falling like the stars, sam winchester [ 3 ]

028. purgatory

"You see? You're getting it now."

"First we find the angel."

"Mm, four's a crowd, chief."

"Well, hey. Either you're in or you're out."

"I hate everything." Miranda mumbles. "And he's not my friend. He's somebody I legally have to tolerate."

+++

"I don't think he knows, man." Benny says to Dean, walking away from the rugaru that's sitting against the tree.

"Oh, he knows." Dean says, going to the rugaru and bending down so his face in his in is. "Where's the angel? You feel that?" He asks, holding a blade to the creature's chest.

"There's a stream." The rugaru says.

"Go on." Dean growls.

"It runs through a clearing not far from here. I'll show you." The rugaru says. Dean takes the blade away from its' chest.

"How about you just tell me?" Dean suggests, holding the tip of the blade to the rugaru's chin. "Go on."

"Three days' journey. Follow the stream. There's a clearing. You'll find your angel there." The rugaru says.

Dean looks back at Benny and Miranda.

"You know what, mutt? I believe you." Dean smiles. He pushes the blade up, stabbing the rugaru from under the chin, it going through his head. Miranda winces, looking away.

"Too gory for ya?" Benny chuckles.

"Fuck off." Miranda grumbles.

+++

It's been a few days and they're still searching. They follow the stream, Dean stopping. Miranda sees Cas kneeling next to the water.

"Cas!" Dean yells. They all begin to make their way to the angel who stands up. "Cas?" Dean laughs and hugs Cas. "Damn, it's good to see you. Nice peach fuzz."

"Thank you." Cas says.

"You should meet somebody. This is Benny. Benny, this is Cas." Dean introduces.

"Hola." Benny greets.

"How did you find me?" Cas asks.

"The bloody way. You feeling okay?" Dean asks.

"You mean, am I still..." Cas moves his finger in a circle while pointing to his temple.

"Yeah, if you want to be on the nose about it, sure." Dean says.

"No. I'm perfectly sane. But, then, 94% of psychotics think they're perfectly sane, so I guess we'd have to ask ourselves, "What is sane?"" Cas states.

"That's a good question." Dean says.

"Why'd you bail on Dean and Miranda?" Benny asks.

"Dude." Dean says.

"The way I hear it, you guys hit monster land, and hot wings here took off. I figure he owes you two some backstory." Benny says.

"I'm not totally opposed." Jacob shrugs.

"Look, we were surrounded, okay? Some freak jumped Cas. Obviously, he kicked its ass, right?" Dean asks.

"No." Cas quietly says.

"What?" Dean asks.

"I ran away." Cas states.

"You ran away?" Dean questions.

"I had to."

"That's your excuse for leaving us with those gorilla wolves?"