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A Guardian, Profound

Summary:

'Angels are watching over you.' A saying Dean Winchester's mother used to tell him every night before bed. He used to believe, but his view changed the moment she died and clearly the angels were not watching over her.
Dean grew up believing angels weren't watching over humanity, that they weren't even real; all of that changes one night.
The night Dean and Sam Winchester meet an injured angel named Castiel.

Years later Dean is reunited with Castiel, but things are different. Things change for good and for worse.

Notes:

Hello!
So originally this idea came to me back around 2015 or so. The first few chapters of the original had been posted on Wattpad and it was under the title Chokin' On Their Halos
I have since removed the few chapters from Wattpad and wrote something completely different. Something completely new. The only similarity is the first chapter since that was the idea that started it all and I had no idea where it was going to go back when I first wrote it all those years ago.

As you read you'll notice I've taken some creative liberties with the lore and certain details. Angels do not have vessels. There are no monsters. Heaven has a weird hierarchy. The Gates of Hell are closed.

Enjoy! -KoD

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

A Guardian, Profound Coverart

 

Prologue

 

Angels are watching over you.” A comforting phrase said by people all around the world often, giving them a hope that things would be okay, that they would be safe and healthy. A belief in many religions and cultures; the idea of having a guardian angel that served and promised salvation.

 

Angels are watching over you.” The last words ever spoken to four year old Dean Winchester by his mother. A kiss to his forehead and a gentle tuck of the blankets around him. He watched her leave his bedroom, closing the door and leaving just a small crack. The last thing she did before turning down the hallway was look back at her son, tucked up in bed and safe. She blew him a kiss and that was the last time Dean saw his mother alive.

 

Heaven. Hell. Angels. Demons. Concepts of belief and an idea that Dean thought poorly of. It was a lie, it had to be. If angels had been watching over him, then why did his mother die after promising him so? Why weren’t the angels watching over Mary Winchester? Or why did they force her to leave for Heaven because she damn well didn’t deserve Hell. There were no angels watching over him, how could they protect him if they couldn’t protect his mother?

 

Even at four years old Dean understood guardian angels were just a lie to make people feel better. A lie to give others a false sense of security and care. At four years old, Dean knew he certainly didn’t have one because a guardian angel would not take someone’s mother away like that.

 

Dean however kept up the act that he believed. He pretended to believe for his baby brother who wasn’t even six months old when Mary passed away. Every night before bed Dean would go into his baby brother Sam’s room with his father to say goodnight. Every night Dean would whisper the very words that Mary would tell him. “Angels are watching over you.” And after that, John would take Dean to his own bedroom and tuck him in.

 

Dean continued his lie until Sam was old enough to put himself to bed. It was never mentioned between them, Sam seemed to know better. And John? He might have been oblivious to it all since he started heavily drinking when Sam got older. The man was never quite the same after Mary died, though Dean couldn’t blame him.

 

Angels were not in fact watching over Dean. He knew that for sure.