Virus Free and Skeletons in his Closet- OTA

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Kerai was gone. Cas hadn't been so sure before, but now her name was wiped from the hotel registry books and her contact information from the messenger. He knew that there had been so much more she could have taught him, and that during their short time together here in the village she had become much more than just a friend of his- she was family

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[faramir_hurin]

She's gone. She's gone. They are both gone. Kerai and Penny... I'm going to check at the Ribbon about Kerai, but I'm sure she's not there. Penny was not anywhere.

Into the Ribbon, but I don't see Kerai. I can't See into Castiel, but I don't need to.

"She's gone."

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Cas turned to see who it was (of course he remembers Faramir this time), then swallowed as he nodded and grimaced.

"Kerai is gone."

[faramir_hurin]

"I was sure that was so." She is. My 'little sister' is gone.

"I knew it would happen one day. She was like family to me." I've never had any dreams about Kerai--I'll never see her again, I am sure, or little Nora either.

"It hurts when people disappear." I could have talked to Penny about Kerai, to Kerai about Penny.

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Castiel had already started to think the worst, after Chuck left. Now he wished he had gone to see her, but he obviously didn't want to burden her with his own problems. Not when she was alone with Nora and dealing with the loss of her husband.

He nodded again, as if to say he understood. "She was like a big sister to me." Except he was obviously older. "I haven't lost many here." Cas added, deciding that it definitely wasn't easy. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

[faramir_hurin]

"That makes you my even younger brother. Kerai even said that the older brother has a special place with Nurail children, and she considered me in that position."

Of course it is ridiculous for Castiel to be my younger brother.

"I feel the need for a drink. Would you have one also?" Castiel is working, but I don't think it would hurt him. "I suppose we're the family that's left behind."

I am always left behind.

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Castiel said big sister, but Kerai was really more like a mother. Which was funny, considering Chuck and all... Not that Cas had any idea about all of that.

He's at work, but he isn't really working all that much. Not very many people pass through each day. Castiel goes to one of the cabinets and pulls out a bottle of scotch as well as two glasses. If they were going to drink for Kerai and Chuck, they were going to do it right.

"She certainly spoke highly of you when you've come up in conversation." Castiel agreed. "I technically have many siblings, a few of whom are here. It just isn't the same. Sometimes you find closer family in friends."

Like Bobby said, family didn't end in blood. "Did you know Chuck left too? He was from my world. He was a prophet."

[faramir_hurin]

I do not drink scotch, as that is the bottle Castiel picks. But Kerai did, and it is only right to drink scotch for her.

"So you are now my brother too. I've had several here I consider as brothers, none of them human. Richard was Furyan and Garak was Cardassian. My older brother Boromir went to Garak's world when he left this place." I have another brother now. "I knew Gabriel. He gave me a sword."

The opposite other Gabriel gave it to the opposite other Faramir, really.

"I did not know he was gone, but I knew he was a prophet. I remember when Kerai and Chuck first got together." I knew she would choose him, and the pain was worth what they had together. "Do you think they'll be together somewhere?"

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Cas wasn't a big scotch drinker either, but Chuck was. Not to mention Balthazar had always told Cas that scotch was classier than other booze. They needed classy drinks to say goodbye.

"I'd like to be your brother." Cas smiled slightly as he opened the bottle to pour them drinks. "Dean and Sam Winchester and their family are like my family as well." The more the merrier really. Okay, so the Winchesters didn't necessarily feel that way.

"I would like to think they are together. Chuck disappeared from our world a long while back. I believe he may have died, but a body was never recovered. Only... well, there is only one Prophet at a time and then a new Prophet, Kevin, came onto the radar."

"I've been told Gabriel left not long before I arrived. Aaron Corbet said he used to work at the candy store." Cas thought it suited him well. "My other siblings that are still here aren't as open about being angels. They would rather be alone, or else pass as humans."

Okay, so they never said that, but obviously Lucifer wanted to stay hidden, and

[faramir_hurin]

"He did work at the candy store: he ran it." I don't know about the others. "If I have met your other siblings then I do not know it."

After Gabriel, it's likely better that I stay away. Not that it was my fault that my opposite got that sword, but it makes me embarrassed.

"I didn't know much about Chuck, certainly not that he'd disappeared from your world." I wonder if he came here and just never went back. "It's less surprising to just disappear from here, though."

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Perhaps he'd seen Balthazar in passing. His Brother didn't have a fake name or anything, he just didn't go around saying he was an angel.

"Yes, humans don't disappear from our world often." Not that he was aware of, anyway. Some just weren't so easy to keep track of. "But here it happens a lot."

"Gabriel gave you a sword?" Cas wondered if it had been cursed or something. Likely nothing too fatal, since Faramir was still here. The village wouldn't allow something all that deadly anyway.

[faramir_hurin]

"He gave me a sword, but it wasn't..." Castiel was not here for that weekend, I don't think.

"The village changed us for two days. Our personalities were changed. Kerai said that the other Faramir was everything I am not and I can only guess that Gabriel was the same. He wasn't his usual self." I knew that much at the time. "He gave me a sword because my opposite made it seem like I needed one. I already have two."

Boromir's from years ago and one he had made for me here.

"I was too embarrassed to give it back. After the opposite me, I didn't really want to think about it at all. My opposite is an absolute bastard."

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

"I'm glad I wasn't here for that. I... honestly don't know what my opposite would be like." He was aware that there were so many different versions of him already, and he wasn't even talking about the ones that had been here in the village before.

Cas had memory problems, or he was often being controlled, it wasn't all his fault.

"That does sound like the opposite of what Gabriel would do. He would usually say you were shit out of luck and not help you get a sword at all." And then he would laugh. Cas smiled a bit almost fondly. As much of a jerk as Gabriel was, Castiel appreciated him more now than he had ever used to.

He held out a glass for Faramir to take. "We should toast to Kerai, but... I don't know what to say. Do you have any words?"

[faramir_hurin]

It's somewhat shocking to hear Castiel use vulgar language, but I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. He's quite old and has been around so many different people that he could be vulgar in more languages than I have years.

"It's a fine sword. At some point, I imagine that I will find someone appropriate to give it to." That makes the most sense.

"I always have words." Many, many words. "Kerai allowed me to talk. She listened well."

But that's not a toast.

"Kerai had no family when she came here, but we who are now her brothers drink to honour her. Wise beyond her years, I am honoured to have known her."

I look to Castiel. Perhaps he will have his own words now.

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

He didn't curse so often usually, but he had developed quite the colorful language while hanging around the Winchesters especially. For this example, however, he phrased it as such because that would be how Gabriel would have said it. He didn't even realize he had surprised Faramir by it.

Castiel didn't have a lot of practice, but he knew he should say something. "To Kerai, our friend and teacher. Our confidant even during our darkest times, whose Weaving voice was unlike anything I have ever heard before. You will be missed."

[faramir_hurin]

I hold up my glass.

"And Chuck. He did what he was tasked to do and gave Kerai everything she needed, even things she never thought she could have. They belong together. My hope is that they are now somewhere they can live their lives together with their daughter as a family.

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Somehow, it was even harder to say goodbye to Chuck, but perhaps that was because he'd known him longer. And there was that pang of guilt that he'd been such a jerk to Anna the day he told her Chuck was gone. Chuck was as much a teacher to her as Kerai was for Castiel.

"To Chuck, Prophet of the Lord, scribe of the Winchesters, who helped to fight the Apocalypse and save the world before arriving here in the village and finally finding love and peace. You will also be missed."

It was sort of odd, toasting an alcoholic.