Chapter Twenty Four: Born to Be King

Dean had the Colt trained on the demon as soon as he heard his voice. The suited bastard smirked with smugness as he looked down the long barrel of the special gun.

"Who are you?" Sam was beside his brother in an instant. Leo and the two sisters stood behind them, looking on warily.

"My name is Crowley, but that really has no bearing on why I'm here," Crowley said, standing with an ease that spoke of no fear or threat.

"It usually doesn't," Sam grit his teeth, "What do you want?"

"A secure future, truthfully," He inspected his nails, "The same that Azazel wanted, I know."

"Any friend of Azazel's is a kill order for us," Dean growled, cocking back the hammer on the Colt.

"Call off your dog, Sam, and let me talk," Crowley dropped the smirk and snarky attitude and was suddenly serious.

"We're not stopping you. And I repeat: What do you want?" Sam laid a calming hand on Dean's shoulder, conveying his feeling of caution and patience through the touch.

"I want to stop the Apocalypse," the demon said plainly.

"What?" came a voice from behind Sam and Dean. Whether Paige or Piper made the exclamation, no one was sure.

"The... the Apocalypse... How?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "And what could any of that possibly have to do with me or the sisters?"

"Everything to do with you and your brother, but only some to do with the Hallowell's, they are, after all, a force of good," Crowley said. "However, they have something that can be very useful to our cause, and that's the reason why the middle sister was attacked: to send a message that they are in over their heads on this one and to tred cautiously."

"Our cause?" Sam quoted, annoyed. "Why the hell do you think that we would work with you on anything?"

"And why couldn't Phoebe defend herself? She's a powerful witch," Piper added, her calm demeanor betrayed by the rage her body was shaking with.

"Questions, questions," Crowley shook his head in bemusement. "I can see we are in for a long chat."

The brothers shared a look.

Damnit, how long do we have to deal with this bastard? Can't I kill him now? Dean asked in his head to Sam, and the younger brother had to fight to keep a smile off his face.

Two Hours Later...

Well, fuck, was the collective thought of everyone in the room, with the exception of Wyatt, who was currently contemplating whether or not he should orb some cookies in from the kitchen. When that abstract thought hit Sam's mind, he couldn't help but to spare a small grin to the child held tightly in his mother's arms, who giggled in return. The fact that the severity of the topic had no effect on the two year old was an amusing reprieve, but he shook himself back to the current situation when Dean spoke again.

"Let's see if I've got this right: Azazel, fifty years or so ago, found out that Lucifer, the devil, had a plan worked out to bust himself out of hell, and so he choose my little brother of all people, thirty years later, to lead a demonic army against the angels helping Lucy to prevent the Apocalypse out of what? The goodness of his demonically black heart? I'm not buying it."

"You shouldn't because that's not what I SAID." Crowley growled. "Azazel may have been a big bad evil demon, but he was over a thousand years old and he wasn't stupid like some of the younger demons today are. Lucifer is not a good thing for the future, for you or for the demons. He's just using those loyal to him until he gets what he wants and then he will wipe demons off the map completely, after humans of course." Crowley smiled cruelly. "So it's in everyone's best interest that we take him down now and not get ourselves butchered later."

"But why not wait until the humans are gone?" Leo interjected. "Wouldn't demons love to have the earth to themselves without priests or hunters to come after them?"

"Yes, well, I'm a crossroads demon, so if humans suddenly went extinct, I would be out of power and business. And I do so love my business," Crowley said. "So, that leaves me with a few demons I have under my control to work with, but there is an entire army that will follow Sam because of Azazel's influence if he agrees to take up the post. I don't care what you do afterwards, but right now, we're all in danger of being seriously fucked."

"Hey!" Piper said, trying to distract her son, "Children here," she hissed.

"Sorry, sorry," Crowley said patronizingly. "It really is a shame that he is a child though, the twice blessed one." Crowley sighed, "If all else fails, he could be the next real threat to Lucifer's plans... But let's not let it get that far, shall we?"

Sam took in everything that Crowley was saying with a grain of salt. It wasn't that hard to see that they were his last hope, even with the callous attitude that he boasted. And with Cas having sent them here, they probably didn't have much of a chance without Crowley's help either. Sam just hoped that with his and Dean's new powers growing as they were and with Cas's help, that they would be able to take control of the rising threat with as little casualty to humans and their morality as possible. Because really, how much would they have to sacrifice to prove to an army of demons that they were going to work together to take down Lucifer?

By the look on Dean's face, he didn't like the direction of Sam's thoughts as much as he didn't like the decision they were faced with. There really was no other option for them.

Never let it be said that the Winchesters didn't drive a hard bargain, though.

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They got Cas in on the plan, but he frowned something fierce when he heard what Crowley was proposing.

"You are saying that angels and demons are working together to free Lucifer?" was the first thing he said.

"Is that really so surprising? He is your brother, after all," Crowley pointed out, and Castiel furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes, but he betrayed everything that the angels were meant for when he questioned our Father..." Cas shook his head, "But it's not too hard to believe that the other angels might be aiding him, if they believe that the apocalypse is supposed to be instigated now."

"I really had hoped that we wouldn't be fighting the fucking angels on this one," Dean sighed harshly, looking suspiciously at Sam's carefully blank stare. "So, what do you think, Sammy?"

Sam blinked. "You're leaving this to me? I'd thought that you'd be all gun-ho to say fuck off to Crowley," Sam raised his eyebrow in askance.

"I'm not really the one who'll have to deal with all the uglies, now will I? I'm just worried what's gonna happen after we save the world and all these demons will be running around like its a bad slasher movie," Dean frowned, thinking about the possibilities.

Sam chuckled at the mental images Dean unknowingly sent him, and got a sad grin from Dean.

"I will stand and help you fight after Lucifer has been trapped again," Castiel declared, looking between the brothers with firm promise in his icy blue eyes.

"Sounds like an angel's blessing to me," Dean's smile turned genuine and he grasped Sam's shoulder.

Sam huffed a laughed and agreed, "I guess that means I'm the new leader of a demonic rebellion,"

"What could possibly go wrong in this situation?" Dean shook his head.

"Survey says: A whole fucking lot," Sam sighed out.

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Sorry for taking this long to update! Hope you like the direction it's going in, and I know that you're all waiting for the Sam/Dean thing to happen soon, but bear with me. In a couple of chapters, I swear its coming. No pun intended.

Really.

Please Review and tell me what you're thinking, cause it's about to get crazy.

~ IcyBlue ~