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Dean Winchester had pictured his death many times – bullet to the chest, a knife in his gut, vamp teeth to his throat – but being stabbed in the back was not it.
“Sam, I don't think I'm going anywhere.”
Sam narrowed his eyes in concern. “What?”
He could feel the rebar in his back and how his body expanded and contracted around it with each inhale and exhale. He tried to breathe but it came in short, stuttered breaths. “There's – there's so-something in my back... It feels like it's right through me.”
Sam walked up to him and touched his back. Dean hissed and his eyes followed Sam's. His fingers came away, wet with blood.
Dean leaned his head back against the wooden beam. “God, fuck!”
“Hold on, I got you.” Sam reached for him.
Dean's back was throbbing with pain and each breath he took forced fire down his lungs. “No, no, don't touch it. It feels like this thing is holding me together.” Dean took a few gulping breaths. With each exhale, he felt blood seeping out of the wound. He could taste iron on his tongue and his thoughts were beginning to slip.
He just wanted to sleep. Cas...
Sam's voice was clipped as if he was trying to keep it together.“Alright, wait, wait. We'll call for help and I'll get the first aid kit.”
A light flared up in the dark barn, illuminating everything briefly.
What appeared to be a thin vertical line appeared in the air. Soon it expanded, to a rectangular.
Sam turned around just as Dean saw a man and a woman step out of the portal.
It closed behind them with a flash.
Sam turned and pulled his gun. “Don't move!”
Dean wished he could help, but if he moved, he was as good as dead.
The man was freakishly tall – Dean would bet money that he was taller than Sam – but he looked like a cosplayer that had taken things way too far. He wore a red coat with some golden embroidery and looked like an over adorned Santa Claus. Some glittering gloves and what looked like swords completed the ridiculous look.
The woman had short hair and wore pants and a coat that looked like it belonged to a cosplayer. Dean wasn't sure but he thought he saw the sharp edge of blades as she twirled them in her hands.
“You are sure, Min?”
Min nodded. “I am.”
The man raised his hand and a ball of light appeared.
Dean didn't know if it was that he was dying, or if it was that these two had appeared out of thin air that had Sam all in a bind but he knew the moment Sam decided to fire.
The sound echoed in the barn but there was no scream or grunt as the bullet penetrated flesh.
The bullet was frozen in midair.
The man didn't move a muscle but Sam's gun flew in the opposite direction at the same time as his legs snapped together. His arms were pushed down to his side by an invisible force.
“Sam, what the hell is going on?” Dean wanted to shout but it came out as a confused moan. Fucking rebar. If he so much as moved, he'd drop dead, and then there was no way he could help Sam.
“Rand, stop, you can't hurt them.”
Rand walked towards them and the floating ball of light followed him.
Goosebumps erupted all over Dean and he shivered.
The bullet dropped to the floor behind him.
“Don't worry, Min. I'm not going to.”
Min scoffed. “You wool-headed oaf. Be careful. You don't know if they have an angreal or if saidin has the same prop– “
Rand shook his head. “They can't channel.” He looked at Sam with an arched eyebrow. “They don't look much to the world.” He laughed, short and bitter. “Then again, neither did I when the Wheel chose me.”
“What happened?” Rand's voice was cold as he directed his gaze to Dean.
Dean laughed which turned into a cough. “Vamp happened. Who the fuck are you?” He glanced at Sam who was still frozen in place, like a statue. “And what the hell did you do with my brother?”
Rand smiled but the amusement didn't reach his eyes. “He reminds me of Mat. Marin always spanked him when he stole her honey cakes but I think it was more that his mouth was dirtier than Gedwin's shoes.” He glanced at Min. “And this has to be done?”
Min nodded, a sudden worry creasing her forehead. “I am sure. I know he has to survive.” She pointed at Dean.
Rand took Min's hand and kissed it. It was the first time Dean noticed Rand come alive and his eyes shone. When he looked at Dean, his eyes hardened again. “Min says you're an important thread. Not only for our world but for mine. I don't trust you. As far as I'm concerned you're no better than the witches that – “
“Rand!”
Rand sighed. “Min says I have difficulties trusting people.”
Min spoke softly and laid a hand on Rand's hand. “They are not all bad, Rand. You have to – “
“I know. I don't like being away from Aviendha and Elayne. I can barely feel them let alone point out the direction where they're from.”
Min squeezed Rand's hand again. “I miss them too. What about – “
Rand shook his head and a sharpness entered his voice. “He's still here.”
Dean blinked slowly. This guy was giving off one hell of a weird vibe. He had no fucking idea who they were but why did it matter? He was dead soon anyway. Killed by fucking rebar. Not the way a Winchester should go.
“We have to go back soon or Mat will run away and do something foolish like invading Seanchan. I can't believe he kidnapped the Daughter of the Nine Moons!” Rand pointed at Dean. “You ready?”
Dean was in no way ready. He didn't even know what he was supposed to be ready for.
Something pulled at him.
Dean screamed as his body slid off the rebar. Agony that had been a slow simmering burn flared up again, covering his entire being.
Again, invisible bonds held him up. It had to be some kind of magic because without it Dean would've been a bloody pile on the floor.
Rand placed his hand on Dean's heart. “I don't require touch to heal but since you're from another world, I don't want to gamble. I am ta'veren but no Mat. I could as easily kill you as heal you.”
The last part was not reassuring at all. Not that Dean wasn't close to death anyway. “You're not making much sense –“
Fire consumed Dean. It spread out from his heart and rapidly consumed him until all he knew was pain. The pain that the rebar had caused was a drop in the ocean. Dean had the insane thought that even Hell was preferable to this.
Just as quick as it has started everything stopped.
Dean gasped from the shock of it all and he realized that his body was shaking.
“I will release you now. Don't act foolishly. I'm the Lord Dragon Reborn, the Car'a'carn, He Who Comes With the Dawn, the Coramoor, you can't fight me.”
Dean touched his back but only felt the crusted dried up evidence of where his back had been penetrated. “Well, too bad about the dawn. You're a couple of hours early with that, pal.”
Rand flexed his fingers and Dean noticed that there was something red and gold sparkling on his hands, peeking out from that ridiculous coat of his.
Sam suddenly fell down to the ground.
“I hope this will be enough to convince you of my loyalty. Light, I don't have time for more pigheaded foolishness. My lands might burn while I'm here rescuing you.” Rand turned on his heel and walked towards the barn exit. “Don't die.”
“Rand.” Min's voice stopped him. “It's not him.”
Rand turned, a scowl on his face. “What do you mean, 'it's not him'? Is he not the 'righteous man'? Bloody ashes Min, we can't chase mirages and illusions when I have the Dark One breathing down my neck. Together with the Tower Aes Sedai and Mazrim Taim, I don't know which one is worse.”
Min stood on her toes and Rand leaned down to hear her whisper.
Rand's question sounded more like a demand. “Do you know of one Caseel?”
Dean licked his lips.
Sam had gotten up and stood by his side again.
Dean glanced at his brother who shook his head. “Never heard about him.”
Rand sighed deeply but there was a tone of annoyance as he spoke. “Min, I can't save something that's not there.”
Min glared at Rand, even though that meant she had to crane her neck. “You know I'm never wrong, Rand.”
Rand touched one of Min's dark locks gently. “I also know that sometimes your visions don't mean what we thought they would. 'A man one with the bird. A blue light shining all around him. He wears a thousand face.”
Dean hated, hated the hope in his chest that had quietly been growing all this time and now exploded into his heart, making it beat wildly. “Wait. Do you mean Castiel?”
Rand turned towards Min. “Is that him?”
Min sighed. “I don't know. I know when I know. I have seen him but I don't recognize him by that name.”
Rand shrugged. “The Wheel turns and even legends fade to myth. The names do sound alike.”
Sam moved closer to Dean. “Can we... trust them? We don't even know who, what they are?”
Rand walked up to Dean. “A man without trust is a man without life.” He smiled softly at that.
Dean had no idea what was so funny but Min looked at Rand, suddenly worried.
Rand shook his head. “Not yet, Min.” He glanced down at one of the dead vampires on the barn floor. A booted toe touched the vampire's face. “The Shadowspawn are present even in this world. The Dark One's reach is long. Light willing, I'll end this soon. All of it.”
“Look, I don't know what kinda witch you are but – “
“Come here.”
Again, Dean felt goosebumps on his skin. He was shoved forward until he stood face to face with Rand. “You could almost rival Logain with those eyes of yours. At least before the Healing. They shine with anger.”
“You keep talking in riddles, I don't have a clue what you're saying, man.”
Rand placed a hand on Dean's chest. “I want you to imagine this Castiel in your mind. Min.”
Min took Rand's hand.
Again warmth seeped into Dean's heart but if before it was a fire, this was the embers that Rand coaxed alive.
Rand stood still, his eyes closed.
“Dean, are you alright? What are you doing to him?” Sam went to push Rand away but Min shouted.
“No! If you disturb Rand right now, he might kill us all. The Power is fickle and this world is strange. Please, just give him some more time.”
“Look, if you're trying to find Castiel you're too fucking late. He's dead.” Dean tasted bile as he uttered those words. He shut down his sorrow that threatened to wash over him like a tsunami. If Min was right and this was some unknown magic, Dean wouldn't want to disturb the lizard lord.
Rand was still just standing there, but Dean noticed sweat pool at his temple. He was giving the guy two more minutes and then he'd get out of the barn, even if that meant shooting Lord Whatever.
“Min. Is that him?”
Min nodded, her voice an awed whisper. “Yes, you found him.”
“I'm ta'veren. I force the Pattern.” Rand got a distant look in his eyes and almost seemed regretful. “But most of the time I think the Pattern forces me.”
That Dean could sympathize with. He knew all about cosmic forces trying to yank his chain. A sudden light filled the room and Dean was shoved back violently. He landed on his back with a grimace.
Blinking back the spots in front of his eyes, Dean stood up on unsteady legs. “Sam, you alright?”
He heard his brother from the other side of the room. “I'm fine.”
Dean brushed off the dust that coated his jacket, only to stop mid-action. The barn doors had been blasted away by whatever but it wasn't that that made Dean's hope soar to life. A dark silhouette could be seen against the weird ball of light still hovering in the barn.
It was a silhouette Dean was intimately familiar with and as the figure came closer, Dean's throat locked up.
“Dean?”
The trench coat was gone, replaced by blue jeans and a simple gray sweater but that voice – he'd recognize it in any world, in any dream.
“C-Cas?” He hated how hopeful he sounded – what if this was all a dream, what if this wasn't, he couldn't, couldn't dare hope.
Cas smiled. “Hello, Dean.”
Dean didn't think. He was not conscious of the fact that he had started running – Cas was right there – and he realized with surprise that he was already in front of him. Dean enveloped Cas in a hug and silently inhaled the scent of him. He'd missed him so damn much.
Cas looked good, hell, he looked beautiful.
“I don't know how I'm here – I was in Heaven but I'm glad I'm – “
Dean took a step back. “Cas, stop.” He noticed the stricken look on Cas' face but Dean forced himself to go on. “I – I didn't mean it like that.” His eyes were just as Dean remembered them, and how could they not be? Every night Cas was the last thing he thought of before Dean fell asleep. I love you. “Did you mean it Cas?” He knew, he knew, but he needed to hear it again. His heart had been behind walls for so long that even now in its freedom is still doubted the sunshine all around it.
Cas nodded carefully. “I did, Dean. And I still do.” He straightened and looked at Dean, now confident and strong. “I love you, Dean.”
Dean's heart burst wide open. Cas loved him.
He'd dreamed of Cas saying those words to him again, of Cas being alive and saying it. Dean would respond, he would not be silent, he would not be silenced by circumstances beyond his control, by a dark entity that took his answer away, that took Cas away.
“Y yo a ti, Cas.”
Cas blinked.
What was going on? Dean hadn't planned to respond to Cas in Spanish.
“No, y yo a ti, Cas!”
Rand spoke from the shadows. “I'm ta'veren. Unlikely events tend to happen more often around me.”
Dean took a deep breath. Unlikely events. Rand could take his tavern stuff and shove it. He took Cas' hand in his own. He tried to hide the smile but it was impossible.
“Cas, I love you. I love you, you son-of-a-bitch.” He grinned. “I've loved you for so long, you have no idea.” Then he corrected the second mistake he did with regards to Cas.
He leaned in and kissed Cas' stupid, wonderful, chapped lips. It was a soft, careful kiss, not that his heart got the memo. It was trying to give him a heart attack then and there, but Dean was tired of dying, tired of not living.
Cas moaned in surprise but Dean was busy getting drunk in the taste of him. Cas tasted like summer rain, like the ocean during a stormy night – wild, and free, and powerful. He tasted like home.
Cas' hands in his hair were a welcome surprise and it felt so right. A small step forward and their chests were flushed together and Dean wouldn't trade it for anything.
Just when he thought he was drowning, when Cas' kiss became too much – Dean loved him so goddamn much – Cas broke it off. He still held Dean, their foreheads touching gently.
Dean's voice sounded broken. “How-how are you back, Cas? I thought that you were dead, that Jack couldn't bring you back from the Empty?”
“I never went there. I was in Heaven. Waiting for you.” Cas turned serious. “I didn't expect you to come to me that quickly. Jack told me you'd arrive soon and then – “
Dean waved at Rand and Min. “They happened. I was dying but then, he healed him. He's uh, the Lord Dragon Reborn and Min, she's – “
“I'm the one that saved you. Without me, you'd be speared like a pig at Bel Tine.”
“I don't get the last part but I was speared.”
“That was hardly a spear,” Rand mumbled as he touched his side.
Min looked profoundly sad at Rand's words.
The proximity of Cas was too hard to ignore and Dean turned his attention back to him.
Cas.
Exhilaration rushed through Dean again. His mind and heart couldn't decide which narrative to believe – his mind insisted that this was too good to be true, that Cas would again and forever be lost to him but his heart fucking sang with joy.
He touched Cas' cheek; he needed something to ground him and he wanted this to ground him.
Cas' skin was warm beneath his hand. A sense of awe came over Dean again. “I love you.”
“No 'yo a ti?”
Dean shook his head, an amused smile on his lips. “No.”
Cas grabbed Dean's hand. He brushed his thumb gently over Dean's skin but his eyes – warm, loving – were trained on Dean. He whispered. “Desde que te rescaté del infierno, te he amado. A ti. Mi corazón te ha pertenecido siempre a ti, Dean.”
“That's a lot of words for saying my heart... is on fire?”
“The only ones that can burn are the network.”
Dean glanced at the dead vampires on the ground. “Uh, nest?”
“Yes... The nest.” Cas leaned in and kissed Dean again. “I love you too.”
The smile he gave Dean was breathtaking.
“Guys, maybe we should leave. I think that was all of them but a lot has happened today.” Sam walked up to Cas and hugged him. “I don't know the full why's and how's but I'm so glad to have you back, Cas.”
“I'm happy to be back, Sam.”
Sam nodded. “You're family... and judging by what just happened my brother-in-law as well.”
“Alright, alright.”
Sam pulled Dean in for a hug. “Im so happy for you, Dean.”
Dean exhaled. “Quite a ride today. From me almost-dying to bringing back Cas that was certainly-dead.” Then it hit him. “Sam... I'm sorry. I didn't think – I didn't think it through. I was – “
Sam patted him on the back. “It's OK, Dean. Really.”
Dean let go and carefully looked at his brother for any signs of hurt but Sam was his usual self.
“Min, so uh, is this, whatever the hell it, was over now? Not that I'm not grateful – “ He glanced at Cas and his heart swelled. Fuck, it was going to be like this always. Dean wouldn't have it any other way.
Rand shook his head. “Min's prophecies are not something that can be – “
Min smiled as she walked up to Dean and Cas. “It worked, Rand. Light, have mercy, it worked. I never know why or how, I'm I know when something is finished. And we did it, Rand. This will be set in stone.”
Dean still only followed about a quarter of the conversation but he figured as long as Rand was happy, he'd leave. “Well, that's peachy. Uh, thanks for... saving Cas. Maybe E.T should phone home now.”
Rand narrowed his eyes, trying to decipher what Dean meant.
“Nevermind. Can you get back home?”
Cas smiled. “I know that reference.”
“That won't be an issue. I'm already familiar with this place.” A thin vertical line appeared mid-air, twisting and turning itself into a portal.”Let's go home, Min,” Rand called. “Aviendha and Elayne are waiting.”
Min glanced at Rand “So is Cadsuane.”
Rand stiffened as sudden anger flared in his eyes. “She can wait. All the times she made me wait while stirring her blasted tea. You won't tell her anything about this.”
Even from afar, Dean felt the chill of Rand's words. Whatever world they were going back to, Dean had no wish to know any more about it.
“Dean, Cas.” Min looked at them with a smile, ignoring Rand's anger. She seemed genuienly happy. “This won't make much sense but I'll speak it anyway.”
“One of those things you just know I guess?”
Min nodded. “I know it's not easy to trust in something your eyes can't perceive but – “
Dean laughed. “Oh, don't worry about that. Sam, Cas and I know all about things people can't percieve. We hunt ghosts. It's kinda' a family business.”
“Then these words might bring you comfort. Your love and your reunion, that you love each other will weave threads throughout the Pattern. Millions of souls will take comfort in this. That one being loved humanity so, because of one human, loved you so” – Min glanced at Dean – “that it ended up saving the world. That he saw love in himself and declared his truth proudly even when surrounded by darkness. That he saw love in you and that love not only changed the fate of the world but changed you. Your love spun countless threads and made the Pattern more beautiful. Shimmering, hopeful. And that love made you see who you really are, Dean. And your love for yoursealf healed you.”
Min patted Dean's arm before she continued. “Love that ignited love for self. A shield that cracked and crumbled. A weapon shattering, a heart expanding. A sea of gold that pulsates. Hope and love. It matters. And those threads reach far and wide and intertwine with ours. In saving you both on this day, we are saving ourselves I don't know how but I know the truth of it.” Min took a breath. “Silence, thousands of voices speaking up as one, a seashell, a blue bird in flight, a man – he is you, Dean, but he isn't and there are many around the world just like him – speaking words but they are not his words but yours. A man that again looks like you Dean – not the same as before – and his mouth is sewn shut but he's smiling and he's holding a needle and thread in his hand. A fat man with a cropped beard laughing saying 'It's forever', millions of hearts healed, millions of lives seen, millions of voices heard. We, drowning in a sea – dying – but it's something to celebrate.”
Min exhaled and blinked. “I don't know what it means, I can't even say that everything about this relates to your world or ours, but I know it's true and it will heal all of us.”
“Alternate worlds appear to be more connected than I previously thought”, Castiel mused.
Min shook her head as if trying to shake the visions from her mind. “That may be. I just see what I see.”
“What about me?”, Sam joked.
Min bit her lip.“I can't make the visions happen. They come to me... but I see something around you. It's not flickering but a steady image, so I'm certain it will come to pass.”
Sam sounded eager. “Oh, what is it, if you can tell me.”
“I see a dog.”
Dean breathed out a laugh. “You're getting a dog, Sammy!”
“I have to go. Thank you for everything.” Min walked over to Rand and grabbed his hand. “Your lives are forever intertwined. I see happiness around you. Happiness for both of you, with each other.” Min waved a hello.
Rand looked at all three of them. “It was nice meeting you.” He smiled softly. “You remind me of myself, Mat and Perrin. Three ta'veren caught in the Wheel and Wheel spins out the Pattern as it wills. And you're being pushed and prodded so the Pattern corrects itself but the Wheel keeps on spinning. Age through Age until even myth is but forgotten. The only way to be free is to break the Wheel. But you already did that, didn't you?”
Rand placed a hand on Min's back. “After you.”
Min shook her head as she walked through the portal.
“One last thing before I take my leave. Sometimes we do get what we deserve.” Rand closed his eyes and stood there for just a few seconds before opening them again. “Suravye ninto manshima taishite. May peace favor your sword.”
Rand walked through the portal and it closed with a flash.
Dean grabbed Cas' hand. He had been living with regret for so long, now was the time to just live. “Let's go home, Cas.”
“Let's,” Cas said with a smile.
A movement in the shadows of the barn caught their attention and Dean had his hand on his gun, ready to squeeze the trigger until he recognized the figure.
His brother gasped.
Eileen waved at them but her eyes were on only one person. “Hello, Sam.”