Author's Note:

Yeah yeah, I used Michael again XP I had intended to at some point, this has nothing to do with the Jar of Hearts Michael, for those of you who have read that already. Thank you again to my reviewers, and a special thanks to Just4Shiggles08 for that last one. I am very flattered by all of you and I feel like I don't deserve the praise sometimes but none the less I hope to keep you all entertained. I love writing and if I have some fans then all the more reason to keep it up. I wouldn't still be doing this if it weren't for you guys, so thank you everyone.

In Somniantes: Part 2

Castiel stepped through the portal and onto the other side without much of a thought passing through his mind. He already knew everything he could possibly think about the place, he'd seen it fall and he knew what it meant. The world was falling apart, people he once knew there were dying and it was probably his fault, either for causing it or not being strong enough to save it. When a priest visited a world to take care of a threat from the void they left it with a small warding barrier. It wasn't much but it allowed the crack in the world to heal enough that when the spell wore off it was safe again.

In Somniantes hadn't been quite as lucky. Castiel had woken as a priest inside the world, meaning when he left there was no such spell in his wake. The break in its shell was left to fester and spread. Castiel closed his eyes, he let the feeling of darkness pass over him. He'd originally told the others that they couldn't reach this world because it was in the void, while he still believed it was the right call to make Cas felt kind of bad for lying. Back then he didn't care much and lying would have come so easily, but now he couldn't imagine the anger and frustration he'd cause. And he could cause plenty.

He remembered all of it, as soon as he'd touched down on the mainline, priesthood and everything in tact.

Castiel looked around at the vastness he'd entered, all the weird little fires lit up and the darkness below the road, nothing but movement and strange colours and lights above. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, this whole thing was overwhelming and strange and nothing made sense anymore. Cas walked down the path a little toward the main road, glancing back at the world he'd just left. It looked so twisted and the darkness pulled and pulled at it, large moving hand-like figures grasping, clawing.

The surface below him started to tremble and crack, a loud, echoing groan came from the bridge to the world. It started to tilt back as more and more pressure was put upon it. Castiel felt his legs shaking as he stumbled backward, away from the monstrous darkness that lashed out from below. His eyes were wide and terrified, all he could do was watch as the connection gave way, the world falling into the depths below. It was horrifying, those weird beings had told him what was down there, how dangerous and awful it was. And here he stood, watching as the people he knew, his world fell to its death. The place he'd met Dean, the place he'd buried Sam, gone. His family was gone, forever.

"I'm…" Cas walked to the edge of the broken path, staring down at the flame flickering down below, "I'm alone…"

Cas closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he wasn't alone anymore, he had Dean, Sam, and Jet. His family was there, he was becoming whole again, it didn't matter that he was back. He could go visit the cemetery, he could go to his old yard, he could do any of those things but the thought scared him. Castiel didn't want to have to take part in any of it, he didn't want to do it but here he was, standing on the soil of his home world. No thoughts had passed through his mind when he'd first stepped out but as he really looked around he could see places he recognized once, what they were supposed to be. He could see people he'd known, almost no older than when he'd left centuries ago. It was all so messed up, this place was broken and the pieces were disintegrating into the void.

Castiel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes again and trying to forget it. But forgetting wasn't the problem, he needed to accept it. He had to get over it and he had to get past it. Cas took another slow breath and started walking through the street, eyes cast this way and that as he tried to keep it all in. It was his road, his neighbourhood, his life broken apart. Cas didn't know what he'd find, he didn't know if he should go any further. Most of the worlds, when the high priest was on the mainline, were frozen in time. When they entered another world all the worlds tended to start up again, time resumed and life continued on as if there had been no pause. But not In Somniantes, they were in this constant state of flickering time and to see it made him feel ill. Some of the cars were in the same place he remembered the last weekend he'd lived there.

And the thought dawned on him as he headed for his old home; what would he find in the front yard?

Castiel wanted to throw up but he continued forward anyway, he couldn't stop his legs while they carried him to his old home, his heart started to beat erratically as he approached. He could see something in the front lawn, he'd never had a chance to really look at what he'd done. The celestials had taken him to the in between world space immediately, trained him and sent him out to the mainline. Cas could feel the numbness sinking into his limbs as he walked up the driveway. Why he was doing this to himself he would never know, but he felt he had to see it, to finalize everything.

Someone he didn't recognize at first walked out of the house, but the long trench coat had his hopes up. Cas' eyes snapped up to the face in an eager race to see Dean, but it wasn't him. The other guy seemed to do the same thing except he didn't look much further than noticing another priest standing close by. Instead golden eyes shifted out toward

"Can't find him there either."

"Who are you looking for?" Cas called out, knowing he'd get the exact look that the other man gave him. It was Gabriel, an older one, Cas felt that this Gabriel was maybe older than he was though he couldn't be sure. Gabriel's eyes had widened when he saw that the dark haired priest standing down the road from him wasn't, in fact, his partner.

"Hold up, you're not Michael. Who-"

"Castiel," Cas cut to it, a smile on his lips as he ignored the slight trembling in his body, walking closer until he could shake the other's hand. "I take it your name is Gabriel?"

"You've heard of me?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow as they shook, his expression wasn't one of concern or suspicion but slight arrogance. Apparently having been heard of was a big deal.

"No, well, not you specifically but I've seen others like you." They both looked at one another's outfits, the same designs and intricacies, colours and material, all of it. "You're another priest…"

"You're acting like you've never seen anyone else," Gabriel scoffed lightly and shrugged, "Granted it's been a long time since I saw anybody… I mean we've never met before, are you new? Are new priests waking up? Which world are you from?" He was so upbeat, that same hint of playful cynicism that Cas remembered mixed in with an innocence that didn't quite belong either.

"I'd… rather not say." Cas turned away from the question and found his gaze lingering toward the pajama-clad body in the grass. He knew those clothes so well, the pattern, the smell, the feeling, he felt so conflicted as he stared at them.

"You looking for the prophecy duo too then, huh? My partner Michael and I have been all over the place, it took us forever to get here." Gabriel didn't seem to notice Cas' little freeze up, or he had and was trying to make light of the situation by talking more. He of course had no idea what made Cas stop, "I already checked the body out, looks like it's part of the reason In Somniantes is in such rough shape. Our priest woke up here and probably did this so we know he's not dead-"

"Stop." Cas cried sharply, shaking his head as he stumbled to the body's side, his legs shaking as he slowly knelt down beside it. The world felt like it was spinning, heavily spinning around him like a drunken top that was launched extremely poorly. Cas wanted to be sick as he remained very still, as if any movement would draw the attention of his dead lover.

Dean. Lying there in the grass, right where he'd been left, hands that tried to choke his life out now limply resting in the cooling soil. Cas was starting to find it harder and harder to breathe, he hesitantly reached over to touch the pale face tucked down toward the ground. It scared him and he didn't want to but the whole point was to finish this, was to put a lid on everything and get his closure.

Closure had never been such a horrible idea. Castiel's fingers felt like ice as he gently turned Dean's head, stiff and clammy and paler than he'd ever been. The blood had settled to the bottom of his body, it had coagulated and Cas could smell the rotten flesh already. It wasn't pretty, a corpse wasn't left in a beautiful way as some kind of photogenic scenery piece. It was ugly, it smelled like rotten meat, it was painful and made Castiel want to throw up even more than before. But his body held everything in and let it swirl and coil in his stomach like a tightly wound ball of nerves.

Gabriel definitely wasn't the type who knew exactly what to do when someone was upset, usually making jokes worked but Cas really looked distraught. "Hey…" He wished he knew what to say or at least something he could do but nothing came to mind. Gabriel rubbed soothing circles in Cas' back, he could see now that apparently this priest was either a bleeding heart or he knew the guy half blown apart on the ground.

Cas couldn't even try to choke out something to say to Gabriel, his throat felt like it had closed up and what's more his mind all but shut out the rest of the world around him. All he was seeing were the smiles and laugh lines on Dean's face disappearing, the sparkle in his eyes and that way he liked to wink at him. Dean was gone, his little personality quirks, his words, his love, all of it. Dean was never coming back, not this one. Castiel wished more than anything to feel it, to feel those arms around him one more time so he could say goodbye, so that in some way he could forget, move on. Dean looked so pale now, he could picture the blush in his husband's cheeks now faded to a pasty white. His eyes were lack luster and only added to the sense of a marionette with its string severed.

Cold, stiff, and lacking every ounce of life Dean had ever had. Castiel could go on about all the things wrong with what he was seeing right then but the words just wouldn't come to him. Part of him wished he were lying there too, lifeless and frozen to the rest of the world. But he reminded himself, the thought flooded his mind like a thunderous wave; 'You have a new family.' Cas closed his eyes and let that take over, try and erase what he was seeing now. 'You aren't alone anymore, they love you, and he would be so happy and proud to see you now, to see you happy and healing.' It took everything he had to forget the nightmares he'd had, those weren't Dean, they were self-made and that said nothing about the love they'd shared.

But still, he caressed the decaying cheek carefully, tears slipping from his eyes as breathing eased up on him. "I miss you," he whispered softly, "I'll always love you." Cas bit his lower lip when it trembled, "I mean that, but now I have to say goodbye."

Gabriel stood quietly as Castiel placed a hand over the world's scar, the mess and open wound left by the demoni and priest that had killed it. A light glowed beneath his palm and for a moment nothing happened, it was calm and silent, the time lapse didn't seem to faze anything for a few seconds. And then a flash, a pale colour barely noticeable as it blinded anyone stupid enough to look at it. The area was consumed in the light, slowly fading back into its usual saturated appearance once it had cleared. The ground was empty in front of Cas and the original scar, festering and gaping as it was, had vanished.

Needless to say Gabriel was in awe, "You're... you're the priest that woke from here, you're the legend aren't you?"

Castiel slowly rose and straightened his back, shoulders square and feeling much lighter, "I am, so I've been told."

Gabriel wasn't sure what to say, he was the magical one of his pair and to meet the strongest magic wielder of the priests was like meeting a celebrity. "Where have you been? What happened?"

"Well this happened, for one." Cas looked around sadly but not depressingly so. "And I think the universe is out to get me, what do you know about the corrupted timeline?" He looked over at Gabriel and the other priest's face told him everything; he had no idea.

"What's the corrupted timeline?"

"Uh... well from what my team has gathered, this has all kind of happened before. The Void being activated and risen, the high priests woken from dormancy, the last priests, all of it. It was happening exactly according to this prophecy I think and then... something broke. The prophecy was corrupted and therefore so was the rest of the timeline. A new one sprouted from the last significant moment of the first and that's the timeline we're currently on, hopefully on the right path this time..." Cas thought back to the journal entries Sam had shown them, "Things are already different, as far as we've discovered."

Gabriel's expression remained deceitfully neutral until he started to nod and furrow his brow. "Sounds complicated... I'm kind of glad I'm not the last priest, you've got a big job ahead of you."

"Have you found anything more about this prophecy thing?" Cas asked exasperatedly, "It all sounds too vague, like yeah okay it's specific as to where to find the first of the last pair but when it comes down to 'stopping the Void' I've got nothing to go on. We're going from world to world trying to fix things and I have absolutely nothing to work with, it's slow and I've been at it for centuries."

"We've been working on it too, things are grim out there. The Void is so much stronger than I thought it'd be, the monsters are complicated, even the little ones."

Castiel chewed on the inside of his cheek, which in turn led to biting his lip and dragging it through his teeth. "Wait," he looked up at the other priest thoughtfully, "How much did you know when you woke? How do you know about the prophecy?"

"Out of the common priests one of them will hear the prophecy when he wakes, kind of like a recording in his head. Visions of In Somniantes, the Void, and silhouettes of the last priests who will inevitably be in charge of the final battle." Gabriel recounted it like he could see it playing out in front of him, "In Somniantes looked like it does now except a little less destroyed, the visions of the Void were terrifying... Glimpses of different nightmares made real, unimaginable creatures lurking and this feeling like it's dragging you down with it. All from a simple image in your head. But at the end it's wiped clean, this sense of victory and power rises up in you like a surging wave as these two priests appear. One with some kind of spiked gun the other holding something as simple as a rod from what I saw. It was an incredible sensation, kind of meant to inspire while at the same time warn us."

"Wow..." Cas folded his arms over his chest and stared down at the ground without much to really look at, his gaze lingered on the patch of grass he'd left empty without his permission. "Sounds intense..."

"There are so many different places you can find out more about the prophecy but none of them are safe." Gabriel went on to say, "Michael and I have tried to venture to them but most of them aren't connected to the mainline. You have to venture from it, dare to go past it, and maybe you'll see what you're looking for. But there's no guarantee, the Void can get you when you're not on the mainline."

"I know... And two of the ones travelling with us aren't priests." Cas wanted everything to end quickly but he wasn't willing to risk Sam and Jet for that. But the rest of the universe was already in some kind of shamble or other. It was a difficult call but he didn't have too much time to make it in that moment. He could hear Dean's voice shouting to him, repeatedly and loudly. Cas looked down the road to see Dean bolting toward him. Luckily his partner was fast so he didn't have to wait too long, the need to see Dean's face was becoming less of a minor desire and more of a desperate necessity.

It was important at that moment to see Dean smile, to hear him laugh, watch the life in his eyes, anything would do. Cas just needed to hold Dean, and the more he realized it the more he found himself moving, walking, running, sprinting to Dean's arms.

Dean hadn't been expecting it but he welcomed the affection all the same, he'd give Castiel anything he needed and hugs weren't off the list. "You okay?" Dean asked softly, kissing the side of Cas' head.

Castiel nodded and sighed into Dean's shoulder, fingers dug into the fabric of his coat and holding tightly. "I'm just glad you're here."

"We need to go, Sam and Jet might be in trouble." Dean leaned back and looked at Cas' face, watching the concern wipe across his expression like a shadow.

"How do you know?"

"Michael, one of the other priests told me they'd been to a world called Futurum. It's a place where you can get like future readings and shit, sometimes if it's strong enough you get a little bit of someone else's future and he heard you tell Sam that we had to leave and Sam was screaming at me to help Jet. I don't like the sound of it."

"I think in no context is it ever okay to hear Sam screaming for you to help someone. So agreed, let's get out of here, it's making me sick anyway." Cas looked over at Gabriel, "You two come with us, it's time to leave this place to rest."

Gabriel and Michael both nodded and went to join them as the portal opened, no one bothering to get one last look; especially Castiel.

Mainline

They stepped out of the world's entrance and felt the shake of its pathway as the Void thrashed and grasped at it even more desperately and violently than before. It knew that the priests were there, that there were at least four of them present and to say it was agitated was putting it mildly. Cas yelped a little when Dean grabbed him around the waist and jumped away from In Somniantes as strongly as his legs would carry him. They hadn't been in there for very long but the entire point was to get information from the other priests. They'd gotten Michael and Gabriel to join them for the time being, that was a success if Dean had ever seen one.

Castiel used the same spell he'd cast on Sam and Jet earlier, the magic dragging them back to the mainline safely. Dean looked at him with a half smirk, "I get why you lied way back when I asked about going down to In Somniantes, but I still can't believe you lied to me."

Cas grinned a little, "Who's to say I didn't lie about everything?"

Dean kissed Cas' forehead and shrugged, "I don't think you would have." He looked up at the mainline road, not reaching it fast enough for his liking. "Sammy!" Dean shouted with a nervous tinge, watching anxiously as two shaggy brown heads peered down at him. Relief washed over both him and Cas as Jet waved and Sam made a bit of a face.

"What took you so long?" Sam called back, laughter in his tone. So far, nothing had happened.