The Water

ch 4

By: Jokers

Last chapter:

The Doctor turned to Cas, opening his mouth to ask what the angel thought about the situation. He stopped, however, when he caught sight of the celestial being in River's body. Cas was standing, body rigid and completely still, as he stared at the gunk. Then he began to shake slightly, his eyes filled with a mixture of confusion, pain and terror. His mouth opened, and he spoke so quietly The Doctor had to lean in to hear.

"Leviathans."

"You know what these things are?" Cas barely registered The Doctor's question, too busy searching for the memory he had pulled the name from. Was it from Heaven? No. A friend? No. Did he fight them? He didn't think so…then where?

Suddenly Cas was no longer in Cliff's back room. He was standing in a…library? There were books lining the walls, covering them from ceiling to floor. He tried to read the titles, but couldn't.

His head was filled to the brim with voices, so many he's afraid the thoughts will leak out his ears. They're all whispering to him, whispering so many different things it drowns out his own wants and need, giving him no choice to follow what the majority of them wish. The majority told him to look around.

There are people in the room, standing in a spot that when he first arrived they were in his blind spot. There are four of them, all men; two young, one older, one positively ancient. The ancient one told him he had bitten off more than he could chew, that he's released something far beyond his control. The majority ignores him. The man looks frail, but Cas can sense that his weak form is barely containing vast reserves of power. When Cas refuses to acknowledge him, he continues, irritated.

There were things far more powerful than souls in purgatory….Things far older than the angel…Leviathans. You cannot control them." A few of the voices listen, but the majority just snicker and declare the old man a fool.

One of the younger men stares at him, sad green eyes pleading with Cas to just listen. The other just stares at him, as though he isn't quite sure what to feel. Cas hears his own voice, a faint whisper in the back of his head begging for help. But he is not the majority.

He is standing in a cement room, the man with the sad eyes is in front of him. He is alone in his own head now; he can hear himself apologizing both mentally and aloud. The man 'Dean, his name is Dean. Dean Winchester, the righteous man' looks torn between being happy and angry. Then his head begins to hurt, and he is not alone anymore. The Leviathans appear, tearing his mind to pieces, and his is no longer a voice among any. He is just a broken scream.

The Leviathans walk into the water and disappear, leaving only Castiel's shattered Grace.

"Cas, are you alright?" Cas was back in Cliff's bar. The Doctor and Cliff were staring at him, both clearly worried.

"I am fine." He wasn't, but he didn't want to tell them that. The Doctor looked like he was about to have an aneurism if anything was wrong. Cas remembered that Doctor was in love with his vessel, and was most likely just concerned about her.

Cliff looked skeptical, but he didn't voice his suspicions. Instead, he asked, "So what do ya know about these freaks?"

Cas nodded hesitantly, "I believe so. Myself and," Cas didn't know how to describe Dean and the staring man, "some friends of mine encountered them. They are very old monsters. I'm not completely sure, but…" Cas closed his eyes and tried to focus on the memory of the Leviathans' voices. Snatches of conversations and arguments (mostly arguments) shifted in and out of his mind. They varied in tone and…vocabulary choice (Cas was not aware that one could speak only in swear words), but they mostly boiled down to one thing: hunger. And the source of their hunger was…Cas winced, feeling sick, "I believe they consume human organs."

"So these things are in more than one place? Shit." The Doctor nodded enthusiastically, and Cas couldn't help but agree. Shit was a very good description of the situation.

"Do you know how to, uh, kill them?" The Doctor would rather resolve the situation in any way other than killing. Somehow, though, he didn't think that would to work out.

Cas shook his head, looking regretful. Cliff sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll get ta reasearchin' the bastards then." Cliff pulled a paper from his pocket and handed it to the Doctor, "Here's the police station's address. Ask fer James Bristoll. He's the hunter's nephew I told ya about. Now get, I've got work to do." The Doctor nodded and left the room, Cas trailing close behind. Cliff wasn't the only one with work to do.

Alexander Mulch had work to do. Homework, to be specific. Homework, which corresponded to a heavy backpack. A heavy backpack, which corresponded to an inability to run away when Byron Davie, the hulking giant of Crestview High, and his goons began approaching him menacingly. For a moment, Alex considered ditching his backpack, but decided against it: the bullies could easily outrun him and Alex didn't want to chance losing his bag.

"Hey, fairy boy." Alex sighed. He hadn't the faintest idea why Byron thought he was gay. He had never been interested in a man before, and…well, he didn't think he was that subtle with his crush on Heather Marks. Privately, Alex liked to think that Byron was the homosexual one, and he covered it up by being a dick. It didn't make his ribs hurt less, but at least he could laugh about it later.

Byron reached Alex, a grin twisting his face. The larger boy grabbed the smaller one's shirt as one of the more muscular lackeys darted around Alex and seized his arms from behind.

"So, nerd. Finish your homework yet? Or were you too busy having dirty buttsex?" Alex wondered if Byron was capable of coming up with any creative insults, or if he got them all from some bad slice-of-life TV show. It would sure explain things. Alex's musings were interrupted by Byron's fist violently making contact with his stomach.

Alex didn't bother struggling. The boy holding his arms had arms the size of an elephants. Oh well, at least it's Tuesday. Tuesdays were good because Byron and his mooks met with the football coach at four instead of four thirty, thus sparing him a half an hour of torture. Alex shut his eyes, resolving to just let it happen. That usually made things go faster.

Alex's arms were released, and he fell flat on his face. He pushed up to his knees, looking around. All of the lackey brigade's members were backing away, looking horrified. At first, the teen couldn't think of anything that could make people like them so terrified, but then he caught sight of Byron and understood.

Byron was lying not five feet away, a gaping wound in his neck. Crouched over him was Vincent Craft, the kindly old man who ran the local grocer's. Alex didn't know whether Byron was dead, but he sort of hoped so. Otherwise…oh God, he didn't want to think about how that would feel. Alex shook his head, hoping he had hit his head and was hallucinating. No such luck.

The thing wearing Mr. Craft's skin looked up, its eyes blazing hungrily. It jumped on one of the escaping boys, snapping his neck with practiced ease. The monster smiled, blood dripping down its face and onto its shirt.

"Ah ah ah, running away is not allowed." The thing moved so fast Alex could barely follow it, catching each of the boys and dispatching them efficiently. Alex knew he should try to escape, but his limbs refused to make the attempt. Besides, he thought, the thing would just catch me.

The Creature stood and walked toward Alex, its movements far more fluid and graceful than Vincent Craft's ever were. Alex gulped, praying very fervently that his death would be quick. It wasn't.

It never even happened.

Instead, the thing leaned over him, breathing hot, smelly breath into his face. Alex quickly looked downwards, not wanting to see the thing's feverish eyes. Eventually, though, he tore his gaze from the ground and looked at the monster. There was a mad smile on its face.

"Why hello there, little monkey. Scared?" It chuckled, taking Alex's chin in his head and turning the boy's head first to the left, then to the right. Inspecting him. "Oh, don't be. I'm not going to eat you." The chuckle morphed into a full blown cackle that sent a shiver up Alex's spine.

After a few moments of maniacal laughter, the monster calmed down and looked at Alex speculatively. Its grin somehow got even wider. "Actually, that gives me an idea. I'm not going to eat you. I'm going to use you as my little messenger," The creature got even closer, whispering in the boys ear, "Tell the hunters that the Leviathans have come." Then, before Alex could say that he didn't understand, that there wasn't any wildlife in Crestview, much less people to hunt it, the Leviathan threw him on the ground. Alex was fairly sure he hit his head on a rock, but he wasn't quite sure. Everything got dark rather quickly.

A/N: So yeah. That happened. And…umm, I realized that I somehow kept calling Cliff Clay. I made that edit.