Past 6

After Dean finished ripping his way through every demon he could find locally (and he could find all of them) he decided to step up his game. It was time to go after the big fish.

When he teleported himself directly into Crowley's throne room, the little demon jerked up so suddenly that he almost fell out of his seat.

"Squirrel?" he asked, "how did you get in here?" He looked around at his minions, "did someone leave the door open?"

"I'm here to kill you" Dean informed him, "all of you."

"Are you now?" Crowley teased, "and exactly how do you plan on doing that?"

"Oh, I don't imagine it will be very difficult."

"Get him" Crowley commanded, flicking his fingers dismissively at some minions.

Three demons broke off and charged at him, Dean let them come. They moved to grab him but the instant their fingers made contact, they crumbled into piles of dust. The meatsuits had been dead already anyway.

Crowley looked at him again, with slightly more interest this time. "Picked up a new trick, have you? What is it, some kind of charm? Is Moose hiding around the corner chanting in Latin?"

"No tricks" Dean answered. "This is the end for you Crowley. We've tolerated you for long enough; you're not going to be able to weasel your way out of this one."

"That so?" Crowley asked, pushing out with his hand like he was trying to stop a bus. Dean felt the wave of telekinetic power hit him, but it had no effect.

Dean made a gesture, echoing Crowley's, and sent his own wave of power crashing into the remaining minions lined up against the walls of the throne room. All of them were disintegrated before they could voice so much as a single scream.

"That ring" Crowley said fearfully, staring at Dean's still outstretched hand.

"Recognize it?" Dean asked.

"How did you get it?" Crowley demanded with growing panic. "Did he lend it you? Did he send you here to kill me?"

"He's dead."

Crowley's eyes widened and although he was clearly terrified, he still tried to puff himself up. "I see, so there's a new sheriff in town, eh Squirrel? What's your plan here exactly?"

"My plan is to kill you and then to kill every other slimy demon that I can find on the face of the planet."

"And then what? There's an endless supply of demons in Hell. More will come and someone new will set themselves up as the new head honcho, probably someone worse."

"I'm Death, I'll destroy all of Hell if I have to."

Crowley laughed. "Someone's getting a bit big for his britches, I think. You're not God, Dean. Hell is part of the natural order of the universe, even you can't destroy that."

Dean frowned, pausing to think. "OK, so maybe I can't destroy Hell, but I can still destroy any demon that sets so much as a toe on earth."

"You can" Crowley agreed, "but as I said, there's no shortage of demons in Hell and without anyone keeping them in line, they'll continue to be drawn to the land of the living. You'll be stuck playing an eternal game of whack-a-mole."

Dean knew that even though right now his bloodlust was up, it wouldn't be forever. Being a hunter had seemed like enough of a thankless, endless slog some days, he didn't want to think about having to do it forever. "What are you suggesting?"

Crowley smiled, he was starting to regain a little of his usual smug confidence. "I'm simply proposing that there's room here for us to negotiate."

"A negotiation takes place between two parties of equal power. I could squash you like a bug."

"Maybe, but I do have something you want: control over Hell. You leave me in place as King and I'll move my court back downstairs where I can keep the flow of demons heading topside to a reasonable level."

"Not a reasonable level. None" said Dean firmly. "If your control over them is as iron-tight as you claim then you're going to keep any of them from sneaking up. If not, then there's no reason for me to keep you alive."

"You can't be serious" Crowley complained, "that would mean dismantling my entire business model. You have to at least let me keep the crossroads going."

"I don't have to let you do anything. You either agree to stay in your own damn dimension where you belong, or I can kill you right here. And Crowley, if you can't hold up your end, don't think you'll be safe from me in Hell. I'll hunt you down and feed you to your own hounds."

Crowley squirmed in his seat, clearly looking for a way out and not finding one. "Deal" he said angrily and vanished in a flash of smoke, running back to Hell with his tail between his legs.

Sam spent hours pacing the halls of the bunker. He had no idea where his brother was, or what kind of reckless shit he was getting up to, and even if he did, he would be powerless to stop it. Better get used to it he thought to himself, you're always going to be powerless compared to him now. Sam wondered vaguely if this was anything like how Dean had felt the year that Sam had spent sneaking off with Ruby to practice his demon powers. It wasn't a nice feeling, being left behind.

When Dean finally did show back up, he was completely unharmed, but even that did little to alleviate Sam's worries.

"Where have you been?" Sam demanded, trying his best to channel the tone of parental outrage that their dad might have used.

"Dealing with the demons" Dean answered as he walked into his room and slammed the door.