Big Bang Fic: Oadriax (11/13)
Title: Oadriax (11/13)
Author: daksgirl
Artist: terrorinyertub
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural, au, sci fi, drama
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Side pairings: Sam/Gabriel, past Sam/Jess
Rating: NC-17 (violence, adult situations, language)
Word Count: 80,668
Warnings: Graphic violence and warfare, adult themes including sex, canon character deaths, demon xenophobia, swearing, gore (in a war situation), PTSD and an attempted non-con situation.
[Fic Masterpost]
[Art Masterpost]
Oadriax’s normally clear blue skies were choked with ash, falling thick and heavy as Dean stumbled along behind Sam. Behind them the distant whirring of helicraft could still be heard, the over loud clanking of the warbird. Azazel was landing most of the smaller crafts, sending a flood of ground troops after the retreating angels.
And it was all Dean’s fault.
“Dean, come on.” Sam pulled his brother along tiredly, face black with soot. Bobby followed behind in a stupor, wide eyed as he looked around.
“I can’t believe it’s gone,” the scientist murmured, shaking his head disbelievingly. “All, all that history, just, gone.”
Dean stopped, clouds of ash rising at his boots.
“I’m going back,” he muttered, turning around. “We gotta go back and-”
“Get killed?” Sam got up in Dean’s face, shoving him backwards. “Dean, the angels would probably just kill us on sight. They think we did this!”
Dean stared his brother down, jaw clenching. “Well that’s because we did, Sam! This is my fault and I have to fix it!”
Sam threw his hands up, scattering the floating ash. “Oh here we go, all aboard the guilt train! Next stop, Winchester.”
Dean pushed Sam’s shoulder, fingers curling into a fist. “And what’s that supposed to mean? You think this is funny? Angels are dying Sam! Balthazar’s dead!”
“You think I don’t know that?” Sam snapped back, eyes blazing. “You think I’m not as devastated as you are? I don’t even know if Gabriel-”
He cut himself off, looking away. Bobby was still muttering to himself, shaking his head as he drew shapes in the air with his hands. Sam exhaled shakily, steadying himself.
“We’ll get help,” he said firmly. “We’ll go back to base, round up what we can and go after that yellow bastard.”
He reached out, grabbing Dean’s bare shoulder firmly, giving his brother a little shake.
“But I need you here with me. I need you to be Dean the badass, Dean the incredibly annoying pain in my ass.” Sam managed a weak smile. “I need you to be my big brother. If you can do that, I can deal. But if you fall apart now…”
Bobby’s sharp whistle of alarm stopped them, and the brothers both dropped into a cautious crouch, scanning the blackened vegetation around them. Dean fingers reached for his boot automatically, but with a curse he remembered he had left his knife back at base.
No furious angels bent on vengeance materialized out of the smoke.
A wide head cleaved through the plants, skin smudged with dirt. Four eyes landed on Dean, and Chevy gave a happy snort, pushing through the trees to trot to his side. She peered over at Sam suspiciously as Dean patted her neck, and Dean clicked his tongue towards her.
“Easy girl. They’re friends.”
The Levithmong whined, her long tail slowly flicking back and forth as she bumped her head against Dean’s shoulder. Bobby approached her, eyes wide.
“Yours I take it?” he asked wryly, chuckling as a purr rumbled in Chevy’s chest.
Dean nodded, rubbing his fingers along the hard plates of the Levithmong’s neck.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I guess she made it out of the field okay.”
He didn’t want to think about those that didn’t. The dozens of angels that must have perished, the Levithmong who never stood a chance…
Cas…
Sam touched the Levithmong’s side warily.
“Can she carry us all, Dean?” he asked, eyes trailing over her strong back. “We have to get back to base. Fast.”
Dean framed Chevy’s long face with his fingers, pressing an affectionate kiss between her four eyes as the Levithmong crooned. He could feel her confusion and grief, and tried to comfort her despite the same feelings squatting in his own mind.
“Course she can,” Dean said proudly, clearing his throat. “Right baby?”
Dean avoided Sam’s eyes. He had to be a soldier now. He had to be the man his father had wanted him to be.
Otherwise Dean wasn’t going to survive this. Not again.
As if understanding him, Chevy nickered, bending her front legs to kneel in the dirt. Dean swung up onto her easily, adjusting his weight along the blue plates of her armor. He offered an arm to Sam, and his brother clambered on behind him, both Winchesters having to help Bobby up. Chevy shifted her weight, testing the feeling of having three men on her back, and Dean locked his fingers into the gaps between her neck plates.
“Alright girl,” he muttered. “Take us home.”
The base was in flames.
Chevy scaled the fence easily, digging her talons between the chain links as she cleared the obstacle in a few bounds. Spread across the flat tarmac, humans and demons fought each other, guns firing and voices shouting. Chevy kept her belly low to the ground, scuttling towards a large pile of discarded cargo. The heavy boxes provided good cover, bullets ripping into the sturdy wood.
The Levithmong whined as the humans slid off her back. Dean patted her reassuringly, wincing at the sudden burst of gunfire nearby.
Bobby shuffled to the edge of the boxes, peering cautiously towards the smoldering buildings. His eyes were wide and horrified as he took in the damage.
“Just what the hell is goin’ on here?” the scientist growled. “I gotta find Jo. I gotta, I gotta find my daughter.”
Bobby started forward, and Sam grabbed onto his arm, tugging him back.
“Are you crazy Bobby?” Sam whispered fiercely. “You’ll be shot!”
“I don’t care!” Bobby snapped, struggling to free his arm from the taller man’s grip. “My baby is in there! I ‘aint gonna sit on my ass out here if she’s in trou-”
“Dad!”
Bobby froze. All three men popped their heads over the boxes, sagging with relief as a familiar blonde woman ducked out of the open flight hangar, hurrying over towards them. Ash covered her back, sending a spray of covering fire to clear the way. A demon tried to block them, lunging towards Jo, but she put him down with a sharp crack of her pistol.
Making it across the dangerous tarmac safely, Jo ducked around the boxes, throwing her arms around her step-father. Bobby hugged her back just as crushingly.
Dean watched them, feeling numb.
Jo pulled away, blowing hair out of her eyes as she smiled over at the Winchesters.
“Uh, so, things have been a little, weird,” she said apologetically, ducking down low as a machine gun screamed to life nearby. Bobby snorted, everyone shuffling further into the shadows of safety the boxes provided.
“You don’t say? I hadn’t noticed!” Bobby hollered over the din.
Ash looked grim, reloading his rifle with sharp clicks. “Azazel took half a’ the battalion and just left. The demons took up guns after that, Alistair orderin’ us all to comply.”
Jo grinned, face flecked with blood. “Like hell we did.”
She glanced worriedly back towards the complex, where flames billowed out the windows of the cafeteria. “Azazel wants to eradicate the angels, Dad. I think he’s finally snapped.”
“Long time coming,” Bobby muttered.
“Alistiar is leading the fight here,” Jo continued. “Last we saw him, he was headed up towards Crowley. We were on his trail when I saw you hop the fence.”
Bobby peered cautiously around the corner of the crate, promptly pulling himself back as the wood around him splintered.
“All demon?” he asked, cursing as Jo nodded her head.
“Pretty much,” the pretty blonde confirmed. “A few humans here and there, but most of the trouble makers are demon.”
A boom echoed from the back of the base, and Sam whimpered, recognizing the area the blast came from. In the distance, the group could see rising flames, flickering directly from where the biolabs were.
So much for the research.
“We gotta do something!” Dean hissed, digging deep to find a part of himself he had hoped never to see again. He could do this. They had to survive.
Bobby reached out to grab Dean’s arm, the scientist shaking his head curtly. “No. We can handle things here. You need to get out there and stop that yellow eyed bastard.”
Dean could only stare at him, lost. “But, Bobby what are we even supposed to do?”
Bobby’s eyes softened, and he clapped an affectionate hand to Dean’s cheek. “I don’t know, son,” he said honestly. “But you gotta do somethin’. Or else it ‘aint just the angels that are gonna be eradicated. We will too.”
Sam snapped his fingers, drawing their attention.
“The lab outpost!” he exclaimed. “There’s probably still weapons stowed away there, enough to get us going at least. We can grab what we need and track down the angels. We’re going to need their help.”
Bobby nodded, pushing Dean towards Chevy as the Levithmong got to her feet. “You bet your ass. Tell Michael the truth, get ‘im to help.”
Dean struggled up onto Chevy, Sam clambering up behind him. There was another explosion, a mushroom cloud of smoke spewing forth from the cafeteria, and Chevy honked fearfully.
Jo hurried over, hand rummaging in the dirty satchel at her side. With a triumphant smile, she pulled out a clinking handful of metal.
“Here,” she offered the items to Dean. “I uh, I saved what I could.”
Dean stared down at her open hands, throat tightening as he recognized his knife and I.D tags.
“Thanks, Jo.” Dean smiled down at the woman he had come to see as the little sister he had never had. “I don’t… thank you.”
Bobby bit off a curse, slapping Chevy’s sleek dark hide.
“Now, go!” he ordered. “God keep you boys safe.”
Chevy scrambled away, zigzagging to avoid any bullets as she clambered back over the wire fence, bleating happily as she disappeared into the forest with the Winchesters.
Jo nudged her step-father with a shoulder, smiling tiredly.
“Didn’t think you were much of a prayin’ man, daddy-io.”
Bobby turned to smile at her, giving her a quick hug with one arm. “I’m not, baby. But I figure we could use all the help we can get.”
Sam knew where to go. He had studied all the maps, all the possible outposts he could have used for research and sample storage. He shouted the directions as Dean guided them through the forest, Chevy crashing through the thick vegetation. It was Sam’s first experience riding a Levithmong, but he couldn’t spare much thought for excitement.
Azazel was going to pay for what he had done.
The trees thinned, and the burned out husk of the outpost came into view. Chevy drew up beside it, breathing heavily through her wide nostrils, and Sam gave her a pat as he slid off her back. He left Dean with her, hurrying inside through the blackened doorway. There was a lot of old debris from the fire, and Sam pushed away rotting wood and ceiling tiles, making his way to where the storage lockers had been.
He shoved aside a beam and a blackened trunk came into view. Sam made a sound of triumph, fingers slipping against the grainy lock. The code on the trunks was the same all over the base, and after a few tries, the trunk slid open with a hiss.
Dean appeared in the doorway, looking around slowly.
“Sam?” he asked quietly, and Sam gritted his teeth against the emptiness in his brother’s voice. “What, what is this?”
Inside the trunk, a few guns and knives lay intact, protected by the outer shell of the trunk. Standard issue, and there wasn’t much ammo, but it was enough to get them by.
Hopefully.
“It’s a field outpost,” Sam said carefully, pulling the weapons free. There were even a few company issued t-shirts, and he tossed one towards his bare chested brother. “There are a few dotted around here, but this one was closest.”
Dean turned the soft cotton over in his hands.
“It was here wasn’t it?” his voice was small, and Sam paused in his scavenging. Dean was looking around them, at the blackened walls, the destroyed equipment. Sam didn’t have to ask his brother what he meant. They both knew what had happened here, close to eight years ago.
“Yeah,” he said curtly, turning back to the trunk. “But we got other problems right now, Dean.”
Dean slid the shirt over his head, pulling it down over his chest as he shook his head helplessly.
“Sam, I, I can’t.”
To Sam’s alarm, Dean slumped against the wall, sliding down to sit in a dejected heap. “Look what happened again. Cas….”
Dean’s face crumpled, dropping his face into his hands. “He hates me, Sam. I just, I ruined everything. Again.”
Sam paused, still crouched by the trunk. Slowly, he turned to stare incredulously at his brother, anger burning in his chest.
“You’re really going to do this now?” he asked, voice clipped. “You’re seriously going to pull that ‘Oh woe is me I can never be happy because my boyfriend yelled at me it must be my fault’ crap? Really, Dean?”
There was something of his brother’s usual fire in the glare that was aimed towards him. Good. Dean needed anger right now.
“Excuse me?” Dean growled. “Cas isn’t my boyfri-”
Sam gestured at him with disgust. “Lay off it, Dean! Everyone knows, and no-one cares. So you’re in love with an alien pigeon man. Who gives a flying fuck?”
Dean was staring at him, disbelieving, but didn’t exactly tell him he was wrong. “He’s an angel, Sam!”
Sam snorted, and Dean got to his feet. He jabbed a finger towards Sam, eyes blazing.
“He deserves someone of his own kind,” Dean said lowly. “He deserves better than me.”
Sam laughed at that, and Dean practically growled at him.
“Like Uriel?” Sam asked dryly. “Oh yeah, Cas is real happy with that.”
Dean dropped his gaze, looking away from his brother as his jaw clenched. Sam rolled his eyes.
“Look, you huge idiot. Anyone can see you two are like, made for each other.” Sam waved his hands dismissively, ignoring the own clench in his gut as he thought of a different angel. “So knock off this self-pitying bullshit and let’s go save him!”
Dean wasn’t looking at him, hands shaking where they balled into fists at his sides. Sam softened his tone, getting to his feet. “Everyone deserves happiness, Dean. Even us. You just have to stop being such, such a dick about it.”
“Not me, Sam,” Dean muttered, and Sam’s heart hurt for his brother. “Look what happened when I tried! Cas hates me, and he should. I fucked it all up.”
“No,” Sam sighed. “No Dean, you didn’t.”
Dean looked up at him, and Sam moved closer, reaching out to touch his brother’s arm reassuringly.
“Cas’s brother was just killed by a yellow eyed psycho. Cut the dude some slack. He didn’t mean it.” Sam gave Dean’s arm a squeeze. “Cas doesn’t hate you.”
Dean hung his head, defeated.
“I don’t, I don’t think I can lose him, Sam,” his voice cracked slightly, and Sam felt a surge of fierce love for his brother. Dean had always protected him, but this time, Sam wanted to do the protecting. “I can’t lose anyone else. Especially Cas.”
“I know.” Sam smiled, giving Dean a little shake. “But you gotta stop moping and help me. We’re doing this together, remember?”
Dean managed a weak chuckle, rubbing his eye as Sam moved away. “Since when are you so bossy?”
“Since always,” Sam tossed over his shoulder, looking around the lab for anything else that might be useful. “Now get your sorry ass moving! We have a demon to stop, angels to save, and you have a ton of makeup sex in your future if you’re gonna have a chance at apologizing to Cas.”
“Oh man,” a voice sniffed by the doorway, and both men jumped. “That was beautiful, Sam.”
Sam whipped around so quickly he almost hurt himself, tripping on the rubble. “Gabriel!”
The angel was covered in black soot, wings frazzled. His teeth were a dazzling white in his ash-blackened face as he smiled. “The one and only!”
The relief Sam felt was staggering, and Sam’s hands itched to grab him, to check the angel for any injuries. Gabriel looked exhausted as he trailed inside, looking around. Dean cleared his throat.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Not that we’re sad to see you.”
“Duh, saving the day!” Gabriel chirped, moving further into the lab, poking at the blackened debris. “Michael is moving the clan towards one of our Qaadah trees where he thinks they’ll be safe.”
The angel turned, feathers rustling. “But that bastard of a security chief isn’t going to give up that easy. He’s trying to tail them now, it’s almost like,” Gabriel frowned, shrugging. “I dunno, like he’s looking for something.”
Sam looked over at Dean worriedly, and Dean sighed.
“You got a plan?” he asked wearily. “Cause I gotta tell you, I’m all out of ideas.”
Gabriel shook his head, for once, expression completely serious. “No. But I know someone who might.”
Dean stared up at the silent tree, feeling weirdly sad as his eyes trailed along the now dull tendrils.
The Qaadah tree was silent, no longer glowing like it had been. Chevy and Hershey nickered worriedly nearby, talons stirring the ashes that seemed to coat everything. The whole forest was still, shocked into silence by the death of the home tree, and the lives that had been extinguished with it.
“This is your bright idea?” Dean asked incredulously. “Talking to a fucking tree?”
Gabriel cracked his eye open. The angel was kneeling amongst the quiet tendrils, wings folded against his back. “Well it wasn’t a fucking tree until you and my baby bro decided to christen it that! Which, thanks by the way, I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing what Castiel sounds like when he comes.”
Dean reddened, spluttering as Sam tried desperately not to laugh. “You, you can hear that? Here?”
Gabriel waved him away irritably, the angel closing his eyes again. “It records memories, you idiot. Congrats, your sex life just made it into our history books.”
Dean turned away with a dark mutter, glaring up at the tree as if it were somehow to blame. The dirt at the base of the tree was still scuffed and upturned where Dean had lain only the night before. Dean paused, boots toeing the loose leaves. He could still make out the indents were Castiel had lain, his wings stretched wide as Dean stroked his fingers along their feathers. Cas laughing when Dean touched a sensitive spot-
Fingers closed around his wrist, and Dean looked away blinking. Gabriel stood beside him, eyes pitying.
“You have to ask Geiad for guidance,” the angel said quietly. “She’ll help us.”
Dean tugged his arm away angrily. “Pray to a god? Oh yeah, coz that worked so well on Earth!”
“Dean!” Sam hissed, glaring over at him. He had copied Gabriel, kneeling in the mulch amongst the leaves. “Just pray to the goddamn tree and stop wasting time!”
With a grumble, Dean sank down beside his brother, Gabriel settling on his other side. Irritably, Dean held his hands out, folding his palms together and shutting his eyes.
“Dear Geiad,” he said loudly, and Sam groaned unhappily beside him. “We’re up shit creak without a paddle and could use some help. Maybe a motorboat or something.”
Gabriel was murmuring Enochian under his breath, and Dean fell silent, angry and frustrated.
This isn’t working, he thought bitterly. Cas is out there with Azazel on his tail, alone, and I’m sitting here trying to talk to a stupid tree. Son of a bitch-
Chevy nickered to him, rustling the leaves at her feet, and again, that odd awareness probed his mind. A sense of calm flooded Dean’s veins, an image slowly forming in his mind. Around him, the vines began to hum slightly, and Gabriel looked around himself in awe.
In Dean’s mind, he was looking down, at the crater the home tree had left, seeing the devastation that stretched through the forest. A voice whispered to him, urged him to move, and he obeyed the voice, banking to the left. He could smell prey, could smell the burnt banquet that had drawn him towards the devastation, but obediently followed the voice instead. His leathery wings beat the air, his shape casting a morbid shadow on the quiet trees below.
Dean’s eyes snapped open.
“I know what I have to do,” he said lowly, looking up towards the sky.
High above them, a leviathan of the skies screamed.
Castiel sat dejectedly beside Uriel, listening to his people panic.
Moments after the Winchesters had left, Uriel had appeared through the smoke, grabbing Castiel by the shoulders and forcing him away from Balthazar. The dark angel had forced Castiel to follow the line of distraught angels hurrying away from the tree, leaving their fallen to the forest. Castiel had spent the journey in a haze, Uriel encouraging him along with gentle pushes and flaps of his wings. The young baltoh had barely noticed when Michael let them rest at a Qaadah tree, following Uriel in a strange state of disbelief.
The tree was silent as what was left of the clan filtered around aimlessly, the wounded tended to by worried females that moved within the crowd. Castiel watched them all numbly, uncaring of the judgmental looks thrown his way, the anger directed towards him.
It was deserved. In his moment of weakness, Castiel had doomed them all, and for what? A human? A moment of bliss he had mistaken as a promise of a future?
Castiel looked away from the others, heart clenching as he remembered Dean’s face as the human was dragged away. Surely it could not have been false? The time they had spent together, the words exchanged, kisses shared. It couldn’t be wrong.
It couldn’t.
Michael moved amongst the tendrils of the tree, Lucifer beside him. Both his brothers looked shaken, feeling the aching emptiness where the pleasant hum of the home tree had always been.
“We cannot fight them, Michael,” Lucifer said, voice shaking. His wings were dirty, Castiel dully noted. Blackened with soot to the point they looked much like Castiel’s. “They are too powerful! You’ve seen what they can do.”
Michael paused at the trunk of the tree. Raphael was there, sitting serenely in front of the tree as she prayed. She opened her eyes as she sensed her mate, turning to look up at Lucifer calmly.
“We must trust in Geiad now,” she said quietly. “We must pray to Her for assistance.”
Lucifer took a step towards her, but Michael pushed him back with a warning rattle of his feathers.
“Assistance?” Lucifer spat angrily. “Balthazar lies dead, Gabriel missing! Geiad has deserted us because of our own stupidity! We should never have welcomed the toltag-”
“That is enough,” Michael said calmly, touching Lucifer’s chest briefly. “Peace, brother. You frighten the others.”
Castiel turned away, drawing his legs up towards his chest. He felt achingly numb, lost and alone. Uriel shifted beside him, the stoic angel unsure of what to say.
“I am sorry for your loss, Castiel,” he finally murmured, brushing Castiel’s wings with his own. “Balthazar will be missed.”
Castiel watched his clan mill around aimlessly in front of him. “As am I, Uriel. I, I am sorry.”
The burly angel winced, understanding what it was Castiel was really apologizing for. Castiel expected anger, harsh words perhaps, but Uriel merely nodded slowly.
“Thank you, Castiel. But you need not apologize. I trust in Geiad and Her decisions. She has decided that you should belong to another. As,” he struggled then, frowning violently. “…odd as he may be.”
Castiel turned his face towards Uriel , watching as the larger angel slowly slid the leather thong over his head, cupping the heavy tooth in his palm. The Hoath bond. Castiel suddenly felt guilty he had always shunned his. He had always thought it ugly, the Vniglag tooth a bitter reminder that Uriel had killed such a magnificent creature in his name.
Slowly, Uriel handed it to Castiel, and he took it after a moment’s hesitation.
“You, you give this to me?” he asked curiously. “You give up the Hoath?”
Uriel sighed, avoiding Castiel’s eyes. “With a heavy heart. I would have been proud to call you my mate, Castiel. I may not have always understood you, nor understood your actions but…”
He shrugged awkwardly. “I always loved you. I hope that though we shall not mate, that we can be, friends at least. Brothers.”
Castiel smiled, nodding. “I would like that, Uriel. Very much.”
Uriel smiled uncertainly back.
A loud screech rent the air, and both angels jumped, the Hoath slipping from Castiel’s fingers to clack against the hard packed dirt.
“Teloch!” someone screamed, and a group of fledglings began wailing. “We are lost!”
Angels scrambled for cover, screaming and shouting as a shadow fell across them all. Castiel gazed upwards in horror, recognizing the titanic wing span of the angel’s greatest enemy. It swooped down from above, sharp teeth glinting in the light, and Uriel was on his feet, shouting at Castiel to move.
It seemed Geiad had truly deserted them.
It swooped down, fearsome jaw clacking, but the creature did not attack. Castiel paused, bewildered as it landed awkwardly, wings flapping furiously and knocking several angels over. It was then Castiel realized there were figures in its claws, the teloch releasing them with a rattling hiss.
Castiel’s heart leapt as he recognized the dappled brown wings it released, fluttering and puffed with excitement.
“Oh we have to do that again,” Gabriel’s voice rang loud and clear, and the fleeing angels paused, turning disbelieving eyes towards the teloch. “That was awesome!”
From the teloch’s other talon, Samuel Winchester slowly swayed to his feet, pallor green as Gabriel moved to help him. The human stifled a retch, giving a full body shudder.
“Oh god. I think, I think I saw my life pass before my eyes,” he hiccupped. “It was, kind of boring.”
Gabriel made soothing noises and the teloch shifted, bowing its head low to the ground. A hush fell over the shocked angels as a figure slid down its bowed neck, boots hitting the dirt with a loud thud. The figure patted the teloch’s neck awkwardly, the giant creature clacking happily.
Castiel hardly dared breathe.
Dean.
The human looked around him nervously. Samuel leant heavily against Gabriel, both joining Dean to look out over the sea of shocked angels, Gabriel giving Castiel a tiny wave.
Dean’s eyes found him then, and Castiel shivered. He had never heard of anyone riding the teloch before. To do so, Geiad must have willed it to be so.
Castiel moved forward, ignoring Michael’s soft call. Angels parted before him, murmuring quietly as he passed them by. But Castiel’s eyes were trained solely on Dean, helpless to the siren call that thrummed through his veins.
Dean was anxious, worried, as Castiel approached.
“Cas,” the human began desperately. “Castiel I-”
“Dean. I, I am sorry.” Castiel felt his wings quiver. Dean had returned. Dean was here.
Castiel’s anger melted away. The atrocity committed against his people was not of Dean’s doing. Castiel had never truly believed it had, but fear had clouded his mind and heart.
“I was afraid, Dean,” he admitted quietly, and Dean took a step forward, the teloch snorting behind him. “For my brothers and sisters. For myself.”
The grief of Balthazar’s death was still raw, but Castiel did not blame Dean.
Castiel straightened his back, tilting his chin up. “I am not anymore.”
Dean cleared the space between them, wrapping his arms around Castiel’s shoulders and pulling him close. Castiel clutched him in return, wings twitching and fluttering with joy. Angels were muttering around them but Castiel didn’t care.
Dean had come home.
Michael approached them both, eyes serious as he eyed the teloch warily. “I appreciate your help, toltag. But I fear the demon seeks to destroy us completely.”
Dean drew away from Castiel.
“You have to fight,” he said boldly, and the angel’s fell silent to listen to him. To listen to the one that dared tame the teloch.
Castiel looked at Dean worriedly. “Our number is not nearly powerful enough to launch an assault. What chance do we have?”
His heart leapt as Dean reached for his hand, fingers intertwining. Dean smiled. “You gotta have a little faith, Cas.”
Castiel smiled back, heart pounding, but now with joy instead of grief.
“I do, Dean,” he said softly, leaning in to kiss the human, uncaring of the shocked gasps around him. “In you.”
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Author: daksgirl
Artist: terrorinyertub
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural, au, sci fi, drama
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Side pairings: Sam/Gabriel, past Sam/Jess
Rating: NC-17 (violence, adult situations, language)
Word Count: 80,668
Warnings: Graphic violence and warfare, adult themes including sex, canon character deaths, demon xenophobia, swearing, gore (in a war situation), PTSD and an attempted non-con situation.
[Fic Masterpost]
[Art Masterpost]
Oadriax’s normally clear blue skies were choked with ash, falling thick and heavy as Dean stumbled along behind Sam. Behind them the distant whirring of helicraft could still be heard, the over loud clanking of the warbird. Azazel was landing most of the smaller crafts, sending a flood of ground troops after the retreating angels.
And it was all Dean’s fault.
“Dean, come on.” Sam pulled his brother along tiredly, face black with soot. Bobby followed behind in a stupor, wide eyed as he looked around.
“I can’t believe it’s gone,” the scientist murmured, shaking his head disbelievingly. “All, all that history, just, gone.”
Dean stopped, clouds of ash rising at his boots.
“I’m going back,” he muttered, turning around. “We gotta go back and-”
“Get killed?” Sam got up in Dean’s face, shoving him backwards. “Dean, the angels would probably just kill us on sight. They think we did this!”
Dean stared his brother down, jaw clenching. “Well that’s because we did, Sam! This is my fault and I have to fix it!”
Sam threw his hands up, scattering the floating ash. “Oh here we go, all aboard the guilt train! Next stop, Winchester.”
Dean pushed Sam’s shoulder, fingers curling into a fist. “And what’s that supposed to mean? You think this is funny? Angels are dying Sam! Balthazar’s dead!”
“You think I don’t know that?” Sam snapped back, eyes blazing. “You think I’m not as devastated as you are? I don’t even know if Gabriel-”
He cut himself off, looking away. Bobby was still muttering to himself, shaking his head as he drew shapes in the air with his hands. Sam exhaled shakily, steadying himself.
“We’ll get help,” he said firmly. “We’ll go back to base, round up what we can and go after that yellow bastard.”
He reached out, grabbing Dean’s bare shoulder firmly, giving his brother a little shake.
“But I need you here with me. I need you to be Dean the badass, Dean the incredibly annoying pain in my ass.” Sam managed a weak smile. “I need you to be my big brother. If you can do that, I can deal. But if you fall apart now…”
Bobby’s sharp whistle of alarm stopped them, and the brothers both dropped into a cautious crouch, scanning the blackened vegetation around them. Dean fingers reached for his boot automatically, but with a curse he remembered he had left his knife back at base.
No furious angels bent on vengeance materialized out of the smoke.
A wide head cleaved through the plants, skin smudged with dirt. Four eyes landed on Dean, and Chevy gave a happy snort, pushing through the trees to trot to his side. She peered over at Sam suspiciously as Dean patted her neck, and Dean clicked his tongue towards her.
“Easy girl. They’re friends.”
The Levithmong whined, her long tail slowly flicking back and forth as she bumped her head against Dean’s shoulder. Bobby approached her, eyes wide.
“Yours I take it?” he asked wryly, chuckling as a purr rumbled in Chevy’s chest.
Dean nodded, rubbing his fingers along the hard plates of the Levithmong’s neck.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I guess she made it out of the field okay.”
He didn’t want to think about those that didn’t. The dozens of angels that must have perished, the Levithmong who never stood a chance…
Cas…
Sam touched the Levithmong’s side warily.
“Can she carry us all, Dean?” he asked, eyes trailing over her strong back. “We have to get back to base. Fast.”
Dean framed Chevy’s long face with his fingers, pressing an affectionate kiss between her four eyes as the Levithmong crooned. He could feel her confusion and grief, and tried to comfort her despite the same feelings squatting in his own mind.
“Course she can,” Dean said proudly, clearing his throat. “Right baby?”
Dean avoided Sam’s eyes. He had to be a soldier now. He had to be the man his father had wanted him to be.
Otherwise Dean wasn’t going to survive this. Not again.
As if understanding him, Chevy nickered, bending her front legs to kneel in the dirt. Dean swung up onto her easily, adjusting his weight along the blue plates of her armor. He offered an arm to Sam, and his brother clambered on behind him, both Winchesters having to help Bobby up. Chevy shifted her weight, testing the feeling of having three men on her back, and Dean locked his fingers into the gaps between her neck plates.
“Alright girl,” he muttered. “Take us home.”
The base was in flames.
Chevy scaled the fence easily, digging her talons between the chain links as she cleared the obstacle in a few bounds. Spread across the flat tarmac, humans and demons fought each other, guns firing and voices shouting. Chevy kept her belly low to the ground, scuttling towards a large pile of discarded cargo. The heavy boxes provided good cover, bullets ripping into the sturdy wood.
The Levithmong whined as the humans slid off her back. Dean patted her reassuringly, wincing at the sudden burst of gunfire nearby.
Bobby shuffled to the edge of the boxes, peering cautiously towards the smoldering buildings. His eyes were wide and horrified as he took in the damage.
“Just what the hell is goin’ on here?” the scientist growled. “I gotta find Jo. I gotta, I gotta find my daughter.”
Bobby started forward, and Sam grabbed onto his arm, tugging him back.
“Are you crazy Bobby?” Sam whispered fiercely. “You’ll be shot!”
“I don’t care!” Bobby snapped, struggling to free his arm from the taller man’s grip. “My baby is in there! I ‘aint gonna sit on my ass out here if she’s in trou-”
“Dad!”
Bobby froze. All three men popped their heads over the boxes, sagging with relief as a familiar blonde woman ducked out of the open flight hangar, hurrying over towards them. Ash covered her back, sending a spray of covering fire to clear the way. A demon tried to block them, lunging towards Jo, but she put him down with a sharp crack of her pistol.
Making it across the dangerous tarmac safely, Jo ducked around the boxes, throwing her arms around her step-father. Bobby hugged her back just as crushingly.
Dean watched them, feeling numb.
Jo pulled away, blowing hair out of her eyes as she smiled over at the Winchesters.
“Uh, so, things have been a little, weird,” she said apologetically, ducking down low as a machine gun screamed to life nearby. Bobby snorted, everyone shuffling further into the shadows of safety the boxes provided.
“You don’t say? I hadn’t noticed!” Bobby hollered over the din.
Ash looked grim, reloading his rifle with sharp clicks. “Azazel took half a’ the battalion and just left. The demons took up guns after that, Alistair orderin’ us all to comply.”
Jo grinned, face flecked with blood. “Like hell we did.”
She glanced worriedly back towards the complex, where flames billowed out the windows of the cafeteria. “Azazel wants to eradicate the angels, Dad. I think he’s finally snapped.”
“Long time coming,” Bobby muttered.
“Alistiar is leading the fight here,” Jo continued. “Last we saw him, he was headed up towards Crowley. We were on his trail when I saw you hop the fence.”
Bobby peered cautiously around the corner of the crate, promptly pulling himself back as the wood around him splintered.
“All demon?” he asked, cursing as Jo nodded her head.
“Pretty much,” the pretty blonde confirmed. “A few humans here and there, but most of the trouble makers are demon.”
A boom echoed from the back of the base, and Sam whimpered, recognizing the area the blast came from. In the distance, the group could see rising flames, flickering directly from where the biolabs were.
So much for the research.
“We gotta do something!” Dean hissed, digging deep to find a part of himself he had hoped never to see again. He could do this. They had to survive.
Bobby reached out to grab Dean’s arm, the scientist shaking his head curtly. “No. We can handle things here. You need to get out there and stop that yellow eyed bastard.”
Dean could only stare at him, lost. “But, Bobby what are we even supposed to do?”
Bobby’s eyes softened, and he clapped an affectionate hand to Dean’s cheek. “I don’t know, son,” he said honestly. “But you gotta do somethin’. Or else it ‘aint just the angels that are gonna be eradicated. We will too.”
Sam snapped his fingers, drawing their attention.
“The lab outpost!” he exclaimed. “There’s probably still weapons stowed away there, enough to get us going at least. We can grab what we need and track down the angels. We’re going to need their help.”
Bobby nodded, pushing Dean towards Chevy as the Levithmong got to her feet. “You bet your ass. Tell Michael the truth, get ‘im to help.”
Dean struggled up onto Chevy, Sam clambering up behind him. There was another explosion, a mushroom cloud of smoke spewing forth from the cafeteria, and Chevy honked fearfully.
Jo hurried over, hand rummaging in the dirty satchel at her side. With a triumphant smile, she pulled out a clinking handful of metal.
“Here,” she offered the items to Dean. “I uh, I saved what I could.”
Dean stared down at her open hands, throat tightening as he recognized his knife and I.D tags.
“Thanks, Jo.” Dean smiled down at the woman he had come to see as the little sister he had never had. “I don’t… thank you.”
Bobby bit off a curse, slapping Chevy’s sleek dark hide.
“Now, go!” he ordered. “God keep you boys safe.”
Chevy scrambled away, zigzagging to avoid any bullets as she clambered back over the wire fence, bleating happily as she disappeared into the forest with the Winchesters.
Jo nudged her step-father with a shoulder, smiling tiredly.
“Didn’t think you were much of a prayin’ man, daddy-io.”
Bobby turned to smile at her, giving her a quick hug with one arm. “I’m not, baby. But I figure we could use all the help we can get.”
Sam knew where to go. He had studied all the maps, all the possible outposts he could have used for research and sample storage. He shouted the directions as Dean guided them through the forest, Chevy crashing through the thick vegetation. It was Sam’s first experience riding a Levithmong, but he couldn’t spare much thought for excitement.
Azazel was going to pay for what he had done.
The trees thinned, and the burned out husk of the outpost came into view. Chevy drew up beside it, breathing heavily through her wide nostrils, and Sam gave her a pat as he slid off her back. He left Dean with her, hurrying inside through the blackened doorway. There was a lot of old debris from the fire, and Sam pushed away rotting wood and ceiling tiles, making his way to where the storage lockers had been.
He shoved aside a beam and a blackened trunk came into view. Sam made a sound of triumph, fingers slipping against the grainy lock. The code on the trunks was the same all over the base, and after a few tries, the trunk slid open with a hiss.
Dean appeared in the doorway, looking around slowly.
“Sam?” he asked quietly, and Sam gritted his teeth against the emptiness in his brother’s voice. “What, what is this?”
Inside the trunk, a few guns and knives lay intact, protected by the outer shell of the trunk. Standard issue, and there wasn’t much ammo, but it was enough to get them by.
Hopefully.
“It’s a field outpost,” Sam said carefully, pulling the weapons free. There were even a few company issued t-shirts, and he tossed one towards his bare chested brother. “There are a few dotted around here, but this one was closest.”
Dean turned the soft cotton over in his hands.
“It was here wasn’t it?” his voice was small, and Sam paused in his scavenging. Dean was looking around them, at the blackened walls, the destroyed equipment. Sam didn’t have to ask his brother what he meant. They both knew what had happened here, close to eight years ago.
“Yeah,” he said curtly, turning back to the trunk. “But we got other problems right now, Dean.”
Dean slid the shirt over his head, pulling it down over his chest as he shook his head helplessly.
“Sam, I, I can’t.”
To Sam’s alarm, Dean slumped against the wall, sliding down to sit in a dejected heap. “Look what happened again. Cas….”
Dean’s face crumpled, dropping his face into his hands. “He hates me, Sam. I just, I ruined everything. Again.”
Sam paused, still crouched by the trunk. Slowly, he turned to stare incredulously at his brother, anger burning in his chest.
“You’re really going to do this now?” he asked, voice clipped. “You’re seriously going to pull that ‘Oh woe is me I can never be happy because my boyfriend yelled at me it must be my fault’ crap? Really, Dean?”
There was something of his brother’s usual fire in the glare that was aimed towards him. Good. Dean needed anger right now.
“Excuse me?” Dean growled. “Cas isn’t my boyfri-”
Sam gestured at him with disgust. “Lay off it, Dean! Everyone knows, and no-one cares. So you’re in love with an alien pigeon man. Who gives a flying fuck?”
Dean was staring at him, disbelieving, but didn’t exactly tell him he was wrong. “He’s an angel, Sam!”
Sam snorted, and Dean got to his feet. He jabbed a finger towards Sam, eyes blazing.
“He deserves someone of his own kind,” Dean said lowly. “He deserves better than me.”
Sam laughed at that, and Dean practically growled at him.
“Like Uriel?” Sam asked dryly. “Oh yeah, Cas is real happy with that.”
Dean dropped his gaze, looking away from his brother as his jaw clenched. Sam rolled his eyes.
“Look, you huge idiot. Anyone can see you two are like, made for each other.” Sam waved his hands dismissively, ignoring the own clench in his gut as he thought of a different angel. “So knock off this self-pitying bullshit and let’s go save him!”
Dean wasn’t looking at him, hands shaking where they balled into fists at his sides. Sam softened his tone, getting to his feet. “Everyone deserves happiness, Dean. Even us. You just have to stop being such, such a dick about it.”
“Not me, Sam,” Dean muttered, and Sam’s heart hurt for his brother. “Look what happened when I tried! Cas hates me, and he should. I fucked it all up.”
“No,” Sam sighed. “No Dean, you didn’t.”
Dean looked up at him, and Sam moved closer, reaching out to touch his brother’s arm reassuringly.
“Cas’s brother was just killed by a yellow eyed psycho. Cut the dude some slack. He didn’t mean it.” Sam gave Dean’s arm a squeeze. “Cas doesn’t hate you.”
Dean hung his head, defeated.
“I don’t, I don’t think I can lose him, Sam,” his voice cracked slightly, and Sam felt a surge of fierce love for his brother. Dean had always protected him, but this time, Sam wanted to do the protecting. “I can’t lose anyone else. Especially Cas.”
“I know.” Sam smiled, giving Dean a little shake. “But you gotta stop moping and help me. We’re doing this together, remember?”
Dean managed a weak chuckle, rubbing his eye as Sam moved away. “Since when are you so bossy?”
“Since always,” Sam tossed over his shoulder, looking around the lab for anything else that might be useful. “Now get your sorry ass moving! We have a demon to stop, angels to save, and you have a ton of makeup sex in your future if you’re gonna have a chance at apologizing to Cas.”
“Oh man,” a voice sniffed by the doorway, and both men jumped. “That was beautiful, Sam.”
Sam whipped around so quickly he almost hurt himself, tripping on the rubble. “Gabriel!”
The angel was covered in black soot, wings frazzled. His teeth were a dazzling white in his ash-blackened face as he smiled. “The one and only!”
The relief Sam felt was staggering, and Sam’s hands itched to grab him, to check the angel for any injuries. Gabriel looked exhausted as he trailed inside, looking around. Dean cleared his throat.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Not that we’re sad to see you.”
“Duh, saving the day!” Gabriel chirped, moving further into the lab, poking at the blackened debris. “Michael is moving the clan towards one of our Qaadah trees where he thinks they’ll be safe.”
The angel turned, feathers rustling. “But that bastard of a security chief isn’t going to give up that easy. He’s trying to tail them now, it’s almost like,” Gabriel frowned, shrugging. “I dunno, like he’s looking for something.”
Sam looked over at Dean worriedly, and Dean sighed.
“You got a plan?” he asked wearily. “Cause I gotta tell you, I’m all out of ideas.”
Gabriel shook his head, for once, expression completely serious. “No. But I know someone who might.”
Dean stared up at the silent tree, feeling weirdly sad as his eyes trailed along the now dull tendrils.
The Qaadah tree was silent, no longer glowing like it had been. Chevy and Hershey nickered worriedly nearby, talons stirring the ashes that seemed to coat everything. The whole forest was still, shocked into silence by the death of the home tree, and the lives that had been extinguished with it.
“This is your bright idea?” Dean asked incredulously. “Talking to a fucking tree?”
Gabriel cracked his eye open. The angel was kneeling amongst the quiet tendrils, wings folded against his back. “Well it wasn’t a fucking tree until you and my baby bro decided to christen it that! Which, thanks by the way, I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing what Castiel sounds like when he comes.”
Dean reddened, spluttering as Sam tried desperately not to laugh. “You, you can hear that? Here?”
Gabriel waved him away irritably, the angel closing his eyes again. “It records memories, you idiot. Congrats, your sex life just made it into our history books.”
Dean turned away with a dark mutter, glaring up at the tree as if it were somehow to blame. The dirt at the base of the tree was still scuffed and upturned where Dean had lain only the night before. Dean paused, boots toeing the loose leaves. He could still make out the indents were Castiel had lain, his wings stretched wide as Dean stroked his fingers along their feathers. Cas laughing when Dean touched a sensitive spot-
Fingers closed around his wrist, and Dean looked away blinking. Gabriel stood beside him, eyes pitying.
“You have to ask Geiad for guidance,” the angel said quietly. “She’ll help us.”
Dean tugged his arm away angrily. “Pray to a god? Oh yeah, coz that worked so well on Earth!”
“Dean!” Sam hissed, glaring over at him. He had copied Gabriel, kneeling in the mulch amongst the leaves. “Just pray to the goddamn tree and stop wasting time!”
With a grumble, Dean sank down beside his brother, Gabriel settling on his other side. Irritably, Dean held his hands out, folding his palms together and shutting his eyes.
“Dear Geiad,” he said loudly, and Sam groaned unhappily beside him. “We’re up shit creak without a paddle and could use some help. Maybe a motorboat or something.”
Gabriel was murmuring Enochian under his breath, and Dean fell silent, angry and frustrated.
This isn’t working, he thought bitterly. Cas is out there with Azazel on his tail, alone, and I’m sitting here trying to talk to a stupid tree. Son of a bitch-
Chevy nickered to him, rustling the leaves at her feet, and again, that odd awareness probed his mind. A sense of calm flooded Dean’s veins, an image slowly forming in his mind. Around him, the vines began to hum slightly, and Gabriel looked around himself in awe.
In Dean’s mind, he was looking down, at the crater the home tree had left, seeing the devastation that stretched through the forest. A voice whispered to him, urged him to move, and he obeyed the voice, banking to the left. He could smell prey, could smell the burnt banquet that had drawn him towards the devastation, but obediently followed the voice instead. His leathery wings beat the air, his shape casting a morbid shadow on the quiet trees below.
Dean’s eyes snapped open.
“I know what I have to do,” he said lowly, looking up towards the sky.
High above them, a leviathan of the skies screamed.
Castiel sat dejectedly beside Uriel, listening to his people panic.
Moments after the Winchesters had left, Uriel had appeared through the smoke, grabbing Castiel by the shoulders and forcing him away from Balthazar. The dark angel had forced Castiel to follow the line of distraught angels hurrying away from the tree, leaving their fallen to the forest. Castiel had spent the journey in a haze, Uriel encouraging him along with gentle pushes and flaps of his wings. The young baltoh had barely noticed when Michael let them rest at a Qaadah tree, following Uriel in a strange state of disbelief.
The tree was silent as what was left of the clan filtered around aimlessly, the wounded tended to by worried females that moved within the crowd. Castiel watched them all numbly, uncaring of the judgmental looks thrown his way, the anger directed towards him.
It was deserved. In his moment of weakness, Castiel had doomed them all, and for what? A human? A moment of bliss he had mistaken as a promise of a future?
Castiel looked away from the others, heart clenching as he remembered Dean’s face as the human was dragged away. Surely it could not have been false? The time they had spent together, the words exchanged, kisses shared. It couldn’t be wrong.
It couldn’t.
Michael moved amongst the tendrils of the tree, Lucifer beside him. Both his brothers looked shaken, feeling the aching emptiness where the pleasant hum of the home tree had always been.
“We cannot fight them, Michael,” Lucifer said, voice shaking. His wings were dirty, Castiel dully noted. Blackened with soot to the point they looked much like Castiel’s. “They are too powerful! You’ve seen what they can do.”
Michael paused at the trunk of the tree. Raphael was there, sitting serenely in front of the tree as she prayed. She opened her eyes as she sensed her mate, turning to look up at Lucifer calmly.
“We must trust in Geiad now,” she said quietly. “We must pray to Her for assistance.”
Lucifer took a step towards her, but Michael pushed him back with a warning rattle of his feathers.
“Assistance?” Lucifer spat angrily. “Balthazar lies dead, Gabriel missing! Geiad has deserted us because of our own stupidity! We should never have welcomed the toltag-”
“That is enough,” Michael said calmly, touching Lucifer’s chest briefly. “Peace, brother. You frighten the others.”
Castiel turned away, drawing his legs up towards his chest. He felt achingly numb, lost and alone. Uriel shifted beside him, the stoic angel unsure of what to say.
“I am sorry for your loss, Castiel,” he finally murmured, brushing Castiel’s wings with his own. “Balthazar will be missed.”
Castiel watched his clan mill around aimlessly in front of him. “As am I, Uriel. I, I am sorry.”
The burly angel winced, understanding what it was Castiel was really apologizing for. Castiel expected anger, harsh words perhaps, but Uriel merely nodded slowly.
“Thank you, Castiel. But you need not apologize. I trust in Geiad and Her decisions. She has decided that you should belong to another. As,” he struggled then, frowning violently. “…odd as he may be.”
Castiel turned his face towards Uriel , watching as the larger angel slowly slid the leather thong over his head, cupping the heavy tooth in his palm. The Hoath bond. Castiel suddenly felt guilty he had always shunned his. He had always thought it ugly, the Vniglag tooth a bitter reminder that Uriel had killed such a magnificent creature in his name.
Slowly, Uriel handed it to Castiel, and he took it after a moment’s hesitation.
“You, you give this to me?” he asked curiously. “You give up the Hoath?”
Uriel sighed, avoiding Castiel’s eyes. “With a heavy heart. I would have been proud to call you my mate, Castiel. I may not have always understood you, nor understood your actions but…”
He shrugged awkwardly. “I always loved you. I hope that though we shall not mate, that we can be, friends at least. Brothers.”
Castiel smiled, nodding. “I would like that, Uriel. Very much.”
Uriel smiled uncertainly back.
A loud screech rent the air, and both angels jumped, the Hoath slipping from Castiel’s fingers to clack against the hard packed dirt.
“Teloch!” someone screamed, and a group of fledglings began wailing. “We are lost!”
Angels scrambled for cover, screaming and shouting as a shadow fell across them all. Castiel gazed upwards in horror, recognizing the titanic wing span of the angel’s greatest enemy. It swooped down from above, sharp teeth glinting in the light, and Uriel was on his feet, shouting at Castiel to move.
It seemed Geiad had truly deserted them.
It swooped down, fearsome jaw clacking, but the creature did not attack. Castiel paused, bewildered as it landed awkwardly, wings flapping furiously and knocking several angels over. It was then Castiel realized there were figures in its claws, the teloch releasing them with a rattling hiss.
Castiel’s heart leapt as he recognized the dappled brown wings it released, fluttering and puffed with excitement.
“Oh we have to do that again,” Gabriel’s voice rang loud and clear, and the fleeing angels paused, turning disbelieving eyes towards the teloch. “That was awesome!”
From the teloch’s other talon, Samuel Winchester slowly swayed to his feet, pallor green as Gabriel moved to help him. The human stifled a retch, giving a full body shudder.
“Oh god. I think, I think I saw my life pass before my eyes,” he hiccupped. “It was, kind of boring.”
Gabriel made soothing noises and the teloch shifted, bowing its head low to the ground. A hush fell over the shocked angels as a figure slid down its bowed neck, boots hitting the dirt with a loud thud. The figure patted the teloch’s neck awkwardly, the giant creature clacking happily.
Castiel hardly dared breathe.
Dean.
The human looked around him nervously. Samuel leant heavily against Gabriel, both joining Dean to look out over the sea of shocked angels, Gabriel giving Castiel a tiny wave.
Dean’s eyes found him then, and Castiel shivered. He had never heard of anyone riding the teloch before. To do so, Geiad must have willed it to be so.
Castiel moved forward, ignoring Michael’s soft call. Angels parted before him, murmuring quietly as he passed them by. But Castiel’s eyes were trained solely on Dean, helpless to the siren call that thrummed through his veins.
Dean was anxious, worried, as Castiel approached.
“Cas,” the human began desperately. “Castiel I-”
“Dean. I, I am sorry.” Castiel felt his wings quiver. Dean had returned. Dean was here.
Castiel’s anger melted away. The atrocity committed against his people was not of Dean’s doing. Castiel had never truly believed it had, but fear had clouded his mind and heart.
“I was afraid, Dean,” he admitted quietly, and Dean took a step forward, the teloch snorting behind him. “For my brothers and sisters. For myself.”
The grief of Balthazar’s death was still raw, but Castiel did not blame Dean.
Castiel straightened his back, tilting his chin up. “I am not anymore.”
Dean cleared the space between them, wrapping his arms around Castiel’s shoulders and pulling him close. Castiel clutched him in return, wings twitching and fluttering with joy. Angels were muttering around them but Castiel didn’t care.
Dean had come home.
Michael approached them both, eyes serious as he eyed the teloch warily. “I appreciate your help, toltag. But I fear the demon seeks to destroy us completely.”
Dean drew away from Castiel.
“You have to fight,” he said boldly, and the angel’s fell silent to listen to him. To listen to the one that dared tame the teloch.
Castiel looked at Dean worriedly. “Our number is not nearly powerful enough to launch an assault. What chance do we have?”
His heart leapt as Dean reached for his hand, fingers intertwining. Dean smiled. “You gotta have a little faith, Cas.”
Castiel smiled back, heart pounding, but now with joy instead of grief.
“I do, Dean,” he said softly, leaning in to kiss the human, uncaring of the shocked gasps around him. “In you.”
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