Never Let It Rest (fifth book to Never Be Over You)

Chapter 1: Meet The New Boss

I just stabbed Cas in the back, while my head feels like it's on fire and I'm staggering. And the angel-blade did nothing. Bobby gets on his knees.
"Well, alright then. Is this good, or you want the whole 'forehead to carpet' thing?" Bobby asks. "Guys?"
The rest of us start to kneel.
"Stop. What's the point if you don't mean it? You fear me. Not love, not respect, just fear."
"Cas..." I say.
"Ashlee, you have nothing to say to me; you stabbed me in the back." Yeah, well, you stabbed me too...figuratively. "Get up."
"Cas, come on. This isn't you." Dean says.
"The Castiel you knew is gone."
"So what, the? 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?" Alex asks. If another angel is asking this, something's wrong.
"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 Ashlee?"
"I'm fine." I say.
"You said you would fix her. You promised!"
"If you stood down, which you hardly did. Be thankful for my mercy. I could have cast you into 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." Cas disappears. We all look around at each other, trying to process what just happened.
"Ash, you okay?" Sam asks. I fall to the ground, cutting my hand on some broken glass. I get glimpses of myself being on fire. Holy hell it hurts. And then I pass out.

I wake up, I don't know how much later, in the bed I normally take at Bobby's. My hand is bandaged up.  I get dressed slowly, trying not to cause any type of disturbance in my head and then go downstairs.
"Hey, Dean." I say, as he's getting a beer from the fridge.
"Ah, you're walking and talking."
"Yeah. I put on my own socks, the whole nine."
"Well, that's uh... I mean, you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, my head hurts a little, but... basically."
"Seriously?" Dean asks.
"Look. I'm as surprised as you are but, yeah, I swear."
"Good! No reason putting a gift horse under a microscope, right?"
"Yeah. So what happened with Cas?" I ask.
"Why don't you come outside with me while I work on the car, I'll fill you in?"
"Okay." Dean walks outside and I start to follow when I hear the sound of chains jingling. I look around the room, but everything seems normal so I hurry out.
Dean asks me to grab him a wrench from the basement. So I go grab it and start looking through Bobby's tools. Then I hear the chains again. And creepy laughing. I look around and there's nothing there so I keep looking for the wrench. Once I find it, and turn around, the entire basement has a red tint. Chains are hanging from the ceiling, and meat hooks with bits of flesh on them. An evil voice is laughing somewhere.
"No, no, this can't be happening."
"Ashlee!" I can hear Lucifer's voice
"Hey, Ash! What are, taking a nap down here?" Alex asks as she comes down the stairs. The basement goes back to normal. I realize that I'm holding the wrench up like a weapon, pointing it at Alex. "It's Castiel, we think. Come on."
"Yeah. Coming." I quickly follow Alex upstairs and into the living room where Dean, Sam and Bobby are already watching the news.
"The sudden deaths of some 200 religious leaders are currently under investigation. The Vatican has yet to issue a statement, but some are already calling this an act of God." A TV announcer says.
"We all saw him. No beard, no robe. He was young...and... and sexy. He had a raincoat." A woman being interviewed says.  Dean shuts off the TV.
"Well sexy is right, but the raincoat part." I say. Dean just gives me a look. Now that I remember everything...including the 50-odd times that me and Cas did stuff together, I'm allowed to comment, right?
Dean goes back outside to finish working on the car with Sam, while Bobby, Alex and I stay inside. I make myself a sandwich...or three. Gotta feed this baby that's suddenly growing really quickly.

I grab a book from Bobby's shelf and start reading to see if I can find anything at all to try to stop Cas, while listening to the radio for any other Godly disruptions. I hear something from behind me. Suddenly the ceiling begins to crack and chain falls down through it and wraps around my neck, pulling me to the ceiling. I can hear laughing. And then I wake up... I was dreaming or hallucinating...
"Dean... Sam?" I ask. No answers. I go out to the garage looking for someone. I can hear them talking before I enter the garage so I stop and listen for a bit first.
"Seriously though Bobby. Look at our lives. How many more hits can we take? So, if Ash says he's good... Good." Dean said.
"You believe that?" I hear Alex ask.
"Yeah. No. You wanna know why? Because we never catch a break. So why would we this time? I just... just this once thing. You know? But I'm not dumb. I'm not gonna get my hopes up just to get kicked in the daddy-pills again." I decide to actually walk in this time.
"Hey." I say.
"Hey. How you feeling, sport?" Bobby asks.
"Can't complain." I say with as much enthusiasm as possible.
"Great. What's the word?" Sam asks.
"Well, a publishing house literally exploded about an hour ago. The guy has a body count that's really getting up there. We gotta do something." I say.
"What we've gotta do is hun the son of a bitch. Unfortunately, I lost my God guns." Bobby says.
"Well, I mean is there some kind of heavenly weapon? Maybe something out of that angel arsenal that Balthazar stole? There has to be something that can hurt him. Alex?" I ask.
"Well, I mean... I don't know. Guys, I fell so long ago. It's possible, but with all the power and all the souls that he has right now, it'd be like super hard to kill him, let alone get him to listen."
"You have a history with him though don't you? He said something about that."
"I do, but I fell, I can't tell him what to do anymore."
"But you have a connection with him." Dean says.
"It's worth a try. But let's use that as a last option. I have another idea."


The boys get stuff put together to perform a summoning ritual and draw a devil's trap on the floor. The last step is dropping a lit match into the bowl. And Crowley appears, right in the middle of the trap.
"No. No! NO! Come on!" He says.
"Don't act so surprised." Bobby says.
"My new boss is going to kill me for even talking to you lads."
"Well, you're lucky we're not stabbing your scuzzy face, you little piece..."
"Whoa, wait! What new boss?" Sam asks.
"Castile, you giraffe."
"Is your boss?" I ask.
"Is everybody's boss. What do you think he's going to do if he finds out we've been conspiring? You do want to conspire, don't you?" Crowley asks.
"No. we want you do stand there and look pretty." Alex says sarcastically. I like this girl, she seems to fit in nicely with us.
"Listening."
"We need a spell to bind Death." Dean says.
"Bind? Enslave Death? You having a laugh?" Crowley asks.
"Lucifer did it." I say.
"That's Lucifer."
"A spell's a spell." Sam says.
"You really believe you can handle that kind of horsepower? You're delusional!"
"Death is the only player on the board left that has the kind of juice to take Cas." Dean says.
"They'll both mash us like peas. Why should I help with a suicide mission?"
"Look! Do you really want Cas running the universe?" Bobby asks.
Crowley just takes a sip of his drink that he came with.

Later on, Bobby walks into the room carrying a big envelope, and in it is what looks like on old paper.
"It's from Crowley." Bobby says as he shows us the paper.
"Well, who feels like hog tying death tonight?" Dean says.
"Old age is over-rated anyhow." We start getting the stuff together, of what we have. "Well, we've got most of this stuff, but we're going to have to make a run for a few things."
"Like?" I ask.
"Like an act of God crystallized forever."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asks.
"That can means an actual crystal. See, lightning strikes sand at the right angle, it crystallizes into the perfect shape of itself." Alex says.
"Lightning. Act of God." I say.
"Jinga. You got yourself a fulgurite and we're gonna need a biggie." Bobby says.
"And let me guess...rare." Dean says.
"I found record of an auction. Winning bidder lives about 9 hours from here." Bobby says. I guess we're going on a roadtrip.

We get to the house of the people that got the thing of god.  We break into the house and start looking around. I follow Dean, while Alex goes with Sam. We find something locked in a glass case that looks a hell of a lot like what we need. Dean goes to start opening the case when we hear a gun cock from behind us. We turn around and there's a guy standing there with a gun pointed at us and a woman standing behind them
"Hi. Uh... I don't want to hurt you. Really." Dean says.
"I'm the one with the firearm, son." The guy says.
"I get that." Dean says then he does this really quick move and grabs the gun from him, empties the shells and then the two of us tie him and his wife up to some chairs with cloth wrapped around their mouths.
Dean and I check again to make sure there's no way they'd get out right as Sam and Alex walk into the room we're in.
"Uh, hey guys. Uh, so this is Dr. and Mrs. Weiss." Dean says
"Hi. Sorry." Sam says.
"I found the god thingy." I say.
"Well, let's light this candle." Alex says. We move chairs and everything else out of the way to start the ritual. Alex starts drawing the sigils we need, Sam gets the god thing. Dean set a bag and a drink of something from some fast food restaurant on a table. Alex cuts through Dean's arm since we need blood for the ritual
"You're welcome." Dean says.
"Te nunc invoco, mortem. Te in mea potestate defixi. Nunc et in aeternum!" Alex reads the incantation. The room starts rumbling and glasses start breaking, books are falling off shelves and then it stops. And death isn't here.
"Um... Hello? Death?" Dean asks.
"You're joking." Death says as he appears.
"I'm sorry, Death. This isn't what it seems."
"Seems like you bound me."
"For good reason, oaky? Just, uh, hear us out. Um... pickle fried chip? They're the best in the state." Dean offers. Where he got those I have no idea.
"That easy to soothe me, you think? This is about Ashlee's hallucinations, I assume?" Dean looks at me concerned.
"What?" Dean asks.
"Sorry, Ashlee. One wall per customer. Now unbind me."
"We can't. Yet." I say.
"This isn't going to end well."
""We need you to kill God." Dean says.
"Pardon?"
"Kill God. You heard right. Your...honor." Alex says.
"What makes you think I can do that?" Death asks.
"You told me." Dean says.
"Why should I?"
"Because... We said so, and we're the boss of you. I mean... Respectfully."
"Amazing." Cas says as he appears.
"Cas." Sam says.
"I didn't want to kill you, but now..."
"You can't kill us." Dean says.
"You've erased any nostalgia I had for you, Dean."
"Death is our bitch. We aren't gonna die, even if God pulls the trigger."
"Annoying little protozoa, aren't they? 'God'? You look awfully like mutated angel to me. Your vessel's melting. You're going to explode."
"No. I'm not. When I've finished my work, I'll repair myself." Cas says.
"You think you can because you think you're simply under the weight of all those souls, yes? But that's not the worst problem. There are things much older than souls in Purgatory, and you gulped those in, too."
"Irrelevant. I control them."
"For the moment." Death says.
"Wait, what older things?" I ask.
"Long before God created angel and man, he made the first beasts, the Leviathans."
"Leviathans?" Dean asks.
"I personally found them entertaining, but he was concerned they'd chomp the entire petri dish, so he locked them away. Why do you think he created Purgatory? To keep those clever, poisonous things out. Now Castiel has swallowed them. He's the one thin membrane between the old ones and your home."
"Enough." Cas says.
"Stupid little soldier you are."
"Why? Because I dared open a door that he shut? Where is he? I did a service, taking his place."
"Service? Settling petty vendettas."
"No. I'm cleaning up one mess after another, selflessly."
"Quite the humanitarian."
"And how would you know? What are you, really? A flyswatter?"
"Destined to swat you, I think." Death says.
"Unless I take you first."
"Really bought his own press, this one. Please, Cas. I know God, and you, sir, are no God."
"Alright, put away your junk, both of you. Look, Call him what you want. Just kill him now!" Dean says.
"Alright. Fine." Death raises his arm to kill him, Cas snaps his fingers, releasing the bind. "Thank you. Shall we kickbox now? I had a tingle I'd be reaping someone very, very soon." Death walks over to the table where Dean set down the bag and drink. "Don't worry, not you." Cas disappears.  "Well, he was in a hurry." Death starts eating the fried pickle chips. We're all staring at each other for someone to say something.
"Um..." Dean starts.
"Shut up, Dean. I'm not here to ties your shoes every time you trip. I warned you about those souls how long ago? Long enough to stop that fool. And here we are again, with your little planet  on the edge of immolation."
"Well, I'm sorry. Alright?  I've been trying to save this planet, so maybe you should find somebody better to tip off."
"Maybe I should spend my effort on a better planet. Well, it's been amusing."
"Wait, hold on, hold on. Just... can you give us something? You have to care a little bit about what happens to us." Sam says.
"You know, I really don't. But I do find that little angel arrogant."
"Great. Let's go with that." Alex says, she says offended.
"Your only hope is to have him return it all to Purgatory. Quicky."
"We need a door." I say.
"You have everything you need at that lab. Get him to return there and compel him to give up the power."
"Compel?" Dean asks.
"Figure it out."
"But that door only opens in the eclipse, and that's over." Bobby says.
"I'll make another. 3:59 Sunday morning, just before dawn. Be punctual. Don't thank me. Clean up your mess. Try to bind me again, you'll die before you start. Nice pickle chips, by the way." Death walks away.

We drive back to Bobby's to do more research and try to come up with something to get Cas there. I'm sitting with Dean, while he's on a laptop as Sam walks into the room.
"You want some coffee with that?" Sam asks Dean, referring to the alcohol Dean has in his hand.
"It's 6:00 pm somewhere."
"We got to hit the road. I mean, how are we supposed to get Cas to the lab by friggin' 3:59 am?" Sam asks.
"We don't." Dean says.
"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 because he is."
"He's not! He's in there somewhere, Dean. I know it." I say.
"No, you don't."
"No, I don't. But, look, I was pretty far gone sometimes myself, and you never gave up on me." I say.
"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?" I ask.
"How about not lie? How about tell me that you've crazy crap climbing those walls?"
"Why? You can't help. No one can. You got a lot of pretty severe crap swinging your way lately, and... and I thought... what? I though why burst the one good bubble you had left? It's under control." I say.
"What? What, exactly is under control?" Sam asks me. Great, now he's super concerned too.
"I know what's real and what's not."
"Ash-" Dean starts.
"Guys, look, we can debate this once we deal with Cas." I say.
"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. 'Massacre at the campaign office of an incumbent Senator by a trench-coated man.' There's security footage. Well, I think reaching Cas is, uh... out of the cards." Dean says looking at his laptop.
Sam walks away, leaving me and Dean to ourselves.
"You're going to end up dying if we don't help you." Dean says to me.
"There's no way to help. I'll be fine." I say.
Once Sam comes back in, Dean offers him a glass of whiskey, which Sam takes then sits down with us.
"Sam?" Cas says as he appears.
"Cas." Sam says. Cas is... looking like he's losing a battle.
"I heard your call. I need help." The boys help Cas into the car and we take off to that same lab before Cas blows up or explodes from all the power. Cas is sitting on the floor while the boys, Alex and I get all the supplies together.
"We need the right blood. There's a small jar, end of the hall, supply closet."
"Got it." I say as I leave the room and start down the hall, looking for the closet. I start looking around the room looking for it when I hear a voice behind me.
"I know. It all seems so silly, doesn't it? Hi, Ash. Long time, no spooning." It's Lucifer.
"You're not here. You're in hell." I say.
"Now, that you're right on."
"Meat hooks... Chains. You. It's not real. It's just my brain leaking memories from the cage because of the wall breaking down. That's all."
"Hmm. That's very good, your little theory. It's wrong. Sam, this isn't you going guano. Everything else is."
"What?" I ask.
"Everything... From the second you sprung out of that lock box." Lucifer says.
"That's impossible."
"No. Escaping was impossible. I have to say, I think this is my best torture yet, make you believe that you're free and then... Yank the wool off of your eyes. You never left, Ash. You're still in the cage... With me."


DEAN POV

"Hang in there. Just a couple of minutes. Where's Ash? It's go time." Sam says. I leave the room to go see where she went, there's a jar of blood in the hall way but Ash is nowhere.
"Ash?! Damn it." I say grabbing the jar then I walk to the room. I hand the jar to Sam who starts drawing the sigil on the wall.
"That's good enough. Okay, step right up, Castiel." Cas does as Alex says. "Ianua magna purgatorii, clausa est ob nos lumine eius ab oculis nostris retento sed nunc stamus ad limen huius ianuae magnae et demisse fideliter perhonorifice paramus aperire eam."
"I'm sorry, Dean." Cas says.
"Creaturae terrificae quaram ungulae et dentes nunquam tetigerant carnem eius ad mundum nostrum nunc ianua magna, aperta tandem!" I bright light emanates from Cas into the wall where the sigil is and then he collapses.
"Cas?" I ask.
"He's cold." Sam says.
"Is he breathing?" Alex says.
"No."
"Maybe angels don't need to breathe." I say.
"He's gone, Dean." Sam says.
"Damn it, Cas, you child. Why didn't listen? Cas?! Hey! Hey! Okay. Alright." Alex says, Cas' face suddenly heals and he starts waking up and getting up.
"That was unpleasant." Cas says.
"Let's get him up. Easy, there." Sam and I help him up.
"I'm alive."
"Looks like." Sam says.
"I'm astonished. Thank you, all of you."
"We were mostly... just trying to save the world."
"Well you were, I was trying to save Castiel." Alex says.
"I'm ashamed. I really overreached."
"You think?" I say.
"I'm gonna find some way to redeem myself to you." Cas says.
"Alright, well, one thing at a time. Come on. Let's get you out of here. Come on."
"I mean it, Dean." Cas stops walking.
"Okay, alright. But let's go find Ash, okay?"
"You need to run now! I-I can't hold them back!" Cas pushes us forward as he doubles over.
"Hold who back?" I ask.
"They held on inside me. Dean, they're so strong."
"Who the hell-?" Alex asks.
"Leviathan! I can't fight them. Run!"
"Go! Go get Ash! Go get Ash!" I yell to Sam.
"Too late." Cas says in a more cheerful voice stopping Sam in his tracks.
"Cas?" Alex asks.
"Cas is, he's gone. He's dead. We run the show now. Ah." He throws each of us against a wall. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun."