Unexpected Destinies Chapter 124
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: 2,868
Summary: Things go from bad to worse at Teotihuacan.
PAST
Dean muttered and cursed as he fought off the demons with Castiel, hoping that Michael was faring better than them. No matter how many demons that they seemed to maim or kill, others constantly took their place.
"Can the demons get past whatever is holding you guys out?" Dean asked, darting forward with his knife to stab the demon his lover was fighting.
He'd found it a handy trick, let Castiel distract them with his sword and then come in from behind his angel, generally under Castiel's wing and arm, and knife the demon before it even realized that he was there. Not that they'd probably have paid him much head if they had noticed him as most of the demons seemed to ignore him in favor of focusing on the angels. He was kinda insulted by that even if he could see why they might consider the angels a far great threat than him. Besides, most of them didn't seem to realize just who exactly he was and he had absolutely no qualms about using that against them. Especially not given the discrepancy in numbers in this fight.
"Yes," Castiel stated. "And Raphael says that they have reinforcements arriving."
"Fuck, that's just great."
"Considering that they arrived on the other side of the barrier, it's not all that bad."
Dean smiled as he thought of that particular scene. He bet those demons hadn't expected to arrive only to be confronted by three garrisons of angry angels, just spoiling for a fight.
"I guess the game's up and Lucy knows that we're only him."
"Of that I have no doubt."
There was an ominous rumble far closer than any of the others that he'd heard recently and Dean threw himself to the side, only just checking the instinct to try and shove his lover aside. Given the situation, Castiel's initial impulse would not be to give way but rather to stand firm and he had no desire to do the equivalent of running full tilt into a brick wall. There was a loud crash from where he'd just stood before rocks of various sizes hit his arms where he had them up, protecting his head.
The moment he stopped getting pelted with rock fragments, Dean rolled painfully to the side just in case a demon had sought to use the distraction to his advantage. He needn't have bothered as the only demons nearby had been crushed under the collapse of the ceiling. In the light of the sun that now streamed into the chamber, he could see his lover standing tall among the debris, coated in a light dusting of rock and wearing a startled expression that made him laugh once. Only an angel could come out of something like that looking perplexed rather than shocked or in pain.
The sound of his laugh seemed to snap Castiel out of it and Dean watched his lover stab once into the rumble before flying to his side as he got to his feet.
"Dean, are you okay?" Castiel demanded.
"Yeah, got out of the way in time."
"Good, come."
They used the opportunity to get back towards the main group of angels whom they'd gotten somewhat separated from and Dean switched to his water gun. With all of the angels around, he was able to refill it before he began to fire, not needing to worry about his aim as the Holy water wasn't even the minor irritant a salt round was to an angel. The close proximity did turn out to have one disadvantage which he soon discovered upon getting a face full of feathers when turning around to look behind him.
The angel whose wing it was looked just as startled as him and Dean had a split-second to reflect that most of those present here of the angelic variety had probably never even encountered a human that could see their wings, let alone actually touch them. Then he noticed the demon trying to use the angel's distraction to its advantage and he brought his water gun to bear and gave it a face full of Holy water. That seemed to snap the angel out of her shock and she turned around to finish the demon off.
"How's Mike holding up?" Dean asked, turning back to Castiel and frowning at the displeased look that crossed his lover's face until Castiel reached forwards and plucked a steel gray feather from his shoulder. "It was an accident as she thought that they'd pass right through me like normal."
Castiel seemed to want to protest that, but then let it go. "Michael has been similarly attacked but the demons there seem to be fleeing now."
"Great, so either they're more intimidating than us or the demons have realized that what they want isn't there."
"Michael believes it to be the latter as the demons only started to flee after breaking into and ransacking a chamber filled with all manner of ancient treasure and artifacts."
"Shit. So where's that chamber here? Surely there must be one or they wouldn't be here."
"I don't know."
Their conversation was interrupted as more demons showed up and since they'd somehow worked their way to the edge of the melee once more, Dean swapped the water gun for his shotgun and started firing away, able to hit some of the demons long before they were in range of angelic swords.
This wave of the attack was so fierce and the demon numbers so large that at first Dean didn't feel the swell of magic in the air around him and it wasn't until it had reached significant proportions that it captured his attention. The feel of it made his hair stand on end and a shiver raced down his spine, the feel of it dark and slick, like some slime that he'd accidentally rolled into. It clung to the air, poisoning it and he watched with horror as the angels near him blanched and seemed to physically wilt before his eyes.
"Cas!" Dean called out, eyes darting about frantically to find his lover.
His angel seemed to be doing a little better than his siblings, but not by much. Dean could see how much it was affecting Castiel when their eyes met. He opened his mouth to say more when the magic seemed to swell in the air all around them before it pulsed. He stumbled like he'd been hit, watching in horror as all of the angels around him, including his lover, went down like dominoes.
"And they all go down!"
The voice was young, female and with just enough of an edge of insanity to it that for a horrible moment Dean feared that it was Lilith, back from the grave somehow. Then he realized that it couldn't be but the flicker of hesitation cost him as the little girl's eyes went white and she raised a hand even before he could bring his shotgun up and around. He was flung aside like some ragdoll, going head over heels before he seemed to hit something and then go through it. The pain was intense, like a thousand tiny knives stabbing at him all at once and he screamed. The unexpected agony scrambled his brain for a moment and then the wind was knocked out of him as he hit the floor, rolling a few times before he finally lay still, dazed.
"Dean!"
The voice and panic were both familiar, but it took Dean a moment to place them and then to try and respond. His whole body hurt and he wanted to do nothing more than to close his eyes and slip into unconsciousness but he knew that he couldn't afford to do so. Not only might he never wake up from that again (well, at least not alive anyway), but every instinct in him also pushed for him to respond to his lover.
"Dean!" Castiel cried out again, sounding frantic.
With every last bit of determination Dean had, he forced his arms to move, pushing against the uneven floor beneath him and he lifted his head.
"Dean," Castiel said again, but far less frantic now that their eyes could meet.
His lover had to be a good eighty feet away and Dean frowned, not understanding why Castiel didn't come to him, before he noticed the way his angel seemed to be leaning against an invisible barrier of some sort. Dread settled into the pit of his stomach as he realized what was going on even as he felt the swell of dark magic all around him once more.
He'd gone through one of the anti-angel barriers, no wonder it had hurt like a son of a bitch. Given everything that had happened to him as of late, he was actually kind of surprised that he'd managed to penetrate it at all, extreme velocity or not.
"Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies," the little demon girl's voice rose above the resumed melee. "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"
There was an ominous rumble and the stone beneath Dean shuddered and began to move. He lunged to his feet, all but throwing himself towards Castiel whose eyes had gone wide in fear. Dust rose in clouds along the edges of the corridor he was in and even before he'd covered half of the distance he knew that the floor beneath him was giving way.
"Cas!" Dean called out, racing the last of the distance and mentally preparing himself for the intense pain of going through the anti-angel barrier once more only to hit it like it was an impenetrable wall.
"Dean!" Castiel cried out in dismay before his lover tried to take his sword to the magic keeping them separated.
It wasn't going to work, Dean already knew and he looked about frantically for a ledge on either side of the corridor, but there was nothing. The entire floor was at a thirty degree downward angle already and he had to fight not to fall backwards into the black abyss that was opening up beneath him. He had a frantic thought of trying to leap across to where the floor remained intact and flat, but the distance was already far too wide for him to even have a hope of making it.
"I don't suppose you got a spare set of wings that I could borrow, do you, Cas?" Dean asked, looking back at his lover, trying to swallow down his terror.
"Dean."
Castiel's voice was so small and helpless that Dean wanted to do nothing more than reach out and soothe his lover, but he knew that he couldn't, either physically or emotionally. For a moment his throat closed up and he couldn't get anything out, but as the floor kept dropping away beneath him and he was forced to reach down and try and find a hold to grasp onto with his hands while his boots lost their perches, he was able to force the most important words out.
"I love you, Cas."
"No! Dean, no, Dean," his angel was now trying to claw his way to him and there was blood on the invisible barrier.
He opened his mouth to tell Castiel to stop, to turn his attention to the demons still behind his lover when the rock crumbled beneath his fingers and he went sliding down the floor, racing to the edge and the darkness below even as he sought frantically for something- anything!- to grasp hold of but there was nothing and then he was over the edge, his momentum ripping him free of the fragile hold he'd managed to get on the end of what had been the floor.
"Dean!"
/
Castiel desperately reached out with his Grace towards his mate, but it was useless, the barrier was keeping him firmly in place and helpless as Dean vanished from view with a cry. Even their bond was currently being blocked by the dark magic all around him and he'd long since lost the ability to so much as sense his mate, even when Dean had been standing right beside him. Denial, loss and rage welled within him as he now wasn't even able to so much as detect whether his hunter was still alive or not and he whirled around with a cry, swinging his blade at the nearest demon that he could find.
As he slowly became more aware of his surroundings once more, having been totally absorbed by his mate's plight, Castiel detected the almost manic laughter of the child demon whose words seemed to have precipitated Dean's fall. Fury came to life within him at this clear target and he began to force his way towards her, decimating any demon that dared to so much as try and stand in his way or which just happened to stumble within his reach. He could feel the concern of his brothers and sisters all around him but none of them managed to reach him but one who was much further away.
"Castiel, Brother, what happened?" Michael questioned. "What is wrong?"
The mere thought of telling his eldest brother about what had happened to his mate was too much and Castiel tried to ignore Michael's pleas for information as he cut a swathe of destruction towards the demon child. She'd noticed his approach by now, almost impossible not to, and was watching him with a perverse glee in her eyes.
"Castiel, please!" Michael insisted. "Is it... has something happened to- to Dean?"
The fragile way the question was asked with the almost desperate undercurrent, Michael all but begging him to deny it, made Castiel howl and he lunged forwards, needing a distraction. He got close, far closer than he had any reasonable expectation too, but then he was suddenly shoved aside. The force was far stronger than normal demon psychic energy but far weaker than the dark magic that had been used against him and his siblings earlier.
She was toying with him, letting him think that he stood a chance when really she held all of the cards here.
"Is it possible that this could be a trap or ruse of some sort? I mean, make it look like this is important so that we'd confront the demons here on a turf of Lucifer's choosing rich in dark magic and where he has all of the advantages?"
Dean's words came back to haunt him and Castiel saw red at the painful, painful memory so he did the only thing that he could; he tried again. Like the last time he was batted aside as if he were nothing rather than an archangel, infinitely more powerful than any demon could ever hope to be. At least under normal circumstances, but this was far from normal as his mate had so wisely seen just a few short hours ago. Had they been blinded by their own arrogance to think that this could go any other way? That they'd stood any hope at all of coming out of this with all of them alive and unscratched?
No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all, Castiel reminded himself. They'd had to do this. Had to at least try and stop Lucifer from attaining that which he obviously wanted to desperately.
"Pretty, pretty little angel," the demon child singsonged, smiling manically at him. "So much fun to play with, could do so all day long." Then she turned more morose, as if reminded of something unpleasant. "Could, but can't. Daddy wants a little gift and I have to go find it to give it to him. Pretty, shiny gift for Daddy or he will get very, very angry. So ta, ta little angel. Maybe we'll play again later."
Castiel watched her go with a sense of disbelief, stunned that she was really just going to leave him here like this. It was the last thing that he'd expected from her after the glee he'd seen in her eyes upon witnessing his grief and causing him further pain.
"Perhaps if I see your little pet down there I'll send you back a part of him as your very own pretty little present," she smiled at him, her golden curls bouncing gaily as she nodded. "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh. Maybe an eye or a finger or- ooh, how about his heart?"
The very thought of her laying a single finger on his mate, dead or alive, forced Castiel to his feet once more and he lunged at her only to hit yet another invisible barrier.
"Na uh, bad little angel, very bad. Now maybe I won't send you a present, or perhaps just at the very end, so that you can see it before you die."
With those words, she made a little, dismissive flick with her left hand and Castiel cried out in surprise as pain lanced through him. Instinctively he jerked back only to collide with another impenetrable barrier at his back. A quick exploration revealed that he was sealed into a small circular space, completely unable to get out as the dark magic crackled all around him, pulsing slowly in ever more powerful waves.
A.N.: Angsty enough for you folks? Runs & hides.
Chapter 125
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 2,868
Summary: Things go from bad to worse at Teotihuacan.
PAST
Dean muttered and cursed as he fought off the demons with Castiel, hoping that Michael was faring better than them. No matter how many demons that they seemed to maim or kill, others constantly took their place.
"Can the demons get past whatever is holding you guys out?" Dean asked, darting forward with his knife to stab the demon his lover was fighting.
He'd found it a handy trick, let Castiel distract them with his sword and then come in from behind his angel, generally under Castiel's wing and arm, and knife the demon before it even realized that he was there. Not that they'd probably have paid him much head if they had noticed him as most of the demons seemed to ignore him in favor of focusing on the angels. He was kinda insulted by that even if he could see why they might consider the angels a far great threat than him. Besides, most of them didn't seem to realize just who exactly he was and he had absolutely no qualms about using that against them. Especially not given the discrepancy in numbers in this fight.
"Yes," Castiel stated. "And Raphael says that they have reinforcements arriving."
"Fuck, that's just great."
"Considering that they arrived on the other side of the barrier, it's not all that bad."
Dean smiled as he thought of that particular scene. He bet those demons hadn't expected to arrive only to be confronted by three garrisons of angry angels, just spoiling for a fight.
"I guess the game's up and Lucy knows that we're only him."
"Of that I have no doubt."
There was an ominous rumble far closer than any of the others that he'd heard recently and Dean threw himself to the side, only just checking the instinct to try and shove his lover aside. Given the situation, Castiel's initial impulse would not be to give way but rather to stand firm and he had no desire to do the equivalent of running full tilt into a brick wall. There was a loud crash from where he'd just stood before rocks of various sizes hit his arms where he had them up, protecting his head.
The moment he stopped getting pelted with rock fragments, Dean rolled painfully to the side just in case a demon had sought to use the distraction to his advantage. He needn't have bothered as the only demons nearby had been crushed under the collapse of the ceiling. In the light of the sun that now streamed into the chamber, he could see his lover standing tall among the debris, coated in a light dusting of rock and wearing a startled expression that made him laugh once. Only an angel could come out of something like that looking perplexed rather than shocked or in pain.
The sound of his laugh seemed to snap Castiel out of it and Dean watched his lover stab once into the rumble before flying to his side as he got to his feet.
"Dean, are you okay?" Castiel demanded.
"Yeah, got out of the way in time."
"Good, come."
They used the opportunity to get back towards the main group of angels whom they'd gotten somewhat separated from and Dean switched to his water gun. With all of the angels around, he was able to refill it before he began to fire, not needing to worry about his aim as the Holy water wasn't even the minor irritant a salt round was to an angel. The close proximity did turn out to have one disadvantage which he soon discovered upon getting a face full of feathers when turning around to look behind him.
The angel whose wing it was looked just as startled as him and Dean had a split-second to reflect that most of those present here of the angelic variety had probably never even encountered a human that could see their wings, let alone actually touch them. Then he noticed the demon trying to use the angel's distraction to its advantage and he brought his water gun to bear and gave it a face full of Holy water. That seemed to snap the angel out of her shock and she turned around to finish the demon off.
"How's Mike holding up?" Dean asked, turning back to Castiel and frowning at the displeased look that crossed his lover's face until Castiel reached forwards and plucked a steel gray feather from his shoulder. "It was an accident as she thought that they'd pass right through me like normal."
Castiel seemed to want to protest that, but then let it go. "Michael has been similarly attacked but the demons there seem to be fleeing now."
"Great, so either they're more intimidating than us or the demons have realized that what they want isn't there."
"Michael believes it to be the latter as the demons only started to flee after breaking into and ransacking a chamber filled with all manner of ancient treasure and artifacts."
"Shit. So where's that chamber here? Surely there must be one or they wouldn't be here."
"I don't know."
Their conversation was interrupted as more demons showed up and since they'd somehow worked their way to the edge of the melee once more, Dean swapped the water gun for his shotgun and started firing away, able to hit some of the demons long before they were in range of angelic swords.
This wave of the attack was so fierce and the demon numbers so large that at first Dean didn't feel the swell of magic in the air around him and it wasn't until it had reached significant proportions that it captured his attention. The feel of it made his hair stand on end and a shiver raced down his spine, the feel of it dark and slick, like some slime that he'd accidentally rolled into. It clung to the air, poisoning it and he watched with horror as the angels near him blanched and seemed to physically wilt before his eyes.
"Cas!" Dean called out, eyes darting about frantically to find his lover.
His angel seemed to be doing a little better than his siblings, but not by much. Dean could see how much it was affecting Castiel when their eyes met. He opened his mouth to say more when the magic seemed to swell in the air all around them before it pulsed. He stumbled like he'd been hit, watching in horror as all of the angels around him, including his lover, went down like dominoes.
"And they all go down!"
The voice was young, female and with just enough of an edge of insanity to it that for a horrible moment Dean feared that it was Lilith, back from the grave somehow. Then he realized that it couldn't be but the flicker of hesitation cost him as the little girl's eyes went white and she raised a hand even before he could bring his shotgun up and around. He was flung aside like some ragdoll, going head over heels before he seemed to hit something and then go through it. The pain was intense, like a thousand tiny knives stabbing at him all at once and he screamed. The unexpected agony scrambled his brain for a moment and then the wind was knocked out of him as he hit the floor, rolling a few times before he finally lay still, dazed.
"Dean!"
The voice and panic were both familiar, but it took Dean a moment to place them and then to try and respond. His whole body hurt and he wanted to do nothing more than to close his eyes and slip into unconsciousness but he knew that he couldn't afford to do so. Not only might he never wake up from that again (well, at least not alive anyway), but every instinct in him also pushed for him to respond to his lover.
"Dean!" Castiel cried out again, sounding frantic.
With every last bit of determination Dean had, he forced his arms to move, pushing against the uneven floor beneath him and he lifted his head.
"Dean," Castiel said again, but far less frantic now that their eyes could meet.
His lover had to be a good eighty feet away and Dean frowned, not understanding why Castiel didn't come to him, before he noticed the way his angel seemed to be leaning against an invisible barrier of some sort. Dread settled into the pit of his stomach as he realized what was going on even as he felt the swell of dark magic all around him once more.
He'd gone through one of the anti-angel barriers, no wonder it had hurt like a son of a bitch. Given everything that had happened to him as of late, he was actually kind of surprised that he'd managed to penetrate it at all, extreme velocity or not.
"Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies," the little demon girl's voice rose above the resumed melee. "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"
There was an ominous rumble and the stone beneath Dean shuddered and began to move. He lunged to his feet, all but throwing himself towards Castiel whose eyes had gone wide in fear. Dust rose in clouds along the edges of the corridor he was in and even before he'd covered half of the distance he knew that the floor beneath him was giving way.
"Cas!" Dean called out, racing the last of the distance and mentally preparing himself for the intense pain of going through the anti-angel barrier once more only to hit it like it was an impenetrable wall.
"Dean!" Castiel cried out in dismay before his lover tried to take his sword to the magic keeping them separated.
It wasn't going to work, Dean already knew and he looked about frantically for a ledge on either side of the corridor, but there was nothing. The entire floor was at a thirty degree downward angle already and he had to fight not to fall backwards into the black abyss that was opening up beneath him. He had a frantic thought of trying to leap across to where the floor remained intact and flat, but the distance was already far too wide for him to even have a hope of making it.
"I don't suppose you got a spare set of wings that I could borrow, do you, Cas?" Dean asked, looking back at his lover, trying to swallow down his terror.
"Dean."
Castiel's voice was so small and helpless that Dean wanted to do nothing more than reach out and soothe his lover, but he knew that he couldn't, either physically or emotionally. For a moment his throat closed up and he couldn't get anything out, but as the floor kept dropping away beneath him and he was forced to reach down and try and find a hold to grasp onto with his hands while his boots lost their perches, he was able to force the most important words out.
"I love you, Cas."
"No! Dean, no, Dean," his angel was now trying to claw his way to him and there was blood on the invisible barrier.
He opened his mouth to tell Castiel to stop, to turn his attention to the demons still behind his lover when the rock crumbled beneath his fingers and he went sliding down the floor, racing to the edge and the darkness below even as he sought frantically for something- anything!- to grasp hold of but there was nothing and then he was over the edge, his momentum ripping him free of the fragile hold he'd managed to get on the end of what had been the floor.
"Dean!"
/
Castiel desperately reached out with his Grace towards his mate, but it was useless, the barrier was keeping him firmly in place and helpless as Dean vanished from view with a cry. Even their bond was currently being blocked by the dark magic all around him and he'd long since lost the ability to so much as sense his mate, even when Dean had been standing right beside him. Denial, loss and rage welled within him as he now wasn't even able to so much as detect whether his hunter was still alive or not and he whirled around with a cry, swinging his blade at the nearest demon that he could find.
As he slowly became more aware of his surroundings once more, having been totally absorbed by his mate's plight, Castiel detected the almost manic laughter of the child demon whose words seemed to have precipitated Dean's fall. Fury came to life within him at this clear target and he began to force his way towards her, decimating any demon that dared to so much as try and stand in his way or which just happened to stumble within his reach. He could feel the concern of his brothers and sisters all around him but none of them managed to reach him but one who was much further away.
"Castiel, Brother, what happened?" Michael questioned. "What is wrong?"
The mere thought of telling his eldest brother about what had happened to his mate was too much and Castiel tried to ignore Michael's pleas for information as he cut a swathe of destruction towards the demon child. She'd noticed his approach by now, almost impossible not to, and was watching him with a perverse glee in her eyes.
"Castiel, please!" Michael insisted. "Is it... has something happened to- to Dean?"
The fragile way the question was asked with the almost desperate undercurrent, Michael all but begging him to deny it, made Castiel howl and he lunged forwards, needing a distraction. He got close, far closer than he had any reasonable expectation too, but then he was suddenly shoved aside. The force was far stronger than normal demon psychic energy but far weaker than the dark magic that had been used against him and his siblings earlier.
She was toying with him, letting him think that he stood a chance when really she held all of the cards here.
"Is it possible that this could be a trap or ruse of some sort? I mean, make it look like this is important so that we'd confront the demons here on a turf of Lucifer's choosing rich in dark magic and where he has all of the advantages?"
Dean's words came back to haunt him and Castiel saw red at the painful, painful memory so he did the only thing that he could; he tried again. Like the last time he was batted aside as if he were nothing rather than an archangel, infinitely more powerful than any demon could ever hope to be. At least under normal circumstances, but this was far from normal as his mate had so wisely seen just a few short hours ago. Had they been blinded by their own arrogance to think that this could go any other way? That they'd stood any hope at all of coming out of this with all of them alive and unscratched?
No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all, Castiel reminded himself. They'd had to do this. Had to at least try and stop Lucifer from attaining that which he obviously wanted to desperately.
"Pretty, pretty little angel," the demon child singsonged, smiling manically at him. "So much fun to play with, could do so all day long." Then she turned more morose, as if reminded of something unpleasant. "Could, but can't. Daddy wants a little gift and I have to go find it to give it to him. Pretty, shiny gift for Daddy or he will get very, very angry. So ta, ta little angel. Maybe we'll play again later."
Castiel watched her go with a sense of disbelief, stunned that she was really just going to leave him here like this. It was the last thing that he'd expected from her after the glee he'd seen in her eyes upon witnessing his grief and causing him further pain.
"Perhaps if I see your little pet down there I'll send you back a part of him as your very own pretty little present," she smiled at him, her golden curls bouncing gaily as she nodded. "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh. Maybe an eye or a finger or- ooh, how about his heart?"
The very thought of her laying a single finger on his mate, dead or alive, forced Castiel to his feet once more and he lunged at her only to hit yet another invisible barrier.
"Na uh, bad little angel, very bad. Now maybe I won't send you a present, or perhaps just at the very end, so that you can see it before you die."
With those words, she made a little, dismissive flick with her left hand and Castiel cried out in surprise as pain lanced through him. Instinctively he jerked back only to collide with another impenetrable barrier at his back. A quick exploration revealed that he was sealed into a small circular space, completely unable to get out as the dark magic crackled all around him, pulsing slowly in ever more powerful waves.
A.N.: Angsty enough for you folks? Runs & hides.
Chapter 125