Dean Winchester sat alone in a dingy hotel room outside of Sioux Falls, staring blankly at the TV with bottles of Jack, Jim, and Jose lying at his feet, and ignoring calls from Bobby and Sam.
Dean wondered how his life ever got this screwed up. Sure, his life had always been screwed up but Castiel proclaiming himself to be God was even worse than the usual shit he dealt with.
"Hello Dean," came Castiel's gravelly voice. He had entered the hotel room without Dean even noticing, which caused Castiel some concern.
"Speak of the devil. What are you doing here?" asked the hunter as he reached for the gun under the pillow.
"Dean, I am not the devil. I just came to explain. I wanted to let you know that…" started Castiel.
"Nothing more to say to you, Cas. Your actions said everything," Dean said, his voice cold and unforgiving.
"Torturing Doc Visyak, killing a virgin, opening Purgatory; damn it, you took down Sam's wall." With each damning accusation, Dean's voice grew louder.
"Dean, please let me explain what happened," pleaded Castiel, his blue eyes full of pain.
"No! You could have killed Sam; you could have killed my brother!" Dean's green eyes were full of anger.
"I had no choice Dean! Crowley would have killed you both. I did this to protect you," growled Castiel.
"No, you did it for yourself! You wanted to prove that you could defeat Raphael, prove that you were stronger than him!" Dean was almost nose to nose with Castiel now.
"I did everything for you! I killed for you; I died for you twice, I worked with Crowley…"
"You trusted Crowley!" interrupted Dean, his voice betraying his anger. "Why would you, how could you, work with him? Why didn't you trust me enough to help you?"
"There is no one I trust more than you Dean. You were happy with Lisa and Ben … out of the game, out of danger. I didn't want to bother you…" Castiel said impatiently.
"Bother me? Bother me, I could have helped you." Dean turned away from Castiel in disgust, impatiently running his hands through his hair.
"How could you have helped Dean? By fighting Raphael? You would have died in a heartbeat. You forget, Dean, that I am stronger than you, older than you. I have been fighting wars while your ancestors were barely fish out of water," Castiel coldly replied to Dean's back.
"I could have…" Dean started to say.
Castiel invaded Dean's personal space, forcing his human friend to face him and felt the anger radiating from the hunter.
"You could have trusted me!" the former angel interrupted. "I am neither evil nor stupid. I asked one thing of you and you refused me. I have done more for you than any other yet you could not give me the one thing I needed."
Dean looked into Castiel's brilliant blue eyes and said, "You were like my brother Cas; you should have listened to me."
"When I came to you for help I heard Raphael, blah, blah, blah. You never took me or the war I was fighting seriously. If you truly considered me your brother perhaps you could have spared some time to listen to me" Castiel told Dean coldly.
"You had to have know what you were doing was wrong, Cas," Dean wearily told him. "You should have known that working with a demon never turns out well."
"Dean, I learned that lesson from watching the Winchesters working with demons," Castiel told him sarcastically. "I never trusted Crowley, I had a plan, and I did what had to be done to stop Raphael!"
"What you should have done was come to me."
"Your priority was Sam. You were not interested in anything I had been doing unless it prevented me from helping you. You showed no concern about the possibility of the Apocalypse until it directly affected you."
"The Purgatory monsters could have destroyed the world if they had been released," Dean retorted.
"What do you think Raphael's plan for the world was Dean?" Castiel asked mockingly. "Pies and porn for everyone?"
His voice heavy with weariness, he added, "I am tired Dean, tired of your lack of respect, of trust, and of faith. I was fighting a war to prevent the Apocalypse while you were off fighting fairies. I did regrettable things to win the war but I will not beg your forgiveness."
"So, destroying Sam's wall was a regrettable thing? You don't regret that? Of course you don't because all you cared about is defeating Raphael, you didn't care what happened to us," Dean said accusingly.
The silence grew as the two former comrades-at-arms stared at each other, growing thicker by the minute; heavy with unspoken hurt and regret.
"Just another dick with wings."
The words came quietly, yet for Castiel, they could not have been louder. He stiffened.
That final epithet made Castiel look - really look - into the green eyes belonging to the hunter standing before him. He realized he no longer recognize the man. Gone was the man who taught him the meaning of free will and of family. In his place stood a stranger wearing the face of his friend; a man as selfish, hypocritical and as cold as any demon he had ever met.
"Good bye, Dean," Castiel replied, his voice full of regret. He at that moment that he was saying a final good bye to the man he had considered his friend, his brother and his mentor. That man was gone, replaced by a stranger that he hoped to never see again.