Dean/Cas Big Bang - I Do(not) Want to Set the World on Fire 8/10
Part 1: Worldly Acclaim (I've Lost All) | Part 2: I'm Dreaming of (the Goal) | Part 3: Admission (and with Your) | Part 4: Believe (me) | Part 5: Flame (Just Want to Start) | Part 6: Be the One (You Love) | Part 7: World (on Fire) |
If the others are wary of Loki after what happened with Anna, Dean doesn’t blame them. Learning an Angel can scream and, effectively, wipe out a base is not exactly something needed to boost one’s morale.
The only upside that Dean can see is that the Outcast and remainder of the Brotherhood, mostly Scribes and the Lyon’s Pride, along with some rookies or those out on patrol, are now back to one unit. On the downside, at least to Dean, most of the Regulators have been wiped out. He hasn’t heard from Hendriksen in a while, though a signal from the Washington Monument says that the area - between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington one - is generally clear of Super mutants up to the old house of Congress and a few other areas, which a Behemoth has allowed the bastard to hold. The Enclave has given up the Jefferson Memorial, but indications are that it was due to a sudden high-level of radiation, instead of anything of interest.
Dean is on edge, as is Cas, but to be fair that’s expected. The last Angel they ran into outside turned out to be a murderous bitch.
Loki still manages to corner him one day and, because Dean’s luck is about as bad as a walk through Old Olney in Deathclaw breeding season, is there when Dean is taking off his armor and showing off the mark that Cas left on him. So far, it’s the only wound he’s had, and Dean’s trying to keep it like that. The problem is getting the word out about Anna and the Enclave, both of whom seem gun-happy and bat-shit.
“Well, would you look at that,” Loki said with a smirk that makes Dean put on a shirt as quickly as he can, “I never thought I see one of those.”
“The hell are you talking about?”
Loki just sighs and shakes his head. “Please, Dean-o, we both know what I’m talking about.” He pointed to the now-hidden mark on Dean’s shoulder, “We’re also gonna have to talk about what that means.”
“Why?”
“Because last I checked, you didn’t have a pretty set of these,” Loki let the four sets of wings spread out. Unlike Anna’s overly bright white ones, or Cas’ black ones that Dean honestly thought were the best (which was complete bias on his part but still), Loki’s were…well, white-silver, but looked like different types of sunlight or water reflecting light.
“I’m failing to see the point here, Loki. You were all happy to see me when I was just some idiot looking for his dad and brother. Even happier when I fixed the signal.”
“You should’ve seen me when you got that Harvelle girl all the Nuka Cola Quantum. It’s always fun to see things like that. You know, the stupid, little things scientists did before we blew ourselves away.” Gabriel sighed and looked happy. “Fun times. And anyway, if you don’t talk to me, I might have to ‘talk’ to Castiel instead. See how that works out.”
“You touch him and I swear--.”
“Don’t, please, the swears have gotten only slightly more original in the last fifty years,” Loki interrupted, a small movement of his fingers having gotten Dean stuck in place and unable to speak, glaring at the shorter blond man. “Ah, better! I like you quiet, allows for a bit more of the sex appeal. So! As I was saying, things weren’t as…well, as apple-pie as people’d like to think, way back when. For one thing, while we had all these really fun toys and could manipulate almost anything, we also had the oh-so lovely problem of…well, unbalance. Too much tech, not enough faith, something like that. So Dad and a bunch of his friends got together to fix it, because they knew the bomb’s drop. They had faith - or, in Dad’s case, a healthy dose of psychic power that allowed him to notice shifts foretelling the start of something big. So he outfitted his sons to be the Angels of the world…Archangels, after messing with some genetics and finding the right type of science that would work well with spells. Even got himself a whole mess of people who were sensitive in all the right areas.” Loki walked up and leaned in to whisper, “Cassie doesn’t remember all this, ‘cause the side effects can be unpleasant. Tends to make you one thing and less another, so let’s just say it’s cute, him playing human and full of feelings he doesn’t have - we don’t really feel when we’re so fresh outta home, we just like sex and looking at people’s souls.” He stayed closer to Dean, almost intimately so, with Dean silently yelling at him and trying to follow with his eyes. He hated this, hated the reminder of one of the many torture that Alastair had used on him, keeping him immobile while cutting into him or--.
“You’ve got some spots in yours, Dean. Now, where was I? Oh yes, the three of us that flew the coop were…well, we’re not exactly your average anything. Dad let me keep all the memories, just to see how things worked out.” Loki pulled back, his eyes suddenly reflecting the age that Dean realized he really had. “You have any idea what that’s like, having three centuries of knowledge in you? Of course not. Anna doesn’t remember, but she can live like a Human, if she tosses her wings. I heard she did it once, then went and ripped them out of the soil. Killed off a nice little community when she did too. It’s a wonder she’s not worse off. Still, I know she told Cas what she thinks, and I’m guessing Metatron told her part of that.” Loki tapped lightly against Dean’s breastbone. “Your soul is a nice little mass of bad stuff. I don’t know how Cassie stands it, really. He should’ve taken the hint and stayed away. Of course, if you were dying like Dad said you’d be, then I can’t really fault him, can I?”
Dean doesn’t like where this is going, and Loki smirks at him. “See, Dad and the others knew about the Wasteland. They knew that there’d be a guy to come along and try to purify the water. ‘Cause they were able to hand over a girl to him, one that went on to be his wife and have his little brat, and then all of them died in a fire. Li takes up the work, and will ultimately send off little baby Adam to far-off Vault…where he’ll find and get a nice GECK. The Waters of Life flow, and Adam is martyred like the good kid he is, fulfilling that role for the Righteous One. After all, you were the first to figure out Adam was a Winchester, weren’t you?”
Dean is screaming, but he can’t say anything. Loki is silent a moment before saying, “My sister was right, though. In order to protect you, Cas is going to do a lot of things. Including kill his siblings. A third of Heaven’s host, killed because he’s so enamored by your tortured soul.” Loki smiles when Dean’s mind suddenly goes silent. “Yeah, we can see it. And yeah, I see the little spots of sin you put on my baby brother. Sammy, now his is…well,” Loki waved it off, “he’s off on his own little adventures, isn’t he? It’s also a bit nice to know the Plan is working so well, even with a few of us loose.” He looks Dean over again before saying, “The Righteous One will come, and signal the Fall of an Angel, the rise of the Waters of Life, and the beginning of the return. The return of Angels to hold domain and run things, the slow return of life to the Earth, so we can make sure this doesn’t happen again. That’s what Alastair and his Enclave was doing, that’s what your grandparents were planning. Marry the right people,” he once more tapped on Dean’s chest, “and you get a son with a soul perfect for corrupting Angels. Only problem is, you’re no good for anything besides maybe…well, one or two. Anymore and you’ll probably have no sleep.” Loki gave him a smirk and wink that didn’t leave anything to the imagination of what that entailed. “But Sammy-boy? Oh, Dean-o, your brother will charm the hiss off a snake…and if what Dad told me is true, and what I left home as any indication, he’s off digging himself into Lucifer’s Cage, ready to do just that.”
--
Gabriel has never taken pride in being the one who knows. He didn’t take any pride in it when he was just a messenger, just a kid and his blood turned out to be ‘special’. He didn’t take any pride in it when he became Gabriel and had to deal with Michael and Lucifer and…well, Dad. Gabriel might remember his life before he was an Angel, but Dad was always Dad, even when he wasn’t Gabe’s real father, just the very religious scientist running the foster home that housed Gabriel back in his human life, before the bombs.
Gabriel left because Dad had told him he would, when the time was right, and because Michael was a bag of dicks. Lucifer, too, come to think of it, and Raphael was the worse. He didn’t expect Anna to follow him or turn out like she did. He knows Metatron found some library or something and holed himself away, wanting to read as many books as he could. It’s a trait left over from his old life, just as Anna’s trait was her Joan of Arc complex.
Gabriel thinks it’s a complex, at least. He doesn’t really know and doesn’t feel like finding out. He does know he doesn’t want the world to change, not yet. He likes this rough little world. And yeah, so maybe he upped the radiation in the Jefferson Memorial, but hell, it’s not like he also didn’t make sure there weren’t a ton of problems for Adam to run into, before he gave up and headed back home. Kid was a lot of things, but good at surviving, he was not. If anything, it let Dean go find himself another pyre to toss himself on, preferably near Sam Winchester so that distraction would stop the digging.
What’s worse is how easy it was to slip into the mode he’d once had, that of the powerful Archangel showing off to the little human bug that came to play under his magnifying glass on a sunny day. It was too easy to twist the words into what he wanted, to put just enough lies into the truth that Dean wouldn’t know the difference, and to walk out, not even waiting to hear whatever the resulting fallout of pushing someone that far would be. And it’s not like Gabriel had to stretch the truth that far - Dean’s soul wasn’t going to do much besides given an overpowered Michael more power, or corrupt an Angel or two before it gave out.
It’s been perhaps twenty minutes and still no…well, anything…from Dean or Cassie, which is getting Gabriel a little worried. He’d pushed Dean until he was pretty far into depression, and twisted the knife to send him running towards Sam. Gabriel is pretty sure Dean will do what he’s not supposed to do, and that’ll end the Righteous One crap for a bit. And it gives Gabriel time to go and make sure Cas isn’t going to do something stupid, like go after Dean, so Gabe can work on making sure his new brother is comfy and not about to continue to try and get himself killed. It’s really win-win.
Gabriel doesn’t quite count on Three Dog coming up to him and saying, “If I didn’t already know this would break my hand, I’d bitch-slap you so hard it’d make your head spin.”
“Not that I’m complaining about the non-attack, but what are you talking about?”
“I’m talkin’ about your ‘talk’ with Dean. What the hell did you say to him?”
Fuck. Gabriel had gotten himself attached to Three Dog because of reasons (that Gabriel hates discussing) and he liked his work at a DJ. He liked it better when Three Dog let him out to get news or smite a camp of baddies that would give the Brotherhood trouble. So he’s a bit pissed at himself for leaving Dean there without telling him to get lost before he hurt someone. That might’ve made things go more smoothly.
“Look, try and--.”
“Don’t you give me that bullshit either,” Three Dog growled out. Yeah, Gabriel also forgot that Three Dog was one of the ‘special’ people. It was how they got their mutual agreement in the first place. “What’s the deal with you and that bitch sister of yours?”
“Firstly, my intentions are to make sure the damned prophecy that my dickless Dad left behind doesn’t play out, so cut me some fucking slack, and secondly, you don’t get to insult my sister. I can, but you can’t.”
“I can because she took out the Citadel and told some of the survivors that the Enclave group Alastair lead are really a bunch of guys who were bred specifically so they could do psychic shit.” Ok, he had a point, but-“I also can tell you that your intentions were nothing of the fucking sort because you never gave two-shits about that prophecy until after Anna left that earworm in the Brotherhood that Dean’d been used to get to his brother, and the Enclave was about to pull out their big super-weapon. Or the fact that Dean and his family are, at least when they were born, genetically from that breeding program your dad and his friends were pulling.”
“You consider that she was going to tell them anyway?” Gabriel shot back, angry now. Not ‘destroy the electrical equipment’ angry, but angry all the same. “That by her doing that, she set the whole damn thing in motion? You don’t think Rivet City isn’t getting ready to start up the Project Purity just so they have good water for people, since they’re closest to the Jefferson Memorial and know the Enclave retreated? Or that the Enclave knows and is getting all its shit together? And it’s not just the Enclave either. She wouldn’t have done what she needed to if a few of the Brotherhood weren’t ‘special’ either. We got damned lucky that Dean’s a bag of crazy that can be directed to take a long walk off a short pier into mirelurk territory.”
“This ain’t got anything to do with springing your brother?”
Gabriel hates share-time. “No, it doesn’t. If Lucifer gets out, then Michael will get out and start up the fighting. I’d rather that didn’t happen. In fact, I’d so rather that didn’t happen that, that at least I let Dean off light. I could’ve shown him what a semi-powerful Archangel could do to Cassie, but I didn’t. I let him run off and find Sammy, and hopefully that’ll fix everything.”
“And you don’t care that you’re sending Dean off to die.”
Another downside to being over three hundred, and one that the ghouls had discovered a bit ago, was that you tend to start not giving a shit about lives. Human life was, even now, easy to make. Dean being the way he was tended not to impress Gabriel that much. Dean wasn’t the only Righteous One that Alastair could’ve gone for, he was just the most convenient and the one that John Winchester had happened to cultivate. Winchesters were known for their sacrificing attitudes, as long as there was some ‘greater good’ out there. Dean…well, he nearly died to protect Project Purity, and the slightly less dickish part of the Enclave, despite knowing he’d probably be unremembered and hated by his Dad. Then he’d corrupted an Angel, which Gabriel wasn’t about to get behind, even if it meant getting a stick out of the ass of one of his siblings. So while Dean might’ve been a good guy back before Alastair got him, right now he was so close to shattering it was frankly stupid to just leave him hanging like that. It was like shooting a dog and then watching it limp around and bleed to death.
Plus there was Cassie to think about. Yeah, Dean was Marked, but so far Gabriel hadn’t seen anything to prove they knew how to use it. If one of them had been a girl, Gabe might have not been so hard on them. Well, not until after there was a kid or two for him to play with. Gabe would’ve taken care of the kids, he swears, but since Gabriel didn’t want to deal with all the problems of making Dean female and really fertile, might as well just ensure Castiel got to stay outside. Easier to nip it in the bud and throw Dean out.
“I really, really don’t.”
--
When they had looked up at the stars and spoken, Castiel had told Dean a few important things, one of which sent him nowhere near the church he’d once found refuge in. Dean was looking for Sam, trying to find him before something stupid happened, or just to see if Loki had been right.
The first thing was that Archangels are absolute and hardly ever lie. They were made to serve Castiel’s dad, and to hold true to the final Revelations given to them, and make the world ready.
The second was about his family, and Castiel’s wish to remain outside after an event that he couldn’t talk about, only talk around. All Dean knew was that it hurt the family, hurt Cas, and it was another reason for Dean to not go to that church again.
The last, and most important, was the location of Lucifer’s Cage.
--
Gabriel and Dean had disappeared within a few days of each other. Three Dog is angry at Gabriel for what happened, and Sarah Lyons is trying to rally the Brotherhood to her side. She sent Lisa and a few others to speak to the groups in the DC area, and she sent Gallows and another Brotherhood member to speak to the Outcasts, who have already sent someone to speak to her about rejoining.
Castiel is still near GNR, looking worried and paler than he had been. Ben and Jessie, a young boy that the Brotherhood found and who seems to have been experimented on by the Enclave, sat beside him. Though Castiel had originally not been happy to see Jessie, he’s slowly warmed to Jessie after seeing that he was a good friend for Ben. Right now, the only reason Castiel hadn’t gone after Dean was his fear of what Gabriel or Anna might do if he ran into either of them. Gabriel had managed to corner Dean, to speak to him in a way that caused the darkness and despair to overwhelm him far too quickly for Castiel to counter-act. It had spread to Castiel as well, leaving him ill and unable to reach out to Dean. By the time Dean left and Gabriel had gone to tell Castiel that he was better off without him, Castiel’s Grace had attempted to rebel against him, and the results had not been pleasant. When Gabriel left, Castiel worried that following him, or even going after Dean, would result in the Archangel killing him. Not knowing Anna’s whereabouts also made Castiel worry, especially with the aftereffects of the illness.
Castiel remembered a great deal now, including what Michael had done when they went out the second time. He remembered the cries of his kin when Michael killed them, what Naomi had done to keep order, and what she said before starting the re-education. He remembers that he’d been someone else, that he had a wife and child who were left behind, in another life, before the bombs. He remembers selling time on-air for companies through GNR, remembers that he once wore a suit and coat similar to the one he wears now.
And beyond that, he knows why his Garrison was created, and why there was a prophecy. Castiel knows now that Father was psychic, was able to see the future, and what he said was to explain this moment.
Now it was Dean’s distance that made Castiel ill, made him consider the dangers of traveling to find Dean and, hopefully, stop whatever it was that had been planned. He knew that it involved the souls that Sam and Dean had been bred and born to have, souls that allowed sensitivity to Angels and Angelic power. Souls that, when used by an Archangel, could be more deadly than the bombs from the War.
It was why Lucifer had been punished the way he was, why Michael didn’t seem to care about the others. With the Winchester’s souls, Michael would kill Lucifer and start a winter, start to blast away the radiation and, with it, all traces of the old world and this new one. Then, there would be Paradise for the Angels, for the sleeping Garrisons created by others like Father, created and bearing the names and understanding that Michael is the leader, that Raphael is second, and that the world was created for them and them alone.
Why create me? Why create a way to end your own plan, Father? Why let me join with the Righteous One, to be so connected that I suffer as he is pained, that I ache when he is not here?
The answer could be one of two - Father did this at the end of his life, realizing the danger of what they were doing and the evil nature of the Plan…or Father did it to ensure the Plan would not fail, that they would have someone to threaten Dean with, or to ensure that Dean could supply that power. If the Mark was any signal of the power Dean’s soul could have on accident, than one like Michael could easily manipulate it, use Dean’s soul like the bomb in Megaton when Dean first saw it. The potential is similar to that, Castiel seeing the memory as clearly as if he’d lived it - Simms asking to disable the bomb, Mr. Burke with a way to blow it up.
Castiel looked up as Sarah returned, looking exhausted. “Well, they don’t like it, but there’s no reason to abandon our strongholds. The Citadel will have a few people there to protect it, so we can keep things going.” She shifts a bit, looking concerned. “Anything? You can’t just…ok, I mean, I know that Anna’s a bitch and a murdering one, and whatever the hell was going on with Loki is just wrong, but…well…”
Castiel looks back down, swallowing and shivering as he feels the distance grow between himself and Dean. His body was beginning to feel the effects, wings trying to flap as well as fold around him. “I know where he’s going. I feel like, if I go, all that will happen is I’ll be used against him.” He needed to find Dean. Needed to ensure his safety, but at the same time, the depression made him know that doing such a thing would give them someone to use against him. “I don’t want that to happen. I can’t let that happen.”
Sarah let out a breath before saying, “You know, my Dad didn’t like it when I decided to join the Order of the Sword. Got worried about me, tried to pull favors, the works, even tried to get me into the Scribes for a bit. He was raising me on his own, after Mom died, and didn’t want to lose me like he’d lost her.” She shrugged. “I get a lot of Dean’s problems, a lot of what gets him sad is because of how his mom died.” Castiel knew this, and frowned as she shrugs again, “You being here doesn’t help him. He needs you. Just like, in the end, I needed to have the Pride, and to be someone different from who he was. I know his death got me in charge, but that’s only for now. I’m not good at that…give me my Pride and the Ruins any day over that.” She chuckles as the sun crept up in the sky, “The ones like Loki only know one way of doing things. You ever thought that, maybe, your best asset was the fact that you were made to be out here, and to deal with all the problems on the Wastes? Maybe, I mean…maybe since you were the one who first got him, maybe that means you’ll be the one to save him.”
I Saved him, Castiel thought, had said, had continued to say. It was never healed, or Marked, or anything but Saved. Maybe that was it…
“Thank you,” Castiel said, slowly standing, “I must go. Please…keep getting allies. Be ready, figure out what happened to the others, find a way to fight us.”
Sarah blinked, surprised. “You…why? What do you think will happen?”
“If my Father and the Archangels are right…then war. If what I think will happen, then there will still be a war of some sort, but it will not end as the Archangels want it. I can only hope it’s the second.”
With that, Castiel spread his wings, fear driven out of him, ready to fly towards Dean. He made it to the Temple of the Union, confusion on his face as he tried to find the cause.
Gabriel. He’s put restrictions, made it so he knows who is here. And he traveled all around, looking for news to tell Three Dog and the Wasteland. I have to be careful then, or else he will try to stop me.
Castiel paused again as a few of the men there looked at him, one wearing a Regulator uniform but also appearing wary, and not in the same way as those who followed Anna had. No, he had to do something else, and come to Dean with aid.
“Hey, man, what are you?” the man in the Regulator uniform asked. Castiel recognized him, from Dean’s memories, as Victor Hendriksen. A good man.
“I am an Angel,” Castiel tells him, “and one who is rebelling. I am going to try and cause others to rebel as well, and bring them here, to help. Dean Winchester is in danger, and there is a war brewing. Be ready, Victor Hendriksen. This will change the Wasteland forever.”
Castiel took off again, to Megaton, to speak to Simms and the others. From there, he could get near the House, and from that point, for good or ill, he could get to Dean.
Part 9: Pompeii (If You Close Your Eyes)
If the others are wary of Loki after what happened with Anna, Dean doesn’t blame them. Learning an Angel can scream and, effectively, wipe out a base is not exactly something needed to boost one’s morale.
The only upside that Dean can see is that the Outcast and remainder of the Brotherhood, mostly Scribes and the Lyon’s Pride, along with some rookies or those out on patrol, are now back to one unit. On the downside, at least to Dean, most of the Regulators have been wiped out. He hasn’t heard from Hendriksen in a while, though a signal from the Washington Monument says that the area - between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington one - is generally clear of Super mutants up to the old house of Congress and a few other areas, which a Behemoth has allowed the bastard to hold. The Enclave has given up the Jefferson Memorial, but indications are that it was due to a sudden high-level of radiation, instead of anything of interest.
Dean is on edge, as is Cas, but to be fair that’s expected. The last Angel they ran into outside turned out to be a murderous bitch.
Loki still manages to corner him one day and, because Dean’s luck is about as bad as a walk through Old Olney in Deathclaw breeding season, is there when Dean is taking off his armor and showing off the mark that Cas left on him. So far, it’s the only wound he’s had, and Dean’s trying to keep it like that. The problem is getting the word out about Anna and the Enclave, both of whom seem gun-happy and bat-shit.
“Well, would you look at that,” Loki said with a smirk that makes Dean put on a shirt as quickly as he can, “I never thought I see one of those.”
“The hell are you talking about?”
Loki just sighs and shakes his head. “Please, Dean-o, we both know what I’m talking about.” He pointed to the now-hidden mark on Dean’s shoulder, “We’re also gonna have to talk about what that means.”
“Why?”
“Because last I checked, you didn’t have a pretty set of these,” Loki let the four sets of wings spread out. Unlike Anna’s overly bright white ones, or Cas’ black ones that Dean honestly thought were the best (which was complete bias on his part but still), Loki’s were…well, white-silver, but looked like different types of sunlight or water reflecting light.
“I’m failing to see the point here, Loki. You were all happy to see me when I was just some idiot looking for his dad and brother. Even happier when I fixed the signal.”
“You should’ve seen me when you got that Harvelle girl all the Nuka Cola Quantum. It’s always fun to see things like that. You know, the stupid, little things scientists did before we blew ourselves away.” Gabriel sighed and looked happy. “Fun times. And anyway, if you don’t talk to me, I might have to ‘talk’ to Castiel instead. See how that works out.”
“You touch him and I swear--.”
“Don’t, please, the swears have gotten only slightly more original in the last fifty years,” Loki interrupted, a small movement of his fingers having gotten Dean stuck in place and unable to speak, glaring at the shorter blond man. “Ah, better! I like you quiet, allows for a bit more of the sex appeal. So! As I was saying, things weren’t as…well, as apple-pie as people’d like to think, way back when. For one thing, while we had all these really fun toys and could manipulate almost anything, we also had the oh-so lovely problem of…well, unbalance. Too much tech, not enough faith, something like that. So Dad and a bunch of his friends got together to fix it, because they knew the bomb’s drop. They had faith - or, in Dad’s case, a healthy dose of psychic power that allowed him to notice shifts foretelling the start of something big. So he outfitted his sons to be the Angels of the world…Archangels, after messing with some genetics and finding the right type of science that would work well with spells. Even got himself a whole mess of people who were sensitive in all the right areas.” Loki walked up and leaned in to whisper, “Cassie doesn’t remember all this, ‘cause the side effects can be unpleasant. Tends to make you one thing and less another, so let’s just say it’s cute, him playing human and full of feelings he doesn’t have - we don’t really feel when we’re so fresh outta home, we just like sex and looking at people’s souls.” He stayed closer to Dean, almost intimately so, with Dean silently yelling at him and trying to follow with his eyes. He hated this, hated the reminder of one of the many torture that Alastair had used on him, keeping him immobile while cutting into him or--.
“You’ve got some spots in yours, Dean. Now, where was I? Oh yes, the three of us that flew the coop were…well, we’re not exactly your average anything. Dad let me keep all the memories, just to see how things worked out.” Loki pulled back, his eyes suddenly reflecting the age that Dean realized he really had. “You have any idea what that’s like, having three centuries of knowledge in you? Of course not. Anna doesn’t remember, but she can live like a Human, if she tosses her wings. I heard she did it once, then went and ripped them out of the soil. Killed off a nice little community when she did too. It’s a wonder she’s not worse off. Still, I know she told Cas what she thinks, and I’m guessing Metatron told her part of that.” Loki tapped lightly against Dean’s breastbone. “Your soul is a nice little mass of bad stuff. I don’t know how Cassie stands it, really. He should’ve taken the hint and stayed away. Of course, if you were dying like Dad said you’d be, then I can’t really fault him, can I?”
Dean doesn’t like where this is going, and Loki smirks at him. “See, Dad and the others knew about the Wasteland. They knew that there’d be a guy to come along and try to purify the water. ‘Cause they were able to hand over a girl to him, one that went on to be his wife and have his little brat, and then all of them died in a fire. Li takes up the work, and will ultimately send off little baby Adam to far-off Vault…where he’ll find and get a nice GECK. The Waters of Life flow, and Adam is martyred like the good kid he is, fulfilling that role for the Righteous One. After all, you were the first to figure out Adam was a Winchester, weren’t you?”
Dean is screaming, but he can’t say anything. Loki is silent a moment before saying, “My sister was right, though. In order to protect you, Cas is going to do a lot of things. Including kill his siblings. A third of Heaven’s host, killed because he’s so enamored by your tortured soul.” Loki smiles when Dean’s mind suddenly goes silent. “Yeah, we can see it. And yeah, I see the little spots of sin you put on my baby brother. Sammy, now his is…well,” Loki waved it off, “he’s off on his own little adventures, isn’t he? It’s also a bit nice to know the Plan is working so well, even with a few of us loose.” He looks Dean over again before saying, “The Righteous One will come, and signal the Fall of an Angel, the rise of the Waters of Life, and the beginning of the return. The return of Angels to hold domain and run things, the slow return of life to the Earth, so we can make sure this doesn’t happen again. That’s what Alastair and his Enclave was doing, that’s what your grandparents were planning. Marry the right people,” he once more tapped on Dean’s chest, “and you get a son with a soul perfect for corrupting Angels. Only problem is, you’re no good for anything besides maybe…well, one or two. Anymore and you’ll probably have no sleep.” Loki gave him a smirk and wink that didn’t leave anything to the imagination of what that entailed. “But Sammy-boy? Oh, Dean-o, your brother will charm the hiss off a snake…and if what Dad told me is true, and what I left home as any indication, he’s off digging himself into Lucifer’s Cage, ready to do just that.”
--
Gabriel has never taken pride in being the one who knows. He didn’t take any pride in it when he was just a messenger, just a kid and his blood turned out to be ‘special’. He didn’t take any pride in it when he became Gabriel and had to deal with Michael and Lucifer and…well, Dad. Gabriel might remember his life before he was an Angel, but Dad was always Dad, even when he wasn’t Gabe’s real father, just the very religious scientist running the foster home that housed Gabriel back in his human life, before the bombs.
Gabriel left because Dad had told him he would, when the time was right, and because Michael was a bag of dicks. Lucifer, too, come to think of it, and Raphael was the worse. He didn’t expect Anna to follow him or turn out like she did. He knows Metatron found some library or something and holed himself away, wanting to read as many books as he could. It’s a trait left over from his old life, just as Anna’s trait was her Joan of Arc complex.
Gabriel thinks it’s a complex, at least. He doesn’t really know and doesn’t feel like finding out. He does know he doesn’t want the world to change, not yet. He likes this rough little world. And yeah, so maybe he upped the radiation in the Jefferson Memorial, but hell, it’s not like he also didn’t make sure there weren’t a ton of problems for Adam to run into, before he gave up and headed back home. Kid was a lot of things, but good at surviving, he was not. If anything, it let Dean go find himself another pyre to toss himself on, preferably near Sam Winchester so that distraction would stop the digging.
What’s worse is how easy it was to slip into the mode he’d once had, that of the powerful Archangel showing off to the little human bug that came to play under his magnifying glass on a sunny day. It was too easy to twist the words into what he wanted, to put just enough lies into the truth that Dean wouldn’t know the difference, and to walk out, not even waiting to hear whatever the resulting fallout of pushing someone that far would be. And it’s not like Gabriel had to stretch the truth that far - Dean’s soul wasn’t going to do much besides given an overpowered Michael more power, or corrupt an Angel or two before it gave out.
It’s been perhaps twenty minutes and still no…well, anything…from Dean or Cassie, which is getting Gabriel a little worried. He’d pushed Dean until he was pretty far into depression, and twisted the knife to send him running towards Sam. Gabriel is pretty sure Dean will do what he’s not supposed to do, and that’ll end the Righteous One crap for a bit. And it gives Gabriel time to go and make sure Cas isn’t going to do something stupid, like go after Dean, so Gabe can work on making sure his new brother is comfy and not about to continue to try and get himself killed. It’s really win-win.
Gabriel doesn’t quite count on Three Dog coming up to him and saying, “If I didn’t already know this would break my hand, I’d bitch-slap you so hard it’d make your head spin.”
“Not that I’m complaining about the non-attack, but what are you talking about?”
“I’m talkin’ about your ‘talk’ with Dean. What the hell did you say to him?”
Fuck. Gabriel had gotten himself attached to Three Dog because of reasons (that Gabriel hates discussing) and he liked his work at a DJ. He liked it better when Three Dog let him out to get news or smite a camp of baddies that would give the Brotherhood trouble. So he’s a bit pissed at himself for leaving Dean there without telling him to get lost before he hurt someone. That might’ve made things go more smoothly.
“Look, try and--.”
“Don’t you give me that bullshit either,” Three Dog growled out. Yeah, Gabriel also forgot that Three Dog was one of the ‘special’ people. It was how they got their mutual agreement in the first place. “What’s the deal with you and that bitch sister of yours?”
“Firstly, my intentions are to make sure the damned prophecy that my dickless Dad left behind doesn’t play out, so cut me some fucking slack, and secondly, you don’t get to insult my sister. I can, but you can’t.”
“I can because she took out the Citadel and told some of the survivors that the Enclave group Alastair lead are really a bunch of guys who were bred specifically so they could do psychic shit.” Ok, he had a point, but-“I also can tell you that your intentions were nothing of the fucking sort because you never gave two-shits about that prophecy until after Anna left that earworm in the Brotherhood that Dean’d been used to get to his brother, and the Enclave was about to pull out their big super-weapon. Or the fact that Dean and his family are, at least when they were born, genetically from that breeding program your dad and his friends were pulling.”
“You consider that she was going to tell them anyway?” Gabriel shot back, angry now. Not ‘destroy the electrical equipment’ angry, but angry all the same. “That by her doing that, she set the whole damn thing in motion? You don’t think Rivet City isn’t getting ready to start up the Project Purity just so they have good water for people, since they’re closest to the Jefferson Memorial and know the Enclave retreated? Or that the Enclave knows and is getting all its shit together? And it’s not just the Enclave either. She wouldn’t have done what she needed to if a few of the Brotherhood weren’t ‘special’ either. We got damned lucky that Dean’s a bag of crazy that can be directed to take a long walk off a short pier into mirelurk territory.”
“This ain’t got anything to do with springing your brother?”
Gabriel hates share-time. “No, it doesn’t. If Lucifer gets out, then Michael will get out and start up the fighting. I’d rather that didn’t happen. In fact, I’d so rather that didn’t happen that, that at least I let Dean off light. I could’ve shown him what a semi-powerful Archangel could do to Cassie, but I didn’t. I let him run off and find Sammy, and hopefully that’ll fix everything.”
“And you don’t care that you’re sending Dean off to die.”
Another downside to being over three hundred, and one that the ghouls had discovered a bit ago, was that you tend to start not giving a shit about lives. Human life was, even now, easy to make. Dean being the way he was tended not to impress Gabriel that much. Dean wasn’t the only Righteous One that Alastair could’ve gone for, he was just the most convenient and the one that John Winchester had happened to cultivate. Winchesters were known for their sacrificing attitudes, as long as there was some ‘greater good’ out there. Dean…well, he nearly died to protect Project Purity, and the slightly less dickish part of the Enclave, despite knowing he’d probably be unremembered and hated by his Dad. Then he’d corrupted an Angel, which Gabriel wasn’t about to get behind, even if it meant getting a stick out of the ass of one of his siblings. So while Dean might’ve been a good guy back before Alastair got him, right now he was so close to shattering it was frankly stupid to just leave him hanging like that. It was like shooting a dog and then watching it limp around and bleed to death.
Plus there was Cassie to think about. Yeah, Dean was Marked, but so far Gabriel hadn’t seen anything to prove they knew how to use it. If one of them had been a girl, Gabe might have not been so hard on them. Well, not until after there was a kid or two for him to play with. Gabe would’ve taken care of the kids, he swears, but since Gabriel didn’t want to deal with all the problems of making Dean female and really fertile, might as well just ensure Castiel got to stay outside. Easier to nip it in the bud and throw Dean out.
“I really, really don’t.”
--
When they had looked up at the stars and spoken, Castiel had told Dean a few important things, one of which sent him nowhere near the church he’d once found refuge in. Dean was looking for Sam, trying to find him before something stupid happened, or just to see if Loki had been right.
The first thing was that Archangels are absolute and hardly ever lie. They were made to serve Castiel’s dad, and to hold true to the final Revelations given to them, and make the world ready.
The second was about his family, and Castiel’s wish to remain outside after an event that he couldn’t talk about, only talk around. All Dean knew was that it hurt the family, hurt Cas, and it was another reason for Dean to not go to that church again.
The last, and most important, was the location of Lucifer’s Cage.
--
Gabriel and Dean had disappeared within a few days of each other. Three Dog is angry at Gabriel for what happened, and Sarah Lyons is trying to rally the Brotherhood to her side. She sent Lisa and a few others to speak to the groups in the DC area, and she sent Gallows and another Brotherhood member to speak to the Outcasts, who have already sent someone to speak to her about rejoining.
Castiel is still near GNR, looking worried and paler than he had been. Ben and Jessie, a young boy that the Brotherhood found and who seems to have been experimented on by the Enclave, sat beside him. Though Castiel had originally not been happy to see Jessie, he’s slowly warmed to Jessie after seeing that he was a good friend for Ben. Right now, the only reason Castiel hadn’t gone after Dean was his fear of what Gabriel or Anna might do if he ran into either of them. Gabriel had managed to corner Dean, to speak to him in a way that caused the darkness and despair to overwhelm him far too quickly for Castiel to counter-act. It had spread to Castiel as well, leaving him ill and unable to reach out to Dean. By the time Dean left and Gabriel had gone to tell Castiel that he was better off without him, Castiel’s Grace had attempted to rebel against him, and the results had not been pleasant. When Gabriel left, Castiel worried that following him, or even going after Dean, would result in the Archangel killing him. Not knowing Anna’s whereabouts also made Castiel worry, especially with the aftereffects of the illness.
Castiel remembered a great deal now, including what Michael had done when they went out the second time. He remembered the cries of his kin when Michael killed them, what Naomi had done to keep order, and what she said before starting the re-education. He remembers that he’d been someone else, that he had a wife and child who were left behind, in another life, before the bombs. He remembers selling time on-air for companies through GNR, remembers that he once wore a suit and coat similar to the one he wears now.
And beyond that, he knows why his Garrison was created, and why there was a prophecy. Castiel knows now that Father was psychic, was able to see the future, and what he said was to explain this moment.
Now it was Dean’s distance that made Castiel ill, made him consider the dangers of traveling to find Dean and, hopefully, stop whatever it was that had been planned. He knew that it involved the souls that Sam and Dean had been bred and born to have, souls that allowed sensitivity to Angels and Angelic power. Souls that, when used by an Archangel, could be more deadly than the bombs from the War.
It was why Lucifer had been punished the way he was, why Michael didn’t seem to care about the others. With the Winchester’s souls, Michael would kill Lucifer and start a winter, start to blast away the radiation and, with it, all traces of the old world and this new one. Then, there would be Paradise for the Angels, for the sleeping Garrisons created by others like Father, created and bearing the names and understanding that Michael is the leader, that Raphael is second, and that the world was created for them and them alone.
Why create me? Why create a way to end your own plan, Father? Why let me join with the Righteous One, to be so connected that I suffer as he is pained, that I ache when he is not here?
The answer could be one of two - Father did this at the end of his life, realizing the danger of what they were doing and the evil nature of the Plan…or Father did it to ensure the Plan would not fail, that they would have someone to threaten Dean with, or to ensure that Dean could supply that power. If the Mark was any signal of the power Dean’s soul could have on accident, than one like Michael could easily manipulate it, use Dean’s soul like the bomb in Megaton when Dean first saw it. The potential is similar to that, Castiel seeing the memory as clearly as if he’d lived it - Simms asking to disable the bomb, Mr. Burke with a way to blow it up.
Castiel looked up as Sarah returned, looking exhausted. “Well, they don’t like it, but there’s no reason to abandon our strongholds. The Citadel will have a few people there to protect it, so we can keep things going.” She shifts a bit, looking concerned. “Anything? You can’t just…ok, I mean, I know that Anna’s a bitch and a murdering one, and whatever the hell was going on with Loki is just wrong, but…well…”
Castiel looks back down, swallowing and shivering as he feels the distance grow between himself and Dean. His body was beginning to feel the effects, wings trying to flap as well as fold around him. “I know where he’s going. I feel like, if I go, all that will happen is I’ll be used against him.” He needed to find Dean. Needed to ensure his safety, but at the same time, the depression made him know that doing such a thing would give them someone to use against him. “I don’t want that to happen. I can’t let that happen.”
Sarah let out a breath before saying, “You know, my Dad didn’t like it when I decided to join the Order of the Sword. Got worried about me, tried to pull favors, the works, even tried to get me into the Scribes for a bit. He was raising me on his own, after Mom died, and didn’t want to lose me like he’d lost her.” She shrugged. “I get a lot of Dean’s problems, a lot of what gets him sad is because of how his mom died.” Castiel knew this, and frowned as she shrugs again, “You being here doesn’t help him. He needs you. Just like, in the end, I needed to have the Pride, and to be someone different from who he was. I know his death got me in charge, but that’s only for now. I’m not good at that…give me my Pride and the Ruins any day over that.” She chuckles as the sun crept up in the sky, “The ones like Loki only know one way of doing things. You ever thought that, maybe, your best asset was the fact that you were made to be out here, and to deal with all the problems on the Wastes? Maybe, I mean…maybe since you were the one who first got him, maybe that means you’ll be the one to save him.”
I Saved him, Castiel thought, had said, had continued to say. It was never healed, or Marked, or anything but Saved. Maybe that was it…
“Thank you,” Castiel said, slowly standing, “I must go. Please…keep getting allies. Be ready, figure out what happened to the others, find a way to fight us.”
Sarah blinked, surprised. “You…why? What do you think will happen?”
“If my Father and the Archangels are right…then war. If what I think will happen, then there will still be a war of some sort, but it will not end as the Archangels want it. I can only hope it’s the second.”
With that, Castiel spread his wings, fear driven out of him, ready to fly towards Dean. He made it to the Temple of the Union, confusion on his face as he tried to find the cause.
Gabriel. He’s put restrictions, made it so he knows who is here. And he traveled all around, looking for news to tell Three Dog and the Wasteland. I have to be careful then, or else he will try to stop me.
Castiel paused again as a few of the men there looked at him, one wearing a Regulator uniform but also appearing wary, and not in the same way as those who followed Anna had. No, he had to do something else, and come to Dean with aid.
“Hey, man, what are you?” the man in the Regulator uniform asked. Castiel recognized him, from Dean’s memories, as Victor Hendriksen. A good man.
“I am an Angel,” Castiel tells him, “and one who is rebelling. I am going to try and cause others to rebel as well, and bring them here, to help. Dean Winchester is in danger, and there is a war brewing. Be ready, Victor Hendriksen. This will change the Wasteland forever.”
Castiel took off again, to Megaton, to speak to Simms and the others. From there, he could get near the House, and from that point, for good or ill, he could get to Dean.
Part 9: Pompeii (If You Close Your Eyes)