AN: So this is just a little angsty drabble. I had the need (the need for speed) to write this, so I did. Not my best, but oh well.
"Cas!" Dean called from across the warehouse, urgency in his voice. The angel in question wasted no time popping in next to the human.
Dean looked up, green eyes burning with hate, fear, and desperation. "Heal her," he demanded.
Castiel looked down, into the small bundle in Dean's arms. It appeared to the angel that this little girl seemed to have more blood than skin, the red liquid covering her entire body.
"I cannot, Dean," the angel said regretfully.
"What? Why?"
"Because she is dead."
Dean gaped at him. "You can heal the dead Cas! I've seen you do it! You healed Bobby after that dick snapped his neck!"
"It was not Bobby's time, that was why I was able to heal him."
Dean clenched his jaw, green eyes boring holes through the angel's blues. "Are you saying it's this little girl's time?" he manage to growl.
"I am sorry, Dean, but yes, it is. It's fate."
"Screw fate!" the hunter roared. "Look at her! She can't be more than six years old Cas, how can you sit there and tell me it was her time to die?"
"Dean, in case you haven't noticed, people die. They die every minute of every day, and not all of them have had the chance to live full lives. But that is how the world works," the angel said, a hint of anger in his voice.
Dean looked down at the little girl in his arms, so small and fragile. "I know," he said quietly, his voice cracking.
"Then why are you so angry?" Castiel asked, equally as quiet.
"Because I can't stop it. I try and I try to save people, but they still die. Sometimes I wish I'd never been a hunter, that I'd grown up in a house, that I'd met a girl, had some kids," the hunter's green eyes grew watery. "But then I realize that if I had, this could've happened to them," he stroked the little girl's brown curls. He didn't even know her name.
"Dean I am sure this is little consolation, but you have saved countless people, most of whom most likely had families. You ensured that they were able to return to their families, or perhaps build one if they didn't have one already. Yes, you have missed out, but in doing so you've given lives to so many people who would be grateful, I am sure, if they only knew of your sacrifice," Castiel said, crouching next to the hunter and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Dean looked up at him and they both chose to ignore the wetness around the hunter's eyes. "But why can't I save them all?"