Short Stories and Oneshots

As Above, So Below - Part 4

There was a long moment after Castiel had taken a bite when absolutely nothing happened. Dean had just enough time to wonder if Lucifer was just fucking with them, before Cas made a strangled whimpering sound. Dean's gaze, which had been shifting to Lucifer, snapped back to Cas. The angel shuddered, his pupils blown wide. Dean swore softly under his breath and shifted down the bench to make sure the shuddering angel didn't fall over.

Lucifer watched this with an unreadable look on his face. Sam shot him a look before turning his attention to Cas – who was now clinging to Dean in a way he would normally never tolerate. The older hunter was talking quietly to Cas, trying to calm him down a little at least. Sam eyed them, a bit bemused. He could never quite make heads or tails out of those two's relationship. He knew that neither Dean nor Cas had any interest in each other sexually, but the way they acted sometimes was just too damn close for them not to be. It was a bit of a paradox. Whatever the fuck they had was not something that really seemed to have an equivalent in normal human relationships.

"Cas?" Dean asked cautiously when the angel finally stopped shivering a few minutes later. Castiel straightened slowly looking around himself uncertainly. Lucifer spoke for the first time since Cas had taken a bite. A string of something in what could have only been Enochian. Cas blinked and turned to look at Lucifer in surprise. Sam may not have known what had been said, but it had definitely been in a far softer tone than anything else he'd ever heard from him. Cas considered him for a long moment before giving a tiny smile and saying something as well.

Dean watched the exchange with a curious look on his face. It occurred to him, that while Lucifer may have hated humans with a literal 'unholy passion', he had never hated his family. The Fallen Angel probably still saw the younger angels as his little brothers and sisters, regardless of how annoyed he was at them. Dean pulled himself away from that line of thought before it went somewhere dangerous. A little pity was okay, but he couldn't risk getting too damn sympathetic at this point. Give it a few months of Lucifer not killing them all and he'd think about it.

"You alright Cas?" he asked. Castiel looked at Dean with a faintly puzzled expression.

"How could I not have understood before?" he sounded incredibly confused by the very concept. "It seems so simple." Dean's lips quirked up, in a halfway smile that was really more of a smirk.

"Trust me, Cas, good and evil are anything but simple. Just wait til you try to put it into practice. You'll finally get why humans can be so damn indecisive sometimes." Sam nodded in agreement.

"The best piece of advice anyone can really give you is to never assume things are black and white. There's no such thing, just infinite shades of grey." He said. He missed the look Lucifer shot him at this. It was faintly startled. Lucifer studied Sam for a long moment before nodding slightly to himself and looking back to Castiel. His eyes seemed just a hair lighter than they had been. Humanity may fuck up quite a bit, but it would seem they had managed to uncover a few bits of real wisdom over time.

~

Lucifer had wandered off at some point yesterday, leaving them to continue with the hunt they had been on. A hunt which was shaping up to look like The Trickster. Dean had been nearly gleeful at the idea of getting another shot at the pagan god. Sam was less certain.

Cas was attempting to put his new understanding of good and evil into practice, and as Dean had warned him, had mostly just managed to confuse himself. Dean had just rolled his eyes at Sam and let him have at it. If he could get through to the devil, maybe he could do the same with the Trickster. Dean had kinda liked the god before the whole dying a hundred times thing.

This would prove to be a mistake.

At least Sam was taking the brunt of the pranks, and Cas was, somewhere. That was what worried him the most. Cas wasn't exactly in the best shape for this kind of bullshit. He was about five minutes away from praying to Lucifer when he finally got it. This fucker wasn't a pagan god. You don't get that pissed about anything but family. Luckily the fucker's recent joke was going to backfire. He felt more than a little smug when the ring of holy fire flared to life. Loki's face was almost worth the crap he'd put them through.