Hey gang! If anyone's worried about Gabriel, don't be. Just sit tight for the sequel. We're almost done with this one. Only two more chapters after this.
One week later…
Crowley stepped back from Bobby "That doesn't make any sense" he spat.
"What?" Bobby groused, pouring himself a shot to wash the demon taste from his mouth.
"Your soul is protected. There is no deal."
Bobby blinked "Protected by what?"
"That would be me" Hermes appeared in the center of the room. He was wearing a black suit. "When I healed your legs Bobby, I took the liberty of putting you under my protection. A move can't be made on your soul without my knowing it."
While it was nice to know Crowley couldn't get his grubby mitts on Bobby's soul, that demon had information and…
"We don't need this hell spawn" Hermes said.
"Excuse you" Crowley snarled.
"I know where Death will be. You should have thought to ask me. I'm, you know, second top Reaper after him."
Well that was embarrassing, Bobby should have thought of that.
Hermes stepped up to Crowley "Your services are no longer required, Crowley. However if you wish to help in some way that doesn't involve soul trading then by all means."
Crowley glared at him "Word is you haven't been getting so involved."
Thunder sounded somewhere "That changed when Lucifer killed my father. You have three seconds before I smite your ass." When the demon was gone Hermes turned to Bobby "You're welcome."
…
Sam had just told Dean of his "genius" plan to say yes to Lucifer and then jump into the cage and Dean did not like it "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Dean…" Sam started.
"...no, don't "Dean" me. I mean, you… you have had some stupid ideas in the past, But this…" he turned to Bobby "d-did you know about this?"
"What?"
"About Sam's genius plan to cram the devil down his throat."
Bobby nodded.
"Well, thanks for the heads up!"
"Hey, this ain't about me."
Dean turned back to Sam "You can't do this."
Sam sighed "That's the consensus."
Dean was relieved "All right. Awesome. Then, end of discussion." Dean's phone rang "This isn't over." He said to Sam before answering it "Hello?"
"Dean?" it was Cas.
"Cas, babe?" more relief flooded Dean, his angel was alive.
Sam's head perked up "Is he okay?"
Dean spoke into the phone "We were starting to think..." but he couldn't say what they were starting to think "Where the hell are you, babe?"
"A hospital."
"Are you okay?"
"No."
Dean sighed "You want to elaborate?"
"I just woke up here. The doctors were fairly surprised. They thought I was brain-dead."
That wasn't good "S-so, a hospital?"
"Apparently, after Van Nuys, I suddenly appeared, bloody and unconscious, on a shrimping boat off Delacroix. I'm told it upset the sailors." It was amazing how Castiel could make any explanation sound almost normal.
"Uh, well, I got to tell you, man; You're just in time. We figured out a way to pop Satan's box."
"How?"
"It's a long story," telling him about Gabriel just shouldn't be done over the phone "but, look -we're going after Pestilence now. So if you want to zap over here..."
Cas sighed "I can't "zap" anywhere."
Worry started to replace the relief "What do you mean?"
"You could say my batteries are—are drained."
"What do you mean? You're out of angel mojo?"
"I'm saying that I am thirsty and my head aches. I have a bug bite that itches no matter how much I scratch it, and I'm saying that I'm just incredibly..."
"Human." Dean finished "Oh baby, I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault, my love. My point is: I can't go anywhere without money for...an airplane ride. And food. And more pain medication, ideally."
Dean was not about to let Cas get hooked on pain meds, no way "All right. Well, look, no worries. Uh, Bobby's here. He'll wire you the cash."
"I will?" Bobby said incredulously.
Dean could almost hear Cas's brows crinkling "How?" he asked.
"Well, uh, you're gonna need an alias and we need the hospital you're at."
…
Castiel lay in a hospital bed, feeling very much human and he hated it. He'd just gotten off the phone with Dean. He had to get out of here but he needed to wait for this money they were supposed to be sending.
"Hello Castiel" a fluttering of wings filled the room.
Castiel blinked at the angel before him "Balthazar? You shouldn't be here."
Balthazar sat on the bed next to him "Neither should you. Clever of you, really, carving the banishing sigil into your own flesh. Shame it drained you."
"It had to be done. What are you doing here?"
"I'm on your side, you moron." He reached out and ruffled Castiel's hair "I'm here to help."
"No. I can't ask that of you. Michael and Raphael will surely kill you."
"I don't care, Cassie; we're brothers."
Castiel forced himself into a sitting position "I want you to stay out of this, Balthazar. Please. I will likely not survive this endeavor."
Balthazar shrugged "God's brought you back before. Cas, you should know; Gabriel's dead."
A pang shot through Castiel "What? How?"
"Lucifer. Seems Brother Gabriel died defending your pet apes."
"My God" Castiel put his face in his hands. He had no idea how to process this.
Balthazar put a hand on his chest and a warmth spread through him, making him feel immensely better, physically anyway. "I can't restore your Grace but I can make you well enough to reach the Winchesters. I can zap you…"
"No! Thank you, Balthazar but you've done enough. Please go before someone finds you here."
Balthazar hugged him and Castiel felt the brush of his wings "Tell you what and you can't stop me, I'll make sure Raphael stays out of the final showdown. That should lighten the load a bit" and he was gone.
As soon as he was Hermes stood in his place "Wow, you're a lot smaller than I thought. Have you considered taking your suit to a tailor?"
Castiel blinked back the stinging in his eyes "I was just informed about Gabriel. I'm sorry, Hermes."
"Well that's why I'm in it to win it now. I am officially joining Team Free Will. So instead of them wiring you money I'm here to take you back. Good thing Bobby had the sense to think of me. Where are your clothes?"
"I think they're in that cupboard" Castiel pointed as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.
Hermes snapped his fingers and Castiel was dressed "Let's go then. Dean's worried sick."
…
As soon as Cas appeared with Hermes, Dean rushed into his arms "Thank God you're okay. You are okay aren't you?"
"Now I am" Cas nuzzled his neck.
So there were other dudes watching but right now, Dean didn't give a damn. He pulled away slightly to kiss Cas properly. "God, Cas I was so friggin worried."
"So was I."
Hermes groaned "You two are giving me cavities here. Don't forget we have to go after Pestilence."
Dean reluctantly pulled away from Cas but kept an arm around his waist.
Sam snorted.
Cas leaned heavily against Dean "Pestilence?"
"Yeah and after that we're taking on Death" Dean said.
"No," Hermes said "we're asking Death politely to borrow his ring. Trust me. Anyway, you kind of can't kill Death, it would be redundant. Also, haven't read the story where Sisyphus kidnapped Hades and nobody in Greece was dying? Do you want that for the entire freaking planet?"
Bobby broke the long silence that followed "Okay, so we don't kill Death; noted. And I'm gettin' you a soap box."
…
Castiel wasn't happy. Dean had told him to stay with Bobby and monitor apocalypse signs while the other three went after Pestilence.
"I understand, Dean" Castiel had said "I am useless now."
"No, babe, that's not it at all. You are not useless, I just don't wanna risk losing you again, okay."
Then Hermes stepped in "We're not even driving there, Cas. I'm taking the boys and we'll be in and out. You don't see Bobby grousing that he's not going."
Bobby handed Castiel a beer "Don't be such a grouch, Cas. Dean's just trying to look out for you."
"But it's my job to look out for him. I don't need his protection. He needs mine."
Bobby shook his head "Stubborn idjits both of ya."
The other three reappeared, all looking a little exhausted.
"Well?" Bobby asked.
Hermes held up Pestilence's ring "I love being the god of thieves."
Sam looked concerned "But what did he mean 'it's too late'?"
Dean greeted Castiel with a kiss on the cheek "God knows but he ain't sharing. I'm afraid it might be some kind of bomb or something."
"Makes sense" Hermes sat in a chair "There was this one fallen angel named Kronos who went psycho. He fancied himself like Pestilence and he experimented with a virus back in the nineties. He put a bomb of one in a fountain and one in a reservoir."
"Was he stopped?" Sam asked.
"Oh yeah, no worries. He's dead now."
Dean's brows furrowed "How do you kill one of those guys?"
"Chop off his head."
"An angel blade should work as well" Castiel stated.
Hermes nodded "True but chopping heads is so much more fun" he blinked and shook his head "I have been spending way too much time with Ares."
Sam brought the conversation back on topic "We need to figure out what Pestilence was talking about."
"I can help with that" the demon Crowley appeared in the center of the study and he was holding a newspaper.
"What the hell are you doing here Crowley?" Dean demanded.
"Look I don't want Lucifer to win any more than you mooks. To him, we demons are disposable razors he will toss in the rubbish as soon as he's through."
Hermes rolled his eyes "Get to the point."
"Moose" Crowley said to Sam "your demon lover, Brady was the CEO of Niveus Pharmaceuticals and as you know he was Pestilence's right hand. Take a look" he handed the paper to Hermes.
"It's not vaccine they're distributing" Crowley continued "it's grade A, farm fresh Croatoan virus. This time next week, we'll be living in zombie-land."
"Actually" Hermes said "that's a common misconception about zombies. Zombies are typically controlled by another source, like a voodoo priest for example and are slow and…" he stopped because everyone was glaring at him. He cleared his throat "But such a lesson can till after we save the world."
…
Crowley had left as soon as he delivered the information about the virus which was fine with everyone else. Cas volunteered to be part of Team Destroy the Virus and Dean didn't dare argue with the steely look in his eyes. He may be mostly human now but it was damn obvious he was still a warrior. So while he, Sam and Bobby went to deal with that, Hermes took Dean to Chicago to see Death.
They appeared across the street from the pizzeria the King Reaper was in. "So" Hermes sighed and clapped his hands once "Death requested seeing you alone."
Dean stared at him "Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack. I'm sorry Dean but he's asked me to find something of his that he's misplaced. Otherwise I'd be helping the others nuke the virus. Still might later on, just to make sure they got it all. Look, here's some advice: nothing fazes Death so don't bother being snarky. When you're finished call for me. If I'm unavailable I'll send someone in my place to take you back to Bobby's."
"Who?"
Hermes shrugged "Whoever has the balls and won't try and seduce you" with that he disappeared.
"Son of a bitch." Dean took a few calming breaths and entered the pizzeria.
A very thin man was sitting at one of the far tables and there were dead bodies all over the floor. "Join me, Dean. The pizza's delicious. Sit down. Took you long enough to make an appointment. I've been wanting to talk to you."
Dean slowly walked to the table and took a seat "I got to say -I have mixed feelings about that. S-so is this the part where...where you kill me?"
Death, to Dean looked like a cross between the stereotypical Grim Reaper and Ichabod Crane, "You have an inflated sense of your importance. To a thing like me, a thing like you, well...Think how you'd feel if a bacterium sat at your table and started to get snarky, especially when it was warned not to. This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm old, Dean. Very old. So I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you." He gestured to the pizza and put a slice on the empty plate in front of Dean "Eat." Dean took a hesitant bite "Good, isn't it?"
Swallowing, Dean nodded "Well, I got to ask. How old are you?"
"As old as God. Maybe older. Neither of us can remember anymore. Life, death, chicken, egg. Regardless - at the end, I'll reap him, too."
Dean nearly choked "God? You'll reap God?"
"Oh, yes. God will die, too, Dean."
"Well, this is way above my pay grade."
"Just a bit."
"So, then why am I still breathing, sitting here with you? Uh...w-what do you want?"
"The leash around my neck off. Lucifer has me bound to him. Some unseemly little spell. He has me where he wants, when he wants. That's why I couldn't go to you. I had to wait for you to catch up. I couldn't even tell Hermes to bring you. You needed to learn of the rings on your own first. He made me his weapon. Hurricanes, floods, raising the dead. I'm more powerful than you can process, and I'm enslaved to a bratty child with a temper tantrum."
Dean stared at him "And you think...I can unbind you?"
Death rolled his eyes "There's your ridiculous bravado again. Of course you can't. But you can help me take the bullets out of Lucifer's gun. I understand you want this." He held up his ring.
"Yeah."
"I'm inclined to give it to you."
"To give it to me?"
"That's what I said."
"But what about..."
"Chicago? I suppose it can stay. I like the pizza. There are conditions."
There were always conditions "Okay. Like?"
"You have to do whatever it takes to put Lucifer in his cell."
"Of course."
Death leaned forward slightly "Whatever it takes."
Dean nodded "That's the plan."
"No. No plan. Not yet. Your brother. He's the one that can stop Lucifer. The only one."
Dean knew he wasn't going to like the conditions "What, you think…"
"I know. So, I need a promise. You're going to let your brother jump right into that fiery pit. Well, do I have your word?"
"Okay, yeah. Yes." Not.
"That had better be "yes," Dean. You know you can't cheat death. Now, would you like the instruction manual?"
…
Dean left the pizzeria, mind in turmoil. The only good thing about all this was that Chicago wasn't going to be wiped off the map any time soon. He did not want Sam to say yes to Lucifer but could he get away with lying to Death?
"Hermes" he called.
About a minute later, a man, decidedly not Hermes appeared. He had long black hair and he was wearing a long black leather coat and leather pants. "Dean Winchester, pleasure to finally meet you, shame it has to be outside an Italian joint."
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm here on behalf of Hermes. I'm Ares."
If it weren't for the fact that Hermes had told him Ares wasn't like the myths Dean would have waited for the half-angel to get done with his errand for Death. And that was the other annoying thing about Dean's conversation with the Reaper, Hermes was not allowed to partake in the final showdown, provided there was one.
"He's still busy then?" Dean asked.
Ares nodded "Apparently he's on the hunt for Death's scythe or whatever. I'm to take you wherever you want to go."
"Are you just as against the Apocalypse as he is?"
"All Olympians are. No one wants the angels in charge of everything. No one wants Lucifer either. But personality wise, I prefer him to Michael. So, where to?"
"Isn't there anything you can do to stop it?"
Ares laughed "As if. This is something we cannot interfere in. Hermes gets away with it because he's standing in for Gabriel. And all I can do is transport you. So, I ask again, where to?"
If he went to Niveus he could help out the others, not that they needed his help. And if he went they might think he didn't trust them to get the job done without him and they would get pissy. All three of them.
Ares sighed "You're a warrior Dean and as god of war, I can see your inner turmoil. You're obviously the leader of your team even though Castiel has millennia more experience. A good leader knows when to let his men handle a situation without him. It helps build trust. Believe me."
Dean groaned and ran a hand through his hair "All right, take me to Singer's Salvage."
Look who showed up! Ares! we'll see him again too, either in the sequel or the timestamps I'm planning. And don't you just love Hermes? Dude's always inserting himself into my stories, couldn't tell ya why. And yes, in my headcanon Ares is a lot nicer than mythology portrays him.
Please review, we're at the final countdown now.
TTFN
