Author's/Underhill's Note: Look! Chapter 34! YAAAAY! So, someone reviewed and asked for longer chapters, so I'm gonna try and do that; this one's only like, a thousand words longer, but next one will be longer than that. Now, the usual: disclaimers, disclaimers, I don't own Supernatural though that would be AWESOME disclaimers. Thank you any and all reviewers; I try and take any requests/advice into consideration, so I always appreciate reviews. Uh. Was there something else I was supposed to say? I swear, there was something else... Whatever. Okay, so, chapter 34, please review, and I'll see you next chapter! YEAAAAAAAH
CHAPTER 34
April 28, 7 AM, outside a Niveus Pharmaceuticals warehouse
Adam watches the outside of Niveus Pharmaceuticals. He shouldn't be here, he knows, except turns out the buruburu attracted the attention of another Hunter, and, well, Adam's not too keen on meeting anyone. So he decided to sit it out, and move on.
THAT'S why he's crouched outside a building, having climbed over the chain link fence, watching some normal looking trucks loading from the back of a warehouse.
Claire says an outbreak is about happen here. Something serious, and Adam knows SOMEONE has to stop it. Besides, Adam's curious. Even more curious when he spots the least inconspicuous van he's ever seen, and it's sporting three men with binoculars. When one of the trucks starts leaving, the van door swings open and a short man hops out. Adam watches him approach the truck and beat the crap out of the driver. The horn goes off and the fence stops opening. Adam crouches lower. The doors on the loading dock close.
BANG. A gun goes off. Adam creeps forward, sticking to the balls of his feet and low to the ground, and makes his way for the side door where the three men disappeared (and a crowd has run out), following the sound of gunshots. He eases the door open silently and peers inside. More gunshots. He slips through the door and continues, knowing that this? This is a truly terrible idea.
April 28, 7 AM, Nebraska
"This," Claire says, "is awesome." She grins. She's sitting behind the wheel of her first stolen car and goddamn does it feel great. "I am such a badass."
Chuck called not long ago with the "surprise" news that Adam went against her orders and went to Niveus Pharmaceuticals, so she's on her way to him. Unfortunately, first rest stop she took Chuck called again with even better news that she has to turn around because Adam's location is about to change.
Sometimes she kind of wants to hit Adam.
Well, except now, because she's behind the wheel of a car she broke into and totally hot-wired. She's done her homework.
She looks down at the paper on the passenger seat beside her. It's got the directions to the property Chuck told her Adam's at, the address he made her repeat for him before they got off the phone. Good ol' Chuck. Chuck's a twitchy sounding guy, but the last two weeks he's been more than a little helpful; he's gotten her off the streets, he's given her a purpose, and he's kept her out of reach of the demon that possessed her mother.
Chuck says he's a prophet. That's how he knew where she'd be when he called that first time.
"Claire?" a voice asks over the line.
It's a close call but she decides not to hang up.
"Yes."
"Claire Novak?"
"…"
"Uh, so, this is gonna sound a little crazy - - "
"You obviously have not had my week."
"Ah, ha ha, yeah… I saw that. Sorry, you know, about your mom."
Her voice turns sharp. "How do you know about my mom?"
The voice has just turned from awkward and stilted to jittery and stuttery. "Yeah, so, about that, uh… I'm kind of a prophet of the lord."
"You're shitting me."
But Chuck wasn't lying, or at least he isn't as far as she can tell. Maybe he is a nut, but he's also never wrong.
He's also apparently the author of the Supernatural books, aka The Winchester Gospels. She's yet to find any copies (they're pretty obscure at this point, she's found out), but she read the reviews online. It's a mix ranging between 'awesome' and 'awful.' One review read "worse than Doctor Sexy."
She's really looking forward to reading them.
Later, she thinks, glancing at the time on the dash. She's maybe… fifteen minutes out from where Adam's going to be? She takes the next left on the old country road and onto a little used highway.
April 28, 7:05 AM, inside the Niveus Pharmaceuticals warehouse
Live Vaccine is what the yellow taped boxes say. That cannot be good. He peers around and sees two of the three (where's the third?) men watching as a group of - - red eyed, jesus - - men tear apart what looks like was one of their compatriots. The splortching sound of the flesh? Adam's gonna have nightmares about that one for weeks.
He ducks back behind the boxes when the Red Eyes charge the Man In the Cap and the Giant.
"Help me! Please, help!" a voice can be heard from far off.
"There's still people here," the Giant speaks in a hushed tone. The Man In Cap is quieter, but Adam's pretty sure he said "no." Adam's gotta agree with him, personally. This has trap written all over it.
God, what am I doing here?
"Wait here."
"Damn."
A demon comes from one of the other doors, and before Adam can think to warn Man In Cap, the man's stabbed him in the gut with a funny looking hunting knife. This old guy is fast. Adam ducks behind the boxes again and again, every time another non Red-Eyed person runs by.
"All clear."
…No it isn't.
The Red Eye comes out of nowhere to the two men - - a bad angle for them but a good angle for Adam to see - - and tackles the Giant to the ground. Adam doesn't even register as the older man yells, "Sam," just sees his gun jam, knows he can't let this happen, and is out from behind the boxes before he can think twice. That thing's gonna eat the Giant, and Adam doesn't want to get involved he was just CURIOUS for Christ's sake and he wouldn't have even come if Claire hadn't told him about the stupid warehouse in the first place and - -
Adam lifts his sawed off and BOOM. The attacker goes flying. Just as he lowers his gun, and the two men's heads start to turn, he feels a warm hand on his shoulder and then, and the sound of flapping wings.
By the time Sam and Bobby lock eyes on where the shot came from, the shooter is gone.
April 28, 7:15 AM, Nebraska
Adam lands with a thump.
"You idiot!"
"Uh?" Adam's dazed. Where is he?
"I gave you one specific instruction! ONE!"
…In the middle of nowhere, by a highway, empty fields on either side…
"… keep moving until I find Dean to send your way, but noooo! You have to bumble your way into a Croatoan infested warehouse! You are such a Winchester, it is unbelievable…"
…Mostly burnt down building, tiny windmill…
"…Just like your dad and your brothers, all of you, I swear!"
…Wait. That voice.
"…L?"
"Oh now he figures it out!" the man yells. He's short and a bit stocky, mid thirties, with shaggy brown hair, and he's waving his arms up and down, clearly upset about something.
"Where are we?" Adam looks around again. "What happened to the warehouse?"
L runs a hand tiredly over his face; it's a gesture Adam never could have imagined on him, partly because he's never SEEN him before. "This is so weird," he says to himself, too quiet to hear.
"You were about to get involved in the Apocalypse, kid, so I got you out of there. Perks of traveling with an angel: fast travel. So, we're here." L looks around. "Wait, where the hell ARE we?"
That's what I've been asking, Adam refrains from saying.
"Hmm. Oh well. Doesn't matter too - - " He cuts off abruptly with a short laugh. "Seriously? You ALREADY have a ride? Who the hell have you been making friends with, kid?"
Adam shakes his head. He hasn't made friends. He hasn't done anything!
"Whatever. This is my cue to leave. No kidding though, Adam? This time actually keep out of trouble. I'll find you when it's all over."
"Wait, when what's over?" But L's gone. Adam swears, but doesn't have too much time to dwell on things because a car is pulling up. It's old, beat up, and there's a head peeking over the dash. It stops near the half burnt down structure, and he watches as the passenger clambers out.
The car door opens and out steps a girl with long blonde hair, blue eyes, standing at a little over five feet. Adam pushes to his feet hastily and crosses the lot to meet her. They stop a few feet from each other.
They take each other in, each observing the other. How the girl looks more than a bit rumpled, like she hasn't slept in a real bed for weeks, and how Adam's pants are still a little too long on his legs because he couldn't afford to toss the clothes he got in the storage container. They both look tired, worn, but both are curious.
She looks up at him before holding out a hand.
"Hi. I'm Claire Novak."
Her hand is small and slender in his own and he can't contain his grin when he shakes it. "Nice to meet you, Claire Novak. I'm Adam Milligan."
April 30, 11 AM, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sam's laying on the hood of the car, feet gathered off the ground and back against the windshield. He's got a beer in his hand and a cooler sitting to the right. Even though he's not paying attention, he still senses when Bobby walks up. "Hey."
Bobby reaches into the cooler and grabs a bottle. He doesn't respond and doesn't look at him.
"Bobby?"
"I'm in."
"In with…?" Sam trails off. Bobby can't mean what he thinks he means.
"The whole 'up with Satan' thing. I'm on board."
Sam's surprised. "You're gonna let me say yes?"
"No. That's the thing." Bobby sighs. "It's not on me to let you do anything. You're a grown man. If this is what you want, I'm behind you."
"…That's the last thing I thought you'd ever say."
"Might be. I'm not gonna lie to ya though. It goes against every fiber I got. I mean, truth is… You're not a kid anymore, Sam, and we can't keep treating you like one. I don't know if we got a snowball's chance, but… If anybody can do it, Sam, it's you."
Sam doesn't even know what to say. Settles on, "Thank you."
"If this is what you want… Is this really what you want?" Sam can hear it too, a quiet, almost desperate thread in Bobby's voice. He's not sure what exactly it's for - - whether he is desperate to be let off the hook for Sam jumping into Hell or desperate for Sam to not jump in in the first place. It doesn't matter though.
He shrugs. He's sitting next to Bobby now, legs swung off the car to dangle. "I let him out. I got to put him back in."
Bobby nods, a part of him looking like it's shutting down; like he's resigning himself to whatever is to come. "Okay. That's it, then." He takes another swig of his beer and walks off, leaving Sam alone on the hood of the car. The younger Hunter, in turn, lets his eyes rove the yard.
He grew up here. Well, when he was younger he did. He spent a month here every year when he was a kid, up until John pissed off Bobby so much they weren't welcome back. He knows the layout of this place like the scars on the back of his hand. Hell, some of the cars are even the same. So many things are different though.
For instance, the angel wards he knows are there but cannot see. And the angel Balthazar the wards allow on the porch with Castiel. The house itself has all new residents, the rooms repurposed except for the kitchen and the library. Bobby's on the ground floor now and Castiel's on the second; Gabriel sleeps on the couch (though they're not sure why he's sticking around now that he's free but whatever). And for some reason, a crossroads demon keeps popping in too.
This is like a boarding house for the supernatural, Sam thinks with a shake of his head. His dad would hate it; so would Dean he thinks. Thinking of his family makes his mind drift other places. He hops off the car and heads for the back door. He finds Rufus talking with Crowley at the kitchen table; at the sight of Sam, Crowley says, "I'll be going then," and disappears.
"What is he DOING here?" Sam asks, genuinely baffled.
"He's helping," Rufus says, shoving some charts away from him. "Has some pretty good insights on demon omens and such."
Though it makes him uncomfortable, Sam decides to ignore that for the moment. He has more pressing concerns. "I need you to do something for me."
Rufus glances back over at him. "And what's that?"
"I need you to look after Bobby and Cas when I'm gone." Rufus snorts, because how the hell is he supposed to look after BOBBY? "I'm serious, Rufus. Bobby's gonna go to a dark place after, and Cas… I don't even know what's happening to Cas." Rufus knows what he means; it's impossible to know anything that's going on in the angel - - human - - 's mind. "He might try and bail. Or do something stupider." He doesn't say what but they both know. "Bobby can't watch him every waking second, and I'm not there to help anymore."
Rufus is glad they are alone in the kitchen.
"Promise me."
Rufus grips the table hard. "Yeah, Sam. I promise."
April 30, 2 PM, a highway
"Why do you get to drive?" Adam asks, decidedly not pouting in the passenger seat.
"My car, my rules. Shotgun shuts his cake hole." She has no idea who she sounds like.
"This isn't your car!" Adam protests. "You stole it!"
She gives him a one shouldered shrug. "Whatever."
"Where are we going, anyway?"
"You know the guy I'm not supposed to tell you about?"
"Uh, yeah. You make enough vague references to him to make me curious."
"He said he knows a place where we can stay."
"We can't just crash on his couch?"
The girl shakes her head without taking her eyes off the road. "No, too dangerous. I mean, it's dangerous enough for us to be together, you know, vessels and all, but he's, uh… let's just say he has a really big angel on his shoulder."
"That doesn't sound ominous at all."
"Oh shut up. Point is, if we go within throwing distance of him they'll know, and they'll take you and maybe me."
"Which is bad."
"Which is bad," she nods.
"So where is this supposedly safe place?"
"Well, this lady used to live there, but she ditched it recently. It's all paid up and she never bothered to sell it. Ch - - he says that it's still mostly furnished, and all we have to do is pay the water and power bills, which shouldn't be too hard, right?"
"…Sure. Right." Because Hunting is a well paying job. "It's not a crack den is it?"
"No! Why would you think that?!"
"Because who ditches a nice place?"
"Apparently she and her roommate had to leave fast."
"…it's not haunted, is it?"
"No! There's nothing wrong with it!"
Adam crosses his arms sullenly. "We'll see."
"So, you ran into your brother, right?" Adam frowns; Claire's tried to bring it up several times now but he hasn't engaged in that track of conversation. "First time you've met him, right?"
"I didn't MEET him. I saved his ass." And yeah, Adam's a little smug about that. "Why do you want to talk about him?" He says it in a way that sounds like Because I don't want to talk about him.
"What's he like?" she asks.
"You really don't know when to drop a subject, do you?"
"Nope," she says cheerfully.
"Why do you want to know? He's not YOUR half-brother."
"I'm curious," she shrugs. "I've heard all about him." When he looks questioningly at her, she taps her noggin. "Up here, you know, from the angels. And he's kinda famous." Adam scowls. "Don't pout. You're a little famous too."
"A LITTLE?"
"Well, I mean, you're only half a Winchester." Adam can tell she's trying to provoke him. "And you never started the Apocalypse. Or drank demon blood, or went to Hell - - "
"Yes I did."
"Only for a second; doesn't count."
Adam thinks back to his minutes in Hell. "…Yeah, it kind of does."
"And you've never been possessed by an angel or opened a Devil's Gate - - "
"Fine, fine! You've made your point!"
"So, I mean, I think it's natural I'd want to know about him."
Adam, tired of the conversation, reaches into the back and roots through his duffel. He comes up with a stack of photos he took from a storage facility back when he first showed up back on earth. He tosses them on her lap. "Here," he says. "Go crazy."
"Argh! Driving here!" She swerves a little while and balances the photos with her knees to her lap.
"Guess if you want to look at them you'll have to pull over and switch places with me."
Now it's Claire's turn to scowl. "Not cool, Adam." She turns on the next off ramp though. "Why don't we get lunch instead? That way I can look at them and then keep driving."
"…you are a horrible child."
"So I'm told."
"You know what we should get? Bacon cheeseburgers. I don't know why, but I'm craving them."
May 2, 8 AM, far-from-Sioux-Falls, South Dakota
It's Rufus who ends up doing most of the carving.
In the end it doesn't matter because they end up with about four gallon jugs of demon blood. Rufus loads the last of the jugs in the trunk before going up to Bobby by the van. "I still can't get used to you at eye level again," he jokes. Bobby gives him a sarcastic smile. It helps, a little, for both of them. The banter is a distraction from Sam looking at the blood hungrily in the trunk.
"We got enough?" Bobby asks. Rufus nods.
"All the 'go juice' the kid can drink. You okay?"
"Not really," Bobby says. "You?"
Rufus doesn't answer. "What do you got?" he asks instead.
"Not much. These look like omens to you?" He hands the newspaper to Rufus. Cyclone in Florida, temperature drop in Detroit, wildfires in L.A…"
"That's the one," Sam says, coming up behind him. Both older Hunters jump. "The Devil's in Detroit."
"Really?" Bobby asks. "As far as foreboding goes, it's a little light in the loafers. You sure?"
Sam remembers what Dean told him during his trip to the future. Can't forget it. "Yeah," he says. "I'm sure."
8 PM, Detroit, Michigan, about to face the Devil
"Demons. At least two dozen of them. You were right - - something's up."
"More than something," Rufus nods. "Kid was right."
Sam nods also. "He's here. I know it." When Rufus walks to the trunk, he leaves Sam momentarily alone with Bobby, and he kind of wants to thank the man and punch him at the same time. This is his final goodbye to Bobby. He will never see the man again.
"I'll see ya around, kid," the man says. He sounds like it's no big deal, like they'll see each other tomorrow, but he hugs him like the world's ending (Which it kind of is, Sam reminds himself). When he pushes Sam out at arm length, he says, "He gets in… You fight him tooth and nail, you understand? Keep swingin'. Don't give an inch." It's an order. A desperate one, but an order.
"Yes, sir." He rubs a hand over his face and wishes he'd asked Cas to come. He recalls their last conversation with some degree of fondness.
"You take care of these guys, okay?" he says, holding out a hand Castiel doesn't seem to know what to do with.
The former angel stares at him with that same unreadable stare before saying, "That's not possible." He sounds sorry for it.
"Then humor me." Because Sam needs to hear it. He needs to know that Cas is going to stick around and not do something stupid if the world miraculously doesn't end.
Cas' face tries to twist into a smile but fails miserably. "Oh. I was supposed to lie. Uh… sure. They'll be fine."
"Just - - just stop talking."
As far as last conversations go, it's as well as you can expect from Cas.
Rufus steps away from the trunk when Sam goes towards it. "Mind not watching this?" he asks. Both men turn away.
Blood. Jugs of it. The blood. His nerves tingle, his fingers twitch. It's okay. Everything he's fought against, it can go out the window, because after tonight, none of it will matter. One way or another, none of it will matter.
He wonders, right before taking the first swallow, if he'll see Dean in Hell.
Rufus doesn't watch Sam gulp down jug after jug of demon blood, but he can sure as hell hear him doing it, and he doesn't like the fact that he can't stop the boy one bit. This is wrong. Out of everything today, this feels the most wrong.
Sam doesn't look at him as he walks past. Just, "Okay. Let's go." This is the part of the plan Rufus is the second least psyched about; following Sam when there's no reason for Lucifer to keep him alive. But someone's gotta do it, and Bobby's a sight more useful in the long run than Rufus is to the Hunter community; they all know it. He follows.
"Alright! We're here, you sons of bitches! Come and get it!" Two demons walk out of the building ahead, and Sam smiles. "Hey guys. Is your father home?"
His blood is full again, pumping. Barely felt the manhandling, didn't care, could crush them in an instant. Demons are nothing now but blood blood blood.
He forces his thoughts to slow. Control. Control. He needs to keep control if he's going to kick Lucifer out of his head when the time comes. Lucifer who is standing in front of him. Lucifer who stares knowingly.
"Sorry if it's a bit chilly. Most people think I burn hot. It's actually quite the opposite."
Not according to Dean, Sam thinks, remembering his brother waking from dreams screaming about how it's burning, burning, everything is burning. "Well, I'll alert the media," Sam says instead.
"Help me understand something, guys. I mean, stomping through my front door is… a tad bit suicidal, don't you think?"
"We're not here to fight you."
"No?" he asks. "Then why are you?"
The blood it's because of the blood I wouldn't be here but the blood it's - - "I want to say yes."
"…Excuse me?"
Sam takes a breath. The demons in the room drop as Sam exorcises them with a blink of the eye.
"Chock-full of Ovaltine, are we?"
Need to do more, too much blood too much blood pumping too fast need more too much - -
"You heard me. Yes."
Lucifer looks more curious than surprised. "You're serious."
There's no steadying influence to make him explain his actions. Rufus is just there and he can't say anything even when the man coughs, prompts him to go ahead with the story but the blood it's in him all around him so powerful - -
"You're not even going to try and sell me on the lie, are you? Because I know about the rings, Sam."
Sam stares on because who cares what Lucifer knows who cares - -
"Uh, he has no idea what you're talking about," Rufus says from the sideline. "RIGHT, Sam?"
Lucifer looks amused, probably the only reason Rufus is alive right now. Sam doesn't care though, not about Rufus or Lucifer or anything but power and wait he's supposed to do something, supposed to keep control, focus…
"The Horsemen's rings? The magic key to my Cage? Ring a bell? Come on, Sam, I've never lied to you. You could at least pay me the same respect. It's okay; I'm not mad. A wrestling match inside your noggin."
Annoying, talking, hand gesturing angel just an angel no better than a demon all the same all the same always talking…
"I like the idea. Just you and me. One round, no tricks. You win, you jump in the hole. I win, well, then I win. What do you say, Sam? A fiddle of gold against your soul - - "
Always talking
" - - than you."
"So you know. Doesn't change anything."
…But he's supposed to focus, Rufus, Bobby, DEAN would want him to focus. He's supposed to take Lucifer into the Pit, kicking and screaming. He's supposed to jump in the Cage.
"Yes."
Light light light HOT BURNING LIGHT
"SAM!"
Lucifer doesn't bother messing with Rufus. He just disappears with the rings before Rufus has a chance to do anything.
Somewhere else. They're somewhere else. Dark room. Looking into a mirror. The blood is fading. The effect is fading. The situation is setting in.
"Sam." Sam can hear Lucifer in his own ears and inside his skull. "Come on. I can feel you. Scratching away in there. Look. I'll take the gag off. You got me wrong, kiddo. I'm not the bad guy here."
"I'm gonna rip you apart from the inside out. Do you understand me?" He is going to rip Lucifer apart til it destroys him.
"Such anger, young Skywalker. Who are you really angry with? Me? Or that face in the mirror?"
"I'm sure this is all a big joke to you., huh?" Sam needs to keep him talking, he needs to buy time to look for a chink in the armor. But it's all smooth walls, glass, nothing to grab hold of…
"Not at all. I've been waiting for you… for a long, long time. Come on, Sam. You have to admit: you can feel it, right?"
"What?"
"The exhilaration. And you know why that is? Because we're two halves made whole." Sam snorts in his head. "M.F.E.O. Literally."
This is a trap. All of this. There's no way out. "This feels pretty damn far from good."
Lucifer points at their head. "I'm inside your grapefruit, Sam. You can't lie to me. I see it all. How odd you always felt. How… out of place in that… family of yours."
Don't talk about my family.
"And why shouldn't you have? They were foster care, at best. I'm your real family."
"No. That's not true."
"It is. And you know it. All those times you ran away, you weren't running from them. You were running towards me. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, you know? I let Rufus, Bobby, and your little ex-angel friend live, didn't I?"
But not my brother.
"I want them to live." Appearing to hear him again, he adds, "I'll bring back Dean. And your folks, too. I want you to be happy, Sam."
"I don't want anything from you!"
"…Really? Not even a little payback?"
What? "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Look closely." Lucifer turns their head towards the still figures that have been waiting at the far end of the room. "None of these little devils look familiar to you?"
…No way. "That's Mr. Bensman. One of my grade school teachers."
"And that's your friend Doug, from that time in East Lansing. And Rachel, your prom date." …Okay, so Dean was right, she apparently WAS out of my league. "Sam Winchester, this is your life. Azazel's gang. Watching you since you were a rugrat, jerking you around like a dog on a leash. I know how you feel about them. Me too. So, what do you say you and I blow off a little steam?"
He shouldn't say yes. He shouldn't say yes.
They're dead before he knows it.
"So. Are we having fun yet?"
11 PM
Bobby calls Cas to tell him the news. Frankly, he's surprised Rufus came down at all, not surprised he came down alone.
"It's starting," Cas says.
"Yeah, you think, genius?"
"You don't have to be mean."
"So what do we do now?"
A pause. "I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol." Another pause, the sound of voices in the background. "Just wait for the inevitable blast wave."
"Are you… are you having a PARTY in my goddamn house, Cas?!"
Rufus laughs and grabs the phone, putting it on speaker. "This is just too entertaining, he explains, keeping the phone out of Bobby's grasp so he can't turn it off.
"Quiet! He can hear you!" is shouted while Cas tries to muffle the phone. "…No," he tells Bobby.
"You are kidding me. You are goddamn kidding me."
"It IS the end of the world," Cas says, like it's a perfectly logical explanation.
"Just… never mind. How do we stop it?"
A long pause. "The party?"
"NO! The END OF THE WORLD."
"…We don't. Lucifer will meet Michael on the chosen field, and the battle of Armageddon begins."
"Okay, well, where's this chosen field?"
"I don't know."
Growing frustrated, Bobby yells, "Well there's got to be something that we can do!"
From beside him, he hears, "I'm sorry, Bobby. This is over."
Bobby and Rufus both jump. "Gabriel?! What are YOU doing here?"
Gabriel shrugs. "'Party' was a bit of a generous term for drinking with Cas, Balthazar, and Crowley. And I don't like you picking on my little brothers. He's just telling you how things are." He leans over to the phone Rufus holds and says, "Hang up, Cas. Go back to the others."
"You can't just - - " Bobby yells.
"I CAN. This is over, Bobby. It's happening. I told Dean, I told Sam, and now I'm telling you."
Bobby's lost just about everyone. He's not gonna lose Sam without a fight. "It's Sam," he says, as if that's a rebuttal in and of itself. And it is.
"If you couldn't reach him here," Gabriel says, "you're certainly not gonna be able to on the battlefield."
"Well, if we've already lost, I guess I got nothing to lose, right?"
Gabriel's face is torn between total bewilderment and condescension. "I just want you to understand - - the only thing that you're gonna see out there is my brothers destroying the world… and Sam."
"Well then, I ain't gonna let him die alone."
"You - - "
"You said Dean gave you some good advice," Bobby interrupts. "That sometimes you need to stand up to your family. That sometimes you need to do the right thing - - maybe even take a chance Well, that boy's my family, and I ain't gonna let him die alone."
The archangel reels back as if slapped when his own words are hurled back at him. "Okay," he says slowly. "What's your plan?"
Bobby smiles ever so slightly and Rufus laughs. "We're gonna raise a little hell."
May 2, 10 PM, Chuck's house
"Claire?" Chuck asks, phone at his ear, because who else would be calling?
"Uh, no, Chuck. Bobby."
Chuck almost drops the phone. "O-oh, uh, Bobby. Uh, wow, I, uh, I didn't know that you'd call." Obviously. Some things the visions don't show him. A lot of things the visions don't show him, actually. He gets bits and pieces on different people; his running theory is that they're all people whose lives intersect and actively effect the lives of Winchesters. Nothing else.
"Who's Claire?"
"Nothing. She's, a, uh, a - - just a, uh… close friend."
"Yeah, I'll bet - - real close." The implication behind that makes Chuck gag. "Whatever happened to your girl Becky?" Sam or Dean must have told Bobby about Becky, he thinks.
"Didn't work out. I had… too much respect for her."
"Alriiight…"
"Okay, this can't be why you called."
Silence. Then, "Sam said yes."
Chuck sighs. "I know." And goddamn had that been a painful vision. "I saw it. I'm just working on the pages." The kindling, he corrects himself.
"Did you see where the fight goes down?"
Chuck checks the clock. It's getting close. "The angels are keeping it top secret, very hush hush."
"Shit," Bobby swears.
"But I saw it anyway. Perks of being a prophet. It's tomorrow, high noon. Place called Stull Cemetery."
"Stull Ceme - - I know that." There's a rustling on the other end that Chuck can only assume is the rustling of papers and maps. "There. That's the old boneyard outside Lawrence. Why Lawrence?"
"I don't know. It all has to end where it started, I guess." Symmetry, the writer in him says.
"All right, Chuck. You know a way to short-circuit this thing?"
"Besides the rings? No. I'm sorry." The half-lie rolls awkwardly off his tongue.
"Well, do you have any idea what's gonna happen next?"
This he can answer honestly. "I wish I did." Because it can go two ways now, depending on the players involved. "But I - - I just - - I honestly don't know yet."
"All right. Thanks, Chuck."
Before the line goes dead, Chuck stops him. He shouldn't interfere; he's not supposed to interfere, but he's breaking all the rules, isn't he? He's changing things. "Wait. Make sure to take the Impala, okay?"
"Why?"
"Just, please, okay? Take the Impala." He hangs up, hoping it'll be enough. It HAS to be enough.
May 3, 10 AM, highway towards Lawrence
It's only because it's the end of the world that they let Gabriel drive, and the archangel drives much too fast. They go over a speed bump and the car soars. It lands with a thump and the angel lets out a "woo!" In the passenger seat Rufus winces, in the back Bobby is displaced from his seat and his head hits the car roof.
"Slow down!" Rufus yells.
"Nuh uh," Gabriel says. "We're on a time frame. You guys insisted on taking this thing, so we gotta go fast. We got til noon, right?"
"Yeah, but… I didn't tell you that Chuck told me that. How'd YOU know?"
"I can… feel it," Gabriel explains. "Something building. The closer the hour approaches the time and the place, the stronger the feeling is. This meeting's been 'destined', since the beginning of like… everything. So Lucy and Mikey say."
"So THEY say? God didn't say it?"
"Dad hasn't talked in a real long time, man. Most of what we know is hearsay. I haven't even SEEN him in…" He trails off. "We're pretty close anyway."
"How close is close?" Bobby asks. The speed is dizzying; not even Dean drove this fast.
"Two hours, give or take." Both men groan. "I guess I'll just have to speed up then."
May 3, 12:05 PM, Stull Cemetery, Lawrence, Kansas
It takes two hours and five minutes, and Gabriel suddenly wishes he had driven slower. Much slower. Because this is a conversation he doesn't want to have, but knows he has to.
"Sorry," Gabriel says getting out of the Impala, not sounding sorry at all. "Am I interrupting something?"
The audacity of the statement is the only thing that keeps the two brothers from smiting him right there. They stare at him with slack-jawed shock.
"We need to talk," he adds.
Sam/Lucifer recovers first. "Gabriel. Even for you, this is a whole new mountain of stupid."
"Yeah. It really is." He looks away for a moment before looking back. "But I can't just let you guys die."
"You are no longer a part of this story!" John/Michael bellows.
"YES I AM!" Gabriel screams back. "You are my BROTHERS! I am goddamn part of your stupid fucking story whether you want it or not! Michael, you're my brother. And I love you. But you are a great big bag of dicks."
"Watch your tone," Sam/Lucifer growls. "You're speaking to your elders."
Gabriel snorts. "You're a big bag of dicks too, Lucifer. You two deserve each other. But I won't let you kill each other alone." He leans against the grill of the Impala and crosses his arms. "So I'm here. To stay. And I'm not going ANYWHERE."
"Like - - "
John/Michael is suddenly hit, glass shattering against his side - - the molotov gets him, and he goes up in a burst of flames in a scream of agony. Sam/Lucifer blinks, looking past Gabriel and where his brother had just been standing. "Bobby Singer… Did you just molotov my brother with holy fire?" In lieu of a verbal response, Bobby fires one shot and then another with his gun. When Gabriel raises his eyebrows at him, in a "seriously?" gesture, Bobby shrugs. Then, Bobby's neck snaps.
"NOOOO!" Rufus screams.
"Yes." Then Sam/Lucifer pulls Gabriel to him and they're fighting, almost too fast to see. Blows are exchanged and Rufus hears the crunching of bone and the flapping of feathers. If he squints just right, he swears he can see the outlines of wings.
Rufus doesn't know what it is that stops Sam - - he just sees the man staring beyond Gabriel's bloody face towards the Impala, and freeze - - but one moment Lucifer's beating his brother bloody and the next he's stopped.
It's Dean. It's always Dean. After everything, it's Dean that he sees, Dean that he wants to make proud. Not his father, not his mother, not Bobby or Rufus, just Dean. Dean who WAS his father and mother, as well as his brother. Dean he tucked him in at night. Dean who protected him against their father's wrath when he didn't have to. Dean who bought him new shoes twice one month because he just kept growing out of them.
This is the Dean who apparently showed up at his high school graduation even when they weren't talking, and Dean who still tried calling him at Stanford, even when Sam never picked up. Dean who has always been there, Dean who pulled him out of the fire TWICE and never asked for anything but for Sam to stay.
He sees that army man stuck in that stupid side pocket and remembers how pissed their dad was whenever he saw it, and he remembers that Dean never said anything because at least their dad hadn't discovered the initials they'd carved on the other door. Dean left it there when he rebuilt it, and Sam never noticed. Dean kept it just like it was because he knew that the Impala is the closest thing Sam's ever had to a home.
Dean wouldn't want it to end this way. Dean wouldn't want Sam to go out this way. Dean took care of him, and now he has to take care of this one last thing for Dean.
It's like a spell's been broken, and Sam is back in the building. He drops Gabriel, looks over at the fallen Bobby and Rufus crouched over him.
"It's okay," he says. "It's gonna be okay. I've got him." Sam takes the rings out of his pocket and tosses them into the grass. He speaks the words...
A sinkhole - - hell, a goddamn black hole - - forms out of nowhere and starts pulling in everything. All the grass, all the air, dirt, into nothingness.
"Sam!" John/Michael - - and when the hell did he get back? - - yells to be heard over the noise. "It's not gonna end this way!" Jesus, the angel sounds so sure of himself. "Step back!"
Sam wills everything inside himself as he yells back, "You're gonna have to make me!"
"I have to fight my brother, Sam! Here and now! It's my destiny!"
Then find another destiny. Sam lets himself tip back. Grabs John/Michael. They fall.
Except a hand reaches out and grabs the back of John's jacket, and PULLS.
It's Gabriel, clutching to the nearest vessel - - Sam is out of reach - - and desperately trying to reel him back. But Sam/Lucifer still has a grasp on one of John's/Michael's arms, and the void is sucking that much harder and…
There's a bright light as Michael is pulled from his vessel, Sam/Lucifer clinging to Michael as Gabriel rips John from him. As a pure, glowing form falls into the blackness along with Sam and the ground closes behind them, John and Gabriel fall back into the grass. It only takes a moment for the angel to disentangle himself from the gasping Winchester.
Bobby is back with a single press of a finger to his temple. All scratches Rufus has are gone just as fast, and Rufus is too preoccupied with Holy shit, Bobby's alive to bat the archangel away from him. Only then does Gabriel sag.
"Goddamn," he says. "I could really use a drink right now." Then he collapses.
Rufus lets out a slightly hysterical laugh. "Tell me about it."
March 3, 12:30 PM, Lawrence, Kansas
Bela raises her head from Dean's shoulder. Dean looks over and puts the TV on pause. They're watching old black and whites again while Dean balances the business checkbook.
"What is it?" he asks.
"Did you feel something?"
He frowns. "Like what?"
"I don't know… An earthquake maybe?"
Dean unpauses the TV and looks back down again. "Nah. Didn't feel a thing."
March 3, 5:09 PM, highway towards Sioux Falls
There are three of them in the car: Bobby, Rufus, and John. John's laid in back, unconscious ("Though he'll be fine," Gabriel assures them before leaving), Rufus is driving, and Bobby is staring down at his hands, thinking God knows what. Rufus is frightened for the man, and mindful of his promise to Sam. Doesn't stop him from his own thoughts though.
"Demon? Hell? Whatever gave you THAT idea?"
"You mean he isn't?"
"I mean maybe you shouldn't believe everything you hear from monsters. Maybe you should do a little… independent research."
Rufus' brain starts turning.
The moment the last word of the Winchester Gospel is written, a prophet passes out and comes to in a very different place than he fell asleep in.