Chapter 13 Back on solid ground
Right...and here we are at the end of our journey so far...Final chapter of this little story...But a sequel is in the works (First chapter is done, needs some finishing touches and will be posted as soon as possible)
What can I say, it's been quite a journey...I honestly didn't even think this thing would work, but I really enjoyed working on it. Thanks to everyone who's read, favourited, followed and reviewed, especially to LyleRay and LeeMarieJack, who've had the patience to review every chapter and kept following this story even with my hectic and infrequent updating...Really appreciate it and I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did (and keep an eye out for the sequel :) ).
Enjoy this last chapter, folks. B5 and Supenatural still don't belong to me.
En route to Mars
Sam and Dean did not speak much after they left Babylon 5. They usually did not talk a lot on the road, preferring the company of their own thoughts to exchanging words that could easily develop into arguments. There was no way to avoid each other in the close quarters of the ship.
There was, however, no way of avoiding the present situation. They had failed in their mission. True, they got rid of a demon who had quite ambitious plans and they also destroyed a very powerful and dangerous artefact. But the truth still remained that they had been sent to retrieve the artefact intact. They needed it for their own plans – or, at least, Castiel needed it. And he was going to be quite angry when he found out he did not have it.
"There wasn't much we could have done," Sam stated at one point.
Dean only grunted. It was hard to tell if he approved or not from the sound.
"I mean it, Dean," Sam continued. "I had to do it. It was either that, or let the demon shoot you. And there was no guarantee he would not have managed to get the talisman anyway, afterwards. Like this we're all safe – us and Babylon 5 too."
"We're not safe," Dean pointed out. "We still have a pissed off archangel out there. What do you think Cas is going to say when he finds out how royally we screwed up? He needed that thing to bring down Raphael."
"And I'm sorry we couldn't bring it to him," Sam said.
Dean looked at him strangely.
"Are you?" he asked bluntly.
Sam frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't get me wrong," Dean said quickly. "I understand why you'd be glad this thing's gone for good seeing what doors it could open and all…"
"Damn straight I'm glad about that," Sam agreed.
"But if we managed to get this thing in Cas' keeping, you wouldn't have had to worry about that."
Sam sighed heavily. Bobby had actually expressed some concerns about the way Castiel had been acting lately. Sam had quickly shut him down and told him to not even think about mentioning anything to Dean. He had some time to think on Babylon 5, though. The fact was that he had no idea how much Castiel knew about the talisman, other than it could kill archangels. Still, he could not have wondering uneasily if he had not been aware of its other uses as well. And, if so, why would he ever risk using it, when destroying it would have been the right course of action?
"Well, it's gone now," he said in the end. "I've got no way of putting it back together."
"It's also the last one, if what the Vendor was saying was true," Dean pointed out.
"At least it's off the station," Sam insisted. "And we're off the station, too and in one piece and with no one chasing us. I consider that a win."
"You did get arrested, though," Dean reminded him, trying to lighten the mood and also steering the subject away from the talisman.
"And you got me out without blowing up the station or alienating our only ally there," Sam said. "That's also a win."
He paused, staring out the window, thoughtfully. Suddenly, he chuckled and shook his head. Dean shot him a curious look.
"What's so funny?" he demanded.
Sam grinned.
"Just you saying I went to hell for the sake of a floating tin can," he replied. "I don't think I've ever heard it put quite that way."
Dean looked uncomfortable.
"How the hell did you find out about that?" he wanted to know.
"Delenn told me. When she came to get me from the cell. You might have confused her a bit with your rhetoric, but I think she found your overall intentions quite moving."
Dean rolled his eyes at that.
"Well," he said, still keeping things light. "I told you I still had it with the ladies. I had to impress her, after all. How else was I going to get her to help me?"
Mars, several days later
Dean and Sam landed on Mars a few days after leaving Babylon 5. They made it straight for Bobby's place from there. Neither of them was surprised to find Bobby had been anxiously waiting for them.
"Why didn't you let me know when you left the station?" were the first words out of his mouth.
Dean scoffed.
"Nice to see you too, Bobby."
Bobby shook his head.
"Don't give me that," he snapped. "I've had my plate full not knowing if you were stuck on the station with the quarantine and your feathery friend was no help, wouldn't get you out of there even though I told him repeatedly it was in his best interest. But he kept muttering about Vorlons and arrangements and all sort of bull…"
Dean and Sam exchanged startled looks. They could not understand half of Bobby's rant, but they caught enough to realise something must have gone wrong.
"Hold up a second, Bobby," Sam asked him, "What quarantine?"
"You mean you don't know?" Bobby asked. "You must have left right before it happened."
"Before what happened, Bobby?" Sam pressed on. "When we left everything was fine."
"There was an outbreak of some disease among the Markabs," Bobby reported. "They're all gone."
"All?" Sam repeated. "You mean, all Markabs from Babylon 5?"
Bobby shook his head.
"I mean all Markabs, son," he said heavily. "ISN said there's most likely none left."
Sam looked at Dean. The other did not have to look back to guess where Sam's mind had taken him.
"Oh no," he said firmly. "Don't even think it, Sam. That's nothing to do with us."
"That Markab was trying to warn everyone that would listen that we brought bad luck wherever we went," Sam argued. "And now he's dead, along with the rest of his species. Seems like bad luck to me."
"We never went to the Markab homeworld," Dean pointed out reasonably. "And they're dead too. Was that also our fault?"
Sam shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know," he said tightly. "Could have been. Certainly the Markab must have been thinking along those lines."
Sam pushed past Bobby into the house. Bobby looked at Dean for explanations.
"Long story," Dean said, shaking his head. "I'll talk to him later. Set his head on straight."
"You do that," Bobby agreed. "The talisman?"
Dean sighed heavily.
"That's kind of another long story," he confessed. "Let's just say it's been decommissioned…permanently."
"What the hell?" Bobby inquired. "Your new Minbari pal turn on you and took the thing for herself?"
Dean shook his head.
"Oh no," he said quickly. "I might be reluctant to admit it, but Ambassador Delenn was actually a great help for both of us. No, you see there was this demon and he had big plans for the talisman."
By the time Dean finished the story, Bobby looked worried and also slightly stressed. Apparently, they were out of luck again.
"You know Sam had no choice but to do what he did," he told Dean.
"Course I know," Dean said quickly. "He couldn't have done any different."
Bobby looked at Dean shrewdly.
"You're not to blame, either, Dean," he told him firmly.
The look on Dean's face told clearly he was not buying it.
"I knew the demon would try to use us to get to the talisman," he said. "And I still let the bastard get the drop on me. If he had not been pointing a PPG at me, Sam wouldn't have had to destroy the talisman like that."
"If that talisman could really open any door," Bobby pointed out. "And if that demon really wanted to use it to free Lucifer again, then I'm glad it's in pieces. And I'm glad there aren't any more like it."
Dean did not look too convinced.
"Cas isn't going to see it that way," he said at length. "He needed that thing in his war, Bobby."
Bobby looked at Dean thoughtfully.
"Well, how do you see it?"
Dean hesitated for a moment. He looked even more despondent.
"I'm glad it's gone," he confessed at length. "Not sure how good of a friend that makes me to Cas, but there you have it. As long as that thing was still in one piece we were all at risk. Especially Sam. So, yeah, I do think we're better off without it."
"First smart thing you said since you got here," Bobby grinned. "Now go talk to that idjit brother of yours and tell him he has no cause feeling guilty about the Markabs. I swear the two of you enjoy finding things to feel guilty about. Don't know how I put up with such masochists."
Dean laughed outright at that.
"Ah, admit it, Bobby," he said cheerfully. "You wouldn't have us any other way!"
Bobby's place. The following day
Dean put off calling Castiel that day. He wanted to give both Sam and himself a chance to rest from their journey before he had to deal with what was going to be an understandably annoyed angel. He also wanted to be sure he could convince Cas that Sam destroying the talisman had been the only acceptable outcome in their confrontation with the demon.
"You can blame it all on me," Sam offered the next day, "After all, I've been out of favour with him before."
Dean snorted.
"Not that I don't appreciate it," he began, "But I knew exactly what you were gonna do and I went along with it. No matter," he added, shaking his head, "The sooner we get this over with, the better."
Cas arrived as soon as Dean called for him. Dean noticed he looked even more stressed than the last time they had seen him.
"Sam, Dean," Castiel greeted tightly, "I assume you have the talisman."
Sam and Dean hesitated, glancing at each other. Now that the time had come for them to break the news to their friend and ally, they were both reluctant to do it.
"We did have it," Sam began, "But…well…there was a slight…uhhh, setback."
"What kind of a setback?" Castiel demanded. "You did not lose it, did you?"
"Not exactly," Sam said. "The talisman is not lost."
"Then where is it?" Castiel asked again.
"Destroyed," Dean declared promptly, thinking they might just as well get it over with already. "We had to destroy it."
"I destroyed it," Sam interrupted his brother. "The decision was mostly mine. But yeah, Dean's right when he says we had to do it."
Castiel's eyes flashed briefly. Otherwise, his face remained impassive.
"Explain," he urged them.
So Dean and Sam gave him the gist of what happened on Babylon 5, culminating in their confrontation with the demon. After they were done, Castiel did not look any less irritated.
"And you saw no other way than to destroy the talisman, Sam?" he demanded.
"He didn't," Dean answered instead. "There was no other way. And I backed him up, in case you're interested."
Castiel did not say anything for a long time. He shook his head, ruefully.
"Well, it's gone," he said at length. "I must say I am quite disappointed with the way you two handled this mission."
"Hey, hold on," Dean interrupted indignantly. "We did the best we could with a crappy situation. You wanted better, you should have been there with us."
"That would have been impossible," Castiel insisted. "The Vorlons would not have permitted it."
"Are you saying the Vorlons would have known you were there?" Sam wanted to know. "That they would have known who you are?"
"The Vorlons know about us," Castiel confessed. "In many ways, they tried to emulate us. I am not going to explain everything to you – it is too complicated. Suffice to say that we long ago reached an understanding with the Vorlons. There were people and places that were strictly ours – and some that were strictly theirs. We were not to interfere in what belonged to the other. Babylon 5 belongs to the Vorlons. Ambassador Delenn and the captain of the station belong to them too. Just as you two, as the vessels of the Apocalypse, belong to us."
Dean scoffed.
"I'm sure Delenn and the Captain would be a little pissed to hear that they "belong" to anyone," he commented. "And, by the way, we don't belong to anyone, either. I think we showed you plenty of times we belong only to ourselves."
"You did," Castiel stated bluntly. "You showed me this just now, when, instead of following my instructions and bringing the talisman to me, you decided to take matters into your own hands. I could have ended the fight with Raphael immediately, had the talisman been in my possession. Now, I must seek other, more unpleasant means."
And then he was gone, without allowing the chance for the two brothers to ask any further questions. Sam looked at Dean worriedly.
"He'll get over it," Dean assured him.
Sam did not look too convinced.
"Will he?"
"Of course he will," Dean insisted. "He's Cas."
Sam did not say anything else. He thought about asking Dean's opinion on Cas' parting words, that he was going to seek other, more unpleasant methods to bring Raphael down. He doubted Dean would be too worried, though. Dean still trusted Castiel implicitly. Sam did not feel like tearing down that trust with unfounded suspicions. Not yet.
"What about you?" Dean asked, suddenly looking sharply at Sam. "Will you get over it?"
Sam frowned.
"Get over what?" he wanted to know.
"How things went with the talisman," Dean replied. "The thing with the Markabs – which really isn't on us, by the way."
Sam sighed heavily.
"No, I suppose you're right," he said at length. "It really wasn't on us. I can't help it, though. We've been so much involved with Doomsday stuff that any disaster seems to be on us – on me, at least. I've started one Apocalypse already, after all."
Dean looked at Sam thoughtfully. He knew that reminding Sam that he had not only started that Apocalypse, he had also done his damn best to avert it, would not have any effect on his brother. He did not even think that conversation was safe right then, with Sam's Wall and all that stuff he was not supposed to remember.
"Just don't beat yourself up over stuff that's over and done with," he said at length. "No matter what happened, no matter what Cas said, we did good on Babylon 5. There's no demon there anymore and we've got one dangerous object less to worry about. The way I see it, that was a win."
Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder and went to find Bobby. Sam remained where he was. He wondered if Dean actually believed what he had just told him. He knew his brother was right – they did do as well as they could under the circumstances.
They had always been doing the best they could, though. Most of the time it backfired on them and Sam had to wonder uneasily whether this was not one of those times. Something told him that not bringing the talisman to Castiel would lead to worse trouble. But they could do nothing about it now. The talisman was gone. At least those on Babylon 5 were safe from it. On this, Sam had to agree with Dean. That really was a win.
Sam wondered if they would ever get the chance of seeing Babylon 5 again. He doubted it, though. He and Dean rarely went to the same spot more than once. It was too risky. It was even riskier on Babylon 5. They were known there now. It was a pity, though. Sam had liked the place. Dean would call him a geek, but he actually regretted not seeing more of it.
No matter, though. Sam knew by now how their lives went. They were Hunters, after all. More than that, they were Winchesters. Their Dad used to tell them that Winchesters could never go back. They could only go forward. Sam supposed he'd have to go forward now, too. Just like always.
Dean's voice sounded from the other room:
"Sam? You growing roots there or something? Come give us a hand here."
Sam grinned, shaking his head.
"Be right there," he announced.
Going forward did not sound too bad right now. He had Dean, after all. Whatever happened, they'd find a way to deal with it, together. They always did.
The end...for now