Chapter 2
Castiel moved from the never-ending highway and set next to a tree, falling to the ground, breathing hard. He touched his chest with his hand, feeling his heart beating fast. He needed a break. He felt as if he had been walking forever. He didn't knew what time it was, but the sun had been up for quite a while. He had walked the entire night. He didn't knew where he was heading, but he didn't wanted to stay alone in a dark forest either. He needed to find a city. He needed to find someone, anyone at all. But he was so tired... And he was so hungry and thirsty. He figured he'd take a break and then walk some more. There had to be some form of civilization somewhere near. He hoped so at least.
"Dean..." he whispered to himself. "Am I Dean? Is Dean my name?" No, it couldn't have been his name. It was someone close to him though, he was sure of that. Someone important... So important. But no matter how hard he was trying to remember him, he just couldn't. "I need to find him... I need to find Dean. I will find you. Whoever you are..."
He got up and started walking again. The cold wind was blowing, and he buttoned up his trench coat, trying to get a bit warmer. He didn't understand why everything seemed so still. Why wasn't there anyone around. Why couldn't he remember anything... 'Maybe I've been in an accident...' he thought, trying to make some sense of the situation that he was in. 'Maybe there is someone who's looking for me right now. Maybe they will find me...' He kept thinking. He needed to be positive or he was going to lose his mind. And that was all that he had left...
"Maybe we should stop and get something to eat..." Sam suggested, looking at Dean.
Dean shot him a fast look, before turning his gaze back the road, his eyes scanning the entire ground that he was able to see, looking for any sign of Castiel. "Are you hungry?"
"Not really, but... You've been driving for over 12 hours without stop, you know?"
"I am fine. If you need anything, I'll stop."
Sam sighed and turned his head to look out on the side window. It was as if Dean was working on magic batteries. He was feeling sick and exhausted, but he didn't wanted to bother Dean with that. His brother seemed way too worried already, more worry would have helped nothing. But just driving around pointlessly was not going to help them find Castiel. They needed to sit down, drink and eat something, relax for a minute and think of an actual plan. Dean was an action man though. His attack plan was to attack and Sam knew that in the state his big brother was at that moment, he was not going to listen to reason or logic. All he was able to do was sit there and wait for Dean to get tired as well and to realize that what they were doing was pointless. Then he would be able to actually talk about it. He left his head rest on the window and closed his eyes, trying to relax.
The loud sound of an ambulance made Castiel turn around, confused and a bit scared. He moved out of the way slowly, watching the big car approaching fast. He expected it to pass by him and he felt even more confused when it stopped close to him, two men coming out of it and moving towards him.
"Are you alright, sir?" one of them asked.
Castiel took a step back. "Who are you?"
"Something very strange happened last night. There was a meteor shower and this morning, millions of people have been found wondering around, with severe amnesia. Do you remember anything?"
Castiel left his head down and stared at the ground. So he was not the only one. "N-No... I... I don't remember anything..." He confessed.
"You'll have to come with us. We'll take you somewhere safe and make sure you are fine."
"No." He took another step back and look up at the two men. "I... I need to find Dean."
"Dean? Who is that? A friend? Relative?"
"I don't know... His name is all I can remember..."
The two men exchanged a pair of looks in between, before looking back at Castiel. "We can't leave you here, sir. Please, come with us. After we get you to the hospital I am sure that someone can help you find this man. Alright?"
He hesitated for a long moment, just sitting back and looking at the two people in front of him. Their face showed nothing but pure concern and care for him. He didn't knew them, but he didn't knew anyone to begin with. He had to find Dean, that was the only sure thing in his head. But he had to eat something too, maybe rest a bit as well. He was sure these men were not going to harm him. And they were the only humans he had seen since he had left the field. 'Maybe they will actually help me...' he thought, before nodding softly to them.
They smiled to him and helped him get inside the ambulance, promising him that he was going to be okay and that the place they will take him to was safe. They were saying something about having him see a specialist, but Castiel wasn't actually listening to them anymore. For a moment, a short moment, he had seen something. He had seen a pair of eyes. Wide, beautiful, shining green eyes... As green as the grass in the spring. As green as two emeralds. Green as life itself. He blinked a lot when the image vanished, as fast and sudden as it had appeared. He saw the doors of the ambulance closing and he sighed. "What's happening to me..?" He muttered, covering his face with both of his hands.
"Are you feeling any better?"
Sam looked up at his brother and nodded. "Yeah..." He took another sip from his drink, getting a big bite of his burger as well. "Sorry that I made us stop..."
"You should have told me sooner that you were feeling so sick." Dean protested. Sam had been hiding his ill physical condition the entire day. "We would have stopped earlier if you had."
"I just need to rest and I'll be okay... Where will we sleep?" Sam asked.
"In the car, for now. We can't leave Crowley alone and we can't bring him cuffed inside a motel either."
"Yeah, true... What will we even do about him, Dean?"
"I have no idea... We can't let him walk without him coming after us. He's far from being human."
"He's not exactly the same either though..."
They both turned to look at the demon, who was looking back at them from the car. It was night again. They had been driving for more or less 24 hours. Crowley had not tried to escape. He had not even said much, apart from his arrogant and ironic remarks every now and then. He was very calm... Too calm. It was not normal.
"He doesn't seem to want to escape..." Sam pointed out.
"Why would he want to stay?" Dean asked back.
Sam shrugged, finishing his burger. "Beats me. Maybe my blood did change him. Not turned him human, but made him... more humanly?"
Dean raised his eyebrow. "Right. Well, for now, he's safe. He can't break out of those cuffs, he can't go smoking out and he can't hurt us. If he tries anything weird, we waste him."
"How do we do that?"
"We find a way."
Sam simply nodded, trying not to argue with Dean's logic, or crush his hopes. Plus, he was feeling was too tired and powerless to enter in a contradiction with his big brother. "I'll just go in the car." he informed him.
"Yeah, you do that. I'll just look around here for a moment."
He watched Sam until the younger man was inside the Impala, before he turned on his heels and started wondering around. They had parked on the side of the highway. There was nothing there. No cars, no people, no nothing. Just the hard ground and the cold wind that kept blowing hard. He still looked though. He didn't knew what he was looking for. He just wanted to see a sign, anything that could lead him to where Castiel was.
He digged his hands in his pockets. "Cas? Can you hear me..?" He knew this was useless. All the angels had fallen, Castiel must have as well. But still... There was something in him that wanted to believe that maybe Castiel had made it. That maybe he had not fallen too. That maybe he was still an angel. Still his angel. So he prayed. "If you can hear me, come here. I am worried for you man. I just want to know if you're okay. I just want to know you didn't..." He closed his eyes and left his head down, unable to finish that sentence. "Please, Castiel... Please..."