Thanks to Jenjoremy for the beta magic and to Gredelina1 for all the help and support in the writing process.

Chapter Eight

Uriel was easy to find. Cas merely had to feel for his brother's strength and signature grace. Curiously, he wasn't close to the hospital, watching Sam's predicament and Dean's distress with glee; instead, he was deep in the Alaskan wilderness, miles away from humanity. Cas made no attempt to hide his arrival as he came to rest beside his brother, and he was noticed immediately. Uriel looked at him, his thick lips curved into a smile. "Has the abomination died already?" he asked.

So they were not unaware of Sam's predicament before Dean's prayer. That correlated with Cas's memories of this time. Even when they didn't know it, Dean and Sam were under surveillance by angels a lot of the time.

"He lives," Cas said stiffly.

Uriel clucked his tongue. "Pity. Did you get the betrayer's location from him at least?"

"No," Cas replied, a further piece of the puzzle slipping into place. It was more than Cas seizing opportunity; the plan to extort Sam's predicament had been decided before.

Uriel looked him up and down carefully. "What's changed, Castiel? You are different."

"I am," Cas said, a surge of satisfaction moving through him. "I am not the Castiel you know."

Uriel frowned. "What did the human say to you?"

"I am more than changed by words. I am changed by time. The Castiel you are looking for is currently with Dean Winchester still, trying to extort knowledge for help that he cannot give. I am the Castiel that leads an army."

Uriel sneered at him. "What delusion is this?"

Cas wanted to draw his blade, to fight, but the desire to make much of what others had suffered at the hands of this angel was even stronger. As long as he showed no arms, Uriel would let him speak. "I am not Castiel of this time, brother," he spat the word. "I have lived years longer than you ever will, and I have seen much." He paused for effect. "I know what you will do if you haven't already started."

Uriel took a step back and then girded himself. "And what do you think I will do?"

"Kill," Cas said. "You will kill our brothers and sisters. You will serve the demons' plan for Lucifer."

Uriel's blade snapped into his hand and he sidestepped, circling Cas. "You know much, Castiel."

"I do." Cas's blade slipped out as he, too, stepped to the side, starting the dance of battle. "I know more than you can imagine."

"Is that why you came back?" Uriel asked. "To kill me? Did you break all our laws of time travel in order to end me? What will our leadership think of you when you return?"

"You didn't listen. I am the leadership in the place of my return."

Uriel scoffed. "I'm sure Michael and Raphael would disagree."

Cas smiled. "There is so much you don't know now and never will, but perhaps I will impart a few secrets before I let you go."

He jabbed out with his blade, not intending to kill, just to test Uriel's reactions. Uriel was a little slow bringing his own blade up to shove Cas's away, perhaps not believing Cas would really dare attack him, and his arm was cut deeply.

He hissed through his teeth and thrust out with his blade. Cas stepped out of its path easily. He was a far more practiced fighter than Uriel now. He had survived more battles than Uriel had ever known.

He continued to circle Uriel, searching for a break in his defense. Their blades clanged against each other as they each struck and parried attacks. Uriel was not as skilled though, and the pain in his arm was distracting him. He had not learned that you must ignore pain during a fight as Cas had.

Cas managed one strike that cut Uriel across the cheek. The other angel hadn't expected Cas to even try such an underhand blow. But that was another thing Cas had learned: there was no blow too low in defense of yourself. Uriel lurched back, bringing his free hand up to his face, and Cas struck. He stepped forward and slid the blade into Uriel's chest. It moved through him easily, like a knife through butter. This was the sole reason for the creation of the blade. Killing demons and other monsters was merely a bonus feature; it was made to kill angels.

Uriel fell to the floor with a meaty thud, and snow blew out around him. There was a rush of bright white light, and Cas stumbled back. When he had gathered himself again, he saw the ashy wings painted across the white snow. He took a moment to absorb the sight, another angel dead at his hands, and then he roughly ripped open the collar of Uriel's shirt and clasped his fingers around the small vial that sat there. He tugged it and the cord broke apart. Cas straightened and stowed the vial of Anna's grace in the pocket of his coat alongside his tie.

He turned away from Uriel and spread his wings. They crackled with energy and power still from the touch to Dean's soul. He would need that power to help Sam. He took flight, thinking not of the life he had ended, but the one he hoped to save.

Cas wanted to return to Sam straight away, to check on him and try to help, but he knew that there was a greater responsibility on his shoulders: Anna. So, instead of returning to the hospital where he friend was suffering, he went to Bobby's. The main rooms of the house were empty, but Cas could hear raised voices in the basement. He kept himself shielded as he walked through the hall and down the stairs.

The demon Ruby was standing outside the panic room door, barred from entering. Cas felt a surge of hatred at the sight of her. He wanted to smite, to kill, in revenge for her crimes, but he knew he was just as culpable in this time—he had freed Sam from the panic room after all. Also, Ruby's death would alert Lilith to the fact the angels were not convinced of her innocence. It was just as imperative for the demons to remain unaware of Sam and Cas's mission as it was for the angels. The demons couldn't kill an angel without an angel blade, nor could they send anyone through time, but they could take Sam and expel Cas from his vessel. He didn't know what would happen to him if they did that while he was in this time. It was not worth the risk.

Cas passed the demon, carefully avoiding any physical contact, and walked into the panic room. He was immediately alert as he took in the room, because there was an angel banishing sigil painted on the wall, but he quickly realized that it had already been used, as there was a bloody handprint in the center. Whichever angels had already visited—probably including his former self—had been banished.

Anna was sitting on a chair with her arm resting on the desktop while Bobby stitched her wounds closed. She was looking pointedly away from the sight, but her face showed no signs of pain, so Cas knew Bobby wasn't using Winchester style means of gritting teeth and bearing it to tend to her.

It was Bobby and Ruby's raised voices that he had heard. They were still arguing now.

"Leave the girl alone," Bobby said angrily. "She said she doesn't know what it is."

"And I'm just saying that something that gets rid of an angel is worth exploring. Saved our asses there didn't it."

Bobby ignored her and spoke gently to Anna. "Do you have any idea why the angels and demons are coming after you?"

She shook her head sadly. "No. I wish I did. But I don't."

Bobby sighed. "Don't worry. It's not your fault. We'll take care of you."

Ruby snorted, and Bobby scowled at her. Before he could say anything to the blond demon, his phone rang and diverted his attention. He snatched it from the desk and flipped it open. "Dean? How's Sam?"

Cas could hear both sides of the call and he quickly surmised this wasn't the first conversation they'd had in the wake of Sam's injury though Dean's answer. "He's the same. Not waking up. Not doing a damn thing. Look, Bobby, I'm sending Castiel over. He's going to need to take Anna."

"He's gonna what?" Bobby said angrily.

"Take Anna. I don't like it either, but it's the only way to help Sam. He said he'll get advice from his bosses if I do this, and… Bobby, I don't have a choice."

Bobby sighed. "It ain't gonna work, Dean. Castiel already came by and Anna did this thing. He was ripped outta here by God knows what."

"She banished him," Dean breathed. "Dammit. Okay, Sammy said that'd keep them away for a couple hours, so you've just got to keep Anna there while he reboots himself or whatever and then keep Anna under control when he comes back."

"Are you sure about this? How do we even know we can trust him to do what he says?" Bobby asked.

"We can't. But he's our best shot at helping Sam. The doctors here don't know shit. I'm not saying I like it, but given a choice between her and Sam, I'll pick my brother every damn time. Besides, there's gotta be a reason both demons and angels are gunning for her."

"Doesn't mean it's a good reason," Bobby pointed out.

"What do you want me to do, Bobby?"

Bobby scrubbed a hand through his beard. "I don't know. I just know this whole thing feels wrong. We've no idea what Sam's done to himself if the doctors don't, and I…"

"Yeah, me too. Look, you just keep her there and safe for now and I'll do what I can from this end."

"Will do. You take care, Dean."

"You know it."

Dean ended the call and Bobby dropped the phone back to his side, sighing heavily. He looked at Anna and Cas could see how torn he was from his expression.

"What's happening?" Anna asked quietly.

Cas thought he had heard enough, and Bobby had suffered enough, too. It was time for him to act. His only hope was that he would be able to drive the demon away first. He focused his energy on the huge fan set into the ceiling and it began to thrum even harder and faster, like a giant heartbeat. Bobby and Anna looked around nervously, and Anna asked, "What's happening?"

Ruby was practically quaking in fear, yet she wasn't moving yet, so Cas amped up the tension a little by exploding the bulbs of the lights in the panic room and basement.

"It's an angel," Bobby said in a tense tone.

"Oh I am done!" Ruby disappeared noiselessly.

Anna's stood and her hand pounded on the banishing sigil again. Cas made himself visible and stepped forward. "That only works with fresh blood," he said. "You cannot banish me."

Anna cringed back and Bobby started. "But you… I thought…"

Cas drew back his influence and the ceiling fan above settled into a gentle rhythm again. The tension in the room didn't dissipate though, not that he had really expected it to.

"I do not have long to explain, so you will need to stay silent and attentive," he said quickly. "Anna, you are an angel."

Her eyes widened and Bobby gaped at her. "She's a what?"

"An angel," Cas said. "At least an angel without its grace. She removed it long ago, against the will of Heaven. She fell, the greatest betrayal possible to her family. Anna, do you remember?"

She cringed away from him. "I'm not an angel. I can't be."

That answered Cas's question. He slid a hand into his pocket and withdrew the grace. "This is yours Anna. I would not do this had I any other choice, but it's the only way to protect you from the forces that are seeking to harm you."

Her eyes fixated on the grace swirling in the vial. It seemed to trigger something in her, some memory awakened, and she shook her head. "Don't do this to me."

"I must," Cas replied regretfully.

"Please, Castiel," she begged. "Don't make me be that again."

Cas smiled sadly at the confirmation of her memory returning. He didn't want to do this to her. They had been friends for a long time before she fell, and he understood now what she had fallen for, but he had no choice. Without it, she would die.

She seemed to see the resolution in him, as she said, "Bobby, you should cover your eyes."

Bobby did as he was bidden and Cas looked at Anna. "I am sorry," he said, even as he opened his fingers and dropped the grace.

He had a split second in which to act, to get away before the grace pulsed through the room and sent him back to his correct time once again. Before the vial had even hit the floor, Cas had already spread his vast wings and taken flight.

Sam was in pain. No, not pain, complete agony. He was pinned to an iron rack by his wrists and ankles with thick iron pegs driven through his flesh and bone. Over him two archangels worked with abandon, ripping, slicing and tearing his flesh, leaving him open and raw to the air. His organs were removed and examined one by one before being tossed into a growing pile in the corner. As they worked, the archangels laughed an evil duet.

He screamed and begged for them to stop through a raw throat until they tired of his noise and removed his lungs. He couldn't breathe, and though he knew there was no need for air in this place, he felt like he was dying all over again. Tears crept from his eyes until they removed them too, leaving empty burning sockets. Though he could not see the archangels then, he could still hear them as they whispered to each other and laughed. He wished for oblivion, but none came. He was trapped in a place with no blessed unconsciousness, only awareness and agony.

When he thought he could take no more, when he thought he would surely lose his mind, they reached the finale of their wicked ministrations. He felt a hand scrabbling in the hollow of his chest and fingers wrapping around his heart. He wanted to beg them to stop, to leave that one piece of him intact, but he had no voice. He couldn't even scream as they tugged at his heart, tearing it away from artery and valve and plucked it from his chest.

"Have you even seen a heart so dark as this?" the deeper of the two voices asked.

"Never," the second voice answered. "It is thoroughly ruined. The blood of the demon has destroyed all that was good in it before."

"Please," a third voice pleaded. "I'll never do it again. I've learned my lesson. Just let him go."

Sam knew the voice, it was his own, but how could he be speaking without his lungs or any inclination to talk?

"He's confused," Lucifer said, his voice ringing true and familiar in Sam's ears.

"He doesn't know," Michael replied. "Should we let him see?"

"I think so."

Sam was suddenly whole again. His lungs expanded gratefully at the returning air and his eyes blinked up at the endless space above him. There were no walls or ceilings here. The Cage was metaphysical, outside the rules of reason.

"Look around, Sam, and understand," Michael said.

Sam looked past the archangels, wanting to see who the voice belonged to. It was him. Sam of the past. He was younger and fewer cares had made their home on his face, even though he looked sickened and terrified now. This was the Sam who had not yet killed Lilith, who had not started an apocalypse. This was the Sam who hadn't suffered through almost two centuries in the cage. It was the other soul. He looked back at Sam with confusion and terror etched into his young face.

"Do you see?" Lucifer asked.

"Yes," Sam said. "I see."

"It's the blood, right?" the other Sam said. "It's Uriel. He's trying to make me see what I deserve for the blood. I swear I'll never do it again, Uriel!" he shouted to an angel that couldn't hear. "I've learned my lesson. I won't do it. I'll stop."

Lucifer grasped the peg at his right wrist and tugged on it slowly. Sam felt every inch of it as it was removed. He felt it tear through the flesh and rub against the exposed nerves. He howled with the pain which increased as Michael removed the pegs from his ankles.

When he was freed, Sam sat up and tried not to look at the holes driven through his wrists, though they drew his gaze like magnets. He looked at the other Sam instead and tried to smile reassuringly.

"I think it's story time," Lucifer said conversationally. "Sam, would you care to tell, well, Sam, what's happening here?"

Sam grimaced but he knew what he had to do. Though this was all in his mind, twisted memories merging with fear, he thought it could serve a purpose. "I am you, Sam," he said. "This is a memory in a way."

"But… I don't understand."

"Sammy came to hell," Lucifer sang. "He took on the big bad Satan and took a trip downstairs."

"You're missing the best part of the story," Michael chided. "Before that, he almost ended the world."

The younger Sam's lip quivered. "How?"

"Lilith. She was the final seal. We killed her and it freed Lucifer. The world careened toward the end because of what we did. The only way to stop it was to come here. We let Lucifer in and then dragged him and Michael to the cage."

"No!"

"Oh, yes," Lucifer said with glee. "You came here and we had so much fun together. We played all day every day."

The younger Sam looked devastated. "But…. Dean?"

"He had no choice," Sam said. "He had to let us do it. It was the only way to save the world." A tear tracked down his cheek. "He had to let us go."

"He had to let you go." Michael said incredulously. "Is that what you really think, Sam, or does it just make you feel better to believe it that way?"

Sam ignored him, desperate to impart his message. "It all happened because we killed Lilith. You can't do it again. You have to let her go."

"You say it like there's a choice."

"There is," Sam assured his younger self. "This isn't real. This is just in our head. Cas will save us from it. He will come and we'll be okay, but you have to remember this. You have to stop drinking the blood, and you cannot go after Lilith. Let her break the seals, let her live despite what she did to Dean, because it's better than losing the world."

"You think Castiel will save you?" Michael asked, sounding amused. "You poor delusional thing."

"He will save us," Sam said confidently. "I believe in him."

Lucifer laughed. "In that case let us not waste this time together." With a hand at his chest, he pushed Sam back down onto the rack and picked up the iron pegs again.

Within minutes both Sams were screaming for mercy again, but one of them had faith that it would only last so long. His friend would save him.

When Cas returned to the hospital, Dean had relocated to the chair beside Sam again. He wasn't speaking to Sam anymore. Instead, he was staring at him as if he could wake him through sheer force of will alone. Cas took a moment to take in the scene, to see the utter desperation in his friend's face, and then he acted. He stepped up behind Dean and pressed his fingers to his forehead. Dean slumped forward and Cas caught him gently, leaning him back in the chair. His chin touched his chest, and his breaths came easily. Cas thought it was the first remotely decent rest his friend had gotten in weeks if not months.

He knew that revealing himself to Bobby and manipulating Dean's consciousness the way he had would lead to at least some consequences for their plan, but he judged the risks to be necessary. They would both have to come into the secret now, but it would be better for Sam. He wouldn't have to lie to his brother anymore. It would be a weight off his mind at least.

It didn't mean everything would be perfect between them though. Cas now knew why Sam had continued to drink demon blood despite knowing the potential consequences for himself, and it had nothing to do with staving off the withdrawal. It was because he had set his mind on killing Alastair. Now that was done and he would have to suffer withdrawal; he would not be able to hide that from Dean. His carefully constructed house of lies would come crashing down. The thing that worried Cas most was Dean's reaction. Sam needed his brother now more than ever.

He stepped closer to the bed and looked down at his friend. Nothing had changed in Sam's appearance expect that he looked paler. The amount of blood he had used to kill Alastair combined with the damage to the wall had weakened him considerably, and he was going to withdraw sooner rather than later. Cas hated the thought.

"I'm going to help you, Sam," he vowed quietly, and then pressed his fingers to Sam's temple and prepared himself to rebuild. There was nothing there though. Sam had not just broken the wall – he had crushed it to dust. There was nothing to work with, no defense between Sam's mind and the memories of the cage.

He stepped back, feeling a wave of remorse and horror for his friend. He didn't know what to do. There was no way to protect Sam from that trauma now. Even if Death was attainable, it was doubtful he could help either.

"I'm so sorry," he breathed.

Sam made no response. He was unable to; he couldn't hear Cas where he was.

Cas knew he had no choice but to wake Sam to a new nightmare, but he wished there was another way. He couldn't leave him within his mind with the horrors of the cage, but to wake him was to throw him into awareness of the withdrawal. It was only knowing that, as bad as the withdrawal would be, it was the lesser of two evils that enabled him to do it. He laid his hand on Sam's temple and sent a small surge of grace into him.

Sam's eyes snapped open and he jerked as if electrocuted. The monitor beside the bed began to beep incessantly as Sam's heart rate climbed, but Cas silenced it with a wave of his hand.

"It's okay, Sam," he said gently. "You're okay."

"Cas?"

"I am here."

"Where is here?" Sam looked around the room. "I'm in hospital? What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Cas asked.

"Anna. Alastair. Lucifer. Michael." He winced. "Me."

"You crushed the wall," Cas said.

Sam looked horrified. "Can't you fix it?"

Cas shook his head. "There is nothing left of it to rebuild."

A tear tracked down Sam's cheek. "Oh, God. What am I going to do?"

Cas wished he knew. He would do anything to help Sam, but there was nothing possible he could do. "You will be strong."

Sam wiped at his damp face. "I can't bear it. It's all there. I can remember it all. Cas, help me," he pleaded.

Cas laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "I can't."

Sam bowed his head and started to cry in earnest. Cas didn't know what to say or do for him. He knew he needed comfort, but Cas was at a loss, so Cas did the only thing he could. He moved to Dean's side and woke him with a swift touch.

Dean didn't even seem to notice there was a third body in the room. His gaze snapped to Sam and he breathed his name in relief and reassurance.

Sam looked up at his brother and his face crumpled. "Dean, help me."

Dean couldn't know what he needed, but that didn't stop him as he crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed and make his vow. "Of course, I will, Sam. Whatever ever you need. I'll fix it."

So… Uriel's a goner — Go, Cas! — and Dean's going to fix it all for Sam. If only he could.

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. I love hearing from you.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx