"Bow down to me and profess your love, or be destroyed."
Dean stood, frozen, staring at his friend as the angel turned towards him, eyes narrowing. Castiel's deep green met Dean's hazel and they eyed each other furiously.
"Like hell I will," Bobby retorted stoutly from behind him. Over Cas's shoulder, Dean saw Sam's jaw set stubbornly.
Castiel turned slowly towards Bobby, waiting to break eye contact with Dean until the last second. When finally he looked away, Dean found himself gasping out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"You will bow to me,' Castiel told Bobby again.
"I'm saying I won't, you puffed up igit angel," Bobby growled back.
"Very well," Castiel said coldly. "I…regret…your attitude." He raised hand.
Bobby let out a hideous scream, falling to his knees, doubled over.
"Bobby!" both Winchester brothers shouted together, starting toward the older man. Sam reached him first, crouching to shield and comfort Bobby. Dean whipped around to face Cas again.
"Who are you?" He yelled, not caring at that moment if he lived or died, desperately trying to distract the crazed angel. "Because the Cas I know doesn't torture people without a good reason."
"I agree that this unpleasantness is unnecessary," Castiel said calmly, his eerily deadpan voice cutting brutally through the tension in the air. "I have saved your species. All I ask of you is allegiance and love."
"You're crazy," Sam said, sounding horrified and awestruck. The next moment, he was braced on his hands and knees, hissing in pain.
"Stop it Cas!" Dean roared, starting toward the angel again.
"Please do not make me hurt you Dean," Castiel said, locking eyes with him again. Dean thought he heard a hint of the Cas that had raised him from Hell in the plea, though the angel's eyes remained narrowed and stony.
"Then stop hurting the people I love!" Dean growled, taking another step forward. Suddenly, he felt his feet stop as though glued to the floor, and he was forced to his knees by an invisible force. His back was bent, his face to the floor so that he could not read Castiel's expression as he next spoke.
"Do you not love me then, Dean? Profess your love and you will all be spared," Castiel repeated. Sam hissed again, but he was apparently in too much pain to speak. Bobby's ragged breathing punched the silence as Dean fought to raise his head and look at Castiel.
"Of course I love you, you idiot. We wouldn't be here if we didn't care about you," he said finally, exasperated.
Castiel considered him for a moment before saying, "Very well. Blasphemy aside, I will accept your profession of loyalty for now. Be warned, I will hear of any attempts on your part against me."
Dean went limp as the angel suddenly disappeared. Bobby coughed and Sam pushed himself back onto his heels drawing deep breaths. The shock of the scene hummed in the air. Dean let his head droop to his chest, staring at his clenched fist, confused thoughts running across his mind so quickly he couldn't really catch any of them.
"Dean?" Sam's voice broke into his thoughts. Dean looked up to see his little brother towering over him, looking very concerned.
"Sammy," Dean said, taking the hand Sam offered. He pulled himself up and drew Sam in for a tight hug. Finally releasing him as Bobby walked up to them, Dean asked, "You ok?"
"I'm fine," Sam said darkly. "Nothing he could do to me could really compare to what I've already experienced this evening. How about you Bobby?"
"Never better," Bobby scowled.
"How's the Great Wall of Sam?" Dean asked, studying his brother's pale face.
"Gone," Sam said quietly. "Cas knocked it down."
Dean snarled and shook his head as Bobby asked, "How in the blazes are you still kicking then?"
"Not sure," Sam ran his hand over the back of his neck. "I dreamed that I split into three people – one that remembered last year, one that didn't and one that remembered Hell – and then I had to kind of … put us back together."
"Very Sybil of you," Dean said, sitting back against the broken table he had fallen onto. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not really." Sam and Dean shared a look.
"I get it dude, Hell ain't no Santa Claus Parade," Dean said finally.
"Yeah, well," Sam trailed off, before turning to Bobby. "What now?"
"We get ready to fight every nasty thing that popped out of Purgatory after Cas," Bobby said darkly.
"Not to mention our new God and the holy Rapture he'll bring down on everybody if we don't stop him," Dean said, staring at the empty, bloody jar Castiel had left behind.
"Fantastic," Sam said, pressing a hand to his temple.
Bobby picked up his gun and the angel knife, passing the latter to Dean before he headed for the stairs, "Let's get started then."
AN: I can continue if you guys want – review and let me know! :)