◊ Maybe it’s like – like you said before, that Bobby and Rufus’ trap sigil forced their souls out of The Nest back then and that the Soul Eater was just making me see things. However … if Bobby did go into The Nest back then – And you said that The Nest exists outside of space and time – then … Well, theoretically, couldn’t he and I have been there at the same time? Right? ◊
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Castiel is hearing me blah blah blah more rhyming. Cas, you there?
From deep inside his own chest, tucked away in a corner of his heart, a smile steals across Cas’s lips.
Anyway, I don’t know if you’re hearing me… I don’t know if you ever hear me, but we haven’t stopped looking. We’re not giving up on you. We did take a breather today, though. Worked one of Bobby’s old cases in Grand Rapids; a soul eater terrorizing the people in this one house—it was fuckin’ creepy, man. I was inside its nest and I think I saw Bobby. Not sure if Sam believes me, but I’m pretty sure the space-time stuff works out. Wish you were here so you could tell me.
Cheeks aching from his grin, Castiel hesitantly uncurls from his balled up position, closing his eyes. At this point, these prayers are the only things that are exclusively his; even his thoughts are shared with Lucifer, now.
I really miss you, Cas.
“I really miss you, too.”
The angel’s voice echoes in the cavernous space of his body, reverberating back with peels of Lucifer’s laughter. Cas squeezes his eyes shut to block him out and focuses on his hunter’s voice:
There was this family living in the house; really nice lesbian couple with this adorable little rugrat named Kat. I think you woulda liked her. I mean, I think you woulda liked all of them, but—yeah. Hey, do you want kids? I do, or I did, but I dunno. Maybe once this is all over you could start a family.
Not that what we have right now isn’t a family. And like, I’m not asking you to have kids with me, or anything; I mean, unless you want to. I mean, I don’t even know if you have feelings for me, so I don’t know why I’m automatically assuming you’d pick me. We’d have to adopt, anyway. I don’t know why I’m even talking about this. Ignore me.
Castiel bites his lip. “I’d love to start a family, Dean,” he breathes. “In whatever capacity you’ll have me.”
Man, I’m beat. And sore. Sam threw me around a whole helluva lot when I was possessed or whatever today. It sucked. Anyway, Cas, I’m gonna call it a night. Like I said, I miss you. I’m not giving up. I’m gonna find a way to get that fucker out of you if it’s the last thing I do, I swear.
And hey, after you’re back and Amara’s gone, maybe we can finally take a vacation, huh? We could sit around the Bunker eating crap and watching Netflix, what d’you say?
“I’d like that very much.”
I wish I knew if you could hear me.
“I can.”
I care about you, and, uh, miss you a whole lot.
“As do I.”
Night, Cas.
“I love you.”
Lucifer laughs hysterically as Castiel feels Dean’s prayer fading away, the blue-eyed angel immediately reaching out for as much of it as he can grab. He takes the warm, trembling thing in his hands and brings it as close to his heart as possible, keeping it there with all the others.
You weaken yourself, brother, Lucifer cackles.
Cas smiles in response.
“No,” he whispers, cradling Dean’s prayers to his chest. A smile.
It was really interesting what this episode did with time. Two different times, yet one ongoing, interwoven story- what happened in the past affected the present, but also what happened in the present actually affected the past. After all, there’s no reason that trapping the Soul Eater would eject all the souls, and Bobby suspects as much himself- yet it does make sense that killing the soul-eater would eject the souls. And if Bobby and Dean were in the nest at the same time, then what Dean did there would affect Bobby as well.
To build on the theme of time, the two stories were filmed in such a way that they were essentially interchangeable, and yet the parallels threw into sharp contrast the subtle differences. Sam and Dean followed in Rufus and Bobby’s footsteps almost exactly, including what they argued about, but because Sam and Dean had just one extra resource, they were able to take the hunt one step further. Not just trap the bad, but kill it, and free the souls trapped within. History is repeating itself, with an outcome that appears to be similar, but is actually fundamentally different.
-which of course has serious implications for the mytharc this season. Finding a way not just to repeat history but to expand on it, find a real solution that will allow for life to continue afterward. Not just accept that you can’t save everyone, but fight to do it anyway.
Lastly on the theme of time, I also found it interesting that the Bobby & Rufus story was “some years ago” rather than a specific date. The ambiguity of the time period added to the interwoven quality of the two stories, placing them in that space outside of the linear dimension of time. It also meant that even with Bobby mentioning the apocalypse, it was unclear when in the show’s history the hunt took place- until Dean mentioned Lilith at the end, it wasn’t even clear whether the hunt was before or after Lucifer was set free. Given the context of season 11, I assumed that the hunt took place during season 5. But Bobby’s hunt took place in the period before Lucifer was set free, back when they didn’t realize that Lilith was the final seal, that Sam is Lucifer’s true vessel and Dean is Michael’s, back before they knew they wouldn’t be able to kill the devil, only trap him. It’s almost as if Bobby’s hunt took place in the window of time before the Darkness was released, reminding us that it’s not just the individual hunt that’s repeating, it’s the entire timeline.
With that, though, we’re also reminded that even though it seems that history is repeating itself, this time won’t end up exactly like the last. Maybe they’ll find a way to actually kill the devil- maybe they’ll find a way to actually kill Amara. History isn’t worth anything if you don’t learn from it, build on the work that others have done before you. And maybe the way that Sam and Dean solve this problem will have a profound impact not just on the future, but on the way they view the past as well.
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