Hey guys! This is a little AU story that I decided to write, it's got Destiel undertones, but their easy to ignore. I really hope you like it, it's the first non-lovestory that I've decided to write. Little info first off - if Castiel was one, Gabriel would be seven, Anna would be eleven, Balthazar would be fifteen, Raphael eighteen, Uriel twenty, Lucifer twenty-four and Micheal twenty-five.
"Tell us about your family?" The man in front of him asked with a smile, and Castiel raised an eyebrow. "Everyone else did it, come on give us your life's story."
Looking around, he could see the kids urging him to speak, this was what you got when you counselor at a camp, story telling.
Castiel took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he started to speak, "I grew up with eight older siblings, I was the youngest. My mother died early on in my childhood, I probably wasn't even two years old. It hurt the whole family, the loss, but it hit my father especially hard, I can remember, as a child, not seeing much of him. One thing I could look forward too, was him picking me up from school on Thursday's. But one Thursday, when I was about eight, Micheal showed up in a new car..."
"Mike? What are you doing here?" A young Castiel asked as he leaned in the window of the old blue punch buggy in front of his elementary school.
"Get in the car Castiel." Came the voice of a dark haired man from the front seat. Micheal Novak, Castiel's oldest brother, was thirty-two.
Nodding slowly, Castiel slumped his bag down into the back of the car and then slipped into his seat to see three faces he hadn't expected to see. A flash of long red hair told him that Anna (his eighteen year old sister) was in the car on the other side. Amber eyes looking into his own blue carefully informed him that he was seated next to Gabriel (fourteen), and with the words, "Micheal, could you at least explain yourself to the boy." In a faint British accent he knew that Balthazar (twenty-two) was in front of him.
Micheal sighed loudly from the front seat as he pulled out of the school parking lot, "Castiel, Gabriel, Anna." He said, addressing the three confused passengers. "We're going away for awhile, not too long, just on a little trip."
Castiel nodded, confused but excited at the idea of a trip, and though Gabriel looked on the fence, there was something in his only sisters eyes that, if he had been any older at the time, would have thrown him off. But alas, it went unnoticed by eight year old Castiel Novak as they drove down a long stretch of highway out of the town, never to return.
"...And so we drove for a long while, leaving my father, Lucifer, Uriel and Raphael behind, until we reached a small town almost halfway across the country and we started living in a motel there, while Micheal and Bal tried to find work." Castiel finished the first part of his story, stopping to take a breath and find his place again. The younger boy's around them were in different stages of shock, some still not quite understanding, while his co-leader (An older man named Chuck) had a slightly understanding look on his face and a sad smile.
After a moment of collecting himself, one of the older boy's in the cabin spoke up, "Come on Cas, tell us more. You can't leave us hanging." He said, as if this was some story that he was concocting as he went along. If only.
"We stayed in the motel for a few months, before moving into an apartment, where we lived for almost a year. That was, until Lucifer found us..."
Castiel was curled up on the couch, with a cartoon on the TV that he wasn't really watching. In fact, he was watching Gabriel as the fifteen year old attempted to cook pasta, it was a skill that Castiel himself had mastered at a younger age, but for some reason Gabe couldn't quite get it. "You sure you don't need help there Gabe?" He called into the kitchen, but Gabriel just hummed and shook his head.
Shrugging softly, Castiel moved to stand as he heard a knock at the door, but Micheal got there first. He couldn't see who was on the other side, but he could sense his oldest brother' s anger from across the room.
"You. Had. No. Right." Came a growled voice from the doorway and Castiel peeked around the couch to see Lucifer, his wispy golden brown hair wild as usual and his deep brown eyes menacing, standing there. "You had no right to take him from me!"
Gabriel stepped from out of the kitchen, taking Castiel's hand and leading him away. They both knew what the argument was about, it was about him. Micheal and Lucifer believed that their father had messed up raising the rest of the kids, and they each wanted Castiel to grow up under their beliefs, Micheal as a strict Christian, and Lucifer as a rebellious satanist...you can see why they didn't get along.
"...They argued throughout the rest of the night, before Lucifer left in a huff, but he'd be back. Over the next two years, me and Gabe were shuffled between Micheal's apartment, Lucifer's van and Balthazar's various motel rooms when the going was bad. Anna had run off to the country with her boyfriend Kevin, and we hadn't seen her since my ninth birthday." He explained, looking down at his jeans with a thin frown.
The boy's around him were all listening intently, but they all froze as he stopped. Chuck was comforting a boy in the back who'd found the story so terrible he'd started to cry, and Castiel was left on the main bed alone to wallow in his guilt for a moment, in his past. Alone, that was, until one of the younger boy's – a newbie to the camp, like Cas – came up from the floor to sit next to his leader, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The boy's name was Sam, he'd have to remember that.
"I think I was about eleven when it all changed, again." Castiel started again after a moment of Sam comforting him silently. "We were in a motel room with Balthazar, and he came out of his bedroom with his hair a mess and a bag in his hands...he said he had, had enough..."
"Gabe, grab your bag and Cassie's," Balthazar's accent said from the closet. "We're leaving."
Gabriel did what he was told, and Castiel just sat there, confused. "Bal, what do you mean leaving?" He asked, looking up at his brother from the bed.
"Cassie, kid." The bronze haired man said, kneeling in front of his youngest, and most well-beloved brother. "I can't sit here and watch Luci and Mike fight over you anymore. So me, you and Gabe are going to visit Anna and Kevin in New York okay?" Castiel paused a moment, but nodded as Gabriel came out with the bags. "Got everything?" Balthazar asked the seventeen year old and he nodded, his hair falling into his face. The tree of them pack off into the car and started to drive, they just drove and drove. That was, until, a few days later they stopped at a motel, they needed food, real beds and just rest.
"I don't know why Balthazar ever thought he had a chance of getting me out of there. I know that then, if seemed like an amazing plan. Right out a spy movie I used to joke. But today I see the realism of it all, and it wasn't going to end well from the start." Castiel raised his gaze to the crowd, "I think we'll have to continue in the morning okay guys, it's late."
The boy's groaned, but Chuck stepped up and nodded his agreement. "Bed time boy's, we'll finish the story after dinner tomorrow." He said, and the boy's, though still hesitant, did as they were told.
Once all eight of the kids were tucked into their beds and asleep, Castiel and Chuck lay down on their adjoining beds. Chuck turned to face Castiel with a sad smile, "This seriously all happened to you?" He asked, and Cas nodded.
"Right down to the details." He said, "My life story."
Chuck hummed, as if trying to find the words to say. "And it gets worse?" The man asked.
"Much worse." Was his reply.
There was a moment where neither of them talked, but a small voice from the bed beside him spoke up, "I'm sorry you had to go through that Casstiel." Cas turned to see Sam sitting up.
"Sleep kid, it's the past now." He said, trying to believe that himself as he rolled over, and Chuck turn out the light.
The next evening came before Castiel could even process it and almost in the blink of an eye he was sat, cross legged on the end of his camp-bed again, prepared to tell a story. "Where was I last night..." He started, closing his eyes to think. "Aah..yes..we were in the motel with Balthazar and Gabriel."
Moving so his feet touched the ground, Castiel let his gaze fly over the crowd of young boys before he started to speak again, "If you remember, I was telling you that things were about to take a turn for the worse. And they did. We'd only been in the motel about four hours, when there came a knock on the door. I was curled up on the bed with Gabriel, watching some sort of cartoon, and Bal was in the kitchen cleaning dished. Naturally, I was the one to squirm out of my brother's arms and answer it..."
"Anna?" Castiel's voice rose about the sound of the TV. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm so sorry Cassie." Said the redhead, and Castiel was about to ask why as Uriel pushed passed him, followed by Raphael, Micheal and Lucifer.
The cartoon was turned off and Gabriel was in the kitchen doorway before anyone could move, but he didn't beat the older boy's there. They were staring Bal down, making quiet threats when Castiel heard the words, "Kill you." And he stepped between the.
"Leave him alone you meanies." He said, sounding not at all tough in his thirteen year old voice.
Micheal and Lucifer paused, so did Raphael, they'd always been the more subtle of the brothers, all caring about the youngest Novak. But Uriel, ever the temper, didn't. He picked Castiel up by the shirt and threw him against the wall, he passed out.
"...I don't remember much about the next few hours, but I do remember waking up. Anna was lain out on the floor in front of me, I could see the blood running down the side of her forehead through her...her hair." He said, chocking softly as he looked down, he felt an arm around him, Sam was back. He offered the boy a sad smile, before continuing. "She told me to take her phone from her pocket and dial the first four numbers, Within the hour the motel was flooded with paramedics, police and social services was waiting outside. I remember sitting on the back steps of the ambulance, Gabriel was out cold on a stretcher behind me and Balthazar was already rushed off, they told me I mad a mild concussion and then the police came to to talk to me. The officer introduced himself as Garth..."
"You're Castiel right?" Said a young looking man, couldn't be much older than Balthazar, with a mess of brown hair and the hint of a moustache "I'm Garth, mind if I ask you a few questions?"
Castiel watched the man for a moment, wiping some blood off his face, dripped down from his nose before nodding slowly.
"Do you remember why the fight started?" Garth asked, and Castiel shrugged
"It's been a few years in the making." He explained, "Luci and Mike both want to raise me as their own, and they can't compromise. Bal took me and Gabe here after a particularly bad fight and they followed. It got violent fast, but I don't remember much."
The officer nodded slowly, taking notes in his little book. "What about you're father, where's he?" The man asked and Castiel paused to think about it.
"We left him home almost six years ago. He's been pretty broken up about mom dying for as long as I can remember."
With a small tip of his hat, the officer left and Castiel was packed off to the hospital, where he Gabe, Bal and Anna shared a room, everyone out cold but him. It was sometime the next morning when a cheerful looking lady entered with a clipboard, too cheerful.
Castiel was positioned in the chair between Gabriel and Balthazar's beds, holding his youngest brother's hand with his head pressed against the bar. The women coughed and Castiel glared up at her, "Yes?" He snapped.
"My name is Meg, and I'll be your social acquaintance for the next couple weeks until we get you settle in a home." The woman explained, flipping her curled brown hair over her shoulder.
"No way." Castiel snapped, "I'm staying with Bal, and Gabe."
The women, Meg, shook her head, "Sorry doll, can't do that." She took his arm. "You can visit tomorrow."
Castiel watched his sleeping brothers as he was dragged from the room, "Cassie." Came Gabriel's muttered words and his fingers clenched as if reaching for someones hand. Castiel just broke down in tears.
"...And that's it really." He said slowly, shrugging to the shocked crowd of kids.
"They took you away?" Came one of the boy's gasp, and Castiel chuckled.
"Did I imply that?" He questioned, receiving various nods in response. "I guess you could say they did. I was adopted into a lovely home with a beautiful baby boy in it, the older one off at college." He said, looking over at Sam softly. "Gabe lives with us, Bal just around the corner. We're sort of a family."
There were a few scattered awes, and Sam wrapped his arms around Castiel, holding him tightly. Chuck had the boy's all sent off to bed and Cas smiled, cradling the sleeping boy in his arms. "You didn't tell me you knew Sam?" Chuck said, sitting next to them.
"I didn't know how to bring it up." He said, shrugging. "The kid's like my little brother, his own and I are...closer than close."
Chuck nodded, "I hear you there." He said, "Me and Alfie."
Castiel widened his eyes, as he stood to place Sam back in his bunk. "No way."
"Totally."
The pair of them tucked into bed, still chuckling softly. As he fell asleep, Castiel thought back to when he'd first arrived. How nervous he'd been about telling people about himself, scared they'd judge him. He smiled as he rolled over, he was glad he did.