Downcast

1: Puke and a Pizza Parlor

Cas vastly underestimated how quickly the fatigue would set in. Though his vessel was strong by human standards, it felt so frail without his grace. By the time he reached the glimmering lights, every cell in his body was fighting the urge to stop and rest on the cold ground. He stumbled through what felt like miles of the city's outer edge, it's only structures being strange cement arches and pathways, which a dizzying number of blinding vehicles were blowing past on. For a moment Cas was reminded of colorful tropical fish, only this sight was the opposite of calming. The colors, noises, and new emotions, (namely, stress) blinded him and rang in his ears.

Cas suddenly felt as if insides were falling like the angels in the sky, hurtling recklessly towards earth until- splatter. Cas had vomited on the dead grass in front of him. He had involuntarily bent double as the bile rose in the throat. He stood up, wiped his mouth off, and spit on the ground, attempting to rid his mouth of the foul taste to no avail.

Cas forced the nausea to the back of his mind, clutched his head, which was starting to pound, and forced his legs to carry him further. The big sweeping cement roads in the sky were soothed into flat roads with four lanes, then two, as the buildings closed in on them. Cas took one look up at the towering sky scrapers before stumbling into the first place he had passed that smelled good, instead of like alcohol, smoke, and sewage.

It was a small pizza parlor. There was a clattering as the cleaning boy dropped his mop. Cas nodded at him, as he'd seen Dean do in the past, before sitting down at one of the tables and holding his head in his hands. When Castiel looked up again, the boy was gone. A couple minutes later the kid returned with a stout red-haired older woman.

"If you think wallowing in here is going to make me take pity on you just 'cause your homeless-!" she snapped, "Ya got me. I'm a softie. Just don't go telling your friends, can't afford to feed a whole town for free."

She set a few slices of streaming pizza down in front of Cas before he could object.

"But I can't pay you- I have nothing to give!" Cas exclaimed, though his mouth was already starting to water.

"I didn't expect you to. You're in need, so I'm helping you." The chef stated, looking slightly confused.

Cas was lost for words, in a way. He would have said 'thank you' if he wasn't already stuffing his mouth full of the warm cheesy slices. Cas looked up at her while eating, looking into her eyes with such wonder that the message got across without words.

"Anytime, sweetheart." She said, before leaving to attend to the few other customers in the place. It was late, the restaurant would be closing soon.

After Cas finished eating, he looked around the unfamiliar place. He had never felt to small, and suddenly he felt the urgent need to talk to Dean. He'd never felt so far away from the familiar bunker and his friends. He glanced at the corded phone on the wall. Would it be too much to ask for another favor?

The bell tinkled as the last pair of customers left the pizza parlor. Cas's plate had long since been picked of the last crumb, and his thoughts turned to the red phone on the wall.

"If I might, uh, request one more favor..." Cas mumbled to the kind red-haired chef, "could I make a phone call?"

"Of course, hun," she said, "but I'm afraid we'll be locking up soon, and you can't stay the night, so make it quick."

Can nodded and quickly dialed Dean.
"...Hello?" Deans voice crackled over the phone.

"Dean, it's me, Castiel, I lost my grace and I'm far away I don't know how to live as a human please come get me right now-" Cas said in a single breath.

"Whoa, Cas, slow down. You lost your grace?  What happened?" Dean replied.

"Metatron. He lied to me, he tricked me. He cast the angels out of Heaven," Cas explained the story quickly, "...And then, I was on Earth. They were falling. All of them. I saw Metatron fall too, he- he didn't make it."

There was a silence.

"I'm sorry Dean, I messed up. Again. If you don't want to come for me, I completely-" Cas started, before Dean interrupted.

"No, Cas, I'm coming. We'll talk when I get there. Hang tight. Find somewhere safe and stay there. Drink water, don't talk to strangers, stay warm. You said you were in Ingensteder at Lucky Lucy's Pizza on 41st?"

The chef, Lucy walked in. "Hey, let's wrap it up buddy." She smiled.

Cas nodded and turned back to the phone. "That's correct." He said.

"Okay, meet me at the pizza place at noon tomorrow. Don't draw attention to yourself, you might have some angels after you."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you Dean." Cas said, hanging up.

He thanked Lucy repeatedly as he made his way to the door. However, when he tried to open it, it was locked.

"Oh, uh, your door seems stuck." Cas said, confused.

"It's not stuck," said Lucy, "it's locked."

"Oh.. are you going to unlock it?" Cas said, feeling increasingly uneasy. He felt for his blade, but it wasn't on him when his grace was taken and he couldn't conjure it without his grace.

"That won't be necessary." Lucy said, smiling. "You won't be going anywhere; not without me."

Lucy's smile was oddly terrifying. It seemed too big and too young and too mean for her kindly old face. Cas couldn't help but look away, as a simmering pot of emotions was already swirling in this stomach. If this was human fear, he didn't like it.