Nest Verse
Chapter 1. In Which Castiel Finds Something...Noisy.
Ao3
There was a strange sound in the forest today. Castiel fidgeted, one large, black wing twitching and smacking him on the jaw. He scowled at it, pushing the appendage aside with his human arms. It was common enough for fledgling crow to have trouble with fine motor control of their crow parts. Wings especially tended to react strongly to emotions. But Castiel was a crow on the cusp of adulthood, and having his now mature wings act out with minds of their own was a bit embarrassing.
The high, distressed noise echoed through the trees again. It reminded Castiel of the time Gabriel had flown too far from the nest as a fledgling, although this noise was softer than the high pitched peeping that the frantic nestling had been emitting when their parents had finally found him. This wasn’t a panicked sound, but it was scared.
The air was crisp today, earthy after the storm that had passed through a few days ago. Raising his face to the breeze, Castiel listened for the sound. With a smooth jump, he launched from his perch, winging off to investigate. Crows are curious birds after all, and while Castiel might have told himself he just wanted to find the noise and stop the noise so that he could get back to his afternoon in peace, in truth he was just being nosey.
Flying carefully between the branches and bodies of trees, Castiel sought out the noise. It kept breaking off, forcing him to circle an area for a time before the sound would pick up again. Eventually he reached a grassy area which was mostly clear of trees, although it wasn’t large enough to call a meadow. Perching on a branch he scanned the area. Sure enough, the sad calling noise started up again, coming somewhere from the grass.
When Castiel was sure he had located the sound’s source he hopped lightly down from his branch, the noise of his landing causing the creature’s cries to cease abruptly as it became aware of his presence.
There. A small brown patch of fur poked out of the grass and shrubs, doubtless hidden well enough to have escaped the notice of most creatures - were it not for the pitiful sound emanating from the small patch.
Cautiously, Cas stepped toward the thing.
Wide, green eyes peered up at him through tear-covered lashes, tan skin sloping down to merge with forelegs and hindquarters. It was a fawn, a boy, young enough to still be sporting baby spots of white along his flanks.
“Mommy?”
“Uhh... no,” Castiel felt his wings puffing up behind him. The fawn’s face fell, and he shrank down into the grass again, wide eyes peering up at the crow mournfully.
“Please don’t eat me,” the fawn said, hands reaching up to pull down on his ears nervously.
“Why would I eat you?” Cas asked, baffled, crouching down slightly. He had never eaten anyone before.
“Momma said if I left the nest the wolves would eat me and I know I was bad but the storm broked the nest and momma hasn’t come home in a long time so I left but I can’t find her and you’re really big and black and scary looking and momma said wolves are black and scary and you sneaked up on me!” Castiel blinked as the fawn gulped in a deep breath, chest heaving. They stared at each other.
The fawn wrinkled his nose, giving Castiel an unimpressed look. “…Are you a wolf?”
Castiel bristled, feathers fluffing in offence. “Do I look like a wolf to you?”
The fawn drooped a little at the crow’s annoyance, his ears flattening against his golden curls as he tugged at them. Mutely he stared up at the crow.
Castiel felt his stomach drop. He had scared the little thing. His annoyance left him in a guilty huff, the action only causing the fawn to flinch a little. “I’m not a wolf. Wolves have pointy ears, furry tails, and sharp teeth. I’m Castiel, I mean- I’m a crow, see?” He turned, giving the fawn a better view of his wings, which contrarily pulled in closer as the young boy raised up to get a better look. “I have wings, and crows wings are always black, sometimes a bit green or blue, like mine are at the edges. Anyway,” Castiel said, scowling at his uncooperative appendages. “I’m not a wolf, but your mother is right. Wolves are dangerous and you should stop making all that noise or they might come eat you.”
The fawn gave him a miserable look, pressing back into the grass again as he hugged himself. The sight made Castiel’s chest clench uncomfortably, and he wondered if he should do something. He had the ridiculous urge to reach out and snuggle the fawn, to rub his back and murmur happy things to him, anything to stop the new flood of tears now shining in the boy’s huge eyes.
He shook himself. What a strange idea. He wasn’t here to play mother hen to strange animals. He just wanted quiet in his forest again, that’s all.
Stepping back, he stretched his wings to their full length. “So…be quiet now, ok? I’m sure your mother is around here somewhere.”
The boy started forward as Castiel began walking away, flapping down hard once, twice, and taking off. As he took flight into the trees he glanced once over his shoulder just long enough to see the shocked expression on the fawn’s face, his small hands reaching out hesitantly as if he thought about trying to catch the Crow.