SPN DCBB14: Worlds That Never Were (epilogue)

[the_diggler]

Worlds That Never Were ~ epilogue

Please see the fic masterpost for warnings and other information.





When Dean comes to, he’s lying on the floor in the back of a large truck, bandaged on both the front and back of his body, which means the bullet went clean through, without hitting anything vital. He got lucky.

He groans as he pushes himself up off the truck floor, looking around for who to thank for the save, when he freezes entirely.

“…Sammy?” Dean breathes, staring at his brother in shock.

“Dean,” Sam exhales in relief.

Dean wasn’t imagining things. He really did see his brother before he blacked out. Sam saved him!

Dean lurches towards his brother, and Sam meets him halfway, hugging him so tight he can barely breathe. Or maybe it’s because his throat’s tight for other reasons.

“You’re alive,” he croaks, holding on to his brother just a little bit tighter, ignoring the pain it sends through wounds.

“It’s really you,” Sam gasps. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up when Chuck saw you coming, but, God, you’re really here,” he says, pulling away to grin at Dean.

“So, you know that I’m from…”

“A parallel universe?” Sam finishes. “Yeah, Dean. But you’re here, and alive, and that’s better than what we had before.” Sam shrugs helplessly. “You’re still my brother, and that’s all that really matters to me,” he says, smiling at Dean with absolute surety in his eyes.

“Okay. Okay, Sammy,” Dean nods, smiling back. He's more than willing to accept that. The same at heart. Dean knows that now. “But you’re gonna have to catch me up on a lot of things around here,” he says. “For starters, who were those freaks back there?”

“We call them Croats,” Sam answers grimly. “Humans turned into mutants with the Croatoan virus. Which Lucifer made from my blood.”

“Son of a bitch,” Dean curses, swiping a hand down his face in disbelief.

“We had a cure, which was made from your blood, but it ran out,” Sam explains, and Dean hears the unsaid ‘when you died’ tacked on the end of that sentence. “But now that you’re here, we have a chance to change things,” he says, grinning again. “So you’re not allowed to die on me again, you got that?”

“Ain’t got no plans to be anywhere else,” Dean replies, grinning back.

“Good,” Sam laughs. “Now rest. We’ve got a while before we get there.”

“Get where?” Dean asks.

“Home.” Sam smiles.



“Dean? Dean, wake up. We’re here,” Sam murmurs, squeezing his shoulder. Dean pulls himself off the truck floor with a groan, looking out the window to see a familiar sign on the side of the road. Though the fences are a lot less guarded than he remembers.

“Camp Chitaqua,” Dean says.

“We’ve got a lot of survivors here. Brace yourself. A lot of people are going to be glad to see you,” Sam says. The truck finally rolls to a stop, and Sam opens the door, hopping out to help Dean down. It takes a few moments for Dean’s eyes to adjust to the sunlight, but when they do, he sees a familiar face standing at the forefront of a small group of people, gaping at him in amazement. The same at heart.

“Oh my god, it really happened. You’re really here.”

“Yeah, Chuck,” Dean smiles. “Thanks for sending them to get me.”

“No problem,” Chuck smiles back. “It’s really good to see you.”

“Thank, man,” Dean replies, squeezing his shoulder. But then he sees another familiar face, storming up to him through the gathering crowd. The same at heart.

“Not again,” Dean groans.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Risa yells, swinging at him.

“Woah, woah, Risa!” Sam jumps in between them. “It’s really him! It’s Dean!”

“What?” she gasps in disbelief. Sam pulls her aside, explaining the situation to her in low tones as she gives Dean the stink-eye.

But it’s when Sam gets to the part about parallel universes that Dean can’t wait any longer. He has to know.

“Hey, Chuck?” he asks, pulling the man aside. “Is… Cas still here?”

“Yeah,” Chuck replies, “I don’t think Cas is going anywhere,” he grins, looking off into the distance. Dean follows his gaze, and finds what he’s looking for, standing on the front steps of a cabin, the same at heart, and alive, staring back at him with shock and hope and desperation in his eyes.

The next moment, Castiel is launching himself down the stairs, running through the crowd of people, right into Dean’s arms

And there is a kiss, the kind of which is so profound, that it can change the entire course of your existence. For it is so powerful, that when it happens, all else fades away – time, space, the Universe and everything you think you know about the world you live in. So perfect, that not only does it steal your breath away, but your heart, your mind, your very soul – all are lost to it. Its purity strips away all walls and defences, all lies and facades, all fear and anger and pain, until only truth remains – the essence of who you are and the certainty of knowing. And in this truth there is freedom to be found, joy in sharing it completely with another, and the bliss of becoming more, together.

If there is one, inalterable truth that Castiel knows, across worlds and universes, at the end of every diverging road or at the center of every repeating pattern, it’s that no matter what, he will always love Dean Winchester.

~ fin