*Sorry about the delay you guys...I feel so horrible about that. I was busy doing nanowrimo in november and then all of a sudden it was finals week. I'm on it now though and there should be another update soon. If you end up reading this, thanks for sticking with me. I love you all. Hope you enjoy. As always consider reviewing :)
It wasn't long before I found him in the mass of screaming corpses and dangling body parts. I actually only noticed him because he wasn't where I expected him to be. He was doing the slicing and dicing himself. I couldn't blame him, of course, for not wanting to be in pain but he seemed like the type that would suffer silently forever just to not damage a life. I guess the pain was worse than even I could imagine.
The massive purple walls, drowning in blood and guts and lit dimly by the souls of people who'd just lost their bodies and were about ready to begin the process of becoming whole again, displayed the shadow of Dean bringing a knife up over his head. He slashed it down across someone's chest and I heard a bloodcurdling scream calling for a mother. I hopped up on one of the chains and gripped two more just above my head and slowly tiptoed towards Dean. If I fell there was no way out. No one at home was going to save me so basically I couldn't fall. The even sicker part is I wouldn't die...I would just be trapped in eternal burning at the bottom of a chasm I couldn't climb or fly out of. If I flew, anyways I would almost surely be locked in some prison eerily similar thanks to Lucifer. That's what he meant when he said don't fly.
I slipped a couple of times but always had my hands ready on other chains to catch myself. The tricky parts were when the chains criss-crossed; the ones I was walking on in particular. It required a certain amount of careful footwork that was focused more on inches then steps. I don't know how long for sure I was slipping and sliding carefully across the bloody chains until I reached Dean. He was about to bring the knife down again on a poor sap who had lied one too many times. It was to protect his child but when it came to sin, Lucifer didn't much care why and neither did the angels which was something that needed to be changed, if you asked me. I held up a hand and stopped Dean's arm from swinging down. The man lying on the chains looked up at me piteously and whimpered thanks over and over again. Dean just gazed at me, his eyes terrified.
"Please," he whispered, "I can't stop. If I stop I don't know what will happen to me, and I have to survive. I have to."
"I'm here to save you. You're going to survive, Dean, but back upstairs with your brother and Bobby."
Dean shook his head and tried to bring the knife down again. I stopped him once more and he shook his head even more furiously. "You can't do that. No one can do that. I did this for, Sammy, and I can't have my deal broken. He can't end up down here. He can't ever be forced to do what I'm doing now."
"He won't," I said forcefully. "He'll be waiting for you and you'll both live. I promise you. Now please come with me."
Dean reluctantly put the knife down and I gripped his hand tight. "Don't fall," I demanded, as we walked delicately back across the pit towards the entrance where I'd come through. Once we touched solid ground, Dean's body disappeared and he became simply a fractured soul. I'd forgotten that was what happened when a soul left the chains. The only retained human bodies so that they could be tortured, but really they were just souls. I would have to piece him back together because it took too much power to pull him out of this place when he was in pieces. I also couldn't guarantee I would grab all the slices and I wasn't willing to risk Dean losing any part of himself.
I swirled the pieces around in front of me until they were moving in sort of slow whirlpool, making it easier to identify what each piece was. I picked out his guilt first and held it in front of me, caressing it. I couldn't believe this tiny sliver was the cause of all of Dean's pain. It was so small.
I then proceeded to pick out all of the other pieces, love, kindness, devotion, compassion, intelligence, dependency, sadness, and instinct and placed them in the exact places I remembered them being before he'd ended up down here. I then kissed the finished soul gently and a body slowly formed around it and it wasn't long before Dean was standing in front of me, pressing on his chest, before staring quizzically up at me.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the person rescuing you. Are you ready to go?"
"Go where?"
"Home," I smiled, "To Sam."
Dean stayed straight-faced for half a second before his tragically beautiful smile appeared and grew bigger and bigger until it took up his whole face. "Sammy? I get to see Sam again?"
I nodded.
Dean pulled me into a hug, slapping my back and laughing. "Thanks, man, whoever you are."
"Of course," I grinned, glad to see my old Dean back, even if it was only for a second. I loved every form of him, but this was by far my favorite. The one that cared and loved openly and with humor and fun. I folded my hand around his and led him on up the hallway towards Lucifer. When we reached him he was lounging in his chair, sucking on a lollipop and I rolled my eyes.
"Brother, may we go?"
"Yes," he drawled, pulling over a large book and pointed to Dean, "You. Get over here."
Dean stared sardonically at the somewhat subject man and shook his head. "No way in hell. You're one fucked up person. I'd rather stay over here."
"I just need you to sign something, for God's sake," Lucifer said, rolling his eyes. "Literally all you have to do is pick up this pen here," he said waving a simple ball-point pen around in the air, "And sign this book in the out column. You're only like the third one. Doesn't that make you feel special?"
Dean glanced over at me and I nodded at him, telling him it was okay. Lucifer wasn't going to mess with his own brothers because unfortunately there were like hundreds of us and only one of him. I also happened to know that Lucifer knew the grand plan and that raising Dean was the only way he'd get his battle. The only way he would get to rise back to earth in an actual body that could cause very real damage.
"Yes, yes," Lucifer sighed, "Get approval from you angel lover. Please, just get the fuck over here."
Dean glanced back at me, confused, when Lucifer said that and I chose to pretend I didn't even notice he was looking at me and instead stared up at the endless walls that rose up and up to a black ceiling of air. That was our way out. Lucifer laughed gently at me and I couldn't help glaring at him when Dean's back was turned.
"It's not like he's going to remember, Cassy-boy," Lucifer said. "Humans get a little discombobulated when they soar up through that tunnel there," pointing to where I'd been looking.
"I'm aware," I growled and Dean hadn't signed the book yet because he was busy staring between the two of us.
"Wait," he said, "You two are brothers? What is wrong with your family?"
"Oh...so many things," Lucifer replied, "But not too many more than yours." At that Dean decided not to keep asking questions and just signed the book. Lucifer snatched it away right when he was done and Dean came back to me. I gripped his arm tightly with one hand and asked, "Are you ready?"
"I was born ready."
I nodded and glared once more at Lucifer in good bye. He waved like a five year old child which was mostly what he was and flew out of there at ridiculous speeds, but it was the only way I could guarantee and exit. I could feel that Dean was uncomfortable but there was nothing I could do about it now. I forced my way out, crashing through force fields of air until Dean was in his coffin, and the air I'd forced out above us spread out and caused a sort of massive explosion around Dean's grave. I sat down right beside his grave and waited patiently for him to dig his way out. When his hand rose from the dirt and was reaching for air the way someone would gasp for it after they had almost drowned. I left at the moment back to heaven because I had a feeling I wasn't supposed to be there. I think my ban against Dean was probably still standing.
Right when I got home I was surrounded by the archangels. Raphael stepped out of the circle towards me and I couldn't believe what was happening. I'd done exactly what I was told to do. What could I possibly have done wrong this time around?
"Castiel. Thank you."
"Sure," I said, drawing out the word in suspicion. "Why are you saying thank you again?"
"Because you did such a wonderful job and didn't screw up. We all felt that you deserved thanks. In fact, we'd like to offer you a gift."
"I'm sure you would," I said, trying to withhold all sarcasm and disbelief as possible. Raphael knew I knew he was lying and it was making it all the more fun for him.
"We would like you, with some assistance if necessary of course, to assist Dean and Sam in getting prepared for the battle."
And at that moment I wanted to kill every single one of my brothers instantaneously. They were such dicks. They were asking me to get Dean prepared to become Michael and I would have to lie to him and pretend that the goal was to stop Lilith instead of help her succeed the entire time. I knew that this and a bunch of other things would be part of the requirements for the job and I couldn't believe the gall they had. Of course they asked me. Find the one brother you don't like and don't want around and make him hurt the one person on this entire planet, heaven, earth, and hell combined, that he loved. They also knew there wasn't any way I wasn't going to take the job no matter what I had to do. Raphael knew my unquenchable desire to always be with Dean and I knew that if I didn't accept this there was no way possible I would ever be with Dean again. I had to take it. There wasn't even a choice.
"Fine. Who will be assisting me?"
"Uriel, mostly."
I nodded, generally pleased with that, which was a surprise. I liked Uriel alright, he was definitely good company and I knew he would listen to me. It was someone I could be in charge over, even though I wouldn't be in charge on when he was with me.
"Thank you," I said monotonously to Raphael and he nodded back at me acknowledging my gratitude. I walked out of their circle and returned to my garden where I screamed as loud as I possibly could, ripping one of the Alzheimer's man's rose plants. Stickers got me in the fingers, making them bleed but I didn't even care. I couldn't feel it. He walked over to me and laid a hand on my shoulder before picking up the destroyed rose plant. He placed it gently in a compost pile in the corner of his heaven and returned to me.
"Don't feel guilty about that," he murmured softly. "It will return to help it's brother's grow. Listen, Castiel, I don't know what has happened but don't ever desert that man on earth that you care about so much. Do everything he ever asks because that is the only way you'll be happy. This has become much less about what you should do and more what you need to do to survive."
"You don't understand," I sighed, appreciating his effort.
"I don't have to. Never betray him. That is all. There is nothing that should prevent you from that. Nothing. You'll understand someday I'm sure."
"How are you wiser than me? I've been alive so much longer."
"It's not about age, my friend. I'm human. I understand human beings better than you and you're different then the other angels. You are much more human then all the others. It's been a gradual path but the time has arrived. I know more about you than you do. And you can't betray him. Please understand that."
I nodded, kind of confused but pleased. Our friendship was so up and down I was losing track of what our relationship was. I guess maybe they didn't really need to be defined.
"Now go to him," he said.
"I will. I just have one question. What's your name?"
"Stephen," he smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."
