On Our Own, 11A/11, PG-13, Gen, AU
As I've just been informed that I'm working, literally, first thing tomorrow morning, and that I even have to take my morning shower TONIGHT in order to get up and to work on time without cutting into my usual 6-8 hours of sleep, I have decided to post the final chapter(s) tonight.
Why the funny "s", Nebula? What scheming idea schemes inside your scheming mcscheme brain? You'll actually like this one. Well, I think so.
Back when I originally started writing what has become this epic monstrosity, I envisioned two endings, and figured that I'd let the story weave itself, as per usual, and then see which ending fit.
Unfortunately, they both did. So I did what any writer would do.
I wrote both. And now, you get to choose which ending you want. OR, because the story allows this to happen, choose both. They go in very separate directions.
The choice is yours.
Click here for the second ending, where Sam makes the choice to disappear, or read on for Dean's.
Title: On Our Own
Chapter: 11A of 11
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Through the end of season 5, though especially for 5x04.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine.
Summary: AU. When Sam is fifteen, his dad makes a decision based on a dark future he was apparently shown by an 'angel': split his sons up and abandon his youngest to keep that future at bay. Dean refuses to let it happen, but if they want to stay together, there's only one option: run.
Wordcount: This chapter, 1,865. Total: 33,467.
A/N: The boys have been given a choice: undo everything that's happened and look to the certain future, or disappear and face a new, unknown future. Make YOUR choice as to how you want it to end, or read both, as they're written to also work in continuity.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11A
Part 11B
Epilogue (to come!)
Castiel turned his gaze away from the younger Winchester brother to the older, the man he would one day call friend. Dean still looked wary, but the years that Hell had put on him were nowhere to be found. In their place was a distressed but loyal teenager who already reflected the man he would become. This was a young man who had his absolute faith and trust in his little brother. This was the man who would die for his little brother. This was the part of Dean that Castiel had seen in his aged friend just before he'd jumped back to repair the damage he had unwittingly done.
This timeline would have to work itself out first. He had to return to the future, and quickly. Making his own decision about which timeline to work with first, he turned to Dean before either of them could speak. “Dean. It is your choice.”
If Sam felt unfairly about it, he made no mention of it. Rather, he looked to his older brother for an answer. Dean, in turn, glanced back at Sam, taking in his brother's bedraggled appearance. The bandage on his leg, the shadows under his eyes, the tear stains on his cheeks, not to mention the turmoil of his soul that only Castiel could see.
Yet he wondered, when Dean made the choice Castiel knew he would, if perhaps Dean hadn't seen a little bit of Sam's soul himself. He wondered if Dean had always been able to, when it came to Sam. “Take us back,” he said softly. “Undo it. I don't want to remember any of this, and don't make Sam remember it either.”
“You won't,” Castiel assured him. “But you won't remember what happens in the future, either.” With a gentle nudge of his fingers Castiel destroyed the letter in Dean's jacket. He would never know, not when Castiel intervened and kept himself from returning to the past.
“So we'll still separate,” Sam said quietly. This was the man that would bring about Lucifer's coming, yet right at that moment, Castiel could not help but feel sympathy for the young, broken boy before him. This, undoubtedly, was the little brother Dean constantly thought of, even in the year 2009. This Sam was innocent, kind, thoughtful, and wanted to truly do right by the world and his brother.
Perhaps that hadn't really changed, misguided as his attempts to save the world had been. And Castiel could not judge the man any longer. He, too, had tried to do the right thing, but in all the wrong ways. Instead, he had heaped troubles upon his younger friend, and possibly condemned Sam to a death at Lucifer's hand that Dean could have prevented. Wrong actions, right reasons, much as Sam would do in the years to come. All to protect the ones he loved.
Maybe this venture hadn't been for nothing. Castiel had certainly learned something about himself and about the human he'd so firmly regarded as wrong. It was a humbling thought.
The weight of the timeline pushed against his powers, and Castiel knew it had to be now. “I will never appear to your father,” he said, and meant it. While he couldn't change anyone else's actions, he could change his own. Time was a little messy, but easier to manipulate, when it came to angels.
Sam nodded and closed his eyes, probably more than ready to forget the entire thing. Castiel reached out and laid a hand on his head, then reached for Dean. The hand that caught his wrist surprised him, and he looked into the solemn eyes he knew so well. For a moment, Castiel was afraid he'd already jumped back to the future and was gazing at the Dean he'd pulled from Hell.
Then it was just a young teenage Dean, but the fervent gaze was still just as determined. “You know where I am, which motel I'm at when that other angel, Zachariah, shows me the future,” he whispered. “Pull me out before the fight starts. It might be enough to save Sam.”
After a moment, Castiel nodded slowly. Whatever Dean's future self had written, it had obviously held an account of the current events. Zachariah had gotten to Dean before Castiel had and, to make matters worse, had brutally fought with Dean after the futuristic time hopping. By the time Castiel had realized Dean was not coming to meet him, by the time he'd gone to find Dean instead, Dean had only returned to consciousness. It had taken a day, a long day, all in all. That day it had taken for them to meet up had been wasted time. Time in which Sam had somehow, somewhere, disappeared.
Perhaps this Dean was right. Perhaps it would be enough to save Sam from falling into Lucifer's clutches.
With a quick step Castiel placed his hand on Dean's head and, with a thought and a nudge of his grace, pulled them all back through time. Back past the long days in the car, the hurried flight from Robert Singer's home, the moment in which he'd appeared to John. With another nudge of his grace he pushed himself from the time and back to the future. Back to the present.
The timeline took a moment to adjust, and he knew it would be felt in Heaven. There was nothing Zachariah could do about it now, though. He was too busy showing Dean the future, the wrong future. The future that could still be decided if they moved quickly enough.
When the timeline fully corrected itself, Castiel found himself standing on a lamp-lit road, night still a long ways off from morning. He had no idea what was happening, where Sam was, or what Zachariah was doing.
But he knew where Dean was, and that was the first step. The pushing of time, the traveling through time, had weakened him, but giving up now meant sacrificing both of the Winchesters to a future that was bleak and wrong. He closed his eyes, finding Zachariah's grace almost towering over Dean, but pushed past it to grab his friend and pull.
He heard a gasped breath as Dean appeared beside him, eyes anxiously darting around before landing on Castiel. Dean was older, now. The hounds of Hell had left their mark on his soul, and there were physical and souled scars that Castiel could never hope to heal.
But that same determined light was in his eyes, and Castiel let himself smile for the first time since he'd gone back to meet John Winchester.
Dean gave a relieved grin. “Pretty nice timing, Cas,” he said, and Castiel's smile widened. Dean was unbruised, untouched, unharmed. Time, he thought ironically, was hopefully much nicer this time around.
“We had an appointment,” he said. This time, he'd kept it. This time, he hadn't let Zachariah hurt Dean.
Dean gave a wistful, sad smile that Castiel couldn't understand, then clasped Castiel's shoulder in his hand. “Don't ever change,” he said fervently.
Knowing what he himself would degrade to in the future, from what Dean had told him the first present time around, Castiel couldn't say that he disagreed. A question he'd never been able to ask before came to mind, and he asked it now as Dean quickly pulled out his phone. “How did Zachariah find you?” he asked, even as Dean pushed random buttons. The name Sam appeared on the screen, and Castiel found himself holding a breath. Let it have been enough, Father, he silently prayed. Let this have done something good.
“Long story,” Dean said, pausing for only a second to glance up at Castiel. “Let's just stay away from Jehovah's Witnesses from now on, okay?” he asked, then held the phone up to his ear. Castiel let his eyes flutter shut, his body tight with nerves and fear.
Through the tinny speakers of Dean's phone, Castiel could still hear it ring once, ring twice, ring three times. Then-
A soft click was heard, right before an even softer, hesitant voice answered. “Dean?”
Castiel's sigh of relief was drowned out by Dean's. “Sammy, thank god. Where are you?”
There was a pause, then Sam's voice returned, more confused than before. “Um, I...don't know. I've, uh, I've just been driving. I think I have to stop soon. Gas gauge is looking low. Should've stopped at the gas station a few miles back. Um...sign up ahead says Detroit, thirty miles.”
Dean clenched his fist. “Turn around,” he said urgently. “Sam, turn around.”
“Um...okay...? Dean, are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Dean said, and it was obvious he was forcing himself to give an air of calm. “I'm fine. Just, you're going the wrong way. To meet up with me.”
Sam's pause this time was much longer. “Sam?” Dean asked, apparently deciding it was too long of a pause. “You there?”
“You want to meet up?” Sam asked, and he sounded all of fifteen, just as he had in the second timeline: nervous, scared, but ever so hopeful. It made something inside of Castiel physically hurt to hear.
“I do,” Dean said firmly, responding to Sam's lost tone. “Look, we can talk when we meet up in...Castiel, where the hell are we?”
Castiel merely smiled. This future would be all right. It was unsteady now, new. Not as it had been.
Yet he was perfectly content with that. He thought that the Dean from this first version of present time would have agreed.
He would return to the split in a little while. First, he had to retrieve Dean's belongings and car in order to send Dean on his way to Sam. Then, he would go back to the previous time, once he had rested. He would need strength to hold back time again.
But he'd felt it, there in the motel all those years ago. When both decisions had been laid out, and the brothers had looked at each other, Castiel had felt what had only happened a few times before: a division of time. Two timelines could run parallel, and there were many circuits of time, different universes, that existed. The birth of a new one, however, was rare. Yet it had happened. In that moment, Castiel's offer had sparked two very different paths.
He would return and offer the choice to Sam. He'd known instantly that offering the decision first to Dean would lead to a return of the main timeline. He'd also known that Sam would agree with Dean.
Yet in this split, Sam's choice might be very...different. Castiel wondered what would happen.
The apocalypse was unavoidable...in this timeline. Parallel worlds, however, were everywhere. This new one might still remain untouched.
Only time would tell, he thought, and imagined that Dean would've found his pun very witty, if the idea of the divided timelines wouldn't destroy his brain.
For the current time, he found Dean's possessions, including his vehicle, and moved them to the road before them. Dean was still talking with Sam, and Castiel could only hope that it would help.
Perhaps the visit to the past hadn't been completely destructive, after all.
THE END
...Or is it? Continue on to 11B if you want to see the flip side of what could be.
A/N: Just as a head's up, the epilogue will be from John's POV, so any and all thoughts from him that the boys haven't been privy to will be opened to you all! I'll try and get that up tomorrow if I can, but it'll be much later tomorrow when I'm finally home.
~Nebula
Why the funny "s", Nebula? What scheming idea schemes inside your scheming mcscheme brain? You'll actually like this one. Well, I think so.
Back when I originally started writing what has become this epic monstrosity, I envisioned two endings, and figured that I'd let the story weave itself, as per usual, and then see which ending fit.
Unfortunately, they both did. So I did what any writer would do.
I wrote both. And now, you get to choose which ending you want. OR, because the story allows this to happen, choose both. They go in very separate directions.
The choice is yours.
Click here for the second ending, where Sam makes the choice to disappear, or read on for Dean's.
Title: On Our Own
Chapter: 11A of 11
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Through the end of season 5, though especially for 5x04.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine.
Summary: AU. When Sam is fifteen, his dad makes a decision based on a dark future he was apparently shown by an 'angel': split his sons up and abandon his youngest to keep that future at bay. Dean refuses to let it happen, but if they want to stay together, there's only one option: run.
Wordcount: This chapter, 1,865. Total: 33,467.
A/N: The boys have been given a choice: undo everything that's happened and look to the certain future, or disappear and face a new, unknown future. Make YOUR choice as to how you want it to end, or read both, as they're written to also work in continuity.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11A
Part 11B
Epilogue (to come!)
Castiel turned his gaze away from the younger Winchester brother to the older, the man he would one day call friend. Dean still looked wary, but the years that Hell had put on him were nowhere to be found. In their place was a distressed but loyal teenager who already reflected the man he would become. This was a young man who had his absolute faith and trust in his little brother. This was the man who would die for his little brother. This was the part of Dean that Castiel had seen in his aged friend just before he'd jumped back to repair the damage he had unwittingly done.
This timeline would have to work itself out first. He had to return to the future, and quickly. Making his own decision about which timeline to work with first, he turned to Dean before either of them could speak. “Dean. It is your choice.”
If Sam felt unfairly about it, he made no mention of it. Rather, he looked to his older brother for an answer. Dean, in turn, glanced back at Sam, taking in his brother's bedraggled appearance. The bandage on his leg, the shadows under his eyes, the tear stains on his cheeks, not to mention the turmoil of his soul that only Castiel could see.
Yet he wondered, when Dean made the choice Castiel knew he would, if perhaps Dean hadn't seen a little bit of Sam's soul himself. He wondered if Dean had always been able to, when it came to Sam. “Take us back,” he said softly. “Undo it. I don't want to remember any of this, and don't make Sam remember it either.”
“You won't,” Castiel assured him. “But you won't remember what happens in the future, either.” With a gentle nudge of his fingers Castiel destroyed the letter in Dean's jacket. He would never know, not when Castiel intervened and kept himself from returning to the past.
“So we'll still separate,” Sam said quietly. This was the man that would bring about Lucifer's coming, yet right at that moment, Castiel could not help but feel sympathy for the young, broken boy before him. This, undoubtedly, was the little brother Dean constantly thought of, even in the year 2009. This Sam was innocent, kind, thoughtful, and wanted to truly do right by the world and his brother.
Perhaps that hadn't really changed, misguided as his attempts to save the world had been. And Castiel could not judge the man any longer. He, too, had tried to do the right thing, but in all the wrong ways. Instead, he had heaped troubles upon his younger friend, and possibly condemned Sam to a death at Lucifer's hand that Dean could have prevented. Wrong actions, right reasons, much as Sam would do in the years to come. All to protect the ones he loved.
Maybe this venture hadn't been for nothing. Castiel had certainly learned something about himself and about the human he'd so firmly regarded as wrong. It was a humbling thought.
The weight of the timeline pushed against his powers, and Castiel knew it had to be now. “I will never appear to your father,” he said, and meant it. While he couldn't change anyone else's actions, he could change his own. Time was a little messy, but easier to manipulate, when it came to angels.
Sam nodded and closed his eyes, probably more than ready to forget the entire thing. Castiel reached out and laid a hand on his head, then reached for Dean. The hand that caught his wrist surprised him, and he looked into the solemn eyes he knew so well. For a moment, Castiel was afraid he'd already jumped back to the future and was gazing at the Dean he'd pulled from Hell.
Then it was just a young teenage Dean, but the fervent gaze was still just as determined. “You know where I am, which motel I'm at when that other angel, Zachariah, shows me the future,” he whispered. “Pull me out before the fight starts. It might be enough to save Sam.”
After a moment, Castiel nodded slowly. Whatever Dean's future self had written, it had obviously held an account of the current events. Zachariah had gotten to Dean before Castiel had and, to make matters worse, had brutally fought with Dean after the futuristic time hopping. By the time Castiel had realized Dean was not coming to meet him, by the time he'd gone to find Dean instead, Dean had only returned to consciousness. It had taken a day, a long day, all in all. That day it had taken for them to meet up had been wasted time. Time in which Sam had somehow, somewhere, disappeared.
Perhaps this Dean was right. Perhaps it would be enough to save Sam from falling into Lucifer's clutches.
With a quick step Castiel placed his hand on Dean's head and, with a thought and a nudge of his grace, pulled them all back through time. Back past the long days in the car, the hurried flight from Robert Singer's home, the moment in which he'd appeared to John. With another nudge of his grace he pushed himself from the time and back to the future. Back to the present.
The timeline took a moment to adjust, and he knew it would be felt in Heaven. There was nothing Zachariah could do about it now, though. He was too busy showing Dean the future, the wrong future. The future that could still be decided if they moved quickly enough.
When the timeline fully corrected itself, Castiel found himself standing on a lamp-lit road, night still a long ways off from morning. He had no idea what was happening, where Sam was, or what Zachariah was doing.
But he knew where Dean was, and that was the first step. The pushing of time, the traveling through time, had weakened him, but giving up now meant sacrificing both of the Winchesters to a future that was bleak and wrong. He closed his eyes, finding Zachariah's grace almost towering over Dean, but pushed past it to grab his friend and pull.
He heard a gasped breath as Dean appeared beside him, eyes anxiously darting around before landing on Castiel. Dean was older, now. The hounds of Hell had left their mark on his soul, and there were physical and souled scars that Castiel could never hope to heal.
But that same determined light was in his eyes, and Castiel let himself smile for the first time since he'd gone back to meet John Winchester.
Dean gave a relieved grin. “Pretty nice timing, Cas,” he said, and Castiel's smile widened. Dean was unbruised, untouched, unharmed. Time, he thought ironically, was hopefully much nicer this time around.
“We had an appointment,” he said. This time, he'd kept it. This time, he hadn't let Zachariah hurt Dean.
Dean gave a wistful, sad smile that Castiel couldn't understand, then clasped Castiel's shoulder in his hand. “Don't ever change,” he said fervently.
Knowing what he himself would degrade to in the future, from what Dean had told him the first present time around, Castiel couldn't say that he disagreed. A question he'd never been able to ask before came to mind, and he asked it now as Dean quickly pulled out his phone. “How did Zachariah find you?” he asked, even as Dean pushed random buttons. The name Sam appeared on the screen, and Castiel found himself holding a breath. Let it have been enough, Father, he silently prayed. Let this have done something good.
“Long story,” Dean said, pausing for only a second to glance up at Castiel. “Let's just stay away from Jehovah's Witnesses from now on, okay?” he asked, then held the phone up to his ear. Castiel let his eyes flutter shut, his body tight with nerves and fear.
Through the tinny speakers of Dean's phone, Castiel could still hear it ring once, ring twice, ring three times. Then-
A soft click was heard, right before an even softer, hesitant voice answered. “Dean?”
Castiel's sigh of relief was drowned out by Dean's. “Sammy, thank god. Where are you?”
There was a pause, then Sam's voice returned, more confused than before. “Um, I...don't know. I've, uh, I've just been driving. I think I have to stop soon. Gas gauge is looking low. Should've stopped at the gas station a few miles back. Um...sign up ahead says Detroit, thirty miles.”
Dean clenched his fist. “Turn around,” he said urgently. “Sam, turn around.”
“Um...okay...? Dean, are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Dean said, and it was obvious he was forcing himself to give an air of calm. “I'm fine. Just, you're going the wrong way. To meet up with me.”
Sam's pause this time was much longer. “Sam?” Dean asked, apparently deciding it was too long of a pause. “You there?”
“You want to meet up?” Sam asked, and he sounded all of fifteen, just as he had in the second timeline: nervous, scared, but ever so hopeful. It made something inside of Castiel physically hurt to hear.
“I do,” Dean said firmly, responding to Sam's lost tone. “Look, we can talk when we meet up in...Castiel, where the hell are we?”
Castiel merely smiled. This future would be all right. It was unsteady now, new. Not as it had been.
Yet he was perfectly content with that. He thought that the Dean from this first version of present time would have agreed.
He would return to the split in a little while. First, he had to retrieve Dean's belongings and car in order to send Dean on his way to Sam. Then, he would go back to the previous time, once he had rested. He would need strength to hold back time again.
But he'd felt it, there in the motel all those years ago. When both decisions had been laid out, and the brothers had looked at each other, Castiel had felt what had only happened a few times before: a division of time. Two timelines could run parallel, and there were many circuits of time, different universes, that existed. The birth of a new one, however, was rare. Yet it had happened. In that moment, Castiel's offer had sparked two very different paths.
He would return and offer the choice to Sam. He'd known instantly that offering the decision first to Dean would lead to a return of the main timeline. He'd also known that Sam would agree with Dean.
Yet in this split, Sam's choice might be very...different. Castiel wondered what would happen.
The apocalypse was unavoidable...in this timeline. Parallel worlds, however, were everywhere. This new one might still remain untouched.
Only time would tell, he thought, and imagined that Dean would've found his pun very witty, if the idea of the divided timelines wouldn't destroy his brain.
For the current time, he found Dean's possessions, including his vehicle, and moved them to the road before them. Dean was still talking with Sam, and Castiel could only hope that it would help.
Perhaps the visit to the past hadn't been completely destructive, after all.
THE END
...Or is it? Continue on to 11B if you want to see the flip side of what could be.
A/N: Just as a head's up, the epilogue will be from John's POV, so any and all thoughts from him that the boys haven't been privy to will be opened to you all! I'll try and get that up tomorrow if I can, but it'll be much later tomorrow when I'm finally home.
~Nebula