Wow. Thanks to everyone that's reviewed, I love reading what you guys have to say. This is the final installment- finally. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. This chapter is longer than the others, but I didn't see the point in splitting it up. Hope you enjoy! There are some spoilers for season 12, but it's not in depth and it doesn't spoil the finale.


CHAPTER 9: DON'T END IN BLOOD

Sam stood in shock for a moment, staring at the body still fritzing with random spazzes of gold light. He could already feel his adrenaline start to ebb, making him all the more aware of the throbbing behind his eyes and the nasty lump that was already beginning to form on his head.

Dean pushed himself off the wall with a grunt and began limping towards the other end of the room. Cas was still trapped in the ring of holy fire- it had died down in the time he'd been trapped in it, and the flames were only a few inches tall now. Nevertheless Dean stripped off his jacket as he lumbered over, bending down to smother the flame, grinding his teeth in sync with his bones at the starburst of pain erupting from that simple motion. Sam was on the other side, using a similar tactic. The fire flared for a moment before dying down, leaving a ring of smudged ash.

"Cas?" The angel was half-sprawled in the middle of the circle, no doubt trying to make himself as small as possible to avoid the fire. The trench coat was in flames at his feet- Sam went around to stamp it out, taking note of the scorch marks running along the right side, eating away at the sleeve.

Dean slapped Cas' cheek lightly, trying to get him to wake up. "Cas?" He didn't move. Dean felt worry niggling at the back of his mind.

Oh, how he wished he'd been the one to shoot that creepy bastard for doing this. . .

Sam tucked the colt back into his waistband, fingers fumbling for the artery under Cas' jaw. He sagged in relief when he felt the pulse of blood pushing against his touch. Cas began to stir just as he was withdrawing his hand, eyes peeling open as he blinked up at them owlishly.

"Dean? Sam?" His voice was hoarser than normal as he propped himself up, studying them. "Are you okay?"

Dean chuckled bitterly, rolling his eyes. He helped Cas sit up, saying nothing when Cas reached up to grab his arm for extra support.

"We'll live. Which is more than what we can say for him," Dean inclined his head towards the body nearby, now with an extra hole in his head.

Cas barely spared a second glance at the body, letting relief flood over him for a moment. It was quickly quelled by Legion's last words to them- We are Legion. Kill me, and more will take my place.

Dean's attempt at a victorious smirk came out as more of a pained grimace- they'd failed. Cas barely caught it. His eyes sharpened through the bleary fog hovering over them. "Are you injured?" he repeated, more firmly this time. Dean saw that he wasn't about to let it go, so he relented.

"Sam's got a concussion, I've got busted ribs. Nothing we've never dealt with. Can you stand?"

Cas sucked a breath in, finally letting himself take stock of his own injuries. "Yeah, I- I think so-" he started trying to get his feet under him. He got halfway up before he cried out when he put weight on his busted leg. Dean hooked an arm around Cas' to keep him upright, shifting a wary glance at Cas' knee.

"Think you can heal it yet?"

Cas shook his head, looking down at his leg, which was bent inwards at an impossible angle. There was a jagged shard of white, barely visible, poking out from it. He swallowed hard, quickly looking away.

"It's healing. It'll take time."

Dean nodded, sharing a skeptical look with Sam. He really shouldn't be walking at all, angel or not, but it's not like they had crutches in their trunk's stash of weapons. Sam went on Cas' other side, holding his arm as they maneuvered to the door. It creaked open, filling the room with the sound of crickets carried in by the cool night breeze.

They went as far as the front porch before Cas collapsed again, almost sending Dean down with him.

"Hey- easy, easy," Dean put a hand to his chest to keep him from pitching forward. They eased him down on the front steps, taking stock of their options.

Dean dug his hand in his pocket, cursing internally when he didn't immediately find what he was looking for. He finally produced the keys, tossing them to Sam.

"Can you bring the Impala around?"

Sam stared at the keys in his hand, momentarily in shock.

"Uh- sure. Yeah." That was probably a terrible idea, as Sam was still having difficulty keeping both feet on the ground. He squinted, trying to find which key was for the impala. Not even thinking, with his uncooperative brain, that he'd have to make the trek back first.

"Wait-" Cas shifted, using the handrail of the porch to haul himself up. He lurched forward, but Sam shot his arms out to steady him just as his knee buckled. Cas sagged against him, half collapsed. Sam's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as Cas raised an unsteady hand to his forehead.

Sam realized what he was doing and started to push his hand away. "No, Cas, you don't have to-"

"Shut up," Cas said gruffly. Sam obliged- Cas learned how to be stubborn from the best.

It took much longer than usual, and Sam had to suppress a wince as he felt every stage of a healing concussion in the course of a few minutes. Cas' power reflected the state of his grace, and right now his grace was barely hanging on by a thread. When he finally withdrew his hand Sam was practically carrying him, but the muddle in his mind was gone. Mostly.

"Thank you, Cas." Sam shot a hand out as Cas started swaying like a blade of grass. He brought Cas over to Dean, who helped him sit back against the steps, keeping a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from keeling over.

Dean nodded to his brother as a subtle signal to hurry. He only watched Sam retrace their steps through the woods for a few seconds before turning to sit next to Cas. Yeah, so maybe it wasn't the best idea giving his still slightly concussed brother the keys to his most prized possession, but it's not like they had many options here, and there was no way in hell Dean was going to leave Cas' side again. It seemed every time he turned around the angel was trying his damndest to get himself killed.

Dean began shrugging off his jacket, which was still charred from when he used it to snuff out the fire. Cas didn't spare him a second glance, eyes only shifting towards him for a second before he turned his attention back to anything else that would distract him from looking down at his vessel's- no- his leg. He still found it hard to believe at times that he was the only one in this body. It was his. That suspicious-looking shard of white poking out of his leg was his bone.

"Stay there," Dean stood, walking a few paces as he kicked around at the detritus. He paused, reaching down to produce a good-sized branch, about a foot long and an inch thick.

"What are you doing?"

"Making a splint," he sat back down, pursing his lips at the mess of bone and blood that was making up Cas' knee. "Look, Wolverine healing factor or not, that's gonna need some help healing."

Dean paused, noticing the tightness in Cas' jaw. "Sorry, man."

"No, I- I understand."

Dean was gonna hate himself for putting Cas through even more pain than he was already in. "Can you straighten your leg?"

Cas nodded, bowing his head to keep his composure. He tightened his grip on the edge of the step as he forced his knee to cooperate. His vision whited out for a moment, quickly darkening as a burst of pain shot up his side. His nerves were fire lacing through him.

Dean leaned in closer to get a better look, wrinkling his nose at the smell of burnt hair assaulting his senses when Cas' hair brushed his shoulder.

"Jeez, Cas, you smell like you went through a few rounds with a flamethrower."

Cas tried to shift to a more comfortable position, but he couldn't move much without aggravating his leg more. "That isn't very far off from what actually happened," he said drily. Dean shook his head angrily as he put the stick in place.

They shouldn't have made Cas come at all, not when Dean knew he was still recovering from that stab wound. Which, now that he thought about it, Dean would need to check on.

Cas grunted as Dean began tying off the splint, but Dean had made sure that it wasn't tight enough to shift bone.

"Sorry," Dean said.

"It's not that. The holy fire. It - it damaged my wings. And-" Cas lifted the arm that he'd had wrapped around his side gingerly for Dean to see.

"Dammit, Cas-" Dean grabbed the back of Cas' hand, pulling his arm closer. How had he not noticed that? The sleeve of Cas' suit jacket- because his trench coat was already pretty much burned beyond recovery- was burned along with his dress shirt, showing a patch of red, inflamed skin underneath. Like any wound he acquired, it glowed blue with grace- but the glow didn't disappear over time. It pulsed like a heartbeat, faint but still barely visible in the dark of night. Dean scrambled, making Cas put a hand on the wound to stem the flow of grace as he searched for a suitable replacement tourniquet.

"Dammit. . ." Dean breathed under his breath, shifting closer. Cas' eyes were glassy- his eyelids were drooping.

"I shouldn've gotten you two involved." He stared at nothing with empty eyes, head bobbing up and down in stupor.

Dean barely paused in his search to throw Cas an incredulous look, almost not believing that of all concerns Cas could have at that moment, he was still worried about Dean and Sam.

"Shut up, Cas- stay awake-"

Sure, he'd been hurt, but he hadn't lost too much blood. Not enough to warrant passing out. Right?

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit.

Dean slapped Cas' hand aside, where it had ventured back to the area just under his ribcage. Cas' hand was moved too easily: under the porch light, Dean could see the dark stain on his dress shirt.

He'd been holding his guts in this whole time?

"Cas, why the hell didn't you tell me you tore your stitches?" Dean began frantically unbuttoning his shirt to see the extent of the damage, with only minor protests from Cas.

"Wha- oh," Cas looked down, "I didn't - think it. . . m- mattered at th' time." He craned his head to look, letting out a groan of pain as he rolled his head back, scrunching his eyes closed. Compared to everything else, it wasn't completely life-threatening- but coupled with everything, it most definitely was.

The shirt stuck to his skin where the blood had already dried. Six. Six stitches torn out. But the wound was deep enough that six was bad.

Dean's jacket was being used to tie off the splint, so he helped Cas shrug out of his suit jacket so he could pack it against the wound. He situated Cas against the side of the porch for more support, kneeling next to him. Dean shoved the jacket into the wound, and Cas doubled forward with a grunt, half moving to shove Dean away before correcting the movement, shooting a hand out to grab Dean's shoulder. Cas' pain manifested into a fierce will to live, born of centuries as a soldier. He was a fighter. He would get through this. He had to.

When the grace that had been escaping was smothered, Dean noticed that it got just a little bit darker. Cas let his head thud dully on his hand, fingers clutching the flannel. Dean was half afraid that he'd passed out, but his breathing hadn't evened out, and he was still clutching his shoulder like a lifeline. Dean let him stay like that while he caught his breath. Slight shudders ran through his body with each breath Cas took- now that he could examine it, Dean saw that Cas' hair was shorter on one side, curled up in different directions where it had been burned away.

Damn.

"Didn't save any mojo for yourself, did you?"

He could feel Cas shake his head once against his shoulder. He'd used it all up for Sam. Typical.

How close had Cas come to dying tonight? They'd already had so many people die for them. Too damn many. Dean couldn't imagine adding Cas to that list. That was too close. Way too close, Dean realized, as he watched the black fabric of the jacket saturate as it absorbed blood.


Sam's running steps slowed to a stop. He spun in place, trying to get his bearings. The immediate area was unfamiliar to him, but maybe that was just because it was dark. The sky was blocked out by the trees towering above, with pinpricks of black shining through the shapes of the leaves. There were no stars to guide him. Nothing to reassure him that he was going the right way. He growled under his breath, kicking a stray rock in mindless frustration. He watched it's movement as it skittered away, rolling into an indent in the soft earth. It was just barely visible in the dark, but he could clearly make out the shape.

It was a shoeprint. Hopefully it wasn't his own, or he was really screwed.

He followed the prints for a few minutes, pausing every now and then to make sure that he hadn't lost the trail.

He finally saw an end in the trees. He could see the road below- and there was the impala, parked right where they left it. Sam's steps sped up again.

"I'm coming, guys. Just hang on."


Cas leaned back, shifting his eyes up to the sky. His breath came out in huffs between clenched teeth, each more jarring than the last. He let his eyes slip closed.

Dean shifted, patting the side of his face. "Hey- hey, buddy, I need you to keep your eyes open for me."

Cas' eyelashes fluttered as he fought the weight dragging him into sleep. Always fighting. "Blinking," he said defensively, flicking his eyes up to Dean before dragging them back down to where Dean was pressing the jacket into his wound. He brought both hands up to clutch the jacket, the bones in his knuckles shifting as he tightened his fist.

Dean couldn't shake those words. Just don't hurt them.

Always the martyr. The idiot didn't know how important he was. This sad, doomed little world- it needed him, too.

Just don't hurt them.

Dean knew, without a doubt, that he and Sam would say the same for Cas if their roles had been reversed. Don't hurt him. Probably with a few choice expletives directed towards whoever- whatever was threatening him.

But. . . did Cas know that?

Dean peeled the jacket away slightly- the wound was still bleeding, but barely. He'd almost gotten it to stop completely, and this time no grace trickled out of the gash. He sighed in relief as he pressed the jacket back down, letting his muscles untense.

"Looks like we're out of the woods," he chuckled despite himself, trying to lighten the mood as he looked around at the trees surrounding them. "Well, not literally, right?"

He waited for a reaction from Cas as he peered into the trees, waiting for the headlights to pierce through the dark. Cas was silent.

He looked down. Cas' eyes were closed.

"Dammit! Cas!" Dean surged forward, grabbing Cas by the shoulders.

"Cas!"


Sam winced as the car bounced, tires spinning as it tried to drive through a muddy patch. Every muscle was tense and wired, knuckles white on the steering wheel as he willed the car to power through.

"C'mon, c'mon," at this point, Sam didn't even care that the car was sporting several scratches along the sides where she'd gone through the trees. He could worry about Dean killing him after they were all safe.

For now, he just needed to get there. And he really, really didn't have time for this right now. It'd been- what, 20 minutes? 30?

He just hoped he wasn't too late.


Dammit, he should've been paying attention.

Dean shook him slightly. His head lolled down, hanging between his shoulders. Dean shoved two fingers under his jaw- he was still breathing.

"Cas, c'mon, man, Sam must be on his way back by now, just hang on, please."

"Cas! C'mon, lemme see your eyes."

Cas' eyebrows pinched at the urgent cadence of his voice.

"Ungh- you're shouting," he let his head fall back against the porch handrail, throat bobbing as he swallowed. His fingers twitched, hand tightening into a fist in the cloth of the jacket before splaying flat.

"Jesus, man," Dean huffed, sitting back.

Cas took as deep a breath as he could as he slowly peeled his eyes open, staring straight in front of him in concentration as he tried to think around the pain. . "Can- can you k-keep me aw-awake?"

Dean nodded, sucking in a breath. Cas' request was simple enough, but Dean could feel the weight behind it, the tired heaviness that showed in more than just his voice. He looked so small, so broken- he was scared to fall asleep.

Dean had to keep him awake. The easiest way to do that was to get him to talk, which was still probably not the best thing for him to be doing at the moment. He waited a moment for Cas to catch his breath.

Maybe Cas didn't have to talk. Maybe he could just listen for once.

"Cas, you- you know what you mean to me and Sam, right?"

Cas looked up, shifting slightly, face drawn and pale. His eyebrows drew together as he studied the man sitting next to him. His expression was blank.

"I mean, I know we don't really act like it, but-"

"We-We're friends." Cas finished for him.

"No," Dean shook his head, "We're family, Cas. And I- I can't have your death on my head. I couldn't-" Dean's mouth was pressed in a thin line, "I couldn't live with that."

Dean wasn't sure if he was listening.

"Got it?"

Cas ducked his gaze, nodding once. "Yes. I-"

Cas never got the chance to voice whatever he was about to say. A second later they heard the familiar rumble of the Impala's engine. It veered to the right, practically doing a wheelie as it lurched to a stop a few feet away from them, and Dean had to resist the urge to tell off his brother for being a crappy driver.

Sam got out, leaving the driver's side door open as he went around back to rifle through the trunk for a few moments. Dean stood, helping Cas up- it was much easier this time with the makeshift splint preventing Cas from faceplanting.

Sam finally found what he was looking for- a bottle of painkillers. He shoved it into Dean's hands as he ran over to where Cas was swaying like a blade of grass, slinging an arm around Cas' shoulders as he helped him hobble back to the car.

"What took you so damn long?" Dean grumbled.

"Had to find a way through the woods with the car. Y'know, it's not the most practical for off-roading."

Dean rolled his eyes. Sam helped Cas lean against the door to gain his bearings, casting a glance at Cas' newly patched up knee. He finally voiced what he knew was on everyone's mind.

"You think Dagon's still nearby?"

Cas sighed, his shoulders slumping even more. "Most likely," he shifted in place, looking away, "He wouldn't abandon his charge just to come after us. I should-", Cas trailed off, uncertain of what exactly he should be doing, or what he even could do in his condition. Legion was still alive. He was still out there, and while that meant the trail on Dagon wasn't entirely gone, it also meant one more threat to the Winchesters.

He didn't want to part ways with the brothers just yet, but he was virtually useless to them right now anyway. His knee hadn't started healing yet, but he could feel his gut wound slowly begin to stitch back together excruciatingly slow, and he could feel every muscle, every bit of torn flesh and attempt to fit back together in their respective places. He closed his eyes against the wave of pain. He didn't want to open them again. But he could still feel the Winchesters' eyes on him, waiting to attend to the first sign of pain. He had to stay awake. They would go their separate ways again- he would see them off, and then, and only then, would he allow himself to collapse. His mission wasn't done. They weren't safe yet.

"C'mon, Cas," Sam said gently, inclining his head towards the Impala, "Let's go home."

"I'm okay," Cas insisted, even as he felt the last of his adrenaline dying out. Dean caught him before he could fall, putting an arm around his shoulders.

"I'm not okay," Cas shook his head.

"Yeah, we got you," Sam said. He let himself be prodded into the backseat of the impala. A moment later the driver's side door creaked opened, but before Dean could get inside Sam was giving him a pointed look. Dean winced internally at the thought of letting his brother drive again- but he knew just how fun it was to drive with busted ribs. He rolled his eyes, trudging over to sit in the back with Cas while Sam practically dove into the driver's seat.

Dean turned halfway so he could keep an eye on Cas. Sam started the engine, flicking a concerned glance at the passenger in the back.

"Let's never do that again."

"Agreed."

The rhythmic purring of the engine filled the silence, almost enough to lull Cas to sleep. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Dean's nerves turned to ice, and he shared a worried glance with Sam in the rearview. Cas was fine- okay, maybe the acronym for fine.

"I'm getting blood all over."

Dean sighed in relief, shaking his head. "It's okay, Sam's puked back here plenty of times when he was a kid. It washes out."

"What? No I- Dean, c'mon, that was, like, one time. "

Dean smirked as his brother's protests died down. He suddenly remembered the bottle in his pocket, pills rattling along with the engine. He dug it out, tossing it to Cas, who fumbled before catching it.

Cas peered at the label for a second. "How many should I take?"

"For you? Probably, like, 20." Dean watched as Cas meticulously counted out 20 pills before he eventually just shook out a handful. "We can crash at a motel room tonight to get everybody patched up."

"Thank you," Cas said.

"I really wasn't planning on staying the night here anyway, so-"

"No, I mean- thank you."

"For what?"

Cas smiled. "For everything."

This was his family. He found it all on his own. It was small, and broken.

But it was good.


Wow. Ok. I can honestly say that quoting Lilo and Stitch is a first for me, as is having an ending that doesn't make sad. I really need to work on my endings. Please don't refrain from telling me your opinion- good? Bad? I remember someone in one of my first fics likened me to cancer, but I don't think it was that bad, and either way they completely missed the entire premise so I don't think they even read it- anyway, the point is, I'm very accepting of any and all types of reviews, because it means that someone actually took the time to give me their opinion. So. . . I hope you liked it, but if you didn't, oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Btw it took me a long time to figure out how to do that smiley face shrug thing so you better appreciate it)