[FIC] - The Day the Whole World Went Away, part 2
When he manages to fall asleep, Sam's dreams range from unpredictably bizarre to downright Hellish. Lucifer is almost always the cause, too.
Sam doesn't remember dropping off to sleep at all. He had been sitting at the table with Castiel and Bobby, eating breakfast, and then-
He's in a forest, and the gray trees, bare of any foliage, stretch up into an empty gray sky. The only source of light comes from somewhere off in the distance, glowing like the moon as it breaks over the horizon; it's can't be the moon though -- it's too close. Sam wanders in that direction.
This has to be a dream, which makes it all so much more surreal that Sam recognizes he's sleeping.
Suddenly, he's standing at the edge of a wide clearing. There, resting peacefully in the middle of the dry, silvery grass is Cas. He's asleep on his stomach, his arms cradling his head. Broad, blue-black wings curl up from his shoulders, then fold loosely across his back.
The angel is illuminating the glade, radiating a warm glow that contrasts starkly with the drab neutrality of the rest of Sam's dream.
"Cas?" he breathes out softly, takes a step forward.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," warns a familiar voice.
Sam turns to see Lucifer -- of course -- leaning against a nearby tree. Rolling his eyes, he turns back to Castiel, intent on ignoring the archangel as he has been for weeks now-
Lucifer appears at his side, a gentle yet steady hand gripping Sam's elbow. "Please."
Sam jerks away, his eyes wide with fear as he spins to face Lucifer. The archangel has never been to touch him, to interact with Sam directly like that.
Raising his hands in reconciliation, Lucifer backs away slowly, as though Sam might do something rash at any moment. "I just-"
"How are you.... You're real," Sam says, unable to believe the words falling from his lips, yet he knows he's right.
Lucifer tilts his head, his brows drawing together as he frowns. "Of course I am. What do you-" he stops then, realization sinking in. He watches the sleeping form behind the hunter, fury spreading across his features. "Right."
"No! He didn't- well, he did, but-" Sam invades Lucifer's space, anger igniting within him as he shoves the archangel back. "If you want to throw around blame, we should start at the beginning, with everything you've done wrong! Me, Cas, Dean -- we're all broken because of you, because of Michael."
Lucifer looks hurt. "I didn't bring down that wall."
Sam's jaw drops and he grabs Lucifer, twisting fingers into coarse material as he snarls, "You- youare the reason it had to be put up in the first place!"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Lucifer says, but he smiles, his eyes lighting up with a pretentious air that only archangels ever manage to pull off. It falls away though, in stages, leaving Lucifer looking empty in a way that terrifies Sam. "You did it to yourself, Sam. When you said 'yes.'"
"What do you-" Sam shifts, but he doesn't slacken his grip even when Lucifer wraps long fingers around his wrists.
Life, or whatever it is that animates angels, bleeds back into Lucifer, and he does little more than hold on to Sam. Then he tilts his head again, watching the hunter through his lashes. "I left a hole in you here-" he releases one wrist and taps Sam on the chest, then his temple "-or here, depending on how you look at it. I tried to minimize the damage as much as possible, but I guess that wasn't enough."
"Well," Lucifer says with a roll of his eyes, "it was enough for you to break through my control and throw us back into the Cage...." Arms dropping to his sides, Lucifer meets Sam's still furious gaze. "We aren't that much different than you and Dean -- Michael and I. We both thought we were doing the right thing."
Sam snorts derisively. "The road to Hell-"
"Turns out we were wrong."
The sincerity rings true -- dangerously so -- and Sam lets go. He takes a worried step away, but Lucifer snatches him back, fingers curling around Sam's wrists harshly. Fear flashes through Sam and he turns his head, glances at the ground. The fingers become soft and repentant, then hands frame his face.... Sam doesn't bother trying to break away from the archangel.
"I'm sorry, Sam, for dragging you -- Dean and Cas too; everyone -- into our mess."
Sam's eyes dart back up to meet Lucifer's, and the silence folds in around them, heavy and oppressive. He has no idea how to respond to that....
A sigh shudders out from Cas, breaking the dreadful quiet. Lucifer and Sam both turn to watch as tension edges in along the sleeping angel's limbs, his brows drawing together as though from pain.
It occurs to Sam that if Lucifer is dreamwalking, then maybe this is really Cas as well, and not some mental projection or delusion.
Cas twists onto his side, his wings thumping to the ground with obvious weight. A wet cough draws Sam's eyes away from the dark feathers and up to Castiel's now open, blank gaze. Another cough and fluid splatters against the ground. The stuff drips from his ears and nose, flows from his eyes like inky tears.
"Cas!" Sam moves without thinking.
"Sam, don't-"
The panic threaded through Lucifer's voice stops Sam in his tracks. Cas is shining brightly, but black puddle stains the ground beneath Cas, and Sam falls to his knees, horrified. "What the Hellis going on here? I thought they were-"
"Gone?"
A hand tugs urgently at Sam's shoulder. He hadn't noticed Lucifer draw near enough to touch, but he scrabbles toward the archangel as the oily substance spreads, stealing toward them like it's alive and searching for prey.
Then Cas seizes up and the puddle reverses, flowing back into him. Wings beat against the ground --there's so much of it! There's no way it could have all come from, much less fit within Cas' vessel-
"The Leviathan are gone. What remains is basically toxic waste. The residue affects his Grace -- on a different plane, if you will -- so in the real world you're safe. Here? Well, I suggest you not find out," Lucifer says as he crouches down, his eyes glued to his writhing sibling. "Eventually, he'll work it out of his system -- not within yourlifetime," he adds, glancing at Sam. "With the way he's going, the next big bang could come and go, and he'll still, well-"
Lucifer gestures at Cas as the light dims around them.
Shivering, Cas pulls his knees up and tucks his unhindered wing around himself as though the creeping chill could be chased away so easily.
The last time Sam remembers Cas reacting to -- even noticing -- the temperature was when the angel was Falling. "There must be something we can do to help him."
"Why do you care?" Lucifer asks with such ease.
Sam jerks around, his anger rising with an alarming intensity, but the bitterness and sorrow he finds hidden in Lucifer's expression resonates far too deeply with Sam, and the words catch in his throat. He sighs, exhaling as much of his frustration as he can, and looks back to Cas. "Lucifer, please."
"Yes, but-" Sam can feel the archangel studying him "-it has to be a group effort. You guys are pretty terrible at that."
"I don't understand."
"Oh, come on, Sam. Like you said, you're all broken," Lucifer complains. Sam glares in return, which just prompts Lucifer into poking him in the chest again. "You have a hole that needs to be filled; Castiel thinks he deserves to die; and Dean exists only to protect you both, which, let's be reasonable here, is brave but stupid considering anything that could take out Castiel would tear through your brother without a second thought. You are all surviving for the sake of each other, yet not a one of you remembers what it means to live."
Lucifer crawls toward Cas, reaching out tentatively to brush the hair away from his worried brow. When nothing terrible happens, Lucifer sits and gently rearranges the dark wings so he can rest Cas' head in his lap.
Heartache strikes Sam, hard and fast, making his chest constrict as he watches on. None of this is fair, and he can't bring himself to place much blame on the archangel as much as he probably should. Cas shifts, turning into the touch when Lucifer cups his face.
"How is he here anyway? Did you-"
"No." He snorts as his hands begin to glow. "Cas is certainly... peculiar. You all need to remember what you fought for, why you jumped into the Pit. Not because it was right, but why it was right."
Sam watches for a few minutes before asking, "What are you doing?"
Lucifer shrugs. "What I can with the time left."
Sam sits up with enough force that his knees knock against the underside of the table. He has no idea how long he's been out, but someone cleared away the remnants of their breakfast without waking him up.
Cas is sitting opposite him, staring out the window. Glancing outside, Sam sees Dean working on the Impala once again.
Confused, Sam tilts his head. "Have you been sitting here the who-"
"Good morning, sunshine-" Lucifer sings in his ear, and Sam grits his teeth and shuts his eyes as black fluid bleeds from Cas' face "-did you sleep well?"
"Lucifer says hello," Castiel says evenly, and Sam's eyes fly open in shock.
Other than looking concerned, Cas seems fine. Sam's words still come out sounding strangled. "What do you mean by that, Cas?"
Remorse crosses the angel's face. "Dean said I needed to try to lighten up, but I suppose I should avoid attempts at humor. Did you sleep well?"
Sam doesn't know how to reply.