Supernatural: The End
October 3rd 2009 01:50
It’s 2014 and the Croatoan virus is back…Read on for the full recap!
Dean drives up and gets out of the Impala as a Jehovah’s Witness asks, “Excuse me friend, but have you taken time out to think of God’s plan for you?”
How fitting. Dean turns to look at him, telling him “Too freakin’ much, pal,” as he heads into the hotel.
Later on the phone, Dean checks out the window and closes the curtains, asking, “We’re talkin’ about the colt right? As in THE Colt?”
“We are,” Cas answers.
“That doesn’t make any sense, why would the demons keep a gun around that, uh, kills demons?”
“What? Wha—Dean?” Cas asks, plugging his ears as a semi drives by on the road beside him. “I didn’t—I didn’t get that.”
Dean laughs. “You know, it’s kinda funny, talkin’ to a messenger of God on a cell phone. It’s kinda like watchin’ a Hell’s Angel ride a moped.”
“This isn’t funny Dean,” Cas warns seriously. “The voice says I’m almost out of minutes.”
“Okay, alright, I’m tellin’ you Cas, the mooks have melted the gun down by now.”
“Well I hear differently. And if it’s true, and if you are still set on the insane task of killing the devil, this is how we do it.”
“Okay, where do we start?” Dean asks, sitting on the bed.
“Where are you now?”
“Kansas City…” he leans over to grab and look at his key. “Century Hotel, room 113.”
“I’ll be there immediately.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no. Come on man, I just drove like sixteen hours straight, okay? I’m human,” Dean reminds the angel. “There’s stuff I gotta do.”
“What stuff?”
“Eat. For example. In this case sleep, I just need like four hours once in awhile, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so you can-you can pop in tomorrow morning.”
“Yes. I’ll just—“
Dean hangs up the phone and Cas looks at it, then clicks it off, finishing, “Wait here then.”
He looks around the deserted night road. Okay then…
~*~*~
Dean’s phone vibrates and he reaches over, answering it without opening his eyes. “Damn it Cas, I need to sleep.”
“Dean it’s me…”
“Sam?” Dean opens his eyes and looks at the clock. “It’s a quarter past four.”
“This is important.”
~*~*~
Dean opens the minifridge and pulls out a beer, saying, “So you’re his vessel huh? Lucifer’s wearin’ you to the prom?”
Driving, Sam answers, “That’s what he said.”
Dean closes the refrigerator and walks to the window. “Just when you thought you were out they pull you back in, huh Sammy?”
“So that’s it, that’s your response?”
“What were you lookin’ for?” Dean asks calmly.
“I don’t know, a little panic maybe?”
“I guess I’m a little numb to the earth-shattering revelations at this point,” Dean answers, taking a drink as Sam asks, “What are we gonna do about it?”
“What do you want to do about it?”
“I want back in for starters-“
“Sam—“
“I mean it,” Sam interrupts, insisting he’s sick of being a puppet. With a sigh, he adds, “I’m gonna hunt him down, Dean.”
“Oh so we’re back to revenge then, are we? Yeah, cuz that worked out so well last time.”
“Not revenge,” Sam answers. “Redemption…”
“So what, you’re just gonna walk back in and we’re gonna be the dynamic duo again?”
“Look Dean, I can do this, I can. I’m gonna prove it to you.”
Dean closes his eyes, sarcasm gone when he answers, “Look, Sam, it doesn’t matter. Whatever we do,” he sits down, “It turns out that you and me, we’re the uh, fire and the oil of the Armageddon. You know on that base alone, we should just pick a hemisphere…Stay away from each other for good.”
“Dean it does not have to be like this, we can fight it!”
“Yeah you’re right, we can,” Dean answers. “But not together. We’re not stronger when we’re together, Sam. I think we’re weaker. Because whatever we have between us--love, family, whatever it is—they are always gonna use it against us…And you know that.”
Sam doesn’t answers, and Dean leans back in his chair, closing his eyes. This isn’t easy for him to say, but he reiterates, “No, we’re better off apart…We’ve got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing if we just go our own ways.”
“Dean, don’t do this…”
“Goodbye Sam.”
Dean snaps his phone shut, closing his eyes.
~*~*~
Dean wakes up on bare bedsprings, the wind rushing outside the very much changed hotel room. Confused, he gets up to look out the window. The town is in charred ruins--broken buildings, abandoned cars. It is definitely not how he left it when he went to sleep.
~*~*~
Walking outside, Dean stops in the middle of the road, turning a circle to survey the damage. The entire town looks like an abandoned war zone. He continues walking past rubble and graffiti until the sound of breaking glass catches his attention.
Walking by a wall spray painted with the words, “DOGS OF PEACE” and a black cat, he finds a girl hunched over in the middle of the alley.
“Little girl?”
She doesn’t answer.
“Little girl?” he tries again, approaching carefully. “Are you hurt?”
Still no answer.
“You know,” he says, crouching down next to her. “The not talking think is kinda creepy, right?”
A blob of blood falls from her mouth onto the broken glass in front of her. Suddenly she lets out a shriek, grabbing a shard of glass and swinging furiously at Dean. He jumps back just in time, punching her out before she can get him.
Okay, that was weird.
Turning to look at his side, Dean suddenly freezes. On the wall in front of him, in giant red letters is a familiar word: CROATOAN.
“Oh crap.”
As if on cue, a group of infected people step around the corner, turning their zombie-like stares on him. Dean takes off. They’re right behind him.
He runs down the littered blackened streets, jumping over puddles and car parts, until he rounds a corner and meets—a fence. Uh-oh.
As the zombies rush in, Dean turns to face them just in time to see a rain of gunfire hit the front line. He hits the ground as a tank rounds the corner and men in military fatigues continue firing machine guns at the zombies. One of the men driving flip a switch and suddenly—
“Do you love me (I can really move)
Well do you love me (I’m in the groove)”
The song blares as the firing continues. Dean has no choice but to duck and cover and hope he doesn’t get hit.
“Well do you love me (do you love me)
Now that I can dance
Watch me now!”
Seeing an escape, Dean ducks around a corner and through another fence. Relatively safe for the time being.
~*~*~
That night, Dean forces his way through the fence, getting out to see a big sign warning: NO ENTRY By order of Acting Regional Command; August 1st 2014; Kansas City
“August 1, 2014?” With no idea what’s going on here, Dean walks off and hotwires a car.
While driving, he tries his cell phone but gets no signal. Turning on the radio, he’s met with nothing but static.
“That’s never a good sign.” He turns it off.
“Croatoan pandemic reaches Australia,” Zachariah says, suddenly appearing in the seat next to him and making Dean jump.
“I thought I smelled your stink on this ‘Back to the Future’ crap,” Dean says dryly, and Zachariah just ignores him, still reading the newspaper.
“President Palin defends bombing of Huston…” he turns the page, casually commenting, “There’s certainly a buyer’s market in real estate. Let’s see what’s happening in sports—That’s right, no more sports,” he corrects. “Congress revoked the right to group assembly.”
As he continues mumbling on, Dean glares at him and asks, “How did you find me?”
“Afraid we had to tap some unorthodox resources of late,” Zachariah answers. “Human informants. We’ve been making inspirational visits to the fringier Christian groups. We even gave them your image, told ‘em to keep an eye out.”
Dean gets it now. “The Bible freak outside the motel. He what, dropped the dime on me?”
“Onward Christian soldiers.”
“Okay, well good, great. You have had your jollies, now send me back, you son of a bitch.”
“Oh you’ll get back,” the angel answers easily. “All in good time. We want you to marinate a bit.”
Dean looks at him. “Marinate?”
“Three days, Dean.” Zachariah looks at him from the passenger’s seat. “Three days to see where this course of action takes you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that your choices, have consequences.” He holds the paper up to show Dean. “This is what happens to the world if you continue to say no to Michael.”
Dean doesn’t answer, so Zachariah adds, “Have a little look-see.”
When Dean glances back, the angel is gone. Well that’s just fantastic.
~*~*~
It’s morning again and Dean has arrived at his destination.
“Bobby?” he calls out, pushing the front door open. “Bobby, I’m comin’ in!”
There’s no answer.
Dean walks through Bobby’s rundown house, stopping when he spots the overturned wheelchair.
“Oh no…”
He walks over to set it right. There’s bullet holes in the back of the seat. Looking around the empty room Dean asks, “Where is everybody, Bobby?”
Brushing away cobwebs, Dean removes the false front on a dust-covered desk, pulling out a journal and flipping through until he finds a picture of what looks like hunters, Bobby, and Cas.
He reads the sign next to them. “Cam Chitaqua.”
~*~*~
Dean arrives at the camp by nightfall and ducks out of sight when two men with guns walk by. He watches them walk away, then turns to look through the tall chain-link fence. He spots one of the worst sights he’s seen so far. The Impala.
“Oh baby, no.” Horrified, Dean sneaks forward to have a closer look at the poor abandoned Impala, now up on blocks and littered with leaves and rust, completely decrepit.
Leaning in the absent driver’s side door, Dean caresses his beloved car, mourning, “Oh no, baby, what did they do to you?”
Suddenly a figure pops out of nowhere knocking him out. It’s…Dean?
~*~*~
Dean wakes up to find himself handcuffed to a metal ladder. Even more shocking, the man cleaning the gun in front of him is…well, it’s him.
“What the hell?”
“I should be asking that question, don’t you think?” Future Dean asks. “In fact, why don’t you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t gank you right here and now?”
“Because you’d only be hurting yourself?” Dean answers with a slightly exasperated laugh.
“Very funny.”
Future Dean goes back to his gun, and Dean glances up at the handcuffs and back, saying, “Look man, I’m no shapeshifter or demon or anything, okay?”
“Yeah I know. I did the drill while you were out: Silver, salt, holy water. Nothin’. But you know what was funny?” Future Dean asks, crinkling his brow. “Was that you had every hidden lock-pick, box cutter, and switchblade that I carry. You want to explain that? Oh, and the uh, resemblance while you’re at it?”
“Zachariah,” Dean answers, none too happy about it.
Future Dean stands up. “Come again?”
“I’m you,” Dean answers. “From the tail-end of 2009. Zach plucked me from my bed and threw me five years into the future.”
“Where is he? I want to talk to him,” Future Dean says, taking a step forward.
“I don’t know.”
“Oh you don’t know?” Future Dean asks as if he doesn’t believe him.
“No, I don’t know. Look, I just want to get back to my own freakin’ year, okay?“
Future Dean studies him for a moment, then crouches down in front of him, telling him, “Okay, if you’re me, then tell me somethin’ only I would know.”
Dean rolls his eyes, but Future Dean just continues to stare down at him. Dean thinks, then finally answers, “Ronda Hurley. We were uh, 19. She made us try on her panties. They were pink and satiny, and you know what? We kinda liked it.”
Future Dean thinks a moment then shakes his head. “Touché.”
Dean raises his eyebrows, yeah well…
Future Dean doesn’t seem amused, and gets up to go back to his gun, asking, “So what, Zach zapped you up here to see how bad it gets?”
“I guess.”
Future Dean cocks another gun. There is a definite hardness to him than the Dean of now.
“Croatoan virus right?” Dean asks. “That’s their game?”
“It’s efficient. It’s incurable. And it’s scary as hell. Turns people into monsters,” Future Dean says, loading up his bag. “Started hittin’ the major cities about two years ago. World really went in the crapper after that.”
“What about Sam?” Dean asks, and Future Dean freezes.
He looks up at Dean, then after a long moment, answers, “Heavyweight showdown in Detroit…From what I understand Sam didn’t make it.”
Dean stares at himself. Surely he didn’t hear that right. “You weren’t with him?”
“No,” Future Dean says, void of all emotion. “Me and Sam, we haven’t talked in…hell, five years.”
Uh-oh.
“We never tried to find him?” Dean asks himself.
“We had other people to worry about.”
Future Dean picks up his bag and Dean asks where’s going.
“I’ve got to run an errand.”
“Whoa, whoa, you’re just gonna leave me here?”
“Yes,” Future Dean says sternly. “I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an Apocalypse hangin’ over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of The Parent Trap. So yeah, you stay locked down.”
“Okay, alright, fine, but you don’t have to cuff me, man,” Dean says as Future Dean heads to the door. “Oh come on, you don’t trust yourself?”
“No,” Future Dean answers. “Absolutely not.”
With that, he leaves.
Dean looks around the empty room. “Dick.”
~*~*~
Dean managed to pull a nail from the wood he’s picked apart and picks his handcuff locks. When he walks outside, it’s morning again.
As he’s looking around the camp, Chuck suddenly walks up with a clipboard. “Hey Dean, you got a second?”
Dean gives him a surprised look. “No—yes, uh, I guess-hi Chuck.”
“Hi,” he answers quickly, getting down to business. “So, uh, we’re pretty good on canned goods, but we’re down to next to nothing on perishables and hygiene supplies. People are not gonna be happy about this, so what do you think we should do.”
Dean just stares at him. “I-I don’t know, maybe uh, share? Like in a kibbutz?”
Chuck gives him a confused look, then asks, “Wait a minute, aren’t you supposed to be out on a mission right now?”
“Absolutely, and I will be.”
“Uh-oh—“
Dean looks over his shoulder at what Chuck’s looking at just in time to sidestep the woman swinging punches at him. Having no idea why she’d want to hurt him, Dean grabs Chuck as a barrier.
“Geez, lady!”
“Reesa,” Chuck helps.
“Reesa.”
“You spent the night in Jane’s cabin last night, didn’t you?” she asks, glaring at him.
“Uh, what? I-I, did I?” Dean asks Chuck, totally confused.
Chuck nods and Reesa is not happy. “I thought we had a “connection”,” she tells Dean, air-quoting his words back at him sarcastically.
“Well I’m sure that we do,” Dean tries, and she just scoffs, taking another step.
“Hi Reesa,” Chuck tries, but she just spats back, “screw you,” before stomping off.
“Geez, I’m gettin’ busted for stuff I haven’t even done yet,” Dean mutters and Chuck turns around.
“What?”
“Uh, never mind. Hey Chuck, is Cas still here?”
“Yeah,” Chuck answers with a laugh. “I don’t think Cas is goin’ anywhere.”
~*~*~
Dean walks up to the beaded door of another cabin where mystical Tibetan-like music wafts trough.
“In this way,” a scruffy looking Cas is saying calmly, lit candles and a Buddha behind him. “You are each a fragment of total perception. Just uh…one compartment in that dragonfly eye of group mind. Now,” he tells the group of women sitting on the floor with him. “The key to this total shared perception is…well, it’s surprisingly physical.”
He looks up from his cross-legged position on the rug when Dean walks in and excuses himself. “Excuse me ladies, I think I need to confer with our fearless leader for a minute. Why not get washed up for the orgy?”
Dean does a double-take and Cas smiles at the girls as they get up to leave, telling them, “You’re all so beautiful.”
Cas stands up, cracking his back and neck, and Dean asks, “What are you, a hippie?”
“Well you’ve gotten over trying to label me.” He sighs then turns around.
“Cas, we gotta talk—“
Cas’s eyes widen. “Whoa, strange.”
“What?”
“You. Are not you, not now you anyway.”
“No. Yeah, yes, exactly,” Dean answers, glad someone gets it.
“What year are you from?”
“2009.”
Cas lets out an interested breath. “Who did this to you? Is it Zachariah?”
“Yes.”
“Huh…interesting…” Cas answers, rubbing his jaw in wonder.
“Oh yeah, it’s freakin’ fascinating. Now,” Dean says with a clap. “Why don’t you strap on your angel wings and fly me back to my page on the calendar.”
Cas lets out an uncharacteristic giggle, laughing as he answers, “I wish I could just uh, strap on my wings, but uh, I’m sorry no dice.” He laughs again.
Dean stares at him in disbelief. “What are you, stoned?”
“Uh, generally, yeah.”
After a second, Dean asks, “What happened to you?”
Cas just shrugs. “Life.”
~*~*~
The convoy is returning. Dean walks out to spot himself get out of the car and toss a beer can to one of his future hunting buddies. They pop the tops of their beer and take a drink. As the man is walking towards the buildings, Dean spots himself pull out a gun.
“Hey, hey! Watch out!”
BAM!
The man turns just in time to watch Future Dean shoot him. He falls to the ground dead. Everybody just stands there, and Future Dean turns to see what they’re looking at. He spots himself and curses under his breath.
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” he tells his men, pointing to Dean. “Me and him? It’s a pretty messed up situation we got goin’. But believe me, when you need to know something you will know it.”
Dean looks at Cas. Did he not just see Future Dean kill his friend right in front of everybody? Cas doesn’t look any more bothered than anyone else.
“Until then we all have work to do,” Future Dean tells his men, turning to glare at himself.
~*~*~
Future Dean shoves Dean back into the room, growling, “What the hell was that?”
“What the hell was THAT?” Dean counters. “You just shot a guy in cold blood!”
“We were in an open quarantined zone,” Future Dean says, dropping his bag on the table between them. “Got ambushed by some Croats on the way out—“ At Dean’s look, he irritatedly explains, “Croats, Croatoans. One of them infected Yager.”
“How do you know?”
“Because after a few years of this, I know,” Future Dean answers angrily. “I started seeing symptoms about a half an hour ago, wasn’t gonna be long before he flipped.”
Dean is still trying to take this all in when Future Dean adds, “I didn’t see the point in troubling a good man with bad news.”
“Troubling a good man?” Dean asks. “You just blew him away in front of your own people, don’t you think that freaked ‘em out little bit?”
“It’s 2014,” Future Dean growls. “Pluggin’ some Croat, it’s called commonplace. Tradin’ words with my freakin’ clone? THAT might have freaked ‘em out a little.”
“Alright, look,” Dean says wearily, but Future Dean interrupts, “No. You look! This isn’t your time, it’s mine. You don’t make the decisions, I do.”
Dean turns to look at the hard angry future version of himself as Future Dean orders, “So when I say stay in, you stay in.”
Dean watches himself walk across the room to grab a bottle off the counter, and tries again.
“Alright man, I’m sorry. Look, I-I’m not tryin’ to mess you—me—us, up here—“
“I know.”
Dean rests his arms on the table. “Well this has been a really wacky weekend.”
“Tell me about it,” Future Dean says, placing two filled glasses on the table. He takes one and Dean picks up the other. They both take a drink, then Dean asks, “What was the mission anyway?”
Future Dean sets down his glass and pulls The Colt out of his bag.
“The Colt?”
“The Colt.”
Dean stares at the gun. “Where was it?”
“Everywhere. They’ve been movin’ it around,” Future Dean says, looking over the gun. “Took me five years, but…I finally got it.” He sets it down and picks up his glass. “And tonight? Tonight I’m gonna kill the Devil.”
~*~*~
“So that’s it?” Reesa asks, staring at the gun on the table between her, Dean, and Cas, and Future Dean. “That’s The Colt?” She doesn’t sound very impressed.
Cas props his feet up on the table as Future Dean answers, “If anything can kill Lucifer, this is it.”
“Great. Have we got anything that can FIND Lucifer?” she snaps back, and Future Dean looks up at her, not amused. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, we were in uh, Jane’s cabin last night,” Dean interrupts. “And apparently we and...Reesa have a connection?”
Cas laughs and Future Dean tells Dean, “You want to shut up?” Dean just raises his hands. Just trying to help.
“We don’t have to find Lucifer, we know where he is,” Future Dean continues. “The demon that we caught last week, we was one of the big guy’s entourage. He knew.”
“So a demon tells you where Satan’s gonna be, and you just believe it?” Reesa asks skeptically.
“Oh trust me,” Future Dean answers. “He wasn’t lyin’.”
“And you know this how?” she asks, still not convinced.
“Our fearless leader, I’m afraid, is all too well schooled in the art of getting to the truth,” Cas answers, and Dean pipes up.
“Torture?” When Future Dean doesn’t answer, he gets up and asks, “Oh so we’re…we’re torturing again are we? Oh that’s, that’s good,” he says sarcastically. “Classy.”
Cas laughs, and at Future Dean’s look, asks, “What? I like past you.”
Future Dean ignores them both, pulling out map with a red circle on it. “Lucifer is here, now. I know the block and I know the building.”
They all lean over to have a look, and Cas answers, “Oh good, it’s right in the middle of a hot zone.”
“Crawlin’ with Croats, yeah,” Future Dean answers. “You sayin’ my plan is reckless?”
“Are you saying we, uh, walk in straight up the driveway, past all the demons and the Croats and we shoot the devil?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” Cas answers not missing a beat. “If you don’t like ‘reckless’, I could use ‘insouciant’ maybe”
“Are you coming?”
“Of course,” Cas answers with a sigh, but nods to Dean. “But why is he? I mean he’s you five years ago. If something happens to him, you’re gone, right?”
“He’s coming.”
“Okay!” Cas stands up. “We’ll get the grunts moving.”
“We’re loaded and on the road by midnight.”
“Alrighty.”
Reesa and Cas leave and Dean looks at himself. “Why are you taking me?”
“Relax, you’ll be fine,” Future Dean says, packing up his bag. “Zach’s looking out for you, right?”
“No that’s not what I mean,” Dean answers with a shake of his head. “I want to know what’s goin’ on.”
Future Dean stares at him a moment, then answers, “Yeah, okay.” He walks to stand in front of him. “You’re comin’ because I want you to see something.” Dean waits, and he adds, “I want you to see our brother.”
“Sam?” Dean asks, confused. “I thought he was dead.”
“Sam didn’t die in Detroit,” Future Dean answers. “He said yes.”
“Yes?” Dean asks, then sudden it hits him. “Wait…You mean—“
“That’s right. The Big Yes,” Future Dean answers. “To the Devil. Lucifer’s wearin’ him to the prom,” he adds dryly.
Dean stares into space a moment, shaking his head, then asks, “Why would he do that?”
“I wish I knew,” Future Dean answers, not looking up from his gun. “But now we don’t have a choice. It’s in him and it’s not gettin’ out.”
Dean still can’t believe what he’s hearing. He rests his hands on the table. Surely this can’t be how it ends?
With none of the obvious remorse Dean is feeling, Future Dean holds up The Colt. “And we’ve got to kill him. Dean. And you need to see it. The whole damn thing so you can do it different.”
“What do you mean?”
“Zach said he was gonna bring you back, right? To ’09?”
“Yeah?”
“Well when you get back home,” Future Dean says walking around the table to stand in front of him. “You say yes. You hear me? Say yes to Michael.”
“That’s crazy. If I let him in then Michael fights the Devil. Battle’s gonna torch half the planet!”
“Look around you, man,” Future Dean argues. “Half the planet’s better than no planet, which is what we have now!” Dean stares at himself, who angrily adds, “If I could do it all over again, I’d say yes in a heartbeat!”
“So why don’t you?”
“I’ve tried! I’ve shouted yes till I was blue in the face—the angels aren’t listening! They just left and gave up!” he shouts, at a loss. “It’s too late for me, but for you—“
“Oh no, there’s gotta be another way,” Dean interrupts calmer than his future self.
“Yeah that’s what I thought,” Future Dean answers, a pained look on his face. “I was cocky. Never actually thought I’d lose…But I was wrong. Dean…I was *wrong*…I’m begging you, say yes.”
Dean doesn’t answer and Future Dean realizes it’s pointless. “But you won’t,” he says, stepping away. “Cuz I didn’t. Because that’s just not us, is it?” He lets out a mirthless laugh, shaking his head.
~*~*~
Everyone is packing up the trucks. Chuck follows Dean asking, “So you’re really from ’09?”
“Yeah afraid so,” Dean answers.
“Some free advice if you ever get back there?” Chuck answers. “You hoard toilet paper. You understand me? HOARD it. Hoard it like it’s made of gold, because it is.”
“Thanks Chuck.”
“Oh you’ll thank me alright,” Chuck answers seriously. “Mark my words.”
“I’ll see you around,” Dean answers, getting into the truck.
“Yeah, okay.”
Chuck stands with his clipboard, saluting them as they drive off.
~*~*~
Cas is driving and Dean looks over as he watches him pull out a bottle and pop some pills. Dean frowns.
“Let me see those.”
“You want some?”
Dean looks at the bottle. “Amphetamines?”
“It’s a perfect antidote to that absinthe,” he answers, and Dean lowers the bottle.
“Don’t get me wrong Cas,” he says as they continue to drive. “I uh, I’m happy that the stick is out of your ass, but…” Cas nods, and Dean asks, “What’s goin’ on? With the drugs and orgies and the love guru crap?”
Cas laughs, and in a reverse from last week, Dean asks, “What’s so funny?”
“Dean,” Cas says at the end of his laughter. “I’m not an angel anymore.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I went mortal.”
“What do you mean, how?”
“I think it had something to do with the other angels leaving, but um, they bailed, my mojo just kinda—“ he makes the sound effect “—drained away.”
Dean doesn’t say anything, and Cas simply adds, “And now, you know, I’m practically human. I mean, Dean, I’m all but useless. Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re human.”
Cas nods, and Dean grimly answers, “Well, welcome to the club.”
“Thanks. Except I used to belong to a much better club,” Cas answers. “I’m now powerless. I’m hapless, I’m hopeless, I mean why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence? Right?” He insists that that’s what decadence is for, adding, “Why not bang a few gongs before the lights go out? But then, that’s—“ he grins, “That’s just how I roll.”
~*~*~
The team walks in, armed to the hilt, and looking over their shoulders. Nobody attacks.
“There,” Future Dean says, gesturing towards the building. “Second floor window, we go in there.”
He hands Cas some binoculars as Reesa asks, “You sure about this?”
“They’ll never see us comin’. Trust me,” Future Dean answers. “Now, weapons check. We’re on the move in five.”
“Hey, uh…me,” Dean calls out to himself. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
Future Dean gets up as everyone readies their weapons. Once they’re alone, Dean tells himself, “Tell me what’s goin’ on.” When Future Dean doesn’t answer, he adds, “I know you. You’re lyin’ to these people and to me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. See, I know your lyin’ expressions. I’ve seen ‘em in the mirror.” Future Dean doesn’t say anything, and Dean reiterates, “Now there is *something* you’re not telling us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
“Oh really? Well I don’t seem to be the only member of your posse with questions, so maybe, uh, I’ll just take my doubts over to them.”
Dean starts to walk away, and Future Dean stops him.
“Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.”
Dean turns to himself, waiting for an explanation.
“What?” he asks.
“Take a look around you, man. This place should be white-hot with Croats. Where are they?”
Dean understands. “They cleared a path for us. Which means this—“
“It’s a trap, exactly,” Future Dean interrupts harshly.
“Well then we can’t go through the front.”
“Oh we’re not,” Future Dean answers. “They are. They’re the decoys. You and me? We’re goin’ in through the back.”
Now Dean really can’t believe what he’s hearing. “You mean you’re gonna feed your friends into the meat grinder?” he asks. “Cas too?”
Future Dean doesn’t answer, and sickened Dean asks, “You would use their *deaths* as a diversion?”
Still no answer.
“Oh man, somethin’ is broken in you,” Dean tells himself. “You’re makin’ decisions that I would never make. I wouldn’t sacrifice my friends!”
“You’re right. YOU wouldn’t,” Future Dean answers, glaring at him. “That’s one of the main reasons we’re in this mess actually.”
Dean won’t hear it. “These people count on you, they trust you.”
“They trust me to kill the Devil and save the world! And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”
“No,” Dean argues. “Not like this you’re not, I’m not gonna let you.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah—“
Future Dean knocks him out before Dean can stop him.
~*~*~
Dean wakes up on the leaf-covered muddy ground to the sound of gunfire. He gets up and runs toward the building. He’s too late, the windows are already being lit up with automatic fire.
There’s a clap of lightning and thunder as he rushes around to the back, stopping dead in his tracks.
In front of him someone dressed all in white has Future Dean on the ground, foot on his neck. Dean watches Lucifer snap his neck.
As Sam, Lucifer turns around to see him. “Oh,” he says simply. “Hello Dean.”
The lightning and thunder gets worse as Sam/Lucifer says, “Aren’t you a surprise.” He appears behind Dean. “You’ve come a long way to see this, haven’t you?”
Dean gets over his shock of seeing Lucifer in Sam, then defiantly answers, “Well go ahead. Kill me.”
“Kill you?” Sam/Lucifer looks at the dead Future Dean behind him and asks, “Don’t you think that would be a little…redundant?” He sighs. “I’m sorry. It must be painful. Speaking to me in this…shape.” He steps towards Dean, insisting, “But it had to be your brother. It had to be.”
He reaches for Dean’s shoulder, but Dean backs away.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me Dean,”Sam/ Lucifer says, walking past him. “What do you think I’m going to do?”
“I don’t know, maybe deep fry the planet?” Dean growls after him.
Sam/Lucifer turns from almost picking a red rose, and asks, “Why? Why would I want to destroy this stunning thing? Beautiful…in a trillion different ways,” he says in awe. “The last perfect handiwork of God.” Dean just stares at him, and he asks, “Did you ever hear the story of how I fell from Grace?”
“Oh good God you’re not gonna tell me a bedtime story are you?” Dean asks. “My stomach’s almost out of bile.”
“You know why God cast me down?” Sam/Lucifer asks, ignoring his comment. “Because I loved Him…More than anything. And then God created…” he sighs. “You.” He twitches. “You little, hairless apes. And then He asked all of us to bow down before you. To love YOU more than Him. And I said, ‘Father, I can’t.’ I said, “These human beings are flawed, murderous. And for that…God had Michael cast me into Hell. Now tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially when I was right.”
“Look what six billion of you have done to this thing,” he continues, smiling and adding, “And how many of you blame me for it?”
“You’re not fooling me, you know that?” Dean answers. “With this sympathy for the devil crap.” Glaring at him, he adds, “I know what you are.”
“What am I?”
“You’re the same thing only bigger. The same brand of cockroach I’ve been squashin’ my whole life. An ugly. Evil. Belly to the ground supernatural piece of crap,” Dean says, fighting back angry tears. “The only difference between them and you? Is the size of your ego.”
Dean takes in a long breath, and Sam/Lucifer gives him a sad, amused look, as if he feels sorry for him. “I like you Dean. I get what the other angels see in you.”
Dean doesn’t answer, and Sam/Lucifer says, “Goodbye. We’ll meet again soon.”
He turns to leave, and Dean shouts out, “You better kill me now!”
“Pardon?”
“You better kill me now, or I swear I will find a way to kill you. And I won’t stop.”
“I know you won’t,” Sam/Lucifer answers, stepping towards him and adding, “And I know you won’t say yes to Michael either. And I know you won’t kill Sam.” Tears fill Dean’s eyes as Sam/Lucifer finishes, “Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up…” he looks around . “Here.”
A tear slides down Dean’s cheek.
“I win,” Sam/Lucifer says simply. “So I win.”
“You’re wrong.”
“See you in five years, Dean.”
With a flash of lightening, Sam/Lucifer disappears. Before Dean can even register what’s happened, Zachariah appears and places his fingers on his forehead.
~*~*~
Dean appears back in his hotel room almost too shaken up for his usual wit. But he recovers quickly, simultaneously regaining his breath and telling Zachariah, “Well if it isn’t…the ghost of Christmas screw you.”
“Enough,” Zachariah says calmly. “Dean, enough. You saw it right? You saw what happens. You’re the only person who can prove the Devil wrong…Just say yes.”
“And how do I know that this whole thing isn’t just one of your tricks, huh?” Dean asks. “Some angel hocus pocus?”
“The time for tricks is over,” Zachariah answers, stepping towards him. “Give yourself to Michael. Say yes, and we can *strike*. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die.”
Dean swallows hard, stares at him, then slowly walks around him. He stands with his back to Michael a long moment, takes in a shaky breath, then answers, “Nah.”
“Nah?” Zachariah asks, starting to get angry. “You telling me that you haven’t learned your lesson?”
Dean faces him to answers, “Oh I learned a lesson alright. Just not the one you wanted to teach.”
“Well then I guess I’ll just have to TEACH IT AGAIN!” Zachariah shouts. “Cuz I got you now boy, and I’m never letting you—“
Suddenly Zachariah stops, shocked to find himself in an empty room. “Son of a—“
~*~*~
Outside by the road, Dean turns around to face Cas. “That’s pretty nice timing, Cas.”
“We had an appointment,” he answers simply, and Dean takes his shoulder, very seriously telling him, “Don’t ever change.”
“How did Zachariah find you?”
“Long story,” Dean answers, pulling out his phone and adding, “Let’s just stay away from Jehovah’s Witnesses from now on, okay?”
Cas looks at the phone. “What are you doing?”
“Something I should have done in the first place,” Dean answers, dialing.
~*~*~
The next day, Dean waits by the Impala outside by himself. A car drives up.
Sam steps out and the brothers walk towards each other.
“Sam.”
Sam waits, and Dean pulls out the knife. He waits a second, then flips it around, holding it up to his brother and saying, “If you’re serious, you want back in…You should hang onto this. I’m sure you’re rusty.”
Sam takes the knife, and Dean adds, “Look man, I’m sorry…I don’t know, I—whatever I need to be, but I was uh…wrong.”
“What made you change your mind?” Sam finally asks.
“Long story…The point is, maybe we are each other’s Achilles’ heel,” Dean answers. “Maybe they’ll find a way to use each other against us, I don’t know.” He pauses a moment, looking at his brother. “I just know we’re all we’ve got…More than that…we keep each other human.”
“Thank you,” Sam answers, swallowing hard. “Really, thank you. I won’t let you down.”
“Oh I know it.” Dean nods, adding, “I mean you are the second best hunter on the planet.”
Sam smiles sadly at his brother’s half-smirk, then takes a deep breath and asks, “So, what do we do now?”
“We make our own future.”
Sam nods. “I guess we have no choice.”
Wow, that was a really really good episode. First off, YAY!!! the Sam and Dean are back together! Eric Kripke, I knew you wouldn't leave us hanging for too long.
On another note, Croatoan was always one of my favorite episodes, so it's very cool to see the virus back. Art department, way to go. 2014 looked fantastically Apocalyptic (and disturbingly real considering where the world is now...) Dean defiantly standing up to Lucifer even when he was in the shape of Sam broke my heart. Love him for it! And Cas saving the day just in time? Whoohoo! I too hope he never changes. So very very glad to have Sam and Dean back together, even if it's not quite the same yet. But next week we're getting back to the good ol' monster hunting, so I can't wait! Great job Supernatural, another A episode!| 26 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
