I'm back with another destiel wedding fic, this time with a twist baby! For this fic, it was my third Hunters Chronicles challenge and the prompt was to write a fic inspired by a song, and add some of the lyrics in without stating the song's name so people could try and guess it!
This one was super fun to write because i tried to keep the vibes of the band/album as well as the song while also putting my own spin on things. It is based on one song, but does pull bits from the interludes/spoken parts of the album to add context to the fic.
also a heads up, this fic does reference/mention blood, violence, death, and guns/bullets. It's not like extremely violent, but it is mentioned throughout, esp at the end, so i just wanted to give a heads up!
Enjoy and good luck guessing the song!
Our story takes place a long time ago, during the reign of the Mad King Michael, on a planet called New Lawrence. Michael had once been a kind, generous king, who, in his quest for immortality, had become twisted and cruel. His newfound immortality had left him with a hunger for conquest, and he would stop at nothing to achieve such amongst the stars.
This story, however, is not about the Mad King, or at least, it's not focused completely on him. Rather, our story begins with a pair of twins born during his reign, to a family of nobles on the planet of New Lawrence. Named Sam and Dean, the two boys were found to be as different as could be, from their appearances to their interests. One of the boys, Sam, had found himself a place amongst the King's court as a gifted politician and peacekeeper, fighting against warmongers to bring peace. Dean, on the other hand, had become a fearsome soldier, one of the King's best. Known often by the title of the Righteous Man, he was an unstoppable force who would march into battle at the King's command, winning the King many cities and planets.
On one such trip, upon a planet now destroyed so utterly even its name has been burnt to ash, Dean met a prince named Castiel. Throne stolen from him by his wicked stepmother, and locked away, Castiel had become the sole survivor of his planet after everyone else had been destroyed at the Mad King's command. While locked away in prison, Castiel had come face to face with Dean, and rather than be killed like the others, was spared. For, in that moment, the Mad King's best soldier had fallen in love with the prince, and had vowed he would do anything to save him from death.
So, when the Mad King decreed Dean and his garrison return back, Dean hesitated. Love softens even the hardest of people, and Dean was no different. For all the stories they tell of the Righteous Man, he was no machine. He was capable of kindness and love, and unable to leave his love behind, rebellion against the Mad King. On the night before they were to leave, Dean freed Castiel from his stone prison, smuggling his lover aboard the ship. Together, they would return to New Lawrence, and there they would be wed secretly, behind the King's back...
Dean stares out at the church, which peaks over the roofs of the houses. He knows there will be people there already, friends and family members and other nobles with titles of great importance, all waiting for him to arrive. They will be dressed in their very best for the occasion as they sit in the pews, whispering softly and eagerly to themselves as they wait. His stomach churns uneasily. Such a strange thing, a brilliant soldier like himself to be nervous of all things, one might think. After all, Dean has led countless troops into battle, has made kingdoms fall before his hands, made leaders weep. He has seen the true reality of war and tasted destruction on his tongue. A wedding, in comparison, is easy.
There is no battle to win, no fellow soldiers to worry about.
A wedding is not a place of death, of blood, of hurt and ache. It is a place of joy, of happiness and light, and of smiling faces.
But, perhaps, that was partly why Dean was nervous. For so long of his life, he had only known fighting and war. He had been a part of King Michael's troops for so long, he had grown accustomed to all war brought. In turn, he had allowed himself to grow distant to other things, and such, now he stood in a position that was unfamiliar and daunting. To make matters worse, Dean feared Cas would take one look at him, and truly see him for all he was.
Dean cares dearly for Cas, even after having known him for such a short period of time. After seeing so much death and destruction, very little fazed Dean these days, and he, in his heart, knew nothing of Cas could ever chase him away. Cas would always be the light in the darkness he always knew, the warmth in this cold world, and was kind in the ruins of despair. These were qualities that had drawn Dean to him in the first place, and it had softened the heart he had tried to dearly to lock away. In short, nothing Cas could be could turn him away, or stop him from loving him. But not all people are the same, and he could not demand Cas to do the same. For the prince had known him only for a short period of time, and while they both had fallen in love quickly, the man Cas knew in those moments was not all Dean was.
After all, you cannot earn the title of the king's finest soldier without doing some awful things. Especially if the King in question was the cruel, immortal King Michael. Cas knew Dean as selfless, as battle-worn but still determined, as kind even. He did not see the blood that stained Dean's hands, of the homes Dean had turned into funeral pyres.
He bites his lip and turns from the window. He is not kind, not selfless, and perhaps, not even loveable. And he is certain the moment Cas sees that the moment Cas puts together Dean is implicit in the destruction of his planet, he will leave. For, who could marry someone like Dean?
There's a knock on the door, a swift pounding that startles Dean and sends him reaching momentarily for his hip. His fingers pause over the empty space there, and when it opens, his posture relaxes. In slips Sam, his twin, who wears an easy smile.
If he notices Dean's still, slightly tense figure, he says nothing of the sort. Instead, he asks, in a tone that aims to tease, "Nervous?"
Dean swallows, and Sam sighs, smile slipping. "It will be okay Dean."
"And if it isn't?" Dean worries. "Sammy, what if I'm not cut out for this? What if all I am good at is being a soldier?" He doesn't meet Sam's eyes, glancing instead out at the window. For a brief moment, his eyes catch the peak of the church, then they dance along the people who walk below in the street. He knows of their whispers, of their words about him.
While being praised for such glory and skill, Dean is no fool to how else they think of him. He is sure if they knew he was to be married today, their whispers would amplify and echo through the streets like stray bullets. They do not believe he is capable of such things like this, and where it had once never bothered him, it now pierces his flesh and festers.
A comforting hand is placed on his shoulder, and it pulls Dean from his thoughts for a moment. "Dean," Sam begins, "Everything will be okay. Cas loves you, and I know you do as well. Trust yourself, not what others say. You are allowed to be happy, to love, and today will go fine."
Dean takes a deep breath and nods.
"By tonight, you will be married to the man you love, and we'll all be drunk and merry," Sam adds with a smile back on his face. His words manage to soothe Dean's nerves enough to bring a small smile to his own face.
"Okay." He pauses, before repeating it, now sounding more confident. "Okay. But if shit goes wrong, I'm blaming you, Sammy," Dean warns, very little heat in his words, and his brother laughs.
"C'mon, mom and dad are waiting outside. If we don't leave now, everyone will think you ran off or something."
With that, Sam then leads him to the front door and out of the door of their house. As they leave, Dean does his best to walk with his head held high, telling himself in his head everything will be okay. Sam is right (His twin normally is, although as the eldest by only a few minutes, Dean loathes to ever vocalize it). Today he will marry the one he loves, and everything will be fine.
At the carriage door he does hesitate, hand hovering over the handle. His worries still linger, despite Sam's best efforts and he can feel flitting gazes burning like flames against his back.
All he knows is pain and death, one voice whispers from down the street, and Dean swallows.
Always marching on to fight to another bitter end, a second voice murmurs, heard over the robotic whinny of the brass horse up front, and he considers turning away.
But Sam's hand is back on his shoulder, grounding, and Dean, with a steady breath, opens the carriage door. Inside, his parents are sitting with proud smiles on their faces, and when he sits, his mother takes one of his hands and gives it a gentle squeeze. All Dean can see is love and support in their features, and it helps drown out the military chant that's whispered in the breeze.
It will be okay.
As it has been said, the Mad King had not been happy alone with all the power he held. That's the thing with power, you see. Once you have a taste for it, you want more. And King Michael had a hunger for it, one so strong nothing could stand in his way. So, when the King turned to look for new ways to satisfy this need for power, his hungry, envious gaze fell upon Dean.
Desperate for a force that could never be stopped, never be defeated, never be broken, as it marched from planet to planet, decided he would use Dean's genetic code as a basis for his unholy hoard. So, turning to his advisors three, the Mad King commanded they seize Dean and bring him in…
The interior of the church was decorated beautifully with the colours of his family. With quick eyes, Dean scans the room and sees none of the King's guards are here. Good, he thinks, knowing the Mad King would not be happy to know of Dean's marriage. The only people here are friends and family, as well as a few other nobles whom his parents know. This calms his nerves further, allowing a smile to form.
Even as their whispers die down and their eyes turn towards him, he doesn't flinch. Here, their gazes are gentler, their faint murmurs sweet. It does not feel like he is marching off to battle, to his possible death, and there is no scent of rust and metal and desperation in the air. Instead, it is sweet, and he smiles, walking lightly down the aisle. He leaves all that is the Righteous Man at the doorway, and it is only Dean, who walks towards the altar. Dean, who is happy, Dean who is in love. Dean, who knows happiness.
When he reaches the altar, he stops and angles his body to look back at the doors as he waits for his soon-to-be husband to arrive. It doesn't take long, and as the music begins, a soft violin that fills the air, there is Cas.
The moment his eyes spot Cas, all breath leaves his lungs. If the church was decorated beautifully, then it now pales in comparison to Cas. He is dressed in a brilliant dark blue suit that matches his eyes, and the silver trim on it seems to glow as if it were made from spun stars. His soon-to-be husband looks regal, otherworldly even, and Dean's smile grows. This man, this glorious, beautiful man is his, and as Cas smiles back at him, Dean forgets everything else around him. He can only focus on Cas - drowning out the music, the background noise, until he is the only thing that remains.
Cas' walk down the aisle feels far longer than it took for Dean, and he feels his fingers itch as they long to curl around something. Before, perhaps, it might've been a weapon, but now they wish to curl around Cas' own hands, to hold him close and it is through willpower alone Dean does not run and meet him halfway down the aisle. Thankfully, he survives the wait, and as Cas stands before him, offers his hands for Dean to take, as if knowing Dean's internal struggle. Dean takes them, and his heart is quieted, fingers soothed. Everything is lulled to a peaceful silence, the whole of the church waiting for the priest to begin.
(Still, all he can focus on, is Cas)
The priest speaks of their matrimony, it is almost automatically that Dean utters the vows he has made. If someone were to ask him to recount them, or to then repeat Castiel's that followed momentarily later, he would find himself unable. His brain is stuck only on two thoughts: how beautiful Cas looks and how utterly happy he is that he will get to marry this man and call him his husband forever. But he knows what he says is touching, for Cas sniffles, eyes bright and watery, and it makes his heart swell.
Then, the rings are exchanged. From afar they are white as snow, pure and delicate, standing out against the purple cloth they rest upon. But, when they are placed upon their fingers and the priest announces their marriage, they glow a rich dark red. It's a colour Dean once associated with fire, with destruction, with blood and war, but now it has a softer, gentler association. It is their love, their passion, their dedication to each other. Smiling so hard his cheeks hurt, Dean kisses Cas, his husband. In that moment, all he can care about is the soft, chapped lips of Cas, the comforting warmth of the man in his arms.
He lets the cheers and music wash over him but not register, and as he pulls away, whips a tear from Cas' cheek.
I love you, Cas mouths over the noise, and everything is okay.
...Until it is not.
Dean doesn't know when the cheers turn to screams, stopping him before he can mouth the words back, but he figures it happens not long after the doors to the church are broken open by the King's guards.
OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE! His mind shouts and snarls viciously as gunshots fill the air, and the once joyous crowd dissolves into a mess of shrieks and panic. They all move to flee the bullets that rain down upon them, and the King's guards advance, showing no mercy. They march down the aisle, bronze eyes glinting, guns hot in their hands, and a thick, metallic taste of blood suffocates the once sweet-smelling air.
Dean's own hand reaches for a weapon, but it comes up empty-handed, and his eyes widen in horror. He knows in an instant they are here for him, either to take him or kill him. He cannot escape, and so, in an effort to protect his love, he pushes Cas behind the altar. He doesn't care if the King's guards kill him, but they will not hurt Cas.
Eyes narrowing, Dean feels the heat of the battle. It licks his skin, and his fingers itch.
OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE!
He has found and he has bled upon a thousand battlegrounds, has created destruction similar to this on a hundred worlds, and he will not bow now. They had whispered that all Dean knew was pain and death, how he would march from one battle to the next and would not stop until he was dead, and perhaps they were right. He can hear the military chants in the air, he can taste blood and desperation in the air, his own blood thrums. When rough hands seize him, he fights back. He throws punches and snarls and does not go down easy.
If the King wishes to kill him, this will not be easy. Not after all he has done to hurt Dean. Out of the corner of his eyes, as the guards crowd and shove him to the ground, he thinks he sees Cas fleeing out the back of the church. He can't be certain it is him, as they soon surround him. He hopes his lover survives, and that King Michael's men will not hurt him too, but as Dean surveys the slaughter before him, the hope in his chest flickers and falters. The limp, bloody bodies of his family, of his friends, of his twin brother are all scattered in the pews and aisles, terror frozen on their faces, and it gives him little hope Cas will not face the same fate. Still, he tries to cling to it. Even as his world grows dark, as he can feel hands pulling him towards the church's doors, and knows he may die. He keeps clinging to it, just as he clings to the belief he will see Castiel again, regardless of what happens next.
When the King's men seized Dean, they had killed everyone in the church. Some say, however, there were two survivors of the wedding day slaughter. One was Dean's twin, Sam, who managed to crawl out of the gunfire alive, but was badly injured. He had gathered a small group of allies and fled to the planet's periphery to try and find a way to stop the Mad King, and in turn, rescue his lost twin.
The second survivor was Castiel. Prince of a planet that had since fallen to ash by the command of the Mad King, he was the one Dean loved, and the one he would still love, even as they were separated. When the soldiers stormed the church, he had fled. Where Sam had vowed to find a way to fight against the King and rescue his brother, Cas swore he would find his lover. He searched every planet, every moon, and comet, and star, longing for his wedding band to turn red once more and be reunited with Dean.
This would be a journey that would take thirty years. Thirty long, bloody years, filled with anguish and rebellion and pain, but they would eventually be reunited once more. That, however, is a tale for another day.
Any guesses? I will admit it is not the most common song, and it might be a bit tricky to guess but if you guys have any idea, i'd love to hear em! Also, let me know what you thought of the fic! I tried to keep a fairytale feel to the story bits (kinda like the album, wink wink) as well as write it as if the band itself were telling the story aloud to the audience (so adding a bit more casual convo feel to the writing).
I'll try and edit this eventually to put the song in the endnotes (probably after a week or so), but i highly recommend if you do guess the song, to listen to the live version they recorded in 2020 at the band's last performance before they "died", bc i def drew inspo from that version for the second half/ending of the song!
I'll have more stuff to come soon!
-Twist
