Chapter 50 - Sasstiel (Not Sastiel)

Cas was sitting in the dark dusty cell, his hands folded in his lap. It had been weeks and Dean still had no idea where he was. His husband had to know something was wrong, how couldn't he? But there was no way in Heaven or Earth the hunter would be able to find him. He sighed and leaned his head back, hitting it against the brick wall behind him. Oh, yeah, and there was that other minor issue of him sharing his time in incarceration with none other than Lucifer himself.

Cas heard footsteps approaching and sat up straight. Whatever demon was on patrol would not see his weakness. As the demon passed by his cell, angel blade in his hand, he and Cas stared at one another, Cas following him with his eyes, unwilling to break eye contact until the creature passed.

The demon stopped at the next cell over, peering inside at the devil within.

Cas couldn't see what was happening but he could infer when he heard the demon mock, "Huh, I always thought you'd have a… bigger stick."

"What's your name again?" Lucifer asked, and just knew his face was plastered with his signature cocky grin.

"They call me Dipper," the demon answered.

Lucifer laughed, a fake condescending sound. "And you let them," he said. It wasn't a question. "Listen, Dipper… It's not the size of the stick, it's how you use it."

"Funniest thing… I'm always hearing that from guys with little sticks," the demon jeered.

Lucifer again laughed sarcastically and Cas heard him clang against the warded bars of his cell. The smell of burning flesh and grunting traveled to Castiel's cell, and he knew the devil was being electrocuted.

The demon laughed and said, "Smooth," at Lucifer's misfortune. "We gave the wardign a little kick. Just for you."

"Thanks," the devil answered sardonically. "So considerate. Appreciate that a lot..." The demon walked away and Lucifer called, "You're not nice! And I don't like you!" after him. Even Cas he was sure the demon could no longer hear him, the devil continued to shout, "You treat me like an everyday angel, and if had just a little more power I could tear this place apart! Just sayin'."

Cas heard him sigh and touch the bars again, a small electric sound followed a sharp intake of breath. The devil was once again electrocuted by his own prison, and Cas couldn't help but laugh.

"You don't have that power and they know it," he told the devil with as much sass as he could muster.

Cas was, as Dean would say, getting real tired of his shit.

"Okay, well, if somebody would be a pal and let me eat a little of his grace I would have enough strength to get out of here and butcher that SON OF A BITCH!" Lucifer yelled the last part towards the demon who was surely no longer listening.

"Well, that's a nice horrifying plan," Cas snarked. "Little cannibalism."

"Really?" the devil asked, amused. "I seem to remember a somebody snacking on angel grace once upon a time… There is no 'I' in 'team,' Castiel. I want you to remember that." Cas laughed to himself at Lucifer's useless attempts to intimidate him. He had no leg to stand on and he knew it. "Fine, whatever. I can wait," he said when Cas didn't respond. Deciding to fill Cas's silance with the sound of his own voice, he began waxing nostalgic. "Asmodeus was my weakest creation."

"Oh he was, was he?" Cas asked, unable to keep his mouth shut. "Doesn't seem that weak to me."

"Yeah yeah. That whole… shape shifty thing he does? I didn't give him that," Lucifer admitted. "But so what? The old dog's learned some new tricks. Eventually he's gonna mess up. Then he's mine, okay?"

"Excuses aside… You're saying that you're too weak to overcome even your weakest creation," Cas informed him, lacing on the sarcasm.

The devil paused for a second. A single, "Shut up," escaped his lips and Cas smiled. The Prince of Darkness was all bark and no bite.

He was a far cry from the terror that had once plagued Castiel day and night. A far cry from the devil that once possessed his body and broke his spirit.

This was made very clear when a few hours later, Cas was awoken from his meditations by Lucifer shakily saying the word, "Rise," over and over.

The patrol demon, Dipper, walked past their cells again, stopping in front of Cas this time.

"Don't think we forgot about you," he informed the angel. "When the boss gets back, big plans for you."

Cas imagined those big plans involved taking his form and tricking the Winchesters. Not that Dean would be dumb enough to fall for that twice. Asmodeus already tried that with the prophet Donatello, according to Dean.

Rather than saying anything, Cas calmly stared at the demon. The creature chuckled and moved to walk away, until Lucifer opened his big, stupid, mouth.

"Oh, does he have big plans?" he scoffed. "Hey, what's that gonna be like when Michael gets here and, oh yeah, murders us all!"

Cas rolled his eyes. The rift was closed there was no way Michael could find his way to their universe.

"Right, if he gets here," the angel muttered.

"There's no 'if' here in this equation, okay?" Lucifer said, growing irritated. "Let me- let me just tell you something, about my dick brother. About every version of my dick brother, oaky. When he decides to do something, he does it. Doesn't matter what the cost or who has to die. It is gonna happen, 'cause that's just the way he rolls."

He had a point. "If you're right then how much time do we have?" Cas asked, not that he trusted a word he was saying, of course. It just paid to be cautious.

"How much time? Oh, I guess that depends on how much time he spends torturing Mary Winchester," Lucifer said and Cas bristled at the mentioning of his mother in law. "He liked her, right? Oh, Cas, you should've seen it… I mean, the things he did to her. In all my time in Hell, I have never seen anything that horrible. Just… Oh!"

Cas felt the white hot anger building in his gut. "Stop, I don't wanna hear any more of your lies," he growled.

"Oh, this coming from the angel who almost has me beat in that department. And that's saying a lot, pal."

"Well, you always say a lot," Cas snarled.

"Okay, let's face it, Cassandra," the devil said. "The truths I say hurt 'cause they're hard to swallow, so people call 'em lies. Go figure."

Cas would not listen to his filth. He stood up. "You want truth?" he asked. "How 'bout I tell you a few truths about your son?"

"Did you just have an angel stroke?"

Cas ignored him, continuing, "Did you know he loves movies?" he asked, smiling fondly at the memory of Dean and Jack debating which Star Wars film was the best. In the time between Cas's resurrection and when Jack ran away after their trip to Dodge city, Cas had gotten to know the nephilim quite well. They bonded over the little intricacies of humanity they didn't quite understand. Cas was going to let the devil know just what sort of man his son was. "Fantasy movies. Movies with heroes who crush villains."

Lucifer soffed, "Well, that- that's nurture. That's not nature," he stammered, and Cas could tell he was losing his faux confident persona.

"And he's thoughtful," Cas continued. "He's emotional. Remarkably intuitive. You know, he, uh, he resurrected me just out of instinct." That wasn't entirely true. Jack could sense Dean's pain and reached out to Cas in the Empty. But it was Jack's voice, his connection to Cas that first woke him up. As for getting out of the Empty, well, Cas annoyed a cosmic being into releasing him. He continued, "Isn't that a beautiful gesture?"

"Yeah, that's, uh, that's beautiful," the devil said and Cas could hear him pacing.

"Jack would rather kill you than hug you," Cas told him, having received a hug from the young man himself. In fact, the nephilim viewed Castiel as his father, not Lucifer. It was one of the first things he knew for certain upon being born, that he had to find his father, that he had to find Castiel. "Did you know that he doesn't even really look like you? And he reminds me so much of his mother… In fact, he looks a little bit like me. As if he chose my form instead of yours."

"Wow," Lucifer breathed, inhaling sharply.

Cas felt the magic before he heard it. Lucifer moved something with his powers. Something small, but something nonetheless.

"I did it," Lucifer said in awe. "I moved the stick! Woo!"

"Don't celebrate just yet," Cas chided. "And keep it down."

The devil took a calming breath. "Alright, alright…" a smile was on his voice. "Make me angry. Just say whatever rude snarky things your jealous brain was coming up with before, and I'll see if I can move it again."

Of course, anger. Anger was increasing his power. "Uh… You are stupid and unloved and you deserve the hatred of millions."

"Come on, Cas! Go deeper! Make me really seethe with rage!"

Cas thought for a second. Maybe he could be defiant enough to elicit real anger from the devil. "No," he said, crossing his arm though he knew nobody could see him.

"What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, I will not help you. What makes you think I'm stupid enough to trust your plan?"

"Castiel…" the devil spat and Cas felt the surge of energy again. "Ah, I see what you did there. Keep it up. Maybe if I hold in the desire to wring your neck just long enough, I can kick Dipper's dank demon ass instead. Much more productive… Oh, and be loud about it, lure numbnuts into our little game of Demon Trap."

"Uh, you were God's least favorite!" he said loudly. "He should have thrown you in that Cage at the moment of your birth!"

"Yes, keep going."

"Face it. You are useless and impotent and necessary, and you will die alone! Unmourned," Cas was seated on the bench near the back of his cage. He could hear Dipper approaching, clearly taking the bait.

"You talking to me, pretty boy?" the demon asked.

Cas pointed to the other cage and Lucifer answered, "No, he's talking to me."

Dipper sauntered over to the devil. "Yeah, well, he does have a point… Aww, did you lose your little stick?"

"I did," Lucifer said, faux-glee in his voice before he pulled Dipper towards his cage. Cas could just see the demon struggling to break free.

Electricity crackled and the demon asked, "How... did you?"

"Turns out rage is a good motivator," the devil spat. "And I think you forgot something. I'm Lucifer," he said before stabbing the demon in the throat with his stick. "Told you size didn't matter."

"You…" Dipper panted, backing away from the cage.

Castiel heard the gate swing open. "Whoops," Lucifer said and that was Cas's cue.

He snuck out of his own cell while Dipper was distracted and stood behind the demon.

"Someone got mad and broke his warding," Cas said and Dipper spun around, a true look of fear in his eyes as he clutched the wound on his neck.

Before he had a chance to run or fight back, Cas reached up and put his palm on the demon's head, focusing his power. Dipper screamed and his eyes and mouth glowed as Cas smote him. When he was void of life, the empty vessel fell to the floor, with a loud thud.

This, of course, alerted other demons. Lucifer quickly grabbed Dipper's angel blade as footsteps rang down the hall. Four other demons appeared, all armed with angel blades of their own.

"Good times," Lucifer muttered as he and Cas stared them down.

Unarmed, Cas had to rely on the devil to disarm and kill one of the demons before Cas could grab a blade for himself. He held out the best he could, dodging attacks. He did not like to have to depend on Lucifer, but he needed him to get home to Dean.

Once the devil defeated one of the demons, Cas quickly grabbed for the fallen blade. Now he was in his element. He twirled the familiar weapon in his hand and set off to fight one of the other demons that was coming at them.

Together, he and Lucifer made quick work of the demonic guards. Once that was through, they made their way outside. Lucifer stopped to catch his breath and Cas began pacing,

"There'll be more of them coming," he told the devil.

"You know…" Lucifer painted. "This would be so much easier, if I were stronger." He approached Cas from behind and the angel immediately tensed up. "Hint, hint, hint." Cas turned around to face him and the devil threw his arms in the air. "Oh, come on, Castiel, we just fought side by side mano e' mano. You gotta trust me now, man. Come on."

"Oh I trusted you. When we fought the Darkness, and then you betrayed us," Cas reminded him. "And I trusted-"

He was cut off when the devil lunged forward, his eyes glowing his signature red. He sliced into the flesh of Castiel's rib, and the angel hissed. Taking a step back. Grace weeped through the wound as he clutched his side.

They began circling each other. "Fool me once…" Cas growled.

"I promise to leave you a litte. Come one," Lucifer begged.

Both were breathing heavy with exertion when Cas lunged forward and stabbed the archangel below the ribs with his blade. The devil grunted as Cas pushed in deeper. His eyes flickered from satanic red to human blue but Cas didn't notice.

"This is me, learning from my mistakes," Cas whispered in his ear before he pulled the blade from his flesh.

End of chapter 50