Begin Again

They didn't trust the Winchesters and their pet angel. Clealry they needed someone to keep them on the straight on the narrow. 

They inwarldy chuckled at Castiel's glare. 

They didn't mind it, he was a gnat, an atom in a sea of them. 

Insignificant.

Fleeting. 

Unremarkable.

They stood to the side, watching at Dean and Castiel circled each other. Like two stars before they crashed and collapsed into a supernova.

Their grinned to themselves teeth sharp and salivating - oh wouldn't that be wonderful?

Castiel avoided them until he couldn't. Castiel looked broken after a hunt one night. He had left soon after coming back to the bunker. They had decided to follow.

Castiel stood on a railing overlooking some sea below - they were all the same to them. Bodies of slowly evaporating water. 

"Penny for your thoughts?"

They asked as they strolled closer. Castiel tensed and stared resolutely at the water below.

"What do you want? Why do you care? I'm not happy so leave me alone."

They laughed and grinned at Castiel's glare.

"Don't mistake me for your humans. I do not care, you interest me. Tell me what happened on the hunt. I'll leave for a few weeks how about that?"

Castiel sighed and looked at the sea.

"Angels - a - a couple. They had been eating souls. They - Sam and Dean had killed them before I got there. But they had missed a third angel. I saw the claimant around their neck. A triad pair. Dean hadn't understood when the angel only howled. Had fallen to the ground to crawl to the bodies. Hadn't understood that pain when the angel simply stopped moving."

Castiel stared over the sea to the horizon.

"I - I tried to stop them, to save them from what was to come. They had said I didn't understand, that I would never know this pain. Afterall what angel would mate with an angel that gladly became a human's pet?"

They hummed, eyes watching the horizon. They didn't care, they could feel the pain of Castiel. But they could feel all the pain from this universe - from the other worlds before they'd been extinguished by that false God. 

But that didn't mean they didn't want to talk. That's what this was, talking. They weren't going to make friends with something as broken as Castiel. 

"I am one of 7."

They started slowly, they could feel Castiel stiffen next to them. 

"W - where are the others?"

Castiel looked around them, at the sky waiting to be ambushed. 

"They - it was supposed to be a game. It was supposed to be fun."

They couldn't keep the bitterness from their voice. 

They decided to not look at Castiel. They didn't want to see the emotions there. 

"We - we are all we knew. We had birthed ourselves as a cluster every few universal cycles ad infantum."

Castiel's grip tightened on the railing, his breathing going fast. 

They noted absently he must be having a panic attack. They continued on.

"We - we do not have names for each other as much as sounds we identify with each other -"

"Like dolphins, they use whistles to call to each other."

Castiel interjected, his voice was tight. He looked to be bending the railing under his weight. 

They felt anger well up, how dare this gnat pretend to understand? They wanted to lash out leaving him a broken mess on the ground. 

They reigned their anger in, they wanted a witness they decided. One atom who knew what they were, who know of their loves. 

"I'll use our angelic names, it's easier for you to -"

Castiel's head shot up to look at them. 

"You - you were angels? When?"

They waved their hand to dismiss his question.

"Back before Heaven was fully made, before all the wars and bloodshed. Now be quiet so I can tell you a fucking story."

Castiel's mouth shut and his eyes went wide. But he was finally quiet.

They finally turned to look at Castiel, their smile wide and feral.

"We have been angels, stars, animals. We have been everything and everyone. We have walked through every iteration of creation."

They turned away and sighed sipping the wine they willed into existence. 

"Rabia, she - she was always up for something. We had tried to influence universes before. To guide planets and solar systems. It never went the way we wished. We had long since stopped trying to do anything but watch. Occasionally we'd make bets on a particular outcome but it was very boring for the most part."

They smiled wistfully. What they wouldn't give for those times back now. How they missed their loves now. It had been so quiet.

"Anyway, Rabia came to us with an idea for a game. Why not go into creation? To walk among them to help aide them as we saw fit? Of course there were rules and stipulations for a winner."

They grinned draining their glass. Their sun was so brilliant.

"We'd stay together as much as possible, unless creation pulled us apart. We would not remember, the first one who did would win."

They let the glass fall shattering on the rocks below. They grinned as Castiel flinched. They loosened his mouth. 

"Where are they now? I assume the game continues?"

They nodded just as something broke - as a fail safe went off.  

They disappeared back into themselves. Into the void that was them trying to find the rules their sun had left all those cycles ago. 

We are to not push the others away. The game is to try to stay together no matter what - no pushing each other away. No matter what happenes, we are above such silly atoms. 

Someone had broken that rule. 

They reappeared Castiel hadn't moved. It had been only a nanosecond for him afterall. 

"You seem to miss them."

Castiel started carefully, when they didn't attack him his voice strengthened.

"So why have you not gone to them?"

They sighed now worried than annoyed. 

"They are too entrenched into creation. I suppose I won if I remembered. But we were not all together then so I doubt the others would count it. They have forgotten and I cannot see them. Everything looks like atoms - bits of creation. If I could find them perhaps I could see what the problem is."

They more murmured to themselves than to the angel.

Castiel inhaled and swallowed before he spoke again.

"What are they now do you know? Would they - if we found them for you -"

"Your debt would be forgotten yes. Family for family."

They said turning to look at Castiel in the eye. They hummed staring back at the water. 

"We - they are humans now. Humans who cannot die, who cannot age, humans who help those who cannot help themselves."

They ignored the snort of disbelief. If anything it made them colder.

"You have a month to find them. If you do not...well I wonder how you'll function without Sam."

Castiel growled but there was confusion in his eyes. 

"You couldn't even threaten me properly. I am closer to Dean -"

"Yes, but Dean loves Sam more than you yes? I wonder if he'll accept your love if he knows you're the reason his brother is gone."

They smiled viciously as Castiel paled and nodded.

"One month Clarence, don't disappoint me."