Temptation Ain't An Apple
Art Title: Heaven and Hell
Prompt Number: 1074
Artist: gryphon2k
Fic Title: Temptation Ain't An Apple
Author: hunters_retreat
Fandom/Genre: Gen
Pairing(s): None.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2000
Summary: Exactly what was Bobby doing during his time in hell? Heaven knows he isn't an angel, but Crowley could tempt a saint.
Author's Note: This was a pinch hit for the spn_reversebang. So much fun!!! And it was great to get to work with gryphon2k who was so sweet about the story and my ideas. Hope you enjoy!
Art Post
“What the hell is this horseshit?”
Bobby wasn’t an idiot. He’d made a deal with a demon and he’d expected it to come back and bite him in the ass more than once but when he’d gotten free of that contract, he thought he’d come away clean. So what the hell was he doing in hell?
“Bobby Singer, so good to see you old chap.”
“Did I miss something Crowley, because I’m pretty sure I’ve earned a ticket to Paradise, not the bottom of the rock Paradise was built on.”
Crowley smiled from his throne and if Bobby didn’t know better, he’d think Crowley looked genuinely happy to see him. The demons around him flinched when Crowley got up and the main man scowled before he looked back at Bobby.
“I think you’ll find Paradise isn’t what you thought it would be Bobby. I thought I’d let you take the scenic route to get there. Besides, with all the angels trying to get in and out it’s rather a mess. I’m really doing you a favor Bobby.”
“Right. Because that’s a thing you do. Favors for nothing.”
“You wound me Bobby, really. Right through my beating heart.”
“You don’t have a heart Crowley.”
Crowley seemed to think for a moment before he smiled again. “True. Take him away.”
Bobby struggled against the demons but he didn’t have any weapons with him and the only thing he could do was scream insults until the goons had him locked in shackles and shut him in tight.
**
“Bobby, there you are. I asked them to put you in our nicest accommodations but demons these days just don’t seem to understand hospitality. It’s all who you can torture and for how long. No observation of the niceties.”
“Right. What are you here for Crowley?”
Crowley snapped his fingers and the shackles came off Bobby’s wrists. The places where Bobby had rubbed the skin into blisters were healed and he was fresh and clean as a newborn angel’s butt. Crowley seemed delighted to hear his thoughts on that.
“There is a matter I need to discuss with you, Bobby,” Crowley confessed as he led Bobby out of the lower level tunnels. Bobby tried not to look into the rooms they crossed. This was hell and most people in those rooms weren’t innocents. They were amoral people, corrupt and sinful and as likely to turn on the next person as not. They weren’t all Sam and Dean who sold their souls to protect, who did it out of love.
“What could you need me for when you have all these syncophants lying around, waiting on you?” Bobby wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Crowley was playing at but there was some sort of game going on and he needed to get in on it before he was nothing more than a pawn.
“Yes, well, hearing of my awesome power is a nice bit for a fireside chat but syncophants aren’t really the best thinkers, now are they?”
Crowley led him away from the levels of screaming masses to a set of double doors that opened as if on command. The room inside was best described as opulent and Crowley walked to a round table and sat at one of the four chairs. There was a bowl of fruit in the center and Crowley took an apple and bit a chunk out of it.
Bobby looked around but nothing seemed to be ready to jump out at him. Crowley just sat and munched away at his apple as he watched Bobby.
“What do you want Crowley?”
“It’s really quite simple. I have a vested interest in those two hooligans you call Winchester. Sam is tucked away safe and sound for the moment, but his brother is in far more danger. While I could care less about what happens to a bunch of hunters, I need something retrieved from Purgatory and I am willing to help Dean escape to get what I need.”
“Dean’s in Purgatory?”
Crowley nodded but didn’t give any other information. Bobby scowled at the demon but Crowley’s smile only got brighter. Damned but Bobby needed to figure out this game.
“You’ll help get him out. What’s the price? What does he need to drag out with him?”
“Not a what. A who.”
“Who then?”
“It’s not really a matter of who.”
“What the hell do you want Crowley?”
Crowley smiled again. “There has to be a way to get out of Purgatory and I need that thick skull of yours to work it out. You have the whole of the vast libraries of hell at your disposal.”
Now that was damned tempting. “You’ll help Dean out of Purgatory if he smuggles someone out with him?”
“Absolutely.”
“I can’t guarantee Dean will help you.”
“I don’t expect you to Bobby. I’ve been around the Winchesters far too long to think they’ll go wherever a chain is yanked. If they would, I’d have saddled them with a harness long before now. All I want from you is to find the way out.”
“And I can look at whatever I want?”
“Any and everything you want. All of hell will be at your service.”
“Uh hu. And when I’m done, I get my pearly gates?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“I sure as hell don’t want the pit.”
“I would say I’m shocked, but I’m not. Enjoy your new accommodations. There will be a demon outside the door at all times to fetch and carry for you. If they aren’t performing to your standards, feel free to dispose of them. I have plenty more souls who want to serve.”
Crowley left the room in the same whirlwind he’d come and Bobby was left gaping into the silence of his departure. He had no idea what was happening but there was one thing Bobby had always been good at. Research. If Crowley wanted Bobby to open up Purgatory for Dean then there was something nasty he wanted on the outside. While Bobby tried to figure out how to get Dean free, he could keep an eye on Crowley and see what the end game was.
He took an apple from the tray and stopped before he took a bite. He bit a chunk out of it a minute later. Temptation wasn’t a damn fruit and he wasn’t Persephone either. Crowley had already given him the only thing that could tempt him into staying in hell; a chance to help his boys one last time. It was gonna end bad and he was a damned fool for thinking otherwise.
Still, Crowley was a king but if he thought Bobby was just a pawn, he’d find out there was still some armor left in Bobby’s arsenal.
**
He figured it out, the loophole. Purgatory wasn’t made for mortals and just the fact that Dean was there opened portals to other places. He just needed to find a way to get that information to Dean. The biggest problem was that if Dean found the portal and used it, Bobby wasn’t sure it would ever close again. It would leave Purgatory with a backdoor and Bobby sure as hell didn’t want Crowley to have access to that.
It was pay their piper now or later though and Bobby thought he might just be able to convince Crowley to keep him around long enough to figure out how to kill that backdoor. After Dean went through though.
“Ah, Bobby, I see you’ve finally left our lovely library.”
Library it was, with a mass of information Bobby had never witnessed before, but half the scrolls were made of human skin and most of the information were about things he had no desire to learn. Still, it was a vast library and Bobby had used it well.
“I need a vacation. You got any surf and sun in hell?”
Crowley laughed and the demons around him laughed just a moment behind him. “No wonder you brought me down here. They can’t even laugh on their own. Were they always this moronic or did you just let the really stupid ones close to you?”
Two demons stepped in front of him, one a small whisp of a girl and another a man that towered over him. Both were black eyed and snarling. Bobby didn’t hesitate as he pushed forward and grabbed each by the wrist. The Circle of Blood he’d performed on each hand made his grip unbreakable to demons and he finished the chant in record time. The demons couldn’t leave their host and instead of a stream of black smoke when they tried, they were forced back inside as the spell ate them from the inside out.
They shriveled before his eyes and Bobby let go as he looked up at Crowley.
Crowley laughed and the court around him cringed at the sound of it. “This is why I need a hunter at court,” he said with a sigh.
“Never boring and it keeps the imbeciles at bay.”
“You’re the king of ‘em Crowley, what does that say about you?”
“Careful now Bobby. Remember there can be no heaven without hell. What is the human soul but the chance to exert free will? Free will is nothing if there is not the choice for temptation.”
“And I care why?”
“The world needs me Bobby. The intellectual as well as the idiot. I offered Eve an apple and she ate. I offered you that same apple. I’ll let you decide who was the idiot in those two stories.”
“Temptation ain’t no apple,” Bobby replied.
“No, by an apple isn’t always an apple either. Perhaps, you were looking for a reason to stay as much as I was hoping the hunter in you would need to find a way to stay in the fight.”
“I have the way out, but that’s all you get Crowley. I’m done.”
Crowley sighed and shook his head back and forth for a moment. “I can see there is no changing your mind. The exit?”
Bobby handed the scroll to Crowley and waited to see what the demon did next.
“You personalized the delivery?”
“Anyone but you and me touches that scroll and it’ll go up in flames.”
“Nice touch.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo.”
“No, I suppose not. Well then a bargain is a bargain. You’re ride to heaven will be here soon so we’d better get you dressed for the part. Take him back to the cell.”
“That’s it?”
Crowley smiled. “You’ll go to heaven Bobby, but I think you’ll find it a rather dull place. There is a reason angels fall and for a hunter like you I can’t imagine a worse hell than having my hands tied to watch the people I love suffer and be able to do nothing about it. Just remember, Bobby, there are opportunities in hell, for a good man.”
The demons took Bobby away and he was put back into shackles. He had no idea what Crowley had planned for him but it didn’t take long to hear the rumors of what was going on outside of hell. Of how Dean had gotten free of Purgatory and how it had opened up a backdoor for their kind to slip in and out. Of the trials that Sam Winchester was being put through and how it would kill him in the end.
Bobby thought long and hard about what he’d seen and what he’d learned. Sam was going to come for him. He understood that. He knew what the trials would do and he had to get to his boys. Still, it would be good to see Sam one last time.
And when he got to heaven, well, Bobby had his own backdoor now too, sealed into the demon king’s floor by the death of his two faithful sycophants. He wasn’t sure what was better, to corrupt heaven or to try to save hell, but Bobby wasn’t going to trust in angels and demons to determine his own fate.
Crowley was right about one thing. Temptation ain’t an apple and Bobby knew that when he’d taken a bite. He may never be able to save another soul, but he wasn’t going to go down with a fight. Fruit basket or not.
Prompt Number: 1074
Artist: gryphon2k
Fic Title: Temptation Ain't An Apple
Author: hunters_retreat
Fandom/Genre: Gen
Pairing(s): None.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2000
Summary: Exactly what was Bobby doing during his time in hell? Heaven knows he isn't an angel, but Crowley could tempt a saint.
Author's Note: This was a pinch hit for the spn_reversebang. So much fun!!! And it was great to get to work with gryphon2k who was so sweet about the story and my ideas. Hope you enjoy!
Art Post
“What the hell is this horseshit?”
Bobby wasn’t an idiot. He’d made a deal with a demon and he’d expected it to come back and bite him in the ass more than once but when he’d gotten free of that contract, he thought he’d come away clean. So what the hell was he doing in hell?
“Bobby Singer, so good to see you old chap.”
“Did I miss something Crowley, because I’m pretty sure I’ve earned a ticket to Paradise, not the bottom of the rock Paradise was built on.”
Crowley smiled from his throne and if Bobby didn’t know better, he’d think Crowley looked genuinely happy to see him. The demons around him flinched when Crowley got up and the main man scowled before he looked back at Bobby.
“I think you’ll find Paradise isn’t what you thought it would be Bobby. I thought I’d let you take the scenic route to get there. Besides, with all the angels trying to get in and out it’s rather a mess. I’m really doing you a favor Bobby.”
“Right. Because that’s a thing you do. Favors for nothing.”
“You wound me Bobby, really. Right through my beating heart.”
“You don’t have a heart Crowley.”
Crowley seemed to think for a moment before he smiled again. “True. Take him away.”
Bobby struggled against the demons but he didn’t have any weapons with him and the only thing he could do was scream insults until the goons had him locked in shackles and shut him in tight.
**
“Bobby, there you are. I asked them to put you in our nicest accommodations but demons these days just don’t seem to understand hospitality. It’s all who you can torture and for how long. No observation of the niceties.”
“Right. What are you here for Crowley?”
Crowley snapped his fingers and the shackles came off Bobby’s wrists. The places where Bobby had rubbed the skin into blisters were healed and he was fresh and clean as a newborn angel’s butt. Crowley seemed delighted to hear his thoughts on that.
“There is a matter I need to discuss with you, Bobby,” Crowley confessed as he led Bobby out of the lower level tunnels. Bobby tried not to look into the rooms they crossed. This was hell and most people in those rooms weren’t innocents. They were amoral people, corrupt and sinful and as likely to turn on the next person as not. They weren’t all Sam and Dean who sold their souls to protect, who did it out of love.
“What could you need me for when you have all these syncophants lying around, waiting on you?” Bobby wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Crowley was playing at but there was some sort of game going on and he needed to get in on it before he was nothing more than a pawn.
“Yes, well, hearing of my awesome power is a nice bit for a fireside chat but syncophants aren’t really the best thinkers, now are they?”
Crowley led him away from the levels of screaming masses to a set of double doors that opened as if on command. The room inside was best described as opulent and Crowley walked to a round table and sat at one of the four chairs. There was a bowl of fruit in the center and Crowley took an apple and bit a chunk out of it.
Bobby looked around but nothing seemed to be ready to jump out at him. Crowley just sat and munched away at his apple as he watched Bobby.
“What do you want Crowley?”
“It’s really quite simple. I have a vested interest in those two hooligans you call Winchester. Sam is tucked away safe and sound for the moment, but his brother is in far more danger. While I could care less about what happens to a bunch of hunters, I need something retrieved from Purgatory and I am willing to help Dean escape to get what I need.”
“Dean’s in Purgatory?”
Crowley nodded but didn’t give any other information. Bobby scowled at the demon but Crowley’s smile only got brighter. Damned but Bobby needed to figure out this game.
“You’ll help get him out. What’s the price? What does he need to drag out with him?”
“Not a what. A who.”
“Who then?”
“It’s not really a matter of who.”
“What the hell do you want Crowley?”
Crowley smiled again. “There has to be a way to get out of Purgatory and I need that thick skull of yours to work it out. You have the whole of the vast libraries of hell at your disposal.”
Now that was damned tempting. “You’ll help Dean out of Purgatory if he smuggles someone out with him?”
“Absolutely.”
“I can’t guarantee Dean will help you.”
“I don’t expect you to Bobby. I’ve been around the Winchesters far too long to think they’ll go wherever a chain is yanked. If they would, I’d have saddled them with a harness long before now. All I want from you is to find the way out.”
“And I can look at whatever I want?”
“Any and everything you want. All of hell will be at your service.”
“Uh hu. And when I’m done, I get my pearly gates?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“I sure as hell don’t want the pit.”
“I would say I’m shocked, but I’m not. Enjoy your new accommodations. There will be a demon outside the door at all times to fetch and carry for you. If they aren’t performing to your standards, feel free to dispose of them. I have plenty more souls who want to serve.”
Crowley left the room in the same whirlwind he’d come and Bobby was left gaping into the silence of his departure. He had no idea what was happening but there was one thing Bobby had always been good at. Research. If Crowley wanted Bobby to open up Purgatory for Dean then there was something nasty he wanted on the outside. While Bobby tried to figure out how to get Dean free, he could keep an eye on Crowley and see what the end game was.
He took an apple from the tray and stopped before he took a bite. He bit a chunk out of it a minute later. Temptation wasn’t a damn fruit and he wasn’t Persephone either. Crowley had already given him the only thing that could tempt him into staying in hell; a chance to help his boys one last time. It was gonna end bad and he was a damned fool for thinking otherwise.
Still, Crowley was a king but if he thought Bobby was just a pawn, he’d find out there was still some armor left in Bobby’s arsenal.
**
He figured it out, the loophole. Purgatory wasn’t made for mortals and just the fact that Dean was there opened portals to other places. He just needed to find a way to get that information to Dean. The biggest problem was that if Dean found the portal and used it, Bobby wasn’t sure it would ever close again. It would leave Purgatory with a backdoor and Bobby sure as hell didn’t want Crowley to have access to that.
It was pay their piper now or later though and Bobby thought he might just be able to convince Crowley to keep him around long enough to figure out how to kill that backdoor. After Dean went through though.
“Ah, Bobby, I see you’ve finally left our lovely library.”
Library it was, with a mass of information Bobby had never witnessed before, but half the scrolls were made of human skin and most of the information were about things he had no desire to learn. Still, it was a vast library and Bobby had used it well.
“I need a vacation. You got any surf and sun in hell?”
Crowley laughed and the demons around him laughed just a moment behind him. “No wonder you brought me down here. They can’t even laugh on their own. Were they always this moronic or did you just let the really stupid ones close to you?”
Two demons stepped in front of him, one a small whisp of a girl and another a man that towered over him. Both were black eyed and snarling. Bobby didn’t hesitate as he pushed forward and grabbed each by the wrist. The Circle of Blood he’d performed on each hand made his grip unbreakable to demons and he finished the chant in record time. The demons couldn’t leave their host and instead of a stream of black smoke when they tried, they were forced back inside as the spell ate them from the inside out.
They shriveled before his eyes and Bobby let go as he looked up at Crowley.
Crowley laughed and the court around him cringed at the sound of it. “This is why I need a hunter at court,” he said with a sigh.
“Never boring and it keeps the imbeciles at bay.”
“You’re the king of ‘em Crowley, what does that say about you?”
“Careful now Bobby. Remember there can be no heaven without hell. What is the human soul but the chance to exert free will? Free will is nothing if there is not the choice for temptation.”
“And I care why?”
“The world needs me Bobby. The intellectual as well as the idiot. I offered Eve an apple and she ate. I offered you that same apple. I’ll let you decide who was the idiot in those two stories.”
“Temptation ain’t no apple,” Bobby replied.
“No, by an apple isn’t always an apple either. Perhaps, you were looking for a reason to stay as much as I was hoping the hunter in you would need to find a way to stay in the fight.”
“I have the way out, but that’s all you get Crowley. I’m done.”
Crowley sighed and shook his head back and forth for a moment. “I can see there is no changing your mind. The exit?”
Bobby handed the scroll to Crowley and waited to see what the demon did next.
“You personalized the delivery?”
“Anyone but you and me touches that scroll and it’ll go up in flames.”
“Nice touch.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo.”
“No, I suppose not. Well then a bargain is a bargain. You’re ride to heaven will be here soon so we’d better get you dressed for the part. Take him back to the cell.”
“That’s it?”
Crowley smiled. “You’ll go to heaven Bobby, but I think you’ll find it a rather dull place. There is a reason angels fall and for a hunter like you I can’t imagine a worse hell than having my hands tied to watch the people I love suffer and be able to do nothing about it. Just remember, Bobby, there are opportunities in hell, for a good man.”
The demons took Bobby away and he was put back into shackles. He had no idea what Crowley had planned for him but it didn’t take long to hear the rumors of what was going on outside of hell. Of how Dean had gotten free of Purgatory and how it had opened up a backdoor for their kind to slip in and out. Of the trials that Sam Winchester was being put through and how it would kill him in the end.
Bobby thought long and hard about what he’d seen and what he’d learned. Sam was going to come for him. He understood that. He knew what the trials would do and he had to get to his boys. Still, it would be good to see Sam one last time.
And when he got to heaven, well, Bobby had his own backdoor now too, sealed into the demon king’s floor by the death of his two faithful sycophants. He wasn’t sure what was better, to corrupt heaven or to try to save hell, but Bobby wasn’t going to trust in angels and demons to determine his own fate.
Crowley was right about one thing. Temptation ain’t an apple and Bobby knew that when he’d taken a bite. He may never be able to save another soul, but he wasn’t going to go down with a fight. Fruit basket or not.