you. No really, I do," he redundantly repeated, despite the lack of any objections, or any sound in general. "So many of you are forgotten and thought as mere myths, while the rest of you, YHWH included, are bleeding followers. There are a few exceptions of course, but really, I get your whole fear of… actually, I wouldn't call it obscurity," he clicked his tongue as he paused. "It's being seen as harmless."

Pestilence spread his hands in a theatrical gesture. "After all, who's afraid of the common cold anymore? Unless you're one of the unlucky few without an immune system or a relic, the only thing you're getting from the flue is vacation days! Yay for modern technology and vaccines!" He raised one hand with its fingers extended. "Smallpox? Eradicated! Polio? A relic of the past! Rabies? Not quite out of the game yet but getting there!" he said, putting down a finger for very listed example. "You get the plague now and all you need is some antibiotics! Just get a vaccine and you can go wild with rusty nails and have no fear of tetanus!"

When he put the last finger down, Pestilence lowered his hand and looked down at Ganesh' corpse with a vacant expression. "But that's where we're different, you and I." His lips trembled in a half-formed smile. "Unlike you, I adapt, as do my darling creations." His smile widened as his voice became louder. "Sure, the Spanish flu is now easily treated, but what about HIV? Oh no, you can kill 99.9% of bacteria, but congrats, you now have a healthy colony of MRSA! There has to be a new flu vaccine every year, and as a result so many unfortunate people fall in between the cracks of protection and would you look at that some of my creations are smart enough to jump-start a cancer on their way out-!"

A madman, Kali thought as Pestilence's rant reached a crescendo. She wasn't just facing a powerful opponent, she was facing a mad one. A so-called Great Old One, an obscure class of beings she had never cared much about as they were out of her jurisdictions, but whose rumours about being riddled with an infection mind-destroying influence had lesser deities cower in their sleep.

But Kali wasn't supposed to cower. She was the ones others were supposed to cower from. Yet, this presence, this Madness-

The crowd parted as a newcomer stepped away from them and towards Pestilence, two guns aimed at his face.

Kali blinked. She hadn't expected the young Grim Reaper to appear, especially not when they were the ones needed defending. What was his name again? Kid?

In any case, at first Kali thought of the young Grim Reaper as unimpressive; anyone who was mistaken for a mere Reaper was nothing to write about in her book. However, she had to admit his defiant attitude when Kali exerted a tiny portion of her power on him had her intrigued. Briefly, she wondered what Madness he was a carrier too.

"Speaking of adapting…" Pestilence's face fell, before it reformed into an expectant smile, showing fewer teeth but not losing any of its malice. "Hello there, little Death~"

The Grim Reaper clutched his guns tighter, making a show of releasing their safety. "Don't take another step."

Pestilence raised his hands and gave him an offended look. "Why, I'm just having a lovely conversation with my new friends-"

Kid shot Pestilence. The resulting flash and near-deafening sound was the jolt Kali and many other needed, as moments later Pestilence was assaulted with fire, light, any other element the gods had at their disposal.

Kali felt the edges of her sleeves burn up and dissipate as embers from the sheer intensity of her flames. Next to her Baldur's light was blinding, and the Grim Reaper's shots were deafening. If they kept going then surely Pestilence, Great Old One or not, would finally yield-

Like a bomb going off where Pestilence was standing, each attack was repelled back its owner accompanied by a deafening shock wave. It made Baldur trip and fall while Kali and Kid took a step back.

Kali's heartbeat quickened as Pestilence slowly stood up straight. his appearance immaculate despite smoke coming out of him. "Well…" He dusted off his clothes, taking out any stubborn ice crystals that left behind completely undamaged cloth. "I did not appreciate that."

Before Kali could attack again there was a sharp pain of her abdomen and she couldn't help but fall to her knees, the other deities copying her with varying amounts of moaning and screaming. Only the Grim Reaper was let standing, eyeing the fallen deities with wide eyes, before he finally looked back to his Weapons -again, a type of human Kali knew rumours about but had never bothered to investigate further.

"Liz, Patty!"

The edges of their muzzles were turning a cracked brown, years of rust accumulating on them in seconds. The Weapons were engulfed in a pink light, expanding and forming figures that eventually gave way to two girls gasping for breath.

The Grim Reaper fell to his knees with them as they grasped on his frame for support. "K-Kid.."

"Clostridium tetani," came Pestilence's amused voice. Kali had to strain her neck to look up at him, his smile slimier and showing more teeth than before. "A special strain made for Weapons. Their fast-acting nature is because I'm here you see, such an eager-to-please strain-"

The Grim Reaper carefully put the sisters down and stood up easily, to Kali's displeasure and jealousy. "I'll-!"

"Now, now, don't make any hasty moves," Pestilence casually said, his voice one of mock terror but his relaxed posture suggesting anything but fear. "I can easily reverse it. After all, the biggest threat to bacteria is bacteriophages you see, not a couple billion measly humans."

Had it been up to Kali, she would have fried Pestilence here and there and she had expected the Grim Reaper to live up to his title, his youth notwithstanding. Yet the Grim Reaper simply stayed where he was, occasionally throwing concerned glances at his fallen compatriots. Just like Pestilence, the Grim Reaper was mad in his own way, every single one of them-

"What do you want?" the Grim Reaper let out, his voice dripping with poison. Though his actions were lacking, at least his tone was appropriate enough.

Pestilence rubbed his hands like an eager child. "Oh, not much. Let me give you a closer look now, won't you?"

Kid made a step forward when the older Weapon grabbed his leg, fingers trembling but stubbornly closing around it. "D-Don't…"

At least the Weapon knew what she was supposed to do, Kali bitterly thought. Maybe if the Grim Reaper had enough brain cells left he could approach Pestilence and make good on his name.

…Then again who was she to talk? All she could do was clutch her pained abdomen, the pain debilitating and her powers sealed away.

With a crestfallen expression Kid stepped away from the Weapons and approached Pestilence with slow hesitant steps. As if being given a present, Pestilence reached out to Kid. The Grim Reaper grimaced, his head inclining away from the creeping hands.

"My, my, so my eyes haven't been playing tricks on me. You are a little Grim Reaper…" Pestilence gave him a hearty slap on the cheek, eliciting a flinch. "None of my creations can do as much as multiply once they get inside you."

A gunshot run out and Pestilence lurched forward, part of his cranium missing.

Dean and Sam walked into the room from behind Pestilence, careful to keep a distance from the Horseman and going as far as to sidle across the entranceway. Their eyes widened as they regarded everyone's sorry state -and how Kali hated to be seen like that, but the pain was too much.

"Let's go!" Sam said, one hand on a gun and the other on Ruby's knife, holding it as if he was about to throw it like a dart.

"We evacuated the people, Crona's in the trunk, Gabriel's fucked off to hell for all I care," Dean said to Kid as he cocked his shotgun and aimed it at wobbling form. "Now step away from Mr Stranger Danger so we can take his sorry ass out-"

As Kali expected, they both soon doubled over, the older one throwing up bile mixed with blood.

Kid reached out to them but Pestilence pulled him away, as if trying to discipline an unruly child. "Sam, Dean-!"

"Ah, the Winchesters," Pestilence slurred, his jaw hanging loosely as bone and sinew rapidly reconstructed themselves. "Always barging in when they're least wanted-"

"Shut up-" Sam groaned as he brought himself on all fours, before reaching out and helping Dean get up as well.

Kali and Dean's gazes met and he gave her a bloody smirk. "W-What are you jokers looking at…? You're gods aren't you?"

Kali would rather die than admit she was inspired by humans, let alone this sorry bunch. Nevertheless, a fire roared inside her, and she managed to gather just enough energy to shoot a fireball hitting Pestilence right in the sternum.

Yet again, it had no effect on the Horseman, and Kali's fire died as quickly as it had reignited.

"That rebellious spirit again," Pestilence spat out, his smile now replaced by a sneer. "Looks like you'll need something stronger to toe the line."

In addition to the pain, Kali soon found herself unable to move. Despite breathing and blinking, she couldn't move a muscle, her fingers twitching of their own accord and the rest of her limbs staying locked in place.

"What are you doing?" came the Grim Reaper's breathless voice and Kali couldn't even stretch her neck to look at him.

"My specialty God mix; name pending but I'm partial to deusphagen. A zombifying fungus, basically. Well not really. They are still alive, just not in control of their muscles… And they'll say yes to anything." Though she could no longer see Kali from her vantage point, Kali at least noticed Sam's eyes go wide, first in realisation, then in pure horror. "Oh, I suppose I should infect you with that Sam, but I like that you're tugging Lucifer's leash. Never liked the brat you see, and he hasn't asked nicely yet-"

There were sounds of scuffle and Kali found herself at eye-level with Pestilence. Kid was on top of him, one hand on Pestilences head and another one where his heart should be -if that abomination even possessed one.

Despite his position, Pestilence let out an airy laugh, as if toying with a young nephew. "My, what do you think you're doing-?"

"Let everyone go," the Grim Reaper growled. "Or I'm blasting you with the full extent of my Wavelength."

The two stayed silent like that for what felt like centuries to Kali. Slowly but surely, Pestilence's chest began to shake. At first, Kali had been hopeful and though they were mute cries for help. However, as more time passed and the movement obtained a distinct pattern, Kali recognised the shaking as one of barely concealed laughter.

Too fast for Kali to see Pestilence tried to grab hold of Kid and both of them ended up on the floor, with Pestilence using his bigger form to gain an advantage and tackle Kid. Shadows erupted from the Grim Reaper's form, a myriad of them stretching in every direction and plenty of them clinging on Pestilence's skin, biting it and trashing like mad dogs, taking chunks off it. Despite that, however, Pestilence kept hitting Kid, not missing a beat.

"You," Pestilence emphasized each syllable with a hit, "think," Kid grabbed his hand but Pestilence instantly switched his beating with the other, "I'm," Pestilence jerked his head, causing several shadows to detach and leave bloody rails behind, "some," a shadow strayed past Pestilence's eye, taking some flesh with it that was almost instantly regenerated, "god-damn," Pestilence's rhythms quickened, "weakling?!"

Despite Pestilence's hands being drenched in the Grim Reaper's blood the shadows kept assaulting him, one nocking his head back and causing his glasses to fall to the floor.

Pestilence craned his head back and let out a low guttural sound. Kali collapsed fully to the floor along with everyone else. She couldn't breathe, her vision was fading, her body was numbing…

From her blurred vision, Kali saw the shadows retreating, its edges detaching themselves from Pestilence's skin. The Horseman's blood was a dark red as her entire world went dark-

As if she'd been electrocuted Kali's body jerked with a spark of energy. Her vision returned and the room was too bright, the air stale, and every part of her body hurt. Her ears buzzed with groans, as deities, humans and Weapons slowly came back to life, barely recovering from what would have been an eternal slumber.

"Yes," Pestilence breathed out as he rubbed the sweat and blood of his face with his sleeve, "you stay like that" He slowly brought himself up from the floor, staring down at the Grim Reaper, limp but very much conscious from the glare directed at the Horseman. "Glad you finally decided to cooperate-"

"Y-You," came Sam's voice, the humans struggling to breathe, "you monster…"

Pestilence rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I know the routine, call what you don't understand a 'monster'." He looked down at a still-glaring Kid. "It does get boring after a while, doesn't it?"

"N-not him," Dean managed to speak up as well and Kali couldn't help but wonder if they were still alive by sheer willpower. "Just you, jackass."

Pestilence let out a sound stuck between a gasp and a laugh. "Moi? I'm less of anomaly that he is!" He turned to Kid in astonishment. "Oh my, they really have no idea what they've gotten themselves into, have they?"

"Leave them out of this," the Grim Reaper said through gritted teeth, not daring to move another muscle. It seemed to Kali that the only reason she and almost everyone else in the room hadn't died yet was because the Grim Reaper chose to remain relatively docile and wasn't that just the greatest irony?

There was a sound of shifting rubble close to kali and she managed to turn her neck to its source; the two Weapons, their forms side by side.

The older sister had collapsed completely. Her eyes were closed but she was still breathing. He younger one though was still awake, and currently trying and failing to get up in all fours. Her eyes were dropping but her gaze was bright, looking as if she'd want nothing else than to decorate the room with Pestilence's insides.

"Don't..." Patty gasped, "bully Kid you… bully." Though childish, there was something very raw about her words. It certainly made the Grim Reaper react, causing him to jolt and give his Weapon a wide-eyed look.

Pestilence raised an eyebrow and leaned down to Kid, giving him a once over. "Is that… caring?" His sneer turned into a disbelieving smile. "My, how the times have changed!"

"Patty, stay down please-!"

"No, no, don't," Pestilence cut him off, glancing between Kid and Patty, who had collapsed but was still trying to get up. "This is fascinating." The horseman quickly spared a glance at the Winchesters and a couple of the other gods, Kali included. "By the way, how much do they know about you?" He gestured to the still-struggling Thompson and her unconscious sister. "I mean, those two look like they're your Weapons so they probably know a fair bit, but…"

Pestilence whipped around and faced the Winchesters, both of them with their heads against the floor, eyes closed and chests erratically going up and down.

Pestilence raised a ringed finger and snapped his fingers. Sam and Dean came to with a gasp before heaving like men on their deathbeds.

"How about you, Sam, Dean?" Pestilence casually said. "Feel you're let in in all the latest Grim Reaper gossip?"

Sam lurched forward and threw up bile, while Dean was coughing as if his life depended on it.

Pestilence pouted. "I suppose you're no fun like that Here let me help."

Pestilence snapped his fingers; Sam dry-heaved but no more bile came up while Dean's cough subsided and his breathing stabilised.

The Horseman leaned away from the Grim Reaper and he fully faced the Winchesters. "So-?"

Dean hacked and spit what was brought up at Pestilence. The spit never reached him, but Kali had to admit it was a valiant gesture considering their pathetic position. "All I know is that your crew are a bunch of genocidal psychos-!"

"Wow, harsh," Pestilence cut him off with a mock shocked expression and looked down at the Grim Reaper. "How about you, kiddo? Feel like you live up to that description?"

"I was talking about you, jackass," Dean let out.

Pestilence rolled his eyes. "We are the same, Dean."

"No," Kid let out. Though he had stayed silent his glare had only intensified in hatred and disgust. "No, we're not."

Pestilence's expression briefly went vacant before stretching into a full toothy smile. "No, I suppose not." He grabbed Kid by the hair and hosted him up, the Grim Reaper briefly flinching before continued to glare daggers at the Horseman. "After all I'm not an arrogant, lying little fragment-!" Pestilence cut himself off and froze before abruptly turning back to the Winchesters. "Hold on, do you two even know what a fragment is or do I sound like a madman?"

"You are a madman," Sam choked out.

Pestilence let out a smile as if Christmas had come in early. "So you have no idea! Oh, this is so much fun- there are so many things to tell! For example, where you two aware that's this," he gave the Grim Reaper's head a little shake and ignored the ensuing growl, "little fragment number two here technically has less power than your common angel? What matters is that you gotta be smart about how to use it." Pestilence used his free hand to wipe out a few splotches dried blood that had been left over from his healed wounds. "Means you can packs a mean blow when your opponent least expect it, don't you?"

Though Kali was definitely not the intended recipient for Pestilences spiel, she couldn't help but listen in. Pestilence must have been lying; the Grim Reaper had resisted her power and she was no mere angel. Yes, she had been deceived by his appearance but there must have been something more, something Pestilence was missing…

"Still, you can certainly give surprise someone, but when your opponent stops underestimating you," Pestilence continued, letting go of the Grim Reaper's hair and sitting on his knees to each his eye level. "Well, this must be an embarrassing position to be in, right?"

The Grim Reaper stared at Pestilence with indecision. His fingers twitched but his gaze strayed to the sisters, then the Winchesters, and they went limp.

"Yet here you are, working with the Winchesters and trying to do… what?" Pestilence scoffed. "Stop the Apocalypse?"

"We will do it," Kid said with conviction and threw a glance at the Winchesters. "Even without me, they can do it."

Pestilence let out an amused laugh, like a twisted version of a good-natured uncle. "Oh, I'm sure you feel that way." Kid looked away in disgust but Pestilence gave him another laugh, his face softening. "I'm not going to pretend I understand why, but it is a pity."

Kid barely managed to get in a confused look before Pestilence looked away and towards the fallen gods. "But don't take it too hard. You've been put in an impossible situation." He looked back at the Grim Reaper with a knowing smirk. "Even your own creator is standing against you on this, so what do you think you can achieve?"

No one spoke. Liz was unconscious, and Patty had joined her sister a couple of minutes ago. Sam and Dean were still gasping for breath, too weak to speak. Kali could technically mutter a few sentences, but she had nothing to say.

Pestilence looked away from Kid and over the collapsed sea of deities, his face now wrinkled and marked with time. "But you would never join willingly, now would you? After all, none of us did, technically."

Pestilence's expression went vacant and the parts of Kali that weren't writhing in pain froze with terror.

"So let me help you with that," Pestilence continued, voice barely above a whisper. He turned back to Kid, whose glare had given way to a wary scowl. "You don't have to do anything, and soon enough you won't be able to…"

Pestilence took a step sideways, revealing the Thompson's limp forms. Kid's gaze immediately went to them, scowl dropping to a fearful expression. "Liz? Patty?"

There was no response.

"Ah, don't worry about having to feign concern," Pestilence nonchalantly said as he eyes the fallen gods, his gaze finally settling on Kali. "But if it assuages what primitive conscience you have, then I can assure you that if you try to stop this, I'll take out one of your beloved companions. There, now you have plenty of reason to stay still, don't you?"

When the Grim Reaper didn't respond, Pestilence shrugged and extended a hand towards Kali.

Kali's stomach lurched over as she felt million little hooks form on her body, pulling her up. She awkwardly stood up like a poorly-coordinated marionette, unable to control any parts of her body sans her blinking wide eyes.

The Grim Reaper looked from Kali to Pestilence as the goddess extended a hand towards a limp Odin. "What are you doing-?"

Light engulfed the room, one not from Kali and so bright she would have covered her eyes if she still had control of her limbs. Now though, she just collapsed to the floor like a discarded doll, her neck landing awkwardly and giving her a limited view of the room.

"Well, well, well." At any other time Kali would have hated hearing his voice, but now, Gabriel's presence was -almost, because Kali hadn't completely lost her mind yet- miraculous. "Something smelled fishy in here, but I expected less horseman and more dipshit brother- ugh-!"

"Archangel!" came the Grim Reaper's voice.

"Gabriel!" Kali joined him, using the last of her willpower to take control of her mouth. Because really, even if the now groaning voice belonged to a potential Heaven spy, he bloody archangel Gabriel, it also used to belong to Loki, a charming mysterious purported deity that stepped on everyone's nerves besides Kali's.

How had they ended up like this?

"No more interruptions," came Pestilence's voice, gurgling and hair-raising, and perhaps the closet Kali had come to hearing a horseman's true voice. "Now, let's get this show on the road!"

Pestilence clapped and Kali was strung up again, like a broken marionette. The Horseman clapped again and more deities stood up, including Odin, Isis, Zao Shen and…

Baldur. Though his face was swollen by infection, he still was the most handsome and innocent being in the room. Kali used what little power she had to move her mouth, her eyes at least, but Baldur didn't reach, his gaze vacant and faraway.

"Everyone, after me." Pestilence took in a small breath. "And a one, and a two…"

Like a chorus, every standing deity's mouth besides Kali's moved in unison. "We offer up our lives…"

The Grim Reaper's head snapped up in recognition. He looked about to tackle Pestilence when his gaze strayed into Liz and Patty's unconscious forms and eventually lowered his head.

"…blood…"

Kali's hand extended forward and arched.

"…souls…"

Pestilence gave Kali a smile. "And if you'd do the honours…"

"…to complete this tribute," the gods finished in unison and silence descended upon the room.

Pestilence snapped his fingers and Kali's power activated, engulfing the room in an inferno. It danced and melted the skin of her fellow gods, desecrating her beautiful Baldur's face, until all that was left of them was burning flesh and charred bone.

"That should be enough," Pestilence muttered as he turned back to the Grim Reaper. Kali followed his gaze, unsure, unable to think what else she should do. Though the Grim Reaper hadn't moved an inch, there were shimmering silvery lines around him, like chains. They appeared and vanished like a mirage, yet it couldn't have been a mere illusion, Kali hadn't killed Baldur for a mere trick of the light-!

"I'll leave you with a little gift," Pestilence gestured to a writhing Gabriel. "Your little friend has what I've baptised as Angelicus Lyssavirus. Angel rabies basically. The name's not official yet, but that's cause it's something I've been keeping in store for what's coming."

With a sprint to his step and a little hum, Pestilence walked over to the Grim Reaper, who didn't react at the proximity. "Toodles!"

When Pestilence placed a hand on his shoulder and light engulfed them, the Grim Reaper jolted and shivered, seemingly breaking from whatever trace he'd found himself in.

"Asura!" the Grim Reaper- no Kid, screamed at Kali, eyes wide and desperate as his form dissipated. "He's back, you've got to tell-!"

The two vanished and Pestilence's hold on Kali was no more. The goddess collapsed on the floor, hurt exhausted and alone.

Besides a writhing Gabriel, Kali the destroyer was the only one still conscious in the room, her arms stained with the blood of her peers.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Everyone's having a terrible no good just awful time, ayyy

Probably not the best message after this chapter, but check out the rest of my stuff for more Soul Eater shenanigans. Also look forward to Resbang 2018 posting season in which I'll upload 2 complete brand-new stories (with fanart!). Promo summaries should be up within the month, so in the meantime look forward to that and all the other semi-regular fic updates :P