Chapter 5- Speak of the Devil
Why do I feel a writing binge coming on?
"Wait, so what have you been doing here since the Fall?" Sam interrupted, no longer able to hide his concerned curiosity.
Lizzie looked at him blankly. "Well, hanging out with him. Duh, I just told you that." She pointed at Dean.
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Dude, the Fall was over a year ago."
"What?" Her eyes widened. "But that can't be. I swear, I've been keeping track. It's only been a few weeks."
"It's okay, Elizabeth." Cas touched her shoulder reassuringly. "It seems something, or more likely, someone kept you from falling. What we need to do now is reorganize ourselves and figure out why and for what purpose."
Sam nodded. "That's a good idea, Cas. The first thing we should do is hit the books, and see if anything comes up. That may just give us a lead."
Dean turned to his brother. "Excuse me, Gung Ho, but not an hour ago you were on the verge of kicking her out the door. Why the change in heart, Sammy?"
Sam rolled his eyes at the childish version of his name and was about to respond when a loud rapping sounded from the top of the stairs leading out of the bunker. "Did someone just knock on our door? You have to admit, that's a little weird."
Dean shrugged. "Yeah, that's weird as hell, but we might as well answer it." He grabbed his pistol off the kitchen table and proceeded to walk up the stairs, holding down the joy that he could finally scale them once more.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Dean cautiously unlocked the outside door, sliding it open with his gun tucked in the waistband of his jeans.
"Oh, hey, Dean. Long time no see, right?" The voice on the other side of the door said, thick stubble-turning-beard gracing his chin and tired blue-grey eyes looking up at Dean sheepishly.
Dean looked at the short man with shock. "Chuck? What the hell are you... You're alive?" He took his hand off the pistol grip and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. "Dude I haven't seen you in forever, and I figured you bit the dust. You of all people would know how often that happens to people I know. Of course, now that I know you're alive, Sam and I can kill you ourselves. They made a freaking musical, and now they think Cas and I should be a couple. I am so freaking straight, I could be used as a ruler." He shook him again, a bit harder this time.
"Um, I'm sorry?" Chuck shrugged. "Hey, somehow they also got on Amazon. It wasn't my idea..."
Dean shook his head. "Let's hope for your sake it wasn't your idea. Anyway, is there really any point in asking how you found this place?"
"I'd say not really."
"Alright, then a better question is what the hell are you doing here?"
"Dean, who is it?" Sam could be heard trotting up the steps, and he nearly wiped out on the last one when he saw Chuck. "Chuck, is that you?"
"Oh, hey Sam. Hey, Castiel." Chuck nodded at their arrival. "Well, I'm here for a particular reason. One that you may not exactly like, but before you go arguing with me about his presence-"
"Just, spit it out already, Chuck." Dean snapped.
"Alright, but I guess I'll have quite a bit of explaining to do, won't I?" Chuck stepped to the side, revealing his little car parked at the side of the road. The horrifying part that twisted the insides of everyone there was who was leaning against it, blowing on a dandelion nonchalantly.
"Chuck." Dean managed. "Is that who I hope it is? Or who I think it is?"
"I have a feeling it's the second one," Chuck mumbled, almost apologetic.
Lucifer walked up to the door, arms out at his sides as if to hug someone, looking Sam straight in the eye. "Sammy! Long time no see. Did you miss me?"
Sam stiffened. "You can't be here. You're in the cage." He said automatically, as a mantra of sorts.
Lucifer wagged his finger. "Correction, Sammers, I was in the cage. Didn't you miss me? We had so much fun together, and I even helped you save your brother from that psycho, remember?" He sighed when Sam made no move or sound, lowering his arms. "Alright, so putting you in the nuthouse wasn't the nicest thing I've ever done, but hey, it all turned out all right."
Sam's eyes widened slightly. "How do you know that?"
"What, did you think that was your own crazy? You just happened to take a little bit of me with you when you left the cage, a souvenir of sorts. Of course, that piece got filtered back to me when Cassie took it, because obviously he's just not as awesome as you are."
"Lucifer, I told you to be courteous to Sam." Chuck stated.
"I was attempting to be, dad." Lucifer looked at him sideways. Chuck gave him the sternest look he could muster, and Lucifer sighed, turning back to Sam. "Sorry, Sam."
Dean couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. Sam looked at him like he'd lost it, Chuck managed a grin, and Lucifer just look deflated. Cas, however hadn't moved since he climbed the top step with Sam. He was looking at Chuck, his head tilted to the side in that way Dean found somehow adorable.
"Is something funny, Dean?" Lucifer asked, a polite smile on his face, but his eyes read murder.
"Sorry, but I thought I just heard Satan apologizing to my little brother." Dean replied when he recovered. Lucifer rolled his eyes.
Lizzie rushed up the steps to see what was going on. "What are you guys even- Luci?" She halted mid-stride, staring at the older brother standing in the doorway.
Lucifer smiled at her, a real smile. "Hey, Liz. How have you been doing?" She didn't answer, but he gladly accepted her tackle hug.
Sam had stepped back to let Lizzie through and was now standing beside Cas, looking freaked out. "I'm sorry, what the hell is going on here?"
Chuck shuffled uncomfortably. "Well, Sam, I think that would be better to not explain in the doorway, huh?"
"Okay, we're all comfortable?" Sam asked. Chuck, Cas, Lizzie, Dean, and Lucifer were all sitting at the kitchen table. Dean had reluctantly agreed to share a bag of Doritos he had found in the pantry with Lucifer, who had promised to behave himself as he sat beside the hunter. Lizzie had Lucifer on one side of her, and Cas on the other, who seemed to be content just for being in her general vicinity. On the other side of the table sat Chuck, who looked a bit nauseous for the attention he was getting. Sam sat down beside him. "I'll take that as a yes. Alright, Chuck. Explain what in the world is going on, and how he-" He pointed to Lucifer, who looked at Sam with a hurt expression as real as fake diamonds. "is even here."
Chuck shifted in the dark wooden dining chair he was sitting in as he leaned on the table with his elbows. Lucifer dramatically crunched on one of the orange chips with anticipation. "Well, I suppose i should let the cat out of the bag." He exhaled noisily as he dragged a hand through his already messy hair. He hesitated a few minutes more. "Well, I'm not exactly sure how to put it, but-"
"He's dad." Lucifer interrupted, finishing the sentence.
"Wait, what?" Dean asked, turning the upper portion of his body towards Lucifer. "He's your dad?"
"Yep."
"Well, wouldn't that make him-" Dean swore under his breath. "Jesus Christ, God has made me the gay target of a large population of freaky fanatics."
Sam rolled his eyes. "You're actually, like the real God?"
Chuck nodded, like it was something to be ashamed of. "Yes, I am. Please don't bow for me or try to throw your shoes at my feet. That scares me."
"Um, sure thing." Sam said with a confused look. "I shall keep my shoes on my feet. But, if you're God, why were you posing as a lowly prophetic writer with commitment issues and alcoholism?"
"It's nice to know you think so highly of me, Sam." He shrugged it off when Sam tried to apologize. "It's okay, it's not a big deal. So, yeah. I'm God."
"You never thought to mention this when Lucifer and Michael were about to destroy the world? Or perhaps when I was looking for you?" Cas spoke with what little anger he could express without physical violence. "Or maybe when I was pleading for your advice before I tried to become a god myself? A 'heads-up' may have been nice when the Leviathans were attempting to take over the world, and you of all people should have known whether or not to trust Metatron. Should I even bother mentioning-"
"Cas, give the guy a break." Dean cut in.
Castiel was offended. "Dean. Do you know how much corruption and chaos could have been adverted had he not disappeared?"
"Okay, so he's not Father of the Millennium or whatever. I get it, Cas, I really do, but there's no point in getting worked up about stuff you can't change now. It got fixed, didn't it?"
Castiel abruptly stood up, his chair almost falling over behind him. "At the cost of many lives, Dean. And how many more lives will the next catastrophe cost? Or the one after that? And how many of those lives will die by my hands?" He shook his head. "You don't understand, Dean. Your father was merely looking out for you, but ours just abandoned us and left us to our own devices. Look how that turned out." He stalked out of the room.
Chuck sighed and suddenly found one of the dents in the table, which had probably been formed some time ago by Dean slamming something down on it, very interesting. "He does have a point, you know."
"Yeah, well that doesn't mean he can't calm down about it. Sam, are you seriously just going to glare at the Devil?"
"You may blind yourself with my charm." Lucifer smirked. Sam snorted and rolled his eyes.
Chuck sighed again. "I think it's time I step up and take control. I should fix things."
"You could start by getting rid of him." Sam replied.
"Actually, that's the exact opposite of what I'm going to do. You two need to learn to play nice, and Heaven needs to be fixed, too. So you know what I'm going to do?"
Lucifer shrugged. "Obliterate these morons and let the angels take over?" Lizzie narrowed her eyes at him and poked him with her elbow in disdain.
"No," Chuck said, with some sort of newfound boldness. "You are going to decide what should be fixed."
Lucifer choked on a chip. He had stolen the bag from Dean a while back. "What? I have no idea what you mean by that."
Chuck looked him straight in the eye. "You are currently the only angel with both wings and grace. As such, I'm choosing you to represent all of the angels. If you can learn to love humans like I asked you to in the first place, then I will reopen the Gates and fix all of the angels wings."
Lucifer had both eyebrows raised. "And if I don't?"
"Then Heaven will be closed permanently, and you get thrown back into the cage." Chuck said simply.
"So, does this mean I can't kill them?" Lucifer asked.
"No."
"How about turning them into demons?"
"No."
"Can I at least screw with Sam?"
"No."
"What exactly is the purpose of this?"
"This is your second chance, Lucifer, and all of the angels depend on your change of heart."
Sam looked like he had just watched a rabbit rip the limbs off of a wolf with it's teeth. "How do you suppose you'll keep an eye on him?"
Chuck thought for a moment. "You three can look after him."
Dean cringed inwardly. "I was afraid you were going to say that."
"Hold on, what do I get out of this if I succeed?" Lucifer asked, evidently as flustered as the Winchesters.
"You get to be a real archangel again." Chuck replied.
"How is that any fun if Gabriel and Raphael are already dead and Mike is still in the cage?"
"I did say I'd fix all the angels." Chuck said mysteriously.
Lucifer looked rather peeved, but Chuck gave him a stern glare, and he gave up. "Alright, fine. Just to prove that I can do whatever I want to, I accept your test."
Chuck exhaled in relief. "Thank you. Now, I should go. I should probably go disarm Metatron before he goes and destroys something extremely important again." He shook his head. Lucifer, if I hear you were being rude to Sam..."
"Yeah, I got it. We'll be best buddies, right Sammy?" He grinned at the younger Winchester, who just sighed and stood up from the table.
Hey, look, a very tiny Destiel moment. I don't know if you guys want Destiel, but if you do, just tell me or something. And also, this isn't too long after the last update. Yay!
End Chapter 5