Archive of Our Own ^beta

Taking the pen from his ear, he grabs the scavenger hunt list from the pile of small treasure they'd collected at each site, and crosses off the items they'd already solved and found.

"There's only one on the list," he answers, raising his voice loud enough for her to hear over the crunch and grind of rocks beneath the tires. "It's a riddle."

"Go for riddle."

Dean reads slowly and deliberately so they don't miss anything important - with the way Charlie's been driving and how fast they solved the first nineteen clues, he'd hate to lose their lead over the last one.

"'Where sparks first lit the flame, you first spoke your name. You answered their prayer, but they're trying to kill you, under the sigil-clad frame.'"

"Ooh, poetic," Charlie chirps, as she swerves to avoid a very big and very annoyed raccoon.

"I know where this is," Dean reflects, his voice low and pensive.

"What?" Charlie calls back.

She slows down the car as they approach a four-way stop. With no other cars, streetlights, or any other signs of humanity in sight, she idles at the stop line for Dean to explain himself.

"I know where this is," he repeats, voice steadier. "Take a left here. Should be just a few miles out - We're looking for a barn."

"You got it, dude."

She spins the tires in the dirt, then takes off flying down the left-hand road. Dean watches the corn fields whizz pass by under the light of the moon.

This shouldn't be a clue, he muses. No one else was there the night that Cas first touched down from Heaven - just me, Bobby, n' Cas. All the other clues have been stuff around Sioux Falls that the other hunters would be able to find. He weighs whether or not it's worth pointing out to Charlie that the barn couldn't possibly be the right answer after all, but they're turning onto the side street already, and the barn is straight ahead. Might as well check. At the speed she drives, we won't lose that much time.

"Wait - How did you know to turn down the - Oh, that son of a bitch!" All doubts about finding the right location leave his mind when he sees his Baby parked in front of the barn doors. She looks beautiful in the moonlight with the chrome catching the light, despite Sam's gargantuan presence leaning against her with his long legs crossed in front of him. "Cas n' Sam beat us to the last clue!"

"Dammit!" Charlie spits, but the smirk on her face has Dean frowning. Why's she happy about that? Something weird is going on. Maybe I should get out the holy water.

He waits as she shifts into park and climbs out, his leg bouncing impatiently, then he launches himself out of the backseat of the two-door rust bucket and marches straight over to his brother.

"I can't believe you beat us to the last clue!" Dean exclaims.

"I can," Sam shoots back with a shrug and a smirk. "Cas is looking for the last memento inside the barn, then we're going to leave you two in the dust as we cross the finish line back at Bobby's."

"I shouldn't have let Cas convince me to let you two take my car," Dean grumbles. But he never asks, and Dean couldn't resist giving in to Cas' request and tossing him the keys, despite his reticence to let anyone else drive her. It was worth it to see that stupid smile on his face. He continues, "Even with this menace behind the wheel, there's no way we could outpace Baby." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder to point at Charlie, who was leaning into the backseat of the car, sorting all the scavenger hunt trinkets they'd gathered so far.

"Hey! I heard that!" she teases back. "Instead of running your mouth, why don't you run ahead inside and find what we need!"

"Better make it quick before Cas comes back and we leave you in the dust," Sam adds.

"Yeah, yeah," Dean mutters, taking their advice and heading into the barn through the cracked open door. "But if they think they can beat our dream team, they have another think co..."

He stops in his tracks at the sight of the interior of the barn.

The decade-old sigils were still all over the walls and ceiling, faded and chipped black paint standing out starkly against the pale wood. Instead of flashing in and out of sight from the harsh sparks of Castiel's arrival, this time they danced gently from the flickering light of candles.

Hundreds of candles.

Set around the barn as safely as could be managed, the entire barn seems to be glowing, the warm light filling the empty space. Empty except for one man, head hanging low, who is waiting at the end of a candle-lined path in the centre of a circle of soft flames.

"...Cas?"

At the sound of his name, Castiel looks up, meeting Dean's eyes as he straightens himself up. His expression is heavy, no - solemn, Dean notes, as he walks slowly down the illuminated path to join Cas.

"What is all this?" Dean asks him when he reaches the centre, stopping right before entering Castiel's personal space.

Cas takes one step forward, closing the gap between them. At this distance, Dean can see the sheen in his eyes, shimmering under the candlelight. Dean puts a hand on Cas' arm out of concern, and Cas breaks out into a smile, a happy tear falling slowly down his cheek.

Cas looks down and rifles in one of his giant trench coat pockets, pulling out something small and still concealed by his hand. He chokes back a wet laugh, and just before Dean can open his mouth to ask Cas again if he's okay, Cas flips his palm over to reveal what he had been hiding.

A small, grey flocked box.

Dean stares down at it. His usually honed deduction skill seems to be short-circuited, because he's landed on one impossible conclusion as to the box's contents, and the rest of his brain is static. He can only stare, wide-eyed.

Castiel exhales shakily and begins to speak. "Hello, Dean."

Looking up once again, he searches Cas' eyes for the answer to what's going on, the answer he can't begin to contemplate on his own. He finds no prank, no malice - only love, sheer love.

"I found what I was looking for, here in the barn." He speaks softly, voice heavy with reverence. "I hope you did too."

He opens the box.