Unexpected Destinies Chapter 203
Title: Unexpected Destinies
Rating: R
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash, war/battle scenes
Word Count: 3,291
Summary: Sam starts to realize just how big the battle really is.
PRESENT
"Gwen, have you seen Bobby again?" Sam asked when he managed to catch his breath for long enough to actually speak.
"Not since we lost him," Gwen replied, putting her back to his and glancing around.
Sam cursed and tried desperately to find the older hunter in the sea of fighting bodies all around them. The flood of fleeing tourists had finally petered off after what felt like forever but for the occasional straggler which meant that everyone had either gotten away or been possessed. He hoped for the latter, but feared the former. Now that he was actually here, on the ground, he could get what Castiel had been saying about needing to ensure that as many people got out as possible. Sure, he'd understood it intellectually before as Dean had always driven home the need to save people those few times when his own priorities had taken an unfortunate turn away from that, but being here and seeing with his own two eyes what they were up against drove the point home in a totally different way.
Even as it was, with as many people who'd escaped as there had, Sam knew that he couldn't really dwell on the numbers. Not even with the garrisons that Castiel had managed to bring along. They were simply too mindboggling and incomprehensible for him. Not to mention what it could do for his morale if he tried to start calculating the odds of survival. Well, for everyone who was human other than him anyway. Not that his chances of remaining free were particularly good if things went bad.
"Heads up," Gwen warned and Sam looked up to see another group of demons moving in on their location.
His cousin used the opportunity to spray them all with Holy water but that only worked for a little while, though it did give Sam enough time to fire and reload his shotgun. When the demons got close, though, it became less practical and he let it drop to hang by its harness around his shoulder and pulled out his demon killing knife instead, glad to be able to actually kill the demons instead of merely making them uncomfortable or forcing them to flee their chosen meatsuits. It just felt like he was accomplishing more even if they'd been able to exorcise quite a few of them a while back.
"Back," Gwen shouted and shoved him forwards.
Briefly Sam was confused before he remembered that for her that would be back. Then the flashing of a blade made him twist away just in time, though he felt the weapon catch on his shirt and the strap of his shotgun. By the time he'd rolled to his feet and looked around for it, the gun was gone and he cursed. They really couldn't afford to lose any of their weapons just now, especially not the only one that allowed him to injure or drive off the demons from a distance. Not that proximity was a problem in this particular case. Rather the opposite in fact.
"I hate demons," Sam declared, making Gwen laugh.
/
Raziel was on his way back to Michael and Raphael when he caught sight of two of his siblings being overwhelmed by a veritable swarm of demons. As if that wasn't bad enough, he could also see one of his fallen brothers approaching the faltering pair as well. Knowing that the situation couldn't end well and feeling the anguish from his sister as their brother was disarmed and vanished under the nearest demons, he flew down towards them. There was no way that he was going to let any of his siblings experience the agony of losing a bond mate to death if he could help it.
His surprise arrival meant that Raziel was able to kill several of the demons before they even knew what had happened. That was enough to free his captured brother before their fallen sibling was on them. As the more powerful of the three of them, Raziel took him, leaving the demons to his brother and sister.
"Raziel," the fallen angel sneered.
"Surprise," Raziel replied, knowing that word of his absence would have spread among angelic ranks and eventually made its way to those of his brothers and sisters who'd chosen to side with Lucifer and been forced from Heaven as a result.
"You should have stayed away, Brother."
"What, and missed out on all of the fun? Wouldn't dream of it."
Just as Raziel had hoped, his flippant and human remarks served to make his brother angry enough to rush into an uncoordinated and frenzied attack that he easily parried. The next maneuver of his brother was just as predictable and easy to avoid as the first and he nearly sighed, wondering at the arrogance of his brother in thinking that he could take on an archangel single handed.
"You can't win," Raziel stated calmly. "Surrender and repent and you shall be allowed back into Heaven."
His brother sneered. "Not until the humans have been removed from it."
Eyes narrowing, Raziel switched from defensive to offensive and soon had his brother on the retreat, demons scattering from their path. The moment that his brother stumbled as his foot hit one of the stones from the ruins, Raziel leapt forward, disarming his brother and forcing him to the ground, his blade at the fallen angel's throat.
"Do you surrender and repent?" Raziel demanded, already fearing that he knew the answer.
"Never!" his brother declared. "I will never bow down to humanity!"
"You were ordered to protect and look after them."
"We were displaced by them."
Raziel's lips narrowed into a thin line as he realized that he was going to have to kill his brother. He'd known that it would come to this once more, but he'd desperately hoped that he'd be able to avoid it. They'd already lost enough angels during the Rebellion itself.
"Michael!"
Lucifer's shout interrupted Raziel's thoughts and hardened his resolve as he realized that the real battle was about to begin.
"This is your last chance," Raziel tried one last time.
Instead of replying, his fallen brother tried to shove him back with his power. With regret, Raziel stabbed downwards with his blade, killing his brother instantly. He forced himself to look as the light of Grace flared outwards one last time before vanishing forever, leaving nothing but the scarred imprint of blackened wings behind.
/
Lust had to be the female on the right Bobby knew, as it explained his inability to draw his eyes from her form for more than a few moments at a time. And for the first time since the whole Ruby fiasco, he felt that he could finally understand some of what had driven Sam and he hoped to God that this would be his first and last time being attracted to one of those black eyed sons of bitches.
The shabbiness of one of the middle demons made it easily identifiable as Sloth, which meant that the other male meatsuit in the middle of their little row had to be Wrath. Bobby wondered if Envy's position as far away from Lust as she could be was deliberate and due to jealousy. The thought was irrelevant and nothing but a distraction, so he shoved it aside as he tried to think of a way out of this mess.
Bobby knew from his previous encounter with the, then, seven deadly sins that these were no ordinary demons (and who'd have thought just a few short years ago that he'd ever think of any demon as ordinary?!) and a challenge even for the best of hunters when working together as a team. He really didn't stand a chance against one of them alone like this, let alone all four at once. Unfortunately it didn't seem like he had a choice in the matter. Oh well, if he had to go down fighting demons, these at least were a good set of demons to fall to.
"What? Didn't get enough before?" Bobby asked as he pumped his shotgun. "Or were you looking to join your missing friends?"
"You will pay for what you did to them!" Wrath snarled viciously. "And once we're done with you, we'll go find the other hunters that were with you."
"Good luck with that," Bobby smiled tightly. "One's Michael's vessel and with him just now and the other's Lucifer's vessel and somehow I doubt that the big boss would take kindly to you messing with him."
Wrath's eyes narrowed dangerously and Bobby knew that he would be the one that he'd have to watch most closely. Not that he'd really expected anything else, what with it being Wrath and all.
"Then we'll just have to take our time with you then, won't we?" Envy decided. "I'm sure we can make you last for a while if we really wanted to."
Bobby fired without any warning, watching the smug smile vanish from Envy's face as she took the blast full in the chest, going over with a scream. His second shot he fired at Wrath, both because he was closest to Envy and because he was probably the biggest threat of the lot of them. It wasn't until Lust was suddenly right before him that he realized his mistake. Dean had warned him about the strength of her power but he hadn't really believed the boy, thinking that Dean's seemingly insatiable sex drive had been more responsible for that than anything else, but damn if he didn't feel himself trying to remember just why he shouldn't drop his gun and just grab hold of her.
"Come on, hunter, you know you want me," Lust cooed at him. "I'll make it better than you've ever had before."
The lust clouding his mind made it hard for Bobby to think straight, but he knew that it was really important that he didn't listen to her. He couldn't quite remember why, but he just knew that it was. There was something about Dean, something the boy had said about her once. Now what was it?
There were manicured fingers on his forearm, pushing his arms down and Bobby used the extra space that created between them to step forwards, just to be closer to her. Her perfume wasn't familiar to him, but then he didn't get much opportunity these days to smell any as almost all female hunters steered well clear of the stuff, not wanting to give away their presence on a hunt to some creature because of how they smelled. Regardless, the scent was good, clean and floral, seeping into him and wrapping around his senses like a lover.
Holy water!
That was what Dean had told him. Something about Holy water and Lust. Bobby fought desperately to remember even as his face was drawn forwards for a kiss and one which nearly wiped all rational thought from his mind. Luckily he could just remember that he didn't need to think any further on it as he had some Holy water left. With an extreme effort, he released his hold on his shotgun and fumbled for his water gun. Lust releasing his lips for him to breathe gave him the opportunity that he needed and he gave her a face full of Holy water.
Lust shrieked and jerked back and at the same time Bobby felt like he himself was dunked into a vat of ice cold water. His senses cleared and returned to him as if he'd just woken up and he drew back himself, horrified at what had just happened and how easily she'd ensnared him, who knew what she was and what she was capable of doing to people. No wonder some of those poor smucks from Oak Parks had died from dehydration and starvation on their couch just feet away from a fully stocked kitchen after Sloth had gotten his hands on them. They hadn't stood a chance.
The question was, did he?
/
Dean growled in frustration as Simiel threw yet another large ruin rock at them while dancing away from their blade. She'd been pulling this crap ever since Michael had first confronted her and he, for one, had more than had enough and he was pretty sure that his bond brother had too.
"Just douse her with the potion already and we can get about denuking her," Dean said.
"We can't," Michael replied, his own voice a frustrated growl.
"Why the hell not? We've got enough potion for the both of them. Plus if we get her now then we won't have the distraction when Lucifer arrives. The others will be able to concentrate on dealing with the demons."
"Because if we do it to her first, then Lucifer will feel it and he won't show up as he'll know that we've found something that can hurt him."
That actually was a damn good reason to not denuke Simiel just yet and it really ticked Dean off. He wanted to actually do something instead of just dancing to Simiel's tune as they currently were. At least Raph had managed to keep the rest of the kids safe while Raz got them out to safety with two other angels. That only made him feel a little better though as he could still see the bodies of the dead ones all around them. The fact that they'd been killed in several different, but all very messy ways proved that she hadn't just been doing it methodically, but had probably been enjoying herself.
"Castiel!" Simiel hissed and Michael looked over and Dean saw that his husband had indeed arrived.
"Simiel," Castiel replied, tone edged with the promise of violence.
It sent shivers up Dean's spine, or rather it would have if he'd been in control of his own body.
"That's my brother," Michael mock complained.
Dean merely grinned instead of replying as his friend turned their attention back to Simiel. Absently he noticed the demons shifting around behind her, but for the most part he ignored them. None of them had tried anything so far and he was pretty sure that they had orders not to interfere unless commanded to, which wouldn't happen unless Simiel really feared for her life.
Which clearly had not yet happened so far and that pissed Dean off. He was essentially one with the most powerful archangel just now. That deserved some fearful respect at the very least.
"What? Like your own fearful respect when you used to face off against me?" Michael asked in amusement.
"Dude, that was different!"
"Was it?"
"Hell yes! I didn't really understand what it meant to be an archangel or the true power you guys have. She does."
"Because she is one of us archangels. For her the power difference between the two of us isn't nearly as great as you seem to think it is."
"Still, she clearly knows that you can kick her ass or she wouldn't be doing her best to avoid you in the first place."
Any response that his bond brother might have made to that was cut off when there was a ripple of power all around them.
"Michael!"
Dean felt dread coil in the pit of his stomach as he recognized that voice despite the distortion that angelic possession gave to it. It was Christian's voice, which meant that Lucifer had finally decided to show his face.
When Michael moved, turning away from Simiel to look at Lucifer, Dean was only all too well aware of how it seemed like everyone on the massive battlefield had frozen to watch them confront the devil.
"Raphael? Castiel?" Michael asked.
"We will make sure Simiel doesn't attack you," Castiel promised fiercely and Dean took comfort in his husband's true voice.
This was it then. The moment of truth as it were. The point of no return. The-
Dean had to forcibly pull his mind away from the cheap clichés that it wanted to keep spouting in some desperate attempt to distract him from what was about to go down. Now that the devil was here, the real fight was about to begin as he knew that Lucifer would face them head on rather than the dancing around thing which Simiel had been doing, flinging anything and everything at them. He knew that it was because she realized that she stood no chance against them in a fair fight, but it was frustrating and annoying nonetheless. Especially after all that she had done.
Truth be told, Dean was almost unsure whether he hated Simiel or Lucifer more. Once it would never have been even a question that occurred to him, but after all that Simiel had done... well now it was. Yet, despite all of that, he knew that whatever he felt for Simiel, it was absolutely nothing compared to the hate that Castiel felt for her. He'd felt a hint of it a little while back and had been shocked at the sheer strength of it and had wished desperately to be able to go back and ensure that his bond mate never had to learn that particular emotion, but the time for that was long since past.
"Michael?" Dean asked, feeling the veritable maelstrom of emotions swirling all around his soul.
"I'm okay," Michael replied simply.
"Are you sure?"
"It doesn't really matter anymore, now does it?"
"I'm sorry that it had to come to this."
"I know you are, Little One, and this is not your fault. This started long before you were even created."
Not knowing what else to say, what else anyone could say, Dean instead focused on giving his friend the soul equivalent of a hug. Then he tempered down on all of his emotions and instead tried to relax as much as possible, opening his soul up so that his bond brother could draw whatever power that Michael might need from him as easily as possible.
"Lucifer," Michael acknowledged, moving towards the devil.
"What? That's it, Brother? No big speeches on how I'm misguided and need to repent and that Father will take me back?" Lucifer sneered.
"No, we are beyond that now. Or rather, you are beyond that now."
The words shocked Dean to his very core as he knew exactly how his friend still felt about his bond brother. His first instinct was to reach out towards Michael once more, but he feared that doing so might distract his bond brother just now.
"What ever happened to Father's love being all encompassing and His forgiveness total?" Lucifer demanded.
"Father isn't here now, Lucifer, and my ability to forgive is not so absolute," Michael replied.
"And what of your love?"
"I never stopped loving you, Brother. Not even when I started hating you."
Those words were the emotional equivalent of a bomb and Dean could tell that they'd stroke home in the shock and hurt that flashed across Lucifer's face for all too see. It was more than clear that Michael had changed quite drastically in more than one area from that reaction alone and he couldn't help but have mixed feelings about that. While he totally approved of the way that his bond brother had changed from how Michael had used to be, he knew intimately what this kind of confrontation with a brother who'd gone Dark Side could feel like and he'd know that those words would have cut his friend just as sharply as they'd cut the devil even if he weren't able to feel it for himself due to their current connection.
All other thoughts vanished from Dean's mind as Lucifer's face twisted in anger before the devil flew at them with his sword.
A.N.: Still got Wayward Son stuck in my head...
Rating: R
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash, war/battle scenes
Word Count: 3,291
Summary: Sam starts to realize just how big the battle really is.
PRESENT
"Gwen, have you seen Bobby again?" Sam asked when he managed to catch his breath for long enough to actually speak.
"Not since we lost him," Gwen replied, putting her back to his and glancing around.
Sam cursed and tried desperately to find the older hunter in the sea of fighting bodies all around them. The flood of fleeing tourists had finally petered off after what felt like forever but for the occasional straggler which meant that everyone had either gotten away or been possessed. He hoped for the latter, but feared the former. Now that he was actually here, on the ground, he could get what Castiel had been saying about needing to ensure that as many people got out as possible. Sure, he'd understood it intellectually before as Dean had always driven home the need to save people those few times when his own priorities had taken an unfortunate turn away from that, but being here and seeing with his own two eyes what they were up against drove the point home in a totally different way.
Even as it was, with as many people who'd escaped as there had, Sam knew that he couldn't really dwell on the numbers. Not even with the garrisons that Castiel had managed to bring along. They were simply too mindboggling and incomprehensible for him. Not to mention what it could do for his morale if he tried to start calculating the odds of survival. Well, for everyone who was human other than him anyway. Not that his chances of remaining free were particularly good if things went bad.
"Heads up," Gwen warned and Sam looked up to see another group of demons moving in on their location.
His cousin used the opportunity to spray them all with Holy water but that only worked for a little while, though it did give Sam enough time to fire and reload his shotgun. When the demons got close, though, it became less practical and he let it drop to hang by its harness around his shoulder and pulled out his demon killing knife instead, glad to be able to actually kill the demons instead of merely making them uncomfortable or forcing them to flee their chosen meatsuits. It just felt like he was accomplishing more even if they'd been able to exorcise quite a few of them a while back.
"Back," Gwen shouted and shoved him forwards.
Briefly Sam was confused before he remembered that for her that would be back. Then the flashing of a blade made him twist away just in time, though he felt the weapon catch on his shirt and the strap of his shotgun. By the time he'd rolled to his feet and looked around for it, the gun was gone and he cursed. They really couldn't afford to lose any of their weapons just now, especially not the only one that allowed him to injure or drive off the demons from a distance. Not that proximity was a problem in this particular case. Rather the opposite in fact.
"I hate demons," Sam declared, making Gwen laugh.
/
Raziel was on his way back to Michael and Raphael when he caught sight of two of his siblings being overwhelmed by a veritable swarm of demons. As if that wasn't bad enough, he could also see one of his fallen brothers approaching the faltering pair as well. Knowing that the situation couldn't end well and feeling the anguish from his sister as their brother was disarmed and vanished under the nearest demons, he flew down towards them. There was no way that he was going to let any of his siblings experience the agony of losing a bond mate to death if he could help it.
His surprise arrival meant that Raziel was able to kill several of the demons before they even knew what had happened. That was enough to free his captured brother before their fallen sibling was on them. As the more powerful of the three of them, Raziel took him, leaving the demons to his brother and sister.
"Raziel," the fallen angel sneered.
"Surprise," Raziel replied, knowing that word of his absence would have spread among angelic ranks and eventually made its way to those of his brothers and sisters who'd chosen to side with Lucifer and been forced from Heaven as a result.
"You should have stayed away, Brother."
"What, and missed out on all of the fun? Wouldn't dream of it."
Just as Raziel had hoped, his flippant and human remarks served to make his brother angry enough to rush into an uncoordinated and frenzied attack that he easily parried. The next maneuver of his brother was just as predictable and easy to avoid as the first and he nearly sighed, wondering at the arrogance of his brother in thinking that he could take on an archangel single handed.
"You can't win," Raziel stated calmly. "Surrender and repent and you shall be allowed back into Heaven."
His brother sneered. "Not until the humans have been removed from it."
Eyes narrowing, Raziel switched from defensive to offensive and soon had his brother on the retreat, demons scattering from their path. The moment that his brother stumbled as his foot hit one of the stones from the ruins, Raziel leapt forward, disarming his brother and forcing him to the ground, his blade at the fallen angel's throat.
"Do you surrender and repent?" Raziel demanded, already fearing that he knew the answer.
"Never!" his brother declared. "I will never bow down to humanity!"
"You were ordered to protect and look after them."
"We were displaced by them."
Raziel's lips narrowed into a thin line as he realized that he was going to have to kill his brother. He'd known that it would come to this once more, but he'd desperately hoped that he'd be able to avoid it. They'd already lost enough angels during the Rebellion itself.
"Michael!"
Lucifer's shout interrupted Raziel's thoughts and hardened his resolve as he realized that the real battle was about to begin.
"This is your last chance," Raziel tried one last time.
Instead of replying, his fallen brother tried to shove him back with his power. With regret, Raziel stabbed downwards with his blade, killing his brother instantly. He forced himself to look as the light of Grace flared outwards one last time before vanishing forever, leaving nothing but the scarred imprint of blackened wings behind.
/
Lust had to be the female on the right Bobby knew, as it explained his inability to draw his eyes from her form for more than a few moments at a time. And for the first time since the whole Ruby fiasco, he felt that he could finally understand some of what had driven Sam and he hoped to God that this would be his first and last time being attracted to one of those black eyed sons of bitches.
The shabbiness of one of the middle demons made it easily identifiable as Sloth, which meant that the other male meatsuit in the middle of their little row had to be Wrath. Bobby wondered if Envy's position as far away from Lust as she could be was deliberate and due to jealousy. The thought was irrelevant and nothing but a distraction, so he shoved it aside as he tried to think of a way out of this mess.
Bobby knew from his previous encounter with the, then, seven deadly sins that these were no ordinary demons (and who'd have thought just a few short years ago that he'd ever think of any demon as ordinary?!) and a challenge even for the best of hunters when working together as a team. He really didn't stand a chance against one of them alone like this, let alone all four at once. Unfortunately it didn't seem like he had a choice in the matter. Oh well, if he had to go down fighting demons, these at least were a good set of demons to fall to.
"What? Didn't get enough before?" Bobby asked as he pumped his shotgun. "Or were you looking to join your missing friends?"
"You will pay for what you did to them!" Wrath snarled viciously. "And once we're done with you, we'll go find the other hunters that were with you."
"Good luck with that," Bobby smiled tightly. "One's Michael's vessel and with him just now and the other's Lucifer's vessel and somehow I doubt that the big boss would take kindly to you messing with him."
Wrath's eyes narrowed dangerously and Bobby knew that he would be the one that he'd have to watch most closely. Not that he'd really expected anything else, what with it being Wrath and all.
"Then we'll just have to take our time with you then, won't we?" Envy decided. "I'm sure we can make you last for a while if we really wanted to."
Bobby fired without any warning, watching the smug smile vanish from Envy's face as she took the blast full in the chest, going over with a scream. His second shot he fired at Wrath, both because he was closest to Envy and because he was probably the biggest threat of the lot of them. It wasn't until Lust was suddenly right before him that he realized his mistake. Dean had warned him about the strength of her power but he hadn't really believed the boy, thinking that Dean's seemingly insatiable sex drive had been more responsible for that than anything else, but damn if he didn't feel himself trying to remember just why he shouldn't drop his gun and just grab hold of her.
"Come on, hunter, you know you want me," Lust cooed at him. "I'll make it better than you've ever had before."
The lust clouding his mind made it hard for Bobby to think straight, but he knew that it was really important that he didn't listen to her. He couldn't quite remember why, but he just knew that it was. There was something about Dean, something the boy had said about her once. Now what was it?
There were manicured fingers on his forearm, pushing his arms down and Bobby used the extra space that created between them to step forwards, just to be closer to her. Her perfume wasn't familiar to him, but then he didn't get much opportunity these days to smell any as almost all female hunters steered well clear of the stuff, not wanting to give away their presence on a hunt to some creature because of how they smelled. Regardless, the scent was good, clean and floral, seeping into him and wrapping around his senses like a lover.
Holy water!
That was what Dean had told him. Something about Holy water and Lust. Bobby fought desperately to remember even as his face was drawn forwards for a kiss and one which nearly wiped all rational thought from his mind. Luckily he could just remember that he didn't need to think any further on it as he had some Holy water left. With an extreme effort, he released his hold on his shotgun and fumbled for his water gun. Lust releasing his lips for him to breathe gave him the opportunity that he needed and he gave her a face full of Holy water.
Lust shrieked and jerked back and at the same time Bobby felt like he himself was dunked into a vat of ice cold water. His senses cleared and returned to him as if he'd just woken up and he drew back himself, horrified at what had just happened and how easily she'd ensnared him, who knew what she was and what she was capable of doing to people. No wonder some of those poor smucks from Oak Parks had died from dehydration and starvation on their couch just feet away from a fully stocked kitchen after Sloth had gotten his hands on them. They hadn't stood a chance.
The question was, did he?
/
Dean growled in frustration as Simiel threw yet another large ruin rock at them while dancing away from their blade. She'd been pulling this crap ever since Michael had first confronted her and he, for one, had more than had enough and he was pretty sure that his bond brother had too.
"Just douse her with the potion already and we can get about denuking her," Dean said.
"We can't," Michael replied, his own voice a frustrated growl.
"Why the hell not? We've got enough potion for the both of them. Plus if we get her now then we won't have the distraction when Lucifer arrives. The others will be able to concentrate on dealing with the demons."
"Because if we do it to her first, then Lucifer will feel it and he won't show up as he'll know that we've found something that can hurt him."
That actually was a damn good reason to not denuke Simiel just yet and it really ticked Dean off. He wanted to actually do something instead of just dancing to Simiel's tune as they currently were. At least Raph had managed to keep the rest of the kids safe while Raz got them out to safety with two other angels. That only made him feel a little better though as he could still see the bodies of the dead ones all around them. The fact that they'd been killed in several different, but all very messy ways proved that she hadn't just been doing it methodically, but had probably been enjoying herself.
"Castiel!" Simiel hissed and Michael looked over and Dean saw that his husband had indeed arrived.
"Simiel," Castiel replied, tone edged with the promise of violence.
It sent shivers up Dean's spine, or rather it would have if he'd been in control of his own body.
"That's my brother," Michael mock complained.
Dean merely grinned instead of replying as his friend turned their attention back to Simiel. Absently he noticed the demons shifting around behind her, but for the most part he ignored them. None of them had tried anything so far and he was pretty sure that they had orders not to interfere unless commanded to, which wouldn't happen unless Simiel really feared for her life.
Which clearly had not yet happened so far and that pissed Dean off. He was essentially one with the most powerful archangel just now. That deserved some fearful respect at the very least.
"What? Like your own fearful respect when you used to face off against me?" Michael asked in amusement.
"Dude, that was different!"
"Was it?"
"Hell yes! I didn't really understand what it meant to be an archangel or the true power you guys have. She does."
"Because she is one of us archangels. For her the power difference between the two of us isn't nearly as great as you seem to think it is."
"Still, she clearly knows that you can kick her ass or she wouldn't be doing her best to avoid you in the first place."
Any response that his bond brother might have made to that was cut off when there was a ripple of power all around them.
"Michael!"
Dean felt dread coil in the pit of his stomach as he recognized that voice despite the distortion that angelic possession gave to it. It was Christian's voice, which meant that Lucifer had finally decided to show his face.
When Michael moved, turning away from Simiel to look at Lucifer, Dean was only all too well aware of how it seemed like everyone on the massive battlefield had frozen to watch them confront the devil.
"Raphael? Castiel?" Michael asked.
"We will make sure Simiel doesn't attack you," Castiel promised fiercely and Dean took comfort in his husband's true voice.
This was it then. The moment of truth as it were. The point of no return. The-
Dean had to forcibly pull his mind away from the cheap clichés that it wanted to keep spouting in some desperate attempt to distract him from what was about to go down. Now that the devil was here, the real fight was about to begin as he knew that Lucifer would face them head on rather than the dancing around thing which Simiel had been doing, flinging anything and everything at them. He knew that it was because she realized that she stood no chance against them in a fair fight, but it was frustrating and annoying nonetheless. Especially after all that she had done.
Truth be told, Dean was almost unsure whether he hated Simiel or Lucifer more. Once it would never have been even a question that occurred to him, but after all that Simiel had done... well now it was. Yet, despite all of that, he knew that whatever he felt for Simiel, it was absolutely nothing compared to the hate that Castiel felt for her. He'd felt a hint of it a little while back and had been shocked at the sheer strength of it and had wished desperately to be able to go back and ensure that his bond mate never had to learn that particular emotion, but the time for that was long since past.
"Michael?" Dean asked, feeling the veritable maelstrom of emotions swirling all around his soul.
"I'm okay," Michael replied simply.
"Are you sure?"
"It doesn't really matter anymore, now does it?"
"I'm sorry that it had to come to this."
"I know you are, Little One, and this is not your fault. This started long before you were even created."
Not knowing what else to say, what else anyone could say, Dean instead focused on giving his friend the soul equivalent of a hug. Then he tempered down on all of his emotions and instead tried to relax as much as possible, opening his soul up so that his bond brother could draw whatever power that Michael might need from him as easily as possible.
"Lucifer," Michael acknowledged, moving towards the devil.
"What? That's it, Brother? No big speeches on how I'm misguided and need to repent and that Father will take me back?" Lucifer sneered.
"No, we are beyond that now. Or rather, you are beyond that now."
The words shocked Dean to his very core as he knew exactly how his friend still felt about his bond brother. His first instinct was to reach out towards Michael once more, but he feared that doing so might distract his bond brother just now.
"What ever happened to Father's love being all encompassing and His forgiveness total?" Lucifer demanded.
"Father isn't here now, Lucifer, and my ability to forgive is not so absolute," Michael replied.
"And what of your love?"
"I never stopped loving you, Brother. Not even when I started hating you."
Those words were the emotional equivalent of a bomb and Dean could tell that they'd stroke home in the shock and hurt that flashed across Lucifer's face for all too see. It was more than clear that Michael had changed quite drastically in more than one area from that reaction alone and he couldn't help but have mixed feelings about that. While he totally approved of the way that his bond brother had changed from how Michael had used to be, he knew intimately what this kind of confrontation with a brother who'd gone Dark Side could feel like and he'd know that those words would have cut his friend just as sharply as they'd cut the devil even if he weren't able to feel it for himself due to their current connection.
All other thoughts vanished from Dean's mind as Lucifer's face twisted in anger before the devil flew at them with his sword.
A.N.: Still got Wayward Son stuck in my head...