Fic: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (9/??)
Title: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (9/??)
Rating: overall R for language, violence, blood and sexual themes;
Genre: romance, adventure, time travel;
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel (pre-slash), Sam, Bobby, OFC;
Spoilers: The fic starts from the middle of season 6 and alternates the end of it, but also has spoilers for 7x1;
Beta: eridanie;
Summary: Her name was Mary. Mary Gabrielle Winchester. After her parents had been killed by Leviathans, she returned back in time to prevent Castiel from opening Purgatory and freeing them. But it turned to be more difficult than she had expected as the relationship between Dean and Castiel in 2011 weren't exactly the way she used to see in her own timeline and simply telling everything to her fathers would have turned catastrophic. So yeah... saving the world? Easy! Opening the eyes of one particular angel and one particular hunter on each-other on another hand was a different story.
Word Count: WIP (4200 this part);
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Masterpost
Chapter 9
Not A Time For A WeddingApril 2011;
Castiel cast his eyes down to look at tickets lying before him on the table. On the middle of the ticket was a picture of a giant Ferris wheel rising above countless colorful tents and kiosks. It was printed on a sickeningly pink shade of paper and decorated with dozens of red and purple hearts of different sizes. Castiel looked at the ticket like the pitiful piece of paper had personally offended him, and then raised his eyes to give a questioning look to the older Winchester who was standing in front of him awkwardly trying to look away.
“What is it?” The angel asked.
Dean coughed trying to look anywhere but Castiel’s eyes. It looked like the time-bleached red wallpapers in Bobby’s study suddenly attracted Dean’s attention, like he had never noticed what an interesting pattern they had. “Those are tickets to go to a fair.” Dean explained, his face was slowly changing its color, until it turned into a shade of red similar to the wallpaper.
The angel glanced at the pink rectangles again and back to Dean.
“Why?” He asked.
“Well, I assumed you needed some time to relax. You know, take a day off or something.”
“I don’t exactly have time for…” Castiel poked the tickets carefully like he was trying to check that they weren’t living creatures who could turn into face-eating paper monsters and bite his finger off. “…this.”
“Oh, come on, man!” Dean finally looked at him. “It’s not like one day can change anything drastically!”
The angel fixed his gaze on Dean giving him one of his ‘I’m trying to read your mind’ looks and then sighed. “Fine…” He said “… one day.”
Half an hour earlier…
Sam had found Mary sitting on the porch leaning against one of the wooden posts that held up the roof. Two small earbuds were in her ears and her eyes were closed.
“Hey…” Sam smiled tapping her on the shoulder, causing her to open her eyes.
“Hey!” Mary replied taking the earbuds out. “You need something?”
“Actually I came to ask if you would be interested in going here.” Sam said showing her the four pink ticket flyers.
Mary looked at the tickets with amusement and disbelief. “You do remember that I’m your niece, right?” She asked.
“Yeah, that part didn’t escape my mind.” Sam shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, Dean is coming to, so…”
“Well, now it looks suspicious. But… on other hand Dean has always secretly adored fairs.” Mary looked at her uncle challengingly, but then smiled. “I’ll go if Cas will go.” She said.
“Are you serious?” Sam surprised. “Cas would never agree to something like that.”
“Well, it depends who asks him.” She said.
Half an hour even earlier…
Bobby tugged the brothers into the basement, and looked around before closing the door like he was afraid someone was spying on them. When he was finally satisfied with the level of privacy he turned to Sam and Dean and sighed: “I need your help.”
“With what?” Sam and Dean asked at the same time and glanced at each other, the same way they always did after saying the same thing.
“Well, you see, I got a hold of the angel-princess diary and thought that I could work some on its translation.”
“Wait, you got the future Cas’s journal?” Sam said with a surprised raise of his eyebrows. “How?”
“I call it old man’s charm.” Bobby said sarcastically. “Anyway, the thing is that I don’t have the book itself, I only have some snapshots I managed to take on my phone. Mary has no idea about this and it’s better if it stays that way.”
“So, let me guess.” Dean started. “You want us to entertain her somehow so she won’t notice what you’re doing?”
“Well, yeah, that’s exactly what I want from you idjits.”
“And how are we going to do that? After our last fiasco I don’t exactly want to take her out hunting monsters again.”
“Well then, it’s nice of good ol’ me to come prepared!” Bobby said as he extracted four pink flyers from his pocket and gave them to the brothers.
“Why,” Sam started, “why are there four of them?”
“And why the hell they look like a frigging cupid designed them?” Dean added.
Bobby looked at both them both like they were simpletons that were incapable of understanding the most basic things.
“This are fair tickets for couples.” Bobby said, moving his gaze from one brother to the other. “What? They were on sale!”
***The fair was situated on an open field outside of Sioux Falls and looked more like a small village because of how massive it was. The most impressive part was how fast it was built. When Dean, Sam and Mary had been returning from Wisconsin several days ago, crossing this exact field, it was empty, and apparently four days was all it took to fill the field with hundreds of tents, rides, and of course the most impressive of all, a giant Ferris Wheel right in the middle.
Sam knew if anyone had asked Dean if he enjoyed fairs, or maybe if he liked bumper cars, the hunter would have made a most disapproving face, and replied that he wasn’t a kid, but if you happened to know Dean as well as Sam knew him, you could tell otherwise. Even if Dean’s mouth was mumbling something incoherent about stupid fairs or freaking colorful balloons all over the place, his eyes were still shining with childish glee, and when Dean was sure no one was looking at him, an absolutely sincere smile was playing on his lips. So it was clear how much the older hunter actually enjoyed being in a place like this, surrounded by the people he loved.
Another unexpected thing that made Dean smile, was the way Castiel reacted. Dean was doing his best to try and make the angel feel less tense, to make him try new things, like cotton candy, or this hit in the world of food, as Dean called it, bite sized pies. Every time the he succeeded in eliciting any sort of emotion out of the angel, he reacted like a child who had been given candy.
But the main engine of action was of course Mary. She was tugging all three of them from one tent to another, trying every single food possible until Sam was actually surprised at how all of it could fit into her stomach, and playing every game she could find.
Sam looked at the three of them with a smile. Once again he started to think about Mary being the child of Dean and Castiel, how happy they could be, even though it was bizarre to think about Dean in a relationship with another man.
Sam sighed, watching his brother interact with the angel. No wonder the idea had occurred to him. The two of them behaved like a married couple, and he was sure that anyone near them would think the same. But the more time Sam had spent thinking about it, the more uncertain he became. He had already gathered all the ingredients for summoning Balthazar to discuss the matter with him, but in the end he simply didn’t have enough proof, and it would end up being very awkward if Mary turned out to be the daughter of Dean and someone else.
Sam’s thoughts were interrupted by Castiel, who had seemed mostly unaffected by the fair atmosphere but had stopped suddenly before one of the tents, gazing into it with focus he didn’t even pay to ancient manuscripts. Sam glanced over the angels shoulder and noticed that the tent was filled with various stuffed animals and had several targets for throwing darts.
“What is the purpose of this game?” Castiel asked.
“Well, you throw darts aiming as close to the center as you can.” Dean explained.
“And will I get one of the animals if I do?”
“Well, yeah!” Dean smiled in amusement.
“I would like to try this one” the angel said.
“Wow, really?” Dean glanced at the angel with surprise but still extracted a game ticket from his wallet and gave it to the guy working the stall, receiving five darts for it.
The angel took his first dart and weighted it in his hand examining it, then threw. The dart missed the red dot by several inches, which surprised Sam since he had been sure that Castiel would be perfect at something like throwing darts.
“Ah, I see now.” The angel nodded.
The next four darts pierced the exact middle of the bull’s-eye, restoring Sam’s trust in the angel’s abilities.
“All right, that was pretty impressive! You can pick any toy from the top line.” The guy in the tent smiled and pointed at the line with the most ginormous stuffed animals.
“I would like that bear.” The angel pointed.
The guy in the tent reached for the huge white bear with a pink ribbon on its neck and a red nose made in a shape of a heart and Sam was trying his best not to burst into laughter at his weird choice. Dean as it seemed was just as shocked.
“Here we go!” The guy smiled holding the bear out for Castiel to take.
“No, not this one…” Castiel suddenly corrected. “The one in the corner.”
With this Sam moved his eyes to a small plushy bear in a green shirt sitting in the corner separately from every other toy.
“Ughh…” the guy groaned. “I’m afraid that one isn’t the best choice. Two kids started to fight over him and tore his paw a little. Then they just dropped him on the ground and ran away.”
“I still would like to take it.” Castiel insisted.
The guy from the tent simply pulled the bear down and handed it to the angel. The next moment Castiel turned to Dean and held the toy out. The older Winchester gazed at the bear with surprise and astonishment then looked back at the angel giving him a questioning look.
“It… reminds me of you.” Castiel explained.
Now that he mentioned it, Sam noticed that in fact the stuffed bear had some features in common with his brother. The green shirt it was wearing looked like Dean’s favorite one, its fur was very similar to the color of Dean’s hair and it had dark green glass eyes.
“Umm… Thank you. I guess…” Dean mumbled accepting the unexpected gift, but still gazing at it like lit was a bomb ready to explode in his hands.
“And as I recall, fake bears make you feel cozy.” Castiel added.
Yeah. No wonder Sam was getting ideas.
*** The day at the fair was going by unexpectedly fast. When Dean had agreed to entertain Mary in order to give Bobby some time to work on the journal’s translation, he hadn’t expected to enjoy it so much. Mary was pretty overactive for seventeen, but the situation was balanced by the slightly awkward and very calm angel who was following them everywhere they went. Once Dean caught his brother with his gaze fixed on him. Sam was smiling, and the smile was so pure and happy that it made Dean feel something close to pride. Yes, the world was slowly going into the toilet if they didn’t stop it, yes the evil monsters were still terrorizing innocent people all over the world, and every day off Sam and Dean took was probably ending up with someone dying by evil creatures’ hands. But the fact that even now, Dean was still able to see his family happy from time to time, was making him happy too.
When Dean thought of his family he had unconsciously included the angel. For all the time Dean and Castiel had spent together, the socially awkward angel had become an integral part of the team. When Mary told them that Castiel was still hanging around, even after the Dean had a family of his own, Dean had thought it was strange at first, but then he realized how much he actually wanted it that way. He wanted to see the angel from time to time even if they didn’t need to work together to save the world. Castiel could come visit Dean, and they could watch a movie together, or do other male bonding activities like going to the bar. Hell, Dean wouldn’t even mind making the angel the godfather to his child (although he didn’t really want his daughter to be baptized or partake in any other kind of religious ceremony, especially after everything he knew about the religion).
They now sat on a picnic table in the food vendor area of the fair. None of them was particularly hungry, except for Sam who was refusing to eat anything from the stalls because the food they had was too fat and greasy for his princess tastes. Now he was munching on his usual rabbit food salad, which was just another opportunity for Dean to tease him.
“I’d like to see how you look in twenty years.” Replied Sam, pushing another piece of something green into his mouth.
“At least what we’re eating tastes good!” Laughed Mary and moved closer to her father demonstrating whose side she was on. Dean grinned like the cat that got the cream, because having someone agree with you was damn pleasant.
“And I wonder how you’ll look in five years, when all that junk food starts to gather on your hips!” Sam grimaced. “Well, twenty two actually, but you know what I mean.” Sam added.
“Whatever!” Mary laughed, sticking her tongue out at Sam. Then she excused herself to go to the restroom.
Dean glanced around and spotted an exceptionally hot woman sitting several tables away from them, glancing back at their table. She was dressed in a very bright shirt decorated with a Native American pattern and simple blue jeans. Her long chestnut hair was gathered into two braids with a red ribbon wrapped around her head and she held a small ceramic bowl that matched her shirt.
Dean’s flirting instincts kicked in and he sent her one of his best smiles leaning, somewhat seductively on the table. In the distant corners of his mind something was telling him that it was wrong to flirt with someone when you came to the fair with your daughter, but his instincts were taking over as the girl stood from her table and moved toward the three of them.
But when the woman finally reached their table, Dean’s pride was stomped as she moved past him to a very confused angel, who stared at her without even blinking. For some reason Dean felt a wave of jealousy sweep over him and couldn’t decide why. It wasn’t the end of the world that a hot chick decided that not he was the most handsome guy in their company.
For a moment the two of them stared at each other without moving or saying a word, but then she smiled widely and handed her bowl to Castiel who looked at it with distrust, but then decided to carefully accept the bowl. With the corner of his eyes Dean noticed that the dish was filled with a brownish liquid that didn’t look at all pleasant. Castiel sent the hunter a questioning look but Dean simply shrugged his shoulders. The shorter man gazed at the contents of the bowl yet again and the next moment moved the bowl to his lips starting to drink it. For a split second Dean wanted to reach for his friend and knock the vessel from his hands because it was dangerous to drink random shit from strangers, but then he decided that was stupid, since the angel had his natural resistance to poisons, plus he could probably sense anything dangerous in the bowl beforehand.
The woman waited a moment, letting Castiel drink half of the liquid, then took the bowl from his hands and emptying it in several gulps, and looked at the angel smiling even wider. The next moment the she rushed toward the angel, settling herself on his lap and pressed her lips into his. Castiel squirmed trying to move backward, but the table was in his way preventing him from doing so. The angel’s eyes were wide and panicked, he grabbed the edge of the table with so much force that it cracked. In any other situation Dean would find it absolutely hilarious, but he was simply too angry for it right now. Dean had no idea what had made him feel this way but he decided to lay the blame on his own suspicions about Mary having feelings for the angel.
The woman in the bright shirt finally tore her lips from the angel. She gracefully stood up from Castiel’s lap, readjusting her hair before starting to walk away.
“What was that all about?” Asked Sam whose face showed nearly the same level of shock as Castiel’s.
The angel shook his head. “I… I don’t know.” He said “It was… disturbing.” Then he reached to the pocket of his coat. “She slipped something in my pocket.” He said.
“Probably a phone number.” Dean mumbled.
“Doesn’t look like a phone number.” Castiel said extracting a cob of corn.
“Well, that’s weird.” Sam pointed out.
Mary returned to the table to find the three of them sitting in an awkward silence. Dean and Castiel were staring in absolutely opposite directions, and Sam was moving his eyes from one to the other.
***It was getting really dark. Dean was pretty sure that they had spent no more than four hours at the fair, and since they’d arrived early in the morning, there hadn’t been a chance in the universe the night could sneak up on them unnoticed. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and none of them heard anything about upcoming solar eclipses so blaming something supernatural seemed like the only reasonable explanation. Dean wanted to find a way to send Mary home, but the reporter on the radio confirmed Dean’s fear that the disappearance of the light was occurring all over the world where it was currently daytime.
So here they were, standing in a field, as far away from the crowd as they could get, discussing their next course of action.
“Any ideas?” Dean asked.
Sam and Mary shook their heads.
“I can feel something powerful around the area.” The angel said suddenly.
“Well, just perfect!” Dean grumbled. “We can’t even spend one day as normal people!”
“I think I will go and check the area” Castiel suggested.
Dean was ready to see the angel disappearing, but the he stood on the same spot without moving. In a moment he frowned and looked around: “I… I can’t fly” He admitted.
“What? Why?” Sam asked.
“It appears that my wings are bonded.” The angel explained.
Dean groaned in annoyance. Yes, this was definitely not their day.
The four of them were torn between leaving the fair and returning to Bobby, and staying where they were to investigate. Dean knew that the older hunter was preoccupied with the translation of Castiel’s journal, but at least there they could wait and see what was going to happen and had a better chance to find information. Plus the defused angel was currently powerless, and if it happened to be the followers of Raphael, they had way more chance of defending him there. But on other hand, before Castiel lost his ability to fly he had definitely sensed something in the area, and leaving this something here was dangerous. The hunters had no idea what it could be and what it could do to the civilians at the fair.
Another factor was played by Mary since Dean wasn’t delighted at all by her presence here while they could face something dangerous. The older Winchester reached his phone in order to call Bobby so he could come and take her, but the phone didn’t have a signal.
“All, right, it’s decided.” Dean announced. “We are returning to Bobby’s and then we will think about what’s going on in here.”
Mary looked like she wanted to protest, but decided not to. In the end she knew they weren’t going to listen to any protests.
Dean started to move towards the exit of the fair followed by the others, but before he could reach his beloved car, everything suddenly turned to black as the sun disappeared fully from the sky. Dean was stunned. There wasn’t any source of light anywhere around. He made several blind steps and bumped into someone that he realized was Castiel.
“Shh, Dean, give me your hand, I will lead you to the car.” The angel whispered so close to his ear that it made Dean’s whole body shiver as the angel’s breath tickled his cheek.
“Yeah, yeah, all right!” Dean agreed trying to step away from the angel as quickly as he could. “Sam? Mary?” Dean called.
“We’re over here Dean!” Sam called from somewhere very close to his left side. “I’ve got Mary!” He said and suddenly Dean was able to see a light from Sam’s direction. The younger brother tugged his phone out of the pocked and was flashing it around himself.
“Good idea!” Dean said reaching for his own phone, releasing the angel’s hand from his grip. But instead of holding onto his hand, he simply gripped the sleeve of his coat so as not to lose him. It wasn’t a contemplated action, just something he done out of instinct to protect, without thinking. “Ok, guys,” Dean said. “The exit isn’t that far away now.”
Dean would have expected to hear others from the fair. Of course they weren’t right in the middle of it, but on a field to the side of the main action, but still, he’d seen many people sitting on the field with picnic baskets before the sun turned off. In situations like this Dean was sure all those people would start to panic, to call each-other, but no - it was as quiet as if the four of them were the only ones alive for miles around. And that couldn’t be good.
The dim lights of the phones weren’t bright enough to use as flashlights, but at least they allowed the four of them to move faster. Several more minutes passed and Dean noticed a light ahead of them. At first it looked like it was far away, but with every passing moment the light was coming closer and closer.
Dean reached for his gun from behind his belt and pulled it out. He glanced around, trying to find at least one hiding spot, but the field around him was empty for at least fifty feet and the light from their phones wouldn’t allow them to see any farther.
“Run!” Dean commanded when the light was close enough to illuminate the ground around them.
“No frigging way are we leaving.” Sam protested, stepping closer and trying to hide Mary behind his back.
Dean turned to his brother to argue but saw that his very brightly lit face was turned somewhere ahead of Dean and he looked surprised. He momentarily turned back to look at whatever Sam saw and came face to face with a woman who was standing right in front of him.
It was the same woman they had seen a while when they were relaxing near the food, the one who had given Castiel the drink from her bowl, but now she was clothed in full native regalia and glowed. Like seriously glowed, illuminating several hundred feet in all directions around her.
Dean reflexively jumped away, tugging Castiel with him since he was still gripping his sleeve.
“Don’t worry!” The woman said smiling. “I’m not here to harm you.”
“Yeah? And what’s with the missing sun and special effects?” Dean asked pointing his gun at her. Dean was pretty sure that even with the silver bullets dipped into holy water he currently had in his gun, he wouldn’t be able to harm her. But he could sure try.
“Oh, I just needed some privacy!” She explained crossing her arms.
“Who are you and what do you want from us?” Dean heard his brother’s voice behind his back.
“I have many names. But around here people call me Chuqui-llantu” She said. “And I came to take my husband with me.”
“Well, that’s peachy, but I don’t think we know anyone by that description” Dean smirked.
Chuqui-llantu didn’t respond, she only took several steps toward the angel and moved into his personal space. “He is my husband.” She said.
Dean opened his mouth to laugh and tell her that was ridiculous, but in the next moment he found himself standing in the middle of the brightly lit field next to Sam and Mary. All the formerly absent people had returned and it looked like no one had noticed anything, but Castiel was no longer there.
To be continued...
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