Chapter 10
Annika ported Dean and Sam's body back to Bobby's house. Sam had calmed down to shaking, as if in shock, but hadn't opened his eyes or spoke except for a soundless whimper here and there in two days. Dean was beside himself, in one moment pleading with Castiel to fix his brother and the next, screaming for Crowley to make a deal to fix what Cas couldn't. By the third week of Sam being in a vegetative state, trapped in the horror of his own mind, Dean realized that his brother was never going to be normal again. Annika had remained silent and apart from them, refusing to come to back from whatever place she went to, even as Dean pleaded for her help. Cas had cleaned Sam up, Bobby had supplied a hospital bed and IV fluids he'd stolen from the local clinic, and Dean hadn't left his brother's side.
"Dean, it's been three weeks, I don't think Sam is coming out of this. We need to figure out what we are going to do with him. He needs professional help, at the very least he needs to be under a doctor's care." Bobby leaned against the door jam and looked at Dean who was sitting beside Sam's bed with his head in hands, a whiskey bottle at the floor by his feet.
"I know Bobby. I just can't ... I can't believe that between Heaven and Hell there isn't anything that can be done about Sam."
"Oh, no one ever said that NOTHING could be done." Dean flew out of his seat and straight at Annika. She laughed and tossed Dean up in the air and against the wall. Bobby joined him on the other side as she simply stood there smirking.
"Riiight, like you ladies could get the jump on me. Sit down and relax." She dropped them unceremoniously on the floor and walked to Sam's beside. She closed her eyes and ran her hand down Sam's chest. Inhaling deeply, she paused over his heart, and then looked deep into Dean's eyes.
"Poor Sam, such torture he went through. Looks as if Michael and Lucifer played tag in their frustration. My bad, always thought that Michael would be the good son no matter what. Guess everyone has their off days huh?" She shrugged and straightened.
"I'm going to kill you bitch .. "Dean made a lunge for the angel steel dagger and before he could reach it, Bobby yanked him back and held him down in the chair.
"Don't be stupid boy ..." Dean looked at Annika.
"What do you want from us?" She smiled.
"Simply for you to say that overused word "YES" you pathetic shit." She said as she leaned against the dresser next to Sam's bed. Bobby shook his head.
"You mean taking on Judgment and Wrath." She nodded.
"It's simple Dean, you take on the power of Judgment, and Sam will take on Wrath. In doing so he'll get enough juice in that horrible mortal sponge some call a brain. He'll basically rewire himself and pull through it."
"And what about Sam, will he be himself again? What will it do to him?" Dean asked frowning, knowing full well nothing good ever came of miracles for the Winchester brothers. Annika rolled her eyes.
"If I wanted mindless minions to do my bidding I'd hire the cast of "Jersey Shore". I need professionals; someone who I know will do the job right. I chose you two. And because I'm so generous, I helped Sam out a bit." She drew the sheets back and pulled Sam's t'shirt up to expose his torso. As she passed her hand over his stomach and chest runes began to glow a soft green. Bobby's eyes narrowed and Dean cast a swift glance his way.
"What are those? What did you do to him?" She smiled once again.
"Consider them the glue holding Sammy boy together Dean darling." Dean snorted and stood and began pacing, the dagger still in his hands.
"And let me guess, you'll unravel those spells and kill my brother if I say no right? I've been down this road before and me and Sam get fucked every time you EVIL FREAKING BITCH!" Dean kicks the chair and sends it flying into the wall, splintering the pieces all over the floor. Annika sighs and cocks her head just watching Dean. Bobby stands there for a sec and looks at her. She frowns and finaly meets his stare.
"Something you want to add Bobby?" she stated.
"Yeah, which of them did you spring from?" Bobby asked, handing Dean a piece of paper.
"The Watchers from the Book of Enoch?" Dean looked at Bobby quizzically and the back to Annika who had pulled herself up straight and was glaring furiously at Bobby.
"Where did you get that information from?"
"It was a hunch; you were talking to me pretty in depth about Purgatory and Tartarus so Bobby dug around." Her eyes narrowed and green fire sprang forth.
"Ohhhh .. Now look who's a bit testy."
"If you're magic incarnate then your father must have been Samyaza, but then I remembered that you said you made the weapons and the prisons and that left one other person that could have fathered you ..." Annika rushed Bobby sending him flying out into the hallway.
"Shut up ..." she threatened.
"Azazel." Dean said and she whipped around laughing, landing a hard blow to Deans face sending him into the hallway along with Bobby. Both hunters lay reeling, trying to shake off the force of the blows, and suddenly Annika was right on top of them. With one flick of her wrist, they are tossed down the hallway towards the stairs.
"I've paid for my existence over and over again because of the betrayal of two hundred of Michaels "Best of the Best" warriors and their damn libidos! ANGELS couldn't keep their fucking pants on because of stupid mortal women!" Another blast of Annika's power sent Dean and Bobby flying down the stairs into the living room. The whole house was shaking with her wrath.
"They were sent to earth to simply watch over the humans but they feel in LOVE," she spat the word like it was evil itself," and then married the whores and fathered children with them. And you know what? They were reviled by humans and angels, god even demons wouldn't take them in!" Bobby shoved himself up on his elbows and stared at her aghast.
"Nephilim. That's what you are." Annika shook her head.
"No numb skull I am MAGIC. Residual magic of their making. I locked them in Tartarus. My covenant, as I'm sure Cas is just wailing to get at, is set in stone pillars in Heaven. I am condemned to forever be the jailer of Purgatory, Hell, and Tartarus and maintain the binding magic that created them. The suck thing about it is," she shook her head and huffed, slamming both Dean and Bobby to the ceiling," I was given one way out of my eternal janitor service. To get someone to AGREE to take on part of the job. I honestly thought you two would be the best bet, I mean DAMN, not only would you get some killer go juice from the power of Judgment and Wrath, but the perks are AWESOME you stupid little prick!" She angrily dropped them to the floor. Both men landed hard and almost blacked out except Annika conjured chairs and both Dean and Bobby found themselves sitting in them unable to move as the very angry being continued her rampage.
"It's like," she made wild gestures with her hands, a grimace of disgust on her face, then stopped at Dean's chair and leaned in to look him in the eye, "like having to listen to Lady Gaga while getting a root canal." Dean's face screwed up in to a tight look of horror.
"And finaly the chance to lighten my load a bit, to how should I say, delegate some responsibilities to two humans who are already ganking monsters anyway! I just wanted a break from the janitorial part of the job. Cleaning up the human/demon messes down here while I pull celestial duty out there. But hell no! I pick the only two humans in the known universes that are destined to throw a monkey wrench in God's plan .. GOD mind you .. I mean seriously who gets away with that seriously? ONLY you two that's who .. ONLY Dean and Sam Winchester! I mean the rest of us pull shit duty for eternity for simply being the product of said screw ups but you two get more resurrections than Elvis Presley!" She stopped took a swig of whiskey and leaned against Bobby's desk.
"And at what point did you fall in love with Sam?" Dean asked quietly. She looked at him and chuckled.
"Love? Whatever." She shook her head and took another sip looking out the window.
"Don't lie to me ... if you've been planning on handing over the reins for a while that means you've been watching Sam."
"I could watch only, never interfere, because as the covenant states, if I draw first then I'm shipped directly to Tartarus, do not pass go, do not collect a hundred dollars. I did my best." Dean's eyes widened.
"You're best? You think the life that we lived was you doing your best?" Dean was nearly speechless.
"You think it would have been different if I had come to you the night your mother died and told your father how the future was going to play out?" Annika looked at him with an astounded look on her face. "You think that Castiel hasn't wanted to go back in time and alter the past to save you and Sam?" Annika pushed away from the desk and approached Dean's chair.
"The only difference, Dean, is that you, maybe you, would have chosen chicken instead of cheeseburger, that's it. Pre-Ordained destiny doesn't alter, it simply plays out, and what I did do for you and Sam was the BEST that I could do for you."
"So you're saying it could have been worse?" Bobby asked looking unconvinced. Annika fixed him with a glare.
"Dean already knows what it could have been like, Zachariah sent him there once before." Dean was suddenly hit with déjà vu where he'd been sent back to an alternate time, when Sam had said yes before Detroit and all hell had broken loose.
"You mean ..." Dean started but Annika interrupted.
"I saved you and Sam's relationship, kept you close so you and Sam would be able to handle the things you were going to go through. No one could have guessed that you two would go about sacrificing yourselves, but damn Dean, you think you'd have at least questioned Ruby or taken the hints Gabriel was giving you. But no, you blindly went and mucked on through every road block I threw up to guide you in what I felt was the best possible choice for a doomed life that you were leading. You were dead the moment Mary gave birth to you Dean, I was just making them all count." She released Dean and Bobby from her enchantment and tossed him the whiskey bottle.
"For the love of Pete, you really think you would have made it this far if you hadn't had a muse on your other shoulder? Because you had a demon riding your ass since Sam was 6 months old." Dean sat there and took in all she said, sipping from the whiskey bottle, and handing it over to Bobby who sat there looking at him in silence.
"So why leave Sam like this? Why let it go on so long if you care so much about him?" Annika laughed and shook her head at him.
"Because you have to understand what life will be like if you don't agree Dean. I am what I am and you will be part of that if you say yes. But this time, you'll get the better end of a raw deal. Judgment and Wrath are not something that you take on lightly, and Sam will not be wholly evil but he will be a long way from the docile little Sammy that you remember. He'll be more like he is now but he'll feel emotions, luckily for you that means he'll have a 'moral compass'. Nevertheless, Wrath is more designed for demonic forces, which fits just fine with Sam's demonic bloodline."
"So if I don't say yes then you leave Sam to rot and if I accept then you'll fill us with some sort of power that will save him is that right? And then what?" Annika shrugged.
"You take in the power and go about your business. Judge, redeem, or execute based on your call. It's simple. You get full on access to places that even Cas can't get in to, teleportation comes a little slower till you learn not to port yourself in the middle of a mountain or some such dumb luck, pretty much a get out of jail free card if you wind up getting yourself killed since about the only thing that will kill you is if you are beheaded and burnt with holy fire, not that that is how you kill me." She fixed him and Bobby with a fierce glare.
"What's the catch?" Bobby asked. Annika shrugged.
"Standard Charmed Ones tag line, you can't use the powers for personal gain or to intentionally harm an innocent. If you go rogue I hunt you down, haul your ass to Tartarus, and let you find out just why hell cast out two hundred rogue angels because they were "too much trouble". And, after a time, when the powers are no longer required, you have to willingly give them back to me." Dean sputtered.
"Give them back? After how long? What about Sam?" he yelled. She rolled her eyes.
"You die, and for good this time." Bobby's face turned white.
"How long are we talking here?"
"I don't know, as long as it takes I guess." Dean laughed a bitter laugh.
"So, this is damned close to my deal with the crossroads demon."
"Not even close, I'm giving you power and a guaranteed free ride to heaven when the jobs done and you're simply giving up your humanity. Not like I'm asking for your soul and condemning you to an eternal life in hell."