Cousins a Couple Times Removed
Disclaimer:
I do not own Supernatural
Timeline:
Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale
Inspired By:
My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this
Pairings:
Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)
Implied Azul/Amara
Summary:
There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?
Chapter 9:
Tainted Grace and the Book of Purgatory
The plan had a 50-50 chance of working at best but he'd take what he could get.
If Sammy was awake and walking around then by getting him back his soul they hoped Sam would come to them.
Maybe and that was a big maybe, maybe Death would even tell him where his brother was. That was the plan anyway. When he had temporarily died to talk to Death he'd never expected the only thing Death would want in exchange was a day off. Of course, after spending the day doing Death's job he could understand why. Because Dean hadn't lasted a day before he screwed up. But at least Death had decided to give Sam back his soul. Not only that, but Death had said he'd put up a wall to block Sam's memory of hell and let him know his brother's location. Once again he was happy that Amy and Barky were willing to help him travel the distance he would otherwise need a plane to cross quickly to Los Angelus, California. Luckily Sam was still in a coma so it was a cake walk for Barkiel to bring him out of it.
Sam blinked as he opened his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment at the brightness before opening them again. Where was he?
"Sam? Sammy, are you okay?"
"Dean?" He sat up and looked around to see his older brother by his bedside. "What am I doing in the hospital?"
Dean gave a choked laugh. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Sam frowned, thinking back. "Lucifer. I threw myself into the cage along with Michael." He frowned when he couldn't recall anything else. "What happened?"
"You have been in a coma for over a year."
The younger Winchester glanced over to the two women he hadn't noticed standing in the room.
Dean had tears in his eyes as he went over to hug the pair. "Thanks you guys."
They smiled and hugged him back.
"It was nothing." The blonde shrugged, still smiling.
"We only made a suggestion. You did all the hard work." The black-haired angel added.
Sammy blinked. What the hell? "Who are you?"
The green-eyed hunter pulled away to smile at his brother. "Sam, I'd like you to meet Ambriel," he motioned to the blue-eyed woman, "and Barkiel," he said, motioning to the blonde.
"Dean usually just calls us Amy and Barky though," Barkiel pointed out.
Sam's eyes widened. "You guys are angels?" He suddenly recalled Cas exploding. Were these two his replacements?
Amy stared at him with annoyance. "I thought he was over his awe of angels."
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just that, were you sent as Castiel's replacements?"
The two angels narrowed their eyes at him.
Dean frowned in confusion. "What?" Then he remembered as far as Sam knew Cas had been killed by Lucifer. "Dude, Cas isn't dead."
"He's not?"
Barky rolled her eyes. "It wasn't his time to cease existing so he got put back together again."
Dean looked over at her. He'd never thought to ask about that. Hell, maybe God was doing something. Maybe not a lot but something at least.
The first thing they did after checking Sam out of the hospital was go back to the Impala so they could drive to Bobby's.
Bobby was happy to see Sam and the four of them ended staying there for a couple weeks to catch up.
It was during this time Dean discovered that Amy was acting weird, almost like she didn't even wanna look at Sam.
Barky told him that while Ambriel really didn't like Sam that such a thing would not stop her from having his back. It would however, stop her from offering to pay for a room for Sam when they traveled cross-country.
When Dean questioned why the angel didn't like Sam Barkiel said it wasn't her place to say though she did reassure him it had nothing to do with Sam being Lucifer's vessel.
Meanwhile, Sam remained oblivious to the dark-haired woman's dislike. He just thought she was a generally grumpy person.
"Why do I have to ride with them?" Amy whined.
The blonde gave her a look. "You're only complaining because of Sam."
Ambriel pouted, folding her arms over her chest.
"Someone has to keep him in line," she pointed out.
The signs of a smile twitched at her lips. "Are we still talking about the giant?"
Barky just smiled. "Go on. It's not like you won't be able to talk to me."
The blue-eyed angel huffed. "Fine, but only because I want to make sure he doesn't say anything stupid."
"Is she always like this?" Sam asked as Ambriel appeared in the back seat of the Impala, announcing she'd be riding with them after giving the younger Winchester a look of disgust.
Dean shook his head. "Are you going to tell me what your problem is?" He asked as he started the Impala.
The angel looked away with a huff, "I was under the impression Barkiel told you."
"Yeah well she didn't tell me why." He shot back as he started driving down the road.
She opened her mouth to explain before her jaw shut with a snap. "Maybe later."
The green-eyed hunter sighed and turned on the radio. He smiled at the song that began and with a quick glance at his friend he started to sing.
I'm at war with the world and they
Try to pull me into the dark
I struggle to find my faith
As I'm slippin' from your arms
Sammy stared at his brother in shock. He was listening to new music?
Amy smiled and sang the next bit.
It's getting harder to stay awake
And my strength is fading fast
You breathe into me at last
The two of them sang the song together as if they'd done so dozens of times before and Sam felt oddly left out, wondering what other changes he'd find in his brother.
"You better now?" Dean asked her.
She smiled at him. "Thanks Dean."
He smiled at the road ahead. "No problem."
The three of them road in relative silence, the only sound the radio for at least twelve miles before Sam spoke up.
"So did you even try?"
Amy tensed. She knew what was coming and she didn't like it one bit.
"Try?" Dean frowned in confusion.
Sammy looked at his brother. "To live a life…after. You do remember you promised that right?"
"And what a stupid thing it was to make him promise."
Sam frowned, glancing at the angel in the back seat who was once again glaring at him again.
"You could've made him promise to try to be happy despite your absence but instead you assumed to know what was best for him."
The older hunter frowned. "So it was you and Barky."
She turned her head toward him. "Yes. We knew what would've happened if you had actually done what Sam," she spat his name, "wanted you to and decided it was unnecessary suffering you didn't need to go through."
Sammy's frown deepened. "Suffering? Life for Dean with Lisa would've been that bad?"
"Ben and Dean would've been very good for each other however, the problem remained that Lisa and Dean's relationship would've been fragile and rocky at best. The only reason Lisa would've put up with Dean would be for the sex and his positive influence on Ben." Amy replied, blue eyes coldly glaring at him.
Well, that sounded really bad compared to the time he'd spent with the two angels. "Well, in that case, thanks for dragging my ass out of there before I even got in." Though he wondered what it would've been like to be a father-figure for Ben.
Sam sat there quietly the rest of the ride.
Ambriel insisted that Sam and Dean work the case as she need to cool off and wanted to spend some time with Barkiel.
Dean had made a joke about her going through withdrawal, the glare sent his way rolling right off him as he and Sam walked away.
Later they returned and Dean found them a cheap room, opting to share a room with his brother though they would be spending their waking time researching in Amy and Barkiel's suite.
"This can't be possible," Sam said out loud.
"Try me." Dean said.
The blonde angel walked over and looked at the screen over Sammy's shoulder. "Dragons," she read and glanced at Amy who had perked up at the word.
"Definitely not possible."
The blue-eyed angel rolled her eyes. "Oh cuz of course Sam knows everything; even more than angels."
Dean glanced at them as his brother flushed. "Spill, what do you know about dragons?"
Amy tapped her fingertip against her lips for a moment before she turned to him. "Well, you're going to need a very special sword to kill one."
So after Dean called up Bobby and got the name of a Dr. Visyak he and Barkiel were off, leaving Sam and Amy to find out where the dragon's layer is.
"Are you sure we should leave those two alone?" Dean asked when they reappeared in front of a big house.
The blonde shrugged. "I figure the more exposure she's got to him the better she'll be at holding back the urge to smite him. If she doesn't accidentally strike him down in the process."
He looked at her wide-eyed, seriously worried for his younger brother's life. "You're joking right?"
She smiled at him. "Maybe."
"Caves, caves, caves," he mumbled to himself as he spread out a map of the area. He glanced up to see the black-haired angel sitting criss-crossed on top of the desk, watching him with an unreadable expression. "You could help. Isn't that why you stayed?"
Her lips twitched. "No. I stayed because Barkiel asked me to. I never said I'd help."
Sam glared at her. "So you're just gonna sit there and let innocent people get hurt just because you don't like me?"
She snorted, amused. "Things have changed since you've been gone. We don't have to be here Sam. We're under no orders to be here. Although we are here to make things easier we will not do all the work for you." Her blue eyes stared coldly. "You're not a child Sam. I shouldn't have to hold your hand when you hunt if you're grown up enough to decide to drink demon blood. You knew it was wrong when you drained a whole demon of its blood just for your revenge and yet you continue to act the spoiled, ignorant, self-righteous child. You've used Dean for your own purposes growing up and he allowed you to do so because you are his brother and he loves you. It is unfortunate that because he loves you he cannot see that the dark path you took was not in any way his fault but yours. Do you want to know the real difference between a good person and a bad person? The good person will try to be better while the bad person will either act as they've always done despite their mistakes and will even become worse over time. And if you weren't Dean's brother I couldn't care less about what would happen to you. It is truly a shame that you've chosen to look down on your brother instead of aspiring to be like him. Maybe things wouldn't have been so horrible for him if you had."
He stared at her, shocked and ashamed because she was right. "Is that why you don't like me? Because I've hurt Dean?"
Ambriel glared at him. "I dislike you because you haven't learned! Since you've been back you've been treating Dean exactly the same as you did before. You don't listen to him. You only listen so far before you come up with an opinion for what Dean should do. If he wants your opinion he'll ask. He just wants you to listen, to hear what he's going through, and though he'll never admit it, to sympathize."
When Dr. Visyak opened the door she was surprised to see the blonde woman.
"Oh, this is a friend of mine," he paused, unsure if he should introduce her as an angel or not.
"Amara Lalopa," she smiled, offering her hand.
The woman shook it.
"I'm really here just to advise Mr. Winchester."
Dr. Visyak looked at Dean curiously. "Advise? I didn't know hunters had advisors."
"Yeah, well, we're here because Bobby said you'd know about dragons and Mar thought you'd know where to find a dragon sword."
She turned her gaze on the blonde who smirked. "Well, aren't you a good advisor. Did you already know?"
Amara didn't reply.
Dean looked between the two of them. "Know? Know what?"
Dr. Visyak answered, still looking at the grey-eyed woman, "That I happen to have a dragon blade.
"You have one." He blinked.
She turned around to lead them to the basement. "Finding it took two decades, countless hours, and some really bad sex with an eastern European ambassador, but, yeah."
Both Dean and Amarilla stared at the sword in the stone in the middle of the room in amazement.
"That is not real. Is that real? Is it Excalibur?" He glanced back at the dragon expert.
"No. This...Is the Sword of Brunswick. Love of my life."
Then of course the awe wore off and Dean wondered out loud, "So, uh, what's with the cement shoe?"
"You know, binding sword to stone used to be all the rage. To protect them."
The angel already knew this and rolled her eyes. Swords in stones being all the rage was putting it mildly.
"All right, well, how do we get this puppy out?"
Dr. Visyak laughed. "Well, come on. You know this one. We need a brave knight who's willing to step up and kill the beast."
"Right. All right, well, I'll, uh, give it a whirl. Do you mind?" He asked, walking toward it.
Amara laughed when he couldn't pull it out and fell onto the floor.
"You okay?" The owner of the sword asked, looking the slightest bit amused.
"Never better," he muttered.
You had to be both a knight and pure of heart to pull this particular sword out and sadly, Dean just wasn't a knight. Not technically anyway. "I'll give it a shot." She chuckled as Dean got up. "I can't do any worse than you."
He huffed but stood aside.
The blonde didn't immediately try to pull it out. She first closely observed the sword to make sure it was indeed the Sword of Brunswick. She didn't think the Dr. was wrong but it never hurt to check.
"Are you gonna pull it out or what?" The hunter asked impatiently.
Dr. Visyak frowned, eyes narrowed.
Mar ignored him as she ran a finger along the part of the blade that was visible. Well, she was right. A pure of heart knight was needed. Luckily she was both. She glanced at the Dr. But did that woman know? Sighing, she looked back at the sword and stood up straight, extending her arm. Well, whether she did or not they still needed the sword and she wasn't about to let Dean blow it up. She wrapped her hand around the handle before slowly pulling as if drawing a sword from its sheath. She met no resistance and smiled as she lifted it up with ease. It'd been so long since she'd held a sword. The angel turned and grinned at Dean.
"Whatever, let's just get back to Sam before Amy accidentally kills him."
When they return to the hotel room the blue-eyed angel is lying back on the couch, feet propped up on one end with her arms folded behind her head.
Sammy is at the table on his laptop.
Ambriel cracks an eye open when the pair arrives and yawns. "Took you long enough."
The giant looks up to see his brother and the other angel who is holding what must be the dragon sword.
Barky lifts and sword and grins. "It's too bad we only have the one. I would've enjoyed kicking your ass in another duel."
Amy sniffs and looks away, folding her arms over her chest. "Only because you were born a warrior. You know very well my aptitude is not as well attuned in that regard."
The blonde places the sword on the table before walking over to the angel on the couch and kneeling beside it as she takes Ambriel's hand. "What troubles you my goddess?"
Her head snaps back to her, glaring. "Blasphemer!"
Both Winchesters jump but the other angel doesn't even blink.
The two stare at each other for five long tense minutes before Barkiel sighs.
"You two go on ahead. Ambriel is currently in no condition to safely hunt."
The angel actually growls and neither of the brothers argues because she's scary as fuck when she's angry and her eyes are glowing with power.
After they leave the two angels the blonde summons her own powers to the surface, causing her body to glow in a golden light.
The black-haired woman's power rises and she snarls as a silver glow envelops her, threatening to burst out of control.
Dean's almost forgotten the mood Amy was in after they've killed the dragons, stolen the treasure and saved the girls, but when he calls the two angels because unlike Sam he knows they'll appreciate the thought of finding treasure they don't appear and he can't help but worry because in all the time he's known the pair they've never ignored a call before. They might not both appear but at least one of them always answers. Not to mention the last time they hadn't appeared when he called he'd found out the pair had been kidnapped by Raphael. Surely it hadn't happened again, had it?
When they finally get back they see a note taped to the angels' door addressed to them.
Dean and Sam,
Amy is still currently unwell so it would be unwise to see her in this state. Don't worry; I'll take care of her. Meet us here for breakfast at the usual time.
Barkiel
Dean frowned, even more worried because angels don't get sick. He wants to ask his brother if he noticed anything when they were alone but decides not to bother asking since the combination of the angel's dislike of him and Sam not knowing Amy's natural behavior his brother really couldn't have known anything was wrong.
Sammy remains silent, unsure what to think. Even if the words Ambriel spat at him were because of some weird angel illness it didn't make what she'd said any less true and he resolved to actually change the way he treated his brother.
The following morning they came into the suite to see the grey-eyed angel cooking in the small kitchen. Sam was surprised but Dean just inhaled the smell of bacon and sausages with a grin.
The older hunter sat down at the table that had a bowl of fruit in the center next to a plate of stacked toast and French toast. After placing some French toast on his plate and covering it in syrup he asked, "So that bad huh?"
Sam glanced at his brother was a confused frown.
Barkiel came over to the table, dropping some of the bacon and sausage on Dean's plate. "You want any Sam?"
"Uh, no thanks." He was surprised she could even cook.
She placed the rest of the bacon on the other two plates before taking the pan back to the kitchen. Then she put some toast on one plate and French toast on the other.
To Sam's surprise she went back into the kitchen and brought back a plate of hash-browns.
The blonde picked up the plate with the French toast before heading out to the bedroom.
"Dude, what did you mean when you asked if it was that bad?"
Dean swallowed the French toast and cleared his throat. "Barky only makes that much hash-browns when Amy's feeling down though before she's always come to the table to eat them." He forked another piece of syrupy French toast. "Of course I've never seen either of them sick before but I didn't think angels could get sick." He stuffed his mouth.
Barkiel returned a short time later and it was then they realized how tired she looked. Sighing, she sat down and started eating from her own plate until she noticed the brothers were staring at her. "What?"
"What's up with Amy? I didn't know you guys could get sick." Dean said in response.
She knew they were going to ask and as much as she wanted to tell them the truth it would reveal they weren't really angels. So, she'd have to come up with the angel equivalent. "You are aware that everyone thought we were dead because we disappeared during the first war, correct?"
He nodded.
The angel grimaced. "It was not for any reason like Gabriel or Balthazar. We left because Ambriel was injured in battle, injured in a way that would've had her killed back then, that if one of Raphael's saw today would put a death sentence on her head." Looking at them she said, "Part of Amy's grace is tainted."
Their eyes widened.
"It's not anywhere near as bad as it was back then but it is still there." Her eyes turned sad. "We've been friends since we were fledglings and I couldn't let them hurt her. So we ran and hid."
"Will she ever," Sam paused. "Will her grace ever go back to the way it was? Is that possible?"
She smiled. "With time. As I said it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. I've used my own grace all this time to contain the taint for the most part."
Dean comes to a sudden revelation. "Is that why she always sticks close to you and is grumpy when you're apart? Cuz it starts to wear off or something?"
Barkiel smirked. "Well, that's one reason. The other is too personal to tell you."
He looked away with a groan. "Man, I swear you do that just to keep me hanging. Are you ever gonna tell me if you two are together or not?"
Sammy frowned. "Together? Like together together?"
Dean looked away, throwing his hands up as if to say 'I give up' while the blonde angel simply grinned.
They left after breakfast, Ambriel only appearing to get in the Hummer with Barky before they drove off to Bobby's.
When they arrived at Bobby's Amy offered the Winchesters an uneasy smile and Sam wondered if she knew Barkiel had told them about their reason for leaving the war.
The first thing Bobby did when the boys offered him the book was ask the pair of angels if they could translate it.
The blonde's eyes traveled from the open book to Ambriel and both Dean and Sam realized Amy could.
Sam almost smacked himself. Of course. Ambriel was the angel of communication.
"You up for it?" She asked softly.
If anyone had blinked they would've missed it, the sudden hardened look the dark-haired angel had gave her for a split second before it was gone, replaced by the uneasy smile. "Of course."
The brothers shared a worried glance.
Bobby moved to hand her the book but Amy took a step back after taking one look at it.
She grimaced, looking sick. "I, uh. I'm not touching that." Blue eyes glanced toward Barkiel, pleading. [Oh come on! It's made of human skin!] She shivered in disgust. [That's just beyond disgusting.]
The old hunter frowned. "Why not?"
The grey-eyed angel also had a disgusted expression. Yeah, there was no way either of them were touching that. "Just, leave it open on the desk."
He did so and stood back to see what they would do.
To everyone's surprise Barkiel disappeared and reappeared a moment later with two knitting needles. She handed them to Amy who was still grimacing but sat in the chair and started turning the pages with them.
Bobby rolled his eyes and with a huff, stalked out of the room. "Bunch of idgits."
Dean and Sam were both frowning.
"Okay, care to share why you refuse to touch the book?" The older brother asked.
"The entire book is made of human skin." The blonde angel explained.
Even they gave some expression of ew at that and both left the room, having a sudden urge to wash their hands.
"This is," Ambriel waved her hand at the book on the desk, looking a bit disturbed as she tried to find a word. "Descriptive," she said finally. "Very descriptive."
Dean snorted. "So what is it? Porn for dragons?"
Amy looked up from the book to him with an intrigued expression. "I don't think I'd mind stumbling on something like that." The deep frown and grimace returned as her gaze settled back on the book. "This though. It's all blood, gore, darkness and I'm definitely wiping all non-general info about this book from my mind because just…" She paused again. "Just wow."
"Well, what is it exactly?" Bobby asked, irritated.
Blue eyes looked up again. "It's a book on Purgatory and an instruction manual on opening a door to it."
"Door to purgatory. Well, I know a demon who would have loved to have known about that. So, how do you open the door?" Dean questioned.
Her expression turned worried. "That's the part of the bad news. It seems they tore that particular page out."
"What's the rest?" Sam asked.
"The door is one way, for letting something out of Purgatory."
Sam wasn't sure he wanted to know but, "Bring something here. What?"
This time Barkiel spoke up. "The Mother."
The hunters all frowned.
Sammy gulped. "Mother? M-mother of what? Mother of dragons?"
"Mother of all," Amy answered.
Dean's frown deepened. "What the hell does "mother of all" mean?"
The dark-haired angel lost all her seriousness as she leaned back in the chair, giving them a what-the-fuck look. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Dean said, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
She looked at the other angel in the room. "I can't-I can't deal with them. Their stupidity has me utterly stumped."
Barky laughed a little. "Mother of all is self-explanatory guys. Mother of all monsters."
Bobby stiffened and the Winchester's eyes widened. Yup, they were in deep shit.
At the time I wrote this chapter I wasn't sure if I was going to ever get into the whole issue of an angel's tainted grace so I wrote this.
More Pure Than an Angel's Grace
Summary:
Branched off from my "Cousins a Couple Times Removed" universe. AU-on the assumption they are angels and things had gone horribly wrong while Dean & Sam hunted the dragons. "You're stronger than I ever was Dean. I couldn't last more then several days but you managed thirty years before you broke."
Next time
Chapter 10: An Alternate Us
Amy sighs. "He's in shock." She takes a hold of his arm and starts tugging him away. "Come on Misha, we're gonna hitch a ride with Jared and Jensen. At least we know Cliff will have checked to make sure there are no loons before we get in."
