The Pay-Off For Having Faith

25

His eyes returned to Dean as he heard the young man mutter, "Then I'll deal with 'em. Just shut it." The boy's eyes were focused on the far corner of the room, and he had a look of annoyance on his face.

Dean had been right about supernatural beings, and he saw and spoke with something only he could see. There was definitely no parenting manual for any of this.

John and Bobby both jerked in surprise as they found an angel suddenly standing in front of them. "What the hell?" John breathed as he stared at the angel standing in the living room again, "Does he do that often? How does he - ? Holy shit."

Castiel stared at John for a moment, head tilted slightly as he studied the freaked-out man. His blue gaze shifted to Dean as he said suddenly, "I was mistaken when I told you that I was trying to get you out, Dean. I was confused: I was not trying to get you out, I was trying to get you in."

"What?" Sam's brows furrowed as he stared at the man, trying to puzzle out his statement.

The angel was silent for a moment, head tilted again as he sorted his thoughts. Finally he replied,

"I am not from this world of yours. I am from .. an alternate dimension, if you will. Another realm. The Winchesters from my world, my Dean and Sam, fought to keep that world safe. They sacrificed everything: family, friends, themselves. Even when that world fell apart around them, they continued fighting for it."

"Sam – my realm's Sam – asked me, in his last moments, to take his brother some place safe. Knowing Dean as I do, I knew he would not leave his brother behind. I grasped them both tight and, in their last moments of that life, I used every bit of power within me to take them from a world that they gave everything to save but fell around them anyway."

Castiel's eyes flicked between the brothers and a slight smile touched his lips. "I brought them here and, in doing so, rebooted their lives, if you will. Is that the correct word? Rebooted?"

He raised a brow and shrugged a shoulder, dismissing his own question. "Bringing them into this dimension gave them new beginnings, in every essence of the words. You retained bits of your other lives, which is why Dean has the knowledge he does of the supernatural, and why you have the dreams you have about that other life. It is why you are connected as you are, even after a decade apart."

"Bringing you here drained me." His brows furrowed, "And my mental facilities as well, it seems. It took a long time for me to regain any of my powers, and to recall that I was not trying to get you out of the hospital, I was trying to get you into this world. It is something like reincarnation, only into your own selves, if a different version, in a different world."

Regret touched Castiel's features as his eyes focused on Dean, "I believe the dimension jumping, and the effect of shoving an experienced, full mind in a new body, directly resulted in what your doctors term schizophrenia. For that, I am sorry, Dean."

"That's – that's why I remember a life with Sam that I haven't had," Dean's voice was almost a whisper as he stared at the angel, "Not here, at least. It's – were we –" His eyes flicked to John briefly, before moving to Sam, "I loved him there, too."

"Yes," Castiel's smile was soft as he contemplated the brothers, "You loved him there, too. You sought him immediately when I pulled you from hell. You fought demons and angels alike for Sam. You faced Death himself for him. Your love for one another saved you both, as well as countless lives, many times throughout the years."

"You really an angel?" Bobby's abrupt question drew a slight smile from the man in question, and Castiel nodded yes.

The angel's intense blue gaze shifted to John suddenly, "Dean and Sam gave their lives for one another many times, their love was so deep. And found their way back to each other, every time. If heaven and hell could not keep them apart, what man believes he could?"