"Dean?"
Cas peers around the door to his best friend's dorm room, stopping dead in his tracks.
The blood is everywhere, he doesn't understand how Dean can even be breathing with this much red liquid flowing out of him. The broken mirror explains where he got the shards of glass from, but the rest is a confusing blur to Castiel.
Racing to his injured friend's side, he looks frantically for something to stop the flow with. Nothing close at hand will suffice so he removes his shirt in one quick motion, wrapping it around Dean's wrist. The other is still in tact, thank the lord.
"Dean!" Cas shouts, smacking the cheek of the boy before him, so pale he looks ghostly.
"Cas?" Dean whispers, his eyes fluttering. "I'm sorry, Cas," tears wet his face, "I just can't do it, it's too much."
"Don't you talk like that. I have seen what you can live through, and this is not the end for you. Not while I'm around." Castiel reaches for his phone and dials 911, no idea what else to do.
As they load the gurney, Sam arrives to take charge of his brother, giving Cas a quick hug of thanks before climbing in the back.
Left standing on the pavement, still bare-chested, Cas's tears flow at last.
"I will save you Dean Winchester."
Sending a silent prayer to his brothers above he wishes he had never chosen this human life, not if it meant living even one day of it without Dean. Not if it meant being unable to heal him. He hears the distant rustle of wings and though he can't see him he knows Balthazar is there, silently keeping vigil as he rests his hand upon his former brother's shoulder. And Cas knows all he needs to.