(Book 5 Arrow/Spn xover) Family Is Who You'll Kill For

To Come Full Circle

(Here's a nod for you from Back From The Brink. Love you all!) 

His mind still spinning, he fumbled in his pocket, pulled out his phone and haphazardly scrolled through his contacts to Cas's name.

"Sa.."

"Cas! It's Dean, the warding, it's taking it off!" His words tumbled out as his heart sped up to meet the racing thoughts that flew by.

"What? Sam, slow down. I don't understand."

He took a deep breath, realized he was still in the hall and people were starting to stare at him. "Hold on, let me get away from people." He turned down the hall, rushed through the lobby and back outside.

"Fine."

Once he reached the outside air he continued, "I shot Dean, we had to take him to the hospital and they asked about the angel warding on his ribs but it wasn't just that. There are these black streaks on his ribs and I swear they're erasing the warding. Most of the markings on the outside edges are gone. What the hell could do that?"

There was a brief pause, when he spoke again Sam could tell Cas was struggling to remain calm. "You shot him?"

"Yeah, he lost it, we're helping Oliver. I shot him in the shoulder and leg, he's fine."

"You took him to help Oliver? Around other people? Sam!"

"Cas, not now! Focus on the warding, you can yell at me later. You won't be able to say anything I haven't already told myself."

"I...fine," Cas snapped then lapsed into silence for several minutes. "That warding was something that very few angels know how to do I also added a few unique touches. I honestly don't know who or what could do that. That is carved into his bones so whatever is doing it is rebuilding him on a the deepest level there is."

"But why?"

"My best guess, the Mark is from Lucifer and Hell, I am from Heaven. The Mark would not tolerate the existence of anything divine within him."

He froze in place, "It can do that?"

"Sam, the Mark is one of the most powerful things in existence. There are very good reasons Cain has always been so feared."

"Cas, I need answers. Listen," he repeated to Cas the things Nyssa had said about the Mark.

"Hmmm, Sumerian. It's possible."

Cas's calm, almost academic tone triggered months of frustration to finally surface, "Why didn't you know about this?"

"Because I am not all knowing!" Cas replied with a significant amount of heat, "You two seem to forget that. None of us were tasked to watch Cain over the centuries. He was not a major concern, he was in Hell remember? Not a place we could easily watch. When he would surface and cause an issue we dealt with him as best we could but as you saw, I was hardly a match for him. Even at full power I needed others with me. Once the Knights of Hell were massacred and we thought he was dead as well we moved onto other things. You humans have so often scattered and destroyed your libraries over the centuries I am amazed that we found anything on him at all after so long. I will see if I can find answers but it's not likely. Do you want me to come heal him and try to reapply the wards?"

"No." Now, even more than before, he needed time and if Dean was up and moving he wouldn't have it. He'd be having to worry about just where Dean was, what he was doing. "I need him to take as long as possible to heal. He's, well it's gotten bad Cas. I'm locking my door at night and sleeping with a gun again. I, I can't trust him. I wake up every few hours and check on him, he's spending hours at the gun range."