- Chapter 2: Shine on You Crazy Diamond -
Sam and Dean stood at opposite ends of the table where Cas' body still lay; Dean's hands sometimes found their way on Castiel's face – either checking for breathing or just as if he was trying to comfort the angel. While watching, Sam knew that the comforting touches were more for Dean's sake than their seemingly-lifeless friend's.
"Dean. What do you want to do?" Of course Sam had an idea of what Dean was going to answer with, but the younger Winchester did not want to assume anything. When it came to Castiel, his elder brother was at times unpredictable.
Dean took a little time before responding; he was still staring at the angel's face, which looked so peaceful…so unlike how it was the last time he saw it. The bruises and the blood covering his skin…all of which were only there because of Dean's own two hands. And his eyes…those bright blue eyes which were so sad when Cas had pleaded with him to just stop…
Dean…please…
Dammit why hadn't he just fought back?
"He's coming with us, obviously. Help me with him." Where they were going, Dean didn't say. The obvious choice was to return to the bunker but really…Dean had little desire to be there right now. Too many memories awaited him at that place. He was already having enough bad flashbacks, he didn't need to have them while standing in the room where he beat the shit out of his best friend for no reason other than said best friend trying to help him. This was, of course, after Dean went on a revenge-filled massacre. A massacre which ended with Dean murdering some poor kid who did nothing but beg for his life. No, the older Winchester had no desire to return to the bunker right now.
Plus, well, if the Stynes were able to break into the bunker, then whatever this Darkness thing was going to bring probably could get in there too. So perhaps it wasn't as safe a haven as it previously was.
Together, Sam and Dean picked up Castiel and carried him outside to the Impala. Gently, they laid him down in the back seat. His shirt was still ripped open, though the markings that the angel had drawn on him in that blood were nowhere to be seen. But just because the brothers couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't there. Angel magic was on a whole different level, Dean knew.
Sam watched as Dean began to rebutton Castiel's shirt. "That one angel…Ramiel?" Sam didn't know if his brother was really listening, or if he was too focused on his task, so he spoke as if he was talking to himself, trying to recall the one angel's name. "I think I've heard of her before." He opened the passenger side door and took his tablet out. Thank god for 4G, otherwise he definitely would have had to wait until they got somewhere with wireless to conduct any sort of research, and Sam couldn't help but be insanely curious at the moment.
While he was searching the internet, Dean finished with Castiel's shirt and then leaned on the Impala's frame, keeping the back door open. He watched Sam play with his tablet, and if he was feeling more up to it, he would have cracked a joke about how much of a nerd his little brother was being, especially given the intense look that Sam had on his face.
"Yeah, here! Ramiel is said to be one of the archangels in the Book of Enoch." When Sam spoke, Dean's brow furrowed, and any potential jokes disappeared when the word 'archangel' was mentioned.
"I thought there were only four arch-douches," Dean replied. Sam shook his head, continuing to stare at the screen in front of his eyes.
"Not according to this book. Says here that the Book of Enoch discusses seven archangels, though doesn't seem to agree on all the names." Sam continued to relay information.
"So wait, are you saying there might be three more out there somewhere?" While Dean was not keen on angels, he would take more than a handful of regular angels than their more powerful brethren. Given his experiences with Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, and Gabriel (even though Gabriel ended up being not as bad…but he did kill him a whole lot that one time), he just assumed that all the archangels were just major league dicks.
"Well, if this book is right and if that Ramiel is one of them…I just don't know why we hadn't heard of her existing before. I mean…where was she five years ago? Did she hide like Gabriel, do you think?" Sam found it odd that all of a sudden they were dealing with the possibility of additional archangels when they hadn't had to worry about them at all since Castiel killed Raphael. Why wouldn't these last missing three get involved in the civil war or the apocalypse for that matter?
Dean shrugged. "Must've." It was the only explanation he could think of right now, anyway. Perhaps also that was why those two still had their wings intact – if they were hiding out on Earth as different beings, then they would not have fallen like the rest of the angels.
"Ramiel is considered the 'mercy of God' or the 'eternal compassion of God'," Sam quoted. "It is said that Ramiel is the archangel of hope, bearer of divine visions and truth, and gives blessings of joy to women."
"Alright, so perhaps only slightly less of a dick than her brothers, good to know," Dean said sarcastically. Yes, while Biblical angels were soldiers and fierce, they were not as good as scripture sometimes painted them out to be. "So who was the other one? She looked like she wanted to kill us, you know." Dean recalled the disgusted and angry look that the other angel had on her face; it made him slightly uneasy.
"I don't know. From this, she could be either Zerachiel or Raguel." Uriel was another name on the potenti+al list of seven, but they had already encountered him in the past, and he was no archangel. "Zerachiel is the angel of the Sun and a protector of God's angelic forces. Raguel is said to be the archangel of justice, harmony, good will, and fairness, but also considered to be 'God's hitman' and furious wrath."
"Now that's the archangel douchiness I expect. Awesome," Dean spoke, again using sarcasm to cover up his worry. If those two were archangels, what did they do to Cas? Definitely nothing good; Castiel and his archangel brothers did not exactly seem to have a solid familial relationship. Dean didn't care that Death said that the archangels helped fight back the Darkness so long ago; he didn't trust them and he didn't want them anywhere near Cas.
"We should probably head back to the bunker. See if there's more we can find out about," Sam suggested. Rather than arguing for the moment, Dean just closed the back door and went around to the driver's side of the car. He and Sam both got into the Impala, and Dean began to drive off, in the direction of the bunker, but still debating whether or not he would make a detour.
Although the drive back to the bunker from the warehouse was not lengthy, Dean did make a point to stop at a gas station first. Not only did the Impala need gas, but he was hungry, and after all this wasn't interested in cooking anything for himself and Sam. Plus, this extra stop could give him more time to figure out a different place to go. He really wanted to delay going back there as much as possible.
Sam stayed in the car while the older Winchester got out, going to unscrew the gas cap. However, before he was able to actually start pumping the gasoline into his baby, a figure approached them.
"Winchesters," the man said, ominously. Well that was never a good sign. Dean took his hands off the pump and Sam slowly got out of the car, hands on his gun. "Nice to see you here."
"Yeah, cause I'm thinking it's real shitty to see you here," Dean retorted. The man just laughed, and took another step towards them, before showing his black eyes.
Demon.
"You know, we wanted to thank you. We have really been liking this new…environment," the demon said, referring to, of course, the darkened sky above. Sam narrowed his eyes, while Dean reached for the angel blade he carried. Before he was able to get to it, unfortunately, another two demons stealthily came at him from behind, grabbing his arms and pinning them behind his back. Sam called out his older brother's name but before he was able to do anything to help, three more demons swarmed him and did the same. The Winchesters struggled against their captors, who surprisingly were doing nothing more to harm them. But even struggling was exhausting…it seemed as though this Darkness thing had made them more powerful.
The head demon walked over and grabbed the angel blade that Dean had unfortunately dropped. He smirked as he held it up to his face. "You're pathetic now that you don't have that gift on your arm. Such a shame for you, Dean." Dean felt his lip twitch in irritation, but he also couldn't help but agree somewhat with the demon. If he still had the mark, these bastards all would have been dead by now. But then again…Sam might've been in that body count too, depending on how loud the mark was.
"Yeah? I think it's a shame for you; it'll just take me a little longer to kill you sons of bitches," Dean countered. Sam watched this exchange carefully, trying to figure out a way to turn the tables around before anything bad happened. The demon laughed loudly, and another four walked over from the convenience store, probably having just killed or possessed the innocents inside.
"Really Dean, try to make your threats at least somewhat believable." The demons dragged the Winchesters away from the Impala, while the leader peaked into the back seat at the still unconscious Castiel. "Now what's this? Your angel seems to be sleeping on the job." He sent a cruel smile towards the brothers, and Dean especially suddenly felt panicked. No.
Cas…wake up you idiot!
The demon opened the back door. Dean called out for Castiel, hoping that at least hearing his voice would wake the angel, but Cas did not budge. He remained in his coma, breathing softly even as demons lured over and then dragged his limp form from the car and onto the pavement.
"Now that we have this eternal night, there's no room for angels in this universe," the main demon said, licking his lips while continuing to stroke the angel blade.
"No! Don't you dare- I'll kill all of you!" Dean could hear the worry in his voice, despite his trying to sound threatening. Sam too, was panicking, but he did not say anything, as he was still trying to come up with some semblance of a plan to get out of this.
But he was coming up with nothing.
"No! Cas!" Dean shouted as the demon began to plunge the angel blade down towards Castiel's chest. However, right before it could pierce his skin, a shockwave pulsated out from the angel. The markings that his sisters had put on him reappeared and began to glow white.
At first, nothing intense seemed to happen. The demons were just pushed back, forced to let go of the brothers, who hadn't felt any force from the pulse. Just as the two were about to turn and fight their enemies, however, the demons all had begun to scream. Their screams did not stop Dean from rushing over to Castiel, however. The angel's face was still peaceful, as if nothing had happened and he was still just sleeping quietly.
Slowly, the demons were vaporized, one by one, piece by piece. They screamed in agony as a white light enveloped them and then smote them completely, while Sam and Dean just watched. Dean looked to the demons, back at Cas, and then once again back to the demons.
…he's just been given better protection than all of us together could possibly provide him.
Dean remembered what the angel Ramiel had said before disappearing. Thus must have been what she was referring to. That shockwave that came from Cas hit an entire area, but only seemed to target the enemies, as if it knew who was threatening and who wasn't, despite the fact that technically only one demon was attacking Castiel.
What kind of angel magic was able to do something like that? Neither Sam nor Dean ever heard of that, and they easily assumed that Cas hadn't either (he hopefully would have mentioned something as powerful as this if he knew about it, at least).
"What the hell was that?" Sam asked, still staring at where a demon formerly stood. Now, the only thing that was in that's pot was a large pile of ashes. Dean looked at the ashes, to Sam, and then back to Castiel, whose body was in his arms, still limp and heavy.
"You think I know? Must've been whatever those archangels did to him," Dean replied.
"Well, good thing," Sam breathed a sigh of relief. But Dean couldn't help but get annoyed with him.
"Good thing? Sam, they did something to him! And we have no idea what it was but apparently it required some crazy sort of protection. I don't know, something doesn't seem right," Dean expressed. Yeah, was it good that they were no longer meat for a bunch of powered-up demons? Of course.
"You know I didn't mean it like that Dean," Sam said, also getting irritated. He knew Dean was worried about Cas, but he was acting as if Sam wasn't also worried. He was, he just was also more practical; if it hadn't been for whatever just came from Cas, all three of them could potentially be dead or worse.
Sam had a feeling Crowley had put out some sort of bounty on him after what had happened the other day between them. He was not interested in being the King of Hell's torture plaything after trying to kill him and apparently reawakening his more demonic self.
"We can't go back to the bunker, Sam." Dean finally said, picking up Castiel and gently placing him back into the car. Sam looked confused.
"What? Why?"
"Because there's no way that it is completely safe right now. There might be more demons or whatever around. We don't want any of them following us there."
Sam thought for a moment before conceding, "Good point. Where do you suggest we go, then?"
Dean sighed, walking back around to the driver's side of the Impala.
"I don't know. I'll just…drive."
