NORMAL ENDING - Castiel

Sam and Dean had reached the impala, stalled in the road just as they had left her. They each paused at their doors when Jimmy spoke.

"Yes, Castiel."

Jimmy's body was still a ways away from Sam and Dean when Castiel took him. It was easier than it had been the last time, when Silent Hill still held so much power over him. This time Castiel settled into the familiar skin gladly, comfortably and opened his eyes, humming with renewed power.

Glowing.

"Cas!"

Castiel had been banished from Silent Hill, leaving Jimmy behind to get a broken nose for his troubles and something near a heart attack, no doubt, from their encounter with Lilith the god and escaping Pyramid Head. But with the god defeated the town had returned to its equilibrium, enough that Castiel was able to return and heal Jimmy properly. Jimmy had shed blood in the town, but at least he was still free.

Unlike Sam and Dean.

Dean's expression was one of awe when Castiel stepped out of the ash, Sam somewhat more skeptical and then relieved to see that the angel had returned to the form they were used to, free of injury or blood, and once again wearing a suit and trench coat and a loose tie.

"What's wrong?" said Sam, reading Castiel more easily than Dean, since Dean seemed caught up in the sheer relief of seeing Castiel again.

Castiel was warmed by the sentiment, but could not smile in turn, and soon Dean's smile had vanished too. "It is time I told you the truth, what I could not tell you before for fear you would endanger yourselves or the seal to hear it. Please…forgive me."

"Cas…?" Dean prompted, frowning now, brow furrowed as he took a few slow steps forward.

Castiel turned away, staring at the dirt in the road. The road that had led them here.

To this end.

"The town is cursed. To even enter is…a death sentence, whether drawn here or a willing occupant. It has been that way for many decades. The road is often hidden, a paradox, appearing only when it is sought out or seeking a close enough victim."

"Cas," Dean said more firmly, because Castiel was stalling. Of course he was.

Castiel sighed. "You were in an accident when you crossed the city limits. You remember?"

"Yeah," said Sam, "We were out for a couple minutes."

Tense, unsure of how they were going to react, Castiel forced his gaze to lift and meet the eyes of the brothers'. He owed them that. "No, Sam," he said.

"No, we didn't crash?" said Dean.

"You didn't survive," said Castiel, and passed his hand over the Impala, disrupting the illusion so that Sam and Dean could see the truth.

Their bodies were still inside the car. Their real bodies. Sam's head was crashed against the side window, streaking it with blood and gore, his eyes glazed but half open, and Dean had been slammed forward into the steering wheel, hiding what had to be a horrifically damaged face. They were still, frozen, not yet rotting since so little time had passed, almost as if the accident had just happened.

Sam stumbled away from the car, pale faced and staring wide. Dean's expression was harder to read, his face half hidden from Castiel with how he was turned. But Castiel saw Dean's hands start to shake before he formed them into fists.

"You are not the first to be taken by this town," Castiel said, looking around at the other vehicles that had come into view when he lifted the illusion.

The road around them was covered in cars and trucks and other vehicles, and all along the sides into the ditch. There were dozens of them. All with varyingly decayed bodies inside.

Sam stumbled again, trying to get away from a truck that was suddenly right behind him with a particularly gruesome corpse, only to hit the door of the Impala, his door, with his dead body inside. He spun around and started backing down the road closer to Castiel and Dean.

"What is this…?" Sam said, "How did this happen. All these people…"

"And us," said Dean, his voice tight, controlled.

"Anyone who enters the town is already dead," said Castiel, "Aaron was as well, and Jonah, and Charlie. Now they are part of the town. Jimmy is the only exception, because he was brought here by me, not pulled in by the town or caught in an accident along the road. If he had died here, he would be trapped as well, but you kept him safe. Thank you."

"What do you mean trapped as well," said Dean, "We're trapped? We can't leave?"

"You can now, but only as spirits, and I believe you already know what happens to spirits."

Sam looked almost entirely white now, the shock of it, Castiel imagined, since Sam and Dean had both been prepared for death, given their profession. But for it to sneak up on them like this, like a trick, Castiel understood the distress. He did. He felt it too, for their sake's.

"I will not leave you to the town or to the earth," Castiel said, stepping closer, wanting to comfort them however fleetingly, "I can take you from here. The town is weak enough now and you survived your trials. I can bring you to Heaven if that is what you wish."

"And then what?" said Dean. "What happens to Silent Hill? Does it disappear?"

"The town will remain. It's power overall is too great."

"So other people will end up like us?" said Sam, "Like Charlie and Aaron and Jonah? The seal is safe but the god can just try again?"

Castiel looked back at the road. He knew what they were both thinking. It was unfair. But Silent Hill was more than just a seal, it was a living, breathing part of Hell set on Earth. He knew of no way to truly stop it. Not forever.

The sound of movement on the pavement made Castiel look up again. Dean was moving around to the back of the Impala, going for the trunk. He propped it open and started rummaging through its contents. Sam moved to join him.

In a blink of movement, Castiel was behind them both, staring at the inside of the trunk as Dean gathered new weapons and extra ammo.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not going out like this," Dean said, "No hanging up the towel, 'well at least it was a good ride' bullshit. This place thinks it can beat me? Then I'm going to figure out how to beat it."

"But Dean," Castiel pleaded, frowning when Sam started to follow suit with his brother, "The rules remain the same for you. Charlie, Aaron, and Jonah will be new creatures like the ones you have seen before. If you die here the same would happen to you."

"But if we survive, then maybe we can save a few people, at least keep them from ending up like Charlie and the others," said Sam, "And if we're here long enough…maybe we can find a way to close this place up for good."

"Then you can take us to Heaven, Cas," said Dean, "But I'm not ready to call it quits just yet."

Castiel opened his mouth to say something else, anything that might convince them that this was a fool's errand and would only end with them lost forever, but their determination was too potent. Every weapon they took, every extra bullet – their faces and resolve were set in stone.

The burns on Sam's neck and the knife wound in Dean's shoulder were still there and would have to heal naturally. Because they were spirits, Castiel could not 'heal' them. As long as they remained in Silent Hill there was a certain amount of reality to what happened to them. They would no doubt sustain other wounds as time went on. They did not need to eat or sleep, but they would feel the hunger and the exhaustion.

It would be Hell for them in time too, even if they managed to survive.

"If you are certain," Castiel said, "Give me a moment."

Sam and Dean looked back at him, puzzled by what he meant, but Castiel believed they would at least wait for him even if he could not quite explain what he intended to do.

He appeared just outside the limits of the town, passed the veil of death and ash that trapped Sam and Dean inside. They could not see him there, though in some ways he was only a few yards away from them.

It was easy to release Jimmy's body, stepping back until he was looking at the familiar form instead of residing within it.

Jimmy looked startled at first, touched his chest and his crisp and undamaged clothing, his undamaged body, until he realized Castiel was behind him. Jimmy's eyes went wide, more used to feeling Castiel's presence than seeing him.

"I do not require a physical body anymore for Silent Hill," Castiel said, "Sam and Dean will not be blinded any longer to see me, and…there are other ways if I give myself to the town."

"Give yourself to the town?" Jimmy repeated, fear plain on his face, and eyes darting around his periphery as if he feared being left right where he was.

"I am sending you home, James Novak, but I wanted you to understand why. They need me."

Jimmy looked as ready to protest as Castiel had been about to protest Sam and Dean's decision, but in the end the man held his tongue and nodded. Castiel reached out with his power to port Jimmy home, humbled to hear the man thank him as he vanished. Castiel did not think he deserved any thanks. It was Jimmy who had given the angel form, a human voice, an image that could be perceived by men that he had started to consider as also his own.

And so with the town's help, help it was more than willing to give for how much power it drained from Castiel, he took the form of Jimmy again, wholly as himself.

Dean noticed his return first. The brothers were finished arming themselves and were closing up the car for their return to town. Castiel couldn't help a moment of fear that his form, however changed, would be painful for Dean to look at, but Dean just smiled.

"Cas?" he said, like he wasn't sure, "Am I crazy or…is it only you in there?"

Castiel was not surprised that Dean could tell the difference even though at a glance he looked just as he had when he was with Jimmy, though he had decided against forming the image of the same clothing beyond the slacks and button-down.

"Wait…only you?" repeated Sam, "You mean that's not Jimmy's body? You let him go." Sam said the last of it as realization more than another question.

"I will be at just as great a risk as you, but there is no need to put James at risk as well."

"You sure you want to do this?" Dean asked, even as he was handing Castiel a gun.

Castiel took the weapon gladly. "It is already done," he said.

Dean grinned at Castiel as they headed back into town, fully armed, together. Any consequences after that would be worth it.

THE END

A/N: For real this time. :-) So I call this the NORMAL ending because this is how I saw the fic ending in the beginning before I decided to do multiples like in the games. What's great is you can pick any of the endings as the true one for you, even the silly ones.

Thanks all for putting up with how slow I was on this, but thank you also for yelling at me occasionally to come back to this, because now it is DONE, and I can get back to working on new things. Love you all, and as always see you next ficcie!

~Crimson