It probably didn’t say a lot about Castiel’s life that a boring cross country drive with only music and petty squabbling to break up the miles was exactly what he had been needing. This world was a ridiculous mess, and he was tired.
Not physically, of course. As an angel, he had no need to sleep, although he did occasionally find himself passing out when he overexerted himself and used too much of the old ‘mojo. No, he was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Even knowing that the Claire here was in no way his daughter did nothing to keep him from caring about what happened to her, and he wouldn’t have wished Lucifer’s attention on his worst enemy. He couldn’t help but get himself involved, and that meant trying to help a teenage girl who detested everything about him sort through her emotional baggage. It had been a long few days, to say the least. When Dean had brought up rumors of the literal Jersey Devil? He may have jumped at the idea of a hunt. He couldn’t help it.
The stress seemed to peel away as they got closer and closer to the Pine Barrens. Not a thought he’d ever really imagined would cross his mind, but a valid one nonetheless.
As an angel in the past, Castiel had never imagined the future. He had existed in the present, doing as he was told regardless of what the consequences of his actions might have been. As a human, he had imagined the future in much the same way that many humans did. A vague series of events, that hopefully ended after a happy and peaceful retirement. That wasn’t in the cards anymore, of course, and when he pictured the future now, it looked an awful lot like his present did. A fact that he was surprisingly okay with. In an ideal future the car would be different, of course, and he would likely be relegated to the back seat due to Sam having earned shotgun for the rest of time, but still, more or less this.
It might have been nicer if Dean hadn’t gotten so testy with him just for a little impatience over an eight minute song, but beggars couldn’t really be choosers, now could they?
“You can drive off a cliff if you want to Dean, but I am not going to kiss you before you step on the gas, and I will not help you find a replacement when this car is irreparably damaged.” He commented dryly as they finally pulled up near to an overgrown property which was obviously being used for teenage debauchery. Most likely a Halloween party, given the nearness to the holiday. Dean’s thought about it being a teenage prank might have had merit, although teenage debauchery did often attract less than savoury supernatural activity. There was a reason teen horror films were such a cliche.
Cas waited patiently, leaned against the closed passenger’s side door, while Dean set about getting a bag of tools from the trunk of the Barracuda. “It is kind of... predictable, isn’t it?” He commented, eyeing the dimly lit windows of the abandoned house through the overgrown gate of the brick wall surrounding it. He did not bother getting any tools out for himself, as he generally used his own natural gifts in a fight, and the two weapons he did tend to carry, an angel blade and an ordinary silver knife, were always on his person.
The terrified scream, when it came, was not at all unexpected. “Oh, yes. That is indeed our cue. Shall we enter, stage right?” He grumbled, letting out a sigh as he straightened up and headed right for the front gate, pulling the angel blade from its sheath hidden beneath his coat as he went. Always better to be armed in a situation such as this, after all.
The moment they stepped through the gate, they were met, not with any kind of monster, but by a girl who appeared to be dressed as Princess Leia in her ‘slave girl’ attire. Cas couldn’t help thinking that she had to be cold, even as he listened to her panicked pleas.
“OH MY GAWD! Are you guys the cops?! Please tell me you’re the cops! My friends are in there and there’s monsters or something! You gotta help us!” Her voice was very shrill, and Cas figured it probably would have been even if it hadn’t gone up about five octaves from sheer unleaded fear.