The Lullaby's End
In the spare bed Jody and Alex had set up in Lucifer's bedroom, Balthazar sat with Castiel and Custos. Balthazar was humming an old lullaby softly to his baby brother as he stroked Custos' fur. The puppy was curled up along Cas' side, watching over the angel silently.
"Balthy?" a small voice called from behind. Balthazar stopped his humming and sat up, glancing behind him to find Lucifer standing in the doorway. In Lucifer's hands was a small box with Castiel's name scribbled on it with black magic marker. The small archangel lifted the box a little. "This is last box." Balthy nodded and waved at his brother to bring it inside. Lucifer set the box down on the floor, dragging it the rest of the way since he was too tired to carry it anymore. When he got to the bed, Balthazar helped him pull it up next to Castiel's feet before helping Lucifer up next. Together, they looked through the box, sifting through it and finding a number of things. Nothing had completely survived the fires. Everything was burnt, charred, or broken. Luckily, some things they were able to save. The letters that had been sent to Cas were all burnt, but salvageable. They were all folded up neatly in a little tin Charlie had sorted them in. The baby blanket the angels always curled up in was folded neatly in the bottom of the box along with a few toys and trinkets the angels collected over the years. There was something that really caught Lucifer's eye when he looked into the box though. The young angel reached into the box, pulling out a bee pillow pet. It was the same one he'd given to Castiel ages ago when he was helping the angel fly. Lucifer clutched the pillow closer to his body as his chest suddenly felt tighter.
"Come here," Balthazar whispered, holding a hand out to his brother. Lucifer crawled over, snuggling close to Balthazar. Red and silver wings enveloped each other and Balthazar started his humming over again.
Castiel's dream land wasn't like what it used to be. He no longer sat on the dock while the rest of his family enjoyed the cool Minnesota weather. His dreams hadn't been like that since Dean appeared and the black smoke attacked. The black smoke had pulled Cas from his dreams and down deep into his unconscious. After that, when Cas wasn't awake his dreams became a rarity. Even that was over with though. Since Castiel fought against the creature taking space in his head everything had shifted once again. Now Castiel flew through the air, flying towards something far away that he couldn't yet see. He didn't know where he was headed. All he knew was that he had to get there. When his wings would grow tired with exhaustion a prayer from the outside world, the tug of someone thinking about him, or a simple memory would drive him to keep going.
"Did you know bumblebees aren't supposed to fly?"
Cas closed his eyes, feeling the small phantom like brush of his brother Lucifer holding him close.
"Now, if a little bee can fly when it shouldn't even be possible I believe you should be able to fly as high as the stars, don't you?"
Cas opened his eyes, looking upwards. He thought of the bees and their too big bodies and their little wings. He thought of the stars and the wind blowing through his feathers.
Both of his small black wings flapped hard, shooting Castiel upward. The angel spun through the sky, flying up out of the blue sky into the darkness of space. Cas let out a gleeful laugh, spinning past nebula's and galaxies. He orbited around a star, tempted to rest on it, but he kept flying higher. He had to keep going.
"We got ya, Idgit. Just know that, okay?"
"We're not going to leave you to struggle with this nightmare alone ever again."
"Cas, buddy? I'll find a way and everything will be okay again…Ipromise."
"Please, Cas. Wake up."
"Come back. Come back to us."
Cas locked onto the prayers, breaking into a spin as he dived higher. He closed his eyes, feeling the pull of his loved ones until –
Castiel's dream shattered around him like glass. The darkness of space shifted and suddenly everything was real again. Cas could hear the soft humming of someone next to him and feel hot breath puffing against his cheek. Castiel forced his eyes to flutter open, fully pulling away from the dream world he had broken out of. Blinking slowly, Cas' vision steadied and became clearer. His eyes swooped over his surroundings and Cas found himself in an unknown place. He was in a child's room, sprawled out on a comfy bed covered in pillows and blankets. Cas tried to move, but his body heavily protested against it. He felt lethargic. His limbs felt heavy, like something was weighing him down. Ignoring his body's complaining, Cas pushed himself to move. He groaned with the movement, but managed to turn his head enough to see who was breathing on his neck. Custos yapped as Castiel looked at him. Cas smiled at the hellhound puppy, reaching out a weak hand and petting the lightly.
"Custos," he whispered. The puppy licked happily at Castiel's face, causing the angel to giggle.
"Cassie?" Cas tipped his head up. Balthazar and Lucifer sat beside Custos, eyes wide as they stared at Castiel's fully awake body. "C…Cassie?" Balthazar gasped again, his mind slowly processing what was going on. Cas grinned at him.
"Hi, Balth –" Balthazar tackled his brother, practically smothering his baby brother with his embrace. Cas gasped, wincing at the added weight on his body. "Balthy, you're very heavy," Castiel moaned into his brother's shoulder. Balthy pulled back, laughing as tears spilt down his cheeks. He clasped Castiel's face between both hands and kissed Cas' cheeks.
"It's you! My father it really is you! You're up!" he cried, pressing his face into the curve of Cas' neck and shoulder as more tears started to fall. Cas wrapped a wing around Balthazar, rubbing his hand up and down his brother's back. He glanced towards Lucifer as he did so, stretching out his free wing towards the small archangel. Lucifer was sniffling into Castiel's bee pillow pet, face red as he sobbed. Cas pulled Lucifer closer until he had a grand total of two angels piled onto his chest.
"Balthy, Luci, Alex said it's bath time –" Castiel's eyes darted to the doorway, finding a wide eyed Gabriel standing there. "C…Castiel?" Cas nodded. "Sam! Dean!" Gabriel cried before pressing a hand to his mouth as sobs wracked his body. The archangel stumbled to Cas' bedside and crawled onto the bed, joining the pile atop of Cas. He held on just as tight as the others, mumbling incoherently against Cas' chest.
Heavy footsteps pounded from down the hall and Cas watched as Sam and Dean burst in with the rest of the crew right behind. Worry had contorted their faces, but it all drained away on seeing Castiel wide awake and covered in sobbing angels.
Before he could blink, Castiel was suddenly pulled out of his bed and nestled against Dean's chest. The hunter laughed with relief and spun in a circle with Cas in his arms. Dean threw Castiel into the air throughout their spinning, catching the angel in his arms again and again.
Panting, Dean twirled to a halt and held Cas at arm's length. Green eyes stared into blue.
"Hello, Dwean," Castiel greeted, just as out of breath as Dean. Dean let out a choked sob mixed with a laugh and pulled Cas in again, burring his face in the angel's hair.
"It's good to see you, man," Dean mumbled into the dark tuffs of hair atop Cas' head. Cas hummed, hugging the hunter wound around him tight before wiggling back to look to the others in the room. Sam, Bobby, Kevin, and Charlie stood a few paces back, happy smiles stretched across their faces. Cas held his arms out to them and the four approached, shouting with glee and giving Cas awkward hugs and kisses.
"What are we doing here?" Castiel asked curiously once everyone had settled.
"You guys are staying here with us for a little while," Jody stated. She and Alex had hung back, allowing the group some room as they celebrated Cas' awakening. "You're house it…"
"…got a little banged up," Alex assisted. Jody nodded, giving Alex a thankful pat on the shoulder. Cas frowned at them. Banged up? Something flashed behind Cas' eyes and flames twisted through the corridors of his memories. Cas shook himself, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Hey, hey," Dean hushed, sitting down on the bed between Balthazar and Gabriel. "Don't panic on me, buddy. You're okay." Dean looked to Sam and the younger hunter moved from his spot between Bobby and Charlie. Sam knelt down on the floor in front of his brother, reaching out and taking the hand Cas had pressed to his forehead.
"Cas, you okay?" Sam asked gently. Cas managed a slow nod.
"Just remembering," Cas stated. He looked at Sam and Dean and then the others. "Are you all okay?" Balthazar fluttered closer to Cas and ran a hand through his baby brother's wings.
"We're all fine, Cassie. Just a couple bumps and bruises." Castiel let out an audible sigh of relief and slouched heavily against Dean's chest.
"Good." Cas closed his eyes, breathing deeply. His stomach growled loudly then and the angel's eyes popped open. Cas looked to his belly. "I'm hungry," he stated. Laughter boomed around him and Castiel grinned at the comforting sound.
"Come on," Jody called, stepping out of the bedroom and holding the door wide open. "I think I've got some waffle mix in the kitchen. Cas perked up instantly, all thoughts of aching and heavy limbs vanishing at the mention of deliciously fluffy waffles. Cas crawled from Dean's arms and onto Custos' back. Lucifer joined him, crawling up right behind his brother and locking his arms around his waist so he wouldn't fall off.
"To wuffles!" the two shouted. Custos howled loudly and jumped from the bed. Balthazar and Gabriel jumped with them, flying above their brothers and following them out of the room.