When Angels Deserve to Die - Chapter Four
Masterpost
Previous Chapter
(Note: When I first heard "The Noose" I thought the song fit Castiel perfectly. I have no vidding skills whatsoever so I made a request and limabetaed took up the challenge. The resulting vid turned out better than I could have ever imagined, it breaks my heart every time I watch it.)
A Prison Gets to be a Friend
As this Phantasm Steel-
Whose features-Day and Night-
Are present to us-as Our Own-
And as escapeless-quite-
Castiel struggled at first. He felt his own grace burning him with Lucifer’s taint, but despite the pain he tore at it. Furiously Castiel ripped into the alien barbs, but they wouldn’t break away, and then under the weight of Lucifer’s words and his own guilt he ceased resisting.
Softer guitars played out over the radio as they drove through the night. Sam was fast asleep and Dean’s eyes were fixed intently on the road. Castiel watched his eyes in the mirror, he could only watch now. Lucifer was wrapped tightly around his core, learning, feeling, flexing his wings… but Castiel was too wrapped up in his own guilt now. The slightly crackly voice over the radio seemed to taunt him.
So glad to see you well, overcome and completely silent now
Outside the hospital Dean had seemed pleased to see him, said he had come back to fix it… Dean had just begged him to heal. But he would not forgive.
With heaven's help you cast your demons out
Castiel rationalised his actions, he thought he had saved the world from Raphael. Then he went about trying to fix it, trying to make thing as they should be… smite the sinners, reward the righteous.
And not to pull your halo down around your neck and tug you off your cloud…
Where did it all go so wrong? How did his good intentions lead to blood in the streets and the ashes of angel wings across the grass? In truth he couldn’t entirely blame the leviathans… he started to walk a dark path before the leviathans. Eleanor, Sam, Balthazar…
But I'm more than just a little curious how you're planning to go about making your amends…
He wanted to redeem himself. To the world, to Dean… but what could he do? How could he make things right? How could he pay penance for the blood on his hands?
To the dead
Eleanor, Sam, Balthazar… the nameless hundreds and thousands. There was so much blood. Too much blood.
Recall the deeds as if they're all someone else's atrocious stories
When he remembered, when Emmanuel ceased to be and Castiel returned, there was a moment when he was neither one nor the other. He was watching somebody else do those terrible things. Then they were suddenly his actions. He felt sickened, the weight of it crushing him, he wanted to run, to die… But Dean came after him.
Now you stand reborn before us all, so glad to see you well
Dean gave Castiel his trenchcoat, said he did the best he could at the time. But before… Dean’s defiance, his hostility, the breaking of trust between them. That was more real. The truth of the matter was that Sam was dying and Dean needed Castiel to heal his brother. Dean would have said anything to make him stay. That moment was a lie, the moment Dean led him to believe fixing things was possible.
And not to pull your halo down around your neck and tug you to the ground…
Dean wouldn’t forgive him. After all the torture and all the slaughter how could he?
But I'm more than just a little curious how you're planning to go about making your amends…
Sorry was an inadequate word and Castiel could spend an eternity doing deeds to earn redemption... but it wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough. He couldn’t make amends to the world for its suffering. He couldn’t rebuild the trust he had with Dean.
To the dead
Trust sat like a fragile bird in the palm of his hand and Castiel had crushed it. Bodies of the dead were piled high at his feet, friends and foes alike. Castiel was unforgiveable.
With your halo slipping down to choke you now
And so with the knowledge that redemption was out of reach and Dean’s forgiveness was nothing more than a pale illusion, Castiel welcomed the burn of Lucifer’s shards. He deserved torment. The fight left Castiel as the devil’s suffocating presence took over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean had been glaring at the road ahead with frustration. He hated this. Why couldn’t things be simple? When Castiel had been stabbed and was lying on the floor bleeding out his heart rebelled at the idea of the angel dying. He didn’t want Castiel to die, he wanted him here. But Dean couldn’t look at him for long without seeing the image of his angel stood before them spattered in other people’s blood… innocent’s blood.
The conflicted feelings were driving him mad. He wanted Castiel… he couldn’t stand Castiel. What did he really want? Dean thought and sadly answered that he wanted Castiel as he was before. Before the slaughter, before the madness. He wanted Castiel strong and virtuous once again. He wanted to undo all the bad that had happened between them. But it couldn’t be undone. They had to make do with what they had. Currently that was a broken angel determined to make amends by any means possible, including his own death.
Dean had meant what he said. Castiel couldn’t earn redemption with a heroic moment of self sacrifice. His penance was not a short sprint and a quick end; it was going to be a marathon, one that started with taking on Sam’s hell trauma. Where the finish line was, who knew? But he was sure they would eventually reach it. In the meantime every “I’m sorry” from Castiel’s lips felt like nails on a chalkboard to Dean. Two words couldn’t fix what Castiel had done; they couldn’t make up for hurting Sam.
Glancing at Castiel in the rear view mirror gave Dean a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. The angel was staring straight back at him. That in itself was nothing unusual, Castiel did a lot of staring, but something felt wrong… Then Dean’s phone buzzed in his pocket with a text message. Coordinates from Frank. Finally they were getting somewhere and Dean had something to take his mind off his battling thoughts. After consulting a map the coordinates seemed to point to an old plant of some sort a couple of miles away. Dean put his foot down and tried to shake the sensation of his skin crawling. The angel’s eyes were on him still.
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As they were nearing the plant Bobby suddenly materialised in the back of the car. It swerved wildly as Dean startled and shouted a stream of expletives. Sam shot up from his seat and Castiel merely turned to look at Bobby with narrowed eyes.
“Glad to see you boys made it out of there in one piece”. Bobby said in far too casual a manner. Dean still looked like… well, like he’d seen a ghost.
Sam turned in his seat to lay his eyes on Bobby. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I am now. Just took a while to recharge. Felt like I bench pressed a truck back there”.
“Bobby, what the hell was that?!” Dean had found his voice, and it was an angry one.
“Demons attacked and I held them off. What are they going to do? Kill me again?” Bobby’s hackles were starting to rise.
“No but if you lose it you’ll end up being the one doing the killing!”
“I was protecting Sam, I thought you of all people would understand that boy. Would you rather I sit back and let him get pummelled?”
“Of course not, but you can’t keep doing this Bobby. It’s a slippery slope and I won’t let you go down it. So help me, I’ll stash the flask in a lockup somewhere if I have to”.
“You do that and you will have a vengeful spirit on your hands. Anyway, what’s done is done, where are we at now?” Bobby was tiring of butting heads with Dean and had noticed they were pulling off the main road.
With Dean quietly fuming at the wheel Sam stepped in to answer. “Frank sent us these coordinates to meet up at. Think this is the kind of place where he’d hole up?”
A disused plant loomed in the distance. It was a collection of buildings and chimneys gone to wrack and ruin. Bobby considered it and shrugged. “Well it’s a bit grand for Frank if you ask me. He likes his nooks and crannies, but who knows. He’s not exactly the most predictable of men”.
Dust flew around the car as it pulled up and came to a halt. The cooling engine gave out comforting ticks as they sat looking up at the nearest concrete structure. There was something imposing and unsettling about the place. It looked like typical horror film fare. Shadows stretched out concealing everything terrible a vivid imagination could come up with. Unfortunately experience had taught them imagination often wasn’t needed. The creatures they knew about could leap from the shadows and eviscerate you before you got a good look at them. But here they expected nothing, the shadows were just shadows. Unless Frank was lurking in one… and they wouldn’t put it past him to do just that.
“Ok, I’ll do a quick sweep. Sam you stop here” Babysit Bobby and Cas was left unsaid. Dean pulled out and checked his gun with a metallic click. “I’ll check in with you in ten, or when I find him”.
Dean slammed the car door shut and stalked off towards the first building. He looked small against its large concrete front. The huge folding doors were a faded, flaking red and half hanging away from the building. At least Dean would have no trouble getting in. Bobby half expected him to come out and say he’d found a drugs den or something. It looked the sort of place perfect for illicit activities to carry on.
Watching Dean disappear inside the building Bobby became distracted by a strange pulling feeling. It had started out faint and barely there but was getting stronger and stronger by the minute. Suddenly he realised where he’d felt it before. “Sam, where’s the-”
“-flask?” The faux-leather surroundings of their old, beat up car melted away and Bobby found himself face to face with Dean on a metal staircase. Dean’s gun flew up to point between Bobby’s eyes and he staggered back a couple of steps. His feet sent a loud metal clanging echoing around the building.
“Fuck! Bobby!” Dean lowered the gun and put a hand to his chest “How many times?!”
“You’ve got my flask in your pocket idjit! I couldn’t help it; I was snapped back here like an elastic band”.
Dean’s hand wandered to his pocket. Sheepishly he pulled out Bobby’s flask, its surface seemed dull in the half light. “Sorry… swore I left it with Sam back there”.
“Yeah well you didn’t, and now I’m here I might as well help you scout the place. Don’t worry, if anyone attacks I’ll go hide under a table like a good boy”. Bobby rolled his eyes and set off.
The stairs led to an office room. Desks and filing cabinets thick in dust surrounded them. Bobby wandered over to a calendar pinned on the wall. Most of it had faded, but he could just make out it had been left on August. A birthday cake had been drawn on one of the days. Faded like everything else, the colours were long gone.
Dean picked up a photo frame and wiped the dust off to reveal a lady with two smiling kids. Some office Joe’s reason to get through the day… Bobby idly wondered if the birthday had been a happy one, what with this place looking as if it had gone under. Dean placed the photo back on the desk, standing it up this time, and wiped his hands off on his jeans. “Well I don’t think we’re going to find Frank in here. Let’s get back downstairs”.
As they moved off a tinny version of Smoke on the Water rang out from Dean’s phone. He picked up to hear Frank’s impatient voice “Where the hell are you guys?!”
“What do you mean ‘where the hell are we’? Where the hell are you?” Dean yelled back.
Frank ploughed on “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting? I’m not your girlfriend, I’m not waiting around to be stood up Dean. You get your asses over here right now. I shouldn’t even be calling you, they’ve probably traced this already. I need to go!”
“Woah woah Frank, we’re here, we just can’t find you. You’ve set yourself up in one hell of a maze dude. Which building are you in?”
“Which building? I’m in a caravan in the middle of these woods like I told you in the first place…”
“No… no Frank, you sent us some coordinates not an hour ago. Said you’d moved and set up here. We’re at an abandoned plant”. A hint of desperation had crept into Dean’s voice.
“Well I didn’t send them. Looks like you’ve been played. The levis have set a nice trap for you and you’ve walked straight into it. Get out of there! And if you don’t make it, it’s been real nice knowing you Dean”.
“Frank? Frank!” It was no use, he’d hung up. Dean shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Shit! We need to go. Now.”
“Yeah, I heard. I knew this place was too grand for Frank… but if this is a trap, they’re being awful quiet about it. Why haven’t they jumped us by now?”
“I don’t care, Frank’s not here and somebody sent us those coordinates. Somebody wanted us here. So let’s just go”. They headed for the stairs, footsteps clanging out a cacophony as Dean flew down them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Bobby disappeared Sam quickly figured out what had happened. He just hoped the sudden appearance of Bobby by his side wouldn’t scare Dean too badly. Sam looked back and gave a small smile to Castiel. He had been terribly quiet since the gas station. Perhaps that was good news… perhaps it meant Lucifer was leaving him alone.
Castiel just gave a cold hard stare in return. Sam hadn’t expected a beaming grin, but there was something deeply wrong… “Hey Cas? You okay?” No reply of course, but as Sam looked into Castiel’s eyes a strange feeling crept up his spine. Run. Flee. Danger. “Um… I’m just going to grab a few things from the trunk. I’ll only be a minute”.
A half smile graced Castiel’s cracked lips as Sam got out of the car.
Opening up the trunk Sam busied himself with the weapons, pocketing some holy water and running his hands over the guns. Had he just run away from Cas? Had he fled like a coward from their friend? Or former friend… There was just something unsettling about him. Bobby’s words from earlier ran around Sam’s head… He was talking like Lucifer, there’s something really wrong with him… Talking like Lucifer. That was it. Sam felt like he had been staring into the eyes of the devil. He shook his head and banged his hand hard against the car. Lucifer was Castiel’s hallucination. He wasn’t there, he wasn’t real. Lucifer was safely locked up in the cage.
Then the car dipped alarmingly before him. Sam slammed the trunk shut after grabbing a shotgun and he stepped back. There stood Castiel on the roof, a baleful glare on his face, and wings stretched wide against the sky. Black feathers merged into the black of night. He was far from the broken trammelled creature they had liberated from the hospital. Castiel stood before Sam like Gabriel stood before the shepherds. But he did not bring good news, he felt dangerous. Castiel was glorious in his own terrible way, an Angel of Destruction… an Angel of Death in a torn AC/DC t-shirt.
“Ca… Castiel?” Sam asked tentatively. He felt almost like he was sinning by merely speaking in the angel’s presence.
“You know me. I am not Castiel”. He spoke with Castiel’s voice, but Sam knew now, his worst fears had come to pass…
“Lucifer. You’re Lucifer”. The name was said with an air of inevitability and hopelessness.
“Long time no see Sammy. I hope you have been well in my absence” he cocked Castiel’s head on one side. It was so familiar and wrong. “I have had to commandeer Castiel for the time being, but don’t be jealous. We’ll be together again very soon”.
The angel flexed his wings as if trying them out. Sam noticed a few long dark feathers fall to the ground. Then Lucifer took a step forward, Sam didn’t hesitate, he raised the shotgun and squeezed the trigger. Lucifer didn’t even blink, he casually raised a hand and the shotgun was torn from Sam and flung to one side.
Lucifer launched himself into the air with a powerful beat of Castiel’s wings. The air battered Sam before he fell back; a heavy boot hit him square in the chest, pushing him down to the ground. Sam writhed beneath Lucifer’s foot, seeking a way out, but he was pinned. He quickly stilled when Lucifer bent down, crouching to bring his face inches from Sam’s.
“You cannot escape me Sam. We are too bound to each other by now. After all that time in hell you thought you could leave untouched? I gave a part of myself to you Sam. I buried it deep in your soul and you gave it away to Castiel. Don’t worry, I’m not hurt, I’m not offended. In fact this is a fortuitous turn of events. Castiel’s grace will make opening the cage much easier, and once I am truly free we can walk the earth together again”.
Lucifer hooded his wings around Sam like a hawk protecting its prey. More feathers fell, one landing across Sam’s face. Slowly Lucifer brushed it away. “Our time together here was so short before. This time we will have a long and glorious reign on earth. We will make it beautiful again… once the screams of humanity have died away”. He gripped Sam’s jaw painfully hard. “I’ve missed you Sam”.
And with a rush of wings they were gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Something ain’t right here Dean. If this is the leviathans where are they? They’re not exactly the shy type…” Bobby followed close behind Dean as he ran for the door.
“Who else is going to fake coordinates from Frank to get us out here?”
“Who ain’t might be a better question. You’re not well liked by most of the supernatural things out there. Could be demons, angels… now angels have the juice and the smarts for this sort of thing. They’ve faked calls before haven’t they?”
“Yeah but we haven’t had trouble with them in a while. What would angels wan… Cas. If it’s angels they must be after Cas. Shit”. Dean moved faster to the door.
Pushing his way through the door out into the night Dean came to a standstill. “Cas? What the fuck?” He was confronted by the sight of Castiel standing on top of their car, his wings out and spread wide in a threatening fashion.
Without warning the angel flapped his great wings and took to the air. He flew straight at Sam, flaring his wings to slow, and swinging his leg forward to strike Sam in the chest. They both went down to the ground. Dean started running forward again; he couldn’t see anything beyond the wall of black feathers.
“Sam! Cas!” Just as Dean reached them they disappeared. With a yell of frustration he kicked at the thin air they left behind. “Where the hell have they gone?!”
“I tried telling you there was something wrong with Cas! Looks like Lucifer’s in the driving seat again… We’ll get them back Dean”. Bobby put a reassuring hand on Dean’s shoulder, quietly praying that they would get them back in one piece.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucifer stood in the middle of Stull Cemetery with Sam’s unconscious body at his feet. Knowing a Winchester had been hurt seemed to give Castiel the impetus to push back against Lucifer.
“Leave them be”. Castiel might as well have been pushing against an avalanche.
“I need Sam. I need a vessel once I’m free… And is that all you care for Castiel? The world can burn as long as the Winchesters remain unscathed? How little you’ve changed. You can stop protecting them now. They don’t need your protection and you are not fit to give it. You nearly killed them; you nearly set the world alight. What? Had you forgotten so soon? They need protecting from you Castiel. We all do”. The devil smiled, feeling a wave of guilt and grief wash away Castiel’s spark of defiance.
Lucifer raised his hands, and the earth seemed to shudder as he continued. “You are a monster Castiel, and I have come to put you where you belong, in a cage”.
Chapter 5 - Each Scar I'll Keep for Him
Previous Chapter
(Note: When I first heard "The Noose" I thought the song fit Castiel perfectly. I have no vidding skills whatsoever so I made a request and limabetaed took up the challenge. The resulting vid turned out better than I could have ever imagined, it breaks my heart every time I watch it.)
A Prison Gets to be a Friend
As this Phantasm Steel-
Whose features-Day and Night-
Are present to us-as Our Own-
And as escapeless-quite-
Click to viewCastiel struggled at first. He felt his own grace burning him with Lucifer’s taint, but despite the pain he tore at it. Furiously Castiel ripped into the alien barbs, but they wouldn’t break away, and then under the weight of Lucifer’s words and his own guilt he ceased resisting.
Softer guitars played out over the radio as they drove through the night. Sam was fast asleep and Dean’s eyes were fixed intently on the road. Castiel watched his eyes in the mirror, he could only watch now. Lucifer was wrapped tightly around his core, learning, feeling, flexing his wings… but Castiel was too wrapped up in his own guilt now. The slightly crackly voice over the radio seemed to taunt him.
So glad to see you well, overcome and completely silent now
Outside the hospital Dean had seemed pleased to see him, said he had come back to fix it… Dean had just begged him to heal. But he would not forgive.
With heaven's help you cast your demons out
Castiel rationalised his actions, he thought he had saved the world from Raphael. Then he went about trying to fix it, trying to make thing as they should be… smite the sinners, reward the righteous.
And not to pull your halo down around your neck and tug you off your cloud…
Where did it all go so wrong? How did his good intentions lead to blood in the streets and the ashes of angel wings across the grass? In truth he couldn’t entirely blame the leviathans… he started to walk a dark path before the leviathans. Eleanor, Sam, Balthazar…
But I'm more than just a little curious how you're planning to go about making your amends…
He wanted to redeem himself. To the world, to Dean… but what could he do? How could he make things right? How could he pay penance for the blood on his hands?
To the dead
Eleanor, Sam, Balthazar… the nameless hundreds and thousands. There was so much blood. Too much blood.
Recall the deeds as if they're all someone else's atrocious stories
When he remembered, when Emmanuel ceased to be and Castiel returned, there was a moment when he was neither one nor the other. He was watching somebody else do those terrible things. Then they were suddenly his actions. He felt sickened, the weight of it crushing him, he wanted to run, to die… But Dean came after him.
Now you stand reborn before us all, so glad to see you well
Dean gave Castiel his trenchcoat, said he did the best he could at the time. But before… Dean’s defiance, his hostility, the breaking of trust between them. That was more real. The truth of the matter was that Sam was dying and Dean needed Castiel to heal his brother. Dean would have said anything to make him stay. That moment was a lie, the moment Dean led him to believe fixing things was possible.
And not to pull your halo down around your neck and tug you to the ground…
Dean wouldn’t forgive him. After all the torture and all the slaughter how could he?
But I'm more than just a little curious how you're planning to go about making your amends…
Sorry was an inadequate word and Castiel could spend an eternity doing deeds to earn redemption... but it wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough. He couldn’t make amends to the world for its suffering. He couldn’t rebuild the trust he had with Dean.
To the dead
Trust sat like a fragile bird in the palm of his hand and Castiel had crushed it. Bodies of the dead were piled high at his feet, friends and foes alike. Castiel was unforgiveable.
With your halo slipping down to choke you now
And so with the knowledge that redemption was out of reach and Dean’s forgiveness was nothing more than a pale illusion, Castiel welcomed the burn of Lucifer’s shards. He deserved torment. The fight left Castiel as the devil’s suffocating presence took over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean had been glaring at the road ahead with frustration. He hated this. Why couldn’t things be simple? When Castiel had been stabbed and was lying on the floor bleeding out his heart rebelled at the idea of the angel dying. He didn’t want Castiel to die, he wanted him here. But Dean couldn’t look at him for long without seeing the image of his angel stood before them spattered in other people’s blood… innocent’s blood.
The conflicted feelings were driving him mad. He wanted Castiel… he couldn’t stand Castiel. What did he really want? Dean thought and sadly answered that he wanted Castiel as he was before. Before the slaughter, before the madness. He wanted Castiel strong and virtuous once again. He wanted to undo all the bad that had happened between them. But it couldn’t be undone. They had to make do with what they had. Currently that was a broken angel determined to make amends by any means possible, including his own death.
Dean had meant what he said. Castiel couldn’t earn redemption with a heroic moment of self sacrifice. His penance was not a short sprint and a quick end; it was going to be a marathon, one that started with taking on Sam’s hell trauma. Where the finish line was, who knew? But he was sure they would eventually reach it. In the meantime every “I’m sorry” from Castiel’s lips felt like nails on a chalkboard to Dean. Two words couldn’t fix what Castiel had done; they couldn’t make up for hurting Sam.
Glancing at Castiel in the rear view mirror gave Dean a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. The angel was staring straight back at him. That in itself was nothing unusual, Castiel did a lot of staring, but something felt wrong… Then Dean’s phone buzzed in his pocket with a text message. Coordinates from Frank. Finally they were getting somewhere and Dean had something to take his mind off his battling thoughts. After consulting a map the coordinates seemed to point to an old plant of some sort a couple of miles away. Dean put his foot down and tried to shake the sensation of his skin crawling. The angel’s eyes were on him still.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they were nearing the plant Bobby suddenly materialised in the back of the car. It swerved wildly as Dean startled and shouted a stream of expletives. Sam shot up from his seat and Castiel merely turned to look at Bobby with narrowed eyes.
“Glad to see you boys made it out of there in one piece”. Bobby said in far too casual a manner. Dean still looked like… well, like he’d seen a ghost.
Sam turned in his seat to lay his eyes on Bobby. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I am now. Just took a while to recharge. Felt like I bench pressed a truck back there”.
“Bobby, what the hell was that?!” Dean had found his voice, and it was an angry one.
“Demons attacked and I held them off. What are they going to do? Kill me again?” Bobby’s hackles were starting to rise.
“No but if you lose it you’ll end up being the one doing the killing!”
“I was protecting Sam, I thought you of all people would understand that boy. Would you rather I sit back and let him get pummelled?”
“Of course not, but you can’t keep doing this Bobby. It’s a slippery slope and I won’t let you go down it. So help me, I’ll stash the flask in a lockup somewhere if I have to”.
“You do that and you will have a vengeful spirit on your hands. Anyway, what’s done is done, where are we at now?” Bobby was tiring of butting heads with Dean and had noticed they were pulling off the main road.
With Dean quietly fuming at the wheel Sam stepped in to answer. “Frank sent us these coordinates to meet up at. Think this is the kind of place where he’d hole up?”
A disused plant loomed in the distance. It was a collection of buildings and chimneys gone to wrack and ruin. Bobby considered it and shrugged. “Well it’s a bit grand for Frank if you ask me. He likes his nooks and crannies, but who knows. He’s not exactly the most predictable of men”.
Dust flew around the car as it pulled up and came to a halt. The cooling engine gave out comforting ticks as they sat looking up at the nearest concrete structure. There was something imposing and unsettling about the place. It looked like typical horror film fare. Shadows stretched out concealing everything terrible a vivid imagination could come up with. Unfortunately experience had taught them imagination often wasn’t needed. The creatures they knew about could leap from the shadows and eviscerate you before you got a good look at them. But here they expected nothing, the shadows were just shadows. Unless Frank was lurking in one… and they wouldn’t put it past him to do just that.
“Ok, I’ll do a quick sweep. Sam you stop here” Babysit Bobby and Cas was left unsaid. Dean pulled out and checked his gun with a metallic click. “I’ll check in with you in ten, or when I find him”.
Dean slammed the car door shut and stalked off towards the first building. He looked small against its large concrete front. The huge folding doors were a faded, flaking red and half hanging away from the building. At least Dean would have no trouble getting in. Bobby half expected him to come out and say he’d found a drugs den or something. It looked the sort of place perfect for illicit activities to carry on.
Watching Dean disappear inside the building Bobby became distracted by a strange pulling feeling. It had started out faint and barely there but was getting stronger and stronger by the minute. Suddenly he realised where he’d felt it before. “Sam, where’s the-”
“-flask?” The faux-leather surroundings of their old, beat up car melted away and Bobby found himself face to face with Dean on a metal staircase. Dean’s gun flew up to point between Bobby’s eyes and he staggered back a couple of steps. His feet sent a loud metal clanging echoing around the building.
“Fuck! Bobby!” Dean lowered the gun and put a hand to his chest “How many times?!”
“You’ve got my flask in your pocket idjit! I couldn’t help it; I was snapped back here like an elastic band”.
Dean’s hand wandered to his pocket. Sheepishly he pulled out Bobby’s flask, its surface seemed dull in the half light. “Sorry… swore I left it with Sam back there”.
“Yeah well you didn’t, and now I’m here I might as well help you scout the place. Don’t worry, if anyone attacks I’ll go hide under a table like a good boy”. Bobby rolled his eyes and set off.
The stairs led to an office room. Desks and filing cabinets thick in dust surrounded them. Bobby wandered over to a calendar pinned on the wall. Most of it had faded, but he could just make out it had been left on August. A birthday cake had been drawn on one of the days. Faded like everything else, the colours were long gone.
Dean picked up a photo frame and wiped the dust off to reveal a lady with two smiling kids. Some office Joe’s reason to get through the day… Bobby idly wondered if the birthday had been a happy one, what with this place looking as if it had gone under. Dean placed the photo back on the desk, standing it up this time, and wiped his hands off on his jeans. “Well I don’t think we’re going to find Frank in here. Let’s get back downstairs”.
As they moved off a tinny version of Smoke on the Water rang out from Dean’s phone. He picked up to hear Frank’s impatient voice “Where the hell are you guys?!”
“What do you mean ‘where the hell are we’? Where the hell are you?” Dean yelled back.
Frank ploughed on “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting? I’m not your girlfriend, I’m not waiting around to be stood up Dean. You get your asses over here right now. I shouldn’t even be calling you, they’ve probably traced this already. I need to go!”
“Woah woah Frank, we’re here, we just can’t find you. You’ve set yourself up in one hell of a maze dude. Which building are you in?”
“Which building? I’m in a caravan in the middle of these woods like I told you in the first place…”
“No… no Frank, you sent us some coordinates not an hour ago. Said you’d moved and set up here. We’re at an abandoned plant”. A hint of desperation had crept into Dean’s voice.
“Well I didn’t send them. Looks like you’ve been played. The levis have set a nice trap for you and you’ve walked straight into it. Get out of there! And if you don’t make it, it’s been real nice knowing you Dean”.
“Frank? Frank!” It was no use, he’d hung up. Dean shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Shit! We need to go. Now.”
“Yeah, I heard. I knew this place was too grand for Frank… but if this is a trap, they’re being awful quiet about it. Why haven’t they jumped us by now?”
“I don’t care, Frank’s not here and somebody sent us those coordinates. Somebody wanted us here. So let’s just go”. They headed for the stairs, footsteps clanging out a cacophony as Dean flew down them.
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When Bobby disappeared Sam quickly figured out what had happened. He just hoped the sudden appearance of Bobby by his side wouldn’t scare Dean too badly. Sam looked back and gave a small smile to Castiel. He had been terribly quiet since the gas station. Perhaps that was good news… perhaps it meant Lucifer was leaving him alone.
Castiel just gave a cold hard stare in return. Sam hadn’t expected a beaming grin, but there was something deeply wrong… “Hey Cas? You okay?” No reply of course, but as Sam looked into Castiel’s eyes a strange feeling crept up his spine. Run. Flee. Danger. “Um… I’m just going to grab a few things from the trunk. I’ll only be a minute”.
A half smile graced Castiel’s cracked lips as Sam got out of the car.
Opening up the trunk Sam busied himself with the weapons, pocketing some holy water and running his hands over the guns. Had he just run away from Cas? Had he fled like a coward from their friend? Or former friend… There was just something unsettling about him. Bobby’s words from earlier ran around Sam’s head… He was talking like Lucifer, there’s something really wrong with him… Talking like Lucifer. That was it. Sam felt like he had been staring into the eyes of the devil. He shook his head and banged his hand hard against the car. Lucifer was Castiel’s hallucination. He wasn’t there, he wasn’t real. Lucifer was safely locked up in the cage.
Then the car dipped alarmingly before him. Sam slammed the trunk shut after grabbing a shotgun and he stepped back. There stood Castiel on the roof, a baleful glare on his face, and wings stretched wide against the sky. Black feathers merged into the black of night. He was far from the broken trammelled creature they had liberated from the hospital. Castiel stood before Sam like Gabriel stood before the shepherds. But he did not bring good news, he felt dangerous. Castiel was glorious in his own terrible way, an Angel of Destruction… an Angel of Death in a torn AC/DC t-shirt.
“Ca… Castiel?” Sam asked tentatively. He felt almost like he was sinning by merely speaking in the angel’s presence.
“You know me. I am not Castiel”. He spoke with Castiel’s voice, but Sam knew now, his worst fears had come to pass…
“Lucifer. You’re Lucifer”. The name was said with an air of inevitability and hopelessness.
“Long time no see Sammy. I hope you have been well in my absence” he cocked Castiel’s head on one side. It was so familiar and wrong. “I have had to commandeer Castiel for the time being, but don’t be jealous. We’ll be together again very soon”.
The angel flexed his wings as if trying them out. Sam noticed a few long dark feathers fall to the ground. Then Lucifer took a step forward, Sam didn’t hesitate, he raised the shotgun and squeezed the trigger. Lucifer didn’t even blink, he casually raised a hand and the shotgun was torn from Sam and flung to one side.
Lucifer launched himself into the air with a powerful beat of Castiel’s wings. The air battered Sam before he fell back; a heavy boot hit him square in the chest, pushing him down to the ground. Sam writhed beneath Lucifer’s foot, seeking a way out, but he was pinned. He quickly stilled when Lucifer bent down, crouching to bring his face inches from Sam’s.
“You cannot escape me Sam. We are too bound to each other by now. After all that time in hell you thought you could leave untouched? I gave a part of myself to you Sam. I buried it deep in your soul and you gave it away to Castiel. Don’t worry, I’m not hurt, I’m not offended. In fact this is a fortuitous turn of events. Castiel’s grace will make opening the cage much easier, and once I am truly free we can walk the earth together again”.
Lucifer hooded his wings around Sam like a hawk protecting its prey. More feathers fell, one landing across Sam’s face. Slowly Lucifer brushed it away. “Our time together here was so short before. This time we will have a long and glorious reign on earth. We will make it beautiful again… once the screams of humanity have died away”. He gripped Sam’s jaw painfully hard. “I’ve missed you Sam”.
And with a rush of wings they were gone.
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“Something ain’t right here Dean. If this is the leviathans where are they? They’re not exactly the shy type…” Bobby followed close behind Dean as he ran for the door.
“Who else is going to fake coordinates from Frank to get us out here?”
“Who ain’t might be a better question. You’re not well liked by most of the supernatural things out there. Could be demons, angels… now angels have the juice and the smarts for this sort of thing. They’ve faked calls before haven’t they?”
“Yeah but we haven’t had trouble with them in a while. What would angels wan… Cas. If it’s angels they must be after Cas. Shit”. Dean moved faster to the door.
Pushing his way through the door out into the night Dean came to a standstill. “Cas? What the fuck?” He was confronted by the sight of Castiel standing on top of their car, his wings out and spread wide in a threatening fashion.
Without warning the angel flapped his great wings and took to the air. He flew straight at Sam, flaring his wings to slow, and swinging his leg forward to strike Sam in the chest. They both went down to the ground. Dean started running forward again; he couldn’t see anything beyond the wall of black feathers.
“Sam! Cas!” Just as Dean reached them they disappeared. With a yell of frustration he kicked at the thin air they left behind. “Where the hell have they gone?!”
“I tried telling you there was something wrong with Cas! Looks like Lucifer’s in the driving seat again… We’ll get them back Dean”. Bobby put a reassuring hand on Dean’s shoulder, quietly praying that they would get them back in one piece.
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Lucifer stood in the middle of Stull Cemetery with Sam’s unconscious body at his feet. Knowing a Winchester had been hurt seemed to give Castiel the impetus to push back against Lucifer.
“Leave them be”. Castiel might as well have been pushing against an avalanche.
“I need Sam. I need a vessel once I’m free… And is that all you care for Castiel? The world can burn as long as the Winchesters remain unscathed? How little you’ve changed. You can stop protecting them now. They don’t need your protection and you are not fit to give it. You nearly killed them; you nearly set the world alight. What? Had you forgotten so soon? They need protecting from you Castiel. We all do”. The devil smiled, feeling a wave of guilt and grief wash away Castiel’s spark of defiance.
Lucifer raised his hands, and the earth seemed to shudder as he continued. “You are a monster Castiel, and I have come to put you where you belong, in a cage”.
Chapter 5 - Each Scar I'll Keep for Him