Chapter Eight: Kick Ass ((Mika))

It was cloudy on that fourth day. It still came as a surprise to Dean that Purgatory had such nice weather at ALL, let alone so regularly. But it wasn't raining fire or puppies, so he couldn't exactly complain. That would make this trip unnecessarily difficult.

It was the type of cloudy day where the humidity hung thick in the air, and you couldn't tell if it was going to start pouring or not. It did provide a nice breeze, however, and the cloud cover was relaxing after three days of walking in the sun. The older hunter noticed that Castiel's face had been looking a bit pink the previous day, but if the angel didn't notice anything was amiss, he wasn't about to discuss the uses of something as stupid as sunscreen.

They'd been walking in silence for the better part of an hour, not for lack of trying on Gabriel's part. He'd been working to keep conversations going all morning, topics ranging from movies they'd seen— which Castiel had nothing to offer— to books they'd read— which Dean was mostly unimpressed by— and nothing had taken for more than a few minutes. Then he'd gotten creative. A game of Never Have I Ever lasted all of two hours before the combined embarrassment of Sam and Castiel stopped them. Castiel because he was an angel, and Sam because he REALLY didn't need to hear about the things his brother got up to in his alone time. He could have gone his whole life without that particular brand of mental scarring, especially considering the things Gabriel came up with when it was his turn. It turns out archangels have a lot of free time on their hands these days, and Gabriel definitely wasn't too hung up on the whole 'virtue' concept.

Eventually, even Gabriel had run out of ideas, just filing along quietly with the rest of the party. It made the walk seem so much longer. His mood turned sour when they reached a fork in the road sometime in the afternoon. He knew where they were going, and even offered them a short cut down the crossing road. They debated it for a moment, Gabriel insisting it would cut hours from their journey and Dean insisting that Jo told him to stay on the road. Sam agreed that if Gabriel knew where he was going— which he assured them, he did— then it would make things easier on them to shave off some time. Castiel had taken Dean's side, as much as he trusted his brother's sense of direction, he thought it was best to stay on course.

They were at an impasse. They decided to break for lunch while they decided. There was a sandwich for each of them, courtesy of Ellen, who was quickly becoming Dean's favorite bartender, both here and on Earth, and a can of soda. Castiel's eyes brightened considerably when he discovered this.

Lunch was held in mostly silence, in the grass beside the two perpendicular roads. If they weren't quiet, they'd start arguing over which way to go. Everyone seemed on edge today, whether it was because of the attack the previous night, or something else, no one could seem to put a finger on it. But it was causing them to snap at each other over things they wouldn't have batted an eye over on a normal day.

Finally, Sam approached his brother. Dean was finishing up his sandwich— turkey and ham and cheese with mustard, he could have hugged Ellen again— and glanced at the other as he sat down. "What's up Sammy?"

Sam frowned in that way of his that signaled he didn't know how to say exactly what he was thinking. Dean lay back on the grass, propped up on his elbows.

"How do you know Lucifer is really dead?"

"Is that what's been bugging you all day? Man, don't worry about it."

The younger Winchester huffed as his brother dismissed the thought. "I'm just saying. He's the DEVIL. He can't be that easy to kill."

"I think I know a dead guy when I see one, Sammy, chill."

"But what if that wasn't really him?"

"Jo said—"

"How can you be sure she was telling the truth?"

Dean frowned. "What good would it do her to lie?"

"I dunno! Maybe she was working with him the whole time!"

"Then why would she help me? According to her, we were brought here to stop him from this civil war crap."

"Well, think about it. If we think he's dead, then he can wait until we're gone and go back to his evil plans!"

"Sam, I think you're reading too much into this…"

"I just think we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss someone so dangerous!"

Dean stared at his brother. "What's up with you? You're freaking out over this, and you've been so moody all day I was tempted to see if Ellen had any Midol for you."

"Oh, that's just hilarious," Sam snapped, glaring at the other.

"I just don't see what's got you all pissy!"

"You're not taking this seriously!"

"That's never stopped me before!"

"Dean, it's the fucking devil, and you're brushing it off like just another hunt!"

"I was a little busy trying to figure out where you'd dropped off at to be too concerned!"

"Well no one asked you to!" he blurted out.

Dean stared him down for a moment, green eyes narrowed. Then he got to his feet.

"Dean…"

"Save it, Sam." His brother grit out, turning his back on the other as he stormed off.

Sam raked a hand through his hair with a frustrated noise, watching him. Dean pushed past the two angels, who had been having their own conversation, grabbing Castiel by the arm and pulling him along. Gabriel snapped something at him, to which the hunter replied that if the archangel wanted to take his shortcut so damned bad, he was welcome to, and proceeded to half- drag the angel down the road. Castiel was too surprised to do much of anything except let himself be pulled, wondering what had happened between the brothers to anger Dean so much.

The younger sibling got up, arms folded across his chest as he stepped up to where Gabriel was still watching the others. "Let's go."

Gabriel tilted his head to look up at him. "Wanna take the shortcut?"

Sam arched a brow. "I'd love to."

"Dean, what's going on?"

"Nothing." The hunter kept on determinedly. He'd let Castiel go after they were far enough from their brothers, letting him walk on his own.

His pace was quick, fueled by frustration and adrenaline. Castiel had to walk faster to keep up with him.

"Why did we leave Sam and Gabriel?"

"Because!" he snapped. He turned to look at the angel, and his tone immediately softened after one look at the other's wide blue eyes. "Because your brother was so intent on his shortcut, and Sam wanted to be a moody bitch today."

"I don't like the idea of separating," the angel continued calmly. "If something happens, our defenses are halved."

"Nothing happens in the day, remember? They're all nocturnal. We'll be fine until tonight, and by then we'll have found someplace to stay."

Castiel sighed.

"Just some time to cool off, okay, Cas?" Dean shrugged, trying to do just that. There wasn't any cause to start snapping at the angel as well. "Once we get to the city, it'll be alright."

He stared at the hunter for a moment, studying him, before nodding. "Alright."

This actually made Dean smile a little, pleased. "Besides, you're a lot better company than your brother."

"I have heard that before. Although most assure me that he's the more exciting of the two."

"That's not always a good thing."

Beside him, Castiel stopped suddenly, tense. Dean paused to look back at him, opening his mouth to ask what was wrong. The angel quickly held out a hand, keeping him silent. Two pairs of eyes scanned the surroundings carefully, looking for anything amiss. There was nothing. The same clouds, the same light breeze rustling the trees around them.

Then something shot out, slamming into Dean and tackling him to the ground with a shout.

He fought against the attacker, jerking an elbow back to dislodge them. A hand grabbed his upper arm before it could connect, squeezing tight enough to bruise. Another hand pressed his head down, his cheek scraping roughly on the brick.

Beside him, Castiel yelped, and there was a thud. With his head turned away, he couldn't tell what was going on. "Cas!"

"Don't worry, he's just fine," a familiar female voice purred into his ear, fingers gripping his short hair to keep him pressed hard against the road.

"Meg."

"Aww, you remembered me, I'm flattered!"

Dean could hear struggling beside him. Castiel was saying something, too low for Dean to make out. He felt it safe to assume that Ruby was showing him the same care that he was currently receiving beside the angel. Instead he focused on getting Meg off him so he could help the other. Meg kept him pinned with her weight, which wouldn't have been a problem throwing off, except she had this habit of slamming his head into the brick when he tried to move. He was disoriented after the first attempt and downright dizzy after the second. By the third, he was pretty much ready to pass out.

Still, he struggled, trying his best to knock her off his back. His head collided with the pavement again and he cursed as his vision whited out for a moment.

"Just hold still. We need live bait, so I'd hate to bash your pretty head in too much."

"Bait?" he growled out, trying to pull his arm from her grip.

She only tightened it, leaning in close to speak against his ear. "We need your brother to come with us, and he's got the archangel with him. So we're gonna make sure he knows we've got his brother so we can get him to do what we say."

There was a scream beside them, and Meg turned to see what had happened. Dean took advantage of her distraction, wrenching his arm free and slamming it into her side. She yelped, falling off of him and onto the road. He got up, ignoring the pain that flared in his head at the motion, and reversing their positions. This lasted all of five seconds before Meg shoved him, a hand on his chest throwing him back as it had the night before.

He flew back, colliding with Castiel and knocking both of them to the ground. Dean groaned, his head swimming and his eyes refusing to focus correctly. The angel sat him up before getting to his feet. He tried to get up as well, but couldn't manage more than half the motion before falling back down, straight on his ass.

Meg was up again, and Castiel moved to tackle her. She flung up a hand, keeping him from moving from his place in front of Dean. The hunter blinked, trying to get his vision to stop shifting long enough to get up. He vaguely noted Ruby sprawled beside him, unconscious and unmoving.

Castiel was speaking again, low and growling. Meg yelled at him to stop, her hand held up to keep him in place as she stormed over, landing a punch to the angel's jaw. His head tipped back, and he might have taken a step back if Meg hadn't been holding him to the spot. But he continued whatever he was saying. Dean caught a few words, but he couldn't understand them. By now, Meg was screaming, panicked and desperate, yelling at him to stop. Dean wanted to know what Castiel was saying to have this kind of effect on her.

But his vision swam again, and this time he did pass out.

Gabriel had taken to humming as they walked. He figured it was a safe enough thing to do. Over the past hour, he'd started learning the safe things to do around Sam. Asking about why he was upset with his brother was not one of them. It had prompted a good ten minutes of glaring at the archangel; as if HE were the one Sam was upset with. Which he wasn't. At least, not as far as he knew.

Finally, Sam decided to start up conversation, which Gabriel was almost grateful for, until he heard what the question was.

"So why don't you wanna go home?"

The shorter man frowned, eyes on the road as they walked. "I told you, I like it here."

Sam gave him a knowing look. "Bullshit. What's the real reason?"

"It's complicated."

"How?"

Gabriel tipped his head up to meet the other's eyes. "You've never been to Heaven, so it's not like you'd know. But there's one very big downside to the place."

"What's that?" Sam arched a brow. Heaven was… well, HEAVEN. It was supposed to be paradise. What could be wrong with it?

"It's so incredibly BORING." Gabriel threw up his hands. "All that peaceful serenity gets on my nerves. I'd been hiding out on Earth for awhile anyway. I liked that place best, don't get me wrong. But I got in some trouble there, and wound up here. So between this and Heaven, I'll stick around here for a little longer."

Sam guessed he could understand that. Gabriel seemed like the type to need constant amusement. "Alright, I'll buy that. So why's Cas trying so hard to get you back?"

Gabriel shrugged. "They probably told him to. It's not exactly proper to have an archangel down here slumming it up."

"Even if you don't wanna go?"

"He can't make me. No matter where we are, I'll always be more powerful than him. But he'll try his best to convince me."

"That won't work, will it?"

He grinned. "Not really. I'm hoping your brother distracts him enough to where he forgets this mission of his."

"Ugh. Please don't mention that again." Sam made a face.

The archangel laughed, fully planning to start describing in detail exactly how he figured the older Winchester would distract his brother, but he stopped, glancing up curiously.

Sam caught the look. "What?"

He frowned. "Something's wrong."

"Wrong?"

It was then that he sensed the spell. He cursed under his breath, grabbing Sam by the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "We gotta go find Cas and Dean."

Green eyes widened. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Just c'mon."

Before he could agree or protest, Sam was yanked right off the road by the smaller man, dragging him through the trees and shrubs that had served as scenery for the past hour. He couldn't see where they were going, but he trusted Gabriel to know how to get them to their brothers. Instead he worked on trying to keep up, ducking the occasional low tree branch in their path.

It only took a few minutes to get to the other pair, but before then, Gabriel sensed the spell being used again. That spell could only have come from an angel, and it could only mean one thing: demons.

They tore through the trees and into the clearing, just in time to see Meg fall back, crumbling to a heap on the brick road. Castiel was standing, taking deep breaths with his back to them. Dean was behind him, curled on his side, and Ruby was a bit away, knocked out cold.

"Dean!" Sam was at his brother's side in an instant, whatever anger he'd felt that afternoon gone and replaced with concern.

Castiel whirled around, for a moment expecting there to be more demons. Seeing Sam and Gabriel, he relaxed visibly, before kneeling beside Sam and his brother.

"We were ambushed," he explained, tilting Dean's head to the side to inspect the damage. "I think his head suffered the worst damage."

Sure enough, his left temple was covered in angry bruises from hitting the road. There were a few scrapes from where his skin met the edge of a brick, and thin lines of blood trailed down the side of his face.

"Shit," Sam winced, turning a bit to look at Gabriel. "Can you help him? Do you have enough signal or whatever?"

Gabriel chewed his lip thoughtfully. "I might… but if I do, it'll take awhile to recharge again."

Castiel, by this time, had pulled the older hunter's head into his lap, carefully dabbing at the cuts with the edge of his trench coat. The other two were still talking, debating whether to risk using the rest of Gabriel's Grace to heal him, but Castiel ignored them, instead concentrated on being gentle as he wiped away the remaining blood. Nothing looked too terribly bad, nothing life- threatening at least. But from what little Castiel knew about humans, he knew that their bones could be cracked far too easily for their own good.

Dean shifted under him, and the angel paused. Green eyes blinked open, staring up into blue ones. Castiel's shoulders slumped in relief.

"Cas?"

"It's alright, Dean. You're injured though, so try not to move."

Dean closed his eyes again, and for a moment, Castiel thought he'd passed out again. The angel ran his fingers through the other's hair softly, and he opened them again.

"What happened to Meg?"

"Angel magic," Castiel smiled. "Exorcism."

Dean chuckled. He sounded tired. "That's pretty badass, Cas."

"Thank you."

By then, the other two noticed that Dean was awake. Sam leaned in closer, and even Gabriel took a few steps forward.

"Dean, hey. Are you okay?"

"Walk in the park, Sammy." He managed a tiny grin. If it was weak, no one said anything. "Although I've got one bitch of a headache going on."

"Hey Gabe, how long until we get to the city center?" Sam was debating whether they could keep going. If it was close enough, they could make it tonight and get Dean fixed up. If it was too far, he'd have to convince the archangel to use some magic.

Gabriel frowned in thought, looking at the horizon. The spires had been growing steadily for the entirety of the day. They were close. "I'd say about an hour. A little more if we're moving slow."

Sam nodded, turning back to his brother. "Can you make that, Dean?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem. Not like I haven't hit my head before."

Castiel frowned, but didn't say anything. Sam stood, and he and the angel helped Dean to his feet slowly, careful not to make him dizzy again. The last thing they needed was him passing out again.

"I'll keep it in reserve," Gabriel assured the younger Winchester. "If he starts looking worse, I'll take care of it."

Sam nodded. The archangel led the way, while the other three brought up the rear, Dean supported between brother and angel. After a few minutes, he started to protest, determined to walk on his own. They let him, under careful watch.

True to his word, Gabriel brought them to the castle's gates in an hour and a half.