Welcome to Heaven! I have the entire story mapped out, and I would say we are about 1/3 of the way through so far. Lots left to come! However, this chapter is going to be full of surprises (just keep in mind it isn't the climax)
Thanks for all the reviews, I tried to get this chapter out as fast as I could! One scene in this one was already written out so it went pretty fast. Let me know how you feel about it!
The guards shuffled Cas along, jostling him between them in their hurry. As they had gone further and further they had began glancing around nervously. Their anxiety felt oppressive around him in the narrow hall. Lit by startlingly bright lights every 10 ft or so, the sterile white walls reminded him of an operating room or the empty spaces of heaven. This part of the complex winded past dozens of unmarked doors, many with heavy locks and 'Do not enter' signs. After passing several dozen of these doorways the group came to a halt in front of a pocket door marked 'Danger; Enter at own risk.' The lead guard pushed a small button on the wall, then stepped back to reform into the group.
Cas shifted uncomfortably as they waited in silence. What kind of training is this to require this kind of security? What are they planning to make him do?
The sudden grating of the pocket door demanded his attention. It was thick, at least 6 inches of solid metal, and set into the reinforced concrete walls as it was it would take a huge force to break down. He shuddered, What could be so powerful that they need this to keep it out..
His eyes then discerned the Enochian barrier sigils emblazoned into the wall surrounding the door.
Or keep in.
He was unceremoniously pushed forward as the guards crossed the threshold into a short hallway. He heard the metal door slam shut behind them, followed by the sound of a massive lock being set into place. At the end of the hall they turned to their right and stepped into a large square room filled with more operating room light.
This room held several large tables, medical equipment, and attendants working on all. The box shaped room had a glass wall along one side, looking into an identically sized, but empty, room. This other room had painted white walls, while the concrete floor had been left as is. A small door was set into the side flush with the walls and without a handle.
The observation room he was in had several angels busy at the tables facing the window. They were looking through tattered books, pieces of parchment, and scrolls. None looked up to take note of the new comers, absorbed in their work as they were. Along the back wall were three medical stations.
Each station was centered around a long concrete slab several inches thick and just below chest height from the ground. Wide leather straps hung undone on the sides of the tables, more barrier sigils embossed into them. Various machines, tubes, and IV stands surrounded each table. The attendants in white lab coats were using only one of the three. They were preparing IVs and testing the leather straps of their table, also ignoring him.
With growing alarm Cas slowly approached the window to the other room. A gleam from the center of the floor had caught his eye, and as he reached the pane of glass he realized with horror that it was a pair of silver shackles. There were several feet of chain connecting them to bolts in the concrete floor. A small metal grated drain was fixed into the floor between them and oddly a nozzle similar to those in human showers was in the ceiling above.
Cas reached a trembling hand out to rest against the cool glass, the fear he had been trying to keep control of beginning to rise. What level of hell is this? I need to get Dean before we're a part of-
"5 solid inches of bulletproof glass my boy. Layered with every protection from heaven to hell. Nothing's getting through this, no matter what gets thrown at us," Zachariah growled at him, causing him to jump back a few inches, dropping his hand. Having been in the moral plane, Castiel was unused to being sneaked up on. He briefly realized that this is what he had been doing to the Winchesters for years before shoving the trivial thought from his head.
He collected himself before addressing the powerful man, "I thought.." he managed to squeak out before the man laughed in an amused way at him, cutting him off.
"Don't care much what you think boy, just need you to do your job when time comes," he hissed while using a hand to turn Cas away from the window by the shoulder, gesturing to the room behind them.
"This here will make sure nothin' goes too wrong while we put him through his paces. Haven't had any real problems so far, but can't be too careful. Those Winchesters tend to put up fights against everything."
Moving through the room he introduced Cas to the angelic team handling the research. He made no attempt to remember names, instead using the chance to inspect the myriad of texts in hopes of finding a clue. Most held lists of numbers, equations, and symbols. None of which he could understand or see how they related to Dean. However, on a side table he noticed one text with lists of demonic symbols, one of which he recognized as a 'kill switch' symbol. It was ancient, and banned from being used because it tended to kill the one who activated it.
Cas' fear grew once more as he tried not to imagine the implications of this type of research. A shiver ran through him.
Zachariah continued pushing him along, hurrying through the introductions as he kept looking up at the clock on the far back wall. Once through the research and monitoring team he directed Cas towards the group huddled around the station at the back. "Now this here's the main man behind it all. He's a smart little young one, pulled him out from one of Gabriel's garrisons when he deserted. Loves nothing more than digging through..obscure problems, don't you Hiro?"
The 'little' angel he had apparently addressed looked up at the mention of his name, and pushed a pair of glasses back into their proper place on his nose. Cas tried to put on an unaffected look as the man shuffled over in his white lap coat, peering at Cas with a furrow in his brow. The vessel he had taken was reed thin, the coat on his shoulders doing little to hide the jut of bones in his shoulders.
"It is very nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you, I've heard so much from our brothers and sisters" he introduced himself with a slight bow of his head, extending his hand out for Cas. His dark hair fell straight around his ears and covered his forehead, just dusting the top of the glasses he had once again readjusted. Despite his apparent youth there was a small dusting of grey, combined with his stern expression and straight-backed stance it gave the young vessel an aura of wisdom beyond his years. He reminded Cas of Sam, and he supposed that if the younger Winchester had been allowed to indulge himself in learning he would be just as thin as this man.
"Aw don't be so stiff Hiro, we have an exciting day ahead of us!" Zacharah cheered as he gave Hiro a friendly clap on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over with the force. However, he succeeded in knocking his glasses off their position once again, and with a small sigh Hiro pushed them back up. Cas couldn't help but notice the quick glance he gave the elder angel, full of a conflicting amount of fear and respect.
Cas shook the young angel's hand, trying to catch his eyes and glean any information on situation he could. But Hiro was not willing to give any up, instead retreating behind a wall of respect for his superior.
"We are soon to start sir, please come with me." Hiro swiftly turned, heading back to the station where preparations had apparently completed.
Cas followed, questions rising within him but too afraid of the answers to ask.
As they neared the station Hiro paused and asked over his shoulder in a low voice, "Are you familiar with the Nephalem Program?
With a sinking feeling in his stomach Cas thought of all the stories he'd heard over the eons. All the whispers and scared hopes that whatever human an angel chose to sleep with would not conceive and bring down divine wrath on all involved. Afraid of what they had to do with this facility, he whispered, "Yes, I think everyone knows what they are. An angelic abomination bore of human."
"No, no. That would be the nephilim. Small change in the word but it makes all of the difference." Cas shook his head ruefully, he hadn't heard of this. "Well then, today will be very instructional for you. Please stand over there and try to stay out of the way." Hiro pointed to a space a few feet from the side of the station.
"Sir, they've arrived. Prepare for entry." A guard announced from the hall doorway
The men surrounding the station quickly positioned themselves in a neat fashion behind the station, ready to come forward and assist. The young angel in charge smoothed his lab coat and pushed his glasses back into position, then moved to stand at the foot of the table facing the doorway. The research workers hurried to finish their work and pull out paper on clipboards for recording as Zachariah barked orders at them, making sure that things were running on time.
Cas could do nothing but watch as the men prepared for the new arrivals. His nervousness causing him to tremble slightly as he stood, the cold of the room doing little to help.
A sudden metallic scraping jolted him to attention. The hall entrance had just been opened and the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. A group of guards entered the room, forming a protective box around someone. As they filed into the room, the front guards parted and made way for the dirty and dejected man, as Cas could now see their charge. He was clad in loose fitting pants of deep blue, no shirt, and his hair was tousled, as though from a light sleep. Before Cas could even suck in a gasp his mind took in the hunched shoulders and could only form one thought.
Dean.
The proud strong man he had known stood in the middle of the guards of heaven completely miserable and barely able to move without it looking like it took all of his effort to do so. His green eyes were devoid of their flashing humor and energy, and stared at the floor.
"Dean!" Cas nearly screamed, immediately lunging forward before being stopped by the guard's strong arms. His eyes searched Dean's face, desperate for a flicker of acknowledgment.
"Now come Castiel, try and be well behaved. Dean here has learned to do as he's told, a model of obedience." Zachariah crooned, coming over to lay a hand on his subjects shoulder, clearly pleased with himself. Just below his hand Cas could see an obediance mark similar to the one Balthazar had. It was burned into the opposite shoulder from the hand print he bore from Cas's rescue.
Dean Winchester was not a force to be controlled. He was obedient to no one but his father, his desires, and occasionally his brother. Cas didn't know what to make of this, hating that Dean was forced to be this way. There must have been drugs involved, or threats, or…something anything. To think otherwise would be to ignore Dean's inner nature, and no one knew of that better than Castiel. He would not have allowed that mark without a fight.
He stopped struggling against the guards, realizing that without the use of his Grace he was powerless to overcome them. His face read his anguish though, and that was all the satisfaction Zachariah needed.
"Well enough with the sweet reunion, let's get this show on the road", Zachariah announced, clasping into Dean's shoulder harder and leading the man over to the table where he climbed on willingly.
The attendants began strapping him to the table, leather straps covering his ankles, thighs, hips, chest, arms, and one across his forehead for good measure. As the last went into place over his shoulders, the clasp hitting right over the brand mark from Castiel, his eyes snapped away from Dean, shame written across his face.
Barely allowing himself to hope Castiel whispered, "Dean'. With a slow movement Dean lifted his eyes to him. They remained lifeless for a moment longer before the edges crinkled with pain. Castiel swore his heart was no longer beating.
"Cas." He croaked, voice hoarse and raspy. "I'm…I'm just sorry man. Just know that, ok?" Then he broke the eye contact, unable to look Cas in the eye.
Before Castiel could try another useless fight an attendant brought forward a box that emitted blue light from within, shining through the cracks at the seams. Setting it on the edge of the table he flipped open the lid, light spilling out onto his face and filling the room.
Hiro leaned forward, over Dean, and withdrew a long metal syringe, the contents glowing brightly with what was unmistakably angelic Grace.
"I believe it's time for the crowd to leave, this doesn't require more help, the restraints will hold" he directed at Zachariah as he inspected the Grace, tapping the syringe in a way that made Castiel's skin crawl.
With the snap of Zachariah's fingers the majority of guards vanished with a small flutter of wings, leaving only 3 as backup. Hiro gave a tired sigh, "Then we will not waste any time. Everyone, please prepare for infusion number 14. This should be one of the final rounds. Make sure to pay particular attention to the second vial, it wasn't accepting as well the last few times."
Castiel held his breath. Unable to move. Unable to tear his eyes from the point of the needle as it makes its way to Dean's neck, angled up towards his brain, and makes first contact.
The point slowly pushes past the barrier of skin; Dean barely flinches as it's inserted deep into his neck. Castiel feels the odd sensation of nausea threatening a reaction from his vessel.
"Almost at the spinal cord," Hiro breathes, eyes glued to the needle as it continues on its path, then halts, "Ah there we go. Time to light him up"
The plunger begins to descend, pushing Grace into Dean's spine, finally drawing his attention from the deep place his consciousness has been hiding.
Castiel could have withstood all of this, if it weren't for the screams that now ripped from Dean's chest. Wordless, tortured, and causing an engrained need in Castiel to react. To stop at nothing until the threat was removed. But those perfect lips could do nothing but pull back in pain.
No one else seemed to react, watching and taking notes as though this were a lecture on the biology of the circulatory system. Only the firm grip Zachariah placed on Castiels bicep kept him from finding some way in hell to rip the bracelets controlling his grace off. He watched helpless as the man he had given everything for screamed in pain beneath cold calculatingly medical stares.
At last the syringe was emptied and removed. A small angry red dot the only mark of what had just occurred. Dean let go of the tension he'd had in his muscles, breathing in short fast bursts.
With a huff Hiro placed the syringe on the table, leaned over, and removed a second syringe from the box. However this one was different. Instead of angelic light it seemed to suck into the light around it. The contents were deep red/black, swirling in an endless storm.
Unceremoniously Hiro switched to Dean's other side, lining up the syringe and plunging it in to his neck again.
Having just regained his breath from nearly screaming his soul out Dean's eyes flew open when the plunger went down, a twisted snarl followed by more screams replacing the silence.
Cas closed his eyes and prayed for it to end, slumping in resignation under Zachariah's grip. There was nothing he could do but wait until Dean's nearly silent whimpers signaled the end of the process.
"Ok then! Now for the fun, get him up and ready," Zachariah clapped, sending everyone into a frenzy of unlatching the straps on Dean and shuffling papers about.
"Was this not the test? What more can you do to him Zachariah, this has to stop..you'll kill him!"
"Now now brother calm yourself. We were just preparing him for the real test. And don't you worry, you'll have a front row seat for all the action." Castiel hated the gleam of pleasure in the older angel's eye.
Attendants roughly grabbed Dean off of the slab, dragging him towards a door at the back of the room. He winced at the treatment but seemed too weak to fight back. As the door closed he yelled back in a hoarse voice, "No matter what they do Cas, this isn't me! Cas, you just gotta know that! Keep it in mind!" Then the door slammed shut, blocking him out.
A few moments later the door in the opposite room opened and the team with Dean came in. He began fighting back, though the strength of the angels made it look more like a puppy struggling against lions. His hands were chained to the floor with the shackles, and he dropped to his knees, head hanging in defeat.
Cas all but sprinted to the glass window, throwing his hands against it, wanting to be as close as he could physically get to Dean.
"What are you going to do to him. Zachariah, this is not right whatever you are doing."
"Oh now you're just being protective because you think he's your charge or whatever. Castiel, you know we can do what we want. We needed a guinea pig… so we went and got ourselves one." Zachariah strode calmly over to the window to stand beside Cas, hands clasped behind his back as he regarded Dean. "Besides, you may find you like the…improvements we've made."
With a smile he turned, "Ok boys, let's get him started." Attendants rushed to get papers ready for recording. One grabbed a lit tablet and began pressing buttons, then handed it to Zachariah with a slight bow.
A small sigil appeared in the floor around where Dean was chained. Castiel didn't recognize it, though it vaguely resembled a summoning.
"Alrighty then," Zachariah pressed his hand to the tablet, the sigil in the other room lighting up.
Dean's face remained passive. Castiel released a breath he hadn't realized that he was holding, "What exactly did you do to him. I don't see the point in…"
Dean began to twitch. A small movement at first.
His eyes scrunched up in pain, shoulders beginning to heave with the effort of keeping everything in. He wasn't one to let it be known when he hurt, and with all of the strength he had left he fought what was slowly rising inside him. Castiel watched helplessly, slow hot tears starting to run down his face seeing the man he regarded as the strongest he knew fall apart before him.
Dean opened his eyes, searching the glass separating him from the one person from whom he wanted to hide this shame. The flash of blue eyes found him, holding his gaze, eyes wide in sympathy, fear, and love.
He felt the now familiar burn working its way through his body, searing it's way around him until all he could see was red. Desperately he tried to reach him one last time yelling through gritted teeth, "Cas remember what I said! Just look away...just...look..."
His voice lost the words, forming instead a scream he had put behind him as one only made in the depths of Hell. The sound coming through the speakers to Cas who pounded the glass, screaming right along with him. The burning in his bones concentrated, burning through what was left of the man, pooling at his back, and bursting forth in a flurry of light and down.
Wings. The most beautiful wings Castiel had ever seen, weighing Dean's shoulders down. They fell from their momentary outstretch, spread across the floor to either side of him. Softly glowing, they were as far removed from Dean's personality as he himself would have imagined, but Castiel knew just how much they reflected the man they were now a part of. Snowy white with flecks of black and grey, a few tinges of blue, reminiscent of the blue under tones of Castiel's, ran along the edges of the flight feathers.
A good 25 feet in span, they slowly shifted as Dean rolled his shoulders, head still hung low. Castiel took in a shuddering breath, trying to process what this could mean. The feeling emanating into him was unmistakably angelic, but he could not reconcile this with the human man he knew Dean to be.
With a short huff Zachariah turned to him beaming, "Well there you have it. Part one of our perfect little soldier. Gotta hand it to you Castiel, you plucked the right one out of Hell." He clapped Cas on the shoulder, smiling at the blank stare the angel was giving, and pressed the button to turn on the intercom, addressing Dean,
"Good job Dean, record time for change! Keep it up and you'll be shifting in a matter of milliseconds. Now get up so we can make sure it took, don't want you getting side effects again."
With a long sigh Dean rose to his feet, wings rising with him to stand tall, pulled in toward his back. He refused to meet Castiel's gaze, instead inspecting the corner of the room.
But he could feel that gaze. Feel it burning into his skin seeking out his attention, to know that it was ok. But it wasn't ok, never will be again, and Dean just can't admit that yet. Because then he would have to deal with it, and shoving down emotions is as natural to him as breathing.
"Are the tanks filled? Good good, then let's give our new baby boy a bath shall we," Zachariah mused to his helpers.
Furrowing his brow Castiel tore his eyes from the beautiful and terrible sight in front of him to look at Zachariah. Unsure which emotion to train on him first, he instead focused on the facts, deep voice nearly growling out, "I demand to know what you have done to him. What is the Grace doing to his body?"
"Ah, not just the Grace, but the rest of the concoction we've whipped up! We are only half finished showing you the final product. And based on how this phase is working, I believe that today is the final reveal day," Zachariah beamed, clearly enjoying the hurt and anger Castiel was letting slip.
"Now the real fun begins." He pressed another button, and within a few moments Dean's eyes shot up to the spigot in the ceiling, hearing something that was blocked from the eyes of the observers. His face fell to one of despair and horror.
Dean began pulling at his restraints, backing up as far as the chains would let him. Even when they had pulled taunt he kept scrambling back, eyes never leaving the ceiling above him. His wings flared out, trying to give an extra tug to break the chains. Cas could see where his wrists were turning red from the pressure of the metal, his muscles were bunched tight with effort trying to rip free.
He turned back to the glass, eyes searching frantically for anyone that would listen, "God please stop this, I can't do it! Don't you fucking make me you sons of bitches! Please!"
Zachariah just sighed, "Stage fright. Who would have thought Dean Winchester would be bashful?"
Whatever was happening that Dean was aware of had not let up, and he kept begging while fighting the restraints. His voice was beginning to weaken from all of the yelling, and Cas wished he could turn away, could shut out the sounds, but wouldn't let Dean suffer alone.
At that moment liquid began dripping out of the nozzle in the ceiling, making dark splotches on the floor in front of Dean. He froze and then gave a full body shudder, closing his eyes against the sight.
He knew they wouldn't allow him to stop, they would push as much as they wanted and he was powerless to do much else. If he fought too much they would just activate the obedience mark and force his body to do what they wanted. All he wanted now was for Castiel to not see this, to never see it.
"Please, at least take Cas away. He shouldn't have to see.."
The dripping had picked up into a steady stream now, and Castiel could not longer fool himself as to what it was. Blood. Pouring down in front of Dean and pooling on the ground, slowly running into the drain in the floor.
"...see...this..." Dean barely whispered the last few words. His body relaxed and he began taking deep breaths. When he opened his eyes they had grown dark where his pupils dilated beyond normal. He was staring at the blood on the floor with a fierce look of desire. Slowly he inched forward a bit, crouching down and dragging a finger through the blood. His lips parted in a shaky breath as he brought the finger up to his mouth and licked.
The second the blood touched his tongue he moaned, eyes rolling back and closing. He quickly sucked his finger into his mouth, moaning slightly as he swallowed. Not wasting any time he reached down for another finger full, greedily drinking it off his finger.
That nauseated feeling returned to Cas as he watched, completely horror stricken. This was...beyond anything he could comprehend. Aside from the burned hand print he wouldn't have recognized Dean, his actions, the wings, the crazed look in his eyes...it was foreign to him.
When Dean cupped his hands to fill with the blood still pouring down, Castiel turned away. He couldn't watch this, didn't want to have memories of Dean this way. He instead turned to Zachariah, who was watching with an amused expression.
"Now come Castiel, good angel's gave up so much so we could get enough juice for him. You should respect them and watch, it wouldn't do to seem distasteful of their last act," Zachariah's eyes were shining he was so pleased with Castiel's discomfort.
"What?" Castiel whispered. He didn't have the strength to make his voice work properly. He couldn't even get his mind to work.
"You see, there have only been a few nephilim in the past, and they're usually taken care of the moment we're aware of them. Angels can't exactly pay child support. But the nephalem, that's a breed that's never been seen before. They're the mix of angels and demons, it's assumed that the amount of power would be unparalleled. But no angel would reduce themselves so much as to mate with a demon so we put our heads together and figured we'd put both powers in a human that could take it. And lo-and-behold you spotted the perfect one for us! It's almost a miracle!"
"Oh Lord, what have they done to you..." Castiel was no longer listening, he didn't want to believe what Zachariah was saying, didn't want any of this to be real. He had seen pain and torture and things more morbid than could be imagined. He had actually been in Hell when he pulled out Dean. But this...this was something more perverted than he could imagine. The combining of those two powers at all, let alone in Dean, was nothing something he could not fathom.
But the evidence was right before him. Drinking down mouthfuls of angelic blood and enjoying it.
The downpour slowed and then stopped suddenly, but Dean didn't seem to mind. He just stood where he was and licked his hands as clean as he could, half smile on his face and eyes closed in pleasure. It was wrong, and Castiel wanted to scream, but he couldn't stop it. He could just watch and pray and send hateful thoughts towards Zachariah.
Castiel failed to notice the first feather drop.
It was a small downy under wing feather. As it floated down it began to glow darkly, a light of another world inverse to heaven. One, then two, then five more followed, softly falling before being swallowed in a blaze that came from within. It was when the first flight feather dislodged and sizzled that he allowed the change to drag his eyes from Dean's face, watching in horror as the beauty of the wings burned away, revealing deep charcoal colored skin and scales. Cas briefly pulled a comparison to bat wings in his mind, but knew that these were different. Almost reptilian.
His gaze settled back to Dean's entirety, and with a wrenching pain in the depth of his soul watched as Dean slowly began to smile wide, his eyes turning black, blood cascading down his chin and dripping onto the tan of his chest.
"And here, is our perfect soldier. Don't you just love when things work out the way you want them to?"
At that Castiel lost his control on himself, he lunged at Zachariah, trying to get his hands around his throat while screaming about the injustice and horror they had just enacted. It was futile of course, his Grace was chained and so his mortal vessel could do nothing to a fully powered angel. Zachariah just watched, letting Castiel try to kill him for a few minutes before waving for the guards.
"See, here's the thing Castiel. We've done this to him several times now that the injections have taken. And each time he just revels in the feelings. I think he remembers how much fun he had in Hell. But when he's happy, we can't really test out what he can do. So that's why you're here now, to help us," Zachariah came forward and slammed his foot into Cas's ribs, "get a reaction out of him."
The angels watching with clipboards began focusing on Dean with rapt attention, waiting for him to react to Castiel's pain. Zachariah's foot dealt a few more blows to Castiel's stomach and ribs before he began beating into his face with fists. It hurt, bad, Cas could feel bones as they fractured and tasted his own blood. His instinct was to protect himself, but the guards had his arms held steady, all he could do was take the beating.
The movement had gotten Dean's attention from the other side of the window. He could see into the other room, saw Castiel kneeling on the floor being bloodied by Zachariah. For a few seconds he watched, smile slowly sliding off his face. The intercom had been kept on, and he could hear the sound of the punches as they fell, could hear the gasps Castiel was giving as blood filled his throat from his nose breaking. A confused expression coming onto his face, he stalked forward towards, forgetting about the chains until they pulled taunt and he jerked against them.
"No.." he whispered, the scene in front of him finally setting in, "NO, get off him! Fuck no NO NO!"
Dean was screaming incoherently now, pulling as hard as he could against the chains trying to get to Castiel and shield him. His veins were standing out, massive black wings flaring out in a threat. Castiel slumped, taking the beating and watching from swelling eyes as Dean fought his restraints. It was wrong, but he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride that no matter what they did to Dean he would always try to save those he loved.
There was a loud snap that came through the speakers. Zachariah stopped and turned to watch as Dean pulled against the remaining shackle, he'd broken through the other. His wings pumped, lifting him slightly as he threw his weight against it, still screaming and frantically looking from Castiel to his work on the chains.
"See Castiel, this is exactly why we brought you. He's been complacent for weeks, just enjoying how he feels, but the minute we threaten someone he cares about he goes into overdrive," Zachariah grabbed Cas by the neck, hauling him up to the tips of his toes, "Once we condition his mind to see our enemies as his own...Oh Castiel you can't imagine the kind of carnage he will deal. We have his powers restrained and he's still this powerful! Those shackles have binding seals on them, and he broke them. Can you imagine it when we let him loose?"
"You fuckin' touch him again dick...you...God dammit!" Dean kept pulling, straining to get to Castiel. With a loud pop a chain link broke and he lurched forward, landing on his hands and knees, eyes bent.
"Uhh, Calandel, you have that kill switch set up, right?" Zachariah released Castiel, letting the guards hold him up, and went over to an assistant.
Dean got up slowly, face painted with anger and blood. His hands were trembling with effort, shoulders heaving while he panted. His gaze connected with Castiel, took in the split lips, the broken nose, and various cuts. Then he screamed, tapping into the powers that had been held at bay, and flew at the window. His fists pounded at it, for a few moments, the dull thud reverberating around the room.
"Well then get it made already! I don't want to have him running about destroying things," Zachariah was anxiously trying to get the angel to work faster at drawing.
Thud, thud, thud, crack. Dean's fist had succeeded in cracking the window, a spiderweb of rifts running through the glass. His eyes connected with Castiel's, and a smile spread across his face, looking eerie with his black eyes and bat-like wings that spread with triumph.
"Comin' for you Cas, going to get us out of here...you hear me? Gonna make you safe," Dean started pounding the glass again.
"Sir, it's ready," the assistant said to Zachariah. He had drawn a sigil on the table in blood.
"Well don't waste time asking me, just knock it out already!"
The assistant slammed his hand down, the next moment a light burst from behind Dean and quickly enveloped him while he screamed out. Castiel had to turn away, the light blinding to his Grace-less eyes.
When the screams died out and the light had gone Castiel opened his eyes, afraid of what he would find. Dean was slumped on the floor against the glass, hand still reaching up towards the dent he had made. The wings had left, and Castiel could now see the cause of the light, a powerful binding sigil was tattooed into the skin between his shoulder blades. Zachariah must have made sure he could control things should they get out of hand.
Dean was breathing slowly as he lay there, Castiel assumed he must be unconscious. The fight had to have taken a lot out of him, and Castiel was glad that he looked to be back to a man. What they had made him become, it just wasn't natural.
Zachariah came over, pulling a hand on Castiel's shoulder, his other hand tilting his head up to look up, "I hope you now see why we need you. He needs to be controlled, and we can force the power out of him, but it'd be better if we could just teach him to control himself. Thing is, he hates us. He loves you though. So...we need you to control him. We won't have to resort to these methods if you can...it'd be better for him."
Cas couldn't believe it. They had dragged Dean here, had poisoned him with a concoction of Grace and demonic powers, and were now dangling Castiel in front of him just to get reactions. Castiel could feel anger returning to him, starting from deep in his chest and bursting forth. He glared at Zachariah as best as he could through swollen eyes. He knew he couldn't lash out here, so instead asked the one question they might answer.
"Why? Just tell me what the end game is for this."
"Look Castiel, we barely won against Hell last time. You know how close we came to having Lucifer take over Earth, and our Father...well he was less pleased than we thought. He'd been quiet for so long, I mean, you knew?! You left and cut us off, so you didn't know, but he came back and he was pissed. Lots of shake up and holy tantrums, the works. In the end he wanted us to find a better way to combat Hell. That's how Dean came in. We needed a human who could contain Grace but also accept a demon's powers, and what better than Michael's vessel who had once lived in Hell? He's been such a good boy you know, you should be proud!" Zachariah smirked at him. The rage won against his self-control and Castiel bit down on the hand that was holding his head up.
"Proud? You think this makes me proud? Zachariah, this is a perversion I thought no one capable of. Do you have any idea what you have done? I fail to see that this is what our Father meant for you to do, you...you sack of dicks!" Castiel spit out, using the last of his energy to struggle against the guards.
"Ugh...I should have known you would be difficult," Zachariah rolled his eyes, turning away, "You know this could have worked out well, would be a great collaboration. But have it your way Castiel. You always do make things difficult with all those feelings of love and self-righteousness."
He turned back quicker than Castiel could react to and slammed his fist into Castiel's temple, knocking him out. He barely even registered the pain before he fell into blackness, anger and pain drifting away.