Author's Note:

I managed to keep five readers! I can go and look at the reviews and I recognize you all XD So casdean185, Countess Impossible, ChickieG, Gustin azza, and PurgatoryHangout I bow to you, thank you all so much for sticking with this story. And the others who may end up reviewing someday I thank you as well, yes, you over there in the future.

I renamed the chapters because I was getting confused as to what happened in which one when I needed to reference it and now they should all make sense again ^_^ No more song lyrics, well aside from PMA but that one makes sense right?

Also more exposition ahead, sorry XP

In Somniantes: Part 1

Dean opened his eyes to see a world straight out of Inception. Parts of the town he stood in were bent and twisted, land and buildings and all kinds of things were suspended mid air like in a permanent state without gravity. Every now and then things would start to move again, up, left, right, down, it didn't matter they'd just move like being blown away. But then time would almost freeze again, it was like everything vibrated, like a flicker in time. Dean looked around him, the sky was clouded over but it was daytime, there were no people around and if there were they were just as frozen as everything else.

It had that same disturbing feeling as the space outside of the world, and from what Dean could see the sky was slowly being eaten way into a black cloud. He knew it was part of the void and that thought terrified him, to know that if he stayed there long enough he'd been consumed just like the rest of the world. "Cas?" He called loudly, hoping that his partner wasn't too far off this time. "Castiel!" He kept shouting but there was no answer, Dean growled at his luck and started running through the crumbling street. The roads were in ruins like the ones back in his home world had been before Castiel showed up, people were scattered all along the landscape some living, most of them dead. Dean didn't want to see it, he really didn't. This was the world where Castiel had to kill the love of his life, this was the world where its Sam died. Dean didn't like it, the added pressure from the void as it encroached on the world didn't help but he really felt sick to his stomach.

"CASTIEL!" He tried scream again, this time there was a reply.

"Who's there?" An old familiar voice called out but Dean couldn't quite place it. A man walked around a building, his body draped in the same blue material Dean wore, a sword on his hip and that look in his eyes that reminded him of Castiel.

Dean stared at him for a few seconds, faces he remembered running through his mind until he recalled someone from high school. "Michael?"

"So you know me," This clearly wasn't the same stuck up dick Dean know from school, this was a different version of him but it was still him. Dark hair, sharp eyes, and about his size. He looked Dean over quickly and lifted his hand away from the hilt of his sword, "You're a high priest? Where's your partner?" His tone wasn't threatening but it had a certain air about it, like he meant to say more but held back.

"When we enter worlds we don't always end up together." Dean scratched the back of his head sheepishly, somehow that felt kind of childish and silly in front of another priest. What if it was just their group that did that? "So he's not here."

Michael nodded and folded his arms over his chest as he started to walk toward Dean. There was nothing particularly hostile about his posture, "That does happen..." he mumbled like it was the biggest nuisance of his life. "Did you wake in this world?" He asked suddenly, looking hopeful, stepping closer until he was basically right in front of Dean. "Are you the last priests?"

Dean didn't know how to answer that, they'd just heard about it and now here someone was asking him. It could be related to the fact that they'd gone looking for someone who knew, but still Dean wasn't ready for the Q and A. "I'm... My partner woke here, he found me not too long ago."

Michael stared at him, looking him over closely before furrowing his brow, "You don't look like much... though I guess none of us really do. Which one are you? The magical one or the physical one?"

"Physical I guess." Dean shrugged, he kind of liked this Michael. He wasn't being condescending or a jackass, he was just asking questions. It was nice to see that the priests would play well together, he'd been worried they wouldn't get along. "Is it that much different than other priests?"

"Well we all have a magically gifted partner while the other is more physically inclined, but not to the point that the final priests would be." Michael shook his head and smiled a bit, yep definitely friendlier than the douche bag he knew in high school. Though really it was also pretty different from Cas when they'd first met, but Cas had a hard past to Dean wasn't that surprised. "I have to say, I'm very relieved you're here. My partner and I have been looking all over for the priests of prophecy but it seems that things haven't quite been in our favour. It feels like the timeline isn't how it should be, you know what I mean?"

"It's not," Dean was a little shocked that this guy could feel it without actually having been told. Maybe it was more obvious than they had thought? Or maybe this Michael had gone through some things that they hadn't. "The previous timeline had been corrupted and I guess not everything stays the same when it reset."

"It reset?" Michael's eyebrows knit together as he processed the words carefully. "How would you even know that? If it was reset then we all would have been too, how do you know about something you shouldn't?"

"Uh well it's been quite the trip for us. But mostly we've been talking to the celestial beings." Dean didn't intend to share everything with this other priest. Sure they were technically on the same side and Michael had been pretty good up until then but Dean didn't want to talk about the journal, that was definitely a tighter knit family thing. It used to belong to a different Sam and now his little brother carried it, Dean didn't like the idea of random priests going up to his brother and asking to see it. So all due respect to Michael but it wasn't something to be shared.

However Michael seemed more preoccupied with the thought of talking to the celestial beings, "Wait, the ones that helped wake and train us? You've spoken more to them than that?"

"Yeah, they don't talk to you? In your heads or anything?"

"Never." Michael's expression grew more serious, Dean could almost see the thoughts floating across his eyes, determined and a tad righteous. "Alright, you're definitely the priests from the prophecy, there can't be any other explanation."

"Can you tell me something?" Dean wished Castiel would show up but for now he'd have to deal with Michael on his own.

"I'll try."

"Where is everyone hearing about this prophecy?"

Michael's expression softened again and he shook his head, "It's something one of the partners hears among the common high priests. When the first priest of the pair wakes they have to find their partner, when the partner wakes they hear the prophecy. I became a priest first so my partner knows a little more about hearing it than I do. I think it's like a voice in his head, though that was the only time it's ever happened."

"I woke up second, does that mean I should have heard it too? Wouldn't that make more sense?" Dean's head was starting to hurt but he didn't bother to say that out loud, there was no point.

"I guess it's expected that you'll just... know it? Or maybe it's more like you will just do it, without having to know."

"Or the people who are in charge of destiny knew that everyone would run up to us going 'you're the prophecy' and crap." Dean shrugged and pursed his lips together, it was nice that Michael was guessing about some of it too, he didn't feel so stupid for asking a million questions. "So if everyone knew that then why didn't someone go to In Somniantes to keep the last priest safe?"

"Because the worlds aren't exactly labeled," Michael exclaimed tiredly, his exhaustion starting to show. "When we finally found it this had already happened. A crack was made in this world and wasn't repaired properly, I thought the priest had died. But you say he's here now?"

"Somewhere. Can you tell what happened here? Like I know there was a demoni that had gotten in, what caused all of this?"

"The void focused on it, tried to destroy it before the priest could fully wake but I guess he was already gone. The world fell into the shallow part of the void, broke off the mainline and just... I guess it's just been sitting here." Michael touched his hand to his chin and paused thoughtfully, "If the void hadn't been reset it must have tried to demolish In Somniantes before the priest woke up, why didn't it succeed?"

"Maybe it couldn't get in yet, like the void can slip in to any world but only a little. If it could just take over then it would have already devoured everything." This was normally Sam's job but Dean found himself debating the situation instead. He was glad he hadn't brought Sam with, the void pollution would have been intolerable and might've made him sick again. Dean wouldn't risk that for anything.

"So it got in through the fissure made by the demoni, regardless I wouldn't doubt that it could happen to any world... We need this to end."

"Believe me, we're working on it." Dean sighed and looked around, still trying not to think about how those people must be feeling as their world falls apart like that. "So why are you guys here, anyway?"

"The battle with the void has been getting so much worse. I spoke with other high priests since this all began, we were under the impression that the void would have been much weaker at the start and only got stronger with time. I'm guessing that has something to do with the reset?"

"I think maybe, the timeline split off when the first one lost track of itself and restarted the life of the worlds on it. But the timelines and the mainline are disconnected from the void so I guess the void doesn't reset." Dean felt sick just thinking about it, the monsters they were fighting and having a hard time with were supposed to be easy. They were the final priests, they were the ones who surpassed all others in strength and they had trouble with the canon fodder. He couldn't imagine how priests like Michael were fairing, it must be hell for them. "You guys came here looking for a last hope, didn't you?"

"Yes, we're on our last legs out there."

"Are you working with other pairs of priests or on your own?"

"There aren't that many of us left, I haven't seen another pair in a long time." Michael smiled at him, a little hopeful, "But the next pair I come across are the ones who are meant to end this. I have to say I'm relieved you're alive. What are your names?"

"I'm Dean, my partner is Castiel."

"Hold on," Michael furrowed his brow again, the name burning in the back of his mind, "I've heard those names, you wouldn't know two others by any chance, a Sam and Jet?"

"How do you know them?" Dean lurched forward, grabbing hold of the front of Michael's shirt and pulling him closer.

Michael didn't seem at all fazed though, his expression remaining entirely the same, "I've heard them, there's a world down the mainline called Futurum, you'd know it by the reflective fire. My partner and I have been there, they allow us to see our own future and if someone else's future is loud enough you can hear it."

"What did you hear?" Dean wasn't about to let up, his grip tightening as he nearly snarled into Michael's face.

"Someone said 'Sam we need to go' and he replied by saying 'No Cas' followed by him screaming for a Dean to help someone named Jet."

"What does that mean?" Dean let go, now at least satisfied that Michael wasn't about to do anything awful.

"I don't know, it sounded urgent though, panicked. I'd wager there'll be trouble for them."

"When?"

"There's no way of knowing."

The sick feeling returned, Dean wanted to vomit. What was going to happen? Cas had to tell Sam they needed to leave while Jet was in some kind of trouble? What the hell was happening? Or was going to happen or whatever, his head hurt. "I need to find Cas," Dean started running past Michael, "Come on, your partner's missing too right?"

"He's around, but he'll find me." Michael followed him, finding he needed to struggle to keep up. Dean really was more physical and speed was definitely included in that.