The Beginning of a New End
The abrupt screech of the wheels as they raced across the asphalt was enough to push all the inhabitants of the car back into their seats. If anyone else was on the road, they would have been mowed down so quickly, the driver might not have even acknowledged it. No, the driver seemed too pre-occupied with arriving to his destination as fast as possible, with little regard for anything or anyone else on the barren road. The driver in question, Dean Winchester, was currently gripping the wheel so tight his knuckles were going white. The passengers in question, Sam, Castiel, and Jack, were attempting to keep him from veering off the road entirely.
“Dean, could you please slow down before you kill us all?” Sam said, as he attempted to grab the wheel from him.
“Dean if you could only take a moment to explain the situation, I am sure you will calm down.” Castiel said, irritated with the situation if anything.
“Yeah Dean, you said Billie needed something, right? Why wouldn’t she just call me?” Jack attempted to alleviate the situation with what little information he had, but Dean seemed to be determined to travel to Billie as fast as possible.
After what felt like hours of steadily getting Dean to go the speed limit, the car reached an abrupt halt. This was more jarring then the actual ride, throwing forward everyone in the car including Dean. A sigh of relief escaped the passenger side as Sam surveyed their surroundings. They had parallel parked right in front of an old-school looking diner that the Winchesters could both swear had been brimming with customers a moment ago. Now, though, the diner could be considered as barren as the road, only signaling its open with the bright lights streaming from the inside. Sam took the liberty of restraining Dean from making any further attempts to achieve the speed of light.
“Obviously, something important is going on, Dean, so just tell us why we’re even here before we go in.” Sam had a sinking feeling about what had Dean so riled up over this meeting.
Dean chanced a glance at the Diner, no doubt debating whether to just leave anyways before he let out a long stream of air and turned in his seat.
“Billie said it was urgent Sam! What other excuse is there? If Billie calls, we go.”
“Well, yeah, but Billie’s never made you drive like you were trying to hospitalize us, so there has to be more than that.”
“Sam. Listen to me. Billie may have hinted on the phone that… she may have figured out an alternative way for us to trap God.”
Sam could not believe his ears, a way to defeat God that might not mean certain death. It felt, no it was too good to be true.
“And the catch?” Sam shoved down any rising hope and prepared for the swinging axe to come and dice them.
“I don’t know yet. She just said to meet her here, and to bring everyone.” No wonder Dean almost took their heads off coming here, if Billie has news that could keep Jack, maybe even the Winchesters alive, Sam probably would have run the stop lights too.
“And you didn’t think to tell any of us sooner?” Sam was almost livid.
“No Sam, I was still processing it over the whole car ride. Besides, I don’t have any more info.”
“But that doesn’t mean you-“
“Enough, okay! What matters now is that we’re here and Billie can explain it to all of us together.”
Sam did not seem ready to let it go just yet but relented and allowed his feet to drag him in beside Dean. That was how it always went anyways, letting it fester until it blew up in their faces again. The neon sign let him know that the Diner was called Beppo’s Diner, which he might have laughed at if he was either six or stupid. Nowadays he often caught himself seeing everything in grey, despite no longer being in that alternate dimension.
Billie was seated in a corner, far away from the other straggling customers in the diner. She was hunched over, typing away on her phone and giving no indication she even acknowledged their presence. If the Winchesters didn’t know better, they would think she was just another tired businesswoman. But they did know better, didn’t they?
“Billie.” Dean was the first one in the booth, like always.
“Dean. Sam. Jack. Cas. I’m sure you’re all aching to know why you’re here.” Billie stated robotically.
“Yeah, no shit, Bill. What’s your miracle plan?”
“Well you Winchesters definitely don’t waste any time, do you? I could get used to this side of you.” She would stir her coffee methodically as she spoke, irritating Dean further.
“Billie, if you got info on how to defeat God, we need it. We don’t got time for pleasantries when God’s out there destroying entire universes with a snap of his fingers.”
“I’m glad you see it like that, Dean. You sound like you would be willing to try just about anything to defeat Chuck.”
“Who here wouldn’t.” Dean almost regretted saying those words as soon as they came out.
“Great. Keep that decision in your head while I relay my new plan to you.” Billie finally put her phone down and straightened up to look the boys in their eyes.
“I have been in contact with Amara. She has provided decent insight as to how she was defeated the first time all the way back then. She was very cooperative in detailing how she was overpowered and shoved into her cage.” Billie sipped her coffee, both boys knowing fully well she did not need to.
“When she talked to me, she relayed how God and his four first sons were able to stow away Amara after bringing their powers together. Their combined forces caught Amara off guard and despite the fight she was able to put up against her brother and his sons separately, together they overwhelmed her and before she knew what happened, her brother had sealed her away entirely. Seems the combined efforts of all four archangels was enough to challenge Amara on their own and God’s assistance tipped the odds in their favor.” Billie kept her voice steady and her eyes on Dean and Sam.
“We aren’t fortunate enough to use the combined forces of heaven, hell, and witches like last time. Heaven is barely working as it is, they can’t afford to drain their own power, especially against God. They still see him as their father, Billie.” Castiel reminded her of the hoard of manpower they needed to even weaken her, which still did not defeat her.
“I get that Castiel. I’m looking for a much more direct approach. Like I said, me and Amara have been talking. I’ve asked her about her abilities, specifically her ability to revive those who have died.” Billie went quiet, as though waiting for the solution to dawn in on them. When she received no such indication, she continued, muttering about the naivety of humans.
“Even more specifically, how long would it actually take for someone as powerful as Amara to resurrect three dead archangels.” There it was, that sudden realization.
“The Archangels? The assholes who have made our lives hell for 10 years?!” Dean’s brain immediately began rattling off every possible reason this idea could never work. Sam, on the other hand, was freaking out even worse.
“But God said it would take too much time to revive them.”
“He also said Gabriel was dead. Chuck is not entirely reliable. Even so, this idea wasn’t recently discussed.”
“But what’s stopping them from going M.I.A. like Michael did? What’s stopping them from killing us again?” Dean rushed to ask before his brain could get away from him.
“Well I have been given only small chances to talk to them, but they do not seem to like Chuck as much as they used to. I found it easy convincing them to change loyalties after appealing to them.”
“And the fact they could be lying?”
“They aren’t.”
“And if they are?”
“Archangels truly are better company than I thought. They don’t ask nearly as many redundant questions.”
Dean seemed offended at the thought of being compared to any of them. Sam was internally horrified at the prospect of facing Lucifer and having to work alongside him again. Castiel was still contemplating as to how Billie could have gotten the archangels to agree to work together, if the animosity between Lucifer and Michael alone was enough to start an apocalypse, what might all four of them be capable of? Jack sat on his question for all of 3 seconds before asking it:
“So would they be considered my uncles?”
“Yes, Jack, all but Lucifer could be considered your uncles. I’ll let you decide what Lucifer is to you.”
“Do you think they’ll like me?”
“I cannot say anything to that, but I can say that they really value family.”
“And they can help us?”
“Definitely.”
“Then there’s no reason to wait around, is there? Where are they?” Jack stood up.
“Jack maybe we should talk about this some more before we accept this.” Castiel set a careful hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Yeah Jack we don’t even really know if we can trust these guys.” Sam tried to reason.
“We could trust Gabriel in that other dimension.”
“Yeah but he isn’t really like the other ones.”
“Maybe the others aren’t like that. Maybe they’re just misunderstood.”
“I doubt it, Jack. We’ve fought them all and they don’t seem like the friendly type.”
“Well neither does Dean.” Jack said rather aloof.
“Jack is right. We need this kind of manpower right now with the lack of angels in heaven and demons in hell.” Billie stated, standing up as though to make her exit.
“I will set up a meeting if you wish, but this merger is completely out of your hands. I only called this so you could know that the plan has changed since you seem so ingrained in matters so beyond your hands. I should have known better than to ask for your input.” And with that, she was gone, leaving the four of them in that small, old-school diner.
The drive home was much slower than the ride to the Diner. Everyone was processing the bombshell they had just received. Their new allies would be some of the most powerful beings in the galaxy who might have knowledge on how to hit God where it hurts, the only problem is that they have all tried to kill each other at least once. If the situation hadn’t been real, it would have felt like some sick supernatural sitcom on the CW or something. Objectively, they figured, it was a pretty good plan. They now had practically doubled their manpower as well as accessed a new wealth of knowledge. On the other hand, they had to somehow sleep at night knowing Lucifer and Michael were not only alive, but on the same side. This had to be a joke, a sick prank that Billie was pulling on them that they took seriously because Billie is bad at jokes. Yeah, that had to be it. Dean could go to sleep tonight under that delusion and maybe even forget it all until they have to meet them.
Then again, when has he ever had it easy?
The morning after was calm. That was the only way to explain it. Sam had woken up, jogged, and taken to reading in the kitchen while sipping a black coffee from his steaming mug. Jack had managed to convince Sam to let him play games on his phone while he ate his second bowl of Cookie Crunch Cereal. Castiel had not bothered sitting down for a meal, opting to stand around and occasionally trying to help Jack with his games or fidget with the dishes. Dean had slept in, coming in with a flourish of his robe before swiping a cup of black coffee that Castiel had knowingly outstretched. It felt like they were putting off something they shouldn’t be, but right now, when the birds were just starting to chirp and the air felt renewed, they justified taking a moment to themselves. They allowed themselves to breathe in the calm before the storm.
Dean did not try to call Billie until midday when he could no longer drink his ice cold coffee and Sam’s phone battery had been fully drained of its contents. Even then, he had no idea how to go about it. What exactly are you supposed to say to a bunch of homicidal maniacs who spent the better half of the last 10 years on God’s side? ‘Hey, Michael, we know we’re basically sharing all our secret plans for killing God, your father whom you love very much, anyways want to go shoot the shit at this nice bar and grill later?’ Yeah, that’d work. Even as he let Billie know to give them a meeting, his mind couldn’t stop entertaining the notion that they were all alive and roaming the earth, that Dean was just supposed to see them as allies now because Billie said so. Even though Billie seemed happy, if one could consider a slight air to Billie’s monotonous voice happy, Dean couldn’t help but fear the worst. How could he not? For all he knew, this was a massive ploy and when they met, Michael would reduce them to paint and doom their universe to God’s wrath.
Boppo’s Diner.
8:30pm.
Today.
Estimated time of death.
Sam paced the floor of his room as the time drew closer, both achingly slow and shockingly fast all at once. Being forced to work with him? Sam would rather fling himself back to Apocalypse World and take his chances with Alt!Michael. Then again, he didn’t seem much better an option. Still, he figured it would be better than taking on both at the same time. Sam felt sick. The bile in his throat seemed stuck there, constantly putting him on the verge of throwing up but never quite putting him over the edge; his hands had gone sweaty and refused to properly grip anything tightly enough for Sam to find balance, any kind of balance; and Sam had was teetering between screaming at the top of his lungs into a never-ending void of despair or simply finally falling to the ground and letting the vacuum of depression finally take hold of him, never to return to the struggles of life. Some might have called it dramatic, but this was Sam’s life. Breaking down like this after what he’d gone through was expected what, maybe five years ago? It was an achievement Sam even made it to his room. If Sam had relied on his intelligence for his own mental well-being as much as he imposed on others, maybe Sam would have given into a cathartic scream and sobbed until he couldn’t remember what heart-ache felt like or monsters looked like or death sounded like. But Sam never was one to listen to his own words, so he pushed it down, stood as still as possible, threw on an extra layer of flannel, and left his room to go be the hero the world expected him to be.
And heroes don’t have breakdowns, do they?
It was eight o’clock before Team Free Will had all piled into Baby, dragging their feet as they marched to their doom at the hands of Jack’s uncles. What an awkward family reunion, am I right? Jack seemed to be the only one not wholly unenthused at the whole prospect of meeting them, which was saying a lot considering half of them he had outright fought. Maybe Jack just had that childlike air of naivete that maybe his uncles weren’t the awful people they had set themselves up to be. Maybe Jack related to being labelled unfairly as a monster. Whatever Jack’s true intent was, he never shared on the car ride, opting to watch cat videos in the backseat on Castiel’s phone, occasionally sharing the screen with him. Dean had committed to driving the actual speed limit, which was considered a snail’s pace to both brothers who were used to flying right into danger. Then again, no amount of red lights or missed turns could prevent the inevitable. Honestly, getting there late would probably only serve to anger Billie and their four guests. So it was that they arrived at 8:27, three minutes early, and yet all too soon for any of them to want to exit the car. It was Jack who led the charge inside yet again, fearlessly, or maybe ignorantly, walking inside the now familiar diner and seeking out any signs of his biological family or his mentor. When he had spotted the mentor in question, he made a mad dash for the large booth she occupied, followed forlornly by the rest of his adoptive family.
“Hello, Billie. Where are the Archangels?” Jack greeted politely.
“Yeah, like you said, or were you just joking in that dead way you do?” Dean greeted not as politely.
“They will be here at 8:30 as they promised, not a second before.” She stated before flipping through the menu. Dean snuck a glance at his phone and found it was only 8:29. Chuck had a great sense of humor, Dean thought sourly.
Time slowed down as they picked up their menus and flicked through them. One second became ten which became thirty. And then it became 8:30 pm. As if an imaginary cue had been signaled, a sharp breeze cut through the diner as the seats along Billie’s side of the booth filled themselves with corporeal bodies. Before long, each member of Team Free Will was staring at the piercing gaze every Archangel seemed to share. Even if you had never met them, that singular expression could have easily shown you that they were related.
Two opposing forces had met. Now what?