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One minute, Sam and Dean were staring at each other over the new sheen of dust that Death had left on the floor of the bar. Then Dean grabbed at his arm, clutching the Mark, doubled over… and Sam found himself up in Heaven. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not supposed to be here.”
“Sam.” Sam turned around to see Chuck. “I probably should have done this earlier, but you really don’t want to get rid of the Mark of Cain.”
“What, I’m just supposed to be okay with losing my brother like this?” Sam threw up his hands. He really thought Chuck knew him better than that. “Come on, dude. Whatever the consequences are, we’ll deal with them. Like we’ve dealt with everything else.”
“You don’t understand. I created the Mark of Cain, and I gave it to Lucifer. You’ve seen what it did to him. You think I’d have let that happen if the other choice weren’t even worse?”
“You think I’m going to let that happen to Dean?” Sam was shaken, though. Lucifer has been Chuck’s favorite. What could be worse than creating Lucifer as he was?
Chuck shook his head. “It won’t. Not like Lucifer. The Mark doesn’t create anything, it just takes the darkness already inside someone and amplifies it while suppressing the light. Dean has darkness inside, but nowhere near what Lucifer had.”
“Okay, but still. You think I’m gonna sit back and let Dean turn into the worst possible version of himself?” And that assumed Chuck was telling the truth, something he was not exactly known for. Sam could deal with it because he was used to being lied to by the people he loved, but it was frustrating.
“Yes. I do. Because I know what’s behind that lock. The Darkness. Her name’s Amara, and last time she was free, it took not just me, but all four archangels to lock her away and keep her from destroying the whole of existence. If she gets loose…”
“What is it with you and locking people away?” Chuck started to answer, but Sam shook his head. He hadn’t really wanted an answer. With Lucifer, locking him away had been the only answer, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be a better way here. “Amara can’t be reasoned with? You’re sure? If we let her out, there’s no way it could possibly be a good thing?”
“She can’t. You don’t think I tried? You don’t think it broke my heart, locking my sister away like that?”
“Your sister?!” Now Sam was convinced. “Dude, if she’s your sister, then we need to set her free so you can talk to her.”
Chuck sighed. “I suppose I should have expected that. I did, really, that’s why I’m here. If you’re insisting on letting her out, then we’re gonna need help to lock her away again, and I seem to be three and a half archangels short.”
“And a half? Huh?” Michael and Lucifer were in the Cage and it was too dangerous to let them out; Raphael and Gabriel were dead. The only half Sam could come up with is if Chuck had a way to let Michael out without setting Lucifer free.
“Really, two halves, I guess. Here.” Chuck tossed a book to Sam. “That will tell you a spell to conjure the Cage to a lesser place in Hell and ward it so that the only way out is if the angel has a living host. Use it to summon Michael. If you can’t convince Dean to say yes, you’ll need to bring a host for him, but you should be able to get Michael out without freeing Lucifer. Of course, after talking to Michael, you may not want to… with you gone, Lucifer didn’t exactly have anyone else to play with.”
Sam took the book, flipping it open to look at the spell. His head snapped up at the end of Chuck’s comment. “Wait, what about Adam? Can we use this spell to get Adam out?”
“Adam’s not… don’t you remember, Sam? Adam’s not there. Adam was never there. He’s back in Heaven where he belongs. If you want, you can go visit him and see if he’d be willing to come with you to be Michael’s host for this.”
Sam blinked. He remembered Adam being there, and Michael shielding him… or did he? He also remembered Lucifer yelling at Michael for letting the other toy go. “Show me.”
Chuck snapped his fingers, and Adam was standing in front of them. “Sam? Oh my god, you’re here, you… does this mean Lucifer’s free again? How did you get away from him?”
“Adam.” Sam stepped forward to hug his half-brother. “You’re safe. I thought you were still down there. My memories are kind of… jumbled and faded. Lucifer’s not free. It’s a long story how I am, but I’m glad to know you’re safe.”
“Same.” Adam disappeared before Sam could respond, leaving him staring at Chuck in disbelief.
“One more thing you should know… if Dean has the Mark when Amara’s freed, he’ll become bonded to her in a way. Amara will use that bond. Dean won’t be able to do a damn thing against her. Are you okay with sidelining him like that?”
“Not really, but is there any other choice at this point? Dean would never give me the Mark, and I’m not dragging some innocent person into this.” Sam could just imagine that conversation, and it was not going well. “Besides… maybe that’s the key. With a connection to Dean, why couldn’t it go both ways? Dean’s pretty pro-creation and all in favor of bonding with brothers… maybe Amara could pick that up from him?”
Chuck rolled his eyes. “Have fun with that. I’m still putting my money on Michael, Gabriel, and any new archangels I can get made and up to power in time.”
“Gabriel? He’s dead, didn’t you…” On the other hand, if there was any way to bring him back, it would be through Chuck. “If you can bring Gabriel back, why not Raphael too?”
“Raphael’s dead. Gabriel’s being held captive in Hell. I just need to get a group together to take on a prince of Hell and get him back, which they’ll do because it’s me asking and it’s for Gabriel. Castiel owes me a couple favors and likes Gabriel, and he’s got experience raiding Hell.” Chuck flinched. “And it’s time for you to go back to Dean. If you’re gonna stop this, you’ll have to do it fast.”
Even if Sam had wanted to, there was no time. The Mark broke, and then it became about finding Amara. Easier said than done, especially as they got conflicting accounts of whether they were supposed to be looking for a full-grown person, a baby, or something in between. After the second vision of the Cage, Sam talked to Dean about the spell to contact Michael. Dean refused to be the host for Michael to get out, but Adam agreed to a temporary solution of being the host until Michael could travel through time and find a better one.
Having Chuck, Michael, and Gabriel back helped organize Heaven, ending leftover feuds from the time spent on Earth, restoring everything Metatron screwed up, and giving them a purpose: find and contain Amara. Hannah was the one to contact Sam and Dean when she was found. Sam went with Dean to stand with him, but Dean would have to talk.
“Uh… hi, Amara?”
Amara turned. Sam bit back the urge to make a comment about how this was either going to be much easier than they thought because Dean had some pretty good luck with charming pretty women, or much harder because when Dean’s luck went bad, it went bad hard. “Dean.” She stepped forward, reaching up to caress his face. “You came to me.”
“Yeah, uh… hi? Welcome to creation? Don’t you think it’s pretty nice and maybe you shouldn’t destroy it all?” Dean shot a look at Sam, who was busy trying not to snicker too obviously. “I’m kinda fond of it. It’s where I live.”
“You won’t die. I would never destroy you, Dean. You’re a part of me now, and no matter what happens to my brother’s…” Amara looked around dismissively. “Toys, you’ll be with me.”
Dean cleared his throat. “See, uh, that’s kind of the problem. You don’t know the hell that I turn into when someone takes my brother away from me. World-ending hell. He’s right here, you should meet him.”
Amara looked Sam over. “Oh, now that’s just weird. My brother always liked to call his toys his children. He went and married one?”
Sam decided to ignore the jab. Yes, it was weird, but only if you thought about it too hard. It was easy to ignore most of the time. “Yeah, hi, I’m your brother-in-law. Chuck’s agreed…”
“Chuck?” Amara stared at Sam, a derisive laugh escaping. “He’s calling himself Chuck now? Wow. That’s… Chuck.”
“Yes, he’s calling himself Chuck now, that’s not the point.” Sam took a moment to pause and regroup. “He’s skeptical. He doesn’t think there’s any point reasoning with you, but if you’re willing to talk, so is he. Are you?”
Amara stared down Dean for over a minute, causing Dean to fidget and start muttering about hating being objectified. “Fine. I’ll talk to my brother. Don’t expect miracles. What could he possibly have to say that would justify locking me up?”
Chuck’s attempt at justification went… poorly. Even God couldn’t pull an explanation Amara would accept out of his ass. Eventually, he threw up his hands. “If you’d have just stopped breaking everything…”
Sam grabbed Chuck’s hand. “Chuck, I know it’s hard for you, but… maybe there’s another way here? Admit you overreacted and apologize?”
“But I didn’t do anything to apologize for. She should apologize to me for not giving creation a chance.” Chuck crossed his arms and glared at Sam. “If I hadn’t locked her away, you wouldn’t exist, and you can try all you want but you will never convince me that that doesn’t make it all worth it.”
Sam, naturally, disagreed… but on the other hand, Chuck certainly wasn’t wrong. There was no way to convince him. “You said it took the four archangels to lock her away. Aren’t they creations? She didn’t destroy them. You’re going to all this trouble to rehab Michael and Gabriel instead of just creating new ones, so I find it hard to believe you created them at the last second last time.”
Chuck tried to answer, but eventually just threw up his hands. “So?”
Dean looked to Amara. “Why didn’t you destroy the archangels? Nobody would’ve missed Lucifer, and Michael and Raphael weren’t much better.”
“Dean…” Sam started to protest, but Amara cut him off.
“Lucifer was the best of them. Obviously, I don’t know what happened to him later, but he was the last one I’d have destroyed. I didn’t because I liked them. Well, Gabriel’s sense of humor left something to be desired, but… I had hope he’d grow out of his juvenile pranks.”
“Bad news there,” Dean muttered. Louder, he added, “So… why don’t you take some time, have a look around creation, see if you like any of it? You just might be surprised.”
Once again, Amara stared at Dean for long enough to make him seriously uncomfortable. “All right, on one condition. Come with me. Show me what’s so great about my brother’s creations.” She looked over to Chuck and Sam. “You guys too. Convince me that this is different.”
Dean looked like he was going to refuse in a most unhelpful way, so Sam intervened. “Dean and I can’t just leave. We have responsibilities here. Friends to help out, people to protect. But, you know, Chuck makes a point of coming by pretty often to see me, so it’s not like we can’t go with you sometimes. And I’m sure Dean will be perfectly happy to teach you his favorite parts of creation…”
Dean choked and glared at Sam, but Amara looked thoughtful. Finally, she nodded. “Fair enough. Chuck? Show me your toys?”
“Sure, why not?” Chuck held out a hand to Amara, and the two of them disappeared.
Dean punched Sam in the shoulder. “What the hell was that?”
“Come on, dude, when haven’t you been up for teaching someone about booze and cars and cheeseburgers?” Sam asked innocently. “And, well, she likes you, she’s totally your type – hot chick with self-confidence to burn and who likes you… is that really gonna be a hardship for you to hang out with her?”
“She eats souls!”
“She doesn’t have to. If this works, she’ll stop. And hey, what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t try to set you up with your own great cosmic being date?” Sam leaned toward Dean, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Consider this payback for all your ridiculous schemes to get me to hook up with someone back in high school.”