Dean took a deep breath and tiredly rubbed his face, trying to ignore the drowsiness creeping up on him. Books of all shapes and sizes were scattered around on Bunker's Library table, all of them opened and cast aside when information wasn't found helpful- which so far was the case for every book.

Usually Sam did this stuff- all this research. Dean was more into anything that didn't involve burying his time in old dusty books that seemed to always dodge around the solution he needed. This time, it made him feel just a bit more at ease however. He couldn't sleep and resorted to the library which sounded out of character for him, but circumstances were different as of late.

The reason Dean couldn't sleep was because his mind was flooded with the image of Cas- or Lucifer inside Jimmy's vessel in the complicated reality- sneering at him through that cocky and mocking grin that Lucifer seemed to constantly have fixed on his face. On Lucifer's old vessel however, it was fitting. Seeing Cas's vessel acting in such a way was just so... strange. His once stone-faced but also constantly concerned composure was all Dean had ever known when envisioning Castiel. Seeing him compromised by someone so despiteful and deceiving as Lucifer straight scared Dean if he was being honest with himself.

So that is what had him awake at 3:24am. He had to be doing something. Cas wouldn't have rested until he had Dean back and safe again if their situations were reversed, so Dean wanted nothing less than to do the same. At this point he knew that Castiel wasn't exactly on board with expelling Lucifer. It was easy to deny at first before Dean had witnessed the full gravity of arrangement, but he couldn't reject the idea for every.

Stupid son of a bitch. Dean thought, although not at all with anger. Always throwing himself into situations for the "greater good". Cas seemed to have a prominent trend of confusing rash decisions with heroic ones. While the angel had nothing but good intentions, that didn't always mean they had good outcomes. Sam and Dean weren't exactly great at that kind of stuff either though. Dean couldn't even count how many terrible decisions he had made that had caused a whole shit-load of trouble for all of them.

"Dude, it's 3 AM." Sam's voice emanated from behind Dean, startling him a bit from his tired gazing at the meaningless words printed across the pages in front of him. Dean turned to see Sam groggily step into the library, his hair a ruffled mess and his eyes still half squinting against the light as if he had just woken up short of a moment ago. Dean reached for his beer and took a swig, turning back to the books.

"Yeah, so why aren't you in bed?"

Dean could hear Sam scoff behind him, eventually making his way around Dean to sit next to him.

"What's all of this?"

"Stuff on the darkness and archangel possession and stuff." Dean said casually, flipping through more pages and blowing away the dust that rose into the air.

"Find anything?"

"Zilch."

Dean let the heavy book cover slam close, pushing himself away from the desk a bit to rub his face tiredly. They didn't even know where to start with the dilemma they were in. How was he supposed to find someone who to teleport to anyone in the world they pleased? He despised feeling this helpless.

"You can't be at full capacity when your tired Dean. Try to get some sleep." Sam said, that concerned tinge to his voice that Dean was all too used to.

"Yeah, I know..." Dean grumbled. He sighed and looked at all of his pointless research splayed across the table. Looking over at the chair on the far side, he remembered Cas sitting there when he had still been under Rowena's curse, bound in a blanket and trembling with lack of self control. This year hadn't been good to Castiel.

"Alright, wake me up after noon... maybe." Dean said, getting out of his chair and playfully shoving at Sam's head, making it loll sideways. Sam rolled his eyes and followed Dean out of the library, both of them silently padding off to bed.

There was a constant low rumbling in his ear, the ground beneath him trembling violently. Castiel didn't know what was going on, but he didn't really care. He was so tired and all he wanted to do was sleep. Why did he want to sleep? He was an angel. Was he an angel right now? It seemed like he was always switching back and forth from losing his grace to restoring it.

Where even was he?

Castiel tried to open his eyes, but they felt incredibly heavy. They fluttered open just enough to see a large room crumbling around him, blurry shapes collapsing on top of each other and all around him. Castiel's eyes slid close again as he was unable to keep them open. He tried to break from his drowsy state, soon learning that it was a less than favorable idea- the more and more aware he was while forcing himself awake, the more apparent piercing pain erupted through his body from an unknown source, feeling as if a milling angel blade were tearing through his body, ripping him apart from the inside out. Even though the dull waves of intense pain made Castiel want to shy away from nothing in particular and scream against the agony, he still had no strength. Instead he felt a low groan escape his lips, his body still heavy and powerless. What was going on?

Nevertheless, he liked it better when he was too out of it to feel the mysterious pain. So Cas let himself drift back into a dream-like state where the sound of tumbling debris faded and his world went dark. That is, until he felt the shaking of the Earth stop. Castiel still could sense a dim ringing in his ears- an aftereffect of the quake he guessed. Everything else was silent though, no signs of life or movement anywhere around him from what he could hear; and Castiel had exceptional hearing.

Best of all, there was no more pain. Even when Cas forced his eyes open and his consciousness half-awake, there was nothing but a faded ache like he got as a human after sleeping on a hard, uneven surface. Not to mention the weakness.

"Castiel!" he heard a voice shout for him. Cas blinked his eyes, trying to make sense of his surroundings. There was nothing but dark shapes fallen all around him, and as he soon realized, on top of him. Castiel tried to look down at his vessel, but it seemed he was completely covered in large chunks of wall and ceiling. He guessed he still had his grace then- if he hadn't he'd most likely be in some excruciating pain.

"Castiel!" the voice called out again. Cas's first thought was Dean, but the more the voice became clearer, the more memories came back. That was Dean. That was Satan himself.

"Lucifer." Castiel groaned, more to himself as if acknowledging it. That's where he was- inside Jimmy's vessel, inside his own consciousness in the replica of Sam and Dean's kitchen that he created with his mind. He remembered sitting at the kitchen table watching TV and then all hell broke loose. He knew it was something to do with Amara.

"What'ya doing just laying around?" he heard his brother snicker to himself, making his way over to Castiel over the rubble.

"Lucifer, what did you do?" Castiel demanded the best he could. It came out a lot less forceful and more of a pained croak, but he ignored it and focused on keeping his eyes open.

"I'm offended you think this was me." he said as he began to move some the debris off of Cas with ease. Castiel didn't know why he was helping him, but he decided to ponder it later.

"YOU'RE the one in charge of the vessel. I swear, if you ruin it-"

"Oh baby, I love when you talk mean to me." Lucifer replied in his usual snarky tone, moving the last barrier off of Cas. Castiel squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push himself up, only to collapse again as dizziness washed over him.

"Castiel, always the drama queen." Lucifer said, gripping Castiel's forearm tightly and yanking him to his feet, continuing to hold him up. "Well snap out of it." Lucifer added more grimly, slapping at Cas's face which admittedly brought him back a bit. Castiel groaned and pulled away from Lucifer, swaying on his feet a bit but finally finding his stance.

"What was that?"

"Amara thinks that by hurting me, God will have some sort of sudden uncharacteristically brought-on motivation. When will people realize that dear old Daddy just isn't coming back?" Lucifer spat angrily, walking around the room and looking at the damage, examining the destroyed room as if it was of extreme interest to him. Castiel hated to admit it, but that's one thing he agreed with Lucifer on.

"Well get out there. Do something." Castiel said, watching Lucifer angrily, clenching his fists but not moving from where he stood. He wasn't completely positive that he wouldn't just collapse again.

"I can't, the vessel is unconscious."

"You're unconscious at the hands of Amara?"

"Technically we're unconscious at the-"

"Lucifer."

"Castiel!" Lucifer yelled back mockingly, rolling his eyes. Castiel huffed angrily.

"I should've listened to Sam and Dean." Cas muttered angrily. Just like that, within a second Lucifer was gripping the collar of Castiel's trench coat. His face was just inches from his own, his eyes drilling into Cas's.

"You wanted this Castiel. Whether it was because you knew it was the best damn shot you had or out of your own pathetic self pity, I don't care. I don't have time for your doubts now, little brother." Lucifer said, shoving Castiel backwards so that he nearly fell on his back before barely catching himself. His expression turned from angry to furious at that point, his muscles tightening as he glared at Lucifer, wanting nothing more but to hit the disgusting sneer off of Lucifer's face.

Cas let the anger fall when remembering why he did this in the first place. He had to do something. He needed to help Sam, Dean... humanity. He always screwed things up. He wanted to do something right. If this didn't turn out then... well then Cas would really have no trust left in himself anymore.

"Oh come on, now. No rebuttal? You've always been static and brooding, but never this much. You're not going to be any more important by feeling bad for yourself." Lucifer taunted him. Cas turned away and took deep breaths to try to keep himself calm. Why was everyone attacking him with the same claims lately. It was always "You're used Castiel", "You're expendable Castiel", "You only mess everything up Castiel".

"Although, maybe I'd be blue too..." Lucifer continued to ramble, aimlessly roaming the caved in room as if looking for a different way out through the fallen rubble. "If I was disowned from the family... well... been there done that." Lucifer said, Cas trying his best to ignore him.

"Stuck here on Earth constantly hiding, a house trained human pet-"

"I'm not a pet."

"You think they actually care about you? You're a mere convenience. You're alone Castiel. Our family hates you, you're just a pawn in the Winchester's game, and that girl." Lucifer said, finally turning his attention to Castiel, placing himself in front of him to tilt his head through a fake pitying gaze.

"What girl." Castiel asked flatly.

"What's her name?" Lucifer said, looking up as if he was thinking about it. "Oh... Claaaaaaaire."

That was the last straw. Castiel lunged forward and seized his brother by the neck shoving him against the wall, his grip tight. Lucifer only laughed an airy chuckle.

"How do you know about her?" Castiel demanded, enforcing his iron grip on Lucifer.

"I know a lot more than you think." he wheezed, his airways obviously compromised. "She'll never forgive you, Castiel. Never. You killed her father."

Castiel threw his brother aside, watching him crumple in an unnatural way over the jagged rubble.

"You're not worth my energy." Castiel mumbled, walking away from the disgusting, maniac grin Lucifer still wore, coughing and wheezing on the stone. Cas felt his anger fizzling. He knew Lucifer just enjoyed making him furious like it was some fun game, and he was just so tired of it all.

"You and me, we aren't too different, kiddo." Lucifer was already going on again. Cas rolled his eyes and started sifting through the rubble, looking for his TV. That's really all he was interested in doing lately. Besides, he was expendable right? No one really cared what he did so why should he.

Castiel shook his head. Now he was letting everyone get to him. That's what got him into this situation in the first place.

"Outcasts, so-call "screw ups", dispelled from the family and treated like dirt."

Castiel saw a plastic corner sticking out from the broken stone slabs. He bent down and shifted them around, trying to uncover it.

"Come on, Cassie." Lucifer said, suddenly behind him with an arm draped over his shoulders. "I need you to get us out of this mess. Once i figure out how to wake this damn thing up, it's you and me. Full force-"

"You've been nothing but all talk, Lucifer." Castiel answered dryly.

Castiel pulled out his TV from the rubble, clouds of dust swirling in the air. He carried it to the most stable and flat piece of stone he could fine, placing the tattered television gently on top and sighing in disappointment at the shattered screen and dented plastic casing. Cas had been in this vessel for a while though. He knew the tricks and in/outs. He closed his eyes and opened them again, enjoying the view of a perfectly restored TV.

Ignoring the annoyed groan from Lucifer from behind him, Castiel flipped on the TV, sighing at the disappointing static and reaching for the antennas, trying to adjust them the best he could.

"First trip out of the cage in years and then this... Should've just sent Michael... Where's your freaking God now..." Lucifer continued to mutter to himself in the background, kicking around rubble. Castiel just sighed and tried to block out his current situation. It was fine. Everything was fine.