Chapter Text
The Soldiers were the first beings in the multi-verse.
They knew this because they were told. In that moment, the first infinite moment of an infinite number of moments to come, their master spoke to them. It had a plan, and would need their help to fulfill it. It filled the minds of its Soldiers with all of the knowledge it had, gave them their instructions and the abilities they would need to complete their task – and then time started.
And it hasn't stopped.
It didn't stop when universes started resolving, the multi-verse inherently striving for perfection, to reduce itself down to one perfect universe; it didn't stop when the race that was helping it along corrupted themselves, nearly taking the entire multi-verse down with them. And even after the race was wiped out by one of their own, time kept going.
But now only one Soldier remains to watch time soldier on.
-x-
It was dark and blindingly bright all at once. His body was as cold as the void of space, frozen right down to the bone, and yet the surface of his skin felt hotter than the flames of a dying sun. Castiel was in Hell, but before he could retreat to safety he had a task to complete.
He closed his eyes, the physics of the dimension pocket wreaking havoc on his eyes and brain, and relied on his time sense to lead him to where he needed to be. After what seemed like forever and no time at all (he was having difficulty distinguishing between the time passing in Hell and in the rest of the multi-verse), he found his objective. A soul that had been called Dean Winchester before it had been pulled into Hell.
He collected every piece of Dean Winchester, holding off the other souls and consciousnesses that sought to do it harm, and returned to his ship to transport it out of Hell and take it back the main universe. As his ship travelled he constructed a new body for the soul he had rescued.
Dean Winchester had been human, so while that fact gave Castiel some idea of what the finished product would look like he still followed his time sense, reaching into the past of the universe he was entering and allowing it to guide his hand.
He finished just as his ship landed, bringing him to wherever he would need to deposit Dean Winchester so that the human could fulfill his own purpose. Now that they were in the main universe Castiel could sense that its timeline needed to be brought in line with that of another, more ideal universe, eliminating the need for this one's existence.
Returning to his ship after depositing Dean Winchester's new body, recently reendowed with his soul, Castiel stopped just inside the door, pausing to reach out to the universe's timeline and ensure that everything had been righted by Dean Winchester's return. He could feel it as the pieces fell systematically into place, the timeline beginning to relax into its original state. Castiel knew that the universe would soon start to resolve into nothing and disappear from existence. His task complete, he moved to the controls in the centre of the room, and directed his ship on to the next universe that needed fixing.
-x-
Castiel had visited two universes since the one where he reincarnated Dean Winchester, righting the stress points in the timeline of a universe that was currently ideal and resolving the second, when his ship shuddered. This confused Castiel, as his ship was in between universes, and thus immune to rips and other imperfections in the fourth dimension – which were the only things that Castiel knew of that could cause his ship to be disturbed as it travelled.
There were no further perceptible physical disturbances, but as Castiel watched one of the monitors he could see that his ship was being pulled off-course. He lowered his eyebrows and tilted his head up and slightly to the side, looking up at the light of the center column and silently requesting any answers that the Eye was willing to offer. It offered him none, but he didn't have long to wait to begin to discover them for himself.
His ship entered a universe that it hadn't been bound for, and landed almost immediately. Castiel used his time sense to figure out where he was, and wondered briefly if perhaps he was falling ill, for it felt as if he had ended up back in Dean Winchester's universe – and that should have been impossible, as more than enough multi-versal time had passed for the universe to have resolved itself completely and disappeared from existence.
He reached out further, trying to find an explanation for the universe's continued presence. Finding a lead he followed it, and quickly realized that there was still an event that had to occur before the universe could resolve, and it was one that required Castiel's direct assistance. Reflecting back on it briefly, he saw that he had been slightly hasty in leaving the universe the first time, experience telling him that his job was done and that he could leave the universe to sort itself out – he must have left before the timeline had smoothed out enough to reveal this new requirement. It was rare that a universe required two separate instances of his intervention, but it certainly wasn't the first time it had happened. What was odd, however, was that he had been brought back to this universe so quickly: while it wasn't completely stable it wasn't an imminent threat to the rest of the multi-verse either. He didn't understand why this situation was so urgent, but it wasn't his place to question the Lord.
He could now see that he had been brought to the point in the universe's timeline where he needed to be, but before turning to face the door he pulled one of the monitors around so that he could see the scene that existed outside of his ship, having learned long ago that being aware of any potential hazards would help him in completing his tasks.
It was Earth, of course; Dean Winchester had been a human from the early twenty-first century, which was before humans branched out to their planet's moon and then on to the other planets in their solar system. His ship had landed indoors, the walls and floors covered in painted symbols, some of which Castiel recognized as belonging to various religions of Earth, both past and present. Others he knew the humans believed to work on creatures they thought to be of a supernatural nature, who were in reality either beings from other systems or just scientific phenomena with other explanations. There were a few symbols which he did not recognize, but as symbols held no actual power he was not concerned.
At some distance from his ship there were two tables, covered in an array of religious and supernatural relics. Standing between the two tables and approaching his ship with guns raised and cautious steps were two men, one of whom Castiel recognized as Dean Winchester. He used his time sense to see whether the other man was of importance to the task Castiel needed to accomplish, and once he was convinced that he wasn't he turned to exit his ship. He didn't want the men getting too close to it, even with the shields and other protection it had against external tampering.
He pulled the doors open slowly and stepped out, the doors swinging shut behind him with a soft click. He could see the two men in front of him tense as he started to approach with measured steps, and he knew the moment before the first one shot that they would try to harm him before he even got to speak. They both shot him several times before looking at each other in shock as he kept moving towards them. He had felt the bullets pierce his skin, of course, but once his body realized that it was under attack it dulled the sensation and got to work removing the bullets and healing the wounds. When he was a few steps away Dean Winchester moved towards one of the tables and put a knife behind his back. Castiel could feel the psychic aura radiating from it, but knew that it would do Dean Winchester no good if his aim was to kill or injure him. Ignoring the other human – Bobby Singer, his time sense informed him in the back of his mind – Castiel came to stand in front of Dean Winchester.
Dean Winchester had been watching him with a look of confusion and shock, and kept that look on his face as he asked, “Who are you?”
“I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition,” Castiel replied.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Dean Winchester said, and he came forward and stabbed Castiel with the psychic knife, just as he knew he would. He felt nothing all the same, and not wanting it to get in the way or otherwise be a distraction to the human, Castiel raised his hand to the knife and removed it from where Dean Winchester had embedded it in his chest. After removing the knife and dropping it to the floor – to Dean Winchester's complete shock, it would appear – he felt the air move behind him and could smell the metal as Bobby Singer moved to hit him with an iron bar. He blocked the blow with his hand, the calculation for its location based on the air movement simple and done subconsciously, and didn't break eye contact with Dean Winchester until a moment later when he realized he would have to deal with the other human if he wanted to be able to speak with Dean Winchester in peace and convince him to give him his full attention. He turned around, keeping a grip on the metal bar, and raised his other hand to place two fingers near Bobby Singer's forehead, feeling at his soul and forcing it into slumber. Once the man was asleep on the ground Castiel turned back to face Dean Winchester.
“We need to talk, Dean,” he said, using only his first name in order to show familiarity and hopefully to build trust quicker. He didn't want to waste any more time than he had to, for there was no point in wasting it when there were things that needed doing. “Alone,” he added as an afterthought, aiming to explain why he had rendered Bobby Singer unconscious. Bobby Singer was not a distraction that this universe needed in order to be resolved.
“What did you do to him?” Dean asked before shoving by Castiel to bend down and check on his friend. Castiel allowed him a moment to check on him and moved to one of the tables and opened a book that was out, hoping out of curiosity to find some clue as to how these mere humans had been able to call his ship here from across and between universes.
When he saw Dean's gaze turn back towards him, Castiel said, “Your friend's alive.”
“Who are you?” Dean asked, again, Castiel noted. Apparently his previous response of having been the one to rescue him from Hell hadn't been enough, but then humans were known for questioning things to no end.
“Castiel,” he answered, continuing to look through the book. It was about the psychic markings and imprints left by beings that created items; perhaps they had been able to use Dean's body, which Castiel had created with the help of his ship, as a link to call him back. He was surprised that something like that would work across universes, especially without any augmentation technology.
“I mean what are you,” Dean said, his voice still hard and not trusting. Castiel would have to work to fix that before they could begin their task.
Castiel looked up from the book to lock eyes with Dean. Eye contact should serve to aid in building trust and conveying his message. “I'm a Soldier of the Lord of Time,” he answered, seeing no reason to lie. Dean would know nothing of his kind either way.
They held each other's gaze as Dean rose to his feet.
“I have work for you.”
“Well guess what pal, I'm not going to just do whatever you say because you're spewing some Time Soldier crap – I don't even know who you are.”
“I told you, I'm Castiel, and you need to come with me.”
“That's not happening,” Dean said with a slight shake of his head.
“Very well,” Castiel said, before stepping forward to close the gap between them. He raised his arm before Dean could retaliate and placed two fingers to Dean's forehead. He did not think to reach out and catch Dean before he fell, but he could tell that the man had not been injured so he thought no more of it. Now, however, he was faced with the task of getting Dean into his ship so that he could take him to where – and when – he needed to be.
-x-
Castiel watched Dean's sleeping form as his ship travelled, taking them back in the universe's timeline, counting the rises and falls of the man's chest. He was a deep and peaceful sleeper, it seemed, though the artificial nature of his slumber may have had influence on that fact.
He felt his ship land, and after quickly completing the landing sequence he stepped down from the control console and bent down beside Dean's sleeping form, debating over which approach to the situation he should take: he could wake Dean and explain what was happening and what needed to be done, or he could deposit Dean's sleeping form outside and see if he could accomplish his task on his own without Castiel's assistance. He reached out with his time sense, and could feel that both options would result in his task being successful, but since Dean had not seemed to be open to cooperation earlier Castiel decided to go with the second option. He decided that he would monitor the situation closely and intervene with any explanation required if need be before reaching down to move Dean.
After he had placed Dean on a bench and covered him with his jacket, Castiel retreated back into his ship to meditate and monitor the progression of events. He felt it when Dean was woken by a policeman, and was pleased when he went into the correct building without prompting. He could feel the human's shock and confusion when he realized that he was sitting beside his father, but thankfully he kept this to himself enough that his father – John Winchester, he noted – did not know what was happening, which was certainly not part of the events that needed to take place in this universe.
Dean followed his father out of the diner a short time later, and Castiel could feel his hesitancy – he was considering abandoning his father to try and figure out what was going on. This was a problem, so Castiel transported himself to where Dean was. When Dean turned the corner and saw Castiel, he started in surprise. “What is this?” he asked. Confusion, then, he wanted answers. He would only continue if he was given some understanding of the situation – hopefully now he would be more willing to listen than he had been back in his own time.
“What does it look like?” Castiel asked, deciding to figure out what Dean's interpretation of his situation was to try so as to determine how best to explain it to the man.
“Is it real?”
Castiel almost laughed inwardly. How many times had he been asked that, when creatures were thrust into situations so far beyond their normal view of their universe? “Very,” he replied, because it was. For now, until Dean completed his task. But he didn't tell Dean that, for that would definitely not be conducive to the goal.
“Okay so what you got you hands on a Delorean how did I get here?”
Castiel debated for a moment on whether to tell Dean about his ship, but he decided that doing so would raise more questions than answers. “Time is – fluid, Dean. It can be bent on occasion, when necessity calls for it.”
“So that's one of your tricks is it, bending time? Well I can tell you that I've never heard of a creature that can travel in time-”
“Now is not the time,” Castiel said, cutting him off. He knew that train of thought would not lead anywhere productive. He was unsure of what to say, so he reached out with his time sense to find the words Dean needed to hear. “Listen to me: you have to stop it.”
“Stop it stop what? Why won't you tell me what the hell I'm doing here?”
“I just did. You have to stop it,” he repeated, hoping Dean was absorbing the message, as stubborn as he seemed to be. The meaning was still unclear to him, but it was important for Dean to know his goal.
“Stop what? Huh is there something nasty after my dad?”
Ah yes, there it was, Castiel could see it now. Dean had come to the right conclusion, and as it stood he would follow the right path for the time being. A car honked on the road behind Dean, who was distracted by the sound and turned to look, clearly on edge but still in control. Castiel used the opportunity to activate a perception filter on his body instead of returning to his ship. Dean turned back and looked right through him, confusion turning to anger and annoyance. He swore before heading towards where his father had gone.
Castiel trailed after him, body on autopilot as his mind was consumed with his time sense, the events that were to take place clear and obvious now. He could see what “it” was, a creature from far back in Dean's personal timeline that was critical to its progression. With it destroyed, Dean's life would turn out very differently, bringing it in line with another existing universe just on the edge of his senses. The universe he was in now would resolve into nothing, allowing the other universe to exist without conflict.
He continued to follow Dean as the human trailed his father, going on to meet his mother and maternal grandparents. He listened as Dean investigated and then came up with a plan to deal with the “yellow-eyed demon” - who was in fact a temporary physical embodiment of detached consciousness named Azazel, but humans knew of his kind as demons so Castiel did not correct Dean. He felt Dean become uncertain shortly before he left to go get the Colt, and he saw it grow as he spoke with his mother, telling her not to get out of bed the night she dies in Dean's timeline. An unnecessary warning based on how the timeline would work out, but Dean didn't know that.
Once Dean was on his way to Daniel Elkins' house he lifted the perception filter. Dean seemed to be thinking that maybe his warning to his mother would suffice, but it would not, and he had to make sure that this was clear to Dean. The other part of Dean's plan still had to succeed.
Dean gasped and jumped slightly in his seat in surprise when he noticed Castiel's appearance. “So what you're only my copilot when you feel like it is that it?” Castiel glanced away from the road to look at Dean, and Dean did the same. “Well you're a regular chatty Cathy,” he said, watching the road again. “Tell me somethin', Sam would have wanted in on this, why not bring him back?”
“Who's Sam?” Castiel asked. He did not believe that Dean was referring to his grandfather Samuel in this case.
“He's my brother and these are his parents too, so why not bring him back to help me out a bit?”
“You had to do this alone Dean,” he answered after a moment.
“And you don't care that he's tearing up the future looking for me right now?”
“Sam isn't looking for you. That's not how it works.”
“Well then tell me how it works because I'm confused as hell!” Dean said, anger in his voice. “If I do this, then the family curse breaks right? Mom and Dad live happily ever after, Sam and I grow up playing little league and chasing tail. But if I kill the yellow-eyed demon now then me Dad and Sam will never become hunters and I won't know anything about the Colt if I get pulled back here in some time loop or whatever.”
“It's complicated,” Castiel said.
“Well I got time, so how 'bout you get explainin'?”
“The way things are now is – stressful, on the universe,” Castiel said, treading carefully, trying to make things as simple as possible so that he could get the topic back to the task at hand. “Once your job is done things will go to the way they should be. Everything will be taken care of.”
“And another thing, what'll happen to all those people that we save huh? In the future? Everything gets completely rewritten with all of them out of the picture?”
“This is what's meant to happen, and things won't be stable unless you follow through.”
“So I don't even get a choice?” Dean said, but when he glanced over Castiel had already activated the perception filter, hiding himself from Dean's sight. The conversation had gotten away from him, and he didn't want to risk revealing something that would put Dean even more at odds with what was happening than he already was.
Castiel stayed with Dean until he had acquired the Colt and was safely on his way back to Lawrence. He returned to his ship first, going into meditation to check and make sure that everything was in order and following the path necessary to ensure that the universe would resolve successfully. His time sense was stronger when he was in his ship, everything amplified and clearer to him thanks to the effects of the Eye of Harmony. Without much difficulty he was able to see that everything was in good standing, at least for the time being. He relaxed slightly, but continued to meditate and monitor all the components that were crucial to success – Dean, both his parents, and Azazel.
He brought his ship to the location of the final event that would solidify the universe's fate, a wooded area on the edge of the Kansas River. He landed out of sight in the trees, and left on foot to get closer to where everything would be happening in case he needed to intervene directly, but that did not seem like it would be likely at that point. Everything had gone well and according to path thus far. When he got there John and Mary were already there in John's car, and he just had to wait for Azazel and Dean to arrive.
Azazel arrived in Mary's father's body, just as he was supposed to. He proceeded to kill John Winchester, just as he was supposed to. Mary agreed to the deal he offered to bring John back to life, just as she was supposed to.
Then came the event that would alter the timeline of the universe for good and cause it to resolve: Dean arrived as John was being brought back to life, and before anyone noticed him, he shot Azazel. The demon was dead in moments, the energy and inherent power in the bullet shattering and dispersing his consciousness such that it could never manifest again in any form, physical or not.
Castiel smiled slightly as he felt the timeline shifting around him, aligning itself, all the pieces falling into their rightful places and settling in where they were meant to be. With the demon dead the future was completely changed, and the universe would begin to resolve in the next few minutes as the multi-verse came to recognize that two identical universes now existed. He turned away from the scene in front of him and started to make his way back to where he had left his ship. He didn't want to get caught outside of it when the universe started to resolve – not even Soldiers could survive the resolution of a universe.
The dark blue exterior of his ship soon came into view, and as he stepped inside he could feel the far edges of the universe in the furthest reaches of time resolving and melding with what was now its twin universe. He allowed the doors to swing shut silently behind him as he strode forward to stand by the controls, silently debating whether he needed to stay until the universe was fully resolved so that he didn't leave anything unfinished again. He couldn't see anything that would stop what had started, not even with the help of the Eye, and the resolution of a universe couldn't be stopped once it had started; so, he started the sequence to leave the universe and go to the next one that needed fixing.
He watched the rotor inside the column move up and down as his ship dematerialized from the resolving universe and entered the space between universes, a blank expression on his face. The events in that universe had been different, to be sure, but other than the summoning of his ship from the space between universes nothing astronomically strange had happened. It was just another in a long, endless line of universes to mend in search of universal harmony.
That was, until he heard a voice say over the sound of the dematerializing matrix working, “What the hell?”
Castiel turned around slowly, certain that he had imagined the voice out of the variable noise the matrix made. But he hadn't – there, standing just inside the doors of his ship, stood Dean Winchester, Colt still in his hand and hanging by his side, eyes wide as he looked around him in confusion, fear, and awe.
Castiel's mind raced for an explanation for his presence, before the Eye took pity on him and gave him the answer – Dean had seen him go into the trees and followed him back to the ship once he was sure that Azazel had been killed. Since Castiel hadn't locked the doors behind him (he rarely did, because if he did leave it parked in a universe instead of in the Void it was usually invisible to other creatures thanks to the perception filter), Dean had been able to walk in before it dematerialized, and had been too dumbstruck to make a sound until they had left.
But Dean was part of a universe that in the process of resolving, so he wouldn't exist here for long, several minutes at most. Like the universe he was from, he would soon cease to exist to make way for the version of himself from the twin universe, so it was just a matter of making sure he didn't damage anything before that happened. Given what he had seen of Dean and his timeline, it was a slim but still very real possibility.
“Hello Dean,” he said, figuring that the best way to keep Dean occupied would be to speak with him. Non-violent, and it would keep him away from the controls and anything that he could damage accidentally.
“What the hell?” Dean said again, still looking around as if trying to absorb everything he was seeing. Castiel supposed that, for a human from the twenty-first century, the interior of his ship could be somewhat overwhelming. “Where am I? What is this?” he asked after several moments, his eyes finally coming to rest on Castiel.
“You are in my ship,” Castiel said, half to Dean in explanation and half to himself in the disbelief at the situation that hadn't fully faded yet. He was no longer worried about divulging too much. Dean was just going to resolve anyway.
“Your ship? That blue box looked more like an outhouse than a ship to me.” He looked around, taking in the interior of the ship again. “This shouldn't be possible.”
“Many things that shouldn't be are.”
He raised his arm, bringing the Colt out in front of him and thumbing the hammer down as he aimed at Castiel. “Tell me what the hell you are. What's a Soldier of Time or whatever you called yourself? And how the hell did all this happen?”
“You should know by now that guns don't work on me,” Castiel said instead, hoping that Dean wouldn't actually fire. He didn't mind getting shot as it wouldn't injure him, but he didn't like the thought of Dean possibly missing and hitting something in the room.
“Yeah well this one's special, so get talking pal. And give me the truth.”
“I have not lied to you at any point, Dean. Just because you haven't heard of my kind doesn't make me less real or dangerous. You should show me some respect.”
“Yeah, why? You haven't done anything to deserve it. All you've done so far is knock out Bobby and then throw me back in time with barely two words of advice. I did what you wanted me to do, now take me back to the future. And I mean my future, not the alternate one where Mom's alive, I've been there already.”
“That's not possible.”
“What do you mean it's not possible? You brought me back in time, now take me forwards. Should be easier right?”
“I told you before that time isn't as simple as you think,” Castiel said, looking over his shoulder briefly to adjust some of the controls as they continued their flight. He saw Dean tense at the movement out of the corner of his eye, the Colt still trained on Castiel, but thankfully Dean didn't shoot. “Besides, we're no longer in your universe, so we cannot traverse its timeline.”
“No longer in my universe? You expect me to believe that you have a ship that can travel between universes?”
“Yes.”
Castiel did not anticipate Dean's next move, which was to take the several steps back that would bring him to the doors of the ship, and push them open with the hand that wasn't keeping the gun pointed at him.
Immediately the interior of the ship was plunged into complete darkness. Castiel kept one hand on the control panel as he walked around it, feeling for the button that would close the doors remotely. He found it after a few moments, pushing it and waiting patiently for them to close and for the light to reappear.
When it did he turned to see Dean with a shocked look on his face – not surprising, considering what had just happened. Apparently the shock was more for being able to see again, and before Castiel could blink Dean was back to looking moderately angry, eyes focused on him and the gun held fast. “The fuck just happened?”
“You thought it would be prudent to open the doors of my ship while we are between universes. You are fortunate that my ship keeps a constant air pressure inside, or you would have exploded from the pressure drop.”
“So why did the lights go out?”
“The Void between universes has many – interesting properties,” Castiel said.
Dean didn't speak for a few moments. “Okay, so I buy that this is a spaceship. Now how about you turn it around and take me back to my universe.”
“Your universe is disappearing, Dean.”
“Why? How?”
“It's difficult to explain, and more complicated than you think.”
“I'm listening.”
Castiel resigned himself to the fact that if he didn't want Dean to become trigger happy, he would have to indulge him until he disappeared, which should be any moment now regardless. “By killing the detached consc- the demon,” he said, correcting himself. “You brought your universe's timeline in line with another universe's. Because they're the same, your universe will disappear.”
“What do you mean by-”
“It will resolve and cease to exist. It's already started,” he said with an air of finality, motioning with his head and one arm towards where he knew one of the screens was displaying information about the universe's status. “It will take you along with it, momentarily.”
“Take me alo- what the hell are you talking about?” Dean said, his hold on the Colt tightening, but thankfully on the grip, not the trigger. “That doesn't make any sense.”
“I told you it was complex, but it doesn't matter now,” Castiel said calmly. “With you gone it will make way for the alternate version of you in the other universe. Things will be – stable, as I explained in the car.”
“Yeah well without this version of me and the universe I'm from the other universe's yellow-eyes won't get killed right?”
“You're over thinking it.”
“But you just said it was complicated!”
Castiel let out a breath in frustration, willing Dean to disappear. By his reckoning the universe they had just been in should be completely resolved or in the final stages now – why was Dean still standing there? “I do not expect a human to be able to understand. You lack the skills to see and comprehend these things.” Castiel was getting worried now. Had there been another problem? Had something stopped the universe's resolution? But that was impossible. Though he had told Dean that seemingly impossible things were often possible, a universe's resolution stopping partway through shouldn't be one of them.
He reached out with his time sense, feeling for the existence of the universe. It was gone; no traces remained except for the human standing several dozen feet away from him, but even then he had to struggle to feel the connection between the two. What was going on?
Castiel could see that Dean's grip on the Colt had slackened slightly, and he no longer seemed inclined to shoot at the first sign of movement – for now, anyway. He turned around, his back to Dean, and scanned the display of one of the monitors. It too was showing that the universe had resolved itself successfully with no additional complications, and that everything was normal in its twin universe as well. Dean should have disappeared over two minutes ago.
“What are you doing?” Dean asked from behind him.
“Are you sure you're human?” Castiel asked, turning his head to look at Dean over his shoulder, squinting his eyes. Then he remembered that he had built Dean's body himself, and he knew the answer. But there was another possibility. “Never mind. Do you have a pocket watch?”
“A pocket wa- no?” Dean said with a slight shake of his head to the side. “And what are you going on about of course I'm human.”
“Does the term chameleon arch mean anything to you?” Castiel asked, still watching Dean with narrow eyes as he left his place by the controls and advanced towards Dean, no longer concerned with the Colt. There could be bigger things going on here.
“No, I-” Dean said, but Castiel had advanced too fast in his haste and confusion and Dean proceeded to fire a bullet at Castiel's chest, seemingly by reflex.
With an angry sigh Castiel closed the last of the distance between them, and pulled the Colt out of Dean's hand before he had even registered that the Soldier had moved. He threw it to the ground to his right and it skidded across the floor for some distance before hitting the wall of the control room. Castiel was thankful when he saw the wall absorb the gun, rendering it unreachable until Castiel deemed it necessary.
All of a sudden Castiel found himself against the wall as well, Dean's forearm on his neck. The pressure was annoying, but his respiratory bypass allowed him to continue to breathe without difficulty. “Listen here you son of a bitch, I don't know what the hell's going on here, or where am I, or what kind of creature you are but I swear to God-”
“How did you get into the dimension pocket in the first place?” Castiel asked, not listening to Dean's speech as he continued to try and find an explanation for Dean's continued existence.
Dean increased the pressure on Castiel's neck. “Dimension pocket?”
“Where I found your soul, humans refer to it as 'Hell.' How did you get there?”
Dean's hold on Castiel's neck relaxed for a moment before it increased again. “You didn't rescue me from Hell, nothing can do that.”
“And yet you keep saying that you've never heard of my kind before. You have no idea of what I'm capable of.”
Castiel could see Dean thinking this through as he glared at him. After a few moments he spoke again. “Alright, say I believe everything you've told me. You're saying there's more than one universe?”
“Yes.”
“And they can disappear.”
“Under the right circumstances, yes.”
“And you're saying that mine is gone? Disappeared kaput?”
“According to the monitors, and I can't feel its existence either.”
“So where do you fit into all this then? I don't see a point to a creature that can travel between universes.”
“I travel between universes and fix problems with their structure.”
“Are there more of you?”
“There – were, before. Not anymore.” He tilted his head. “It would be advisable for you to release me now, Dean. We are entering another universe, and I will need to land my ship.”
Dean stared at him with a focused gaze for another few moments before letting out a long breath and stepping back, releasing Castiel. Dean stayed standing where he was as Castiel walked past him towards the controls, beginning the landing sequence. Shortly before they touched down Dean spoke again.
“We have to go back for Sam.”
“Your universe is gone, Dean, there's nothing to go back to or for.”
“I don't believe that.”
“Sam's alternate self still exists in the twin universe, but your Sam is gone.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I can sense every universe, I can feel the flux of every timeline and imperfection in all the dimensions, I can feel the movement and existence of every being and particle in the multi-verse. I know, Dean.”
“There has to be a way.”
“There is not.” He paused, an idea coming to mind that might appease Dean. Though why appeasing the human felt necessary he wasn't sure. “Unless a pocket of your universe appears. Then it may be possible.”
“A pocket?” Dean practically spat in indignation at the phrase.
“Sometimes a small section of a universe's timeline will – come back, for a short period of time, for unknown reasons. Just a brief window. It's random and rare, but a possibility.”
“And that would be our only shot at getting Sam back?”
“Other than watch and wait, there's nothing you or I can do,” Castiel replied without looking up from the controls. After a pause he said, “You shouldn't even be around to hear this.”
“Yeah what's up with that? A few minutes ago you were saying I was going to disappear too. So what gives?”
Castiel clenched his jaw slightly before replying. “I don't know. I'm still trying to come up with a plausible explanation.”
“Well, what happens now?” Dean said, hands in the pockets of his jacket as he walked slowly up towards the controls. Castiel could tell that Dean was still wary of him; however he was no longer inclined towards aggression, which was certainly a positive development.
Castiel realized at that point what the situation was. He was stuck with a creature whose home universe was gone, a creature that shouldn't even exist anymore because said home universe had resolved. He was an anomaly, and Castiel didn't know what to do with him, what to do about the whole situation. Where could he leave him?
Apparently he had spoken out loud without knowing it – it had never been an issue before, with no one else around to hear him. “I'm staying with you until we find one of those pockets and can get Sam back,” Dean said from several steps behind him, leaving him plenty of room to move around the controls as he continued the landing sequence as they spoke. Or just not wanting to get too close. Either one, but probably the latter given his posture.
Castiel realized that he couldn't let Dean go, couldn't put him anywhere else, because which universe would he put him in? And if there was more to his continued existence, something that could end up threatening the stability of the multi-verse, then it was better that he be nearby for Castiel to deal with when the time came.
“It will be dangerous,” Castiel said, thinking of the human's mortality.
Dean shrugged. “Probably not any more dangerous than what I was already doing.”
Castiel thought of what he had seen of Dean's timeline. Fair enough. “Alright Dean,” Castiel said with a small nod, looking at a screen displaying information about their current location. “Go get dressed.”