Author's Note:
For those of you concerned that Sam would never do this, don't worry it's being covered and explained (I have written a few chapters ahead of time but they're running slowly lol I don't always manage to finish writing one chapter every day to keep the supply up and healthy looking) but the 'Sam would never' part is covered (and again you may not like it ^_^)
The turnout for signing up was crazy; Dean and Castiel stood beside the booth since they were, in fact, celebrities to this kind of thing. Dean took Castiel's hand, his angel squeezing it passively. Castiel watched all the new faces, old faces, and just plain faces. They stared at him and many approached, tried to speak with them but were cut off by security. "I feel bad," Castiel whispered after a moment of watching this happen at least five times. "These people just want to talk to us, why can't we?"
"Rules," Dean shrugged, "But you're right, we should just walk over there." He smiled and, with Castiel's hand in his, started walking past the security guards looming around. People swarmed immediately, question after question and words of endearment all mixed into one loud sound.
Castiel smiled back and waved a bit at the people further away, he hadn't noticed the small body close in on him and wrap arms around his waist. He looked down to see a little girl, probably around thirteen or so, nuzzling his abdomen. He put his arms around her in return and pet her head gently, "What is it?" He asked softly when she lifted her head.
"I saw you cry on TV," She smiled sadly, "My mom's always said that when someone looks sad I should hug them, they'll feel better."
Castiel swallowed, ignoring the little ache growing in his chest, "Thank you, sweetheart." He knelt down and kissed her cheek, "You are a blessing, thank you." She blushed and hurried back through the crowd, Castiel watched her closely until he saw her hand connect with an older woman's. He stood up again and looked at Dean who could only smile at him. "What?"
"That was cute, Cas." Dean kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair.
Castiel shoved him playfully, "Shut up," He kissed Dean back and looked toward the already cheering fans around them. "So how many of you are excited about this tournament?" The cheers grew louder and he nodded, a small smile still on his lips, "Alright, why?"
"We'll be there to support you, Castiel." Someone called out. Others joined in the praise and before Dean and Castiel knew it they were hearing chants of 'I love you'.
"Oh dear..." Castiel glanced at Dean and both of their faces turned upward into smirks, cracking into laughter.
"Cas! Dean!" A familiar voice called out to them, causing both heads to turn and see Anna approaching, Chuck closely following. "Long time!"
"Anna!" Castiel lit up and ran to hug her, "I can't believe you're here!"
"Tell me about it, but this guy wanted to take part this year." She smiled and stepped back, patting her brother's shoulder with a solid clapping sound. "Something about being there for our friends or whatever."
"She insisted," Chuck added meekly and flinched, "ow..." He looked down where Anna's heel had connected with his shin, "Ow..."
"Nice to see you too, Chuck." Dean stuck his hand out to shake which Chuck promptly took.
"Yeah, I can't believe how famous you two got. To think I trained with you years back. Weird, right?" Chuck smiled and looked around at the gawking crowd, "Shouldn't you be behind some body guards or something?"
"Nah, we're good." Dean looked to Castiel who nodded confidently.
"Glad to hear it. Oh! And one other thing, is the Sam from-"
"Yeah, that's my little brother." Dean cut him off, not entirely in the mood to hear about Sam at that moment. "So what have you two been up to?"
"Practicing for this," Anna interjected, "We've gone to a few smaller tournaments and fights, we made the qualifier to even try and sign up for this one. They've been pretty lenient with it though, I mean I don't think they want a small turnout. They want this thing to be massive."
"Yeah, it's going to be pretty intense, from what I've read." Dean nodded in agreement.
"I'm still curious as to how they'll determine a winner." She added, "We'll be on that island for a while, so the rumours say, so is it a 'if you lose you're out' kind of thing?"
"Nope," Chuck lifted a hand to push into the conversation again, "I think it's going to be one of those 'you get one item different than everyone else's' kind of set ups."
"What do you mean?" Castiel tilted his head curiously.
"I mean everyone's going to get something special to their team. When you beat a team you take their thingie, the team with the most items at the end wins, I think." Chuck crossed his arms over his chest thoughtfully, "Though still sort of guessing on that front."
"That sounds kinda cool." Dean looked over at Castiel who nodded slowly.
"It's different than we've done before though I think it's been done in the past, hasn't it? Like in movies and on TV?" Castiel raised an eyebrow, glancing between the different faces around him.
"Yeah," Dean shrugged, "But I think it'll be fun. It's hard to be original now-a-days anyway, they're doing their best."
Castiel laughed, "All we can ask for, I suppose." He glanced over at the long line of angels and humans, many of the faces angled their way, "On another note though, I think they'll still have to shave down the competition..."
"They will, though you two won't have to join in on that, you guys go straight to the island in a month, no questions asked." Anna pouted, "Kind of sucks but I guess we'll have to just work harder and qualify."
"Hey, we put our effort in already." Dean laughed, "So I guess good luck guys, better get in the line up."
"Yeah," Chuck sighed and started toward the end of the line, "They've got set ups like this all over the world, makes you wonder how many people are joining in."
"We'll find out in a month." Dean called after them.
"Wow, Anna and Chuck." Castiel mused, "Never thought I'd see them here of all places."
"What can I say? Anna loves you." Dean smirked and headed back toward the booth, "Come on, we're getting swarmed again."
Castiel nodded and waved at the fans before walking after Dean.
Sam took a deep breath and pushed the doors open leading him into the atrium of the building hosting the sign ups in the city he'd moved to with the team. Everyone in the Freedom Fighters listened to their plan and though not all of them understood they trusted Sam wholly, he had led them this far and as far as they were concerned he knew what he was doing. It was mostly true, Sam figured the plan made some sense but something throbbed in the back of his mind. That little piece of him that still clung to the beliefs of his brother, the little boy who would climb into his big brother's bed at night or run to him with a problem. Sam didn't want to admit it but he felt off, very off.
"Sam?" Lucifer's words rolled into his mind like a drug easing his pain, "You look worried."
Sam looked to Lucifer for a moment then back to the crowds of people who turned their heads, the mass number of people staring at him only grew as eyes widened. He'd made himself clearly known and now here he stood facing all these people who were about to sign up for an angel battle tournament. Fear was the only word that could be described some of their expressions. Sam scanned the faces slowly before walking to the back of the line; he didn't want to admit a lot of things at that moment but the rush of adrenaline he felt told him that he was far from calm.
Gabriel's hand brushed past his, curling their fingers together casually, a sweet comforting motion. He looked up at Sam with a grin, a string of liquorice hanging from between his teeth. Sam smiled and closed his eyes, 'Thank you.'
At first no one knew what to do, Sam Winchester, leader of the Freedom Fighters, was standing in a line for the sign up tables. Though it didn't take long, a camera crew and reporter rushed over once they'd gathered the courage and were sure Sam wasn't going to blow anything up. "Sam Winchester," She called with as much strength as she could muster, "May we have a word?"
Sam looked up, not used to this kind of attention at all but he nodded cooperatively. "Yeah, sure."
She blushed at the sound of his voice, apparently a fan. Her eyes were a little distracted by the size of him but that was cut short with Gabriel's hand snapping in her face, "Focus lady, what do you want?"
"Right," She cleared her throat and put on her reporter face again, "Sam, everyone's wondering what your agenda is here. What are you planning to do?"
Sam's face was as innocent as ever and an adorable smile spread over lips, he glanced down, away from the camera for a moment before lifting his head again to answer. "Same as the rest of you."
"Yeah, it's kind of obvious." Lucifer added with a wide grin.
She looked at the two angels that seemed to be with him and tilted her head curiously, "Are both of these angels with you?"
"Yeah, actually." Sam looked between the two of them, mentally deciding on how he wanted this to go down. He could tell by the looks on some of the angels' faces that they were well aware who it was that stood beside him, how could they not? He was one of their biggest fish for a while. "This is Gabriel, someone who's been with me for a long time." He lifted their hands when he spoke, fingers still laced with his angel's. Gabriel seemed to beam at this, very proud. "And this," Sam motioned to the deviously grinning archangel on his other side, "is Lucifer."
Her face paled a little, "Lucifer...? As in..."
"Yeah," Sam nodded with a smile, "Turns out he doesn't like what we're doing to his family."
The room fell utterly silent, all eyes on Sam, and all cameras on them. Every security guard and otherwise that were receiving word to take down the leader of their industry's biggest threat slowed their march. No one wanted to go toe to toe with a man who had two archangels standing on either side of him ready to fight his battles. Sam looked around at all the uncertain expressions and knew that he couldn't just leave it in silence.
"Listen to me, everyone. I understand that some of you are here on behalf of Dean and Castiel, so who here is?" Many hands lifted at that, "Are you fans of them and want to fight on the same battlefield? Are you looking to take their title? Why are you fighting here?"
No one dared answer that question.
Sam sighed, "Have you been listening to the world lately? Someone here, please tell me what you're signing up for and tell me why."
A young man cleared his throat and took his angel's hand, "We're here as support for them." The man said, his angel nodded decidedly.
Sam eyed them and nodded, "Then, if that's why you're here, why are you afraid of us? We're on the same side so you have nothing to be scared of, Lucifer is here for his family and Gabriel is-"
"Speaking for himself," Gabriel butted in and looked at the crowd who seemed to calm down a bit, "I'm here because I'm with Sam. His beliefs, his goals, I want to help him achieve them because I love this giant dork and I like to think he loves me." He squeezed Sam's hand and promptly got a squeeze back.
"Of course, Gabriel." Sam said quietly, not terribly comfortable with public affection.
Lucifer's eyes raked over them blatantly and he'd decided to stay put, his smile remaining in place. Clearly, despite Gabriel's claims of love and Sam's return of them, Lucifer didn't feel threatened by it. "We're here for the tournament, like any of you." Lucifer stepped forward, his presence could be felt by everyone there and no one dared say anything to interrupt him. "So how about we all relax and have a little fun, huh?"
The reporter nodded, deciding that she couldn't take much more of this and promptly left the area. Sam exhaled heavily and ran a hand down his face, "How does Dean do that?"
"Castiel is pretty good on camera, that's how." Gabriel smirked, "That scrappy little guy is actually pretty damn epic. After having one of those shoved in my face I gotta say I respect him a little more, especially considering all the stuff he's been able to say just on the spot. We rehearsed ours, most of the time."
"We've only done two videos," Sam raised an eyebrow, "We've rehearsed every time." He shook his head, "Though now Dean knows I'm taking part in this... I feel like a hypocrite."
"Well yeah, but that's because you know no one else sees the rest of the plan." Gabriel shrugged, "It's going to be uncomfortable for a while until we get into the action."
"We need to qualify first," Sam muttered agitatedly, "Ever consider the fact that we don't actually fight? What if this doesn't work out?"
"Cool your jets," Lucifer wrapped an arm around Sam's waist, a motion that seeped into his mind and made him feel a little foggy. "We're going to be fine, I promise."
Gabriel glared down at the close contact but said nothing, facing off against Lucifer wasn't on his to do list. He snapped his gaze back toward the front of the line, cursing himself again for letting any of this continue but his fears didn't let him act to stop it.
