A/N: The name of his fic comes from the song by the same name. Because holy shit Imagine Dragons songs man. These things are pure gold for fic inspiration.
PROLOGUE
It had been a long morning for Castiel.
Time seemed to be stuck in slow motion as he waited and waited for his mom to let him out.
He was going to Dean's house today. His mommy had said he could make cookies the day before and take them over to his friends the next day, so long as he promised to share them with Miss Mary and Mister John. He had asked about Sammy, but apparently babies can't eat cookies. Which clearly meant babies did not in fact, 'have it easier', as Dean kept saying. Because they couldn't eat the tasty food, which in Castiel's opinion did not balance out not having to tidy up after themselves.
His mommy was on the phone to Miss Mary at that very moment, and Castiel couldn't stop himself from staring out the window over at Dean's house across the street.
He wanted to go and play now.
He bobbed up and down, trying to catch a peak of Dean himself in any of the other house's windows. It was quite far away, but Castiel had just had been given new glasses by the eye doctor, who told him how well he could seen now, so he wasn't worried.
All he was worried about, was that his mommy would take so long it would be dark, and he wouldn't be able to see Dean at all.
He clutched the box of cookies in one hand and used the other to push the glasses back up his nose as they slipped on a particularly vicious bounce. They were thick rimmed things, black and square and they felt really weird on Cas's nose, but his mommy and daddy said he couldn't take them off unless it was bath or bedtime. But Dean had said he looked cool in them so Cas was pretty sure they were worth it, especially as now the other boy didn't tease him for squinting so much now.
Though regardless of any well meant mocking, Castiel was still utterly sure that he wouldn't trade Dean's friendship for anything.
It had been a long day for John Winchester too.
4 years old.
4 damn years old and already John Winchester was struggling to keep up with his oldest son.
The boy was running rampant around a pile of freshly mown grass, staining his trousers a horrendous shade of green as John stood powerless to stop him.
'Look Sammy', the boy cried to the baby sat in his swing a few meters away. 'I'm a race car look.' He rumbled his voice in an impression of an engine and set off again, ploughing across the grass and sending it flying everywhere again.
John sighed, and grabbed his rake up off the ground again, a rueful smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.
It had been a long morning.
But he wouldn't trade it for anything.
It wasn't Mary Winchesters dream to live in the small town of Lawrence, Kansas. Far from it in fact.
As a girl she had long dreamed of a house on the coast. A beachfront property, with sand and sea and sun all around. Where she could recline lazily in the afternoon rays, a chilled drink cooling her as she sipped and watched her husband and children – 3 she had imagined, 2 boys and a girl – play in the surf.
But life doesn't always turn out the way you want it to.
She didn't get the house.
Or the beach.
Or the daughter, as it turned out.
Though from where she sat, she could still see her husband and sons playing together, but not in the warm Californian surf. Rather, in a rather damp pile of grass that John had just mown.
Yet somehow the day still seemed just as beautiful as that long lost dream. And she knew she wouldn't trade it for anything.
15 minutes later and his mother had finished on the phone, and Cas felt like an eternity had passed. But apparently Dean and his father had finished in the garden now, so Cas could come over and deliver his cookies.
He stood anxiously by the front door, huffing with impatience as his mother put her shoes on.
'Have you got everything sweetie?' His mother asked, standing up and grabbing her bag from where it hung on the banister.
Castiel nodded 'Yup.' He said.
'Are you sure? Socks, shoes and sweater?'
'Yeees.' Cas groaned. 'Mommy please can we go?'
'Have you got your glasses?'
'Mooommy. They are on my face! I can't forget them.'
His mother laughed and ruffled his hair as she opened the door. 'I know bumblebee. I was just teasing. Come on, I know you'll want to give Dean his cookies.'
Cas grinned and shot out the door past his mother, cookie box in one hand as the other held his glasses tightly to his face.
As he reached the gate he looked up and saw Dean stood across the road, his arms waving wildly in the air.
'Cas.' The other boy cried out. 'Come and play. Hurry up!'
The smile on Castiel's face grew impossibly wider as he fumbled with the gate latch. He needed to get to Dean now.
He heard the satisfying ker-thunk, of the latch coming free, and quickly shoved the gate out of his way, hearing it slam back with a loud clang.
Unfortunately...the clang seemed to mask the other loud sound that rang out as Cas's feet hit the tarmac road.
That of both his mother and Dean yelling out again.
The simultaneously 'Cas, No' and 'Stop!' falling on deaf ears.
.
.
.
Castiel never saw the car.
But he sure felt it.
X
There was a flash.
The brightest light Castiel had ever seen in his life- like a thousand bulbs exploding in front of his eyes – leaving him reeling and struggling to see. Everything was a swirl of colours and sounds and Cas was so so scared. There was an unbearable pain coursing through him and it hurt so much and he just wanted it to stop, hot tears fought to escape but wouldn't fall and Cas couldn't breathe and he tried to reach out but he couldn't feel anything and his arm refused to move and he wanted his mommy and his daddy and Dean, he wanted Dean and he screamed.
SLAM!
Castiel felt himself landing on something hard – yet strangely soft at the same time. The colours and sounds had gone, and so too had the pain, but Cas was scared to open his eyes.
He was laying down and quickly curled up into a ball as tight as he could as if nothing could reach him if he made himself as small as possible.
He swallowed roughly and sucked in a harsh breath, relieved to find he could once again feel the oxygen rushing into his lungs.
He gulped down mouthfuls of air as quickly as he could, scared that at any moment it could vanish again and he'd be left suffocating.
He could barely hear anything over the sound of his ragged breathes, until suddenly a voice echoed out, and Castiel froze.
'Hey there buddy.' said the voice, deep, but not as deep as his daddy's was. 'You ok?'
Castiel's eyes shot open to find a small blonde man crouched before him, his face not a foot from Cas's own.
Cas screamed, and leapt up, scrabbling back on his bum till his back hit something cold – a wall. And oh no, oh no, oh no, he was trapped again and suddenly it was getting harder to breathe and he was so so scared and-
'Hey, hey, hey.' The man startled too, reaching out to Cas, but pulling his arm back just as quickly when he sees the boy jerk away. 'It's ok there little guy, I'm not here to hurt you. You need to breathe there buddy. Nice and slow ok'
Castiel's breaths stammered slightly, but the air kept coming. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the man and sniffling, still shaking as he tried to get his breathing under control.
'My names Gabriel.' The man spoke again, sitting himself down on the floor but moving no closer to Castiel. 'I know everything's a bit scary right now, but you need to calm down a little ok, so I can explain what's going on.'
Castiel said nothing, but after a few moments uncurled himself, sitting up so he mirrored the man's pose. Whilst he knew he should feel scared by this stranger, there was something within him telling him not to be. A smooth wash of warmth emanating within him crying 'safe, safe, safe.' The feeling seemed to grow the more he looked at the man. But Cas slowly felt the worry seep from him as his breaths finally slowed to a regular pace.
His breathing gradually slowed down to a controllable level, and his chest sagged down, leaving him feeling rather tired all of a sudden.
'You alright now?' Gabriel asked, and Castiel nodded.
'Cracking stuff.' Castiel tilted his head in confusion, nothing appeared to be broken, but Gabriel continued.
'Let's get comfortable first. You know my name, so it's only fair I get to know yours.'
'C-Castiel.'he replies, voice small and shaky with nerves.
'Ooh, fancy.' Gabriel replies. 'Castiel what?'
'Novak, Sir.' Cas says, 'Castiel Novak.'
At that, Gabriel frowns, whipping a small pad of paper out of his pocket and whipping through a list of something, his frown deepening when he doesn't appear to find what he's looking for. 'The fuck?' he mutters, and luckily, Castiel doesn't catch the swear, and the man's smile snaps back onto his face.
'Ok Castiel, so...you see this room?' Cas nodded. 'This room here is what we call The Station, because it's where everyone travels to, and gets dropped off.'
Castiel had never been to a station before. He's seen them on TV but his mommy said that they were only for people going far away. He hopes he's not too far away from his mommy right now.
'But this is a special kind of station.' Gabriel continued. ' Instead of it being a place you go to a lot, when you go on holiday or to a big city, you just go here once ok? For your final journey.'
Castiel looked up at the man and his eyes go wide. 'Final?' That wasn't a good word. Final was something mommy used as a warning when he was being bad. ('For the final time Castiel, go to bed!') 'But how do I go home?'
Gabriel's expression slid a little at the boys words, his smile slipping away momentarily before it quickly snaps back. 'That's the thing kiddo. From this Station, you can't go home.' If possible, the little boys eyes went even wider, the bright blue staring right at Gabriel as terror blossomed within them. He tried to backtrack quickly.
'But you go to a new home instead. So it's not really very bad at all, see?'
Cas doesn't really see, and Gabriel knows it and tries a new angle.
'You ever been to church?' he asked, and the fear in the young boys eyes subsides somewhat. He liked church. They had singing and music and once a month they had cake brought in by Miss Maggie.
'Great' Gabriel replied, this should make his job slightly easier. 'So, you heard about Heaven then?'
Again Cas nodded. 'It's where Mister and Mrs Krewinski went.' He said proudly. 'Daddy said it was because they were old and it was their time to meet God.'
'Kinda.' Gabriel replied. 'When a person gets old or sick or gets in an accident, their body can't always handle it, and so it stops working. When this happens, you call it dying.'
Cas nodded. He'd heard people talk about that before.
'So this Station, the place you are now. This is where people come when the die, and then we take them to Heaven.'
Cas's brow crinkled. 'Are you God?' he asked, voice far too serious for a boy his age and Gabriel snorts.
'Not quite kiddo' he replied, 'but I am an Angel.'
'Are you here to take me to heaven?'
'Technically yes...only...there seems to be something a wee bit a miss.' Gabriel grabbed his notepad again and flipped through once more. 'It's just that normally we have a list of those who'll be arriving at The Station each day, so we know to prepare and...geeze, you are young aren't you. How old are you?'
'Four' Castiel replied, his voice small and a little shaky.
'Shit.' Castiel gasped. 'Four, really? Ok. That is actually ridiculous. You don't just reap kids like that. Not unless they're due something even more hideous in the future. You don't have cancer or anything do you?'
Cas just looked confused.
'Leukaemia, or something. Did they hook you up to a load of machines, hospitals and beepy machines and doctors dressed like batman. Or was it something else? Measles, Meningitis, OI, HIV?'
Castiel shook his head. He doesn't even know what any of those are, let alone whether he has them.
'Damn. That's not right.'
Castiel looked even more confused, blue eyes blazing, and Gabriel sighed, hand coming up to run through his hair.
'See, Castiel...you're not on the list for people arriving today.'
Cas blinked
'So you aren't really meant to be here.'
Another blink, and Gabriel swallows.
'Which means...well, I'm pretty sure it means... You, Castiel Novak, aren't meant to be dead.'
A/N: TBC...
