Chapter 5
"Come on let's get back to the states and the Impala with our guns. I don't like this one gun thing. We can track her from there." Dean's voice was exhausted; this whole Charlie thing had him getting less sleep than normal.
"You're not going to be able to get back to the states by a plane," the man who spoke to them appeared out of nowhere and even without Castiel's recognition the Winchesters knew that he could only be one thing-an angel.
"Chamuel. Charlotte is gone, and obviously we haven't hurt her. You have no business here." Cas addressed the angel reverently.
"He's not your boss anymore," Dean reminded Cas just before Chamuel answered.
"You're right Castiel; I have no business here. The other archangels will be furious when they discover what I've done. What I'm doing." Chamuel agreed with a nod of his blonde head.
"Then what are you doing here?" Sam asked bluntly. He'd lost all respect for archangels when he was possessed by one, even if that archangel was Lucifer who isn't that good of an example.
"Charlotte Morganstern is being misguided and even we don't know by who. Multiple angels have gone to her and tried to talk sense into her, but she's insistent. She refuses to consider the idea that Michael is in the Cage with Lucifer and that releasing him would release Lucifer too."
"Well you're an angel, knock some sense into her!" Dean suggested causing Chamuel to look at him for the first time glare in his eyes.
"Even and archangel can't touch her without getting blasted to pieces by another archangels and the others would never agree to it. She refuses to listen to anyone. All of creation and she picks a demon to trust. There is one who could get through to her. Her only Father."
"You don't mean God do you because we tried the God's intervention approach before, it didn't work out," Sam reminded the archangel. None of them would forget God ditching Heaven and allowing Lucifer to rise. If God wouldn't stop Lucifer's rising then, there was no way he'd stop it now.
"The problem was, you couldn't find him. I, myself, am not one of the 4 angels who has seen him, they're all either dead or in Hell at your hands, but I do know how to find him. Or how you could find him Dean."
"Me! Why can I find him if an angel can't?" Dean protested as Castiel spoke quickly over him.
"The seven trials of the Lord. You know what they are?"
Chamuel nodded solemnly, "I am the angel who cast Adam and Eve from Eden so I was charged with the trials that would allow a human to see him as Adam and Eve did." He then turned to Dean with a gaze sharper than knives. "To answer your question Dean. Sam and Castiel are the only humans who know the truth of Charlotte and her intentions. The Seven Trials of the Lord can only be done by a decedent of Adam and Eve. Castiel, while human now, is not descended from Adam and Eve."
"Why can't Sam do it then? He's done trials before," Dean asked. He never would actually let Sam face these trials, but he still wanted to know why these things always seemed to come down to him and no one else.
"Come on Dean, you're kidding right? I'm not exactly a picture perfect righteous human."
"And I am?" Dean reminded them, "I'm like the embodiment of the seven deadly sins."
"Sam could complete the trials, it's true," Cas told them, "But he couldn't speak to God. He still has demon blood in him and in the presence of God that demon blood would kill him from the inside. God probably isn't talking to Charlotte in fear of hurting her, even if they're not face to face. He's pure good and demon is pure evil. It doesn't mix."
"Castiel is right," Chamuel told Dean, "Only you can face God, but the trials will be more difficult for you than many, because as you said you're a picture perfect sinner. Each trial has you overcoming one of the seven deadly sins. And you can't just exorcise them this time. You actually have to overcome the sin inside you."
"This isn't going to end well," Dean muttered before looking at his friends and realizing there were no other plans coming, "But I guess it's worth a shot. What's the first trial?"
"The first sin is lust. Do you know what that means you have to do?" Chamuel asked dubiously.
"No porn for a week?" Dean asked secretly terrified of how little control he had over his lust.
"This is no joke Dean," Cas scolded, "it won't be enough just to overcome your sexual lust."
"Castiel is right. When I administer a trial I will put you in a simulation, but you won't know it isn't real and will have no memory of it being a trial. To succeed you'll need to overcome your lust without knowing the danger this world will face if you don't. You have to resist or you won't find God and Lucifer will rise. "
"But how am I supposed to not do something If I don't know I'm supposed to not do it?" Dean asked hope lost. Lucifer was going to rise because Dean couldn't stop him, again.
"The trials will provide you with a guide, a projection of your conscious in physical form. It will be there to remind you right from wrong, though there is no guarantee you'll listen to it any more than you would normally. Good luck, the world is counting on you." Chamuel told Dean as he pressed is hand to Dean's forehead before he could object.
Dean fell unconscious Sam barely catching him before he smacked against the hard ground.
