Demon Seals

Chapter Seven: The New Normal

I've been doing job training for the past two weeks in preparation of teaching fifth grade for the next school year. It was intense! And it had homework! I thought I was finished with being the student in that type of capacity, but it turns out that there is always something new (or more) to learn. Crazy, right?

So the last chapter was a cliffhanger. I'm afraid I won't be resolving that one just yet. We're gonna go spend some time with Sam and Cas before returning to Dean's current predicament in the chapter following this one. Enjoy!

Oh, and P.S. Reviews are love :D

It only took a week of having Ruby around before Sam started to willingly choose a sober life over a drunken one. The pain of his loss was much sharper without the alcohol in his system, but it was harder to go on a bender with Ruby's attentive care to food and health.

"I haven't found a way to bring Dean back," he finally said one day while eating a salad and ignoring Ruby's giant platter of fries at the latest no-name diner on the road to nowhere. "Do you know a way?"

Ruby sighed and leaned back in her seat. "I don't," she answered honestly. "At least, not a way that involves his soul being human rather than tainted and twisted into that of a demon." She abruptly sat up straighter and reached out to take Sam's hand. "That doesn't mean you should give up, though."

Sam swallowed and nodded. After a moment, a thought occurred to him. "Maybe the Trickster," he mused softly.

"The what?" Ruby asked.

"Loki, the Trickster," Sam answered. "Back in August last year, we had a run-in with him. Our second, actually. He uh —" Sam struggled to describe to Ruby the events of Broward County. Ruby listened, eyes wide and emotions filled with a surprising level of sorrow.

"I can't believe you went through all of that," she said. "Why on earth would you even want to see this… damn demi-god again?"

"Because maybe he's got the juice to bring Dean back for real," Sam said. "No, listen," he hurried on as Ruby opened her mouth to speak again, "throwing me into an alternate reality? And no one, including Dean, had any idea about it! I mean, I dunno, but unless you can think of a better idea…" He trailed off and watched Ruby look away. "We have no other leads, no other ideas."

"This is what you wanna do?" Ruby asked.

Sam nodded. "The knife didn't work on Lilith, we couldn't find the Colt, let alone the demon who has it, and I'm not doin' the blood thing again, so I have no way to kill that bitch. Besides ganking Lilith, the only thing I want is my brother back."

Ruby chewed her lip. "Fine," she said. "But how do we find this Loki?"

"We've gotta find bizarre cases where people are basically getting their 'just desserts' for being dicks," Sam answered with a small grin as he resumed eating his salad. "I've tracked him before, I know I can do it again."

"But… you said if he didn't want to be found, you couldn't find him."

"Yes, but he doesn't know that I'm looking for him. That gives me an advantage." Sam took a sip of water. "I just need a way to keep from being made out as soon as I show up this time."

Ruby frowned thoughtfully. "I might have a way," she said, "but I'm gonna have to leave you alone for a couple days while I track down some info I think could be of use for this." She popped a couple fries in her mouth, then fixed Sam with a serious look. "Do you promise not to go off on another bender while I'm gone?"

Sam huffed a short laugh. "I promise," he answered.

Dean seems to have a moment of respite even though he's still chained to the rack. Sam floats over to him cautiously. "Dean?" he asks, but his brother doesn't answer. "Dean, I wish you could hear me. I'm trying to find the Trickster, Loki. I think there's a chance he's powerful enough to get you out of this place, but you've gotta hold on, Dean, you've gotta stay strong!"

"Time's up," laughs a voice Sam has come to know all too well. Dean stiffens, closes his eyes. Rest time is over.

"You know," the voice says as it comes closer, "every day could be like this if you would just accept my offer."

"No," Dean says shortly. "I'm not gonna do that."

"Do what?" Sam asks, but Alistair comes into his eyesight, wide grin too full of teeth crunching on bone and sinew.

"C'mon, Dean," Alistair says enticingly, "no one likes to be on the rack day in and day out, year after year after year. I'm offering you something that I never offer to anyone." He comes close, too close to Dean. "A way off the rack."

"I'm not going to torture innocent souls," Dean snarls in the demon's face. "Never."

Alistair's face is devoid of that horrible smile for several seconds. "I'll give you another… oh, let's say a year, to reconsider." He raises an instrument of torture that Sam can't identify but terrifies Dean.

"Let's get started." The smile is back, and Sam cries out uselessly, voice drowned out by his brother's screams of fear and pain —

Sam bolted up and out of bed, the taste of bile in the back of his throat. He barely made it to the toilet before everything he had eaten that day came out in desperate, terrified, horrified heaves. He raked his hands through his hair to hold it out of his face as he panted over the bowl.

That had been too real.

Too, too fucking real.

Dean. Oh god, Dean…

Sam didn't sleep again that night.

"You didn't break your promise, did you?" Ruby asked when she returned two days later. "You look awful."

"Nightmares," Sam answered shortly. "I have a couple of possibilities to check. Did you have any luck?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I think I've got a way to modify our 'cloaking' hex bags to include a Pagan god like Loki." She dropped the bag she had hauled inside on the table and began to pull out various ingredients. "Go get me fries," she commanded. "I'm fuckin' starving after all the hard work I've done."

Sam groused good-naturedly, but went out and fetched food for them both.

When did he start interacting with Ruby in such a… normal way?

Uriel scowled at Danielle as she performed on a stage, Jared watching her every move with rapt attention. "I do not understand why I must accompany you during your shifts with this soul," he said.

"She has tried to speak falsehoods in an attempt to sway me to her side," Castiel told the other angel. "I believe that your special skills will be of use should she try anything in your presence."

"She seems to be very involved in this memory," Uriel commented.

Castiel watched Danielle for a few seconds. "No, she is well aware of the both of us."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Her shoulders," Castiel answered, pointing them out. "Every time an angel enters Danielle and Jared's Heaven, her shoulders become tense. Can you not see how it is affecting her movement, Uriel?"

The other angel stared at Danielle, then turned to Castiel. "I am more concerned that you are reading her as well as you are," he said.

"Meaning what, exactly?"

Uriel didn't say anything.

"Uriel, I am simply doing my job," Castiel insisted. "Are we not allowed to analyze and interpret the things our charges do? Is it not our duty to be on the lookout for problems? Danielle has been labeled as potentially troublesome. It would be remiss to not learn her tells, her habits, or the things she believes to be true."

"You do realize," Uriel responded, "that last thing you said more than likely involves speaking with the soul?"

"Okay, you know what?" Danielle's voice suddenly echoed across the performance space she was in. Castiel and Uriel's attention snapped to where she stood, arms akimbo and face pinched with negative emotions. "Listening to the two of you arguing is putting a serious crimp in my performance. Can you both just shut the hell up and let me enjoy this memory?"

"Angels again?" Jared asked in a bored tone of voice.

"How could you tell?" Danielle replied with snark and frustration coloring her words, and Jared responded with laughter.

"What are they saying now?" he asked, rising and making his way to the stage.

"Apparently I've been labeled 'potentially troublesome'," Danielle told him. "It's like you feathered idiots think I chose to be able to both sense your presence and hear the words you speak. I haven't actually done anything that could label me as trouble!"

Castiel glanced at Uriel and manifested himself before the young couple. "Castiel!" Uriel hissed angrily, but he ignored the other angel.

"How do you explain that you're aware of the passage of time?" he asked sharply. "Nothing about you makes sense, Danielle Palmer."

"That's…?"

"Castiel," Danielle finished Jared's question, "yeah. And you know what, angel?" She threw her arms out. "I don't have any answers to your questions! I don't know why I notice passage of time or feel you when you're near or hear the words you speak! I just know that I do and I can't just shut it off."

"We've been speaking in Enochian," Uriel suddenly spoke, manifesting next to Castiel. "How do you understand our language?"

"Not a damn clue," Danielle retorted. "Am I really so unique among the countless souls you've got locked away up here?"

"They are not locked up!" Uriel snapped right as Castiel said, "Yes, you are unique, Danielle."

Danielle looked between the two angels and reached out for Jared's hand. He offered it without hesitation. "If the souls here are not locked up," she said quietly, "then why are they not able to interact with any of the others up here? Why can't they freely speak to the angels or even God? Where is he?"

Uriel opened his mouth, paused, and then slowly closed it with an oddly thoughtful expression on his face.

"I'm not going to apologize for any of the things I can do," Danielle added after it became clear that neither Castiel nor Uriel could answer her questions. "And I'd really like it if you'd both leave now." She tugged Jared away and walked out of the recital hall, possibly traveling to another memory. Uriel looked over at Castiel, who made no move to follow the souls.

"Whether she did something to give herself these abilities or not," Uriel finally said, "she is dangerous." He shook his head. "I will make the report to Sariah, if you wish."

Castiel nodded, lost in thought as the other angel departed.

Were all the souls in Heaven locked up? He exited Danielle and Jared's Heaven and took a look around the hallway where their Heaven was situated. It was possible for souls to exit their personal Heaven, this was true, but an alarm would sound if they did so.

They were supposed to stay where they were.

What else could that be but being locked up?

And yet…

Was a soul locked up if it didn't know it was locked up? All the other souls in Heaven were unaware of the passage of time to the best of Castiel's knowledge. None of them had ever shown any inclination to visit the Heavens of other souls, but that was because they didn't know there were others here. Castiel turned back to Danielle's Heaven and creaked open the door.

"Look at this," Danielle was saying, "this guy says he wants my help learning Enochian."

"But who is he?" Jared asked.

"Says his name is Ash," Danielle answered. "Sam and Dean told me about a guy named Ash, a computer genius who helped make their search for the special kids like me possible."

"So he's dead, then?"

"I guess so." There was the sound of typing on a keyboard. "D'you think I should press for more details and make sure this is the same guy?"

"Yes," Jared answered flatly. "I don't trust that he isn't some angel. How did he say he found you, anyway?"

"According to him, sheer dumb luck while messing around," Danielle answered. "At least I know now that it's not just me who's constantly aware of where we are."

"I wish I was better at it," Jared said. "I still get lost."

"Oh Jared, you were up here for over a century before I showed up," Danielle told him, voice softer and kinder than Castiel had ever heard it. "It's going to take some time before you're as good at it as I seem to be, and who knows? Maybe if we can learn more about this guy, he could help somehow."

For reasons Castiel never was able to explain to himself, he chose to leave at this point and not share what he had heard with Sariah or any other angel.

What did it matter if souls tried to speak to each other from different Heavens?

It wasn't as though there were rules preventing it.