"Wait - what?" Hope half-started onto her feet as her brother disappeared into the bathroom, her expression promising him pain of the sibling variety for dropping her into this. She was very aware of Ayden watching her, slowly turning to face the young woman who would be her aunt when she was eventually born.

"Tell me what?" Ayden asked, one brow raised as she met Hope's eyes.

"Uh ..." Hope's smile twitched reflexively, her eyes a little wild as she tried to work out how to put this. "Ares is, well, he's ....he's kind of one of the family where we come from."

Ayden eyed her warily. "One of the family," she repeated slowly. "Do I want to know how that happened?"

Hope shook her head. "Um ....no. No, I don't think you want to know."

Sam disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to help or hear what his sister was about to explain to his aunt; he just didn't want to be the one to explain it. It was a trait he'd no doubt inherited from his father. Despite the closed door, Sam could hear every word being said, and when his sister didn't deliver the goods, a muffled voice exclaimed from inside the other side of the door. "You slept with him!"

"Sam!"

As Hope hissed at her brother for his amazing lack of patience and tact, Ayden snorted with laughter, shaking her head. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure I did," she chuckled sarcastically, not believing a word of it. "I'll just bet there's an Olympian out there right now, just waiting to get into my panties."

Hope snickered at the reaction, just grinning as she held her aunt's gaze.

Ayden's smile slowly faded as she noticed the lack of actual joke in the air. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she breathed. "I can't ....I don't do things like that!"

"Sure you do. You're a Winchester, remember?" Sam added helpfully as he wandered back out of the bathroom, tugging the zipper up on his jeans as he did. He was among family, after all, and he didn't have anything either of them hadn't already seen. A smaller version of in the future, anyway. "His name is Ares, and you and he have sort of a thing going on in the future. The fact is, if it wasn't for Ares, we wouldn't be standing here today."

"I'm not supposed to be a Winchester," Ayden pointed out. "There's a reason I still use my mom's name, kiddo."

As she tried to get her head around what it was they were telling her, Hope frowned thoughtfully up at Sam. "Seriously, though, you really think he's around?" she asked him. "Because, if he is, why hasn't he jumped in already? Like at the church' He should have been there to look after her if he's already watching."

"A rose is still a rose," Sam countered with a shrug of his shoulders. She could call herself a Milligan, but she was still John Winchester's daughter. He dug a bag of M&Ms out of his jacket and ripped it open. "He's around. He just hasn't met her yet." He popped a few candies into his mouth, crunching as he continued. "Who's to say he isn't supposed to meet her now?" he asked, glancing from one to the other.

There was a pause as the two young women considered this. Hope conceded it was a fair point. "I guess it makes sense," she agreed. "I mean, they're both pretty cagey about how they met and when they got together. And it can't have been too much later than this, because, you know, you knew Ares right from the get go."

Ayden stared, switching her gaze back and forth between her nephew and niece. "I can't believe you are both seriously talking about pimping me out!"

"We should call Dad," Sam pointed out helpfully, as he pulled out a chair and sat down, crunching on a few more M&Ms. "He'll know what to do." Though he wasn't sure he wanted to admit to his father that they needed his help. They were supposed to be handling this hunt on their own, and if they really needed to summon Ares, they already knew how. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the Colt wasn't going to work on the Fates, and they didn't have a Plan B yet.

Hope didn't seem to know quite what to do, at something of a loss. She wasn't the best when it came to plans or strategies, fully believing that she was the brawn of the operation anyway. "I guess we need a weapon," she offered up eventually. "Something to stab a Fate with. But they're the ones with the Hind's Blood dagger, and that's the only thing that works on Olympians and them. You know, besides the scythe."

Ayden sighed, leaning back against the wall as she hooked her hands about one knee, resting her head back for a moment. "Do you really want to call your dad?" she asked quietly. "He'll call off his hunt to come and help us, and that just puts all eyes on this place and this time. The whole point was that we're supposed to be the distraction."

"Maybe he knows something we don't. Something we haven't thought of," Sam pointed out, though he also reasoned that if his father knew of some way to kill Atropos, he'd have shared it by now. The idea that they were nothing more than a distraction annoyed Sam a little. He thought their hunt was just as important as their parents, even if it didn't affect the fate of the entire world. "Flip a coin. Dad or Ares." He was talking figuratively, of course, giving Ayden the choice between calling her brother or summoning her future lover.

Hope met his eyes, understanding that flash of annoyance but shaking her head to head it off. They'd pitched their hunt to everyone here as a distraction so their parents could get hold of Death's Scythe, nothing more. Only Dean and Nim knew the real reason behind going after the Fates, and there was an unspoken agreement that it would remain so.

"Flip a coin?" Ayden repeated in surprise. She frowned, looking at Sam thoughtfully as she considered what might be going on here. "You really have that much faith in an Olympian that he's an alternative to your dad?"

"Don't you dare," Hope muttered, but it was pretty much a given that she was going to be pegged with that one from now on. She grumbled to herself, shrugging into her jacket as Ayden switched off the lamp.

"Now ....no waking Gina up," the older girl warned them, drawing the door open to creep across the communal living space to the main door of their shared dorm room.

Sam wondered briefly if the girl in question really wanted to sleep with him, but he made no sound as he crossed the room, taking the rear behind Ayden and his sister. He'd had several girlfriends, but so far, nothing had stuck. Being a hunter didn't help. It wasn't the kind of profession that was conducive to a lasting relationship.

At this time of night, there was little to no sound in Roble Hall, evidence that those who had been partying had finally given in and fallen asleep, and those who had been studying were going to be up early in the morning. But for now, everyone was asleep. Ayden visibly relaxed once they were out onto the open campus, however, tucking her hands into her pockets as she led the way toward the medical sciences building. "So, are either of you going to tell me what the plan is here?" she asked as they walked along.

Sam frowned thoughtfully, wishing he'd thought this far ahead. He'd assumed they'd use the Colt to kill Atropos and hadn't really prepared a Plan B. "Say please?" he quipped from behind Ayden and Hope. Hey, it couldn't hurt. "Maybe you can charm him with your womanly wiles," he suggested, only partially in jest. She must have charmed him at some point, if they'd become lovers. At that moment, he wished he could somehow call the Ayden of the future and ask her secret.

"Or, you know, talk him into a corner," Hope suggested with a grin, enjoying the easing of tension now they weren't discussing the big secret less than twelve feet away from a sleeping normal. "You do that a lot when he's being dumb."

Ayden glanced at both of them, her reservations about this idea slowly being chipped away at by their obvious confidence that she could somehow sweet-talk a god into playing nice with them. "You both really think this is on me, don't you?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean, you're the one who's sleeping with, er, is going to be his lover. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch him on the rebound from Aphrodite." Though that probably happened a few thousand years ago by human reckoning, Sam wasn't sure how time was measured by a being so powerful as to call himself a God.

"Oh, you mean the bitch who slept with him to hurt her husband because Zeus made her marry Hephaestus in the first place?" Ayden asked innocently.

Hope let out a loud guffaw of laughter, pointing mutely at their aunt for a moment before managing to come out with coherent words. "See, that's the Ayden I remember!"

It was once again Sam's job to remind his sister that this was serious business and no laughing matter. "Just remember the same bitch you're talking about favors Mom and Dad. Without her help, we might not have been born." He wasn't sure if that was entirely true, but he knew enough about his parents to know that, without supernatural intervention, they probably wouldn't be together.

"All right, all right." Hope rolled her eyes, shaking her head at what she considered to be her brother's overly serious approach to the whole deal.

Ayden smirked faintly as they moved into the shadow of the medical library, pulling the key out of her pocket. "You're sure we don't need anything special to do this?" she asked them both. "Last chance before we're inside to pick anything up."

"No, I think an incantation or two should suffice. And if not, we play dirty," Sam replied. He didn't really want to risk pissing a God off, but he wasn't above name-dropping. He knew his parents were favored by Zeus. That had to mean something.

"You know," Ayden mused conversationally, automatically dropping her voice to a lower register as they entered the library, moving to turn off the alarm before she locked the door once again behind them, "I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what you mean by playing dirty."

That comment went unnoticed by Hope. The nineteen year old had dropped out of high school a few years back, and had never been in a school library before. She was close to stunned by the sheer number of books and reference materials all around her, envious of the aunt who got to go to college and uni and graduate.

To say Sam was envious was an understatement. Between the two, he'd always been the more studious one, which was surprising considering his father had wanted nothing to do with school. "I'm pretty sure you don't either," Sam replied with a frown.

Ayden gave them a moment to look around, knowing that it was an impressive sight, even in the moonlight that streamed in through the windows. "Okay, so ....you need an open space for this, or somewhere more enclosed?" she asked, gently drawing both of them away from the doors. She knew this library inside and out, not needing the lights to know her way perfectly.

"An open space would probably be better," Sam replied, especially if they caught Ares in a bad mood. He didn't exactly wanting the god trashing the place. He followed her further into the library, looking around for a suitable place.

"I say one of the lecture halls, then," Ayden muttered to herself, leading the way past the body of the library, and into a long corridor with sparse doorways leading from it. Unlocking the first door they came to, she revealed a wide room with seats cascading down from where they sat toward a wide, bare space before a white board. Nothing in here to break, unless you counted them. "How's this?"

Sam took a look around. He'd never been in a college lecture hall before - or a college library either - and though his parents had encouraged him to pursue an education, he had opted to become a hunter like them. "Perfect," he replied, looking to Hope for her opinion on the matter.

Hope was already halfway down the steps to the lecture floor when she paused, looking back at her brother with a grin that was suddenly illuminated as Ayden flipped the light switch. "Wipe clean floor," she pointed out with a cheery wink. "I'm gonna go with perfect, too."

"Wipe clean floor?" Ayden repeated, coming up beside Sam once again, her hands sliding into the back pockets of her jeans as she felt the nerves starting to rise up. "How is that a good thing?"

Sam pulled a lighter from another pocket in his jacket and flicked it on before holding it close to the blade to do his best to sterilize it. Thankfully, Hope carried a first aid kit in her jacket, but first things first, and he only needed a little blood. Once he was satisfied with the knife, he shoved the lighter back in his pocket and looked to Ayden. "Ready?" Obviously, she was or she wouldn't have said so, but he had to be sure.

"As I'll ever be." Ayden clenched her fist and deliberately looked away, forcing back memories of being tied down as she bled out. Her father had saved her then; her brother's children were not going to let the same thing happen again.

Hope caught her other hand, linking their fingers, holding the older woman's gaze. She didn't know all the details, but the youngest Winchester in the room knew enough to understand how hard it was for Ayden to give up her blood willingly.

Sam knew it was a lot to ask, considering all his aunt had been through already, but he also had a feeling that without her blood, there was a good chance Ares wouldn't make an appearance, and they desperately needed his help. To his credit, he was quick with the cut, and he didn't go too deep, only deep enough to draw enough blood for him to draw the sigil that was needed to summon the God of War.

Ayden didn't even hiss as Sam cut into her arm, somehow managing to detach her brain, reciting in her mind the various methods of pain relief she'd been studying thus far this semester as she held Hope's gaze. To their credit, the young Winchesters were good and prepared for this sort of thing. As soon as Sam was done with his artwork, Hope was already opening up a small packet from inside her jacket, pressing a pad over the little wound and wrapping a bandage tight about Ayden's arm to stem the flow of blood.

The older woman let out a shaken breath, only looking when the bandage was in place. "That's the hard part, right?" she offered in an attempt to make less of her discomfort, squeezing Hope's hand in gratitude as she looked to Sam.

Sam didn't want to lie, so he made no reply. In his opinion, this was actually the easy part. Convincing Ares that he should help them was the hard part. He only hoped he and Hope were right in their assumption that the Ares of this time period would feel some kind of connection to Ayden. He finished drawing the sigil, glancing over with a nod to Hope to indicate that he was ready to finish the spell, which either would or wouldn't summon the Greek God of War.

By the look in Ayden's eyes, she knew the hard part was yet to come, hugging her bandaged arm with the other as she stepped back to let the siblings complete the ritual summoning. Hope nodded back to her brother, as ready as she was going to get, hating that she was essentially just background for the next few minutes. But whatever happened, no harm was going to come to Ayden, that was paramount. Because without her, their future was going to look even more bleak.

The incantation that would hopefully summon the god wasn't said in the ritual Latin that was used when summoning a demon or the Enochian that might summon an angel. This spell was said in ancient Greek and had been taught to him by the woman standing before them in a future she had not yet lived yet. The words had once been clumsy on Sam's tongue, but years of practice had made him fluent in Greek, and the summoning tumbled off his tongue with perfect precision and pronunciation. It was more a prayer than a summons really; a request, rather than a demand. One did not make demands of the Olympians if one did not wish to be cursed.

And then came the waiting. It was a request, and as such, no one expected the recipient of that prayer to drop everything and come straight away. But the waiting was the worst part, in Hope's opinion. She paced, a little like a caged animal, fully aware of Ayden's eyes on her as she did so, resisting the urge to add her own summons.

Ayden, however, didn't have any such reservations. After a couple of minutes, she let out a huff of impatience. "C'mon, you son of a bitch, stop playing hide and seek and get down here."

That seemed to get something of a response as a crackle of lightning came out of nowhere to split the night sky with a rumble of thunder so loud it shook the building. "You don't want to piss him off, Ayden," Sam reminded her, encouraged that they'd at least gotten his attention. "Say something else. Something not so insulting."

"The last thing we want is for me to come off as weak," she pointed out quietly. "He's gotta have some respect for suicidal courage, at least. Don't you?" She addressed the ceiling for lack of anywhere else to aim her voice. "We know you're watching. I, uh, I've got something for you. Battle against the odds, kind of thing. You interested?"

As it happened, battle seemed to be the key word when summoning a god who valued courage above all things. There was another crackle of lightning, quieter this time and, as if out of nowhere, there appeared a man with blond hair and chiseled good looks. He was wearing a black t-shirt and olive green pants and looking not at all like what they might have expected - or at least, not what Ayden might have expected. "You have my attention, mortals. Speak quickly before you regret it."

Of course, Sam and Hope knew exactly what to expect. Ayden, not so much. It was a little difficult to hide an instant attraction - Ares was hot. So she didn't try. A lopsided smile curved her lips as she looked him over, hugging her arms tighter about herself for a moment. "Wow," she complimented him." Not what I was expecting." Her nephew and niece earned themselves a glare over her shoulder for not warning her that the God of War was edible, but she rearranged her expression to something less hostile as she met the Olympian's gaze. "You know who I am?"

"I know who you are," the God of War confirmed, looking her over, somewhat like one might a meal they found rather tempting or a person they found attractive. For the most part, he seemed to be ignoring the pair of Winchesters, though he knew who they were, as well, and was aware of their presence in a time that was not their own. "Explain why you've summoned me here."

"Then you know what side I'm on," Ayden said calmly, feeling a little like a deer caught in headlights as the God of War looked her over, exactly as she had looked over him. She held his gaze for a long moment, hoping there was actual steel in her eyes rather than the urge to flirt which was rising. You have a boyfriend. Remember that. Not that Cole was a real boyfriend, exactly ....Shut up. She took a step forward, daring to close a little of the distance. "Hades is in league with the Fates. We thought you might like to take a crack at them with us."

And she also knew that she and the God before her would be lovers at some point in the future, though she didn't yet know how that would come to pass. "And why should I care what Hades does?" the blond god queried, standing his ground. He was already admiring her bravery, though from the look on his face it was hard to say what he was thinking. It wasn't so much that he was questioning what she was telling him as he wanted to know why she thought he might be interested in taking sides.

This was it. She hadn't expected crunch time to arrive quite so soon in the conversation, but better sooner rather than later. They needed to know if Ares could be counted on, and if she was their ace in the hole, then Ayden just had to bite the bullet. "Because Hades wants my brother dead. He wants my brother's wife dead. And to do that, he's making a deal with the Fates that will kill off everyone I love." The vision that had woken her swam through her mind once again, and her throat tightened, but she forced herself to keep speaking, however close to tears she might be. "And we don't have the edge we need right now. If we go up against the Fates, we're dead. Everyone in front of you right now will die." And here was the card she'd been hoping not to have to play. "They'll slit my throat. And you and I ....we won't know what might have been."

It was a good thing she didn't weep. He valued courage, not weakness. Though tears were generally considered a sign of weakness, he was wise enough to know that even the strongest and bravest sometimes shed tears. He seemed to consider her words a moment, perhaps more seriously than anyone might have expected. It was then he seemed to realize or at least acknowledge that they weren't alone, but instead of sending the other pair away, he only turned back to the young woman in front of him. "We must talk," he told her simply, and without another word, he disappeared, and Ayden disappeared along with him.

((Well, that's one way to get a god's attention! More to come - we're actually focused on at least getting these two hunts done and dusted this time! Huge thanks to my awesome partner!))