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Crowley has come to expect a few things when it comes to his relationship with the Winchesters.
What he doesn’t expect – has learned never to expect – is gratitude.
Or joy upon seeing him.
So he doesn’t think much about how the boys will react upon realizing he is alive when he learns through a few contacts that they are going after Asmodeus.
Crowley has been lying low ever since his miraculous resurrection thanks to God knows who (as in it probably was God himself but he decided not to explain his reasoning), and in the past few months he’s mostly been staying in a little cabin in Kansas with Juliet, who always had a knack for finding him.
If he had a choice, he wouldn’t go anywhere near the last Prince of Hell, especially since his powers haven’t been working right ever since he returned, but… it’s the boys. God knows what they are up to.
And so he acquires a car and goes to the bunker, not bothering to knock.
He enters the war room.
“Hello boys.”
It is with an almost (but only almost) nostalgic sense of déjà vue that he registers Dean moving in to punch him again.
“You – bastard!” he spits out.
He raises an eyebrow. “No matter what you now think I did, I can assure you –“
“Why didn’t you tell us you were back?”
Crowley blinks. He didn’t expect that reasoning behind the punch. “I haven’t been back that long” he lies smoothly.
Dean snorts. “Yeah, right.”
“Crowley” Sam chimes in, “What are you doing here?”
He explains.
“Dean, this is by far one of the dumbest things we have ever done” Sam announces some time later.
“You realize that’s not the first time you’ve said that, right.”
“And I am trying not to have it be the last. We have no guarantee that you will be able to fix the Lance at the critical moment because you are Michael’s vessel.”
“It makes sense” Cas argues, even though he looks doubtful.
“It does, but it’s Crowley, how do we know –“
“I can hear you, you know” he says tiredly. He would have thought killing himself for them might have tipped Sam off that he’s chosen their side, but of course not.
“Good, because I will be the one to gank you if –“
“Sam” Dean hisses, “Not the point right now.”
Surely, Crowley only imagines that his eyes flicker to him for one second.
“Alright guys, let’s do this.”
As always when someone in the inner circle of the Winchester utters the words “Let’s do this”, everything goes wrong.
Crowley can’t deny that he’s more than a little angry these black-eyed sons of bitches are more loyal to Asmodeus than they ever were to him, but his wrath will have to wait because for now they are busy fighting all of them off.
Naturally Asmodeus stays in the shadows. Coward.
And just when he thinks things can’t get worse, they do because – well, what else is supposed to happen?
At first, it seems like they’ve finally broken through and Dean manages to get to Asmodeus, who has decided to join the battle after all. The older Winchester’s eyes start to glow as the Lance repairs itself, as the Righteous Man, Michael’s vessel, gets ready to slay the last Prince of Hell.
To no one’s surprise, Asmodeus underestimates him, and Dean takes him out; there’s a certain poetry to the Prince simply disappearing quietly into a puff of smoke while the human stands triumphant –
For about five seconds before a demon is tearing into his ribcage. His companions realize immediately afterwards that they have lost and scatter, but the one who hurt Dean is obliterated by Crowley before he can blink – he simply picks up the Lance and thrusts it through his body.
Not that it matters.
Anyone could see Dean’s wound is fatal.
“Your time to shine, Feathers” he says calmly.
Cas stares at him.
This time, it’s Sam who punches him. “not funny” he spits before kneeling down and talking to Dean.
“What –“
“Crowley, can’t you tell I was brought back human?” Cas asks, tilting his head.
Oh God. No, he couldn’t.
His powers must be even weaker than he thought.
“But then –“ He looks at Dean, who’s struggling to tell his brother something, and his own heart starts beating wildly against his ribcage as he becomes acutely aware that he’s more human than demon now, at least in certain ways…
If Dean dies, he’ll either go to the Empty or Hell, and even if he went to Heaven the angels probably wouldn’t let him out again, there is no guarantee…
Later, he will think that if he were still the demon who first met the Winchesters, he would act differently, but even then it will be nothing but an idle speculation.
Because right now, nothing else matters.
Dean is clearly dying.
“Cas? Give me something, anything. I don’t care. Something you don’t value very much, or do, if you feel inclined?”
He frowns. “Crowley…” Then he looks at Dean and his eyes widen. He practically throws his newly-acquired wallet (of course – human) at him.
“I assume you want Dean healed, preferably quickly?”
“Yes.”
Crowley drags him into a kiss, fully knowing that he has no idea what this will do to his weakening powers.
He sees Dean sits up right before the pain hits.
For the longest time, he can’t figure what’s going on – probably because he can’t open his eyes, any movement causes him pain, and he only knows that he definitely, definitely shouldn’t have made that deal to save Dean, even though he’d do it again and again if he had to, feelings, they just never went away, at this points he doubts they’re going to –
Then, one day, a miracle – a slither of consciousness.
Of course he’s still in pain, and groans.
What’s new – or rather, what he didn’t feel before – is a presence near him trying to make him feel better by fussing with his pillow.
“Just stay calm, your Highness”.
Of course, he thinks, his pathetic feelings fool him into hearing Dean before he succumbs to the darkness again.
He wasn’t the King of Hell for nothing. He’s not about to let himself get held up by something minor like life-threatening injuries.
And so, in the few snippets of a clear head he’s allowed, he begins to check out his surroundings.
Only that what he finds cannot be true.
Maybe this is the Empty or some other space in-between.
There’s no way in Hell the boys would ever take him to the bunker to nurse him.
“I’ll take a shift, too.”
Dean looks up from the dinner he hastily put together. “Sammy, you don’t have to. Me and Cas –“
“Are exhausted. And he did help us. Again. I can do my part, as well.”
Dean gives him a weak grin that belies his assurances he’s getting enough sleep. “Alright. First things first: There are times where he seems to be semi-aware of what’s going on. We talk to him, then, let him know we didn’t leave him badly hurt at the roadside. No idea if he can hear us, but doesn’t hurt to try.”
Sam nods.
Dean wasn’t kidding when he said Crowley’s seizures are bad. They occur every three or four hours, and there is little they can do other than make sure he doesn’t hurt himself and wait until it was over.
Sure, they could have gone to a hospital but… how were they supposed to explain that yes, he was sort of dead but sort of not because actually there is a demon occupying this corpse, so could you please repair him?
He didn’t have to make the deal with Cas to save Dean. He is reminded of that by Cas’ wallet being safely tucked away in the drawer next to Crowley’s bed; the former angel insists that he keep it unless their deal is rendered void.
He and Sam have an unspoken agreement that, should Dean decide to sacrifice himself again by attempting to put it back into Cas’ jacket, they’ll try and stop him.
The problem is that they all assumed at first that Crowley would recover quickly. After all, he is still a demon. But a week later and that has yet to happen.
Even his periods of semi-consciousness are interrupted by painful seizures, he’s learnt. This gives him even less time to figure out what is wrong and how to fix it, but he’s working on it.
As always.
After three more days, Sam decides to make a suggestion. “We could call Rowena.”
None of them were even surprised that she came back to life, just as they didn’t bat an eye when Crowley arrived – except for Dean punching him, but then he could really have called them, just to let them know he had recovered from the angel blade.
“She’s tried to kill him several times” Dean points out.
“So have we” Cas adds.
“True. Still – do you think she’ll be glad to hear her son’s alive? She was the one who gave us the spell to send Gavin back to die, and Crowley himself said he thought he’d kill her one day.”
“Do you have a better idea?” Sam asks.
Dean sighs. “No. Guess we’ll have to bite the bullet.”
He’s the one to make the call because they did get along quite well that time he was under the amnesia spell, plus she did mourn fro Crowley in her own way – as did he – so he should be able to break the news to her.
“Dean Winchester. What gives me the pleasure?”
“Rowena – “ he begins gently. Yes, they’ve fought each other before, but in a way, they’re allies at the moment – like with Crowley, really. “There’s something I have to tell you. You should sit down.”
“What is this? Concern for me?”
He chuckles humourlessly. They really are related. “More for someone else, but still.”
What follows is a quick explanation cut short by Rowena’s question of “Where is he now?”
“At the bunker. And I’m sorry to say this but…”
That explanation is a little longer than the first.
Rowena takes less than an hour to come banging on their door, all but rushing past Sam when he opens it. “Take me to my son.”
Ten minutes later, she’s checking up on Crowley. “I see… Have you ever heard of smiting sickness?”
“Yes” Dean confirms, remembering all too well.
“This is something similar, only it befalls demons who are too weak to make deals… Something must have happened to his powers. He agreed to do something that took too much out of him. You said he healed you?”
“Yes” Dean repeats. “Are you saying we should take the deal back? Because I can –“
His hand moves towards the drawer and Sam is about to slap it away when Rowena says, “That wouldn’t help. He’s on the brink of… He’s struggling to become one or the other, something complete.”
“You mean demon or human?” Dean asks. She nods.
“Alright. Sammy can’t do the cure because he’d die but I can. Shouldn’t take to long to purify the blood we need…”
“Do you think that’s wise? The last time, he got hooked on the stuff” Sam says.
“What choice do we have? Or do you have any idea how to turn someone into a demon again?”
Even Rowena has to admit she doesn’t know any spells who could achieve this.
By now he’s learned to work around his seizures and the pain, but sadly he still can’t be sure that he’s indeed in the bunker.
Especially since he’s started to her his dear deceased mother too. Wonderful.
But he does hear Dean, clear as a bell, and he soon realizes what’s going on.
They are trying to turn him human.
Now, there are two ways this can go: he could die – let himself die, really, no one will ever be able to say he killed Crowley – or he could decide to join them.
Become another meat sack like them, feel hunger and pain again, probably be kicked out of the bunker –
The decision shouldn’t be as easy as it is.
Even after the ritual, Crowley stays unconscious for two more days, although now they can measure his pulse and watch his breathing, so that’s a plus.
Dean has been wondering what he should say when he wakes up – people don’t gut themselves for them and then show up only to almost sacrificing themselves again just for him often.
But really, in the end he goes with his gut.
Crowley’s eyes blink open late in the afternoon and Dean lays his book aside. “Hello, your Majesty. Fancy a glass of Craig?”