AN: This fic is extremely AU for SPN - but how, I cannot say without revealing massive spoilers for this story. There are also spoilers for those of you who haven't seen SPN up to the end of Season 8, so be warned!
Logic? I don't need no stinking logic! Sanity-free storytelling, that's the order of the day from me!
R&R and enjoy!
Chapter 1
Cedric woke up shivering - something he hadn't done for over fifteen years, not since he was still alive. He'd never had too many dreams since then, but tonight had proven the exception to the rule. And a seriously nightmarish one at that.
He'd seen a pair of men, both quite tall, one in a beige trench coat, fighting dementors, of all things. Clearly they weren't wizards, because they didn't even attempt to summon Patronuses to defend themselves with. They just tried to stab the dementors with knives. The one in the trench coat even managed to down one with a bottle full of something that burst into flames on contact with a dementor's body.
This only made it mad, however. The dementor proceeded to grab the man in the trench coat and hold him up to its mouth with one hand, using the other to lower its hood.
"CASTIEL! NO!" Cedric yelled, even though he had no idea what the man's name was, having never seen him before. The other man joined in his cry at exactly the same time, but it was too late. The dementor performed the Kiss on Castiel, and Cedric could only stand there, rooted to the spot with fear, as his soul disappeared into the dementor's misshapen mouth. It floated backwards, looking as close to smug and self-satisfied as a dementor could possibly get
But then something completely unexpected happened. Huge, blinding white light beams lanced out from within the dementor's body. It screeched in pain, but that was nothing compared to the howl of a thousand tornadoes that was emanating from within it. The dementor clawed at its stomach, but the light exploded outward again, and again, finally bursting forth and filling Cedric's eyesight completely...
And then it was over.
He was still dwelling on the nightmare hours later as he served drinks to the loyal customers of the Second Marauder. Sirius Black had opened the restaurant just after he himself had arrived in town, only a year after Cedric's death.
"Something wrong?" asked the customer, a boy with big blond hair who'd ordered a Coke.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry," said Cedric. "Just got a bit distracted, that's all."
The boy took his soda. "You look kinda familiar. Have I seen you before?"
Cedric laughed wryly. "If it's that vampire story that's been spreading around on Earth since I moved out..."
"What vampire story?" asked the boy innocently.
"Oh," said Cedric. "Thank God for that. I've gotten a bit sick of having to tell people I'm not a vampire, nor have I ever been one."
The boy laughed. "Yeah, that doesn't even count as a vampire story anyway. Those creatures don't shrivel and burn in the sunlight, they frickin' sparkle. Like fairies. Can you believe that?"
"What has the world come to?" Cedric asked.
At this point, a loud rumble echoed throughout the building. "Earthquake?" the boy asked, instinctively dodging underneath the bar.
"We don't get earthquakes here," said Cedric. "I don't understand..."
And then a burst of light pierced Cedric's vision again, just like at the end of his nightmare. The restaurant interior vanished, to be replaced by a dark patch of woods. Lights were streaking through the night sky like a meteor shower.
Seconds later, a tall man in heavy earth-tone colors approached him. "Cas!" he yelled. "I found one!"
He was instantly joined by another tall man. Cedric recognized him instantly as Castiel, the one who'd been Kissed by the dementor in his dream. "Dean...this isn't an angel," said Castiel.
"What? But he just landed here, I saw the light! You sure he's not one of you guys?"
"Absolutely," said Castiel, his voice fading in Cedric's ears as he started to fall unconscious. "But if he fell from Heaven...it's too dangerous for him out here. We need to get him to safety."
