[MW] Diogenes quote
[Set in relation to THIS. Because apparently just playing the crack isn’t enough.]
“Most men are within a finger’s breadth of being mad.”
One would think that for someone who didn’t sleep, having to wake up would be the most jarring part of the situation, but for Dean it wasn’t. Being asleep wasn’t something that was foreign to him, not from his time as a human, and sometimes the quiet of the motel room and the feel of Alec pressed next to him was enough to lull him back into a half-sleep on occasion. He was still alert, still focused on making sure that no one hurt his family, but he did drift off slightly, just a little. This particular instance was different, the sleep had been deeper, made him less aware, but that wasn’t the part that bothered him.
What bothered him was that Alec was gone.
If he had moved, Dean would have woken up, he usually did, and Dean would still be able to sense him in the room. Even if he’d gone out, Dean would know where he was. Being an angel had it’s benefits and keeping track his kid was one of them. But when he couldn’t find Alec anywhere close, it was panic. Manticore, demon, angel-it could have been anything, and that did not put him at ease. When he opened his eyes and actually looked around, Sam was asleep in the bed next to him, but there wasn’t any sign of Alec’s things anywhere in the room. And then he really started to panic.
After seeing the salt lines and other wards were firmly in place, Dean opened his mind further, searching every voice on the planet until he had locked on to the one he wanted, and when he did, it wasn’t-right. Without a second thought, he was in Wyoming, watching from just outside the fences as a group of children went through the rigors of PT. But they were too young. It didn’t take him long to pick 494 out of the crowd, all of nine years-old and stuck in that world, and that was when Dean knew something was very, very wrong. And he was about to head upstairs to try and sort this out when he felt a sharp spike of fear from Sam and in the blink of an eye, he was back in the motel room again, staring down Zachariah as he held his brother psychically to the wall, two other angels flunking his sides. One of them was Raphael, and the minute Dean set down in the room, a bolt of lightning slipped from his fingers, igniting something on the floor and flames jumped up around him, a slow circle forming to hold him in place.
“You son of a bitch,” he growled, his voice low and deadly, much more archangel than the human Dean used to be. “Release me. Now. You have no right to hold me here.”
“Oh, don’t we?” Zachariah said with a slow smirk. “We brought you here for your help, brother.”
“You are no brothers of mine.”
“Dean? What’s going on?” Sam seemed very confused and very concerned, and while Dean knew that his brother wasn’t stupid and was probably slowly putting two and two together, Sam probably wouldn’t have anticipated this one.
“He’s not your brother, Sam,” Zachariah said smugly. “Not anymore. Why don’t you tell him, Michael?”
“Michael?” Sam’s eyes widened in hurt and fear. “He said yes?”
All the angels watched him for a moment, and Dean just closed his eyes, chuckling lightly under his breath as he shook his head. “You shouldn’t play with parallel worlds, Zachariah. That leaves you dealing with forces you couldn’t even begin to understand.”
“So, you’re denying it then? You’re not Michael?”
“No, I am.” A slow smile climbed up the side of Dean’s face, as he met Zachariah’s with cold eyes. “But, you see, in my world, different choices were made. In my world, Michael was ganged up on by his brothers, they forcibly cut out his grace, and then they tossed him out of Heaven like a piece of garbage. He fell, became human, and later-much later-he managed to find his grace and become an angel again. But that was nearly forty years after the fact and his so-called ‘family’ tried to end the world regardless.”
As he spoke, he watched the color drain from Zachariah and Raphael’s faces, before Raphael spoke up slowly. “Dean wasn’t a vessel for you in your world. He was you.”
“Ding ding ding,” Dean replied dryly. “Give the man a prize. And get me out of here, now, and put me back where I belong, or by Heaven’s hand I swear I will kill every last one of you. And believe you me, if any harm comes to my family because of this, I will do much worse than just kill you. I will find the nearest Hellmouth and make sure to toss both of you right inside. See how well you like what you condemned your brother to.”
Zachariah held up his hands, almost as though he was attempting to placate the other angel. “Michael, understand that we aren’t the angels who harmed you. In our world, we never laid a hand on our Michael.”
“No, of course not. You’ve only kidnapped me from another dimension, and placed me here to clean up your mess that I’m not even a part of. And why? I’m guessing it’s because your Dean won’t agree to be a vessel. Because he happens to know a conniving snake when he sees one.” There was a pause where Zachariah’s face flickered, only slightly, and Dean knew without even a second thought that he was right. “I thought so. And I won’t be helping you. So put me back.”
“You might want to think things over a bit, brother,” Raphael began, speaking up for the first time with conviction since Dean had arrived. “Because while you may not care what happens to us? If you do not take care of Lucifer, and leave it to this world, it will be either Dean who says yes, or Sam. And we all know what happens if Sam does.”
Dean’s eyes darted to his brother’s behind the angels, and he stopped. It wasn’t his Sam, that much was true. But it was still Sam, and he still knew what was coming if Lucifer wasn’t taken care of. But he also knew that he shouldn’t interfere here. It wasn’t his world, and there was no reason why he should. But he also knew that he couldn’t go home without their assistance. Raphael clearly knew him better than to take his silence for acceptance, and just stepped forward, giving his brother a thin, but unpleasant smile.
“Give it some careful consideration, Michael. Then let us know of your decision.”
And with that they were gone, leaving both brothers in their wake, Dean still trapped in the flames surrounding him. Sam slid down off the wall, sitting down on the floor and looking up at his brother over the flames in front of him.
“What the hell is going on?”
Dean took a deep breath, licking his lips before actually speaking. “To be honest? I don’t even know where to start.”
1197 words
“Most men are within a finger’s breadth of being mad.”
One would think that for someone who didn’t sleep, having to wake up would be the most jarring part of the situation, but for Dean it wasn’t. Being asleep wasn’t something that was foreign to him, not from his time as a human, and sometimes the quiet of the motel room and the feel of Alec pressed next to him was enough to lull him back into a half-sleep on occasion. He was still alert, still focused on making sure that no one hurt his family, but he did drift off slightly, just a little. This particular instance was different, the sleep had been deeper, made him less aware, but that wasn’t the part that bothered him.
What bothered him was that Alec was gone.
If he had moved, Dean would have woken up, he usually did, and Dean would still be able to sense him in the room. Even if he’d gone out, Dean would know where he was. Being an angel had it’s benefits and keeping track his kid was one of them. But when he couldn’t find Alec anywhere close, it was panic. Manticore, demon, angel-it could have been anything, and that did not put him at ease. When he opened his eyes and actually looked around, Sam was asleep in the bed next to him, but there wasn’t any sign of Alec’s things anywhere in the room. And then he really started to panic.
After seeing the salt lines and other wards were firmly in place, Dean opened his mind further, searching every voice on the planet until he had locked on to the one he wanted, and when he did, it wasn’t-right. Without a second thought, he was in Wyoming, watching from just outside the fences as a group of children went through the rigors of PT. But they were too young. It didn’t take him long to pick 494 out of the crowd, all of nine years-old and stuck in that world, and that was when Dean knew something was very, very wrong. And he was about to head upstairs to try and sort this out when he felt a sharp spike of fear from Sam and in the blink of an eye, he was back in the motel room again, staring down Zachariah as he held his brother psychically to the wall, two other angels flunking his sides. One of them was Raphael, and the minute Dean set down in the room, a bolt of lightning slipped from his fingers, igniting something on the floor and flames jumped up around him, a slow circle forming to hold him in place.
“You son of a bitch,” he growled, his voice low and deadly, much more archangel than the human Dean used to be. “Release me. Now. You have no right to hold me here.”
“Oh, don’t we?” Zachariah said with a slow smirk. “We brought you here for your help, brother.”
“You are no brothers of mine.”
“Dean? What’s going on?” Sam seemed very confused and very concerned, and while Dean knew that his brother wasn’t stupid and was probably slowly putting two and two together, Sam probably wouldn’t have anticipated this one.
“He’s not your brother, Sam,” Zachariah said smugly. “Not anymore. Why don’t you tell him, Michael?”
“Michael?” Sam’s eyes widened in hurt and fear. “He said yes?”
All the angels watched him for a moment, and Dean just closed his eyes, chuckling lightly under his breath as he shook his head. “You shouldn’t play with parallel worlds, Zachariah. That leaves you dealing with forces you couldn’t even begin to understand.”
“So, you’re denying it then? You’re not Michael?”
“No, I am.” A slow smile climbed up the side of Dean’s face, as he met Zachariah’s with cold eyes. “But, you see, in my world, different choices were made. In my world, Michael was ganged up on by his brothers, they forcibly cut out his grace, and then they tossed him out of Heaven like a piece of garbage. He fell, became human, and later-much later-he managed to find his grace and become an angel again. But that was nearly forty years after the fact and his so-called ‘family’ tried to end the world regardless.”
As he spoke, he watched the color drain from Zachariah and Raphael’s faces, before Raphael spoke up slowly. “Dean wasn’t a vessel for you in your world. He was you.”
“Ding ding ding,” Dean replied dryly. “Give the man a prize. And get me out of here, now, and put me back where I belong, or by Heaven’s hand I swear I will kill every last one of you. And believe you me, if any harm comes to my family because of this, I will do much worse than just kill you. I will find the nearest Hellmouth and make sure to toss both of you right inside. See how well you like what you condemned your brother to.”
Zachariah held up his hands, almost as though he was attempting to placate the other angel. “Michael, understand that we aren’t the angels who harmed you. In our world, we never laid a hand on our Michael.”
“No, of course not. You’ve only kidnapped me from another dimension, and placed me here to clean up your mess that I’m not even a part of. And why? I’m guessing it’s because your Dean won’t agree to be a vessel. Because he happens to know a conniving snake when he sees one.” There was a pause where Zachariah’s face flickered, only slightly, and Dean knew without even a second thought that he was right. “I thought so. And I won’t be helping you. So put me back.”
“You might want to think things over a bit, brother,” Raphael began, speaking up for the first time with conviction since Dean had arrived. “Because while you may not care what happens to us? If you do not take care of Lucifer, and leave it to this world, it will be either Dean who says yes, or Sam. And we all know what happens if Sam does.”
Dean’s eyes darted to his brother’s behind the angels, and he stopped. It wasn’t his Sam, that much was true. But it was still Sam, and he still knew what was coming if Lucifer wasn’t taken care of. But he also knew that he shouldn’t interfere here. It wasn’t his world, and there was no reason why he should. But he also knew that he couldn’t go home without their assistance. Raphael clearly knew him better than to take his silence for acceptance, and just stepped forward, giving his brother a thin, but unpleasant smile.
“Give it some careful consideration, Michael. Then let us know of your decision.”
And with that they were gone, leaving both brothers in their wake, Dean still trapped in the flames surrounding him. Sam slid down off the wall, sitting down on the floor and looking up at his brother over the flames in front of him.
“What the hell is going on?”
Dean took a deep breath, licking his lips before actually speaking. “To be honest? I don’t even know where to start.”
1197 words