Chapter 1
It was nighttime in Kansas as two men were running away from terrors they had not seen since they were kids. The creature chasing them was oddly familiar to the men, but they couldn’t place it.
The younger man tripped and let out a terrified scream.
“Sammy!” the other man yells. The smaller man runs back to the now identified “Sammy”.
The yellow-eyed creature chuckles as he gets closer to the brothers.
“Dean, you have to run!” Sammy says to the older Winchester. Dean watches the creature with a terrified expression.
“You can run hunters, but you can’t hide!” the demon yells.
Dean quickly helps Sammy up and they continue running.
“Dean! Sam! In here!” A third person yells. His voice was like honey to Dean’s ears as the angel ushered them into the building.
“Cas…”Dean’s voice was soft. Castiel’s blue eyes shone brightly in the darkness. He looked at the hunter with a loving expression.
“I told you I would never leave, Dean. I’m planning to keep that promise,” the angel said blatantly.
Dean hugs Cas tight against his chest. A few minutes later, he pulled back, placing his palms on the celestial being’s face.
“Cas…” he says again, his voice cracking. He brings Cas’s face to his, kissing him softly. “You don’t know how worried I was,” he looks back into the deep blue pools, tears gathering in his emerald green eyes. Sam coughs, alerting the two to his presence. Both of their faces took on a red tint as they realised the man had watched the whole scene unfold.
“We have bigger matters on our hands than love confessions, guys. We have a demon after us,” Sam reminds them.”I mean, sure, I’m happy the two of you are out of the closet, but we still have to figure out how to get rid of the creature out there.”
“I know you’re there!” The creature yells.
Castiel goes white.”Azazel.”
“Who?” Sam asks as Dean takes on a similar expression to Cas.
“You need to tell him, Dean. He deserves to know,” Cas says, his voice soft. Dean gives him a helpless look. Cas walks away, a clear sign to the older brother. He turns to the younger Winchester.
“Sammy, remember Jessica?” Sam nods. “And Mom?” Another nod. “Azazel...he...was the one that...uh...killed them,” Dean says, a sad expression prominent on his face.
Sam looks down at the ground, tears gathering in his chocolate-brown eyes. Dean wrapped him in a comforting hug. Their mother and Jessica were still a sensitive topic for the two of them.
“Dean!” Cas yells and a large crash follows.
The two rush in the direction of the crash but are too late. Both angel and demon are gone.
“Dammit!”
Dean drops to his knees, emotion overwhelming his senses. His angel was gone. He could never gaze into his crystal-blue eyes or breathe in his odd, flowery, scent.
His other half was… gone.
DEAN WAKES UP HOURS LATER, not realizing he even fell asleep. Sam walks in with a glass of water.
“Here,” he says, handing the glass to his brother.”You passed out, so I decided it was time to call it a day. You’ve been out for a while.” Dean nods, looking at the glass in his hand warily. Sam walks out giving Dean a worried look.
Dean sets the glass on the bedside table. Then the events from hours before appearing in his mind.
“Cas…” Tears well up in his eyes once again. The emotion became too much and then he feels pain in his hand. He looks down to see broken glass in his hand. He must have picked the glass back up.
He stays in the same position for a while, shock settling in.
He eventually gets up, wraps his hand securely in gauze, and finds Sam in the main room.
“You okay, Dean?” Sam asks, concerned.
The older Winchester sits heavily in a chair on the other side of the table. Sam could tell how much the events affected him.
Dean was broken.
“Is he really...gone?” Dean asks, his voice soft. Sam gives him a sympathetic look. They are interrupted by Dean’s phone. He presses accept. He puts it on speaker as well.
“Hello?”
“Dean?”Cas’s voice comes through the device.”Is that you?”
“Yeah, baby. Sammy’s here too,” Dean says, his voice cracking slightly.
“I sent you something. Use it wisely. Read the instructions, Sam.”Loud footsteps interrupt their conversation.”I need to go. I love you, Dean.”
The phone call ends.
I love you, Dean. Is the only thing going through the older brother’s mind.
Sam gets up as a package appears, surrounded in a golden glow. He opens the box and is confronted by a leather book and a letter in English parchment. He opens the letter.
Sam,
God reserved this book for you and Dean. He knew you two would need it someday. He entrusted it to my care with one sentence: three wishes are all they need, Castiel.
Tell Dean not to worry about me too much, okay? I can deal with Azazel. Heaven knows he doesn’t need another reason to buy out a bar.
Best Wishes,
Castiel
Sam glances at his brother. Then opens the book and reads the instructions:
This book will grant the user three wishes. But, they come at a great price.
Use this book wisely, for it may write your downfall.
Dean looks at the words from over Sam’s shoulder.
“Where did that come from?”
“Cas sent it. And he said not to worry about him.”
“How could I not fucking worry, Sammy? Cas is out there, with a demon that’s possibly stronger than Cain. And we have no damn idea where he is. If that’s not something to worry about, then I don’t know what is.”
“Maybe we could summon someone to help us.” Dean nods and they head to the bunker’s dungeon.
After a while, Dean finishes drawing the last part of the trap. It was time to summon him.
Sam opens the book and writes the words to the spell:
Et ad congregandum… eos coram me
“Hello, Boys.”
“CROWLEY,” Sam says as Dean sinks into the shadows.”We need your help.”
Crowley sighs.”I figured you Winchesters wouldn’t just summon me for a party,” he mutters.
“We need help finding Azazel.” He freezes.
“ The Azazel?” Sam nods.
Crowley sighs again.
“Hand me the book.” Sam hands him the leather book they had used. They now had two wishes left, as one had been used to summon the king of hell. He writes a sentence:
Attenrobendum eos, ad consiendrum, ad ligandum eos, potiter et solvendum, et ad, congregontum eos, ’coram me
The said demon appears in a flash of black shadows.
“Crowley,” the demon says with distaste.
“Azazel,” He says in the same tone. “I have reason to believe you are causing trouble again?”
The yellow-eyed demon raises an eyebrow.
“Why are you so interested in what I do or don’t do?”
Then the demon notices the hunters.
“Well, well, well. Dean Winchester, Son of John and Mary Winchester, a man of letters.”
Dean raises an eyebrow, taking out the demon knife. Azazel just laughs.
Then he lunges at the hunter, so fast that Dean barely has time to protect himself.
The demon looks down at the knife in his chest and chuckles as his corrupted soul departs back to hell.
“Good luck finding him…” are the last words to come out of his mouth.
“Great. Our only lead on Cas is gone.”And with that, the elder Winchester exited the dungeon.
Sam sighs as Crowley raises an eyebrow.
“So the angel’s gone,” he says.”Doesn’t surprise me. Castiel was never that bright anyway.”
Meanwhile, Dean was sitting in his room listening to his usual Metallica playlist. Most of his thoughts were occupied by a certain angel, though some were about how to get him back. He hadn’t dealt with Azazel since Jess’s death.
He sighs and turns off the music, for it was making him more upset than he was.
“First the mark and now this… now we just need Sammy soulless again…”
With that, he just stares at the ceiling.
Then he gets the book that he had grabbed from Sam and starts to write.
CAS WAS IN PAIN. That much was obvious. The demon hadn’t been back in a while, so the angel assumed the worst. That and the fact he had no energy, so he couldn’t resort to his powers to affirm the speculation.
He let his mind wander to heaven. It had been a few months since Mettatron was defeated, but things were slowly coming back together.
That’s when he hears footsteps and the Winchesters appear.
“Sam? Dean?” He sees Dean’s eyes well up with tears as he unchains the angel He falls heavily on the man.
Over the next few weeks, the angel heals slowly but surely. Sure, having Dean around helped immensely, but he suspected something else was in play.
But that didn’t matter.
He was home.
I wish to know where Castiel is held and for him to be safe.
