Fic: The Earth and Heaven to You (Part 5)

[dauntperplexity]

 

Part 5

Dean started training with two of the best Hunters ever. Dean, because he’s that awesome, finished with his training faster than anyone before him. Even his dad. I think his time was five months, two weeks, and four days? But who’s counting, right?

He got buff. But not too buff, like those weight lifting competitors, because that’s gross. His aim was impeccable. His hand-to-hand combat skills improved from the first day. Even though he didn’t have the Hunter strength that Sam had, he was able to keep up with him.

That was step one on the Hunter Program.

Step two was go to one of the most haunted places in the country and help the people in that area out. Bobby and Pastor Jim went along with him. Just because they were “retired” didn’t mean they didn’t want to go on an adventure. And they knew that John would have their asses if something happened to their sons.

So this is where I wanted to start the story, but like I said, I’m really bad at telling stories. I really should write this down, but I’m supposed to entertain you kids, even though this isn’t really a kid story… But there are a few grown ups here, so that’s good.

Okay. So, they packed into the Impala and headed toward Illinois.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLR

The four of them climbed into the Impala and started their trip, but not after stocking the trunk up with weapons, charms, and supplies. Dean drove his car with Bobby in the passenger seat, while Pastor Jim and Sam sat in the back. “So, where are we going?” Dean asked. He had been taking directions from the two retired Hunters ever since they agreed to train him.

Usually Dean didn’t do a good job taking orders, but he was willing to endure whatever he had to do to become a Hunter. He had the bruises, bumps, and scars to prove it. But he finished his training in record time. They were impressed.

But they needed to put his training to the test. So they packed up what they needed and went on a road trip.

“Illinois,” Bobby and Pastor Jim said at the same time.

“What’s in Illinois?”

“Just keep driving,” Bobby said.

“This is going to be the worst drive ever.”

Because of two more passengers in the car, they had to stop every night at a motel to sleep. The last thing that Dean wanted was two grumpy, old men to be grumpy toward him.

If he were back home, he would have snuck out as soon as the other people were asleep. It would have been easy. Especially since he was sharing a room with his only brother. But after driving all day he was too tired to go out.

So he just slept until the knock on the motel door tell him to pack up because they had to keep driving.

After four days, they made it to Illinois, and Dean was the most grateful Human on the planet. One more day with the three of them in close quarters, and he would have found a way to kill them himself.

So, like they did every night since they had started their traveling, they checked into a motel. Dean grabbed the key and led his brother to their room on the other side of the motel. They learned their lesson the first night at Bobby’s house that Bobby’s snoring could be used for demolition. They had no idea how Pastor Jim dealt with it.

Dean jumped into the shower first like he did every night. Tonight was different, though. Tonight, he was going out.

When he came out, he was wearing one of his nicer pair of jeans and a nice shirt. He also put on a flannel overshirt. He could never wear too many layers. He smiled, excited for a chance to be by himself. Unless, of course, he met someone.

“Where are you going?” Sam asked as he watched his brother put on a jacket.

“I’m going out.”

“Dean.”

“I’m going to a bar for a drink. That’s it.”

“You aren’t old enough.”

“My ID says I am.” He held out his wallet, then put it in his back pocket.

“Dean,” Sam said, climbing out of bed. “I can’t let you do that.”

Dean put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Sam, I’ve been training for months. I’ve been driving for hours. I need some Dean time. Just a few hours.”

“Dean. It’s not safe for you to be wandering around by yourself. I’m coming with you.” He got out of bed and reached for his jacket.

“I won’t be able to get into a bar if you’re attached to my hip.”

“You shouldn’t be going into a bar in the first place, Dean. I think Bobby and Pastor Jim would agree with me.”

“Sammy.”

“It’s Sam.”

“Okay, Sammy,” Dean repeated, just to irritate him. “I just need an hour or two. I’ll be back. Whatever you say, I’m still going out. Alone.”

Sam held his brother’s gaze for a minute. He wasn’t going to back down. He couldn’t. But he knew how stubborn Dean could be, and he knew that Dean would be going out no matter what. “Fine. But you better not get into any trouble.”

“I can’t promise that,” he replied.

“Pastor Jim and Bobby are going to be pissed when they find out.”

“Well then,” Dean replied. “Keep my secret, Sammy.” He looked at his watch for the time. “Now I have to go.”

“Dean, I mean it. You can’t get in trouble. Not our first night here.”

“What if I say that I’ll try really really hard not to.”

“I know you won’t, but it means a lot that you’d lie to me.”

Dean grinned and clapped when he knew he won. “Cool. I’ll be home by two.” He grabbed one of the room keys and left his brother alone. He felt bad, but then he realized that he was free to do whatever he wanted for the next few hours. His guilt vanished as soon as it appeared.

He got into the Impala and pulled out of the parking lot. He wanted to see what this part of Illinois had to offer him. It was a small town and every shop in the area showed it. He made his way to the nearest diner for a burger and to test out their pie.

Forty minutes later, his stomach was full of delicious cherry pie and a double bacon cheeseburger. He also had the numbers of two girls, a waitress, and a guy who said to call him if he wanted a good time. He even kept the guy’s number. He was cute.

Dean got back into his Impala and drove around the town searching for the place to spend his night. He found a pool hall that he wanted spend some time in. Unfortunately, he had to park a couple of blocks away because the place was so packed.

He got into the bar, flashing his fake ID. The place was nice and simple. It had a bar. Some arcade games. And some pool tables. He made a beeline to the pool tables. A guy stepped up to his table and they started playing.

At one o’clock in the morning, he decided that it was late enough. He had promised his brother that he was going to be back in an hour. He began his walk down the street to where he parked his car.

He was feeling good. He had a good meal. He won a lot of money playing pool. And he had a pocket full of phone numbers. Thinking about it, he may have had just as many, if not more numbers from guys than girls. What could he say? He was a handsome guy and he didn’t discriminate.

He took his time strolling down the sidewalk. He could be a few minutes late. What were the chances that Sam was still awake, anyway?

When his car was in sight, he smiled, the effects of the late night getting to him. He just wanted to get into bed and sleep.

A couple of blocks away, he heard a loud clatter in an alleyway. He quickly ran to the sound of the noise. He looked into the alley and saw a tall, dark, bald man standing over another man who was bent over a trashcan.

The tall man was holding the other man down with a hand on his head. The other guy didn’t look like he was fighting.

Dean had seen enough. “Hey, what’s going on here?” he asked.

Both people looked up at the sound of a new person in the alley. “None of your damn business, mudmonkey,” the standing man said. He let go of the other man who also stood up. “Now leave. We have some business to finish.”

Dean walked down the alley and looked at the man who was pulling up his pants. “Are you all right?”

“He’s fine.”

“I think that he can answer for himself.”

“You know what, I gave you the chance to leave.”

“Oh, I’m so scared of you,” Dean taunted.

“Pretty boy, I’m fine,” the shorter man, with hair, said. “Just…”

“What?”

“Just turn around and leave. Don’t worry about it.”

“I can’t to that,” Dean replied.

“Uriel,” the shorter man said to the taller man. He looked so small standing next to him. “Please,” he said turning to Dean. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I—”

He was going to say something else when the other man pushed him into a wall, hard. “Enough talking,” he yelled.

Dean couldn’t take his eyes off of the man who was on the ground, unmoving. “Fine with me.” He got into a fighting stance. “You like picking on people who can’t defend themselves?”

“What makes you think that he didn’t want it?” the man, Uriel, said. “You know nothing about this man.” He turned and kicked the unconscious man in the gut. “I’m not the first person that he’s—”

Dean stopped his little rant by jumping on Uriel’s back when his back was turned. He tightened an arm around Uriel’s neck.

Uriel reached up and grabbed the collar of Dean’s jacket. He tossed Dean over his shoulder, headfirst, into a row of trashcans.

Dean quickly stood up, brushing all of the trash off of him. “Ow,” he said.

“You ready to give up?”

“Don’t know the meaning of it.”

As if pulled it out of the air, Uriel had a sword in his hand. “You should have left when you had the chance.” He spun the sword in his hand. “And now I have to kill you.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Uriel lunged forward, ready to stab Dean in the chest. Dean ducked out of the way and the sword went straight into the wall. Uriel tried to pull it out of the wall, but found that it was stuck. He spun around Dean punched him in the face.

Trying to recover quickly, he started swinging blindly. He missed Dean as he ducked out of the way. Dean grabbed a trash can lid and hit the man over the head with it. He was hit hard enough that he brought Uriel down to his knees.

“Filthy Human,” Uriel hissed. He spit out a mouthful of blood.

“What are you?”

“More powerful than you’ll ever be,” he said.

Dean grabbed Uriel by the chin and squeezed. “Well, this filthy Human had you rolling around in trash. So, from my point of view, you’re just as dirty as me.”

Uriel growled. “Why you—”

Dean grabbed Uriel’s head with both of his hands and brought a knee to his nose. Dean heard the crack under it and he was sure that he broke his nose. He pulled his leg back and delivered a kick to the man’s chest. “Now, leave. And go ahead and tell your friends that you just got your ass handed to you by a Human.”

“You think—”

“No, I know. So what you need to do is get the hell out of here. If I see you again, I’ll cut your head off. Day or night. Even if you’re just buying a donut at the grocery store. Your head will be mine.”

Uriel slowly made his way to his feet. He sent one last look at Dean before he ran out of the alley and down the street.

Dean let out a long sigh, his bravado and intimidation quickly leaving him. His adrenaline was still pumping through him though. He felt like he could run miles around the town, but he knew that he had other things to do first.

He looked into the alley and the first thing that caught his attention was the sword that was embedded in the wall. Dean grabbed the sword and pulled at it a couple of times. He kept pulling until the wall finally decided to let go of it. He fell on his butt and was glad that there was no one around to see what had happened. He looked at it and saw carvings on it that he had never seen before. “I think you could be useful,” he said with a shrug. He tucked it into his belt.

Dean walked over to the unconscious man and saw that he hasn’t moved since he hit the wall. He knelt down in front of him. “Hey, wake up,” he said. He put a hand on the man’s shoulder and shook him once.

The other man took a couple of minutes to rouse. When he did, he squinted, not able to keep his eyes open long. He saw that he was still on the ground. “Happened?”

“Let me help you sit up.” Dean put his hands under the other man’s armpits and moved him into a sitting position. He pulled off his jacket and put it around the man’s shoulders. “Here,” he said.

“I’m okay.”

“I know,” Dean replied trying to be considerate.

The man was finally able to open his eyes. He blinked a couple of times to get his vision correct. He saw athe man kneeling in front of him and stared. “You’re bleeding,” the brown hair, blue eyed man said staring at the other man’s forehead.

Dean brought a hand up and felt the trail of blood. “I didn’t even notice.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Dean expected his jacket to be thrown back at him, but he was surprised when the man pulled the jacket a little tighter around him. He grabbed the bottom of the jacket and put the zipper pieces together. He pulled it to zip up halfway. “What’s your name?” The man glared at him. “No ulterior motives. I just…”

“Castiel.”

Dean bit his lip to keep himself from laughing at the ridiculousness of his name. Even as ridiculous as it sounded, he wondered what it meant. “What do your friends call you?” He didn’t want to have to say three syllables every time he said the other man’s name.

“Castiel.”

“Really?” He wanted to give Castiel a nickname.

“I don’t have friends.” He put his arms through the sleeves of the jacket and stood up. He headed toward the entrance of the alley. He wanted to get away from the younger man.

Dean stood up and jogged to catch him. He was glad that he turned down the direction that he parked the Impala. “I’m going to call you Cas."

Castiel stopped in his tracks. He spun around and glared at the other man. “No, you’re not.”

“Why not? We’re friends.”

“No,” he said. He then continued down the sidewalk. “You saved my life. That’s it.”

“That’s it?” Dean asked.

The streetlight at the end of the sidewalk started to flicker. He took it as a sign to get rid of the man he was talking to. He pulled the jacket off. “That’s it.” He rolled the jacket into a ball and tossed it to the other man. “And now, you can be on your merry way to wherever you were going.”

“I don’t feel right—”

“Okay, pretty boy.”

“Dean,” he corrected.

“Dean,” Castiel repeated. “Thank you for saving me. But I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it longer than you know.”

Dean thought that it sounded a little cryptic. He didn’t know what Castiel meant, but he really didn’t want to press for answers. He just met the man. “Well, can I at least give you a ride somewhere?” he offered. “My car is right there.” He pointed down the streets, a few buildings down. “What if the guy comes back?”

“I’ll be fine,” Castiel said. “The last thing that I need is for someone who isn’t even an adult to play bodyguard.”

“I… how did you know?” Dean asked. He didn’t get a response from Castiel, not that he expected one. “Okay,” he sighed, realizing that no matter what they said, they were going to be parting ways soon. “I’ll see you around?” He didn’t want to sound to hopeful.

“Probably not.”

Dean felt his heart stop with those two words. He didn’t know why he was feeling so broken up. He had just met the guy. Maybe it was because he felt a connection with him. Castiel was his first rescue using the Hunter skills that he had learned. He’d always remember his first rescue. “Okay.” He slipped his jacket on. “It was nice to meet you,” Dean said. “Stay safe, Castiel.”

He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time. Without another word, he jogged the few feet to his car. He looked over at Castiel who stood at the same spot he was a few seconds ago. He climbed into his car.

Castiel watched as Dean drove off in his Impala. Once the car was out of view, he continued to walk down the sidewalk. He was close to the place he was staying when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He was going to fight out of it, but he recognized the touch. And the smell of sulfur. He wanted to run, but he knew that he would have been caught eventually. And his punishment for running would be a lot worse. The hand pulled him into the alley.

It was dark, but with a snap, the alley lit up. “What do you want, Lucifer?” Castiel asked the man standing at the end of it.

Lucifer sauntered over to Castiel and leaned against a dumpster. “Where is Uriel’s contract?” he asked.

“I don’t have it.”

“You don’t have it?” Lucifer asked. “Like you don’t have it with you? Or you misplaced it?” He waited for Castiel to give him an answer. A minute passed and Castiel didn’t say anything. “Well, which is it?”

“I didn’t get it.”

“Why not?” Lucifer yelled, causing all of the lights in the alley to flicker. He let out a few breaths, trying to calm down. “Why don’t you have it?” He walked over to Castiel and grabbed him by his chin and squeezed. He picked Castiel up and slammed him into the wall. “All you had to do was get him to sign the contract. I said do anything to get it.”

Castiel tried to get out of Lucifer’s grip, but Lucifer only tightened it. “What do you think I was trying to do?”

“It just means you weren’t trying hard enough.”

“I basically had the contract in my hand,” Castiel growled.

Lucifer let go of the man’s face. “Then what happened?” He stepped back, giving Castiel some space.

Castiel took a moment to brush himself off. He massaged his jaw with his fingers. He let out a long sigh, embarrassed that he was going to have to recount what happened. “I was getting ready to let him do whatever he wanted to prove my loyalty. My pants were at my ankles and Uriel had bent me over a trashcan, then this guy strolls in and decides that he has to play hero.”

“What?”

“He thought that I was being forced to do it, and he was fighting on my behalf.”

“But Uriel is an Angel. Albeit a Fallen-Angel, but an Angel nonetheless. He should been able to get rid of the pest with ease then gone back to signing the contract.”

“Well, your pest wasn’t exactly a pest. I don’t think he was Human.”

“Not Human? There are no Angels or Hunters on this plane. At least that look like boys.”

“Then I don’t know, Lucifer,” Castiel groaned. He had told Lucifer everything he knew and he didn’t want to keep answering questions that he didn’t know the answer to. “But he scared Uriel off.”

“Well, did your savior have a name?”

Castiel thought back. He replayed every part of the conversation that he could remember. “He said his name was Dean.”

“Dean?”

“Yeah. Dean. That’s all I got.”

“What am I supposed to do with that information?”

“I don’t know. You’re the ruler of Hell, think of something.”

“I don’t like your attitude, Castiel. I think I’m going break your wings again.”

Castiel’s eyes widened and he immediately pacified. “No, Lucifer. Please. I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“Too late. Learn your place, Castiel. Help me win this war, and you will get back everything I took from you.”

Castiel looked down and away from Lucifer. Tears were gathering in his eyes. Because of his brash attitude, he’d be forced into servitude longer. “Easier said than done.”

Lucifer lifted Castiel’s chin with his finger. “Castiel,” he whispered. “I don’t like hurting you.”

“You could’ve fooled me.”

He ran his hand down Castiel’s arm. “Go get some sleep, Castiel. I will be in touch.”

Castiel nodded once, because he didn’t want to do anything to anger Lucifer. He turned and walked down out of the alley. With his powers, he followed Castiel and made sure that he got to his apartment safe. When he was sure that Castiel was done for the night, he decided it was time to take care of the second order of business.

“Brady! Meg!” he yelled.

The two of them appeared in a flash. “Yes, Lucifer?” they both greeted with a bow.

“Guess what I just heard,” he said, taking a seat on one of the covered trashcans in the alley.

“What?” Brady asked.

“Castiel didn’t get my contract.”

“That’s because he’s incompetent,” Meg said with a laugh. “You should have sent us.”

“Oh, that’s not the news,” Lucifer said. “He basically had the contract in his hand.”

“Then he couldn’t finish,” Brady replied. “Sounds incompetent to me.”

“He was interrupted.”

“By what?”

“A boy,” Lucifer said.

“A boy?” Brady asked, making sure that he heard right. “A boy stood in the way of you getting Uriel on your side?”

“Yeah. The funny thing is that his name was Dean.”

“Dean?” Brady repeated, trying the name out on his tongue. “What kind of a name is Dean?”

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Meg asked under her breath.

“Dean… Dean. Dean. Dean?” Brady repeated the name multiple times and multiple ways as if it would trigger how they came across it before.

“Yeah. Dean,” Meg said. Her eyes widened slowly as she realized why that name meant something to them. “Like the boy that—”

“That was who you were supposed to kill eighteen years ago!” Lucifer yelled. Half of the lights in the alley shattered.

“Yeah,” Brady agreed as if he hadn’t heard the conversation Meg and Lucifer were having.

Meg started to back away from Lucifer, trying to pull Brady with her. “Lucifer—”

“You said that you killed him.”

“We did,” Meg replied.

“We basically did,” Brady said.

Lucifer formed two fists and pushed the two demons into the nearest wall without touching them. “Apparently basically isn’t enough!”

They tried fighting out of the invisible grip. After a couple minutes, Lucifer let go and the Demons fell to the ground with a thud. “We can go kill him now,” Brady said, rubbing his throat.

“No, you can’t. Because he’s been trained and now he’s with Bobby and Pastor Jim. He’s protected.”

Meg got to her feet and dusted herself off. “Lucifer, we’re sorry.”

“Not as sorry as you’re going to be if my plan doesn’t succeed.”

“We’ll make sure it does.”

“You better be damn sure it does.”

“We will,” Meg said.

“Good. Now find out where he’s heading. Find out what he’s up to. And find a way for me to kill him.” Lucifer snapped his fingers to take him back to Hell before the two knuckleheads could anger him further. They had already caused him enough of a headache for one night.

Part 6