Castiel headed to the bunker, hoping to find some sympathy, some empathy, some anything from Sam.
Dean was dead.
And it was probably his fault too – Metatron had power from the tablet, and maybe, maybe if he had broken it sooner Dean would have been able to fight him off; he had the power of Cain after all. But he hadn't. He hadn't and now Dean was dead, he was dead and he wasn't coming back because who could bring him back? Cas' grace was too weak by then to be much good for healing, never mind resurrection. And there was no way he was letting anyone (meaning Sam) make a deal. Maybe he could… can angels make deals, he wondered? Not that he was going to be an angel for much longer. Or alive. Would that make a deal futile? Probably. He walked through the door and cast his eyes around the bunker. It looked relatively normal; books, soft lamps, shelves and tables, the same doorways leading off to other rooms that had always been there, Dean slouched on the wall staring at him- wait. Dean slouched on the wall staring at him? Cas took half a step back, his face filled with shock and confusion. Dean.
"D-ean?" Cas stuttered and swallowed hard. Dean was there, right in front of him, alive. Dean motioned for him to come closer, and despite the slight malicious look in his eyes, Cas slowly descended to the main section of the bunker.
"Heyy, angel." Dean's smile was spiteful and mocking and Cas knew then that something was definitely not right. Despite his fading grace Cas looked at Dean properly – not just his face, but deep into his soul. What he saw there was horrific. A twisted soul; more so than any other demon he had ever seen, aside from maybe Cain. There was no way to describe it, not in a way that would make any sense and capture what it was. You could call it smoky, like the forms of demons on earth without vessels. It was dark and evil. Cas doubted that there was more than a sliver of humanity left in him. Not that he wasn't going to try to find it.
"Your mojo's running a little low, Castiel. You should probably do something about that." Dean paused, dodging the table and stepping closer to Cas. "I can see you're a dead man walking, Castiel." Castiel. It stung a little, hearing his name on Dean's lips in such a way. And Castiel, Dean hadn't called him that since pretty much the day that they met.
"Dean. How… how did you bec..o… where is Sam?" Cas changed his sentence halfway through, shaking his head in a feeble attempt to clear it.
"Sammy," Dean replied, just a few steps from Cas now. "Sammy is down on the lower floors of this place, trying to summon Crowley to resurrect me. Though I don't see it doing much good!" He let out a hollow laugh. Cas could feel his breath on his own skin Dean was that close.
"And as for how I became a demon – yes, I picked up on that – well, you do know what happened to Cain, right?" He hissed into Cas' ear before pulling back and stepping away just slightly. Cas realized that he was shaking ever so slightly, and moved away from Dean himself.
"Cain took on the mark and – and he killed a lot and he didn't like what he had become. He turned the blade on himself, but rose again as a demon. That meant he became a demon soldier, the first Knight of Hell." Cas fought to keep his voice steady as Dean looked at him with a cruel look in his eyes. Dean nodded and tapped his own shoulder as if to say 'me too'.
"Unfortunately, after he fell in love with some girl he went soft and quit. I didn't like what I was turning into before, but I think I have a little more sense than Cain, don't you? I'm gonna rule Hell. And I am not letting anyone stand in my way." He stopped, frowning for a second. "Also, killing people who piss me off will be fun too." Cas thought it might be time to try reasoning with him.
"Dean, you don't have to do this. Just because you are a demon doesn't mean you have to be a monster, you can still be-" With a flick of his hand, Dean sent Cas flying across the room into the wall by the bookshelves with an almighty crash.
Dust and rubble billowed around the angel, all fallen from a man sized dent that now resided in the bunker wall. Cas coughed and tried to move some of the stone from on top of his body with minimal results.
"I'm not sure you quite understand, Castiel." Dean spoke quietly and calmly, seemingly unscathed by the commotion that he had just caused. He blinked slowly, turning his eyes to black and staring straight at Cas. "But I am a demon. A malevolent," Dean held out his fist I front of him and Cas felt his insides crush together. He coughed, his body twisting with Dean's fist as he moved it with every word. "Creature." Twist. "From." Crush. "Hell." Squish.
"Please, Dean, please stop please, I know," He choked as blood came up his throat; it blocked his airway and he could barely breathe. "I know y-you-you're in there please!" Cas half screamed, and all the while Dean stood there, clenched fist and black eyes and evil smile. I'm going to die, Cas realized. He's going to kill me right here and now. And so, that was how he found himself uttering the words he never thought that he would say:
"Dean, I love you." Dean's smile faltered. He blinked; and Cas desperately hoped that his eyes would turn back to green. But although he did relax his grip on Cas' insides his eyes stayed firmly demonic and dark.
"I like how you thought that that would make any difference to me, Castiel. Maybe once upon a time," He mocked, swinging his head from side to side and glaring. Cas knew then he had no hope and put his head back on the stone around him, admitting defeat to the demon two feet away from him.
"I've lost my regret, Castiel. And most of the love I once held for many things. But I'm free. I'm not weighed down any more, by anything that has ever happened in my life and that? That is the best thing." Cas dared to look at Dean once more, and just managed to catch the last thing he said before walking away, down towards the dungeon and where he had mentioned Sam being.
"All new Dean, angel."