Once again, you reviewers are too kind, and well appreciated. I got a few really detailed reviews, and they were much appreciated!

So without a lot of further ado, Chapter Five, EARLY, so be thankful! (and by that review when you are finished!)

And thanks to my busy, patient beta OTS! As well as a friend who twisted my arm to read this first and "gammaed" pro bono…

Chapter Five: To be rescued?

The world was dark.

Forces pressed on him from all sides and avenues keeping him small and subdued, except for the cord pulling him up out of the thick heavy pile and towards the small light at that was his center. All feelings were muted. He could not see, he could not hear, he could not taste, and he could not feel. Grays coiled around him, fluid and conforming however he tried to move, wrapping him in an unconscious, senseless array. The gray surrounded the small light that flickered weakly at his core. The light pushed back, attempting to reveal to him where he was, what he was. But it was fading fast. All he could perceive anymore was nothingness. Nothing was left here of him. Nothing was around him. All except the constant force ripping him towards-

Towards what he did not know. He could not remember. But he shivered and wondered why the nothing had frightened him.

"Castiel. You aren't listening to me." A voice, small and devilishly sweet, penetrated the gloomy embrace he was locked in. It sounded quiet at first, until his hearing faded back in. Castiel tried to move towards it. He knew he was supposed to answer. Suddenly he felt his own voice freed up, he was allowed to answer. He wanted to answer.

"What did you ask?" His grating voice stumbled at the end. Slowly his thoughts caught up through the mire that had muddled his brain. No, do not answer her.

"Why wouldn't you answer me?" she asked. Castiel did not understand why she had asked this. Part of him wondered if his thoughts had been said out loud, while another piece of him knew that he could not refuse her anything. She was his master.

"I would never..." Castiel's voice faltered. He felt more of his senses freed. He could taste. He could taste sweet sanguineous iron in his mouth. It sat in there thickly. He did not like the taste.

"You would never what?" The little girl's voice asked not quite dangerously.

Feeling was next, but not control. Waves of sensation cut into his mind like knives. His leg first, it came to him as shards of pain radiated up his body, pulling the muscles wrapped around his snapped bone tightly, pulling it farther apart. Then his stomach and chest, a dull, ubiquitous ache that heightened to a sheer agony every time he moved, every time his lungs stained for a breath against its broken cage. After that he felt his wrists, the burned, skinless feeling of coarse ropes rubbing through his flesh. Finally the sensation that closest to him, his head, the pulsating thump, the patterned beat that kept him from slipping back off to the grey nothing he had been locked in, which now seemed to him to be relief, not a prison.

"I will never agree Lilith. I will never allow myself to be ruled by your depraved desires." Part of Castiel let himself feel affirmed by his words. The other larger part of himself felt fear. The emptiness that held most of his will knew what she might do in response.

"Won't you? I know you want to, silly." At the end of her words, the innocent voice seemed to relent, and he could see.

Blonde curls bobbed around the porcelain-faced girl. She smiled warmly at him. "Now I will let you see. It is much nicer to talk to you this way. I like your pretty eyes. Too bad they have to go dark." The little girl's hands brushed at the flowing dress and straightened the ribbon around her waist.

"You may kill me Lilith." Talking now was becoming hard. Effort to push the words past his lips was quickly turning into effort he did not have. Lilith suddenly became very excited. She straightened up on her toes to look levelly, eye to eye with him. "But I will not ask to die. I will not shatter the Seal." Castiel's breath hitched. He looked over faintly at the door of the warehouse. He did not why. No one was coming for him. The angels did not know what was going on. And as far as Castiel could remember, the attempts to circumvent Lilith's control of his mind and power, to reach Dean Winchester, had been a far cry from successful. The incoherent pieces he remembered of his messages would have meant nothing to the other man, if Dean even could recall it.

And the last attempt, he did not remember much of it at all. Castiel remembered seeing Dean's back, and then everything faded out slowly. What was left of his Grace was nearly gone. Castiel knew that to make another journey like that would leave him entirely open to Lilith's control. What had happened this time was bad enough, but he could only guess as the memory was a pain-filled blur. Lilith found him stretched out to Dean, and though she could not know what he was doing, saw the moment of weakness, and ripped through his mental blocks against his pain. Everything he felt, everything he had he had carefully packaged away had sprouted up, distorting what he was trying to tell the older Winchester. His pain took over his dream, it permeated then suffocated Castiel's attempt to communicate. But strangely, his memory for the very end of the dream, just before he was forced out of Dean's head, was as clear as if he had really been sitting in the room. Dean's own strength must have taken up control of it, when his own waxed and waned. And that thought gave Castiel comfort. Dean had the potential.

"But you did the rest of it without me even asking you too!" The small girl's voice shouted.

Castiel felt a new feeling overtake him: guilt. He had warned the persistent psychic, but he did not have the ability to shield her from his true form. Now, Castiel knew that Dean would respond to Castiel like he was a threat, seek to identify him so that the hunter in Dean could destroy Castiel. But back then, the angel did not understand why the boy had run from him and could not hear him speak.

Castiel had unwittingly preformed the first part of the ritual, then automatically became the object of the second. The one who blinded the seer must submit and ask to be killed by a great power in sterile field. Lilith, a great power of evil, had walked for days through nothing to find the energy lines in the earth where the power was the weakest, the clean untainted area that they now stood at. She was about to order a demon to collect her a psychic when Balthazar, a loyal follower, had told her something very interesting.

Then, all at once, she felt the angel following her, she could see the stain of the breaking Seal on his soul. He had come to her.

She had told Castiel all of this. Lilith wanted him to know how unique he was. He was second angel that would damn the earth. The first betrayer was Lucifer, and now the just Castiel. There was something else the two had in common, Castiel knew. But he did not dwell on it. The more he thought of the collar on the neck, the more he felt his Grace being covered by it. And he had precious little Grace left to sustain him, to keep his will from bending to Lilith. The shield that kept him from Lilith was all but gone. It was a mesh screen to hold back a flood. If he was pushed, the flood was going to be released. And Lilith's push was just a matter of time.

"I will not fail my Father." Castiel said simply, accepting the pain speaking brought him. "Not while His Grace still flows through me."

"Why do you stall, angel?" A harsh male voice spoke up from the back of the room. Castiel opened his eye to look him in the face. "You're a masochist I ever saw one. And believe me, I've seen a few."

"He still believes he can be saved." Lilith answered for Castiel. Her voice reeked with disbelief, and perhaps incredulity. "Who will come? Even your Father does not know where you are." Castiel tried to not react. He tried to remain impassive, impervious. It was hard to hold onto the facade that had been so obviously shattered so many times in the past week.

Lilith suddenly made an enlightened gesture. "Oh, I should have guessed. You think that the Winchesters will come for you. You think that if you saved Dean from hell that he will return the favour."

Castiel felt the net holding back his thoughts from the demon's fray even more. Everything was pulling it apart, and he did not have any Grace to repair it. All his pain, his fear, and his doubt only allowed Lilith to pick at the knots that held his shield up.

"Dean would not come. You are not his friend. Not his ally. Not his concern. In fact, did you not just threaten his little angel and his little brother? You are his enemy." Lilith beamed up at him. "See? You have nothing but me!"

Dean woke up. He jerked his head off of the papers strewn haphazardly across the table and stood up so quickly that the chair he was sitting on fell over. He turned around expecting to see Castiel still there. He hoped the angel would stay with him until Dean could find him. Dean knew what being tortured by demons was like – knew it intimately.

But it was not Castiel who stood by his bed waiting to speak with him.

Uriel's exceedingly haughty, yet bored expression did nothing to improve Dean's mood. "What do you want now?" Dean looked coldly at the angel. How could Uriel stand there looking like he had nowhere to be except to harass him, when Dean knew Castiel was out there somewhere, being slowly ripped apart by Lilith's horde?

Uriel humphed, a very un-angelic noise. "I do not want anything from you. I came to tell you that we have discovered what the second piece of the Seal is."

Dean squared his shoulders. "And you had to wake me up in the middle of the night to do it?"

Uriel laughed. "Why would I go all the way there when all I have to do is slip into your pathetic little mind while you rest?"

"I'm dreaming?" Dean was almost angry. He took a calming breath. And another.

"What was I interrupting? Perhaps a sinful display of lust?" The angel smirked. "So typical of lower beings." The angel took a step closer to Dean and looked him up and down. "I'm amazed the population is as low as it is, what with the self control your race seems to have."

Dean bit his lip, hard. "You gonna' get down to business, or you gonna' keep complaining 'cause you haven't been laid, ever?"

"Do not mistake me, Dean. I will not allow you to-"

"I got it, you sanctimonious prick. Just tell me what the Hell is going on, so we can all not talk to each other."

"As I said, the first part of the ritual to break the Seal has been completed by an unknown entity. The second part of the ritual involves the self sacrifice of that individual." Uriel took a deep breath.

"Wait. Do you know anything about Castiel yet?" Dean's question stopped the angel from leaving.

"No. He has completely fallen out of our senses." Uriel looked at Dean carefully. Dean sucked in a breath, feeling uncomfortable under the angel's scrutiny.

"What could do that?" Dean asked, though he felt he already knew the answers.

"Death and powerful magic." Uriel said concisely without a hint of worry in the tone of his voice.

"How about a black collar?" Dean suggested, thinking back on all of the nightmares that Castiel had sent him. But Dean knew it was Castiel's nightmare.

Uriel's reaction was not one he expected. The room darkened in a frenzied flash. The black shadows cast by wings became visible on the wall behind the angel. "How do you know of it? That is a secret kept by all the Lord's angels and known only to Lucifer himself!"

"What? Well someone let the ball drop on that one. Castiel came to me in a dream just before you did. He was wearing it. I didn't think it was a fashion item. A little too Goth for the Holy Tax accountant look he has going for him." Dean shivered, despite himself.

Uriel's eyes glowed.

"That is unfortunate. I cannot help him. No one can. Not if that is what is binding his Grace." Uriel said without remorse or pity that Dean could tell.

"Why? I thought you guys are supposed to be all Godly and powerful." Dean was truly angry now. He was shouting and he did not care. "Castiel is one of you. One of the freaking angels! And you are abandoning him? This is worse than what you did to Anna!"

"The reason I cannot aid him is what you just said. The collar was built with a failsafe. Only a trusted enemy could remove it from the wearer. It was the only way we could subdue Lucifer's power long enough to transport him to Hell."

"What? You built this? How the Hell did Lilith get it?" Dean felt like punching the man that stood before him.

"I did not build it. It was another. Though I did have opportunity to witness its work." Did appreciation colour Uriel's voice? Dean sincerely hoped not.

"Well, your buddy Lucifer is obviously not still wearing it. Who took it off him?" Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, and bent over trying to control his breathing.

"I did. It was a simple matter to convince the traitor that I was on his side long enough to pull it off an throw him into his prison." Uriel said smugly. Dean looked hard at the angel.

"A trusted enemy." Dean whispered to himself. Figures that it would be Uriel. That fit nicely with what Uriel had showed them thus far.

Dean looked back up at the angel. "We might have a lead on where the Seal is, where Castiel is. Can we expect any divine backup, or we SOL again?"

Uriel glared confusedly at Dean. "Do not expect any aid from me. I have much more important matters to attend to."

A flapping of wings was heard, and the angel was gone.

Dean woke up, and stood up for the third time. Though, this time the person who stood behind him waiting was Ruby. He grinned at her. A light bulb lit in his head. "I have job for you."

"And we are sure that this is the correct place, this time?" Sam asked in a low tone. The Winchester brothers walked hunched over to the outside of the dilapidated warehouse. Ruby was hunkered over behind them, head up looking for any signs of interception. The desert wind blew sharply against the trio, kicking up grit and dust in thick clouds. Dean, in their surprisingly quick walk from the old road, had the opportunity to jump in several dust devils.

Dean lifted the khaki-coloured coat hanging on his arm. "It's where he said it would be." He didn't need to say who 'he' was. Dean wiped the sand from his face and then held up a fist signaling them to stop. "So, we know the deal. Probably four demons in there with Castiel and Lilith. Don't stop, and if Lilith is there, it's get in, then get the Hell out. Ruby you're only objective is to carry Cas out. Do not come in until we give the signal. If you get exorcised with everyone else, it could be awkward."

"Thanks for the overwhelming concern." Ruby stated, her heart not really in it. Sam shot her a look of empathy.

"So kids, no heroism, no major injuries. Just grab my angel and go." Dean nodded and he grabbed the tape recorder out his pocket.

"Your angel?" The corners of Sam's lips lifted. "Dean, I'm not sure that's, umm…. how that works."

"Oh, you know what I mean." Dean shook his head and glanced up at the hot noon sun. "Too bad demons aren't scared of the light, like vampires are. This could be a whole lot easier."

"And we could be scared of garlic, crosses, and our own reflections. But we're not. Get over it." Ruby shook her head. Then she accepted the trench coat from Dean's arms with a wary look. Dean thought she looked like she was scared it was going to bite her.

"I've seen you guys. You should be scared of your own reflection." Dean held up a finger indicating a point to himself.

"Dean, this is really not the place to start this kind of fight. We have to go rescue Godzilla from Mothra, remember?" Sam took a firm grip of his brother's sleeve and pulled him towards the warehouse.

The pair stopped on the threshold for a minute, and looked at each other. Dean smiled at Sam. "Yipee Kai Yeah, Motherfucker!" And they kicked the door in.

Dean immediately slipped his right hand into his pocket and hit the play button. Even if the Latin exorcism did not work on everything in here, it was a suitable distraction for the lower level scum. His left hand was slinging a bucket of holy water out at the nearest demon. The element of surprise was certainly working for them as the demon let out an undignified squeak and fell off the crate he was perched on. The steam rose as the blessed water hit him.

Sam worked in tandem; one hand held Ruby's knife, the other sloshed water out of a large jug. Dean pulled his large Bowie knife from its sheathe, waiting for the response to their entrance. Two black eyed demons stumbled towards them from behind high stacks of crates. They were shaking, twitching, in the too-fast-for-Dean's-eye-to-see way. But they were pissed.

One of them stumbled over to Sam, and got in a good punch before Sam stabbed him in the arm with the knife. Sam staggered back, holding his chin. The tall man shook his head to clear it. Dean frowned in worry. If Sam was already hurt, this mission was screwed.

"Okay Sammy?" Dean asked quickly over his shoulder. He still had enough holy water left to slow down the two demons coming at him. The first one they had run into, and the other from the pair.

"Perfect Dean!" Came Sam's somewhat muffled reply.

Then Dean ran out of holy water.

Both demons jumped at him at the same time. Dean turned, and sidestepped the first, and had to let the second hit him. Now that demon number two was close enough, Dean punched it in the jaw, knocking him backwards long enough for Dean to kick the first across the ribs. The first went rolling away towards Sam. "Incoming!" Dean shouted as he ducked under and performed a two-handed push.

Sam nodded in response and as he pulled the knife from his quarry's throat. The red lightning cackled, and stopped as the body hit the ground. Dean backed up, hoping to run up the time, so that the Latin exorcism would do its job. But a sudden blow to his hip took his breath away.

Dean staggered sideways, falling. Unbalanced. A swear word left his lips. The fourth demon had smashed the tape player, and Dean's right hip, with a crowbar. Dean fought the urge to curl around the injury and cry. It was a shocking pain; the leg did not want to work. He couldn't catch his breath. The demon powered-swing probably did not break the bone, but Holy Hell, was Dean seeing stars.

Dean stumbled around drunkenly. All of a sudden, someone gripped his left arm. He brought his right arm, still holding the Bowie up. "Just me Dean. It's okay, catch your breath." Sam's gentle voice instructed. Dean tucked his head down. Let the blood flow back to it. His vision darkened to the normal color scheme.

Sam was standing in the corner, in front of Dean, with two annoyed black-eyed demons staring back at him. One still held the crowbar. Sam smiled at them and raised his palm. One of the demons eyes widened, and immediately left the body it was riding. The one with crowbar advanced, muttering about cowards. Dean could feel his leg, knew there was going to be a black and blue bruise in a couple of days, but he also heard a little girl laughing from far across the room.

The last black-eyed demon swung down at Sam. Sam stepped quickly away from it, and passed Ruby's knife to Dean. Then Sam grabbed the bar and held on with all of his strength. The demon pushed Sam away from Dean, weaving him across the floor. The demon spun quickly, using the bar as leverage, and knocked Sam into a pile of crates. Some broke as Sam fell through them.

But that was the opportunity Dean was waiting for. The demon stood over top of the younger Winchester, leering, leaving his back open, unprotected. Dean limped over behind the demon and sank the blade deep between his shoulder blades.

Sam pushed the falling body off of him. "That's all the black eyes. Where are Castiel and Lilith?" Dean would have offered his brother and arm up, but given that putting weight on his leg right brought decidedly un-masculine tears to his eyes, Dean just got out of Sam's way.

"In the center of the room. Cas is probably tied up there." Dean said in a low voice. The fact that Lilith was not appearing to kill them was a tad bit suspicious. "Where do you think the super bitch is?"

Sam shrugged. "Maybe she's not here?" They circled around the middle of the room, trying to get a look at what was going on.

"And maybe rainbows will fly out of my well-shaped ass." Then Dean and Sam stopped.

Castiel's back came into view. Or at least they assumed it was him. They could not see his head; it leaned forward, probably resting on the angel's chest. He was hanging by his wrists that were tied to thin yellow rope, looped through the rafters, and tied off to a stake in the ground. The rope was loose, though. The angel's feet rested on the floor in front of him, his right leg straight. His left leg, from here Dean could see the odd bend just under the angel's knee. The angel's back was not all that telling. It was shaking with quick panting breaths. The shirt, as Dean remembered, hung off the angel in tatters, revealing some bruising, and lacerations. The angel was low enough that Lilith could look right into his face.

The brothers walked up to the little girl, Dean threw himself forward with the knife as Sam brought up his hand, this time not a fake-out. Dean had the presence of mind to yell out his signal for Ruby to come in. "Ruby!" Well admittedly it was not a very original signal, though it did have it straight forward value to it.

Lilith backed away from the angel. Then she stomped her foot. "Why are you interrupting me again?" Ruby came at the girl from behind, pinning the girls arms to her sides. Sam began to exorcise her, his face straining. Blood began almost immediately to roll down his chin. Dean passed the knife to his brother, as he quickly drew a devil's trap on the cleared away floor, just big enough for the two demons.

It did not matter though.

Lilith just rolled her eyes and left.

The little girl choked up the demon smoke and fell to the floor. Ruby had dropped her in shock.

Dean immediately whirled around.

Castiel's face was tight, clenched in agony. The angel trembled visibly. Blood coated half of his face from a cut just under his hair line. One eye was swollen shut, and had an ugly puffy look. Below that eye was purple bruise, still red in the middle, along the angel's cheek bone. Dried blood had obviously been trickling from his mouth at some point. His breath made a high pitched wheezing sound. A large gash across the angel's breast bone was deep enough that Dean thought he could faintly see the white of bone. And the blood had turned a white silk shirt red and dried black. The bruising was worse, and darker, on Castiel crunched up stomach than it was on his back.

But Dean's evaluation took less than a second before he wrapped his arms around the angel's middle so that Castiel would not fall when Sam cut the ropes from the angel's raw wrists. Dean caught him, and Castiel's arms fell right into Dean's head. Dean swore at the sudden increase in weight, and almost flopped over onto the angel. He set Castiel down as Sam came up behind to support the angel.

Dean rolled away holding his hip. The pain was brief, but intense. Dean looked up and saw Ruby was still standing there, in front of Castiel, but fearful wonderment was on her face. "This is so strange." She shook herself. "I can feel Castiel's power, locked away. I can feel him." She leaned forward. Castiel suddenly screamed. His voice was hoarse and rough.

"Whatever you are doing, stop it!" Dean pushed at her. He went over, and half kneeled at the angel's side. He cupped the angel's chin in his hands and brought up the angel's face to look at him. "Cas, it's okay – we've got you. You're okay." Dean kept muttering low, reassuring noises as he slipped in behind the angel, taking Sam's place. The angel's head fell back on his shoulder. But one blue eye opened, unseeing.

"Dean, he's really bad. I know you said he was beat up, but –" Sam stopped. They all knew what he was going to say. Sam looked down at the angel's leg. "We shouldn't leave it like that."

Dean looked up at his brother sharply. "I know." He said, still in the same low soothing tone. It reminded him of how he used to talk to Sammy sometimes when they were little, when Sammy would skin his knee. "Go bring the car closer. Don't forget the first aid kit." Sam fished the keys from Dean's pocket. Sam nodded, a strange expression on his face.

"Angel's aren't supposed to..." Sam's voice faded. Then he left at a dead run.

"Hell-bitch, if you wouldn't mind being useful..." Dean started. But quickly quit, when through Castiel's wheezing breaths, the angel managed to whisper something.

"No. Demons can't touch me. Please."

Dean closed his eyes. It was the first time he had heard Castiel beg for anything.

"Okay. This will hurt like a bitch though." Dean reached around the angel's chest and tried to close the gaping wound on the Castiel's sternum with his hand. The angel barely flinched.

Dean looked up at the demon who stood there eyes wide and fearful. But she did not look threatened. Dean wondered about that for a brief instant, then cursed in remembrance. "Do you have his coat here?" Ruby darted back out of sight in response, then came back bearing the tan trench coat. She gave it to Dean.

Dean reverently placed it on top of the angel, tucking it around him. "Help treat for shock." Dean mumbled, remembering the first aid lessons. Dean smiled, the angel had his Holy Tax account suit back.

A soft sound made everybody in the room look towards the little girl in the white princess dress. She sat on the floor rocking back and forth. "Please, didn't mean to. Sorry. Sorry. Please don't be mad. Didn't mean to… sorry..." She was crying silently. Ruby looked down at the child and tried to pick her up. The girl screamed and dove at Dean and Castiel.

To Dean's surprise, Castiel lifted an arm, and the little girl tucked herself under it, trembling. Dean felt every muscle in Castiel's back spasm at the movement, and the angel's breath hitched. "My child... Do not be afraid. God loves... you." The voice was surprisingly strong and peaceful. The seven year old gripped his shirt, wailing and crying in fear and guilt. Castiel still had his arm up, and brought it around to the little girl's forehead. Two fingers touched her between the eyes, and for a second, the little brown eye went blank. The little girl shook her head and glanced up at Dean in confusion.

"What am I doing here? Where's Daddy?" But she still burrowed deep in to the angel's side, half underneath the jacket.

Dean noticed a faint smile on the angel's lips. It said a thousand words: "you're welcome" to the girl, "good bye" to Dean, "I'm done now" to himself. The angel slumped, unconscious.

Dean scrunched up his face in fear, but he still felt the angel's fast, hot breath on his cheek. "Ruby, get over here at and take off this goddam collar."

Ruby hurried over, and knelt in front of the trio. The little girl shrank behind the unconscious angel and Dean, cowering. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Ruby mumbled absently. Her eyes flicked black, though, when her finger's touched the black metal. Castiel's body started convulsing weakly. She pulled at it. Nothing happened.

"Take it off already!" Dean shouted, concern getting the better of his already frayed temper. Castiel's broken leg was dancing around on the floor. One of his arms came up and smacked Dean in the face. The little girl clung tightly to the other one, unsure of what was happening. But Dean knew that she sensed that Castiel was good and safe. For some reason, the young always had a better perception of reality than most.

"I'm trying, it won't come!" Ruby responded, then let go quickly. And Castiel stopped thrashing around in Dean's arms.

The angel lay there, deathly still.

Not bad huh! So remember reviews feed the muse, and my ego! SO PLEASE CLICK THE GREEN LITTLE LINK JUST BELOW THIS MESSAGE! And did a couple of you notice that I answered some of your requests? SO, reviewing does get you somewhere!!!

Therefore, review, pay compliments, and constructive criticisms, but remember Santa's watching you so if you flame you will get coal in your stocking, or sacrificed to the evil gods off of A Very Supernatural Christmas lol, which they are airing on the 25th regular time, cool hey! I know what I'm going to be doing at 8:00 my time…

REVIEW!!!! !!!!WEIVER

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