AN: The names of the Horsemen again belong not to me, but to silver ruffian.
Dean couldn't believe what was going on. One minute, he was in his room in Kansas City, enjoying what sleep he was able to get between conversations with Cas and Sam, Ari by the window keeping watch. The next, he was Apocalypse Town, no Ari in sight, and no answers, not yet anyway. The dick-angel's explanation: he had been transported... to the future? Zach said that they wanted him to marinate. Them who? The angels? He had to spend three days here? But what about Sam? And what was the deal with the Croatoan virus? What the hell had happened to this place?
To top it off, his baby was in ruins. He had stopped at Bobby's house, looking for some answers. But Bobby was dead; he had found his wheelchair riddled with bullet holes, one directly where his heart would've been had he been sitting in the chair. So, he followed the bread crumbs that Bobby hid around the house that led him to Camp Chitaqua, a heavily armed camp of sorts. His baby was in decrepit ruins: what the hell had happened to him to make him stop caring for her?
Now, he was talking to himself, literally. The carbon copy of him from 2014 had asked for the reason why he was here, when he had finally ascertained that he wasn't a shapeshifter or demon. When Dean of 2009 answered that Zach had sent him here, Dean of 2014 seemed really interested in the angels. He wanted to talk to them, but 2009 Dean didn't know how.
Well, at least, Dean from 2014 was finally giving him answers. Only took him shooting a man in front of him and revealing the 'Parent Trap'-ness of their situation to the rest of the men to get them. The Croatoan virus was released in 2011, and there was no stopping it. Whole cities had become quarantined to at least contain the virus. There were military troops stationed at each city to kill off the people with the virus. Sam was dead, from some showdown in Detroit. Apparently, he and Sam hadn't spoken since they parted ways after River Pass. Which led him to his next question to 2014 Dean.
"What about Ari? What's her deal? Did she go back to the angels?" 2014 Dean put down the whiskey that he was tossing back with ease and began to walk out of the house and into a cellar, curling his finger behind him. 2009 Dean followed, but his eyes couldn't believe what was happening. They were back to torturing again? All he could see were the tools: the knives, the pipes, the holy water, the salt. Then he saw it; wasn't sure if it was a female or male. Half in dark, half in light, it hung from the ceiling, its wrists chained to the ceiling, its ankles to the floor.
"Wake up!" 2014 Dean slapped the person across the face hard enough to echo in the damp room. 2009 Dean heard a moan and the head turn from side to side. 2014 Dean grabbed her chin and lifted her into the light for 2009 Dean to see. Ari? But how? Her shirt was half-torn off, showing off the scars that she got from her punishment in Heaven but also newer wounds, violently red and jagged against her torso. Her arms were bruised and welted, like she had been beaten with a baseball bat. Dean took another look at the shackles around her wrists and ankles: they were laden with sigils that kept her from zapping out of here. Was that Cas' doing?
"What the hell?" 2009 Dean made to walk forward, but 2014 Dean stopped him."Don't. She's Hell's bitch now." Ari chuckled sinisterly at that. "She sided with Lucifer a year before the massive showdown in Detroit. She's his right hand demon, angel, whatever she is."
"What? How's that possible?" The men looked each other, one a soldier and one a civilian. Both of hem had their secrets almost written clearly on their faces, while some of the other secrets were hidden in plain sight.
"Because." That was Ari. 2009 Dean was shocked by the look in her black eyes as she leered at him. "I was so sick of watching you dick around, fumble and drop the ball all the time. You abandoned your own brother looking for the Colt; you lost his love as a younger brother, and you lost my trust. So I disobeyed, again. I found my oldest brother; begged to join his side. He didn't say a word about the length of time, or about proving myself. He just welcomed me with open arms, the first time in five thousand years that one of my brothers actually cared for me. Besides, I was tired of watching the mud monkeys mess up our world. This was a beautiful planet, and it was our home long before God ever thought to make you. I loved God, and Lucifer was right all along. We both loved our Father, but when he abandoned me, when he sent my oldest brother to Hell, for becoming something other than his plans... That, you could say, was the turning point in our relationship." Her eyes turned from 2009 Dean to 2014 Dean, taking in their reactions.
"So, what?" 2009 Dean was really confused at this point, while 2014 Dean just leaned against the work table. "You stopped following your orders out of the blue?"
"Dean, I had stopped following my orders around the time you and my dickless ex-boyfriend summoned Raphael to that craphole of a house. Everyone that I had ever trusted, except you, had abandoned me and manipulated me. When you did it as well, well... let's just say that I wasn't the same again. And besides, Afriel gave me a hand with dealing and finding another way." She leaned back against the chains as far as they would let her, almost like she was lounging around. "She was right all along. Power is in authority over others, and what you choose to use it for. I had so much power, and then it was time to harness it." She began to leer at the Dean doppelgangers like they were the same insignificant bug. "I'm in league with the Four Horsemen now."
"What, like War?" 2009 Dean raked his fingers through his hair.
"Yes, Tiesen." She relished the name on her tongue. "His brothers Chale, Rika, and Gaelen would really like to meet you. Tiesen, especially. Wants to pay you back for taking off his finger." She clucked her tongue. "Not very nice, Dean. Not very nice at all."
2009 Dean just stood there. "What the hell happened to you, Ari?"
She growled at him. "Have you not been listening? Oh, I forgot! Dean Winchester does not listen to the angels. Not even me. Not even to a friend that just wanted to see this end before ultimate casualties. What was I ever thinking when I thought we ever had anything in common with each other?" She stared from one Dean to the next before settling on 2014 Dean. "So what, another round of torture? Wanna make sure that the info you pulled from me is legit?"
2014 Dean just scoffed. "No. You're coming with us. Big brother wouldn't harm little sister." With that, Dean hit her with the butt of his Beretta, knocking her out cold. The only sound were the clinking of her chains as she went limp and hung from them again.
Dean saw her beginning to come to in the back of Cas' truck as they drove into Jackson City, a massive Croatoan hot zone according to Cas when he and the underground leaders were planning this back at camp. He stole another look at his angel buddy. Cas, too, had changed with time. He wasn't an angel, not anymore. Man, he was more hedonistic than Dean ever was on his best day: orgies, absinthe, amphetamines? Don't get him wrong, he liked this new Cas, but was it worth the price?
"Hell, Dean, you gotta learn to keep your thoughts to yourself." He turned more in his seat to look at her; he heard Cas take a tighter grip on the wheel. Ari was tied up in the back; the shackles were gone from her wrists, replaced with a neck manacle etched with the same symbols. The toughest rope they had tied her arms and legs together so that she was like a caterpillar, unable to move without belly-crawling. Another length of rope was tied to the back of her neck manacle, almost like a crude leash. Blood still dripped from her temple down her face as she looked up at him. "I mean, jeez, stop projecting like that. You're making my head hurt."
"Well, you're a bitch, you know that, right?" Ari just laughed when Dean said that.
"Yeah, your copycat's been telling me that for a long time now, Dean." For a moment, she sounded like the old Ari: fun, mortal-like. "What other divine wisdom you wanna impart on me, Winchester?" Dean stole a look back at her; her eyes were back to normal now.
"Stop thinking, Dean. Please." Her black eyes returned in a heartbeat, but it was still Ariel talking. "Afri and I are one in the same now. Well, I don't torture anymore, but Gaelen showed me ways to make you mud monkeys die so painfully, it was almost poetic."
"You never answered my question." Dean turned and faced her completely, all his attention on her.
"Oh? And what question was that?" She was being coy now, toying with him.
"What happened to you, Ari? Why?" She scoffed at the second question.
"Why? Such a simple question to ask, but are you really ready for the answers?" Dean nodded and Ari grew serious. "I watched you grow distant, Dean, after Sam left, after we summoned Raphael and talked to him. Never once did you pick up the phone and check on your little brother. He was writhing in self-loathing, in his self-imposed penance, and you did nothing. You never gave him a second chance. You never apologized to him, never worked with him on re-building the trust. Both Winchesters to the core, you both refused to see that you needed one another, that you both were the ying to the other's yang; one half of the puzzle was missing, and you guys knew it, and did nothing. Yes, he set my brother free. Big whuppa-de-do. Would've happened sooner or later. It was just fate that it was Sam. My father and brothers would tell you that is was his destiny, but I spit on destiny. But then, you never really wondered about how he got started with the powers, with the blood, did you? You always thought it was rebellion against everything that your father taught you guys. But it wasn't. He wanted some good to come out of Azazel's curse for him. He wanted to show you that he was turning even the evil inside of him into some good. Albeit, he went around it the entirely wrong way.
"I couldn't take it anymore, Dean. I was the one who kept asking you to call Sam, to check up on him. You pushed me away, Dean, told me to stop bothering you with the affairs of Sam. You were so focused on finding the Colt, on killing Lucifer before he took over the world. You became like your father: tunnel-visioned, not wanting help, not wanting to endanger Sammy or me. So, I left." She looked at him, her hazel eyes boring into him. "I don't think that you even noticed that I was gone until you heard about the battle in Detroit, about how I begged with Sam to help end the hurt, the pain of being associated with you, of being your discards." She cocked her head at him, trying to look through him and not at him. "Dean, what else can I say, except that this is all your fault?"
They cut the ropes to her legs and let her walk in front of the group of five as she led them through the ruined streets of Jackson City to the old abandoned sanatorium. Dean kept his eyes on her as she stumbled in her bare feet, as his future self pushed her forward like a relentless task master. Was this all his fault?
It was when they stopped at the front entrance, when 2014 Dean lied to the group about it being a cake-walk to get to Lucifer on the second floor, that something didn't begin to add up. Keeping an eye on Ari, 2009 Dean confronted his counterpart. "What the hell's going on? I want in on it."
2014 Dean took a quick look of his group before pulling 2009 Dean closer to the treeline. "I brought you here so that you could see our brother." He took a sigh, rubbing his hand on his face. "Sam didn't die in Detroit. He said yes." It took a while for the information to filter through, to become understandable. "Yeah, Lucifer's wearing him to the prom now."
"So, what? You're gonna kill him? Our brother?" 2009 Dean couldn't believe it.
"Well, I've got no other choice. Dean, promise me. When you return to your time, say yes to Michael." 2009 Dean tried to retort. "It's too late for me. I've tried until I turned blue in the face; I've screamed 'yes' to the heavens, but the angels aren't listening anymore. But you can still change this!"
2014 Dean took a step back before shaking his head. "But you won't, because that's not we work." Then it was blackness.
Dean woke up with a splitting headache to the sounds of gun shots in the second floor. He was left behind, and the others were walking into a trap. But, wait... what about Ari? He shook his head as he ran behind the building to see the shock of his life.
Ari stood over his 2014 version, smirking as a guy in a white suit had his heel to 2014 Dean's throat, efficiently snapping his neck in two and killing him. Ari's collar was snapped off, in pieces on the ground; the marks on her neck were visible from the red chafing from the metal. The man in the suit turned around and stared at Dean. Sam? But no, it wasn't Sam, not anymore. This was Lucifer.
"Oh. Hello, Dean." Ari stood beside her brother, smiling as Dean wrestled with coming to terms about seeing Sam like this. "Aren't you a surprise." Thunder filled the air for a moment as the two foes sized each other up. "You've come a long way to see this, haven't you?"
Dean had had enough. "Just kill me. Go ahead; get it over with."
Lucifer seemed nonplussed for a moment. "Kill you? Don't you think that would be a little..." he looked down to the corpse of the future Dean, "redundant?" He sighed for a moment as Ari bit back a chuckle. "I'm sorry. It must be painful... speaking to me in this shape. But, it had to be your brother. It had to be." He made to place a hand on Dean's shoulder, but the mortal took a step back. Lucifer sighed again and removed the offending hand. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Dean. What you do think I'm going to do?" He turned his back on Dean, walking towards the roses and admiring them.
"I don't know. Maybe deep-fry the planet?" Anger filled the air, but Lucifer just turned around with a question on his face and in his voice.
"Why? Why would I want to destroy this stunning thing? So beautiful... in a trillion different ways. This, the last perfect handiwork of God?" Lucifer took his sister in his arm as she hugged him, looking at Dean the whole time. "This, where we angels once roamed free and called home?" Ari backed off, the Swords of Lucifer and Michael in her hands as she stood ready to defend her brother if necessary. "Did you ever hear the story of how I fell from Grace?"
Dean shook his head, his face a display of utter disgust. "Oh, good God, you're not gonna tell me a bedtime story, are you? My stomach's almost out of bile."
Lucifer just ignored that last comment, looking straight at Dean. Ari had her head cocked to one side, looking at them both through the corner of her eye. "You know why God cast me down? Because I loved him... more than anything, I loved him as my father. Then God created..." It was clear that the subject was touchy to the fallen angel, as his teeth began to grind and his jaw clench, but that was all the reaction that he showed, "you. The little... hairless apes. And he asked all of us to bow down before you: to love you, more than him. And I said, 'Father, I can't. These human beings are flawed, murderous.' And for that, God had Michael cast me into Hell, made Phanuel lock me away behind the sixty-six seals. Now tell me, does the punishment fit the crime?" Lucifer's face became dark for a moment as Ari toyed with the pommel of Michael's sword. "Especially when I was right? I mean, look at what six billion of you have done to this thing, and how many of you blame me for it?"
Dean just stared at the two fallen angels: one who fell because of his arrogance, and one who fell because she had no other options left. They were just the same things that he had been hunting his entire lives. The only difference was the size of their egos. When he told Lucifer that, he just laughed. Ari came closer, putting the swords away. She looked him over, shaking her head slowly the entire time. "Dean, you know that nothing on your current path of action will alter this course. You won't say yes to Michael, and you won't hurt Sam, so we win. Every time, we win."
Lucifer came up behind his sister, putting a hand on her shoulder. "See you in five years, Dean." And he was left alone.
Dean awoke from the nightmare with Zachariah standing beside him. Ariel was unconscious on the floor, her hands bounds behind her and a growing bruise over her eye. "Enough, Dean. Just say yes." Dean looked over the dick that sent him on this in the first place. "Say yes, and we can protect Sam before Lucifer strikes."
Dean would never say yes, and he wasn't about to start now. Just as Zach walked closer to him, a bright light filled the room, taking both Dean and Ari with it. As once as the zapping was done, he was standing by a kneeling Castiel who held Ari in his arms as he revived his mate. He knew that he needed to call Sam, that they needed to get back together.
The next day, Sam and him reunited. Ari leaned against the Impala, watching the two brothers forgive each other, watch them begin to heal. She looked up to the heavens, and she could have swore that the world seemed that much lighter, that much freer, now that the Winchesters were back together. The three of them had a job to do, and by God above, they would complete it.