Hello and welcome to a little short story I put together because I was in need of Destiel. Reviews please and enjoy!
Edited by the wonderful ShortAndSnarky! Go checkout their stories!
Pure
Part One
Dean hadn't felt the warm embrace of a summer breeze, the scruffiness of a wool blanket, or tasted a cup of coffee in a long-ass time. It's always cold here. Always dark, the sun barely reaching the tips of treetops before sinking away in defeat to the night of screeching monsters and starless sky. When it was bright enough for Dean to catch a glance of a monster stalking from afar, it poured. The sky would open with a trembling roar and let out a cry in the absence of sanity and morals, washing away any hopes of warmth, back to the surface of this suffocating realm.
Yet through it all, it was pure.
Right and wrong were so defined, life and death such a simple process that the sight of rushing blood wasn't a cause for alarm. A monster would shriek in pain before crumbling to the ground, and it wouldn't faze anyone. Life carried on, monsters hunting the hunter, the hunter taking down his prey, in an endless cycle. For the first time in Dean's life, it was comforting.
Dean still hunted. Not for the raging vampires or howling werewolves, and certainly not the ravenous ghouls that salivated at the sight of a human. He hunted through the endless rows of trees for the only warmth in the realm. Cas, the only light in Dean's life, despite what Cas had done to his family, to his blood.
Dean knew he was out there. Somewhere. Benny had grown restless with the search, Dean's hunt of drastic measures to find the angel, lasting over five months. It was the most difficult time of his life, being separated from his guardian angel, calling out to Cas in the suffocating night, praying for him, whispering tearful sorry's and trying to crack a joke in the hope the angel would laugh in return. Somewhere out there, an angel, the light of the realm, smiled through a patchy beard at the hunter's attempt to take some of the dreariness away from an empty sky. Castiel wanted to find him too. He wanted to see Dean's smile and the crinkle of Dean's eyes and wrap his wings around Dean as a gesture of solace. Cas wanted to apologize, even if it ended as a futile attempt to make amends. He knew that couldn't happen.
As an angel, Castiel never felt hot nor cold. He never felt what a warm summer sun did to the skin or how a bitter winter could ripple through him and make his teeth chatter. He never had to change the temperature of his vessel, since his power naturally did that for him. But there was a warmth missing. Maybe it was feeling so lost in the woods or loose ends that were never tied off. The sudden unstableness frightened him. So he ran like the coward he so fanatically believed that he was. He left Dean. Cas hated himself for it. But still, Cas ran.
He ran from the bounty of his head. Ran from the engulfing night that tried to drown him in its corruption. He ran until he found a place to hide. And when he did, the angel stayed crouched in his den, stifling his breath as rampaging leviathans tore up the forest floor in search for the notorious celestial being, teeth bared and whooping shrieks of joy when they caught a scent.
It was safe in the den. It wasn't much bigger than two people, but it sat way up on a hill of solid rock, crooks and crannies laying among the boulders, too small to fit most of the creatures that dwelled here. Castiel found one hole that fit him and allowed him to spread his massive wings, giving them a break from the power that emitted off them, attracting the demented beasts with its beacon of light in the eternal night. But even as days turned to weeks and time was lost with the forever dying sun, Castiel was lonely. The evening prayers from Dean, once being a symbol of hope, dwindled into long, trembling pleas from a broken man. Every night, when the same desperate prayers replayed in Castiel's head, a single tear ran down his dirt-smudged cheek.
Dean would try to find a place, a safe haven up in a large tree to catch a brief minute of sleep and to close his eyes, picturing a pair of blazing blue that both haunted and caressed his dreams. And every night he prayed. Never the same message, but always the same point.
Hey Cas. I know, somewhere you're out there. I'm searching for you. I pray to you and I still haven't found you. Come on buddy, I know you can hear this. Just please, please find me. I can get us home... I just want to go home... with you. I miss you, Cas.
Then one day, upon some mistaken miracle, a chance that fate almost overlooked, just over the tangled roots and muddy cliff edges of a peaceful stream, was the reflection of a figure Dean once knew. And over the rocky edge, he threw himself down and tumbled to the bank wearing the first weary smile in this godforsaken place. Cas barely had time to react before the hunter's heavy arms clasp him in a jubilant hug. Dean clung to him as a shy kid clung to their mothers, yet the feeling of ecstasy diminished as the warmth he had spent months dreaming about was absent from the embrace.
...
Although Cas was hesitant, he brought Dean and the sarcastic vampire to his hole.
While it was cold and drafty, offered protection from monsters and, at the very least, provided the company Cas so longed to have.
It was a two-day hike to Cas's little makeshift home as the monsters followed their muddy footprints and the thick smell of their boiling blood. There, they would be safe. Dean will be safe. That was all Castiel cared about. Even though the trio kept their heads down and their blades swinging freely, the monsters still charged, a chorus of snarls and hisses through sadistic smirks with open fangs.
The first night was the coldest one yet. The sky, even in the light of day, would have looked ominous as it towered over the three, but in its night, clouds with devious plans loomed over them to release thick flakes of snow in blizzard-like winds. By morning, the snow would be gone and the grounds of the forest would reset and the day would begin like a record. Spinning around and around.
They settled near the base of a large oak, their eyes squinted at the depths of the woods that revealed nothing from its shadows. Benny was grumbling about how they needed to keep moving, his eyes glancing around and nostrils flared as if trying to catch the scent of the vampire nest that lingered in the area. The vampire seemed to have always held a side glance at the reunited pair, however the rest of his face was devoid of any true expression.
As much as the angel didn't want much to do with the vampire, Cas didn't hesitate to agree. Dean is not safe here. Most certainly not with him. Castiel settled down, his back pressed against the rough bark, torn up with scratch marks and feet digging at the frozen wasteland. Dean nearly buckled under his own weight, trying to keep himself steady. He slid down next to Castiel, leaning his right side into Cas's shoulder.
"I'll watch over you, Dean. You should sleep."
"Dude. Creepy." Dean replied, his voice rich with his usual snark. Truth be told, Dean was grateful for the angel on his shoulder. It had been a liberating sense of relief to see the angel alive in the little slice of hell. Around them, the wind whooped and whistled in its endless amusement of its victims with chattering teeth and frozen blood.
Dean didn't say much before slipping away into an uneasy sleep, riddled with nightmares and cold that seeped into his mind. Dean grunted and thrashed in his sleep, throwing his body off of Cas, and onto the ground, twigs stabbing his skin and tiny pebbles digging into the crooks of his clothes. He shook violently, the wind only shoving harder, laughing at the poor soul. Cas tried to remain rigid, staring away from the man who would throw a dangerous fit if the angel tried to comfort him. It was almost like Dean craved pain. But Cas couldn't do it. He couldn't just sit idly and watch the hunter he'd come to care about be in so much pain. Cas sat up straight and pulled off his heavy trench cold. The numbing cold did nothing to his perfectly tan skin, but goosebumps trailed up his arms.
Cas adjusted his position to sit Indian style and pulled Dean from the frozen ground. Dean thrashed in the angel's grip, still sound asleep. Cas propped the shaking Dean against the tree as best he could, then rested his trench coat around Dean. As soon as the coat touched his shoulders, Dean relaxed, his breath evening, his heart rate slowing. Dean tucked the coat under his chin and grasped it, ensconcing himself the coat. To Cas's surprise, Dean laid down, head in Cas's lap. His heart skipped a beat. He gazed down at Dean, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks. Protectively, Cas adjusted the coat so it rest more securely on Dean, then folded his hands over Dean's still body.
The wind tormented them the rest of the night, but it no longer affected Dean, wrapped in the comfort of the trench coat, the angel's warmth radiating off, releasing a sigh of relief.
In reality, the trench did very little to protect him from the gusts that made it their mission to destroy the hunter in a place where he didn't belong. The trench coat was merely the illusion hiding the true warmth. The true power. Cas knew what a risk it was to pull this kind of stunt. He was already a beacon, and now this, such a surge of power, that leviathans and God only knew what else would come bounding to the light, their predator instincts kicking into overdrive. But here he was, once again risking it all for his hunter.
The surge of power was enough to wake Benny, who took in the hunter resting in the angel's lap. They're oblivious to the fact they're meant for each other, Benny thought with a smirk. Once we get out of here, Dean's never gonna let go of the angel again. He turned over, facing away from the pair, letting them have their one moment of peace in this godforsaken realm.
…
When the sun rose weakly over the flat horizon, it was barely a flickering match, shying away behind the thicket. The winds disintegrated into a cool breeze but the temperature remained low. The men had already been moving for a few hours.
"Just over that next valley," Cas huffed out, climbing over a rock formation that was splattered with blood. Dean pulled himself up, snagging the next rock and quickly pulled his hand away. A sickly wet feeling slid down his hand as he could see blood dripping down his wrist. Dean looked over the edge to see a fresh puddle of blood.
"Cas…. Benny… we're not alone." Dean whispered harshly. Cas's eyes widened in fear, his gut twisting in pain. He knew. He knew this was a God awful idea, but his heart got in the way again with his monophobia and obsession with protecting the only thing in the world he wanted to hold onto. The one person he was too afraid to touch.
"Dean. We got them vamps from the northwest nest. Twelve o'clock." Benny hissed, jumping from the rock formations and grasping his blade at the ready, Dean stepping next to him so they stood back to back. Brothers to the end, they decided. A silent agreement that if it weren't for the circumstances, would never have been.
Cas let his angel blade slip into his grasp as he grunted and cursed angrily at the dull sky. He had a millisecond to look down again before two vampires revealed themselves with spine chilling snarks. One with a healing scar forming over a clouded eye charged directly at Dean, his lips curled upwards showing off his snaggletooth.
"Wow okay. Right past introductions then." Dean snarked, a smirk growing on his face. Cas twitched at the grin, not recognizing it before. It was a new expression, one that was sinister, like he was enjoying the fight purgatory gave him. Dean snapped into action, launching at the creature, dodging a potentially heavy blow to the head and slicing the head off with one swift movement of his arms. Blood splattered across his cheeks, but he didn't even wipe it as he stared triumphantly at the head tumbling down the hill, one last groan escaping the frying brain of the vampire.
The second went straight for Castiel, a handmade blade slamming into Cas's arm. The angel merely looked up and shrugged, before throwing the vamp across the forest floor and into a boulder, knocking it out cold with a little yelp.. Benny took the opportunity to slice its head off while several other burst from the brush, furious at the trio.
The cycle of slicing and punching and grunting was monotonous, and while the vamp nest kept coming from every which angle, their heads would all tumble to the ground, blood swirling with the mud. Cas whipped around stabbing a vampire in the neck shoving it to the ground for getting a good grasp on Dean's leg. While Dean's legs were covered in blood, Cas was unable to see if it was him or the sea of blood that came from the squealing monsters. His horrible hit feeling did anything but slow.
"Come on! It's not far." Cas hollered, escaping breathlessly from the bloodbath. Dean and Benny followed, seeing a break in the rush of vampires. Perhaps they killed the whole nest.
Cas climbed over jagged rocks and through tightly weaved tree roots, sticking above the earth waiting to trip someone up. Dean huffed the occasional curse, causing Cas to glance back worriedly, even offering a hand to the hunter. Of course Dean didn't accept it, and that didn't bother Cas, but the weary smile Dean offered in return contorted his stomach. The feeling didn't dissipate when they reached the clearing to the sloping valley and large rock formation that carved its walls. Cas sighed, allowing his burning lungs to catch a breath. He glanced at Dean who stood next to him, his weight awkwardly being held on his left leg. Just there. The opening could barely be seen amongst the other hundreds of holes not large enough to hold a grown man, but that one in particular was the safe place.
The den.
Thanks so much for reading! reviews and requests please! Until next time,
-Daisy