Unexpected Destinies Chapter 121
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: 2,260
Summary: Raphael drops by for a visit.
PAST
The flutter of wings was a welcome distraction for Dean and he looked up ready to welcome his visitor only for his eyes to go wide as Raphael appeared, stumbling ever so slightly. It wasn't really much of anything and with a human he wouldn't have thought twice about it, but the archangel wasn't human and it worried him a little. His eyes flickered to Raphael's left set if wings and he caught sight of the patch of newly grown silver feathers on each of them where the key had impaled them. Unlike the rest of the archangel's feathers, they were in disarray and he remembered Castiel saying it had affected his landings as well until the new feathers were strong enough to handle the strain of flight.
Clearly Raphael had gotten far too impatient to wait until he was ready to fly properly.
"Hey, Raph," Dean greeted. "Something up?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with, just some demonic activity in Asia that the seraphs are handling."
"Oh, okay, that's not too bad, though I have to admit that I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop here."
"Other shoe?"
Dean waved a hand. "It's an expression. Basically it means that I'm waiting for Lucifer to do something else."
"Most of his energy is probably still focused on breaking the Rite of Contressa and Simiel might have only just recovered from our fight herself."
"Oh, good points. But if that's not why you're here, then what's up?" Dean asked before he realized how rude that sounded as both Michael and Castiel showed up at times to just hang out. "Not that you need a reason but you normally do."
"I wished to come thank you once more for what you did in South Africa."
"Oh, dude, that was nothing."
"No, it was not."
Dean's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Well in that case, you're welcome. But seriously, don't worry about it. You distracted her from hurting me in the first place, remember? I'm just sorry that I let her get the key from me."
As he said it, Dean couldn't help but look back towards Raphael's injuries and he winced at the memory of seeing those powerful wings pinned down like some insect's on display. Even if he hadn't known how sensitive an angel's wings were, he'd have been able to guess how painful that had to be.
"That is hardly the same," Raphael replied.
"Why, 'cause I'm human?" Dean demanded and was startled to see the archangel's eyes look away. It was clear that had been Raphael's point and yet the archangel didn't seem to want to come right out and say it. Odd as it seemed, the only reason he could fathom for Raphael's hesitancy was that the archangel didn't want to offend him. "Look, Raph, I get it, okay? I realize how much more powerful you guys are than me, I'm fully aware when with Mike, remember? But I'm not going to let that stop me from helping when I can, especially not when there are lives at stake."
"You are going to get yourself killed like that."
"It wouldn't be the first time. Besides, I've had more than a few confrontations with archangels now, including yourself, and none of them has killed me yet. Well, except for that one time with Gabriel but that doesn't count as I didn't know that he was an archangel at the time and I didn't actually do anything, it was all on him."
That obviously made some kind of impact as Raphael was quiet for a moment, thinking. "You do the unexpected, it catches us off-guard."
"Yeah, but I also use your arrogance against you as none of you take me seriously as a threat."
"No, none of us did. I believe that has changed now, so you'll need to be more cautious in the future."
"Probably," Dean admitted.
"No, not probably, definitely," Raphael argued, voice firm as he stepped closer. "Michael and Castiel would be devastated if you died."
The words hit Dean like bullets and he flinched but he knew that they were true. Even though his death wouldn't put him out of the reach of either of them, he knew that it would hit them hard, Castiel in particular. In addition he'd really hate to be stuck in Heaven if the Apocalypse was still ongoing if they couldn't bring him back for one reason or another.
"I know," Dean replied softly. "I'll try and be more careful, but I can't just let a chance go by to end this either."
"I know," Raphael stated and Dean was surprised to realize that the archangel did. "But I would also hate to be thus upset."
Dean blinked before he realized what Raphael was saying at which point he smirked and raised his eyebrows. "Upset, huh?"
"Yes," Raphael confirmed, turning his head away as if not really interested, but Dean could still see the archangel looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. "I find that I have become partial to you."
"Partial, huh?" His smirk turned into a huge smile at the confession. "I like you too, Raph."
"First you say it to annoy me, then you mean it as friendship. I am never going to get you to call me by my full name on a regular basis, am I?"
"Nope, so just get used to it. Raph."
Raphael was now looking at him through slitted eyes, head tilted to one side and Dean just knew that the archangel was trying to come up with something to call him and he couldn't wait to see what his newest friend came up with. Creativity wasn't exactly a common gift amongst angels, so he wasn't expecting anything too awful.
The ringing of his cell phone interrupted them abruptly and Dean answered it without looking to see who it was.
"Hello, cupcake."
"Crowley," Dean replied, his good humor vanishing in an instant.
"Tell me, mate, how attached are you to cupcake as I've been thinking that lover boy might be more suitable given your new... ah, how shall I say it?, proclivities."
"Are you calling for a reason or are you really so bored that you want to talk about my sex life?"
"But your sex life seems so interesting. Really, what's it like to top an angel? Or is he the one who tops you?"
"Crowley."
"See, I'd assumed that it was you on top as dear old Castiel just didn't strike me as the dominant type, but then I remembered that we're dealing with the little angel that could here."
"Problem getting it up yourself? Is that why you've suddenly got this voyeuristic interest?"
"What, you think I called just to hear your voice, cupcake?"
"You're the one calling me pet names."
Crowley laughed. "Even I know better than to go after the squeeze of an angel, especially one as obsessed with you as little Castiel."
"If that's a crude way of fishing for information, I'm not going to bite."
"Can't blame a demon for trying."
"What do you have, Crowley?"
"That little blow up in Asia your angels are dealing with?"
Dean considered denying that they were 'his' angels but then figured it probably wasn't worth it. He doubted the demon would believe him anyway and given his and Castiel's relationship and his lover's current position, it was probably a moot point anyway. Besides, for all he knew maybe that did make them his angels from a demonic point of view. He'd never bothered learning too much about those aspects of demonic culture even as he'd become intimately acquainted with other aspects of it. The finer points of cultural nuisances had never been his thing, whether human or demonic.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It's a diversion, meant to make you think you're on top of things when really there is more going on."
"That's generally what diversions are for," Dean retorted dryly, glancing at Raphael in concern.
The archangel had stepped closer to him despite the fact that Dean doubted his friend needed to do so in order to hear everything that was being said on both ends of the call. Nor did he doubt the fact that at this very moment orders were being sent fast and furious from Raphael to any of countless other angels, preparing them for battle if necessary.
"Oh, Dean, always so cynical. I really like that about you even if it makes a demon feel underappreciated, especially after all of the effort I went through to contact you in the first place."
"Hey, I called you back, didn't I?"
It wasn't until he'd said it that Dean realized the additional implications to what he'd said and he was extremely thankful such subtleties of human communication were beyond Raphael's understanding. Crowley's, however...
"Why, cupcake, I hadn't realized you saw it that way."
"The information, Crowley," Dean growled.
"Touchy, touchy. Did I interrupt something?"
Raphael reached for the phone, but Dean twisted away and shook his head. At the moment Crowley still believed that the situation was much as it had been the last time that they'd worked together with the exception that Castiel now had some pull in Heaven, and he was determined to keep it that way for as long as possible. The less the King of the Crossroads knew the better as far as he was concerned as he knew just how devious this particular demon could be.
"But, anyway," Crowley continued pleasantly. "The real action's down in Mexico, at the site of the ancient city of Teotihuacan."
"Teoteawakki?"
"Teotihuacan, you simple little human, only one of the greatest cities ever."
"Well excuse me if ancient crap doesn't exactly appear on my radar. What the hell does Lucy want down there anyway?"
"I don't know, not exactly, but there are whispers about some artifact or something. Whatever it is, it's powerful and your angel's big brother wants it bad."
"Bad enough to start a bloodbath half a world away," Dean muttered darkly. "You got anything else on this?"
"Just that the place is a veritable deathtrap. All that dark magic gone wild and uncontrolled over the centuries is extremely dangerous as well as unpredictable. The only reason the demons are there is because they're more afraid of Lucifer than what could happen to them."
"Whoa, wait, what dark magic?"
"The rituals and spells the inhabitants used back in the day. You've never heard of their propensity for human sacrifices?"
"Shit."
"Inelegant, but unarguable. Centuries of spilled blood, dark rituals and deals made with all manner of pagan gods and demons of all stripes has definitely left its mark. I doubt even your little angel knows exactly what lies there, cupcake."
"Wonderful. I don't suppose you'll come along for the ride?"
"And hand myself over to dear old daddy on a silver platter? No, the physical end of this relationship is all yours, darling, I'm just the brains. You're the brawn as you're so good at that."
"Screw you, Crowley," Dean snapped and hung up. "I really hate that demon."
"I concur, though he has proven to be useful," Raphael stated absently.
"His story checks out?"
"Not at first glance, but when Michael had a closer look, he found an inordinate number of visitors on the site are actually possessed."
"Visitors?"
"Teotihuacan is now a well visited tourist attraction."
"Oh that's just brilliant. Any idea what Lucifer wants there?"
"No and that is worrying," Raphael replied. "None of the research I have done even hints at one of the gateway keys being anywhere near that area and none of the others can think of a reason why Lucifer would be interested in it at all. Especially given the inherent risks of sending demons there as he is sure to lose most of them trying to attain whatever it is that he desires."
"Great, so basically we're going into this totally blind." And wasn't that just the story of his life these past few years? "Wait, if this is something important enough for Lucy to try and keep us from knowing about it and given how many tries it might take demons to obtain what he wants, wouldn't it just be easier for him to get it himself or to send Simiel to do so?"
The archangel winced slightly and a distasteful expression crossed Raphael's face. "Crowley was not mistaken when he said that even Castiel didn't know everything that lies in the ruins of Teotihuacan. It is nexus of great and extremely unpredictable power, most of it Dark in nature. Blood is an extremely good magical conductor and when intertwined with such strong emotions as those experienced by the victims sacrificed its potency is only enhanced, to the point where it has thoroughly saturated the entire area in unpredictable and wild magic."
"So basically your brother is being a coward and sending the demons to do his dirty work for him so that he doesn't have to risk himself or his most powerful ally," Dean concluded. "Could it really harm you guys?"
"There is some precedence for it as a few seraphs vanished in the area once, long ago."
Dean closed his eyes at the words and swallowed hard at the thought of his lover or his new friends going there though he knew that it was inevitable. Despite all that had happened, part of him still wanted to cling desperately to the idea of the untouchable nature of angels that he'd once believed in.
"So what's the plan?"
A.N.: Shorter than normal, I know, but I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things after so long away.
On the really awesome side, my unique visitor counter (only one count per time you open a browser and come back here) has surpassed the half million mark! You guys continually amaze me.
Chapter 122
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 2,260
Summary: Raphael drops by for a visit.
PAST
The flutter of wings was a welcome distraction for Dean and he looked up ready to welcome his visitor only for his eyes to go wide as Raphael appeared, stumbling ever so slightly. It wasn't really much of anything and with a human he wouldn't have thought twice about it, but the archangel wasn't human and it worried him a little. His eyes flickered to Raphael's left set if wings and he caught sight of the patch of newly grown silver feathers on each of them where the key had impaled them. Unlike the rest of the archangel's feathers, they were in disarray and he remembered Castiel saying it had affected his landings as well until the new feathers were strong enough to handle the strain of flight.
Clearly Raphael had gotten far too impatient to wait until he was ready to fly properly.
"Hey, Raph," Dean greeted. "Something up?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with, just some demonic activity in Asia that the seraphs are handling."
"Oh, okay, that's not too bad, though I have to admit that I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop here."
"Other shoe?"
Dean waved a hand. "It's an expression. Basically it means that I'm waiting for Lucifer to do something else."
"Most of his energy is probably still focused on breaking the Rite of Contressa and Simiel might have only just recovered from our fight herself."
"Oh, good points. But if that's not why you're here, then what's up?" Dean asked before he realized how rude that sounded as both Michael and Castiel showed up at times to just hang out. "Not that you need a reason but you normally do."
"I wished to come thank you once more for what you did in South Africa."
"Oh, dude, that was nothing."
"No, it was not."
Dean's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Well in that case, you're welcome. But seriously, don't worry about it. You distracted her from hurting me in the first place, remember? I'm just sorry that I let her get the key from me."
As he said it, Dean couldn't help but look back towards Raphael's injuries and he winced at the memory of seeing those powerful wings pinned down like some insect's on display. Even if he hadn't known how sensitive an angel's wings were, he'd have been able to guess how painful that had to be.
"That is hardly the same," Raphael replied.
"Why, 'cause I'm human?" Dean demanded and was startled to see the archangel's eyes look away. It was clear that had been Raphael's point and yet the archangel didn't seem to want to come right out and say it. Odd as it seemed, the only reason he could fathom for Raphael's hesitancy was that the archangel didn't want to offend him. "Look, Raph, I get it, okay? I realize how much more powerful you guys are than me, I'm fully aware when with Mike, remember? But I'm not going to let that stop me from helping when I can, especially not when there are lives at stake."
"You are going to get yourself killed like that."
"It wouldn't be the first time. Besides, I've had more than a few confrontations with archangels now, including yourself, and none of them has killed me yet. Well, except for that one time with Gabriel but that doesn't count as I didn't know that he was an archangel at the time and I didn't actually do anything, it was all on him."
That obviously made some kind of impact as Raphael was quiet for a moment, thinking. "You do the unexpected, it catches us off-guard."
"Yeah, but I also use your arrogance against you as none of you take me seriously as a threat."
"No, none of us did. I believe that has changed now, so you'll need to be more cautious in the future."
"Probably," Dean admitted.
"No, not probably, definitely," Raphael argued, voice firm as he stepped closer. "Michael and Castiel would be devastated if you died."
The words hit Dean like bullets and he flinched but he knew that they were true. Even though his death wouldn't put him out of the reach of either of them, he knew that it would hit them hard, Castiel in particular. In addition he'd really hate to be stuck in Heaven if the Apocalypse was still ongoing if they couldn't bring him back for one reason or another.
"I know," Dean replied softly. "I'll try and be more careful, but I can't just let a chance go by to end this either."
"I know," Raphael stated and Dean was surprised to realize that the archangel did. "But I would also hate to be thus upset."
Dean blinked before he realized what Raphael was saying at which point he smirked and raised his eyebrows. "Upset, huh?"
"Yes," Raphael confirmed, turning his head away as if not really interested, but Dean could still see the archangel looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. "I find that I have become partial to you."
"Partial, huh?" His smirk turned into a huge smile at the confession. "I like you too, Raph."
"First you say it to annoy me, then you mean it as friendship. I am never going to get you to call me by my full name on a regular basis, am I?"
"Nope, so just get used to it. Raph."
Raphael was now looking at him through slitted eyes, head tilted to one side and Dean just knew that the archangel was trying to come up with something to call him and he couldn't wait to see what his newest friend came up with. Creativity wasn't exactly a common gift amongst angels, so he wasn't expecting anything too awful.
The ringing of his cell phone interrupted them abruptly and Dean answered it without looking to see who it was.
"Hello, cupcake."
"Crowley," Dean replied, his good humor vanishing in an instant.
"Tell me, mate, how attached are you to cupcake as I've been thinking that lover boy might be more suitable given your new... ah, how shall I say it?, proclivities."
"Are you calling for a reason or are you really so bored that you want to talk about my sex life?"
"But your sex life seems so interesting. Really, what's it like to top an angel? Or is he the one who tops you?"
"Crowley."
"See, I'd assumed that it was you on top as dear old Castiel just didn't strike me as the dominant type, but then I remembered that we're dealing with the little angel that could here."
"Problem getting it up yourself? Is that why you've suddenly got this voyeuristic interest?"
"What, you think I called just to hear your voice, cupcake?"
"You're the one calling me pet names."
Crowley laughed. "Even I know better than to go after the squeeze of an angel, especially one as obsessed with you as little Castiel."
"If that's a crude way of fishing for information, I'm not going to bite."
"Can't blame a demon for trying."
"What do you have, Crowley?"
"That little blow up in Asia your angels are dealing with?"
Dean considered denying that they were 'his' angels but then figured it probably wasn't worth it. He doubted the demon would believe him anyway and given his and Castiel's relationship and his lover's current position, it was probably a moot point anyway. Besides, for all he knew maybe that did make them his angels from a demonic point of view. He'd never bothered learning too much about those aspects of demonic culture even as he'd become intimately acquainted with other aspects of it. The finer points of cultural nuisances had never been his thing, whether human or demonic.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It's a diversion, meant to make you think you're on top of things when really there is more going on."
"That's generally what diversions are for," Dean retorted dryly, glancing at Raphael in concern.
The archangel had stepped closer to him despite the fact that Dean doubted his friend needed to do so in order to hear everything that was being said on both ends of the call. Nor did he doubt the fact that at this very moment orders were being sent fast and furious from Raphael to any of countless other angels, preparing them for battle if necessary.
"Oh, Dean, always so cynical. I really like that about you even if it makes a demon feel underappreciated, especially after all of the effort I went through to contact you in the first place."
"Hey, I called you back, didn't I?"
It wasn't until he'd said it that Dean realized the additional implications to what he'd said and he was extremely thankful such subtleties of human communication were beyond Raphael's understanding. Crowley's, however...
"Why, cupcake, I hadn't realized you saw it that way."
"The information, Crowley," Dean growled.
"Touchy, touchy. Did I interrupt something?"
Raphael reached for the phone, but Dean twisted away and shook his head. At the moment Crowley still believed that the situation was much as it had been the last time that they'd worked together with the exception that Castiel now had some pull in Heaven, and he was determined to keep it that way for as long as possible. The less the King of the Crossroads knew the better as far as he was concerned as he knew just how devious this particular demon could be.
"But, anyway," Crowley continued pleasantly. "The real action's down in Mexico, at the site of the ancient city of Teotihuacan."
"Teoteawakki?"
"Teotihuacan, you simple little human, only one of the greatest cities ever."
"Well excuse me if ancient crap doesn't exactly appear on my radar. What the hell does Lucy want down there anyway?"
"I don't know, not exactly, but there are whispers about some artifact or something. Whatever it is, it's powerful and your angel's big brother wants it bad."
"Bad enough to start a bloodbath half a world away," Dean muttered darkly. "You got anything else on this?"
"Just that the place is a veritable deathtrap. All that dark magic gone wild and uncontrolled over the centuries is extremely dangerous as well as unpredictable. The only reason the demons are there is because they're more afraid of Lucifer than what could happen to them."
"Whoa, wait, what dark magic?"
"The rituals and spells the inhabitants used back in the day. You've never heard of their propensity for human sacrifices?"
"Shit."
"Inelegant, but unarguable. Centuries of spilled blood, dark rituals and deals made with all manner of pagan gods and demons of all stripes has definitely left its mark. I doubt even your little angel knows exactly what lies there, cupcake."
"Wonderful. I don't suppose you'll come along for the ride?"
"And hand myself over to dear old daddy on a silver platter? No, the physical end of this relationship is all yours, darling, I'm just the brains. You're the brawn as you're so good at that."
"Screw you, Crowley," Dean snapped and hung up. "I really hate that demon."
"I concur, though he has proven to be useful," Raphael stated absently.
"His story checks out?"
"Not at first glance, but when Michael had a closer look, he found an inordinate number of visitors on the site are actually possessed."
"Visitors?"
"Teotihuacan is now a well visited tourist attraction."
"Oh that's just brilliant. Any idea what Lucifer wants there?"
"No and that is worrying," Raphael replied. "None of the research I have done even hints at one of the gateway keys being anywhere near that area and none of the others can think of a reason why Lucifer would be interested in it at all. Especially given the inherent risks of sending demons there as he is sure to lose most of them trying to attain whatever it is that he desires."
"Great, so basically we're going into this totally blind." And wasn't that just the story of his life these past few years? "Wait, if this is something important enough for Lucy to try and keep us from knowing about it and given how many tries it might take demons to obtain what he wants, wouldn't it just be easier for him to get it himself or to send Simiel to do so?"
The archangel winced slightly and a distasteful expression crossed Raphael's face. "Crowley was not mistaken when he said that even Castiel didn't know everything that lies in the ruins of Teotihuacan. It is nexus of great and extremely unpredictable power, most of it Dark in nature. Blood is an extremely good magical conductor and when intertwined with such strong emotions as those experienced by the victims sacrificed its potency is only enhanced, to the point where it has thoroughly saturated the entire area in unpredictable and wild magic."
"So basically your brother is being a coward and sending the demons to do his dirty work for him so that he doesn't have to risk himself or his most powerful ally," Dean concluded. "Could it really harm you guys?"
"There is some precedence for it as a few seraphs vanished in the area once, long ago."
Dean closed his eyes at the words and swallowed hard at the thought of his lover or his new friends going there though he knew that it was inevitable. Despite all that had happened, part of him still wanted to cling desperately to the idea of the untouchable nature of angels that he'd once believed in.
"So what's the plan?"
A.N.: Shorter than normal, I know, but I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things after so long away.
On the really awesome side, my unique visitor counter (only one count per time you open a browser and come back here) has surpassed the half million mark! You guys continually amaze me.
Chapter 122