fated | j. kline [vol. 1]

01

"life is just going so quickly, i can't catch it"
"i don't think anyone can"
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VENUS SAT AT THE END of the table as Dean prepared guns for himself, her, and Sam. She glanced over at the taller Winchester, and he smiled assuringly at her, but his eyes revealed his fear. Venus reached out and grabbed Sam's shoulder, a half-smile spreading across her lips.

"You ready?" Dean asked handing Sam and Venus their weapons.

"Nope," Sam replied, as Venus slid off the table and stood with the boys. "When has that ever stopped us?"

"Yeah," Dean checked his gun one last time and crossed over to stand in front of Sam and Venus. "You know, Cas has faith in this kid."

Venus scoffed, "I love the guy, but the kid's not even born yet. How is he meant to know what he'll be like?"

"Well, I hope he's right. But me, I have faith in us three. I have faith in Mom, I have faith in Cas," He paused. "And Crowley. Sometimes."

Sam chuckled, glancing away from his brother and down at the floor. Venus took a step forward, going up on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around the brothers' shoulders.

"This is gonna work," Dean whispered, "It has to."

Venus grinned, shoving her gun into the back of her jeans and stepping away from her best friends, "It will."

~~~

Venus strode confidently out of the house next to Sam, Dean, and Cas. It was dark, and the trees surrounding the front yard cast even darker shadows on the ground. She stared down at her boots as Sam and Dean argued with Lucifer, worry and questions plaguing her mind.

What if Cas is right to have faith in this kid? There's no proof he'll be good but there's also no proof he'll be born inherently evil. Maybe if we raise him to be good he can protect us... Maybe–

Venus was snapped out of her thoughts as Dean grabbed her hand. Out of instinct, she gave it a squeeze, and he gave one back.

"See you on the other side, guys," Dean said, dropping Venus' hand as Cas charged at Lucifer.

As expected, the angel was tossed violently aside. The remaining three glanced over at him, glanced at each other, and took off sprinting towards the backyard.

"Mature. Real mature!" Lucifer slowly followed the three around the back side of the house. "You guys? I really want to enjoy this. Really wanna savor just ripping you apart, gettin' all up in there, and gettin' all gooey. But, you know, little slugger's almost here and, uh... Well, I'm on the clock."

He finally rounded the corner and saw Sam, Dean, and Venus standing next to the rift. Dean reached out and touched it, and they were in the other universe. Quickly, Dean retrieved Different Bobby's angel-killing gun, and Venus ran off to help Crowley prepare the ritual.

"Sammy, hey," Venus winced at Lucifer's tone. Her stomach churned with hatred and she stared at the ground. "Where's your buddies?"

"Okay, Venus," Crowley pulled the girl's attention away from the scene unfolding on the other side of the rock. "There's one last thing we need for this ritual that we don't have yet."

"Alright, whatever, Crowley," Venus paused, Dean had opened fire. "What is it then? I'll find it."

"No, you won't," Crowley said firmly, grasping Venus' shoulder. She was just about to ask again when Sam ran up behind the two. "Took you long enough."

Sam groaned, and Venus stood, placing a hand on his shoulder as he knelt on the dirt, "Not now, Crowley, come on."

"We do this ritual, we seal that rift, and we lock the devil in this godforsaken place. That's the plan, remember? Two birds, one spell."

"Right, right, just hurry–" Sam stood and peeked over the top of the rock, Lucifer had begun punching Dean. Venus heard his advances and filled with rage, she fought the urge to go help and instead gathered the remaining ingredients and put them in the bowl. Sam followed along as she did so. "Uh, Dead Sea brine, uh, mercury, lamb's blood, holy oil. Here we go. That's the last of it. That's everything."

"No, it's not," Crowley stood.

"What?"

"If we wanna seal that rip, we need one more minor ingredient."

Venus was growing impatient, "Come on, Crowley! What is it already?"

"A life."

The demon began walking towards Dean and Lucifer, ignoring Venus' protests. He knocked the devil backwards as Sam and Venus sprinted over to where Dean lay on the ground. They helped him stand and rushed back to the rift.

"Dean, are you okay?" Venus asked, wiping the blood off his face. He nodded shakily in response and took his sister's hand. "Crowley's... Crowley's gonna kill himself. There's got to be another way!"

She stepped up, about to intervene, but Sam grabbed her wrist, "There's not."

"Bye boys," Crowley deadpanned. "Bye V."

Moments after Crowley dropped to the ground, Castiel appeared from the other side of the rift. He pushed past Sam, Dean, and Venus and advanced again on Lucifer.

The three shouted protests, and Dean and Venus stepped forward, intent on getting Cas back. But Sam pulled them both back, insisting they had to leave now before the rift closed. In a flash of light, they found themselves back in their world. Venus turned around just in time to see a bright flash of golden light coming from the upstairs room of the cottage.

Immediately, she dropped to the ground in the most excruciating pain she had ever felt. Her blood seemed to boil, all she could hear was a loud, high ringing that her own screams couldn't drown out. Every vein in her body glowed gold, and when she closed her eyes, images of a pure, golden heart were all she could see. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the pain ended, and everything faded to black.