Thank you so much SamGirlDeanCurious for beta'ing and VegasGranny and Ncsupnatfan for pre-reading xxx

Chapter Eleven

Hannah said she wanted to stay to assist the 'cleanup crew' so they left her in Colorado and Castiel brought them back to the motel room they'd left from.

As soon as they arrived, Sam's eyes moved around the room, searching for his brother. He wasn't there, and Sam hesitated for a moment over whether to call him or not. He wanted to make sure he was okay, but at the same time, he didn't want to distract him while he was going after a hellhound.

He decided not to risk it, to wait, and instead turned his attention to Jack who was perched on the bed and looking uncomfortable as this world's Dean and Castiel busied themselves cleaning weapons and making coffee while Jessica leaned against the wall beside Sam.

"You okay, Jack?" he asked.

Jack nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I am just feeling… strange."

"Figures," Dean said. "You went in expecting a fight and came out with nothing more than itchy feet."

Sam frowned. "It's better that no one was killed by us, Jack."

"I know. Even the demons that reached the gym were held back by the salt line. I was just expecting to be able to help more. Even though I didn't kill anyone, many died when the demons were exorcised. I would have liked to be able to help them."

"So would I," Castiel said, drawing a confused look from his version of Dean. "I have been cut off from Heaven for a long time, but I still haven't accepted the fact I can't heal. Dean's eye especially."

Dean shrugged. "I've adapted."

Castiel's lips pressed into a thin line. "Yes, you have."

"You've done plenty without healing us, Cas," Jessica said. Her tone wasn't kind as Sam expected it to be. She was stating a fact. She seemed different from the woman that had lain with him in his world, the woman that had given herself over to joy.

Dean poured himself a coffee then jerked his head towards the pot and said, "It's ready."

Sam shouldn't be surprised that Dean wasn't serving them, he obviously wasn't the kind of man that indulged in common courtesy, he still noted another difference between this version and his own brother. His Dean could be crass and moody, but he wasn't usually a jerk. And Sam had his own bad days, too.

He wondered what he would have been met with had he met this world's version of himself before he was trapped in Hell. He had a feeling that when they did meet, this Sam wasn't going to be the same man that was trapped by Lilith over a decade ago. He was going to be a wreck. That worried Sam as they had no guarantee Castiel was going to be able to rebuild the wall Death had created in Sam to protect him from his Cage memories.

Sam poured a coffee for himself, Jessica, and Jack, then pulled a chair away from the table and sat down. Dean perched on Jessica's bed and stretched his legs out in front of him while Jessica sat opposite.

"The second trial," Dean said, "that's the one that's going to get Sammy back, right?"

"Yes. It's to rescue an innocent soul from Hell."

"And how do we get into Hell?" Dean asked. "Because it took Cas and a garrison to get Dad out, and I don't think the three angels we've got can pull it off."

"No, it's got to be John that does it," Sam said. "Alone. There is a way into Hell if we can find a willing reaper. We had one in our world that helped us, but I have no idea if we can find him here. Our world… things had changed. Reapers and angels that followed the path before, were loyal to the rules, went off the rails after the apocalypse."

"We've never had much to do with reapers," Jessica said. "There was one that we saved when Alastair was breaking a seal, but we've not seen her since."

"Reapers are loyal," Castiel said. "We're going to struggle to find one that will break rules for us."

Dean set down his mug on the bedside table hard, sloshing some of the coffee over the side, and said, "Well we're going to have to. Sammy needs us to find a reaper, we're damn well going to get one." He crossed his arms over his chest. "It's not in question."

"We will," Sam said. "Even if we can't find Tess or Ajay—the one that helped us—we've got a store of lore in the bunker that will help us find one."

"What is the bunker?" Castiel asked.

"It's our home," Jack said. "It's amazing."

"It's kinda everything," Sam said. "It is where we live, but it's also where we work. It's got pretty much all the lore in the world on record there and a wealth of weapons. We've been there years and we still haven't finished finding out everything about it."

"It's pretty impressive," Jessica said. "I think John would be pretty interested in the library."

Dean nodded and then looked to the window as the sound of an engine approached and cut off outside the room. Jessica stood and opened the door. "They're back," she said. "And… Whoa."

Sam jumped to his feet and moved to the door as John, Dean, and Castiel climbed out of the truck and stumped to the door. John passed him without a word and sank down onto the side of the bed but Sam's Dean held up his hands and said, "I'm fine. We're fine. Cas healed us."

Sam gaped at the bloodstain on the leg of his jeans. It was huge. Dean had lost a lot of blood. "What happened?" he asked.

"Hellhound," John said gruffly. He turned to his son. "It's done."

Dean nodded. "Good."

"And it was you, John?" Sam asked nervously.

His own Dean answered, a touch of annoyance in his tone despite his wide smile. "Yeah, I just provided background noise while John went in for the kill. The first trial is done, and John is already showing the changes."

Sam was relieved that the first trial was done but he was nervous about the fact Dean had been hurt, too. He'd known it was a risk, but that was a big bloodstain and that made him worry.

"What changes?" Jessica asked.

Castiel started to answer, "His body is changing on a molecular level…" but Sam's Dean answered, saying, "You'll get damn sick."

John's own family accepted the news with nods and no sign of concern, not even Jessica, but Sam wanted to reassure them anyway. "It starts out okay, then will feeling like the flu from Hell, but—"

"But I'll be dead soon after so it's a moot point," John said brutally. "I know. When can we start the next trial?"

"As soon as we have a reaper," Sam said. "We can start looking now. There's a place in Kansas City where we met one before that I'll check, but if not, we'll go to lore."

Sam's brother yawned and said, "We better get started then. You got sick fast after the first trial, Sammy, so we've got to get it going before John's weakened."

"We will," Sam's Castiel said. "But first you and John need to rest. You lost blood that I cannot replenish. You're going to feel weak for a while."

"I'll be fine," Dean said as John glowered. "We'll fill up on sugar."

Castiel nodded then shared a look of understanding with himself from this world and said, "Perhaps you would like to change first. You both looked macabre."

John got to his feet and said, "Yeah. I want to clean up."

The Dean that belonged to this world said, "There's stuff in our room that you can wear, Dean. You're only a little smaller than me."

Sam's Dean snorted. "Dude, we're the same person."

"Yeah, but I've bulked up fighting demons. You're still a little scrawny."

Sam hid a laugh with a cough at the furious look on his brother's face and said, "Go change, Dean. I'll get the juice."

He and John got to their feet and walked from the room, them both looking weary. When they were gone, Sam's Castiel stood and said, "I'll be right back."

"What are you doing?" Dean asked suspiciously.

"Ensuring that they rest," he said, then strode from the room with a purposeful look on his face.

Dean sighed and said, "Dad is gonna be pissed if he knocks him out."

"Never mind," Jessica said. "If John is going to Hell next, he needs to be at his strongest. He needs to rest."

"And we need a reaper," Sam said, turning to the Castiel that belonged to this world. "Can you give me a ride to Kansas City? I want to check if Ajay is there."

Castiel nodded. "Yes."

Dean got to his feet, too, and said, "I'm coming."

"No," Sam said. "You guys can stay and keep an eye on Dean and John. If Lilith hears somehow that they killed a hellhound, she is going to want to know how and why, and she might come calling. You've got Jack on side, but he can't kill her. I'm not sure if it technically has to be me that kills her for the seal to break, but we can't risk it. Jack will maybe be able to trap her. I don't know. But you stay."

Dean stared at him for a moment, seeming to be looking right through him, and then nodded curtly.

"Jack, keep an eye on them," Sam said and then addressed Castiel. "We're going to the Industrial District of KC, Missouri. Put me down there and I'll be able to find the place. Ready?"

In answer, Castiel walked towards him and Sam felt the swoop of flight in his stomach and then his feet were hitting the sidewalk in front of a dingy looking bar and the sound of traffic was in his ears.

He looked around, searching for something he recognized from his and Dean's visit. It looked familiar, but Sam guessed industrial areas would look basically the same all over the country. He was going to have to look around on foot.

He set off walking and Castiel fell into step at his side. They had walked for a few minutes and taken a corner before Castiel spoke, and he sounded strangely indifferent to the importance of the question. "Is John going to suffer greatly for these trials?"

Sam glanced at him, seeing the furrowed brow, and answered honestly. "Yes. By the time I reached the third trial, I was in agony. I didn't know if I'd live long enough to finish it. And then after, when I stopped, it was so much worse. John won't stop though."

"Why did you stop?" Castiel asked. "Wouldn't your world be better devoid of demons?"

"Because of Dean," Sam said. "We didn't know for sure it would kill me, though I had a pretty good idea it would with the way I felt. When Dean found out, he came and stopped me just before I was done. He said some things, and…" He sighed. "In the end, I couldn't do it to him. I could see what it would do to him if I had died, and I couldn't let him suffer like that."

"He's important to you," Castiel stated.

"He's my brother," Sam said. "He's more important than anything."

"I think our Dean feels the same way about Sam. He changed so much after he was taken. He'd always been strong, a brilliant fighter, but he was also lighter as a person. He laughed and joked. He and Sam balanced each other out perfectly."

"You said Sam was more reverential," Sam said.

"He was. When we met, I saw the light of faith in his eyes. I did not behave very kindly towards him, but that didn't seem to stop him wanting to please me. He was consumed with stopping Lilith, we all were, but when I spoke to him on the rare occasions, we were together, he really was reverent, as if he was clinging to the faith he'd had when we met. He never forgot that it was angels that saved John. Though he changed over the course of the year as his need to stop Lilith took over and the blood's hold on him grew, he still showed gratitude. He was a good man, a great hunter, and letting Lilith take him is one of my greatest regrets."

"He is a good man," Sam corrected. "He's not dead. He's just trapped. John will get him out."

"I hope so," Castiel said. "I know if anyone is capable of doing it, it would be a Winchester. I have seen them do incredible things." He stopped as they came to an intersection and Sam looked up and down the street before choosing to cross the street and then went on, "What Dean is to you, they are to me."

Sam slowed to look at him for a moment, seeing the intense blue eyes, and said, "You are to them, too, I think. Cas is family to us. He has been for years. He's screwed up badly, and it's come close to breaking what we have, but it's never done it all the way. He's my brother. I don't know your Dean properly, or Jess and John, but I think they probably feel the same way. They just can't show it because they're too taken up with this war you're fighting. When it's over, when Sam is back and the demons gone, things will be better."

Castiel looked pleased for a moment and then his expression became serious and he said, "Your Castiel has made mistakes?"

"We all have," Sam said.

"Yes, but what did he do? If I am warned of what he's done, perhaps I can avoid it."

Sam huffed a laugh. "Sure, okay. Uh… Purgatory. There's a demon called Crowley that persuaded our Cas to help him open a door to Purgatory to take the souls. Don't do that. Purgatory souls include Leviathans which are pretty much the nastiest monster we ever faced. And… uh… Metatron! He was the scribe of god and he's a toady little asshole. He made Cas believe he was going to save Heaven—which was a huge mess—and ended up taking Cas' grace and using it for a spell to expel all angels from Heaven. If you see him—squat, beard, froggy eye—kill him. He might be calling himself Marv and, in our world, he was hiding out in a hotel in New Mexico. Actually, you might want to kill him anyway. It'll save a lot of trouble."

"Your Castiel did a lot of damage," he stated.

"Yeah," Sam said uncomfortably. "But his heart was always in the right place. He hurt when he was trying to help. We've all done that before."

Castiel nodded solemnly. "Is that all?"

"No, there's Lucifer, too, but I don't think that will be an issue since Hell will be closed. Our Cas let himself be used as a vessel to bust Lucifer out of hell to fight the Darkness…" He bit his lip. "About her and God. I don't know what your feelings for him after what's happened to your world, but God didn't abandon you completely. He still knows and watches. He just doesn't interfere. When it came down to it in our world, he came to help us."

Castiel came to a dead stop. "He helped you?

Surprised by his hostile tone, Sam rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah. His sister was about to destroy the world."

"And what does he think Lilith and her demons have done here? Is this world not destroyed?" He shook his head briskly and strode away.

Sam hurried after him, feeling oddly guilty about the way his attempt to comfort had gone so wrong, and then caught his arm and stopped him. "We're here, I think." He walked into the alley they were passing and saw the heavily graffitied walls that Ajay had used to create the door for him. "Yeah, this is it. His cab's not here though."

"There is no reaper here," Castiel said. "I would sense them."

Sam sighed. "Figures that would be too easy. Never mind. We'll go back and then start on the lore when Dean and John are awake."

Castiel nodded. "Yes, but… Do not tell them what you told me about God. I don't think any of them hold residual faith after what they lived through, but there is a chance Sam might have. I don't want that to be destroyed."

Surprised, Sam said, "You care about him, too?" He didn't think Castiel had given a crap about him until well into the year of the apocalypse.

"Living with the Winchesters all this time, hearing the way they speak about him and knowing how much they miss him, it's impossible not to care about him."

Sam stared at him for a moment. So far in this world, he's been struck by the differences in the people here compared to his family. There were huge differences in them all, but there were similarities, too. This version of Castiel was good, just like his was, and he cared.

It was reassuring to see. He thought that Dean, Sam, and Jess were going to need that when the trials were done and John dead. They were going to suffer with his loss.

So… That was Castiel 2.0. I enjoyed writing this scene, getting to know him as a different man to the one we know and love. I wanted to show the similarities as all the other AU characters had been showing the differences.

News: If you do not have me on author alert you might now know that I am now writing Marvel stories under this penname. I have two stories posting currently, one of which is a collab with Snarkymuch called The Difference A Day Makes. They are both Irondad stories, but my solo project - With Great Power - has a more family based setting with other characters as well as Tony. I am loving both of them and hope you will give them a try if Marvel is your thing.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx