Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There is also references to canon events of Season 5 (Apocalypse); blood & self-sacrifice/suicide; canon character death resulting in grief. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: This story references You're Welcome, where Harini made her trickster/archangel apologize after she broke the time loop. That's literally all you need to know from it.
General Reminder: If you require explanation about why or how a character isn't white, none of my works are for you. Please exit this fic without comment. As a side note, I suggest examining why you have difficulty understanding that non-white people exist and why that is upsetting to you. Racism is not a good look, people, not even when it's not violent.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4); Whumptober 2021
Individual Challenges: Greatest Gift; Green Ribbon; Eating Cake (Y); Two Cakes (Y); The Story Goes On; Short Jog; Endings; Old Shoes (Y); Old Shoes; Above Average Natural; Zed Era; Colors Galore; Gender Bender; Hold the Mayo; Booger Breath; Immortal MC; Immortal MC; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Neurodivergent; Hunter MC; Hunter MC; Hunter MC; Magical MC; Gryffindor MC; La Vie Boheme; Deconstructed; Entitled; Best Stories (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 07
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Yearly Scavenger Hunt [75](Half OTP dying); 365 [329](A betrayal);
Other Challenges: Whumptober [D05] (I've Got Red in My Ledger; Betrayal; Misunderstanding)
Other MC4A Challenges: Set [2D](In a Car);Ship (Troublemakers)[SpMic1 (Fusion/Crossover); SuMic1 (Fusion/Crossover); FaMic1 (Fusion/Crossover); FaMic2 (Blood; Hat); Bingo (5D - Competitive X)]; Chim [Alcium] (Crimson; Hurt/Comfort; Life/Death); Fire [x0](Into the Multiverse; Beautifully Rare; He Ain't Heavy); Garden [Whump Fest B (Betrayal)]; Hang [Phrase 03] (Outside Challenge/Competition)
Representation(s): Desi & Fem Harry Potter/Gabriel; Team Free Will as Family; Bi Dean Winchester/Castiel;
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Bad Beans; One Man's Cow; Call Me Dantes; Forked Path; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach; Second Verse (Corvid Brain; Rock of Ages; Muck & Slime; Most Human Bean; Grease Monkey; Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Unwanted Advice; Spinning Plates; Mother Hen; Middle Name; Nontraditional; Found Family; White Dress; Persistence Still; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Turtle-Duck; Surprise!; In the Trench; Head of Perseus; Abandoned Ship; Wind Beneath; Creature Feature; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Eternal Boredom; A Long Dog; Tomorrow's Shade; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: War (Orator; Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); Mea (Ennui); Wings (Scintillate)
Word Count: 1843 words
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Wayward Welcome
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"You take care of these guys, okay," Sam told Castiel. It was just something to say while he shook the hand of the angel (or maybe human now, since Sammy was right about angels not sleeping). Castiel gave that frown he always did when he thought that whatever Dean was asking was too much. Dean couldn't hear it from his place beside the Impala's trunk, but he would be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that Castiel did the huffy sigh, too.
"That's not possible."
"Then humor me," Sam replied after a mirthless chuckle. Castiel looked a bit like someone had whacked him aside the back of the head as the social expectation hit him. Dean reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, already knowing that Castiel was probably going to say the thing. Saying it aloud always ruined the intended feel-good effect.
"Oh, I was supposed to lie." And there it was. "Uh, sure. They'll be fine. I—"
"Just stop," Sam said, interrupting Castiel's ramble with a pained expression. "Just stop… talking."
Castiel looked over at Dean helplessly. Poor guy looked uncomfortable as all get out, not that Dean blamed him. Goodbyes were tough, even without knowing that someone was essentially planning to off himself. Yeah, it was to save the world, but that didn't take away the instinct to scream in denial and lock him up somewhere that no harm could come to him. Dean might not want to acknowledge it more than he had to, but Castiel did understand him better than probably anyone every did, even Sam and Bobby.
Then Sam finished with Castiel and turned towards Dean.
Dean was quiet as Sam closed the physical difference between them. Yet still it felt like he was slipping further away from Dean, leaving him behind as surely as he did when he ran away to Stanford. Dean forced himself to look away and focus on opening the trunk as a distraction. The stench of the demon blood wafts out into the open air, overpowering the scent of wet garbage of the alley.
"Who's that?" Bobby asked suddenly.
Dean away from the Impala towards the other end of the alley they had parked. Standing in the pool of light marking the split between the alley and the street was a short Indian woman. She was dressed in crimson kurta that was split up the side of her legs as well as a short inverted vee in front to reveal the black pants she wore underneath it. Along the hems, there were intertwined cobras embroidered in bright orange and pure white. Her ink-black hair was pulled back into a severe bun, except for a few defiant curls that had escaped to lay against her tan cheeks.
She was walking right towards them, giving them a clear view of her face. An odd scar, shaped almost like a lightning bolt, cut palely through her forehead. The blinking neon sign hanging from the side of one of the buildings lit up her face just long enough to reveal the unnatural green of her eyes. Beside him, Sam gasped in surprise. The woman smiled toothily at them, continuing to move towards them with the same fluid grace as the snakes on her clothing. She was beautiful in the same way that fire was.
Some animal instinct in the back of his brain screamed at him that he was looking at something far more dangerous than anything he had ever faced before, except for one distinct occasional.
Not even a pagan god had anything the primordial might of Death himself.
"Hello, boys," she greeted as soon as she was near. She had an accent that was similar to Crowley's except for having posher edges, more British sounding than Crowley's Scottish brogue. Her green eyes moved over each of them, assessing in the same way that a predator might. They lingered on Castiel. Something stupidly defensive tensed within Dean. "And angel. Castiel, I presume?"
"I am not an angel," Castiel corrected in a bewildered tone. The woman's smile gentled.
"It is not so easy to change one's nature," she said. Her smile faded around the edges. Her eyes darkened with obvious sorrow. "You just need a bit of sugar and time. Gabriel—" She choked a bit on the name and needed to swallow hard before she could continue. "Gabriel preferred candy, but honey and fruit serve just as well for replenishing grace."
"Who are you?" Castiel asked, awe beginning to tinge his voice. Dean kept flicking his gaze between the angel and this newcomer. Did none of them feel how the air around her was like a storm about to burst?
"You were with Gabriel," Sam said. It was his puzzling voice, like he was trying to figure something out. "He called you Harini." She folded her hands together in front of her and gave a small bow, barely more than leaning her head and shoulders towards them. "You made him apologize for the time loop."
"It was very cruel of him," Harini explained. Her bottom lip trembled just briefly before she shook her head as if at a fond memory. "He did take his role as a Trickster so very seriously." She eyed Sam like she was determining if he was hiding something. "You're about to do something stupid, aren't you?"
"It's not—" Sam started only to be cut off by Harini waving her hand. His lips kept moving for a moment before he caught onto how he was no longer making any sound. Bobby and Castiel stepped closer in response to the show of power. Both froze when she held up a hand to indicate that they stop. Harini's nose wrinkled as if she was smelling something bad.
"Is that—" she started to ask as she clearly spotted the gallons of demon blood in the trunk of the Impala. Immediately, she glared at Sam, her green eyes seeming to glow. "Samuel Winchester, the whole point of telling you that it was a permanent death was to circumvent this foolishness! What is it with you damn Winchesters and picking the stupidest course of action possible?"
"In their defense, ma'am," Bobby spoke up, sounding more than a little too happy to have someone agree with him, "they're both idjits."
"Don't you dare say a thing, Robert Singer," Harini snapped. "Don't think I can't smell the stink of a demon deal on you. I hope whatever you traded is worth it. I can fix many things, but magical contracts are magically binding."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath that she then let out slowly. After exhaling she rolled her shoulders and rotated her neck. Only once she had finished did she open her eyes again. Focusing on the gallons of blood, she snapped her fingers. The blood disappeared instantly, leaving not even a stray drop to prove that they had ever been there.
"Hey," Sam protested, "we needed that!"
"No, you didn't," Harini countered. She crossed her arms under her small breasts and raised her chin defiantly. There was something almost comical about someone so small arguing with someone as large as Sammy, no matter how powerful a being she was. "You don't need it to access or grow the spark of magic you have. Practice will do it just fine. You do need to relapse after finally getting detoxed of that poison. And it is poison just as surely as wormwood or belladonna!"
"I need it to control Lucifer long enough to get us into the Cage," Sam said quietly, as if he couldn't manage to speak any louder. Harini's anger wavered at the words. The same tremble as before appeared in her lips. Her eyes shimmered briefly with tears. Then she took a deep breath and the signs of grief were once more hidden away, tucked behind the facade of an iron will.
"No, you don't," she stated simply. Dean felt the temperature around them drop again. He licked his lips before he forced himself to say something.
"Sammy has to," Dean managed before that emerald gaze swung to him. "It was the deal. Sammy gets Lucifer back in the Cage, and Death gives us his ring."
"If that was the deal," Harini said with a bored shrug, "then consider it voided."
"You literally just said that you couldn't do anything about magical deals," Sam protested. Poor kid was starting to sound frazzled. Dean understood the feeling. Harini just rolled her eyes.
"Most deals I can't. But this one was with Death." She shrugged again. "I can do whatever I want with those."
"You're the Master of Death," Castiel said. This time the awe was absolute. His eyes were as wide as they had been the first time he had tasted a hamburger or pie. Sam got that same shocked look on his face.
"How can you be the Master of Death?" Sam asked, sounding a lot like he wasn't aware of what was coming about of his mouth. Dean smacked him in the stomach with the back of his hand.
"Dude," Dean hissed, "you get onto me all the time about being sexist and then you just go and say shit like that?"
"No, I just, um, I meant," Sam stammered as he recovered. He shook his head to clear it. "The lore sources pretty much all agreed that the Master of Death didn't exist and was just a myth."
"And the lore has never been wrong," Harini stated flatly. She looked tired. "Go home, Winchesters. This is not the place for you to be wandering."
"We have to stop Lucifer," Sam argued. "I was the one who freed him. I have to fix that!"
"You were manipulated by a whole host of angels and demons, little Winchester. You didn't stand a chance." Harini's face hardened as a controlled fury burned in her eyes again. "Lucifer, on the other hand, had no reason to murder the Old Ones, and even less to murder any archangel other than Michael. For that betrayal, I will see him somewhere both better and worse than the Cage."
"What does that mean?" Sam asked, because he always wanted to know more even when the people answering his questions were visibly at the limits of their patience. Harini pinched the bridge of her nose. With her other hand, she made a sweeping gesture that involved her whole arm.
Suddenly, they weren't in a stinking alley in downtown Detroit. Instead, all four of them plus the Impala (still with its trunk standing open) were in the parking area of Bobby's place. Castiel was the only one of them who did not seem confused by their unexpected relocation. Bobby yanked off his hat and beat against his leg as he let out a string of creative curses. Dean found himself staring at a scrap of thick paper that now rested in the place where the gallons of demon blood had been.
In a deep purple ink and curling calligraphy were two words.
You're welcome.