Title: In the morning they leave
Author: OpheliacAngel
Pairings & Characters: Dean/Gabriel, Castiel
Genre: Romance/Tragedy
Rating: Teen
Summary: Gabriel makes it his mission to rescue Dean and Castiel from Purgatory. There are... complications. Set in an alternate Season 8.
A/N: I've been wanting to write this sort of thing for a while, I am obsessed with Purgatory after all. Surprisingly, it was really difficult and painful to write, which was why it took me longer than expected. The title is from the novel 'Roadside Picnic'.
Soundtrack: Saliva's 'Lackluster'
Part One
...
Is it words that you didn't say
Or is it something inside me
...
During the night, Castiel urges Dean to press his shivering body up against his own warm one. Dean is too freaking tired and too annoyingly cold to do much else than give in, and it's also due to the fact that Cas literally pushes him down, albeit gently, into his lap. He finds to his pleasure that the angel is, surprisingly, warm; an equivalent to a furnace that constantly generates and spreads warmth, pumping it into anything else near, no matter the low temperature of the environment around the two of them.
It's been four days. Dean ate last night and because of that, he's hungry again, starving actually, even more so then he was that afternoon. He doesn't blame Cas, he doesn't even blame himself for once. The angel found him raw meat last night and Dean ate it because of the horrible feeling that his stomach was trying to tear itself apart, but he had to swallow back a nausea as fierce as that hunger, and of course, it didn't help anything that Castiel pretty much shoved the stuff down his throat.
All he could think of was hell; fresh, bloody meat roasting on the racks around him, the smell suffocating and unbearable. He thought of carving designs into that meat and slicing slicing slicing and now all he had to do was shove it down his throat, but it made him feel even more sick inside. Seeing Cas' approval and then satisfaction only made it worse, he wanted to throw it up but his throat and eyes would burn and his stomach would start to scream at him again, drowning out all reasonable thought.
He knows Castiel pities him, hell, Dean pities him. He's incredibly dead tired from walking from dawn to sunset, of finding only rare shelters where they could stop to rest, away from the prying and deadly eyes of those around them. He stumbled, tripped over rocks and fell flat on his face, there are bruises lining his arms and his bloodied knees are scabbing up. If things around them were relatively safe, Castiel would grant him a minute of peace before forcing him to walk again, but now more and more, as the creatures hiding stealthily around them recognize their scent, primarily Dean's, the angel would merely lift Dean back up on his feet and push him forward, helping him to walk even though he hardly was able to with help.
Now Dean groans and turns his pale face away from the moon shining harshly down on him, seeming to burn out his eyes, and he presses his face against Castiel's now stained with dirt shirt and sleeps. His dreams are not kind to him.
...
...
Sometime during the next morning, very early, perhaps an hour before dawn, Dean can hear whispering voices very close to him. His face is no longer pressed against Castiel's shirt, in fact, the angel is not anywhere near. After shaking out the mist in his head, and not doing such a good job at it, he notices his head is cushioned on Cas' trench coat, which has been folded over several times to create a decent pillow. He blinks, breathes in the familiar scent of the angel and merely listens to the low voices around him. He's still tired, he doubts he won't ever not be here, though at least he feels slightly less sick than he did the night before.
He can't make out the voices no matter how much he tries; his head is swimming in a pile of thick muck and his stomach is rumbling again. He needs to eat and he moans out pathetically, his voice a raw mess, "Cas?"
The voices stop and footsteps are heard; when Dean looks up Cas is standing above him. He bends down and lays a hand on Dean's knee, which is starting to throb viciously again. "Dean. I will try to bring you food again soon."
He sits up slowly and sees another figure leaning against a nearby tree. It's still too dark to figure out who he is, but he doesn't even have to wonder for more than a second before Castiel speaks again, "Gabriel." He managed to cheat death and somehow have the nerve to find a portal and bring himself here. Dean snorts at that, "How fantastic, now you're trapped."
"On the contrary, Deano, I'm not trapped at all." Dean can practically see his wide ass grin in the dark, "I'm just waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"Waiting for your angel to make his choice."
"I already have," Castiel shoots back and Dean looks up at him, suddenly very curious and very suspicious. He doesn't understand why Gabriel is just standing around and talking to Cas when he should be getting them the hell out of here. He's freaking done with Purgatory.
"Cas," Dean swallows back a sudden wave of nausea. "Lay back down," Castiel pushes him and Dean relents, letting his head rest against the trench coat but still keeping a close watch on the shadow that is the archangel. He wishes he would move closer, he's making him a tad bit too nervous, not like the archangel would care though. Castiel hovers over Dean nervously before standing back up again and facing Gabriel. Dean can feel a wave of anger wash over him, and it's no secret that it's coming from Cas and directed towards Gabriel.
Dean's still amazed that he managed to fake his own death and survive. Maybe in any other moment he'd be happy to see him, considering he did risk his life to do what Dean asked: stand up to his brother. He feels a certain amount of respect and appreciation towards Gabriel for this, but right now, he just really wants him to leave unless he's planning on taking him and Cas out of here right freaking now.
"You will take Dean out of here and I will stay."
The human instantly sits up in a panic over the thought of losing the angel so soon again. There's no way he can let it happen, he'd rather stay here for the rest of his life then let Cas down like that. "No! You can't, I'm not leaving without Cas. Gabriel..."
"Relax, kiddo," Gabriel butts in, stepping slightly out of the shadows. "The choice is as much yours as it is his."
Castiel growls, it's not loud but very noticeable in the silence engulfing all three of them, "You will take Dean. There is no other choice."
"Wait a minute," the human licks his incredibly chapped lips and winces as blood forms. Gabriel startles Dean by vanishing suddenly from his previous, what looked to be comfortable spot, and popping up again sitting right next to Dean. "Why can't you just take both of us back?"
The archangel changes the subject upon Dean's stomach rumbling again, "If I could give you food right now, I would. But being here limits what I'm able to conjure up." He ruffles Dean's hair and the human scoots away, annoyed at the gesture. Gabriel just shrugs and glances around them, probably keeping an eye out for unwanted intruders.
"Answer the question, Gabriel," he spits out, sick of talking and hearing his horrible voice.
"I don't have enough juice to bring the two of you back, and there's also no possible way I could come back. I was damn lucky to find a portal and get it open this time."
Dean knows he won't budge; if Cas doesn't make it out of here with him, he won't make it out either. He will stand by the vow he silently made to himself when Castiel vanished on him, only hoping and somehow knowing that Cas would come back to him. Knowing the angel though, his commitment and bond to Dean, he will keep pushing and pushing Gabriel to take the human, and Dean will be pissed, so freaking pissed and worst of all, he won't be able to do anything about it. Dean can now only hold by what Gabriel said: it's as much his own choice as it is Cas'.
And he chooses to stay here, to die here, because he will never let Cas down again.
"What about your choice, Gabriel?" He shrugs at Dean's question, looks pissed for a minute when he snaps his fingers and realizes it was just on instinct, that he can't really conjure up a lollipop here no matter how stressed he may be. He rolls his eyes and becomes very irritated, "You think I'm gonna put myself in that position? No way, big boy. You two make it on your own."
"And it is clear, Gabriel," Cas speaks, staring at Dean intently with fondness and a barely hidden anger now directed at Dean and not just Gabriel, "that we will never come to an agreement."
"Well hurry up, I haven't got all day here. When the portal closes, it closes for good, no guarantees that it'll be back up and running again. In the next century anyway." Dean shivers at those last words, he doesn't think that he can last a century here.
"I am aware of this," Castiel says, cutting off his train of thought. There's a slight hint of hopelessness in his voice, but he's mainly just annoyed. "That is why you must take Dean..."
"No," the human shakes his head vehemently, instantly regretting the movement since it makes his head throb and a splitting headache begin to form. "No freaking way, Gabriel. If I even see you coming towards me an inch, I will gank your ass."
"Though not really in the state to do so are you, Deano?"
Dean growls and stares up at Cas, pleading for him to just go with Gabriel. He merely shakes his head firmly and Dean sighs a little. He's right, there's no way they can compromise.
"Alright alright." Gabriel suddenly stands up again, "Tell you what, I'll do the whole eenie meenie minee moe thing, that'll make this a helluva lot quicker."
"Gabriel!" Both Dean and Castiel shout simultaneously, suddenly regretting it because who knows what could be lurking nearby. Dean can't even describe how incredibly safe he feels with an angel and archangel standing guard over him, but he still feels alone somehow, and vulnerable and uncomfortable and yes, still sick to his stomach because of the lack of food and the situation he's been placed in by none other than the trickster himself, who just so happens to be an archangel that can't even get the both of them out.
So what good is he anyway?
"Fine. Just offering." Gabriel backs down and leans against another tree, this one closer to Dean. He's too tired to move around though, he lets his head rest down on Cas' trench coat again. He drifts off after awhile, continued bouts of arguing filtering in and out of his hearing, their bodies in and out of his sight. He doesn't really care anymore, he's tired and he wishes that they would just stop shouting so maybe he can sleep this whole disaster away again.
...
...
In the morning they leave. It's a pitiful sight: Castiel screaming out for Dean, too panicked to be angry at Gabriel in that moment, as the archangel forces him away from Purgatory without his consent and without giving the angel the chance to say goodbye. Not like he ever would. Dean sinks back against the tree, the very same one Gabriel had been leaning against not so very long ago, and just watches with heavy eyes, watches Gabriel force eye contact away from the human as he grabs Castiel's shoulder and they dissipate without another word. Silence engulfs Dean, the merciless cold sinks back into his bones, its mission to go deep and penetrate every inch of him.
He shivers and wraps the angel's trench coat tighter around him. The trench coat, Cas left it behind. I'm sure he'll be missing even the ratty old thing its become. Dean nearly chuckles, but it catches in his throat and he coughs roughly instead. At least the angel is with him in this way, leaving his smell behind in the coat and a parcel of his once beautiful warmth.
Dean sighs and closes his eyes. He doesn't regret a thing.