So I have yet to see a fic that sets things right in the alternate dimension where Balthazar sent Sam and Dean in The French Mistake. Maybe I've missed it, but anyway here's my attempt to fix that!
The title came from the Extended Promo for that episode where they used the "In a World where the real and the unreal collide..." voice over. It's here on youtube if you want to watch www youtube com/watch?v=tWuEhINs5Yk (replace the spaces with periods)
Rated for Meta!Misha cussing. Characters Castiel and Meta!Misha. No slash.
As a diversion from more weighty matters, I had discovered that dimension hopping was pleasurable once I discovered a way to do it that didn't leave me drained each time. The humans would refer to it as a vacation I believe. I sometimes thought of it an Angel's day out at the movies, since watching the events unfold as a passive observer was much like the one time Dean had taken me to a theatre to see one.
I was particularly drawn to the one I was in now…the one Balthazar sent Sam and Dean to when we needed a diversion in my battle with Raphael. After the events here changed the path of this dimension I felt it was my responsibility to set things right. A little experimentation on my part told me that although the Supernatural and higher beings did not exist here, there were ways to channel the magic I needed from my true dimension.
Fortunately for Sam and Dean, Virgil did not discover this. Unfortunately many of the crew on the strange TV show and one particular actor, Virgil had found a rather brutal way around the lack of magic. I felt great remorse that this strange copy of Jimmy named Misha had been a victim of one of my small victories over Raphael. My experimentation had taken the form of restoring each of the crew members, leaving them believing that Misha was the only one actually dead.
They had taken a short hiatus after Misha's death to work out how to proceed without him and I knew I had to work fast to make things right. As I lurked unseen in the corner of the morgue I asked myself one last time if this was the correct course of action. Doing this might reveal the existence of the Supernatural to this world that had none. Hopefully, they would pass it off as an anomaly and there would be no lasting effects.
Once the last person had left for the day I set about my task by retrieving his personal affects from the evidence room and removing all traces of the incident from the police computers and the minds of the policemen involved. Wiping the minds of everyone involved would not be possible, since the story had made it onto this world's internet and hundreds of thousands of people had witnessed it, if only second hand. I would have to make it appear as one of Misha's infamous pranks, and if no trace remained of the police account it would make things easier.
Human subterfuge was not my forte, but I had to make the assumption that once I had Misha on my side he would help me make it a convincing story. My assumption was bolstered by the fact that I had spent some time on this world's Social Networking sites and determined that he was somewhat like my brother Gabriel and should enjoy this bit of trickery. I returned to the morgue and slowly pulled out the drawer which contained the remains of Jimmy's doppelganger. Resurrecting him and finishing the job would require me to channel more magic than I ever had before, so I decided to take him somewhere secluded in case something went wrong. I would also need a bit of time to explain things to Misha and I didn't want to be disturbed.
I zapped us to a hunting cabin high in the Canadian Rockies and laid the fragile body on the small bed. It was interesting to note that Misha's body was identical to Jimmy's down to the last detail. I wondered idly if I could take him as a vessel, but pushed that thought to the back of my mind…I needed to get to work. I set up the ritual and began to chant in Enochian, and after a few minutes began to feel the inter-dimensional rift opening. I reached to the other side and channeled the energy I needed into the body with my hand and felt the surge as life returned and the horrific wound Virgil had inflicted began to heal.
Although it was taking all the strength I had to hold the rift open, I held it until I saw perfect flesh and then collapsed beside of the bed exhausted. It was difficult to remain conscious, but I had to be alert when he awoke. I rose with difficulty and watched as his chest began to rise and fall, and prepared myself for his inevitable shock as he stirred to life.
He took no notice of me at first as he bolted upright on the rickety bed, his hands instinctively going to his throat as he gasped for air. Finding no horrific gash, he looked around frantically and his eyes landed on me…narrowing as they did so. It was rather disconcerting staring into Jimmy's eyes from within Jimmy's body, but I pushed the feeling aside and stared back, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.
"Who? Wha-? I'm dead right?" he croaked.
I obviously had a little work to do on those vocal cords. I put my finger to my lips and laid my hand on his forehead once again, finishing the job. His eyes went wide as he felt everything pop back into place.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"I am Castiel…the real Castiel."
"There's no such thing."
"I beg to differ…I'm fairly certain that I do, in fact, exist."
Misha's eyes narrowed and he looked about the cabin. "Where's Jared…this is his doing isn't it? Where did he find a guy that looks so much like me? Wait…that guy…the one that was in my car…I remember he killed me. Where are we?"
"We are…in a rather remote location. I needed privacy for this. Now listen. He did kill you. You were dead. I…um…took some liberties and assumed you would prefer to be alive."
"Well yes…but I still don't see how it's possible. People don't just pop back to life."
"I will concede that people do not just pop back to life in this dimension, but they do indeed in mine."
His eyes began to dart about as he tried to process the situation. I could see him thinking back to the events that preceded his death. He looked down, finally realizing he was still naked and grabbed the rough blanket on the bed to cover himself.
"What the fuck dude? Can I have some clothes?"
I decided that now was as good a time as any to demonstrate that this was not just an ordinary Jared prank situation and proceeded to zap the clothing he had been wearing back onto his body, now free of the evidence of his death. He looked down at the garish blue sweater and ran his hand across it.
"There was blood…so much blood…I…how the hell did you do that?" he said as he jumped to his feet to face me.
"I corrected that unfortunate situation. Now I need your help."
He looked me up and down carefully and I stood quietly as he took in my appearance. He reached out to touch the faint scar on Jimmy's upper lip that was identical to his own and although I was unused to such physical contact, allowed him to explore, knowing it would be beneficial to my goal. I slowly loosened my tie and unbuttoned my shirt enough to reveal my right breast. His eyes widened as he saw the telltale marking near Jimmy's nipple. He started to reach out to touch it, but stopped short and sank back onto the bed with a look of disbelief.
"This is SO fucked up. This is not happening…did somebody slip me a mickey? I gotta be tripping."
"I can assure you that you are perfectly sober."
"Dude, just knock it off. I know Jared put you up to this. Nobody can stay in character this long. Tell me what is really going on."
This was going to be harder than I expected. I sat down on the bed next to him and snapped my fingers, producing a folder containing the reports of his demise. I waited as he read through them, and tried to figure out what else I could do to convince him if this didn't work. I saw his eyes fill with tears as he saw a picture of his wife and infant son in one of the articles.
"They think I'm dead, don't they?" Misha said, his voice cracking slightly.
"At the moment, yes, but I have plans to rectify that. I had to be sure I could resurrect you before I followed through on that part of my plan. I did not wish to unnecessarily give them hope if it didn't work…and I had to be sure you were onboard with the plan."
He shook his head and rubbed his face with his hands, stopping to take a deep breath. "So this is all real?"
"Very."
He drew himself up, turned to look at me and said with a sigh, "What do you need from me?"
"I believe you call it a Tweet."
"Um…a tweet is gonna fix this?"
"Based on my research, I believe your…ah…Mishamigos will be the easiest way to spread the word."
"You can't just wipe everybody's memories?"
"No, there are some limits to my powers here. The hundreds of thousands of people that witnessed your death or read about it would be difficult if not impossible even in my own world."
"W-why are you doing this?"
I took a deep breath and turned to face him. This was going to be the hard part. I spoke his name for the first time. "Misha, you would never have died if I had not sent the real Dean and Sam here as a diversion in my battle with Raphael."
"The stuff we film? It's really happening in your world?"
"Yes."
"And those guys on the set the day I…died. They were really Sam and Dean?"'
"Yes."
"And you…"
"Exist? Yes."
"Castiel...there really are Angels?"
"Not in this world."
"OK…well…fuck it…I'm on board. Where do we start?"
"You aren't upset that I caused your death?"
"Well maybe a little, but this is going to be a glorious mindfuck. They'll shit bricks when I reappear…especially Jared and Jensen. I bet Tumblr and LiveJournal are awash with Misha death tributes…this I've got to see."
"What is a…um…mindfuck?"
"You really are as clueless as they write you aren't you?"
"About some things…not others…be thinking about what to tweet…I'll be right back."
I could hear him cursing my sudden disappearance as I zapped myself to where his wife and son lay sleeping. I gently laid my hands on them and removed the memories of the horrific death. I watched as the frown on the woman's face turned into a gentle smile and then went back to Misha.
He was standing by the small sink looking in the mirror and talking to himself as I returned. Maybe an attempt at humor would lighten the mood? I materialized directly behind him and he jumped as I expected when he saw me. "Damn it Cas, don't do that."
As he turned to face me I said, "I believe that was Dea..Jensen's line…not yours."
"Dick."
"So I've been told."
The smile I had been looking for finally appeared and he looked down at his phone and back up at me. "I've got the tweet…but the phone is dead and there's probably no cell service up here. Wait…where did you go?"
"I took care of your wife and son. They are sleeping peacefully with no memories of your death." I said as I touched the phone and it lit up, showing 5 bars.
"How? Nevermind…I've got to quit asking that. We really need a computer for this…it will be hilarious to see my timeline explode when I tweet. There are some pictures on my laptop I need…ones they haven't seen before."
I winked out of existence again to retrieve his laptop, and he shook his head slowly as I returned a split second later.
"Damn…this is really freaky."
"My apologies."
"OK, so zap up some internet service and I'll get this picture ready." He said as he began tapping on the keys.
A picture of him with a small pony appeared and he opened another one with him and some strangely dressed diminutive natives that appeared to be holding him captive. I watched as he worked on the two pictures for a while and it slowly morphed into a very strange picture of the pony wearing some sort of crown and holding a scythe over his head while the natives held him down. He looked up at me and I cocked my head at him in confusion.
"No…you don't really do that do you?" he said as he grinned broadly at me.
"Do what?"
"The head tilt thing."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"Nevermind…I'm ready."
I took a deep breath I didn't actually need as he typed and prayed that this would work. There were still a lot of loose ends, but those I would take care of later if I could. I watched as he typed and looked at me again.
"Watch this!" he said as he hit enter.
These words appeared on the screen:
Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated…I was only kidnapped by pygmy pony worshippers and forced to repent my pony eating ways.
It made no sense to me, but it was obvious he was enjoying himself as the screen jumped to life and the words appeared over and over with various exclamations of belief and disbelief. It was going by so fast that only my Angelic powers allowed me to keep up.
"I TOLD you he wasn't really dead."
"Just some troll that has hacked Misha's account…can't be him."
"I love you Misha…I want to have your babies."
"You can eat my pony anytime, Misha."
"Hail, oh great Overlord, we welcome your return to the living. Did Castiel resurrect you?"
"Calm down people…it was in the papers…on the news…police were involved…he's dead. Don't feed the troll."
"OMC, look he's back. *cries* Is it really you?"
Misha pecked at the keys for a second and grinned wickedly as he hit enter.
RT "Hail, oh great Overlord, we welcome your return to the living. Did Castiel resurrect you?"
As a matter of fact he did.
I looked at him in disbelief as me laughed and clapped me on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it Cas…remember they think you are just a TV character….well the sane ones anyway."
I watched for a few more minutes, trying to make sense of the obvious joy on his face as he watched the letters on the computer screen go by with lightning speed. He was so engrossed I hated to end it.
"I must take my leave soon. I have more pressing matters to attend to."
"You can't leave yet. I have so many questions to ask."
"They are not of import, you will not remember me when I am gone."
"No way man…you can't just pop in here, do all of this and not let me remember it! Hell no!"
"It would be dangerous for you if someone on the other side found out…for you and your family."
He sighed and nodded in agreement. "I suppose you are right."
"Perhaps after…if…I am able to defeat Raphael…I can return and restore them if you wish. It might be safe then."
"No Cas, I don't want my family or anyone else harmed because I have a big secret. The way some of these fans ferret out stuff I can't even remember anymore…someone might find out…sometimes I wonder how they figure this stuff out."
"As you wish."
"OK so what now?"
"I will return you to your wife and son."
"Do it."
Misha took a deep breath and looked at me. I met his eyes as I zapped him back to his home and watched as he crawled into bed. Maybe it was ego, but I left a trace of the memories behind…enough so that he would remember he had a dream about me. Perhaps I would be able to return one day. I actually grew to like him quite a lot in the short time I was with him. A warm feeling spread though me as I watched him kiss his son and snuggle up to his wife before getting back up and opening his computer.
There were many things I regretted doing in the name of defeating Raphael, some I knew I could never take back. At least this one I could set right.
Yes, I know the tweets that appeared should have twitter handles attached (FF won't let me use an ampersand for some reason), but I didn't put them in since I figured anything I could make up might be an actual person! And I just realized I used Minions instead of Mishamigos...I have corrected that.
