Witnesses

You …should already know how the story goes from here. As soon as I entered that old barn, my story had ended…And our story- the story of how two boys, an old drunk, and a fallen angel overcame fate itself- had begun. It had all started that night, in that little warehouse. It was then that I first truly met Dean Winchester.

I wasn't surprised to be welcomed with a shower of bullets and shotgun pellets. Each one would have meant the end of my vessel, and I knew that Jimmy cringed as each one bit into his body. I continued forward, purposefully, calmly, until I could see both men's eyes widen in fear as the bullets did little to hinder my advance. Light bulbs shattered in the wake of my Grace as I passed through all three Devil's Traps. Dean and Bobby glance at each other, before Dean lunges to the side and grabs hold of his demon blade. He turns, circling me, and I do the same. I should not underestimate him, I was told, but it was hard not to. His blade was as ineffective as his shotgun.

"Who are you?" he growls.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition," I say. I can tell that he is coiling up for a blow. I look back at him and wait for it to come.

"Yeah…thanks for that."

I give him a small smile even as he drives the blade into my chest. His expression falls and his confidence crumbles when he sees that it has utterly no effect on me. I look down with indifference, taking the knife by the hilt and pulling it out. The wound quickly seals itself, already healed over even as I drop the knife to the ground. It falls with a dull clank. Dean stares. I smile back at him. He casts a quick glance at Bobby, as if I didn't know he was behind me. Without looking, I reach out and catch the metal bar that the older man swings at me and turn to meet him. A look of helplessness crosses his face as I easily overpower him, and I can hear him repeating to me in his mind,

"Please don't kill me. Please don't-"

I oblige, touching two of my fingers to his forehead. I pass an Enochian incapacitating spell into him, and Bobby's eyes roll back into his head as he collapses. I watch, unconcerned, as he hits the ground in a similar fashion as the blade. I turn back to Dean, who is still staring with his mouth agape with shock,

"We need to talk, Dean. Alone." He looks down to Bobby, then back at me. Then, slowly, cautiously, he edges downwards. For a second I thought he was bowing to me- it certainly wasn't the first time a human has bowed to an angel. Or attempted to. But then he leaned towards Bobby, reaching out to check his friend's pulse while keeping his eyes trained on me. I turn away, finding the incantation that Bobby had used to summon me scrawled on a slip of paper. Picking it up, I scan through it. The Latin verses, as far as I can remember, went like this,

Adprecor spiritus obscurae

voco in nomine Castiel

ad hoc altare construximus

apparebis in conspectu meo in pace

abjecto tuus dissimulatione

Soon, though, I notice that Dean is staring at me. I can feel anger rolling from his shoulders and through his eyes, all directed at me.

"Your friend's alive," I say, without looking his way. This spell Bobby had chosen was full of errors; I was surprised it had even worked and not blown up in their faces.

"Who are you?" he demands.

"Castiel."

"Yeah, I figured that much, I mean what are you?" I look down at him,

"I'm an angel of the Lord."

Maybe I had expected awe, or wonder, or even fear. But of course with Dean, I should have known better than to expect such things. He slowly rose back to his feet,

"Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing."

My gaze does not waver. In his eyes I saw a broken faith; one that had been forever scarred from the countless years of torment in the Pit. I saw a defiant soul filled with fire, yet at the same time full of uncertainty and loss and…regret.

"This is your problem, Dean," I say as I unfurl my wings to prove to him my existence, "You have no faith."

The remaining light bulbs explode above us from the second surge of energy. Electricity crackles around me before fading and leaving a metallic tang in the air. Dean doesn't speak, eyes flicking downward. Maybe now he believed. Maybe now he will listen-

"Some angel you are," he says, making a weak attempt at a self-assuring smile, "You burned out that poor woman's eyes."

I look away, nearly about to reply with a "And I was going to burn out yours, too", but instead what came out was,

"I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be... overwhelming to humans; and so can my real voice. But you already knew that."

"You mean the gas station and the motel," he narrowed his eyes,"That was you talking?"

I nod, and he continues, "Buddy, next time, lower the volume."

Maybe I should have answered with a rebuke. This human was actually telling me what to do. Yet somehow, I felt humble enough to reply,

"That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong." Dean grimaces at me and scans my form,

"And what 'visage' are you in now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?"

"This?" I look at my now torn coat. I would need to mend it sometime, "This is a vessel." I smile at the mention of Jimmy. Dean's expression, however, turns cold,

"You're possessing some poor bastard?"

"He's a devout man, he actually prayed for this."

"Well, I'm not buying what you're selling, so who are you really?" I frown with confusion,

"I told you."

"Right. And why would an angel…rescue me from Hell?" I could tell what belief he had in me was already quickly crumbling. Humans are such petty creatures. I step closer to him,

"Good things do happen, Dean."

"Not in my experience." Of course it wasn't in his experience. His life only encompassed a mere fraction of time; and hunters, especially, had a generally shorter than average lifespan. I step even closer, and I can clearly see his discomfort at such a breach of personal space- a term that would take some time for me to learn. But what I was looking for- and found- was once again that little bubble of regret hiding beneath his hostile façade. My eyes narrow,

"What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved?" Dean lets out a little breath, and I am so close I can feel it. He is shaking now,

"Why'd you do it?"

"Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you." My words are met with silence. Dean averts his eyes from mine. I take a step back,

"I will return, Dean." With another step I cast my invisibility around myself, cloaking me from his eyes once more. Dean blinks, looking around before summoning up enough courage to call out,

"Yeah, sure you will! Just let me know when your angelic choir practice is over!" He probably would have said more if I hadn't awoken Bobby then. The older man blinked his eyes open, gasping and looking around with shock. Dean ran to him, helping him stagger back to his feet. I linger for a while longer before taking flight and leaving.

I locate my Garrison, but immediately I see that everyone is agitated by something. A nervous energy fills the air, angels bustling about in hushed tones. Rachel spots me standing to the side, quickly walking over to me,

"Castiel, there you are. I've been waiting for you." I fall into step beside her as we walk down the hall of an old warehouse, dimensionally altered to serve as our Garrison's base. It was as close to home as we could make it.

"What's going on, Rachel?"

"We have received orders from up high. It- it's an emergency. Lilith has been spotted."

A wave of excitement courses through me, but I calmly ask, "Where is she now?"

"Somewhere down in Arizona. Exact location has not been determined, but we have sent our best angels on it." We reach the end of the long hallway, Rachel pushing open the door for me. It would have led to an old storage closet, if the rusted sign read correctly, but instead we came through to a spacious room. The command center. As we passed by rows of maps and intelligence, many angels from my Garrison stopped to greet me respectfully. I never grew accustomed to that act, and even now, after so many years of leading I do not see any use to it. Nevertheless, I nod back to them in acknowledgment, and continue with Rachel to a giant map spread over half the wall. A red spot marked-

"That's the last place she was spotted, only about half an hour ago," she pursed her lips in an almost human expression, "Then she just…vanished."

I point at the red clumps positioned in a rough ring around Lilith's spot,

"And these…are her outer guard," Rachel nods, and I continue,

"Any idea on what she was doing there?"

"Yes, actually. But you're not going to like it," Rachel sighed. She reaches down to a nearby table, showing me a bag with a wilted plant inside. It only took me a second to identify it- it was a Rose of Jericho. Otherwise known as the Resurrection Plant.

"Samson was able to track down what she was looking for in that area. We're thinking it's for a spell." Rachel sets the bag back down before continuing,

"There are only a few spells that require such a plant, from what I remember. So unless Lilith wants to bestow blessings or cure diseases, the only other ritual would be…"

"To raise spirits," Rachel nods,

"Exactly… But what for? Lilith has no need for spirits when she has a whole army of-"She stops when she notices that I am not listening to her anymore. My mind is running through the rituals required for the thousands of Seals, searching for ones that included the Rose. If Lilith was truly on the move to break the next Seal, then she would choose an easy one. My eyes widen as I finally come to a realization, and I quickly walk past her,

"She means to raise the Witnesses." Rachel catches up to me, recognition dawning on her face as well,

"Then - well, at least this spell requires the ingredients to be gathered in order," her eyes narrow in thought," She'll be after wormwood next, if I am not mistaken."

"Yes," I stop, turning to her, "Go let the others know, but don't send anyone out yet... We don't want Lilith to suspect anything. Tell the Garrison to be ready when the word comes." Rachel nods,

"But where are you going?"

"To find Uriel."

Gahh sorry for the belated update! So many school papers due ahh my hands... xux

Please reviewee~