WHO: Sam and Uriel. WHAT: Confrontation time. WHEN: Evening; Uriel visits Sam's dreams. WHERE: In Sam's mind! Sort of. RATING: PG-13. STATUS: COMPLETE.
"Do you take this woman to be your wife?"
He was standing outside, underneath an archway. Dressed in a black tuxedo, Sam slowly turned his head, looking off to the crowd of people that were observing him up front. There were faces. So many faces. And they all blended together, mixing in to a point where Sam found himself completely incapable of making out one from the other. But he knew. They were all staring at him. Waiting to see what he would say and do.
"I said, do you take this woman to be your wife?"
Sam looked back to the priest in front of him. He smiled off at Sam, teeth flashing in the warm light that trickled it's way down from the sky. There was something about the man that left an unsettling feeling in his stomach. Sam stared at him for a long moment before he found himself looking at the woman perched next to him. She looked beautiful in that dress. Despite the wavering uncertainty that had been ticking away at his insides, Sam couldn't help but let a fond smile cross over him. She returned the gesture easily and he stepped closer to her, eyes meeting her own as the priest beside him repeated his question once more.
"Do you take this woman to be your wife?"
"I d --" Sam had glanced over to the priest, his answer coming to a halt on his lips the second he saw the man's face. It twisted unnaturally and then, right before Sam's very eyes, it began to melt. Flesh trickling over bone, dripping down his robes and falling to the floor in a gooey puddle of skin and blood. His face was raw now, and his mouth turned upward in a cold sneer.
"Say yes, Sam. Say yes," he hissed, moving closer to him.
Horror swept through him, and Sam stumbled back instantly. The disfigured priest began to laugh. At the same time, so did everyone else. The entire crowd behind him. The swarm of faces. They were all laughing. Sam desperately moved toward Heather, but the stern look on her face made him stop.
The priest grabbed Sam by the collar, forcing him to look into his crumbling face. The raw muscle was disintegrating into nothing, leaving behind the milky white glow of his bones. "Condemn her, Sam. Drag her down with you. Take her to the pit and watch her burn. You know it's going to happen. You know she's going to die because of you. Everyone dies because of you. Your mother. Jessica. Dean. She's next. Just wait and see."
"NO!" Sam wrenched away from him, his back slamming into the arch behind him.
But it had already been said. And the crowd seemed to approve. They were rising to their feet, their voices uniting as one as they repeated the words that the priest had spat out.
"Everyone dies because of you."
Over and over again. Their voices grew louder and louder, and soon Sam couldn't even hear his own shouts as he protested and denied what he knew was the inevitable truth. It was what he feared the most. And they all knew it. They knew. Heather shook her head pitifully and turned away from him. She dropped her bouquet of flowers onto the floor and began to walk off. Even as Sam called after her, Heather kept going. Dean was quick to take her place, followed by his parents and Jessica.
"What did you think was going to happen, Sammy?" Dean started. "Did you think that you were gonna get married, live some kinda apple pie life? We don't get to do that. That's not how it works when you're different. Not when your brother is a freak."
Sam pushed off to the right, but Ruby was there to greet him. "Don't worry, Sam," she was saying, "I promise it'll be fun." She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to her, leaning forward with a smirk on her face. "It was before." She started leaning closer, but a hand suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him backward and away from Ruby.
The crowd vanished, as did the archway and everyone that was standing beyond it. Everything had changed. The lawn chairs, scattered all over had been replaced by pews. Stained glass windows rose up to take over the stretches of green that had surrounded him before and, as he turned back, Sam found himself standing on an alter. A dark man stood before him, dressed in a black suit that made Sam wonder if he had been at the wedding too.
"Sam Winchester," he started, smirking, "We meet again."
Sam pulled his head back slightly, brow furrowing. "Who are...?"
"Right. You don't remember. You wouldn't." Uriel tilted his head to the side and began to circle him. "I am Uriel. A servant of the Lord."
Oh God. It was that angel. The one that was running around, making with the big talk and threats. Sam's jaw tightened. "What do you want?"
He chuckled softly and stopped moving, coming to a halt just behind Sam. "You know, I've heard a lot about you, Samuel."
"Right, I'm the boy with the demon blood," Sam said, sounding a little worn through. "You're not the first person who's run that speech by me, so you can skip the lecture and just get straight to the point."
Uriel grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and gave it a painful squeeze. "That's not what I'm talking about. You pray, don't you? Every night you pray. Or you did. I've heard talk from the heavens. They're saying that your prayers have been faltering." Uriel tightened his grip on Sam's shoulder and Sam closed his eyes, doing his best to suppress the urge to pull away.
"That's not..." Sam opened his eyes and looked down. "That's not important."
Uriel pulled his hand away and stepped back. "It is if you have faith in God. I've noticed that your ideal wedding is far from the church. As a Christian, shouldn't you be in the church? Isn't that how it works for you humans?" Sam didn't respond. He kept his back to the angel, both his anger and fear keeping him from looking at the figure square on.
"Don't you see what's happening to you? It's the demon. She's changing you."
Sam shook his head. "No, she's --
" -- she isn't helping you, Sam Winchester. She's manipulating you. You're her shiny toy, just like Castiel was." Uriel shook his head and started moving again. This time, he stopped when he was facing Sam. Sam hesitated before finally lifting his chin to look at the angel. "Save yourself. Your family. Your bride. You want to keep them all from dying again? Do you want to protect her? Hand over the demon. No one will get hurt. The plagues will end. And you will be in God's good grace."
"It's not the right thing to do," Sam protested, "Ruby's been helping us; the only thing that she's done wrong was fall for an angel. And the only wrong thing about that is that it's against every rule that God could whittle together. Why is that our fault? Why are you punishing us?"
Castiel shook his head. "You're protecting her, which means that you are keeping God from something that She desires. Is that what you want? Do you wish to play the middle party? You, your family, your friends. They will all suffer because you are standing in the way. Do you really want what you fear to come to pass? Is that what you desire most, Sam Winchester? Because if it is, then you are exactly what that demon wants you to be. You're a monster."
A flash of anger flared up in his eyes. "I'm not. You don't know anything about me."
"We know more than you think," Uriel replied, smirking. "Or have you forgotten? God hears and knows everything. Now. How long are you going to wait before you realize that it's pointless hiding her from us? Will you wait until She asks me to throw your brother back into the --- ah, ah, ah. Don't even try it."
Sam had launched himself at Uriel the second he had started on about Dean going back to hell. But Uriel was fast. The sound of wings whistling through the air met Sam's ears and Sam stumbled straight into the vacant spot where Uriel had been standing two seconds prior. Sam turned around and the angel was there, looking downright furious.
"Don't be a fool," he spat. He grabbed Sam by the collar and glared off at him. "Give us the demon. Don't make me ask you again." Then he shoved Sam backward. He crashed into the row of pews behind him.
His eyes snapped open and he suddenly sat upright. He wasn't in the church anymore. He was lying in his bed, sweat trickling down his forehead as he blinked rapidly into the dark that surrounded him. Heather was sleeping soundly beside him and all was quiet. Uriel was nowhere to be seen. Wiping his brow, Sam untangled himself from the sheets wrapped around his body and climbed out of his bed. Stepping into the bathroom, he moved to the sink and turned on the water. After splashing some water onto his face and smoothing some of his hair from his eyes, Sam looked up into the mirror and stared off at his own reflection.
Was it all a dream? Or had it been real?
Whatever it was, Sam knew that he couldn't ignore it. He had ignored far too much already.