As she threw an old pair of sunglasses and a few magazines into a cardboard box for the rummage sale Cassie turned to the bookcase and ran her fingers along one shelf. She always had a habit of hanging onto books she never intended to read so she figured now was as good a time as any to weed down her library. As she flicked past a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Oliver Twist' her eyes stopped on a book she had meant to throw away so many times before. After all it was a great story but the book itself was sort of childish.
Cassie couldn't help but smile at the memory of him fidgeting and avoiding catching her eye. She had been absolutely floored when he of all people had suggested doing something so sweet and romantic. She had honestly expected he would choose a book like 'Silence of the lambs' and out of nowhere he comes in with the story of a lonely, sad little boy, a child warrior and a world in desperate need of a hero. Who would have thought that Dean Winchester would choose "The Never-ending Story" as the book that changed him and explained him.
Had she known then what she knew now it would have been easier to see why it appealed to him so deeply. After all he was Atreyu the boy warrior, trying desperately to save a world being swallowed by 'the nothing' and the forces of evil. Dean had lost people he loved to his own 'swamp of sadness' and had risked everything he ever had, or might have had, to save 'Fantasia'. She even suspected that, mixed with the brave Atreyu, there was a fair amount of Bastian, the misunderstood, motherless child who believed he was nothing special on his own.
She was ready to give it back to him when he left the first time. She had planned to throw it in his face and tell him she never wanted to hear his name again, except when she had seen him he looked so much smaller than she remembered and she wondered if he could take that final rejection. She had meant to throw it away after he was gone but there was so much of his personality in the little sideline comments he wrote to her. Even now after seeing him again, meeting his brother, seeing some of what they saw, if anything she loved the book more. It was a more honest glimpse of how he saw himself than she had ever guessed.
Cassie looked at the book she had read almost fifteen times since Dean had first given it to her and realized that she would probable own it till the day she died because she had rejected a lot of what Dean Winchester had been offering way back then but this was one small part of the boy she could never give up.
Dean couldn't remember the first time he had heard the story of Bastian and Atreyu.
Actually he could. He was eight years old, Dad had taken them to some yard sale to look for cheap silver and there had been a box full of junk in the corner, The woman had told him to pick something out. The picture on the cover of the book looked so exciting and so happy Dean was sure that it would be something he could read more than once and then when Sam was bigger he could let him have it. He had been so excited when he got it home Dad had actually sat down with him and started to read it out loud to him. That alone had made it worth it. Dean had been sure that there was some sort of magic in it. John had skimmed over the part about the mother having died, Dean knew but he didn't say anything. Then he had gotten lost in the magical world of Fantasia.
Dean tried to suppress a smile as he thought about how he had asked his father if fighting demons was like fighting to save Fantasia. He glanced at his brother riding shotgun as usual. The metaphor really was a good one, Dean made a good Atreyu, he was a good soldier and Sam was a ringer for the daydreaming, book loving Bastian. Dean helped Sam believe he could be strong and brave and Sam was destined to be the one to save the world.
Dean still carried his copy tucked away in his possessions; he must have read the thing fifty times. He wasn't often given to fits of deep analysis of why he carried around a children's fantasy story but it gave him hope and hope was not something the eldest Winchester was known for.
Dean looked over again at a now sleeping Sammy and couldn't help but smile. Sammy was a pain in the ass but he gave him a reason to keep moving forward because they were sharing their story. They were in it together and that made all the difference.
After all, every story should end with hope.