Cas had only one thing to say after receiving the memories: bloody hell. He already knew what his next question would be. Is this Castiel Ronan really an identity they created for Cas, or is there something more about it? Cas couldn’t find out why 452 would lie about that, so he let this matter aside for now. He still had a lot to think about.

First of all, Cas didn’t have a good relationship with his family. His stepmother hated him because he was the result of a one-night liaison his father got once drunk. She only thought about throwing him away and tried to dissuade her husband to give Cas any money or share from the company he held. Patrick Ronan loved his little wife very much and felt extremely guilty about having to bring back home a child he had with a mistress, therefore he listened to her. He never glanced once at his second son, and thought that giving money, food and a place to live in were already enough.

Cas’s big brother was the stranger of the lot. The siblings first had a good relationship. Cas moved in when he was six, and the big brother was only ten. Darius was lonely and was always pushed by his parents to do better at school because he will have to inherit the company once he’ll be an adult. He was young and never had a thought about it, so he listened to his parents and worked hard. In fact, he was lonely. When Cas arrived, Darius’s parents started a cold war. Cas’s stepmother avoided her husband, waiting for at list an apology for betraying her. He managed to coax her — who knows how — but during this time, the parents barely payed attention to both of their sons. They only stayed together, eating together and sleeping together. Darius was afraid his parents would abandon him, so the little Castiel didn’t dare to let his brother alone and accompanied him all the time. 

However, when the big brother grew up, and because of the incessant lies his mother told him daily, Darius Ronan began to slowly draw Cas away. The relationship they built didn’t last long and wasn’t sturdy enough to allowed them to stay close. The last conversation they had was during the time Cas entered middle school. After that, the younger child tried to talk to his big brother, only receive the cold shoulder instead of an answer. Cas was left alone in the middle of this cold family. They were strangers too, and his birth mother was dead, and he was too weird to make friend. He started breaking things in the house, but all the vases were changed instantly, and he never was scolded for his bad behavior. Cas started being isolated at school because he was insolent. He beat the hell out of a kid who said bad things about him once, and his father only gave money to the other’s family as compensation. He never looked at his child. His stepmother was so disgusted by him and had the habit to let him know every time she could. The big brother quickly went abroad to the university for two years, but they never talk again.

Cas had to retake his last year of middle school, and it was his second year in high school. He was expulsed of the last one, and his parents chose to put him in another one, again. Cas finally got information about where is mission took place.

Cas put the quilt on his bed in a hurry and took a quick shower. He felt nothing about the family of his, only indifference. However, strangely, he could touch the remote feelings of the original body, as if someone really lived here before him. Should Cas do something about it and change the situation? Even if the soldier he was had the reputation to be impulsive, he couldn’t be rash about it. He chose to consider how things were before stepped in and messed things up. When he thought about the hint he had, his eyelid twitched, and the system appear in front of him, as if it was summoned.

“Kiddo, can you do me a favor? Follow the stepmother today. I want to know everything: how good is her relationship with her husband, how does she spend her days. Is it possible?”

“If she is still home for now, I can follow her. I will give you my report tonight.”

Cas nodded before getting ready. He took a long-sleeved black shirt and a jean. He found boots in the back of the closet and he hurriedly put them on. He turned over all the drawers but couldn’t put his hands on some gloves, so his first mission will be to go to the mall.

He hesitated a bit, but finally chose to go down using the stairs. He stepped in the kitchen, where his two lame parents were eating. They’d stopped talking as soon as Cas put his feet on the ground. He only took an apple in the fruit-basket before turning his heels toward the front door, but his stepmother coughed to stop him. Cas took a break but didn’t turn around to face his co-called parents. He bit into the fruit while waiting for her to open her mouth. Her eyes seemed to pierced holes in his back, but he wouldn’t bother with her. She was really too much of a pain, and Cas knew he could snap easily if he met her more than necessary.

Cas thought that she’d leave it alone, however he hadn’t expected she would still speak to him that way.

“Darius comes back tonight. We will hold a little celebration for him, family only. You know what you have to do, right?” She said, and Cas heard malice in her voice. 

He didn’t answer, and instead left the house. Nobody shouted after him, it must be a good sign.

His big brother will come back. Cas thought a bit about it, and decided he will assist to the family dinner, even though his stepmom nicely advised him not to. He started walking down the street, eating the apple while thinking about his first destination. He had to look at the school and go to the supermarket. The only good thing about living in the city was the proximity; he could go to his new school by foot. However, he knew he couldn’t avoid the crowd if he took on the sidewalk. He wanted to jump on the roof, but Cas still remembered the words of his psychiatrist. He should borrow the road for a bit.

He didn’t have a phone, neither a computer. Even though he didn’t want nor need the former, the latter could be useful. He also needed to buy some fingerless gloves he could use in everyday life. And finally, he felt like he couldn’t keep fighting his insomnia the hard way during missions, so he had to buy sleeping peels in a drugstore. Watching the stars all night could become pretty boring too.

He finally arrived in the school district. When Cas faced the building, he felt shivers crawling down his spine. It looked exactly like the building he used to go to meet his superior when he was still in the army. Was it how a military school is supposed to look like? If so, perhaps it will not be as boring as it seemed. It was only nine in the morning, but all the accesses were blocked. No student could enter if he was late. The building — which looked more like a bunker than a school — was a bit shabby, a bit old, and cold. The exterior lacked trees and vegetation, everything looked rough and hard. Cas couldn’t help but feel a bit excited.

He felt the presence of someone behind him, so he turned around before that person could touch him. He dodged the outstretched hand which almost grabbed his shoulder with the minimum movement before facing his opponent. The guy looked older, he was at list in his late twenties, and his eyebrows tilted in surprise; he probably couldn’t believe the young man had been able to avoid him this smoothly.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with a low voice.

Cas only looked at him, tilting his head lightly. The proximity bothered him, so Cas stepped backward and stopped only when he felt he was at a reasonable distance.

“This is a school. You were looking at it, I have to know why before I can let you go, for the safety of the students.”

Cas looked at him, amused. The only thing he could think of was that the other man was not weak, but he was hurt. He was as tall as him, but less experienced. Even with an only glance, Cas could tell what his weaknesses were : he had a bad leg and limped a bit while avoided putting all his weight of his right.

“What are you trying to do?” the man asked again, and he looked ready to jump on Cas.

Cas didn’t answer. Furthermore, he saw what he wanted to see, so he could leave now. He nodded to the older man as goodbyes, and after a last glance to the building, he turned to enter an alley.

“Wait! Don’t move!” the other guy screamed, but when he arrived in front of the alley, which was in reality an impasse, there was no sign of the youngster.

He sighed and go back in front of the school. He stood there, with his back straight for a while, seemingly searching for Cas, and he watched his clock before entered the building alone. Cas was watching every of his movement on the roof of the building facing the high school. When he understood that the other man really didn’t see him, and really worked in the school, he stepped down, and joined another street.

When he found the mall, it was almost noon. Without any map, he was direction blind. This flaw was a big burden during missions when he was in the army, so he had to memorize by heart every map he could find to overcome this weak spot.

Cas entered the shop and rapidly found what he was looking for. He also bought several clothes, sports clothes and undergarments. Being the second son of a rich family, though as heinous as his, had an advantage: he didn’t lack money. He found the fingerless gloves he was searching for: he bought two leather pairs, one black and one tinted in dark brown. He put the black on his hand as soon as he left the shop, and a weight he bore on his shoulder was lift. He felt lighter, and more ready, more attentive, and more fearless. For the first time since he arrived in this world, he didn’t feel as restrictive as he was before. He was maybe a bit freer. Even though he still had to be careful, the person who were after him probably though he was dead – actually, it was the case – and wasn’t looking for him specially.

Cas enter a drugstore, and he could buy sleeping peels easily. It surprised him, but didn’t look too much into it, it wasn’t his world after all, they are a lot of things that were bonded to differ. He managed to buy cigarettes, even though he was minor. The vendors didn’t even ask for his identity card, only making him pay for the packets.

After buying himself a computer, some furniture for his room and some schoolbooks for tomorrow, Cas went home. This time, after climbing a brick wall, he ran on the top of the roof, jumping above the streets and the road, advancing faster than human eye could see. Cas had a lot of particularities since he wasn’t human, and his abnormal speed and strength were part of it.

When he came back, a big black car was parked in the alley. There was no one inside, so it must be the car of Cas’s brother. Cas didn’t know a lot about cars, and wasn’t really interested in it, but even he could see how much the vehicle cost. He opened the front door and entered the house. It was way too big, way too white for him to call it a home; he wasn’t cut to be a rich kid.

Cas arrived in the living room, and he saw his big brother and a young woman by his side, sitting on the sofa. Patrick Ronan and his wife, Maria, had taken place in chairs. On the glass table were appetizers. Cas saw his system behind his stepmother, writing notes and filming scenes with a camera.

Cas thought for a bit, before putting away his shopping bags in his room and coming back into the living room, taking a chair and sitting down. He could see Maria’s face change of color, while neither his dad nor his brother payed attention to him. Only the young miss his brother brought acknowledged him with a light nod. He nodded back to her and started picking some food he put in his plate. He was just here to steer a ruckus. Strangely, it wasn’t his stepmother who started the talking.

“What’s on your face? When did you get such awful scars?” Patrick asked.

Cas turned his head to peek at him.

“When was the last time you looked at me?” he asked in return.

The meaning was clear: the scars weren’t recent. They were white, that much was enough to figure out that they weren’t from yesterday. However, only Cas knew it was a lie, the scars really did appear as soon as he took place in this body. The father almost choked on his champagne, but he couldn’t retort anything: his son was right.

The stepmother was the harsher, she stood up and look at him as if she was trying to kill him with only her eyes. Cas was intrigued, it was the first time he could feel such strong killing intent from such a common person.

“I told you we were doing a family dinner; you should step out while I’m still nice to you.” She said.

Which part was nice? Cas thought. She was glaring at him and telling him he never had a place in this room, and he wasn’t part of the family. If Cas wasn’t totally indifferent to the situation he was in, he would chuckle; she was really a funny woman.

Cas didn’t bother more and went into his room. It was merely an attempt to provoke his stepmother and to relieve his boredom. The system didn’t follow him and continued to observe the situation downstairs. He didn’t eat anything during lunch, but he didn’t feel the slightest hungry. This body shouldn’t be used to skip meal or sleep, and if Cas ended up weak from an illness, he wouldn’t be able to do his mission correctly.

Cas opened his window and sat on his desk. He put one of the appetizers in his mouth, and chew. It didn’t have any taste. With disgust, Cas put the rest in the bin before knocking himself down with sleeping peels. He didn’t have the patience to do nothing, so he will have to wait tomorrow to read the report the IA would give him.