In the Light

Chapter Eighteen: The Truth Comes Out

They landed in the motel room. Sam and Ruby stumbled, caught off guard. Dean was sitting on the bed, surrounded by papers. The next thing Ruby knew, Dean had a gun in his hand and was pointing it at Castiel.

"Dean! Don't shoot!" Sam shouted. Mary came came into the room from outside and she soon had a gun in her hand. "Everyone calm down! Castiel saved us." Dean and Mary didn't put their guns down. Castiel walked over to the other side of the room. Dean and Mary cocked their guns at the same time.

"We need to move," Castiel said impatiently. "I have Azazel in a panic room of sorts. We need to interrogate him before any of his plans are enacted."

"Azazel?" Dean said.

"The demon who killed Dad. He's the one that took us."

"Well, where is he?" Dean asked Castiel angrily; Dean was still pointing the gun at him.

"Not far from here." He picked up a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down an address. He put it on the table. "You can drive there, but I need to begin the interrogation." He vanished.

"Dammit!" Dean yelled.

"Shh. Let's just get our stuff and go." Mary seemed calm, but there was a strange look in her eyes. "Leave the research. We don't need it anymore." She grabbed the bags; they'd never had the chance to unpack anything.

• • •

An hour later, they were at the location. It was an old house. The door was unlocked. Castiel was walking up the stairs as they came in. He had blood on his hands and was trying to clean them with a towel. His sleeves were rolled up, and there was blood on his shirt too.

"I understand he's the one who killed John Winchester. I don't need him anymore. I got all the information I needed. The room is made of salted iron and there's a devils trap on the floor. He can't escape. Do with him what you will." He handed Mary a long blade. It was silver. It was rounded rather than flat.

"What's this?" She asked, turning the blade in her hand, feeling the weight of it.

"It can hurt and kill demons," Castiel said simply. He walked into the kitchen.

Ruby went downstairs with them, but didn't go into the room. She didn't have a personal vendetta against Azazel like they did.

She didn't necessarily agree with torture, but she couldn't fight with Dean about it, so she waited outside.

Castiel appeared in front of her after awhile. "Jesus!" she gasped, startled.

"No, I'm Castiel." Was that meant to be a joke?

Ruby was about to ask him something when he cocked his head to the side. "You're sick," he stated. "Multiple Sclerosis. When I brought you back, I was focused on healing your stab wound. I didn't notice the damage to your brain. You're very strong. Most people wouldn't be able to function by this point."

He seemed sad when he said all this. "Can you fix it?" Before she left the convent, she had accepted her death. She was ready for it. She thought she could do some good with Sam and Dean. She decided that she wanted to live her life to the fullest - her last hoorah before she died. That's why she left.

Now, she had fallen in love with Sam. She couldn't bear to leave him. She wanted to help them. She was scared of all the things out there, but she needed to help.

Castiel was looking upward, listening to something she couldn't hear. After a minute, he said he could heal her. He put two fingertips to her head and closed his eyes. She sucked in a breath.

"Thank you," she said quietly. She started to cry as she hugged him. He didn't hug her back.

"Uh. What are you doing?"

"It's a hug, Castiel. It's what humans do to show affection and gratitude." She pulled his arms behind her back. Ruby heard movement. She turned around and saw Sam standing there with his arms crossed.

"MS?" There was quiet anger in his voice. "I should have seen it." He bit his lip. "You were dying. You didn't tell me. This is why you were sleeping so much. Why you threw up at that motel. It wasn't food poisoning. I knew it wasn't, but this?"

He turned on his heel and walked into the panic room. She followed him. "Finish it, Dean," Sam said.

Dean walked toward Azazel. "This is for our dad, you son of a bitch." He flipped the blade in his hand and stabbed Azazel. Ruby could see the outline of his skeleton glow orange. There was a staticky sound as Azazel screamed and then died. Dean threw the blade onto the floor and shoved past Ruby out the door. Sam followed him.

"Will you sit with me, Ruby?" asked Mary.

"Sure." They sat in silence for awhile.

"Tell me about yourself," Mary said.

Ruby had stopped crying by then. She sniffed. "I have a pretty dark past. Sam and Dean found me not long ago, and I decided to join them. I'm a very religious person - Catholic."

"Really?" Mary sounded interested. "We're pretty close to Catholic. I mean, we exorcise demons for a living. Sam and I believe in God, but Dean doesn't. Once, Sam told Dean that he prayed everyday. Dean didn't like that very much." She smiled. "Speaking of, we should probably go talk to that self-proclaimed angel out there. What's his name?"

"Castiel. Yeah, I'm pretty curious as to what he has to say. We should save it till tomorrow though. I'm pretty tired from the whole being brought back from the dead thing."

"What?" Mary looked at her, wide eyed.

"You should talk to Sam. I'm exhausted. I'm going to find a place to sleep."

• • •

Ruby couldn't sleep though. She was haunted by the image of Dean killing the yellow eyed demon. She didn't want to go in the living room with everyone else, so she stayed in the bedroom. She could hear Sam telling Dean and Mary what had happened. When he finished telling them about happened at Cold Oak, Dean said "I know you're hiding something, Sammy. What is it? I see how angry you are."

"Ruby lied to me. She's been sick. Castiel, the angel, cured her. She had MS."

"Technically, she didn't lie, she just omitted the truth," Castiel corrected.

"What's MS?" Dean asked.

"Basically, she was dying a slow, painful death and didn't tell anyone. She's really been suffering, Dean." He sounded upset. Ruby hated the way that.

Ruby rolled over and went to sleep. The yellow eyed demon haunted her dreams.