D E A N
Blood dripping from his fingers.
Eyes blinded by the darkness.
Heart beating too fast.
Breaths too slow.
The Empty is just as horrible as it sounds. It takes a few moments before Dean adjusts to this place, but all the while, his mind and body is screaming for him to get out of here. This is not a place for a human.
But he won't leave until Cas is with him.
So he starts searching for the angel.
Starts into the void.
Dean doesn't know how long he's been walking, but it already feels like forever. His watch stopped working. His phone just as dead. So he just keeps walking.
At one point, Dean is so tired from walking that he just wants to lay down and sleep. Or at least sit down and rest for a while. But he don't. He keeps walking. Keeps searching the quiet.
And then.
A feeling.
A longing.
He'd been praying to Cas while walking. Longing for him to appear for Dean. Willing him to find his way to Dean. And now, something tugs at him. He doesn't know why, but he knows what, or who. This has to be what it felt like to Cas, when Dean was praying or longing for him.
Dean picks up his pace, eager to find the angel as fast as he can. But the darkness stretches further and further. Dean had probably been walking for a day now, if not two. He doesn't know. It could have been an hour, or a week for all he knows. But he keeps walking.
Sometimes the tug is stronger. Sometimes the tug is only a faint feeling. Sometimes it disappears completely.
And then.
In the distance.
A figure.
Dean is almost running now. He screams his name inside his head. He won't speak until he has him in his arms. He can't risk waking the Shadow just yet. But he screams Cas's name as a prayer.
The figure is laying on the ground, peacefully. Dead quiet. But he's still alive, Dean can feel it.
Cas.
He found him.
Cas.
Running faster than he ever has before, Dean reaches Cas and falls to his knees in front of him. His eyes are slightly opened, but not focused. Dean cups his face in his hands, turning his face towards Dean so that Cas finally sees him.
"Cas." Dean leans closer and whispers his name. "Cas."
At the sound of his name, Cas fully opens his eyes as he sits up. Confused and wild, the blue eyes searches the void around them, before they finally lands on him. Locking their gazes, Deans face breaks into a bright smile, as tears start streaming down his face.
"Cas."
Slowly, Cas's eyes becomes clearer as he becomes more aware. Turning his body so that it's facing Dean, their eyes are leveled and Cas seem to actually see Dean for the first time.
"Dean...?" His voice is only a small and hoarse whisper in the darkness. At the sound of his voice, Dean can't hold himself back anymore and throws his arm around the angel, embracing him for a long moment. He doesn't want to let go of the angel, but they aren't safe yet.
"Cas. It's me. I've come to being you home. I'm not leaving you here."
"You're not real." Cas says with a sad whisper, breaking eye contact to look down at his hands that are nervously shaking in his lap.
"Wha... Cas. It's me." But he won't hear him. "Cas. Look at me."
He shakes his head.
"Look at me, Cas!" This time he does. He takes to study Deans eyes, his blue ones searching for something.
"You got it right this time. I'll give you that." He smiles sadly at Dean, who doesn't understand.
"What are you talking about, man?" Dean sits back on his heels. Hands resting limply in his lap.
"His eyes. You got the green right this time. That's a first."
"Wh..."
"Even the freckles." Cas raises his hand, stretching it out to cup Deans face. His thumb gently strokes the space underneath his left eye. "The pattern is so right I almost believe it's him."
That makes Dean realize what's been happening to the angel.
"That stupid son of a bitch." Dean mutters as he stares into Cas's eyes.
"You called?" A voice suddenly speaks from behind Dean. When he raises and turns around he almost falls to the ground again. In front of Dean, another Dean is standing in the darkness. Same face. Same clothes as he's wearing himself at the moment.
The Shadow. The Shadow had been appearing as Dean for Cas.
"Well, this one is new." Cas almost sounds amused as he stands and walks to his side. The Shadow laughs at that.
"Oh, poor little angel." The Shadow in front of them grins wickedly at Cas. Dean takes a step forward, as to keep the angel safe from the creature in front of them. "You really are blinded."
"No..." Cas reaches Deans side, hand on his shoulder turning him so that they are facing each other. "The Shadow never gets the green right."
"Cas." Dean needs him to believe it's real, or he don't know if he'll be able to get them out of there.
"Not the freckles either."
"Cas, listen..."
"The way you say my name. Only Dean says my name like that." Cas smiles sadly at Dean as some kind of realization crosses his eyes. "You shouldn't have come for me."
"Finally something we can agree on, Castiel." The name sounds wrong coming from the Shadow.
Dean is about to move closer to Cas, but the Shadow moves quicker. Suddenly the other 'Dean' is standing behind Cas. And as he places his hand on top of Cas's head, the angel collapses at their feet.
"NO!" Instantly, Dean drops to his knees, pulling the angel closer, resting his back against Deans thighs, supporting him and getting him away from the evil creature who is laughing at him with an amused look in his eyes. "Cas!"
"Dean Winchester himself. Losing himself in the void of darkness, only to get his hands on one insignificant trench-coat-wearing angel."
"Wake him up!"
"Ha! And where would the fun be in that?"
"Send us back, let me take him home."
"And," the Shadow starts walking, circling the two as he drags the words out, "what do I get in return for doing so?"
"Send us back, awake, together. And I'll let you go back to sleep."
"Seriously? That's your bargaining chip?"
"It's a good deal. You let one angel go, and we let you go back to sleep. Never to bother you again." Dean keeps an eye at the Shadow as it keeps walking around him, slow steps. He looks down at the angel in his lap, gently stroking his hand through the black hair.
"What makes think I can't just have that if I want to? I can just throw you out, lock the door, never to hear from you again."
"I'll come back."
"Right..."
"I mean it, I'll come back again, and again, and again. I'll make sure you never sleep again in your miserable existence. I'll come back to torture you while keeping you awake. Until you give me my angel back."
The Shadow narrows his eyes, a sour look on his face.
Without hesitation, Dean quickly pulls out an angel blade, hidden in the sleeve of his jacked. From his pocket he pulls out a small, round glass ball, tied to a chain. It was only the size of a small clinker.
"NO! DONT YOU DARE WINCHESTER." The Shadow screams at him and start reaching for the blade. But it's too late.
With a small flick of his writs, Dean makes a shallow cut at Cas's throat.
The cut starts to glow brightly.
Dean places the glass ball close to the wound and watches as the angels grace leaves Cas, absorbed into the small ball of glass, which starts to faintly glow a bright light. As Dean looks up he can see that the Shadow has transformed into its true form. A black shadow. Red eyes glowing in anger.
"You..." Anger radiates from the figure.
But it can't touch them. Dean smiles at it.
"Send us back. I won't ever return here. I promise. If you send us back." In his lap, Cas stirs. Awakening, slowly, as the Shadow no longer holds any power over him. "I'm human. And without his grace, so is Cas."
"No wonder every single being I've met has cured the Winchesters. You make all our existence so difficult with all your 'being a hero' stupidity. The Winchesters should have been destroyed before they even existed." Oh, yes. The Shadow is real pissed off now, Dean thinks as he smiles down at Cas.
"You can't keep us here. Humans doesn't belong here. So you have to send us back. And if you don't. Jack will come for another visit." Dean can see that the name has an effect on the Shadow.
"You wouldn't dare..."
"If I'm not back by the time we set, he will barge in here, wake every single being resting here. And turn them against you. You will never sleep again. You'll spend the rest of eternity having to deal with all the angry creatures you've got trapped in here." It's a long shot, and Dean hopes the Shadow can't tell that he's lying. Eventually, Jack would probably come looking for them, when Sam went crazy for waiting for him to return. But how much time passed in the human world, Dean didn't know. So how long they'd stay here, Dean didn't know...
"You better pray that this is the last time I ever lay eyes on you or that angel again."
"Don't worry. I don't wanna see you either. Ever again. Now send us back."
The red eyes of the Shadow glows even stronger now, and the figure of darkness starts to dissolve.
"Tik... tok..." Dean pretends to look at the time, raising his arm to show his watch. "Time's running out on you, bitch."