And this is the Penultimate chapter.
After that the epilogue will follow and this story is finished.

And I am sorry that I took me so long to update on this fic.
I had huge Laptop problems which are fixed since yesterday...

Chapter 36

It didn't take Gabriel long to bring Dean to the other side of the world.

A snap of his fingers later and Dean and the Angel stood at the edge of a tropical forest, gazing out to sea.

A gentle, warm breeze brushed through their hairs, brought the taste of sea salt to them.

The sound of breaking waves reached their ears, the tender whisper of the wind could be heard, but none of them had an eye for the beauty of this place at this moment.

Especially not Dean, since his eyes were fixed on the person who sat in the sand all alone at the edge of the water.

"How long has he been sitting there?"

Gabriel stepped beside him, while his eyes were fixed on his brother, who was sitting with his back to them and had his wings protectively wrapped around himself.

"The whole last days."

"What?!"

Dean looked at the Archangel in disbelief.

"Are you serious Gabriel?!"

"What should I have done in your opinion? He leaves no one close to him, not even me. He does not talk with me, does not react to my presence. I didn't know what I should do Dean. Should I forcibly drag my little brother back to Bobby's house?"

The hunter was silent, thinking about the words.

He had to agree with the Archangel.

Would they force Castiel to come back, then they were not better than all the other angels who had lied to Castiel and had betrayed him all these years; had forced him to do things that he would never have done. They had to just come up with something else. And above all, they had to build up confidence to him and even find out if Cas still recognized them.

"How close have you been to him Gabriel?"

"Apparently not close enough. I don't trust him Dean. This angel has a monstrous power hidden in his body. A power with I wouldn't want to mess with. I have never been closer than three meters to him and even then he didn't react to my presence. Are you sure you want to do this? I can't guarantee your safety."

"I'm sure Gabriel. I just have to try it. Cas has done so much for me and my brother and Bobby in the past. I owe him something."

"Well, as you wish. But don't say that I didn't warn you."

"I will be careful. Promised."

"Then stick to your word!"

Dean gave the Archangel a reassuring smile, before he silently turned around and walked slowly towards his friend.

Castiel seemed to take no notice of him or he just ignored him.

No emotion went through his body and the hunter ventured a little closer to him, until he was standing right next to him.

"Cas?"

His voice was so low that it was almost carried away by the whisper of the wind.

The angel still not reacted to his presence and Dean turned around to look at Gabriel who gave him a desperate look back, because he didn't know what they could do.

"Castiel? Do you recognize me?"

No Answer.

Dean was moving a little closer to him, sat slowly, very slowly, one foot before the other and when he was sure that the Seraphim would not attack him, he dared to sit down at his side.

"Cas...please talk to me..."

But the angel remained silent and motionless.

Until Dean stretched out his hand to him and was about to touch one of his wings now...

"Dean, don't do it!" Gabriel tried to stop him, but it was too late.

When his hand touched the soft, downy feathers, Castiel's entire body winced and each feather of his six mighty wings stood up slowly, testified that he wasn't very fond of this contact and that the human should better withdraw his hand.

But Dean didn't do so and his hand remained where it was.

He even went so far and he started to gently stroke the fluffy feathers with his fingers. He could see how Castiel tensed under this treatment and he could feel how the wing began to tremble under his palm.

But none of that stopped him in his actions and so his fingers continued to brush slowly and gently over the feathers, but without too much pressure to not scare the angel...even if Dean was sure that not Castiel was the one who should be scared here...

"Shhh Cas. It's only me. You know me and you know I would not hurt you. I would never do that. Please...look at me."

This time Dean's words actually got a reaction out of the angel.

However, one which he had not expected…

One of the black wings broke away from the embrace to Castiel's body and pushed him gently, yet determined, away from him.

"Go away..."

The angel's voice was just a whisper, barely audible, but Dean had heard the spoken words very well and it pained him more than he could have imagined.

Castiel's voice was so expressionless, so empty...it almost scared the hunter!

But stubborn as he was, he sat down at the side of his friend again... only to be pushed away again; this time a bit more roughly than expected.

"Cas, stop that crap and talk to me!"

"I said: Go away!"

This time anger was audible in the deep voice of the Seraphim and Dean shuddered involuntarily, but still he was not intimidated by his best friend.

Gabriel watched the whole thing from a safe distance, and he felt how nervousness spread inside his belly. His body was tensed to breaking point and he was ready to save Dean, should his little brother lose control of himself and his feelings.

But Castiel still just sat there, pushed the hunter away whenever he came too close to him and still he hid himself behind the rest of his wings.

"Please Cas..." Dean tried again and there was so much despair in his voice even the stoic angel couldn't ignore, because he took the wing, with whom he had kept his face covered, to the side and looked at Dean.

The sight was heartbreaking and Dean stumbled a few steps backwards, as he looked into the red eyes of the angel who bore witness that he had been crying.

"Dean…go away…please…"

The hunter pulled himself together quickly and walked over to the Seraphim again.

He got new hope, because Castiel's words proved it to him: he recognized him!

"No!" he said with a certain voice and his eyes were fixed on those of the other.

But there was no anger to see; only despair.

This was the look, which Dean had seen so many times on his brother when the world threatened to collapse over their heads.

A look so empty and expressionless, as if you would be done with life!

When one wanted to just lie down and die to escape this horrible life.

"Please Dean...I don't want to hurt you...not again..."

The words surprised the human, for he had expected that Castiel would have lost his memory after all what had happened and after what Gabriel had told them.

"You remember?"

There was no answer and Cas turned his head shamefully to the side, away from his friend who again sat down beside him and looked at him.

"Cas?"

The angel turned his head a bit back to him, looked at him from the corner of his eye, before his eyes went back to the sea and to the breaking waves on the water surface.

"What do you remember?"

The question seemed to only make matters worse for Castiel, because he avoided eye contact with the Hunter.

Nevertheless, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Everything Dean. I remember everything that has happened and all the terrible things that I have done to you, my brother and to all the others. I remember what Lucifer did to me, I remember how I almost killed you, I remember how I attacked my own brother and had seriously injured him and I remember that I had betrayed God and heaven with my cooperation with Lucifer."

Again, he was close to tears, but before they could flow, Dean took his face gently in his hands and turned it toward him, forcing him to look into his eyes.

"No Cas. Stop. Don't think about it any longer."

"How could I forget all of this Dean?"

"I know it's not easy to forget, but I know you can do it. Remember the good things you did. You've saved my life in this forest when you protected me from this demonic wolf and you have all saved our lives, when Lucifer was just about to kill us all and get Sammy's boys. Is that nothing in your eyes?"

There was no immediate response and Castiel wiped the tears from his eyes, before he looked into Dean's face. And this time, his eyes shone a little more than before, and the tears had dried.

"But...Dean...the other horrible things I've done..."

"Are nothing more than the past," the Hunter interrupted him quickly and he squeezed his shoulder slightly to give his words more emphasis.

"You have done a lot of shitty things, that's true, but who of us has not? It was naive of you to think that Lucifer wanted to do you something good...and hey, he has done it somehow. I mean look at you Cas: Six wings! You're one of the most powerful angels ever. And we all know how gentle you are, and you're wearing your heart in the right place. You just have to learn not to trust anyone. But for that you've got us and your big brother Gabe. Please Cas. Come back to us."

The last words got the angel and again Dean saw how his eyes filled with tears again and how his body began to shake.

"I-I can come back to you? After all, what have I done?"

Once again a hand gently squeezed his shoulder and the Hunter gave him such a warm smile that the warmth came back into his body.

"You can always come back to us Cas. You're family..."

And again the tears flowed, but this time they were not filled with grief and shame. No. This time they were tears of joy and Castiel could not restrain himself and gave the hunter a hug, that made the human blush, but his lips curled in spite of everything into a smile and he returned this friendly gesture, before he nudge the other encouragingly in the back.

"Don't worry about the past Cas. This will be a new start now…for all of us..."

Dean turned his head slightly to one side, looked at Gabriel and with a slight nod of his head he silently told him to come over to them.

When Dean got up again, Gabriel was already beside him and he looked at his brother, who whimpered at the sight and quickly turned his head away from him. After all what he had done, he didn't even dare to look into his brother's eyes, but the archangel could not be dissuaded from his purpose and with a nod of his head he said Dean that he wanted to spend some time alone with his little brother and Dean turned around to leave these two alone.

These two needed this talk badly!

Of course he could understand that Cas didn't want to, but it would be a first step.

The first step into a whole new life which they would live all together, no matter what terrible things were still in front of them...