Chapter Eight

"Who are you?" asked Sam.

"It's Zachariah, the angel," said Future Sam. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, the timeline is a little off down here," said Zachariah. "I thought I'd do you a favor and fix it."

"Do us a favor?" said Future Sam. "Who are you kidding? You just want to fix everything so you can have your apocalypse back."

"Well, yes," answered Zachariah. "But our concerns happen to be the same, so, yes, I'm doing you a favor."

"Why are you really doing this?" asked Future Sam. "I mean, you must know that by saving Dean and sending them back to their time is gonna upset the timeline anyway. You're not gonna get your apocalypse either way. So, why are you really doing this?"

"Destiny," said Zachariah. "No matter what you know, or what you try to change, it's all gonna play out in our favor either way. You can't change your destiny. It's going to happen whether you want it to or not. So I see no problem saving Dean."

"Destiny?" asked Sam. "You really think that our future is still gonna play out? Even when we're gonna do everything we can to stop it? What, there's no such thing as free will?"

"Of course not," said Zachariah. "It's all an illusion. Life plays out exactly the way heaven wants it to, the way it was meant to. You can't change that."

Sam stared at him. "We can try."

"Yes, you can try," said Zachariah. "But you will fail." He smiled. "So…where's your brother?"

Future Sam glared at him. "Where do you think?"

Zachariah nodded. "Ah, yes. No matter." Zachariah snapped his fingers, and Dean's pale and bloody body appeared in the living room in front of them. "I had him the whole time."

Sam frowned. "You did?"

"Yes," Zachariah answered. "I grabbed him shortly after the two of you left. Needed to keep him safe."

"Why didn't you just save him then?" asked Future Sam.

"I needed to explain the situation to you first," said Zachariah. "Don't worry. I'll fix him shortly."

"You'll fix him now," said Sam.

Zachariah sighed. "Very well."

He knelt over Dean's body, placing his hand over Dean's heart. An ethereal, stunning white light shot out of the angel's hand, shooting up in the room. The blood vanished from Dean's clothes as his skin sealed itself. His skin colored, turning from pale to pink. A mass of white light appeared at the ceiling above Dean's body and shot down into Dean's body. Dean's eyes flew open as he inhaled sharply. He flung Zachariah's hand away, his eyes darting back and forth as he sat up.

"Dean!" said Sam, rushing over. He knelt next to his brother, wrapping his arms around him.

"Where is he?" said Dean, tense in Sam's arms.

"Who?" asked Sam, pulling away from Dean and looking at him.

"Lucifer," said Dean. "He was…" His eyes widened. "Where am I?"

"You're at Bobby's," Sam told him. "You, uh…kinda died."

"I did?" asked Dean. He looked around at Future Sam, Bobby and Zachariah. "Then how am I alive? And who is he?" He pointed at the angel.

"That's Zachariah," said Sam. "He's an angel. He brought you back."

Dean looked at Sam, eyebrows raised. "Alright, Sam, very funny. What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anything! He really is an angel."

Dean looked over at Zachariah. "It really is him?"

"How else would you come back?" Dean relaxed as he stood up. "What do you remember?"

"I remember waking up in a cellar…with Lucifer. He had a nice little monologue before putting his fist through my chest. Then…lights out." Future Sam huffed in annoyance. "What?"

"Is that the truth or are you masking again?" asked Future Sam.

"Okay, first off, don't get mad at me because that wasn't me; it was future me," said Dean. "And second, it really was lights out this time. Nothing happened."

"His soul didn't have time to go anywhere," said Zachariah.

"Aw, hell," muttered Bobby. They looked over to see him back in his wheelchair. "Thanks a lot, boys."

"Sorry, Bobby," said Sam.

"We'll be fixing that when we head back," said Dean. "You'll be good as new."

"One question," said Future Sam. They all looked at him. "Where's my Dean?" His cell phone rang, and they all watched as he pulled it out and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"What the hell is going on?" Dean's voice demanded. "Where am I? Where are you?"

Future Sam visibly relaxed. "Dean…You're okay."

"Of course I'm okay," Future Dean barked. "What's going on?"

"Where are you?" asked Future Sam.

"What do you mean, where am I?" said Future Dean. "I'm right where you left me."

Future Sam looked up at Zachariah. "He's at the house where you found him." He indicated Dean.

Zachariah disappeared, and Future Sam listened to the phone.

"Sam, who are you talking—" Future Dean's voice began. "Hey, what the—"

Zachariah suddenly appeared in the room with Future Dean.

"—hell are you doing here?" finished Future Dean. He looked around the room, spotting Dean. "Hey, you found him."

"We found him ten hours ago," said Future Sam, "at the house where you just came from."

Future Dean frowned. "So, what, you knocked me out and ditched me?"

"You disappeared, Dean," said Future Sam.

"Disappeared?"

"Because he died." Future Sam pointed at Dean.

"He died?"

"Yeah."

"He really died?"

"Yes, I died!" said Dean. "Now I'm back. Can we please move on?"

"My thoughts exactly," said Zachariah, approaching them. "I will take you back now."

Sam shot a wide-eyed look at Dean. They both knew the same thing…all the research they needed to change the future was back in the Impala, two states away.