Title: Trade Your Soul For A Candy Bar?
Author: gabe-trickster
Rating: PG
Category/Keywords: Comedy Gabriel/Castiel/John Winchester/Ghostfacers
Spoilers: Uhhh I guess anything after Season 1 dealing with John Winchester, Castiel and The Trickster
Dedication: To all SPN fans present and future. To all the Gabester Girls/Twicksters/Richard fans. My friend Kat who was the first to encourage me to give a shot at writing The Trickster. If it wasn't for her I never would have. Thanks, Kat! To my friend Michael who played a GREAT John Winchester and made this original thread challenging for me writing wise. We never got a chance to finish it but through this fic I am. To those who encouraged me to post this and finish it
Summary: John Winchester's soul has been floating around since he escaped from Hell and Castiel has been sent to retrieve it in order to help in their fight against Lucifer. But what he didn't count on was that The Trickster has also taken an interest in as well and has trapped John in a scenario based on the movie "Poltergeist". Can John and Castiel both escape or will the Trickster have two more victims to add to his list?
Feedback: Please! I love it!
Archive: Sure! Just let me know where it's going!
Disclaimer: All characters of Supernatural belong to Eric Kripke and Warner Brothers. Any resemblance to the original characters in this fic is purely coincidental. I am not making any money off of this whatsoever so PLEASE don't sue me!
NOTE: This takes place in Season 5 and is AU
John spent years being tortured in hell yet still he did not relent and lower himself to torture another, no matter what Alistair said to him, or the new and creative ways he tortured him. All john could think about was being reunited with Mary and looking down on his sons from heaven, for he was sure that was where she was and it was all that kept him going, stopping him from giving in and no matter what Alistair told him or even showed him, he held onto that thought. THEY WOULD NOT BREAK HIM. Then it happened, the gates of hell opened, he saw his chance to get out of hell and he took it. He was shocked to find Sam and Dean and even more so, Azazel. But everything seemed to turn out well. He was able to distract Azazel enough for Sam to shoot him with the colt and then he was then engulfed in a white light. He had ensured his sons safety, at least for the time being and he was then, he was sure going to be with Mary. Or that's what he thought.
A house newly decorated and fixed up, yet oddly familiar. Looking around, he realized it was his house, Sam and Dean's first home and the house that his wife, Mary died. He did not know why he was still there but even entering Sam's room, which was where it took place, cut John like a knife. He took one look at the room – no signs of fire damage and set up once again for a young person to live in and then he went downstairs and attempted to leave. He reached for the door handle, but his hand failed to grasp it. He tried walking through the door, but was just rebounded back. It seemed that he was somehow attached to the house, like some part of him was connected to the place. He sighed, thinking of it as another form of torture. Yet it was better than hell, not by much but it was, so long as no hunter came along to try and try and send him back to hell. Or send him up to heaven, but he could not be sure which way he would go now and he did not want to take that chance.
During his time in the house, he had a couple of families move in and then leave. He spent most of his time finding out what he could and could not do in his ghost form when the people living there were out, or when the house was vacant and watching the news whenever the people had the TV on in the house, looking for something, anything that sounded even remotely supernatural. He found that he could, with a lot of concentration touch and move things and with even more concentration, possess inanimate objects. The last family that were in the house were big horror movie buffs and John took note from that, although there was no way he was ever intending using any of it, he was trying to keep a low profile after all, but being a ghost that did not haunt or interact with anyone was so goddamn boring.
Then it was that time again for a new family to move in. They seemed to be the typical atomic family, two parents, a teenage girl, a boy and an even younger girl all laughing and messing about as they helped to move things into the house along with the removal guys.
"Great." he said as he watching them out of the window. His jaw almost hit the floor as he looked down and realized that the young blond girl was looking directly at him, too which was strange as he had worked hard at making sure no one could see or even know of his presence...
Gabriel had been enjoying himself lately with pulling mortals into horror movies. What really amused him was the fact that humans LIKED to be scared. They would go out of their way to go on scary amusement park rides or even haunted houses for the pure adrenaline rush. It seemed the closer to death they came the more they liked it. Scaring someone so badly that they either fell out of a chair or wet themselves seemed to delight them. It was as if they didn't fear the angel of Death if he came to call. However those instances of wanting to be scared were not real life situations. In other wards there was no real danger involved. Oh sure there was always a chance that a rollercoaster would malfunction with something like a bar flying up going down a hill or something but in most cases there was little or no danger of impending death. But would they actually laugh if they met the angel of Death? Or would they think it was so amusing if the scenario from one of their favorite horror movies could actually kill them?
He knew the story of John Winchester just like every other angel did. How he had lost his wife in a terrible fire at the hands of the demon Azazel and later became a hunter taking his sons with him. He had trained his sons in the hunter lifestyle while trying to track down the demon that had taken his wife. Much like Gabriel's heavenly father he was considered a dead beat dad who had abandoned his children without word. He practiced what some humans called tough love and it was something that his sons learned all too well. Not much emotion was expressed between father and sons which made for an interesting childhood for the brothers. He had tried to reconcile with Sam and Dean after they had been reunited but it had been anything but easy. They had finally decided that they were the strongest as a family instead of separate and so went after Azazel together. Unfortunately in the end they were in a terrible accident in which Dean was put into a coma and John made a bargain with Azazel to give his soul in return for the life of his son. However it showed that a father could make the ultimate sacrifice for his child.
John had been trapped in Hell because of his deal with Azazel but then had escaped when Hell's Gate was opened. He had helped his sons kill Azazel and then had disappeared. Still being dead John was considered to be in limbo and since he had some unfinished business was forced to roam the Earth as a ghost. He would remain in this state until he was deemed ready to enter Heaven. Of course the angels were too busy with their plans on having the battle happen between Lucifer and Michael to care about such a petty thing. And besides they were more interested in John Winchester's sons anyway. It was true that if Gabriel truly wished it he could bring John Winchester back from the land of the dead but he had chosen not to. Besides….where was the fun in that? Not to mention if he performed such a blatant act someone from Heaven would notice and the last thing he wanted to do was draw unnecessary attention to him since he had been maintaining a low profile for so long. So he decided that John Winchester would be drawn into his latest game.
And the horror movie he had chosen? Well what better movie for a ghost to be in than Poltergeist? It was almost too easy. Normally Gabriel would choose mortals for his games but it was just too easy of an opportunity to pass up. After all John had been wandering about as a ghost for years now. That had to become rather boring after a while wouldn't it? So, he decided to give some of that excitement to John. With a snap of his fingers he pulled him into his pocket universe but to a point where he wouldn't be suspicious as he created the family house that he had been haunting. It was the cast that would make the difference in this however.
"Mommy," the little blond girl replied as she looked up at the window. "There's a strange man in the window."
The mother walked up and tilted her head toward the window and saw nothing. "Oh sweetie you're just seeing things. There's no one there. You're just tired from the move." She placed her hand on her forehead. "Why don't we get you inside and make you a nice sandwich. Would you like that?" She watched as the girl nodded and then smiled before placing her hand on her back and leading her inside.
"Is this place great or what?" the father replied as he gestured in the living room. "It's nice not to see wallpaper peeling off the walls for once. Working all those overtime hours made this all worth it." He watched as his son came running by and dove over the couch. "Hey whoa easy there sport! No running in here ok?"
"But Cobra forces were after me, dad! And they can't get the secret formula!"
The father leaned in toward his son. "They are huh?" He looked around and then back at him. "Well….maybe if you went outside and hid in a bush they would be less likely to find you." He grinned as the boy nodded and then rolled on the floor before getting up and running outside. He then headed toward the kitchen where he saw his wife putting bagels in the toaster. "So….what's for lunch?"
"Well, since we haven't had a chance to do some real grocery shopping yet thought I would make us a toasted bagel sandwich."
"Mommy, something's wrong with the toaster," the little girl replied as she looked at it. "It's burning and smoky…."
The mother glanced at the toaster and laughed. "Oh sweetie there is nothing wrong with the toaster. See it…." Her eyes then widened as the outlet began to spark and the toaster began to smoke before catching on fire. "Oh my god!"
I'm on it!" the father yelled as he quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. He studied the outlet. "What the hell was that? Faulty wiring? It can't be this place went through inspection." He glanced at his daughter. "How did you know this was going to happen?"
"The voice in my head told me. He said he wanted to show me how he could make fire."
The mother looked at the father uneasily. "I'm thinking some take out might be a better option for lunch right now."
"Yeah," the father replied as he looked at the remains of the toaster. "I think you're right."
As the father left the kitchen the mother glanced at her daughter. What did she mean the voice in her head told her? Surely this was just some imaginary friend thing? But then the toaster HAD burst in flames just like she said it would. Now she wasn't sure what to think. She decided for the time being not to speak to her daughter about it and just hoped it was some kind of fluke.
