Fic: Don't Ever Look Back 4/9 (Supernatural; Dean/Castiel, HS AU, Explicit)
Title: Don't Ever Look Back
Author: misachan
Artist: slinkymilinky (Link to Art Master Post)
Word Count: 3385
Characters/Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Dean/Anna, Sam, Uriel, Zachariah
Warnings: Violence (including violence between family members), drug use (nothing stronger than pot), underage drinking (nothing harder than beer), sex between an 18 and 17-year-old, sexuality angst
Summary: Another day, another town; when their bounty hunter father enrolls he and Sam in yet another school Dean thinks this will just be another town he'll forget five minutes after he leaves it. Things get more interesting when Sam befriends a classmate of Dean's and the lonely boy with the strange name and stranger family slowly gets under Dean's skin. Their new friendship gets complicated when it becomes clear that Castiel's brothers aren't just strange, they're dangerous, and the secrets they keep and the sins they bury have a lot to do with Dean. It would all be bad enough even without Dean starting to worry that maybe friendship isn't all he wants.
A Dean/Castiel high school love story with fist fights, movie nights, make outs, broken hearts, hospital vigils and a steamed up hotel shower.
Castiel paced back and forth behind the school, checking his phone with every pass. When he finally saw Uriel turn the corner the relief was so strong that for a second Castiel forgot to be angry. "I wasn't sure you were coming."
Uriel's eyebrows raised, that smile on his face that he used when he was trying to put on that he didn't have care in the world. "I said I would, didn't I?"
Castiel knew him too well for that. "You've said a lot of things lately." Castiel saw the walls go up behind Uriel's eyes and there. Now the anger was back. "Where have you been? You haven't been in school for over a week, I can't cover for you anymore."
Uriel smiled again, this one even falser than the first. "Soon you won't have to."
"What does that mean?" He looked around to make absolutely certain that no one was watching. "Are you setting fires again?" Uriel liked to destroy things, Castiel knew that, and he'd made his brother promise to take him along so he could mitigate the damage.
"Ease your conscience."
"Then what's been going on? What haven't you been telling me?" Castiel wished that hadn't come out quite so needy.
Uriel sighed, the fake joviality fading away. "I'd hoped you were too occupied with Winchester to notice. It would figure the vagrant wouldn't even be good enough for that."
"I wish you wouldn't talk about Dean that way."
Uriel crossed his arms, his eyes distant for a moment, and Castiel felt cold fear creep in around his stomach. He could count on one hand the times he'd ever seen Uriel unsure about anything. "I'd hoped I would be able to choose my moment better."
"Chose your moment for what?"
Uriel put his hands on Castiel's shoulders. "I've been working on plan. One that's nearly complete," he said, his eyes lit up with a zeal Castiel had never seen before. "I'm going to break our brother out of captivity."
Castiel jerked backward out of his grasp. "That isn't funny."
"It's not meant to be." He sighed, crossing his arms again. "I'd hoped you would see reason."
"You want me to see reason? Uriel, this is insane. Lucifer's a monster, you can't---"
"Don't call him that."
"It's the name he's earned," Castiel countered, his eyes narrowing. "And he is. He's in prison for a reason, Michael put him there himself."
"Funny how it's always family business stays in the family unless Michael decides it's doesn't."
"He's a murderer. You can't deny that."
"Do you really think Michael and Raphael are any better?" He put one hand back on Castiel's shoulder. "I want your help with with this. You're clever, you'll see flaws in the plan I won't."
Castiel recoiled backward again. "No."
Uriel looked resigned. "I was afraid you would say that."
Castiel didn't see the switchblade in Uriel's hand until it was much too late; almost before he could process what was happening Uriel grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up against the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt the edge of the blade press against his throat. "What are you going to do?" he said, forcing himself to meet Uriel's eyes again. He was actually glad this was happening so fast. It kept him from being as terrified as he knew he should be.
"That depends on what you choose in the next five seconds."
"I won't help you."
"Can I at least depend on your silence?"
Castiel swallowed hard. "Don't do this. It's over now. Just let it be over."
"It's too late for that."
"I have to say something. If they find out I knew and didn't say anything it'll be as bad as if I had helped you anyway."
"Then I don't see what you don't join me. When Anna abandoned the family we swore the two of us would always back each other. Did you forget that?"
"No. No, I haven't but I can't. Anything else I would, you know that but not with this." He could feel himself getting light-headed from being held against the wall. "Please put me down."
The blade just pressed harder against his neck. "Why did you put me in this position, Castiel?"
He never knew whether Uriel really would have gone through with it; just then they heard someone coming around the corner and Uriel dropped him. Castiel liked to believe the answer would have been no, but then there were the nights when he closed his eyes and remembered the raw belief in his brother's eyes. Uriel glanced at him and Castiel nodded, their normal dynamic coming back before either of them seemed to realize it.
Castiel watched Uriel disappear around the corner and he sank to the ground, his legs giving out on him. He looked up in time to see the ancient senior English teacher toddle around the corner, a pack of cigarettes in hand. "What are you doing back here?"
He would wonder later what it said about him that it had never even occurred to him not to lie. He pulled a joint out of his pocket, his hands shaking hard enough that it took two tries to light it. "I'll stay quiet if you will."
***
By the time third period rolled around and there was still no sign of Cas Dean was starting to worry. He'd just pulled out his phone to text again when Cas slid into the vacant seat seat beside him, reeking of pot and a nervous tic shaking his leg so hard the whole desk vibrated. "Dude, where've you been?" Dean whispered, glad the bio teacher was half-deaf. "Why haven't you been answering your phone?"
If was like Castiel hadn't heard him. "Cas, what's going on? You never get baked this early."
"I need to talk to you," Castiel said, his voice as flat as a zombie's. "Right now."
"Um...sure." Dean felt alarm flash through him when he saw Cas get up so quickly the seat would have toppled over backward if it hadn't been bolted to the desk, not caring if he got caught. Dean at least waited until the teacher had turned her back before sneaking out the back entrance, following Cas down to the mostly-empty cafeteria, noticing that Cas' hands were balled into tight fists the entire way.
It wasn't until they were sitting opposite each other that Dean saw the mark on his neck. "Shit, Cas," he said, tipping Castiel's chin up so he could get a good look at the red line along the side of his throat. Up close Dean could see the dark bruise blossoming on his chest, almost like.... Dean felt his eyes narrow. Like someone had put him up against a wall. "What the hell happened?"
Cas just stared at his hands, his leg still shaking hard enough to move the table. "Dean, if you found out Sam was planning to do something terrible, what would you do?"
Dean felt his brain immediately jump into crisis mode. "Did Sam tell you he was up to something? Is he running away again?"
Castiel shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. Sam's not in any trouble, that I know of." Cas looked at him and Dean knew he'd seen people facing down the barrel of a gun who'd looked less panicked than he did just then. "I found out that Uriel is planning on breaking our brother out of prison."
It took Dean's mind a second to catch up with that. "Wait, what? Lucifer, you mean, right? That's the brother he's breaking out? The one who had my mom killed, that Lucifer?"
"I'm aware of my brother's crimes, Dean."
"Why the hell would he want to break Lucifer out of the pen?"
"I don't know. I think he believes Lucifer would be a better authority than Michael."
"But that's nuts!"
"I know." He raked one hand through his hair. "I don't know what I should do. Dean, what would you do?"
"Forget what I would do, Cas, you gotta call the cops."
Castiel was quiet for a long moment. "If this were Sam, would you do that? Would you turn him over to strangers?"
Now that Castiel put it like that, Dean wasn't at all sure. "I...mean, I guess it...how the hell is he even planning to do this?" he said, skirting around the issue entirely.
"He must have aid. My brother has agents, probably some of them." He stared down at his hands again. "He asked me to help him."
"Cas. Dude. Tell me you said no."
"Of course I did," he snapped. That flash of anger drained into something desperate and desolate. "Maybe I should have said yes. Not to actually help," he said, cutting off Dean's outrage before it could start, "but maybe to buy some time to talk sense into him. I can temper him. Uriel goes too far when he's on his own but if I'm there I can talk him down, I can....."
Dean tipped Castiel's chin up. "Cas. Listen to me, okay? Whatever crazy shit Uriel's up to, it's not your fault. It's on him."
"He's my brother, Dean. I have to do something."
Dean drummed his fingers against the table. "Kind of hate to say this, but he's got other brothers. They're the ones who're supposed to be riding herd on him, not you."
If anything, Castiel looked even less happy about that idea than he had about going to the cops. "What would you do, Dean?"
"If it was Sam in this big a mess? Find him and sit on him until he started making sense, but I don't think that's really an option here."
Cas sighed in seeming agreement. "I don't know where he is. He's either turned off his phone or thrown it away, and in any case I don't think I could overpower him."
Dean tipped Castiel's chin up again, tracing his thumb down the mark on his neck. "Uriel do that?" he asked, keeping all of his focus on calming down the flash of rage heating up his blood because that sure as all hell looked like the kind of mark that came from a blade. Castiel's eyes shifted sideways and that was all the answer Dean needed. "Okay. Okay, you don't go anywhere alone, you hear me? You're either with me or you're with Sam, kid's scrawny but he knows how to fight. I've seen you fight, so I know that if you're with one of us we can take him down, easy. We see him, we'll...I don't know, grab him and lock him in a room until he stops being crazy."
"What if he gets hurt?" he said, his voice very soft, and Dean could see him imagining that family picture and how empty it was getting. "What if he hurts someone else?"
Dean had to admit, he was a lot more concerned with the latter but he would never tell Cas that. "We'll figure something out. Okay? I know how to track people down, it just takes time."
"You don't even like Uriel."
"Seriously, Cas, I couldn't give less of a shit about Uriel right now. I like you, and if that means tracking down your looney tunes brother and punching sense into him I'll do it."
Castiel nodded, sniffling a little bit and trying to hide it. "Thank you, Dean. I've never had a friend like you before."
It always threw Dean how Cas could just say things like that, no self-consciousness at all. "Don't ever tell anyone, but the feeling's mutual, okay? And Cas, I swear, if you ever tell anyone I said that I will punch you in the face."
That at least got a smile out of him. "C'mon," Dean said. "Let's find Sam and come up with a game plan."
***
As it turned out, while they did come up some plans, and actually some good ones, as far as Dean was concerned, they didn't get the chance to implement any of them. Two days later Dean showed up to find the school buzzing, everyone looking at their phones and, to Dean's absolute annoyance, doing a fair amount of turning around and staring at him as he walked by. He tried to remember if he'd stood up any cheerleaders lately as he put his stuff away in his locker, glaring at a freshman when the kid decided to stare just a little too obviously.
Dean shrugged it off. It wasn't the first time he'd pissed someone off enough that he'd gotten his name spread around some school, and he guessed it wouldn't be the last.
Just as he was getting to his first class Sam flagged him down, dragging him off to a side corridor so hard Dean almost felt his shoulder dislocate. "Jesus, Sam, what?"
"Have you seen Cas? Is he okay?"
"Um...not since we got here, we don't have first together. Why, what happened? We've been here, like, five minutes, don't tell me he got into a fight without me."
Sam's mouth actually hung open. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Jesus, Dean, what do you even have a phone for?" Dean didn't see what that had to do with anything and was about to tell Sam that when he kept going. "There was an escape attempt at the prison last night. The supermax," he said, letting that sink in. "They're not saying who tried to get out, just that a bunch of people tried to break someone out, but come on."
Dean let out sigh of relief - at least that wasn't hanging over their heads anymore. "Anyone get hurt?"
Sam hesitated for a second before answering. "None of the cops."
Uh oh. "They arrest everyone?" When Sam didn't answer Dean raked one hand through his hair. "Shit. Shit, we gotta find Cas before some jackass gets in his face about this, come on."
They split up but fortunately Castiel hadn't gone far; Dean found him leaning against his locker, white as a ghost as his eyes wide, his books held absently in front of him like he'd forgotten exactly what he was supposed to do with them. "Hello, Dean," he said when Dean leaned against the wall next to him, a faint surprised tone in his voice, like he wasn't exactly sure what Dean was doing here or, frankly, what here was.
"Guess you heard, then."
Castiel nodded. "I overheard some people talking. It's...it probably isn't true though, right?" he said, turning to look at Dean for the first time.
Dean got the feeling that if he told Cas he thought aliens had come down and taken Uriel back to the homeworld he would believe it right now. "I don't know, Cas."
"If it was true, someone would have called me." Dean could see Cas clinging to that thought with everything he had. "Don't you think so, Dean?"
"Yeah. Yeah, probably." The first period bell rang, sounding even shriller than usual. "You gonna go?"
"Yes," Castiel nodded, shouldering his backpack even though he still had his books in his arms. "Yes, we should go to class." Dean followed him into his first period and sat next to him even though he had absolutely no business being allowed through the door of an advanced Latin class. When the usual occupant of the seat Dean was squatting in showed up Dean stared him down before he could even think about making a big deal about it. With each second that passed he could see Castiel wind up just a little bit more, that mask of barely concealed terror closing just a little tighter.
They didn't have long to wait. Halfway through class the vice principal walked in and said something to the teacher; Dean glanced over and saw Cas' hands slowly ball themselves into fists, like he was putting all of his effort into trying to make himself invisible. When the teacher called him up it took two times for him to respond, and when he finally did pull himself away from the desk he walked up to the front of the room like a zombie, eyes locked on the floor. Dean's heart sank when he saw the vice principal put one hand on Castiel's shoulder in the most awkward attempt at consolation in the history of civilization. The guy was notorious for seeing students as pesky roadblocks to running a smooth business, so initiating contact meant things had to be really bad.
He led Cas out into the hall and Dean watched through the window, ignoring the Latin teacher when she asked him who he was and what he was doing in her class. Dean knew Cas came off as cold sometimes but that was because most people didn't bother getting to know him well enough to learn his tells. While he was sure to the principal it looked like Cas didn't care, Dean saw the way his shoulders squared, that wall going up the way it always did when he was fighting to not break down. When the principal finished talking and reached out to put his hand on Castiel's shoulder again Cas shook him off, taking a stutter step backward that made Dean get up from his chair. He watched Cas turn on his heel and walk off, ignoring whatever the principal was trying to say, and that was if he was even hearing him any more.
Dean knew where he'd go; he slipped out the back door and cut through the science lab, making it two classes he'd completely disrupted that morning. He got to the little alley behind the main building just as Castiel came around the corner from the other direction, sinking down against the wall like a doll with its strings cut. He wrapped his arms around his knees, hiding his face as Dean walked over, feeling every bit as awkward as the vice principal had looked. "I should have been there," he said, his voice so raw Dean winced. "I could have stopped it."
Dean sighed, sitting down against the wall next to him. "You'd've died too, Cas."
"You would never have abandoned Sam this way." His shoulders were shaking; Dean wasn't sure if he was crying or of he was still too angry for tears to come out, whether at Uriel or at himself Dean didn't know.
"I would've tied Sam up and thrown him in the trunk. You didn't have that option." He doubted Cas was even processing any of that, but maybe it would sink in later. Dean didn't want to think about the shape he'd be in if their places were reversed.
"Leave me alone," Cas whispered, his voice breaking around the words.
Dean shook his head. Just because he didn't know what to do didn't mean that he would just leave Cas now. "Not a chance."
Castiel curled into a tighter ball, shaking harder as muffled, broken sobs forced their way out of him. Dean curled up too, leaning his head against the wall. He'd been in bad situations in his life, more than most kids his age, he knew that, but he had to reach far back to remember a time he'd felt this helpless. He wished they'd never stopped in this town, that they'd just kept on the road; for a second the longing to be back out there, just him and Sam and their dad where things made sense was so strong Dean could touch it.
He didn't think he'd ever been so ashamed of himself. Dean shook the thought away and wrapped one arm around Castiel's shoulders, half-expecting Cas to shake him off. When he didn't Dean squeezed tight once. "I'm not going anywhere, Cas." He let Cas cry himself out until he was wrung limp from it, then pulled him up to his feet. "C'mon," he said, feeling like there weren't any words that weren't idiotic right now. "C'mon, let's go back to the motel and get you cleaned up, okay? Let's get out of here."
Castiel nodded his head, and Dean didn't know if he'd actually heard him or would just go along with anything he said right now. He let Dean guide him back to the car like he'd been struck blind.
-On to Part 5-
-Back to Masterpost-
-Back to Part 3-
Author: misachan
Artist: slinkymilinky (Link to Art Master Post)
Word Count: 3385
Characters/Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Dean/Anna, Sam, Uriel, Zachariah
Warnings: Violence (including violence between family members), drug use (nothing stronger than pot), underage drinking (nothing harder than beer), sex between an 18 and 17-year-old, sexuality angst
Summary: Another day, another town; when their bounty hunter father enrolls he and Sam in yet another school Dean thinks this will just be another town he'll forget five minutes after he leaves it. Things get more interesting when Sam befriends a classmate of Dean's and the lonely boy with the strange name and stranger family slowly gets under Dean's skin. Their new friendship gets complicated when it becomes clear that Castiel's brothers aren't just strange, they're dangerous, and the secrets they keep and the sins they bury have a lot to do with Dean. It would all be bad enough even without Dean starting to worry that maybe friendship isn't all he wants.
A Dean/Castiel high school love story with fist fights, movie nights, make outs, broken hearts, hospital vigils and a steamed up hotel shower.
Castiel paced back and forth behind the school, checking his phone with every pass. When he finally saw Uriel turn the corner the relief was so strong that for a second Castiel forgot to be angry. "I wasn't sure you were coming."
Uriel's eyebrows raised, that smile on his face that he used when he was trying to put on that he didn't have care in the world. "I said I would, didn't I?"
Castiel knew him too well for that. "You've said a lot of things lately." Castiel saw the walls go up behind Uriel's eyes and there. Now the anger was back. "Where have you been? You haven't been in school for over a week, I can't cover for you anymore."
Uriel smiled again, this one even falser than the first. "Soon you won't have to."
"What does that mean?" He looked around to make absolutely certain that no one was watching. "Are you setting fires again?" Uriel liked to destroy things, Castiel knew that, and he'd made his brother promise to take him along so he could mitigate the damage.
"Ease your conscience."
"Then what's been going on? What haven't you been telling me?" Castiel wished that hadn't come out quite so needy.
Uriel sighed, the fake joviality fading away. "I'd hoped you were too occupied with Winchester to notice. It would figure the vagrant wouldn't even be good enough for that."
"I wish you wouldn't talk about Dean that way."
Uriel crossed his arms, his eyes distant for a moment, and Castiel felt cold fear creep in around his stomach. He could count on one hand the times he'd ever seen Uriel unsure about anything. "I'd hoped I would be able to choose my moment better."
"Chose your moment for what?"
Uriel put his hands on Castiel's shoulders. "I've been working on plan. One that's nearly complete," he said, his eyes lit up with a zeal Castiel had never seen before. "I'm going to break our brother out of captivity."
Castiel jerked backward out of his grasp. "That isn't funny."
"It's not meant to be." He sighed, crossing his arms again. "I'd hoped you would see reason."
"You want me to see reason? Uriel, this is insane. Lucifer's a monster, you can't---"
"Don't call him that."
"It's the name he's earned," Castiel countered, his eyes narrowing. "And he is. He's in prison for a reason, Michael put him there himself."
"Funny how it's always family business stays in the family unless Michael decides it's doesn't."
"He's a murderer. You can't deny that."
"Do you really think Michael and Raphael are any better?" He put one hand back on Castiel's shoulder. "I want your help with with this. You're clever, you'll see flaws in the plan I won't."
Castiel recoiled backward again. "No."
Uriel looked resigned. "I was afraid you would say that."
Castiel didn't see the switchblade in Uriel's hand until it was much too late; almost before he could process what was happening Uriel grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up against the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt the edge of the blade press against his throat. "What are you going to do?" he said, forcing himself to meet Uriel's eyes again. He was actually glad this was happening so fast. It kept him from being as terrified as he knew he should be.
"That depends on what you choose in the next five seconds."
"I won't help you."
"Can I at least depend on your silence?"
Castiel swallowed hard. "Don't do this. It's over now. Just let it be over."
"It's too late for that."
"I have to say something. If they find out I knew and didn't say anything it'll be as bad as if I had helped you anyway."
"Then I don't see what you don't join me. When Anna abandoned the family we swore the two of us would always back each other. Did you forget that?"
"No. No, I haven't but I can't. Anything else I would, you know that but not with this." He could feel himself getting light-headed from being held against the wall. "Please put me down."
The blade just pressed harder against his neck. "Why did you put me in this position, Castiel?"
He never knew whether Uriel really would have gone through with it; just then they heard someone coming around the corner and Uriel dropped him. Castiel liked to believe the answer would have been no, but then there were the nights when he closed his eyes and remembered the raw belief in his brother's eyes. Uriel glanced at him and Castiel nodded, their normal dynamic coming back before either of them seemed to realize it.
Castiel watched Uriel disappear around the corner and he sank to the ground, his legs giving out on him. He looked up in time to see the ancient senior English teacher toddle around the corner, a pack of cigarettes in hand. "What are you doing back here?"
He would wonder later what it said about him that it had never even occurred to him not to lie. He pulled a joint out of his pocket, his hands shaking hard enough that it took two tries to light it. "I'll stay quiet if you will."
***
By the time third period rolled around and there was still no sign of Cas Dean was starting to worry. He'd just pulled out his phone to text again when Cas slid into the vacant seat seat beside him, reeking of pot and a nervous tic shaking his leg so hard the whole desk vibrated. "Dude, where've you been?" Dean whispered, glad the bio teacher was half-deaf. "Why haven't you been answering your phone?"
If was like Castiel hadn't heard him. "Cas, what's going on? You never get baked this early."
"I need to talk to you," Castiel said, his voice as flat as a zombie's. "Right now."
"Um...sure." Dean felt alarm flash through him when he saw Cas get up so quickly the seat would have toppled over backward if it hadn't been bolted to the desk, not caring if he got caught. Dean at least waited until the teacher had turned her back before sneaking out the back entrance, following Cas down to the mostly-empty cafeteria, noticing that Cas' hands were balled into tight fists the entire way.
It wasn't until they were sitting opposite each other that Dean saw the mark on his neck. "Shit, Cas," he said, tipping Castiel's chin up so he could get a good look at the red line along the side of his throat. Up close Dean could see the dark bruise blossoming on his chest, almost like.... Dean felt his eyes narrow. Like someone had put him up against a wall. "What the hell happened?"
Cas just stared at his hands, his leg still shaking hard enough to move the table. "Dean, if you found out Sam was planning to do something terrible, what would you do?"
Dean felt his brain immediately jump into crisis mode. "Did Sam tell you he was up to something? Is he running away again?"
Castiel shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. Sam's not in any trouble, that I know of." Cas looked at him and Dean knew he'd seen people facing down the barrel of a gun who'd looked less panicked than he did just then. "I found out that Uriel is planning on breaking our brother out of prison."
It took Dean's mind a second to catch up with that. "Wait, what? Lucifer, you mean, right? That's the brother he's breaking out? The one who had my mom killed, that Lucifer?"
"I'm aware of my brother's crimes, Dean."
"Why the hell would he want to break Lucifer out of the pen?"
"I don't know. I think he believes Lucifer would be a better authority than Michael."
"But that's nuts!"
"I know." He raked one hand through his hair. "I don't know what I should do. Dean, what would you do?"
"Forget what I would do, Cas, you gotta call the cops."
Castiel was quiet for a long moment. "If this were Sam, would you do that? Would you turn him over to strangers?"
Now that Castiel put it like that, Dean wasn't at all sure. "I...mean, I guess it...how the hell is he even planning to do this?" he said, skirting around the issue entirely.
"He must have aid. My brother has agents, probably some of them." He stared down at his hands again. "He asked me to help him."
"Cas. Dude. Tell me you said no."
"Of course I did," he snapped. That flash of anger drained into something desperate and desolate. "Maybe I should have said yes. Not to actually help," he said, cutting off Dean's outrage before it could start, "but maybe to buy some time to talk sense into him. I can temper him. Uriel goes too far when he's on his own but if I'm there I can talk him down, I can....."
Dean tipped Castiel's chin up. "Cas. Listen to me, okay? Whatever crazy shit Uriel's up to, it's not your fault. It's on him."
"He's my brother, Dean. I have to do something."
Dean drummed his fingers against the table. "Kind of hate to say this, but he's got other brothers. They're the ones who're supposed to be riding herd on him, not you."
If anything, Castiel looked even less happy about that idea than he had about going to the cops. "What would you do, Dean?"
"If it was Sam in this big a mess? Find him and sit on him until he started making sense, but I don't think that's really an option here."
Cas sighed in seeming agreement. "I don't know where he is. He's either turned off his phone or thrown it away, and in any case I don't think I could overpower him."
Dean tipped Castiel's chin up again, tracing his thumb down the mark on his neck. "Uriel do that?" he asked, keeping all of his focus on calming down the flash of rage heating up his blood because that sure as all hell looked like the kind of mark that came from a blade. Castiel's eyes shifted sideways and that was all the answer Dean needed. "Okay. Okay, you don't go anywhere alone, you hear me? You're either with me or you're with Sam, kid's scrawny but he knows how to fight. I've seen you fight, so I know that if you're with one of us we can take him down, easy. We see him, we'll...I don't know, grab him and lock him in a room until he stops being crazy."
"What if he gets hurt?" he said, his voice very soft, and Dean could see him imagining that family picture and how empty it was getting. "What if he hurts someone else?"
Dean had to admit, he was a lot more concerned with the latter but he would never tell Cas that. "We'll figure something out. Okay? I know how to track people down, it just takes time."
"You don't even like Uriel."
"Seriously, Cas, I couldn't give less of a shit about Uriel right now. I like you, and if that means tracking down your looney tunes brother and punching sense into him I'll do it."
Castiel nodded, sniffling a little bit and trying to hide it. "Thank you, Dean. I've never had a friend like you before."
It always threw Dean how Cas could just say things like that, no self-consciousness at all. "Don't ever tell anyone, but the feeling's mutual, okay? And Cas, I swear, if you ever tell anyone I said that I will punch you in the face."
That at least got a smile out of him. "C'mon," Dean said. "Let's find Sam and come up with a game plan."
***
As it turned out, while they did come up some plans, and actually some good ones, as far as Dean was concerned, they didn't get the chance to implement any of them. Two days later Dean showed up to find the school buzzing, everyone looking at their phones and, to Dean's absolute annoyance, doing a fair amount of turning around and staring at him as he walked by. He tried to remember if he'd stood up any cheerleaders lately as he put his stuff away in his locker, glaring at a freshman when the kid decided to stare just a little too obviously.
Dean shrugged it off. It wasn't the first time he'd pissed someone off enough that he'd gotten his name spread around some school, and he guessed it wouldn't be the last.
Just as he was getting to his first class Sam flagged him down, dragging him off to a side corridor so hard Dean almost felt his shoulder dislocate. "Jesus, Sam, what?"
"Have you seen Cas? Is he okay?"
"Um...not since we got here, we don't have first together. Why, what happened? We've been here, like, five minutes, don't tell me he got into a fight without me."
Sam's mouth actually hung open. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Jesus, Dean, what do you even have a phone for?" Dean didn't see what that had to do with anything and was about to tell Sam that when he kept going. "There was an escape attempt at the prison last night. The supermax," he said, letting that sink in. "They're not saying who tried to get out, just that a bunch of people tried to break someone out, but come on."
Dean let out sigh of relief - at least that wasn't hanging over their heads anymore. "Anyone get hurt?"
Sam hesitated for a second before answering. "None of the cops."
Uh oh. "They arrest everyone?" When Sam didn't answer Dean raked one hand through his hair. "Shit. Shit, we gotta find Cas before some jackass gets in his face about this, come on."
They split up but fortunately Castiel hadn't gone far; Dean found him leaning against his locker, white as a ghost as his eyes wide, his books held absently in front of him like he'd forgotten exactly what he was supposed to do with them. "Hello, Dean," he said when Dean leaned against the wall next to him, a faint surprised tone in his voice, like he wasn't exactly sure what Dean was doing here or, frankly, what here was.
"Guess you heard, then."
Castiel nodded. "I overheard some people talking. It's...it probably isn't true though, right?" he said, turning to look at Dean for the first time.
Dean got the feeling that if he told Cas he thought aliens had come down and taken Uriel back to the homeworld he would believe it right now. "I don't know, Cas."
"If it was true, someone would have called me." Dean could see Cas clinging to that thought with everything he had. "Don't you think so, Dean?"
"Yeah. Yeah, probably." The first period bell rang, sounding even shriller than usual. "You gonna go?"
"Yes," Castiel nodded, shouldering his backpack even though he still had his books in his arms. "Yes, we should go to class." Dean followed him into his first period and sat next to him even though he had absolutely no business being allowed through the door of an advanced Latin class. When the usual occupant of the seat Dean was squatting in showed up Dean stared him down before he could even think about making a big deal about it. With each second that passed he could see Castiel wind up just a little bit more, that mask of barely concealed terror closing just a little tighter.
They didn't have long to wait. Halfway through class the vice principal walked in and said something to the teacher; Dean glanced over and saw Cas' hands slowly ball themselves into fists, like he was putting all of his effort into trying to make himself invisible. When the teacher called him up it took two times for him to respond, and when he finally did pull himself away from the desk he walked up to the front of the room like a zombie, eyes locked on the floor. Dean's heart sank when he saw the vice principal put one hand on Castiel's shoulder in the most awkward attempt at consolation in the history of civilization. The guy was notorious for seeing students as pesky roadblocks to running a smooth business, so initiating contact meant things had to be really bad.
He led Cas out into the hall and Dean watched through the window, ignoring the Latin teacher when she asked him who he was and what he was doing in her class. Dean knew Cas came off as cold sometimes but that was because most people didn't bother getting to know him well enough to learn his tells. While he was sure to the principal it looked like Cas didn't care, Dean saw the way his shoulders squared, that wall going up the way it always did when he was fighting to not break down. When the principal finished talking and reached out to put his hand on Castiel's shoulder again Cas shook him off, taking a stutter step backward that made Dean get up from his chair. He watched Cas turn on his heel and walk off, ignoring whatever the principal was trying to say, and that was if he was even hearing him any more.
Dean knew where he'd go; he slipped out the back door and cut through the science lab, making it two classes he'd completely disrupted that morning. He got to the little alley behind the main building just as Castiel came around the corner from the other direction, sinking down against the wall like a doll with its strings cut. He wrapped his arms around his knees, hiding his face as Dean walked over, feeling every bit as awkward as the vice principal had looked. "I should have been there," he said, his voice so raw Dean winced. "I could have stopped it."
Dean sighed, sitting down against the wall next to him. "You'd've died too, Cas."
"You would never have abandoned Sam this way." His shoulders were shaking; Dean wasn't sure if he was crying or of he was still too angry for tears to come out, whether at Uriel or at himself Dean didn't know.
"I would've tied Sam up and thrown him in the trunk. You didn't have that option." He doubted Cas was even processing any of that, but maybe it would sink in later. Dean didn't want to think about the shape he'd be in if their places were reversed.
"Leave me alone," Cas whispered, his voice breaking around the words.
Dean shook his head. Just because he didn't know what to do didn't mean that he would just leave Cas now. "Not a chance."
Castiel curled into a tighter ball, shaking harder as muffled, broken sobs forced their way out of him. Dean curled up too, leaning his head against the wall. He'd been in bad situations in his life, more than most kids his age, he knew that, but he had to reach far back to remember a time he'd felt this helpless. He wished they'd never stopped in this town, that they'd just kept on the road; for a second the longing to be back out there, just him and Sam and their dad where things made sense was so strong Dean could touch it.
He didn't think he'd ever been so ashamed of himself. Dean shook the thought away and wrapped one arm around Castiel's shoulders, half-expecting Cas to shake him off. When he didn't Dean squeezed tight once. "I'm not going anywhere, Cas." He let Cas cry himself out until he was wrung limp from it, then pulled him up to his feet. "C'mon," he said, feeling like there weren't any words that weren't idiotic right now. "C'mon, let's go back to the motel and get you cleaned up, okay? Let's get out of here."
Castiel nodded his head, and Dean didn't know if he'd actually heard him or would just go along with anything he said right now. He let Dean guide him back to the car like he'd been struck blind.
-On to Part 5-
-Back to Masterpost-
-Back to Part 3-