He lands with a thud, falling onto the ground, his wings furling around him to break his fall. He can't land right lately, no longer having enough juice for his usual flying prowess. The wound Rachel gave him caused some of his grace to seep out, weakening him irreparably. Dean is in Lansing, Kansas, hunting some unnamed monster, he's always hunting a monster nowadays, that had been feeding on children. He remembered seeing them, the souls, on his way down from Heaven. Even though the mother is gone, her children are just getting started, everything that goes bump in the night stalking the day and the arms race for souls far from over. He finally reaches the place, some old abandoned barn that had to be at least 100 years old. He looks around and sees the Impala parked on the side between two large trees. He wonders why, but then remembers that most humans would find it strange if there was a car parked in front of a place that is clearly supposed to be abandoned. Something is wrong, he knows it, the scene is entirely too quiet. No gun shots, no screams, nothing. Pure silence.
He decides against flying into the building, his landing when he descended the first time in the forefront of his mind. As he walks into the building, what he sees shakes his usually impassive nature. In the middle of the barn, in a pile of dirt and straw, lies Dean, bloodied and unconscious. Neglecting the fact that he cannot land properly and not trusting his legs to move fast enough, Castiel flies the short distance to Dean, falling onto the ground next to him, trench coat now dirtied by Dean's blood. He checks to see if he is breathing, and thanks his Father when he discovers that his is.
"Dean, wake up,", he pleads, attempting to break Dean from his unconscious state. Dean does not respond. "Dean please wake up, you have to wake up now". Dean stirs, and Castiel can finally breathe again. He opens his eyes slowly, his dirt and blood caked face difficult to move.
"Cas?" he finally breathes out,
"What are you doing here?" he lifts Dean's head into his lap and begins to heal his face, praying that his grace will sustain this simple feat.
"It's been two weeks since you've called me, I was beginning to get worried," he says, moving his hands across the cuts on Dean's face and neck.
"Where is Sam?" he asks, attempting to lift himself from Castiel's lap.
"He's not here Dean, you and I are the only ones" he moves to lift himself up again, but this time Castiel pins him down, the movements distracting from his healing process. Dean sighs but is compliant.
"What do you mean he is not here?" Dean asks, anger and worry overcoming him despite his physical state. He turns his head, being careful not to distract Castiel, in search for any sign of Sam, finding nothing.
"I mean he's not here. There's no other meaning that can be derived from that, is there?" Castiel finally finishes with his healing of Dean's wounds, and is visibly weakened by this task, slumping further down into the blood soaked ground of the barn
"You didn't think to look for him? What the hell Cas?" Dean, ignorant to Castiel's weakened state, pushes himself off Castiel's lap and beings to frantically search for his phone. Castiel, even in his weakened state is visibly irritated by Dean's response.
"You want to know 'what the hell' Dean? Honestly? Well here's what I saw when I walked in here, you, bloody and broken, unconscious in the middle of the floor. You want to know what I thought Dean? My friend is unconscious. Maybe I should use some of my already damaged grace and heal him, so that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't die again. That's 'what the hell' Dean."
Castiel pushes himself of the floor of the barn, having recouped some of the energy he spent on healing Dean. He stands at a distance enough to where Dean cannot ignore his discontented gaze.
"Okay, alright, I get it. I'm just worried. We were hunting this, this- Thing. Jesus, I don't even know how to describe it. It was bad man, honestly. We thought it would just be a standard kill, you know? Gank and go, but no, this thing was strong, really strong. He threw me up against a wall and it was lights out. That's all I remember."
They sit in silence for a while, Castiel thinking on what Dean told him, trying to glean what kind of creature it could've been, Dean trying to piece together memories of the night that he does not have.
"We'll find him Dean." He says, hoping to calm the clear worry and guilt in his friend's face.
"It was my fault, I should've fought harder, I should've…" Dean shakes his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and buries his head between his knees.
"Ugh" his sighs, his self-frustration finally coming to a head.
"There was nothing you could do. Clearly this thing was more powerful than you anticipated."
"Sam's gone Cas"
"Gone yes, but that doesn't mean he is dead. Think about it, if the monster was going to kill him, why kidnap him, why not just do it here, like, if the claw marks across your neck were any indication, it was trying to do to you?"
"I don't know, Cas, this is all just extremely strange, everything about it. I mean kidnapping Sam? Why? He's not the Devil's condom anymore, what would they want with him now?"
"I don't know, Dean."
"What the hell do you know?" Castiel sighs, frustrated but understanding of Dean's frustrations and worries.
"We'll find him and whatever took him, but there's nothing to be done at this very second. I'm too drained to fly, and you're too weak to fight anything tonight, so I suggest we drive the slow moving human mode of transportation you call 'baby' to a place where both of us can fully recover."
Dean sighs, realizing the reasonability of Castiel's request.
"Fine, but in the morning, we tear this town apart until we find Sam, got it?" Castiel nods.
They both limp out to the still parked Impala, Dean entering the driver's side and Castiel in Sam's usual passenger seat. When Dean starts the car, the left driver's side tire goes flat, wheezing out its last painful breath. "goddamn it!" Dean screams, "Don't use my father's name in vain, Dean." Dean shifts to lie on his side, too tired to respond to Castiel's piousness. Tonight they'll sleep in the Impala, or rather Dean will sleep, and Castiel, like always, will watch over him while he does so, but now, this time, he can see him from closer than worlds away.