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Dean watched Castiel out of the corner of his eye. Castiel's brow was furrowed as he examined the Starbucks Frappuccino in front of him. "Is this really coffee, Dean? Why did Sam order me this?" Castiel tongue hesitantly sampled the whipped cream on top, and he grimaced.
Dean smiled, "Molecules too much for you, buddy? Sam thinks I'm a bad influence, and that you should broaden your horizons."
Castiel looked longingly at Dean's plain cup of coffee. "I rather just have coffee."
Sam arrived back at the table carrying his tablet. "So, get this, multiple people have reported seeing a fiery red bull outside of Bremerton, Washington. It appears seemingly as if it's searching for something and disappears into the mists."
Dean frowned. They had just finished up a case in Oregon, and he was looking forward to going home to his memory foam mattress. He quipped dryly, "Ok, to Washington. Red bull -- it's supposed to give you wings."
A pained expression flitted across Castiel's face for a moment, before his stoic mask reappeared. He pushed his coffee in Sam's direction. He said, "I'll meet you back at the hotel. I’m going for a walk."
Dean sighed as his eyes followed Castiel as he strode out of Starbucks. "Sam, how do I always put my foot in my mouth?"
Sam snorted, "Years of practice? He knows you weren't screwing with him. Wings are just a sensitive subject. Cas is a big boy. He'll be fine."
"Will he?"
"You could tell him how you feel," Sam said carefully.
Dean glared at him. "No chick-flick moments."
"Did you ever think the reason we meet so many iterations of Cas is because the universe, Chuck, something, is trying to tell you something? Dean. Did you ever think just to listen? You're not fooling me. You're only fooling yourself and confusing Cas."
"We are not talking about this." Dean stood up abruptly and headed towards the door. As he pulled the door open, the familiar wave of nausea and dizziness struck him as he collapsed to his knees. He muttered, "Son of a bitch." As his vision cleared, he could see he and Sam were in a grassy field surrounded by trees. A path led deeper into the woods.
Sam stood up slowly. "This is different, Dean. I still have my tablet, no connection. But we're still in our clothes and I still got my weapons." In their previous travels, they always appeared in the garb for that reality.
"Why does this keep happening?" Dean kicked at the ground angrily.
"Mature, Dean. Let's go figure out what it is we're supposed to do so we can get home."
They followed the path into the woods until they came across a clearing. The clearing had a series of cages on wheels. In the cages were a variety of mythological creatures-- a satyr, a manticore, a harpy, a large serpent, and a unicorn. Dean looked around. "Does this remind you of something?"
Sam pointed out runes on the bottom of the cages, "They are illusions."
"Except for the harpy and the unicorn. It's like that movie we saw when we were a kid, Sam. The Last Unicorn or something." Dean walked over to the unicorn. The unicorn's deep blue eyes looked into Dean's intently. The moment paused in time as the two stared at each other. Dean croaked out, "Cas?" The unicorn bowed its head a moment and turned away, as if ashamed.
Dean called over his shoulder to Sam, "Help me get him out."
"I thought the last unicorn was female." Sam examined the lock on the cage.
Dean said, "That's Cas. It's weird. I know but it's him."
Sam pulled out his lock picks and picked the lock. Castiel pranced out as soon as the door was opened. He proceeded to manticore's cage and touched the lock, and a tired lion limped out of the cage. The unicorn preceded to do the same to all the creatures until it paused in front of the harpy's cage.
Dean strode in front of the unicorn, "No, Cas. No way. No how."
The unicorn tilted its head at Dean and pressed past him again. Dean pushed back. "It will hurt you, Cas."
Sam said, "Are you sure it's Cas, Dean? I mean how do you know."
"He's not an it. He's Cas. I just know, all right?"
Sam watched as the unicorn grappled with Dean over trying to get to the harpy's lock. Sam walked over and said, "Umm, Cas, if that's you -- we can damage the lock, so the harpy can open it itself after a bit of work. It gives us time to get you away from here, but the harpy can still free itself. Does that sound like a plan?"
Castiel nodded at Sam and then backed off to the edge of the clearing. Sam hit the lock several times with the butt of his gun until the aging metal cracked. The harpy screeched at them and rattled its cage, but Dean, Sam, and Castiel walked out of the clearing and down the path.
Dean muttered to Sam, "In the movie, the unicorn could talk to the guy. This is annoying."
"In the movie, the guy was a magician. We have no magic. Maybe Rowena could talk to him, but he's beyond us."
"What do we do?" Dean ran his fingers through his hair frustrated.
"Well, in the movie, the unicorn was looking for others of its kind."
Castiel paused and looked between them. He pranced in a circle around Dean. Dean said, "I think a red bull might have chased them into an ocean, Cas." Castiel sniffed the air and started trotting to the west. Sam and Dean had to jog to keep up with him. "Slow down, Cas. You got twice as many legs as us."
Castiel slowed a little bit, but still sped ahead and then would pause for the hunters to catch up. Sam looked thoughtful as they walked down the path. Dean could see the gears figuratively grinding in Sam's head as he was trying to solve the puzzle. Dean knew the best thing to do was just to be quiet until Sam nerded his way through the problem.
Finally, Sam spoke. "It's almost like it's an allegory. Castiel has always fought for the other angels, but it always goes to hell. He's the only angel that's every really followed God's intended plan. Now, there are so few angels left that Heaven is in danger of failing. So, that translates in this reality to unicorns. Cas could literally wind up being the last angel if we don't get him killed."
"He's always been searching for kindred spirits in his own kind, and it's never worked. They've always turned on him."
Sam cleared his throat before saying, "All our Cas has really wanted was to belong and do the right thing. He never fit in the angels because he cared too much for humanity. But, obviously, he's not human enough to fit in with humanity. So, he's stuck in this limbo world where he always walks alone."
"He's got us, Sam."
"Does he got us, or do we have him? Have you ever told him that we want him around because we love him and care about him? Or, does he think we want him around because we need him. Remember that time you told him that without his powers he was just a baby in a trench coat?"
Dean froze in his tracks. How many times had he expressed his feelings to Castiel by using the word need? He hurried up to catch up with the unicorn. Dean said, "You doing ok, Cas?" Castiel tossed his head, neighing slightly. Dean put out a hand to Castiel's side and leaned into him as they walked. The scent of the ocean was detectable now, so they knew they were near.
As the woods broke into the oceanfront. Castiel paused as he scanned the ocean. He walked slowly out to the water and sniffed it. He turned to look at Dean expectantly, his head tilted. A deep rumbling could be heard from the forest. A large, red fiery bull burst from the foliage. It pawed the earth as it looked at Castiel. It charged Castiel, who turned and fled. Dean pulled out his gun and emptied the bullets into the side of the bull without effect.
Sam pulled out the demon blade and ran up the beach towards the bull. Dean pulled out an angel blade and followed on Sam's heels.
Castiel turned on one end of the beach and dodged the bull while heading back to the Winchesters. Sam launched himself on the side of the bull as it ran past, stabbing it deeply with the demon blade. The bull let out a roar as it tossed Sam headfirst into a large rock. Dean yelled, "Sammy." He ran and knelt next to his brother.
Castiel turned at the sound of Dean's voice and saw Sam's prone figure. He stopped and faced the bull, blue light surrounded him, and the shadow of wings appeared for a moment. His horn glowed as he took a step towards the bull. Step by step the bull backed into the ocean. Soon after, unicorns started to emerge from the waves from the water. The bull disappeared under the waves as the unicorns ran across the beach and into the woods. The sound of their hooves thundered and shook the ground.
Dean sat on the beach, cradling Sam. Castiel approached slowly and nudged Dean with his nose. He bent down more until his nose touched Sam's forehead, infusing him with his almost grace. Sam stirred slowly and opened his eyes. Castiel stepped back and looked longingly at the unicorns and then back at the Winchesters.
Sam and Dean stood up. Dean said quietly, "Hey, we got your unicorns back. He rubbed his hand up and down Castiel's neck, running his fingers through his mane. "Someday, we'll fix Heaven and get your angels back too, buddy. "
Sam frowned, "Shouldn't we be going home around now? We usually only stay until the crisis is over. I need a shower."
Castiel looked between the boys and the last of the unicorns running into the forest. After the last unicorn disappeared from sight, Castiel took a few steps after them. Then, he turned around and returned to the Winchesters.
Dean said softly, "Cas, buddy, this time you go with them. You choose them, dude. We're not staying."
Castiel looked quizzically at Sam. Sam reached out and touched Castiel's nose, "Thank you for healing me, Cas. Dean's right though. You need to go be with your family." Castiel neighed loudly and circled the boys once before charging after the unicorns.
Dean looked at Sam, "You know that's never going to happen on our world. We're not letting him go."
"Your Cas is as likely to leave you as the sun will stop shining." Sam caught himself, "I guess that's not really a good analogy after the darkness and all that, is it?"
Dean said wryly, "Not really." He handed the demon knife back to Sam. "Fiery red bull -- not a demon."
A loud screeching noise came from above him. They looked up to see the harpy heading down, flying straight at them. Dean growled, "Son of a bitch." He pulled his angel blade out and threw it at the harpy. The harpy let out a loud cry before it fell. As Dean dodged out of the way, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he collapsed to his knees. When his head cleared, he saw Castiel kneeling in front of him. "Are you ok, Dean? Sam? I went by the hotel, and you weren't there. Did something attack you?"
Dean snorted, "I'm so glad you can talk and have two legs."
Castiel tilted his head and looked at Dean quizzically, "When I'm in a vessel, I have two legs. When I'm a multidimensional wavelength of celestial intent, it's more difficult to describe. It involves multiple heads, six wings, and six legs. And we know what happened when I tried to let you hear my true voice."
"So, again, I'm so glad you can talk and have two legs." Dean draped an arm around Castiel. "Sorry about my thoughtless comment earlier, Cas."
Sam draped an arm around Cas on the other side, "You know, Cas. I want to talk more about your true form sometime. Especially, the multiple head part."
Dean growled, "Bitch."
Sam smirked, "Jerk."
Castiel said confused, "Assbutt?"