Living in paradise

The Storm rages on

Cas woke up as lightning struck near them. Everyone else was still asleep and as he took a peak out the door, he noticed a larger figure heading their way. He had his knife drawn. Cas gasped, rushing to wake up his siblings,

"Get up" He said as they all groaned, still sleepy, "We need to go now"

"What's wrong?"

"They're here" At the fledgling's panic, Adam walked in,

"Castiel?" He asked, "What's wrong?" Cas pointed to the door, unable to do much more. It took him a couple seconds to get the Hebrew back in his mind,

"Bad" He said. Hael was holding Samandriel close while Hannah stayed at Rachel's side,

"There's a back door" He pointed to the other side of the house, "I'll distract him" There was loud knocking on the door and enochian yelling that only the fledglings could understand. They rushed out the back while he burst in the front. Adam blocked his path as best he could, buying them a couple minutes. The rain had started making the ground wet and slippery. As they rushed over the mud, many times they fell into it, completely covering themselves in muck. Castiel's wings were soaked in it, making them feel heavy. The storm clouds also made everything so dark and so the angel ran right passed them when Cas lifted a browny black wing to disguise them. It worked and they went uphill towards the mountains. They were all becoming cold and tired but they needed shelter so the best place to look were the cliff sides. Cas kept an eagle eyed watch while Hael led their younger siblings up the hills. Castiel brought up the rear as Hannah started to fall behind. She was exhausted, she'd only managed to get a little sleep at Adam's house before having to run again. Cas walked with her,

"You ok?" He asked,

"No" Hannah replied, "I'm worried about everyone. Anna, Balthazar, Uriel. What if we never see them again?" She looked up with sad eyes that could break any heart,

"They'll be ok. They're smart, they know how to hide if they need to" Cas replied, "Let's focus on hiding ourselves and once this is all over, we can go home and see them again"

"Ok" She replied, going to catch up with Rachel and Hael. Once getting to the cliffs, they could see caves etched into the bottom. While inspecting these, a familiar face popped out at them,

"Sophia" Hael went over to hug her,

"Hael, you made it" She said, "Hannah" She reached down to hug the exhausted fledgling, "Come inside, all of you" She said. On entering, there were even more fledglings inside. Ezekiel was there with Anael, Jonah and Sara. They were huddled in a corner. Cas followed Hael and Sophia before plopping down on the cold stone ground. He was exhausted and though he'd tried to ignore it, his shoulder still hurt from catching Hannah. Now that he was soaked through and covered in muck, it seemed to be much worse. The scratches he'd received from the cliff had healed now. He sighed, leaning back against the cave wall. He felt safer. Sophia and Ezekiel were both going through training like Anna and Balthazar so they were more equipped to protect everyone better than he could. Ezekiel went and sat beside him,

"You ok?" He asked him,

"I've been better" Cas replied giving a weak smile, "Just wish this would all be over"

"Yeah, I know what you mean" Ezekiel put his hand on Cas's shoulder who instantly tensed up. Cas took a breath but it had to be his bad shoulder that Ezekiel touched, "Are you hurt?" He asked, taking his hand away. Cas was quiet. He wanted to sleep and his eyes were already closing, "Hey, did Cas get hurt?" He asked about,

"I didn't see him get hurt" Samandriel's small voice called over from the other side of the cave,

"He caught Hannah while falling and caught the canyon wall" Hael said, "He might have hurt it then. He's definitely got a few scrapes from it" When Ezekiel looked back though, the pain was gone from Castiel's face. Cas was asleep, completely. He decided not to wake him and instead sat in silence next to him. Hannah had already fallen asleep too and Rachel not long after that. The fledglings were exhausted. Jonah and Sara were still young, about Samandriel's age. The three of them were huddled together, talking quietly to not wake their older siblings. Hael was with Sophia keeping watch at the exit of the cave. Cas started to shiver in his sleep, since he was soaked through and in the direct path of a breeze from the cave entrance, he had no protection from the cold. Not even his wings as they were too wet. Ezekiel extended his brown wings with speckled gold feathers across him, hoping he won't get sick. The storm still raged on above them, telling them the fighting still hasn't stopped. The battle raged on with no end in sight and no hope for the fledglings to feel safe again. Night fell and day broke unnoticed by the fledglings who spent all their time in the cave. More fledglings have found it and hunkered down with them. By midday, the storm was starting to clear. The skies were becoming clearer and the rain was letting up. Despite that, thunder still rumbled across the landscape. Cas woke up, Ezekiel was still keeping him warm but he had fallen asleep a while ago. Around the cave he noticed some new fledglings. Many of them were asleep too and as he looked to the entrance, Hael and Sophia were still there, finally falling asleep. Careful not to wake Ezekiel, he slipped away to keep watch at the entrance. He looked up at the sky and there was a glimmer of hope in his eye as the clouds were starting to lighten up. It meant the battle's pace was definitely slowing down. As he wandered to the entrance to peek out, hands reached in and grabbed him, pulling him out and pushing him against a tree. Castiel made a small yelp in surprise which was heard by Hael. Currently, the angel was focused on Castiel, not knowing how many fledglings were actually there. Hael quietly started to wake Sophia while Castiel was trying to avoid the angel's blade. The angel pushed Cas back down a steep slope and Cas started to roll, his wings flapped trying to balance himself but only causing him to roll faster, hitting his sore shoulder on a rock, smacking into trees until he eventually landed on flatter ground. He lay there for a while, holding his shoulder, fighting back tears,