When Cas whirled around at the sound of Meg's voice and came face to face with her for the first time in seven years, his lips immediately quirked up into a smile as he said her name.
"Nice to meet you here," Meg murmured, smiling at him even as she teared up.
"Why are you awake?" he asked, his voice breaking. He didn't have time for this - he needed to talk to Ruby - but seeing the demon he had unexpectedly fallen in love with again had broken him. Maybe that was the Empty intended.
Meg's next words confirmed it. "The Empty wants to torture you, I think? It's a long story, I guess. Clarence, you look damn good."
"You look damn good too," he told her.
"Okay, we can't waste anymore time. You're here for Ruby, right?" At his nod, she snapped his fingers and he turned around to talk to the other demon.
"You could cut the sexual tension with a knife," Ruby muttered underneath her breath right before reluctantly launching into the story of her relationship with Anael.
"Just tell Castiel what he needs to know," Meg snapped at her.
"Fuck you," Ruby shot back. "Oh no, wait, I think the angel wants in on the fucking," she snarked, sneering at them.
Cas sighed. "We don't have time for this petty behavior so let's get on with the rest of the story," he urged.
When Ruby finished, Meg waved Cas over to her. The first thing he did was kiss her and the two of them made out for a few seconds, completely ignoring Ruby gagging in the background. Fortunately, she disappeared a minute later, courtesy of the Shadow.
"You're about to leave me, Clarence." Meg smiled at him and ran a finger down his face.
"I'll come back for you," he vowed. Now that he had her again, he didn't want to leave.
She shakily laughed. "You have a more important job right now, Castiel. And not much time here. Don't worry about me."
"How could I not?" Cas replied, breaking her heart.
"Don't do this to me. Probably going to be forced back into the endless sleep after this but I won't forget seeing you again." She looked down, a sob rising up within her, and tried unsuccessfully to force it back down.
He hugged her and kissed her temple. "For later," he told her, also breaking down.
"This isn't a goodbye, Clarence. See you later," she told him as he disappeared in a swirl of lights.
Cas truly felt empty - he noted the irony pretty quickly - after his return. It felt like another piece of him was missing. He took Meg's words to heart, however - they'd see each other again, one way or another. Right now, his priority was Jack and helping him to take down Chuck.
All three of them noted how sad Cas seemed after his brief foray into the Empty but he refused to tell them what was wrong, instead directing their attention towards a clearly devastated Jack. He'd suffer this loss alone, just like last time. He supposed this is exactly what the Empty had wanted.