Unexpected Destinies Chapter 107
Title: Unexpected Destinies
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 2,548
Summary: Sam tries to figure out how Dean and Cas came to be with Michael and Raphael.
PRESENT
"Mom's?" Sam questioned, stunned.
"Yes," Castiel confirmed, eyes trained on Samuel.
Sam couldn't help but wonder what the angel thought their grandfather would do. Yes, Samuel had reacted poorly to catching sight of the bracelet, but who could blame the old man? That wasn't exactly something Samuel could have expected to see on Dean of all people, not given their past and the fact that Mom had died so long ago and most of her things had been lost in the fire. Even he'd never have expected to see that on his brother if he'd known about its existence.
Trust Dean to wear it though, regardless of how it made him look. Sam snorted as he thought of how his brother kept calling him a chick. At least he didn't go around wearing feminine jewelry!
"Where... how did you get that?" Samuel asked.
"I didn't, Cas did, for Christmas," Dean replied.
"Christmas?" Sam repeated. "But we don't even have the right date for Jesus' birth!"
"Yes, but it is still an important human holiday," Castiel replied.
"I didn't think that you of all people would pander to that."
"It's something that's important to Dean."
Of course. He really should have seen that one coming, Sam knew. In the end, pretty much everything that Castiel did came right back down to Dean. It was like the angel couldn't think for himself, which kinda made sense, Castiel being an angel and all. He just didn't get how anyone could transfer that kind of faith from God to his brother of all people, especially an angel. Castiel should know better than any human just how flawed that Dean was. Hell, his brother embraced two of the seven deadly sins as if they were tailor made for him.
Maybe the answer was that Castiel was just as flawed as Dean. Sam paused as he pondered this new thought for a moment. That was actually a surprisingly possible theory. Castiel was unlike any other angel he'd ever met after all, he'd just always assumed that was a good thing as it meant that Castiel had helped them in the past. But maybe that was all a result of some failing. Once the mere thought of angels having failings would have made Sam scoff but now it was almost gospel as far as he was concerned. He'd seen the flaws in enough other angels to be convinced of the fact, so why not Castiel as well? The angel had been to Hell, after all, perhaps something had happened to Castiel there that had irrevocably tainted his Grace or something, not to mention the fact that the angel had then gone and grabbed Dean's tarnished soul and held it tight. Given Castiel's seemingly blind faith in Dean and his brother's supposed prophesized destiny, he wouldn't be surprised if the angel had allowed Dean's soul too close to his Grace which had gotten further tainted from it. He'd always known his big brother would ruin any purity that Dean could. The guy loved to tempt people into giving into what Dean thought their vices were.
That line of thought was derailed as something occurred to Sam. Dean's supposed prophesized destiny, that's what he'd thought and it had been automatic, but now he could hit himself. Why on Earth hadn't he thought of that before? Why had it never occurred to him since their desperate dash to Cicero or even before that immediately after his resurrection? The prophecy. Yeah, sure, he now knew it was nothing but crap, a mere tool in the large repertoire of ways for Heaven to use and manipulate them into doing exactly what the angels wanted them to do, but the angels sure loved to blow their own trumpets and in this case they did, namely in the form of Chuck and his books.
The prophet had seen practically everything they had done before so there was no reason to think that Chuck wasn't still getting those visions and, given how Dean was Heaven's golden boy, it was a pretty safe assumption that his brother would be the focus of those visions. The thought annoyed him despite the fact that he really didn't want Chuck to still be able to see everything that he said and did.
It just wasn't fair. It was a thought that Sam had often had, but it was still something that he couldn't figure out. Why had Dean been destined for Michael and he for Lucifer? He'd always been the one to believe in God and to pray regularly. Not only had his brother never done either of those things, but Dean had gone out of his way to be blasphemous and generally disrespectful of God and religion as a whole. It had been something that he'd never been able to understand given their line of work and the fact that his brother regularly used and relied on Holy water. Surely the very fact that Holy water worked on demons should have been proof enough that there was a God out there. But no, his brother had needed to be stubborn.
Well now things were different and Sam could have kicked himself for not thinking of using Chuck to track down his wayward brother. Now that he'd thought of it, though, he was not going to make the same mistake twice. Yes, he was now in contact with Dean, but it was clear that his brother was still hiding things from them and he was sick and tired of essentially being at Dean's beck and call. His brother had always felt the need to be in control, treating him like a little child and it was high time that it stopped. He'd more than proven himself over the years and especially with their most recent job together. He'd managed to overcome the devil himself and lock Lucifer up. Sure it turned out that it hadn't been a permanent solution, but it sure as hell had bought them a lot of time. And it would have been even more time if Dean hadn't been stupid enough to keep the truth to himself about the destabilization of the cage.
No, this current mess was all on his brother, Sam knew. If Dean had overcome his ego long enough to find him and tell him the truth, then they could have found a way to stabilize the cage and prevented Lucifer and Michael from getting free once more. Of course by now Dean was too far under Michael's influence to see that and he was sure that even if his brother wasn't Michael's pet just now that Dean would still find a way to twist things around so that it wasn't his fault. His brother was very good at that.
"But how did you find it?" Gwen inquired. "It must have been like finding a needle in a haystack."
Sam blinked, trying to reorient himself. Hardly any time had passed while his mind had raced along, but he'd gotten so far from his original thought that it took him a second to remember that they were talking about Dean's bracelet. Or rather Mom's bracelet that Castiel had gotten for Dean. For Christmas. And wasn't that just gay? His brother would need to be careful or people were going to start mistaking him and Castiel for a couple. The thought made him want to laugh and he had to bite his lip to keep it from slipping out. He could just imagine the horrified look on Dean's face and he was so tempted to say it just for that, but a part of him would really rather that it happened to his brother and his only regret was that in all likelihood he wouldn't be there to see it happen.
"It was a difficult task, but the heavy protections on it made it easier to track and I knew that it would mean a lot to Dean to have something of his mother's," Castiel replied, glancing away from Samuel long enough to look at Dean.
The action abruptly reminded Sam of the way that Castiel had been watching Samuel and he now wondered if Raphael was doing the same, given the way that the archangel had attacked his grandfather earlier.
Sam didn't quite want to stare at the archangel for fear of how Raphael would take it, but he found it a hard temptation to resist. The guy was an archangel after all and, unlike Gabriel, wasn't trying to act human. If he'd ever thought Castiel scary or alien, his former friend had nothing on the archangel, but then that really made sense. Castiel had never quite told them what type of angel he was, but he'd always pegged the guy as a Seraph or common foot soldier. Certainly Castiel had never seemed particularly strong when compared to the other angels they'd met up with. So on that account he could see why Dean might have wanted to hook up with an archangel, they were so incredibly powerful after all, and probably the only beings who could have some kind of chance against Lucifer.
He shuddered at the thought of the devil and his power. Sam could still recall the feel of it whenever he'd been aware while with Lucifer. He hadn't always been aware and, if as much time had passed as he thought had, then he'd only been aware for a fraction of it, but that fraction had been more than enough. The thought of it still made him feel dirty and just now he could understand why he might not be considered clean enough for whatever spell Castiel and the others wanted to perform on him. But it wasn't his fault. Sure, he'd said yes to Lucifer, but as part of a strategic plan and not because he'd broken as Dean had when his brother had tried to say yes to Michael, or rather rebroken really as Dean had done it once already. But then that made sense, once broken things were never as strong as before, so he should have seen it coming instead of allowing his brother to blind and misdirect him to the truth. Well it wouldn't happen again, he wouldn't let it happen again. From the moment that he'd first realized what had happened, he'd decided that he wasn't going to let sentimentality blind him to Dean's very real weaknesses and limitations again. Castiel may have stitched his brother back together again, and the angel had done a fantastic job no doubt about it, but the fact still remained that Dean was now damaged goods. There were stress fractures and old breaks where his brother could easily be rebroken once more. And maybe that was what had already happened to make Dean be with Michael and Raphael. It would definitely explain a few things. After all if his brother had once been ready to cave and say yes to Michael then he couldn't imagine that it would be terribly difficult to convince Dean to work with the guy if Michael said the right things. It could all still be like what he'd thought before, that this was Michael and Raphael's way of softening up his brother in preparation for asking him to be Michael's vessel. It all made sense, even Castiel's involvement in the plan as the angel had made the mistake of returning to Heaven after he himself had managed to lock up Lucifer.
The memory of how much Castiel had changed the last time he'd been recalled to Heaven told Sam that he was right. If Zachariah had managed to brainwash Castiel enough to think that bringing on the Apocalypse was a good idea then he figured the poor bastard hadn't stood a chance against Raphael alone, but when Michael had broken out as well... Yeah, that was why Castiel had been so cold to him since Stull Cemetery and why the angel hadn't answered his prayers when he'd been resurrected. His friend was gone, was essentially dead, and this cold, detached being that was left was just another cookie cutter Seraph who lived to obey Heaven's commands unthinkingly. Oh he was sure that this Castiel was able to act enough like what their old friend had been like, otherwise Dean would have bailed a long time ago, but he knew how much his brother could delude himself into thinking that things he didn't like simply weren't true. Dean was a master at denial and with Castiel's acting his brother had probably managed to twist things to suit whatever fantasy he wanted to believe.
All of which meant that a visit to Chuck was pretty much essential in the very near future. Sam just wasn't sure if he should tell Bobby about it as he'd seen the way his brother had looked at the older man and it made him suspicious of exactly what had gone on between Dean and Bobby when his brother had visited shortly after their meeting in the desert. Yes he wouldn't normally peg Bobby as being the gullible type, but the hunter had always had a soft spot for Dean and combined with the guilt that Bobby just couldn't seem to shake it left his friend open to being manipulated. He only wished that he could be sure of being given an impartial audience if he were to speak with his friend about it, but he knew that was unlikely. As much as Bobby might like to pretend that he cared about them both, he knew that Dean was the favorite. Even now that still managed to rankle as he had never been able to understand it.
Bobby had always been all about research and the importance of knowing exactly what it was that you were hunting before you actually went out after it. Which was the exact opposite of Dean who was far too much like Dad with their father's research some and then barge on and deal with it attitude. Therefore his own love of research and cooler, more rational head should have endeared him to the other hunter far more than his brother ever could like it had with Pastor Jim, but it hadn't and he still couldn't understand it. Oh it wasn't like Bobby went out of his way to favor Dean, but he'd always been able to tell as the older man had gotten this look in his eyes when dealing with his brother, especially when Dean was being particularly difficult and digging in his heels for no reason whatsoever.
On the other hand, it might do Bobby good to go with them to Chuck and learn the truth of what Dean was really up to. It might force the older hunter to see what was actually going on. The more Sam thought about it, the more he liked that idea though he knew that he'd have to conceal their true destination until they got there as he didn't want Bobby taking it upon himself to let Dean know what he had planned as the last thing he needed was to deal with another of his brother's hissy fits or, even worse, have Raphael interfere and whisk Chuck away to an unknown location before he got to ask his questions.
Chapter 108
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 2,548
Summary: Sam tries to figure out how Dean and Cas came to be with Michael and Raphael.
PRESENT
"Mom's?" Sam questioned, stunned.
"Yes," Castiel confirmed, eyes trained on Samuel.
Sam couldn't help but wonder what the angel thought their grandfather would do. Yes, Samuel had reacted poorly to catching sight of the bracelet, but who could blame the old man? That wasn't exactly something Samuel could have expected to see on Dean of all people, not given their past and the fact that Mom had died so long ago and most of her things had been lost in the fire. Even he'd never have expected to see that on his brother if he'd known about its existence.
Trust Dean to wear it though, regardless of how it made him look. Sam snorted as he thought of how his brother kept calling him a chick. At least he didn't go around wearing feminine jewelry!
"Where... how did you get that?" Samuel asked.
"I didn't, Cas did, for Christmas," Dean replied.
"Christmas?" Sam repeated. "But we don't even have the right date for Jesus' birth!"
"Yes, but it is still an important human holiday," Castiel replied.
"I didn't think that you of all people would pander to that."
"It's something that's important to Dean."
Of course. He really should have seen that one coming, Sam knew. In the end, pretty much everything that Castiel did came right back down to Dean. It was like the angel couldn't think for himself, which kinda made sense, Castiel being an angel and all. He just didn't get how anyone could transfer that kind of faith from God to his brother of all people, especially an angel. Castiel should know better than any human just how flawed that Dean was. Hell, his brother embraced two of the seven deadly sins as if they were tailor made for him.
Maybe the answer was that Castiel was just as flawed as Dean. Sam paused as he pondered this new thought for a moment. That was actually a surprisingly possible theory. Castiel was unlike any other angel he'd ever met after all, he'd just always assumed that was a good thing as it meant that Castiel had helped them in the past. But maybe that was all a result of some failing. Once the mere thought of angels having failings would have made Sam scoff but now it was almost gospel as far as he was concerned. He'd seen the flaws in enough other angels to be convinced of the fact, so why not Castiel as well? The angel had been to Hell, after all, perhaps something had happened to Castiel there that had irrevocably tainted his Grace or something, not to mention the fact that the angel had then gone and grabbed Dean's tarnished soul and held it tight. Given Castiel's seemingly blind faith in Dean and his brother's supposed prophesized destiny, he wouldn't be surprised if the angel had allowed Dean's soul too close to his Grace which had gotten further tainted from it. He'd always known his big brother would ruin any purity that Dean could. The guy loved to tempt people into giving into what Dean thought their vices were.
That line of thought was derailed as something occurred to Sam. Dean's supposed prophesized destiny, that's what he'd thought and it had been automatic, but now he could hit himself. Why on Earth hadn't he thought of that before? Why had it never occurred to him since their desperate dash to Cicero or even before that immediately after his resurrection? The prophecy. Yeah, sure, he now knew it was nothing but crap, a mere tool in the large repertoire of ways for Heaven to use and manipulate them into doing exactly what the angels wanted them to do, but the angels sure loved to blow their own trumpets and in this case they did, namely in the form of Chuck and his books.
The prophet had seen practically everything they had done before so there was no reason to think that Chuck wasn't still getting those visions and, given how Dean was Heaven's golden boy, it was a pretty safe assumption that his brother would be the focus of those visions. The thought annoyed him despite the fact that he really didn't want Chuck to still be able to see everything that he said and did.
It just wasn't fair. It was a thought that Sam had often had, but it was still something that he couldn't figure out. Why had Dean been destined for Michael and he for Lucifer? He'd always been the one to believe in God and to pray regularly. Not only had his brother never done either of those things, but Dean had gone out of his way to be blasphemous and generally disrespectful of God and religion as a whole. It had been something that he'd never been able to understand given their line of work and the fact that his brother regularly used and relied on Holy water. Surely the very fact that Holy water worked on demons should have been proof enough that there was a God out there. But no, his brother had needed to be stubborn.
Well now things were different and Sam could have kicked himself for not thinking of using Chuck to track down his wayward brother. Now that he'd thought of it, though, he was not going to make the same mistake twice. Yes, he was now in contact with Dean, but it was clear that his brother was still hiding things from them and he was sick and tired of essentially being at Dean's beck and call. His brother had always felt the need to be in control, treating him like a little child and it was high time that it stopped. He'd more than proven himself over the years and especially with their most recent job together. He'd managed to overcome the devil himself and lock Lucifer up. Sure it turned out that it hadn't been a permanent solution, but it sure as hell had bought them a lot of time. And it would have been even more time if Dean hadn't been stupid enough to keep the truth to himself about the destabilization of the cage.
No, this current mess was all on his brother, Sam knew. If Dean had overcome his ego long enough to find him and tell him the truth, then they could have found a way to stabilize the cage and prevented Lucifer and Michael from getting free once more. Of course by now Dean was too far under Michael's influence to see that and he was sure that even if his brother wasn't Michael's pet just now that Dean would still find a way to twist things around so that it wasn't his fault. His brother was very good at that.
"But how did you find it?" Gwen inquired. "It must have been like finding a needle in a haystack."
Sam blinked, trying to reorient himself. Hardly any time had passed while his mind had raced along, but he'd gotten so far from his original thought that it took him a second to remember that they were talking about Dean's bracelet. Or rather Mom's bracelet that Castiel had gotten for Dean. For Christmas. And wasn't that just gay? His brother would need to be careful or people were going to start mistaking him and Castiel for a couple. The thought made him want to laugh and he had to bite his lip to keep it from slipping out. He could just imagine the horrified look on Dean's face and he was so tempted to say it just for that, but a part of him would really rather that it happened to his brother and his only regret was that in all likelihood he wouldn't be there to see it happen.
"It was a difficult task, but the heavy protections on it made it easier to track and I knew that it would mean a lot to Dean to have something of his mother's," Castiel replied, glancing away from Samuel long enough to look at Dean.
The action abruptly reminded Sam of the way that Castiel had been watching Samuel and he now wondered if Raphael was doing the same, given the way that the archangel had attacked his grandfather earlier.
Sam didn't quite want to stare at the archangel for fear of how Raphael would take it, but he found it a hard temptation to resist. The guy was an archangel after all and, unlike Gabriel, wasn't trying to act human. If he'd ever thought Castiel scary or alien, his former friend had nothing on the archangel, but then that really made sense. Castiel had never quite told them what type of angel he was, but he'd always pegged the guy as a Seraph or common foot soldier. Certainly Castiel had never seemed particularly strong when compared to the other angels they'd met up with. So on that account he could see why Dean might have wanted to hook up with an archangel, they were so incredibly powerful after all, and probably the only beings who could have some kind of chance against Lucifer.
He shuddered at the thought of the devil and his power. Sam could still recall the feel of it whenever he'd been aware while with Lucifer. He hadn't always been aware and, if as much time had passed as he thought had, then he'd only been aware for a fraction of it, but that fraction had been more than enough. The thought of it still made him feel dirty and just now he could understand why he might not be considered clean enough for whatever spell Castiel and the others wanted to perform on him. But it wasn't his fault. Sure, he'd said yes to Lucifer, but as part of a strategic plan and not because he'd broken as Dean had when his brother had tried to say yes to Michael, or rather rebroken really as Dean had done it once already. But then that made sense, once broken things were never as strong as before, so he should have seen it coming instead of allowing his brother to blind and misdirect him to the truth. Well it wouldn't happen again, he wouldn't let it happen again. From the moment that he'd first realized what had happened, he'd decided that he wasn't going to let sentimentality blind him to Dean's very real weaknesses and limitations again. Castiel may have stitched his brother back together again, and the angel had done a fantastic job no doubt about it, but the fact still remained that Dean was now damaged goods. There were stress fractures and old breaks where his brother could easily be rebroken once more. And maybe that was what had already happened to make Dean be with Michael and Raphael. It would definitely explain a few things. After all if his brother had once been ready to cave and say yes to Michael then he couldn't imagine that it would be terribly difficult to convince Dean to work with the guy if Michael said the right things. It could all still be like what he'd thought before, that this was Michael and Raphael's way of softening up his brother in preparation for asking him to be Michael's vessel. It all made sense, even Castiel's involvement in the plan as the angel had made the mistake of returning to Heaven after he himself had managed to lock up Lucifer.
The memory of how much Castiel had changed the last time he'd been recalled to Heaven told Sam that he was right. If Zachariah had managed to brainwash Castiel enough to think that bringing on the Apocalypse was a good idea then he figured the poor bastard hadn't stood a chance against Raphael alone, but when Michael had broken out as well... Yeah, that was why Castiel had been so cold to him since Stull Cemetery and why the angel hadn't answered his prayers when he'd been resurrected. His friend was gone, was essentially dead, and this cold, detached being that was left was just another cookie cutter Seraph who lived to obey Heaven's commands unthinkingly. Oh he was sure that this Castiel was able to act enough like what their old friend had been like, otherwise Dean would have bailed a long time ago, but he knew how much his brother could delude himself into thinking that things he didn't like simply weren't true. Dean was a master at denial and with Castiel's acting his brother had probably managed to twist things to suit whatever fantasy he wanted to believe.
All of which meant that a visit to Chuck was pretty much essential in the very near future. Sam just wasn't sure if he should tell Bobby about it as he'd seen the way his brother had looked at the older man and it made him suspicious of exactly what had gone on between Dean and Bobby when his brother had visited shortly after their meeting in the desert. Yes he wouldn't normally peg Bobby as being the gullible type, but the hunter had always had a soft spot for Dean and combined with the guilt that Bobby just couldn't seem to shake it left his friend open to being manipulated. He only wished that he could be sure of being given an impartial audience if he were to speak with his friend about it, but he knew that was unlikely. As much as Bobby might like to pretend that he cared about them both, he knew that Dean was the favorite. Even now that still managed to rankle as he had never been able to understand it.
Bobby had always been all about research and the importance of knowing exactly what it was that you were hunting before you actually went out after it. Which was the exact opposite of Dean who was far too much like Dad with their father's research some and then barge on and deal with it attitude. Therefore his own love of research and cooler, more rational head should have endeared him to the other hunter far more than his brother ever could like it had with Pastor Jim, but it hadn't and he still couldn't understand it. Oh it wasn't like Bobby went out of his way to favor Dean, but he'd always been able to tell as the older man had gotten this look in his eyes when dealing with his brother, especially when Dean was being particularly difficult and digging in his heels for no reason whatsoever.
On the other hand, it might do Bobby good to go with them to Chuck and learn the truth of what Dean was really up to. It might force the older hunter to see what was actually going on. The more Sam thought about it, the more he liked that idea though he knew that he'd have to conceal their true destination until they got there as he didn't want Bobby taking it upon himself to let Dean know what he had planned as the last thing he needed was to deal with another of his brother's hissy fits or, even worse, have Raphael interfere and whisk Chuck away to an unknown location before he got to ask his questions.
Chapter 108