An Unexpected Friend {Dean} [Complete]

[kthehuman]

It had been a few days since Castiel had happened upon Haelyn and Riklith in the Weyr Bowl, and he had yet to look at the wing formations she had given him even once. He had been too busy going about the Weyr and studying it's people. So, that morning, he decided to study them on his own, after he had prayed and eaten.

If he was being honest, he only stayed in his room because he found that his leg muscles...ached. It was very new to him, all this walking around. Very tiring, as well. And before, his vessel was as a piece of clothing. Did clothing hurt or tire? No, of course not. But now, oh how Castiel ached. He would have to get used to this being human business.

Haelyn had explained to him the meaning of all the symbols on the pages, but it still took him a while to decipher. Thus, he spent much of the morning studying the papers at the desk in his room. After a few hours, however, he was feeling a bit cramped in the apartment. Still, it was nearing lunch time and he didn't want to go to far, so he settled for merely wandering out into the hall.

He found the nearest glow basket and looked around, wondering where to sit. Finding that the nearest chair or bench was too far for him to go after - in all honesty, it would take him less than a minute to retrieve, but his leg muscles wouldn't have it - he decided to merely pace. An odd way to study, but Castiel was surprised by how well this worked to alleviate some of the ache in his legs, and he was loath to take a break from his research. People passed every now and then, and he was constantly aware of their stares as each one passed. He gave them the - hopefully - proper bidding of a nod or the occasional, "Hello," in hopes that that would be satisfactory enough for them to move on.

[fassa]

Dean had been exploring the Weyr- he'd been here for a few days now, the first of which he spent some time in the Infirmary though he had claimed to be alright. The second day he got to move around, after an escort had shown him the important locations of this place - the Bowl, the Kitchens - pretty important place - and of course, the Infirmary, and the Apartments and its communal areas. He was pretty much left on his own. And... bathing had been interesting.

Today was going to be yet another what the hell am I suppose to do day, and he wasn’t going to contend with sticking to his room. Leaving his leather jacket on his bed, he stepped out, deciding to stroll around the Weyr Bowl, where it was livelier. He tried chatting up this chick by the entrance, but was somewhat unnerved by the little flying lizard on her shoulder giving him the evil eye throughout their whole conversation.

He did, however, learn that he and Lucy weren’t the only “strange folk” that just showed up in Igen Weyr- that could explain why some of the people he had seen didn’t seem to belong either. He also found out that he was in Pern, wherever that was- further affirming the sinking feeling he wasn’t on Earth anymore, in that sense that even if he checked out of this place anytime he’d like, he’d not be able leave and find his way home.

He groaned internally, thinking he should probably look for Nocta for more information that could potentially be useful to leaving this place.

Making his way back to the Apartments- where he assumed Nocta would reside in, since almost everybody seemed to reside there, he came to a hallway and stopped dead in his tracks. A very familiar figure was pacing up and down, engrossed with a paper in his hand.

“Well, fudge me sideways-” he said softly under his breath. Then, loudly, incredulously, “Cas?”

‘Cas’ stopped and turned- the manner of whom was so unspeakably him, down to that bemused face, and blue eyes. He could tell ‘Cas’ recognised him. Cas, who was now face to face with him and saying his name. “Dean.”

It was him, it had to be. Never mind that Cas didn’t answer his calls in the desert, maybe there was just something freaky about this desert that was left them with no signal between them. Before Castiel could say anything else, Dean, elated and more than thankful to see him again, closed the distance between them and gripped him close, arms around his shoulders.



“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he grinned after pulling back from the hug, his hands holding him by his shoulders as his eyes searched his.

There was something different about Cas though, but he couldn’t point out what immediately.

“Do you know what’s goin' on around here?”

[kthehuman]

Castiel still had his nose pressed into the paper, memorizing formation after formation, when he heard his name. "Cas?" the voice called, questioning. He cocked his head, thinking that the voice sounded very familiar. Also, no one here called him Cas...he had only ever let Dean shorten his name.

While all this is going through his head, he turned around slowly, head still tilted. The man in front of him was, in fact, Dean Winchester. Castiel felt the now-familiar pain rack through his chest more strongly than any other time, followed by intense relief. He could hardly get the word out, but he managed to say, "Dean," without his voice wavering. Before he knew it, Dean was upon him with his arms wrapped tightly around Castiel. It was odd how he had never before felt the radiant warmth that Dean possessed. It was a nice feeling, he decided, even in the heat of the Weyr. He hesitated for only a moment before wrapping his arms around Dean's midsection, the only place he could really reach comfortably.

When Dean pulled back, Castiel let his hands drop down to his sides, book still in hand. That's when he noticed that Dean looked...different. Weary would be the correct description. Weary and sad. Castiel frowned, "I do not know what's going on. My Father or brothers may be involved, but I can not say for sure." His frown deepened as he added, "I am sorry that your eyes are sore, Dean." Maybe that's what made him look so tired. Castiel wouldn't know, as he had never had sore eyes.

[fassa]

"... Thanks," Dean couldn't help but chuckle at that. "It was a figure of speech, Cas."

Even though they had no idea where they were, at least they had the familiarity of each other to fall back on. They could find their yellow-bricked road out of this understatedly weird world. Not that the dragons weren’t awesome, but he prefered them of the vocal variety - maybe even sounding like Sean Connery. This mental thing was just too weird.

He released his grip slowly, as if not wanting to lose the affirmation that Castiel was physically here if he did it too fast. He had so many other questions, wanted to ask if he knew what happened after they took care of Dick, if he had ended up in the desert like he did. They could wait, he supposed- first, he'd ask about the paper in Cas's hand, the one he had been wrapped up in, had him pacing about before he saw him- he was curious.

"What you got there?" he asked, directing his gaze to the paper.

[kthehuman]

Castiel was embarrassed to know that he had, again, misinterpreted Dean's speech. He had never really felt embarrassed as an angel, though he knew without a doubt that's what he was feeling. What he didn't know is that he would feel the heat rise to his cheeks when he became embarrassed. He averted his eyes, glancing around at the floor until Dean mentioned the papers in his hand. Grateful for the distraction, he brought them up and opened them, turning to allow both of them to see the formations right side up.

"These are formations that the people of Pern use in their dragonflights." He became nervous, not knowing how Dean would react to him acclimating himself to these dragonriders' culture. He hurried on, saying, "I have befriended a 'rider. Her name is Haelyn, and she is very kind. The culture here is very interesting..." he let the sentence tail off, feeling Dean's eyes on him as he still stared at the formations he was holding. Again, that heat crept up from his chest, coloring his cheeks lightly. Why am I acting so oddly around my friend? Castiel sighed inwardly. I will never understand humanity.

[fassa]

"Formations?" Dean raised a brow, looking at the angel, giving him the once-over. He was surprised he wasn’t surprised before that Cas wasn’t in his holy tax accountant get-up. In fact, he looked kind of under-dressed in that blue dress-shirt thing and hipster pants.

"Cas..." he said slowly, eyes meeting Castiel’s gaze again. "We gotta go back. We need to find a way back. We can’t stay here- we need to know what's happened to the Leviathans."

[kthehuman]

Just as Castiel was about to explain to Dean about the fighting dragon units and their battle positions, he froze. Dean was talking about...no, it couldn't be. He stared directly at his friend, unblinking. "Dean...did you just say something about Leviathans?" His heartbeat quickened just from the memories of those horrid creatures. "Do you even know what they are?" He couldn't keep the fear and...hatred from entering his voice.

[fassa]

Dean stared at Castiel for a good moment in disbelief. Castiel actually looked like a deer in headlights, like he hadn’t encountered them yet.

God, he couldn’t have lost his memory again, could he?

He stepped to the side, closer to the wall, aware of them both being in a thoroughfare.

“The Leviathans?” In a hushed voice, he enunciated each syllable as though it would help the angel. “We had this big showdown with Dick, remember? In their headquarters? We distracted him and I staked him. He exploded?”

[kthehuman]

Castiel was so stunned that he actually took a step back from Dean. It simply wasn't possible. No one, and Castiel meant no one, would ever consider raising the Leviathans from Purgatory. They were the worst definition of monster, a horror to battle even for angels. "De-" Castiel had the oddest sensation. It felt, quite literally, as though his voice was stuck in his throat. He coughed a few times, and tried again. "Dean," yes, much better. "Leviathans haven't been seen since shortly after I was created. And no one alive today would consider bringing them back to Earth." Perhaps it was just some late-onset effects from the 40 years he spent in Hell. Nonetheless, it worried Castiel, and he had the sensation of having a very heavy rock take residence in his stomach.

[fassa]

“What? Okay- hang on a sec,” Dean folded his arms and closed his eyes, bowing his head down for a moment, to pinch and rub the bridge of his nose. “I don’t think we’re on the same page here. What-” he paused - god, he needed to clear his head - and looked up at Castiel again. “What do you last remember?”

[kthehuman]

Well, that certainly was an odd question. Then again, this entire situation was odd, so Castiel might as well go along with it. He sighed, "Well, you, Sam, Ruby, and I were going to where Crowley was located. We got the location from Samuel, who has been taking Alphas there for Crowley in exchange for Mary's resurrection." Remembering Samuel, Castiel's voice acquired a darker edge to it, and he glared at the floor. "Samuel...betrayed us. He used an Angel Banishing Sigil to blast me from the room, and I was tossed into the Igen desert, here. I was stripped of my Grace, as well...I haven't heard from anyone since I arrived." He smiled slightly, and turned his head to again look at Dean. "Until you found me, that is."

[fassa]

Dean waited for the punchline to kick in but who was he kidding - this was Cas - no Ashton Kutcher was going to show up yelling, “Punk’d!” What Castiel had described happened well over a year ago, and he was reminded of how much crap he had to face in a year. Sammy losing his soul, regaining it, and so nearly driven insane. Them losing Bobby, the closest father they had asides from their dad. And him and Castiel had been like Van Halen and Hagar, unable to to see eye to eye.

The trip to this world must have had really messed him up bad, and it was easy to presume that since Cas had lost his memory before - but what if Castiel’s memory was fine? What did that mean? That they were both zapped out at different times? It made sense.

But that shouldn't matter so much right now, because it wouldn't have changed their predicament.

“Dammit!” Dean bumped an exasperated fist to the wall, startling a few people who were in audible proximity. He hated feeling helpless.

Licking his dry lips, he tried to look up at Cas again, only to avert his gaze quickly. “Samuel was looking for Purgatory, and we found it.” He shook his head slowly, as he thought about the stuff that had happened, and decided it would be better to skip some parts. “Anyway, we were about to take care of the chompers- and I think we did, but I don’t know for sure.”

[kthehuman]

Castiel was only mildly surprised by Dean's angry outburst, raising his brows for only a moment; such things were commonplace when Dean was in a stressful situation. He did, however, take care note of Dean's tone when he explained what had happened. He spoke of Samuel. He spoke of Purgatory as well, which Castiel didn't think he believed in. Dean had never been a man of faith. But he spoke of those things as if they were a distant memory, with only the main points remembered.

Castiel stared hard at Dean, reworking through the situation mentally. Examining again the face of his charge, he noticed exactly why he appeared more weary. He had a few more wrinkles around his eyes, and there was a definite pain behind his eyes that bespoke of a great hardship. Granted, Castiel considered Dean's life to be a hardship in general, when compared to the daily lives of most humans. However, if Castiel was correct, it was something more than just the daily wear of hunting. This in mind, he came to a conclusion that he hadn't considered before. "Dean," he started, before rethinking his question, "what year was it when you came here?" And again, he stared Dean directly in the eye while awaiting his answer.

[fassa]

Castiel was giving him one of his measured looks again, and he didn’t even have to look to know. He met his eyes anyway, shoulders rolling back to ease the discomfort that had started to set in his upper back.

In the broadest setting, Dean didn’t like to be studied this way - unless he was being appraised, but that was a different story - people tended to judge or sympathise and he didn’t need to feel extra crummy about himself. With Cas, it felt unworldly, like he was looking in and trying to understand everything about him - and Dean never felt like there was much in him to be understood, so his words stop short.

Even with all the familiarity he had grown accustomed to, there was still something undeniably different about this Castiel.

“2012,” Dean croaked, shifting his weight under the intensity of his scrutiny. “May 2012.”

[kthehuman]

Castiel simply continued to stare at Dean after that revelation. It was interesting that both of them were pulled from their home world, but not from the same time period. What purpose does this serve? he prayed again. Sighing, he smiled somewhat sadly at Dean.

"Well, it appears that we have been pulled from Earth at different times. It was early December of 2010 when I arrived here, Dean." He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, noting exactly how different the action was now that he needed the oxygen. "I do not know why such an event has occurred...and I am not sure how to reverse it." Or if we even can. Fear and worry gripped the angel, but he didn't dare show it in front of Dean.

Castiel thoughts jumped around in rapid succession. What if they couldn't figure out a way back? What if they were never brought back, either? Would it be so bad? He did have Dean, after all. And they were very good friends, if Castiel saw their relationship correctly. He still wasn't sure about many things human, but he hoped that understanding would come with time. He found that he was okay with being stuck here with Dean. It was new to Castiel, something that was both scary and refreshing to a person that had been in existence since nearly the dawn of time.