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“When I first met Dean, he was already in trouble.”
There was a grand party on the ship, celebrating a human who danced around the center of the deck, laughing and joking with the crew as bright flashes of colored light flashed all about them. Cas watched with his friend Ducky from the side of the ship, immediately entranced with the human. When a dog came sniffing around them, though, they had to go and watch from a distance to keep from being spotted. Humans could never know they existed, it was against the rules. But unable to stay far away, Castiel and Ducky watched from a nearby rock.
The worst thing happened then. A terrible storm rolled in and now the flashes of light were not the colored lights the humans made but something far more dangerous and it arched through the sky like menacing, jagged eels. The humans ran about, pulling ropes and moving the large white sheets of fabric that hung from wooden beams. The waves crashed and sent the ship rocking on the water. Men were tossed about and shouted or screamed. When the human they were celebrating was tossed over the rails, the humans all tried to save him, but were unable to as the lights in the sky struck the ship and everything was thrown into chaos.
Castiel dove from his rock into the ensuing calamity, swimming with only one goal in mind: save that human. The man was drowning, going under fast and the one thing Cas knew for certain was that humans could not breath under water. He would die if Castiel didn’t save him. So under he went as fast as he could, wrapping his arms around the man and pulling him back to the surface. When they broke water, the man wasn’t breathing, nor awake, so Castiel swam him to the shore and dragged him up onto the beach, pushing him onto his side. The man coughed and spit up water, but remained unconscious. Worried, Castiel watched over him until the early morning rays of dawn appeared.
Ducky floated nearby, making a fuss about how it was dangerous and that they should go. Castiel’s father wouldn’t approve of this sort of thing and that they should be careful. Of course, Castiel ignored him. He just wanted to be sure that the man was alright before returning home. He sat on the warm sand at the edge of the shore, leaning over the human, brushing hair out of his face and smiled down. This time, though, at Castiel’s touch, the man stirred. He began waking, their faces only inches apart.
“Who….?” The man said quietly, slowly blinking his eyes open.
Castiel gasped and retreated quickly, scooting back down the beach before slipping into the water. He and Ducky swam away quickly, hiding behind a large rock just off the shore. From there they watched another young man and a dog came up the shore shouting at the human.
“Dean! Dean, are you okay?” The man said as the dog sniffed at the man’s face. Castiel knew then that the human’s name was Dean.
“Yeah, yeah, Sammy, I’m fine,” Dean sat up and rubbed his head, looking around the beach, confused and searching. He pushed the dog’s head out of his face, “Get away.”
Castiel looked down to Ducky, “He’s looking for me!”
“Which is a bad thing for him to be doing,” Ducky said, peeved.
“No, it’s great…” Castiel smiled, full of wonder as he watched the pair of young men leave the beach, chatting to each other.
“What happened to you out there?” The one named Sammy asked.
“I don’t know, I fell off the ship and it all went black. I woke up here, but I swear I saw someone.”
“Saw someone?” Sammy reached out to touch Dean’s head, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Dean batted Sam’s hand away. “I’m fine! But I don’t know, it was a man… I think he saved me.”
“What, like some mysterious angel? Just saved you and vanished?”
“Shut up, Sam.” Dean shoved the taller man and they walked out of earshot.
Castiel grinned brightly, swimming out onto his back and looking up at the bright morning sky. “He knows I saved him…”
Ducky floated after him, feathers all ruffled, “And just what will that matter? You can’t see him again.”
“I don’t care,” Castiel did a backflip dive into the water and swam downward in a little spiral. “He’ll remember me…”
“You’re a fool!” Ducky said, poking his head under the water to shout at Cas.