My Home Is Always With You {8}

Chapter 21: "The Great Escapist"

Dean walks out the kitchen with a tray of soup and brings it to Sam. Dean says, "All right, here we go. John Winchester's famous cure-all kitchen-sink stew. There you go. Enough cayenne pepper in there to burn your lips out, just like dad used to make." Sam pushes the tray aside and Dean continues to say, "You want me to do the whole, uh, airplane thing with the spoon? When was the last time you ate?" Sam says, "I don't--" Dean cuts Sam off and says, "Days, Sam. It's been three days." Dean then takes out a thermometer and Sam looks at it and scoffs, "When did you get that?" Dean says, "When did you start throwing off heat waves? Here." Sam says, "Enough! Dean, please." Sam stands up and falls a little and Dean gives him a look and says, "The bloody handkerchiefs, the fever, the shaky legs-- this is not good." Sam says, "Well, I'm not good, and I'm not going to be good until we can start moving again, until I can start the third trial." Dean says, "Trial? I wouldn't let you start a moped. We're on the rails with this thing, okay, and the only way out of it is through it. Believe me, I know, and you know how bad I want to slam the door on all those sons of bitches. But you got to let me take care of you, man. You got to let me help you get your strength back." Sam says, "This isn't a cold or a fever or whatever it is you're supposed to feed. This is part of it all. Those first two trials-- they're not just things I did. T-They're doing something to me. They're changing me, Dean." Then a phone rings and Dean check his and sees a email from Kevin. Dean says, "It's Kevin." Sam says, "Finally." Dean clicks the email and plays the video message. Kevin pops up and says, "Liz, Sam, Dean, I've set up this message with some software and a remote server, so it'd send itself to you if I didn't reset it with a command once a week, which means I didn't reset it this week. And there's only one reason I wouldn't, which means if you're watching this then I-- then I'm-- I'm dead. I'm dead, so screw you, screw God, and everybody in between! Well, except Liz and Henry. Crowley must have gotten to me, and the one thing I know is that I won't break this time. I'm not sure how I know, but-- but I do. I've been uploading all my notes and translations. I'm sending you the links so you can get all of it. You guys are gonna have to try to figure out the rest. I'm sorry. I know it was my job, but I-- but I couldn't... I'm sorry." The video message ends, and Dean pushes stuff off the table and angrily says, "Damn it!" Dean walks out the room. Later, Sam prints out Kevin's notes and Dean walks in on the phone with Keel, and he says, "Yeah, I know you haven't seen him, Keel. Nobody has. All right, well, if you talk to Garth, then just have him call in. Yeah." Dean hangs up and Sam looks at Dean and says, "Garth still M.I.A.?" Dean says, "Yeah." Sam says, "How about the other prophets in line? I mean, if Kevin is, uh... is dead, then won't one of them be activated?" Dean says, "Nothing. No, not a peep. Here we are-- no lead, no tablet, squat." Sam looks at Kevin's notes and says, "Well, I mean, we got all this." Dean says, "We should have moved him here." Sam says, "Did you tell Liz?" Dean shakes his head and says, "She's got enough on her plate right now. I don't wanna bother her." Sam says, "Did you at least check on her?" Dean says, "I heard her talking with Winter on the phone about what's been going on." Sam nods. Later, Sam and Dean are looking through Kevin's notes and Sam hums and says, "There is it again, every time." Dean says, "Hmm?" Sam shows Dean and says, "This symbol-- I know it. Now, Kevin has it down as-- sort of like a signature for the scribe of God. It appears every time Metatron makes one of his, uh, like editor's notes." Dean says, "Okay." Sam says, "But I think I've seen it before. I mean, it was a long time ago. It was one of my, uh, humanities courses at Stanford." Sam stands up and walks over to the bookshelf and Dean says, "They taught the Word of God at Stanford?" Sam says, "No, uh... it was an overview of Native American art. I think it's a petroglyph." Dean says, "A petro-what, now?" Sam grabs a book and opens it and says, "This one belonged to a tiny tribe in Colorado, more of a-a clan, really. It says here they held onto their scrap of mountains when all the other tribes feel to the white man. Uh, so this glyph was a territorial marker. Closest translation-- 'Messenger of God.'" Then Sam gasps with a realization and says, "'Messenger of God.'" "Messenger of God." Dean, we have to go there." Dean says, "On that hunch? You can barely function." Sam says, "I'm only gonna get worse. I mean, until I get back to the real job, until we find the third trial-- we're out of prophets! We're not gonna figure out what Kevin couldn't. I say we go to this Messenger of God who wrote it in the first place!" Dean says, "And you think that this Metatron is hiding out in the mountains with a bunch of Indians?" Sam says, "Yeah. Yeah, I do. You're not-- you're not really supposed to say "Indians." It's... we should go." As Sam walks away, Dean says, "You are delirious." Dean walks past Liz's room and knocks on the door. Dean hears a soft come in and Dean opens the door to see Liz on her bed surrounded by books and papers with her hair in bun and comfy clothes on. Dean softly says, "Hey, me and Sam are heading out." Liz doesn't look up and says, "Okay." Dean slowly nods and says, "You need anything?" Liz says, "Nope. I'm good." Dean nods and says, "Okay. Uh... I love you." Liz looks up at Dean with a soft smile and she says, "I love you, too." Dean smiles and leaves. Later, Sam and Dean arrive in Route 34, Colorado at a hotel that has a casino in it. They walk in and Dean says, "Nice place." They walk to the front desk and Dean taps the bell. A man walks up, and Dean says, "Morning. Hi. Uh, we'd like a room. Here, please." The man brings out a logbook and Dean fills it out. Sam says, "Did you hear that?" Dean looks up at Sam and says, "Hear what?" Dean looks at the man and says, "He has the flu." Later, Sam's in the room laying down and Dean walks in says, "Regular tourist mecca we got here. We're the only guests in this whole place. Last entry in the registry was in '06." Sam's a little delirious and says, "Hey, you remember when, uh...when dad took us to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on that pack-mule ride?" Dean says, "The what?" Sam says, "And your, uh-- your mule kept farting, just letting go, like gale force." Dean says, "Dude, you were like four years old. I barely remember that." Sam laughs and he sighs out, "You rode a farty donkey." Dean says, "Okay, uh, I'm gonna go check out the two rivers travel museum and trading post." Sam sits up and says, "Yeah, yeah! I'm gonna-- I'm gonna, um-- I'm gonna follow the hotel manager, D-Dr. Scowley-scowl. He's like a villan from 'Scooby-Doo.'" Dean walks over to Sam and grabs his shoulder and says, "No, hey, uh, little big man, you should get some rest." Sam says, "Yeah, I can do that, too." Sam lays back down and crashes. Later, Dean goes to the museum, and the tour guide says, "The people of the two rivers tribe came to this land centuries ago, a land that was harsh and stony. But their mighty leader told his people that they must stay here. He claimed that this was the home on earth of the great spirits'' sacred Messenger and that if they'd made offerings, their blessings would be many." Dean says, "What were the offerings?" The tour guide says, "Huh?" Dean says, "Uh, what did the great spirits' sacred Messenger ask for?" The tour guide says, "Stories. He asked the people to tell him stories." Dean looks a picture of the tribe and notices a familiar face and he sees that it's the guy who gave him and Sam their rooms. Dean says, "I bet I know what the blessings were." Later, Dean gives Sam an ice bath and Sam resurfaces from the bath with a gasp and Sam says, "Get off! What the hell?!" Dean grabs Sam and says, "Take it easy, man." Sam shrugs Dean off and stands up and says, "God!" Dean says, "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy. Take it-- found you on the floor, passed out. Your temperature was 107. I had to force it down or you were toast." Dean wraps Sam in a towel and Sam shivers and says, "He's here, Dean. The Metatron is here. I know it. I can hear him." Dean says, "What are you talking about?" Sam says, "All I know is that I'm connected to it somehow." Dean says, "What, like you got a link to him, like a prophet?" Sam says, "I don't know! I just know he's here. The Metatron is here." Dean says, "Okay. Here where?" Sam says, "I can show you. I can show you. The manager-- he was delivering books to him." Dean says, "Books?" Sam says, "Books. Hard-covers, paperbacks, novels-- books." Dean realizes says, "Stories." Sam and Dean get themselves situated and then leave the room and Dean says, "I should be taking you to the ER." Sam says, "They can't do anything for me. You know, I've been remembering things-- little things so clearly." Dean says, "What? Donkey rides?" Sam points his finger at Dean and says, "You used to read to me, uh, when I was little-- I-I mean really little, from-- from that old, uh "Classics Illustrated" comic book. You remember that?" Dean says, "No." Sam says, "'Knights if the round table.' Had all of King Arthur's knights, and they were all on the quest for the holy grail. And I remember looking at this picture of Sir Galahad, and-- and-- and he was kneeling, and-- and light streaming over his face. And I remember... thinking, um, I could never go on a quest like that... because I'm not clean. I mean, I-I was just a little kid. You think maybe I knew, I mean, deep down, that... I had... demon blood in me and about the evil of it and that I... wasn't pure?" Dean says, "Sam, it's not your fault." Sam says, "It doesn't matter anymore, because these trials... they're purifying me." As Sam walks away, Dean's thinking Sam has gone even crazier and shakes his head and follows after Sam. Sam looks down at a spot in front of a room and says, "They were here, the-- the-- the books, the boxes! They-- they're gone." Dean sees the room is cracked and pushes the door open and the boys walk in to see tons of books stacked around the room. They walk to see a man with a rifle pointed right at them and Dean has his arm out in front of Sam. The man says, "Who are you?" Dean says, "Metatron? This is Metatron? This is Metatron?" Metatron appears behind them and says, "Sit down." The boys look behind them and they go to sit down. Metatron says, "Who sent you?" Sam talks loudly and says, "We came on our own. We're the Winchesters." Dean says, "I'm Dean. This is Sam." Metatron says, "You work for Michael? Or Lucifer?" Sam continues to talk loudly and says, "What, you really haven't heard of us? What kind of angel are you? W-We're the freaking Winchesters." Dean says, "Michael and Lucifer-- T-Those-- those dudes are in the deep fryer." Sam is still talking loudly and says, "Yeah. We put them there ourselves." Metatron says, "What about Gabriel and Raphael?" Sam loudly says, "Dead." Dean says, "You really don't know this?" Metatron says, "I've been very careful." Sam loudly says, "Hey, can you-- can you turn that down?" Metatron says, "Turn what down? Oh. You're resonating." Dean says, "Resonating? What-- what do you mean, resonating?" Metatron says, "You've undertaken the trials. You're trying to pull one of the great levers, aren't you? You're pretty far along, too. You get that far along; you start resonating with the Word or with its source on the material plane-- with me." Dean says, "You said you were being careful. Careful how?" Metatron says, "I'm not one of them. I'm not an archangel. I'm really more run-of-the-mill. I worked in the secretarial pool. before God chose me to take down the Word. Anyway, he seemed very worried about his work, what would happen to it when he left, so he had me write down instructions. Then he was gone. After that... the archangels took over. They cried and they wailed. They wanted their father back. I mean, we all did. But then-- then they started to scheme. The archangels decided if they couldn't have dad, they'd take over the universe themselves. But they couldn't do anything that big without the Word of God. So, I began to realize maybe they would realize... they needed me." Dean says, "So, you get a ruffle in your feathers and just decided to disappear, go stick your head in the sand forever? You have no idea what's been going on out there?" Metatron shakes his head and says, "Nope. That's the whole point." Dean says, "So, you have been holed up here or-- or-- or in a wigwam or before that, in some cave, listening to stories, reading books?" Metatron laughs and says, "And it was something to watch. What you brought to his earth-- all the mayhem, the murder, just the raw, wild invention of God's naked apes-- it was mind-blowing. But really, really... it was your storytelling. That is the true flower of free will, at least as you've mastered it so far. When you create stories, you become Gods of tiny, intricate dimensions unto themselves. So many worlds. I have read as much as it's possible for an angel to read, and I haven't caught up." Sam nods and says, "You know what? Pull the freaking trigger." Dean looks surprised at Sam and Metatron looks at Sam and says, "What?" Sam stands up and says, "Pull the freaking trigger..." Dean says, "Sam." Sam continues to say, "... you cowardly piece of garbage." Dean stands up and says, "Hey." Sam grabs the rifle and angrily says, "All the time you've been hiding here, how much suffering have you read over? Humanity's suffering. And how much of it has been at the hands of your kind?!" Dean pushes Sam away from the rifle and says, "Hey, hey. You want a story? Try Kevin Tran's story. He was just a kid. He was a good, straight "A" kid, and then he got sucked into all of this-- this angel crap and became a propjet if the Word of God-- your prophet. And you should have been looking out for him, but no! Instead, you're here, holed up, reading books." Sam says, "He's dead now because of you." Sam scoffs at Metatron and Metatron brings Kevin to them and they wait for him to wake up. Kevin then starts waking up and Sam calls Dean to come over here. Dean walks over to Sam and the boys see Kevin open his eyes. Dean leans towards Kevin and says, "Kevin?" Kevin gives a them a small smile and Dean says, "Hey. We thought we lost you, kiddo." Kevin says, "I'm good. Second half of the tablet, and I got it." Kevin hands Dean part of the tablet and continues to say, "Third trial. I didn't tell Crowley." Sam says, "So, what is it?" Metatron says, "To cure a demon." Kevin looks confused at the man and says, "Yeah. Who are you?" Later, the boys are in the car and Dean says, "Cure a demon? Okay, ignoring the fact that I have no idea what that actually means, if we-- if we do this, you get better, right? I mean, you'll stop trying to cough up a lung and-- and-- and bumping into furniture?" Sam nods and says, "I feel better, yeah, uh, just having a direction to move in." Dean says, "Well, good, 'cause where we're headed doesn't sound like a picnic." Sam says, "But we're heading somewhere. The end." Dean then sees a body on the road, and he hits the breaks. The boys get out the car and see a bloody Castiel. Dean says, "Cass?!" Castiel looks up at them and he says, "A little help here." Meanwhile with Liz, she finally found a spell to save Sam, but it comes at a price. Liz will do whatever it takes to save Sam, if that means to sacrifice herself then so be it. What Liz is doing is dark magic and the spell requires three ingredients. A human heart, Sam's DNA, and her blood. Liz went to a morgue to get herself a human heart. Liz is going to do the spell when Sam does the last trial. The spell isn't supposed to kill her, but it does require a lot of power and concertation for the spell to work.