Heaven and Hell

On the Head of a Pin

ROAD - NIGHT

The Impala races along a road, Sam is driving as Ellie and Dean look solemn. "Ruby will meet us outside Cheyenne. She's been tracking some leads. I know she's not exactly on your Christmas list, but if she can help us to get to Lilith-" Sam starts but is interrupted by Dean. 
"Hey, man, work with Ruby, don't. I don't really give a rat's ass." 
"What's your problem?" Sam asks. 
"Pamela didn't want anything to do with this and we dragged her back into it, Sam." Dean explains, Ellie sighs at this and sits forward in the back.
"She knew what was at stake." Sam hits back, Ellie's eyebrows furrow together at this. 
"Oh yeah. Saving the world. And we're doing such a damn good job of it." Dean mumbles. 
"Dean-" Ellie starts.
"I'm tired of burying friends, guys." He explains, Ellie nods at this and sits back.
"Look, we catch a fresh trail-" Sam says before being interrupted by his brother. 
"And we follow it, I know. Like I said, I'm just - I'm just getting tired." He states causing Ellie's stomach to drop. 

MOTEL ROOM

The three Winchesters enter their motel room. "Ah, home crappy home." Ellie sings as Sam flips on the light. They see two angels waiting for them inside the room.
"Winchesters." Uriel says with venom in his voice. Ellie rolls her eyes at this avoiding looking at the angel in the trench coat. 
"Oh come on." She groans causing Uriel to glare at her, she quickly flips him off. 
"You are needed." Uriel states looking at Dean and Ellie. 
"Needed? We just got back from needed." Ellie snaps back.
"Now, you mind your tone with me." Uriel threatens, anger seeps into Ellie's body as she steps forward.
"No, you mind your damn tone with us." She states, Sam grabs her arm softly and pulls her back. 
"We just got back from Pamela's funeral." Sam explains.
"Pamela. You know, psychic Pamela? You remember her. Cas, you remember her? You burned her eyes out. Remember that? Good times. Yeah, then she died saving one of your precious seals. So maybe you can stop pushing us around like chess pieces for FIVE FREAKING MINUTES!" Dean explodes, Uriel seems unfazed by this outburst. 
"We raised you out of hell for our purposes." The angel says. 
"Yeah, what were those again? What exactly did you want from me?" Dean asks. 
"Start with gratitude." Uriel hits back. 
"Oh." Ellie chimes in, still glaring at the angels, she finally looks at Castiel and she can see regret in his eyes. 
"Ellie, we know this is difficult to understand." Castiel starts. 
"And we-" Uriel interrupts giving Castiel a significant look. "-don't care. Now, seven angels have been murdered, all of them from our own garrison. The last one was killed tonight." 
"Demons? How they doing it?" Dean asks. 
"We don't know" Uriel answers. 
"I'm sorry, but what do you want us to do about it? I mean, a demon with the juice to ice angels has to be out of our league, right?" Sam questions. 
"We can handle the demons, thank you very much." Uriel spits back. 
"Once we find whoever it is." Castiel explains more softly. 
"So you need our help hunting a demon?" Ellie asks. 
"Not quite. We have Alastair." Castiel answers back.
"Great. He should be able to name your trigger man." Dean points out. 
"But he won't talk. Alastair's will is very strong. We've arrived at an impasse." The angel says. 
"Yeah, well, he's like a black belt in torture. I mean, you guys are out of your league." Dean states. 
"That's why we've come to his student. You happen to be the most qualified interrogator we've got." Uriel says, Ellie and Sam look towards their brother who looks down. The angel then turns to the youngest Winchester. "And you, you have a certain set of tracking and fighting skills that we need to help find the thing killing our brothers and sisters."
"You two are out best hope." Castiel states. 
"No. No way. You can't ask us to do this, Cas. Not this." Ellie says looking at her brother who hasn't looked up yet. Uriel walks up to Dean and Ellie. 
"Who said anything about asking?" Uriel says, and with that they vanish. 

BUILDING - NIGHT 

The two Winchesters look through a door to see Alastair chained to a hexacle standing in the middle of a devil's trap. "The devil's trap is old Enochian. He's bound completely." Castiel explains. 
"Fascinating." Dean says as he turns away from the door, Ellie sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Where's the door?" 
"Where are you going?" Castiel asks.
"Hitch back to Cheyenne, thank you very much. Come on, Ells." Dean walks past Uriel, then stops. The angel moves in his way, blocking his path. Ellie starts to walk over but Castiel grabs her arm, she snaps her head round to the angel who shakes his head. She tries to ignore the electricity shooting through her body, she shakes his hand off and the electric stops. 
"Angels are dying, boy." Uriel says. 
"Everybody's dying these days. And hey, I get it. You're all-powerful. You can make me do whatever you want. But you can't make me do this." Dean explains. 
"This is too much to ask, I know. But we have to ask it." Castiel says, Dean watches the angel for a moment, then turns back to Uriel.
"I want to talk to Cas alone." Dean says, Ellie starts to leave but her brother shakes his head, silently saying that she can stay. 
"I think I'll go seek revelation. We might have some further orders." Uriel says 
"Well, get some donuts while you're out." Ellie mocks causing Dean to smirk a little bit. 
"Ah, this one just won't quit, will she? I think I'm starting to like you." Uriel says, Ellie watches him vanish with a stone-cold expression. 
"You guys don't walk enough. You're gonna get flabby." Dean jokes, Castiel doesn't react to this. "You know, I'm starting to think junkless has a better sense of humor than you do."
"Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison. Ask anyone." Castiel says, Ellie looks at Dean with a confused look, she then shakes her head and looks back at the angel. 
"What's going on, Cas? Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?" She asks. 
"My superiors have begun to question my sympathies." He explains, glancing at the woman in front of him. 
"Your sympathies?" Dean repeats. 
"I was getting too close to the humans in my charge." Castiel pauses and glances at the youngest Winchester. "You." Ellie's breath gets caught in a throat at this but she swallows it down. "They feel I've begun to express emotions. The doorways to doubt. This can impair my judgement." Castiel and Ellie stare at each other, Dean says this and immediately feels uncomfortable, he coughs. 
"Well, tell Uriel, or whoever... you do not want me doing this, trust me." Dean says. 
"Want it, no. But I have been told we need it." Castiel says. 
"You ask me to open that door and walk through it, you will not like what walks back out." Dean states, Ellie feels disheartened at this but doesn't know what to say. 
"For what it's worth, I would give anything not to have you do this." Castiel mumbles, Dean closes his eyes, he goes to turn around towards the door where Alastair is, Ellie walks forward and grabs her brother's arms. 
"Wait, Dean." He turns around. "What happens in there does not define you. You are a good man, Dean. You are my brother." He nods his head slowly, trying to listen to the words his sister is saying. He gives her a quick kiss on the forehead and goes into the room. Ellie turns around to look at the angel, she sighs deeply and crosses her arms.
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" She asks, her mind still racing over the idea of her brother in that room. 
"You had to learn to track in Purgatory?" Castiel questions. 
"Yeah, of course." 
"We are going to go to the place where my sister was killed." Ellie can see the hurt in his eyes but doesn't say anything. 
"Okay." She says, he goes to put two fingers on her forehead until she dodges out of the way. "Woah, woah, woah, Cas. We talked about this, isn't there any other way to get there which doesn't involve me holding down vomit?" Castiel looks at her with a confused look on his face, seeing that the youngest Winchester was being completely serious, he then smiled a little on the inside as he looked into the distance and squinted. 
"What's that?" He said, causing Ellie's head to quickly turn. She scans around the area, looking for any threat. She starts to turn around again. 
"Cas, I don't-" Castiel quickly puts two fingers on Ellie's forehead and they are gone.