Afraid of The Light

Chapter 27

Season: 7

Episode: Survival of the Fittest

***

After two days away from the drama, I feel so refreshed. It's weird how being half way across the world, literally as far away from Leviathan drama as you can possibly be, just spending time with your daughter and her father can have a refreshing quality.

I feel rejuvenated. Reset. Ready to take on anything and everything I have my way. And that's why, when Cas goes to look for his garrison and then suddenly hauls us around the world, finds Meg and zaps us all back into the drama, I'm not even pissed.

Meg on the other hand is fuming. She storms out of the car we're currently residing in, right up to cabin they boys are inevitably hiding away in. I see her hostile body language as she walks in, a moment later, Dean starts walking out, glancing in the window to see Cas, then me and Celeste in the back.

He looks at me weirdly and I shrug. Maybe I was slightly high on the feeling of no monsters kicking our asses, the knowledge that it's literally only America that's under threat right now. The knowledge that I could move anywhere else in the world and be perfectly fine.

He straightens up, does some sort of disapproving action, sighs and leans back into the window like he was previously.

"So, Cas, what's, uh, what's, uh, what's the word?" He asks, turning his attention back to the angel

"Well, Dean, I've been thinking. Monkeys are so... clever, and they're sensible in that they leave the skins on the bananas that they eat. Is it really necessary to test cosmetics on them?" He pauses as if wanting an answer. "I mean, how important is lipstick to you, Dean?"

There's a pause as Dean contemplates all the life choices that got him to this point. "Not very. You want to come inside and, uh, tell us what's going on?" It's at that point the mentally damaged angel for the first time makes any indication that he is capable of movement.

-

"Now, you understand I don't participate in aggressive activity." Castiel says as he walks over from his spot by the door to a spot near me and Celeste. He then notices the nearby bone to me, picks it up and sniffs it. I look at him weirdly.

"Mm. Sister Mary Constant. Good choice."

"Why'd you go to Meg, Cas?" Dean demands. "Why the hell did you take them?"

"Because Celeste asked me to." He says simply, looking at Dean as if it was obvious. "When I left, I wanted to observe the flowers - and fruit. Flowers come first, obviously. But I heard nothing from them." I frown, knowing exactly what he was talking about and mentally scolding him for merging two unrelated topics into one.

"You heard nothing from who?" By Sam's statement, I assume he's assuming Cas was saying he heard nothing from the flowers. That's what I thought when I hear I'm say 'I'm hearing nothing' out of the blue as the three of us sit in an uninhabited garden that Celeste happily tends to with her powers.

"The Garrison." He enforces

"What happened to the Garrison?"

"Short story? Dead." I say, shoving my hands into my pocket. "Not a pretty sight."

"And the long version?" Dean pries.

"Well, finally, the silence was deafening, so I went to look... to the home of the Prophet. You know, Leviathan can kill angels." Cas starts to go on a tangent. I let him. I quickly learnt that there was no shutting the flood gates so I decided to swim with the tide instead. "There's a reason why Father locked them in Purgatory. They're the Piranha that would eat the whole aquarium. They're gone. The entire Garrison - dead. If there's anyone left at all, they're in hiding." Much like what I believe my angels are doing... not that I have faith any of them are still alive anymore.

"Um, I'm sorry. If the angels are dead, where's Kevin?" Dean asks the obvious first question. The one I asked when we saw the scene.

"I could steal them from their cages, the monkeys. But where would I put them all?"

"Cas." I say, grabbing his arm gently. "Focus."

He looks at me, looks into my eyes... he nods, looking at his feet. "I don't want to fight." He mumbles as if a little boy getting in trouble for the first time.

"We're not fighting," I say, rubbing his arm with the hand still holding it. "See? You know I would have hit you by now if we were fighting. Just... tell them what you know." I nod to the boys who are staring at me incredulously.

"They took him." He says, looking up at them. "He's alive. I felt such responsibility, but it's in your hands now." Cas starts pulling me down towards the couch, expecting me to be the calm hippie lover I was when he took us wherever the fuck we were. I'm almost certain there was wild hemp or something growing in that place.

"Wait. Hold on a freakin' minute." Dean says, quickly being interjected by Castiel's "I feel much better." I'll admit, I did too. I knew that shit was about to go down, I knew that it wouldn't end well. But I also had a new sense of calmness about me. As if Cas' hippie vibes rubbed off on me. Even Celeste seemed calmer. Still way too mature for her age but she seemed to embrace the fact she was still a child a little more. Maybe that's just because Cas let us run free for a whole day in the gardens. They were beautiful... angelic... they seemingly grew the more we stood there.

"Guys, what's all that?" I hear Meg ask, snapping me from my thoughts.

I look over to a bowl of supposing items. "We called Crowley." Sam explains. I frown, confused. Why would they need Crowley? But then I remember what Sam said the day we left. He needed the blood of the ruler of the fallen or some shit like that. That fits Crowley to a T.

"You what?"

"Don't worry. He never showed." Dean justifies.

"What do you mean never-"

"Do you see him anywhere? He stood us up."

"Well, I'm sorry about that, but I'm outie. He could still sh-"

"Show up at any time." Crowley says as he appears by the door. Hello, boys. Sorry I'm late. This is an embarrassment of riches."