Fic: Falling With Style (Supernatural, Dean/Cas)
Finally! Its time for my spn_reversebang fic.
Title: Falling With Style
Author: Chosenfire
Artist: bellatemple
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN. All recognizable characters and situations belong to their respective owners and I make no profit off this.
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Dean Winchester/Castiel
Spoilers: Season 5.22, AU for Season 6
Word Count: 5,000
Summary: Cas falls and takes Dean with him.
Link to Art: Art Masterpost, aka go tell her just how amazing the art is!!!
Authors Note: Thank you so much to lissapocalypse for betaing this for me on such short notice. A HUGE thank you to the ladies at the Shit Sons chat you have kept me writing and have listened to me panic. Thank you to my flist who put up with my last minute freak outs and a special thank you to hils who brainstormed with me and encouraged me to break into the Dean/Cas fandom.
Also thank you to bellatemple who made the gorgeous art that inspired the story (and the summary is actually the description of the art she gave lol). Even when I didn't know what to write for it I couldn't get the picture out of my head. I tried to stick to it as close as possible.
It took me the longest time (and many panicked posts to my flist) to come up with this plot and make it stuck to the art (instead of turning it into something that really had nothing to do with the art and would never be finished). I hope you all enjoy it!
Dean remembers the fall. He remembers the pain that ripped through his body and the hands that held him tightly. He remembers being blind and terrified and thinking that it would never be over. It felt like it would never end, that he would be falling for eternity with the wind and cries of angels screaming in his ears.
They weren’t exactly cries of happiness and more than once he felt a foreign wing brush up against his back, but it didn’t last for long. They couldn’t keep up because where Dean and Cas were going they couldn’t follow.
He remembers holding on to Cas and being terrified that he’s lose him. He couldn’t see him, but he knew as long as he held onto him everything would be okay. It hurt like a bitch, but he’d be okay. He had buried his head against Cas’s chest and felt the world spin madly around them.
It made his fear of flying feel insignificant. It was the idea of falling that had always terrified him and if he didn't like heights before, then he definitely wouldn't like them now. Nothing like the sensation of hurtling to the earth with no way of stopping to make you ever want to leave the ground again.
He couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling though that it wasn't the sky he was falling through. Whatever it was it felt like falling, but not through any air he had ever known; it didn’t feel like his world at all. It burned and even if he had tried he knew he wouldn’t be able to catch his breath. Thankfully he really hadn't needed to for however long the angels had been trying to make him their bitch.
He remembers that too.
He doesn't know when it had started. Things tended to blur together after a while. He remembers the fight between Lucifer and Michael. He remembers almost losing Sam. He almost lost his brother to the pit. He still can't figure out how he didn't, it wasn’t like anyone was around offering a freaking explanation and and Dean hadn’t felt a burning need to find out who or what had saved their asses this time. One minute Michael and Lucifer were having a family reunion straight out of Jerry Springer, and the next they were trapped in the pit and he had his brother back.
“Dean, are we still alive?”
“Looks like, lets get the hell out of here before someone realizes that.”
“You could see Lisa, you two seemed to be….”
“Dude no, I know you got some twisted up normal for me in your head but that ship sailed a long time ago and I kind of got involved with someone else.”
“I knew it, you and Cas?”
No more Devil trying to wiggle into his Sasquatch brother, no more Michael trying to make him his angel condom. It was done and they were still alive, and that had been a shock.
Dean had never actually expected to live through the Apocalypse. Hell, he'd never expected to live to see his 30th birthday, so each day he was still breathing was a surprise in itself. Dean didn't believe in miracles - too much had happened and Hell had scrapped whatever belief he could have had right out of him - but he was thankful. Whatever had let all this end of the world crap pass them by had his thanks.
Of course, he didn't expect that to be the end of things. Sure, he appreciated not being torn into shreds and becoming a rotting corpse, but Dean wasn't an idiot. The number of people he'd pissed off over the years was bound to bite him in the ass.
”Me and Sam are going to go off the grid for awhile. We barely survived the freaking end of the world, we just need a break.”
“Boy you don’t need to tell me that. Take all the time you need and take care of yourselves.”
The angels especially. They had wanted Dean to roll over and let their boy Michael use him. Dean had told them no. Granted, he hadn't been sticking to that as much as he'd of liked to towards the end but he still had told them no, repeatedly.
Angels were dicks and it turned out they could carry some freaking grudges because they wouldn't leave him alone.
To top it all off Cas was had been missing. Missing, not dead, Dean had been sure of that. If Cas was dead he would have known, he didn't give a crap about that many people but those he did he made damn sure he kept track of. Dean had even caved and meet with some freaking psychics Bobby had vouched for. They had said Cas was still alive and flying, they just didn't know where Dean could find him and they weren’t about to get their eyes burned out asking.
“You still carrying around your phone. You probably forgot to charge it, I swear you’re like an old man when it comes to technology. Call me back you dick, or get your ass back down here.”
Frankly, Dean had been tired of looking. Cas would come to him in his own time and Dean would give him hell, but in the meantime he was dealing with a bunch of feathery douche bags chasing him and his brother across the United States.
Dean had thought they were just bitter and wanted to ream him a new one for ruining their great big war.
”Dean, they're finding us faster each time, I think its time we head to Bobby’s.”
Apparently that’s not all they wanted, because they snatched him and stuffed him up behind the great Pearly Gates to play with his insides and shove the world's sewer down his throat.
Dean doesn't remember how he'd been caught. He remembers the little place he'd been renting with Sam while they were on their much needed vacation. He remembers going to the bar for a drink. He doesn't remember making it there and then there just parking the car and getting out. Then the pain had hit him, the same deafening ring he’d heard when Cas used to try to talk to him and it had dropped him to the ground.
The next thing he knew he was stretched out in some Heavenly kink machine.
There was the feeling of meat hooks in his skin all over again, only this time they were cold instead of burning and he couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. The damned dick squad had made sure his eyes wouldn't bleed out while he was on their turf.
”Bondage and blindfolds, anyone ever tell you assholes your damn kinky. Course I know that personally, didn’t know it was a family thing.”
It was another rack, a different location, but still a rack he'd been placed on, only on this one no one was giving him the option of getting down. No one whispering his ear telling him it would all end if he just turned the tables.
For a while, Dean hadn't heard anything. The dicks didn’t talk around him and when they did it would tear through him like the bitch of all migraines. But as time passed and they turned him into a human pincushion he could make out things, words that sounded like he was trying to listen to them under water.
He didn't know how fast time was passing, since he had no way to measure it. But things got a little clearer and each day he understood a little bit more.
”Once we have Michael he will have the vessel ready.”
“What do we do about Castiel? He is drawing closer and others have started to listen to his inquires. He could turn our brothers against us.”
“He won’t find him in time.”
They were pissed at him alright, and happy to bleed him any way they can could. But more than that, they wanted to use him. Someone had the hare-brained idea that they could use him to open the cage and get Michael back. Whatever crap they were doing to him was their way of making his body ready to house Michael, they were trying to make it where it didn’t matter if he said yes or no, they were going to hollow him out and leave him a shell for Michael to slip into.
Dean didn’t exactly know how that worked. Personally he thought they were desperate to have big brother back holding their leashes and had squat, but that didn’t stop them from tearing him apart trying their little experiment and it figured he had gotten the psycho angels.
Hell, it wouldn’t surprise him if they were the ugly red stepchildren of the angel family. He wasn’t in Hell though, and after spending near 30 years on Alastair’s rack there really wasn’t anything they could do to him that would make him break. Once he got used to them tearing into his very human and real flesh and hit that familiar place inside him where he could take anything they threw at him, it was smooth sailing.
It’s not like they were exactly leaving a mark. Angel healing could do wonders.
”Oh yeah, Sparky cut a little deeper, I see how you get your jollies off. Maybe that’s why Daddy doesn’t give a crap about you. No wonder he loves us more.
What he did know is he hadn’t been on that rack for nearly as long as he had the last time before he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. Dean couldn’t explain how he knew it was Cas, but he did. He had thought he lost hope, but when Cas had found him, he’d finally breathed again, and he realized that he'd just been waiting.
He’d never been as intimate with a person as he been with Cas and he trusted him.
”Cas is that you? Please tell me you ganked those bastards.”
“They are incapacitated. Dean, we must hurry, there are others coming that have sided with Zachariah.”
It had hit him in that moment how much he had trusted Cas to find him. He trusted Cas. The amount of crap they had been through had only made Dean all that more sure of the angel. So when Cas came to get him, Dean only wondered what took him so long.
Dean didn't know how he did it. He didn't know how Cas had found him, how he'd gotten past what had to be guards, and he definitely didn't know how in the hell they were going to get out of there. But he trusted Cas and he trusted Cas to have a plan. Of course, Dean had saved people's asses before without a plan, but Cas was an angel so hopefully he’d have something better in the ways of a plan then Dean did.
“You grip me tightly and we'll Fall.”
As it turned out he did. If Dean wasn't blindfolded he would have glared at the angel, but as it was he did tell him he was an idiot and it wasn't worth it, he wasn't worth it.
According to Cas, the only way he could get Dean out the prison the angels had built for him would be to fall with him. It would be the fastest way and they would get away from them. At this point Dean didn’t give a crap about falling himself, he really had overstayed his welcome and would be fine getting the fuck out of there anyway he could just to get away from those dicks. It was the way Cas had said it. The same tone when he had talked about Anna. Falling, with a capital F in all its rebellious glory.
An Angel falling from Heaven.
Fuck that Cas, its not going to happen. You find another way.
Dean understood why Anna had done it. Even if it hadn't worked out for her too well in the end, he got why. She had told him what she had wanted and damn if he didn't admire that. But Cas, Cas was an Angel through and through. He never seemed unhappy with it. He was meant to be zapping around places and darting into people's dreams and completely ignoring other people's personal space. He was meant to be confused and a little lost and badass in his own right when he was getting his angel-fu on.
Cas was an angel and Dean had never gotten the impression he wanted to be anything else. So for Cas to give that up, for him, well, Dean would have rather taken the long way. Hell, he would have rather they fought their way out and hoped like hell the rest of Cas's dysfunctional family was having an off day.
”There is no other way Dean.”
But Cas hadn't budged and they didn't really have time to argue about it, what with Heaven's assholes right at their heels.
Angels fall, not often, and not without a good reason. They know what to expect and they know how to do it the same way a human knows how to eat their gun or down a bottle of pills. Granted, for Angels they knew where they were heading and what to expect.
Cas admitted Angels usually didn't Fall with passengers but he believed Dean would be safe. It wasn't that comforting but Dean had taken a deep breath and let Cas go all Superman on him wrapping him in his arms.
”Just don’t drop me.”
It wasn't the first time they had stood this close. Hell they'd been skin to skin a time or too and maybe that’s why Dean didn't want it to happen. He liked Cas as an Angel. He thought Cas was awesome and didn't want him to change.
He didn't want Cas to give anything up, especially for him.
”That would defeat the purpose of rescuing you.”
They hadn't leaped off a cloud, and at first it hadn't felt like falling at all, and then it had. The only thing Dean could compare it to was a time when he had been a little too pissed off at his dad, a little too sick of Sam's crap, and the girls were hot and looking at him like he was amazing as he was handed a hit of LSD and told to fly with them.
It was ass end backward and freaky and worse than any crap Dean had let into his body or any amusement park ride he'd let his body be hurled off. It was incredible too and he'd never fell anything like it.
If Hell was heat, Heaven was cold, a burning cold that ripped at them and for a moment Dean's blindfold slipped and he saw the black of Cas's wings against the sky. Beautiful and terrifying, magnificent and being ripped away as Cas held onto him tightly. He would never forget it; he would never forgive himself for that and still he could hear the other angels cry from around them. Trying to chase them but nowhere near fast enough.
They had Fallen.
And it had hurt like a bitch.
~*~
When Dean had woken up, he'd been in a field, in what looked like a crater and every bone in his body ached and he felt like one big bruise. The blindfold had slipped down around his neck and he was dirty and tired, his throat hurt and the sun was too bright on his eyes and too hot on his skin.
He still wore the clothes he had thrown on on his way to the bar. Besides the dirt, they were clean and didn't show the blood he knew had been spilled, didn't show the cuts he had felt tear into his body even though his unblemished skin could still feel it.
He turned and there beside him was Cas. Beaten up and a little bruised, but it was Cas and it didn't make any sense. Because from what Dean had learned from the whole Anna thing an angel Fell and turned into a little spawn in a chick’s belly. Dean should have found Jimmy beside him but he just knew that Jimmy had left the building and Cas was now riding solo. Dean didn't know how to explain any of what just happened, but Cas wasn't talking. In fact, he wasn't even waking up, so Dean bent down and picked him up the best he could. Which meant he had an arm under Cas's shoulder and the guys feet were dragging in the ground as Dean looked around and saw what looking like an old farm house a distance away.
It would be hell to walk dragging an angel behind him and he couldn’t exactly make it gentle on his now formerly an angel boyfriend, but if he could make it there he could make it to a phone. He could call Sam and he could get them the hell out of there and figure this crap out. Dean got Cas to the farmhouse and laid him down one of those sofa swings that had been set up. It was getting late, the sun was going to set soon and there were a pair of cars in the driveway. Dean reckoned someone was home and he didn't know how he'd explain this but he needed a phone because they might have taken the fastest way out of there but the angels would be right on their asses.
The house was old, the paint was a faded dark blue that looked to be peeling but there was a flowerbed by the steps and a welcome mat on the floor. Dean knocked not knowing what else to do and glanced at Cas, willing him to wake up and explain what in the hell had happened.
He'd just settle for him waking up.
The door opened and the woman on the other side looked worried and a bit scared, she looked like someone's mom and there were laugh lines around her face.
"Sorry for interrupting you Ma'am." Dean plastered on his most charming smile knowing it was tinged with the desperation he was feeling "But some friends played a prank on me and my buddy here and I was wondering if I could use your phone to call for a cab?"
He didn't know where they were. From where he was standing he could see a freaking windmill and wherever Sam was, Dean doubted it was anywhere nearby. If he could get them to town, he could use the credit card still in his pocket to get them a room for the night. Hopefully Cas would wake his ass up soon, because Dean didn't want to be hauling him around.
"Oh, of course." she looked from him to Cas, finally noticing him slumped over her seat. He was moving a little, and Dean hoped that meant he was waking up. The worry that had been leaving her eyes though as Dean had talked was back in full force. "Is your friend okay? Do you need to call an ambulance?"
Dean swallowed looking at the sky and back to her, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and really he just wanted to get out of there. "No Ma'am he's fine. Just had a little too much to drink last night. It was our friend's bachelor party, things got a little out of hand." Dean spun the lie easily his voice calm and she relaxed.
"Okay, let me grab the phone. You guys might as well wait in here." She went back into the house leaving the door open behind her and Dean went to check on Cas.
"Hey you in there?" he put an arm on Cas's shoulder, trying to sit him up.
Bleary blue eyes stared up at him and Cas's voice was wrecked "It would appear so."
"Thank god, you had me worried. What in the hell were you thinking and why are you still here, aren't you supposed to be gestating by now?"
"I..." Cas's eyes drifted to the sky then back to Dean, sharpening as he focused "I don't know," He said honestly and seemed to sit up straighter. "I didn't expect for this to happen. I was supposed to be expelled from this vessel but I believe Jimmy was, I no longer feel him." Cas admitted and there was guilt and sadness in his eyes. Dean got it, the guy had given up his life to be the vessel of an angel and from the way things were looking he wouldn't be getting it back.
"Well, okay, we'll mourn later; right now we need to get our asses out of here."
"Of course." Cas still looked distracted "They will be pursuing you. Zachariah will not give up."
"Well, that's cause he's a dick. I figure we hole up somewhere in town til Sam can pick us up then go to Bobby's and hide out in the panic room til we figure out a way to get Angel Soft off our backs or gank them."
Cas nodded "That would be the best course of action. I already have contacted some of my brothers on bringing up the issue with Zachariah and the others once I managed to retrieve you safely." He looked up at Dean finally seeing him and he looked concerned. "Are you okay?" he reached up his fingers tracing the blindfold that still hung around Dean's neck.
Dean flushed and caught Cas's hand, pulled it away and tearing off the blindfold. "I'm fine," he promised "a little red eyed and feeling like crap but in once piece thanks to you, again."
"I couldn't leave you with them." Cas said his voice soft and his eyes on Dean's.
"My cell phone is dead, but we have a landline if you want to use that?" the woman interrupted them and Dean turned to her stuffing the blindfold in his pocket hoping she didn't think much of it.
"Thank you,” Dean began to follow her back into the house where she was gesturing to a phone on the wall. He could feel Cas close behind him, right at his back and relief moved through him like wave.
"Would you happen to know the number of a cab that could take us back into town?" He didn't know what the hell town they were in but he figured one was nearby.
"Of course." She closed the door behind them and Dean's body tensed; it was like the air stilled around him. He had been raised to be a Hunter, and he was a pretty damn good one. It meant he knew when things were off and things definitely felt off here.
He calmly reached for the phone, plastering an easy going smile on his face as he put in the number she told him and he could feel Cas move behind him and slip something into his hand. It was the demon killing knife, and Sam must have given it to him because they tended to keep pretty close track of their special weapons. Dean was grateful, and he was tired and just wanted to sleep for a week. His hand curved around the hilt and he held it close to his body letting the angle of Cas behind him hide it from view.
The phone cut out and Dean knew the line had been cut or unplugged. He wasn't going to be reaching anyone. He set the phone back onto its cradle.
"Is something wrong dear?" Mrs. Demon asked sweetly.
Dean grinned. "Not at all," and he had to test it, wanted to see. "Christo." Her eyes went black and the thing wearing her husband’s meat suit jerked in his direction, eyes just as black.
Demons.
Of course it was demons.
Because he had already gotten his ass reamed by Heaven and had to watch his pet angel fall, no, that wasn't enough. Demons would make everything just freaking perfect. Dean didn't waste a moment. Shoving Cas behind him, and he lashed out at the woman with the knife. She twisted away from the sharp blade, laughing as she slammed her fist into the side of his face. The force propelled Dean into the wall, making him hit the plaster hard.
He heard Cas grunt from behind him and he shoved his body up, turning to face them, where the other demon was trying to get his arm around Cas's throat. Cas might not have been an angel anymore but apparently he still had some moves. He twisted his body out of the bastard's grip and kicked the back of his knees, sending him to the ground, all while muttering what sounded like an exorcism under his breath.
Distracted, Dean barely saw his own demon coming at him and he was able to twist out of the way and hold her off as she smiled into his face. Black eyes filled with glee was she twisted up the poor bastards face she crawled into.
"You know how loud an Angel cries as it falls. Can you imagine our luck when we realized it was falling right in our backyard? I was hoping the Mister and the Misses Jones here be the ones to carry it, they're a little on the old side, but still a God fearing couple wanting a child. We could have raised one of God's holy children up right." She smirked and then slammed Dean into the wall her hands moving around his throat "But this is almost as good, we'll just tear him open till he tells what he hears What all the little angels are whispering."
Dean gasped and with the little air left in his lungs rasped out "Fuck you," before he slammed the knife home into her heart. Watching in satisfaction as the demon burned out. He pulled it out and shoved the body to the ground turning where Cas had been pinned to the wall, the demon trying to whisper something in his ear. He was so intent on Cas that he didn't even notice that his partner was dead and Dean was behind him.
Dean wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he plunged the knife into the demon's back, and shoved down hard. It crumpled to the ground, dead, and Dean breathed, his throat burning and a cough working its way up that would hurt like hell.
"Cas, you okay?" he rasped. There was already a bruise forming around Cas's neck and he was holding his stomach like he'd been kicked. Probably had.
"I am injured, but not enough to warrant medical care." Cas looked at him with miserable eyes "Being human is highly uncomfortable."
Dean couldn't help it, he laughed and it hurt his tender throat but was worth it. "Yeah, it hurts like hell, welcome to the club." He stumbled over to dead body of what was left of the man the demon had been riding and started riffling through his pockets pulling out a wallet and a set of keys. "C'mon let’s get out of here before the cops show up." And really, they couldn't tell them demons had done it. A lot of weird shit had happened in the world while Lucifer was trying to burn it down the past year, but it had been written off and Dean didn't want Cas to spend the rest of his life as a human in prison for murder, or being an accessory to murder.
Dean wiped the blood on the knife off on the guy’s shirt and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans. He pocketed the wallet and let the keys dangle from his fingers looking at Cas "So this being human thing, it's permanent, right?" he couldn't keep the caution out of his voice. He'd been playing at this relationship knowing at any moment Cas could be called away and it'd be over.
Cas being human meant he wouldn't. Meant they were on even footing and that scared the hell out of him. But he wanted it; Dean hadn't even known how much he wanted it because he'd never thought of it as an option.
"Yes, I will be human until I die. After that I," Cas hesitated looking uncertain "I don't know what will happen to me. Whether I will rejoin my brothers or be be assigned to a version of paradise in Heaven like humans are given.”
"Well, okay." Dean moved forward and gripped the tie Cas wore muttering "after we meet back up with Sam we're getting you some different clothes." They wouldn't throw out the trench coat though, fond memories of Cas in the coat. "and if you want to hunt I'll teach ya, if you want a normal job..."
"Dean, I am staying with you." Cas interrupted him his eyes narrowed "I fell for you."
Dean breathed out a sigh of relief smiling "I don't have a problem with that" Using the tie he pulled Cas to him and kissed him, the kiss was dry and hurt a little. He ached all over and he knew Cas must have as well but Cas leaned into and gave back as good as he was getting, kissing Dean like he always had, like Dean was the only thing in the world that mattered. Dean curved his hand around Cas's throat, his touch gentle as he felt bite at his bottom lip.
They pulled apart and Dean grinned "Okay, first hotel room and I'll show you how sex as a human is, then we'll call Sam." He started walking to the front of the door, clicking the keys to see what car it went to and the white truck beeped, unlocking.
"I believe it works that same was sex between a human and an angel. While in the vessel we are still capable of feeling the vessel's desires like they were our own."
"Uh-huh." Dean grinned.
Title: Falling With Style
Author: Chosenfire
Artist: bellatemple
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN. All recognizable characters and situations belong to their respective owners and I make no profit off this.
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Dean Winchester/Castiel
Spoilers: Season 5.22, AU for Season 6
Word Count: 5,000
Summary: Cas falls and takes Dean with him.
Link to Art: Art Masterpost, aka go tell her just how amazing the art is!!!
Authors Note: Thank you so much to lissapocalypse for betaing this for me on such short notice. A HUGE thank you to the ladies at the Shit Sons chat you have kept me writing and have listened to me panic. Thank you to my flist who put up with my last minute freak outs and a special thank you to hils who brainstormed with me and encouraged me to break into the Dean/Cas fandom.
Also thank you to bellatemple who made the gorgeous art that inspired the story (and the summary is actually the description of the art she gave lol). Even when I didn't know what to write for it I couldn't get the picture out of my head. I tried to stick to it as close as possible.
It took me the longest time (and many panicked posts to my flist) to come up with this plot and make it stuck to the art (instead of turning it into something that really had nothing to do with the art and would never be finished). I hope you all enjoy it!
Dean remembers the fall. He remembers the pain that ripped through his body and the hands that held him tightly. He remembers being blind and terrified and thinking that it would never be over. It felt like it would never end, that he would be falling for eternity with the wind and cries of angels screaming in his ears.
They weren’t exactly cries of happiness and more than once he felt a foreign wing brush up against his back, but it didn’t last for long. They couldn’t keep up because where Dean and Cas were going they couldn’t follow.
He remembers holding on to Cas and being terrified that he’s lose him. He couldn’t see him, but he knew as long as he held onto him everything would be okay. It hurt like a bitch, but he’d be okay. He had buried his head against Cas’s chest and felt the world spin madly around them.
It made his fear of flying feel insignificant. It was the idea of falling that had always terrified him and if he didn't like heights before, then he definitely wouldn't like them now. Nothing like the sensation of hurtling to the earth with no way of stopping to make you ever want to leave the ground again.
He couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling though that it wasn't the sky he was falling through. Whatever it was it felt like falling, but not through any air he had ever known; it didn’t feel like his world at all. It burned and even if he had tried he knew he wouldn’t be able to catch his breath. Thankfully he really hadn't needed to for however long the angels had been trying to make him their bitch.
He remembers that too.
He doesn't know when it had started. Things tended to blur together after a while. He remembers the fight between Lucifer and Michael. He remembers almost losing Sam. He almost lost his brother to the pit. He still can't figure out how he didn't, it wasn’t like anyone was around offering a freaking explanation and and Dean hadn’t felt a burning need to find out who or what had saved their asses this time. One minute Michael and Lucifer were having a family reunion straight out of Jerry Springer, and the next they were trapped in the pit and he had his brother back.
“Dean, are we still alive?”
“Looks like, lets get the hell out of here before someone realizes that.”
“You could see Lisa, you two seemed to be….”
“Dude no, I know you got some twisted up normal for me in your head but that ship sailed a long time ago and I kind of got involved with someone else.”
“I knew it, you and Cas?”
No more Devil trying to wiggle into his Sasquatch brother, no more Michael trying to make him his angel condom. It was done and they were still alive, and that had been a shock.
Dean had never actually expected to live through the Apocalypse. Hell, he'd never expected to live to see his 30th birthday, so each day he was still breathing was a surprise in itself. Dean didn't believe in miracles - too much had happened and Hell had scrapped whatever belief he could have had right out of him - but he was thankful. Whatever had let all this end of the world crap pass them by had his thanks.
Of course, he didn't expect that to be the end of things. Sure, he appreciated not being torn into shreds and becoming a rotting corpse, but Dean wasn't an idiot. The number of people he'd pissed off over the years was bound to bite him in the ass.
”Me and Sam are going to go off the grid for awhile. We barely survived the freaking end of the world, we just need a break.”
“Boy you don’t need to tell me that. Take all the time you need and take care of yourselves.”
The angels especially. They had wanted Dean to roll over and let their boy Michael use him. Dean had told them no. Granted, he hadn't been sticking to that as much as he'd of liked to towards the end but he still had told them no, repeatedly.
Angels were dicks and it turned out they could carry some freaking grudges because they wouldn't leave him alone.
To top it all off Cas was had been missing. Missing, not dead, Dean had been sure of that. If Cas was dead he would have known, he didn't give a crap about that many people but those he did he made damn sure he kept track of. Dean had even caved and meet with some freaking psychics Bobby had vouched for. They had said Cas was still alive and flying, they just didn't know where Dean could find him and they weren’t about to get their eyes burned out asking.
“You still carrying around your phone. You probably forgot to charge it, I swear you’re like an old man when it comes to technology. Call me back you dick, or get your ass back down here.”
Frankly, Dean had been tired of looking. Cas would come to him in his own time and Dean would give him hell, but in the meantime he was dealing with a bunch of feathery douche bags chasing him and his brother across the United States.
Dean had thought they were just bitter and wanted to ream him a new one for ruining their great big war.
”Dean, they're finding us faster each time, I think its time we head to Bobby’s.”
Apparently that’s not all they wanted, because they snatched him and stuffed him up behind the great Pearly Gates to play with his insides and shove the world's sewer down his throat.
Dean doesn't remember how he'd been caught. He remembers the little place he'd been renting with Sam while they were on their much needed vacation. He remembers going to the bar for a drink. He doesn't remember making it there and then there just parking the car and getting out. Then the pain had hit him, the same deafening ring he’d heard when Cas used to try to talk to him and it had dropped him to the ground.
The next thing he knew he was stretched out in some Heavenly kink machine.
There was the feeling of meat hooks in his skin all over again, only this time they were cold instead of burning and he couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. The damned dick squad had made sure his eyes wouldn't bleed out while he was on their turf.
”Bondage and blindfolds, anyone ever tell you assholes your damn kinky. Course I know that personally, didn’t know it was a family thing.”
It was another rack, a different location, but still a rack he'd been placed on, only on this one no one was giving him the option of getting down. No one whispering his ear telling him it would all end if he just turned the tables.
For a while, Dean hadn't heard anything. The dicks didn’t talk around him and when they did it would tear through him like the bitch of all migraines. But as time passed and they turned him into a human pincushion he could make out things, words that sounded like he was trying to listen to them under water.
He didn't know how fast time was passing, since he had no way to measure it. But things got a little clearer and each day he understood a little bit more.
”Once we have Michael he will have the vessel ready.”
“What do we do about Castiel? He is drawing closer and others have started to listen to his inquires. He could turn our brothers against us.”
“He won’t find him in time.”
They were pissed at him alright, and happy to bleed him any way they can could. But more than that, they wanted to use him. Someone had the hare-brained idea that they could use him to open the cage and get Michael back. Whatever crap they were doing to him was their way of making his body ready to house Michael, they were trying to make it where it didn’t matter if he said yes or no, they were going to hollow him out and leave him a shell for Michael to slip into.
Dean didn’t exactly know how that worked. Personally he thought they were desperate to have big brother back holding their leashes and had squat, but that didn’t stop them from tearing him apart trying their little experiment and it figured he had gotten the psycho angels.
Hell, it wouldn’t surprise him if they were the ugly red stepchildren of the angel family. He wasn’t in Hell though, and after spending near 30 years on Alastair’s rack there really wasn’t anything they could do to him that would make him break. Once he got used to them tearing into his very human and real flesh and hit that familiar place inside him where he could take anything they threw at him, it was smooth sailing.
It’s not like they were exactly leaving a mark. Angel healing could do wonders.
”Oh yeah, Sparky cut a little deeper, I see how you get your jollies off. Maybe that’s why Daddy doesn’t give a crap about you. No wonder he loves us more.
What he did know is he hadn’t been on that rack for nearly as long as he had the last time before he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. Dean couldn’t explain how he knew it was Cas, but he did. He had thought he lost hope, but when Cas had found him, he’d finally breathed again, and he realized that he'd just been waiting.
He’d never been as intimate with a person as he been with Cas and he trusted him.
”Cas is that you? Please tell me you ganked those bastards.”
“They are incapacitated. Dean, we must hurry, there are others coming that have sided with Zachariah.”
It had hit him in that moment how much he had trusted Cas to find him. He trusted Cas. The amount of crap they had been through had only made Dean all that more sure of the angel. So when Cas came to get him, Dean only wondered what took him so long.
Dean didn't know how he did it. He didn't know how Cas had found him, how he'd gotten past what had to be guards, and he definitely didn't know how in the hell they were going to get out of there. But he trusted Cas and he trusted Cas to have a plan. Of course, Dean had saved people's asses before without a plan, but Cas was an angel so hopefully he’d have something better in the ways of a plan then Dean did.
“You grip me tightly and we'll Fall.”
As it turned out he did. If Dean wasn't blindfolded he would have glared at the angel, but as it was he did tell him he was an idiot and it wasn't worth it, he wasn't worth it.
According to Cas, the only way he could get Dean out the prison the angels had built for him would be to fall with him. It would be the fastest way and they would get away from them. At this point Dean didn’t give a crap about falling himself, he really had overstayed his welcome and would be fine getting the fuck out of there anyway he could just to get away from those dicks. It was the way Cas had said it. The same tone when he had talked about Anna. Falling, with a capital F in all its rebellious glory.
An Angel falling from Heaven.
Fuck that Cas, its not going to happen. You find another way.
Dean understood why Anna had done it. Even if it hadn't worked out for her too well in the end, he got why. She had told him what she had wanted and damn if he didn't admire that. But Cas, Cas was an Angel through and through. He never seemed unhappy with it. He was meant to be zapping around places and darting into people's dreams and completely ignoring other people's personal space. He was meant to be confused and a little lost and badass in his own right when he was getting his angel-fu on.
Cas was an angel and Dean had never gotten the impression he wanted to be anything else. So for Cas to give that up, for him, well, Dean would have rather taken the long way. Hell, he would have rather they fought their way out and hoped like hell the rest of Cas's dysfunctional family was having an off day.
”There is no other way Dean.”
But Cas hadn't budged and they didn't really have time to argue about it, what with Heaven's assholes right at their heels.
Angels fall, not often, and not without a good reason. They know what to expect and they know how to do it the same way a human knows how to eat their gun or down a bottle of pills. Granted, for Angels they knew where they were heading and what to expect.
Cas admitted Angels usually didn't Fall with passengers but he believed Dean would be safe. It wasn't that comforting but Dean had taken a deep breath and let Cas go all Superman on him wrapping him in his arms.
”Just don’t drop me.”
It wasn't the first time they had stood this close. Hell they'd been skin to skin a time or too and maybe that’s why Dean didn't want it to happen. He liked Cas as an Angel. He thought Cas was awesome and didn't want him to change.
He didn't want Cas to give anything up, especially for him.
”That would defeat the purpose of rescuing you.”
They hadn't leaped off a cloud, and at first it hadn't felt like falling at all, and then it had. The only thing Dean could compare it to was a time when he had been a little too pissed off at his dad, a little too sick of Sam's crap, and the girls were hot and looking at him like he was amazing as he was handed a hit of LSD and told to fly with them.
It was ass end backward and freaky and worse than any crap Dean had let into his body or any amusement park ride he'd let his body be hurled off. It was incredible too and he'd never fell anything like it.
If Hell was heat, Heaven was cold, a burning cold that ripped at them and for a moment Dean's blindfold slipped and he saw the black of Cas's wings against the sky. Beautiful and terrifying, magnificent and being ripped away as Cas held onto him tightly. He would never forget it; he would never forgive himself for that and still he could hear the other angels cry from around them. Trying to chase them but nowhere near fast enough.
They had Fallen.
And it had hurt like a bitch.
~*~
When Dean had woken up, he'd been in a field, in what looked like a crater and every bone in his body ached and he felt like one big bruise. The blindfold had slipped down around his neck and he was dirty and tired, his throat hurt and the sun was too bright on his eyes and too hot on his skin.
He still wore the clothes he had thrown on on his way to the bar. Besides the dirt, they were clean and didn't show the blood he knew had been spilled, didn't show the cuts he had felt tear into his body even though his unblemished skin could still feel it.
He turned and there beside him was Cas. Beaten up and a little bruised, but it was Cas and it didn't make any sense. Because from what Dean had learned from the whole Anna thing an angel Fell and turned into a little spawn in a chick’s belly. Dean should have found Jimmy beside him but he just knew that Jimmy had left the building and Cas was now riding solo. Dean didn't know how to explain any of what just happened, but Cas wasn't talking. In fact, he wasn't even waking up, so Dean bent down and picked him up the best he could. Which meant he had an arm under Cas's shoulder and the guys feet were dragging in the ground as Dean looked around and saw what looking like an old farm house a distance away.
It would be hell to walk dragging an angel behind him and he couldn’t exactly make it gentle on his now formerly an angel boyfriend, but if he could make it there he could make it to a phone. He could call Sam and he could get them the hell out of there and figure this crap out. Dean got Cas to the farmhouse and laid him down one of those sofa swings that had been set up. It was getting late, the sun was going to set soon and there were a pair of cars in the driveway. Dean reckoned someone was home and he didn't know how he'd explain this but he needed a phone because they might have taken the fastest way out of there but the angels would be right on their asses.
The house was old, the paint was a faded dark blue that looked to be peeling but there was a flowerbed by the steps and a welcome mat on the floor. Dean knocked not knowing what else to do and glanced at Cas, willing him to wake up and explain what in the hell had happened.
He'd just settle for him waking up.
The door opened and the woman on the other side looked worried and a bit scared, she looked like someone's mom and there were laugh lines around her face.
"Sorry for interrupting you Ma'am." Dean plastered on his most charming smile knowing it was tinged with the desperation he was feeling "But some friends played a prank on me and my buddy here and I was wondering if I could use your phone to call for a cab?"
He didn't know where they were. From where he was standing he could see a freaking windmill and wherever Sam was, Dean doubted it was anywhere nearby. If he could get them to town, he could use the credit card still in his pocket to get them a room for the night. Hopefully Cas would wake his ass up soon, because Dean didn't want to be hauling him around.
"Oh, of course." she looked from him to Cas, finally noticing him slumped over her seat. He was moving a little, and Dean hoped that meant he was waking up. The worry that had been leaving her eyes though as Dean had talked was back in full force. "Is your friend okay? Do you need to call an ambulance?"
Dean swallowed looking at the sky and back to her, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and really he just wanted to get out of there. "No Ma'am he's fine. Just had a little too much to drink last night. It was our friend's bachelor party, things got a little out of hand." Dean spun the lie easily his voice calm and she relaxed.
"Okay, let me grab the phone. You guys might as well wait in here." She went back into the house leaving the door open behind her and Dean went to check on Cas.
"Hey you in there?" he put an arm on Cas's shoulder, trying to sit him up.
Bleary blue eyes stared up at him and Cas's voice was wrecked "It would appear so."
"Thank god, you had me worried. What in the hell were you thinking and why are you still here, aren't you supposed to be gestating by now?"
"I..." Cas's eyes drifted to the sky then back to Dean, sharpening as he focused "I don't know," He said honestly and seemed to sit up straighter. "I didn't expect for this to happen. I was supposed to be expelled from this vessel but I believe Jimmy was, I no longer feel him." Cas admitted and there was guilt and sadness in his eyes. Dean got it, the guy had given up his life to be the vessel of an angel and from the way things were looking he wouldn't be getting it back.
"Well, okay, we'll mourn later; right now we need to get our asses out of here."
"Of course." Cas still looked distracted "They will be pursuing you. Zachariah will not give up."
"Well, that's cause he's a dick. I figure we hole up somewhere in town til Sam can pick us up then go to Bobby's and hide out in the panic room til we figure out a way to get Angel Soft off our backs or gank them."
Cas nodded "That would be the best course of action. I already have contacted some of my brothers on bringing up the issue with Zachariah and the others once I managed to retrieve you safely." He looked up at Dean finally seeing him and he looked concerned. "Are you okay?" he reached up his fingers tracing the blindfold that still hung around Dean's neck.
Dean flushed and caught Cas's hand, pulled it away and tearing off the blindfold. "I'm fine," he promised "a little red eyed and feeling like crap but in once piece thanks to you, again."
"I couldn't leave you with them." Cas said his voice soft and his eyes on Dean's.
"My cell phone is dead, but we have a landline if you want to use that?" the woman interrupted them and Dean turned to her stuffing the blindfold in his pocket hoping she didn't think much of it.
"Thank you,” Dean began to follow her back into the house where she was gesturing to a phone on the wall. He could feel Cas close behind him, right at his back and relief moved through him like wave.
"Would you happen to know the number of a cab that could take us back into town?" He didn't know what the hell town they were in but he figured one was nearby.
"Of course." She closed the door behind them and Dean's body tensed; it was like the air stilled around him. He had been raised to be a Hunter, and he was a pretty damn good one. It meant he knew when things were off and things definitely felt off here.
He calmly reached for the phone, plastering an easy going smile on his face as he put in the number she told him and he could feel Cas move behind him and slip something into his hand. It was the demon killing knife, and Sam must have given it to him because they tended to keep pretty close track of their special weapons. Dean was grateful, and he was tired and just wanted to sleep for a week. His hand curved around the hilt and he held it close to his body letting the angle of Cas behind him hide it from view.
The phone cut out and Dean knew the line had been cut or unplugged. He wasn't going to be reaching anyone. He set the phone back onto its cradle.
"Is something wrong dear?" Mrs. Demon asked sweetly.
Dean grinned. "Not at all," and he had to test it, wanted to see. "Christo." Her eyes went black and the thing wearing her husband’s meat suit jerked in his direction, eyes just as black.
Demons.
Of course it was demons.
Because he had already gotten his ass reamed by Heaven and had to watch his pet angel fall, no, that wasn't enough. Demons would make everything just freaking perfect. Dean didn't waste a moment. Shoving Cas behind him, and he lashed out at the woman with the knife. She twisted away from the sharp blade, laughing as she slammed her fist into the side of his face. The force propelled Dean into the wall, making him hit the plaster hard.
He heard Cas grunt from behind him and he shoved his body up, turning to face them, where the other demon was trying to get his arm around Cas's throat. Cas might not have been an angel anymore but apparently he still had some moves. He twisted his body out of the bastard's grip and kicked the back of his knees, sending him to the ground, all while muttering what sounded like an exorcism under his breath.
Distracted, Dean barely saw his own demon coming at him and he was able to twist out of the way and hold her off as she smiled into his face. Black eyes filled with glee was she twisted up the poor bastards face she crawled into.
"You know how loud an Angel cries as it falls. Can you imagine our luck when we realized it was falling right in our backyard? I was hoping the Mister and the Misses Jones here be the ones to carry it, they're a little on the old side, but still a God fearing couple wanting a child. We could have raised one of God's holy children up right." She smirked and then slammed Dean into the wall her hands moving around his throat "But this is almost as good, we'll just tear him open till he tells what he hears What all the little angels are whispering."
Dean gasped and with the little air left in his lungs rasped out "Fuck you," before he slammed the knife home into her heart. Watching in satisfaction as the demon burned out. He pulled it out and shoved the body to the ground turning where Cas had been pinned to the wall, the demon trying to whisper something in his ear. He was so intent on Cas that he didn't even notice that his partner was dead and Dean was behind him.
Dean wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he plunged the knife into the demon's back, and shoved down hard. It crumpled to the ground, dead, and Dean breathed, his throat burning and a cough working its way up that would hurt like hell.
"Cas, you okay?" he rasped. There was already a bruise forming around Cas's neck and he was holding his stomach like he'd been kicked. Probably had.
"I am injured, but not enough to warrant medical care." Cas looked at him with miserable eyes "Being human is highly uncomfortable."
Dean couldn't help it, he laughed and it hurt his tender throat but was worth it. "Yeah, it hurts like hell, welcome to the club." He stumbled over to dead body of what was left of the man the demon had been riding and started riffling through his pockets pulling out a wallet and a set of keys. "C'mon let’s get out of here before the cops show up." And really, they couldn't tell them demons had done it. A lot of weird shit had happened in the world while Lucifer was trying to burn it down the past year, but it had been written off and Dean didn't want Cas to spend the rest of his life as a human in prison for murder, or being an accessory to murder.
Dean wiped the blood on the knife off on the guy’s shirt and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans. He pocketed the wallet and let the keys dangle from his fingers looking at Cas "So this being human thing, it's permanent, right?" he couldn't keep the caution out of his voice. He'd been playing at this relationship knowing at any moment Cas could be called away and it'd be over.
Cas being human meant he wouldn't. Meant they were on even footing and that scared the hell out of him. But he wanted it; Dean hadn't even known how much he wanted it because he'd never thought of it as an option.
"Yes, I will be human until I die. After that I," Cas hesitated looking uncertain "I don't know what will happen to me. Whether I will rejoin my brothers or be be assigned to a version of paradise in Heaven like humans are given.”
"Well, okay." Dean moved forward and gripped the tie Cas wore muttering "after we meet back up with Sam we're getting you some different clothes." They wouldn't throw out the trench coat though, fond memories of Cas in the coat. "and if you want to hunt I'll teach ya, if you want a normal job..."
"Dean, I am staying with you." Cas interrupted him his eyes narrowed "I fell for you."
Dean breathed out a sigh of relief smiling "I don't have a problem with that" Using the tie he pulled Cas to him and kissed him, the kiss was dry and hurt a little. He ached all over and he knew Cas must have as well but Cas leaned into and gave back as good as he was getting, kissing Dean like he always had, like Dean was the only thing in the world that mattered. Dean curved his hand around Cas's throat, his touch gentle as he felt bite at his bottom lip.
They pulled apart and Dean grinned "Okay, first hotel room and I'll show you how sex as a human is, then we'll call Sam." He started walking to the front of the door, clicking the keys to see what car it went to and the white truck beeped, unlocking.
"I believe it works that same was sex between a human and an angel. While in the vessel we are still capable of feeling the vessel's desires like they were our own."
"Uh-huh." Dean grinned.