Finally - what belongs together is united

(A/N)
This story is written for the Dean/Cas Reverse Bang 2022.
It's based on the 'Prayer Scene' from Spn's episode "The Trap" (15x09) but it ends differently. The picture on which the story is set is of the lovely Aubrey. I really enjoyed working with you, Aubrey! And thank you very much for the extra pieces of art!
Also a big thank you to Tessa, who has volunteered to be my beta reader and went through the story to find mistakes and to leave suggestions of improvement. Thank you so much for taking the time, Tessa!

Here you can find the art to this story:
drive/folders/1FWZxDbOWatUU137VcBE9QyBOSOyUzV-8?usp=sharing

Here you can find Aubrey and their art:
Tumblr: lilbattibelfry
Instagram: thelilbatti
Twitter: BatsyBelfrey

Here you can find Tessa:
Tumblr: livingalonewithevilthoughts

Chapter One

"Cas?" Dean yells three times, then looks at his phone. 30 minutes they have left is what the countdown says.
"Oh, no, no, no," Dean says quietly, almost panicking. Then he swallows and touches the tree for something to hold on to.

"Cas?" he asks softly. "Cas, I hope you can hear me. That wherever you are, It's not too late. I should've stopped you. You're my best friend, but I just let you go. Because that was easier than admitting I was wrong." His voice cracks and tears rise in his eyes. He looks around and gets down on one knee. "I don't know why I get so angry. I just know that I- I know that it's always been there. And when things go bad it just- It comes out. I can't stop it." A few tears roll down his cheeks. "No matter how… how bad I want to, I just can't stop it." He shakes his head before talking again. "And I forgive you. Of course, I forgive you. I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm sorry it took me until now to say it. Cas, I'm so sorry." He looks up into the sky. "Man, I hope you can hear me. I hope you can hear me."
He shakes his head again, wipes away the tears though a few still escape. "Okay," he says. He gets up and walks away.

Dean walks around, gun raised, searching for Castiel. Because this time he had sworn not to leave him behind. He would not do that a second time. He looks at his phone. A little under three minutes left. Dammit. He puts away the phone and walks on. Then-
"Dean." Dean turns to the side, points his gun at Castiel but lowers it immediately, unbelieving.
"Cas?" Dean asks and watches how Castiel weakly stands up.
"You made it." Castiel notes and Dean still can't believe it.
"I made it?" They walk towards each other, meet in the middle, and fall into each other's arms. Almost desperately they cling to each other before they separate again. Dean lets his hand rest on Castiel's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"What happened?"
"They were after me, not you. I figured it'd be safest to give myself up."
"Did they take you to Eve?"
"Yeah, we were en route. I waited until I…" Castiel grasps inside his coat and takes out a Leviathan Blossom. "I saw this. It got a little smushed." Dean can't stop himself and continues. "Once I had the blossom, I fought, caught them off guard and they fought back… I managed to get away." Castiel turns away for a moment but then looks back. Nearly melting on the inside when he sees Dean's smile.

"You did it." Castiel never felt more relief than in this moment. He prepared himself for the worst. Dean getting angry, lashing out because Castiel sacrificed himself again. But nothing like that happened. Dean even sounds proud of him. "You did it, Cas."
"Well, they're still after me. We should hurry."
"Okay, Cas, I need to say something." But Castiel shakes his head.
"You don't have to say. I heard your prayer." Now it's Dean's turn to shake his head. He walks a little closer to Castiel. Only a few inches separated them and Castiel even went a little cross-eyed. If it wasn't so serious for Dean, he would laugh.
"No, please Cas, hear me out."
"Dean, at the risk of repeating myself, I heard your praympff-" Dean kissed him. It was just a brief pressing of lips together, but it meant so much more.
Then Dean disengaged, rested his forehead against Cas's, and closed his eyes as well.
"Cas, just this once," he murmured somewhat breathlessly. "Don't talk and hear me out."

As much as Castiel enjoyed this moment, he knew they had little time left. He broke away from Dean but held his face with his hands.
"Dean, look at me." Dean opened his eyes again. "I'm really happy right now about what just happened, but we have to get back. We have to help Sam. We can talk about everything again later when we get back to the bunker." Dean nodded and Castiel gave him a kiss. Then he let go of Dean's face, grabbed his hand, and pulled him with him to the portal. They made it just in time.

Once inside the bunker, they immediately set about preparing the sphere in which the spell would be captured with the help of the Leviathan Blossom. With that done, Castiel reminded Dean that one of the two brothers would have to destroy that sphere since he couldn't do it if he had the mark.

Arriving at the casino, there was no sign of Chuck, but Dean found Sam and helped him cut himself loose. However, Dean was then attacked by the Chuck-controlled Eileen. Castiel intervened and tackled Eileen to the ground. A brief exchange of punches between Dean and the now-appeared Chuck ensued, during which Castiel sent the sphere toward Sam. He grabbed it, but couldn't destroy it and let it slide back to the ground. Chuck thought that was very good, especially because now the wound that he and Sam had was also out of the way. He took the sphere with the enclosed spell and destroyed it. But before they could hear another gloating word from Chuck, they were back in the bunker.

It had come as a surprise to all four of them and even Castiel, who could move through time and to any place like that, was dizzy for a brief moment. It also reminded him of all the times someone had drawn the rune and then used it to banish the angels. They stood in the great hall, in the entrance area of the bunker, and after their circuits had calmed down they looked around. In the doorway to the library stood Jack. Just as he had always done, he had raised his hand in greeting and welcomed them with his own personal "Hello."

"Jack?" Castiel was the first to regain his voice. "What are you doing here?" He walked up to the Nephilim and wrapped him in his arms. Dean watched the two of them and smiled. He would never tire of these Cas Jack moments. Sam, who had been watching his brother, elbowed him in the side. "Dean, don't do that." He didn't sound angry, more amused. Then, however, he emitted a rather pained sound and Dean was now looking in his little brother's direction. Eileen had punched him in the arm, not exactly squeamishly, and now hissed a "let him be" in Sam's direction. Dean smirked.

Castiel chatted quietly with Jack, then they both turned to the other three.
"I'm afraid I can't stay, but I'll be back as soon as I can and then we can talk about everything in great detail. Until then Castiel will answer your first questions, I've filled him in as best I can. See you then." He raised his hand again, gave a quick wave, and was gone. The brothers and Eileen looked at Castiel.
"So?" asked Dean. Castiel looked at him inquiringly for a moment and then answered, his eyes back on everyone.
"So... As it stands, we're rid of Chuck until further notice." The incredulous looks on the faces of the three people in front of him made him smirk. "Jack created a universe especially for you guys, where Chuck has no power. It's built in such a way that he won't find it and therefore won't see you. You can live here, meet up with your friends, go hunting - it's kind of like your original universe only without the really scary monsters and without Chuck. What do you say?"

Dean was the first to try and say something, but somehow it didn't work. His voice was gone and he had to clear his throat first. Then he walked up to Castiel and stopped an arm's length away from him. They looked at each other. Then Dean slowly put his hand on Castiel's shoulder and squeezed lightly. He seemed to have forgotten about his brother and Eileen, who were still in the room. The same was true for Castiel, he just looked at Dean.
"So that means Chuck's gone? Just like that? After everything we've been through and lost, it's just supposed to be over? Without a big epic finale? This is supposed to be real?" Incredulous and also a little confident, he looked Castiel in the eye. The angel smiled.

"Dean, I told you before, when you asked what about all of this is real, that we are. We're real. You, me, your brother. We may have been under Chuck's influence, but the basic stuff, private thoughts, our feelings, Chuck had nothing to do with that. He may have set the direction and had us all dancing as his puppets, but what we felt about it or what we thought about it, he had no control over that. You can take my word for that."
"I want to believe all that so badly, but it's pretty damn hard, Cas." Dean looked a little sad, but mostly exhausted. Castiel was breaking inside. As he had so many times in the past when Dean had that look on his face. He put his hand to Dean's cheek and brushed his thumb over his temple. Dean tilted his head toward the hand on his face, squeezed a little harder with the hand on Castiel's shoulder, and closed his eyes.