Dean got worried after Cas didn't come back. He had turned up nothing and Cas wasn't answering his phone.

How could he have stuffed this one up?

Reluctantly he had headed out to check the addresses he had sent Cas too. At the first place they remembered seeing him earlier in the afternoon and there was nothing else out of the ordinary.

Then he headed over to the second. He was suspicious as soon as he saw the open door at the front. He pulled out his gun.

Surely no one lives here, this is just empty.

He turned into the first room, the one that Cas had wandered into only hours before. It was empty now and Dean started looking around. On the table there was an envelope with what looked like Castiel's wallet and fake ID.

What sort of monster leaves a note?

He opened the envelope and read the handwritten note inside:

To the Winchesters,

Due to the continued good service you have given the universe and how easy you may have made my job I give you this gift:

1 missing amnesiac ex-angel.

I'll be watching to make sure you don't find him. In the meantime please stop messing the world up.

Best wishes for the future, especially you Sam,

Love from,

Lachesis

Dean scrunched the note in his hand.

"Damn it Cas!" he growled to the empty room.

Who the hell was Lachesis anyway?

He flicked a hand into his pocket and took out his phone and called Sam.

"Sam?"

"What's the matter Dean?"

"Cas is in trouble. Again. Something left a note though. Called Lachesis?"

"A note? That's a first."

"Yes."

"I'll just look it up..." Dean paced impatiently on the other end of the line. "Oh not so good Dean. It was fate, one of the three sisters. What did she do to Cas?"

Dean read Sam the note.

"He can't have been gone that long Sam, we need to find him."

"He could be anywhere Dean. Who knows where she sent him? She also said she would try to stop you remember?"

"Well we've lost him again then."

Sam could hear the frustration in his brother's voice.

"Just come back Dean, you can't do much more there."

"Yeah."

Dean went back to the bat cave. He didn't show much but Sam realised how much it would have hurt him. He had noticed that Dean handled Cas's coming and going worse every time. Something about Cas made Dean make allowances he otherwise had only ever made for Sam. Sam understood in a way and tried to stick up for Cas and smooth things over between them. This time though it was no one's fault and all he could was to promise to look for Cas. So he helped by checking out the hospitals, reports of people found, and at mental institutions under his description and all his old aliases.

Dean doesn't seem to expect to find much. He had just been used to having Cas around and now he was gone. What he should have expected anyway.

Since when did anything nice happen to him?

He called Charlie and she was happy to offer to help look for him by hacking into any records they couldn't get themselves into. She understood how important Cas was even though Dean was dismissive and acted unconcerned.

Dean didn't seem to notice that both of them totally ignored his indifferent attitude. If he did he didn't show it. He was less able to hide his concern as the days went past. All Dean really himself was that it hurt and the feeling that something was missing followed him around wherever he went.

"How long do you think before he does something stupid or gets into trouble? He's human but he still doesn't act normal. And pretty much every demon would love to get their hands on him."

"Dean he is tough and smart. I am sure he can cope." Sam coughed as he reassured him.

"Sam I told him to go do those interviews, I should have stayed with him."

"Stop blaming yourself."

Dean looked up sharply. He heard the echo of what he had said before. To Sam and to Cas. This time it sank in a little.

"Let's just find him then. Why can't he catch a break Sam? And speaking of, why can't we? Just when you think it can't get worse, it does."

They tried spells, summoning, tracking, psychics and nothing worked. Even Charlie drew a blank. They called Kevin but nothing on the angel tablet was any help, as Cas wasn't an angel anymore.

It was as if Castiel had disappeared and floated away into nothing.

One day Dean was looking through some of the shelves and he suddenly walked out, down the corridor to Sam's room where Sam was resting. He looked up at Dean when he walked in.

"Sam he still has his key." Dean sounded hopeful and yet was unsure as to whether or not this helped anything.

"She mustn't of realised he had it on him. Isn't that why you gave it to him? So he could always come back."

Dean swallowed, looked away and said just before he walked off, "yeah, well I don't think it'll be much help though without an address."