Castiel took another look at the Impala before walking into the warehouse. "Dean?"

"Cas!" He screamed. That sent Cas running between crates and boxes to the corner where his voice was coming from, procuring his angel blade as he did. When he got to the back wall, he called out his name again.

A low chuckle came from his left. "Somehow I knew that would get you here."

Dean came waltzing out of the shadows in a black tuxedo, turning an angel blade in her hands. His hair had been freshly cut, and the bowtie on his neck stood out. He was even walking and talking differently. The casual, bowlegged gait was gone and was replaced by a slow, formal march. His sarcastic, slightly Mid-Western drawl had gone as well, and he now sounded more like she was purring, pronouncing each of the words fully and clearly.

But the thing Castiel noticed first were the great white wings tucked into either side of his back.

"Michael," Castiel whispered.

The archangel drew a cocky smirk onto Dean's face. "Yes. Oh, and before you ask, it was fairly easy getting him to agree to this. All I had to do was conjure up a phony Castiel, get him to convince Mr. Winchester this was a grand idea, and he was mine."

"Get out of him."

"Tsk tsk tsk. Castiel, you must know that I've called you here for some reason."

Castiel glared at him.

"Castiel, some of us believe you might be taking your job a bit too seriously. We assigned you to look over them. The Rightous Man and his brother, Lucifer's vessel. What we did not assign you, however, was to create some demented love story for yourself."

Cas squinted and shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"You really need me to say this? You love Dean Winchester."

"Of course. From the beginning of creation, Father told us to love humanity."

"Precisely. *Humanity.* I love humanity. I correct their wrongs. I let their stories play out as Father wanted them to. I keep their lives working as they should. I love humanity as a whole. You love humanity, sure. But you love *him,* specifically."

Michael paused to to look at the blade in his hands glinting in the light.

"We warned you, little brother. You were getting too close to the humans in your charge. But this has gone too far, Castiel. You don't even play your part as a seraph anymore. You act is if you are their friend. And for this, you must be punished."

"I would rather die than become one of heaven's soldiers again, Michael. Maybe you are right. Maybe I do love Dean Winchester. Maybe I do treat him and his brother as if they are friends. But I have learned so much from them. I have learned that I have a choice. I don't have to listen to what Heaven tells me I must do. I have free will."

Michael laughed bitterly. "What an inspiring speech. You say you have free will, and you say you would rather die than become a soldier. I said I let human's stories play out. So, I suppose, I should kill you."

He looked at one of the stacks of boxes a sick smile curling on his face.

"Oh," the archangel chuckled, looking back to Castiel. "He's screaming for me not to do it. How nice."

And then Michael flew to Castiel, armed with the blade he had been playing with. He swiped at Cas, but the seraph dodged it, for the most part. The blade brushed his shoulder, the blue grace shining through. Castiel looked at his shoulder and then back to Michael, making a deep cut in one of his wings.

As Michael looked at his wing, Castiel desperately shouted, "Dean! Dean, you have to try and take control!"

Michael snapped his fingers and Castiel stopped talking, suddenly losing the ability. "Stop talking, Castiel. It's very annoying."

Michael stomped towards him, shaking his head. "You're so foolish, little brother. You must know that you cannot-"

He was cut off when Cas pushed him against a wall, holding the blade to his neck. All the archangel did was laugh.

"If you kill me, you kill him."

Cas looked down at the blade in his hands, the one pressing against Dean's neck. And then Dean's eyes looked at him, the green that Castiel knew shining through the blankness of Michael's control, and Castiel couldn't take it anymore.

There was a sharp pain when the blade entered Castiel's body, and an even worse one as his grace burned out.

Dean woke up in some warehouse. He was wearing a tuxedo, for some reason, and he was in a lot of pain. He flexed his fingers and felt metal, seeing it was a blood-covered angel blade. The hunter blinked, looking up. That's when he saw the body.

"No. No no no no. No. No."

Dean crawled over to Castiel, Dean's eyes wide and his breathing heavy.

"Oh god. Oh god. Cas? Cas, come on, come on, please. Come on, man, don't do this to me."

Dean looked to the ground, seeing the burnt shape of wings stretching out so far they went up the walls.

"Cas…"

A tear fell from Dean's cheek and onto Cas'.

Heaven lost an angel that day, but Dean lost a love.