Chapter 4
Thank you to any one reading this! I would like to apologise for any spelling errors as I normally write these at past 22:00 and don't therefore proof read! Pls review!
Castiel ran desperately through the undergrowth, thorns battered his face and hands while catching at his clothing and pulling him back. What when he had first seen it had looked like a cluster of about 20 trees on further inspection had turned out to be a woodland area containing about 100 trees, and now he was paying the price for straying too far in. His family needed his help but he couldn't reach them quick enough. As he stumbled a rapid amount of gunshots filled the air. His running became frantic, he fell over as soon as he began to run again, blood gushed into his eyes from as cut on his forehead, he kept running, now blind he followed the noise of the gun.
He couldn't see as he exited the undergrowth, meaning he didn't see the ditch in front of him. He screamed as he fell down the 2 meters of the hole, luckily he landed on his chest and didn't crush his wings. Lying there he felt like crying, so he did, silently he sobbed to himself lying in the water at the bottom of the ditch, the water cleaned the blood from his face and eyes meaning he could see again. But it was no use, he was on the edge of unconsciousness and couldn't move, as the fall had broken his leg, he was helpless like a new born baby. He rolled onto his back and had to bite his lip so he wouldn't scream, that pain ended it for him. He lay there listening to the gun that was finishing off his siblings, he heard them die, an angels final scream echoed in his head like it would to any angel within a mile of there, that was what he listened to has he fell out of consciousness, he listened to a sibling he couldn't even identify dying, wishing for the blackness to take him away from this hellish place, a wish that it obliged.
"Luci!" he squealed as his older brother ran laughing while carrying Castiel on his shoulders, Castiel unfolded his small delicate wings and let the wind blow through them giggling, he felt like he could fly. This was a happy memory, it had happened exactly a month before Dad had left. It was November 25th, and Castiel's 4th birthday. That evening they had all gone out to beach after the sun set so no one was around and they could play freely. Uriel, Anna, Gabriel and Balthazar ran around Lucifer all yelling joyfully, Balthazar jumped on Gabriel's back and shouted a battle cry before tackling their 14 year old brother, Castiel clung laughing as Lucifer was knocked back by his brothers, resulting in all four of them sprawling in hysterics over the sand. Castiel hadn't realised at the time but now, in this relived moment, he sighted his oldest brother and father, Michael was grinning at his sibling while clutching Gadreel's hand so he didn't run off into the water he seemed infatuated with, Gadreel had just turned 1 a few months earlier but had begun walking at 8 months and was already obsessed running. Their father on the other hand looked on, an almost sad expression plastered on his face while he watched his children play, then he placed what seemed an apologetic hand on Michael's shoulder. This confused Michael obviously as he turned to question his father, who had just began to wonder off back to their motel room in the village.
Then Castiel was sinking into the sand, he cried out to his siblings for help, but they ignored him and laughed amongst themselves. He closed his eyes and mouth to stop sand getting in them, he didn't remember this. Faces flashed in front of him, they were from a few weeks after dad didn't come back and in the warehouse they'd moved into.
Lucifer was yelling at Michael "HE'S NOT COMING BACK, HE LEFT US! HE BETRAYED US!" Michael busied himself with lighting fire, anger rising on his face but not wanting to show it. "FOR FUCKS SAKE MICHAEL, LISTEN TO ME! THAT BASTARD LEFT US AND YOU STILL REMAIN LOYAL AS IF HE'S JUST GOING TO WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR! HE'S NOT! HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT US!"
"Yes he does" calmly stated Michael, still not making eye contact, but pissing Lucifer off.
"IF HE GAVE A SHIT HE WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT US! YOU KNOW THAT HE COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT US! ALL WE WERE WAS A BLOOD RELATION, HE DIDN'T SEE US AS HIS KIDS HE SAW US AS AN ANNOYANCE! SO STOP WAITING ON THAT SHIT HEAD!"
Michael snapped, turning sharply he grabbed his brother by his shirt and rammed him against a wall. Michael was 18 while Lucifer was only 14, there was no competition. "Don't you dare talk about him like that you unloyal…"
"What? You unloyal what brother?" snarled Lucifer trying to twist out of his brothers grip. Secretly terrified of this development.
"Yes he's left, no he's not betrayed us. And if you ever speak of him as you just did then, leave, and never come back" Michael snarled into his brothers ear, it was silent but each word had power behind it, not to mention hostility. "Nod if you understand" Whispered Michael, still hostile. Lucifer nodded, not looking at Michael, "Good", Michael dropped Lucifer and walked back to fire lighting as if nothing had happened.
Lucifer stood still watching his brother, and the side of him he had never seen before. Movement caught his eye as something ducked away from the hole in one of the boarded up windows, he ignored it. "I'm going for a walk" he called out warily to Michael, still shaken from what had happened.
"Be back by 8" responded Michael with a nod, acting as if nothing had happened. Lucifer ducked his head and walked out.
Castiel was scared, blackness was about to take him again and he had just witnessed something he couldn't remember ever occurring. But a nag in the back of his skull said it had. The image began to swirl around him, he felt sick, a voice hissed into his brain making it hurt 'Look what happened to your family, they were so happy, but then you made your dad leave, it's all your fault. If daddy hadn't left the mean hunters wouldn't have found your family, but now they're all dead, all your fault. And you couldn't even be there to try help. You failed Castiel, all you ever do is fail, you pathetic stupid little boy, why would anyone love you, they all hate you' angels appeared in front of him, his siblings, he ran at them crying but the more he ran the further away they got, he fell to the ground and the once blank stares all glared at him, they were laughing at him, jeering, 'everything was good until you arrived' Gabriel and Balthazar whispered in sink, 'you made him leave' hissed Uriel, 'you stupid little prick, daddy didn't want you' hissed Anna in the same tone as her brother, 'Such a disappointment Cas, always doing what you're told but never doing right, and so annoying, I'm surprised Michael even allowed you to stay when daddy left, probably because it's funny to watch you fail' said Lucifer. Castiel crunched up to try hide from the comment but looked up feeling one particular stare, Michaels. 'You pathetic creature, you don't deserve to be part of this family, we are important, royalty even among angels. But you, you made the king leave, you made them rise against us, you are the reason we have to hide, but now they know, and you killed us all' Michael's tone remained neutral but his stare terrified Castiel, where ever he looked there was Michael, glaring into him. Even closing his eyes didn't dispel that glare, he began to sob.
'Oh, why are you crying' it was a small child's voice, Gadreel. He opened his eyes and stared at Gadreel, the boy had a knife wound between his ribs, blueish grace glittered from it, but blood was also present and pooled out against the boy's chest. "You're dead, I got you killed" sobbed Castiel, 'No you didn't, you didn't stab me, you didn't attract the hunters who did, it was just misfortune. Now wake up', Castiel starred bewildered at his little brother, the others had said it was his fault, Michael had said it was his fault, 'Get up, make yourself wake up and move, the others weren't real, that's not what they think. You, are my big brother, now move'. Gadreel disappeared. Castiel stood up and wiped his eyes, a door appeared about 10 meters in front of him, he ran towards it but an invisible barrier blocked his way. 'Push against it, break through it, get to that door' the voice of Lucifer was in his head now, urging him on. He ran against the wall, and pushed, a growl of exhaustion turning into a roar of determination, all his siblings were encouraging him now, and they appeared around him, telling him to go on, to break through. And he did.
He stood infront of the door, all his siblings fell quiet and the smallest walked towards him, he crouched so that Gadreel could whisper in his ear, 'open it'. He reached for the door handle and felt a comforting hand placed on his shoulder, it was Michael, he nodded at Castiel's action, 'go for it' he whispered gently. Castiel reached forward again, turned the door handle, and stepped through.
Castiel took a huge breath of air and sat up abruptly, making him dizzy. His body ached and his sight was blurry as he looked around him. Slowly he realized where he was, in a ditch, sitting in water, drenched. He remembered his dream from when he was out, 'move', he pushed up onto his feet but nearly fell back down again as a jolt of pain bolted up his left leg, it was no longer broken but still hurt, like all his other wounds. Forcing himself to put pressure on it he surveyed his surroundings from a standing position, the ditch was much higher than him, there was no chance of climbing out, so he had to fly, he practically jumped out with the help of his wings. Next he needed to remember where he was, he recognized it, if he headed north for 100m he'd be by the warehouse. The warehouse, the memory of the previous hours dawned on him. He had probably lost all chance of helping while he'd been out but he still needed to try, there was a clearing in the trees above him, a quicker route then the forest, he took it.
His flying was almost as reckless as his running had been, his wing tips hit the tops of trees as he flew toward the warehouse, which he crashed on the roof of. He stepped off and dropped to the floor, hitting it so hard jolts ran up his legs, but he didn't pause. As he scrambled into the warehouse there was deathly silence, the only sound that echoed through was the noise the door made when he opened it. As he stared over the room only one thing was present, a bundle of white in the middle. It took Castiel a second to realize that the messy bundle of blood and white was Michael, blanketed in his own wings.
"Michael?" stuttered Castiel. The bundle made no response, if not for the presence of grace and no ghostly outline of wings Castiel would have thought him dead. He ran to his brother, desperate for a response and to help. Fading wet footprints trailed behind him, the sound they made as they hit the ground echoed throughout the room. When he was within a meter of Michael though something hit his shins, he fell with a cry onto Michael.
Suddenly the bundle stirred, becoming conscious of Castiels presence, "Cas?..." it questioned. The blue eyes flickered open and focused on his face, then suddenly snapping open like a mad mans the owner of them moved, jolting into an upright position, ignoring the pain obviously affecting its body. "CAS RUN….". The warning came too late, a ring of fire circled the two of them, about 3m in diameter, "no" stuttered the creature Castiel knew to be his brother as it stood, only to stumble as soon as it was upright. "no, no, NO" the creature was moving now, Castiel, still positioned on the floor, scrambled to get away from the feet that moved almost uncertain of their positioning only careful not to cross the fire. "Castiel, don't cross the fire, or you'll die" it warned now talking directly to the unnerved child sitting on the floor, "please don't cross it, I don't want to watch you die too." The creature collapsed into a crossed legged position, moaning as it pushed the bloody matted blonde mop off its head. There were cuts and bullet holes scattered across his torso, leaving behind the raggedy remains of a shirt, small bits of blue light leaked from each hole, illuminating the blood and almost making it appear beautiful, if not for the circumstances it was present by.
Castiel sat, legs outstretched, staring wide eyed at the seemingly broken remains of his eldest brother, who was still yet to look up from his lap, no presence of wings were apparent on him, Castiel knew they were now tucked away, they had been tucked away as Michael stood, but the lack of them was eerie. He was terrified, Michael was the powerful one, the proud one, the one who could always defend them and knew exactly what to do, but that seemed to have disappeared from what appeared an empty vessel infront of him. He looked away, almost scared to view his brother, wishing he would hug him, tell him he had a plan, or just comfort him, all of which was very apparent not going to happen. He stared around the room, looking for evidence of what had happened.
The walls were scattered with bullet holes and he could sense remnants of angel blood, all round the room. There were markings, he didn't recognise them at first, but he stared at one set for a while and realisation dawned on him. Angel wings. The ghostly shadow of what had once been now carved into the walls and floor of the building. He recognised the pair he was staring at and his stomach turned, Gadreel. The small delicate wings spread across the wall, the wingspan was only 8ft, just less than double his height of 4'5, as young angels often were as they could not use them.
"He killed him first". Castiel turned shocked to his brother, now speaking in a tone Castiel was not used to, it contained little if any emotion. "Then they took out me, stopped me from being able to do anything, after that the rest were easy meat, I watched them die, all but Balthazar, I think I was out when that happened, they hit him with a bullet right after me, well the older one did. There were two hunters, one older and a slightly younger one. The younger one was worse, he took out Gaddy without a second thought, I don't think he even realized until they were moving the bodies how young he was. He's also the one who set up this trap, and beat me up, stabbed me, shot me, harmed me as much as possible without killing me. Bastard. He knew there were others on our group, reckon he saw us in town, wouldn't stop boasting to my face how there was only one left. He must have got Gabe and Luci." He paused and looked round, Castiel watched pain fill his eyes as they passed over the wings of his siblings. His eyes settled back on Castiel, "I know it's in your nature to always want to help, but you should have run while you had the chance, little prince."
Castiel stared confused at his brother, he had always thought the thing about being angel royalty was just a joke made up by his brothers and sister. Michael noted the confusion, "We are the equivalent of the angel royalty system Castiel, that wasn't a joke, that's why we kept away from other angels after he left. They knew that the king was gone and none of his heirs were ready to take the throne, so they turned on us and tried to claim power for themselves. We are more powerful than any other angel Castiel. And that didn't help us much, look at this situation. The two remaining heirs sitting in a ring of holy fire waiting for the hunter that caught them to come back and decide their fate." Michael laughed at what he had said, scaring Castiel, his brother seemed to have gone crazy.
"Come on Cassy" gently said Michael, changing his tone and body language completely, gesturing for Castiel to come to him, he obliged. Only when he was lying blanketed in Michaels loving embrace and wings did he realise how tired he was, and he drifted into a world where this hell hadn't happened. Only a few words from the outside world seeped into his dream world, a few words muttered by Michael, whose eyes were also closing above Castiels head, "I couldn't save the others Cas, but they'll only get you when I have breathed my last breath."
With that Castiel though back on the words his brother had said earlier. He had been right, Castiel should have run when he had the chance.