Fallen and Broken

Max woke early to take a shower before they hit the road again. Once she dressed in the bathroom, she stepped out. Though she was caught off guard when something metallic touched her temple. Slowly she tuned her head to face a masked man.

"Don't make any moves."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the next room were Dean and Sam were fully awake and another masked man had two guns fixed on them. He stopped her right in front of Sam, the gun still pressed on her temple.

"Wait a minute. Is that you Roy? It is isn't it? Which makes you Walt." Dean pointed out.

"Don't matter."

They took their ski masks off and tossed them aside.

"Well now that we know each other on first name basis, you mind telling us why you're holding us at gun point?"
"You think you can flip the switch on the apocalypse and just walk away Sam?"
"Who told you that?"
"We ain't the only hunters after you."

Walt cocked his gun, making Sam flinch.

"See you in the next life."
"Wait! I can explain."

Walt waited for a moment and when they thought he was going to give him a chance, he pulled the trigger. Max made an attempt to scream but Roy covered her mouth. By now everyone's hearts were racing.

"Shoot 'em."
"Killing Sam was right but these two?"
"We just killed their brother you idiot. Besides I think we might save this one."

Walt stepped up to Max, pushing back a strand aside of wet hair away from her face. Max so desperately wanted to kill him, if it weren't for being held back, the room would have been renovated in red.

"Go ahead. But when I come back, I'm gonna be pissed." Dean pushed.
"Come on already."

BANG!

Max muffled a scream behind Roy's hand. Rage was boiling in her blood.

"You know it gets lonely when you're a hunter."
"I'd rather die." She muffled but they understood.
"Let her go."

Roy released her.

"Walt, maybe we should just go. We've already done more than what we came for."
"You should listen to your partner."
"No."

Max reached behind her back and gripped the knife she always kept tucked in her jeans. He cornered her against the wall.

"I should warn you, I like it rough."

She then flipped out her knife and nicked him in the abdomen. He stumbled back and looked down the cut. While he was concerned about his cut, she managed to kick the shotgun out of his hands. She grabbed him by his shirt and headbutted him making him stumble to the ground and she got on top of him. He struggled under her weight and Max twirled her knife in her hands before plunging it into his chest. He groaned, and after a moment, his eyes went lifeless. She stood back up and looked at Roy. He hand his gun pointed directly at her.

"Come on, Roy. You're better than this. . .Walt was, revenge. You either walk out of here with no scratches or I'll make you dig both of your graves."
"Last time I checked. I was the one with the gun."
"Alright. Dean said he was going to be pissed when comes back, just imagine what I'll be."

Without any hesitation he pulled the trigger and her body collapsed.
------------------------------------------------------
Kiss me once
Then kiss me twice
Then kiss me once again
It's been a long, long time

Her eyes fluttered open. She took in her surrounds, outside, sand, seagulls flying above. The beach. A hand gently rubbed her back. She hadn't noticed she was laying on someone. Her head lifted to see who it was. A pair of caramel eyes meet hers with a warm smile. It was Hudson.

"Good morning."

She sat up and payed more attention to her surroundings. There was an old record player off to the side, playing "It's Been a Long, Long Time" by Bing Crosby. Not to far was a fire pit that was still burning. This all seemed familiar. . .its was a memory of the night they slept on the beach.

"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. . .Perfect."

She laid back down and stared at the odd sky. It looked like a beautiful galaxy.

"Max."

She turned her head to see Dean and Sam. Her eyebrows knit together.

"What are you guys doing here?"
"Max we're in heaven."

Then she remembered the whole scene, Roy, Walt, Dean, Sam, the fight she had before she was killed.

"This must be one of your memories. When we woke up, we were in a memory."

She got up and stood next to them. Hudson seemed to go on as if she was still lying with him.

"We have to go. Zachariah is looking for us to bring us back to life."
"Okay so what are we waiting for?"
"Cas wants us to find an angel named Joshua. Apparently he's been talkin' to God."
"Okay? And how do we find him?"
"The Axis Mundi road. It'll lead us to the garden. We need to go before it gets late."

She sighed, taking one last look at Hudson and then walking off with them. When the door opened, the road they had been talking about was there. The door had disappeared and there was nothing but woods and an old cabin.

"What memory is this?"
"No idea. Alright come on." Sam seemed a bit uneasy.
"Wait a minute. This? This is the night you ditched us for Stanford. This is your idea of heaven?"
"Dean, I wouldn't blame him. He was away from us, from all that stress."
"Yeah that wasn't the only thing he was away from."

She rolled her eyes. Out of nowhere, a spotlight flashed on them.

"Go."

They took off running into the woods and each hid behind a tree.

"Wow. Running from angels. On foot. In heaven. With out-of-the-box thinking like that, I'm surprised you guys haven't stopped the apocalypse already." Zachariah said.

The night changed to day in a matter of seconds.

"What's the problem? I just want to send you guys back to Earth. I mean that is after is after I tear you a cosmos of new ones."

Max spotted him and when he had his back turned they took off running. Though they hadn't gotten far.

"Guys. Come on. You can run but you can't run."

But they took of running again. They were stopped by a masked person in cape. He motioned with his finger to be quiet and to follow him. They reached a door and walked inside. It was a bar.

"Who are you?"

He took of the mask and the cape.

"Buenos dias, bitches."
"Ash?"
"Welcome to my blue heaven."

Max had heard about him from the boys. They shared a beer and he told them about heaven. Explaining how there were a million other heavens personalized to everyone's liking. He then told them a bit more about the garden.

"There's somebody who I know for sure that wants to jaw with you. Hold up."

Ash went around the bar counter and disappeared into the next room. When he came out, he had brought out someone familiar.

"Pamela."

Max smiled.

"Hey guys. Nice to see you again."

Dean, Max and Pamela took a seat at one of tables.

"So, are you good?"
"I'm good. Really. I'd prefer this over how I was doing the last time. You should see my heaven."
"I'd love too."

Before they left for the shortcut to the garden Ash had found them, Pamela had one last talk with Max.

"I heard about that whole mistress shit."
"Yeah."
"If I could do anything I would."
"I know."

Pamela pulled Max close to her.

"But I've always wanted to do this."

Pam pressed her lips against hers. The rest cleared their throats and stared awkwardly. They pulled apart and Max touched her lips.

"It's exactly how I imagined."

Max gave her one last kiss and then left with Dean and Sam. Once they stepped through they came to their old childhood home and Mary walked in.

"Honey. Why are you up?"
"Look I love you but you're not real."
"Did you have a nightmare? Tell me about it."
"I've got to go."
"Then I'll tell you about mine. The night I burned."

Blood seeped through her night gown.

"Let's get out of here."
"Don't you walk away from me! I never loved you. You were my burden, I was shackled to you. Look what it got me." She blinked and her eyes flashed yellow.

A loud clang came from outside. All the windows and doors were blocked with brick walls and Zachariah entered.

"You did this."
"And I'm just getting started. I mean guys, did you really think you could sneak past me into mission control?"
"You son of a bitch."

Before any of them could make a move, they were held back by other angels.

"You know I used to say the same thing about you but I have actually grown quite fond of your mother. Or at least the memory of her."

He brushed her hair to the side and kissed her neck. All of them cringed at the sight. Finally he snapped his fingers and Mary was gone.

"Let's brass-track this, shall we?"
"What, are you gonna ball gag us until we say yes? Not the first time I heard that tune-"

Zachariah punched Dean in the gut not once but twice.

"I'm gonna do a lot more than that. I've cleared my schedule. Let me tell you something. I was on the fast track once. Employee of the month, every month. I'd walk these walls and people would avert their eyes. I had respect!"
"Gee, I wonder what happened?"

Max realized she shouldn't have said that cause the next punch was for her.

"And then I was assigned you. Now look at me. I can't close the deal on a couple flannel-wearing maggots? Everyone's laughing at me. And there right to do it. So say yes, don't say yes. I'm still gonna take it out of your asses. It's personal now and the last person in the history of creation you want as your enemy is me. And I'll tell you why. Lucifer may be strong but I'm petty. I'm gonna be the angel on your shoulder for the rest of eternity."

"Excuse me sir?"

Everyone turned their attention to the man standing behind Zachariah.

"I'm in a meeting."
"I'm but I need to speak to these three."
"Excuse me?"
"It's a bad time, I know. But I'm afraid I have to insist."
"You don't get to insist jack squat."
"No you're right. But the boss does. His orders."
"You're lying."
"I wouldn't lie about this. Look fire me if you want. Sooner or later he's gonna come back home and you know how he is with that whole "wrath" thing."

He looked back at the three as if saying "I'm not done with you" and vanished. What was it about the scenery changing? The living-area changed into a garden.

"This is Heaven's garden?"
"You see what you want to hear. For some it's God's throne room for you it's the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. You came here on a field trip."
"So you're Joshua?"
"I am."
"And you talk to God?"
"Mostly he talks to me."
"Can we speak with him? It's important."
"Where is he?"
"On Earth."
"Doing what?"
"We don't exactly speak face to face."
"I don't get it. God's been talking to no one so-"
"Why is he talking to me? Sometimes I think it's because I can sympathize. Gardener to gardener. And between us, I think he gets lonely."
"Well can we at least get a message for us?"
"Actually he has a message for you. Back off. He knows already. Everything you want to tell him. He knows what the angels are doing. He knows the apocalypse has begun. He just doesn't think it's his problem."
"You gotta be fucking kidding me."
"God saved you already. He was the one who put you on that plane, brought Castiel back and granted you salvation in heaven. It's more than he's intervened in a long time. Magic amulet or not, you won't find him."
"But he can stop the apocalypse."
"He can."
"Why not?"
"You'll drive yourself crazy asking questions like that."
"So he's just going to sit back and watch the world crash and burn? No he's just a deadbeat dad. Well I'll muddle through."
"Except you don't know if you can this time. You're losing faith, in your brother and sister. God was your last hope."
"So what now?"
"You go home but it won't be like the last. God wants you remember."

Joshua held up his hand and a bright light blinded them. First to come back to life was Sam then Dean.

"You alright?"
"Define alright."

They looked over expecting to see Max alive but she was still laying on the ground. They rushed over to her, checking if she had a pulse. Sam began CPR on her and she shot up gasping for air. She noticed they were worried.

"You didn't give me mouth to mouth did you?"

Sam and Dean sighed. After they got rid of the bodies, they returned to the motel to find Cas.

"Maybe Joshua was lying."

He stood and looked up at the ceiling.

"You son of bitch. I believed in-" He paused and realized it was worthless.
He turned around and gave back Dean his amulet. Before he left, Max wanted to do something.

"Cas wait."

He stopped and looked down at her.

"Don't give up."

She stood on her toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. Without saying a word, he then vanished.