Angel Feathers
They had wrapped up a case yesterday. Dean still didn't know exactly what he had killed except for the fact that it exploded with green goo if stabbed with an iron dagger. After a thorough shower they had spent the whole night on the road to get out of dodge before the police found the mess and then had holed up in a random motel.
Body aching from the previous forty-eight hours of crawling through too tight spaces, running for his life and more important for Sam's – when will this freakish tall kid learn to duck anyway? – and getting knocked around Dean lay under the soft covers and wondered if a full bladder was a valid enough reason to get out of bed.
Sam was already up and around so Dean probably should get moving. Maybe take another shower. He could still smell that goo he had been covered with. They had dumped their clothes in their previous motel room and he felt a little bit sorry for the maid who had to clean up after them. How Sam had managed to get that stuff out of the mob he called hair was beyond Dean.
"I'm getting breakfast." Sam announced despite the fact that the alarm clock on the night table said 3:27 in the afternoon.
"Hmm." Dean made, still not sure if he should get up or not.
"I left you some hot water." Sam was already half through the door. "I think we missed some of that nasty stuff last night. It stinks in here."
Dean hadn't anything to add to that so he just grunted but got his feet out of the bed. Carefully he rolled his shoulders. Yeah, a hot shower would be awesome. At least it would relax his sore muscles a bit.
The shower did work wonders on his battered body and hopefully he had gotten every last bit of exploding monster goo off his skin. Dean toweled and tucked another towel around his waist – for once this motel had plenty of them – and then wiped the mirror to brush his teeth and have a shave.
Dean looked down to rinse the razor and nearly cut his own throat when he looked up again. Cas stood right behind him.
"Dean." The angel said before his eyes rolled back and he crashed to the floor. Dean was too slow to catch him but was at his side the next second.
"Cas?" Carefully he shook the angel's shoulder but Cas didn't respond. His eyes stayed closed and his breathing was shallow at most.
Not that he actually needs to breath, Dean thought.
"Cas!" Dean shook harder with the same result. Cas was out cold. "Dammit."
He peeled off the trench-coat and the suit jacket beneath searching for blood, however, there was no sign of an injury.
"I'm not dealing with this wearing only a towel." Dean decided painfully aware of the fact that he didn't know how to help his friend. Never taking his eyes off Cas Dean hurried back to the main room and quickly dressed. He kinda hoped Cas would recover on his own but he didn't stir. The only thing Dean could think of was that the angel would be more comfortable on the bed than on the bathroom floor but beyond that he had no clue. And moving Cas on his own …
"We wait for Sammy." He said and stuffed a towel under Cas' head. Then he tried to find a more comfortable position next to the angel, his hand never leaving Cas' shoulder.
"Finally." Dean breathed in relief when he heard the familiar sound of the Impala outside. However, it took Sam an eternity to get his ass back to the room.
"It's way past breakfast time." Sam juggled greasy paperbacks and two cups of coffee while he kicked the doors shut behind him. "I hope you like …"
Dean cut him off with an urgent "Sam!" which got him his brother's attention. Sam was at their side in a heartbeat.
"Cas?" He asked but after a quick scan over the motionless body his eyes settled on Dean seeking for answers.
Dean shook his head. "Guy turned up and went down before he could say anything. No injuries." He gestured over the spotless white shirt. "Help me get him up on a bed."
Cas was dead weight but together they moved him easily. More or less.
"Did you start the burgers again?" Dean muttered when they dropped him on the bed.
Sam and Dean stood shoulder to shoulder for a moment just watching the unconscious man.
"Maybe he drained his batteries like the one time when he zapped us to the past." Sam guessed and Dean nodded.
"Yeah, maybe." He sucked in his bottom lip. "Or he's been in a fight. We better secure the room."
Mentally he kicked himself. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier?
A few minutes later their normal little motel room had transformed into a supernatural bunker. No angels or demons allowed. Except for the one already being there but Cas still hadn't joined them.
"Anytime now, dude." Dean prompted but was met with silence.
"Only thing we can do is wait." Sam said but clearly didn't like it. "We should eat."
Dean opened his mouth to protest but shut it without saying a word. Last time he had eaten had been somewhere around noon the other day and smelling the food his stomach started growling.
They sat down but turned the chairs so that they had the bed in view. When they finished their meal Dean couldn't even tell what he had just eaten but his stomach was satisfied for the moment and that was the important thing, right? Besides the still unconscious angel on the bed.
Suddenly a rustling sound filled the air. Dean was instantly on his feet with Sam right next to him both in a loose fight stance searching for a threat. For a second Dean could swear he saw the shadow of Cas' wings stretching out on the floor and the second bed but it was gone in the blink of an eye.
"You saw that?" Dean asked and out of the corner of his eye he saw his brother nodding.
"What's that?" Sam pointed at something white on the floor. "Is that a feather?"
It was half hidden between the beds and Dean had to step closer to have a better look. He bent down and picked it up. It was a feather. Roughly as wide as his hand but twice its length.
Holding it up he frowned at his brother.
"Is that from his wings?" Sam asked while Dean examined the feather closer. It was white but not like any feather he had ever seen before. Normal feathers didn't have eerie silver lines flashing over them. It looked a little bit like tiny lightnings and it tingled in his fingers but not in a bad way.
"What …?" Sam trailed off. They both watched the little lightnings till they died down only leaving faint silver pattern on the white.
"Dean?" Cas' voice was barely a whisper but it got Dean's attention immediately.
"Hey, buddy." Feather forgotten for the moment Dean crouched next to Cas and on the other side Sam mirrored his position.
Cas' eyelids fluttered but when he managed to keep his eyes open they didn't focus on anything.
"You're safe." Dean reassured him and once again his hand was on the angel's shoulder. It seemed to ground him and Cas turned his head in Dean's direction.
"What happened?" Sam asked and Cas only blinked.
"Can't fly." He said and with that he closed his eyes and didn't open them again.
"Cas?" Dean gently shook him but he was out. He straightened. "Well, that was helpful."
Sam reached over and took the feather.
"Can't fly." He repeated Cas' words swirling the feather between his fingers. "Maybe he hurt his wings somehow."
There was the rustling sound again and this time Dean stood in a blizzard of white feathers and everywhere they touched him little electrical bolts hit him. It didn't really hurt but he jumped back with a surprised shriek anyway.
Through the swirling white he heard a similar sound from Sam so it wasn't that embarrassing.
"What the hell?" They both screamed in unison. When the feather blizzard stopped Dean stared at Sam over the bed probably wearing the same bewildered expression like his brother. Two feathers were stuck in Sam's hair.
"What the hell?" Dean repeated and looked around. The floor around the bed, the bed itself and of course Cas as the center of this phenomena, everything was covered with feathers. Some had still the lightning thing going on.
"Sam, why does it look like a giant chicken has exploded in here?" Dean asked with the faint hope that his brother had some kind of explanation for this.
With measured movements Sam picked the feathers out of his hair and had now a small bundle of them in his hand.
"Looks like he is losing his feathers." Sam finally said.
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Maybe he's sick?" Sam frowned doubtfully.
Dean spread his arms in a helpless gesture. "Bird flu? Chicken pox? What?"
They stood in silence for a moment watching their still unconscious friend. He didn't look in pain or any kind of distress but what did Dean know about angel physiology anyway?
"We should clean this up." Sam started to gather the feathers.
"What shall we do with them?" Dean hold one up still in awe of the smooth texture and the silver shimmering.
"For now?" Sam shrugged. "Store them. They're angel feathers, you know how powerful they are?"
Sam wasn't actually saying what Dean thought he was saying, right?
"Dude, this is Cas."
"We can't walk around on feathers." Sam had a point there, though. And there was nothing they could do for Cas so at least they could clean up a little.
The next time Cas woke up he was a little more coherent than the first time. But not by much.
"You need anything?" Dean asked but Cas shook his head.
"Can't fly." He repeated wearily. "Stay?"
Dean didn't know if Cas asked if he could stay with the Winchester or if he was asking for Dean to stay at his side and before he could ask Cas was fast asleep once again.
"Of course." Dean answered and meant both possibilities. He wasn't leaving Cas' side and for sure he wasn't kicking him out.
Cas was in and out for three days. By then a row of bags full of feathers leaned against the wall. With Cas occupying one bed the brothers took turns in sleeping in the other one neither of them willing to let Cas lay there unwatched.
They tried to coax some water in to him just because that's what they were used to do if one of them was injured. Dean doubted Cas really needed water or food but it just felt wrong letting him lay there without doing something. For two days nearly the only sound coming from Cas was that rustling noise followed by a blizzard of feathers. From time to time he woke up and looked around but there wasn't any recognition in his eyes most of the time. And for sure he wasn't coherent enough to tell them what was happening to him.
Sit and wait, not Dean's favorite activities but there was nothing else to do.
On the third day Cas became more restless and the rustling sound occurred more often but without the feathers. Instead of that they saw the shadow of the angel's wings. And as far as Dean could tell, they didn't look good. A disheveled mess, they looked rather moth-eaten. Which meant what?
Dean had asked his brother but Sam had no idea either.
Sitting in the chair next to Cas' bed Dean had dozed off. He wasn't actually sleeping just resting his eyes for a bit. Or so he would claim if he were awake.
"Dean." Cas said and Dean snapped to attention. The bed in front of him was empty and Dean needed a second to realize that the voice had come from somewhere behind him. Slowly he turned his head.
There Cas stood in the middle of the room, as if the last few days had never happened, piercing Dean with his stare.
"Cas." Dean got up. Slowly as if Cas was some kind of animal he feared to scare off Dean stepped closer.
"Are you alright?" Dean asked.
"I'm feeling better now." Cas answered and he sounded normal, for him anyway. "Thanks for taking care of me." He nodded first at Dean than at Sam who through the covers off and got out of his bed.
"What happened to you?" Sam asked the question of all questions. Now Cas looked away suddenly very interested in the structure of the wall. Dean half expected him to just vanish to avoid answering that particular question.
"Some kind of STD?" Dean asked with a grin while relief washed over him. Cas was fine. He was awake and he sounded normal and he looked like usual, everything was fine.
"No." Came the short answer. "It's nothing like … that." But he didn't give a farther explanation.
"Cas, you were out for three days and lost what it looks like all of your feathers." Sam prompted. "You said you can't fly anymore."
"I couldn't." Cas jerked his head in a nod. "I'm able to fly now."
"Dude, tell us." Dean stepped closer looking his friend straight in the eye. Cas avoided his gaze.
Then he said something in a low voice and Dean wasn't sure if he caught the words right. Then Dean blinked and Cas was gone leaving behind a stunned Dean.
"What did he say?" Sam asked but Dean needed a moment to process Cas' words.
"He said." Dean cleared his throat. "He said he has been molting."