7. Heaven

The scenery didn't change each time he opened his eyes, much to Castiel's dismay. The grass was covered in a snowy frost and all the trees around him were barren. But, then, maybe he didn't really want it to change. He could easily move from here, couldn't he? Be gone and back in the blink of an eye. Of course he could. But he didn't do it.

This was serving as his current Heaven. Because as Castiel would be quick to point out, there were multiple Heavens. Each individual soul created their own Heaven. But, Castiel was an angel and he had no soul. So he traveled to others' Heavens. He didn't know whose the current barren park of a Heaven belonged. There was one that he did know. The one he preferred so much more was that of an autistic man, who had drowned in his bathtub in 1953; it was forever in his Heaven of a Tuesday afternoon. There was something just so... peaceful about it that drew the wayward angel to it.

But now was not the time for 'peaceful.' Now was the time for setting things right again in Heaven. Heaven as the angels knew it, because for the individual souls the civil war didn't matter. That was a toss-up between the angels who were left confused and without Michael to guide them any longer, now that he was trapped in the Pit with his brother Lucifer thanks to the Winchesters. Castiel stood in his barren Heaven and wondered for a brief moment why Raphael didn't just try to end him now.

A small, sad smirk came to the blue-eyed angel's face. That was right. He'd made that pact with Crowley because Crowley provided a way to keep Castiel from getting beaten down ten ways from Sunday by his older brother. Besides, Castiel remembered those first weeks after he'd come back to Heaven. Trying to explain things he'd learn through his rebellion to the angels who chose to be on his side - angels who chose to fight against Raphael's want for the Apocalypse all over again.

Finally Castiel wasn't sure he could take it any more. Trying to strive in this Heaven, where his brothers and sisters were at civil war. He couldn't abandon them; despite his fall from Grace, Castiel was still a soldier and he still held a great interest in showing his fellow brothers and sisters things such as freedom. Even if they still didn't quite seem to understand the concept. It would come with time... Wouldn't it?

"Dean," Castiel greeted, no longer in the barren park of a Heaven but on Earth, staring at the eldest Winchester.

"Cass! What have I told you about that!"

"My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Yeah, well... Where've you been, Cass?"

"Heaven. I was... reflecting."

"Sounds invigorating," Dean answered dryly. "Anyway, I need you to help me out with somethin'. You up for it?"

Castiel nodded and Dean proceeded to make his demand of the angel. What the Winchester didn't know was that Cass wasn't really listening; he would replay it all back to himself and agree to do as Dean wanted, but there was something else on his mind. Something he hadn't realized until now, in the presence of the older Winchester - though Sam did turn up relatively quickly, and his presence only made the realization stronger.

Heaven was, to Castiel, the place where he and his fellow angels resided. Where he and his family resided. But he'd killed his brothers for these two boys standing before him, and for Bobby. So maybe his heaven wasn't Heaven, but simply being with those who he'd given everything for. With those who he considered family; Sam and Dean were as good as brothers to him, and Bobby... Well, Castiel had yet to figure out exactly where Bobby fit in - he knew brothers and sisters and Father, and there was no way Cass would say that Bobby matched his Father - but he did take a rather paternal role. Yes, traveling around with the Winchester boys, and the occasional visit to Bobby's... That was Castiel's Heaven.