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Castiel wandered, for days he wandered, getting accustomed to this new old world around him as he watched the days pass. He hadn’t tried to contact Sam anymore, had rather turned his back or made his way out in some other way whenever he saw him pass, their eyes only having met a handful of times and Sam’s never quite shining wit the same recognition that Castiel’s did.
By now he had identified his location and the general date, what he couldn’t get was why. Why Jack had appeared before him, why he took him here, why specifically he had shown him what happened to the brothers after his final death and his words to Dean, a man he had attempted to find but didn’t seem to be able to locate in this place, this past, whatever it was. He had seen Dean die, he had seen Sam collapse, he had attempted to reach out for him, but Jack had taken him away from that place, brought him here, again and again. By now he had seen the laundromat 4 times, he had seen Sam apologize to Jessica 3 of those times, the pairing not even having shown up once all Jack did when asked about this was shrug.
“What do you want from me?”
Castiel had stopped in the middle of a park near the campus, surrounded by neatly cut grass, benches, and a waterfall that completed the idyllic scene. His voice trembled with desperation as he shouted, “Just tell me what you want, Jack!”
Castiel shouted, attracting the attention of some college students who appeared to be enjoying some free time in the sun. they looked at the angel for a second, only of course seeing a disheveled man in a trenchcoat before they quickly hurried along whispering among themselves
“you give them to me, take them from me, allow me to intervene, keep me from intervening, repeat a cycle, continue a narrative-“ desperation palpable audible in his voice Castiel turned himself to the sky “why?!”
Nothing
"Why?”
Birds chirped, clouds moved.
“do I have to stay here?” Cass had already tried to leave, travel through time as he had done so many times before, but for all time related purposes this moment seemed to be both the end and the very beginning. “Do I have to force the prophecy forward all over again?” the prophecy, the seals, the apocalypse, a pain in Castiel’s mind.
A pang, a realization
“I don’t want that, and you don’t want that Jack, you care” he paused, correcting himself “you’re supposed to care”
More silence, Castiel’s eyes still fixated on the sky, his hands clenched, it was angel radio he heard, voices strangely familiar.
“If that is what you want I will do it but please, don’t make me hurt Sam”