I've been reading through many of the post-canon and fix-it fics for Supernatural's series finale that involve Cas reuniting with Dean/the Winchester brothers and, while I sincerely believe the majority of them are better than the finale itself, there's something about some of them that kinda bugs me. There's this running theme of Castiel becoming human, as is common in fanfics, but I can't help but notice that it's often not really his choice? Often Dean/Jack makes a deal with the Empty where his grace is taken in exchange for his release, or Cas is made to decide whether to keep his grace or get to live on earth/ outside the Empty. Y'know, choose life without grace or an eternity in super mega hell.
It just kinda reads like taking away his own true free will is the only way for him to be happy. And I think that kinda sucks, you know? Especially since I know that's not what these authors are intending when they write their fics this way. It doesn't make any of these fics bad, either. It just makes me sad.
