The first attempt to contact Dean from the angel responsible didn't go so well. Mostly because for some reason Faith immediately chose to curl up next to him like some sort of twisted cat while Grace snuggled up to Sam. Which made little sense to Dean because he thought they were Sam's girlfriends.
He decided not to ask when he realized that he didn't have a nightmare when he finally feel asleep.
That in itself was noteworthy, considering where he was less than two days ago.
However what had Dean cursing was the high-pitched noise from all around them that had both twins waking up swearing. Rather inventively at that.
Sam didn't even wake up, mostly because Grace didn't want her 'teddy bear' as they affectionately called him to move and lose the warmth in the bedspread.
Dean watched in surprise (and some amusement) as Grace stood still while Faith started cursing in some language he couldn't even hope to understand (he recognized the expression on her face though...she was pissed as hell!). Almost immediately when they did that the high pitch shut off, probably from surprise.
Once that was done, Faith gave Dean a look and he said nothing while she curled up against him once more while Grace went back to snuggling with Sam.
He had to give them credit...they fell asleep faster than anyone he had ever met.
Dean woke up and watched with open amusement when, as they were preparing to head off to the next town because of the racket the angel had made late that night, Sam showed the morning ritual for the twins if it was before nine.
Watching his brother put two girls who were practically zombies into the back where that weird space was and seeing them curl up next to each other was hilarious. Especially when the next thing he did was get two large cups of hot chocolate with cinnamon and marshmallows and wait fifteen minutes.
Dean heard something behind them move, and then watched as the latch came undone from inside revealing a long arm searching for something.
Sam chuckled as he held out the first cup of the drink and it disappeared. A second arm reached for the other a few moments later.
"So... what was the deal with you two splitting up between us last night?" asked Dean a few minutes later, when the two were finally awake.
Faith rolled her eyes.
"You and Sam have a rather rare soul bond, one that was forcibly split before you were born. Coupled with your recent stint in hell, and we knew you would have the worst nightmares," said Faith.
"Better to split up and share the burden of healing the bond that was almost destroyed than be woken up in the middle of the night because of your screaming," said Grace in agreement.
"I don't scream," said Dean defensively.
"Maybe under normal circumstances, but this is hell we're talking about. You would have been under unimaginable torture and there are few who can handle that kind of strain without it coming back to bite them in the ass," said Faith flatly.
"Especially with the broken bond," added Grace.
"You've mentioned a bond twice. What bond is this exactly?"
"A soul bond. Meaning you and Sam were supposed to be born connected to each other in ways that few could understand, let alone match."
"Before you start to freak out, the bond you and Sam had before someone tried to break it wasn't a soul mate bond," said Grace rolling her eyes at Dean's horrified expression.
"It was a twin-bond, like ours. Those can only be broken by the twins themselves, and they never go away entirely. Someone tried to forcibly break yours and then made it so Sam was born four years too late."
"Prove it."
"Sam once told us about his massive argument with you and your father when he went away to college. Did it feel like your whole world had ended? Like there was a pain in your heart that refused to go away no matter how hard you tried?" asked Faith.
"And when you finally reconnected with Sam during that hunt, did it feel like the world was right again?" continued Grace.
Dean blinked. He hadn't thought about it, but the night Sam went to Stanford he had felt like there was no future without his baby brother. And the shear pain he had felt when Sam was killed was the worst thing he had ever experienced in his life. Like he couldn't go on living without Sam being there with him to share things with.
"Sam tried everything he possibly could, even make another deal, just to get his brother back," said Faith.
"Which was why Father sent us to intercept him before Ruby's manipulations got him hooked on demon's blood. He wasn't exactly thrilled with how Lilith plans to bring the End of Days into being," said Grace.
"So which angel is your father?" asked Dean.
"We can't tell you. Not yet. All you need to know is that he's not exactly eager to see the argument between Micheal and Lucifer continue on Earth," said the twins in unison.
"So if our 'bond' was broken, can you repair it?" asked Dean. It wasn't like he completely believed them, but it would explain a lot. Like why the brothers were so unusually close. Even Bobby had originally thought it was strange.
"That's actually part of the reason why we split up last night," said Faith.
"We have to reconnect the bond gradually so it won't be such a shock to your souls," said Grace.
"We're bringing you both into our bond, though Sam will likely have a different connection than you will. As a result the nightmares will be less painful and you'll sleep better," said Faith.
"So that's why I was sleeping so well last night. Well at least until whoever the hell was shouting started," said Dean.
"He said his name was Castiel," said Grace unexpectedly.
"Right before I chewed him out for yelling so loud," said Faith smugly.
"Bet that shocked him, hearing a 'human' cuss him out in his own language," said Grace grinning.
"Can I have a list of the things you said to him?" asked Dean hopefully.
The twins laughed. He was almost like their brothers Fred and George.
Castiel, the angel who had dragged Dean out of hell, finally made proper contact once he had a vessel. He was surprised to see Sam with his brother, as well as the girls who had actually chewed him out in a rather archaic form of Enochian. One that he had only ever heard from the oldest of the angels.
The girls took one look at him and did something that made the angel very nervous.
They started circling him, almost like great cats or maybe sharks. It was rather disturbing.
"So, you are the one who woke us up last night," said the one in black.
"We do not appreciate being yelled at so loudly," said the one in white.
"Nor are we big fans of someone who didn't even have the proper decency to announce themselves."
"Which begs the question, Mr. Angel."
"Why are you here?" they finished in rather creepy unison.
Dean blinked.
"Sam, remind me never to piss them both off. If they're that creepy when they're annoyed, I don't want to see them ticked off," said Dean.
"They like you. So long as you don't wake them up as early as he did I think you should be fine," said Sam amused.
"Who are you?" asked Castiel to the twins.
"I am Grace."
"I am Faith."
"Together we are the Star of Morning twins," they said.
It was unlikely that Sam would catch the reference unless he asked Bobby. And they planned to keep it that way.
Sam however was more distracted by the last half of their name.
"Your last name is Star of Morning? Coming from the twins who turn into zombies before nine, that is rather ironic," he snorted.
"Trust me, our brothers found it hilarious as well when they found out," snorted Faith.
God truly did have an ironic sense of humor. Creating twin girls from the grace of the Morningstar...and then making it so that they turned into veritable zombies any time before nine in the morning. Lucifer had laughed himself sick when he found that one out.
"I am curious as to how you heard me when Dean clearly couldn't," said Castiel.
"Dean's soul bond was damaged before he was born. It would have made hearing an angel difficult, even if he was attuned to that aural frequency," said Faith.
"We are trying to fix what was almost destroyed, but it will take time," added Grace.
Castiel looked horrified.
"He has a soul bond that was almost destroyed?"
"We can mend the bond torn by the divine. But it will take a few months if we wish to do it properly," they said in unison.
That seemed to calm Castiel down. Soul bonds were considered sacred among the Host. They were literally a gift from God, so the fact someone had broken one went against everything Castiel believed in. That there was someone who could fix it kept him from really getting worried.
If anyone would understand a soul bond, it would be twins as close as these two clearly were.
"So why me? Why did you drag me out of the pit?" asked Dean.
"Because God commanded it. Heaven has a need for you, Dean Winchester."
"More like they need him for the final seal," snorted the twins.
Castiel gave them an odd look.
"Only when a Righteous Man kills the First Demon can the final lock be broken. And a righteous man has to spill blood in hell to break the first seal," said the twins.
The twins were like cats observing Castiel, always circling and poking at him. It was making the angel very nervous.
Dean found it funny how the girls were making the self-proclaimed angel look like a mouse caught between two hungry cats.
"Will you please stop that?" Castiel asked with something close to a whine.
"Why? You're the first angel we've encountered," they asked in creepy unison.
Besides, they could hear their father laughing at the way the angel was being freaked out by his daughters. Faith and Grace were harmless, unless you were dumb enough to wake them up. Then Lucifer decided to really freak Castiel out...by suggesting to the girls that they turn into their animagus form.
The girls suddenly giggled and where a pair of twins had been circling the angel were now a pair of horses.
But not any horses. No, for something as pure as the twins, nothing fit them better than unicorns. It had amused Fred and George immensely that the girls were mischievous unicorns...ones that could manifest unseen wings.
Dean and Sam stared at the horses. Castiel however went from uncomfortable to very confused.
"I was unaware that there were Magi from the world Micheal deemed off limits on this one," said Castiel.
Faith and Grace switched back with a laugh.
"Father sent us," said Faith.
"To keep Sam from falling into Ruby's hands."
"He wants the cage to be broken about as much as Micheal does," said Faith.
"Even if it meant us having to leave our version of Earth behind," said Grace.
"We didn't mind. We were so terribly bored," said Faith.
"What do you mean 'your version of Earth'?" said Dean sharply.
It was Castiel who answered that.
"There are multiple Earths. However traveling to a parallel one takes a great deal of power, more than any demon would have on their own. The only ones who can do so more than once every ten years would be a higher angel, possibly a seraph of very high rank at least," said Castiel.
Even he couldn't travel between worlds. Time travel on any particular Earth was cakewalk compared to that!
"That...actually explains a lot," said Sam. He always knew the twin's weird abilities were difficult to explain. Finding out they were from another planet was something of a relief.
Castiel left as quickly as he could without appearing rude. The presence of the strange twin girls had come as something akin to a shock for the poor angel.
They seemed to be able to see his wings and hear his true voice, and they had none of the usual social graces most angels developed. They had thought nothing of poking at his grace all throughout the meeting which simply wasn't done unless you were close to one another.
And their accent when speaking Enochian was beyond ancient. Whoever had taught them had to be older than most angels he knew.
It made him wonder who their father was to have forgotten teaching them such basic things.