A/N: As the ending draws nearer, I find myself getting more and more apprehensive regarding your reactions. :3 I cannot wait! Only a few more chapters to go! Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.

Brrrrrriiiiiinnnnggg! Brrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnggg!

The other Sam, who had finally given up on the riddle, was just standing to stretch when the sudden ringing of the house phone nearly scared him out of his skin. He stared at the black rotary dial telephone that had sat gathering dust over by the television for over a year. Chills had begun running in long, shivering streaks up and down Sam's spine as the phone continued to ring.

Brrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnggg! Brrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnggg!

That phone was only used in emergency situations and the number had been distributed to only family. Sam knew that the Dean sleeping upstairs in his room could not have dialed the number- he doubted that Dean even knew it- and he knew that he hadn't called it. That left only one other person. Sam rushed to the phone and picked up the bulky receiver in his hand.

"Hello? Cas, is that you?" he asked desperately. The other line was silent, the hum of the wiring in the phone barely audible to Sam's ear. Then, a rasping, wheezing breath crackled through. "Sam," coughed a voice. Sam's knees buckled and he had to grab onto the television to refrain from collapsing. His hair, having been taken out of its ponytail earlier, swept into his face, obscuring the living room from his sight.

"Hey, hey, I'm here. Where are you? Are you alright?" he asked softly, his relief clear in his voice. There was the sound of rough coughing then a shuddering inhale. "Sam, you and Dean need to stop looking for me. It's a trap! She w- ghck!" a powerful slap cut Cas' frantic voice off. Sam gripped the receiver in both hands, panic slowly churning in his gut.

"Cas?! Cas!"

"That wasn't what you were supposed to say, Cassy,"

Sam froze as a new voice came through the static. His heart beat faster and his palms were being to sweat. His blood had turned to ice in his veins and the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end. "Who are you?" he said. He tried to his hide his fear with a growl, but his voice cracked like a teenage boy's. There was a small dark chuckle from the other line then silence.

Before Sam could fully begin to panic, he could hear what sounded like dragging and whimpers of pain. "Stop it! Stop hurting him! Tell me what it is you want!" Sam shouted. The noises failed to cease and Sam cringed with each sob. Suddenly, Cas stopped. Dead silence filled the tense atmosphere.

"Sammy," a woman said in a sing song voice, "Have you figured out my little riddle yet?" There was a tremendous thud followed by a loud cry of agony that nearly burst Sam's eardrum. His whole body flinched at the sound. His tongue darted out to lick his lips and his eyes flicked around the room, searching for some unknown escape from his inner torment.

After realizing who he was speaking to, Sam clenched the phone tight enough to turn his knuckles white. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard to maintain his composure. Stomping over to the table, Sam snatched up the note with the riddle on it. He was stretching the phone cord to its limit, but he paid little attention to it.

"I have figured it out," he snapped. There was a pause. Assuming that it meant that Cas' kidnapper was waiting for him to talk again, Sam tossed his hair out of his eyes and scanned over the paper clutched in his fingers. He opened his mouth to speak. "No, I don't think you have, Sammy," the woman said before Sam could say a word, "Because, if you did, Cas would be safe and warm at home right now, instead of lying on the ground dying."

Sam's heart sank and his head slumped, causing his hair to fall into his face. There was another chuckle and a flash of pure rage seared through Sam like a painful cigarette burn. "How dare you laugh, you sadistic bitch?! Wait until I find you. I will personally make you suffer for what you've done," he snarled.

This time, a loud, raucous guffaw broke through, startling Sam to the point of almost dropping the phone. "You are so much like your brother, Sammy. Has anyone ever told you that? So temperamental," the kidnapper teased. She paused again, fueling Sam's outrage. The tall man clenches his teeth hard enough to make his jaw creak.

Part of him knew that she was doing so to irritate him and he struggled to calm himself. "I'm afraid you've tested my patience to its limit, my dear," she continued, "Therefore, I will not disclose our location- in fact, I think I'll move the precious thing someplace else. Unless Cas here wants to actually follow his lines?"

Sam listened intently as Cas' wheezing breaths crackled in his ear. He could barely make out the few unintelligible words from Cas before another hacking cough cut him off. The woman clicked her tongue in mock disappointment while Sam frantically tried calling out his friend's name, but there was no answer from his brother's husband.

"Well, you heard him. I hope you know that it truly is disheartening that you failed to figure out my simple, simple riddle. I really wanted to meet you," the kidnapper said, "Bye bye then. Oh, and, by the way, your brother says hello," said the kidnapper before the line went dead.

Sam stood silently, tremors shaking his whole body. He stared at the useless paper in front of him, listening to the drone of the dial tone in his ear. Anger boiled in his veins and he felt fit to burst. Thoughts were spamming his mind like the Morse Codes of a telegraph.

'What had she meant by your brother says hello? Has she met Dean? Does that mean that he's-' Sam immediately shoved such a thought away; Dean was dead and there was no getting him back. He knew this and had told himself nearly a million times. Yet, a tiny, glimmering spark of hope that tingled in his chest from the woman's words.

The phone had slid from his loosened fingers and draped leisurely against the crook of his neck. The smoothness of the receiver against his neck felt slimy and abnormally warm on his skin. He shoved it off with a look of disgust and barely heard the thud as it hit the floor. As the device was dragged away by the rebounding of the phone cord, reality seemed to finally strike.

'I'm going to lose the only family I've got left and there's nothing I can do to stop it.'

Sam slumped to the floor, his knees weak, with his head in his hands. Every emotion he was feeling- fear, anger, sorrow, and guilt- mixed with his panic and soon Sam felt as though he were about to die. So, Sam did the only thing that seemed natural at the time; he yelled, cried, and gripped at his head out of fear that it might just explode.

While Sam suffered through his emotional breakdown, the dying Cas was desperately trying to keep his eyes open. The conversation with Sam had drained what energy he had had left and now pitch darkness was beginning to creep into the edges of his vision. The only positive aspect of Castiel's current situation was that the thing possessing Charlie had left shortly after the call had ended.

However, before making her leave, she had managed to heave his limp body into an open van, leaving Cas to the mercy of the blizzard outside. Snow, frigid and wet, had begun to fall onto his already numb skin and stuck to his eyelashes. The cruel wind stung his cheeks and no amount of licking could soothe his cracked, bleeding lips.

His dirty fingers twitched at his side and the gashes on his hands were hot and itchy with infection. Words alone could not describe just how much pain Castiel was experiencing. His kidnapper had been very precise while hitting Cas, making sure that his injuries tormented him but could not kill him. She had tortured him for hours, relishing in his cries and pleas for her to end his life.

It wasn't the beatings or her refusal to end his suffering that caused Castiel such endless pain- it was the things she had said to him. She told him that he would never be loved again, that Sam and the other Dean Winchester couldn't care less about saving such a pathetic man. She mocked his broken heart and would laugh at how he flinched whenever she spoke of his deceased husband.

She made it sound as though his Dean were still alive, that she had seen and spoken with him on numerous occasions. She told Cas that his Dean was just out of his reach and that there was no way he could possibly get him back.

But the words that had really taken a toll on him- those five sentences that still rang in his ears: "He never loved you. If he had, your Dean would be here right now. He would have gone to hell and back just to return to you. Tell me, is he here, Castiel? No, he isn't, because he would rather stay dead than see what you've become."

Cas couldn't cry for he had no tears left, but, oh, how he wanted to. He wanted it all to be over, for everything to just end. He didn't want to be in pain anymore; he felt that he couldn't bear much more. But most of all, Castiel wanted Dean. His Dean. He needed to feel his touch again, to hear the sound of his hunter's voice one more time.

Cas.

He closed his eyes, the sharp pang of grief in his heart stabbing at his chest. That voice...it sounded as though it were being whispered to him, right in his ear. Just listening to such a sweet and longing voice hurt more than anything else he'd endured. "Dean?" he whispered. The only response was the howling of the wind and the silence of the dark.

Within the dream world, his angelic counterpart was looking down at Dean's sleeping form, worry blossoming within him. 'What if he doesn't want to see me?' Cas thought. His hand inched over to Dean's shoulder, hovering over the hand print the angel had branded the hunter with so many years ago.

'It doesn't matter if he doesn't want to see you, you have to talk to him. He has to know,' Cas told himself. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Cas leaned down and pressed his hand against the hand print. He closed his eyes and focused on entering Dean's mind.

The process felt a bit like swimming through a current, but Castiel managed to break through. He stumbled a little then looked around once he'd regained his bearings. He was back in the bunker's library. At first, he was confused, thinking that he had failed and was back in his world, until he saw Dean sitting at one of the desks.

The feelings he had experience when he had first seen Dean again struck at him with a nearly overwhelming force and the angel had to restrain himself from leaping at Dean and hugging him with all his might. 'That,' Castiel realized, 'would end up killing him since I have angelic strength. It's better to not do that then.' He could hear faint mumbling and took a few steps closer. Once he saw the hunter's expression, he froze mid-step.

Cas could see tracks of past tears on Dean's cheeks and heard the thickness in his voice. Dean appeared to be speaking to someone in front of him, but whoever it was, he or she was invisible to Cas. "...wish I didn't have to leave," Dean was saying, "They really are broken up about their Dean's death."

Cas frowned slightly, his ears pricking in interest. "I get that me being there is a real pain in the ass, but I don't want to just leave them without at least trying to help them out. Family don't end in blood, right?" Dean continued. He shook his head and wiped his face with his hand. He gulped as he noticed how badly he was shaking.

When Cas looked closer, he could see the expression of hopelessness on the hunter's face. Dean laughed bitterly and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm doing a real piss job of it. I haven't done anything but cause more problems. Sam might have warmed up to me but that was only because Cas was taken," he said.

Castiel's heart jumped a little at the sound of his nickname, yet he somehow he knew that Dean wasn't referring to him. Dean sighed and his shoulders slumped. Cas resisted the urge to hug him again and took a few steps closer. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Cas," Dean whispered.

The angel paused, his eyes widening. Had Dean acknowledged his presence? He opened his mouth to speak, but Dean looked up at the figure seemingly standing in front of him. "I gotta find him, Cas! He's been through so much to die now! Hell, they both have! They don't deserve to suffer anymore," he said in a rough tone.

He sounded so distraught and defeated. Cas longed to comfort the hunter, but there was something inside of him that told him to stay put. "I...it's so weird being around them. It's like I'm back home," Dean suddenly whispered, "But there's something off about it. With that Sam, I have to- need to- protect him, like I would Sammy. I get so confused sometimes because I forget that he isn't real. He isn't my little brother.

"With the other you...it's a bit different. It feels like I've dug up all these...sappy emotions and thoughts from deep within myself. I don't know how I...," he trailed off. He put his head in his hands. Castiel's heart was on hyper-drive, fluttering like a mad hummingbird. What was Dean saying? The hunter suddenly was on his feet and was angrily throwing things from the desk.

Cas watched him with wide eyes of concern as Dean trashed the room. Dean stumbled and fell back, landing on his arse with his hands flat on the ground behind him. His mask of anger broke and his lower lip trembled. He curled in on himself and let out a heartbreaking sob. "You're not even here," he said, "You're just a figment of my imagination and you can't hear me. I'm alone."

Dean suddenly looked up at the ceiling with tears flying down his cheeks. His eyes flashed and he punched the floor. "I thought you could hear my prayers, you feathered bastard?! Well, I'm prayin' and you're not here! I need you...with me," he shouted, his voice softening into a harsh whisper. Dean let his head droop and his fist loosened.

Cas had heard enough. His heart was about to break and he was just standing there listening! But before the angel could utter a single syllable, he was jerked out of the library by an unseen force. His stomach dropped and he had the sensation of falling. A sick feeling of nauseousness threatened to empty his vessel's stomach contents. He slammed onto something with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

"Cas! Cas, wake up!" Sam was saying. Cas could feel hands shaking him roughly. His eyes flew open and he gasped for air. Sam hurriedly helped the angel sit up, patting his back in an attempt to help him breathe. Anger filled Castiel and he grabbed Sam by the collar, pulling him close. "Why did you wake me?" he growled.

To his surprise, Sam looked back at him with pure fear in his eyes. Cas relaxed his grip, all anger dissipating. "Sam, what is it?" he asked. Sam took in a gulping breath; he appeared to have been running before awakening Castiel. The angel let Sam have a few moments to catch his breath.

"Did-did you talk to Dean?" Sam managed to say between gasps. Cas frowned and squinted his eyes a little. "What? Why? What happened?" he asked. Sam's face seemed to pale and he bit his lip, grabbing the angel's arms in a fierce grip. "What did you say to him, Cas?" he asked again. Cas was getting increasingly more and more confused and a little frightened.

"I-I didn't get to say anything. You woke me up before I could," Cas stammered. Sam slowly nodded, loosened his grip, sitting down on the bed beside the angel. Cas looked at the taller man and felt a knot of worry begin to form in his gut. "What is going on, Sam?" he asked.

Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was in the library studying rifts and I think I might have figured out what its motive is," he said. Cas sat silently, listening intently. Sam glanced over, a deadly serious expression on his face. "Dean wasn't lying when he said that the rift wanted to eat you, Cas. You would give it what it wants," he said. Cas felt a shiver of foreboding go down his spine.

"What would that be?"

"Retribution,"

Sam's hazel gaze locked onto Castiel's blue. The taller man took in a breath through his nose and let it out in a quick exhale. "It wants to get back at the other dimension. I'm assuming that its original plan didn't work out because of something that someone did in that world," he said. Castiel was already confused, so he quietly listened instead of asking questions.

"My theory is that the rift has been using the other Dean as a food source or as bait for other energy sources. And, get this, the rift can't survive without energy or without a vessel to contain it. What has the rift been using this whole time? That mirror. And through what did those seven people, plus Dean, vanish into?" Sam continued. Cas' eyes widened in understanding.

"The mirror,"

"Exactly,"

Sam's voice was beginning to elevate and his hands gestured wildly as he spoke. The more he spoke, the more animated his hands became. There were even a few times where Cas had to dodge out of the way. Sam didn't seem to notice, however, much to Castiel's dismay.

"That also explains how the other Dean was out of energy, right? The rift is practically sucking him dry! Well, what if Dean stopped feeding the rift? It would need to find food on its own, right? So, since Dean tried to reach out to us for help, he unintentionally led it straight to you. You're an angel! A celestial being! You'd give it enough power to survive for years!

"Don't you see, Cas? That's why it showed you that mirage of Dean getting tortured; it knew that you would try to save him! It's also why it got so angry when Dean stopped you. He is trying to deplete the rifts life source by starving it," Sam said.

He stopped and took in a few deep breaths. Cas took this as an opportunity to speak. "I'm not sure I understand what you're saying, Sam. Are you telling me that this rift is trying to take my power and use it as a way of revenge? Revenge against whom and for what purpose?" he asked. A sharp ringing sound was steadily increasing in his head and Cas unconsciously jerked his head, as though he had water in his ear.

Sam frowned at the angel's behavior and opened his mouth to say something when there was the sudden sound of breaking glass. Sharing a twin expression of alarm, Sam and Cas hurried from the room. As they reached the entryway to the library, the two stopped in their tracks.

Shattered pieces of glowing green glass glittered dangerously all over the floor. The other Dean, leaning precariously against the side of a grand mirror, clutching at his side. He looked up at them through heavy-lidded eyes and his breath caught in his throat.

"The rift has found a new power source. If we don't do something soon, both of our worlds...will be obliterated."

A/N: I am so excited to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Review please, my dears. I seriously appreciate the feedback and enthusiasm you all give me. It really helps me breakthrough the writer's block.