Notes: So, since On a Head of a Pin (4.16), Dean being the righteous man and breaking the first seal never surfaced again. Well, apart from that brief comment Dean made of breaking the first seal in Fallen Idols (5.05). That never sat right with me. Breaking the first seal was a part of hell for Dean, and I think since Sam said (albeit he was under a Siren Song in 4.14) that Dean was weak for whining about hell and feeling sorry for himself, Dean never mentioned Hell to his brother again. People who have low self-worth often attach themselves to every single negative thing, either said or thought about them, even if it isn't true, and they take it to heart. In this story, Dean never told Sam about breaking the first seal. To me, I think it's part of his character. Anyway, that's my reasoning!
Thank you for reading! :)

Chapter Two

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness."—Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction

"Dean."

There was a sharp poke at his side and Dean jolted awake. He rapidly blinked his eyes and smacked his mouth. His eyesight cleared to catch a portrait of his brother Sam, brown hair hanging over his eyes. Dean groaned and dropped his head back onto the bed...

Wow. His pillow was hard. He inspected it to realize he was lying on the hood of the Impala. Blood pounded in his head. He groaned and stared back up at a bemused Sam.

"Sleep well?"

"Shut up," Dean muttered.

"Bobby's going to be pissed when he finds out you finished off that last bottle of Jack."

Dean rose to a sitting position, wincing at the bright light of the sun. It must nearly noon by now. Had he dreamed that whole scenario with Michael last night?

"Bobby thinks he found something, come on."

Dean waved Sam away, giving his brother the whole 'I'll be there' glare. After he relieved himself and grabbed a couple slices of bread, he joined Bobby and Sam in the living room.

Bobby tapped his pen on the side of the armrest of his wheelchair, brows set in a strong V as he read a session in the book.

"Whatcha got?" Dean asked as he slumped down in the chair across from Bobby's desk. Sam was at the other one, pouring through some random ancient books. Dean took a big bite of wheat bread and tried to force the dry piece down. He'd kill for some bacon right now.

"Nice of you to join us, princess," Bobby said. He pointed at the book with his pen. "Rufus loaned me a couple books a while back, some ancient manuscripts of the New Testament. They have different chapters in their testament than what we have in our current Bible."

"Hmm-hmm," Dean said, still trying to wake up.

"Have you ever heard of the angels talk about the Righteous Man?"

Dean choked on the bread.

And it is written that the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break.

Oh, has Dean heard of him.

The last time he'd talked about this was with Castiel in the hospital after the incident with Alastair, when Dean found out that he broke the first seal. How could he tell Sam that? That his brother was right, that Dean was weak, and being weak was the reason the whole apocalypse started in the first place. Heck, he never even told Bobby.

"Uh, I think Cas mentioned him once…" Dean said.

Sam perked up at this. "Do you remember what they said about him?"

Dean shook his head as an answer. "So, uh..." he tossed the remaining bread on Bobby's desk which earned him a look of disdain. "What about this guy?"

"There's a small section of him, in the Book of Revelations. It's stated that the righteous man who begins it is the only one who can finish it," Bobby said.

Dean's heart thumped hard against his chest. Cas had told Dean that exact thing.

"Finish the apocalypse?" Dean asked, feigning dumb. He was right back in the hospital. He wasn't the right man for the job. He scoffed. "How?"

"It's written that he can snuff out the light of the morning star."

Dean cocked a brow. "Lucifer? I thought only angels could kill angels." Great, now he was echoing his conversation with Michael. If that happened. Did it? "I mean, that's why the Colt didn't work on him…"

Sam faced him. "Looks like the angels were wrong about that. You killed Zachariah."

Right. Dean rubbed his forehead. "Okay. What else do they say about this…righteous man?"

Sam beamed. "That he will unite the forces of Heaven and Hell and lead them together to drive out the wicked."

"Are you fanboying over him?" Dean teased.

Sam's brows shot up. "What? No."

Bobby chuckled. "If he exists, he'll be worth trying to find."

Dean leaned back and folded him arms across his chest. "Recruit him to team free will?" He had to get them off this idea. He didn't know if all the angels thought Dean as the righteous man, but Alastair and Castiel had seemed pretty damn adamant that it was Dean. "I don't know guys. It's a stretch. I mean, from the sounds of it, it seemed like he was the one who started the apocalypse. How do you know if it wasn't on purpose so he could get all the glory of being the hero?"

Sam huffed a sigh. "Yeah. I'm trying to figure out how the first seal was broken. Maybe he was like me and was manipulated into doing it."

No, he broke, and turned off the path of righteous. He doesn't even deserve that name. Dean rose to his feet. "I don't know, Sammy. Sounds like another dead end to me."

Sam dropped his hands on top of his book. "Dean, why are you still acting like this? I thought you said we were going to take the fight to them."

"And you want to waste time trying to find this so-called righteous guy? We don't have the luxury of that..." Dean tensed.

Sam and Bobby shared a glance.

"Dean…what is..."

Dean spun around, angel blade in hand, the edge pressed against Michael's throat.

Michael's eyes were wide in shock. He opened his mouth to say something but Dean beat him to it.

"Cas!" he exclaimed.

Michael had Castiel's left arm draped over his shoulder, using it to help hold Castiel up. The rebellious angel's head was drooped against his chest, his breathing even.

Dean grabbed Cas, inspecting him. His skin was pale and clammy. "What's wrong with him?"

"He was nearly depleted of his..."

Michael was interrupted as Sam slammed him against the wall, demon knife in hand.

Dean grunted as most of Castiel's dead weight transferred to him. "Sam!" He dropped the angel blade to get a better grip around Cas.

Michael disappeared and reappeared behind Bobby, looking slightly annoyed. "Of his grace," he continued. "I healed him as much as I could, he's should be fully recover..."

Bam!

Michael blinked. He merely glanced down at the bullet wound in his chest. He flicked a gaze at Bobby who held a pistol in his hand, aimed solely at him. He slowly turned to Dean as if wondering why these insects were bothering him.

Sam charged for Michael again.

"Sam! Bobby! Would you guys relax?" Dean yelled. Cas' legs slumped further to the ground and Dean grunted as he tried to hold him upright. "He's on our side."

Sam stumbled to a halt, chest heaving.

Bobby cocked a brow. "Whatta mean?"

Dean dragged Castiel to the bed near the window, where only a couple days before Adam had been using and they'd been guarding him to ensure he didn't say yes. So much for that. He laid Cas on the bed and turned to them. "Michael and I...have an agreement."

Sam scoffed. "I thought we moved passed you saying yes."

"We did. I'm not saying yes," Dean said.

"For now..." Michael added.

Dean glowered at the archangel. "Not helping."

"Dean, why is he here and not smiting us?" Sam said, jerking the tip of the demon knife toward Michael.

"I'm more concerned of what moronic deal you've got yourself into now," Bobby grumbled.

Dean's mouth worked, unsure of where to start.

Michael beat him to it. "I am here to help your pitiable little team find a way to defeat my brother and stop the apocalypse without resorting to using my true vessel. I am certain we will not find anything, but I know doing this will eventually prove to Dean that saying yes is the only option."

Dean grounded his teeth. "Not exactly how I would've phrased it."

"You can't say yes!" Sam cried.

"I'm not!" Dean growled. "We're going to find another way."

Bobby shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to have an extra set of eyes. And he did bring our angel back."

Sam's nostrils flared. "Bobby! You can't agree with this!"

"I'm not saying that I am. I don't like this one bit, but this is the apocalypse, boy. Having an archangel might help us ensure we're looking into the right thing."

Dean snapped his fingers. "Exactly."

"Oh, you're still an idjit. If I weren't strapped into this damn chair, I'd smack you upside the head, because maybe that would finally knock some ounce of sense into you."

Geez, Dean can never get any support, can he?

Sam's shoulder slumped in defeat, he eyed Michael suspiciously.

Dean turned to check on Castiel. The angel was still asleep and Dean pulled the blanket to cover him. "Are you sure he's okay?" Dean's never see Cas sleeping before. He almost looked…human.

"He barely had a speck of grace when I found him. It took quite a while to revive him to his original strength, every angel's grace is different," Michael said.

"He would fight you to the death to make sure that I don't say yes. I need your word that you won't harm him, or the deal is off," Dean said. He turned and locked eyes with Michael, daring him to disagree.

"Castiel is an abomination. He chose you over the will of God. He is a traitor to his family and God." Michael broke Dean's gaze to look at Castiel with empathy or respect, Dean couldn't decipher it. "However, he did it all to protect you, Dean. For that, I will spare him."

"Well, that's good…I guess," Dean said.

"Is Adam in there?" Sam suddenly asked. He was still watching Michael like a hawk.

"Sam..." Dean started.

"Is he?"

"He is resting dormant within me. He is not aware of what's happening," Michael answered.

"You shouldn't be using him like this," Sam said. "You guys fed him all this crap about him being the one to save the world..."

"It was not lies. We told him the truth," Michael said.

Sam shook his head in amusement. "You used him to get Dean to say yes. You're still using him."

"For the last time, Sam," Dean bellowed out. "Nobody is saying yes! Don't we have bigger problems at hand? Shouldn't we be trying to figure out another way to stop Lucifer? Because I meant what I said. Death and Pestilence are still out there. Lucifer's army grows, and we have no idea what he's planning next."

Sam had the grace to look sheepish. He rubbed the back of his neck and slumped back into the chair he sat in earlier. He gave Michael another stink eye.

Dean placed his hands on his hips. "Besides using me and Sam as vessels and having a prized fight, how do you suggest we stop Lucifer?"

Michael's lips thinned in thought. "As mentioned since the dawn of humanity, God told me..."

Dean rolled his eyes. He's heard this speech before. "Did God really tell you? Did your Father actually sit you down and say, "Buddy, you're going to kill your brother someday."?"

"God told me through the mouths of Men and our prophesized books."

Dean's brows rose. "Excuse me?"

"Heaven is betting on this fight because of word through the grapevine?" Sam said, aghast.

Bobby took his cap off and tossed it onto the book he'd been reading earlier. "Heaven is run by idjits."

Michael bristled. "Heaven is run by loyal daughters and sons."

When did they start bickering all the time like grumpy old men, Dean wondered. Granted, Bobby is one, and Michael has been around thousands times longer, so that makes him a grumpier old man. He ran his fingers through his hair. "There won't be a heaven if Lucifer gets his way," Dean said.

Bobby gestured to Michael. "Aside from what your precious daddy said, is there anything else you picked up on?"

Michael tilted his head to the side. "I am afraid I did not seek out any other answers."

"Of course not," Sam muttered under his breath.

"Have you heard anything on the Righteous Man?" Bobby asked.

Dean's muscles tightened.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

Michael's gaze landed on Dean. "Why, yes. I was the one who ordered my garrison to lay siege to Hell in order to prevent the Righteous Man from breaking the first seal."

Bobby's eyes narrowed. "And the first seal that was broken, princess?"

"It was known that the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell."

Crap on all that was holy. Dean swallowed, waiting for them to figure it out. Damn, Michael. He'd wanted to avoid this conversation.

Sam jolted, his eyes widened as his firing brain synapses made the connection. He spun to Dean. "You? It's you? You broke the first seal?"

Dean held up a hand. "Look, Sam…"

Sam scoffed incredulously. "And you knew about it!" He got to his feet and approached Dean. "You gave me all that crap for breaking the final seal…"

Dean rose to a standing position, poking a finger at Sam. "You were hopped up on demon blood, Sam! You trusted Ruby..."

"She manipulated me."

"She didn't force you to drink the demon blood. You did that of your own accord."

"You weren't there! I was saving people, Dean! And I didn't know I was breaking the seal..."

"Neither did I!" Dean snapped. "How was I supposed to know that getting off my own rack in Hell was going to jump-start the apocalypse?" He turned away from Sam, memories of Hell slammed back into his mind. The heat, the pain, the fear…and the loneliness. "What do you want me to say? That it was your powers that broke the final seal…and it was my weakness that broke the first one?" Tears pricked at his eyes and Dean forced them back. Suck it up. Be a man. Own up to this. "What do you want to hear? That you were right about me?"

He turned back to his little brother who features had softened. "I'm weak, Sam. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Guess I didn't want to whine about it."

Sam winced. "I never meant that, Dean."

"Yeah…" Dean clenched his jaw. "Yeah, you did, Sam."

Maybe it was because Dean was the older brother. He'd shouldered Sam's burdens, helped him with his psychic powers, helped him try to cut back on his demon powers, and sacrificed everything to protect Sam. And when Dean had the burdens of being tortured in hell…Sam didn't want to hear it, saw it as Dean being weak. Sam was right. He had to be the strong, older brother. Since he'd came back from hell, he failed in that. It seemed like Hell still had Dean in its grips and wasn't letting him go.

"Dean," Bobby called out. "It wasn't your fault. Both of you. You two were forced into a corner."

Dean sniffed. "Yeah. Well, what's done is done. But I'll tell you what I told Cas, I'm not the Righteous Man. Find someone else. It's not me."

Michael stood quietly behind Bobby, like a spectator analyzing a breed of species he wasn't familiar with.

Sam looked like a kicked-puppy, like he wanted to say something more to Dean, but instead addressed the archangel. "What else do you know?"

Bobby added to that. "It's stated that the Righteous Man can end it. How?"

Michael took a long look at Dean, confusion filtered through his features before he became stoic once more. "By being my vessel."

Was that a hint of doubt Dean heard lining Michael's voice?

"I believe it's more than that," Bobby said. He drummed his fingers against the book. "In this edition of the Bible, the Righteous Man is considered the Second Coming."

Sam placed his hands on his hips. "Wait, he's considered the next Christ figure?"

"Apparently, Christ was not always considered the son of God. He was deemed a true Servant of Heaven, one chosen by God," Bobby explained. "At least, from what I've gathered from this."

"There is no second coming," Michael suddenly said, his voice booming loud. "The Bible was written by men, not God. They've twisted the words of what the prophets have written."

"And where can we get out hands on what these prophets actually wrote?" Sam said. Nerd. Of course, he would want to get his hands on more research.

"We have a library in Heaven, I shall find these books at once." He disappeared without another word. Angels don't have any etiquette for goodbyes, do they?

Dean sighed. Back to square one.

He caught Bobby's strong gaze and shifted under it. "Relax, Bobby. I'm not the Righteous Man. Trust me."

Sam avoided looking at him, he went back to his desk, his shoulders hunched over as he brooded in thought.

"I'm not," Dean stressed through gritted teeth.

Bobby gave a shrug. "Oh, I don't know…from what I've read, I think you're more like him than you realize."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Keep an eye on Cas, I'm going to lug in your other books. We need to find a way to stop Pestilence and Death, they're still a threat."

He banged the door open and stepped out into the morning air, making his way to Bobby's storage as he maneuver throughout the maze of cars in the man's junkyard. They can keep working on the Righteous Man angle, maybe they'll find something else.

Dean was going to hunt down Pestilence and Death. He made a vow that he was going to stop the Horsemen, that he kick the devil's ass and prevent the death of millions of people by not saying yes.

He would up hold those vows, by God, he will.

If he can say no to his destiny of being Michael's angel condom, than he can say no to this so-called crap of being the Righteous Man.