Castiel's breathing comes in short gasps as he runs through the trees. He doesn't know where Gabriel or Samandriel have disappeared to, but he's sure they aren't far.

The barking of dogs echoes through the forest and keeps the boy on his toes. It seems like hours have passed, realistically it has only been a few minutes. He trips and stumbles when the edge of one of his wings collides with a tree branch that's stuck out into his path.

He comes down hard on the packed dirt. His chin hits the ground and he tastes the coppery warmth of blood from his tongue. His leg aches from where the glass from the lab had sliced it open and he is sure the bullet wound on his shoulder had reopened after his run in with a tree earlier on in the chase.

Pulling himself up with what little strength he has left he bolts for the cliff that he can see on the edge of the tree line.

I won't be caught. I won't be caught. He repeats over and over in his head. I can not go back. Not now. Not ever.

As soon as he reaches the tree line he stops abruptly. The howl of dogs can still be heard behind him. A single tear runs silently down his cheek before he makes the finally decision to jump. As his wings spread out behind him he struggles to keep them open. The pain in his shoulder is almost unbearable and he falters, suddenly he finds himself plugging toward the trees at a dangerous speed. After a few panicked seconds he opens his wings again and glides a few feet.

The landing is rough and he can't keep his footing once he touches the ground. He sits panting for a few minutes. The sound of dogs is far off and he's no longer concerned about that as much as he is about the whereabouts of his friends. Crickets have started to chirp and the sun barley makes itself known through the tops of the trees.

A single gunshot rings in his ears and he looks up in another fit of panic. He wings beat to steadily him and he stands. His stomach rumbles in protest and his head spins with lack of energy, but addrinaline pumps steadily through his veins.

Soon two shapes take form in front of him and he backs up. One collapses and the other bends down next to him. The dim lighting makes it hard for Castiel to see who the people are.

"Castiel!" The one form cries out. They seem to be desperate and that's enough to get Castiel to show himself. "Thank God." Gabriel seems relieved. "I can't believe- I though we lost you." Tears gleam off his face in the moonlight. "At least two of us made it, huh?"

Castiel looks down the the form on the ground and knows it's Samandriel. His brown hair sticks to his sweaty forehead and he has his hands wrapped around Gabriel's wrist belonging to the hand pressed against his stomach. Castiel runs forward and rests next to him in the grass.

"Please. I- it- it hurts." Samandriel's eyes are full of tears. His fingers have turned white where he's gripping onto Gabriel.

"Help him." Castiel looks frantic.

Gabriel sighs. "I can't."

"Why?"

"I'm no doctor Castiel!" Castiel winces at the harsh sadness of Gabriel's tone. His eyes relaxed again as he looks to the dying boy. "I'm sorry..." He tries not to cry.

The dogs and hunters seem to have disappeared. There is nothing but the choked sobs coming from Samandriel to fill the woods. Castiel's heart drops to his stomach everytime he hears the other boy take a shallow breath. His eyes are closed now, probably due to pain, but he still continues to breath which for the time being is enough.

"What now?" Castiel can feel every ache in his body now that the adrenaline has slowed. He just wants to sleep. Why can't they just catch a break.

"We keep going. There's got to be someone out there who will help us." Gabriel looks up at the rising moon and wipes the sweat from his brow. Samandriel seems to have given into the tiredness of losing to much blood and is passed out in the dirt. Carefully, Gabriel stands and lifts Samandriel careful to avoid jostling him to much.

The boy whimpers in his unconscious state, but other than that doesn't respond to being moved. They trudge foward, away from where they had come.

"'m tired." Castiel drags his wings behind his frame and goosebumps appear on his flesh from the cold. It had been only a few hours since they had began walking, but the sun was setting quickly. What was it that people wore. Clothes? Yeah, he could use some of them.

"Yeah I know. Just hold on." Gabriel continues forward and Castiel follows close behind.

Samandriel doesn't wake up through hours of walking and a few times Gabriel is forced to set him down and take a rest. The good thing is that he doesn't seem to be getting any worse. The blood clots over the wound, but his breathing remains ragged. Many times Castiel worries when the boy seems to stop breathing, he always starts again.

It's morning when they spot the first sight of any civilization they've seen in days. There's a flutter in Castiel's chest when the lights come into view down in a valley. Gabriel gently sets Samandriel down and the boy let's out a cry of pain before settling down again.

"He's getting worse." Gabriel stretches his wings and beats the dust and tree needles out of them. A few of the golden feathers are stuck together from when tree sap had dripped from the trees and seeped into them. "I don't know how much longer I can carry him."

Castiel stayes silent and peers down the valley. This seems to be a town. They're not sure how people will react to them, but it doesn't really matter at this point because if they don't get help Samandriel will die.

Castiel points to the lights when Gabriel glances in his direction.

"I know. We have to be smart about this." Gabriel sighs and folds his wings against his sides once again.

"I'll go."

Gabriel shakes his head. "And if you don't come back?"

Castiel's features formed into a pout. He could do it even if Gabriel didn't want him to. He knew he could.

Gabriel sighs and looks at the dying body of their friend for a second. "Fine Castiel, but if you're not back in a day I'm doing something myself."

Castiel nods and with a determined expression takes to the sky.

xxxxxxx

Sam is sprawled out on his bed studying when the front door opens and closes with a slam. He knows it's John. It's always best to keep you head down when he's around so he continues to study.

"What are you doin' son." John appears in the doorway and leans his heavy form on the wood.

"Studying." Flipping another page he looks up at his father. He seems sober for the most part, maybe a bit tired. Dark spots line his eyes.

"Know where your brother is?"

"No. Out with a girl I think." He tucks a strand of loose hair behind his ear, but it's too short and falls back to its original spot in his face.

"Need to get you a hair cut. Starting to look like a girl yourself."

Sam tries to hid a frown and goes back to reading his book hoping his dad will just leave him at peace. After a few moments he notices John's still standing in the doorway.

"You okay dad?"

"Yeah 'm fine. Just somethings been on my mind. I need to apologize."

"Yeah?"

"I realize that I may have been to hard on you the other day. I left a nasty bruise. When I saw you this morning, that on your face, I knew I had gone to far. It won't happen again."

Sam rubs the bruise on his cheek. Nobody had mentioned it at school. They knew by now to stay out of the Winchester's lives. "It's alright."

His father nods before turning back to the living room.

Unlike Dean, Sam found it hard to forgive their father for the things he did. It was wrong period. No matter how many times an apology came he wasn't a person to trust and Sam knew that. It always happened again.

xxxxxxxx

Dean pours the remainder of his beer in the grass of his friend's yard, but it doesn't go unnoticed.

"You alright, Dean?" Gordon pears up at him at the edge of the pool. The kids dark skin reflects with the lights under the water.

"Yeah. Just have to get home soon."

Benny chuckles in one of the chairs next to them, his eyes remain closed. "Should we worry?"

"No I just need a clear head."

"Have to deal with daddy dearest I imagine." Lisa takes that exact moment to walk out of the house, beer in hand.

"Come on guys. He's not that bad." Dean tries to defend his father. None of the others look convinced. "Guys seriously! He's fine."

"Can't imagine you're brother would agree with that. Don't think we haven't seen that bruise on him." Gordon speaks up.

Benny hums in agreement. "Damn that man's got a temper on him to be able to do that to a kid."

"Okay guys I get it. I'm gonna go." Grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair he had been sitting in he makes his way to theback gate.

The Impala engine roars to life and Dean heads on his way.

xxxxxxxxx

The house is dark when Dean steps through the front door. His dad is spread out on the living room couch and he walks quietly passed him. Sam's room is dark when he walks in to find his brother passed out on his bed with his face planted in a book.

It's nothing new. Sam always gets to caught up in his schoolwork.

Carefully Dean shifts the book from under Sam's nose and lays it on the desk, careful to keep the page open to where he found it.

Once he had closed a book Sam had been working on and he hadn't heard the end of the complaining until days later.

The house is quiet as well as cold. He drapes a blanket over Sam before heading to his room. The wood floor is cool on the bottoms of his feet after he removes his shoes.

Laundry has piled up in the corner after a couple weeks of not washing anything. He really needs to get that done. Maybe tomorrow, there's no school after all.

Summers were always the worst. There was always that constant anxiety that, no matter what, Sam would be in harms way. During summer there was no way to escape, nowhere to go.

He lays on the bed in the dark. There's a lone glow in the dark star on the ceiling. Sam had put it there a few years back. Dean had to pick him up to let him stick it up there. The kid hadn't been all that tall, and he still wasn't. Maybe he'd get there soon.

He's almost asleep when the sound of something hitting the trashcans echoes outside. There a few scraping noises before silence.

Dean sits up looking at the window. Most likely it was Aaron again. The guys was a creep. By now the whole world new he had a thing for Dean Winchester.

Dean rolls his eyes and looks through the window only to find nothing. The trash cans are tipped over, the trash sprawled out across the grass, but other than that there's nothing. He opens the window and there's another noise just to the right of his window, whatever is making the noise is just out of eyesight. It almost sounds like an animal whimper.

He latches the window before slipping his shoes back on and throwing on a sweatshirt. In the hallway the floor creeks with every step and he finds Sammy wide-eyed in his own doorway.

"What was that?" He whispers.

Dean shrugs. "I'm gonna check it out."

Sam rubs his eyes that are filled with sleep and yawns. "Mmm'kay, just be careful."

"You know me."

"Yeah that's what's worrying." He drifts back over to his bed and lays down. "'S probably just your boyfriend."

Good to know even if tired his little brother still had his abnoxious side. Dean rolls his eyes. "Then there's nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleep."

He looks over his brother one more time and shuts the bedroom door before tiptoeing into the living room.

John's still passed out on the couch. Which isn't suprising.

The front door doesn't squeak like the back door so the house stays silent. The air outside is fresh and cool. Crickets chirp in the underbrush around the house as owls scwak in the forest around the neighborhood.

Other than that it's quiet. That's when he knows somethings off. Aaron is never a great sneaker and Dean can always sense him. This time there is nothing.

The side of the house that the sound came from is overgrown. School has made it almost impossible for any lawn work to be done so the foliage simply ran it's course. Dean notices a trail by the metal garbage cans where the grass has been stomped down. He kneels down and pulls out his phone for a flashlight.

Right away he notices a few drops of maroon colored liquid in the middle of the path. He touches them and he fingers come away from it red. He knows it's blood.

There's a whimper coming from a few feet in front of him and he raises the light toward the sound.

Dean's eyes take a moment to adjust. The very first thing that he sees it feathers. They tremble in place under the light.

He creeps toward what seems to be a mound if black feathers. So far he can't tell what they are attached to. Without thinking he reaches for them and runs his hand across them.

They're soft and warm. In a flash the feathers move and Dean's caught off guard as teeth latch on to his pinky finger.

With a yelp he jumps back and his phone flys from his hand. He looks down at the blood coming from his hand and sucks on it before looking back at what almost took his hand off. "Holy shit." Dean's voice is bearly a whisper in his throat.

Blue eyes stare wide eyed at him. There's a touch of his blood on the human-like creatures lip.

He looks like a normal person except for two giant black wings that sprout from his back.

Dean cant move. His glaze is captured in the blue eyes of the thing looking dead at him. He's not sure what to do.

For a while neither of them move. Neither of them even breathe in fear of eachother.

Slowly Dean lifts up a hand in an etempt to show that he means no harm. The thing slinks back in fear and growls low in its throat. "I don't want to hurt you." Dean keeps his hand up, but doesn't move.

There's curiosity in the creatures eyes and Dean can tell that it doesn't want to hurt him either. The things wings carefully start to uncurl from around his body making him look bigger. Dean can't see very well since his phone was thrown, but he feels it when a hand touches his.

Fingertip to fingertip, palm to palm. The things hands are cold and Dean gasps a little at the contact.

He sits up more and reaches for his phone which he sees out of the corner of his eye.

He turns the light back on and his eyes take a moment to adjust. Suprisingly the hand stays in his.

He can see better with the light. The creature isn't wearing anything and Dean can count each rib in his body. His hands are boney and his arms are like sticks. How long has it been since this thing had food?

"What are you?"

The thing cocks his head and takes back his hand. He almost has as good of puppy eyes as Sam. Almost. He points to himself "C-Castiel."

"That's your name?"

Castiel nods his head and looks up in panic when a car drives down the road.

For the first time Dean notices where the blood he had found earlier was coming from. There's a bullet hole next to his collar bone and a cut running down his leg. It looks deep and both look infected. Blood had already pooled around were they were sitting. It was enough to make it concerning.

Much as Dean expected the creature sways where he's squatting in the grass and almost falls before supporting himself with one giant wing.

This was going to be a long night.