Chapter Six
Dean saw Zachariah disappear with two of his lackeys while Anna led them away. He cursed as he saw there were still three of the angels left, but Anna had been right, two of them seemed more interested in Cas. Well, one did, the other was heading straight over to Sam. That just left one for him to deal with first, that bastard who had nabbed Sam earlier.
Dean looked around and found a rock. He quickly picked it up and tossed it near the edge of the platform. Anias' head snapped up and he strode over to investigate the sound. Dean was crouched low and as the angel bent to look at it, Dean leapt up and stabbed the angel blade straight into the center of his chest. Anias gave a choked cry and then his eyes and mouth exploded with light. Dean hurriedly covered his eyes as the supernova engulfed him and then glanced up again as Anias' body collapsed in a heap onto the ground beside him.
Dean clambered onto the platform as the other two angels and Sam glanced over at him.
"Dean Winchester," said the one who was currently holding Sam over a bucket with some dark substance in it. "Nice of you to finally join us. Zachariah's been looking for you."
"Yeah, well, seems I missed him. That's a damn shame," Dean shrugged and glanced between the angels, and then Sam and Cas. Sam's face was covered in blood, and Dean felt rage bubbling up in him at the thought of what these flying douchebags might have done to his brother. But Cas…now that he could see the angel closer, Dean was instantly sickened by the sight of all the wounds, and his right wing was completely screwed to hell, hanging limply to one side while his other was folded protectively across his back. And there was also the horrifying contraption clamped around his head that looked like a medieval torture device. On top of it all, he seemed to be unconscious, or close to it.
Dean crouched to pick up the angel blade that Anias had dropped and held both blades casually in his hands now. "Guess I'll have to come back later. But I think I'll leave him a message before I do."
"And what might that be?" the angel near Cas sneered.
"Don't screw with my family, bitch," Dean snarled and slid the second angel blade across the floor to Sam's waiting hand. The younger man, snatched it and wasted no time in leaping up and stabbing the angel in front of him in the back, the point of the blade protruding from his chest as he screamed and exploded like Anias had.
Dean was already heading toward the other angel who held up a brand that was glowing from a brazier. He smirked and swung it warningly.
"You'll never get out of here," he said. "You and your brother are going to be kept close to hand until show time."
"Yeah, I heard," Dean grunted. "Doesn't change the fact I'm gonna kill you." He swung with his blade but the angel ducked and lashed out with the poker, causing Dean to leap back.
"You can try, but you're just a human. You can't overpower me."
"Well, you guys seem to think I can stop the apocalypse, so I think I can handle one stunt angel number three," Dean snarked and feinted forward before stabbing the angel in the leg. He screamed and lashed out at Dean with the poker, this time catching him in the side. Dean grunted, staggering back, and the angel grabbed him by the wrist, shoving the poker against his throat and slamming Dean back against a pillar. Dean grunted at the impact and the metal bar cutting off his airway. He struggled but the angel twisted his arm until Dean shouted out and was forced to drop the blade.
"See? Told you you couldn't win," the angel sneered in Dean's face. "
"I never said I had to," Dean grunted and smirked as a blade appeared through the angel's throat. He gave a startled expression then exploded. Dean blinked his eyes open as the light faded and saw Sam swaying in front of him, bloody angel blade in his hand.
"Thanks," Dean told his brother.
"Some rescue," Sam grunted. "I ended up doing most of the work. Jerk."
Dean reached out to grip his shoulder, one hand on his chin to tilt his head from side to side to see where all the blood was coming from. "Shut up, bitch. You okay?"
Sam pulled away from Dean. "It's not my blood."
Dean pressed his lips together, but knew he would talk to Sam later. Right now they had to get Cas out of there.
He hurried over to the captive angel, Sam right on his heels, and crouched down in front of Cas.
"Cas? Hey, it's us." He reached out and cupped the sides of Cas' face gingerly, trying to see what the contraption on his head was doing.
"What the hell is this?"
Sam swallowed hard. "I don't know, Zachariah was trying to use it to force Cas to give him information. Don't pull it off! The pins…"
Dean looked more closely at the trickles of blood trailing down Cas' face. "Son of a bitch!" he cursed. "I'm gonna kill those bastards!"
"We can do that later, Zachariah could be back any minute."
Dean nodded in agreement and swallowed hard. He didn't know how long Anna would be able to hold them off and they needed to get Cas out of here. It wasn't like the angel was going to fly…
"Sammy, help me with this." He and Sam then set to work gently removing the pins from out of Cas' head. He groaned several times, but seemed unconscious, until the final one was removed and then Dean ripped the contraption from his head and threw it away violently. Sam hurried to loosen the chains, simply using the angel blade to strike through them, as Dean took Cas' face in his hands again, seeing the angel start to stir.
"Cas, hey," he called.
The angel's eyes blinked open. They were usually so intense but now they were clouded with pain.
"Dean?" Cas inquired in a whisper.
"Yeah, it's just me and Sam now," Dean told him. "We're getting you out of here."
Cas' eyes widened slightly, and he shook his head. "Dean, you have to listen; Zachariah will be back soon, and I have to tell you this before you go…"
"Cas, stop," Dean told him. "You can tell us later, what part of 'we're getting you out of here' don't you understand? You're coming with us."
"No, Dean," Cas protested and slumped with a cry as Sam managed to get one of his hands free. Dean caught his shoulders and supported his weight. "You and Sam must leave me. You should not have come."
"Hell no!" Dean snapped. "Cas, you didn't leave me in Hell. You helped me get Sam away from Alastair; there's no way we're leaving you here now to more torture, especially since it's our fault you're here in the first place."
"Dean, if you stay, you will both meet a fate worse than death," Cas insisted, fear in his eyes now. "I did not rebel to watch you two fall into this position after everything." He used his free hand to grip Dean's shoulder in a surprisingly tight grip for his state. "They're not using you to stop the apocalypse. They're using you to start it!"
Dean's eyes widened. "Why the hell would they do that?"
Cas shook his head. "I don't know. But that's what Zachariah had planned all along. I don't know who gave the orders, but I know they're not from God."
Dean felt a coldness seep into his chest and reside there. He didn't know what to do with this information. He shared a glance with Sam before his brother resumed his work and managed to finally free Cas completely. The angel moaned and slumped forward. Dean caught him and Sam rushed to help.
"Thank you," Cas muttered against Dean's shoulder. There was a ripple in the air and Cas' wings disappeared with an agonized groan from deep in the angel's chest, leaving behind a pile of feathers. Dean felt sick. Cas looked horrific. Now that his wings were invisible again, Dean could see that his back was entirely covered in lashmarks, deep and oozing blood. And the rest of Cas was covered in burns and cuts. Zach had really done a number on him, the douchebag.
"Come on," Dean said and he and Sam stood and slowly raised Cas to his feet. The angel was shaky but he managed to stand between them. Dean hated having to touch Cas' wounds, but they had to half carry him and there was no way to avoid it. Dean grabbed Cas' waistband and carefully maneuvered him down off the platform and into the tunnel.
"You should leave me," Cas groaned as he nearly collapsed, causing the brothers to have to readjust their holds on him.
"No way," Dean said. "You're with us now."
"Cas, you rebelled for us," Sam said. "We're not just going to drop you now."
"That's right," Dean added. "And no matter what comes, we'll fight this together. Which means you've gotta get out of this tunnel first. So just a little further."
Cas huffed a breath, but tried his best to make his legs work, leaning heavily on the two brothers as they supported him.
"We'll get you patched up, don't worry," Dean murmured to him, trying to focus on moving forward instead of thinking about the very real possibility that Zachariah could show up at any moment. "Then we'll figure this out, okay?"
Cas didn't reply. The angel was flagging fast. Dean shared a glance with Sam and they quickened their pace.
They finally made it out into the night. Dean was thankful they had a cover of darkness as they dragged the now mostly unconscious angel out of the railway tunnels and toward the car Dean had driven there. He swiftly took Cas' weight as Sam hurried forward to open the back door, then helped Dean lay Cas down across the back seats. It was a tighter fit than the Impala would have been but they didn't have any other choice and at least Cas had put his wings away for now. It would have been a hell of a lot harder to fit him in there with an injured wing.
He shrugged out of his coat and draped it over Cas, covering most of the blood, in case anyone happened to look in their backseat while they were driving. He then grabbed a towel and some bottled water, handing the items to Sam as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"You good?" Dean asked his brother worriedly as he put the car in gear and gunned it out of there.
Sam looked shaky, and it took him a long time to answer.
"I don't know," was what he finally replied.
Dean bit his lip, silent for a second before he asked, "Did you drink any?"
Sam wet his lips, scrubbing hard at the side of his face. "I—I didn't mean to," he whispered, sounding broken.
Dean instantly felt horrible. "That's not what I meant, Sammy," he said softly. "I just want to make sure you're all right."
"Well, I think we're all pretty damn far from all right," Sam snapped and glanced into the backseat. "But Cas is the worst off. We need to worry about him first."
Dean swallowed hard, having to agree. He still couldn't get the image of Cas' ruined wing out of his head.
As if on cue, the angel groaned from the backseat, trying to sit up.
"Dean, I…I can't go far with you, not like this," he said. "They'll find me."
Dean glanced back quickly. "Cas, just rest. We're gonna get out of town, find a place to hole up, and get you taken care of. We'll ward it when we get there."
Cas seemed to want to protest, but also seemed to have no energy for it. Instead, he slumped back against the seats, his eyes sliding shut. Dean bit his lip, watching the angel lose consciousness again in the rearview mirror.
"Dean, what are we gonna do?" Sam asked helplessly. "What happened to Cas…this is on us. It's our fault this happened to him; he was trying to help us. And what he said…"
"Yeah, I know," Dean said, still reeling from Cas' news, but…at the same time, he wasn't exactly surprised, had kind of had his own suspicions after his little chat with Zachariah earlier. He should have known there would be a catch to the angels wanting their help. He just hadn't expected it to be them actually wanting to start the apocalypse to begin with.
They drove for a couple hours, Dean getting as far out of town as he was willing to go for the moment with Cas in this condition, and finally pulled into a highway motel. He paid for the room and then hurried back to the car where he and Sam maneuvered Cas out of the backseat and into the room. Thankfully, it was the middle of the night and there was no one to witness their questionable activities.
The angel collapsed limply onto one of the beds as Dean and Sam lowered him down. He looked like anything but an angel at the moment, and Dean felt fear welling up in his stomach. What exactly had Zachariah done to him?
"We're gonna need supplies," Dean said grimly. "I hate being stuck with a freaking stolen car."
Sam looked up from where he was putting up sigils. "Go make a supply run then, I'll stay here and get the place locked down."
Dean hesitated, not wanting to leave Sam alone with just the unconscious angel for company, but he didn't really have a choice. They would need supplies.
"Okay, I'll be quick. I saw a twenty-four hour pharmacy down the street," he said and hurried out.
Thankfully, the place had everything he needed and this type of supply run was so normal, he could have done it in his sleep. Still, he was worried that angels would pop out of the woodwork at any moment. He grabbed some other things like food and a t-shirt and pajama pants for Cas since his clothes were pretty much ruined.
As he went to pay, he wondered where Anna was and if she were all right. He was hoping it was a good sign that he hadn't seen her again, that she had successfully led Zachariah away, but maybe it only meant she was captured. He didn't want to think about it. The way her face had looked when she had talked about what happened to disobedient angels…and now Dean had seen it first hand. Maybe Cas hadn't even gone through the worst of it.
Dean hurried back to the motel room and found Sam with a couple wet washcloths, carefully dabbing at Cas' wounds, cleaning some of the dried blood off of them. Dean swallowed hard as he saw the raw wounds on his back fully revealed.
"Dean, this is…some of these almost cut to the bone," Sam told him.
Dean's jaw clenched but he swiftly set about pulling the stuff he had bought out of the bag and setting it up within easy reach on the beside table.
"Let's just treat this like any normal injury and with any luck Cas will recharge and be able to heal himself sooner rather than later," Dean said, but as he cast a longer look at the unconscious angel, Cas' pale cheek pressed against the mattress, he wondered if Cas would be able to heal from this like normal. What if Zachariah had used weapons that angels couldn't heal from? Obviously he'd done something, since Dean and Bobby had shot and stabbed Cas a ton of times when they first met him in the barn, and he hadn't even flinched. Dean just didn't know enough about angels to know what to do to help Cas.
And then there was the issue of his wing. It was invisible again now, but Dean knew it still had to be in the terrible state he had seen it in before.
"Should we…stitch this?" Sam asked hesitantly, studying one of the deeper wounds that cut past the skin and into muscle.
Dean gave a quick glance over some of the particularly bad lash marks—hell, Zach must have used more than just a normal whip on Cas. This was more like…like the metal flails Alastair had used on him in Hell sometimes. Dean suppressed a shudder.
"Yeah, we don't know how long it will take him to heal, and bleeding out isn't going to do him any good."
Sam nodded and reached for a suture kit Dean had bought. He fumbled with the packaging while Dean gave a closer inspection of Cas' back, and then looked over to see Sam attempting to thread the needle, his hands shaking.
Dean shook his head. "Okay, give me that, there's no way you're doing stitches shaking like that." Sam was pale too. He had washed his face off at least and taken off his bloody over shirt, but Dean could tell he was suffering.
"I'll live," Sam said. "We have to take care of Cas first. And you need help. I'll get the gauze ready."
It took them over an hour to finish caring for all of Cas' injuries. Dean stitched several of the worse wounds, and then he and Sam applied burn cream to the nasty spots of burned flesh on Cas' torso and arms. After that they padded his back with gauze and anti-biotic cream, they simply bandaged his whole torso to keep the gauze on. Then they exchanged Cas' dirty and blood crusted slacks for the pajama pants Dean had bought and rolled Cas onto his side, propping him up with pillows, before Dean began to inspect the holes in the angel's head.
"The hell was that thing?" he demanded in disgust, dabbing at one of the wounds, and working on cleaning the blood from Cas' hair.
Sam shook his head. "I don't know. Zachariah was using it to like, hack his brain or something. Get information out of him by force." He leaned closer to look at the wounds himself. "You think he'll be okay?"
Dean shrugged helplessly. "We won't know if there's any lasting damage until later."
"What about his wings?" Sam inquired.
"We can't do anything about that until he wakes up and is able to…make them visible again or whatever." Damn, he wished Anna were here. She would know what to do for her brother.
Dean pulled a blanket over Cas' unconscious figure and stepped back from the bed. "That's all we can do for him right now. We need to think of what our next move is. We should get back to Bobby's, it will be safer there, but it's a long drive and with Cas in this condition..."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, but we should at least call Bobby. He's gotta be worried by now."
Dammit. Dean ran a hand over his face. "Yeah, yeah we should. I'll do that. You take a shower."
Sam still had crusted blood in his hair and he swallowed hard, nodding. "Yeah, I'll do that."
As Sam disappeared into the bathroom and the sound of water running started up, Dean reluctantly reached for his phone and called Bobby.
The phone picked up after only one ring and the hunter instantly began yelling. "Where the hell have you been, boy, I've been worried sick!"
Dean winced. "Hello to you too, Bobby. Look, uh, something came up." He went over what had happened with the older hunter to Bobby's very vocal reactions. There was silence on the line for a few seconds after Dean had lamely finished with where they were at the moment.
"You boys okay?" Bobby finally asked.
Dean glanced toward the bathroom door where the water had turned off. "Yeah. For the most part. Cas, though…" he turned his gaze to the unconscious angel. "He's, uh, he's pretty messed up."
"Balls," Bobby muttered. "Well, try to get back here as soon as possible."
"We're planning on it," Dean said. "Hey Bobby, put up extra warding too."
"Already have," the hunter returned gruffly. "You boys just stay safe, you hear? And haul ass back to Sioux Falls."
"Will do," Dean replied and hung up the call.
Sam appeared from the bathroom. Even though he was still only dressed in just his t-shirt and jeans and was still pale he looked a little better.
"You talk to Bobby?"
"Yeah, he's pissed, but so far none of the angels have showed up at his place," Dean said and stepped forward as Sam slumped against the doorjamb. "Hey, you okay?"
Sam ran a hand over his face. "Yeah, yeah, just…exhausted."
"Then sleep," Dean said, reaching out and putting a guiding hand on Sam's shoulder, pushing him over to the other bed. "I'll keep an eye out here. Rest up for a couple hours and then we'll hit the road."
Sam didn't even protest. He simply slumped onto the bed and was out nearly before his head hit the pillow. Dean watched him for a few long seconds before he stepped forward and pulled the blanket over Sam's sleeping figure. He reached out and pressed the back of his hand against his brother's forehead, feeling the warmth of a low-grade fever. Dean cursed and shook his head. When he met Zachariah again he was going to kill that bastard.
A low groan from behind, startled him and he spun around to see Cas stirring. He crossed to the bed and bent over.
"Cas? Hey."
The angel started awake, jolting upright with a gasp, his eyes wide and afraid before he cried out in discomfort and nearly fell off the side of the bed. Dean caught him and gently eased him back onto his side.
"Whoa, easy, man, you're pretty messed up. Just…relax okay."
"I'm…not healing very quickly," Cas grunted, hands gingerly exploring his bandaged chest, with a wince.
"Well, dude, Zach tortured the crap out of you."
Cas furrowed his brow. "Still I…it's something else. I think…I think I've been cut off." He finished in a hushed voice.
Dean sat on the side of the bed, frowning down at the angel. "Cut off? What does that mean?"
Cas closed his eyes wearily. "It means I'm no longer welcome in Heaven. That I'm not at full power, and that I am officially falling."
Dean's stomach plummeted. He didn't even think…
He swallowed hard. "Cas I'm…I'm sorry," he said lamely. What the hell could he even say to that? "This is….it's all my fa—"
"Don't," Cas said firmly, eyes opening again to stare pointedly at Dean. "This was my own choice, it was not on you. I chose this path, knowing there would be consequences, but it was the right thing to do and I do not regret it. Isn't it true that you have to make tough choices for the sake of what is right, Dean?"
Dean pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded. "Yeah. It is, but…that doesn't mean I'm not sorry."
Cas sighed and shifted as if to find a more comfortable position, wincing with a hissed breath. He glanced around the room. "Is Sam…?"
"He's doing okay, or, not any worse than he was before," Dean sighed, running a hand over his face. "But uh, is there anything I can do for you?"
"I just need rest," Cas said tiredly, eyes sliding shut again. "My wounds will heal slowly, but they will heal in time. A couple more days and they'll be manageable."
"Well, then, you do that," Dean said. He watched the angel as he settled into unconsciousness again, then stood from the bed, checking on Sam one more time before he headed to the table in the room, grabbing something to eat.
He had only meant to sit there and keep watch, but he found himself starting awake hours later, a crick in his neck and heart racing. Light was coming from behind the black out curtain and when he glanced at the clock he saw it was already almost check out time.
But what had startled him awake? Dean jumped as a whump came at the door.
Dean leapt up, grabbing his gun and the angel blade from his coat.
"Dean?" Sam murmured groggily, stirring in the bed.
"Shh," Dean said and crept toward the window. He peeked out the curtains and saw a woman in a suit there. He cursed and stepped back.
"Angels," he hissed.
"It's warded," Sam said, hauling himself into a sitting position.
But as soon as he said that, the warding they had put on the wall started to glow and burn.
"Dean," Cas grunted, pushing himself painfully into a sitting position. "Give me a blade."
"Hell no, Cas, you can't even get out of bed," Dean snapped and turned back to face the door which the angel was pounding on more heavily.
"Dean!" Cas cried in frustration.
Dean ignored him as the door smashed open and the angel strode inside, her own blade raised.
"Finally found you," she said. "Three fugitives cowering together in a filthy hole."
"Well, it ain't five stars, but we make do," Dean said, flipping his blade around in a shining arc. "And we didn't call for room service, or a candygram, so…"
He lunged forward and just barely dodged a swipe from the angel's blade. Sam rushed forward but she flung a hand out and caused him to crash, with a cry, into the table and chairs.
"You fight like an angel," Dean snarled and rushed forward, thrusting the blade up into her stomach. She stopped with a gasp and he quickly covered his eyes as the supernova exploded in the room.
He blinked, and then rushed to help Sam shakily to his feet.
They both turned to Cas who was staring grimly at the brothers from the bed.
"We need to get the hell out of here," Dean told them.