Feathery Surprise
"Cas?" He mumbled, unable to believe what his eyes were telling him. Slowly, he rubbed his face, the last traces of sleepiness now gone. The image before him did not change.
On the door stood the angel, his vessel's face now covered in blood, one of his eyes purple and swollen.
"Oh, crap. Castiel, what happened to you?" Asked Sam, helping his friend into the room. "How did you find us?"
"I... I do not remember, Sam. I woke up two streets down. I saw the Impala. This is the third door I knock on."
"But... what happened to you? You are bleeding"
"The blue eye is courtesy of your neighbor. He is not a very nice man."
At the sound of Castiel's voice Dean woke up, his naked torso half-covered in the almost-transparent sheets of their two-star motel, the dark ink of his tattoo visible even through it. "What'swrong?" Asked Dean, his words barely recognizable from slumber.
"Cas" Was all Sam said. But it was enough to get Dean on his feet.
"He decided to answer the angel phone now?" He grabbed a nearby sweater, one of Sam's probably, since it was too long, but was interrupted before he had the chance to put it on.
"I didn't answer any phone" Came Cas' voice, strained from the effort it took to move the bruise that was his mouth.
"Dude, I have been calling you for days now." Dean's finger was pointing to where the chest of the shadow in front of him should be according to his anatomical knowledge, the other hand still grasping the piece of cloth. "I even learnt a new pr..." He stopped midsentence when he got near enough to Cas and Sam to see what the problem was. "What the hell happened to your face?" In one practiced movement Dean grabbed Castiel's chin and inspected the rest of his face, analyzing the amount of damage done. Sam recognized the movement; he used to do that for Sam when he was a boy. "It's not too bad. You do look like shit, tho."
"He doesn't remember it happening" Informed Sam, already going through the contents of his first-aid kit.
Dean got the sweater on in one fast movement and took the alcohol from Sam's hand to start disinfecting the numerous wounds on Cas' face. Freaking angel probably doesn't even know how to do that, thought Dean when he saw said creature's lost look. Then he backtracked to what Sam had just said. "What do you mean you don't remember? Someone beat the crap out of you and you just what... forget about it?"
"Yesterday, I was in London with Gadreel going through some...angel stuff. Then I woke up near here and my face hurts"
"Of course it hurts, you bitch. You are covered in scratches" Dean had to fight against Castiel's need to avoid pain while Sam bandaged the angel's hand which, apparently, had been broken.
"Cas, this looks like quiet a fight. Not just an angry neighbor kind of thing" Commented Sam unconsciously, not really realizing he had just given up too much information until Dean gave him a hard look.
"Angry neighbor?"
"Yes, your neighbor hit me in the eye. He didn't believe I was an angel of the Lord looking for two boys"
Dean rolled his eyes. "Of course he didn't, Cas. Now, why haven't you been answering? I get Heaven is going wild with what you...what happened with purgatory but we do have to deal with the Leviathans, you know?"
"Sorry, Dean. I don't know what is going on, I didn't hear any of it. "
"Like Hell you haven't! I've been calling non-stop for like three days!" It is true Dean had had a hard time forgiving Cas after all that happened, but he also realized he had been through this before. With Sam. Cas had become a friend, maybe something more since all their friends ended up dead and Cas wasn't yet. And after losing Bobby... he didn't want to keep losing people. Even if it meant breaking them. Dean sighed and headed back to his bed; he had been trying so hard to avoid thinking about this and now it had happened so smoothly he had hardly noticed it. It hurt Cas to be with them. It broke him. Angels aren't supposed to care about humans.
"Dean? Is something wrong?" Asked Sam, turning on all the lights. They might as well admit they weren't going to get any sleep that night.
"Just thinking about the case" Lied Dean, looking at the two men that shared the tiny motel room with him. Couple years back he would have laughed, now... now it seemed like an everyday kind of deal. Privacy was a luxury they hadn't been able to afford for years now.
"What case?" Cas' voice was still a little muffled but he did look better. Since the boys didn't have ice, he was holding a cold beer against his face.
It didn't take long for the Winchesters to put Castiel to date, especially since they knew so little about it all. For a while none of them spoke, too deep in thought in Sam's case, or at a total loss in Cas' and Dean's.
"Hey, maybe it's the whore... she reads minds, right?" Said Dean suddenly.
"The whore?" More than a real question it was an accusation. Sam didn't seem to believe that in the slightest beat.
"Yeah, the whore of, something"
"The whore of Babylonia, Dean. And it's not her" Both Winchesters looked at the angel in the room. He stared back.
"How do you know that?"
"Because...I'm an angel"
"That means you have wings, not that you are always right!"
Sam stared at the two men discussing the whore theory.
"She is dead, you two" He said finally. "Dean somehow killed her. Can there be more than one, Cas?"
"Not in such a little amount of time, no. That would be an impossibility"
"Why didn't you tell me that, instead of the 'I'm an angel' bullshit?" Complained Dean.
Sam rolled his eyes and grabbed a beer. This was getting them anywhere near to solving the case.
"Maybe whatever it is can read minds, that's how he/she/it attacks. " Offered Sam, after a while of thinking.
"Is that possible? To have fear be your only power?"
"Wait... that sounds familiar."
"This? Seriously, dude? You are such a geek"
"I read about it somewhere" Said Sam in his defense, as he started looking among the many pages he had printed.
"Where, Alice in Wonderland?"
"Don't be silly, Dean That's from Twilight" Once again, Castiel was the center of attention. Even Sam had stopped looking through his pages.
"How in the world did you even know that, Jabberwocky?" Inquired Dean, trying his best to keep himself from bursting out laughing. Sam was just staring in awe.
"I don't sleep"
"So you, what? Read fairytales?"
"No, I watched the movie. It was a bad one."
"... Okay"
"I read it on an asian folklore book." Sam searched for a little while longer before separating a page from the rest. "Here. They're called Satori. Japanese demons that can read minds and attack their victims until they drive them insane"
"You think that's what we are dealing with?" Asked Dean, taking the page his brother was offering him. He did a quick scan of what was on the page and passed it to Cas. "Maybe whatever it is we are dealing with is the reason why Cas didn't hear my prayers. Or got used as a boxing sack"
"How do we know if it is a Satori or not?" Wondered Cas out-loud. He had never really been in an investigation full-time, nor had he ever been affected the way he was now. He couldn't even use his powers to heal himself.
"We... go out there and get as much information we can" Was all Sam could think of, sleep taking over his body once again.
"We can search that tomorrow" Agreed Dean, heading for the bed. "I think New Moon is playing on FOX, Cas. Knock yourself out"
"What is New Moon?"
Both brothers laughed before falling asleep once again, leaving a very confused angel watching over them.
