Dean sat up in bed as his alarm clock rang. He squinted in the darkness as he looked towards the clock. 6:00 AM had come too quickly, especially when he hadn't crawled into bed until a quarter after 3:00. His head pounded from the quarter of whiskey he drank, not to mention all of the shots of tequila at the bar, the night before, or was it this morning? Dean couldn't be sure. His days and nights all seemed to blur together as he went through the motions of being human. Truth was, he didn't feel human, he didn't feel much of anything, not since he had walked out on Sam.
It had been weeks and weeks of him running in the opposite direction of Bobbi, of Cas, and most of all Sam. He missed them terribly and some days, it took everything in him to stop from driving towards Bobbi's which of course, had always been the closest thing to home that they had in their life. He was tired of this existence, of always staying in crappy hotels along the side of the highway. He was tired of hunting the same monster that he feared he was becoming.
He climbed out of bed and grabbed the bottle of Whiskey, hoping to drink his hangover away, but there was a sound, the fluttering of wings that had him reaching for the gun that he always kept close to him.
"Relax, I didn't come to hurt you, and besides, that puny little gun is no match against me," the voice boomed as there was a shrieking sound causing all of the glass that was in the room to shatter.
Dean glimpsed at the creature's massive wings folding inwards, they were half ebony black, half White, like keys of a piano, with the tips a Mahogany color. They were beautiful to look at. This was an Angel, and looking at the size of his wings, most likely an Archangel.
"What do you want?" Dean asked as he lowered the gun and took that drink of Whiskey.
"I want you to say yes, my name is Michael and you are my vessel," the Angel announced.
"Of course you are, but my answer is and will always be no, especially when you did nothing when I needed your help to heal my brother," Dean spat out.
"If you had asked anything else, I would have given it to you gladly."
"What kind of answer is that? My brother was dying, but you did nothing. Cas had to take him to Lucifer of all things."
"I know that you don't want to hear this, but we would all be better off if Sam had died."
"You're right, I don't want to hear this," Dean spat out as he rushed towards the Angel, but was caught by Zachariah instead.
"I told you to stay invisible," Michael said in a dismissive tone.
"I came here to protect you," Zachariah answered as he held tightly onto Dean.
"I'm in no danger here," he said as he caressed the side of Dean's face.
"You're strong and good looking, I wouldn't mind having to look at your face when it inevitably becomes mine," Michael stated.
"It will never become yours," Dean stated.
"Maybe you're right, but this will be your future if you don't let me in," Michael said as he touched Dean's forehead.
Dean went limp in Zachariah's arms as he slumped to the ground in unconsciousness.
XOXOXO
When Dean opened the eyes, the Angels were gone, but then again, so was he. He was outside, the sound of gun fire and screaming in the distance. The word Croatoan spray painted on the buildings.
"Ellen, " Dean called out as he saw a familiar face.
"Dean, I thought that you were going to stay behind for this mission."
"What mission?
She splashed water in his face.
"Holly water, really? I'm not a demon, but I also don't think that I'm your Dean. What year is it?" Dean asked.
"2014," Ellen stated as she looked at him with confusion.
5 years, the Angel had sent him 5 years into the future. "Sammy, where is he?" Dean asked.
"Sam's long gone. Are you feeling okay, did you get the Croatoan virus?" Ellen asked as she took a step away from him. She slowly raised her gun at him.
"I'm not infected, I know it sounds crazy, but the Angels, Michael and Zachariah sent me here from 2009," He explained.
"Yeah, sounds like something that they would do," Ellen said and then lowered her gun.
"Cas, is he here?" Dean asked.
"He's back at the base. Let's go back, there's nobody left here to save anyways," she said as she walked towards the jeep.
It was a short ride back to the base camp.
"Cas is in that tent, although, fair warning, he may not be alone," Ellen said as she pointed towards a tent.
"I'll take my chance, Dean stated and then headed towards the tent.
"Cas?" Dean whispered as he entered the tent and saw who appeared to be his guardian Angel, although he seemed much more relaxed than his Cas ever was. This man, Angel, whatever, was wearing sweats, a shirt that was completely unbuttoned, and no sign of the trench coat that Dean had secretly come to love. He had two woman draped around him, and another one practically sitting in his lap while he took a puff, of what smelled to Dean, as a very strong joint of Marijuana.
"Dean, want a hit?" The Angel asked as he looked at him.
"No thank you, what are you doing?"
"Enjoying what is left of this life with good alcohol, nice drugs and fine woman."
"So, there's a war going on out there and you're what, sitting here getting laid, drunk and high?" Dean accused.
Cas stared at him for what seemed like forever, "Girl's give me a minute while I talk to a long, lost friend," he finally said. He was quiet again while the ladies got up and left.
"You're not my Dean, you're from the past. What year are you from?" Cas asked as he left.
"2009," Dean answered.
"2009, the start of all of our troubles. I'm helping in this war by healing the ones that can be healed."
"That's it?" Dean asked as he looked at the Angel with disappointment.
"I'm not fighting, because I refuse to kill Sam. I'm not fighting in this war because it's not of my making. I begged you to forgive Sam in June 2009, but you couldn't. You wouldn't let go of your pride, you refused to speak with him, you refused to answer his calls. You abandoned him and because of that, he turned to Lucifer."
"No, Ellen said that Sam was long gone, I thought maybe he died…. he said yes to Lucifer, didn't he?" Dean asked.
"Yes, but then again, you never gave him a reason to say no, did you?" Cas asked in a accusatory tone.
"That's enough Cas," Dean could hear himself say. He turned around and saw himself, although he was a little older. There was pain, regret and sadness in his eyes.
"Dean"
"Who sent you here?" The other Dean asked.
"Michael and Zachariah," Dean explained.
"Michael….Dean, I know that you think that you are doing the right thing by saying no, but you're not. Sam said yes, but you…I…we said no to Michael and because of that there was no one to stop Lucifer from releasing the Croatoan virus. People fighting in the streets, open warfare, families being torn apart. Billions of people dying…I'm fighting, but there's only a few people left, we're doing our best, but he's going to win this one. I have two regrets that haunt me, one is saying no to Michael and the other one…I should have forgiven Sam. Maybe if I had, he wouldn't have had a reason to say yes to the devil. It's too late for me, but not for you, please learn from my mistakes," the other Dean pleaded.
"Dean, sorry to interrupt, but Lucifer has been spotted walking up the mountain," Ellen stated.
"I have to go," the other Dean stated and then walked out of the tent.
"Don't go after him, it will only cause you pain," Cas said as he grabbed Dean's arm to stop him from leaving.
"I have to see this through," Dean said as he pulled away from Cas.
Dean headed up the mountain but when he got to the top he paused. He was too late, he saw, Lucifer, who was possessing Sam, stepping on his future self's neck, killing him.
"Oh," Lucifer said when he turned around. "Hello Dean," he added as he smiled.
Dean felt sick, looking at Sam, but knowing that it wasn't his brother. The thunder storm cracked behind him.
"Well, isn't this a surprise. You've come a long way to see this haven't you?" Lucifer asked. "I'm sorry. It must be difficult to talk to me in this shape, but it had to be your brother, it just had to be," Lucifer added as he reached his hand out to comfort him.
Dean stepped back. "Is Sammy even still with you?" Dean asked.
"Yes and no, Sammy is always with me, but over the years of being together, I can't tell where he ends or where I begin. He is me and I am him. I have all of his memories now. I remember the joy he felt when it was the Fourth of July and you surprised him with all of the illegal fireworks. I also remember the pain and guilt he felt when you told him you couldn't forgive him or trust him. When you, well that version of you anyways, turned your back on him, he was devastated. It wasn't long after that, that he came to me, broken and alone in his despair. He said yes and I became his family, I became his everything just the same way that he is my everything," Lucfer stated.
"And then you forced him into destroying this world. What's next, deep frying the planet.
"Why would I want to destroy this beautiful place? The last great handiwork of God. Do you know why I fell? It's because I loved God more than anything, then he created you, the little hairless apes and he wanted me to bow down to you, to worship you, to love you more than anything else, including him. At the time, I couldn't, but that all changed when I met your brother. I love him more than anything, but the rest of you, hairless apes have to be destroyed. You're flawed, murderous. I saw it then and I see it now. Nothing has changed. Look at what 6 Billion of you have done to this thing and how many of you blame me for it," Lucifer stated.
"You're not fooling me, I know what you are."
"What am I?" Lucifer asked.
"You're the same brand of cockroach that I've been squashing my whole life, only bigger. An ugly, evil, supernatural piece of crap. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego," Dean spat out.
"And what about Sammy, tell me Dean, is your brother an ugly, evil, supernatural piece of crap as well? He's in my head, my heart, everything that we've done, we've done together."
"I know, there's a darkness in Sam, but there's a lot of goodness as well, at least there used to be, before you got into his head. It makes me sick, to even look at you, knowing how you've corrupted him, how you destroyed all of the good that was within him.
Lucifer tilted his head as he looked at him. "I like you Dean. I get what the other Angels see in you. Goodbye. We'll meet again soon," Lucifer stated as he turned to leave.
"You better kill me now, or I swear that I will find a way to kill you and I won't stop," Dean shouted.
"I know you won't, just like I know you won't say yes to Michael and I know that you'll never kill Sam. Whatever you do, whatever choices you make, whatever things you change, we will always end up here. I win…so I win. See you in five years Dean," Lucifer stated and then he was gone.
Dean woke up with a start. He was back in his hotel room laying on his bed. He looked at the clock, it was 10:00 PM, he had lost a whole day thanks to Michael and Zachariah. The Angels were long gone, but Michael had left a note. "Say yes and we'll kill Lucifer together," Dean read.
Dean stared at the paper as he contemplated the future that he saw and the best way to change it. The way that he saw it was he could either say yes to Michael and kill Lucifer, hopefully before Sam said yes. Or he could forgive his brother and trust him to do the right thing. Several minutes later, he crumbled up the paper and threw it in the trash.
He pulled out his phone,
"Sam, what are you doing?" Dean asked.
"I was just about to go to bed. You?" Sam asked.
Tears came to Dean's eyes. It felt like he had gone decades without talking to his brother. He missed the sound of his voice so much.
"Dean? Are you still there?" Sam asked after several seconds of silence.
"Yeah, I'm still here. We can't keep going on this way. Where are you?" Dean asked.
"Kansas, I just got done cleaning out a vamp's nest with Cas. Where are you?"
"Putting some spirits to rest in California. Can you meet me tomorrow in Salt Lake City, Utah around 5:00?" Dean asked.
"I'll be there, Dean, it was good to hear from you brother," Sam stated.
"You too Sammy," Dean said and then hung up the phone.
He climbed back into bed and closed his eyes, he hopped that he wouldn't regret the decision that he had made.