AN: For maximum amount of tears, listen to "Stairway to Heaven: starting when Heaven collapses to the floor... I'm sorry...

"I brought a present," Aosoth announced upon arrival.

Crowley glanced over, pausing his torturing of the Winchesters. When he saw the older man accompanying the other demon, he smiled.

"Malak Reynolds. Been looking for you for a long time."

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Malak said. "You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"The name's Crowley," the demon king introduced himself. "Or, if you'd prefer, you can call me the King of Hell."

"You're the King of Hell," Malak scoffed. "What? Were all the better demons too busy to take the position?"

"Watch your tone," Crowley growled.

"Or what? You'll kill me? Something tells me you need me alive. Otherwise the demon you have possessing my daughter would have killed me when she found me."

"Speaking of, he tried to attack me with this," Aosoth said, handing Crowley the silver blade Malak had previously been holding.

"Angel blade," Crowley nodded. "What have you been up to, Reynolds?"

"Nothing I'd tell you about," Malak spat.

Crowley tsk-ed, twirling the Angel blade in his hands as he studied the man in front of him. Turning away, he placed the blade next to an assortment of other items he'd been using to torture both the Winchesters and Heaven and picked up a handgun.

"I think you will tell me exactly what you've been up to the past few years since you disappeared."

"And why would you think that?"

"Because you want your daughter to survive."

"Excuse me?"

"No!" Dean yelled from where he was still tied up.

Crowley pulled the trigger, shooting Heaven in the stomach.

"The only thing keeping your daughter alive now is that demon inside of her," the demon king said, turning back to face Malak. "So let's try this one more time, shall we? What have you been up to, Reynolds?"

Malak was silent for a moment, staring at the growing bloodstain on Heaven's stomach.

"I made a promise," he spoke finally. "I was young, only 14 at the time, but it sounded like fun. I pledged my obedience to the Angels. They said if I did, I would marry the woman of my dreams and she'd give me a child."

"You made a deal," Crowley realized.

"They told me Eleanor couldn't have children. That by swearing I'd go with them when they asked, she'd have one baby. I loved her, and I wanted a future with her, so I agreed. When Abigail was eight, an angel named Uriel came to collect. I didn't want to leave my family alone, but I didn't have a choice."

"So you went. And they had you do what, exactly?"

"Redesign Heaven."

"What?"

"They had me redesign Heaven," Malak repeated. "The whole system up there; the separate Heavens for everyone, having them relive all their best memories. I designed all of it."

"You designed how Heaven is run?" Crowley puzzled, voice incredulous.

"Yes, I did," Malak nodded. "It was chaos up there before they brought me in."

"But why have you returned now? Why not let you go as soon as you had finished?"

"Well, I was meant to come back sooner, but due to other circumstances, my return kept getting delayed."

"Other circumstances?"

"The Devil's Gate getting opened and releasing all those demons, or the apocalypse that never happened, and then the door to Purgatory opening and then the mess with the leviathans. As long as the Angels had other problems to deal with, I was cast to the side, passed under the radar."

"So what changed?"

"I found a way out. On my own, I might add. Though, it must have set off some sort of alarm, because suddenly I had all of Heaven looking for me. And now we're here."

Crowley studied the man as he finished his story.

"Do it," he said after a moment.

Heaven's head leaned back as black smoke billowed out of her toward the ceiling.

"No!" Malak and Dean shouted at the same time.

"It's been a pleasure, boys. See you around."

Crowley disappeared from the room as Heaven collapsed to the floor.

"Heaven!" Dean shouted, struggling to get loose.

Malak rushed to his daughter's side, cradling her head in his lap.

"D-Daddy," she choked out, coughing up blood.

"Sh. Sh, sweetheart, don't speak," Malak comforted her, pushing her dark hair away from her face.

"I- I'm glad I got to see you... one last time..." Heaven continued through the blood.

Sam had managed to get himself loose, helping Dean as well before the elder brother hurried over to Heaven's side with her father.

"No, no, no. You're going to be okay. We can... we can fix this," he muttered.

"D-Dean, s-stop," Heaven coughed up more blood. "I-it's okay. D-don't fight it."

"But we can fix this, we can save you," Dean insisted, shaking his head.

"N-no... N-not... this... time... I-it's too late."

Dean continued shaking his head, tears brimming in his eyes.

"But I need you," he whispered.

"W-will you sing... one last time... for me...?"

"What do you want?"

"A-anything..."

As a single tear made its way down Dean's cheek, he started the first song that popped into his head.

"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven. When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed, with a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

"There's a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure, 'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings. In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings. Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven. 

"Ooh, it makes me wonder. Ooh, it makes me wonder.

"There's a feeling I get when I look to the west, and my spirit is crying for leaving. In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, and the voices of those who stand looking.

"Ooh, it makes me wonder. Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

"And it's whispered that soon, if  we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn, for those who stand long and the forests will echo with laughter.

"Ooh.

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now. It's just a spring clean for the May queen. Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on.

"And it makes me wonder. Ooh.

"Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know. The piper's calling you to join him. Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know, you're stairway lies in the whispering wind?"

Heaven had long since stopped breathing in her father's arms, but Dean finished out the song anyway, tears streaming down his cheeks. Sam and Malek were also crying as they listened to him sing.

"And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our soul, there walks a lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything still turns to gold.

"And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last. When all is one and one is all, that's what it is to be a rock and not to roll.

"And she's buying a stairway to heaven."

-FIN-