#castiels moral compass

[scoobydoodean]

So—Dean is refusing to torture Alistair in the beginning of "On The Head Of A Pin", right? And Uriel is telling him he has to. And you’d think that when Dean asks to speak to Cas alone, it’d be in an effort to bargain or plead (something Uriel isn’t amenable to at all and never has been) or to let Cas give him a more candid and convincing argument on how this is the right thing.

But when Dean gets Cas alone, he just wants to know why Uriel is in charge of Cas now, and then he wants to tell Cas torturing Alistair is going to bring something horrifying out of Dean. Cas doesn’t do any convincing at all. He doesn’t make any further argument for why Dean has to do this—he doesn’t tell Dean it’s for the greater good. Hell—it seems like Cas got demoted because he balked at asking Dean to do this to begin with. Cas doesn’t want Dean to do this and doesn’t try to convince him to! But the scene cuts and Dean is pushing his torture-set-on-wheels into the room where Alistair is being kept! So why? How does that interaction result in Dean suddenly deciding to do something he was refusing to do moments before???

I think it’s because Cas showed Dean sympathy.

The episode opens with Dean trying to tell Sam he’s hurting. He’s grieving Pam (they’re driving from her funeral), he feels like her death is his fault, he feels like they aren’t making any progress on saving the world—they’re just fuck ups who are going to fail.

DEAN I'm tired of burying friends, Sam. SAM Look, we catch a fresh trail— DEAN And we follow it, I know. Like I said, I'm just—I'm just getting tired. SAM Well, get angry!

No sympathy from Sam. Sam wants Dean to nut up—and that's what Sam said last episode too, and it's what he said the episode before that too while under the Siren's spell.

They get into the motel and Uriel and Cas are standing there waiting for them when Dean just wanted to sleep after an awful day, and Uriel says they're needed. Dean says he just got back from needed, and Uriel tells him to mind his tone. Then of course,

CASTIEL Dean, we know this is difficult to understand. URIEL And we— URIEL gives CASTIEL a significant look. URIEL —don't care.

So no one is showing Dean any sympathy, right? Everyone is telling him to shut up and do what needs to be done—except Cas. Cas is sympathizing with him. And when Dean gets Cas alone?

DEAN You ask me to open that door and walk through it, you will not like what walks back out. CASTIEL For what it's worth, I would give anything not to have you do this.

And that's all it takes. That's literally all it takes—is just a single shred of sympathy—someone saying that they care that Dean is in pain—that they care what this will do to him and don't wish this on him. Just someone saying that they understand and that they care is enough and Dean agrees.

Don't ever let anyone tell you Dean "needs tough love".

[miiilowo]

more spn ponies :-) rounding off team free will w/ cas and jack

[rincewinds-hat]

When faced with a dilemma or just general turbulence in my life, i have 0 (none) idea what to do. Or i have too many ideas of what to do, and i get stuck.

So, i always had a sort of system for this (if im capable in the moment, that is) and it always came down to some character or person i like.

I might want to off someone - that's not a very LDShadowlady thing to do (or is it???jk).

Oh, you want to just give up? Bobby would be disappointed if ya did (maybe even call you an idjit and slap the back of your head, telling you to stop being a little whiny princess)

You allow yourself to be late/doing something when you know it leads to nothing good? What would Vimes say? I don't think he would like that one.

Cussing someone out? Carrot wouldn't do that.

Making bad life decisions with good intentions? Oh well, i am a Cas girlie after all.

Not doing something because you're scared? Rincewind did it multiple times, when the stakes were higher.

And it's such a good way of manually making your moral compass. Also, it gives me some sort of pride that I'm more like them.

[handwrittenhello]

Tumblr's Poorest Little Meow Meow Contest

Remember, don't just vote for your fave! Consider who is the WETTEST, SADDEST, and has the WORST MORAL COMPASS.

[pissthena]

Crowley is not a demon

My favourite headcanon is that Crowley isn't a demon, as mentioned in my character post. So I'll expand it a bit and explain more! (Feel free to correct me or add on!) @bending-sickle, a tag just for you <3 I hope it explains it in a way that makes sense haha

I really love the idea of Crowley not being a demon. Is it because I love my favourite characters being special and cool? Yes. But there's a bit more to it, since I always thought he was too odd as a demon. Too much didn't add up. Crowley hates Hell, Demons and everything near that, hate's being there kind of hates talking about it. He almost made Hell less Hell. We are all aware of this and it doesn't necessarily mean he's not a demon, but I like to also bring it into consideration. Reasons he could be something else: -He survives everything, the little cockroach. He even faked being burnt up by Castiel and I have no clue how they visually accomplished that, but it might just have been angel powers. -His smoke is red as the only demon where it isn't black. Even Knights of Hell have black smoke, he's a special baby. -He has more compassion than any other demon (yet he's still not a good guy. Morally dark grey lol). I know the human blood did it to him, but even before that, I think he had just a bit in it. -He can possess animals. I may be wrong, but I believe he's the only one we ever see do that. I think if demons could generally do it, they'd use it to spy way more. But demons are dumb. Which brings me to: -He's not stupid. Not all demons are idiots, but man, most of them are by far. I think Crowley is the smartest (which is why he took over Hell). This is a weak argument, but I like it along with the rest. -When he possessed Linda Tran he used his own voice in her body. Which made me realize two things: 1. I don't think we've seen other demons do so, but I'm very unsure about that. We might have. 2. The voice we hear Crowley use must be Fergus' voice and not his vessels. Unless he can somehow carry over his vessel's voice to another vessel. -Mark Sheppard also had this theory, but apparently people disregard it after we saw his demon eyes. I HAVEN'T LET IT GO. ME AND MARK ARE RIGHT.

Now, what might Crowley be if not a demon? I have no fucking clue. Someone who's real good at mythology might have some cool ideas, but I'm at a loss. The closest I had was a Kitsune, as they're known for sometimes taking form as humans and tricking people. They think highly of themselves and are very powerful. But we do have Kitsunes in the show (I hate how dirty they did them...) and a lot doesn't really fit. So please, if anyone has ideas!

[jjs-other-other-blog]

It's insane how much supernatural's tptb hated Castiel. At some point during season 6 they must've realised "wait a second, a lot of the fans are starting to get really attached to the side characters instead of focusing on the brothers".

And it kinda makes sense, season 6 was a bit of a mess what with Dean trying to keep his thing with Lisa going, Sam being soulless, the Campbell's running around, civil war in heaven, the Alphas, the mother of all monsters being a thing, Cas plotting with Crowley, ... There was a lot going on, Kripke had just left the show and they were trying to find their footing after finishing the big heaven vs hell - Lucifer vs Michael - apocalypse arc.

So in preparation for season 7 they apparently decided to make some changes. Cas gets a quick moment of redemption and is then promptly killed off, Crowley only really appears in 5 episodes that season, Bobby gets killed off as well. They end up bringing Cas back of course, but he's only in a handful of episode in season 7 while in any other season after his original introduction to the show he appears in well over 10 episodes.

After that they start making Cas "smaller" in other ways. In season 6 he was already seperated from the Winchesters and made an antagonist of theirs, but he was still very present and plenty powerful. He was on the wrong track, not quite unlike Sam wanting to use demon blood for the right reasons, but still a powerful angel. Everything afterwards though seems to be a thinly veiled "Sam and Dean are the main characters here and stronger and more important than Cas" message.

[In season 7 he loses his memory, then his mind. In season 8 he gets brainwashed and tricked by Metatron (which makes him appear slightly naive and gullible, easy to manipulate, even though his core character trait as shown in seasons 4&5 is the exact opposite - he has doubts, he questions his orders and has his own, strong moral compass). In season 9 he loses all his powers, hits a new low, becomes human, defenseless, vulnerable, even dies because of it. Season 10 has him struggling with his powers again, his stolen grace slowly fading and even after getting back his own grace he's not back to full angel power. In season 11 he gets tricked and used as a weapon again first by Rowena then by Lucifer. Season 12 is pretty similar to 6, we see more badass Cas following his own agenda (even if the Winchesters disagree with him), but he's still not back to full power. The last three seasons I didn't watch personally, but as far as I'm aware they're more about interpersonal drama, he still seems to make a bunch of mistakes in the eyes of Sam and Dean, he never gets his full powers back.]

In short: He's constantly presented as this guy who's generally trying to help and who used to be strong, too, but now he's physically, mentally and emotionally fragile and often additionally untrustworthy, he needs to be saved from himself before he makes another stupid mistake.

And even inbetween the big plot points he's constantly overpowered in fights where even Sam or Dean come out on top - even though Cas is a seasoned warrior, a military expert and excellent fighter with at least some super strength left. There's no logical explanation for that.

Now lucky for us, us Cas fans we don't automatically assume the Winchesters are right and Cas is at fault for everything that happens, a lot of us are in fact rather critical of Sam and Dean. Also a lot of the above mentioned plots were actually super interesting. Cas becoming human for example was intense. Tptb also miscalculated big time: Making Cas less badass and powerful never made us love him any less. The pattern however remains.

[kerryweaverlesbian]

The thing with Jack in the Box is. This is more headcanon 'how did Sam possibly get here' than fully backed by canon. Btw. The thing is that Sam learns to outsource his moral compass to Dean (or Mary, with the BMoL plotline) if Dean's not doing Plan Kill Myself for big decisions because he doesn't trust that he can make the right decisions based on. His track record.

He trusted Ruby, the Apocalypse started; he thought Adam would be okay against Michael, he wasn't; he lost his soul and was NOT trustworthy; he tried saving Dean by any means necessary in s3'n'10 and gave up in s8, and all times he was told that was deeply wrong of him; he does the trials and it ends up with Dean installing a security guard in Sam's own head; BMoL blows up in his face; it is not god sending him visions, but the devil.

Part of this is narrative repetition. Dean is almost always intuitively right about who they should trust (which must be infuriating lmao) apart from Gadreel and Castiel going godstiel mode. Sam's big mistakes have far reaching consequences, where Dean's often affect himself personally or mostly just their family unit (again apart from trusting Castiel. LOL). Part of it is Sam believing his inherent taintedness is something that he can scrub clean or at least keep hidden if he just tries hard enough. Part of it is that Dean progressively shuts Sam out of his unilateral decision making more and more as the show goes on (mostly to impliment Plan Kill Myself) so Sam doesn't get the reasoning behind Dean's decisions, and then they work out.

Sam says to Charlie - he likes his life as a Hunter but he cannot do it without Dean.

So then - what happens when your outsourced moral compass is getting rusty? When the guy who is Always Right is saying that something you can see and feel is wrong is the correct thing to do? Well. You've felt that way before and you were wrong. So wrong. And it hurt the whole world. You don't have a better plan yet, and you know this plan IS going to be attempted whether you agree or not. It just might get your brother killed if you don't go along with it. And aren't they all kinda trapped in an eternal prison right now anyway? Isn't that what life is? So you go along with it. And you lock up the kid you project on. And you don't give him a nightlight. Because he doesn't deserve it. Because he's made such a horrible mistake.

[amaranthhiding]

Hiding Amaranth

SPN Meta Posts Masterlist (mostly Samwena-related)

Specific to One Episode: 10x07: The First Time Sam Reads about Rowena in Girls, Girls, Girls 10x14: Samwena in The Executioner's Song 10x18: Rowena’s Hairstyle for the “Date” in Book of the Damned 10x19: Samwena in The Werther Project 11x01: Samwena in Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire? 11x03: Sam Protecting Rowena’s Head in The Bad Seed 11x10: Samwena in The Devil in the Details 11x21: Sam talking about Rowena in All in the Family 11x22: Rowena vs. The Darkness in We Happy Few 12x10: Sam and Lily Sunder in Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets 12x23: Sam’s Reaction to Rowena’s Death in All Along the Watchtower 13x12: Rowena’s Motivations in Various & Sundry Villains 13x12: You Want That? 13x19: Samwena in Funeralia 13x19: Moral Compass 13x21: The First Person Sam Asks About After His Resurrection in Beat the Devil 15x06: Rowena's Self-Help Books in Golden Time More meta under the cut

Parallels: Cursed - Rowena's and Castiel's Deaths Samwena, Destiel, and Faith Third Wheel? Rowena was the missing link, I’m so blind Mary Knows (Samwena Edition) They Learned from the Best Sam Smiling at Rowena vs. Dean Smiling at Castiel Dean’s Reaction to Castiel’s Death vs. Sam’s Reaction to Rowena’s Death Castiel & Rowena Parallels Rowena and Mary The Mentalists & Funeralia

Other: Winchester Derangement Syndrome Rowena and Being Needed Rowena as Prisoner Rowena uses tea as emotional support? Something Rowena Loves Shield of God and White Spear Samwena acting like residents in each other’s homes? Samwena and Free Will Rowena and Technology The way they look at each other... SUPERNOTCURSED Part 1 SUPERNOTCURSED Part 2: The Reckoning Sam Grimacing over Magic Dean’s Angel Kink and Sam’s Witch Kink (Part 1) Dean’s Angel Kink and Sam’s Witch Kink (Part 2)

[donnapalude]

this has potential to nuke my notes, so under the cut.

rewatching spn with an idea of the fandom landscape is so funny to me, bc i don't really find wincest and destiel that irreconcilable. sam & dean are the most canon-grounded end-game to me bc overall their bond is the backbone of the show. but there was always space to explore other relationships within that. and (given that, as always, i am a deanjohn truther) i find destiel interesting mostly in s4-s6, where castiel is presented as a stand-in authority figure that inspires in dean both terror and hope. there is something incredibly wrenching to me in dean absorbing the message he is cherished and loved by god and by this immortal all-powerful angel watching over him. that he is fundamentally good, that he deserves to be saved. that the world can return to be a simple and safe place if he just does his part. the almost irresistible appeal in the fantasy that all it would take would be melting back into that mindless obedience, into the simple conditionality of earning his keep by executing orders, and not feeling any conflict bc he trusts those orders to be good. and this time, it would stick. this time, he would always be warm and protected and cared for.

and how hearbreaking it is that it was always just a fantasy. even before any disillusionment towards god and towards the idea itself that there is anything good at all in blind faith, castiel's attraction for dean is framed as a corruption. while dean chases acceptance and absolution and safety from god through castiel, he is inevitably causing his fall, therefore disquilifying him from the role. their bond is not about god's plan after all: dean is once again being coveted for the sexual services he can provide. what does it say about him that even a sexless entity on a mission from god sees him and thinks of fucking him? what does it say about him that he caused his father to fall to hell and an angel to fall to earth? he was never a child and he can never return to being one. there is no protection for him and no father that can love him without first branding him.

all arguments stating the value of endgame-destiel for dean is about him "being saved by an angel" crumble in symbolism before this process. castiel as an authority and figure of Good that can provide credible answers on it stops existing after s4. in fact, dean becomes more of a moral compass for castiel than the opposite. and while that's an interesting dynamic and basis enough for castiel to love him, i don't see it generating in dean the same potential for awe-struck devotion that felt so gutting to me when he first approached castiel asking about salvation.

[talesmaniac89]

Charity Heist 11 - aka. The Reluctant Rescue Team

A Supernatural Heist AU - Masterlist

Pairing: Hitter!Dean x Thief!Reader

Summary: The Singer & Winchester Retrieval Agency is the best group of con artists in the world. But even though Y/N can crack safes, scale buildings and infiltrate even the most secure locations, she still can't find a way to deal with her all consuming feelings for the group's greek god of a hitter; Dean Winchester. How will she handle their next big heist, when she's forced to get up close and personal with the man of her dreams?

Warnings: Idiots in love, smutty thoughts, a lot of swearing and a ton of bad jokes.

Watch the trailer here

A/N: This story is 50% jokes and 50% dirty thoughts. No deep angst, just fun and action! Inspired by the series Leverage.

Y/N = Your Name

Start Here - Last - Next

A/N: Sorry for the delay here! Had a bit of a weekend 🤣

For a few seconds, the room was completely quiet except the soft sound of traffic coming through the speaker in the middle of the table showing that Bobby was out and about. None of you dared speak as you took in the news. 

Crowley, the damned idiot, got caught because he had to visit his fucking tailor? He couldn’t even go one job without ordering another stupid black suit? 

Fucking perfect. 

Yet, just as soon as the silence had settled over the War Table, all hell broke loose, with every member of your rag tag group of master criminals speaking over each other. Sounding less than the well-oiled con machine you were and more like a room full of school children. 

“He’s an idiot, that’s why I always say we shouldn’t work with him…” Dean growled from next to you, just as Charlie made some very apt comparisons between the mobster and a chimpanzee. Though you barely even caught either’s words over your own tired groan. 

“Holy… God, how the hell did he get caught?” You shot towards Sam, though you knew the youngest Winchester wouldn’t have held back on the details if he knew anything else. 

“You know Crowley. If nothing else, the man believes he’s untouchable. The king of the underground. So of course he had none of his own men with him,” Sam just sighed with a tired shrug of his shoulders. Leaning forward, your intelligence guy seemed just as lost as you as his big hands splayed against the wood of the table to steady himself as all his perfectly laid plans were shaken off kilter by Crowley’s antics.

“So… What now?” Castiel spoke up, keeping much more calm than the rest of your group. As always, your grifter was the most composed one among you as he leaned back in his seat. The last remnants of his latest role still shining through in the cocky hold of his shoulders and the slightly bored look in his eyes. Damn it, you hated it when he stayed in character. But the job was still on, and nothing could shake him from his role. 

“Now… We have to change our plans,” Sam gritted the words out through clenched teeth. If there was one thing your intelligence guy hated, it was anyone messing with his carefully laid plans. After all, he didn’t have a folder for ‘what to do if your idiot collaborator decided he feels like being kidnapped’. 

“We have to save him… Don’t we?” Charlie said with a sigh as she let her head drop to the desk with a dull thud. 

Pouting at your best friend you let out another annoyed groan. 

You knew she was right. But that didn’t mean you had to like it. After all, the problem with being an actual super thief with a heart of gold was that you actually had a heart. So you felt bad when you did bad, even if it was still kind of part of the job description. Maybe less so now than before, but you were still technically breaking the law. The devil and angel on your respective shoulders were mortal enemies, yet somehow also friends with benefits. Which wasn’t really great for your moral compass. As Charlie had said earlier that day; your rag tag group all had questionable morals. 

And though Crowley was an absolute ass, you knew you’d feel bad if he ended up with a brand new shiny pair of cement shoes at the bottom of a bay somewhere just because he was helping you out with a job. Even if he’d made sure to squeeze as much money as he possibly could out of you. You all would, unfortunately. 

“Do we have to?” Dean’s groaned, tired voice echoed your thoughts perfectly as he finally spoke up again. Though you knew your hitter wouldn’t leave anyone he was working with hanging out to dry. Even if the person in question kind of deserved it. 

“I guess we have to…?” You sighed, the statement coming out more like a question as you looked up at Sam. After all, him and Bobby made all your plans. At the end of the day, it was all up to them. You wouldn’t move without his green light. Even if you would drag your feet moving when he finally gave the signal. 

“Yeah, we need a revised plan, one including getting Crowley out of his own mess,” Sam confirmed, though he didn’t look all that happy with his own words either, sinking back into his seat from where he’d stood up to deliver the bad news.

“He annoys me though…” Charlie shot in as you all went silent, looking at the speaker as you waited for Bobby to talk some sense into you. 

“He annoys all of us kid, but we have to save him. If nothing else because he’s a liability,” Bobby’s voice finally spoke up through the speaker with a humorless laugh. 

“Ok. So what’s the new plan then?” You shot in, before another chorus of groans could shave even more time off of your planning. Hell, even though you were annoyed, maybe this was for the best? You had energy to burn through, and as the team’s retrieval expert, it would most likely be up to you to… Retrieve, the mobster. 

Plus, a job would mean you wouldn’t have time to think about the gun range. Or Dean. Or what the hell all of that was. Which the little escape artist you called a heart really appreciated.

“We need to hit them from multiple angles,” Bobby said through the speaker after taking a beat to think things through. Your mastermind was coming through for you once more. You could almost hear the gears grinding as he threw together a new rescue plan on the spot. Or, hell… That was probably still just background traffic, or Bobby changing the gears of his beat up truck, but it sure as hell sounded like gears grinding. 

“Crowley might be a bastard, but he’ll be true to his word. At least as long as the bad guys don’t offer him more money than we already have. Which, knowing their type, I doubt they will. They’re a miserly bunch of bastards,” Bobby continued as you all just nodded at the speaker. Still acting like the little piece of plastic and wiring could see you. 

“But, we can’t let them catch us. And we can’t let rescuing our damsel interfere with our plans,” He mused, as he worked out the kinks in his new plan out loud. Leaving you all to hold your breath, muscles tense as you waited for him to pull the trigger; firing you all into action. 

“Castiel, you need to hit them on their home turf. I want you to use your new persona to pay them a little visit at their white washed headquarters. Keep the bigger guys busy while we save our man,” Bobby finally said, earning a little nod from Castiel, who was quickly falling fully back into character. 

“They won’t be expecting me though… Might pose a problem,” Castiel’s voice was flat and void of emotion as he drawled the words. Making you shiver as you realized it wasn’t Cas speaking anymore. He was once more fully in character. 

“True.. Charlie, you go with him. Sneak into the IT department and set up some meetings in their calendars with Castiel’s cover. While you’re there, take this opportunity to plant some surprises in their system. A nice little bonus for messin’ with our plans,” Bobby easily corrected his own plans without breaking a sweat as you all sat waiting for your own orders. 

Watching your red headed hacker across the table, you cocked an eyebrow as Charlie’s cheshire cat grin replaced her former annoyance. Your best friend was nearly bouncing in her seat as Bobby gave her her role in the new plan. A wicked look in her eyes that… Honestly? Kind of scared you. She clearly had something up her sleeve, since she was normally not that happy to do field work. 

“Finally! I made this little virus a looong time ago. I can hide it in their servers and set it off with a click of a button whenever we want. It’ll cripple them, send their client’s data to a competitor of our choice and wipe their whole server clean. Their expensive computers and servers will just be overpriced paperweights when I’m through with them,” The red head was close to laughing maniacally as she let you all in on whatever it was she found so funny. 

“Good, sounds like just the thing we need kid,” Bobby didn’t even try to hide the pride in his voice as he responded to Charlie’s delight. A small chuckle escaping your normally tough-as-nails boss, before he cleared throat and fell silent, trying to formulate the actual rescue mission. 

“Alright… So while Cas and Charlie keep the higher-ups busy, we’ll need to get Crowley out as soon as possible. Dean, (Y/N) and Sam, I want the three of you to hit the spot where they’re keeping ‘im,” He finally continued after a brief pause, where you swore you could actually see him entering his own little mind palace through the small speaker. 

“Sammy… They might have some mid-level guys there. Crowley’s a pretty big mark for them after all. So they might have brought in someone a bit higher up than just your common muscle to keep an eye on him. Though if we’re lucky they haven’t gotten there yet. I want you to play the role of mid-level boss yourself or distract them if the bosses are already there. I trust you to figure out how,” 

“Quietly?” Sam shot in as he rolled his shoulders, his jaw set and clearly ready for a fight. Nothing pissed off the younger Winchester more than having someone mess up your jobs. Though you didn’t miss the way his hazel eyes softened from the trust his adoptive father placed in him. 

“Quietly, if possible. But feel free to get rough if the situation calls for it,” Bobby said after only a moment of deliberation. You weren’t worried that your mastermind was sending the youngest Winchester after the area bosses, hell, you’d seen Sam fight. And though Dean normally took on the role as the loud and violent distraction in any of your jobs, you knew his younger brother could more than hold his own in a fight. 

“So you want me to go get our damsel?” Dean sounded nearly nauseous as he asked the question. Seeming no more willing to go save the Scotsman than you were. 

“No. Your job’s a lot more important than that Dean,” Bobby shot back, causing Dean to frown as he leaned closer towards the speaker, waiting for his orders. 

“You need to keep our retrieval expert safe. (Y/N) will be the one infiltrating. If everything goes as planned, she should get in and out quietly with Crowley in tow while Sam poses as one of the bosses, or at least a mouthpiece for one to draw their attention. And you stand at the ready to help our girl out if something goes wrong,” Bobby shot back, leaving no room for arguing in his words. Though you could see Dean’s jaw tick in annoyance at the thought of you going in alone to save the greased up mobster. 

“Alright, I’ll go play knight in shiny harnesses and save our damsel. Dean will have my back, outside. Right?” You shot in, wanting to cut Dean off before he still tried to argue with your mastermind’s orders. Which, by the look of his eyes burning into the speaker, he was moments away from doing. 

Moving those same burning green orbs off of the speaker, Dean’s eyes settled on you as he tried to make you back down. But there was no way you would. You were the retrieval expert. Bobby’s plan made sense, even if Dean for some reason refused to see it. 

This was a job. Whatever had happened in the gun range took the backseat when there was a job to do. So even though your body was still heated from the feel of your hitter devouring you only 30 minutes earlier, you were not backing down. You were a big girl, and retrieval was your thing. 

“Right,” After a beat or two of silence, Dean sighed in defeat as he spat out the single word between gritted teeth. His eyes resting on you for just a second more before quickly standing up to get ready. 

It was time to go save yourself a damsel.

---

The ride to the job in Sam’s beat up truck was awkward, for the lack of a better word.  

Not only had Dean not-so-subtly been sending you burning looks through the rear-view mirror that made it very hard for you to focus on your rescue mission. But Sam and Dean kept arguing the finer details of the case. Mainly surrounding you and your role. 

And by that you meant Dean kept arguing the details.

Your hitter kept suggesting changes to the plan, which coincidentally all involved him going in first to clear a path for you, which you swiftly ignored. You didn’t need a damn babysitter. Dean had seen you in action before. Hell, you’d nearly knocked him out the first time he came to recruit you. But, you had no choice but to keep your mouth shut, or risk getting dragged into a shouting match with the two most stubborn men you knew. After all, no matter what Dean said, Bobby had made your roles crystal clear. 

You were the retrieval expert. You would be going in to save the idiotic Scotman with a suit fetish and a hard-on for his personal tailor. No matter how much your green eyed hitter batted his long lashes at you or pouted like a giant man baby in the shotgun seat. 

“I wish we could just turn this damn car around and leave the bastard to rot,” Dean groaned from the front seat after another round of arguing about who should do what during the job.

“Well, we’re basically here, so a bit too late for that Dean,” Sam sighed, sounding like he wished for nothing more than to turn the beat up truck he refused to part with around too. 

“We’re here? Good, let me go do my thing,” Cutting off the new round of arguing over the plan that you knew Dean was gearing up for, you spoke up for the first time since the car ride started. Both to at least get one shot in against Dean, but also because you were beyond ready to get your thieving on. Finally perking up at the idea of being out of the tense atmosphere in the car and away from Dean’s burning eyes, you nearly bounced in your seat from the thought of some much needed action to burn off all the dirty energy in your body. 

“You seem weirdly eager to rescue Crowley (Y/N),” Sam said as he pulled up and parked just half a block from where the mobsters had locked up your ‘damsel’. The hazel eyes meeting yours in the rear-view mirror looked at you in concern, as if you were possessed or losing your mind just because you were happy to work. 

Though, hell, if you had been possessed you would have ‘jesus take the wheel’-ed the shit out of that. With the way your life was going, you were just about ready to issue an open invitation to any demon who wanted to come take control of your life. Whichever demon was brave enough to come sort out your mess would have earned their permanent residence in the husk you called your body. You could be roomies. 

Maybe Netflix would give you a movie deal; a whimsical sitcom about you and your demon roommate. You’d name it ‘Doom Mates’ and Charlie would hate it.  

But, unfortunately, there was no demon willing to possess you and sort out your messy relationships. So, you were forced to do it yourself (or at least avoid the hell out of it) as you once more ignored Dean’s eyes in the rear-view mirror and wrenched open the truck door to jump out as soon as Sam had brought the car to a full stop. 

“I’m not thrilled about the… Subject of the retrieval. But it’s been a minute and a half since I last got to stretch my infiltration muscles. Plus, Charlie made me a new harness, and I need to play with it,” You shot back at Sam as he followed you out of the truck. Swallowing the many other reasons as to why you nearly needed the gig. Like the forest fire burning in Dean’s eyes, or how you could still taste the ghost of spiced peppermint on the tip of your tongue. 

Taking a shaky breath, you plastered your best imitation of a smile on your face and turned to squint down the street as Sam pointed out the building where Crowley was kept to the rest of you. The sight of the unlit neon sign outside of the business in question had your smile fall as you grimaced at the damned cliché. 

They had Crowley locked up in an empty, closed down nightclub. 

Because of course they did. 

Would it kill the bad guys to be fucking original for once? Why was it always warehouses, empty buildings or abandoned lots? Why couldn’t you go save someone from a fun place for once in your life? Like DisneyLand, or an active water park… Or at least somewhere with an open bar. Because, fuck, you could use a drink. 

Frowning at the building from half a block away, you busied yourself checking your equipment as the Winchester brothers continued their circular argument about the plan. Meanwhile, you were busy making plans of your own. From what you could see, the baddies had all congregated around the front of the building based on the few cars you could just about glimpse peeking out around the corner. Clearly not seeing Crowley as a big a threat as he thought he was. Which didn’t really damage your infiltration options much, as you’d usually never choose the front of the building as an entrance point anyway. 

Hell, from your vantage point, you could clearly see multiple ways into the nightclub. Including an unguarded rear entrance just begging you to walk in and sneak Crowley out from right under their noses. Still, as Sam had pointed out more than one time in his argument with Dean on the car ride over, you should be prepared for the worst. 

The unguarded rear entrance could be a trap. You had no way of knowing. So an infiltration plan was still needed. 

“Do you think you can get in from the roof (Y/N)? Charlie got us the blueprints, and there seems to be a skylight up there. Might mean you’ll get eyes on Crowley as well before you make your way inside,” Sam seemed to finally get sick of shooting down all of Dean’s ideas as he directed his next question at you instead.

After all, Bobby wanted this to be done quietly. And Dean going in first to loudly, and most likely violently, clear a path for you wasn’t exactly quiet. 

“You want me to throw myself in through a skylight and rappel into mobster territory? That’s a crazy idea… Insane!  I mean, there’s a perfectly good door right there,” You stage whispered, acting it up for the non-existent cameras as you pointed towards the unguarded rear entrance to the abandoned club. 

Ok… So maybe you were playing it up just that little bit extra to annoy your hitter. Who suddenly seemed to think you were incapable of performing even a simple retrieval mission. As if you’d lost all your hard earned skills after one makeout session. 

Who the hell did he think he was? Some sort of fucking dementor? Sucking out your ability to scale a wall with just one kiss?

The man was a damned good kisser, sure, but just because you could be someone’s good girl and be willingly shaped up against their body one second that did not diminish your skills as the fucking awesome super thief you were. You were fully capable of being a goddamn professional, and drown in peppermint spiced kisses thank-you-very-much. 

“So… You’ll do it?” Sam asked, the small tight smile of his lips tinged with mirth as he rolled his eyes at your drama queen act and the subsequent low growl that left his older brother in response. Though you knew he was just asking for the sake of a verbal confirmation, as you could see him gearing up to go distract the guys out front and buy you some time. 

“Of course I fucking will. This is gonna be awesome,” You grinned as you dipped back into the back of Sam’s truck to stuff a few additional toys and gadgets, courtesy of your awesome best friend, into your backpack. Including the new harness you had to take for a test spin.

“(Y/N)...” Dean tried, though you could tell the fight had gone out of him as his tense shoulders fell and his hands busied themself with double checking his own little arsenal. Still, for a second you froze. Taking a few deep breaths before stepping out of where you’d been halfway inside Sam’s car to fully see the Winchester brothers again.

Saying nothing, you simply raised an eyebrow at your hitter as you hoisted your go-bag up on your shoulder. Lips drawn in a thin line as you waited for whatever argument he had planned to stop you from doing your favorite thing in the whole damn world; throwing yourself off of a roof and into a building, however absolutely batshit insane that sounded. 

“You got this, just stay safe,” He finally sighed in defeat, giving you a soft smile which you returned with an enthusiastic grin. 

“You know I will,” You shot back, throwing a quick wink at both boys before quickly and quietly making your way towards the back of the building. Only throwing a glance back to see Sam get back in the car, ready to drive up front, and Dean setting out after you, just slightly to the left. Moving towards the building from another angle to set up camp near the rear entrance. 

It was go time.

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Forever tags will be added as reblog

[scoobydoodean]

Castiel’s Motivations [ 5 / ? ] Dean The Narrative Heart [ 13 / ? ]

Supernatural | 4.01, 4.03, 4.07, 4.10, 4.16, 4.18, 4.22

[goldrushzukka]

Hey you're the supernatural expert that I follow and I was wondering how true it is that Sam stops being a major part of the show's story after season 5? I've never watched past the first few episodes of season 6

it's not really that Sam stops being part of the story. it's just that all the story that's not about him is so much more interesting.

s6 is the last sam-heavy season iirc? he loses his soul after being pulled from lucifer's cage by castiel who was a little bit distracted fighting the civil war in heaven and left it behind. soulless sam is one of the most interesting concepts they've done on the show bc he does serve as the moral compass throughout the whole run, so seeing him have to be reminded to be The Good Guy is compelling in a way that he doesn't often get to be after that storyline.

in s8 sam does the trials to close hell permanently, which WOULD make s8 a sam season, if not for the fact that his opponent for screentime is the behemoth of post-purgatory dean and cas. for me this is the real turning point, where it stops being a show about two brothers and becomes a show about a man and an angel, and sam is there too.

and maybe that's just me watching with shipper goggles but i truthfully cannot remember what the fuck sam was doing at any point past like s9. he just stops being as interesting as dean and cas, which is especially baffling when you remember that half the writers don't even fucking like dean and cas.

[paarthurnax59]

"Soul Of Liberty"

Chapter 1

Warnings: Jealous Ex, Dean going crazy, swearing, slut shaming,

Two years later….

  Time had passed sense Dean had seen or heard from his ex-wife, (Y/N) at that restaurant, begging him to forgive her for cheating on him with his brother when he was soulless. “As if!”  He thought to himself as he saw her teary eyes and then proceed to brag about his beautiful new girlfriend, Maria, sitting next to his brother and Castiel and having found some stability when they found the Bunker. He made sure to dig the knife into her chest as much as humanly possible, not caring if she cried her eyes out in front of a bunch of strangers. Why would he ever want to have that cheating whore back into his life when he had a beautiful, loyal woman by his side that would never break his heart. He told her before that if she and Sam went behind his back and slept together, he would never forgive her. EVER. 

     She didn’t even give him a good reason as to why she cheated on him with Sam, which made it even worse. Now, Sam was soulless and didn’t even release what he did was wrong. He even told him that (Y/N) tried to blame him for her cheating on him. “Heartless bitch.”  he called her under his breath when they all got home that day.  Trying to blame Sam for betraying her own spouse, when clearly, didn’t have a moral compass to know right from wrong. But her… that was all her. Soul and all.

  When Dean split up from his ex-wife, he went through hell. For months he drank and killed as many monsters as humanly possible. Not caring for his well-being and safety, thinking the world had come to an end. Two people that he loved the most, betrayed him. Of course, she and Sam, well mostly her, had tried to contact him, begging him to hear her out. Sam was still soulless and didn’t care. She acted like she cared, but really, she just wanted to make herself feel better. He felt as if he didn’t even know her anymore. She was selfish, horrible and could care less for other people’s feelings. (Y/N) was the worst person he had ever met and nothing in this world was going to make him change his view of her. Who knew how long she had a stupid crush on his younger brother? How long had then been going behind his back? Didn’t care at all about how it broke him and their marriage? Did she ever really love him? 

    Not that it really matters anymore. Dean had a new girl in his life , home to call his own and couldn’t be happier. Maria was loyal, beautiful, strong, caring and most importantly, she never did anything that caused him to distrust her. She was safe. Yeah, safe. That is what Dean really needed after all what (Y/n) had put him through. He was never going to make that mistake again. She was nothing to him now.

 But, apparently that was easier said than done. 

   In 2015, it had been two years since he had seen (Y/N). When Maria put on the news one day making his morning coffee, he saw the last face he wanted to see on that screen.

“In recent development, The Avengers have enlisted a new recruit to their team. (Name) (Last Name), otherwise known as “Liberty’’ has now become an honorary member of the Avengers initiative after helping Captain America dissolved S.H.E.I.L.D. which has been discovered to have been infiltrated by HYDRA. an Extended branch of the Nazi organization-“ The male news anchor narrated and a picture of Dean’s former love comes onto the screen, making his blood run cold. As he dropped his mug on the floor, He watched a video of her standing next to Captain America as Tony Stark shook her hand and hugged her during the press conference. 

“HER?! ARE THEY FUCKING KIDDING?! IS TONY STARK OUT OF HIS DAMN MIND?! ARE THEY TRYING TO GET MORE PEOPLE KILLED” He shouted looking at the face of his Ex-wife, about to become one of earth’s mightiest heroes. 

“Dean, mi Corazon. Keep it down. Your brother and friends are still asleep!” His brunette girlfriend chastised him as she handed him his coffee. 

“Sorry, baby.” He said trying to calm down his own blood pressure as the news hit him like a tidal wave, now threating him to send him on an emotional roller-coaster. Are the Avengers really that stupid? Out of the eight billion people in the world, they pick the worst possible human being to help fight for the world. 

Dean knew (Y/n) and she was no way a good fighter or had any special powers.  She couldn’t even shoot a gun properly. She wasn’t raised in the life like he was. She always needed him to save her when they went on a hunt, and it didn’t really bother him that much because he loved her. Now, he was glad she wasn’t a burden to him anymore. Not to mention that she was a self-serving bitch. ‘That didn’t care about any other person than her own self-gain. She wouldn’t put her life on the life for anyone unless she knew for sure she would come out alive.  She was a coward and putting her on the Avengers would the biggest mistake in history. 

 ‘She must have fucked Tony Stark into that position. What a whore.’  He thought.

How wrong he was.

    Dean sees more news about how (Name) was a true asset to the Avengers was had been wherever they went. He has seen her in action on the news time and time again. Shooting at aliens, taking out Hydra agents, and gunning down flying robots. She handled that gun of hers like it was second nature.  She even had a beautiful sword with eagle wings on the guard of the hilt. The woman was slicing and dicing her way in one battle after another. She was even seen being able to tear an entire robot with her own hands. ‘How did she get that strong? She was never that fast before either. Where did she get that sword?’  It was almost nonstop for him to hear about the woman that was once the love of his life that betrayed him. Seeing her becoming more relevant, seeing her on occasional TV interviews, on Magazine covers. Even so far as having hunters that knew they were married say to him “Man, you let a good one go.”  Or “Your ex-wife is a badass hottie.”  Even while he was with Maria, is current girlfriend. 

  He couldn’t escape it and it made his blood boil.

   The very same people that took his side and sympathize with him after (Name) cheated on him. Calling her a “bitch” and a “Whore”, now are admiring her for the work her and the Avengers have done. She was like an idol to many of them now, a goddess and a hero.

    Not to mention, she was spending an awful lot of time with America’s golden boy, Steve Rogers. They were inspirable in the eyes of the world, connected at the hip. Hanging out together, doing interviews, fighting, going on missions, and always seen traveling the world with one another. It was almost like they were conjoined. 

      He remembered in high school and how many girls had such huge crush on him during history class. Ogling at his pictures and daydreaming about being his “Mrs. America” and Dean just scoffing at the idea. None of those girls even stood a chance of getting someone like him. Never in a million years had he thought his ex-wife would be the one to date him. Are they dating? Are they in love? How long have they been together? Doesn’t he know how much of a snake she was?

  It didn’t make any sense to him, but then again nothing in his life ever did.

  The next year, Him, Sam, Maria and Castiel were at a diner when the owner put on the news, saying something was going on with the Avengers in eastern Europe. 

   Dean saw her evacuating people from the city of Sokovia and placed herself in the thick of danger, to save the entire world from extinction from a mad A.I. gone rouge. even nearly had entire building collapsing on her trying to save a crippled boy and his mother while robots were shooting at them.

“God, is that really (Y/N)?”  Sam said as he watched his former sister-in-law hit and bash flying robots left and right. “The (Y/N) we know wasn’t this good at combat, nor was she this brave and selfless.”

“It’s clearly her, Sam. But I am still having trouble believing it is her as well.” Castiel said as the angel’s eyes fixated on his ex-friend fighting for people’s lives. 

   Dean was speechless, stunned by his ex’s actions and how fast, strong, and agile she was. Even after all the news clips of her doing these things, he still could believe that was the same woman he fell in love with. ‘How was she able to train to use a gun? Did the Avengers train her?’ All that while wearing a skin-tight, white and dark blue catsuit that resembled Black Widow’s with a golden eagle across her collar. Once more, he saw that look in her eyes. It was a look he had never seen before. It was a look of fire, the fire of fortitude. Of purpose.

“Dude, that Liberty woman is not kidding around. It’s like watching an action movie star. She’s freaking unreal!!” One young guy behind Dean said as their eyes glued to the Television by the counter, along with the whole diner watching with fear as the possibility of global annihilation. 

“She looks like a movie star, too. She’s hot as hell!” Said the other guy next to the first man said, ogling at his ex-wife while she is jumping around, with every single one of her curves showing as she fought Ultron’s robot army. That was one detail that Dean could not possibly ignore. He remembered on how he used to place his head on her chest on calm nights, sitting on Bobby’s patio looking up at the stars as she run her hand through his hair-

‘Stop it, you idiot! She’s your ex-wife for a good reason! you shouldn’t even be thinking about her while you are with-‘

“Mi Corazon?”  Said his beautiful Latin girlfriend said as she looked at her boyfriend that seemed to be in distress as they news continued to showcase the intense battle in Sokovia.

“I’m alright, baby.” He responded with a sweet smile to her and she returned the smile. All patrons at the diner waited with bated breath, worrying that it may be their last if the Earth’s mightiest heroes fail. As the Avengers took out not only all the robots, but the asteroid as well. Everyone in the diner cheered as the Avengers defeated Ultron, relieved and happy that they will live to see the sun rise tomorrow. 

“Cheers for The Avengers and for Liberty!” exclaimed the owner of the diner as the patrons join in the celebrations.

    Dean on the other hand, had his mouth dropped as he sees the crowd of people applauded (Y/N).  (Y/N). The last person that anyone should be cheering for. The ex-wife that broke his heart in two and shattered his trust forever. The woman that had never fought her own battles and had others do it for her. The Harlot that was too cowardly to even tell him straight to his face that she was cheating on him with his brother. 

    Dean’s blood boiled so badly, he excused himself from his seat and left out of the crowd away from the cheering that angered him so much. Sam, Maria and Castiel left their table to go check on Dean, who seemed to be fuming.

“Dean, what has gotten into you?” Sam asked walking to his brother to pat him on the shoulder, but Dean shook it off as soon as he tried to touch him.

“They are cheering for her.” He gritted his teeth while taking deep breaths to calm down. 

“Who? (Y/N)?” Sam inquired as he looked at his older brother.

“Yes! (Y/N)! They are cheering for her just saving the world one time! How many times did we save the world, Sam?! How many times?!” Dean yelled so angerly that one would be able to see a blood vessel pooping from the sides of his forehead.  

“I know Dean, maybe like five times? Maybe more?” Sam answered sheepishly trying not to let his brother’s temper get the best of him. He was always terrible at handling his anger when something trigged him.

“Exactly!!! We saved the world countless times!! And where are our cheers! Where are our congratulations!? Huh?! None! We get nothing! Nothing but becoming FBI most wanted, having fellow hunters chase us down, being thrown in prison and end up getting killed and brought back over and over again! Our lives our miserable compared that!” He shouted pointing at the loud crowd in the diner, which by now was causing a scene and drawing some attention by the people outside. It was even beginning to scare Sam, Maria and even Castiel. 

“Dean, you never cared about getting that kind of attention when you save people?  Why now?” Sam was right. Dean, despite his flaws, was always humble about saving people. Something has changed and he thinks he knows why. “It’s because of (Y/N) right? Your angry they are cheering for her, right?”

    Dean didn’t say anything, which only confirms what Sam said was true. Sam sighed running his hand through his head. He could not believe that Dean was letting you get to him like this. Yes, he understood that she hurt him immensely and that he would never forgive her, but the fact that this was getting to Dean like shows that he really has not moved on. Castiel, to try and calm his friend down, chimes in his two cents. 

“Dean, I can understand seeing your unfaithful ex-wife thrive like this must hurt, but I don’t believe that this is healthy that every time we see (Y/n) on the news, you get flustered, and it makes you look crazy. Don’t think we don’t see your mood change.” Said the angel as he stepped closer to Dean. “But whether you like it or not, she is an Avenger now and people all over the world rely on her as well as the rest her team. Would you rather see her fail and let the world be destroyed?”  He asked the green-eyed hunter as Dean hangs his head low. Would he want the world to be destroyed because he wanted to see his ex-wife fail? Had he become this petty over the years?

  Dean decided to give up for the time being and get back to the Bunker for a beer and spend some time in bed with his girlfriend. Maybe having sex will get (Y/N) and the Avengers out of his head.

“Yeah, let’s go. We can eat at home.”  The three entered the Chevy Impala and drove off to the Bunker and away from the large crowd of people.

[vaicomcas]

Do they honestly expect me to believe

8x23 [ Cas and cupid ]

That Cas would see his sister and his first response before even talking would be to go up to her and hurt her? His sister?

And it was Dean? Dean "the angels are dicks" Winchester that told Cas he should try talking first? If it's going to be that way it should be the other way round! Cas should hold Dean back from hurting his sister

Cas threatening Kevin didn't bother me because Cas barely knows Kevin and the show intends for that scene to be funny

But the Cas walking up to his sister Cupid threateningly with an angel blade? Like the sister he's known off and on for millions of years?

She even calls Cas "brother" because she sees Cas as her family

The character assassination of Cas is ugh. Like why does it have to be choosing the humans over the angels? Why not both? That's like saying who do you choose, your partner or your dog? Um fucking both! Not all the angels were guilty

But the show makes Cas basically see his siblings as all the same because apparently an angel can't be friends with humans and other angels simultaneously? Ffs

Yeah. Thanks for defending Cas. People say we are just bitter the show didn't go the way we want. But the story didn't make sense. And yeah, I hate the way the story went and what of it?

The show consistenty had this agenda of "Dean taught Castiel how to be moral" and will do whatever it takes to drive it. When Castiel chose humanity out of his own conscience in the first place.

Castiel loved his fellow angels. He was heartbroken over the killing of his brothers and sisters in his garrison in Season 4. He was just suicidal over his killings as Godstiel under influence of Leviathans and purgatory souls. He just cried tears of blood over killing Samandriel under mind control. We later learned from Bartholemew that he wouldn't even kill the angels he captured in a previous civil war and his superiors had to call him away from his station knowing he wouldn't follow orders to kill those angels who were his enemies.

It was not enough that they made him a villain in Season 6 and 7 by making him slaughter thousands. It was not enough to make him ruin heaven even more profoundly by causing the fall. They had to make it his fault for choosing amoral acts (that was completely opposite of his character at this point) to lead to that disaster.

All of this to drive home the point that Castiel had to follow Dean to have a moral compass. To lead to the the BS of "you changed me, Dean". People say Castiel was lost without belonging in his angel family and had to follow Dean for purpose. Exactly what the show tried to force the story to go. They made him have conflict with Dean, each of which result in increasingly disastrous outcome, removing any chance of him having any more self-respect.

I hate it so much.

[humandisorderincarnatedean]

And even when he was going to sacrifice jack, it wasn't just for himself, it was supposed to be the only way to save the world which Chuck was very much planning to destroy!! But it was reframed to make Sam's argument make sense when it didn't. It was either destroy Chuck (and Amara) or let him destroy the world. There's no "save our friends" without saving the world first. Power sucker jack was a fluke and not a perceivable option at that point.

I appreciate this add-on to my rambling bunch of thoughts defending dean’s actions in later seasons. I wanna give it a longer response

when I said that 15x17 unity is the only episode in which I see dean acting entirely, 100% in his own self-interest, (meaning every other decision he makes and action he takes in the show, even if it's a selfish one, he's doing at least in part for someone else) i’m referring really only specifically to that last scene, where he’s racing to have jack sacrifice himself and has a gun trained on sam when he tries to stop him.

throughout the episode, leading up to this moment, dean’s motivations steadily get a more narrow focus. first he insists it’s a duty to the world. then later, in the car, he narrows it down to just him and sam, thanking jack for how what he is willing to do can give them a chance at a real life with real freedom. then in the scene in the bunker, he’s finally whittled it down to just himself: he doesn’t care about what happens to amara, to their friends, to jack, to sam even, almost pulling the trigger on him when he tries to stop dean. there’s one moment where he’s only thinking about himself, what he wants, what he needs. he wants to not be a puppet anymore, and if this is what he needs to do (hurt others, let others be hurt) then… well, it’s not what he wants, but so be it.

it’s all very un-dean-like behaviour. but there is one instance from his past that does resemble this situation very closely: dean saying ‘yes’ to alastair in hell and picking up the razor himself. that was a selfish act: it was choosing to hurt others to protect himself, but I don’t think it’s fair to see this as dean making a selfish decision here because he was not in a position to make real, autonomous decisions. when you’re driven to do something after years of unbearable torture, like dean was, that isn't actually a real autonomous decision that you're making and that culpability does not lie with you.

something similar is happening in 15x17: dean is driven, after literally more than a lifetime of trauma and hardship, to be willing to facilitate harm coming to someone else in order for him to be free; in other words to act in a manner so counter to his regular personality and moral compass that the audience watching can’t help but notice it. the differences here, of course, are that dean does have choices in this situation, he is not bound to the laws of hell, and that this time he is not alone, he has his family around him to give him other options he really didn't have access to on the rack.

all that aside, i’m saying I do think dean is ultimately coming at this problem from an emotional point of view, instead of a rational or moral one. and, we are to presume by the framing of the episode, that sam and castiel are acting from a rational or moral perspective. but, like you said, anon, it isn’t actually as clear cut as that.

sam and cas have, in the later seasons, pivoted almost entirely to the idea of ‘letting someone sacrifice themselves to save the world is not acceptable, there must be another way’ which is noble enough when you look at it on a surface-level. granted, they do crucially let go of this ideal in the season 11 finale when they let dean go to sacrifice himself, but I'd say that's the exception. in s10 and s14, for example, they're firmly against killing dean or locking him up or whatever to save the world from what damage he could inflict, and then in s15 of course they're not sold on the plan of letting jack sacrifice himself to put a stop to chuck's control of everything. they try to find a different plan first- and don't actually succeed, but sam does end up discovering yet another reason why he doesn't want jack to destroy chuck.

SAM: Jack, don't! CAS: Sam, why not? SAM: Because if Billie takes over, then everyone goes back to where they belong. That means everybody from apocalypse world, Bobby, Charlie, they get sent back to a place that doesn't exist anymore. And everyone we saved. Eileen, she... she just dies again. And that's just the beginning.

note cas asking sam "why" he shouldn't lead jack to chuck and amara to destroy them, as if he sees that as a perfectly reasonable choice of action now that they haven't found an alternative plan.

anyway, sam's statement here is... a bit selfish, isn't it? I mean, of course it would be sad to lose those people, but the only alternatives they know of right now would be that chuck either continues exacting his control over their world or destroys it, which would mean the death of everyone including the people sam names. but it's about sam's personal emotional investment, his feeling that the people he cares about should get to escape a bad fate no matter at what cost to others that could come.

there is over the seasons a subtle reoccurring theme of dean being more willing to sacrifice people he knows and cares about for strangers/the world at large (in meet the new boss, in brother's keeper, in moriah, in unity). even if he never goes through with it, he's willing to consider it as the morally right decision. in the same vein, he is often unwilling to sacrifice strangers for himself or for his loved ones (jus in bello, appointment in samarra, brother's keeper). sacrifice in season 8 is basically an exception to this, though I'd say those circumstances are different since sam is actively suicidal. anyway on the other side to this coin, sam (sometimes allied with cas) is consistently unwilling to sacrifice people they care about (again, brother's keeper, prophet and loss, unity) and is conversely often more okay with sacrificing strangers to save himself and/or his loved ones (there's like 3 examples of this in s10 only).

all this to say that supernatural is truly inconsistent on its standpoint regarding whether or not it is morally correct to sacrifice the one/the few, whether loved ones or strangers, to save the many. not that any of that technically even matters in the situation in 15x17, because it was canonically all a con mapped out by chuck to push on all their pressure points and get them where he wanted them. billie's hidden intentions, sam and cas' doubts, amara's feeling of betrayal, dean's blind desperation, sam's obstruction and their stand-off. billie's plan was never going to work, it was never going to happen, it wasn't supposed to!

unfortunately for him what else was never supposed to happen was dean being convinced by sam's words and remembering himself as a person who isn't capable of killing his brother or letting someone sacrifice themselves for him, who cares about finding a different way and who does make his own choices, uncocking and lowering his gun. foiling plans by going against what is expected of him is what dean does, after all.

[kerryweaverlesbian]

No offense to people who interpret Cas as a great tactician. but I dont think that's true. Certainly not past Godstiel at the very least. He acts decisively but often reactively. His time 'leading' the angels on Earth he was clearly a figurehead for Hannah to actually get shit done. He takes command because no one else will not because he is good at it. He ruled those angels with fear - Hannah insists that only Castiel is allowed to "punish" angels, and then she tells him he should "punish" Dean by murdering him as proof of his devotion to the cause - and even before that with the civil war, none of even his closest allies knew his real plans and he kept pretending he was off with the Winchesters to meet with Crowley, so most of them resented his friends, his plan was just to amass personal power until he can brute force destroy Raphael, which is almost always his plan.

Whenever literally any character suggests to Cas "we should take any sort of action towards solving this problem" even if they are DEEPLY untrustworthy and Cas KNOWS this, he will take them up on it. Crowley. Metatron. Lucifer. Many, many more smaller characters who change Castiel's course of action over pretty much a single conversation as long as they don't actively murder someone right in front of him.

This is a writing convenience for plot to happen. As is Castiel's "I need to leave immediately to solve this problem offscreen 👋 ", but they both happen so frequently that it is unassailably part of his core character. Castiel believes firmly that he should be able to solve this stuff on his own, and he can't, and if he was good at tactics he would rely on the strengths and expertise of his team members. But he doesn't.

This isn't a diss on Cas, I think it's a charming character trait to run headfirst into the fray with no plan because he knows that not taking action when you know something bad is happening is Wrong, but he's often at a loss as to what the Right action would be, so when someone makes a suggestion he's like yes!! Action!!! Good!!!!

(PS Hannah was the ONLY angel to successfully stabilise Heaven's factions as a ruler. Because she rocks. Cast Hannah as your tactics guy and Castiel as her puppet ruler whom she easily (and earnestly) manipulates towards good causes. Cas is a...I was going to say good moral compass but I also don't think that's true. He's an okay moral compass that sometimes wildly spins around to point at south west instead of north. He is a good moral compass for angels, at least. Baby's first moral compass.)