A/N: Thanks to those who have followed and reviewed! As per your request, here is the next chapter. Let me know what you think (and if you have any suggestions for where you'd like this story to go I'd love to hear them)!

CHAPTER TWO

"RAPHAEL."

Castiel's voice thundered through the Heavens. Lesser angels trembled in the wake of his wrath, but the sole remaining archangel merely smirked and settled back in Ken Lay's chair to wait.

The call rang out again. "RAPHAEL!"

It was a challenge, a summons, a war cry, and it demanded a response. But Raphael would not pander to the whims of a low-tier seraph suffering from delusions of grandeur. Castiel needed to learn his place, and this is where it would begin. Raphael would not go to him, like a dog responding to the whistle of his master. No, it would be Castiel who would cave first and seek him out. It was only a matter of time.

Like a human teenager throwing a hormone-fuelled tantrum, Castiel made an ostentatious entrance. He used his Grace to cause the doors to burst open and crash back against the walls as he strode in dramatically, clearly trying to give off a 'Righteous Fury' vibe to rival the stories of old. He fell dismally short of the mark, however, and instead of feeling intimidated, Raphael was tempted to laugh.

"Little brother," he greeted cordially, as though they were not at war, and as though the angel standing before him was not the leader of the rag-tag team of misfits and outcasts who were trying in vain to oppose his rightful and inevitable rule. "What can I do for you?"

"Where is Dean Winchester?" the seraph growled.

Triumph. Sweet, sweet triumph. This war was as good as won.

"Who?" Raphael returned, a smile playing at his vessel's lips.

"You know who he is."

Raphael pretended to think it over. "Oh yes… the mutated fish with an overinflated sense of his own importance. Your beloved pet. Or – I am not entirely clear on the nature of your relationship – are you his pet? You certainly follow him around like one."

Castiel slammed his palms down on the desk between them, leaning in menacingly. "Where. Is. He?"

Raphael shrugged. "Why should I be aware of his whereabouts? Perhaps once he had a great destiny, but now he is nought but an uninhabited vessel. With Michael locked in the cage indefinitely, Dean Winchester is worthless. What reason have I to keep track of his location? I have more pressing concerns."

"Do not attempt to deceive me, Raphael. Dean Winchester was taken on your orders. I demand to know where you are keeping him."

"You demand?" The audacity of this seraph knew no bounds. "Castiel, you are no position to be making demands. You see, you have no means by which to force my compliance." Raphael stood to the full height of his vessel and looked down upon Castiel. "I am, however, at no such disadvantage. And so it is I who shall be giving the orders. Surrender, Castiel. Bow down before me and swear your allegiance."

"No."

"Do not answer in such haste, little brother. You do not yet understand the consequences of your refusal."

"You cannot do anything to me."

"Perhaps not." Raphael did not know where Castiel had gained his power, but until he discovered the source he would have to settle for exploiting his weakness. "But there is nothing I cannot do to Dean… now that I have him."

Oh, the wait had been well worth it. The sudden fear in those blue eyes was delectable, as was the poorly disguised tremble in his voice when he asked, "Where is he?"

"Somewhere you will never find him, I assure you. Search all you like, Castiel, but only your submission and obedience to me will give you even the slimmest hope of seeing Dean again. I hold the power of life and death over your human, but the choice is yours. So what say you, Castiel? Will you kill Dean Winchester? Or will you save him?"

"If… if you kill him, you will lose your leverage," Castiel said hoarsely.

"Will I? I could move onto other humans you have befriended. Samuel Winchester? Robert Singer? Those two and more; hundreds, thousands of humans – I will slaughter them one by one until you yield."

"And your apocalypse will massacre billions if I do. I will not back down with the world at stake, Raphael. If I did, Dean would… kick my ass." He straightened, features set hard with determination even as his eyes filled with pre-emptive grief. "My answer is no."

Raphael could not say he was surprised. Castiel was a hardened warrior; he knew the meaning of sacrifice. He knew also that death was not the terrible fate humans feared it to be when Heaven was their final destination. Dean's death was not enough incentive for Castiel to give up on his crusade.

"I am confident that, given time, you will change your mind," Raphael said. "After all, as the humans say, there are fates worse than death. And I will visit each and every one of them upon Dean Winchester until he begs me to kill him… or until you swear fealty unto me."

"That will never happen."

But there was a crack in his voice.

Raphael smiled. "We shall see."

ooOOoo

For three days and three nights, Castiel scoured the globe. He searched everywhere, high and low, inside and out. He ordered his soldiers to search. He ordered Crowley and his demons to search. He devoted all of his strength, energy and resources to the hunt, forsaking everything else.

Nothing.

No word, no sign, no sight or whisper of him. It was as though Dean had vanished off the face of the Earth.

When the fourth day dawned and he made ready to begin the search anew, Castiel's lieutenant pulled him aside.

"Castiel, we are at war," Mattathias reminded him sternly. "We cannot afford this distraction."

"It is Dean," Cas argued.

"Yes, and I know what he means to you-"

Castiel doubted that. He was trying to teach them, but the angels struggled enough trying to grasp the concept of free will. Emotions seemed beyond them.

"-but you doomed him when you refused to bow before Raphael. You made your choice, Castiel, and it was the right one. If Dean is half the man you say he is, I am sure he would agree with me. However, if you continue this fruitless search, abandoning your Holy mission, you might as well hand victory to our enemy and Dean's death will have been in vain."

"He is not dead."

Mattathias placed a hand on his shoulder; copying human mannerisms in an attempt to express sympathy. "I am sorry, brother, but you must accept that he is and move on."

Castiel shoved the hand away. "No."

"Fight in his name. I am sure that is what he would want."

"He would want me to save him."

"Not at the expense of his world and all the people it contains. I think you know that."

And he did. But inasmuch as he knew that Dean would willingly give his life for the cause, Castiel could not bear the thought of just standing back and letting him die.

"I cannot abandon him. I will reduce the time I devote to the search," and every minute he spent ignoring Dean's plight would be pure anguish, "but I refuse to give up on him because he is not dead. Do you understand me?"

Mattathias backed away, inclining his head respectfully. "Yes, Castiel."

"Good. Gather our forces; we re-enter the battlefield in one hour."

"Why the delay?"

"There is something I must do."

Without waiting for a reply, Castiel flared his wings and launched into the air, plummeting towards a small house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

"-don't tell me to calm down, Bobby, my brother has been missing for three days and there has been no word from-"

"Cas!" Bobby exclaimed, catching sight of the angel standing behind Sam's shoulder.

Sam whirled to face him, fury flashing in his eyes. "About damn time! What took you so long?" He looked around and past Castiel, expectantly. "Where's Dean?"

Cas swallowed nervously. There was no easy way to break the news to the younger Winchester. Castiel liked to think that he shared a profound bond with Dean, but it paled in comparison to the ferocity of the relationship between the two brothers. "Sam…"

Sam stiffened. "No. Don't say it."

"I tried. I searched everywhere."

He backed away, shaking his head in denial. "I don't want to hear this."

"I am sorry, Sam. I have confirmation that it was indeed Raphael who took Dean, and his plans for your brother are… unpleasant… but, although I have made every effort to locate him, I am afraid Raphael has hidden him too well."

"You didn't find him," Bobby surmised. There was a dull quality to his tone, as though he had experienced too much loss in his life to be able to cope with this as well.

Castiel was destroying them. His adoptive family, and he was tearing them apart.

"I could not," he said helplessly. "I am sorry. I will not stop looking. Whenever I have the chance, I promise I will continue the search-"

"Oh, right, whenever it is convenient," Sam hissed. "We are terribly sorry to bother you, Castiel, it is only Dean's life we are talking about. Please don't put yourself out on his account."

"It – it is not like that. I care about Dean, more than I have ever cared for anyone, but billions of lives are at stake-"

"No, no, we understand completely, don't we Bobby? In the grand scheme of things Dean is expendable, we get it. Forgive us for presuming he meant something to you. I guess we're the only idiots who think he is important."

Castiel was torn. "He is-"

"Stow it, Cas," Sam snapped. "You want to get back to your civil war so bad? Then go. Get the hell out of here. And unless you are bringing my brother home safe and sound, don't even think about coming back."

Castiel opened his mouth to say something, anything, wishing he knew words that could express how devastated he was to have to make this decision.

Sam gave an inarticulate yell of rage and grief, snatching an empty beer bottle from the table and hurling it at the angel with all the strength he could muster. Cas vanished before the projectile could find its mark, but he hesitated to return to Heaven. Cloaked from human perception, he flitted back into Bobby's home in time to see the bottle smash against the wall.

Sam glared at the empty spot where Cas had been standing only seconds ago, but, like a marionette with its strings cut, the potent fury abruptly left him and he crumpled to the floor.

Bobby rushed to his side and pulled the boy roughly into his arms. "It's okay, Sam. We'll figure something out. We'll find him."

"D-dean," Sam choked out. "Dean…"

Bobby's face twisted with pain and he turned his face away so Sam would not see the moisture in his eyes. "I know, son," he whispered. "I know."

Heart heavy with grief and guilt, Castiel silently withdrew.

ooOOoo