Author's Note:
As promised, they travel to another world and this one is based in my oldest fanfic; Back to the Future. It's not necessary to have read it but if you want to it's there ;)
The Mainline
The mainline was incredible. Dean stared at the vastness before him, he could see distant stars and yet his mind knew what they were, worlds, waiting or dormant. The mainline was lit up like a road floating in space, what looked like little fires floating all along the path to lead the way. Dean reached over and waved a hand over one, it wasn't hot. In fact looking closer it didn't even look like normal fire. It wavered when his hand passed over, flickering in colour and texture for a brief second before returning to the pale yellow it had been.
Castiel was already walking along, his stride calm and certain, like he'd done this a thousand times before. He had no patience for the silent awe that the three tag-alongs were stuck in though he really didn't have a choice to pause and wait for them.
"Why are some of the fires different colours?" Sam asked as his eyes followed down the trail, noting how different parts of the path split off and the pale yellow seemed to flare to a vibrant red in some areas, dark blue in others.
"They're signs," Cas moved his hand over the path ahead of him and it started to move beneath their feet, a moving walkway that didn't look entirely solid to begin with. Jet shifted uncomfortably but kept his mouth shut; he was the one with the bold statement to begin with so it'd be ridiculous to start complaining five minutes in. He'd wait for at least ten. "Depending on the colour, size, and pattern of the flame I can discern which worlds are of greater importance."
"So, I'm guessing red is a little worse?" Dean furrowed his brow and looked down a red pathway as they passed it.
"Somewhat, yes." Cas answered vaguely, stopping them in front of a fork in mainline, the two paths that seemed to lead to the same place wound up in different spaces. "This world has an alternate attached to it." He explained though no one asked about it.
Dean looked at it; he could see the swirling mass that must have been the world that Cas was talking about. The path on the one side was as pale yellow as everything else, but the left was a deep red like the others. He looked at the left side closely; he could feel something coming from it, like it'd been twisted somehow. "What… what's the point in doing all of this if those void monster things are all able to get in and destroy everything anyway? What's the point in killing just one?"
"When we take out the monsters that have crawled into the worlds, we're a step closer to wiping them out." Cas folded his arms over his chest and turned his head away, "It's not efficient but it's all we've got."
"There has to be something else." Sam frowned, "You'll never be able to do it like that."
"I wasn't aware you were an expert on all of this." Cas muttered sarcastically, walking down the left path to the opposite end of the world. "When a world has an alternate attached to it you need to be careful which side you enter. Ultimately it's fairly easy to get it right, the path splits for you to show the different routes."
"What happens if you get it wrong?" Dean walked up beside him, looking at the hazy space ahead of them.
"Mostly you just waste your time, but when we leave the mainline the clock starts to tick again; when we're between the worlds time slows and almost stands still for us. Just know that when we enter these worlds we may be thrown right into a mess, if the clock starts again and we aren't there to do something because we entered the wrong side, that's on us."
Dean nodded and adjusted himself, "Then I guess we go through and see what we find. Anything I need to know before going in?"
Cas chuckled, "Everything. You need to know everything." He ran a hand over the short hairs on the back of his neck in thought, "First off, this world has an alternate because there were various ways things could have ended up; this is just one of the two main ones but it seems they're having a bit of an infestation problem."
"How do you know all this?" Sam piped up again, his mind trying to take everything in all at once.
"It comes with time, Sam. I can see it, I can feel it, and the history of the world is open to me if I choose to listen to it." Cas sighed lightly, "I only look for the recent problems, though. I don't see a point in going over the entire history." He was about to go in when he realized he hadn't gone into a new world with additional people before. Cas looked at them but thought better of mentioning it, it was probably nothing really. They'd wind up in the same place.
Or so he figured, as he stepped inside.
Back to the Future World: Part 1
Castiel leaned against a fence put up around the group's fresh water supply, a small creek in Camp Chitaqua, his eyes sweeping over the landscape around him. It never used to be very interesting to look at but after building on the grounds and creating a real establishment to live in, he had to say he'd grown fond of it.
In 2014 the world had been pretty much over; Camp Chitaqua was their safe haven, their fort and base of operations. People hid there from the croats and demons, fighting off what they could for the longest time while Lucifer reigned. But that was 2014, it had been three years since then and things had lightened considerably. The battle with Lucifer went down in Detroit and it had ended in their favour, the second time around anyway.
Most people of Chitaqua didn't know how they'd won and most wouldn't bother asking because why question a good thing? No one knew that Castiel had been taken back in time, retrieved the Horsemen's rings from a past Sam and Dean and had taken over the planning himself. No one knew that Cas had seen their fate once, that they had all died once because of Dean's backstabbing decisions.
But it had been three years since then, Cas had knocked some sense into their 'fearless leader' when he tried to jump into the pit with Sam and everything had been better. Mostly, anyway. Something had cropped up in the last while and it wasn't something that they were used to dealing with. Monsters, not demons, crawled around in the abandoned and ruined cities of their past. Generally minding their own business until they sensed someone nearby. It was like horror movies all over again, these creatures were almost twice the size of a regular man but at least ten times stronger. They'd hunt down a person once their presence was known, catch them and skin them alive on the spot.
Cas had seen it at least five times now. Giant, clawed hands wrapping around the torso of a person and peeling away their flesh easily, like an expert peeling an apple. The screams were awful though it was hard to give Castiel nightmares anymore. If the monster had eaten them afterward it would have been a mercy, but that's not what those things did. The body was desecrated in every way imaginable and he really didn't intend on thinking too hard on it, the imagery was enough to make his stomach churn.
Dean was out. He and the others were on a mission to kill the bastards that were interrupting the original clean up. Apparently it was harder to take these things out than the croats because the teams seemed to be coming back with fewer and fewer fighters. Not that Cas didn't go with on occasion, but he tended to take turns with others, not wanting to wear himself out. As Cas stood and thought over the past and how things had gone right and then wrong again, something trembled above the water.
Cas took several steps away from the source, eyes focused on the space above their small creek. It wavered again, rippling like the air was water. It was surreal and in that moment Cas could have sworn he was dreaming again. But when a body fell out, flailing and thrashing into the water, he thought that there was no way he'd dream this up. He hadn't taken any drugs since before facing Lucifer so that was out. He stepped closer, eyes narrowing as he stared at the delirious person, they flailed somewhat and scrambled apart; it was two people completely entangled with one another.
"DUDE!" Jet shouted, "Are you still you!?" His hands pat all over his body to make sure he was in one piece, "We didn't fuse together?"
"Don't think so! No, no I don't think so." Dean was breathing just as heavily, eyes wide and staring at his friend whose expression was matching, if not more dramatic.
Cas' mouth quirked up in a smile as he watched them, "Dean?" He asked after a moment, letting them try and get their bearings straight. "Is that you?"
Dean looked up and frowned, "Yeah Cas, it's me. Who else do you think is wearing this stupid… get up…" He slowed down as he realized Cas wasn't in his cloak and, hell, he was smiling. "What happened? What'd I miss?"
Cas chuckled, "You aren't my Dean." He walked closer and leaned against the fence again, his arms crossed and hip out, just a little bit. "What time are you from?"
Dean looked at Jet then back at Cas, and back to Jet one more time. "You think there are other versions of us running around?"
"After everything, man, I wouldn't be surprised." Jet huffed, standing up and glaring down at himself. "I'm totally soaked, everything I packed is soaked. This is bullshit."
"Get over it." Dean muttered as he stood as well, looking back to Cas, "I'm uh… not from a specific time. Try 'other world'."
Cas' eyebrows lifted and he laughed again, that smile still pulling his lips up and showing his age just a little. "No kidding? There are other worlds now?" He shook his head and sighed, eyes closing as he ran a hand down his face, "Oh, this isn't going to go over well with him."
"With who?"
"My Dean," Cas explained, his hands finding their way into his pockets. "We've been dealing with a bit of a situation lately, you came at a bad time."
"That's probably why we're here." Dean sloshed out of the creek, Jet right behind him. "Kind of like a clean up crew."
"Explain." Cas furrowed his brow; his attention caught now, curiosity piqued.
"See uh… it's this thing called the void," Dean lifted his hands to try and emphasize what he was saying, "It's this big open space with monsters and those monsters are getting into worlds and-"
"Dude, you suck at this." Jet snorted.
"Shut up man, this is my first time trying to explain it." Dean snapped back, feeling a little self-conscious.
"So this void, all these different worlds are floating in it and monsters are starting to migrate into them. Am I getting that part right?" Cas would be lying if he said he wasn't entirely amused with this Dean's dynamic with his friend.
"Yeah, pretty much." The new high priest smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. The way this Castiel smiled was somehow captivating. Dean found he couldn't look away from it. Was this what it looked like when he smiled?
"I think I got it." Cas rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, not unlike the priest had done before they'd entered the portal in the first place.
"You took that well," Jet made a face, looking Cas up and down to size him up. "Not surprised?"
"Didn't you hear me ask what time he was from? I've done some time and space hopping myself." He started back toward the settlement, motioning for them to follow, "And I'm not what I appear to be," he looked back with a wink, "Used to be an angel, you know."
Dean and Jet paused and looked at one another, neither one hundred percent certain they believed him and yet they couldn't find a way to disbelieve him either. Jet looked around the immediate area and furrowed his brow, "Uh… were there two others that fell too?"
"No, just you guys."
The two travellers shared another look, this time a little more anxious. "So, then where the hell did they end up?" Dean muttered, the worry seeping through his exterior.
"Cool it man, he's with Cas, he'll be fine." Jet went for reassuring instead of panicky.
Cas glanced at them again, "Come on, gentlemen. I don't have all day."
"What are you even doing?" Dean asked, finding it too easy to be grumpy now that he realized he didn't know where his brother had gone.
"I'm going to get you guys dried off, what do you think I'm doing? So come on, or don't. I don't really care."
Dean watched Castiel walk away; starting to notice the differences between him and the high priest that Dean had come to know. His hair was messier, his clothes were shabby at best, and his posture was slouched and far more relaxed. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about it just yet, or about the entire situation. They'd been having problems in this world, so Cas said anyway. But Dean couldn't see anything going on, granted there weren't a lot of people out either.
"So who are you looking for?" Cas asked once they'd reached his place, walking out of his shoes and gesturing for them to do the same.
"My brother and partner," Dean explained without really thinking.
Cas paused and looked at him curiously, "Brother? As in… Sam?"
"Yeah, you know Sam too?" Dean lit up, hoping maybe Cas had actually seen someone. Maybe Sam and his Castiel had shown up in a strange time loop or something. He had no idea how these things worked so he figured he could get his hopes up over just about anything.
"You could say that… the Dean that lives here also had a little brother named Sam." Cas looked away and sat down on the couch, stretching his legs a bit as he did so.
"What do you mean by 'had'?" Dean's expression darkened, not wanting the thought to really take hold.
"Exactly what it sounds like, my Dean lost his little brother, we all did."
"What got him?" Jet asked quietly, kicking his shoes off next to Dean's.
"Satan." Cas said simply and the thought of it nearly made his guests laugh. "Don't giggle, I'm serious. He was Lucifer's vessel and now he's locked in hell. This 'world' I guess you could call it, went through the biblical apocalypse."
Dean snickered, "Sorry, sorry. It's just… What's Satan doing in my brother?"
"Better question," Cas looked at him, "What's my Dean going to do if he sees his dead brother walking around again?"
Dean swallowed thickly, "He… wouldn't hurt Sammy."
"You don't know that." Cas ran a hand up into his hair tiredly, "But you're probably right. Nothing to really worry about so sit down, relax a bit."
"Yeah… nothing to worry about." Dean tried to wrap his mind around the last twenty minutes of his life. Last thing before falling out of the portal was being thrown through air, completely out of his element and ready to puke. He should have held onto Sam's hand. He knew he should have held onto Sam, he knew it. But damn him, when did he ever listen to himself?