Lucifer landed less than a second after Michael did. It didn't matter, truly, and most beings wouldn't have been able to tell but it annoyed him just the same.

The bees swarmed curiously around them but they ignored them. They had nothing to fear from such small creatures.

Cain appeared in front of them then, covered in beekeeper's garb. Did he just want to dress the part or were bees something that could truly pain such a powerful demon?

"Lucifer," he said, not sounding at all surprised. His eyes flickered to Michael. "And…Michael. I see you've come to visit."

They followed him into his house and he set out tea.

Lucifer took a cup and sipped at it while Michael just peered suspiciously at him, although what that said was about Lucifer could not say.

"I had heard the apocalypse was about due," Cain said. "Though it seems to be slow going. And now you have time to visit me? Far be it for me to advocate the end of all things but you two seem to be taking your time."

"The vessels don't want to consent," Michael explained.

Cain's eyebrows rose. "And you're not able to persuade two humans?"

"We are working on it," Michael said, a bit touchily.

"I'm just saying, your entire apocalypse is on hold because two humans will not agree to it," Cain said, shaking his head. "I mean, I can understand them not wanting to get possessed and help destroy the world but at the same time this was an obvious limitation I would have expected you to have found a way to work around by now."

"I have a way," Lucifer said easily.

"And yet you are still here," Cain noted.

Lucifer shook his head. "That's a different matter. Michael is somehow failing to get his vessel to agree to try and preserve some small part of humanity. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and wait for Sam Winchester to psychologically break. I'm in no rush."

Cain looked amused now and turned back to Michael. "Well?"

"I do not need to justify myself to you."

"That's true," Cain agreed. "But are you really going to let Lucifer's version of events rule the day?"

Michael frowned. No, of course he wouldn't. That was a good card to play. "Dean Winchester is very stubborn. He seeks to avert the whole apocalypse and thinks that by saying no and denying me the ability to try and stop my brother he will somehow save his people. He is absolutely refusing to face the fact that Lucifer will not stand down no matter who either of us is wearing."

"By that logic, you could always find someone else," Cain suggested. "You are, in fact, possessing someone else."

"I don't think it's come to that just yet," Michael said.

That was a surprise, the fact that Michael was implying that if this went on for too long he would just give in and go as John Winchester or someone else. But maybe that was surprising. What if Dean literally never did say yes? It was unlikely but consent could take longer than Michael was willing to wait.

"So what brings you to visit me?" Cain asked. "And if this has anything to do with my retirement, I did put in my two weeks."

Personally Lucifer rather doubted that. By all accounts, he hadn't been speaking of never killing again – even if he was on a break living with that human wife of his – until his wife died and he had stopped cold. And all of this was back in 1863, long before the concept of informing your employer you were leaving two weeks before doing so. But he supposed that technically he didn't know.

"I wasn't able to receive the news, being trapped in the darkest depths of hell."

"That really isn't my fault, though," Cain pointed out.

Well, no. That honor belonged to Michael and Michael alone. Their father may have ordered it, perhaps, Lucifer still wasn't sure of what exactly He had said and what Michael had just inferred and he had no intention of asking. The other angels had all tacitly approved by continuing to follow Michael, even the ones that had eventually come to their senses and supported him. He understood them.

Cain, the other demons, the humans…none of it had anything to do with them. What had they done, save exist? Exist and drive him to do what he did, far more than any insidious influence exerted by the Mark carved into his very being. It was enough.

"You can't very well retire from being what you are," Michael said. "You are still a demon and you still bear the Mark."

"I didn't retire from that so much," Cain conceded. "But I have stopped killing people and I no longer consider myself a knight of hell, insomuch as being a knight involves doing things and not just existing, so I have effectively retired and might as well just be an immortal human for all the difference it makes."

"Demons are really just immortal humans," Michael said. "Well, barring accidents, of course. And you weren't even tortured."

Cain waved a hand. "Well there you have it. No problems here."

"It's not reasonable for you to have given up dealing out death for good," Lucifer said. "You've strayed, Cain."

"I've put that life behind me," Cain said, clenching his jaw.

"We'll see."

"What do you think is going to happen?" Cain demanded. "That I've lived this long with the Mark without killing anyone and you come back and don't like it so that's going to change?"

"How did you even manage it?" Michael asked. "I have no firsthand knowledge but I believe that the Mark has a certain influence that compels you to kill."

"It was hard at first," Cain admitted. "Harder and harder as the weeks went by until I almost couldn't stand it. But I kept thinking of Colette, who loved me even knowing the truth and who died because of my sins. Colette who died knowing this and yet not hating me, only concerning herself with my soul. She used her last breath to beg me to stop. How could I pick up a blade again, even to kill the monster who murdered her, after that? I just kept thinking about that and eventually it got a little easier. I don't think I'll ever be cured of my little, uh, murder addiction but it's been a long time."

"You made a deal," Lucifer reminded him.

Cain's eyes flashed. "Yes and I kept it. Abel is safe in heaven and I gave myself to you. I have tortured and killed for you and done things that sometimes surprise even me to remember and I did it for thousands of years."

"But that wasn't the deal," Lucifer said. "It wasn't be mine until a pretty face came along and didn't like all the killing."

Cain didn't flinch. "Well what are you going to do about it? Kill me? I can't stop you. Take Abel back? Good luck assaulting heaven."

"We do not give away the souls we have been entrusted with," Michael said solemnly. "I will not allow Lucifer to harm your brother."

Cain nodded his thanks.

"You're a demon, Cain," Lucifer said. "Not the first, perhaps, but the best. The father of murder. How long did you know that woman? It couldn't have been more than a few years. Human lives are so very limited and I can't imagine that it would take long for your fellow knights to track you down. And you would change your entire existence for her, rob yourself of purpose, when even had she lived as long as a human could live she would be long dead by now?"

"It was just for her at first," Cain agreed. "But later I realized that I liked not killing people. I prefer myself like this. And I'm not going to define someone's importance in my life on how long they were there. I knew Abel a fraction of my lifespan and he will always be the person who defined me the most. I'm not you, Lucifer. I've been human and I don't carry your hatred for my species."

"All for a woman who would never have truly accepted you," Lucifer said, changing tracks effortlessly and shaking his head sadly.

Cain's arms made an aborted motion. "She knew and she accepted me. She even saw, that last night, and she still loved me and wanted to protect me."

"How much did she see?" Lucifer challenged. "Did she watch you kill all those knights? Even if she did, they were possessed by evil creatures and she didn't exactly have time to process it. She was probably hoping that you'd rescue her. But you failed."

"I didn't have a choice," Cain growled. "Abaddon murdered her while holding her hostage."

"I seem to recall that you stabbed her," Lucifer said thoughtfully.

"Abaddon was breaking her neck."

"Yes but once Abaddon fled she still had time to beg you to stop killing, yes?" Lucifer asked rhetorically. "Her neck couldn't have been what killed her then."

Cain said nothing.

"You said that she knew what you were and loved you anyway. What does that mean?" Lucifer had always been curious how they had even met and the woman learned who he was but he wasn't exactly looking to hear Cain's little love story. "She may have seen you kill possessed men. She may have known what you did to your brother and why. She may have known, intellectually, that you had committed countless atrocities over the years. But did she know that you've ripped the still-beating heart from the chest of infants? That you've cut people in half for being in the way? That you taught the other knights everything they knew about depravity? That you enjoyed the good work that you did? Did she ever see any of it for herself and have to reconcile the monster with the good man she was oh so sure was hiding somewhere deep inside of you?"

Cain breathed slowly. "What did you come here for? You will not tarnish my memories of my dead wife and I refuse to believe that Michael would be here if the point was to get me to participate in your little apocalypse. You don't need me anyway."

"More neutrality," Lucifer said contemptuously. "As if Gabriel wasn't enough."

"I never expected him to be on my side," Michael said, unperturbed. "And he's not an angel so I'm sure it matters less."

"Gabriel was assumed to be on your side, as were all other angels," Lucifer said. "Regardless of the fact that some have sympathy for me that embarrasses you. Demons are mine."

"Why are you here?" Cain asked again.

"We have questions about the Mark."

Cain looked pointedly at Lucifer. "Do you now?"

Lucifer scowled. "Michael does, at any rate. He has the most ridiculous ideas about it."

"You're being influenced by it all the time," Michael said earnestly. "And I know that sometimes it is obvious when it's influencing you, it must be, when you're being tempted to kill. But you were a very different person once and might have been willing to kill your own brother out of love but you never would have imagined how far you'd fall. How much do you think the Mark really changes a person? Do you really think you're aware of all the changes?"

"That's…hard to say," Cain said slowly. "It has been quite a long time and you can't really ask someone if they are fully aware of something because they won't know what they don't know. Did the Mark change me or was all the murders that I have committed, largely because of the Mark, do that? But why does it matter to you? Why are you taking time out of your apocalypse to come ask me about my personal experiences here? Michael, it has been thousands of years since I've seen you."

Michael bowed his head. "I was horrified when I learned what had happened to you and why. You're just doing so well these days but you still have the Mark and you're never going to be free of it, or at least probably not. And even if it were to be removed – and we all know why it can't be cured – you can't have something like that sitting on your soul for so long and expect it to go back to what it once was once the taint is gone."

"The Mark of Cain," Cain mused. "That's what they call it. Lucifer's Mark is what I called it. Is that why you're here?"

It was annoying to have him realize that but perhaps not surprising. Michael was not being subtle and his motivations for being here and asking all of these questions didn't make sense unless it involved Lucifer.

"I am not a human," Lucifer bit out. "I have never lost control of myself nor have I ever done anything that was against my previous inclination. And you can't say otherwise because humans were only created afterwards, Michael."

"Perhaps the different species are affected differently-"

"In which case being here is a complete waste of time," Lucifer interrupted.

"If I am understanding this correctly, Lucifer bears the same mark I do and resents the idea that it is the reason he fell," Cain said. "While Michael probably wants to blame an external force for what happened. Although if it really is not his fault and the result of the Mark, won't that make your plan to kill him worse since he would just be a victim?"

"I'm not victim," Lucifer spat. "Do you view yourself as one?"

"No," Cain said. "But that seems to be what Michael's looking for."

"I just find it a giant coincidence that the only angel who fell, something that shocked all of us, just happened to be the one who also had darkness incarnate fused into his very being," Michael said. "He was the best of us!"

"I'm certainly the only one who had the courage to say what we were all thinking and to stand up against the false supremacy of the humans," Lucifer said. "Is it really my fault if everyone completely overreacted to it?"

"It's kind of genocide," Cain pointed out.

"It was against Father's will!" Michael burst out.

"And also that, I guess," Cain said. "Look, you'll never be able to prove it one way or another and right now it doesn't even matter. Lucifer will always have it and you're only trying to kill him because you believe it is God's will and there's no other effective method for stopping him, right? So while it might be more comforting to blame the Mark for what happened, it is just as unsettling to realize that you have to kill him when maybe he doesn't deserve it. Why does it even matter?"

"It matters," Lucifer said testily, "because I am not so weak as he seems to think and I do not want him to think that the very clear-headed choices and sacrifices I have made are the result of anything but careful consideration."

"I just don't see how something so monumental as Lucifer making these decisions all on his own or his being controlled by the Mark are something I can just brush off and not care about," Michael said. "I know that ultimately the ending may be the same but it matters how we got there."

"I'm afraid I cannot help you figure out how that is and you know Lucifer's take on the matter," Cain said.

Michael sighed and looked meaningfully at him. "Yes, yes I do."


Sam didn't like to be apart from Dean for too long and definitely not when it wasn't his choice. Sometimes he thought about just what that said about him and Dean and the various ways that people had gently reminded him over the years that that probably wasn't healthy and might end up destroying the world someday. Someday soon, even, with this whole apocalypse happening.

But he tried not to ruminate on it for too long. Life was short and the world could end literally any day now. Why make himself miserable if the chances were good he didn't even have the time to try and sort that whole mess out?

Sam had been without Dean for four years and it was a million times easier than those four months when Dean had been in hell and now the four days it had taken for him to pull up next to the Impala.

"Finally, you're here!" Dean said, leaning against the front of the car and opening a beer.

"Dean, you probably haven't even been here for five minutes," Sam pointed out.

Dean just grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at him. "You'll never know. As the person who arrived first, I reserve the right to mock you for your lateness from now until eternity."

"I'm glad you're admitting you're not going to have anything better to mock me about so you'll have to resort to that," Sam said.

"Oh, I've got way better material," Dean said. "But it never hurts to stock up on new stuff."

"Oh really."

"Ruby. The apocalypse. Any of that ringing a bell?"

"I thought we were done with all of that," Sam said. "You gave me the knife back and welcome me back aboard."

"Yeah, no. That was me being – mostly – done blaming you for that and done treating you like a fuck-up," Dean said. "But you did kind of start the apocalypse, Sammy. That's the kind of thing that isn't forgotten so easily."

Sam rolled his eyes. Part of him was already sick of everyone reminding him of that and the guilt might never go away completely but, though he'd never tell Dean, he did sort of appreciate the fact he'd been given so much grief for it that he could now face the subject with a simple eye roll. "It was an accident."

"It was also an accident that time I ran into that cop car but that didn't stop me from getting arrested," Dean pointed out.

"Oh, come on, that's not the same thing."

Dean nodded. "You're right. One of us had to pay quite a bit of money and the other of us started the apocalypse."

"It's not like I knew what I was doing," Sam said.

"Because every idiot who sells their soul knows exactly what they're going in for," Dean said. "Judging by when she died, Bela would have been like fourteen when she sold hers. And while literally getting your parents killed makes you kind of the worst child ever, they're not rotting in hell like she is and I guess 'I hate you! I wish you were dead!' isn't too out there for a teenager. Her bad luck she said it to a demon."

"We weren't like that," Sam said. "You especially weren't."

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, well, maybe trying to use us to gauge normal behavior isn't the best idea you've ever had."

"I do have to wonder about that," Sam said. "I don't think we'll ever know but…she agreed to sell her soul to have her parents killed. And sure, I'm willing to bet they didn't tell her the whole story but all those other people we met seemed to know it was ten years and they were done so they had to tell her something. I find it kind of hard to believe that she just, you know, didn't like her parents."

"So, what?" Dean asked skeptically. "You think they were abusing her or something?"

"You said that when you asked she said you wouldn't understand, that no one had," Sam reminded him.

Dean shrugged again. "Yeah, well, I figured that she meant that nobody would understand she accidentally got her parents killed. I mean, total accident maybe, nobody really means that stuff. But it doesn't make you any less hell's bitch."

"You, on the other hand, knew exactly what you were doing," Sam said. "Except maybe the details of just how bad it would get. But that's the kind of thing you really have to go through to get, I think."

Dean shuddered. "Uh, yeah. But obviously I'm the idiot who knew what he was getting into and did it anyway. You're welcome."

"I'm just saying, the angels probably would have brought me back eventually to go be Lucifer's puppet," Sam said.

Dean raised his eyes to the sky in a 'look what I have to put up with' gesture. "But then they'd have you and just how long do you think they could work on you with no interruptions before you said yes? I mean, not knocking you or anything but they'd have forever."

"So maybe it could have been worse," Sam said. "Though they gave you back pretty quickly."

"Pretty quickly's relative," Dean said. "And they would have gotten me there anyway. At least this way it was by being pretty much the most amazing brother ever."

"Hey, I tried," Sam said. "I tried to trade you for me."

"And by undoing all of my good work, you were trying to be the worst brother ever," Dean said. "Very ungrateful."

Sam just shook his head. "I thought I was saving the world."

"Isn't that what Gordon thought he was doing coming after you?" Dean asked innocently.

"…You know, I feel like if it weren't for the angels bringing me back eventually that would have actually worked."

"Freaking angels," Dean said, more because of his general opinion on non-Castiel angels than because he objected to the idea of Sam being brought back to life. "And that's what Anna was up to, too."

"It's a bit alarming just how many people try to kill me in the name of saving the world," Sam said. "Like, seriously, pretty much all the people we know who have tried to do something evil to save the day have tried to kill me."

"People don't try to kill me to save the world," Dean said.

"Well I guess not all of us can be lucky enough to be the slightly less dickish angel's meatsuit," Sam said.

"You're just jealous," Dean said.

"Uh-uh, that's it exactly. You know, every time you bring that up you're also bringing up the fact that you killed my girlfriend," Sam said. "I mean, Jess wasn't on you and I'm still eighty percent sure Madison had to die but the only other girlfriend I've had since then you actually killed."

"You literally held her in place for me!"

"Yeah but you're the one who stabbed her," Sam pointed out.

"She had just started the apocalypse!"

"And as you've just finished reminding me, so did I."

"She did it on purpose!" Dean exclaimed.

"And yet me doing it accidentally doesn't seem to matter so why should that?" Sam asked rhetorically.

"I can't even believe you're giving me shit about Ruby," Dean complained. "I should be giving you shit about her."

"But you do, Dean. Oh, you do," Sam assured him.

"Remind me why I drove four days to meet up with you again?" Dean asked.

"Because I don't love you enough to drive eight days while you sat on your ass," Sam retorted.

"I still think we should've asked Cas," Dean said.

"And waste some of his remaining grace?" Sam asked.

"He's wasting it all over the place on his little God search."

"And I think you remember how much fun it was the last time we interrupted him in the middle of that," Sam said. Nobody did depression like a newly fallen angel who believed he had fallen for nothing because Sam and Dean had personally failed him and so now he was off looking everywhere for someone he had never met who could be anywhere and who clearly didn't want to be found.

Dean made a face. "Yeah. I do have to wonder what the point of separating us was. Unless it was just because they're dicks because that is always a possibility. A probability, even."

Sam blinked and suddenly he was in what his years of movie-watching experience taught him was a post-apocalyptic landscape. "Um…what?"

Dean looked around and curled his hands up into fists. "Fuck, not this again."

"Not what again?" Sam asked, mystified.

There was a sound.

"I'll explain later. Run."


Sam didn't know how long they'd been running or hiding but he turned a corner and ran straight into…himself.

"Sam Winchester," the other him said pleasantly. There was something wrong about his smile and the pristine white suit he was wearing amidst all the carnage. "And Dean! So lovely to see you again!"

"Dean?" Sam asked. The image before him didn't make sense. It just didn't. Not at all. And even when they had to stop and wait, Dean hadn't said a thing. He had kept saying that it wasn't the time and he would explain later and he had no idea why Dean would even know what was going on. And now this.

"Ignore him, Sam," Dean ordered.

"How am I supposed to do that when he's literally right in front of me?" Sam demanded. "Dean, what's going on?"

"You're in another universe," the other Sam said. "Maybe your future and maybe not. Close enough to your future, I'm sure, but the details may be different."

"The details are different," Dean growled. "The future is different!"

"Now, Dean," the other him said reprovingly. "You know that you can't know that."

"And you can't know it either! You've never even been to my world and you never will!"

"No but from the way you're looking at me I know that you haven't managed to stop what is coming," the other Sam said calmly. "Not that I really needed the confirmation. You can't stop it. You couldn't stop it here, your future self certainly couldn't stop it, and you won't be able to stop it there, either. You'll be lucky if you have it this good."

"This good?" Dean challenged, seeming to almost forget that Sam was even there. "I watched you step on my head. You broke my neck!"

The other him tilted his head, reminding Sam irresistibly of Castiel. "I do believe he was there to kill me. Self-defense, you know."

Dean snorted. "That is suck crap. You know he couldn't kill me. I shot Lucifer point-blank in the head and it did nothing."

"Now, I'm sure that's not true," the other him disagreed. "It probably hurt."

"So you feel justified killing me just because you didn't want to get a little injured?" Dean demanded.

"I feel justified killing you because you came to kill me. I feel justified killing you because you are my brother's vessel, occupied or not. I feel justified killing you because you're a human and, in case you missed the memo, that is just what I do."

"I don't understand," Sam said. He didn't.

The other him gave him an almost pitying look. "Ah, but you do. And, I'm sorry, but I did tell you. This was always your fate. The sooner you stop trying to resist the easier it will be."

"You call this easy?" Dean demanded angrily, waving his hand around.

"Sam didn't have to see any of this," the man said. "I'm not heartless."

"You son of a bitch."

Sam did know, was the worst part.

"Lucifer."

Lucifer smiled at him. "It's not so bad, really."

"We've been running from…from I don't even know what," Sam told him. "Those people…Croatoan. I've seen it before."

"You only getting to destroy humanity once," Lucifer explained. "Why rush it?"

"You killed Dean," Sam said. Of course he did. He wouldn't be here if he hadn't. It wasn't his Dean, probably wasn't even Dean at all by that point. But what Dean had said about the Colt…it didn't add up. "You won?"

"In a manner of speaking," Lucifer said. "This is certainly a victory for me but…Do you know why you're here?"

Sam shook his head.

"Your brother has been here before. Angels sent him to try and persuade him to say yes to Michael. I can only assume you've been added now because he still won't say yes. I know better than anyone that he will never say yes."

"If only the you that I know could be that certain," Dean grumbled.

"Why would you killing Dean convince him to say yes and allow the same thing to happen all over again?"

Lucifer smiled pleasantly. It was hard to look at him. "Because don't you get it? Michael ended up so fed up with Dean's defiance – he wouldn't even try to yes until weeks after you said yes – and he never really wanted to kill me no matter what daddy said. I think he was glad of the excuse, honestly, and it's not like he ever really wanted to protect your people. The angels really think there's any hope of changing Dean's mind but I think we all know better."

"You don't know me," Dean snapped.

Lucifer smiled beatifically at him. "They want Dean to say yes before Michael walks away from the whole thing."

"Why send me?" Sam asked.

"I can only speculate," Lucifer said. "Though I suppose I do know my brothers, even my brothers from a divergent universe, far better than you ever could. They want to remind Dean of why he should say yes and, though you wouldn't think seeing what I will do will persuade you, the fact remains that your Michael hasn't called it quits yet. If they truly believe that nothing short of your capitulation will persuade Dean then they can link the two. You help me end the pathetic human race, not that I was not fully prepared to do it without you if you took too because unlike Michael I have the conviction, and that leads to Dean running to Michael to help preserve at least something of it. Though I daresay that saving humanity is hardly Michael's priority. I always knew that because how could any angel truly care for humans? But this just proved it.

"Cas cares," Dean insisted. "And Anna. Even when she did her whole psycho murder thing, she was still trying to save humanity."

"I said an angel couldn't," Lucifer said mildly. "I do not know what sort of madness would drive them to humanity but, well, there you have it."

Dean just looked away.

Castiel? Human? It was impossible to imagine and, judging from the look on Dean's face, nothing good.

"It's irony of the most delicious kind but your best bet for stopping me is to actually give in to me. Not that should I be stopped it would be credited to you at all since it would be Michael's might and Dean's need to save you from your weakness."

"That's hardly your usual sale's pitch," Sam managed to say.

Lucifer just looked amused. "Yes, I suppose I may be a shade less persuasive than usual but, then, what's left to persuade? I already have you and it really doesn't matter whether another me does. Not that I have any interest in sabotaging him, of course, but me standing here is further proof of what I was saying all along. I don't have to have sweet words for you, dear Samuel, because you're always going to say yes to me. The circumstances don't have to be set. You could set some demands and make out quite well or you could turn to me when you literally cannot go on anymore but know you would be denied an escape in death. I did not say that the journey was inevitable, only its destination."

Dean clenched his fists. "This is bull and you know it!"

"All I know is that this conversation really doesn't involve you and loudly protesting that I'm lying isn't the same as pointing out where my reasoning falls short," Lucifer said. "All I know is that you don't seem to trust that Sam can deal with this on his own."

"Who should even have to deal with the devil on his own?" Dean demanded. "This isn't some secret test of character. You're the biggest monster that's ever existed and you're targeting my little brother! Of course I'm concerned! If it were me I don't even know what I would do!"

"You wouldn't give in, I don't think," Lucifer told him, eyeing him critically. "You're strong. Strong enough to resist Michael who, while he lacks my charm, commands the heavenly host and has a certain earnest appeal. If Sam were Michael's vessel I think he would have folded the moment he was told that he could help save the world."

"Oh really, even after you just said that you didn't think I'd give in?" Dean asked rhetorically. "Well say Sam doesn't think that either. Why'd even go help stop something that wasn't happening?"

"I understand Michael's many appeals to help him stop me may have confused you as to the way this works," Lucifer said. "But if Michael wanted to he could come after me right now. He won't but he could. Both here and in your world. He doesn't need to have his fated host any more than I do. I will do what I want and trust that it will happen in time but, if I were wrong, it wouldn't matter. Having the right host is more a matter of comfort than anything else. If one of us had the correct host and the other did not than it could play a serious role in how our battle – should it ever come to that and for me it won't – is decided because only in a true vessel can our true power be unleashed. But Michael not having Dean while I have Sam doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance, he does have more power after all, and if neither of us in possessing a Winchester then it puts us on equal ground. Sam would want to help Michael save the world even if, or maybe especially if, he thinks he can do that without having to kill his own beloved brother. Sam's just a thoughtful guy like that, aren't you, Sam?"

But Sam didn't know what to say. He wanted to say that that wasn't true. That he could be as strong as Dean and turn down Michael and his corruption and his saving the world for all the wrong reasons and with all the wrong priorities. But. But he had always prayed, growing up, and he remembered just how in awe of the angels he had been when they had first come. He remembered how badly he had needed them to be the good guys and how much he had wanted to make up for his mistakes. He remembered how much he couldn't quite share Dean's – mostly faked – certainty that they could pull this off. He didn't want to think he would be so easily manipulated but, then, he always had been in the past, hadn't he? That was what Azazel and Lilith and Ruby had been all about, hadn't it? If Dean had been the one tainted…Sam couldn't imagine his brother making those same mistakes. He'd have ganked Ruby the second she showed herself to be a demon. And wouldn't that have just made everything better?

And, whatever the angels' motives, if they truly did want to stop Lucifer and preserve at least a little (and admittedly this place with Michael and Lucifer studiously ignoring each other sort of cast doubt on that but, then, Sam supposed he could understand that)… stopping the apocalypse from happening altogether would be better but they still didn't even know where to start besides delaying things by refusing to give in.

And Lucifer was always so damn persuasive.

"I don't any interest in hypotheticals," he said finally. "Maybe me saying yes is the only thing that will get Dean to say yes but I know my brother well enough to know that if he thought he couldn't stop me from consenting to you to prompt him to do the same then he'd just go and say yes and cut out the middle man."

Lucifer grinned. "And so the plot thickens! It's almost a shame I won't be here to see the fallout!" He looked around. "Almost. I do have to say I much prefer my nice human-lite world."

"You've made your point," Sam said, trying to inject as much boredom as he could into his voice. "Blah, blah, blah, I can't say no forever. Blah, blah, blah, I really want Michael to win. Do you want to take us on a guided tour of the mess you'll make of this planet or can we just go home now?"

Lucifer dipped his head. "A little manners wouldn't be remiss, Sam, but I understand that this must be difficult to accept. Very well, I think you understand things better now."

He waved his hand lazily at them and then they were gone.


"Unbelievable," Dean raged as he threw his things onto one of the beds in their motel room. "Fucking unbelievable. They can't convince us so they fucking outsource it? Go back to that same goddamn well that didn't end up convincing me in the first place? Actually did the opposite, you know? Just showing up to harass us wasn't enough so now they're sending us to opposite ends of the world and dimension-hopping? What's next?"

"I don't know," Sam said, as calmly as he could. He carefully set his things down on the floor next to his own bed. "I guess they're getting the picture that just talking isn't going to change a thing. Maybe this is a good sign. Maybe this means that they're running out of ideas."

"Or maybe when they start bringing the powers into play it's going to be a lot harder to say no than 'you should join us, it's actually in your best interest'," Dean countered.

"Why don't you tell me about what happened the last time you were there?" Sam asked quietly. "I don't remember hearing about any of that."

Dean sighed. "It didn't matter, alright?"

Sam just stared at him. "Dean, you got sent to another reality and had to face off against Lucifer in my body who killed the other you! How can it not matter?"

"Because it is another reality," Dean said. "A different one. Enough things have changed that, even in the worst case scenario, that won't be us."

"Well in that case it makes even less sense not to tell me," Sam said. "I think I can grasp the concept of an alternate dimension."

Dean looked away. "I wanted to protect you, okay?"

"From knowing that in another reality I might say yes?" Sam asked rhetorically. "In another reality, one the angels would be much less interested in showing us, I might say no. I do understand. Hearing that you said yes to Satan is a bit…alarming but it hardly proves inevitability and it's not like I'd have to see it. And I don't think I ever saw you looking as freaked out as you should after something like that."

Dean sighed. "That's because you didn't."

Sam frowned. "What do you mean?"

"This was when you were going. Right after you told me that Lucifer was after you, in fact. I was just walking along and some asshole religious guy told the angels where I was – what did he even think was going on that angels needed help finding some guy? – and Zachariah shoved me in that reality."

Sam thought he could guess where this was going.

"And what you saw convinced you that you should let me come back. You didn't change your mind on that in the other reality, did you?"

Dean closed his eyes. "I didn't. I didn't know. Of course I didn't. And I don't claim to be some sort of expert on what happened over in that reality, either. But, without knowing how that all worked out, I thought the two of us staying apart would really work. That other me never knew why you said yes but I just kept thinking about how you wanted to come back and I rejected you and…it seemed that that wasn't going to work so why not try it your way? I think it's working out better anyway."

Sam could remember all too well what it had taken to call up the brother who blamed him for the apocalypse and, for once, welcomed the chance to get rid of him. He remembered how hard it had been to tell him that Lucifer was hunting him and that he wanted to come back. He remembered staring at the phone all night, silently begging Dean to call back and change his mind. But he hadn't. If it hadn't been for, strangely enough, Zachariah then he never would have.

Sam probably had less of an idea than Dean about what made that other him say yes. But he knew he hadn't done very well in the time apart and, once denied the opportunity to go back, he couldn't imagine it would pick up any. Not with his kind of guilt and the forces chasing him and no one he could turn to.

"Yeah," he said. "What happened to everyone else? Bobby? And he said something about Cas being human?"

"The angels are total dicks is what happened," Dean said, disgusted. "I, uh, didn't get the full story on Bobby but he was gone. Chuck was still there and actually seemed to be making out pretty well. I guess he found his calling in post-apocalyptic supply management. Or maybe after it happened there were no more visions and nothing more to hide. I don't know. Cas…when the angels threw a hissy fit because I wouldn't say yes fast enough they just packed up and went home. They sealed heaven up or something and Cas stayed behind. His grace started to fail, as it's failing him now, and eventually he was little more than human. And I…and he. That other Dean, the one that's not me, he gave him a suicide mission and couldn't even manage to kill the devil. Then Zachariah pulled me back and when the lesson I learned was that we needed to stick together after all and fuck Michael, he was going to put me back in but Cas saved me. And then I called you and you know what happened after that."

Sam was quiet for a long moment. What could he possibly say to that? Lucifer could talk all he wanted about how he was going to do what he was going to do no matter what, and Sam did believe him, but just because he didn't have to use Sam to destroy everything didn't take any culpability away if Sam did agree. Maybe his other self hadn't seen a vision of what exactly he was agreeing to but he would have known enough. In fact, knowing that the planet was apparently 'humanity-lite' was actually not as bad as he had been expecting. If he had agreed…why would he have agreed? There would be no escape for him, that much was true. Even death wouldn't be enough if the angels brought him back. But to say yes and damn the world so he no longer had to think about it…he didn't want to be that person. He couldn't be that person. But without Dean, apparently he was. And Dean knew it. Maybe, given time, even with Dean he would still be that person.

And even if, as he had said, Dean would sacrifice himself to the angels before letting Sam give in to the devil, what would he do once Dean was gone? Once the creature wearing his brother's face wanted nothing more than for him to just embrace his destiny? Dean wouldn't be there anymore but Lucifer still would be.

No wonder Dean hadn't told him.

Or had it been a matter of trust? Dean might have welcomed him back and agreed to stop holding what had happened over his head but Sam knew that Dean didn't really think they could stop it. He put on a good show but he didn't. Did he really think that, even together, Sam could resist? He knew for a fact Sam wouldn't be strong enough to alone while Dean apparently had strength to spare and could look at the thing wearing Sam's face and still try to kill them both. And he couldn't blame Dean for that, of course he couldn't. It was the right thing.

He wished he hadn't seen that.

He needed to have seen that.

Just one more reminded of why he had to be strong, stronger than he even thought he could be.

"Do you ever wonder how this became our lives?" Sam asked idly. "I mean, sometimes I think about just what is going on and I honestly can't believe it."

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"I need some air."

Sam stood up and headed for the door. The knob wouldn't move. He tried it again. Not so much as a shake. He went over to the windows. They wouldn't budge.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

Sam turned back to him. "Dean. I don't think the angels are done just yet."