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    Things to Run Away From Really Fast

    #118. Devil in the Gateway

    by , 08-03-2010 at 05:08 AM (1955 Views)
    I feel like I'm writing bad fanfiction subconsciously. I find it interesting that in the past two months I've had several dreams that carry on from previous ones.

    Also, more Lucifer.

    07/23/10

    Castiel gets captured. I offer to help with the rescue.

    "Let him go, you bitch!" I shout.

    "Oh, Dean," says Lilith. "You don't understand. You've already lost."


    I hate losing.

    I throw myself back through the dream, back through the sewers that lead to the Hellmouth, zooming back over flooded streets and abandoned rafts and into a warehouse that I fought my way through not long ago.(1)

    I arrive before Sam and Dean Winchester ever found themselves ambushed here, taking up precious time in our search. I can't afford that loss again.

    A man is kneeling on the floor at the center of the warehouse. His face and arms are bare, and I can see designs swirling everywhere on his exposed flesh in patterns of black and blue. The tattooed man paints symbols on the floor, dipping his fingers into a wooden bowl filled with something red and sticky.



    "Damian Masters." I say tonelessly. My voice reverberates through the building. Damian stands up, startled, and I step out of the shadows.

    "Who are you?" He rasps, panicked.

    "Have you ever heard the name 'Samael'?" I ask him.

    He shakes his head.

    "I'm an angel." I manage to say it with a straight face.

    Damian falls to the ground and bows his head. I try not to let my irritation show. "What can I do?"

    "We have need of Dean Winchester," I say importantly. "Allow him to leave. Kill the other one."

    "Of course," he breathes, "The boy with the demon blood."

    I walk across the room, deliberately scuffing the blood sigil where it won't be noticed. I roll my eyes. "So mote it be." I say in a mocking tone.

    ***

    Dean steps onto the oversized raft, stumbling a little as it bobs under his weight. He turns around and catches the knife Sam throws at him. He breathes out slowly once he catches his balance again. (2)

    "Watch it, Sam. I don't want to go diving for this stuff." He rubs his eyes and sighs. "Be careful."

    "You're doing the dangerous part," says Sam, rolling his eyes. "I'm just casting the spell here because it's on the right ley lines."

    "Other people thought so, too," warns Dean. "That blood on the floor still looks fresh."

    "Get on with it, Dean. Castiel's not getting out of Hell on his own."

    Dean unties the rope from the pier and casts off, sending his brother a sarcastic two-finger salute. Sam grins and salutes back. He only watches Dean drift off for a moment, carried by the current through the flooded city. He picks up a canvas bag and spreads its contents over a table, ready to start the ritual.

    He gets so caught up in his task that he almost ignores the little warning voice that goes off in his head. He dodges to the side as a fireball slams into the table, sending his ritual ingredients up in flames. Sparing no time for disappointment, he runs over to where the guns should be, only to find them... gone.

    He turns around to face the other man. The tattooes on his face and arms, Sam thinks, they probably let him manipulate energy. The man's face is twisted into a triumphant grin, and Sam looks down, realizing he's at the center of the blood sigil on the floor. The tattooed man raises a hand, covered in glowing swirls, and presses it to the concrete.

    ***

    His raft floats through the flooded city, guided by a spellbound current. The shadows of buildings jut out of the water, reaching toward the orange sky as if in their death throes. Barnacles cling to the rotting and rusting wood and steel. Some of the buildings have collapsed in on themselves, leaving twisted metal sitting low to the water. Dean steers carefully around them.



    "Dean Winchester, yeah?"

    Dean spins around with the knife raised. "Yeah? And who are you?"

    The boat tips a little, and I look back at him, unimpressed. "I'm here to help," I say with a smile. "You can call me Lucy. Things will get confusing, otherwise."

    "Really. Okay, Lucy," says Dean, "Why should I trust you?"

    "You probably shouldn't," I tell him honestly, "But I owe Castiel a favour, and I pay my debts."

    Dean eyes me suspiciously, but he lowers the knife.

    "Excellent." I say. "Now, we have a problem."

    "Of course we do."

    "Castiel's vessels have gone missing."

    "His vessel? The guy he's possessing?"

    "The daughter as well. You haven't met them yet?"(3) I receive an uncomprehending stare as my answer. "Whatever. He needs a vessel, and you're it." A pause. "Don't look at me like that, it's only temporary."

    "Why not you?" asks Dean, "That'd be a good way to pay back your 'debt', wouldn't it?"

    "How many humans do you know that can teleport onto a raft in the middle of nowhere?" I ask impatiently. "I'm an occupied vessel; it doesn't work that way."

    Dean is silent as I latch onto the decorative post of a balcony and bring the raft to a stop. "We're hee-ere," I sing-song quietly, stepping onto the concrete deck. Dean shoots me a look, hand hovering near the gun concealed under his jacket.

    We step through the archway, into a cobblestone hallway filled with rot and mold. Dean's nose scrunches in distaste, but I can't smell anything. A rusted metal ladder is built into the opposite wall, and I make a motion towards it. Be my guest.

    Dean eyes the ladder. "I thought we were going into the sewers."

    "We are." I confirm. Dean looks at me askance, and I roll my eyes. "We're walking towards a gateway to Hell! You can't expect reality to work properly."

    Dean makes a disbelieving noise, but moves to the ladder and starts climbing up it. I follow a few seconds behind, looking up to track Dean's progress.

    Wow. Those are some really nice jeans.

    Climbing up brings us a level down, and we trudge through muddy water and orange-lit brick until we find an opening in the wall. Dean and I stand on either side of it, catching our breath and shaking out our shoes.

    "Are you ready?" I ask. "Lilith's on the other side."

    "Ready as I'll ever be." Dean shoots me a grin. We step through the opening.

    It's bright. The gateway is orange-white, shedding the room with stark light and bleaching out the red brick. Lilith stands near the doorway, hands clasped loosely over her white dress. Her blonde hair flutters in a non-existant breeze.

    I squint against the light. "Claire Novak?" I say incredulously. "Oh, irony of ironies. Nice one, Lilith."



    The little girl smiles pleasantly. "I thought it was fitting, using an angelic vessel as my own." She holds a hand up to the light, studying her fingers. "It was actually quite simple to burn out the angelic protections."

    "You're borrowing from Azazel." I muse, "His bastardising the Winchester line."

    "Demon blood," snaps Dean. "Can we get on with it? If this is a seal, what did you need an angel for?"

    "An angel?"

    "Castiel." I supply helpfully.

    Lilith laughs, her voice clear and deceptively innocent. "Oh, of course," she says, "Heaven has him, and I have no more need of opening seals. Lucifer walks the earth."

    "What?"

    "Castiel's superiors were unhappy with his exercising free will," I state calmly. "They're currently re-educating him."(4)

    Dean rounds on me. "Whose side are you on?"

    "Huh. Good question. I'm still going to need at least one of the vessels." I say to Lilith.

    "Can we go back to the bit where Lucifer is free?"

    "Dean, your presence is extraneous at the moment," I say, tilting my head sideways as I look at Lilith's teenage meatsuit. "Shut up."

    Dean looks about ready to hit me, but I wave a hand and he collapses.

    "My lord?" says Lilith carefully.

    "Not today." I say, "Tell me, what is it you're after?"

    "The end of all things." She responds immediately. "The apocalypse, which you are destined to bring about." (5)

    I smile as I approach her. "Destiny," I say, placing a hand on her head, "Is bullshit."

    Lilith's demonic form - grey and wispy and spiralling out of control - is forced out of Claire Novak's body. The light grey smoke hurtles toward the Hellmouth, screaming. It stills a second, pulling with all its might against the vortex, before succumbing to the orange-white light, falling back into Hell. The gate closes, dousing the room in shadow.

    I will definitely regret doing that at some point.

    I push the thought from my mind. In the next moment, I'm pulling on an incorporeal thread, tearing Castiel away from the torments of Heaven and back into human form. Blinding white light fills the room once more, before focusing on the girl.

    Castiel opens her eyes.

    "Lucifer," she says magnanimously.

    I grin. "Hey, Cas. You should probably go rescue your other vessel. And Sam Winchester. Dean's fine," I say, seeing Castiel look over at the unconscious man.

    There's an awkward pause.

    "Why did you -"

    "You let me go." I say, "Now we're even." (6)

    I disappear without another word.

    Castiel stares at the spot for a moment, before going over to Dean and tapping him on the forehead.

    ***

    When Castiel appears back at the warehouse, supporting a groggy Dean Winchester, Sam is leaning against a table with his arms crossed, facing the tattooed man. The man is currently trussed up and tied to a chair, his head lolling at an awkward angle. Sam doesn't take his eyes off him.

    "Who the hell is this guy?" Dean demands, inconspicuously taking his weight off of Castiel's shoulders.

    "I have no idea," says Sam, "He attacked me, tried to activate a blood sigil." In response to Dean's worried look, Sam shrugs. "It didn't work," he says, "The outer circle was broken."

    "Well, that was lucky," says Dean, sounding suspicious. "Anyway, we've got bad news. Cas?" He looks around, only to realize that Castiel is already gone. "Damn it."

    Devil in the Gateway. Scare Factor: 4.


    1. This dream continued on from a previous one that I don't properly recall. I think I was Dean. Sam and I fought Masters, the tattooed man in the warehouse, but it slowed us down considerably. Sam still stayed behind to do the ritual, but it completely screwed things up for us. When I replayed the dream, I kept Masters from attacking Dean, and sabotaged the ritual at the same time. I think.

    2. A good portion of this dream was in the third person. My character wasn't spying so much as I was watching cutscenes.

    3. Supernatural 4x20 "The Rapture", which aired over a year ago. We meet Castiel's human host, Jimmy Novak, and his family. Claire, the daughter, is briefly possessed as well.

    4. Actually happened in the TV series. Same episode.

    5. This was Lilith's motivation in Mike Carey's Lucifer comic series.

    6. I can't believe I remembered that. According to this dream, Castiel let me beat him in our last fight. I resent the implication.

    In other complaints, why is teleporting so easy during non-lucids?

    Also, I haven't been online much for the past couple of weeks. Summertime! I'll do my best to get caught up with everyone's DJ entries.

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    Comments

    1. Hazel's Avatar
      Wow. Have I ever told you how much I love your dreams?

      Dean rounds on me. "Whose side are you on?"
      You're on whatever side you want to be on.
    2. Baron Samedi's Avatar
      These non-lucids of your where you have all these powers are the Deep Dream State. You are aware of the dream plane, but unaware of the physical plane, thus more powerful because you don't think about the limits of your physical body.
    3. Samael's Avatar
      You're on whatever side you want to be on.
      Exactly. I'm on whatever side amuses me the most.

      These non-lucids of your where you have all these powers are the Deep Dream State. You are aware of the dream plane, but unaware of the physical plane, thus more powerful because you don't think about the limits of your physical body.
      Oh, I like that. I've seen Deep Dream State tagged in your DJ, but I never really got what it means. That makes a lot of sense, and explains quite a few of the crazy non-lucids I have.

      ETA: Is there anywhere I can read about DDS? Google only leads to Inception reviews, right now.
      Updated 08-03-2010 at 11:41 PM by Samael
    4. Nighthog's Avatar
      Quite a sweat collection of dreams continued.

      Hope you can have it play out in the future as well.
    5. Serenity's Avatar
      I feel like I'm writing bad fanfiction subconsciously. I find it interesting that in the past two months I've had several dreams that carry on from previous ones.
      Hey, Stephanie Meyers made a killing of her dreams...

      These non-lucids of your where you have all these powers are the Deep Dream State. You are aware of the dream plane, but unaware of the physical plane, thus more powerful because you don't think about the limits of your physical body.
      Ohh, I never understood that either! Thanks, Nomad