Back to the Future World: Part 2
The wind rushed past his face and for a brief moment everything felt normal. Or, at least that was until he felt a hand grasping at his arm. Castiel turned his head to see Sam's wide-eyed expression, the entire experience was new and exhilarating and the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. Cas couldn't really be upset that Sam had held onto him, especially not after they landed. Castiel touched ground easily, his passing through the portal elegant and graceful, like he'd done it a thousand times, because really, he probably had. When he looked up he realized that it was just he and Sam, Dean and Jet had somehow been misplaced.
Castiel snapped his head around, taking in the scenery until he was certain there was nothing. It was night, the buildings around them were empty, the streets were unlit, nothing seemed to be moving but them.
"Son of a bitch..." He growled out. How could that have happened? He went in first, Jet next, and then Sam. He'd had to go back and drag Dean through but he'd let go right after, was that when? Passing through to a new world wasn't the same with others as when he was alone, though how could he know that? Cas had never done it alone before, though He'd noticed the difference. Normally when he passed through to a world he was there immediately, not this time. The transportation didn't work unless both partners had passed. That was good to know, though now he had an idiot to find. Stupid time and space dimensional crap.
"Dean?" Sam called out, looking around as he wandered in the dark. They were in a city, technically, though it was definitely in ruins. Sam would have commented on how cool it was to be in some kind of ancient place but his mind was a little distracted looking for his brother. "Dean! Where'd you go?"
"He's not around here, Sam." Cas muttered, glancing toward several sets of headlights head right for them. "But it seems there's some civilization at least..."
"So what do we tell them?" Sam perked up, eyes focused on the blinding lights in the night. No wonder deer always stared, it was hard not to when everything was supposed to be pitch black. "Dimension travellers or-"
"Unless you have to explain it, don't bother." Cas stepped away from the vehicles' paths, figuring that if they passed right by he wouldn't want to be flattened. "You'd be surprised at how many people are okay with it, but the vast majority will think you're insane until you prove it."
Sam cringed at that, recalling the way he and Dean had reacted to Cas the first time. "I guess when you do this often enough you get bored of talking about it, huh?"
Cas opened his mouth to reply but decided against it and nodded instead, eyes fixed on the first armored vehicle that slowed near them and ultimately stopped. The door opened and a familiar body hopped out, the cold expression on his face was new but he couldn't be mistaken for anyone else. "Dean?" Sam's eyes lit up as he saw, relieved that they didn't have to look too hard and that Dean hadn't been injured in the short time they'd been there. "Hey, you-" Sam froze when a gun lifted toward him, the barrel aimed right for his head. "Dean?"
Castiel almost seemed to glide to Dean's side, his hand pushing the weapon down to angle it toward the ground and away from Sam. "I don't know who you think he is, but how about this time you ask questions before shooting?"
"He's dead," Dean growled, "You know that, Cas."
Cas didn't flinch, hesitate or cringe in any way. He stepped around to stand in front of Dean, expression stern, as he demanded eye contact. "Why is it that every Dean I meet seems to have half a brain?" he spat indignantly, this time getting the hunter's attention, "That is not the same Sam you know, I am not your Castiel." He spoke clearly to spell it out, "If you pay attention I think you can already tell." He glanced over at Sam who managed a 'I thought you said don't say' look despite his fear. Cas shrugged in return, "It was necessary."
Dean stared at him long and hard before looking up at Sam, the horror on the young man's face and his age to begin with were enough to tip him off. "Alright, you got my attention."
"Good." Cas relaxed his posture slightly, hand slipping away from his cloak. "There's another you around here and I need to find him."
Dean's eyes narrowed but he remained professional about it, "Well it seems like anything of any importance happens to me or my group so he's probably back at camp." He glanced over at Sam again, the look of anger and confusion starting to melt in a way that Cas recognized all too well. It was the look that took over once you realized that the person you used to care about was standing right in front of you again. Of course, they didn't know you and they weren't yours, but that didn't mean you couldn't appreciate the fact that they were breathing.
"Sounds solid enough," Sam wasn't sure he entirely believed this Dean but he saw no reason not to. Yeah, he was a little freaked out a gun had been pointed his way but that didn't mean he'd been shot and it didn't mean he should be upset. This Dean, though he wasn't technically his brother, he was a brother of a Sam, and that Sam had done something awful to deserve it. "So let's get going then, what are we waiting for?"
Dean frowned and glanced over at the other men who had accompanied him, their faces filled with shock at the sight of Sam Winchester; they knew the face of the devil when they saw it. "Before you guys start getting trigger happy, this is a different guy." Dean tried to explain as one of them turned to look at Cas.
"How did you get out here, Cas? You stayed behind this time."
"Just listen to your boss," Cas grumbled before heading toward Dean's vehicle. He knew that they weren't travelling ruined cities for fun and he'd be willing to bet anything that they were headed right for the problem that Cas and the others were there for. "I'm guessing you're in the middle of something, you can take us to your base once you're finished."
"Thanks, Cas." Dean looked grateful, a welcome difference on his sour face. Cas nodded and motioned for Sam to join him. The younger Winchester wasn't as keen on going with this mob of gun-wielding maniacs but he didn't see much other option. He passed Dean by, not missing the way he was being stared at as he pulled himself into Dean's truck. He had to get in first, Cas waited patiently for him by the door to ensure that either Sam had to sit in the middle or that Cas got a window seat. Either way it made Sam laugh a little.
The silence in the drive was mind numbing and really all Sam wanted to do was ask; ask about what the other Sam did, why Dean would want to ever harm his brother let alone kill him. Sam couldn't understand it; he'd just come from a situation where Dean would have done anything to save him, to keep him safe and unharmed. He couldn't picture Dean ever doing something like this, there had to be a good reason for it.
Cas on the other hand was focusing on the problem at hand. This world didn't open up to him until he had a partner so what did he need Dean for? He could only think of one thing; that there were alternate versions of them that would be run into and dealt with. Cas shuddered at the thought; it was jostling enough to run into Dean once, to take him with, but to run into him everywhere they went? A new Dean each time, a new story, and possibly a new Castiel to go with. He wasn't sure on that last one but regardless he wasn't sure he was ready for it. 'Too bad,' He told himself numbly, 'because it's happening and you don't have much of a say.'
"So what'd he do?" Sam finally spat it out, breaking the silence and startling the two overly tough-acting men on either side of him.
"What'd who do?" Dean snapped, making a face at the curious expression Sam had aimed his way.
"The other Sam, what'd he do that would make you aim a gun at me?"
"First, I don't want to talk about it right now. Second, you should quit thinking about it. And third, shut up."
Cas' face tightened as he held back a snicker, looking strictly out the windshield as Sam frowned at him. "Don't laugh, Cas. He sounds a lot like you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Castiel, still bemused by this Dean's attitude, raised an eyebrow back at the younger Winchester. His fingers tapped lightly on the top of his thigh to help pattern out his nerves and calm him down. It wasn't exactly working, his mind was still stuck on everything coming their way.
Sam shrugged and looked ahead again, deciding that now probably wasn't the best time to question anyway. The road was broken up, potholes, cracks, debris and rubble all around. It was a mess and all Sam could think happened was some kind of apocalypse. It was just like in all those post-apocalyptic books he'd ever read, or the movies, or plays or anything of the sort that he'd experienced. The main question though, was it zombies or something else? He couldn't tell, though the lack of rotting corpses on the ground might have been a good indicator. Maybe not zombies but something like them.
The truck slowed to a stop, Dean killed the engine and motioned for the other two to be silent. Castiel looked ahead at the barricaded bridge, blocking the monsters in question from sight. Though he couldn't see them he could feel it, whatever was hiding back there was definitely from the void. "Sam, you stay back." He whispered as he slowly climbed out, Dean's expression souring at his initiative.
"Hey," he snapped in a low hiss, climbing out of the truck and moving around to Castiel's side as he approached the bridge. "This is my operation, get your pale ass back in that truck."
Cas sharply turned his gaze onto Dean, his eyes a cold glint in the moonlight that reminded Dean of the lover he'd left back home. "This may be your current operation, Dean," he emphasized the name with a slight pause, more venom in his tone than Dean had expected, "but I've been on this mission longer than you have known about it and I'll be damned if I let you go in there alone. Do you even have a weapon that works?"
Dean opened his mouth to speak but didn't, instead he bit the inside of his cheek and looked back at the barricade without much of a word.
"I thought not." Cas reached behind himself and into the long ends of his cloak, his hand disappearing for a moment before pulling his weapon of choice.
"What is that? A combo-gun?" Dean tilted his head slightly to the side, reminiscent mimicry of someone he'd spent much time with.
"Basically, yes. A pernach mace and wheellock pistol, I can shoot and bludgeon." Cas explained briefly as he started walking again, each step starting to feel like it was thundering as he went. Evidently silence was a friend in this situation and he could imagine several creatures that would entice that sort of strategy. His heart felt like it was all too loud as it echoed in his ears, getting ready for the types of beasts he'd see. His fingers were crossed for something less horrifying than his mind was offering but then again, when did you ever get what you wished for?
He held his breath before leaning against the barricade and peering around it, his eyes focusing in the dark on the roaming almost shapeless forms. It was a massacre on the other side of the bridge, bodies strewn about like they were pieces of litter, scattered and decorating everything. The worst of it, and the most telling part, they were all skinned.
"Oh shit…" Cas breathed, his heart only getting louder.
Dean slipped beside him, close enough that they could feel the other's presence against their clothing. He leaned forward to peer around the barricade as well, his expression only becoming graver as he watched the ambling beasts. "That'd be them." He muttered under his breath, only loud enough for Castiel to hear. He looked at the high priest and was surprised to see the composed man's eyes wider than ever. He furrowed his brow and leaned closer, "Do you know something about these things?"
"More than you'd ever care to." Castiel started to move away, motioning for Dean to following him until they were safely next to the truck again. His voice still hushed, Cas turned a serious gaze on Dean, "Those things are known in the void as raptoribus."
"Like dinosaurs?" Dean scoffed.
"No," Cas' expression remained the same and it seemed like he'd either heard that one before or it just didn't faze him. "It's Latin, anyway they're not anything you want to play with. How many times have you gone at them? Have you managed to kill any?"
"We've been able to crush some but that's about it. And every time we have ever gone after them we've lost people, the first time was… let's just say it was ugly. I saw enough to know what you're getting at." Dean kept his tone down as well, both sounding like they were hissing from Sam's vantage.
"Okay, is there any way to figure out how many there are?" Sam was glad they'd moved back toward him, it gave him the option to join in again.
"The celestials tell me they've only managed to populate the city." Cas folded his arms over his chest and worried his bottom lip between his teeth. "Wherever Dean is he would have heard them too, so at least he knows to stay nearby."
"When'd they tell you this?" Neither Sam nor Dean bothered to address the fact that they'd asked at the same time, or that Dean had continued on with "What the hell are 'the celestials' anyway?"
"A moment ago, and they're none of your concern."
"Alright, so if we know they're in the city then we need to find a way to draw them in to the centre." Sam tried to get back on track, his eyes flicking up to Castiel's face to watch the different emotions move across it.
"Only with bait…" Cas murmured, the thought of that only forcing his expression to a dark place.
"Awesome…" Dean shook his head, "I've been there on that whole 'bait' thing before, I don't like where it goes, never ends well."
"I know, and with these things it'll only go worse than you'd expect."
"Then what?" Sam snapped quietly, "What the hell are we supposed to do?"
"I need Dean," Cas admitted after a moment, "We can't take them on, not now. It'll only get your men killed."
Dean nodded as he watched the other vehicles idly waiting, knowing he couldn't risk any more of them than he already had. "Alright… then let's get a move on." He motioned for the retreat and felt a little bad when he saw no hesitation in their response. Maybe he'd been the only one that had thought it necessary to go.
As they piled back into the truck and made their escape Sam looked to Castiel earnestly, his eyes more understanding than anything else. "So, I know you said some worlds were blocked off to you before, but what makes you think you need Dean to handle those things?"
Castiel sighed lightly and leaned his head back in exhaustion, "There are more of them than I had expected, at least twenty. He's my partner and I can't do this alone, so I need him."
Sam smiled a little, earning him a frustrated look from the priest.
"What?"
"Nothing," Sam answered, looking ahead with a slight laugh, "It's just I'm kinda happy to hear you say you need him. Makes you a little more… approachable."
Cas didn't respond, instead turning his head to stare out the window. Why would it make someone happy to know he needed someone else?