I don't know, either. 6x20 ficlet?
So...this just happened? I don't know.
Just struck me.
semi-spoilers for 6x20.
Title: (Untitled for now)
Rating: PG
Characters: Castiel, Gabriel, mentions of Dean
I've got to admit. I don't even know what the hell this wording is.
I've yet to figure out a spoiler HTML for the summary, so... seen the ep? Carry on.
Creation based. The scene where Castiel watches the fish
He stood on the shore as Creation wove around him, skies dark, waves crashing in beautiful chaos.
The big picture surpassed awe-inspiring, His Father’s love and commitment unfurling around him, and yet his attention was captured by a small gray fish. It was a tiny, helpless creature, with bulging eyes and a gaping mouth, flopping unerringly to the shore, undeterred.
It was so small, and while Castiel wondered at the significance of such a weak creature, when his Father was so great, he never questioned. This creature was, after all, a miracle.
“Don’t step on that fish, Castiel,” a voice behind him cautioned, light and gentle, knowing. “Big plans for that fish.”
Castiel straightened into a posture of respectful deference, turning toward his older brother. “Gabriel.”
Their Father’s work was still so new, and so much to be done, and yet the Archangel had come to see him, of all the angels. It was unnerving, warming, and completely unexpected.
“You’re the first of us to approach the sea, you know,” Gabriel commented, coming forward to rest his hands on Castiel’s shoulders, a balm, an anchor in this storm. “Everyone else is trying to avoid it. Our Father will want us to embrace it, but it’s new. It’s unfamiliar.”
“Unfamiliar,” Castiel repeated, leaning into his brother’s touch. “But not unwelcome.” He could feel his brother’s approve when Gabriel squeezed his shoulders, voice murmuring a low rumble, warm.
“Things are going to be different, little brother,” Gabriel said. “Just you watch. Big things are coming.”
“Like for the...” Castiel dropped his gaze. “..Fish.”
“Just like the fish,” Gabriel said, stepping around Castiel, and lowering himself to the blackened silt of their Father’s newest creation. Without a word, Gabriel cupped the writhing fish in his hands, so gentle for a being so powerful, and held it still until the tide rushed in, sweeping over the defenseless creature. In turn, the fish seemed to come alive, twisting in Gabriel’s hold, and returning to the merciless sea.
“There is a plan…for that,” Castiel was skeptical. “For something so small. It would have perished, brother, and yet it fought and returned to the sea.”
Gabriel just smiled again. “Got it in one, Castiel. Everything has a purpose, a plan. That little fish will spawn thousands, and thousands into hundreds of new wonders.”
“But,” Castiel said. “It was so….small. Weak.”
“And those,” Gabriel’s voice softened. “Those are the ones to keep an eye on. The small ones, the fighters. Against all odds.” He touched Castiel’s cheek, and was gone. He never returned.
Days later, or perhaps an eternity…Castiel returned to the sea. In Heaven, chaos reigned with the cries and heartbreak of a beloved older brother, lost. Anger. Hatred. Pain.
But Castiel never moved, content to watch the seas churn at their own will. A shark fin sliced evenly through the tide, and a fish leapt effortlessly into the sky, landing with a splash.
Years passed, and Castiel fought and obeyed, struggled and thrived. He was endlessly loyal- they all were- but he was fast.
Some thought him smaller, still, and weak at times, but still he fought.
A millennia since Lucifer’s fall from grace passed, and Castiel never knew.
On Earth, nineteen seventy nine, a bitter wind blew, and with it, a newborn named Dean Winchester screamed his protest of new life to the world.
Castiel watched.
The infant was so small….so weak.
But he would not interfere. Like the fish.
Someday, Castiel decided, like Gabriel and the fish, he would grip Dean Winchester in his hands and let the tide take him to freedom.
Someday.