The Ending that Never Came
Disclaimer:
I do not own anything from Supernatural.
Summary:
Takes place in The End verse after Dean goes back to his own time. Dean died and Cas was at Death's door. But that's not the end of their story. Far from it. Things are only just beginning. Brief Destiel implications
They're dead. They're all dead. And if it wasn't for all the drugs in his system he probably wouldn't even be able to move right now. He holds in a bitter laugh at that realization, that his bad habit is the one thing that kept him alive this long. As he glances out from behind the crates he's currently hidden behind he spots one of the bodies of his comrades. Not a friend, just comrade. He doesn't have friends anymore, doesn't see the point in getting close to someone who was probably going to die before he even got to know them. Still, he thinks he should feel something. And he doesn't know whether it's the drugs or whether he's just buried his emotions so deep down that all that's left is this empty numbness. Probably both, he muses. His vision starts to blur and he knows he has to keep moving because when his adrenalin is gone he's going to die even if the demons don't. Why bother, he asks himself. Dean is most likely already dead. He feels a tightness in his chest at the thought. Dean. His eyes tear up and he squeezes them shut, swallowing the knot in his throat as he feels a tear roll down his cheek. He never had told the hunter how he felt. At one point he'd realized there was no point in doing so. The day he realized it was too late to save Dean from himself, had realized his friend was merely a shell of a man, hurt. He'd failed him. Again. So many times he'd failed him. He felt the telltale signs that he was about to pass out from blood loss but he didn't fight it. A frown formed on his lips as he felt something familiar, something good and pure. He struggled to open his eyes but his vision was darkening. Someone was calling him but at that moment he'd lost consciousness.
"Cas," someone whispered. "Hey Cas, wake up."
He frowned as he slowly became conscious again. "Dean?" To his surprise it was the hunter who had been calling his name. Said hunter's expression however, made his frown deepen and he looked at him more closely. No, this wasn't past Dean. At least, it didn't look like it despite behaving like he was.
"Are you all right?" The green eyed hunter asked, concern written on his face.
At that question he glanced down at himself, surprised to find he was without any of his previous wounds. "I'm fine." His eyes immediately scanned his friend for any wounds. "What about you?"
Dean grinned. "Well aside from being trapped in this box I'd say we're great." Then he frowned. "How come you look different?"
"Different?" The former angel asked in confusion.
"Yeah, what happened to your trench coat? And since when does your facial hair grow?"
His eyebrows drew together. "Dean, what's the last thing you remember?"
The hunter frowned, thinking back. "Uh, I shouted at you that I was human and needed a couple hours of sleep. Then I guess I slept." His frown deepened. "But I woke up here with you." He looked down at himself, suddenly realizing he was also wearing different clothes. "Cas?" Dean looked up in confusion. "What happened?"
"Dean, that," he paused for a moment, completely puzzled why so much of the man's memory had vanished. "That was five years ago."
"Five…years?" Dean asked in disbelief. Five years? How could he just forget the past five years? He searched his memory but he couldn't find anything. He never doubted Castiel for a second though. "What, what's happened since then?" Dread filled him as he watched the angel glance away. "Sam? What happened to Sam?"
Castiel's jaw tensed and he refused to meet Dean's gaze.
"Is he-? Is he dead?" He asked almost quietly, voice broken at the thought. What he could see of Cas's expression only worried him further.
"Sam," he started. "He said yes." He didn't have to see him to know he was wearing a horrified expression. "…and you..you didn't for the longest time but when did…" He swallowed as he glanced up into those emotional green orbs. "..it was too late."
Dean held his breath.
"You tried," he closed his eyes, remembering the past five years. "You tried so hard to save everyone that you could and I failed you." He opened his eyes to look into the hunter's. "Too much happened so fast. Bobby died. The angels left. And I couldn't…" Castiel grit his teeth. He hadn't been this sober in so long. "I'm not an angel anymore Dean. When the angels left I became human." A choked laugh escaped him. "Not exactly the best time to explore humanity." Then his bitter smile vanished. "…and by the time I noticed how much you'd changed I knew there was nothing I could do to fix it." He bowed his head in shame. It was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder did he look up.
The implications of what Cas said were not lost on him. Obviously the apocalypse had changed him, and certainly not for the better. And yet, Castiel had still stayed by his side. He offered him a small, what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Chick flick moments weren't his thing but this was Cas and by the look of things the dude really needed a heart-to-heart. Except, what could he say when he didn't even recall the past five years? "I'm sure I didn't blame you Cas." Those hopeful yet doubtful blue eyes made his heart hurt but he made sure he kept smiling.
A clanging sound echoed from outside their prison, causing them to both tense and suddenly a small part of the wall slid open to reveal a one square foot window.
"Oi Balth, you ruined the moment!" A female voice shouted.
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be others for you to enjoy," a British man answered, voice sounding close enough that it could be assumed he was the one to open the window. He looked into the mini prison cell with a grin. "Hello Cassie, miss me? No, don't answer that. I know you did." He turned his head to presumably look at whoever else was there, "I mean, who wouldn't miss me?"
Dean looked back at Castiel who frowned.
"I wouldn't!" A different female shouted.
The man chuckled. "Oh darling, flattery will get you everywhere."
"Excuse me," Dean called, "But who the hell are you?"
He opened his mouth to answer only to be cut off.
"Let someone else speak if you're only interested in screwing around," a male voice gruffly said.
"You know you would've made an excellent Mad Eye Moody in those Harry Potter films."
Dean and Castiel watched as the guy was pushed out of the way to reveal a grey eyed blonde woman.
"Don't worry guys. We'll have you out in no time." She looked toward someone else. "Hey Amy, give me a hand with this wall." Then she disappeared.
The hunter watched in disbelief as the wall where the window was shifted and he heard a muffled, 'Just drop it on its side!' before it fell on the ground with a big bang, cracking the cement beneath it and stirring up a great amount of dust. When it settled he counted six, no, nine people in what looked like a big empty warehouse that appeared to have numerous symbols painted on the walls.
The woman from before was standing next to another woman who had black hair and blue eyes.
Cas almost stepped back when in the blink of an eye the two of them were suddenly hugging him.
"Hey! No need to hog him all to yourselves. He's my friend too!" The British guy from before said, joining the hug.
Dean raised a brow, wondering if the uncomfortable expression on Castiel's face was due to the hugs or the particular people doing the hugging.
The three held hands and nearly skipped around with Cas in the center. "Ring around the rosy, pocketful of posy! Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!" They sang before grinning and smiling as Castiel's eyes went wide.
"Which-?" He paused, looking at all three of them. Then he eyed the guy, "Balthazar?"
Dean frowned in confusion.
His grin widened as he glanced at the other two. "See that?" He put his palm on his own chest. "He recognized me first."
The blonde snorted in amusement while the other rolled her eyes.
"Barkiel?" Castiel asked the blonde.
She gave him a half smirk.
Blue eyes locked with blue. "Ambriel."
The black-haired woman had a small half smile as she stared back and began pointing out the others. "Yeah, and over there is Ashriel."
The grey-eyed man gave a short wave. "Try not to let the righteous man get himself killed again. It takes times to bring someone back."
Both Castiel and Dean frowned at this. Dean had died again?
"Though I suppose I should be grateful you were only near death. Bringing two people back would've been a pain," Ashriel stated with a sour tone, turning his head slightly to reveal that his black hair was tied up in a ponytail.
Ambriel cleared her throat. "Anyway, that adorable child over there is Hamied."
The kid didn't look to be any older than ten with white blonde hair almost touching his shoulders and big, adorable grey-blue eyes.
"Nemamiah," she said, hinting at the tall thin man.
Dean wondered if the guy was taller than Sammy. He inwardly winced.
The dark brunette blinked his brown eyes but otherwise gave no acknowledgement that he'd heard his name. His expression still remained completely unreadable.
"He's an angel of few words," Ambriel explained to the hunter.
"I'm Shekinah," the blonde with green eyes spoke up, a peaceful smile on her lips.
"Atuesuel," the grumpy, grey haired, old man introduced himself, dark brown eyes intensely focused and observant.
"And last but not least," the blue eyed female angel started, hinting at the only one who wasn't paying attention to the current happenings. "That's Liwet, our resident geek."
"Hey! Liwet! Turn around so Dean and Castiel can see you!" Barkiel shouted.
She turned on her heel, ice blue eyes narrowing. She wore a white lab coat that was never taken off for any reason and black cargo pants. "Who took the blood of a virgin?!" The red head demanded.
Barkiel held her hands up in a defensive gesture. "Don't look at me."
Liwet snarled, stalking out of the room.
"Oookay," Dean started, turning to Castiel. "Cas, didn't you tell me that all the angels left?"
"Think boy!" Atuesuel said gruffly. "Each angel was created with a purpose in mind. Not everyone could just up and leave. Those whose whole purpose is to fight demons or were assigned by our Father to Earth know their rightful place is here."
"This is our chance to prove our Father's faith in our assignments. We will protect His creations," Nemamiah stated in a quiet yet firm voice.
Shekinah's smile brightened. "Too true dear brother. Whether the others see it or not humans are essentially family."
"So if you've been here why are you only contacting us now? Why didn't you tell Cas? Surely he, at least, deserved to know." Dean said to them.
Ambriel held up her hand to keep Atuesuel from answering. "Time Dean. We didn't just all group together and come to Earth. We were all on our own as far as we were concerned so we had to keep hidden so the demons, so our own brother wouldn't hunt us down. Heaven has written the majority of us off as dead." She explained. "We each had to learn to push down our own grace to remain undetected and travel as humans, not the easiest of tasks and I'm sure there are some of us who probably didn't quite manage it and ended up dead as a result. And while we all knew Castiel was here the knowledge of his location was unknown."
"Seens like Father still favors you Castiel since we only knew of your location for less than twenty-four hours before we found you at Death's door." Barkiel added after a second, "Not that you would've actually died."
"Too true Cassie," Balthazar said, slapping his brother on the back.
Castiel was surprised he wasn't knocked over. "What do you mean?"
Barkiel rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Cas, you're still an angel. Raphael just had to be a bloody prick and lock your grace so far down you'd have no access to it. Luckily, being at Death's door your grace was about ready to burst forth to keep you from dying so it didn't take much to release it."
Blue eyes widened and he suddenly searched inside himself, surprised to find she was right, that his grace was not only there but fully accessible. With a thought he disappeared and reappeared a few feet from where he had been standing. He choked, relieved and overjoyed. "Thank you."
Shekinah gave him a knowing smile. She knew full well that while part of him as happy to feel his grace again he most likely felt more thankful that he could protect Dean again. After all, it was mostly unspoken knowledge in heaven how deeply Castiel felt for the human.
"So you angeled Cas up again. Did you guys wipe my memory too?"
Ashriel grumbled, "It's not enough that I brought him back, he has to complain about one little mistake."
Balthazar laughed. "Well you can't really blame Ash, I mean it isn't often he brings back the dead after all."
The grey-eyed blonde snicker. "Aww, look! He's pouting!"
Ashriel narrowed his own grey eyes at her as he turned around so he didn't have to look at them, mumbling complaints to himself.
Dean just watched with an 'ooookay' look on his face. "So, what exactly has your group been doing besides locating other angels?"
And so began the discussion of their plan to save the world.
I read through a LOT of angel names in order to write this one shot and I think my brain imploded in trying to come up with suitable personalities and such for so many at once but I think it came out well. I don't plan on writing a sequel to this but if I did it'd most likely be a multi-chapter of their journey of saving the world from Lucifer or another one shot that would take place after they successfully saved the world. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. It was inspired by a thought I had while editing one of my chapters for 'Cousins a Couple Times Removed' in which I wondered what would've happened if my characters Ambriel and Barkiel came to Dean in the End verse.
Below is a list of the original characters and a brief description of each in case you get confused on who is who and understand a bit more about them
Angels:
Ambriel, blue eyes, black hair
This angel inspires clear communication so that we might better speak our own truth, while gently guiding human beings toward a time when truth and clarity will be the universal norm. Ambriel is also considered to be an angel of general protection.
Barkiel, grey eyes, blonde
This one grants excellent luck to mortals who pray to her. She also inspires joviality and a sense of humor. Angel of lightning.
Ashriel, grey eyes, black hair
He is the angel that separates the soul from the body at the time of death.
Hamied, grey-blue eyes, white blonde
The glorious angel of miracles. He is such a dazzling white that you can only see his incredible eyes shining through. As you feel his presence enfold you, open your heart to receive his gift of intense love.
Nemamiah, brown eyes, dark brown hair
This sacred being is a guardian angel of all those who fight for just causes. He is especially protective towards people who defend the rights of those who cannot defend themselves
Shekinah, green eyes, blonde
A female angel of liberation and freedom. Always close to humankind, Shekinah inspires mortals to be just and fair. She is especially healing of body, mind and spirit.
Liwet, blue eyes, red head
This angel presides over vanguard ideas and inventions. He is especially protective of mortals who have original ideas and thoughts, and is also very encouraging of individuality and uniqueness
Atuesuel, dark brown eyes, grey hair
He is invoked to "smoke out the monsters of hell."