A Hunters Heart

The Beginning of a Quest

Sam walked into the study, shortly followed by Lexi. While there was still sleep in their eyes, it was plain to see they slept well. Dean looked at Sam with suspicion, but Sam shrugged it off.
"Morning!" Lexi said.
"Mornin'" Dean replied. Sam walked over to Cas and looked at the pages in front of him.
"How's it going? Find anything?"
"It was going very well for a while," Castiel responded, "but there are a few symbols that are hard for me to decode. This seems more ancient than I can remember. I must have been just a fledgling when this was written." Sam laughed at the idea of a baby Castiel, small wings not yet able to hold him in flight.
As Lexi came to Cas's side, Sam went into the kitchen for coffee, seeing that his brother and Cas already had some.
As Lexi peeked at the ancient writing, Castiel looked at her skeptically, "I don't expect you will understand any of this," he looked back down at his messy handwriting, "I'm not even sure that I do."
"No, no, I understand...." Castiel looked at her doubtfully. Without warning, Lexi started to point to random places in the book and spoke to Castiel, "See, if *that* symbol translates to *that* sound, and the little line above it is the same as *that* sound, then wouldn't it be the extra 'B'?"
Castiel gazed at the human in awe and confusion.
"Yes, I suppose that would make sense..." he conceded.
"But then, with the 'B' put in *that* space, you would need one of those little curvy 'X's for it to translate to what you have written. Don't change it, just use the double meaning behind *those* little lines and erase *that* and then you'll have the right symbol for translation."
As Dean and Cas stared at Lexi, Sam walked in with two cups of coffee and gave one to Lexi. She took the mug with a thankful smile and sipped the coffee inside, still staring at the Enochian symbols. Lexi hadn't noticed the stares, but as she looked to Castiel, she could suddenly feel the eyes on her.
"So, how did you sleep last night?" Lexi asked, eager to change the subject.
Castiel looked back to the books, "I didn't, angels don't need to sleep."
"Oh, okay. Dean, what about you?"
Dean looked slightly annoyed by the question, "Oh, just fine, thanks. How about yourself?"
Lexi blushed as she looked to Sam, then back to Dean, "No complaints."
"That's good." Dean winked at his brother. Sam then looked to Cas and asked,
"So, when do you think you'll be able to have the translations for us?"
Castiel looked up, "With Lexi's help, I've got one ingredient in the spell already."
"Really?" The hunters spoke simultaneously.
"What do we need?" Sam asked.
"One of the ingredients is the wool of a Babylonian sacrificial sheep."
Odd looks were exchanged as Sam walked to his laptop, which was charging on another one of the tables. He brought it back and sat beside Dean as he started to look up a possible shop where they could find such an item. Lexi looked perplexed.
"There's no way you have wifi down here." She peeked over his shoulder to find that he was already deep into search mode, "How..." she trailed off.
"I know, right." Dean finished, "I've stopped questioning it." he took a sip of his coffee.
Sam interjected, "A hunter's shop might have some. It's over in Maine, though. And the owner doesn't know if it's Babylonian."
Cas stood, "No need, I'll go there now and retrieve it."
"I told you, Cas, the owners don't even know if it's Babylonian." Sam said.
"I understand. I meant I will go to Babylon to retrieve some."
"No!" Dean yelled as he tried to ignore everybody's stares. Uncomfortably, he continued, "Babylon isn't around anymore, Cas."
"It's believed to have been located in modern day Iraq." Cas retorted.
"Okay... what about your grace? It's fading fast. You might not be able to make the trip." Dean sounded more concerned than he meant to.
Castiel and Lexi glanced at each other. Nobody but them knew that their soul searching endeavor supplied Cas with more grace. Castiel covered nicely, though.
"I should have enough to get there and back. Once back, I may need to sleep for some time, but nevertheless."
"Okay," Sam said, much to Dean's disapproval, "We'll be waiting."
"I should only be a moment."
And so he was off. Lexi was thrown off by the lack of wings, and the brothers just sat there waiting anxiously. Dean glanced at his watch as a minute passed. He stood and walked to where Castiel had been sitting. Then they all heard a flap of wings.
Castiel stood before them, but not as he had left. His trenchcoat had been torn at its lower seam and the ribbon around it was much longer on one side than the other. His hair was so distorted and his face so dirty, the hunters barely recognized him. He held a worn out sack that held Babylonian sheeps wool. He turned to Dean as his nose started to bleed, but before the angel could say a word, he was falling to the ground.