Hi! I know it's been a while, but I've been working here and there on a handful of other Cas related short stories (and one Dean-centric one?!), but I will always come back to Cas and Amriel. Thanks so much for all of your comments, messages, favorites, and follows. It means the world to me and keeps me going.
Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.
Chapter Fifty Five: Promises
Amriel woke up the next morning on the couch Cas had been asleep on when she curled up on the armchair, and Cas was nowhere in sight.
Sitting up, Amriel combed her fingers through her hair and looked around, wondering where he had gone. She took a deep breath and reached out with her grace, smiling when she felt him right outside of the cabin.
"Cas? Cas? Castiel? Amriel?" Kelly's voice called from upstairs, and the blonde quickly stood up from the couch and hurried to find her, hearing the door open and Cas's footsteps following as well.
"Kelly, what's going on?" she asked, watching the pregnant woman before her with concern.
"Is everything okay?" Castiel's voice came from behind the blonde, and Kelly shook her head before she finally nodded.
"No, the baby… I think it's time," Kelly told the angels, and Amriel felt both her own panic as well as Cas's fill her instantly.
"Everything's gonna be fine," Cas reassured the woman, taking charge and helping her back to her room so she could get into bed.
Amriel hovered in the doorway as Cas helped Kelly through her labor pains, until she noticed a flash of light from the window. She walked over cautiously and peered out the window, noticing that the rift was now glowing brighter than it had been the night before.
"Cas, the rift is getting brighter," she told him through their link, "I'm going to call Sam and Dean. Keep Kelly calm."
She saw him shoot her a glance and nod before turning his attention back to Kelly, and Amriel excused herself to go downstairs. When she finally got a hold of Sam, he told her that he, Dean, and Mary were already on their way. Apparently there were all sorts of massive power outages and other weird biblical events that had led them to find an address associated with James Novak in North Cove, Washington.
"We'll be there soon, maybe ten minutes," Sam told her, and Amriel hung up feeling reassured that they would be here to help.
Upstairs, she could hear Cas telling Kelly what he saw when Jack showed him the future, what he showed to her, and as the lights began to flicker, a car pulled up to the house.
Amriel went outside and met the Winchesters, relief flooding her until Sam asked if the house was warded as she led them inside.
"Yes, heavily," Cas answered as he hit the landing of the first floor.
"Heavy enough to stop Lucifer?" Dean asked, and Cas tilted his head, confused.
"You and Kelly just taking off was a stupid move, but at least you got Amriel out here with you now. But there's no way we're letting Lucifer get his hands on that kid," Sam told him, and Cas went to argue, but Dean cut him off.
"Look, Sam's right, okay? We'll work through our crap, we always do. But right now, we're here to get you two, get Kelly, and get gone."
"She can't be moved," Cas told Dean, "She's having a -"
The sounds of Kelly groaning upstairs filled the air, and Mary said that she would check on the woman.
"How much time do you think we have?" Amriel asked the brothers, and Sam gave a shrug, saying that he didn't know.
"Hey, if he shows, can you just flame on again? Dean looked at Cas, and Amriel's gaze narrowed in confusion. "Can you torch Lucifer like you did Dagon?"
"I- I don't know. No, that wasn't me. That was the child, and in case you haven't noticed, he's a little busy-"
Dean suddenly bent over and grasped at his knee, groaning, "Aahh, son of a bitch."
Amriel pushed past Cas and was at Dean's side, pressing her fingers against his head gently and healing him quickly.
She pulled away and stepped back, Dean thanking her in the process. It caught her off guard to hear the sincerity in his voice, and she could only nod in response.
"All right, we should double check the warding," Sam said as he started to walk to the back door. Cas quickly whirled around to follow him, telling him to wait, but Sam didn't listen. "Right. So listen, if we, uh…"
Amriel saw him open the door and see the rift, and her heart sank.
"Cas? Wh-what is that?" Sam asked, turning back to look at him.
"It's a tear in space and time," he answered simply. "It's a doorway to another world."
"Anoth- What, like Narnia?" Dean asked, and Cas shook his head.
"No, no. Through there it's Earth, but… but different. It's a-" he trailed off, and Amriel finished for him, "It's an alternate reality."
The four walked out into the back yard and towards the rift, careful not to get too close.
"So it's a Bizarro world? Or- or like the place we got zapped to where we were, uh, actors on a TV show," Sam tried to put things into his own terms.
"Oh, yeah. The supernatural wasn't real," Dean nodded.
"Yeah," Sam confirmed.
"And you were Polish," Dean went on.
"R-right," the taller man nodded again before turning his attention to the angels, "Wait. How did this get here?"
"Well, with the child being born, his power… It seems to be puncturing the fabric of our universe," Cas explained.
"Awesome," Dean deadpanned.
"Yeah, and what exactly is on the other side?" Sam asked, and Amriel shook her head and grabbed onto his arm, tugging him away from the rift he had been gravitating towards.
"You don't wanna know," she told him, glancing over her shoulder at Cas.
"Probably not, but we need to," Dean sighed.
"Okay, fine. We'll show you," Castiel nodded, and the four of them went through the rift.
Amriel kept a careful eye on the brothers, making sure they didn't wander too far off into the alternate universe.
"Whoa. What is this?" Sam asked, looking around the barren wasteland.
"As I said, it's- it's Earth. But this Earth is locked in eternal war between Heaven and Hell. There are armies of angels fighting hordes of demons, and the few humans that remain are caught in between," Cas explained to them.
"And how do you know that?" Sam prodded, wandering a little more than Amriel would like. She quickly reached out and used her grace to tug him back towards her, earning a confused look in response.
"A friend told me," Cas answered carefully, avoiding just who exactly had told him.
"Oh good. Now you're makin' friends?" Dean rolled his eyes. "That's… All right, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is this?"
"I don't know. I gotta say, a, uh, hole in reality to a bombed out Apocalypse world? I'm gonna go with 11," Sam sighed.
"Sounds about right," Dean nodded.
"You don't have to worry," Castiel told them. "The child, he opened this door. He'll close it."
Amriel had to fight back rolling her eyes, still baffled by how Cas could hold so much faith in the nephilim.
"You sure about that?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing at the blonde angel who merely shrugged.
"I have faith," Cas nodded resolutely.
"Really?" Dean tilted his head, "In your unborn baby-God?"
"Yes," the angel nodded again.
"Well, then you're a dumbass," Dean snapped back.
Amriel turned her attention to a movement that had caught her eye in the mist, and she noticed a hooded figure moving towards them. She pulled out her angel blade, and Sam pulled out his gun, calling out to Dean and Cas.
"Hey! Hands in the air!" Dean yelled to the hooded figure, but Cas put up his hands.
"No, don't!" he stopped the brothers, and the figure removed the scarf covering his face.
"Bobby?" Sam asked, a look of recognition on his face and Amriel looked at the figure, noticing that she had seen him before.
"Do I know you?" the man named Bobby asked.
Sam nodded, "Bobby… Sam. Dean. Cas. Amriel."
"Uh-huh…" Bobby stared at the taller man blankly. "You say that like it's supposed to mean something to me, but… naw."
"Sam, this is Bobby, but it's not your B-" Cas started, but Dean interrupted him.
"Bobby, it's us. Sam and Dean Winchester."
"The only Winchester I ever heard of was John," Bobby told him.
"Yeah. John Winchester, our father," Sam nodded.
"Doubt it. He's dead. Been dead over 40 years now. Only reason I know about him is this hunter I ran with, Mary Campbell. You get a few pints of shine into her, and she always told the same story about the man she loved- John Winchester. Azazel killed her about 10 years ago," Bobby frowned.
Dean frowned, and Sam turned to Cas, asking him what the hell was going on.
"This is a world where you were never born. It's a world you never saved," Cas answered solemnly, staring out into the distance as he spoke.
"When this whatever opened up, all sorts'a alarms went off back at my place. I got here just in time to see your boy get ambushed by a tempter demon," Bobby explained how he met Castiel.
"A what?" Dean asked, clearly confused.
"It's, um… black eyes, pointed teeth, horns," Cas described, and Dean groaned.
"Wait a second. Demons have horns now?" Sam gaped.
"Whole new world, Sam," his brother sighed, clearly exasperated.
"Usually I gun down flyboys on sight. But, uh, he looked… Different," Bobby motioned to Cas. "Wasn't wearing a necklace made out of baby ears, for one thing."
"We got to talking about where I came from and our two worlds," Cas continued before nodding back to Bobby.
"From what he says, pretty much peaches and cream on your side."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, but it's better than this," Dean motioned around him.
"Well, I don't know. Ain't so bad here, if you like killing angels," Bobby shrugged.
"And you do?" Sam asked curiously.
"It's my hobby and my passion," Bobby answered with a small smile, "So… I figured, it's only a matter of time before the dicks upstairs get wind'a this. And when they show, me and Rufus go to work. He's loaded with a hundred rounds, cast from old angel blades."
"Wait, angel-killing bullets? Awesome," Dean grinned, but that grin was quickly wiped off of his face after the two angels glared at him.
"I think it's time we get going," Amriel said to try and ease the tension. "It was… good meeting you, Bobby."
The hunter nodded at her in response, and the blonde corralled the brothers back through the rift before taking Castiel's hand and pulling him through with her.
Back in their world, Cas asked if Dean was all right.
"No, Cas. Pretty far from all right. I mean, we've got Lucifer on this side, we've got Mad Max World on that side. I mean, yeah, we've been down before, but this? I-I mean, I don't even know where to start."
Dean sounded exasperated, and Amriel felt a similar way.
But before she could express her sentiments, Crowley appeared in the yard with the four of them.
"Oh, come on!" Dean groaned, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Hello, boys…" Crowley greeted, "And ever lovely Amriel. Again. You look wonderful darling, as per usual."
"Wait a second, how the hell did you-" Sam was cut off by the former King of Hell, who held up his bloody, bandaged hand where he removed the knife.
"I improvised. Lucky I did, too. Turns out I'm the answer to all your problems," Crowley smirked.
Cas pulled Amriel aside while Sam and Dean talked with Crowley, and told her that he needed to go and speak with Kelly.
"Do… Do you want me to come with you?" she asked, taking his hand and squeezing it gently.
He nodded silently, squeezing her hand back and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Together, they went into the house and up the stairs, and Castiel knocked on the door, peeking his head in.
"May we speak with her?" he asked, and Mary nodded, saying that she'd be back.
Once Mary was gone, Kelly set her eyes on him and narrowed her gaze, "Okay, Cas… What's wrong?"
Amriel sat on the edge of the bed beside Kelly, taking her hand and letting the woman squeeze if she needed to, as Cas quietly told her about what was happening with the rift and how he, Amriel, and the Winchesters were going to make sure the baby would be safe once he was born.
"Don't worry, Kelly. It will be fine," Cas reassured as he stood up. "Remember- paradise."
Amriel stood and followed him out of the room, only for Cas to stop and turn to face her.
"Elle, I… I want you to stay here with Mary and Kelly," he told her softly, but sternly. "If we're going up against Lucifer… I can't risk him hurting you."
"Cas, we're stronger together than apart. I don't want him to hurt you either. Let me help!" Amriel pleaded, not wanting to let him go without a fight.
Shaking his head, Cas placed both of his hands on her soft cheeks and pressed a firm kiss to her lips.
"Lucifer won't be able to stop me. I have too much to live for," he smiled down at her, pushing her hair up and out of her face. "I love you so much, no matter what we're going through. Just… Stay here. Be here for the baby when he comes into this world. He'll need one of us when he arrives."
Amriel finally nodded, leaning her forehead against his and taking a deep breath before saying, "Okay. But you better come back to me. I promise to make things right between us."
"I will, Elle. I promise," Cas flashed her a smile before kissing her once more.
He stepped back and ran his thumb over her lips and cheek, nodding at her one final time before turning and disappearing down the stairs.
Mary finally made her presence known to the blonde angel, not wanting to let on that she had seen the entire exchange. She smiled at Amriel and patted her on the shoulder before leading her back to Kelly in the bedroom.
"Alright, let's bring a baby into the world!"