Thank you MaggieMay17 for beta'ing, Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading, and you all for reading.

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Wow," Ellen said as she met him at the door to The Roadhouse. "You're definitely picking up the pace."

Sam looked at the dozen angels standing placidly at his back and grinned, "Well, we've all got to have hobbies. Stripping angels of millennia of memories relaxes me."

She huffed a laugh. "I guess it does. How are you getting through so many, though?"

"Me and Cas have a system," Sam said. "He finds them, and I wipe them. It's working out well for us."

She nodded approvingly, "So I see. You think there are many more left out there to find now?"

"Afraid so," Sam said. "But we're working through them, and Gabriel says we're close to going through with whatever his big plan is." He gave her an ingratiating smile. "Don't suppose you want to tell me what it is, do you?"

He really wanted to know. He didn't fear Gabriel's secret, not the way he had some in his life. Sam had seen how tragically wrong keeping secrets could go - sometimes it was his fault they had - but he trusted Gabriel. He wasn't just an angel, he was an archangel, and he was smart. He'd had millennia of life experience to draw on and, more importantly, he'd spent a lot of time on earth among humans. Gabriel liked humanity. Whatever it was he was hiding, Sam believed it was for the good of this world. This version of Earth deserved something good after all it had been through. He knew Gabriel wasn't going to let it be a mistake.

"I could," she said thoughtfully. "He probably wouldn't like it."

"Is that going to stop you?"

She chuckled. "Did this charm work on me in your world?"

Sam laughed. "Not even a little. She was way too smart to be fooled by a smile."

"I hope so, though I have to say you do have those dimples working for you. I imagine they worked on everyone else."

She sighed.

"I will tell you some of it, since I think you've earned it with everything you've done for us. Hell, just coming here in the first place, when your world sounds pretty damn perfect in comparison to this one…" Ellen shook her head. "Okay, I can't tell you how he's doing it, but Gabriel is going to create a new world for us.

"We've staked out a place a few miles north, the zone where we set up the refugees as they arrive, the area most of the restored angels are guarding, and Gabriel's going to turn it into paradise. We'll be able to start over there. It's not going to be big at first, he says he's only got so much to give, but it should be plenty big enough for those of us that are left. He said even though he's starting small it'll kick off a kind of chain reaction. The ripple effect will build over the whole world. Clean water, clean air, places we can farm and grow what we need. A real fresh start for us all. With the angels guarding us at first, it will be a safe zone. And over time, that will become the world." She beamed. "We're getting to start over for real."

Sam's eyes widened. "That sounds amazing!"

"It really does. We've had nothing to hope for here in so long. Even when Michael took off, we had his angels, the demons, and monsters to fight. Gabriel was doing his best, but he was alone, and it was taking so long. We have hope now. Gabriel gave us that hope, and you and your friend Castiel added to it." She patted his arm. "I'm so thankful to you all for that."

Sam nodded. "I didn't sacrifice that much coming here, honestly, but I'm still glad I can help. It feels good. Our world wasn't perfect, we had our own angels and demons and monsters, even if we did stop the Apocalypse. We made a difference, but it never really felt like we won. If Gabriel can pull this off, create that place for you and make a world from it, it'll be the first real win I've ever had. I will know I did something to really make the world a better place instead of just saving it for the next apocalypse."

She eyed him for a moment and then, in a moment of perceptiveness that made him long for his Ellen, she said, "You left some real love behind, didn't you?"

"I left a lot of pain, too," Sam said. "I told you I took Lucifer's place, and I did, but it came at the price of my family. I got them back in a way, but it wasn't a way I could bear to stay for. When it came down to it, I'd already lost what I needed most, and what was left hurt too much."

"Family," she sighed. "I know that kind of love and pain. I lost my husband Bill in the first wave of the war, and we lost family after. There was this man that lived with us, Ash—did you have him, too?"

Sam nodded. He remembered Ash well. His was another of the lives lost because of him.

"Then you'll know what he was like. Ash's world was technology and information. When the war started, he lost everything he understood. He became a hunter with me and Jo, but it was never really him. He struggled with it."

"What happened to him?" Sam asked.

"A tempter demon got him," she said. "I wasn't there, but from what the people that were there told me, it looked like a release for him more than a horrible death."

Sam's eyes widened. "He wanted to die?"

He couldn't imagine the Ash he'd known, the man that loved life and made the most of it all in his own way, ever feeling like that.

Though he'd never seen Ash go through an apocalypse.

"I don't think he wanted to die. He would have found a way himself if he did, but I think he was more accepting of death than most. He had hope for better in what came after. When angels turned out to be real, pretty much everyone accepted Heaven as well, too. Ash was hoping for better." Her jaw jutted out. "I don't have that same faith. I don't imagine anywhere that Michael was in charge of could be a good place."

Sam hadn't considered going to Heaven in this world to see what it had become under Michael's rule. He didn't think he should. He might see that it was the same as the one in his world, individual places of peace that would satisfy most, or – worse – it could be corrupted. If that had happened, would he be able to hide it from the people that would end there?

Perhaps when Gabriel's plan for earth came into fruition, when there was paradise for the survivors, they could move to Heaven and make that right, too. They were going to need something to do when the world was saved.

"Maybe it will be..."

He trailed off as Castiel's voice filled his mind. He was expecting Castiel to report finding new angels for him, but his calm deserted him as he heard the tension in Castiel's voice.

"Sam, I think I need help. I have done something and… I'm in the Western District, what was a Marine Corps Station in Yuma. Please come, but, please, don't hurt her."

Sam didn't stop to explain to Ellen what was happening. He just spread his wings and took flight without pause, aiming to enter but being knocked back outside the tan brick building. He steadied himself and ran at the building. There was no one in sight, no angels or humans, and he couldn't sense anyone. This was where Castiel had told him he was, and it didn't seem possible Cas had been moved without him realizing, so something was blocking him. Sam slowed, wary, but kept going.

As he got closer, he felt weakened. He stopped, looking more closely at the building and then frowned as he saw the sigils that had been carved into the bricks. They were all Enochian, and he recognized them as warding to weaken angels, though none of them would keep him from flying in. He guessed that the anti-flight warding was inside.

Sam was sure this warding wouldn't weaken him much, but it would drain Castiel if he was inside. Feeling it was better to go in at full strength, Sam raised his hand and pressed it to the closest sigil. Light pulsed from his hand, and the warding on the bricks shook and began to crumble away.

He felt the power of them fade at once.

"I'm on my way, Cas," he said over angel radio. "I took down the warding. Is it helping?"

"I can feel the difference," Castiel replied. "I am stronger, but… Sam, I can't hurt her."

"Hurt who?" Sam asked.

There was no answer.

Worried about what he was walking into, who had trapped Castiel, and what they were doing to him, he yanked the door off its hinges and strode inside.

"Angel!" a voice shouted, and then Sam felt impacts like blows from a hammer on his stomach as guns fired around him.

He looked down at the torn spots on his shirt and then straightened up and fixed his gaze on the shadowy people approaching.

"What are you?" a man asked, stepping forward, gun still aimed at Sam. "How did you survive that?"

"I'm stronger than your average angel," Sam said, walking towards him and pressing his fingers to the man's temple.

The man crumpled. Sam caught him then eased him down to the floor. As his eyes roved the area around him Sam couldn't see anyone else, but he could hear them breathing: fast, terrified. He guessed they had fled and were concealed in the rooms leading off the corridor he was in.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he called. "I'm Sam. Have you heard of me? I came to this world to help."

"The new archangel?" a male voice asked from the right.

"Yes."

Sam walked toward the voice and saw a middle-aged man with a pistol gripped in his hand. He wasn't aiming it at Sam, but his grip on it was strong, and Sam was sure he'd bring it up again to shoot in a heartbeat.

"I came here to help my friend," he said. "He's an angel. Where is he?"

The man swallowed hard. "Castiel is your friend?"

"Yes."

The man brought up his gun again, and Sam caught it and pushed it down. The man was committed, though, and the bullet was fired into the concrete floor.

"You're friends with that monster?" he growled.

"Cas isn't a…" Sam understood and sighed. "He's not the angel you knew from this world. That Castiel is dead. My Cas came from the other world with me. He's here to help you, too. Where is he?"

The man seemed on the verge of speech for a moment, and then he pointed through a door and said, "He's that way."

Sam thanked him and strode in the direction indicated. He then froze as there was another crack and something slammed into the small of his back.

He turned, and his face set with anger. "Stop shooting me!"

He didn't understand why they were still shooting when they had already seen they couldn't kill him. And he'd told them who he was. He had to wonder if the end of the world had twisted them a little or if they simply didn't believe him.

Or maybe they just wanted to hold onto his Castiel in some kind of revenge for what the other one had done in this world.

Sam hurried away, drawn towards the sense of Castiel he could feel now. He saw a door at the end of the hall that was ajar and listened for voices as he approached.

"I know why you feel you need to do this," Castiel said. "But you don't have to. I am not the angel you want to punish."

"Funny how you look just like him," a harsh voice said.

Sam sucked in a breath as he realized who was speaking. It was Claire Novak. It all slipped into place in his mind.

Of course, Castiel hadn't wanted him to hurt her, and of course, she wanted to hurt him. He wore the face of the angel that stole her father—and, in this world, the face that had become a twisted monster.

He shoved open the door and took in the scene in front of him. Castiel was standing in a circle of holy fire, bloodstains and bullet holes on the stomach of his shirt. He looked ill, pained, but Claire hadn't gone for the killing shot, thankfully. Sam wasn't sure why not, though.

Claire stood with her back to Sam, facing Castiel, but as the door clanged against the wall, she spun to face him. Her face was set with anger in a way Sam had never seen in his world, even at the darkest moments of her life. She brought the rifle she was holding up to her shoulder, and Sam growled, "Do not shoot me, Claire."

Her eyes widened slightly, but her finger began to press down on the trigger anyway. Sam stepped quickly to the side to avoid the bullet—he really was sick of being shot—and then just as quickly went to her and raised his fingers to her temple.

"No, Sam!" Castiel shouted. "Don't."

Sam frowned at Cas. Claire used his hesitation to try pointing the rifle again. Almost absently Sam gripped the barrel and kept it pointing away from both himself and Cas, immobile as if it had been encased in rock rather than his hand, ignoring Claire's struggles to free it

"I'm not killing her, Cas. I'm just putting her out."

"Don't do that either. She doesn't need choices taken from her." His face became imploring. "Please, Sam."

Sam yanked the gun out of Claire's hands, ejected the bullets, and threw it away.

"Who the hell are you?" Claire asked, backing away.

"I'm Sam, the new archangel in town. And this is Cas from my world, not the Castiel you have a grudge against, so if you could douse the fire, we'll go."

"Sam…" Castiel said sadly.

"He looks exactly like the monster I have a grudge against," Claire said. "He's got the right face." Her eyes narrowed. "My father's face."

Sam felt a pang of sadness for her. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling. The Claire of his world had been through too much for any one person to suffer in her scant years of life, but this one had obviously been through more. She'd lost her father, and then her world had ended in an apocalypse. She would have suffered through years of Hell as Michael and his angels battled first Lucifer and his demons regardless of the human lives lost, then started waging war on the humans who tried to fight back. That was without factoring in the monsters that also plagued the world. His Claire's life looked blessed in comparison.

"I know it looks like him, and Jimmy Novak from my world became his vessel just like your father did here, but that's where the similarities end. This world's Castiel was a monster who is now dead. My Cas is a hero. He saved our world."

Claire huffed a laugh. "Must be nice for you. I heard the Castiel I've been hunting is dead. Even if that's true, this one still hoodwinked a human, possessed him. Is he still alive in there, screaming for you to let him go?"

"No," Castiel replied sadly. "Jimmy Novak from our world died a long time ago now."

"You're walking around in his corpse?" Claire turned back to Sam with a look of disgust. "And you still think he isn't a psycho? He might have fooled you but he doesn't fool me. As soon as my Mom arrives, I'll end this one. We've both waited a long time to see this."

Sam crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to let you do that."

"I'd like to see you stop me," she said.

"Sam, please," Castiel sighed. "It's not her fault. I deserve this."

Sam felt a surge of anger. "No, you don't, Cas. This isn't about making it right for our Claire, the one you love. This is you paying a stranger's debt."

"Love?" Claire said scathingly. "You love me?"

"In our world, Claire Novak is family to Castiel. He loves her. He has saved her life. She's been through hell, too, but she forgives him because she understands why he took her dad. Claire was saved because Jimmy gave himself to Cas. The world was saved."

"She doesn't need to hear this, Sam. Think of what she's been through."

Sam snapped his furious gaze on Castiel. "Do you actually want to die, Cas? Because you weren't exactly supportive of me giving up my mind for Nick. Why do you think I would let you give up your life for this?"

"It's not like that," Castiel said.

Sam glared at Claire. "Break the fire."

"You want him, you take him," she said. "You're an archangel, after all. I don't see you needing to sweat a little holy fire."

Sam pushed past her and looked around the room for something to use to douse the flames. The Brits had used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire he was trapped in, but he figured fire extinguishers were going to be pretty sparse in Apocalypse World.

Sam had seen holy fire banish an archangel when Castiel molotoved Michael, and he didn't particularly want to experience that kind of pain, but he knew he couldn't be cast out of his vessel. And he was done seeing Castiel standing in that circle of fire which could destroy him in a moment if it touched him.

"Sam, no!" Castiel shouted as he lifted his foot to step over it.

"Fine," Sam snapped. He shrugged off his jacket and threw it down onto the fire, then stepped over it into the circle.

Castiel gasped. "Why would you do that?"

"Shut up, Cas," Sam growled. "You don't get to commit suicide to make her feel better about what happened."

Sam grabbed Castiel and hauled him over his shoulder, then bodily threw him out of the circle. Castiel landed hard and looked dazed for a moment. Sam prepared to step out of the fire and then cursed as he saw that the flames were already licking around the fabric of his jacket.

"Looks like you're all out of luck," Claire said smugly.

Knowing this was going to hurt, but reasonably sure it wasn't going to kill, Sam stepped over the fire, hearing Castiel's shout of his name but unable to answer as the flames had caught the hem of his pant leg.

Once outside the circle Sam bent down and covered his hands with his sleeves to slap the fiery places, dousing them. His ankle and lower leg were searing with pain, and he held his hand over them to heal, but though the light came, there was no relief from the pain.

"What did you do!" Castiel snapped, bending down beside him and tugging away the charred fabric to see the black wounds with reddened edges.

"It'll heal," Sam said dismissively. "Let's get out of here."

He got to his feet and steadied himself on Castiel's shoulder for a moment. Sam could feel the unhealed bullet wounds as well as the burns. Clearly angel bullets were more effective against him than regular ones, but he was confident he was okay. He They started toward the door, but came to a dead stop as he saw how Claire had spent her time while he had been getting Castiel out of the fire and setting light to the lower leg of his pants.

Claire had the rifle in her hands again, and had collected up the ammunition. With a practiced move, she loaded a round into the chamber. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy?" she asked.

Sam was stunned to see the face of the girl he cared about looking so dark. There was no question in his mind that she would kill Castiel, and she would enjoy it. Sam was weakened and wounded, drained, but he was getting Castiel out of there, and if it took him rendering Claire unconscious against her—and Castiel's—will, it was what he was going to do.

Sam grabbed the barrel of the gun once more and this time yanked it forward, pulling Claire with it. He then sent her to sleep with a quick touch and lowered her to the floor.

"No!" Castiel said stridently. "You shouldn't have done that to her, Sam!"

"No? What should I have done?" Sam asked. "Let's get out of…."

He realized they couldn't leave. Claire would wake up, and her revenge mission would start all over again. She would know his Castiel was an easier target compared to this world's, and she was probably smart enough to track him: his Claire was.

"I've got to wipe her memory," he said.

"No!" Castiel gasped, his voice rising with anger as he stepped in front of Claire and said, "I won't let you do that to her, Sam!"

Sam sighed. "Then what am I supposed to do, Cas? If she comes after you again, are you going to defend yourself or will you let her kill you because it would be cathartic for her?"

"Of course not. I would…"

"What?" Sam asked angrily. He was annoyed that Castiel hadn't fought to defend himself when he would have been capable of it. He'd been shot, but Claire still wouldn't have been able to get him in the circle unless he'd let her or been extremely stupid. Sam didn't think Castiel was that stupid.

"I would find a way to explain."

Sam groaned. "You can't explain this, Cas. She already knows who you are, or rather who you aren't, and she doesn't care. She's not our Claire. This one is dangerous. I have to wipe her."

Castiel caught his arm and then froze as a scream reached them from down the hall. Without a word, they both ran towards it, racing through the broken doorway and into the open of the dusty Arizona air.

In front of them were five people with their back to them; in their hands were guns, but none were firing. Sam thought he knew why. Opposite them were twelve Tempter Demons, their horned heads held high and their pointed teeth bared in snarls. Sam didn't think the people had enough bullets for them all, and if they started shooting, the deadlock between them would break, and the demons would attack.

"Stay back, Cas," he said. "You're wounded."

"So are you," Castiel said as he stepped to Sam's side and drew his blade.

Sam shouted, "Get inside!" to the people as he launched himself toward the closest demon and slammed his hand to its head, pouring his grace into it and making its eyes blaze with light as it died.

"Gabriel," Sam shouted. "We're in Yuma, Arizona. Tempter Demons. Could use a little help."

On my way, Gabriel said curtly.

Sam shoved away the dead demon and grabbed another. He felt weak from the bullets and the burns and drained by the rapid use of grace, but he figured he only needed to hang on a little longer for Gabriel to get there. Gabriel was fully powered and would be able to take these demons down easier than Sam was managing.

Sam was on his third demon, and there was one more already dead on the floor courtesy of Castiel's blade when he heard another scream and a shout of rage. Sam spun and saw Castiel standing in front of a woman with long blonde hair who had just been disarmed, her gun on the floor by her feet. He recognized her at once as Amelia Novak, Jimmy's wife and Claire's mother. Before them were three demons that were advancing slowly, their mouths curved with feral smiles.

As Sam started towards them, something heavy collided with his back, and he was knocked down. He felt a breath of the back of his neck, and his mind whipped back to the day he'd killed Michael and the monsters he'd faced outside the bunker. They had been strong, but Tempter Demons were stronger, and he felt another land on him. He struggled to shove them off, but he was weak from his wounds and the use of so much grace, and they had him pinned.

They couldn't kill him, he knew, but he thought he was about to experience more pain.

"Stay back, Amelia," Castiel said as she stooped to retriever her weapon, his blade and hand raised towards the demons that were edging towards him.

"But… you…" Amelia sounded stunned, and Sam guessed her mind was reeling. Cas had the appearance of the angel that took her husband and became a monster, but he was protecting her even though she was at least as much of a threat against him as the demons.

One of the demons launched himself at Castiel, and he shoved it away and smote it with a hand on its forehead. Unfortunately, his distraction enabled a second demon to get close to Amelia. Sam grunted a warning to Castiel as teeth sank into his neck.

Castiel probably didn't hear him, but he was acting anyway. He threw aside the dead demon, yanked back the demon on Amelia by its horn, stabbed it, and before the second demon hit the ground used his free hand to stab the third. Sam had never seen anyone fight quite like it. He wasn't even sure he or Dean could match it.

"Hey, kids," an amused voice said. "Can I play?"

Sam sighed with relief. Gabriel was there. He felt the demons being yanked off of him and then felt the rush of grace pass over his back. He got unsteadily to his feet and watched, an unnecessary observer, as Gabriel smote the remaining demons with obvious delight.

Castiel was still standing defensively in front of Amelia, who was staring at the back of his head with confusion and awe. Sam guessed she was having some intensely mixed feelings right now, having been saved by the angel her daughter—and probably Amelia, too—had wanted dead.

Gabriel dropped the last demon and then sauntered towards Sam. "Hey, buddy, what the hell happened to you?"

"Got shot," Sam said. "Angel blade bullets."

Gabriel frowned and looked down. "And then someone set your leg on fire?"

"Holy fire," Sam confirmed.

Gabriel whistled. "Man, oh man, you do like to live life on the edge."

"Cas was shot, too," Sam said. "Heal him first."

Gabriel gave him an ironic salute and said, "Come on, Cas, let's get you fixed up. I'm hoping these are through and throughs?"

"Yes," Castiel said. "It was a high-powered rifle."

"Good to know."

"I can wait," Castiel said, "and I need to help Amelia. Heal Sam's leg first."

Gabriel sighed. "You two are adorable. You want me to help him; he wants you fixed first. The love story between you both would make a beautiful fanfiction."

Sam laughed in spite of himself. He should have figured Gabriel would have heard of the stories Becky and her friends wrote. He only hoped he'd not read any of them.

"Just let him do it, Cas," Sam said. "You're the most vulnerable here."

Gabriel grabbed Castiel's shoulder and turned him, then laid his hand over his wounded stomach. Light glowed, and Castiel winced and then relaxed and turned back to Amelia.

"I know you must be very confused," he started.

"You can't be him," Amelia said. "Castiel is a monster."

"I'm not him. But I'm not your husband either. I am from a different world in which a different Jimmy Novak gave himself to me as a vessel."

"'Cas is a good guy, though," Gabriel said. "One of the best, in fact. And he did, you know, just save your life."

Amelia nodded, her lips parting but no words passing between them.

"Let's have a look at your leg, Sam," Gabriel said, tugging away the cloth and then straightening up as Claire ran out of the building, her rifle gripped in her hands and her eyes roving. When she caught sight of Castiel standing with her mother, her eyes widened with fear, and she started to bring the rifle up again.

"I don't think so," Gabriel said with a small gesture, plucking it out of her hands. "Your mom has something to tell you."

"Mom?" Claire asked.

"He saved me," Amelia said weakly. "Castiel… He's not the right one. There were demons, and he risked himself to save me. I don't think we can kill him."

Claire's face fell. "But…Dad?"

"Not the same angel," Sam said. "I told you. This Castiel is a hero."

Claire looked between her mother and Castiel, her face blank with shock, and then tears flooded her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. "I have to," she sobbed.

Amelia went to Claire and pulled her into her arms. She stroked her hair and patted her back as she whispered, "I know you thought you needed to, so did I, but the one that did that to us, to your dad, is already gone."

Gabriel coughed softly. "I think we should leave them to it. Castiel obviously isn't a wanted man anymore, so we can relax on that particular nightmare. Besides, Sam's got a burn to fix up." He clapped his hands together and said, "Let's go see Ellen."

Sam watched Castiel as he stared at Amelia and Claire with a strange look of longing before taking flight away. Gathering his remaining strength, Sam followed.

He thought his friend was safe from Claire now at least, and that was one less danger in this nightmare of a world. Gabriel was going to heal him, then he'd be fine.

He didn't think Claire was going to heal from her emotional wounds quite as fast.

So… That was AU!Claire. I was excited when I realized she was a character I could play with in this world. I don't like her particularly, but her history with Castiel was something fun to explore in this situation.

Until next time…

Jadey xxx