Authors Note: I can't believe I just saw this but I am just now realizing how pissed off I am from the finale now that I am actually allowing myself to look back at it. As a matter of fact, I've been pissed off with Supernatural since 'Mommy Dearest', when Castiel performed his first torture. I can't believe it. I am just ticked off at how much they changed Castiel and I have to say that I hate it. And I am someone who doesn't even like to use the word in reference to anything, but it's the truth. I absolutely hated what they did. Castiel is an angel, and even though we've been shown that some of them are capable of such cruel acts they should have never contemplated that about Cas. Never. Even in the finale when Robin discussed how Crowley tortured her and how she held, but then broke when the angel stepped in was absolutely mind boggling. That was their first mistake. They tried to show us reason in 'The Man Who Would Be King', but again I am just realizing that that was not enough to me personally to rectify his actions. And the gloomy sarcasm. I mean really? "It's simple. Freedom is a length of rope. God wants you to hang yourself with it." WTF! Speaking of mistake, the rumors I've heard (although I don't know if it's actually true or not) are that Sera Gamble has an infatuation with the character of Sam and thus was the reason why the season was so Sam-centric in the beginning. The inside joke was even noted in the episode 'The French Mistake', when Sam's line about the show when he first saw his house was "I must be the star of this thing." Pa-lease. It takes two to tango people. You know what, I'm mad. So I'm just gonna stop my ranting now before I get more pissed off. Damn it, The Singing Duck, I think you were right. I was just holding it in and didn't even realize it. I'm officially banning myself from watching Supernatural until September, lest I want to fall into a depression. Geez. The writers better fix this whole mess that is called season 6 and if they don't, well, then I'm afraid that I must bow out. I agree with you Feathery Filly, they destroyed three hard working years of character development this season in just one episode. Tragic. It's just complete bull $#!+. Sorry for the rant guys, I just had to let this out. :(

Written: 27 May

Soundtrack: None

Word Count: 4000+

Chapter 6

Dean couldn't even begin to explain what this was.

One minute Castiel appeared to be fine, and the next minute he was unconscious and burning with fever. The first thing that popped into the hunters mind was that this wasn't normal, couldn't be normal. Not with how fast this had fallen on the once angel. The man was literally boiling in his own skin, and from the moment Dean and Bobby brought him upstairs to now, the younger hunter could have sworn that his temperature had gone up at least a couple degrees. It was rising too quickly and would soon reach dangerous levels if he couldn't get it under control. Castiel remained deathly pale, the only color in his too flushed skin being the rose red tinge of his cheeks.

Whatever the hell this was, Dean knew that it could potentially kill Castiel and if anything was going to take out the former angel he sure as heck wasn't going to let it be this or even let it be now. His friend needed his help, and after all the other crap that had been served to them these past few years, Dean wasn't going to let anything take anyone else away from him. He had already lost enough.

Cas, had already lost enough.

His thoughts were soon interrupted by Sam, who quickly walked in through the front door carrying a brown paper grocery bag and placing it on the foyer table.

"Bobby just told me what happened. Is he alright?" The younger hunter asked as he entered the living room and rounded the couch to stand behind Dean, who was currently sitting on the coffee table dabbing a wet brown paper towel against Cas' left cheek and neck.

"No man, he's burning up." He places it back in the water bowl and wrings it out with his right hand, his left still on the angels right cheek, repeating the action on the other side.

"Is he sick?"

"I don't know yet." Dean answered honestly, dipping the towel and wringing it out again, this time dabbing his left temple and forehead.

In all honestly, Dean couldn't be sure of anything right now and deep down Sam knew it too. They had been anticipating for Castiel to earn his wings again but weren't sure how that was actually going to happen. Gabriel had mentioned that it wasn't going to be easy but as to what they should expect, well they weren't really given anything to rely on or look forward too. This fact was what scared the two brothers, and they wondered if Cas was going to be tested in some way. And ultimately, was this test going to be something that Cas could actually get through. Even though the former angel was one of the most powerful, determined and strong-willed individuals they had ever met, and as stubborn as any Winchester could be to add, Dean just had to wonder. Would Cas be able to get through it, even with their help?

Castiel moaned weakly as he started to regain some small form of consciousness, but still his eyes remained closed. Dean shushes him, telling him to relax as he continued dabbing the paper towel against his sweaty forehead and holding it there. His skin literally felt like it was on fire.

"I'll get you one of the small towels from the bathroom." Sam offered and immediately went to retrieve one.

"Thanks." Dean replied as he continued with his ministrations.

Bobby had gone to get ice after realizing just how quickly the fever was rising and promised to be back soon enough, knowing that the small supply they had currently would be nowhere near enough. Dean only hoped that the trip wouldn't be a waste of time but quickly bit back his tongue, not wanting to even give that thought the smallest bit of precedence. Castiel wasn't going to go out like this, this he swore to both the angel and himself. His family had already gone through Hell and back, literally, and if anyone was going to take any more of its members then they had better be prepared for a fight to come their way. Even God could go screw himself in his eyes and Dean knew that whatever test both his blood and spiritual brothers would go through in their lives, they both had one thing in common. Dean would be there for both of them, no matter what crap came flying their way. After everything they had gone through, in all honesty, what else was there to prove.

…

Castiel was trapped in his own mind. The images of the events unfolding around him as Michael took control of him quickly flooded his brain, and he tried so desperately to rid himself of them.

Castiel had found himself at a crossroads, unsure of what to do at this point. He wanted so desperately to win the war against Raphael, but at the cost of his own soul and small form of humanity, he began to wonder if it was truly worth the price. If it was worth it to the one true person he was willing to sacrifice everything for. Sacrifice himself for. He turned to the only person he could think of to get an answer from, but in the end even he remained silent, and Castiel found himself on his own.

Or so he thought.

The pain was quick, but nowhere near painless. He had recognized its Grace almost immediately, but it felt so different now that he wasn't even sure it could be the one he thought possible. He quickly got his answer however when he felt it clawing its way into his very Grace, taking over his delicate mind and trapping him within himself. Michael had been vicious, making sure to give Castiel to punishment he thought he deserved as a once fallen angel and he made sure to not leave anything to waste.

Castiel was in agony, body hooked and chained from every limb as darkness descended over him and an overly amused Michael watched on as Castiel's Grace quickly began to die. He tried to cry out to anyone, hoping that someone would listen and set him free but Michael simply mocked him at his attempts to free himself. Castiel was trapped and deep down, the lesser angel knew it. Even so he struggled, trying desperately to gain his freedom, but even the most determined angels could only fight for so long. Castiel's body received much of the punishment but it was his wings that got the worst of it all. Michael was determined to teach Castiel a lesson and he played his part beautifully, screaming as he carved into the delicate appendages protruding from his younger brothers back.

No matter how much Castiel cried out, Michael assured him that no one would hear him. Even more so, no one would care.

"Just stop Castiel. Let it go." Michael whispered, using his finger to slowly lift up Castiel's chin and get the angel to look at him, fresh blood dripping down the left side of his face where he had just made his latest carve. "Dean can't hear you."

The look on Castiel's face was a mix of sadness and regret, but he couldn't think to believe that his charge would give up on him so easily even after everything that they had gone through in the last year with Crowley. The profound bond the two had shared still meant something to him and he prayed that deep down, Dean still felt the same, even if it was in some small measure. Whatever little hope he had left in that idea was quickly shattered as Michael brought him back to reality, another carve through his suddenly delicate flesh carrying out another scream from him.

"Don't bother Castiel. Dean stopped trusting you a long time go."

Tears now joined the blood still seeping from his forehead and Castiel found himself letting his brothers words persuade him. Castiel knew that he had betrayed the one person who actually believed in him, and even though he was going through it all to save him and his world, he wondered if the hunter would even care anymore. Dean had told him that he would have to do whatever it took to stop him, but had he truly meant it? Castiel couldn't even begin to think about it as Michael took another slash at him, this time carving right through the base of his wings and causing them to sever from his back completely. He watched as the delicate pieces that once made him who he was fell to the ground beside him, blood seeping from his shoulder blades and staining them a dark red. Castiel didn't even bother to hide the tears anymore.

He didn't even bother to scream this time either.

…

Castiel suddenly found himself hearing voices, and the sound of them immediately had his heart feeling lighter. He found that they were drawing him out of his nightmare and he tried so desperately to cling onto them as if his sake depended on it.

"Cas?"

It was Dean's voice. He recognized it almost immediately.

"Castiel?"

Sam. Sam was here too. Both of their voices held tones of worry and Castiel wondered what that could be for. He tried to open his eyes, but his lids felt like heavy weights and he found himself struggling to perform the seemingly simple task.

"Cas."

Dean's voice again. He was calling to him, trying to bring him up to the surface, but Castiel was failing miserably at getting there. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to get himself to focus. A sudden tap to the cheek drew himself out of his haze, and he found himself slowly opening his eyes, now glazed from sleep and fever. The first image he saw was Dean, or so he thought. His vision was incredibly blurry, but after blinking a few times he managed to see a little clearer and saw that it was indeed the older hunter, standing above him, his eyes holding a look of concern. Behind him stood Sam, the same look falling from his eyes, and Castiel wondered what it was that had them so worried. That's when he remembered his body suddenly feeling like it was engulfed in flames.

"What happened?" Castiel managed to whisper, his voice sounding so hoarse it was if he had suddenly been gargling nails, and sandpaper to add to that.

"You took a swan dive." Dean replied, wetting the small dish towel, wringing it out and folding it, placing it over his forehead. He continued dabbing his cheek and the pulse point in his neck with the paper towel as Castiel merely gave him a look, as if to say that he didn't understand that reference. Oh how Dean missed that. "You fainted Cas."

"I fainted?" He asked innocently, not actually remembering the moment. The last thing he recalled was Michael, but then it all came flooding back to him and the fear he recalled experiencing as he slipped into the darkness quickly consumed him.

Dean must have noticed because his hand suddenly found itself on his shoulder, as he tried to get the former angels attention.

"It's okay Cas. You don't need to worry about anything alright? Just try and rest a little bit."

"I don't understand." Castiel whispered as he seemed locked within his own thoughts, his eyes no longer locked with the hunters. Dean simply stared at him, trying to understand what the angel was suddenly talking about. "I thought it was going away."

"Going away? What was going away Cas? What are you talking about?" Deans anxiety suddenly heightened a bit, knowing that the fever was high enough for him to probably start experiencing delusions and hallucinations. This couldn't be a good sign.

"I thought this was going away." Castiel whispered again as Dean cupped the paper towel against the left side of his neck. Castiel looked like he was completely out of it and Dean could feel that under the paper that the fever was only getting higher. "It wasn't as bad earlier. Why does it feel so bad now?"

Did he just hear right? Was the angel actually telling him that this wasn't the first time he had had this? Dean looked at him with a look of bewilderment and then back at Sam, who simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders at him. He then went back to looking at Cas, who still looked like he was in another world.

"Wait a minute. What do you mean from earlier? You mean you've had this for a while?" Dean asked, a tinge of annoyance masked behind his worry.

"Just a couple of days." Castiel breathed lightly, locking his eyes back on the hunters.

Dean was about ready to bitch. Nope, screw it. He was going to bitch. "A couple of days? Why the hell didn't you say anything?" Dean suddenly felt his chest swelling, and he found himself getting pissed.

"Because it was going away." Castiel whispered, as if the answer had been obvious. His expression quickly changed however from revelatory to somewhat ashamed. "I didn't want to worry you."

"Damn it Cas!" Dean hollered, trying hard to control the harsh tone of his voice. The man was more than likely feeling miserable enough. He really didn't need to be scolding at him. "I've told you that if you feel bad or if anything seems off you need to tell me."

"I didn't think it was that bad." He said innocently. "I'm sorry."

"No Cas you just didn't think." Dean definitely scolded this time, taking in the hurt expression on Cas' face. He bit the inside of his cheek as he tried to control his aggravation. Even if the angel had good intentions, he really didn't need to keep doing this. The last time he did it nearly tore everything between them apart. "Even if you thought that it would just go away, I'm gonna be worried if you hide it from me Cas. I don't need you doing that to me anymore. From now on, you say something to me. I don't give a damn what it is. Even if it's a toothache I want to know."

Castiel thought the older hunter was overreacting, but then again he was feeling downright miserable right now and thought against saying anything, the heat from his fever only growing higher. Castiel moaned weakly again as he shut his eyes and Dean removed the now dry washcloth from his forehead, quickly rewetting it and placing it back.

Castiel tried to focus on ignoring the heat he felt swallowing him whole but found it nearly impossible to do as he started to shiver. It was slight at first but he soon felt his joints aching and his body began to shake almost violently. Castiel shut his eyes even tighter as Dean called out to him, noticing the shaking under the one blanket that covered him.

Even though his whisper was barely audible, Castiel managed to bring one out and complained to the older hunter that he was cold. Dean didn't even wait for him to ask twice and immediately looked back at his younger brother.

"Sam go get the blankets from upstairs."

Sam didn't even wait, and quickly sprinted up the stairs to their room. By the time he was back down Castiel found himself covered in the original blue blanket, the blanket from the downstairs closet, both of the brothers blankets from their beds and even the quilt from the panic room. He was literally buried in blankets but they only managed to reduce the angels shivering to a small degree. His fever on the other hand was continuing to spike and Dean began to wonder exactly what it was that was causing it to climb so high so fast.

Bobby had returned shortly after with the bags of ice as promised and Dean immediately took the initiative of trying to cool their spontaneously combusting ex-angel down. It seemed to work for a while but after only just a couple of hours Dean found the ice doing nothing for him and Castiel found himself starting to slip back out of consciousness. Drugs weren't helping either and even though Sam, Dean and Bobby tried everything they could think of to bring the fever down, every effort had been in vain.

Castiel was now also starting to complain of pain in his back and after a short while was refusing to lay on it. Sam and Dean had helped him to roll over onto his right side to face the back of the couch but still he complained of the pain. Dean carefully lifted the back of his shirt, Bobby's eyes immediately falling down to the ugly scarring on his lower back until they met up with the two red rashes reaching down from Castiel's shoulder blades all the way down to his beltline. Dean didn't know what the hell it was, but if he didn't know any better he would have to think that this was where Castiel's wings should have been.

"Maybe I could call Andrea. Ask her for another favor." Bobby said as the younger hunter turned around to look at him.

"You still owe her dinner for the last one." He tried to joke, but failed miserably as he took one of the ice packs that Sam had handed him and pressed it lightly against Castiel's back.

The angel immediately flinched away but Dean held him down with a firm grip on his arm and tried to coax him to relax. The only thing it did was make Castiel shiver even more and Dean found himself having to pull it away. Running out of ideas, and out of options Dean decided that it was time to take some drastic measures and wondered if maybe the hospital was the best way to go. Castiel immediately shut the idea down and even though Dean insisted that it might be their only option Castiel tried to talk him out of it, revealing that if he truly was in the process of regaining his wings then without his Grace to support them that he very well may reveal them. That was enough to get Dean to stop. Though he didn't know if the angel was telling to truth or simply trying to trick him in getting to stay, Dean eventually gave in and decided to take a different approach.

If Castiel wasn't going to go to the hospital then the least they could do was make sure that the former angel didn't actually have some sort of infection or anything, and decided that drawing blood was the only way to be sure. Dean was the one to do it, and after getting the supplies from Bobby's stash and collecting what he needed from Cas' arm, he immediately pocketed the tube and headed out with Sam, leaving Castiel in Bobby's care.

The former angel didn't even much as acknowledge the desertion and simply let his mind slip under his heavily fevered mind. Bobby continued to try to lower his temperature with the ice, which had now reached a staggering 107 degrees but still found it doing nothing. It didn't matter to him. Even though Castiel protested the cold and only caused him to shiver even more Bobby insisted that he couldn't allow him to fry his brains and continued on with the ministrations.

Dean had reached the hospital soon enough, calling Andrea on the way there and informing her of the situation. She of course felt obliged to help and was there waiting for them at the front door as they pulled up. She immediately took the two of them downstairs to the lab, Dean following the already familiar halls downwards and reaching the double doors to the glass room. Why this place always looked so deserted was beyond him, but at this point he wasn't complaining and quickly handed her the vile.

Andrea asked curiously why they couldn't just bring their friend in and Dean immediately answered that he wanted Castiel resting as much as possible, and considering that he hated hospitals, didn't want to add to his stress anymore than he had to. Even that excuse sounded legit in Sam's eyes though both of them saw the doubt in hers. Dean kept his façade however, knowing that telling her the truth would only put her in an awkward position. Even with her expertise on the supernatural, maybe dealing with angels was above her pay grade, no matter how high it was.

After performing just a few tests and an hour studying the blood under a microscope, she claimed that she could find nothing to answer for the sudden fever and chills and told Dean that this may be something 'not medical'.

Figures. Dean quickly nodded his head and thanked her, quickly dragging Sam out and calling Bobby to inform him of their lack of finding anything useful. What he hears next coming out of the older hunters mouth nearly has his blood running cold.

"Dean you might want to get some heavy duty fever reducers while you're there because Cas' fever is raging out of control."

"Well how high is it?" Dean asked, the panic he was trying to hide quickly surfacing and betraying his tough façade.

"It's at a 110, and still climbing." Bobby replied as he started placing small bags of ice around the angel, covering him as much as he could without the angel protesting. Then again, at this point Castiel couldn't much as move now, his joints locking on him. His breathing was quickly becoming erratic and the shaking had only gotten more violent as he tried to curl his body in on itself. He had even begun complaining about pain in his chest and the rashes on his back now sported ugly bruising of both purple and black. "Dean get your ass back here now!"

Dean didn't even wait for him to hang up and quickly got back to the car with Sam in toe. Dean passed every street sign, red light and even ignored every speed limit as he raced to get back to the house. Even Sam was getting nervous at his neurotic behavior behind the wheel but the brothers found themselves getting back in less than 20 minutes. That was all it took for the fever to rise another five degrees to reach up to 115 and Bobby was now on the verge of a full fledge panic. Castiel was having trouble breathing, the pain in his chest and back more than doubling in intensity and the fight to hold back the screams from it all had all but fallen. Castiel now found himself crying as he could literally feel his insides ripping apart and being engulfed in merciless flames. It was like being tortured by Michael all over again and this time, Castiel couldn't hold in his anguish any longer.

He started to scream, even as Dean and Sam tried to hold him down to keep him from hurting himself. They were surprised when they suddenly found themselves being thrown across the room and the screams now coming from Cas had an echo following right behind them. Dean, Sam and Bobby quickly found themselves having to cover their ears as the next scream Castiel gave was so electrifying that it literally shook the house, rattled the windows and blew out the lights. The three of them could do nothing as they tucked their heads between their arms and pressed their hands tightly against their eardrums. The sound was intense and soon after that Dean found himself looking up as Castiel's eyes and mouth suddenly found them filling with light.

The whole room was soon engulfed in it and the last thing Dean knew before tightly shutting his eyes was the blinding supernova that engulfed them, and the shadows of wings appearing behind Castiel.

Authors End Note: I'm so fucking cruel that it's scary. 8( Your reviews have been such an inspiration for me. You really have no idea how much I appreciate them. Next chapter will be the last one so if you've been around this whole time and until then, then I am eternally grateful. Again, thank you so much for the touching reviews. Also, even though I've never actually thought about it, Feathered Filly, I would be honored to take on the challenge of taking suggestions from you or anyone here. As you can already tell I am very much into the hurt/comfort and angst and drama with a mix of brotherly bonding so I would certainly take anyone up on it. I already have another one shot idea in the works (of course it involves Hurt!Cas and angst) but I would like to finish at least the first part of my verse (which I just thought of a name for but can't yet give away) so before anything, 'When Our Prayers Go Unanswered' will have to be done. Again, you know what I love so if you love this chapter please review and let me know. Thank you so much again. 8)