Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the idea behind the story. The angels are real, but molded to fit my story. I want to say that I own this version of Castiel's vessel, but maybe not.
It was six in the morning, and Sam was the last person to wake up. Granted only one third of the occupants of Bobby's house actually needed sleep, and Eli didn't count, but he was still the last person up. Sam found his brother sitting at the kitchen table, his arms crossed on it. In front of him was a towel. Sam knew what was in it. "How long have you been awake?"
Dean jerked up from his seat and looked at his brother hovering above him. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Dean," Sam said, wanting an answer.
"Two."
"Five minutes." Sam pulled up a chair and sat down across from his brother. Dean's eyes fell back to the towel in the middle of the table. "What are you thinking about, Dean?"
"Nothing."
Sam sighed. He knew it was going to take a lot more than that to get anything out of his brother. He unfolded the towel and winced. On it was dried blood. He moved the knife off of the towel and tossed the cloth to the side. "Have you tried to touch it yet?"
"No."
"So, it's just been sitting on the table, staring at you?"
"No," Dean said. "The towel was covering it."
Sam sighed. He didn't expect anything less than a smart answer from his brother. "What's going on in your head, Dean?"
"It burned me, Sam," Dean whispered. "And even worse, when I touched it, it hurt Eli."
"Dean."
"He has a name, Sam. He isn't just Castiel or Cas or Casey anymore. He wasn't the vessel that was dropped at our doorstep all those months ago. He has a name."
"I know that, Dean."
Dean shot up from his chair, knocking it down. "And I hurt him."
"You didn't mean to, Dean. And how the hell were you supposed to know that you couldn't touch it? Do you know why that happened?"
"He hasn't stopped shaking, Sammy," Dean said.
"Have you gone to see him? Since yesterday?"
He closed his eyes for a second to collect himself. The first image he saw was Eli lying on the bed, shaking. Then he saw Castiel wrapped in demon chains. His eyes shot open. "No," Dean said, shaking his head.
"Why not?"
"I can't see Cas like that."
"But it's not Cas. It's Eli. You know that."
"And I hurt him. I hurt an innocent man. I was trying to help him and I hurt him."
"Dean, like you said. You were trying to help him."
Dean looked at his brother and realized that they were talking about the same, and yet different things. He thought for a moment about telling Sam about his dream, but ended up biting his lip. "Sammy, this is so messed up."
"I know."
"Eli isn't supposed to be lying on the panic room, shaking like he's caught in a blizzard. All these angels aren't supposed to be here until the war starts. Cas isn't supposed to be lost or whatever. Does anyone have a clue where he is?"
"The angels," Sam said.
"They aren't telling us jack."
"I think Bobby knows."
"He won't tell us either."
"Then maybe it's a good thing. I mean, are you sure you can handle something like this, right now, Dean?"
"I'm fine."
"I'm sure you are. But—"
"Eli knows," Dean whispered. Dean turned to start heading toward the basement.
Sam's eyes widened as he stood from his chair. He got in front of his brother and put his hands on his shoulders to stop him. "And you're going to ask him?"
"What else am I going to do?"
"Dean, you can't be serious. He just had an angel torn from him. He might not even be awake."
"It'll only take a second."
Sam didn't move to let his brother through. He crossed his arms across his chest. "I can't let you do that, Dean."
"Don't you want to know where Cas is?"
"Yeah, I do, but not at the expense of Eli. He might not even know where Cas is."
"We'll never know unless you move out of the way." Dean looked up and saw that his younger, larger brother wasn't going to move. "Sammy, I need to know."
Sam saw the desperation in his brother's eyes. Not to mention that it radiated off of him along with his guilt. His resolve broke down quicker than it ever did before. "Fine," he whispered. "But I swear, Dean if you—"
"It'll take a minute. I won't hurt him."
"Okay."
The two of them walked down to the panic room and saw that there was only one angel standing guard. He wasn't one of the archangels, but he was still an angel, and a little intimidating. "Good morning to you, Dean. Sam."
"Morning," Sam said. "And you are?"
"Barachiel," he said with a slight bow.
"How's Eli?" Sam asked.
"He's sleeping."
"Would it be all right if we went in there?" the younger Winchester asked.
"That's fine."
"We're relieving you of your post," Dean said. "Go get a soda or something."
Barachiel stood there for a moment staring at Dean. When he realized that Dean wasn't going to move until he did, the angel nodded and made his way up the stairs. Dean and Sam walked into the room and saw Eli sleeping with his back facing them. He was still shaking, slightly. The closer that the brothers got to him, the shaking lessened. The brothers thought that he was awake because of it. "Eli?" Sam asked.
He got no response from the sleeping vessel. "Eli?" Dean repeated, a little louder. Eli twitched in his bed. "Eli." Dean pressed a little more to wake him.
"I'm awake," Eli whispered. With a lot of effort, Eli rolled over to face them. "Dean," he said when he opened his eyes.
"Hey, Eli," Dean said.
"You know my name."
Dean knelt down at Eli's side and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah."
Sam backed out of the room, leaving Dean and Eli alone. The two of them had a connection through Castiel, and he knew that they needed each other to be able to deal with what they were going through. "Am I dying?" Eli asked.
"No. You're not."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm not the one lying in a bed in a panic room."
"I'm fine."
"Right." Dean had to laugh. He'd given that answer a million times, and he knew that at least ninety-nine percent of those times were lies.
"Dean, what's wrong?"
"Cas is gone."
"I know, Dean."
"And you're okay with this?"
"He said he needed to."
"Why?" Eli rolled over to face the wall, again. Dean put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, But Eli continued until his back was to Dean. "Eli, tell me."
"Dean."
"Eli, tell me what you know."
"I don't know anything, Dean," Eli whispered.
Dean knew that he was lying. He knew that Eli was trying to protect him like everyone else, and hit made him angry. "Eli." Dean was close to yelling. "Tell me what Cas did?" His voice rose with each word.
Sam made his way back into the panic room. He grabbed is brother, picked him up, and pushed him against the wall. "Dean. Don't yell at him. You're stressing him out."
"Let go of me, Sam," he hissed.
"Dean, get out!" Bobby yelled. The brothers looked at the door and saw the elder hunter standing in it. They were pissed that they were both caught off guard. "Now," Bobby growled. Dean fought out of his brother's hold. He stomped out of the room. Bobby made his way to the Eli's bedside. "Eli," Bobby whispered after he took a few moments to calm down. It didn't really help, because his fury built as he saw Eli shaking in his bed. Eli slowly rolled over to face him. "Are you all right, son?"
"Bobby, bring him back," Eli said.
"No," Bobby replied, adamant. "Not when he's like this."
"Bobby, please."
"You're shaking. He's obviously agitating you."
"Please, bring him back. He just wants to know."
"Eli, he won't be able to handle knowing where Castiel is."
"Where is Castiel, Bobby?" Sam asked.
Bobby turned and chastised himself for not realizing there was someone else in the room. "It's not my place to say, Sam."
"The hell it isn't." Both Eli and Bobby winced at his choice of words. And Sam noticed it. "He's in Hell?"
"Sam," Eli whispered.
"Oh my God."
Sam turned to walk up the stairs. "Sam, don't."
"Bobby, I have to tell Dean."
"No, you don't."
"Bobby, he's not four years old anymore. He doesn't need protecting."
"We'll tell him in time."
"And if he finds out before we get the chance to tell him. Bobby, how bad will he feel knowing that everyone in this house knew about it before he did?"
"How bad do you think he will feel knowing where Castiel really is?"
"He could be working to get him out of Hell."
"How? What can we do that the angels can't?"
"I don't know. But it's better than just sitting here doing nothing."
"That's all that we can do," Bobby said. "Right now, we have to worry about Eli getting better. The angels can handle what's going on with Castiel."
The two hunters looked to Eli and saw that he had fallen asleep during their conversation. He was shaking again.
LRLRLRLRLRLRLR
Dean made his way back upstairs and saw all of the angels wandering around. He saw Barachiel talking with another angel, sitting in the kitchen and actually drinking a soda. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the cap off. He didn't care that it was before eight in the morning. He tipped his drink to Barachiel and the other angel that he was sitting with before making his way out of the kitchen.
He walked to the staircase wanting to finish his beer upstairs, away from all the angels. He got to the bottom of it, but saw that there were two angels at the top who where blocking his way.
He groaned when he saw that it was Michael and Uriel fighting once again. He slowly crept up the stairs, hoping to find the perfect time for him to interrupt them and send them downstairs. But the angels continued arguing like he wasn't there. "What are we going to do, Michael?"
"We are doing everything we can."
"No, we are not. You heard Eli. They're hurting him. And you know that every day up here is years down in Hell."
Dean's bottle slipped from his hand, rolling down the stairs. The angels' arguing stopped as they turned to face Dean. "He's in Hell?" Dean choked out.
"Dean," Michael said.
Dean found himself falling. He felt arms catch him before he blacked out.
Okay, so here is the next chapter. I actually was going to post this chapter last week, but I started summer school and I was tired. And since I usually update on Tuesdays, I decided to wait until today. Sorry if it bummed any of you guys out.
Okay, I have two questions for you fans.
1) What state does Chuck live in?
2) Has Dean every called Castiel by his full name to his face? I'm trying to think back, and I can't remember one scene where he didn't call him Cas to his face.
Thanks to anyone who has an answer. I need it for another story I'm thinking about. Well, I hope that this chapter turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock
