- So, apparently, I... Like... Forgot to post chapter 98? The fuck? Who does that? Anyway, Chapter 98, titled "If I Had to Bet on Anything," is now posted, Chapter 99, titled "Figure it Out" has been moved to its appropriate place, and here's Chapter 100, "I Heard Your Call." My bizzle, famalam.
Piper let her thoughts wander as she watched miles of scenery go by through Baby's passenger window. It was silent in the car, the air thick with tension. Sam's lies, the hopelessness of the situation, and the ultimatum Death had handed down all made it hard to know what to say.
So instead of trying to force conversation, Piper thought about Cass.
Specifically, she thought about their meeting with the angel on a park bench after failing to prevent Samhain from rising. There had been too much going on then to give Cass her full attention, like Dean lying about remembering hell and Sam lying about demon blood and psychic powers. As they drove yet again to confront their friend, Piper remembered Cass' halted, cautious words on the park bench. She remembered him telling them that he had doubts, that he wasn't sure what was right and what was wrong. The way he'd asked them not to tell another living soul.
She was certain that that person was still somewhere inside Castiel. Maybe buried beneath an untold number of souls, beneath untold power, but she was certain he was there.
And if he was there, she could reach her friend and guide him back to the light.
Cass… She swallowed hard. Cass, if you can hear me… Or if you even care to listen, I'm sorry.
Cass was still the being who'd confessed his uncertainty to them on that brisk, sunny day. Overpowered now, yes, but still struggling to do what was right. She wished he'd never lied to them, never gone behind their backs, but she was willing to acknowledge that they hadn't been the most atttentive friends when they'd had their year away. Or, hell, Cass had never had actual friends before, maybe he'd had no idea that coming to them had been a possibility.
Before the youngest Winchester had conked out in the backseat, the three of them had been throwing around ideas on how to get Cass to the lab. They'd come up with precisely nothing. Brute force wasn't going to work, and Piper doubted even a traditional summoning spell would be effective.
They hadn't tried just asking yet, though.
I know you're feeling cornered, and probably pretty scared, and maybe a little overwhelmed. I just want you to know that I - that we - are here for you. The souls from Purgatory are killing you, Cass, Death said so himself. Please. Please, let us help you.
Piper bit her lip.
You're my best friend, Cass. I need you.
She waited for a beat, not really believing anything would come of it, and was surprised that she still had the capability to be disappointed.
While she was ruminating on that, a familiar fluttering sound in the backseat had her swivelling to stare at Cass, who had just appeared. He was covered in blood, his chest heaving as he tried to draw in a breath. His face was smattered with open sores, oozing clear puss and more blood. Sam startled awake, giving an involuntary sound of surprise as he scooted away from the mess Cass was already smearing onto the leather of the Impala.
Dean's gonna bitch about that, Piper thought, a touch hysterically.
"Cass," she breathed.
The car jerked as Dean flinched, then corrected. "What the fuck?!"
"I heard your call," Cass said, ignoring Dean.
"What call?" Dean snapped.
Cass continued to pay absolutely no attention to him and focused solely on Piper. "I need your help."
Piper gently helped Cass prop himself up against one of the lab tables. She was frowning at the dirty floor, but he had blatantly refused to sit in a chair. She suspected it was a self-worth issue, but she wasn't sure how hard she should argue for him just sitting on a damn stool. Plus, Cass had always been rather good at ignoring whatever he didn't want to address.
Like he was ignoring her right now.
"We need the right blood," he was saying to Sam. "There's a small jar, end of the hall, supply closet."
Sam nodded. "Got it." His long stride quickly ate up ground as he hurried out of the lab.
Dean and Bobby were moving a table out of their way and Piper stood to help them before Cass' hand, gentle on her calf, stopped her. She turned again to look down at him.
His blue eyes were soft pleading. "Piper…"
"Do you need something else?" She knelt beside him.
"No, I… Feel regret, about you, and what I did to Sam."
"Yeah, well, you should," Dean snapped from across the room. He and Bobby came over to stand next to them.
"Dean," Piper scolded.
"He's right," Cass said quickly. "If there was time, Dean, if I was strong enough, I'd fix him now." He looked back at Piper. "I just wanted to make amends before I die."
She smiled. "It's okay, Cass. I get it."
Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes. Bobby just looked on, silent and wary. Cass looked over at them, then just at Dean.
"Is it working?"
Dean shrugged. "Does it make you feel better?"
"No. You?"
"Not a bit."
Cass' face fell and Piper died a little on the inside.
"Would the two of you cut it out?" she snapped. She glared at the angel in front of her. "You are gonna be fine, do you understand me? You are not going to die. We're gonna get the souls out of you, jam them back into Purgatory, and you are going to be fine." She looked over her shoulder to glare at her husband. "And you. Behave."
Dean scowled and turned sharply on his heel. "I'm gonna go get Sam," he said tightly. "We only have a few minutes. You'd better get Mr. Redemption there on his feet, Pipes." His voice gentled around the familiar nickname like it always did, but she could tell he was angry by the set of his shoulders.
Dammit.
She helped Bobby get Cass on his feet, and together they guided him to stand in front of the wall they planned to paint the symbols on to open the door to Purgatory again. Cass swayed on his feet, so Piper slung one of his arms over her shoulder. "It'll be all right, Cass, you'll see," she murmured.
"Your faith is touching," Cass slurred. "Misplaced, but touching."
Before she could argue, Dean was coming back into the lab. He had the jar of blood they needed, but he was frowning down at it.
"Dean?" Piper asked.
"Sam is…" He met her eyes. "I, uh, I dunno where Sam is."
Piper frowned, too. "What? He just went down the hall, didn't he?"
"We can look for him once the ritual's done," Bobby said firmly. "But we got a time limit on this."
Piper hated the idea of Sam lost or hurt somewhere in this awful, cold, dirty building, and she could see that Dean hated it, too. Bobby was right, though.
Maybe Cass can help us once he's all healed up, she thought, her optimism ringing falsely even in her own head.
"Let's do this, then," Dean said, opening the jar and dipping his fingers in blood.
They watched quietly while he painted the symbol surprisingly fast. It only took a few minutes, and Piper felt a flash of pride that he'd done it purely from memory. That's my man, she thought smugly.
Once he was done, Bobby pulled the piece of paper he'd brought with him from his coat pocket and began to read. Dean and he took a step back, but Piper refused to move, supporting Cas even when his legs gave out and he had to lean more heavily onto her.
"Ianua magna purgatorii, clausa est ob nos lumine eius ab oculis nostris retento sed nunc stamus ad limen huius ianuae magnae et demisse fideliter perhonorifice paramus aperire eam."
Cas turned to look at her. This close, his face was a disaster, and only her deep affection for him kept her from recoiling in distress.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "For everything."
She opened her mouth to respond, maybe chastise him for his incessant and (in her opinion) unnecessary apologies, but he turned back to look at the symbol on the wall, which was starting to glow and crackle as Bobby read on.
"Creaturae terrificae quarum ungulae et dentes nunquam tetigerunt carnem eius ad mundum nostrum nunc ianua magna, aperta tandem!"
As soon as the last word left Bobby's mouth, the wall crumbled starting at the center of the symbol Dean had painted. It seemed to open into a sort of black vortex, with wind coming from it that tugged at Piper's clothes and hair as well as the pieces of wall.
Without warning, Cass stood straight and shoved Piper to the side. She yelped and went down. She turned and looked up in time to see Cass hold his arms out wide and light explode from his chest, firing into the hole in the wall in a beam as wide as Castiel's chest.
Dean hurried to her and helped her to her feet, then pulled her back and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pressing her back to his chest. Piper stood in front of him, staring at their friend with wide eyes as the souls he'd taken into himself poured back into Purgatory.
After long, almost unbearable minutes, the light stopped, the wall was repaired instantaneously, and Cass collapsed.
"Cass!" Piper darted to him, falling painfully onto her knees so she could reach up and check his pulse.
"Cas?" she said again softly.
Dean and Bobby followed just a beat behind her. Dean gripped Cas' hand for a second. "He's cold."
"Is he breathing?"
Bobby held a hand in front of the still angel's mouth. "No."
"Maybe angels don't need to breathe?" Piper asked, and she hated the desperation in her own voice.
Dean put his arm around her and hugged her tight. "I'm sorry, kitten, I think he's gone."
Piper felt tears sting her eyes but she fought them back ruthlessly. They got to their feet slowly, and despite herself, Piper wasn't able to peel her eyes away from Castiel, lying still on the ground. She bit her lip and leaned against Dean, who wrapped his arms around her tightly and held her to him.
"Dammit, Cass," Dean muttered, pressing a kiss to Piper's temple. "Why didn't you just listen to me?"
A beat after the words were uttered, Cass' blue eyes opened, his skin restored itself, the blood vanished from his face and clothes, and he took in a shallow, quick breath.
"Cass!" Piper shouted again, rushing to help him stand.
"That was… Unpleasant." Even just his voice sounded better, less strained.
"Easy, there," Dean cautioned as they got him on his feet.
"I'm alive," Cass said, faint disbelief in his voice.
"Looks like," Bobby said dryly.
"I'm astonished." After a beat, Cass looked at each of them in turn. "Thank you. All of you."
Bobby shrugged. "We were mostly just… Y'know. Trying to save the world."
Cass winced. "I'm ashamed. I overreached."
Piper opened her mouth to argue, but Dean spoke before she could. "You think?"
Cass kept switching his gaze between the three of them. "I'm gonna find some way to redeem myself to you."
"Of course you are," Piper said vehemently.
"All right, well, one thing at a time," Dean said skeptically. "Let's just get you out of here and find Sam, all right?" They all started toward the hallway Sam had gone down.
"I mean it," Cass insisted. "Dean, I-"
The angel stopped and cried out, doubling over in pain.
"Cass?" Piper asked, hurrying toward him to help.
He flung his hand out, keeping her away. He managed to look up at them, and Piper's heart stopped when she saw the blood pooling at the corners of his eyes.
"You need to run! Now! I can't hold them back!"
"Hold who back?!" Dean asked, grabbing Piper's arm in an iron grip.
"They held on inside me," Cass moaned, his face contorting in pain. "Oh, they're so strong."
"Who, Cass?!" Piper felt like her heart was going to hammer itself out of her chest.
"Leviathan!" Cass roared, and Piper felt Dean tug her a step back. Bobby was suddenly on her other side, also trying to pull her away.
"I can't fight them," Cass growled, his teeth grinding together. "Run! Find Sam and run!"
"Let's go!" Dean shouted, finally yanking Piper away. She went with him, and the three of them actually got a few steps away before a cold, nasally voice, completely unlike Castiel's, stopped them in their tracks.
"Oops," the voice said cheerfully. "Too late."
Piper whirled to stare. Whatever it was that was wearing Cass now was standing tall, flexing its fingers and shaking its shoulders out. Cass' face was stretched in a gruesome grin that made Piper's heart ache and her hands tremble as Dean came to stand next to her, staring in horror.
"Cass?" he asked.
The thing's face lit up. "Oh, Cass? He's…" It shrugged. "He's dead. Gone. We run the show now." Another terrible smile as blood fell from the thing's eyes and leaked between its teeth.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun."
- Feedback gets my motor running.
- I come by any mistakes here honestly, but feel free to point them out so I can correct them.
- Holy shit. 100 chapters. That's bananas.
