The Power of Two:
"Brace yourself." Castiel whispered, his voice seemingly sounding in Nathan's skull.
Yeah, so Castiel's warning didn't help Nathan at all. He was mid breath when he felt it, so much pain. He'd thought that because an Angel of the Lord was doing it, that it wouldn't hurt. Boy, was he the wrongest he had ever been in his entire life about anything.
He couldn't move.
Castiel's touch was light, but he still managed to hold Nathan still. And it was the touch that was confusing to Nathan because he knew that he could easily slip out of his hold, but when he tried—in order to get away from the pain—he was unable. And did he mention the pain? Because he was screaming or he really wanted to scream. His mouth was open and his breath was leaving him, but he couldn't scream. Not out loud at least. His head was so loud right now, his scream blood curdling. But no one could hear except him.
Nathan was kind of glad for that fact though, that no one could hear him. Despite the fact that he wished that he could hear it outside of his head because it would give him that little smidgen of relief. And right now, he needed and wanted all the relief that he could.
It was like it was inside of his heart, and his soul. He could feel this pain in his soul and it was horrible. Nathan wished that he could pass out, if he could just black out then it would be fine and he'd be able to take it. But he couldn't, he tried but something wasn't allowing him. It was so painful that he couldn't pass out, and that just wasn't fair.
It wasn't as if he were dead, hell, at this second, in this moment he kinda wished that he was—if only to stop this pain.
His sight was screwed as well, like all he could see was this intense light and it wasn't the sun either.
Did he mention the thing about his soul? Because it seriously felt as if Castiel was in there tearing away the formation of the Sigil that had been imprinted itself there.
Nathan wasn't sure how long it had lasted, probably only minutes but it felt longer than that. It felt like hours and days and months because even when it finally stopped it took him awhile to actually notice it. It hurt so much that even when Cas was finished, it still felt as if felt as if he were in Nathan's soul.
Nathan had never felt this before in his life and he would have fallen to the floor if Castiel hadn't caught him and manoeuvred him into the bed. Nathan was unable to move, his body and soul in shock at being touched that way. He curled into a ball; that being all the movement he could stand at the moment. It hurt to breathe, his heart beat painfully in his chest, and he couldn't even blink without it hurting extremely.
Through it all though, he felt Castiel place his two fingers at the center of his forehead, and felt a warmth start to spread throughout his core. He'd never felt anything like this in his entire life, this warmth. It was like the warm sun, on a summer's day, but was inside of him.
Castiel took his fingers away and Nathan felt a breeze as he disappeared. He couldn't really think at the moment whether or not he'd see Cas again because the warmth stayed.
It soothed his frayed soul and soon he found his eye lids drooping.
"Anything?" Dean asked when Castiel suddenly appeared in front of him, too tired to even bother jerking in surprise.
"I've taken care of it." Cas told him simply.
"It's taken care of?" Dean repeated.
"Yes." Cas jerked his head.
"And what does that mean exactly?" Dean raised his brows.
"The Sigil that Lucifer had placed on Nathan's soul is now vanquished; he no longer has any hold on your brother." Cas clarified.
Dean let out a breath and it seriously felt as if the weight of the world had finally been lifted from his tired shoulders. There was no more Apocalypse riding on the Winchester family, no threat of the Devil roaming around and now Nathan was free as well; with his soul no less. In that second, Dean actually felt like crying. This almost felt like freedom; there wasn't a sense of pressure or unwillingness. Maybe now he'd get more than four hours of sleep at a time.
But with this realization came the fact that without the Apocalypse and the Devil, Cas had no reason or rhyme to stay. Dean was surprised with the feelings that that dredged up; it felt like Cas had been with them forever, he was on their Free Will team after all. Dean even thought of him as a friend, as much as the Angel was awkward and clueless about Earth's customs.
"What about you then?" Dean asked. "Are you going back to heaven or whatever?"
"Father wishes for me to stay here on Earth and fix any of the damage that Lucifer had caused." Castiel spoke; his face completely blank and his voice void any sort of tone, his eyes frozen.
But Dean knew better, knew that Cas felt hurt that he wasn't at home like his brothers were. He got it, understood what Cas felt.
"He'll come around." Dean told the Angel quietly.
Both he and Cas had a thing with what could only be considered 'dick-head' dads.
Castiel stared at him for a moment, silent as his gaze pierced Dean's. "I will be around, if you need anything all you need do is call my name."
Before Dean could say anything more, Cas vanished and Dean could feel the cool breeze in his short locks.
"Nathan?" Dean called as he poked his head in Nathan's room's open doorway but found it empty, the sheets on the bed messed.
"Here." Nathan spoke up quietly right behind Dean.
This time Dean did jump, if just a little and he gripped the door frame for a moment with his head bowed. He turned to Nathan his expression blank.
Nathan raised his brows as he zipped up his sweater, stashing his hands in the pockets. "You talk to Cas?"
Dean nodded, his eyes glued to Nathan. "Yeah, he said that he was going to stick around."
"He told me the same thing."
They stared at each other in silence.
"How're you feeling?" Dean finally asked.
Nathan chewed the inside of his cheek and shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I guess. Cas fixed me and made me all warm and fuzzy inside." He said that last part with a twitch of a grin.
Dean raised his brows at that. "Let me see."
Nathan opened his mouth argue but the look Dean sent his silenced any protest. He gritted his teeth and jerked his hands from his pockets; he did the same with his zipper before he tugged his long sleeve up, revealing his clear chest.
"See." he moved from side to side, showing that it wasn't just the angle that Dean was looking at him from. "Happy?" he let his shirt drop back down.
"Oh, so joyous." Dean told him sarcastically.
"Nice," Nathan drawled back with a roll of his eyes. "So what's the plan?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Dean shrugged his shoulders. "Business as usual."
"Business as usual, are you serious?"
Dean's look said exactly what he was feeling and Nathan sighed.
"Business as usual it is."
"You'll get used to it..." Dean told him, clapping him on the shoulder as he passed him, stomping down the stairs. "Eventually!"
Nathan glowered at the empty air around him, no wonder his father had insisted that he live a normal instead of getting into Hunting.
f—