Currents

Chapter 1

Bobby said" Well... all right, then." He got on his knees," This good or... you want the whole forehead to the carpet thing? Guys?" We started to kneel,
Cas said" Stop. What's the point if you don't mean it? You fear me. Not love, not respect- just fear."
Sam said" Cas-"
" Sam, you have nothing to say to me. You stabbed me in the back. Get up." Bobby got up,
Dean said" Cas, come on. This is not you."
" The castiel you knew is gone."
" So what, then? Kill us?"
" What a brave little ant you are. You know you're powerless. You wouldn't dare move against me again. That would be pointless. So I have no need to kill you. Not now. Besides... once, you were my favorite pets, before you turned and bit me."
" Who are you?"
" I'm God. And if you stay in your place, you may live in my kingdom. If you rise up, I will strike you down. Not doing so well, are you, Sam? Keir?"
Sam said" I'm fine. I'm fine." I stared at Castiel,
Dean said" You said you would fix him. You promised!"
Cas said" If you stood down, which you hardly did. Be thankful for my mercy. I could have cast you back in the pit."
" Cas, come on, this is nuts. You can turn this around. Please!"
" I hope, for your sake, this is the last you see me."
" Sammy, you okay?" I looked at Sam's nose bleeding, then he fell onto some glass,
I said" Sam!" The world spun around, then I fell, closing my eyes,
" Key!" I felt someone pull my head up, then everything was gone.
——
I woke up, breathing heavily, I looked around, I was in the tub at Bobby's, I blinked a few times. I pulled myself up, out of the tub, I changed out of the clothes I was in. I walked downstairs, I saw them,
I said" What'd I miss?"
Dean said" We're gonna hogtie Death, you in?"
" You're an idiot, but yeah."

Bobby said" Well, we got most of this stuff. But we're gonna have to make a run for a few things."
Dean said" Like?"
" Like an act of god crystallized forever."
Sam said" What's that supposed to mean?"
" Thinking it means an actual crystal. See, lightning strikes sand at the right angle, it crystallizes into the perfect shape of itself."
" Lightning- act of god."
" Jenga. You got yourself a fulgurite. We're gonna need a biggie."
Dean said" And let me guess- rare."
" I found the records of an auction. Winning bidder lives about nine hours from here."
——
Once they got back, Sam filled me in and they failed... miserably. But Death is making another Eclipse, so we possibly have a second go.

Sam and I walked into the kitchen, where Dean was on the laptop and drinking whiskey,
Sam said" You want some coffee with that?"
Dean said" It's 6pm somewhere."
" We got to hit the road. I mean, how are we supposed to get Cas to that lab by freakin' 3:59am?"
" We don't."
" What do you mean, we don't?"
" I mean, we can't bring the horse to water, and we can't make it drink. Why fool ourselves?"
" Dean, look, I know you think that Cas is gone-"
" It's 'cause he is."
" He's not! He's in there somewhere, Dean. I know it."
" No, you don't."
" No, I don't. But, look, I was pretty far gone sometimes myself, and you never gave up on me."
" Yeah, and it turns out that you're about the same open book as you've always been. Hallucinations? Really? I got to find out from Death?"
" What was I supposed to do?"
" How about not lie? How about tell me that you've got crazy crap climbing those walls?"
" Why? You can't help. You got a lot of pretty severe crap swinging your way lately, and-and I thought... what? I thought why burst the one good bubble you had left? It's under control."
" What? What, exactly, is under control?"
" I know what's real and what's not."
" Sam-"
" Dean, look, we can debate this once we deal with Cas."
" Yeah, you know how I'm gonna deal? I'm gonna stuff my piehole, I'm gonna drink, and I'm gonna watch some asian cartoon porn and act like the world's about to explode because it is. Hey. You got to be kidding me." We walked over to him," Massacre at the campaign office of an incumbent senator by a trench-coated man. There's security footage." He played it and Cas smiled at the camera before it started going out," Well, I think reaching Cas is, uh... out of the cards."
——
Sam came back in, I walked to him, we walked to Dean, Dean held up to glasses.
Sam and I said" Only if you turn that off." He slid the glasses to the other side and shut the laptop. We sat down, clinking glasses,
I heard Cas say" Sam." I put the glass down, turning around, my eyes glowing,
Sam said" Cas."
" I heard your call. I need help."

We went to the lab,
Cas said" We need the right blood. There's a small jar- end of the hall, s-supply closet."
Sam said" Got it." Sam walked away, I watched him walk out,
" Dean."
Dean said" What? You need something else?"
" No, I feel regret, about you and what I did to Sam."
" Yeah, well, you should."
" If there was time, If I was strong enough, I'd-I'd fix him now. I just wanted to make amends before I die."
" Okay."
" Is it working?"
" Does it make you feel better?"
" No. You?"
" Not a bit."

Bobby checked the time, then walked over to me and Dean,
Bobby said" Where's Sam? It's go time." We walked down the hall, and stopped as we saw the jar of blood,
Dean said" Sam?! Damn it."
I said" I'll look for him. You go." He walked away, I looked down the hallway," Sammy? If you've gone all Jack from the Shining, I'm not afraid to knock you out. Kinda scaring me now... you've got like 3 million feet on me." I heard strong winds, I looked back at the lab, I sighed, then grabbed my head as pain seared through me. That's purgatory. I fell to my knees, breathing heavily, I covered my eyes, the world got disorienting.