Cascade - Chapter Four
Chapter 4
After dropping Sam and Castiel off at the local shops Dean and Crowley continued on to track down the fallen angel. They found themselves pulling up outside a rundown house on the bad side of town. The garden was more dirt than grass, a couple of children played with toy soldiers in the dust. Their clothes were worn and stained, most likely hand me downs of several generations. They watched Dean and Crowley with angry eyes… as if they were used to men in suits coming by.
“Okay, here we are, let me do the talking”.
“As you wish…”
They got out of the Impala and approached the front door. Dean gave a warm smile and a wave to the kids on passing, but they just stopped playing and stared. Shrugging it off he made for the door and knocked gently. It looked like it might fall off if he went at it any harder. Crowley shifted from one foot to the other, seeming oddly nervous.
Dean raised his hand to knock again when the door suddenly opened. A middle aged woman stood there. She had a toddler resting on one hip and a cigarette dangling from her lips. She removed it and scowled.
“What do you want? I’ve got nothing worth taking, I told ‘em before”.
“Ma’am, you’ve got us mistaken. We’re the FBI, I’m Agent Ragsdale and this is my partner Agent Steinhardt. We’ve come about the man you took in, the one who fell from the sky. I take it you’re Mrs Wright?”
“Ms if you please”. The sound of kids causing trouble burst from within the house. She turned and yelled at them to shut up before facing Dean again. “Now what do you want?”
“Is he still on the premises?”
“What? Don’t your right hand know what your left hand’s doing? A couple of agents already came and took him away”.
Dean silently cursed. He was hoping they might have beaten the FBI to it. “Okay, then can you fill in a few details for us?”
“I already filled the other agents in”. She took a drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke Dean’s way.
Dean just gave a tight smile and pressed on. “Humour me”.
“Well there ain’t much to tell. There was a bright light over yonder”. She indicated to the sky over Dean’s shoulder with the hand holding her cigarette. Ash fell from its precarious end and landed dangerously close to Dean’s shoe. “Ground shook like an earthquake. The kids all ran out to go look, later the next day my Cayden goes back out and turns up with this man in a suit. Shaking like a newborn lamb he was. I cuffed the stupid boy for bringing him here. They were saying on the radio not to go near them, and here he is bringing one home for dinner! I locked the guy up in our cellar and called the police straight away. Next thing I know the FBI are on my door step”.
“Did he say or do anything?”
“No, he was struck dumb or something, mumbled a bit of nonsense… all I understood was talk of flying or falling maybe, but he went where I pushed him, he gave me no trouble. In fact he seemed real scared, I might have felt sorry for him if he hadn’t just fallen out the sky… What are these people then? Aliens?”
“I’m afraid I’m not authorised to discuss that”.
“Of course you’re not”. She rolled her eyes and took another drag.
“Can we talk to Cayden?”
“He’s in the yard. If you can find him you can talk to him”. With that she turned to leave.
“Okay, thanks for your…” The door slammed shut. “… help”.
“Now wasn’t she a delight?” Crowley chuckled at Dean’s side.
“Come on, lets find that kid and get out of here”.
The two children playing in the dirt didn’t answer to the name ‘Cayden’. Although they probably wouldn’t admit to being him if they were. Dean and Crowley headed back to the Impala after a scout around the yard turned up nothing. There were other angel reports they could look into.
As they approached the car a small figure sitting by the wheel came into view. To his horror Dean realised the boy had a piece of chalk in his hand and he was writing on the Impala’s pristine paintwork.
“Hey! Get off my car!” He near enough growled at the kid.
The boy dropped the chalk and shot to his feet.
“Stop right there!” Dean checked his Baby over and noticed a dusty white ‘Cay’ scrawled on her side. Having found their target he calmed a little and tried not to scare him off. “You’re Cayden right?”
The boy nodded.
“Can I ask you a few questions?”
Dean knelt down to look Cayden in the eye. He surreptitiously attempted to brush the writing off with his sleeve while he was there. The kid didn’t look any older than ten.
He fixed Dean with a baleful glare. “You’re from the FBI, I heard you talking to my mom. You took my angel away”.
“He told you he was an angel did he?”
“Yeah, though he was real funny for an angel. I didn’t think angels cried”.
Neither did I kid… “So you found him then?”
“Me and Liam did. Are you going to take Liam’s angel too? You took mine; it’s not fair he gets to keep his”. Cayden kicked the dirt with a sulky face.
“Wait, there’s another one?”
Cayden nodded.
“Where is he?”
“In Liam’s den”. He spoke as if ‘Liam’s den’ was a landmark known the world over.
“… and where is that?”
“In the woods near his house. And that’s off Sunflower Street”. Cayden pre-empted Dean’s next question with a grin.
“Okay, thanks kid. Now get out of here”.
He gave Cayden a playful push and the boy went running to his brothers in the yard.
“We need to get to that angel. We can pick Sam and Cas up on the way. Hopefully we’ll beat the FBI to it this time…”
Crowley had a look of concern on his face. “Are you sure you want to take Castiel?”
“I’m anything but sure… but we’re dealing with angels here and I’d rather have him than not. We’ll be with him anyway, we’ll look after him”.
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Dean looked into his rear view mirror at Castiel with a slight smile on his face. The former angel was now dressed in red plaid and jeans. Either Sam had something to do with this or Castiel was adopting Winchester style. At least he wasn’t dressed like a douche.
“Please tell me you brought more than just plaid”.
“Sam said I should buy these…” Castiel rummaged about in his bag and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.
“Those go on your face, they don’t count”.
Castiel delicately put the sunglasses on and looked up with a smile, as if seeking Dean’s approval.
“Looking sharp there Cas. We could put you on a Harley and take photos, you’d make a great Mr August”.
“I got this too” Castiel went back to his bag. This time a black t-shirt emerged. The ex-angel held it up against himself to reveal an “AC-DC” logo.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about! We need some ‘Back in Black’ on, stat”. Dean started fishing for the right tape.
“Oh Dean, look at the toothbrush I brought, it vibrates!” Castiel wielded the toothbrush as if it was a weapon, then he pushed a button on it and a soft buzzing sound filled the car.
“That’s… great”. Dean was happy to see the former angel filled with apparent excitement, but he wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about toothbrushes as Castiel seemed to be. Eventually he found the right cassette and soon the buzzing was drowned out by a very familiar guitar riff.
After a few songs had gone by Dean turned off the music to fill Sam and Castiel in on their chat with Cayden and his mom. Sam asked a few questions but Castiel went suddenly quiet and said nothing more for the rest of the journey. Dean started to think he was making a mistake bringing the former angel along. For a moment there he almost seemed happy, and now Dean was going to toss him into the shark pool, emotionally speaking. He wasn’t ready… but they had to deal with the angels, and the angels weren’t going to wait for Castiel to be ready.
Dean pulled off the road onto a dirt track and pulled up when the trees became too thick to drive through. The evening air was cooling as they got out of the car and looked to the trees. It was darker beneath their boughs, the leaves high above blocked the fading light.
The brothers went to their cache at the back of the car. As they loaded up on weapons and holy oil Dean took a moment to ask about Castiel in a hushed voice.
“Was he okay?”
“Yeah, he was absolutely fine. Had a bit of a moment when we went past the pet shop… he got a bit emotional about the caged birds, but otherwise he was fine”.
“Really? You’re sure?”
“Yes Dean, you think I’d forget him flipping out and attacking the pet shop owner or something? He was happily distracted with shopping the whole time. Maybe that’s what he needs - distracting. Something to take his mind off all the crap, wallowing is the worst thing”.
“Well we’re about to launch him into a load of crap right now. Facing an angel… you think he can handle that?”
Sam paused a moment too long, giving Dean his answer without saying a word. “I… don’t know. But he’s strong Dean, you know that much. And one way or another he’ll have to deal. The fallen angels have changed the world, this isn’t going away, and we’ve got to do what we can…”
“I know… I just wish I could give him time to wrap his head around everything”.
“Time is a luxury we very rarely have”. Sam gave a pat to Dean’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s find this angel before the feds do”.
The two of them found Castiel and Crowley talking softly by the tree line. Dean absently wondered what they were talking about… tips on redemption maybe? After a short discussion they decided to split up to cover more ground - Castiel with Dean and Crowley with Sam.
The woods were not terribly deep, but the trees grew close together and thick vegetation made it difficult to walk through. Occasionally they would come across small paths made by animals pushing through the undergrowth. Dean kept his eye out for paths that looked like they were made by children building dens… A rustle of leaves caught their attention more than once. They gave chase to one, and came across a cat. Dean swore at it while Castiel apologised for disturbing its hunt.
Eventually the trees thinned out. Then Dean realised they were in various states of decay. The further they went on the more dead trees they found until eventually Dean and Castiel were surrounded by nothing but brittle bone limbs reaching for the sky. The vegetation at their feet was browning and dry, it crunched as the pair ventured forwards. It almost seemed like something had sapped the life from the very air, it was heavy and cloying to take in. The only sense of warmth this place had was given by the last rays of sunlight filtering down through the bare branches. They lit up dust motes that lazily drifted like fairy dust in the air, only to be disturbed and swirled about as the two men passed through.
At the centre of this impromptu graveyard stood a structure haphazardly built from branches. It was chaotic, but reasoned, with sturdy branches offering support and thick ferns serving as a roof. Of course they had been reduced to brown frail sticks, dead, like everything else. A small, bright red, plastic chair stood outside in stark contrast to the washed out colours of the world around it. An abandoned bike with one wheel sat rusting to one side. This place was unmistakably a den.
Dean pulled out his phone and called Sam. “Hey, we’ve found it, if you head… Cas, hey Cas! Come back!”
He quickly rattled off approximate directions and chased after Castiel. The former angel had continued creeping along while Dean stalled at a safe distance. He wanted them to tackle this together, but apparently Castiel had other ideas.
A small voice called out as they neared the den. “Liam?”
“It’s not Liam, but we’re friends. We’re coming in”. Dean answered.
Castiel stopped at the den’s entrance and ducked a little to look inside. Dean stepped around the red chair and peered over his shoulder. A huddled figure in a dishevelled suit was hugging his knees at the back of the den. Discarded packets from chocolate bars littered the ground. At least Liam seemed to have been feeding him. More importantly the angel gripped a blade tightly in his hand. It wasn’t being wielded to hurt; it seemed more clutched at for comfort. Angel blades were usually shining and silver but this one appeared dull in the half light. The angel himself had short black hair not unlike Castiel’s, but his eyes were a dark brown and filled with fear.
“Where is Liam?” He asked with a shaking voice.
“He’ll be back soon. We’ve just come to keep you company”. Dean ventured, not sure exactly how to go about dealing with this fallen creature.
“I want to talk to Liam…”
The angel seemed to have latched on to this kid like a baby bird imprinting on its mother.
Then he raised his eyes to Castiel and squinted. “Brother?”
“Yes…” The former angel answered cautiously.
“Castiel?” The angel’s eyes widened. “I did not recognise you at first, with a soul…”
The former angel looked down at the ground and swallowed heavily before meeting his brother’s eyes again. “Forgive me brother, I can no longer see you. Will you give me your name?”
“Lastor”.
“Then I am sorry Lastor. I didn’t know… I didn’t mean for any of this…” Castiel held his hands out and made to step forwards. Dean stopped him by putting a hand to his shoulder.
The fallen angel looked at Castiel in confusion. “Metatron did this, you hold no blame. He has also taken from you but he has left you crippled and blinded. We were cast down, but you… Oh Castiel, you have been maimed far worse than I”.
Lastor looked up at Castiel with such compassion it was heartbreaking. To see an Angel of the Lord brought low, sitting in the dirt of a dead grove, turn his own eyes down on Castiel… It made Dean realise how far his friend had fallen. That he would elicit sympathy from this creature so ruined himself…
At first a weight seemed to have lifted from Castiel as Lastor freed him of blame. But the burden of his humanity came crashing down on his shoulders. Castiel looked away again. Dean lightly pulled the ex-angel away, taking this as his cue to step in.
“Okay Lastor, if you come with us we can help you. But you’re going to have to put the blade down first”.
The fallen angel just held on to it more tightly.
“I won’t hurt you, I give you my word… Please, it is all I have left”.
“We’re not going to keep it, we’ll give it back to you”.
“Castiel, I followed you, I went to war for you. Will you not speak for me?”
Dean turned to Castiel with a questioning look at this revelation. “This true?”
The former angel nodded. “It is. Lastor fought with me against Raphael… he stood by me… he can be trusted”.
“Okay…” It went against the grain to let a potential threat stay armed, but for Castiel’s sake he would let it go. “I’m going to need to know what you can do. Clearly you could tell who Castiel was, have you still got your powers?”
At that Lastor’s eyes darkened. “I can’t fly… I can’t heal… It is as if the light of our Father’s grace has left me. I can still do this…”
The fallen angel’s voice trembled as he took a handful of leaves from the ground at his feet. Lastor held his palm out and suddenly it all ignited. Dean took a step back. Shadows leapt about the den at the bidding of the fire dancing in Lastor’s hand. His eyes mirrored the small flame, shining and reflecting its light.
“… I can still destroy. That is all he left us… the darkness”. Lastor closed his palm and the flame died, taking the shadows with it.
A quiet moment passed before Castiel spoke. “You fell as Lucifer fell…”
“Yes brother… and so I am given only the hatred and malice of his heart”. Lastor turned sad eyes on Castiel again. “At least I have been left with something”.
“You may yet wish for nothing when the abyss is all you have…” Castiel tilted his head to one side.
If Castiel was still an angel Dean would swear they were talking telepathically with the intense staring going on between them. A rustle from outside broke their reverie. Sam and Crowley had finally caught up.
Dean pulled gently at Castiel’s arm. “Let’s go”.
Instead of moving aside and letting Dean grab Lastor, Castiel stepped forwards and extended a hand. Dean watched carefully, readying to pull the former angel away should Lastor lash out with his blade. There was no need to worry though. Lastor took the offered hand and gingerly got to his feet.
As they emerged from the den to find Sam and Crowley standing in the dying rays of sunlight Lastor suddenly shrunk back. “What is that abomination doing here?! Castiel, have you betrayed me?!”
Dean caught on quickly. “It’s okay, Crowley is cured, he’s as harmless as the rest of us”.
“He’s telling the truth, I promise you I am no longer the demon you knew of before”. Crowley came towards the fallen angel and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you…?”
“Lastor…” He took the hand warily, but shook it all the same.
“Then welcome to our motley crew Lastor. We will help you in any way we can”.
Dean shared an amused smile with Sam at how quickly Crowley was integrating himself into the good guy camp. Castiel had handled the situation well to boot, Dean had been braced for another breakdown. Things were looking up; maybe their luck had finally changed…
But as the five made their way back to the Impala an unnoticed figure watched from the trees, eyes longingly following after “his angel”.
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Back on the road Lastor was now sandwiched between Crowley and Castiel on the back seat. Dean watched his reactions through the rear view mirror as they plied him with questions.
“What do you remember?” Sam asked.
“Not much… I was flying, I think to Syria. Though I can’t recall why… I remember my wings burning, I remember the moment I stopped flying and started falling... And I remember his voice, his petty vengeful voice in my head…”
Dean noticed Castiel squirming at Lastor’s words.
“Okay, that’s enough for now, story time can wait until later”. Dean would save the former angel from reliving his own memories if he could.
They drove on in silence until Dean started playing with the radio. Every station he tuned in to was filled with warnings and speculation on the angels, so he gave up and started fishing for a tape. Sam suddenly sat up, eyes on the mirror at his side.
“Hey Dean, looks like we’ve got company…” Sam twisted in his seat to get a better view.
Dean looked in his own mirror to find a police car coming up fast. It drew alongside the Impala and the officer in the shotgun seat pointed to the side of the road. Dean swore and pulled over, there was no point in running, he was sure he could talk his way out of this.
So he wound down his window and put on a winning smile. “Problem officer?”
The first officer approached Dean, while the second went to peer through the back window, hand hovering on the gun at his hip.
“Mind telling me what you’re doing out here son?” The officer took off his sunglasses and placed them in his breast pocket.
“Mind telling me why you’ve pulled us over?”
“I ask the questions here boy”. Dean noticed the other younger officer straighten up and give a nod to his partner. “In any case, I got information that says some boys like you got into a car like this, with one of those angel folk. And well I’ll be damned, apparently he looks just like one of your passengers. Now I don’t believe in coincidences. You know you’re supposed to turn them in don’t you son?”
“Of course I do”. Dean dug in his pocket to pull out his badge. “We’re FBI. I’m Agent Ragsdale and this is my partner Agent Steinhardt”.
Sam reached forwards to show his own badge. A broad smile suddenly graced the officer’s face… Undeterred Dean continued. “We’re taking these men into custody. I’m sure you understand this business is classified, so if you could please move aside and let us carry out our duties…”
The officer still grinned, to Dean’s confusion.
“Ragsdale and Steinhardt right? You boys got your fiddles with you?” He laughed and leaned against the car. “Too bad you were pulled over by a Kansas fan hey? You might have gotten away with it otherwise. Get them out Rick”.
The younger officer knocked on Castiel’s window. “Sir, could you please step out of the vehicle?”
Dean put his hand to the door and suddenly found a gun in his face. “Not you. First we’re going to secure your little friends, and then we’ll get you out for a chat about why you’re giving lifts to angels”.
They seemed to be assuming the three in the back were all angels… which wasn’t that far from the truth.
“Sir?” Officer Rick prompted again.
Dean looked back at Castiel, he was about to tell the former angel it was okay. Just get out and they would sort everything… but he noticed Lastor’s blade changing hands.
“Cas! No!”
Castiel flung his door open and brandished the angel blade. “Leave us! Get in your car and drive away!”
He went towards the officer, threatening but not attacking. Rick had stepped back and pulled out his own weapon. Before another word could be said Castiel collapsed to the floor, convulsing with taser barbs embedded in his shoulder. The blade dropped from his hand and clattered across the road. After an endless moment the former angel stilled.
“Stay down or I’ll give you another shock”.
Of course Castiel tried to push himself to his hands and knees.
The officer pulled on his trigger, and this time Castiel yelled as he went down. The first time the shock seemed to take his breath away, this time he knew it was coming…
“Hey! Leave him alone! He’s done nothing, he’s an innocent!” Dean growled at the officer by his window.
“He just attacked my partner with a knife! Don’t you know these things are dangerous? Now I’ve been told to bring them in alive, but I’m authorised to use lethal force if I have to…”
“Cas… stay down man. Let me talk to them”. Dean reluctantly shouted out to the former angel.
Castiel’s eyes were half closed, he breathed in hitched breaths. And then he dragged his arm up and placed his palm against the asphalt.
“Give him a drive stun Rick, we haven’t got all day”.
Rick shot his partner a questioning look, but the officer just nodded towards Castiel insisting he move in. Rick approached and placed the taser against Castiel’s side before triggering it. The former angel’s eyes flew open and he screamed in pain. That was the last straw. Dean pushed the car door open, but before he had a chance to open his mouth the butt of the officer’s gun met his head with a crack.
Apparently it was the last straw for Lastor as well. The world was spinning into darkness, but the last thing Dean saw was the fallen angel emerging from the Impala, hands outstretched and glowing.
And then, before his senses failed completely, Dean heard the piercing sound of a gunshot.
Chapter Five