Title: Under the Influence of Djinn

Chapter: Twenty-two

Summary: AU: The Djinn siblings created a terrible detailed nightmare for Dean out of revenge, nearly killing him, Lisa, and Ben. With Sam alive, Castiel missing, and Campbell cousins in tow, he tries to pull himself back together.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Supernatural was created by Eric Kripke. No disrespect in intended with this work of fan fiction.

Notes:

While having family around and getting the chance to know them and work with them was something Dean was glad for, he was ready for it to be just him, Sam, Castiel, and Jo for awhile. Christian beat him to the topic as soon as the vampire nest was taken care of and they were back at the motel.

Christian drew him aside. "Mark and I are heading out as soon as we can pack up."

"Problem?"

"Nope. Project. That one you and I discussed. I heard back from one of my buddies. Sam might be right after all. He's heard some rumblings of displeasure about you and Sam and your…affiliations. Mark and I are going to check it out, see what we can learn. Gwen wants to stay here, keep helping you and Sam."

Dean chuckled at that last part. "Uh-huh. She wants to help herself to Cas is more like it." She'd been flirting rather aggressively with Castiel lately and Dean had come to realize that Cas wasn't as naïve about it as he pretended. He was letting Gwen chase him.

"True. If you need us on something, holler."

"Will do."

The two were gone after lunch and Jo and Gwen took Castiel out with them to see a movie. Dean was tempted to spoil the ending for Jo so she'd stay behind with him and Sam but didn't. He was trying to find more information on that article Castiel had found from Georgia when he heard the fluttering of wings behind him and Sam's startled gasp. He turned in the chair, half expecting to find that Castiel's wings had suddenly come back, but no, it was a woman standing there. She was dressed in a pantsuit and looked like the CEO of a company.

Great, he thought. Angels. Was she there to take Castiel away? Was she one of Raphael's lieutenants?

"Hello Dean. Sam." Her head inclined in a tiny nod. "I'm Naomi."

"What do you want," he asked, closing the lid of the computer. It wasn't a genial question as he wasn't in a genial mood where angels were concerned.

"I want to speak with you," she answered. "Both of you."

He exchanged a glance with Sam. When angels in general wanted to talk with them it was usually for nothing good. "So talk. What do you want?"

She took an unhurried tour of their room, peering into the bathroom and finally leaning against the dresser in a casual pose that was hardly casual at all. It was calculated. "Simple. We want to raise Gabriel and we need your assistance to do it."

"You what?" Disbelief was in Sam's voice.

Dean blinked. "Gabriel's dead. Lucifer killed him. Didn't you get the memo up there?"

"Of course we 'got the memo'. We obtained a drop of his blood that was procured before his death. It's stored in a special vault. Our presence in a human makes similar genetic changes to what a demonic presence makes in a human."

"And?" Where on earth had they managed to get some of Gabriel's blood? Dean didn't ask because he wasn't sure he particularly wanted to know.

"It's weak. Diluted by a human presence, but there's a way to do it. The single drop will suffice."

He crossed his arms. She hadn't done anything yet, but every word out of her mouth made him uneasy. "Say we agree, and we won't because he went out a hero unlike most of you dicks, then what's the deal? How is it possible? How do we raise a dead archangel?"

"Simple. Blood from a Selkie in seal form, a scale from a Naga, tears from a human that was once an angel, and a feather from an angel, the higher the power the better. And, of course, some part of the archangel's being. Once the ingredients are together, you say these words." She drew a piece of parchment from her jacket pocket and laid it on the table beside his hand. "I trust you know enough Enochian that I don't need to give you a pronunciation lesson?"

That was simple?

"Pretty convenient then that we've got Castiel with us." Sam snorted. "Who was it up there whispered to her highness that it'd be better to make Cas human than to kill him?"

Her smile was too innocent. "It is quite a coincidence, isn't it?"

Dean didn't think Castiel had been made human after all, yet this angel seemed to think he was. Interesting. "What's the catch," Dean asked.

"Excuse me?"

"The catch, sister. There's always a catch. What is it?"

Naomi's eyes narrowed. "There's a slight chance that he'll be raised to his original settings. By my calculations it's only a mere one in seventeen billion chance. Hardly a chance at all."

Dean looked at Sam and together they told her, "No."

Their answer appeared to stun her. Her lips parted and she studied them both for several seconds before asking, "What?"

"No. We're," Dean gestured between himself and Sam, "saying no."

"Why? Don't you wish for heaven to be stable again?"

"Sure, but this ain't our fight."

"You can't say no." Naomi straightened, standing tall.

"Looks like we just did." Sam put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

She shook her head. "You have to."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Man, you flying dicks never learn. We've got free will, lady. That means we don't have to do anything. It's our choice."

Naomi stepped closer. "Does your feeble little human brain even understand the trouble that some of us have gone through to lay out the pieces for you? All you have to do is finish it."

"Feeble? Stop with the compliments already. I'm gonna blush."

"We've heard that whole 'all you have to do' line before." Sam took a couple casual steps towards his jacket, where Dean knew one angel blade was always kept. "From Zachariah, from Michael. Lucifer. It's a common refrain from all of you."

"Think about this before you say no. Gabriel will restore Castiel's powers and the two of them will take heaven together. He can undo what Raphael has done and it'll all be over. Castiel will be welcomed home as a hero, home where he belongs. It's that simple. All you have to do is complete the spell. Well, that and gather the last couple pieces for it. You'll find a Naga -"

Dean had to marvel at how she just assumed they'd fall in line. When had they ever fallen in line for the angels? "We'll pass."

Her snort was loud and not very ladylike. "You have to do it."

"You keep saying that, like it means anything to us. Get someone else. Or better yet, do your own dirty work and lead your own coup." It'd never happen. The angels didn't have the guts now. From what Dean understood, the angels had been splitting into different factions since the day Castiel had first shown signs of having free will back before Michael had gone into the cage. He thought that uniting them against Raphael would be a lot harder than simply raising Gabriel from the dead.

"Oh, believe me, I would if I could. This spell can't be performed by an angel. It has to be performed by a human who both knew and liked the archangel."

An odd spell. Sounded almost like a joke to him. "Where did you say you got this spell?"

"I didn't say and heaven has resources you don't."

"Who said we liked him," Sam asked. One hand slid under the folds of jacket fabric.

"Please." She rolled her eyes. "If he'd lived, the three of you would have eventually become drinking buddies. Dean, you and Gabe would have compared brothels."

She had a point. "This spell you have specifically states that? That the archangel had to be liked?"

"Yes."

"Ensuring the dead stay dead, because I gotta say, you guys pretty much suck. Especially the archangels. Lucifer is a condescending dick, Michael is as bad, and don't get me started on Raphael. I'll admit Gabriel did show a spine at the end, but before that he was just like the others."

She sighed, her irritation beginning to show. "I suppose they can all be…difficult. What do you expect of the best and brightest of the angels?"

"He'll stay dead. As it should be."

"What will it take to convince you?" Naomi glanced at the door into the next room. "Would you like to lose Jo again? I know you're attached to her. You're developing feelings for her. Or what about your newfound relatives?"

A cold feeling grew in his belly. "Threats don't tend to work well with us. You follow through with either of those and you'll find yourself dead."

She crossed her arms. "Is this how you repay me?"

"Repay you?"

"Yes, Dean. Sam. I gave you family back. I found them and arranged for them to be here for you. Sam, you're very lucky that it was one of my agents who saw you wandering around and not Raphael's. Raphael would have had you killed. I, on the other hand, made sure your last remaining family members found you and cared for you. Surely I get some goodwill points for that?"

"How exactly did you do that?" Dean could hear the anger in his voice. Was she saying that she'd engineered their return to hunting? Was she that Machiavellian as to do such a thing on the chance they'd be needed? After all he knew the angels capable of, it wouldn't surprise him. "Did you have their lives destroyed just to return them to hunting?"

Shock rippled across her face. "Of course not. Working with monsters would be distasteful and stupid. Is that what you think of us?"

"If the shoe fits," Sam told her.

"No. I would never…. Holiness has no place with demons or monsters." Naomi shook her head. "I simply steered the three to find Sam and, when the time was right, I allowed Sam to remember. I gave Gwen the pieces of the genealogy and gave you more people to care about."

Dean snorted. "You are some piece of work."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

With a sigh, she asked, "Do you think my job is easy?"

"Sweetheart, I don't know what your job is."

"I protect heaven from anything that may tear it asunder, including rogue archangels who've wrested control through nefarious means. Castiel's powers were boosted for a reason when God raised him. He was shown favor and that, to me, indicates that he is part of heaven's future in some way, not Raphael. Raphael must go and the only way to do it with the least amount of bloodshed is if Gabriel returns and sides with Castiel. Gabriel was well liked and his approval of Castiel will turn the power base from Raphael."

Now he thought he understood. If she managed to arrange all of that, she'd have even more power. "You want to be the king maker."

"Perhaps."

"You're a big picture angel." Sam grasped his jacket and took it to the dresser, placing him on Naomi's other side.

"Always." She turned to keep him in her line of sight.

"Let me get this straight. You let Castiel get his ass kicked for months and then expect us to help you?" Sam's laugh was hard. "I don't even know what to say to that."

"I do." Dean pursed his lips a moment, then shrugged his brows. "Screw you, Naomi."

"Castiel's trial was necessary for the spell and I do regret that. It will make him a stronger leader to have come through all of it. Think about that. If you refuse, he's like this forever. If you agree, he's restored to where he belongs. He can come home. I'll give you a few days to ponder that. I'm not your enemy or his. I'm trying to protect my family. Consider the lengths you've gone to protect yours."

She was gone with the fluttering of wings.

The rest of the day, Dean considered everything she'd said and when Castiel was back in his room, he went to see him. "You know someone named Naomi?"

Castiel paled. "She was here? The angels have found me?"

"Not Raphael's goons. Just her. She came by with an offer."

"What kind of offer?"

"The unreasonable kind. Tell me about her."

"Must I?"

"Cas. Come on."

He sighed and sat on the edge of his bed. "She developed the reprogramming techniques currently in use and she has more agents than Zachariah ever did. She was most likely the one who worked on Anna."

"Where does she stand?"

"Not anywhere I wish to be. She's dangerous, Dean. Dangerous and ruthless. Even Raphael is wary of her. She was put into place to protect heaven and answered only to Michael. Without Michael, she is…how would you put it…without a leash? Anyone taking over heaven, like Raphael, can't control her because Michael had the highest power. Michael knew how to keep her in line." He sighed again. "She never took a side when Raphael and I were fighting, never stepped in."

"Oh, she stepped in alright. She was the one who told Raphael not to kill you, but to make you human because there's some spell she has that needs an angel turned human. She wants to raise Gabriel and have the two of you storm heaven."

"Mmm." Castiel nodded. "Gabriel was better liked than Raphael, but I'm hardly in a position to storm heaven."

"She says he'll restore you."

"She has no way of knowing he would. Gabriel goes his own way."

"I don't know. Sort of sounded like she and old Gabe had been involved. She even called him 'Gabe'."

Castiel leaned closer. "There were rumors." He stared up at Dean. "Raphael hasn't found me?"

"No. Just Naomi."

"How did she find me?"

"Sounded like she maybe tracked us through Sam. She said she arranged his meeting with Christian, Mark, and Gwen."

He tapped one foot on the floor. "If I was an angel I could check and see if she put trackers in you."

"Trackers?"

"Another of her inventions. She was working on it when Zachariah was looking for you."

"There's one in all of you except for you, Castiel, and Jo Harvelle," came a voice by the door. A young woman stood there. She had pale skin, red hair, and eyes bluer than Castiel's. It was the woman Dean had been seeing all over the country, the one watching him. She strode forward and held out her hand for him to shake. "Hello, Dean Winchester. I'm Moira."

Castiel groaned and covered his face with his hands. "This keeps getting better and better."

"Moira?"

"Yes."

"Who the hell -"

"Fate, Dean." Castiel's hands dropped away and Dean saw resignation in his eyes. "She is fate."

"I thought Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos are fate."

Moira's lips curved in a smile. "They're my agents. I am to them what Death is to the reapers."

"Great. What are you doing here?"

She looked around the room with a curious gaze. "I wish to form an alliance."

"Sorry, a what?"

"An alliance. I wish to join the list of your allies."

"What do you need us for? You're fate."

"Very direct and to the point. I like that about you, Dean. Here it is. The future of archangels isn't in my hands. It should be, yet it isn't. Some silly reason about keeping the spheres separate. Well, the spheres have been mashed together courtesy of one power hungry archangel. I'll give you four guesses and the first three don't count."

Castiel piled the pillows in one place against the headboard and leaned back against them. "Raphael has started ordering you around. Who did she tell you to arrange an accident for? Me?"

"It's not her place to tell me my job. She has her sphere and I have mine. Angels don't interfere in my sphere. I am Fate. I deal with each thread as it's ready to be woven out of the tapestry, not Raphael. Therefore, I want to help you destroy that smug asshole Raphael."

"Man, we're popular dates for the dance these days." Dean crossed his arms. Things were coming out of the woodwork now to go up against Raphael. First angels, now fate. Who next? Just what exactly was she doing up there?

"Sorry?" Moira frowned.

"What kind of deal are you wanting?"

"Explain that remark."

"Naomi," Castiel told her. "She was here awhile ago."

"Oh. Her. Did…did she have a plan then?"

"Not much of one." Dean wondered what it would take to kill her. Could fate be killed?

"Did she promise to restore Castiel?"

"In a roundabout way. Why?"

"Castiel's place is in heaven is all. He belongs there." She turned her gaze to Castiel. "You do belong there, you know."

Dean blinked. For a weird second, he thought time hiccupped or something because Moira was closer to Castiel than she'd been, now standing right beside him. "Why are you all so concerned with getting him up there? Why not leave him alone? First Naomi and now you. You both want him up there pretty badly. Why?"

"Because he's important. He's one of the few pieces on the board that matters."

"Why?"

"Because he's…." She trailed off, a smug grin turning her lips. "No. I think you need to learn that for yourselves." A pale hand touched Castiel's cheek in a slow caress. "Having more urges these days? Discovering things about yourself?"

"I'm fine." He jerked back from her hand.

Her gaze slid down him and back up, an imitation of how Gwen had been watching him recently. "You certainly are." She turned back to Dean. "They grow up so fast these days. When he's done growing…." She made a 'tsk-ing' noise. "I do believe heaven may be set on fire." She was gone in a blink.

Dean turned his attention to Castiel. He was sweating and looked slightly green. "Cas?"

Castiel got up from the bed. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back later." He hurried to the door, flung it open, and collided with Gwen. The drink in her hand went flying, splashing blue slushie all over Jo.

"Hey!" Gwen steadied herself with the doorframe.

"And now I need a shower and a Laundromat before the stains set." Jo plucked at her shirt with one hand. Blue liquid dripped down it. "What's going on, Dean?"

"I'll explain later. Gwen, go after him for me?"

She didn't protest or ask for a reason, she simply went.

"Dean?" Jo looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

"Take a fast shower and change shirts. I'll catch you up while you work on that stain."

What had upset Castiel so badly? Surely it wasn't the news that Naomi had plans for him? Or that Moira wanted to be an ally…maybe. She was just as hinkey as Naomi. But there'd been that moment where Moira had moved in less than a blink. Something must have happened then.

Moira showing up was nearly as bad an omen as Naomi stopping by. Her insistence that he belonged in heaven rubbed Castiel the wrong way.

"Stop it," Castiel spat. "I don't belong in heaven anymore. I belong here. I'm human now. I belong on earth."

"You're not human, Castiel. You think you are. You're pretending you are, but you're not. You never will be. This…existence…is temporary and I think a part of you knows it."

"I'm human," he maintained, though she was right. He'd merely thought he was those first few weeks. His ability to heal himself faster than he should was a red flag, as was that instinct Jo said was too good to be true. Both were angelic traits. He glanced at Dean, hoping Dean would take over the conversation with her. Dean was standing still, not moving, frozen in place. "Start time back up again."

"I'm not the one stopped time, Castiel. You did that. This," she raised a languid hand, "was all you."

"No."

"Yes. Those abilities you had are slowly returning."

"You're lying."

"You want me to be lying and you know I'm not. You know fate doesn't always mean a death. Fate can be a path you're set upon or a task that is only yours. Why am I here today, Castiel?"

He looked away. She wasn't here to make a deal, not really, though she was upset with Raphael. She was here to make it clear to him that there was more still for him to do. He wasn't going to be allowed to rest and be human. He wasn't out of angelic politics by a long-shot.

"Poor baby. You've had such a difficult time recently, but where it's all going will be a wondrous thing for you. You'll see. As those abilities begin resurfacing, you'll embrace what you're becoming."

It took a conscious effort to give time the push it needed to return to flowing normally and he didn't miss Dean's flicker of suspicion when it did flow. At that moment, Castiel hated Naomi and Moira and everything they stood for for him. He hated that he wasn't allowed to be human and be with his friends and he certainly hated that those returning powers would mean he once more had to step back from his friends. Cas didn't want that future fate had for him. He'd come to enjoy being human.

He ran from the room and in doing so, felt like he was running from all of it. Maybe if he kept running he could keep ahead of it and none of it would happen. It was futile and a human thing to do and he embraced that human act as proof that he wasn't what Moira told him.

He was human and that was that.