Fic: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (1/??)
Title: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth;
Author: Rinienne;
Rating: NC-17 overall;
Genre: romance, adventure, time travel;
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel, Bobby, Sam, OFC and many others;
Spoilers: Spoilers for 7x1;
Word Count: WIP;
Beta: All thanks for beta'ing to awesome annwyn;
Summary: Sometimes life gives us a chance to turn around and see where you went wrong. Such opportunity was given to Dean and Castiel in a form of a young girl who appeared out of nowhere. Who is she? Where did she come from?
Prologue
Chapter 1
Through space and time
February, 2011;
“This is strange.” Castiel stated.
He was standing in the panic room beside the bed, glancing down at the girl resting there. When the three hunters realized that they might be dealing with a time traveler, calling the angel had seemed like a good idea. Of course lately Castiel had rarely been answering any call, explaining it by the fact that Heaven kept him very busy and Dean had no idea if he'd show up this time but, to the hunter’s surprise, Castiel actually did.
“What is strange?” Bobby inquired.
“I can’t see through her.” The angel explained. “She seems to be concealed somehow.”
Castiel placed his hand on the girl’s forehead then moved it down to her celiac plexus. “It looks like she has protection sigils carved on her chest.” He mumbled frowning. “But it’s not what is keeping her hidden to me.”
“Is there another way to find out then?” Sam asked.
Castiel turned to the hunters and sighed: “Yes, I can search her from inside.” He nodded.
Dean raised one eyebrow, not exactly understanding what the angel meant. Then, realization struck him. “No!” He frowned. “What is with you and digging into human bodies, Cas?” He asked, slightly angry.
“I wasn’t going to.” Castiel groaned. “You asked for another way and I simply answered your question.”
“All right then,” Dean sighed. “So, we have a mysterious hunter girl, with our last name on her ID, who appeared out of thin air.” He resumed sarcastically. “Oh, and she is somehow connected with angels. Great” He added.
“There is something else I can do.” Castiel said suddenly. “You said she had an angel blade, can I take a look at it?”
“Sure, I guess.” Bobby nodded as he reached for the girl’s backpack. “How will this help ya?”
“For you, all blades look nearly the same.” The angel started his explanation as he took the sword into his hand. “But they are not, they are infused with a small piece of their owner's grace and it will allow me to…” But Castiel never finished his sentence as his eyes suddenly went wide in surprise. “This cannot be…” He gasped.
“What is it?” Sam asked, frowning.
The angel slightly moved his free hand and a second sword materialized. He looked at his blade then back to the one Bobby had handed him, like he was trying to compare them. “The sword she brough… it’s mine.”
***After Castiel's departure the three hunters moved to the study room in Bobby’s house. Dean grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge as he passed by the kitchen before settling on the couch. He would have never believed this whole story and would have blamed it on a lunatic's delirium if he hadn't experienced time traveling himself before. But Castiel had stated that the sword was his, without any doubt possible, so it was certain that they were in front of someone who just came from a different time. He was also pretty sure that the girl was definitely connected with his family somehow.
“Who do you think she is?” Sam asked. The younger brother was standing nearby the desk, beside the wall, leaning on it.
“Maybe it’s your daughter?” Bobby suggested. “Her name is Mary after all, like your mother. Though I doubt any of you would give a kid Gabrielle as her middle name...”
“If it’s our daughter, so whose exactly?” Sam raised one eyebrow. “Mine or Dean’s?”
“Does it matter?” Dean grunted, feeling anger rising within. “We won’t be able to know till she wakes up anyway.”
Dean, of course, had been asking himself the exact same question and something was screaming at him that if the girl really was their daughter, she was definitively his, not his brother's. It wasn't because of the common features they shared, like their hair color or the freckles, or the obvious same taste in clothing, it was something else entirely, a feeling he couldn't explain, he just knew.
“All right then,” Bobby sighed, “the girl has been unconscious for two days already and it doesn’t seem like she is going to wake up any time soon, we probably should hit the sack.”
The older hunter was right, the Winchesters had arrived pretty late and much time had already fled by, spent in useless conversations that led them nowhere. A look at Bobby's clock indicated that it was way past midnight. Bobby rose from his chair and wished them goodnight before disappearing upstairs.
“Do you want to talk?” Sam inquired, looking at his older brother.
“What the heck do you want to talk about?” Dean groaned.
“Well, dunno, you seem upset.” Sam explained.
“You, again, are trying to have a teenage girl, dramatic, conversation with me? Go to bed already.”
Upon those words Dean took a last gulp from his bottle and settled it aside on the floor, then ostentatiously shoved his shoes from his feet before fully climbing on the couch, turning his back to Sam. Just a moment later he heard his brother getting out of the room, turning the lights off before he left.
The room sank into darkness, only disturbed by a faint moonlight coming from the large window above the couch. Dean grabbed the blanket carefully folded on the elbow of the couch and covered himself with it, closing his eyes. But as expected, sleep refused to come.
Sam was right, something was really bothering him, even if he had been unwilling to talk about it: if indeed the girl was his daughter or his niece, how come she had become a hunter? What could have happened in the future, serious enough that he had allowed her to take a gun and hunt monsters, instead of going to school, make friends and live a normal life? And, most importantly, why had she been sent back in their time and by whom? Time seemed to be slowing down as all these thoughts were going through Dean's head. Hundreds of questions but not the slightest answer, yet, without realizing it, sleep began its work on his oppressed mind and he started to fall into a dreamless sleep.
***Dean was awoken by the familiar smell of fresh coffee and bacon, bringing saliva to his lips. He opened his eyes and glanced at the clock - it was only seven AM so, most likely, it was Bobby who, already up at this early hour, had decided to make breakfast for everyone. Dean smiled lazily as he got up from the couch and made his way to the kitchen.
But his smile quickly disappeared from his face as he saw the girl standing before the kitchen's stove, frying bacon on a pan. She had heard Dean coming and turned her head towards him, her unbelievably blue eyes showing nothing but pure happiness and fascination.
“You woke up!” She said, as a huge smile brightened up her face.
“I… umm…” Dean only mumbled, looking at her from head to toe.
The girl had obviously changed clothes. She was now wearing a black shirt and a pair of dark jeans, both of them way too big for her slim body and suspiciously looking like Dean's. On second glance, the hunter realized that those were in fact his clothes.
The girl followed his gaze and looked down at herself.
“Oh, I borrowed it from the dryer, down there in the basement. I needed something to change after showering, my clothes were dirty.” She said, as it was the most natural thing to do. Dean also noticed that her hair was wet.
“You went through our stuff?” He couldn't believe it, “…without asking for permission?”
“First, you were also digging in my bag, and second - well, everyone was still asleep and I felt all sticky.” She winced.
Dean opened his mouth but couldn’t find proper words. It seemed the girl was totally uninhibited. He should have been supposed to disagree and to be at least a little angry with her, but she looked so happy, all this ‘glowing from inside’ nonsense. Here she was, standing motionless, looking at him with adoration on her face, as he was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen in her life.
“You… you’re so… adorable!” She finally announced.
“Umm… thanks… I guess.” Dean replied. He was actually used to various compliments from women, but this one sounded so innocent, without any seductive undertone. “Bacon…” He added looking behind the girl.
Mary frowned and tilted her head. Dean's heart jumped in his chest at the gesture, so familiar and endearing. He had already seen it somewhere before, but couldn’t quite remember where exactly.
“Bacon, I think it’s burning.” He explained.
The girl turned back to the stove and inhaled loudly in surprise. “Crap!” She swore and for some reasons, those crude words sounded alien coming from her mouth. Dean felt an urge to admonish her for it, but decided to remain silent, as it certainly would be a weird thing to do.
“Not again!” She sighed in annoyance, placing half burned bacon slices on a plate.
Dean moved to the table, settling himself on a chair. “So, Mary… maybe now is time for some explanations?” He asked.
“Maybe breakfast first?”
“Seriously?”
“When do you ever choose stories over food?” She laughed.
“So, you know me so well?” Dean surprised.
“It appears so.”
She poured some coffee in a cup and placed it before the hunter, along with a plate of fried eggs and slightly burned bacon. Dean dug into his meal with an appreciative hum. It wasn’t good nor bad, all in all it was a very simple breakfast but last night he had gone to bed on an empty stomach and said stomach was now delighted to finally get something to digest.
Halfway through his breakfast was when Bobby decided to appear.
“I won't even make a comment.” He groaned.
Mary turned and looked at the other hunter. Her face switched from happiness to surprise, then to shock, before settling back on happiness. “Oh my…” she gasped. “Bobby!” And she suddenly rushed towards the older man and embraced him into a tight hug, resulting in a Bobby frozen where he stood, eyes wide opened in shock.
“It’s not like I mind pretty ladies hugging me…” He finally mumbled when speech returned to him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Mary apologized. “I am just… too excited.” She explained.
Dean noticed that the older hunter was looking at the girl with distrust. Dean perfectly knew that Bobby had performed every possible test on her to ensure she wasn't a monster but then again, the older hunter was kind of paranoid when it came to safety and it wasn't Dean's place to blame him for that.
“She made breakfast!” He said with enthusiasm, clearly trying to cheer up the atmosphere.
***When Sam finally appeared in the kitchen, he collided with yet another hug from Mary; apparently the girl had some sort of otherworldly fondness for hugging everyone but Dean. He tried to brush it away, but the more time went by, spent in mundane conversations, the more nervous Dean felt.
To him, it seemed that Mary was trying to buy the most time she could and it could only mean two things: either she simply was a liar, pretending to be their friend and relative, either something of the ‘really big and ugly’ kind was awaiting them in the future, ‘big and ugly’ enough to send someone back in time. Both options seemed unpleasant, to say the least, but, truth be told, Dean wasn't sure what scared him the most. He couldn't deny feeling drawn towards the girl, some fatherly hunch, a strange need to protect her. He had felt the same for his younger brother or for Ben. And would the girl happen to be nothing but a liar, maybe a spy, Dean knew it would hurt.
The other option seemed easier to handle. Something bad must have happened in the future and the girl had been sent to fix it. And it filled him with hope, although his own time spent in ‘traveling back to change the future’ had been nothing but failures. What did he manage to fix back? Nothing.
“Maybe it's time to end this nice and cozy talk and move to the most important topic?” Bobby proposed as they finished their meal, moving to the study.
“Well…” The girl started. “I think you already have a clue about my identity.”
“Yeah,” Sam nodded, “Whose are you?” He asked.
Mary looked at the three hunters but in the end, her gaze remained on Dean, giving the older brother a good guess at the answer, but as their eyes met, Dean's heart seemed to stop for a moment.
“Dean is my father.” Mary sighed, not removing her bright blue eyes from the older brother.
“Great.” Dean nodded. “Glad I was thrown into the same situation or I would never have believed you.” He admitted.
“Believe me, you have never been thrown into that.” She sighed and her smile suddenly vanished from her face. The change was so severe that she suddenly seemed like a total other person. “I did not only arrive from the future, but from an alternative universe as well” She started.
“What do you mean? Now you're telling us that parallel words do exist?” Bobby gasped.
“No… not exactly. It’s difficult to explain, but time is not a straight line, it's more like a web. Every day, you do things that, little as they are, can change the future. It's like being on the road and facing a fork. If you choose to go left, it doesn't mean the right path doesn't exist or get erased. The right path is still here, living and developing on its own”. She was trying to explain, drawing lines in the air with her fingers. “Moving through time is actually pretty easy when all you have to do is go back and forward on a straight line, but it's nearly impossible to go back in time and into another reality at the same time.”
“But you did?” Sam inquired. “Who sent you here?”
Mary sighed, glancing at the floor. “Castiel did.” She said after a pause. “But even for him, it was nearly impossible. My own soul has been drained severely; there was a great chance I wouldn't survive.”
“Typical…” Dean groaned. “Risking people's life for ‘the greater good’”.
Mary’s face changed once again, her eyes now filled with shock, for a second she looked like about to cry. “If it makes you feel better, he died, trying to protect me.” She closed her eyes. “As did you…”
Something pierced Dean's heart as he heard Mary's words, leaving him empty. He wasn't sure what caused this void within, hearing about his own death? Hurting his own daughter? “I’m… sorry.” He said quietly.
“It’s all right.” Mary finally sighed after a moment of silence. “Actually, this is why I’m here.”
“Wait, you said that you came from a parallel universe, but how changing something here will affect time in your universe?” Sam asked.
“The… thing which came and killed my family… it came from here.” She explained. “It was powerful enough, to travel easily, not only through time and space, but through parallels.”
“Wait.” Dean exclaimed. “Could this thing have followed you here?”
“No, I doubt it. Right now I’m in safe spot, a time where it hasn't been created yet. At least here.”
If Dean had a hard time understanding Mary so far, now he was utterly lost. He glanced at Sam, searching for help, but his own brother seemed to be totally lost as well.
“I know, it’s difficult to understand, and it’s difficult to explain, but I already changed my own time and universe, by simply dropping here. I alternated your history here and now, because I'm here, but in this specific past and specific universe, this thing doesn’t yet exist. And it really should stay this way.”
“All right, and what is this thing exactly?” Bobby asked.
“Have you already heard anything about Purgatory?” Mary asked.
The three of them glanced at each other in surprise.
“Yeah,” Dean nodded, “A demon named Crowley tried to find it. And now, there's this Mother of all.”
“All right then. The thing, or more likely things, that came to my world were unleashed from Purgatory. That is why the door should never be opened.”
“Can’t agree more with you on that one.” Dean smirked.
“And what are we supposed to do?” asked Sam.
“First, we will need to kill Eve. Second - we will need to defeat Raphael. Well, I think that'll do it.”
“Wow, I love this plan. Sounds so easy... Fly to Kryptonia and back. Maybe on our way we could convince young Anakin Skywalker to say screw you the dark side?” The older Winchester joked.
“Not sure about Kryptonia, but I'd like to give a shot at Anakin.” Mary smiled. “Anyway, trust me, you really want Raphael out of the game to prevent Purgatory's doors to open.”
“Yeah, Cas is working on this little detail right now.” Dean nodded with a note of sarcasm in his voice.
“I don’t understand.” Mary frowned. “Is it some kind of joke to you? I’m not talking about computer games or movies. I’m talking about millions of lives. Your life as well by the way. And Cas’.”
Of course Dean understood. But he had tried to ask Castiel so many times about this civil war in Heaven but the bastard had remained silent. And right now, Mary was talking about him as if he was the only one who mattered to her. As if Castiel was her father, not Dean. And it wasn't like Dean had stopped to like the nerd angel since his return to ‘the dicks up above’, apparently new and improved. Cas was still his friend, his best friend, in fact he was like a second brother to Dean and the hunter really thought he would die for him but the angel had behaved in a weird way lately, it seems that something drastic had changed after the year Dean had spent with Ben and Lisa.
“What's with you and your Cas’ obsession by the way?” Bobby asked, as if he had just read Dean’s mind.
“Obsession?” Mary seemed genuinely surprised. “I don’t have any obsessions, thank you!” She protested, but Dean didn't miss that the girl blushed.
Dean raised one eyebrow. He knew that angels weren’t aging and, in her time, Castiel was probably looking exactly the same as right now. So could it be that there was something between those two? Anger suddenly arose again from within, leaving Dean clueless about said anger. After all, Castiel was probably the only one he would trust with his own daughter, so what was wrong? Maybe because Mary looked so young? Maybe because it was just natural for every father to feel this way towards their daughter's crush?
“Anyway,” Mary went on, “There are ways. I'll just need you to return me everything you took from me.” She glanced at Bobby. “I mean the black box.” She added.
“What is in it?” The older hunter inquired.
“Nothing dangerous…” The girl smiled. “I just put some private stuff in it, knowing that you wouldn’t open it.”
“Smart ass…” Bobby nodded as he opened a drawer of his table and retrieved a black box, covered in different protective sigils.
Dean had actually already seen a similar box; it was used to seal dangerous cursed items, like the rabbit foot they once had to take care of. Mary had been really smart in guessing they wouldn't dare to open such a heavily sealed box, guessing the three of them would have assumed it would contain something absolutely not to mess with.
Bobby passed the box to the girl and she opened it without any hesitation. The hunter couldn’t see what was laid inside, as Mary was actually trying to hide it. Then she retrieved the item that had been hiding there, which disturbingly looked like their father's journal, but made from what seemed lighter leather and decorated with a golden colored metal.
“Here I have some ideas about defeating Raphael.” She smiled widely as she opened the journal.
Dean moved closer to his daughter and glanced to the journal over her shoulder. “What the heck?” He gasped in surprise: the thick looking journal wasn't written in English, but in a language those symbols he was pretty familiar with, although he couldn’t read or speak - Enochian.
<
Next>>