Chapter 4
Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala reading a book in the middle of some field in Oklahoma. The reason for this was scowling in concentration a few dozen meters away and periodically chasing thin air.
Deans abilities had continued to skyrocket as the weeks continued, it had gotten to the point where Castiel had all but ordered them to avoid large population centers until Dean got a handle on his new sight. The 'thin air' he was chasing was actually Cas. Cas was in his true form on a different layer of reality. Dean couldn't actually see him, but what he could see more or less amounted to ripples. Like when a fish suddenly darts away without actually breaking the surface of the water. You never see the fish, but if your watching can see the eddy. It was actually pretty funny to watch.
He heard a distinctly gleeful "AH HA!" out of Dean followed by a flash of light and a pained yelp from the Hunter. Sam almost shot off the hood and across the field to where Dean had fallen - nearly out of sight in the long grass. The swearing at least told him Dean hadn't hurt himself too badly. Cas appeared abruptly right in front of him, leaning over Dean. Sam sidestepped before he ran into the angel and looked down at his brother as well. Dean was glaring at his hand, his fingers looked a bit scorched. Like he'd gone and touched something a little too hot, he wasn't really burnt, just singed a bit.
"The fuck was that?" he demanded giving Cas a rather offended look at the apparent zapping. Cas was staring at Dean, dumbfounded.
"You…" he fell silent apparently not sure how to phrase most recent bout of impossible.
"Dude, spit it out. The fuck just happened?" Cas gave himself a little shake.
"You…you managed to touch my true form even though another plane of reality." He almost stuttered it out. Sam and Dean stared at him.
"What?" Dean echoed, stunned. Cas reached out and tugged Deans scorched hand into better view.
"You're barely even harmed." He muttered, amazed. "At the least grazing my true form like that should have left you severely burnt! If not without your hand. But…you're barely even hurt." Dean and Sam both stared at his hand as well.
"This is starting to get absurd." Sam finally muttered, with a shake of his head. Dean shot his brother an agreeing look. Cas was still frowning.
"Dean, what do my wings look like to you right now?" Dean blinked and studied him.
"Uh…kinda like smoky quartz with this like, silvery blue color on the ends." Cas stared at him, looking mildly disturbed by this.
"You couldn't see the blue three days ago." he finally said. Dean had a helpless shrug and sat up.
"Dude, you're the angel, I have no idea what's going on, sorry." Castiel sighed and nodded straightening up as he did so.
"I wish I could consult with the others on this." He fretted. Looking at Dean with worry. Dean picked himself up off the ground.
"We both know they would either try to kill me or use this to make me say Yes somehow." He argued, Cas nodded, looking tired.
"I know, but I worry that this will harm you. I almost cannot sense my grace within you anymore." The other two frowned.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked worriedly. "I thought your grace was what was doing this?" Cas tilted his head to the side, staring at Dean hard.
"I can sense this Grace the way I do because quite simply it is my Grace. In the last week or so I have begun to lose touch with it. It is still there and just as powerful, if not more so, but it is not quite….mine, anymore." He looked troubled by this. Dean was looking at Cas with a slightly particular frown on his face. Sam wasn't quite sure what that one meant, he'd never really seen it much before, and only with Cas it seemed.
"Is that hurting you?" Dean asked.
"No, loosing that tiny of a piece of Grace can't really hurt me." Dean nodded slowly, eyeing Cas suspiciously.
X X X
One week later.
Dean cursed loudly as the trickster vanished again. He could tell he was practically right where he'd been a second before though, watching them. Dean got a slight glint in his eyes. "Hey Sam?" Sam looked from where Loki had been standing to him. "Close your eyes for a second would you?" Sam starred at him for a moment before his lips twitched ever so slightly into a smile before he ironed the expression flat and nodded. Dean waited until Sam's eyes were closed. Looking carefully the way he had been practicing he spotted Loki still parked right in front of them just slightly outside of this little pocket dimension. Dean lunged.
The high pitched shriek of surprise was highly gratifying even if it did make his ears ring. Dean sniggered as Loki beat a hasty retreat. Even through his amusement though he couldn't help but think that he'd never heard a pagan god make a sound like that, not even when he killed them. But he knew something else that sounded like that…
The only question was what the hell they were going to do about it.