The Winds of Change Chapter 14

A/N I don’t own anything Supernatural or the lyrics to the song “Fly Lonely Angel”. I do want to thank you who comment.  I love you for taking the timeAnd, now without further ado…

The Winds of Change
Chapter 14:
“Fly Lonely Angel”

Fallen angel ripped and bruised
Think on better days
Life is rude, treats you bad
Tears your wings away
Raise your eyes to star and sky
Believe in fly aways
Take your dreams, your broken schemes
And sweep the past away

Fly lonely angel
High above these streets of fire
Fly lonely angel
Far away from mad desire
The Angel Song by Great White

Dean and Jimmy lost track of the days as they blended into a monotonous gray nothing.  Dean’s watch stopped working.  There apparently were no bars in Limbo, so he couldn’t call anybody on his cell phone.  There weren’t the other kind of bars either or diners.
Dean’s flask of whiskey was long gone.  He and Jimmy had shared it, but it hadn’t been enough to get satisfyingly drunk for either man.

Dean liked Jimmy, but he wasn’t Cas, and maybe that was a good thing, because the hunter missed his angel terribly.  He tried but failed to remember Sam.

Sleep wasn’t needed in Limbo.  There was nothing to do and Dean grew increasingly frustrated and bored.

“What are we supposed to do here?”  Dean asked and Jimmy winced at the question so the hunter knew he was tired of Dean asking the same thing over and over.  “I’m a man of action, dammit.”

“You were a man of action.  Now, you’re a man of inaction.”  Jimmy folded his hands in front of him and sighed.  “Like me.”

“I just…”

…hate not knowing what’s going on,” Jimmy filled in the sentence.

“Sorry if I’m boring you, dude.”

Jimmy shook his head.  “You aren’t.  I have the feeling Cas wanted me here to keep you from going stir crazy.”

Dean smirked a brief moment and then his green eyes narrowed and he was frustrated again.  “There’s gotta be a way to bust out of here.”

Jimmy looked around.  “There are no doors that I’ve seen.  No exits.”

“Doomsday Novak,” Dean ground through his teeth.  “That’s what I’m gonna call ya from now on.”

“Think how frustrating this is to me.”  Jimmy spread his hands wide.  “You haven’t tried to kiss me in…”  He glanced at the calendar on his watch, but it must have stopped because, his expression turned rueful.  “I don’t know how long.  It’s made me feel so cheap.”

For a long moment, Dean stared at Jimmy, his mouth falling open and then a twinkle sparkled in the blue eyes and Jimmy chuckled.  “Gotcha!”

“You sonofabitch.”  Dean smiled reluctantly.  He gazed about at the pastoral setting.  He hated it more each time.  “I had to end up in Disney’s version of …”  He gestured with both hands.  “whatever this is,” he continued morosely.

“You’re a real Gloomy Gus, you know that, Dean?”  Jimmy filtered the sting of his words with a smile.

Dean still wasn’t used to seeing all the smiles.  He didn’t take offense.  “Hey, I’m just expecting, any minute, for something to come up and bite me on the ass.”

“We’re in Limbo.”  Jimmy looked philosophical.  “All the ass-biters are back on Earth.”

Dean was troubled.  “You don’t think we’re even on Earth?”

Jimmy shrugged.  Such human gestures from what had once been his angel,  bothered Dean more than he would ever admit.  Gone was the endearing tilt of the head-gone was the stares that could last for days; gone was his personal space invasion, and gone was the feel of those soft lips on his.

“You really miss him.”  Jimmy flopped down in the overly green grass and looked bemused when a butterfly flitted through the air and landed on his hand.

“Miss him,” Dean scoffed, then his shoulders slumped.  “Yeah, dammit, I do, and if you laugh, Jimbo, I swear I’ll kick your ass!”

“I miss my family, so I know how you feel.”  Jimmy gently blew on the butterfly’s wings and it fluttered, but remained on his index finger.
 
Dean shook his head.  “Don’t start on me again about how I should be missing this Sam, this brother I don’t have a face for or recall a damn thing about. Just, don’t!”

Dean watched the butterfly tremble on Jimmy’s finger and then it took flight and was gone.  What’s next?  Singing birds and animals?

Jimmy gazed up, and the look in his eyes reminded Dean so much of Cas, his chest ached.  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

OOO

Gabriel paced.  His wings were out, fully extended, another sign of his intense agitation.  Balthazar didn’t show much emotion. He always tried to keep a calm, uncaring façade, but when it came to Castiel’s disappearance, he was as worried as Gabriel.

“Michael stashed him somewhere in Heaven!”  He held his angel blade and slashed the air with it.  “I remember what it was like before I bought myself the Trickster ticket out.”

“I don’t think Castiel faked his own death as you did, brother.”

Balthazar’s cool, urbane tone rankled Gabriel and the feathers on his wings fluffed out as he drew them stiffly behind his back.  “Michael has our brother and it’s up to us to rescue him.”

“Noble.” Balthazar tilted his head slightly and met the golden eyes of the archangel.  “How?  Do you have a plan?”

“First we need to find out where Michael’s keeping him and then we bust him out,” Gabriel retorted with his usual bold confidence.

“As humans go, Dean and Sam Winchester are decent enough, but…”

“We’re not doing it for them. We’re doing it for our brother!”  Gabriel’s wings were so ruffled, he rose a few feet from the ground before he knew it and then he snapped his fingers and they disappeared and he landed adeptly on the ground.

“You will need my help to rescue Castiel.”

The new voice sent the other angels to the ground, abasing themselves, hiding their eyes from the presence.

“The Voice!”  Hardly anything rattled Balthazar, but he quaked in fear.

“I am Metatron.”

Gabriel snuck a look.  “Did our Father send you?  Do you speak for Him?”

“Our Father sent me.  This has all been His test for Castiel.”

Gabriel was so angry, he forgot to be frightened.  Metatron was the highest archangel, esteemed more than any of Father’s hosts.  The letters of his name were a great mystery, even containing part of the name of God.  He ruled over all, the living things below and the living things above.

“You may be Metatron, yadda, yadda, yadda, but Father shouldn’t play with us like heavenly toys.”  Gabriel leaped to his feet and reached down and pulled Balthazar to his.

“Our Father gets his kicks where he may, brothers.  I neither condone nor condemn His actions in the case of Castiel, but He has tired of Michael’s interference.”

“Bet Mikey didn’t know he was interfering,” Gabriel muttered darkly.

“I am here to right the wrong that has been done.  Michael will obey me since I am Father’s voice.”

“Nothing is this easy.”  Gabriel knew he was pushing his limits, but finding out this was another God test pissed him off.

“In this case, it is.  Castiel will be freed.”

“Mind if I ask what the test was and if Castiel passed?”  Balthazar asked.

“To see if an angel and a human could love.”

“Duh.”  Gabriel made a gun of his fingers and pretended to shoot himself in the head.   “He has heard of nephilim, hasn’t he?”

“You know they were from fallen angels.”  Metatron really needed to turn down the decibels.  Gabriel thought his head would explode as his brother used his true voice.

“Isn’t Castiel considered a fallen angel if he loves a human over God?”

“He loves a human and God.”
“Pretty sure Cassie’s a little miffed at dear ole Dad right now.”  Gabriel heard Balthazar gasp at his irreverent comment, but he was angry.

“So Dad’ll intervene when it comes to one of His angels, but won’t do squat to stop the Apocalypse?”

“Gabriel, you really do have Dad issues, don’t you?”  Metatron’s voice was a deep bass, but never changed pitch.  “Our Father leaves it up to us. Free will and all that.”

Gabriel wanted to blow his horn right up Metatron’s celestial ass, but refrained.  “So how soon will you free Castiel?  I know Michael’s been torturing him in Heaven.”

“Remain here and I will bring him to you.”

Gabriel gazed about when the holy presence was gone, his golden eyes rueful.  Balthazar laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re lucky he didn’t blast you.”

“Bring it on!”  the fiery Gabriel said, grinning at his friend.

O

Castiel hung suspended by the chains from two pillars.  His prison was positioned so he could see images of Earth and what was happening to Sam Winchester.  His eyes leaked tears as he hung his head in misery.  If he moved, it would open the wounds in his wings where the hooks pierced to the marrow of his bones.

“I…failed you, Dean.  I didn’t keep Sam safe.”

“That is not your fault, Castiel.”

The Voice!

“Metatron, my brother, I…”

“You don’t need those anymore.”  The chains fell from Castiel’s wings and he could feel angelic grace pouring into his wounds, healing them.  “Michael has been shown the error of his ways.  You are free to go and will not be harmed by him.”

“What about Dean?”

Metatron’s laugh could have destroyed mountains had they been on Earth.  “Always so loyal to your human.  Our Father says He has never witnessed such love except that of His son.”

“I…don’t know what to say.”
 
“The dagger was mine, Castiel. That is why you could not heal him.  It was a test to see what you would do; how far you would go to save him.  Father cannot have you go to Hell for a whim.”

Castiel cast his eyes to the heavens.  “Why would He do this?  Why would he hurt Dean?”

“Our Father can be capricious as you know.  The one thing that is missing from Heaven right now is love.  It’s why He left.  He’s tired of the in-fighting; the pre-Apocalypse mumbo-jumbo.  He went to Earth and found the love He craved there in the people.  People like the Winchesters.  Humans have their flaws, but they are not divine like us.  The choices we’ve made drove our Father away.  Perhaps you see it as weakness, but I see it as unable to cope with the corruptness He saw coming.”

“His absence may have contributed to it.”  Castiel was too weary to argue; too eager to go to Limbo and collect Dean and his vessel.  “I will give up my grace if I am allowed to stay with Dean—have a life with him.”

“With all that is happening on Earth, it may not be a very long life.  Our Father does not wish to strip you of your celestial powers, Castiel.  It is the combination of angel and human like you and Dean that give Him hope.”

“Will Death allow me to take Dean out of Limbo?”

“God’s edicts are still supreme.  He will agree and your chalice is there, too.”

“Crowley—everything he told me was a lie!”

“Yes, the antidote he gave you was demon poison.  One drop would have killed Dean.”

“I will destroy him!”

“First, there is much to do in Limbo and then on Earth, but you won’t be alone.  Know that your Father has not abandoned you as you thought.”  Castiel received what felt like a pat on the shoulder.  “Now, go.  Your Dean is waiting for you.”



TBC—One more chapter