Chapter Text
All I could remember is that we’d finally just killed Dick Roman. I must have blacked out, because my eyes were closed.
“Wake up.” Cas’ voice was commanding, but I felt relieved that he was still here with me. Hey, it was nice to have him back, okay? Nothing more than that.
I opened my eyes. We were not in the same warehouse we’d killed Dick in. We were in some dense forest in the middle of nowhere. Awesome. I sat up and looked to Cas, who was standing. My back was to him, so I stood and faced him.
“Good. We need to get out of here.” He said, and I saw the fear in his eyes. Not a lot scared Cas, so I was definitely…unnerved that he was timid about our current situation.
“Where are we?” I asked, looking around.
“You don’t know?” Cas looked at me like I was stupid. Like it was something I should already know. Jeez, I blacked out and just now woke up. Give a guy a break, Cas. I shrugged, playing it off.
“Last I remember, we ganked Dick.” Cas’ eyes widened, as if explaining all this to a two-year-old. God, what had gotten into him?
“And where would he go in death?” It took me a moment to process. Dick Roman. Leviathan. Where do all monsters go in when they bite the dust? My eyes widened at the realization. We couldn’t be. But how?
“Wait, are you telling me…”
“Every soul here is a monster.” Cas finished. That wasn’t what I was going to say, but yeah, that was true too. “This is where they come to prey upon each other for all eternity.” Cas explained, but I already knew that. There was a rustling around us in the leaves. My heart rate quickened. We were not ready for an attack by who knows what.
“We’re in Purgatory?” I said. It was more of a statement than a question. I just needed to hear it out loud. “How do we get out?” I asked. There had to be a way out, there just had to be.
“I’m afraid we’re much more likely to be ripped to shreds.” Cas assumed. I stared at him. Well, thanks for the moral support, dick-bag, I thought. We looked each other in the eyes, and he saw the fear in mine, and I saw the hopelessness in his. There was a snarl behind me, and I turned on instinct. A few sets of piercing red eyes stared back at me, growling. We have no weapons, no phones, and no means of help. We were probably going to die in this fight. Bye, Sammy, I say in my head, regardless of the fact I knew he’d never know about it. I did it every time I thought I was going to die. So what? Dude’s my little brother, so, c’mon.
“Cas, I think we better get out of here.” He nodded. And with that, we ran in a random direction, not really caring where we were going. The things behind us chased us and Cas was right behind me, so I kept running.
“Dean!” I heard the angel call my name. I turned. Shit, I thought he was right behind me! I ran back, seeing him on the ground with something that had the head and muscle strength of a gorilla and body of a wolf. It had pinned Cas down, trying to eat his face, and not in the good way. I didn’t even think about it; I just ran and pushed it with all of my weight against it, taking it down with me in my fall. It snarled and rolled over, pinning me to the ground. Cas touched its forehead, and liquefied it’s insides in the way angels do. He offered his hand, and helped me up. And we ran. We ran until our sides hurt, and we’d picked off each gorilla-wolf one by one. I rested my back against a tree and sighed in exhaustion.
“Cas, we gotta stop somewhere and rest. I’m blown out.” I tried to catch my breath. He turned to me.
“You do know there is no civilization anywhere, no motels, no bars, nothing.” He replied. “No establishment of any kind.” I groaned.
“Come on!” I yelled. Cas glared at me.
“Dean, keep your voice down. Not only are we not supposed to be here, but they are also drawn to us because of that matter.” I rolled my eyes, angry at Dick Roman for sending us to this damned place. I crossed my arms.
“Okay, well, regardless of the fact that there’s no decent place to sleep, I still need it, so… watch my back, Feathers.” I said, sitting down with my back against the trunk of the tree. I closed my eyes, but tired as I was, my brain would not let me get some nice shut-eye. I huffed in frustration, turning to the side. I heard footsteps and my eyes flew open. Cas had walked over and squatted in front of me. He pressed two fingers to my forehead. And just before I fell asleep from Cas’ angel mojo-powers, I heard him speak softly to only me:
“Sleep well, Dean. I’ll be here when you wake.” It was darkness from there.
“Dean, wake up.” Cas shook me awake.
“What Cas? What’s up?” I rubbed my eyes and saw them. Two vamps running towards us. They were a distance away, but still. We needed to go. “Okay, Cas, c’mon. Let’s get out of here. Now.” I stood and ran with Cas at my side. But they were catching up. We needed weapons. A chance to fight. Luckily, the vamps did have weapons. It was a sharpened, curved, flat rock attached to a sturdy branch for a handle. Great. This was going to be real fun. I ducked behind a tree and waited. Soon enough, they ran past, and I hit one square in the chest, knocking him down. More importantly, he dropped the weapon he was holding. I grabbed it and hopped on top of him, cutting off his head with one clean swipe. I’ll say this for the blade; it may not be what I’m used to, but it’s effective. And it’s a hell of a lot better than nothing. Cas angel-fried the other vamp, and we were on our way. We only had the one weapon, but it was enough. Cas didn’t really need one, and it was just dead weight otherwise.
We wandered around for many days, staying close to the stream we’d found for water. Cas and I’d fought off everything that had the nerve to try and kill us, which was everything. Days without sleep were more often than not, but luckily, Cas didn’t need to, so I was the only one who ever needed cover for an hour or two of sleep. Things were hard enough already. Cas watched me while I slept, and hunted with me by day. Thank God he didn’t need to sleep, though.
We never stayed in the same place. We were constantly on the move, and always fighting. It seemed like every time we turned our backs, something was right behind, ready to kill us. We never stopped. We killed everything that came near us; vamps, werewolves, shifters, you name it. Had yet to see a ghost or a tulpa or anything like that, though. Nights were cold and days were hot. The smell was intoxicating. It was really nothing except a large expanse of dense forestry for as far as we’d travelled. Days turned into weeks, weeks actually turned into a month, and we had barely talked. We may not have spoken much, but we were closer than ever. I grew to need Cas more and more each and every day.
One day, Cas and I had had our hands extra full of monsters. We had been running for hours, and on a good day we’d see a minimum of five monsters, but a normal day was about ten or fifteen. Today, we’d had twenty eight. Not that anyone’s keeping score or anything. Cas was tired, even for an angel. He’d gotten a few hits that were bad for anyone, including someone like him. He had laid down on the ground and agreed to take watch while I slept, as always. I rested on the ground next to Cas. I watched him; his back was to me. I hated to say it, but I worried for the guy. Yeah, I know how it sounds, but somehow he’d been healing himself. He was growing back into himself again and not the spacey, always-out-of-it bastard he’d been for months before we ganked Dick Roman. I was glad to have him back, despite what he’d pulled in the past. He was more than family; he was something else. I don’t know. He’s close to me and I’m just glad he’s getting back to normal, okay?
“Cas, you okay?” I asked quietly. He rolled over and looked at me.
“I’m perfectly fine, Dean.” His blue eyes watched me. I nodded. I closed my own eyes and tried not to shiver. Damn it was so cold. Cas rustled next to me, and I felt something on top of me. I opened my eyes. Cas had placed his signature trench coat on top of us like a blanket. I smiled a little to myself.
“Thanks Cas.” I whispered. His back was to me again.
“Dean, you know, if you want the maximum amount of warmth, you and I will need to move closer for your body heat to reflect off of my vessel.” He said. It took my mind a second to process what he’d just said. He wanted us to get closer. The closer we were, the warmer we’d be. I would have come up with some snarky remark and not done it had it been on any other occasion and it wasn’t so damn cold. I scooted closer so that we were clearly not touching, but less than a half a foot from each other.
But then Cas caught me truly by surprise when he whispered so soft even from my close range I could barely hear the angel;
“Closer, Dean.” Now, I’m not the cuddling kind of guy. But, come on, this was Cas. The guy had this certain appeal to him. Maybe it was the way he walked. Maybe it was his so-oblivious-it’s-funny-to-everyone-else kind of nature. Maybe it was the way he understood the issues I had with my father because him and his Father weren’t exactly smooth either. Maybe it was the way his voice was so deep. Maybe it was the way he had with his word choice. Maybe it was the way his hair always looked like he’d just had hot sex, all the time. Maybe it was the way his eyes were so goddamned blue. I don’t know what it was, but I liked him. Granted, I’d never say it anywhere but in my head (on less than occasion); but, he was attractive to me. He was my best friend and right now, everything I had. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be his.
So after checking to see if there was nothing coming, I scooted closer, putting my left arm around his mid-section and my right came under his neck and curled around so that I held his forehead in my palm. I pulled him closer with my left. Okay, so I was spooning Cas. Big friggin deal. I leaned my lips close to his ear.
“Okay, Cas.” I murmured gently. With my left hand, I brush his soft dark hair using my fingertips. I rested my head just behind his, the bridge of my nose fitting perfectly to the curve of his head. Cas intertwined his left hand fingers with my own.
“Dean.” Cas called quietly. I closed my eyes.
“Yeah, Cas?”
“I won’t tell anyone about this if you promise me something. Promise we’ll do this again?” I chuckled.
“If you told anyone, I’d end you.” I joked. “But yeah, if no one finds out, we can do this more often. Do you like being my personal heating pad?” Cas and I both laughed lightly.
“I suppose you could say that, Dean.” I don’t know why I did it-but I leaned forward and kissed him gently on the forehead. And then I nuzzled his hair. God, it was so soft. Softer than, well…an angel’s wings probably. Maybe I’d ask him about that later, I thought.
“Good night, Cas.” I whispered.
“Good night, Dean.” That was the best night I’d ever had. Literally, ever. I fell asleep into peaceful dreams for the first time in years. I think Cas had something to do with that, but I didn’t ask. I was grateful either way.