Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter. I'm really excited for chapter 42- it's one I wrote a while ago, and I've been waiting to share with everybody. It still needs a little tweaking, so keep an eye out for it hopefully in the next week or so.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! It's always awesome to have feedback.

Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.

Chapter Forty One: Cure

Amriel woke up, her neck aching as she looked around, realizing that she was in some type of dungeon. Fear ran through her as she thought back to being tortured by Urim, and she looked down to see that she was chained to a chair.

"No," she whispered to herself, "Not again!"

She struggled against the chains, hoping that they would loosen. When they didn't, she let out a frustrated groan and pushed herself against the back of the steel chair.

How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered… The last thing she remembered was Cas choking her. What happened after that?

Amriel heard a door open behind her and footsteps followed shortly after. An angel she recognized as Efram stood before her, a small smirk on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Where am I? Where's Castiel?" she asked, staring up at him.

"It doesn't matter where we are. Castiel is being interrogated about the whereabouts of Metatron, since he was the one that broke him out of Heaven. And since you're his lover, he must've told you," Efram said, pulling his blade out and twirling it around carelessly.

"Neither of us know where he went. Cas told me that Metatron got away," Amriel told him, "But it doesn't matter. He's been cursed by a very powerful witch- he needs help!"

"He seems to have the same story. Jonah is going to get the truth out of him, and if he doesn't, we'll try and get it out of you," Efram smiled. "I heard about what Urim did to you months ago. I'm going to make that seem like… What do humans say? A walk in the woods?"

"It's park. A walk in the park. I wasn't even there when Metatron escaped! I was at a hospital healing children with cancer," she snapped at him, and Efram chuckled.

"Of course you were, you're Amriel, the little angel who does it all. You were such a do-gooder in Heaven, it makes sense that you would be the same way here," he sneered back, moving in closely and pressing the point of his blade against her cheek. "I'm going to ask you one more time, Amriel. Where is Metatron?"

"Efram, please, I don't know," she answered again, feeling panic coursing through her entire being. She heard Cas yelling from somewhere nearby, and her heart stopped. "What are you doing to him?"

"Jonah is doing to him what I'm about to do to you," Efram grinned, using his free hand to grab a fistful of her hair and hold her head still. "This is going to hurt, so feel free to be as loud as you want."

The door opened again and Efram stepped back, looking at whoever had just walked in.

"Yes, Hannah?" he asked, and Amriel sat up straight, trying to peer over her shoulder and make eye contact with the angel that had come in.

"Come. You're not needed here, Amriel knows nothing of Metatron's whereabouts, or even the Winchesters. Castiel told me so. Leave her in here," Hannah's voice was cold and distant, and any hope that Amriel had felt was gone now.

"He needs help, Hannah!" she yelled, hoping she would understand, "Rowena cursed him, he's dangerous."

"We will deal with Castiel, don't worry," Hannah told her, "Come, Efram."

Efram disappeared with Hannah, and the door behind her closed.

Amriel took a deep breath and closed her eyes and tried not to cry as she listened to the sounds of Cas screaming in pain in a room near the one she was currently locked in.

It felt like hours had gone by when the screams finally stopped, and Amriel took a sharp breath as she heard footsteps approaching the door. Had they killed him?

The door opened and Amriel heard Cas call her name. Her eyes opened and she tried to look over her shoulder as he came around to the front of her, and she noticed that he was covered in blood.

"What happened?" she asked carefully as he undid the chains that held her to the chair.

"They were trying to 'hack' my brain, like Naomi did," Cas grumbled, helping her out of the chair and running his fingers over her cheek as if he was looking for any signs of damage. "We need to get out of here."

Amriel drove them to the bunker, where they waited for Sam and Dean to get back from wherever they were. Cas had asked her to shackle his wrists and chain him to the floor, just in case he had another episode. She hesitantly agreed, and they sat across from one another in the library, playing cards and avoiding bringing up the kidnapping and torture that had happened only a few hours ago.

"I'm sorry," Cas said suddenly, throwing down a card into the discard pile. "For choking you until you became unconscious. I… I didn't want to hurt you."

"I know. I wasn't going to leave you, though. I couldn't leave you," she told him, reaching across the table and taking his free hand, lacing their fingers together. "When Sam and Dean get here we'll figure out a way to cure you."

"What if I'm incurable?" he asked quietly, and Amriel squeezed his hand as she told him not to think like that.

They continued to play cards until the Winchesters arrived, and the four of them all sat down and discussed the Darkness.

Dean described her as a woman when she first appeared to him, but now she was apparently a baby.

"It still has to grow up, right?" Dean asked.

Amriel told the brothers that the Darkness was almost infinite power, and Sam brought up the fact that God had contained the Darkness before.

"I wouldn't count on God," Cas frowned, and Amriel nodded in agreement.

"It's possible he's around, right? Closer than we think, you know?" Sam tried to give them a little hope, but no one was having it. "I hate to point this out, but you know who we might need to help deal with the Darkness…"

"Don't even say it," Dean warned his brother, a look on his face telling Sam to shut up.

"He was God's scribe. He did hear about everything," Sam tried to reason.

Cas leaned down towards his cuffed hands and rubbed his face, and Amriel's attention turned to him instantly, watching him carefully as he took deep breaths. She quickly got out of her chair and rounded the table, taking a seat in the chair next to him and rubbing his back soothingly.

"That's just like saying it," Dean frowned at his brother before looking to Cas, "You alright, pal?"

"It's the spell," he mumbled in response.

"We were hoping your angel wiring would fight it off, or slow it down at least," Sam said, looking to Amriel, who shrugged in response.

"It appears I simply respond differently from humans," Cas answered, and the Winchesters went back and forth with ideas on how to remove it.

Amriel knew that Rowena would be the only one to be able to get rid of the spell since she had been the one to cast it. She had already tried to heal him more than once using her grace, but it had really only eased his discomfort.

She heard Sam say that it was getting worse, and she felt her stomach drop. Amriel was well aware that he wasn't improving, but she had been telling herself he was going to be okay.

The blonde leaned closer to Cas, her lips hovering near his ear as she asked if there was anything she could get him.

"Water, please," he whispered, and Amriel nodded once before pressing a kiss to his hair and getting up.

Once Amriel was in the kitchen she quickly discovered that there were no clean cups. Heaving a sigh, she washed one in the sink and dried it off with a dish towel before she filled it up with ice and cold water. She could hear the brothers talking to Cas, and then suddenly Cas was groaning and there was a loud thump, followed by Dean yelling Cas' name.

Amriel took off and ran into the library to find Sam and Dean hovering over Cas, asking him if he was okay and if he knew where he was. She set the glass down on the table and pushed them out of the way so she could crouch down and help Cas up and into the chair.

She looked him over as he explained that he felt like he was inside a blender that was set to puree for a tomato salsa.

"And you're the tomato?" Dean asked.

"In this analogy, yes," Cas nodded, reaching up to take Amriel's hand, only to be stopped halfway there because of the handcuffs.

Amriel shot him an apologetic look and connecting their hands, squeezing his fingers reassuringly as she sat beside him.

"We need to find Rowena," she said to Sam and Dean, who both agreed with her.

"What can I do to help?" Castiel asked, and Amriel immediately shook her head. She was ready to tell him no, but Sam beat her to it.

"No, no no. You just sit here and take a breather- try and put yourself together," Sam told him.

"Okay, I'll do my best," Cas grumbled. "It's- It's difficult with these voices."

"Now there are voices?" Sam was surprised, but Amriel shook her head as Dean asked if the voices were telling him to hurt people.

"No, it's angel radio," Cas explained, "There's been a lot of chatter. They've been looking for me ever since I escaped, as well as scouring Earth for the perp. It's slang for perpetrator."

"Yeah, thanks for that explanation," Sam sighed, "Any perp in particular?"

"They're looking for Metatron," Amriel cut in, having been tuned into angel radio too. "They've doubled their efforts to find him."

"If we need to get a hold of him, we better do it soon," Cas added in, and Amriel nodded in agreement.

They had all decided that Sam and Dean would go to Denver and get Rowena and Amriel would stay at the bunker with Cas and keep him from getting into any trouble.

Amriel stood outside of the bunker with the brothers, watching them load up the Impala with her arms crossed over her chest. Sam came to stand beside her, his brow furrowed as he watched Dean tossing his bag into the trunk.

"Don't come back unless you have Rowena with you," she told him firmly. "If anything happens to him, you'll have to deal with me, and trust me, nobody wants that."

Sam nodded, unsure of what to say. He had never really seen Amriel make any threats, but here she was, standing beside him rigidly, staring blankly at the Impala. The younger Winchester could tell she was worried by the wear on her normally manicured nails, and he wondered if there was anything he could say to make her feel better.

"I will not lose him, Sam," Amriel finally said, glancing up at him. "I've spent a lot of time looking out for you as my charge. Please, don't let me down."

There was a pleading tone to her voice and she hated how weak she sounded in that moment. Angels were fearless. They were powerful. Nothing stood in their way. But here she was, practically begging a human to retrieve the only person that could cure Castiel of the spell that was plaguing him.

"I won't, Amriel, I can't— he's important to me and Dean too."

Amriel nodded once before telling him to be safe. She shot Dean a look before sending him a nod too, and then she returned to the bunker.

"You don't have to sit here and babysit me, Elle," Cas told her with a roll of his eyes. "I'm very capable of sitting here by myself."

"Now why would I do that when I could sit here and spend time with you?" She answered sweetly, seated across from him at the library table.

"I don't know how you can look at me after what I did to you," he mumbled softly, and Amriel felt her chest tighten.

"Cas, it's not your fault— you've been cursed. How can I hold you accountable for something you can't control?"

She grabbed Sam's laptop and set it in front of him, telling him to see if he could find Metatron while she took a shower.

"Are you gonna be okay for like ten minutes? I really need to get rid of this dirt- did you drop me on the ground in the woods?" Amriel asked, laughing as she brushed herself off, trying to lighten his mood.

"It isn't funny, but yes, I did," Cas sighed. "I'll be fine, go shower."

Amriel pressed a kiss to the top of his head, smiling softly as she mumbled, "Maybe when you aren't homicidal we can shower together."

"I'm going to hold you to that!" he grinned up at her, his eyes sparkling for the first time in a while.

The blonde laughed, and with a roll of her eyes she ruffled his hair and headed off to take a shower and finally change into some fresh clothes.

Cas looked down at the laptop and read over the page where he could enter in a license plate number to try and find his stolen car. He pressed a button and the page vanished, and the angel tilted his head as he tried to click on the desktop to open up another window with images of scantily clad women.

"Fortune Nookie, your premiere website for all your Asian girl fantasies," a sensual, female voice played from the speakers. "We have hundreds of lovely girls just waiting to chat with you 24 hours a day."

"What could 'Fortune Nookie' be?" Cas asked aloud, frowning at the laptop as he closed it.

A flash of when he was first cursed by Rowena took over his vision, and he saw the witch casting the spell and Crowley telling him to stop. He hissed in pain, pulling at the cuffs that bound him to the chair until they broke.

Castiel stood and made his way back towards the bedrooms, where he could still hear the shower running. He wanted nothing more than to tell Amriel that he was in pain- that this curse wanted him to hurt her, but he wasn't going to let it. He went into their shared room and scrawled out a quick note saying that he was sorry, leaving it on the bedside table and grabbing the chair from the desk. Cas put the chair up against the door so she wouldn't be able to follow him, and with that he left. He had to get himself as far away from Amriel as he could so he wouldn't hurt her again.

Amriel got out of the shower and dried herself off, dressing in shorts and a t-shirt, relieved to finally be in clean clothes. She combed her long hair, getting out any knots that had formed before plugging in Sam's blow dryer and using it to dry her hair.

Finally ready to return to Cas, Amriel went to open the door only to find that it was stuck. She pushed again, then knocked on the door, confusion running through her as she did so.

"Cas? Are you out there? What's going on?" she called out, banging on the door again before realizing that he had been the one to trap her in the bathroom. "Oh no. No, no, no."

Amriel backed away from the door and raised her hand, sending a blast of energy at it, sending the chair that had been keeping her inside across the hall. She stepped out into the hallway and made to move towards the library, only to find herself stuck.

"What the-" she started before noticing a new ward painted on the wall directly across from her. "Seriously? Cas!"

She was stuck. Too far away to reach the ward to break it herself, Amriel had to wait for Sam and Dean to get back and free her because she had left her phone in the bedroom.

Hours had past and Amriel was sitting on the floor when she heard the door to the bunker open and three sets of footsteps come down the stairs.

"Sam? Dean!" she called out, standing up and brushing herself off.

It was a few minutes before Sam came down the hall, and she saw his eyes widen at the sight of her just standing there.

"Cas is gone- he locked me in the bathroom, but I got out only to be stopped by a ward," Amriel explained, pointing to the drawing on the wall. "Could you break it for me?"

Sam nodded and pulled a pocket knife out of his pants, scratching the paint enough to break the ward and free the angel.

"I assume that you brought Rowena?" she asked, grabbing her things out of the bathroom and taking them into her room, where she noticed a piece of paper on her bedside table. Picking it up, she recognized the handwriting immediately as Castiel's.

I'm sorry for having to trap you, I only did it for your safety. Please, do not follow me. This is for the best. I love you.

Amriel frowned as she folded the piece of paper up and set it back down, joining Sam in the hall.

"Dean is interrogating her," Sam said, and the blonde shook her head, telling him that they needed to go find Cas.

"He can't be left alone. We have to go after him," she pressed, heading towards the dungeon where she could hear Dean's voice. She opened the door and stepped inside, catching the attention of both the Winchester and the witch. "Cas is gone. We need to find him, now."

They had found Cas stalking a girl in an alley and followed him to an abandoned warehouse. They stopped him from hurting the girl, but he attacked Dean instead, getting in a few good punches before Rowena finally removed the spell and disappeared.

Back at the bunker, Cas was apologetic to say the very least. He couldn't stop, it seemed. He had tried to heal Dean's injuries, but was waved off by the man. When it seemed like Dean was over his incessant apologizing, he turned to Amriel, who was seated on top of the command center table drinking a beer.

"Elle-" he started, moving to stand in front of her, but she cut him off with a raised hand.

"I know, you don't have to say it," Amriel smoothed out the lapel of his coat as she mumbled that she forgave him.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness," Cas answered, staring down at her feet as they dangled off of the table.

"Don't say that, Castiel," she told him, moving her hand up to his chin and tilting his head up so she could look him in the eyes. She could feel Sam and Dean watching, but she ignored them and focused on the angel in front of her. "I know that you were under a spell. They know it too. There's nothing to forgive."

Sam cleared his throat as he approached the couple, a laptop in his hands and a small smile on his face.

"Dean and I think Cas could use some rest.. You too, Amriel. We're gonna take a couple of cases, do some hunting. But we want you two to stay here and watch some Netflix," Sam explained, handing the computer to the blonde. "We'll call if we need any help, if that's okay with you guys?"

Cas nodded and Amriel smiled as his willingness to take some time to heal after being under Rowena's spell for so long.

"That sounds like a good idea," he agreed, taking the laptop from Amriel and helping her off of the table. "I've heard that Breaking Bad is worth watching. How about we start with that?"

"Works for me," Amriel smiled. "Why don't you go get settled into bed? I need to have a word with Sam and Dean."

At first she had expected him to put up a fight, but Cas nodded tiredly and headed back towards their bedroom. Once she was sure he was out of earshot, Amriel turned to the brothers and heaved a sigh.

"I- I just wanted to thank you guys," she finally said. "I could never repay you both for finding Rowena and getting her to lift the spell. I wish she hadn't gotten away…"

"We'll get her at some point, she can't hide from us forever," Sam reassured the angel, and Dean nodded.

"You don't have to thank us, Blondie. Cas is our friend- he's family, and so are you," Dean told her as he adjusted the ice pack he had been holding against his cheek. "We're gonna rest up before looking for a case. You gonna be okay here on your own with him?"

"We'll be fine," Amriel said with a shrug, telling them that she was going to go and check on Castiel.

The angel smiled at the brothers and left the command center, making her way down the hall to find Cas tucked into their bed, browsing through Netflix until he noticed her come in.

"There are so many shows to watch," he mused, looking away from the screen to watch her take off her shorts and slide into bed beside him. "How do people have the time to watch everything?"

"I don't know, Cas, but we can try," Amriel grinned, "Let's get started."