Fragments of Memories

Cas leaned back on the couch and rolled his head around to try and pop a few twisted muscles back into place. He'd been sitting hunched forward reading a book for far too long and it was starting to really strain his neck. He opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling for a moment, wondering when the last time was that he'd gotten a crick in his neck like this. Since before going out with Dean, probably. However they hadn't exactly been seeing eye to eye lately, there had been so much fighting and now they weren't really speaking much.

A few moments passed as he thought he might have to consider the idea of leaving Dean. It hurt to even imagine and he couldn't even try to picture how lonely he'd be. But then again, with the way they were acting around one another, what would be the difference?

As his mind drifted along those lines he felt a strong set of hands on his shoulders, they were gently rubbing out the soreness and Cas couldn't do anything but melt into them. "I'm sorry." He heard Dean whisper so he smiled up at his lover.

"Yeah, me too." Cas arched up as Dean leaned down, their lips meeting in a slow and passionate display. Castiel ran a hand up through Dean's hair and just before his boyfriend was about to reciprocate they heard the familiar violent coughing from upstairs. Both stopped to listen, wondering if it'd slow down at any point like it sometimes did. They weren't so lucky, the hacking continued and started to sound more painful than before.

"I'll get the medicine." Cas spoke softly as he stood up from the couch, "He must've just woken up."

The Ugly Duckling World: Part 5

The evening was quiet; everyone ate and conversed though there wasn't a lot to discuss. Mostly this was because Castiel, the priest, had gone straight to bed after his shower. He was the most knowledgeable on what kind of void monster they'd be facing and without his insight the others had no idea what they were looking for. Sam glanced at his brother with slight annoyance, "I wish he had some kind of a book on these things, I'd be able to identify stuff with that."

"Well there is no book and I doubt Cas has had any time to try and write one." Dean smirked and ruffled Sam's hair affectionately.

"How's he doing, by the way?" Jet raised an eyebrow before sipping at the coffee the other Castiel had served them.

"Cas? He's tired." Dean shrugged, looking down at his cup thoughtfully. "I don't blame him, let's just give him some time."

Sam nodded, "Well regardless there's still some kind of threat here, right? We should listen to the news or something, see what's up."

"Ask and you shall receive," Cas smiled as he set a radio down, "The TV's in the other room and we have computers for Internet access, anything else?"

"That's perfect, thank you." Sam smiled up at him, turning the radio on and switching through the stations.

"So..." The other Sam sat down at the table with them, looking at them curiously as he decided what words to use, "When you say there's a threat, what kind of threat are we talking here?"

"There's a number of different types of monsters in the void between worlds," Dean explained, finding it more comfortable being the one to do so more and more. "The three of us haven't seen that many, just a few different ones, but Cas knows them all. I can tell you about raptoribus, aer, demoni, but that's about it. From what I can tell you'd know if you had a raptoribus running around so that's off the menu."

"And there'd be some kind of black cloud roaming around if it were an aer." Jet added, "It'd target someone, probably one of you guys since that seems to be the norm these days."

"And the demoni?" Sam furrowed his brow, still trying to figure out if these people were insane or not.

"I don't really know exactly," Dean shook his head, "I know if it's a powerful one the town will have been half falling apart, the roads would be caving in, and there'd be a physical monster running around. And if it's strong enough to possess someone I know how to tell after it's close to waking up. Has anything weird happened in town?"

"Nope, aside from you guys." Cas sat down and swirled a tea bag around in his mug, ever since spending time in England he'd taken a liking to tea rather than coffee. Dean had called him girly for it though Balthazar's smack to his head corrected him somewhat. "So what if it's a new kind of thing? Do you know how to fight it if it shows up? And what if it wasn't here but where Sam and Gabriel lived?"

"Not likely," Sam looked up from playing with the radio, "It seems to be that if there are a Dean and Cas in the world then they're the ones that get focused on. Not sure why."

"We're special." Cas winked at him, though he'd be lying if that didn't scare him a little bit. He fidgeted a little as the conversation played out, his mind starting to drift from it. Dean had decidedly gone to bed as well, it wasn't super early but it wasn't very late either. Cas would have guessed that he was just exhausted from working or he was just tired of all the crazy. Regardless he'd left the hosting to Cas and now it was starting to get to him. If they were in danger then he wanted to be near Dean. His throat felt dry the longer he waited until finally he stood up from his spot and smiled at the others, "I think I need to lie down. If you need anything, I'll-"

"We'll help," Gabriel piped in, "You go to bed Cas."

"Thanks Gabe," Cas chastely pecked his cheek before waving goodnight to the new comers and hurrying up the stairs.

Eventually the place died down and after the travellers discovered there was nothing strange happening at all in the city or nearby places, they found places to sleep as well. Dean lay on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. He'd taken so many big steps toward Cas; their relationship had been re-evaluated but only to the level of family. Dean hadn't had the courage to outwardly say 'I like you', though judging by how stressed out Castiel was maybe it was better that he wait on that one.

As exhaustion swept in and his eyes lids felt heavy, Dean started to drift to sleep, his mind wading in and out of consciousness with just the image of Castiel's face to dream of. He smiled to himself, imagining that smile spread soft lips, just for him. Castiel would smile for him, laugh just for him, and have eyes only for him. It was a pipe dream, he thought for sure it was, but that didn't stop him from hoping for it. Battle worn hands softened, gentle and caring in their touch. Dean sighed the more he dreamt, he just wanted to hold him. All he wanted was that moment in the shower again, Castiel clinging to him like he was everything, like he'd make a difference somehow.

Peaceful and quiet until there was a low moan as the house seemed to creak under the pressure of some unseen force. Dean stirred on his makeshift bed, eyes twitching before his lids pulled up to look around. The room was still dark, he couldn't see anything and he couldn't hear anything. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him, though there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind so he stood and went to the guest room that Castiel had been resting in.

Dean heard the groan of the house a second time as he strode down the hall, the light of the moon catching objects and creating shadows through the window that were enough to put Dean on edge. It was just a stupid shadow but it still made him anxious. He told himself over and over it was probably nothing but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was happening. Dean knocked lightly on the door as he slowly opened Castiel's bedroom, expecting to see his partner fast asleep on the bed. Instead he opened it to a wide-eyed and pale face.

Castiel was sitting upright and very stiff, his arms tight to his sides and head angled straight ahead. He slowly turned it to look at Dean who was entirely awestruck and slightly terrified. "Dean," his voice was a rough whisper, haggard and frightened.

"Cas? What's going on?" Dean moved into the bedroom but again froze when he saw a shadowy figure in the corner of the room. "What is that!?" He fumbled, reaching back into his coat to grab his weapon.

Castiel's jaw trembled, his eyes shifting over to his jacket that lay discarded on the floor a few feet away then back to the figure that slowly shifted in and out of an actual shape. "Domus." He rasped in reply, knowing he'd never reach his weapon in time.

Before Dean could respond or ask any questions the room shook and tore itself apart, the shadow gone and in its place a dark and seemingly empty space remained. For a second everything fell into a limbo, calm, quiet, and what was left in the room was floating. Dean turned his head to see that Castiel wasn't immune to it, his slender runner's body drifting in the same space as everything else. It was all happening so fast, Dean couldn't find it in himself to use the weapon but he had the mind to grab hold of Castiel's reaching hand.

In a flash they were moving again, sucked directly into the vortex left by the figure and in that time Dean felt like he'd gone deaf. He could see Castiel's face, scrunched up and scared, mouth open as if he were screaming but no noise came out. They were in a vacuum, must have been, he refused to believe he'd lost his hearing. Really though he should at least be able to hear himself because he could feel the tension in his face, the pull of his jaw, he should have been screaming too but he couldn't hear it.

The space around them rushed this way and that, all the while Dean focused on holding onto Cas. If he couldn't accomplish saving Castiel from the vortex in the first place he could at least hold onto him. Cas' grip was pretty strong in itself but their arms were stretched out and they were basically being pulled apart. Dean couldn't let that happen, he felt the strain on his shoulder and knew that he wouldn't be able to hold on forever. He tried to pull Cas in but couldn't do it, not one handed. Dean growled as he grit his teeth, reaching up with his other hand seemed to be as hard as sitting up when riding one of those gravity amusement park attractions. He found the strength though, pushing as hard as he could he managed to take hold of Cas' arm and start to reel him in.

Castiel looked up at him, those frightened blue eyes frantically looking for a way he could help, to keep himself from losing Dean. He forced his arm up to help pull himself in, the force of their spinning was like a merry-go-round, pulling at them to try and tear them apart. But neither of them would let it. If they didn't managed to do anything in that vacuum they'd at least be able to cling to one another.

The minutes they spent losing their breath and pulling together felt like hours but soon enough Dean had Castiel in his arms again, holding him there for dear life. "It's okay, Cas." He tried shouting it for his partner to hear but Castiel's head remained pressed against his shoulder, Dean didn't think he'd heard him.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, thanks again for reading and I really appreciate the reviews (seriously, I love to get spammed with that stuff so even a 'I like it' works for me ;) )

Hope everyone's enjoying it and that it all makes sense so far. I had originally written this chapter as probably twice this long but I decided to break it up into the usual chapter lengths. Gotta stay consistent.