Ice of Oblivion Chapter 14
Title: Ice of Oblivion Chapter 14/24
Author: zoomzoomzoomzoo
Fandom/Genre: SPN AU Romance, Drama, Action
Pairing (s): Dean/Castiel
Rating: T
Word Count: ~82,000
Warnings: Underage, Mild Sexual Situation, Violence
Summary: AU. In a time of great tragedy in the lands of Mamot, the human race and the angel race are forced to form an unbreakable union that will bind them together for twenty seven lifetimes in order to stop the uprising of the demon race. In bargain they offer Castiel, one of the most powerful angels in the entire world to marry Dean Winchester, the young crown prince of the human world. The typically detached Castiel winds up falling in love with the Prince. The only problem is his brothers don’t expect Dean to live through the war. Will Castiel stay and support the man he loves despite the heartbreak that might accompany his passing or will he fall back in line with his brothers, becoming numb to all human emotions once more?
Chapter 14
Finding Dean’s location was not as difficult as Castiel thought it would be. In fact, it was significantly easier. The thing that was not easy was getting there. Having to walk through wooded areas and push through trees with long willowy branches was annoying enough. But having the constant complaining from Jo and Luke made the entire trip more irritating than ever.
Something’s biting me
Who the hell planted all these trees
My hair is going to be a mess once we get out of here
I’m going to kill Dean when I find his ass
I’m so tired
It was confusing that they had so many complaints when it was Castiel, Anna, Raphael and Lucas who were forced to walk while they used their poor horses for two days worth of legwork. Not to mention that after the sun goes down they usually get their tents out and go to sleep while the angels tend to the horses and scout for any dangers - both have gotten significantly harder with the alarming dip in their energy.
But, Castiel did find other things to occupy his time. He brought along his letters from Dean and he kept them in a sack on Dean’s currently master-less horse, Impala. He spent the entire two day journey reading and rereading letter after letter until he knew everything about Dean from the past ten years. He knew about all of his escapades and shenanigans, he knew about all of his grief and heartbreaks and he knew about joys. He knew that Dean missed him and expected him to come back and by the end of that particular letter Castiel knew he missed Dean and wished he actually had gone back.
As long as Castiel went not seeing Dean the more he wanted to punish himself for abandoning Dean like he did.
Fortunately, the trip was not long and before anyone knew it Castiel could sense Dean’s presence less than a mile away.
Less than a mile away however, they all saw the alarming structure that was Iad’s fortress through the trees. It was a giant of a structure; gray and tall, it dwarfed all of the forest area and every other structure around it. As they pressed on closer, Castiel could see human faced demons parading around on the castle walls, all of them armed and prepared.
When the angels saw this Castiel could feel their fear peak to an alarming rate, but they said nothing. Castiel was the leader of this crew after all; their opinions were not warranted.
When the humans saw this, however, the first words that Castiel heard from them was: “How the hell…”
Jo did not finish her statement but Castiel could fill in the blanks: “How the hell were we supposed to get through that?”
And he honestly did not know so he stopped moving and just stared, everyone else followed suit.
“So, what’s the plan boss?” Luke asked after Castiel was silent for a long time.
Castiel scowled at the obese structure as if it was their enemy. “I’m not sure.”
He could hear their eyes widening behind him; but he didn’t turn around to confirm it. “You don’t know?” Jo asked, her voice quivering.
He understood their worry; he was supposed to be the leader but he was never used to leading. He could come up with plans as good as anyone but actually taking the reins and manning the ship all by himself was exhausting; especially when everyone turned to you to make difficult decisions.
Castiel sucked in his lips and with one last look at the fortress, he turned around to his party. Being proactive was the best policy in this situation! “Does anyone have any suggestions?”
Everyone, even the angels, looked at Castiel with dull expressions but Castiel pressed on with a light smile on his face. “Come on, the floor is yours,” He encouraged.
The groups of six all looked at each other expectantly and after a while they all dropped their eyes in defeat. Everyone except for the one out of the six that Castiel most admired, Trent; his eyes were gleaming like he was actually thinking up a solution. After a while of waiting, Castiel nodded grudgingly and turned around again.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to improvise.”
“Wait!” It was Jo. “Trent thought of something.”
Castiel smiled inwardly and released a soft sigh of relief. He was actually starting to get worried for a second there. “What is it?”
Trent began to move his hands in signs and movements that Castiel understood to be sign-language. But, instead of focusing on the hand movements, he focused on Jo - who was interpreting it for everyone else to understand.
“The castle walls are manned by guards but it’s always the guard count is always light on the sides. If we take try to get in on the sides of the castle we can avoid a lot of the demons. But, we have to be quiet.”
The angels made a sound of approval and Luke slapped Trent on the back. Good, so they had a plan.
After tying their horses to trees they all went west in the forest until, as far as they could tell, they were on the east side of the castle walls. It was sparsely inhabited; only seven demons or so manned the gates. It was a good ratio and if they had the time they could all take one. But, time was not on their sides and there were too many demons on the other sides of the walls who could easily hear them fighting.
Castiel looked at the humans expectantly; they had some kind of silent killer type of device. He’d read about it; it was called Rifle and he could recognize the distinct shapes on his back. They got his message quickly and, still in the trees where no one could see them they moved up and aimed.
He watched mesmerized as the seven heads of the demons on top of the building blew into a mess of blood and their bodies dropped to the ground with low crunches. Having not been around a gun in years, Castiel was a little shocked with the initial shots and how quiet they were.
When no demons came rushing out from any other direction, they knew they were in the clear and they all ran out from the woods and only stopped when they reached the tall walls. Everyone felt around them to see whether or not there were any easy openings or trap doors but there was nothing and the walls were thick.
“Castiel, do something,” Luke whispered harshly.
He nodded and took a few steps away from the wall; he knew there was something he could do despite the plunge in his energy. He focused all of his attention on the wall and raised his hand up slowly still focusing with all his might. Then, with one crunch of his hands a small portion of the wall collapsed down into itself and fell to the ground.
He looked at everyone with a triumphant smile on his face and then proceeded to walk into his small hole; inside the walls there was still a ways to go before they reached the actual castle where they were keeping Dean. Everyone else followed him into the wall and collectively groaned when they saw how much farther they would have to go to get to the castle.
“Let’s move,” Castiel said affirmatively and then he started walking slowly in the direction of the castle.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A sharp voice from down the green pastures asked.
At the end of the wall, near the front gate, there were swarms of demons staring down at them. Castiel could feel the collective power radiating off of them; they were in trouble. The humans all raised their guns and pointed them at the demons; none of them showing the fear that was obviously in their hearts. The angels, on the other hand, had no problem expressing their fear and though they went immediately on the defensive, their eyes were wide and Castiel could feel the little bit of energy that they had skyrocketing in worry.
“Castiel…” Anna said, alerting his attention back to the situation at hand.
He inhaled sharply and then waved his hand at the people at the back of him. “Run,” He whispered.
Everyone seemed to hear him and they wasted no time turning around and running in the direction of the castle. The demons were chasing after them as well, but they had the power of the “head start” on their hands and they made it to a window of the castle quickly.
Luke turned the butt of his gun and slammed it through the window expertly before climbing through. Just when everyone else was about to follow, they heard a painfully loud screech coming from the air, followed by a inhuman scream.
“Ahhhhhh….”
Castiel’s eyes darted to the sky and he released a low exhale when he saw it.
It was a lizard-like creature - green scaled skin, large black beady eyes, claws so long that they bent into themselves, and a tail so thick that it merged effortlessly with the rest of the body - except this one was big and it had wings that stuck out of its back like extra hands. It cast a shadow over every person underneath it as it flew by them.
It landed on the castle walls gracefully and stared at the intruders. Castiel froze and gawked at the creature; in all his years on this planet he never saw anything like it. It was magnificent, the final evolutionary partner of the domestic lizard. He felt someone tugging at his sleeve, but he barely moved. He was enamored; how did demons ever go about discovering such a creature.
Just then, the creature shrieked and started to fly toward them fury and evil in its eyes. Castiel quickly leaped through the window with the rest of his party; they all looked at him a little annoyed but Castiel barely cared since he could feel Dean stronger than ever.
“He’s in here, for sure.”
They were inside of a bleak sort of kitchen-room; there were discarded pots and pans as well as broiling meats with blood covered carcases littered beside them. Castiel grimaced and turned toward his crew.
“Are we all ready?”
They nodded as they took out their guns and knives, Castiel took out his own and nodded back at them before bouding toward the door. As soon as they opened it, there were six demons standing there ready to strike. The humans shot them down and then they running.
The demons seemed to pop up out of nowhere, Castiel could barely stab one without three more coming up out of nowhere ready to fight.
A baled haired demon jumped up from behind a wall, throwing his body into Castiel’s and toppling them both over. Castiel’s knife flew out of his hand, skidding across the floor under the feet of his fighting team and the demons who engaged them in the conflict.
He groaned brokenly as the demon sent one punishing punch to his gut after another; he released exhale after broken exhale as he struggled to push the demon off of him. It wrapped his hands around Castiel’s neck and squeezed tight, repeatedly banging Castiel’s head on the stone floors.
Even in his disorientation, Castiel knew that there was something he could do. He only briefly studied fighting mechanisms for disputes with demons but he could remember one lesson in particular that involved banishing a demon from itself. It was strange but his only hope with the demon overpowering him.
Castiel raised his arm and wrapped it around the demon’s throat- the demon didn’t even fight with him because of how weak his grip was- and chanted out the one phrase that was apparently supposed to make a difference.
“Ja vas protjerati.”
The demon’s neck snapped up so quickly that Castiel thought he’d broken his neck and then all at once its beady black eyes widened and its mouth opened inhumanly wide. Castiel crawled backwards from underneath the demon and watched with wide eyes as the faintest fog of dark smoke seethed out of every pore on his face.
The demon lowered its head slowly, its eyes still wide and afraid, and looked at Castiel as if he expected him to go off into some kind of long stagnant speech about exactly what he just did to him. Unfortunately for him, Castiel didn’t even know.
The smoke coming from its face continued to pour out until it resembled a recently put out camp fire and then, the demon released an inhuman shriek and the smoke centered on his eyelids and mouth, shooting out into the ceiling and disappearing forever. The demon’s body collapsed with skin as white as a corpse and Castiel almost applauded himself, before he realized he was still in the middle of a battle and he needed to get his knife rather than risk an energy drain like that again.
Except, there were no demons moving anymore; they all stared at Castiel and their party with wide eyes and slack jaws. This would be an extreme advantage if his teammates weren’t doing the same thing. Castiel pursed his lips and gave his crew a slightly miffed look; they all seemed to catch on before the demons snapped out of their stupor and started shooting and stabbing them. They managed to subdue most of the demons; the rest fled.
“Well, that takes care of that,” Luke murmured as he moved closer to Castiel; he handed him his recently disposed of knife after wiping it off on his shirt.
“Thank you,” Castiel said, taking the knife and pointing it downward. He was not going to put it away again and risk putting himself in the position of having to do what he just did again.
“Dude, what did you just do?” Jo asked him suddenly.
Castiel stared blankly at the ground; he didn’t have a firm grasp on it himself. The lesson he thought he learned it in turned out to be a false memory when he tried to think back on it. In actuality, it was his brother, Gabriel, who taught him about it and assured him it would work. Castiel believed him of course but never tried it until that very moment. Glancing at the ceiling of chamber, Castiel sighed.
“I’m not sure.”
Jo was about to press him further when she interrupted by the wary voice of Anna.
“Can we please focus on task at hand; those demons who fled will be back with more in seconds.”
“Not to mention we have a monster outside who looks like it wants to eat us,” Raphael stated indignantly.
Castiel nodded. “They’re right; I can’t feel Dean as strongly anymore.” He hadn’t noticed it until after the fighting died down but Dean’s energy and warmth were not as strong as it was when Castiel first laid eyes on the castle. He initially thought all of the added stress and distractions was the cause but that proved futile when the room was empty and there was nothing else to focus on but Dean. It unnerved him; they were running out of time.
“Does that mean he’s not here?” Lucas asked.
“No,” Castiel stated. “It just means he’s losing life energy fast and if we expect to bring him home alive we’re going to have to get… a ‘move-on’”
The humans were once again vigilant as they scanned their surroundings. The room they currently inhabited was a dining room of sorts - believable because of its location next to the kitchen- there were various small tables scattered everywhere rather than one long table that was a custom in Inim and Himmel. Above the smell of blood and gunpowder, the faint scent of rotted meat and ale reached Castiel nose from the various leftovers on all of the tables. There were tattered napkins akin with finger prints and bloodstains all over the floors and tables, a dead flame in a large fireplace in need of cleaning and the chairs and tables toppled over rolling around or merely shaking - Castiel will admit that that the last part may have been more their fault than the demons.
The dining room was fit for savages, which is exactly what demons were. There were doors on either side of them; there was no way of telling which lead them where, not that it really mattered because the group had no idea where they were truly going.
“Usually big castle’s like this keep their prisoners in the dungeons located underground, like in the Winchester castle and even in Himmel’s.” Jo repeated slowly while trying to keep up with the hand movements of Trent.
Castiel nodded; it was the best start after all. He randomly choose a door that looked like it might be the right way and the group followed; as soon as his hand touched the door knob though, they all heard:
“Stop!”
Castiel didn’t recognize the voice, but the others in the group all started running in the direction of the scream. He assumed it was Dean and noted, with a bizarre and inappropriate bit of delight, that Dean’s voice really sounded like an adults. Their trek brought them in contact with many demons, but Castiel told everyone to keep going and only shoot those who were in their way. Before he knew it, they were coming across a high staircase except for a deep dark dungeon.
Demons always liked to do things backwards he supposed.
“He’s up there,” Luke suggested as screaming demons started to pile up behind them. He bit his bottom lip and started to push Castiel towards the stairs. “You go; we’ll handle it down here. Just get Dean!”
Castiel felt kind of bad for leaving all of them to fend for themselves but at the same time felt a sick sort of satisfaction at being the one who would rescue Dean. He nodded at Luke and started to bind his way up the stairs.
Now call Castiel sap but he’d read a lot of books in his day and that included, unfortunately, fairytales. Where intelligent children somehow outsmart every living adult in their lives, where houses are made of candy or when princes kiss their sleeping brides without one grimace at morning halitosis or one intolerable roll of the eye when they see their bed hair. They were all implausible but Castiel could not help but note the similarities in his current situation and one in a fairytale.
A determined prince with a sword clasped in his hands marching up an endless staircase to meet his beloved. When he makes it, the one he loves the most will be sitting or lying down timidly waiting for their prince not a stretch on them and a smile outstretched on their face. The lovers throw themselves into each other’s arms and kiss like they haven’t seen each other in ten years, pronounce their love for each other and live happily ever after as soon as the prince slays the dragon and frees all of her animal friends.
It was a stretch but Castiel definitely hoped for at least some of his twisted fantasy to be true, if only to ease his ailing mind.
As soon as Castiel made it up the staircase the first thing he saw was a hunched over figure who he instantly knew was Dean. He was about to call out his name when two long arms snaked their way around Dean’s shoulders and clutched his hands into his own; he guided them into the air and that’s when Castiel saw it, a faint gleam, but a gleam nonetheless, of a dirtied knife.
“No!”
The demon plunged the knife into Dean’s unguarded stomach with Dean’s own hands and all Castiel could do was watch as his love crumbled to the ground.
Next
Author: zoomzoomzoomzoo
Fandom/Genre: SPN AU Romance, Drama, Action
Pairing (s): Dean/Castiel
Rating: T
Word Count: ~82,000
Warnings: Underage, Mild Sexual Situation, Violence
Summary: AU. In a time of great tragedy in the lands of Mamot, the human race and the angel race are forced to form an unbreakable union that will bind them together for twenty seven lifetimes in order to stop the uprising of the demon race. In bargain they offer Castiel, one of the most powerful angels in the entire world to marry Dean Winchester, the young crown prince of the human world. The typically detached Castiel winds up falling in love with the Prince. The only problem is his brothers don’t expect Dean to live through the war. Will Castiel stay and support the man he loves despite the heartbreak that might accompany his passing or will he fall back in line with his brothers, becoming numb to all human emotions once more?
Chapter 14
Finding Dean’s location was not as difficult as Castiel thought it would be. In fact, it was significantly easier. The thing that was not easy was getting there. Having to walk through wooded areas and push through trees with long willowy branches was annoying enough. But having the constant complaining from Jo and Luke made the entire trip more irritating than ever.
Something’s biting me
Who the hell planted all these trees
My hair is going to be a mess once we get out of here
I’m going to kill Dean when I find his ass
I’m so tired
It was confusing that they had so many complaints when it was Castiel, Anna, Raphael and Lucas who were forced to walk while they used their poor horses for two days worth of legwork. Not to mention that after the sun goes down they usually get their tents out and go to sleep while the angels tend to the horses and scout for any dangers - both have gotten significantly harder with the alarming dip in their energy.
But, Castiel did find other things to occupy his time. He brought along his letters from Dean and he kept them in a sack on Dean’s currently master-less horse, Impala. He spent the entire two day journey reading and rereading letter after letter until he knew everything about Dean from the past ten years. He knew about all of his escapades and shenanigans, he knew about all of his grief and heartbreaks and he knew about joys. He knew that Dean missed him and expected him to come back and by the end of that particular letter Castiel knew he missed Dean and wished he actually had gone back.
As long as Castiel went not seeing Dean the more he wanted to punish himself for abandoning Dean like he did.
Fortunately, the trip was not long and before anyone knew it Castiel could sense Dean’s presence less than a mile away.
Less than a mile away however, they all saw the alarming structure that was Iad’s fortress through the trees. It was a giant of a structure; gray and tall, it dwarfed all of the forest area and every other structure around it. As they pressed on closer, Castiel could see human faced demons parading around on the castle walls, all of them armed and prepared.
When the angels saw this Castiel could feel their fear peak to an alarming rate, but they said nothing. Castiel was the leader of this crew after all; their opinions were not warranted.
When the humans saw this, however, the first words that Castiel heard from them was: “How the hell…”
Jo did not finish her statement but Castiel could fill in the blanks: “How the hell were we supposed to get through that?”
And he honestly did not know so he stopped moving and just stared, everyone else followed suit.
“So, what’s the plan boss?” Luke asked after Castiel was silent for a long time.
Castiel scowled at the obese structure as if it was their enemy. “I’m not sure.”
He could hear their eyes widening behind him; but he didn’t turn around to confirm it. “You don’t know?” Jo asked, her voice quivering.
He understood their worry; he was supposed to be the leader but he was never used to leading. He could come up with plans as good as anyone but actually taking the reins and manning the ship all by himself was exhausting; especially when everyone turned to you to make difficult decisions.
Castiel sucked in his lips and with one last look at the fortress, he turned around to his party. Being proactive was the best policy in this situation! “Does anyone have any suggestions?”
Everyone, even the angels, looked at Castiel with dull expressions but Castiel pressed on with a light smile on his face. “Come on, the floor is yours,” He encouraged.
The groups of six all looked at each other expectantly and after a while they all dropped their eyes in defeat. Everyone except for the one out of the six that Castiel most admired, Trent; his eyes were gleaming like he was actually thinking up a solution. After a while of waiting, Castiel nodded grudgingly and turned around again.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to improvise.”
“Wait!” It was Jo. “Trent thought of something.”
Castiel smiled inwardly and released a soft sigh of relief. He was actually starting to get worried for a second there. “What is it?”
Trent began to move his hands in signs and movements that Castiel understood to be sign-language. But, instead of focusing on the hand movements, he focused on Jo - who was interpreting it for everyone else to understand.
“The castle walls are manned by guards but it’s always the guard count is always light on the sides. If we take try to get in on the sides of the castle we can avoid a lot of the demons. But, we have to be quiet.”
The angels made a sound of approval and Luke slapped Trent on the back. Good, so they had a plan.
After tying their horses to trees they all went west in the forest until, as far as they could tell, they were on the east side of the castle walls. It was sparsely inhabited; only seven demons or so manned the gates. It was a good ratio and if they had the time they could all take one. But, time was not on their sides and there were too many demons on the other sides of the walls who could easily hear them fighting.
Castiel looked at the humans expectantly; they had some kind of silent killer type of device. He’d read about it; it was called Rifle and he could recognize the distinct shapes on his back. They got his message quickly and, still in the trees where no one could see them they moved up and aimed.
He watched mesmerized as the seven heads of the demons on top of the building blew into a mess of blood and their bodies dropped to the ground with low crunches. Having not been around a gun in years, Castiel was a little shocked with the initial shots and how quiet they were.
When no demons came rushing out from any other direction, they knew they were in the clear and they all ran out from the woods and only stopped when they reached the tall walls. Everyone felt around them to see whether or not there were any easy openings or trap doors but there was nothing and the walls were thick.
“Castiel, do something,” Luke whispered harshly.
He nodded and took a few steps away from the wall; he knew there was something he could do despite the plunge in his energy. He focused all of his attention on the wall and raised his hand up slowly still focusing with all his might. Then, with one crunch of his hands a small portion of the wall collapsed down into itself and fell to the ground.
He looked at everyone with a triumphant smile on his face and then proceeded to walk into his small hole; inside the walls there was still a ways to go before they reached the actual castle where they were keeping Dean. Everyone else followed him into the wall and collectively groaned when they saw how much farther they would have to go to get to the castle.
“Let’s move,” Castiel said affirmatively and then he started walking slowly in the direction of the castle.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A sharp voice from down the green pastures asked.
At the end of the wall, near the front gate, there were swarms of demons staring down at them. Castiel could feel the collective power radiating off of them; they were in trouble. The humans all raised their guns and pointed them at the demons; none of them showing the fear that was obviously in their hearts. The angels, on the other hand, had no problem expressing their fear and though they went immediately on the defensive, their eyes were wide and Castiel could feel the little bit of energy that they had skyrocketing in worry.
“Castiel…” Anna said, alerting his attention back to the situation at hand.
He inhaled sharply and then waved his hand at the people at the back of him. “Run,” He whispered.
Everyone seemed to hear him and they wasted no time turning around and running in the direction of the castle. The demons were chasing after them as well, but they had the power of the “head start” on their hands and they made it to a window of the castle quickly.
Luke turned the butt of his gun and slammed it through the window expertly before climbing through. Just when everyone else was about to follow, they heard a painfully loud screech coming from the air, followed by a inhuman scream.
“Ahhhhhh….”
Castiel’s eyes darted to the sky and he released a low exhale when he saw it.
It was a lizard-like creature - green scaled skin, large black beady eyes, claws so long that they bent into themselves, and a tail so thick that it merged effortlessly with the rest of the body - except this one was big and it had wings that stuck out of its back like extra hands. It cast a shadow over every person underneath it as it flew by them.
It landed on the castle walls gracefully and stared at the intruders. Castiel froze and gawked at the creature; in all his years on this planet he never saw anything like it. It was magnificent, the final evolutionary partner of the domestic lizard. He felt someone tugging at his sleeve, but he barely moved. He was enamored; how did demons ever go about discovering such a creature.
Just then, the creature shrieked and started to fly toward them fury and evil in its eyes. Castiel quickly leaped through the window with the rest of his party; they all looked at him a little annoyed but Castiel barely cared since he could feel Dean stronger than ever.
“He’s in here, for sure.”
They were inside of a bleak sort of kitchen-room; there were discarded pots and pans as well as broiling meats with blood covered carcases littered beside them. Castiel grimaced and turned toward his crew.
“Are we all ready?”
They nodded as they took out their guns and knives, Castiel took out his own and nodded back at them before bouding toward the door. As soon as they opened it, there were six demons standing there ready to strike. The humans shot them down and then they running.
The demons seemed to pop up out of nowhere, Castiel could barely stab one without three more coming up out of nowhere ready to fight.
A baled haired demon jumped up from behind a wall, throwing his body into Castiel’s and toppling them both over. Castiel’s knife flew out of his hand, skidding across the floor under the feet of his fighting team and the demons who engaged them in the conflict.
He groaned brokenly as the demon sent one punishing punch to his gut after another; he released exhale after broken exhale as he struggled to push the demon off of him. It wrapped his hands around Castiel’s neck and squeezed tight, repeatedly banging Castiel’s head on the stone floors.
Even in his disorientation, Castiel knew that there was something he could do. He only briefly studied fighting mechanisms for disputes with demons but he could remember one lesson in particular that involved banishing a demon from itself. It was strange but his only hope with the demon overpowering him.
Castiel raised his arm and wrapped it around the demon’s throat- the demon didn’t even fight with him because of how weak his grip was- and chanted out the one phrase that was apparently supposed to make a difference.
“Ja vas protjerati.”
The demon’s neck snapped up so quickly that Castiel thought he’d broken his neck and then all at once its beady black eyes widened and its mouth opened inhumanly wide. Castiel crawled backwards from underneath the demon and watched with wide eyes as the faintest fog of dark smoke seethed out of every pore on his face.
The demon lowered its head slowly, its eyes still wide and afraid, and looked at Castiel as if he expected him to go off into some kind of long stagnant speech about exactly what he just did to him. Unfortunately for him, Castiel didn’t even know.
The smoke coming from its face continued to pour out until it resembled a recently put out camp fire and then, the demon released an inhuman shriek and the smoke centered on his eyelids and mouth, shooting out into the ceiling and disappearing forever. The demon’s body collapsed with skin as white as a corpse and Castiel almost applauded himself, before he realized he was still in the middle of a battle and he needed to get his knife rather than risk an energy drain like that again.
Except, there were no demons moving anymore; they all stared at Castiel and their party with wide eyes and slack jaws. This would be an extreme advantage if his teammates weren’t doing the same thing. Castiel pursed his lips and gave his crew a slightly miffed look; they all seemed to catch on before the demons snapped out of their stupor and started shooting and stabbing them. They managed to subdue most of the demons; the rest fled.
“Well, that takes care of that,” Luke murmured as he moved closer to Castiel; he handed him his recently disposed of knife after wiping it off on his shirt.
“Thank you,” Castiel said, taking the knife and pointing it downward. He was not going to put it away again and risk putting himself in the position of having to do what he just did again.
“Dude, what did you just do?” Jo asked him suddenly.
Castiel stared blankly at the ground; he didn’t have a firm grasp on it himself. The lesson he thought he learned it in turned out to be a false memory when he tried to think back on it. In actuality, it was his brother, Gabriel, who taught him about it and assured him it would work. Castiel believed him of course but never tried it until that very moment. Glancing at the ceiling of chamber, Castiel sighed.
“I’m not sure.”
Jo was about to press him further when she interrupted by the wary voice of Anna.
“Can we please focus on task at hand; those demons who fled will be back with more in seconds.”
“Not to mention we have a monster outside who looks like it wants to eat us,” Raphael stated indignantly.
Castiel nodded. “They’re right; I can’t feel Dean as strongly anymore.” He hadn’t noticed it until after the fighting died down but Dean’s energy and warmth were not as strong as it was when Castiel first laid eyes on the castle. He initially thought all of the added stress and distractions was the cause but that proved futile when the room was empty and there was nothing else to focus on but Dean. It unnerved him; they were running out of time.
“Does that mean he’s not here?” Lucas asked.
“No,” Castiel stated. “It just means he’s losing life energy fast and if we expect to bring him home alive we’re going to have to get… a ‘move-on’”
The humans were once again vigilant as they scanned their surroundings. The room they currently inhabited was a dining room of sorts - believable because of its location next to the kitchen- there were various small tables scattered everywhere rather than one long table that was a custom in Inim and Himmel. Above the smell of blood and gunpowder, the faint scent of rotted meat and ale reached Castiel nose from the various leftovers on all of the tables. There were tattered napkins akin with finger prints and bloodstains all over the floors and tables, a dead flame in a large fireplace in need of cleaning and the chairs and tables toppled over rolling around or merely shaking - Castiel will admit that that the last part may have been more their fault than the demons.
The dining room was fit for savages, which is exactly what demons were. There were doors on either side of them; there was no way of telling which lead them where, not that it really mattered because the group had no idea where they were truly going.
“Usually big castle’s like this keep their prisoners in the dungeons located underground, like in the Winchester castle and even in Himmel’s.” Jo repeated slowly while trying to keep up with the hand movements of Trent.
Castiel nodded; it was the best start after all. He randomly choose a door that looked like it might be the right way and the group followed; as soon as his hand touched the door knob though, they all heard:
“Stop!”
Castiel didn’t recognize the voice, but the others in the group all started running in the direction of the scream. He assumed it was Dean and noted, with a bizarre and inappropriate bit of delight, that Dean’s voice really sounded like an adults. Their trek brought them in contact with many demons, but Castiel told everyone to keep going and only shoot those who were in their way. Before he knew it, they were coming across a high staircase except for a deep dark dungeon.
Demons always liked to do things backwards he supposed.
“He’s up there,” Luke suggested as screaming demons started to pile up behind them. He bit his bottom lip and started to push Castiel towards the stairs. “You go; we’ll handle it down here. Just get Dean!”
Castiel felt kind of bad for leaving all of them to fend for themselves but at the same time felt a sick sort of satisfaction at being the one who would rescue Dean. He nodded at Luke and started to bind his way up the stairs.
Now call Castiel sap but he’d read a lot of books in his day and that included, unfortunately, fairytales. Where intelligent children somehow outsmart every living adult in their lives, where houses are made of candy or when princes kiss their sleeping brides without one grimace at morning halitosis or one intolerable roll of the eye when they see their bed hair. They were all implausible but Castiel could not help but note the similarities in his current situation and one in a fairytale.
A determined prince with a sword clasped in his hands marching up an endless staircase to meet his beloved. When he makes it, the one he loves the most will be sitting or lying down timidly waiting for their prince not a stretch on them and a smile outstretched on their face. The lovers throw themselves into each other’s arms and kiss like they haven’t seen each other in ten years, pronounce their love for each other and live happily ever after as soon as the prince slays the dragon and frees all of her animal friends.
It was a stretch but Castiel definitely hoped for at least some of his twisted fantasy to be true, if only to ease his ailing mind.
As soon as Castiel made it up the staircase the first thing he saw was a hunched over figure who he instantly knew was Dean. He was about to call out his name when two long arms snaked their way around Dean’s shoulders and clutched his hands into his own; he guided them into the air and that’s when Castiel saw it, a faint gleam, but a gleam nonetheless, of a dirtied knife.
“No!”
The demon plunged the knife into Dean’s unguarded stomach with Dean’s own hands and all Castiel could do was watch as his love crumbled to the ground.
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