Ice of Oblivion Chapter 9
Title: Ice of Oblivion Chapter 9/24
Author: zoomzoomzoomzoo
Fandom/Genre: SPN AU Romance, Drama, Action
Pairing (s): Dean/Castiel
Rating: T
Word Count: ~82,000
Warnings: Underage, Mild Sexual Situation, Violence
Summary: AU. In a time of great tragedy in the lands of Mamot, the human race and the angel race are forced to form an unbreakable union that will bind them together for twenty seven lifetimes in order to stop the uprising of the demon race. In bargain they offer Castiel, one of the most powerful angels in the entire world to marry Dean Winchester, the young crown prince of the human world. The typically detached Castiel winds up falling in love with the Prince. The only problem is his brothers don’t expect Dean to live through the war. Will Castiel stay and support the man he loves despite the heartbreak that might accompany his passing or will he fall back in line with his brothers, becoming numb to all human emotions once more?
Chapter 9
Hunting. Castiel stood in the castle’s armory eyeing the gun that Bobby Singer gave to him a few minutes ago after Dean invited him to one of their hunting trips. He’d never gone hunting before because he never saw the use of killing harmless animals although the relevance of it was getting more important now that the human’s began hunting for demons. He, of course, knew how to use one seeing as he’d been studying them since the humans created them about one thousand years ago when they needed protection against the demon species.
But, he never saw the need to use one. And unfortunately he didn’t see a use for it today either. He was an angel after all; designed to fend off every other species in the world.
Placing the gun in his pocket, Castiel started to leave the room before he was interrupted by a very familiar voice.
“Castiel, Castiel, Castiel… humanized already I see.”
“Gabriel…” Castiel said without turning around. And sure enough, there he was with his arms crossed over his chest and a small frown on his face; he was shaking his head and smacking his lips. “What are you doing here?”
“Guns Castiel? Really, are you really that pathetic?”
Castiel frowned and jolted back as if he’d been slapped. “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
Gabriel shook his head and approached his brother with a small smirk replacing his frown. “Yes,” Gabriel said slyly. “But that’s not the point-“
“What is the point?” Castiel interrupted his brother- for the first time in his life.
Gabriel chuckled. “I see you’ve got a little hunting trip planned today,” He said, completely changing to subject in one of his obviously impulsive and inappropriate segways.
Castiel decided to indulge him for a while; buying into his antics was always the best way to get whatever information you wanted out of him. And right now, Castiel would have really liked to know what his brother was doing there. Not once in the past nine years of Castiel running back and forth there did Gabriel or any of his brothers bother to visit; not to see Castiel and especially not to see their very own champion, Dean.
Seeing Gabriel here was… well it was a surprise and it had to have a purpose.
“I was invited to one, yes…”
“Whatever happened to your oath not to harm another creature? Besides you don’t even eat lion.”
Castiel shivered at the mention of eating something as carnivorous and grotesque as a lion and then shook his head. “We’re not hunting animals, we’re hunting demons.”
“Ah, so they’ve upped the ante a bit. Roasted demon… sounds appetizing.”
Castiel rolled his eyes and started to walk out of the room but in front of him appeared his brother; his palm twisting the door knob. He almost sighed with frustration but stopped himself when he remembered his brother’s attitude when it came to things like that. “Was there something you wanted?”
Gabriel shrugged with pouted lips. “Nothing much, I just wanted to know how your courting was going.”
He was truly confused; who was he supposed to be courting. He was just visiting the people who would one day be his family. “Courting?”
“Courting Dean, you know buttering up your little child-groom,” Gabriel mocked.
Castiel rolled his eyes and started to push past Gabriel, but his brother was relentless.
“I heard you guys have been taking long walks in the gardens, sneaking off to the restrooms together and even sharing a couple of kisses now and then.”
Castiel could have strangled Gabriel for his rash comments but he controlled himself simply because he technically did kiss Dean. “You’re sick .”
Gabriel huffed out a short chuckle. “Thank you,” He said.
Castiel tried to push past his brother again but he was stopped when Gabriel placed his hand on his chest, pushing him back. In the strangest instant the amused look in Gabriel’s eyes melted away to a rash seriousness.
“Listen, Castiel I’m just trying to give you some advice.”
“About what?”
“Your relationship with your betrothed.”
Castiel rolled his eyes, now very irritated with his brother’s newfound interest with his relationship with Dean. “I’m not interested in any advice of yours, brother.” He stalked away in the opposite direction until he was inches away from the wall of human weapons.
The selection varied and, to Castiel’s delight, it was almost a chart of the human’s progression when it came to weaponry. There were the clubs at the farthest end, swords and maces in the middle and their most recent was of course, guns. They were truly works of art and did serve as a good distraction from Gabriel’s foolishness.
He tensed when he felt Gabriel’s hand on his shoulder then shrugged it off and with a bored look turned around to face his brother. “What?”
Gabriel’s lips twitched in what Castiel could only interpret as satisfaction and then the serious expression came back. “This is gonna be kind of hard for you to hear…” He actually sounded remorseful. Castiel furrowed his eyebrows and actually started paying attention, maybe this advice was sound and if not that then it was at least useful. “But this thing you’re developing for Dean, this respect or this admiration or even this love… you’re going to have to stop it-“
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly,” Castiel interrupted with a slightly ticked off tone of voice.
“Everyone agrees with me, even Michael. You’re putting yourself in bad situation and it’s not healthy for you.” Gabriel proclaimed.
“I don’t see what’s so unhealthy about learning to love the person that will one day be my husband,” Castiel stated plainly. He honestly had no idea where the jealousy from Gabriel was coming from but to say for even a second that learning to love Dean was unhealthy was pure idiocy on his part.
“But, he won’t.”
Castiel’s head instinctively dipped to the side and he examined his brother closely for any signs of amusement or dishonesty but he found none of that. He was serious… how was that even possible? “What do you mean? We’re betrothed; we have been for almost ten years. Has there been a change?”
Gabriel shook his head. “No, no change. As far as Michael and John and everyone else who knows about the betrothal is concerned and there won’t be a change.”
Castiel nodded, only slightly understanding his brother’s statement. “So… what you’re saying is, Dean and I won’t get married.”
“Exactly, see I knew you were smarter than you look.”
Castiel pinched the bridge of his nose and entertained the idea of flying out of the room to the Himmel before he had to listen to anymore of Gabriel’s riddles. But, his hunting trip started in a few minutes and Dean would be so hurt if he didn’t show up. Deciding to elbow through this irrelevant conversation, Castiel raised his head again and looked his brother.
“And may I ask why?”
“You might want to sit down for this one,” Gabriel stated solemnly, but with the slightest hint of mocking in his voice.
“I’d rather stand, thank you.” Besides, there was no place to sit anyway.
Gabriel shrugged and then took a seat on one of the tables inside of the room, swiping any of the particularly pointy weapons away from his butt, and leaned down with a leer. “Do you remember about two years ago when I told you Michael didn’t offer you to Dean because he wanted the two of you to fall in love and live happily ever after?”
He nodded and turned around to the door which looked so inviting at the moment.
“Well, I never actually told you the reason why he offered you up and I personally think you need to know… before you get in any deeper than you already are.”
“Go on…” Castiel murmured, not exactly happy but still interested in what Gabriel’s explanation was going to be.
“Michael wanted a political alliance; the easiest way to get that was through a proposed marriage. None of us expects it to actually take place, after the war we were going to drop it.”
Castiel opened his mouth to speak but he couldn’t really muster up the words. He knew that it was a political alliance, he’d always known. But, he thought Michael was also trying to help him to a happy future; give him a partner in all things. Instead, it seemed like he was getting Castiel’s hopes up for nothing.
“Then, why would he…”
“Castiel, you were always the strangest out of us all. You may have the most compassion for humans as individuals but you were still the most detached from them and hell, you were detached from everything. It was our plan from the beginning when we first found out that there was a possibility that Dean would be the chosen to make you the betrothed.”
Castiel sighed and rubbed his eyelids. If what Gabriel was saying was true- and it did sound kind of true- then they never planned for Castiel to learn to love Dean as much as he has. Understandable, but then why did they allow him to come back here so often?
“But, I can still marry Dean if I wanted to, right? If I choose to, he can still be my husband when he’s older.”
Gabriel raised his eyebrows and looked at Castiel with a nervous expression. “See, that’s the kicker! Dean… we don’t plan… you see, normally this would be easy to say… but in order to spare your feelings…” Gabriel mumbled to himself with a concentrated look on his face. Castiel stood there impatiently, having seen this act enough times to know that Gabriel was buying time for dramatic effect. Glancing at out the window, Castiel noted that he was late for his hunting trip with Dean.
“Dean’s probably not going to live long enough to marry you.”
The simple comment was enough to shock Castiel to the point where he physically flinched. But, there was the war and the throne; Dean had to live at least live long enough for those and they were both very far away in the future. What an erroneous statement! How dare Gabriel assume something like that?
Although he was seething inside, Castiel kept a calm demeanor. “How can you say that?”
“Think about it, bro. Dean’s lifestyle ain’t exactly a panic room, he’s always put in immediate danger and no matter how much we ask the papa to pull him out of it he won’t budge-“
“Then why don’t we just take him away from here, train him ourselves.”
“Because we have training to do ourselves and it’s not like Dean is four years old anymore, he’s not going to want to come. It would be a waste of time to train someone who’s just going to die anyway,” Gabriel said.
Castiel bit his bottom lip and looked down to the ground, feeling low and pathetic. “But, it’s our job to protect our father’s champion. We should watch out for him, protect him from all dangers.”
“Like I said, we’re not the kid’s babysitters. We’re way too busy preparing for the big one ourselves; things are already bad.”
“But Dean is supposed to lead us into the battle; you can’t let anything happen to him.”
“I heard you the first time, parrot,” Gabriel sassed. “But, we realized that Dean will never be strong enough to fight Lucifer’s charge and Lucifer, no matter how many years are under his belt before the battle.”
Castiel knew that this was true to some extent. Though the mortal who would be Dean’s opponent may be easy to handle, Lucifer was not and Dean has his work cut out for him. “We can’t just give up on him.”
Gabriel’s lips twitched in a smirk and he wagged his finger at Castiel. “Yes we can… you see the five of us alone can defeat Lucifer and his demons. Why waste our time with a prophecy made thousands of years ago?”
Castiel’s jaw clenched, though he felt the smallest bit of relief that they would be relieving Dean of his duties he still felt a sinking in his stomach when he thought about Dean no longer having every angel in the world protecting him. His life was too dangerous. He wouldn’t survive very long. “You have to be lying.”
“Perhaps… but, we’re missing the point here. This little obsession that you have with the Crown Prince of Inim needs to stop immediately. Nothing good comes out of it; it’ll only hurt more when he’s dead.”
Castiel turned away from Gabriel and walked toward the door. “Michael would never go against father’s wishes and if he didn’t want me to love Dean he would have told me so before it was too late. I would rather ask Michael myself then use you as a source!”
Gabriel huffed out a chuckle and Castiel felt his presence leave the room. Sighing, Castiel twisted the doorknob only to have someone open it up from the opposite side. Castiel stepped back and smiled when he saw a small person pop their head through.
“Cas, are you ready to go?”
Castiel nodded and Dean smiled at him, sending his heart afloat. He followed the small boy out of the room and stared at his retreating form.
Gabriel was lying, Dean was their champion, he wasn’t going to die, he was going thrive. He would live well into his nineties and after he leads the siege of Iad and comes out on top, they’ll be married and Castiel will be very happy.
~*~*~
The swarm of demons came out in a trickle rather than a burst. But, as is usual with trickles, when they go unnoticed they can turn into a flood. Castiel scanned the terrace uneasily as the demons crept out of the trees and bushes all walking toward the humans with their practically human-like features. They were no longer the gray-skinned, wide-mouthed, long-clawed beings that they were when they first formed; they morphed to take on more human-like features just as the angels did when humans became the majority in the world.
This would have made fighting them more difficult had it not been for their black eyes. The dark eyed beings continued pouring out, circling the mere twenty hunters and ten angels who tagged along- not including John and Dean which made thirty two. Castiel could feel the presence of about fifty demons around the area with more approaching.
The number was manageable but still potentially dangerous, especially if everyone doesn’t keep on his or her toes.
The first demon that jumped at them threw himself at Dean; the demon made a grab at his neck but his fingers barely stroked the boy’s skin before a bullet was launched into his skull. As soon as the demon fell dead the fight began.
Castiel spent the majority of his time fighting demons off of him until he took his knife out, leaving the gun in his pocket just in case…
One particularly vindictive demon approached him with a long sword in his grips; a look of pure fury in his eyes as he swiped at Castiel with his silver sword. Castiel tried to move out of the way but he was too late and the sword cut deep into his arm. He eyed the cut with a cock of his head; he’s fought many a demon in his day but never had one gotten closer enough to actually cut him. He knew he was distracted but still...
“Cas, watch out!”
Castiel looked to his right only to see Luke shooting in his direction, he turned around and saw the same demon coming toward him with his knife raised. He dodged the slash and the demon was shot in the head by Luke moments later.
Castiel sent him an appreciative smile but the boy was already freeing the beast on other demons. He decided to start paying closer attention to his surroundings. Even though these demons technically couldn’t kill an angel they could still do damage and Castiel could do without Gabriel’s taunting when he sees him banged up.
The fighting got significantly easier when Castiel started paying attention and demons fell to at his feet faster than leaves falling from a tree. But, the demons kept coming; to the point where Castiel wasn’t sure whether this was some kind of routine attack or if there was something more…
He turned around and scanned the area for Dean. He saw him at the opposite end of the field somewhere near a bush, shooting demons one by one. His aim was pretty much perfect, a sense of pride filled Castiel. He had taught Dean to shot correctly after all. But, regardless of that, he was just happy he was safe and that Dean could take care of himself.
“Die!” A demon shouted as he launched himself at Castiel with nothing but his fists bare hands. He stretched out his hands and prepared to strike but Castiel moved to the side and waited for the demon to turn back toward him before he gripped the demon’s neck.
The demon tried to pry Castiel’s hand off of him but his grip was too firm and the demon eventually stopped and looked at Castiel, defeated.
Castiel fixed him with an intense stare that made the demon shiver in his grasp. “What is your purpose for being here?”
The demon smirked and chuckled. “We’re demons! Do we need a purpose?”
“Usually no, but you never attack in such large groups,” Castiel said sternly. He tightened his grasp on the demon’s neck compelling it to gasp and choke. “Tell me, now!”
“What’s the ultimatum? You gonna let me go if I spill the beans?” The demon rasped.
“No,” Castiel said, the intense glint in his eye was still there and was only getting worse as he got angrier. “I’m going to kill you whether you tell me or not.”
The demon sneered and tried to remove himself from Castiel’s grip to no avail. “Then I ain’t tellin’ you shit!”
Castiel inhaled sharply and squeezed harder on the man’s neck; if he squeezed any harder he knew he might pop its head off but that was a risk he was willing to take. The demon was only making it more obvious that there was plan here and he needed to find out.
“Listen to me,” Castiel hissed in a deep whisper, despite the mess of noise and commotion going on around him. “You’re going to die here today; if you tell me what’s going on here I can make it as quick and painless as possible. But, if you don’t tell me, I promise your death will not only hurt on the outside but on the inside, it will be the most excruciating moment of your life. So, I would recommend-“
Castiel’s threatening speech was interrupted when he heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the field; he recognized the voice immediately. John.
When he turned around, Castiel expected to find John with a knife sticking out of his gut or on the ground bleeding to death. But, that’s not what he saw. What he did see stopped Castiel’s heart in a sweeping motion and rendered him paralyzed.
John was leaned over a body with fat tears in his eyes and screams of anguish coming from his lips. The demons were all leering, but they trickled away in a similar fashion that they came: into the trees and into the bushes, leaving every human and angel there to observe John hysteria over his injured son.
“Dean…” Castiel groaned. From his stance at the far end of the field, Castiel could feel Dean’s life energy fading quickly and he could see the blood all over John as he ran his hands over Dean’s body. Without a second thought, Castiel let go of the demon in his grasp and walked quickly to where John and Dean were. Castiel elbowed through the angels and hunters surrounding the grieving father and his son; when he was finally able to see the extent of the damage he felt the lowest drop in his stomach and the slightest strain of his eyelids.
John was holding a bloody knife in his grips as he cried and moaned his child’s name; he was running the other hand over Dean’s wound, which was on his chest and pouring blood steadily. The Medic-Hunter pushed past Castiel to survey the damage done to the Crown Prince. He pressed gauze and alcohol on the wound as he checked his vitals with his ear and hands.
“Do something! Do something to help my son!” John shouted at the medic as he raised the same knife that was plunged into his son at him.
The medic didn’t so much as flinch, in fact, he’d stopped moving all together and looked sadly at everyone surrounding him. Dean’s chest was moving sporadically and he was obviously losing control of his breathing; but he was holding on with all he had.
“No! Don’t look like that, this is my son. You have to-“ John’s voice broke and his face fell onto Dean’s shoulder and he openly wept onto it.
“There’s nothing I can do,” he said in the most objective tone that one could muster when telling a group of people that their prince and friend was dying.
Bobby Singer removed his hat immediately, placing it at his heart and bowing his head. Ellen bit her bottom lip and turned away from the scene, shouting a vile obscenity. Luke’s head was bowed but his shoulders were shaking. The rest of the hunters followed suit and were soon bowing, cursing or just crying. The angels kept blank looks, but Castiel could feel the somberness in their souls. And Castiel…
Castiel didn’t know how to react. He loved Dean. He loved Dean a lot. What was one supposed to feel when they lost someone they loved. Were they supposed to feel as hollow as Castiel was feeling right now? Were they supposed to lose all function of their voices and limbs? Were their eyes supposed to leak? Were they supposed to hate the world? Were they supposed to want to die too? Were they supposed to feel more pity for themselves than for the dying man?
Castiel didn’t know…
But, he didn’t like what he was feeling. He felt vulnerable, he felt useless, he felt human. It was the worst feeling that Castiel ever experienced; did humans feel this way all the time? How do they stand it? Would this be how he would feel for the rest of his time on earth? Lost and unable, vulnerable and useless: human.
No… no! There had to be another way; he couldn’t live this way. He wouldn’t. There had to be some way to save Dean from death. He was an angel! The first angel! He would find a way.
“I can do something…” Castiel murmured. He ignored every curious eye, except for John’s who looked at him with the most defenseless look of grief and hope and at that moment he knew he couldn’t let himself become that way. Not because of some human: no matter how beautiful and warm he was.
Castiel got on his knees beside Dean and placed his hands on his bloody chest. He turned around and examined the boy closely. He was just barely alive. His face was stained by blood and his eyes were half open. There were tears on his cheeks and his lips moved slowly, Castiel felt more tears escaping his own eyes when, under further inspection, he saw that Dean was trying to say, “Why,”.
Focusing his attention on the task at hand, Castiel closed his eyes and felt Dean’s life energy fading with every passing second. He didn’t have time to think about what he was doing or make any plans; he just did what felt right. He focused all of his angelic energy to his fingertips; they were pulsing within seconds and but the energy was still trying its hardest to stay inside of Castiel’s body.
With one final push of his power, it escaped his body and flew into Dean’s prompting his life energy to spike and Castiel’s to decline at a rapid pace. Castiel inhaled sharply and fell back, only to be caught by the strong hands of another angel. He’d never in his existence felt so weak. Not even the feeling of Dean’s impending death could compare to the lack of power and control that he had at that moment. He never had to release so much energy at one time; it was agonizing.
“He’s stabilizing!” Were the last words Castiel heard before his hearing ability started to flicker away.
His insides felt cold but his skin felt like it was on fire; his mouth was dry but his body felt wet; his eyes were wide open but he couldn’t see. His entire body was imbalanced; he didn’t know whether he was conscious or not or if he was moving or still. His eyesight blacked out and he was numb. For the first time in his life, Castiel felt fear. It was the faintest spark but it was the most intense thing he’d ever felt.
He didn’t know what was happening but all he knew was that this was not normal and it didn’t feel good. Not at all. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself become so undone in a matter of years; the emotions he’s felt during the past nine years were all new and frightening.
Fear. Sadness. Regret. Weakness. Anger. Love.
Nothing like what happened today happened to him before those feelings crept into his conscious mind. Those terrible, dangerous feeling…
Castiel didn’t want them anymore.
He couldn’t stand it; if something happened to Dean on that day or any other day he knew he is wouldn’t be able to stand it. He would die inside missing that boy and his warmth. Could he really let himself die over some human?
As far as Gabriel was concerned, he wasn’t needed anymore thus he wasn’t special anymore. There was no reason to stick around, not anymore.
If he could escape then maybe with time his love for Dean would grow weaker and weaker until the day that when his brother tells him that Dean was killed in some nameless battle in some nameless plot of land and he can feel nothing.
Nothing…
Castiel missed feeling nothing.
Next
Author: zoomzoomzoomzoo
Fandom/Genre: SPN AU Romance, Drama, Action
Pairing (s): Dean/Castiel
Rating: T
Word Count: ~82,000
Warnings: Underage, Mild Sexual Situation, Violence
Summary: AU. In a time of great tragedy in the lands of Mamot, the human race and the angel race are forced to form an unbreakable union that will bind them together for twenty seven lifetimes in order to stop the uprising of the demon race. In bargain they offer Castiel, one of the most powerful angels in the entire world to marry Dean Winchester, the young crown prince of the human world. The typically detached Castiel winds up falling in love with the Prince. The only problem is his brothers don’t expect Dean to live through the war. Will Castiel stay and support the man he loves despite the heartbreak that might accompany his passing or will he fall back in line with his brothers, becoming numb to all human emotions once more?
Chapter 9
Hunting. Castiel stood in the castle’s armory eyeing the gun that Bobby Singer gave to him a few minutes ago after Dean invited him to one of their hunting trips. He’d never gone hunting before because he never saw the use of killing harmless animals although the relevance of it was getting more important now that the human’s began hunting for demons. He, of course, knew how to use one seeing as he’d been studying them since the humans created them about one thousand years ago when they needed protection against the demon species.
But, he never saw the need to use one. And unfortunately he didn’t see a use for it today either. He was an angel after all; designed to fend off every other species in the world.
Placing the gun in his pocket, Castiel started to leave the room before he was interrupted by a very familiar voice.
“Castiel, Castiel, Castiel… humanized already I see.”
“Gabriel…” Castiel said without turning around. And sure enough, there he was with his arms crossed over his chest and a small frown on his face; he was shaking his head and smacking his lips. “What are you doing here?”
“Guns Castiel? Really, are you really that pathetic?”
Castiel frowned and jolted back as if he’d been slapped. “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
Gabriel shook his head and approached his brother with a small smirk replacing his frown. “Yes,” Gabriel said slyly. “But that’s not the point-“
“What is the point?” Castiel interrupted his brother- for the first time in his life.
Gabriel chuckled. “I see you’ve got a little hunting trip planned today,” He said, completely changing to subject in one of his obviously impulsive and inappropriate segways.
Castiel decided to indulge him for a while; buying into his antics was always the best way to get whatever information you wanted out of him. And right now, Castiel would have really liked to know what his brother was doing there. Not once in the past nine years of Castiel running back and forth there did Gabriel or any of his brothers bother to visit; not to see Castiel and especially not to see their very own champion, Dean.
Seeing Gabriel here was… well it was a surprise and it had to have a purpose.
“I was invited to one, yes…”
“Whatever happened to your oath not to harm another creature? Besides you don’t even eat lion.”
Castiel shivered at the mention of eating something as carnivorous and grotesque as a lion and then shook his head. “We’re not hunting animals, we’re hunting demons.”
“Ah, so they’ve upped the ante a bit. Roasted demon… sounds appetizing.”
Castiel rolled his eyes and started to walk out of the room but in front of him appeared his brother; his palm twisting the door knob. He almost sighed with frustration but stopped himself when he remembered his brother’s attitude when it came to things like that. “Was there something you wanted?”
Gabriel shrugged with pouted lips. “Nothing much, I just wanted to know how your courting was going.”
He was truly confused; who was he supposed to be courting. He was just visiting the people who would one day be his family. “Courting?”
“Courting Dean, you know buttering up your little child-groom,” Gabriel mocked.
Castiel rolled his eyes and started to push past Gabriel, but his brother was relentless.
“I heard you guys have been taking long walks in the gardens, sneaking off to the restrooms together and even sharing a couple of kisses now and then.”
Castiel could have strangled Gabriel for his rash comments but he controlled himself simply because he technically did kiss Dean. “You’re sick .”
Gabriel huffed out a short chuckle. “Thank you,” He said.
Castiel tried to push past his brother again but he was stopped when Gabriel placed his hand on his chest, pushing him back. In the strangest instant the amused look in Gabriel’s eyes melted away to a rash seriousness.
“Listen, Castiel I’m just trying to give you some advice.”
“About what?”
“Your relationship with your betrothed.”
Castiel rolled his eyes, now very irritated with his brother’s newfound interest with his relationship with Dean. “I’m not interested in any advice of yours, brother.” He stalked away in the opposite direction until he was inches away from the wall of human weapons.
The selection varied and, to Castiel’s delight, it was almost a chart of the human’s progression when it came to weaponry. There were the clubs at the farthest end, swords and maces in the middle and their most recent was of course, guns. They were truly works of art and did serve as a good distraction from Gabriel’s foolishness.
He tensed when he felt Gabriel’s hand on his shoulder then shrugged it off and with a bored look turned around to face his brother. “What?”
Gabriel’s lips twitched in what Castiel could only interpret as satisfaction and then the serious expression came back. “This is gonna be kind of hard for you to hear…” He actually sounded remorseful. Castiel furrowed his eyebrows and actually started paying attention, maybe this advice was sound and if not that then it was at least useful. “But this thing you’re developing for Dean, this respect or this admiration or even this love… you’re going to have to stop it-“
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly,” Castiel interrupted with a slightly ticked off tone of voice.
“Everyone agrees with me, even Michael. You’re putting yourself in bad situation and it’s not healthy for you.” Gabriel proclaimed.
“I don’t see what’s so unhealthy about learning to love the person that will one day be my husband,” Castiel stated plainly. He honestly had no idea where the jealousy from Gabriel was coming from but to say for even a second that learning to love Dean was unhealthy was pure idiocy on his part.
“But, he won’t.”
Castiel’s head instinctively dipped to the side and he examined his brother closely for any signs of amusement or dishonesty but he found none of that. He was serious… how was that even possible? “What do you mean? We’re betrothed; we have been for almost ten years. Has there been a change?”
Gabriel shook his head. “No, no change. As far as Michael and John and everyone else who knows about the betrothal is concerned and there won’t be a change.”
Castiel nodded, only slightly understanding his brother’s statement. “So… what you’re saying is, Dean and I won’t get married.”
“Exactly, see I knew you were smarter than you look.”
Castiel pinched the bridge of his nose and entertained the idea of flying out of the room to the Himmel before he had to listen to anymore of Gabriel’s riddles. But, his hunting trip started in a few minutes and Dean would be so hurt if he didn’t show up. Deciding to elbow through this irrelevant conversation, Castiel raised his head again and looked his brother.
“And may I ask why?”
“You might want to sit down for this one,” Gabriel stated solemnly, but with the slightest hint of mocking in his voice.
“I’d rather stand, thank you.” Besides, there was no place to sit anyway.
Gabriel shrugged and then took a seat on one of the tables inside of the room, swiping any of the particularly pointy weapons away from his butt, and leaned down with a leer. “Do you remember about two years ago when I told you Michael didn’t offer you to Dean because he wanted the two of you to fall in love and live happily ever after?”
He nodded and turned around to the door which looked so inviting at the moment.
“Well, I never actually told you the reason why he offered you up and I personally think you need to know… before you get in any deeper than you already are.”
“Go on…” Castiel murmured, not exactly happy but still interested in what Gabriel’s explanation was going to be.
“Michael wanted a political alliance; the easiest way to get that was through a proposed marriage. None of us expects it to actually take place, after the war we were going to drop it.”
Castiel opened his mouth to speak but he couldn’t really muster up the words. He knew that it was a political alliance, he’d always known. But, he thought Michael was also trying to help him to a happy future; give him a partner in all things. Instead, it seemed like he was getting Castiel’s hopes up for nothing.
“Then, why would he…”
“Castiel, you were always the strangest out of us all. You may have the most compassion for humans as individuals but you were still the most detached from them and hell, you were detached from everything. It was our plan from the beginning when we first found out that there was a possibility that Dean would be the chosen to make you the betrothed.”
Castiel sighed and rubbed his eyelids. If what Gabriel was saying was true- and it did sound kind of true- then they never planned for Castiel to learn to love Dean as much as he has. Understandable, but then why did they allow him to come back here so often?
“But, I can still marry Dean if I wanted to, right? If I choose to, he can still be my husband when he’s older.”
Gabriel raised his eyebrows and looked at Castiel with a nervous expression. “See, that’s the kicker! Dean… we don’t plan… you see, normally this would be easy to say… but in order to spare your feelings…” Gabriel mumbled to himself with a concentrated look on his face. Castiel stood there impatiently, having seen this act enough times to know that Gabriel was buying time for dramatic effect. Glancing at out the window, Castiel noted that he was late for his hunting trip with Dean.
“Dean’s probably not going to live long enough to marry you.”
The simple comment was enough to shock Castiel to the point where he physically flinched. But, there was the war and the throne; Dean had to live at least live long enough for those and they were both very far away in the future. What an erroneous statement! How dare Gabriel assume something like that?
Although he was seething inside, Castiel kept a calm demeanor. “How can you say that?”
“Think about it, bro. Dean’s lifestyle ain’t exactly a panic room, he’s always put in immediate danger and no matter how much we ask the papa to pull him out of it he won’t budge-“
“Then why don’t we just take him away from here, train him ourselves.”
“Because we have training to do ourselves and it’s not like Dean is four years old anymore, he’s not going to want to come. It would be a waste of time to train someone who’s just going to die anyway,” Gabriel said.
Castiel bit his bottom lip and looked down to the ground, feeling low and pathetic. “But, it’s our job to protect our father’s champion. We should watch out for him, protect him from all dangers.”
“Like I said, we’re not the kid’s babysitters. We’re way too busy preparing for the big one ourselves; things are already bad.”
“But Dean is supposed to lead us into the battle; you can’t let anything happen to him.”
“I heard you the first time, parrot,” Gabriel sassed. “But, we realized that Dean will never be strong enough to fight Lucifer’s charge and Lucifer, no matter how many years are under his belt before the battle.”
Castiel knew that this was true to some extent. Though the mortal who would be Dean’s opponent may be easy to handle, Lucifer was not and Dean has his work cut out for him. “We can’t just give up on him.”
Gabriel’s lips twitched in a smirk and he wagged his finger at Castiel. “Yes we can… you see the five of us alone can defeat Lucifer and his demons. Why waste our time with a prophecy made thousands of years ago?”
Castiel’s jaw clenched, though he felt the smallest bit of relief that they would be relieving Dean of his duties he still felt a sinking in his stomach when he thought about Dean no longer having every angel in the world protecting him. His life was too dangerous. He wouldn’t survive very long. “You have to be lying.”
“Perhaps… but, we’re missing the point here. This little obsession that you have with the Crown Prince of Inim needs to stop immediately. Nothing good comes out of it; it’ll only hurt more when he’s dead.”
Castiel turned away from Gabriel and walked toward the door. “Michael would never go against father’s wishes and if he didn’t want me to love Dean he would have told me so before it was too late. I would rather ask Michael myself then use you as a source!”
Gabriel huffed out a chuckle and Castiel felt his presence leave the room. Sighing, Castiel twisted the doorknob only to have someone open it up from the opposite side. Castiel stepped back and smiled when he saw a small person pop their head through.
“Cas, are you ready to go?”
Castiel nodded and Dean smiled at him, sending his heart afloat. He followed the small boy out of the room and stared at his retreating form.
Gabriel was lying, Dean was their champion, he wasn’t going to die, he was going thrive. He would live well into his nineties and after he leads the siege of Iad and comes out on top, they’ll be married and Castiel will be very happy.
~*~*~
The swarm of demons came out in a trickle rather than a burst. But, as is usual with trickles, when they go unnoticed they can turn into a flood. Castiel scanned the terrace uneasily as the demons crept out of the trees and bushes all walking toward the humans with their practically human-like features. They were no longer the gray-skinned, wide-mouthed, long-clawed beings that they were when they first formed; they morphed to take on more human-like features just as the angels did when humans became the majority in the world.
This would have made fighting them more difficult had it not been for their black eyes. The dark eyed beings continued pouring out, circling the mere twenty hunters and ten angels who tagged along- not including John and Dean which made thirty two. Castiel could feel the presence of about fifty demons around the area with more approaching.
The number was manageable but still potentially dangerous, especially if everyone doesn’t keep on his or her toes.
The first demon that jumped at them threw himself at Dean; the demon made a grab at his neck but his fingers barely stroked the boy’s skin before a bullet was launched into his skull. As soon as the demon fell dead the fight began.
Castiel spent the majority of his time fighting demons off of him until he took his knife out, leaving the gun in his pocket just in case…
One particularly vindictive demon approached him with a long sword in his grips; a look of pure fury in his eyes as he swiped at Castiel with his silver sword. Castiel tried to move out of the way but he was too late and the sword cut deep into his arm. He eyed the cut with a cock of his head; he’s fought many a demon in his day but never had one gotten closer enough to actually cut him. He knew he was distracted but still...
“Cas, watch out!”
Castiel looked to his right only to see Luke shooting in his direction, he turned around and saw the same demon coming toward him with his knife raised. He dodged the slash and the demon was shot in the head by Luke moments later.
Castiel sent him an appreciative smile but the boy was already freeing the beast on other demons. He decided to start paying closer attention to his surroundings. Even though these demons technically couldn’t kill an angel they could still do damage and Castiel could do without Gabriel’s taunting when he sees him banged up.
The fighting got significantly easier when Castiel started paying attention and demons fell to at his feet faster than leaves falling from a tree. But, the demons kept coming; to the point where Castiel wasn’t sure whether this was some kind of routine attack or if there was something more…
He turned around and scanned the area for Dean. He saw him at the opposite end of the field somewhere near a bush, shooting demons one by one. His aim was pretty much perfect, a sense of pride filled Castiel. He had taught Dean to shot correctly after all. But, regardless of that, he was just happy he was safe and that Dean could take care of himself.
“Die!” A demon shouted as he launched himself at Castiel with nothing but his fists bare hands. He stretched out his hands and prepared to strike but Castiel moved to the side and waited for the demon to turn back toward him before he gripped the demon’s neck.
The demon tried to pry Castiel’s hand off of him but his grip was too firm and the demon eventually stopped and looked at Castiel, defeated.
Castiel fixed him with an intense stare that made the demon shiver in his grasp. “What is your purpose for being here?”
The demon smirked and chuckled. “We’re demons! Do we need a purpose?”
“Usually no, but you never attack in such large groups,” Castiel said sternly. He tightened his grasp on the demon’s neck compelling it to gasp and choke. “Tell me, now!”
“What’s the ultimatum? You gonna let me go if I spill the beans?” The demon rasped.
“No,” Castiel said, the intense glint in his eye was still there and was only getting worse as he got angrier. “I’m going to kill you whether you tell me or not.”
The demon sneered and tried to remove himself from Castiel’s grip to no avail. “Then I ain’t tellin’ you shit!”
Castiel inhaled sharply and squeezed harder on the man’s neck; if he squeezed any harder he knew he might pop its head off but that was a risk he was willing to take. The demon was only making it more obvious that there was plan here and he needed to find out.
“Listen to me,” Castiel hissed in a deep whisper, despite the mess of noise and commotion going on around him. “You’re going to die here today; if you tell me what’s going on here I can make it as quick and painless as possible. But, if you don’t tell me, I promise your death will not only hurt on the outside but on the inside, it will be the most excruciating moment of your life. So, I would recommend-“
Castiel’s threatening speech was interrupted when he heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the field; he recognized the voice immediately. John.
When he turned around, Castiel expected to find John with a knife sticking out of his gut or on the ground bleeding to death. But, that’s not what he saw. What he did see stopped Castiel’s heart in a sweeping motion and rendered him paralyzed.
John was leaned over a body with fat tears in his eyes and screams of anguish coming from his lips. The demons were all leering, but they trickled away in a similar fashion that they came: into the trees and into the bushes, leaving every human and angel there to observe John hysteria over his injured son.
“Dean…” Castiel groaned. From his stance at the far end of the field, Castiel could feel Dean’s life energy fading quickly and he could see the blood all over John as he ran his hands over Dean’s body. Without a second thought, Castiel let go of the demon in his grasp and walked quickly to where John and Dean were. Castiel elbowed through the angels and hunters surrounding the grieving father and his son; when he was finally able to see the extent of the damage he felt the lowest drop in his stomach and the slightest strain of his eyelids.
John was holding a bloody knife in his grips as he cried and moaned his child’s name; he was running the other hand over Dean’s wound, which was on his chest and pouring blood steadily. The Medic-Hunter pushed past Castiel to survey the damage done to the Crown Prince. He pressed gauze and alcohol on the wound as he checked his vitals with his ear and hands.
“Do something! Do something to help my son!” John shouted at the medic as he raised the same knife that was plunged into his son at him.
The medic didn’t so much as flinch, in fact, he’d stopped moving all together and looked sadly at everyone surrounding him. Dean’s chest was moving sporadically and he was obviously losing control of his breathing; but he was holding on with all he had.
“No! Don’t look like that, this is my son. You have to-“ John’s voice broke and his face fell onto Dean’s shoulder and he openly wept onto it.
“There’s nothing I can do,” he said in the most objective tone that one could muster when telling a group of people that their prince and friend was dying.
Bobby Singer removed his hat immediately, placing it at his heart and bowing his head. Ellen bit her bottom lip and turned away from the scene, shouting a vile obscenity. Luke’s head was bowed but his shoulders were shaking. The rest of the hunters followed suit and were soon bowing, cursing or just crying. The angels kept blank looks, but Castiel could feel the somberness in their souls. And Castiel…
Castiel didn’t know how to react. He loved Dean. He loved Dean a lot. What was one supposed to feel when they lost someone they loved. Were they supposed to feel as hollow as Castiel was feeling right now? Were they supposed to lose all function of their voices and limbs? Were their eyes supposed to leak? Were they supposed to hate the world? Were they supposed to want to die too? Were they supposed to feel more pity for themselves than for the dying man?
Castiel didn’t know…
But, he didn’t like what he was feeling. He felt vulnerable, he felt useless, he felt human. It was the worst feeling that Castiel ever experienced; did humans feel this way all the time? How do they stand it? Would this be how he would feel for the rest of his time on earth? Lost and unable, vulnerable and useless: human.
No… no! There had to be another way; he couldn’t live this way. He wouldn’t. There had to be some way to save Dean from death. He was an angel! The first angel! He would find a way.
“I can do something…” Castiel murmured. He ignored every curious eye, except for John’s who looked at him with the most defenseless look of grief and hope and at that moment he knew he couldn’t let himself become that way. Not because of some human: no matter how beautiful and warm he was.
Castiel got on his knees beside Dean and placed his hands on his bloody chest. He turned around and examined the boy closely. He was just barely alive. His face was stained by blood and his eyes were half open. There were tears on his cheeks and his lips moved slowly, Castiel felt more tears escaping his own eyes when, under further inspection, he saw that Dean was trying to say, “Why,”.
Focusing his attention on the task at hand, Castiel closed his eyes and felt Dean’s life energy fading with every passing second. He didn’t have time to think about what he was doing or make any plans; he just did what felt right. He focused all of his angelic energy to his fingertips; they were pulsing within seconds and but the energy was still trying its hardest to stay inside of Castiel’s body.
With one final push of his power, it escaped his body and flew into Dean’s prompting his life energy to spike and Castiel’s to decline at a rapid pace. Castiel inhaled sharply and fell back, only to be caught by the strong hands of another angel. He’d never in his existence felt so weak. Not even the feeling of Dean’s impending death could compare to the lack of power and control that he had at that moment. He never had to release so much energy at one time; it was agonizing.
“He’s stabilizing!” Were the last words Castiel heard before his hearing ability started to flicker away.
His insides felt cold but his skin felt like it was on fire; his mouth was dry but his body felt wet; his eyes were wide open but he couldn’t see. His entire body was imbalanced; he didn’t know whether he was conscious or not or if he was moving or still. His eyesight blacked out and he was numb. For the first time in his life, Castiel felt fear. It was the faintest spark but it was the most intense thing he’d ever felt.
He didn’t know what was happening but all he knew was that this was not normal and it didn’t feel good. Not at all. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself become so undone in a matter of years; the emotions he’s felt during the past nine years were all new and frightening.
Fear. Sadness. Regret. Weakness. Anger. Love.
Nothing like what happened today happened to him before those feelings crept into his conscious mind. Those terrible, dangerous feeling…
Castiel didn’t want them anymore.
He couldn’t stand it; if something happened to Dean on that day or any other day he knew he is wouldn’t be able to stand it. He would die inside missing that boy and his warmth. Could he really let himself die over some human?
As far as Gabriel was concerned, he wasn’t needed anymore thus he wasn’t special anymore. There was no reason to stick around, not anymore.
If he could escape then maybe with time his love for Dean would grow weaker and weaker until the day that when his brother tells him that Dean was killed in some nameless battle in some nameless plot of land and he can feel nothing.
Nothing…
Castiel missed feeling nothing.
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