DCBB Black Glass pt.16
Part 15
Cas screamed and threw an ornate vase at the wall, not satisfied even when it exploded into hundreds of chalky pieces and rained down onto the floor in ruin. He kicked over tables and chairs and shattered every mirror in the room and when there was nothing else to destroy he hit the wall with his bloodied knuckles and sunk to the floor, sobbed and gasped for air and tried to breathe through his sorrow and the pain in his chest.
“Dean,” He whimpered to himself, grasped at his chest and pushed against his bones to the brink of agony, “Dean, I could touch you…so close…”
‘Silence you little fool, would you have us killed?’
“He was there, he was close, I was next to him, feet away…”
‘Unless you are hiding a bear’s strength in these puny arms, we cannot break men’s metal. We cannot break Dean’s chain.’
Cas sobbed and let his head fall back against the wall with a dull thump. His attendants from River Rock cowered in the corners of their rooms, content to avoid him till he had need of them. They feared him now.
‘As they should,’ the Other in him purred, ‘for we are more than they can ever hope to be, you and I. We are different, special; we are even different from brother Lucifer.’
Cas did not care for the moments when the Other made itself known to him. Most of the time he could go about his day without noticing it, and those days were good. But on days like this, in the moments where all he wanted was silence, the thing decided it wanted to strike up a conversation.
‘You are beautiful, my sweet thing, he will want you. Already the seeds of lust have been planted in his loins; I could smell it on him when we left.’ The Other crooned, voice a syrupy echo in his head, as thick as molasses. ‘There may come a time, very soon, where he will invite you into his bed. You must take that chance, my heart, and convince the wretch to allow Dean to lay with you as well. Surely a man such as him would salivate over the thought.’
Cas grumbled and stood from the floor, wiping traces of powder and mirror shards from his skin. He licked the blood from his knuckles as he walked to the window and he looked out onto the city below. They were inside the Basilica, but it would have been more prudent, perhaps, to call it a fortress. Guards were posted at every door, women and children milled about in the streets laughing and frolicking and he dared not harm a single hair on their heads. The Empire had weapons the likes of which he had never seen before. Dean and John had guns, Cas had seen them in use before, but these were no guns, these were horrifying weapons of death and destruction. They were cannons, he had been told, and they were as menacing as they were effective. The Basilica had not fallen to enemy forces since its creation. He shuddered and turned away.
What good would come of him being here? If he could not spirit his Dean away in the night then why had he come? Lucifer would have been far smoother in his wooing, Cas thought with a grimace, and he would have easily been invited to Michael’s bed the very same evening. The dark part of Cas boiled at the thought of Lucifer touching what was his, but when he looked down at his body, at the blue marks over his flesh and the phantom traces of Lucifer’s touch…
Cas sighed and turned back to the room, shutting the windows and drawing the curtains. He stretched out onto the bed covered in soft linens and furs of creatures foreign to him, and he didn’t bother removing his travel clothes covered in dust and sweat. He closed his eyes and hoped for a dreamless sleep, but he knew it would not be, for already visions of Dean’s chained body and bruised skin plagued his thoughts and he whimpered in agony, turning onto his side.
He would make Michael regret ever setting eyes on Dean. Michael had known only the heat and comfort of perpetual summer here in the Empire. Cas would bring him the cold; he would bring him the sharp winds and the howling wolves and the ravaging conditions of winter. He would, he swore so himself with fervor when he mutilated his body to serve a deity not his own.
‘Shush…’ the Other soothed, and he felt hands like water rush over his burning shoulders, calming the fires in his flesh. ‘Do not fret, my child. You did well. While he did not pursue you this night, there will be many others, as many as it takes. And remember, child, he must want it, drive him to the edge of his tenuous restraint, then you will take him, and take your mate at last. Keep saying the things I tell you to say, act the way I act, and I promise you Dean will be yours again soon. I will keep your mind dark for the night, my love. Sleep now, and don’t dream.’
Cas was lulled by susurrus sounds of wings and whispers and soft music made from harps and the reeds in the river, of the burbling of streams and fish swimming in the depths of the deepest oceans. He let himself sink down with them, to the deep, cool recesses of the earth, and he slept.
Uriel became aware of the Basilica’s visitors quite abruptly the next day. The leader of the ragtag group of savages bumped into him in the hall and snarled like an animal, stalked around him and continued on his way without a single parting word. Uriel had blinked, pondered the strange man for a moment, and then walked on. He couldn’t concern himself with the minds of heathens, and even he knew not why they were present at all in the Basilica. Despite its current corruption, the Basilica had once been a place of healing and peace, not an epicenter to war and famine. Michael’s people were dying, lamented Uriel, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
The savage was a strange man, to be sure. When next he saw him, Uriel noticed he spoke in half words and truths, and he had just a hint of an accent that Uriel could not place. Perhaps he once spoke the Old language of the savages, that would make sense given his priesthood. How Uriel longed to speak with the man, to hear of his duties, his magic. He had oft heard tale of the things a man such as he was capable of, but had never seen it with his own eyes. The next day the man seemed to be in better spirits, and was introduced to Uriel as Emmanuel, though that name held little truth on the other’s tongue.
“Tell me, Emmanuel, is that truly your name? It hardly seems fitting for one such as yourself.”
“That is the truth, Lord Uriel; Emmanuel is not my true name, though it is far easier on the tongue than my title.”
“Tell me, so that I may attempt it.”
Emmanuel smiled coyly, sidling closer to nudge against his side, winding his arm with Uriel’s to lead him away from the main hall.
“They tell me that you can be trusted, human.” Emmanuel spoke in a multi-faceted voice and Uriel flinched. It was unearthly and terrifying, it sounded as if a man, a woman and a child were all speaking at once. It sounded like real power.
“They say that you aided me once, long ago, when I first fled this place with the golden man.”
“Golden man? I’m afraid I don’t…”
“Be silent,” The thing hissed, and two soldiers rounded the corner on the way to the barracks, glancing at them suspiciously before continuing on their way.
“You already know of what I speak, and you keep a picture of this body, even now, in your pocket.”
Uriel’s hand strayed to the locket in his inner robes, scarcely believing it to be true.
“Castiel…?”
“But you must continue to call me Emmanuel, Lord Uriel,” Castiel spoke with a grin, the otherworldliness gone from his voice. “I cannot afford to be revealed when I have finally come so close.”
“Close to taking back what is rightfully yours?” Uriel asked excitedly under his breath. Castiel regarded him coolly before taking his fathomless gaze away again.
“In a manner.”
“But surely you have come to take back the throne?” Uriel continued though Castiel’s grip tightened in warning.
“If that is what comes of my being here, then so be it.” He snapped.
“If not the throne, then why have you come?” Uriel asked, confused.
“I have come for my beloved, and if the kingdom must fall for me to have him then it shall fall.”
“Your beloved?”
“Surely you have seen the man Michael keeps chained like a pet? The man…he is a man, not a beast, he is mine, and I will have him back, my Dean…”
Uriel knew the one, the pitiful thing constantly kept by Michael’s side. He had to have been older than Michael, yet he was subjugated and less than human in Michael’s eyes. Uriel had seen the man-Dean-only a handful of times, and he pitied him, truly. He had never spoken to him directly, Uriel supposed few had. Michael kept him on a short leash, literally and figuratively.
“Your intentions are noble, Emmanuel, if you truly plan on stealing away with your prize,” Uriel whispered, “but imagine what you could do if you took it all away from Michael, not just your lover.”
“Dean is far more than a lover to me, don’t presume to know otherwise.”
“The point, my friend, you are missing it.”
“I care not, old fool. Dean is mine, and I shall take back what is mine.”
Emmanuel-Castiel, his beautiful, horrid Castiel-shoved away from Uriel’s side and vanished around the corner.
Sam was growing uneasy. He hadn’t wanted to be left behind with the warring siblings Gabriel and Lucifer. Many of their arguments seemed petty on the surface, but Sam could tell there was something more that Gabriel wasn’t telling him, something important. It was the reason why Gabriel forbade Sam from accompanying Cas to the Empire, to be sure that his family would be rid of the tyrant Michael forever.
He would have seen to it if Cas hadn’t the will, or the strength. Cas had changed. He was strange and new, both loving and cruel.
But Cas had left him with Girl. He said he trusted no other with his child, not even the villagers, though Sam felt that Cas was right not to trust them. He had dreaded caring for a child at first, but he swiftly learned that Girl could take care of herself quite well. None of the villagers bothered her, or tried to hurt her. In fact, a great number of them seemed to avoid all contact with her, though Girl didn’t seem to notice.
Sam was concerned for her wellbeing, but only slightly. At least the other children still played with her. She was like them after all; dark and as quick as a minnow in the water. She was unruly, unkempt, crude, and so much like Cas that Sam almost couldn’t handle it. He was seeing his brother in Dean’s child.
He mourned for Lisa after Cas had told him the truth of that day so long ago in the snow and cold and blood. Cas had few words for the event itself, he probably had no way to describe it, his mind had been so different then; it had been the mind of an animal, not a man. Lisa had been an innocent, sweet woman caught between two opposing forces, fire and snow, and had been lost in the resulting clash. When titans battle, humans are secondary.
He wondered if he would ever be able to return home, to the village, if only to visit the Braedens, to sit them down and explain the entire story from day one. Lisa’s death was unfortunate and heartbreaking, but ultimately not by any fault of Cas’s, or Dean’s. Sam only thanked god that their child survived, so that she could be raised to live and thrive. He could only imagine how Dean would have reacted if both his wife and unborn child had died that day.
One morning, when mist still clung to the gravelly ground and the chirping of crickets filled the air Sam woke suddenly, with no reason and with no interruption. One moment he was asleep, the other awake. He sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes and he swiped a hand over his face and through his dank hair. He hadn’t had a chance to bathe since Cas had left some weeks earlier, and he was beginning to feel it. He stumbled out of the tent, taking note of Girl where she lay, curled up on Cas’s abandoned bed of furs and pillows. He walked to the water’s edge, hearing the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore cut through the almost eerie silence.
River Rock had never been this quiet. Always there had been the squealing of children and grumbling of the old and sick. Sam couldn’t hear anything save the pounding of his blood in his ears and the water against the shore. It was unnatural, and Sam swallowed, instantly on the alert. He reached the water, almost stepping directly into it. He couldn’t see anything through the fog that had gathered over the river, and he squinted out, imagining he saw shapes in the cloudy mass. He shrugged the feeling and pulled his shirt over his head. Just as soon as he took the final step forward, to step into the water he knew would be freezing, but he was resigned to it, a hand shot out from the mist and grabbed onto his shoulder, pulling him back and away from the water.
“What the hell?!” Sam shouted, staggering backward into a solid, warm figure.
“Hush! Or do you want to get us both killed?!” Gabriel hissed. Sam relaxed, but only slightly.
“Seriously though, what the hell?” Sam whispered, following Gabriel’s lead. Gabriel held a finger over his lips and beckoned him to follow. They made their way back into their tent, and Sam was relieved to see Girl still sleeping soundly in the corner.
“Okay,” Gabriel breathed, setting about the tent, gathering their strewn possessions with a feverish intensity. “Okay, Sam, this won’t make much sense now, but you gotta trust me on this. We gotta get outta here.”
“Leave? But we’ve only just arrived.”
“Please, just trust me Sam.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.” Sam groused, crossing his arms. He didn’t like being left out of the loop, like so often in his life.
“Please!” Gabriel whipped around, eyes wild and his breaths frantic. “We don’t have time for that now! We have to get out before Lucifer returns.”
“Where did he go?” Sam asked, brows furrowing in confusion. “And why does that even matter anyway?”
Gabriel growled in exasperation and stuffed the remainder of their clothing into a nearby rucksack. He slung it over his shoulder and hurried to the entrance of the tent, peering out, ever cautious, and by then Sam was beginning to feel that dread from earlier creep back up his spine.
“Get Girl,” Gabriel whispered, and this time Sam didn’t hesitate. He bent and lifted Girl up, furs and all, and she hardly even stirred. She complained drowsily, but her eyes barely flickered before she was asleep once again.
“What is going on?” Sam murmured, jostling her a little just to make sure. She didn’t wake. For a moment he was panicked, but Gabriel was quick to appease.
“Don’t worry, I can tell it’s only a spell keeping her asleep, same with everyone else in the village. I foresaw Lucifer attempting something like this and made sure to spike our drinks with go-juice before bed last night.”
“What?”
“Don’t sweat the details, just know that we’re awake and everyone else is asleep and will be for quite a while.”
“Okay, but what does Lucifer have to do with it?”
Gabriel didn’t answer, and beckoned for Sam to follow him out of the tent. They kept to the sides of dwellings, not daring to stray out in the open where they could easily be spotted. The rising sun’s rays were beginning to cut through the fog and it began to fade. Their cover would be gone in a matter of minutes.
“I began to suspect him the moment we arrived in River Rock. When I had left the first time to try and find Castiel, Lucifer had left as well, promising to return to the Empire to ‘claim what was rightfully his’ or something like that. Obviously I wasn’t expecting him back so soon, and so different.”
“He’s different?”
Gabriel coughed out what sounded like a laugh, or more like a chortle.
“Very much so. He didn’t have all those tattoos, and he certainly still had wings, last I checked.”
Sam stopped for a moment and gaped.
“But…but that wasn’t all that long ago! How could he have changed so suddenly? And for what?”
“He has tapped into powers that he has no business meddling in, that’s how.” Gabriel answered and left it at that.
They reached the opposite end of the shore, where they kept the boats, and Sam was just beginning to think that their grand escape had been far too easy. Gabriel must have felt the same; he didn’t relax till they were miles from River Rock in one of their stolen power boats. Girl was still asleep, stowed away safe in the cabin. All Sam wanted to do was sleep with her, he was tired of all the deception and lies, of half-truths and revelations and the whole thing, he was just sick and tired of it. He slumped down on the bottom of the boat and heaved a sigh, putting a hand over his face and leaving it there, even when he felt Gabriel sidle up next to him, plopping down so close that Gabriel’s elbow met painfully with Sam’s hip.
“C’mon, kiddo, cheer up.” Gabriel attempted to console him. “You found your brother, one of them anyway, who’s on his way to the Empire to get your other brother back. Piece of cake, Sam.”
“But it’s…no it’s not!” Sam growled. “Lucifer is…psychotic and just put an entire village of people to sleep, for reasons you’re not telling me. Cas is on his way to the Empire to get Dean, yes, but to the Empire; the place where everyone wants to either kill him or worship him!”
“Sam, if it helps, I couldn’t recognize him, you barely did. He doesn’t…he doesn’t have his wings anymore, he speaks well for someone who couldn’t before. He’ll be fine.”
“Why do I have a hard time believing that?”
“Sam,” Gabriel squeezed his shoulder, “he’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry I just…I can’t believe that till I see him safe and sound, with Dean.”
“Cas has no ambition, he won’t go to the Empire with grander intentions than stealing Dean back. You don’t need to worry about him.”
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EN-US;mso-fareast-language:KO;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">“I hope you’re right,” Sam sighed, pulling his hand away to look at Gabriel, at his only friend that-at least he hoped-he could trust. “I really do.”
Cas screamed and threw an ornate vase at the wall, not satisfied even when it exploded into hundreds of chalky pieces and rained down onto the floor in ruin. He kicked over tables and chairs and shattered every mirror in the room and when there was nothing else to destroy he hit the wall with his bloodied knuckles and sunk to the floor, sobbed and gasped for air and tried to breathe through his sorrow and the pain in his chest.
“Dean,” He whimpered to himself, grasped at his chest and pushed against his bones to the brink of agony, “Dean, I could touch you…so close…”
‘Silence you little fool, would you have us killed?’
“He was there, he was close, I was next to him, feet away…”
‘Unless you are hiding a bear’s strength in these puny arms, we cannot break men’s metal. We cannot break Dean’s chain.’
Cas sobbed and let his head fall back against the wall with a dull thump. His attendants from River Rock cowered in the corners of their rooms, content to avoid him till he had need of them. They feared him now.
‘As they should,’ the Other in him purred, ‘for we are more than they can ever hope to be, you and I. We are different, special; we are even different from brother Lucifer.’
Cas did not care for the moments when the Other made itself known to him. Most of the time he could go about his day without noticing it, and those days were good. But on days like this, in the moments where all he wanted was silence, the thing decided it wanted to strike up a conversation.
‘You are beautiful, my sweet thing, he will want you. Already the seeds of lust have been planted in his loins; I could smell it on him when we left.’ The Other crooned, voice a syrupy echo in his head, as thick as molasses. ‘There may come a time, very soon, where he will invite you into his bed. You must take that chance, my heart, and convince the wretch to allow Dean to lay with you as well. Surely a man such as him would salivate over the thought.’
Cas grumbled and stood from the floor, wiping traces of powder and mirror shards from his skin. He licked the blood from his knuckles as he walked to the window and he looked out onto the city below. They were inside the Basilica, but it would have been more prudent, perhaps, to call it a fortress. Guards were posted at every door, women and children milled about in the streets laughing and frolicking and he dared not harm a single hair on their heads. The Empire had weapons the likes of which he had never seen before. Dean and John had guns, Cas had seen them in use before, but these were no guns, these were horrifying weapons of death and destruction. They were cannons, he had been told, and they were as menacing as they were effective. The Basilica had not fallen to enemy forces since its creation. He shuddered and turned away.
What good would come of him being here? If he could not spirit his Dean away in the night then why had he come? Lucifer would have been far smoother in his wooing, Cas thought with a grimace, and he would have easily been invited to Michael’s bed the very same evening. The dark part of Cas boiled at the thought of Lucifer touching what was his, but when he looked down at his body, at the blue marks over his flesh and the phantom traces of Lucifer’s touch…
Cas sighed and turned back to the room, shutting the windows and drawing the curtains. He stretched out onto the bed covered in soft linens and furs of creatures foreign to him, and he didn’t bother removing his travel clothes covered in dust and sweat. He closed his eyes and hoped for a dreamless sleep, but he knew it would not be, for already visions of Dean’s chained body and bruised skin plagued his thoughts and he whimpered in agony, turning onto his side.
He would make Michael regret ever setting eyes on Dean. Michael had known only the heat and comfort of perpetual summer here in the Empire. Cas would bring him the cold; he would bring him the sharp winds and the howling wolves and the ravaging conditions of winter. He would, he swore so himself with fervor when he mutilated his body to serve a deity not his own.
‘Shush…’ the Other soothed, and he felt hands like water rush over his burning shoulders, calming the fires in his flesh. ‘Do not fret, my child. You did well. While he did not pursue you this night, there will be many others, as many as it takes. And remember, child, he must want it, drive him to the edge of his tenuous restraint, then you will take him, and take your mate at last. Keep saying the things I tell you to say, act the way I act, and I promise you Dean will be yours again soon. I will keep your mind dark for the night, my love. Sleep now, and don’t dream.’
Cas was lulled by susurrus sounds of wings and whispers and soft music made from harps and the reeds in the river, of the burbling of streams and fish swimming in the depths of the deepest oceans. He let himself sink down with them, to the deep, cool recesses of the earth, and he slept.
Uriel became aware of the Basilica’s visitors quite abruptly the next day. The leader of the ragtag group of savages bumped into him in the hall and snarled like an animal, stalked around him and continued on his way without a single parting word. Uriel had blinked, pondered the strange man for a moment, and then walked on. He couldn’t concern himself with the minds of heathens, and even he knew not why they were present at all in the Basilica. Despite its current corruption, the Basilica had once been a place of healing and peace, not an epicenter to war and famine. Michael’s people were dying, lamented Uriel, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
The savage was a strange man, to be sure. When next he saw him, Uriel noticed he spoke in half words and truths, and he had just a hint of an accent that Uriel could not place. Perhaps he once spoke the Old language of the savages, that would make sense given his priesthood. How Uriel longed to speak with the man, to hear of his duties, his magic. He had oft heard tale of the things a man such as he was capable of, but had never seen it with his own eyes. The next day the man seemed to be in better spirits, and was introduced to Uriel as Emmanuel, though that name held little truth on the other’s tongue.
“Tell me, Emmanuel, is that truly your name? It hardly seems fitting for one such as yourself.”
“That is the truth, Lord Uriel; Emmanuel is not my true name, though it is far easier on the tongue than my title.”
“Tell me, so that I may attempt it.”
Emmanuel smiled coyly, sidling closer to nudge against his side, winding his arm with Uriel’s to lead him away from the main hall.
“They tell me that you can be trusted, human.” Emmanuel spoke in a multi-faceted voice and Uriel flinched. It was unearthly and terrifying, it sounded as if a man, a woman and a child were all speaking at once. It sounded like real power.
“They say that you aided me once, long ago, when I first fled this place with the golden man.”
“Golden man? I’m afraid I don’t…”
“Be silent,” The thing hissed, and two soldiers rounded the corner on the way to the barracks, glancing at them suspiciously before continuing on their way.
“You already know of what I speak, and you keep a picture of this body, even now, in your pocket.”
Uriel’s hand strayed to the locket in his inner robes, scarcely believing it to be true.
“Castiel…?”
“But you must continue to call me Emmanuel, Lord Uriel,” Castiel spoke with a grin, the otherworldliness gone from his voice. “I cannot afford to be revealed when I have finally come so close.”
“Close to taking back what is rightfully yours?” Uriel asked excitedly under his breath. Castiel regarded him coolly before taking his fathomless gaze away again.
“In a manner.”
“But surely you have come to take back the throne?” Uriel continued though Castiel’s grip tightened in warning.
“If that is what comes of my being here, then so be it.” He snapped.
“If not the throne, then why have you come?” Uriel asked, confused.
“I have come for my beloved, and if the kingdom must fall for me to have him then it shall fall.”
“Your beloved?”
“Surely you have seen the man Michael keeps chained like a pet? The man…he is a man, not a beast, he is mine, and I will have him back, my Dean…”
Uriel knew the one, the pitiful thing constantly kept by Michael’s side. He had to have been older than Michael, yet he was subjugated and less than human in Michael’s eyes. Uriel had seen the man-Dean-only a handful of times, and he pitied him, truly. He had never spoken to him directly, Uriel supposed few had. Michael kept him on a short leash, literally and figuratively.
“Your intentions are noble, Emmanuel, if you truly plan on stealing away with your prize,” Uriel whispered, “but imagine what you could do if you took it all away from Michael, not just your lover.”
“Dean is far more than a lover to me, don’t presume to know otherwise.”
“The point, my friend, you are missing it.”
“I care not, old fool. Dean is mine, and I shall take back what is mine.”
Emmanuel-Castiel, his beautiful, horrid Castiel-shoved away from Uriel’s side and vanished around the corner.
Sam was growing uneasy. He hadn’t wanted to be left behind with the warring siblings Gabriel and Lucifer. Many of their arguments seemed petty on the surface, but Sam could tell there was something more that Gabriel wasn’t telling him, something important. It was the reason why Gabriel forbade Sam from accompanying Cas to the Empire, to be sure that his family would be rid of the tyrant Michael forever.
He would have seen to it if Cas hadn’t the will, or the strength. Cas had changed. He was strange and new, both loving and cruel.
But Cas had left him with Girl. He said he trusted no other with his child, not even the villagers, though Sam felt that Cas was right not to trust them. He had dreaded caring for a child at first, but he swiftly learned that Girl could take care of herself quite well. None of the villagers bothered her, or tried to hurt her. In fact, a great number of them seemed to avoid all contact with her, though Girl didn’t seem to notice.
Sam was concerned for her wellbeing, but only slightly. At least the other children still played with her. She was like them after all; dark and as quick as a minnow in the water. She was unruly, unkempt, crude, and so much like Cas that Sam almost couldn’t handle it. He was seeing his brother in Dean’s child.
He mourned for Lisa after Cas had told him the truth of that day so long ago in the snow and cold and blood. Cas had few words for the event itself, he probably had no way to describe it, his mind had been so different then; it had been the mind of an animal, not a man. Lisa had been an innocent, sweet woman caught between two opposing forces, fire and snow, and had been lost in the resulting clash. When titans battle, humans are secondary.
He wondered if he would ever be able to return home, to the village, if only to visit the Braedens, to sit them down and explain the entire story from day one. Lisa’s death was unfortunate and heartbreaking, but ultimately not by any fault of Cas’s, or Dean’s. Sam only thanked god that their child survived, so that she could be raised to live and thrive. He could only imagine how Dean would have reacted if both his wife and unborn child had died that day.
One morning, when mist still clung to the gravelly ground and the chirping of crickets filled the air Sam woke suddenly, with no reason and with no interruption. One moment he was asleep, the other awake. He sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes and he swiped a hand over his face and through his dank hair. He hadn’t had a chance to bathe since Cas had left some weeks earlier, and he was beginning to feel it. He stumbled out of the tent, taking note of Girl where she lay, curled up on Cas’s abandoned bed of furs and pillows. He walked to the water’s edge, hearing the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore cut through the almost eerie silence.
River Rock had never been this quiet. Always there had been the squealing of children and grumbling of the old and sick. Sam couldn’t hear anything save the pounding of his blood in his ears and the water against the shore. It was unnatural, and Sam swallowed, instantly on the alert. He reached the water, almost stepping directly into it. He couldn’t see anything through the fog that had gathered over the river, and he squinted out, imagining he saw shapes in the cloudy mass. He shrugged the feeling and pulled his shirt over his head. Just as soon as he took the final step forward, to step into the water he knew would be freezing, but he was resigned to it, a hand shot out from the mist and grabbed onto his shoulder, pulling him back and away from the water.
“What the hell?!” Sam shouted, staggering backward into a solid, warm figure.
“Hush! Or do you want to get us both killed?!” Gabriel hissed. Sam relaxed, but only slightly.
“Seriously though, what the hell?” Sam whispered, following Gabriel’s lead. Gabriel held a finger over his lips and beckoned him to follow. They made their way back into their tent, and Sam was relieved to see Girl still sleeping soundly in the corner.
“Okay,” Gabriel breathed, setting about the tent, gathering their strewn possessions with a feverish intensity. “Okay, Sam, this won’t make much sense now, but you gotta trust me on this. We gotta get outta here.”
“Leave? But we’ve only just arrived.”
“Please, just trust me Sam.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.” Sam groused, crossing his arms. He didn’t like being left out of the loop, like so often in his life.
“Please!” Gabriel whipped around, eyes wild and his breaths frantic. “We don’t have time for that now! We have to get out before Lucifer returns.”
“Where did he go?” Sam asked, brows furrowing in confusion. “And why does that even matter anyway?”
Gabriel growled in exasperation and stuffed the remainder of their clothing into a nearby rucksack. He slung it over his shoulder and hurried to the entrance of the tent, peering out, ever cautious, and by then Sam was beginning to feel that dread from earlier creep back up his spine.
“Get Girl,” Gabriel whispered, and this time Sam didn’t hesitate. He bent and lifted Girl up, furs and all, and she hardly even stirred. She complained drowsily, but her eyes barely flickered before she was asleep once again.
“What is going on?” Sam murmured, jostling her a little just to make sure. She didn’t wake. For a moment he was panicked, but Gabriel was quick to appease.
“Don’t worry, I can tell it’s only a spell keeping her asleep, same with everyone else in the village. I foresaw Lucifer attempting something like this and made sure to spike our drinks with go-juice before bed last night.”
“What?”
“Don’t sweat the details, just know that we’re awake and everyone else is asleep and will be for quite a while.”
“Okay, but what does Lucifer have to do with it?”
Gabriel didn’t answer, and beckoned for Sam to follow him out of the tent. They kept to the sides of dwellings, not daring to stray out in the open where they could easily be spotted. The rising sun’s rays were beginning to cut through the fog and it began to fade. Their cover would be gone in a matter of minutes.
“I began to suspect him the moment we arrived in River Rock. When I had left the first time to try and find Castiel, Lucifer had left as well, promising to return to the Empire to ‘claim what was rightfully his’ or something like that. Obviously I wasn’t expecting him back so soon, and so different.”
“He’s different?”
Gabriel coughed out what sounded like a laugh, or more like a chortle.
“Very much so. He didn’t have all those tattoos, and he certainly still had wings, last I checked.”
Sam stopped for a moment and gaped.
“But…but that wasn’t all that long ago! How could he have changed so suddenly? And for what?”
“He has tapped into powers that he has no business meddling in, that’s how.” Gabriel answered and left it at that.
They reached the opposite end of the shore, where they kept the boats, and Sam was just beginning to think that their grand escape had been far too easy. Gabriel must have felt the same; he didn’t relax till they were miles from River Rock in one of their stolen power boats. Girl was still asleep, stowed away safe in the cabin. All Sam wanted to do was sleep with her, he was tired of all the deception and lies, of half-truths and revelations and the whole thing, he was just sick and tired of it. He slumped down on the bottom of the boat and heaved a sigh, putting a hand over his face and leaving it there, even when he felt Gabriel sidle up next to him, plopping down so close that Gabriel’s elbow met painfully with Sam’s hip.
“C’mon, kiddo, cheer up.” Gabriel attempted to console him. “You found your brother, one of them anyway, who’s on his way to the Empire to get your other brother back. Piece of cake, Sam.”
“But it’s…no it’s not!” Sam growled. “Lucifer is…psychotic and just put an entire village of people to sleep, for reasons you’re not telling me. Cas is on his way to the Empire to get Dean, yes, but to the Empire; the place where everyone wants to either kill him or worship him!”
“Sam, if it helps, I couldn’t recognize him, you barely did. He doesn’t…he doesn’t have his wings anymore, he speaks well for someone who couldn’t before. He’ll be fine.”
“Why do I have a hard time believing that?”
“Sam,” Gabriel squeezed his shoulder, “he’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry I just…I can’t believe that till I see him safe and sound, with Dean.”
“Cas has no ambition, he won’t go to the Empire with grander intentions than stealing Dean back. You don’t need to worry about him.”
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EN-US;mso-fareast-language:KO;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">“I hope you’re right,” Sam sighed, pulling his hand away to look at Gabriel, at his only friend that-at least he hoped-he could trust. “I really do.”