Chapter Text
Every night since he was a tiny boy, Castiel had the same dream. His realm was threatened by a realm of demons. Everyone knew that. In his dream, Castiel defeated the demon king, saving his kingdom. The exact method varied quite a bit over time. He told his father about his dreams, his father passed him along to a priest, who determined that Castiel was seeing his destiny. The dreams were to guide him, to allow him to be prepared when the time came.
“How will I know?” Castiel asked David Gideon when he was twelve.
Father Gideon shook his head. “I can’t predict that, Castiel. You’ll be given a sign, but what that will be, only you will know. Just do your best to prepare, keep your eyes open, and answer the call when it comes in.”
Castiel hadn’t been satisfied with that, but no one else could give him anything better to go on. He hoped he wouldn’t recognize the sign. Demon or not, the idea of killing someone never sat right with him. When he was fifteen, he had another question for Father Gideon. “What happens if I ignore the sign?”
“I don’t know for sure. I’m no prophet. However… most likely, Ter d’Ange would be overtaken by demons and the kingdom we know and serve would cease to exist, absorbed into the demons’ empire. You’ve been given these dreams for a reason, Castiel, and I hope you’ll accept your destiny. Save us all.”
Once again, Castiel was not happy with that answer. But then… the dreams changed. Instead of killing the demon king, Castiel found other ways to defeat him. Much kinder ways, much more enjoyable for the both of them. When he told Father Gideon about those dreams, he groaned. “You’re seventeen, Castiel, your dreams are confused by the hormones running around your body. Find some willing girl or boy, get laid, get it out of your system.”
Castiel considered the suggestion. For his eighteenth birthday, he even went to a brothel his cousin Balthazar recommended. The trip went poorly, and Balthazar swore that he would never stop teasing his cousin about failing to get laid in a place where that is everyone’s job. After that, he gave up. His dreams hadn’t changed, except to get even more steamy, causing Castiel to wake up either in a mess or about to be.
Castiel was twenty-one when the sign arrived. A messenger from the demons, taunting them that they had Castiel’s sister Rachel captive. Castiel immediately went to his father. “Send me. Exchange me for Rachel.”
“What? No! Why would we do that?” Michael said. “We’ll just get her out the normal way – force.”
Castiel shook his head. “Father. Think about this. Consider what they’ll do to her if you leave her there long enough to get her out by force. I’m the more valuable captive, so they should accept the trade, and I’m better prepared to handle being the demons’ prisoner. Please, Father. For her sake.”
“You know what they’ll do to you.”
Castiel swallowed. “They’ll torture me. I know. Better me than her.” Castiel had good reason to believe that the demons would not, in fact, torture him, but his father had never believed that his dreams were some sort of destiny. “I’m going with or without your permission, Father. I’m not leaving Rachel in their hands.” He spun on his heel, heading for the stables and his favorite horse. He could trust Will to bring Rachel home safely.
Castiel’s courage nearly failed him when he got to the demon king’s castle and discovered one small problem with his dreams. For now, at least, the demons were ruled by a queen. Lilith was beautiful, but her beauty couldn’t hide the deadly evil within. Still, he needed to make the exchange. He could not leave Rachel in the demons’ hands.
Lilith came outside in response to Castiel’s call. “Prince Castiel! This is a surprise. Surely you don’t believe you can single-handedly save your sister, do you?”
“I do.” Castiel got off his horse. “Set her free, let her take my horse and depart. I will remain here as your prisoner.”
Lilith smiled. No smile should ever look so cold, and Castiel shivered a little. “You are a brave man, Prince Castiel.” She took a few steps closer. Castiel dismounted as she approached, and Lilith reached out to touch his face. She burst into pealing laughter. “A complete fool, but a brave man. Dear boy, you came here, by yourself, what exactly is to stop me from taking you captive and having two toys to play with while I wait for your father’s invasion?”
Castiel froze. No human kingdom would disregard the rules of engagement like that, but he’d forgotten one thing: these weren’t humans. They were demons. This was likely why Michael had opposed the plan. It certainly wasn’t because he cared that much about Castiel.
“Lilith.” Both queen and prince turned at the sound of the voice. Castiel’s mouth went dry as he recognized the tall man with the beautiful hair from his dreams. “I’m stopping you. Let the princess go. The prince is mine.”
Castiel fully expected Lilith to argue. After all, she was the queen; who was this guy? Instead, she turned to the man next to her. “Crowley, go fetch the princess. Sam, I suppose you and your new pet will want to wait here and see her safely off?”
Sam turned to his companion. “Dean, get a horse, you’ll be going with the princess to make sure Lilith doesn’t break her word and recapture her. We’ll wait here until Dean gets back.”
Sam brought Castiel to a tower and locked the door behind them. “Welcome to Hell, Prince Castiel. Make no mistake, you are not getting a lucky break being here with me instead of with Lilith.”
“Who, exactly, are you, that the queen of Hell listens to you?”
“You know we don’t call it Hell, right? We call it Gehenna?” Sam leaned against the wall with a raised eyebrow. “I’m its rightful king.”
“I don’t understand.” If Sam was the rightful king, then why was he alive and able to give orders to Lilith? Shouldn’t she want him dead because he could take over at any time? Or at least banished, or kept imprisoned? And yet, here Sam was, stealing prisoners from Lilith like it was nothing.
“Of course you don’t. Half the time I don’t either.” Sam gave an embarrassed shrug. “Lilith was the previous king’s oldest child, his best and brightest, and she fully expected to be queen when Lucifer died. Everyone expected that. Then Lucifer decided that instead of dying in office like a normal king, he was gonna abdicate and live out his retirement with no responsibilities… and he specifically named me as his heir. I’m not even royal. I’m not related to him. No one has any idea why he picked me, least of all me. Hell, technically, I’m not even a demon, just raised as one when Lucifer’s brother Azazel killed my mom and took me to raise.”
“So if Lucifer left you on the throne, why is Lilith running everything most of the time? Why hasn’t she killed you?”
“Lilith’s running everything because she’s been training for it all her life and until they showed up to hand me the crown I’d never even thought about running a country. Who does that, puts someone in charge who has no political or military experience? So I stay in my tower, let Lilith run the country as she sees fit, except for special circumstances. As for why Lilith hasn’t killed me or kicked me out…” Sam stood back up straight, throwing his shoulders back. “She tried once. She failed. Lucifer hauled himself out of his retirement to remind her that I’m king, not her, and succession goes through me. If I die, my brother gets the throne. And trust me, nobody wants my brother pissed off that I’m dead with the power of the throne behind him.”
Fair enough, Castiel had to admit. “All right. So why me? Why intervene for me?”
“Reasons that I look forward to finding out.” Sam walked over, walking around Castiel and looking him over. “You’re scared.”
Castiel turned his head to meet Sam’s gaze, staring incredulously. “I’m at the mercy of a man raised by demons who could stop them from marauding kingdoms and slaughtering innocent people, children, and doesn’t. Shouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, you should be terrified. And yet, you came here, without backup in case something went wrong, offered yourself up in your sister’s place, and you’re standing your ground enough to snark at me.” Sam’s lips twitched, almost smiling. “I’m curious. Why?”
“You have a brother. You should know why. As I understand you, your brother would never leave you in danger without doing anything he could to save you, including taking your place. Would he?”
“No, he would not.” Sam took a step back from Castiel. “Okay. What’s your father going to do to get you back?”
“He’s not exactly known for subtlety or secrecy, and he rarely relies on the element of surprise. Most likely, he’ll march an army up to your border, send messengers demanding my release and scouts to find the best path to march an army through, and when Lilith refuses to let me go invade and start marching to here. If he can’t break through with the first attack, he’ll send raiding parties out to hit farms and towns in the area and settle the main part of his army in for a siege. Anyone who knows Michael could predict that.”
Sam smirked. “He’d go after civilians? Kill children in his raids?”
Castiel shook his head. “Not at first. Standing orders would be to spare children and any adults who didn’t take up arms to look after the children after the raid. If he thought more pressure was needed, then, yes. He could justify it as you or Lilith being responsible since you didn’t release me.”
“And yet you throw that at me as a reason I should be judged, not stopping Lilith’s tactics.”
“Yes. I do.” Castiel’s eyes narrowed. Did Sam really not see the difference here? “For one thing, I said that my father would justify his actions, not that I believed his actions would be justified. I do not agree with him and would not give that order. Unlike you with Lilith, I have no authority to stop my father from conducting his war his way. And then, Lilith’s raids are unprovoked. My father coming for me is provoked.”
“Hmm.” Sam stared at Castiel for long enough to make Castiel highly uncomfortable. “All right, then. One more question. Explain to me why I’ve seen you in my dreams since the earliest ones I remember.”
What should he say? Would Sam accept the simple truth? “I can’t. I don’t know. I can tell you that I’ve dreamt of you my entire life as well. I think my brain ran out of ways for me to kill you.”
“Is that your intention, then? You took Rachel’s place to get close enough to kill me? Because, let me remind you, brother.”
Castiel shook his head, meeting Sam’s complicated eyes. “No. I don’t want to kill anyone. I’m rather a poor example of a prince, I’m afraid. If there is a peaceful solution, I much prefer that to violence or war.”
Sam had no answer for that. He just took Castiel to a room and put him inside, locking the door behind him. Castiel looked around – there wasn’t much to do, but that was all right. He wasn’t in a dungeon. There was a bed, there was what appeared to be a toilet, and there was a barrel of water. Likely stale, but he wouldn’t die of thirst.