Chapter 11: Broken Wings

Mary tied the last bandage around Gabriel's broken wings, hoping that her hunter field medic knowledge was enough to help the still-unconscious Faerie heal. Castiel had finally woken from his desperate attempt to flee with three humans and two Faeries wrapped in his magic, though he was still extraordinarily weak. Dean stayed by his side as he explained to Mary that Gabe would heal on his own, even from such terrifying breaks, as long as the bones were set and he was allowed to rest with Sam nearby for him to feed from. Dean could feel his Faerie feeding from him, taking just enough to keep himself standing even though the human knew he needed far more. He didn't know what he could say to make it better, to convince this warrior that they had only lost one battle, not the entire war.

"How does that look?"

Cas passed his hand over Gabe's left wing, having already confirmed that the right was bound correctly and already healing. "Good. You managed to set the break, here, in the finger, so he shouldn't be in nearly as much pain anymore. The feathers . . . they will take longer to grow back, but they will return in time."

"And Alfie?"

"Adam has used human medicine on his burns and wrapped them in bandages. He will be fine as soon as he wakes, and his skin will return to normal in a day or two."

"And you?"

Cas shook his head and turned away from Mary, growling softly to himself. "We lost. I failed. I have never struggled so hard against Lucifer. In the past, when we fought, we were reasonably well matched, and my patience and skill gave me and advantage over his raw power. What he has now, without a stable bond, is an insanity I could not predict."

Dean placed a hand on Cas's shoulder, touching with just enough force to stop the Faerie in his tracks. "Look, we'll heal, we'll regroup, and we'll try again. He's going to have to do the same thing with his witch so injured. We know she isn't dead, otherwise he would have started his reign of terror again, so we'll be more prepared for her next time and we'll send him home."

Cas sighed. "I guess. We don't really have a choice, do we?"

"Do you want to go to your grove and recuperate a bit?"

"I need to be near you to replenish my energy."

"Well, you could take enough for a couple of days and go. It'll help you clear your head."

Cas narrowed his azure eyes and tilted his head. "If I take that much, you'll be asleep for most of that time."

"I could use a nap. I mean, that took a lot out of me, too, you know? I think you need it."

Cas nodded and followed Dean to his bedroom, Mary on his heels. The alpha stretched out on top of his mattress and nodded at Cas, trust in his eyes and scent. "Go on."

Cas nodded and placed his palm on Dean's left shoulder, tightening his grip slightly as he drank. Dean's body relaxed as he fell into a restful slumber, Cas standing straighter as his strength began to return. Less than a minute later, Cas released Dean's shoulder and vanished.

"I just don't know why it didn't work," Gabe grumbled, leaning on Sam as the alpha helped him walk into the kitchen. His injuries could not be healed by application of energies, since they were caused by Lucifer's raw Faerie power, so only time would knit his bones together again. Still, Sam encouraged him to drink as much energy as he needed, supplementing with as much human food as he could stomach. It seemed to be working; Gabe had only been awake one day, but the pain was already mostly gone and his skin was healing. He even had tiny sheaths tucked between his remaining feathers that indicated new growth, though those itched like crazy.

"We didn't know he had such a powerful battle witch," Sam replied, settling Gabe into his chair before heading to the fridge. "We didn't know it was a witch at all, since she clearly hid herself from your spell. They're pretty good at that, you know, and witch-killing bullets are rare. With her shields, we never would have gotten a shot, and Dean got really lucky with that knife.

"How do you plan to kill her next time?"

"I don't think the witch-killing bullets we have are strong enough for her, but Rowena might have a suggestion. She's more familiar with human witches than you are."

Gabe bit his lower lip and shifted in his seat, groaning as pain shot through his wings. He had known at the time that stopping Lucifer's counterattack would injure him, but it had been many thousands of years since his wings had been this damaged. "Hopefully."

"Sammy?"

"Dean?" The eldest Winchester son stumbled into the kitchen, groaning as he fumbled his way to the beer fridge and grabbed himself one. "You're awake."

"Thanks, Sammy; I noticed. How long was I out?" He held up his left hand, flashing the bruise on the back that marked the vein he had pulled an IV out of a few minutes earlier.

"Long enough that you needed an IV. We got you a little water by mouth the first day, but we decided that the IV would be easier in case Cas's timeline was off."

"Which it clearly was."

"Five days," Sam admitted, placing a bowl of soup in front of his brother. "Eat."

"Gabe, you're looking better."

"Yeah, thanks. Wings are almost healed, some of my feathers are coming back, and spending five days with Samwich has kept me well-fed from an energy standpoint. Alfie looks mostly normal again, still a lot of burns on his arms. We haven't seen Cassie."

"Five days is longer than I thought it would take him to sort himself out," Dean admitted. "I sent him to his grove to center himself."

Gabe reached for his brother, touching the edge of his thoughts briefly before jerking back. "He's not really doing so well with that part, Deano. If anything, his aura feels darker, more twisted, and maybe more violent than before."

Dean sighed and sipped his soup, groaning as his stomach protested the intrusion of food. "What can I do about it? Should I summon him back?"

"No, you should go to him. The place is peaceful, even if he isn't, and I think you can help him release his pain so we can move forward. We're going to have to fight Lucifer again and only you can get him into the right headspace for that. Just, be gentle."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's sarcasm. "It's not like we have a lot of other choices. He hasn't come back on his own, and Mom said you told Cas to take a couple of days, not a whole week. He isn't going to come back on his own, and if you call him back here it could just make him that much worse."

"You better get some food in you first," Gabe commented, pointing at the bowl. "He's angry."

"This is faster than driving, and Cas can bring you back."

"It's still a terrible idea." Dean shrugged into his jacket and checked his weapons, never willing to leave the bunker unarmed. Gabe, leaning slightly on Sam's arm, reached out and placed a hand on Dean's shoulder, frowning slightly.

"You have a burn, here, on your upper arm."

"Uh, heh, yeah, I noticed. Cas did it when he . . . fed from me a few days ago. It's shaped like his handprint. I thought it would heal."

"It won't, not unless he heals it. This is his mark, though he may not have realized that he left it. He's never marked a human before."

Dean reached up to touch his shoulder, staring at the edge of his jacket as if he could see the angry red scars. "Just send me to Cas, please."

Gabe nodded and flexed his wings slightly, managing not to wince as he wrapped his power around the human alpha and pushed. A moment later, Dean grunted as he landed on his ass in the parking lot of Cas's grove, blaming the rough landing on Gabe's low power level. Standing and brushing off his pants, the alpha headed into the woods.

Dean walked for almost an hour through thick trees and brush, periodically calling for Cas but not getting an answer. He considered demanding a response, but the collar might consider it to be an actual order and make the Faerie even angrier. He searched the clearing thoroughly, even getting close enough to see behind the waterfall and soak the hem of his pants. Cas's animals, calm in the presence of the Faerie's protective magic, watched Dean curiously, the mother deer nursing her babies in the tall grass beneath the trees. "You wanna tell me where your friend is?"

The deer leaned down and nuzzled her babies, walking toward the water and leaving them safely hidden in the grass. She took a drink and looked up at Dean, licking her nose and staring him down for a long moment before heading past him into the forest. Shrugging, the alpha followed, staying a few deer-lengths behind her so she wouldn't spook. There wasn't much chance the doe knew where Castiel was, or even understood Dean's question, but the hunter was out of ideas.

The doe threaded her way through the trees to a second, smaller clearing not too far from the parking lot, looking over her shoulder at Dean before bounding off into the heavy underbrush where he couldn't hope to follow. Dean, a little weirded out by the deer guide, looked around the clearing, hoping that she had actually led him to his wayward Faerie.

"Why are you here?"

The dark, gravelly voice came from the shadows of a tree, Cas perched high up in its branches. His eyes were glowing gold from the darkness, but not the bright, healthy gold of omega arousal. This color was burnt, almost orange, and dusty, the first hint of insanity in that color and the faint twitching of his hands. Gabe was right; Dean had let him stay away too long.

"I came to find you."

"I didn't want to be found."

"We have a mission to complete, Cas."

"I don't care about your mission."

Dean took a deep breath to calm himself, knowing that losing his temper near a Faerie who was riding the edge of insanity was a terrible idea. "I know that you're upset, Cas, but we didn't lose, okay? Gabe is fine, his wings are almost healed. He said the lost feathers will take more time to return, but he's pretty much alright. Alfie's burns have almost all healed, but he's been asking for you. He thinks maybe you can help him speed up the process a bit."

Cas closed his eyes, almost vanishing into the leaves. "I can't help him. I destroy everything I touch. All I want is to be left in peace in my grove."

"And I'm happy to send you back, as soon as Lucifer is dealt with."

"I can't help you with that," Cas whispered, something broken in that voice. "If we find him again, if we try again, I will fail again and my brother and fledgling will be injured again. Next time, Lucifer may kill them. I can't handle that."

"Look, you aren't going to get them killed, okay? I'm a hunter, a warrior like you, and I've had missions that went south. Sam's gotten hurt, a lot, and I've patched up Adam more times than I can count. I got grabbed by a vampire during a hunt once, and my family busted their asses to turn me back. We didn't have enough information, but that doesn't mean we will fail a second time. We're gonna be fine."

"We are not going to be fine," Cas growled, jumping out of his tree and stalking toward his master, the opal glowing against his neck. Dean wasn't sure if the collar was trying to warn him about the Faerie's mood, but he took a couple of cautious steps backwards anyway. "We are going to fail and two of the only Faeries I give a damn about are going to die!"

"They aren't, Cas! You aren't a failure and you can't keep expecting everyone you care about to die just because you lost Dalziel!"

If there was an absolutely wrong thing to say at Castiel at that particular moment and in that specific mindset, Dean had found it. Castiel went from the edge of insanity to full-on omega rage in an instant, his power burning the ground beneath his feet as his scent terrified all of the animals in the clearing into vanishing. The opal at his throat glowed red, the color his eyes would be if he was an alpha, and Dean wasn't proud to admit that he backed away quickly. "How dare you speak his name?! You are nothing; a worthless, pale imitation of an alpha and he was everything to me! He was tortured and killed by evil humans like you for the crime of caring for a Faerie. You don't deserve to speak his name!"

"Cas, buddy, I didn't mean—"

"I am not your buddy!" Cas's wings flared behind him, terrifyingly large as they glowed from within with his grace, and Dean was certain that he was seconds from being annihilated by this Faerie that Bobby had warned him not to summon. "I don't want to have anything to do with you or your stupid human problems!"

"Lucifer is a Faerie—"

Nope, logic wasn't going to work any better than camaraderie. Cas flared his power, shaking the trees and gusting the wind with his rage, and Dean suddenly realized that some of the animals were back, but they weren't scared anymore. Nope, that big bear with the glowing red eyes and the two coyotes growling and licking their lips were certainly under Faerie orders to tear him apart. Cas waved his arm and thunder cracked overhead as he roared his response. "I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!"

Dean landed with a hard thump on the map table in the main room of the bunker, gasping for breath as his lungs struggled to recover from the sudden shock. Sam and Gabe rushed into the room at the sound, followed closely by Mary from the kitchen. "Dean?"

"I . . . uh . . . I'm fine, Sammy."

"You don't look fine," Mary replied, anxiously helping her eldest son sit up. "Benny, can you bring Dean something to calm his nerves?"

The beta emerged from the kitchen with a bottle of Jack and a glass, handing both over and watching as Mary offered some to her son. He knocked back a couple of shots before speaking, still not quite willing to move from the table. "It didn't go well."

"That's an understatement. What did you say to my baby brother?"

"The, uh, wrong thing. Pretty much the very last thing I should have said to him in his slightly insane state of mind."

Sam collapsed into one of the chairs, dropping his head into his hands. "You mentioned Dalziel. Why would you do that, Dean?"

"I didn't have a choice, Sam! Dalziel is the root of his issues; he still thinks that he's a failure because of what happened back then and he is convinced that Gabe and Alfie will die if we go up against Lucifer again. I told him that he can't keep expecting them to die just because something terrible happened to Dalziel. That wasn't his fault."

"Well now you don't have any more choices, Dean," Gabe replied, perching on the edge of the table and facing the alpha. "A Faerie can go insane even if properly bound, and Cas was primed for it from watching his soulmate die. If you don't get him under control and in balance, we aren't going to have to worry about Lucifer tearing this world apart. Cas is going to do it first."

"He shook the trees, made a windstorm, and agitated the animals in the forest," Dean murmured, staring into his empty glass. He often considered himself a high-functioning alcoholic, as did a number of hunters, but he needed to keep his thoughts clear if he was going to deal with the powder keg he had unwittingly lit. "He can't kill me, but I know he told that bear to tear me apart. If he broke free of the collar, considering how much he already hates humans, he would destroy all of us. I summoned a time bomb."

"Dean, even I didn't know he was this bad, and I'm his favorite brother. I know him better than any other Faerie, even Dad. His imbalance is related to being an omega without a pack, taking the place of a Head Alpha for too long without companionship, and losing his soulmate. You can solve two of those things."

"How?"

"Stop treating him like an alpha," Gadreel answered, dusting the flour off his hands as he joined the group. "Don't treat him like the omega of another pack, either. That isn't going to help. An omega needs bonds, relationships, and he doesn't have any. If he was an omega in your pack, one as big and strong as you, and he went insane like this, what would you do?"

"Fight him, force him to submit."

"Cas has never submitted in his life," Gabe murmured. "I think he needs it more than he knows. He needs to see that he can be a warrior and also trust his alpha. He needs a place in your pack, and you have to put him there."

"He'll tear me apart, Gabe. Dude just sicced two coyotes and a bear on me before throwing me onto the map table."

"So, summon him here, where he doesn't have the trees or the wind or the animals. Force him into a fair fight, your strength against his. Believe it or not, you're pretty strong for a human, and I think you would win one-on-one."

"What about his powers?"

"Order him not to use his powers on you," Sam replied, eyes brightening as he began to buy into the plan. "Insane or not, he still has to obey the collar. You summon him and the first thing you say has to be an order for him not to use his magic. Then you subdue him."

"Thanks, Sammy, it sounds really easy when you say it like that."

"Subdue him or watch the news for news of rabid animals attacking people across the country; your choice."

Dean glared at his brother, knowing that the kid was right, but he really didn't want to do this. Gabe reached out and touched his shoulder, putting pressure on the hand print. "Dean, Cas left this here on purpose. He knew what he was doing when he marked you. He wants you to save him from this insanity. No matter what, you will win the fight and he will submit. Don't think of it as punishing him or taking away his free will; think of it as grounding him, healing that part of my brother that has always been unstable. He needs you."

"Dammit."

"And he won't use his blade?"

"Just say the words exactly as I told you and he will be forbidden from summoning it against you." Gabe and Sam waited against the wall of the huge training room, Alfie and Adam on one side with Benny and Gadreel on the other. Gabe's magical shield would protect them from anything that happened between the two, and he had taken a moment to heal Dean from the bruising that his rough return had caused. Mary and John entered the room and locked the door before joining the spectators. The sigils carved into the walls would prevent Cas from leaving once he was summoned, having been enhanced and upgraded by Gabe to ensure that they would work against Faeries. Because Gabe and Alfie were still weak and Gadreel was pregnant, Mary had arranged for chairs along the wall, settling into hers anxiously. She knew how dangerous an unstable omega could be to a pack, but she trusted her son to win and help Cas begin to heal.

Dean looked up at the ceiling, clenching his fists and taking a deep breath. He reminded himself that he had fought every type of monster that walked the earth, had taken out an entire vampire nest by himself, and had killed demons without breaking a sweat. This should be easy. "Castiel! Get your feathered ass down here right now!"

Cas, who couldn't ignore a direct summons, appeared in the center of the room, his hair wild and his eyes a pale orange with no blue to be seen. He spun around, taking in the walls, the sigils, and the spectators, looking for all the world like a trapped animal desperate for escape. Dean spoke before he finished his spin.

"Don't you dare use your powers against me ever again!" Cas's eyes widened at the order, the opal against his neck glowing as Dean landed his first punch.

Normally, punching a Faerie was akin to slamming a fist into a brick wall, but that steel was a part of Cas's powers, ones that he could no longer use against his master. Grunting, Cas fell back, rubbing his jaw as he narrowed his eyes and lunged forward. Dean ducked his attack and punched again, losing himself in the fight as he had done for most of his life. To the anxious spectators, the two were evenly matched, Cas finally finding his balance and landing a few blows of his own, cracking a rib when Dean misjudged his reach, grunting as the counterattack almost shattered his arm. They circled each other like the consummate warriors they had been forged into, using their years and millennia of experience to trade increasingly violent blows across the floor. The only thing protecting Dean was Cas's inability to land a fatal hit, prevented from it by his collar, but Dean hadn't managed to cause any major damage himself.

Slowly, as the fight wore on and his blood covered his coat and suit, the insanity faded from Cas's eyes, and hard sapphire replaced the dingy orange at last. Gabe had told Dean to watch for that, had told him to push just hard enough to bring clarity to the omega but not hard enough to break him. Gabe flashed him a thumbs-up from the back of the room, indicating that Cas's mental state was significantly more stable, and Dean began fighting in earnest. He landed a blow that shattered Cas's clavicle, dropping the ground and kicking the Faerie's legs out from under him before jumping on his back and pinning his arms to the ground.

Cas howled in fury and pain, thrashing under Dean but unable to break free of his hold. He was too enraged to feel the pain of his injuries, though Dean was careful not to twist his arms or put any strain on the one bone he knew was broken. "Submit, Castiel!"

That was the one order that the collar could not enforce, since the omega had already been physically defeated and Dean was demanding a mental surrender. Cas tried to get his hands under him and roll over, throw off his attacker, but Dean's grip was too strong. "No!"

"Dean, you have to force him! If you don't get him to submit, you'll lose him to his rage."

Gabe's warning and the memory of his Faerie's rage in the clearing forced Dean to do something he would never have contemplated normally. There was a way to force Cas to stop struggling, give his mind the clarity to allow for a true submission, and Dean knew that he was out of options. He was losing his grip and he wouldn't get Cas on the floor a second time. Growling, his eyes alpha red, Dean lunged forward and sunk his long canines into the back of Cas's neck.

The omega froze, every motor nerve in his body paralyzed by the hold. His fingers twitched spasmodically as he looked around the room for a way out, anything that could help him escape this alpha. Slowly, the tension faded and he felt . . . warmth fill his body. The alpha on his back was holding him still, but it wasn't aggressive or demanding, it was comforting and protective. This alpha wanted to take care of him, to let him be an omega in his pack and not have to be in control all the time. Cas had never submitted to an alpha before, but his omega knew what he needed, and he would never be able to find this feeling at home. If he submitted to an alpha Faerie, he would never be able to maintain control of his troops, protect the soldiers under his command, but this human was no threat to his authority. This human alpha was his salvation.

"I submit," he whispered, tears running down his cheeks. Dean released his bite and the fog faded from Cas's mind, leaving him sane and calm for the first time since that afternoon in the grove. Dean was his alpha, had always been his alpha, and this feeling was what he had been chasing with master after master for thousands of years.

Dean helped Cas to his feet, wiping the blood from his forehead where the omega had landed an unexpected blow earlier. Cas watched the motion, reaching out with one hand to heal his master, wincing at the pain from his broken collar bone. "Can you heal yourself, too?"

Cas nodded and closed his eyes for a second, using his limited energy to mend his vessel, his hands shaking slightly from the effort. "I'm hungry," he whispered, remembering that it had been five days since he fed, but not willing to reach out for Dean without permission.

Dean reached for Cas's hand and placed it over the Mark on his shoulder, smiling warmly. "Take what you need, then head to my room and rest. I'll be up shortly."

Cas nodded and drank for a moment, heading to the door and waiting patiently as Mary unlocked it. Smiling gratefully at the woman, he headed upstairs to the bedroom wing, prepared to wait for his alpha as long as he needed to. The bond was new, and still overwhelming, but he clung to it like the lifeline it had become. All he wanted to do right now was obey.

Dean watched Cas walk away, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Well, that worked better than I thought. How did you know he would submit? I thought he would resist forever, even with the bite."

"He comes to alpha summoners because he has this innate need to submit. He's always had it. He may be big bad commander on the outside, but there is a softness to him that no one outside his family ever sees. That part of him that makes him want to raise fledglings like Alfie here also wants to be able to surrender control once in a while, to trust someone to take care of him."

"He wants to be loved," Gadreel added, tucking himself against Benny as the spectators waited for Dean to leave.

"Look, I don't love him," Dean replied. "I care for him, and I want him to be happy. I know that my previous incarnation loved him, and maybe I will, too, someday, but I don't right now."

"That's good enough for today," Gabe assured the hunter. "Go convince him to get some sleep. We'll wake you for supper."

Dean found Castiel standing silently in the center of his bedroom in the dark, waiting patiently for his master to come. "Is this resting?"

"I feel very rested," Cas replied softly. "You're still tired."

"Yeah, I am. I thought I'd take a nap for an hour or so while Benny and Mom are working on supper. Do you want to continue resting standing up, or do you want to lie down?"

"I think I'd like to lie down. I found it peaceful last time."

Dean nodded and closed the door, turning on his bedside light as he shrugged out of his shirt and kicked off his shoes. He didn't bother with his pants, stretching out on top of the blankets and waiting for Cas. The Faerie stripped out of his coat and suit, dressing in the soft pants and shirt that Dean pointed at before stretching out beside the alpha. Dean wrapped one arm around the omega, pulling him close and smiling as the Faerie instinctively sniffed his neck. "Is this okay?"

"I never let anyone hold me, or get this close."

Dean turned off the light and stared at the ceiling, thinking for a long time before he replied. "You did, once, didn't you?"

"Yes," Cas whispered, closing his eyes and tucking his nose tighter against Dean's throat. "Gabe has told you some of what happened with Dalziel."

"A little, mostly the . . . end. I understand why you don't want to talk about it."

"I don't, but it has become clear to me that my fury in relation to that event has become a danger to my friends and family. I loved Dalziel, and I wanted to stay on Earth with him. His father found out about our relationship and grew enraged. He ordered Dalziel to remove my collar and send me back to the Faerie realm. I begged him not to, but he was always the obedient son. I gave him a small crystal that would allow us to continue to talk after I returned, and he used it all the time. Gabe was on Earth at the time, so our realms were in sync, and I spoke to Dalziel for years through the crystal. He looked for other priests who could summon me, offered them so many promises of power and prestige, but many of them were afraid of me. My name was well-known in Scotland at the time, and they wouldn't cast the spell.

"Dalziel's father found the crystal and accused his son of being a changeling. I told him how to pass the tests, how to prove to his father that he was human, but . . . it didn't work."

"Cas."

Cas held out his hand over Dean's chest and twisted it oddly, a large, flat stone appearing in his palm. He handed it to Dean, who could just barely see it in the faint light from the bathroom, but he ran his fingers across the surface and gasped. He felt a tiny chip on the edge, and a memory zapped through his mind. "He dropped it while his father was beating him," Dean whispered, feeling Cas stiffen in shock but unable to stop speaking. "He looked for it when he found out they were going to burn him, hoping that its power would carry his soul to you."

Cas turned the lamp back on, staring at Dean with wide blue eyes. "Gabe grabbed it back for me . . . after. That's when I sent some of my soldiers into the human world to burn every book they could find that referenced me. I had hoped that there would be something left of him in the stone, some echo of his soul, but he was gone."

"Reborn," Dean managed, knowing that it was too late to keep the truth hidden. "Balthazar told me that he could see my soul and that it matched every alpha who has ever summoned you."

"I didn't know. I thought I had lost him forever. I never thought he could be reborn."

Dean placed a hand on Cas's chest, hesitation in his eyes. "Please don't think what you're thinking, Cas. I don't have his memories and I'm not him. I've had a couple of flashes, that's all. I'm not him, okay?"

"I know, and I understand that you don't love me. It comforts me to know that Dalziel is not lost forever, that he had a chance at a happy life free of the fear and ignorance that killed him. I regret treating you so poorly since I arrived. I have been unstable for some time." He waved his hand to turn off the light, gripping the communication crystal tightly in the hand resting on Dean's chest as he closed his eyes.

"Balthazar knew. He gave me the information to summon you because he suspected that Dalziel had been reborn at last. He wanted me to heal you."

"Do you think you can, Dean? Do you think I can be healed?"

"I don't think you're broken, Cas," Dean whispered, resting his nose on top of the omega's head so he could breathe in his scent. "Let's get some sleep."