Back in Black

Chapter 30

Dean woke up feeling better than normal. The last thing he remembered was Castiel stroking his fur and then falling asleep. Waking up without Cas watching him felt...wrong...for lack of a better word.

Dean stretched and went to find Lucifer, or Luke as Dean flippantly called him. It was better than Lucy.

"Where's Cas?"

"Gone. Someone up in heaven with enough strings deliberately pulled him back up. He fought like hell against it but I'm guessing they had Michael power it. His human vessel was dumped off somewhere," said Lucifer flatly.

"What."

"Castiel has been forcibly recalled back, and while they now know Gabriel has claimed Sam they're still dead determined to claim you since you're Michael's vessel."

Dean felt cold inside.

He had seen Heaven's handiwork, and he had the feeling they were going to do something terrible to Castiel. Brainwashing was the first thing that sprang to mind.

Sam walked in, still in unicorn form. He looked exhausted but much calmer than before. He switched back immediately when he saw Dean's face.

"What happened?"

"Someone dragged Castiel back to heaven. Since Luke couldn't exactly announce he was here he couldn't stop it."

Gabriel flinched.

"Sorry about that. If I hadn't gone with Sam..."

Dean shook his head.

"It's not often Sam feels the need to just let go and run for hours, but when he does he's more vulnerable than I am. Most things wont bother unicorns, but Sam doesn't have monster-proof skin. I'm glad someone with healing abilities was with him. We'll get Cas back. They need him to get to us since we clearly don't trust heaven," said Dean sensibly.

~

Dean picked up the phone and he knew something was very wrong. The man had Castiel's voice, but it definitely wasn't Cas.

Dean packed everything up and they were at the hospital where this Jimmy Novak was before sundown.

"Thank God...I thought I was going crazy," said Jimmy in relief.

"Shit...when the angels kidnapped Castiel they must have ditched you at the first available hospital," said Dean, inspecting Jimmy's soul.

There were hints of Castiel in the man, enough to get him into heaven upon death, but that was it. Whatever had grabbed Castiel didn't want his vessel. It was a small mercy they at least sent him to a hospital instead of somewhere a demon could find him.

Jimmy was just glad he knew Dean's number and that the man would take him seriously. The interactions he saw between Dean and the angel were amusing (who knew angels could bat for the same team?) the fact was Dean considered Castiel part of his family. And by extension it meant he would do everything in his power to keep Jimmy safe even if Castiel wasn't in his body at the moment.

"We have two options. One, we wait for Castiel to return once they let him go and you can go back to being just another vessel."

"What's the other?" asked Jimmy. He wanted his life back.

"I talk to Castiel's father about making another custom vessel for him and I put the Fidelius Charm around the fact you were his vessel before. That should keep the demons from trying to come after you for information, and I could probably spin a yarn or two about a cult kidnapping you to cover why you've been gone for so long. If that doesn't work I can give you enough gold that you and your family can stay afloat until you find someplace new," offered Dean.