There's Fire In The Water

by AStudyInGrace

Castiel falls from grace after Metatron uses it to close and seal off all access to Heaven. Now at home with the Winchesters, they pull themselves back onto their feet with the usual: a new hunt. It all seems normal besides the slightly odd behaviour from both Dean and Castiel, until the hunt takes some unusual turns that draw them both closer to the waters.

1. Preface

His toes dig into the sand, the smell of salt and ocean water wafting around him as the wind pulls the tides in closer.

It's quiet.

He's assuming it's getting late, but it could also be the heavy fog rolling in from the ocean, blocking out any and every source of sunlight.

Dean casts his gaze upward, and through the fog he sees a figure falling from the sky - a head first plummeting spiral that takes the air from his lungs as he watches in complete awe and amazement. It takes him a moment to realize that the figure is a person, and that they're falling right into the middle of an ocean that's being conducted with angry waves and vengeful undertows.

They land with a splash that sends waves spiraling outward in rage towards the shore, and it takes just a few seconds for the water to calm and reach Dean's feet.

As the tides continue to pull in more, the water traveling further up shore, he notices small black shadows floating toward him, until he finds that they aren't shadows at all.

They're feathers.

Suddenly he can't stop himself from rushing into the water, the waves heavy and pushing against him, preventing him from moving as fast as he'd like to. And as he continues to move forward, the more it feels like he's moving away from the catastrophe that he knows is a fallen angel.

A catastrophe that he knows is Castiel.