Dean sat on the ground glaring out into the nothing. He tensed and relaxed in jaw angrily, tapping his fingers on the side of his face. Clotho was laying on her back in mid air throwing a tennis ball up until it vanished, then holding out her hand in the exact place it fell to. After hearing the thud of the ball landing in her hand for the hundredth time, Dean snapped.
"You mind?" He turned slightly and snapped at her.
She looked at him, her hand to the side. "Sure, sorry." The ball came into view, hurtling towards her hand.
"You catch that, I'm gonna punch you."
Clotho smirked and the ball went thud as it landed in her hand. Dean growled irritably and stood up, storming over to her. She clicked her fingers and she dropped into her feet, standing ready for him. He stopped barely a centimetre away from her, his right eye twitching and his hands balled into fists. Clotho was a whole head shorter than him but she still seemed to be winning the stare off.
"I thought you didn't have a problem with balls." She winked.
Dean sighed deeply, looking to the side as if there were an invisible person standing there who'd give him a look of sympathetic knowing. "There is nothing going on between Cas and me."
"Who says I was talking about Cas?"
Dean looked back to her, a vaguely disgusted look on his face. "Sam is my brother. That's just nasty."
"Well... you two do spend a lot of time together..." she began circling him. "You would die for him, you two are incapable of spending more than a year apart."
"I left him alone when he went to college!"
"Yes, but you did go back for him... and you thought about him everyday..."
Dean turned, grabbing her shoulders. "I'll say this once... . ."
Clotho chucked slightly. "I know, just messing with you." she ruffled his hair, and stepped out of his grip.
Dean closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Whispering, he repeated "I will not kill her." over and over like a personal mantra.
"Oh, Dean you don't want to kill me." She smiled at him, something suggestive in her eyes.
He met them and frowned slightly. She kept up the look, then he smirked slightly making a not bad face.
"Now, you want to see how you not being born effects the world?"
Dean had to admit he was curious. His cynical mind already pictured a world where the apocalypse was never started, Sam had stayed in college and married Jess, and Castiel had stayed happy in heaven. He sighed again, rubbing his forehead. "Sure. Why not?"
Clotho grinned and held out her hand to him. "Then let's go."
He took it uncertainly, but once he had there was a rush of air around them. The darkness swirled like an inky whirlpool. Then shots of light were added to the mixture like someone had taken a wet painting of the night sky and ran their hands all over it. This melted away and they were standing on a street corner. There were people all around him going about their everyday business. Walking to their cars and heading to work. Selling papers off the path and cooking hot dogs. Dean let go of Fate's hand and took a step forwards.
"So... everyone is okay?" He felt the guilt he usually smothered with whiskey build up in his chest.
Clotho made a face. "Not exactly... take a look."
He turned and saw her looking at a collection of TV's in a shop window. The news channel was showing a tsunami in Japan following a major earthquake that had killed thousands of people. Dean frowned.
"I don't understand... if I didn't go to hell, then the first seal can't have been broken." He looked at her, his eyes a little red. "This shouldn't be happening."
"Dean, you also have to think about something else." The snide look she'd had was gone. Something close to sympathy was there instead. "Who would be alive if you weren't."
Dean frowned, clearly not getting it. She took his hand again, and the scene melted away. Now they were standing in a motel room, Dean went to let go of her hand, but she held it tightly. "If you let go... he'll be able to see and hear you."
He was confused. Who would? And then he saw him. Sam came into the room, his long hair was cut short and looked very much like Dean's. There was something off about him. His features weren't gentle. They were hard and battered, and his eyes were haunted like he'd seen things and had no one to talk about them with. As if he thought no one would care. Despite this, Dean was happy to see him. He smiled, watching his brother dump his bag on one of the single beds. He'd left the door open, and another man walked in. Dean's eyes widened and his throat went dry.
Sam turned, and nodded to a smaller bag on the table. "Pass that over?"
John Winchester picked up the bag and threw it to his son. "Sure thing, Sammy." He frowned slightly at his expression. "Come on, kid. It's not the end of the world. Well... it is, but not just yet."
Sam smirked, shaking his head. "Okay, Dad. I'll take your word for it."
Dean eyes stung. Not only was his father alive, but he and Sam got on. He swallowed and looked at Clotho. "I don't understand..."
"You were never in that car crash... you were never in that hospital dying, John never made the deal." She gave his hand a little squeeze, starting to think to herself that this hadn't been such a good idea. "He never died... well, he did."
Dean cleared his throat, trying to loosen it a bit. "When?"
"When Sam got stabbed. He did what you did, went to hell... broke the first seal."
"But... Alastair said he never gave in?"
"In this reality, he does." She looked at Sam.
"So, what? Castiel brought him back."
"No. Michael did." She looked at him again, pausing before saying this. Not sure how he'd react. "Dean... look... Castiel is dead in this world."
Dean huffed, looking back to John and Sam. "Dad's alive and Cas is dead. Not sure where that leaves me."
