Haunted Retreat

[Jilak]

Well that was... unexpected. Sam wasn't entirely sure what response he was expecting from Marcus, but 'duly noted' definitely wasn't one of them. And then it sounded like a bone in his hand snapped and he... had a rather pleased grimace. Sam had had the misfortune of meeting a few... odd, ghosts in the past, but Marcus was downright psychotic. And then his response, about not liking boredom. Did he... did he think this was some sort of game? He DID seem rather amused, Samuel had to admit.

And then as Marcus raised his left hand, Sam felt the most disturbing feeling of unrest stir inside the pit of his gut. It was as if a cold dagger had been inserted into his very soul. This was followed by a rather disturbing metal clanking. And then Dean yelled for him to watch out, prompting Sam to turn around. Marcus had, apparently, animated a suit of armor. While the ax it was holding was rather rusted, Sam wasn't going to take any chances with that thing. He in no way assumed he could take on a metal suit of armor and win.

However, he DID assume that if he could stop Marcus, he could stop it. Only problem was, there wasn't any salt, or even IRON nearby that Sam could use. Even the statue was most likely made out of steel with just a bit of iron tossed in. But that wasn't what Samuel needed. He needed pure iron, or at LEAST salt. So he went with his only other option since his escape route was now cut off.

He ran at Marcus. If the other man didn't dodge/go intangible, Sam would am a roundhouse towards his neck. If he DID, however, Sam would rush to Dean, see if he could yank him free. If all else failed, Sam supposed he remembered a bit of Latin...

[mugenginga]

Marcus did seem a bit flabbergasted at Sam's choice of action. Quite honestly he'd prepared for the young man to try to get away, free his brother, or at least attack the suit of armor. Certainly not him. He found himself laughing even as the younger Winchester lifted up his leg. Marcus became almost (but not quite) invisible seconds before the kick was supposed to impact.

He took a few calm steps back in the ensuing disaster. The ensuing disaster was that if Sam didn't manage to throw his weight in about two seconds, he'd end up kicking his brother in the face instead. Dean clearly expected it, as he tensed up and closed his eyes. He wouldn't really be mad at Sammy if he did, although he'd have a few things to say about not taking his god damn advice. There was also a very slight chance Sam could hit the skeletal hand holding Dean's right wrist, though...

[Jilak]

Sam didn't have much time to think between the moment Marcus disappeared and the moment his foot would connect. He just knew that one second Marcus was there, and the next he wasn't. He didn't have time to think about whether or not he would be connecting with Dean, he simply jerked. Partially due to surprise, partially due to battle conditioning. Mostly the former, though, the latter probably would've led to Sam running when Dean had told him to run.

However, due to dumb luck, Sam's jerk led his foot down to the skeletal hand holding his elder brother's right wrist. Perhaps dumb luck wasn't the best way to sum it up. But regardless of how exactly he did it, all that mattered to Samuel was that he did it. He didn't stop to think about any consequences, because the current situation had made his thinking more manic. So when his foot hit the skeletal hand, he expected Dean to be free, or at least free enough to GET free, so that the two could run.

Time would tell whether he was right or not.

[mugenginga]

The fingers of the hand snapped into several pieces. So it seemed to be a pretty good thing. It seemed to be a pretty good thing despite Marcus solidifying once more in his new position. It looked like it might not be such a good thing as the man reached towards Sam's foot which had pulled back from the hand seconds before. It definently wasn't a good thing when another hand shot out just below the previous one and grabbed Sam by his lower calf, effectivey forcing him to stay in the position with one foot in the air. Probably wasn't that great for the man's balance, either... although it was quite possible he'd hurt himself if he fell.

Dean shot out his now free hand and grabbed Sam by the collar, pulling him to prevent the man from tilting. Well this was just a fine fucking mess they'd all gotten themselves into. Sam had a foot caught and he still had three limbs stuck to the wall. He looked at his brother with a very annoyed expression, glancing at Marcus who seemed to just be enjoying the damn show. He looked back at Sam.

"I'm going to pull you close and then rip that god damn hand off your leg. You have to run when you get the chance, it's stupid if we both get killed here!" he spoke in a harsh whisper, "You have to find dad!"

[Jilak]

Sam was thankful Dean had grabbed his collar. The man had been put horridly off-balance by the skeletal hand grabbing his leg, and he'd likely have sprained or even BROKEN something if he'd fallen from that position. And then Dean told him that he had to find dad. That was right, in all this turmoil Sam had almost forgotten. After finding the man, they'd been put back to square one. John was out there, somewhere, alone, and they had to find him. But he and Dean had to find him together. They had to be a family. Sam wasn't always the biggest family man of the Winchesters, sure, but he didn't spend a year of his life on the road with his brother looking for the man to lose either one of them.

"Dean..." Sam began, eyes going misty. He didn't have time to finish, however, because... because there was a boom.

Sam had to crane his neck with the position he was in to see him, but he looked over at Marcus. From what he could tell the man didn't seem to have done anything. Sam looked around erratically, searching for the source of the sound. It had been earth-shaking, so whatever it was, Sam hoped it wasn't dangerous.

And then the younger Winchester got an odd feeling in the pit of his gut. Much like the despair he'd felt when Marcus had brought the armor to life, but... different. It was as if all of his worries were fading away. It felt... good.

Anyone observing the outside of the castle would notice that the bit of forest in the immediate area looked... different. More specifically, all of the trees had fallen over, forming something of a star shape. A star with six points.

Inside the castle, however, Sam had to cover his eyes as a blinding light filled the room. As quickly as it had come, however, it passed. WHEN it was gone, though, it left standing in its wake a man. What astonished Sam most, however, was that he looked so... average. He sported a long trench coat, a button-up white shirt underneath with the top buttons unbuttoned, a simple blue tie, black dress pants, and dress shoes. His chin was covered in stubble, his face expressionless.

Sam noticed, though, that for a moment, one brief moment, he seemed to have a pair of visible wings. Wings seemingly composed of smoke, but wings nonetheless. He turned to face Sam and Dean, speaking rather evenly.

"Sam. Dean. Sorry I'm a bit late, there was a bit of a dilemma concerning your plight." He stated, before turning to face Marcus.

"I am the angel, Castiel."

[mugenginga]

Marcus had not only not done anything, but had for the first time in the whole encounter seemed actually surprised. He jumped at the explosion and had put his hand over his head. It went quick enough to his eyes as the light appeared. He vanished from site for a few minute there, his continued presence only confirmed by the overwhelming sense of the presence of death, of which the only human present could feel was Sam.

Dean, on the other hand, had tightened his grip on Sam and sort of frozen there with his mouth open to rebuke his younger brother. When the light hit, he hadn't exactly had time to close his eyes. As a result he saw quite a bit in the way of spots. They didn't impede the odd optical illusion (made even odder by this fact), and by the time the new arrival spoke he was able to see again. Okay, so Mr. Appear In a Flash of light knew their names. Dean's immediate reaction was to not trust the man. His comment? Didn't help much.

"What the hell, where do you guys keep coming from!?" Dean shouted. Although, they probably needed help. He wasn't about to admit that, though. Beyond that, Dean was wondering why the hell this angel looked so... very plain. At least in comparison to the last one.

Marcus had just begun to take his spirit form again, the semi-transparent demonic appearing one, when Castiel turned towards him. That burst of holy energy had been quite strong. He waved his hand in front of his face, having apparently enough tangibility to move the dust around. He let out a polite looking cough and glanced at the forest outside left by the giant hole in the castle wall.

"Angel, huh? I must say, this is quite likely the first time such an honor has been visited upon this locale. Some would say it cursed since it last king fell..."

Well, he did seem less aggressive. He hadn't bothered releasing the two Winchesters from the wall yet, though.

[Jilak]

"I suppose you could say that my brethren and I come from Heaven." Castiel responded to Dean's question without turning, completely deadpan. He continued to eye Marcus as he came back into view, never changing his expression. Demonic appearance, not to mention the way he was keeping Sam and Dean held captive, AND the destroyed suit of armor on the ground. Castiel felt a considerable amount of dark energy int his building. He didn't like it, not one bit.

Samuel could only look on in awe. He'd fought demons, ghosts, monsters of all sorts before... but until today he'd never seen an angel. And he and Dean hadn't run into just one, but TWO. Honestly, these guys were coming out of the friggin' woodwork.

"I don't know what happened here, what happened to you, but allow me to say that I am truly, truly, sorry. But by endangering the Winchester boys, you're impeding God's work. Let them go, and perhaps you'll be spared the full wrath of heaven." Castiel stated, never changing his expression, voice remaining even.

[mugenginga]

Dean responded with a glare. Oh sure, the guy was going to be a smartass in a case like this? He conveniently ignored the fact it was quite possible he would have done the same thing. Or that Castiel may not have meant it as such. All Dean was seeing was the fact they'd needed to be saved by another angel. While by no means his worst day ever, this was in the running for most annoying.

Marcus looked confused at Castiel's comment for a moment. It wasn't apparent how he was faking it. He glanced at Sam and Dean and then his eyes went wide. As if he'd completely forgotten about the two men. He waved a hand at them as if he were dimissing them. The skeleton hands abrubtly let them go and pulled into the wall. Dean hadn't expected that nor had he been paying attention to much more than the friggin' angel, so he immediately fell off balance. Odds were he and Sam were gonna end up in a heap on the floor as a result. Marcus spoke regardless of how (un)gracefully the two men landed.

"Forgive me for misplacing my detainment of these fine young men. You must admit, your entrance was a fair bit... distracting, shall we say?"

[Jilak]

Castiel didn't respond to Marcus. His confusion at Castiel's instruction to released the Winchester's seemed genuine, and he seemed to have surrendered. The only problem was that Castiel knew, with all the dark energy he felt here, that Marcus was, by nature, evil. Even if he didn't seem it, even if his claims were believable, even if Castiel hadn't found him stringing the Winchester's to the castle wall, he had to be stopped. Every soul must pay for their crimes, and all that.

Castiel took a glance towards where the Winchesters had fallen. Sam had been so off-balance, he'd landed on his face. But he seemed mostly unharmed, and even i he wasn't, Castiel felt he had enough energy to heal the younger Winchester. Though, he had a feeling, judging from what he'd seen of him, that the elder Winchester would put up a bit of a fuss. He then turned back to Marcus, remaining expressionless.

"Thank you." With that, Castiel was suddenly in front of Marcus. Sam hadn't seen him move, as if he'd... teleported, much like how he entered the room. And then he put a hand on Marcus' forehead, closing his eyes, focusing his energy. This all happened within the span of a couple of seconds.

Castiel had no idea what effects his 'exorcism' might have...

[mugenginga]

"Watch ou-"

That was pretty much all Dean had gotten before he landed on top of his brother. He rolled to the side and was propped up fairly quickly. It was about the same amount of time it took Sam to reasonably recover, meaning Dean saw the teleportation as well. His face seemed to be confused as to whether it should glare or be stunned, and in a different situation may have seemed goofy. The man was stubborn, true, but all this crap was hard to ignore. It still didn't explain why the hell friggin' angels had taken such a sudden interest in them. They sure hadn't cared in the past.

Marcus would think to himself later just how very surprising this "Castiel" tended to be. For all this talk, the man had never really dealt with either side of that particular playing field. He'd come close to demons a few times, but never directly. His forte was death, not the infernal/divine. In any case, he hadn't seen the teleport coming, especially right after such a flat (but seemingly sincere. He really was and odd one) thanks.

And boy did that touch burn. Despite the pain, Marcus had a very good idea what was going on. Goodness knew he'd done similar, one didn't deal with the undead on a day to day basis without methods to get rid of them if they got out of hand. As it was, Marcus almost completely vanished from site in no more than two seconds, his appearance becoming all but transparent. What little could be seen of him due to the shift then began to look like it was tearing. It was as if reality had become fluid and was pulling the man in every which direction.

There wasn't screaming from the man, although one had to wonder if it was his choice. There were strangled choking sounts, as if he was trying to scream. There was just too much power going on. The pull on his being finally yanked into pieces, and as the faint traces of him tore apart and vanished, a weight would be felt lifting from the castle by Sam. That isn't to say it didn't still feel haunted, but... less so.

Dean had one thing to say about the whole situation.

"....holy shit."

[Jilak]

Sam felt the noticeable difference once Marcus was gone. The castle still gave him the creeps, and there was still a weight in the pit of his stomach, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before. He could only stare, slightly flabbergasted, as Castiel simply stood there, looking around the room. Sam... really wasn't entirely sure what to say here. He'd exorcised things before, yeah. He and Dean had recently, as he'd said, beaten a demon with a piece of chalk and some Latin. But that was... a bit more flashy.

At Dean's statement, Castiel turned towards him, looking on with an almost confused expression. He stared for a moment, unblinking, before walking past the Winchesters, seemingly inspecting the building, running his hands across the walls, looking on curiously. This continued for a few moments before he spoke up.

"You should leave this place. I fear it has been... compromised." Castiel stated without turning, hands running delicately over a small table. "So many tortured souls..."

[mugenginga]

Dean returned Castiel's confused look with one of annoyance. He noted at that point that man wasn't blinking, and he didn't set about getting up until Castiel turned away. By the time he spoke up again, Dean was on to helping Sam off the ground. He planted his feet to help his brother up the rest of the way, but he turned his head towards the "angel".

"I don't know if you noticed, Cas, " Dean sounded fairly annoyed, and the "nickname" hadn't been intended as a compliment, "But we aren't exactly in the best of conditions here. Maybe you should go tell that Gabriel guy to do a better job with his healing before you go telling us to sleep in the middle of unfamiliar woods in fall."

[Jilak]

Castiel's eyes widened as he looked up from what he was doing, coat swishing as he moved. He quickly walked over to the Winchesters, more specifically, Dean. He got perhaps a bit too close to the man, leaving only a few centimeters between them, looking him in the eyes. By this time Sam had pulled himself up with Dean's help, favoring the ankle that had been grabbed by the skeletal hand. Castiel looked absolutely shocked as he gazed into Dean's eyes. It quickly passed, though, as his expression softened, backing away from the elder Winchester.

"Yes... yes, you're right. My apologies. You are injured." Castiel stated, slowly raising his hand. Noticing it was the same hand he'd just used to exorcise Marcus, Samuel tensed a bit, tossing Castiel a questioning look. He quickly calmed down, however, as he noticed the light streaming from Castiel's hand, and slowly, very slowly, he felt himself able to shift weight back onto his previously injured ankle.

At that, Castiel turned in Dean's direction. He didn't really expect the elder Winchester to put up much of a fuss, speaking regardless.

"I am afraid I cannot stay with you, however. I have... work to be done."

[mugenginga]

Dean tensed up as Castiel all but stood on his feet. He gave the man a strange look as he looked straight in his eyes. The older Winchester then looked nervous at the stare, cause quite frankly it seemed the guy was looking past his eyes. Nothing felt funny, so Dean was pretty sure it wasn't some kind of mind control-hypnosis thing. He'd had about enough of the space violation and seemed about ready to force the angel away from him when he got the bright idea to back up. Dean visibly relaxed.

And then he apologized. And held up his hand. Dean grabbed Sam's wrist and seemed ready to yank his brother... somewhere when a beam of light came from it. And... well hell, the bit of soreness from the whole mess with Gabriel seemed to ease up. He still felt nothing short of exhausted, but at least he wasn't in pain. He looked at Sam as he felt his weight shift, noting that his brother was standing more comfortably than before as well.

Castiel was looking straight at him when he turned back. His first thought was to object to what the man said, but Dean showed a rare moment of watching what the hell he was saying and closed his mouth before he got any words out. Yeah, arguing the friggin' angel leaving them the hell alone didn't seem like such a wonderful plan. So he didn't object, and unless Sam tried to stop him Castiel would be free to go. In fact, Dean gave a cautious turn towards his brother.

"If we're staying here, we might want to get away from that guy's idea of remodeling," Dean pointed his thumb towards the gaping hole in the wall.

[Jilak]

Sam was about to respond to Dean before he was nearly blinded by another bright flash of light. Jesus, it was like this guy couldn't go ANYWHERE without being flashy about it. But... something different happened this time. Instead of receding to reveal Castiel gone, the light remained. Sam dared to open his eyes, barely able to see through the nearly blinding light, but able to vaguely make out Castiel's shape in the middle of everything. His head was thrown back, his eyes emitting even brighter glows than the rest of his shape. He continued like that for another brief moment before eliciting a nearly ear-piercing scream.

From Castiel's point of view, it felt like he was being ripped apart. Like two fields were pulling him, one yanking him back to his home dimension, to Heaven, the other wishing to keep him stationary here, stranded, refusing to let him go now that it had him. Many angels that he'd been assigned to round up after they'd chosen to fall described the process as 'like cutting your kidney out with a butter knife'. To Castiel it felt like he was falling a hundred times, all compressed into that one occasion. He screamed.

"Cas! What's wrong?!" Samuel exclaimed, trying to reach the angel.

"RUN." Castiel managed to exclaim through his screaming. He didn't know what was about to happen. He hadn't even the vaguest idea what was about to happen. But he would not have his final act be the destruction of the Winchesters. He refused.

Sam didn't need to be told twice. There was nothing he could do, at this very moment, and he only barely understood what was going on. He quickly headed towards the hole Castiel had left in the wall. If Dean wasn't next to him in an instant, Sam would be by his older brother, tugging at his arm.

Castiel gave off one last ear-piercing scream. And the light expanded, leaving behind a partially destroyed castle. In the middle of all the rubble, which formed a bit of a 'snow angel' shape, lay Castiel, seemingly unconscious.