Freak of Nature (Destiel)

Chapter 42: Castiel's Suspicion

The road so far...

Dean, Charlie, and Jeremiah

Dean sighed shakily, and unfurled his wing for the two to see.

Dean was the missing piece.

I'm running out of time, I need to make the best of things, Dean thought to himself.

...

Crowley and The Council

"Metatron's prophecy is being realized."

"How, how is it even possible!?"

---

"How did you know about it?" Metatron asked.

Crowley's eyes seemed to lose their resolve but he cleared his throat, "There are whispers."

"Whispers?" He scoffed, "You interrupted this meeting for mere whispers?!"

Abaddon shushed him with the raise of her hand, "He may be onto something, dear. I have also heard some of these... whispers."

"And why didn't you tell me," he spat venomously, her eyes flashing at him in anger. He slunk a little in his chair, "my darling wife."

Seeing Metatron recede, she regained her smile, "I slunk around the town for a while, before we 'officially' arrived here, and found out the little raven was hiding something."

"Hiding something? Like what, a third eye?" Gabriel mused, sarcasm dripping in his tone.

"No, he knew about Balthazar's whereabouts."

"So what? Balthazar did what he wanted to, he had nothing to hide, unlike little black wings in there," he pointed with his thumb toward the wall, indicating Castiel's room nearby.

"Castiel," she spat the name, "knew Balthazar was thinking of clipping his wings."

Lucifer choked on the air he was breathing, causing himself to cough uncontrollably.

"He knew?" Gabriel asked, shocked. "Why would he..?"

"Not tell you?" Abaddon asked, smirking, "Why should he?"

The air went silent as all those in the room were dumbfounded at what she was about to say.

"You're not even his brother."

"I am!" Gabriel yelled, lurching to his feet to grab at the woman he calls 'Mother'.

"Half-brother! He's bastard child, boy!" she yelled at him.

Angry, hateful tears welled in his eyes, "Screw you, screw all of this! I'm done!" He swiped his forearm across his face, wiping the tears away, cursing under his breath. "He's more family then you've ever been, you fucking harlot!"

"Don't you speak to Mother that way!" Michael yelled, furious.

Abaddon silenced Michael with a sharp glance, then returned her gaze to Gabriel. "Tell me now, my son, do you choose him or me?"

"Why is there a choice?" he asks, his eyes straying to Crowley, standing stock-still in the doorway.

"Because I want to know your answer," she said in mock innocence, leaning back into her chair.

Gabriel's stance weakened, his legs shaking slightly beneath him. He was fearful, he never liked not having control during a conflict. Abaddon always had control, had her aging fingers in every metaphorical pie in all of Arya.

Gabriel had made his decision the second he stood up to her, "I choose Cassie. He's a real brother to me. I don't know about Luc's opinion, but I chose Castiel a long time ago."

Crowley watched the room quiet. Despite the distance, Jess and Mary could be heard washing dishes from the kitchen. His feelings of disquiet only got stronger, his theory was right; there's war drums in the distance, and they're only getting closer.

...

Dean returned to Castiel's room, his heart sunken in his chest. He couldn't avoid the thought now that it's brought out, relatively, in the open. He wrapped his arm around Castiel's shoulder, the feeling causing him to reflexively tighten his grip. Castiel's eyes looked up to Dean's in silent question, but Dean gave him no reassurance.

"How about we go now, Cas? I wanna see the shore."

Castiel nodded, but he could sense something in the air gave made him a tad alarmed. Something seemed askew in Dean's behavior, and he had to find out why that is, even if that meant going to the shore earlier than initially planned.

Castiel laced his fingers through Dean's, leading him quietly through the house towards the back entrance of the house. The hill was steep, so they had to shuffle their way down the rocky side. They each almost lost their footing, but the other would recover them before they tripped.

The foggy mist had begun to settle on the water, hanging in mid-air. Thick and humid, the air was sticky and difficult to breathe in. The sight itself was beautiful, yet dreary. The water was a darkened blue, unable to see the bottom of the water ahead. Dean sat beside Castiel on a small, leveled platform built from stacked rocks.

Taking off his shoes and socks, Dean dipped the tip of his toes in the water. The water was numbingly cold and the air seemingly chilled along with it. It was there they sat in silence, neither could guess how long, just staring along the horizon.

The secret Dean held on his back felt like they were made of concrete, weighing him down more and more with every step he took. The feelings of regret were hurting him more than he could have ever possibly imagined. He did not expect to care for Castiel so much in such a short amount of time.

His mouth began to open, but the sound of Castiel whispering to himself shocked him to silence, eyes turning to see what Castiel was muttering to himself. It sounded like poetry, but the words were fading with the sound of the water washing quietly over the rocks.

"What?" Dean asked.

"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you."

Dean's eyes flashed in fear, had he found him out? Dean panicked, he wanted to have a little more time to figure out what to say before this happened. He found himself at a loss for words.

"Dean, is something wrong?" his tone sounded mockingly coy.

"How did you find out?"

"Find out what, Dean?"

Immediately, he looked to Castiel, the younger angelkind having a knowing look in his eyes. He'd been caught in a lie, but Dean's heart felt as though it had paused in his chest. What he really wondered was what lie did Castiel know?