Thanks for the follows and reviews! I'm gonna try and post a new chapter every two day or so. Enjoy.


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Chapter 2: Rebel With a Cause

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It was like fireworks. The angels fell and burst into light in the night. Dean watched in horror as the angels dived to the ground. Next to him Sam gaped up at the sky.

"Dean what is happening?" He forced out.

"Metatron betrayed us," Dean said not moving his eyes from the sight before him. "He was using us."

"What about Cas?" Sam turned to him. Dean looked to his little brother. Sam still looked like he was about to die. His face was pale and eyes red. Dean winced at his appearance.

"I don't know," Dean told him. "I think we should go home."

"Home?" Sam questioned. "No, Dean we need to figure out what is happening. We can't just leave the angels out there!"

"They aren't angels anymore," Dean cursed under his breath. "They're human now."

"How can you be so sure?" Sam shook his head.

"Sam...I'm not, okay, but right now is not the time to go rounding up all the little lost angels. Right now I'm more worried about you. So can we please just go back to the bunker?"

"Yeah, okay. But, what happened when you left with Cas?" Sam needed to know.

"Naomi came to see us," Dean sighed. "She told us that Metatron was going to try and toss everyone and everything out of heaven. Cas didn't believe her...but I'm guessing she was right."

"Dean..."

"Lets go Sammy," Dean stood and pulled Sam up with him. Sam gasped but was able to hold his own weight. Dean struggled to get the car door open and when he did he lay Sam down in the back seat. He shut the door and opened the drivers side.

"Wait, what about Crowley?" Sam said from the back seat.

"What about him?" Dean huffed. "He's still a demon right, he can rot there for all I care."

"No he's not."

"Sam you didn't finish the spell right?" Dean spun in his seat. "Right!?"

"No, Dean I didn't," Sam told hims and Dean heaved a sigh of relief. "But he changed. I think he's mostly human now."

"Sam, you sure?" Dean eyed him.

"Yeah, pretty sure." Sam nodded.

"Fine," Dean said hitting the steering wheel. "I'll check on it."

Dean got out of the car and jogged back into the church. The sky above him was no longer filled with the light of falling angels. Inside the church Dean took in the evidence of what looked like a fight. The broken window and glass everywhere. Blood was splattered in places other than the Devils Trap where Crowley still sat. Dean approached slowly. The demons head hung low and rested on his chest. Dean stood in front of him and shook him by the shoulders. The demons body was weak and pliable.

"Crowley!" Dean shouted at him. There was no response. Dean cursed again. The options weighed on his mind. He could leave Crowley here, he was still at least mostly a demon. But Sam would probably throw a fit about it. Or he could take him with them. But that meant bringing him to the Bat Cave, and that place was sacred to Dean. He chewed on his lip for half a moment before he wiped away a piece of the Devils Trap and unscrewed the chains from the ground. He kept the hand cuff on his wrists for insurance. He heaved the smaller man over his shoulder and as quick as he could made it back out to the Impala.

Sam watched his brother leave the church with Crowley in tow. He leaned up and pushed opened the passenger door for Dean. Dean let Crowley fall ungracefully into the car. He sneered at the sight of the demon in his car. He got in and with a nod to Sam they took off.


Dean was worried. He knew that Sam was worried too, but Dean worry was rooted deeper than he would have liked to admit. The thing with with angels had his head spinning. What could Metatron possibly want with an empty heaven? With no angels there who would he command? Did he just was piece and quiet, or did he want to become the new God? Or, was heaven really empty? Did he keep the angels he wanted and kicked out the rest? There were too many questions and not enough answers to keep him satisfied.

His eyes swept over to the sleeping demon, or half demon, or whatever. What were they going to do with him? Dean's grip on the steering wheel tightened. They had finally, finally, had a plan. A real, this is gonna work, plan, and it all had to come crashing down around them...literally.

As all these thoughts paraded through his mind they ended with him thinking of Cas. Dean didn't know weather to be upset about him, or furious with him. For all he knew Cas had helped Metatron drop the angels, or Metatron had cast Cas out as well. And if the latter were true that would mean a human, mindless Castiel. Human Cas, Dean figured he may be able to deal with, but another Cas who had forgotten who he and Sam were was just another heartbreak waiting to happen.

Sam started to snore in the back seat. Dean's eyes flick to the rearview mirror to catch sight of him. He was still pale and sick looking, but at least he was sleeping. It would take hours to get back to Kansas, and Dean hoped that Sam would stay asleep for that long.

San jerked awake when Dean's phone went off. Dean swore and rustled the phone out of his pocket as fast as he could.

"What?" Dean said shortly into the phone. "Go back to sleep Sam." Dean commanded.

"Dean?" It was Kevin.

"Kevin? What's wrong?" Dean spoke softer but lost none of the concern in his voice.

"Uh nothing I guess," Kevin started.

"Then why the call?" Dean groaned out.

"Dean this place is going haywire. I mean nothing is technically wrong. There is just a bunch of lights and sirens going off." He explained.

"Did you leave the bunker?"

"No, you told me not to," Kevin said back.

"Good man." Dean praised. "Look things went south. We didn't complete the trials."

"Did Crowley get away?" Kevin's voice rose.

"No, no we still have him, it's just..." Dean swore again. "Metatron betrayed us."

"What?"

"He was using us as his free pass back into heaven and once he got himself a place he decided to kick everyone out."

"You mean?"

"Yeah, the angels are all gone."

"You think that's why this place was going crazy?" Kevin asked.

"Probably," Dean agreed. "That place is hardwired to know any kind of non-human activity. And falling angels are definitely non-human... well until there are."

"Oh man," Kevin hissed.

"We're on our way back, we'll be there in six hours," Dean told him. "Can you do me a favor though?"

"Yeah sure," Kevin responded eagerly.

"Find out what they are doing with the fallen angels."

"You mean other people saw this happen?"

"I'm thinkin' the whole world saw this happen."

"Yeah except the prophet of the lord," Kevin mumbled. "What about the angel tablet?"

"Leave it for now, it's no good to us with all this going on." Dean said, then thought for a moment. "Did you translate anything else?"

"Just a few words from the first trial. It was like, grace, and something about blood, but what the context is, I don't know yet."

"Okay, good job Kev. Keep me updated if you find out anything on the angels."

"I will," Kevin said and Dean hung up.

Sam had fallen back asleep and Dean was grateful. When soft snoring could be heard Dean let himself go. Tears raced down his face, and sobs caught in his throat. His mind flickered back to Sam telling him that he was the one who saw a light at the end of their road. But the revelation in the church had told Dean more than he needed or wanted to ever know. Sam didn't care that he was going to die. He was willing to give up his life so easily, and that made Dean's blood run cold. Throwing their own lives away was always Dean's job. He was the one to sacrifice himself at the drop of a hat, not Sam. Sam was the strong one. Dean knew that. Sam may not have believed it if Dean told him, but he was. Sam was the one who could go on and live a real life without the hunting life haunting him at every noise or shadow.

The worst realization for Dean was that Sam had been lying to him. The entire time they had been trying to complete the trials Sam had been hiding from him. The sickness he had only been able to keep from Dean until it was so bluntly forced in front of his eyes. The hidden agenda that Sam kept from him was the one raging on his soul. Dean didn't want it to be true but when the thought came to him he couldn't get it out of his head.

Maybe, Sam had taken on the trials because he wanted to die.

That thought made him want to vomit. The thought also opened up doors Dean never wanted to unlock.

An outsider may believe that Sam and Dean were suicidal. Always running into danger never stopping to make a sure and steady plan. Their lives meant nothing if they could save someone in the process. That was how Dean had lived his life, always putting others first, especially Sammy. Dean would do anything for his brother, hell, he had done everything for Sam, but he had never thought that Sam should do the same for him. Driving in the Impala with Sam looking like death in the back seat, Dean wondered if something like this had been Sam's plan all along. Was jumping into the pit just another way for Sam to try and kill himself?

Dean forced himself to stop thinking that way. He focused on the road in front of him and not on his brother behind him. Crowley fidgeted in the seat next to him. Dean hoped he wouldn't wake until they got back to the bunker, where he could tie him up properly, then they could figure out what to do with the demon. If that's what he even was anymore. Crap, what were they going to do with a mostly human demon? What were they going to do with a human Cas, if he was even that?

It was all to much. All of it, not just the past few months of trying desperately to finish the trials, and Cas disappearing on them, and Crowley hunting them down, it was all to much. The last seven or eight years had been to much, hell, their lives had been enough. Dean wiped away the remnants of tears on his face.

After. Dean thought, after all this was done, they were going to live. Nothing was going to change his mind, when it was all over they were going to live. Promise made, Dean nodded to himself and continued to drive.


When he got to the bunker Sam and Crowley were still out for the count. Dean left them in the car and hurried over to the door and banged on it three times, then a fourth after a pause. Kevin appeared quickly.

"Dean," Kevin nearly whispered. His eyes were red and face was almost a pale as Sam's.

"What's wrong?" Dean demanded.

"It's the angels," Kevin spoke with a break in his voice.

"What?"

"They've fallen everywhere, it's all over the world." Kevin spoke and followed Dean over to the Impala. He eyed Crowley in the front seat but said nothing. Together they heaved Sam out.

"I figured." Dean told him.

"Yeah, but Dean people don't know what to do." Kevin explained. "People just fell out of the sky, people with no memory of what they are or how they came to be there. The world is freaking out!"

"That's the least of our worries right now." Dean said as they lay Sam on the couch. "Come on lets get Crowley."

"You mean he's gonna stay here?!" Kevin shrieked.

"For now, yeah," Dean grumbled.

"This has bad idea written all over it," Kevin sighed.

"Tell me about it," Dean agreed. "But Sam said that he was mostly human, so I'm gonna trust him on it. Tell me more about the angels."

"They're rounding them up," Kevin started. "Since they don't know what to make of them they are taking them away from the public. From what I've seen in videos and post online, it looks like the FBI is in on it."

"Crap," Dean cursed. They lifted Crowley out of the car and Dean kicked the door shut.

"Dean if we don't do something they are gonna start cutting the angels open."

"What? Why do you think that?" Dean asked.

"Because thats what people do when they can explain something. Cut it open until it gives you answers!" Kevin nearly yelled at him.

They dropped Crowley into an arm chair and Dean ran a hand through his hair. Kevin looked expectantly at Crowley who he feared would jump up at any moment and kill them both.

"Dean," Kevin spoke softly shaking his head. "This world is gonna drown in panic and fear. People shouldn't just fall out of the sky."

"But that's what they are," Dean interrupted. "People, they're people, just like me and you. They can't just start killing them, they wouldn't."

Silence fell between the two. Kevin began to pace and Dean sat next to Sam. He held his head in his hands, trying to message out he headache he knew was coming. After a couple laps Kevin stopped and asked Dean a question.

"Dean have you ever met another fallen angel?"

"Yeah, her name was Anna." Dean told him. He reminisced for a moment before telling Kevin more. "Her story is different then this though. She chose to fall and was reborn. She had her memories of growing up and everything, then when we started the apocalypse her angelic memories came back and drove her kinda crazy."

"You don't think that these angels will get back their memories?" Kevin asked.

"No, I don't." Dean said sadly. "They're not angels anymore, none of them."

"Do you think we can change that?"

Dean closed his eyes and fought off a memory. One of him in a future that never should be, and of an angel that fell and could never get back up.

"God I hope so."