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dragonfly11
Title: Rise of the Phoenix: Part Two
Author: dragonfly
Genre: Angst, drama, h/c, post 5x22
Characters: Sam, Dean, Cas
Summary: I have been around a long…long time, but never have I learned more than at the Winchesters’ side.
A/N: Part two is from Cas' pov...which was verra, VERRA difficult for me. Hope it works.
Thank you bff, sid and Lynne for your support! *huggles* All mistakes are mine. And darn it. This one shot turned into a mega bunny. So far, however, I believe these chapters can be read as stand alones.
Part ONE can be found here.
Rise of the
I found Dean in the restroom. He was throwing water on his face, poorly trying to conceal the pain he carried from Lisa and the boy. His attempts were even less effective on me. I could see the tears, so to speak, that his brother’s sacrifice had left on his heart. And they were only widening with time.
But Dean was a stubborn son of a bitch. Sam Winchester had declared this often. And he’d act the part his brother wanted him to…for now. Until the answers he sought so fervently revealed themselves to him.
I have been around a long…long time, but never have I learned more than at the Winchesters’ side. One of which, was that both boys were stubborn sons of bitches.
Another was doing what was right.
He jumped when he saw me in the mirror.
“Jeez, Cas!” He turned around. “What’d I tell you about personal time?”
Oh, yeah. I had learned that too.
“He’s waiting for you.”
Tears rushed to irrevocably troubled eyes and his face lost what little color it had. “You think I don’t know that?” His voice trembled. “Every second of every damn day I hear him screamin’ in my head, beggin’ me to sa…” His breath caught and I felt his heart lurch with impotence and grief. Clenching his jaw, he turned around. His shoulders bowed as he leaned heavily on the marble countertop.
My own head tilted as I studied him. His body had been broken beyond human repair by Lucifer, and his soul…severed when Sam threw himself into hell.
His body I was able to repair. However, some things were beyond even an angel’s Grace.
But not a little brother’s.
“Tell me, Cas,” he looked up at me through the mirror’s reflection and pleaded like I’ve only known him to do for Sam. “Tell me you found a way. That that’s why you’re here. ‘Cause I sure as hell haven’t.”
His grief, even after all of these months was all consuming. Overwhelming. I regretted that we were not able to intervene sooner. “He’s waiting for you,” I repeated softly. “Outside.”
~*~*~
Sam hadn’t moved from where I had left him. Standing next to the streetlight, the look on his face was oddly hard to discern. I sensed acceptance in his heart. I also sensed longing. Most troubling was what I saw in his mind. He still believed he was in hell.
Considering he was found where even the most powerful of God’s angels feared to tread, his somewhat detached state was hardly a revelation. He also...
The human mind can only take so much. Even an extraordinary one.
I could hear Dean running through the house from where I had left. He was out the front door and down the steps before Lisa could rise from the table. I was surprised when he stopped mere feet from his brother. His chest was heaving. His eyes were bright—this time…with hope.
“Sammy?” he breathed, taking in every inch of him, seeing what only a brother could. Seeing what only a man that had raised him could.
Sam watched him warily. Recognition was in his eyes, but so was uncertainty. His mind had conjured up this moment innumerable times during the centuries he had spent in hell.
“Sam?” Worried now, Dean moved closer to his brother… and everything began to shake. The earth, the air, the boys. It felt as if the world was starting to…right itself.
Alarmed by Dean’s proximity, Sam took an unsteady step backwards. The only true reality, the only constant he had known for decades was…well, unimaginable. Hope had only come when his mind went. And even then, it was briefly. Dreams could last only so long and Sam’s had always ended with Dean’s much needed touch.
Undeterred, Dean stepped closer and the shaking increased. Car alarms sounded, dogs barked. Remarkably all went seemingly unnoticed by the boys. “Sammy?” Even Dean’s voice shook as he reached a hand out slowly, so not to startle him, and wrapped it firmly around his arm.
I could see Sam tense right before the touch, but as Dean’s fingers squeezed and hope failed to dissipate, Sam looked him in the eyes for the first time. A dizzying rush of emotion swept across his face and heart. Then ever so slowly—as if still fearing another reality would suddenly materialize and steal his brother away—he lowered his head and what was left of his battered soul onto Dean’s shoulder. In that instant, Sam Winchester became the little brother again. And Dean Winchester became whole.
I watched then as their arms encircled each other with a force born of too many grief filled nights. And just as suddenly as it had started, the world stilled. It was as it should be again.
I had rarely seen them show their affection for each other in such a physical manner and I felt myself smile. It was their bond that had saved the world. For centuries, Heaven had depended on betrayal as its saving grace.
Two young men, two brothers, two humans had proven Heaven wrong. For the first time in my long existence, I understood why my Father loved these creations of his as much as he did.
“Sam?” Dean’s grip visibly tightened. The world may have stilled, but both boys still trembled. “Sammy?”
Face hidden in Dean’s collarbone, Sam could do no more than cling back. His mind was a whirlwind of terror, agony and confusion. He couldn’t grieve, he couldn’t rejoice. His brother’s presence was the only thing keeping him from screaming. Not surprising, I wasn’t the only one that could sense this.
A brother’s bond is mightier than an angel’s sword. This too I have learned.
“It’s okay,” Dean whispered, voice ragged even as I could feel the fissures of his heart begin to close. “I’m right here.” His hand squeezed the back of Sam’s neck and his voice gained strength. “I’m right here.”
“Dean?” Lisa was standing on the sidewalk, uncertainty and worry heavy on her posture as she held her son close. “S’everything all right?”
Imitating his brother, Dean hid his own face in Sam’s hair. “Yeah,” he rasped, closing his eyes and hugging him closer still. “Yeah.”
I am uncertain how he could have expected Lisa to hear him, but perhaps some things didn’t need to be learned, but were in fact obvious. He had his brother back after all.
Chapter Three
no subject
Date: 8 Jun 2010 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Jun 2010 02:11 am (UTC)Considering he was found where even the most powerful of God’s angels feared to tread, his somewhat detached state was hardly a revelation. He also...
The human mind can only take so much. Even an extraordinary one.
no subject
Date: 8 Jun 2010 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Jun 2010 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Jun 2010 03:54 am (UTC)Loved Lisa's POV in part one.
Want something like this in the show so badly!
no subject
Date: 8 Jun 2010 02:34 pm (UTC)