April 3, 2006
Allen Family Cabin
Outskirts of Sioux Falls, SD
The sound of a vehicle driving up towards the cabin woke Dean quickly; startling upward out of bed before he pinpointed the reason. The bed was empty but for him; Jody must have gotten up before him. From the bathroom, he heard the shower where he assumed his sister had gone to beat out the other men in the cabin to get the hot water. Walking over to the window, he pulled back the plaid patterned curtain to see a white and rust truck pull up next to Bobby's vehicle. The woman driving practically lept out of the truck as soon as it was in park, slamming the door behind her as she ran towards the front of the cabin.
John and Bobby intercepted the woman, from what Dean could hear. Their voices were loud enough to hear shouting inside the bedroom where he was standing. Wiping at his face, he shrugged out of the pajamas and slipped into the clothing Jody helped him shed last night. He pulled on his black leather jacket, knowing that it was still cold outside, the temperature only a high of 48 degrees. The second the jacket slipped on, Dean forced himself into 'work-mode' as if he were still an FBI Agent becoming stoic in his demeanor. Feeling naked without his sidearm, he faked it as he walked through the cabin.
The older man, Rufus, seemed unaffected by the loud voices from the porch. He sat in the kitchen, cooking what smelled like bacon in a frying pan on the stove. Dean looked around, mouth watering in hunger at the table. It was filled with plates of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and real maple syrup. Arching an eyebrow at the man, the response made him laugh out loud.
"I ain't gonna get it between a grieving mother and her revenge; not without a homecooked meal in my belly. Let John and Bobby handle Ellen… " Rufus Turner looked at Dean with a grimace, "you could put some meat on those bones, kid."
Swallowing, Dean nodded. His heart pounded in doubt. Last night, he was so very sure Sam was innocent of what he was being accused of. There was no way he was capable of murder. Ruby – he always hated her and so did the rest of the family. The fact that she was being possessed by a demon and luring Sam to the Dark Side like a character in Star Wars blew his mind. At night, he was capable of ignoring the victims of the crime. But as he listened to the cries of the young woman's mother on the porch, her pain brought uncertainty. Rufus was right; even if he went out there, he wasn't the best when it came to grieving families. Dean wasn't quite sure what to say to Ellen Harvelle. That was a role that Garth typically played on their team. He was the comforter and supporter.
Sitting down, he was deep in thought when a plate of bacon was pushed in front of him with a smile. "Might as well get your share before the piranhas come inside; they won't leave you with anything."
Dean took three pieces of bacon and munched on them while the older man poured out some orange juice for them both. "Where is everyone else?"
"Your sister is in the shower and your friend, Benny crashed in the bunk room with Henriksen after I relieved him. Once Bobby got up, I thought I might do a grocery run since the cabin is filled with fugitives who can't show their faces in public." Rufus explained matter-of-factly, taking a bite of the scrambled eggs that he'd covered in hot sauce.
Being a mother must have sped up Jody's shower time since they'd shared as children because she walked in shortly after Dean had cleared his first serving. If mama was there, he knew he'd get a lecture on table manners once she caught him stuffing his face as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. He wiped his mouth and swallowed down a belch when Jody took a seat next to him. "Good morning," Dean said awkwardly.
Rufus rolled his eyes at the two of them, filling Jody's place and then piling seconds on Dean's empty plate. "You ain't fooling me, kid. You two are over the moon to see each other again. Life's short – enjoy it before you end up dead again."
Both of the Allen siblings spun around and gaped at the comment. "What? Do you think I'm playing 'politically correct'? Ain't nobody got time for that! We're all gonna die if we can't stop Lucifer."
Jody bit into a piece of bacon, then rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the candor. I suppose the shouting outside is your friend, Ellen?"
As soon as her name was mentioned, the front door opened, and the small group of hunters walked in. All of them looked emotionally beat up. Dean stood up rapidly, the chair tipping over and clattering on the ground when he caught sight of the woman. "Mrs. Ellen…" his voice trailed off in remembrance. "I know you." The memory of the kindly woman who rocked Sammy to sleep as she 'practiced' during her early pregnancy flooded through his mind. She used to make him cereal, pulling out the brown marshmallows that he hated so much. Mrs. Ellen used to throw them up in the air and catch them in her mouth like popcorn. As a small child, he was in awe of her skill, begging her to teach him. The sugary cereal covered the table, chair, and floor – with him missing 9/10 tosses. She didn't care, sweeping the kitchen afterward and telling him to keep practicing with a wink. The day he ran away, she was there – her belly round with the daughter that she lost only the day before.
Ellen Harvelle's eyes were reddened, puffy as if she'd cried all night; a dangerous act if she had been driving for hours. She went pale when she saw Dean; shocked. "Dean? You're alive?" She gasped. "Oh god! Then Jo? Is she?"
Rufus got up out of his chair and led her to sit in his place. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss, Ellen. Jo was – a good girl."
Ellen's eyes got watery and she sniffled. Rufus handed her a mug of coffee. "I don't understand… you were dead?" Ellen asked again.
Dean bit his lip, "Um – I was saved. I don't know why but the angels saved me and brought me back."
"Angels? No such thing – John?" Ellen looked up at the two men who'd quietly shuffled in behind her. John looked devasted, while Bobby wore a slightly guilty expression along with hurt.
Winchester huffed, "if you would've asked me that before, I'd have agreed with that statement. But, he's not crazy. We met 'em – two of 'em. They're a bunch of dicks. Monsters – no different than the demons we hunt."
Dean grit his teeth to keep from arguing with his 'father'. John didn't know Castiel and no matter what he said, Dean knew that the angel was no monster. He was different than Zachariah. He'd agree to disagree to keep the peace. "I'm sorry for your loss. I didn't know your daughter, Jo, but everyone seems to have loved and respected her."
Ellen nodded once in acceptance. Rufus finished up breakfast, making sure everyone was handed a plate. Victor and Benny had woken, coming out of his old room to join them in the meal. It was a tight squeeze and half of them were eating standing up. "Thanks for the food, Rufus. It's nice to eat something other than fish."
Dean had been stuffing his face, caught in his own thoughts, and missed the early morning discussion about the imminent apocalypse. He looked at the wooden clock that was near the Big Mouth Billy Bass; he'd slept away a few of the hours that he had left. No matter how many times Castiel explained it – that Dean would be the one to stop the apocalypse, it was like no one believed him. He was important – God's chosen for some unknown reason. He prayed that once it was time, he'd have the strength to do what he was meant to.
Sam became a topic of conversation; hell, it wasn't a chat – it was a verbal battle. On one side, John, Ellen, and Rufus argued plans to 'take him out' before the last seal fell. The conflicting argument was almost entirely fueled by Jody; her voice rising as defended her little brother with Victor backing her up with moral and religious counters. Benny and Bobby looked torn – unsure of which side to join, but watched the ping-pong of words from their stations by the kitchen stove and refrigerator, respectively.
Hearing people speak aloud ways that they could kill Sam, humanely or inhumanely, as if he were an aggressive dog that was biting the hand that fed him. Ellen had just lost her daughter, the rage she felt against the man accused of her murder was understandable. But, why Rufus and John wanted to kill a twenty-three-year-old boy without a trial or consideration – was a hard pill to swallow. They were older – and should have been wiser. Instead, Dean found them to be jaded, judgmental assholes who jumped to conclusions in their bias.
Getting up from the table, Dean wasn't shocked that no one noticed his leaving. They were deep into the fight, even his sister. He caught Victor's statement to Ellen about forgiveness, hearing her swearing at the black man and threatening to call in every hunter she knew before Dean shut the front door behind them all. This early in the morning, there was a breeze and a slight chill in the air. The lake called to him, and he walked towards the dock as if it were a beacon in his current distress. Once he was alone, he looked up towards the sky, the colors still a bold purple-blue from the last moments of sunrise.
When the sky turned blue, big cumulus clouds shaped like pillows, Dean closed his eyes. Cheekily, he thought "I pray to Castiel to get his feathery ass down here." Smirking after he heard the flap of wings, Dean opened his eyes and turned to the angel he knew was beside him. "Hey, Cas."
"Hello, Dean," Castiel greeted. The angel's eyes were sad and Dean immediately spotted the unshed tears.
For a while both were silent, allowing the sounds of the water as it rolled against the shoreline to soothe them. "I need your help, Cas. Could you please take me to see Sam? I have to talk to him. I have to try."
Dean watched Cas's face fall, no longer looking at him intently the way that he usually did. "As it is written, so shall it be. I am sorry, Dean, but I cannot take you to see Sam. Your brother is on a separate path. We will need to get you ready – the demons have broken all but the final seal."
Spinning around, Dean gripped Castiel by his forearms, shaking him sightly in his frustration. "You've been telling me that I can stop the apocalypse – that I'm 'special' to God's plan. Well, I think I deserve to know what God has planned for me! Tell me." Dean softened, "Please Cas."
Cas looked around as if he were being hunted, jittery in a way that Dean had never seen before. "You have to understand why I can't help you. 'As it is written, so shall it be.' You are aware of the tale of Cain and Abel?"
Confused, Dean nodded, "Yeah – I think Cain murdered Abel because he was jealous of the attention Abel received from God. The first murder was fratricide. God put a mark upon Cain. Parents use the story to keep kids in line… Brother's keeper and all that."
"Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. They loved each other, but their love was twisted and corrupted by Lucifer. It resulted in Abel being sent to heaven, while Cain became the most legendary, powerful, and feared of all demons. Cain formed the Knights of Hell and trained their armies himself. Cain became a scourge upon the earth, feared by all. He killed thousands before vanishing." Castiel explained passionately. It made Dean nervous. Castiel couldn't help him, he said as much, but why would he pull a Bible story out of nowhere if it wasn't useful.
"Why are you telling me this?" Dean asked straight out. His mind wasn't adept at putting together abstract puzzles, preferring to see the picture on the box before starting. He wasn't like Charlie in that regard. That girl could pull things out of thin air while he was still trying to understand the problem.
"The Winchesters are direct descendants of Cain and Abel… their bloodlines."
Dean blinked rapidly, trying to read between the lines of what Castiel had put before him. His mouth opened to ask when Cas covered his lips with a palm. He pressed his face closer, communicating with micro-expressions and eye contact, a hair's breadth away. Nodding, he indicated that he understood and Castiel let him pull away.
"The righteous man who begins it is the only one who can end it," Castiel quoted, quietly.
"How?" Dean pleaded with the angel to explain. "We only have one last seal, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Cas!" His voice rose at the end, birds getting frightened and flying away from where they perched to catch tadpoles. "All I can think about is how I'm supposed to save humanity… no pressure, right?"
"For what it's worth, Dean, I believe in YOU." Castiel blasphemed. "My Father created this world, yet He hasn't been seen or heard from in millennia. Zachariah would claim that 'God has left the building'. I don't know what is right or wrong anymore." He turned away wiping at his face, distress pouring off of him.
Dean snarked, the way he did in emotionally charged situations; his way of lightening the mood. "Looks like being sent back to Bible school didn't take, huh?"
"I supposed not." Castiel turned back around, head twisted to the side passionately, as if the angel could see inside of Dean's very soul. Who knew, perhaps the angel could see that deeply. Cas gave him a ghost of a smile as if he could read his mind. "But I have grown to know you, and I am the better for it. Everything you have ever done, the good and the bad, you have done for love. You rescued and raised your little brother for love. You sacrificed yourself for the love of your family. That is who you are. You're the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know. You know, ever since we met and ever since I pulled you out of Hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you care, I care. I care about you. I care about Sam and Jody and Owen and the people in this world because of you." Castiel had tears in his eyes, they were shining.
Dean's mouth dropped open, throat tight. No one had ever spoken to him like this before. Cas reached out and softly cupped his face. Part of Dean wanted to press their lips together and the other part of him was still in shock, unable to move. "I had been torn, unable to decide what steps to take. I was raised to always follow the commands of my superiors – God's Will. Lilith is the only one who can break the final seal."
"And I'm supposed to kill Lilith?" Dean croaked, throat dry.
"No. That's not what my Brothers have planned." Tears dripped down Castiel's face, "I can't allow them to twist your soul into something evil. To turn you into the type of man who would kill his own brother as Cain did to Abel."
Eyes widening in horror, Dean stepped back. Hands planted on his knees, he felt the world skew. He never considered himself to be as scholarly as his Ivy League brother, but suddenly he could see the photo on the cover. "The angels don't want to stop Lilith from breaking the final seal." Cas smiled, then put both hands on his chest. The burning in his chest had him bent over, barely able to breathe from the sudden stab of pain flooding through him.
"Lilith is the final seal," Castiel whispered. "You are the Michael Sword – Michael's true vessel. Your brother, Samuel is meant to be Lucifer's. If he kills Lilith, the end begins. All things have a cycle: a beginning and an end. I believe in You. You can stop the cycle from reoccurring." Cas pulled away, suddenly jerking when Zachariah and a few other angels appeared behind him.
With a touch to his forehead, Dean found himself in a dark, yet opulent room. The last frame burned into the back of his eyelids was of Castiel getting thrown down by his 'Brothers' and screaming.
There were a few fireplaces throughout the room, flames flickering warmth and crackling reminding him of the cabin on a cool fall night. There was a black high-backed chair, very ornate in front of the largest of the fireplaces. It looked rich. Looking around, Dean caught sight of a shadow by the bookshelves.
His mouth dropped open in horror when he recognized the black-suited man.
Crowley closed the hardbound tomb he was flipping through dramatically, then turned to his guest. "Well, well, well. Looks like I have all of the cards now, don't I?"
The demon smiled at him. "Hello, Dean. It's been a while."
