Hello internet! New Chapter! Hope you enjoy!
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Lebanon, Kansas, 2014
Dean remembered everything. Every part of his stint as a demon was etched into his memory, and it made him want to throw up. He remembered everything in excruciating detail. If he concentrated, he could feel blood on his hands, the taste of whiskey in his throat, and the fear-inducing tingle of power that inevitably accompanied being a knight of Hell. Mostly, of course, he remembered Sam. God, he had tried to kill Sam! He had given up everything time and time again just to keep his brother alive, and then he almost... And it was him. That demon, that thing was all him. All the mark of Cain had done was just twist what was already there into something horrible and wrong, and had given him demonic strength.
He shuddered. He had to think of something else, anything else, but this. He'd go insane if he didn't. He looked down at the pictures in his hands and smiled. This one was his favorite. Sam was laughing at something he said, one of those huge guffaws that he used to laugh way back when he was younger. God, he probably hadn't seen a laugh like that outta Sam since before their dad went missing all those years ago. God, Dad. What would he think of him now? What would he think of what he'd became? He'd probably-
A knock sounded from the door, shaking Dean from his thoughts. he shoved the pictures under a book lying on the nightstand next to him. "Yeah?" he said and winced slightly. His voice sounded rough even to him.
"You look terrible," Cas admonished as he walked through the door. Dean chuckled lightly.
"You know, it wouldn't kill you to lie every now and again."
"No," said Cas. "I just... you-"
Dean smiled inwardly. "Forget it." Some things never change, and Cas would likely always take things just a little too literally. Speaking of Cas, he looked... well. Healthier, anyway. "You, on the other hand, looking good. So, are you back?"
"At least temporarily. Yeah, It's a long story. Crowley-" Cas paused and furrowed his brows. Cas' eyes widened. "Something's happening. Follow me, and hurry," he directed before rushing off down the hallway.
"Cas, what-" Dean said as he chased Cas down to the dungeon. "Cas!" he said, frustrated. "What the hell is going on?"
"Something has shifted in the balance of the Universe," Cas explained matter-of-fact as they reached the dungeon floors. See Dean's confused look, he continued. "The universe is similar to a spider web in that every thing is connected, and every detail matters. If something doesn't happen like its supposed to, then the whole thing falls apart. If, however a spider were to come along and fix the mistake, such as a broken strand, by replacing it with a new strand..." Cas trailed off, eyes squinting at a shelf in the tightly packed dungeon. Dean looked around, trying to see what had caught the angel's attention, but found nothing. "What is it, Cas?"
"Whenever anything supernatural happens, there's a backlash of supernatural energy. The stronger the supernatural event and people involved, the stronger the backlash of energy is. It's there to keep the universe balanced, and normally, nobody even knows it's there. Unfortunately, some people have found out about it over the years, and have tried to harness it for power. This could be catastrophic and break the metaphorical spider web strand. However, the universe has its own 'spider' built in to fix the web. Every time but once, these people didn't succeed in anything but killing themselves and destoying the mechanism with which they were attempting to use to harness it. However, once some couple hundred years ago, a coven of witches tried and succeeded to create seven chrystal spheres to control the energy. They were all killed in the first attempt, so while it worked, none of them got to use it more than the initial attempt that killed them." Cas explained hurriedly. "The crystals amplified and pushed out the energy, causing it to be stronger than before. The angels were able to fix it easily, though, because even if the energy was stronger than it was before, it was still very weak as the witches themselves played very minor parts in the grand schme of the universe. The angels took the crystals and destroyed them by scattering their atoms across the universe. Unfortunately, one of the witches some how managed to hide one of them, and the angels never found it."
"Okay, but what does hat have anything to so with what's happening now?" Dean asked, confused.
"The crystals power of amplification is directly proportional to the importance of the supernatural event that is taking place. If, say, a knight of Hell were to be changed back to human who also happens to be Dean Winchester- vessel of Michael and extremely influential hunter, well that would cause a huge supernatural backlash. If the backlash were to be amplified by one of the crystals, it would most definitely break one of the 'strands'. And," Cas pulled a small, 3-inch ball out from one of the many shelves lining the walls of the dungeon. "Here is what seems to be the last of the crystals. It looks like one of the men of letters found it and stored it here."
"So that's it? The end of the universe?!" Dean exclaimed.
"No, no. But something is coming. I don't know what and we'll likely not know until it gets here." Cas said to Dean's relief. Dean opened his mouth to say something when a bright light filled the room. Cas and Dean squeazed tight their eyes. When finally the light died down, three more figures lay on the floor, broken, bloody, and completely unconscious. Dean recognized them immediately. There, on the floor, lay John Winchester, and a younger Sam and Dean.