Title: And then came love
Rating: pg
Genre and/or Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Spoilers: Just assume up to Season 5 Ep 16
Warnings: Au ideas of Castiel's final fall from grace.
Word Count: 880
Summary: Castiel can remember the exact moment of his fall and why it was okay.
Authors notes: This was written for Cloudyjenn because she needed a little fluff and she inspires me to write Destiel :3! My awesome beta reader is Blackfruitbat who rocks my world and betas my work at 1am XD
The slipping of his grace felt much like a candle flickering down to the last stretch of its wick, steadily growing dimmer until the inevitable fade to black. There was a subtle burst of light, like a supernova shinning its brightest before its remains winked out of existence with a graceful bow of closure.
Castiel can remember the exact moment this happened.
It was late spring in the early morning when twilight was filtering in hues of blue through the window of a summer country home. The thinning white curtains were wafting against the slight breeze as the outside world drifted in and brought the sweet smell of rain and earth. The impressions of a time long since past pressed into his new found dreams, vividly orchestrating the replay of a peaceful memory.
Castiel liked sleep and it seemed sleep like Cas for it often desperately clung to him. However, the waking world was beckoning him into a more conscious state of awareness by pulling off the comfortable veil of the dreaming world. Gossamer dreams fluttered away leaving the faintly scratchy feel of cotton sheets and rich earthy scent of rain in their wake.
He inhaled deeply and the exhale triggered a chain reaction; like a series of tiny explosions setting off sparks of blooming emotions that were bright enough to carry the weight of humanity. This was it. The final breath of his grace slipping away with every passing moment that he lay in a bed of his own making.
Another pair of eyes fluttered open and the blank look of barely waking remained steadfast in the depths of mossy forests.
"Cas?" He could see it now. It was obvious as a look of concern was beginning to bubble and rise and spill across his face molding his expression into something else entirely.
It was like dying.
Or at least what he assumed dying was like, the feeling of grace unwinding as his air caught in his throat and world slowly became less bright. Like everything was dimming, fading to muted as the holy shroud evaporated and reality set in. Reality from the human's point of view.
"Cas!" The voice sounded as rough as the hands on his face, forcing him to concentrate on the only thing pulling him down. Pulling him back to a single focus where the world stopped slipping and everything settled into a steady calm.
As the last traces of light faded away, two shards held on stubbornly tight, refusing to dissipate. In fact, instead of following the other broken remains of grace back to the origin of all grace, they embedded themselves deep into the pools of green starring intently at him. Dean absorbed them, absorbed him and Cas found he could breathe again.
The mortal coil bloomed suddenly, life filling him in an instant to saturate that void where his grace had been.
"Cas talk to me…" Dean was nearly frantic, leaning over him with profound apprehension coursing across his features before Castiel managed to suck in another breath of human life.
The age of angels was over and he was no longer apart of it.
He couldn't feel them, couldn't hear them, and somehow… he didn't care. Castiel was finally human.
Slowly as he closed and opened his paling blues, the only thing he could see was... Dean. Dean who held on to the last tiny fragments of his grace, Dean who he had given everything (absolutely everything at this point) to, Dean who was holding his face and pulling him close and surrounding him with so much emotion that Castiel could actually feel it pressing into his body.
They were bonding. Not in the typical sense of bonding but in the means that the former angel felt like he was melting in to someone else and being born anew.
"Dean…" His voice wasn't stable, fluxing in volume and tone as he shakily reached up to grasp Dean's hands in his own.
"Are you alright?" Quite whispers washed over him as the sun rose and golden rays trickled in through the window.
They splashed across the man above him, playing softened shadows on his face and highlighting the blond strands woven into his hair. The grace trapped inside his eyes shinned so brightly that the former angel felt like he was looking at his home again.
Home. He wouldn't see it again until after the last beat of his heart gave out. But in that moment, it didn't seem to matter. His home was right there, thrumming under the skin and along the lines of Dean's soul, shinning out from the corners of his eyes. Dean was home.
Castiel reached up and wrapped his arms around the man for whom he gave everything to.
"I'm fine."
And he meant it. This moment was beautiful and regret would never form a word on his lips or remain more than a second in his mind because of it. He had given everything to Dean but Dean had given him something even better; a human heart. Two of them in fact.
Dean's and his own.
His brothers and sisters would never understand why but in the moment of his final fall, the first and only emotion Castiel could express was gratitude.
The second was love.
~Fin~