Chapter 3: Revelation is for the weak
If Castiel had learned anything over the last few hours is that cats can never be trusted. Not at all. Ever since Sam and Dean went missing five hours ago, Castiel had been on the move, hiding in dark corners or flying randomly to avoid leaving his trace. And even when Castiel was unsure of what to do, he had unknowingly built a new habit of perching atop the roof of the taller structures in the town. Cats, it seemed, were the only creatures left to freely roam the streets, but those sleek, mean little creatures have done nothing but to get Castiel riled up.
It wasn't like Castiel expected them to be of much help thought. That's the only resource that he could think of, or at least pluck up the courage to go for. He doesn't stay on one road for too long, who knows who or what could be lurking in the shadows. But there's only so much running away one person can do.
But staying at one place — no. That was a definite no. It's too risky.
He'd had a few trial and error moments. Castiel would interrogate a feline that led to the next and the next again, and they were creatures of few words. Most would simply sweep their tails and walk off with their heads held up high. Those smug bastards. After he realised what was the issue, he carefully identified rogue and feral cats and stuck with questioning strays instead.
It helped a little bit, but that doesn't mean the interrogation always worked out. If there were another creation that acted as pompous as cats, they might have been God instead.
The weird thing about interrogation is that the questioned can choose to ignore you completely. So what does it mean to be interrogated if there were no obtainable answers? Castiel has no idea. It would be more appropriately labelled as "question with no answer session' because that was the treatment Castiel got.
"You've got to tell me what have you seen in these alleys, or I will make you do so." Castiel said as he crouched down in front of a black feline who spared not even a glance towards him and let out a big yawn. "Speak." Castiel insisted. The cat hissed and raised hackles. Castiel sighed. "You are of no help! I merely asked a simple question." At least Bob the Cat from the case in Oklahoma were of more help.
Castiel flew atop another building and perched there, his bright blue eyes scanned the empty streets. The skies are clear with the moon up high and the stars shining bright, casting Cas's shadow onto the streets below. Castiel blamed himself. Had his reflexes been quick enough, Sam would not have been taken. Had he been more vigilant, Dean would not have gone missing. There was not much he could do but hunt the monster down and slay it. Dean would've been proud of the fine hunter Castiel turned out to be. Except it was under the circumstance of Dean's disappearance that has Cas turn stone cold in the first place.
Dean…
Funnily enough, Castiel was the most obedient, straight laced soldier heaven had to offer and then Dean Winchester came along and BAM! He broke every rule just to save Dean's ass. Well and Sam got tied into it as well. Cas wouldn't be as messed up as he is now if he had never met Dean.
Castiel chuckled softly to himself, all he did was change his allegiance. He was still bound to a contract. This time, it's one he willingly signed up for. He's sworn to protect Dean. And he'd done a pretty shitty job so far.
.
.
.
.
.
Castiel was pacing outside the door for the last five minutes, ever since dean pushed him away and almost ran to the bathroom. He locked Cas out before he could get to him. And all Dean did was ignore him.
So all he could do was wait. Wait for Dean to come out and tell him.. Tell him that he… that he…
What?
What was Cas expecting? Castiel can't even think of what he should be concerned with.
The minutes were beginning to tick away, time was getting longer and longer, as if the seconds had become minutes and all that whole lot of bull.
How long will it take for Dean to understand?!
Come on!
Castiel's impatience overridden his guilt, guilt that he did not feel he should bear in the first place. Was this a thing now? Feeling guilty for not feeling guilty? Castiel was contemplating to get comfortable for the long night's wait for Dean outside the bathroom door, but he didn't need to. The lock clicked open and Dean was standing in front of him.
Castiel didn't even take a moment to think. He ended up turning his back against Dean after shooting him a second of death glare.
Real mature for a thousand year-old angel.
There was a shuffle of feet before Dean laid his hand on his shoulder.
"I am sorry."
The truth.
There was no hostility in Dean's voice that Castiel expected.
"Cas?"
It sounded genuine. Dean rarely input genuineness in apologies.
.
.
.
.
.
The people are a whole new definition of weird - no, weird isn't near enough to describe them. If the situation from the night before hadn't crept them out, what laid in front of them now has sent goosebumps rising on their skins, both human and angels alike. Castiel didn't know that angels could get goosebumps until now. Say it was the replica of Zombieland the night before, describing the townspeople look as lively as the village of Belle's in Beauty and the Beast was an understatement.
It was overwhelming.
Precisely.
Castiel never knew people could be so… Friendly.
Dean was driving the only car in the town so it seems. Everyone else seemed to be more satisfied with walking. Dean had the windows rolled down as he looked around. While they hoped to question the families with the apparent kidnappings - they decided to call them kidnaps and have hope- they doubted that they would gain any new information at all.
"Please! Someone, help me look for my son!"
"Dean pull-over!" Sam shouted as he looked around for the source of the voice.
"Help me look for Felix, please!"
Castiel was told to stay in the car. So in the car he stayed as Dean and Sam took their fake IDs and left for the shaken mother. Castiel watched as the Winchesters entered the apartment and sighed. Stay in the car? What did Dean think he was? Definitely not invalid. With a close of his eyes, he flew.
"We are very sorry for your loss-"
"Felix is not dead!"
"Yes of course, and we will find him."
"You're lying. That's what cops do, you take our money and feed us with words of deceit."
Agents Smith and Smith looked at each other. Well, situation could be worse. Dean went ahead to gather as much information as he could. Which was more than what he expected really. Huh, luck is finally on his side. Felix's room was clean and neat, too neat for a recent break in and kidnap. The E.M.F meter should nothing but regular detective stuff caught his eye. A pink foil candy wrapper reflected off Dean's flash light as he checked under the bed. Dean brought it up to his nose and took a whiff. Smells fresh, he noted. He contemplated for a short while before flicking out his tongue for a taste. Is that mercury?!
A droplet of water hit Dean's exposed back and he jumped in shock, hitting his head on the bed frame in the process. "Son of a bitch." He cursed as he crawled out from underneath. Maybe the monster wasn't under the bed, what if it was on the ceiling? Dean looked upwards to where he thought the water might have come from to see a shadow disappearing. What in the world is going on?
Dean headed back downstairs to meet Sam. They had much to talk about. Felix's mother held a stern face, as did Sam. The atmosphere was filled with tension that irked Dean to the core. "You got a smile that lights up a whole room. Anybody tells you that?" Dean chuckled awkwardly. The other two being in the room stared him down. "Nevermind. We'll get going."
"So what have you got?"
Dean told Sam of the incident in the bedroom. He couldn't rub off the chill that stayed in his spine but together they headed back to Castiel for further evaluation on the next action. Of course, the said angel was nowhere to be seen. Fearing that Cas was ambushed, he searched the Impala for signs of a fight or struggle, there was none.
Dean clenched his fist in anger. "He had one job!"
It wasn't until an hour later when Dean and Sam were at the diner's when Castiel appeared. "Cas!" Dean stuttered when the angel popped out of nowhere beside him and almost dropped his burger.
"We were looking for you! Where have you been?!" Sam asked.
Heaven was in a mess. While it had never bothered Castiel before, the angel radio earlier had got something to do with this. The halls were empty and the corridors were stained with splashes of red. Blood? Angels don't bleed that much. Or plainly speaking, there aren't enough angels for this amount of bleeding.
It might have been something Castiel said or done, because Dean had not been looking pleased since his appearance, or disappearance. And Dean had never been this upset since John died. Or angry. Dean wasn't upset with him, Dean was infuriated.
Later that afternoon Dean himself, decided to head back to the house. Probably try to find the shadows in the walls. He and Cas made up of course. Apologies and all that moody, hormonal shit that Dean didn't even know what got to him. Mood swings? What the fuck?! Dean Winchester does not get mood swings. But the moment he was nearing the house where Felix had been taken the night before, Dean felt the temperature drop too quickly and before he could whip out his gun, a shadow engulfed him and he passed out.
When he woke, Dean tried to shout but his throat was parched and it hurt. Fuck. He had let his guard down. It was a blessing in itself that Dean was still alive! Dean tried to move, but as soon as he did, he let out a wail of pain. That was something he hadn't expected. It was pitch black and Dean had no idea how long he had been here, wherever here was. And the sick fucker that restrained him here thought it was funny to place a well aimed blade on his back, which was already bleeding from the first stab. Apparently it doesn't hurt him unless he lurched forward. Which Dean learned it the hard way.
Dean blinked harder to clear his eyes of the tears that formed from the pain and looked around. Still pitch black. Wherever this was, it might have been underground, because no other places could have blocked out light this well. Dean kicked his shoes off in attempt to grab the hidden blade he had in there, and cursed inwardly. His captor took that away too. He was precise and thorough Dean would give to that.
"That should teach you not to go sticking your tongue on everything."
That voice.
"I expected you boys to catch up much faster. Lounging around had gotten you lazy, hadnot it?"
Dean swore that he knew that voice.
"I will leave you to your demises. In a few hours, my plan would unfold and I can't have you snooping around can I?" The man said. "I'll send your brother to you as well for your lovely reunion. Can't have him at large."
Dean couldn't pinpoint the location of the person, or thing, or whatever this was. The voice was velvety smooth and he could hear the smug off the bastard's speech.
"By then, give Sammy my love would you, Dean-O?"
Gabriel!
The sound of fluttering wings surrounded him and Dean was once again left alone in quietness.
Sam was lost without Dean. Guilt washed over him as he chided himself again and again. "I should have gone with him!"
"What good would that do? You might have been taken as well."
"But alone, he couldn't have stood a chance!"
"If it's any consolation, I think I know the primary link between the cases." Castiel offered.
That caught Sam's attention quicker than a falcon could spot a rabbit. Castiel explained that in every child's room, there was a piece of candy wrapper. The room would be similarly packed, the toys on the shelves facing the bed and booked stacked away. Castiel took a pen and paper and drew a table and wrote down the children's name in the chronological order of the time and date they went missing. Below the names, Castiel numbered them.
"What are you doing?"
"Look. The number of toys coincide with number of children disappearing. First child, one toy. Second child, two toys. Third child, three toys. There's a trend."
"I see it. But what does it mean?"
"I… don't know."
"I'm going to summon Crowley. He may know something."
Okay, so things may not have moved smoothly for Sam and Cas. But having a demonling shadowing them kind of makes it difficult for Sam to do his work. Personally, he wants to run the demon blade through the hearts of those demons himself. Why did Crowley had to tag him? He was not anybody's lap dog for God's sake!
Sam was afraid, but he didn't let it show. He wouldn't know how it would affect Cas, or himself. If he said it out loud, that means it's true right? If only these things weren't true right now. Sam had no idea what to do next, or how to get is brother back. The only thing that made sense of what he and Cas pieced together, was that there was a candy loving freak out there that's snatching those children. Children loved candy. Right?
It couldn't be the trickster, they said. They didn't want to believe that they had another trickster up their sleeve. Handling one was bad enough, especially now that they don't even know where he was. And what does a trickster need with those children? This was the work of the Candyman, as Sam put it. Probably a shadow lurking in corners that lure kids with sweets.
The Candyman was what Sam and Cas were betting on.
And it got Sam too. Sam had been too careless to accept a piece of beautifully wrapped sweet from a stranger. He was foolish to eat it even. But how could he not? Especially when the child looked up at him with large watery eyes.
Thank you for helping my sister, sir. Please take this candy.
It was probably wise for Sam to mind his own business from now on. Things took a turn for the worse when he decided to split up with Cas. Not a moment too soon after the angel was out of sight, he felt the air turn stone cold and the atmospheric oxygen thin, strangling him. The edge of his eyes caught a shadow, or was it, as his vision blurred black spots appeared before he passed out completely.
Sam awoke to darkness and ringing in his ears.
"Sammy?"
Dean!
"Sammy is that you?"
"Yeah Dean."
"I can't believe he got you too!"
"Who?"
"Your fucking maniac boyfriend that's who."
Sam blinked a couple of times to set his vision straight, then he figured that it probably won't be of use any way and squeezed his eyes tight shut to stop his ears from ringing. "Gabe?"
"That son of a bitch did this."
"You boys look adorable." A voice that Sam was ever so familiar with rang across the room.
It was Gabriel's. No. Fucking. Way.
Sam kicked from his restraints which was a terrible move, for he hit something too hard for his foot and a loud 'Crack' was heard. He cried out in pain and recoiled.
"Ouchies. I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Why are you doing this?!" Sam shouted.
A small laugh fell from the man in the shadows, "Where's the fun if I were to tell you?"
Sam lurched forward and instantly regretted when he heard crates fall from beside him and Dean's grunt afterwards. "Dean?!"
The chuckle evolved into a menacing laugh. "I did tell you. Stay put or Dean-O's gonna get the punishment from your actions."
Fuck.
The sound of a flutter of wings left Sam alone in silence. He had never felt so betrayed in his whole life, not like this. Not with Gabe.
Castiel. He prayed. Cas, we need your help. Dean needs your help. Find Gabriel...
A/N: I hope this is not too confusing. Sometimes it played out nicely in my mind but it gets screwed up after I pen it down. So basically what happens in this chapter is connecting the dots from chapter one till three. No more flash backs, no more time jumping around. The next chapter will pick up exactly where this is left off, and it'll probably be the last :P The end to this whole miniseries.