In Between

The team stayed in that place to take a short break, settle into their skins again and regroup mentally. A lot had been happening lately and they were entirely unsure of where to go or what to do next. It was clear they had to do something but it wasn't so easy to just go, they couldn't wander the mainline until something happened.

"Before the other Jet vanished," Dean started talking first and broke the silence they'd been holding for some time already, "he told me to watch out for the one they call master… do you guys know what that might mean?"

"I don't know," Castiel sighed and dropped down onto his butt right where the celestials had been standing since he'd met them. The space seemed so much smaller, maybe that had been magic too. Regardless he couldn't think of anything else to do but sit there, his legs extended in front of him and one foot rocking against the other in a childish attempt to figure something out. Cas leaned back onto his elbows and then let his back hit the floor, the ceiling was so plain and so were the walls. Nothing special about that space stuck out to him, at least not until a flickering started in his vision. Cas furrowed his brow and focused on it, in an instant he could see the mainline, he could see and almost feel other priests and if he thought about one in particular they came into focus.

He was speechless as he tried to control the strange sensation, it came easier than he thought, despite never having done it before his mind and body just seemed to know. He assumed it was because of his corrupted self; there was magic he didn't learn in his head now. "Guys," Cas muttered as he slowly pushed himself upright again, "I can see the others, all of them, Michael and Gabriel and…" he shook his head with a huffed laugh, "This is how they did it… it's the location."

Dean stood at his side and waited a second, "I don't see anything."

"Focus." Castiel instructed, "You'll notice a strange tingle in your head, just focus on it and it should come to life for you."

Dean was still for several seconds but soon he was started and his eyes were wide with visions that Sam and Jet couldn't see. The two regular members of their team glanced at one another in a sort of 'oh well' gesture. "They're all fighting so hard…" Dean muttered and looked around through the different worlds. "This is nuts…"

"This is helpful," Castiel corrected him; "The mainline and all that connects the different worlds and realms are untouchable as long as the worlds remain intact. We can see into the worlds from here, we know which ones to head to first and what the biggest threats are."

"So what you're saying is that whatever you're seeing right now tells you how badly we're losing?" Jet chuckled and Sam slapped his arm for it.

"We're not losing, not yet." Cas frowned as he tried to look at different worlds, "Some of them are very… some of these worlds are gone, just like In Somniantes." He rubbed at his temple and shook his head, "The others are doing well, some are fighting to save the ones on the edge of falling." Castiel looked at Dean curiously and laughed a little, "You know it's funny, I travelled the mainline for so long on my own but it blocks you out from all of it. I think that's why we need other teams, we're not all capable of reaching the same dimensions and it would explain why I never ran into anyone else."

Dean smiled back at him and leaned over to kiss Cas' cheek, "You aren't alone anymore, does it matter why no one was there?"

"No, I suppose it doesn't." Cas kissed him back, "I feel like we can do this, like we'll be able to beat them."

"So we're sealing the Void again?" Jet asked with that one quirked eyebrow like he always seemed to do. "Or trying to kill all the monsters?"

"Whichever comes first, I suppose." Cas observed the room they stood in carefully, "Doesn't look like we'll be getting any more answers from here, we should get moving."

"Sounds like a done deal to me." Dean followed Castiel's footsteps and the three exited the world, leaving it empty behind them.

Jar of Hearts World: Part 1

Castiel flipped up the couch cushions and growled to himself, "Where is it?" He questioned quietly to the living room, "C'moooonn where is it?" A few more seconds of crawling on the floor and peering under the furniture passed before he sighed in frustration and shouted; "Dean!"

"What's up, babe?" Dean replied from the kitchen where he was preparing lunch, "Did Mike finally show?"

"No, have you seen my phone? I can't find it, I wanna see if he messaged me."

"Should I call it?"

"It's on silent."

"Ouch." Dean hummed to himself, his silence wasn't particularly comforting for Cas but it was nice that he sort of cared. Castiel looked up and watched his husband trot out the door; he got up and followed to the window to see what Dean could possibly be up to. The door to the Impala opened and the brunet crawled inside and leaned over to the passenger seat where Cas usually sat. He was only ducked down for a moment and before Cas knew it Dean lifted up the cellphone toward the windshield for him to see. The gesture made him smile for two reasons, the first obviously meant for the recovery of his phone, the second was because Dean had no real reason to think Cas would go to look but he acted as though it were the most natural course for Castiel to take.

As soon as Dean came inside Cas leapt onto him with a hug and kiss, "Thank you so much! Oh my god I can't believe I left it in the car."

"Pretty sure it fell out of your pocket last night after we-"

Cas cut him off with another kiss and bit his lip, "Careful now," he giggled and snatched his phone from Dean's hand, "It's kinda cold but that's okay." He turned on the screen but saw no messages or anything, well at least not from Michael. There were a few from Charlie from the night before and one from Jet telling him to get Dean to text him back because Dean was a lazy fuck. Jet's words, not his. "Michael hasn't said anything…" Cas frowned and sat down on the couch, "I think I'll call him."

Dean shrugged and sat next to him, "I don't know, Michael's allowed to be late for stuff once in a while."

"Yeah but he doesn't. I'm still calling." Cas hit the speed-dial button and waited until it rang all the way to his voicemail.

"This is Michael Novak, I'm away from the phone right now so please leave your name, number, and a brief message and I'll get back to you." –beep-

"Hey Mike, it's me, uhmm… you said you were coming by around noon and I just wanted to call and check in, it's already quarter to one and you haven't messaged me or anything. Maybe I got the day wrong? I don't know just call me back when you get the chance, okay?" He hung up and chewed on the inside of his cheek, his eyes fixed on his phone as it dimmed and turned off again.

"Cas?" Dean sounded worried as he leaned around a bit to see his face better.

"Hm?" Cas hummed, barley looking up.

"You okay?"

"He always answers…" He muttered and turned his head to see Dean, his concern evident in his face. "Michael never ignores a call from me so… do you think he's okay?"

"Surprise meeting maybe," Dean shrugged, he sounded so calm, casual like it was natural for that kind of thing. And maybe it was but not for Michael. "Don't worry so much, it's Michael, he'll be fine."

"I guess, but people have been disappearing."

"And I reiterate; it's Michael. If there's anyone we should have some faith in it's him, don't you think?"

"You're right." Cas sighed and rested against Dean with a smile spreading over his lips, "So what's for lunch?"

Dean opened his mouth to answer but a loud crash upstairs caught their attention and moments later there was a ruckus outside. Castiel didn't skip a beat, he looked at Dean and pointed toward the door, "You check outside, I'll look upstairs?"

"I'm not totally comfortable letting you do that on your own but-"

"Oh stop with your chauvinism, I'm your husband not a baby." Cas hurried up the stairs and Dean had no other choice but to listen or face certain punishments he didn't want to think about Cas making up.

Castiel was careful to just peer into the hall, he saw the closet door open and someone was sitting on the ground with several items scattered around on the ground beside him. There was another pair of feet that took a step around the door and Cas couldn't believe what he was seeing – it was him but in some crazy trench coat and a badass outfit. Cas ducked down again and took a deep breath to settle him; aliens maybe? Monsters or something? Dean had him watching way too many movies.

"It's alright, we're friendly." He heard his own voice but it wasn't him speaking, Cas swallowed nervously and peeked up to see this strange version of him standing there, just standing in his hallway like it was no big deal.

"You're… you look like me." Cas sputtered as he slowly took the last few steps up to the top of the second floor, his heart pounded heavily in his chest. "What are you?"

"My name is Castiel Winchester, I –"

"Wait, time traveller!" Cas interrupted excitedly, his face taking on the look of astonishment more than fear. "Right? You're from the future? Is that Dean?" He tried to lean around to see who was sitting just on the other side of the closet door but he couldn't, not until the other guy pushed himself up.

"Nope, sorry sunshine." It was Jet, or a different Jet; he looked different somehow anyway.

"So… are you future Jet? Why are you with future Jet?" Cas pointed between the two of them as he addressed his trench coat wearing self.

The two looked at one another and Jet shrugged with a laugh. The 'future' Cas shook his head and looked back toward him as he contemplated running back down the stairs. "We're not from the future, per se. It's a different dimension, like an alternate reality to yours."

"Whoa." Cas breathed and fidgeted with the edge of his sleeve, "So… what do you want then? We didn't make enough lunch for so many people, though I guess since Michael didn't show you could have his."

"That's not why we're here, there's a bit of an explanation to it all and I think-"

"Cas!" Dean called from downstairs, "Cas I think somethin' weird's going on."

Castiel hesitated but turned to look down the stairs to see two Deans side by side, "Yeah… I'm getting some of that too, there's a Cas and Jet up here."

The two Dean's glanced at one another and then back up the stairs, "We could have a foursome."

"Which one of you assholes suggested that?" The trench-coated Cas marched over to the top of the stairs next to his counterpart and both Dean's quick pointed to the other.

"It was him."

"I'll shoot both of you." Cas sneered at them before noticing something, "Where's Sam?"

"He's not up there with you?" Priest Dean frowned.

"He said a 'Cas and a Jet,'" Castiel reminded him and pinched his forehead a little, "There's always something."

Jet cleared his throat a little to get at least both Castiel's looking at him but he only addressed the domestic one, "Has anything weird been happening around town at all?"

"Weird how? Like strange duplicates of people?" Cas chuckled and glanced at his other self, "Because some of that's been happening."

"No –I mean sort of like that. Anything else?"

"People have been disappearing," Dean pointed out, "I mean it's only been a day or two but everywhere I go someone's asking 'have you seen so and so?'"

Cas, Dean and Jet looked to one another, "That's something," Jet shrugged, "Where's your version of Sam?"

The local Dean walked up the stairs to be next to his husband, as well as to look at this other Jet a little more strongly, "Why do you want to know where my brother is?"

"Because when we appear we tend to be around significant people, Sam's one of them." The Dean downstairs explained as casually as he could, as if it weren't totally weird for other worldly people to show up and ask for your little brother.

"He's on a trip, I think they're in Egypt right now." Cas replied a little unsure of himself, "Should I try calling? This is to find a lost part of your… weird little group?"

"We're not that weird but if you wouldn't mind." Priest Castiel smiled like finding a lost friend was something they did fairly often.

Cas fished his phone from his pocket again and dialed Gabriel's long-distance number, the moment he heard a click a bit of laughter he started to speak, "Gabe?"

"Hey Cassy, what's up?"

"Hey I was just calling to see if anything weird happened over there like you found a doppelganger of Sam or something?"

Gabriel's laughter was loud enough for all of Cas' company to hear it. "No I don't think that I have."

"Okay well if you do could you call me back?"

"Sure thing."

"Thanks, have fun out there." Castiel let the conversation end and looked up at the other guys, "That'd be a no but I do look crazy now, thank you."

"Well we have to find him." Jet moved past them and down the stairs to where his Dean was still waiting.

"Hold on, Jet." Dean caught his arm and knew exactly what kind of look he'd be getting for it. "We don't know what's going to be lurking in this place, this shit tends to go after us or the relevant people in the world."

"Exactly why we have to find Sam, I don't know if you noticed but those things are crazy strong and Sam and I didn't get power boosts." Jet's demeanor was stiff and he looked like he meant to make more of a deal of it but he stopped, everyone in their group cared about Sam. Dean was Sam's older brother; Cas had watched him die before and had a short history with him. And Jet… well Jet was in love with him, to explain it in the most simple of terms. "What do you want to do?"

"I think we should leave Cas here with these guys, you and I'll go look for Sam." Dean smiled at him as Jet started to grin.

"Deal, if Cas is okay with it."

"It sounds fine," Castiel descended the stairs with their hosts, the local couple looking like they felt entirely out of place in their own home. "Find Sam and get back here, I'll look after these two."

"We'll make it quick." Dean pulled Cas forward and locked lips with him. They didn't do that often enough, it still felt so amazing each time they managed to do it. And each time they did Cas melted just a little bit more, he was always so hard to thaw but Dean thought that maybe if he made it feel natural enough Cas wouldn't second-guess him. "I love you." He whispered and smiled at the blush that tinted Castiel's cheeks, it made him so happy to know Cas could still feel that way after all he'd been through.

"I love you too, stay safe."

Dean grinned and walked away with Jet, off to find Sam. It was the first time separating on purpose like that, Dean had been by Castiel's side to fight take care of the Void problems but now he felt confident enough to do it on his own. He reached back and pulled the little rod from his coat, flipping it around in his hand until it formed around his forearm like a piece of armour. He wanted it accessible just in case something happened.