InsaneJournal

Who: Dean Winchester & Castiel
Where: Library/hotel room
When: After the doors were opened
What: Dean is blind and freaking out
Status: complete
Warnings: none

Nobody knew what was behind the door, but that didn’t stop Dean from trying to open it, along with a few others. They had all been unsuccessful so far, but then the sound of a lock clicking could be heard, followed by the squeaking of the door. Suddenly, there was a bright flash and everything went dark. He was trying not to panic, but he couldn’t see even a sliver of a light source. Had the lights been turned off completely? He wasn’t sure what had happened at this point and the last thing he wanted was to fumble around and potentially fall down through the open door. So, he did the only thing he could think of and he prayed to Cas, telling him he was in the library. Cas had seen an open door earlier, one that hadn’t been there yesterday, but knowing this hotel and how insane it was at times, he kept his distance and shooed away any curiosity that he may have had to find out what lay beyond that threshold. He wasn’t doing anything of great import anyway, just walking around, doing some people watching as he often did on his jaunts. He was still trying to figure out the strange shift he had felt when the sun had set. It hadn’t hurt, and no one had made a big deal about it, but it was still strange. Dean’s voice suddenly broke through his thoughts and he reacted as though it was an urgent call, but Dean’s tone hadn’t been that of urgency. Still, he flew to the library and looked around the familiar room, finding Dean right away, though there was another door, another open door too. That was definitely not part of the library. Had Dean gone inside? “Dean,” he asked, getting closer to the man and squinting at him to see if he could determine his trouble that way. “Is something wrong? Did you go through the door?” “What? You can see the door?” Dean turned awkwardly in the direction he had heard Cas’ voice and just looked at him with a blank stare, as though he were looking right through him. “Do you have like, angel night vision or something? I can’t see a damn thing here. Somebody turned off the lights, I think.” He continued to move oddly, turning to his left where he was certain there was a chair to sit down on. He reached out with his arms, moving slowly towards the chair, while making sure not to collide with a bookcase or someone else. “I don’t think anyone has gone through the door.” Dean couldn’t see the door? Or for that matter, Cas and the room around them? When things started to click in place for him, Cas took Dean’s elbow and helped him to the chair he was aiming for and guided him down to sit. He crouched down in front of Dean to look at his eyes, trying to see if maybe there was something blocking his vision or clouding his eyes. “Dean, the lights are on,” he said, waving his hand before Dean’s eyes to gauge how complete the loss of sight - and that's what it seemed to be - was. “What happened before everything went dark?” "Cas, what the hell are you talking about? If the lights are on, why can't I see a damn thing?" Dean responded with a sigh, his hand lifting to roll over his face, running at his eyes a little. "We were trying to open that stupid door, and I'm pretty sure someone did, and then there was this blinding li-" there was a look of horror on his face when he realized what happened. "Can you fix it, Cas? Please, tell me you can fix this." He knew it would come together for Dean if he had a second with it, and Cas wouldn’t have to be the bearer of bad news. And, suddenly not being able to see anything was bad news. “Hold on.” Cas held two fingers to Dean’s forehead to heal him, but, try as he might, nothing happened. Nothing. His powers worked on Dean for a split second and then they were done, like Cas’ healing job was finished though he knew nothing had happened. “I can’t,” he sounded a little mystified as he looked at his hand. He knew he didn’t have any problems, that he was fully charged as just seconds ago he had used his powers to fly here when Dean had called. He touched Dean again, attempting to get a better result this time. “You said there was a blinding flash of light before this happened?” He stood and looked around him again, knowing that whatever had happened in here was because of the opening of the door, and maybe it was stopping his powers from working too. “We should get you out of this room. I’m not sure if the opened door is putting a stopper in my magic too, and that's why I can’t help you, or because - but I’ll come back here and look, after I bring you to our room, where it’s safe.” Now, whether he would be walking with him or teleporting him back would depend on whatever effect this room was having on him. "What do you mean, you can't?" Dean countered, continuing to stare ahead, though he wasn't sure if he should look up or down to meet his eyes. He had been through some crazy shit over the years, but this? This was terrifying and he was trying not to panic, but he was slowly losing it. "Yes, let's get the fuck out of this library." He agreed with a nod of his head and then moved to rise from the chair, carefully. He put his hands out to feel for Cas, and he grabbed hold of whatever was in front of him, which was probably Cas. "When we get back to the room, I want you to fix that shit on my ribs so that you will always know where I am if something happens." “I mean I can’t. I don’t feel any different but my power isn’t working on you. We’ll try again in our room and see how it works there.” It probably would be better if he helped Dean out of the room first before he tried to fly, so as Dean grabbed him, he took Dean’s hand and his elbow and guided him away from things he could hit and out of the library door. Once they were outside of the room, Cas decided he would try to fly again, with Dean, instead of dragging him around these things and back to their room. He wasn’t used to navigating these halls without his sight and this would be easier. “I know that you don’t enjoy this, and it will feel different without all your senses intact, but I am going to fly us back to our room.” And without waiting for protests from Dean if there were going to be any, with the sound of fluttering wings the two of them disappeared from outside of the library and reappeared less than a second later in their room. He helped Dean to sit on the bed and sat down next to him and gently guided Dean’s head so that he faced him. “I’ll tend to your ribs in a moment, I’d like to try and see what’s wrong with you first.” One second they were walking and the next they were somewhere else. The color had drained from his face and thankfully he was now seated. "Cas," he said simply, one hand still on the language. "That was fucking horrible." He had no idea why, and even though it was less than five seconds, it felt like he was falling into a dark abyss. Dean took a breath and began to relax a little, now that he was seated again. "I'm fucking blind, that's what's wrong with me." It was true what they said, curiosity killed the cat, and Dean would never learn. "Whiskey. I need whiskey. A whole fucking bottle." Cas gave Dean a look as it was obvious what was wrong with him on the outside, but the why is what he wanted to figure out. “I hope this is only temporary like most of the injuries that the hotel deals out.” He scanned Dean’s body, checking him internally for any injuries that might need his help, and checked for magical markersl that were hiding inside from whatever happened when he lost his sight. Nothing that he could find. “What happened, Dean?” he asked as he rose to pour Dean a drink at the table just a few feet away. He took his hand and wrapped Dean’s fingers around the glass and he made sure that Dean had a firm hold on it before he let go, still watching though to make sure that it made it to his mouth. “Any incantations or - any unfamiliar symbols?” Cas was sure Dean would recognize and would have mentioned anything like that before now, but he had to ask anyway. “Did you hear anything or see anything before this happened? How was the door opened?” "I don't know, the door was glowing when I walked by and I didn't recall ever seeing it there before." He took a deep breath and left his hands on his legs, waiting for Cas to come back with the whiskey. Once the glass was firmly in his hand, he lifted it to his lips and swallowed it all down. "There was no bippity boppity boo nonsense. He put the key in the door, it opened and then bam, we were all fucked." If this lasted any longer than twenty four hours, he would go on a rampage. Only, not really, given the fact he couldn't see a damn thing. "How the fuck am I supposed to do anything? I'm going to piss all over the fucking bathroom if I can't see where to aim. I can't cook anything. How the fuck can I shower without breaking my neck in there?" “I should look at the door to rule other things out, but I still want to go with my gut on this and blame the hotel for it.” And hope that the hotel got its sick fun out of its system within the next day or two and returned the residents to their previous states. Who else was like this? Was anyone worse? Did it have anything to do with the drinks and treats they were finding around the hotel for a few days before this happened? There were so many unanswered questions, but right now he was going to try to make Dean as comfortable mentally as he could. He took his glass and set it behind them on the nightstand and knelt down in front of him again. He remembered so many years ago when he had marked Sam and Dean with the Enochian sigils magically carved on their ribs, and the reasons that he had done it. Dean was right, those reasons didn’t seem to be here and being blocked from locating Dean in a place like this wasn’t a good idea anymore. What if he were unconscious but needed his help? While it wouldn’t hurt to remove them either, it was a little more complicated as he was essentially undoing a spell and making the rib bones unblemished and whole again. “I’m going to wash your ribs,” he said, both hands on Dean’s sides. “This won’t be painful. Uncomfortable, perhaps, but it won’t take long.” When Dean was okay with what Cas was about to do, he began, pouring a little of his grace into his fingers to remove the etchings. “You’re lucky that I’m as familiar with you as I am, so I can help you to the bathroom and in the shower. And if you instruct me, I can make the food you like for you. I’ll be your eyes while you can’t see.” After being strongly independent for most of his life, Dean would now have to rely on Cas until his eyesight returned. If it returned. While the initial process had hurt like a son of a bitch, this just felt like he had eaten way too much pie. It was a damn good thing that Cas already knew what it was like to be human, or this whole thing would have been ten times worse. "You can just heat up frozen shit or whatever, I guess. That's the least complicated process and you don't have to worry about getting things right." Would Cas even be capable of cooking something with so little experience? He could tell him to put a burger on a grill, but Cas could easily over or under cook it. "I think you should just bring me the whole damn bottle of whiskey so I can pass the fuck out." “I’m not completely stupid when it comes to making food, you know,” he smiled. “I can do a little more than just ‘heat up frozen shit or whatever’. I lived as a human in the great big world for a while with no one to help me. I’m not a gourmet, but I know how to fry things and not start a grease fire. But maybe your sight is what we should focus on until we know more.” Cas finished up what he was doing and guided Dean back and up against the headboard so he would have somewhere to lean if he chose and walked over to grab the bottle of whiskey and bring it over to Dean. “I’m going to see if anyone else needs help in the library, I shouldn’t be gone too long, but I’ll let you know if that changes. Will you be okay if I leave for fifteen minutes?” “Okay, Cas, I trust you.” Dean nodded in agreement at the suggestion they focus on the issue of blindness before anything else. He lifted the bottle to his mouth and took a long drink, already feeling a little better about the situation. “Yeah, I should be fine for fifteen minutes. I’ll let you know if something comes up.”