Title: Purgatory
Rated for: ? does it need a rating ?
Genre: General
Fandom/Universe: Supernatural / ?
Characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Balthazar, OC
Spoilers/Warning: Through Season 2 up to Season 8
Disclaimer: Supernatural and all related characters are copyright Eric Kripke, Kripke Enterprises & The CW Network. No infringement intended.
Status: In-Progress
Author's Note: A thank you to deanstheman =) I hadn't thought of that and I so loved the way it sounded when I read it. lol
9
It's black. All around them pillars of smoke blast into the ground, forming into the figures lunging at them with open jaws.
Right about now, he'd rather be dealing with the Alpha.
The flash of brilliant light is a beacon that draws more of them- too many to defeat and this is going to be the end of them both.
Balthazar doesn't get his grace after all.
He's brought down and his arms tremble, exhausted, trying to hold it off, the jaws ever closer to his face. Its sudden, the release and the head rolls on the ground.
"Get up!"
Balthazar recognizes that voice. He's yanked to his feet and left tottering while they converge on the leviathans.
"Cas!" the blinding flash of light is his only answer then Dude is tossing the leviathans surrounding the angel out of the way. Dean takes two more heads before he slides off the hellhound in order to fight. Trying to take leviathan heads while riding a hellhound isn't as easy as you'd think.
Thòrnê grabs onto Castiel's sleeve, her fingers knotting into the material. "Don't you dare leave." She pulls him behind her and slices at the leviathan coming at him. They've formed a loose circle. Dean, Balthazar, Thòrnê and Castiel all back to back while Dude plucks leviathans from around.
Castiel is filled with hope and love. They've searched him out and come to his aid no matter the danger or what's past. Fear is still present. Concern for his friends; for Dean, and Thòrnê… For his brother as well. It's a different type of family but they are his and the knowledge surprised Castiel, blue eyes turning to the mortals standing beside him.
"Pay attention!" Dean snaps, the frown he wears is of concern for the angel not fighting. He's a scruffy looking, dirt covered, sorry sight and Dean has missed his friend. There aren't many of those in his life and losing anymore is too hard to bear.
"Let's go!" Thòrnê orders, a sharp whistle calling Dude to her side. The hellhound bends low offering to carry Dean without a huff or snarl. They've become friends and Dean is his as well as Thòrnê's. He pissed his claim on the human much to Thòrnê's amusement.
"Come on." Dean grabs Balthazar by the arm and drags him over to the hound.
"Oh, no-." Balthazar yelps in embarrassment when Thòrnê shoves his ass onto the furry back. He grabs at Dean's waist just to keep his seat as Dude rises.
"Cas…" green eyes, full of misgivings, unsure of what the angel will do, rest on the bedraggled trench coat.
"I've got him." Thòrnê assures and her hand slips into Castiel's. Her fingers thread through his and firmly hold him to her. The unusual hazel eyes; dark blue, emerald green and quicksilver gray turn up to meet electric blue. She's not letting him out of her sight or reach. "We stick together, Castiel." Her voice is a soft whisper that tugs at his heart and he offers a slight nod of his head in answer.
Dude takes off; his back heavy with both their weight and it slows him down. It's still faster than they'd run on their own and he doesn't mind Dean so much anymore. He's got his own pack now.
O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O
Balthazar has been biting his tongue but the complaints he wants to voice perch precariously on the tip of his tongue. His eyes scan the musty, wet space Thòrnê has deemed an acceptable place to rest and plan their next move. He glowers in her direction, Castiel sitting beside him. His blue eyes don't leave their faces, both hissing in whispers about what to do next now that they've found the angel. The hellhound… it's still sitting in the widest gap into the secondary cavern, ear twitching each time a drop of water lands on his head. But the damn beast doesn't bother to move to a dryer spot.
"…we find one of those blood suckers and make it tells us-."
"What?" Thòrnê snaps yet again. "How many times did we try that, Dean? Oh, like a gazillion and it never works!"
"What the hell else are we supposed to do, Thòrnê?" he's beyond frustrated. No matter how many times he's tried getting a lead on the door out of purgatory… they'd rather die. And Thòrnê complied each and every time. "You." Dean's gaze lands on Balthazar and the glowering eyes leveled on Thòrnê. "Don't you know where this damn door out of this hell is?"
Balthazar jerks, quickly trying to cover his discomfort at the answer they're looking for. "Damn-!" he huffs a breath and tries in vain to shove off the strong grip of delicate hands jerking him to his feet.
"What do you know about the door?" Thòrnê demands. She gives him a little shake, impatient with him and his unwillingness to speak up when it means a way home for them all.
"Let. Go." Balthazar grips her wrists tightly and pushes once again missing his angelic grace and all that it afforded him. There's no doubt in his mind, that had he been a full angel, Thòrnê wouldn't dare lay her hands on his person. 'A wrathful angel is dangerously hazardous to one's health.'
"Talk." Dean orders when Thòrnê finally drops his lapels and takes one step back from Balthazar, her arms crossing.
"It requires a sacrifice." Balthazar eyes them coldly. He shouldn't even say anything about the door.
"What do you mean?" Dean already doesn't like where this is going and he's trying to figure out how they can find another way home.
"Exactly what I said." Balthazar snaps. "Clean your ears, boy."
"What sort of sacrifice and how do you know?" Thòrnê cuts in before they start bitching at each other. She doesn't exactly trust the dead angel but as far as she can tell he's not lying. His pale eyes turn to her.
"I was angel." He watches as her gaze shifts just slightly to where Castiel is sitting before returning to him. "Once upon a time…" this time he notices the uncomfortable shift of his brother. "I do know… things."
"Quit screwing around, Balthy." Dean's smirk is obnoxious and Balthazar doesn't appreciate his nickname.
"Boys." Thòrnê warns before they get into it and she tosses a narrow eyed glare at Dean over her shoulder in warning. Pissing off the dead angel won't get them a way home.
"The door only opens with blood." Balthazar reveals.
"Great." Dean slaps his hands together. He's more than ready to find another vampire to provide them with it, quite a few more if that's what it takes to open the door and get their asses home.
"Human blood." Balthazar smirks at Dean's shifting expression. "And not just a drop or two, or a cup or a bowl-."
"How much?" Thòrnê cuts in.
"No." Dean grabs her shoulder and pulls her back from Balthazar as though she were offering herself to do the deed right then and there. "We are all getting out. Together."
"You heard him didn't you?" Thòrnê shrugs him off, hazel eyes glinting in the dark. "Human blood, Dean." She doesn't qualify as that. She never did-
"You are." Castiel quietly assures with enough authority to bring their attention to him.
"Cas… humans don't – they can't do what I'm … what I am…" Thòrnê's voice is threaded with emotion too difficult to hide from them though she's trying her best not to let them see. How many times hadn't they told her she was just 'different' and that it didn't make her any less human than the rest?
"You're human." Castiel repeats. "An evolved form of what our Father meant to create."
"She's not doing it." Dean glares at them in the following silence.
"Wouldn't matter if she did." Balthazar snorts with disdain as he sits on his rock once again. "The sacrifice must be pure." His eyes travel the length of Thòrnê, assessing and condemning all at once. "Virginal."
Thòrnê feels her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Dean's 'Oh' breathed with such finality draws her blushing face to scowl at him. The only one with the same expression as before Balthazar made his statement is Castiel.
"Regretting the whoring around now are we?" Balthazar smirks at Dean, arms crossing over his chest as he leans against the cold stone at his back.
Dean would agree if it didn't mean giving the dead angel ammunition to use with that waspish tongue of his. Death certainly didn't suit Balthazar and there's a sliver of guilt for the role the Winchesters played in that turn of events. Had Balthazar not risked himself to help them …. They might have had two angels on their side…
"What else?" Thòrnê's features are set, a mask they can't see through to figure out what she's really asking.
"Isn't that enough?" Balthazar replies with a sighed breath. "There's no point in trying to reach the highest point of purgatory. We don't have the required blood to open the door and get ourselves home…" his gaze slides towards Castiel. Because with a heavenly grace … well, the door wouldn't be so hard to bust open wide enough for a pair of wings to slide through…. One pair. One.
"Let's go." Thòrnê strides towards the exit and Dude gets to his feet at her approach.
"Go- hey!" Dean overtakes her shorter stride quickly and pulls her around to face him. "Where the hell are we going? We can't get out tha-."
"We can." Thòrnê cuts him off and turns to leave when Dean yanks her around yet again. "Quit manhandling me!" she snaps, glaring up at him.
"You're a…" Dean just can't bring himself to say it. The girl is seriously hot, gorgeous and it's not like he hasn't made the attempt at getting in her pants- well, maybe not as much of an attempt as he'd normally-
"Yes." Thòrnê shoves his hand off her wrist and turns away, her cheeks flushed a rosy pink and then she walks back to where Castiel is sitting and takes him by the hand- a little less gently than she'd planned- and starts walking outside.
Balthazar is on his feet immediately. A way out! He'd still rather take Castiel's grace. And Castiel would offer it, given enough time to work the guilt some more, Balthazar is absolutely certain, but he's not going to stick around purgatory with all its monstrous inhabitants just to get it.
"A virgin…" Dean mutters belatedly realizing Thòrnê would have heard him and winces. But there's a little smile playing about his lips too.
O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O
AN: Yes, its short. Sorry about it but I promise the next chapter will be the last. I'm getting them home. Maybe not all of them...
