On The Wings Of Fate (Destiel WWII AU)

A Date With Sanity

It was May. May eighth to be exact. The day the Axis surrendered. The day Dean was to be sent home.

They had been woken up that morning by a polish soldier yelling "the war is over! The war is over!" Dean couldn't believe his eyes.

He was going home. After a year of torture and pain he was going home. He didn't have any family left but he was going home. He would have to make a new life for himself and he couldn't wait. There was an emptiness in his heart though. An emptiness that could only be filled by Castiel but Castiel was dead so the emptiness would remain empty and suck the joy out of his life. They had been sent to have actual showers not gas showers and Dean couldn't have been more relieved. The water was cold but he hadn't been clean for a year until now. He had survived for a year in the worst concentration camp in Poland. Once he finished his shower he began to dress back in his army uniform and he had got a good look at himself in the frosty glass of the building.

His ribs stuck out of skin making it look like they were trying to fly away. The black bags under his eyes added the gauntness that starvation had left him with. His eyes didn't sparkle anymore, they only showed the pain and suffering that he had to endure. His uniform sagged on his lean body and greying stubble dotted his jaw and neck. He was only twenty six but he looked forty.

After the showers, the now free prisoners were corralled to a landing strip where planes would take them home to America. Every single prisoner in the camp including native Polish people were being shipped off to America. When Dean and his little group of prisoners were loaded onto the plane, he sat in the corner and stared at the plane wall. The men around him were talking about their girlfriends or their wives or kids or even their parents and Dean felt more alone than ever until a man came and sat beside him.

The man was about six feet tall. He had disheveled black hair streaked with grey, intelligent sea blue eyes and a weathered face that seemed to be a thing of beauty and a thing of pain.

"What's wrong Major. Don't you have anything else to say? What about your family back home? Aren't you excited to see them?" Now this man was Castiel but Dean didn't know this.

"No I'm not. My half brother died in a plane crash, my mother, my father, my uncle and my brother are all dead and I had to find out that the man I loved was killed at camp on my birthday. So no I'm not okay." Dean was bitter and he couldn't get his words out without clenching his fists. The man sympathized with Dean and began to recount his story.

"I had a family once too. I had a loving wife and a beautiful daughter until they were murdered by the Nazis. I had a love once too but it was ripped from me by the war and i know that I can never get it back. I'm Clarence by the way."

"I'm Dean."

The rest of the plane ride was spent in silence. The plane rumbled and began
its descent into the town of Lawrence, Kansas and Dean felt mixed emotions.

He spent the week combing through the house that belonged to him and relieving his best and worst memories. He drowned his sorrows in bottles of alcohol and vented his rage at the walls that once contained a loving family. He fell into a despair, a dark place where no light shone, a place that he couldn't get out of, or so he thought.

One grey day he received a letter from an unknown sender. He was about to throw it away until he realized that the handwriting was familiar. It looked like Castiel's but Castiel was dead, wasn't he? Dean decided to open it.

Dear Dean Winchester,

I am truly sorry that I had to abandon you and leave you from dead. I didn't want to hurt you anymore. I want to see you and I want to let you know that I am alive. Just so you know it's me I remember you telling me about your brother and his moose costume.

My "people skills" are "rusty" so I don't know how to say this right. If you want to see me I'll be sitting on the wooden bench in the middle of the park.

I really am sorry.

Castiel

Dean dropped the letter.

He had played this scenario over and over in his mind so many times. He knew that the only person that knew about Sam and the moose costume was Castiel so he decided to meet him.

He slipped on his boots and his coat and closed the door behind him. He jogged to the park and watched as a man sat down on the bench. Dean jogged towards the man.

"Castiel?" Dean whispered hesitantly as the other man turned to look at him.

"Yes Dean, it's me."