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It wasn't expected; wasn't planned. One minute she'd been laughing, head thrown back and hair streaming. His Gwen. She'd always loved the stars, loved their silvery ethereal glow.
Rhys was long gone. So simple, a driver careening out of control in a blizzard. Anwen had been on the sidewalk and had screamed for a week, and Gwen hadn't spoken for three days as she sat vigil beside her husband's broken body.
Gwen had returned to Torchwood, and years later they had buried Rex together. That's when Jack offered to take her away from the planet, and she agreed. Across the universe they went, Jack leading Gwen into the great unknown.
They found Castiel on a planet of eternal spring, and Gwen hung back, made uneasy by wings she could almost see, and the angel felt a dribble of hope. Perhaps she was descended of the nephilim, a few drops in her blood to give her strength against the power of an angel’s grace. Perhaps, one day, she'd be able to see his soul as he could see hers.
After that, they travelled together.
**
It was Cas who wanted to see a black hole. He'd heard there was a planet orbiting it, an empty lonely planet, and thought it would be interesting to see as close to absence as he could- after all, of the three only he remembered the birth of existence.
That's when things went horribly wrong. The black hole, it turned out, was in actuality one of Castiel's fallen brothers, so devoid of kindness, of love, that he had turned to destruction.
He took Gwen. She turned on them, killed Jack, laughing that awful laugh. Her eyes were what made Cas realize what he had to do, and her hesitance told him what he feared- she was not one of the few. But he unveiled himself, threw back the glamour of his host’s body, and the demon screamed and screamed. The darkness fled instantly- against such light it had no defense, and even in the heat of his own glow Castiel watched her throw her head back, hair streaming. It was her last act, and even as Jack heaved into wakefulness and screamed at the eternity of Castiel’s grace, he knew she was gone. His grace vanished, cloaked once more by his fragile human host, and he gathered Jack and took them away. Took them away before Jack could see the pile of ash on the floor, all that remained of Guinevere Elizabeth Cooper.
**
A back alley of Cardiff brought Jack's rage, screaming at Cas to take him back, they couldn't leave Gwen. When Castiel's gaze turned stony and confused, he stalked away. And Castiel knew. Jack blamed him. What he never said to Jack, even in the stony silence as he stalked past the angel without a word, was that he was right.