And Suddenly We Fall
Summary: "Sammy's dead, Cas. My brother is dead and you - you're the only family I have left."
Castiel closes the Gates of Heaven and loses his grace in the process and Dean is too late to stop his brother from closing Hell - he can only find his brother dead next to a newly human Crowley. Just when Dean thinks things can't possibly get worse, Kevin finds out that closing Heaven and Hell at the same time has serious consequences. Together, Castiel and Dean have to face a threat that seems too big for both of them and find out what it means to have only each other to rely on.
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.
Notes: This is my first SPN fanfiction, I really hope you like it. The next chapters will be longer than this one, but this is only the prologue, so yeah. Special thanks go to Lynn (Sunflowers in Moscow on ff. net – she writes great fics) for beta reading. It would be great if you left me some comments.
Prologue
Naomi is dead in her chair, her head resting on her desk lifelessly when Castiel arrives in heaven. He swallows, his mind revolving around the countless scenarios he had depicted – and the fact that this is not one of them. Mere moments before, Naomi had told him and Dean about how she was sure Metatron hasn't told them the whole truth, had told Castiel to stop as long as it was still possible, had told him to trust her –but how could he have trusted her, after what she had done to him?
He should have trusted her regardless, Cas thinks, as he turns around and Metatron is smiling sweetly, almost innocently, an angel blade in his hand.
"Castiel," he utters and the first thing that comes to Cas' mind is that Dean would have probably called the other angel a total creep.He mentally crosses out the 'probably' when Metatron's lips curl upwards and expose his vessel's yellow teeth.
"What have you done?" Cas cries out and backs away to the desk, where Naomi is still lying motionlessly, purposefully ignoring the hint of amusement that flickers in Metatron's eyes.
"Oh come on, Castiel. You have killed more angels than any single one of us, or so I'm told." He tilts his head, mocking the way Castiel always instinctively does the same when he doesn't understand something. One of his arms then shoot towards Cas, gripping him tightly.
"We simply had a bit of a... disagreement," Metatron muses, his fingers clasping around Castiel's arm even tighter, making him wince.
"Now there's no one who can prevent us from closing the gates of Heaven."
"Is it true what Naomi told us?" Cas gasps, trying to break free from Metatron, but the other angel is so much faster, so much stronger than himself. He is one of the old ones, after all, eons older than Castiel himself. "Is it true that Sam is going to die?"
"Indeed. But if I had told them, he would probably have never completed the trials."
Cas stares at him in disbelief, and he is thinking of Dean, probably being too late. Dean, finding his little brother dead.
"So what is the last trial for closing the gates of Heaven?" Castiel asks tonelessly after minutes of silence.
From the corner of his eyes, he notices the silver blade in Metatron's hand, which is pressed against Castiel's side. He closes his eyes for a moment, imagining Metatron stabbing the blade in his body, imagining the sharp pain that will most certainly rip his grace apart – eating him up from the inside until his empty vessel is the only thing that's left of him.
But instead, Metatron is laughing softly and Cas is shoved in a chair with almost too much force.
"An angel's grace," the other angel tells him, his eyes lighting up like Dean's do when he is eating pie.
"An angel's... grace?" Cas repeats weakly.
"Your grace, to be precise."
Castiel swallows again, forcing himself to wipe his face clear of emotions.
"What if I don't cooperate?" he asks, his eyes fixated on the blade in Metatron's hands.
"Don't you see? Isn't it the least you could do for your Winchester boy, now that his brother is dead? Isn't it the least you can do for him to ensure he can for once live a normal life, without angels or demons? So that he can settle down? Have the life you have always wanted him to have?"
Despite everything, Castiel nods.
"What about me? Will I die?" he asks then, quietly.
Metatron smiles again when Castiel looks up to him and now he almost looks friendly, innocent, like an average old man, not like the dangerous, millions of years old creature that he is. He shakes his head and his lips curl into a grin.
"You won't die. It's so much better than that. You will lose your grace, but your very essence, your soul, will stay in this body. I want you to promise me something, Castiel. I want you to live this new life to the fullest. Being human, it's something wonderful, Cas."
Cas nods, his whole body shaking, because he knows there would most likely be consequences for him not cooperating. He can see it in the elder angel's eyes, in the way they seem to take pleasure from every second Castiel is clearly feeling miserable – and helpless, so utterly, utterly helpless.
"What do I have to do?" he finally asks. He watches with wide eyes as Metatron takes his hand and Castiel's blade appears in it. He swallows when Metatron motions Cas' arm to his throat, until the blade touches his skin.
"Cut."
And so Castiel does what he is told, cutting the skin of his throat, until he has to close his eyes at the brightness of his own grace, screaming as he feels it detaching from his body, being ripped out and leaving behind nothing.
He feels the angel blade, which is suddenly too heavy in his hand, slip out of his hand and fall down on the floor – then he feels Metatron's hand on his face, fingers violently pressing in his skin.
"Now you can go where you belong, little human,"he hears Metatron everything is too bright, too warm and he briefly wonders if being touched by an angel is always so uncomfortable before his vision goes black, and everything falls apart.