NIGHT 54: M21-30 HALLWAY

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[ from here ]

It took her a moment when she turned down the men's hallway to skim the area with her flashlight. This was the part where she got confused, the muscle memory not really carrying her the whole way. He'd given her directions once, but that felt like a lifetime ago now that she actually needed to put them into practice without Bella attached to her hip. Being alone made it harder, for some reason. She hoped Bella was having more luck than she was at getting to … wherever.

On her left, the single door of the bathroom that she suspected was the same as the women's facilities, and on her right four hallways. Peter's was … she scrutinized. Second in from the door? It sounded about right. If her room was F34 and it was the closest to the door, 24 should be one row further in. So, she hung a right and headed down the hallway.

Her flashlight beam checked the numbers on the doors as she headed down. 30 … 29 … the numbers were counting downwards, which was a good sign that this was the right hallway to get her to M24.

[ bumping into sylar peter ]

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[propheteer]

As before, with the teleportation came another thought—or memory, or vision. A ring of fire, and a man standing beyond it. Something was wrong with his face.

And there was Castiel's voice again: "You're not taking Sam Winchester. I won't let you."

"Castiel," was the man's reply as he started walking around the fire. "I don't understand why you're fighting me... of a—"

And then it was gone. Izaya forced his focus to their new location, where it seemed Castiel once again had stopped to visit acquaintances. He couldn't help but stare for a moment at the man in the room—a man that he recognized from earlier, but whom he'd never seen in person before now.

If Castiel had come to say hello to him, though, that obviously wasn't on his mind now. He was advancing on the girl instead with an accusatory-sounding "You."

He'd stayed quiet last time as he'd still been reeling, but he had more clarity now than before. Curiosity over the situation prompted him to ask, "Something wrong, Castiel?"

[boyking]

Nothing ever happened inside the rooms. Sam never took something like that for granted—letting yourself be lulled into a sense of false security was the worst thing you could do—but he'd accepted it enough to not be on full red alert when he was sitting inside talking to Ruby.

So he sure as hell hadn't expected the freaking angel to just materialize out of nowhere like some David Copperfield trick, along with some guy who looked more confused than not.

Jesus, what—

He started off the desk, drawing his gun without even thinking. (Threatening angels with bullets, great. This was his life now.) He moved forward to step in front of Ruby, as automatic as it'd been his brother instead. As ambivalent he might've felt towards her sometimes, he'd made his alliances a long time ago. Watching her back had stopped being something he had to think about when it came down to it. If Castiel had just walked up to them like a normal person, it would've been different, but sheer surprise of the situation threw every instinct he had on the defensive.

Besides, judging from Castiel's immediate reaction, the guy didn't look that interested in diplomacy at the moment.

[thatdemonbitch.livejournal.com]

The suddenness of their entrance had Ruby tensing up and automatically at a loss on what to do. It was rare that she wound up on the receiving end of this kind of thing, and suddenly she had an idea of why Sam had acted like it was so goddamn unnerving all the time. At first, she didn't even manage to process who it was, just that they were talking and they were in Sam's room. It was so many levels of bad news --

And then it hit her. The stench of the angel -- Castiel, the guy had called him? -- his Grace was overpowering. Her eyes flashed dark, pupils dilating until they had encapsulated the entirety of her eyes in that inky darkness, reflecting a certain kind of hollow darkness within. Immediately, she raised a hand, waving it back towards Sam and stepping between him and the intruders.

How stupid was she right now? Putting herself between him and an angel. But whatever they were here for, it couldn't possibly be good news and as much as she wanted to hold onto that self preservation, there was something in Sam that was a whole lot more important to be preserved.

"Sam, get back," she barked. A surprising thing happened then, something she hadn't intended. A power thrumming through her veins, concentrating in the hand that was thrown out in Sam's direction. And a force, strong and invisible, moved out from that point as she flung her hand backwards to keep him back, hurling Sam into the wall behind him, above his bed.

Oops.

It was enough to distract her from the angel and the seething rage that was filling her at the sheer sight of him. She looked backwards, a little frantic and discombobulated, worried at the sound of crashing that accompanied his fall.

Immediately she hurled a glare that was meant to distract from her own failure at Castiel and his nameless but equally guilty companion.

"A lot of things are wrong with Castiel. Crashing into rooms unannounced is just the tip of the friggen iceberg." She seethed. It was mostly directed at Castiel, though it was in unsolicited response to his companion's question and generally addressed him.

[freewill]

This was the third time this night that Castiel had flown to someone he'd considered an ally and had been threatened as a result. First had been Dean and his female friend's instinctive reaction, second Gabriel's odd switch in demeanor, and now Sam Winchester was pointing a gun at him.

Even though Castiel was well aware that the bullets could hurt him as much as any human now -- the night he'd tried to make it to the chapel with the Doctor had proved that rather clearly -- he stared at the weapon like it was a toy instead of a killing device. The truth was that Sam was the furthest thing from his mind right now, even if he was the reason that he'd come here in the first place.

No, his gaze quickly returned to Ruby, expecting an explanation. She didn't back down from facing him, even forcing Sam out of the way. And yet the way she did so was completely unnecessary and entirely too predictable for a demon.

That act of violence against someone he'd come to see as a friend (even if that feeling clearly wasn't returned at the moment) was enough to spur him into further action. Castiel lunged forward with two quick steps and seized Ruby by her arm. She could still use telekinesis; that was something he would need to file away and address later.

Instead, he pulled her close, staring her right in her blackened eyes. "How did you get here? What are you doing here?" His tone was stiff and demanding, Orihara's question and Sam's state after he'd hit the wall forgotten for the moment.

[propheteer]

Beyond Castiel having some issue with the woman, Izaya wasn't sure what kind of situation he'd found himself in the middle of. It was rather like being suddenly thrown into the middle of a drama, but without knowing any of its history... Still, that was fine. That kind of thing could be picked up as he went. But it still made him wonder why the tall, familiar-looking man had been so quick to reach for a gun (where had he found a gun, anyway?), and what the woman had done in the past to anger Castiel. Even though Izaya suspected they had come for the tall kid and she had simply been a surprise, Castiel seemed far more concerned with her than with either the man or his gun.

And then the man—Sam, she'd called him? Was it the same Sam that he'd 'heard' mentioned a moment ago?... He'd gone flying away almost like he'd been thrown, and then the woman started throwing accusations about Castiel's character. It was a personal history, then, and one that Izaya would stay out of.

He removed himself from beside Castiel, heading for where Sam had fallen instead—partly to see how he was after that and partly to keep out of the couple's issues in case it put him in the line of fire. Their spat was interesting, but right now the questions of what had happened to Sam? and how had that even happened? were foremost on his mind.