-"If everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied"-
Angel Training World: Part 3
It was quiet; despite the enormous battles raging around them the air was still. Sam stayed back with Castiel while Dean faced the Imperator. He couldn't be suspicious yet; they needed to catch him off guard.
Neither Dean nor Jet moved, the two stood opposite one another and silence fell around them, sounds of fighting faded into dull pounding in their heads. Soon all Sam could hear was his own heartbeat. The sky above had grown overcast and getting darker by the minute, time felt like it had slowed down. Castiel silently prayed that wasn't the case because if it were true then the world would be as lost as In Somniantes.
Dean licked his dry lips as he held eye contact with his best friend, or with the monster inside him. He wasn't sure if Jet could see at all, actually. Dean repeated the plan in his head, he had to fight Jet physically while Sam and Cas took care of the rest. He needed to hold on, fight as long as he could and distract Jet outwardly. The more he could keep the Imperator's attention the easier Castiel's fight inside Jet's head would be, if Dean could hold on better then he could save Cas a lot of pain.
But if he held on too well he'd kill Jet while the Imperator was distracted inwardly by Cas' fight, making Sam's entire plan meaningless. Dean needed to wait, hold it out, and then exorcise whatever he could of the monster inside the man he respected more than most adults he knew.
Jet angled his head back, looking down his nose at Dean through half lidded eyes, "You know he chose this?"
Dean grit his teeth, hands flexing and ready to reach for his weapon, the idea hit hard. "Shut it, he'd never agree to something like this." Wouldn't he though? Wasn't that exactly Jet's mentality? Use whoever it was trying to use him, get what he needed, then fight back until he was free again. Jet was a fighter until the end and that sounded like the bone-headed move he'd pull.
"I'm not kidding, he knew exactly what he was getting himself into and he told me-" The imperator switched his voice to Jet's, clear as a bell and unfiltered, "Do it."
"He must've had a reason, if that's true at all." Dean knew it was, Jet would undoubtedly choose that kind of path. He tossed his coat back and pulled the stick out, it shifted into a sword in his hand as he snarled, "Let's do this!"
The Imperator grinned and wavered on his feet a little, his body swaying for just a second then everything was still. The airflow stopped around them entirely and nothing moved until suddenly both parties leapt forward. The ground cracked beneath the force of their take off and they launched across the distance between them like shots from a gun. It happened so fast, when their fists connected the terrain below them stood no chance. The earth erupted into a small crater almost instantly and sent each flying backward from the weight of the other's attack. Dean flipped around and skidded along the ground in an attempt to stop himself, his feet nearly slipped out from under him.
They didn't stay in place though; Dean and the Void King rushed one another again, this time exchanging more than one blow. The two moved fast and precisely, each move was just enough to block the other's attack and attempt one of their own. Dean caught Jet's arms in a lock and the two braced against one another, legs straining and feet slowly digging into the ground behind him.
Sam and Castiel held their breath as the stalemate held stiff for far too long. Cas leaned over to Sam anxiously, "I need to tell you something that I didn't want Dean hearing," he muttered and Sam almost felt sick hearing it.
"Please don't tell me it's stupid."
Cas huffed out a laugh but shook his head, "Sorry, it might be. What we're about to do is enter Jet like I did with the anima, but you didn't see how it had been done. You and I need to be connected to one another physically and each place our hands on him; two fingers on his temple and thumb on his forehead." His voice was low and Sam almost could hear it but he did all the same.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek and nodded quietly, "So… we need to get close, I can do that."
"Yes, but before I had Dean's help, this time I'm using only my strength to get two of us inside." Castiel's tone was solemn but unwavering, "I'll be exhausted so when you get inside I need you to move quickly."
Sam ignored the queasy feeling, he knew he'd need to move fast, Dean's life was on the line too after all. "I can do it, Cas. Just hang in there when it happens, okay?"
"Of course."
Dean watched the brown eyes of his closest friend as they flickered before him, the thing he was facing wasn't Jet but Jet was in there before. He thought for a second he could see him, the guy who fought beside him on the school grounds, and the one who'd steal lunches for all three of them when they had nothing else. He could see Jet in there somewhere. "Jet," Dean struggled to keep his hold on him, the strength of the monster slowly over powering him. "C'mon buddy, I know you're in there."
"He isn't."
"I know you don't want to hurt us man, I'm going to do everything I can to stop you okay?" Dean swallowed thickly and pushed back as hard as he could, holding tightly to the Imperator's arms. "I'll save you, I swear."
"He's not listening anymore, Jet's gone now." The Imperator grinned madly and slowly forced Dean back, everything he had was put into Dean's eventual slip to his knees.
Castiel took Sam's hand and rushed across the terrain as it nearly exploded all over the area. Gigas were falling at the hands of angels; raptoribus were shot down by guns and spells, and high priests all around them tore Void monsters a new one. They put up an incredible fight, John, Mary, Michael and Gabriel did their job perfectly, and Dean had pushed the Imperator into forgetting they were there. It was time to act.
Sam kept up with Castiel to the best of his ability but the priest was still far faster than he'd ever been. Cas pulled Sam along until they were close enough that Sam could see the glint in Jet's eyes. Castiel let go of him and jumped over Dean and the Imperator to the other side, he reached across and caught Sam's hand again. "Now! Like I said!"
And they did, hands on Jet's face as the Imperator tried to pull away from Dean's iron grip. "NO! What is this!?" It shouted in that multi-toned voice that made their skin crawl. Sam felt Castiel's power surge through him and into his hand, both of their palms glowing and flashing with that priestly light Sam had seen come from Cas and Dean before.
Dean grinned as the Imperator struggled with no success, "We've got you now," he sneered and rammed his head up into Jet's hard enough to knock the monster back.
The Imperator covered its face and shrieked in protest. "You think this'll save you!?" It snarled.
"I don't need saving," Dean straightened up and altered his weapon into a blunt stick like it'd been before, "You on the other hand?" He smirked and stalked over the short distance between them, "I can't promise anything."
The Imperator growled low and rushed Dean with all its strength, but Dean could feel the difference. It couldn't quite keep track of them all; it was already scrambling for some control. With the swing of his arm Dean sent Jet's body flying like it was nothing, though the Void's King wouldn't go down that easy Dean had a good feeling.
-"If everyone shared and swallowed their pride, then we'd see the day that nobody died."-
Jet's Mind
Sam felt disconnected, like the world slipped away from him and he was far away from his senses. His body started to tingle and his nerves flared up in waves all over, that combined with the looping weirdness of gravity around him Sam lost track of what was up and what was down.
He felt sick, but he'd been feeling sick for a long time already so he wasn't sure what the source was anymore. "Cas?" He called, everything was dark and he tried to open his eyes only to realize they hadn't closed. "What happened?"
"We're in," Castiel said in a hushed voice, standing right next to Sam and letting go of his hand again. At first he looked fine but then Sam noticed how much paler Cas looked, the sway in his stance didn't help either.
"How are you feeling?" He asked softly and Cas shook his head.
"I'm going to throw up, I think." The priest chuckled and covered his mouth.
"You wretch!" A different voice cried out to them like a ghost, it wasn't Jet's and had no hint of him at all. It was the other voice, the one they heard that made them ill. "You think you can come in here, Castiel? That you'll accomplish anything by doing this?"
Cas straightened out and drew his Pernach mace and wheellock pistol from his jacket, he gave Sam one look and a quick shake of his head; don't move yet. "Oh I think I will." He replied coolly, like he didn't have a gaping hole where his energy should've been. Sam really wished Castiel would have mentioned it sooner, but Cas was on his side with that one. If Dean knew he'd never let Cas do it, which meant killing Jet was the only way.
The Imperator strode forward, a shadow of a being but with a solid form. Its face cracked in the center with a glowing grin and circular eyes of the same effect appeared, "I'll take you out personally, priest. I'm sick of your interference."
"Have we met previously?" Cas tilted his head a little as he concentrated on holding his ground. He knew he couldn't do it for long, Dean needed him to fight, to make as much of a distraction as he could to ease the struggle outside.
"That timeline that ruined itself, you were quite the little thorn in my side."
"Well that doesn't matter now," Cas steadied his gun and leveled it at the creature's head, "he's gone, you'll have to deal with this version and trust me, this version's got a lot more fight in him."
The Imperator smirked but said nothing more; instead it charged Cas with a speed Sam couldn't quite keep up with. Castiel jumped out of the way, all he could do was barely dodge and keep himself from being struck, Sam couldn't do a single thing but watch it. His friend narrowly avoided being beheaded twice and skewered through the stomach again, but couldn't get off a single shot.
And then he saw it, Castiel's movements weren't mad dashes to save his life, they were planned. The Imperator was no longer facing Sam, no longer giving him attention and by what he could tell, it was too preoccupied with fighting Dean and Castiel simultaneously to give him any attention whatsoever.
Sam bolted, it was his first chance and he took it without another thought.
Castiel jumped back far enough to give himself a second to breathe, he glanced to where Sam had been standing and smiled when he saw the space empty. That kid had always been pretty smart.
"It's because of you and your goddamn partner that I was stuck down there for so fucking long." The Imperator hissed as it practically crawled to Castiel, its face a mess of enraged flickering expressions. "I'm going to gut you and enjoy doing it."
"So now your motive is revenge?" Cas grinned and angled his gun the monster's way again, finger as solidly on the trigger as he could get it. His legs were about to give out and he knew it, "I thought you wanted to do it all just because? Kind of cliché, revenge and all."
His egging didn't work that well, it did nothing to quash the monster's rage and the Imperator ran at him again. This time Castiel let off a shot and sent the monster hurdling backward, not very far but far enough for him to do it again.
The warlord screeched as it dodged the second assault, this time taking a far less direct approach to Cas. It leapt off the chasms of Jet's mind, hidden pieces and theoretical surfaces served as its ground to push off of.
Castiel leveled his pernach one more time and prepared himself for one of the hardest fights of his life. His breath caught and his body shuddered, it had nearly nothing left in it, all he could do was fire his gun again and pray to nothing above that it did him any good.