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Stab Wound
"Castiel assures them he's masked their movement from the burned put house, but that the body resting in their bask seat has enough spells cast on him that Heaven wou;dn't be able to find them anyway.
What he doesn't say, regarding thir newest catatonic passanger, is that in a strock of unfortuatly luck, that by simpley having the newest angel with them they are conceled from Heaven far better then anythhign Castiel could miricle up. With angelic sight still blinded, Casteil doesn't have the means to discover the identaty of his sibling. Even so, he has found himself wrapping Jimmy's trechcoat around the naked body, and allowing it to rest agaisnt him. While there is no reaction, he does sincerly hope that maybe it brings some form of comfort to the strange angel.
He wishes the gesture might have brought him some comfort too, but he can't move past the literal stranger next to him.Humans are made in the image of God, and there for shine out like a dull relection of the Almighty. Angels are created by God's own hand, and to be an angel it so glow it God's own grace, and there for can never be strangers, no matter how far removed from each other they are. Even demons hold enough celestial risidual to be familour in a sence. So to sit beside /any/ entity and feel nothing is a coldness Casteil struggles to understand.
Dean called Bobby on their drive back, talking in low voice, like he was worried about disterbing their newest passanger. Castiel would have told him not to worry, but he felt that Dean might actually feel better in thinking that there was enough left in the angel next to him to accedently distrubt.
By sun up, they're pulling up to next to Bobby's blue ford, all four looking far more wary than their mission called for. They sat in silance for a long moment, not moving until Bobby opned the front door, sitting in the threshhold and watching back.
""lets go, "" sam murmoured, smaking Dean's arm, and opening his door to step out. Dean opned his own door, but turns to look unto the backseat with Catiel anf the angel, ""You need help getting him out?""
""I have him, Dean. Thank you.""
Dean leaves to join Sam at Bobby's door, talking over their newest plot twist as Castiel easies himself and his sibling out of the back seat. His coat clings to the other like a cape, and while nothing registars to Castiel, if he fosucs on Jimmy's senses, he can feel the otherness of the angel's wings as his vessle's arm passes through them to hold him up. It sets his teeth on edge; he vaugly wonders, as he carries his brother into Bobby's house, if that's anything what his human's feel in the air when he draws his own wings forth.
Bobby lets him pass without the standard test, Dean and Sam both dutifully drinking their offred holy water as he does. Casteil does walk htough the devil trap with no issues,so he supposes that must satify the older hunter.
Bobby has a bed made up for the angel, the smallest guest room haven been stripped otherwise bare, walls lines with the starndard anti-demonic wards. Castiel half wonders how Bobby managed, but he as also long eince learned not to question the senior hunter. Strange, he thinks, settleing his burdon on the bed, how even though he himself is ageless, and has existed since litteraly befor etime did, that he should look up to Bobby Singer as an elder.
He, if only admitting to himself, feel shim self /preeninb/ anytime Bobby vpices approval at his suggestions.
At the moment, said human has wheeled himelf into the doorway. Castiel adjusted his coat over their guest; the lack of needing modesty a conversation he knows has been festering in the Winchester's heads, but not wanting to contimplate the reasons himself at the moment.
""the boys tell me you found an angel."" Not a question, but Bobby has that tone to his voice that compleles you to spill your guts.
""one of the old ones.""
He hadn't told Dean or Sam that, wasn't planning on telling Bobby that either.
""Old?""
""He has his own vessel. God given.* Neither Heaven or Hell haven't had the ability to do that since Golgotha."" It feels odd being the only one standing, so Csteil sits awkwardly on the endge of the bed. The angel hasn't responded to anything and remains staring blankley at nohting.
(*Anti-chirst circa '91 actually, outside of two celestials, eight humans and four horsepeople - three deseaded - no one else knew anythign about it)
""Why Golgotha?""
""I odn't know about Hell, Golgotha was the last time God directly interacted with anyone beside MEttatron. After that, we where told the vessels where not needed anymore, that the Host would not return to earth until the last days.""
""and if that's the end, free will and hijacking bodies isn't such a big deal anymore.""
""i feel that's proably the thought prossess, yes.""
Bobby wheels up next to him, looking at the body, ""So this one's what, been on earth for the last two thousand years.""
""Some of the Archangels were not asked to return their vessels right away, and did come and go for a while, but"" he shakes his head, ""This does not look like one of them. Granted, a lot can be changed in two thousand years, i suppose.""
""You think you found an Archangel?""
""no.""
Bobby has reached out, and turns the angel's face to him, studing the comeplte lack or reation. Castiel feels he should stop him, how dare a human touch an angel to carefree. But he is also haunted by the jarred feathers, and the hardned faces of Sam and Dean when they'd removed the angel from the basement. Humans may have done this, but not without a great deal of help. And he had heard nothing at all of a /missing/ angel in the last few decades. Not a single memmber of the Host notices the loose in their ranks and thought to make an ingiry. ""No, this was someone no one noticed was gone.""
Would they have noticed if he'd fallen into the same trap? Would anyone outside his small circle of humans have cared if he suddenly disappeared one day? At least, before his march into Hell, would enyone have cared?
""Maybe they did notice,"" he found himself voicing with growing horror, ""And they jsut didn't care.""
Becuase today, no one in Heaven would care. In fact, they might rejoyce.
""So, we could be looking at an angel that defied Heaven.""
That should have made him a fallen angel. A greater demon. Casteil looked at Bobby in horror. ""The demon traps didn't effect him though!""
""Saaaaam!""
-
Castiel ended up drawing the short starws. After all, none of them wanted to think they'd willingly saved a greater demon and brought it home with them. So the angel ened up loosing a /clealy/ rigged game, adn sttod in the door way with a glass of holy water and a silver blade.
They let out a collective sigh of relief when the water did nothing; Casteil still nicked the angel's arm witht eh silver, but it had no reaction.
""So, you think another angel might of defied Heavem but didn't fall?""
/There's a chance gor Catiel?/ whent to unvoided thoguhts, but Casteil hread them none te less. It was... kind.
There was something there though, Casteil notices, where the holy water had collected against the angel's neck. He carefull moved his coat down, exposing the agels chest, and wet his hands in the holy water, running it along... something.
""Cas?""
""Can you see this?""
Castiel steps back to let knell by the bed, ""What am I looking for, CAs?""
""There's something reacting to the Holy water.""
""So he is fallen,"" sam asked, voice sad, pearching over Dean to try and see what Casteil had noticed.
""No, I dun think so,"" dean answered, practically finger painting with the holy water, ""But there is defiantly soemthing here.""
All three are scrambling out of the way asn Babby rolls up; it almost looks liek a rash, but its a straigh line crossing front to back at the base of the angels neck. In fact, a second line is appearing to intersect it just under the collar bone.
Sam runs for the room, and they watch him go, confused, and lsitens to him rummage though the kitchen.
""Saaam?"" Dean asks, miving to go see what is happening, and nearly getting run down as sam comes back with a sharpie.
He hands it to Bobby, who draws over the lines - htey fade out of site the monet the skin dries - until they have what's clearly half an array of some kind drawn out over the angels torso. It;s not one they've seen before, but this one atleast has some clearly demonic runes to it.
-
Summoning Crowley is second nature at this point; the only hang up is they still arne't sure what to give the demon in excange for his input.
He's musing over their sketches, turnign the paper this way and that; ""And /where/ did you bubmling morons find something like this?""
""Belongs to some hunters from the '90s."" Dean offered, ""They didn't leave behind a whole lot about what it was for.""
They where all watching the Crossroad demon closely to see what he /wasn't/ planning to share, but he simply shrugged, and gave it back. ""I can make some educated guesses, a binding of some sort, but these are before my time, boys. Older then me by a few millenia. You’ll need to talk to the old guard to find out with anything for certain.”
The demon looked uneasy, tossing something over in his head. over and over and over. He looked uneasy, but not afraid or worried.
Bobby took the b ait, asking, “What is is, crowley?”
The demon flicnched, face scrunched. “So, here’s the thing. I /may/ know someone who’d be… very… interested in your find. He /may/ kill you all for it though. Becuase this very much looks like it might be related to some... inqiiries he was making a few decades back. As far as I had heard though, he never did find what he was looking for, but he didn't exactly check in witht he rest of us.""
The brother perked up; this might fall into the rough timeline they'd been trying to figure out as to /when/ the hunters had come ito possesion of the angel.
“Who?” Casteil asked, his face worring at Crowley's early mention of the 'old guard' warring with his speculation that the angel they'd found also being one fo the Old ones.
The demon muttered, fightiyng with himself, before finally, “the Demon /Crow/ley."" he stress the first part of the word, pronoucing it more like the bird, gestuing for them to be pasent and hear him out ""I may have… borrowed his old name when he upgraded. Opend a lot of doors in those early days,”
“You stole another demon’s /name/?”
“/Borrowed/. And he didn’t seem to mind, hadn't been using it for a couple thousand years at that point. And he got credit for my a few of my early good deeds, so he could go off and do what ever it is field agents get up to in their free time up here.”
""/field/ agents?"" the sad part is as soon as sam says it, he mind click i with, /What do you think you've been fighting off for the last few years?/
Crowley smiles, ""Not them, moose,"" he clairifes, clearly following Sams' thoughts, ""They where mostly recalled after... well, it doesn't matter, becuase it never happened. But yes, Hell used to have field agents; demons who spent more time on earth then hell. Didn't used to need vessels, and spent their time cuaseing meyham and generally ruining eveyone's lives. Good fun.""
/Recalled?/ Castiel perked up, trying to piece this with what he and Bobby had been discussing earlier.
""/Crow/ley won't be held by your standard trap, just fair warning. He's too old for them, and honestly..."" Crowley shrugged, ""Things jsut don't work like they should around him. I've been lead to believe holy water doesn't even faze him anymore. But, he's been out of the human misory game for a while, so just... be honest with him.""
The demon eyes them, ""Actually, you're all doomed."" he shakes his head. ""I don't know what he's looking for, but i'm pretty sure you have it. And he's disappeared every dead end he's found until this point. So even if you have exactly what he wants, I'm not certain he wont just disappear you too just becuase he can.""
He motions for the them to break the devil trap so he can leave. Sam lets him go, but instead of winking out of sight, he strides over to where boby's mail is piled up, and draws a sigil on a randoom envelope.
""I'll give you his name, in turn, you do /not/ tell him where you got it. And maybe let Singer do the talking. He sounds the smartest."""