tws: gore, violence, stuff like that
Castiel wills himself to calm. It's not Dean, he reminds himself. Dean is okay. Dean is far from his place.
"We come with peace." Castiel says, holding his hands out. He wills his eyes to glow so he can see, and there, The Empty's eyes glint, a poor resemblance of Dean's own beautiful green.
"Come to gloat?" The Empty says. Its voice is hoarse and warped beyond recognition, sending chills through Castiel's feathers.
"I wish to fix what was broken." He explains.
"You realized you needed me, after all." It says, Dean's mouth opening, but the voice not quite formed by it, a sound appearing rather like a doll or puppet. It sickens Castiel to see Dean's image used so carelessly and brutishly. "Did you bring me presents this time? Is that why your companions are shaking in fear? I'm so lonely these days. So tired. So cold."
"We came to heal you." Castiel repeats. "And that's it."
The Empty stands slowly, limbs arching in odd angles, smoke coming off its skin. Dark robes cover its shoulders like blankets of night and barely cover the modesty of the image it holds. Its skin is scarred and incinerated. The hair that would cover Dean's head is gone, the top of his head blistered and charred like the rest of his face.
The Empty blinks unnaturally, one eye finishing before the other. "It was quiet before you arrived."
Gabriel gestures with a hand, pointing to where they came. "We'll be on our way as soon as—"
"IT WAS QUIET!" The Empty shrieks. It hardly echoes since there's no walls for the words to rebound from, but the words shake Castiel's limbs all the same, and he watches The Empty sway in the place it stands.
"It will be quiet again," Castiel reminds it. "Just let us perform our spell. You will be healed."
"You don't understand," The Empty clenches Dean's fists, the motion crackling the blistered skin of its hands, spilling blood into the nothing below. "You don't understand. You don't UNDERSTAND!"
"It was quiet," The Empty says again. "And then you came back."
Castiel is beginning to lose patience again, and he sighs. "We will be quick, and then we will leave, and then you'll be able to take angels and demons again and—"
The Empty laughs. It's a horrible, whining, crackling sound, like logs or bones breaking in a fire. Castiel can see Dean's jaw unhinging and shutting as The Empty uses it to create unnerving laughter. Next to Castiel, Crowley shudders. The Empty calms down slowly, the sound of its breathing like dragging an angel blade across rib bones. Finally, it opens its eyes again, looking Castiel with a contorted and tangled smile.
"You set me on fire and freed every one of my captives, Castiel." It says. The puppet's mouth creaking. "And once the fire absorbed everything it could and incinerated my being, it was finally, blissfully, beautifully... silent."
Crowley takes a step behind him, and Castiel can feel the demon's hand reaching through Castiel's trench coat to his pocket, where he stores a Ziploc bag of an unnamed angel's blood from the Men of Letter's storage.
"Do you know silence, Castiel?" The Empty asks, stepping closer in the impenetrable darkness, alight only by Castiel's eyes and the spark of light in his chest. "It's lovely. It's pure." Castiel can smell the stench of sulfur sneaking to Castiel's left, where Gabriel's Hello Kitty backpack holds the brass bowl, the Caladruis' eyes, and Michael's grace. "Silence is like, well it's the only thing that can let me sleep, and I need sleep, Castiel. You see, I need silence."
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The Soul Burns Brighter Than The Sun
FanfictionDean's sitting at the kitchen table with Sam when his phone rings. Jody's name flashes across the screen and he considers not picking up, but Sam's there, and he'd start asking questions if he left the call alone. It's not like Dean doesn't want to...
