Wolfie: I don't own anything related to Supernatural. After this I will get to more original topics for my chapters. Also sorry that this one is so short compared to the others. This is technically a part 2 for chapter 4. Now please read, review, and I hope you have enjoyed the book so far.
Chapter 5: Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester pt. 2
"So, they're all people we know?" Sam asked curiously as he stopped walking when he came up behind Bobby.
"Not just know. People we couldn't save." Dean explained as she reloaded her shotgun with salt rounds. "Listen, I uh, I saw something on Meg's hand. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?" She asked curiously as she looked at Sam, remembering the symbol that had been on the other girls hand.
"I don't think so." Sam uttered, in all the times that they've seen Meg he didn't remember her having a hand tattoo.
"It was like a-a mark on her hand- almost like a brand." Dean said, trying to explain exactly what she saw.
"I saw a mark, too, on Henriksen." Sam said, also remembering a brand of sorts on Henriksen's hand when he attacked him in the bathroom.
"What did it look like?" Bobby questioned, if both ghosts had the mark then it must be important.
"Uh, paper? Thanks." Sam said as he accepted a piece of paper from Bobby, taking a pencil and quickly drawing up the symbol as Dean pumped the shotgun to load it.
"That's it." Dean revealed when Sam showed her the drawing of the mark and then showed it to Bobby next.
"I may have seen this before." Bobby said as he went to look for the book he saw the mark in just as the lights flicker and the radio started to tune static. "We got to move. Follow me." He said as abruptly handed Sam a few books from one of his shelves.
"Okay. Where are we going?" Sam asked after managing to not drop the books, obviously he hadn't been prepared to be handed stuff so suddenly.
"Someplace safe, you idjit." Bobby stated as he grabbed a few more things.
Turns out Bobby had a panic room built into his basement, like the paranoid bastard he is. But not just any kind of panic room. This one was made of pure iron, coated with salt, and warded to high heaven against just about everything. As long as they were inside they were safe, but they couldn't stay forever. Especially since Bobby found out about what they were dealing with, the Rising of the Witnesses. But more importantly, he found out that this was basically a sign of the apocalypse. Just hearing about it honestly made Dean feel sick, these people had suffered enough, only to suffer more just to break some seal. Luckily there was a way to put them all to rest once again, but the ingredients for the spell were all upstairs. So with what few salt rounds they had left they ventured out of the panic room and up the stairs. Having to battle their way through the forcefully vengeful souls that they had failed to save. It was absolute chaos. Dean and Sam had just barely managed to get the things Bobby needed and make it back to the salt circle.
Only to be shooting left and right at every ghostly form that appeared and tried to stop the older male from finishing the spell. The salt line having been broken by wind blowing in through the windows that had been violently opened by the ghosts. At one point Dean ran out of salt rounds in her gun, scrambling to reload as she saw it. A woman that looked so alike her yet not at them same time. This had dark raven hair, pale sharp features, and the most haunting blue eyes she'd ever seen. A complete contrast from her sandy blonde hair, soft, tanned features, and not so special green eyes. Unlike the other spirits this girl was just standing there in the foyer, watching Dean unblinkingly, with no expression on her face. Her unblinking, expressionless stare chilled the sandy blonde female to her very core as she stared right back. Unable to look away from the girl, only to be knocked out of her trance by a gunshot. Her body flinching out of reflex as she she shut her eyes for a moment.
When Dean opened her eyes again the girl was gone, as if she had never been there. Looking towards the source of the shot she saw that Sam had his shotgun pointed at her. Or rather he had it pointed at something that had been mere seconds away from attacking her. Not wanting to dwell on her moment of weakness at a time like this she quickly finished reloading. Once again shooting at every ghost that attempted to get near Bobby as he chanted and added ingredients to the spell. In the end they were outnumbered, with Sam getting pinned to the wall by a desk. The little twin ghosts slowly closing in on him as ghost Meg had begun to impale Bobby in the back with her hand just as he finished chanting. The older male soon lost his grip on the bowl as he called out Dean's name, causing her to make a dive for the bowl. Saving it as she quickly tossed its contents in the lit fire, the fire burning a bright white as the spell was complete and a blinding light exploded forth.
Then just as quickly as the blinding light happened it was gone, and the witnesses along with it. Bobby collapsing to the ground out of pain as Dean and Sam, after he freed himself, rushed to check on him. Both of them soon helped the winded and sore male back up onto his feet as they stood in the aftermath of the battle. There was salt, overturned furniture, papers, shotgun shells, and books strewn all across the floor of Bobby's office/library. The two Winchester's couldn't in good conscience leave their surrogate father figure to clean up this mess alone. This resulted in them staying and helping to clean well into the night before going to bed. With Sam sleeping on the couch this time and Dean sleeping on the floor, despite Sam's protests about how he should sleep on the floor. And then as they were both fast asleep, she was awoken by the sound of wings fluttering, soon rolling onto her stomach to see Castiel in the kitchen. Immediately Dean turned to look at Sam, making sure that he was still asleep before getting up, slowly and quietly approaching the angel.
"Excellent job with the witnesses." Castiel stated once Dean was close enough to him.
"You were hip to all this?" Dean asked in disbelief at what she had just heard.
"I was, uh, made aware." Castiel explained but his answer was very cryptic.
"Well, thanks alot for the angelic assistance. You know, I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest." Dean said, the memory of Henriksen's ghost tried to rip out her heart hours earlier in this very kitchen.
"But you didn't." Castiel said, reminding Dean that she was safe, but only because of Sam.
"I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos- you know, Michael Landon. Not dicks." Dean said, venting her frustration about this whole thing as Castiel listened with a straight face.
"Read the bible." Castiel stated, earning him an arched eyebrow from Dean. "Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier." He said, which definitely contradicted the whole "guardian angels" thing.
"Yeah? Then, why didn't you fight?" Dean asked, finding it annoying that a so called soldier didn't help fight the witnesses.
"I'm not here to perch on your shoulder. We had larger concerns." Castiel explained as if that was a good enough excuse to ignore the fact that people were killed by the witnesses.
"Concerns? There were people getting torn to shreds down here!" Dean hissed out, trying her best to speak quietly as to not wake anyone. "And, by the way, while all this is going on, where the hell is your boss, huh, if there is a God?" She said, her disbelief of there being a God still evident in her voice.
"There's a God." Castiel said,as if what he said would be reassuring.
"I'm not convinced." Dean stated causing Castiel to let out a small sigh as he looked down for a moment. "'Cause if there's a God, what the hell is he waiting for, huh? Genocide? Monsters roaming the earth? The freaking apocalypse? At what point does he lift a damn finger and help the poor bastards that are stuck down here?" She asked, no, demanded as she felt like she deserved some answers right now.
"The lord works-." Castiel began to say, once again trying to reassure Dean.
"If you say "mysterious ways", so help me, I will kick your ass." Dean said, cutting off Castiel as he raised his hands, either in surrender or in a "i give up" sort of way. "So, Bobby was right... about the witnesses. This is some kind of a... sign of the apocalypse." She said as she came to stand closer to the angel.
"That's why we're here. Big things afoot." Castiel revealed as he looked at Dean, still as cryptic and aloof as ever.
"Do I want to know what kind of things?" Dean asked as she had a gut feeling that she really wouldn't like the answer.
"I sincerely doubt it, but you need to know. The Rising of the Witnesses is one of the 66 seals." Castiel said as he began to explain why angels were now coming down to earth.
"Okay. I'm guessing that's not a show at Sea World." Dean stated matter-oh-factly, given how serious Castiel looked.
"Those seals are being broken by Lilith." Castiel said as soon a look of realization came to Dean's face.
"She did the spell. She rose the witnesses." Dean said as she had put the pieces together thanks to this new information.
"Mm-hmm. And not just here. 20 other hunters are dead." Castiel said and that was not news that Dean had wanted to hear.
"Of course. She picked victims that the hunters couldn't save so that they would barrel right after us." Dean deduced, that certainly explained why that Nancy girl hadn't been raised, she had been too innocent, too sweet. "But that doesn't explain that girl I saw." She said as her mind drifted back to the ghostly girl that looked like her yet not at the same time
"Lilith has a certain sense of humor." Castiel admitted as if that was a helpful little tidbit of information. "What girl?" He then asked, confused as to what she was talking about.
"There was this girl, she had to have been another witness, there's no other explanation. But she was different, she didn't attack, she just.. stared at me, and in some ways... she looked like me." Dean explained as Castiel listened very carefully to what she had to say.
"I see..." Castiel trailed off, as if he knew something but felt like he didn't need to tell her as he almost looked, uncomfortable.
"...Well. we put those spirits back to rest." Dean explained after noticing that her previous topic made Castiel uncomfortable, after all putting the witnesses to rest had to account for something, right?
"It doesn't matter. The seal was broken." Castiel said, effectively destroying any hope that Dean had had about what they did being helpful.
"Why break the seal anyway?" Dean questioned, figuring that she needed to know this in order to know the gravity of the situation.
"You think of the seals as locks on a door." Castiel stated, giving Dean an analogy that she could use to piece together what will happen if the seals are all broken.
"Okay. Last one opens and..." Dean said, trailing off in order to let Castiel tell her what happens when the seals are broken.
"Lucifer walks free." Castiel said as he turned to fully face Dean as she gave him a look of confusion.
"Lucifer? But I thought Lucifer was just a story they told at demon sunday school. There's no such thing." Dean said as this caused Castiel's lips to twitch into the smallest of amused smiles.
"Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me." Castiel reminded as Dean stayed silent, knowing that he was right. "Why do yo think we're here walking among you now for the first time in 2,000 years?" He asked, wondering if the sandy blonde female had caught onto things.
"To stop Lucifer." Dean uttered, gaining a nod from Castiel in response.
"That's why we've arrived." Castiel said, satisfied that Dean was now enlightened to the situation.
"Well... bang-up job so far. Stellar work with the witnesses. That's nice." Dean said, her words full of sarcasm as she moved to lean her back against the kitchen counter.
"We tried. And there are other battles, other seals. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. This one we lost." Castiel explained as Dean couldn't help but scoff at what he was telling her. "Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week." He revealed as he moved to stand infront of her, so he could look her in the eyes as he spoke. "You think the armies of Heaven should just follow you around? There's a bigger picture here. You should show me some respect." Castiel said as Dean began to feel uncomfortable under his intense stare. "I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in." He threatened, and then just like that he was gone.
Castiel had left Dean looking around the kitchen in confusion as to where he had disappeared to. Only for her to gasp as she suddenly awoke in her makeshift bed on the floor next to Bobby's couch. Her gaze turned towards the kitchen just as Sam walked out of it and past her head, nearly missing stepping on her hair in the process. Dean's gaze then turned to him as she stiffly sat up, watching as he sat on the couch and began to pull on a white flannel shirt over his tee-shirt. As she sat there on the floor she pinched the bridge of her nose slightly, thinking back on her conversation with Castiel. Had it all just been a dream, or had he really been there, talking to her inside her head? As Dean still tried to wrap her head around this whole thing she heard Sam let out a chuckle as he looked at her. To him it looked like she had just woken up from one gnarly dream given the look on her face.
"You alright? Nice bedhead by the way." Sam said only to grow more concerned when Dean didn't look at him or even try to have a snappy comment about his bedhead comment. "What's wrong, Dean?" He asked as she finally looked up at him.
"So..." Dean paused for a moment as she cleared her throat. "You got no problem believing in... God and angels?" She asked as Sam finished buttoning up his flannel shirt and began fixing his hair.
"No, not really." Sam admitted causing Dean to give him a barely noticeable nod.
"So, I guess that means that you believe in the Devil." Dean said as this all seemed to greatly confuse Sam.
"Why are you asking me all this?" Sam asked but Dean seemed to have no answer for him.
"N-Never mind, forget that I asked you this stuff." Dean said as she shook her head and got up, quickly rushing off to get changed before Sam could question her further.
Sam watches Dean leave in confusion and worry, he'd already been worried to begin with though after she had zoned out mid-battle last night. Staring at something in the foyer that, when he looked in the same direction, was not there. And now after waking up from a bad dream, he assumed it was because of her gasp, she was asking him questions she never would have before. It had Sam concerned that all of the stress of coming back as a woman and the start of the apocalypse was getting to Dean. Though staying true to herself she decided not to open up to him, then again he was never good at opening up to her when she was a guy anyways. But if he was being honest, something inside of Sam wanted to change that. Something inside of him wanted to have it so that Dean felt like she could confide in him and trust him as she works through learning how to be a girl.
