Djinn (A Destiel Fanfic)

Chapter 19

Castiel wakes up on the floor.

Okay, so technically he wakes up tied to a pole, but as soon as he gains consciousness, he instinctively breaks through the ropes holding him up. Lying on the floor isn't much of an improvement, but he'll take what he can get.

Castiel sits up, his hands instantly covering his chest. He just got stabbed. Sam stabbed him. Sam Winchester just stabbed him.

But the wounds are gone. Of course they are. It was all a dream. Sam likes him too much to stab him in the real world. In fact, Sam likes him so much, he refused to let him be happy. But there's no use in holding that against him. It's too late to do anything about it now.

Almost instantly, Dean is at his side. "Cas? Cas, buddy, you okay?"

Castiel takes a deep breath, trying to let go of his memories of the dream world. "I'm fine." It's not true, of course, but he's long since learned that this is what he's supposed to say.

"Oh, thank god," Dean breathes a sigh of relief. "You really had us going there for a minute. We had no idea what a djinn would do to an angel."

Castiel shrug half-heartedly. "Same as it would to a human, I suppose."

"So, what, you got thrown into your own personal dream world?" Dean guesses.

Castiel nods solemnly.

"Ah, that's always fun," he says, not an ounce of sincerity in his voice. "What was your wish?"

Castiel looks around the room for a moment until his eyes finally land on Sam. The hunter is standing not too far away, watching him closely. Castiel can see the sympathy on his face, and he hopes Dean never notices it.

Castiel looks to Dean finally, just to say, "It was ridiculous. Don't worry about it."

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Alright, whatever you say." He stands up, then offers Castiel a hand up as well. Ordinarily, he'd take it, but he's not sure he could bear any physical contact with him right now — not after losing what they could have had.

Castiel pushes himself to his feet. "Did you kill it?"

"The djinn?" Dean guesses. "Unfortunately not. It ran out, and we got a little distracted making sure you were okay."

Castiel fights back a sigh. "Then we should probably find it, or this whole thing has been for nothing."

Once they kill the djinn, this whole experience will be worth it to the Winchesters. They got to kill a monster, and they didn't get anyone else killed in the process. That's always a win to them.

But Castiel won't feel the same. He'll never feel the same. He'd always been able to fight down his love for Dean. He knew it would never be reciprocated, and he was okay with that. But after spending days in his arms, how is he supposed to be with him day after day and pretend nothing happened?

But he'll do it anyway. He doesn't have a choice.