Oh, yeah, everything is unbeta'd. All my mistakes are my own. Also, didn't do quite as many re-reads and edits so there will probably be more mistakes than usual.
Disclaimer: Kripke owns all Supernatural characters. I'm only borrowing them.
Pairing: Dean/Castiel - very graphic. This is my first attempt at something like this because this muse wouldn't leave me alone. Please let me know what you think, constructively.
Overall Warnings: Rated M for swearing, graphic sexual content with S and M undertones, implied forced sexual torture and other adult subject matter.
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Chapter Rating – T - Mainly Swearing this chapter
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Chapter 43 – The Real World
('Why can't the real world just stop hasseling me?' – Matchbox 20)
Tense silence filled the heavy air for a long pause before it was abruptly, harshly broken.
"Bravo! Bravo!" Lucifer exclaimed delightedly from his lounging position in his recliner. He clapped enthusiastically and added in some whistles of appreciation before calling out, "Encore! Encore! En-"
All the angels, and humans, turned to glare at him while Michael held up a hand and quickly made it into a fist. Lucifer's voice volume completely, instantly disappeared. Lucifer mouthed a few more words before he glared angrily at Michael.
"He's getting worse," Balthazar observed nonchalantly from where he lounged against the kitchen cabinet on the left side of Lucifer's recliner.
"Why didn't you tell me he was having more visions?" Gabriel barked out, demandingly at Castiel. "You know that kinda stuff never ends well, especially with these knuckleheads."
Castiel blinked then tore his gaze away from his passed out mate in his arms. He paused to stare at Gabriel before he snapped back irritably, "I did not know. I have not had any more and he has not said or done anything to indicate he was." He flew Dean over to Bobby's couch in the study while the others followed on foot.
Castiel turned at the sudden sound of a body hitting the wall then Lucifer snapping out, "That was uncalled for, Mikey. I was just appreciating the extremely moving scene. Seriously. I almost had a tear in my eye. I mean I was seriously, deeply, emotionally moved by our little snarky human."
"Too bad it wasn't geographically," Balthazar snarked under his breath.
"I mean, honestly, who knew he had such range," Lucifer continued critically for a moment before it really registered then clamped his mouth shut and glared at Balthazar.
"Hey! I'm supplying the popcorn here," Lucifer objected with high offense then turned to the others. "I mean, I have to admit. I don't particularly like the snarky, little, hairless ape but I got to hand it to you, Sammy. Even Alistair never broke him like you just did. And it was all so effortlessly for you. That was so . . . AWESOME!! You. Are. My. Hero." Lucifer blinked furiously while he held up a hand in salute then bowed his head reverently. Sam flushed deeply with self-conscious embarrassment as he swiftly followed Bobby out of the room.
"I so love that human," Lucifer sniffled to himself dramatically.
Bobby demanded gruffly as he entered his study, "Isn't making him sleep counter-productive if he keeps dreaming up this 2012 apocalyptic crap?" His eagle eyes stayed firmly fixed on Dean's slumbering face. "I think he's had enough of that. Don't you?"
"He is completely unconscious," Castiel informed him.
"Human translation. No dreams," Gabriel added sarcastically.
"Why does he keep getting these when you do not, Castiel?" Michael puzzled curiously. "None of us have received them, either. So why is it, whatever it is, all going to him?" He paused then asked cautiously, "Is it possible that he is right? This is some messed up, supernatural hallucination?"
"NO!" Castiel barked out harshly.
"Why?" Michael questioned seriously. "Simply because you don't want it to be? That's not enough, Cassie, and you know it."
"Torture me another time," Castiel growled angrily. "Not now. I have to fix this."
"How?" Gabriel demanded, completely at a loss. "Especially since we don't know what this is."
"I don't know," Castiel gritted out with severe frustration. He sat down on the edge of the couch beside Dean and touched his forehead as he searched Dean's mind. There was absolutely nothing, just as he and Gabriel had predicted. He sighed heavily then smoothed back Dean's hair, resolving to try again later.
"Could it be the baby?" Balthazar questioned uneasily.
Castiel turned to look at him before he shook his head and answered gruffly, "The baby sends him dreams of it being older, a child, able to play at playgrounds and in baseball fields. It sends him . . . pleasant, comforting dreams. No. The others are definitely from Trinity. I assume that I don't have any more because I died in mine so that was the end of my . . . other . . . life."
"But Dean continues to live so he sees everyone else around him die or destroyed until he is Legend?" Gabriel continued thoughtfully. "Kinda makes sense when you put it that way."
"Didn't Dean say that you were back alive, though?" Balthazar pointed out.
"But the returned Cassie didn't know who he was then went insane from what Dean ranted," Michael argued in turn. "That might be why our Cassie didn't get those dreams. He wasn't the same person after his earlier death."
Michael turned to Lucifer and commented appreciatively, "If I didn't know better, I'd swear this was your doing. And I honestly would have had to applaud you on it. Talk about pure torture."
"Yeah. Me, too," Lucifer lamented slightly before perking up. "Oh, well. Can definitely add it to the program now, though."
"So where does this all leave us?" Bobby demanded with immense concern. "Is there any way to prove to him that this isn't some djinn induced nightmare?"
Sam frowned thoughtfully while he remembered aloud in a subdued voice, "When Dean was under the first time, he said that he was haunted by the image of the other humans being held captive with him. Reality kept bleeding through and haunting him. It wouldn't leave him in peace. But, at the same time, he was apparently a huge douchebag in the dream world and we weren't close at all. His attempt at killing himself was what brought everything out into the open. Stabbing himself allowed him to break free of the djinn poison."
"We could let him stab himself," Gabriel allowed reluctantly. "I mean, there's enough of us to keep him from harming himself too badly."
Castiel shook his head and countered, "Even if I agreed, and we could somehow get him to agree, the baby would stop him. But that's part of the problem. He doesn't want out this time so he'd never agree anyway."
"Do you blame him?" Bobby growled out harshly. "He's losing everyone and everything in that reality then stands to lose even more when he gets back, not to mention turning his back on everything here. He's not going to do it. And he shouldn't have to. He's done enough, damn it. He's entitled to some damn peace."
"Well, that opinion varies," Lucifer snarked nastily under his breath.
"Agreed," Michael supported firmly. "But not the point. Once again, we cannot really torture someone who's already been broken under another."
"Touché," Lucifer acknowledged regretfully.
"We could try to summon Trinity again?" Bobby suggested uneasily.
"She didn't know any more about it than we do," Castiel argued abruptly. "I find it hard to believe she would actually help us when she enjoys torturing him so much."
"How did we dismiss the possibility that we are a djinn creation again?" Balthazar queried with confusion as he looked up from his fifth drink.
"Well, first of all, most djinn creations spend all their time making their victim comfortable and happy so that they don't want to escape," Gabriel pointed out logically then stared pointedly at Sam. "Something that is definitely not happening here. Secondly, they don't stand around debating whether their reality is fake or not, much less, ways to prove that it is, or isn't."
"Oh, yes, touché," Balthazar acknowledged with a salute of his shot glass. "Excellent points, to be sure." Then he drained it in one long gulp. "But one has to wonder, considering their phenomenal Winchester luck, how he hasn't been close to death before now?"
"He has." Both Castiel and Gabriel insisted quickly.
"Has he?" Balthazar verified disbelievingly.
Castiel frowned with intent confusion and clarified, "What are you getting at, Balthazar?"
"If he has been near death, or even severely injured," Michael concluded easily, following his brother's line of reasoning, "why hasn't he snapped out of the djinn induced coma?" That gave everyone pause.
"Because he doesn't want to leave," Castiel finished with resignation. "Are you using this argument to convince us? Or convince Dean? He won't go for it."
"Of course, the whiskey soaked, self-sacrificing idiot won't," Balthazar insulted snidely. "But, if we know, we need to find the reason behind this because nothing happens to these cursed GQ models without a reason. Everything has meaning when it comes to these denim clad nightmares. So, first question, do the actual visions have anything to do with what's going on? I mean, I'm not up on human hunter lingo but what exactly are Big Mouths? And how are they taking over the world?"
Everyone looked at each other questioningly but the angels mainly stared at the humans. Bobby shrugged and admitted gruffly, "I got no clue. Never heard that before."
"Me, either," Sam added quickly.
Castiel frowned and pointed out, "He said it too easily to not have known the creatures really well. What creature has inky black . . . stuff?"
"I can research it," Bobby offered, glancing around his desk at the books already on it.
"Wait a minute," Sam interrupted with a sudden thought. "Remember when Dean mentioned this last time. The whole djinn thing. He was going to leave then but . . ."
"I bargained with him," Gabriel finished in remembrance. "He agreed to stay if I brought Cassie back." He glanced at Castiel and reminded him, "Remember when he went coma victim? He swore you'd been killed then."
"By Leviathans," Castiel remembered with dread.
"Leviathans? Oh, please, Cassie," Lucifer protested dismissively. "You know as well as the rest of us that they are all imprisoned in Purgatory. They'll never get out unless some completely insane, totally off the wall angel went around the loony bin. I mean, even I know better than that and look at how nuts I am. Not to mention, that you'd have to find a demonic counterpart who is equal off his rocker and then the two of them would have to actually have the presence of mind to team up . . . and . . . wait, am I missing something here?"
Unfortunately, the other angels involved had kept their eyes on the humans as well as Castiel and Gabriel. Castiel never had the poker face that the others did. Even so, the humans cutting their eyes toward Castiel reinforced the easy assumption.
"Oh, Cassie, no," Balthazar protested the very simple conclusion. "Really? Like stabbing me in the back wasn't enough? Of all the things to succeed in . . ."
Michael shook his head in disappointed disbelief and wondered aloud, "Father! How are you even alive? No wonder you were sent to the box."
Lucifer's eyes flew open wide at final dreadful knowledge while he verified with a mixture of disbelief and awe, "Seriously, Cassie? Wow. That took some serious kahunas. Even I am not that ballsy."
Michael had been studying Castiel and finally commented, "You do not appear any different. So where are they? Is he right? Are they out?"
"No," Gabriel answered firmly. "They were all sent back and sealed away."
"How do you know?" Michael demanded irritably. "They were so cunning and chaotic that Father had to make that special prison for them."
"I made sure," Gabriel insisted adamantly. "Besides, we definitely would have heard something about them by now, if any of them escaped."
"So, you knew all along that . . .," Michael started ominously.
"Look, I hate to break up yet another apocalyptic hissy fit. But this is not the issue right now. We can settle this later, after we figure out what our current situation is," Balthazar declared reasonably.
"How do we know this isn't related since he's having visions of the Father forsaken things?" Michael snapped out irritably.
"Because Castiel isn't dead," Gabriel pointed out logically. "Neither is Bobby and Sam is still . . . Sam."
"Can we stop going in circles here?" Bobby complained with an irritated grumble.
"Why? I love circles," Lucifer mocked smugly, always enjoying discord. "They so very . . . circular. Like merry-go-rounds . . . carousels . . . torture devices . . ." Everyone either rolled their eyes or completely ignored him.
Michael frowned then turned to Lucifer and prodded vaguely, "Remember after Death got Sam's soul? A little while after that? Remember?"
Lucifer frowned heavily then asked curiously, "What? You mean the quaky thing?"
"Yeah, the quaky thing," Michael confirmed then hypothesized, "What if it wasn't just a ripple? What if it was a complete reset?"
Lucifer pondered that a moment then shook his head and denied firmly, "No. He couldn't do that. Even if he had swallowed them all up, it still wouldn't be enough power for a reset. Besides, all of them would either overpower him or drive him completely insane. Hell, he'd probably think he was Father or something."
They both turned just in time to see Castiel blanched heavily. Lucifer's jaw dropped and he verified incredulously, "Seriously?" He threw his hands up in the air and ranted loudly, "You know what. I give up. I freakin' give up. I mean, seriously? What the . . . I don't freakin' believe it. I simply do not believe it."
"I'm having a really hard time with it myself," Michael admitted sympathetically with an ominous glare at Castiel.
Castiel cast an embarrassed, pleading glance at Gabriel who shook off his shocked look and redirected sternly, "The point is . . . wait, wait . . . what do you mean, 'reset'?"
Lucifer shrugged and allowed reluctantly, "That would explain him, though." He waved toward Gabriel and continued in the same vein, "'Cuz I definitely killed him before everything fell apart. If only it wasn't for those denim clad, meddling do-good-ers and their crap car, too."
"That doesn't mean anything," Balthazar argued negligently. "Cassie's come back how many times now? None of those were resets. In fact, there's never been one so why exactly would there be one now? Seriously?"
"What the hell is a reset?" Sam demanded impatiently.
"It's all theoretical because, as we just said, it's never been done," Gabriel explained briskly. "It's just a theory some of us older ones had a long time ago. You know how angels can easily move through time, right? Even send certain people back to witness an event?" He waited for the humans in their company to nod then continued, "But no one, angel or human, sent back can alter any events. No Butterfly Effects, which is good because that Kutcher movie . . ."
"Only now, you think . . ." Bobby concluded hesitantly.
Gabriel grimaced then shook his head and denied, "No, it would take too much . . ."
"We couldn't do it," Michael interrupted abruptly. "Not even with the full power of three archs put together."
"How do you know?" Bobby questioned suspiciously. He saw Gabriel and Michael exchange fugitive glances before he correctly surmised, "You've tried it before."
Lucifer perked up suddenly from where he was moussing Dean's hair into a Mohawk with a pink tint. "What? When? Why?" he scrambled mentally with sudden interest. "Huh?"
Castiel turned toward him and saw his mate's hair then growled menacingly but Lucifer had already flown over to Michael.
"Mikey?" Lucifer questioned again, glancing between his oldest brothers.
"Doesn't matter," Michael dismissed tightly. "We tried it. Didn't work. Move on."
"Yeah, that's right," Gabriel sneered blackly. "Keep towing the company line, Mikey. Just like you always do."
Gabriel glared disgustingly at Michael then continued briskly, completely ignoring his older brother, "Yeah, we tried it. Thought we could change something. Make it right. Take things back to the way they were. We didn't even make a ripple. There was an idea to include the others, our younger brothers. Couple of conspiracy-secret meetings later the entire theory was complete nixed and tossed into Purgatory never to be spoken of again. Not long after, relatively, came the Fallen, then revenge of the Fallen, then Flood of the Earth, and so on. Transformers was a much better series, by the way."
"You tried to save me," Lucifer whispered in a soft, disbelieving voice. "Aw . . .You all . . .," He trailed off and fanned his face while blinking rapidly. "Oh, I'm not . . . definitely not . . . oh, such an emotional morning." He huffed dramatically then practiced his breathing techniques.
"Oh, Father," Balthazar snarked nastily. "Give it a rest, why don't you?"
Lucifer rolled his eyes and grumbled sadly, "So mean. Never liked you, you know."
"Thank Father," Balthazar retorted easily, "oh, and, by the by, ditto."
"Okay," Sam stated then summarized, "so you think what? That . . . God . . . who has been absent for, like, a really long time, came back and . . . what? Delorean'd Dean Back To The New Future? So why not Dean? Why was Dean the only one who didn't get the reset?"
"Well, he does have that effect on people," Lucifer commented solemnly then saw everyone stare at him. "What? He does. I mean, come on. Honestly. Who here hasn't wanted to beat the living snark out of the mouthy little pest?"
Michael crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Castiel then hypothesized, "He's not the only one who didn't get the total reset. Maybe Castiel here should finally tell us what actually happened that first time with Trinity since it seems all things stem from there."
Castiel cast a very confused glance at Gabriel who shrugged uncertainly. Castiel turned back to Michael and admitted hesitantly, "I am uncertain as to what you are requesting of me."
Lucifer rolled his eyes and quickly clarified, "Where did Trinity catch up with you?"
"An abandoned warehouse," Castiel answered easily.
"And she already had Dean . . ." Michael continued quickly.
"Extremely subdued and highly infected," Castiel cut him off quickly.
"So she infected you then . . ." Michael prodded, leading Castiel in steps to deliver the required information.
Gabriel took over abruptly, "Crowley and I opened Purgatory, pulled everything out of Cas then locked everything up nice and tight."
"Then . . ." Michael continued to pry.
"Then? Well, then . . . Cassie and Deano there needed some serious alone time," Gabriel easily evaded.
"Which lasted how long?" Michael verified.
"How do you know she didn't come back while they were busy?" Balthazar wondered curiously.
"Why would she?" Gabriel countered.
"She didn't," Castiel asserted firmly. "I would have noticed. Dean was more under that time as well, like last time. I don't know how long she had him before I arrived but it had been . . . quite some time. He really didn't know much of what was going on. I was aware of . . . everything but did not have much control over my, uh . . . vessel. It lasted for almost four days."
"He'd been missing for five when I talked to you," Sam informed him.
"So . . . hypothetically speaking, if this was a reset, one would assume it happened at the point where Trinity became involved since Deano had no idea who she was," Gabriel concluded logically. "Which means . . ."
"Either Cassie didn't give up the souls the first time around," Michael hypothesized.
"Or he did but the Leviathans wouldn't leave," Lucifer joined in. "Without the souls . . . heck, even with the souls . . . Cassie wouldn't have been able to hold them in which would lead . . ."
"To my black, inky death," Castiel finished solemnly.
"'Fraid so, bro," Gabriel agreed sadly with a comforting hand on Castiel's shoulder.
"So, Dean's remembering the A side while living the B side but we are all B side only material," Bobby summarized quickly. "Now what?"
"We tell him so that he'd calm the hell down then deal with what this reality has to offer," Gabriel answered easily.
"Oh, you make it sound so easy," Balthazar taunted with snark. "And what exactly is all that? Trinity? Mating bonds and a possible Neph?"
"The baby is not a Neph," Castiel argued tightly, seeing all of his brothers tense under the suggestion. "I am not Fallen."
"That's so, so hard to believe," Lucifer snarked snidely to Michael.
"No kidding," Michael agreed in total agreement then shook his head. "Look, whatever the child is or is not, can wait until after we deal with Trinity. By then, we might have more information anyway."
"So what's the deal with Trini? What are we doing? Summoning her?" Gabriel questioned curiously. "Taking her out? We talking dinner and a movie? Just drinks? Or what? Anyone? Anything?"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh," Lucifer piped up, jumping up and down in place with his hand raised in the air. "I vote dancing. I can really cut a rug."
"So seventy years ago," Balthazar snarked under his breath with the others continued the conversation, totally ignoring Lucifer and Balthazar's side discussion.
"Bust a move?"
"More like break a leg," Balthazar snarked nastily.
"Oh, I knew I liked dancing for a reason," Lucifer replied gleefully. "Oh, oh, the River Dance. No, the Chicken Dance. Talk about torture."
"Do we really want to wait for her to come back whenever she feels like it?" Sam argued with dread. "When she gets bored?"
"Why not?" Gabriel taunted mockingly. "You know you liked it, Sammy."
"Keep that kinda crap to yourselves," Bobby grouched out. "That stuff's on a need-to-know basis and I definitely don't ever need to know. Now, I'm not one for summoning her before we find something to control her but I have to ask. What was she doing at the warehouse to begin with because it doesn't sound like Gabriel set that up and we all know that Castiel didn't so that only leaves Crowley. Maybe we should have another chat with that kilt-wearing mook."
"That's a very good point," Michael agreed.
"Hey, Mikey," Lucifer called out. "Wanna Macarena with me?"
"Actually," Sam drawled out then reminded Bobby. "She was the one who set the trap for us to begin with. It would be interesting to find out if Crowley was behind that as well."
"We'd better hope that he was," Bobby advised firmly, "because the alternative isn't too nice."
"Well, he definitely picked the right bait for the final trap, didn't he?" Gabriel commented wryly, glancing at Dean, and then added, "You do know that you'll have to put him to sleep again if you want to avoid another panic attack, unless you fix his hair. You know how much his looks mean to him, Cassie."
"He so better get over that," Lucifer advised dryly. "Carrying babies play hell on human's figures. Just look what happened to Kristie Alley. Wow. At least that's what all the women say anyway. So, new vessel? Right, Mikey?"
"Oh, definitely," Michael agreed vehemently.
"Well, we'll get the stuff set up for the summoning spell," Bobby grumbled out as he started to gather up things. He glanced at Castiel and suggested, "You might want to take him upstairs in the meantime. I'm sure that he still has sleep to catch up on. We'll call you down when we're ready." Castiel nodded solemnly then touched Dean's forehead and they both disappeared.
"So . . . uh, no party then?" Lucifer verified disappointedly. "How disappointing. Oh, well. At least there's cake."
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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and let me know what you think.