Chapter 26
Everything froze after the bright, burning light suddenly vanished.
Nobody dared to move an inch for a few minutes.
Tony opened his eyes carefully. Expecting to find himself dead and in the afterlife or something.
Instead, he found himself staring at his family, who were still hunched over with closed eyes, still not comprehending that the light faded away. Steve was still holding him tightly like a lifeline, eyes still closed.
“Uhm, why aren’t we dead?” Tony asked while blinking dumbly, eyes still hurting a little from the burning light.
They all opened their eyes and looked around in confusion, while checking their bodies to make sure they were truly alive.
“Wow, we didn’t die.” Clint announced unnecessarily, looking around at everyone with a grin.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” Natasha rolled her eyes, while she leaned heavily on a confused Sam’s shoulder.
“Cas?” Dean murmured in worry as they all turned their attention to the angel, who was still laying on the floor, unmoving. “Cas, what just happened?”
The angel was staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing ever. His body stopped glowing and the cracks that was tearing his body apart disappeared, like they were never there. he just looked like his normal self at the moment, if not for the dazed look on his face.
“Castiel?” Steve called out in worry, when the angel didn’t make a move indicating he heard them. Dean was getting nervous as he tightened his grip on the angel, hands shaking a little the longer the angel didn’t answer.
Castiel blinked a few times, like he was getting out of a trance or something. He still kept staring up ahead, but at least he seemed more coherent.
“Did I kill anyone?” he asked carefully, not daring to look at anyone. Like he was afraid to look.
“No, baby, everyone is alright.” Dean smiled softly down at him as he leaned down to press a kiss to the angel’s forehead and remained there, unwilling to pull away. “You did it, Cas. you saved everyone and yourself. You did it, baby.”
“Oh, that’s-that’s good.” He murmured dazedly. If Tony didn’t know any better, he would say the angel was drunk or something. “Did I tear apart my body?”
“No, dude, you still look as good as ever.” Tony chuckled at the slur in Castiel’s voice, leaning heavily against Steve’s side. “Which makes me kind of jealous, since everyone looks like crap right now.”
“Thank you?” the angel looked genuinely confused at if he should be thanking Tony or not. Making everyone chuckle softly, while Dean grinned fondly down at him.
That dazed, confused angel laying on the floor right now, was the badass angel that saved them all a few minutes ago. The change could have given anyone else a whiplash, but they were used to it by now.
The fast switch between Castiel and Cas was an essential part of the angel’s personality. They were all used to it by now. They even anticipate it.
“How do you feel, buddy?” Steve asked with a small smile, as he placed a hand on Castiel’s shoulder. “How did you do it?”
“I have no idea.” Castiel shook his head and seemed to regret it immediately from the wince that crossed his face. His body must hurt him a lot. That didn’t stop him from shuffling closer to Dean anyway, who happily gathered him in his arms. Seeming to be unable to do anything except to press kisses to Castiel’s face in pure relief. “I lost control. I was about to erupt. Then, I kind of controlled it enough to make it erupt inside me rather than outside.”
That made them freeze again and turned slowly to look him over more thoroughly, only now noticing that Castiel barley moved since they opened their eyes.
“Cas, what did you do?” Dean demanded, trying to hide how his voice shook a little at the question, his hands tightening on Castiel in slight panic.
“I am fine.” Castiel rolled his eyes as he trailed his eyes over them. “I am not dead. You are not dead. I say I did a decent job.”
“Cas, what did you do?” almost everyone in the room exclaimed at him in one voice, that he startled and stared at them with a slightly raised eyebrow.
“Fine. I think I almost shattered my body in the process. it didn’t though. It just hurts everywhere right now and I can’t really move a muscle without it swearing indignantly at me.” The angel answered with a sigh. “I still think this is a win. It beats dying and taking the entire city with me, right?”
“Dammit, Cas.” Dean sighed tiredly with a shake of his head, unable to protest Castiel’s logic or even be mad at him.
They all stared at each other for a few moments, still can’t really believe that it was over. The demons were gone, New York wasn’t removed from the map and no one was dead.
With that, they all collapsed on their backs on the ground around Castiel, and just stared at the ceiling, finally couldn’t ignore their exhaustion and injuries anymore.
“That was a rough couple of days.” Thor commented dazedly, the shells made a sound when his head landed on the floor. They almost forgot about his noisy hair for a while there. Tony was seriously wondering how did the demons composed themselves when they saw the God of Thunder with shells in his hair.
“That was only two days?” Clint muttered with a pained groan from his broken leg. “It felt like years.”
Tony looked beside him at Charles, who was silent the whole time, just looked around dazedly, like he was trying to comprehend where he was still.
“Hey, Big Brain.” Tony murmured with a tired smile. “You look like shit.”
The telepath turned towards him to meet his eyes.
“Hello, Big Head. You look like crap.” Charles retorted with a raised eyebrow and a small smile.
“We all look like crap really.” Erik stated with snort.
“Charles?” Castiel called out, after they fell silent for a few seconds. He didn’t turn towards the telepath as he called him. Probably unable to move his neck.
“Yes, Cas?” Charles asked as got closer to Erik, who was laying tiredly next to him.
“I think I made a hole through your mansion. Sorry.” That pulled their attention to the very impressive hole in the wall, that continued on till they could see the garden from their place in the main hall.
“You are seriously apologizing?” Charles raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at Castiel indignantly. “Cas, I am two seconds away from framing that hole as a thanks for what you did.”
“Yeah, you looked really badass when you broke through the wall all angelic and mighty.” Natasha praised as she smiled at him from her place on Sam’s chest.
“I think I felt that mute demon as he almost shit himself at the sight of you.” Steve chuckled as he snuggled closer to Tony, seeking his warmth.
“Good, since I am not planning to do that again. Ever.” Castiel muttered with a wince, when he tried to move a little.
“Damn right you are not.” Dean shot up to glare at him warningly then. “Cas, I swear you pull something like that again and I will silent treatment your ass to the ground!”
“You will never be able to pull that off.” Tony rolled his eyes at his threat, making Dean turn his glare towards him. “Remember when you got upset, when I tried to make updates on your car? You tried to silent treat me, managed half a day before you stormed into the workshop and screamed at my face again, then you deemed it enough of screaming and asked me if I wanted to watch a movie.”
“That was fun to watch.” Steve laughed at the memory, completely ignoring Dean’s indignant glare. “Let’s be honest, neither you or Tony could ever pull of the silent treatment. It will drive you more crazy than the one you are giving it to him.”
“Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it.” Dean sighed with a roll of his eyes, as he dropped again beside Castiel.
They heard loud footsteps sounding loudly, as someone ran towards them.
They looked up to see Charlie standing in the hole in the wall, staring at them with wide eyes.
“Oh my God, you all look like you were caught in the cross fire of a space fight between Klingons and Romulans.” She exclaimed while she trailed her eyes over each one of them, then at the hole in the wall.
“I understood that reference.” Castiel and Steve announced at the same time, making everyone chuckle at how adorable it was.
“I would high five you, Cas, but someone threw me against a stairwell and now I can barely move my arms.” Steve stated snarkily without any real heat in his voice, just a teasing smile on his face.
“Oh, I am sorry, next time I will just let your possessed ass try to beat me to death.” Castiel retorted with a roll of his eyes.
“The children?” Charles asked in concern, looking up at the red head.
“They are safe. I told them to stay put, until I see what happened here.”
“Good. That’s good.” Charles sighed in relief as he relaxed again against the floor.
“Why every time I leave you guys alone; things go to shit?” Charlie raised an eyebrow a them, before she rushed to land on her knees next to Raven frantically. Raven just looked up at her with an innocent grin when Charlie frowned at her broken arm and numerous bruises.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t leave.” Raven shrugged, looking up at her from under her lashes.
“Yeah, because you apparently need a babysitter.” Charlie rolled her eyes, before she leaned down to press a kiss against Raven’s forehead.
“Great, everyone is able to get snuggly and kissy with their significant other except me, since the idiot isn’t here.” Bucky sighed in dismay and scowled at the ceiling.
“Feel what I feel!” Clint exclaimed in frustration, earning a few groans at his loud voice ringing in their ears.
“We are not even sorry.” Tony announced cheekily as he snuggled closer to Steve, just because he can. All the other couples in the room hummed their agreement, following Tony’s lead and snuggling together as well.
“And now they are just rubbing it to my face.” Clint rolled his eyes and pretended to hurl for a few seconds. “Hey, Barnes, want to snuggle?”
“Over my dead body.” Bucky answered as he closed his eyes tiredly.
“Would you quit whining? Me and McCoy are single and we don’t complain like you all the time.” Logan rolled his eyes with a groan.
“Yeah! But you don’t live with them constantly! It’s like in every turn there is a land mine! I can’t get into a room without witnessing something that I don’t want to see!”
“He has a point.” Hank shrugged, looking exhausted but content to remain on the ground forever. “Erik and Charles are forcefully tamed, since there are children around and all that. Raven usually disappears along with Charlie when she visits, so thankfully we don’t see anything outrageous.”
“Lucky bastards.” Clint growled with a scowl.
“You could always date; you know?” Steve pursed his lips as he looked over at Clint. “Just a thought.”
“That reminds me!” Clint shot upright as he looked over at Castiel. “You were a woman centuries ago?!”
That got everyone’s attention as they turned towards Castiel excitedly.
“I hoped you wouldn’t linger on that.” Castiel sighed, looking uncomfortable at the attention.
“I really tried not to linger on that.” Dean chuckled in amusement at Castiel’s expression. “But seriously, we can’t ignore that new information.”
“That actually made me wonder.” Bruce propped himself on an elbow to look at Castiel more properly. A contemplative look on his face. “Angels are genderless, right? Which means you don’t care wither your vessel is male or female?”
“Yes?” Castiel answered uncertainly, not knowing where Bruce was going with this.
“Does this mean that in your true form you have no reproductive system or you have both male and female reproductive system?”
Everyone blinked stupidly at Bruce’s question, trailing their eyes between them silently. Thor blinked at his lover blankly for a second, before he decided to ignore everything and closed his eyes contently.
“Okay, now that’s a question I need an answer for too.” Tony piped in, seeming way too interested in the answer.
“I need an answer for that too. For science.” Charles grinned as he looked over at Castiel.
“Me too. Like, right now.” Hank added, looking eager.
“Thanks, Clint. You just made every scientist in the room focus on my reproductive system.” Castiel rolled his eyes with a groan. The archer just shrugged cheekily, glad the attention was off of his nonexistent love life.
“This conversation physically pains me.” Sam muttered as he stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone.
“Imagine how I feel.” Dean frowned and tried not to glare at anyone for their weird interests.
“I can’t keep track with the conversation anymore.” Erik muttered with a sigh.
“I stopped listening for a while now, to be honest.” Steve just shrugged, with a resigned look on his face.
“Oh, come on! We need an answer!” Tony urged impatiently, as he kept poking annoyingly at Castiel’s arm, who gave him a smitey look for his trouble.
“What you need is a hospital.” Charlie scowled, as she trailed her eyes over them. “You all are! You all have injuries that needs to be looked at!”
“That can wait, until we get an answer.”
“No, what will happen now, is that I will call an ambulance and you all are going to a hospital!” Charlie yelled at them indignantly.
“You are adorable when you are frustrated.” Raven grinned up at her, making Charlie flush a little.
“You are going to need more than one ambulance.” Natasha muttered into Sam’s chest. “Probably an army of them.”
“After the hospital, you are all going to a tattoo parlor and get one of these.” Sam announced, as he pushed his collar down to reveal his anti-possession tattoo. “Preferably in places that can’t be seen, to not repeat what happened with Dean.”
“I will get it on my fucking ass.” Tony stated with a proud grin for his genius brain.
“Why did I think that was hot?” Steve raised an eyebrow, confused at himself.
“Get it wherever you want, just fucking do it.” Dean sighed and moved to bury his face in Castiel’s hair.
“But first, a hospital. Now.” Charlie said with a sharp glare.
They honestly couldn’t protest, even if they wanted to. Their injuries really were yelling at them for attention.
Well, at least they got out of this alive.