The silhouette stood pronounced against the ever darkening sunset, the all to familiar trench coat gripped tight in his hands as if he were unsure what to do with it. The ledge just inches behind his heels dropped off more than fifty feet into stone littered shallow waters. Either side of him stood two ex-angels in full suits looking pristine beside Dean with his blackened bloody face. Cas was less than ten feet from them, he could just barely feel the updrafts of air that rode the side of the rocky cliff making Deans hair flutter lightly. Even though he could barely make out his features in the lack of light Cas had them memorized, despite how deranged they probably looked now after the angels. He had taken a blow to the face every time Cas had refused to help them. Somehow they knew that hurting Dean would cause more pain to Castiel than if they had just gone at him. They could have overpowered him if they had wanted to but instead they held this ordinary human captive, threatening to push him because they knew it would get to him. They knew what Dean meant to him and it seemed that this was what it was to be human.
Before Cas had always known Dean was more than ordinary but becoming human had been so much more. Being human was a burst of colors and emotions and sounds and tastes and smells so much brighter and more vivid than anything he had ever experienced before. Dean more than anything. Dean had been all of that and more from the moment he had heard him over the phone that night, just briefly before the payphone he had been on had gone out. The next day Naomi had found him and taken him as bait for Castiel, she knew Dean would be the only sure fire way to lure him in, and she had been right. He had tried to call again with a quarter he had found on the sidewalk but the woman's voice that spoke from where he should have heard Dean's was unexpected to say the least. It took less than a moment to realize that it was Naomi, and then put the pieces together as what that meant for Dean. He had never thought twice about dropping anything and following her directions to where she said they were, an easy take as it was so close to where he had been. The sight even then had torn his heart in half.
Even in the dark of the cliff side he had recognized the slumped figure held standing by two former angels. His face had bad been beaten and bloody from the moment Cas had first stepped onto the hill. The pleading look in his eyes told a story of a long and drawn out battle than had not been lost without honor. Dean would always go down fighting, it was one thing he knew would always ring true. The way she hung limp between the two meant he probably wouldn't be able to carry himself if by some miracle they were able to get out of this. He knew what Naomi wanted even before the words passed her lips. Well he at least had a pretty good idea. The answer was that she wanted his help. She had seen everything he was capable of and she wanted his support, instead of having him against her as she had learned is the worst case scenario. When she spoke finally spoke he didn't respond. His eyes couldn't find a way to move any farther than Dean's swollen face, blood dripped silently from a cut above where his eye would have been seen if not for the swollen bruising that surrounded the area. Naomi waited for a response but still Cas wasn't able to form words. His mind caught against a wall unable to think.
His lack of response provoked a swift kick to Deans ribs by the larger ex-angel. An audible groan came from Dean as his head slumped forward. Cas flinched but wasn't sure what to say. He felt Deans pain as if it were his own, his chest tightening with just the sight of the rib-breaking blow. Again Naomi asked for this time and again he said nothing which was followed by another blow to the limp body held between the two ex-angels. There was no way He would agree but what choice did he have. He couldn't possibly leave Dean to be beaten to death at the hands of his almost allies. He knew she would let them kill him and she knew he would never let that happen. She was right, he couldn't do that.
"Cas," It was the first sound he heard clearly. Everyone stopped still for just a moment not expecting that he was even conscious. "Don't join them," Cas heard the words of Naomi yelling for them to kill Dean but the thought had planted it. It was possibly the last thing Dean would ever say and he would follow them to the ends of the earth.
While the thought swirled he almost missed the ex-angels dragging Deans limp form to the edge of the cliff. Cas ran forward, launching himself towards Dean and the cliff just missing the brush of his fingers as he plummeted towards the rocks and the whiteness of the waters below, yelling one last thing as his body smashed into the rocks below. The waves and rocks painted bright red for not more than a few moments before any evidence of Dean was cleaned by the violent water. He wanted to see if the other angels were still there but he couldn't find the strength to move. It was as if a part of him had died along with Dean as he lay useless on the edge of the cliff his hand still out stretched as if he could still save him. But now it was impossible.
Every moment together whirred through Cas's head like a movie you couldn't turn off. The moment they first met in the barn when Dean had stabbed him in the chest. The first time Dean smiled at him, and the first time he smiled at Dean. Burgers with Dean. Watching over Dean. Hunting with Dean. Dean. Now every one of those moments was gone. They were all memories now and he whispered a quiet reply to Deans last dying word that he had finally gotten out just moments before his blood painted the rocks below.
"I love you to, Dean Winchester."