You Soar & You Drown (Destiel AU)

Chapter Three

Sam Winchester was in the middle of a date when he got a call from an unfamiliar number. Since he was currently occupied with kissing his girlfriend, he let it ring until Jess finally reached behind him and picked up the phone just as it stopped ringing. An unfamiliar number blinked on the screen under “Missed Calls”.

“Call back,” she whispered in his ear, sitting back on the couch. Sam stared mournfully at the phone, contemplating whether or not he should listen to Jess. Finally he redialed the number and mouthed at Jess, “Be right back” as he moved into the tiny kitchen.            

“Hello?” An unfamiliar voice asked on the other end of the phone. Sam held back a sigh as he said, “This is Sam Winchester. You…called me a few seconds ago?”

“Dean Winchester’s brother?”

Sam gritted his teeth together and asked tightly, “Who is this? Why are you calling me?”

“Your—your brother’s at my house, and…uh…he told me to call you.”

“Why couldn’t he call me?” Sam asked, concerned. “Who is this?!”

“My name is Castiel. I am an angel of the Lord,” the voice at the end of the line said, and Sam groaned inwardly.

“Listen, if this is funny to you, it’s not to me. Please forget this number, okay? Don’t call me again.”

There was a crackle, like a sigh, on the other end of the line. “If you will not come, Sam, then I will have to get you. Wait—Dean, how do I make the device quiet?”

Sam hung up before the person could continue, and was just about to turn back to the living room when a boy around Dean’s age appeared before him, his arm reaching out to touch Sam.

“Whoa!” Sam crashed backwards into the sink and banged his head against a cabinet. Wincing with pain, he swung his fist at the boy, but it sailed through empty air.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” the boy said regretfully from right beside him, then he felt the pressure of the boy’s hand against his shoulder, and then he was suddenly in an apartment kind of like his, only much neater and emptier. The door was in splinters on the floor, and the body of a demon was lying on the floor, jerking as Dean pulled his knife out of its back.

“Dean!” Sam ran over to his brother, who was bleeding from a long gash on his upper arm. But his older brother just shook his head and looked at Castiel, who appeared right beside him and touched his arm. The gash disappeared.

“Are you—” Sam began, eyes wide.

“I am an angel of the Lord,” Cas interrupted, smiling a little.

“So it is—you—” the demon coughed, spitting blood. Its whole body was shaking as it forced out the words. “Castiel…”

The angel nodded curtly, gesturing at Dean to give him the knife. He knelt beside the demon, but it held up a hand to stop him, with the other hand covering its mouth as it coughed again. When it smiled, its teeth were stained with blood.

“We will find you,” it said, staring directly into Cas’ blue eyes. “We know you are hiding among the humans. Why do you think Gabriel hid you away? He knows we are after you, Castiel. He knows we will destroy you—”

Expressionless, Cas thrust the blade into its throat, cutting the demon off abruptly. Dean stared down at his friend, who looked like he was about to throw up.

“Gabe?” Cas whispered into the air. “Is it true?”

They were silent, everyone waiting—for a sign, a voice to drop out of the air? But the longer they waited, the longer the uncomfortable silence became even more uncomfortable, until Cas finally shook his head. “But why would he lie to me?”

Dean looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind quickly. He glanced over at Sam but turned his gaze back to Cas quickly. Was it Sam’s imagination, or was there a red blush creeping up his cheeks?

“So…are you a hunter?” Sam asked awkwardly, trying to break the pensive silence hanging in the room.

“No.” Cas stood up and glanced down at the demon’s body, sighing. “What am I going to tell Gabe?”

“You don’t have to tell him anything, you know,” Dean said, placing a hand on the angel’s arm. Sam tried to hide his surprise at this—Dean rarely showed gestures of affection like that, especially to people he’d just met. “Come on, it was just one demon. If your brother thinks you’re safe, then maybe you should try another few days around here.”

Cas nodded uncertainly. “Okay, sure, I guess.” His eyes found Dean’s, and Sam’s older brother blushed again, this time more visibly.

“Can you—uh—zap me back to Jess?” Sam asked suddenly, feeling very awkward standing in between Dean and Cas’ intense stares.

Cas whipped his head around to look at him, studying him as if he had just noticed Sam was there. “Yeah, okay.” He stepped forwards, but Dean stopped him almost immediately.

“Wait, Cas,” he said. “I need to talk to my brother.”

           

* * *

Alone again, Cas sat down on his couch and tugged Gabe’s note out of his pocket. He smiled again when he started to read the Enochian, but frowned as he read further into the note. It didn’t sound at all like Gabe.

Skipping over the next few sentences, he looked down at the name at the bottom. Crowley. Dammit.

“He wants to negotiate a deal, Gabe,” he whispered into his hands. “He wants my life for the Winchesters’.”

How had he found out so quickly? Cas had only met Dean a few hours ago, and Sam only a few minutes. Maybe it was the demon they’d killed. Maybe it had managed to get a message to Crowley before it died.

And what had he done, exactly, to piss off the demon king in the first place?

Cas knew that he didn’t want to risk the Winchesters. They were vital in fighting demons and other things off the face of the earth. But he hesitated, because he didn’t think that Sam and Dean would go down that easily. And Crowley didn’t have as much access to them as he thought. It wouldn’t be that easy to get rid of them. The king should’ve started smaller.

Cas looked up as Dean came back into the room, tugging a tired-looking Sam after him. The angel saw Dean’s eyes flick quickly to the paper in his hands, and he shoved it in his pocket before he could say anything.

“Sam, do you want to go back now?” He asked, standing. The other boy nodded, and Cas reached out to grip his shoulder and zapped them back to Sam’s place.

“Thanks, Cas,” Sam turned around to say, but the angel was already gone.