Fictions Mentioned:

Short Story

OP Song:

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son (Official Audio)

Insert Song: Start

Dies irae - Animation OST: Unus Mundus

Sam Winchester wakes up, eyes wide open and breath being heard echoing from his ears. He can feel his heart beating, pumping up under the weight of feeling a sense of heaviness and dryness. In fact, he felt a sore throat, like he hadn't had water in ages. He can feel himself rising from a comfortable bed. He glances around from all directions until it centered on the one thing that he managed to maintain absolute focus on.

"Hello, Sam."

The figure was a man wearing a familiar-looking trenchcoat, overall having the appearance of an office worker with a formal suit. He was standing just a few meters next to him, never moving an inch, only carrying a strange-looking expression on his face.

Sam was confused, muttering. "Cass..."

Castiel only smiled sadly, giving him a simple nod but never speaking another word.

"...I..." Sam tried to sit down from the bed and looked around the place. It appeared to be a motel, the same type of motels that he and his brother used to stay in for the nights in regard to their hunting cases. There was a lamp on the desk nearby the side of the front. Barely any of the lights in the motel were turned on. "I...But...Wait...I..."

Castiel remained silent, only carrying a sad smile as he allowed Sam to make up his words and take his time. Time, he thought sadly. There was a certain level of irony in that line of thought, especially of what is happening right now.

"Wait...Where's Dean?" Sam was looking for his brother, recalling the very last thing that he had experienced before...falling into the cage. He recalls his brother all bloody and bruised after Lucifer, having taken over his body as a vessel, was using it to hurt him, punching him in the face repeatedly until Dean's face turned into a bloody pulp.

"Dean is fine, Sam," Castiel reassured with a sad smile. "More than fine in fact as he's now retiring his life as a hunter in order to live with someone close to him."

"Someone...close to him?" Sam made a confused expression, sitting down from the bed and still feeling a bit of fatigue in his chest. What made it weird for him was that Dean Winchester had been claimed to have been retired from hunting which is quite unthinkable for Sam as hunting was practically Dean's entire life.

"He's living with Lisa Braeden, alongside her son, Ben. It had been a few months since the end of the Apocalypse," Castiel explained.

"Wait, hold up. The end of the Apocalypse?" Sam made a bewildered expression, raising his right hand while touching his head with his left hand. "You mean...we'd won?" Sam asked as if to make sure.

"Yes," Castiel nodded. "We did it, Sam. It's over. The world will no longer be threatened by both Heaven and Hell. Everything is back to how it is as it should be before." Or so Castiel would like to think sadly.

"But wait I mean...I...I remember falling...just falling into the cage...After that, everything just...went blank..." Sam made a bewildered expression. "Hold on, if we stopped the Apocalypse, then how come I'm still here? Where's Lucifer?"

"Trapped in the cage...for good this time," Castiel explained.

"Then...how come we can talk like this? Wha..." Sam stopped for a moment. Castiel was here, he thought. If there were many things that he could remember about Castiel, he remembers him doing a lot of impossible feats such as...pulling Dean Winchester out of Hell. Did that happen again, he wondered. "Cass...Did you...Did you do something?"

Castiel remained silent for a few moments. Then he answered. "I did...I pulled you tight and raised you from perdition."

Before Sam could ask how, Castiel responded further. "But I had a little help. I had to summon Death by way of suggestion from someone that I've been working with for years."

"Wait, someone?" Sam made a confused expression. "You mean...like another angel friend of yours?"

"No, not an angel," Castiel shakes his head in the negative. "Although one of his titles right now would be mashḥit for some people which is the Hebrew term for "destroyer" but he's no angel and neither is he a man or a monster that you know. He's...someone else entirely."

"Wait...hold on, you don't mean..." Sam's expression became one of concern.

"And no, not a demon either, in case you're wondering," Castiel clarified.

Sam's expression made a complete 180 and turn into profound relief which made Castiel's face turn silent with the guilt of recalling a certain possible future or futures that could have been or should have been. The problem with his newly promoted position was that he had been given a few tweaks so to speak, meaning that he can do things that normal angels and even archangels such as Michael and Lucifer can't. Being promoted to this kind of position made a sense of tremendous responsibilities be made known to Castiel as he simply recalled the sense of Gospel humor from his father.

"Okay...so...not a demon...got it..." Sam made a satisfied expression. "So...you made a deal with Death to bring me back."

"Yes," Castiel nodded.

"Then...what about Adam? Where is he?" Sam asked about his half-brother, concerned for his well-being.

"He..." Castiel made a very hesitant expression. "He's still trapped, Sam."

"What?!" Sam made a shocked expression.

"Death said that he can only provide one soul out of the cage as part of the rules, that was the deal that had been made between me and him. So I inevitably had to choose...you or Adam. That was the deal. I'm sorry," Castiel said solemnly with not a hint of lying.

"...Oh," Sam muttered, not knowing what else to say as mixed feelings came under him. He was here while Adam was stuck in the cage. He didn't know how to feel about that except being a bit too uneasy.

"Sam, I need to tell you something important," Castiel warned gravely. "Don't try to make any form of contact with Dean whatsoever."

"Wait what?" Sam made a confused expression.

"Sam...You and I both know that Dean needs some time away from all of it, the hunting, the monsters, even from you. He needs to rest. Besides..." Castiel glances to the right towards the closed window. "Whatever is happening out there is something that he needs to be kept out of if possible. If I were to be honest, I would have kept you out of it as well but circumstances are unfortunately forcing my hand."

"Wait...what do you..."

But Castiel cut him off with a tone of urgency. "Something is happening, Sam. Something terrible. A conflict unlike any other, even exceeding the terror of the Apocalypse that we've prevented or of the many battles that have been known throughout our universe. A war that could threaten everything, all of existence, every last drop, is happening right now. Nowhere is safe from the changes, not even time itself, so if you see anything remotely wrong whether if it was the people that you know or the history that you could remember, don't be surprised and just keep pushing on."

Castiel begins to grab something from his back and it was a large travel bag. He placed it near Sam's bedside and opens the zipper, revealing what appeared to be advanced rifles and pistols.

Sam made a confused expression as they all appeared to look like something straight out of Star Trek or Star Wars the more he looked into the bag. "Cass...what are those?"

"Stasers," Castiel explained. "You'd need these tools if you're going to survive what's coming."

"You mean this...war that you're talking about? What's so bad about it that even makes the Apocalypse a lot worst than it already is?" Sam asked as he couldn't really fathom a conflict that couldn't equate to the scale of the Apocalypse that threaten the entire planet.

"One needs to think bigger, Sam," Castiel said subtly. He then hands him a pair of keys. "Here. Take this with you."

Sam grabs the pair of car keys. "Car keys? What are these for?"

"Your new car. I took the liberty of choosing it for you and I've managed to completely ward it with the best proper defenses that can be mustered, and that car is just outside the motel when you decide to leave," Castiel explained.

"Huh...thanks," Sam didn't know what to say about this.

"I couldn't afford to take the Impala as that would tip Dean off and make him...a bit negative to put it mildly so I thought it best to provide you with your own car with all of the latest technology and warding available to provide for being under the radar," Castiel explained.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Cass, just...slow down? Just...what the hell is going on here? Why are you even giving me all of this stuff?" Sam asked, not knowing what was going on and considering the fact that he just got out of the cage, there were a ton of questions that were circulating within his mind.

"I'll explain whatever I can for later. For now, you are to head straight towards Bobby Singer's Yard and don't stop for anything, I'll explain everything that I know there when I can," Castiel begins to stop for a moment, glancing from the window, making a worried expression which was noticed by Sam. "I have to go...there's something I need to be..."

And then, Castiel disappears quickly with the sounds of wings flapping being the only thing left to be heard, leaving Sam to think about what the hell had just happened and why was Castiel looking rather worried.

Sam needed to thank Castiel for the brand-new car the next time he'd seen them.

It was a black 2006 SRT8 Dodge Charger. When Castiel had said that he had it warded with the best defenses, he literally meant it. All of the symbols that were hidden from mortal eyes were more than enough to completely invisible to nearly everything from the supernatural. That being said, he only just did as he was told and drove through the open road toward the Singer Salvage Yard in order to meet up with Bobby Singer again. Needless to say, he had thoroughly enjoyed the car, feeling that he finally felt something to call his own. Sure there was the Impala, but still, it was his own personal car for crying out loud.

The reunion between Sam and Bobby wasn't...easy. And that was understating it as they had gotten into a little fight where Sam tried to prove that he was truly him by mentioning to him a few specific details that only he would know. To further prove his point, he simply used a silver knife to draw a little blood from his arm to prove that he was indeed human and not a shapeshifter, revenant, or anything. And of course, he tried holy water. Once again, nothing happened.

Now that the hunting examination is over, Sam tried his best to convey to Bobby what had taken place. The meeting between him and Castiel, Castiel telling him about some kind of war worst than the Apocalypse happening right now, the fact that Castiel specifically warned him not to tell or even meet up with Dean due to several reasons, and then some. Bobby was simply listening quietly, sitting on his chair.

"...So let me get this straight, that idjit managed to find a way to get you out of the cage by making a deal with Death and told you to keep Dean out of whatever the hell is happening this time around the world...or the universe as he'd put it...and gave you all of this stuff," Bobby indicated the travel bag that was surprisingly a lot bigger on the inside and has over a ton of sci-fi like weapons.

"That's...more or less the gist of it," Sam said respectfully.

Bobby made a heavy sigh, pinching his eyes out. "Honestly, if there's one thing that I have to agree with that angel, it's that Dean needs to stay completely out of this mess this time. He's been through...a lot. More hunters than most. I'd figure that he needed some time off after everything that had happened to him so...yeah, you really shouldn't meet up with Dean if you can help it. He's happy and content for once and I didn't wanna interfere with any of that either...well, besides the fact that he still thinks about you from time to time."

"He does?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Sam..." Bobby made a conflicted expression. "You've been gone...for months. Since then, Dean has been out, living a normal life, away from the hunting life. He deserved it after everything."

Sam remained a bit quiet after that. It was true that Dean had been through a lot more than anyone. In fact, he was the eldest brother who kept an eye on his younger brother all of the time as part of the responsibility that their father had entrusted him with. Looking back at all of that, plus knowing who Dean Winchester was, Sam couldn't help but agree for once. He needed to keep Dean out of it this time. He's no longer the younger brother that needs any protection at this point. He's a grown man, his own person. His older brother had been through enough. Dean protected him. Now it was his turn to protect Dean.

"Good, you're here."

Both Sam and Bobby turn to find Castiel from around the corner, looking a little disheveled from last time. There were new features aside from his disheveled and dirtied trenchcoat which was a bandolier wrapped around him that carried a few tools. Castiel was even sporting a beard, unlike the last recent time Sam had seen him. And there were traces of black paint...or rather blood sprayed from his clothing. And he was seen carrying a spiral, drill-like blade that was a lot longer, like a sword.

"What the hell?" Sam said, looking bewildered as he stood up along with Bobby. "Cass?! What the hell happened?!"

"I'll..." Castiel made a heavy labored breath. "I'll explain later...Right now, I need to use the shower."

Castiel managed to fix himself and his clothing up, shaved his beard, and was now taking a rest on the chair, drinking a beer that Bobby had provided after being asked by Castiel if he could get one available.

Castiel was drinking from his glass, tasting the beer, and commending the taste interiorly. "Thank you, " he said.

"Don't mention it," Bobby said with a deadpanned expression as he begins to lean towards the table.

"Cass...what the hell happened to you?" Sam asked, sitting beside Castiel.

"I've...recently gone through a thousand-year battle on a different planet in a different universe from this one..." Castiel explained softly, looking at the glass that he was holding and putting it down right next to the beer.

"Wait? Thousand-year battle? Different universe?" Bobby asked, noting what he considered to be sci-fi mumbo-jumbo terminology.

"Yes, um...to put things simply, this is not the only universe out there. There's...well, the numbers are arbitrary, and even then, this is all contained in one cosmos if you will forgive the term."

"Cosmos?" Sam asked.

"By cosmos, I would mean that each cosmos is a multiverse of its own, and they can either be similar or different as there are different universes with similar and different governing principles and order. Our cosmos for instance was created by God, and the multiverse that he created was rather...a simplistic complexity in terms of design. Not all universes in our multiverse are the same of course. Some of it is just like ours which follows the Many Worlds Interpretation Theory proposed by the scientists of your world where any possible decision that you make has been done in another universe, others have different mathematical combinations, and there are others that don't have humans as the main center of existence and another species was the one to take that place. The point is that God created this multiverse after finishing his touches with our universe."

"So what you're saying is that our universe was the first to ever exist in our...cosmos you mean," Sam said, interested in the topic.

"That's correct," Castiel nodded.

"Okay...so...aside from this multiverse shtick, I'm assuming there's a lot more to it than just discussing about some sci-fi mumbo jumbo...and it relates to this war that you've been so busy fighting..." Bobby pointed out.

"Yeah, Cass, you kept mentioning this war, but what war?" Sam asked.

Castiel made a grimaced expression, hesitating to answer for a few moments. He finally had the voice to speak. "It's known by many names from several different cultures and traditions. To humans, there's only one word that can describe it. The Time War."

When Castiel first uttered the name, both Sam and Bobby became rather silent, pondering deeply from their own personal thoughts. It felt like an unnatural echo to them, an echo of several thousand voices that were resounding all at once which never left the lips of a man for the measure of a single microsecond. It felt rather...ominous.

"Time...War?" Sam mulled the words.

Castiel sighed heavily. "I honestly didn't want to discuss this with any of you since I didn't want to get you both and Dean and anyone else personally involved but...that's the war that I'm currently fighting. To put things simply, the participants of this war use both space and time as the basic common weapon the same as if hunters were to use their own brand of killing tools. And this is but the lowest level that you can comprehend."

"And...how long have you been fighting in this War?" Sam asked, trying to grasp just what Castiel was trying to tell him.

"...I don't know how to answer that," Castiel made a grimaced expression as he begins to pour out the liquid into his glass in order to drink again, even though he knew personally that it wouldn't really work on him as he is now. "Was it years? Was it centuries? Was it millenniums? Dates all feel arbitrary when you're taking part in this conflict. If it weren't for the fact that our Earth has temporal shielding and time locks placed throughout our history which should keep the timeline that we're familiar with from running wild for the most part, then the problems would just increase more than they should."

"So...are the angels involved in this...Time War?" Sam asked.

Castiel made a snort which was accompanied by a grimaced smile. "If only...but then, they could not be any more aware of it than I was if I were merely just a simple angel."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"I've been promoted since the last time you saw me, Sam," Castiel glances at both Sam and Bobby with a sad smile. "Since then, I've had to undergo um...a spiritual journey if you will, explore the Multiverse, the Cosmos of the Cosmoses. And I've...seen much, both good and bad."

"Wait, promoted?" Sam said.

"An archangel," Castiel explained. "I'm an archangel now, with all of the status and privilege of one along with a few new benefits that my father gave me."

Both Sam and Bobby were in shock for a few moments as they needed to think about what they had just heard from their old friend.

"Wow...that's...um...that's...congratulations I guess..." Sam didn't know what to say.

"So you're mojo just tripled, is that what you're saying?" Bobby seems to have taken it more or less in stride after thinking everything over.

"Yes...since after my second resurrection when Lucifer disintegrated me into nothing," Castiel drinks his glass carefully before looking at his glass once again in order to see his face's reflection.

"So..." Bobby glances at the bag that was housing all of the tools that Castiel had given them. "How exactly do these stasers work?"

"Ah, well, it has different settings from stun to kill to other functions. From a lower perspective, you can actually use it to kill monsters with it without even having to bother with the usual norm of weapons," Castiel explained.

"So...kinda like those phasers from Star Trek?" Sam pointed out.

"I suppose so...from a certain point of view," Castiel made a hint of a humored smile.

"Hold on a minute," Sam made a surprised expression. "You understood that reference?"

"I did...and it's two years in advance for you to utter those words before it becomes rather popular to use," Castiel said.

"Wait...what do you mean by that?" Sam asked.

"No, I shouldn't say, you'll both figure it out eventually," Castiel shakes his head, recalling a famous Marvel film that wouldn't be out until 2012 in their world.

"Huh," Bobby made a raised eyebrow when he was bearing witness to Castiel actually understanding and even making use of pop culture references. "Guess you really have been busy then."

"In any case, I'll simply teach all of you the basic defenses that you need to know so that you wouldn't be caught off guard by this War. Then, I'll take my leave," Castiel explained.

"Wait, hold up, you're leaving already?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Yes, Sam," Castiel nodded. "I'm needed back at the front lines as time is literally of the essence. Besides that, I have an appointment with someone who is currently in White Russia a few hours later from our own respective time zone."

"Ugh...time travel," Bobby made a sigh of exasperation, pinching his eyes.

Castiel was now walking toward somewhere there appeared to be the wreckage of an advanced mothership that had crashed down to this plane of reality after a time battlefest. The location of this place was White Ruthenia, an archaism for the eastern part of present-day Belarus, including the cities of Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev.

He spotted someone that was nearby from the wreckage, about a few meters away. This 'someone' was an ally of his, one that had a clean-shaven face and wearing a brown leather trenchcoat and a ginger double-breasted moleskin waistcoat. There was also a bandolier found closely tight to his chest.

He draws near to this person who was simply watching the wreckage with narrowed green-brownish eyes.

"Have you done what you needed to do?" the Man simply asked.

"Yes," Castiel nodded at the Man. "They'll be safe at the very least since they wouldn't get caught off guard if something unexpected does happen."

"Good," the Man said, holding a detonator that he would trigger instantly with the push of a button. And the saucer caught fire and disintegrated into mere ashes and flames whose light would reflect upon their faces. "The Dalek invasion force stationed here had already been taken care of for now. It's about time that you and I would need to head to other fronts that need our assistance."

Castiel simply nodded.

Insert Song: End

ED Song:

The Famous Final Scene · Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Incarnation(s)/Regeneration(s) of the Doctor:

The War Doctor - A: John Hurt

12 Core Characters:

Castiel - A: Misha Collins

New Characters:

Sam Winchester - A: Jared Padalecki

Bobby Singer - A: Jim Beaver