Unexpected Destinies Chapter 41
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: 2,424
Summary: The rest of the meeting in the desert between Sam, Dean and the others.
PRESENT
"The hell?" Samuel whispered questioningly.
Sam shrugged. "It's a Dean and Cas thing, they used to do it all the time, sometimes for minutes on end."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just chalked it up as an angel thing along with Cas' complete inability to respect personal space."
"I noticed that."
The tone of his grandfather's voice nearly made Sam smile, but he stilled the impulse as it was completely inappropriate given the situation.
"We haven't told you before as there was no reason for you to know," Michael suddenly declared.
"No reason?" Christian repeated in disbelief, voice rising sharply. "How about so we could try and stop this fucking Apocalypse!"
"We are already working on that and have no need for your... assistance, such as it is."
The archangel's arrogant and dismissive tone alone would have angered Sam, but his brother' aborted laugh made it even worse. "Excuse me? In case you've forgotten, I've been involved in this from the start, unlike you."
"Yes, and you have been such a big help. No, if this Apocalypse is going to be ended, it will be with Dean's assistance, not yours."
"Oh for G- crying out loud! There you go again with all that prophecy bullshit, surely you've learned by now how worthless that is. Dean is br-"
"You had better think very carefully about what you plan to say next, Sam Winchester," Castiel interrupted, his voice steel.
"No, that's okay, Cas, I think I know exactly what he wants to say anyway," Dean replied. "What was it again? Oh, right, you didn't think I'd be up to the task, that I was too weak and couldn't make the tough decisions anymore. Well, guess what, Sam, I did make a tough decision, I chose to leave you out of this."
"That's not true," Christian weighed in. "We would always have welcomed another hunter, especially one with your experience."
"Oh, please," Dean scoffed, looking at his cousin. "You thought I'd be rusty and didn't want the help of a, what did you call me again?, oh, yeah, 'a master torturer'."
"How the hell do you know about that?" Christian asked, stunned.
The look Castiel threw Christian was about as smug as Sam had ever seen the angel. "I am more then capable of cloaking both my own presence and that of Dean from human perception."
"You were spying on us?"
"No, Dean merely wished to see his brother with his own two eyes after learning the truth. It was a very enlightening trip."
That particular revelation threw Sam for another loop. At least it explained a number of the unanswered questions he'd had. The thought of Dean having been there for any of the discussions they'd had about him was unnerving. Just because that was what he thought of his older brother and what he'd needed to tell his family about him, didn't mean he wanted Dean to hear that. His brother took things far too personally.
"If you don't think we can help you win the Apocalypse, then why did you call us here?" Samuel asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
"To warn you," Michael stated.
"About what?"
"Good ol' Lucy," Dean answered. "Now that he's out, he'll be looking for a vessel again."
The words froze Sam once more, the mere thought of the devil slipping inside him again too horrible to really think about. Once had been more then enough, he really didn't want to experience it again.
"I won't let him in, I won't say yes," Sam declared.
"You don't have a choice," Castiel replied. "You've already given him your permission, that's all he needs to take you whenever he wants."
"What? Isn't there some way of nullifying that?" Samuel demanded.
"There is, but it is a difficult and painful ritual to complete."
"I'll do it," Sam stated without hesitation.
"Very well, we shall collect all we need and come find you."
"Good, but that's only the first part of why we're here," Dean said. "Mike says that-"
"Mike? Mike!" Samuel exclaimed in disbelief, looking at the archangel. "You let him call you that?"
Michael gave a long suffering sigh and shot Dean an exasperated look. "No, but he persists in calling me that regardless."
"And what, you're just going to let him get away with that?" Christian demanded.
"He is my vessel," Michael replied with a shrug and Sam couldn't help but notice how human the archangel was, much more so than Castiel had ever been, even after nearly two years of interacting with humans. "In any case, it is preferable to the Mikey he started out with."
Mickey? Sam nearly gaped at his brother in disbelief but was able contain the impulse just in time. The rest of his family wasn't and that alone told him all he needed to know about how well his grandfather knew his brother. Though Dean managed to catch him off-guard time and again with his complete irreverence, the fact that Dean felt the impulse to do so and then acted on it had long since ceased to surprise him. Of course his older brother would feel the need to nickname the oldest and possibly the strongest archangel after a children's cartoon mouse. No, what was surprising is that he had not only survived doing so, but had gotten said archangel to agree to another nickname in its stead.
Dean snorted. "Oh, you know you like it."
The words and teasing tone did make Sam gape this time. They were so casual and friendly, and spoke of a much deeper bond then he could possible picture between Dean and Michael. Hell, the angel had just called his brother his vessel! Surely Dean wasn't just going to let him get away with that? And why on Earth wasn't Castiel all over his brother for those words? He'd definitely made his opinion on the matter clear to Dean when he'd been stupid enough to try saying yes to Michael.
"But, as I was saying, Mike said that the rest of you need to be on guard as well as Lucifer may try you if he can't get at Sam," Dean said.
"Wait, how would he be able to take them?" Bobby questioned. "You said it was a bloodline thing and they're not related to John."
"No, the ability to be my vessel comes down from Abel through the Winchester bloodline to Dean," Michael explained. "That is how I was able to use both Adam and Deirdre be my vessels. The ability to house Lucifer, however, came to Sam via his mother. That runs through the Campbell bloodline."
"What?" Christian demanded in disbelief.
The news had Sam looking at his grandfather and cousins in fear. When he'd first found them, he'd been so happy to have discovered that he not only had family he hadn't known about, but that they were ones completely unconnected to the whole Apocalypse fiasco. Apparently he'd been wrong, horribly so. Never once had it occurred to him that his ability to house Lucifer hadn't come from his father, not after Dean's little chat with Michael during their trip to the past.
"With the exception of Bobby, you are all able to become vessels, though imperfect ones, for Lucifer," Castiel reiterated.
"How?" Gwen asked, speaking up for the first time.
"That's a question best posed to Sam, I think," Dean responded.
"Michael, Castiel," it was the African-American man, or angel most likely.
Sam's suspicions were confirmed when both Castiel and Michael turned towards him and seemed to hold an entirely silent conversation with the guy.
"What?" Dean demanded, looking between the three angels.
"We need to go," Castiel stated.
Instead of arguing or demanding more information, Dean took one look at Castiel's eyes and nodded his assent. The action made Sam frown, not liking the trust his older brother was giving the angel so readily. True, in the past he'd trusted the little nerdy angel himself, but things had clearly changed since then. They were calmly standing there with Michael of all pe- angels! The king douchebag himself for whom Zachariah had worked and who'd tried to force Dean into becoming a puppet so his body could be used to kill millions of innocent people. Things had clearly gone horribly wrong here and his older brother needed saving from himself once more. This whole situation reminded him far too strongly of Ruby for his comfort, couldn't Dean see that? He'd been the one to try and warn Sam off of her in the first place. He supposed it was more difficult when the shoe was on the other foot.
"Okay, let's blow this joint," Dean replied.
"No, wai-" Sam began, but in the blink of an eye it was already too late.
Dean, the three angels and the Impala were all just gone; disappearing into thin air without a trace.
"The hell?" Christian exclaimed, looking around sharply. "What just happened?"
"Angels can just appear and disappear like demons," Sam explained wearily. "They call it flying as they really do have wings, apparently."
"And they can take humans with them?"
"Yes, though it's not a particularly pleasant experience."
"I've never seen them transport something as big as the Impala, though," Bobby said. "And none of them were even touching it."
"Must be an archangel thing then, as you're right, Cas never seemed to be able to do any of that."
"My question is what do we do now?" Samuel demanded. "How much do you two know about the Apocalypse and what we're supposed to expect?"
"What don't we know about it would be a better bet," Bobby replied wearily. "We only spent two years researching it."
"Yeah, but nothing we found said anything about this, of Lucifer being able to get out of his cage like this."
"From the sounds of it, you altered things pretty thoroughly when you pulled Michael into that cage with Lucifer," Gwen stated. "I'm not sure there'd be anything out there that can help us anyway."
"Not to mention the fact that we don't have much information on how he got out and what he's been up to since then," Mark added, speaking up for once.
"What we need to do is get somewhere that we can organize all that we know and start coming up with a plan," Sam stated.
"I take it we're not going to do as Dean wants then," Bobby concluded.
"What, and just sit back and do nothing while the end of the world could be upon us? Come on, Bobby."
"I was just checking, is all."
"Do you really think it's a good idea to leave it to him seeing who Dean's hanging out with now?" Sam demanded, incredulous. "How long before Michael talks Dean into being his vessel, do you think?"
"Castiel would never allow it, you saw what he did to Dean the last time he tried that."
"What if he's changed his mind? What if Cas now thinks that Dean should do it? Dean wasn't the only one who'd lost almost all hope at the end there, if Cas were to think it was their only way, I don't think he'd hesitate for a moment to let Dean do it."
"I think you're underestimating how much he cares for your brother."
"What does that have to do with it? Michael's already promised to leave Dean fully functional, perhaps that's all Castiel cares about."
"Stop, Sam, didn't you say that there were something like several million lives at stake here?" Samuel questioned. "That if Dean said yes and Michael defeated Lucifer that they'd still destroy half the planet in their fight?"
"Yes."
"Well then we can't take that risk," Christian declared. "Especially not with Dean in charge of making that choice."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bobby demanded sharply.
"Just that he doesn't seem to be the best hunter to begin with and then you've got all the added stuff from Hell. I just don't think you can trust anyone who's done some of the things he has, is all."
"Christian," Samuel said warningly.
Sam swallowed as Bobby turned a furious gaze his way. It had been quite a while since he'd seen the older hunter so enraged, not since he'd run Dad off his property with a loaded gun.
"Sam Winchester, we need to talk. Now."
/
"What?" Sam demanded the moment Bobby had dragged him far enough away from the others that he was sure they could no longer hear them.
"What do you mean, what?" Bobby snapped back. "You know exactly what I've got a problem with, ya idjit."
"Look, Bobby can we not do this now? We apparently have an Apocalypse to deal with again."
"No, we are doing this now. How could you, Sam?"
"How could I what?"
"Betray your brother's trust like that?"
"I didn't."
"Then how does Christian know about what Dean did in Hell?"
"I thought they had a right to know."
"A right to know?!" Bobby exclaimed. "Your brother told you that in confidence, Sam Winchester! He told you that trusting that you wouldn't just go around telling other people."
"They aren't just other people, they're family!"
"Which almost makes it even worse."
"Damnit, Bobby, they can be trusted."
"Oh, and how long after you met them did you wait to tell them about this?"
"Bobby-"
"How long."
"Long enough."
There were times when Bobby could understand what Dean was thinking when he slugged his baby brother, Lord knew he wanted to sometimes. Like right now. Instead he took a deep breath and tried to avoid letting his own hurt at the elder Winchester's behavior color his interaction with the younger.
"You still had no right to tell them about that," Bobby stated.
"Yeah, well, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on that."
"You might want to rethink that assessment if you want to have any hope of reconciling with your brother."
"What the hell do you mean with that?"
"Just that I don't think Dean will be the one to bridge the gap this time and you have one huge apology to give if you want to get your brother back."
"I have an apology to give? What about the one he owes me, huh?" Sam demanded, furious. "We did what was best for him, we gave him the best opportunity a hunter can have to get out of this life and be happy. It's not our fault that he fucked it up."
Chapter 42
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 2,424
Summary: The rest of the meeting in the desert between Sam, Dean and the others.
PRESENT
"The hell?" Samuel whispered questioningly.
Sam shrugged. "It's a Dean and Cas thing, they used to do it all the time, sometimes for minutes on end."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just chalked it up as an angel thing along with Cas' complete inability to respect personal space."
"I noticed that."
The tone of his grandfather's voice nearly made Sam smile, but he stilled the impulse as it was completely inappropriate given the situation.
"We haven't told you before as there was no reason for you to know," Michael suddenly declared.
"No reason?" Christian repeated in disbelief, voice rising sharply. "How about so we could try and stop this fucking Apocalypse!"
"We are already working on that and have no need for your... assistance, such as it is."
The archangel's arrogant and dismissive tone alone would have angered Sam, but his brother' aborted laugh made it even worse. "Excuse me? In case you've forgotten, I've been involved in this from the start, unlike you."
"Yes, and you have been such a big help. No, if this Apocalypse is going to be ended, it will be with Dean's assistance, not yours."
"Oh for G- crying out loud! There you go again with all that prophecy bullshit, surely you've learned by now how worthless that is. Dean is br-"
"You had better think very carefully about what you plan to say next, Sam Winchester," Castiel interrupted, his voice steel.
"No, that's okay, Cas, I think I know exactly what he wants to say anyway," Dean replied. "What was it again? Oh, right, you didn't think I'd be up to the task, that I was too weak and couldn't make the tough decisions anymore. Well, guess what, Sam, I did make a tough decision, I chose to leave you out of this."
"That's not true," Christian weighed in. "We would always have welcomed another hunter, especially one with your experience."
"Oh, please," Dean scoffed, looking at his cousin. "You thought I'd be rusty and didn't want the help of a, what did you call me again?, oh, yeah, 'a master torturer'."
"How the hell do you know about that?" Christian asked, stunned.
The look Castiel threw Christian was about as smug as Sam had ever seen the angel. "I am more then capable of cloaking both my own presence and that of Dean from human perception."
"You were spying on us?"
"No, Dean merely wished to see his brother with his own two eyes after learning the truth. It was a very enlightening trip."
That particular revelation threw Sam for another loop. At least it explained a number of the unanswered questions he'd had. The thought of Dean having been there for any of the discussions they'd had about him was unnerving. Just because that was what he thought of his older brother and what he'd needed to tell his family about him, didn't mean he wanted Dean to hear that. His brother took things far too personally.
"If you don't think we can help you win the Apocalypse, then why did you call us here?" Samuel asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
"To warn you," Michael stated.
"About what?"
"Good ol' Lucy," Dean answered. "Now that he's out, he'll be looking for a vessel again."
The words froze Sam once more, the mere thought of the devil slipping inside him again too horrible to really think about. Once had been more then enough, he really didn't want to experience it again.
"I won't let him in, I won't say yes," Sam declared.
"You don't have a choice," Castiel replied. "You've already given him your permission, that's all he needs to take you whenever he wants."
"What? Isn't there some way of nullifying that?" Samuel demanded.
"There is, but it is a difficult and painful ritual to complete."
"I'll do it," Sam stated without hesitation.
"Very well, we shall collect all we need and come find you."
"Good, but that's only the first part of why we're here," Dean said. "Mike says that-"
"Mike? Mike!" Samuel exclaimed in disbelief, looking at the archangel. "You let him call you that?"
Michael gave a long suffering sigh and shot Dean an exasperated look. "No, but he persists in calling me that regardless."
"And what, you're just going to let him get away with that?" Christian demanded.
"He is my vessel," Michael replied with a shrug and Sam couldn't help but notice how human the archangel was, much more so than Castiel had ever been, even after nearly two years of interacting with humans. "In any case, it is preferable to the Mikey he started out with."
Mickey? Sam nearly gaped at his brother in disbelief but was able contain the impulse just in time. The rest of his family wasn't and that alone told him all he needed to know about how well his grandfather knew his brother. Though Dean managed to catch him off-guard time and again with his complete irreverence, the fact that Dean felt the impulse to do so and then acted on it had long since ceased to surprise him. Of course his older brother would feel the need to nickname the oldest and possibly the strongest archangel after a children's cartoon mouse. No, what was surprising is that he had not only survived doing so, but had gotten said archangel to agree to another nickname in its stead.
Dean snorted. "Oh, you know you like it."
The words and teasing tone did make Sam gape this time. They were so casual and friendly, and spoke of a much deeper bond then he could possible picture between Dean and Michael. Hell, the angel had just called his brother his vessel! Surely Dean wasn't just going to let him get away with that? And why on Earth wasn't Castiel all over his brother for those words? He'd definitely made his opinion on the matter clear to Dean when he'd been stupid enough to try saying yes to Michael.
"But, as I was saying, Mike said that the rest of you need to be on guard as well as Lucifer may try you if he can't get at Sam," Dean said.
"Wait, how would he be able to take them?" Bobby questioned. "You said it was a bloodline thing and they're not related to John."
"No, the ability to be my vessel comes down from Abel through the Winchester bloodline to Dean," Michael explained. "That is how I was able to use both Adam and Deirdre be my vessels. The ability to house Lucifer, however, came to Sam via his mother. That runs through the Campbell bloodline."
"What?" Christian demanded in disbelief.
The news had Sam looking at his grandfather and cousins in fear. When he'd first found them, he'd been so happy to have discovered that he not only had family he hadn't known about, but that they were ones completely unconnected to the whole Apocalypse fiasco. Apparently he'd been wrong, horribly so. Never once had it occurred to him that his ability to house Lucifer hadn't come from his father, not after Dean's little chat with Michael during their trip to the past.
"With the exception of Bobby, you are all able to become vessels, though imperfect ones, for Lucifer," Castiel reiterated.
"How?" Gwen asked, speaking up for the first time.
"That's a question best posed to Sam, I think," Dean responded.
"Michael, Castiel," it was the African-American man, or angel most likely.
Sam's suspicions were confirmed when both Castiel and Michael turned towards him and seemed to hold an entirely silent conversation with the guy.
"What?" Dean demanded, looking between the three angels.
"We need to go," Castiel stated.
Instead of arguing or demanding more information, Dean took one look at Castiel's eyes and nodded his assent. The action made Sam frown, not liking the trust his older brother was giving the angel so readily. True, in the past he'd trusted the little nerdy angel himself, but things had clearly changed since then. They were calmly standing there with Michael of all pe- angels! The king douchebag himself for whom Zachariah had worked and who'd tried to force Dean into becoming a puppet so his body could be used to kill millions of innocent people. Things had clearly gone horribly wrong here and his older brother needed saving from himself once more. This whole situation reminded him far too strongly of Ruby for his comfort, couldn't Dean see that? He'd been the one to try and warn Sam off of her in the first place. He supposed it was more difficult when the shoe was on the other foot.
"Okay, let's blow this joint," Dean replied.
"No, wai-" Sam began, but in the blink of an eye it was already too late.
Dean, the three angels and the Impala were all just gone; disappearing into thin air without a trace.
"The hell?" Christian exclaimed, looking around sharply. "What just happened?"
"Angels can just appear and disappear like demons," Sam explained wearily. "They call it flying as they really do have wings, apparently."
"And they can take humans with them?"
"Yes, though it's not a particularly pleasant experience."
"I've never seen them transport something as big as the Impala, though," Bobby said. "And none of them were even touching it."
"Must be an archangel thing then, as you're right, Cas never seemed to be able to do any of that."
"My question is what do we do now?" Samuel demanded. "How much do you two know about the Apocalypse and what we're supposed to expect?"
"What don't we know about it would be a better bet," Bobby replied wearily. "We only spent two years researching it."
"Yeah, but nothing we found said anything about this, of Lucifer being able to get out of his cage like this."
"From the sounds of it, you altered things pretty thoroughly when you pulled Michael into that cage with Lucifer," Gwen stated. "I'm not sure there'd be anything out there that can help us anyway."
"Not to mention the fact that we don't have much information on how he got out and what he's been up to since then," Mark added, speaking up for once.
"What we need to do is get somewhere that we can organize all that we know and start coming up with a plan," Sam stated.
"I take it we're not going to do as Dean wants then," Bobby concluded.
"What, and just sit back and do nothing while the end of the world could be upon us? Come on, Bobby."
"I was just checking, is all."
"Do you really think it's a good idea to leave it to him seeing who Dean's hanging out with now?" Sam demanded, incredulous. "How long before Michael talks Dean into being his vessel, do you think?"
"Castiel would never allow it, you saw what he did to Dean the last time he tried that."
"What if he's changed his mind? What if Cas now thinks that Dean should do it? Dean wasn't the only one who'd lost almost all hope at the end there, if Cas were to think it was their only way, I don't think he'd hesitate for a moment to let Dean do it."
"I think you're underestimating how much he cares for your brother."
"What does that have to do with it? Michael's already promised to leave Dean fully functional, perhaps that's all Castiel cares about."
"Stop, Sam, didn't you say that there were something like several million lives at stake here?" Samuel questioned. "That if Dean said yes and Michael defeated Lucifer that they'd still destroy half the planet in their fight?"
"Yes."
"Well then we can't take that risk," Christian declared. "Especially not with Dean in charge of making that choice."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bobby demanded sharply.
"Just that he doesn't seem to be the best hunter to begin with and then you've got all the added stuff from Hell. I just don't think you can trust anyone who's done some of the things he has, is all."
"Christian," Samuel said warningly.
Sam swallowed as Bobby turned a furious gaze his way. It had been quite a while since he'd seen the older hunter so enraged, not since he'd run Dad off his property with a loaded gun.
"Sam Winchester, we need to talk. Now."
/
"What?" Sam demanded the moment Bobby had dragged him far enough away from the others that he was sure they could no longer hear them.
"What do you mean, what?" Bobby snapped back. "You know exactly what I've got a problem with, ya idjit."
"Look, Bobby can we not do this now? We apparently have an Apocalypse to deal with again."
"No, we are doing this now. How could you, Sam?"
"How could I what?"
"Betray your brother's trust like that?"
"I didn't."
"Then how does Christian know about what Dean did in Hell?"
"I thought they had a right to know."
"A right to know?!" Bobby exclaimed. "Your brother told you that in confidence, Sam Winchester! He told you that trusting that you wouldn't just go around telling other people."
"They aren't just other people, they're family!"
"Which almost makes it even worse."
"Damnit, Bobby, they can be trusted."
"Oh, and how long after you met them did you wait to tell them about this?"
"Bobby-"
"How long."
"Long enough."
There were times when Bobby could understand what Dean was thinking when he slugged his baby brother, Lord knew he wanted to sometimes. Like right now. Instead he took a deep breath and tried to avoid letting his own hurt at the elder Winchester's behavior color his interaction with the younger.
"You still had no right to tell them about that," Bobby stated.
"Yeah, well, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on that."
"You might want to rethink that assessment if you want to have any hope of reconciling with your brother."
"What the hell do you mean with that?"
"Just that I don't think Dean will be the one to bridge the gap this time and you have one huge apology to give if you want to get your brother back."
"I have an apology to give? What about the one he owes me, huh?" Sam demanded, furious. "We did what was best for him, we gave him the best opportunity a hunter can have to get out of this life and be happy. It's not our fault that he fucked it up."
Chapter 42