Chapter Text
Castiel had been about to say something, he was sure of it. He couldn’t remember what it was. He couldn’t even remember what Sam Winchester had just said to him that, surely, he had planned a suitable response for.
It seemed likely that Sam would understand. After all, he must surely be distracted by what was happening around them. He was likely perceiving it differently, but it was still happening, Castiel was certain. In all the millennia he’d been observing humans, not once had he heard of one-way soulmates. Soulmates who didn’t work, sure. Soulmates who couldn’t stand each other, absolutely. One-way? No.
To Castiel, it sounded like the heavenly choir performing, singing God’s praises in their true voices. That’s why he believed Sam was perceiving things differently – if Sam were hearing that many true voices, he would likely be dead or at least in severe agony from the sound. If Sam could have heard his true voice without pain, it might be different, but if his own soulmate couldn’t speak to him that way, why should the choir be different?
The lights, perhaps, they were seeing the same way. Streaks of green and gold streamed off of Sam’s body in every direction, but no matter which way they started, they bent toward Castiel. Blue and white streaks flowed off Castiel in much the same way. Where they met, halfway between the two, sparks were flying. It was quite the light show, Castiel had to admit, and he quite enjoyed it. Sam seemed equally mesmerized by the show.
Castiel had no idea how long it had been going on when Dean interrupted the moment. “What the actual fuck.”
Sam jumped a little, looking away from the lights. “There’s really old lore about things like this. It, uh… I know you know the old stories, you’re the one who read them to me. About soulmates.”
Dean rolled his eyes, and Castiel glanced over to Uriel to find him doing the same thing. “Yeah, Sammy, obviously you just met your soulmate. Who knew they were even real? But come on, man. Little early for Christmas carols, isn’t it?”
“What…” Sam’s face scrunched up in confusion. “You must not be hearing the same thing I am, Dean. This has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.”
“What, and Frosty the Snowman or Jingle Bells does?” Sam shrugged, so Dean continued, “Besides, I’m pretty sure this one’s about angels. Singing on the mountain or smoking pot or something.”
“Are you thinking of ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’?” Sam squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head. “That’s not… I have no idea how you got that out of this. It’s… they’re singing about how awesome God is.”
Now Castiel tilted his head, peering intently at Sam. “You can hear the Choir? Without pain?” Jealousy didn’t come naturally to angels, but that was the only word Castiel could come up with. Perhaps it was because this wasn’t really the angels’ Voices…? It didn’t make much sense, but it was all Castiel could come up with.
"Yeah, I can. Last time I heard something like this, I was so hung over that it was really bad. Anything would've been, and an unexplained voice speaking a language that I can't understand unless I'm really concentrating..."
“Not to mention the things you were doing with Ruby,” Uriel interrupted. “Glad to see you’ve had some sense knocked into you.” He turned away from the Winchesters. “Castiel, you know I have to report this to our superiors. I suspect they will not be pleased.”
That was most likely an understatement. If Zachariah wasn’t already aware of the situation, Castiel would be surprised; either way, ‘not pleased’ was a good outcome of Zachariah finding out. “You don’t have to. When we’re done here, I’ll go tell them myself. If you think this changes my allegiance, then I don’t think you know Dean Winchester very well.”
“I know what I need to. For one thing, I know we’re here to make sure he’s not caught in our other work, not to make heart eyes at the boy with the demon blood.” Uriel waved a hand at the Winchesters in invitation. “I suggest you get on with explaining things to him.”
Castiel saw the look that crossed Sam's face, but as Uriel had reminded him, they were here on a job. It could wait until Castiel had been back to Heaven and might actually be able to give Sam some answers to all the questions he must have. “Sam, Dean, there is a seal here.”
“Yeah, don’t care,” Dean said. “What the hell is going on here? You and Sam are soulmates, got that, thanks, but what the hell does that even mean?”
Castiel shrugged. “If I had answers for you, I would give them. I don’t know what this means.” He looked over to Sam. “What I can do is get this seal saved and then report to Heaven to get answers. This is my colleague, Uriel. He’s a specialist. There is a seal here that will break soon. To prevent this, Uriel is going to smite this town.”
“What? No!” Sam exploded. “You’re going to kill thousands of people to save this seal? Angels are supposed to be just!”
“The orders come from Heaven. That makes them just,” Castiel deflected. Sam was right that these orders sucked, but at least there was another plan. “I’m here to make sure the two of you aren’t caught in the smiting.”
“Well, great. You said soon. Not now. Which means there’s time to let us work, figure out how to stop the seal from breaking,” Dean snapped. “Which, if you’ve got any advice for us, we’d be glad to take.”
“We can give you twenty-four hours,” Uriel conceded. “No longer. At that point, Castiel will forcibly drag the two of you out, if he must.”
“Fine. We got this.” Dean glared at both angels. “So get out. Go to Heaven. Get some damn answers.”