Chapter Text
"What the hell, Cas?"
"Dean, you need to go home."
"Fuck that! You've been missing for a week, you haven't responded to any of my prayers or calls, Sam finally tracks you down, you almost wrecked Baby-"
"Dean!" Cas cut him off, and Dean glared at him, pursing his lips. "It isn't safe here." He stated, this time softer in an attempt to calm him, though still firm.
"Like that's new." Dean rolled his eyes, "Cas, what's going on?" They held each others stares in silence long enough that Dean didn't think Cas intended on answering, until he looked down and sighed as he shook his head. Chin still tilted down, looking up at Dean from under half of his eyelids, he responded languidly.
"A Temporal Rift is located a few miles from here. Had you kept driving, you as well as Sam and Mary would've passed through it in an instant." He hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. "You may not have survived."
Dean took a moment to process this, for once. Where usually he'd be quick to reply with sarcasm, he balked- he could sense legitimate worry in the Angel's voice. As he was returning from his thoughts, Dean saw that Cas looked worried too. He wasn't exactly sure what a "Temporal Rift" was, but based on Cas' reaction, he probably didn't want to.
Dean turned to the side, looking down and clenching his jaw before staring back at Cas. "So, what, we just turn around and call it a day? Ignore the missing kids?"
"They went missing in 1983," Cas sighed, as if Dean should've known.
Dean's jaw practically dropped. His head tilted and his eyebrows grew closer as he tried to process the new information. "Temporal rift...?" he muttered. Castiel nodded.
"It's a flaw in the space-time continuum, to put it simply. A place from which an alternate timeline or universe is accessible when a vessel comes into contact with it. They're extremely unstable places." Castiel stated matter-of-factly.
"Sounds safe." Dean huffed, each syllable laced heavily with sarcasm. "So, how do we get through without dying, exactly?"
"You don't, Dean. You all need to go back- this is out of your control." Castiel said, so stiffly it sounded more like a command than a suggestion.
Dean peered at Cas skeptically. "What's going on, Cas?"
"Nothing of your concern. I can take care of this, Dean. There's no chance that any of you could survive it."
Dean's expression only became angrier. "Bullshit. Cas, c'mon man." he pleaded.
Cas' shoulders fell and he exhaled sharply, hanging his head in defeat. "Mundi Comedenti," he muttered bitterly. Dean's face scrunched up in confusion as he tried to translate.
"What? That's Latin for eat, right?" Dean paused, looking up and silently moving his lips, trying to remember the extra Latin he had picked up over the years. Cas just watched him, not saying a word. "An- and Earth? Something like that?" Where Cas would usually be entertained by this, it wasn't a great time to laugh at Dean.
"World Eater," Cas said solemnly, eyes wandering to the pavement behind Dean, refusing to meet his eyes. "It- it's what humans used to call them. They haven't been back in millennia." He took in a ragged breath and finally met Dean's eyes with his own. "They 'eat' holes through alternate universes- Temporal rifts- and feed on human energy to reproduce. They're incredibly dangerous- God, erm, Chuck put them in purgatory but it seems one escaped."
"Well, fuck," Dean breathed, just before the sound of the Impala's car doors could be heard slamming shut. Cas returned his attention to some loose gravel on the road, listening to the soft crunching sound of Mary and Sam closing the distance between them. Dean turned to face them as they drew near in the dark, backlit by the Impala's headlights. It was hard to see their expressions due to the brightness of the lights, but Dean could tell they were approaching cautiously, as if walking on thin ice.
"What's going on?" Sam's voice was quieter than normal, but scratchy from his fatigue. No one answered- Dean seemed to be also suddenly very interested in the ground. Sam and Mary exchanged worried glances.