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The hell-hounds. The screaming. The blood. The pain. The suffering. It was all coming back to him, and he had no choice but to run from it. Run as quickly as possible. But it always ended the same way. Lilith's grin as the hell-hounds ripped him to shreds. His screams of agony as he tried to defend himself from the unearthly beasts. Being flayed to within an inch of his sanity in hell, only to be healed and put through it again. He didn't want any of that. He wanted nothing to do with it any longer.
Dear God, the screams. The screams. He screamed.
= + + + =
Dean sat bolt upright in bed as he screamed. He was still having the dreams. Five years ago, and the dreams were still there. Only this time, he had a source of consoling and a way of help to get him through this.
Castiel was up immediately. Sitting up in the same manner next to Dean, seeing him drenched in a cold sweat. It was the nightmares again, and this time, Castiel was going to try to do something about them. He turned on the jet black lamp on the beside table, a sleek house-warming gift from Anna. He then turned back to his husband and put his far arm on Dean's arm and his other arm around Dean's back, enveloping him in as much of a hug as this angle allowed. The feathers from his dimension-crossing wings enveloping both of them, Dean instantly stopped breathing heavily and calmed down.
“This is the second night in a row, Dean. And about the sixth time this month. I don't like seeing you suffer like this.” said Castiel.
“I know, Cas, I know. I just can't hold them back anymore. For whatever reason, the mental wall that was protecting me from all of this bullshit broke and I'm experiencing it all over again.” Dean turned to Cas and the look in his eyes made Castiel's stomach drop. There was more terror there than Castiel had ever seen. This made him just as terrified, and gave him the motivation to set out on helping Dean.
“I'm going to make something for you. It will take an hour or two, but I want you to promise me that you won't fall back asleep until I'm finished, alright?” Castiel asked.
Dean's terror lessened, but there was something in Cas's urgency that kept him on edge. “Alright. I promise. What are you going to do, anyways? Unless you're going to make these nightmares to end all nightmares, well, end; I don't know if what you're going to do for me will even help.”
“Just let me work.” Castiel then went for his wings, grabbed them, and tore out about ten of the outer feathers. A tiny bit of Grace shown through the new gaps in his wings momentarily, right before both the Grace and wings faded into wherever they went when Castiel didn't want them showing.
Castiel worked for the next hour and a half, first gathering materials he needed from various parts of the house, such as a pipe cleaner from the cabinet in the dining room, which he fashioned into a hoop; and strings and beads from his knitting cache which he intricately tied through and around the hoop to form one of the most complex and beautiful designs Dean had ever seen. Castiel then took each of his ten feathers and hung them from the hoop in a formation that made the thing look like a sunflower with the ends of the petals turned inward.
After Castiel was done, he hung it above their bed.
“So, is this some sort of dream-catcher? Those things don't work, man. Thanks, but I highly doubt that will help.” said Dean.
Casitel offered his rebuttal, “This is powerful Enochian magic. We can only make one of these dream-catchers our entire lives. I made do with what we had, given that we didn't have a lot of the materials I needed, but the spell is still there, and it will still work. You won't have anymore nightmares as long as this is hanging above where you sleep. And as long as I'm alive, the spell will stick.”
Dean was skeptical, but since when did he have a reason to distrust Cas when it came to this Enochian stuff? “Alright. We'll try it.”
They went back to bed, Dean kissing Castiel once before he cuddled up in the nook Castiel's body made and fell asleep.
Surprisingly enough, Cas was right. Dean didn't have a single nightmare.
Dean woke up peacefully for the first time since the two of them had stopped hunting. The clock said it was four-thirty in the morning. Dean shifted enough so that he was facing Cas, whose eyes were open, as they would be. Dean then kissed Castiel again and said, “Thanks, buddy.”
Dean then closed his eyes and fell asleep again, Castiel only kissing his forehead when he was sure Dean was completely under.
He never had a single nightmare again.