Something's wrong/Dean & Castiel

[iamwinchester]

Dean was sure it came as no surprise to any of them how he dealt with what had happened. He’d drink more than was healthy, even for him. His sleeping patterns were the wrong way around, daylight hours sleeping off the alcohol he’d consumed the night before. In the days that followed he’d had some of the worst hangovers of his life, and somehow that

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[diefirst]

Castiel had only spared a few, brief minutes at Bobby's after the three of them had returned. Three, not five. And while he too had been affected by the loss of the two female hunters, he knew that it wasn't him place to intrude. Those five humans had been a family, and Castiel knew all too well what it was like to lose those.

But that had been weeks ago now, and Castiel still hadn't been back for more than a brief visit. Even then, his presence had stayed masked; wanting nothing more than to check on the brothers that one time. What he'd found had been enough to keep him from making a return visit. Not unless he had to. Instead, all his time has been spent searching for his Father, and nothing more. He doesn't want that time free to think of anything else

[iamwinchester]

Whether he wants to feel it or not, the flood of relief that Dean can feel filtering through his body is short-lived, the problem at hand needing their attention now, and he dispenses with pleasantries that are never really there anyway.

"Cas... Sam's gone." He's trying not to sound as worried as he is, and he's sure that he doesn't need to sound worried at all for Cas to just show up like he usually does. They haven't seen each other for a week, at least, and it's starting to show in the way he's actually verging on happy to hear the angel's voice down the other end of the line.

"Something's going on. Where are you?" It's not so much that he's overly-protective of Sam, not as much as he used to be, but because every single one of his hunter's instincts are firing, telling him his brother's in trouble.

[diefirst]

Those two words are enough to push him in to action, and Castiel is quick to make the journey from Kolkata to South Dakota. The static that accompanies him on the phone lasts for too long a moment as the signal shifts to cope with the change of location. He has no reason to waste time waiting for a location when he's already sure he knows where to find the hunter.

"South Dakota. In Bobby's yard." His own search is put to the back of his mind in favor of finding out what's happened to Sam, all too aware of what that could mean for the man. Especially if Lucifer is involved. "You need to tell me everything that you know."

[iamwinchester]

The static has Dean pulling the phone away from his ear again, frowning because he already has a headache - he could do without the noise down the line. His eyes are still fixed outside, sure he's going to hear the rustle of feathers sooner rather than later, but when it doesn't come he pulls his cell back to his ear and hears the tailend of where Cas is.

"We moved on." He doesn't want to go into the reasons why they aren't at Bobby's anymore, and he doesn't think he needs to explain that it was too tough for him to stay in a place that feels like the home he hasn't had since he was four. Not when they're missing two family members.

"We're in Ohio. I'm in Huron. River's Edge Inn." He still doesn't understand why Sam would just take off on his own, and it makes him feel worse that he has no idea when Sam left, the message sounding like his brother was already on the move.

[diefirst]

It's the same thing once again as Castiel heads to Ohio instead. He can't blame either of the brothers for wanting to move on, but it does make things a little more complicated. He'd rather it was somewhere the brothers knew well than somewhere they were simply visiting. But it's a moot point now, and so it's one he knows to ignore.

Only after he's glanced around does Castiel talk again, now standing in the middle of the parking lot outside. He doesn't know the room, and so he's left waiting for Dean to make an appearance of his own.

"Where was he last?"

[iamwinchester]

The second he sees Cas standing in the parking lot with the same ramrod straight back and purposeful expression Dean opts to throw his cell on the bed, figures just walking outside and talking to the guy works better. Practically wrenching the door off its hinges, he glances around, still unable to be anything but the hunter he was raised as.

The sunlight, though still winter-weak, bothers his eyes, and he squints into it, wishes he'd just told Cas to get his ass into his room so he could shut it out again.

"Here. He was here. I uh... we haven't seen each other for a couple days." He says as he approaches the angel, kinda hopes Cas'll just let that one lie, doesn't really feel like having to explain both of them needed space. "He left me a voicemail while I was sleeping saying he was following a lead on some case... I don't know, man." He's back to scrubbing a hand over his face, tired, hungover... worried.

[diefirst]

It takes a few moments longer before Castiel reacts to Dean's arrival. Time isn't something that's ever mattered to him before. Millennia of existence make days feel like nothing. But those days he's kept himself out of contact with the brothers are ones he knows he'll remember for a long time to come. And despite the importance of his own mission; despite his reason for turning his back on it, Castiel is thankful for this change.

The phone is pocketed smoothly as he turns to face the approaching hunter, and all trace of his last thoughts are wiped from his face. There is a reason he's here, after all.

"We'll find him." All he has to offer for the time being are assurances. He told Lucifer that he'd lay down his life for Sam, and he knows that this time is no difference. And while he knows that Lucifer's acquisition of his true vessel is something he would feel happening, it doesn't mean that his fallen brother isn't responsible for this. "What case? What did he tell you, Dean?"

[iamwinchester]

"He told me nothing. Squat. Nada. He said he was following a lead on a case and hung the hell up." It wasn't completely lost on Dean how brief his brother had been. Sure, they hadn't seen each other in a couple days, but this wasn't how they worked. But it was hardly like what happened had been easy on Sam either, so he decides soon after that when they find the other man, he won't chew him out as much as usual.

"Jesus, Sam." He huffs out his annoyance on the back of casual blasphemy - it's not that he's trying to get a rise out of Cas, he just doesn't think far enough in advance to watch what he's saying. "I called him up when I listened to the message. Got a bunch of supernatural feedback."

[diefirst]

"Your brother is still one of the most protected people in existence, Dean." With the forces of Heaven wanting Lucifer to use Sam as his vessel and all of Hell working under the very same fallen angel, there isn't a single doubt in his mind that Sam is still alive. Well, on the other hand, isn't something he can be so sure about. "He hasn't said yes, so there's still time."

He starts to make his way toward Dean and back toward the room he'd just left. The sooner they left, the better. "Get your things together." He pauses, glancing briefly over to the Impala before making a decision. "Find out wherever he was last seen and I'll take you there. Now."

[iamwinchester]

Dean was listening hard enough to hear what Cas was going for, and while he appreciated it, his feet only start moving after the angel does, hears the second part of what he's saying a hell of a lot clearer. They're doing something about it. They're going to find Sam.

Usually he's not big on traveling angel-style. He has the stomach for a lot of the crap he eats, just not that. But their reason for using it as a fallback is important enough for him to swallow down the unpleasant twist already in the pit of his stomach and do as he's told.

The hangover is almost forgotten as he emerges from the door again, bag over his shoulder, and it's not until he's pushing it into the trunk of the Impala, exchanging it for a bag full of his favorite weapons, that he feels another wave of nausea hit him.

Dropping the bag at Cas's feet, all he has to do now is hit up the dude at the check-in desk for any information he has. It's hardly like Sam's hard to miss, and he figures his brother must've tried to rent a car or something using one of the