Baby Brother

Demon Curses and Learning to Fly

            Weeks passed slowly and still there was no change in Cas. Balthazar had returned several times and now believed they were dealing with a demon curse.

            “A demon curse that turns him into Sleeping Beauty?” Dean asked hen Balthazar had told them.

            “What? That cartoon princess who sleeps until she’s kissed by her ‘true love’? No, so don’t go getting any ideas about how to wake him up,” Balthazar replied sarcastically and Gabriel and Sam both laughed at the look on Dean’s face.

            “It means he’s in some sort of dream state,” Balthazar explained, “He’ll remain unconscious until we can get him out of it.”

            “How do we do that?” Bobby asked.

            “Find the demon that cursed him, get the antidote, then kill him,” Balthazar said simply.

            “Oh, well that should be easy, not like there are a lot of demons out there or anything,” Dean said sarcastically, “And I thought it was an angel blade?”

            “What’s difficult for you is not difficult for me,” Balthazar said, “And an angel blade caused the wounds on his chest, I still have no leads on that. But it’s a demon curse keeping him unconscious.” He finished speaking and then with a flutter of wings he was gone.

            “Well, he was cheerful,” Bobby said.

            “So, what do we do until we find the demon?” Sam asked.

            “I think Gabriel should tell us more about Cas when he was younger,” Dean said smirking, “Something embarrassing so I can blackmail him with it later.” Sam snorted as Dean shrugged innocently.

            “Well, if it’s to use against him later then I guess I can tell you something,” Gabriel smirked as he tried to think of a story he could tell, “The first time he leaned to fly was a disaster…”

            Four year old Castiel stood alone in the middle of a field staring up at the sky. He was watching his brothers and sisters fly around above him.

            “Hey buddy,” a voice behind him said and Cas turned around to see Gabriel walking up to him.

            “Hi Gabriel,” he said. The archangel bent down next to him and put his arm around the little fledgling. Castiel leaned into the embrace and sighed sadly.

            “What’s wrong little buddy?” Gabriel asked.

            “Uriel was laughing at me cause I can’t fly like everyone else,” Cas said, sniffing.

            “Aw buddy, don’t be sad.” Gabriel said, “You’re still little, that’s why you can’t fly yet.”

            “But I don’t want to be little anymore!” Cas cried, “I want to be big like you so I can actually fly and so my wings won’t keep making me fall over!” Gabriel looked at the little fledgling’s wings which were stormy black and far too big for his little body.

            “They’re growing faster than you are huh?” Gabriel said and Cas nodded miserably.

            “Uh huh,” he whimpered, “And it makes it hard to stand still.” Gabriel chuckled quietly and ruffled the little fledgling’s dark hair.

            “You just gotta practice flying,” Gabriel said, “It’s not that hard once you get the hang of it.”

            “Yeah, but I can’t learn,” Castiel said exasperated.

            “Why not?” Gabriel questioned.

            “There’s no one to teach me,” he explained, miserable again, “Mikey’s too busy and Lucifer and Raphy are scary, Anna won’t help me, and Uriel keeps laughing at me!”

            “Well what about me? Or Balthazar?” Gabriel asked.

            “Balthazar’s having fun so I didn’t want to ask him,” Cas said, pointing to where his older brother was flying in circles around a frustrated Anna, “And you’ve been gone all the time so I didn’t think you’d have time.”

            “You really feel like I’ve been gone all the time?” Gabriel asked.

            “No, I know you’ve been gone all the time,” Cas clarified, “Raphy said we can’t let our emotions cloud our jugglement, or something.”

            “Its judgment, buddy,” Gabriel laughed, “And its okay to feel, in fact its better. Has it made you upset that I haven’t been around much?” Cas nodded, looking down at his feet.

            “You and Balthy are the only ones who are nice to me,” he said, “I had a bad dream last night and you weren’t here and Mikey was gone and Raphy yelled at me so I went to see Lucifer…”

            “And what did he say to you?” Gabriel asked, concerned.

            “He said he loved me, but I need to be a growed up and go back to bed,” Cas said, his bottom lip trembling, “But I was scared so I went and stayed in your room and then Raphy yelled at me this morning when she found out.” By the time Cas was done there were fat tears running down his face.

            “Hey, hey, shhh,” Gabriel said, gathering the small angel in his arms, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you had a bad dream and I promise I’ll try to be back here before nighttime from now on.” Cas sniffed, but did not remove his arms from where they were latched around Gabriel’s neck.

            “As for learning to fly, I’ll teach you,” Gabriel said and Castiel pulled back.

            “You will?” he asked, his eyes shining bright with anticipation and tears.

            “Yeah sure, why don’t we start right now?” Cas nodded excited and they began practicing. The pair spent the rest of the day in the field, but by the time night fell Cas still had not learned to fly and had gained several scrapes. However, despite that he’d had a great day with his older brother.

            “Goodnight Cas,” Gabriel whispered as he tucked the little boy in.