Chapter Twelve:

Light as a Feather

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The noonday sun peeked overhead past tall thunderclouds that promised rain before the nights over. The small family didn't care much about the weather, more the fact that they'd finally arrived. The destination isn't one that was celebrated, though, as it is near where the brothers met their final end.

Castiel pulled Jody's work jeep up next to his old truck. The Impala was parked on the other side, too close to the treeline to be seen past his truck which helped it hide from normal travelers. A perfect classic car like her would have been carjacked long before their arrival if it wasn't for Cas's accidentally strategic parking.

Claire and Jody were about to emerge from the jeep but Castiel held out his hand for them to wait. Pressing a finger to his lips as his eyes roamed around the scene.

Jody had forgotten all about the low ranking demons that Crowley said were keeping an eye on the vehicles. Claire double checked her anti possession necklace to make sure it was still in place and Jody did the same. Castiel frowned at the radio and snapped his fingers. One soul came forward and did a slow blink at him and he made his fingers do the 'come here' move. The soul backed up for a second before emerging again, followed quickly by his brother. Entering Cas's hand as the fingers splayed out casually on the radio display. It was safer inside the vessel then it was out with demons around.

Jody had already warded all of her vehicles years ago against demons so they were safe so long as they stayed inside the jeep. They did not want the demons to know that Sam and Dean were present however, and their natural glow might make its way out of the jeep somewhere.

Castiel opened up the drivers side door and got out, brandishing his angel blade. The building the Winchesters had perished in was down the way, out of view of them at the moment. He cleared his throat and announced to the seemingly peaceful street. "Crowley made a deal with us. Anyone that tries to stop us will have to face not only my wrath but his."

A middle aged woman wearing business attire that conflicted with the surroundings sauntered out of the treeline. She dragged a finger along the Impala as she came closer. "Been waiting for you to show up."

Cas was on guard and surreptitiously scanning his surroundings for the other demon. "Well, we're here now, you can go."

"What if I don't want to?" She said and came closer. "Where are your friends?"

Castiel firmed his jaw, gritting out, "Leave. Now." He slowly waved his blade in front of himself. He could dispatch one demon easily but not knowing just how many could be out there stilled his hand for the moment. His powers were not infinite.

Another deep accented voice cut in just behind Castiel. "That's good advice, you should take it."

Cas whirled around and lowered his blade once he realized who it was. The female demon bowed her head immediately and backed up a few paces out of sudden respect.

Crowley squinted hard at her. "I'll deal with you later." He warned and she vanished back into the treeline. The King of Hell turned to the angel. "So hard finding help these days." He smirked and turned to the jeep. Twiddling his fingers hello at Jody inside. "Ms. Mills." He made a quick kissy face at the snarling sheriff, and then angled his head to view into the backseat. "And who is the spunky teenager with the pig sticker?"

"No concern of yours." Castiel said and sheathed his blade again. "Do you come with results?"

"Right to the point." Crowley grinned and bumped into Cas's side. "Of course, Darling."

Cas felt the souls within just behind his eyes, watching everything that is happening. They must have flared up because Crowley looked harder at Castiel's face and hid his grin behind a smirk.

"It's alright, they can come out to play. However, I would prefer to do this out of view of prying eyes. Shall we?" He gestured in the same direction as the dilapidated building that the Winchesters had perished in.

Castiel felt uneasy. "Does it have to be there?"

Crowley glanced back and forth and finally got it. "No. They're no longer inside I'm afraid. Not even a police report of their presence. Only the smear left behind from that nasty little bugger that was missing it's melon. My guess is that the reapers blew the Winchester bodies to smithereens."

"That was my guess as well." Castiel sighed. There were more promising possibilities if they had solid bodies they could work with. He was not familiar with the area beyond parking the truck and flying off from the building directly, so Castiel did not know if there was a better place nearby to do whatever it is that Crowley needed to do.

Crowley guessed what Cas was thinking and walked over towards the jeep. Getting a warning glare from the angel, but his worry was unfounded in the demon's eyes. He had no beef with Jody or the teenager. "Is she even old enough to drive?" He paused and rested his folded arms on the outer edge of the driver's side window. Glancing at the devils traps that were painted subtly all over the jeep's interiors. The whole vehicle exuding an air of, 'get the fuck out', to any demon with half a brain.

"She's fine. We got it." Jody ground out.

Crowley nodded and faced Castiel again. "We need somewhere with a roof and four walls. This isn't going to be public friendly I'm afraid."

Cas angled himself to block the demon's view of Claire at least. Paternal instincts flaring. "Where."

"There is no shortage of abandon buildings in this fair town. Dwindling population due to lack of Starbucks." he shrugged. "Here is where I'll be." Crowley pulled out a business card and puckered his lips before he puffed a bit of air at it. Words formed in slightly charred font on the thick paper. "I'm not a sitter so the kid will have to stay out."

"I can take care of myself." Claire spat out and shivered at the renewed look of interest in Crowley's eyes.

"Claire." Castiel berated and turned to face the demon again. "I'll meet you there."

"Bring the lightning bugs of course. In the meantime, I've got to go teach my underling some manners." Crowley twiddled his fingers again at Jody and Claire before vanishing.

Cas exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Turning to frown at the young girl. "The demon is not someone you want to know."

Jody agreed. "So what's the plan?"

Castiel felt Sam and Dean both want out so he put his hands inside the jeep and let them out into the cab. Jody leaned back as they swirled around. Their feelings at the moment seemed all over the place. Sam went to the dash and made the clock blink rapidly.

"I agree." Cas said and faced the confused sheriff. "It would be safer for you two to find us a place to stay here. I do not know how long this process will take, and I would feel better to have some kind of secured place for them to recuperate when they return to the physical world."

Dean shoved Sam out of the radio and flashed his own message.

"We will." Cas answered his friend and said to the humans, "It would be best to get the vehicles out of here in any case." He went to the Impala, following both souls who started to swirl around the car, checking out her condition in their absence. Dean sparked angrily at the smudge left behind by the demon. A wisp of sulfur on the black paint and Cas blew it off, rubbing the spot cleaner then the rest of the car. It had rained and left tree litter all over. Dean kept on sparking but Cas knew that he was more pleased that she was in one piece and present then her slightly dirtied condition. Sam checked over Cas's truck and gave a slow blink to show the all clear of any negative influence the demons might have had on it.

Jody knew that with demons present in the area, there was no way in hell she was going to leave her kid alone at some hotel in town. Her skin would not stop crawling at the sight of them. "Claire? You know how to drive the jeep so you take the wheel, I'll take the truck and Castiel will have the Impala. No speeding. Just follow me." as she spoke she was pulling up the GPS inside the police jeep to search for the nearest motel, if there was one.

Castiel was directed to the spare key Dean had hidden underneath the car, and the engine started up with the familiar purr. Jody came over to the Impala and smiled at how happy the glowing souls seemed now that they were back home. Sam settled more or less in his spot and Dean kept on getting in Cas's way as the angel tried to see the dash beyond.

"Dean. You can't drive, move over, let the man see." Jody chided. "Castiel, gonna need your keys." She reminded and accepted it from the angel. "I'll text when we find a place." She saw the souls in the passenger side move slower in their swirls. It didn't take a mind reader to see that they were worried. "We'll be fine. Good luck, boys."

Both of them blinked slowly at her and Cas bowed his head in respect. "Don't worry. Crowley wouldn't be here if he did not have anything promising." Cas assured and waited for Jody to step back to pull out of the area and onto the road. Since the brothers knew the layout of the town, they directed Cas where to go to meet up with Crowley. It was at a closed fast food restaurant and Crowley was waiting for them out back. Weeds and even a few saplings grew tall out of the parking lot and around the building, some even sprouting from on top.

Castiel pocketed the key and Dean exited first, keeping himself between Crowley and Cas while Sam hovered over Cas's left side. Taking up flanking positions as they entered. Sam scoped out the area while Dean stayed nearer to Cas for protection. Crowley assumed it was for his own but it was for the angel instead. Sam flickered the all clear to Dean who flickered back.

"Are you done?" Crowley sighed. "When I make a deal, I keep it. I have no intention of backstabbing you little nightlights." His hand waved about dismissively.

Dean bristled and sparked at the description but was calmed at Sam's presence. The King of Hell led them into the dining room where all the windows were blocked off and a rather large sigil was burned neatly into the floor. A good 15 feet in diameter with too much Latin script written inside to read, mixed in with the written language of demons. All around the outer edges were the numerous tables and chairs, shoved to the walls along with everything else dumped inside. The sigil in the center free of any speck of debris. One thing about the demon, he worked fast.

The brothers circled the area slowly, the buzzing in the air indicating that they were talking about it rapidly. Coming back around again, Sam went to Cas's right side and bobbed to show that he is indicating, 'yes'. Unwilling to use Morse code in front of Crowley because no doubt the demon would know what he's saying.

Crowley pulled up a chair and sat down regally. "Now, for this spell, I will need a sample of their DNA. The reapers left naught a scratch of it in that building. This is just a formality. Letting you know that I will be retrieving it from the bunker since the Impala is warded from here to kingdom come." He said and promptly vanished. Sam and Dean jump into the air and spark about in shock and dismay. Castiel raises his hands to calm them down and they nearly attack the demon when he arrives a minute later with two plastic baggies with a few hairs in each.

Crowley is surprised by the reaction and take a few quick steps back from the approaching sparking souls. Looking as pissed as they can be. He held out the bags to the sides and stood his ground when he remembered that the Winchesters could not do much of anything at the moment in the state they're in.

"Something got your flickers in a twist?" He asked and the room calmed a fraction. "I didn't snoop about, Loves. Lord knows I could have. However, that would be in poor taste to treat an ally like that." He assured and the souls sparked a few times. Incensed at how they're being spoken to. "You want to have a body or not?" Crowley squinted hard at them, daring them to keep up the pissy attitude. Part of the deal was that they don't try and kill Crowley so long as he's trying to help. If either side tries to start a fight, the deal could be null and void.

That got them to settle back next to Cas. Crowley set the bags next to a bowl and a few pages with indecipherable lettering on it. Checking over it with a keen eye one last time. "Now. If you would both enter the sigil in the center, we can get started." At their hesitance he huffed, exasperated. "We made a deal, I am not the one trying to break it right now. Again."

That finally got them moving as they went to the center and settled down when Crowley held his hand out and indicated they needed to actually touch it, as best they could anyway, without going through the floor. The demon raised his other hand over the bowl half filled with ingredients, dropping the dirty blond and longish brown hairs inside along with a vial of water.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The demon started with a grave tone as a quick prank and chuckled at the sparks of outrage. He wiped a nonexistent happy tear from his eye before he continued on in a strange dialect that not even Castiel knew. " Velumme te. Da li bi zelila plesati sa mnom? Laku noc. A vi. Sretan put!"

The demon set the bowl's contents on fire with a snap of fingers. It flickered in greens and browns similar to the Winchester's eye colors. Sam and Dean's souls shuttered in the sigil, swirling fast, entwined around each other before separating and spinning individually. Their tendrils of wispy light coming apart from their main soul cloud before zipping back into place, only to be thrown out again from centrifugal force. Miniature tornadoes of light particles. The overhead lights suddenly came to life only to blow out in a rain of sparks. Castiel stood at the ready for trouble. The soul's lights exploded outwards but remained inside the sigil. Merging together and separating every few seconds. Even though they were spread out a hundred times their original size, the souls glowed brighter then ever before. As if powered by dozens of huge lightning bolts. The souls slightly split apart one last time, like two soap bubbles made out of condensing mist, attached to the ground more then each other. Colors coming out of the white dome mists, faded nearly white but appearing like oil in a rain puddle all along the outsides. Castiel could have sworn he saw a vague plaid shape in the swirling colors mixed in with dirty blue before it was caught up again in the torrent.

Finally, the twin mists slowed their spinning to a stop and sank down from each of their impressive sizes. Colors becoming somewhat more solid before returning to the pure white smoky substance. Barely resembling souls at all now, they looked more like cigarette smoke trapped in an invisible dome that was lit from inside.

Then the domes shrank. Each condensed down and down. Becoming nearly blindingly bright, even for the supernatural beings present. Shoving the nuclear explosions into 8 foot diameter spheres with blurred edges. Pulsing incredible light and energy inside the sigil.

Crowley covered his eyes with one hand while shouting over the roar of energy, "Soy el rey de los pollos!"

A loud bang thundered within the restaurant, shattering everything even remotely fragile and breakable. The kitchen crumbled along with the front entryway and everywhere outside of a 30 foot radius from the center of the fifteen foot diameter sigil. Castiel fell to his knees, one hand covering up his face from the debris outside of the sigil, spiraling in the air like a tornado. His other hand raised blindly towards the brothers. Too loud to hear anything besides splitting wood and glass crashing mid air.

The soul's lights shrank down and as they compressed further still, and became bright as twin stars. Sizzling the surfaces all around. Burning everything without having to use flames. An intense inferno that focused more on the walls, chairs, and tables then the two outside of the sigil. The spell protecting them from harm.

Then, all at once. The light stopped. The room wide tornado calmed and debris fell from the air. Sliding through the dust cloud in the same circular paths they'd been on, like wind cut off by a closing window.

Crowley had been half hiding behind the now half charred table that held the spell bowl. He stood up slowly. Looking towards the sigil and waiting for the roughly four foot tall cloudy mist to settle into recognizable human shapes. It kept on settling. When the mist sank lower then three foot high, he began to get worried. They should have seen two heads and shoulders by now.

Castiel got to his feet again, eyes transfixed on the ever shrinking mist that condensed further and further into itself. Initially they thought it was just debris in the air that was caught up with the wind and naturally gravitated towards the center once the spell was done, but this didn't act like normal debris in the air. The glowing mist dulled its brilliant light as it condensed even further. Down. Down. Down. Far past the point where there should have been two full grown men.

Two feet of dimming mist. One.

Cas shot the demon a terrified look that quickly turned to one of intense anger at the betrayal.

Crowley's jaw dropped. At a loss. He stepped back, hands slowly raising in self defense.

"It... it should have worked. I did everything right..." Crowley stammered quietly. Wings or no, Castiel would find him anywhere in the world, and kill him no matter where the demon hid. The deal he made would bound the consequences to him and the angel. There was no escaping it, but the demon couldn't help but try and at least back away from the angel. Plead for mercy.

"What did you do?" Castiel growled and his eyes glowed blue with pure wrath. His blade out in half a second as he started forward.

"It should have worked!" Crowley said, back running into the wall and feeling the heat from the scorched wood pass through his suit, burning him. He hissed in pain and stepped forward just enough to keep his body from catching on fire.

Castiel lunged forward, blade out and cut Crowley's arm as he dodged the attack. Pushing the angel off of him and retreating around the room, backing up into discarded tables, chairs and debris. The demon may be stronger, but the angel had millennia of soldier's skills behind him, and rage fueling him on. Cas only missed because of his emotions running high. Schooling his stance into one better suited for battle. The very air crackled with electricity and heavenly wrath.

Crowley knew he was so very fucked. "Money back guarantee!"

"I don't want your money!" Castiel roared and sliced through the demon's other arm to the bone, as Crowley quickly slipped past before he lost the entire limb. He couldn't land a blow on the angel, but he could try and outrun him. Buying himself a minute at most.

Crowley sprinted to the side and tripped on a fallen chair onto the inactive sigil, landing hard on his side and sliding a few feet towards the center. His head banged loudly on the ground and he caught sight of something there. The demon's eyes going comically wide his hand shot forward and he grabbed the first one he saw, rolling onto his back and brandishing it above him like a shield even though it barely peeked out of his fist.

"Stop! It worked!" Crowley shouted, exhilarated at his new discovery.

Castiel was standing overhead, both hands on the blade handle, the silver point angled downwards, readied and anxious for the fatal downward stroke into Crowley's chest, when he saw what was in the demon's hand.

His fingers slipped their tight grip on the handle and his breath felt like it had been punched out of him. It can't be...

There, as wide eyed as he, was Dean. His shrunken human body gripped in a nearly too tight fist. Small arms and head the only things visible over the dirtied thumb and fingers of the demon's curled fingers. Movement on the ground caught Cas's eye and there was Sam, half sprawled out and gaping at the titans above. Both wearing the same clothes they had when they'd perished, their bodies whole, healthy and unharmed.

Physical, real, yet minuscule.

"C-Cas?" Dean sputtered out. The demon loosened his grip once he saw how the small human was struggling.

The angel standing overhead finally gave Crowley space to move. Lowering his blade to one side, away from them for their safety.

Crowley lowered the shrunken hunter down a fraction as he turned to the side and regarded the other four inch tall hunter. Lowering his hand to cup behind the tiny figure he ignored the frantic jerking motions and plucking Sam up off of the ground with slightly more care then he had with Dean. Sam let out a nearly inaudible shout as he found himself surrounded by fingers as long as he was tall. The dirtied hands came closer but still held each brother in a fist as Crowley sat up on the floor. Completely at a loss for words as he stared down at the doll sized hunters. His spell had worked, but, he never imagined this would be the result. Crowley nearly laughed at the random idea that according to the deal, he would be taking these tiny things to meetings to show off and prove his mettle and worth to new demon hires. He'd be a laughingstock.

Crowley wouldn't be getting much from their deal, but neither are they. At least he gets to live another day now that Cas is no longer on the warpath. Castiel might change his mind when all this sinks in. He'll have to spin it in a positive light so he's not seen as the villain. He tried his best dammit!

The hunters meanwhile shot bewildered looks at each other and frightened ones up at the towering figures on both sides. Jaws working soundlessly as they tried to process this turn of events.

Crowley couldn't hold in the brief laugh that bubbled up. He held out his closed hands towards Castiel who had to set his blade down on the floor to accept the small frightened humans in his cupped hands.

"There." Crowley broke the silence with a diplomatic yet smug voice, "I upheld my end of the deal. Two corporeal bodies for the hunters' Winchester." he only promised that, there was nothing said about the size of their forms after all. They were the ones that should have put it in writing. It's not his fault. Crowley stood up when Castiel leaned back far enough to sit on his heels.

Castiel was hunched over, hands cradling the humans who barely moved at all. Still trying to take it all in and figure out what to do next. They all looked up when they heard the demon brush off his suit a few feet away.

"Farewell, Gentlemen." Crowley bowed low and promptly disappeared from sight.