Author's Note:
Ahah, I won't lie, part of the reason this took so long is because I was playing the sims... but hey, at least we're finally finished with Sympathy for the Devil! It only took like four chapters. I can't tell you how many times I've watched that episode by now.
I'm not totally satisfied with the flow of this chapter, but I'm tired of fighting with it for now. I may at some point decide to come back and fix it up a bit but we'll see.
Damn Angels
It rained the whole drive to the locker. Dean was on edge, the buzz, as he'd started calling it in his head, was driving him mad. Their encounter with Meg had somehow made Dean even more hyper-aware of its presence. Any time he was able to draw his thoughts away from the borderline panic at the edge of his mind, the buzz was there. It felt like it was searching for something, not that Dean knew what that something was. He didn't even know why he was so certain that the buzz was searching in the first place.
Dean bit the inside of his cheek to distract himself as they pulled up beside the storage locker. He continued to think very deliberately about his current mission while he and Sam suited up.
They hadn't told the demons where the sword was, but that didn't mean they weren't followed. Better safe than sorry was what kept hunters alive.
Dean made the executive decision that he would be the one to open the door. Sam would stay back, out of sight of anything that was waiting for them inside. Tactically, it made sense to have someone ready to take a possible assailant by surprise. Dean would be lying, though, if he tried to say it wasn't also an excuse to keep Sammy out of the line of fire as long as possible. Sam gave him a look that said he knew what Dean was doing but conceded nonetheless.
Dean unlocked the door as quietly as possible and pushed the door aside. He peered inside, gun at the ready, and moved cautiously into the locker. There was a devil's trap on the floor (predictable), but no sign of any actual demons so far. The buzz, too, was relatively quiet. Dean wasn't quite ready to trust it with his life yet, though, never mind trusting it with Sam's.
He heard Sam move into the room behind him. Dean was about to declare the room clear when he was interrupted by an infuriatingly familiar voice.
"Nice work handling those demons back there. Didn't even tell them where the sword is," Zachariah emerged from the darkness once again flanked by his two angelic flunkies. The buzz gave a little jump. Did Zachariah know?
"Of course you douchebags are here," Dean snapped. He was still mostly in denial about what happened with the demons, but the angels knowing about it would almost definitely spell bad news for him.
"And to think," Zachariah continued, unaware of Dean's growing panic, "it was right in front of them the whole time. They could have grabbed it whenever they wanted!"
"What does that mean?" Sam looked about as pissed as Dean felt.
"We didn't lie, you know. We did lose the Michael sword. We really couldn't find it, until you two hand-delivered it to us, that is."
Shit. Dean had a feeling he knew where Zachariah was going with this and it was Not Good with a capital 'N'.
"We don't have anything," Dean said. He desperately hoped he was wrong about this.
Zachariah rolled his eyes, "It's you, chucklehead. You're the Michael Sword."
Dean's heart dropped into his stomach.
"What, you thought you could kill Lucifer yourselves? That's Michael's job, but he can't do it without his vessel. That's where you come in."
Despite himself, Dean felt a flicker of hope. Maybe Zachariah didn't know after all. Being a vessel was bad news, plain and simple. Somehow,though, something deep inside Dean told him that Zachariah knowing about the buzz would be infinitely worse.
"I'm his vessel?" He couldn't celebrate yet, it still wasn't clear exactly how much Zachariah did know.
"You catch on quick, maybe you aren't quite as hopelessly dull as I thought." Zachariah looked way too smug for Dean's liking.
"Wait, if Dean is Michael's vessel," Sam cut in, "then what are you still doing here? Why not just grab him and disappear?"
It took a moment for Dean to catch what Sam was alluding to, but then it dawned on him.
"You can't just take me. You need my consent!"
"Unfortunately," Zachariah's expression was sour. Dean was getting a little tired of being looked at like the scum on his shoe.
"Well then I hate to say it, but the answer is no." Dean was pretty sure by now that he was in the clear as far as odd buzzes went, but that didn't mean the danger had passed.
"See that just won't cut it this time. The war's already started, whether you like it or not. We need our general and our general, however unfortunately, needs you. Which is why I am completely and utterly through screwing around." Zachariah pointed a finger gun at Dean before slowly sliding over to Sam.
"Bang," was all he said, and Sam fell to the ground with a cry of pain.
Dean felt the buzz rattle furiously inside him but he fought to keep it under control. He was pretty sure by now that Zachariah didn't know about it and he intended to keep it that way.
"You son of a bitch," he bit out, "the answer's still no."
"Well how about this then. You say yes, and we'll heal you from, oh how about, stage four stomach cancer?"
Dean's response died in his throat at the next voice that spoke up.
"That won't be necessary."
"Cas!"
Cas was alive. It made no goddamn sense, but gift horse; mouth.
Zachariah's flunkies were on him in seconds.
"Cas, look out!" Dean shouted, but Cas had already pulled out his blade and caught the first flunky in the throat. The room was briefly drowned in burning white light. The second angel didn't go down so easily, but Cas was relentless, and eventually, Zachariah was the only one left.
"How are you-"
"Alive?" Castiel interrupted, "It's a good question. How did these two end up on that airplane?" he gestured to Sam and Dean, "Another good question because the angels didn't do it."
Dean raised his eyebrows, if not the angels then who…
"I think we both know the answer," Castiel continued. His gaze was still fixed on Zachariah, who looked furious.
"No," Zachariah started, "that's impossible-"
"It scares you," Cas interrupted for the second time, "Well it should. Now put Sam back together and go."
Zachariah looked pissed, but he wisely followed Castiel's orders. Finally, Cas turned to look at them, "You two need to be more careful," he said.
"Yeah, I'm starting to get that. Apocalypse and all." Dean responded, Sam, groaned to his feet behind him.
Cas shook his head, "It's not just that. Lucifer is already circling his vessel, and once he takes it those hex bags won't be enough-"
"Woah woah woah hold on, back up, Lucifer needs a vessel?" Dean asked.
"Yes, despite his fall he is still, in essence, an archangel. He needs a vessel to walk the earth just as Michael does," Cas answered. And damn, being Michael's vessel wasn't ideal but Dean couldn't imagine being the poor bastard destined to house the literal devil. Dean was pulled out of his by the sound of Cas's voice.
"None of that is important right now. What's important is that once Lucifer claims his vessel, your hex bags will be of no use in hiding you from him,"
Almost before he had even finished speaking, Cas was pressing a hand to each of their chests. White-hot pain exploded from inside Dean's sternum.
The last thing Dean saw before he passed out was Cas's shocked face.
He was floating again. The light was closer now, practically on top of him. The glowing tendrils were mingling with his limbs almost like they were a part of him. The voices were quieter this time, a soft murmur in the emptiness around him. They made him feel less alone in the vastness of the void.
He was drifting aimlessly, listening to quiet chatter, when a single voice rose above the others.
"-ean? Dean!"
A new light flickered to life in the distance, it felt both foreign and familiar at the same time.
"Dean," came the voice once again, and he realised it was coming from the direction of the new light. The voice was fitting, he decided.
"Dean, can you hear me? D-"
"-ean!
Dean jerked upright, narrowly avoiding headbutting Cas in the nose.
"Whas'goinon?!" he slurred. He swung his head around blearily and noted they were still in the lockup. A hand landed on his shoulder and Sam's face slid into view.
"Geez, Dean. Cas tried to use his mojo on us and you passed out!" he said.
"What? How long was I out?" Dean tried to listen to the answer but the buzz wouldn't let him focus. It was like someone had turned it up to eleven.
"-ean? Are you listening?" oh. That was Cas.
"Yeah….. Sorry, say that again?" Dean shoved the buzz as deep down inside of him as it would go.
"You were only out for a few moments, but my grace should not have caused such a strong reaction from you at all." Cas's eyes were narrowed. Sam looked worried, but Cas looked suspicious.
Well, Dean had to ask someone. Cas wasn't the worst option.
"Uhh, about that, could being near Lucifer's grace have… done something?" he asked.
"Done something?" Cas repeated.
"Like could it have… messed something up. Inside me, I mean." Dean continued.
Cas furrowed his brow, "That depends on what you mean by inside." he said.
"I mean like…" dammit this wasn't working, new approach then, "Ok, so ever since Lucifer escaped there's been this- this buzzing. In my head. And it never stops, and when there are demons around it really freaks out, and I've been having weird dreams, and weird things have been happening, and I just want to know what the hell is going on!" Dean winced when he finished. Maybe he wasn't as calm about this as he thought.
"I knew there was something you weren't telling me! What the hell Dean?" Sam was giving him those hurt puppy eyes that always made Dean feel like the worst brother in the entire world.
"We had bigger things to deal with!" he defended himself anyway.
Cas interrupted whatever Sam was going to say next, "I believe I may have an idea of what's going on," the shock was back, "But it shouldn't be possible. I need to investigate further, but not here. We aren't safe here."
"Bobby's then," Dean decided.
"Yes, that would be wise," Cas agreed, he started to reach for their foreheads but Dean dodged his hand.
"Woah, no way. We're driving, Cas," he said.
"But-" Cas began
"Nope, I've had enough angel weirdness today, and uhh," he glanced guiltily at Sam, "Sam and I have some stuff to talk about."
"You think?" Sam looked unimpressed.
Cas was clearly against them driving, but he relented nonetheless, "Fine," he said, "I will meet you there. If you encounter any trouble-"
"We'll call you. Promise," that seemed to satisfy Cas for now, and he disappeared moments later.
Dean glanced at Sam, and yep, he was definitely still pissed, but he was right to be. Dean owed him an explanation.
"C'mon Sammy. If we're talking about this, I need to eat first," he said, heading out of the storage locker and towards the Impala.
"You're not getting out of this," Sam called after him.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, Sam, now get in the damn car."
Sam huffed but only closed the passenger side door a little harder than usual.
Dean pulled out of the parking lot and tried not to feel like he was driving to his execution.
Author's Note:
I considered ending the chapter when Dean passed out but I figured you guys had waited too long to deserve a cliffhanger like that. Thanks for your patience, I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner!
