To Hell and Back
In all his eons as an angel of the lord Castiel had never braved the depths of hell. He had been all over heaven and earth, to all the nooks and crannies of the most obscure places but he had only ever watched his brothers and sisters dive into the pit. Watching the few souls lucky enough to be rescued from the torture was like trying to watch TV through the crack in the floorboards. You get a hint of what is happening but its all muted, far off, so…. unreal.
Actually traveling into hell was completely different. The screams, the pain, the overwhelming sense of disappear, it all threatened to drown even the strongest of his battalion. Castiel focused hard on his mission, the Righteous Man was the only one who mattered, and he was the only one they could save. Castiel could sense the soul of the Righteous Man in the deepest depths of this horrendous place. His brothers and sisters were falling all around him, but the Righteous Man's soul was growing closer and Castiel couldn't look away. He had never seen a soul so bright, so pure, and yet… The pain this soul had endured…. It made Castiel ache. He couldn't remember ever feeling such total and absolute emotion before. He swore to himself that he would save this man. As Castiel's fingertips caressed this bright, shining soul a name, voiced in no more than a whisper, invaded his mind. Dean Winchester.
He gripped this Righteous Man, Dean, tight and started to raise him from perdition. He noticed for the first time how few siblings of his were now protecting him, no, protecting Dean as they fought their way out. If Castiel thought getting to Dean had taken a long time, it was nothing compared to dragging Dean back out. As he held this beautiful soul he whispered comfort, told stories of battles he hadn't thought about in ages, spoke of things he had never known he thought let alone tried to put in words. As he whispered to this shining beacon of hope he cradled in his hands it started to shine just a bit brighter as if Castiel's words were polishing the soul of the Righteous Man, of Dean. And then, as Castiel drew closer to the surface this soul, this fragile wonderful entity, began to whisper back. In that moment as the Righteous Man, as Dean, shared everything with Castiel he finally understood the love his father had for these creatures, these humans. He understood.
The love and amazement that Castiel had been pouring into this little soul, started to flow back as if this Dean Winchester understood that they now shared a profound bond. At that moment Castiel broke the boundary of Hell and he couldn't keep in his elation in check. He crowed, literally crowed as loud as Gabriel's horn "Dean Winchester is saved!"
Castiel found Dean's rotting corpse and carefully, lovingly restored Dean's body. This container for the most beautiful soul Castiel had ever come into contact with. Castiel lovingly smoothed out the multitude of scars Dean had collected during his first life, rebuilt the muscle free of old wounds, fused bone, fixed all the old aches and pains his Dean had suffered from. Castiel made a container that was worthy of the soul nestled in his arms. As he settled his Dean gently back into his body he couldn't resist leaving a mark, a brand on this man's body if not his soul. Castiel claimed this man as his own, his to protect, his to guide, his to teach, to love.
Castiel watched as his Dean woke up, confused and overwhelmed, and proceeded to burst his way out of the pine box he was entombed in. Castiel watched as Dean stumbled his way to an abandoned building (a station of gas?) guzzled down a bottle of water and Castiel couldn't wait any longer. He had to speak to Dean again offer words of comfort and hear his Dean offer his thoughts in return. Castiel crooned to his Dean, but unlike when they were in hell Dean fell to the ground, clutching his head. What went wrong? How is it that his Dean couldn't understand him? It had to be a mistake! He'd try again, but after Dean got a bit of rest.
The second time he tried to speak to his Dean he understood. This human body of his, it wasn't able to hear Castiel's real voice. When he heard his Dean and that other man calling to him, he found a vessel as quickly as he could. Jimmy Novak was happy to have a purpose and what better purpose then getting Castiel to his Dean. Being stabbed in the heart wasn't quite what he expected though. Did his Dean not remember? How could he not remember? Although the despair threatened to overwhelm him, Castiel knew it would be okay. It didn't matter if he didn't recall the trip out of hell yet, his Dean would remember… one day. One day he and his Righteous Man would share a heaven. Castiel was sure of it. He just had to be patient and look after his Dean until then.