Stronger Than Billions of Corrupted Souls
Disclaimer:
I do not own anything from Supernatural.
Summary:
Sequel to "More Pure Than an Angel's Grace." Castiel has demanded they bow down and profess their love which amazingly holds the answer to fixing things. Now if only Dean could just suck it up and stop pretending he doesn't have the power to do it.
"C-Cas," Ambriel coughs up blood as she calls him. She's kneeling by the blonde angel, the one who tried to foolishly protect her from Raphael but even though Barky had a higher rank in heaven than herself Barkiel had been no match for the archangel.
It was futile, they had known. Raziel had informed them of what would happen if they came with Dean and Bobby but since they were going to have to be there anyway they reasoned they could stand a little pain to support the two hunters.
Castiel looked away from Dean to his sister. Unlike the humans these two had not betrayed him. They had told him they understood but reminded him it was their duty to protect Dean and had been conveniently absent when he had torn down Sam's wall. Yes, they were his only family. He feels a twinge of sympathy as she kneels there with Barkiel resting on her lap and can just imagine Dean and himself in a similar position. A spark of anger is rekindled inside as he reminds himself that the hunter doesn't trust him, not even now after saving their lives once again. With a thought he heals both angels before turning back to Dean, all but ignoring Sam and Bobby. "I'm your new God. A better one. So you will bow down and profess your love unto me, your Lord. Or I shall destroy you."
Barkiel moved so she was on her knees beside Amy though they're aware there is no need to be. Castiel knows that they're loyal to him.
"All hail the mighty Godstiel," Ambriel says sarcastically though she's smiling.
The grey-eyed angel is grinning. "I'll say it even though you already know; we love you Cas."
He smiles and nods to acknowledge them but then his attention returns to Dean who is staring at the two in disbelief.
The older Winchester doesn't know why he's surprised. In fact, out of everyone there he should've seen Castiel's command as something neither of them would see a big deal in following. He frowns as the blonde angel catches his gazes and tilts her head, signaling with her eyes in the direction of the new god. Does she truly expect him to bow down and profess his, his eyes widen slightly. Oh. Oh!
Barkiel smirks slightly and nods vigorously for a second.
"Dean?"
His green eyes focus back in the direction of Castiel. Will it really work? He does, after all, care for Cas, but will it be enough? Is it possible? Then his eyes narrow slightly as he recalls how Barky sat him down and explained how it worked. It wasn't hard to conclude this was another thing the angel had known was going to happen. In fact, she couldn't have been more obvious about him needing to know such a thing.
"You should try it some time whenever Castiel gets out of line. It packs a particular punch on angels."
It had also explained why Raziel had not only agreed to keep Castiel away when Amy had briefly gone bad but why the two angels had made him and Sammy promise to never talk about the method used to bring her back. So if the blonde truly believed he could save Cas, that must mean that he… Oh god, he really did love Castiel. Dean gulped. Well, nothing like the threat of death to make someone see things clearly, even if he did face it more often than most. He loved Cas. The flutter in his stomach almost made him blush and he mentally groaned. Oh no, he was NOT a school girl! His eyes locked with his angel and he felt his heart drop. This wasn't his Castiel, but he could fix this. He would fix it. The hunter licked his dry lips and asked with a cocky half smile, "Does it matter which order I do it in?"
Godstiel tilted his head but said nothing against it.
Dean ignored Sam and Bobby's looks as he slowly walked toward him. When he was close enough to feel his body heat he stopped and licked his lips again as he briefly stared at the new god's lips. "Cas?" He called softly, barely a whisper.
Their eyes met and Castiel's blue eyes softened slightly. His anger dissipated.
Unnoticed by anyone else Sam's eyes widened in realization and he glanced at Ambriel and Barkiel who smirked and grinned at him.
Please work. Please let this work, he thought to himself as he did as Barky had taught him and struggled to hold down his natural mental barrier. [Cas?]
His eyes widened slightly in surprise as the hunter placed his hand on his cheek. [Dean?] This was more than he had asked, much more. Dean was willing to show him everything.
[I love you.] He thought, pressing his lips against the nuke-filled angel's.
And Castiel felt it, all the hunter's pain and love filling him so completely it was overwhelming. Suddenly he couldn't keep himself in his vessel and he rose from it.
Amy and Barky had taken Sam and Bobby out of there just in time while Dean kept his eyes shut as he held onto the empty vessel.
Everything that could shatter did, within a twenty mile radius as Cas screamed out in pain before he forced himself back into his vessel just in time to collapse in Dean's arms.
Though his ears had been covered the scream had echoed in his ears as if he hadn't. Honestly, he was surprised his ears hadn't bled out but the angel's scream had sounded nothing like his true voice had before.
It sounded, not human, but it hadn't sounded like an impossibly high-pitched sound. And while it shouldn't have been possible he swore he heard Castiel whisper his name in his true voice before the light of his true form had disappeared. He opened his eyes and tried to shake the angel awake, not noticing the warmth or faint glow of his scar of a hand print.
Barkiel whistled as the four of them stood in the middle of nowhere, "Daaaamn."
They could still hear Castiel's scream but it wasn't loud enough at this distance that the two hunters with them were in any danger.
"I agree," Amy said. "That has GOT to hurt." She winced at the memory of her own cleansing. Even her own cleansing had not caused such a scream of agony but then again she had not had billions of corrupted souls within her vessel. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see the grey-eyed angel smiling softly at her. Her lips automatically formed a smile, her grace no doubt showing even brighter to the other angel. The knowledge made a slight blush come to her cheeks.
Barkiel gave her a smug grin.
"Will someone please explain to me what the hell happened?" Bobby asked.
Sam sighed. "Well, I guess you two won't mind if I tell him now, right?"
Her blush darkened and she looked away from everyone, aware of the other angel's amusement.
"Son of a bitch," Dean cursed, throwing his broken phone across the room. So much for calling for help. Then he frowned and groaned. Sometimes he was such an idiot. "Ambriel? Barkiel? You guys can come back now. Cas is kinda indisposed at the moment."
"Damn."
He looked back slightly behind himself. His movement was hampered by the fact he still trying to keep Castiel from falling to the floor.
"I told you he said indisposed, not exposed. If he had said exposed we wouldn't be here."
The other angel briefly pouted. "I suppose you're right."
"Hey! Can you two get your asses over here and tell me if Cas is okay?"
In the blink of an eye Barky had moved so she was fully supporting her brother without any strain as Ambriel appeared to be looking him over.
Dean didn't say anything though. He knew angels could see more than humans could.
She almost placed a hand on Castiel's chest but then drew back at the last second. "Huh. Interesting."
"What? What is it?"
Amy looked at him. "You purified all the souls from purgatory."
He stared back, not knowing what to say to that.
"They're human again."
"And Cas?"
"He'll be fine. Just exhausted. The bigger the purification the more energy used and all that."
When Castiel woke up it was with confusion. The souls were still within him and to his surprise they were different, no longer demanding him to resort to violence. But what happened? The last thing he recalled was healing his sisters and asking the three hunters to bow and profess their love or die. But then, he frowned. Nothing. He couldn't remember. Hearing footsteps approaching the door of the room he was in he quickly decided he would leave now and contemplate his missing memory later. Then with a flap of his wings, he was gone.
Dean opened the door just in time to hear the wings and his expression turned sober. Had his confession meant nothing to the angel? Was he still going to play god? His jaw stiffened as he pushed his hurt feelings down, spun around and left the room.
To say the two angels were confused or surprised by their summoning was, well, for once, not wrong. Raziel hadn't told them anything about what would happen to Castiel except that he would be alright and that the purification would work, not that either of them needed to be told that. They'd always known about Dean's feelings for Cas.
"Castiel?" Ambriel called. This was the place Crowley had tried opening the door to purgatory. Surely he wasn't thinking of returning the souls to purgatory? After all, they were human now.
He stood in the middle of the room, frowning deeply at the damage. A flash of a memory came. Screaming. Pain. He almost winced. "What happened?"
The two frowned. He didn't remember? They shared a glance. Amy hadn't had that problem.
"Cas, what's the last thing you remember?"
Cas? Warmth. Fear. Dean? Surprise. At what? He walked toward the spot where he recalled standing last. It felt like, was this area actually holy ground now? "I was asking them to bow down and profess their love." His blue eyes met Barkiel's gaze. "I didn't-" No, surely he hadn't killed Dean. He would feel it if he had. Castiel's expression filled with worry.
"You didn't," she reassured him. "They're all alive and well."
His stance relaxed slightly. "What happened?" He repeated.
"Well…"
Ambriel and Barkiel appeared just as Sam, Dean and Bobby were getting out plates to put their Chinese food on.
"Where have you two been?" Dean asked without looking at them as he opened the first box to see what it held.
"Just having a chat with our resident Godstiel," Amy replied casually, feeling the sudden tension in the room as she got a plate and fork to get some of the food.
The three hunters had stiffened and Sam and Bobby had shared a look before glancing at Dean who still wasn't looking at anything but the food he was forking onto his plate.
"So he's still full of nuke," Dean more stated than asked.
Ambriel snorted. "Of course. I said he was purified, not de-souled." She paused to frown and glance back at the blonde angel. "That doesn't sound right, does it?" Not waiting for an answer, she continued. "Well, it's not like it's that big a deal anyway. With the purified souls he's no longer out to conquer the world and all. Besides, I for one vote that he keep the souls."
Sam frowned. "Why?"
The dark-haired angel gave him a 'you moron' look. "You do realize that they'd all end up as ghosts right? You want Cas to just release a billion souls, a majority of which will be impossible to find the bones of? Not to mention that it'd probably be a free for all for any wanting a soul power-up. Unless you want to suggest sending billions of human souls into purgatory to be feasted on by whatever monsters that get sent there in the future?"
He turned red, embarrassed. Why did she always have to make him seem like an idiot?
Dean was frowning in contemplation. "So Cas is okay now, right? He's not going to explode from holding them all in or something, is he?"
Barkiel snorted. "You mean you haven't figured it out?"
The hunters all looked at her.
"God planned it all. He made Castiel strong enough to hold them. While Cas was never supposed to take over for God he is meant to take over for Michael. But he would have to be stronger than any archangel before so he'd be able to keep them in line if any of them thought about doing something stupid."
Dean snorted. "And what about when Cas does something stupid?"
The blonde raised a brow at him. "Castiel did the right thing Dean. If not for Cas Crowley would've gotten all that power to himself and he wouldn't have been able to handle it. The king of hell would've accidentally destroyed himself and in the process, released all the souls of purgatory on the world."
He frowned. Well, when she put it that way.
"Not to say Cas doesn't make mistakes. But that's why he has you," Amy said after swallowing some orange chicken.
Dean looked at the floor, still kind of self-conscious about everyone knowing how he felt about the angel.
Sam frowned. "So, wait. You mean it was all planned from the beginning?"
"Yup."
Thinking back, he asked, "So God allowed Yellow Eyes to feed me demon blood so I would fight against leading a demon army, get killed and make Dean make a deal with a demon and get sent to hell so Castiel could rescue him and Dean would teach Cas right and wrong so he'd be ready to take control from Michael?"
Barky's nose wrinkled. "It's more complicated than that but, yeah, essentially. It's not like He did much. God actually doesn't do all that much. Free Will and such. He just predicts what everyone's going to do and then plans for the best outcome. For instance, if you hadn't died Sam then you would've set Lucifer free sooner and said yes without any hope of being able to fight for control. And if Dean hadn't gone to hell Castiel may have not been involved in the war with Lucifer except as a blind follower of corrupt angels and then again, the world is essentially over."
Dean, who had been enraged at the idea that everything him and his brother had suffered was part of some plan, relaxed when hearing Barkiel explain things further. Seems there was a reason for everything. And thinking back to how the simple idea of him and Sammy separating had resulted in the horrible future Zachariah had showed him, he could believe it. His heart clinched in despair of how his future self had sent Cas in on a suicide mission without a second thought. Maybe God did know what he was doing.
"Dean."
He looked up into Castiel's blue eyes. Cas, his Cas was back.
"I wish to speak with you alone." The angel stated, trying not to appear as nervous as he felt as he ignored the other occupants of the room.
Dean felt himself nod before the angel touched his forehead and they disappeared.
No one moved or said anything so Barky decided to break the tension by asking, "Soooo, who wants to play Bullshit?"
"Dean," Castiel softly sighed as instead of pulling his hand away his fingers caressed down from the hunter's forehead to his cheek.
He swallowed.
"I apologize for leaving so suddenly before," he said, looking into Dean's emerald eyes and dropping his hand back down to his side. "I was," the angel paused and glanced away for a moment before locking his eyes with the older Winchester again, "unaware of what happened at first."
The side of his mouth twitched upward because he got the distinct impression Cas was actually embarrassed. "Well, it couldn't have been easy having every soul inside you purified."
"I am," he looked down at the ground, "sorry. You were right."
"No."
Castiel looked up, worried Dean was rejecting him once again. That was, until he saw him smile. It was the same smile after Dean had returned from a possible future. He couldn't help but smile back until he recalled the words the hunter had said back then. Don't ever change. Despite his intentions, he had changed. And it had led to this. He would do his best to remain humble from now on, to not think that his ideas were the only solutions. To trust Dean. His expression turned serious. "I am sorry Dean."
He placed his hand on the angel's shoulder. "No, I was being a dick. You were right to make a deal with Crowley."
Cas frowned, "But you said-"
"Barkiel pointed out that if you hadn't Crowley would've simply taken all the souls for himself." He paused to let the information sink in. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you."
A small smile formed on his lips. "I'm relieved I didn't kill you."
Dean laughed. "Is that why you ran off?"
He glanced away, still smiling.
"If anything I thought I'd done something wrong and accidentally killed you!"
Castiel tilted his head, brows drawing together in a 'you-can't-be-serious' expression. "I am Godstiel. It is impossible for me to be killed by mere mortals."
Dean stopped laughing, staring at the angel's serious expression. Then he saw his lips twitch and he smiled. By god, Cas made a joke! He laughed, overjoyed when Castiel was smiling again. "I love you Cas," he sighed as he stopped laughing. His eyes widened as he realized what he said and glanced up when the angel stepped closer, barely a foot left between them.
Blue eyes stared into the hunter's own, soft and loving. "I love you too Dean."
He relaxed and didn't hesitate as he brought their lips together.
Neither one of them noticed Castiel's power lighting up around him or the soft glow encompassing Dean, originating from a certain hand print.
I don't know if there's going to be a third story. Technically there was only supposed to be one but I couldn't resist the idea of using the method from the first story as a fix-it for the whole GodCas situation.
Reviews are very much appreciated.
Coming Soon:
Give Me an Excuse to Celebrate
Summary:
How did Amara, Zul and Dean celebrate the different holidays over that first year? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentine's Day