deercountry | it's such a cold day down here in hell; & it's a ways to heaven

[ It has been a long damn month of this bullshit - hunting Sam's damned horcruxes, piecing together the puzzle, playing friggin' detective, bullying charms out of people, and finally, finally getting the bracelet back together and glowing.

He's tired as hell, man, but it's done. It's completed in his hand, the blue glow of it pulsing gently as it dangles from shaky fingertips. The once full kitchen - Ariadne, Sara, himself and then Cas is emptied with barely a word otherwise, and when Cas blows back in Dean gives him a wry look, fingers closing around the bracelet before holding it out. ]

They're gonna be pissed at you for that.

[ ooc; thread picked up from here for reference! ]

[ As Castiel slides a large bookcase in front of the front door with the swipe of two fingers, he wonders if shouldn't have sent Dean with them also. ]

If they're still mad after this is all over, then they're still alive, which is more than I can promise for anyone involved here.

[ Of course Dean wouldn't be willing to go on his own. He'd be pissed as well, but he'd be safe. Then again, Dean's presence might be the deciding factor in whether the restoration of his brother's humanity is a success. It's still an option, Castiel tells himself. If shit hits the fan, he can still get Dean out.

Castiel sighs in frustration, but turns to Dean, lifts his chin and takes the proffered bracelet. He doesn't, however, move towards the basement. He just closes his fist around the glowing charm bracelet and looks at Dean. ]

This witch... You trust her?

[ All Castiel knows it that Wanda is very strong, which doesn't reassure him that her presence won't just make things worse. Angels may be powerful, but a human with power to rival a seraph's is infinitely more dangerous. ]

Yeah, true.

[ Dean watches Cas move furniture around, shaking his head and quietly muttering showoff as he picks up the liquor bottle from the kitchen table and takes a swig. ]

Wanda? Yes. She's good people. She's the one that spelled Baby for me, so that she doesn't need gas.

[ It's weird to trust a witch, because he's never been a fan of them. Wanda, luckily, doesn't spew bodily fluids and hasn't done anything to break Dean's (specifically) trust. ]

I texted her...she should be here soon. Should we go check on Krampus down there?

[ Hasn't done anything to break Dean's (specifically) trust yet. Dean's trust isn't especially easy to earn, though, so either this Wanda person is playing the long game, or she really is trustworthy. Anyway, the decision is already made. After what happened last time, Castiel can admit that he needs help, and Wanda, from Dean's description, certainly sounds capable. Cas nods in acceptance.

As they walk towards the stairwell, he glances at Dean with a raised eyebrow. He knows so many of Dean's references, and yet. Here's a new one. Krampus??? Let's just skip it. Castiel's voice drops, softer and reluctant. ]

Dean, if this attempt to heal Sam doesn't work...

[ They could just kill him. They might not even need Wanda for it. Though, the rune burned into Castiel's chest beneath his shirt and the connection to the monster it implies does worry him. He puts it forcibly out of mind. ]

Dude, no. No.

[ Dean's already been down that road before, and he can't do it again. He takes a shaking breath to steady himself, and presses his lips thin. He refuses to think of the alternative, because it simply isn't acceptable to him. He's already dealt with losing Sam twice now, and the last time had been permanent. He can't do that again. ]

It'll work, Cas. It will.

[ It has to. ]

[ Castiel's expression remains guarded, but after a few moments, he nods in acceptance. ]

Alright.

[ What else can he do? There's no point arguing with Dean, not about his car, or his music... Not about anything, and especially not about Sam. Voice tight with restraint, he opens the door to the basement and looks down the stairwell, waiting for Dean to lead. ]

Then... let's go see Krampus.

[ Don't look at him; you started this. ]

Thank you.

[ He can tell there's an inner battle going on, that Cas is at war with himself, that he's tempted to just not listen to Dean and kill Sam anyway. All Dean can do is trust him, reach out and squeeze his arm as he passes, the barest twitch of a smile on his lips. ]

C'mon. He awaits. [ So dramatic, but this is a dramatic situation, isn't it?

Anyway, there's heavy, warded chains holding Sam in place, an iron collar clamped around the beasts neck, and a redheaded witch who waits in the wings. ]

[ while wanda is very pro-knocking on doors and even bringing something over as a common courtesy of visiting (a casserole, maybe, or even just a pot plant with a lobster in it), given the situation, she forgoes all neighbourly conduct. besides, there was a special holiday episode of wandavision in the works where no one knocked on doors before she went on a creative writer, actor, set designer, producer, and network executive strike. it's only fair she gets to live that script without her needing to give everyone a director's note.

she hasn't come empty-handed—or she won't be, when she figures out just how to work with an angel. wanda isn't dressed in anything spectacular (yet). she's in her jeans and a coat, and looks very much like a woman who's wandered off the street and not a witch at all. (the pointed hat's currently in the wash.)

it's strange to see sam like this, but she knows that it's him. while she never thought dean to be a liar—he's confessed too many things that feel impossible to be anything but the truth to her—she's found it hard to believe before seeing it for her very eyes. sam's a monster.

when she senses dean and someone who feels so different—he feels a little like vision, being otherworldly—she turns around and gives the beast known as samuel her back.

sheepishly, ] I was going to use the door, but… I didn't want to waste any time.

[ just appearing seemed to work best. no time to waste, you know. ]

[ As he and Dean descend the steps together, the rune on Castiel's chest begins to burn hotter. It's not enough to leave a mark on the shirt and tie covering it, and so Castiel ignores it. If he turns out to be an impairment towards their efforts, he'll leave. But not before assuring that this new player on the field, turning her back so confidently to the warded monster, can be trusted.

Castiel takes a few steps triangular from Dean, putting him in the line of sight of the beast that was Sam. His eyes linger there, assessing, calculating an array of possibilities in a moment before he forces himself to look over at the woman already in their heavily warded basement, instead. ]

You must be Wanda.

[ On the outside, she looks as much like any other witch Castiel has ever seen. Pointy hats and broomsticks were as fancifully imagined as halos and harps, after all. Her soul is... red. But that's not her soul that he sees; there's power overlaying it. In that respect, she doesn't look at all like any other witch he's seen. She's too strong. Closer to God.

Castiel doesn't bother introducing himself; he also doesn't want to waste any time. Pleasantries can come later, if they all survive. After glancing briefly at Dean, Cas addressed the witch again. ]

Have you dealt with something like this before? This...

[ His eyes are drawn back towards the beast that used to be Sam. The thing he created in his rage. ]

—This level of corruption?

[ who must be castiel prompts her to stand a little taller. he reminds her very much of vision—all business, very proper.

wanda wishes that she could say yes, that she's dealt with this level of corruption before and had no issue breaking it, but her experience has only ever laid with destroying vision, unwrapping a titan's armour slowly like a pastry, and westview.

she shakes her head. there's no point in lying. ] No. But I created a Hex where I controlled hundreds of people every second of every day and brought a memory back to life. [ she doesn't appear overly proud of what she had done, but it's the best display of her power. ]

I think I can deal with beasthood.

[ she doesn't ask if he has. he must've. isn't he the angel? don't they deal with some element of that every single day? ]

[As if calling Wanda’s bluff, the beast with no name who used to be Sam shifts in his bonds and gives a low growl of warning as it tenses.

He is angry, restless, tightly restrained and hungry. Very hungry.

And now there are three possible meals in front of him, one of which he’s marked and been following the movements of since their fight. Such arrogance coming down here like this with no offering.

Not entirely mindless, he’s aware that something is going on the way a dog might feel a storm on the horizon. He sometimes sees these men, usually just the one that smells like leather, sometimes it’s a third man acting more like a rat than a human. Sam’s eaten a few of those rats, curious enough to come too close. It’s not enough. It’s never enough. And now there’s some force calling him in a way he doesn’t understand, slipping right under his hackles and bone.]

[ Dean winces as he listens to them talk, listens to the beasts (Sam's) roar, realizing the uselessness of his presence but at the same time, the desperate need to be present, to see how it goes down, no matter the cost. ]

Don't get too close, [ He tells Wanda, just from force of habit. ]

You two...are probably the most powerful people here in Trench. If you can't do it, I'm not sure anyone can.

[ If not, then...

Well. That's a bridge to cross when they arrive at it. ]

[ wanda doesn't turn nor flinch when monster!sam growls and shifts loudly. really, it's just a huge inconvenience that he's moved at all. ]

Shush.

[ it's said to sam, not dean, of course. wanda has manners.

her eyes glow red. it's reflected in the gnarly eyes of the monster formerly known as sam. she quietens his mind, tries to make him stop thinking about meals and food. all she wants is for him to think of nothing at all, to exist in an endless sea of nothingness.

her eyes stop glowing red. ]

We can do it.

[ while wanda may not know castiel from a bar of hydra soak, she has to trust that he's capable. he has to be. there's no other option than to bring sam back and she doubts he would be here if he didn't think it possible. ]

[ Wanda has Castiel's attention more than the chained monster. Even as it growls, he watches her. "Hundreds of people every second of every day" ? What could possibly justify something like that? But, she isn't the problem right now. Dean trusts her.

With an uncomfortable look towards Dean, all but saying, "I don't trust her and this is dangerous," in a glance, he forces himself to put his doubts aside and turns full towards the monster. ]

The Sam we knew is a memory...

[ He directs towards Wanda, though his focus is on the beast as Castiel's eyes glow blue and the chains holding the monster in place begin to brighten and burn, sinking down through the iron and into the flash beneath, squeezing tighter. There's a sizzling, pitched up hum, like static. His voice raises over it, tense with exertion. ]

I'll hold him. You bring him back.

[ interesting. the chains burn effortlessly. blue has always felt like the colour that best compliments her red. over the last few months, she's seen more of it than she has in the last ten years.

while wanda doesn't agree with his presumption, she knows that this isn't the place for any arguments. sam is still there, deep, deep, deep down, buried like grief usually is. she trusts that this will work; it has to. wanda doesn't want another brother to lose his sibling.

she nods. ]

And Dean? [ she looks at him. ] Are you going to stay?

[ wanda doesn't say it as though she wants him gone. she doesn't think for a second he'd hightail out of here, but she imagines this is an instance where he's going to need at least a helmet. ]

Yes.

[ The answer is immediate, but he is smart enough to back up, to move behind Cas, because...

Well. Cas is a friggin' angel and virtually indestructible. Dean isn't stupid, he knows he's just...some guy, some human. ]

I'll be okay.

[ wanda nods.

it's effortlessly that she transforms with a sparkle of red her everyday clothing into her scarlet witch attire. it feels easier to access her power this way and it's a token of pride, something she imagines agatha felt when she had slipped into her true skin for that final fight in westview.

while she feels slightly nervous (nerves had to be a good thing), she inhales deeply and calms herself. sam is in there. while this is something that's very much outside of her usual wheelhouse, wanda can sense him deep down—and that's the tether she needs. all she has to do now is dig. ]

Ready when you are.

[ The costume change is impressive, though Castiel only sees it from the corner of his eye, focused on the monster in front of them as he is. There isn't a strong light in the room, and so his own dressing up— i.e. the shadow of feathers across Dean's face and the wall behind— is comparatively vague and unimpressive, but not unimportant. Castiel has already faced down this beast, and he knows it isn't intimidated by little things like a witch's horns or an angel puffing up his wings. Castiel does it anyway, though because he wants to be ready to get Dean and get out if whatever Wanda tries goes south.

He doesn't bother with an angel blade just yet. He holds the charm bracelet in his hand like a Buddhist mala, and the chains holding the monster down twist and tighten in anticipation of the fight. ]

Ready.

[ with a glance at that charm bracelet, wanda turns to look at sam.

although there's always a place for nervousness, she knows there's no room for any doubt. she has to believe that this will work—and she knows from experience that what she believes in generally comes true, even if it requires a little nudge from her. but she hopes that the trench's own magic doesn't try to combat their own.

holding out her hands, she inhales deeply and focuses on the monster before them. but it's not the monster she wants to find, it's the man who's been twisted and contorted inside. slipping beneath that tough skin, her hands and eyes begin to glow red. slivers of the beast before them begin to glow a faint red, sparks of magic appearing along his skin like fireworks. ]

He's going to grow mad.

[ any second. sam seems very hot-tempered as a gnarly beast. ]

[Warned not a second too soon as the beast twists in his restraints with such torque that they cut his thick skin. The blood is ugly- pale streaked with a reddish black that shouldn't be there. It stinks of Corruption, tangy and sour as it spreads through the air.

Eyes blazing red behind it's horned mask, fanged mouth open in a scream regardless of Wanda's muzzling. It's feral, base instinct to howl and scratch into the floor. Leave him alone, let him go, get out of his head- sucked deep, deep down into the void inside him. Nothing at the core until all at once a tiny little curl of familiarity flickers in response.]

[ wanda may wince, but she doesn't stumble. the roar's loud, but it doesn't knock her from her feet. she's learned from thanos' blitz to keep her stance firm, her knees locked, and her magic bolting her to the floor so she can become unwavering.

her eyes continue to glow red as her fingertips burn with it. her magic begins to grow bolder, slowly beginning to blossom; where the basement had only a soft glow of red, it begins to burn brighter, scarlet almost appearing as wallpaper on the walls. she wants to dig deep inside of his head to find him—the equivalent of his hand, even if it's a pinky—but she still pursues it gently. wanda doesn't wish to hurt sam if she can help it.

and she thinks sharply, just for sam: ]

I'm not letting go.

[ The restraints that Castiel has on the monster hold, but that isn't an entirely good thing. Sam is bleeding, and the more Wanda uses her witchcraft on him, the more the monster fights, and the more it bleeds. She may not be hurting him, but Castiel is. This needs to go quickly, before the beast that used to be Sam fully throws itself on Castiel's sword.

Jaw tense, eyes still lit with the same blue glow as the Enochian warding (where it isn't dyed purple thanks to Wanda's strong, smothering red), Castiel looks over at Wanda and growls over the snap and snarl and screaming of the muzzles beast. ]

Is it working?

[ Gentleness is a luxury they don't have, in Castiel's opinion. ~~Just break the wall in his brain and don't look back, Wanda. What's the worst that could happen?~~ ]

[It's working, dragged tooth and nail against all the willpower the beast has. No delicate, surgical extraction, it's blunt force trauma smashing everything around as he's grabbed and raised.

A horrible, gross extraction of screeching howls and breaking bones and blood.

So, so much blood.

But it is an extraction nonetheless. Slowly, and horrifically, the corruption is ripped back from it's host and purged all around in the form of pussy blood and thick, black, tar like substance which oozes into a giant mass around the beast far larger than what could have been reasonably housed inside it.

And, you guessed it, as they seem to achieve the impossible, the mass reaches critical mass before exploding, wet and acidic across the room.]

[ God, if there's one thing Dean hates? Disgusting bodily fluids spewing all over the place. It's why he doesn't like witches (Wanda doesn't spew rabbit blood or projectile vomit, so she's cool), and this is no exception.

He's stayed behind Cas for the most part, knowing there isn't much he can contribute in way of assistance. He's got his shield and he's ready to pull it up to protect them if need be, but he really isn't...expecting Sam to explode all over them, and he's horrified beyond measure, coated in sticky, wet slime. ]

Holy fuck-- Sam?!

[ He manages a few words, peeking out from behind Cas, pieces of flesh and bile dripping from his face. ]

[ the benefit of being the nexus being aka the scarlet witch known as wanda fucking maximoff is that she can act quickly thanks to her telepathy. and that's exactly what she does, all the while not letting go of ensuring that sam isn't lost in the crux of it all.

red emits from her, protecting her from the guts and… yuck that comes from sam. unfortunately for everyone else, well… we'll let them be covered in guts for now. she's happy to make it all disappear, guys. just blink twice. ]

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family_remains - 2022-01-28 14:50 (UTC) - Expand

it's such a cold day down here in hell; & it's a ways to heaven

CLOSED to wanda, cas, dean, and sam;

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cw gross fluids enjoy, dean.

uggghkjdshfkshdjkf

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