I promised you I wouldn't give up

Bobby Singer's direct page. You should not have this web address. If you need info about demons or spirits, give me a call. If you're Sam or Dean, then you know how to reach me. [Independent Supernatural RP but crossovers are welcome]

[greatbigbagoftricks-blog]

Gabriel made a face at that. “…I don’t…think we should do that. I mean, I’m a runaway, presumed dead. You’re supposed to be dead. We’re both associated with the Winchesters and Castiel by this point, which makes us worse than toxic to oh, most of Heaven. So unless it’s Castiel or Balthazar, I’m not trying for any of my family.” 

Besides which, Balthazar would probably be the only one who was actually happy to see him. The two of them had had some good times on Earth, laying low the way they had. 

[youwantmetoriverdance]

“Alright then, what’s your idea, genius?” Bobby snapped irritably. He entered the kitchen and scanned the fridge, looking for something that didn’t look too sickeningly toxic. “Do you know anyone who could help us out?” he wondered. “You mentioned Cas and Balthazar. I haven’t seen either of them in ages.” He pulled a frozen hamburger from the freezer and shoved it in the microwave.

“Would it do us any good to track either of them down?”

[greatbigbagoftricks-blog]

The archangel took it gratefully, chowing down on the stale licorice. He disliked that particular candy, but he hadn’t been lying. Sugar was sugar, even if it was ancient and despised. 

He choked back a laugh at the thought. He could definitely identify with the poor candy at this point. He was still needed out there, old and disliked as he must be. How was that for a metaphor? 

"That’s better," he sighed after a few more pieces. He snapped his fingers, conjuring up a small flame. "Not much, but it’ll keep me going. And how about you?" He looked over at Bobby. "You need anything? Not too big, but I can at least freshen up your fridge or do a simple locator spell." 

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby pondered a Big Mac, and then a cheesesteak, and then that one rack of ribs that he’d particularly enjoyed during a hunt at some domestic farm down south, before sighing and rethinking the question logically.

“A locator spell, eh?” He shrugged. “Might help us track down one of your siblings if you could work that mojo. If it doesn’t require any parent supervision, I’ll be in the kitchen reheating some leftovers.”

[profitfromtheprophet]

"Oh my, what a strong grip you have," Crowley simpered, though if anyone was the Big Bad Wolf in this relationship it was certainly himself.  He unlocked the door without fanfare and let them both in to the surprisingly modern flat.  From the inside, the penthouse could have belonged to any other Wallstreet executive, even the ones that didn’t perform ritual sacrifices on a regular basis.

"Welcome to my humble abode.  You’ll have to forgive the squalor, I’m flying under the radar as it were.  I’m sure you can understand how that goes."  The demon waved his arm in the general direction of the plush leather couch, offering Bobby a seat.  He had no reason not to be polite, after all.  Yet.  "Warded tighter than the Pope’s codpiece.  We can speak freely here, Singer.  Make yourself at home."

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby peered around the flat, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans. He was uncomfortable in more ways than one. With dark granite countertops and floor to ceiling windows, Crowley’s “humble abode” clashed with every memory that Bobby had of the demon. It managed to scream, ‘cultured bachelor’ despite the warding symbols along the walls and the specimen on a plate in the kitchen that looked suspiciously like a brain. Beside the specimen was a tray of assorted cheeses that appeared to already have been picked over by a previous guest (Bobby’s eyes flicked back to the brain for a moment, but he was quick to dismiss the thought). Bobby stared longingly at the cheeses, noticing for the first time the low grumbling that was coming from his stomach.

“You got any grub?” He wondered, lowering himself cautiously onto Crowley’s couch. The cushion enveloped him and he yawned tiredly. “I haven’t had a spare moment to eat all day.”

[justanemptymeatsuit-archive-blog]

Ruby thought about it for a moment. The chance to become human again. The chance to make a life for herself, settle down some place. But she’d lose the extra strength that came with being what she is, and she’d most likely still have people after her even if she managed to become human.

She’d take those chances.

She looked at Bobby for a second before nodding at him. “I’ll do it.”

[youwantmetoriverdance]

“Wonderful,” Bobby stated bluntly, his lips a straight line. “That’s fan – flipping – tastic, sweetheart, I’m so glad you’ve got that sorted.” He stood up and paced away from the demon, clenching and unclenching his fists. He shouldn’t be bothered. He shouldn’t want to get involved. But this was Sam they were talking about, and this was Sam that was going to have to deal with the aftermath of whatever choices Ruby made. Bobby suddenly regretted ever telling Ruby about her chance to turn human. He regretted ever giving her the option to take Sam away from him.

But it was more than that. Bobby wasn’t just afraid that Sam would begin drift away, turning to the ex-demon for counsel instead of his raggedy uncle. He was worried about what would happen later; after the two made their amends and were living happily ever after with a white picket fence. What would happen to them when their pasts came up in conversation or argument? The whole ordeal with the demon blood and the jagged blade in Sam’s back would have to arise eventually. And Bobby just didn’t think that the couple could resolve the issue maturely.

[thebrotherwhocriedsammy-deactiv]

[ineveragreed]

This was where my heart dropped, my stomach flipped and I nearly walked away from Supernatural forever.

[greatbigbagoftricks-blog]

That earned him a shrug from the archangel. “Sugar’s sugar, even if it’s ancient. We can always call up the Winchesters to bring in more later, if they’re in the area. If they’re even alive. Hell, last thing I remember doing is leaving them a message about the Horsemen and Lucifer’s Cage…” 

He frowned. “Did that even work? I’m completely lost, and I’ve got no idea when I am or if my brothers are wandering around mortal now or what.”

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby squinted, trying to remember. Many of the events that occurred before his death were fuzzy inside his brain. “If I’m thinking of the right apocalypse, after you called, Sam got knocked into the pit with his stepbrother and some archangels, but Death pulled him out because Dean spent a day as his intern… It’s a long long story and I’m missing half the pages; we’re gonna need to do some research on your family. I’m not positive of what’s happened to them since I dropped.” Bobby frowned, once again trying to recall the ending of that story. Eventually, in frustration, he gave up. “I’ll go grab you that licorice.”

He returned to from the kitchen with a dropping back of reddish-grey candy. He handed it to Gabriel uncertainly.

[greatbigbagoftricks-blog]

Gabriel nodded in agreement, though he was thinking of Michael. He still had no idea just how much he’d missed. 

He stood, still shaky, and snapped the window whole again, cracks shrinking away. “I’m gonna need candy. The faster I can refuel the god, the faster my Grace recovers and the faster I can get both of us on our feet. And catchup. What happened while I was gone? What’d I skip out on that you didn’t?”

[youwantmetoriverdance]

“I’ve told you, I don’t know much,” Bobby admitted. “Been cooped up here for the past few days, haven’t talked to nobody… Probably a bad decision on my part.” He waved the thought away. “All I know is that your buddies and my buddies have managed to put the world in grave danger (as they’ve done many times before), and now there are millions of featherless angels wandering around the world like a large litter of lost puppies.” Bobby snorted. “Quite a predicament, huh? But we’ve got a predicament of our own.” He motioned to his kitchen. “I don’t have any candy, minus half a bag of aged licorice." He paused. "And by aged I mean that it’s been here since I croaked, so you can expect that it’s grown mold on its mold by now.”

[profitfromtheprophet]

"I always listen to you darling," Crowley purred.  "You always say the sweetest things, after all."

Crowley appeared completely unconcerned as the elevator continued it’s trip.  His power might be currently diminished but that didn’t mean he was anywhere near helpless.  Or any less careful.  He smiled brightly at Bobby’s odd look, but offered the man no explanation as the elevator came to a halt and opened to a normal hallway.

Anyone paying enough attention could see the wards that covered the walls, ceiling and floors.  Each symbol was expertly crafted, and while Crowley himself had no issues entering the hallway anything else would have trouble following.  He held out a hand for Bobby, the crafty smile growing to epic proportions.  “Afraid you’ll have to do a little hand holding if you want to get in.  Unless, of course, you wanted all your molecule to get rearranged today.  Then, by all means…”

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby flashed Crowley a sarcastic smirk before grasping his hand, probably a little tighter than was entirely necessary, and following him down the hall. Even though Bobby knew that he was immune to the sigils and symbols that plastered the walls, he couldn't help but feel as if he were a bomb that was doomed to detonate the second that Crowley let his hand fall. As he gulped and trailed down the hall behind the demon, he realized that Crowley's firm grip was indeed his lifeline.

The hallway was long but Bobby's train of thought was longer, with questions after questions buzzing in his head like angry hornets. Occasionally he would be stung with thoughts like, "Have I ever killed a man?" And slightly more terrifying, "What if I left the oven on?" And the worst question yet, "Are Sam and Dean even alive?" These were the thoughts that worried him, not the realization that he was holding hands and skipping along with the spawn of the Devil himself. Not even the sigil on the door worried Bobby as much as the thoughts in his head, even though the symbol seemed to be dripping with fresh red ink.

[justanemptymeatsuit-archive-blog]

Ruby followed him into the room across, leaning against the door frame as he made himself comfortable. Listening to him, something in her stirred. There was a lot of sense in what he was saying.

"I know Sam doesn’t want me anymore. That’s the bit I don’t get, Bobby." She ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head. "I’d be crazy to think he’d want me back, which is why I agreed to stay away. But…Maybe I don’t wanna be filled with spite anymore. Then what?"

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby chuckled, rolling his eyes at the madness of their predicament. Years ago he would have never considered sympathizing with a demon, much less the leech that helped instigate the apocalypse. But something funny was in the water (or, more likely, the puppy blood) that the demon had been drinking, and she seemed to have genuine aspirations to become – well – human.

“I can’t deny that Sam probably does not want to lay eyes on your pretty little face.” Bobby told Ruby, his expression genuine. “And, to be honest, I can’t blame the kid, not after you betrayed him like that.” Bobby shook his head. “You’ve got a lot of work to do if you want an A on this project, sweetheart, and unlike high school, if you fail, you’ll end up with a slightly less figurative stake up your ass. You’ve got a decision to make. Do you really want to go all in, just to weaken yourself with a mortal form? It’s all or nothin’ after all.”

[profitfromtheprophet]

Crowley smirked back over his shoulder as if he were aware of exactly what Bobby was currently seeing.  He could just be smirking though, he did seem to do that an awful lot.  “You give yourself too little credit darling.  You’re awfully spry.” He waggled his eyebrows, giving Bobby an obvious once over before continuing.  “Besides, if Earthly impact didn’t damage you, I sincerely doubt a little jog down the road’ll hurt too much.”

The demon was apparently telling the truth because after another block he turned into an upscale building and gave a nod to the doorman as he passed.  “We’ll take the elevator.”  Crowley made it sound like he was doing Bobby a favor, even if he always took the elevator because he was not climbing stairs if he could help it.

There were more than enough stairs to climb in Hell, should he feel the urge.

"So, you remember absolutely nothing other than those sons of yours and my handsome face?”

[youwantmetoriverdance]

“You have been listening,” Bobby supposed, following the man into the elevator. “No, nothing else. Not yet.” He considered telling Crowley about the faint memory he had of certain darkness, but he figured it best to keep those inklings to himself. If Crowley didn’t know that Bobby remembered his true identity, Bobby would have a much needed advantage.

The buttons on the inside wall of the elevator lit up in succession as the pair rose higher and higher through the tall brick building. They stood in silence, no music to dull the painful awkwardness. Eventually, the button for the fourteenth level – the highest floor – glowed a faint red. Bobby prepared to pass back through the metal doors, but they did not slide open. Instead, the elevator continued to move upwards. The red light went out on the panel of buttons, and Bobby looked at Crowley quizzically.

[youwantmetoriverdance]

  Bobby thought about it.

The smart thing to do would be to say yes, and then to gouge his blade through her gullet.

The stupid thing to do would be to say no, and let the demon kill him by her own means.

But Bobby thought about Sam, and how the boy had planned purposefully so that the demon would remain alive. Bobby sure as hell didn’t like the idea of letting a demon off scot free, but he grimaced picturing the look in Sam’s eyes if he learned that Bobby killed Ruby.

“Fine,” Bobby muttered finally, grudgingly sticking his knife back into his jacket pocket. “But you can’t try to kill me either, sweetheart. Wouldn’t end well for you, anyway.”

[justanemptymeatsuit-archive-blog]

"Wouldn’t dream of it." Ruby stepped forward, unlocking the door and swung it open, looking straight across at Bobby. "Now, I think you oughta explain the part about me turnin’ human."

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby strode past the threshold, opening and closing his fists. He wasn’t completely certain that his theories were legitimate, but the demon expected an explanation, so an explanation he would have to give. Bobby leaned against the dusty bed, allowing its creaks and groans to fill the short silence. Eventually he met Ruby’s eyes.

“Demons are made out of pure spite,” he began in a low, knowledgeable tone, “That’s where they get their power. If you take away their spite, and leave them stranded, halfway between monster and man, what do they become? The answer depends, or so I assume. If you continue to fawn over Sam, then you should lose the essence of your evil. However, if you give up on ever reuniting with him, and come to terms with the fact that you’re an ugly soulless corpse incapable of love, then your humanistic qualities should begin to fade until you are as you were before…” He paused. “I think.”

[greatbigbagoftricks-blog]

"I showed up on your damn doorstep after fleeing through the spacetime continuum with a giant hole in my gut. I didn’t exactly have time to check in with the family I’ve been avoiding for over a thousand years,” Gabriel snapped, his eyes still fixed on the sky outside. Tears were steadily tracking their way down his face. He’d gotten so used to the idea that the chatter was still going beyond the silence he’d buried himself in…

"…I have to bring them back. All of them." Slowly, the archangel looked down at his own hands before clenching them into fists. "And kick Metatron out. Whatever’s been going on instead of the Apocalypse, it’s gone too far."

[youwantmetoriverdance]

“I can drink to that,” Bobby muttered sincerely. “I don’t know much about what’s been happening while I’ve been upstairs, but it sure ain’t good. And having one angel ruling all of heaven? That ain’t good either. The last time one of em’ had that much power…” He trailed off, remembering all the nastiness that had ensued when Castiel had temporarily become the new God.

“We’ll fix this,” he decided. “We’ll figure out a way to put Metatron back where he belongs, and pin your buddies with wings again.”

[hell---above]

[profitfromtheprophet]

"Well, I don’t blame you.  My smile is rather unforgettable.  Shame about the rest of your memory though, and the whole thing with your..sons." Crowley paused as he mentally worked through the scenario.  He might not have all the details, but he certainly knew more than Bobby did on any given day, and it sounded an awful lot like the dear man had hitched a ride during angelfall.

He shuddered a little at the thought.  The memory of that night was unfortunately etched into Crowley’s brain in full on technicolor and he still couldn’t seem to shake all the bloody emotion that the Moose had bled into him.  The question now, though, was simple.  “I suppose that’s answer enough.  For now anyway.  This isn’t exactly the place for the conversation you’re wanting to have.  My flat’s close enough.  Come along then.”

Crowley didn’t wait to see if Bobby agreed or was following, he merely turned on his heel and sauntered out of the shop into the daylight.  Just because he was in hiding, didn’t mean he was broke and true to form, the demon was living in fairly posh quarters that were warded against just about everything short of God himself.  When you’d been around as long as Crowley had, you had time to make some good investments.

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby groaned, watching the man melt into a swarm of bustling pedestrians. With a small grin towards the suspicious store clerk, Bobby steadied his hat, and set off after Crowley. The sun was bright as the two men zigzagged through the busy New York streets, and it took a few moments for Bobby’s eyes to adjust to the hectic scene. Eventually, he caught sight of the demon’s head bobbing up and down through the crowd.

Demon, Bobby thought again, letting his tongue mouth the familiar word behind closed lips. Is that what Crowley is? A mythical man-eating monster?

He jumped, suddenly seeing flash of something grotesque take the place of Crowley’s face. It was disfigured, as if someone had raked their nails through a wet, clay mask. Twisted horns added to the striking image, and Bobby gulped. He nervously caught up to the demon, breathing heavily from the hasty pace.

“These lungs aren’t young, in case you’ve forgotten,” he huffed irritably. “Where are we going?”

[justanemptymeatsuit-archive-blog]

"What are the odds of you bein’ wrong, Bobby? Cos you have a track record for bein’ right constantly." Ruby blinked slowly, turning the key to the door in her hand. "I’m-I’d become human? I…Well, I’ve not been feelin’ myself…If I let you out, will you explain more? An’ not kill me?”

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby thought about it.

The smart thing to do would be to say yes, and then to gouge his blade through her gullet.

The stupid thing to do would be to say no, and let the demon kill him by her own means.

But Bobby thought about Sam, and how the boy had planned purposefully so that the demon would remain alive. Bobby sure as hell didn’t like the idea of letting a demon off scot free, but he grimaced picturing the look in Sam’s eyes if he learned that Bobby killed Ruby.

“Fine,” Bobby muttered finally, grudgingly sticking his knife back into his jacket pocket. “But you can’t try to kill me either, sweetheart. Wouldn't end well for you, anyway."

[greatbigbagoftricks-blog]

"…What?" The archangel was instantly awake. He tried opening his senses, accessing long-rusty Angel Radio. All he got was silence. 

Gabriel scrambled off of the couch, falling off of his wobbly legs almost immediately, heading for the window. “No no no no…” He looked at the sky. “No!” The glass cracked as his true Voice leaked through in his dismay. 

He sank to the floor, shivering. “It’s not possible. Who did this?! When?” 

[youwantmetoriverdance]

Bobby stared at Gabriel. “Did you really not know? I thought I was out of it. I don't know the full story,” he admitted, “But from what I’ve heard, Metatron’s claimed the whole top level of the world, and he kicked everyone out when he moved in.”

Bobby stared out the cracked window, picturing the scene: Thousands of astonished angels tumbling from the heavens, their wings ablaze. He pictured Metatron staring down at them, the blood of his family members snaking through the wrinkles on his palms.

“Sorry about your relatives,” Bobby muttered, realizing the shock that the archangel must’ve been in. “I’m sure Sam and Dean are working on a way to overthrow Metatron as we speak.”