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gyokujyn · 4 years ago

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Snow Falls Like Love

Written for @celestialcastiel for the @destielsecretsanta2020

1.6k under the cut of Castiel and Dean stumbling through snow gazing as Castiel considers what it means to fall.

Listen to a short accompanying playlist here: Snow Falls Like Love

Read Snow Falls Like Love on Ao3 Here

Water freezes at 32-degrees Fahrenheit, but snow doesn’t form until 28-degrees.

Thin plates develop from vapor around a mote of dust or pollen, which then fork into dendrites if the air becomes more humid. As it gets colder, needles, columns or even solid prisms start to take shape until around 15-degrees when the crystals begin to burst back into dendrites and plates. Huge, fat, fluffy flakes of icy lace titter and dance on gusts of wind through the atmosphere. Every fall from the heavens to the Earth follows a slightly different path. Every fall from the heavens to the Earth yields a slightly different pattern. There is nothing magical about it, just physics ordering a chaotic universe; molecules following the unwritten rules of crystallization along an errant draft of air. But, even so, Castiel finds himself transfixed.

His Father, in His great wisdom, imbued all of His Creation with the kind of subtle beauty Castiel could lose himself in. All creatures great and small, every mountain, every nebula, and every act of nature is holy; each time he witnesses his Father’s work, it inspires in Castiel a reverent sort of wonder.

He watches a different flake fall again and again, and each time his awe is renewed. Some seem to hurtle towards the ground, while others linger along updrafts, sauntering only vaguely downwards in their slow, but inevitable descent. His chest swells with every upward lilt and aches with every sinking lull. He puffs out a sigh, sending a flake which had ventured too close to him careening off, half melted with the heat of his breath and hopelessly off course.

Snow falls like him, he thinks. He recalls each tumble, each broken Seal, every pitch and every one of his brethren to burn out on the end of his blade. He recalls Naomi and he recalls his defiance and he wonders for a moment if the needle in her hand was the rising or the falling act. He recalls Dean’s prayers, each one arranged in his memory like a tributary of frozen water along his path, and the choices that brought him from the heavens to the Earth.

He recalls Dean. He recalls sulphur and brimstone and meat and the searing of Dean’s flayed skin under his hand. He recalls his orders, the only orders that mattered: to protect Dean Winchester. He recalls freckles and the way they are scattered over Dean’s skin like these snowflakes across the sky. He recalls the line of Dean’s profile against a backdrop of white. He recalls Dean and, as if summoned, the screeching of the bunker’s rooftop door heralds his sudden arrival.

“Here you are, man. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel prompts, glancing over his shoulder with wry regard. Dean lingers in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, as if he were considering going back inside. He’s wearing the same henley from this morning, but with his green, canvas jacket atop, the one that brings out his eyes. Castiel smiles and something about the line of Dean’s shoulders melts as he steps out onto the rooftop and shoves the door back shut.

“Yeah, hey,” he huffs out, wrapping his arms around himself and stuffing his fingers underneath his lined canvas overcoat as he steps closer. He brought a grey woolen blanket with him, draped over his arm, and is hugging it awkwardly to his chest. “It’s freezing out here. We’ve gotta find you a better coat if you’re gonna make it a habit to play gay chicken with a snowstorm. And, do you even own a pair of gloves?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Castiel answers absently looking to his hands, suddenly sore with cold. He frowns as he flexes the stiff digits. A moment ago, he was mid-flight, wings outstretched; a moment ago, he felt a lifetime away. He looks back up at the falling snow, coming faster now. “I was just watching the snow fall.”

They both look up at that and although the sun is beginning to set somewhere behind the clouds, the sky is still bright with the white of the snowflakes. It seems to glow from within, like a lighted snow globe. Dean fidgets at his side for a moment before letting the blanket unfold messily and propping it over Castiel’s shoulders with a painfully effected nonchalant draping of his arm. Cas reaches across his own chest to take the makeshift cloak from where Dean had wrapped it around him, his fingers brushing along Dean’s own hand and resting there keenly. Dean does not withdraw his arm and neither does Castiel withdraw his hand and for a moment, Cas stands pressed against Dean’s side, heat blooming at each point of contact and diffusing into Castiel until it settles heavy in his limbs. He smiles.

He recalls the snowflakes, now falling wet and thick on his face. He wonders now if snow falls instead like love; slow at first, but then heavier, radiant in its beauty and growing only deeper with time. Because although Castiel is falling, his fading grace waning within him, receding like a riptide that sometimes threatens to pull him under, it is not as though this is something beyond his repair. It is not as though this is something beyond his choice. He isn’t helplessly plunging towards the Earth. He is succumbing of his own accord.

“Angels don’t experience cold,” he says quietly.

Dean looks at him out of the corner of his eye, the bolt of his jaw flexing as he considers the words, his hand shifting beneath Castiel’s icy fingers nervously. Dean looks to the snow. It’s one more moment before Dean finds the words and he answers as quietly as Cas had spoken, “You’re saying you’ve fallen.”

“I didn’t fall, Dean,” he starts, perhaps a bit too indignant, a bit too combative. He shakes his head. He considers the snow flakes. He sighs. “I didn’t...” he tries again, grasping for the right words, “I didn’t stumble blindly.” He looks to Dean and sees those bright, green eyes watching his lips and the freckles like snowflakes and the longest, golden brown lashes he’s ever seen and he remembers. He recalls it like each and every step he’s taken since. He recalls what happened. He levels an even gaze at Dean, licking his lips and waiting for their eyes to meet again.

“I made a choice. I chose you,” he states and it’s said with a finality that makes Dean swallow and look away. Castiel licks his frostbitten lips as his nerves overtake him. He stutters out, “I chose you and Sam and every beautiful thing the Earth had to offer and I leapt.”

That gains him another carefully guarded look from Dean and Castiel wraps his frozen fingers around the heat of Dean’s hand and squeezes gently before he loses his nerve completely.

“I didn’t fall from grace," he continues, "I leapt to freedom. And, I may not know what I am or what I am becoming, but I’d do it again. Without hesitation.”

Dean ducks his head, the pink flush from the cold along his cheeks deepening to a burning red, so hot that Cas swears he can feel it radiating across the inches they’re apart. Personal space, Castiel recalls, but they were always in each other’s orbit, always moving closer. Castiel tilts his head down to try to catch Dean’s eye, but he’s looking a little dazed, so Cas ventures, “I would always choose you.”

Dean looks up, skittish but hopeful, gaze unsure of where to land on Castiel’s face, dancing between his eyes and his mouth and sometimes somewhere lower. Dean licks his lips.

“I have always chosen you,” Castiel breathes and flakes of snow dance between them on the air from his lungs.

The snow is falling so fast now, it has left a thick layer already on top of the blanket over Cas’s shoulders and the realization sparks something in Dean. He straightens up, blinking at the snow swirling around them and feeling the icy bite of the wind now that he isn’t being sheltered by the blanket and Cas’s body.

“I think we’ve officially hit blizzard, Cas. What say we head inside and I make you a cup of hot cocoa? I’ve got a whole can of Swiss Miss… plus a bottle of whiskey if you prefer your Miss Irish.”

“Swiss Miss?” Castiel asks in acceptance as he leads them towards the door.

“Oh, she’s a sweet girl, hot, and the marshmallows?" Dean asks, hands upturned in front of his chest in a pantomime of holding breasts before intoning with a lift of his eyebrows, "Jumbo.”

“And, she comes in a can?” Cas frowns in confusion as the door screeches its protest at being yanked open.

“Well, she’s not Prince Albert, but...” Dean laughs as Castiel gestures for him to precede him and the ease with which they fall into this should be frustrating, but their path has never been straight.

“I’m pretty sure I don’t understand that reference, Dean.”

“Oh, whoa, baby, I just wanna show you,” Dean croons as they step inside.

“What a clear view it is? I got that reference!” comes the last of Castiel’s voice as the door is pulled shut tightly behind them.

The rooftop stands quiet now, the snow falling thick and heavy until even their footsteps are lost to the depths of it, how they got there perhaps less clear than where they are. Snow falls like love, Castiel had decided, and it did that night. Wondrous and beautiful and as deep as the road is long.

#supernatural #spn fanfic #spn fic #fanfic #destiel #screaming into the void #jyn writes

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crusherthedoctor · 6 years ago

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Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars - Chapter 4-5 Interlude

The Will to Act

Ambience filled the air of a cold laboratory, filled to the brim with countless deranged experiments still in progress. A dark blue hue encompassed the facility, and only the beeping of computers and the flowing of liquids cancelled out the silence. That is, until the high-tech gate marking the entrance opened suddenly, and in walked Dr. Eggman. The lights immediately switched on, though the inherent darkness of the surroundings was still prevalent. He still had a grin on his face, and his swagger remained confident as he walked. His diminutive lackeys followed right behind their master.

"Sir, aren't you at least a LITTLE concerned that the Wraith failed to defeat them...?" Orbot asked, though he knew the doctor would brush him off before he even got his answer.

"Bah!" Eggman scoffed, as he walked up to a large metallic table with blueprint papers. "If you worry over every little setback, you'd never get anything done. That's something I've learned over the years. You gotta roll with the punches if you want the last laugh."

He then took out a single grey crystal, evidently one of the crystals from Zephyr Mountain he managed to get away with. He examined it closely... He seemed to be able to sense the power within just by holding it, as he let out a heavy exhale through gritted teeth.

"Oh yes..." he paused, before putting the crystal down onto the table. His body crouched slightly, perhaps overwhelmed by what he just experienced. "I can feel it... right through the course of my veins... It feels... amazing... This will be so good when everything's done."

"So uh, what do these pretty crystals do, exactly?" asked Cubot. "They for a Christmas tree or somethin'?"

Eggman wordlessly glared at the robot for his inadequate levels of awareness. "No... they have a much greater purpose." He pointed at one of his papers, which included a sketch of two crystals. One grey, the other fully colored.

"The crystals we have now can already achieve great things. They can power my creations to new heights, and give them amazing strength. But these ones... " He placed his finger on the drawing of the colored crystal. "...are twice as much. No, ten times as much. These crystals are the ones with the most remnants of the Ethereal Zone's power on this planet. With them, one can control the elements, and maybe even more..."

"But if that's true, why are you looking for the Ethereal Zone itself?" Orbot questioned, while Cubot scratched his cuboid cranium. "Surely the crystals would be enough to satisfy your proverbial hunger?"

"It's about climbing the scale, idiot," Eggman sneered arrogantly, complete with a clench of his fist. "With these crystals, we get those crystals, and with THOSE crystals, we get closer to finding the Zone."

"And what about the Chao?" the round robot asked again, as he mildly fidgeted.

"They're still a priority as well. I wouldn't waste time capturing them if they weren't." The doctor snapped his fingers, and pointed at both of his minions. "So I expect the two of you to investigate where Sonic and his annoying friends could have taken them, and where else there could be more Chao."

"You got it, boss!" Cubot gave a hearty salute, and pulled Orbot close to him, much to the latter's chagrin. "When you feel you're gonna sob, Orbot and Cubot are on the job!" With that, he dashed out of the laboratory in seconds, dragging a distressed Orbot by the hand all the while. The scientist stood there for a brief moment, before shrugging to himself in resigned annoyance.

"I'll do it myself later, they'll probably screw it up somehow. But first..."

He picked up the grey crystal again, and this time he walked over to a row of test tubes, all of which were filled with a mysterious green liquid. Silhouettes of different sizes and shapes could be seen in each of them, but one test tube in particular caught his attention. With a growing grin, he pressed one of the buttons on the panel beside the tube, and slowly, the liquid began to clear away. The silhouette from within was still obscured ever so slightly by the shadows, but even those who weren't the mad doctor himself would know straight away what was in that tube. Sonic certainly would.

"Wakey wakey," Eggman called out in a sinister sing-song voice. He showed the crystal, and shook it a little, like a parent interacting with their own baby. "I've got a little present for you, son. Fancy settling your little vendetta with the fake once and for all...?"

Immediately after he asked, a pair of red rings sprung to life where its eyes would be...

---

"So what do you think Eggman wants the crystals for?"

"Dunno. Maybe he wants them to give that monster more power... Or maybe they're for some other weapon, like a laser cannon or something."

"Oh, like the Eclipse Cannon?"

"Well, he's tried some things more than once before, hasn't he?" The hedgehog shrugged. "How many Death Eggs has he had again?"

Tails and Sonic continued to debate the motivations for Eggman's crystal hunt as they made their way back from Zephyr Valley to Lutrudis' castle. Lutrudis herself was walking beside them, with her hands behind her back, listening to her friends' chatter while she looked around at the beautiful scenery presented by the valley. Her mind appeared to be elsewhere...

"You ever think Eggman will give up some day?" Sonic asked half-jokingly.

"I think we already know that'll never happen," Tails answered with a light chuckle.

"But he's done everything to try and win!" Sonic pantomimed dramatically with his hands. "He's sicced Chaos! He's tore the planet apart! He's disrupted the flow of time and space! And he STILL can't beat us!" He grinned knowingly. "And you wanna know why?"

"Why?"

He suddenly brought Tails close to him and gave him a soft noogie. "Because he'll never be as awesome as us!"

"Aww, come on, not in front of Lutrudis!" Tails laughed sheepishly, trying his hardest to cease the noogie. Lutrudis herself let out a small giggle at the sight of Sonic's antics.

None of them noticed the top hat-donning robot hiding away through the trees. The robot's hands continued to move erratically, as it spied on the heroic trio walking through the display of vibrant vegetation.

"You may be certain about that for now," it whispered to itself in a feminine voice. "But in time, you will surely bow... ~hmm hmm hmm~..." It vanished in another puff of fancy smoke, leaving as quickly as it appeared once again.

"Listen, guys," Lutrudis spoke up, having decided to bring up what was on her mind. "I've... had an idea I've been going back and forth on. It's about the crystals."

"Oh?" Sonic let go of Tails, and the fox regained his composure. "What kind of idea are we talking about?" Sonic pondered.

The horse rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, and her eyes glanced over to the ground at her side. "It's probably a silly idea, but... Suppose we were to fight fire with fire..."

"You mean... to use the crystals ourselves?" Tails correctly sussed. His tails swished at the mention of this prospect.

"Heh, close. You guys are probably fine as it is. But I had an idea involving... well, myself." She pointed her thumb at her back, which her trusty bow was currently tied to.

Sonic raised an eyebrow at the implications, though he trusted that his friend knew what she planned on doing.

"Well, lead us the way, Trudy."

---

After having returned to the castle, they immediately went back to the cavern underneath it. While Sonic went down the rocky steps like the previous time, Tails was generous enough to simply fly Lutrudis down to the cave, having remembered her struggle with steep steps. When they went inside the cavern, it looked exactly as it did last time, as rustic yet radiant as ever. The crystals once again gleamed heavenly, in all their multitude of colours to choose from.

"So..." Sonic started, curious as to what the horse had in mind.

Lutrudis motioned with her finger to halt Sonic's words, indicating non-verbally that all will be explained. She walked up to a wall in the cavern, and with her other hand on her hip, she casually tapped it thrice with the back of her fist. Right on cue, a bunch of ropes came down from the roof, each of them holding onto what appeared to be plushies based on Eggman's Egg Pawns. Sonic and Tails looked at each other in surprise at this sight.

Then, Lutrudis looked at a selection of crystals beside her. Each of them were glowing, and pulsating with the mysterious power they still hadn't quite learned the full story of. Slowly, very slowly, after a brief moment of hesitance, she put her hand on a red crystal. She closed her eyes as she took a moment to exhale deeply through her nostrils, having felt its unexplained heat. Once she was ready, she opened her eyes once more, and gently plucked the crystal out of the ground.

Sonic's quills straightened up slightly, and he and Tails looked at their friend in concern, uncertain as to what she was about to do. Nonetheless, they let her continue, knowing she was far from careless.

Without a word, she pulled out one of her arrows, and slowly pulled the tip of it off. After a few seconds of her glancing between the now-incomplete arrow, and the crystal itself, she carefully placed the crystal where the tip of the arrow once was. It was inserted onto the arrow with little issue.

"Woah," Tails muttered in surprise.

Lutrudis grabbed her bow in one hand, with the new, specialised arrow in the other, and she turned her head in the direction of her two friends. She motioned towards the entrance to the cave, to which they understood immediately and backed up so they were further away. They clearly understood she wouldn't want there to be an arrow in someone's eye if something went wrong.

Still perfectly silent, she took her time to put herself into position, as she stared down one of the hanging Egg Pawn targets. She closed one eye, and got her bow and arrow ready. She could still feel the intense heat of the red crystal by being so close to it. A light bit of sweat went down her forehead. But she didn't budge. She was ready... She aimed...

The hedgehog and fox closed their eyes, and crouched in anticipation...

FWOOOOM

Sonic opened his eyes abruptly at the noise he just heard. He couldn't see any arrow through his body, much to his own relief. He nudged Tails with his elbow, to which the younger one opened his own eyes in response. When they looked at Lutrudis, they couldn't believe their eyes. She stared at the Egg Pawn plush... or what remained of it, as it had almost completely burned apart due to the crystal that remained stuck in its chest.

"Holy..." Sonic stopped himself, before Tails could hear. "That's some Blaze business right there..."

Lutrudis still said nothing. There was little emotion on her face as she looked at the burnt Pawn... but something was clicking in her eyes. She went to the closest selection of crystals again, and this time, she picked out a blue one. She repeated what she did last time. Took an arrow, pulled the tip off, replaced it with the crystal. Her body mildly shivered, as the coolness of this crystal was a palpable contrast to the warmth of the previous one. Once again, she prepared herself to aim at another hanging Pawn, and when she felt ready, she fired away.

CCCLLLIIISSSHHH

Another direct hit... but instead of burning up, this one was inexplicably frozen in an appropriately sized ice cube.

"Nice...!" Sonic muttered out loud, with an impressed grin on his face. Tails was similarly amazed by what he was seeing.

She decided to try out one more. She looked at yellow crystals, green crystals, among all colours upon colours... Her eyes stopped upon noticing a purple one. Its glow was significantly darker, more dimmer than the rest... and almost as black as the night itself. Despite showing even more hesitance than the previous two examples, she put her lingering fears aside and carefully plucked out the purple one, and repeated the process once more. This one didn't feel hot or cold. Instead, it felt... strange. She couldn't pinpoint what it made her feel. She aimed, braced herself...

But neither she nor her friends could have predicted what this one would do...

WWWHHHOOOOOOSSSHHH

Everyone's eyes were wide in complete and utter bafflement. Lutrudis in particular looked enormously dumbfounded. Did that Pawn just get... sucked into a void? She looked to her side at another purple crystal, and then looked back at where the Pawn once was. The look on her face remained the same. She was completely puzzled, and possibly aghast.

Sonic and his little bro went closer to the green equine, still full of shock themselves. All three of them had trouble getting a single word out of their mouths. Even for as much as they already knew, they had no idea the crystals were capable of that much power.

"Well..." Lutrudis tugged on her ponytail nervously, and let out an embarrassed chuckle. "This would be quite awkward if my aiming stunk."

"Trudy, this is... this is incredible! And kind of terrifying... We've GOT to show this to Amy and Cream!" Sonic looked again at where the Pawn was before it got whisked away by an actual, literal void. "No wonder Eggman's after these things!"

"But if nothing else, they sure do look as though they could come in helpful," Tails added. "Although, surely you'd run out of crystals eventu-"

Before Tails could even finish his spoken thought, a brand new red crystal popped out of the ground, exactly in the previous red crystal's place. Likewise, a new blue crystal emerged from the ground in its place, and a new purple one came to fill its own. Tails' jaw hanged low. Sonic simply whistled in amazement.

"Oh yeah, that's another thing," Lutrudis smiled coyly, as she tilted her head and swung her leg back and forth while leaning on the other. She clasped her hands. "It's not a finite resource. If you take one, another takes its place."

"Man..." Sonic stroked his left quill, still dazzled at what his friend could do with these abnormal jewels. He was far from a stranger to them. He's seen and used the Chaos Emeralds who knows how many times. He's seen the Sol Emeralds. He's seen the Master Emerald. He's seen the Time Stones. He's seen the Phantom Ruby.

But none of them were so prominently... multi-purpose in their specific capabilities. The rest would boost your power, distort time, create illusions, but these crystals had a whole slew of bells and whistles. And is it possible that they could stack up? If this was what they had to offer, what on earth could the Ethereal Zone itself be capable of...?

It was a scary thought for the Blue Blur. On one hand, he was glad he had a compadre who could use them effectively. On the other hand, Eggman would be able to do so much in so little time if he got his hands on them. And since it's an apparently limitless resource, he'd never run out of that power...

"So... was the sheer level of power why you were hesitant about this?" Tails asked while he rubbed his ear.

"Well, it's one of the reasons," Lutrudis sat down on the nearest rock, and put both of her hands to her sides. She crossed the ankles of her boots. "They say power corrupts and all, and I'd like to believe I'm more responsible than an entitled manchild with the nose to match."

"You already are," Sonic chuckled softly.

"But talking of Eggman... I've been a little morally conflicted about it," the horse admitted.

"How come?" Tails questioned.

Lutrudis glanced at the crystals all around her, before she looked at her friends' faces, visibly unsure of herself. "I want to do everything I can to help, and I really mean that. But... If I used the crystals this way... would that make me no different from the likes of him? You know, using a powerful natural resource for one's own benefit... would that not make me just as contemptible as him, and others like him...?"

"Trudy, pal, it's not the same thing at all, believe me." Sonic sat beside her, and put an arm around her back, much to the horse's surprise. "Eggman only cares about power, and nothing but power. That's all he ever wants... that and maybe my head on a pike. When he uses shiny magical doodads, it's for the purest of selfish reasons, to appeal to his own ego at the expense of others... Trudy, I may have not known you for long, but I already know you're not like that. Not one bit. Heck, unlike half of my other friends, we didn't even fight after an easily avoidable misunderstanding!"

"Your reasons for using these crystals are perfectly benevolent," Tails continued along, with a comforting smile. "You want to help protect our world, to give our fellow people peace and security, instead of taking it away from them... you and Eggman couldn't by any more different with your intentions."

Sonic pointed his thumb at himself, with the characteristic smirk to match. "I've used the Chaos Emeralds to fight big bad monsters and giant scrap piles for years. Don't see me going full Egghead, do you?"

Lutrudis looked at one of the crystals behind Sonic's position, before exchanging eyesight with him once more. Her demeanour relaxed. "No," she smiled tenderly. "I suppose not."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt the scene guys, but..."

The three of them were immediately alert at the sound of a new voice entering the scene. It didn't sound at all like Eggman, thankfully, but it was also too gruff to be Amy or Cream... and masculine.

"We would just like to talk with Sonic," another voice piped up. It sounded younger than the first voice, but it too was gruff, and definitely male. "Your friends told us you were down here."

"Those crystals are so PRETTY!!!!" a third voice shouted enthusiastically. The pitch was notably higher with this one. "Can we take one? Pleeeaaase???"

"Quiet already, sheesh!"

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, as he soon recognised their identities before he even saw their shadowed figures. "Oh, it's just you guys, the... what are you guys called again?"

"The Chaotix Detective Agency," Vector the Crocodile announced with pride as he entered their field of vision. "At your service, sirs and madam!"

Sonic and Tails exchanged blank looks with each other. Lutrudis merely waved awkwardly at the newest face.

---

Back to Chapter 4...

To Chapter 5...

#Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars #Crusher's Fanfiction #Sonic the Hedgehog #Fanfiction

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