Author's Note: Hey, look. Two updates within a week of each other! I'm proud of myself. As always, please REVIEW!
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Marion sat on the floor of the basement, praying. She'd been trying to get some sort of response from Chuck since he'd pulled Michael and Lucifer out of her. Nothing had answered. She felt like a normal person must.
"She's a danger, Bobby."
"Do you really want her off by herself when this whole 'marked soul' thing blows up in her face? Last time she was off by herself, she got messed up with Satan. How 'bout, fer once, you act like ya give a damn 'bout her and we figure out what's gonna happen to her soul."
"How the Hell do you expect to do that, Bobby? We don't have an angel on the inside anymore and none of your books know what she got herself into."
"We'll figure it out, Dean." Sam said.
"Of course." Dean responded, cynically.
Marion closed her eyes and blocked it out, concentrating on falling asleep. She found herself in the darkness she'd become familiar with. "Lucifer! Where are you?!"
"Didn't expect you to crawl back so soon." He quipped, appearing in front of her.
"I'm not crawling. I've gotten over my anger and I've gotten over the feeling of inadequacy and loneliness that drove me to believe you were a friend to me, Lucifer. I'm here for information. God seemed… upset that you marked my soul. What does it mean, that you marked me?"
Lucifer smirked. "I was wondering when you'd get around to that question. See, the marking system is something God put into effect when he decided he'd be leaving Heaven. Just in case Heaven ran low on angels. He only made a certain number but he left us with the ability to recruit more, if needed. The marking system is a, sort of, involuntary enlistment as a soldier for Heaven."
"You drafted me?! You drafted me into being an angel?"
"Yeah. Pretty much. But, hey, you got drafted by two Generals. Archangels breed archangels, so you'll be, pretty much, left alone as an angel. Maybe you could even stay with your brothers, if your brain survives the reprogramming process."
"Reprogramming? Like brainwashing?"
"Of course. How else do you think Heaven keeps perfect, unquestioning soldiers? You'll learn all about it soon, Marion."
"You told me you aren't evil, but you must be."
"I hate humans, Marion. But I like you. The time I spent with you and in you…" He gave a lecherous smirk. "…was some of the best moments I've had in years. I really do think you are amazing, so I have no problem making you into something better than human."
"How do I un-mark my soul?"
"You can't. You consented to be marked… twice."
"In return for a revenge that I never got to exact! That's not fair!"
"I'm Satan, sweetheart. No one's ever said my deals are fair. Usually quite the opposite."
"How long do I have?"
"I'm not sure, actually. However long it takes for the grace to build up in your system. A couple months, a year at the most."
"A couple months, then I get beamed up to Heaven and reprogrammed? Great. Thanks for telling me before-hand. I'd like to wake up now."
"When you're one of us, you'll see things differently. I promise."
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Marion woke up on the floor of the panic room. Silence engulfed her as she debated telling her brothers what the markings meant. She put that behind her as she heard shouting in the basement outside her door.
"My new boss is gonna kill me for even talking to you lads." An unmistakable British voice came through as Marion sneaked up to the heavy door.
"Well, you're lucky we're not stabbing you in your skuzzy face, you little piece…" Dean started.
"Whoa, wait! What new boss?" Sam interrupted.
"Castiel, you giraffe!"
"Is your new boss?" Bobby asked.
"Is everybody's boss. What do you think he's going to do if he finds out we've been conspiring? You do want to conspire, don't you?"
"No. We want you to just stand there an' look pretty." Bobby responded.
"Listening."
"We need a spell to bind Death." Dean said.
"Bind? Enslave Death? You havin' a laugh?"
"Lucifer did it."
"That's Lucifer."
"A spell's a spell." Sam interjected.
"You really believe you can handle that kind of horsepower? You're delusional!"
"Death is the only player on the board left that has the kind of juice to take Cas." Dean said.
"They'll both mash us like peas. Why should I help with a suicide mission?"
"Look! Do you really want Cas running the universe?" Bobby asked.
Marion opened the panic room door as Crowley poured a drink. "This is a horrible idea."
"Ah. The fairer Winchester." Crowley gave an exaggerated bow, dripping some of his scotch on the ground. "I take it you're against us putting down yer lover-boy."
"He never really was my lover, we both know that, Crowley. You really must be a lady's man when you aren't busy being an unbelievably evil bastard." Crowley looked pleased with himself at the statement. "And you seem to be a bit behind on your Winchester news."
"Oh, am I?"
"Yeah. You missed the part where I went nuts with rage and allowed myself to be possessed by two archangels so that I'd have the power to run Castiel down and end him." Crowley smiled a bit, looking her up and down. "Woulda done, too, if God, the real God, hadn't stopped me and sent my angels back. So, no, I don't think this is a bad idea because it ends with Castiel getting what he deserves. I think it's a bad idea because you don't fuck with Death. What did he do when Lucifer bound him? He made sure that Lucifer didn't last much longer. 'Mashed like peas' is the best-case scenario."
"Look, I appreciate your concern, but this is what we've got to do. Death is the only one who can take him and he isn't going to help us just to help. This is our only option."
"Dean, his ending is coming. By his own hand, not Death's hand."
"With help from the better Winchesters, remember? Well, the better Winchesters are going through with this. You can hang back if you want. Crowley, can you get the spell, or not?"
Crowley set the glass down and nodded. "Of course, I can. 'Better Winchesters', huh? A bit rude. That yer prophet's words?"
"Just go, Crowley." Sam ordered.
Marion headed back toward the basement. "I wish you luck. I'll be praying for you idiots. Try not to die."
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Marion sat on the cot in the panic room and prayed for the safety of her brothers and forgiveness for her sins. A small woosh behind her gave her a second of hope that maybe Chuck was taking pity on her. But when she turned around, she reflexively swallowed. The wrong God was standing before her.
"You weren't there. You've been here praying to the old God for hours, while your brothers were tethering Death in an attempt to kill me. Why? Are you frightened of me, now? Where is your possessor, who gave you so much strength?"
"They are gone." She said, calmly standing. "They found other vessels, but they couldn't be contained. The poor things exploded. Unfortunately for my possessors, they were unable to find suitable vessels before Our Father's deadline. They were ripped from me, likely sent back to their Cage."
Castiel's face barely showed his surprise, but she knew he was baffled. "You had… Lucifer and Michael housed within you? Two of Heaven's most powerful archangels? Perhaps I should have chosen you for a vessel."
Marion nodded and smiled, softly. "Maybe, but unfortunately for you, I will never say 'yes' to a possession again."
"I may not need you to." He said, matter-of-factly. "I'm no longer an angel. Those rules may not apply to me any longer."
Suddenly, Marion felt defiant. "Go ahead and try, Castiel, because the true God couldn't control me, sweetheart. All those monster souls might make you strong enough to pretend omnipotence but He created you and all those creatures you stole from Purgatory, so… how can you think you're better than Him?"
"He failed. He failed us and left us. I am better than Him. I am stronger."
"Of course, you are, Castiel. Then, tell me, God, why is your vessel wearing so thin? The true God's vessels never betrayed his true power. Why can't you keep poor Jimmy Novak from burning to pieces?"
"He will last long enough." He said, before disappearing.
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Marion sat at Bobby's desk, half drunk on Bobby's whiskey. She could feel those old familiar feelings of rage welling up within her, and pride at talking down to such a powerful creature. She promised herself she'd pray it away later.
"So, Castiel crashed your party." She said, as the guys walked in.
"How'd you know that?" Bobby asked, grabbing the bottle off the desk as he walked toward the kitchen.
"He told me. I was praying, he showed up to call me a coward for not being there when you tried to kill him."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Sam. He won't kill us. However corrupted or lost he may be, he's still Castiel and we're still his Winchesters."
"Are you kidding me? He broke Sam, he called me an ant and said he'd crush me. Tortured Dr. Visyak. Killed hundreds of people. He's not Cas, anymore."
Marion tried her hardest not to speak down to her brother as she said, "Dean, he just walked in on you tethering Death to kill him and you're still alive. That speaks volumes. Our Castiel is still in there. He's just gotten so carried away with fixing things and now the power has him. You don't know the power he's got, Dean, how that brings out things inside that you never knew existed. We just have to get that power away from him and he'll go back to being Castiel."
"Well, Death, apparently, hates Cas pretending to be God more than he hates us trying to bind him, so he's helping us out with that. Another eclipse tomorrow morning, we just gotta get Cas back to the lab. No clue how, but that's the plan." Sam said.
Dean walked into the kitchen and grabbed the whiskey.
"You want some coffee with that?" Sam asked, following him.
"It's 6pm somewhere." Dean responded as Marion went to sit on the stairs.
"Come on. We gotta hit the road. I mean, how are we supposed to get Cas to that lab by friggin' 3:59am?"
"We don't."
"What do you mean, 'we don't'."
"I mean, we can't bring the horse to water, and we can't make it drink. Why fool ourselves?"
"Dean, look, I know you think that Cas is gone-"
"It's 'cause he is."
"No, Dean. What Marion said in there makes sense. We should be dead, Dean."
"She's drunk and telling herself fairy tales again. But Prince Charming turned out to be Maleficent in disguise, and now there's no way to slay the dragon."
"Maleficent wasn't Rapunzel, it was Sleeping Beauty… and Disney, Dean. But Cas isn't a dragon, he's in there somewhere, Dean. I know it."
"No, you don't."
"No, I don't. But look, I was pretty far gone sometimes myself. And Marion said 'yes' to Lucifer and Michael, almost exploded trying to take Cas down, but you never gave up on us."
"Yeah, and it turns out you're about the same open book as you've always been. Hallucinations? Really? I got to find out from Death?"
Marion perked up a bit to listen better at the mention of hallucinations. It had to have something to do with the torture he'd endured.
"What was I supposed to do?"
"How about not lie? How about tell me that you've got crazy crap climbing those walls?"
"Why? You can't help." Marion smiled bitterly. It was just how she felt about her problem. "You got a lot of pretty severe crap swinging your way lately and… and I thought…what? I thought 'why burst the one good bubble you had left? It's under control."
"What? What, exactly, is under control?"
"I know what's real and what's not."
"Sam-"
"Dean, look, we can debate this once we deal with Cas."
"Yeah, you know how I'm gonna deal? I'm gonna stuff my piehole, I'm gonna drink, and I'm gonna watch some Asian cartoon porn and act like the world's about to explode, because it is.
Hey. You got to be kidding me. 'Massacre at the campaign office of an incumbent Senator by a trench-coated man.' There's security footage." A second of silence. "Well, I think reaching Cas is, uh… out of the cards."
Marion looked at her feet as Sam walked out of Bobby's house and listened as high-pitched Japanese voices started coming out of the kitchen. A small woosh behind her made her turn. Chuck sat on the stairs above her.
"Dean!" Sam cried from outside. Chuck looked down, slightly.
"It's Castiel, isn't it? He's come to… rectify his mistakes." Marion whispered. Chuck nodded sadly. "And you're still going to end him, anyway?"
"This end has been coming since he took the souls from Purgatory. Death told your brothers about them but you missed out on the lesson. Leviathans. I made them as an experiment. Before I realized that the perfect creature had to be more than fierce and invulnerable, before I made Adam. The Leviathans were put in Purgatory so that they couldn't harm anyone. Castiel took them into himself and they are stronger than he is. They are tearing his body and his psyche. And even though he is remorseful and regrets his poor choices, he must end."
"To rid us of the leviathans?"
Chuck shook his head. "No. They are here. He needs to end for the new beginning." Chuck put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm telling you this because you have a choice now. You can stay here, hold onto your anger, your rightful anger, or you can go. You can watch him, full of remorse and sadness, die because of his poor choices. And you will mourn him."
"I would mourn him anyway. If I don't go, I would be unable to live with myself. You know me, Lord. You may not have written me, but you know me. I can't stay angry. Especially knowing… that I'll be no better than Castiel soon enough. And not 'friendly, loyal, defy Heaven to do what's right' Castiel, either. I'm gonna be 'mindless soldier of Heaven doing what I'm programmed to do' Castiel. 'Accept the lies because they told me to' Castiel." Marion shook her head and closed her eyes.
"At least, then there will be two angels in Heaven that I can trust."
"There is nothing you can do to fix it?" She asked, opening her eyes against the despair.
"The mark system was created to replenish Heaven's ranks if I were ever to disappear indefinitely. I didn't put an opt-out clause in it because I wouldn't be here to invoke it. I'm sorry… so are you going to tell them?"
Suddenly, the scene around them changed and they were outside watching Dean and Sam carry Castiel to the Impala in slow motion. "Or are you going to try to hide it as the grace inside you wells up and you become an angel?"
"It'll have to be the latter. Like Sam said, they can't do anything to stop it. You can't even stop it. Why worry them for nothing?"
Chuck nodded and stood, the scene reverting back to the staircase. "The Leviathans are very dangerous. You can't kill them. They were made to be invulnerable. They can kill themselves and kill each other, but you cannot kill them. They will eat this Earth if you don't stop them, though."
"No pressure, then." She said, standing as well.
"Your best asset is the fact that no one here knows you. Castiel doesn't know you any better than Dean does. The Leviathans are going to know everything about Dean and Sam. Not you. They won't be expecting anything you come up with on your own. Your disconnect from your brothers is your best chance here."
"You're telling me to leave them again."
"I've learned better than to try to tell you to do anything, Marion." Chuck said with a smile, before disappearing.
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Marion sat in the back seat as Dean sped toward the lab. She tried not to look at Castiel, afraid she'd betray the hidden knowledge Chuck had given her.
"Marion." Castiel whispered.
"Don't." She responded as Dean pulled toward the lab.
"I have… a question. How did you pull and hold Michael and Lucifer? Did… did they mark you?" Castiel asked, his voice pained.
Marion didn't answer, so Sam did. "Yeah. They did. Do you know what that means?"
"It's not important right now, Sam. Let's get him inside." Marion cut the conversation off, pushing forward to get out of the car.
She pulled Castiel into the lab, with help from Dean. "I feel remorse… for how I treated you, Marion."
"I understand. You made a series of poor decisions. Me, too. When you have free will, you are bound to make a few. Guess I won't have to worry about that much longer." She whispered as Dean walked away.
"You know, then?" Cas whispered back.
Marion nodded. "Lucifer told me… after he got sent back. After it was already done. Poor decisions. I feel remorse, too."
"You won't tell them?"
"No. They can't stop it."
"Perhaps… God."
Marion shook her head, sadly. "It's not important. Not right now. Just… tell Dean how you're feeling. I'm sure I'm not the only one you're feeling remorse toward. And you might not get another shot at fixing this." She said, before walking away.
"Marion… if this thing goes South…" Bobby started, in a low voice.
"It will, Bobby."
"What?"
"We're Winchesters. When do things ever go right for us? And when have we ever known God to be just?"
"You still think God is gonna end him?"
"Look around, Bobby. Castiel came to us and had us bring him here. That takes care of the 'by his own hand' part… and here are the 'better Winchesters' running to help him rid himself of the souls. The souls providing him with the power and the power is the only reason the Leviathans haven't ripped him apart. I'm prepared for the worst, Bobby. So should you be." Marion whispered as Sam ran out of the room.
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Marion stood aside as Bobby spoke the words in Latin that would open the portal and kill Castiel. She didn't want them to see how distraught she was. Dean rushed forward as Castiel's legs seemed to fail him. He pulled back once his friend was standing and a tear escaped Marion's eye as the portal began to open and Cas turned to them.
"I'm sorry, Dean."
The light was blinding as the souls escaped back into Purgatory. Marion refused to look as Castiel fell to the floor. She knew it wasn't going to be good. Dean and Bobby rushed to his side.
"He's cold." Bobby said.
"Is he breathing?"
"No."
"Maybe angels don't need to breath."
"He's gone, Dean."
There was a moment of silence and a sigh, followed by "Damn it!" Marion saw them stand, sadly, out of her peripheral view. "Cas, you child! Why didn't you listen to me?"
Marion's eyes snapped toward them when she heard a pained gasp.
"Cas?! Hey, hey!"
She rushed over to his side, hopeful that Chuck had just been fucking with her.
"That was unpleasant." The three hunters helped the angel to his feet and he looked around slightly confused. "I'm alive."
"Looks like." Bobby said, amazed.
Marion tried blinking the happy tears away, but lost the battle and just wiped at them.
"I'm astonished. Thank you, all of you."
"We were mostly… just tryin' to save the world." Bobby replied a bit sheepishly.
"I'm ashamed. I really overreached."
"You think?" Dean said as Marion said "That's an understatement."
"I'm gonna find some way to redeem myself to you."
"All right, well, one thing at a time. Come on. Let's get you out of here. Come on."
"I mean it, Dean." Castiel stopped them from walking out.
"Okay. All right. But let's go find Sam, okay?" Dean tried to pull the angel along. Marion could tell something wasn't right and realized that God hadn't spared her. This was just the situation Chuck had told her about. Castiel, full of remorse, and he's about to die. She pulled away from the group.
Sure enough, Cas pushed Dean and Bobby forward, yelling "You need to run, now! I can't hold them back!"
"Hold who back?!" Dean demanded. But Marion knew.
"They held on inside me. Dean, they're so strong."
"Who the hell-" Bobby started.
"Leviathan!" Bobby and Dean looked between each other but Marion started for the exit. "I can't fight them. Run!"
"Go! Go get Sam! Go get Sam!" Dean yelled as Bobby followed behind Marion.
"Too late!" A giddy voice that sounded like Castiel's made Marion and Bobby turn.
"Cas?"
"Cas is… he's gone. He's dead. We run the show now." The creature said, before throwing Dean across the room.
Marion moved quickly down the hall, thinking of Sam and hoping Dean and Bobby could hold their own.