They have been searching for about two hours when they stumble across a freshly burnt body. None of the nature around it has been damaged, telling them it's connected to their case. They walk deeper in between the trees.
Suddenly the trees open up to a clearing with a huge tree in the middle. They look around, seeing animals hiding in the branches of the gigantic tree, but no sign of the man in loincloth.
However, when they turn around, he's right behind them, towering three heads above Sam, dark skin, long beard and a grin as vicious as the wicked witch. He's wearing a loincloth just as the insane man had described, and his eyes shines like fire. He reaches out a hand, touching Dean's forehead. Dean's eyes widen, and he fumbles for his gun. Just as they reach their guns, the man dissolves into nothingness.
A rumble off to their left catches their attention. They turn around to see the biggest clawed foot they had ever seen, make contact with the ground, tearing down the trees around it. They look up as they start backing away, to see a big dinosaur like head with glinting red eyes look down on them. It opens it's mouth, letting out a rumbling growl as hot breath comes down at them like a strong wind.
They break into a sprint away from the huge dragon. "I thought dragons was in human shape these days!" Dean shouts at Sam as they sprint as fast as their feet can carry them, Castiel galloping beside them, not wanting to leave them behind.
"I thought so too!" Sam shouts back.
As they run, a great big hole opens in the ground up front. Dean's the first to see it and yells for them to stop. Unfortunately, Sam's long legs won't cooperate. He tries to stop, even tries to throw himself backwards, but he'd been running too fast to be able to stop this abruptly.
"SAM!" Dean yells as he sees his brother starting to fall. Sam just manages to catch a glimpse of his brother's pained expression just as the world seems to start spinning. He feels a pull at his neck, and hits his head at something before he suddenly feels himself lying on the ground. His sight is blurry for a second, and as it clears, he sees a horse's mule over him.
"Fairies!" He hears Dean shout, and feels himself being dragged to his feet, stumbling along as they start to run again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean feels like his heart stops when he sees Sam falling. Sam looks him in the eyes, and he can see his brother is afraid. Dean wants to jump in after him, but just as he readies himself, Cas shoots forward and bites onto Sam's Jacket collar, yanking him back. Sam falls to the ground, hitting his head.
Dean lets out a breath of relief, but something about the hole catches his attention. He carefully walks closer, now seeing the hole lighting up from below. It's a strange pink light, getting stronger and stronger, until a few faster rays of light reach the edge. Fairies. Dean can never forget the sight of those small naked things.
"Fairies!" he screams as he stumbles to Sam's side, pulling him up. First, Sam struggles to keep up, but they gather speed as they go. However that proves to not be enough. Some of the fastest fairies are by Dean's side, pulling his hair, scratching at his face, biting his skin.
"They're catching up!" he yells. That was a mistake. A fairy finds it's way into his mouth, choking him, as others keep pulling his hair and clothes. More and more of them gathers around him, and pulls at the bottom of his jeans, eventually making him stumble and fall. He tries to get up, hitting and pulling at the fairies, but they keep covering him up, trying to drag him down.
Castiel hears Dean stumble to the ground, and turns to help. He runs to his side, scaring off most of the fairies. He bites after them as Dean grabs them and toss them away. He gets back to his feet and again they run.
"They're gonna catch up again!" Dean shouts again. But he gets an idea. "You're fast! Let us ride you!" He realises too late how that sounds, and turns red as a tomato.
Castiel stumbles to a halt, swinging his head around to look at Dean, eyes wide, mouth open. He clearly heard what Dean just said, but it takes a while for him to get what he really means.
He nods.
Sam and Dean climbs onto his broad back. The whole thing is awkward. Castiel is a huge horse, but Sam is still a tall guy with long feet. He sits behind Dean, and they take a moment to arrange themselves. Sam gives in, and wraps his arms around Dean. Dean on the other hand, takes a firm grip of Castiel's mane.
Castiel imagined it would be much heavier than it is. It feels strange to have both Winchesters on his back, but he pushes his feelings down.
Every muscle in his body tenses, and then they're in full gallop.
Although the wound in his leg still hurts, he ignores it in favour of speed. It doesn't take long until they've outrun the fairies, but Castiel doesn't slow down until they've gotten far away.
Just as he thinks about slowing down, he sees a silhouette of a person up ahead. He stops somewhat abruptly almost making Sam and Dean fall off of him. They both climb down somewhat shakily, turning their attention to the silhouette.
Cas looks at the person, with his head slightly lowered, ears flat against his head. Suddenly it looks as if he recognizes the person. His head shoots up, as does his ears. He neighs, and takes a few steps forward.
A chuckle can be heard from the cloaked person coming out of the shadows. Both Sam and Dean reach for their guns, and look at each other for a second.
Castiel nods his head, and rears a bit, before he's back on the ground. He jumps a bit before closing in on the man. He looks so happy to see him.
"Sam. Isn't that the damn witch we were hunting?" Dean whispers as he points the gun at the witch.
"Looks like it. If the descriptions we got were correct." Sam whispers back.
"And that horse being so happy to see him must mean it's his familiar. He's been fucking with us all this time!" There's a tremble in his voice as he speaks. Sam looks over to him, full of regret for being so sure it was Cas they had been hanging out with.
The man in the cloak lifts a hand to stroke the horse's neck. It closes it's eyes as the hand connects with his skin.
Dean readies his gun, and aims for the horse's head. After all, he'd told the horse what he would do if he found out he wasn't Cas. His finger tightens on the trigger.
Sam looks nervously at his brother and back to the man and the horse. He isn't sure at all what to think. But if Dean shoots the horse, and it turns out to really be Cas, there will be no turning back. When he looks at Dean again, he can see a strange glint in his eyes. Like they are flames. Then he hears the man speak.
"Sorry 'bout that. Let's get you changed back huh, baby bro." the mischievous, silk smooth voice is unmistakeable. The man moves his hand up to the horse's forehead.
"DEAN NO!" Sam shouts and jumps on his brother, trying to move the gun away from the horse in time, but Dean is fast. The shot sounds louder than normal. Sam turns around to see where he'd hit.
There is no horse anymore.
"Castiel!" The man in the cloak screams.
He's standing alone.
Sam looks to the ground. Castiel is back. And he's collapsed on the ground. He lets go of his brother, as he takes a step toward the collapsed figure.
The cloaked man sinks to the ground beside him, the hood falling off his head, revealing him to be Gabriel. His expression is pained as he reaches over to his brother. He turns Castiel around, and sucks in a breath at the sight of his brother.
Castiel has a bullet wound in his chest, and he's bleeding furiously. He's gasping for air, but doesn't seem to be able to really breathe. "no, no, no, no..." Gabriel whispers, pulling Castiel onto his lap.
Castiel looks terrified as he looks into his brother's eyes. The pain is clear on his face.
"Can't you heal him?" Sam whispers too shocked to raise his voice.
"I'm trying! I used all my powers just to turn him back!" Gabriel looks lost when he meets Sam's eyes. It's terrible to see him like that. He'd always been the trickster, the one who always had a plan. They'd thought he died back when Lucifer got to him, but they had seen signs that he might have survived. Castiel had also been sure that Gabriel survived Lucifer. And now he's there right in front of them. Alive.
Sam turns to look at his brother. After all, he was the one who shot him.
Dean is staring in disbelief at Gabriel and Castiel. "What.. what happened.." He whispers. "How did he get here..? what happened to Cas?!" he's louder now.
"Dean... you shot him... you were convinced Gabriel was the witch and Cas was his familiar and you shot him before we were sure!" Sam shakes his brother.
"No! I realised he was Cas!" Dean stares back at Sam. There are tears in his eyes, and he looks absolutely horrified. His attention is drawn to Castiel as he hears him cough.
There is blood coming from Castiel's mouth, he's trembling, and his breathing is no more than shallow gasps for air. Gabriel has pulled off his cloak and is now pressing it to the wound in Castiel's chest, trying to stop the bleeding as Cas is propped up against his lap.
"Cas...?" Dean's voice is weak as he takes a step closer to his boyfriend. But the only reaction he gets is the most horrified expression he's ever seen on Cas, and Castiel trying to inch away from Dean as he shakily grabs Gabriel's arm. It results in more coughing and making it even harder to breathe.
He looks up at Gabriel, pleading. "I'm trying baby bro... I'm trying. Hang in there!" Gabriel pleads.
Dean can't believe it. Castiel is afraid of him. He doesn't want to be close to him. After all these years, and now he's afraid of him.
Sam is confused. Dean doesn't seem to remember what he'd done. He couldn't have been possessed, could he? He still had the anti-possession tattoo, didn't he? He grabs Dean's shirt and yanks it down to see the tattoo is still in place. Dean doesn't even notice.
"Cassie..? Brother!" Sam turns to Gabriel and Castiel, the terror in Gabriel's voice is unbearable.
Castiel's breath stutters some more, his hand goes limp slowly and slides to the ground.
His eyes loose their shine.
The stuttering breathing stops.
Castiel is gone.
Those beautiful blue eyes are now just empty, lifeless and dull. His skin is pale, his body once so strong, now looking small as it lays there, limp and covered in blood.
Gabriel frantically searches for a pulse he knows he won't find.
"No..." Dean breaths. He stumbles over, and falls to the ground beside Castiel. He strokes his hand down the other man's cheek. The tears now falling freely. He wraps his arms around the lifeless body, lifts him up onto his own lap. He hugs him. Kisses his forehead. Kisses his still lips. Hugs him tighter. He buries his face in Castiel's hair, as he rocks them both back and forth. The once so vibrant blue orbs staring lifelessly into nothingness.
Sam sinks down beside his brother, staring down at Castiel. He can't believe it. Yes, Cas has died countless times before and he always came back. But now he's human. There's no guarantee that God would still bring him back. And this time, Dean was the one pulling the trigger. Not some angel or leviathan. He looks over at his brother. Dean's a wreck. Rocking back and forth, trembling and sobbing.
"He was my last chance..." it was just a whisper, but Sam caught it. He turns his attention to Gabriel, sitting close by his brother.
"What do you mean Gabriel?" Sam asks quietly. Gabriel's teary eyes meets his.
"It has been hell after the angels fell. You use your powers, and they will look for you. You try go into hiding, not using any powers, but they still find you. It's like they're searching out every Angel they can find, either torturing them or killing them on the spot. Even if you're supposedly dead." Gabriel closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I was looking for Castiel, because he's the only one of my brothers and sisters that I'm willing to trust, even if he's human. I'd made it look like there was a witch in this town to lure you guys here, since it's the only way I could find you, but then Cassie snuck up on me and I accidentally turned him to a horse, using every bit of power I had left, so I had to go into hiding again to heal up enough to turn him back." He rubs a hand over his eyes, removing the tears that lingered there.
"I didn't think you cared about him that much..." Sam states carefully. "You know, thinking back to when you put us in TV-land and all. You weren't particularly kind to him." He adds.
"Oh, believe me. Had it been anyone else I'd probably kill them. Cassie is the one of my brothers I actually like. I watched over him when he was born. I was the only one who cared enough to do so..." He sighs then. "But we're getting him back." A determined expression replaced the hopelessness in his face. He even got some of his mischievous aura back.
"How so?" Sam asks hopefully. Cas is his best friend, and he's willing to do anything to get him back.
"The Kapre is a god of some sorts. He's a master of illusions, just like me, but his weak spot is this small white stone. If you find it, you get three wishes. Or at least one, I haven't really cared much about them before. And if you destroy it, you kill him, or sends him back to where he came from. Anyway, he won't be bothering the people here anymore at least. It's not really a stone though. It's some sort of glass or something, either way it's pretty easy to break." He thinks hard for a while before he continues. "Oh, yeah, don't let him near you though. He's got lots of nasty tricks. Like he turns you into animals, controls your mind... stuff like that. The only thing he needs, is a brief touch. He prefers the forehead since it's close to the brain."
"Son of a Bitch..." Sam mutters at this new piece of information. "He can control you even with the anti possession tattoo?" Sam bites his lip.
"Yup. Don't tell me that's what happened here!" Gabriel groans.
"He touched Dean" Sam sighs.
"Great, well then he's not trustworthy until this shit's done."
Dean looks like he hasn't heard a word of the conversation. He's still holding on to his Cas. Sam looks at him sadly.
"Let's get this over with right now." Sam stands, as does Gabriel. They look down at their brothers before leaving them to go find the Kapre.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It only takes them a few minutes until they find the clearing with the huge tree in the middle. Sam thinks it strange, because it had felt so long even when they were galloping through the forest. But he thinks about what Gabriel said about the Kapre being master of illusions. As far as they know, they'd only been walking in circles.
They can't see the Kapre anywhere, so Gabriel leads them towards the tree. He'd briefed Sam about there being no use to their weapons, since none would even hurt the thing. The only chance they have, will be to find the stone.
Sam looks up into the tree as they close in. there are lots of different animals up there. Deers, foxes, squirrels, bears, sheep, cows, there's even a horse or two in there. "What the hell...?"
"Yup, those are people. He made them into animals and put them in the tree to prevent them from escaping. They're his pets. And those burnt bodies you've seen? It's the people who escaped. They are told that if they get out of the forest, they will turn human again. But what he doesn't tell them is that they go insane and usually burn things to the ground. After a little while, they spontaneously combust and burn to coal without damaging the nature around it. The Kapre is very fond of animals and nature, you see. That's most likely why it chose to make Dean shoot baby bro... both because he wanted Dean to suffer, and he somehow knew I was turning him back to human." The spark of determination in Gabriel's eyes wavers for a moment. He then turns and gives Sam a half hearted grin.
When they reach the tree, they start searching for holes in the trunk, or rooms under the roots, looking for any hole big enough to contain a small stone. As they come back around to where they started, Sam freezes. He's staring toward where they'd come from.
"Gabe... didn't we walk for at least five minutes?" He stands stock still.
"Yeah, wh-" Gabriel shuts his mouth as he sees the same thing Sam does.
Dean is sitting in the same position as they'd left him in, except he's stopped rocking. He just sits there, clutching on to Castiel's body. They're only a few feet from the tree.
"We've fucking been here the whole time! That clever fuck! He can't change the position of the tree, but he can make up illusions around it, and make it feel like you're walking straight ahead for hours, but actually you might be walking in a very small circle." Gabriel facepalms at that.
"You're very clever yourself for figuring that out. But perhaps one should expect that from an Arch Angel of the Lord." The very dark, rumbling voice is carried by the wind.
"Your speech pattern is terribly modern I must say!" Gabriel shouts at the Kapre. He's no where to be seen at this point, but he hopes to lure him out.
"Oh, you pick up a thing or two when you're as close to these hairless apes as I have been for so many years." The Kapre responds.
"Then perhaps you've picked up that they like doing stuff face to face!" Gabriel tries putting mockery in his voice.
"Oh yes. Indeed they do." The Kapre appears just behind Sam then. Sam just manages to jump out of reach before the Kapre manage to reach out to him. As he turns he catches a glimpse of something small and white hanging from the side of the loincloth.
Sam looks at Gabriel, and the Angel nods in confirmation. He's seen it too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean lifts his head from Castiel's hair. His tears have dried up, leaving him red and puffy around the eyes. He looks down at Castiel's face, his eyes still staring dead. He puts his fingers gently on Cas's eyelids, carefully pulling them closed. He kisses his forehead again, not wanting to let go. However much he wants to hold his dead boyfriend, he can't. He lays him down very carefully, arranging him into a somewhat comfortable position and stroking the dark hair away from his forehead.
Dean looks up with murder in his eyes. He watches his brother and Gabriel dance around the Kapre for a while, trying to read the Kapre's movements. Sam jumps for the stone at the Kapre's hip, but the giant is too fast. He jumps out of the way, touching Sam as he flies past him. When Sam get's up, he has the same strange shine in his eyes as the Kapre for a few seconds, and then he pulls out his gun, starting to shoot at Gabriel.
It only took Dean a few moments to realize the stone on the Kapre's hip is fake. The Kapre doesn't really care if they get their hands on that stone, although it provides a nice distraction. He can see it in the way the Kapre moves. Not really caring too much about the stone on his hip. However, he's very interested in watching where his opponents are at all times.
Without drawing attention to himself, Dean sneaks off into the cover of the bushes and Trees around the clearing. It crushes his heart to leave Castiel on the ground, but he has to. He'd heard Gabriel tell Sam about the stone, even if it didn't look like he heard anything in his grieving state.
Sneaking around the clearing, hidden by trees and bushes, he makes sure not to step on anything that would make any noise. He keeps watching the Kapre and the huge tree in the middle. The Kapre keeps looking towards the tree at some points when it is sure none of his opponents looks at him.
After awhile, Dean finally finds what he is looking for. There is a nest in the tree, but there are no birds. Not even one. None of the animals in the tree are even close to the nest, like they had been placed far out of reach on purpose.
Dean gets around to the other side of the clearing, to the other side of the tree, meaning he's out of sight of the Kapre.
He makes a run for it. He runs as fast as his feet can bare him, and jumps up to catch onto a branch of the tree, and climbs. When he's high enough in the tree, he starts making his way to the front where the nest is. He'd expected the animals to attack him, but when he's met by a cat on his way to the front, he find's it's scared stiff. It only stares at him, almost pleadingly. Dean ignores it and keeps moving.
When he finally reaches the nest, it's filled with eggs. All of them are white, and all of them are cold. He turns them all around in his hands, weighing them to make sure they're all eggs. They all weigh the same. He's about to give up, when he sees the tiniest black dot on one of the eggs. He looks one more time on all of them, and they all have it except for one. And now that he really looks at it, it's slightly whiter than the others.
A scream draws his attention. He looks down to see that Gabriel has been shot in the arm. The worse part however is that Sam is pointing the gun at Dean. The Kapre staring at him too.
Dean hides the white egg, and pushes the nest out and onto the ground. The Kapre looks shocked and hurries over to the nest, catching it just in time, but his gaze turns angry as he looks back up to Dean in the tree, and smashes the eggs in the nest.
"I'll smash it to bits if you even try to do anything!" Dean shouts at the giant. The Kapre takes a few steps back.
"What can I do for you, young man?" The dark voice of the Kapre sounds loud in the clearing.
Dean looks at the Kapre a bit more, before he climbs down from the tree. He glares the giant in the eyes, then looks over to his brother's who's standing by, waiting for the Kapre's orders. Gabriel is standing not far off, gripping the wound in his arm.
Dean slowly walks over to where Castiel is lying. "I only have one question. How did you get out of my posession?" The dark voice asks.
"I dunno. But it might have something to do with you making me murder him." Dean responds, pointing down at Castiel on the ground. "Bring him back to life." He adds.
The Kapre stares at him. "I am not able to do that."
"Then I will not hesitate to crush this." Dean takes the egg out from his pocket.
"Hold on!" The Kapre takes a step towards him, his hand stretched out towards the egg.
"I order you to bring Castiel back to life!" Dean shouts at the giant. It looks like it thinks it over for a moment, then nods.
The giant loincloth wearing man walks over and kneels by Castiel, placing one finger on the bullet wound in his chest. He lifts it up, and out comes the bullet. Other than that, nothing happens.
"I've done what I can. Now please give me my stone back" The Kapre stares at Dean, Sam pointing the gun at him now.
Dean's angry. There's no sign of life from Castiel.
"Well, go ahead! Shoot me! I'll destroy your fucking stone for not bringing Castiel back!" He shouts first at his brother, then the Kapre.
He tightens his grip around the egg-looking stone, aiming to crush it in his hand.
Nothing happens.
Dean stares at the stone in shock. It resembled an egg in so many ways, that he was sure it would be crushed in his hand if he clenched it. He looks at Gabriel then, hoping for an answer. He only gets a shrug in return. Then he remembers his brother with the gun.
He jumps to the ground just in time to dodge the bullet. He doesn't have time to think, as Sam keeps pointing his gun at him. Dean rolls to his feet, sprinting towards Sam. He'd been counting Sam's shots, and he would only have one bullet left at this point.
The one bullet he has left, is now travelling towards Dean at high speed. It hits him in his shoulder, making him stagger back a bit, but he ignores the pain as best as possible as he resumes his running. Sam pulls the trigger again, but nothing comes out. He looks confused at the gun, but then Dean's there. He grabs the gun, whispering an apology as he hits Sam in the back of his head with it. His brother collapses to the ground immediately.
The Kapre's enraged. While glaring at Dean, He makes the animals in the tree come down to the ground. They all look confused, but then the Kapre speaks. "I will free the one who kills these scum and retrieves my precious stone unharmed"
Both Gabriel and Dean look at each other, then at the animals. They are all staring at them, considering their best option. Looking down on Sam, Dean now greatly regret hitting him unconscious.
Luckily, Gabriel comes jogging to his side, helping him with Sam. They drag him between them, as they back off from the animals. Dean pulls out his gun, aiming at them. None of them are scared of it.
"Gabe, you think you can get Sam out of here?" Dean looks at him, then back at the animals.
"Hells yeah, I'm still strong!" as if to prove it, he grabbed onto Sam and hefted him over his shoulder. It looks hilarious to say the least. And then he's gone. The little man is fast!
Dean's shocked for a moment at the speed of the small man, but right now he has other things to worry about. Like a bunch of violent animals for instance.
The previously scared cat is now hissing at him, ears flat, the fur raised. It approaches him sideways, it's claws ready to strike.
One of the horses are closing in, it's whole body language screams violence.
A dog's barking at him, a cow is aiming it's hard scull towards him, a bear makes itself huge as it walks towards him on two legs.
He has to destroy the stone.
He looks down at the gun in his hand, and hits his head for being so stupid.
Dean tosses the stone far up into the air, regretting it when pain shoots through his entire body from his shoulder, but hastily pulls up his gun and shoots the Damn stone on it's way down.
It bursts into a million tiny pieces.
He hears the Kapre scream in anger and agony and turns just in time to see the giant burst into similar tiny pieces. The huge tree in the middle catches fire, and the animals turns into the humans they once were. Or so Dean thought.
Apparently some of them has been animals for so long, they don't even remember being so. And so, they charge at Dean. His gun gets knocked to the ground, and away from him, the humans pulling him down, poking their fingers into his wound, making him scream in pain.
Even if they're in the open woods, making most of the smoke from the burning tree flow freely to the sky above, some of the fumes still spread out over the ground. The humans, being so used to the animal senses, realises they're in great danger, and leaves Dean alone as they run for the woods, away from the fumes.
Dean however isn't that lucky, He lays on the ground, writhing in pain for a few moments until he manages to get up. He knows he's in danger of chocking on the fumes, but he has to get Castiel. He tries covering his mouth as he stumbles over to where Castiel still lays motionless.
Dean tears off his T-shirt and puts it over Castiel's mouth and nose, protecting him from breathing in the fumes, refusing to believe he's dead. He lifts him up, and walks them out of there. It hurts his shoulder damn much, but he doesn't care.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean doesn't know how far or for how long he's walked, but now, his shoulder hurts too much to bare, and he's having trouble breathing after coughing all the way. He falls to his knees, still careful not to do any damage to Castiel, as he lays him down carefully. He gets a coughing fit worse than he's had before, and he lays down beside Castiel, trying to calm down and breathe.
After a while of breathing exercises, he finally manages to breathe somewhat properly. The pain and the coughing has exhausted him however, and so he's slowly slipping away into sleep.
He looks over at Castiel's face. His T-shirt has slipped down, laying beside him on the ground. His head had lolled over to the side, letting Dean see his whole pale face. He can feel tears prickling in his eyes, and he closes them, turning his face away. He falls asleep, the tears still in the corners of his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean jolts awake at a gasping sound beside him. Eyes wide, he turns over to look at Castiel.
He's alive.
Castiel is alive!
The other man is in a halfway sitting position, his eyes as wide as they possibly can be, breathing hard as if he'd been forced to hold his breath for way too long. He looks down at his body, then he touches his chest in awe.
Dean can't keep his tears back now. He's so happy, and not to mention relieved that his Castiel is back. Maybe the Kapre did what he asked after all.
Dean is still exhausted though, and he feels himself slipping away again, but not before seeing the terrified expression Castiel has on his face when he sees Dean beside him. And feeling the heartache as Castiel scuttles away from him. Dean's tears fall, and his eyes shuts as he drifts off to sleep again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Castiel's heart is racing as he sees Dean by his side. He remembers seeing Dean shoot him. But he also remembers seeing that terrible shine in his eyes that the Kapre had, and he'd known it wasn't really Dean who shot him. But it still hurt, knowing it's your loved one killing you. Killing. How is he alive right now? and where are Sam and Gabriel? And the Kapre?
He looks around frantically, but sees no one. They are all alone in a fairly dense part of the forest. He looks down to Dean again, realizing he's passed out, fresh tears fallen down his cheek, some still stuck by the bridge of his nose, and the wound in his shoulder looking awfully sore. Why is his chest bare?
Castiel finds his T-shirt on the ground, he picks it up, and out of curiosity he smells it.
It smells like fire and smoke.
So that's why.
He looks back at his lover, crawling closer to the man. He strokes his cheek, then moves his attention to the wound in his shoulder. It looks like a bullet wound, and it's been there for a while without being attended to. Without their first aid kit, Castiel can't do much. He tears Dean's T-shirt into smaller pieces, wraps it as good as possible around the man's shoulder, and ties it down good.
He drags them both over to a tree and arranges Dean into a somewhat comfortable position against himself. He sits against the tree, letting Dean rest against his chest in a sideways position, Castiel's leg supporting his back, the other slung over Dean's legs. He wraps his arms around him and rests his head on Dean's. He's nervous that Dean might not be himself, but he tries to ignore it.
They sit like that for a long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam awakes with a terrible headache and groans. "Dean.. what happened?" he asks.
"Your brother hit you with your own gun. You kinda deserved it for shooting him though."
That's not Dean. Sam sits up abruptly, making himself dizzy. He ignores it and looks around to find Gabriel watching him.
"So, sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up?" Gabriel grins.
"Where's Dean?!" he groans again at the pain in his head, reaching up to feel the bump in the back of his head.
"He was still in the clearing the last time I saw him." Gabriel shrugs.
"You left my brother alone with the damn Kapre?! We need to get back there!" Sam gets up from the ground. Gabriel, knowing there's no point in arguing about it, shows him the way back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What the hell happened here...?" Sam breaths as they walk around the clearing. The Tree has burned to the ground, and there's signs of a struggle, but there's no bodies anywhere. Even Castiel's body is gone. "Dean must have won, and carried Castiel away..." he adds when he can't see him.
They walk over to where he'd been laying, finding the faintest traces of the two of them moving.
They follow the traces.
It only takes a little while until they finally find them. But it's not how they pictured it. It's the exact opposite of how they pictured it. Instead of Dean sitting on the ground, holding Cas close, it's Cas who's holding him close. Although it looks as if Dean's the one who arranged their bodies like that, giving that Castiel's dead, and his arms and legs are laying limp around Dean. However, Dean is also way too motionless and pale, and the bandage around his shoulder seems wrong somehow. It's tied in a position impossible for Dean to have made it.
Sam and Gabriel suck in a breath at the same time, holding it as they approach the two.
There's a movement, but it's not the movement they expected.
Castiel tightens his grip, and lifts his head, looking at Sam and Gabriel.
They both let their breaths out at the same time, whispering "Castiel" as they look into the impossibly blue orbs.
Castiel smiles a faint smile at them, then looks down at Dean who's become more pale since he'd wrapped his wound.
"We need to get out of here, and patch him up." He rasps. It's his first time talking in quite some time.
Sam lets out a huff of a laugh and agrees. Both he and Gabriel helps Castiel with Dean, and they get out of the forest as fast as possible with their injuries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam rents them two rooms at a different motel than the one they'd stayed in earlier, they'd stolen the covers and pillows from their room after all. They carry Dean inside and places him carefully on the bed. Castiel sits down on the other bed to catch his breath. Although there's not really a wound in his chest anymore, it still hurts like hell and it's somewhat hard to breathe at times because of the pain. His leg still hurts from the other bullet wound, and he has bruises around his neck after being strangled by the rope he'd been tied up with as a horse.
Sam immediately starts cutting off the fabric around Dean's wound, finding the tweezers they had in case they ever got shot. He starts poking in Dean's wound, and triumphantly pulls the bullet out. He pours alcohol into the wound, trying to disinfect it, but doesn't sew it shut, as Dean's still out of it. It could get worse if Dean awoke while he was sewing and jerked out of his grasp or something.
Being done with Dean for the moment, he moves on to Gabriel. Even if the Angel had tried to cover it up, Sam realized he was hurt. "Show me your wound Gabe."
Gabriel just glares at him. He gives up soon though, looking at those puppy eyes won't ever let you stay mad or anything for too long.
He rolls up his sleeve, showing him the bullet wound in his bicep. Sam frowns and sticks his tweezers into the wound. Gabriel whimpers at the feeling, but stays still. When the bullet is out, Sam pours alcohol on the wound, and sews it shut.
"I'm sorry I shot you. I guess I'm to blame for the both of you being shot..." Sam sighs and sit down in a chair beside Gabriel.
"No worries! You got possessed by the giant. Not your fault Sammy!" Gabriel grins.
"It's Sam!" Sam frowns at the nickname. Only Dean is ever allowed to call him that occasionally, and even he's not allowed to, most times.
"Hey, Cas... are you feeling alright?" Sam looks at Castiel. Although he's in pain, he actually feel ok.
"Yes, Sam, thank you for asking. It's good to be in human form again. It was tiring not being able to talk." Castiel smiles a bit.
"Let me look at your chest?" Sam gets up from the chair and walks over to Castiel. Cas nods, pulling his shirt up. He has a nasty bruise spreading all over his chest. "Is it ok if I touch? I just need to see if anything's broken." Sam adds. Again, Castiel nods. He straightens his back and braces for the pain he know will come from the touch.
Sam feels over the bruise, pressing harder some places. Luckily, nothing seems broken, and he stands back up, smiling down at Castiel. "Looks like it's just a very nasty bruise." Sam grins. "It's good to have you back, man!" He bends down and hugs Castiel careful not to hurt him.
"Thank you Sam, it is good to be back." Castiel replies with a smile, hugging Sam back.
A groan from the other bed draws everyone's attention.
Dean frowns and then finally awakes.
"Dean!" Sam hurries over to him. "Finally! Hey, man, I need to stitch your wound, ok?"
"Ughh.. Couldn't you've done so while I was out?!" Dean groans again.
"You know as well as I do that's not a good idea." Sam chuckles. He grabs the needle, burns it and pours alcohol over it, and stitches the wound shut. "There. All done." Sam smiles. He then clears his throat. "I guess you two have a lot to talk about. Me and Gabe'll retreat to the other room." Before Gabriel have time to protest, he's dragged out the door by Sam.
Dean turns to look at Cas then. His facial expression turning sad the moment he sees him. "I guess you don't want anything to do with me after everything that's happened lately." He mumbles and turns away.
"I was quite frustrated and hurt at first. My own lover not recognizing me, no matter how many hints I tried giving. And then he goes off breaking his promise to me, by getting drunk and getting into a fight at the bar, resulting in almost getting shot by the men he fought with. And even after taking a bullet for him, and carrying him home, he still didn't trust me. But I realized after being tied up for a while, that he only does it to try to protect himself, just in case it would turn out that I wasn't his lover after all." Castiel pauses to take a few steady breaths. It hurts to talk. "But it wasn't my lover that pulled the trigger. Yes it was his body, but not his mind." Castiel finishes.
Dean turns around, and sits up, looking at Castiel. They both stay silent for a while, just looking into each other's eyes.
"I love you." Castiel breaks the silence. Dean jumps out of his bed, approaching Castiel. He stands in front of him, staring down at him for a few moments, before bringing his hands up to cup his face, bending down to kiss him. Castiel moans into the kiss, partly because of the pain and partly because he's missed this so much.
Dean pulls back just slightly. "I've missed you so damn much! I love you, Cas. More than anything." Dean whispers. He pulls him back in for another kiss.
"Mph!" Castiel screws his eyes shut. Dean pulls away, looking worried at Castiel.
"What's wrong Cas?" he looks him over, but he can't see more than the dried up blood from the wound he know is gone.
"My chest still hurts" Castiel clarified, and pulls his shirt up to show Dean the bruise. Dean sucks in a breath at the sight.
"I'm so sorry..." he breathes.
"No, Dean, it is ok. I just need to rest for a bit and I will be fine." Castiel smiles reassuringly. "But I do wonder. How am I alive?" He tilts his head in question.
"I found the Kapre's stone and ordered him to bring you back. But you didn't wake up, so I thought it lied to me, and I destroyed the stone, making him explode into tiny bits, and making his tree burn down... You didn't wake up until at least half an hour later..." Dean trails off, remembering with horror how cold and lifeless Castiel had been.
"Thank you, Dean." Castiel cupped his cheek. "Now, will you perhaps help me get rid of these clothes, and join me in bed?" He grins at Dean.
Mirroring Castiel's grin, Dean is happy to oblige. It takes a while to get their clothes off, since both of them are injured, but they are soon tangled in each others limbs under the covers. They kiss lazily for a long time, just enjoying each others taste and warmth.
Dean pulls away a little bit. "How did the barn catch fire?" he wonders out loud.
"I do not know exactly, but I heard someone outside, mumbling something about glowing eyes and a loincloth. Then the fire started from the outside. I imagine it was one of the Kapre's many victims." Castiel murmurs, looking into Dean's beautifully green eyes.
"I guess that explains the burnt body we found." Dean replies, leaning in to kiss Cas again. "Let's not repeat this, ok?" Dean then says, smiling wryly.
"Let us not." Castiel agrees, pecking Dean's lips, before burrowing his head in Dean's shoulder.
Dean sighs contently, and they both fall asleep like that.