Chapter One
This is the sequel to Flirtin' With Disaster. Entry into DCBB 2016. This is the Rated M version. For the NC-17 version, please check out my livejournal ( blayzepwa . livejournal . com ) or A03 (author Blayzepwa)
Thank you once again to my beta padaleckhi! You are insanely awesome, and I couldn't have done this without you!
My artist for this year, sedatedkoala, made some GORGEOUS drawings to go along with the story. The cover art, as well as another, viewable on my livejournal. Please take a moment to check it out!
hurt!Dean, hurt!Cas, a bit of hurt!Sam for good measure, and language. Also minor char death
Previously on Flirtin' With Disaster...
Castiel groaned as he weakly pushed himself into a sitting position. Getting forcefully pulled through dimensions was incredibly painful, as he had already learned. This time was no exception.
The first thing he noticed was that he was surrounded by burning holy oil. Great, just great. His powers were effectually rendered useless now.
Looking down, the second thing he noticed was that he was not wearing his clothes, just the undergarments that Dean referred to as 'briefs'. The thought of his bond mate pulled him up short. Sitting up straighter, Castiel wildly looked around. There was no sign of Dean anywhere, and Cas was certainly not on the beach anymore, so he had to hope that Dean was unharmed and still there. He had no idea where he himself was though. Not many creatures had the power to forcibly pull an angel of the Lord through space.
He concentrated on his bond he had with Dean. No amount of holy oil was powerful enough to overcome the bond between an angel and his mate. He barely felt anything along the bond, although it could be because it was unformalised. He faintly felt traces of Dean though, and that was enough to send his heart fluttering in relief. His bond mate was alive. He didn't know what condition he was in, but he knew he was alive. Right now that was enough.
Castiel stood in the circle of holy oil, his back ramrod straight as he waited for whoever took him to make an appearance. He didn't have to wait long. He heard the door on the other side of the room open. He turned towards it, and when he saw who walked through the door, a snarl appeared on his face at the same time his heart sunk.
"Hello Castiel," the newcomer's voice said, smug and haughty as ever.
"Raphael."
~*~*SPN~*~*
Castiel could feel a growl building in his throat as he watched the archangel he had formerly respected stride confidently towards him. He narrowed his eyes and took a step towards the flames that separated them. "What do you want, Raphael? And where is Dean?"
Raphael snorted in contempt, an eyebrow raised as he took in Castiel's state of undress. "Don't worry about your precious mud monkey, Castiel. He's alive, for now. But thanks to you, I know where he is, so if you do not co-operate, I cannot ensure he will stay that way."
"If you so much as put a scrat-"
"As for what I want," Raphael continued, not letting Cas finish his sentence, "I think you already know that answer to that, Castiel."
Castiel glared at Raphael. Unfortunately, he was well aware of Raphael's current goals. "Even if I could, I would not retrieve Michael from the cage. This is madness, Raphael! Think about what you are asking! Our Father would not want this!"
"We no longer have a Father, Castiel. You know this just as well as I do. He has gone, disappeared and left us alone. Now it has fallen to me to create paradise."
"You speak blasphemy, Raphael!" Castiel snarled.
Raphael arched an eyebrow. "Do I? How can it be blasphemy if there is no God I wonder? The point remains, Castiel, that you will retrieve our brother from the cage, unless of course you wish me to retrieve Dean Winchester and bring him here? Of course, I cannot guarantee he will arrive in one piece."
Castiel inhaled sharply. "You will not touch him!"
"I could have killed him already, Castiel, but I did not. A…gesture of goodwill, shall we say? But you know what I want, so his life is in your hands. I shall give you a bit of time to mull your decision over." Raphael turned on his heels and stepped back towards the door he had entered from. "I trust you will make the right one."
With the sound of the door shutting, Cas found himself alone once again. His stomach turned as he replayed his conversation with Raphael over in his head. There was no possible way he could do what his older brother wanted, but if he didn't try then Dean was doomed. There was no way his bond mate could take on an archangel.
Castiel groaned as he sunk to his knees. He held his head in his hands in a human-like gesture of despair. Somehow, he would find a way out of this mess. And then he would find Dean and never let him go.
~*~*SPN~*~*
Dean swallowed heavily as he stumbled down the beach. He had been walking for almost an hour with the sun beating down on him. Thirst had begun to make itself known, but all he cared about was finding his angel. He had been praying to Cas non-stop since the angel had vanished on him, but the longer his prayers went unanswered, the more his anguish grew.
He clutched Cas's clothes tighter to his body, as if holding them closer would make the angel suddenly appear. He wasn't one hundred percent certain, but that ear-piercing noise he heard when his angel disappeared sounded an awful like that time he had heard Cas's true voice. He shuddered. Angels having Cas was never a good thing, not these days.
As he walked, he continuously prayed to Cas. He did not know if the angel could hear his prayers or not, but he knew he had to try. He even tried throwing in a prayer to God, although he knew that one would go nowhere. Despite all of Cas's protestations, Dean knew God was nothing but a deadbeat dad -and he would know-, but he was willing to try anything at this point, though.
Dean turned a bend on the beach and cried out softly to himself in relief. In the far distance he thought he could make out people. People meant civilization, and civilization meant phones. He forced his legs to walk faster, cursing as his toe stubbed on a rock that lay hidden in the sand. He needed to get to a phone and contact his brother and Bobby to tell them what happened.
As Dean got closer to the people, he mentally collected himself. He put on an outward appearance of calm and walked steadily towards the small buildings that were just off the beach. They looked like they were part of a resort. He checked his wallet, and breathed a sigh of relief that he had one of his credit cards on him.
Still clutching Castiel's clothes tightly, he ignored the strange look he got from a family of tourists and sauntered up the to the reception desk. Twenty minutes and a lot of convincing that 'his reservation was supposed to be in the system and what kind of service is this anyway,' he was sitting on one of the softest beds he had ever been on. Dean ran his hand over his face and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his racing heart. He stood up and grabbed a large bottle of water from the mini fridge then gulped it down, feeling the dryness of his throat ease at the cool water. Wiping his mouth with his hand, he chewed on his lower lip and reached for the phone. He needed to talk to Sam.
~*~*SPN~*~*
Sam snatched up the phone from the desk and furrowed his brow as he saw the caller ID. Giving a little shrug, he answered the phone with a distracted, "Yeah?"
"Sam? Oh thank fuck. You gotta help me! He's gone, and I don't know where-"
The tinny voice that came through the phone's speaker startled him because it was the last voice he was expecting. "Dean?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Yeah, Sam, it's me. Cas is gone, and I don't know where he went, and I'm stuck on some island in Australia!"
"Wait, Australia? How the heck did you end up there? I thought you were in the shop! And what happened to Cas?"
"He's…I don't know, Sammy. There was a light, and a sound like an angel, and he…he was gone after that." Dean's voice sounded frayed, as if it were all he could do to keep himself together. Sam had a hard time reconciling that voice with that of his brother.
"An angel? You're saying an angel snatched him?"
"Yes! No...I don't know! It sure sounded like one of those dickless fuckwads."
Sam took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his long hair. "All right; we'll find him, Dean." Bobby chose that moment to walk into the room, and upon hearing Sam's side of the conversation, looked at him quizzically. Sam glanced over and pulled the phone away from his mouth a bit. "It's Dean. I guess Cas decided to take him to Australia and then something took him." Bobby's eyes widened at that as Sam went back to talking to his brother. "Okay, so where exactly are you?"
~*~*SPN~*~*
Castiel paced along the edge of the burning holy oil ring, fingers running through his hair in agitation. Raphael could not be serious. How could Castiel possibly free Michael? Even if he were to somehow find the cage, he had no clue how to open it! The whole idea was madness, but he knew what his answer would be the second Raphael threatened Dean.
He could hear his bondmate praying to him. It pained Cas that he was unable to answer Dean's prayers. He sounded off, which was unsurprising as Cas felt drained as well. He had heard that it was necessary for new bondmates to spend the first week together, or else the bond would weaken their grace instead of strengthening it. But with Dean being human and therefore not possessing grace, he had no idea what would come of a bond strain. He was startled from his musing by the sound of the door opening.
"Have you made your decision yet, Castiel?" Raphael entered flanked by two other angels, Enrius and Zoriel. Castiel barely knew either of them, although he had served on a mission with them once.
"Raphael, you are asking the impossible. Even if I could find the cage, I am just a seraph. You would be the one out of any of us to be able to open the cage!" Castiel tried one more time to convince his older brother to see reason. When that failed to elicit a sympathetic response in the archangel, Cas turned to the other two. "Zoriel, Enrius, please brothers. He is threatening an angelic bondmate, you know Father would-"
"That is enough, Castiel!" Raphael interrupted. He turned to his two followers and raised an eyebrow. They nodded at him, and Cas knew he would not be able to make them see reason.
Raphael turned back to Cas. "And why would I sully myself in Hell, Castiel? You have already been there, when you pulled out the Righteous Man, your bondmate-. " Raphael paused and sneered, as though the concept disgusted him. "Shall I assume your decision is to forfeit the life of Dean Winchester then? Even with the sigils you put on him, it is only a matter of time until I find him again." He started to turn around, but paused at a choked noise coming from Cas's throat.
From what Raphael said, Cas guessed that Sam and Bobby had been able to retrieve Dean from Australia, and he allowed himself to feel a small sense of relief that was quickly drowned out when Raphael's words sank in. "No! Wait! I will try to do as you have asked, but please, do not harm Dean."
Raphael smiled. "Good choice, brother. Zoriel and Enrius will accompany you to the gate. Do not try to contact your human, Castiel. Just follow your orders like you are supposed to, and you will get back to him soon enough. Unless, of course, you fail." With a flick of his wrist, the burning ring of holy oil vanished, and the two angelic guards immediately flanked Cas. Raphael cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, and you might want to put some clothes on that vessel, Castiel. We wouldn't want the demons to get the wrong idea why you are there, would we?" A flurry of wings, and he was gone.
Castiel closed his eyes. He would just have to find a way to succeed, because one way or another, he was going to get back to Dean. And once Dean was safely back in his arms, he would find a way to bring his older brother to justice. He glanced down at himself and grimaced. Raphael was right about one thing. A twist of his Grace, and his vessel was once more clothed in the familiar fabric of his suit and trench coat.
Zoriel nudged Cas. "Come on, Castiel, you have work to do," he coldly stated, and the three angels took off. They reappeared almost immediately in front of the blackened gate of Hell.
~*~*SPN~*~*
Bobby walked into his study, balancing several bowls in his hands. Sam was kneeling on the ground, putting the finishing touches on the sigils he was drawing on the floor. "This should be everything," he said, handing a bowl to Sam.
Sam stood up, wincing as his knees popped when they straightened. He reached over and took the bowl from Bobby. "Thanks," he said, and stared at the bowl in his hands.
Bobby frowned. "You okay, Sam?"
"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Just...Do you think he'll help us? I mean, we aren't exactly his favorite people. Especially Dean."
Bobby snorted at that. "Well Sam, you ain't kidding there. But he's helped us out before. And he seems to be Cas's buddy, so I guess we have to take our chances."
The two hunters lit the candles in the quadrants, and with one final look at each other, Sam lit the bowl on fire. The candles and the bowl in the middle flared up briefly, and silence reigned for all of five seconds before an accented voice behind Sam and Bobby loudly proclaimed, "Oh, what the bugger do you two jackoffs want now?"
~*~*SPN~*~*
Dean paced back and forth on the soft burgundy carpet of the room he had gotten for the night. His legs ached from the trek to the hotel, but he paid them no mind. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what had happened, who could have taken Castiel. Unfortunately, the list of creatures that had Cas on their hit list was rather long, and that was just the creatures that Dean was aware of. Just because he thought it might be an angel didn't rule out the possibility of someone like Crowley.
He clenched his hands into fists, wanting desperately to punch something. His eyes kept straying to the phone on the hotel table, as though he could make it ring with the sheer force of his will. As though if it rang Sam and Bobby would tell him they found the answer; that they had found Castiel safe and sound.
"Fuck!" Dean cursed. His throat felt tight as his mind whispered Castiel's name over and over in a litany of song. He wouldn't cry, he was Dean fuckin' Winchester for crying out loud, and Dean fuckin' Winchester does not cry. No matter how much he wants to.
A rustle of wings behind him made him whirl around, hope leaping up into his chest. But the grinning face that met his eyes wasn't that of his angel.
"Balthazar." Dean blinked in surprise. That particular angel was the last one he had expected to see.
The angel arched an eyebrow at him. "Is that any way to greet an old friend, Dean?" Balthazar said sharply. When Dean opened his mouth to reply, he held up a hand. "I know, I know. We aren't friends per se. But I am here to help you, because Castiel? He is my friend, sort of. Either way, I like him. And since you two," Balthazar paused and made a dramatic, lewd motion with his hands. Dean felt his cheeks heat up as Balthazar continued on unabashedly. "Finally admitted what the rest of us already knew, I figured I ought to help."
"Do you know where he is?" Dean wasted no time questioning the angel in front of him. "Who has him? Is he okay?"
"Well, a 'thank-you for offering your help, oh wonderful Balthazar' would be nice." When Dean just glared, Balthazar sighed. "Fine. Be that way. No, I don't know where he is, but I do know who has him. The biggest dick of us all...Raphael! Wait..that didn't come out right."
Dean didn't even notice the angel's slip of the tongue, his mind stuck on the name of the one who took Cas. He stepped back, the backs of his legs hitting the plush mattress as his knees gave out from under him. Dean sat down heavily and closed his eyes.
"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. Rubbing a hand over his face, he looked up at the angel. "And you have no idea where he might have taken Cas? Or why?"
Balthazar grimaced. "I just told you, I don't know where he is. Or why, although I am quite certain I could find out given a bit of time. Let's start by getting you back to that annoying idiot who you call brother, and the funny-looking hunter." With that, he reached out and touched his fingers to Dean's forehead.
~*~*SPN~*~*
Dean lurched forward with a curse as he felt himself land. Looking up, he saw Sam and Bobby's faces staring at him strangely. "What?" he managed to choke out.
"You're...uhh...looking a little green there, son," Bobby commented, hand already reaching towards the trash bin at the side of his desk.
Dean waved him off. "I'm fine, just gimme a minute. Damn Angel Air." He took a deep breath to calm his stomach and straightened. He turned towards Balthazar and glowered at the smug look on the angel's face.
"Sorry for the rough landing there, Dean-o; haven't transported humans in a while. Guess I lost my touch."
"Yeah, Cas is so much better at it than you." The thought of his angel slammed back into Dean what had happened. He whirled and faced his brother. "Sam, Cas...we have to find him, now! Raphael has him, and there's no telling what that motherfucker will do to him if we don't find him soon. Lemme go!"
Sam had put a hand on his brother's shoulder, and gripped harder as Dean went to shrug off. "Dean, we will find him, but you need to stay calm."
"Fuck you, Sam," Dean said, but it was without heat, and he stilled under his brother's hand. He took a deep breath and pulled away from his brother, gently this time. Sam let him go.
"Well, we can't summon Raphael, can we?" Bobby said with a glance in Balthazar's direction. At the angel's shake of the head, he continued, "Dang it. Can we get Cas here instead using a different summoning ritual? We tried the one we used to summon you, but it obviously didn't work."
Balthazar shook his head again and pushed away from where he was leaning against Bobby's desk. "No, there's just the one. Raphael is smart enough to not keep Castiel anywhere you could just poof him back to you," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go and see what I can hear through the grapevine, so to speak. Oh, and one more thing: don't call me, I'll call you." In a flap of wings, the angel disappeared.
"Great," sighed Sam. "Back at square one." He sat down heavily on the couch and looked up at Dean. His brother looked pale; his freckles stood out in stark relief on his face. "You okay, Dean?"
"'M fine, just need some air. Gimme a book to research with Bobby. I'm gonna sit out on the porch." He looked at his brother and surrogate uncle. "Alone."
"Sure Dean, try this one. Might have something useful in it anyways." Dean took the book Bobby held out to him and stormed off. The sound of the screen door slamming echoed loudly in the house, causing the remaining two occupants to wince.
Sam stood up to follow his brother, but was stopped short by Bobby's arm across his chest. "Let him be, Sam. That boy asked for some time to get his head back in the game, and damned if you're gonna take that from him."
"He needs me, Bobby. The last thing he needs right now is to be left alone." Sam retorted.
"No, Sam. What he needs is Castiel. And unless you can give him that, at least let him have the dignity to figure out his emotions on his own." Bobby dropped his arm with those words and turned, walking over to his desk. Sitting down, he poured himself a large tumbler of whiskey. He lifted his drink to his mouth and eyed Sam over the rim of the glass, watching the tall hunter sigh and turn away from his brother. Bobby handed off a book from the pile on his desk to Sam's waiting hand, and pulled one down for himself. He set his glass down, opened the book, and began reading. This was gonna be a long night.
~*~SPN~*~
Dean grimaced. The headache that had been growing steadily in his head over the past two hours was getting worse the more he thought about Cas. Unfortunately, his angel was all he was able to think about, so it was like a vicious cycle. The words on the page in front of him seemed to merge into a giant puddle of letters, and he realized he had been staring at the same page for twenty minutes. He slammed the book closed with a growl and rubbed at his temples. How the hell was he supposed to help find Cas when he could hardly think straight?
He continued his litany of prayers to Cas, hoping they were reaching him. Until Cas was back, however, he really had no clue. But he kept them up, because the thought that Cas might still be able to hear him, wherever he was, provided him a modicum of comfort.
A hand closed on his shoulder and he jumped, then tried to cover it up by twisting and standing. "Hey, Sammy, find anything?"
The look in Sam's eyes said he knew he had startled Dean, but he didn't comment on it, for which Dean was grateful. "No, nothing yet. Why don't you come inside? Take a few minutes and get a bite to eat? Bobby made us some sandwiches in the kitchen."
The thought of eating while Cas was being held somewhere by Raphael twisted Dean's stomach into a knot. Any previous thoughts of hunger that he had had vanished. Dean gave his brother a small smile. "Thanks Sam, but I'm not really hungry right now."
"You need to eat, Dean. You aren't gonna do Cas any good if you don't keep up your strength." Sam replied, eyeing Dean worriedly. "At least try to have something. Please?" He gave Dean the puppy dog eyes, knowing his brother couldn't say no to them.
Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Damn headache for making him unable to concentrate, damn Sam for mother-hen routine, and damn Raphael for taking Cas away from him. "Fine," he gave in. "But we're gonna keep looking while we eat." He picked up the book he had been trying to focus on and walked into the house without waiting for his brother.
Sam chewed on his lower lip and ran a hand through his hair. "Jesus, Dean, you gotta start taking care of yourself," he muttered under his breath, before following him into the house.
~*~SPN~*~
"Balthazar."
The angel turned and looked behind him and his eyes widened in surprise. His hand gripped his angel blade tightly. "Enrius," he replied coolly.
"You can put your blade down, brother. I am not here to take you in." Enrius held up his hands in a placating gesture.
"No?" Balthazar questioned without lowering his blade. "Last I heard, you were one of Raphael's little watchdogs. So if you aren't here to 'attempt' to take me in, then why are you here?"
Enrius stepped back, eyeing Balthazar warily. "I am here because of Castiel."
Balthazar flew forward and grabbed the other angel by his shirt collar. He roughly placed the point of his blade under Enrius's vessel's chin. "What do you know about Castiel?" he demanded.
"Easy brother; you kill me and you won't find out anything. I will tell you what I know if you release me."
Balthazar cocked his head at the other angel. "You've been Raphael's servant for a millennium, Enrius. Why would I believe you would suddenly turn on him?"
"Because he has committed an unthinkable sin, deliberately holding Castiel from his bondmate, Mud Monkey or no. I have followed Raphael for so long because I believed in what he was doing, but this..." Enrius shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "This is wrong. Father would be horrified."
Balthazar let go of Enrius and stepped back. "Well, we can at least agree on one thing," he muttered. "So what does Raphael want with Castiel then? Surely he's not just trying to break up a bond for the fun of it? If he's that bored I can give him some fun tips to pass the time-"
"Castiel is to find the cage and free Michael." Enrius interrupted hurriedly.
Balthazar stopped mid-sentence and stared at the other angel. He scratched his forehead. "I'm sorry, I thought you said that Raphael wants Castiel to find the cage and free Michael." After a long pause in which Enrius looked perplexed at not being understood, Balthazar nodded to himself. "You did say that then. Well, this isn't good. How does Raphael expect a Seraph to get to the cage and free Michael and not Lucifer?"
Enrius shrugged. "I do not know, but I must get back before Raphael notices I am gone." He vanished in a flurry of wings, and left Balthazar standing alone.
The angel stared at where Enrius had been a moment before, and then put his blade away with a sigh. "Well, that's not good," he groaned before he, too, spread his wings and flew off.
~*~*~SPN~*~*~
Sam and Bobby watched Dean as he sat in the corner of the room with worried eyes. As the day drew into night, he seemed to grow even paler and his eyes took on a listlessness that was unsettling. Bobby tapped Sam on the shoulder and motioned with a flick of his head to follow him outside. Dean never looked up from his book.
When they made it out onto the deck, Bobby turned to Sam. "This is worse than I thought, Sam. It's almost like he's getting sick." He scrubbed his hand over his beard. "You said him an' Cas bonded?" At Sam's nod, Bobby sighed. "Well, I'm gonna look and see if I have anything at all on angelic bonding, see if I can figure out why that boy looks like death warmed over."
"Yeah, something's up. This goes beyond simple pining, even for Dean and his massive self-depreciating guilt trips," Sam agreed as he ran a hand through his hair. He glanced back through the window, and frowned as he saw Dean pinching the bridge of his nose. Shaking his head, he turned back to Bobby. "I think my head's starting to ache in sympathy for him," he said with a grimace.
Bobby raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Sam?"
The younger hunter nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. If it gets any worse, I'll take an ibuprofen."
"Maybe you should try to get your brother to take something."
Sam snorted. "It's Dean. He won't even admit anything's bothering him. He has to practically be on his deathbed to take any kind of medication." He looked back towards his brother and started at the sight that greeted him. "Balthazar!"
The two hunters ran back into the house, and found Dean staring up at the angel, eyes large and mouth slightly agape. Dean flicked his eyes over to them, before looking back at Balthazar. "The cage?" he murmured, trailing off as Balthazar nodded.
Sam paled at hearing Dean's words, and he felt Bobby grab his arm as the world tilted on itself.
"Woah, easy there, son." Bobby guided Sam over to a chair, as Dean and Balthazar looked over.
"Sam!" Dean stood and hurried over to his brother.
"I'm alright," Sam said with a grimace and held up his hand. "Just...caught me off guard there. What did you say about the." He stopped and swallowed heavily before continuing, "the cage?"
Balthazar eyeballed Sam before he stepped forward. "I was just telling Dean that Raphael is planning to use Castiel to free Michael from Lucifer's cage."
"What?" Bobby cried.
Dean closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side. "He's going to send Cas back into Hell. Raphael is too much of a fucking chicken shit to do anything himself, so instead he's sending my angel to do his dirty work for him. Sonuvabitch!"
Sam looked between his brother and the angel. "Cas wouldn't do that. There's no way he would do it!"
Balthazar cleared his throat. "Actually, there is a way he would do it. Raphael threatened Dean's life, and Cas agreed to try, apparently," he pointed out helpfully.
Dean stared at Balthazar. "No," he whispered. He shook his head in denial. "No. He can't- he can't do that! Not for me."
"Well, he did. Or have you forgotten he took you as his bondmate, and therefore will do anything to protect you?"
"I-" Dean suddenly gasped and clutched at his temple as a sharp pain lanced through his skull. He felt something wet run down his face, but he was too busy fighting back a cry of pain to do anything about it. Despite his best efforts, a low groan escaped his throat as another lightning bolt of agony shot through him. The edges of his vision darkened and rather than fight it, Dean let his eyes fall shut as he sank back down into the chair.
"Dean? What's wrong?" Sam stood up at the same time Bobby moved towards Dean. "Oh God, you're bleeding." He grabbed a handful of Kleenex and pressed it against his brother's nose, growing more worried when his brother didn't even attempt to shrug him off.
"Damn," Balthazar said grimly. "I thought we would have more time."
Bobby whirled on the angel. "More time? What the hell are you talking about? Do you know what's wrong with him?" The hunter pointed an agitated finger in Dean's direction.
Balthazar nodded. "It's called bond strain. When angels bond, it's important they spend their time together, so their Grace can connect; if they don't, it weakens them. Obviously Dean has no Grace, but he is still being affected by the bond strain."
Sam stood up from where he had been crouched down helping his brother, still holding the reddened Kleenex to Dean's nose. Dean seemed barely conscious now, his green eyes were barely opened to slits. "So what did you mean by more time?"
The angel shrugged. "Well, I could be wrong here, but I'm guessing that the sudden increase in his symptoms means that Castiel is no longer on this plane of existence." At the startled looks he received, Balthazar rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Do I have to spell it out for you? What that means, kiddos, is that Raphael must have decided to start the show, and Castiel is now in Hell."
Dean moaned weakly, and Sam put his hand on his brother's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "So, what? He's going to get worse then?"
"Eventually, yes. Unless they are reunited soon. But once the shock of Cas being on a different plane wears off, he should stabilize. It's Castiel I am worried about right now. He's in Hell, and the bond strain will be affecting him too. Raphael really didn't think this through if he thought a bond strained angel will be able to open the cage without help," he finished with another roll of his eyes.
"Is there anything you can do to help? Any healing you can do?"
Balthazar snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "The only thing that can help him is currently down in Hell. Give him some time, like I already told you if you were even listening is that he should recover somewhat when the shock wears off. And seeing as there's nothing more I can do here, I can see myself out." With that, he was gone, leaving the three hunters alone in Bobby's living room.
"Balls."
~*~*SPN*~*~
Castiel snarled as he pushed himself to his feet, touching his hand to his lips and glancing at the blood that stained his fingertips crimson. He had not been at all prepared for the wave of intense pain and dizziness that had assaulted him when he landed in Hell, and the demon that had been standing where he landed took full advantage of that fact.
She chuckled joyfully. "An angel of the Lord, all by himself down here in Hell. What a surprise!" She threw her hair over her shoulder and smirked at him. "What are you doing here, silly angel?"
The angel glared, knees still feeling weak as they held him up. "Tell me where the cage is and maybe I won't kill you where you stand."
Her eyes widened briefly and flicked to the right. Castiel allowed himself an inward smile at the give. "The cage? Why would you want to know that, darling? Want to lock yourself in it and give your big brothers something new to play with?" She wound up and threw her fist into Castiel's face.
His head snapped to the side, and he stumbled back a step before he was able to bury the pain and draw his angel blade. Gritting his teeth, he straightened and met the demon's next attack with one of his own. His blade slashed towards her throat, and as she leaned back to avoid the attack, he swept his leg out and caught her behind the knee, knocking her to her back on the ground.
Castiel's blade slammed down into her chest, and her eyes grew wide as lightning danced along her corpse. "I don't have time for you," he growled. He stood up and looked around. No other demons appeared, but he wasn't going to take a chance. He dragged the demon's corpse into a darkened corner.
He took a moment to calm down. He had never experienced such a surge of pain like that when he landed in Hell, not even being pulled through dimensions or even when he was smote by an archangel. Everything hurt. His wings felt as though they were on fire, and he glanced at them to be certain they weren't. This was Hell, after all. The land of fire and brimstone.
Castiel stood there with his jaw clenched, trying to figure out what happened, why he felt like that upon landing. He had been in Hell before, and it hadn't felt like this, back when he pulled his human from his eternal damnation. The thought made him pause, and then he paled as realization set in. "Dean," he whispered. It was the bond causing this! If he had felt that, what would his bondmate be feeling?
The angel focused inwards, to his Grace level where he could feel the bond. It was weak, and was unable to feel anything from Dean. A momentary wave of panic hit him before he thought that perhaps he couldn't feel anything was because the bond was too new to work across dimensions. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and pushed his love and devotion through the bond towards his human. He was not certain if Dean would feel it, but he felt his own self slightly comforted from the touch of the bond, and he drew strength from that.
Coming back to himself, Castiel held his blade at the ready. The next demon to come upon him would not catch him so unaware.
