Author's Note:

Just so you all know, this fic isn't going to be a huge chapter number like some of my others. I had originally intended for it to be dramatically shorter than this, but I really liked the idea I came up with while talking to Rose0, and I just kind of ran with it. Anyway, I'm not sure what the final chapter count will be, but I'm estimating that this is pretty much the halfway point.

Thanks to Acidspades, ToxicTenshi, Katlover98, SPN Mum, Rose0, aliengirlguy, , and one guest for their reviews on chapter 4!

Chapter 5 - New Tricks

Bobby was understandably surprised when Castiel appeared in front of him demanding to be informed about exactly how e-mail worked, and how it was tracked. Bobby explained as best he could, reminding the angel that he'd already tried tracing Sam's e-mail, but the kid was too smart for that to be much help.

"By human methods," Castiel corrected.

"What's that mean?" Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow. "You have some fancy angel way to track an e-mail?"

Castiel shook his head. "Angels rarely have need to interact with human technology. However, there should be no reason I cannot utilize what still remains of my grace to attempt to locate Sam through his transmissions over the Internet."

Bobby whistled appreciatively. "Huh. Learn something new every day, apparently. So, what, all you need to know is how it works on the human plane and you can adapt that to angel level?"

It took Castiel a moment to process the question into something he could figure out an answer to. "That is my intent."

Bobby passed him his laptop. "Be my guest."

Castiel sat down at the desk, Bobby's e-mail program up in front of him. Drawing on the explanation Bobby had just given about tracing an e-mail, he began to run the program, pausing every few seconds to glance at Bobby and ensure he was doing it right.

"Frankly, feathers, I was shocked you could figure out how to operate a cell phone," Bobby admitted. "You don't exactly scream tech savvy."

Deciding to leave that alone, Castiel focused on the program that was running the trace. As Bobby had said, it wasn't finding any signal to trace, but that was where Castiel's idea came in. Concentrating, he allowed a tendril of his grace to follow the search pattern of the program, immediately modifying the search to suit his own parameters.

Bobby watched quietly, not sure if whatever the angel was doing was working. The screen hadn't changed, but Castiel was focusing intently, so Bobby figured that counted for something.

After a long moment, the program completed its search, dinging to announce its verdict of "No Results." Castiel, however, made a noise of discovery.

"What, it worked?" Bobby asked, shifting his gaze to the angel.

"Close enough," Castiel amended. "Sam is in Idaho."

Bobby waited, but Castiel did not continue. "Cas, I don't know if you realize this, but Idaho's an entire state. That's a lot of ground to cover."

"I do not need to cover ground. This is enough information for me to locate Sam's consciousness. As long as he is asleep, I should be able to contact him directly. I have enough of a connection with him for that. It will not be easy, but it is possible." Castiel gave a small smile. "This is good news."

Bobby relaxed slightly, encouraged by Castiel's optimism. "Well, tell him from me that he's an idjit. Actually, next time you see Dean, tell him the same thing. Both of them are going to be the death of me. Just, watch over them?"

"Always," Castiel confirmed solemnly.

"Good," Bobby nodded.

Inclining his head towards Bobby in a farewell, Castiel vanished. He had a dreamwalk to prepare for.

"Sam," Dean snapped at him, exasperated. "Why are you trying so damn hard? You betrayed my trust and turned yourself into a monster. I know you're trying to make up for it, but you're still a freak - always have been. Give it up already. It's hard enough trying to work with you, but you want me to forgive you to? What makes you think you deserve that?"

Sam stared determinedly at the wall, ignoring Lucifer as best as he could. When he was Dean, it was harder. Lucifer seemed to have discovered the exact balance between what Sam knew his brother would say and what was excessively cruel, and Sam was having trouble distinguishing Lucifer's whispers from real memories of things Dean had actually said to him. The sad thing was, there was enough overlap that anything Lucifer said rang a little too true.

"You deserve to be punished, Sam," Dean continued. "That's how it works. You screw up, you pay for it. There's nothing that says you get to make up for it and everything goes back to normal. Monsters can't be redeemed. That's not how the world operates."

At least Lucifer wasn't getting creative with a knife again. It was a lot harder to survive his nights when Sam had to endure being sliced apart by his brother's hand, even if it wasn't really Dean. Lucifer had given up on doing much with Bobby's voice or face after realizing that Sam was more resistant to the vitriol Lucifer was attempting to deliver. Unfortunately, it was much harder to resist coming from Dean.

"Sam," Castiel sighed, his voice unfathomably regretful.

Sam immediately closed his eyes, tensing. He had no defense against the disappointment of Heaven. He could hold out for a long time against Lucifer's version of Dean, because he knew that Dean wouldn't actually say most of that to his face, whether or not he was thinking it. That helped Sam remember that he wasn't real. Castiel, however, was another matter entirely. The angel was so frank about everything, and had labeled Sam as a tainted soul from the beginning. It was much harder to disbelieve his voice.

"You were given every opportunity to turn away from the path of destruction," Castiel told him sadly. "I tried my best to protect your brother from the danger you posed, but in the end you could not be stopped. At least you cannot cause him more harm now, hidden away as you are."

Sam took a deep, shuddering death, but did not respond. Answering as playing into Lucifer's hands, and he refused to play the archangel's games.

"Your taint even disturbed Heaven," Castiel informed him, disgusted. "I wonder who will win out, in the event you die for real? Heaven, which clearly wanted to spit you back out, or Hell, where your taint has attempted to drag you since you were six months old? Perhaps even before then. If ever a child was born for evil, it was you, Sam Winchester."

"What in the name of my Father is happening here?" Castiel's voice thundered, cutting off whatever he had been about to say.

Sam glanced over at Lucifer in confusion before he could stop himself, only to realize there were now two Castiels. "Uh..."

"Sam," they both said at once, then paused to glare at each other.

"NO!" Sam shouted. "I'm not doing this. Lucifer, either get the hell out of my head or change back into what you're supposed to look like. I'm not dealing with whatever freaky mind game this is."

The Castiel who had interrupted spoke up quickly. "Sam, it is really me. I do not have a great deal of time, and you are unfortunately very difficult to find."

"Tell me about it," the other Castiel muttered. There was a pause, then he shifted into the blonde vessel he had introduced himself to Sam in the first place. "So, little brother, have you come to challenge me for his mind?"

Castiel's eyes flashed. "You have no claim here," he snarled.

Lucifer laughed out loud. "He's my true vessel!" He protested, incredulous. "I have the only claim!"

"He has not agreed to house you, therefore he is his own man," Castiel argued. "You are attempting to use fictitious manipulations and torments to sway his choice, and it will stop."

"You don't have the power to stop me, Castiel," Lucifer reminded him, smiling slightly.

"True," Castiel allowed, "but I will always have an advantage over you in his dreams."

Sam's eyes snapped to Castiel immediately, curious what that meant. As soon as he did, he felt a slight flaring in his chest, and realized somehow that Castiel was offering his grace like an anchor for Sam to latch onto. Instinctively, Sam did so. Suddenly, he knew that he did have a power in his own mind. Castiel had been able to enter his dreams because they already had a sort of connection, though Sam was sure it was far weaker than anything Castiel and Dean shared. Lucifer, on the other hand, had used his power, and was an unwelcome intruder. Focusing, Sam began to push against the intrusion in his mind, relying on Castiel's dwindling grace for support.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lucifer asked, amused.

"You don't belong in my head," Sam replied with a scowl. "You don't have permission to access any part of me, so GET OUT."

"Your little plan is not going to stop me," Lucifer warned him. "You will say yes to me, Sam. I will have my true vessel. I can keep you alive indefinitely."

"We'll see," Sam bit out, increasing the mental shove he was aiming at Lucifer, drawing on more of Castiel's grace. He knew instinctively that Castiel would never have been able to force Lucifer out of the dream, but because it was Sam's mind and Sam's dream, he had more power and leverage in the situation than he would have thought possible.

Lucifer faltered slightly, then looked irritated. "Fine. Farewell, then for now. You know I will be back." With a final glare in Castiel's direction, Lucifer vanished.

Sam slumped immediately to the floor, attempting to catch his breath. He let go of his grip on Castiel's grace, rubbing at his temples even though he knew that the motion would do nothing to assuage the mental stress he felt.

"Sam," Castiel said softly.

Slowly meeting the angel's gaze, Sam winced. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find you," Castiel replied, as thought it was obvious. "Entering your dreams is as close as I have been able to come thus far."

"Thanks," Sam acknowledged. "For helping me push him out. He doesn't usually leave before I wake up."

"Does he typically pretend to be those that care for you in order to stress your mind and heart?" Castiel asked quietly, moving forward to stand closer to the hunter.

"That's pretty par for the course," Sam admitted. "It's usually either you or Dean."

His expression turning fierce, Castiel leaned down until he was level with Sam, meeting his eyes and saying firmly, "None of what I heard Lucifer say in my form was true. It was only before I knew you that I considered you to be a danger, rather than a person. Now, however, I call you a friend, and I value you greatly."

Sam felt a small smile on his face before he could help it. "Really?" He asked, feeling childish for allowing the word to escape.

Castiel's expression softened immediately. "Sam, you are an unbelievably strong individual with one of the purest souls I have ever had the joy to lay eyes on. No one tries harder to do right than you. How could I do anything but admire you?"

Shaking his head almost immediately, Sam protested. "Cas, that can't be true. I'm tainted by demon blood, so there's no way I have a pure soul, and if I did, Heaven wouldn't have tried to eject me."

Castiel's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, eject you? You have always been meant for Heaven, you and Dean both."

Sam smiled sadly. "I'm sure Dean has, but Heaven was filled with memories of really fleeting happiness. They were all memories where I had been really upset about something. It was like every memory was designed to remind me of a time where I was happy for a moment, then I would smacked upside the head with all the pain I was dealing with at the time. It was pretty much horrible."

Castiel immediately adopted an expression of understanding. "You and Dean were manipulated." He stated matter-of-factly. "I had suspected it, but I am sure that Zachariah deliberately altered your perception of Heaven. He gave you memories designed to hurt you both. You with emotional pain from the events themselves, and Dean by drawing a wedge further between you. Dean expressed to me a false belief that you do not need his support."

"He lost faith in me," Sam murmured.

"Then it should be restored," Castiel determined. "If this is the primary issue, then it can be resolved. Neither of you were to blame for the deception, obviously, so it should be solvable."

"It doesn't matter, Cas," Sam shook his head. "I have a more important mission to deal with. I'm trying to make Dean's task easier. Putting me back in the picture would just make his job more difficult."

Castiel was suddenly forceably reminded of the last moments before Lucifer's departure. "You intend to take your life to prevent Lucifer from using you a vessel," he realized, horrified.

Not paying attention, Sam missed the expression on Castiel's face. "I haven't found a way to make it permanent yet," he admitted. "He always brings me back. I'm close though, I'm sure of it. I'm going to take his edge away from him, Cas. This is the best thing I can do to help Dean win. Do you see that? Surely you can understand why this is the right thing?"

Castiel shook his head urgently. "No, Sam! Whatever logic you may be attempting to follow is flawed. This is not the way to win this battle. I cannot-"

Sam woke up sharply and winced at the ache in his head. The knowledge that Castiel had found his mind left him conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to believe that the angel was right, and was telling him the truth, but on the other hand he knew that what he was planning was the best solution. Sighing, he glanced out the window to see the sun rising. All of the supplies he needed for the poison were on the table next to his laptop, and he had already chosen the knife he wanted to use. If he was lucky, this would be the one to work, and Dean and Castiel would finally have an edge over the devil.