Here's the next chapter, as promised! (still pretty much following 9x18)
If Dean were in the Impala right now, Sam probably would've gotten his ass kicked for the way he was driving it. As it was, Sam hit redial for a fifth time, a deep, too-familiar pit of fear growing in his stomach as it went to voicemail again.
"Dean. Metatron took Cas. I need you to pick up. Come on, man." Sam all but screamed into the phone, hanging up in frustration as he tore around the next corner. He had been caught off guard by Metatron's brief presence in Cas's hotel room, almost certain that the angel was intent on killing him. If not for the fact that they had Gadreel hostage, Sam imagined he would have. Finally back at the factory, Sam cut the engine and clambered from the car, sprinting inside and up the stairs to where they were holding Gadreel.
His heart stopped.
The chair that had once held the angel was now overturned, small splatters of dark red blood surrounding it.
"Dean," Sam whispered breathlessly, eyes scanning the quiet (too quiet, way too quiet) room. "Dean!" he repeated louder this time, not caring if it was unwise to do so when he didn't know where Gadreel was. He caught sight of his brother a moment later, but the panic didn't abate. Because Dean was there, but he was sprawled out against the far wall. And he wasn't moving.
"Dean!" Sam called again as he reached the slumped, but still conscious form of his brother, eyes widening as he took in Dean's split knuckles and the bloody body of the unconscious angel lying just a few feet away. Gadreel looked wrecked, his face a mess of blood and bruises, wrists still securely fastened by the handcuffs.
"You okay?" Sam asked, turning back to his brother.
"Yeah. You gotta stop asking me that." Dean was quick to respond, but he seemed dazed, his eyes glassy and unfocused.
"I've been calling you!" Sam shook his head, relief wearing off enough that the anger came once again to the forefront. "Why didn't you..."
"He won't talk," Dean broke in, as if not hearing the words spoken by the taller man leaning over him. His eyes finally focused on Sam, wide and uncertain. "He wanted to die. And I was gonna kill him, I was...but then I stopped because I know we need him to talk."
The inflection of the words scared Sam. Dean wasn't acting like himself, didn't sound like the big brother Sam had known his entire life. There was a rare vulnerability in that tone, a brokenness that seeped out through every syllable and made it hard for Sam to focus on anything else. But there was more to focus on, so Sam pushed his fears aside for the moment.
"Dean listen," he said. "Metatron has Cas. He's offering up a trade."
"We can't trust Metatron," Dean said. Sam ignored the fact that it sounded like Dean was asking a question.
"I..I know that. Obviously," he replied. "But think about it Dean. This is the first time we're going to know exactly where Metatron is. So let's make the exchange, Cas for Gadreel, and then we trap Metatron."
Dean stared with that same lost expression a moment longer before nodding.
"Okay. Let's go," Sam urged. He straightened up, walking the necessary few feet until he was standing beside Gadreel, amazed by the amount of damage Dean had managed to inflict. He wished it had been his own fists. It would've been a sweet kind of justice. Shaking the thought, Sam bent low and reached for the angel, hauling him up into a fireman's carry and casting one more glance towards Dean before making his way back down the stairs towards the Impala. He dumped Gadreel's prone form into the trunk, checked the angel warding, and then closed it with a satisfactory slam, slightly surprised by the fact that Dean had yet to join him. He waited another minute or so, fingers drumming impatiently against the hood of the Impala as he leaned against it. Still nothing.
Sam sighed, hauling himself upright and striding swiftly back towards the factory, once again climbing the stairs. His forehead wrinkled in confusion when he saw that Dean had virtually disappeared, no longer sitting on the floor where Sam had left him.
"Dean!" he called for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "D-"
"What?" Dean appeared at the entrance to the bathroom, wiping the last remnants of blood from his knuckles.
"W..We gotta go," Sam said, feeling stupid for getting worked up so quickly.
Dean nodded, clapping a hand on Sam's shoulder as he passed. The familiarity of the gesture calmed Sam slightly, and he followed his brother back out to the car, sliding into the passenger seat as the Impala spurred to life, speeding back toward's Cas's hotel room.
"He's late," Sam said. The brothers were leaning against the Impala, situated in the parking lot outside of Castiel's hotel, so far with no sign of Metatron.
"Maybe he's not coming," Dean replied.
"Of course I came."
Sam and Dean whipped around to face the sudden arrival. Metatron smiled disdainfully at them, as if acknowledging the presence of two particularly troublesome rodents.
"I was just waiting for you to finish setting up your little trap for me." Metatron walked quite deliberately into the middle of the ring of holy oil that Sam had poured just moments ago, invisible to the naked eye. "Am I hitting my mark?" he asked, watching gleefully as Sam and Dean shared an uncertain look.
"Well come on. I'm waiting," Metatron goaded.
Dean paused momentarily but then proceeded to flick open the lighter he'd been holding, letting it fall to the pavement as a ring of holy fire sprang up around Metatron. The brothers watched as the angel began to cough violently, his face scrunched in pain as the flames licked at his feet. But the coughing stopped just as suddenly as it began, morphing instead into a throaty, mocking laugh. Sam glanced at his brother, then back at Metatron who continued to laugh, pausing only to blow out the holy fire in one dramatic exhale.
The Winchesters charged simultaneously, angel blades no longer concealed beneath their jackets, but one half-hearted swipe of Metatron's hand had them flying back against the Impala, both blades clattering onto the pavement. Metatron walked casually towards the trunk, motioning as he did so to another car that immediately began to crawl its way slowly to where the brothers were standing. Cas exited the car a moment later, surrounded by three angels. Sam was so relieved to see Cas alive that he almost missed the way Metatron's hand swiped once more along the Impala, erasing the angel warding beneath the trunk and unlatching Gadreel's handcuffs in one seemingly effortless motion.
"Well, a deal is a deal," Metatron grinned, allowing Cas to make his way over to Dean's side while Gadreel limped slowly towards the three waiting angels.
"Why are you doing this?" Dean asked roughly.
Metatron's demeanor seemed to alter almost immediately, his eyes hardening and his smile gone as he strode towards Dean. "Because I can. Because you and your little brother and your fine-feathered friend, and all the secrets you've got locked away in that bunker can't stop me. But I'm going to enjoy watching you try." He paused to glare at Cas. "Never forget Castiel, I gave you a chance."
And with that, he disappeared.
Let me know what you thought if you have time. Next update is on Monday!