Battlefront

Author: Cheryl W.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dean or Sam or any rights to Supernatural, nor am I making any profit from this story.

Author's Note: Here's something I wrote back before Season 5. Since I'm not in the mood to write at the moment, I thought I would dust this one off and post it.

Summary: AU of Season 5 - Dean's in charge of leading the heavenly army to victory.

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He's new, to this human form, to this battlefront. And he's younger than most, still learning what the other angels have known for millenniums. But he knows he's not the only one staring at Dean Winchester as he walks by, traverses the battle's aftermath, the destruction of buildings. He stares at him in wonder and confusion and a flicker of disappointment. Winchester is younger than he would have guessed, is young even in human standard if he's not mistaken. Does not instill the confidence of age Moses once did, or Abraham. And his battle wear…it seems more for a pauper, a beggar than a soldier charged with leading an army to victory: his pants have holes in them, due to time and rugged use and lack of wealth not battle strikes and his coat is dusty, his shirt underneath blood stained, whether with his own blood or one of his enemies, he can not tell. And though he has come to know that all God's creations are beautiful in their own way, he knows Dean Winchester's features are considered striking by anyone's standards. But it brings to his mind how one of David's descendents was so blessed with such beauty that his vanity was his downfall, wonders if Dean Winchester has that same vanity…weakness.

Dean Winchester is not alone, though, rarely is, if the rumors are correct. He has two companions pacing him, seeming to both guard him and crave his company. Though the human form he is utilizing is unrecognizable to him, he knows the angel unmistakably: Castiel. An angel fabled for his compassion and for his dogged loyalty, to not only God but to God's special children: the humans created in God's image. There was no question who would be chosen to guard the human charged with stopping the apocalypse. There were few who could withstand the corruption of Hell to rescue the human, and fewer still that would offer the man forgiveness, compassion for his actions in Hell, for breaking the first seal, for breaking…in heart and soul. Castiel was revered for his mercy toward Dean Winchester …and chastised for it. Castiel's connection to the human had seemed a dangerous mission between falling and rising to the call.

And on Dean Winchester's other side, is a man taller than Dean but in similar facial attributes, dark, hard, striking features. He has heard of this one too, Dean's brother. He has heard whispers that he was tainted, would fight against their cause…against his own brother. And some angels said he did wage a battle against his brother, nearly killed him, so overcome by darkness he was. But then, at the defining moment, when Dean's light was ebbing away, when his soul would be banished back to Hell in his death, his brother had withdrawn his hand, had staunched the blood from the wounds he himself had inflicted on his brother's body. Had chosen his brother over his intoxicatingly potent dark powers, had chosen good over evil. Had found he couldn't take the life of the one he loved…that had loved him enough to sentence his own soul to hell. And now this man, he fights at his brother's side, with fierce desperation but not borne or imbued by darkness but by love.

As the threesome walks by, I hear Dean Winchester's low voice on the wind and his words surprise me. "I shouldn't have spread the ranks so thin, should have had more reinforcements on the south quadrant," and there is sorrow in his voice even as I know our victory was great, that many believed this day's battle could not be won, especially led by a human.

"They were strong enough Dean, they held them back," Castiel reassures, voice carrying compassion as he looks to his companion, tilts his head to try and see the man's eyes.

"But at what cost? So many died…" Dean's voice is choked, speaks of loss and regret and vast sorrow and guilt. I'm jarred by the idea of where the threesome have come from: the frontlines. It's a dangerous place to venture, even now, dangerous especially for the human whose premature death would mean defeat. He wonders at how careless Castiel is to risk the human in that way.

"Many battles have been raged on earth in times of past and there is always loss of life. But there is a time for dying…even for angels. For the cause of redemption, even Christ himself died."

To his surprise, Dean turns to Castiel with a smirk on his dust, blood speckled features. "Don't get all Biblical on me, Cas. And please don't spoil the ending 'cause you know I'm only about ten pages into it, fell asleep reading the 'who begot who' stuff."

He's barely done starting at Dean's nickname for Castiel before he's sucking in a shocked breath at the righteous man's disrespect for the Holy Word. But Castiel, he offers up a smile…and he can feel Castiel's essence under the human form glow with joy and relief. And he knows Castiel is happy with the human's reaction, that some of his worry for the human has faded.

Confusion only grows in him, at the strangeness between this connection, between an angel and this human. But before he can observe it further, the threesome continue on their way, leaving him behind, both understanding Dean Winchester more…and less.

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Let me know if you're interested in a little more of this story. I have another part or two that I could spruce up and post.

Have a great evening

Cheryl W.