What if it had've been Sam and Dean that found Max, not Hannah? How much would that one little difference have to Max's life? Warnings listed inside. Slightly AU 'The Pulse'
Things seem to be running smoothly here at the Collective, but how long can that last? And the troublesome Logan could put a kink in the well-oiled machine that is Max and Alec. Will Castiel get his Grace back? Remember, this isn't exactly like Supernatural. It might not all go the same way.
Warnings: Trigger warnings: PTSD, flash backs, abuse, violence, torture. Swearing, loss.
One Little Difference
Chapter 52:
Max was sitting in the Bunker, a worried scowl on her face. Dean and Crowley had been gone for hours without so much as a phone call or a text. She hoped that nothing was wrong. She had tried calling Dean and Crowley's mobiles, but her calls kept going straight to voice mail.
When Sam and Castiel had returned to the Bunker to find Dean and Crowley gone, his first instinct was to interrogate Max, who got defensive and yelled back at him, but Castiel was ever the peace maker. Max had been in charge of everything for so long, it was hard to have to suddenly do what Sam and Dean said once again. And Castiel said as much.
So now, they were all sitting in the Bunker, waiting for Dean's call. Max hated suspense. She needed to know that Dean was okay. Even Castiel, who shared a mating bond with Dean couldn't fathom where he was at the current moment.
Dean and Crowley didn't get back to the Bunker until the next morning.
The minute the both of them walked down the stairs, Max knew there was something wrong. Her whole body was on edge and a slightly violent undertone filled the room, which confused both Max and Castiel, who were the only ones who could feel it.
"Dad?" Max called softly telepathically. "Is everything alright? Your aura feels…strange."
But Dean didn't reply, he just met her gaze with a stony expression.
When Dean got close enough to Max that she could touch him, her tattoos suddenly felt like they were burning. Not in an unpleasant and painful way, more like a buzzing sensation.
"Something happened to you." Max stated, more like it was fact rather than a question.
Dean nodded, slightly tight lipped.
"You didn't find the Blade either, did you?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer.
Crowley chuckled. "No, but we found Cain." Crowley replied.
Sam frowned. "Like 'Cain and Abel' Cain?" Sam asked.
Crowley nodded. He then began to regale all the events of the previous day like it had been some kind of adventure while Dean sat in silence, not commenting where he normally would or adding his usual sass.
Max noticed and frowned. She reached out to hold his hand, but Dean pulled away instantly. At that moment, Max knew that there was definitely something wrong.
Max grabbed Dean's right arm, but gasped and immediately pulled away, like she had been burned. In that second of holding Dean's hand, she had heard a dark, extremely ancient voice, baying for blood and death. It was a presence so old and evil, it made Max almost gag. Her head was filled with the scent of rotting meat and old rust.
Dean didn't meet Max's eyes this time.
"What happened?" Max gasped, feeling light headed, her tattoos still burning.
Dean sighed and pulled up his right sleeve.
Castiel gasped, hurt and betrayal written all over his face.
"What is it?" Sam asked, curious but nervous, due to Castiel's reaction.
"The Mark of Cain." Castiel said softly and slightly anguished. "How could you do this, Dean?"
Dean frowned. "To kill Abbadon. I needed to get the Mark so I could use the first Blade. It won't work with the same power if you don't have the Mark." Dean replied.
Castiel shook his head. "You don't know what this means, Dean!" Castiel almost shrieked. "The Mark of Cain will destroy you!"
Dean scoffed. "Nice to know you have so much faith in me, Cas."
Castiel let out an angry sound. "You're feeling it right now, aren't you Dean? I can, because of our Bond. It's secondary for me and I can ignore it, but it's at full strength for you. Do you understand what you have done? You have cursed yourself with something that cannot be removed."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Please! It's just a mark! What can it do? It gives me power and I'll be able to kill Abbadon. That's what we need right now!"
"Dean Winchester, I love you with my entire being, but sometimes you are the most stupid person on the planet!" Castiel raged. "Yes, it gives you power, but it also gives you a near unquenchable thirst for blood and death. All you want to do is kill and kill and kill. Cain saw what the Mark was doing so he killed himself. But the Mark hung on! It wouldn't let him die completely! I turned him into a demon! It made him the first Knight of Hell!"
Dean stared, wide eyed at Castiel. Everyone was silent.
"Now do you understand what you have done? When you die, you will become a monster. You won't be you. If you become a demon, it will be very likely that you won't be you for a very long time. Only now has Cain had any resemblance of himself returned. It will take thousands of years, Dean, before you will be anything like yourself, and even then, you would never be the same, not with the blood of hundreds and thousands of people on your hands!" Castiel shouted, having risen to his feet, towering over Dean.
Dean was stock still under Castiel's fiery gaze. He looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry Cas. I was only trying to help."
Castiel's features softened. He sat back down. He sighed. "I'm sorry too Dean. I shouldn't have shouted at you." Castiel said. Then Castiel rounded on Crowley. "Why didn't you warn him?"
"I didn't know any of that. All I knew was that Cain was the Knight of Hell and had killed more people than God and his angels combined! I didn't know much about the Mark of Cain, only that it gave the user of the First Blade power!" Crowley snapped.
Castiel raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing the ex-King of Hell, but he kept his thoughts to himself nonetheless.
"So," Max said coolly. "After Dean kills Abbadon, what can be done about the Mark?"
Castiel sighed. "As far as I know, nothing. Once the Mark has been put on, it can't be removed."
Max breathed deeply. "We will find a way. We always do."
Everyone grumbled a half-hearted agreement.
"Alright then everyone. Let's get some sack time. Tomorrow, we're hunting Abbadon." Dean said, rising from his seat. He gestured for Castiel to follow him.
The two of them made their way back to Dean's room.
Finding the First Blade hadn't been fun. Nearly being turned into a museum piece hadn't exactly been the highlight of either Dean or Max's day, but hey, they got away, insane killer weapon in hand. Next step was finding Abbadon. Not as hard as one would have thought because she and Cain being the only demons on Earth made it easy to track her movements. Ah, those pesky lightning storms and cattle deaths.
Turned out that Abbadon had been staying in the penthouse of a fancy hotel, living the high life while trying to figure out her next move. What the demon was up to, the hunters had no idea. All they knew was that they had to try and stop her. The angels had offered their assistance, but in the end Abbadon would only be killed by the First Blade. Not even Gabriel's sword would be able to kill her, at least, not permanently.
They set up a game plan. Sam would go up through the basement and Dean and Max would go through the main entrance. Since Lilith hadn't been able to use her powers on Max 6 years ago, Abbadon might not be able to either. Though, Abbadon was a whole new class of demon.
Max watched, only able to move slightly, Abbadon's powers much stronger than Lilith's had been. She stepped forward slowly towards Abbadon, fighting the demon. The more Abbadon focused on Max, the less focus she had for Dean. Her grip on the older hunter weakening, allowing Dean to move forward easier than Max was able.
With one last step, Dean was close enough to thrust the Blade into Abbadon's gut, the force of it pushing her backwards. The only problem was, when Abbadon's body hit the ground, Dean wouldn't stop stabbing her. With each thrust of the Blade, Dean was covered in more and more blood.
"Dad," Max said, moving towards Dean. "Stop. Please stop. It's over. She's dead. You can stop now."
Dean's arm slowed its movement and he looked up at Max with vulnerable eyes. "It's so hard to stop Max." Dean murmured, his hands shaking.
Max gripped his hand that held the First Blade, ignoring the feeling of wrongness that came with the action. "It's okay Dad. You can stop now." Max said softly.
After a few moments, Dean dropped the Blade. Max gripped Dean's arm and pulled him to her, her arms tightening around him.
At that moment, Sam burst into the room and froze at the scene before him. He dropped the gun he was holding and quickly moved to his brother's side.
"Dean? Dean, are you alright?" Sam asked urgently.
Dean coughed slightly and pulled away from Max, wiping the blood from his face. "I'm fine Sammy, I'm fine." He said, almost wheezing.
Sam nodded determinedly. "We need to get out of here before the cops show up. Someone must have heard what was going on."
Max gripped Dean and lifted him to his feet easily while Sam quickly picked up the First Blade. Max pulled a tissue out of her pocket and wiped as much blood from Dean's face as possible so he could go outside without looking like he killed someone, even though that was exactly what he had done.
They made their way to the Impala as fast as they could without drawing attention to themselves and begun the long drive back to the Bunker.
"Is there any way we can remove it?" Max asked Gabriel, taking a sip of her coffee.
Gabriel sighed. "Well, there is a way, and it is possible to do it as long as Cain remains alive."
"Is it dark magic? And what does Cain have to do with it?" Max asked, tilting her head.
Gabriel put his own cup of hot chocolate back down on the bench. "Well, yeah. The spell to remove the Mark is in the Book of the Dead. It was written by a crazy nun way back when. The only problem is what the spell entails."
Max frowned. "What does it entail?"
"Well, the first two ingredients aren't so bad. They're just hard to find. The first one is the Forbidden Fruit." Gabriel began.
Max raised an eyebrow. "The apple that Eve ate even though she wasn't supposed to?"
Gabriel laughed. "Well, it's actually a Palestinian Quince, but close enough."
Max rolled her eyes but gestured for the archangel to continue.
"Then, you need something made by man, but forbidden by God. Namely, the remains of the golden calf idol which was worshipped by ancient Israelites." Gabriel said, pulling a candy apple out of nowhere and taking a bite out of it.
"Then what?" Max asked, gazing at Gabriel's apple in bemusement.
"Well, I need some of Dean's hair." Gabriel said, talking with his mouth full of half masticated apple. "So the spell knows to target him and not some random. Or Cain."
"Then what?" Max repeated, somewhat impatiently. But then, who could blame her?
Gabriel swallowed. "This is where the spell takes a dark turn. The spell caster then has to kill something they love and then use its blood."
Max's eyes widened. "Ew. Kill something you love?"
Gabriel sighed. "That's why I should do it. I can bring someone back that I loved who has since passed and then kill them again. They'll just think it's a really strange dream before going back to their personal heaven."
"Who are you going to bring back and then kill?" Max asked, staring at Gabriel in shock.
"My first love." Gabriel replied, a somewhat wistful expression on his face.
"Who is she? Or he?" Max asked, grinning at Gabriel.
"Alyosha." Gabriel said softly. "He was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen."
Max blinked. "Okay. A dude. When did you meet him?" Max asked.
Gabriel sighed. "I was such a young angel. Just discovered time travel, you see. Dad had just created the Earth and the Universe and I wanted to experiment with my powers, so I jumped forward a couple million years. Right into a market place. And that's when I first saw him. Alyosha."
"Awwwwww!" Max cooed. "Was it love at first sight?"
Gabriel chuckled. "For me it was. For him? Not so much. It took some time for him to warm up to me. But eventually he fell in love with me too."
Max smiled broadly at Gabriel, but then if fell abruptly. "Yeah, but now you have to kill him." Max said sadly.
Gabriel sighed again. "Well, he's already dead. I could bring him back, but keep him asleep the whole time so he doesn't feel anything."
Max frowned. "So you can really do all that? Bring back a man who had been dead for a couple of thousand years?"
Gabriel laughed. "Of course I can! I'm an archangel! Not to mention, I'm an archangel that has the power of all of Heaven at his disposal!"
Max rolled her eyes. "I somehow think that that was a bad idea."
Gabriel stuck his tongue out at Max. "Alrighty then. I'll be off to get all the ingredients. Be back soon." And with that, the archangel was gone.
As the author, I have all the power. I hate Dean dying, and as much as I love demon!Dean, this story might not have time for that, plus, with what I've written, Charlie doesn't die! Yay! I am such a nice author! :P
(Sorry that I kind of breezed through all the Abbadon stuff. I wrote this at 3am. Fight me.)
