Dean stared at his brother from across suburban landscape. The parking lot, the playground, and their surrounding environs were not large, but the gulf between the two brothers wasn't merely physical. Dean was oblivious to the amassing demons surrounding him, or to the two angels vainly trying to hold back the horde. Sammy was here.
Seeing his brother brought on strange sensations. Relief knowing that Sam was safe. Shame for Sam seeing him as a monster. And hatred knowing that Sam was trying to save him when he didn't want to be saved.
The Knight watched his brother as Sam looked back, watched his expression as the younger man caught sight of him. He could see the look of hope intermingled with fear flicker across Sam's face. He had always been able to read Sammy like an open book; the kid couldn't hide his emotions from him. Sam made eye contact, but not with Dean. He's eyes sought out Cas instead. And then he disappeared into the light of the Heaven's Gate.
Dean heard Castiel let out a breath when Sam disappeared, only to suck it in again as he traded one worry for another. 'Yeah, that's right, buddy. We both know what your family is going to do to my kid brother when they find him walking around up there,' Dean thought bitterly.
"Ah, there you are," stated Crowley conversationally as he materialized next to Dean. He took one look at the Knight's face and his expression turned sour. "Bollocks. What is it now?"
"Sam beat us here," explained Castiel, but they could both hear the quiet triumph in his tone.
Crowley turned his attention to the activated Heaven's Gate. "Bollocks," he hissed again.
"Traitor!"
The shrill child's voice turned the trio's attention back to the two angels. The small girl stood in their way, her fists clenched in unsuppressed rage. Her eyes were blazing with the strength of her grace and Crowley's horde had fallen back in awe. They surrounded her in a loose ring, eying her with trepidation. The tiny angel was glaring directly at Castiel.
"Obadiah," he said quietly, his head dropping slightly in shame. He glanced beyond her to the kneeling Martha. He had never had a quarrel with either of them. Obadiah had always been aloof, very quick to express opinions but always trusting in the justice of Heaven. And quiet, gentle Martha had always shown him kindness. 'Please, please run away,' he thought desperately.
Obadiah's narrowed eyes darted to Dean. He smirked at her, arching an eyebrow. "Ah, yes, your Righteous Man, Castiel," sneered the angel. Dean's black eyes seemed to become impossibly darker at her taunts. The child-angel threw her arm out in his direction. "Do you see, brother? This is why we were never meant to love them! This is their true nature. Given the chance, they would all become...this...thing..." She wrinkled her nose in disgust at Dean.
"You little..." growled the Knight, taking a step towards the angel.
"Dean, please," broke in Castiel, but Obadiah's malicious laughter drowned out his plea.
"Yes, Dean Winchester, show Castiel what you truly are. A monster!" shouted the girl throwing her arms out and daring him to strike her.
Dean held out his arm so Obadiah could get a good look at the Mark of Cain burning on his forearm and the First Blade clenched in his fist. Her bravado seemed to fail her somewhat. She hesitated and then took a breath. Then the child's head was thrown back and Obadiah abandoned her vessel.
Dean was expecting it to flee. Every muscle in his body tensed, ready for pursuit, but the angel hovered before them, impossibly huge. It's presence seemed to take up the entire playground, to tower over them, though it was still concentrated into the size of an average human. Dean heard the other demons shriek and scatter backwards, but he refused to give any ground. Castiel and Crowley remained by his side, though he could see the King quaking a little. Behind the angel, the little girl that had served as it's vessel was blinking and getting her bearings. Her wide eyes took in the masses of demons and the Knight of Hell.
'Martha, take Marie and GO!' ordered Obadiah, it's voice booming inside Dean's head.
"No! Obi!" the little girl cried, her voice panic-stricken, her arms reaching out for the angel. Martha snatched the little girl backward. There was the sound of a downbeat of wings, and they were gone.
Dean let out a mirthless laugh. "So much for not caring about them. Hypocrite," he accused, his eyes flickering pointedly to the spot where the little girl Marie had been. Then he was standing directly in front of the angel, and he drove the First Blade into it. It was so much different than killing something flesh and blood. It was so much better. Dean grinned as Obadiah's grace seemed to collapse in on itself, flickering in a lightening storm of energy, and then ceasing to exist altogether.
There was a deafening silence, and then the horde broke out into raucous cheers. Dean didn't turn to look at the masses celebrating the hollow victory. His eyes were on the Heaven's Gate, his breath held in expectation. He felt pure exultation as the gate blazed even brighter and the first Host of Heaven burst out shining in grace-fueled glory.
"Finally," he breathed quietly, and stepped forward, ready to feed the Blade's lust for more.
Sam stared at the playground and his heart sank. The Gate hadn't worked. He took in the swing set, the see-saw, the monkey bars, but all at once he paused. This wasn't the same playground. Nothing was in the same spot, and the equipment seemed to have more wear-and-tear. Just beyond the boundaries of the playground, the surroundings seemed hazy and indistinct, as if they were just the suggestion of a place, not the actual place itself. Then Sam looked up at the sky.
Even though his surroundings seemed to be bathed in afternoon sunlight, he was staring at an unreal night-sky, green aurora-like lights snaking across it. It was impossibly beautiful, and Sam found himself thinking that he had actually missed this from the last time he and Dean had been there all those years ago when Cas had guided them to the Garden at the center.
"This looks just like the playground back home," began Claire, but then she trailed off with a soft "oh" of surprise. Sam turned to her. She was also staring skyward, her mouth forming a small smile as she took in the beauty of the rippling sky above them. Matthias was smiling happily, the look of a man who had finally come home. The smile vanished at the sound of unfurling wings.
Sam spun to see a pretty teenager with glossy, chestnut hair. Her eyes were a warm brown and they were wide with a look of both delight and horror. Sam quickly looked back at Matthias. It was clear that the angel recognized the new comer. His face was pale and he instinctively reached out and took Claire's hand in his. Sam stepped back and to the side, coming to stand beside the pair. He turned his attention back to the other girl.
"Matthias?" asked the new angel, her voice tentative but issuing a challenge. She had been staring at a point past him with a deep frown on her face, a frown that deepened when she glanced down at Matthias and Claire's fingers entwined together.
"Beatrice," greeted Matthias, his voice flat.
"Friend of yours?" quizzed Sam nervously.
"Yes," answered Beatrice at the same time that Matthias answered "No."
"Well, that was harsh!" snorted Beatrice, twisting her pretty face into a pout that looked cold and malicious.
"How am I to consider you my friend when I know why you are here, Beatrice?" countered Matthias.
"Rit zien," whispered Claire, her hold on Matthias' hand tightening. Beatrice's eyes darted to Claire with an appraising gaze. Then she nodded once.
"Matthias," she began, her tone calm and reasoning. "You know I have to do this. I asked to do this. Please don't make this harder on me or on your friends."
"You asked to do this to him!" interrupted Claire, her voice trembling with emotion. "How dare you call yourself his friend!"
"I am the most merciful of all of the rit zien!" retorted Beatrice, emotion rising in her voice. "I love him too much to trust any other to do this!"
"Beatrice is the best. She will be swift," Matthias interjected softly. He reached out and touched Claire's hair softly, a sad smile on his lips "I will not suffer...I won't even feel it..."
"No!" argued Claire, shaking her head fiercely and slapping his hand away from her. "I won't accept this!"
"Why?" asked Sam, turning the angel's attention from Claire and Matthias, trying to buy them time. "Why kill him? It doesn't make sense..."
"He is broken," answered Beatrice simply, looking at Sam as if he were incredibly stupid. She made a vague gesture. "He is no longer what he was created to be."
"What? Because he's missing a wing?" snapped Sam.
"You say that is if it's nothing, Sam Winchester. And, yes, I know who you are," she responded to his look of surprise. "And I know that it is your brother who is threatening my home and those I hold dear. You do not understand us. You cannot understand us. You cannot understand what it is to be something altogether other, and then to be made nothing at all. This way is kinder."
Sam's eyes flickered to Matthias. The angel stood quietly with his head bowed. He remembered seeing the angel's outstretched wing and the grizzly stump left from his battle with Dean. It had felt so very wrong.
"No." Claire's quiet voice brought his attention back to the present. "Matthias is not nothing." Her blue eyes blazed with defiance.
"He is incomplete," maintained Beatrice, her face impassive.
"Well, you might not like him like that, but I like him just fine, complete, incomplete, or what the hell ever he is," snapped Claire. Matthias gave her a look of such pure admiration that Sam was somewhat surprised when the angel didn't pull her into an embrace and kiss her. Instead, Matthias squeezed her hand tighter and then held himself a little straighter.
Beatrice let out a sigh and flicked her wrist, summoning her angel blade to her hand. "I had hoped to not have to kill all three of you," she lamented, shaking her head sadly. "But I see you truly have been corrupted by these humans, Matthias. For what it is worth, I am sorry."
Movement caught Sam's attention and from the hazy surroundings a figure appeared and stepped forward. Beatrice didn't have time to turn before the angel blade the figure was carrying pierced through her back. Her eyes widened in surprise. Her grace flickered and then she was gone, her vessel crumpling at the man's feet.
Sam stared at the familiar man as he stepped around the fallen rit zien. He turned his unmistakable blue eyes towards the trio, and Sam opened his mouth to call out "Cas" when Claire hurdled forward her arms outstretched. The man smiled and held his arms open for her.
"Daddy!" Claire cried, her voice strangled with emotion.
Jimmy Novak pulled his daughter close, burying his face in the waves of her blonde hair.
"Hello, Claire," he whispered softly.