Author's Note:
No deaths, eh? I'll see what I can do.
Just a quick thank you to those that are still reading and a very special shout out to my reviewers!
Angel Training World: Part 1
"Okay it's very simple, Dean. All you need to- Dean pay attention to me." Castiel stopped and scolded his life partner as the newly made angel circled around and tried to stare at the foreign appendages spreading out from his back.
"It's so weird though… Like I have extra muscles that do stuff they didn't before."
"Yes Dean, that's what wings do and you've had them for a short time. Now will you let me teach you how to use them?"
Dean stopped and nodded sheepishly, his smile more than enough to encourage Castiel's forgiveness. "Sorry, I've just never been much of a flier, you know that."
"I understand," his angel approached him calmly, Castiel's arms slipped around his shoulders and they stood closely for a few passing seconds until Dean could feel the nerves start to slip away. "But you know I'll catch you, right?"
"You always do." Dean smiled and closed his eyes as their foreheads touched, both slowly swaying side to side soothingly.
Castiel lifted his gaze to Dean's after a long moment, their eyes lingering on one another until a smile pulled at Castiel's lips and he threw Dean off the perch. They'd gone for flying lessons and that's exactly what he intended to do, after all, Castiel did have to train his new angel.
Dean screamed on the way down, falling through the air toward the dimensional rift between heaven and the earth below. Castiel flew down after him, his speed matching Dean's majestic flailing and he couldn't help but laugh at his soulmate. "You're doing fine, Dean. Don't flop around so much, spread your wings."
"I can't!" Dean sounded a bit shrill and it did nothing to remove the grin from Castiel's lips.
"You were swinging them around and smacking people for days, don't you tell me you can't move them now?"
"You're a real smug bastard, you know that?" Dean scowled at him.
"Just calm down," Castiel soothed him with words and his presence but didn't physically touch him, "You know how to fly already, just think."
Dean held his breath and closed his eyes, he knew Castiel was right but that didn't stop his nerves from sending him into a panic. However the more he thought about it the more he realized it was just his mind freaking out, he had no reason for it. And even if he wanted to freak out he couldn't, Castiel's soul was interlaced with his and Castiel was as cool as a cucumber. Dean felt the rush of the air around him; he felt his angel's excitement and joy when it came to everything that involved flying and he thought for a moment that maybe he could enjoy it too.
That was at least until something crashed into him. Dean screamed again and plummeted down in a spiral with what he figured out was a person, a human, and they looked a lot like Sam had when he was around 22 years old. "SAM!?" Dean cried out as he tried to get a good look at the terrified individual clinging to his back.
"Oh my god we're gonna die!" Sam had a very similar shrill tone to him as he made the mistake of looking down.
Castiel grabbed the base of Dean's wings and stretched them out as they were meant to, "Come on, Dean, you can do better than this." he insisted, his tone a little harsher but he remained the calm one.
Dean managed to straighten out and discovered that flying was more in his nature than he thought, 'Must be the species change.' He decided and glanced back at the younger Sam, "What's going on? How'd you get so much smaller?"
"That's not our Sam," Castiel nudged him gently and pointed down, "He's still there-" he cut himself off and stared down below at the earth with a more scrutinizing look. "What's going on? That wasn't happening an hour ago."
The surface was run ragged with strange creatures and battles had started to erupt between oddly dressed humans and all sorts of beings. Castiel watched with widening eyes as enormous beasts erupted from deep in the earth's core, ravaging the land and leaving nothing but destruction and chaos in their wake. "What is this?" He breathed the words but hardly managed to muster up a strong state of mind for anything else.
"That's a war," Sam explained, his fingers dug hard into the beautiful fabric on his pseudo brother's back. "There are many dimensions and worlds, all of which are connected by one all encompassing space. In the deepest parts of this universe live monsters like the ones you see down there, all of them led by a king. They're fighting against the High Priests, people sworn to defend the universe and all the people in it." Sam looked at the two he was with, noting their wings and how they moved. "You're angels, aren't you?"
"Yes," Castiel responded though he wasn't sure what tone to take, it was a lot of information given in a short amount of time. "Where did this come from? We're in heaven and we didn't hear about this at all."
"That's because it's bigger than your religion, it's called The Faith and it incorporates every religion from every reality and brings all about to one truth. I don't really get what it means but that's what I've been told. To be honest it doesn't really matter what it means, what matters is that it's happening."
Dean glanced back at the young man on his back and furrowed his brow, "So how do we end it?"
"First we need to find my family, they'll probably be with another me or… a Jet, do you know one of those?"
"We know both," Castiel nodded and curled his wings in, "Come on, let's see Sam first."
Dean followed suit, finding that Castiel had as much sway over his mind as he'd ever had over Castiel's. It was an odd sort of freedom he felt, knowing that it wasn't just one or the other that controlled everything around them.
Sam held on tight as they dove down, he couldn't believe the world he was seeing, it seemed almost dystopian. "What happened to your world before this?" He asked, "Does everyone know about angels and monsters?"
"It's a long story," Castiel called back, his voice carrying through the wind easier than Sam thought possible.
"To summarize it though," Dean didn't intend to leave it at that; it was their life story after all. "Heaven fell apart and angel kind had to find a new home, people weren't exactly welcoming and we had a whole new slavery problem. Cas and I met, worked out our differences, and moved on to free his brothers and sisters."
"You have family?" Sam was surprised, his Cas wasn't related to anyone as far as he knew, an only child.
"All angels are related as a brother or a sister seeing as how our father is God himself." Castiel explained easily.
"Is heaven still broken?"
"No, my Father managed to get us a new one, took some time though."
Sam couldn't help but notice the tone of voice the two carried, like they were giving a tour or something. "You guys sound like you're used to being asked questions."
Dean and Castiel exchanged a glance as they entered the territory that would be considered earth, more specifically the state of Kansas in the U.S. "We've had some experience as representatives," Castiel smiled and flew down to the ground, his feet touching gracefully as Dean swooped by first and had to loop back around before he could do the same.
"We're here," Dean sighed and walked up to the door, "I wonder how he's been…"
"Let's find out," Castiel walked past him and entered the house, calling ahead to the inhabitants. "Gabriel, Sam?"
Sam walked in after the two angels and as he took in the sights of what looked like a normal man's home he realized that everything he was seeing was something from the past. As he entered the living room he came across a winged Gabriel, his real brother, and a very old version of himself. The guy must've been 90, he decided and it was possibly the weirdest experience he'd had up to that point.
The older Sam lifted his head to look at the new comers and he smiled, "Dean," he chuckled and motioned toward his wings, "I think that's what we used to call irony."
"I think it's called appropriate," Dean smiled back and approached his little brother to see how he was.
Meanwhile priest Dean got out of the armchair he'd dropped himself into and went to his Sam, "Hey, get here okay?"
"Other than falling through the sky riding an angel bareback? No problem whatsoever." Sam grinned and watched the blood nearly drain from Dean's face.
"Well lucky that was you, if it had been me I'd have died."
"Don't I know it."
Castiel looked to his brother, "Have you noticed the strange goings on in the last little while?"
"Noticed? How could we not notice?" Gabriel scoffed, "Not that we can do anything about it, Cas. Sam's not particularly agile."
"I could walk," Sam protested, "Though my legs aren't what they used to be. Neither is my mind, I'm afraid." He looked at Castiel and Dean again with a shake of his head, "I hope you weren't expecting me to do anything."
"No, just wanted to check in." Dean gave Sam a gentle hug, "How was my funeral?"
"Depressing." Sam shrugged, "But I figured Cas would have taken care of you. Can't say I expected the whole wing package but good for you."
"Doesn't that make you two brothers now?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Castiel who shrugged similarly to how Sam had.
"I don't think so, if that's true then he's adopted."
Gabriel smirked, "Convenient explanation."
"Call it what you want, we're still destined to be together." Dean stuck his tongue out at the archangel. "More importantly, is this everyone little Sam?"
Though Sam wanted to argue that label he decided it wasn't worth it, "No, we still need to get Cas, he's probably with your Jet like I said before."
The other Sam scoffed and shook his head, "Well he'll be in an awkward position then because I haven't heard from Jet in ages."
Priest Dean shared a look with his brother, "It's weird seeing you like this, imagine Jet." Dean laughed a bit and Sam couldn't help but do the same.
"Yeah… I just missed you though."
"I've got pictures," older Sam chimed in and was promptly poked at by his angel brother.
"Don't even."
Castiel looked around the room then out the window as the world slowly started to sink, it shook around them and he felt uneasiness. "What happens if we fail to take these monsters down in time?"
"Then the world falls into what's called the Void." Dean took on the explanations and for once Sam was grateful, he didn't like talking about falling into the Void, it left a bad taste in his mouth. "It's a place where humans can't survive and worlds slowly rot away. But that's why we're here, we're going to take out the guy leading the attack and stop their advance."
"The angels can help," Castiel insisted, "I know a few that would be more than willing to save what's left of mankind."
"Bring on the old gang, huh?" Gabriel grinned, "Well we won't be nearly as strong without the strength of our humans being there but hey, it's worth a shot."
"I can be present, you know." Older Sam nudged him and Gabriel's expression wavered from the constant happy-go-lucky he'd always worn.
"I don't want to lose you just yet." He muttered and Sam nodded his understanding.
"That's it then," Castiel turned toward the two Dean's and young Sam, "My Dean, find the other Castiel, I'll alert the other angels, and you two stay here for when we return. Understood?"
"Sounds good to me, let's do it." Angel Dean nodded and was too excited to wait further conversation. He flew as soon as he got outside, Castiel's internal sense of freedom and elation when flying settled into his system.
Castiel looked at the two strangers, "Sit tight."
"No problem," Dean replied and watched as Castiel shot into the sky like a bullet, gone in almost an instant.
Sam sat down with his other self and started rambling off questions. What was it like getting to that age, did he have any tips or pointers for their body type, all kinds of things Dean didn't really want to ever hear about.