CHAPTER 20: Fallen

Very Short Chapter

... Castiel's POV...

It's so cold and dark. Am I dead? Am I alive? I cannot see where I am, cannot see where I am going. All I know is I am running. Running away from my past. From my enemies I once called my family. Am I Dreaming? Or is this my personal hell?

... Normal POV ...

Castiel looked up and down the alley. It was empty. Perfect, he was safe for now. Castiel had no clue where he was, he didn't know how long he's been dreaming, doesn't know what's real or a hallucination anymore. He was lost in an endless maze of alleys. Since he used himself to banish his brothers from the beautiful room and now with every drop of grace drained from him, he was left in an endless slumber. He was tired of running in circles, ending up where he started. ' Where am I?' he thought, walking through corner after corner of dead ends. With Jimmy's body now permanently his, he now had to cope with the aches and pains his body mustered. Even though this was another dream, it felt so real. His feet were killing him, it was difficult to see through the darkness, his senses dull to a mortal standard. As an angel his aches and wounds would heal, his eyes would guide him through the dark and his angelic senses would be at their highest. But he has that no more.

He continued on through the alley maze. He then smiled, he can see a light just at the corner and he runs. But his relief quickly turned to utter fear. Castiel's eyes widened and turned pale. Just at the mouth of the alley exit stood what he has spent the whole time trying to escape from... The appearances of those he and the Winchesters killed... he's run into several so far, each one different than the other. He's faced his fallen brethren and Zachariah the most, but this... He could not believe who he was seeing. Castiel was staring frighteningly at himself.

He didn't know why, but this counterpart of himself had a grin of sinisterness, eyes full of darkness like a bottomless pit. His very body wobbled in a drunk-like state, clothes painted with blood and some kind of blackish goo. That same goo leaked and dripped off his face. It was him but not him at the same time. Castiel couldn't move. He gulped as the other's gaze burrows into his very soul, he started to shake as the counterpart lets out an evil chuckle and his heart raced as he drew closer- and closer- and closer. It took all the will power for Cas to turn and run away.

" Where are you going Castiel?... Are you afraid?" Castiel can hear his alternates chortles echo through the alleys. Afraid? Of course he was afraid! Lately he's been trying to get away from the nightmares in fear of what might happen next. He wants to wake up but can't. He panicked, rounding the back corner of the alley and trips over a row of garbage cans. One fell, spreading trash from wall to wall. Counterpart Castiel shot around the corner after him, jumping over the trash.

' I've got to get out of here,' Castiel thought. ' Got to get away... now!' and he was off like a shot. He was on some back street. Without thinking, without looking, he ran. He came to another corner, made another right. Suddenly everything was quiet. Cas stopped. Where was the alternate him? He looked around. To his surprise, he was alone again. Not only that, he was in a alley that was completely new to him. That bothered him a little. But it was no real problem. At least he was safe again in hope of not running into himself or any other faces.

He walked to the next corner, figuring that would bring him back to where he started. It didn't. He turned right again- and then again. He was confused now. And scared. Not scared the way he had been when his parallel self was after him. Cas was scared because the maze looked completely different now. And is lost once more. Castiel is suddenly startled as the walls began to shift, dodging the falling debris of dirt and bricks. An opening exit reveals a path into the woods. Cas stood in his place gazing around. It's very dark. A fog began to rise, the mist curling up and clutching at his feet. He had a bad feeling about this. But his decision to enter the forest was forced as he hears the whispers of his name being called from behind. And he walks on.

Castiel wraps his arms around himself, it's getting colder the deeper he went. Littlest noises would alarm him. And Castiel felt like he was being watched. If his eyes would adjust he'd be able to see where he was going. He stopped again. He had reached a dead-end. A wall reaching as far as his eyes can see. ' Great... what now?...' He sighs. Turning to retrace his steps. Cas freezes on the spot. Looking directly into the eyes of his parallel self.

Alternate Castiel quickly grips at Cas's overcoat. A toothy grin appearing on his face, " We found you..." he slopes his head to the side, observing Cas.

" What are you?" Castiel shouts.

Parallel Cas laughed, " So pathetic." he hissed- and his voice dropped to such a frightening whisper that Castiel felt as though a cold wind had run down his spine- " We come from a world opposite of your own... our minds interconnected... the Castiel of our world is nothing like you.. he was a betrayer of his comrades and brethren alike, impersonated himself as the new God, a murderer of his own kind.. he was the one who freed us from our eternal prison... we thank him so much for that.."

Castiel's eyes widened and shivered, " W-... We?" he stammered. The counterpart's very laugh echoed like a thousand monstrous voices joining in sync. And then released him. Castiel took this opportunity and bolted into the woods as though the Hounds of Hell were at his heels. Reaching the other side he continued to run, without looking where he was going, until he could go no further. Then he stopped, panting, and collapsed against a wall. Looking up, he found to his surprise that he was back in the alley where he had started. He leaned his head against the wall, he did not know how long it'd be until the other him shows up. Now what? No matter where he wandered he'd be encountering the dead or Himself.

Suddenly a hand grabbed Cas by the shoulder. He was snapped around and found himself face to face with his counterpart again, " Leaving so soon?... We haven't even introduced ourselves... that's rude you know." Castiel thought he was gonna be sick. Parallel Cas leaned closer and smiled fiendishly at Castiel. " Do you not wish to know who we are?" Castiel briefly looked away, looking for a path for an escape, " LOOK AT US WHEN WE SPEAK!" he howled. And Cas shot his eyes back to him. " You know our name Castiel... you angels quiver in fear at the sheer mention of us.." Castiel's widen with horror. Terrified now of who he was truly in the presence of, he turned on his heels, once more sprinting for dear life. He ran for blocks, afraid that if he stopped, something awful would happen. His body yelled for him to stop, legs burning with exhaustion, his lungs gasping for air. Yet Cas kept going. But it made no difference how far he got from the alternate, he would pop up everywhere, taunting him. " You can run all you like... it makes no difference... We'll always be able to find you."

Castiel continued racing down the endless road. His eyes shutting tightly. ' Wake up... dammit WAKE UP!' And suddenly there was a small explosion in his chest. He felt like someone had reached inside him, grabbed his heart, and was trying to rip it out. The pain so immense he tripped over his own feet, and went crashing down against the hard concrete. He clutched at his chest, gasping for air. The stabbing pain increases, like lightening had struck him. Cas was scared, scared to the bottom of his soul. The pain increased in intensity until he was writhing in agony. There was a sudden rush of even more intense pain, sharp and flame like... a tearing sound... a feeling that he was being ripped apart... But there was no time to even think about why this is happening. The heat from his body had become unbearable. Lifting himself to his hands and knees, he saw his hands begin to smoke. The heat grew more intense. He realized with sudden horror that his clothes were smoking, too. Desperate, he tore at them. Too late. They had reached the flash point. In one horrible moment he was wrapped in flames from head to toe. Everything quickly goes black.

" AAAAAHHHHH!" Castiel shot up and cried out in terror. He flailed his body everywhere.

" SIR! SIR YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" an EMT shouted beside him. But Castiel resumed to thrash around. " Dammit strap him down before he hurts himself!" he struggled to hold Castiel down while his partner wrapped the straps across Cas's chest and legs. " Damn this guy is strong!" he grunts, forcing more pressure on Castiel's arms and chest. The other EMT then fastened his hands down. The other who held him down moves away, going through a cabinet for a tranquilizer. Then injects it into Cas's neck. Surely enough his threshing began to cease, his frame going numb, breathing returning to normal. " Sir... can you hear me?" Castiel's eyes open, squinting to the brightness, as if he was seeing for the very first time. He groans at the pain in his head and his ears rang. " Sir?... can you tell me your name?"

Castiel looks over to the EMT, " I'm Castiel..." he replied hoarsely, coughing to relieve his dry throat. " Where... where am I?" he then asked.

" You're in Anchorage Alaska..." he answered, laying a blanket over Castiel. " God must really love you sir... if that fisherman hadn't found you... you'd be a goner." he sat down after putting an oxygen mask over Cas's mouth. " You may feel some pain in your chest, you were in cardiac arrest and we had to resuscitate you when we arrived."

Castiel's eyes were getting heavy. And he got scared, " Please... don't let me sleep... I keep having these awful dreams..." he mutters.

The EMT nodded, going into the cabinet again and takes two pills from a bottle. Then goes in his bag for some water. " Here take these... it'll help.." He removes the mask to drop the pills into his mouth. And Castiel swallows them down with water.

" ... Thank you..." Cas says. And then falls asleep.

... Castiel's POV ...

Those creatures I saw in my dream. I know who they are but do not dare mention their name. A creation my father made long before Angels. Long before Man. They are as old as time itself. Creatures who my father had to imprison due to their vicious acts against mankind. But were they just an hallucination? or were they telling the truth about existing in a parallel universe? And the me of that world betrayed the Winchesters and freed them? I do not know. And I have many questions.

But for now I must focus on getting to Dean. He must be so worried about me, I've been gone for some time. And I miss him.

Dean... I'll be coming home soon...

...

TBC

Chapter was short to give a view of Castiel's return to the story. let me know what you think... I'm already working on the next chapter so until then later