#but we know cas prayed to god for answers and guidance | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Tumblr.com rank in the US is 25.

#but we know cas prayed to god for answers and guidance

jasontoddiefor · 4 years

Text

Title: you gave up half your life Fandom: Supernatural Summary: When Dean and Cas disappeared, Sam was lost. But in a world that had nearly broken apart so many times, he wasn’t the only one who needed support and guidance. AN: Remember when I ranted about season 7? Yeah good times. Here’s my 10.000 words Salty Post Season 7 Fix-it in which Sam Winchester accidentally starts organizing a bunch of Hunters all while trying to find his brother.

Read on AO3

Sam didn’t remember the first 48 hours after Dean had disappeared. He knew he must have gotten out of the building, away from the Leviathans, the demons and every pretty little hell his mind could have thrown at him, and driven away in the Impala. He had woken up covered in black goo at the side of a road outside of some tiny town he didn’t even know the name of, miles and hours away from where they had stopped the apocalypse 2.0.

Dean was gone.

Sam had to get him back.

The two of them had a pact, of course. If one of them died, the other would continue on with his life. No shady deals, no sacrifices, no years wasted away chasing after the barest whisper of hope.

That pact was lie.

Sam had known as much from the moment he had died for the first time. They had sworn it to assure each other that they weren’t too far gone yet, that they could still be functional members of society that weren’t utterly codependent.

During his time at Stanford, Sam had taken a course on children’s psychology. Siblings that grew up with absent parents tended to cling more to each other. The younger they were, the stronger the bond.

The course had been eye-opening and confronted him with more than just one uncomfortable truth. (Sam had never cried out for their father after a nightmare.) As long as Dean was out there, somewhere, Sam could manage.

But now Dean was gone.

Not dead, not possessed, just gone.

The pact was a lie and Sam was alone.

His next course of action was clear, he knew his mission (had done so once already in a fantasy land created by a cowardly angel): find Dean, consequences be damned.

(He heard Lucifer singing, oh, so sweetly, “This is why you were made for me.” He ignored it.)

Sam started to research. He had always liked that part of the job the most. Ever since he could think, he’d been absorbing knowledge. It was the most ordinary, white-picket-fence like part of being a Hunter. When he had been younger, Sam used to pretend that he was preparing for a school project instead of trying to figure out what was going to kill his family if he didn’t do his job correctly.

He began collecting books from all kinds of places. All his Leviathan research was already stored on his laptop and about five different hard drives he carried with him at all times. It was hard to find anything online Sam didn’t already know or the Leviathans hadn’t covered up themselves. The lore on purgatory, which Sam had already gone through, was about as vague and contrasting as possible. According to the Catholic church, it didn’t even exist anymore. At the same time, the older the lore, the more accurate and Dante had written a whole adventure about it. Sam should have asked Cas how reliable Dante's account of hell, purgatory, and heaven was. Sam had only been to two of those realms and his memories of both were hazy. What little the monsters had let slip out about purgatory didn’t help him either.

Sam was looking at a puzzle he didn’t know how to solve, where to start searching. Usually, Dean would throw in some random comment now, sparking a new thought process.

But Sam was alone.

(For now.)

He had to keep looking.

After he had gotten back from the Cage, Sam had to stop himself whenever he introduced Dean.

“This is my brother-,” he would say and halt. Dean took over then, playing whatever role he had assumed at the moment.

Sam had been too much of a coward to ask Dean if he knew that it took months for Sam to get it under control, until Adam was no longer the first name on his tongue.

“You’re my brother Adam,” Sam had whispered for a century, wrapped tightly in Grace while sheltering his younger brother.

The least damage to the most innocent of us, three of them had decided down there. The Cage did not provide any space for raging battles or accusations, and it was meant for only one of them. There was companionship to be found in equal suffering.

(Even in the darkest place on Earth, Sam hadn’t been on his own.)

Sam had lost one brother for eternity. He wasn’t going to lose another.

Sam had almost forgotten that he had a phone until it rang one day. He had been lying half asleep on the small table of the motel room, which still had two queen-sized beds because Sam hadn’t gotten out of the habit of asking for such yet. Last time, it had taken almost two months. Sam didn’t intend to be separated from his brother long enough to get rid of the habit again.

The ringing of the phone startled him awake. In his disorientation, he knocked his mug, half-filled with cold coffee, off the table.

“Shit,” Sam cursed and threw the nearest piece of fabric he could find over it.

He then rushed over to his bag, searching for his phone.

Please, he thought. I need just this one miracle.

Sam didn’t recognize the number on the phone. Memorizing numbers of hotel rooms, license plates, phones, holes in jeans, and bullets had been one of the first things John Winchester had taught Sam.

After Dean had shown Sam how to read such numbers.

“Hello?” Sam answered the phone. His voice was rough – when had he last talked to someone?

“Sam Winchester?”

Sam’s first reaction was to recoil. He wanted to scream, shout, throw something.

He did neither of those things.

“Kevin? Is that you?”

A sob rang from the other end of the line.

“Oh, God. It really is you. I know I memorized your number correctly, but the tablet messed with my head and I just, I need-“

“Kevin, breathe,” Sam ordered. “Where are you?”

“New York,” Kevin stammered. “State, not city. I managed to escape, but Crowley will know soon because I blew up his demons and I don’t know where to go or what to do-“

“I’ll come get you. Go somewhere safe and ward the room like you’re expecting the devil himself to knock and then call me again.”

He sent a quick and silent prayer to Castiel, the only angel worth praying to left these days despite everything, and began to pack his things. Truth be told, Sam hadn’t really thought about Kevin since that day. Crowley had just grabbed him and vanished, and Dean, always Sam’s priority, had been more important.

Dean would be ashamed Sam had let himself get so absorbed in such a single-minded attitude. This hyper-focusing, while it helped fighting one cause, could get you killed just as quickly. A Hunter couldn’t be entrenched. They had to think quickly and be flexible and open to other ideas. For all that Hunters hated deviating from the norm, if you only knew how to salt-n-burn bones, your third ghost would get you.

Within fifteen minutes, Sam was packed. He loaded his belongings into the Impala and drove off into the direction of New York.

Sam found Kevin in an overcrowded motel, hiding out in a wardrobe that was covered in so many sigils, it might as well be drenched in ink. Kevin had picked up on quite a lot of knowledge in the short time he had been exposed to the supernatural. Though, maybe, that also had to do with his status as a prophet of the Lord. Perhaps this knowledge was written into his soul.

When Sam opened the door, Kevin was cradling the demon tablet with one hand and a water bottle with the other.

“Hey, Kev-“

Sam didn’t get much further, as Kevin hit him with a glass full of water.

“I’m not a demon, Kevin,” Sam said slowly. He knew better than to scare the younger man now.

“You could have been possessed!” Kevin insisted, bloodshot eyes wide open with a crazed look.

Sam shook his head and pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck to expose his anti-possession tattoo.

“Not with this. As long as I’ve got this one intact, I’m good.”

Kevin stared at the black ink.

“Is that Hunter standard?” He asked. “And can I get one?”

For the first time in weeks, or so it felt like, Sam managed to twist his face into something resembling a happy expression with the hint of a smile.

“Sure, Kevin. If you’re up for a long drive right now.”

Kevin was tired. It was written all over his face, his posture. He had a haunted look in his eyes, one Sam knew all too well. It was easy to forget that not everyone had been raised in this life like Sam and his brother had. But right now, staring in Kevin's sunken-in face, Sam was reminded of just how much Kevin had had to adapt since he’d woken up as a prophet.

“I need to keep moving,” Kevin insisted, subtly shifting so the tablet was pressing into his body uncomfortably.

“Okay. Then we keep moving.”

Kevin fell asleep in the backseat of the Impala within fifteen minutes, still holding onto the tablet. Once in a while, Sam glanced at Kevin, but he slept peacefully. The past weeks must have been an enormous strain on his body and mind if he rested as well as he did now, with no nightmares haunting him.

(The first few nights after Cas had taken Lucifer from him, Sam had been so out of it as well. He had fallen asleep and just woken up again, not chased by blood, torture, and screams. Nowadays, if he slept, he had night terrors. It almost made him miss Lucifer. Almost.)

Sam wished he could say the same.

After a couple days of pretty much non-stop driving, Sam and Kevin arrived in a relatively small town. They got a motel, checked for any signs of demons and promptly warded the room to withstand a minor assault. Then they left the Impala in the parking lot and headed for a diner. Kevin hadn’t eaten properly in days (not that Sam had either, but he also wasn’t recovering from a kidnapping) and needed something nutritious.

“Where are we?” Kevin asked while he was swirling his soup around with his spoon, not eating any of it.

“Nebraska, passed the state lines a couple hours ago.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I can read road signs, Sam. But you were heading to this city specifically – why?”

“There’s a retired Hunter here, or at least, I hope he’s still here. He owns a tattoo shop.”

Kevin stared at him, not giving Sam the impression that he had made the connection. Then again, he’d been so out of it when Sam had picked him up, he might not even remember.

“You wanted to get an anti-possession tattoo,” Sam elaborated.

“Oooh, yeah.” Kevin looked down on his bowl. “I forgot about that. But why here? Couldn’t we have walked to any shop?”

The answer was yes, they could have, but Sam didn’t want to. Marty McKinnons never really left his state for hunting. Sam had met him when he was on his way to Stanford, seven days separated from Dean. Sam may or may not have had a minor breakdown in the passenger seat of Marty’s car while they drove away from a graveyard.

“I only managed seven fucking days of normal before the crazy came back again. What the hell was I thinking?” Sam had said then.

Marty had let Sam crash on his sofa that night and set his head straight again. He had been managing a shop and a band while hunting. “You don’t have to give it all up, kid,” Marty had said. “Or push it all away. If you see a ghost, take care of it or call someone who can. No need to go searching for cases like your daddy. If your neighborhood’s good, so are you.”

And then he had given Sam breakfast and driven him to the bus station.

“We could,” Sam finally replied. “But I’ve wanted to check out who else is still in the game, and if they know what the demons are up to.”

Kevin mustered Sam a little while longer. “Alright.”

He went back to pretending he was actually going to eat more of his soup and Sam picked at his salad.

Marty’s shop was crammed into an alley, an off-shoot of the main road. It was still standing. Sam took that as a good sign. Kevin walked slightly behind Sam, staying as close as he possibly could without full-on taking over Sam’s personal space.

Sam opened the door to the shop and the old bell attached to the doorframe rang. Marty had stolen it out of an abandoned church. Sam couldn’t quite recall what monster church bells warded against, but he could remember in perfect detail Marty’s hilarious tale about its acquisition. It had involved neon pink paint and lucky charms and had sounded like something out of a comedy sketch.

“Welcome to Artemis Tattoo’s, what can I do for you?”

Marty looked a little different than Sam recalled. It shouldn’t surprise him, it had been over a decade. The red-haired man was well into his fifties now, and his hair was graying, giving him a silver-fox look.

“Hey, Marty,” Sam greeted lamely. “It’s me, Sam-“

“Sam Winchester?” Marty interrupted him with wide eyes.

He took off his glasses and rubbed them over his black t-shirt before putting them on again.

“Christo, is that really you, kid?”

Sam shrugged helplessly. “Still me, still kicking.”

Compared to Sam, most people were smaller than him. Marty was the only person Sam knew who was taller than him still. When he marched towards you, it was impossible to not feel intimidated. Nobody would expect a man of Marty’s age and built to be as silent and fast as he was, so when he suddenly rushed towards Sam, Sam was caught off-guard. He didn’t even have a chance to act before Marty pulled him close.

He was hugging him, Sam realized belatedly.

“Holy fucking hell, kid,” Marty cursed. “You’re alive. You wouldn’t believe the shit I heard about you Winchesters in the past years. Where’s your brother?”

Sam tensed and Marty slowly let go of him. Marty had started hunting because his older sister had been killed by a witch, Sam remembered.

Sam didn’t have it as bad as him.

“Dean’s- he’s gone.”

(But he would be back.)

“Hell, kid. I’m sorry-“

“He’s not dead,” Sam insisted. Each time he said it out loud, he managed to stand a little bit straighter. “He’s just lost. I’ll find him. But that’s not what I’m here for. Look, this is Kevin.”

Sam stepped aside to let Marty get a good look at Kevin. Kevin waved timidly and nervously took in Marty’s many tattoos. The older man was covered in them from head to toe. Most of them were for the aesthetic, but quite a lot were there because they helped on the job.

Marty specialized in taking down witches, and while you couldn’t protect yourself from all of their spells, there were quite a lot counter measurements one could ink into their skin.

“Kevin’s a prophet. Crowley’s had him for a while-“

“Crowley?”

Right. Sometimes Sam forgot that not everybody dealt with demons on the daily like him.

“Current King of Hell,” Sam continued. “Kevin managed to escape, but we need to get him some extra security.”

Marty nodded slowly and then grinned, warm and toothily like Sam remembered. It was nice to be looked at in kindness for once instead of hatred and fear like most Hunters did nowadays.

“Anti-possession tattoo, you’re thinking?”

“Yes,” Kevin spoke up for the first time since they had entered the shop. “I don’t want one of those bastards in my head. If they know what I know…”

“Could get bad, I got you. Man, am I glad I don’t deal with those sons of a bitch. And you, Sam? Can I get you anything?”

Sam stuck his hand in his jeans pocket and pulled out a paper sheer that used to be white once upon a time.

“Yes, actually,” Sam said. “There is something I want.”

In the years Sam and Dean had been hiding from Heaven and Hell, they had learned more about wards than their father had in his entire life. Most of them had to be powered by blood, freshly spilled. A few of them, like the Enochian sigils Castiel had branded onto their ribs, could be applied and would work without a sacrifice, or one that only needed to be paid once.

Sam had never thought about putting anything other than the anti-possession tattoo on his skin (it was too easy to alter wards, to make them turn on the one using them, to have them drain you, they made you recognizable) but the last years had worn him down.

And if anything ever got close enough to him again to manipulate him (wear his body, wrap his soul in sweet lullabies while they tear into his brother’s flesh-), then perhaps Sam deserved it.

He wasn’t young and weak anymore.

(He had pulled Lucifer apart.)

Sam could afford to wear the wards he wanted.

“Are you sure?” Marty asked, studying the paper Sam had handed him. “This is… I don’t even recognize half of this.”

(Nobody would. Something had been meant for Archangel Grace only, but Sam had been there and he had listened. And he remembered.)

Kevin looked over the paper as well, frowning. When he met Sam’s eyes, he was troubled.

“That’s a lot,” Kevin said, something old lingering in his voice.

Maybe being a prophet didn’t just mean that Kevin could read God’s Word.

“I know,” Sam said. “I want it.”

(I consent.)

When they separated from Marty, the man pulled both of them into another heartfelt hug. Kevin looked like he was about to break and Sam’s hug was a little awkward as Marty was mindful not to touch Sam’s back.

“Don’t get into any trouble,” Marty said. “You have my phone number. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to call.”

“Same goes for you, Marty,” Sam replied. “And if anyone wants to get the wards, but has questions about them, they can call me. I can explain.”

Marty smiled warmly and messed up Sam’s long hair. “You’re a good kid. Stay safe.”

They drove westward, hitting old libraries and archives, universities and churches. Sam kept learning, kept going. He couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. He felt a little bit like he was losing his mind.

(Except this was reality.)

Kevin wasn’t any better.

He barely slept. Most of the time, he was staring at the demon tablet, taking notes and trying to make sense of everything written there.

After a month of traveling, Kevin admitted defeat.

“I can’t do this if we keep moving,” he admitted quietly. “I need peace and calm to actually understand what I’m doing here.”

“Okay,” Sam said. He had expected it. “I’ll find a place.”

Some Hunters never traveled far away from their home, others were so lost they drifted until some monster killed them. As much as Sam had detested it, he had been raised on the road. He had studied for his finals lying on the backseat of the Impala. He had gotten a full-ride to Stanford with sticky-notes pinned to the windows.

(Sam wondered what he could have been if he had been able to recover in peace.)

Sam left Kevin at an old abandoned church. They set up traps for demons, bought enough non-perishable food to ensure Kevin wouldn’t have to leave the church for a while (until Sam found a better solution) and said their quiet goodbyes.

(“Looks like you’re well and truly on your own.”)

Everybody left.

Sam should be used to it by now.

It didn’t stop him from watching Kevin in the rearview-mirror until the distance ate him up.

Dean was gone two months now. Kevin called sometimes, but Sam couldn’t always keep up with his rambles. The Impala was stocked full with books kept in a neat organization system that hadn’t ever made sense to anyone but Dean.

Sam hunted a vampire in Colorado.

Then a witch in Utah.

A werewolf in Arizona.

Ghouls, shifters, ghosts, wendigos, rugaru-

And then, blood splattered over his clothes, Sam killed a demon.

Two hunters with twin shocked expressions pointed at Sam, then at the dead body and threw up their arms in defeat, shouting, “You can do that!?”

Sam had been avoiding demons to the best of his abilities. He knew they were hunting him and Kevin down, and while at some point he had entertained the thought of using himself as bait to lure them as far away from Kevin as possible, he had settled on trying to stay as far away from them as he could.

Until he couldn’t.

The demon was working on his own and he hadn’t been really all that well-informed or strong. It was easy enough to trap him and get him to break.

Sam hated torture, but not as much as Dean did.

(Because Dean wasn’t just good at it, he was great.)

But he could get a demon to start speaking if he wanted it to. The demon had boasted so proudly about how much he had made the owner of his meatsuit suffer until the soul had died, not knowing that his actions had only made it easier for Sam.

And then, when he had stabbed the knife through the demon’s heart, two college kids broke into the warehouse.

They must be siblings, twins maybe even, Sam thought. Both of them had curly dark hair, equally dark skin, and their expressions were too similar for them to not be family.

“You just killed a demon,” the smaller one said. “How do you- what. Just. What?”

Sam’s eyes narrowed.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“Dude, who are you? You just offed a demon!”

They couldn’t be older than twenty-five at most, at best if Sam allowed himself to hope. They knew about demons, so they had to be Hunters. Probably not in the business for long if they didn’t know demons could be killed. That was common knowledge amongst the community, or what was left of it. At least Sam thought it was. He and Dean had never really been close to a lot of Hunters because of their reputation.

“I’m Sam Winchester,” he introduced himself.

The eyes of the pair widened.

Not good.

Sam slowly shifted his body into a more versatile position and counted the exits. He would defend himself, no questions asked, but he didn’t want to hurt anyone. If he could get away from the two without the situation escalating into a fight, everything would be alright.

“Sam Winchester,” the taller twin spoke up. “You’re really Sam Winchester?”

And then something curious happened.

The twins dropped their shoulders in pure relief, hope lighting them up like they still had something to believe in that hadn’t been broken by blood and deals.

Well, that was a first.

“Dude,” the smaller one said. “Thank you so much.”

What.

Sam hadn’t said a word, but his confusion must have shown (damn it, he used to be better at acting, at pretending, at reassuring everyone that he was fine) because the kid immediately began to babble.

“You saved us. Just. Thank you. Just, thank you for everything.”

“You are welcome?”

Sam still didn’t know what they were talking about, but he sincerely hoped that he was right in assuming the two of them meant no harm. They put away their guns, practically vibrating with energy.

“I’m sorry, but have we met before?” Sam asked.

“No,” the taller replied. “I’m Gregory Rosswell and this one here next to me is my brother Frederick. Our parents got snatched by Leviathans a couple months back. We’ve been going after them ever since and everything else that came our way.”

Gregory glanced at the dead demon behind Sam. “Mostly ghosts though. Caught one demon, but he almost blew our brains out. Couldn’t chug enough salt and holy water at him fast enough.”

“Yeah,” Fred agreed. “How did you catch one so easily?”

“Devil’s trap,” Sam said.

“Oh.”

The twins shared a look. “Can you teach us how to draw one?”

Gregory and Frederick Rosswell were twenty-years-old (too young, children still, they shouldn’t be here) and had both been home from university when their parents had been replaced by Leviathans. When they had tried to do the same to Frederick, Gregory had cut off their heads with a cutlass from their father’s ancient weapons collection.

Sam refrained from asking whether the cutlass hidden beneath the backseat of the twins’ car was the one Gregory had used. They had a fairly impressive collection of knives and swords, but only two small handguns.

“We don’t need those much since we mostly go after Leviathans,” Gregory explained. “Didn’t even know there was more crazy out there until we ran into our first ghost.”

Gregory said it so casually that Sam didn’t know whether to be impressed or shocked. Leviathans weren’t easy to kill, even depowered as they now were, and Hunters, whose introduction to life was so violent, tended to die sooner than later.

When Sam tried to explain that, the Rosswells only looked at him in disbelief.

“Yeah, man. Back up a second. Vampires are real too?”

The twins turned to each other, conveying thoughts in half-smiles, a groan and a tap on the shoulder. Then they decided to invite Sam back into their conversation.

“What else is there?” Gregory asked. “And how do we kill it?”

“You don’t have to do this,” Sam said.

They were twenty, they shouldn’t be hunting when they had their whole lives still ahead of them.

(Sam was twenty-nine, was two-hundred-twenty, centuries, ages, older than his brother would ever be.)

“We know,” Frederick replied. “But we don’t want to stop. We can’t stop.”

Sam had never met a Hunter who could. (Himself included.)

Sam had never actually taught someone how to be a Hunter. Frederick and Gregory got the basics done already and research wasn’t unfamiliar to them. Their father had been a policeman, so they knew how law enforcement worked and could pretend to be a part of it well enough. Sam didn’t feel like he was actually teaching them a lot by giving them a list of America’s Top Twenty Monsters and a How To Kill Them All manual.

If he was honest, he thought the twins did most of the work. For the weeks they stuck with him, they asked countless questions, treating him like a tired college professor.

“How much Holy Water can you bless at once?”

A lot, but no, you can’t just bless the ocean. That’s not how it works.

“Wooden stake for tricksters? Where does that even come from?”

Yes, wooden stake. Works if they’re not angels in disguise.

“Angels are real!?”

Yes, and they all suck. Never let one of them possess you. They may need your consent, but it doesn’t need to be an informed or gentle one. You’ll be out of control and feel like you’ve been strapped to a comet. (Like you’re trapped in the softest dream, surrounded by memories of your siblings when they still loved you and the world was whole and untainted.)

“I know Latin and I’d been learning Greek for my bachelor, but how many languages do you need to know?”

A lot.

“Why do you carry so many books around in your car? Wouldn’t it be easier to get a place to store them in?”

“And organize them properly?” Frederick teased.

Sam looked at the backseat of the car and yes, true enough, he had accumulated a small library.

“Oh, shut up, you two,” Sam muttered, and pointedly ignored that one of the stacks of books had fallen over, making the twins grin like idiots.

When they went their separate ways again, Sam was a little more convinced that he wasn’t sending the two of them off to their deaths. And if they ever met anything they didn’t know, they could call him. It was the least he could do.

What Sam hadn’t expected when he handed the Rosswells his number, was how often they would call. Sometimes they asked for help regarding hunts, but more often than not, they just asked about him or talked about whatever kind of crazy had happened to them lately. When Sam had started attending Stanford, he’d had to train himself in the delicate art of small talk. While attending school, he’d never connected much with his peers, too aware that he’d soon move away again, and with Dean around, he hadn’t needed to say a single word more than necessary. Even with all their differences, the choices that had made them grow apart, they got each other.

(Except when they didn’t and the world had to pay for it.)

At Stanford, though, Sam learned that small talk wasn’t just something you took part in to stay busy but to build longer-lasting relationships. The years on the road had made his skill rusty, but the Rosswells were doing their best to bring it back.

Sam didn’t know why telling them what he had for dinner was a good topic choice (but it did make him more conscious of the meals he kept skipping) or why he could listen to Gregory talking for a good fifteen minutes about how difficult it was to eat healthy on the road.

He always accepted their calls, never hit decline, even when they called in the middle of the night (Sam wasn’t sleeping anyway).

Marty called a few times too, his latest call informing Sam of his new partner Caitlyn, a young florist, who had set up her shop just a few meters away from him and put all her bouquets in holy water.

“She’s new to all of this. Vamps got her husband last year – that’s why she moved town.”

Kevin checked in less regularly and to even more random times than the twins. After one more erratic call that almost chased Sam halfway across the country, he asked the twins to go check in on Kevin.

At 3 a.m., his phone rang, and Sam got to stare at a picture of three young men, squatting in a confessional box and watching a movie on a laptop. Kevin was smiling tiredly and Frederick’s new scar was healed enough to be exposed.

They were healthy.

(They were alive.)

Sam could keep going.

Month four without Dean started by Sam staring at his phone and the many messages he had received in the few hours he had been asleep. Apparently, his friends had decided to team up and create a group chat.

The last dozen messages were everyone trying to make out what the hell Kevin’s sleep-deprived 4 a.m. message had meant while the prophet in question was probably (hopefully) fast asleep for once.

That’s Enochian, Sam typed mindlessly. It means Protection, but specifically referring to a situation in which demons are trying to possess someone who used to be an angel vessel.

Gregory: What?

Frederick: Hi Sam!!!

Marty: how is that ever a likely situation?

Sam grinned. It can also mean Protecting someone who is Loved by God. Angel vessels are precious to them. Ruining them is a severe offense.

Marty: yeah no goodbye I’m out.

Sam met the Hilllains on a ghost hunt. They had three kids, fifteen, twelve and six years old, who all knew how to handle knives and shoot guns and what to do when your mom fell over because she had a vision. The Hillains usually didn’t leave their state since “Raising kids on the road is just irresponsible”.

Susan Hillain-Waterbury was the descendant of a long line of gifted people and Terrence Hillain was a priest turned Hunter after a run-in with a demon. Most of the time, they hunted on the weekends and brought home fast food as a treat on Sunday afternoons.

Sam stayed with them until Monday evening because Susan insisted on making her world-famous lasagna for him as a thank you.

Four months and two weeks into his search and Sam had stopped asking for a room with two beds. When he realized that, he abandoned most of his weapons except the knife and headed for the nearest bar. People made space for him when he walked past them, and he didn’t think it was just because of his height.

The bartender took one look at him and filled a crystal clear glass with something that smelled so strong it burned in Sam’s nose.

“First one’s on the house,” she said.

“Thank you,” Sam muttered and downed the drink in one go.

(“Free booze! Awesome. C’mon, Sammy. Smile at her! See if you can get a second!”)

“Just keep them going, please.”

Alcohol couldn’t properly knock Sam out anymore. He hadn’t tried drugs (strong ones, anyway), but those shouldn’t have much of an effect on him either. He remembered the peaceful embrace of another, the oblivion that came with being lulled into memories of happy times when Father still loved them all.

Sam was tired.

His research was going fucking nowhere and he couldn’t keep everything organized and he was failing Dean yet again. He hadn’t been able to get his brother out of hell and he wouldn’t be able to get him out of purgatory.

What a fucking waste of space he was.

When he stumbled out of the bar, he stabbed a man with blonde hair and green eyes right between his ribs, watched as the demon within perished. Wordlessly, he dropped the body in a side-alley where it would be found by morning and a mourning family would have a place to grief at.

What did Sam have left?

(Nothing.)

He put the few belongings he had bothered out pack back in the car and drove off.

The next day he hit a dog.

Sam wasn’t thinking when he wrapped the dog into his towel and drove to the nearest animal clinic.

“I need help,” Sam exclaimed when he entered the clinic. Admitting more than he wanted to. “The dog needs help.”

“He just came out of nowhere, right in front of my car. We need a doctor. Are you a doctor?”

The animal couldn’t die. Not now, not right in front of Sam because he had made another mistake. It shouldn’t have to pay for Sam’s flaws.

It couldn’t die.

It couldn’t-

Sam’s shirt was still drenched in (Dean's) the dog’s blood. The smell didn’t bother him, it was too familiar to him to register on his mind.

When the doctor entered the room, everything was still a blur. Sam tried to keep his breathing under control, stop his hands from shaking and not fall into a panic.

Somehow, it ended with him owning a dog.

The motel he was staying at didn’t mind that he was keeping Dog, who still didn’t have a proper name. Sam had always been terrible about naming anything at all. When he was younger and had wanted a pet, Dean had collected the spiders of their motel rooms and named each and every one of them.

The various hero names Dean had slapped on them hadn’t been very creative either, but better than anything Sam had come up with.

The doctor who had done Dog’s surgery assured him that he was recovering well. Amelia Richardson, that was her name, was much kinder to him now that he apparently didn’t classify as a total asshole who hit animals while driving irresponsibly.

She still thought he was creepy and that there was something wrong with him (he was torn to bits and pieces, no amount of tape could fix him), but she stopped with the random accusations. The cash he earned at the motel, fixing a little bit of everything here and there, was enough to help him pay for Dog’s medication.

Sam felt like he was holding his breath and he didn’t know what he was waiting for.

Five months after Dean’s disappearance began with another random call. He didn’t recognize the number displayed on the phone screen, nor the voice speaking.

“Is this Sam Winchester?”

Sam evaluated the pros and cons of lying but settled on stating the truth. If it turned out this person meant to harm, Sam knew how to disappear quickly.

“Yes, who’s calling?”

The woman on the line sighed.

“My name’s Penny. I’m a… Hunter?” She trailed off, sounding unsure. Sam thought he heard a second voice ring in the background, saying something like, “That’s what Mackey called us!”

“Okay, jeez. I didn’t ask for your opinion Himari and Chasers sounds way better, it’s like Harry Potter,” Penny muttered. That was probably not meant for Sam’s ears. “Anyway. We already called Mackey – he’s another Hunter – but he couldn’t help us, and the Rosswells said you always help them with their cases so they gave us your number, and people are dying and we don’t know what to do.”

While Sam had gotten accustomed to his new network over time, he hadn’t expected the others to hand out his number. There was a certain risk attached to it but- Never mind. He could help out another Hunter, especially if she

“Okay,” Sam said. “Yes, sure. Of course, I can help you. What are you hunting?”

“No idea.”

Sam grimaced and put the phone on speaker, another habit stemming from being around Dean 24/7. Whenever Bobby called them to give them a little help, they put the phone on speaker so the other could listen in. Sam didn’t need to do it anymore. He did it anyway.

“What and how does it kill then?”

“It burns the victims,” Penny said. Her voice sounded a little off, she probably hadn’t come across many burned corpses then already. The smell and the sight were always a little nauseating. “But there are also multiple bite marks and poison and the only reason we think it’s only one monster is that all victims have at least two of those signs.”

Sam couldn’t think of a single monster that killed in such a way, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. If the whole catastrophe with Eve had shown one thing, then that America’s monsters didn’t care about staying traditional. Much like humans, they had immigrated over the centuries and spread and there was no way to keep track of every country’s varied monster population.

“I’ll go do some research, Penny. Just send me what you have so far per SMS,” Sam replied, already packing his messenger bag. “I’ll call you back as soon as I got something. If a new victim pops up, give me another call.”

Sam hesitated. Penny couldn’t be doing this for long if she was unfamiliar with the term Hunter, right?

“Otherwise, stick to silver, iron, salt, and holy water. Those works on most things.”

Seasoned Hunters would think of such advice as patronizing, as much as they appreciated help on a challenging hunt, they were all fairly arrogant, considering themselves experts.

“Thank you, Mr. Winchester.”

Sam snorted. “Just call me Sam, everyone does.”

He ended the call and halted, just for a moment. Everyone?

(He sure had surrounded himself with more people than he thought he would, than he ever should.)

Sam didn’t expect to run into any trouble while researching for Penny until he stood in front of the library, Dog’s leash still in his hand. He couldn’t take a dog into a library, could he? A bit helplessly and lost he stood in front of the library until a young girl took pity on him and told him he could leave Dog on the west side of the library, where they had a small sheltered space for dogs. Sam thanked her and quickly got to work.

He started looking for any incidents happening in the town Penny was in, but couldn’t find any. Then he moved on to ghosts, covering the basics before returning to researching all kinds of monsters. When the American usuals didn’t bring any results, Sam turned to European folklore and myths, where he soon discovered something fitting.

Sam dialed Penny’s number. “Hey, Penny? I think I know what it might be.”

“Really? But- what. That took you barely 3 hours!”

Sam glanced at the time displayed in the corner of his laptop. It really hadn’t taken that long.

“Well, want to hear what I found?”

“Yes, please.”

Sam smiled and scrolled to the top of his word document. “Okay, so, it looks like you’re dealing with a chimera from Greek mythology. It’s a fire-breathing female monster resembling a lion in the forepart, a goat in the middle, and a dragon or snake behind. In the myth, Bellerophon kills it by lodging a block of lead inside the Chimera's throat.”

“How are we supposed to stuff lead inside such a monster?” Penny replied, her voice bordering on hysterics.

“Look,” Sam said. “Myths like to make things more complicated, heroes more heroic and cunning. Most likely, you’ll be fine by using weapons made out of lead.”

“You sure?”

“As sure as you can be with those things.”

Penny took a deep breath, probably to calm herself. Sam waited until she was done to speak up again. “Do you need back up?”

“No,” Penny said. “Himari called Mackey again to tell him I called you – he says hi by the way? You called him after Bobby’s death apparently…?”

Oh, that Mackey. He was one of Bobby’s contacts. Sam had rung them all up to tell them about Bobby’s death. Not all of them were glad to hear of him, but a surprisingly high amount was.

“Yeah, I know Mackey. He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah, Himari worked with him before. Anyway, he’s driving our way to help out. I guess I’ll call when it was a success?”

“You do that. Much success and don’t forget to aim for the head.”

Penny laughed, still a little nervous but at least not as much as before. “Thanks for the help again, Sam.”

A week later, Sam got a call from Mackey, asking if he had any use for chimera blood.

“Always split the spoils with Bobby,” Mackey said. “I swear, Bobby had everything stored down there in his basement.”

“He did,” Sam agreed. He remembered spending two months at Bobby's by himself while John was out like always and Dean was gone. Sam had done a lot of research during that time, not all of it necessarily child-friendly despite Bobby’s attempts to keep him away from it. He’d spend at least one weekend labeling all the weird monster parts Bobby had been keeping on old shelves.

“Thanks for the call, Mackey, but I don’t have the space for that.”

Sam’s eyes drifted to the books and weapons already taking up most of the space in the Impala and some more.

“Too bad, I don’t have any either. You know any Hunter shops?”

“I…” Sam’s thoughts drifted back to Marty or rather Caitlyn. She didn’t hunt as much as the rest of them, only really when Marty asked her to be his back up. But she did start to collect more unusual ingredients, even if most of them were plant related.

“Actually, yes. How far are you from Nebraska? I know a good place there.”

Sam began to run into Amelia everywhere or so it felt. She was funny and kind, and she understood what it was like to lose something so dear to you, you forgot how to breathe.

“So, Sam, I was thinking: Do you want to go out on Friday? A proper restaurant, I mean. Not another motel room talk.”

“I like our-“

Sam’s phone rang. Frederick was calling him. Last Sam had heard, the twins were a couple hours away from him. “Hold up. Hey Fred, everything alright?”

“Sam!”

Frederick’s panic immediately put Sam on edge. “Fred, what’s going on?”

“Can you come drive up? Gregory and I stumbled upon a werewolf pack and they’re hunting kids for sport and I think they’re onto us and I know there are four at least and we have no idea what to do. Just. Please. I know you’re busy searching for Dean, but we’re at our wit's end.”

Sam looked at Amelia. She was smiling softly still, much happier than the first time he’d met her. Riot, the finally renamed Dog, was lying next to her and wagging his tail.

“Sam?”

People were relying on Sam.

“I’ll be there as soon as possible, give me your coordinates.”

Dean’s cursing about dog fur on the Impala’s leather chased Sam over the highways. He broke the speed limit on most roads, haunted by images of two death he could prevent if he was just in time. Riot looked out of the window, peaceful and healthy. All of Sam’s belongings were crammed into the trunk and on the backseat. A whole life and five months.

Sam made it just in time. The werewolves had indeed caught up to the twins and jumped their motel room. When Sam emptied a whole load of silver bullets into the werewolves, Frederick was only wearing sweat pants and using a towel to cover up his chest, holding onto his unconscious brother whose head was bleeding.

The werewolves dropped to the ground, dead. Frederick, blood splattered over his face, didn’t let go of his silver knife or Gregory.

Sam didn’t bother checking whether the werewolves were really dead, they had taken a bullet to their heads and wouldn’t return from that (unless heaven or hell took mercy on them and neither were kind to anyone but themselves).

“Frederick,” Sam said. “You need to get up.”

Frederick didn’t move. The motel was pretty empty, but someone was bound to have heard the attack, the fight or the murder, and they would come looking. They couldn’t afford to lose time now.

“Fred, get up,” Sam ordered. He held out his hand and when Frederick, shaken up, lifted his, Sam quickly took the knife out of it and threw it in the small suitcase on the bed. “Get dressed, I’ll take care of Greg.”

Frederick seemed to be moving in slow motion, but he was finally returning to the action. Sam pulled the pillowcase off one of the pillows lying on the bed and used it to stop Gregory’s bleeding. He probably only had a concussion.

Then Sam picked Gregory up as carefully as he could and carried the man to the Impala. Riot looked up in interest when Sam laid Gregory on the backseat.

“Keep watch,” Sam told him and returned to the Rosswells’ room to help Frederick finish.

When he arrived, Frederick was as good as dressed and gathering everything of importance. Sam picked up two bags and threw one last look at the corpses on the ground. They had no time to get rid of the bodies, they would have to stay.

Frederick sits down next to Gregory and pulls his brother’s head in his lap.

“I’m sorry,” Frederick murmured. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, …”

The mantra followed them down the road until they were three cities further and utterly safe from being accused of any of the crimes they had committed.

“Do you have a safe place to stay somewhere?” Sam asked.

They were near Kansas now and could easily swing up to Nebraska. Neither Caitlyn nor Marty had enough space for the two hunters, but it would do long enough for Gregory to heal until the twins could hit the road again.

If they still wanted to after this encounter.

Sam had been injured so often in the past years, he hardly even blinked at a concussion anymore, he and Dean just kept on driving.

“We’ve got a house,” Frederick replied. “I don’t know what shape it’s in, but we were meaning to go check it out anyway.”

“Alright. Directions?”

Frederick led Sam to an abandoned house that was a good twenty-minute drive into the woods in the north of Kansas. It looked fairly old and was surprisingly big and in a good shape.

The entire façade of the building had been painted in a soft green. The color was starting to peel off in some places, but it was mostly intact.

“What is this place?” Sam asked after they had carried Gregory inside and let him continue resting on a sofa in the living room.

There was something off about this place that Sam couldn’t quite pinpoint, but it put him on edge. He felt like somebody was watching him, waiting for him to make a mistake. He began mustering the painted walls. Elaborate landscape paintings of a forest covered the living room. The longer he looked at it, the more did he think he was seeing familiar symbols.

“It’s our great-grandmother Agatha’s house,” Frederick said. “Never met her. According to our grandmother, she was a wicked witch who should have never been allowed to have a child. As soon as Grandmother was sixteen, she left and married a nice man and had a completely normal daughter who then had us. Agatha died back in 2009 shortly before you stopped the apocalypse that almost happened and she left everything to our mother. Mom wanted to sell the house, but no deal could be made. People had unfortunate accidents as soon as they stepped into the house.”

Sam stepped closer to the entrance door, tracing over carvings in the wood. “What?”

Frederick grimaced. “That’s why we were heading here. We wanted to check it out. We thought a ghost might be haunting the building.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about that,” Sam muttered.

“No?”

“These symbols spread all over the room, they’re runes. I’m pretty sure they’re wards. Any chance your great grandmother worshipped pagan gods?”

“I don’t know. But she got super old and she was from Norway.”

Sam sighed. “Alright. Let’s track down which god is protecting this house and get them a proper offering before they kill us.”

In the end, it was quite easy to figure out which god Agatha had worshipped. Sam found her altar in the eastern kitchen window, the first to see the sun in the morning. Old, half-burned candles with a sugary sweet smell stood around a handmade clay flower pot filled with small pink flowers that appeared to be blooming although nobody was taking care of them. And right next to the flower pot stood a bowl filled with sweets.

The irony of this situation wasn’t lost on Sam.

“It’s Loki,” Sam said when he returned to the living room. “Your great grandmother was a follower of Loki.”

“That was the trickster angel, right?” Frederick asked. “The one who died? Shouldn’t this house be clean of his influence then?”

Sam shook his heads. “You can never really kill a pagan god. More than any other beings, they cling to faith. As long as someone believes in them, they exist. Gabriel might be dead, but the idea of Loki is still around.”

(He wondered what that meant for angels. They did die, expect when God or whatever interfered. Castiel had died and come back. So why did God let one of his oldest angels die?)

“Anyway, I’ll get a package of chewing gum from the car. Not his favorite, but it’s sweet and an offering.”

“You’re not going to destroy the altar?”

Frederick’s expression was neutral. He wasn’t judging Sam or implying anything. He only wanted to know why Sam wasn’t getting rid of the threat.

And honestly? Sam didn’t know why. The thought hadn’t even occurred to him.

“This place has pretty strong wards,” Sam said. It was true, they must have been powered by Loki. If Agatha’s life force had also been included in that, it was no wonder she had died when Gabriel did. If the twins took up residency here, offering their blood and redrawing some of the ownership-tied wards, they had a pretty protected place to stay at. It shouldn’t cost them more than a couple sweets every now and then and some new candles. “There’s a bigger advantage to keeping it.”

The twins got settled and Sam spent a couple hours exploring the house. The wards Agatha had set up were truly impressive, even more so after they had made the offering. The house itself was a pretty nice place too. Sure, it needed some fixing and a new paint job, but the amount of knowledge stored in the crammed library in what must have been Agatha’s study was astonishing. Sam would definitely take a closer look once he had the time. Since they had no food or drink, Sam went back to the car to head to the nearest grocery store and buy some supplies.

After about two days, Gregory was already up and running again - or walking. Every time Frederick even just suggested Gregory take it slow or, God forbid, brought him food to his bed, Gregory looked slightly more murderous. His injuries weren’t as bad as they had seemed, but it had scared Fred regardless. It reminded Sam a little of his childhood when he’d been deemed old enough to give first-aid but too young to hunt still and Dean or Dad had come back already half out of it and Sam had to stitch them back together. They’d always looked as if they’d come straight out of a horror movie, but nothing vital had been hurt (well, except maybe once or twice.)

Sam and Fred had cleaned up what appeared to have been a guest bedroom and settled Gregory there. To avoid going stir-crazy, they’d cleaned up the other rooms afterward. The house had electricity and warm running water and Sam was sure those had only shown up after Sam had added a lot of treats to Loki’s altar.

He might have gone a little overboard, but Sam owed the guy. He’d died for them, the whole world, when he could have certainly taken up a golden throne right next to Lucifer. As twisted as Lucifer was, killing Gabriel had hurt him and that showed how much he would have loved to have his favorite sibling by his side.

And Gabriel has said “no”.

Frederick had only glanced questioning at the mountain of candy, porn magazines, crossword puzzles, honey, and candles, but Gregory was the one to actually ask about them.

“I thought altars were all blood, dark magic and-“ Gregory moved his hands through the air in the bad imitation of a TV witch. “You know?”

“Blood is for worshippers and, in this case, the owner of the house. The stuff I brought is just a guest gift.”

Maybe not just merely a guest gift, but also a little bribery to protect the three of them as they resided here.

“So whoever offers blood owns the house?” Gregory inquired.

Sam shrugged. “Basically.”

“And non-basically?”

Right, Sam had forgotten he was talking to an ex-history student. Without further prompting, he latched into a lecture on Pagan gods, worship, and ownership rules, only halting once to give Frederick a chance to get settled comfortably when he joined them.

Caitlyn: Fred & George are okay?

Gregory: It’s Greg

Frederick: Don’t ruin my fun, bro

Gregory: Of all the names you could have picked, why did it have to be Frederick again?

Sam: @Caitlyn They are getting better

Caitlyn: Sweet. We got a couple Hunters here asking how to get phoenix feathers. Anybody got some ideas? And can I give them your number? @Sam

Sam: Sure, tell them to give me a ring and I’ll see what I can do

Frederick and Gregory were up to something. Sam didn’t just guess so, he saw the incriminating looks they shared. Sam had been in and out of their house for a month now. He’d spent two weeks there going through the books their great-grandmother had possessed, but unfortunately, those didn’t provide much information on purgatory either.

Another dead end.

After that, Sam threw himself into helping other hunters. His number of acquaintances had grown exponentially the more the word spread that one Winchester was still alive and kicking and willing to just hand over everything he knew (while the other was gone, never dead. All of them thought it, Sam knew, but they didn’t dare say it around him.).

Hunters were guarded people, they wouldn't survive otherwise. Even information was just shared sparingly, so of course, they all jumped on the opportunity. It was strange to be confronted with Hunters who worked very specialized or were just at the beginning of their careers, as far as you could call killing monsters a job.

Of course, the older ones didn’t exactly trust Sam (he did have a history filled with a lot of dangerous bullshit such as letting Lucifer out of the Cage), but he was America’s expert on everything angelic and demonic.

Even if he didn’t really feel like it. There was so much to know about heaven and hell, Sam’s active knowledge barely scratched the surface and he didn’t dare try to reach for the memories he had buried.

(The Cage hadn’t been all bad, but trauma didn’t let you pick how you’d react to any memory at all.)

But compared to everyone else, that was still more so he taught how to exorcise demons and kill angels and hoped it was enough.

“So,” Gregory said one morning. “I’m all healed up and Himari called, asking for backup, so we think it’s time to leave again.”

Sam nodded and closed his book. “Time to move on then.”

“Yeah, about that…” Gregory trailed off and turned to his brother.

Frederick pushed himself away from the wall and began walking up and down.

“Look, Sam. We don’t really have use for this place. And you’ve got Riot.”

“A car’s not a home,” Gregory added. He bent down to pet the dog, who definitely enjoyed his stay at the house more than the endless hours on the road.

Frederick pointed at his brother. “Right? And a dog needs a home and you need a space for the library in your car.”

Sam frowned, realization only dawning slowly upon him. “You can’t-“

Gregory held up has hands. “We can. Look, we still got our parents’ house and all these wards and stuff? That’s your niche. We like hunting stuff that doesn’t require enchantments and we can’t even read half of the words painted on the ceiling.”

“You can learn,” Sam insisted. “This house belonged to your great-grandmother.”

Legacy was important to Hunters. All the lives saved, the knowledge passed on – many Hunters didn’t have any blood relatives left, so their hunting partners were the ones who carried their memories.

But Frederick and Gregory didn’t know that and Sam struggled to find the right words.

Frederick shrugged. “We never even met her, Sam. This house might as well belong to a stranger. We’ll, of course, come visit and crash here whenever, but otherwise? You need a place to search for your brother. Take it.”

It took another week for them to wear Sam down, and even then they wouldn’t leave until Sam had gone to the nearest supermarket and returned with new offerings for their pagan god and finally bled over the altar.

Frederick had looked smug the whole time while Gregory sent Sam’s new address to their mutual friends and acquaintances.

It didn’t even take a week for the first person to show up at his doorstep.

Sam had always liked doing things with his hands, repairing broken items, stitching up shirts. A lot of handiwork had come out of necessity, but there was also something soothing attached to it all. Over the course of the next weeks, Sam drove to the construction market about every day until the cashiers there greeted him by name.

He bought paint and tools and wood and started to repair the house where it was damaged and touch it up where it just didn’t look all right.

He added his books to the library/study and organized the artifacts Agatha had left lying around pretty much everywhere. The room that once must have belonged to the twins’ grandmother was turned into a guest room with two beds, as was another storage room, a corner of the basement, and the attic.

When Sam was finally satisfied, too much time had passed already, but Kevin Tran, while tired and exhausted, was not bitter and welcomed the change of scenery.

Fact was, a lot of Hunters distrusted Sam Winchester. He had a reputation that made them uneasy and the stories haunting him made him out to be much less human than he ought to be. Those Hunters relied on Garth to collect info for them, give them back up and so on. They pointed the new Hunters they found in his direction and Garth-

Well, Garth gave them Sam’s number.

Old school Hunters relied on old and proven methods, they would not suddenly think of recording exorcisms on their phones or starting a Supernatural Wikipedia. These New Age Hunters, as they liked to scoff, didn’t know how much the world had changed.

And they were right in that assessment.

When your first hunt involved leviathans and demons, angels stealing people who returned as mere shells, then you didn’t miss the times when the world was straightforward and didn’t include more than ten types of monsters.

“Hello, Agent Mercury? One of your field agents is claiming our body here is part of an FBI investigation-“

“The heads, Sam! It only leaves the heads!”

“-and the Park Rangers really-“

“So like, they steal from blood banks, but otherwise they’re vegan?”

“The military must be really desperate if they try to recruit people off the police.”

“Hypothetically, if a werewolf and a vampire had a kid together-“

“Winchester! Holy Christ, you won’t believe-“

“It’s Kevin,” the prophet interrupted Penny. “Sam’s making dinner.”

Silence. Kevin had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

“Oh. Hi, Kevin! How’s it going?”

“Good, but it’s been busy. How can Agatha’s help you today? Need some spells to get rid of a wicked witch or brain for your local zombie population?”

“Zombies…?” Penny trailed off, sounding unsure. Kevin imagined her shaking her head. “You know what? I don’t want to know. Do you guys know anything about a spell or a monster going after the blood of two drained lambs, the liver of a lion, and the eyes of a monkey? We got a bizarre case here in a zoo.”

Kevin glanced at the clock. He wasn’t going to work on the tablet anymore today and if he could help it, Sam wouldn’t shut himself away in his study/purgatory lore cave.

“Yeah, we can do some research. We’ll ring as soon as we got something.”

Soon after word had gotten out that Sam had settled somewhere, Mackey showed up at his doorstep, only Himari in tow. Penny, her better half in Himari’s own words, was apparently visiting family up north.

Sam didn’t buy the lie, but he saw no point in questioning her.

“Oh, man, Sam. I love what you’ve done with the place. It’s like Roadhouse and Bobby’s in one,” Mackey said.

Sam smiled and looked around. It really was starting to look like a proper place for hunters to crash at. “Not enough books and dirt for Bobby’s yet.”

Marty laughed and knocked his beer against Sam’s. “True enough. I swear the cleanest I ever saw Bobby’s was when your Daddy had dropped you off at his place again.”

Sam rolled his eyes, but still managed to smile softly. “That’s only ‘cause Bobby made me and- made us clean to keep us busy and away from the books depicting torture.”

“Oh, yeah. That sounds like Bobby!”

Himari, who up until then had only been nursing her tea silently, spoke up for the first time since she had stepped into Sam’s house. “What is the Roadhouse and Bobby’s?”

Mackey's cheerful expression fell and Sam too, who had been making all kinds of calls over the past weeks and should be used to it by now damn it, couldn’t stop his throat from closing up.

“That was before your time, kid,” Mackey replied. “The Roadhouse was the Hunter equivalent to a community center – a place to recover after or before a hunt. I swear, nobody ever managed to talk me out of a hunt before without even saying a word but Ellen. And Bobby was the meanest son of a bitch you could ever meet. You vaguely describe him your latest crazy, and he’d call you back within a day to tell you what the hell you’re facing and how to kill it. Also our go-to man if the authorities came calling. Without the two of them, the community’s shot to hell. Garth’s been picking up some slack, but he ain’t got time to teach anyone… That reminds me.”

Mackey picked his backpack up from the ground and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for – a dirty sheet of paper apparently – and held it up victoriously.

“Here,” he said and gave it to Sam. “I got into contact with a couple Old Timers. Not sure if they’re on your contact list already, but they offered to help out with the huge influx of newbies so you’re not stuck handling all their questions.”

Sam scanned the list. A few names stuck out to him, but others he was only vaguely aware of or didn’t know at all.

“Thanks, Marty. I’ll give them a ring.”

When the Hillains asked for Sam’s help, he expected a little more “Could you be our back-up?” and less “Can we leave the kids with you for the week?” but Sam agreed anyway.

It was certainly an experience to have three kids running around for a week, but not one he minded. He had babysat couple times as a teenager to earn some extra cash, and the experience was familiar enough.

Besides, all three of them loved Riot and the dog was more than just happy about the extra attention.

Irv Franklin liked to think he was as good a man as a Hunter could be. Of course, he didn’t have utter faith in Sam Winchester, everybody knew the Winchesters messed around with Heaven and Hell and a whole lot of other things that shouldn’t be touched, but the kid was also Bobby’s kid.

And, really, everybody who actually cared about Bobby knew those two Winchester brats had been his whole world.

Tracy hadn’t wanted to come to Winchester’s place – called Agatha’s for some unfathomable reason – and Irv couldn’t blame her. He had told her she could stay in the motel, but she had decided to meet the man the demons had killed her family for.

From the outside, the house looked comfortable, not as militant as Irv had expected. Sam was kneeling on the porch, painting something on the windowsill. As soon as he spotted Irv and Tracy, he stood up.

“Irv! Good to see you.”

“Right back at you, Winchester,” Irv said and followed Sam inside.

The kid led Irv and Tracy into the kitchen and took a couple beers out of the fridge. “We only got beer and water right now,” he said apologetically.

Irv wondered who exactly we were, but didn’t ask. He had heard rumors about prophets, and everybody who went after demons knew that hell had been in an uproar lately. Sometimes it was better if you didn’t know anything.

“I did look into the killings you described,” Sam continued. “Couldn’t find anything directly, but the books in the living room contain everything I’ve got on ritualistic murders. Feel free to look through them, just don’t run off with them. One of the upstairs’ rooms is already occupied, but you can sleep downstairs in the basement if you want.”

Irv reached for one of the beers on the kitchen table. “Thanks, kid.”

They left two days later.

“He’s not really what I expected,” Tracy admitted carefully.

Maybe she could start to heal properly now.

Irv grimaced. “Winchesters rarely are.”

Sam’s study was a bit of a mess. Papers covered half the floor and whole books the other. Kevin kind of wanted to sigh in frustration, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Instead, he sat down on the ground next to Sam.

“Is everything alright?” Kevin asked, already knowing the answer.

Sam laughed bitterly, his ink-stained hands still brushing through Riot’s fur. “No, nothing’s alright. Just look at me, Kev, what am I doing? It’s been almost a year, and I still haven’t found a way to save him.”

Sam didn’t need to say out loud who he was talking about, it was as clear as day.

“I have only been wasting my time trying to- to-“

“Keep over two dozen hunters alive, researching about fifteen different things at the same time with more dedication than I ever put into my term papers despite my mom?” Kevin said drily. “Give yourself a break, Sam. You’re already doing more than humanly possible.”

“But it’s not enough!”

Sam’s outburst was not unexpected but that didn’t make it any more pleasant.

Kevin was used to it, though.

They kept themselves together well enough around others, but some things needed more than the duct tape they stuck onto their wounds.

“I want to visit my mom,” Kevin said into their silence. “I haven’t left the house in months and I think it’ll be safe enough. Just a quick trip. One last time.”

“Alright,” Sam agreed quietly.

Maybe this was healing. (Maybe it was giving up.)

Sam would never know.

Lazarus rose once more.

(Rinse. Rise. Repeat.)

#spn #sam winchester #dean winchester #kevin tran #supernatural #fanfic #I AM STILL SALTY AND I HAVE CONSUMED 3 SEASONS MORE SINCE

33 notes · View notes

orthodoxydaily · 4 years

Text

Saints&Reading: Wed., Apr. 29, 2020

Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus

The city of Cyzicus is in Asia Minor on the coast of the Dardenelles (Hellespont). Christianity already began to spread there through the preaching of Saint Paul (June 29). During the persecutions by the pagans, some of the Christians fled the city, while others kept their faith in Christ in secret.

At the end of the third century Cyzicus was still basically a pagan city, although there was a Christian church there. The situation in the city distressed the Christians, who sought to uphold Christianity. The nine holy martyrs Thaumasius, Theognes, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, and Philemon were also from Cyzicus. They came from various places, and were of different ages: the young like Saint Antipater, and the very old like Saint Rufus. They came from various positions in society: some were soldiers, countryfolk, city people, and clergy. All of them declared their faith in Christ, and prayed for the spread of Christianity.

The saints boldly confessed Christ and fearlessly denounced the pagan impiety. They were arrested and brought to trial before the ruler of the city. Over several days they were tortured, locked in prison and brought out again. They were promised their freedom if they renounced Christ. But the valiant martyrs of Christ continued to glorify the Lord. All nine martyrs were beheaded by the sword (+ ca. 286-299), and their bodies buried near the city...keep reading OCA

St Basil Bishop of Ostrog

Saint Basil of Ostrog was born in Herzegovina, in the village of Mrkonjic in Popovo field, on 28th of December, 1610 with the Baptist name of Stojan. From early childhood he was deeply filled with love towards God, and soon became a monk of the monastery Zavala. His Christian name Basil he received at a monastery in the city of Trebinje, and in a monastery in the town of Cetinje where, according to legend, he had disagreements with the Montenegro archbishop of that time, Mardariem. The young monk Basil was against discussions with the agents of the Pope about an agreement, a union of sorts, between the Catholics and orthodox, and was therefore shunned out of Montenegro.

His first influence about Christianity and God the young Stojan received from his home. Born to a deeply faithful and religions family, early on he devoted himself to fasting, praying and the church. With this deep faith and love for God he became known as a calm, serious man with a deeply warm soul. Regardless of the hard time his family and the entire community lived at the time, young Stojan became know as one of the most selfish young people in the area. These bad influences came directly from other so called members of the church. To spear him of these bad influences, and get him closer to the word of God and faith, his parents took him to the “Ascension of the mother of God” monastery Zavala. Under the guidance of his uncle Seraphim, young Stojan spend a lot of time with books and educated people, and got to know the spirit of the word and the basics of science. During this time his with to become a monk was born.

While staying at the monastery Tvrdos in Trebinje his love for fasting and prayer was crowned with a monk name with which he became famous – Basil. He picked this name to symbolize is intent to immolate his life to the achievements of Basic the Great. Shortly after receiving his new name he received his church titles.

In the monastery Tvdos the received the title of archpriest which signaled the start of the travels to the centers of the orthodox church around the world, finalized with a visit to the Holy Mountain and to Russia where he stayed a number of months. Upon return from his travels he always arrived with important and expensive gifts for the poor churches of Herzegovina. He gave books, artifacts and money to churches and poor people. Additionally, he devoted his time to the rebuilding or up building of old churches, and many schools on this territory. He spends much time in the Holy Mountains, known as the epicenter of the Orthodox Church and faith. His travels took him over the town of Niksic, the monastery Moraca, monastery Djurdjevi Stupovi to the town of Pec, during which he spoke to church leaders as well as regular people about the struggles of the Serbian people in Herzegovina, about the violence of the Turkish and Latin propaganda. In the Holy Mountains he accumulated much knowledge from church leaders and other holy travelers. He spends a lot of time in the Serbian monastery of Hilandar in the town of Pec where he was promoted again in 1638 to church leadership status. Not yet thirty years old, he became bishop due to his elevated spirit and a Christian live only a spiritual been could live..keep reading

Acts 4: 13-22 NKJV

The Name of Jesus Forbidden

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a [a]notable miracle has been done through them is evident[b] to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” 21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. 22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

Footnotes:

Acts 4:16 remarkable sign

Acts 4:16 well known

John 5:17-24 NKJV

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Life and Judgment Are Through the Son

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

#orthodoxy #spirituality #firstchristian #ancientchristianity #bible #gospel #apostles

3 notes · View notes

fanficimagery · 5 years

Text

Imagine being the one angel Lucifer has a soft spot for, but after being cast out he has no way to contact you. What he hadn't realized was that you were cast out too, but God hid you as punishment. Now the Winchesters have learned of your existence and plan to use you as leverage.

@jho-p-e said to fanficimagery: Hello! I just came across your tumblr a few days ago and I absolutely LOVE it! May I request an imagine where the reader is Lucifer's (supernatural) weakness or the only angel that he has a soft spot for because she rebelled with him against God. Instead of Michael putting her in the cage with Lucifer, God hides her in a coma-like state somewhere on Earth. The Winchesters find her and want to use her to their advantage but Lucifer finds out.

Gen Fic X Reader

Seeing Michael and Lucifer bicker had become something of the norm, but after being entrusted with the Mark to keep the Darkness imprisoned the bickering became rather more hostile. Then Father had to go and create new children, and then had the audacity to command all of Heaven to love his new children more than Himself. Lucifer had downright refused, but you'd given them a chance. And after watching over Father's new creations, you came to the conclusion that Lucifer was right- the humans were flawed and murderous, and there was no way you could love them more than Father.

Lucifer had always been one of your favorites, if not the favorite, so it was no surprise you immediately had his back when he challenged Father. The two of you refused to love Father's new children and even recruited other angels which kick started a small rebellion. But Father was not having any sort of power struggle in his home and commanded Michael to cast Lucifer out of Heaven.

"Father, stop this," you plead. "Don't cast him out. Don't take Lucifer from me."

Father smiles sadly, reaching out and cupping your cheek in hand. "I am sorry, my daughter, but it must be done. Lucifer is too proud to see reason. He seeks to corrupt-"

"He seeks to corrupt because of you! You gave him the Mark and you know it's the Mark which made him more bold in his actions," you cry. "Please, Father, I beg of you- don't send him away."

"It is done." The words are like a slap to the face, you flinching back at their utterance. "And had you not been Lucifer's shadow, I wouldn't have to send you away either."

Your grace seems to run cold at his words. "Father?"

"I must go away for a bit, daughter, and Michael seeks to eradicate any and all angels who were in league with Lucifer. I love you and I will not have Michael harm you. But to do so, you must be far from Heaven."

"Father, no." You take a cautious step back, putting a bit of space between you. "As much as I love Lucifer and would be glad to be with him, Heaven is my home."

"I see no other way. " Tears prick your eyes and Father chuckles quietly. "You emote just like my other children, yet you refuse to see it." He quickly closes the gap between you, wiping away your tears as he then cradles your face between the palms of his hands. "I wish you could live as my other children live, but Lucifer will only find you and I can't have that. Lucifer must be punished and if that means I must hide you, I will."

A sob rips free from your throat and Father calmly shushes you as he gathers you in his arms. "P-Please."

"Do not fret. You won't feel a thing."

And with a kiss to your forehead, everything goes dark.

Sitting around the bunker, Sam, Dean, and Jack are trying to come up with a way to finally get rid of Lucifer. The devil has been a thorn in their side for far too long and they've had enough of being accosted by his pet demons.

Castiel returns sporting a solemn expression and Dean sighs upon spotting it. "What'd you find out, Cas?"

"From the looks of it, Lucifer is no longer interested in kidnapping his son."

Sam perks up a bit in his seat. "That's good. Right?"

Castiel frowns. "Not necessarily. He intends to finally kill you and Dean, and myself, and leave Jack no other option but to go to him for guidance. Then take over the world by any means necessary." Dean scoffs as Jack sinks in his seat. "But-"

"But?" Sam perks up again. "But what?"

"I.. found out something that would be of great importance to Lucifer- something that could change everything. I.. I'm not even sure how to feel about this myself. Y/N was- is my sister and I thought-"

"Y/N?" Dean wonders. "Focus, Cas. What's so important about this Y/N chick?"

Cas' shoulders droop as he settles himself into a chair next to Jack who's watching him curiously. "Y/N was an angel in Lucifer's garrison. She quickly became his favorite and the two of them- they were inseparable," he says, remembering the angel fondly. "When Lucifer started his rebellion, it wasn't a shock to see Y/N at his side. What was a shock, however, was that she kept him in check as best as she could. He always listened to her, but the Mark he bore corrupted him too much and Y/N could only hang on for the ride."

"What happened to her?" Sam asks, his interest piqued.

"When Michael cast out Lucifer, Father went to Y/N. We were told she died fighting in Lucifer's name, but it's come to my attention that Y/N is alive and Earth-bound."

"What?" Dean's brow furrows. "How long has she been here?"

"Since the day Lucifer was cast out. According to my sources, Father cast out Y/N to keep Michael from killing her. He put her in a coma and cloaked her existence from Lucifer. It was part of his punishment to never be reunited with the one angel he loved above all else."

"Wait, but I thought angels didn't have.. relations," Sam says, suddenly uncomfortable. Dean coughs and pointedly stares at Jack, and Sam rolls his eyes. "I know Lucifer fathered Jack, but he procreated with a mission in mind. He didn't do it for love."

"Sam is correct," Castiel confesses. "The love between Lucifer and Y/N was not romantic, but rather on the platonic side of things. However, it's a love I've never seen before. You'd have to witness it to understand."

"What are you gettin' at, Cas?" Dean sighs. "Are you suggesting we find this comatose angel? Use her against Lucifer?"

Jack clears his throat. "But how would we find her? If she's cloaked from Lucifer, it's safe to say she's cloaked from everyone else as well."

"We could ask Rowena," Sam suggests. "If it's something to use against Lucifer, she'll help."

"Great. Just great," Dean scoffs. "We finally have something solid to use against Lucifer, but we need help from the Wicked Witch of the West. What's to say Rowena won't kill her the second she finds her? She hates Lucifer. She'll want to see him suffer."

"It won't come to that," Castiel says. "Though Y/N was on Team Lucifer, she is still my sister. We find her, wake her, and tell her what's going on. She might not be too fond of humans, but she doesn't want to see Earth completely razed to the ground. If Lucifer remains unchecked, then that's exactly what will happen."

"Awesome," Dean deadpans. "Not only do we have to work with a witch, but now we have to make a deal with the devil."

Sam shrugs. "If it means Earth is safe and Jack remains with us, then who cares? I'll go make that phone call and you.. you do something to keep yourself busy. We have an angel to find."

Sprawled across his throne, Lucifer watches as his demons mill about the room. Lately they've been tasked with luring the Winchesters out of their bunker and away from their little watch dogs that are Castiel and his son Jack, and so far not one demon has come up with a solid plan.

The doors open and a demon wearing a male meat suit in a crisp black suit enters. He walks up to Lucifer's throne before stopping short and bowing in greeting. "My liege, the Winchesters and their pet angel appear to be on the move."

"Oh? And pray tell what monster of the week has piqued their attention enough to get them to leave the safety of their dungeon?"

"It is not an monster, but an angel."

"Oh?" Lucifer sits up, interest now piqued. "Do tell."

"It's some angel that God has kept hidden for many years. The demons watching that witch of yours overheard a conversation in which they need her to uncloak the angel and wake her. They say her name is Y/N."

Instantly, Lucifer's smile vanishes. "What did you just say?"

The demon gulps. "That R-Rowena is needed-"

"No, I got that," Lucifer says. "I meant about the angel's name. What is her name?"

"Y/N."

Lucifer blinks, his expression going stony. "Get every demon available to tail the Winchesters. No one is lay a finger on that coma angel. Go. Now!"

The demon's eyes flicker black in his sudden fear. "Y-Yes, my liege." And with yet another quick bow, the demon flees as if the hounds of Hell were on his heels.

Pacing the dais, Lucifer inhales deeply and exhales slowly. Glancing skyward, he sneers. "Congrats, Dad, you really are a dick. She loved you as much as she loved me. What did Y/N ever do to be granted such a fate?" He's not expecting an answer, but it still frustrates him beyond measure and he screams his frustration at the ceiling. His demons startle, but he pays them no mind. "I will find her. And when I do, I will not stop her from wanting to hunt you down and giving you a piece of her mind.

Jolting awake, it takes a moment for your sight to focus and when it does you frown at the man leaning over you. Concentrating, you can feel the hum of grace surrounding the meat suit and subtly relax. "Castiel," you breathe, smiling.

"Hello, Y/N. How are you feeling?"

Slowly sitting up, you shrug before the last thing you remember pops up into the forefront of your mind. You tense and hop off the table you'd been on, you then twisting and turning and glancing at the startled appearances of the room's other occupants. "Where's Father? He said- He cast-"

"We know." Castiel interrupts, solemnly nodding. "Father hid you from everyone and told us you were killed in battle. His cloaking started to fail which is how some of our brothers and sisters found out about you. I'm here now. You're safe."

Your brow furrows. "His cloaking started to fail? Castiel, how long has it been?"

"Y/N, don't-"

"The year is now 2019," another voice supplies. "And your beloved Lucifer has gone off the rails. We need you to put him in check or-"

"Or what?" You sneer, glancing at male human who dared speak to you that way. The guy puffs up in indignation, but the taller male human with shaggy hair puts a hand on his shoulder. You let your gaze pass over them with a scoff, only then to settle on the youngest male of the group. He appears rather young, but the aura of grace radiating off of him is unsettling. "You," you say. "Who are you? You feel.. familiar, but I don't recall your name."

The kid gulps as he glances between everyone and you frown as Castiel steps in front of him as if shielding him from you. "This is Jack. He's.. Lucifer's son."

"W-What?" No one corrects Castiel and sensing the boy's power again, you flinch. "Nephilim."

"He's a good kid," the shaggy haired human says. "Lucifer's been trying to corrupt him, but Jack's mother left him in the care of Castiel. We- we're Hunters, but we've taken Jack under our wing as well. Lucifer won't stop until he has complete control of his son."

Your hands clench at your sides and you take a deep breath before releasing it slowly and relaxing as best as you can. "My grace is itching for a fight, but if Castiel says you're alright.. then okay." From behind Castiel, Jack flashes you a small grateful smile. Then glancing back towards the other two humans, you say, "I'm not too fond of your kind. If you want me to talk to Lucifer.. fine, but stay out of my way."

"Now listen here, you little-"

"Thank you," the shaggy haired individual cuts in, glaring at his friend. "My name is Sam and this," he says while gesturing to his obnoxious, outspoken friend, "is my brother Dean."

You nod. "Y/N. So what has Lucifer done now?"

Dean scoffs. "What hasn't he done? He's pretty much the creator of all things evil and-"

"That's not completely his fault," you defend him. "If you want someone to blame, blame your precious God." Dean huffs, muttering about how naive you are and you turn your attention to Sam. "Did Lucifer hate humans? Yes," you admit without an ounce of shame. "But his hatred for your kind was only amplified by that mark Father put on him. Had it not been for that, Lucifer and I would still be in Heaven snarking about you hairless apes."

Jack snorts and Dean turns his glare on him, Sam then nudging his brother to stop it. But before anything else can be said, the door to the room is being kicked open and people are crashing through the windows.

Sam, Dean, and Castiel shift into a fighting stance and you frown when the two humans are suddenly wielding angel blades. Angel blades were sacred objects and only angels were supposed to have them, so for these humans to have them means something must have happened to the angels assigned to them. And that- that doesn't sit well with you. Especially if the brothers had anything to do with whatever happened to your brothers and sisters for them to have blades.

Attention then brought back to the growing amount of strange individuals barging into the room, you shift towards the corner as you study them. Their auras are dark- twisted. Demons.

You sneer at the one who dares look at you and fight the urge to jump into the fray when both parties attack. Though you're capable of fighting, you've never fought without your blade and since you're not in possession of one your only option is to stand back. Sam, Dean, and Castiel slash and stab their way through the demons, but they just keep on coming. Even the nephilim helps out, he sending out his power in a wave to disintegrate the unlucky few closest to him.

One moment everyone's fighting and the next the demons are aborting the fight by fleeing their meat suits. Then just as everyone seems to let their guard down, Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack are sent flying back and being pinned to the walls by an unseen force. You stumble forward in surprise, eyeing the trapped individuals as a dark chuckle resonates around the room.

Whirling around, you come face to face with Lucifer. "Hello, Y/N. Long time no see."

"Lucifer," you reply on an exhale. The seconds tick by and you slowly smile, you then quickly closing the distance between the both of you. Arms wrapped tightly around his middle, you sigh in contentment as his wrap around your shoulders. "I'm so happy you're okay."

"Me too, little one." Lucifer murmurs. "When Michael cast me out, I was terrified of what might happen to you."

"So was Dad apparently. He's the one who cast me out of Heaven to keep Michael from getting his hands on me. But he still wanted to punish you, so he hid my presence on Earth."

"As touching as this chick flick moment is, we have to deal to make," Dean snarks.

One of Lucifer's arms leave you as he makes a motion with his hand and several objects clatter. When you pull free and turn around, all weapons from those pinned have fallen to the ground. "You're in no position to boss me around," Lucifer says. "If I were you, I'd keep quiet, Winchester."

Dean opens his mouth to retort, but quickly finds out he's been silence. Lucifer's taken his voice.

"Sister, please," Castiel pleads. "We can't continue on like this. You must-"

"I must?" You say, gritting your teeth. "I mustn't do anything, Castiel. I was just woken from a spelled coma your beloved Father put me in and I find myself with a rather large chip on my wing. You and your pet humans can rot for all I care."

"Y/N," Sam then says. "You said you'd talk to him. Please. Help us."

Rolling your eyes, you sigh and face Lucifer. "Your son- a son that you had with a human, which don't for one second think we won't be speaking about that later- seems like he's in capable hands." Lucifer frowns and you nudge him. "And the humans- they'll die out eventually and we can regrow Earth as it was meant to be. Until then, you and I have a lot to catch up on."

Lucifer makes a show of sighing loudly and pouting. "You take the fun out of everything, kid."

"Only when I have good reason to," you muse. "And you know I'm right. Whatever reason you have for tormenting this crew," you gesture to the ones stuck to the wall, "let it go. For now. Being separated from you felt like just yesterday, but I know it's been way longer for you. I want to know everything that's happened."

"Fine," he groans, drawling out the word. "Lets go home."

"Mhm. But wait!" Looking back around the room, you step forward until you can bend at the waist and scoop up the two angel blades beneath the Winchester's feet. Dean struggles against the force holding him and Sam grunts something unintelligible. Standing tall, you then meet both of their gazes- one furious and the other shining with reluctant acceptance for taking their weapons. "For a human to obtain an angel blade means you killed my brothers and sisters. You're very lucky I wasn't around when that happened."

"Y/N-"

"Don't, Castiel. Don't push your luck with me right now."

Lucifer chuckles and you make your way back towards him, he slinging one arm around your shoulders while mockingly waving at the everyone else with his free hand. "Adios, hermanos. Until next time."

And with a snap of his fingers, you suddenly find yourself in a room void of silly humans, the nephilim, and Castiel. Instead, you're now in a room with various demons milling about. When you grimace, Lucifer immediately sends them away and directs you to a couple of cozy looking sofa chairs. But instead of sitting in your own, you crawl into his lap and melt against him with a sigh.

"You always were really affectionate for an angel."

"You have no room to talk, Mr. I Had Intercourse with an Hairless Ape," you mumble back.

He chuckles softly and wraps his arms around you, setting his chin atop your head. "I missed you, kid. When I was told you were killed, I didn't handle it well. I did all sorts of things you would not have approved of."

"Well I'm here now. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like that Castiel was so comfortable with those two humans. What happened to him?"

Lucifer shrugs. "He's had his Grace ripped out one too many times, I assume." You shiver at that, your stomach turning at such an act. "And was forced to live as they do- to feel as they do. He went soft. And then all angels were cast out by something Metatron did-" You gasp, pulling back at staring at Lucifer with eyes full of horror, "-but they've managed to take Heaven back and get it all sorted out."

"But Metatron was only the Scribe of God. Where was Father throughout all of this?"

"Dear 'ol Dad left. Went missing. Took a vacation and never returned," Lucifer drawls. "Well, he did when the Winchesters released the Darkness," you groan, eyes rolling at their stupidity, "but then Dad grabbed his sister and left. Again."

"None of this would have happened had Father smited his beloved creations when we told him to."

"Preaching to the choir, sister." You frown at the phrase, but Lucifer merely shrugs it off. "But that's an issue for a later day. I just got you back and I have so much to tell you."

"Then you better get to talking, Luci. I have a feeling I'm going to have to get to work soon."

#fanficimagery #spn gen fic x reader #supernatural imagine #spn imagine #lucifer imagine #lucifer spn imagine #lucifer #castiel #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural #spn #jack #jack kline

347 notes · View notes

verobatto · 5 years

Text

War decision/Heart decision

The break-up of TFW

Supernatural 14x19 "Jack in the box" meta/spoiler alert

Hello my dear Fandom. How are you?? I'm here with the second meta from this episode, you can read the first part here. I hope you enjoy this it took me a little of investigation and stuffs...

Ok... Things are getting wild and... Idk what they are doing people, really... I will just present to you the evidence as always with a little spec that I think I'm not the one thinking about it... Is just a painful equation with the clues we have till now. Ok. Let's start this trip...

Castiel is in a Holy Mission

Castiel, being an angel of the Lord, keeps his mission and his promises, as i talked in my first meta. To ANY COST. I want you to keep that in mind. Ok? Sobbing...

Castiel's mission is his promise to Kelly, so from the beginning, he marks the limit. He won't hurt Jack. He will help him and guide him.

But he asks for help to Heaven, and there's Dumah. Dumah is behaving weird, but not so. Beacuse she is on charge now, and the power of being the chief, corrupts. But Castiel didn't know about her intentions first.

And what was Dumah looking for? She wanted to find the Nephilim and control him, control his powers... By using a very manipulative speech, as AUMichael and Lucifer did. But she was successful. Beacuse she smartly used Sam and Dean's names with him. And the innocent child fell for it.

And then, she used him to PURIFY EARTH, by killing innocents... But pay attention to the three heaven punishments they mentioned in this episode...

Lot's wife became a pillar of salt. (Gen. 19:26)

Lot and his wife lived next to Abraham lands, but Lot hated Sodoma because they were sinners and bad people. Then one day an angel of the Lord ask Lot to take his family with them and to run and to don't look behind because God was about to burn Sodoma and Gomorra because he was tired of them. So Lot did as the angel said, they run away, but his wife disobeyed and look behind, and immediately became a pillar of salt. The lesson here: God saves the obedient and punishes the disobedient.

The man who received this punishment was writing about how Church lies. So against the Church Holy mission.

Core and his family eaten by the earth. (Num. 16:31)

Gore and his family rebelled against God and Moises, so God talked with Moises asking him to take the rest of the people and stay away from Core's tend. He did as God said, and immediately the land broke and devoured Core, and his family, and the tend with all their things.

The lesson: Those who don't listen to God will be hardly punished.

In this case was a woman who said miracles are lies.

King Herodes is eaten by worms (Hech. 12:23)

An angel of the Lord released Peter from jail, and king Herodes ordered to kill the guards. The people was not agreed, and because he was playing to be God taking those decisions, an angel hurt him and the worms ate him.

The lesson: Those who trying to play God by deciding who dies and who lives, receive the Heaven punishment.

Here the man who dies at the hospital was the good shepherd who lead the sheep's that we're stoñwn buenas Jack. And you can see in that scene being the priest, a pic about Jesus as the good shepherd.

Everytime it was an angel of the Lord who execute the Holy Mission, and this time who will receive the punishment by Castiel's hands??

Dean is suffering and taking hard decisions

Making use of his First Born duties and with the whole mess that he is feeling inside, Dean talked about his mom in front of that hunters. And he used jokes in his speech... Trying to say goodbye with a smile. But he is struggling inside with the pain. Jokes are a defense mechanism of avoidance too... But he says GOODBYE MOM anyway.

After this we had a violent entrance coming from AUBobby, who killed a monster in the middle of them with an axe... Remember what the axe represented? I talked about that in this post.

So the axe represents the JUDGMENT AND THE ANGER. So accurate with the following events in this episode and I guess it will be in the nest episode too, related with Dean's actions...

Sam asked Dean to stay with them to talk about Mary and Jack, and he didn't want to. He is avoiding again the pain of talk about his mom, about Jack.

Gif set credit @shirtlesssammy

But Sam and CAS knows Dean very well...they know he acts like this, trying to push his emotions very down inside of him. Even so, Castiel tried... Look at the angel's sad face full of pain and feeling guilt... Yes... Because they didn't talk yet about it. But Sam asked him to leave his brother because he needed time... So... He just makes that question ... And Dean answered in avoidance again.

And after this we had Dean crying alone in the woods... Handling with his own pain.

Then, Sam asked him how he felt... (Like Castiel asked him before) and he answered with another question not related to his feelings at all, but with Sam researching... Avoidance again.

Sam trying to comfort him with the speech that he must being repeating to himself to feel better about Mary's death. "She is in a better place", but Dean is furious "Angels are dicks." Same vibes from season 7 when he was talking with Kevin in the basement about angels... He was disappointed there with Castiel. But this time we had a parallel in this same episode with the man who didn't believe in angels and Heaven. And we know what happened there...

Then... Dean takes the war decision, the hard decision, and convinces Sammy to follow him. He build the speech Sammy has to use with Jack. He is asking Sam to lie. Sam isn't at all convinced but he goes his brother's directions anyway.

When Jack answered Sammy's prayers, using the word FAMILY, the one who gives the speech is the first born again, Dean. He contains his pain and anger when he had Jack in front of him. And he fullfil the plan.

He is hunting Jack... Because he is feeling the boy become a monster, and as I wrote in my first meta, he had told Jack in season 13 he will kill him if it was necessary.

This is a train of bad decisions... And we don't know where it leads... But... We had a lot of clues talking about "silver steak through the heart" as my friend @emblue-sparks and I had repeated a million of times since 14x06 Optimism when it first was mentioned... They repeated the same way to kill in 14x16, and in 14x17 we had this...

Gif credit @agusvedder

So... Is this foreshadowing the end??? Who will stop the sacrifice in the Moriah mountain in the morning at episode when Dean will try to kill Jack? Who will be the Heaven executor in Holly Mission??? I don't even want to think it...

And this...

Pic credit @weirddorkylittlediana remember Dean was walking in 14x17 surrended by this kind of yellow signs? And we related it with Sammy asking Dean to stop... Well... There's so many ways to finish this season I'm so scared...

Sam trying to do right but...

Sam is handling with pain as he can...

Gif credit @ohsamulet

Sammy is talking to himself here too. He knows his mom is happy with his dad in Heaven and that's a good way to let her go.

But after this Dean came with the plan and Sam just couldn't handle it. It was too much for him. First his mom, and now deceive Jack to lock him in the Mal'ak box for ever. A horrible eternity alone... The thing that made him lose it that time with his brother, now... He is listening again that horrible plan. He knows Jack is dangerous now, but he doesn't now the person who is making him doing those bad things.

And he is a dad too. He had raised that child so he can't believe how things are happening now. He is like frozen. Not thinking too much about it... Following his brother lead...

And he prays to Jack... And when he had Jack in front of him, innocently talking about "the accident", not having a reasonable view about that, he knows Jack is clueless, as always. And he can't talk... So Dean spoke for him. Dean said the words he was expecting from him to say it. And he followed his lead again. For Sammy should be like living again another nightmare... Not being able to wake up from the previous one.

And Jack entered inside the box. And now he felt the worst thing on Earth because that's not how Sam Winchester acts. He always find ANOTHER WAY. He is the one who KEEPS FIGHTING AND INVESTIGATING. Why not this time? Maybe because the pain of loosing his mother is overwhelming to him, and he can't think about another thing. He said I CAN'T STOP THINLING ABOUT MOM. So that's the thing. HE CAN'T THINK NOW ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE.

But when Castiel arrives... He breaks that nightmare and brought back Sam to reality.

As he did in 14x15...

Castiel looked at Sam searching for that Sam he knew. And he founded him. He was regretful and in pain.

How he will act in the next episode? Gah... Idk...

Jack and the mirrors

Jack is still alone, but he doesn't wanted to be anymore. He is regretful and he wants Mary back, right there, with him. He misses his family, and in the middle of that, Lucifer appears again. Trying to make him feel the same that AUMichael did with Dean and the Empty with Castiel...

Gif credit @deans-top-13-zepp-traxx

Yes, but Jack said DEAN MAKES MISTAKES TOO. Dean is his role model. He trust him.

The encounter between Jack and Dumah was particularly similar to Jack's encounter with Lucifer and AUMichael too. The manipulative speech, using Sam and Dean as an excuse, and the name of his mother, made him choose to follow her lead. And he committed horrendous crimes under Dumah twisted guidance.

The next step was to take control over Heaven .. as a new God...

Pic credit @empty-cass

We knew who had being sit in that throne before... One of them was Lucifer and maybe Godstiel too, so the parallel is very blantant. Any angelical being had twisted intentions. All of them except one...

Gif credit @faramaiofnerdwoodforest

And this happened in 13x19...

So... Jack doesn't have bad intentions... He is just like Castiel sitting there... And he has his mother essence inside of him...

And now amazingly making angels from people... That was weird Supernatural... But well... Good way to restore Heaven. Who wants to be an angel??

Another mirror was Jack inside the box... Afraid of being lonely calling desperately for his dad's... Dean mirror in 14x12 when he had that horrible nightmare...

And Lucifer strikes again... And this time because Jack was so afraid and he felt alone in that darkness... He listened him. And he released himself from that prison ...

I saw him talking in that Cemetery with Castiel, it looked like a cozy conversation between a dad and a son... And I liked it... Let's see what happen...

To conclude:

TFW members are right night in different pages. Mary's death is the central cause of the pain and bad choices.

Jack is innocent an manipulable... Very dangerous in wrong guidance, because he has not soul, so he just uses logic resolutions for problems.

Castiel is doing his own path by trying to find another way, and keeping his promise to Kelly.

Dean is angry and mourning his mom, trying to handle the pain, but stuck in his feelings, making bad choices.

I hope Sammy to wake up and to try to bring back his brother.

The end is near and I just can't stop thinking we are going to suffer horribly. Thanks a lot writers... Don't worry... I didn't need my heart anyway...

C-u later my friends!! 💕💕

Tagging @metafest @gneisscastiel @mrsaquaman187 @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @agusvedder @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @castiellover20 @whyjm @koshisekisen @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @cheerstofandomfamily @drsilverfish @savannadarkbaby @angelneedshunter @trickster-archangel @dea-stiel @mybonsai1976 @hippyatheart80 @anarchiana

Buenos Aires April 19th 2019 2:57 AM

#supernatural meta #14x19 meta #14x19 spoiler #jack in the box #tfw meta

55 notes · View notes

beatlejuice64 · 5 years

Text

Destiel: Season 4 - A catalog of Supernatural episodes

I recently binge-watched the entire Supernatural series, and I’m now obsessed. I’m a little bummed that I’m only just now getting into this fandom, especially since the upcoming 15th season will be its last. But better late than never! To fill the time between now and the start of the new season, I’ve decided to catalog each episode that features scenes related to Destiel. This includes scenes between Dean and Castiel, of course, but also scenes with other characters that address their relationship with each other. I will also include scenes that allude to Dean’s bisexuality. I know that Destiel is not officially canon, but I ship it hard, and I think it is a valid reading of the series. Although Dean is not explicitly portrayed as bisexual, there is a significant amount of queer coding in his behavior, especially with regard to Castiel. So here we go, starting with season 4!

Season 4 Summary Analysis:

Dean is intimidated by Castiel at first but becomes more comfortable with him over time, especially as he grows apart from Sam. Cas is curious about and amused by Dean from the beginning. Cas grows fond of Dean over time. Inspired by Dean’s devotion to his brother and determination to do what is right, Cas rebels against heaven, following in the footsteps of his former mentor, Anna.

4.01 Lazarus Rising

Dean is freaked out by the “bad mojo” surrounding his resurrection. He’s intimidated by Cas’s power.

Cas looks down on Dean: “This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith.”

Cas pities Dean: “You don’t think you deserve to be saved.”

4.02 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester

Castiel is amused at Dean’s ignorance: “Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I’m a soldier.” “I’m not here to perch on your shoulder.”

Dean is irreverent and Castiel comes down on him hard: “Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week. You think the armies of heaven should just follow you around? There’s a bigger picture here. You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of hell; I can throw you back in.” Dean is visibly freaked out by this show of aggression, but also seems to respect Cas more afterward.

4.03 In the Beginning

Cas is curious about Dean: “What were YOU dreaming about?”

Dean is frustrated by Cas’s ambiguous communication.

Cas feels sympathy for Dean when he sees Mary make the deal with Azazel.

Dean is intimidated by Cas’s threat: “Your brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we’re not sure where it leads. So stop it, or we will.”

4.06 Yellow Fever

Dean flirts with a guy at the Sherriff’s office while he’s under the influence of ghost sickness.

4.07 It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

Cas is confused by Dean’s unwillingness to do whatever it takes to stop Lucifer.

Cas calls Uriel out on his hatred of humans: “You’re close to blasphemy.”

Cas believes in Dean: “There is a reason we were sent to save him. He has potential. He may succeed here.”

Cas is impressed by Dean’s determination to save people: “I’m not here to judge you, Dean.” “You misunderstand me, Dean. I’m not like you think—I was praying that you would choose to save the town.”

Cas demonstrates his love for humanity: “These people, they’re all my father’s creations. They are works of art.”

Cas opens up to Dean out of respect and sympathy: “Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell another soul? I’m not a ‘hammer’, as you say. I have questions. I have doubts. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong anymore, or whether you passed or failed here. But in the coming months you will have more decisions to make. I don’t envy the weight that’s on your shoulders, Dean. I truly don’t.”

4.10 Heaven and Hell

Cas tries to reason with Sam and Dean about Anna to avoid fighting: “She is far from innocent.”

Cas is visibly uncomfortable with being forced to kill Anna.

Dean demonstrates his awe of angels: “You guys are powerful, perfect. You don’t doubt yourselves, or God, or anything.”

Anna helps Dean understand why angels are cold and emotionless: “Perfect—like a marble statue: cold, no choice, only obedience.”

Dean and Anna connect over absent fathers, and she helps him feel better about the PTSD he is experiencing from being in hell. Dean’s experience with Anna helps mitigate his fear and awe of angels.

Uriel tells Dean about Castiel’s affinity toward him: “You see, he has this weakness—he likes you.”

Cas is intrigued and surprised when Anna, someone he looks up to, kisses Dean and says she forgives him.

Dean saves Cas from being killed by Alistair.

Dean, who is experiencing PTSD, is envious of the angels’ lack of emotion: “I wish I couldn’t feel a damn thing.”

4.14 Sex and Violence

A siren takes the form of a man to seduce Dean and acts like the perfect partner who trusts his judgment. The siren drives a rift between Sam and Dean.

4.15 Death Takes a Holiday

Cas tells Dean he is “different” from other people.

Cas is impressed by Dean’s success in preventing a seal from breaking, but annoyed that he had to ask for help surreptitiously instead of being straightforward: “Whatever I ask, you seem to do the exact opposite.”

4.16 On the Head of a Pin

Cas is unnerved at recent angel killings, and he’s been demoted because he’s grown too close to Dean: “My superiors have begun to question my sympathies. I was getting too close to the humans in my charge—you. They feel I’ve begun to express emotions, doorways to doubt. This can impair my judgment.”

Cas feels bad that the angels have been so cryptic: “Dean, we know this is difficult to understand.”

After Dean says no to torturing Alistair, it pains Cas that the angels are making him do it: “This is too much to ask, I know, but we have to ask it.” “For what it’s worth, I would give anything not to have you do this.”

Dean goes through with the torture because Cas convinces him it’s a necessary evil.

Anna scolds Cas for letting Dean torture and encourages him question his orders: “Who are we to question the will of God?” “Unless this isn’t His will.” “Then where do the orders come from?” “I don’t know. One of our superiors, maybe, but not Him. The father you love—you think he wants this? You think he’s ask this of you? You think this is righteous? What you’re feeling, it’s called doubt. These orders are wrong, and you know it. But you can do the right thing. You’re afraid, Cas—I was, too—but together, we can stop...”

Cas gets defensive because he knows Anna is right: “Together... I am nothing like you! You fell!”

After Sam gets the truth out of Alistair, Cas succumbs to his doubt and goes to Anna for guidance: “I’m considering disobedience.” “For the first time, I feel...” “Anna, I don’t know what to do. Please tell me what to do.” Anna encourages Cas to think for himself.

Cas confronts Uriel and fights him with a renewed sense of confidence and faith: “For the first time in a long time, I am [unafraid].”

Cas visits Dean in the hospital after Alistair’s attack and warns him about the possibility of more angels working against them. Cas demonstrates his faith in Dean: “It’s not blame that falls on you, Dean. It’s fate. The righteous man who begins it, is the only one who can finish it. You have to stop it.” “Dean, they don’t tell me much. I know our fate rests with you.”

Dean is despondent and emotionally vulnerable with Cas: “Then you guys are screwed. I can’t do it, Cas, it’s too big. Alistair was right—I’m not all here. I’m not strong enough. I guess I’m not the man either of our dads wanted me to be.” Cas shows concern and sympathy for Dean.

4.18 The Monster at the End of this Book

Dean prays out of desperation to save Sam, and Cas answers: “You have tested me and thrown me every which way, and I have never asked for anything. Not a damn thing. But now I’m asking. I need your help. Please.”

Cas is frustrated that he can’t help, but then gives Dean a clue about archangels being tied to prophets: “Thanks, Cas.” “Good luck.”

4.20 The Rapture

Cas appears to Dean in a dream and wants to tell him something urgent, but when Sam and Dean go to meet with him, they find signs of an angel fight and an unconscious Jimmy Novak.

Cas has been re-educated by heaven: “I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean. I serve heaven, I don’t serve man. And I certainly don’t serve you.”

4.21 When the Levee Breaks

Dean prays to Cas for help and is disappointed when Cas won’t tell him what’s going on. Cas convinces Dean to accept his fate in order to save Sam, but he is visibly uncomfortable with the situation. After Dean swears to serve heaven, he and Cas stare at each other for a long time.

Cas follows orders to release Sam from Bobby’s panic room in secret. He also turns Anna in, although he feels bad about doing so: “You shouldn’t have come, Anna.”

4.22 Lucifer Rising

Cas looks pained when heaven calls on Dean and can barely look Dean in the eye: “We’ve been through much together, you and I, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry it ended like this.”

Dean calls Cas out on his blind loyalty: “Destiny, God’s Plan? It’s all a bunch of lies, you poor, stupid son of a bitch. It’s just a way for your bosses to keep me and keep you in line. You know what’s real? People, families—that’s real. And you’re gonna watch ‘em all burn?”

Cas explains that he’s doing it for Dean’s sake: “What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here. I see inside you. I see your guilt, your anger, confusion. In paradise, all is forgiven—you’ll be at peace, even with Sam.”

Cas is surprised and upset by Dean’s negative reaction: “You can take your peace and shove it up your lily white ass, ‘cause I’ll take the pain and the guilt, I’ll even take Sam as is. It’s a lot better than being some stepford bitch in paradise. This is simple, Cas. No more crap about being a good soldier. There is a right and there is a wrong here, and you know it. Look at me! You know it! And you were gonna help me once, weren’t you? You were gonna warn me about all this before they dragged you back to Bible Camp. Help me now. Please.”

Dean gets angry at Cas: “You spineless, soulless son of a bitch. What do you care about dying? You’re already dead. We’re done.”

Dean’s rejection and anger ultimately lead Cas to help him escape from the angels. Cas busts Dean out against his orders and sacrifices himself to help Dean and Sam.

#supernatural #dean x castiel #dean winchester #castiel #destiel #spn #deancas

7 notes · View notes

shirtlesssammy · 5 years

Text

14x19: Jack in the Box

Then:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Now:

We open to Mary’s wake at the bunker. Hunters from all over have gathered to say goodbye. Dean gives his eulogy, and I want to briefly pause and really absorb it. He now sees Mary as a hunter, someone who’s tough and brave --and who can’t cook. She’s real to him and her loss isn’t just a symbolic loss of a hypothetical childhood anymore. Also, while Cas is still possibly dead to Dean, he’s standing up there with his brothers saying goodbye to his mother-in-law Mary.

Just as they toast Mary, a hatchet comes flying in and kills one of the hunters. Bobby’s back, and he just killed a wraith, because Cas couldn’t detect it I guess. *scrambles to find all the wraith talk from earlier this season* (also bless Jim Beaver for putting up a poll on who we liked better: OG or New Bobby. There’s nothing wrong with New Bobby, but he’s not Bobby.) Anyway, Bobby and Sam talk. Bobby asks about “the other one.” Sam says he “seems to be doing ok.” Lololol. Sam wants to break open some Scotch and keep talking about Mary. Dean deflects -he’s all talked out. Sam, Bobby, and Cas reconvene in the kitchen and start to talk about Jack. Dean wanders in and Cas goes through the face journeys of face journeys before asking if he needs anything (*crying noise, crying noise*). Dean needs a drink, and to get out of the bunker. (Spoiler alert: He does not, indeed, need a drink.)

Sam and Bobby continue to talk about Jack. “There’s only one way this ends,” Bobby insists. Cas, YOU BLESSED ANGEL, agrees. They have to find and help Jack. Lol, Bobby is under a different impression.

Jack, meanwhile, is still grappling with what he did to Mary. He’s sitting in an alley against a blue wall --much like he was when he was first navigating the world, wondering if he was worth all the effort. He prays to his mom (and on a rewatch, I do think he’s talking to Kelly here. Sam invoked Kelly in the other scene and Jack has always looked to his mother’s good nature to guide him), but Lucifer shows up.

He pushes against Jack’s better angels, but Jack thinks he can still talk to the WInchesters, and make them understand what happened was an accident.

Cut to THE second MOST HEARTBREAKING MOMENT OF THE EPISODE. Dean is alone, out in the woods, with only his car to keep him company, crying his eyes out. He’s not drowning his sorrows in booze, he’s not falling back on any vice to cope. Sure he’s hiding from Sam and Cas, but he’s full on grieving for his mom here. He’s letting himself feel these emotions. He’s also blaming himself and hating himself for failing her again, I’m sure --and good lord, I need to wrap him in a blanket right now.

*Jarring scene change alert*

Cas is now in heaven. Ok. He meets with Dumah and is looking for Naomi. She’s locked up because The Empty invaded Heaven under her watch. (Um, this entity is bigger than Heaven...locking up one of your few remaining angels because she happened to be in charge at the time seems really stupid.)

Back at the bunker, Dean’s back. Sam wants to talk about Mary -where she is. Dean is not willing to talk about it.

Jack is visited by Dumah (sidenote: How did she find him? Where did she come from? Why can’t I just handwave this bullshit away like I’m supposed to?) Dumah tells Jack what he wants to hear. They head to an atheist author to tell him to renounce his heretical ways and when he doesn’t, Jack turns him into a pillar of salt. No, Jack bby!!

Cas is back at the bunker letting Sam and Dean know that heaven is helping with Jack. Cas, you poor trusting fool. Sam tells the others about the now pillar of salt professor. There were other deaths too.

Jack and Dumah are now in heaven because Jack can totally be in heaven while not dead now. Jack starts listening to people praying to God. Jack then flaps in to visit a prayer group. He asks if they want to go to heaven. YUP! He’s here to make their dreams come true.

At a hospital, male modeling Team Free Will stride through the hallways, Sam’s hair blowing romantically in the---

Uh.

Sorry. Got distracted.

They’re here to check out the pastor who was attacked by worms. We are relieved to see him alive, ya’ll. Still super grossed out, but relieved. The pastor tells them that Jack took the prayer group to Heaven to become angels. While Cas heads off to Heaven to get to the bottom of this, Dean and Sam head back to the bunker. Dean’s hatched a plan to stop Jack. It’s hugs!

Er, actually, it’s the ma’lak box. Sam’s dubious, but Dean is absolutely certain: the only way to stop Jack is to trap him in the archangel-warded box. Dean proposes that Jack only has to stay in the box long enough to “finish the spell to fix his soul.” Which is, he admits, pure fiction. Dean assigns Sam the task of lying to Jack because he’s “always been in his corner.” It hurtses Sam...it hurtses me… Sam reluctantly agrees.

At the heavenly portal playground, Cas talks to an angel huddled around a burn barrel. Aramael informs Cas that Heaven is closed...to Cas. BURN. Cas shifts into his fighting stance. This can only end poorly.

Upstairs, Jack zaps blue light into each of the human’s eyes, to Dumah’s delight. Aramael arrives - NOT dead, only for Cas to toss him aside. Surprise, peeps! Dumah is NOT AMUSED.

Jack is super proud of his work. Oooooh honey. (Cue Death drolly saying, “I don’t see an angel, I see a mutated human.”) Cas asks to talk to Dumah with his smitey face on. I’m expecting a polite, measured conversation, followed by an exchange of pleasantries.

At the bunker, Sam continues to struggle with Dean’s plan. He worries that it will fail and, fidgeting, he prays to Jack. He appeals to Jack’s notion of family: “Sometimes bad things happen but we’re your family” and together they can “get through this.” Dean watches Sam, his battle mask on.

Upstairs, Cas accuses Dumah of using Jack. She doesn’t deny it.

Dumah insists that she’s saving the world through her use of Jack. Cas insists that Jack is a child and needs guidance now that he’s without a soul. Dumah threatens Cas with the fate of Mary and John Winchester if he doesn’t let Jack stay in Heaven. While Dumah gloats, thinking she finally has him with that threat, Cas stabs her. She erupts in light and...well...don’t fuck with Cas. You’d think angels would learn that by now? I guess Aramael did. Good job, Aramael.

Sam tells Jack that his mother would want Jack to flap down and speak with the Winchesters. Honey, baby, you KNOW that’s not true if she knew what you were up to. Still, the invocation of Jack’s mother is what convinces Jack in the end. He flies to the bunker.

Jack tells the Winchesters that he was “so glad” to hear from them and that he missed them. He reports on his Heaven-led activities like a kid delivering a book report. Dean and Sam, clearly freaked out, approach slowly. Jack brings up Mary’s death and none of his agonizing from the last episode and a half appear now. Faced with the Winchesters, he calmly tells them about Mary’s death. Though he’s still filled with confusion, and doesn’t remember exactly what happened. “I guess I snapped,” he concludes.

Hatred and pain blooms on Dean’s face. If there was ever any doubt in his mind, it’s gone now. MAN, Jensen Ackles, you are K I L L I N G me. I’m so sad for Dean, but I am also chilled by that look on his face. I mean, if looks could kill, right? I admit that I’m less sad about Jack, and more worried for the state of Dean and the TFW family, here.

Dean tells Jack they forgive him. Sam grimaces and does a truly terrible job acting his part. Oh, Sammy.

Still, Jack buys it. I mean, WWWD? Locking themselves in torture boxes for the greater good totally checks out. (Although they lock him in with no actual intention of helping him get better so…….that does deviate from the standard “family” M.O.) They lead him to the ma’lak box and close him inside.

I would like to take this moment to state that I got claustrophobic driving down a tight parking garage ramp this week so watching Jack get closed up in this box is NOT COOL for me. I should not be recapping this before bed.

They lock him in and leave the room. Jack calls for them and pulls out his phone to look around in a scene terribly reminiscent of Dean’s nightmares. The Winchesters stand outside the door and listen to Jack calling for them. They don’t answer.

Instead, they go have a drink in the kitchen.

Sam confesses that he’s not sure he can lock Jack in the box for an eternity. Dean comments on the liquor. I die a little inside. Dean, bby!

While Jack starts to freak out in the box (JACK I WAS ALREADY THERE LIKE 3 MINUTES AGO UGH), Lucifer chats him up. Lucifer tells Jack what the Winchesters were up to, solidifying Jack’s loyalty to him. Lucifer tells him to break out of the box.

Cas arrives at the bunker and tells Sam and Dean that Jack was being manipulated by Heaven. They need to find Jack and tell him not to trust the other angels. Er…….Sam reveals that Jack’s at the bunker. In the box. Cas is horrified.

Cue Jack, breaking out of the box with his powers. The bunker rattles. The box glows. When they arrive at the room it’s too late. Jack emerges, eyes aglow. Because, you know, it was built to contain an archangel. Not a nephilim.

Wherps.

Surely it will be hugs and rainbows for the season finale. Only good things happen in cemeteries on this show. I’ll bring the snuggly teddy bears and chocolate fountain!

Ask Not for Whom the Quotes Toll, They Toll for Thee:

A hunter’s burial memorial complete with monster. Mary would have appreciated that.

So he lost his capacity for good through an act of goodness?

Heaven never really had any mercy, Castiel.

Long shots are kind of our thing.

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn spoilers #spn recap #spn 14x19 #jack in the box #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #cas #jack kline #lucifer #dumah #bobby #supernatural season 14

42 notes · View notes

tfcrp · 5 years

Photo

THIS IS YOUR GAME

Name: Cassius Ryding Age: Twenty Class Year: Sophomore Position: Backliner, #26 Hometown: Intercourse, Pennsylvania

THIS IS YOUR MOMENT

TW: abuse, violence, religion, homophobia

Cassius Ryding was once a child of God born of sin. Born as Harper Van Der Berg, he was tainted from birth by the talons of an outsider—the product of an affair. Of temptation and lust. Of things only the Devil knew. On a small farm in an Amish community, his mother’s sins were forgiven but not forgotten, and he would grow up living as the reminder to his parents and to his community that demons were real. Living in the shadow of a mistake, reflections of the sins they all feared. Fragments and scattered memories were what he’d take away from this place, ones he’d try to forget as the years went by. The seclusion that separated them from the outside world, and the small community that was all he knew. The way his hands calloused from the days spent helping his father with the harvest, and his mother’s eyes would avoid him whenever he was in the room.

Penance was the only thing the boy grew to know well, for it was what would carve him into the angel he’d never be. Cursed. Unforgiven for a sin that wasn’t his own. Taught to bite his tongue with each punishment God allowed, each prayer he uttered unanswered. Beads savoured in his hands, for he could grasp and clutch tight enough that his hands turned red, and dents stayed when he shifted the necklace to the next. For they were all he could hold as he refused to cry out. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Forgive a sin that wasn’t his own. For how was he to know he was born from the devil? He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead. Mutters of a child who dared not curse the lord. A boy whose wings were handed to him, forced into his skin. Each stroke a feather that would bring him closer to forgiveness.

It was these years the boy, once soft and delicate, learned to sprout thorns and to stop feeling. Dastardly were the hands of a God he stopped believing in, hands that he continued bowing to every night. He started fighting back, not against the penance, or the words spoken against him. He started acting out around the community. And as his punishment worsened, his tongue grew even sharper. He became the demon they all feared. He became destructive. Dangerous. Shame he brought to the family name, and fear he began to strike in those who made eye contact with him in the town.

It was a relationship that was the final straw. A childish whim he acted upon, tempting the preacher’s son the way the Devil first tempted his mother. And it was one sin too many, and he was exiled. A boy without God is left for the wolves to find, and for the Devil to claim, his father would tell him, but he already knew better—it was the angels you had to fear.

He was fourteen when he first stepped out into a world that had forgotten God long before he did, with nothing to his name and nothing more than scattered phases of English. The first nights were rough, sleeping on concrete exposed to the weather, invisible to the world as it moved without him. He clung to the beads as they were all he knew, but he no longer prayed. Basil was the first thing in this new world that looked like an angel to him, and fuck you were the first words he ever said to him. A plea of desperation, to be saved. But instead of anger it only brought a laugh, and he became the thing that grounded the boy who’d lost himself. He was the first person in this new world to ask him a name in a tongue he found familiar. Cas, the boy would tell him. A lie only in the most traditional sense, for it was a lie that would become true. Cassius Ryding became his name, for Van Der Berg had never belonged to him. It was saved for those holy and pure.

It was the start of his new life, the angel dragging him from limbo and saving him. Giving him something to hold onto. Basil was only in town on a business trip, something Cassius would soon learn was a frequent way of life: days and nights spent on the road, meeting those who followed his orders and ran his errands. Cassius followed him into the world he had never met, allowing himself to be blindly lead. Basil took him under his wings and brought him back to New York. Brought him to a home. Gave him papers with his new name on them. Taught him how to fight like him, how to talk like him, to stop using German and replace it with English. How to walk in his footsteps. Gang was a foreign word to Cassius—all he knew was the family that was forming around him. But where Cassius saw hope, Basil saw a young boy who would do anything he asked.

School wasn’t a thought for Cassius, but he was enrolled regardless, though he’d still take days off for his work with Basil, following along on his interstate trips. Appearances, Basil would say, were everything. But, more frequently than not, his grades were slipping and he often found himself in detention, whether it was for an outspoken line in class or a fight during lunch. He refused to make friends, half the time he refused to speak a word to anyone if it weren’t a bitter line bit out. He refused any help that was offered to him, sat silent in front of guidance counselors as they asked about what his parents thought of his behaviour or how they felt about his low grades. If he spoke, it was to repeat the fake names Basil had told him to give, fake jobs for his ever-absent parents that everyone seemed ever-so-interested in.

The only thing that stuck was Exy. Though they originally feared that the sport was too violent, the school’s team desperately needed a backliner—and so Exy became the second thing about this new world that Cassius fell in love with.

SEIZE IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT

The years went on and Cassius Ryding started to become an actual person, not just another name the world could throw away. Harper Van Der Berg became a distant memory, the fragments of the angel he could never be creating a boy instead. Graduation was around the corner—the first thing Cassius Ryding had ever done, the first thing that made him real. He hadn’t thought about being recruited for Exy until Wymack showed up in the locker room after the game: parents who’d never shown up to any of his games, his history of violence and rebellion, and the scars glimpsed under his uniform were enough for his Coach to flag him for the Foxes. Wymack didn’t ask him any questions, though, and so Cassius didn’t offer him any answers, only took the papers Wymack gave him with a nod. They both knew it was a yes.

For the second time in his life Cassius was given as much hope as he was fear. But Basil didn’t see it as that. To him it was a betrayal. It was the first time Cassius had ever had something of his own. The first time something didn’t revolve around Basil. The first time he’d seen the flashes of God in another. What happened next was a blur to him. All he’d remember was a place he used to call home. He’d remember the man he called his father, the searing pain he felt. He’d remember flashes of knives and bruises. He’d remember an angel he never feared before. He’d be reminded of the demons that ran rampant in the world. He’d be reminded of his childhood. He’d forget everything else, except for the black eye and wounds on his body that were left behind as he made the twelve hour bus ride to Palmetto. He was in limbo again, alone in the world with nothing again—but the Foxes were something to cling to.

CASSIUS RYDING is portrayed by DUDLEY O’SHAUGHNESSY and is CLOSED

#cassius ryding #cassiusbio #c

2 notes · View notes

coffee-obsessed-writer · 6 years

Text

You Called?

Dean Winchester x Reader, Sam, Castiel

A/N: A silly, angsty little one-shot story that popped into my head after obsessively listening to this song and this song. Dean is drunk and missing the woman he loves around the holidays. Sam and Cas try to come up with something nice to do for him so he's not so sad.

Warnings: Language, drinking, angst, fluff,

Word Count: 3392

“I should never have left her,” Dean said as he slid to the floor. “I shoulda… I shoulda made her come.”

“Dean, don’t do this to yourself,” Sam furrowed his brow and extended a hand to his brother. “Please, it’s kind of pathetic.”

“I blew it,” Dean lifted the bottle to his lips and winced when the whiskey touched the cut on his lip. “I’m so stupid Sam.”

“Yeah, well, that’s a discussion for another day. C’mon, let’s get you to bed,” Sam tried to maneuver Dean to his feet, but the eldest Winchester resisted.

“Jus… Just leave me Sam. I wanna sit here. I wanna get drunk and forget about her,” Dean disregarded his lip and drank greedily from the bottle.

Sam sighed and leaned against the wall where Dean once stood. Sliding down until he was on the floor, Sam reached over and grabbed the bottle from his brother.

Surprised by the action, Dean looked at him curiously through drunken eyes and shook his head. “Mmm, nope. No way, little brother, this is my bottle.”

“Bite me, dude,” Sam took the bottle and swigged it, scrunching face at the straight shot of brown liquor. “Alright, talk. What makes this one so special?” he handed the bottle back to Dean reluctantly.

“Have you seen her?” Dean mused wistfully, a dreamy smile on his lips, causing the crinkles to form around his eyes.

“Yeah, but, Dean… you’ve been with a lot of beautiful women in your life. I’ve never seen you like this. Not once since you hit puberty.”

Dean scoffed and took another shot. He licked the whiskey from his lip, and when his tongue hit the tender spot near the cut, he brought a hand to it and touched it gently. Grunting at the sharp pain, he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Well, we can start with the fact that she’s got a hell of a right hook…” Dean snorted a laugh and looked at Sam. When he didn’t laugh, Dean rolled his eyes and let his thoughts roll back to her. “I don’t know Sam, I just like her, alright?” Dean grumbled, trying to dismiss the question. Talking about all the things that made her perfect for him certainly wouldn’t help his current situation.

Sam reached for the bottle and this time Dean passed it willingly. “Its just funny to see you, of all people, so hung up on some girl.”

“She’s not just some girl, Sam,” Dean leaned his head back against the wall and exhaled deeply. Sam knew his brother was hurting and really just wanted to sit and wallow in what he thought he had lost.

Sam stood up from the ground and handed Dean back the bottle. “I’m sorry man, I wish it had gone differently.”

As he started walking down the hallway back towards the war room, he heard Dean mumble under his breath…. “she was THE girl…”

When Sam left, Dean pulled out his cell phone and brought her name up on the screen. He promised that he wouldn’t call her. He had sworn that after she asked him to give her space to figure out what she wanted. She was struggling to rectify falling in love with a hunter and getting deeper into the life than she already was. Dean was struggling with the notion of giving her what she needed when all he wanted to do was be with her.

Leaving her at the end of the last hunt had been hell, but when she finally hit him, he got the message. She begged him to go without her, even though she was in no condition to be alone. It was getting close to Christmas and he knew that was a hard time for her. He begged her to come back to the bunker with him and Sam, but she refused over and over. Finally resulting in her taking a swing and connecting with his lip.

Dean hit dial on her number. It rang straight through till voice mail. The phone momentarily slipped from his hand and he swallowed hard at the sound of her voice on the recording.

“Y/N… it’s me. I know I said I wouldn’t call. But, uh, I guess I’m a dick. I miss you and I’m really drunk. I really don’t know what to say other then I’m sorry. I should’ve tried harder to get you to come. It’s been a few days and not knowing where you are… I promised I wouldn’t call, but…” Dean paused and cursed to himself, God dammit, “…I need you. Please…”

The voicemail beeped, cutting him off. Sighing, he put his phone back in his pocket and took another long pull from the bottle of whiskey.

About twenty minutes after leaving Dean in the hallway, Sam found Cas standing in the war room absently staring at one of the books left open on the desk.

“Cas, you alright?” Sam asked.

“Sam… hello. Yes, I’m fine. I was listening to a prayer,” Cas replied though his focus was still on listening.

Sam sat at the table and began closing up the book scattered about. Realizing that the room felt emptier than usual, Sam turned and saw that Cas had already left, leaving only a slight breeze of his wings as he disappeared from the bunker.

Shaking his head and sighing he looked back down the hallway to where he had left his brother sad and heartbroken. Reaching for the laptop, Sam’s mind started racing with ways he could try and make Dean feel a little better.

Knowing Christmas was around the corner, he thought maybe if he brought a little of the holiday spirit, along with several pies, maybe Dean’s mood would improve… slightly. After surfing through some different websites, Sam grinned to himself as he worked to put his “Bring Dean Christmas Cheer” mission into motion.

Hours later, Sam finally pushed back from the desk and wandered back down the hallway where he’d left Dean earlier. Dean was gone but the empty whiskey bottled still laid tipped over on its side. He walked further down the hallway and saw Dean’s bedroom door slightly ajar. Pushing it open cautiously, he saw Dean, still dressed and in his boots, passed out face first on his bed. His cell phone was near his ear and Sam could hear soft music playing.

Carefully walking in as not to disturb him, Sam picked up Dean’s phone and turned the music off, but not before noticing that Air Supply’s I’m All Out of Love was set to play on repeat. A pang of regret ripped through Sam and he suddenly realized just how much Dean really did love this girl.

Quietly placing the phone back and leaving the room, Sam took his own cell out in the hallway and opened it up, navigating to Castiel’s number. He hit dial and waited for the angel to answer. When he reached the voicemail, Sam sighed and squeezed his eyes shut at the eventual frustration that this message would ultimately cause.

“Cas, it’s Sam. Can you get back to the bunker as soon as possible? I need your help with something.”

You let the phone buzz next to you until it finally stopped. Assuming the voice mail picked it up, you turned over in your bed trying your best to not think about who was calling. Deep down you knew it was Dean. You always knew when it was him that called.

Closing your eyes to try and sleep, his face kept coming to mind. Rolling onto your back, you covered your face with one arm and heard the buzz of the phone again signaling that you had a message.

Unable to let your curiosity slide, you grabbed the phone and decided to listen to the message. Hearing Dean’s voice caused your stomach to lurch and tears to stab at the corners of your eyes. You listened to his inebriated rambling and though it should’ve infuriated you, you found yourself missing him desperately. You had been the one to ask for space, and while he agreed, you could feel yourself starting to miss him.

Dean had been a bit surprised when he unexpectedly popped into your life. Six months earlier on a random hunt, you had bumped into him and his brother and ended up working with them to out a bunch of ghouls.

You never expected to fall in love with Dean Winchester. It happened quickly. Within days the two of you had spent nearly every waking hour together. A week later, you were spending every night together. After a month, you were fairly certain that he was the one you were meant to be with forever.

Problem was, forever could end and that scared the shit out of you. A hunt went wrong almost got Dean dead and it was more than you could handle, watching the man you were falling in love with die wasn’t something you ever agreed to. That part of you that feared losing everything kicked in and ignited a fight or flight response. You decided to fly.

Taking a deep breath, your mind began to reach out and pray. To whom, you weren’t exactly sure, but you could feel your inner thoughts fueled by a deep longing for some sort of guidance.

I don’t really know what I am doing here, but if anyone is listening… God, Cas, hell… I’ll even take Gabriel… one of you… please. What do I do? Dean is so important to me. But this life sucks you dry. I don’t know if I can be more of anything to anyone. He deserves the world… I’m so afraid I can’t be that for him. But, fuck. I love him, and I miss him… Please, tell me what to do. Anyone listening… maybe throw a girl a sign…

When nothing came, you sighed and reached for the phone again. Grabbing it with the intention of calling Dean, you chastised yourself immediately and navigated to the calendar and realized that Christmas was less than a week away. For normal people, that would mean thinking about buying gifts, decorating, planning parties and sending cards. For hunters, it meant being on high alert for a wide variety of creatures that liked to pray on the sad and lonely, or feed off the Christmas spirit, or lack thereof.

Frustrated and sad, you put the phone back down on the table just as a bright white light engulfed your bedroom. Shielding your eyes from the illumination, you took two pillows and buried your head so you didn’t lose your eyesight completely.

When the light finally began to fade, you uncovered your eyes and instinctively drew the blankets up to cover your chest. At the end of your bed stood the angel in a trench coat, his face soft and concerned.

“You called?” he mused, a slight smiling formed on his face.

Dean woke the next morning with a raging headache and the melody to Air Supply stuck in his head. Despite the pain ringing in his ears, he shuffled down the hallway towards the kitchen mumbling to himself.

“I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you…” he sang to himself as he slowly moved through the kitchen towards the coffee that was already perked. “I know you were right, believing for sooo long…”

He poured the steaming liquid into his cup and inhaled deeply. His head pounded terribly, but somehow, he didn’t mind. The pain in his head was distracting from the hollowness in his chest and right then he was grateful for that.

Making his way back down the hallway, Dean had planned to go straight back to bed. The sound of music playing softly from the war room stopped him and made him turn in the other direction.

“Really Sam?” he mumbled to himself as he recognized the melody of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree playing over the PA system throughout the bunker. Rolling his eyes, he shambled his way into the room and stopped in his tracks the second he breached the entryway.

Off to the right was an eight-foot high Christmas tree completely decorated with lights and ornaments. Beneath it was several wrapped packages and stockings stuffed to overflowing. Dean scanned the rest of the room and was taken aback by the number of decorations and holiday fare spread throughout.

Sam was standing near the tree, adding a few last touches to the top and adjusting the star. Castiel was sitting at the table with several unwrapped packages in front of him, two tubes of wrapping paper and a dozen pieces of scotch tape stuck to his fingers.

“Sam… I don’t know how to wrap presents. Please, can’t I do something else to help?”

Laughing, Sam waved him to stand up and Cas began peeling the tape off. They both noticed Dean at the same time and smiled with a nod.

“Hey. So, what’dya think?” Sam asked,smiling and extending his arms out wide.

“Well, it looks like Santa threw up in here,” Dean mocked and sipped his coffee. “What’s all this for anyway?”

“We can’t celebrate our first Christmas together without a tree dummy,” a familiar voice called from behind him.

You were standing in the entryway behind him with an armload of tinsel and garland. Walking into the room slowly, you placed the decorations on the end of the table and turned your attention to Dean.

“Hey,” you said delicately, chewing on the inside of your lip as you locked with his brilliant green eyes.

His expression softened and he smiled at the sight of you. “What are you doing here?” he asked in surprise, nearly choking on the last word as he pushed it out of his mouth.

“I got your message,” taking a small step closer to Dean, you leaned on one of the chairs and looked back over your shoulder at Sam and Cas. “Castiel here was nice enough to give me a lift over.”

Sam cleared his throat and looked over to Cas. “C’mon man, I have some more stuff down in storage. Let’s go grab it.”

Looking between you and Dean, and back to Sam, he got the hint and quickly stood to follow Sam out of the war room.

Turning back to Dean, you suddenly felt nervous and more than a little guilty.

“Look, I know what I said, and I’m sorry. Your message—”

Dean cut you off as he wrapped a hand around your neck and pulled you into him. His lips crashed onto yours with little warning, causing you to smile into his kiss. Without hesitation, your arms curled up around his neck as you kissed him back without indecision.

His hands cupped each side of your face and gently pulled you back from him. Running his fingers lightly through your hair with one hand, he sighed and rested his forehead against yours.

“I guess you’re happy to see me?” you teased, earning a chuckle from the eldest Winchester.

“You have no fucking idea,” he said and kissed your head. “What changed your mind?”

“After I heard your message, I prayed. I didn’t know what to say or who to address, so I just sorta named everyone I could think of that wasn’t a dick.”

“Small list,” Dean laughed.

“Right? What the hell… But anyway, then Cas was there. He heard me,” you said and nuzzled into Dean’s chest as he enfolded his arms around your shoulders and rested his chin on your head. “He helped me realize that it doesn’t matter what happens tomorrow. All we can control is right now, and right now, I want to be with you and have as normal a Christmas as we can possibly have. If… that’s what you want too.”

Dean ran his hands down your shoulders and traced the frame of your body down to your hips. His fingers dug into the flesh there, drawing you as close to himself as he could. Leaning in, he ghosted your lips with his.

“It’s the only thing I could ever ask for,” he whispered before leaving a soft kiss on your lips.

Allowing his fingers to slip beneath the hem of your shirt, you felt a wave of goosebumps shiver across your skin at the contact.

“The only thing, huh?” you teased and kissed him again.

Dean looked up for a second of consideration before running his fingers through your hair again. “Maybe a few other things…” he smirked, allowing his eyes to gaze down the length of your neck to your chest and the partially exposed cleavage.

Pretending to be offended you grabbed his shirt and pulled him down towards you for a kiss. Your lips parted upon touching his, allowing him to take as much of you as he could. He didn’t disappoint. Dean kissed you deeply, and with each passing second, your ache for each other was growing to a point of necessity.

His hands were back on your hips, and you could feel him lifting you off the ground initiating you to wrap your legs around his waist. Draping your arms around his neck, you couldn’t help but grin as he continued to kiss you as though you’d not seen each other in years.

Being so wrapped up in each other, you didn’t hear the footsteps trail into the room.

“Well, that escalated quickly,” Cas said loud enough to disrupt yours and Dean’s reconnection as he quickly but gently put you back down. “I guess the good news is that you are clearly in the correct place to be acting out a scene from that movie we watched… what was it called Dean?”

“Um, Cas now’s not really the time,” Dean said and motioned for Cas to stop talking.

“Alright, well. I just meant that you are standing under the mistletoe, so you were in the right place.”

You and Dean looked up simultaneously and snickered a laugh. All over the ceiling above you hung sprigs of the decoration a foot or so apart, all the way through the room.

“Overkill maybe?” Dean asked with a smirk.

“Just wanted to be sure you didn’t miss your chance to kiss her,” Cas said before grabbing a box off the table. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Once he was gone, you and Dean couldn’t help but laugh. He caught your gaze and the smile slowly faded from his face.

“You being here is really the best gift I could’ve gotten,” Dean said, lightly brushing his thumb against your cheek.

“But you haven’t opened my gift yet,” you said playfully as you bit down on your lip. “Come with me…”

Walking over towards the Christmas tree, you motioned for him to sit at the table and he did as asked. From under the tree, you grabbed one of the larger boxes and placed it down in front of him.

Dean furrowed his brow and looked up at you. “What is it?”

“Just open it, but be careful… its delicate,” you warned and rested a hand on his shoulder.

Dean tore off the paper and when he lifted the top of the large white box. You couldn’t help but grin like an idiot as his emerald green eyes grew wide with excitement. Inside were two large, home cooked pies.

“Are these from where I think they’re from?” Dean’s voice quivered with anticipation as he drew in a deep scent of them, “that little place… uh… Annie’s Shack in Bloomington?”

When he saw you nodding, he smiled larger than you’d ever seen him smile. He grabbed you by the waist and pulled you down onto his lap, causing you to squeal with surprise. Dean kissed you again and this time when he pulled away, you could see the feelings he had for you written all over his face.

“Seriously, this will go down as the best Christmas ever. Got my best girl and got the World’s Best Pies, what more could I want?”

Smiling, you reached into your shirt pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. “How about the recipes to make the pies?”

“No…” he exclaimed breathlessly, “Really?”

“Mhm, I convinced her to hand it over when I told her they were for you. She still says you paid for the new roof for that place with the amount of pie you ate that week.”

“Worth every scent,” Dean mused and passed a glance at the apple pie.

“Dean…” you used your fingers to gently turn his head towards yours, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” he pulled you into another kiss and somehow forgot all about the pies on the table in front of him.

Tags: @soythedemonqueen @aquivercactus @kazosa @reedusgif @sorenmarie87 @lucifer-in-leather @hyphymanatee @lefthologramdeer @see-you-then-winchester @somanyfandomstochoosefrom

#dean winchester x you #fanfic #Supernatural fiction #supernatural christmas #supernatural #fan fiction

188 notes · View notes

semirahrose · 7 years

Text

Reciprocity (13.02 Coda)

Sam finds Jack standing in the doorway of the room he’s borrowing, facing away and weaving like he’ll fall over any moment. Sam knows the feeling only too well, so he stops, reaches out a tentative hand to ground and steady the (much, much) younger man. Sam has had a whole lifetime to get used to how brutal the world can be. Jack has had three days.

He doesn’t deserve this.

“Hey... Jack? I just—”

Jack spins around, and in the moment before he wipes his expression clean, Sam sees anger and sadness and desperation and confusion and disgust.

But then he sees the blood and shredded cloth, and his words die in his throat. All he manages to force out through the sudden tightness is, “Oh, God. Jack.”

Fingers whisper over Jack’s shaking shoulders, over the precise, blood-tinged tears in the cheap t-shirt that can only come from a blade. “Jack, are you—geez, of course you’re not okay. Will you—fuck. Will you sit down?” His fingers find no wounds on Jack, but his whole body is electrified with adrenaline, his own hands shaking now with both the fear and relief of finding the young man unharmed.

Jack sits on his bed, tilting his head up toward Sam. Confusion and hope.

It almost undoes him, because the gaze is too bare, too honest: it says Jack thinks Sam has answers. Sam tries. He knows all the right words for when he meets people like Magda who have struggled and hurt. He knows their purity and their pain, can say with 100% honesty the words he can never make himself believe.

Jack is too close, though, too new, and the assurances taste foreign and fake on his tongue. Articulation and self-control desert him. “Please, Jack,” he starts.

“Please what?”

“Please don’t hurt yourself. You don’t--you shouldn’t have to hurt. You’re good, Jack. I swear you are. I can see it. You shouldn’t--God, are you okay?”

Jack blinks, frowns down at what must be at least twenty self-inflicted stab wounds. “It healed...immediately. I can’t—I can’t stop myself. I’m...” He looks up to Sam, and his eyes communicate what his mouth doesn’t. Dangerous, ruined, out of control, broken, unwanted, lost.

“Jack, you have amazing power, but you’re the one who gets to decide what to do with it. One of the first things you ever told me was--was that you wanted me to say sorry to someone for you. Dean is confused, Jack, but he’s also wrong. These powers are cruel and unfair--to you more than anyone--because they mean you’re going to have to try a lot harder for a lot of things that come easy to most other people.”

“People,” Jack scoffs, eyes shadowed. He whips toward Sam, eyes flashing gold, hand reaching out.

Sam flinches, stumbling backward a step, and Jack withdraws and sinks down onto the bed again, pulling his knees up.

“You think I can’t tell that you’re terrified of me? You’re the only person who says I can be good, but you’re more scared than anyone else!”

“That’s not it...” Sam starts, but his throat is dry and sore, and the words come out fragmented and unconvincing.

Jack glares at him, that same mix of frustration and hope. So Sam tries.

“Your--your uh, your dad--Lucifer, not Cas--he and I have sort of a...um. Sam shakes his head, swallows. He has to keep himself together. This is about Jack. Sam’s stupid issues should not be a part of this. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t--it’s not about you. I have every bit of faith in you, but Lucifer--Lucifer is...he scares me, Jack.”

“Why?” Jack stands, cautious and slow, telegraphing his movements. He shouldn’t have to. Apologies burn on the tip of Sam’s tongue.

Jack gets close enough to reach out and settle a hand on Sam’s forearm. And Sam is back, choking on smoke and blood in the darkness of the cage, eyes settling on that razor-sharp Cheshire smile. He’s on the floor, praying for death. What feels like lifetimes of memories crash through him, fresh like the day they happened.

Jack’s eyes widen, body going rigid, and he jerks away, eyes wide. “I didn’t mean to,” he’s saying as he bumps into his bed and falls back down on it. He wraps his arms around his chest, barely stifling a shudder. “I didn’t mean to--to do that. I’m...I’m sorry.”

Sam shakes his head, breathless with the rush of fear and remembered agony. He can’t summon words, can’t bring himself to even look up (got that trained out of him fast down there) so he just keeps shaking his head.

“I’m sorry. Sam, I’m—” Jack shifts, and the old bed groans with the movement. “When I touched you, I saw... Did Lucifer really--those things, how could he...?”

It takes far too long before Sam finds his voice again. “I was stuck in Hell with him for a...a long time. He was angry.” He shrugs. “It’s been a long time. I’m fine.”

“Sam...” Jack frowns.

“So I... I guess you have an idea why I’m a little nervous.” Sam wonders what Jack saw, whether he thinks less of Sam for it. He swallows bile. “Jack, I know you’re a good person and I know you’re just afraid. I know that. But my body doesn’t, not yet. Please believe me. I haven’t experienced the things you’ve experienced--not even close--”

“You--”

“But I know what it’s like to be afraid of powers you can’t control. I used to... I had powers I didn’t want and didn’t know what to do with. Nothing like what you’re dealing with, but... and Lucifer isn’t my dad, but I was destined to be his vessel. He was supposed to use my body to destroy the world. But I took control back. And that’s what I want to tell you. Dean is wrong. He used to know this, but somewhere along the line he forgot it: people talk about destiny and stuff, Jack, but the crappier the destiny people try to saddle you with, the more reason you have to prove it wrong. You can do it, Jack. I know you can. I know you will. You just need a little bit of guidance. You’ve seen so much death and cruelty, but I hope you can come to see more love and kindness, too. So please don’t hurt yourself. If you want to, um. I dunno, come see me, and we can talk or something.”

Sam pauses, shifts back and forth on his feet. “I suck at this. I’m sorry.”

Jack shakes his head. “Thank you,” he says, like it’s the first time he’s spoken the words, like they still mean something amazing to him. He unfolds his body from the tight ball he’d made of it and sets his feet on the floor. His gaze goes cool and focused. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine.”

“Your throat, from earlier.”

Sam shrugs. “Just a bit sore. Still functioning, though the bruises are gonna be a sight to behold and I’ll probably sound like I’ve gargled glass tomorrow.”

Jack frowns. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t! I’ll be right as rain in a... well. A week, maybe. Bruises are ugly, but they look a lot scarier than they are, I promise. I had this same...this same conversation with Cas, once, actually.” Sam swallows hard. “You said we were your friends today.”

Jack nods, cautious.

“Is it okay if I call you mine, too? My friend?”

Jacks lips pull up in a slow, warm smile, brighter for its absence these last hours. “Of course, Sam.”

“Good.” Sam turns around to go, but stops when he feels a strange warmth in his neck where that invisible force tried to crush it, earlier. He reaches up with a hand, prods at what should be tender flesh. When he speaks, his throat doesn’t protest at all. He turns around. “Jack, did you...?”

Jack’s eyes widen. “I didn’t mean to. I just... didn’t want you to hurt.”

Sam smiles. “See? You’re a good person, Jack. We can work on that control thing later, if you’ll let me help.”

Jack nods, and Sam disappears down the hall, striding toward his own room, and feels lighter than he has in a long time.

more fic | AO3

429 notes · View notes

thran-duils · 7 years

Text

Sacrilegious (Tarnish, P2)

Title: Sacrilegious (Tarnish, P2) Pairing: Reader/Demon!Castiel Summary: Castiel is a fallen angel and made a risque deal with a girl who happens to teach at a Catholic school. Words: 1,993 Warnings: S M U T, Cas is a little controlling, sadist cause he’s a demon, Slight dub non-con. If you are offended by blasphemy, do not read.

Part 1 || Part 3 || Masterpost List || Fanfic masterpost

You were sitting in the front of the pews in the church. It was late. Probably around 2 in the morning. You had been unable to sleep and had come down to the sanctuary and were thinking in a rare moment there was no one else present. The candles were always lit, even after the church body had gone to bed for the night back in their chambers.

Ever since your meeting with Castiel a month ago, you had been trying to push the thought out of your mind. But, you couldn’t seem to wash yourself of the sin of thinking of it, the arousal you felt.

But that wasn’t what you were here praying for. You were praying for one of your students who was going through a troublesome time. Despite different attempts, their behavior was disrupting their progress in their schoolwork. You were asking for guidance on a different tactic to bring them back into the fold.

You felt a hand on your back and you jumped, gasping, whipping around. Your heart sank seeing Castiel standing there. You hadn’t even heard him walk up you were so deep in thought. Or had he made noise at all?

He was looking down at you with an amused expression.

“How… why…. How did you get in here?” you stammered.

“Sweetheart, I am an angel. Just because I fell doesn’t mean I am barred from holy land.” He moved past you towards the front of the sanctuary towards the stage. His eyes ran over the Virgin Mary statue behind the podium where the priest and bishop stood to give their sermons. Castiel turned to face you again, a small smirk on his face, “And to be honest, sweetling, any demon could step foot in here. But… the threat of holy water and exorcism is what keeps them out.”

“Last time you told me I was hiding in here… like you couldn’t come in.”

“I was toying with you, little one. I was letting you think you had some power.”

Gritting your teeth for a second, you mulled that over before inquiring, “Why remove the delusion now?”

“You’re were here and I am impatient. I wasn’t going to wait for you to come out.”

Sitting down next to you, Castiel told you, “It would take it another step if you were wearing a habit.”

“Only nuns were habits.”

Castiel chuckled at this and informed you, “I know that. But it would still be pleasurable for me.”

Out of everything he had ever said or done, that offended you for some reason. You told him tightly, “That would not be pleasurable for me.”

Castiel rose his eyebrows, “And what makes you think I care about that?”

“Basic human decency. Regardless of the fact you’re not human. You can respect I’m a person with feelings.”

(gif)

His eyes flashed at this statement. He leaned in close, his lips near your ear. “You’re not a person. You’re my property.” You turned your head to look at him and he gave you a wicked grin before his eyes ran down to your dress. “Anyway, now that we’re past foreplay, that dress has got to go.”

Your eyes widened and you asked, “You do not mean in here?”

“I said I was impatient. I’m still impatient.”

“No,” you told him trying to sound firm.

He leaned in close again, his lips meeting yours. You tried to pull away from him but he reached his hand up quickly, holding you in place before he let go of you roughly.

“I know you’ve been thinking about me… such dirty little thoughts in your head,” Castiel purred, laying his hand on your thigh, caressing. Heat creeped up your neck. He had to be bluffing. Castiel grinned seeing your stoic response. “Like I can’t read that mind of yours. I check in every once in a while. You really love the thought of being taken – quite roughly, mind you – and having your legs pushed up towards your chest.” You let out a disappointed, choked noise. He wasn’t bluffing. He gave a dark chuckle, chucking you under your chin. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Your secret is safe with me.” He winked at you.

And then he snapped his fingers. You gasped against the cold in the room and let out a small cry, trying to cover yourself.

“The priests – “ you started out but Castiel cut you off immediately.

“They’re all sleeping. And they’ll continue sleeping. Trust me,” Castiel told you. “But, even if I wasn’t making sure of that… wouldn’t you like the idea of the possibility of getting caught?”

“N-no,” you stammered.

Castiel’s hand traveled from your thigh to behind you and he yanked you up off the bench with him. He held you close against him, peering down his nose at you. Your hands were resting against his chest as you looked up at him, partially nervous and partially curious. A smile spread across his face and he whispered, “Liar liar, pants on fire.” He tapped your temple and rose his eyebrows.

His hands moved down again and he cupped your ass. Your fingers dug in a little bit on his chest and he simpered. He caressed your ass before pushing you away a bit to get his hand in between your thighs. You gasped at the sensation and he took this as an invitation to push in further.

The anxiousness at someone walking into the chapel was ebbing away as Castiel worked your sex, getting you good and wet for him.

He let out a groan of approval as you began rocking your hips in tandem with his fingers. Suddenly his fingers left you but you still felt circling on your throbbing clit. It couldn’t be his grace… he fell. He must have gained different powers in his transformation. Demonic ones. And you didn’t give a shit he was using them to stimulate you. It felt too good. You bit back a moan and he noticed, his eyes flashing.

“Get on your knees,” he instructed you. You did as he asked. He moved his hand towards his slacks and unzipped them, pulling out his quickly hardening dick. He towered over you, watching you focus in and out on the pressure between your thighs. You were waiting for his instruction.

Castiel’s eyes were hooded with lust. “Thank god for broken whores,” Castiel murmured, stroking himself slowly. “Open your mouth.”

His cock entered your mouth and he groaned. Grasping the sides of your face, he guided himself in and out, setting his own pace. He alternated between going deep and shallow, slowly increasing the pace at which he fucked your mouth.

“You’re going to take every inch, aren’t you, sweetheart?” Castiel husked, pushing in deeper. “Both now and also in that beautiful, sweet pussy of yours.”

You hummed in approval and he moaned, his speed and depth increasing. You felt the pressure on your clit amplify at the change in his rate. You choked a bit, the heat pooling quickly. The added pleasure was quickly sending you to tumble over. And you fell headfirst. Castiel was perceptive and just before you orgasmed, he pulled himself out of your mouth. If he had not been in front of you, you would have collapsed to your hands and knees but you merely fell into him, holding onto his legs tightly as your orgasmed ravaged you. The circling on your clit rode you through your orgasm and slowly subsided as you came down, your vision clearing again.

“That looked like it was fun,” Castiel taunted above you, stroking himself again.

You swallowed sharply and looked up at him. He smirked before he was on you. He had lost his clothes and was laying you down at the foot of the stairs towards the stage.

His breath was hot on your ear as he grinded himself into you, laying wet kisses sloppily. “Let me fuck the stress out of you. You still seem a little tense about the location we are at.”

Not waiting for your response, he entered you swiftly. Your legs tightened around his hips, your hands clutching onto his shoulder blades. Castiel’s cock hit your g spot with precision, him ramming himself repeatedly, grunting loudly. He was not wasting any time now knowing both of you were good and ready.

“Castiel!” you gasped, your fingernails digging in. “Feels so good! Don’t stop!”

He growled, “Oh, I don’t plan on it, sweetling. I’ll spread you across every surface in this church before we are done.”

You shuddered in pleasure at his words.

Stalling for a moment, he pulled out of you and picked you up. He carried you up the stairs and laid you at the feet of a statue of Jesus.

Your thoughts cleared for a moment, shame beginning to overwhelm you in the absence of your pleasure. But that moment was momentarily squashed when Castiel pushed your legs up and entered you swiftly. Yet, he brought the wave of shame back. He probably planned it, wanting to relish in it. He demanded, “Look up at your god!”

You refused, closing your eyes. You heard Castiel growl slightly before his hand was tight on your chin, forcing your eyes open against the pressure. “Do it!” he demanded again.

Moving your eyes up, you stared up from the ground as Castiel thrusted into you, your breasts bouncing.

Castiel’s lips were on your exposed neck as you stretched to look up at the statue and he sucked harshly, nipping every so often.

He titled your head back down, forcing you to look at him. The arousal in his eyes was truly stirring. His pace was brutal, causing you to cry out in strangled breaths. His words came out in husks. “You’re such a beautiful girl, sweetheart. So tainted… corrupted… exquisite.” He dominated your mouth with his own before biting your bottom lip, pulling it slightly. “I am your God. Do you understand me?”

Blasphemous. What he was asking you to agree with was sacrilegious.

“Answer me!” Castiel growled, giving an extra hard thrust, a full cry of pleasure leaving your throat this time.

What he was saying made sense in the moment. You nodded feverishly, gasping as you rushed towards another orgasm. “Y-yes, sir.” You remembered the manners he had taught you last time.

That’s all he seemed to need to hear to send him tumbling. He came shortly after with a loud groan, bringing you with him, shaking underneath him.

You panted heavily, your skin slick with a sheen of sweat. You felt Castiel’s cock twitch inside you once more before he pulled out of you and stood up. Snapping his fingers, he was dressed again. You were jealous of his ability to regain his strength so quickly. You felt exhausted and you only had maybe four hours before you had to be up. Luckily it was the weekend and you had some time to sleep in.

“Fuck, little one, I know I said it last time, but you look so good full of my spunk. Especially laying at the feet of… well, you know,” he gestured up at the statue, not able to hide the satisfied smirk on his face.

Your jaw set and he simpered at your reaction. You sat up and rubbed your arms against the absence of his body keeping you warm. He snapped his fingers again and you were dressed. He reached his hand out and you took it tenderly. Grasping tight he pulled you up off the ground and studied you for a moment.

“If I were you, I’d wash myself up and get to sleep before you work with the little, pious munchkins,” he told you in a light tone. You nodded once, not really knowing why you wre giving him affirmation for that. He looked pleased regardless before he chuckled, “Although… I don’t think you could wash away that tarnished soul of yours.” He winked at you, “Sinner.”

~~~

Tags: @kjerstival @demonicguardianangel @prince-halfblood, @splendidcas, @klaineaholic, @letsthedogpackandthecats, @alexastacio, @winchesterforever12 @seirensou @tacos-and-trenchcoats @the-amaranthine @intheir-dreams @study-me-misha

#demon!cas #demon!castiel #demon!cas x reader #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfic #my shit

90 notes · View notes

mrlnsfrt · 5 years

Text

For The Sake of the Mission - Part 2

In Matthew 24 the disciples ask Jesus about the signs of His coming and the end of the age.

“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3b NKJV)

Matthew 24-25 records Jesus’ answer. Jesus describes a few signs but mostly focuses on how His followers ought to watch because no one knows the day or the hour of His second coming.

“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42 NKJV)

One of the key aspects of keeping watch is how we ought to live and the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) portrays this well.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.” -Matthew 25:14 NKJV

I have a whole post on the parable of the talents entitled “Talented” and also a mini series on this parable (first episode here) . Personally I really enjoyed reading Christ’s Object Lessons chapter 25 which is all about the parable of the talents. The main point I wish to make about this parable is that the Master delivered His goods to His servants. The master here represents God and we are His servants. He entrusts us with, talents (resources), which should not be buried, but rather should be invested. That is we are to use what Jesus gives us and He will give us more, but if we bury/neglect/fail to invest what He has given us we will miss out on the rewards.

Practical Application

What are my resources?

What has God given me?

First and foremost God has given me life. I am alive today and that is a gift from God. One way to measure life is time. God has given you life and if you think of life as time you will have a clearer awareness of how you’re investing or wasting your life.

Example:

Here is an example that comes to mind. I have two small children, a 7 year old and a 5 year old. They are very much interested in my time. I clearly see my children as a great priority in my life. So do I invest time into my children? Do I schedule time to spend with them, looking them in the eye, listening to them, talking to them, doing something together with them? Or do I spend the bulk of my time, when I am around them, telling them to be quiet, to find something to do, to go somewhere else, etc. If I am not investing that time into my children what am I doing during that time? Am I in front of a screen? Are the contents of that screen more valuable then my children? 5 years from now, when I look back, 10 years from now, will I fondly remember the contents of that screen, or the memories I made with my children? Which activity is a better investment of my time?

You schedule appointments, work, etc. Do you schedule time to play with your kids? Do you guard that time and give them your full attention?

But this is not a post on parenting, nor is this a post against screens, after all, you’re reading this on a screen. What I mean is that you, and I, can be more aware of how we are investing our time. Schedule a time for screens and schedule a time for relationships, and keep the two separate so that you can get the most out of both. That way your screen time will be more productive/enjoyable (guilt-free), and your relationship time will be more meaningful.

Now, how can you apply this to your mission?

Don’t wait to have free time to dedicate it to God, schedule time to spend with God. Schedule your daily devotions, and be intentional about creating opportunities to share with others. This can take many forms, it can be volunteering for an existing ministry, creating a new ministry, or simply making yourself available to those around you. Can your friends and family members count on you to be there for them then they need to talk? Are you willing to listen and to offer to pray with them? All this takes time. Your time is a gift from God, make sure you are investing your time not only in activities that will help you grow (personal prayer, Bible study) but also sharing opportunities where you share with others what God has taught you.

Time is something we all have and we relate to it differently depending on where we are in life. All other points, the use of all other resources/gifts are related to time.

Individuality

I do not believe that it is by mere chance that we are all different. We each have strengths and weaknesses, we all have scars, we all have different life experiences, we have different backgrounds, we look and sound and think differently. This means we are each fine tuned to do something for God. He can use use, He can use you, the way you are and where you are right now to bless someone. You are better equipped to reach certain people than anyone else. This can be because of your age, your scars (mistakes you made in the past but overcame by the power of God), your gender, your ethnicity. All your attributes that shut certain doors also open other doors. You can reach people who would not be willing to talk to someone like me. Just like I can reach some people who would not be willing to talk to someone like you.

So stop wishing you were different or had a different set of skills, and begin using the skill set you have. Instead of being discouraged because of the resources, or qualities, or training you lack, look at what you have and how you can use it to disciple someone else.

Resources

So what are your resources?

To find out make a list. List your life experiences, education, talents, gifts, abilities. Then make a list of things you’re good at, things you enjoy, things you care about. Then look at the list and think about how you ca use these things to help someone else. How can you bless someone, how can you draw them closer to Jesus? Pray over your list. If you’re not good at listing what you’re good at, ask those around you, they can tell you what you’re good at.

Other resources include, money, possessions, and even influence. Who are the people you have influence over? Your kids, siblings, little cousins, big cousins, your grand-kids, your followers on social media, your students, co-workers, classmates, friends, neighbors, etc. Do you own an instrument, do you play it? Are you a graphic designer, do you enjoy photography? Do you have a camera, a microphone, a hobby, how can you use it for the glory of God? Do you cook, bake, have a garden, enjoy exercise, are you a good listener, a storyteller, do you write, do you want to start a blog a podcast? Use your creativity, dedicate this to prayer. What is God calling you to do?

Who are your friends and acquaintances, what does your church have to offer, who can you partner up with, what ministry do you believe in that you can help support financially and in other ways.

Highest Point of Contribution

Before Greg McKeown the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review in which he mentions the benefit of asking ourselves three questions.

“What am I deeply passionate about?”

“What taps my talent?”

“What meets a significant need in the world?”

The idea is that the point(s) where the answers to all these three questions intersect would be our “absolute highest point of contribution.” (source)

I believe these three questions can be very helpful regarding our personal mission. Jesus calls all His followers to make disciples, as I explained on my previous post. These three questions help clarify how I can most effectively make disciples. We are each called to make disciples, but we can accomplish this differently according to the equipping and enabling of the Holy Spirit. The three questions help us see what God is calling and equipping us to do for His mission.

Breaking it down

What can I do?

Just like Jesus’ disciples were to begin their work where they were. So every one of Christ's followers is to begin where she is. Where you are may feel like the hardest and most unpromising field, it probably felt like that to the disciples too, but that does not mean that the hard and unpromising field is to be passed by.

We ought to begin in our own families may. Is there anyone in your family who might be hungry for sympathy, starving for the bread of life. Are there children in your family who can be trained for Christ. Are there unbelievers around us? Next door? “Let us do faithfully the work that is nearest. Then let our efforts be extended as far as God's hand may lead the way.” (The Desire of Ages p822) Sharing the gospel is not always easy and may appear to be restricted by circumstances at times; but, wherever you are, if you go about it with faith and diligence it will be felt to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Think about the work of Jesus while He was here on earth.His ministry appeared to be confined to a narrow field, but multitudes from all lands heard His message. “God often uses the simplest means to accomplish the greatest results.” (ibid.) Isn’t it amazing how every part of God’s work depends on every other part, as a wheel within a wheel, all acting in harmony? It’s amazing to consider how “the humblest worker, moved by the Holy Spirit, will touch invisible chords, whose vibrations will ring to the ends of the earth, and make melody through eternal ages.” (ibid)

How do I begin?

Always begin with prayer. You need to turn to God for wisdom, guidance, and strength/power.

Reaching strangers can be intimidating, start with those closest to you, people you are already in contact with. Ask God and think of creative ways to bless those you already know.

As you gain experience begin to consider who else you can reach and how you can expand your personal mission field.

Look at how you can partner with others in order to do more for the gospel. What ministries can you support or join? Be creative, do some research, pray and ask God for guidance in this.

What is my goal?

My goal is to be faithful to what God has called me to do. You goal is to be faithful to God today. Ministry is a journey taken one step at a time, one day at a time. Don’t push it for tomorrow, don’t get overwhelmed by thinking about a lifetime of ministry, rather focus on being faithful to what God is calling you to do today. When you are following God you will be growing daily. ministry brings growth, not for yourself, but rather for the sake of the mission.

Ministry is very simple, just don’t quit. If you know God is calling you, stick with it. The success comes form God not form you, your part is to not quit and to continually lean on Him to supply all your needs, for the sake of His mission. To quit is to doubt God and His love for those who do not know Him. You may be tired, you may be burned out, you may need to switch gears and re-evaluate your approach. You may need to spend some time fasting and praying and listening to God in order to find out His will. But one thing is for certain, God wants you in ministry, in one way or another. You may be called to different ministries at different points in your life but you are always called to ministry.

Don’t assume that just because you’re involved that you’re doing what God calls you to do. It is worthwhile pausing and reevaluating your calling, your ministry, and what God is calling you to do. Sometimes God will transition you to a different ministry. Sometimes you will fail but in the process learn things that will lead to the success of your next endeavor. Make sure to set aside time to listen to God and to evaluate your calling and your mission.

What are you waiting for?

Christ's followers have been redeemed for service. Our Lord teaches that the true object of life is ministry. Christ Himself was a worker, and to all His followers He gives the law of service—service to God and to their fellow men. Here Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than they had ever known. By living to minister for others, man is brought into connection with Christ. The law of service becomes the connecting link which binds us to God and to our fellow men. Christ’s Object Lessons p326

#mission #talents #life #practical

0 notes

dailyaudiobible · 7 years

Text

05/07/2017 DAB Transcript

1 Samuel 1:1-2:21 ~ John 5:1-23 ~ Psalm 105:37-45 ~ Proverbs 14:28-29

Today is May 7th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It's good to be here with you. So, yeah, threshold, the threshold of a shiny new week out in front of us that we get to launch into today and the threshold of a brand new book as we go into this new week. Today we’ll begin the first book of Samuel.

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

So just kind of flying over that, the books of 1 and then 2 Samuel were not authored by the prophet Samuel. It is unclear who the author is. It seems historically that they were written somewhere where the kingdom divided. We talked about that as a spoiler alert just recently. So somewhere when that actually happened is probably when the books of Samuel were written. As we go forward, we’ll see that the children of Israel, one nation will separate as they continue to fall away from God, fall away from each other. They will separate into two kingdoms and it seems like during the divided kingdom is when these books were written. A good number of scholars believe that the material was originally recorded by three prophets of Israel, Samuel, Nathan and Gad.

1 and 2 Samuel were both written in Hebrew and they were not written as separate texts. 1 and 2 Samuel and then 1 and 2 Kings were all grouped together as one continuous text. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, which is called the Septuagint, the texts were divided into four books known as the books of the kingdoms. So when the Old Testament was translated into Latin (not to confound this, that is called the Vulgate), they became the books of the Kings. These texts were then known as 1, 2, 3 and 4 Kings. Now that we’re all confused, let's just kind of keep going. What is now known as 1 and 2 Samuel was actually 1 and 2 Kings in the Latin translations and what we now know as 1 and 2 Kings was known as 3 and 4 Kings during that era. This all changed to the accepted books of Samuel and Kings by those translators who created the King James Bible in 1611.

Samuel was a very influential person. He was the final judge of Israel. So Samson is the final judge in the book of judges but Samuel was the last one. He was a judge, but he was also a prophet of God and served before the Lord as priest. During his life, Israel had pretty much fallen into anarchy. Everyone was doing what they wanted, whatever was right in their own eyes. Samuel steps up as a prophet and that begins to alleviate some of the anarchy because Samuel is speaking directly for God. This is something that the children of Israel are more accustomed to. Israel has never had a king but they want one and Samuel will introduce kingship into the civilization and culture of Israel. The first king we’ll meet, of course, is King Saul, the first king of Israel and then we’ll meet David who will later become king. King Saul and David have a terrible conflict that we’ll get to know about.

God warns the children of Israel not to take a king to rule over them but, as usual, we know the rhythm by now and ironically, as we get to know the rhythm of the children of Israel, we also have to look really hard in the mirror because we so often find ourselves. We can read stories in the children of Israel's existence and think how could they do that? Until we look at ourselves, and then we realize this is telling our story. This is reading our heart.

So God doesn’t want them to have a king but, as usual, they choose their own way and introduce kings into their culture. So we see spiritual guidance coming from the prophets and national guidance coming from the king. But throughout the entire book, what is really happening here is that a manmade kingdom is being established, the kingdom of Israel, and it will from this point on be looked at like that.

So, off we go, launching our way into the first book of Samuel, chapter 1, verse 1 through 2, verse 21. And this week we’ll read from the God's Word translation.

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this community centered around this rhythm of being in your word every day together and we thank you for all that you have done. As we begin to turn the page now and move into a new era in the children of Israel's existence and life, we invite you into that in advance. Continue to speak to us through your word. Continue to disrupt us and prick our hearts. Continue to comfort and guide us. We need you in and among us. We need you in everything that we do and say, every thought, word and deed. So we invite you into this brand new week that you’ve given us and we give it to you right now. We look forward to living into it with you and all that you will lead and direct us to do this week. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website, it's home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here. We’ve been mentioning that we are going to go back to this land. Like this pool of Bethesda we talked about today, yeah, we’re going to go there and just so many places. You can check it out. If you want to come, it will be in February 2018, February 19th through March 4th. Just go to www.DailyAudioBible.com and scroll down and look for the little banner that says Israel 2018. Click that you’ll find out what you’re looking for. Or you can go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com. We’ll look forward to seeing you.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you profoundly. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com. If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner. Or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I'm Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi family. This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA. I know it has been a minute since I called in, but I’ve been listening to the podcasts all last week and this week and something has struck me. There have been so many people calling in and apologizing to have to call in for prayer. Never, ever, my brothers and sisters, apologize for needing prayer, for reaching out to your family. God is there for you. We are there for you, so please don’t apologize. Even if you think that a prayer is silly, obviously it is not silly to you because you're the one thinking about it and calling in about it. There are all kinds of things that we can pray for for each other and any prayer request, any good prayer request or good outcome you’re looking for with God answering your prayers is never going to be a silly prayer. So never, ever, ever apologize for reaching out to your family for those who are here for you and want to pray for you. There are so many people that don’t call and are just listeners. I heard a lot of people, there was like one person who was a 7-year listener and it was the first time they ever called in. Don’t be afraid to call in. Don’t be embarrassed to call in. We’re not ashamed of God. We’re not ashamed that he loves us and we’re not ashamed that we love him. So please reach out to us. You don’t have to leave your name. You don’t have to leave your location. Just leave your prayer and we as DAB’ers, as Christians in Christ, as those who love each other, we will definitely pray for you. God bless you family. I hope you have a great rest of your week. Take care. Bye-bye.

Hi everyone. My name is Kate and I'm calling from Finland. I want to share really a short testimony, something that happened to me a couple of months ago. I was listening to some worship music and a song came on that really touched my heart and I closed my eyes and I saw in front of me a group of maybe angels, I'm not quite sure, but I didn’t hear them but I could feel them worshiping and I realized that God was there and I didn’t see his face or his shape but just saw his amazing light. Then my spirit started worshiping too. And then I realized that God was speaking to me. I didn’t hear his voice but I just felt him speaking straight to my heart into some places that I had really been feeling broken and burdened and heavy and like just twisted and out of alignment and I felt him touching all of that, speaking right to all of that and putting it all back into place and putting me back into alignment. I just wanted to share that really short version of this amazing experience with all of you because it is not like I now a few months after that walk around every day feeling perfectly in alignment and feeling perfectly whole like I did when I felt the presence of God in this glorious experience, but I know now that that is how God sees me. I know that God sees me whole. I just hope that might encourage some one of you out there, that God sees you right where you are and that he doesn’t see you the way that you see yourself.

Hi there my DAB friends. It's Bromwell calling from London in the UK. Haven’t called in for a while. I'm a little behind on the Daily Audio Bible podcasts. Just now I'm going through the 27th and the 29th prayer requests. Specifically I just want to say I'm praying for you guys, prayer requests from 2015, and it is good to hear from you, Kathleen M. from Toowoomba, Australia. I keep praying for you as well as Mark S. and the other guy's whose prayer requests go way back and also to say more recent prayer requests such as Annette A., Jake from Maryland, __ from Colorado, I hear you and I keep praying for you guys, that God will take you through these tough moments, tough days that you’re going through. I can’t imagine the pain that you have to go through, guys, but I know that our God is great and God is powerful. Our God answers prayers that you’ll be victorious. So hang in there, __. Well done for your daughter's graduation coming up. I’ll be praying for your son who is going to South Korea as well as your son who has been diagnosed with brain tumor and Jake, for your marriage. Keep the good work going, guys. Keep praying and supporting each other. God bless you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. My name is Leonard from Brooklyn and I'm Saved by Grace. I'm calling because a truth I recently found that I hope and pray will become real through you guys out there, for all of us is the fact that we’re fighting from victory. We’re not fighting for victory. We all have many trials. We face a lot of things in this life, but Jesus has provided for all of them. He has made it possible for us to be successful through all of them. We should just rejoice even as we are tested because God gives us clear guidance and he is there to help us. He wants to help us. He is constantly helping us. So we are fighting from victory, not for victory. We are all more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us. Thank you guys. God bless you. Be encouraged. Bye-bye.

Hi family. This is Francine from Tennessee. I got back from Georgia taking care of my mom yesterday and I continue to need your prayers for her care and our wisdom for her care. It's 2 o’clock and so I'm praying with all of you in honor of the prayers that David in Kansas has been praying at 2 o’clock and he taught me, God taught me through him how to pray for all of us as a group, as a family. And so I pray for him, for his pain, that the Lord would ease it, and I pray for Chante on her job, that the Lord would give peace and wisdom and joy and a deep awareness of his presence. Father, thank you for my family and the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you for each and every one of us and each and every cry that we make to you and to each other and the prayers that we pray, Lord. I lift all of us to you for our healing and I lift all of us to you for wisdom and knowledge and strength and the joy of your presence and a deeper awareness of your presence. Lord, in Psalms you said you speak the word and we are healed. You know what each of us needs and you know what each of us seeks you and know you are the answer to every question, problem, worry, fret, or fear that we have and we lift this whole community up to you for what all we need and I pray that you would touch us and as you said I believe in James that our souls would prosper and that we would be in good health and that is my prayer, that we would be in good health even as souls prosper. Thank you for Brian and Jill and thank you for each one who prays and thank you for each one who calls and thank you for each of us who listens and prays and thank you for even those of us who don’t call yet. Lord, we love you, we thank you, and we feel closer together because of what you do through the prayers of your people. We lift it to you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

0 notes

shirtlesssammy · 6 years

Text

4x20: The Rapture

Then:

This happened. And Sam’s sucking demon blood.

Now:

I always say that the fireworks scene in Dark Side of the Moon is my favorite moment in the series, but man, I really love this scene as well. I love this shot of Dean and Cas especially. Dean’s enjoying a moment of peace in his dreams. Cas visits him and hands him a piece of paper with a location of where he wants Dean to meet him.

Dean awakens, and the brothers head out in the dead of night to find Castiel. They explore a warehouse on the unlucky end of some kind of cosmic fight. They find an angel banishing sigil on the wall, and an unconscious Cas on the floor. Only, it’s not Cas, it’s Jimmy. “Where the hell is Castiel?” Dean asking the important questions. Cas is gone.

Sam and Dean take Jimmy to a motel and buy him some food. He ravenously tears into the food while Dean watches in disgusted awe.

Jimmy doesn’t really remember anything from being possessed or what happened in that warehouse. He does remember his life before his time as an angel vessel. He recounts his story to the brothers: He’s Jimmy Novak. He’s from Pontiac, IL. And he’s a devout man with a wife and young daughter.

About a year ago, Cas first made contact with Jimmy through his television. (Of course he did.)

The brothers confer outside. Dean wants to send the man home to his family. Sam wonders if there’s a possibility he knows more, and just needs a little prompting to remember. Sam ultimately wins with the realistic conclusion. “If we want to question the guy, you can damn well bet the demons do too.”

Jimmy is less than amenable to the idea of not going home. He’s done. He gave his time and now he wants out. Listen, when a bright, shining, charismatic angel of a man is cast to play you, you just have to face the reality that you’re going to be sticking around. No measly 3 episode guest-arc for you.

Later that night, for science:

Sam heads out in secret to get a hit of demon blood. Jimmy, pretending to sleep, also heads out when he thinks the coast is clear. Meanwhile, Dean sleeps like a baby.

Jimmy escapes on the bus, and we get more of his backstory with Castiel. It seems that Cas continued to connect with Jimmy via media wavelengths. This time, Jimmy listens to him by putting his arm in a boiling pot of water, and much to his wife’s surprise, no harm comes to him.

While driving, the brothers get a surprise visit from Anna.

Anna calls Dean out for his awkward flirting and Sam out on his drinking problem. She tells them that Cas got sent back home and “that’s a very bad thing. Painfully, awfully bad.” Cas bby.

Jimmy arrives home, and sees Claire inside. He remembers the time before, when he was completely convinced his devotion to the angels was what God wanted. Amelia just wanted him to take his meds. I had a hard time concentrating during this scene. Damn Jimmy and your stupid gray t-shirt and weird spiky hair and not-Cas voice. Amelia tells him that if he won’t get help, she’s taking Claire to her mother’s in the morning. So Jimmy dons the, now iconic, trench coat, and prays to Castiel for guidance.

He then allows Castiel to possess him with the understanding that his family will be ok (sure, Jan). Claire finds the newly possessed Jimmy and implores, “Daddy?” Cas turns to her, confused, and as he walks away says, “I am not your father.” This transformation always slays me. How he can look like Jimmy one second and Cas the next with one messy tie change is amazing. (This also sets up a lifetime of anger issues for Claire.)

Present day, JImmy rings the doorbell, and Amelia answers. She’s shocked. He’s dead. They thought he was dead. He apologizes, and later they sit in the living room and talk. Jimmy regrets his actions. He was wrong. “Heaven, hell, none of that matters. The only thing that's important to me is you and Claire.” He just wants to come home. Amelia isn’t sure she can do that, but dinner would be a small start.

On their way to find Jimmy the Winchesters stop at a truck stop for fuel. Sam leaves hissed voicemails on Ruby’s phone telling her that he needs MOAR BLOOD.

Back with Jimmy he finally gets to hug Claire. Amelia puts together a quick meal of sandwiches and they all sit to eat. Jimmy grabs the food right away and when Claire asks him if he’s going to say grace he says, “No honey, I don’t think I am.” He cries into his sandwich. And...my heart just BREAKS thinking about his crisis of faith, all he’s lost, all he’s regained...and all he’s about to lose again.

Dinner is quickly interrupted by the next door neighbor, Roger. He saw Jimmy get back and wants to get in some bro catch-up time. Jimmy’s relieved that his long ordeal is over when Roger’s eyes flick black and he says, “I’m gonna gut your daughter while you watch.” Jimmy snatches up an impromptu weapon and bashes Roger over the head with it while yelling at Amelia about demons. Amelia is super assured of his sanity now.

Jimmy herds his family into the pantry to try and protect them with salt but they break out of there. Roger captures Claire and holds her at knife point while another demon captures Jimmy. They’re all rescued just in time by the Winchesters and their handy dandy demon blade. Sam tries to use his demon mojo to exorcise one of the demons but his power sputters out. They all flee in the Impala.

Cut to the Impala parked in some remote parking lot while the Winchesters convince Jimmy that he has to leave his family behind. (They dangle the spectre of vivisection over him if he gets caught. Really? That seems like some major conjecture. It’s not like vessels are NEW or anything.) Also… Man, you can really hear the ridiculously low voice of Dean and Sam when Misha’s all up in the show talking in his normal voice.

Jimmy decides that he’s going to send Amelia and Claire away while he goes into hiding. Sam hotwires Amelia a car and Jimmy says his goodbyes. Well, at least Amelia and Claire are safe, right? After the Impala drives away Amelia slaps Claire and her eyes turn black. ARGH

Later, Jimmy’s sleeping off his super stressful day in the back seat of the Impala while Dean asks Sam what the deal is with his mojo. He wasn’t strong enough to pick off a low level demon… Why’s he so low power?

Jimmy gets a call from Amelia. It’s...not good news. Later, they pull up outside of an abandoned warehouse where the demon possessing Amelia is holding Jimmy’s family hostage. Jimmy stalks off and starts shout-praying to Cas. “I gave you everything you asked me to give. I gave you more.” Castiel promised to take care of his family...and Jimmy begs him for help.

When he gets no answer he storms inside to find Amelia standing guard over Claire. He begs her to let his wife and child go.

Dean and Sam get nabbed by more demons and brought into the room. Amelia pulls out a gun, trains it briefly on the Winchesters, and then shoots Jimmy right in the gut. One of the other demons heads for Claire with a knife and Jimmy watches in despair as he bleeds on the floor. Claire rises up at the last minute and stops the demon with preternatural strength. It’s Castiel! Yay?

The Winchesters fight with the other demons and Sam nicks one of the demons with his blade. He gets a whiff of blood. Mmmm blood. Sam leans right down and drinks it while Castiel!Claire wanders calmly around the room and burns demons from their vessels.

Dean is 100% okay with Sam drinking demon blood.

Sam, now juiced up, exorcises the demon from Amelia. Castiel!Claire kneels by Jimmy who’s painfully dying on the floor. He tells Jimmy that it’s time for him to die. He’s earned his rest, his reward. Jimmy looks at his possessed daughter and begs Castiel to take him instead.

“As you wish,” Castiel replies (fucking me right up since I’ve only recently been on a Princess Bride bender). Cas jumps from Claire to Jimmy.

Cas then coldly stands up, leaving Claire and Amelia weeping on the floor. He starts to wander off.

Dean stops him. “What were you going to tell me?”

Cas looks at him with a cold ass stare and tells Dean that he learned his lesson while he was away. He serves Heaven, not humanity - and not Dean.

Later in the car Sam tries to get a rise out of Dean on the blood drinking thing. Dean tells Sam that he doesn’t care. He’s tired. He’s done with it all. Bobby calls. He needs some help so the Winchesters head for Bobby’s house.

Bobby and Dean trick Sam into getting into the safe room and lock him in there tight. Let the detoxing party begin!

Natasha: Full disclosure I forgot to do any note-taking the first time I watched this for this very recap. And then, watching it again, I almost did the same thing. I just...love this episode so much. Jimmy’s journey is intensely riveting to me. And while I know the story of Jimmy’s possession was written to give more dramatic weight to Jimmy’s choices I just love the idea of Cas wooing his vessel through tests of faith. It’s something no other angel does on the show and I love to think that this is yet another way that Castiel is unique among the Host.

Quotestiel:

Where the hell is Castiel?

More private? We’re inside my head.

It’s easy to act chivalrous when your wonder girl powers aren’t working.

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn picspam #spn 4x20 #the rapture #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #cas #jimmy novak #claire novak #amelia novak #supernatural season 4 #wayward sisters

28 notes · View notes

dailyaudiobible · 7 years

Text

03/24/2017 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29 ~ Luke 6:12-38 ~ Psalm 67:1-7 ~ Proverbs 11:27

Today is March 24th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian and it's great to be here with you today. Every once in a while I hit the record button while I'm in the middle of a sip of Windfarm coffee. Sorry about that. So, we’re all set. Here we go. We began the book of Deuteronomy yesterday, which is basically three different discourses from Moses that happened to be the last things that he says in his life to the children of Israel. And it's kind of moving back through the history that we’ve covered with them in a review. And it's beautiful to kind of contextualize where we’ve been over the last little while, ever since we met Moses, which buttons this section of the Bible up nicely because we’ll be moving into completely new territory from this point forward. So today, from the New Living Translation, Deuteronomy chapter 2, verse 1 through 3, verse 29.

Commentary

As we travel along with Jesus, we’re on a little hill, a little rise, moving away from the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is the backdrop. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful, beautiful place. And Jesus is laying out this message known as the Sermon on the Mount, this central teaching. And we’ve covered this before in the book of Matthew, but in the book of Luke, as we hear the retelling of what Jesus said, we see so clearly that the kingdom of God that Jesus is talking about and the way that it operates, the way that you operate within it is basically completely opposite of the way we live most of our lives or our initial reaction to things. Jesus just contrasts everything. And what he says to do looks the opposite of what we normally react or do, right? I mean, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If somebody hits you on a cheek, turn the other cheek. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt. Give to anyone who asks. And when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid then your reward from heaven will be very great and you’ll be truly acting as children of the Most High. Don’t judge others and you won't be judged. Don’t condemn others or it will all come back against you. Forgive others and you will be forgiven. Give and you will receive.

You see, it's like the opposite of what we normally do. If we’ll take the time to kind of examine this today, overlay it with our own hearts and invite the Holy Spirit, we’ll see that Jesus is outlining the fabric of the kingdom and how we do or do not operate in it, because if we read all this stuff backward, we would find ourselves in some of these things. For example, the opposite of what Jesus said to do would be don’t love your enemies. Don’t do good to those who hate you. Do bad to them. Curse those who curse you. Cut off your prayers for those who hurt you. If somebody slaps you on the cheek, slap them back. If anyone asks you for anything, don’t give it to them. Especially don’t love your enemies. Don’t do good to them. Don’t lend to anybody without expecting to be repaid. Judge others all the time so that you too will be judged. Condemn others so that you too can be condemned. Be unforgiving so that you can in turn be unforgiven. Don’t give so that you don’t receive.

I mean, if we look at our lives, we’ll see that some of these postures, they crop up. Jesus is inviting us to live backward to the way that we’re living a lot of the time. But backward to the way that we’re living a lot of the time is actually how the kingdom works. So may we give the postures of our heart some thought today.

Prayer

We invite you, Holy Spirit, into that. Come Jesus. These are your words. This is your picture of humanity. This is how you lived and this is your description of the kingdom of heaven. And we can find places quite easily that we are contrary to that. We invite you into that. We release those things, those postures, those attitudes, those reactions, those words, the things that we say that are contrary. We release all this. It's all rooted in other places of our identity that only you can reach and so come. Come Holy Spirit. Change us from within and help us to live and represent and steward your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It's home base. It's where you find out what is going on around here, so check it out. There is always something or another. There are resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, some things for your journey, some things to help you journey. Just resources. Check them out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. There is a link on the home page. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi family. This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA. Today is Saturday, March 18th. I wanted to say thank you to everyone on the DAB that has reached out to me or has sent me a card or has sent me CDs or books or gifts. It was so unexpected and I so appreciate each and every one of you for embracing me with the love of Christianity that I have never seen before in my entire life. I just am so grateful for this family, for the love, for the genuine heart that everyone has for Jesus in this community. I really don’t even have the correct words to tell you how grateful I am that you guys care for me and that you love me, even though we’ve never met, but we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. And we will all be together one day in his glorious presence. So thank you. I will be posting more pictures of the items I have received in the next few days, but I just wanted you to know that I have so much gratitude in my heart for you and I will never, ever, ever forget how you’ve made me feel, that I am truly a part of a family because I don’t feel that way about my own family and I don’t think they feel that way about me, but the Daily Audio Bible people have truly made me feel that I belong. So thank you so much. God bless you. Have a good evening. Bye-bye.

Stanley in Maryland, this is John from Bethlehem, PA. It's Sunday, March 19th and I just heard your prayer request after listening to today's podcast and I wanted to share with you that it is no coincidence that yesterday, the 18th of March, I was in an Alpha program at my church here in Nazareth, PA and there was a story that was told during that service that was absolutely put there for me to hear to be able to tell you. And it goes like this. There were two soldiers. They were fighting in war together. They were in a foxhole together. One of the soldiers was dying. He said to his counterpart and his friend, “I'm dying. There is a certain man at a certain address back home that I need you to go see when this war is over because what he taught me is what I'm thinking about right now and I love him for that.” That war ended. That soldier that lived went back home. He sought out that person at that certain address and he knocked on his door and that person answered and he told him what his friend told him, that what he taught him as a young child was what he was thinking about right then just before his death. The person that answered the door broke down in tears. And the soldier said to him, “What is it?” And he said, “Oh my God, I don’t know why I ever stopped teaching.” What happened was somebody was impacted by what he had done and he had never realized the impact of it. Stanley, the work that you’re doing is impactful. It's making a difference. You may not ever be able to reap the harvest, to see the growth, but the soil that you’re tilling is…

Hi, my name is Michael. I'm a first-time caller, calling from London, UK. I’ve been battling with anxiety more recently, anger in the form of self-attacking. It's pretty much a daily occurrence, and I know I need to let go of my thought life and take responsibility because that is where it kind of lies, but I just need prayer for help in that capacity because it is not doing very well for my wellbeing. Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Janelli from New Jersey. I am so excited to be calling in. This is my first time and I'm just so blessed by the Daily Audio Bible and I'm really calling in for prayer. I'm newly engaged to my wonderful fiancé Janeen and he's just amazing and this God-filled man that God has really placed into my life. And we’re just looking forward to having a Christ-centered marriage as we have a Christ-centered relationship and I'm calling on behalf of prayer and guidance that I can be the excellent wife that I know God has called me to be. I don’t have a lot of examples of biblical marriages so there are some fears there that I can do all that God has called me to do even though I know I'm strengthened by him. But I'm calling for my DAB family to really pray and wrap this around in prayer. And also there are feelings of doubt from the enemy that I can’t do this and that I don’t have examples, and I know that is from the enemy, but just prayer on how to stay strong against those doubts when they come in and battling them with scripture. Really looking forward to hearing and praying and moving forward. Thank you so much for this resource in my life. It really has taken off and changed my whole year. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is James, the teacher in LA, and actually responding to the prayer request from March 19th by Stanley teaching out in Washington, D.C. And I guess I'm responding to Stanley, but I want to talk to you and I want to talk to Jordan in Detroit and any other teachers out there, especially new teachers. I can understand all too well the feeling of am I doing the right thing? Am I doing a good job? Being exhausted from staying up late regularly lesson planning and being challenged by your students all the time. Guys, and especially I'm talking to the male teachers in particular, you don’t understand the value that you have. Just statistically, especially if you teach in the city, this country is full of fatherless children. You might be one of the very few men who has ever cared for any of these kids and showed them what a man of integrity looks like, a man of God. And even if they have church in their lives, that is never a guarantee. You’re being challenged because __________ doesn’t like the Spirit, but at the same time they need it. And I’ve seen these kids grow up over the years and they come out the other side and they need an example of what it is to be an adult who loves God. So keep going. You’re doing the right thing. Love you guys. Bye.

Hi DAB family. This is Daphne P. calling from Roswell, NM. I would like for you guys to pray if you can for our mission trip to Tokyo and __________ coming March 24 to April 2. We have 12 people going and we are just praying that God would do a mighty work among Japanese people. Japanese are the second largest unreached people group on the planet, people here in America kind of don’t ever see. Japan is a solid mission field because it is so modern and so beautiful, yet the people's hearts are so far from God, so many of them. And I'm just wondering if you would pray for them? I’ve been listening for, I think this is my eighth year. I have never called in before, so thank you guys for being my family and thank you for getting me through so much in the past. Just pray for us as we’re working with churches and doing street evangelism and prayer walking through Tokyo and __________. You can reach out to me on Facebook. Daphne P. so Facebook.com/Daphne P. I believe. But thank you so much for everything you guys do, Brian and this whole team. We just thank you and praise you for all that you’ve done for this community. God bless.

0 notes

Last Seen Blogs

murad273

Murad Hossain

thisgirl-knm

Never Left

timaimpala

Alone, Together

pit--rat

SPEARED

revengecow