And i will walk on water

Chapter two

Dean dreamed of dark caves and giant stalagmites, only they were made of frozen blood and Castiel was trapped in a ring of them. Dean wanted to help him and the stalagmites melted when he neared, which heartened him, but then there were stalactites above Castiel, too, and when those began melting they came crashing down to drive their bloody tips straight into his bare chest. Castiel was pinned to the ground and he screamed and screamed as his blood poured out of his body to mingle with that from the melted stalagmites and stalactites and become a thunderous river. It rushed toward Dean and carried him away from Castiel in its undercurrent, and when he opened his mouth to yell Castiel's name, he found that he couldn't because he was at the bottom of the river and all the blood was getting into his mouth and making him choke.

Dean woke up sweaty but quietly, and Sam was already on the computer, looking for their next case. Dean's mouth was dry but he swallowed painfully and stared up at the ceiling, wishing its faded yellow would wash away the red from his dream more quickly. At least he couldn't hear Castiel's screams anymore, though, and he was profoundly grateful for that. The image of an angel screaming made him acutely uncomfortable in a way that wasn't unlike how he'd felt the first time he'd watched his dad cry, when he'd been four and solidarity and untouchable idols had come crashing down around him. Dean had hated witnessing his dad's weakness, and his jaw tightened at the thought of Castiel's, now.

The sound of Sam's typing distracted him, though, and Dean looked over and allowed himself to be calmed by the familiar sight of his little brother staring at the laptop screen. "Find anything?" he asked with a forced lightness, even though it was a question he didn't want to know the answer to half the time, these days.

"Wanna go to Cedar Point?" Sam asked, glancing up only briefly.

Dean made a face. "Not particularly." Roller coasters were even worse than planes, in his opinion, but instead of expressing this particular opinion, he asked, "What happened to looking for Jo?" She had run off five days ago despite all of Ellen's attempts to keep her away from any and all apocalyptic activity, and then two days ago she had simply turned off her phone and stopped returning calls. Dean and Sam had been trying to track her down, mostly as a favor for Ellen, but their few leads had all led to dead ends. Dean supposed he shouldn't be too bitter about their wasted time, though, because if they hadn't gone to Indiana to investigate the last lead, well, then they also wouldn't have stumbled right into Castiel.

"The witness cited by this article was a young blonde," Sam said meaningfully. "And then she apparently disappeared before cops could question her further."

Good enough for Dean, considering they had nothing else. "So what actually happened?" he asked as he pushed the covers off of himself and sat up in bed.

"Six people died there yesterday," came the reply. "Riding roller coasters."

Dean winced. He knew there was a good reason for his dislike of those things. "Wouldn't the place be closed today, then?"

"It was closed yesterday, too," Sam said grimly. "The rides were empty except for those six people. It says here that black smoke came out of their mouths the moment they got on."

"So we're thinkin' demons possessed them for just long enough to put them on suicidal rides and then let them enjoy their last run?" Dean shook his head in disgust. "These sons of bitches are getting creative with their fun."

Sam didn't look up from his computer, but he got that look on his face that he always got when they heard news of demonic activity, which had been every day since Lucifer's rise: guilt, fury, and hopelessness. Dean was tired of seeing it because he couldn't chase it away with any number of shots or beers or speeches about how it Wasn't His Fault (not entirely, anyway) that people were dying and Jo was missing because both Heaven and Hell had been playing him. Dean wished he could take all the burdens from his little brother's shoulders and bear them himself if that would fix Sam, but he didn't know how to and that was worst of all.