Unexpected Destinies Chapter 126
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: 2,394
Summary: The demons and Dean find the chamber and the chalice.
PAST
Dean used the fork in the passageway as a totally valid reason to stop and take a quick rest. He was a little shorter of breath than he'd like to be, but he figured that he had a perfectly good reason for that so he tried to ignore it as much as possible other than making a mental note of how it might affect his reaction time should he need to move quickly or suddenly. It had taken him far longer than he'd liked to climb down the wall and he was more than a little worried that the demons would find their chalice (or whatever it was) and be gone before he could get there. Hence the reason that he'd been pushing himself but he could now make out faint sounds coming from the right branch in the fork which he took as a good sign.
Since the right passage was also the one that was lit, Dean was in no doubt that it was the one that he wanted, but he did note that the left passage sloped upwards quite noticeably. Short of trying to scale the abyss he'd fallen down, it was the best indicator that he'd seen yet of a way out of here, so he knew that he'd be back this way to try it. And the very best thing about it? It would be behind him so he wouldn't have to fight his way through a horde of demons to reach it. He'd just have to watch his back and ensure that no one got between him and it.
He took as deep a breath as he could with his broken ribs and checked his shotgun once more before moving on, deeper into the underground labyrinth so much of Teotihuacan was turning out to be. All things considered, Dean would much rather use his water gun now than the shotgun, but he just didn't think that it would be a good idea. While it was true that the water gun would be both quieter and easier on his ribs, he didn't have a ton of Holy water left and it just didn't make the same kind of impact that a salt round to the chest did, and he of all people should know that one after all. So, given his already injured state and the fact that he was so vastly outnumbered, he'd have to take down the demons as hard and as fast as he possibly could if he were to have any hope of getting the chalice, let alone of surviving this.
That was something else that Dean was trying his hardest not to think too much about; just how heavily he was outnumbered here. By demons. Sure, he'd gotten far better at dealing with them but it really wasn't more than a few short years ago that even facing one demon had seemed an almost insurmountable task, and that for two experienced hunters. There just hadn't been all that many of them about whereas now they were practically popping up all over the damn place, like some kind of household pest that you simply couldn't get rid of. He had to bite back a laugh at the idea, knowing only all too well just how certain demons would react to that particular comparison, but it was oh so very true nonetheless.
A sharp increase in the noise level made Dean stop and listen for a moment, making sure that no one was doubling back and coming his way. When he was sure that they weren't, he started creeping forwards once more, taking care to skirt the loose rock on the ground. He'd always been able to move surprisingly quietly for someone of his size and he put all of that skill to good use now. The passage curved to the right slightly so he was able to approach slowly and check the way before exposing himself to any potential threats.
When the passageway straightened out again, Dean could see light spilling out of what appeared to be a chamber just off of the corridor. There was absolutely nothing along the walls to indicated that this stretch was anything more than regular passageway, so he wondered if the entrance to this chamber had been hidden until the demon girl and her posse had arrived and opened it somehow. It would fit with what Castiel had said Michael had experienced. A hidden chamber with ancient artifacts and all kinds of other treasures. If Teotihuacan had any kind of curators, they were sure to have a heart attack in the near future at this rate. Not only would they discover that large sections of the underground city had been severely damaged, but they'd also find hundreds of invaluable objects sure to keep them in academic Heaven for decades to come. He nearly laughed at the image of some stuffy middle aged guys ignoring women and booze for a new rock of some kind.
Slowly, carefully, Dean approached the chamber door, hugging the passageway wall the entire way in order to provide him with the maximum cover possible given the situation. From the sounds of things, the demons were far too busy scavenging the treasures to find their precious chalice to pay the corridor any head, but it wouldn't do to be stupid and careless now of all times. At the door, he crouched down before risking a peak into the chamber itself. All of his childhood fantasies of what might lie within a hidden chamber in ancient ruins seemed to be coming true as the room was chalk full of glittering and gleaming treasures of all kinds. The flickering torchlight accentuated those objects to the extent that it took him a few seconds to realize that there were other, less shiny artifacts in the room as well. Those appeared to be tablets covered in little kids' drawings or various tools of unknown origins and he had no clue why they'd be in the chamber, but then he was no expert on Teotihuacanians, so who was he to judge if those weren't the most valuable things in the chamber?
Dean had gotten so used to the walls here being covered in all kinds of funky and weird shit that it took him a moment figure out what had caught his attention on the far wall of the chamber. There, among the paintings and carvings that he'd spotted elsewhere, was a sigil that he knew only all too well. A banishing sigil. No, an angelic banishing sigil. He drew in a deep, sharp breath at the sight, eyes widening as his mind raced to process it. The sigil fit in far too well with the rest of the drawings and carvings for it to be new, no, it had been deliberately worked into the decorations of this chamber when it had been made. Well, either that or things had been expertly altered by someone who'd had far more time to do so than the demons'd had. Besides, he didn't even think that he'd ever come across a demon that had been aware of this particular banishing sigil.
So all of that meant that the banishing sigil had been here before the demons had arrived.
This revelation put a completely new spin on everything else. Dean had just assumed that the demons had been manipulating the wealth of dark magic saturating Teotihuacan to their advantage during the earlier fighting, but what if it was more than that? What if there had already been various anti-angel spells and traps in place? Surely it made sense that where there was one such measure that there would be more. The question was why? Why was there a banishing sigil in this chamber and barriers specifically designed to keep angels out (and in) up above? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Much as Dean wanted to ponder this new discovery until he knew exactly what it meant, he knew that he just couldn't afford to do so right now. He was working on borrowed time as it was and at any second now one of the demons might look back and spot him. The problem was that the demons were all spread out. The chamber was by no means small and this meant that there was absolutely no way that he could attack so as to get them all. He'd be able to get a few, sure, but the others would be on him before he had a hope of doing anything to either stop or even slow them down first. Not to mention the fact that he didn't have a clue where in this mess the chalice in question was. Sure, he could see a few goblet shaped items but given that they were being ignored despite being in plain sight meant that they were probably not the chalice in question.
Silently, Dean cursed, wishing that he had at least some clue as to what chalice they were looking for and why. What on Earth would Lucifer want with a chalice anyway? Nothing good, that was for sure, but beyond that he had absolutely nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Which was just freaking perfect and totally figured.
In order to give himself some more time to think, Dean pulled back out of sight and closed his eyes. There had to be something that he could do. Was there any way that he could create a diversion of some kind? Draw all of their attention away from him so that he could sneak in and grab the chalice once they'd done the work for him and found it? It was a good idea in principle, but he just couldn't come up with anything suitable. All that he had on him were the shotgun, water gun and demon killing knife, all of which were great for close range combat but not particularly good as far as distractions went. Nor could he think of anything that might work given the very limited resources available around him.
The sound of cursing drew his attention and when Dean glanced into the chamber once more it was to see that things had shifted slightly. One of the demons must have moved the wrong item as a mini avalanche of sorts had occurred towards the far left end of the room, exposing a variety of new artifacts that had previously been hidden. The moment that his eyes landed on the chalice he knew that it was the one in question. Not only did it not fit in with the other items in the room, but it glowed faintly like some of the books from Heaven's library had done that his archangels had brought him to read.
Which meant that the chalice was a Heavenly artifact.
Apparently he wasn't the only one that could tell the chalice was different as in the next moment several of the demons were scrabbling forward, each seeking to grab it. Dean had to check a similar urge and in the process noticed the demon girl's eyes widening and then she vanished. Before he could ponder what the hell was up with that, the first demon had reached the chalice and snatched it up in his greedy little hands. There was an agonizing scream and then a flash of light so intense that he was forced to close his eyes with a startled grunt. Even with his eyes closed, everything lit up like he was looking directly into the sun before the light vanished. Carefully he opened his eyes once more, blinking away sunspots to find the demons gone, nothing but black scorch marks on the ground where they'd been standing to signify that they'd even been there.
Dumbly, Dean stared at them for a few seconds before he realized that the chalice must be far too Holy for a demon to touch and in doing so, the demon had triggered some kind of backlash that had wiped both him and the others out. Well, it definitely simplified things for him nicely. He'd just set foot into the chamber when the demon girl was back, blinking into existence right beside the chalice. It took her a moment to realize that he was there, but when she did she turned to him, her hand raising. Not giving her a chance to use her powers on him, he fired his shotgun, blasting her full of rock salt and sending her crashing into the wall behind her. She cried out, but quickly staggered back to her feet, not nearly as badly affected as he'd hoped. He cursed, of course she'd have to be one of the stronger demons. In a last, desperate attempt he lunged forwards hoping to get to the chalice.
It was useless.
Although wounded, the demon child was obviously still well enough to zap herself next to the chalice which she scooped up into a bag she pulled from a pocket.
"I will see you again, little human," she promised, carefully holding the bag as far from herself as possible. "And then you and your little angel will pay for this."
And with that she was gone even before Dean had covered half the distance to his goal. "No!" he cried out.
He's been so close. So close and yet it hadn't been enough. Dean kicked the nearest artifact in frustration, sending it flying across the room to smash into the far wall. The wall bearing the banishing sigil. For a moment he could only stare at it, able to see that it was done in dried blood now that he was closer to it.
A banishing sigil, anti-angel barriers and a chalice that glowed with the light of Heaven.
Dread settled into the pit of Dean's stomach the more that he thought about it. Someone had gone to great lengths to hide one of Heaven's artifacts here and to ensure that no angel could get their hands on it again and Lucifer had just successfully had his demons steal it for him. And what had they done? They'd brought an entire garrison of angels and two of Heaven's dwindling number of archangels right into the middle of it all.
"Cas! Mike!" Dean cried out and he spun around and ran as fast as he could back to the left fork and, hopefully, to his lover.
A.N.: I realize that this chapter is a bit shorter than normal, but it was this or wait 2-3 more days for an update. I figured this was better :)
Chapter 127
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 2,394
Summary: The demons and Dean find the chamber and the chalice.
PAST
Dean used the fork in the passageway as a totally valid reason to stop and take a quick rest. He was a little shorter of breath than he'd like to be, but he figured that he had a perfectly good reason for that so he tried to ignore it as much as possible other than making a mental note of how it might affect his reaction time should he need to move quickly or suddenly. It had taken him far longer than he'd liked to climb down the wall and he was more than a little worried that the demons would find their chalice (or whatever it was) and be gone before he could get there. Hence the reason that he'd been pushing himself but he could now make out faint sounds coming from the right branch in the fork which he took as a good sign.
Since the right passage was also the one that was lit, Dean was in no doubt that it was the one that he wanted, but he did note that the left passage sloped upwards quite noticeably. Short of trying to scale the abyss he'd fallen down, it was the best indicator that he'd seen yet of a way out of here, so he knew that he'd be back this way to try it. And the very best thing about it? It would be behind him so he wouldn't have to fight his way through a horde of demons to reach it. He'd just have to watch his back and ensure that no one got between him and it.
He took as deep a breath as he could with his broken ribs and checked his shotgun once more before moving on, deeper into the underground labyrinth so much of Teotihuacan was turning out to be. All things considered, Dean would much rather use his water gun now than the shotgun, but he just didn't think that it would be a good idea. While it was true that the water gun would be both quieter and easier on his ribs, he didn't have a ton of Holy water left and it just didn't make the same kind of impact that a salt round to the chest did, and he of all people should know that one after all. So, given his already injured state and the fact that he was so vastly outnumbered, he'd have to take down the demons as hard and as fast as he possibly could if he were to have any hope of getting the chalice, let alone of surviving this.
That was something else that Dean was trying his hardest not to think too much about; just how heavily he was outnumbered here. By demons. Sure, he'd gotten far better at dealing with them but it really wasn't more than a few short years ago that even facing one demon had seemed an almost insurmountable task, and that for two experienced hunters. There just hadn't been all that many of them about whereas now they were practically popping up all over the damn place, like some kind of household pest that you simply couldn't get rid of. He had to bite back a laugh at the idea, knowing only all too well just how certain demons would react to that particular comparison, but it was oh so very true nonetheless.
A sharp increase in the noise level made Dean stop and listen for a moment, making sure that no one was doubling back and coming his way. When he was sure that they weren't, he started creeping forwards once more, taking care to skirt the loose rock on the ground. He'd always been able to move surprisingly quietly for someone of his size and he put all of that skill to good use now. The passage curved to the right slightly so he was able to approach slowly and check the way before exposing himself to any potential threats.
When the passageway straightened out again, Dean could see light spilling out of what appeared to be a chamber just off of the corridor. There was absolutely nothing along the walls to indicated that this stretch was anything more than regular passageway, so he wondered if the entrance to this chamber had been hidden until the demon girl and her posse had arrived and opened it somehow. It would fit with what Castiel had said Michael had experienced. A hidden chamber with ancient artifacts and all kinds of other treasures. If Teotihuacan had any kind of curators, they were sure to have a heart attack in the near future at this rate. Not only would they discover that large sections of the underground city had been severely damaged, but they'd also find hundreds of invaluable objects sure to keep them in academic Heaven for decades to come. He nearly laughed at the image of some stuffy middle aged guys ignoring women and booze for a new rock of some kind.
Slowly, carefully, Dean approached the chamber door, hugging the passageway wall the entire way in order to provide him with the maximum cover possible given the situation. From the sounds of things, the demons were far too busy scavenging the treasures to find their precious chalice to pay the corridor any head, but it wouldn't do to be stupid and careless now of all times. At the door, he crouched down before risking a peak into the chamber itself. All of his childhood fantasies of what might lie within a hidden chamber in ancient ruins seemed to be coming true as the room was chalk full of glittering and gleaming treasures of all kinds. The flickering torchlight accentuated those objects to the extent that it took him a few seconds to realize that there were other, less shiny artifacts in the room as well. Those appeared to be tablets covered in little kids' drawings or various tools of unknown origins and he had no clue why they'd be in the chamber, but then he was no expert on Teotihuacanians, so who was he to judge if those weren't the most valuable things in the chamber?
Dean had gotten so used to the walls here being covered in all kinds of funky and weird shit that it took him a moment figure out what had caught his attention on the far wall of the chamber. There, among the paintings and carvings that he'd spotted elsewhere, was a sigil that he knew only all too well. A banishing sigil. No, an angelic banishing sigil. He drew in a deep, sharp breath at the sight, eyes widening as his mind raced to process it. The sigil fit in far too well with the rest of the drawings and carvings for it to be new, no, it had been deliberately worked into the decorations of this chamber when it had been made. Well, either that or things had been expertly altered by someone who'd had far more time to do so than the demons'd had. Besides, he didn't even think that he'd ever come across a demon that had been aware of this particular banishing sigil.
So all of that meant that the banishing sigil had been here before the demons had arrived.
This revelation put a completely new spin on everything else. Dean had just assumed that the demons had been manipulating the wealth of dark magic saturating Teotihuacan to their advantage during the earlier fighting, but what if it was more than that? What if there had already been various anti-angel spells and traps in place? Surely it made sense that where there was one such measure that there would be more. The question was why? Why was there a banishing sigil in this chamber and barriers specifically designed to keep angels out (and in) up above? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Much as Dean wanted to ponder this new discovery until he knew exactly what it meant, he knew that he just couldn't afford to do so right now. He was working on borrowed time as it was and at any second now one of the demons might look back and spot him. The problem was that the demons were all spread out. The chamber was by no means small and this meant that there was absolutely no way that he could attack so as to get them all. He'd be able to get a few, sure, but the others would be on him before he had a hope of doing anything to either stop or even slow them down first. Not to mention the fact that he didn't have a clue where in this mess the chalice in question was. Sure, he could see a few goblet shaped items but given that they were being ignored despite being in plain sight meant that they were probably not the chalice in question.
Silently, Dean cursed, wishing that he had at least some clue as to what chalice they were looking for and why. What on Earth would Lucifer want with a chalice anyway? Nothing good, that was for sure, but beyond that he had absolutely nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Which was just freaking perfect and totally figured.
In order to give himself some more time to think, Dean pulled back out of sight and closed his eyes. There had to be something that he could do. Was there any way that he could create a diversion of some kind? Draw all of their attention away from him so that he could sneak in and grab the chalice once they'd done the work for him and found it? It was a good idea in principle, but he just couldn't come up with anything suitable. All that he had on him were the shotgun, water gun and demon killing knife, all of which were great for close range combat but not particularly good as far as distractions went. Nor could he think of anything that might work given the very limited resources available around him.
The sound of cursing drew his attention and when Dean glanced into the chamber once more it was to see that things had shifted slightly. One of the demons must have moved the wrong item as a mini avalanche of sorts had occurred towards the far left end of the room, exposing a variety of new artifacts that had previously been hidden. The moment that his eyes landed on the chalice he knew that it was the one in question. Not only did it not fit in with the other items in the room, but it glowed faintly like some of the books from Heaven's library had done that his archangels had brought him to read.
Which meant that the chalice was a Heavenly artifact.
Apparently he wasn't the only one that could tell the chalice was different as in the next moment several of the demons were scrabbling forward, each seeking to grab it. Dean had to check a similar urge and in the process noticed the demon girl's eyes widening and then she vanished. Before he could ponder what the hell was up with that, the first demon had reached the chalice and snatched it up in his greedy little hands. There was an agonizing scream and then a flash of light so intense that he was forced to close his eyes with a startled grunt. Even with his eyes closed, everything lit up like he was looking directly into the sun before the light vanished. Carefully he opened his eyes once more, blinking away sunspots to find the demons gone, nothing but black scorch marks on the ground where they'd been standing to signify that they'd even been there.
Dumbly, Dean stared at them for a few seconds before he realized that the chalice must be far too Holy for a demon to touch and in doing so, the demon had triggered some kind of backlash that had wiped both him and the others out. Well, it definitely simplified things for him nicely. He'd just set foot into the chamber when the demon girl was back, blinking into existence right beside the chalice. It took her a moment to realize that he was there, but when she did she turned to him, her hand raising. Not giving her a chance to use her powers on him, he fired his shotgun, blasting her full of rock salt and sending her crashing into the wall behind her. She cried out, but quickly staggered back to her feet, not nearly as badly affected as he'd hoped. He cursed, of course she'd have to be one of the stronger demons. In a last, desperate attempt he lunged forwards hoping to get to the chalice.
It was useless.
Although wounded, the demon child was obviously still well enough to zap herself next to the chalice which she scooped up into a bag she pulled from a pocket.
"I will see you again, little human," she promised, carefully holding the bag as far from herself as possible. "And then you and your little angel will pay for this."
And with that she was gone even before Dean had covered half the distance to his goal. "No!" he cried out.
He's been so close. So close and yet it hadn't been enough. Dean kicked the nearest artifact in frustration, sending it flying across the room to smash into the far wall. The wall bearing the banishing sigil. For a moment he could only stare at it, able to see that it was done in dried blood now that he was closer to it.
A banishing sigil, anti-angel barriers and a chalice that glowed with the light of Heaven.
Dread settled into the pit of Dean's stomach the more that he thought about it. Someone had gone to great lengths to hide one of Heaven's artifacts here and to ensure that no angel could get their hands on it again and Lucifer had just successfully had his demons steal it for him. And what had they done? They'd brought an entire garrison of angels and two of Heaven's dwindling number of archangels right into the middle of it all.
"Cas! Mike!" Dean cried out and he spun around and ran as fast as he could back to the left fork and, hopefully, to his lover.
A.N.: I realize that this chapter is a bit shorter than normal, but it was this or wait 2-3 more days for an update. I figured this was better :)
Chapter 127