When the line went dead, he stopped in the hallway in astonishment that Cas had the gall to hang up on him. Telling him that he's human because Metatron took his grace and then not to look for him. That son of a bitch! If he wants to go off into the wild blue yonder looking to fix his damn problem again, he can do it. He wasn't going to look for him, not this time. If he wants to go off and leave him alone, then so be it. He'll be damned if he's going to let this eat him up. Dumb bastard got himself into this, he can get himself out. Even though he was angry as hell, inside he broke a little bit, because Cas was once again choosing to leave them. Leaving him. But there other problems to deal with, the biggest one was his brother recovering in the hospital room down the hall.
He noticed that he was near the chapel, and for some reason, he went inside. This was almost too much for him to handle. The night before he and Sam watched the angels fall, but Sam was barely holding together when they stumbled out of the church. After stowing Crowley into the trunk they headed back to the Bunker. Along the road back home, they called Kevin, who told them about all the bunker lighting up like a Christmas tree. They asked for him to look for info on the knights of Hell and he and Sam talked about the current situation.
Sam looked better by the time they had arrived back home. Kevin was not happy about Crowley being in the bunker, but he was going to suffer through it like them all. At least they had a nice new dungeon to keep the ex-king contained. Sam immediately went over to his room and he, well he just drank trying to think about this new world they created. Fallen angels, Abaddon and a missing Cas. Eventually, he fell asleep.
When Sam failed to get up, he checked in with his little giant of a brother. He was passed out still, sprawled out in the bed. Calling him, he got no response and that worried him. When he felt Sam, he was burning up again. Panicking, he called Kevin and together they dragged Sam to the car where he drove like a maniac to the nearest hospital. They immediately put Sam in and after a few tense hours, they were able to stabilize Sam. However, he still not woken up and the doctor said he was in God's hands now. The inclination to punch to doctor out was strong, but he fought it down. So he sat by Sam until the phone rang.
Taking a seat in the small sacred space, he saw that he was alone. With Sam pretty much in a coma, Cas disappearing and all the other crap that was happening, he knew he needed help. Or, at the very least, vent. "This is Dean Winchester, and I need help." he began. "I know that I've called you a douchebag and whole lot of other names, and I still mean them. But…I need help. I don't know what to do. Everything is so fucked up right now, with Sam out. God…please, just this once…help us." For a while, he sat there, just hoping that the big guy will do something. After a while with no divine revelation, he got up.
Leaving the chapel, he turned around to head back to Sam when a small woman grabbed his neck. She was obviously not human to easily lift him up, though he blindly tried to fight her off.
"Where is he?" she asked in a threating tone. His response was kicking her loosening her grip so he fell to the floor. Once he was down though, another man kicked him across the hallway. A couple of orderlies tried to break up the fight but were thrown across the room. People were running away from this scuffle. He tried to get up but he needed to protect Sam as well. Figuring that these guys are angels given that the eyes weren't black and they must've been asking for Cas.
The man grabbed an ax from the emergency station and together, he and the woman began walking toward him. Scrambling as best he could, it was not enough to escape them. The woman grabbed by the collar after the man punched him in the face for a couple moments almost knocking him out. They dragged up into a chair in the now deserted floor.
"Where is he?" the woman asked. "Where is Castiel?"
After spitting out a little bit of blood, he responded, "I don't know. He wouldn't tell me." Perhaps Cas had the foresight not to tell him precisely for this reason. If that was a good or bad call, the next few moments would tell. In either case, it proved that one of the reasons Cas running away was moot. Bastard.
"You lie." the man with the ax said. "He favors you, he would tell you where he is."
"Yeah, he doesn't tell me anything anymore."
The female angel tilted her head, "then call for him."
"Pfft, he's wingless like all of you." He didn't want to disclose Cas was graceless either. Evidently, they had kept their angelic strength, if they lost their wings though, they probably couldn't zap anywhere. If they could, they would be on Cas faster than white on rice.
"Then how does he contact you?"
"Smoke signals." he retorted. "Look, all I know is that it was Metatron who did this to you guys. He tricked Cas!" Better to place the blame on the person who actually did the deed, maybe get some heat off Cas.
"Impossible. The Scribe has been gone for ages." ax angel said.
"Oh no, he's been camping down here reading away, hiding from all you dickheads"
"Rehiel, let him go." A third person said, causing all three of them to look at the newcomer. He was a tall dark blond man that was physically well built. He also had an angel blade in one hand as well.
"Why Ezekiel? Dean Winchester is the best chance of finding Castiel and fixing what he did." Rehiel replied.
"If it was Metatron that tricked Castiel, then he is not the cause. He is a victim as much as we are." Ezekiel said sternly while coming closer.
The angel with the ax stepped in front of Ezekiel, blocking his way. "There are many sins that Castiel has to answer for."
"And who are we to judge him? I know just as well as you do what he did brother, but he did it for the greater good, to protect Father's creation. Don't you see that?" Ezekiel said.
The angel with the ax did not reply but simply swung the ax at him. Ezekiel though stopped him by stabbing him in the back. Feeling the hold on him slacken, he twisted himself out of the hold he was in and began running away back to Sam's room. He saw the light and the shockwave coming behind him breaking the glass. Ducking into Sam's room, the rolled onto the floor as the door shattered behind him. Once it had passed, he got up and check on Sam. Even with all the commotion, he still had not woken up. The door to the room opened and Ezekiel walked in. Dean leveled his gun on him, but the angel threw up his hands.
"I mean no harm." he simply said.
"Alright." he lowered the gun. "What happened back there."
"They were angels, like I am. Since Castiel killed Raphael, it has been chaos in Heaven. Angels split up into fractions. They were from an opposing one."
"And what about you?" He was wary about this new guy.
Ezekiel smiled briefly. "I was with Castiel when he fought against Raphael. I share his sentiment on free will."
So he was a friend of Cas. And he did just same him, so that bought him some brownie points. If the angels still had their strength maybe they still have their powers. "I know you just saved my bacon, but…is there anything you can do for him?" he asked waving toward Sam.
"I can try." Ezekiel walked over and touched Sam's forehead. "There…is a lot of damage, it's…like he's burning on the inside from some sort of energy. I can't heal him because there's too much of it."
The energy from the trials, the purifying light he had seen. It was cooking Sam the inside out. "Is there a way you can get rid of it? Place it someplace else?" he pleaded.
Ezekiel thought some a moment, "perhaps. I can absorb some and direct some into another body. It might be enough to let him heal on his own."
"Do it. To me." he stated. He was supposed to be the one to do this anyway, he should take some of the burden now. Ezekiel nodded. Touching both their foreheads, he felt the tingling warmth flow into him. It was like Cas's grace when he heals him. Except this time, it felt like it settled into his very bones, making him feel warm. Breaking the connection, he looked over at Sam.
His brother stirred a little bit before opening his eyes. "Dean?" he asked tiredly. He let out a breathe he hadn't noticed he was keeping in. Sam was awake, thank god.
Making a quick exit from the hospital, they drove back to bunker with Ezekiel in tow. He had saved both brothers in one day and that makes him OK in Dean's book of friends. On the way over, the angel explained what was happening in Heaven over the past couple of years. It basically boiled down to complete chaos. With no direction, a lot of angels feel into factions with different ideas on what to do next. Naomi was apparently a major player, having a substantial following. Ezekiel himself along with others in Cas's former army were more neutral, keeping the peace between factions as they explored their own free will. Now everyone was on equal footing, but a great deal of angels assumed that Castiel had some hand in their current situation. That was true, but after telling him what happened to the best of his knowledge, Ezekiel agreed that Cas had been duped.
Back at the bunker, he was getting dinner ready when Sam came in. "Hey Dean, Ezekiel told me about what you guys did…thanks."
He shrugged, "you were burning up man, had to do something."
"So…Cas. He ok?" Oh no, he knew that tone from Sam. That was his touchy feeling time tone.
"Hell if I know. Son of a bitch didn't say." He slammed the pan on the stove hard, "he wouldn't even say where he was. All he said was basically Metatron tricked me, good bye, don't look for me and hung up."
"So…is he human?" Sam probed.
"Well, Metatron sucked out his grace so I guess he is now." he replied roughly, keeping his back to Sam.
"Dean, he's not going to last long out there. He had no money, no place to go, no friends. Oh, and half of Heaven wants him dead or worse."
Turning around, "and what do want me to do!? Drop everything and go look for the dumb son of a bitch! I did that in Purgatory and still he left me! I don't need that kind of guilt again Sam! So he can go fix this himself and live under a bridge for all I care. We have other shit to deal with."
"Ok, yeah I know that Dean. But he's our friend, you can't be serious in just letting him…go, like that."
"Even if I wanted to go look for him, which I don't, we don't know here he is. He could be in Alaska for chrissakes. He doesn't want to be found…and I don't want to find him. We have the King of Hell in the dungeon, a friggin Knight of Hell and the host of heaven to deal with. Not to mention that you Sam, you're still not a hundred percent either. So don't try pulling he's out friend card on me again for Cas. He's on his own."
"Dean…" Sam said in a concerned voice. Ignoring it, he turned back to stove and began cooking the steaks for dinner. So there was an ache in his chest and a sick feeling in his stomach, and maybe yeah, he was fighting back tears. But Cas wanted him…them out, then they're out.
"You want yours well done?"
"C'mon, you can't mean that…"
Still ignoring the question, "ok, well done. Some protein would be good for you. Can't eat a salad every day." Even though he had his back to his brother, he knew Sam gave up and walked away. Sighing, he tried to keep his emotions in check and plastered on his strong face. He didn't want to admit he did want to go find Cas. But to go after him meant shucking his other responsibilities, so he had to let him go.