[ Video ]

[happytobleed]

[ Castiel's presence can be felt by the other angels just before the recording comes on.

When the video comes on, it's shaky and it quickly becomes clear that he's crawling on the beach. He pauses and then it shows his throat more than his face and there's a deep cut across the center of it, but rather than bleeding, it's glowing silver. His skin is covered in wet sand and when the video finally shows his face, his hair is wet and matted with sand, as well. ]

I think I need help.

[ His voice is scratchy and raw and the words can be heard on angel radio at the exact same time.

The video cuts out. ]



OOC: He won't be answering anyone right away and anyone who looks for him at the beach will find that he's gone. He'll be going to find Dean and then answering any responses to this about an hour or two later, so please feel free to factor that into your character's response.

Comments

[ video ]

[foundacause]

Cas?!

[ Not good. An angel leaking Grace is bad. Very bad. Her angel leaking Grace is a whole new level of bad. And she did not just get herself turned into a demonic pincushion so he could go and die on her!

Yet as worried as she is, she doesn't have the strength to move to go look for him. Her legs do not want to move. So, she'll just be right here waiting... ]

You better not die on me, Feathers...

[servingmichael]

[ He doesn't sense Castiel die, so he waits an hour. ]

You have two hours to answer me or I'm going to come find you.

[ video ]

[happytobleed]

[ When he finally answers, he's still a mess physically, but he looks more composed, even if there's a sadness under all of it. ]

I'm not dying, Meg.

[ But she did. She died and Castiel can't get that idea out of his head. ]

[happytobleed]

I'm here.

[ That's about the only positive thing he can say right now, but he's at least capable of keeping his composure, even if he lost it in front of Dean. ]

How long was I gone?

angel brodio

[afallenstar]

[ That...is not a good sight. That is actually the worst possible sight she could have witnessed for Castiel's return, short of maybe burnt wings on the beach. His Grace is bleeding out....so yeah, if she panics a little, it's understandable.

From the moment of broadcast to the time of his reply, Anna basically becomes a broken record as she tries to contact her brother. ]

Cas? What happened?

...

...Cas? Castiel, where are you, are you okay?

...

I swear to Dad if you don't start responding soon I will hunt this whole damn town for you.

...

Cas, just tell me you're okay, please.

[happytobleed]

[ As soon as he'd found Dean, he'd turned angel radio off, but as soon as it's on again, he comes into Anna yelling for him mid-sentence. ]

I'm here. I'm sorry.

I'm so, so sorry.

I was... home.

[ video ]

[foundacause]

[ Hey, she did the being good thing. He should be proud of her.

She's still covered in dried blood, and a lot of it. Thanks Crowley, just what she needed. A bloodied makeover. ]

You better not. Went to a lot of trouble to keep you alive, Clarence...

[ video ]

[noblexcompanion]

Castiel!? Oh my god! Are you alright?!

[ Well, obviously he's not, Donna... He's got weirdy light coming out of him. Last time she checked he wasn't a glow-stick. ]

Is someone coming to help?!

[ And will angels please stop turning up broken?! ]

[servingmichael]

Two days. All of you.

[ And then he pokes at radio, simply because it's easier. ]

What. Happened?

( v i d e o )

[mentis]

Dear lord.

[ Unfortunately he saw the network roughly an hour after the video must have been posted. He's already thinking about how fast he can get to the beach or whether or not he'd be better finding someone else and mentally telegraphing the need. ]

How bad is it? [ Obviously this chap isn't human, but still. It looks awful. ] Do you need medical assistance?

[primogen_vampirate]

[Pleasantries are for fools. Apparently.]

What the bloody hell happened to you this time?

[magnets]

Jesus Christ, man, ya look - [ Well, like you're dying, but he's not about to highlight that point. He just repeats, ] Jesus.

You gonna make it?

[afallenstar]

Home.

[ That's one way to take the fight right out of her. She goes quiet for a moment or two, and when she starts talking to him again it's almost a little deflated.

She's willing to bet there's only a handful of beings that could even possibly know how to do that, after all, and even less powerful enough to actually follow through. ]

Someone back home did this to you. Who?

Reaction/Action

[tryingitall]

[Balthazar doesn't even bother with the network, frightened beyond words. He looks for him at once, of course, despite his trueform vision remaining blurry and unreliable. When he doesn't find him there, he's not sure what to do.

He can calm himself temporarily with the knowledge that he would have felt the release of Grace if he'd died. He flits from one end of the beach to the other, though, half-wild with anxiety, and finally settles where he finds prints that look like they must have been his brother's. Maybe he'll come back, or give some other sign. Balthazar will wait and call across angel radio.]

Cas. Cassi. Please be all right.

video

[hung_garian]

Generally, yeah. You really do.

[Snark, though, is pretty much how Gabriel expresses every emotion, and the concern is evident anyway. Castiel's not dead, he'd be able to feel it if he were, and he's fairly sure that despite the state of him, he's not actually in danger of dying any time soon. Still, not getting a reply within the hour is worrying, given the mess he's in, and he sends a follow-up message about fifty minutes after the first one.]

I can recommend a shrink, if you want. She did wonders for my crippling shyness and phobia of sex.

[And, as an 'afterthought':]

If you need a bit of physical patching up, though, I suppose I could lend a hand or three. Do you? And BTW, if you don't pick up the fucking phone in the next half an hour, I'm taking that as a yes and gatecrashing whatever pity party you're throwing whether you like it or not.

[ video ]

[happytobleed]

I know.

[ His head had been a mess at the time, torn between what he knew was right and what Naomi was trying to enforce on him, but he remembers so clearly grasping for a reason to keep Meg alive, even through that haze.

Her hair color answers the question of whether or not she went back, too. There's only one time he's seen her hair like that. ]

You're alive.

[happytobleed]

I went back to where I was taken from. I didn't remember this place at all until I woke up again here. I was there for several months.

[ And then because he's curious as to how Raphael will react to the name... ]

I met Naomi.

[happytobleed]

Metatron.

[ There's a moment of silence where he lets that name hang in the air. ]

It was terrible, Anna. Everything is broken.

[ And even with his guilt weighing on him, he knows that this isn't entirely his fault. ]

[ video ]

[foundacause]

You think I'd let myself get killed by someone like Crowley? Thought you knew me better than that, Clarence. Can't keep an eye on you if I'm dead, can I?

[ She smiles but it's plain to see it's forced and false because she knows she is seconds away from death back in the real world, or whatever place this isn't. ]

[ video ]

[happytobleed]

I'll be alright, Donna.

[ The answer comes later, once he's cleaned himself up a little. ]

I'll heal.

[ Though whether that means he'll be at his former power level or something lesser, he couldn't say. ]

[ video ]

[noblexcompanion]

[ Mother hen is still fretting, Cas. Hardly filling her with confidence and settling her worried mind at ease! ]

Are you sure? Is there anything I can do?

( v i d e o )

[happytobleed]

It's not fatal. I don't think medical assistance will be all that helpful for me.

[ He'll heal in time. Why waste limited medical supplies that the others may need.

His wound is still glowing softly and truthfully, he's not sure how long it will take to heal or what shape he'll be in when it does, but a bandage or a few stitches won't help. ]

[happytobleed]

I went home. Things got worse.

[ Because things get worse every time he returns, every time he's brought back, and it's really not surprising that that's what happened this time, though the extent to which it happened is still weighing on him. ]

Have I really only been gone from here for two days?

[happytobleed]

I am not Jesus Christ.

[ He raises an eyebrow. ]

And I believe I will make it.

[happytobleed]

I'm alright. I was home.

[ The answer comes clearly as soon as Castiel tunes back in. He hadn't intended to worry Balthazar, but then he hadn't been thinking clearly when he woke up with the cold water slowly lapping at his feet. ]

Are you alright? You were hurt when I left.