BUREAUCRACY IN ACTION
Disclaimer
Supernatural is a television series, created by Eric Kripke, produced by Kripke Enterprises, Wonderland Sound and Vision and Warner Bros. Television, distributed by Warner Bros. Television
The title of the chapter is... just because it's a good line for the end of an adventure. This chapter has been written for a while and the Lucifer-thing was always planned to be this, but I can't write the end of the love story. The story keeps dragging me a way and although I feel it as the right ending, I can't help hating it. It's a bit of a cop out and something that left me unsatisfied in so many stories I read.
Oh, and please forgive the lazy writing. I just couldn't describe the trap – if you're reading this you saw enough Supernatural to fill in the blanks and imagine it. All I wanted from this story was to have a pretext for more Crowley – Naomi interaction.
The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship
He felt Naomi about to answer, but the words seemed to be stuck somewhere in her depths. Crowley wondered if her silence meant that she had already fallen or if Michael's words were forcing her to evaluate her conscience. He hated the possibility that she might be able to stop her fall. That she might find the blessed strength to crawl out of the honeyed darkness he wanted to share with her.
The conversation never continued because the Winchesters and Castiel returned.
Crowley's responsibility in this plan was to make sure that certain supplies would be in the right place at the right time, so he left. He wasn't worried about missing anything because he had made sure that one of his spy-coins was securely placed in Naomi's clothes. He did his job while constantly eavesdropping on her. Neither she, nor the people around her were saying much and that was worrying him. The only interesting thing proved to be something that sounded a lot like a prayer. Naomi was by herself, waiting to do her part, when she whispered the strange prayer.
"Please, John. Be the miracle you were always forced to be. Please, John, one last time, save the boys. Save the world. Please, John."
He couldn't make sense of that. John? The Baptist? She had known the original Adam, so... she could pray to John the Baptist. The memory of Michael's words rose unbidden. It was always about John. That John. A spike of jealousy bothered him, but only for a moment because his time to act had come.
Crowley made his appearance at the appointed time, and to his horror, the containment circle was empty. Lucifer hadn't fallen for their trick. He took in the details of the scene in a split second.
His attention was drawn to the way Naomi was staying close to Michael. There was something subtly wrong in her stance. She had that "about to jump on the grenade" look but somehow she did not appear ready to become a shield for Michael.
Suddenly, everything changed. Michael/Adam looked at Sam and Naomi dropped the pretence. She stepped in front of Michael/Adam and her eyes sparkled, her grace so much suppressed lately finally infusing her fragile body.
"You will never have the boy again," she told Michael in Enochian.
Crowley was about to comment on the insanity of that statement when he saw the change in Michael/Adam. And, for the first time in his existence, he panicked at what he guessed.
"You've always been the smart one, Naomi. Michael did not deserve such loyalty," the angel spoke, in Enochian as well.
"It's rude to speak in a language not everyone understands," Dean said, concern noticeable in his voice.
Castiel had assumed a defensive position in front of Sam, at Dean's side. A seraph and a knight of hell side by side – Crowley filed the image away for later leisurely mockery.
"Michael is strong. He will win," Naomi said in plain English.
Dean's "what the fuck" never left his lips. Everything in "Adam's" posture spelled the true nature of the possessing agent.
"Lucifer!"
Crowley felt panic rising at this confirmation of his suspicions. The creator of his race was not only free, but a few steps away from him. And he had witnessed Crowley working with angels and with the Winchesters for days. Plotting his destruction no less! Crowley could have howled in frustration. He had been so close to having it all and this particular situation did not fit any of his contingency plans.
All the angels on the scene were gathering their grace. Lucifer, Castiel and Naomi. And, out of all of them, Naomi, at the peak of her power, was the weakest. Crowley just stood frozen while Lucifer spoke, sensing the archangel's massive power, no longer hidden.
"Michael was weak. I consumed him almost as easily as I consumed the boy. I don't even need the vessel you so kindly constructed for me," he said, pointing at Sam. "Your beloved John cheated on you. He made this adequate vessel," Lucifer gestured at Adam's body before adding "that has NO angelic spark to protect it. No little piece of your programming lurking in his mind to help him withstand the darkness."
Everyone sensed the new presences at once, but the reactions varied. Sam and Castiel were the most surprised. Dean's first reaction was one of mixed hope and pride. Naomi's stance didn't waver in the least and Crowley finally made sense of the plan inside the plan.
John and Mary Winchester walked hand in hand toward Lucifer.
"Michael, I offer you my body," John said in a clear voice.
Despite the solemnity of the moment, Crowley couldn't help an impish grin to the words. He couldn't help finding humour even in this situation. The smirk vanished when he became aware of the surge of power. He had been surprised to feel the coiled power inside Adam's body before, but now they were witnessing a battle between two archangels inside a human body. It took barely a few seconds of human time, but Crowley felt it as millennia of war. Michael ripped himself from Adam's body and entered John's.
And John was not just a willing host, but a strong man in his own right. A good man. It took the blink of an eye for Michael/John to throw Lucifer, in Adam's body, into the trap and close it. Lucifer's howls filled the night, but every attempt to leave the circle caused walls of fire to shoot from the ground and encase him.
Outside the fiery trap, a family scene was taking place. Mary and John hugged their children. Michael apparently had taken a page out of Naomi's playbook and hid his essence, allowing the reunion to take place. Dean seemed embarrassed about his status as knight of hell and had tried to stay away but John gathered him in a fierce hug. Sam had tears in his eyes and Mary was radiating and kissing each of her boys in turn.
Castiel and Naomi kept away from the family, both of them busied themselves studying Lucifer in his trap. Crowley walked between them and slapped them each on one shoulder squeezing them affectionately. After all, they were his very favourite angels. So... cooperative.
"So, let's get the trap downstairs," Crowley said, barely audible due to the fallen archangel's bellows.
Although this was exactly the plan they had made earlier – once Lucifer was trapped in the circle they would transport the whole thing to a special corner of hell – both angels turned to look at him as if he was mad.
"What?" he asked honestly confused.
"We can't abandon the boy in there," Naomi said, and Castiel nodded.
"Now wait a minute, your beloved commander is out. Lucifer is trapped. Why mess things up?"
"Because there's a soul at stake," the angels answered at the same time.
"No. I'm afraid there is not," Michael said, in John's voice. "He didn't lie when he said he consumed the boy's soul. I tried to stop him and failed. Once he did that, he became much stronger than me."
Crowley tried to not look pleased at this revelation. Luckily no one was looking at him while he failed miserably. His smug satisfaction got a little dented as he watched Michael and Naomi get to work. It was unsettling to see how quickly they were weaving their net around the trap. Crowley hated this harmony between them. Michael or John didn't matter. Crowley hated it. He allowed it to happen because it got rid of Lucifer for him, but he was seething.
Once the net was secure, he created a portal and with Dean's help, they dragged the bound archangel into the depths. He focused his entire attention to the task, unwilling to look back, unwilling to see Naomi next to Michael.
"You can go back now," he told Dean once Lucifer's prison was fitted in the corner of hell he had prepared for the illustrious prisoner and his angelic bindings.
Dean nodded curtly and left. To be with his family no doubt. Lucifer had stopped howling for a while. Once he was alone with Crowley, he started speaking. Just as Crowley had feared earlier, the archangel had been able to see into him. He had seen his worst secret. He had seen his need. Crowley had feared what Michael would do with that knowledge. He had no defence against Lucifer's words.
Lucifer started talking. He talked to Crowley about Naomi. About Michael. About John. The archangel poured so much truth into what he was saying that Crowley was overwhelmed. His mind struggled, but could not deny the truth of the words. He absorbed the torrent of stories for hours. The battles Michael and Naomi fought side by side. The description of all the times Naomi and Michael had made love wearing their Mary and John meat suits. Sharing Adam's body with Michael had also meant that they shared all Michael's memories.
Crowley's perfect mind fought its way out of the madness Lucifer's words had thrown him into. It took longer than he had imagined possible, but he made it. He was still the one outside the cage, and Lucifer was still the one trapped. Crowley managed to fight off the temptation to free his creator and serve him while he ruled the Universe. The pain of the knowledge that he would never have Naomi, that he had never had her, that he had been just a pawn in her and Michael's plans, was almost unbearable. He had been deeply tempted to surrender himself to Lucifer's will. To let Satan out and become a mindless drone.
"Your mind is flawless" she had said.
"You can make a difference" she had said.
"You better prove that you are special and imprison the creator of your miserable race or I will come after you," she had said.
In all the years they'd known one another, Naomi had never been wrong about him. He was special. He had been able to imprison his creator, and since that meant that she didn't have to make good on her threat of coming after him... he was going to go after her.
. . . . .
Again, if you want more details about John and Mary's appearance, read "Lived"