You look down at your feet and spot a smudge of white,
He didn't sleep though, Jo spooked through his mind, Bobby's message followed up on the list and he just kept worrying about everything.
After what felt like hours of restless tossing around in the warm blanket, Castiel scraped his throat.
"We could also just go now," He said.
Dean sat up. "Don't you want to sleep?" he asked half heartedly.
"I could try," Castiel shrugged. "But I think I'd end up where you are, tossing and turning at the foot of that tree with my mind back in 7."
Dean quickly stumbled to his feet, folding the blanket into his backpack and strapping it tight around his waist.
He reassembled his weapons and smiled to Castiel, who sheathed his blade. "Hold up for a second." He said.
"What?" Dean frowned. He anxiously wanted to get the Hell out of the forest and was curious to find out what was behind the river.
"I have to... relieve myself." Castiel said, and he disappeared behind the trees.
Dean sighed frustrated. "As long as you don't start, I don't know, jacking off- we're in a hurry!"
Castiel reappeared quick enough and they got back on their feet, looking for the cave with the river.
Luckily, Castiel had a great sense of direction and he seemed to know exactly where it was. Dean was happy they were finally going somewhere, instead of being chased around in what seemed to be a very small Arena by a very vicious pack of Careers.
"Cas?" Dean said. He wanted to ask something that had been bothering him for a while.
"Yes Dean?" Castiel didn't turn around, but kept walking.
"When we lost Jo, you told me that there was no 'us', only 'me' getting out. What did you mean by that?"
Castiel shrugged. "Heat of the moment, I guess. I needed you on your feet. You were whining and we needed to get on the road."
"I wasn't whining!" Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Okay- but you were having your mental breakdown and I wanted to get on with finding Jo." Castiel kept walking, with big steps.
"But..."
"Stop talking about it Dean. It's not important. If we are the last two left, we'll see what happens."
"I can't do 'we'll see what happens'." Dean groaned, but Castiel ignored him.
They collected flowers and moss on the way, wrapping them in leaves and storing them in Dean's backpack, they didn't know what was behind the river, if there was going to be food, if there was going to be water.
At the entrance of the cave, they pulled out the flashlights and lit them.
"If we only use one we could use the other when the batteries are empty, we do not know when we'll get out of here." Castiel said.
Dean nodded and Castiel wanted to give the flashlight back, but Dean shook his head. "In case we get separated. You can keep that one."
Castiel hung the torch on his belt and nodded. "Thank you."
They entered the cave, cautious of avoiding the octopus, and walked to the back, where the river lies.
Dean shone to the other side, to try and see the end.
"It's dangerous." Dean said. "It could be a very long walk to the other side."
"There might not even be another side." Castiel said hesitantly. "We might get bitten to death halfway through by those bloody snakes and there's that octopus..."
"Well," Dean shrugged. "I mean- what's there to lose? We stay out here, we die, we go in there, chances are we'll probably die too."
Castiel fiddled with his flashlight and adjusted the brightness to the strongest light beam possible. Dean followed his example.
"I propose we stay close to each other, get in the water and run like Hell." Dean said.
Castiel grabbed Deans wrist and looked at him, smiling boldly. "Let's go."
They jumped into the water, chasing the snakes in front of them away. Dean's heart was beating in his throat as they waded through the stream.
Castiel's grip on his wrist constricted once or twice when a snake came close but they kept running, not looking back and never stopping.
Luckily the water never reached deeper than Dean's waist and the beam was strong enough to reach all the way to the bottom.
They could see the shore and there was no sign of the octopus.
The river was only about fifty feet wide and they reached the edge alive and well, falling down on the soft sand of what seemed to be a beach.
"Shit." Dean gasped. He dropped to the ground and accidently pulled Castiel down with him.
They ended up in the moist sand together and Dean started chuckling.
"Are you okay?" Castiel asked, his voice sounded concerned.
"Yeah- man," Dean grinned. "I mean, it must be dopamine or something from the adrenaline rush in the river but I mean we made it! We made it to the other side."
He lay there, chuckling for a minute or two, when he turned silent suddenly.
"Dean?" Castiel asked again.
"What now?" Dean said.
"We move. We have no idea what's behind the beach and it's pitch-black dark." Castiel got up and brushed the sand off his ankles. "Let's go. Or do you want to sleep?"
Dean shook his head. "With a big ass mother flipping octopus lounging around?"
He jumped to his feet and rearranged the weapons on his belt. "Shit."
"What?" Castiel asked.
"I lost my throwing knife."
Castiel frowned. "You wouldn't be able to hit a target if it was in front of you."
"A knife is a knife. It was useful to slice people." Dean shrugged.
"You want to go look for it?" Castiel proposed.
"No," Dean smiled. "You want to go back in that river?"
Castiel shook his head. "Let's go."
Dean turned his flashlight on. They would use a different one every other day so the batteries would decrease equally and when one got empty they had some time to anticipate with the other one.
The beach turned into moss covered caves, and the moss covered caves into hard rocky walls where the air was too moist to breathe.
They walked until they were too tired to even sleep.
Dean crashed on the hard stone ground and groaned. The path had gone on for ages and he didn't know if he had been walking for hours, days or years.
"Drink." Castiel nudged him.
"Sleep." Dean turned away.
"Without warning, you drop to the floor and claim you want to sleep. I mean, this place is as good as any other around here, but you could at least notify me. Now, hydrate and then you can go to sleep, I doubt we'll have to keep watch here." Castiel nudged him again.
Dean sat up and forced a couple of sips of water down his throat before rolling back on the ground. The rocks felt soft and comfortable and Dean hoped he'd fall asleep before he would noticed how hard the floor actually was.
Dean! Dean, wake up Angel!
Dean blinked once or twice. He was lying in the meadow outside of 12, but the fence was gone. A blue ball flew over his head and he sat up to see Sammy running by with John on his heels.
"Come on Dean!" he yelled, laughing.
Dean scrambled to his feet quickly and chased after his brother, his father and the ball.
They threw it around for a while, trying to throw too high so the others had to go running to catch it (but Dean always made sure he threw the ball close enough for Sam), when Mary walked up to them. "Come on boys, lunchtime."
They sat down in the dry grass and Mary handed plates around. "I made your favourite, Dean, apple pie."
Dean smiled. Everything was so happy, so peaceful.
"I love you mum." He said, mouth full of pie.
Mary smiled and cupped his chin. "Is that my boy or the pie talking?"
"Dean." Sam said. But it wasn't right. His voice was too low for Sam.
"Sam?" Dean frowned. "Sammy!"
"Dean- wake up!"
Someone was shaking his shoulders and Dean slowly woke up to Castiel hanging over him.
"Jesus Cas- personal space." Dean sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"We got company." Castiel lend back against the cave wall and pointed the flashlight to a shadow in a corner.
When Dean saw Gabriel, he scrambled to his feet and pulled his dagger.
Gabriel put his hand up in the air. "Whoa- whoa boy. I come in peace."
"You lured us in that trap. You and your little alliance. Killed Jo." Dean growled. He turned to Castiel. "Why haven't you killed him yet?"
Castiel shrugged. "He said he came in peace."
"And you just let him sit there and wake me..." Dean shook his head. "Never mind. What the Hell are you doing here Gabriel? How did you cross the river? Without getting bitten by snakes?"
Gabriel smiled and pulled the flashlight out from behind him. "Being small has it's perks."
"Where did you get that?" Castiel asked confused.
"Check your belt," Gabriel said, and he threw the flashlight back to Castiel.
Dean had other priorities: "Do you have any idea what's behind here? How long this road is? What's behind there?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Lilith says it's either a dead end or the Garden of Eden at the end of the road."
"And why are you here?" Dean asked.
"Well, when you killed everyone else in the Pack, Lilith wanted to get rid of the extra luggage," Gabriel started, but clarified when Dean frowned. "Me, you idiot. She tried to kill me, but I am very skilled in the art of disappearing."
Dean nodded. It wouldn't be the first time Gabriel took off in a fight.
"I figured I'd follow you guys. Lilith is a hard nut to crack, very skilled with a blade and her hands and maybe you need my help killing her."
"We need you?" Dean huffed. Most definitely not. Not after Jo. "No. You can leave before I kill you."
"Okay," Gabriel reached behind his back. "But what if I have something to bribe you with?"
He revealed a backpack, much smaller than Deans, that was so full it was almost bursting out of its seams.
"Michael thought it would be 'smart'," Gabriel made quotation marks with his fingers. "If everyone got a bag with one or two items, so that everyone had to carry a little and that if a person with one of the bags would take off, we'd still have enough supplies to run on."
"How did yours get so full?" Dean asked. He opened the bag when Gabriel threw it to him, it had water, clothes and medicine kits, but mostly food. "Can I?" he pointed to a packet of crackers.
Gabriel nodded. "Well, you killed all the others so technically it's yours. I just hoarded it."
Dean enthusiastically opened the package, handing them out to the other boys.
"So," Gabriel said. "Can I join the team Dean-o?"
"For now." Dean huffed. "And don't call me Dean-o."
Gabriel smiled. "Okiedokie."
It earned him a chuckle from Castiel, and Dean sent a cross look his way, but the boy just shrugged. "What? He says okiedokie. I like him."
Dean finished his crackers in silence and turned his back to Castiel and Gabriel and hoped to fall back in that nice dream again.
But he didn't. He dreamed of blood on his hands that he couldn't wash off, no matter how thoroughly he rinsed his hands. There were people screaming his name and he was all alone in the darkness.
He looked around, wanted to run, but his arms were chained. Dean felt a sudden, sharp pain in his shoulder and he was hanging, a maze of chains and thin grey smoke everywhere.
He was chained, his arms and feet bound and pulled in four directions. There was a hook in his shoulder and a hook in his side, pulling painfully on his flesh.
"HELP!" Dean yelled. "MOM? CAS? HELP ME!"
A door opened in the smoke and someone rode a cart with a towel folded over it. Dean didn't like the sight of him.
"Heaven, I'm in heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.
And I seem to find the happiness I seek,
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek,"
The man riding the cart sang with a very nasal voice. He stopped at Dean, parking the cart and unfolding the towel, revealing certain utensils that Dean didn't recognize, but they looked sharp and they looked dangerous.
The man just kept singing.
"Heaven, I'm in heaven,
And the cares that hung around me through the week.
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak,
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek."
The man picked up a knife, and it shimmered in the light that wasn't there.
"Oh I love to climb a mountain,
And reach the highest peak,
But it doesn't thrill me half as much,
As dancing cheek to cheek."
He smiled, tracing the edge of the blade with his finger.
"Hello Dean." He stepped forward and ripped Deans black t-shirt open. "My name is Alastair."
Dean gritted his teeth and chocked back a scream when Alastair dragged the tip of the knife across his chest, drawing a pentagram.
"And I've been assigned to your case."