The last thing Castiel remembers was being thrown up into the air by some metal and hearing a bunch of hoots and hollers before everything went black on him.
He awakens inside a metal tube that smells small, judging by the concentration of sweat and laughter. He tries to sit up but can't and growls, or at least attempts to but he's so weak. He opens one eye, groggily, trying to take in his surroundings.
A strange looking animal turns its head towards him and yells something. The next thing he knows there's a sharp pain in his side and it goes dark and quiet again.
Castiel comes back to consciousness but can't risk opening his eyes again, although his nose tells him he's not in the metal tube anymore. He cracks open his left eye and sees wood, he turns his head and sits up, looking around to notice he's surrounded by wood on all sides, even above his head. A crate, he's in a damn crate, being transported somewhere. He feels his crate get jostled as he hears voices. He concentrates on what they are saying, trying to learn their language.
He feels fresh air and smells trees and sweat. His box is lifted by many arms and moved to the ground, he can tell because his paws feel grass through the holes in the crate. Suddenly the wood behind him is moved up to give him a scare. He turns to look out the opening and gasps. In front of him is trees and grass, he slowly, cautiously makes his way out of the wooden crate and looks up to growl at the thing he was carried in. He sees strange animals, standing on only their hind legs staring at him. He runs at them and tries to rip them apart in anger, but he gets stopped by an invisible force. The impact makes him dizzy as he backs away. He sits down and swats the invisible force and it makes a weird hollow 'boing' noise. Castiel just watches the movement behind the glass, growling when someone gets too close to the glass for his liking.
He spends two days sitting there, growling at it until some sort of reflective wood is put up, blocking his view. He hates it here. He misses Dean.
After the stupid mirrors are installed it takes him a few hours to find a quiet spot where he can be alone with his thoughts and not be looked at. He lies there all day and night, only moving to relieve himself by a tree. Food is brought into the area by an animal Castiel quickly learns is a human and a female judging by the scent she gives off. He doesn't move to eat it. He can smell how delicious it would be, but he can't get the energy to move. Each sunrise is more difficult to handle without his mate.
That night the woman that brings him food opens a metal tree-like thing, a gate and enters his habitat. He's so weak from refusing to eat he doesn't even growl or move. The woman slowly walks up to him, hands out in front of her, taking slow, careful steps, saying something. Castiel concentrates on her words with all his might.
"It's okay Caspian, easy boy. I just want to take a look at you. No need to bite me, right?"
Castiel huffs and swishes his tail, which doesn't take too much energy to do in his state.
As the woman gets close enough to touch the tiger Castiel growls, uninterested in what she's doing. He doesn't care anymore. He got taken away from Dean because he was too happy and life can't be too good. He should have known not to let his guard down.
The short brunette woman strokes his side gently as she runs her hand into his armpit. "So we've never officially met but I'm Meg. You are a very handsome Caspian tiger, we thought your subspecies was extinct, yet here ya are, in the fur. We are so excited to discover you, but it's not going to go well if we tell the big shots that the only known Cas tiger died from malnutrition and dehydration. Why aren't you eating and drinking?"
Castiel grunts at the nickname. It sounds like the nickname Dean gave him, but it hurts to think of Dean right now.
Meg notices the change in heatbeat at the nickname. "Cas, your name will be Cas." Meg jumps back when he hears a low rumble in the huge cat's chest. "Or your name was Cas before." The rumble intensifies and Meg lets out a chuckle, "talking to a cat, if only the other keepers could see me now." She offers the cat a small hare from her bag.
Castiel lifts his head at the scent but flops back down. She grunts. "We were on a roll there, damn it." She turns away from Castiel and talks to the wall. A minute later four men show up at the metal gate, entering the enclosure and leaning in to pick him up. One man stops and looks to Meg, "Are you sure he's not gunna attack us, he's not even sedated."
Meg sighs, "I'm not certain but we can't sedate him in his condition, his heart might give out. Just do as you're told Tyson."
The four men lift the tiger up and carry him through the gate and onto an awaiting gurney. Castiel watches as he's pushed through many corridors with bright lights that hurt his eyes and feels when the metal beneath him is used to open doors. He enters a huge room with lots of things in it. He watches helplessly as he's poked and stabbed with sharp things. A moment later he feels something cold running through him and tries to growl but nothing comes out. He closes his eyes as his side is stroked gently, it reminds him of Dean grooming him and he lets a quiet rumble start in his chest. He falls asleep to the sound of beeps and swishing.
He awakens to being back in his enclosure. He feels good, not awesome but like he can move, pounce maybe. A few hours later, after the sun has fallen he hears Meg calling to him from above. He looks up to see a slab of meat thrown his way. He growls and pounces on it ripping it to pieces but not consuming it. He goes up to a tree and tosses the shredded meat in clump and turns to urinate on it. He refuses to eat food like a pet. He hunts, that's how a tiger eats.