SOAR: An Avengers Story

Epilogue: Shine a Light

March 2nd, 2017

(Cas)

Cas was glad to be back, even for a little bit.

The compound had not changed one bit. Everything was like he left it. Granted, he was only gone for a week, but it was still nice to see that not much had changed.

They were all in the mural room, for his birthday. His first birthday party in... years. Cas couldn't even remember the last birthday party he had. That didn't matter, though. The past was the past; he was in the here and now.

Peter was very adamant about throwing him a party. When they first talked about his leaving, Peter begged Cas to throw him a party.

"I don't care if you leave, that's your choice," he said in that sweet voice he said everything in, "But no one should be alone on their birthday."

So here they were, having a little karaoke party to celebrate his sixteenth year of life.

Sixteen years.

Meaning that officially half of his life was spent on his tumultuous journey of chaos.

From ARGUS, to Hydra, to SHIELD. Eight years.

Just thinking about it made Cas want to cry. He shook those thoughts away, though. Here and now, here and now.

"Enjoying the party?" Simon crept up on him. The only person who could do that.

Since he came back, Simon had been talking to him a lot. Aside from the number of times he was striking up conversation at the party, he was also finding weird ways to contact Cas back in New York, which is where he was staying for the time being. He'd check in, make sure he had food and a comfortable place to sleep. It was sweet, but also pretty concerning. If Simon could find him that easily, that meant SHIELD definitely was keeping tabs on him.

Even despite all of the conversation, there was no mention of the kiss they shared, from either party. It seemed as though he was flirting, and Cas was just unaware. Not talking about it only confused him more. Did Cas want to talk about the kiss, though?

"Of course," Cas responded, taking a sip of the punch he had. He watched as Dani screamed a very soulful song into the mic, singing about belonging with someone. The notes were high, and Dani was not quite reaching them.

"You seem a bit out of it," Simon said, nudging his shoulder lightly, "What's on your mind?"

Cas turned to look at Simon, staring him down without response.

"What, you can explore everyone else's head, but no one can get a glimpse into yours?"

"I can't read your mind, remember?" Cas responded, smiling.

Simon leaned forward and placed his chin on Cas's shoulder, pouting his lip and widening his eyes to an obscene amount as he begged, " Pwetty pwease ?"

Cas rolled his eyes and laughed softly. He whispered, "I've just had a lot on my mind since I got here. I keep thinking about the past, but it shouldn't matter. I should be here and now."

"Nothing wrong with thinking about the past," Simon shrugged, "Especially on your birthday."

"With my past, you'd change your tune very quickly," Cas retorted, sipping his punch again.

"Well, what's so bad about it? Tell me."

Before Cas could refuse him, Tony called his name. Or, rather, his nickname: "Friendly Ghost!"

He whipped his head around to Tony, who stood by the double doors in the back.

Cas hurried over to him, curiously staring at the man holding a package wrapped in a big red bow.

"You have... a package," Tony said, just as confused as Cas was. Who would send him a gift?

He took the package from the man in the delivery hat, and ripped off the bow.

Opening the box, he saw a very weird-looking metal sphere, with several rings swirling around within it. They moved with each turn of the orb, and it shone with a metallic sheen.

There was a note inside the box, which Cas promptly took out and read to find out who sent him this gift.

Oh, no .

No, no, no, no, no .

The sounds around him began to fade a little. He heard Tony say something, but it bounced around the endless cavern that was his mind. He kept telling himself here and now, here and now , but the black hole that was his past was swallowing his consciousness whole.

He dropped the note on the ground, which read:

Happy birthday, son. I cannot wait to see you again.

Love, Dr. Franklin Hall