Title: Making a Decision
Word count: 2248 this part, approximately 6500 overall
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Dean, Sam, Castiel, Lucifer (in a less then usual form), others
Warnings: Demons and angels, and their war, I suppose.
Spoilers: The end of Season four, and general ones for the series. Specific spoilers for Lucifer Rising.
Disclaimer: I most certainly do not own Supernatural. Nor do I own any of the characters here.
Summary: Sam and Dean expected only death at Lucifer's hands. But they were alive and mostly well, and now they had to make a decision- remain prisoners, or join Lucifer. Castiel is on the run, unable to help Sam and Dean, for he is faced with his own choice. They are on their own. And the threatening war isn't helping.
A/N: Hello, and welcome to the first part of my first full length Supernatural fic. I hope you like it.
Lucifer wasn't what Dean had expected at all.
Oh, the first of the fallen was evil through and through, and was rather gleefully planning to take over the world. Satan had taken both Sam and Dean prisoner as soon as possible. But they hadn't been killed. Lucifer had been appreciative, since Dean had broken the first seal and Sam the last. Now, they were locked up in a small suite of rooms in a luxury hotel that Lucifer had taken over.
All the employees were possessed, and most people who came to stay left with possessed. Dean and Sam were the only two humans in the building most of the time.
Dean sighed. They'd been shoved in here by possessed bouncers the first night after the last seal had broken. Neither of them had resisted. They'd both been in shock; first from all the betrayals they'd suffered in the past two days, and second from the fact that they were still alive.
They'd spent the night huddled on one of the two king beds in the bedroom, unwilling to let go of each other. They'd only slept when Lucifer stormed into their suite and made a comment about getting some work done in the morning, and sent them to sleep with a hand to each of their foreheads.
Dean had woken up late the next morning, still clutching Sam, but feeling marginally calmer. His first waking thought had been Lucifer was a fallen angel.
After that first night, their lives had fallen into a bizarre pattern.
They were fed three times a day- excellent food, though they weren't allowed to pick what they ate- and Lucifer always visited them at least twice.
Beyond that, they were left alone to make their own amusements. They had a TV and plenty of books, but no computer or phone. Apparently, Lucifer didn't want those amusements to include contacting the rest of the world.
Still, it was a lot better then Dean had been expecting. He'd been expecting a repeat of his stay in hell, so almost anything would have been better.
But Lucifer didn't want to kill them. In fact, the ruler of hell kept trying to recruit them.
And yes, there had been more and more natural disasters in the five days since Lucifer had risen. But people were handling them.
Dean stared out the window.
At least half of the people he saw below him were possessed and the rest were oblivious to the demons' plans.
Alright, maybe that wasn't unexpected.
But Lucifer didn't want to destroy the world. Dean had already tried to bet Sam on just how pissed off Zachariah must be, but Sam wasn't biting.
Sam joined him by the window, his hair still wet from a shower. "I keep wondering why we're still alive," he said quietly.
"Yeah, me too," Dean replied.
They turned to look at the door. Lucifer had laid down some sort of ward that allowed demons and evil creatures to pass through, but kept humans trapped.
And even if they'd broken through that, they'd have to deal with half a dozen guards and then a hotel filled with demons. And all of it unarmed.
Dean snorted. Like that would happen. And yet, beyond the fact that they couldn't leave, they'd been treated more like guests then prisoners.
So, no, Lucifer wasn't what Dean had expected.
Sure, Lucifer was planning on going to war with heaven, but while it was clear that the angels expected and wanted a war that would destroy the Earth, Lucifer wanted to control it.
Dean turned back to the window; felt Sam do the same. Demons were flocking to this hotel. Everyday, more and more came, so that by now they were taking over the hotel next door as well.
Over a thousand demons, Lucifer, and two failed hunters of the supernatural in a hotel in the suburbs of Washington D.C. It was like something out of a bad joke.
Dean wasn't worried about being possessed, not much. He and Sam had been allowed to keep their amulets, and they still had their tattoos. Plus, Dean got the impression that Lucifer wanted them to willingly join.
But not even that was what made Lucifer so unexpected.
Sam sighed and placed his hand against the window. The ward sparked bright green around it, but he didn't move. He seemed to want to keep doing this, even though it hurt him. He'd told Dean that it proved he wasn't a demon. "I hate this."
"Me too," Dean said. "I hate not knowing if Bobby's alright or if Cas survived his fight with the archangels…"
"Or if anyone else even realizes this is happening," Sam added.
"There's enough signs that any hunter worth his salt has to know that something's up."
Sam finally pulled back his hand, shaking it out. "Yeah."
"How are you doing?" Dean asked.
Sam had been going through a much milder, but longer, detox this time.
Sam shrugged. "I'm fine," he said. "Actually, think it's almost done."
Neither of them had mentioned the issue out loud, but they'd quietly agreed to keep Sam's problem to themselves. They had talked about practically everything else they'd experienced in the past couple of years, and especially the last year, and quickly decided that both sides had done too good a job of manipulating them apart. Granted, the first couple of days their talks had escalated to yelling matches, and once to a fistfight, but they had started to repair their relationship.
"Glad to hear it," Dean said.
He glanced at the TV, which was showing CNN on silent, and frowned. There wasn't anything new since the last time he'd looked, but the news was uniformly bad.
Earthquakes and volcanoes on most of the Pacific Rim. Tornadoes and hurricanes, fire and floods. Wars were heating up.
But for the most part, people coping.
Sam picked up the newspaper that had been delivered shortly before he'd gotten out of the shower and flipped to the local news section.
Before he could settle down to read, a shadow fell over them both.
They looked up, startled. Dean started to smile and took a breath to speak. Before he could say anything, Castiel covered his mouth. Dean nodded slowly. Castiel was wearing the same expression as he had when he'd gotten Dean out of the angel's "Green Room".
Sam held himself still until the angel glanced at him and nodded.
"We must hurry," Castiel whispered. "Before Lucifer knows I'm here."
Dean leapt up and grabbed his leather jacket. Sam simply placed the newspaper down and nodded. Castiel placed a hand on each of their shoulders and closed his eyes.
Nothing happened. The brothers exchanged glances. "Isn't something supposed…?"
"Close your eyes," Castiel whispered.
Dean did as ordered, after a swift glance at Sam to make sure he did too.
Even so, Dean could still see and feel the flash of light as Castiel allowed his true form and power to show. For a moment he felt the dizzying sensation of freefall before it stopped.
"You can open your eyes," Castiel said softly.
Dean glanced around. They were still in the hotel room. "Uh…"
"Lucifer set wards around this room. I thought I'd still be able to get you out," Castiel said.
The angel looked tired. "No doubt, he knows I've tried, now."
"Then get out of here!" Sam said. "I… if you can, that is."
"Nothing prevents that," Castiel said. "But I can't leave you alone to face Lucifer."
Dean shook his head. "We've been fine for the past five days," he pointed out. "Besides, Lucifer seems more interested in recruiting us then in hurting us, Cas."
Castiel nodded once. "I see," he said.
"Cas, are you in contact with anyone?"
"I can find Robert Singer easily enough. And Chuck as well. If I could find Anna, I'd warn her as well, but she seems to have vanished completely." A flash of guilt passed over the angel's face as he mentioned Anna's name.
Sam nodded. "Tell Bobby to warn as many Hunters as he can. Lucifer wants to take over the world, not destroy it."
Castiel nodded. "I will," he said. "And I will find a way to get you out of here."
"Don't risk yourself," Dean said.
The door burst open. Dean and Sam threw themselves forward, hunter's instincts reacting to the sound. They separated and ducked behind the couch and the desk, hands going for weapons they hadn't been allowed to keep.
Castiel was already gone.
Dean watched as Sam peaked up from behind the couch. "What the…" his younger brother started to ask, suitably bewildered.
"Where is the angel?" Lucifer snapped.
"Angel?" Dean asked as he stood up.
Lucifer glared at him, looking like nothing so much as an irate executive. A female irate executive, and that was what made the fallen angel so unexpected. "Don't try to lie to me! I felt an angel try to take you away."
Sam straightened. "He's gone," he said. "He wasn't able to get us out of here, so he left."
Lucifer smiled proudly. "None of my oh-so-holy brethren will be able to get you out of here," she said. "You're going to stay in this room until you pledge loyalty to me- and mean it." She'd told them this before.
"Yeah, well, you're going to be waiting a long time for that," Dean drawled.
"I can be patient," Lucifer replied.
Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. He stepped around the couch and then flopped down on it.
Only someone who knew him as well as Dean did could tell that he was still ready to fight at a moment's notice, if need be. "Do we really have to have this conversation again?" Sam groaned.
Dean chuckled. "Yeah, really. Let's just assume that you asked, we said no, you threatened us with torture or something, if we don't decide in a- what was it… week from now? - and we weren't all that impressed."
Lucifer stalked forward to stand right in front of Dean. One of the impressive things about her was that, even though she was nearly six inches shorter then Dean, she managed to loom over him. Over Sam too, if she wanted to. Dean supposed that it was just because she was Lucifer, a fallen angel.
"This is no game, Dean Winchester."
Dean stared at her. "Damn right it's not," he said.
Lucifer blinked, for once genuinely startled. "Then why do you joke about it?"
"Because it's jokes or gibbering terror," Sam said. "I'd prefer jokes."
"Me too," Dean said.
Lucifer huffed but turned away. "Why don't you join me? Unlike the angels, I haven't lied about what I want you to do."
"We were raised to fight evil," Sam said. "And yeah, so maybe it's been a little confused what's evil and what's good this past year, but we aren't going to lead an army against humanity."
Lucifer snorted. "You will," she said. "The two of you are perfect for the job."
"I like my job just fine," Dean said. "Saving people, hunting things. And things include demons."
Sam nodded.
Lucifer snorted and rolled her eyes. "What angel was it that tried to rescue you? The information I've received said that the head of the angelic army wants you both dead."
"Zachariah," Dean said. "Absolute dick, by the way, Sammy. Worse then Uriel. Actually wanted you to break the seal."
"I know, Dean," Sam said patiently.
"It was not Zachariah that tried to free you," Lucifer said. "If it was, I doubt you'd bother protecting him. So, it must be someone else. Perhaps an angel that does not agree with the leaders of Heaven's army?"
Dean didn't react, and that was enough for her.
"Perhaps, the angel that freed you from the pit, Dean? What was his name? Castiel?" Lucifer grinned. "It was him, wasn't it? It's a shame he didn't stay. He was created only shortly before my fall, and I do want to meet him. I never got a chance before everything happened."
Dean didn't say anything. Sam just shifted on the couch.
Lucifer smiled at them both. "If I could convince him to fall completely, then I'd have a perfect triad of generals."
Dean looked up at the ceiling. "For one thing, Cas is going against Zachariah because he didn't want you to get free. That's why Sam killed Lilith. He had no idea that it'd set you free. And that's why I tried to stop him."
Lucifer grinned. "I know. But you were all assuming that I wanted to destroy the world."
She glanced at them again. "I really only want to save the world from the overbearing angels. I'm not even all that upset that humans are my Father's favorite children anymore. Because I can understand why they are. Those of my family that can and do disagree with me are my favorites too."
The smile she favored them both left them with no illusions that she considered them to be among her favorites.
She turned to go.
"Oh, and if Castiel returns, let him know that I want to talk with him. I'll even go someplace neutral to do it."
She walked out of the suite without waiting for an answer.
Sam muttered something under his breath. Finally, he rolled his eyes.
Dean nodded.
There was nothing else they could do. Sam picked up the newspaper again, and Dean stared at the TV.
As a warning, I was unable to find a beta for this fic, as my normal beta does not watch Supernatural. Anyways, any mistakes you see are my own.
I am planning on posting the next part on Wednesday, and I hope to have this completely wrapped up by Saturday, well before the Season premiere on the 10th, when I'm sure this will be rendered completely AU. (But please don't tell me if it will. I'm avoiding spoilers.)