Small Problem World: Part 2

Sam and Jet both tumbled out of the portal at the same time, to anyone that might've seen the spectacle would've recognized that there was a mess of limbs flailing to the ground. But that's about it. Sam pushed off his brother's best friend fairly quickly, standing up and looking around with wide eyes. They were on the side of a road in what looked to be the middle of nowhere.

"Apocalypse?" Jet asked as he pulled himself to his feet, brushing dirt off his arms, torso and patting his backside for good measure.

"No, don't think so… Doesn't look like any debris on the road, though we're not in a city so I can't really tell." Sam muttered his reply as he walked onto the asphalt, looking both ways for something, anything.

Jet looked the other way, his hands resting on his hips as his shoulders started to tremble, a snicker escaping him and breaking into a laugh. "You know, I don't see our priest friends anywhere?"

"What?" Sam spun around and looked back to where they'd landed, seeing nothing but the mark they'd left in the soil. "You're kidding me! So holding hands really didn't work…"

"Looks that way, sorry pal." Jet clapped him on the shoulder before heading down the road, "Well let's get moving, I have a feeling if something messed up happens we'll be pretty close to it."

Sam's attention was mostly elsewhere by the time Jet finished he's sentence, staring at a painfully bright light flickering across the sky at a quick pace. "Yeah…" He muttered his reply though he'd forgotten what he was responding to already. "Do you see that?"

"Hm?" The other brunette glanced back before tilting his head in the direction Sam was pointing, "It's… a really energetic firefly?"

"Way too big." Sam ran over to a nearby tree that he figured would be in the thing's path and climbed, nimbly pulling himself up the thick branches until he'd gotten high enough. Sam reached out though it looked too far away, that was, at least, until it seemed to notice him. The small figure zipped right to his hand and collapsed onto it, little hands grasping at his arm to keep balance.

"Sam!" It was Castiel, Sam realized, except he was maybe 5inches tall… and naked. "Sam something's happened!" His eyes were so wide and terrified, his hands trembling on Sam's wrist.

"How'd you get so small?" Sam couldn't think of anything else to ask but that, "And what's that glow on your back?"

"Those are my wings," Little Cas shifted as he folded them in and out of the way, "And I was cursed. That gem you sent me to get did this to me and I was bringing it back when something… something happened, I don't have it anymore." He fidgeted and tried to stand on Sam properly though his balance was a little off. His fidgety behavior only made him seem more out of sorts; whatever happened must've been bad enough to shake him up like this. "I need that gem to turn back, I'm fairly certain. But… this thing is chasing me. I can't get away from it and I can't fight it, I have no idea what it is-"

"Okay, okay, calm down." Sam moved his hand toward his shoulder, "Just hold onto me and I'll climb down from here, alright? We'll figure this out." He was thinking that he wasn't aware that Cas ever had wings, and he didn't remember sending him off for a gem either. The intelligent conclusion at that point would be to assume that this Castiel was native to this dimension.

Cas nodded and slowly climbed onto Sam's shoulder, one hand gripping the fabric of his sweater while the other was held against Sam's head for balance. It was strange, to climb down a tree with a little person sitting on you, clinging to you for dear life. Sam smiled to himself, his eyes shifting over to the little man holding onto him, "You okay?"

"Yes," Castiel breathed out, clearly having tried a more relaxing approach to things. "For the moment." He glanced around worriedly, "I just… I don't know where that thing is."

"What did it look like?" Sam asked calmly as he made his way back down to ground level, Jet watching him with that older brother air about him. He wasn't Sam's brother or related in any way but Jet was still family.

"It didn't so much as look like anything as it… Well…" Cas fidgeted some more, he felt foolish somehow, like it was his fault this thing appeared out of nowhere, that it had chased him. "If I had to describe it in a way you'd understand I'd say it was a sort of cloud of smoke. All black, it had a face and it could materialize into different shapes but mostly it remained like air." He was looking down as he spoke, remembering what it looked like as he tried to describe it.

"Uh… like that?" Jet pointed up at a dark cloud floating unnaturally faster than the rest, its trajectory changing every now and then in ways only a living thing could accomplish.

"Yes!" Cas tugged on Sam's collar, "Where's Dean? We need to get out of here!"

"If it's like air we should be fine, right?" Sam furrowed his brow as he tucked himself behind the tree, hiding from sight and lowering his voice.

"It looks like it's made of air and vapors but its hits are solid." Castiel explained softly, his posture and body language showing nothing but how tense he was. "I had to drop the gem or else I never would have been fast enough to escape, it's somewhere about ten miles away from here but I can't get it if this thing is after me."

"Why is it after you again?" Jet hissed in a whisper, keeping his eyes up on the monster warily through the tree branches.

"I don't know, it came out of nowhere and went after me." Cas answered in the same low tone, also trying to follow it with his eyes when it was in view. He swallowed nervously and held onto Sam a little harder, holding his breath and praying the thing went on its way.

The following minutes were murder on their nerves but eventually the monster continued on its way, floating into the distance and gone. Castiel started to breathe again and fell against Sam, finally able exhale a sigh of relief. Sam and Jet both visibly relaxed against the trees they hid against, feeling the exhaustion from such a long time of added tension. "Okay," Sam said finally, "I think it's gone for now. Cas, what happened?"

"Okay," Castiel straightened up and was about to start talking when he seemed to realize something. "Uh…" his cheeks started to tint pink as he looked down at himself, the heat creeping up from all areas of his body and darkening his face in red. The two in his company didn't get it at first, at least not until he tried covering himself.

Sam smiled a little and nudged him gently, "It's alright, Cas. Not judging here, go ahead."

Cas looked at him sheepishly but listened all the same, if Sam wasn't embarrassed and trying to force him to get dressed than maybe it wasn't so bad. If he'd learned anything from the Winchesters, it was to know when he should be humiliated and ashamed of himself. Granted he'd existed for ages knowing what the human body looked like, but that was before he had one and before he'd known Dean Winchester. Regardless, he decided to explain, "Well when you told me to get the gem-"

"Cas, I'm not the same Sam." Sam interrupted gently, trying to keep from spooking the poor thing though judging by Castiel's face he didn't do much good.

"You're not-" Cas squinted a moment before realizing that Sam wasn't lying, he was far from the hunter that Castiel knew. Which meant he was talking to something else and could very well be in real danger. A bright flash erupted from his spine as his wings flared free, he was about an inch off of Sam's hand before the Winchester caught him out of the air.

"Cas, calm down." Sam soothed, his hand tightening enough to keep the squirming angel in place, "Yes I'm from another dimension but I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Let go of me!" Castiel growled as he slowed down, glaring up at Sam distrusting. His eyes were intense, a look that Sam remembered seeing in the priest as well.

'There must be something they've gone through that's similar… The Cas from the post apocalyptic world just looked empty… Well, sort of, maybe less empty than his Dean's.' Sam mused to himself as he pulled Cas closer, gently holding him to his chest. "Cas, I promise I'm not here to do anything bad."

Castiel's tense limbs started to relax, his head resting back against Sam's hand to look up at the younger Winchester suspiciously though much less violent. He had questions but knew that he should keep it down to the most important ones. "Alright… Then why are you here?"

"We're here to get rid of monsters like the one that attacked you," Jet answered first, his tone a little uneven. Sam wondered why for a brief second before he recognized it as Jet's 'I'm trying not to laugh at you' voice.

"You didn't do a very good job." Cas muttered, glancing back toward the sky.

"We're not the ones doing it, my brother and another Cas are the ones who were technically given the job. Jet and I tagged along." Sam adjusted his hold on the little angel and lifted him up, Castiel sitting on his palm with his legs together as they dangled over. "So what happened?"

"The other Winchester brothers, the ones from this dimension, asked me to retrieve something for them, that gem. I went to pick it up and when I touched it this happened to me." He gestured to himself vaguely, keeping his legs together self-consciously. "I was carrying it back when I ran into that thing. I've never seen anything like it before, where is it from?"

"Something called 'The Void' or whatever," Jet shrugged, "What does it matter where it came from? Problem is it's here and it's looking for you for some reason, little guy."

Cas scoffed at the term but turned his attention to Sam, not particularly interested in speaking with someone he didn't know at that moment. "Sam?"

"Jet's right," Sam smiled down at Cas reassuringly, "We should go back to the Winchesters that you know, I'd bet that's where my brother and friend showed up."

After a moment of thought Cas nodded, "Well we need to head over there, then."

Regardless of the story that was told, why Castiel was the size he was or why Sam and Jet were there; they still needed to get a move on. The motel they were heading to was fairly far off still, approximately thirty kilometers (about twenty miles for the Americans). Sam tucked Castiel into the pocket of his sweater, away from the pull of the late autumn breeze and safely hidden. He hurried along the side of the road, glancing out at the highway to see if any traffic was oncoming. He'd never hitchhiked before but he was willing to do so now. What did it matter what kind of creep picked them up? He needed to get to his brother and warn him about the cloud monster floating about.

Jet kept an eye out as well though he was a little more realistic about the situation. "You know nobody's gonna pick up two guys, right? Especially since we're both older?"

"I'm not that old." Sam retorted without even a glance at the other male, his hand carefully nestled in his pocket to keep Castiel steady. Cas quietly rested against the support, finding himself exhausted after such a long flight with the emerald. His appreciation for the kindness was unending, he was surprised at how gentle this Sam was, how considerate; it was a nice change.

"Doesn't matter, you're still old enough to look threatening, not to mention were both pretty damn tall." Jet looked back down the road behind them for a car after hearing the familiar sound of an engine. "Whoever picks us up is most likely going to be insane or just as dangerous as we look."

"I look like a college student that's been ill for the last year," Sam pointed out conversationally, "Speak for yourself."

"Fine, speaking on my own behalf; No one is going to give us both a ride."

"Then you'll have to meet me there."

"Not funny."

Sam shrugged with a laugh, his hand stuck out in hopes the car would slow down for him. He barely furrowed his brow as it passed by, sighing lightly to himself. Jet was probably right; the situation wasn't going to go by very quickly. Sam could feel his stomach twist in anxious knots, he didn't know where that monster was going, where it'd pop up or even what it could do. Dean was sitting around unaware of what it was, what if he was alone? Or they didn't see it coming in time? It was after a Castiel, if it couldn't differentiate between the two then the priest might be in danger. Sam clenched his fist and grit his teeth, "Then we need to make someone stop, this is important."

Jet frowned and stepped onto the road, "Then we stop someone."

"Are you nuts?" Sam protested, running up to his friend and tugging him back, "You can't just stand in the middle of the road-"

"You're right, they'll see me from a long way's off and just go around..." Jet mused to himself, humouring Sam by letting himself be pulled off the asphalt. "Run?"

Sam nodded, "Looks that way, yeah."

With the adjoined agreement the two started to run. For the next fifteen minutes Sam barely gave it another thought, even as he heard the roar of an engine approaching again he kept himself focused on his pace, hoping they could make it further faster this way. He hadn't considered Jet's usual nature and when the man veered left and stopped Sam could only skitter to a halt and spin around to stare. Jet had thrown his arms into the air and waved frantically at the semi truck heading directly for him, shouting something that was lost to the Winchester. Sam had already bolted back to his friend's side as he heard the telltale sounds of a big rig's brakes. But big trucks couldn't stop on a dime and it was much to close to Jet to amount to anything but road kill. Luckily for the hotheaded young man, Sam was quick on his feet and fast enough to yank Jet away from imminent pancake-dom.

"Have you LOST IT!?" Sam screamed as he shook Jet firmly, his chest heaving in ragged breaths.

"Not so much," Jet smiled a little and pat his pseudo-little brother on the head before brushing Sam's hands off his shirt. With a quick wink he ran around to the truck driver's door, an older, larger man staring down at him in disbelief. "Hey!"

Sam stared with a similar expression to the driver, still trying to catch his breath. He knew Jet could be stubborn. He knew he could be crazy. He even knew that Jet could be the most charming son of a bitch he'd ever met. That didn't mean Sam was aware of just how good Jet was.

Before he knew it they were speeding down the highway, the truck driver having even offered the contents of his mini-fridge to the two young men in his bunk.