Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A shrill sound screeched across the room, as the phone on the kitchen counter started ringing. A woman walked up to the counter, her identity hidden as she picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she asked, putting the phone up to her ear as she leaned on the counter.

“What’s your favorite scary movie?” said a deep voice on the line creepily.

The woman, who was mid-twirling the phone’s wire with her fingers, froze. “Who is this?” she asked, her voice hinting at a growing fear, as she looked around the entire room, scanning for anything that might jump at her.

“I don’t know, why don’t you look outside?” the voice on the phone said yet again, chuckling slowly.

The woman whipped around, looking at the kitchen window. Seeing nothing, she crept closer to the glass, looking out towards the bushes that surrounded her house on the outside.

“Surprise..” the voice whispered, sounding suddenly extremely close by. A breath down her neck made her shudder, and she turned around.

“AHHHHHHH!!”, the woman screamed, as a person in a werewolf mask held a knife in one hand and a phone in the other, cocking their head and looming over her. The woman kept screaming, trying to move back but hitting the counter.

The masked killer held up their phone again, putting it to their mouth. “Prepare.. to die.” With that, they brought up their knife, and swung it down towards the woman.

Suddenly, the knife paused.

So did the killer.

And the woman.

And everything else around them.

“This is so fucking cheesy, ugh. Can we watch something else?” said Bela, putting the remote back down from where she had held it to pause the movie. She settled back into the couch.

Next to her, Ruby rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I don’t care what we watch, as long as it’s something scary and dark. Something that will make people scream.” She looked down at Alfie, who was sitting in front of the couch, covering his eyes with a terrified expression.

“Is the scene over?” he asked shakily, keeping his hands clamped over his eyes.

Ruby rolled her eyes again, looking at Bela. “Again, something really scary. It would be a pleasure if his screams woke up that doofus over there.” She looked over at Ash, who was passed out, sleeping, on the far end of the couch. Light snores were heard now that the movie was paused and no loud sounds were coming from the room.

Bela smirked. “I think I have just the perfect movie,” she said, picking the remote up, exiting from the freeze frame of the murder. As she scrolled through the options searching for her movie of choice, loud metal music started up in the next room over, causing Alfie to jump.

The music also woke Ash up, as he came to with a start. “Wuzzah..?” he said, looking around blearily.

Ruby stood up abruptly with a pinched expression. “I swear to fucking god, Dean Winchester, you better turn that music off right FUCKING NOW,” she screamed, as faint laughter could be heard from the room where the music was coming from. In response to Ruby, the music became louder, drowning out whatever was being said in the other room.

Bela stood up, turning the TV off. “Such a shame that such a stud is such an asshole,” she muttered in disgust, walking towards the stairs leading upstairs. “Balthazar has a TV upstairs in his bedroom,” she said, trekking up the stairs rapidly. “I’m sure he won’t mind us sneaking into his room to watch a good horror movie, he loves them too.”

Ruby sighed but quickly followed, grabbing Alfie by the hem of his shirt and dragging him up to force him along. As the trio went up into the calmer, and blissfully quieter, upstairs, Pamela entered the room from the kitchen, holding two large bowls of freshly popped popcorn. She looked around, confused, seeing nobody in the room except Ash, who was sitting alone on the couch, sound asleep again. She slowly made her way over to Ash, seeing the television turned off.

“Pam! Up here!” Pamela turned, looking up the stairs, seeing Bela at the top, waving at her. “We’re switching to Balthazar’s bedroom for the movie. We had to get away from Dean and his loud music,” she said.

When Pamela didn’t move, Bela beckoned for her to come. “What are you waiting for? You got the snacks, let’s go! The movie isn’t going to start by itself.”

“Are you sure Balthazar is okay with this?” Pamela asked, as she started to make her way up the stairs.

“Obviously,” Bela said. “Now come on, Ruby and Alfie are already waiting.” The two disappeared into the darkness of the upstairs as Ash kept soundly sleeping on the couch in the now desolate room, as music continued to drift through the lower floors of the house. 

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Dean slammed down his drink with a whoop, earning him a smattering of applause from his group of friends. “Hell yeah!” he yelled, as he did a little jig, before turning around to strut into the kitchen.

Meg turned to Castiel, pointing with her thumb towards Dean as he exited the room. “That one, Clarence, is Dean Winchester.”

Castiel, who had been staring at Dean the entire time he was in the room, wordlessly took a sip of his own drink.

“You totally wanna fuck him,” Meg suddenly said, making Castiel choke on his drink. “That look you’ve had on your face ever since you laid eyes on that man, I swear, Clarence, it’s really painfully fucking obvious.” she remarked, as Castiel spluttered and started coughing.

“I wasn’t looking at him in any way of such!” he said in protest once he finally caught his breath.

“Sure. You totally give everyone that same starving stare when you first lay eyes on them,” Meg said, smirking.

Castiel glared at Meg. “I didn’t have a ‘starving stare’ when looking at Dean Winchester. I can admit that he is.. good to look at, but it was not with any sexual intent.”

Meg, still smirking, turned back around towards her drink. “You’re so cute when you do those air-quotes with your fingers. Regardless, I stand by what I say,” she said, taking her own drink down in one sweep. She stood up then, taking her drink cup in her hand. “Now you stay here, Clarence, and make sure to stay out of trouble while I go refill this drink.”

Castiel nodded slightly, as Meg walked off to the kitchen. He looked around, glancing over everyone that was currently in the room. Near the large speaker still playing heavy metal, two people stood around talking. Castiel had remembered seeing them talking to Dean earlier. According to what Meg had said earlier, the burly guy that was now laughing was named Benny, and the blonde girl laughing with him was named Jo. He looked over to the right of them, and saw two scrawny guys chatting on the couch. Meg had told him their names were Kevin and Garth, but Castiel had forgotten which one was Kevin and which one was Garth. He continued pondering until his thoughts started drifting. He thought about whether he would've known their names if he had been more sociable earlier in the year. 

He had moved to Lawrence at the start of his senior year, as a mostly quiet, book-loving loner who preferred to spend his time researching and studying than going out, and had chosen not to socialize, meaning he barely knew anyone at the school. Somehow, even with his anti-socialness, he had managed to befriend Meg, who was, by personality, the complete opposite of him. But, as the sayings went, opposites attract, and so he and Meg made an almost inseparable friendship. Meg had been the one to drag him to this party in the first place, one last summer party after the final days of senior year.

Although most people in his class were moving across the country, Castiel had moved into Lawrence with his brother, Gabriel, to stay. Gabriel was his sole guardian, as their parents were out of the picture, and had been for a while. Castiel remembered a childhood of continuous moving, with Gabriel unable to find a stable enough job with a good enough income to support the two of them. Luck seemed to finally be on their side when Gabriel found such a job in Lawrence, and they finally settled down for what seemed like long. Castiel, tired with the constant moving, planned to go to the University of Kansas in Lawrence and stick around to find a job here, staying close by to Gabriel and his stable job here in this city. Gabriel had found a girlfriend two months after moving here, a woman named Kali, and with how well their relationship seemed to be going, along with his job, Castiel assumed that Gabriel had no plans to move either.

Thinking back to the party, Castiel remembered the name of the party’s host, a boy named Balthazar. Balthazar came from well-off parents, clearly seen by the size of the house that the party was being hosted in. For one, the living room, where Castiel was currently sitting in, people-watching, was a completely separate room from the TV room, and the kitchen was a whole different ordeal. Balthazar’s parents were out for the next week, on some sort of business vacation, so Balthazar was home alone, making him the perfect candidate to host a party. Balthazar had invited all of his friends, allowing them to bring their own friends as well, and Meg, being one of said friends of Balthazar, had brung Castiel. Or, rather, forced him to come. Castiel still remembered how Meg had shown up at his door earlier in the day, and rather rudely grabbed him by his arm, dragging him out and pushing him into her car, talking nonstop about how she was “going to make sure Clarence would actually experience ONE party in his lifetime” and such. Castiel, caught off-guard, barely had time to complain before he found himself standing in front of the house, getting immediately dragged in by Meg.

And that’s how he found himself sitting in the living room of a complete stranger’s house, watching people who he barely knew except from being in his classes or passing in the hallway, and waiting for Meg to come back. He saw a couple of other people that Meg hadn’t introduced by name yet milling about, coming in and out of the room.

Just then, Dean walked back into the room, grinning, as he made a beeline towards the group in front of the speaker, holding multiple drinks in his hands. Castiel watched as Dean handed out the drinks to everyone, saying something inaudible over the loud music, which was still playing. Castiel had seen Dean a couple of times around school, but he’d never made an attempt to talk to Dean. Castiel never even knew his name until Meg told him just a few minutes ago, simply because he’d not been interested in talking to him. Dean stuck to his own small friend group most of the time, and although he was pretty popular around school because of his good looks, Castiel never saw him socialize much outside of the same group he was currently talking to, so Castiel saw no reason to attempt to talk with him anyways, although he secretly had wanted to get to know Dean since the first time Castiel saw him.

As Castiel continued staring at Dean talking with his friends, waiting for Meg to come back, Dean suddenly lifted his head, looking directly at Castiel. Castiel immediately averted his eyes away, staring instead at the doorway which Meg had left through earlier, trying to appear as if he hadn’t been staring intensely at Dean. Castiel attempted to seem nonchalant, taking his drink cup to his mouth before realizing it was empty and quickly setting it back down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking towards him, and Castiel nervously lifted his head to see who it was. Dean Winchester himself was walking over to Castiel, smiling as he held his own drink cup, confidently striding up to where Castiel was sitting. Castiel watched as Dean took a seat in Meg’s temporarily vacated chair, leaning back as he turned towards Castiel.

“Heya,” Dean said, looking back at Castiel. “Couldn’t help but notice you sitting here all alone, and was wondering what you were up to.”

Castiel noticed Dean’s strikingly green eyes now that he was up close to Dean, and almost forgot what Dean had asked as he took in the features of Dean’s face up close, especially looking at his faint scatter of freckles. Remembering Dean’s question, Castiel finally replied. “I’ve been waiting for my friend to come back with her drink. You might know her, Meg Masters?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about her,” Dean replied. “Oh hey, I almost forgot. The name’s Dean,” Dean said, extending his hand suddenly.

Castiel stared at Dean’s hand momentarily before taking it with uncertainty, shaking it. “Hello Dean,” Castiel said. “My name is Castiel.”

Dean smiled. “I actually already knew your name. It’s kind of hard to not know the smartest person in both your literature and math classes.”

“Oh?” Castiel said, eyebrows raising. “Funny thing is, Meg already told me your name too.”

This time Dean raised his eyebrows. “Wow. To think I could’ve just skipped the introductions,” he said. Pausing for a second, Dean blinked before continuing. “Uh, so Cas.. I mean, Castiel. Wait, is it okay if I call you Cas? I’ve been referring to you as Cas for a while,” Dean rambled.

Castiel tilted his head. “I mean, I don’t mind if you call me Cas. Nobody’s ever called me that before, but I kinda like it.”

Dean grinned at that. “Got it, Cas. So, can I ask a question?”

Castiel nodded.

Dean continued on. “You’re the smartest person I know at this school, yet you’re also the most secretive person at this school. You only talk to that Meg chick, and nobody knows a thing about you. You’ve never shown up to a single party or gathering throughout senior year, but chose to come to this one. What’s up with that?”

Castiel shrugged. “I was kind of dragged here by Meg. I would’ve rather enjoyed myself, staying home and researching, but I’m here now, and it is, to an extent, enjoyable, I guess.” Castiel looked directly at Dean then. “Can I ask you a question as well?”

“Go right ahead,” Dean replied.

“Why did you decide to suddenly come talk to me? You seemed pretty engaged in your conversations with your friend group over there,” Castiel said, looking over at Dean’s friends, who were still chatting amongst each other while the music had significantly gone down in volume since earlier.

“I mean, you’re kind of an interesting dude. You’re so secretive, as I said earlier, but also quirky, in a good way, and I just wanted to get to know you better, with the school year over and all.”

“Oh, alright,” Castiel said. “If you don’t mind, I would like to get to know you better too.”

Dean smiled. “Great! So, what’s your favorite book?”

Before Castiel could get to reply, a sudden commotion distracted them near the doorway of the room. Meg was standing there, looking bored, as a very pissed off Balthazar, drenched all over his shirt from the drink Meg had spilled when she collided with him, was yelling at her.

“Are you serious, Meg? This is dry-clean only! Ugh, now I need to go switch out my clothing,” he said, stomping out of the room and presumably towards his bedroom.

Meg rolled her eyes as Balthazar left, focusing her eyes directly at Castiel and Dean, sitting together. The way her eyes narrowed while a sly smile formed on her lips made Castiel gulp. She walked over to Castiel and Dean, leaning over the pair. “My my, Clarence. It seems you have made a new friend,” Meg said, almost sounding like a snake with the way she hissed out ‘Clarence’. She stared between the two of them for a few seconds, as if choosing a victim.

Castiel waited nervously.

After a few seconds, Meg finally stopped leaning on the couch. “I’ll leave you boys to it, have fun!” she purred, winking at Castiel as she walked away, choosing to sit down next to Kevin and Garth, who were still on the couch on the other side of the room. She started talking to them, but kept her eyes steadily trained on Castiel.

He shivered, turning back around towards Dean. “My favorite book, you asked?” he said.

“Yup,” Dean replied, smiling. 

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An hour later, Castiel was still laughing with Dean. They’d learned a lot about each other and found out they shared many interests, becoming friends rather quickly. He was in the middle of talking music with Dean, specifically about Led Zeppelin, when Castiel realized that he needed to piss.

“Had too many drinks, be right back,” Castiel said, standing up from the chair and rushing to the restroom.

“Alrighty,” Dean said, taking a swig of his own drink as he leaned back into his chair.

Castiel walked out the doorway, passing by two girls giggling in the hallway, and walked towards the door he remembered Balthazar telling everyone was the restroom when people were first trickling in. He entered the room, locking the door. Outside, the music consistently banged on throughout the house, although a bit muffled with the closed door. As Castiel was washing his hands after finishing up his business, a different muffled sound came through the door.

A sound that sounded like a scream.

Castiel wasn’t immediately alerted by the sound, as a couple of people had already screamed earlier, mostly in the form of excitement or the more quiet sounds of screaming from upstairs, where he believed people were watching some sort of horror movie. That is why when he walked out of the restroom, whistling, he expected the party to be continuing on in its normal fashion, and to walk back to the main room peacefully, diving right back into his conversation with Dean.

What he instead found, was a group of people surrounding a separate room down the hallway, the music now off. Someone was sobbing, and others were talking in hushed whispers to each other.

Castiel frowned.

Something was off.

Dean spotted Castiel walking out of the restroom, and waved him over with a grim expression.

“What’s going on?” Castiel asked, once he reached the crowd of people.

Dean silently pointed into the TV room, which everyone had gathered outside of.

Castiel peeked over the crowd of people, looking into the room. His eyes widened at the sight.

“Oh my god,” he whispered.

In the middle of the TV room, on the couch, Ash was still lying, unmoving, but one big difference set apart the otherwise peaceful scene. His body had been noticeably stabbed multiple times, and he appeared to be dead.

“What the fuck..” muttered one guy.

“I have to call my parents. Oh my god, I have to get out of here,” said one girl.

“Everyone, BACK UP!” Balthazar suddenly yelled. He waved everyone back. “The police have already been called. I have no idea what the hell happened, but the only thing that is clear is that there is a dead body. So, nobody does anything until the police get here,” he said.

As the crowd started murmuring in hushed whispers once more, a voice in the front of the crowd cleared their throat suddenly, rather loudly.

“Actually, there’s one other thing that’s fucking clear here,” said the voice, as the crowd parted away.

Castiel strained to look and saw Meg standing in the front.

She glared at everyone in the crowd in one single swoop of her eyes.

“There’s a murderer amongst one of us.”

Chapter Text

Castiel fell back on the bed with a sigh, the bedsheets scrunching up around him as he melted into the mattress.

It had been a long, long night.

After the police had arrived, every single person that was in the house had been questioned thoroughly. Castiel spent an hour sitting in the police station, waiting for the people before him to finish up, and then sat through an intense hour-long questioning session by police officers, which ended with him leaving the police station as the sun rose, the glint of the first shining rays hitting his eyes and blinding him as he opened the entrance door of the station.

To be frank, Castiel had no clue what had happened in Balthazar’s house, and he couldn’t provide much either to the cops.

He closed his eyes and wrapped himself up in the blankets, already having changed into more comfortable clothes earlier, and turned over, getting ready to sleep. He stared at the wall as he listened to the muffled voice of Gabriel downstairs, talking on the phone, presumably to Kali. He continued listening as Gabriel’s voice became more faded, as if he was walking further away in the house, then he heard Gabriel stop talking. A few seconds later, he heard soft thumping coming up the stairs. Castiel shut his eyes closed, too tired to talk to Gabriel after all of the occurrences of the day.

Gabriel knocked on the door softly, and getting no response, he opened the door, peeking in to see Castiel laying there.

“You asleep?” Gabriel asked, and when Castiel didn’t respond, he gently shut the door again, leaving Castiel alone to enjoy his silence.

It didn’t take long for Castiel to fall asleep after that. 

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Castiel awoke to a loud buzzing sound, groaning as he blearily looked around his room. His phone let out another buzz, directing Castiel’s attention to it as he blinked his eyes open fully. He picked up the phone and looked at the notifications, seeing multiple notifications from Meg.

Meet me @ Roadhouse.

11 AM.

BE THERE.

Castiel balked at the idea of going out again so quickly after what had happened last night, but he still prepared to get to the Roadhouse.

The Roadhouse was the go-to bar in the entirety of Lawrence, owned by Ellen Harvelle, and he had been multiple times, mostly from the rather forceful request of Meg. He’d studied there a few times as well, mostly when he needed a public space to work in and school was closed.

Castiel checked the time. 10:28 AM , read his clock.

He quickly put on the closest shirt he could find, making his way out of his bedroom. Gabriel was nowhere to be seen, either still asleep or out of the house somewhere. Castiel quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face, looking at himself in the mirror. He self reflected on the incidents of the past day that had led up to this moment.

First, he had been going along the day as usual, when suddenly, Meg had showed up at the door, asking if he had been available for the rest of the night. Castiel still regretted saying that he was available, as it had led to him being dragged to the party. He remembered Dean suddenly, and the sudden friendship that grew between them at the party, and his regret dropped significantly. Castiel remembered that he still had no form of contact with Dean, as he had been interrupted, along with everyone else at the party, by the murder of Ash.

Castiel tried not to mull over Ash’s murder too much. He already had enough happening in his life to worry about, he didn’t want to have the trauma of a classmate’s death to think over as well. It had helped Castiel somewhat that he hadn’t known Ash personally, thanks to his introverted self only making true friends with Meg.

And now, Dean, he supposed.

Castiel brushed aside the thoughts of the party and its memories for now as he walked down the stairs, walking up to the front door and exiting. As he drove towards the Roadhouse, Castiel fiddled with the radio a bit, switching through stations before finally landing on a station playing Metallica. Dean had mentioned his love for the band the other day. Castiel lost himself in the music, humming along, as he pulled into the parking lot of the Roadhouse. He got out of the car and stood, looking up at the sign as he entered the building.

The familiar smell of the bar immediately invaded his nostrils and he searched around before his eyes finally landed on Meg, sitting alone on the far counter, reading what looked like a book. Castiel walked up to Meg, and waved when Meg noticed him approaching. Meg beckoned for Castiel to take a seat, and Castiel, after walking up, noticed that Meg was actually studying a large list of notes on something.

“What is all that?” Castiel asked, confused, as he took the seat next to Meg.

Meg indicated towards a list of bullet-pointed subjects. “I’m making a list of everyone who was at the party. Suspects, to be exact.”

Castiel frowned, looking closer at the list. “Wait. Why the people at the party?” he asked.

“Okay, I actually have a really strong lead here,” Meg said, turning the list of names towards Castiel. “I overheard from the police yesterday, considering I was basically the last one to get interrogated and all. Apparently, Balthazar’s parents had security cameras all over the house, but only on the outside. They checked the footage based on the time Ash would’ve been alone, and nobody went in, nobody went out. The last time a person entered or exited the building was near 9 PM, way before the timeframe that Ash was alone.”

Castiel nodded, looking over the names, seeing his own name, Meg, Dean, Dean’s friends, as well as some names he recognized, such as Kevin and Garth, mentioned at the party by Meg. He also saw some names he didn’t recognize, but he didn’t pay close attention to those.

Meg continued speaking. “Remind you, this is all information I overheard from the cops. They said that according to witness statements, Ash was with a group of people, watching a horror movie, until about 10:25-ish, which is when the movie-watching group then decided to switch to an upstairs room, to get away from supposed loud music. Ash was alone from then on, as he was asleep on the couch, until he was finally discovered, at around 11:55-ish. This means everyone who had walked past him during this time period is a prime suspect.”

Castiel counted the number of names on the list. “There’s well over 20 people on this list. How are we supposed to narrow this down? Also, how did you even get this list? How did you get all of these names down correctly?”

“Well, Clarence,” Meg said, smiling, “Balthie was very immaculate with his guest-list. He’s one of those types of people who logs everyone who attends his parties, which I don’t personally understand, but it’s helped immensely. He was kind enough to give me the list of attendees for that particular night. Such a shame he’s currently grounded and heavily monitored by his parents, who even hired a personal bodyguard to keep Balthazar safe in their second home out of town. He can’t help us anymore.”

Meg shuffled up her papers, sorting them into a neat pile and flipping her folder closed. “Now, you may be wondering why I called you up here to meet me.”

“Yes. I’m confused how I fit in with this,” Castiel said.

“The thing is, the police say they’re working on it, but I don’t trust them to finish this case. They never solved the murder case at the bridge near the edge of town from 15 years ago, nor that one kidnapping case from 7 years ago. Since they’ve stopped interrogating people from the party, I’m taking it up in my own hands to do some private investigation.”

Castiel blinked his eyes. “So.. what you’re saying is that you want me to work with you in.. solving this crime?”

“Yes, exactly. There’s some sort of ‘In memorial of Ash’ service happening at the house of some girl named Ruby. I wanted you to come with me to that meetup, and interview some people,” Meg said, eyes glinting.

Castiel grumbled. After a moment of pondering he made his decision. “As much as I feel like this is wrong, I will help you, because you are my friend.”

Meg smiled. “I knew I could trust you,” she said. “In fact, to show my trust in you to help me in solving this crime, I’ll start with this.”

She took out a red pen, and crossed out both Castiel and Meg’s names.

“Now, let’s get ready to catch this murderer.”

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Castiel parked his car in the already overcrowded street of the supposed memorial service, squinting his eyes at Ruby’s house across the street from him. There was a scattered amount of people milling about, entering the house. He crossed the street in an orderly fashion, walking up to the house.

Castiel took out his phone, sending a quick text message to Meg, a simple ‘ I’m here’ .

He walked up the steps to the front door, eyeing the people who were outside and taking note of who was already there. At the top of the steps, a pair of girls, one blonde, one brunette, glared at him as he made his way up. He reached the top and was about to enter when the blonde one tsked, stopping him from entering with a foot.

“No entering until you’ve signed the memorial poster,” she said, pointing behind Castiel.

Castiel turned, looking back down at the front lawn, and saw a large poster with DEDICATED TO ASH written in large, blocky letters across it.

“Alright,” Castiel said, making his way back down the stairs.

He picked up one of the sharpies laying strewn across the poster and wrote a quick remembrance message on it, tagging it with his name. As he capped the pen once more, he heard someone calling out his name behind him. Castiel stood up and turned around, coming face to face with Dean.

“Hey, Cas. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

Castiel gave a small smile. “I didn’t really expect to be here either. But I’m here anyway, and hello.”

They both smiled at each other for a bit. Castiel stared into Dean’s eyes noting how his green eyes had turned dark and almost black now that it was night and they were outside.

“Ahem,” said a voice behind them, rather loudly.

Castiel jumped at the sudden noise as Dean turned around, revealing Jo and Benny, standing behind Dean.

“I don’t mean to interrupt whatever is going on, but it’s getting cold and I’m freezing out here,” said Jo, crossing her arms.

Dean smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Jo. Didn’t really expect to see Cas out here.” He turned back around towards Castiel. “Cas, I’d like you to meet Jo and Benny. Benny and Jo, meet Cas.”

Castiel smiled at them. “Hello. My name’s Castiel, but Dean likes to call me Cas.”

Jo smirked. “I see. You’re already figured out a way to call him that?”

Benny laughed.

“Shuddup,” Dean said, turning red.

Castiel cocked his head, intrigued. “What do you mean by that?”

Jo turned towards Castiel. “Oh, nothing, it’s just that Dean lovessss talking about the smart nerd in his classes named ‘Cas’. Always has something good to say about you. Finally glad to meet you in person!”

Castiel was confused, but he didn’t say anything else.

“So what if I say stuff about Cas? I just admire his smart-ness,” Dean said, grumbling.

“Sure, chief,” Benny said, with a grin and a knowing voice.

“Shuddup,” Dean said again, with less conviction. He turned his head, and beckoned at all three others. “Come on, you guys signed the poster, right? Let’s go.” They walked up the stairs, Dean flashing a smile at the blonde girl at the top, and they entered the house. 

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“So then I put vinegar in the solution, cause I swear Sammy told me to put it in, and guess what? That whole friggin’ thing exploded! There was foamy soap mixture everywhere, and Sammy, let me tell you, was not amused. If you could’ve seen his face then!” Dean exclaimed, smiling.

Castiel giggled in response to Dean’s anecdote. He’d been exchanging events in his life with Dean on the couch of Ruby’s living room, listening as Dean told him about his little brother Sam, his dad Bobby, his mom Karen, and Jessica, Sam’s girlfriend. In exchange, Castiel had been telling him about Gabriel, and his insane antics that he used to get up to when they were younger.

Jo and Benny had left them alone after Dean and Castiel had crashed on the couch, smirking at each other as they left. Castiel didn’t really care, though. He enjoyed talking to Dean very much. Dean seemed to enjoy his company too, as they had been laughing through stories for well over an hour now.

He thought back to the reason for why he was here in the first place. The entire memorial service turned out to be a light hearted gathering, as lettering on the walls proclaimed, We’ll miss you, Ash! as if Ash had simply left for college, or something. Mostly everyone inside seemed to be in a happy mood as well. Castiel assumed that the general mood was so lighthearted because nobody here was actually that close to Ash, and even with some seeing the actual murder scene in person, surprisingly nobody had mentioned it. He guessed that the murder really just took everyone by surprise. Something that everyone swept under the carpet, dismissing it, as he had lived in and known Lawrence as a safe, boring suburb where nothing that bad ever happened.

He himself was laughing along with Dean’s jokes now, ignoring everything that had transpired in the past night. Suddenly he remembered who he was supposed to be meeting and helping here.

Castiel sat straight up, eyes widening. “Oh, fuck,” he whispered.

Dean stopped laughing immediately, turning to Castiel with a worried expression. “What’s wrong, Cas?”

“I was supposed to meet Meg, and interview some people. At the start of this entire thing.” Castiel frantically searched his pockets for his phone, taking it out of his right pants pocket. He checked his message, looking at almost 10 new messages from Meg. He opened the messaging app and swiped up.

Okay. Meet me in the kitchen once you get inside , read the oldest message.

From then on, an array of messages from Meg, all a variation of Where are you, Clarence? , time stamped a couple of minutes or more apart until most recently 8 minutes ago appeared.

Castiel looked around. “I’m so sorry, Dean. I have to find Meg, I promised to help her.”

Dean, who had relaxed a bit after hearing the context, shrugged. “Alrighty, Cas. I’ll be right here,” he said, smiling. “Good luck with whatever it is. Oh, and good luck dealing with Meg.”

Castiel shuddered, thinking what Meg would say once she learned why he was missing for over an hour. Angry Meg was not one to be messed with.

He creeped towards the kitchen, checking to see where Meg was. Entering the kitchen, he looked around the room. The girls who had glared at him earlier were in there, sitting on the counter and chatting. Meg wasn’t there, though.

As he was about to walk up to the girls to ask if they had seen Meg, a hand suddenly grabbed him and pulled him out of the kitchen, into the hallway.

“Where the hell were you?” Meg hissed, pulling Castiel down the hall.

“I’m very sorry, Meg. I met Dean on my way in, and.. I guess I got a bit distracted,” Castiel said.

Meg considered what he had said, then suddenly her demeanor changed. She didn’t look so angry anymore, more relaxed and was now smirking. Castiel grew nervous. As much as he didn’t like angry Meg, a smug Meg, as he was seeing right now, was much worse.

“I see. Talking to that boy crush of yours again, aren’t you? So, tell me,” Meg purred, “Have you gotten into his pants yet?”

Castiel blushed and looked away. “No, Meg. We’ve just become really close friends. I don't want to 'get into his pants'.”

Meg pulled back in fake shock, putting her hand on her chest as if she was offended. “Wow, Clarence. Replacing me with your boy crush as your number one friend already?”

Castiel rolled his eyes at Meg’s antics. He’d grown accustomed to Meg’s sarcasm rather quickly after becoming friends with her.

“No, Meg,” he replied.

Meg’s smirk was back again. “Well, I’m glad you’re having fun crushing on him. He’s hot.” Her smile suddenly grew genuine. “No, but seriously. I’m happy seeing you finally out and socializing with people, developing crushes, all that. You’ve changed as a person, Clarence.”

Castiel’s heart grew warm at Meg’s sudden sincerity. “..Thank you, Meg.”

Meg’s smile shifted back into a smirk. “Well, now that we’ve got the fact that you want to fuck that stud out of the way, let’s get back to our original plan. I’ve already gotten around to most of the people here, and narrowed down the list a bit more.”

She took out a journal, and opened it to the list, which was taped inside the journal. About half of the names were now crossed out, leaving just 12 names on the list, after Castiel counted them.

“Everyone on this list right now was not with other people and going off alone somewhere in between this time period.”

Castiel noted how Dean was still on the list.

“And, I have extra suspicions on these two,” she said, pointing towards two names that were highlighted.

“Pamela Barnes, Bela Talbot,” Castiel read out loud. “Who are they?”

“Both were part of the horror movie watchers on the second floor. Everyone there claims that Bela went back down the stairs to get Pamela, apparently. She was away from the entire group for a long time, and then later came back with Pamela. This was all within the time frame that we discussed.”

Castiel pondered for a few seconds. “That does sound suspicious. We should question them more, though. I need better evidence and have to see what alibis they might have.”

“Exactly, Clarence. Let’s go find them,” Meg said, starting to drag Castiel back towards the kitchen.

They were about halfway there when the lights suddenly went out.

Screams erupted throughout the house. Castiel, temporarily blinded as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, frantically groped around.

“Meg? Where are you?” he whispered, hitting the wall with his hand.

“Get down here!” Meg whispered back, grabbing Castiel’s shirt edge and tugging him down to the ground. Meg was under the dinner table in the empty dining room, which they had been just passing by when the lights had gone out.

Castiel breathed heavily as his eyes finally adjusted, and he looked up to see the street light outside the window of the dining room casting light into the room, spilling onto the hallway as well.

“Why did you drag me down here?” Castiel whispered to Meg.

She promptly shushed him, and pointed silently at the hallway. In the room across from them, a figure was standing, facing the wall, holding an object. Castiel’s eyes widened as the figure turned around.

They’re wearing a ghostface mask! he thought, watching as the figure, who was indeed wearing the iconic ghost mask from the infamous Scream series, took a long, slender knife and walked out of the room, towards them.

Castiel stilled, hoping that the person wouldn’t see him and Meg under the dinner table. He breathed a sigh of relief when the person took a sharp turn out of the room, walking away, down the hallway. As the footsteps echoed along, distant, muffled shouts and stomping were heard in other rooms.

Castiel whispered frantically to Meg. “Did you see that? The person was wearing a ghostface mask!”

“I know. And now I’m worried.” Meg answered back, her voice clearly showing concern, which Meg didn’t normally show.

A scream suddenly shook the house, and Castiel remembered that he left Dean alone in the living room, on the couch. Panicked, he made to stand up and run for the living room to check if Dean was alright, but Meg held him back.

“What do you think you’re doing? The killer is out there!” Meg hissed, pulling Castiel back under the table.

“I need to get to Dean. He’s alone in the living room right now.”

“No you don’t. I’m sure Dean can manage by himself, he’s pretty strong. You need to stay here and stay safe, at least until we know that the killer is gone.”

Before Castiel could protest, the lights suddenly turned back on. Castiel looked up in surprise, seeing the hallways illuminated in light again. Ignoring Meg’s calls, Castiel got up from under the table, creeping towards the hallway. As he reached the doorway, he started to peek out, when suddenly a person crashed into him. Castiel got knocked back down, and dazed, he looked up to see what had happened.

“Cas? I’m so sorry, I was looking all over for you,” Dean said, panting as he stood above Castiel.

“Dean? You’re alright,” Castiel said, standing back up.

Without thinking, he went up to Dean and embraced him in a tight hug. Dean, although initially surprised, hugged him back after a few seconds.

“Woah there, Cas. I’m fine. I was more worried for you, with you going out all alone to search for Meg,” he said.

Meg stood up from under the table then. “Wow, and nobody cares to ask if I'm okay,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She peeked out into the hallway then. “Hey, so me and Clarence here happened to see something really important and really bad,” she said.

Clarence? Dean mouthed at Castiel, and Castiel mouthed back, Nickname.

As Dean nodded in understanding, Meg continued on. “So, we know who killed Ash. But at the same time, we don’t.”

Dean widened his eyes at that. “Wait, who?”

“The person who killed Ash is unidentified. But, they were wearing a ghostface mask. Which means,” she said, pausing to look out the hallway once more, “that they’re re-enacting the movie Scream. And that means that they were here to kill.”

A sudden scream interrupted their conversation. Meg rushed out of the room. “Exactly what I was talking about,” she yelled. “Follow me!”

Dean and Castiel shared a look, then ran after her, racing across the house. Meg eventually skidded to a stop behind a crowd of people near the back porch. Castiel and Dean stood behind her, straining their heads to look over the crowd, but couldn’t see anything.

“What happened?” Meg yelled across the crowd.

Near the front, a girl sobbed openly. “She’s dead! Oh my god, she’s dead! Lilith is dead!”

The crowd pressed further towards the door to the porch, hushed whispers reminding Castiel a bit too much of Ash’s body being found yesterday night.

“Who’s Lilith?” Castiel asked, looking at Meg.

Meg turned to Castiel, her face grim. “Ruby’s roommate. You might’ve seen her walking in, she’s blonde and probably glared at you.”

Castiel thought back to the blonde girl who had indeed glared at him as he tried to walk in.

“Oh my,” he said.

Dean sighed. “So it seems like we’re dealing with a serial killer now. And they’re gonna strike again soon, if the plot of Scream indicated anything. Friggin’ fantastic.”

“You’re right, Winchester. We need to stop this, pronto.” said Meg.

She pulled away from the crowd, opening her journal. She wrote down, Lilith - killed on a new page, and underlined it.

“Now, as we wait for the cops to come, I want you boys to gather eye-witness statements. I need to know exactly who saw what.”

Castiel and Dean nodded, each saying okay. As both of them turned around, Meg suddenly pointed towards Dean.

“Don’t think you’re out of the suspect list just yet, Winchester. Clarence here may find you trustworthy but you’re still a prime suspect on my list. Especially with you running into our room all suspicious earlier. I’m keeping my eyes on you.”

“Meg, I assure you, Dean does not have any murderous intent nor would he do such things,” Castiel said, looking at Dean. “Right, Dean?”

Dean looked into Castiel’s eyes, but Castiel couldn’t read Dean’s expression.

After a few seconds, Dean dropped his eyes. “I would never, Cas.”

Castiel watched as Dean then turned away, walking away from both him and Meg and towards the crowd once more.

Dean WOULD never, right?

Chapter Text

Castiel watched as Meg crossed out Balthazar and Kevin from the list, the red pen bleeding a bit.

“Balthie is still grounded and not in town, so he’s obviously out. Kevin was home because his relatives were visiting, and this was confirmed by numerous people, so he’s also out. This narrows our list of suspects down to 10. All 10 people were at both the party and the memorial service.” Meg pushed her journal to the side. “So, now we need to find out which of these 10 people are a Scream superfan who has an urge to kill using a ghostface mask.”

Next to Castiel, Jo waved her hand. “Question. If we’re here, helping you, why are we still on the list?”

“Because,” Meg said, “All of you except Clarence here were alone when the power went out. You’re still suspects in my eyes.”

“Well I don’t see why that matters when I know I haven’t killed anyone, and I know Dean and Benny enough to know that they wouldn’t have either,” Jo said, grumbling.

“Sometimes you don’t know someone truly,” Meg said, looking at Dean.

Castiel groaned internally. Dean had told him earlier that he had been meaning to convey honesty in his tone when he responded to Meg, but his pause had unintentionally come off as suspicious. Castiel had quickly understood, but it seemed that Meg’s suspicions on Dean had grown more from that interaction.

Meg had invited Castiel and Dean regardless to the public library the next day to investigate further, although police involvement had ramped up pretty heavily due to the urgency that spread throughout town from having two young people murdered just one day after the other. Dean had brung along Benny and Jo, citing that It can’t hurt to have extra help solving this damn thing. He had also sent all of the data collected to Sam. Castiel knew how smart Sam was, considering what Dean had told him over the nights, and trusted that Sam could figure something out.

Meg cleared her throat. “Clarence, I can tell you’re drifting off in your mind. Would you come back to the present world so I can continue?”

“Sorry,” Castiel said, focusing back on Meg.

“Okay, so as I was saying. At the minimum, we have one killer on the loose somewhere in town right now, at least I’m hoping it’s one. Or else all of my notes were for nothing,” Meg said. “I strongly suspect it’s only one person, though. I saw both bodies. They were killed in the exact same manner, and we know that there was one person who committed the murdering at the memorial service.”

“Then again, there’s usually two people who were ghostface in most Scream movies,” remarked Benny.

“That’s what I’m NOT hoping for,” Meg said.

A moment of silence followed, while the question of whether or not there were one or two killers lingered in the air.

“Ok, I do not want to consider a second potential ghostface right now. It’s gonna give me a headache and worry me too much. For now, let’s go over each person’s alibis and potential motives, instead.”

She dragged her journal back again, flipping to a new page. “Starting off, we have you, Winchester.”

Dean rolled his eyes.

“People claim that you went to get drinks, and you took about 5 to 10 minutes to get said drinks and return back to the main area at the party. This was between the time period when Ash was alone, and you would’ve had ample time to do something. At the memorial service, Castiel left you alone in the living room, and shortly after the lights went out. Nobody was near the living room and witnessed you, and you appeared suspiciously after the lights came back on, somehow finding Castiel and me almost immediately. You don’t have any specific ties to Ash, as you barely knew him, but Lilith, you’ve hated her and she’s hated you since middle school.”

Meg was writing down these details in her journal under a new entry titled DEAN WINCHESTER , and once she finished writing, she put HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS next to Dean’s name.

“Okay, okay. I did hate her guts since middle school, but that’s because she was rude and entitled and generally a horrible person, and at most it would just annoy me. I would never kill her over that!” Dean said, looking around. “I never even saw Ash at the party. I went straight to the kitchen, got drinks for me, Benny, and Jo, then went straight back to the party room. Never went anywhere near the TV room where we all found Ash.”

Benny and Jo nodded, approving his claims, and Castiel found himself trusting Dean as well. After all, he knew what Dean was like now. A guy like him would never have it in himself to kill anyone.

“Okay,” Meg said. “That doesn’t change anything that I wrote down. Still highly suspicious.”

She took to the next page over, writing BENNY LAFITTE this time. Benny grumbled and crossed his arms, but didn’t say anything as he sat back in his chair.

“Benny. You went off to ‘get a breath of fresh air’, as people overheard you say, and was completely missing from the party room area when the body was found. You had left about 7 minutes prior to the body being found and only was seen when the police arrived. At the memorial service, you split off from Jo to go talk to a girl named Andrea, according to Andrea herself. The power shut off and you two were separated, and Andrea did not know where you went off to. Ash is a total stranger to you too, and so is Lilith.”

MODERATELY SUSPICIOUS , Meg wrote next to Benny’s name.

“How come he’s moderately suspicious but I’m highly suspicious?” Dean complained. “No offense by the way, Benny,” he added quickly.

Benny smiled and made an it's okay gesture with his fingers, as Meg started to respond.

“Your motive is stronger, Winchester. Benny doesn’t know either one of the two.”

Dean sighed and sat back.

Castiel looked at Dean worriedly, then at Meg, who was glaring at Dean. He didn’t like this tension forming between Dean and Meg. Meg had approved of Dean well enough the other night, so Castiel wondered why she looked at Dean as if she despised him now.

Meg flipped the page, smoothing it down as she took to writing JO HARVELLE now. Jo looked unperturbed as she stared down at Meg, who was writing down the details as she spoke.

“Jo. When Benny went to go get fresh air, you left the room with no reason, leaving questions to be asked. You were also missing until the police arrived. At the memorial service, after splitting away from Benny, you disappeared completely, not speaking to anyone. Nobody saw you. You leave a lot to question, overall. Ash is a family friend of yours, as your mother, Ellen Harvelle, knows Ash well from him frequenting the Roadhouse. Lilith is a stranger, however.”

With that, Meg marked Jo as MODERATELY SUSPICIOUS as well. Dean frowned once more.

Before he could say anything, Meg continued on.

“I have 7 more people to get through, so let’s get through them quickly. I’ll go over where they were seen at both the party and the service, as well as their connections to Ash and Lilith.” She wrote down the next name on the list, Pamela Barnes, and started to list details on her. 

------------------------------------------------

“And with that, we have our complete suspect list,” Meg said, writing the final details for the last person in her journal, Garth.

“Hold on a second,” Jo said. “We mentioned earlier that there was a possibility that there was more than one killer involved. Doesn’t that mean that your list of non-suspects should be considered too, shouldn’t it?”

Meg’s face pinched, but she nodded in agreement.

“I guess so. Ugh, I hate how I planned this investigation out with one killer in mind. Should’ve known it was a fucking ghostface wannabe earlier,” Meg muttered, writing CASTIEL NOVAK on the next page over.

Castiel looked, intrigued with what Meg was about to write.

Meg sighed. “Clarence. You were in the party room with everyone else the entire time, until about 4 minutes before the body was discovered. You went to the bathroom, according to Dean. The bathroom is right next to the TV room, putting you just one wall away from where Ash was sleeping. Now at the memorial service, you were with me when the ghostface appeared, so you have a clear alibi on that. And for motives, I don’t even need to say anything about Ash or Lilith’s relations to you, do I?”

Castiel blinked as he processed the information. He looked down as Meg wrote MAYBE SUSPICIOUS (PROBABLY NOT) next to his name.

“Sorry, Clarence. This is only because of the time you went to the bathroom at the party.”

Castiel nodded in acceptance as Meg wrote her own name down then.

“Myself. Ok! I can tell you guys everything that happened with me. Starting off, during the first few minutes when Ash was alone, I was in the kitchen getting myself a drink. In the kitchen, I interacted with Cassie Robinson and chatted for a while, this can be confirmed by her as well. Around 15 minutes before the body was found, I had headed back to the main room, seen Castiel talking with Dean, and cozied up on the far side of the room, with Kevin and Garth. There was where I had stayed the rest of the time when Ash was alone. At the memorial service, I was in the main room, where mostly everyone was. I sat there, hanging out and waiting for Castiel to show.”

She paused, giving a look towards Castiel. Castiel looked sheepishly back.

“I had a lovely chat with Becky Rosen for the majority of that time period, and then about a minute or two after Becky had left, I saw Castiel looking for me in the hallway and met up with him. The ghostface appeared not long after that and that clears me and Castiel for that specific event, as said earlier. I don’t know Ash at all, didn’t know him before and only know him as a fellow student who was sadly killed. Lilith, I know her but as a classmate only. Not much else to say.”

Meg momentarily paused, as if considering what to write for herself. She wrote, MYSELF - NOT SUSPICIOUS (OBVIOUSLY) , and Dean, Benny, and Jo all groaned and rolled their eyes.

“Seriously, Meg?” Dean said, clearly frustrated about his earlier label.

Meg glowered. “I don’t see a problem in trusting myself, Winchester. Anyway, we have to carry on. Time is precious when there’s a murderer or two on the loose.”

She wrote down Balthazar and Kevin each on two pages. “Balthie boy, he’s still grounded and locked away in his own home by his parents, watched over by a bodyguard. His parents confirmed he was there for the entirety of the memorial service, so I think it’s fair to say he’s completely off the suspects list and I can keep him there.” She put NOT A SUSPECT next to Balthazar’s name.

After that, she turned to Kevin’s page. “Kevin. He had been to the same bathroom Castiel had been to, except at the start of the time slot. He wasn’t at the memorial service. Relations to Ash or Lilith? Ash was one of his close friends, and Lilith was a stranger.”

She put MILDLY SUSPICIOUS next to Kevin’s name. “Ok, that’s a lot of work done. Review these people and their suspicion levels,” Meg said, passing the journal over to the others.

Benny and Jo started studying the journal, while Meg took out her phone and started fiddling with it.

Dean turned to Castiel, ignoring the others. “Hey Cas. Just wondering if you were feeling alright with everything going on.”

“I’m fine, Dean. Thank you for asking.” After a moment's pause, Castiel continued. “What about you, Dean? Are you okay? I know Meg is being harsh on you right now, apologies for that.”

“Eh, it’s fine. It’s only her, so.”

“Well alright, Dean. Just know that I trust you.”

“Thanks, Cas.”

“Hey lovebirds. Mind helping us here instead of flirting?” Jo said, without looking up.

Castiel and Dean both blushed.

“I’m not flirting with Cas,” Dean protested, getting flustered.

Jo rolled her eyes in response as Benny smirked.

Meg looked up from her phone for a second, before going back to texting.

“So, are you gonna help us, chief?” Benny asked.

“Alright, alright,” Dean said, focusing on the journal, Castiel following suit. 

------------------------------------------------

Sam slammed the laptop closed, eyes widening.

“Oh my god,” he said.

Earlier Dean had sent him a bunch of investigative notes on the murder incidents from the past few days, asking Sam if he could find any leads. Sam had spent the following hours scanning through the notes, scanning over everything multiple times to make sure he didn’t miss anything. He had also researched into the suspect list, reaching out to numerous people in order to learn more. After all of these hours of researching, Sam had finally found something.

This reveals who the killer exactly is! he thought.

Sam raced out the door, running towards the kitchen, where he’d left his phone earlier. He entered the kitchen, racing towards his phone, but suddenly slipped. He fell to the ground with a grunt, socks slipping over a spill on the floor. Sam groaned in pain as he raised his head, looking around.

He froze.

“..Jess?” he whispered, looking right next to him.

Jessica, his girlfriend, and love of his life, lay lifeless, slumped against the counter as blood ran down her body from multiple stab wounds.

He looked down, seeing his once white socks smeared red from the blood he slipped on, and then looked back up at Jessica.

He screamed. 

------------------------------------------------

Castiel frowned as he turned onto a street one block away from his house. There were police cars everywhere near this one house, and a bunch of commotion happening. He had left the library late, having stayed with Meg working further on investigations while Dean, Benny, and Jo had left earlier. He slowly crept along the street, avoiding the emergency vehicles that were parked on the side of the street as he looked at the house while driving by. A crowd had gathered outside the house, and he craned to look. What looked to be a body was being carried out in a stretcher, covered with a sheet. As he was looking he saw someone familiar out of the corner of his eye. He quickly looked around for a parking spot and parked, rushing out of the car.

“Dean!” he called, striding over towards the man as Dean turned around.

“Cas,” he said, facing him. Dean’s face was stricken with grief, which Castiel immediately noticed.

“Dean, what happened?”

“Killer targeted us. They killed Jessica.”

“Oh no,” Castiel whispered, thinking back to Jessica, who Dean had mentioned was Sam’s girlfriend. “Is Sam alright?”

“He’s taking it hard. Kid can barely speak. He refuses to talk to me too,” Dean said. “In fact, he refuses to talk to anyone. Even our mom or dad. Must be very traumatized.”

Castiel noted how Dean said everything in a monotone manner.

“Dean, are you alright? This must be very harsh on you too.”

Dean waved off Castiel’s question, turning away. “I don’t wanna speak on it. She was Sammy’s girlfriend, anyway.”

Castiel furrowed his brows in concern, sensing a hint of emotion that Dean didn’t seem to be showing. Dean continued.

"If anything, this spurs me more to find that goddamn killer. Get justice for Sammy. For Jessica.”

He clenched his fists tightly, and turned to Castiel with a steely glare. “C’mon, Cas. We gotta tell the others. Sammy can’t help anymore with investigations, so we better get moving, fast.”

Castiel followed Dean as Dean marched over to his Impala.

“Mind if I stay over at your place, Cas? Killer obviously is targeting people in their own homes now, so might help you stay safe. Since I couldn’t help Sammy when he needed it the goddamn most.”

Dean sighed, putting his hands over his face as he leaned on the car.

“You should stay home, protect Sam, since you can right now. He’ll probably appreciate that too,” Castiel said gently.

Dean sighed again, burying his face deeper into his hands and rubbing his eyes. “I don’t think so, Cas. Sam already left. Karen took him to our grandparents’ house over in the countryside, away from this city. He’ll be safe there. I don’t feel like protecting him now will do anything, when the damage was already done and his girlfriend is already dead. God, if I had just arrived a couple of minutes sooner!”

Dean slammed his hand against the roof of his car, making Castiel jump.

“Dean, you need to calm down. This wasn’t your fault, and it never will be. It was all because of the killer. Don’t be so harsh on yourself, Dean, please. We can catch the killer together,” Castiel pleaded. “I’m glad to hear that Sam will be safe. If you feel as if staying with me will make you feel better, I’ll gladly accept. You may come over.”

Dean took a couple of deep breaths, blowing air out slowly as he glanced around. “Thanks Cas. Sorry. I just don’t want to fail my brother. He’s the most important person in my world, ever since our mom died and our dad left us. Yeah, Bobby and Karen adopted us. We were alone for a while, maybe four, five years. I’ve just.. I’ve just been trying to protect him ever since, you know.”

Castiel’s eyes widened. “Oh.. I’m sorry, Dean. I never knew that happened to you.”

Dean closed his eyes. “No need to get sorry over my life, Cas. If anything, I’m sorry. For telling you all this, for being like this. I’ll be over at your house shortly. I’m assuming you drove here, so I’ll meet you there.”

He turned to his car and got in. Before Dean could shut the door, Castiel grabbed onto the door, holding it open.

“It’s alright, Dean. I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. Thank you for telling me.” After a moment of consideration, Castiel continued. “I’ll be there for you, if you need me to be.”

Dean nodded grimly. “Thanks, Cas.”

Castiel allowed Dean to close the door then, and stepped back as Dean turned the engine on. He stared out the window at Castiel, their eyes latching onto the other as they shared a moment of staring, feeling mixed emotions. Castiel continued watching Dean as he finally pulled out of the parking space, and started driving off.

He blankly stood there, watching as the car disappeared down the street, and the sirens, the commotion, the crowd behind him all started registering again. He looked back, seeing that a couple of emergency services remained at the scene, keeping the crowd away from the premises of the once peaceful house.

Castiel watched, beginning to frown, as a blue van suddenly pulled up, skidding from the sudden stop, and almost hitting a woman in the crowd, who shrieked as she jumped away. A wiley old man with a scruffy beard jumped out of the passenger seat, a bald man holding a camera following him. Castiel squinted at the van, making out the word, CHANNEL H NEWS on the side.

The man suddenly started rapidly advancing towards Castiel.

“Hey! Young man! I have some questions to ask!” the man said, holding out a microphone that he produced out of the air, somehow.

“Uhh..” Castiel said, backing up.

The man whipped to the camera, stopping his advance momentarily, to speak to it. “Hello, my name is Chuck Shurley, reporter with Channel H News, reporting live from the scene of a midnight crime in a quiet suburban neighborhood of Lawrence, Kansas. Currently, there are no specifics of what has happened, other than police confirmation that a murder has indeed, happened. This appears to be the 3rd in a string of murder cases in this town, a series of cases which have left 2 teenage individuals dead prior to this case. We are here to find out what exactly may have occurred at this house.”

After saying this, the reporter, Chuck, turned towards Castiel, shoving the mic into his face.

“What have you seen here? What happened? Can you tell me why you’re here? Do you know who did it? Who died?”

Castiel, overwhelmed by the amount of questions asked and the rapid speed at which the reporter asked them, started backing up again.

Chuck continued to follow him. “Young man, tell me. Why are you trying to leave? Do YOU have something to do with this? Tell me what happened. Do you know the person who died?”

Castiel looked frantically around, trying to find an escape route, when a loud yell distracted both him and the reporter temporarily.

“Hey! We requested specifically that no reporters come to this scene!” a cop yelled, striding quickly up to Castiel and Chuck.

Castiel breathed a sigh of relief as the cop approached, blocking off the reporter from Castiel.

“Back off!” she yelled, forcing the reporter and his cameraman to retreat back to the van. Another cop joined her in forcing the two news crew members out of the scene, and they quickly got in, driving off with another skid.

Castiel watched as the two cops glared at the van until they were sure the van was gone. One of the cops looked at Castiel then, waving at him.

“Hey kid! You alright?” he asked. “The name’s Officer Henriksen. We’re sorry for letting that reporter scum bother you.”

“Thank you officer,” Castiel said.

The other cop, a blonde woman, smiled. “No problem, kiddo. My name’s Officer Hanscum, by the way. Let us know if they come back and start bothering you again. Just give us a signal, we’ll get them out of the way.”

“Alright. Thanks again.”

Castiel turned away from the officers, who started walking back towards the crime scene, turning towards his own car. He got in, rubbing his temple, and started the car.

Dean must already be at my house, he thought, as he pulled out of the parking spot and started heading towards his house again. 

Chapter Text

Castiel arrived home, noting that Dean’s black, bulky Impala sat motionless in the driveway. He didn’t see Gabriel’s car in the driveway at all, and he had a vague memory of Gabriel mentioning that he’d be on a dinner date with Kali in the cultural district tonight. Castiel parked next to Dean’s car, getting out of the car and looking around.

“Dean?” he called out into the night, but nobody responded. Castiel walked up to the front door, and did not see Dean outside.

“Dean?” he called, louder this time, and out of the corner of his eye, a glimpse of movement caught his attention. From inside the still Impala, a figure rose up. Castiel walked closer, and saw a bleary looking Dean rubbing his eyes as he woke up inside the Impala.

“Dean, I’ve arrived. Do you want to come in now?”

Dean yawned as he turned to Castiel, opening the door.

“Man, where were you? I fell asleep waiting for ya.”

“I’m sorry, Dean. A news reporter bombarded me as soon as you left, and I was delayed leaving the area.”

“Eh, it’s fine. Let’s get inside.”

Castiel took his keys out, approaching the front door and unlocking it, with Dean following. As he switched the lights on, Dean called out behind him.

“I can sleep on the couch.”

Castiel faced Dean. “You don’t have to, Dean. We have a guest room you can use, it has a very comfy bed.”

Dean nodded in appreciation. “Thanks, Cas. It’s getting late. Have you had dinner yet?”

Castiel’s stomach suddenly rumbled as he remembered that he hadn’t eaten since he arrived at the library earlier in the afternoon.

Dean smiled slightly. “Guess your stomach answered for you. I’ll cook you some good burgers for dinner.”

“Oh Dean, you really don’t need to..” Castiel started, saying, but Dean interrupted him.

“No, no, it’s fine Cas. I love cooking. I promise you, you’ll love the hell out of my burgers.”

“Alright, Dean. If you insist.”

Dean walked into the kitchen, opening Castiel’s fridge. Castiel sat down on the couch, relaxing into the soft chair. In the kitchen, Dean sorted through the fridge’s contents. After looking around, Dean frowned. He stood up, calling out of the kitchen.

“Hey Cas?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have any burger meat?”

“Oh, no, I don’t.”

“That’s gonna be a problem. Hey, you mind if I go down to the grocery store real quick to get some burger meat?”

“I don't mind.”

Dean shut the fridge door, walking out towards the front door. Before he exited, he turned towards Castiel, who was now reading a book.

“Hey, be safe while I’m gone. Lock the doors, make sure to check for closed windows, all that stuff. I’ll be back really soon.”

Castiel looked up, worried. “What about you, Dean? Are you sure you’ll be safe going outside all alone?”

Dean nodded, opening the door. “Relax, Cas. I can handle myself. I’ve got a pocket knife in the glovebox of my car if anything goes wrong too. You keep yourself safe, alright?”

With that, he shut the front door closed, leaving Castiel, alone in the quiet of his own house. Castiel listened as Dean’s car started up and drove off, and he was left in an eerie silence again. Listening to Dean’s advice, he got up and locked the front door, and then looked around the room. He started checking to make sure each window was locked, going into each room as well.

Once he was satisfied, he made his way back down to the living room, sitting back down on the couch to resume reading. As he flipped a page, his phone rang.

Castiel put the book down, picking up the phone to check who was calling him.

Meg?? he thought, answering the call from Meg. He wondered why Meg was calling him at this hour.

“Hey, Clarence. Am I bothering you right now?”

“No, but I do wonder why you’re calling me at this hour,” Castiel replied.

“I’ll answer you if you tell me if you’re busy or not.”

“Not busy right now, just staying home and reading a book. Why?”

“I left all of my notes from earlier at the library. Could you go and get them? I can’t go back to the library because Becky Rosen, if you remember her, dragged me into watching a movie with her.”

At the mention of Becky’s name, a muffled yell that sounded like a faint, “Heyy!” was heard in the background.

Meg sighed into the phone and continued. “You can keep them at your house after picking them up, I’ll take them back from you tomorrow. The library should be still open right now. Thanks Clarence!”

“Alright Meg, I’ll go pick them up right now,” Castiel said, rolling his eyes.

“You’re the best!” Meg said, promptly hanging up.

Castiel quickly got ready to leave, when he remembered Dean was coming back soon. He went to text Dean that he had to go back to get something from the library, when he remembered that he didn’t have Dean’s number.

Castiel contemplated on what to do for a bit, then shrugged. He’d just tell Dean after coming back home, it wouldn’t take him that long anyways. Castiel told himself that he could get Dean’s number later too, save him some trouble for future scenarios. He quickly grabbed his keys, keeping the door unlocked in case Dean came back, and then left for the library. 

------------------------------------------------

Castiel looked around the empty library, searching for the room they were discussing in earlier. He was in a hurry, as the library was just closing when he had arrived. The librarian, a sweet old lady, was getting ready to lock up the place when Castiel had come rushing in, and she had allowed Castiel five minutes to get what he needed before the librarian had to leave.

Castiel finally found the room, walking up to Meg’s journal of notes and picking it up. He sighed in relief as he started walking back out the library. His phone rang again, and Castiel stopped to fish it out of his pocket.

Meg, read the caller ID, and Castiel picked up.

“What is it now, Meg? I got your stuff, I’m just about to leave the library,” he said.

“Novak, you have to help me,” Meg hissed.

Castiel immediately frowned.

Something was off, Meg only called him Novak when something was really serious.

“What’s wrong?” he ventured.

“Ghostface. They’re fucking here, at Becky Rosen’s house,” she whispered. “I have no fucking clue where Becky is but I’m in her closet right now, saw her get ambushed earlier by the ghostface, I’m hiding here and I can hear him outside!!”

“Did you call 911? Do you need me to call 911?” Castiel asked, his tone frantic now.

“I don’t know, just get someone here, quick! Ghostface is near me, oh shit,” she whispered, frantically.

As Castiel considered what to do, Meg suddenly screamed on the phone.

Then the call promptly disconnected.

Castiel held his phone and looked at the ended call message in disbelief.

That did not just happen, he thought, as he pressed call on Meg’s contact again. The phone rang multiple times, before going to voicemail.

“You’ve reached the voicemail of yours truly, Meg Masters. Leave your message to me here,” her voice said, dripping with sarcasm Meg surely had when recording the voicemail.

Castiel started shaking. He dropped his phone and stood there, frozen.

Meg couldn’t be dead.

He must’ve misheard.

Maybe she wasn’t dead, she fought off the ghostface, surely, she should be alive, right?

Castiel picked up the phone, and started racing towards the exit of the library. He needed to get to Becky’s house, now. He looked through earlier text messages with Meg, reaching a few months ago where she had mentioned some of the addresses of peoples’ houses when talking about some party plan or something she had partaken in. He found Becky’s address, copy pasting it onto his GPS app as he got directions to the place.

He finally reached the library doors, pulling at the doors, but the doors didn’t budge. Castiel frowned at the doors, pulling aggressively at the door again, but it remained shut. He squinted outside, looking for the librarian, when he noticed a horrifying sight.

The old lady lay on the ground, unmoving.

Castiel backed up, eyes widening.

“No,” he whispered.

A figure crept up to the door then. The person was wearing a ghostface mask. They took a knife and ran it up the side of their mask, staring at Castiel menacingly.

“No,” he said again, louder.

The ghostface pulled back with the knife, bringing it down on the door.

The glass door cracked.

Castiel paled.

He turned and ran, ran as fast as he could, back into the depths of the library.

In the distance, the sound of glass shattering could be heard, as he raced through the giant halls of the library, looking for a place to hide. He passed the nonfiction section, then the fiction section, then the study rooms, and saw an open door in one of the darkened study rooms, quickly diving in and shutting the door as silently as possible. Castiel  hid under the main table in the study room, pulling chairs to hide him from view, breathing heavily. He heard loud running sounds outside and listened as he caught his breath, sitting still in the darkness under the table.

He took out his phone, pressing the numbers for 911.

His fingers trembled as he pressed call. 

------------------------------------------------

Castiel sat on the curb outside the library as bright red and blue lights flashed behind him.

Officer Hanscum from earlier that night had been on scene, and had given him a blanket, which he held clutched around him tightly as he sat there, staring blankly at the ground.

The old lady librarian was dead, the supposed killer nowhere to be found.

Meg was missing, the cops had told him.

So was Becky.

The house had been trashed, with signs of struggle and blood, but no bodies were found, so it was hard to determine what had happened to the two girls. Castiel held onto a sliver of hope that maybe Meg was still alive, just kidnapped somewhere, but he had a gut feeling that told him Meg was long gone. His despair grew when he realized that the time period between Meg’s call and the librarian’s death meant that there were indeed two killers.

He shuddered as he continued to stare blankly at the ground.

Dean, his mind suddenly unhelpfully supplied. Castiel stood up.

I need to get home. To Dean, he thought, the blanket falling off from him.

As emergency services continued to bustle around behind him, he ran to his car, driving off before anyone could stop him. He ran a red light, earning a loud and angry honk from another driver, but he didn’t care. All Castiel wanted to do was get home, find Dean, and forget about all of this, forever.

He continued driving along the roads, exceeding the speed limit, and making brash turns to reach his house.

About one block away from reaching his house, the first tear rolled down from his eye, a small trickle.

A few moments later, as he finally parked in the driveway of his house, finally at last, the tears were coming, uncontrollably, and abruptly.

Castiel let the tears flow.

He cried in the car, gasping and choking as he hung onto his steering wheel for dear life. He didn’t remember unlocking the door, and subsequently stepping out, but he found himself on the cold hard pavement of his driveway, curled up in a fetus position, crying his heart out.

He barely heard the front door opening, or Dean’s panicked shouts, and then Dean was suddenly holding onto him, rocking him back and forth as he murmured, “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re alright, Cas.”

Castiel allowed Dean to hold him, as he sat there, crying. They stayed like that for a little while, Dean hugging Castiel tightly as Castiel’s sobs lessened slowly as his raw emotions tapered off.

After what seemed like an hour of just mourning, Castiel’s tears stopped flowing. He sat there soundlessly, Dean continuing to hold him. Dean stopped rocking Castiel, and they sat there, silently, for a few moments.

“Think you’re able to stand now?” Dean asked gently, slowly loosening his hold on Castiel.

Castiel nodded numbly, shakily propping himself up with the help of Dean.

“C’mon, let’s get you into bed now.”

Castiel leaned on Dean for support as Dean took him inside, holding onto him all the way up to his bedroom, where he let go in front of the bedroom.

“I’ll stay over, keep watch over you,” Dean said.

Castiel looked back at Dean with heavy emotion in his eyes, silently nodding.

“Thank you,” he mustered, before Dean allowed Castiel to shut the door.

Castiel stood at the door for a second, putting his head against the door softly as he heard Dean walking away.

He sighed, then turned to get in bed.

Collapsing into bed, Castiel let sleep engulf him as his emotions simmered away.

------------------------------------------------

Castiel woke up slowly, eyes blinking open, and he stared at the wall for a few seconds.

He yawned, and then turned his entire body over.

Gabriel stared at him from just a few inches away.

Castiel jumped, wide awake now, as he scrambled back on his bed, before recognizing Gabriel just a few seconds after and stopping his movements.

Gabriel looked on at Castiel, one eyebrow raised.

“Wanna tell me why one of the Winchester brothers is sleeping in our guest room right now?”

Castiel blinked, remembering yesterday night’s incidents. “Uhh…” he started, before trailing off.

“It has something to do with what I heard happened yesterday night, doesn't it.”

Gabriel’s face shifted into worry. “Are you alright? Did anything happen to you?” he asked, moving closer to Castiel.

“Yes, I’m fine. No, nothing happened to me,” Castiel said.

“Dean helped me immensely yesterday,” he added.

Gabriel looked anguished now. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, Cassie. I’m glad Dean was, but I should’ve been there too,” he said.

“It’s okay, Gabe. I’m fine now.” Castiel stepped out of bed, and Gabriel stepped back to allow Castiel to move around.

He looked in the mirror, at his tear-streaked face, and staring at his own emotionless expression. He realized that's what might have made Gabriel figure out what happened.

Castiel turned around, looking at Gabriel, and his face must have showed the tears threatening to spill over once more, as Gabriel embraced Castiel.

“It’s fine if you don’t wanna tell me, Cassie. But I promise I’ll always be here for you. You'll be alright, I promise you.”

Castiel embraced Gabriel back, as he kept the tears down, just barely.

As Gabriel let go of Castiel, Castiel spoke. “Thank you, Gabe.”

Gabriel nodded, and he stared at Castiel with an unreadable expression on his face. Castiel stood still, looking around the room and collecting himself, before walking over and opening the door.

“I’ll go wake Dean up,” he said.

"Okay," Gabriel replied, standing still as Castiel left the room.

------------------------------------------------

Castiel sat on the couch, eating pancakes Gabriel had made as Dean shoveled pancakes in his mouth next to him. After Dean had woken up, things seemed to return back to normal in the house. Castiel felt better, or he had just unknowingly pushed his emotions so far down that he couldn't feel them anymore.

“Oh, these are so damn good,” Dean said, almost moaning, interrupting Castiel's thoughts.

Gabriel smiled sweetly at Dean from across the couch. “I’m glad someone in this house finally appreciates my cooking,” he said.

Castiel rolled his eyes, and cracked a smile. “Hey, I love your cooking as well, Gabe. I just don’t make sexual noises while eating to express my positive emotions.”

Dean glared at Castiel, but the effect was lost by the amount of food currently in Dean’s mouth making his cheeks bulge. Castiel smiled at that, and Dean’s glare softened, and he smiled back softly as well.

“Ooh. I see now,” Gabriel suddenly said.

Castiel sharply looked at Gabriel, who was smirking.

"What’s with everyone and whatever this is that I get whenever I stare at Cas?” protested Dean, noticing Gabriel’s smirk as well. Castiel nodded in agreement.

“Well, I guess everyone is smarter than both of you, because it sure is very obvious,” Gabriel said.

“What’s obvious?” Dean and Castiel said at the same time.

Gabriel looked away, snickering. “Nothing,” he said innocently. “In fact, I think you both know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Castiel and Dean looked at each other.

“Point proven,” Gabriel said from beside them.

Castiel frowned. What did Gabriel intend? He couldn’t understand why everyone around him and Dean always seemed to assume that something was there between them. Castiel only saw Dean as a friend. He really did.

I do, right? Castiel thought. He affirmed himself mentally that yes, Dean was a friend. One of his closest friends now, just behind Meg.

Meg.

Who was now likely dead.

A new emotion suddenly surged up in him.

Anger.

Outrage.

Vengeance.

He started developing a plan in his mind on how to get vengeance for Meg, and put down his plate on the coffee table.

Gabriel looked at him, eyebrows raised. “I see that look on your face, little bro. What’s on your mind?”

Castiel watched as Dean looked up, curious as well, his face stuffed with pancakes once more. Pushing aside the thought that Dean was so adorable looking like that to focus on the task at hand, Castiel took out his phone.

“I think it’s time we interviewed some suspects.”

------------------------------------------------

Castiel looked up from Meg’s journal as a familiar voice shouted across the Roadhouse, where they were currently planning on holding their interviews. Next to him, Dean grinned and waved as Benny walked over to them.

“Welcome to our second investigative meeting,” Dean said.

Castiel waved kindly as well as Benny took a seat across the table. “Jo told us that she needed to help her mother in the back for a couple more minutes before she could join us,” Castiel said.

"Alright,” Benny replied. “By the way, you good? I’m sorry about Meg.”

“Yes, I’m fine. No need to feel sorry. I'm going to catch that murderer for her.”

“Glad to hear you're doing fine. I assume you called me in to help with the process of catching the criminal?”

“Yup,” Dean said, leaning in closer to the group. “So, here’s our plan. We’re conducting interviews with every single one of the suspects still left on Meg’s list. Grill each person on where they were during those hours yesterday at night. All of them have been confirmed to be coming at different hours of the day today. We’re expecting Pamela Barnes first thing in a couple of minutes.”

“I see, I see,” Benny said. “So tell me, what questions do you have planned so far?”

Castiel slid his list of direct questions to Benny. As Benny read over the questions, Jo appeared silently behind him, shushing Dean and Castiel as she crept up towards Benny.

Benny looked up from the questions, looking at Castiel.

“These are some solid question-” he started as Jo suddenly grabbed his shoulders.

“Surprise!”

Benny jumped high in his seat as Dean and Castiel burst out laughing, laughing even harder when Benny recovered and immediately glared at both of them, then at Jo behind him, who simply grinned.

“You guys miss me?” she asked, sitting down next to a grumbling Benny.

“Welcome, welcome, Jo!” Dean exclaimed, smiling.

“Hello to you too,” Jo replied. “So, Pamela coming in anytime soon, we're investigating the suspects, got it.”

She looked at Dean then. “Is Sam doing alright?”

“Yeah, he called me yesterday. Still a bit anxious when speaking, but he seemed calmer, and Bobby told me he’s getting better. Man, I hope Sammy is able to recover. Feel sorry for the kid,” Dean said.

“Me too. Tell Sam all of us are wishing the best for him,” Benny said.

After a moment of silence, the topic switched.

“Castiel. What’s your university plans?” Jo asked.

“Well, I got accepted with scholarships to the University of Kansas here. I’m planning on staying in this town,” Castiel replied.

“That sounds nice,” Jo remarked.

“Hey, I’m also going to the University of Kansas!” Dean said beside him. “Do you want to be my roommate? I still haven’t found one.”

Castiel looked at Dean, surprised at the sudden request. “Uhh.. I mean, yes!” Castiel replied. “I’d love that. I haven’t found a roommate either.”

Dean smiled. “Thanks, Cas. You know, I was wondering what I would do at the university. As far as I knew, Benny’s going to a college in Louisiana to stay near his family, while Jo said she was going to New York. I almost thought I was gonna be alone here in Lawrence.”

Castiel smiled back. “It’s a good thing I’m planning on staying in Lawrence for as long as possible, due to my brother’s job.”

“No way? Me too! All my family’s around here anyways, Dean said.

“Hey, don’t you forget, I’m coming right back to Lawrence after hanging ‘round Louisiana, chief. Met a girl that I fell in love with, she’s sticking around here,” Benny said.

Jo turned, shocked. “No way? You, finding love? I’d never imagined!” she said, playfully.

Benny glared back in a joking manner, and then grinned. “Yeah, her name’s Andrea. I’ll bring her over to meet y’all someday,” he said.

“I’d love to meet her. Bring her to the Roadhouse! Mom will be surprised to see you with a girlfriend for once,” she said.

“Sure will do,” Benny replied. “Anyway, what about you, Jo? What are your plans after New York?”

“Well, New York is a dream, and it’s an expensive dream. It’s gonna be a hard life over there, but I’m dying to experience city life.” She smiled as her thoughts seemed to drift away. “But yeah, I’ll definitely come around, visit when I’m able to. Especially ‘cause mom would get lonely around here.”

The group continued chattering, as conversation took them to other topics.

As they talked, Ellen walked past them, pausing at their table. “You kids need anything?”

“Nah, I don’t think so, thanks for asking though, ma’am,” Dean answered, the others at the table nodding in agreement.

“Got it. Jo, I’m gonna need your help again in a few hours when that shipment arrives.”

Jo groaned but answered back. “Alright, mom.”

They sat in silence as Ellen walked away.

“Well, what time is Pamela arriving?” Benny asked, breaking the silence.

Dean shrugged and looked over at Castiel, who just looked at the door.

“Should be right about now,” he said.

The door to the Roadhouse opened.

Dean looked over at Castiel, impressed, as Castiel sat straight up and picked up Meg’s journal and his list of questions.

Pamela Barnes walked in, looking around with a wary look on her face. She scurried over to the table quickly once she spotted the group staring at her.

“Welcome, Pamela,” Castiel said, as Pamela stood unsurely next to the table. Dean pulled up a chair for her and she sat down at the end of the table.

“What’s this interview you said you needed me for?”

“We just want to ask you some questions,” Benny supplied.

“Questions relating to your whereabouts,” Jo added.

“To put it bluntly, we just want to know what you did and where you were yesterday,” Dean said.

“Well.. okay..” Pamela said, looking down at the table. “I slept in yesterday morning. The memorial service exhausted me and my job didn’t require me until the afternoon.”

Castiel started taking notes on a new page in Meg’s journal as he listened attentively.

“I woke up around midday and made myself lunch at home, then went to work.”

“And where is your workplace?” Jo prodded.

“North Lawrence. Just off Mass Street across the river.”

“You work at that psychic place?” Dean asked.

“Yes. I’m a psychic myself. Just don’t do palm or tarot readings or any of that lately. I just stick around the shop area and sell stuff. So, I was working there from 1 PM to 7 PM.”

Castiel wrote that down, noting how the time period meant Pamela was working throughout the entire time Jessica’s murder happened.

“And who works with you?” Benny asked.

“Becky Rosen was my only coworker.”

Castiel looked up sharply. “Becky is your coworker? Do you know what happened to her?”

“Yes, I’ve heard. She’s gone missing, right? It’s such a shame.”

“You said you were a psychic. Why don’t you use your magic powers or whatever to sense what happened?” Dean interrupted.

Pamela rolled her eyes. “That’s not how a psychic works, Dean. Besides, I can’t do anything without setting up some things first. And even then, I can only read the auras of people I’m physically near and seeing.”

“Well then, you’re friggin useless,” Dean muttered.

“Dean, please be nicer,” Castiel said.

Dean sat up straight, looking away. He looked a bit shameful now. “Sorry Cas.”

“You should be saying sorry to me, Dean Winchester,” Pamela said, looking irked.

Dean grunted in response but muttered a sorry as he sank into his chair.

“Anyways, about Becky. When I headed out for the night she was talking all excited about some movie night she was having with her friend. Some girl named Meg, I believe? Saw her name on the missing report on the news, I think.”

“Where did you go after talking to Becky?”

“Becky went off to her movie night, I went straight back home. I ate dinner at home, then facetimed with Bela Talbot before getting ready to go to bed. I didn’t go back outside anywhere after arriving home straight from work.”

“You facetimed Bela Talbot. Do you have evidence of this?” Castiel asked.

“Sure,” Pamela said, taking out her phone. She displayed the phone, dating two facetime calls with Bela at 7:52 PM and 9:01 PM.

“The two calls are because my phone ran out of battery and I got disconnected,” she explained.

Castiel noted these down too.

“Is that all?” Benny asked.

“Yes. You guys asked all your questions, right?”

The group nodded, as Castiel looked over what he had written down.

“Well, I’ve got to get to work now. It’s approaching 1 PM. I’ll be going. Bye.” She stood up, putting the chair back.

“Oh, and make sure to stay safe. I know you guys are investigating the murderer. I keep pepper spray on myself at all times, and lock all my doors. You all should too,” she said.

As she exited the building, Castiel frowned at the timeline. “She has a clear alibi for Jessica’s murder case, we can go ask the psychic place for backup on Pamela’s time logs. She described being on call with Bela starting from around 8 PM, and the events at Becky’s house and the library happened around 8:20 PM. She’s still suspicious, even with that call log she showed, because we know there were two murderers, and if she is one then the other one could've killed Jessica.”

“The call log was useless. It didn’t even prove anything,” Benny said. “Is Bela Talbot next? I wanna ask her some questions to see if their stories match.”

“No, Ruby is. She said she’s bringing Alfie along with her, so we can interview both of them together when they arrive. Bela is after Kevin, who’s after Ruby and Alfie,” Castiel explained.

“Got it. So, what time are the next people arriving?”

Castiel checked his watch. “Just under 30 minutes. We have plenty of time.”

The group relaxed into their chairs.

“Well, what should we do to pass the time?" Dean started.

“Jo! I need your help now!” Ellen yelled from the back.

Jo groaned as she stood up. “Coming mom!” she yelled. “Be right back,” she said to the others as she raced over to the back of the Roadhouse.

Castiel watched as she disappeared, eyes wandering around the bar. There was nobody else in the bar right now, as Ellen was busy in the back and nobody was maintaining the front. Benny was on his phone now, texting someone. Dean was simply sitting there, looking around as well.

There was light music that he had barely heard before now playing, some rock song Dean would probably enjoy.

He turned to Dean.

“Do you know what song is on right now?”

Dean tilted his head to hear the music better. He grinned hearing the familiar tune.

“That’s ‘The Reaper’. It’s a song by BOC,” he said.

“What’s ‘BOC’?” Castiel asked.

Dean turned to him, looking shocked. “BOC? Blue Oyster Cult? Cas, didn’t I tell you about them last time we talked about music?”

“No, you never mentioned them.”

“Damn. I gotta get you to listen to some more of their songs sometime,” Dean said. “Fire of Unknown Origin is a must. Tell you what, since it seems I’m staying over at your place for the time being anyways, when we get back to your house, I’ll play some of their songs for you.”

“Alright,” Castiel said. He focused on the song playing right now, the one Dean said was titled ‘The Reaper’.

“Hm,” Castiel pondered. “Sounds kind of.. eerie.”

“It’s a perfect song for a horror movie, you mean,” Benny said, glancing up from his phone.

“Hey, but it’s a good song, am I right?” Dean replied. He started tapping his fingers to the beat of the song as Castiel listened to the sound of the guitars.

Castiel did have to agree with Dean; it was a good song. He watched as Dean happily hummed along to the music, and smiled. Dean looked nice, when he was immersed in music like that.

Benny suddenly stood up. “Andrea said she wants to call me. I’ll be right back,” he said, walking away with his phone held up to his ear.

Dean grinned at Benny’s retreating form. “Make sure to tell her we want to meet her soon!” he shouted.

Benny simply gave a thumbs-up as he walked out the Roadhouse, disappearing as the door closed.

Dean turned to Castiel after Benny left. “Well, with Jo and Benny gone, why don’t we get started on introducing you to Blue Oyster Cult?”

“Sure,” Castiel said, Dean smiling in response.

Chapter Text

“Next time, I’m introducing you to the wonders and marvels of Metallica,” Dean said, closing out of the music app on his phone. “Oh by the way, forgot to ask you earlier. What’s your cell number?”

“Here, let me type it in for you,” Castiel said, opening up a new contact and typing in his number.

“Thanks Cas.”

Dean saved Castiel’s contact and put his phone away as Benny approached them, having finished his call with Andrea.

“Ruby and Alfie are coming in, what? 5 minutes now?”

Castiel checked his watch. “More like 1 or 2. They’ll be in shortly.”

“JO!!” Dean yelled.

“COMING!!” Jo yelled from the back, her voice slightly muffled. A few seconds later, Jo hurried out, the door swinging behind her as she walked over towards them.

“Are Ruby and Alfie here soon?” Jo asked, sitting down next to Benny.

“Yes, there they are,” Castiel said, watching as the door opened.

A foot confidently stepped in, catching Castiel’s attention. Following the foot, a person’s leg appeared, and finally Ruby fully stepped into the building. Behind Ruby, Alfie stepped in as well. He did not have the same confident demeanor that she had but still held himself to an extent.

Ruby glanced casually at the group, and Castiel watched as she strutted over to the table, pulling up a chair immediately and plopping herself down, crossing her legs. Alfie quickly followed, sitting down behind Ruby. Dean immediately started to speak, but Ruby held up a hand, pausing him.

“Don’t bother. I know what you’re going to ask me, and you don’t need to.”

Castiel tilted his head quizzically. “What do you mean?”

Ruby shifted her glance to Castiel. “I know that you’re investigating the murders. Trying to find who did it.”

She looked around at the others in the group. “The reason you won’t need to ask me is, I’m doing the exact same thing you guys are.” She turned to Alfie, making a motion with her hand.

Alfie, who was carrying a small satchel, pulled out a small notebook, handing it to Ruby. She waved it in her hand.

“Just like you have your own notes,” she said, pointing with the notebook at Meg’s journal in front of Castiel, “I have my own. And I have something that you may not have.”

Castiel leaned forward, intrigued. “And what might this unknown information be?”

Ruby smirked. “Pictures of the murderers. There’s two of them by the way. Both wearing the iconic ghostface outfits from Scream.”

“Well, show us,” Dean said, beckoning towards Ruby’s notebook.

She paused. “Oh, but how am I to trust you all in sharing my pieces of vital information? How would I know that you’re not the murderers themselves?”

“Just show us the damn pictures,” Dean growled.

Ruby pulled away the notebook. “Not with that kind of an attitude, Winchester.”

Dean scowled.

Castiel put a hand on Dean’s knee, silently telling him to stand down. He turned to Ruby. “Perhaps my offer could help you reconsider.”

“I’m listening.”

“We have crucial information about a list of confirmed suspects. As well, we have multiple detailed listings of people’s whereabouts and their alibis during the time period when the murders happened.”

Ruby nodded, contemplating for a moment, then turned to Alfie. They whispered to each other for a few seconds, before turning back to Castiel and the others.

“We already have our own list of confirmed suspects. Listings of people’s whereabouts would be helpful though.” She opened the notebook.

Before turning it around towards the group, she spoke once more. “This isn’t me and Alfie giving full trust to any of you, by the way. In my book, you all are still suspects. Don’t take this for granted.”

“I could say the same to you,” Jo replied.

“Whatever,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes. “Just look at the damn pictures.”

As Castiel squinted at the images alongside Benny, Dean, and Jo, Ruby snatched up Meg’s journal.

“I’ll take this, thank you,” she said, flipping through it.

Dean looked like he was about to protest, so Castiel gave him a look.

We agreed to this, he silently signaled towards Dean. Dean looked at him and seemed to understand. They turned back to the pictures.

One of the pictures looked like it was a grainy still from a security camera in front of the library, and the other picture was a still shot from what appeared to be a dashcam camera, of a person wearing a ghostface mask and robe running in front of the car.

Benny pointed towards the second picture. “What’s this supposed to be?” he asked Ruby.

Ruby looked up, glancing over at where Benny was pointing. “Oh, that. Dashcam footage from a car we obtained from in front of Becky Rosen’s house. The owner of the car said that the dashcam only recorded the killer running in front of the car because motion was detected then.”

Castiel leaned in closer to the image, trying to catch any details.

“Well, can’t tell much about the person here other than that they are average in height. This could be anyone,” Dean said. “Same with this security camera one too.”

“Look closer,” Ruby said, not looking up from her own reading.

Jo suddenly pointed towards the first image. “Wait. Look at their shoes,” she said. “They’re.. orange?”

“Who the fuck has orange shoes?” Benny asked.

“Well, it certainly helps narrow down what we could be looking for,” Castiel said.

“Are you sure, Cas? ‘Cause I don’t think anyone around town is going around wearing orange shoes like these,” Dean said.

“I mean, we could ask the suspects about their shoes,” Castiel supplied.

Jo leaned in closer. “What’s that on the side of this shoe?” she asked, pinpointing a small marking on the side of one of the orange shoes the ghostface was wearing.

Ruby closed the journal just then. “It’s a pentagram. It’s not really visible in printed format but we had access to the digital image as well, and it’s pretty clear there. Also, I’ve read up on all of your notes, and I’m seeing a severe lack in your supposed ‘logs’ on everyone. Only exists for Pamela.”

“Oh, my apologies. You were our second group to interview after Pamela, so we couldn’t talk to anyone else yet.”

Ruby rolled her eyes once more. “Look here. I have a better idea than your interviews. Obviously you’ve seen the shoes. Alfie, you mind telling them our plan?”

Alfie cleared his throat before speaking up. “We will be hosting another ‘memorial event’ for the recent murders tonight. We’ve put a few posters up around and advertised online for it, so we’re hoping for a diverse crowd of people to show up. Hopefully it’ll also attract the killers to come. Which is why one of the rules we implemented on our promotions was to wear orange shoes to represent condolences.”

“We made up some bullshit about how orange was the favorite color of one of those murdered, so it’s for remembrance,” Ruby added on.

Castiel scrunched up his nose in distaste. “I highly disagree with your method of investigation. It’s very unethical.”

“Ok, and? Investigating in the first place could be argued to be unethical as well. We just want to find out who killed Ash, and this is a good idea to us so we’re going through with it. The service is in 2 hours, so if you all want to work together with us, you better show up. Cancel all of your future interviews. I’m sure some of them are going to our service anyway.”

“And what if the killers show up, and they murder someone and get away with it?” Castiel challenged.

“That’s a risk we’re willing to take in order to catch them in the act,” Ruby said nonchalantly.

Castiel turned to the others with a frown.

Wow, Dean mouthed silently, as Castiel turned back to see Ruby and Alfie standing up.

“We’re going to go get set up for the service. Alfie, give them one of the posters please.”

Alfie handed them a poster, pointing towards the address printed on the right corner. “Please come. We could use some help.”

Ruby and Alfie silently walked away, leaving the Roadhouse before anyone at the table could get another word in.

“Well, it seems that they’re sure of their offer,” Benny stated.

“Do you think we should go?” Jo asked.

“It seems that we will have to,” Castiel said, showing his phone to everyone else. A flurry of messages had poured in while Castiel wasn’t looking at his phone, almost all of them apologies from the people they were interviewing later in the day, saying that they couldn’t make it because they were going to the memorial service.

Dean sighed. “Okay. Get ready, everyone. It looks like we’re going.” 

------------------------------------------------

Castiel walked up to the front of the house, his shoes cramping his feet as he uncomfortably shifted in them. They had to go to Goodwill to find orange shoes following the immediate cancellation of all interviews. Most of the shoes available were not available in his size.

As he adjusted his right foot to better stand, Jo walked up next to him.

“Big crowd,” she noted, looking around.

He looked up at the large group of people milling about in front of the large house, suddenly getting a flashback to standing in front of Balthazar’s house just a few days earlier.

“Where’s Alfie and Ruby?” Dean asked, walking up as well.

Jo pointed up towards the front door. “Look, Alfie’s waving at us. We should go in.”

Castiel nodded, trudging towards the house with a feeling of uneasiness lingering in his stomach.

“Come in, come in! Where’s the other guy that you were with earlier?”

“Benny? He went to take a piss somewhere,” Dean said.

Alfie frowned. “We’re facing a ghostface killer right now, though? Isn’t it like, one of the rules of the Scream universe that going off alone is either guaranteed death or they’re the murderer?”

“Dude, relax. He’s just going to the bathroom, nothing too serious. It’s the porta-potty right outside the house anyways, I’ll text him to meet us inside,” Dean said.

“You can never be too careful when a horror movie comes to life,” Alfie said, shuddering.

“Wait. Ruby hasn’t told you the rules.” Alfie pointed towards a room inside. “She’s waiting over there. She’ll tell you all about the rules.”

Castiel looked around the house as he stepped in through the door frame.

“What rules? Wait, where is she?” Castiel asked, turning around.

Alfie had disappeared.

“Where’d he go?”

Dean and Jo looked around, confused as well.

“He’s gone?” Jo asked. “What the fuck?”

“Well, let’s wait for Benny, then we can find Ruby, I guess,” Dean said.

“I don’t know how long Benny’s gonna take. I’ll look around for a bit,” Jo said.

“Well, ok, but come back quick. Benny might not be much longer,” Dean replied.

“I’m gonna go look for Ruby as well. We can all meet back up here shortly. Dean, make sure to text Benny that,” Castiel said, stepping away towards the room Alfie had pointed towards earlier. Castiel watched as Dean nodded and turned away to text Benny, before turning around and going further into the house. He walked into the room Alfie had pointed to, looking around.

“Castiel! So nice of you to join us,” someone said to his right, and Castiel turned, seeing Ruby smiling as she approached him. “Where’s the rest of your entourage?”

“They’re back out front,” Castiel said. “I can tell them to come.”

“Oh, actually, before you do that, I have something I want to tell you only,” she said. Ruby pulled Castiel by the arm further into the room, shutting the door. She lowered her voice down to a whisper before continuing.

“Ok, so not to frighten you or anything, but I’m like 90% sure either one of your investigation group has something to do with the murders. I can’t pinpoint which of them it is but I know for sure that it’s either Dean, Benny or Jo. I’d advise you to be careful near them and keep your eyes peeled. Don’t let any of them out of your sight and I can help you catch the murderer.”

Castiel’s brows knitted together in concern, and he tilted his head. “Wait, you’re sure? Like absolutely sure that it’s one of them?”

“Yes, my evidence that I collected with Alfie points towards one of those three, and I know there’s more than one murderer but I know that one of the culprits is amongst those people,” Ruby hissed. She clenched Castiel’s arm tighter then. “Listen, don’t tell them I said this or mention something like a question. Just monitor them closely, please. I know for sure that it’s one of them, so please just trust me on this and help me with this so we can find at least one of the murderers. Please.”

Castiel pulled back, searching Ruby’s expression to see her true intentions. “And how am I to trust you?” Castiel asked.

“Just do it, please. You want to find who killed Meg too, don’t you?” she asked, clasping her hands.

Castiel sighed and turned away. He did want to find out what happened to Meg, and who had done it, but he couldn’t fully trust Ruby with this just yet.

He turned back to Ruby, giving an attempt at a polite smile. “Alright, I’ll help you, and monitor them,” he said.

He really didn’t believe Ruby at all with this, but he might as well pretend so he could gain her trust.

Ruby smiled widely at that. “Great, now you can call the others into the room. Remember what I said, and report back with anything you found tomorrow. Text me, here’s my number,” she said, putting her contact written on a piece of paper in his hand.

She opened the door again, looking out. “I see your friends over there, you should call them over.”

Castiel nodded, looking out as well. “Dean! Jo! Benny! Over here!” he called, motioning with his hands.

Alfie had somehow appeared again and seemed to be talking to Jo, and started walking over with the others after Castiel had shouted.

“Great, Ruby is here! Now she can tell you all about the rules of Scream , since some of you seem to not know them,” Alfie said, walking into the room and going towards the back.

Ruby rolled her eyes as Alfie passed, but still cleared her throat to speak. “Alfie takes horror movies to heart way too closely sometimes, don’t mind him. It’s nice to follow some rules of the movie that’s ‘come to life’ here in Lawrence these past days, though.”

She opened her phone and started scrolling around, searching for something. “Hmm.. ah. Here it is, I have it in my notes app. To quote Randy Meeks, there are some rules you must follow in order to survive: One, don’t have sex. Two, don’t drink, and three, don’t do drugs. Four, never, EVER, say, ‘Be right back’. It’s a death sentence, basically. And five, an extra rule, although not mentioned by Meeks himself, is to never go off alone, or say ‘Who’s there?’. These should be simple enough and mostly are just common-sense stuff that you can follow.”

Jo nodded in agreement as Alfie suddenly spoke up.

“Yeah, Benny, this is why you should NEVER do what you did earlier ever again. You could’ve gotten killed!”

“Whatever, man,” Benny grumbled, sharing a look with Jo.

As they looked at each other, Ruby silently facepalmed and motioned to Alfie to cut it out.

Jo suddenly frowned. “Wait, I just remembered something. Isn’t the entire point of Scream that the killers are horror movie fanatics, and one baseline important thing that all movies in the series include are the calls they make to their victims prior? Why haven’t we heard or seen ANY calls?”

“That would be a question to ask the ghostfaces themselves,” Ruby said. “Which would be useful to ask if there WAS one in this room right now.”

Everyone looked around at each other, before turning back to Ruby, who looked at her nails.

“Assuming that if calls somehow start up after this there is indeed a murderer in this room. But anyway, we can figure that out later. Game plan for tonight.”

She gestured towards Alfie, who stood up once more.

“Everyone, go out, just mingle with the crowd. Go in pairs, so Benny and Dean, you guys go together, while Castiel and Jo, you guys go together. Me and Ruby will also be around. Don’t let your pair get out of your sight, and while looking around make sure to check every person’s shoes for pentagrams. I want you all scouring. And make sure to abide by all the rules that Ruby listed. Don’t go off alone ANYWHERE,” Alfie declared.

Everyone nodded in understanding as Ruby started off towards the door. “Ok everyone, you heard what Alfie said. Let’s get a move-on.”

Castiel followed through the door and out into the crowd of people, linking together with Jo as he headed out. 

------------------------------------------------

“My god, this is getting boring,” Jo grumbled, leaning back on the couch as Castiel sighed, leaning back as well.

So far, nobody seemed to be wearing the shoes they were searching for, and the event was pretty lackluster, with it seeming to mostly die out now that a couple hours had passed.

Castiel hadn’t seen the others in quite some time, possibly having been an hour since he last saw Dean in the house.

“Hey Cas, just wanna say, I’m still hung up on that entire call thing. I just find it so strange that the murderers haven’t even attempted to call anyone with that entire, ‘What’s your favorite scary movie’ shit not even once.”

Castiel nodded. “I agree that it is strange, but I found that I could not theorize any such reason as to why they wouldn’t do it.”

“Me neither. All I can say is the murderers really suck at imitating the ghostface killers from Scream .”

Castiel smiled a bit, looking around. He noticed that mostly everyone had left by now, and only a few stragglers were left milling about the room.

“So I know this is a bad time with the murders and all, but I’m just wondering when you were gonna, y’know, tell Dean?” Jo casually asked beside him.

Castiel turned back around to Jo, confused. “What do you mean by that? Tell him what?”

Jo looked blankly at him. “Nevermind, then. You’ll figure it out. I’m getting ahead of myself,” Jo simply said.

“Okay.. then,” Castiel replied.

They settled back into comfortable silence relaxing on the couch as the sounds of conversation slowly faded around them as the stragglers started to leave as well.

A couple minutes later, Ruby walked into the room with Alfie.

“Any luck?” she asked, sitting down opposite of them.

“None here,” Jo said.

“We didn’t have anything as well,” Alfie replied. “This was a bust. I bet the ghostface knows that we organized this to find them specifically and didn’t come with the right shoes.”

“What about the people on your list, what were the results for that?” Ruby asked, looking at Castiel.

“Shoes didn’t match for Pamela, Bela, Garth, Kevin, or Cassie. The only person that didn’t show up on my list is Balthazar, but you know how he’s been locked in his house out of town with a bodyguard because of his parents,” Castiel replied.

“So I’ve heard,” Ruby said. “He calls me sometimes and gripes about how he’s so bored stuck in his room all day and how his German bodyguard named Klaus or something is an asshole for hours on end.”

“That must suck,” Jo said. “But at least he’s safe. Can’t say the same for any of us.”

Castiel nodded before mulling over what Jo said, realizing that she was right. None of them were safe at all, the murderers could choose to raid any of their houses at any moment.

“I’d say you’re safe too, Castiel. Heard from Dean that you have your older brother, Gabriel, at home, and Dean’s staying with you too. Three people in a household seems pretty solid. At least compared to me and my mom only. She was thinking about going to her sister’s place with me for a while, at least until they catch the murderers. I obviously said no, because why would I want to leave you guys?”

“Well, it would’ve been safer for you, but your choice I guess,” Castiel replied.

Dean and Benny finally walked into the room then, looking exhausted.

“We couldn’t find anything, and the last people just left for the night,” Benny said, collapsing onto the couch.

Dean sat down too, right next to Castiel, his weight pulling the cushion down as Castiel found himself suddenly leaning against Dean.

“So that’s it, then,” Ruby said. “Just to confirm, nobody found ANYTHING, right?”

Everyone nodded.

“Alright. Sorry guys, this really was a bust. Next time, maybe. I don’t wanna keep any of you all longer, this isn’t even my house anyways.”

“Wait, whose house are we in right now?” Jo asked.

“Some random rich old lady’s house. She was glad to host a memorial service event for the victims of the murders, and she’s coming back tomorrow morning. I’ve hired some cleaners to sort out this entire house in an hour so we should get going now.”

“Alright,” Benny said, standing up. “I got a date with Andrea so I’ll be going in a taxi.”

“Stay safe!” Alfie called.

Dean stood up too, looking at Castiel. “Well, me and Cas are gonna head home too. Jo, let’s go drop you off at home as well.”

Jo nodded, standing up as well as she followed Castiel and Dean out the door.

“You all stay safe too!” Alfie called out, as the trio left the house and started walking to Dean’s car.

“Well, that’s over and done with,” Jo said, as they got into the car.

“Yep,” Castiel said, sighing as Dean started the car. “This all is so tiring. I really hope we catch the murderers soon. Find out what happened to Meg too.”

He looked out the window as Dean pulled out of the driveway and onto the street, watching as Ruby and Alfie started to walk out of the house as well. The car pulled away, and the two standing outside the house faded away in the distance as the quiet streets of Lawrence started to roll past. 

------------------------------------------------

“Thanks, Dean,” Jo said, getting out of the car as Dean and Castiel waved goodbye from inside the car.

“Stay safe, Jo!” Castiel called out, and Jo gave a thumbs-up as he rolled the window up, the car starting up again. She started walking towards the Roadhouse, listening to the sound of Dean’s impala rumbling fade into the distance once more as the sounds of crickets in the night replaced it.

Jo walked up to the door of the Roadhouse, opening it to the lights still on, music softly playing.

“Hey, Frank,” she said, waving to a lone customer at the counter, who gave a small wave back. “Do you know where Ellen is?”

“She went to make a quick supply run. Probably’ll be back in like 5 minutes,” he replied, taking a swig of his drink.

“Thanks, Frank,” Jo said, walking back behind the counter. “Need anything?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” he said.

“Alright.”

Jo walked into the backrooms, finding a note on the counter.

Be back ASAP. Had to get something at the mart. You can start cleaning up for the night. xoxo, mom .

Jo put the note aside and took out a rag, starting to wipe down the counters and clearing debris into the trash can. She checked the time, noting that it was about 12 AM.

Only 2 more hours until closing time, she thought, putting empty bottles in a bin underneath the counter as she took the mop leaning on the side of the wall and started sweeping.

As she swept, she hummed to the radio playing over the speakers, listening to the sounds of Laura Branigan belting out the tunes of Gloria . She finished mopping and put the mop back by the side of the room, and started heading over to sort the front when a sudden crashing sound drowned out Gloria on the radio.

Jo paused, then rushed to the door, peaking out at the front. She looked around, seeing nobody around but the front door swinging slightly, as if someone had just entered, or left the building.

“Frank?” she asked cautiously, not seeing Frank in the spot he had been sitting in just a few moments ago. She sighed, wondering if Frank had gotten too drunk again and started stumbling around outside.

Jo walked fully out into the front, heading towards the door, when she tripped and stumbled. She swore as she almost fell, but caught herself on the counter as she stood back up, looking down.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered, looking down at Frank laying on the ground, his throat slit as blood leaked from the wound.

Frank looked up at her with terrified, glassy eyes, before gurgling once and then going still.

“Oh, shit!” Jo whispered again, frantically looking around.

This meant that ghostface was near, and was going to strike again.

She whipped around, looking to see if the murderer was hiding anywhere near, but saw nobody. She fumbled through her pockets and then grabbed her phone, dialing 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?” a lady said calmly through the phone.

“The serial killer is active right now,” Jo hissed. “I’m at the Roadhouse bar on 6th street, in West Lawrence. Please come quick.”

“Alright, ma’am. We have your location, and police are going to be there as soon as possible. Is the perpetrator still around?”

“Yes, I don’t know exactly where they are, but I know they’re somewhere in or out of this building.”

“Ok, ma’am, I want you to get to a safe hiding spot immediately, and await the assistance of our officers,” the dispatcher said. “Please stay calm and try not to make any sounds to attract them.”

Jo silently crouched next to Frank’s body, crawling to a booth bar and hiding under the table, looking around and still seeing no movement. The sound of Laura Branigan's Gloria suddenly swelled through the entire building loudly.

“Can you tell me how far they are? I can’t see the killer but I’m hiding under a table now,” Jo whispered, straining to look at the radio.

“Our officers are estimated to be arriving in about 2 or 3 minutes. Please stay there–” the dispatcher said, before suddenly being cut off by the sound of a thunk on the table above her.

She dropped her phone in surprise, before another thunk made her drop to the ground.

Jo breathed rapidly as she stared, eyes widened, at the knife that had pierced through the wood just an inch away from where her head just was. She quickly scrambled out from under the table, racing away and looking back to see a person in full ghostface wear, pulling the knife out of the table calmly and then looking up at Jo.

Jo backed away, bumping into chairs and tables as she silently muttered, “shit, shit, shit…”

She glared at the killer, who simply prowled across from her, as she slowly walked in circles.

“You fucking bitch. You’ll never catch me, the cops are going to be here in only a minute. You better run away before you get caught and they arrest your lousy ass,” she taunted, looking as the ghostface simply tilted their head and continued walking in circles.

As they continued walking, Jo looked at the distance the killer was from her and the door, then to the backdoor, making some quick calculations and deciding that the backdoor was the safest bet.

She sprang into action throwing the closest chair she had at the ghostface and knocking them backwards, then ran, slamming through the backdoor.

She ran through the kitchen and the storage areas as she heard the ghostface in rapid pursuit, and pushed over some boxes behind her, running out the final door to the outside as she slammed it shut. She ran towards the main road, looking for nearby cars or houses, but found nobody and continued running.

Behind her the front door to the Roadhouse slammed open, and ghostface sprinted out of the establishment.

Jo gasped and ran harder, running down the road as ghostface gave chase behind her. She looked around for any cars that seemed to have any people in them, then zoned in to what looked like a news van.

CHANNEL H NEWS was inscribed on the side of the van, and she ran up to it, screaming and banging on the window while looking back to see how far away the murderer was.

She looked closely into the window of the van and gasped.

Inside the van was a bloody mess, blood splattered everywhere.

She could vaguely make out the bodies of an old man with a scruffy beard and another man, who was bald, both lifeless.

As she stared, frozen in shock for a second, movement from the killer getting closer out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she whipped to see the killer about to get her. Jo screamed and ducked, the murderer just missing her and tripping over her, and Jo used this to her advantage by running around the news van and back onto the road, heading down towards the busier areas of Lawrence.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” she continued to scream, waving at the jumble of lights of cars in the distance at an intersection where it seemed a lot of cars were driving.

As she ran closer, she made out police lights parting through the jumble of lights and speeding towards Jo’s road. She sighed in relief as she continued to run, waving her arms as salvation through the form of law enforcement rapidly approached.

The cops were only a couple blocks away now, the lights getting closer and closer.

As she watched the cops approach, a sudden piercing pain ran through her spine as she tumbled over and fell to the cold hard pavement.

Jo screamed in pain as she flailed on the ground, looking up in panic and seeing the ghostface standing over her with a bloodied knife in hand.

“NO!!” she screamed, holding her hands up in defense as the killer pulled the knife up over their head and brang it down violently on Jo. 

------------------------------------------------

“Man, these are some really fucking good burgers,” Gabriel said, chomping down on the juicy burger as Dean grinned.

“I told ya so, I can make some really mean burgers.”

“I agree. Your burgers are heavenly,” Castiel said, closing his eyes and reveling in the taste of Dean’s burger.

“Thanks,” Dean said, grinning even more widely.

Castiel smiled, suddenly feeling something deep in the pit of his own soul.

Something that had to do with seeing Dean smiling, and how good the burgers tasted, and how honestly this entire situation was so fucking awesome, and– wait a minute, is this what love feels like? Castiel thought.

He sighed and melted into his feelings, watching in adoration at Dean.

Dean started laughing after Gabriel said something which Castiel didn’t catch, but Castiel didn’t care. He was finding out that he might have been in love with Dean this entire time, and he was loving it. Castiel smiled when Dean finally looked at Castiel with those evergreen eyes and that lovable smile, and watched as Dean seemed to soften a bit as well.

Gabriel suddenly snickered and poked Castiel, interrupting his stupor.

“Hey now, let’s not make those lovebird eyes so obvious,” Gabriel said, laughing as Castiel glared.

“You can stop making these jokes, Gabe,” he said, but half-heartedly. Castiel couldn’t honestly care less what Gabriel had to say, especially because he knew Gabriel was just a jokester like that.

As dinner continued on and the conversations continued, Castiel found himself forgetting all the events of the past few days for just a bit, enjoying pure happiness as he shared the moment with his brother and friend-turned-crush.

After all the burgers had been consumed, and the plates had been cleared, Gabriel left for his room, saying that he ‘had to call Kali’, winking at Castiel as he left.

Castiel internally rolled his eyes at Gabriel’s antics but was glad to enjoy another moment alone with Dean. He was enjoying having these moments with Dean now, genuinely.

Dean put the last plate in the dishwasher and closed it, turning back around towards Castiel with a grin.

“So, what now?”

“I dunno. Anything in mind?” Castiel returned, grinning as well.

A sudden call rang through Dean’s phone.

“Well, if anything does come to mind it’ll be after this call,” he said, pulling out his phone.

“Hm. Benny’s calling me. I wonder what for.”

Castiel shrugged, watching as Dean answered the call.

“Hello,” he said, listening for a moment then putting the phone on speakerphone.

“You got it on speaker mode?” Benny’s voice said gruffly over the phone.

“Yep. Cas can hear as well,” Dean replied.

Castiel raised his eyebrows curiously, looking at Dean, who simply shrugged.

“Alright. Just wanna say, this is some tough news to share, and I’m sorry that I had to be the one to tell y’all.”

Benny sighed, then seemed to choke back a sob, and Castiel looked at Dean with sudden worry now.

Dean stilled, then spoke steadily into the phone. “Who’s dead now?” he asked cautiously.

“I’m afraid it’s Jo, chief,” Benny answered.

Chapter Text

A figure hidden by potted plants surrounding them toyed with a small figurine of an angel on the side table from the couch they were sitting on, texting an unknown number on their phone while doing so. The person stopped typing for a few seconds as their message was sent, and they awaited a reply as they continued to play around with the angel figurine.

Soon after, a sharp ping alerted the person to a new message from the person they were texting.

It’s been done, read the text.

They smiled softly, and chuckled as they typed up their own message in reply.

Good riddance. She was too investigative for her own good.

The person rested their fingers on the screen as the recipient’s chat bubble started to load as a response was typed.

A few seconds later, the other person sent their message. So, who shall we go after next?

The person pondered for a few moments, not typing anything, before finally coming up with something.

I have a different idea.

------------------------------------------------

A knock on the door alerted Castiel, and he turned and rose to answer the door. He cautiously opened it, looking outside.

“Oh, hello Benny. I’m glad you came.”

Benny nodded silently as Castiel opened the door wider, letting Benny in. Both of them made their way towards the couch, where Dean sat still, seeming to still be processing the events from last night.

Castiel sat down next to Dean, as Benny slumped onto the couch as well, everyone silently staring into the distance or looking around.

The floorboards slightly creaked upstairs, Gabriel presumably moving around. He had taken the week off after hearing about Jo’s death, staying home to stay safe and keep Castiel protected.

A few seconds later, the creaking stopped, and the house became quiet once more.

Castiel stared at the TV, the darkened screen showing a murky reflection of himself and the others. He looked at his blank expression distorted in the reflection, his face looking almost surreal.

Suddenly, Dean stood up, throwing down the cup he was holding on the floor violently, making Castiel jump.

“God-damn it! Why did the fucking murderer have to get Jo? Why?” Dean yelled, throwing a pillow next, which harmlessly bounced onto the floor.

Castiel watched as Benny quickly restrained Dean, making him sit back down.

“As much as I understand your pain, brother, this ain’t your house, and you should reconsider destroying Cas’s furniture.”

Dean, who was struggling against Benny, quickly went limp, sighing as he buried his face into his own arms.

Castiel shuffled across the couch towards Dean, sharing a worried glance with Benny. He watched as Dean seemed to silently sob into his arms, pressing himself into the couch. Castiel gently touched Dean’s shoulder, leaning in.

“Dean. It’s ok. I don’t care if you destroy anything, it’s perfectly reasonable.” He paused, waiting a moment, then started patting Dean on the back.

Dean was vocally sobbing into his arms now, really wailing loudly.

Castiel caressed Dean as he sat next to him, murmuring soft comforts to Dean.

“Just let it all out,” Castiel whispered, remembering the tactics Dean had used a few days earlier when the murderer had gotten Meg, and he had been in a similar state.

He bleakly stared at Dean, comforting Dean as he tried to contain himself as well. A single tear dripped down the side of his cheek as he heard Dean continue to cry.

He barely registered the sound of Gabriel rushing into the room to investigate the noise, nor Benny’s hushed whispers to Gabriel. Both of them left the room soon after anyways.

Castiel stopped caressing Dean and let his hand rest on Dean’s shoulder as Dean stopped his loud cries, leveling down to rapid bursts of sniffles and gasps. Castiel reached over to the coffee table, grabbing the tissue box as Dean started coughing. He held the tissue box and grabbed a couple tissues out, putting them in front of Dean.

Dean grew silent after a minute or two, sitting still with his face still pressed against his arms as a couple coughs and sniffles broke through every few seconds.

Castiel looked out the window at the sunny skies outside, and heard a bird whistling a tune in a nearby tree.

The wind breeze blew slightly, and the tree branches rustled.

Dean suddenly sat up, and Castiel looked back, seeing Dean’s reddened eyes, tear-streaked face, and anguish that seeped through his expression. Dean seemed to notice the tissues Castiel had left out for him, and picked them up, silently wiping his face and blowing his nose.

He coughed once more, looking around at the mess on the floor. After a moment, he sighed.

“I’m really sorry, Cas. I shouldn’t be like this. Really, I mean, really.” He scrunched his face momentarily. “I got too worked up there. I’ll control myself better next time.”

Dean looked like he was about to cry again, and so Castiel hugged him, shushing Dean.

“Shh. No need to apologize, Dean. Expressing your emotions is perfectly natural and understandable after what happened. I’d react the same way.” Castiel paused, then remembering his reaction to Meg, continued. “Scratch that. I have reacted in the same way. It’s just our way of coping, I guess.”

Dean gripped Castiel tighter in his hug. “You’re right Cas,” he said a few seconds later. “This is all too goddamn overwhelming.”

Castiel nodded in agreement.

“Jo should have lived,” Dean said, sighing. “She should have gotten to go to college in New York like she wanted. She shouldn't have died to the hands of that scumbag. Fucking hell..”

They stayed there, hugging before slowly falling apart and sitting side by side on the couch.

Castiel looked again into the reflection of themselves on the murky TV screen. They were both a mess. Grief surged through Castiel’s entire body once more, before shooting into his heart like a misfired firework.

He grimaced at the sharp pain and leaned onto Dean silently, Dean leaning on Castiel’s head in return.

“Will life ever return back to normal?” Castiel whispered.

“I don’t know,” Dean replied.

Castiel offered a hand, which Dean grasped.

They tightly held onto each other as that bird outside in the tree yet again sung its tune.

Castiel saw Gabriel peek into the room then out of the corner of his eye. He watched as Gabriel silently entered the room, holding a broom and a dustpan, starting to sweep up the broken cup shards on the floor.

Benny entered the room as well, picking up the pillow leaning on the side of the wall, before putting it next to Dean.

Castiel watched this all, before looking down at his hand, holding onto Dean’s, studying the intricate wrinkles and marks on both of their hands.

Dean gripped his hand tighter, the pressure making their hands go white where they gripped each other.

“I’m glad to have you,” Dean whispered, just loud enough for only Castiel to hear him.

I love you , Castiel thought. I need you to stay safe. I care for you. Forever.  

“I’m glad as well,” Castiel whispered instead, Dean brushing his other hand on the pillow next to him.

Benny walked back out into the other room, Gabriel following him with the dustpan in hand.

Gabriel shot Castiel a look as he left, a silent message conveying worry to him.

Castiel gave a look back, his eyes telling Gabriel that all was okay, they were both going to be fine, for now.

Gabriel turned away, leaving the room.

After a moment, Dean spoke. “We’re going to find that motherfucker that killed Jo and Meg.”

Castiel nodded once more. “We’re going to find them both."

------------------------------------------------

“Local news reporter and beloved community member Chuck Shurley was murdered yesterday night, dead in a brutal attack which left 4 dead, including a teenage girl. Police suspect that the perpetrator was the highly active “ghostface” killer, who has recently murdered four other victims, leaving two others missing. The community of Lawrence has been on high alert, and city officials are advising everyone to stay at home and lock all doors, staying cautious and vigilant, and reporting any suspicious incidents to police immediately..”

The TV continued to drone on in the background as a figure took a draw on their cigarette, puffing smoke out as they watched the report.

A smile crept onto their face as they fiddled with their phone in their lap. A few seconds later, a call rang through, and the person picked up, putting it to their ear.

“Are you there yet?”

A brash voice rang through the phone in response. “Yes, I’m here.”

“Good. You have your gun, correct?”

“I do.”

“Keep it loaded. I’ll make sure to get everyone moving along to the house. Ambush them if you can when they get there.”

“I understand.”

“And don’t worry. I’ll arrive when they do.”

“Got it.”

The person put down their phone, and stood up, stretching.

“Time to make some moves myself,” they muttered, checking their pocket for the knife they knew was there, then sauntered out.

------------------------------------------------

 Castiel watched a car drive past the house, some red, beat-up truck, as he sat comfortably on the patio couch.

Next to him, Dean was on the phone. “Alright, alright. Just know, I’m putting my full trust in you to solve this. Don’t disappoint me,” he said, hanging up.

Castiel looked at Dean. “What did Ruby say?”

“She’s working on it. Said she has a narrowed list of suspects that she’s going to narrow down further to just the two we need.”

“That’s good,” Castiel noted, looking out into the street again.

He thought about what Ruby had said to him at the memorial service last night.

Is Dean or Benny really likely to be a murderer? I don’t think so. Both of them were really anguished over Jo, and I don’t see any of them actually committing a murder. Besides, Ruby might be wrong, he thought.

He remembered how Dean had been with him the entirety of the time when the murders of last night had happened as well.

It can’t be Dean. There’s no possibility. And Benny was with Andrea, she’d most likely confirm that anyways. She’s not even a suspect so Benny’s probably clear too. Which means Ruby is wrong, he concluded.

Another car passed by, this time a blue sedan, going fast in the opposite direction as the truck from earlier.

The front door opened, and Benny stepped out.

“Gabriel’s gonna be getting someone named Kali to come over. He’s planning on barricading the house up and setting up defenses until this all is over. Said he’s gonna go stock up on groceries and essential supplies soon.”

“Alright. By the way, Kali is Gabriel’s girlfriend,” Castiel replied.

Benny nodded, looking at Castiel and Dean sitting on the patio couch, noting that there was no space.

“Well, you two seem comfortable enough. Hope you enjoy yourselves. After Gabriel goes out and comes back, he’d want you two both back in the house though.”

Castiel nodded, and heard the garage door opening as Benny finished up speaking.

All three of them watched as Gabriel pulled out of the driveway, waving at them as he pulled out, accelerating onto the road and speeding away.

“Well, off he goes. He’ll be back soon,” Benny said.

He took out a pack of cigarettes, offering them to Castiel and Dean. “Need one?” he asked.

Both of them shook their heads politely, and Benny shrugged.

“Alright. Guess I’ll keep these to myself,” he said, pocketing the cigarettes in his pocket as he replaced the pack with a phone. “I’ll just call Andrea and make sure she’s really safe. Her parents are protecting her real well but you never know.”

Benny opened the door and entered the house, leaving Castiel and Dean alone on the patio again. 

------------------------------------------------

“Oh fucking hell, he’s doing it again,” Balthazar groaned, his voice slightly distorting on the speaker on the car.

“Yikes,” Ruby replied, turning her turn signal on and making a left at the intersection.

Next to her in the car, Alfie quietly munched on pizza, scrolling through his phone.

“I fucking swear, if he doesn’t learn to watch whatever he’s watching with HEADPHONES or on MUTE, I’m going to go out there and destroy his fucking phone.”

Ruby silently giggled as she heard some unintelligible loud music in the background once more, as Balthazar yelled in frustration again.

“TURN YOUR FUCKING MUSIC DOWN!!” Balthazar screamed, sighing loudly.

Alfie rolled his eyes as he turned the car’s stereo volume down, putting Balthazar’s screaming at a much more tolerable level.

“God, I hate the French,” Balthazar muttered. “I’m hanging up now. Tell me more later.”

A steady beeping tone indicated the end of the call, and Ruby exited off the screen and went to her music instead. She sped down Monterey Way as the opening instrumental for some Frou Frou song kicked in, Alfie looking out the window.

As she turned onto 6th Street, another call suddenly rang through the car, pausing the music.

“Alfie, could you answer that?” Ruby asked, speeding up to merge.

Alfie tapped the console with his hand that was not greasy from eating the pizza, squinting to see the name.

“Hello?” a gruff voice asked on the phone.

“Hello!” Alfie exclaimed. “What’s the reason for calling?”

“Yeah, so uh, I got some new evidence..” the mysterious voice said, trailing off suddenly.

Alfie blinked after an uncomfortable silence dragged on, before asking. “Hello?”

“Sorry. Got distracted. But yeah, uh. Listen carefully, because I think I found some really important information.”

“Listening..” Ruby said, stopping at a red light.

As the person started speaking, Alfie, who was in the middle of eating his pizza slice, froze, eyes widening.

The light turned green once more after a few seconds, and Ruby didn’t move. A car behind her honked, and she quickly accelerated.

“I’m going there now,” she said with new determination, speeding past the speed limit as Alfie looked worriedly at Ruby.

Ruby hung up the call, speeding down the road towards her destination.

“What are we gonna do when we get there?” Alfie asked.

“You’ll see.”

------------------------------------------------

Castiel dusted off his hands, looking at the barricades he had prepared with the others around the house.

“This’ll keep those murderers from entering with no warning now, at least,” Gabriel said. “Now, it’s getting late, so we should really get some sleep.”

“Benny, are you staying?” Castiel asked.

“Yeah, my parents should be fine with it,” Benny replied, checking his phone. He pocketed his phone, looking around.

“Unfortunately we don’t have any more beds available right now, so we might have to pull out the air mattress from the garage,” Gabriel said.

Kali walked into the room just then, having arrived just a couple minutes prior. She whispered something into Gabriel’s ear, and he smiled, whispering something back.

“Well, me and Kali are gonna head upstairs now. Castiel knows where the air mattress is, so just ask him for help. Good night!”

Gabriel left the room along with Kali, leaving Castiel rolling his eyes as he beckoned for Benny to follow him. He entered the garage, looking around for the mattress, the lone light flickering slightly above him as he picked up the rolled up mattress.

“Here it is,” Castiel said, taking the mattress back into the house.

Benny silently followed him, shutting the garage door behind him as they entered the living room again.

Dean was sitting on the couch now, seeming to have finished up the final barricades in the dining room. When he saw Castiel carrying the mattress into the room, something shifted in his face.

“Is Benny planning on sleeping here in the living room?” he asked, to which both Benny and Castiel nodded.

“Oh, we don’t need to do that. Benny, you can take the guest room. I can sleep on the mattress instead. I’ve been in that room for a while now so it’s fine,” he rambled, taking the mattress from Castiel and laying it down.

“Dean, you don’t have to-” Benny started, but Dean held a hand up.

“I insist. You take the guest room, I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Dean..” Castiel said, giving Dean a look. “At least if you’re gonna do it, stay in my room. You’re not safe downstairs here, alone.”

Dean paused in setting up the mattress on the living room floor, looking back up. “Well, if you insist, Cas, sure. I guess it’ll be safer.”

Castiel raised an eyebrow, expecting more resistance from Dean, but nonetheless turned around and started heading upstairs. “Well, in that case, I’ll help you move out your stuff from the guest room to my room, and get Benny situated in that room.”

“Alrighty. Thanks, Cas,” Dean said behind him, as they all trailed up the stairs. 

------------------------------------------------

The phone rang once more in Ruby’s car as she slowed down, and she tapped the answer button while pulling into a parking spot on the quiet residential street they were on.

“What now?” she demanded, motioning to Alfie to get something from the trunk.

“Hey, so actually, could you come pick me up? I want to be there with you. Extra manpower, y’know,” the gruff voice from earlier said.

“Are you serious?” Ruby asked, sighing as she closed her eyes.

“Yeah, sorry, I know you wanted to do this as quickly as possible, but it’s nice to be safer with more people.”

“Fine,” she said after a moment, the car shaking as Alfie slammed the trunk down. “I’ll go pick you up, but no more stopping for anything else after that.”

She hung up the call as Alfie entered the car once more, the metal object he held gleaming in the street light as he proudly showed it to Ruby.

“Put it in the glovebox. We’ll need it later,” Ruby said.

“Don’t you mean now?” Alfie asked, looking down the street.

“No. We need to pick someone up.” She stepped on the accelerator, throwing Alfie back as she sped back down the street.

“Picking up who?” Alfie asked, shaken but quickly recovering as he put the object in the glovebox.

“You know who.”

She turned the radio up, music roaring through the car as the vehicle zipped through the street, heading rapidly towards their new destination.

------------------------------------------------

As Castiel put down the pillow on the air mattress, a phone rang on the floor.

Castiel slightly jumped, not a fan of cellphone calls now after all the recent news that he heard on call being all bad. He warily stared at the phone, which was Dean’s, as he approached it slowly.

SAMMY , read the contact, and he picked it up, taking it with him as he walked over to the bathroom. He knocked on the door, and Dean peaked out with a toothbrush in his mouth, the toothpaste foaming at his mouth as he gave a questioning look towards Castiel.

“I think your brother is calling,” Castiel simply said, handing the phone over to Dean, who looked at the phone with a frown.

Dean quickly spat out the gunk in his mouth and answered the call.

“Hello?” Dean said, putting the phone up to his ear.

Castiel silently walked away, letting Dean call his brother in privacy, as he reached the bedroom and fell on his bed. He took out the dog-eared copy of the paperback he had been reading, and flipped to the page he left off on as he settled in on his bed and started reading.

A knock on the door interrupted him just a few seconds later, and he looked up, seeing Benny at the door.

“Where’s Dean?” Benny asked, looking around.

“Bathroom. He’s calling his brother right now, though.”

Benny nodded in understanding. “Well, tell him I needa talk about something when he comes back. Thanks!”

Benny walked back to where he came from, and Castiel looked back down at his book.

As he looked for the exact sentence he had paused on, another knock interrupted him, and he looked back up, slightly annoyed.

“Night night, little bro. Stay safe,” Gabriel said, looking in. He looked down at the air mattress with Dean’s stuff on the floor. “Stay protected as well. Don’t wanna hear anything.”

Gabriel snickered as he closed the door, the pillow Castiel had thrown at him bouncing harmlessly off the closed door.

“Ugh,” Castiel muttered silently to himself, picking the book up from the floor, where it had fallen when he had picked up a pillow to throw. He looked through the pages for where he had been, blowing a puff of air out in annoyance once more as he searched for the page.

He finally found it, and glanced warily at the door, before starting to read once more. The door slammed open, making Castiel jump, dropping the book again.

“What,” Castiel said, fully annoyed now.

His annoyance dropped when he saw Dean’s grim expression.

The expression which was usually reserved for when Dean has just found out something bad.

Something bad, such as another murder.

“Who?” Castiel asked, barely over a whisper.

“Not a who, Cas.” Dean’s eyes glistened, and he looked.. murderous?

“Sammy just found something, Cas. We need to go,” he said.

“..What?” Castiel said, sitting up.

“Sammy found out who the murderer is, and where they are, right now. We need to go, as I said.”

Castiel stood up. “He did?” he asked, picking up his phone hurriedly and pocketing it, racing to the closet to put on a jacket. “Where is the murderer? And who is it?”

Dean grinned, not the joking, small grin he gave Castiel on the usual, but a more menacing grin. “We finally caught this motherfucker. It’s fucking Balthazar.”

Castiel’s face steeled.

“And he’s at his house. No, not the one out of town, but the one we went to the first party at. The house where Ash was murdered,” Dean continued.

Castiel felt his fists clench, the jacket forgotten for now. “Balthazar. It was him all along..” he felt a surge of anger rise up in him, remembering Meg. “Let’s go.”

He picked up the jacket, rushing downstairs loudly, Dean following him with a similar expression as they both raced towards the garage.

“Where are y’all going?” Benny asked behind them, alarmed, as he watched them both from the guest room.

Castiel waved Benny off as he picked up the car keys from the drawer in the kitchen, unlocking the doors to his car after entering the garage. He pressed open the garage door as he got in the car, Dean getting in beside him.

Benny rushed into the garage just then, running to the car and getting in the back.

“I don’t know where y’all are going, but I don’t like the looks on your faces. I’m here to stop you both from doing anything too crazy,” he said, putting his seatbelt on.

“Considering we’re going to kill the murderer right now, I would advise you don’t try to stop us,” Castiel said, backing up out of the garage.

He watched Gabriel and Kali enter the garage, waving and yelling, as he quickly reversed out and left the house.

“Hey what now? Wait, don’t you think you should at least tell Gabriel what you plan to do?” Benny asked, looking worriedly back.

“No,” both Dean and Castiel said, as they drove towards Balthazar’s house.

A lone piece of paper got caught up in the tires as they raced along the street, and it fluttered behind them, before coming to a rest in the gutter.

MISSING: Have you seen me? Meg Masters, Becky Rosen. If you know where they are, please contact 911 immediately .

Chapter Text

“So what you’re saying is that Sam found out early on that it was Balthazar? How?” Benny asked, leaning forward.

“Sammy scoured the internet, looking for anything that could help. He eventually started contacting some people’s parents, and as they reached back to him, he found something strange in Balthazar’s parents’ response,” Dean said. “With the evidence we gave Sammy, it seemed that Balthazar was in lockdown at his parents’ second home out of town, with a bodyguard guarding him and not being allowed out anywhere, right?”

“Right,” Benny replied.

“But the thing is, there was no bodyguard. His parents were confused on what Sammy meant, and told Sammy that Balthazar was staying with his friend at the university instead. Which directly contradicts what Balthazar told us all. What nailed it in the coffin for Sammy was when he was looking through public traffic cameras and found the ghostface driving along Mass Street from the night Lilith died, in a car. He searched up the license plate, and lo and behold, the plate led to Balthazar’s car.”

“Well, why didn’t Sam tell us all this when he found out about it then?” Benny asked.

“Well, Jessica was murdered because somehow Balthazar and the other ghostface found out. Then an anonymous threat appeared via text. They said that if Sammy were to tell anyone about this, then even when Balthazar was arrested the other ghostface would do anything to kill me. But he told me now, because he believes that I have the ability to stay safe. I’m with you all now, right? I believe in my own ability to survive a ghostface attack.” 

“Huh,” Benny simply stated, sitting back down normally.

“Yeah. Anyway, Sammy decided to ask around, looking for where Balthazar really was, and he found Balthazar’s friend from university. The friend told Sammy that Balthazar had told him he was heading out back to his old house to pick up some movies to watch later tonight. So we know that Balthazar is at the house right now.”

Castiel, who had been intently listening to the entire conversation while driving, smiled. Something in his gut told him that there was no possibility that Dean could ever be the murderer after hearing that. He sped up, pulling onto the street with Balthazar’s house, and drove down the road, approaching the end of the block, where the house sat. Next to him, Dean and Benny quieted down and stared out the window at Balthazar’s house, which quickly approached, looming over the neighborhood in its enormity. The entire house was dark, no signs of movement inside, and Castiel parked the car on the side of the street, looking around.

“There’s Balthazar’s car,” Dean said, pointing to a black BMW sedan parked in the driveway of the house. “At least we know he’s actually here.”

They got out of the car, walking cautiously to the house.

“Wait wait wait,” Benny suddenly said, stopping. “How are you guys planning on killing Balthazar, let alone subduing him? We have no weapons.”

Castiel paused, reconsidering his plan suddenly.

“Hmm, didn’t think of that,” Dean said next to him. “Wait, I have something.”

Dean dug through his coat pocket, before taking out a small object. “Pocket knife,” he said, unsheathing the knife and showing Benny and Castiel.

Benny raised his eyebrows. “You sure that’ll be good enough?” he asked.

Dean nodded, and started making his way up towards Balthazar’s house once more.

“Hey, wait a second. You guys might really wanna reconsider going in there to kill Balthazar. Wouldn’t it be better to just.. y’know, call the police, get him arrested?”

Castiel and Dean both looked back.

“No, I want to avenge Jo,” Dean said at the same time Castiel said, “No, I want to avenge Meg.” They both advanced towards the house, Benny scratching the back of his head and staying still.

Castiel reached the door first, and jiggled the doorknob, and felt it open. He creaked the door open silently, looking inside, seeing darkness.

“C’mon,” he whispered, motioning to Dean to follow, but before he could open the door wider, a noise outside distracted him. He peaked back outside in confusion, seeing a crowd outside.

“What the hell?” he said seeing at least five people standing about instead of just Benny.

“Are you serious?” said a familiar voice, and Ruby stepped into the light, Alfie right behind her. Both of them wore matching, unamused faces.

“Why are you here?” Ruby demanded, and Castiel noticed that she was holding a gun.

“I don’t know about you, but we’re here to find Balthazar,” he replied.

“And with what weapon exactly?”

Dean held up his pocket knife once more.

Ruby took a glimpse of the weapon and covered her mouth with a hand, snickering.

Dean glared. “What, it’s still sharp and deadly enough.”

“Well, no duh, but Balthazar is fucking ghostface, remember? He’s gonna have weapons of his own,” Ruby said. “That’s why we need a gun. Guns always defeat the ghostface in the movies anyway.”

Dean continued to glare, but put his pocket knife away. “Ok, if you’re so confident in this gun, lead the way,” he said, opening the door fully.

Ruby smiled and went inside, Alfie following closely behind as she leveled her gun in the air, scanning the dark room as she entered.

Before Castiel entered, he looked back, seeing none other than those two scrawny dudes from the party.

Dean seemed to notice the two as well. “Wait. Keith and Gavin?” Dean said, looking confused.

“Kevin and Garth,” Garth corrected. “And yes, that’s us! We’re here to help.”

“Why are you two here?” Castiel asked.

“We’ve been working closely with Ruby as well. I’m the one who found out that it was Balthazar at first,” Kevin said. He held a taser in one hand. “Just in case anything goes wrong, we’re the extra manpower backing Ruby and Alfie up.”

“I’m glad that you three could join us as well,” Garth said. “We’ll need all the help we can get going up against Balthazar. Chances are the other ghostface could be here as well.”

With that, Garth and Kevin entered the house, disappearing into the darkness with Ruby and Alfie.

Castiel stood still on the porch, looking at Dean, then Benny, then back at Dean.

“Well, let’s enter, I guess. Don’t wanna lose the others,” Dean said.

“I guess I’ll come too,” Benny said, following Dean.

Castiel was left alone on the porch, and he worriedly glanced inside. With the addition of Garth and Kevin, the majority of the people on his suspects list were inside the house right now, including Balthazar. The only people not here right now were Bela, Cassie, and Pamela.

This means that the chances of the second ghostface being in the house right now is astronomically high , Castiel thought.

Dean poked his head back out the front door, pulling Castiel by the hand.

“C’mon. Don’t stay alone, we’re in the vicinity of the killer and need to stick together.”

As they entered, the door silently closed, fitting into the doorframe with a clunk.

------------------------------------------------

“Shh,” someone said, as the group made their way silently through the winding hallways.

The house had been cleared out completely of the crime scene it seemed, and Castiel looked into the TV room where Ash had first been murdered, now devoid of any furniture except for a couple shelving units on the sides of the room. Up front, Alfie used a phone flashlight as a light source as Ruby swept her gun around, looking for signs of movement. They started to slowly make their way up the stairs to the second floor.

A slight creaking sound made everybody’s heads whip towards the source, and Garth sheepishly took his foot off of a particularly creaky step. As Castiel passed by the step, he avoided it, seeing those behind him follow his movement as well. Ruby was at the top of the stairs now, and she started to slowly walk down the hallway.

“Check Balthazar’s room,” Kevin whisper-shouted, and Ruby nodded, walking over towards a room on the left side of the hallway, just two doors down. As she reached the door, it suddenly jiggled.

Alfie quickly hid his camera light as everyone scrambled down, Ruby aiming her gun to shoot as soon as whoever it was came out of the room.

The door creaked open.

“I’m telling you, I heard someone,” an unknown voice whispered, and a shadowed figure poked their head out the door.

As soon as the figure was seen, Alfie shined the light again, Ruby quickly advancing.

“Don’t move,” she ordered, pointing the gun right at the person.

They put their hands up and froze, and the light finally caught their figure completely.

It was Pamela Barnes.

“What the fuck are you doing here,” Ruby demanded, shoving the gun closer.

“Wait, wait! Stop!” Pamela said, holding her hands up in a plea as she backed up.

“Ruby?” asked a different voice behind Pamela, and Castiel peeked to catch a glimpse of who it was.

Bela Talbot peeked out from behind Pamela with a shocked expression on her face. “Why are you guys all here?” Bela asked.

“Well, we’re here to kill the ghostface, who is QUITE LITERALLY in this house RIGHT NOW. What are YOU doing here?” Ruby said.

“What are you talking about? We’re just here to fetch some movies from Balthazar’s collection to watch! I thought this was an empty house, Balthazar said so!” Bela shouted.

“Balthazar is the fucking murderer!” Alfie said, looking around quickly after to see if he was actually around.

Pamela covered her mouth in shock, and Bela’s eyes widened.

“Are you deadass?” she asked. “AND he’s here right now?”

A quick nod from everyone else confirmed this.

“Oh, no no no. Not today, I’m getting out of here,” Bela said, putting her hands up as she ran past Pamela in the doorway, sprinting towards the stairs and running down.

Castiel watched as she disappeared into the hallway.

“You should go too, Pamela,” Garth said. “This is a dangerous situation and you’re unarmed.”

“Alright,” Pamela said shakily, quickly following Bela down the stairs and disappearing from sight as well.

Everyone took a moment to breath before someone spoke.

“Ok, since that was a false alarm and we made a lot of noise during that procedure, I’m pretty sure Balthazar knows we’re here,” Kevin said. He nervously looked around. “Be extra cautious when looking into rooms.”

They continued on, slower than before, but still making some progress. Ruby poked open a door with her gun, scanning the room, before suddenly pausing. She turned back, silently beckoning the others to follow her into the room. Everyone filed into the room, Benny at the back closing the door behind them so no sneak attacks could happen. A muffled banging sound from the closet suddenly made everyone’s heads turn.

Ruby motioned for Kevin to open the door, and Kevin cautiously approached the closet, taser held steady in front of him. He approached the door, then turned back to Ruby, signaling for her to get ready. Ruby got into position, everyone else crouching down behind her, except for Alfie, who kept his light steadily trained on the door from just next to Ruby.

Kevin counted down from 3 on his fingers.

Three..

Two..

One..

NOW!

Kevin flung the door open, hiding over to the side. Ruby shot multiple times into the closet at whatever was there. The light fell as Alfie jumped and dropped his phone, crouching down from the gunshots. A few seconds passed of quiet in the darkness, and as a few clamors from different people rose up, someone picked the phone up, shining the light into the closet. The light caught a person’s body laying slumped against the wall, and Ruby approached silently.

She peeked at the person’s face, and her face fell. “Shit..” she said. “This isn’t Balthazar. It’s Becky Rosen..”

Someone gasped as Castiel looked closer at the body. The dead person, who was a girl he didn’t recognize, must have been the Becky that Meg was with when she went missing.

“Wait, was she alive before you shot her?” Benny asked, stepping closer to the body.

“I- I don’t know,” Ruby said, dropping the gun.

Another thump sounded from within the closet, making everyone jump. A muffled sound of someone yelling could be heard further into the closet, and Kevin, who was the closest, quickly approached with his taser.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed, upon seeing whoever it was in the closet. Kevin quickly sidestepped Becky’s body and picked up whoever was in the closet, helping them out. He looked out at the crowd of people. “Meg Masters! She’s alive!” he shouted.

Wait.

Meg.

Meg is ALIVE??

Castiel blinked rapidly, and suddenly Meg was appearing out of the closet, bloodied and tied up but ALIVE and BREATHING. Castiel froze in place, then suddenly people were rushing forward, helping Meg out of her bonds, asking her if she was okay, if the ghostface was near, and so on.

Meg looked a bit dazed, and she started coughing after someone untied the rag restricting her mouth. She looked around the room, and then her eyes landed on Castiel.

Clarence, she mouthed softly.

Everything paused for a second, then Castiel was uncontrollably moving towards Meg. He embraced her in a tight hug, sobbing out loud.

“Woah. Easy there, Clarence, I’m still a bit weak.” Meg whispered hoarsely, as she hugged him back.

“I thought you were dead,” Castiel said. “I’m so glad you’re still alive.”

“I kept fighting as hard as I could. He was keeping us both barely alive in this closet..” Meg said.

He looked down at Becky’s dead body after that. “Was Becky alive as well when we got here?” he asked.

“No.. he shot her dead like an hour or so before.”

“Oh,” Castiel simply said. He held Meg at arm’s length. “Well, welcome back. We’re going to get Balthazar for you.”

Meg smiled gently, her eyes outlined with dark circles and her face looking a bit gaunt. “Thank you, Clarence.”

Ruby suddenly cleared her throat. “So, uh. Was Becky dead before this?”

Meg fixed her with an unreadable stare. “Yes. Balthazar had already killed her before you guys came.”

Ruby seemed to relax significantly. She whispered something rapidly to Alfie, who was glaring at Ruby prior but had calmed a bit down now after hearing that.

Meg tapped on Castiel’s arm, signaling to let her go. She raised her arms after he let go, gesturing towards everyone.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go kill that motherfucker once and for all now.” 

------------------------------------------------

They had decided to go downstairs after not finding Balthazar in any of the upper rooms, cautiously going down the stairs and inspecting the area, before grabbing some extra knives from the kitchen and arming themselves.

“The lower floors are bigger and have more rooms than the upper floor. We might need to split up into groups to cover the entire area,” Ruby said, brandishing her gun.

“But wait-” Alfie started to protest, but Ruby clamped her hand on his mouth.

“We can’t let him escape. If we take much longer he might find a way out of here and leave us back at square one. Therefore we need to split up.”

A couple of people nodded their heads at that.

“Ok. I’ll go with Kevin then,” Garth said.

“I’ll go with Clarence,” Meg said, putting her hand on Castiel’s shoulder as she looked at the knife in her other hand.

“I’m with ya once more, chief,” Benny said, patting Dean on the back.

Dean glanced at Castiel slightly but still stood back, next to Benny.

“And that leaves me and Alfie. Since I have the gun, yell for help once you find him.”

“Got it,” Kevin said. “Me and Garth will go left.”

“We can follow you guys and split off when we reach a split or something,” Meg said.

“I guess we’ll go right, then,” Benny said.

“We will go down the main hallway. Right down the center,” Ruby said. “Let's get a move on, now.”

Castiel watched as Dean followed Benny down the right hallway, and Dean glanced back at Castiel before leaving.

Castiel smiled slightly at Dean, before suddenly being grabbed by Meg and dragged along towards the left.

“Hurry, Clarence, we should keep up with Garth and Kevin for now.”

He broke eye contact with Dean as he started down the darkened hallway, following the light up ahead illuminating the hallway, coming from Kevin’s cell phone.

“You guys check the right, we’ll check the left,” Garth whispered back towards them, as they came up to two rooms across from each other.

Meg went forward, opening the door and peeking in, before poking her knife through the door and turning the light on. Castiel looked into the room as well from behind her, seeing what looked to be some sort of bathroom. The curtain was drawn open already, and it seemed there was nobody inside.

“A dud, let’s go,” Meg said, turning the lights back off.

Castiel blinked his eyes as the sudden flash made him go blind in the dark for a few moments. Another light shone through from across the hallway, as Garth and Kevin made their way out of the room on that side.

“It’s just a laundry room. Nobody here,” Kevin said.

The four continued along the hallway before reaching a sharp corner. Kevin motioned everyone to stay back, gripping his taser as he looked around the corner carefully, before signaling the all-clear.

“Three doors here. Look into each room, see which one’s the smallest, and we can check that together first before moving on separately to the bigger rooms,” Meg said.

Castiel opened the door closest to him, seeing an office. “This room seems small,” he said, turning around.

“We got a gym here, there’s a door on the opposite side of the room,” Garth called out, closing his door gently.

“This leads to the library. It’s probably the biggest room,” Kevin said, looking into his room. “There’s multiple doors all around here. Might be where Balthazar is hiding.”

“Let’s check the office first,” Meg suggested.

They all entered the office, looking behind the desk carefully and checking the larger cabinets.

“Nope, nothing. Let’s go to the gym now,” Kevin said.

As he walked towards the door, a sudden shadow flashed past. Kevin fell back in surprise, and Meg pulled Castiel down behind the office desk.

After a moment of shocked silence, Garth spoke. “Who was that?!” he exclaimed.

The door suddenly burst open fully, and Bela Talbot stood before them, panting heavily. “Oh my god, finally I found other people! I’ve been running around this fucking mansion trying to get out but I can’t!” She closed the door and locked it, putting her back to the door.

“What are you still doing inside?” Castiel asked.

“I tried leaving earlier as soon as you guys told me to, but the door was locked from the outside or something. I tried looking for the back door, but suddenly the fucking ghostface popped up out of nowhere in the hallway and tried chasing me, so I was running around.” She stood up from the door, approaching them and sitting down on the office chair.

“Where did you last see him?” Meg asked, standing up.

“I think it was near the bathroom next to the TV room, I don’t really remember.”

“Ok. Let’s go,” she said, motioning towards Kevin. “We have the weapons we can take him down.” She unlocked the door, walking outside.

“What the fuck?” Bela said. “He has a GUN!” she yelled, covering her mouth right after, realizing how loud that was.

Meg re-entered the room, closing it partially. “Well, we have to find Ruby, then. Let’s go look for her, I’m pretty sure we can retrace our steps back to the area Ruby and Alfie went off towards.”

Meg opened the door again, and Castiel stood up, following Meg out.

“Hey, don’t leave without me!” Bela said, sticking close behind Garth and Kevin as they too exited the room. “It’s a death sentence being alone out there,” she said, shivering.

“Wait a second. Where’s Pamela? We sent her down to the exit with you,” Kevin said, frowning.

“Pamela? I don’t fucking know, I haven’t seen her since I went downstairs.”

“Hm,” Kevin said. “That’s suspicious..”

Garth suddenly pointed down the hallway, eyes widening.

“RUN!” he shouted, and everybody whipped back around, seeing none other than ghostface, standing menacingly at the end of the hallway, holding a gun.

They raised the weapon in the air.

Everyone scrambled, Castiel ducking as he heard the loud blasts of gunshots behind him. Bullets whizzed past him, exploding into the walls and raining plaster and wood chips down on them as they ran down the narrow hallway.

“In here!” Kevin shouted, opening the door to the library and running inside.

Castiel followed Meg into the room, Garth and Bela running in behind them. Kevin slammed the door shut as gunshots continued to ring out. He locked the door and backed away right as one bullet pierced the door leaving a small splintered hole in it as it shot into the room somewhere.

“Oh gosh,” Garth muttered.

“There!” Kevin shouted, directing everyone towards a door on the opposite side of the vast library.

They ran towards it, and Kevin opened the door, looking inside.

“Shit, this is a broom closet,” he said, as the door they had just come through burst open.

The ghostface menacingly stepped in, raising their gun again. Bela screamed as everyone ducked once more, the gun going off above their heads. Castiel crawled under one of the tables, everyone else scattering. He continued crawling, using the tables as coverage as he made his way towards a door on the side of the room that he hadn’t seen earlier when entering. He saw out of the corner of his eye as the ghostface chased some people running out of the room, and he made a break for it, going towards the door and opening it, locking it and hunkering down.

A sudden knocking sound startled him, but then heard Meg on the other side of the door. “Open the door, Clarence,” Meg shouted, and he did just so, letting Meg in.

He didn’t see the ghostface at all outside, but he closed the door again, locking it. They stayed there, catching their breaths as Castiel looked around the room.

It was another small office space, but a window illuminated the room with the light of the moon outside.

“Ghostface went after Bela or Kevin. Garth went the opposite direction last I saw,” Meg said.

“We should go out and find Ruby right now,” Castiel said.

“I agree. We need that gun in order to fight Balthazar.”

“Do you think I should open the door now?” Castiel asked.

Meg shrugged then shushed Castiel for a second, putting her ear to the door.

After a moment, she stepped back. “Open the door. I don’t hear him.”

Castiel unlocked the door and opened it, stepping outside. The ghostface wasn’t anywhere in sight, and he made a beeline for the other door that ghostface hadn’t gone through. Meg followed closely behind, and he made his way through the door, which was open.

“Garth must’ve gone this way,” Meg said behind him.

Castiel nodded in understanding as he stealthily crouch-walked his way down the hallway towards an area they hadn’t been down yet. A door opened at the end of the hallway, and Castiel froze, Meg bumping into him before she froze as well. They watched, silently, as Garth stepped out from a room.

“Hey!” Castiel whisper-shouted, and Garth turned towards them, quickly running towards them after noticing them.

“Where did Kevin and Bela go?” Garth whispered, crouching down next to Castiel.

“The opposite direction,” Meg said. “The ghostface followed them.”

A gunshot rang out once more faintly in the distance, and Castiel looked warily down the hallway. Rapid footsteps approached behind them suddenly, and everyone turned around.

“Shit, I dropped my knife somewhere,” Meg said, looking around on the floor.

“We have no weapons,” Garth said. “Get ready to run.”

The footsteps turned the corner, and Castiel relaxed as he saw Ruby walking towards them.

“Where’s Balthazar? We heard some commotion coming from over here,” Ruby demanded.

“He’s just down the hallway that way,” Meg said, pointing towards where the ghostface had run earlier.

“Let’s go, before it’s too late,” Ruby said, running in that direction.

Meg started running after Ruby as well, so Castiel and Garth followed them in picking up the pace.

“Wait, where’s Alfie?” Garth asked while they were running.

“I have no clue. He ran off somewhere because the ghostface came up to us. The ghostface ran in this direction last I saw, so I was following it.”

A scream rang through the house up ahead, and Ruby started sprinting. She turned a corner and fell down, crashing into someone as Meg skidded to a stop, Castiel barely coming to a stop himself as Garth stopped further behind them.

“Ugh,” Ruby groaned, sitting up.

Bela stood up frantically, looking around wildly. “There’s a fucking dead person over there, you guys need to run, now!” She took off once more, running back towards the direction where they came from.

“Wait! Come back!” Garth shouted, following Bela.

Castiel watched them both disappear into the darkness as Ruby stood up, holding her gun shakily.

“Ghostface must be up ahead,” she said. “We need to continue on without them.”

Ruby started her journey back up, and Castiel and Meg followed closely behind. As they walked past different rooms, Castiel recognized the living room from his time here at the party. They walked past the bathroom, and the TV room next to it, each person looking into the rooms as they passed. They turned another corner, when suddenly, Ruby paused.

Castiel squinted down the hallway, seeing a light on in a room off to the left.

“Shh,” Ruby said, walking slowly down the hallway towards that room, gun drawn.

Meg pulled Castiel back suddenly. “Let Ruby deal with it. She has the gun.”

She waited for Ruby to reach a couple hundred feet ahead of them, then slowly started following.

Up ahead, Ruby finally had reached the room with the light, and she paused, looking back at them. She nodded slightly at Castiel and Meg, before whipping into the room, pointing her gun. Someone in the room shouted, and Ruby started firing her gun rapidly. The gunshots once again reverberated throughout the house, and after six shots, Ruby put her gun down slowly.

She suddenly smiled, dropping the gun. “YES!!”

Meg pulled Castiel towards the room, and both of them peeked in.

“I GOT HIM!!” Ruby shouted again, pointing triumphantly at a body in the dead center of the room.

Balthazar lay on the floor in a crumpled-up position, blood pooling around him.

Castiel noted that there was another body in the room just next to Balthazar. “Who’s that?” he asked, pointing at the other body.

Ruby frowned, as if seeing the other body for the first time.

Her face fell.

“That’s Pamela, oh my gosh!” She rushed over to Pamela, checking her pulse. “She’s still alive, quick! Give me something to wrap around this gunshot wound,” Ruby said.

Castiel quickly took off his jacket, handing it to Meg, who tossed it to Ruby.

As Ruby started wrapping it around the wound on Pamela, Castiel inspected Balthazar’s body with contempt. Balthazar had his eyes wide open, his mouth open as if he was in the middle of saying something when shot, and a ghostface mask he had been holding lay slightly in his left hand. A few inches further away from the dropped mask, a gun lay, and Castiel picked it up, examining it.

“I’ll take that,” Meg said, snatching the weapon from Castiel.

She suddenly shot Balthazar once in the head. “Just in case he comes back alive like they do in the movies.”

Castiel winced at the sudden loud noise, but recovered quickly. A small sense of relief washed over him. The ghostface was dead, and Meg was safe now. He smiled slightly, looking at Meg, who smiled back warmly.

“We did it, Clarence. We got the murderer.” Her face suddenly shifted. “Wait. But there’s one other ghostface. They might still be here, and we need to get them too.”

Castiel watched as Meg pocketed the gun, nodding as the sense of relief quickly dissipated.

“I wonder who it could be,” Castiel said aloud, and Meg gave a look towards Castiel.

“I don’t know about you, but I have an irking suspicion that the other ghostface will reveal themselves once they find out Balthazar’s dead.” She looked back down at Ruby, who was now holding Pamela and trying to move her to the lone table in the room.

Castiel watched as well, before realizing what she was trying to do. He rushed over to the table, clearing it of all the clutter as Ruby approached the table, putting Pamela gently on it.

“I’ll call 911,” Ruby said, pulling out her phone.

“Wait!” Meg said, approaching. “The second murderer is still out there. We should figure out who it is before telling the cops.”

“You’re right,” Ruby said, putting her phone down. She picked up her gun instead, holding it up. “Any suspicions?”

“I don’t know,” Castiel said. He looked back down at Pamela. “Shouldn't we actually call 911, though? Pamela needs help.”

“But if 911 comes and the second murderer runs away? We can’t risk that, Clarence. Pamela is fine right now, just unconscious,” Meg said.

Suddenly, a noise made all three of them turn towards the doorway.

“See, I told you I heard something!” Alfie said, walking in as Benny, Dean, and Kevin followed him. He looked down at Balthazar’s dead body and gasped. “Oh! You got the murderer. Did you make sure he was dead by shooting him in the head one extra time?”

“Yeah, we did,” Ruby said.

“Nice! We finally did it!”

Bela and Garth walked in behind the group silently, catching Castiel’s attention.

“Well, now we need to find the second murderer,” Alfie said. He turned to the others, smiling. “Any ideas?”

“I actually have one,” someone next to him said.

Alfie turned back around, and Castiel watched Alfie’s face suddenly drop. A gunshot rang through the air, and someone screamed, everyone dropping to the floor or covering their ears in shock.

Castiel flinched and shrunk against the table, covering his ears after hearing such a loud bang. He looked back up in horror to see Alfie with a hole in the middle of his forehead, which began bleeding slightly as Alfie dropped dead on the floor.

Castiel slowly turned around, and was met face to face with a gun.

“Surprise,” Ruby said, grinning as she started to squeeze the trigger.

Chapter Text

Before Castiel even had a chance to blink, he was on the floor, and he closed his eyes.

I’m dead , he thought, before suddenly being shaken violently.

“Wake the fuck up, Clarence! You’re not dead,” Meg hissed, dragging Castiel upright and pulling him out of the room.

Castiel took a quick look around and saw everyone running and general chaos. He also saw Ruby on the ground, having been knocked over before she could shoot Castiel. He took a quick glance around to see who had saved him and saw Dean, who was still recovering from tackling Ruby right next to her. He watched as Ruby recovered and started to pick up the gun.

“NO!!” he yelled, diving onto Ruby and grasping at the gun, as Ruby grabbed onto the gun once more.

A brief wrestling match ensued, as Ruby tried to buck Castiel off of her while Castiel held onto Ruby’s hand, prying at the gun.

A few seconds later, Dean and Meg joined him in pulling at the gun, but Ruby kicked all of them off at the same time, standing up and backing up.

“You guys are FUCKING DEAD!” she screamed, aiming the gun shakily at the three of them.

She waved the gun back and forth, deciding who to shoot first, when Dean yanked a fallen vase and tossed it at Ruby, temporarily knocking her back once more. The gun went off, a bullet whizzing into the ceiling as Meg stood up again.

“C’MON! LET’S GO!” she yelled, dragging Castiel along with her, as Castiel took Dean by the hand and started dragging him along as well.

The three of them ran out the room, and Meg started off towards the library.

“We need to get back to that room from earlier,” Meg shouted as they ran.

As they reached the library, Meg threw the door open, leading Castiel and Dean in, and shut the door, making her way towards the office. While making their way there, Castiel spotted something glinting on the floor, and dived towards it. It was Dean’s pocket knife, it seemed. He quickly picked it up, carrying it and putting it in his pocket as he followed Meg. The three of them reached the office, locking the door behind them as clatters and gunshots rang out faintly in the house .

“Wow.. I really didn’t expect that,” Dean said, catching his breath, speaking after a few moments. “Who knew that Ruby would be the killer?”

“We need to find a way to get her,” Meg said. “Wait, I have a fucking gun. What am I doing?” She pulled the gun out of her waistband, checking to make sure it was loaded. “Time to get back out on the scene and get that motherfucker.”

She started advancing for the door, but as soon as Castiel stood up to follow, he felt a gentle tug at his wrist.

“Don’t, Cas. Let her deal with this on her own. She has the gun,” Dean implored, looking at him with a pleading expression.

Castiel paused, looking down at Dean’s face, before staring back up at Meg, who had paused at the door.

“He’s right, Clarence. It’s safer for you to stay here. I promise I’ll finish the job,” Meg said.

Castiel reluctantly allowed Dean to pull him back down, as Meg gave a thumbs up, exiting the room and shutting it behind her.

Dean stood up and went to the door, locking it, before walking back to Castiel, sitting down next to him. He leaned slightly onto Castiel, and they sat together in silence for a couple of seconds, their shoulders brushing.

“Hey Cas?”

“Yes, Dean?”

“Now that we're alone, I just.. I just wanted to say something,” Dean started.

“Yes?”

Dean paused, suddenly falling silent again.

Castiel waited a few seconds before turning to look at Dean.

Dean’s face was filled with heavy, mixed emotions, and he opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out. “I.. nevermind. I’ll tell you after all of this is over.”

“..That’s alright, Dean.”

“Thanks, Cas.”

They sat in silence again, and in the distance muffled gunshots could be heard. 

------------------------------------------------

Approximately 30 minutes later, Castiel jumped at the sound of knocking on the door. He quickly stood up from where he had been leaning against Dean, lightly brushing fingers with him, as he felt Dean stand up next to him as well. Castiel walked over to the door, leaning against it, listening for the person outside.

“Clarence! It’s me, open up!” Meg said outside, and Castiel unlocked the door, looking out at Meg.

“Did you get her?” Castiel asked. He quickly glanced at Meg, seeing a splatter of blood on her face and clothing.

“Yes, I shot her right in the middle of her fucking eyes,” Meg said, smiling. “It’s finally over, Clarence. And I mean it.”

She extended her arms in invitation of a hug, and Castiel smiled, rushing forward to hug Meg. They embraced tightly as Dean walked up behind them, joining the hug as well. Castiel deeply sighed, feeling a sense of relief rest in his stomach at last as two of the people he cared for the most—well, other than Gabriel—embraced him tightly.

“Thank god it’s over,” Dean said behind him.

They all fell apart slowly.

“Now it’s time to call 911 and end this once and forever,” Dean said, digging for his phone in his pockets.

“Wait just a second,” Meg said. “Do you guys want to see Ruby’s body before doing that?”

Castiel tilted his head. “Well, sure, I guess,” he said after a moment.

Dean simply raised his eyebrows.

“Follow me,” Meg said, as she started walking towards the door leading out of the library.

They all began walking through the winding hallways of Balthazar’s house, being led by Meg.

“By the way, do you know where the others are?” Dean asked, looking around at different rooms that they passed.

“I don’t know. They’re probably hiding somewhere,” Meg said. “We can look for them later.” She started down the main hallway, and made a left turn, heading towards the room that Ruby had shot Alfie dead earlier.

As they passed the room, Castiel looked in, spotting the dead bodies of Alfie and Balthazar on the floor. He looked at the table, and noticed that Pamela was now missing. Castiel frowned, pausing for a moment, motioning towards the table with a finger, but Meg pulled him along, and he didn’t have a chance to mention it before he found himself in front of the kitchen.

As Castiel looked into the room, Meg stood proudly next to him, waving with her hand towards a body that lay on the floor. “There’s Ruby’s body.”

Castiel squinted, staring at Ruby’s body, which was slightly obscured from view by the darkness of her clothing and the lack of light in the room.

“She’s really dead, right?” Castiel asked.

“Yup,” Meg said, twirling her gun with a finger. “Now that I’ve shown you guys the body, we can finally call 911.”

Dean started looking for his phone once more. Castiel watched as Meg stared down the hallway at something, then watched as she looked back casually at Dean. He turned around, squinting again, looking closer at the body.

Something seems off.. he thought, looking closer at the body. Was that a small twitch, or am I just imagining things?  

He looked around, then saw the light switch just to the left of him. Without hesitation, he flicked the lights on in the kitchen, illuminating the entirety of the room and the hallway they stood in with a bright white light.

Dean flinched and paused, just short of pressing the dial on 911.

Meg whipped back around, just as Castiel caught a full glimpse of the body on the floor.

“That’s not Ruby,” he whispered, looking down at Pamela lying on the floor in the middle of the kitchen.

“Well, shucks.” Meg said, sighing next to him.

He slowly turned around, and saw Meg draw her gun up.

She grinned at Castiel, then turned around, shooting Dean point-blank in the stomach.

------------------------------------------------

Castiel gaped, frozen in pure shock as he watched Dean fall to the ground, the phone tumbling out of his hand as he watched Dean’s eyes glass over, then close. He continued staring numbly at Dean, before he heard Meg calling out his name.

“Hellooo? Earth to Novak,” Meg said, beaming at Castiel.

Castiel raised his eyes, staring at Meg with deep, utter betrayal. “You.. you’re the..” Castiel started, before trailing off.

Meg smirked. “Surprise, surprise! Didn’t expect that, did you?” she said, twirling her gun once more.

Castiel took one step back.

Meg immediately cocked the gun at him, her face dropping into a more steely glare. “Don’t you fucking dare go anywhere.”

Castiel stared confusedly at Meg. “Wait.. how are you.. weren’t you and Becky both..”

“Oh, that was all me. Like my acting skills? I think I sounded pretty convincing on the phone. Becky was annoying and she deserved it.”

“But.. but you were kidnapped! Your looks when we found you..”

Meg rolled her eyes. “Once again, all me.” She wiped at her cheeks, smearing the dark bruises, before taking her fingers off her face and showing Castiel the makeup that came off.

Castiel’s eyes bugged after seeing Meg’s hand. He looked at Meg properly again. “How could you?” he accused. “I trusted you. Why?”

Meg smiled once more. “I have my reasons, Novak. You wouldn’t understand anyways.”

“I.. I don’t understand anything about this entire thing! We’ve been friends for an entire year and you’ve never, ever, been like this!”

“Well, for starters, some certain people started getting on my fucking nerves,” Meg said, still grinning from ear to ear as she crept closer to Castiel. “And don’t worry, Clarence, none of them had anything to do with you anyways. Remember Ash?”

Castiel did remember Ash, who had been the first person killed in this all in the first place. “What about him?” he nervously asked.

“Well, before we met each other, I had a little.. fling with Ash, you could say. He never really got over it. Was a freak obsessed, always coming up to me. That was before I met you. I’ve been plotting to get rid of him for a while now, and that party was the perfect excuse anyways. And then my partner in crime had to get her revenge too, with her annoying as hell roommate at the memorial service.”

“Lilith,” Castiel whispered.

“Yep!” Meg said, gleefully. “Ruby was the first to come up with the ghostface idea, we didn’t have that concept when I first killed Ash. Pretending to be horror-movie obsessed nerds murdering people for the fun of it was the perfect cover, and to an extent, I guess that applied to us. Well, murdering people for fun, that is. I haven’t watched a single fucking Scream movie, so I couldn’t tell you much about that. Again, you wouldn’t understand.”

“So that’s why there were no calls,” Castiel whispered.

“Speak louder if you’re gonna say something, Novak,” Meg said, pointing the gun in Castiel’s face.

Castiel flinched away. “It was nothing,” he said, avoiding Meg’s gaze.

“Sure, sure. You’re gonna fucking die after this anyways so don’t be afraid, tell me.”

Castiel breathed in sharply at that. “I- I just said that there were no calls and it made sense why..” he said.

Meg glowered at that. “Well, we were still figuring things out. That’s why Jo had to go. She was being too overly suspicious of everything. Same with those fucking news reporters, god. Those reporters were something else with their obsession with reporting everything.”

Castiel frowned once more. “And how does Balthazar fit into your entire scheme? What murders did he commit?”

“Oh, Balthie? He was just a red herring,” Meg said. “We tried our best to frame him, and I guess it worked! Winchester’s brat brother AND those nerds, Kevin and Garth, were ALL tricked!”

“Wait, what?!” Castiel said, eyes widening. “But.. but the license plate.. what his parents said..”

“Oh, all that?” Meg rolled her eyes. “Ruby stole Balthazar’s car after and drove it around after Lilith’s murder to make it look like he was there. We made up that entire bodyguard and grounded thing that Balthazar had going on; he was just chilling with some French exchange student at the university, as you might have heard from what his parents said.”

“So.. Balthazar was innocent as well?”

“No duh, Novak. I thought you were smarter than this. Now, I’ve told you enough,” she said, turning around. “RUBY!!”

Ruby peeked out from a room at the end of the hallway.

Castiel realized that she was coming out of the room Meg had glanced over at earlier, before he had turned the lights on. He watched silently as Ruby advanced towards them, holding her gun in her right hand and smirking as well. Meg smiled at Ruby as she came up to them, and the two of them looked at Castiel in a way that made his skin crawl.

“Well.. Novak, it was nice knowing you, and I’ve had fun hanging out with you and all this past year, but it’s time for us to say goodbye now,” Meg said.

Ruby put her gun up, pointing it at Castiel. “Any last words?” Ruby asked, smiling.

Castiel looked at the gun, then frantically looked around the room.

“Aww, he’s trying to find a way out of this,” Meg crooned. “Just give up, you can join your boyfriend in the afterlife anyways.”

Castiel looked back down at Dean, who was still lying still on the floor, and an ache in his heart forced him to look away. He glanced back up at Meg and Ruby, as their gazes hardened.

“Times up, Novak. It’s over for you for real now.”

In a split second, he realized what he had to do.

Just as Ruby got ready to shoot Castiel, he shouted.

“KEVIN!! NOW!!”

Meg and Ruby immediately whipped around, and in the few seconds he had before they realized his ruse, he shot his arm out, praying that he hit his target correctly.

His prayers were answered.

His left hand hit the light switch, plunging everything back into darkness once more.

Castiel ducked immediately, and he heard Ruby shoot, the bullet barely grazing over his head and exploding splinters in the wall behind him.

Meg and Ruby both cursed, and he started running away blindly, groping at the walls as he ran to make sure he didn’t accidentally run into anything. He heard loud stomping sounds behind him, as both of the murderers gave chase, and he avoided getting caught in any areas with light coming from the windows as gunshots continued to ring out behind him, bullets flying everywhere around him. He turned a corner and ran as fast he could down the hallway, looking for a way out. The two killers were behind him somewhere in the distance, shouting something unintelligible as he found the staircase, then ran up as silently as he could. He ran into the upper hallways, before finding Balthazar’s room and diving into it, silently crouching down and hoping that the killers didn’t notice him go upstairs. He lay there, waiting, as he heard rumbling sounds below him.

As he stayed completely still, the sounds faded away, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the noise dropped off completely. Castiel sat up, crawling towards the door to fully shut it. As the door clicked shut, he looked around the room for any objects he could use as weapons or for self-defense. While doing so, he picked up a giant bulletin board that leaned against the bookshelf, putting it against the door as a barricade.

Pencils.. no, too unconventional. Kettlebell.. what’s that doing in here? Definitely not that. Scissors.. maybe.

Castiel reached for the scissors, testing his grip.

Nevermind, too small , he thought, putting the scissors down. He moved a couple of heavy textbooks to the side as he looked on Balthazar’s desk, before turning around and approaching the bookshelf. He picked up a stone paperweight, testing its weight.

Heavy enough, I guess .

He put the item down for later use and approached the door, laying the bulletin board down on the floor to scan the outside. The door clicked open easily, and he peeked out, and was met immediately face to face by another person staring back at him.

Castiel jumped back, shuffling away quickly as Ruby stepped gracefully into the room, flipping the light switch on and training her gun on Castiel.

“Gotcha, motherfucker,” she said, leering, as she shut the door behind her. “There’s no getting away now, that was your last chance.” She leaned in closer, advancing towards Castiel as he found himself backed up against the bookshelf.

He slowly inched his right hand back behind him, towards the paperweight he knew still rested on the pile of papers in the middle shelf.

Ruby indicated towards Castiel’s hand with her gun. “Let go of whatever you have back there. Raise your hands, no dumb moves now.”

Castiel reluctantly let go of the paperweight, shakily raising his hands.

“Good. You know, I was gonna shoot you and get this over with, but you tried to trick me, which I despise.” She pulled out a knife from her right pocket, putting her gun in her waistband. “So I’ll take my time.”

Castiel watched in fear as she wiped the knife on her shirt, inspecting it, before gripping it in her hand and smiling.

“I was thinking I’d start with those blue eyes of yours,” she said, taking one step forward.

Castiel looked down right as Ruby stepped on the bulletin board he had laid down earlier.

She tripped slightly, the knife falling out of her hands.

Castiel dropped his hands, picking the paperweight up again, and as Ruby hastily picked up the knife, he aimed.

Ruby looked up, straight at Castiel, as he launched the paperweight with all the might he had.

He heard Ruby gasp, then a loud, THWACK, as the stone paperweight hit Ruby right in the side of her jaw.

She fell back, hands on her mouth as she screamed in anger and pain.

Castiel ran to the desk, searching for the pair of scissors again, or something similarly sharp, when he felt a sharp pain in the side of his hip. He fell down with a yelp, as Ruby twisted the knife into his side, her eyes wild with rage.

She screamed incoherently, her mouth bloodied and blood dripping down onto Castiel as he doubled over, wounded from the stab. Ruby violently pulled out the knife, shocking his body once more with extreme pain as he gasped, and he kicked at Ruby, pushing her away temporarily as she hit the desk, shaking it. Just a second later, Ruby was looming over him again, the knife raised above her head. She giggled manically, blood still seeping through her teeth, as she cocked her head.

Castiel looked around for ideas, then looked up at the desk above them. The shadow of the pile of textbooks he had made earlier gave him another idea.

He kicked out once more, but he purposefully hit the desk leg, shaking the entire table violently again. The textbooks wobbled precariously over the edge, as Ruby continued cackling, her knife getting closer to Castiel every second.

He kicked the desk once more.

The textbooks wobbled again, leaning slightly over the edge, and froze there.

C’MON!! Castiel thought, as Ruby started running the knife along his face, towards his eyes.

Her bloody smile grew wider as she turned the knife in her hand, ready to start stabbing once more.

The books shifted, and started falling.

Ruby frowned for a split second, the shadows of the books above her possibly catching her attention, but before she could react, the books were falling all over the place.

Castiel felt a heavy textbook catch his stomach, and he wheezed, the wound throbbing and sending spasms of pain all over his body again, as he crouched away, under the desk, as the books fell with dull thuds to the floor. He breathed in and out heavily for a couple seconds, hearing complete silence. He waited for Ruby to scream again, or for the sharp press of the knife to reappear, but none of that happened.

After a moment, he turned his head around, and saw Ruby, face-down on the floor, covered in books.

Without a moment to spare, he picked up the closest book he saw.

He took the colorful Study of Portrait Drawings and Sketches up over his head, and brang it down, slamming it over Ruby’s head.

He did so a couple more times for extra good measure, before collapsing as the book fell from his hands.

As the initial rush of adrenaline wore off, the dull pain in his side grew to a spiking ache, as other bruises and cuts all over his body made their presence known. Castiel sighed and screwed his eyes shut, pulling into himself as he pressed a hand tightly on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He opened his eyes after a minute, and looked around the room.

He scooted over to the closet, opening it and taking the first piece of clothing he could find, which was a white undershirt. Castiel quickly tied the shirt around his torso, tightening the grip over the wound. He hissed in pain and scooched back towards Ruby’s body, holding his side. He let go of his wound after confirming that the shirt stayed in place, then started looking for Ruby’s gun.

His hands were bloody, coated with the blood from his wound, as he moved the books around silently, looking for the shiny glint that would indicate where the gun was. He finally found the gun, pulling it off of Ruby’s body, and held it in his hand, the cool, gray metal contrasting against his fingers, painted red and sticky.

He grasped the gun firmly, then grimaced as he stood up slowly, using the desk as support. He leaned forward, gasping softly, before slowly limping his way towards the door, avoiding stepping on the bulletin board.

“Meg.. I’m coming for you,” he whispered hoarsely, opening the door.

The light spilled out onto the hallway, illuminating his path, and he stepped out.

------------------------------------------------

He was in the living room where he first had interacted with Dean when he found Meg.

Castiel heard her before he saw her.

“Ahem,” Meg said, the sarcasm ever-present in the tone of her voice, as he whipped around, pointing the gun at her.

“Ah! I see you’ve found Ruby’s gun. What use do you think that’ll have?” she said, pointing her own gun back at Castiel with a smile. “Looks like you’re all too beat up by Ruby already to do anything, anyway.”

Castiel glared, subconsciously touching the shirt covering his stab wound. “I have no time for your antics, Meg,” he said.

“Oh, really? I bet you don’t even know how to operate that weapon, do you?” Meg said mockingly.

Castiel grasped the gun with both hands. “I actually do,” he said.

He saw Meg’s eyes slightly widen, her facial expression changing a bit, before returning back to normal.

“Don’t bluff, it’s really useless,” she said, but Castiel recognized that Meg did fear him to an extent.

They both silently held their guns at each other, waiting for something to happen.

Meg suddenly dropped her gun. “You know what, what am I even doing? You obviously don’t know how to fire that gun-”

Before Meg could continue, he fired a single shot, at the ceiling. Meg instinctively ducked, as he dropped his gun down.

“You underestimate me, Meg,” Castiel said, training the gun on Meg again. “And I don’t have time for this, so goodbye.”

Meg flinched away as he squeezed the trigger.

Click.

Castiel frowned, Meg still frozen in place, as he squeezed the trigger once more.

Click .

Meg slowly stood up, a smile present on her face.

Castiel started panicking, pulling the trigger multiple times rapidly.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Click.

“Well, looks like your gun is empty, Clarence,” Meg crowed, standing up straight and walking towards him.

His hands started shaking as Meg approached close.

She stood still for a second, observing Castiel, before slapping the pistol out of his hands with her own gun.

“You’re actually pathetic,” she said, leering, as the gun fell from his hands and tumbled harmlessly away.

He looked up at Meg, as she whipped her gun-wielding hand back around, slapping Castiel across the face. He fell to the ground harshly, gasping as pain wracked his body once more, as he had hit his wound on the way down.

Meg stood over him, then sat down on top of him, directly on top of the wound. The pain multiplied much more intensely as Meg aimed the gun at his face.

“Look at you, taken down so easily. You never stood a chance, Novak. And you need to know that.”

She smiled sweetly down at Castiel, crouching down closer to Castiel’s face.

He stared fearfully into Meg’s cold eyes, as she brung the gun up, between them.

She put the gun against Castiel’s chin, pushing it up.

“This isn’t some cheap movie where the good guy wins, Clarence. In this version of the story, the killer wins.”

Castiel squeezed his eyes shut, images of Dean flashing in his mind.

I’m sorry, Dean , he thought, slowly giving up, when he suddenly remembered something else, something of Dean’s.

The pocket knife.

In his pocket.

Castiel opened his eyes, seeing Meg still grinning as she looked at him.

“Thinking about your boy crush, Clarence? I heard that soft whisper of yours, saying Dean. To think that we’ve been friends for so long and you abandon me as soon as you develop romantic feelings for a boy, my god. You’re actually insufferable,” she ranted.

Castiel listened only partially as he silently reached for his pocket with his hand, the pain limiting his movements, as he fingered the tip of the pocket knife and felt his fingers latch on.

“Thank god the both of you are gonna be dead after this,” Meg was saying.

Castiel slowly dragged the pocket knife out, flipping the switch to point the blade out. “You should’ve just killed me and gotten it over with,” Castiel wheezed.

“What’s the fun in that?” Meg said, getting closer.

“No, you should’ve, because it wouldn’t have given me the chance to do this,” he said.

Meg frowned slightly, as realization struck her a second too slow.

He buried the knife into the back of Meg’s neck, driving it deep as he hugged Meg in a murderous embrace.

Above him, Meg stared back at him with a shocked expression. After a second, she coughed up blood, which splattered all over Castiel’s face.

He flinched away from the sudden expulsion as he heard Meg go silent above him.

“Wow..” she muttered, as she collapsed over Castiel, and he wheezed once more as dead weight dropped onto his wound once more.

He weakly pushed Meg’s body off of him, looking over at her as he sat up, grimacing.

Meg was most definitely dead, as the knife’s tip stuck slightly out from the center of her throat, having cleanly made its way through her entire neck.

Castiel sighed, turning away.

He felt the sudden urge to cry, but even after a few seconds, no tears flowed. He crouched on the floor, feeling weak. The stab wound was really pestering him now, and he probably needed to get to the hospital soon.

I don’t think I’m gonna make it , he thought, as he slowly stood up. He stumbled out of the living room, heading towards where he knew the kitchen would be. As he finally reached the kitchen, he saw Dean’s body, still laying on the floor in the hallway.

Castiel collapsed next to Dean, curling up next to him.

“I tried my best, Dean,” he whispered. “I got them both. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

He lay there, feeling his aching body lose energy by the second as the pains coming from his wound dulled down. He stared at the window in the middle of the kitchen.

Outside, the sky grew lighter, turning a paler shade of dark blue by the second as morning approached.

Castiel became silent, listening.

He could faintly hear the sounds of birds chirping their morning songs once more, and if he looked hard enough, it seemed as if the trees outside were swaying in a gentle breeze. He sighed a final sigh, and grew still, waiting for the tiredness to overtake him, to engulf him into nothingness.

As he shut his eyes, a patter of footsteps echoed through the hallways as someone made their way quickly, closer towards Castiel. He opened his eyes, looking up with the little strength he had, and saw two figures approaching him rapidly, both looking quite familiar. One of the figures broke out into a run, before reaching Castiel and immediately crouching down.

“Oh my god, Cassie, are you okay?”

“..Gabriel?” Castiel asked, looking into the tearful face of Gabriel.

“Me and Kali have been looking everywhere for you. What happened?” he asked, looking over Castiel.

Gabriel noticed the blood-soaked shirt wrapped around his torso and started fussing over it.

“I called 911 already, so don’t worry,” Gabriel said. “You’re gonna be alright, I’m gonna make sure of that.”

Castiel let Gabriel prop him up as he caught a glimpse of the other person who had arrived with Gabriel.

“Hey Benny,” Castiel said, looking over at Benny, who was looking over Dean.

Benny turned around, looking at Castiel and Gabriel. “Oh, Cas, you’re alive! Thank god, I’m sorry I couldn’t find y’all after, y’know..” Benny rubbed his neck uncomfortably as he glanced at the kitchen.

“I don’t blame you. I blame Meg and Ruby,” Castiel said.

“What do you mean, you blame Meg?” Benny asked, confused.

“She.. she was..” Castiel said, going quiet right after.

Benny seemed to understand anyway. “Oh. I’m sorry, Castiel. I didn’t know that would happen.”

“She shot Dean,” Castiel added, looking down towards Dean.

“Goddamn,” Benny whispered. He shook Dean, looking closer. “C’mon, brother. Please wake up.”

After a few more seconds of shaking Dean with no response, Benny sighed, leaning back.

“Damnnit,” he said, his voice breaking.

Castiel felt Gabriel behind him pat his shoulder in a comforting manner, as he dejectedly looked around.

“Let’s wait for 911 to arrive,” Gabriel said. “Maybe he might still be alive..”

Castiel could hear the uncertainty in Gabriel’s voice.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for the thousandth time in the past week, only being broken by even more footsteps in the distance.

“Oh my god,” someone said, walking up.

Castiel looked up again, seeing everyone else who had been in the house—Garth, Kevin, and Bela— appear, their expressions ranging from shocked to scared.

Bela was the one with the scared expression, and she peeked around the corner into the kitchen from behind Kevin.

“Uh.. not to be rude or anything, but, what about the killers?” she asked nervously.

“Castiel got ‘em,” Benny simply replied, still staring at Dean’s body from where he leaned against the wall.

“Oh. Oh, nice,” Bela said, sighing in relief.

“Meg is in the TV room. Ruby is up in Balthazar’s bedroom. Balthazar was not the ghostface,” Castiel said, narrating in a monotone voice. He waited for the three who had just arrived to get over their shock, some exclamations he didn’t hear properly making their way around.

A second later, a couple of apologies and sympathetic words directed towards Castiel came, all related to Meg being the killer.

Castiel sighed, still looking at Dean. He patted Dean on the leg from where he sat, feeling the warmth still in Dean’s body.

“911 is coming soon, so you guys should just stay here with us until we know we’re safe,” Gabriel said behind him.

“Alright,” someone said, and Garth sat down next to Castiel, inspecting Dean.

“What happened to him, if you don’t mind telling me?” Garth asked.

“Meg shot him in the stomach. He died immediately after,” Castiel said.

Garth frowned. “Are you sure he’s dead?”

Garth put a finger to Dean’s neck suddenly.

After a moment, he turned around, looking at Castiel with wide eyes.

“He’s not dead, Castiel. He has a pulse. Dean’s alive.”

Benny looked up immediately, and Castiel looked down at Dean.

“..What?” he asked.

Then he hurriedly crawled over to Dean, checking his pulse as well.

Sure enough, a steady beating, albeit a bit faint, was still present.

“Oh my god, Dean!” Castiel shouted. “We need to get him to the hospital right now!”

“Don’t worry, the emergency services are almost here,” Gabriel said. “Don’t strain yourself, Cassie! You’re injured badly too!”

“I’m not as injured, I got him,” Benny said, propping Dean up and onto his shoulders. “Let’s get out of here. I broke the door down earlier with the help of Gabriel, so we just have to leave this place now.”

“Alright,” Gabriel said. He supported Castiel as he stood up, then helped him start walking.

“This is the way out,” Benny said, making their way down the hallway.

The others started following behind, murmuring softly.

Gabriel turned the corner, helping Castiel along, and he saw the open front door. Light streamed inside, as morning had finally come; the sunlight created a sort of glow in the door, covering the entirety of the outside with a sheet of bright white light, at least as seen from inside.

Castiel breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re gonna get you help Dean, we’re gonna save you,” Castiel said, looking at Dean on Benny’s shoulders.

They were almost to the door now, the outside beckoning them along.

Then, as they were just about to leave, a shadow loomed in front of the door, blocking out the light.

Castiel felt Gabriel pause, and he paused too.

Beside him, Benny stopped, and behind them Kevin crashed into Garth.

“Why’d we stop?” Bela asked from the very back, unable to see what was ahead properly.

The shadow stepped closer, revealing their true identity.

Ruby stood in front of them, her jaw looking extremely broken now, and bleeding profusely from her mouth, the red liquid dripping down her chin. Extra blood flowed down her forehead from her head, and she had a black eye. She screamed incoherently with rage, holding a knife tightly in her right hand. She held it up, looking at Castiel.

“YOU!” she screamed, or at least Castiel thought that’s what she said, as she started advancing.

Gabriel stood in front of Castiel defensively, as behind them, he heard sounds of scrambling.

“Here! Take the taser,” Kevin said, passing the taser over to Gabriel.

Gabriel stood, ready to face off with Ruby, as Benny backed up as well, Dean still on his shoulders.

Before Ruby could advance further, another shadow came up behind her. She seemed to notice this, as she whipped around, still holding the knife above her head.

A crack sounded, like a gunshot, and Ruby crumpled.

Everyone paused.

The figure behind Ruby stepped in, the gun coming into view first.

“Police! Everyone, don’t move, and put your hands up!” shouted the figure, entering the house.

Castiel immediately recognized the person as Officer Henricksen, and sure enough, behind him, Officer Hanscum entered as well.

“We’re gonna be all fine,” Castiel whispered from behind Gabriel.

His smile grew, watching the emergency services walk towards them, as he raised his hands weakly. 

------------------------------------------------

“He’s opening his eyes,” someone whisper-shouted, as Castiel looked up from his book, standing up quickly. He winced slightly at the pain underneath his cast, but still rushed over to the bed. He stood next to Benny and a tall, lanky guy who he didn’t recognize, and watched Dean on the bed, who was rubbing his eyes blearily.

Dean groaned, and finally, his eyes opened. He stared for a second at the crowd around the bed, then frowned.

“Where am I? What’s happening?” he asked.

Castiel put his hand on Dean’s gently. “You’re in the hospital, Dean. You got shot, but you’re fine now.”

“What.. oh,” Dean said, suddenly shifting expressions, as if remembering something. “Oh.”

“Yeah, luckily the bullet didn’t hit anything too vital,” Benny said.

Dean looked directly at Castiel then. “What happened with Meg and Ruby?” he asked after a pause.

“They were.. subdued. You don’t have to worry about them anymore,” Castiel replied. He smiled gently at Dean. “We’re all gonna be alright now, Dean. Even Pamela, if you remember. She survived too, although she’s blind now.”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Hm.” He looked over suddenly at the tall, lanky guy. “Oh hey, Sammy. Glad to see you in person,” he said, breaking into a grin, as Castiel realized that the guy was Dean’s little brother.

“I was so worried for you, Dean! What you did was so brash, what were you thinking?! You could’ve gotten killed!” Sam said, hugging Dean then.

“Oof, a little lighter on the hug, maybe,” he grunted, as Sam squeezed Dean tight.

“You know how much I love you, Dean. Same with Bobby and Karen. Don’t do that ever again, or else Bobby’ll kick your ass in the grave after you die,” Sam said, pulling away.

“I promise,” Dean said, smiling gently at Sam. “It’ll never happen, ever again. Don’t you worry. No fingers crossed either.”

“You have to keep your promise, alright?” Sam said.

"Alright," Dean replied.

A sudden ping sounded from Sam’s phone, and he pulled it out to check. “Bobby and Karen are here in 5 minutes, so I’ll go wait for them. Be right back,” Sam said.

“Don’t get too distracted with the nurses!” Dean shouted as Sam walked out.

“Jerk!” Sam replied as he left.

“Bitch,” Dean yelled back fondly.

Castiel smiled as Benny chuckled slightly.

“Little brothers, amirite?” Dean said, looking at Benny and Castiel.

His gaze dropped a couple seconds after.

“Hey, Benny, if you don’t mind, I just remembered I have something I wanna tell Castiel in private.”

“Oh, sure. Understood, chief,” Benny said, grinning, as he stepped out of the room as well, whistling.

Castiel watched Benny walk out before turning back to Dean with a questioning look.

“Hey, so you remember when I said I was gonna tell you something but I didn’t, in that office?” Dean said, a bit more serious now.

“Yes,” Castiel replied back immediately, recollecting his memories of that incident.

“Yeah. I think I’m ready to say it now,” Dean said, almost whispering now.

Castiel looked at Dean with a fond expression. “I’m here to listen, Dean.”

Dean nodded almost imperceptibly, looking at Castiel’s hand, which was still holding onto Dean’s.

“So.. the thing is, uh. I’ve seen you around for a long time, but only known you for a couple of days, the majority of which were dominated by the threat of the murderers. But there’s something you might want to know before we continue hanging out longer,” Dean said. He continued on after a moment’s pause. “There was this one moment in math class, when you had just answered a question right. Something changed, and I didn’t really know what it was then, and I didn’t really know much about it either when I first walked up to talk to you that night at the party.”

Castiel listened intently, looking deep into Dean’s eyes as Dean was speaking.

“And as time went on and we hung out a bit more, and finally I realized it, my god I was so dumb to not realize this earlier, and the timing was so wrong too..” He paused, squeezing Castiel’s hand, looking down at it again. He looked back, eyes slightly trembling. “I just wanted to say that I love you, Cas. And I mean it.” He looked away right after, trembling all over now, as Castiel froze.

He stared, slack-jawed, taking in Dean’s confession.

WHAT?!! Castiel's mind screamed.

When Castiel didn’t respond, Dean sighed, turning away.

“I’m sorry Cas, this is stupid, I’m sorry I brought this up-”

“I love you too,” Castiel replied breathlessly.

Dean paused, looking back at Castiel. “What did you say?”

“I said, I love you too,” Castiel repeated.

Dean looked, wide-eyed, as Castiel looked back at Dean.

“I didn’t know you loved me back,” Castiel whispered.

“Oh,” Dean said. “Oh!”

He pulled Castiel closer then. “You love me too?” he asked, looking at Castiel with a pleading tone in his eyes. “For real?”

“Yes, Dean,” Castiel whispered, inching closer to Dean.

They stared at each other as their faces inched closer.

Castiel felt his lips brush against Dean’s, millimeters away from kissing for the first time.

“Hey Dean, I just came here to say Bobby and Karen are ready to see you-” Sam said, walking in, before freezing.

Castiel quickly lept away, blushing furiously as Sam stared with a shocked expression at the both of them. Castiel took a quick glance at Dean and saw that his face was red as well.

“Sammy, could you- could you just, come back later?” Dean said, putting his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes.

“Oo..kay,” Sam said, backing out of the room.

Castiel breathed heavily as Sam exited completely.

Dean sighed next to him. “Well, moment ruined.”

He suddenly chuckled.

“Why are you laughing?” Castiel asked, looking at Dean.

“No reason. That was just so stupid,” he said, chuckling harder now.

Castiel stared silently at Dean for a moment, tilting his head, before he felt a smile tug at his cheeks as well.

A few seconds later, they were both laughing, just out of the sheer absurdity of it all.

“Well, we’ll definitely need to try that out later. Maybe I can take you out on a romantic date and all and we can kiss after?” Dean said, looking up at Castiel with adoration in his eyes.

Castiel leaned on Dean’s hospital bed, looking lovingly back. “Sure. Whatever you want, Dean,” Castiel whispered.

They leaned back in, not kissing but just looking at each others’ facial features.

“I want to know ALL the details later!” Sam suddenly said, peeking his head back in the room.

Dean flipped him off as Castiel laughed once more.

For a moment, he forgot to remember the tragedies of the past week, choosing instead to revel in the small little moment he had here, with Dean.

------------------------------------------------

“The town of Lawrence knows peace once more, following the events late last night, in which the now confirmed two serial killers were caught and killed in a skirmish. Police are wrapping up investigations and official memorial services for the eleven victims of the murder spree. Survivors, recovering at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital, were contacted, but declined to speak on the situation. We are sending thoughts and prayers to those affected by the murders and wishing for a speedy recovery for the entirety of Lawrence.”

The TV report suddenly shifted to a completely different story, and that was the end of that.

Life moved on, like it always did.