Tell me where we go from here 31/?
Chapter 31
"He's not waking up, Sammy." Dean looked up at his brother but Sam just shook his head sadly and set the backpacks aside.
"We can only wait." He said as if that was an answer.
"Let's get the tent up, then." Dean decided with a look around. Soon it would be completely dark and he would feel better if they had Cas somewhere safe. Or at least not on the forest ground. Not that human standards applied to angels but lying on the damp forest ground with the wetness and the cold slowly creeping into his body, that couldn't be good for humans nor angels.
"I'll see if I can find a place." Sam said. There was the clearing behind them but that was the last place where Dean wanted to spent the night and he guessed Sam felt the same. He stayed at Cas side, not even ashamed that he was holding his hand, while Sam wandered off to find a spot where they could set up their campsite.
"Cas, c'mon." Dean rubbed Cas' hand between his, it was so cold. If it weren't fore the rise and fall of his chest he would have been convinced that Cas was dead.
While he kept his eyes on Cas' face, he didn't want to miss a blink, Dean tried at the same time to keep an eye on his brother. Who knew if that had been the only trap Metatron had set up? Okay, his main target had been Cas but you never knew what was going on in that angel's sick brain.
"There is a spot over there." Suddenly Sam was back. Dean couldn't tell how long he'd been gone, too long, it was almost completely dark by now. "It's not far."
They needed to carry Cas again, but here between the trees with underwood and rocks they couldn't set up the tent. And getting farther away from the clearing wasn't that bad of an idea, Dean had to admit.
Sam had found a nice little spot but it took them almost an hour to get everything over there, put up the tent and get a fire going.
"He's still out like a light." Dean said when Sam came into the tent with bowls of steaming soup. Cas was lying in the middle sleeping bag now, at least he had it warm and comfy like that, but he hadn't even blinked since they'd found him. He was still breathing, though.
Dean accepted the bowl but then he just held it, welcoming the warmth seeping through his fingers.
"Eat." Sam ordered in a soft tone.
"Not hungry." Dean glanced at the soup, in the poor light it looked like melted tar. The smell alone made him want to gag.
"You haven't eaten all day." Sam pointed out and Dean wasn't sure if that was true or not. He couldn't tell. The day blurred together to endless hacking through that damn hedge.
If he'd been any faster ... He could have reached Cas before he'd crossed that invisible line. It was all his fault, he hadn't been quick enough.
"It's not your fault." Sam said as if he was reading his mind. "We didn't know what would happen and Cas walked right into it. Like he was drawn to it." Sam patted his shoulder. "I'm not sure if you could have held him back."
"I should have tried."
"You did." Sam shifted to a more comfortable position on the other side of Cas and started eating his soup. He looked as enthusiastic as Dean felt at that task but he did eat and between two scoops he pointed with his spoon at Dean.
"Yeah, yeah." Just to please him Dean dipped his spoon into the soup and raised it again. Gooey stuff dripped from it and he wrinkled his nose. It didn't smell too bad, quite yummy if he was honest, and he knew he needed all the energy he could get. With a sigh he put the spoon in his mouth. It tasted good, warm and rich, and now his stomach remembered that it was empty and had been for a while.
He cleared his bowl and ate the crackers Sam had put at the side in record time and then handed the empty bowl over to his brother. Without a word Sam slipped outside to clean the dishes or whatever and Dean focused on his friend again. No, Cas was Sam's friend, he was more to Dean. Lover, yeah, that was the right word. Not that he would ever say that one out loud. Or maybe he should.
He took Cas' hand in his again, it was still too cold.
"You can wake up now." He said and with his other hand he brushed the hair out of Cas' face. "Come back to me, Cas."
He didn't know what Sam was doing outside but it kept him busy for a while and Dean was grateful for that. He didn't know if he could stand them both sitting around Cas, clueless on how to help him, with nothing else to do than to wait.
"You know, when I get my hands on that douchebag." Dean promised darkly but knew he wouldn't get the chance. Cas wouldn't want that and he would give Dean some shit about that idea. He just needed to wake up for that.
The zipper of the entrance moved and Sam slipped back in.
"There is a creek near by." He said it as if that was important. "Maybe you should go and clean up a bit."
Dean opened his mouth to protest but then he saw Sam's face in the flashlight he carried. It was clean now but that only made the cuts and scratches more visible. Dean looked the same, he guessed, plus more dirt.
He didn't want to leave Cas but he wouldn't be of any help if the cuts got infected. And now that he'd noticed them he felt them burning. In his face, on his hands and his torso. The jeans and boots had protected his lower body, at least from the worst, but Sam was right, he should get cleaned up.
"There's water and the first aid kit by the fire." Sam added when Dean reluctantly nodded to the idea. "I'll sit with him for a moment."
Dean didn't want to leave Cas but Sam had a point here.
"Yell if something changes."
Already halfway out of the tent Dean glanced over his shoulder but by then Sam had switched his flashlight off and the light coming from the fire was too weak to do more than to create more dark shadows. He could make out shapes but barely. With a sigh he got out of the tent.
As promised there was everything he needed at the fire and he shed his torn shirts right there where he had at least some light to have a first look at his damaged body. He knew that scratches could hurt like a bitch even if they were only superficial but he found some rather deep ones as well. A few had even bled quite a bit but by now they were crusted over with dried blood and dirt.
Just to make sure he peeled off his jeans as well. There were a few torn patches in the denim but he couldn't tell if there was blood or only dirt around them.
Nothing too bad on his legs, he found out, but he better cleaned those up as well. In only his boots and underwear he followed the soft mumbling of the creek. The water was so cold that it bit in his skin and his fingers were numb after only a few seconds but Dean gritted his teeth and washed his whole body. With the flashlight he made sure that he got every spot and then he staggered back to the campsite, shivering and with clattering teeth, to take care of the cuts. And he could use one of the painkillers.
When he came back into the tent, nothing had changed. Sam had stretched out in his sleeping bag and only raised his head when Dean came in. He had a hand on Cas' chest so he could monitor his breathing. There was not much else he could do. He was fighting a losing battle against sleep, Dean could tell.
"Anything?" Dean asked in a low voice.
"Nothing." Came Sam's answer.
"Go to sleep." Dean made himself comfortable in his own sleeping bag but he doubted he could sleep. Not with Cas lying there like this. However, his body ached from the hard work and he already felt his eyelids drop. For now he was way too cold to actually sleep but it wouldn't take long until he would be warm again.
"Wake me if ..." Sam didn't finish the sentence but Dean couldn't tell if it was because he didn't know what if he was hoping for or if Sam had fallen asleep mid-sentence. Anyway, a minute later his breathing had evened out and he was fast asleep.
"Just you and me now, uh?" Dean rolled to his side and mirrored the position Cas usually preferred. With his head on Cas' shoulder Dean listened to the in and out of air coming from Cas.
Outside the forest was back to its normal self with the usual noises of the night and this time it was comforting. Dean's mind only drifted to Purgatory for a second but didn't stay there. The noises outside where good, they meant that whatever Metatron had done to this place was over.
Dean didn't want to sleep but his body needed the rest and when he closed his eyes, he didn't open them again.
When he woke up, it was morning. Judging by the light coming through the tent the sun was already high up in the sky, so probably closer to noon, Dean guessed.
"Cas?" Dean asked and propped himself up on one elbow to look the angel in the face. Nothing had changed. Cas was still unconscious and as far as Dean could tell he hadn't moved at all over the night.
He glanced over to Sam but his sleeping bag was empty.
"Why did he let me sleep?" Dean muttered and scrambled out of his bag. He didn't want to leave Cas but his bladder had once again other idea. And he needed to find his brother.
He found Sam at the fire, boiling water for their morning coffee. Dean could use some caffeine and a bit later they sat shoulder to shoulder at the fire, nursing their coffees and staring into the flames.
"We can't get him out of here like this." Sam said without taking his gaze off the flames.
"I know." He had thought about carrying the angel but with the rocky terrain it was next to impossible. Besides, it had taken them almost three days to get here, even if they headed for the nearest road, they didn't know how long that would take. The terrain was tricky, what seemed like a short distance on the map turned out to be day's trip.
"We can't leave him like this." Dean said after a long moment. The thought alone of Cas out here, unconscious and unprotected, made him sick, Dean couldn't do that.
So it was either one of them stayed with Cas while the other one went to get help or to risk it and try to carry Cas out which most likely would end with at least a twisted ankle on their part. If not worse.
Sam took a stick and started poking the fire. "Hannah?"
"You think she's willing to help?" Dean still wasn't sure if he trusted her. But Sam was right, she could probably help. If she could get here. The angels couldn't fly anymore, they used cars nowadays.
"Dunno." Sparks burst up from his poking. "I prayed to her. She didn't answer."
Dean nodded. He hadn't expected less. Angels, never there when you need them.
"I was thinking." Sam threw the stick in the flames and took his mug of coffee in both hands. "This trap."
"What's with it?" Dean asked casually but on the inside he dared to hope, this was Sam's "I'm on to something here" tone.
"Metatron is obsessed with stories, right?"
"Yeah?" That had been how they'd first met him, always hungry for a good story.
"Think about it, the brambles, the thorns and Cas in the middle, sleeping."
"What's your point?" That stirred something in his mind, something familiar, but he couldn't quite grasp it.
"You remember Sleeping Beauty?"
Chapter 32
Masterpost