Chapter 15

Everyone is tense when they return to the bunker. Sam had already called to tell them that they'd gotten Michael on board with their plan, but just because they managed to drag him along didn't mean he was going to cooperate.

Michael looks around at everyone crowded in the war room, all waiting for him. It's impossible not to notice how his gaze skips right over Lucifer, but he does pause when he sees Gabriel.

"Hey, bro," Gabriel quips. "Finally decided the apocalypse was a bust? Man, if only there was someone who could have told you that millenia ago."

Michael scoffs, incredulous, but he doesn't dignify it with a response. He finishes surveying the room, then looks back to Sam. "I really don't think this will be enough to stop the Darkness."

"Enough to try, though?" Sam asks. "I mean, between Lucifer and Crowley, we've got all of Hell on our side. I'm sure you could get Heaven to work with us. Rowena said she'll talk to her witch friends. We've even got a hand of God locked away. That's gotta count for something, right?"

Michael thinks about that for a moment. "It could work. I don't have much faith that it will, but it could."

"Well, 'could' is all we've got," Dean says. "So, what, you game?"

Michael nods slowly. "I don't know what type of reactions my return to Heaven will bring, but I can try to talk the angels into it."

Dean turns his attention to Lucifer and Crowley. "And you two, you game to talk to the demons?"

"With him?" Lucifer gestures to Crowley with a nod of the head and a sharp laugh. "Not a chance."

"The hell are you talking about?" Bobby demands. "If you're expecting us to let you go alone —"

"Do you really think anyone would take me seriously like this?" Lucifer demands. "An archangel on a leash? You'd have better luck going down there yourself and beating them into submission."

"He's not wrong," Sam says.

Dean scoffs. "Sam, you can't really —"

"Oh, trust me, I don't think he should be going anywhere by himself," Sam says. "Honestly, I think this is a good thing. Send him down there with Crowley, and no one's gonna fight it. No one wants to cross paths with someone who tamed an archangel."

Crowley chuckles. "Now, that I can get on board with."

"Are you sure about this?" Jo asks. "I mean, maybe it'll help us out now, but when this is over, do you really want Crowley to be the undisputable king of hell?"

Crowley scoffs. "I'm right here, you know."

"Does it matter?" Sam asks. "If we don't get everyone on board, this will 'be over' when we're all dead and the planet's gone."

"Besides," Dean says, "I'd pick Crowley over Lucifer any day. May not be ideal, but hey, you get what you get." He shrugs.

"I'm not sure how I feel about that," Castiel says quietly. Heaven and Hell, despite being literal opposites, are shockingly similar, at least when it comes to the hierarchy. Castiel knew all those years ago when he tried to open Purgatory that power was the key to ruling all of Heaven, and striking fear in every ordinary angel. He has no doubt that it will work just as well for Crowley in Hell.

"I know, but we don't have much of a choice," Dean says, and he says it sort of compassionately, which really gets to him. Castiel's universe's Dean would have been much colder.

"Then it's settled," Michael says. "I will go to Heaven. If all goes well, I should return shortly, hopefully with good news."

"Meanwhile, we..." Crowley pulls Lucifer to his feet. "Will be in Hell. Ciao."

The last they see of them is Lucifer rolling his eyes dramatically before they disappear. Seemingly taking his cue from them, Michael disappears, too.

Dean sighs. "And now, we wait."

Castiel takes his hand in what he hopes is a reassuring way. "It's gonna work. I know it."

"But you don't know it," Dean says. "We could wipe out all of Heaven and Hell and still not get rid of Amara."

"You don't like Heaven or Hell anyway," Castiel reminds him.

"That's not the point," Dean says. "What if we're not enough? What if, even with all the angels and demons and witches we can find, we're not enough and Amara still destroys the planet?"

"We're trying to make up for in archangel and God," Castiel reminds him. "There's no way every angel in Heaven is less powerful than Raphael was. And between us, the demons, the witches, and the Hand of God, I'm sure —"

"But you're not sure," Dean insists. "We've never met God. We don't know how powerful He is. Maybe this isn't enough."

Dean's wrong about one thing — they have met God. They just didn't know Chuck was God at the time, and there's no way in hell Castiel could tell him that without raising a lot of questions. But that doesn't change the fact that they really don't know how powerful He is.

But that doesn't matter. Not to Castiel — not now. He's finally in a world where Dean loves back, and he'll be damned if he lets the hunter spend all their time together just stressing over the future.

Maybe it's easier for Castiel to say this because he's lived through almost the same situation they're in now, or because he knows things they don't, or even because he knows that if he dies here, he won't really die — though he'll lose this relationship with Dean, which is arguably worse. Whatever it is, he just knows he wants to live his fairytale life with Dean for however long he can.

Castiel steps in front of him and rests a hand on his cheek gently. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

Dean smiles slightly at that. "For some reason, I almost believe you."