Everything Is Not What It Seems

"Dean!"

Whispers of voices were pulling him to the surface. Voices that sounded familiar yet he couldn't distinguish exactly who they were imminating from. They were scrambled across his mind as if they were coming from thousands of different directions and he just wanted to scream to the world. To make those voices stop so he could get back to the blissfull escape of nothingness. So he could feel no more pain or sorrow or any kind of remorse for what he done.

"Dean! For crying out loud, get your arse up!"

This time the voice sounded so recognizable that his name seemed to almost be on the tip of his tongue. He rolled over on whatever sort of surface he was residing on and gripped his arm tightly, wondering why the Mark didn't burn him by now yet he felt nothing. No raised piece of skin he had grown accquainted with over the course of the past year. No scalding pain that usually came along with it. It was as if it had just dissappeared from existence like it never happened. He gets up in surprise, flinging his eyes open as the events from last night come rushing back into his head. He was suppose to be dead, stashed away in a part of the universe where nobody could find him. Heck, nobody was even suppose to remember who he was so why was there somebody yelling his name into his ear.

"Are you deaf boy or do you like hearing the sound of my voice?"

"Crowley?" Dean states, puzzlement screwing up his features so that his wrinkles became more prominent.

Crowley smacks his forehead and rolls his eyes up the ceiling in a manner that he seemed to sport everytime something comes out of Deans mouth.

"Am I dead? Am I in hell?" He continues, frantically looking around the room, wondering why everything looked so familar to him. The house. The setting of it all. Even the smells greeted him in a way that tugged faintly at a memory.

"You're off your rocker? He's off his rocker?!"

A man walks into the room and Dean almost wanted to throw up and scream at the same time. It can't be. He can't be. Everything about this scenario couldn't be. Yet there he was. White hair slicked back like it was before all this happened. Beard groomed so he actually looked like a decent human being even though Dean knew that he was far from that. And the Mark, glowing the same bright red he had grown accustomed to when it resided on him, displayed on the same arm that it has been on him. 

"Dean I can give you the Mark of Cain if that is what you truly want."

He sank down to the floor, burying his head into his kneews, not knowing of anything else to say or do. This has happened before. Dean knew deep down in his heart that he had witnessed all of this and many other horrors. Had all that just been a dream? No. It had felt too real. It had to be real. Was it?

"Well isn't this a sight to see. Dean Winchester on his knees and crying like a small child. I have to get a picture of this."

The long lean figure propped himself up against the neighboring wall and stared down at the pitiful things he thought his old eyes would never see. He almost felt..sorry for him. The word sent shivers down his spine at the mere thought of it. He was never the one to feel sory or in the very least feel anything besides his overmistaken pride. That was all he ever felt and the one true emotion that he should feel. Yet seeing how much of a mess Dean was made him sense a rare urge to hug him and make him feel whole again. Sickening he knows.

Dean got up and shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed up and his finger pointing like what he saw couldn't be there. It was true, in all matter of speaking. He should very well be dead but he always found a way around those sorts of things. And, above all else, he was a terribly good hider so people, especially the likes of Dean Winchester couldn't even dream of finding him.

"Spare me the 'I thought you were dead' 'You look incredibly good looking today' or the 'I love your hair, did you style it differently?' because I swear I heard it all before. Trust me. This isn't the first time I faked my own death and it won't be the last."

"Gabriel...what's happening to me...?"

He scanned the room quickly, wondering why Crowley or Cain weren't as surprised as he was but they were both frozen in place. As if it was a game of freeze tag him and Sammy used to play when they were small and innocent.

"Don't worry about them. They won't remember a lick of this and neither will you Dean."

"What happened to me? What's happening to me?"

Gabriel sat down on a chair and propped his feet up on the table, leaving skid marks where his shoes were placed.

"Oh. You must be referring to the fact that you recall having the Mark of Cain. You recall killing Abaddon, becoming a demon, killing Cain, having a loving relationship with my brother and then offing yourself to save all of mankind. Or was it to save yourself? That part is a wee bit hazy for me."

"How..how did you know all about that?"

"Really? You're asking me how I know all that? The real question you should be asking is who doesn't know all about that? Like honestly, do you think I would not keep my eyes on someone with the most powerful weapon known to the world? I may be a Trickster but I'm not stupid Dean Winchester."

"Then why am I back here before I got the Mark of Cain? I'm suppose to be dead."

He shakes his head and laughs, folding his hands in his lap and looking up at him.

"Yes you are suppose to be dead. Wiped off the face of this earth and never to have given a second thought. Your very existence shouldn't have been and life should have moved on. Castiel would have gone on to become one of the best leaders heaven has to offer. With the help of Crowley, they end up closing the gates of Hell and putting back all the monsters in Purgatory. Your brother, Sam, would continue on, get married, have the most wonderful kids, and die peacefully at the age of 96. You see, Dean Winchester, that is the ending that is written in your story book but, I'm afraid, I didn't like the last page."

He holds up a piece of paper, one that glinted gold everytime the light passes on it, and lowers it onto his own lap.

"'And it is written that the final breath shall be given by Dean Samuel Winchester on the night of the puriest full moon. The Mark of Cain shall be no more as of the memory of the Man of Letters. His very essense shall be stored in Heavens chambers where only a select few may be allowed to see him but nobody that he had once knew."'

"What is that?"

"It's the last page of your story Dean. Believe or not, your life is documented by Death himself from the moment you were in your mothers stomach. Your story was decided long ago and there really isn't nothing I can do about it now. Except.."

"What Gabe? Goddammit stop with the suspense!"

"Alright then! You're no fun! There was one page that had two outcomes which is incredibly rare. So rare that it only ever happens to the people that he sees deserves it the most. Or, at least, that's the information told to me by a reliable source. What I am getting at is that you can change the point in time to whatever destiny you want. You just have to decide which choice is the right one."

"This moment in time? This is the one that Death decides I can change? Out of everything that happened in my life, why would he choose this one?"

"Are you really complaining about being given another chance to live and change the very course of time because I will be more than happy to march your ass back to that day when you died. As a matter of fact, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing you down on your knees, the life being pulled out of you while my brother groveled over you. You two make a wonderful couple. Actually, scratch that, you would have to be alive in order to be a couple."

Dean rushed forward towards Gabriel and shoves him up against the wall, his fingers digging into his chest.

"You really going to try something like this? After all that I have done for you, this is how you are going to repay me? Remind me never to do anything nice for you."

"Don't play that card on me because you could have left me there to die and I would have been perfectly fine with it. I made my decisions and I couldn't be happier about it. The things that I done, the people that I have killed, that is something I could never take back no matter how badly I try to wish it away. But I did what I ultimately had to do and I don't regret any moment of my goddamn life. My brother, whom I protected my whole entire life is safe and sound as we speak and he doesn't even know I exist. Cas...it's better that he doesn't have me on his mind. I was more of a burden to him than anything but I'm not going to deny that what I had with him...well it felt like eternity. I just wished I had a million more of those.."

He set him down on the ground and backed away, rubbing at his eyes so the angel doesn't have to see him cry. Only one angel ever got the privilege of seeing him wrecked like this and that's the way it should be.

"Dean...as much as I want to say that I saved you just so I could take you off someplace and kill you slower and more painfully, I can't exactly bring myself to say that. Although, it did cross my mind several times during this interesting conversation. I saved you because, in all my life of living, I never seen Castiel that happy. I almost thought it was a trick of light or perhaps something else besides the smile I witnessed on his face. I even thought that maybe it was once in a lifetime thing and you made him laugh out of your own stupidity but I know now, there's no denying that you make my brother the happiest he has ever been before. You see, angels don't normally get the best endings because our sole purpose in life is to serve the humans and obey our father. Yet times have changed now and seeing you two together...well it gives me hope. Hope that, one day, I can rewrite my story that makes me satisfied with my ending because I'm so damn tired of dreading the next chapter. I want to open my book and like what I see for once..." He takes a deep breath and sits down on the couch with frozen Crowley on it. Taking his handkerchief,he rubs at his eyes and places it back into his pocket. "Sorry about that. My allergies are always acting up this time of year."

"I can choose. I can change my future. I can..survive and be with Cas without the Mark of Cain getting in the way."

"All of what you say is entirely correct Dean but you can't always be certain of what will happen if you refuse the Mark of Cain. If Death cut you story off as short as he did, then he isn't going to let you live until your hair falls off and you have more wrinkles than the oldest man in the world. You will still die around the same time, give or take a couple more decades. You can't exactly cheat Death but, you know what? Forget it. It keeps on slipping my mind that you are a Winchester and rules like that don't apply to you. Yet, you need to keep in mind the other factors that come along with not having the Mark of Cain. Abaddon will still be alive and may other factors along the line that you haven't considered. The Mark may have been one hell of a curse but it did help you in ways that you may have forgotten."

Dean looked down at his arm where the Mark used to reside and almost smiled to himself. He could have the most mundane life ever with the person he loved most. They could always find another way to kill Abaddon, perhaps even chopping off her head like they did before. Of course it wasn't a permanent solution but it was enough for now.

"But I must warn you Dean Winchester. The decision you make the moment I unfreeze this situation will forever be set in stone. I can not take you back if you somehow change you mind and decide that what you see with your own two eyes isn't something you enjoy. And..there is another thing. You won't remember your prior path you take when you had the Mark of Cain. It will be as if it was erased from your mind. So whatever memory you had of Cas will be gone. I cannot determine whether the new path you take will be the right choice or not but that is entirely up to you. Everything that you choose to make to this point is hazy and cannot be defined until you make the lines clear. Just make sure you choose wisely Dean. I wish the best for you."

And just like that, he is gone. The scene continues how it was and Cains eyes stare into him, waiting for a response to the question that could change his life forever. Dean thought he knew what was right and what was wrong yet, like Gabriel said, everything wasn't quite defined. He knew, deep down what he wanted and he wasn't going to rest until he got it. Dean took a relaxing, final breath and met with the pondering eyes of the person he had killed almost a year prior. Those blue eyes used to haunt him in his dreams. Hell, he used to be terrified of them and he could scarcely meet his eye contact without looking away suddenly. But that's not the thoughts he has anymore when he thinks of blue eyes. Because when he think of blue eyes, he doesn't think of Cain and the intimidating nature that comes with it; he thinks of his angel. And the light that shines brighter than the sun itself. The color of the sky on a cool spring day. The color of the ocean when the waves gently caress the tan beach sand. And the color he now associates with love, hope and every little thing he tried so hard to push away. Dean never thought he would fall in love and put his whole world, his whole being into someone else's hand. The thought essentially sent shivers down his spine and made him want to scream out loud in fear. But fear, he wondered, was something he had always lived with. Fear kept him going, kept him grounded, kept him human. If Cas struck fear in him then it was all the right fear he should be feeling. 

In that moment, he knew the decision he must make. 

He reached forward and gripped Cains arms, letting the Mark be transferred over to him.

Because in that moment he didn't choose himself, power, or greed.

He chose Cas. 

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Sorry this took so long! Tell me what you guys think! I love reading your comments and don't forget to give some love. I will be publishing the very last chapter soon and then revising the final copy. I still need to think of a name for this story so hopefully I think of one soon.