Oh, gods, I've written SPN fic...
Title: And The Band Played On
Author: Carver Edlund, posted by rhian_morwenna
Rating: G
Genre: AU, Future Fic
Characters: Pretty much everyone from "Swan Song"
Word Count: about 530
Summary: Episode tag for "Swan Song".
Notes: Major spoilers for "Swan Song". If you haven't seen it, don't read. Thank you lvs2read for the speedy beta. *Hugs* Thanks, hon.
Castiel thought he had rebelled against Heaven. And maybe he did. But he never abandoned his mission. Never the mission, not even when it cost him everything. Even his Grace.
He had learned what it was to truly love humans, not as a whole, but one in particular. The love of one person had shown Castiel the beauty of all of humanity. Their strengths and their flaws - which he now understood were strengths in themselves. Even as he cursed his Father for abandoning him, he knew how much pain the Winchesters felt when their own father abandoned them. Their grief brought them closer together.
After Lucifer was locked back in his cage, Castiel thought it was his duty, having regained his Grace, to return to Heaven to sort things out. As far as he knew, he was the most powerful angel left alive and he always did have a deep sense of duty.
What he didn't know was that Michael, Raphael, and even Gabriel were seeing to that - making sure that those who were loyal to Zachariah were being punished. Uriel, the fourth of the Archangels was never going to return. His treachery had been too great to be forgiven.
Eventually, Castiel will realize he was no longer one of the lowest ranking Angels of the third sphere. He will discover he has the abilities of his older brothers, that he, too, is an Archangel now. The new Light of God and Angel of Repentance.
One day, while shopping for little Ben Braden's thirteenth birthday, Dean will meet Sam on a street in Caramel, about half-way between Cicero and Indianapolis. Dean will pull out a knife inscribed with arcane symbols in one hand and an angel's sword in the other, and try to kill him without a thought. Once a hunter, always a hunter.
Sam will dodge the attack but still be injured in the process and bleed. No fighting back, nothing aside from a grunt of pain and pleading with Dean. No flash of light indicating anything other than a human with a gash on his arm.
Once Dean is sure that what is standing in front of him is really Sam, not an occupied vessel, they will hold on to each other like never before. Neither will say a word. They won't have to.
The brothers will take a road trip, since Chuck stopped answering his phone months ago. It will be almost like the old days, except they're visiting a friend not hunting demons. They will find his home empty, the final pages Chuck wrote still on the printer. But they will never find a trace of Chuck and hope that whatever happened to him that he is fine. Being a Prophet, he had to have had angels looking out for him, so they will hope and silently pray that he is safe. Well, Sam will say his under his breath but Dean being Dean would never utter the words.
~*~
For Chuck, leaving them is one of the hardest things he's ever done, in a long history of hard things he's done, absently rubbing his wrist. He's grown too attached, stayed too long. They don't need him anymore.
All of this is his final gift, to all of them.