mclachland | Oneiroi [epilogue]

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There is a tree on a sun-soaked hill, an elm with resigned branches that births globules of light and thought, heavy fruit sprouting wings. They tear from the boughs and fly away, leaving the sad elm, never to return and never missed. More blossom in their place almost immediately.

He studies it -- this well-oiled machine -- and is so engrossed in the process that he does not hear the heavy footsteps in the grass behind him.

"It was the first of my dreams," Dean says, coming to stand beside Cas. He shoves his hands into his pockets and looks up at the tree with a critical eye -- usually reserved for the Impala or a piece of pie. Except this is not Dean. "I wanted an extension of me, a piece to do my work should I find myself far away. A part of me, a dream that dreams."

"It is magnificent," Cas admits, watching the process with awe. The fruit, the creatures he has come to know and fear and understand, pull away and drift into the sky. The oneiroi will find the minds of the inhabitants of some world out there, whether it is Earth or a place that does not know of angels and humans and a failed deity's kingdom. He tracks them until they leave his sight.

Dean rocks on his heels and then gazes out into the fields, sunlight reflected back in his eyes, his skin, and Cas is not sure how he could have ever thought this poorly-made copy was Dean Winchester. "It will not be long. A blip. A blink. A breath, and then you will finally be here, my Castiel, dreaming of me."

At the bottom of the hill, the tall grasses rustle and part, and Cas cannot contain the smile that blossoms across his face.

"Cas!"

He shakes his head, still smiling. "You're mistaken. It's true that someday I will be here. I will dream for you, perhaps even with you, but… I will never dream of you."

His words are final, and he leaves Morpheus on the hill to wait for the end of this blip, blink, breath.

Running down the gilded slope to join Dean, Cas holds him careful and close, swallowing his laughter and pulling him back into the grass, into gold, until they disappear.

“As I lay me down to sleep, this I pray:
that you will hold me dear.
Though I'm far away I whisper your name into the sky,
and I will wake up happy.”

End.

Notes:

So, I guess when I said that "Named" was my first and last Big Bang story, I lied. "Oneiroi" was a long time in coming, actually, having first been an original screenplay about a girl who goes into Demos Oneiroi to rescue the kid she's in love with. In 2009, I was gearing up to seriously give thought to shopping it around when I heard that Christopher Nolan was making a movie about dreams. I ended up shelving it, because who would ever contend with Christ Nolan (even if our plots were completely and utterly different)? I ended up using it for my DCBB mostly because I had only a month to write it and I could come up with nothing else.

Writing from Castiel's POV was the hardest thing about it and I probably (re: definitely) will never do that again.

I'm glad I wrote it, but I'm fucking stoked it's over. On to new things!

Thanks:

I would be completely in the wrong if I didn't thank the people who yelled/cajoled/threatened/bribed/sat up until the wee hours of the morning with/loved me throughout June and July.

First and foremost, thanks to my betas

peroxidepest17 and

nanoochka for pretty much carrying me through the writing process. I'm sure they were ready to murder me in cold blood if I were to say "OH GOD I CAN'T DO THIS" one more time, and no jury would convict them. Between the late night chats, treating them like my own personal sounding board, and bothering them around 2am and pleading for reassurance, I honestly couldn't have done it without them. Thank you so very much. I owe you girls everything -- and by everything, I mean most if not all of my viable, transplantable organs. I love you both.

Thanks to

miki_moo, my fabulous artist, for her wonderful work! She is one of the sweetest, most enthusiastic people I've ever had the privilege of working with. She did a great job -- EVERYONE GO CHECK OUT HER ART!

Thanks to

timetravel,

staraflur,

nightanddaze,

alexwhitman25, and everyone else who cheerleaded/kicked my ass.

And, of course, as always: thanks to

tigbit for being there. <3

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ok, so I read this and was totally engrossed in the plot and the Castiel and the everything.

I'm sure that almost everything that I want to gush about has been said, but there is this one thing I just need to fangirl over.

I love Morpheus. I don't think he is super terrible, or bad, because I mean, this guy is super old and is everything. I believe that Castiel needed to have his grace taken, he needed to learn the intricacies humanity, he needed to learn what love is. He had to love Dean and Sam. He is this creature who contains so much knowledge, and imagination, and now love. He couldn't be a companion to Morpheus if he did not have those experiences. Castiel's love for Oliva, endlessly imaginative and curious being he created which I feel represented those qualities in his self andddd there is so much more, but...you wrote the story right? hahah

I think that Castiel will grow to be fond of Morpheus. I feel sad that Dean and Castiel won't be together for eternity, but then again, it's always been like 'Dean and Sam' in the end I guess. I truly believe Castiel will find something resembling peace in Demos Oneiroi.

Yeah, I am pretty much fangirling this so hard.

Another thing, while I was reading this I thought to myself that this would make an amazing movie. You got across the visual aspects amazingly well. The scene with Castiel moving towards the always far away gate of horn, and the dinosaurs, basically everything. A movie version would be amazing.

I was also so worried that you weren't going to be able to finish this well.(I also haven't read anything by you before, but I definitely have to catch up!) Only because I've read fic that took on too much and it felt like they couldn't resolve the ending. This obviously wasn't a problem. Your pacing was wonderful. You packed in so much information and feelings and it was really wonderful.

I also fucking love epic stories like this. Cas is such a baddass.

Thank you for making my hung over Sunday super magical.

Omg, that was pretty much a novel.

You don't have to respond hahaha, I just wanted you to know I cried like a baby and fell in love and it was wonderful.

You know what? I love Morpheus too. I wanted the "bad guy" to be relatable so people would be able to sympathize with him. For all that he's THE END ALL BE ALL OMG, he's very human in his wants. It's lonely at the top; Castiel would be a fitting companion for him.

In my original story, there was a sequel in which the "Cas" character goes to Demos Oneiroi after the allotted time has passed (in the fic it was a lifetime, in the original screenplay it was a year), and the "Dean" character goes after her. Except when he gets there, he finds the "Cas" character and Morpheus are pretty happy together, and the "Cas" character is torn. Morpheus ends up letting the "Cas" character go back to the mortal plane to be with the "Dean" character, but they are together in the "Cas" character's dreams, waiting until her mortal life passes so they can be together again. BIG TWIST. XD

I'm glad I could ease the pain of your hangover, in any case. XD

Oneiroi [epilogue]

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