Castiel felt the disturbance in Eden the second it happened. Familiar energy crashed over him as he recognized his brothers, Lucifer, Gabriel, and Asmodei. Two more waves hit him with such strength they almost knocked him off his feet. The color's of these were blue, ice blue, and the other was fire, burning brightly in the blackness.
Sam and Dean Winchester were here.
Sam staggered to his feet, searching for Dean in the pitch black. He wanted to call to his brother, to make sure he was there, to be sure this was real. He felt a hand reach out an grab his wrist. With a startled gasp, Sam whispered, "Dean?"
"Nope," Gabriel said in an equally quiet tone, getting up from the floor. "Human bodies," he mused. "So...weak, confining. Ugh."
"Gabriel?" came a voice from Sam's right.
"Luci?" Gabe called quietly.
"Where Asmodei and Dean?" Lucifer whispered.
Sam froze. "Dean?" he whispered-shouted. Fear made its way into his gut.
A hand on his back caused him to jump. "Heya Sammy. I'm here."
Relief flooded Sam as he turned around, reaching for his brother and grabbing onto his shirt. "Hey, yeah, okay. Where's Asmodei? He's not with you?"
"Nope," Dean answered.
"I'm here," came Asmodei's soft drawl. "Brothers?"
"All here," Gabriel said. "Turn on a light, would ya?"
A beam of light flickered on, Dean held the small torch in his hand, aiming it as to see his surroundings better. Skeletons of old trees looked above them, arching inward to dome above them. Sam drew in a deep breath. "Beware ye weary traveler," he said softly.
"Damn right," Dean replied. "Where's Cas?"
A branch cracked to their left, everybody but Dean turned. He kept his eyes fixed on the right side.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Gabriel said. "But I think something's over there."
"Wrong. Anything in here's too skilled to make noise in shrubs, any monster has been here since the dawn of time, they know their way around. No other souls, human or otherwise have entered Eden for millennia. This one has to be new so Cas is an option. But Cas wouldn't hide and he's too skilled to make noise on shrubbery anyhow. Other option, something's trying to distract us from this side so they could attack from the right, where we are unaware of them being."
"Nice going Sherlock," Sam muttered, slightly embarrassed at having missed the tiny details.
Dean flashed him a smile. "I'm going over, Sam get a flashlight, scan the area and I tell you to get back, get back. If I tell you leave, leave with or without me." He clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Stay safe Sammy."
Sam's hand pinned Dean's down. "Don't you dare," he whispered, anger leeching into his voice. "Don't you dare treat this like goodbye. You're coming back. Say you're coming back!."
Dean nodded and swallowed with difficulty. "I will come back," he confirmed, an unspoken promise in the words.
Castiel watched them from the shadows. He wasn't standing to the left nor the right, simply behind a tree in front of the group, the knife in his hand. In the dim light that scalded his eyes from so long in the dark, Castiel could make out the broad but slim form of the older Winchester coming to his right. Dean, he was alive. How? he wondered briefly, refusing to let himself feel the relief stirring in his chest. The light from the flashlight caught Dean's eyes.
Castiel froze. Green. Beautiful, beautiful green eyes. He had once loved that color, and even in the beginning of his stay here he knew it was importance but now he looked upon but jumbled hatred and anger. How dare such a beautiful color belong to such a terrible person?
Maybe, came that voice of reason inside Castiel's head. Maybe they were lying. They came here to look for you, why would they do that if they hated you?
Or maybe, came the cruel voice. Maybe they just need something.
The latter was more likely, Castiel knew. He refused to get his hopes up only to risk them being crushed by mere words. He refused to let Dean hurt him again because no matter how many times Castiel told himself he hated the man, deep down, he knew it wasn't true, knew that somewhere, in a forsaken piece of his heart that he loved the Winchesters, Sam was a brother, Dean was...well, more than that. He peered out from behind the tree. Dean was nowhere to be seen. Castiel listened, head cocked to the side. Again, he heard nothing.
A hand shot out and covered his mouth, dragging him out from behind the tree. He blinked through the light been shone on his face. Dean Winchester, green eyes and freckles and all, stared down at him, a knife against his throat, an Angel blade. "Cas?" he whispered, almost surprised.
Castiel felt hatred rushing through his veins. He shoved the man off him, using all the strength he didn't know he even had. The knife had fallen from his hand and Cas picked it up and nearby he heard noise, running footsteps. He turned, a snarl ripping from his throat, an animalistic instinct kicking in. Baring his teeth at the Angels and Sam, he turned and ran, head low and legs swift, trying to outrun the family that didn't even follow him.
Dean was certain his mental stability was poor. He knew his eyes played tricks on him in such dim lighting. He also knew he wasn't certain about many things. However he could swear that the man he had tackled was Cas and he could also swear that he had red eyes. Not simply the iris, he meant the entire eye, whites and all.
"Dean!" came Sam's voice, slightly panicked from above him. "Hey!"
Dean groaned and sat up, feeling Sam's hands on his chest. "Sam," Dean gasped. "Sammy, it was Cas!"
"I know," Sam whispered. His eyes were large and sad. "I'm sorry Dean."
Dean's eyes felt wet. "God," he murmured. "Oh God Sam, what do we do? He's an animal."
Sam gripped his shoulders. "Then it's up to you to make sure he get his humanity back."
