' i didn’t cry! I just… caught something in my eye. '
castiel is extraordinary.
infected bodies burn to ash at touch, human made plague faltering underfoot. abilities and strengths he explains in bouts–when she curses and grabs at herown split flesh, it takes naught but a fleeting touch to stitch the wound together. no marks, no broken skin, no blood.
he’s glad she trusts him more, now, than before. ageless thing that he is, helping a child cut throughamerica … he recognizes that her innocence has long been sullied by death and horror, but she is still a little girl, no matter what else.
taking her back to a time before the infection was easy. he remembered, and he moved. the gnarled hillsides spring to life, the broken concrete of city sprawl mended. i can’t keep you here forever. but a day will suffice.
he watched her practically devour a bag of popcorn after warily chomping down the first piece. fresh food, treats, living billboards, wo-rking technology. castiel was afraid it would all be too much for her. at first, he suspects it was.
but their day is ending. the sun has turned to watercolor on the horizon. the fireflies–real ones–that settled on her hand and her hair flutter away, carelessly, free, into the open.
he smiles. it reaches his eyes.
‘ pollen. ‘ he knows that’s not what it is, but he doesn’t want to tarnish her pride. ‘ that must be what was in your eye. ‘