Once more, this is dedicated to Josafeena who kicked me into gear about updating this story. It is also dedicated to all ya'll who reviewed, because I love you.

Dean reappeared in the room.

For a minute he watched his brother. When Sam did not suddenly die he ran forward and hugged him tight. Just as quickly he let go, and cleared his throat awkwardly.

He turned back to Gabriel. "Okay, so how did this happen?"

Castiel was sitting in a park, watching the sun set. All the children had gone, but the area was full of life. Cricket's chirped, mice ran, and owls flew. He watched the stars, marveling in all of God's creations.

And then he felt it.

His powers were dwindling, but the angel could still feel the demon's movement. He frowned. Actually it felt like more than one. It felt like… five. He knew he should do something, but now that he was incapable of banishing them with a touch, every encounter was a little more dangerous, and a little more foolish.

The demons shifted. It looked like he wouldn't have to decide anyway. They were heading towards him.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we caught ourselves an angel, boys." There was a laugh. "Half of one anyway."

Castiel turned his head. Five teenagers were approaching him. Beneath their skin Castiel watched maggots squirm and twist in obscene patterns.

Their leader was wearing a young girl. She stepped forward, leaning into his personal space, smiling lewdly. "So, are you going to come quietly, or are you going to show us a good time?"

He knew the wise thing to do was run.

Briefly he closed his eyes, and said a short prayer for their souls. Then he snapped the girl's neck. He tossed her to the ground so hard her body bounced.

The demon standing behind her attacked; the blade he carried couldn't kill an angel, but it was designed to torture one. Castiel gracefully avoided it, twisting the demons arm so he stabbed himself.

Castiel wretched the blade from hands, and used it to disembowel the next demon to come at him.

He felt a sharp pain below his ribs. He tried to turn, but he couldn't. He looked down and saw the leader's hand protruding from his stomach.

She smirked, and began cutting intricate patterns into his back with her free hand. "Gottcha now, little boy."

The other demons descended on him, their blades digging in everywhere they could reach. Castiel deflected what he could, but with a limited range of motion, he wasn't able to do much, and soon he began to really feel how much blood he had lost. His consciousness started to drift, and his vision began to fade.

The leader pulled her hand out with a sickening squelch. No longer supported, Castiel fell to his knees.

Her bloody hand twisted in his hair, yanking his head up; he bit back a groan.

She kissed him softly. "Oh, poor angel. How does it feel knowing nobody wants to save you?" The demons surrounding them started to laugh.

Castiel closed his eyes and summoned what little remained of his grace. He couldn't banish them, but hopefully being this close to an explosion of holiness would kill them. If not, hopefully it would kill him.

He paused; he felt something.

He pushed his awareness outside their small circle and felt an aura of something strong. Briefly he wondered what it was, and if he should try to call for help. Then the circle began to close in around him and he realized he was being foolish. No one was capable of helping him. He closed his eyes, gave a short prayer for his soul, and awaited the killing blow.

"So, what's going on over here?" There was no way.

A demon laughed. "Who are you supposed to be?" He didn't care about him! He left heaven. Why should he try to protect him now?

"You might want to back off now." The hand in his hair tightened.

"You're going to have to make me." Castiel opened his eyes and saw his brother smile.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

The demon shoved him to the ground sharply; she knew he wasn't going anywhere. She sauntered over to Gabriel, her partner's moving to flank her. She smiled. "You're going to regret being a good samaritan, old man."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "You're going to regret touching my brother."

The demons stopped. "Your brother?"

Lightning cracked as Gabriel unfurled his wings. He unleashed his grace and the demons eyes melted before their bodies were burnt to a cinder.

With a smirk he pulled his grace back in, and cloaked his wings once more. Casually he made his way to where Castiel lay in a pool of his own blood.

Gabriel sighed. "You know, it's really stupid to take on a bunch of demons with no back up."

Castiel groaned.

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that. Don't worry; it'll be over in a minute." He placed a hand on Castiel's back, washing him in a brilliant gold light.

Casitel's clothing mended, but he made no move to stand up.

Confused, the archangel tried to turn his brother over. Gabriel dropped him instantly when Castiel shouted in pain.

Gabriel frowned; he waved a hand, and Castiel was naked from the waist up. "Those bastards." He ran a hand across the bright red mark still oozing blood surrounding an ugly hole. They made up a sigil designed to stop another angel from healing the wounds.

"Sorry, bro. Looks like you have to take care of these yourself."

Castiel panted, a small smile graced his face. "It's alright. Thank you for trying."

Gabriel nodded slowly, clearly upset with the outcome. "Okay… where are those morons you hang out with? You need somewhere to recover."

Hesitantly Castiel gave him the address. As the world began to spin he grabbed the archangel's collar tightly. "You can't just appear in the room. You have to knock."

Gabriel frowned, and was about to argue the point when Castiel went limp in his arms, dead to the world.

"Five? He took on five demons?"

Gabriel nodded sadly.

Dean shoved past him and gripped Castiel tightly by the lapels of his coat, yanking him up. "What the hell were you thinking? If you find five demons coming at you, you run featherbrain!"

Almost instantly Dean pushed the angel back into the bed, and walked away, running a hand across his face in agitation.

Gabriel moved to lie down, pulling his brother against him. Sam sat down and took Castiel's hand reassuringly. "How much longer do you think he'll be like this?"

Gabriel adjusted until he was comfortable. "I don't know. Zach's been a real dick, so who knows how his grace is taking this. But hopefully by tomorrow he'll have healed that damn hole."

Dean slowly walked back to them, and sat down at the foot of the bed. "What if he hasn't?"

Gabriel closed his eyes. "Well then, hopefully the hospital doesn't ask too many questions."

This story was way more popular than I was expecting, so I hope you guys like this addition.

So, you should review. You totally should. Because I would love you if you did. And Gabriel would love you too.