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Dean and Cas were just about to finish their dinner when Jack jumps up out of his chair. Being full of sugar- thanks to his father- he was wired and ready to take on the world.
“Dean, how much sugar did you give him?”
“I don’t know Cas, how much sugar is in a can of soda? I’ll clean up while you chase after Jack?”
Cas looking upset says, “Fine.”
Cas chases after Jack while Dean picks up the dishes. After a fair amount of time, Cas is able to wrestle Jack down. Both of them almost being out of breath, Cas tosses Jack over his shoulder and makes his way towards Jack's room.
“Okay Jack, time for bed.”
“But I'm not sleepy,” Jack pouts, "Can you read me a bedtime story?”
Cas looks over at the wall of books that covers their son's wall.
“Which one would you like?”
Jack sits up for a bit, “I don't know what ever you like but none of those mooshie ones.”
“Why not? I think that the mooshie ones have the best stories.”
“No, they have romance and kissing.. ugh.”
Cas tucks Jack in, “Okay I have a story for you; it is about the lonely angel and his red chain.”
“Never heard that one before.”
“Well it starts off with an angel, we’ll call him Jimmy. He was born a long long time ago. Jimmy was a good angel and had a lot of family members. His life was fruitful with his position and family keeping him busy. But as thousands upon thousands of years pass, he began to feel like his life was missing something. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he knew in his heart that something was absent in him. Suddenly, one morning his right wrist felt unusually heavier than before. He looked down to see a red chain attached to it.”
“How was the chain attached to his arm?” Jack curiously asks.
“‘til this day, he still won’t be able to tell you. And at first he wondered about it like where did it lead and how nobody else but him could see it. Jimmy decided that he needed his questions answered, so he told his family that he will be off on a journey. He hopes that it would not take long but if they need him, all they would have to do is call him back. His journey took him long and far, wrapping around the Earth more than once. But no matter how far he traveled or how fast he went, he could never get to the end of his chain.”
“The angel began to get frustrated with his journey; angry, he took his weapon and tried as hard as he could to break the chain. He would try to stab it, slash it, burn it, but no matter what he did, he was never able to get rid of his cursed chain. In a final attempt, Jimmy used his powers to try and break the chain into pieces. Without a scratch on it, he yelled out to the Heavens as if he hoped someone with an answer was hearing him, "What do you want from me?!”
“Does the angel find out?” Jack asks with worry on his face.
Cas looks at Jack, “Not at first; He was downhearted and wanting to be left alone. He laid on the floor for a couple of days. Laying down staring at his burden, the angel was able to figure out that the chain was losing length every day. Not only that, but it would be brighter in the day and grow dim at midnight.”
“The chain was a clock!” Jack exclaims, almost jumping out of bed.
“Calm down Jack, or this is the end of the story.”
“Sorry, dad.”
“It's okay’ now where was I?”
“The chain was a clock.”
“That's right, well he figured out the chain did not just travel through space, it had also traveled through time. Luckily for this angel, he knew how to travel. He used his powers to send him a few hundred years in the future.”
Bewildered, Jack asks, “Why did it take a hundred years? And what did he see?”
“Well the individual wasn't born yet and he saw a glimpse of a stranger driving his car with his hand sticking out of the window. Attached to his wrist, was the other side of the chain.”
“Who was he?”
“Jack.”
“Was he with someone?”
“Jack.”
“Why was he holding the chain?”
“Jack!”
“But I want to know,” Jack whines.
“If you are patient, you will get the whole story.”
Jack sits back and lets Cas finish.
“The angel didn’t know who the individual or his passenger was. He knew that he would meet the stranger in a few hundred years and for this angel, that passes in a blink of an eye.”
Jack is confused and so he asks, “What's that mean?”
Cas saddened by his near future says, ”it means that it goes way too fast. If you blink once, it's gone. The angel, not wanting to mess with time, decided to wait until he came across this individual again. With the years passing by, the angel began to forget about the stranger. It wasn’t until his chain started vibrating red that he remembered about the fellow. Feeling something was off, this angel races towards the end of the chain. He could not shake his feeling, telling him to hurry up. He makes it to a house that is surrounded by monsters. The chain is vibrating bright red. He hears screams emanating from the residence. Hoping that it's not too late, Jimmy rushes in the building and spots one of the monsters pinning the stranger to the ground. They were mere seconds away from taking his life. The angel raises his hand in an effort to stop the monsters dead in his tracks.”
“Did he save him?”
Cas looks at his son remembering that he would never want to lie to him, “Unfortunately no, his brothers and sisters held him back and reminded him that he could not interfere with humans, at least not yet. He watched as those monsters took his life right in front of him. Not only that, but the chain that connected the two disappeared. Saddened by the death of a stranger that he never knew, he spent a few days moping around before he was greeted by his brothers again. Still having raw feelings about what happened, the angel was very short with his siblings.”
“He was about to leave but his family told him that they made a mistake, that they needed to rescue that same human from Hell. They needed him before that horrible place got their hooks into him. Jimmy felt like he owed it to the stranger so he reluctantly agreed to it. Soon after a war broke out between Heaven and Hell. The Demons were so concerned about keeping things in, they never thought to prepare for an attack on the outside. When Jimmy and his family attacked, they caught Hell completely off guard. They charged in fast and a thousand strong but the enemy was in the millions.”
Jack pulls his covers partially over his face, listening intently.
“Jimmy's brethren became a distraction for the main troops in Hell. And Jimmy himself went deep into the pits to locate and retrieve the stranger. He raced as fast as he could, worried that he might have missed his chance again. Looking left and right, he hopelessly started to panic. Then a small glimmer of light starts leading him towards it. Rushing towards the small flash, he spots ten monsters and fifty demons guarding a single tower. The demons spot Jimmy instantly and draw their weapons preparing for an attack. Jimmy waves his hand and annihilates fifteen of the low level demons. The others were too vigorous to be wiped out in such a manner. Jimmy draws his weapons and prepares to attack.”
Cas jumps to his feet imitating someone holding a sword.
“Jimmy lunges forward striking three enemies at the same time. He moves left and right dodging every strike the demons tried to make. He uses his super strength to attack their strongest soldiers. Then floats to the air to locate the last of the troops. With one single swoop, he kills the rest of the enemy. With the fallen annihilated, Jimmy marches up the tower and locates the stranger chained to the wall, barely making any movement.”
“So Jimmy was able to walk the stranger out of Hell?”
“No; Hell has a special spell that makes it hard for anyone to escape it. The further they go, the heavier an individual becomes. Thankfully, Jimmy was a very strong angel. He broke the chains that held the stranger down and gripped him by the shoulder, holding him tight against his chest. With the flap of his wings, he created several tornadoes two miles wide. Signaling to his brothers to fall back, Jimmy picks up speed holding tightly onto the stranger; he bursts through the final barrier that held them both in.”
Cas sits back down and sighs, “The moments after that were serene.”
“What does serene mean?”
“It means peaceful. Jimmy places the stranger back in his resting place. He places his hands on the stranger's head in an effort to erase all that happened to him. He looks down and notices the chain that connected them both shining brighter than ever. At first, he thought the chain was there to remind him about the journey the both of them would have to take. He would later find out that the chain had a deeper meaning for the both of them.”
Jack's eyes are starting to get heavy, “Dad, what kind of journeys did they have?”
“That's a story for another night.”
Yawning Jack asks, “what did the chain look like?”
Cas examining his wrist says, “It's a translucent metal with red in the middle.”
Dean comes in to check on his boys to make sure that Cas didn’t fall asleep on him again, “Uh, Cas? Jack's asleep, what are you doing now?”
Cas looks up at Dean, softly smiling at his partner. Seeing the chain connecting them both, Cas tries not to show any emotions, “I’m just trying not to blink.”