This is the traduction of a story that I wrote about a year ago. It's just a one-shot and will continue to be so at least until I've finished one or two of my other stories, only if people like it though. It's just an idea that popped up in my mind and I decided to write and, now, translate. Hope you like it.

Surprise, surprise

Sam and Dean Winchester, held against the wall by an invisible force, saw with horror the end of the ritual that would tie Death to Lucifer.

Bobby found himself in the same situation against the wall in front of them and Castiel stood in a corner, simply watching.

That made them furious. Why wasn't Castiel doing anything? It was true that he was no rival for an archangel, but there had to be something he could do.

Gabriel had been about to intervene, but the angel had stopped him. Why? If Gabriel could stop Lucifer from controlling The Death, why not let him try?

The ritual ended and Dean thought he saw the ghost of a smile in the lips of the angel he considered a friend. Had Castiel betrayed them? Why would he have done something like that?

Gabriel observed in horror the chained figure that appeared in the room. Why had Castiel stopped him? Why had his little brother wanted Lucifer to finish the ritual? There had to be a reason.

"Death, how nice of you to pay us a visit." greeted Lucifer in a mocking tone.

"I did not have much else to do. What do you want, Lucifer?" asked in a bored voice.

"Oh, collecting souls doesn't keep you busy enough? Well, that's going to change soon. What do I want? Why do you mind? How forgetful have I become, you're now linked to me. The mighty Death forced to obey me…" drawled the devil with satisfaction.

Death sighed and turned to Castiel lifting a brow.

"You have not updated them, Angel?" asked with the same bored tone.

"Updated us?" asked Lucifer in a dangerous voice.

"What's he talking about, Cas?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, Cas, what the fucking hell is he talking about?" intervened Dean.

"I am talking about the reason" started after a long look directed at Castiel. "why I do not have to obey Lucifer."

"I have just realized the ritual that binds you to me, which forces you to obey me. It's not an option. Do you not see the chains? They're not an ornament."

"Oh, this." muttered the Death raising his arms in a way that shook the chains. "They are just a little mishap."

"A little mishap? Even you cannot be so arrogant. I am your master!" protested Lucifer.

"No, you are a spoiled child with a tantrum because his father has scolded him." contradicted him the being.

Lucifer growled and looked at him in rage.

"I'm your master and I order you…!" exclaimed the archangel.

Death sighed in frustration.

"You can order me around all you want, angel. I will not obey you.

The being snapped his fingers and the chains disappeared, leaving everyone but Castiel unable to believe what they were seeing.

"That… that's… impossible." stammered Lucifer.

"What the hell…?" exclaimed Bobby.

"Can somebody explain just what the fuck is happening?"

The Death ignored them completely and looked at Castiel with lifted eyebrows.

"Do they know nothing? Where do you tell them you go every time you disappear? To Heaven?" asked the being with a bit of sarcasm at the end. The younger of the angel's face reflected discomfort and Death sighed shaking his head. "To Heaven, really?"

The angel shrugged and the presents thought they saw a bit of red on his cheeks.

"What is he talking about, Cas?" asked again Sam.

"Yeah, Cas, what's he talking about?" repeated Dean with more strength.

Castiel tilted his head a little to the side like a bird and looked at them in silence.

"He's coming." announced Death not taking his eyes off the angel.

"Who's that mysterious person?" asked Bobby.

"I hope you are not planning of making of him, as humans would put it, your little dirty secret." Commented Death with an intense look and ignoring the human. "If that were the case, let me remind you that not even angels can escape from the death."

The total seriousness of the being's words when talking about protecting whoever they were taking about was disturbing, even if none understood what they were talking about.

"It's not like that." answered Castiel in a subdued voice. "I was just waiting for the right time."

"Who's coming, Castiel?" inquired Gabriel intrigued by the apparently cryptic conversation.

"Yes, who's coming, Castiel?" mocked Lucifer hating not being able to understand the situation.

"Someone that not even you want against you, Lucifer." A sound not unlike a gunshot made them jump and a figure appeared from nowhere, covered by a cloak. "The one and only Master of Death."

The newcomer tilted his head to look at Castiel after hearing him and bowed a bit, taking off his hood.

"That's me." answered a young man's voice. "Hi, Castiel, Mister D. Is there any problem?"

"Just a little mishap. Lucifer has tried to become the Master of Death by doing a ritual. Pretty pathetic, if I'm honest."

The presents observed the boy cautiously. Thin and short, he seemed to have barely eighteen years. He had black long hair that reached his shoulders, extremely pale skin and a beautiful face of delicate features.

His eyes, bright like jewels under the sunlight, left them stunned. They were green, the colour of emeralds, but they had a ring the colour of the forest leaves that surrounded the pupil and merged with the clearer green.

He was undeniably attractive, with a slight feminine touch that just added to his beauty. He was like nothing they had ever seen before.

"Mmm… that wasn't very intelligent." commented.

Lucifer growled and took a step forward, but the young man raised an arm in a pacifying gesture.

"I'm only saying the truth! It's not very intelligent trying to put a leash to the most powerful being in the universe knowing that, if you fail, he could smite you practically just by snapping his fingers.

"And how did you do it? Asking him to, please, become your eternal servant?" mocked the devil.

"Ah, no, it was a mistake. I didn't intend to become the Master of Death. And Death is not my servant. He does his job and I simply make sure that no maniac like you, no offense intended, gives him orders. I'm like a… defence mechanism. After all, nobody can escape Death."

"How do you become the Master of Death without noticing?" couldn't help but doubt Dean.

"Oh, you must be Dean Winchester. And they're Samuel Winchester and Robert Singer? They're just as you described them, Cas." said the youngster smiling at the stoic angel. "A pleasure meeting you, I'm Harry."

The three hunters looked at him as if he was crazy for acting so casually. They were so dumbfounded that, when Harry freed them from the force that held them against the wall with a flourish of his hand, they fell to the floor.

The other man in the room laughed while the humans stood up with a curse.

"Wow, your presence is even more intense than Cas'. Nearly as much as Lucifer's. an angel, an archangel even, I would say." said Harry talking fast. "Which one of the brothers are you? I hope you're not supporting all that about the Apocalypse."

"I'm Gabriel…"

"Oh, I know who you are." cut him Harry with enthusiasm. "You hid as Loki! If I'm not wrong you knew my father and his friends. They were great pranksters. Anyway, that doesn't matter right now." he cut himself without paying attention to the surprised expression in the archangel's face. "I'm glad to meet you. Cas has told me a lot about you. well, now that introductions are out of the way, we can continue with the important things."

The boy turned towards Lucifer and frowned a little pressing his lips in a thin line.

"What should I do with you? I can't let you destroy the world." asked himself aloud. "I could lock you up in the cage again, but that would be cruel and you need to learn that it's not right to destroy things because of a little temper tantrum. You cannot have it all. Let's see…"

"How dare you! I'm the archangel Lucifer!" exclaimed the angel finally shaking off his surprise. "To think that a human such as you can stop me is the most arrogant thing I've…"

"Oh, shut up." Interrupted him the boy surprising him once more. "Arrogance is what has got you here, not me. Do you have any idea of what to do?"

Death shrugged.

"Yes, I do have a couple of ideas but I do not think you would like any of them so I will let you think."

Harry sighed and looked around curiously, leaving the question for later and preferring to survey the place.

"Where are we?"

"I am unsure." answered Castiel.

"Oh, well, it's of no relevance." sighed Harry without giving time for any of the others to answer.

"Don't you dare ignore me, human." growled Lucifer.

"I dare whatever I want. Do you think I haven't fought more dangerous things in my life than you? Hungarian Horntails are a rather vicious race of dragons, you know? And I didn't discover that in a book. Now, shut up."

"I won't allow a dirty ape to tell me…"

"Silence."

He didn't raise his voice but the pressure of the power held in that word alone gave it more strength than if it had been shouted.

For a few seconds it was as if a thick veil had covered the room.

A moment later Harry was smiling again and everything ended, making the humans think they had imagined what had happened.

"You're not a simple human." muttered Lucifer surprised.

"You think? He's the Master of Death." Said Dean forgetting for an instant who he was talking to.

"I don't he's referring to that, Mister Winchester." intervened Harry seeing the look the Devil was giving the hunter.

"Mi-mister Winchester?" exclaimed Dean incredulously.

"He's British." declared Castiel with simplicity.

"Hey! I'm just polite."

"They're synonyms."

"Who's taught Castiel those things?" asked Gabriel perplexed. "Two minutes ago he didn't understand the simplest of euphemisms and now he's joking about British habits."

"And I was beginning to think that angels didn't have a sense of humour." Said Death with his gaze fixed on Castiel. "It must have been amusing making them believe you were a total misfit."

The hunters and even the archangel looked at Castiel with reproach and the angel looked at them with his most innocent face.

"It's Harry's fault."

"Hey, do not look at me!" exclaimed Harry raising his arms in the face of the looks he got. "I only caught him up on everything he had missed in the last millenniums. It's not my fault he isn't as innocent as he makes you all believe."

The looks returned to Castiel, whom shrugged.

"What did you expect, Gabriel? You taught me everything I know." reminded him tilting his head to the side in that usual way of his.

The looks directed this time at the archangel made him fidget.

"Well, well, Gabriel, corrupting the little angels?" muttered Harry clicking his tongue in feigned disapproval.

"That's not the important thing here!" nearly shouted the angel. "What's important is that Castiel has been playing with us!"

"I thought what's important is that Lucifer's trying to destroy the world." answered he amused.

Everyone's attention returned to the Devil, whom they had forgotten. How could they have forgotten his presence?"

"I'm sorry, Lucifer. I think I've interrupted your delirious speech of world destruction." Dean held on a laugh as he could. "At least that's original: usually they're delusions of world domination." added Harry earning himself some incredulous looks. "What were you saying?"

Lucifer stared at him with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was hearing, before blinking as if getting out of a daze and looking him up and down.

Suddenly, the archangel's attitude changed completely and he smiled seductively at the powerful being in front of him.

"You could join me, you know? Together, you and I, we'd be unstoppable. Nothing nor anyone would be able to get in my… our way. We'd transform this world in the paradise it's destined to be."

"That's not original at all. I had waited something better coming from you, with your fame and all that…"

"Even though you were human, you're the Master of Death." Continued Lucifer as if he hadn't heard him. "You'd be worthy of being my equal, my consort…"

"What makes you think you are worthy of being his?" asked Death amused.

Harry snorted seeing the arrogant face of Lucifer and the horrified looks of the humans at the mere idea when Lucifer took a step towards him and lifted an arm to caress his face in a seductive movement.

In that same instant Castiel appeared at his side and moved him away from Lucifer grasping firmly his waist. The enraged look of the normally stoic angel surprised even the Devil.

"I do not share what is mine." growled.

Harry smiled when he saw the expressions of the others and it took him a lot of effort not to laugh.

"Careful with what you say, angel." warned Death letting see his most protective side. "You will share if that is what my master desires."

"Oh, do not worry, Mister D." said Harry. "I have no intention of having any other mate. Besides," he smiled at the angel that was still holding him. "I love it when you're so possessive."

Castiel grinned smugly and looked at his big brother through narrowed eyes before leaning in and passionately kissing the young man in his arms.

When they parted, Harry sighed and gazed up to look through his long and dark eyelashes at the angel that, although not much taller, towered over him.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here? This is too strange. All of you have seen what I? Has Cas just kissed Death?"

"I am not Death." contradicted Harry. "And, could we speed this along? I've to meet Tessa in a while and Cas and I have an issue to take care of in my house before that."

Castiel's smile said everything and Dean moaned. This was too strange.

"Oh, God, I didn't need those images."

"It's not our fault you can't control your imagination." muttered Castiel looking at him with an arched eyebrow.

Too strange, undoubtedly.

"Eh, fine, letting that topic apart…" muttered Harry hiding his blush and receiving a pout from Gabriel. "Thanks for the offer, Lucifer, but I think I'll pass. I'm sorry if you aren't done with your speech but we'll have to leave it for another time."

Gabriel covered his mouth with a hand to stop a laugh from escaping him and Lucifer glared at him.

"I'll have to take care of Michael and Zachariah later but for now…" Harry snapped his fingers.

When nothing happened all of them looked at the boy with confusion, until the Devil spoke.

"Wha-what have you done to me?" asked in a trembling voice.

"I've turned you into a human." said Harry leaving even Castiel open-mouthed and openly staring. "I've sealed your Grace, repaired and strengthened your vessel and I've used a little bit of the residual energy that inhabited it before to make you a soul." Continued to the horror of the previously archangel. "Do not worry, if someone kills you, I'll bring you back. I'll even let you have a bit of fun with he or she." indicated looking at Dean from the corner of his eye in a clear warning. "Except if you deserved it. In that case, I'll only bring you back."

"You cannot do that!"

"I've just done it." declared lifting an eyebrow. "From now on you'll live as a human till you've understood the meaning of human life. Or till you respect it, at least."

Lucifer looked at him almost imploringly, more and more horrified with every word.

"The Master of Death teaching the devil the meaning of human life. It's the mother of all ironies." snorted Bobby.

"And, what is it?" asked Sam with his typical curiosity. "The meaning of life, I mean."

"It has none." asserted Dean immediately.

"Do not be pessimistic, of course it has." instantly contradicted him Harry.

"What is it, then?"

Harry smiled with innocence.

"Well, I think that's all. Lucifer, a pleasure meeting you. Do not hesitate to call if you need anything. Oh, and your documents are in your new house: Roakroad Street number 13, Iowa. A pleasure meeting you too, Gabriel, I hope I'll see you soon. And the same to the others, I'll see you around. There's a new pizzeria in Kansas, Mister D, see you later. Ready to leave, Cas?"

"Of course, my Heaven." muttered smiling mischievously at the amazed hunters. "I'll see you later." added while one of his hands distractedly caressed a few strands of Harry's hair, always awed at their silky feeling.

A few seconds later the angel and the Master of Death disappeared away, leaving behind three perplexed hunters, a highly amused archangel and an anxious ex-devil with an important lesson to learn.