Forgiveness Where You Fell
-For the ginger friend of my childhood who I will never see again. Oh, how I loved Charlie because she reminded me of you. How we grieve for people who aren't dead. Goodbye, Lily. Find your wings.
Michael folded up the skies and rolled fire and blood and fistfights into one painful flurry. The ice was swords and the oceans melted through it. Sam and Dean were drawn down, passing through the rabbit hole and the eye of a needle all at once.
Then, they landed on a highway paved with silver. Fire and ice and winter wonderlands rained down on them. Michael landed in a tree, impaled thereon. There was spell work woven into it.
"I guess that's gonna slow you down for now, huh, Chick-Fil-A." Dean spat blood onto the silver road. He was trying to ignore the fact that he and his entire life's worth of Supernatural enemies had landed in a parallel world.
"These trees are magic so they're all trapped for a while. Which is good for me and for my peeps. Good for you too, eh, bitches?" A familiar voice said. Dean looked up at Sam who was staring with a wide-eyed Eureka expression that could only mean the return of God or of a well-loved red-headed girl that they'd once known. The hair on the back of his head stood up. He was not ready to face her if it truly was her.
"Turn around, Dean. Don't make me wait any longer to tell you, bitches, how much I've loved and missed you since the day I said Sayonara to Mother Earth and Father Time." Charlie's voice was filled with authority. Dean turned around, tears raining down his face.
There stood Charlie, just as she had been. Long red hair free falling down her Moondoor costume. Only this time, the effects looked real.
"H-how…?" Dean gasped stretching his hand out to her.
"Oh, pssh...Is that all you can say? Look, I'm not dealing out any info dumping meta right now. I've been waiting for 30 YEARS to know! .Dean?...Is the mark gone? Are you okay now?" Charlie was on the verge of tears. Dean knelt where he was, afraid to move, jaw having dropped. His heart felt like it would explode. He had been hiding his soul from this longed-for reunion ever since he'd seen the Other Charlie in Apocalypse world.
"Sam, the cat or something more monstery has got Dean's tongue. Is he good? Is the mark really gone? The fairies...They told me the war was over, but I've had a hard time believing them." Charlie turned to Sam. Sam who was almost on-cue sobbing, hands shaking, and went to her and hugged her, begging unintelligibly now for forgiveness. And then Dean remembered his harsh words to Sam on the day they'd given Charlie her funeral. How Sam had vowed he would never forgive himself. The hole that was cut in their mutual heart by this tiny root of hatred that now existed in the core of their love.
"Shh...Listen here, Sam. Look at me, buddy." Charlie took Sam's face. He had crawled to her, was on his knees holding her so they would be face to face. She took him by both cheeks and smiled.
"What happened to me is not your fault. Okay? Don't you take that choice away from me! I did it to help Dean. I could have said no to you. I could have. But Sam, you and I both know that as bad as what we did was, it was the only way to save him. Forgiveness is right where you fell, big brothers. I've never blamed you." Charlie smiled palming the tears away from Sam's elated face. Sam kissed her hands, holding them to his face until he regained his composure. Charlie kissed his forehead and helped him stand up. She then turned to Dean who was kneeling at her feet.
"Get your butt up and hug me. I've been waiting for an uber long time." Charlie put her arms out. And Dean, Dean choked back a loud sob...He stood up, one of his hands gripping his mouth. She rolled her eyes and reached and pulled the arm that had once born the Mark of Cain toward herself with all her upper body strength. Then, she rolled up his sleeve, coat and all, so hard she ripped the cuff. There was his arm smooth as the day he was born. She bit back tears now of her own.
"Dean! You're free!" She laughed. And he laughed. And then they both laughed and she jumped into his embrace. He held her tight, eyes closing. It was everything he'd dreamed for years and years. Little soul-sister with her strawberry shampooed-fiery red hair wrapping around him like a magic carpet to anywhere.
He was stammering when he looked into her eyes. She laughed.
"I forgive you. Both of you. For all of it. I didn't blame you after the fact, but...I think you need to hear me say it, huh?" She smiled and traced his face. He was crying all over again eyes squeezed shut. Charlie laughed and straightened his collar.
"We can't stay here, guys. A bit of the meta madness recap. When I died, I broke out of heaven trying to find out for myself if you got free or not. It was after that thing with the Darkness happened, but no one ever told me how that happened, so I assumed it was something evil to do with that book. I thought, well, I got to take responsibility. It is what Sam and Dean Winchester would do and all...So, I found out how to use the Underworld ferry and I found my way to the Fairy World where they make binding spells for things like dark magic, crazed supernatural totalitarians, et cetera. I've been hunting for a Mark cure for 30 years while I waited for some real news. I found a whole bunch more super cool other spells and stuff…" Charlie took Dean and Sam each by their hands and ushered them away from the frozen armies of Michael into the world of magic and chaos.
Dean locked eyes with Sam. He wouldn't be able to say it verbally, but he wanted to spell it out for him with his eyes at this moment that did not need words.
I forgive you once and for all for what I blamed you for. I'm so sorry for what I said. Dean smiled. Sam nodded, unable to breathe and closing his eyes as Charlie led them stumbling along this Dark World's road like a little girl leading her big brothers to the playground. Sam and Dean mutually kicked themselves for being so stupid. Of course, Death wasn't going to keep them apart forever...