Balthazar And The Word Of God.

It was a cool autumn morning, leaves had fallen from the trees and were crunching underfoot in the misty woods where they were walking, trying to locate one of the many crypts that had been hidden before Lucifer was caged. Eyes gazing sharply around for any signs of demons, Sam and Dean, with a vague set of instructions from the captured Meg, were hot on the trail of one, then they heard the sound of wings.

Expecting it to be Castiel, Dean turned, smiling, to face the direction the sound had come from, the smile falling from his face when he saw a different set of blue eyes looking at him. ”Balthazar” He spat, the name like a poison dart leaving a blowpipe. What are YOU doing here? Decided to run home with your tail between your legs, like a whipped puppy?

Balthazar, an unamused expression on his face, replied ”Really Dean, I come all this way to warn you, and that’s the best you’ve to say? I don’t even know whether to bother or not. Sam, now turning to join the conversation, asked what Balthazar was going to tell them. Dean, rolling his eyes and huffing a sigh, waved for him to continue.

Balthazar started to talk again, Sam and Dean getting drawn into his information despite the circumstances of their last meeting. ”These scripts you’re looking for, they aren’t the notes you’ve been lead to believe. This particular one, if it’s the right one, contains the word of God, my Father’s instructions and rules, as set down by the scribe himself, sitting at my Father’s feet. You have no idea how much both Heaven and Hell would give to get hold of it. If you persist in this effort, you, or your friends, will wind up dead or seriously hurt. You have been warned.”

With that, he flew of in the ruffling of his wings. Dean and Sam, exchanging glances, carried on looking around for the entrance to the crypt that Meg had told them of. The sound of more wings took them by surprise, the more so when they discovered that it was Balthazar back again. Dean opened his mouth to comment on his reappearance when Sam wrapped his hand around it, silencing his brother.

Balthazar, nodding a thanks to Sam, spoke again ”Oh, one more thing. Castiel has been brain washed by an angel in heaven that works for the less-friendly archangels. Her name’s Naomi, and Castiel won’t be aware of her watching over his every move, but one single command from her will make him kill either of you. Just a word to the wise.” With that, he was gone again.

Dean, eyes rolling, went straight back to the search for the crypt entrance, while Sam, thinking over what Balthazar has told them, reappraises what Castiel said in the light of these possible revelations. Concerned, he decides that, while he’ll still pay attention to Cas’s words, he’ll look far more closely at his actions too.

Finding the crypt entrance, Sam motions for Dean to proceed him in, when Castiel arrives, un-announced and promptly orders Sam and Meg to remain outside while he and Dean enter to retrieve the ‘script’. Reluctantly, Sam and Meg do as told and let the other two enter alone.

When, after twenty minutes, they haven’t emerged, the two others go in, and are horrified, but, thanks to Balthazar, not surprised, by what they find. Castiel has vanished, there’s nothing but some old relics, broken tablet cover, and a very badly beaten up Dean in the dimly lit room. Every trace of the angel is gone.

Dean tells of a very ….peculiar happening when they found the script, or word of God. Seems that Cas was beating him bloody, all the while questioning ‘Naomi’ about why he had to, when, picking up the tablet with the word on it, he’d suddenly changed AGAIN, and declared that he had to protect the word from the angels, the demons, AND the Winchesters. Then he’d vanished.

With the information from Balthazar now confirmed, the brothers, and Meg, departed for the motel they’d holed up in while trying to find the blessed crypt in the first place, Sam driving and Meg slumped in the back seat, Dean moping in the passenger seat. On arrival at the motel, Dean stomped inside and grabbed the first aid kit on his way to the bathroom to see to his Cas inflicted wounds, while Sam went on a supply run and Meg slouched on a bed.

Now that Castiel was on the run from everyone, and the angels and demons both were on his tail, they wanted to help him, but he was resisting all calls from both Dean and Sam, ignoring them, just as he was everyone else. Unable to help, they went back to the hunt for beasts to slay and people to save. A tentative trust building with Balthazar as he, too, showed concern for the absentee angel.