Paradiso (Gen, R )
Characters : Sam, Dean, Castiel, Bobby, Raphael, Eve
Word count : 1389 (this chapter)
Part 6 in a series.
You can read the whole work here over at AO3
Or here on LJ
Part 1 More
Part 2 Convection
Part 3 Inferno
Part 4 Equo ne Credite
Part 5 Purgatorio
"Cas. What the hell are you trying to say? I don't speak cryptic." Dean all but yells.
"Hmm...Sounds like a recruitment speech to me." Raphael says from next to Bobby's desk.
Bobby jumps out of his chair, knocking it over in the process. "Who the hell are you?"
Raphael smiles as she reveals her wings of lightning, and the temperature in the room plummets.
Castiel walks to her, slowly, "Raphael, why have you come? You know what I can do to you. Are you so eager to die?"
"You know Castiel, you keep threatening me with Heaven's arsenal, but I haven't seen any evidence of any of the weapons being used anywhere in months. I'm starting to think you lost them." Raphael smirks.
Castiel swallows, "You're mistaken."
"The little bird is lying," Eve says from the kitchen.
"Doesn't anybody friggin knock anymore?!" Dean yells.
Eve walks over to Raphael, slings her arm over her shoulder and whispers.
Bobby moves to stand next to Dean by the couch and mutters under his breath, "Shouldn't we make a sigil or something?"
Dean blinks and mutters back, "Workin' on it..."
Castiel stares from Raphael to Eve and back, "Are you...are you allying yourself with this creature, Raphael?"
Raphael laughs, "That's pretty funny, coming from you."
Eve circles Castiel and says, "We have similar interests."
"The enemy of my enemy, and all that." Raphael shakes her head, "Let me spell it out for you, brother. You know what I want. Lucifer and Michael are both trapped in the Cage. All I need to do is crack it open, and we'll be back on track."
Castiel tilts his head in confusion, "What are you talking about? You can't open the Cage...and Sam-"
"Sam said 'Yes'. If Lucifer is freed, that still holds. You think he can fight off the Morningstar twice in one lifetime?" Raphael taunts.
"And Michael? Will you raise Adam again? " Castiel asks.
"We won't have to." Raphael chuckles, and from behind him Castiel hears Bobby yell "No!"
Castiel whips around, but Eve and Dean are both gone.
-------------------
Dean struggles in Eve's hold, and then stops only because he's too confused to keep going.
They are standing on a large slab of rock in the middle of a river of lava. Directly in front of them, and reaching up as high as he can see is a thick, wall of inky black. Dean stares at it and can't figure out for a moment what it is exactly that's so unsettling about the wall - and then it moves. There's a slight undulating shift in several places at once and Dean realizes it's alive.
"Where are we?" he says, despite himself.
"This is all that's left of my home." Eve says, and Dean thinks he hears genuine sorrow there.
From behind them comes a growling noise and Dean turns around. A few dozen feet away, there are two people fighting. No, not people... - the rugaru and arachne are clutching at each other. Dean watches in fascinated horror as the black wall - which must be circular - closes in on the fighting monsters. The arachne screams - an inhuman, piercing sound that makes Dean wish he could cover his ears. The wall is reaching for her and as it touches her, her body is stretched, legs pulled impossibly long. Both of her legs split right down the middle, the skin, muscle, bone and sinew all tearing apart. Her arms stretch forward, splinter and elongate. Her head retracts and suddenly Dean is looking at an enormous spider.
The spider turns and crawls into the wall. The rugaru lunges after her and as soon as he touches the wall Dean can see the lower half of an over-sized worm wriggling through the black.
"What the Hell is happening?" Dean chokes out, as Eve tightens her hold on him.
The wall ripples as it answers, "My kingdom. My rules."
And he knows that voice. "Sam?" Dean whispers.
"Human bodies can't survive Hell- not unless they're occupied vessels. Or you." Eve snarls, "Your kingdom. Your rules." She steps forward, leaning on Dean until the left side of his face and half of his body are pressed against the black. "How good do you think his chances are, Sam? Do you honestly think his soul can make it through intact?!"
Dean screams in agony as he feels fire, hellfire, crawl over his skin everywhere he's touching what he now realizes is one giant mass of demon-smoke. Eve yanks him back and throws him unceremoniously behind her. Dean sees a brilliant white flash, feels a shock-wave of ice cold, and loses consciousness.
The wall ripples once more and then parts, pulling itself back. Where it retreats, there is a tear in reality - an odd flickering distortion at the border of the two dimensions merging.
-------------------
Bobby has given up on asking the angels to take their argument elsewhere and has resigned himself to being an unwilling audience of one. He pours himself a glass of whiskey and watches them from the relative safety of his kitchen table.
"Where are the weapons?" Raphael asks again.
"What you're doing is only going to make things worse. Our Apocalypse will not happen. It can't." Castiel says wearily.
"What makes you so sure...what are you hiding?" Raphael steps forward and looks into Castiel's eyes.
Castiel steps back and raises his hands up, gesturing, "Raphael, think for a moment. Every soul in Hell makes Sam stronger. What do you think is going to happen when Hell consumes Purgatory?"
Raphael laughs, "Sam will self-destruct. He'll lash out and kill anything around him and he'll break the Cage in the process. Lucifer will be free to reclaim his vessel, and Dean will accept Michael. "
"You're insane."
"Am I?" Raphael asks.
"Well," Bobby chuckles, "you sure as shit don't know Dean very well." The angels both turn and stare at him, and he adds, "Or Sam, for that matter." Bobby takes another drink.
-------------------
Dean jerks awake and finds himself hanging from something, and blinded. He sees after-images in his eyes of millions of stars and blinks to try to chase them away. There is a muted glow behind him, so he can just make out his hands, but can't see any further.
Suddenly, he feels himself being lowered, though he still can't see by what. He's surrounded by darkness, and it is absolute. Until it isn't.
Dean sees two pinpricks of light, and he watches them get brighter and brighter until he can finally see where he is.
Shortly thereafter, he wishes he couldn't.
The void around him parts like the Red Sea. The blackness pulls further and further back and away from him until Dean recognizes where he is. He sits, and looks up and up until he sees Sam on his throne with two massive wings made of demon-smoke. Sam stands up, and the wings unfold themselves, taking up the entire back wall of the room.
As Sam walks down the stairs, the smoke separates and solidifies as countless demons reform themselves and run, fly and crawl away as fast as they can.
Dean stands up to meet Sam, but Sam walks right past him, and over to Eve, who lies sprawled out on the ground, a few steps away from the foot of Sam's throne. She is lying partly on the last piece of her rapidly shrinking world - a small part of the rock slab she first brought Dean to.
Dean does a double take as he notices that Eve looks...different. Her head and arms still look human, but her lower half is serpentine. That's not what's bothering Dean though. He's seen so much weird today that a half-woman half-snake doesn't really phase him. What bothers him is that he knows it's Eve. With certainty, and a clarity he hasn't ever known before.
Sam walks up to Eve, who tries to raise herself up on her forearms. Before she's gotten her head even an inch off the ground, Sam steps on her throat and snaps her neck.
Previous Chapter : Purgatorio
Next Chapter : Theosis
Word count : 1389 (this chapter)
Part 6 in a series.
You can read the whole work here over at AO3
Or here on LJ
Part 1 More
Part 2 Convection
Part 3 Inferno
Part 4 Equo ne Credite
Part 5 Purgatorio
"Cas. What the hell are you trying to say? I don't speak cryptic." Dean all but yells.
"Hmm...Sounds like a recruitment speech to me." Raphael says from next to Bobby's desk.
Bobby jumps out of his chair, knocking it over in the process. "Who the hell are you?"
Raphael smiles as she reveals her wings of lightning, and the temperature in the room plummets.
Castiel walks to her, slowly, "Raphael, why have you come? You know what I can do to you. Are you so eager to die?"
"You know Castiel, you keep threatening me with Heaven's arsenal, but I haven't seen any evidence of any of the weapons being used anywhere in months. I'm starting to think you lost them." Raphael smirks.
Castiel swallows, "You're mistaken."
"The little bird is lying," Eve says from the kitchen.
"Doesn't anybody friggin knock anymore?!" Dean yells.
Eve walks over to Raphael, slings her arm over her shoulder and whispers.
Bobby moves to stand next to Dean by the couch and mutters under his breath, "Shouldn't we make a sigil or something?"
Dean blinks and mutters back, "Workin' on it..."
Castiel stares from Raphael to Eve and back, "Are you...are you allying yourself with this creature, Raphael?"
Raphael laughs, "That's pretty funny, coming from you."
Eve circles Castiel and says, "We have similar interests."
"The enemy of my enemy, and all that." Raphael shakes her head, "Let me spell it out for you, brother. You know what I want. Lucifer and Michael are both trapped in the Cage. All I need to do is crack it open, and we'll be back on track."
Castiel tilts his head in confusion, "What are you talking about? You can't open the Cage...and Sam-"
"Sam said 'Yes'. If Lucifer is freed, that still holds. You think he can fight off the Morningstar twice in one lifetime?" Raphael taunts.
"And Michael? Will you raise Adam again? " Castiel asks.
"We won't have to." Raphael chuckles, and from behind him Castiel hears Bobby yell "No!"
Castiel whips around, but Eve and Dean are both gone.
-------------------
Dean struggles in Eve's hold, and then stops only because he's too confused to keep going.
They are standing on a large slab of rock in the middle of a river of lava. Directly in front of them, and reaching up as high as he can see is a thick, wall of inky black. Dean stares at it and can't figure out for a moment what it is exactly that's so unsettling about the wall - and then it moves. There's a slight undulating shift in several places at once and Dean realizes it's alive.
"Where are we?" he says, despite himself.
"This is all that's left of my home." Eve says, and Dean thinks he hears genuine sorrow there.
From behind them comes a growling noise and Dean turns around. A few dozen feet away, there are two people fighting. No, not people... - the rugaru and arachne are clutching at each other. Dean watches in fascinated horror as the black wall - which must be circular - closes in on the fighting monsters. The arachne screams - an inhuman, piercing sound that makes Dean wish he could cover his ears. The wall is reaching for her and as it touches her, her body is stretched, legs pulled impossibly long. Both of her legs split right down the middle, the skin, muscle, bone and sinew all tearing apart. Her arms stretch forward, splinter and elongate. Her head retracts and suddenly Dean is looking at an enormous spider.
The spider turns and crawls into the wall. The rugaru lunges after her and as soon as he touches the wall Dean can see the lower half of an over-sized worm wriggling through the black.
"What the Hell is happening?" Dean chokes out, as Eve tightens her hold on him.
The wall ripples as it answers, "My kingdom. My rules."
And he knows that voice. "Sam?" Dean whispers.
"Human bodies can't survive Hell- not unless they're occupied vessels. Or you." Eve snarls, "Your kingdom. Your rules." She steps forward, leaning on Dean until the left side of his face and half of his body are pressed against the black. "How good do you think his chances are, Sam? Do you honestly think his soul can make it through intact?!"
Dean screams in agony as he feels fire, hellfire, crawl over his skin everywhere he's touching what he now realizes is one giant mass of demon-smoke. Eve yanks him back and throws him unceremoniously behind her. Dean sees a brilliant white flash, feels a shock-wave of ice cold, and loses consciousness.
The wall ripples once more and then parts, pulling itself back. Where it retreats, there is a tear in reality - an odd flickering distortion at the border of the two dimensions merging.
-------------------
Bobby has given up on asking the angels to take their argument elsewhere and has resigned himself to being an unwilling audience of one. He pours himself a glass of whiskey and watches them from the relative safety of his kitchen table.
"Where are the weapons?" Raphael asks again.
"What you're doing is only going to make things worse. Our Apocalypse will not happen. It can't." Castiel says wearily.
"What makes you so sure...what are you hiding?" Raphael steps forward and looks into Castiel's eyes.
Castiel steps back and raises his hands up, gesturing, "Raphael, think for a moment. Every soul in Hell makes Sam stronger. What do you think is going to happen when Hell consumes Purgatory?"
Raphael laughs, "Sam will self-destruct. He'll lash out and kill anything around him and he'll break the Cage in the process. Lucifer will be free to reclaim his vessel, and Dean will accept Michael. "
"You're insane."
"Am I?" Raphael asks.
"Well," Bobby chuckles, "you sure as shit don't know Dean very well." The angels both turn and stare at him, and he adds, "Or Sam, for that matter." Bobby takes another drink.
-------------------
Dean jerks awake and finds himself hanging from something, and blinded. He sees after-images in his eyes of millions of stars and blinks to try to chase them away. There is a muted glow behind him, so he can just make out his hands, but can't see any further.
Suddenly, he feels himself being lowered, though he still can't see by what. He's surrounded by darkness, and it is absolute. Until it isn't.
Dean sees two pinpricks of light, and he watches them get brighter and brighter until he can finally see where he is.
Shortly thereafter, he wishes he couldn't.
The void around him parts like the Red Sea. The blackness pulls further and further back and away from him until Dean recognizes where he is. He sits, and looks up and up until he sees Sam on his throne with two massive wings made of demon-smoke. Sam stands up, and the wings unfold themselves, taking up the entire back wall of the room.
As Sam walks down the stairs, the smoke separates and solidifies as countless demons reform themselves and run, fly and crawl away as fast as they can.
Dean stands up to meet Sam, but Sam walks right past him, and over to Eve, who lies sprawled out on the ground, a few steps away from the foot of Sam's throne. She is lying partly on the last piece of her rapidly shrinking world - a small part of the rock slab she first brought Dean to.
Dean does a double take as he notices that Eve looks...different. Her head and arms still look human, but her lower half is serpentine. That's not what's bothering Dean though. He's seen so much weird today that a half-woman half-snake doesn't really phase him. What bothers him is that he knows it's Eve. With certainty, and a clarity he hasn't ever known before.
Sam walks up to Eve, who tries to raise herself up on her forearms. Before she's gotten her head even an inch off the ground, Sam steps on her throat and snaps her neck.
Previous Chapter : Purgatorio
Next Chapter : Theosis