The Hunter
Chapter: Heaven Lies In The Heart Of The Beholder
"I swear, I'll give you a tune up next time we land, but please hold it together, baby," Dean pleads with the Impala as she continues to quake and flash warning lights around him.
Sam's watching nervously as Dean frantically pulls lever after lever and pushes switch after switch. It's obvious that Dean's not really sure what's going on and that he isn't exactly in control of the Impala at the moment.
"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Sam calls out over the wailing of the Impala's alarms.
Dean pauses in his frantic movements for a moment and throws a heated glare at his companion. "What are the house rules?" he asks with a stern voice and is pointing a finger at the human aboard his TARDIS.
Sam rolls his eyes at Dean's childish behavior. "Shotgun shuts his cakehole," he repeats the words with an exasperated sigh and settles for clinging to the railing so that he's not thrown across the room again. Dean still hasn't forgiven him for nearly crashing into the control console earlier.
The Time Lord seems pleased with Sam's answer and goes back to his work, only to stop again when a blinding white light flares up on one of the monitors. Dean doesn't seem phased by it, but the light is so bright that Sam is forced to close his eyes and look away.
"So that's it," Dean breathes out excitedly, a grin splitting his face as he begins to pull levers and push buttons with a sense of certainly and confidence.
"Got it!" Dean cheers almost triumphantly as he pulls one last lever and the Impala comes to a smooth stop. The dark blond jumps down from his platform and walks past Sam, grabbing at the moose's plaid flannel shirt as he makes a bee line for the door.
Sam's confused by the alien's actions and struggles against him, not wanting to go out without getting a briefing on just what is out there. "Dean. Stop. Slow down! Tell me where the hell we are now!" he demands and pulls at the man's rugged, green shirt, forcing him to stop.
"We've landed in Heaven," Dean states the fact as if it's obvious and uses his superior strength to drag Sam towards the doors again.
"Heaven? As in the Heaven from the Bible? That actually exists?" Sam balks, all the fight having been knocked out of him with the smaller man's statement.
Dean pauses just as he reaches for the handle and looks back at Sam with an arched brow. He has a contemplative expression on his face for a moment, but it's quickly brushed aside. "Well, Heaven's always been here. Just in a plane of existence separate from your own," he helpfully informs and, with the flick of a wrist, opens the Impala's door.
What they see on the otherside is something they certainly did not expect. In Sam's case, this was because he had always imagined Heaven as being a place full of fluffy, white clouds, surrounded by a high golden fence and pearly gates.
But for Dean, this Heaven touches something much closer to home. In fact, this Heaven is his home, or to be precise, it has taken the form of Gallifrey's lush, red grass fields. The same ones he had played in when he was still a child and still ignorant of the atrocities he would commit as an adult.
Dean takes a hesitant step out into the grass and feels the vaguely familiar sensation of the tall grass brushing against his calves as he walks through them. His eyes are wide and curious, wondering how this could be here, even though he can see that this is just an illusion used to ease his soul into a sense of peace and happiness.
"This is not what I expected Heaven to look like," Sam finally speaks up as he walks into the grass too and has a look around.
"Were you expecting white clouds and pearly gates?" Dean jokes half heartedly, slowly losing himself in memories of his past. "Well, Heaven isn't like that, it's-"
"Heaven is made up of personal memories for each soul," a gravelly voice cuts in with the snap of wings as a scruffy looking man in a trench coat appears beside the travelers.
Sam's taking a few steps back, away from the mysterious man. He's in shock and on the verge of hyperventilating. "N-no way. Are you an angel?" he barely manages to choke out with Dean's reassuring hand on his shoulder.
The man in the trench coat casts his gaze to Sam for only a moment before he's decided that the human isn't a threat and instead focuses on the Time Lord.
"You shouldn't be here. Your kind does not belong here," the angel states firmly, his shoulders hunching slightly as his wings flex and puff up instinctively.
Dean's fascinated, but ultimately unimpressed by the angel's subtle display of aggression.
"Technically, I shouldn't be anywhere, but here I am," Dean counters with a cheeky smile, but backs off when the angel gives him a soul piercing gaze that makes him think he's being analyzed.
"Besides, my TARDIS dumped us here of her own volition. I couldn't control it," the dark blond explains, but is shocked when the angel is suddenly way too close and practically has his face pressed against his own.
"Personal space," he mutters unconsciously, but is glad to see the blue eyed creature snap out of his little trance and take half a step back.
"Forgive me for my rudeness," the angel sighs and his previous aggression is gone, like it never existed at all. He straightens his posture and looks up into the alien's eyes confidently, his bright blue eyes capturing Dean's attention without any effort.
"I am Castiel, an Angel of the Lord. It is a pleasure to meet you, Time Lord," after the words are spoken, the angel bows slightly and Dean, confused, but unwilling to be rude to a potentially, infinitely powerful creature, returns the gesture.
"Err, yeah. Nice to meet you too, Cas. I'm Dean Winchester. This is my companion, Sam Winchester. We're not related," Dean introduces themselves, but a frown settles itself on his lips as he looks at Castiel, a small voice in the back of his mind telling him that he's met this angel before. He's just not sure where or when.
Sam's not sure whether or not he should break up the sudden staring contest that has started between Dean and Castiel. He can feel the tension growing between the two beings that he would have never believed to exist if not for the Impala suddenly appearing in the Campbell Compound. But Sam's survival instincts decide to kick in at that moment and he's edging himself back towards the Impala.
"Hey, Dean. I think I'll just wait in the Impala. You and Castiel, take as long as you need," Sam blurts out before he's hiding himself away in the slick, black vehicle.
Dean and Castiel don't notice Sam's departure. They don't really notice anything going on around them except for each other.
A slow smile creeps to Dean's lips as he finally recalls where he had seen Castiel before, but a frown is on Castiel's as he comes to the same realization.
"Michael," Castiel grinds out and his eyes narrow slightly, his entire posture going tense again. "We all thought you were dead. We had thought that you and Lucifer killed each other."
Dean lowers his head slightly, but it's not in shame. It's to demonstrate his confidence and the power he holds behind his mischievous green eyes.
"You've grown a lot since the last time I saw you," Dean chuckles softly, his smile growing a little more as he taps the side of his head lightly. "I almost forgot about this. About my time here."
Castiel's expression is one of hurt and anger and Dean can just see that the angel is ready to attack him at the slightest provocation.
"You abandoned me while I was still a fledgling," the brunet hisses, his blue eyes flashing dangerously with the power of his grace behind them. Castiel clenches his fists and Dean can feel the air shift restlessly around them.
"Yeah, I did. But I left you in the care of Gabriel," Dean replies coolly and slips his hands into his jacket pockets. He relaxes minutely when he feels the weight of his sonic screwdriver resting against his fingertips.
Castiel chooses the moment Dean lets his guard down to attack. He draws his sword, an angel killing sword that Dean recognizes as the one he had used during his time posing as an Archangel.
But the Time Lord is quick to evade the slashes and any attempts at grabbing his head that the angel makes. Dean knows the moves even with the centuries worth of other memories obscuring his past as Michael. His muscles remember the movements and that's enough of an advantage for him.
The blue eyed angel makes an undignified sound as his weapon is suddenly snatched from his hands and he's pushed to the ground and pinned face down, all in one swift attack. Castiel isn't surprised by this turn of events. He had been trained by Michael after all. But he had also been trained by Gabriel and he hopes that that will give him an edge.
Dean stumbles forward slightly as the Castiel that was beneath his knee suddenly disappears. But, before he can recover, a sharp pain flares up in his back and in his chest and he can see the tip of the angel killing sword peeking out through his torso.
Castiel pulls the sword out of Dean's back and kicks his corpse to the ground. He thought he would have felt better after killing the man who had abandoned him, but he doesn't. And the angel can feel a single tear fall from his eyes as he breathes heavily, his lungs feeling like they're being starved even though he doesn't need to breathe.
"Do you feel better now?" Dean's voice questions calmly from behind and the angel is quick to turn and face the source.
Before he knows it, Castiel's wrapped up in a bone crushing hug that he's not sure how to react to, so he freezes up and sort of goes limp. He closes his eyes warily and prays that he's hallucinating. Prays that the man in front of him is really dead.
"I killed you," Castiel murmurs against Dean's chest and knows that he's alive. He can hear the twin heartbeats in the Time Lord's chest, beating strong and rhythmically underneath the seemingly fragile flesh.
"Biomass duplicate. All the best parts of me without the regeneration," Dean offers cockily in reply and pats the angel's back genially as he pulls away.
"So, do you feel better now, Cas?" he questions again and rests a hand on Castiel's shoulder, squeezing it gently in a gesture of reassurance.
Castiel is silent, his only answer a stiff nod as he pulls away from Dean and banishes the duplicate's corpse to only he knows where. When he's sure that all traces of the body are gone, the angel looks up again and into Dean's eyes. Hazel green eyes that are very different, but very similar to the eyes that Michael had had in Heaven.
Dean can see the memories of his third incarnation, Michael, playing in Castiel's mind and he almost feels a sort of jealousy, knowing that the person in those memories isn't really him. That the family that had been waiting for him in Heaven isn't really his. And they will never be his and he will never have a family like that ever again.
The dark blond swallows thickly and clears his mind of the bitter emotions, hating the taste of them on his tongue.
"Get in, angel," Dean states and he's already turning his back on Castiel and heading back to the Impala.
The angel in the dirty trench coat stiffens at the idea of entering a device such as the TARDIS. He looks at Dean hesitantly, but the man is standing at the door, holding it open like he's really expecting him to come along. And, even with all of his insecurities at the moment, Castiel accepts the offer with a resigned nod and a weak smile.
If he is able, Castiel wants to think of this as Michael taking him on another one of those trips like he had when he was young as he walks through the open door.