Author's Note:
Sorry for the delay guys! And of course I'd apologize for more exposition here but hey you know what? I'm actually not adding it too badly. I watched a movie recently where it was basically all exposition *cough*thelastairbender*cough* and I realize what can really make bad writing. I hope to never be M. Night level bad.
Mainline
Dean stepped onto the road and wrapped Sam up in a hug immediately, giving him a good squeeze before moving to surprise Jet with the same treatment. "Whoa, dude what happened in there?" Jet pat him on the back, not refusing or ignoring the hug just taken aback by it. "You guys look spooked."
"A lot," Cas sighed and hugged Sam as well, "It's good to see you're okay though."
"Why wouldn't we be? We were literally trapped here doing nothing for like five minutes." Jet smirked and punched Dean in the shoulder once he let go, "Seriously, what's up?"
Dean felt like he should shrug it off, that maybe he over reacted over something someone else sort of heard, but nothing in this crazy Void business left room for the freedom to laugh something off. It was too dangerous to let lie. "I heard something that may or may not have meant you were in trouble or going to be. I couldn't risk it so we came back here."
"How long was it for you?" Sam looked at his brother for a second then snapped his head to see the two new faces as Michael and Gabriel climbed onto the mainline road for themselves. "Who…?" Gabriel looked over at them and gave a bright smile and one quick wave like he really was too cool for the crowd he was entering. And then he saw Sam, his eyes widened a little, just enough to be noticed, he leaned toward Michael and whispered something that earned an eye roll from the taller priest. Sam raised an eyebrow and looked to Dean and Castiel for some kind of an answer.
Cas lit up instantly like he was showing off his family at Christmas, and motioned toward the two, "This is Gabriel as we know, this one is Michael. Michael and Gabriel, I'm Castiel, that's Dean, Sam, Dean's little brother, and this is Jet."
"A pleasure to meet you," Michael smiled at them and gave a little bow to be respectful, they were, after all, the high priests of prophecy. Gabriel smirked and slipped a wink into his show of 'humbleness'. Sam's lips pulled into a sort of smile and he returned it with a short wave of his own. Gabriel felt somewhat accomplished by that, however he felt a shiver run down his back. It was almost like a predator was watching him, Gabriel rolled his shoulders a bit and looked at the others to find what might be causing it. The other brunet of the group was giving a look that could only be described as murderous.
"Hi," Gabriel offered Jet a smile that he returned with a slow nod of his head, eyes dangerously fixed on the much shorter male.
"So, shall we discuss what we know and what to do next?" Michael continued, hardly noticing the little exchange.
Sam did his best to contain the joy he wanted to squeal with. He'd been so bummed for the last few minutes that he was going to miss all the important information and now here it was happening right around him. He looked over at Jet who had a certain 'I told you it'd work out' look on his face. Didn't matter though, Sam would be in the loop.
"Right, so basically we've got the prophecy thing down," Cas looked over at Dean who nodded. "When the Void was stirred so were the high priests, they're meant to work in pairs so one wakes first and goes to find his partner. This is true for all of them, even the final two who are supposedly meant to stop all of this. Nothing we know of says how we can do this, Gabriel mentioned that there are more details hidden in worlds that are off the mainline."
"From what I know of that," Michael took Castiel's pause as a good cue to start talking, "Those worlds are difficult to come by and there are different criteria that need to be met before the worlds are open to you. You can't just wander off the mainline and come across one, they're not like In Somniantes, they can't be accessed that easily."
"Which means what?" Dean's nose scrunched up a bit as he spoke, his eyes narrowing as he processed their next move, "We keep doing what we're doing and hope we meet the criteria?"
"More or less," Gabriel shrugged, "Not much we can do to force those worlds open. You can, though, go to Futurum and figure a few things out. Who knows, you might see something useful."
"The hell's Futurum?" Jet asked before Sam could figure out a smarter and more polite way to do the same.
"It's a world that has access to future events. Sometimes they're very in depth and intense, other times they'll literally show you getting out of bed the next morning." Michael chuckled, glancing over to Gabriel who just pouted at the memory. "It's a toss up, but there are four of you and two of you are indefinitely important."
"Hell of an ego boost," Jet smirked and nudged Dean playfully. "But what's it going to help if we see this?"
"It's worth a shot," Sam piped in, interrupting Jet before he could mention the journal. Dean and Cas hadn't started in about it yet and he didn't want to randomly trust people Dean might not. "If it can help us figure out our next move or maybe even give us a heads up about something, I'm all for it."
"Okay, okay," Jet lifted his hands a little to insinuate he'd back off, "We do our world to world thing like usual because they still need help. But Futurum comes first? How are we supposed to know which one it is?"
"Futurum has a trail of fire like all the other worlds except it doesn't have a colour, the fire is reflective like a mirror." Michael explained calmly, "You'll know it when you see it."
"Fair enough," Cas took a slow breath and looked at the two new priests in their midst, "So you two have met other pairs?"
"Yep," Gabriel nodded knowingly, "They were all pretty tough, I couldn't imagine any of them going down but I guess I just over estimate our chances. A lot of partners are dead."
"So the odds of running into another priest is slim then…" Cas touched his fingers to his lips, tapping lightly as he thought. "How long has there been this few?"
"It's hard to tell," Michael shook his head, "But it's been some time now. I really wish we could have spoken to the celestials, what have they told you?"
"Mostly the same things that we've shared with you," Cas exchanged a quickly look with Dean as he spoke, "But… there are some things I feel we need to explain. The holy beings are the ones that have told us about the corrupted timeline. They gave us a journal that a person from that first timeline had written to try and prepare us for what's coming."
"So you know our future?" Michael and Gabriel didn't seem at all upset about the hidden information, they were just glad it had been shared with them. Dean noted how refreshing it felt to see that, not like in every movie he'd seen where the new people they met always turned into raging assholes who stabbed them in the back down the road.
"Not exactly, we were told it'd help to prevent this timeline from repeating the same mistakes but then they said that too much had already changed for the same events to occur." Cas shrugged, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "We know already that the celestials now are different than the ones from the corrupted timeline, we believe the original celestials were killed, sacrificing one of the prophesied priests in the process."
"That's probably why we get a second chance," Gabriel mused seriously, his bright eyes narrowed as he looked toward the ground, as if it had some mystical ability to answer any question that came to mind. "But even though it's nice I doubt we get another one, because the Void is only getting stronger."
"About that," Dean added quickly, "The Void doesn't seem to be restarting, it just keeps going from the very first awakening."
"Meaning the monsters just get stronger." Sam finished Dean's thought with a look of slowly increasing horror. "Even if everything resets again, assuming we fail here, there's no way we could beat those things a third time around."
"Yeah," Jet chuckled bitterly, "Ten bucks says the priests don't get stronger every time."
"Wait hold on," Sam stepped forward and looked at Cas, "There aren't any moments in the journal about Cas getting so over powered and passing out, as far as I've read anyway. Do you think it happens now because the Void is so much stronger? Or maybe Cas' powers are?"
"Good question," Gabriel looked Sam over again and smiled a little, "Sorry, didn't quite catch your name before?"
"Uh… Sam."
"Point is," Jet aggressively joined the sharing circle, taking a position between Gabriel and Sam, "We can't fail here, whether we think the universe and destiny will give us a reset button or not is irrelevant. What's the plan?"
"We need more information," Dean decidedly stopped himself from point out Jet's behaviour to him, last thing they needed was some kind of a face off. "I want to visit Futurum and see what they have to show us."
"Sounds like a good idea," Michael agreed and cast a glance to his partner, "We'll continue with what we're supposed to be doing, see if we can't save some of these worlds."
"Question," Sam almost raised his hand like he might be in school, he at least managed to stop himself from looking foolish. "Do we know what the end game is?"
"What do you mean?" Cas tilted his head curiously, his eyes squinting just enough to make Dean smile.
"I mean are we looking to wipe the Void out entirely or what? It's way too big for a few priests to handle."
"I've heard others say they've been to those distant worlds, the ones off the mainline, where part of the legend had revealed there is a way to seal the Void again." Michael explained with a sorrowful look to his face, Dean wanted to ask but wasn't sure he should. "Though the priests didn't get a chance to tell me any more."
"Why not? Sounds kind of important." Dean ventured to say with a look of ambivalence.
"Because they died." Gabriel glowered at him, the gold in his eyes only adding to the fury mixing there. "Those worlds are infested, the mainline is safe but anything off of it will kill you. We're talking dinosaur sized monsters here."
"Those aren't even the worst of it," Michael's tone dropped, eyes hazing over like a movie of memories played across his mind as he formed the words. His gaze shifted to each face of the four companions before he spoke again, "There are creatures you can't see coming, ones that could kill a weaker man with a single touch. If the four of you end up going," he focused on Sam and Jet for a moment, worry creeping into his features, "Watch out for these two."
Dean felt his skin crawl as he nodded, "Always do."
"Is there a way to contact you again?" Cas asked in a way he tried to nonchalant but he'd gotten used to people, he realized he hated being alone. The thought of never seeing them again wasn't something he enjoyed thinking about, finally finding other priests and people with the same goal as them it seemed silly to part ways so soon.
Michael seemed to sense the discomfort Castiel was feeling, he approached the other man and carefully took his hand to shake it again. A firm grasp that didn't let go after the handshake had finished, "Don't worry, Castiel. If it's meant for us to work together we will meet again."
"Yep," Gabriel winked playfully at Sam one more time, "It's destiny."
The pair bid their farewells and departed to the next world of their choosing. Jet scoffed indignantly, "Psh, friggin' asshole."
Sam smiled at Jet and stifled a laugh.
"What?" He was defensive immediately, eyes narrowed with a slight wrinkle in his brow.
"Nothing, so we find this reflective fire, right?"
"Sounds about right," Dean smirked and turned to Cas, "Ready to go?" It was nice to see Castiel's eyes so open, so excited. He'd been very down with their work, their lives, seeing no end in sight and what was worse was the depression that repeatedly hit him. Cas' life had changed so drastically from when he worked alone, he went from being angry, bitter, and a loner to someone that dared to look hopeful. Cas would be one of the first to see them all as a family, to love them all and defend them with all he was worth.
"Yes," Castiel sighed happily and started down the mainline again, eyes open for a strange flame. "I can't believe we really met other priests. I've been doing this for so long and yet never saw a single one."
"I can't believe they're both such dorks." Jet remarked snarkily, arms crossed behind his head as he walked.
"You're just being jealous," Dean grinned, jabbing his friend in the side.
While Jet swatted at Dean's limbs Sam and Castiel moved ahead, eyes fixed on something they hadn't quite seen before. One of the worlds' fires started to blaze, a brilliant and horrifying light cascading over every world within its radius.
"That's not normal." Sam muttered nervously, looking to Castiel who had been transfixed by the spectacle. "What does that mean? Did they see it too?" Sam looked toward the world that Gabriel and Michael had ventured toward, evidently they had disappeared before the firestorm.
"We don't have time to find Futurum right now," Cas started running down the mainline road, "A Void monster has breached one of the worlds, and from what I can see it's a big one."
Dean and Jet had both stopped to see what the commotion was about, their eyes drawn to the eruption ahead of them. "Son of a bitch…" Dean muttered, "Come on."
"Right." Jet picked up the pace, all four of them running to the world in distress.