How the Mighty Fall

The late lunch actually turned out to be enjoyable, despite the circumstances. Afterwards though, Dean knew that they were going to have to talk. Alex left, saying she had better things to do, and Jody had to go back to the station, asking Cas if they would stick around for supper. Cas told her that they would probably leave before then, so it made Dean wonder what Cas was planning. Jody only nodded and told Cas where to find the key so he could lock the door behind them.

"Take care of yourself." Jody told him as she walked out the door, though she looked a bit sad as she looked at the angel.

Pretty soon, it was just Cas, Bobby, and the Winchesters in the living room. Cas sat down and turned to them. "Who sent you here? I can't think of any angels who would send you into the future at that point in time." He seemed a bit confused over the thought.

Dean noticed that he was carefully stepping over what he said earlier about Dean and Crowley being friends.

"It was Gabriel." Sam said, and again, Dean noticed that Sam seemed excited at the thought of the archangel being alive… Nah, he was probably just imagining it.

Happiness lit up Cas's eyes. "So he is alive?" His voice was quiet, but full of hope.

They blinked.

"Well, yeah." Bobby said. "Wouldn't you have known?"

"No, if you haven't noticed, Gabriel excels at keeping a low profile. Though," he fidgeted a bit, "there was an incident that made me think he could be alive. I didn't know whether it was all just a trick though." His face darkened a bit. "After all, Metatron is a very talented liar."

"Metatron?" Sam asked. "Like the transformer?"

"That's Megatron." Dean told him.

"What?"

"The transformer, that's Megatron." Dean shook his head at his brother's lack of knowledge.

"Metatron." A smile seemed to be tugging at Cas's lips. "He was once the Scribe of God. He basically wrote Sparknotes of God's Word to assist humans should they be needed."

"You know what Sparknotes are, feathers?" Bobby raised an eyebrow.

Cas looked at him confused. "Yes." His brow furrowed a bit. "Why would I mention something if I didn't know what it was?"

"So, what did Metatron do to you? Why would he trick you?" Dean asked, curious about what had been going on.

"It does not really matter." Cas replied, though his expression said that it did matter. "Though you should know that he cast all of the angels out of Heaven. Everyone lost their wings." He looked down at their shocked expressions. "After tricking me and stealing my Grace to do so."

Dean froze. If this angel had stolen Cas's Grace then…

"Cas, are you human?" He asked, because he could not go there. Not back to that place where Cas was human and drowning in pain and…

"No." Cas said after a short pause. "I am not human, Dean." His eyes were so humanlike though. Castiel's emotions had always shone through his eyes, but now they did so even more. It showed so much pain.

"So, we kicked this angel's ass and got it back? Good." Dean said decisively.

Cas pursed his lips. "No."

Now all three of them looked at him, confused. "Then how…" Bobby began to ask.

Cas held up a hand. "It is not of import." He paused and lowered his hand. "Though I will tell you that Metatron is now locked in Heaven's prison, so he will not harm you again."

"Again?" Dean asked.

Castiel looked Dean, and again he saw that huge amount of pain. Cas bit his lip and looked at each of them in turn. "I will let you know some things now before we leave." He said quietly.

They leaned forward.

"Before Metatron was apprehended, he," Cas paused and for a moment, it looked like the angel was going to cry, "killed Dean."

The three of them looked at the angel.

"So I'm dead?" Dean asked in order to confirm it, because it looked like Cas wasn't really going to move the conversation forward.

"Maybe." It looked like maybe Cas hadn't really changed. He was still as vague as ever.

"What do you mean 'maybe?'" Sam's forehead was wrinkled as he tried to puzzle out Cas's words.

Cas sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was a very human gesture. "His body disappeared." The hunters looked at each other. That was never a good sign. "And there was a note."

"What'd it say?" Bobby was in research mode.

Castiel looked Dean right in the eye. "Sammy, let me go."

That caused all of them to pause. The Sammy part certainly sounded like Dean.

"Sam believes that Crowley may have taken him. Why or where is unknown." Cas snorted. "Crowley and Dean have become closer since Dean took on the Mark. Before his death, Sam said that the two were 'bromancing' all over the place." He used finger quotes at the word bromancing. "Of course, Sam still believes that Dean went unwillingly, which wouldn't explain the note."

The three of them continued to stare at the angel. There were so many things wrong with that statement that none of them really knew where to begin. Or at least, Dean didn't know where to start.

"What Mark?" Bobby seemed to be holding down panic at the thought of Dean doing something stupid that he couldn't control.

Cas looked upset, but he was trying to hide it. Dean could see it in his eyes though. "The Mark of Cain."

That brought all of them up short. Everyone had heard of the Mark of Cain. None of them would have thought that it still existed.

"How did he get that?" Bobby growled.

Cas seemed to pause, perhaps realizing that he would have to explain more. A dark shadow crossed over his face before he sighed. "Abbadon, a Knight of Hell, was loose. According to Crowley, the only way to defeat a Knight of Hell is with the First Blade, which Cain made to kill his brother Abel." He looked disappointed suddenly. "There could have been another way, but after Dean found out about this, he didn't look for another way.

"Dean and Crowley tracked down Cain to learn about where the Blade was. Cain told them the real story about what happened and told them that the Blade could only be wielded by one who bore his Mark." Cas looked down at his hands. "Dean proved himself worthy, and accepted the Mark. Ultimately, with the Mark and the Blade, he did defeat Abbadon, but…" His voice trailed off.

"But what?" Dean finally asked, swallowing down a lump in his throat. This story was too similar to what was happening to them right now. Only instead of Castiel working with Crowley, it seemed that Dean was the star of this show.

Cas hesitated. "It was changing him." He finally said. "He was…angrier, more violent. Not much was required to provoke Dean, and he would continue beating his opponent long after it was necessary. It was…" His voice trailed off again. "Frightening to see Dean like that."

"That bad, huh?" Bobby said.

Castiel looked back up at them. "Dean nearly killed someone who came to offer help. The only reason he didn't was because Sam and I restrained him."

They took a second to process that. The whole thing sounded terrible to Dean. How could he have been so stupid to mess with something from the Father of Murder of all things? How could he let things get so bad? And looking at Cas, he knew that they were only getting the tip of the ice burg. Castiel had made no mention of himself. Of why he looked so run down, of why he was by himself, of what had happened to him.

"Those are the most important things to know." Castiel stood up, indicating that the conversation was over. "Sam didn't answer Jody's call because he had a potential lead on a demon. It's the first bit of demon activity we have heard of since Dean disappeared, so he probably went to check it out."

"Why didn't you go with him?" Dean couldn't help but ask as they headed to the door.

"After telling me about it, he said it was probably nothing and…" Castiel looked down, his back turned towards them as he opened the front door and gestured for them to follow. "He was probably lying. Sam doesn't want my help."

Why wouldn't Sam want Castiel's help? Dean wondered, sharing a glance with his companions as they wondered about it, too. They stood there as Cas locked Jody's front door.

"Still, the Bunker is as good a place as any to take you. Sam will eventually return and we can easily regroup there." Castiel pulled out a set of car keys as he headed for the Lincoln Continental sitting in front of the house.

Dean couldn't help but stare at it. "What the hell is this?" His voice sounded like a mix of surprise and disgust even to his own ears.

"My car." Castiel said as he unlocked it, leaving it up to the three to decide who would get shotgun.

"What are you, some kind of pimp?" It was the sort of car that one of them would drive.

"I like it." Cas's tone reminded Dean of when people would try to badmouth the Impala in front of him. "And you know," Cas added as he got in, "that's exactly what Crowley said when he saw it."

Dean snorted as he claimed the shotgun seat as his own, with Bobby and Sam sliding into the back. "Do you even know how to drive?"

"Obviously." Cas replied dryly as he started the engine and started to drive. The radio came on, playing some modern rock and roll music that wasn't even real rock and roll.

"Why are you listening to this crap?" Dean went to change the station only to receive a sharp slap from Cas. "Ow! Hey!"

"Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Castiel quoted, not even trying to hide his faint smile. Bobby snorted and Sam was literally giggling in the backseat.

"Dammit." Dean muttered, wishing he had never taught Cas that.

Still, as they pulled onto the highway, Cas changed it to classic rock.

They drove for several hours until Castiel pulled up to a motel. "We'll spend the night here." He said as he went around to the trunk and popped it open. He grabbed a duffel bag and swung it over his shoulder as he headed to reception. "Wait here." He ordered.

The three of them waited in the car as Castiel obviously got a room. It didn't take long before he was back out.

"I managed to get a double room with an additional cot, but you all will have to decide who's sleeping with who." Cas led them to the room, and opened the door with the key.

"Why would we need to decide that?" Dean asked as he looked around the motel room. It was similar to the kind that he and Sam had stayed in many times before.

Castiel didn't answer him, but the reason was obvious as Cas slipped off his shoes, dropped the duffel bag next to them, and shrugged out of his trenchcoat. He practically collapsed onto the bed closest to the door and pulled the trenchcoat up over him like a blanket. Within moments, the trio could hear soft snores coming from the angel as he fell asleep.

The three of them looked at each other.

Something was seriously wrong here. The car and walking had been explained, but it was more than that. Angels didn't eat and they certainly didn't sleep. Something was wrong with Cas, and it probably had to do with how he was an angel, but didn't have his grace.

Still, this was the perfect time for them to talk.

AN: So now Dean and the others have a bit of an idea of what's going on. I've tried to incorporate some of Cas's new pop culture knowledge, but I haven't really done it well because it doesn't really fit (either here or elsewhere). Oh, well. Next time, our favorite hunters will start to figure out what they're meant to be learning.