Wow. Crazy world we been havin' lately, wouldn't ya say?
But seriously, I can't believe it's been over three months since the last update!? And me somehow barely managing to write a thing in all that time? Sorta feels like last summer all over again.
In short, I apologize for the unplanned hiatus and hope that this tidbit takes a little of the edge off!
The supernatural half of Team Free Will have been left to their own arcane devices and Castiel finds himself rather surprised at how well the two of them are able to work together. When one of them isn't actively plotting anyone else's downfall, anyway.
The angel and the witch were approaching the end of their third hour of intensive magical labor when the sound of footsteps pulled their attentions to the chamber's entrance.
"Why hello, Samuel. Ms. Winchester," Rowena greeted between intricate waves of her hands. Waves that Cas knew had absolutely nothing to do with their visitors' not unwelcome arrival.
"The tea was lovely, by the way," the Scot added, executing a small bow she somehow managed to squeeze into her tightly choreographed routine.
"Uh, your welcome?" Said a rather perplexed Sam, stopping, along with his mother, just at the threshold. Having been cautioned earlier that the space would be magically charged until the enchantments had been properly settled.
"Sam and I were wondering whether we're gonna need any special training or equipment," Mary said. Not returning the witch's pleasantries beyond offering a perfunctory bob of her head.
"Whatever for?" The Scot in question asked, handily beating Castiel to the proverbial punch.
"For the body swapping," the hunter supplied, sounding to the angel in the group like she thought it the most obvious answer possible. "You two are going to need help, right? Assistants to hand you things or at least a couple armed guards on archangel standby?"
"No, the two of you are going to have to stay outside," Cas informed, sparing the humans a regretful glance even as he concentrated on his current small though intricate miracle. "The chamber will be far too volatile a place while the transference is enacted."
"But, what if you need us for something?" Mary asked, sounding far more apprehensive than she had since the evening before. "What if Michael tries to bust out while you two are busy incanting or chanting or... whatever it is you're going to be doing in here?!"
"Michael won't be awake for the procedure," intoned the witch as she passed the woman on her latest crisscrossing of their workspace. Laying yet another line upon her growing web of stabilizing magic. An activity which must have appeared completely pointless to those who did not possess the ability to divine or perceive magic as an angel did instinctively.
Thus the confused double pair of eyes that followed her progress across the open space.
"What do you mean?" Asked a Sam more concerned than obviously vexed.
"This transference will be quite the undertaking for all parties involved. It will require vast amounts of magical as well as divine energy. So much so that we'll have to use Michael's own grace for portions of the bindings," Castiel explained, miracling yet another sigil into the bones of his patient's left arm. Building upon the network he'd already inscribed upon the young man's rib cage. A network which mirrored, with a number of necessary alterations, the ones he'd years ago inscribed upon the insides of both his best friends' chests.
"Yes, it will be best for everyone if the blighter's not conscious. After all, how would you like to go through full body surgery while awake?" The spellcaster pointed out, walking one of her intricate tie-off patterns before starting in a radically different direction for her next pass.
"Right. Makes sense," Sam intoned with an earnest nod.
"Yeah, when you put it that way. But how're you planning to put a healthy, hyped-up archangel to sleep anyhow?" Mary, ever the astute hunter, asked of a once again approaching Rowena.
"Easy: we'll put him in a trance. Well, I'll put him in a trance, anyway. Castiel will simply observe and be at hand in case his relative proves less than amenable," offered the witch, not breaking stride nor concentration through her explanation.
"He'll be amenable. Especially if you don't tell him you're about to hypnotize him until you've already started," Castiel offered, speaking between calculations as he measured out the spaces between his next few subdermal inscriptions.
"My, my, Castiel, I'm impressed," offered a Rowena this time starting on a circuit of their space's perimeter. "I didn't know you had it in you."
"Alright, well, you two want us close by anyway? In case anything... unforeseen happens and things take a turn for the worse?"
Castiel glanced up at the elder Winchester's thoughtful offer, wishing he'd had more opportunity to discuss the fast approaching surgery with his human teammates before he and Rowena had plunged themselves neck deep into its preparations.
"I think it best the two of you had yourselves a nice little siesta and left the whole soul shifting business to the professionals. Wouldn't you agree, Castiel?" Asked the witch walking a backwards circle around the table Castiel was currently hunched over.
"'Siesta'? What kind of ridiculous- If you think we're just going to go take a nap while Dean goes through soul surgery you've got another thing coming, sister," said a Mary it looked like was only still 'outside' the magical space because Sam was holding onto her closer shoulder.
"Rowena is right; resting would be the most productive way to spend your time. Once we've taken Michael and Dean into surgery," Castiel intoned, realizing he'd have to explain further when a glance up revealed a pair of stricken human faces.
"It would be for your own safety," he assured, tone gentle as he could make it while being as preoccupied as he was.
"Safety? What're you talking about, Cas?" Came the concerned voice of the youngest Winchester.
"You see," Cas began, searching for the right words as he searched for the next sigil's proper placement, "there may be a moment, during the most delicate part of the transference, when Michael is moved from Dean to his new vessel, where his true form might reveal itself. Momentarily."
"You mean we could see a real angel?" Mary asked, appearing confused when her son balked at the news.
"Oh, yes, dearies," offered Rowena as she once again passed close to the entrance. "And if you're uncommonly fortunate, all you'll lose is the use of yer eyeballs."
"What?" Exclaimed the once again less than happy mother.
"It's true: humans can't look upon an angel's true form without their eyes burning out. It happened to a friend of ours, ways back," Sam confirmed. Castiel having to swallow down the compulsion to hide his face at the solemn reminder of one of his sincerest, yet most regrettable, mistakes.
After all, he'd simply thought the man with whom he'd so recently forged a profound bond would be one of the special few who possessed the ability to behold his unvesseled form without... undue suffering.
He'd never meant for poor Pamela to get caught up in the dire consequences of his horrible, reckless miscalculation.
"Alright then," the words that reminded Castiel that he was in the middle of something far more important than old regrets, "sounds like we're leaving soon as the two of you get settled in for everything," the senior hunter offered with a nod. Sounding now resigned to the fact that there wasn't anything else to be done about it.
"Don't make yourselves scarce just yet, dearies," called a Rowena currently speed walking away from their observers. "It just so happens that I have one more wee job for you two and your... specific skill set," she informed, taking a turn mere inches from running headlong into the back wall.
"What kind of job?" Asked a Sam sounding eager to help.
"Well, I'll need bodyguards, of course," the woman walking widdershins this time along the chamber's perimeter informed.
"When? What for?" Queried Mary. All traces of flippant derision suddenly replaced with a near militaristic seriousness.
"Soon. For when I put your archangel under my spell, naturally," replied the unperturbed Scot.
"You don't think you'll be able to handle him on your own?" The older Winchester stated as much as asked. Prompting the witch in their midst to send the woman a good-natured tut.
"One mustn't become cocky just because she's conquered every known facet of witchcraft," Rowena admonished, a finger wag emphasizing her point.
"Sounds like it's too late for that," Mary parried with an overtly dismissive huff. Castiel rather relieved to see her frame relaxed to its previous approximation of parade rest.
"Ah, well, when you've been practicing your craft as long as I have most would agree you're entitled to a certain level of egotism," the witch chided, allowing an amused chuckle before going on. "But you don't get as far as I have without smarts to go along with the ego, so I'll be insisting upon that escort, dearies, and I'll thank you kindly for it."
"Right, no problem, Rowena," Sam agreed, following the witches progress around the chamber even as he reached another hand to rest on his mother's other shoulder. Just in case. "When are we moving them?"
"Just as soon as we've finished with the warding of your archangel's new vessel," assured the bustling enchanter.
"And how soon will that be?" Asked Mary, a slight impatient edge to her query.
"Within the hour."
Castiel's head snapped up as the implications of the Scot's words registered. But instead of launching into a rebuttal, the angel found himself cursing his own inattention when his incredulity nearly cost him the carefully calculated placement of his next sigil.
"You'll- you'll be ready that soon?" Asked a Sam Cas thought sounded only half as surprised as he had every right to.
"Yes, yes, you see, as soon as I've finished with my weaving, your angel will have my magic to speed along his work. From there, won't take but a snap," the witch finished, topping it off with a demonstrative snap of her busy fingers.
"Rowena," Cas couldn't help but reprimand, seeing as he was quite aware a certain understandably tense Winchester wasn't in the mood for her particular, overly dramatic brand of 'modesty'.
"I'm only stating the facts, Castiel," she remonstrated right on back. "We'll be done within the hour and we'll be refreshed to boot. All thanks to the extra kick I so brilliantly wove into the warding's power resonance layer. Just give it a few minutes to settle," the Scot insisted. Cas doing nothing more than raising an eyebrow in response to her ridiculousness.
"Uh... okay, so we'll be back in forty? With more tea?" Sam proposed from his post by the entrance.
"Oh thank you, Samuel, but I'm afraid we won't have time for tea. We'll have to get on with the procedure while the enchantments are at their peak after all," the witch informed, impressing Cas with her unwavering, seemingly effortless focus.
"Alright then, just holler when you need us. Sam 'n' me'll be nearby. Sitting on our thumbs," Mary assured, the last bit tacked on under her breath as she and her son turned for the hallway. Once again leaving the supernatural duo to their labor intensive preparations.
Next chapter will feature an exceptionally skilled witch doing her best to put an archangel to sleep while two nervous Winchesters stand close by in case any particularly righteous fires need putting out! :D