Chapter Fifty Five- Base Camp

A/N- Sorry for the late update. It's been hectic over here. I've been trying to juggle coursework, my new job and writing while still trying to have time to eat, breath and sleep. It's hard work haha. Just to clarify that it's now The Rapture. Enjoy!

"He's gone," I muttered refusing to look into Dean's piercing eyes. Things appeared dimmer than before and I felt so cold. His hands were beginning to burn me. I flinched attempting to get away but he held firm.

"What do you mean 'he's gone'?" he asked me. I glanced back at him warily, his face was hard and he didn't give me a friendly nudge like he usually would.

I tried to shrug, "I don't know..."

He continued to stare at me and I squirmed underneath his eyes. I felt so alone.

"I can't feel him," I expected myself to start sobbing at any minute but I couldn't. I was just empty now. I droned on, "He's not here."

He shook me, "that can't be right. Feel for him. You have too."

I did as I was told and closed my eyes. I calmed myself. I could feel the presence of Zachariah upstairs and demons hovering around about a mile away. I tried to use the rosary. There were now two faint vibes coming from it. I wasn't even sure if one of them was real. It could have been imagined. I focused in on the stronger presence.

-M-

I was stood in a warehouse of some sort. The place was a wreck. The ceiling panels had fallen down and were lying haphazard on the floor. Girders and metal pipes were hanging out of the walls blocking ways out of the building. Naked wires sparked dangerously nearby as they hung down from electric lights. Bricks and debris continued to fall. It created a dusty atmosphere making it hard to breathe and see properly.

The presence was like a heart beat in my ear. The pulse was weak and faint but still there. They were nearby. I wandered amongst the mess silently hardly breathing as I listened intently for the pulse. I caught what direction it was coming from and approached warily. The pulse could be coming from almost anything if it had access to the blood of Castiel's vessel. My footsteps echoed within the great space.

Sparks flew above my head and I distantly heard someone calling out my name. I glanced behind confused. There was no one there. I took a few more careful steps. The source was nearby, the pulse was louder now.

I glanced up and saw blood smeared on a wall. It formed a sigil. Images flashed in front of my eyes, it was something I'd seen in the tomes back at Bobby's and when we'd called the angels to make a deal. I became anxious, that was a mark to ward off angels. My eyes travelled downwards and I saw the source.

It was a man lying flat on his back. He was bloodied and bruised. His hair was black and his skin was naturally tanned. The clothes he wore were eerily familiar. The beige trench coat and suit was also stained with blood. It was Castiel.

No, it wasn't.

It was his vessel. Castiel wasn't anywhere near this body.

"Rox!"

I turned on my heel at the sudden interruption of the voice. I couldn't see anyone. I turned back to the man and I glanced at the area. Whatever had happened here was bad. The poor guy was still alive and maybe he could shed some light on what happened. Something niggled at my gut. Demons were on the prowl.

"Roxanne!"

I ignored the voice and looked for any sign of where I was. I scrambled around. There had to be a label or something. I found an invoice sheet underneath some rubble and dug hard at it with my nails. I pulled it out and read the address.

I memorised it, "354 Greenacre Industrial Estate, Brookings, South Dakota."

"Roxanne, damnit!"

-M-

Dean was shaking me. My eyes focused in on his face. I was back in Bobby's kitchen. I glanced around, there was no sign of any blood or demons.

"Roxanne, answer me!" he growled.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and glanced back at him, "Answer what?"

Relief flooded in his eyes and he lightened up.

"What the hell was that?" Sam asked. I'd almost forgotten that he and Bobby were still in the same room.

I raised my hand to my head, "What?"

"You went into a trance or something," Bobby told me equally if not more relieved than Dean. He carried on, "we were talkin' to ya but you just weren't hearin' us."

Silence filled the air for a few moments so I told them briefly at what I had seen.

"It was an out of body experience, but it was like I was really there," I concluded with a sigh, "So Cas' vessel is at this warehouse in Brookings. Chances are he has some idea at what happened."

"So we just have to go over and pick him up?" Dean wondered.

"Better do it quick," my voice became worried, "demons were hanging around when I got pulled out of there."

"C'mon Sammy, let's hit the road," the older brother stood and advanced out of the kitchen to the front of the house.

Sam called after him, "Don't you think you better go with Bobby or something because of...?"

"No, let's pick this guy up, find out what happened to Cas and then talk about it."

-M-

When the boy's had been gone an hour or two I was in the bathroom. I was clutching onto the sink and watching myself in the mirror. My skin had gone blotchy and pale. I was starting to shake again and feel weak. Everything felt so cold. It was like when Castiel had been pulled from that body, all of the heat had been taken from mine. No, it wasn't like that. It was that. That must've happened somehow.

I washed my face feeling hopeless and lost. The angels had been right when they'd said we were too attached to each other. I wondered if he was going through the same thing, wherever he was.

As if he was almost on cue I saw Gabriel behind me in the mirror. I screwed my eyes shut hoping that he wasn't really in the room while I was just in my bra and panties.

"Sorry hot stuff, I'm really here," he joked, "By the way I really do mean hot stuff."

"Why are you here?" I opened my eyes and watched him through the reflection.

He shrugged letting his eyes wander, "checking in, that's all. It's a shame we technically share blood because those panties are looking mighty-"

"Stop," The word carried a force to it and the archangel clammed right up. He didn't say another word until I had finished speaking and his eyes never wandered anywhere, "what happened to Cas?"

"Shouldn't you be more concerned with what's happening to you?" he asked me, "Which is actually the reason I decided to stop by."

"What's happened to both of us is linked somehow, I don't know the ins and outs but it has to be through the blood bond. He was ripped from his vessel, why?"

"Maybe it's just your general attachment that's made you go all sickly. I thought that was pretty obvious, he pissed off some of the big boys!"

"Who?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. Did he try to break the contract in any way or does he know something he shouldn't?"

I paled even more so that I was as white as a blank sheet of paper. He'd had doubts and been thinking for himself. He's said something about the apocalypse starting. On top of all that, he'd still been trying to see me.

"I thought as much," he coined in a hard voice. He carried on, "If the worst happens then you'll adjust, in time. You'll go back to normal-ish. And before you even think it no, I'm not going to help get him back."

"Where is he?" I asked weakly. I felt as if I was going to cry. My entire world was going to collapse in on itself all over again, "where is he now?"

"He's been hauled back to base camp," and with that Gabriel vanished.

He was in Heaven then. At least that explained why I had trouble feeling him. But what had he meant by the words 'if the worst happens then you'll adjust'?

-M-

Bobby's cell began to buzz loudly on the table. His ringtone was hurting my ears. I pulled a face and turned away choosing to sip on my beer instead. Zachariah appeared and gave me a thin, knowing smile.

"You've looked better," he commented sideways.

I ignored him and listened in on the other conversation.

"She was right, Cas is not in this guy anymore."

"Well done, idjits," Bobby whispered, "now get back here. She isn't looking so good. The quicker we get him back the better."

He didn't know that I could hear him. Tears pricked at my eyes, everything was making me emotional for some reason. It was like my hormones had shot through the ceiling.

"We can't take this guy back to yours, Zach's there. What'll he do if he sees him?"

"We'll sort him out, trust me."

"Okay, see you in half an hour."

The two men hung up without another word to each other. Bobby almost crashed down into his chair opposite me. He sipped slowly at his own beer. Sam had been the one calling for a change.

"What was that about sorting me out?" Zachariah chided.

"Don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Do not lie to me, Singer."

A tingling sensation caught me across the arm. Suddenly Anna was stood next to him. She looked flustered, pissed and not at all in a talking mood. Zachariah didn't seem to notice her presence until it was too late.

"It's not him you have to worry about," she commented darkly before touching him on the shoulder.

He vanished with a flash of light. She gave us a tight smile afterwards before disappearing herself.

"What the hell?" I managed to choke out.

"How long do you think he'll be gone for?" Bobby asked me.

I shrugged, "hopefully not until we get Cas back."

Just as the words left my mouth I heard the Impala pull up outside the front of the house. The engine cut and three doors opened and closed. I stood automatically and walked through the study into the hallway. I got there just as the door creaked open and in walked Dean Winchester.

Bobby appeared behind me and we watched as two Winchesters came in along with a third man. Sure, to a human it looked like Castiel but it wasn't. This guy was just human. His eyes were downcast and his stance was slightly hunched at the shoulders.

"Bobby, Rox...meet Jimmy Novak." Dean told us.

The man's eyes shot up and looked at both of us.

First he looked at Bobby and took him in, "Hi."

Then he looked over at me. He stared at me a while longer. His blue eyes met mine but they didn't sparkle like Castiel's did, "hey..."

I nodded my head slightly, "hi."

We all stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

It wasn't long before Jimmy asked, "Can I get something to eat? I'm starving."

Bobby took him off and showed him to the kitchen where he fixed him some food. Sam followed. I sat at the base of the stairs and ran my hands through my hair.

"What's up?" Dean asked as he sat next to me.

I shook my head. Everything had hit me then, "All the time I've been near Cas or spoke to him or thought about him I just never realised that there was really another guy inside there. It's hard to look at him, it's like Cas was never even in there."

He rubbed at my shoulder tenderly and nodded. He didn't offer any words of comfort because there were none to give.