Author's Note:
I think you guys get the idea of the 'random battles' thing by now. If you want more 'Dean and Castiel vs whatever other team' go back and re-read Angel Training lol I'm on chapter 20 I think I can step over the repetition a little. I do what I want! Lmao
"Holy crap..." John muttered as he sat on the edge of his sofa, beer discarded on the coffee table. He was watching the re-cap of that week's battles. He figured that he'd just tune in whenever since Dean was pretty dominating in the field but he never would have been able to predict what he'd see. The main focus was on the tournament's newest face, Sam Winchester. "Mary! Have you seen this! Have I not watched TV in over a week or something!"
Mary walked over and nearly dropped the cup she was drying, "Sammy..." She plopped herself next to John, watching the destructive force that followed Sam's movements. Gabriel and Lucifer on either side of him doing everything he asked them to do. He'd paused at one point to look at a camera during the week and the media picked up on it quickly, zooming in on his clear hazel eyes.
"Sam Winchester is dominating this year, he and his team of two archangels, Gabriel and Lucifer, have wiped the floor with every team they've come up against and walked away one or more items richer." The news anchor began to explain though John and Mary were stuck on the names of Sam's angels.
"Lucifer?" Mary gasped, "Sam's working with the devil!"
John nodded slowly, "My boy's got two archangels on his side..." Sam apparently meant business with this whole angel thing. "I can't believe it. Both of our boys are in the same tournament, you think they'll fight?"
"John!" Mary scolded and hit him with the cup, "I sincerely hope not! Castiel wouldn't stand a chance."
"I dunno, I think Dean would win." John picked his beer up again, watching the images flash by on the screen, "He's got more experience and Sam's too soft."
"Sam's got Lucifer and Gabriel, it doesn't matter what kind of experience Dean has." Mary furrowed her brow and looked back at the screen just in time to see a pretty epic shot of Dean and Castiel standing side by side, both staring forward with some intensity though she had no idea what they'd be looking at. "I just hope it doesn't happen."
"It'll happen." John shrugged, "Twenty bucks says Dean wins."
"We are not betting on our sons!" Mary frowned at him.
"Well we can't do anything else."
She sighed and fidgeted with the cup in her hands for a moment. "Fine, I think Sam will win."
"Alright, bet's on."
"I'd say things are going pretty well." Crowley muttered, mostly to himself though the boardroom of people sitting with him probably heard it as well.
"How exactly are they going well?" The Crystal Wings' executive furrowed his brow angrily, "People are still rooting for the Freedom Fighters and Castiel, our economy is pretty much in a shit hole and we've given you all the equipment you asked for. Where are the results, Crowley? Everything Sam Winchester does is still impacting on the public with Castiel's influence, that little angel is still throwing monkey wrenches into everything!"
"Calm down." Crowley smiled, "It's under control, we just need to wait until the situation diffuses a little bit. The tournament's ending will be one to remember and reminder to all people why angels are so dangerous. Lucifer's presence is as much a hindrance as it is a blessing, the case can be pushed in either direction, it all depends on who controls the media. Lucifer's team is going for the 'big push', a show of strength and power as a reminder of what angels are supposed to be. I'm going to twist it a little, people will be reminded but fear can be a deadly thing."
"We can't wait for you to finish screwing around with the media, we need something now."
Crowley nodded, "And you'll have to wait until the tournament's over. It's not long now, don't worry."
One week in, the end of the first week marked the halfway point, or at least it was the day that they announced half of the competition had been taken out. The remaining teams were being broadcast all over the island, possibly over several speaker systems though no one particularly cared at this point.
Castiel listened quietly to the names and made a mental note of the teams that were said to have a higher number of items than most. He smiled to himself and glanced at Dean who looked like hell, torn pants, dark circles under his eyes and overall looking fairly tired. "It sounds like we have the most items."
Dean huffed a laugh and dropped his head against the tree he was leaning on, "Wonderful. That means that we're even bigger a target than the rest of the week. Are they trying to kill me?"
"Kind of, yeah." Castiel laughed, "But think of it this way, we've probably taken out a good chunk of those teams so we're doing pretty good."
"Except we haven't seen teams like Michael and Bella, or Raphael and Annie, or Balthazar, or Anna and Chuck. I mean where are they? Have you heard their names yet?" Dean furrowed his brow, "Those are some pretty big names, you know. Fighting them won't be easy and beating them will probably feel pretty heavy on the psyche."
"Well we've beaten most of them before," Castiel shrugged, "But so far I've heard Michael and Bella have around 50 items or so, Balthazar and Garth are carrying close to 20, and Anna and Chuck actually have about 10. I haven't heard about Raphael's team yet, or Sam's..."
Just as Castiel muttered the name they heard it echoed over the system, "And Sam Winchester with his angels Gabriel and Lucifer are in the lead with over 400 items in hand. Our world champions had better look out; they're one defeat away from losing this entire tournament."
"Are you kidding me!" Dean stared up at the sky as if it'd answer him. "What did they do, go after every team with a higher number of items or something?"
"Probably, that's not a bad plan really." Castiel shook his head, "Everyone playing right now will have at least two items, though many of the teams that are left are actually without any items at all by the sound of it. After their twenty-four hour mark is up we'll be down to a much smaller number of teams." He paced around a bit, staring down at the grass and consequently his feet as well. He was dirty, scuff marks all along his skin and in fact most of his clothing had been torn as well. No one was really permitted to take extra things with them, this wasn't only about fighting it was about surviving. That wasn't a huge deal however; there were angels present after all.
"What's up?" Dean asked curiously, watching Castiel's little facial twitches.
"Nothing much," the angel muttered, waving a hand over himself and in an instant felt cleaner. "Cleaner than ever and yet I still want a shower." He huffed.
Dean smirked, "Me next."
Castiel flicked his wrist in Dean's direction and he felt rejuvenated in seconds, clean and ready to go. "Clothes too?"
"Obviously." Dean laughed as he looked at himself; this was no substitute for sleep, though. He was still pretty tired but at least he felt less miserable while rolling in his own filth over and over again.
Castiel nodded and did so; both of their garments were as good as new. "This is cheating, you know." He smiled, "I think the idea was for us to end up naked by the end of this."
"We'll strip for them if that's the case." Dean sneered playfully. "Think I can get a nap before the next attack?"
The ground rumbled beneath their feet like it had the first day, Castiel didn't want to risk something happening and scooped Dean up, tossing his fiancé onto his back and taking flight. Dean was a little more relaxed with the feeling by now, doing this for a week straight definitely helped. "I doubt a nap is a good idea at this point..." Castiel muttered, floating up over the island to see it better.
It crunched back down to the size it was originally, the mountains disappearing and the valley they surrounded vanished with them. Castiel mentally kicked himself for not inspecting it closer; he wanted to compare the synthetic nature with the reality that his Father had made. He looked up at the other teams that had taken flight and once again mentally kicked himself as he watched several of them hurdle in his direction.
"It's about to get rough, Dean."
"THIS HIGH UP!" Dean nearly shrieked, suddenly very aware of their altitude. "Go back down! Go back down!"
"Not a good idea, sweetheart." Castiel's wings flared up and he bolted forward to meet the on-coming horde. He noted it looked like more of a flock than a horde, and yet at the same time these angels were not on one another's side either so flock wasn't the right word. Regardless there were too many to count at that moment.
"Oh crap! Oh crap!" Dean's fingers dug into Casitel's clothes and pinched his skin as they barrel-rolled right into the masses. Castiel let out an unsightly shriek, his angelic voice echoing through the crowd and it almost sounded like it bounced off of every wing present. "Cas!" Dean cried out in concern though he could hardly hear anything if Castiel had responded.
Castiel snarled but didn't stop moving, taking down several teams as he careened through the air, bashing into others and destroying any formation that may have been established. None of the teams were working together, either. It was a giant cluster-fuck of bodies, limbs and wings. Castiel would be worried Dean had fallen off but he could still feel the solid grip on him and every time he moved his wings they brushed up against Dean's sides. He decidedly focused on the fight instead of the wounds he'd sustained just bursting into the flurry; his wings had been upright so he'd successfully protected Dean in the process though he'd taken nearly every hit aimed at him.
Castiel and Dean had been involved in several messy fights like this already; rarely did they end up with a one on one battle like they were used to. Granted their situation was slowly becoming normal and they couldn't help but grow accustomed to it.
But this fight was too much for them to handle on their own; they were the main target though the other teams weren't against bashing one another as well. The thing about fights between angels was that they usually didn't last that long, something most people already knew. Not unless the teams were evenly matched, then the fight could go on forever. However in this mess it was hard to tell who had the upper hand and it was all too easy to bash the humans off their angels, something that would undoubtedly knock the weaker of partners out entirely.
Five minutes into it and Castiel was already breathing heavily, he was well aware of Dean's grip and how much weaker it had gotten. He wanted to go to the ground to make this less dangerous for Dean, even a little, but he couldn't risk being blasted in the back. He continued to deflect any attacks he could but every time he seemed to avoid one hit he was struck with at least six others. Even for their perfect bond this was overwhelming, too many people attacking him at once without enough rest between fights. Dean's concentration was definitely limited enough with the exhaustion he was feeling but the worst was how scared he was in the air. If Dean could focus now like he had when they fought in the arenas then this would be done within the last few minutes. Of course that wasn't exactly the case in that exact moment so clearly Castiel couldn't rely on it.
One angel managed a solid hit to Castiel's gut and in seconds he found himself hurdling to the ground, his eyes wide from the shock and his limbs apparently frozen. "CAS!" Dean screamed, his fingers digging in again and his voice crashing through Castiel's ears. "We're FALLING! CAS!" Obviously Dean didn't know which part to worry about more, his limp angel or the fact that he was falling to his death.
Castiel's wings flinched and suddenly curled and folded over his back and Dean, he angled himself and sailed toward the earth below, "Hold on Dean!" He called briskly as they accelerated, a wave of angels following him down.
Dean dared to glance back and felt his stomach tighten, their opponents nearly created a funnel that headed straight toward them. He was so busy staring back at the flock behind them he hadn't noticed what had been approaching from the front, at least not until several projectiles launched past Castiel. Dean's eyes snapped forward again and for a moment he was worried, really genuinely worried because Michael and Bella couldn't have had worse timing if they wanted to attack them. However he realized pretty quickly that none of their attacks were aimed for Castiel as the angel swooped past them.
"Having issues, Cas?" Michael called over his shoulder with a bit of a laugh.
Castiel's wings spread again and he adjusted himself to slow down and looked back up, "Just a few." He replied.
"Holy crap..." Dean muttered, staring up at what looked like an army raining down on them.
"Dean, I need you to focus, okay?" Castiel said calmly, "You're scared I know, but the more afraid you are the harder this fight becomes. Have faith in me."
Dean swallowed, his limbs tightening and he nodded, "I'm sorry Cas, I should probably trust you more than this."
"Yes, you should." Castiel glanced over his shoulder with a sharp gaze, Dean nearly lost himself in that flash of vibrant blue before Castiel looked back toward the sky above. "So do it."
Dean smiled, "Right, you got it."
A wave of vibrations pulsed between them several times as Dean found his center and they could almost feel a definite click. "That's better." They spoke in unison, both staring at the same target. One motion of Castiel's wings was enough to send them back at their opponents with more speed and force than they'd used to fly away.
Michael smirked, having been handling several angels on his own already. "Took them long enough."
"Have they been holding back on that stupid bond thing?" Bella frowned.
"Looks that way. Think they've been getting bored with the tournaments? Maybe it's a way to make it more interesting, not going full-bore and all that." Michael rolled his eyes and knocked another team out of the sky, "Arrogant dicks."
Bella laughed and concentrated on their own fight, despite how distracted she was with the way Castiel and Dean were knocking teams down left and right. "If this swarm knows what's good for it they'll stop attacking." She muttered.
"When does a swarm ever know what's good for it?" Michael smirked.
Castiel escaped from the fight again and dove after the falling teams; the ones he knew were unconscious. He reached out and started catching them, rescuing the humans from certain death.
"What are you doing?" One woman asked as she desperately clung to him. "We were just trying to-"
"It doesn't matter if your life is in danger." Castiel looked at her sternly, "This tournament isn't about killing one another, it's a game, a sport and people need to stop taking it so fucking seriously." She shut up after that.
Landing was difficult but Castiel managed it without too much injury to anyone with him. He looked at them briefly before looking back up at the fight that was descending as well. "Looks like we'll be levelling the area." He muttered.
"Guess so." Dean stayed on Castiel's back despite being on the ground again, he knew that it wouldn't be safe on his own in a group fight; it was one of the only constant things during this tournament. It didn't take long for Michael to land next to them, Bella adjusting her position on his back for better grip.
"How's your week been?" Castiel smiled at Michael who just rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.
"Pretty epic, yours?"
"Same."
"You can talk later," Bella scolded, "We need to finish this fight so we can tell you something."
"Can't tell us now?" Dean raised an eyebrow; he and Castiel deflected another assault with the flap of a wing.
"Not appropriate timing." Bella answered as Michael narrowly dodged something that may have hurt, though he wasn't quite sure since he and Bella were pretty strong and the power levels of their current opponents weren't terribly high.
The two teams worked together, watching one another's backs and fighting their way out of what felt like an army's march. It was over in about two hours; Castiel looked around at all the unconscious angels and humans and shook his head. He pressed his palm against his eyes to stop from crying; he was past crying over this kind of thing, wasn't he? But he'd never been surrounded by their bodies like this, in piles all around him.
"Wow..." Michael ran a hand up through his hair, "That was messy." He looked at Castiel and moved to comfort his little brother, letting Bella down as he walked. Dean had slipped down from Castiel's back as well and took a moment to survey the area.
Castiel looked up at Michael and stifled a hiccupped sob; he moved into his big brother's arms and buried his face into the strong chest waiting for him. Michael wrapped Castiel up in a hug and held him tight, "It's okay, Castiel." He whispered, "They understand, you know that already."
Castiel nodded, "I just... I can't... I can't help it." He stuttered brokenly, gasping for air in between words.
Dean watched from the side feeling heartbroken for his angel, he wished there was something he could do. Though as he thought about it the more he realized that pretty soon he'd be fighting his own brother as well, he'd have to beat Sam into the ground in the cruelest of ways while people watched on TV. He had to wonder how he'd handle the feeling when it came up, would he be okay with it and just let it roll off? Or would he get mad and feel the anguish that Castiel felt every time they fought? He shook his head and decided to not think about it.
"So," Bella walked over to Dean, her arms folded over her chest as per usual. "We had some news for you."
"What's up?" Dean looked at her, "You decided you want to save us for last and fight for the title all over again?"
"Not even close." Bella smirked, "You really shouldn't think, sweetie, it's not good for you."
Dean frowned but decided not to reply to that comment in particular, "So then what?"
"Earlier this week, on the cruise in, a few of us had made the choice to back you up." She looked around, "Not sure how many teams are left though, looks like we took out a good chunk of them."
Dean nodded then had to pause and rewind what he'd just heard, "Wait, what? You guys are going to back us up? You're not trying to win?"
"It's not about winning or losing a tournament anymore, Dean. The world's past the point of being entertained by angels, it's time we fought for them. They need our help and you and Castiel are our best bet at this point. Michael and I will protect you until you two are the last team standing." Bella's expression betrayed nothing of her emotions as she spoke, she'd grown out of the vanity and fame of being world champion for several years in a row and had started to see Michael as her friend, her protector and Dean would venture to guess lover as well.
"Thank you." He replied with as much strength as she had shown him, "Who else plans to help?"
"Balthazar and Garth, Anna and Chuck, and Raphael and Annie." Bella answered briefly though her downcast expression didn't make Dean feel very comfortable.
"What? What happened?" Dean asked worriedly.
"Well one of those three teams isn't exactly capable of fighting right now." Bella shifted oddly. "Raphael and Annie went up against Sam and Lucifer on the first day."
"And?" Dean pushed urgently. "What happened? Are they okay?"
Her silence wrenched his stomach further, though Castiel walking up beside him and taking his hand eased the pain a little. "Are they dead?" Castiel asked softly, fearing the answer.
"No." Michael shook his head, taking his place beside Bella. "But they were damn close. We've spent most of the week taking care of them, it's why we don't have as many items as we'd like." He glanced at the people unconscious around them, "Though I suppose maybe this will make up for it."
"So where are they now?" Castiel looked around as if they might pop up somewhere.
"They've gone to gather the others; obviously Balthazar and Anna aren't out of the game yet since their names were called this morning." Michael smiled.
"I guess I missed Raphael's name when they were calling them..." Castiel scratched his head curiously.
"The tournament people probably didn't know whether or not he was alive so I'm not surprised." Bella shrugged, "Regardless, they should be on their way soon."
"Thanks for all of this." Dean smiled with relief, "We were starting to have a pretty rough time with everything."
"I believe it; you look like you haven't slept in a while." Bella laughed.
"Not much, nope." Dean sighed.
Castiel smiled guiltily, feeling a little bad that Dean was so tired. His thoughts of burden were cut short when he was glomped from behind. "Gah!" he flailed a little to get the individual off.
"Not letting go!" Balthazar laughed as he half-strangled Castiel to get a better chance of noogy-ing the poor bastard.
"You annoying son of a-" Castiel managed a decent grip Balthazar's arms and flipped him over his head. Of course Balthazar hadn't let go so they both tumbled to the dirt, scrapping like best friends do.
Dean smiled and looked up just in time to get a hug from Anna, "Hey, how are you?"
Anna smiled and stepped back again, "Not too bad, we're still in this."
Chuck nodded determinedly though he was still clearly unhappy with the situation.
"Wow, look at you guys." Garth looked around at all the bodies, "Did you uh... are they..."
"They're alive, Garth." Bella shook her head, "Just unconscious."
"Cool, cool..." Garth nodded, "So I'll just gather the items for you guys then." He smiled that dorky way he did and moved to handle the job.
Raphael and Annie smiled at Michael and Bella for a moment then turned those grins on Dean and Castiel, "You guys sure are something else." Annie said sarcastically.
"And look at you two, nearly dead on the first day." Dean retorted with a laugh. "Good job."
"What can I say? Your brother packs a punch." She shrugged, "Speaking of, did you guys hear how many items they have? They must have hunted down nearly every team out here."
"I heard." Dean nodded, "I can't say I'm surprised though, he does have two archangels with him."
"Well now you've got two as well." Michael offered, "So let's show them how teamwork is really handled."
Castiel and Balthazar shoved off one another and stood again, neither of them even bothering to fix their mussed up hair. "I've made a plan with Gabriel to free Sam from Lucifer, so what we need to do at this point is just take him down." Castiel explained, surprisingly stern considering what he'd just stood up from.
"Oh yeah, that sounds easy. Let's 'just take down the devil', no big deal or anything. It'll be just like getting the mail." Chuck muttered with a roll of his eyes.
Anna glared at him but it quickly dissolved into laughter, she had to admit he was kind of funny sometimes and considering the fact that they were going to go fight one of the toughest sons of bitches out there, it was appreciated. Chuck smiled a little, surprised she'd actually laughed this time and stood a little bit taller, but just a little.
Dean smiled at all the friends they'd gathered and had to raise his hand to say something, "Can I sleep first?"
Castiel snorted back a laugh and nodded, "Yes, of course you can."
Author's Note2:
Oh crap *looks around* This is the last chapter I have hidden away in my supply of chapters! Now everything I write will have to go straight up here lol From now on there may be gaps between updates (maybe a day or two, not sure) So this is your warning.