When Michael told Raphael about Gabriel, Raphael had quietly heard him out then left without a word. Days had passed since then and Raphael had not given any indication that he knew anything about their wayward brother.

Michael wished he would say something, show some interest in seeing him, but he wouldn't force him. He understood. It was the same reason Raphael insisted their father was dead. Michael couldn't stand to live in a world where He was dead and maybe that biased him. But he just could not fathom anything be able to destroy the one who created everything. Oh, Death may claim he would one day reap Him but that was future tense. Maybe he even could buy why would he hide it? Wouldn't they notice? No, no matter which way Michael looked at it, God was alive.

Why had He gone? That was harder. There was no clear answer. Lucifer was the best answer he could come up with. Metatron had said something about Gadreel before he, too, had vanished but wasn't the tale of Gadreel's failure really the story of Lucifer's treachery? It all led back to him. And Lucifer might argue with that but if not for Lucifer then what?

Which led back to Raphael and his stubborn insistence their father was dead. He looked at every atrocity the human race had perpetuated on each other and asked why God would have allowed it if He lived. Michael didn't have an answer, he never did, but hadn't He allowed worse before He left? He had allowed Lucifer to question until the point of rebellion. It had been so long now and everyone was used to him being the villain, the bad son, could not even imagine a life without it. But despite how much time had passed, it still didn't make sense to Michael.

Fortunately he need not understand Lucifer in order to kill him. Once Lucifer had rebelled, God had allowed him to lead humanity into sin. He had allowed Lucifer to twist that little human soul into a depth of evil that was shocking and repugnant and deeply pitiful. He had let that demonic virus grow. He had let Abel be tempted and Cain, steadfast and virtuous Cain, sacrifice himself and drown in blood until he had stunned them all and just sort of…quit being a demon. The Mark was still there, the blood thirst and the black eyes, but he kept bees these days and bothered no one. God hadn't intervened until Michael was bid to cast Lucifer into hell and Gabriel had fled and everything was ruined.

He could have stopped it all and yet He chose not to. That meant He allowed it. And his father was never wrong so there must be a reason. Michael could never understand but he had to believe in the plan just the same.

Raphael didn't want God to be dead but he didn't want Him to be gone, either, and he would rather think God was dead than God had abandoned him. It was the same reason it took him so long to ask about Gabriel.

"Will he run again?"

Michael looked over. Raphael looked indifferent to the answer but of course Michael knew better. "He could. It has been a long time and I do not understand his choices. But I do not believe so. Lucifer and I agreed we would let him try his grand experiment in neutrality, for all the good that will do. If he realizes he cannot stay out of it he may run again. But he is stubborn and he hasn't accepted that he must get involved yet. His denial may outlive Lucifer."

"Do you really believe that Lucifer will keep his promises?" Raphael demanded. "You can leave him be all you want but what about our other brother?"

"It was Lucifer's idea to find Gabriel in the first place," Michael said. "He found him after all this time. I almost wish it hadn't been so easy for him, for all I am glad of the result."

"Lucifer is not as strong as you," Raphael said. "The angels foolish enough to support him openly are few and far between and his hidden supporters are cowards. Few demons can stand up to an angel and the most they can do is banish us to heaven. He will want the support of an archangel."

"Perhaps. But Gabriel didn't spend thousands of years running to fall in line behind Lucifer now," Michael said. "And joining Lucifer will require him to kill more angels than joining us. No one made Lucifer bring me or even tell me of his plan to find Gabriel. I believe that is a good sign of his intentions."

The look Raphael gave him was deeply unimpressed. "Lucifer's intentions are never good. I knew spending this time with Lucifer would warp your perspective of him."

"In what way is my perspective warped?" Michael asked, offended. "I still know who and what he is and will do my duty when the time comes."

"You just said that you trusted him not to go after Gabriel and to keep his word. Lucifer. Of all people. You trust him."

Putting it like that was hardly fair. "It's not like you don't trust him to be evil and want to destroy humanity."

"That's not exactly 'trust'," Raphael pointed out. "Maybe expect. When you trust someone you expect some sort of positive behavior out of them and nothing I think Lucifer will do is in any way positive."

"It will be fine," Michael said.

"So you say," Raphael said. "And I do believe that you have every intention of following through with killing him right now. But you weren't saying anything about trusting him not to go after Gabriel when he wishes to remain neutral before you started meeting with him."

"I always expected him to leave angels who were not fighting alone," Michael said. "We are the only ones he likes, really, for all that's a very sad state of affairs given our…conflict. I didn't expect him to choose to leave Gabriel alone before only because before we met our brother was still lost to us and I had not anticipated this changing."

"Of course, you say that after you have been meeting with him," Raphael said.

Michael just gave him a look.

Raphael sighed. "Michael, I know how important this is to you but I also know how hard this is. If you did not still care for Lucifer then it would not be so important to you that Father commanded this. You would just do it because Lucifer's actions go against heaven and we are not to let demons destroy the Earth."

Michael looked away. "I never pretended that he was not important. But it is my duty."

"I know," Raphael said gently. "But it has been literally thousands of years since he was sealed away. If after all that time, the prospect of killing him has not become easier…tell me you do not find the idea of killing him now harder than it would have been had you only met again on the day your fight truly began."

"I…cannot do that," Michael admitted reluctantly. "But I will do what I have to. You know that."

"I just don't want this to cause you any more pain that it has to."

Michael bowed his head. "I thank you for that. But this is my choice and I do have a valid reason to be in Lucifer's company. I am not just visiting him. I need to kill him and I cannot do that until we are both in our vessels. You do not think it is wise for me to drag this out? Going to Lucifer is how I intend to make sure that this ends as quickly as it can."

Dean was not happy to see him though it was not as though Michael had been fool enough to expect otherwise.

"Where's your buddy Lucifer?" he practically spat.

Michael gave him a disappointed look. "Lucifer is not my 'buddy', he is my brother. And he is not here."

"All I know is that he better not be off harassing my brother," Dean said dangerously.

Michael knew that he was but it wasn't as though this little human would be able to rescue him and it would only add an unnecessary distractor to this already difficult conversation.

"How did you even find me?" Dean demanded. "What is the point of these damn rib carvings if everyone can find us whenever they fucking feel like it?"

"It is not nearly as easy as you imply, Dean," Michael said. "It takes work to find you but your movements do tend to be predictable and there are some rather human means of tracking you down."

Dean stared pointedly at the sky. "Well as long as I'm inconveniencing you to do this."

"Do you enjoy inconveniencing people, Dean?"

Dean blinked. "Generally, yes."

"And you would let the world burn to inconvenience me?" Michael asked, taking care to look disappointed. The fact he looked like Dean's father, albeit younger than Dean was used to, should add to the effect.

"Check the script, pal," Dean said. "Letting the world burn is not on the table and it's why I want nothing to do with you."

Michael sighed. "You do remember that I am not the one who want so destroy the world?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Not all of it, fine. But are you really telling me that you'll be shedding a tear for all of the millions of people who are going to die?"

"Why would I?" Michael asked, puzzled. "Anyone killed by an angel, which will be everyone who dies in our battle, will automatically go to heaven regardless of their sins or even if their soul has already been promised elsewhere. And those that survive will have paradise on Earth before enjoying the paradise of heaven."

"That doesn't matter!"

Michael raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't?"

Dean let out an annoyed breath. "Well, fine, yeah it does. But people don't want to die!"

"Of course they don't," Michael said. "But I think they'd find that preferable to living under Lucifer's rule. Or being personally killed by him or his demons – and being killed by a demon offers no instant heaven – instead of just being collateral damage. They're very creative you know, particularly Lucifer. None of us, not even him, knew what would happen when he took that very first human soul and just started…twisting."

Unbidden, Dean shuddered. "Stop acting like those are the only two options! It's not just letting Lucifer ruin everything or letting you save everyone!"

"I'm sorry, Dean, but I'm afraid that's exactly what it is," Michael said.

"No, it isn't. Just stop this whole thing. You could do it right now."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "So what you want me to do is to just stop having any part in this?"

Dean looked like he wanted to shake him. "Yes!"

"I could do that," Michael agreed easily.

Instantly, Dean was suspicious. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Michael said. "I could abandon my responsibilities right now. It would be easy. Convincing me to actually do that would not be quite so easy but I could. It's just that is that really what you want?"

"Do you have some sort of comprehension problem?" Dean demanded. "I've been saying that this whole time!"

"You have," Michael agreed. "But you do realize that me not getting involved won't be what saves your world."

Dean's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I know you blame both of us for this and I will concede that we may have sped up the timeline a little and you would have undoubtedly preferred that this happen in another few decades-"

"Try 'literally never'," Dean said. "Or at least another few millennia!"

"It had to be in your lifetime, Dean," Michael explained patiently. "You and Sam are both needed for this."

"You brought Dad back after he's been dead awhile," Dean said dismissively. "There's no reason why you couldn't have brought me and Sam back after Lucifer got out on his own with no assistance from the people who are supposed to be trying to stop him."

"That is true," Michael said. "We didn't but it is something to take into consideration for next time."

"What do you mean 'next time'?"

"We waited as long as we could," Michael said. "But, being human, I do not think you really understand the meaning of even one millennium, let alone as many as have passed since Lucifer fell."

"I think I might actually have negative sympathy to you getting bored of waiting for Lucifer to find a way out of the cage on his own," Dean told him.

"You overstate our involvement," Michael said. "Azazel was the one with the plan to free him. We had nothing to do with that. He set it all into motion before any of us had even set foot on Earth again. And we could have prevented it, perhaps, but honestly if we nipped every plot to free Lucifer in the bud he'd never have gotten out of that cage."

"Huh."

"What?"

"I didn't know it was possible to feel that much anti-sympathy for someone and yet my sympathy continues to drop," Dean replied. " 'We were bored' is never an excuse for anything. Like ever. And certainly not letting your psycho brother out of time out so he can destroy the world."

"So he can try to destroy the world," Michael corrected. "We're really not that irresponsible."

"The fact that you can say any variation of the words 'we're not irresponsible' and actually mean them is nothing short of a marvel," Dean said.

"We could have eventually brought you back," Michael said. "But would you have really been any more open to the idea of the apocalypse and serving as my vessel had we brought the two of you back in, say, five million years for the sole purpose of stopping Lucifer who had somehow finally managed to get out without you being able to direct any blame towards heaven?"

Dean thought about it. "Well, if it truly wasn't your fault we were even in this mess and Lucifer was destroying the world and it was me or bust then I probably would, actually. My brother would be even less likely to say yes than he already is because it's not like Lucifer needs to have a better experience destroying the world. That's not really your problem, though, and if Lucifer could find a back-up vessel or something, like that guy he's wearing now, then I'd be glad to help."

"The problem with that scenario, other than the fact that we're not just rewinding time and starting all this over-"

"That actually sounds like the best idea you've had yet," Dean interrupted.

"We're not doing that. Huge changes like that are rarely utilized for a reason and I'm pretty satisfied with how the apocalypse is playing out now."

"Well you're not getting a yes out of me anytime soon with that attitude," Dean said, crossing his arms petulantly.

"You weren't planning on saying yes to me before."

"And now I'm even less likely." Dean cocked his head. "Although I guess if I still said no either way it's a little hard to calculate that."

"Other than the fact that we're not restarting this," Michael said loudly. "If you just lived your life and died and went to heaven until you were needed to serve as a vessel, how would you get to hell to break the first seal? That could not be accomplished in your lifespan if you were really interested in not having Lucifer freed for quite some time."

"What, you couldn't send me to hell later?"

"I could," Michael said. "But in addition to the fact that that would be us aiding the demons with my brother's release even more directly than we actually did, which you already take issue with, I wouldn't just send a soul that has done nothing wrong to hell!"

Dean looked almost insultingly surprised. "You wouldn't?"

Michael's eye twitched. "What kind of a leader of heaven do you think I am?"

"You, uh, you really don't want me to answer that one," Dean said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Evidently not. If you arrived in heaven I would do nothing to ensure you were unjustly ripped away and condemned to perdition. I would find it in bad form if you were to complain about my not being willing to damn you and how that makes your wish to have the apocalypse in the future a bit harder to manage."

Dean held up his hands. "Hey, I ain't complaining. I've been there. And I'm not looking to brainstorm ways to get me thrown into hell. But am I really the only one you could have used? I mean, not to give you people ideas or anything, but Alastair said something about my father being a righteous man as well."

"You're quite right about that," Michael confirmed. "Had your father not managed to escape hell when he did, eventually he would have been the one to break the first seal. He had already held on much longer than you but the demons would have had an eternity to work on him and when you ended up in hell, for I believe your soul was already sold by that point, they might very well have offered to spare you if he gave in. I believe he would have done that."

Dean fidgeted uncomfortably. "Yeah, I get it. My dad was all kinds of badass and he held out more than three times as long as I did and never broke. I know. I fucked up."

Michael peered curiously at him. "You think…? Dean, that was not meant as a condemnation! No one can withstand torture indefinitely. Say you had matched your father's defiance. You would have stayed there all the longer. If you had said yes the moment they asked you would have saved yourself a lot of pain."

Dean's eyes flashed. "I wasn't about to start torturing some poor bastard just because I didn't want it to be me!"

"I know," Michael said quietly. "They needed to break you. And while thirty years isn't a hundred, it isn't nothing, either. And you were under Alastair. Just because your father outlasted you and managed to escape, which only happened because you and your brother failed to stop the devil's gate from being opened, doesn't mean you were weak."

Dean chuckled weakly. "When did this turn into a pep talk, huh?"

"I merely speak the truth. What you did was necessary and, once your soul was bargained away, it was inevitable that it would have been you," Michael said. "You bear no blame for this."

Dean's mouth tightened and he closed his eyes. "Tell that to Bela. Tell that to-" He broke off.

"Those souls you tortured were as condemned as you were. Some of them were bad people, some just made bad choices. I cannot say if they deserve what happens to them down there, only that the existence of hell was planned by my brother Lucifer and allowed by my father. If it wasn't you, it would have only been someone else. You couldn't save them."

"Yeah, well, where I come from 'someone else would have done it' doesn't excuse shit," Dean said harshly.

Michael sighed. "You are harder on yourself than you need to be, Dean. You are a righteous man."

"And what does that even mean, anyway?" Dean demanded. "I'm so righteous I tortured people and I liked it."

"Well of course you did," Michael said matter-of-factly.

Dean glared at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Dean, listen to me. You are a good person. You are a righteous person. That is proven fact or the first seal would never have broken and you would not be my fated vessel," Michael said. "You didn't want to torture those souls. That's why you held off for thirty years despite thirty years of opportunities to say yes. You know that you didn't have a choice. Not really."

Still, Dean was stubborn. "I didn't have to enjoy it."

"Yes you did."

"How do you figure?" Dean asked skeptically.

"You had broken. You had gone about as far as you could go saying no and you knew that you were going to have to hurt a lot of people in the future," Michael said. "You could either be miserable and make it even harder for yourself or you could enjoy it and spare yourself the extra torment."

Dean's shoulders were rigid. "I didn't choose to like it."

"Not a choice but a coping mechanism," Michael corrected. "I said before none of us knew what to expect when Lucifer began torturing that soul. Lilith. None of us really know why it happened the way it did or how becoming a demon allows them to use the power of their souls the way they do."

"Wait, I thought demons don't have souls," Dean said, looking confused.

"It's not a matter of having souls but of being them," Michael said. "Humans are souls in bodies. They can barter those souls away but demons are what they are and they cannot part with the twisted remains of their soul. I have seen humans face down a great deal of torture, the kind that you – not having become a demon – could not even imagine."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "And did you do anything about the torture or just watch?"

Michael ignored that. "They're still deeply damaged when they become demons. Based on her actions, it's entirely possible that Ruby loved Sam and yet she used him to free Lucifer and thought he'd come around to her perspective. That is not human love or angel love. But demons are more functional than a tortured human and they can endure more pain. Some even like it. I've always suspected becoming a demon is how a human soul protects itself. I would hate to see what would happen to a human soul if it didn't have the power to transform and detach. You enjoyed it, Dean, but now you regret. What more could you possibly ask of yourself? What difference would another few years of torture make before you accepted your fate?"

Dean was quiet for a long moment. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it is true."

"Bullshit. You want something."

"You always knew what I wanted," Michael said. "And yet that has no bearing on this. What happened was not your fault and you should not be blaming yourself unduly."

"Not all of us believe in all this fate crap that lets us off the hook for our actions."

"And so once again the illusion of free will causes suffering," Michael said.

"I don't quite think that's the take-away here," Dean shot back.

"Dean, you are a righteous man because that is just who you are. It's not something that you have to try to be and it's not something that can ever be taken away from you. It's just at the core of you no matter what you become or what you do," Michael said. "To get back to your earlier question, you are not the only righteous man in the world. Your father is one as well as are many others. But righteous men rarely wind up in hell."

"It didn't take much to get me and my dad there and we even knew what we were doing," Dean argued.

"You and your father had the personal attention of the king of hell," Michael replied. "You had those forces hounding you for more than twenty years. Righteous men only end up in hell for one reason."

"Deals."

Michael nodded. "Deals. Most humans live their whole lives without hearing anything about deals. No matter what easy prey they would be to a crossroad demon or how little the value of their prize, their souls are safe because of their ignorance. But some humans do know and some righteous men are tempted. Never for themselves, of course, or they would not be righteous. But your father died for you and you died for your brother. Is it so hard to believe another righteous man might do the same?"

"And then they become righteous demons," Dean said sarcastically. "If it's happened before then why did they need me? Why didn't one of them break the seal? Or did they all outlast me, too?"

"Lilith wasn't freed," Michael said simply. "The seals couldn't begin breaking before she was. Why do you think Azazel didn't kill the brother he knew he probably needed until right before he was going to free Lilith? If you went to hell and broke before she was freed it would be useless. And, not that he would know this, if you became a demon taking you as a vessel would be…complicated."

"Azazel seemed surprised that I saved Sam," Dean said uncertainly.

"He was a demon," Michael pointed out.

"Not interfering and letting Azazel run around trying to jumpstart the apocalypse isn't the only thing you did to start the apocalypse," Dean said accusingly.

Michael sighed. "If this is about how we kept you from Sam the night that he killed Lilith then-"

"It's not," Dean cut him off. "But that, too, come to think of it. You could have protected the seals. You should have protected the seals. Angels died defending them, you know, the people you claim to care about, and that whole time you were waiting to fail. Waiting to free Lucifer."

"What makes you think that, even though we intended for Lucifer to be released, we did not do everything we could to protect the seals?" Michael asked. "There were over six hundred and she only needed to break a small fraction. Our numbers are great but they are not limitless."

"I've got some questions about those angel deaths given that only an angel blade can kill an angel," Dean said. "But, more importantly, Zachariah outright told me that you guys were lying to most angels and pretending to protect the seals because they wouldn't be on board with the whole freeing Lucifer thing. He said that there was no way you'd actually let sixty-five seals get broken unless you wanted them to be. And he could just be bragging or lying to save face given the terrible job he did saving seals but you know what? I believe him."

Zachariah had really said all of that? He must have because how else would Dean have ever gotten the idea in the first place? Why would he do that? If that was the sort of thing he said to Dean no wonder Dean did not like him. Yes, it was too late by then for Dean to stop Lucifer rising (as if he ever could) but they still needed him to trust them enough to say yes and that was not how to go about winning his trust. Why would he complicate things by letting Dean believe anything more than Lucifer was bad and needed to be stopped? If Zachariah hadn't said that then perhaps Michael would have already gotten what he needed from Dean.

He was going to have to speak with Zachariah when he was done here.

"Every angel who fought and died in a great loss," Michael said solemnly. "I did want Lucifer to rise up so that I could crush him once and for all but everyone who fought did so without any knowledge of that wish. I did not let this happen."

"Could you have done more to stop it?"

"I could have killed Lilith."

Dean's eyes widened. It was clear he hadn't thought of that. "Why tell me this now?"

"Lies clearly haven't done either of us any good," Michael replied. "Now we can spend all day discussing what might have beens or we can acknowledge the world we're dealing with now. Lucifer is free now. Sam will say yes one day. You know he will."

"I don't know anything of the kind," Dean growled but his voice lacked conviction.

"Even if he doesn't, but he will, Lucifer isn't going to put off destroying the planet forever," Michael said. "One day he will give up on Sam and start killing no matter if he's wearing Sam or Nick or anybody else. And on that day, I need to be there to stop him. If I'm not…"

Dean clenched his fists. He knew what was at stake. "Who says you can't be? Just bring my dad to the fight."

Michael frowned. "I would have thought you'd be against that."

"I am," Dean said like it was obvious. "But I can't very well stop you unless I volunteer instead and that would just defeat the whole purpose."

"I could and, if you never say yes, then I will have to," Michael said. "But it is destiny that you will say yes."

"You keep using that word," Dean said. "And I really don't think it means what you think it means."

Michael furrowed his eyebrows but said nothing. "I am not as strong in a vessel that is not you. I am strong enough for most things but not necessarily for killing Lucifer, particularly when he will be in his true vessel."

Dean slapped his hand down hard on his leg. "You don't know that!"

"It doesn't matter what either one of us believes," Michael said quietly. "My brother has his sights set on yours and he is very persuasive. Your brother has been groomed for this his whole life."

"He wouldn't do that."

"I think you know better," Michael said. "You don't have to say yes today. But one day, you know that you're going to have to. I understand that you do not want to. I can respect that. I won't want to, either. And you, at least, have the knowledge that your brother will be back once I kill Lucifer. My brother will stay gone for good."

"You don't have to do this."

"You know very well what will happen if I don't," Michael said. "Just think about that. I'm not your enemy, Dean."

Lucifer enjoyed the trapped look in Sam's eyes when he happened to glance over and see Lucifer standing in line two lanes over at the grocery store. He seemed to brace himself and took a step towards him but Lucifer just waved him off and indicated that they could talk after they got through the line. Looking thoroughly bemused, but also a bit relieved, Sam got back in line.

Once their respective purchases were made, Sam walked up to Lucifer.

"Okay, look, I know that there are far more important things for me to be thinking about but…what would the devil even buy at a grocery store?"

Lucifer showed Sam his bag.

"Bananas and popsicles?" Sam asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

"Do you have a problem with my grocery choices, Sam?"

"It's a little weird," Sam admitted.

"Well what should I get which would be less weird?" Lucifer asked. "Devil's food cake?"

Sam made a face. "That might be a little on the nose. I guess it's more weird that you're even grocery shopping in the first place. I know angels don't need to eat."

"Angels don't need to do much of anything," Lucifer said. "I could kill everyone in this grocery store but I thought you might take less of an issue with me merely shopping here."

"I do," Sam assured him. "But since when do you care about what I think?"

"Sam, I've always cared what you thought," Lucifer told him. "Even before you were born."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You don't care about me, Lucifer. You want to possess me."

"And I suppose that brother of yours isn't rather strongly attached to his car?" Lucifer asked rhetorically.

"Now I'm a car?"

"From what I understand, Gabriel did it first."

Sam reluctantly nodded. "Why are you even here?"

"I need you to say yes to me."

"I can't do that," Sam said patiently. "You'll only destroy the world if I do."

"I'm going to destroy the world regardless," Lucifer said. He cocked his head. "Well, to be more precise I'm going to destroy the human race. I like the rest of this world. It's my father's last great creation, you know, and oh so very beautiful. How arrogant of your people to view their destruction as the destruction of the whole planet."

Sam nodded. "Oh, yes. How arrogant of us."

Lucifer suspected Sam was implying something about angels and arrogance, perhaps him in particular, but it did not matter.

"I thought you said that it was inevitable that I would say yes," Sam said.

"And so it is."

"Then why are you even here?" Sam demanded. "If something is inevitable then it's going to happen whether you do anything at all."

"Inevitability is a tricky concept," Lucifer said slowly. "It is inevitable that you say yes and yet what would have happened if Anna had succeeded in killing you, killing your parents before you were born, and scattering their ashes so far apart that not even Michael could put any of you back together again?"

Sam choked and Lucifer peered curiously at him.

"I just…that would have actually worked?"

"Of course it would have," Lucifer said. "Why do you think Michael killed her?"

Sam looked down. "He lied to me," he whispered.

"Who did? Michael?"

Sam shook his head. "Cas."

"He told you it wouldn't have worked?" Lucifer asked rhetorically. "Of course he did. He probably knew you'd be so self-sacrificing as to want to go along with it if you knew. His reasons for not wanting this to happen are different than mine, of course, since he also wishes to stop the apocalypse. You saying yes is inevitable and yet you couldn't have if Anna had succeeded. Go back to mythology. Oedipus was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. He tried to stop this by leaving home but I suppose he never knew he was adopted. How strange how often royalty adopts random children in mythology. Does the bloodline matter nothing to them? Perhaps nothing could have been done to prevent him from killing his father but he could have easily avoided marrying his mother. If nothing else, he could have just refused to marry anyone old enough to be his mother no matter how unlikely he found their connection. Inevitable and yet it could be thwarted."

"You're well-versed in human myths," Sam said warily.

Lucifer laughed. "Do you think I hate your people because I know nothing about them?"

"What about Paris?" Sam asked. "He was fated to destroy Troy. He was sent away as well and no one knew who he really was and he still managed to do it. Not single-handedly but you can make the case that if you could blame one person you could blame him."

"You don't blame Helen or Aphrodite?" Lucifer asked curiously.

Sam shook his head. "It wasn't Helen's fault. Whether she wanted to go with him or not, Paris wasn't going to leave without her. And she was magically forced to love him by Aphrodite which really creeps me out thinking about. As for Aphrodite, she was the one to offer him Helen when she was already married to the king of Sparta and wasn't consulted about this but it was only an offer. Paris is the one who took it and Paris should have cared more about Troy than Aphrodite did."

"I heard he didn't know who she was married to when he made his choice," Lucifer said.

"Well he certainly knew when he abducted her," Sam said unsympathetically.

"Personally I love the bit about how everyone knew he must be a noble because of his outstanding beauty and intelligence," Lucifer said. "Such conceit! As far as intelligence went, Paris could have easily avoided destroying Troy – at least in that way – if he hadn't run off with a queen. That's not even a hard one. But then, just because things do come to pass doesn't mean that there wasn't another way, just that that other way wasn't taken."

"That's a strange position to take for someone who is insisting that I have no choice but to say yes to you."

"I didn't say that," Lucifer corrected. "I said you will say yes to me."

"That's splitting hairs. And if I'm going to no matter what, why are you here?" Sam asked again.

"Well I need to do something," Lucifer admitted. "If I just sat around doing nothing and waiting for you to say yes to me then of course you never would."

"Thank you for the acknowledgement."

"As such, I visited you a few times and let you know of my intentions," Lucifer said. "And I decided not to waste time by proceeding with my plan to destroy humanity. I feel that method is bearing fruit and you're closer to saying yes than you were at the start but Michael is in a hurry and so I could either start killing more people and break your spirit that way or else try to have a civilized conversation with you. You're welcome."

"I'm not going to thank you for not massacring innocent people," Sam said flatly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sam. There are no innocent humans," Lucifer said. "And you don't have to but that's not exactly the sort of positive reinforcement that might encourage me to keep trying."

"I don't want you to keep trying, though."

"The next time I go out and kill an entire school or something, remember this conversation," Lucifer said seriously.

"You can't put this on me!"

"I just did," Lucifer said. "I'm going to keep doing all sorts of terrible things until you say yes."

Sam glared at him. "But you wouldn't stop if I did say yes!"

"Well, no," Lucifer admitted. "But you wouldn't have to be awake for that part."

"You're doing a terrible job of convincing me," Sam said.

Lucifer drew back, a little offended. "It's just a hard sell. Michael has it easy. All he has to say is 'help me save your world' and even he hasn't managed it! I need you to consent to helping me destroy it and somehow or other you don't see the merit of my plan."

"You do remember that I am human, right?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Nobody's perfect. You really should just say yes now, though. It would make it easier."

"I'm not exactly looking to make your destroying my people easier for you!"

"I wasn't talking about that," Lucifer said. "Although you're right, that would be much appreciated. I understand that you intend to be selfish about this."

"Self-" Sam broke off and shook his head. "Selfish? Are you kidding me?"

"It's your behavior, Sam. It shouldn't come as such a surprise to you."

"How can you possibly accuse me of being selfish when you're the one who wants to destroy my entire species? All I want to do is stop you!"

"Because you don't want me to destroy your species," Lucifer pointed out. "And, more to the point, you don't want me to use your body to do it. It's all about you."

"You are the most selfish creature I've ever met!" Sam burst out. "You won't even suffer to let us live because we're not perfect enough for you!"

"Sam, I've suffered greatly because of my dedication to cleansing the world of your filth," Lucifer said seriously. "I was betrayed by my brothers and cast out. I've spent more millennia completely alone in hell than you could fathom. How can you possibly think that I'm doing this for my own benefit?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Look, just because you suffered doesn't mean that you're being noble and you clearly didn't learn a damn thing."

Lucifer smiled sadly at him. "I can accept that you feel that way."

Sam crossed his arms. "I'm not falling for it."

"Falling for what?"

"You want to destroy all of humanity. I don't care how sad you are, I'm not going to forget that and I'm not going to feel sorry for you."

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me," Lucifer said. "I want you to say yes to me. You're going to say yes to me, Sam. Maybe not today or anytime soon but eventually you're going to have to."

"And how, exactly, do you figure that?" Sam asked. He didn't want to admit it but it was obvious that, even if he wasn't willing to say yes today, he didn't have faith in his ability to keep saying no. Of course he didn't. He couldn't. "Bonus points if you can answer without using the word 'inevitable.'"

"It's your fault I'm out, Sam," Lucifer said simply. "Everything I've done, none of it would be possible without you. Oh, sure, your brother broke the first seal but he was being tortured down in hell! We can't really blame him for that, can we? You just wanted revenge. You betrayed the brother you were avenging to get it. I'm not complaining, mind you, I just want to make sure that you know that you have made all this possible."

"As if I could forget," Sam spat, his jaw tightening. "You seem to be leaving out a few crucial details."

Lucifer smiled, amused. "Oh, am I?"

"It wasn't just me going out and deciding to kill Lilith and not caring it freed you," Sam pointed out. "The angels let those seals fall. They brought it to the point where I only needed to kill Lilith to free you. They also chose not to revive me when I died and so let Dean sell his soul to go break the first seal."

"My brothers merely let it happen. You played the active role so I think we both know who bears the most blame," Lucifer said. "But I do so enjoy reminding them of their contributions to the cause."

"Azazel worked for years to make this happen. If my brother hadn't killed him he'd have kept right on working to free you. Lilith killed Dean and dangled his murder in front of me for a year. Even that night, when I didn't kill her right away, she egged me on."

"Since you're not sixteen anymore, you really should be able to just ignore people trying to provoke you," Lucifer said sagely.

"Lilith sent Ruby to me who spent two years doing nothing but earning my trust. She was…I hate her, now, for what she did but she was right when she said she was awesome. She played her part to perfection. She knew I wouldn't trust a demon easily so she made sure she was still hostile enough while helping up until Lilith dragged her back down to hell and she had extra motivation to turn on her. I never even questioned her reasons for wanting Lilith dead. And I needed someone and something and she was all that was there. I could have had Bobby or Jo or Ellen but I didn't want to see them. I didn't want to see anyone but she didn't give me that choice. And she didn't lie about me being able to kill Lilith. And the angels lied about Lilith's death and what they wanted and kept Dean from me once he knew and could have stopped me."

Lucifer let out a low whistle. "I must say, Sam, I am impressed. You do a remarkable job of blaming everyone else for your actions."

Sam's eyes flashed. "I know what I did. But you act like I single-handedly doomed the world."

Lucifer tilted his head. "That's because you did."

"All I did was free you and even if that was on me and me alone, you're the one who wants to destroy everyone."

"And you always knew that about me," Lucifer said. "I'm a very honest person."

Sam snorted.

Lucifer gave him a look. "I told you that I'd never lie to you, Sam. Have I broken that promise?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Sam said, shrugging. "But even if you haven't I still can't trust you."

Lucifer sighed. "And that is your choice."

"I know what I did," Sam said again. "But you can't put it all on me."

"You keep saying that but I know you don't believe it," Lucifer said mildly. "You know as well as I do that as much as I want to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth, I couldn't do anything stuck in that infernal cage. And as much as the angels and demons may have led you to water, you're the one who made the final decision. You chose a demon over your own brother and, being a little familiar with brotherly betrayal myself, I don't quite think he's forgiven you for that. He just knows he can't let you out of his sight or you'll come to me. But big brother can't babysit you forever."

"And what would have happened if I had chosen Dean instead?" Sam demanded. "I wasn't in my right mind. I was hopped up on demon blood! Apparently I literally had black eyes! If I had gone with Dean, we would have killed Lilith together and started the apocalypse that way. We never would have known."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night. You are going to say yes to me, Sam, because you made all this possible. You are going to say yes to me because I am not ever going to stop. I have all the time in the world and no one except your merry little band of misfits and maybe some jealous pagans who have their own ideas about how this world should end are even trying to stop me."

"The angels-"

"They want me defeated, yes," Lucifer agreed easily. "They're slaughtering my demons quite happily. But none of them would dare challenge me. Even your little Castiel is staying away. And they all know how they want this to go. Me against Michael. And Michael won't deign to enter the fray until that time. So really, by continuing to resist me you are condemning thousands of people to death. Millions, even."

"You'd kill everyone whether I was there or not," Sam said. "And I'm not the one doing the killing."

"Okay," Lucifer said, nodding. "So if Dean had come back from hell without his soul – it has been known to happen, you know – and began having no regard for saving people or collateral damage and killed innocents and you couldn't bear to kill him would you still say your hands were clean? Or at some point would you have to take responsibility for the results of your inaction?"

"This is different. I can't st-" Sam cut himself off.

Lucifer smiled. "You can't stop me? I know that although I see why you don't want to say it out loud given your little mission to save the world. You could, though. You could say yes."

"It wouldn't stop anything."

"It would lead to Dean saying yes," Lucifer said. "It would lead to the final showdown."

"Millions more would die! More than you've killed so far, more than you probably will kill anytime soon!"

"Don't tempt me," Lucifer warned. "I could start seriously attempting to wipe out your whole species today and until we have our vessels Michael won't stop me. It's only my regard for our battle and the fact I'm in no hurry and want to enjoy this that has stayed my hand so far."

"Fine," Sam ground out. "You could kill them all. But me saying yes wouldn't save anybody."

"It would if Michael won," Lucifer pointed out.

Sam started and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Oh, yes, I'm well-aware of the possibility and we've never truly fought seriously. When he cast me into hell…well, that's a complicated story and not one I feel like sharing. If you do nothing or if I win then the outcome is the same. But if you say yes then you give your species a chance. You give them Michael. And he may not have any great love for your people but he did promise to bring you and your family back and he is a man of his word. He will let whoever survives our fight live, if only to spite me and try and obey our missing father."

Sam swallowed a few times. "So it will be my fault if humanity is wiped out because Michael can't be bothered to stop you without Dean becoming his vessel? How is that supposed to be fair?"

"It's not," Lucifer said. "But it is what it is. So you can either say yes to hope or know you're dooming your species. And don't you have enough to answer for?"