Season 7, ep. 17:

"I don't know," Sam said, gasping as he followed after his brother, his eyebrows knit. "I mean, we can't just leave him!"

"Well, we can't bring him!" Dean snapped back, his demeanor assured even as he walked further away from the hospital and to the Impala. Dean looked at his brother head-on, his green eyes piercing. "Everything on the planet is out for us, okay? Word gets out; we can't protect him…not really. This is safer." Dean swung open Baby's door and paused, his eyes still on his brother.

"Every demon that knows about Cas is dead."

"Not everyone," Sam said, his facial expression worried and dead serious, as he looked his brother in the eyes. "Look, Dean, this whole 'enemy-of-my-enemy is my friend' thing feels kind of like a demon deal."

Dean looked down, his facial expression blank and thoughtful. Then the elder Winchester looked his brother in the eyes again, desperate. "It's not a deal, it's—"

"—It's what?" Sam challenged, his shoulders shrugging sarcastically.

Dean was quiet as he thought of the right words. Then he looked up again, his face blank. "Mutually assured destruction." Sam looked taken aback, an incredulous huff coming from deep within his throat.

Dean stopped him then and there. "Look man, I get it, she's not our friend. We don't even have friends. All our friends are dead!" Dean got into the driver's seat, slamming his door, leaving a disgruntled Sam in his wake.

One week later…

"All right," Meg practically sang as she entered Castiel's room, within her hands several trays of food. It was all for show really, being that the angel never ate. However, the hospital they were in had started noticing that Castiel hadn't eaten anything for a few days now, not even water, which brought him unneeded attention—especially for his quote, unquote, 'nurse.'

Meg sighed as she set down the food upon the angel's bed, her hands coming to rest upon her hips. Cas paid her no mind, the angel perched on the end of his bed lifelessly.

This was the fourth day Castiel was like this: lifeless, like he held nothing within him, and if Meg wasn't a demon she would be worried. The demon took out her cell, her black lacquered nails typing away:

To: Dumbass 1

Ur angel continues not to eat. The humans are getting pissy. Force is useless btw, he bit me yesterday. If he does it again I'll send his head flying.

Meg

Meg put away her phone and looked at Castiel again, the angel yet to move. She snapped her fingers once, then twice, trying to get his attention. When he still didn't look at her she walked over and gripped his face in her hands, forcing him. Black eyes met glassy blue and the demon smiled.

"Eat something or die, Castiel. Those are your only options here. I honestly don't give a shit either way; I'm just done trying to baby you, and having to listen to those bloodbags bitch at me all day. So choose, or I will choose for you."

Dean sighed wearily as he pulled his phone from his back pocket, flipping it open. Bitch, it read and the elder Winchester groaned loudly.

"What?" Sam asked as he walked out of their hotel bathroom, the younger hunter continuing to brush his teeth.

"It's Meg," Dean told him as he hit the 'ok' button to see the message. Sam's eyebrows knitted together and his toothbrush paused, the man waiting to hear what she had to say. By the sick look on his brother's face he knew it wasn't good.

"What is it, Dean? What did she say?" Sam asked and looked over his brother's stiff shoulder, his eyes flickering side-to-side as he read the screen.

So, Cas still wasn't eating.

Sam gulped. "How many days has it been? Three?"

"Four," Dean corrected his brother stiffly, his throat tight. Dean snapped his phone shut and shoved it in his back pocket, his hands coming up to rub roughly at his face. Sam looked even more worried then, his eyes looking down at his watch. 7:35 pm, if they left now they could get there a little past one a.m.

"Dean, maybe we—"

"—Not gonna happen," Dean told him quickly, one forefinger wagging at him warningly.

"But, Cas—"

"—Will be fine, okay? He's a freaking angel, remember? Four days without food isn't going to kill him. Hell, he doesn't even need it; not really. After all, he chose not to eat. Besides, we're on a case right now, if you don't remember!" Sam looked sickened.

"He's broken, Dean! He took on my sickness—"

"—He's the one who did it to you, Sam! Don't you forget that! He freaking broke your wall and left you drooling all over yourself! He did it to himself!"

Sam's eyes darkened. "You heard him, he only did what he thought was right. Yes, what he did was wrong but he was out of options. He's our friend, Dean—your friend. He would die for you! Look at what he did for us—for me.

"He saved me, Dean. My wall was going to come down sooner or later, you know that. I couldn't help it, it was like an itch I just couldn't scratch and now it's gone. Cas took it all away—everything. You have no idea what he's going through right now, do you?" Dean looked taken aback, his jaw slackened, until he thought of what breaking Sam's wall had done to his brother, and the culprit who did it.

"Whatever Cas is feeling, he deserves it. He broke you, Sam; left you to die, and I can't forgive that." Dean didn't wait for Sam's reply as he stormed out the door, the cheap clock shaking wearily upon the equally cheap wall.

For Cas, the angel seemed to think the same as Dean. Though his mind was fried, like Sam's was before him, some part of it kept turning. His mind was overwhelmed, really. He seemed to think of everything at once, the thoughts crippling him further. Not to mention…Lucifer. Oh yes, his brother was nonstop.

"Hey, Cassie," Lucifer called for the hundredth time, the Devil holding a medical book, flipping the page, enthralled. "Don't you miss the good ole days when anesthesia wasn't around? Everything is just too boring nowadays…Too clean for my taste. And you?" Castiel stayed quiet as he had been since the very beginning, staring at the white wall before him. Lucifer sighed long and hard, his head flopping back childishly. He tossed the book he held at Castiel, the angel not even flinching as it moved past him.

"Boooorrrinnngg," Satan sang loudly as he plopped next to Castiel on the medical bed, his legs swinging happily. "I miss Sam, at least he would talk to me time-to-time." The broken angel looked at him then, a long-lost spark coming to play in his blue eyes. Lucifer looked euphoric, a sinister smile warping his lips.

"Pressing your buttons, am I, brother?" Satan murmured as Castiel seemed to realize just what he had given away. The angel quickly turned his head, his blue eyes wide and frightened.

"Oh no, Cas, can't have that…I just finally found you."

Suddenly the presence next to him was gone and Lucifer's voice was calling out to him again, from the opposite side of the room. Castiel shut his eyes, trying his best not to give in to the temptation as the Devil continued to call his name.

He deserved this, yes. He deserved everything coming to him, be that hunger, Lucifer, or death. Or all, he really didn't care.

But it was just all too much…

"CAS!"

Castiel opened his eyes in shock. "D-Dean?" The angel croaked and looked at Lucifer.

Big mistake.

There was Dean all right, wrapped in chains and soaked in blood—like he was in Hell. The hunter's stomach was split open, blood and entrails spilling out upon the white tile below him. Dean's green eyes were huge, teary, and filled with a pain unknown to any living man.

This was the Dean Castiel had saved from the Pit. Yet, it wasn't his brother's name he was now calling.

"C-Cas…!" Dean wailed again, his body rocking sickeningly in his chains, tearing his body up further. Lucifer stood next to Dean, a few fingers caressing his chin in thought as he watched Castiel's reaction.

Horror washed over Castiel, his blue eyes threatening to pop from his skull. The angel couldn't scream loud enough to make it stop—he couldn't tell Dean over and over again that it was okay, and that none of it was real.

For this Dean it was real, and he was choking on his blood right in front of Cas—Cas who could do nothing but scream, apologize, claw at his own face, and curse Lucifer's existence.

"Ow! Watch it!" Meg growled angrily.

Meg had busted in a while back and was now literally fighting with Castiel to remain still, the demon trying her best to restrain the wailing angel in the arm and leg restraints. Only, Castiel wasn't having any of it, for it was not Meg who he was seeing. It was Dean.

It was Dean, bloody, crying, Dean Winchester who kept begging Castiel to save him.

"I-I did! I did, I did, I did, I did, I did, I did…Dean! Dean! So sorry, Dean! I'm so sorry!" Castiel screamed over and over again as his friend reached for him, the slick of his blood staining his trench coat, white pants, and shirt. Lucifer laughed loudly as he watched, his eyes dancing childishly in the fluorescent lighting.

"Oh, Cassie, I do believe we have much more fun to be had yet!"

"Oh my God, will you just shut up?!" Meg growled wickedly and gripped Castiel by the lapels of his trench coat. The demon shook him violently and Castiel soon met with the blessed abyss of unconsciousness as the back of his head met with the backboard of his metal bed. One final cry left his lips as the demon let go of him, the angel sagging pathetically upon the bed. The last thing he saw was Lucifer, the Devil feigning empathy as he gripped the back of his head, smile wide.

He had won.

"Thank you!" Meg told Castiel appreciatively, unconscious or not, and sighed deeply. The demon pulled out her cell phone and pressed dial, her free hand coming up to press against her pounding head.

"Yeah, hey, dumbass, did you get my text before? Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever…He's flipping his shit over here…No, he hasn't eaten anything, haven't you been listening to me? He kept screaming your name though. I mean, he was your boyfriend first." Meg smiled then at Dean's answer, hatred in her eyes. "You too, sweetie. Yeah, I'll be here, maybe. See you then."

Meg tossed her phone on the bed, the demon looking down at Castiel angrily. "I liked you better when you were quiet…" At Castiel's obvious silence she sighed and sat down next to him, her eyes locking onto a few drops of blood that trailed down the back of his neck.

"Shit," Meg grumbled and went to investigate. Yep, more blood, probably from the hit to the head from before. The demon then went to the white dresser opposite of the bed and grabbed the medical gauze.

"You tell Dean and I'll freaking kill you, you stupid angel," Meg grumbled to herself as she wrapped the gauze around Castiel's limp head.

A/N: Me messing around with season 7…I was pissed when Sam and Dean just left Cas there and I feel that there needed to be more whump scenes of broken!Cas, I mean he did see Lucifer after all. What do you guys think? Yay, nay?

Best wishes as always,

Lthien