Warnings: Torture. It got kinda graphic... sorry. But it's short.

The voice was harsh and threatening, quite unlike from before. It was enough of a distraction to Dean that he looked away from Cas's battered body and towards the source of the voice.

"Who the fuck are you and what the hell are you doing here?"

The guy's face was contorted in fury. He had an angel blade raised on his right, ready to attack at any sign of threat. There was a huge cut on his left forearm, which Dean assumed the guy had done to paint the sigil on the barn doors. He was standing protectively in front of Cas like—like he was his angel.

Waves of anger washed over Dean. "No, who the fuck are you?"

"I asked first."

Before Dean could retaliate, Sam interrupted him. "Uh, I'm Sam, and this–" jerking a thumb towards the older Winchester, "–is my brother Dean. We're friends of Cas."

The guy's eyes narrowed, but he didn't let down his guard. His eyes darted on their weapons. On any other circumstance Dean wouldn't mind, but Cas was right there, and he's hurt and—

"Cut yourself with your angel blades."

"What." Dean's voice was controlled now, but no less furious.

"Just to check that you're not angels. You don't really give off an angel vibe, but I'd rather be sure right now."

It was smart, and as much a Dean hated to admit, he'd probably done the same. He quickly sliced a forearm, with Sam quickly following his lead. It stung of course, but it didn't light up like an angel wound. The guy's tense posture visibly relaxed, but not much.

"Right. Not demons or other supernaturals too. That's… good," he whispered to himself, Dean barely hearing it. "My name's Ethan. You guys hunters too?"

"Yeah," Dean said, lowering the blade in his hand. Sam did the same, and so did Ethan. Dean took it as his cue, quickly walking towards Cas and kneeling beside his battered body.

He looked even worse up close. His breathing was shallow. Dean noticed that beneath the fresh wounds were scars. They looked way too old to be a recent cut, so Dean assumed Cas's (presumably angel) torturer healed him, but not completely, leaving those ugly scars for whatever reason.

Or Cas was being tortured for months.

Dean couldn't decide which one was worse.

There were rope burns in his ankles and his wrists, the rope a few feet away. Dean looked around, and saw a chain hanging off the barn's roof, a black, rusting hook on its end. The sight filled Dean with dread, threatening him to puke his guts out.

For a moment Dean was back in hell. Cas was dangling in front of him, two hooks digging through each of the angel's wrists, and another one on each side forcibly spreading his wings out. It was bare, exposed bone, each feather carefully and lovingly torched with fire. His arms got the same treatment, skin and muscle peeled off.

Cas's torso was an empty cavity save for his heart. It was beating, slow and fast then slow again, a pure blue glow from inside pulsing in time with it. His thighs and legs were littered with scratches and bites from hellhounds Finally, the angel's feet were cut off, dangling uselessly from the leg with a thin sinew of skin.

Adorning Cas's head was his own intestines, an earthly approximation of the halos angels supposed to have. His face though, was untainted and beautiful, devoid of wounds and blood and fire, all the better to see the pure fear on his blue eyes.

Dean stepped forward, blade in hand, and Cas's lips trembled, opening his mouth to speak.

"—I'm sorry—" His voice was staticky, as if it came through a phone. The angel never did get a chance to speak again, screaming and screaming as Dean kissed his blade on every inch of Cas's skin.

"Dean," his angel begged, blood choking him.

"Dean…" Tears and blood poured out of Cas's eyes.

Dean—

"DEAN!" Sam's concerned face came into view, and it took Dean a couple of blinks to focus on his brother and push out the horrible image in his mind. "I'm fine," Dean gruffly replied. Sam as usual didn't look convinced. "Seriously Sammy, I'm fine. We need to focus on Cas right now."

His little brother just sighed and didn't say anything, so Dean hooked an arm beneath Cas's shoulders, and another under his knees, carrying him bridal style. He stood up slowly and carefully, trying to avoid disturbing his wounds as much as possible.

"Do you need help?" Sam asked.

Dean just shook his head. "Nah, I can handle it," he said, all the while staring at the angel's face. He wished, more than anything, for a pair of blue eyes to stare right back.

"Where's the other guy, uh… Ethan?" Dean asked as he started walking towards the barn doors.

"He's just outside, clearing the stuff on his car so Cas can lie down there while we drive him to a hospital."

Not a fucking chance. "Cas goes with us. In the Impala." This Ethan guy may have gotten to Cas first, but Dean didn't trust him one bit.

Sam surprised him by rolling his eyes. "Ethan's car has more space, Dean. The Impala's backseat isn't really that comfortable for sleeping, probably even more so for Cas because he's hurt."

His brother was right. "Are you seriously going to trust this guy? We don't even know him!" Dean hissed, because he really didn't want Cas out of his sight.

"But Cas does. I think he's the guy Nora mentioned." Sam opened the barn doors to let the three of them out.

"And that changes things how?"

His brother gave him a weird look, something between exasperation, like he can't believe Dean was asking such a stupid question, and amusement, the kind which meant Sam knew something his older brother didn't and will be very smug about the fact. "He reminds me of you," his brother only said.

What the fuck does that mean?

Dean was stubborn, especially when it comes to people he cares about, people he considers family. Sam knew this, but he can't help but huff in frustration as his brother's protective instincts went overdrive. He was annoyingly adamant about wanting Cas in the Impala with them, even if his face clearly showed even he thought it was a bad idea.

At least Sam managed to convince him in the end, on the condition that the younger Winchester would be riding with Ethan, stabbing him if he so much as think about hurting Cas, and Dean tailing closely behind, just in case the guy tries to make an escape. (Dean wanted to be the one riding with Cas, but Sam squashed that idea immediately. It would be in all of their best interests for Dean and Ethan to be not cooped up in the same car with a wounded Cas on the back.)

It was getting really ridiculous, to be honest, and after all this… when Cas heals and gets better, let it be known that Sam Winchester would be teasing the shit out of his brother.

The four of them were driving north to the nearest hospital in Sioux Falls. Ethan was driving as fast as he could, with Dean tailing behind as promised. Sam was in the Continental's passenger seat, checking Cas's condition every few minutes. It was silent in the car, but not uncomfortably so. It was the silence that accompanied an urgent mission.

But Sam can't help but be curious about the new guy, so he did what he always do when he was curious: he asked questions.

"So… Ethan. How did you and Cas meet?"

The hunter must have been deep in thought as he jerked at the sound of Sam's voice. "Oh, uh… a hunt. I was tracking a werewolf, and it came up to Cas and tried to eat him, but Cas knifed the bastard right in the heart. It was awesome." Ethan smiled right then, as if reliving the memory.

"You knew he was an angel though," Sam noted.

"Yeah," Ethan said with a shrug. "Call it hunter instinct, but when I first met him he felt like he was not human at all. I wasn't expecting an actual angel though. I mean, who would? Anyway, I invited him for dinner when one of his dick brothers found him. Tried to kill Cas, but Cas killed him first. The guy lit up when he died, so that's how I found out angels are real and they're… not nice at all."

"Wow."

"I know right? He's pretty badass."

One detail struck Sam. "Invited him for dinner? Like a date?"

At that, Ethan actually blushed and looked away, scratching the back of his neck. "What, the guy's awesome. He knows a lot of lore stuff, he's terrifying with a blade, he's hot as fuck, it's a goddamn trifecta. Well… discounting the fact that he's carrying quite an enormous amount of baggage no sane person would ever want to deal with. And that he's already in l…"

Ethan narrowed his eyes as he noticed Sam. "Why are you grinning?"

"Because my hunch was right," the younger Winchester simply said. He knew he can trust Ethan—or at the very least, trust him when it comes to Cas.

"Oh shut up."

With that out of the way, Sam asked more seriously this time. "What happened with Cas, by the way? I mean, how did he…" his words trailed into silence as Ethan's face turned grim and guilty. His grip on the wheel turned tighter, and closed his eyes when he finally spoke.

"Cas wanted to visit a friend's place. Guess he was feeling a bit nostalgic, and I wanted to know more about his past so we went. It was this salvage yard, uh… Singer's I think?"

"Yeah," Sam managed to say.

"We stayed there for a few more days. I was buying some stuff to eat when they took him. The place was a mess. Cas definitely fought back, but there must have been too many of them… Shouldn't have left him… maybe I could've—"

"It wasn't your fault," Sam quickly said.

"Sure feels like it was. If he hadn't called I would've never even found him… You know the last thing he said to me?"

Sam knew, but didn't say anything.

"He said he was sorry," Ethan said with a disbelieving chuckle. "For what, I have no idea. Although frankly it probably wasn't for me. Not all of it, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Ethan was silent for a few moments. "Your brother… Dean, was it? He's… he's the one Cas saved from Hell, wasn't he?"

Sam froze, suddenly having a bad feeling where this conversation is going. He answered the other hunter anyway. "Uhm… yeah."

"He loves talking about this two brothers… how they were great men and changed their destiny, stuff like that. It was mostly Dean, really, but you were there too. And although Cas never mentioned any names, it wasn't that hard to put two and two together."

Sam's cheeks flushed from embarrassment. Sure they've stopped the Apocalypse, but they're the ones who started it too. They've saved lives through hunting, but it's not as if they're the only hunters out there. The younger Winchester didn't think they would warrant praise like that. (Especially from Cas. He might be human now, and he might have made colossal mistakes in the past, but it doesn't change the fact that this is praise coming from an angel millions of years old.)

But before Sam could say anything, Cas was screaming, loud, painful and unearthly.