Hey everyone! So I know I have not posted in two months, and for that I apologize. With work and school, I have not had much time to write at all :D So here is your next chapter, let me know what you think!

-Paperganstah

Paulathecat- Yup Dean is the man!

Darkphoenix2345- Haha don't worry, he has the Winchesters to save him! Yup poor Sam having to deal with those two.

Forbidden-lover1- Yeah he is being a weanie :p

Haventmetmyangelyet- Mmm that is my favorite type of Dean too!

Angelic Abomination- Ha love the "de-nile" line. Yup I could really go for some angel food cake…

"Baby Come On Home"

Pain was a sensation Castiel had not known before. In the span of time he had spent in his heavenly garrison, Castiel had been wounded in the name of his father more times than he could count. He had healed himself from the stores of his grace and never thought much of it. That all changed when he found his way into a human vessel and nestled his very being within the body of something living and breathing. He was slowly learning to love and that he could be loved in return. He now had a glimpse into the emotions he often saw pass across both Dean and Sam's faces.

He was learning fast. He understood that being sad or knowing someone was disappointed in him were slightly different feelings but hurt the same. Castiel had learned of that hurting was not the same thing as pain. He had been wounded and healed countless times, but he had not truly known pain. The difference between the two was that pain could last long after he had healed himself.

Castiel was an angel of the lord and now he hung from frail chaffed wrists in a dark place of the earth. His grace was dwindling and he had been captured by a monster that he could have once vanquished in seconds with a simple flick of one of his now bound wrists.

The newly discovered feeling of fear crept upon him and made him sick and dizzy. It ebbed with the pounding in his head. He would almost lose his mind until he would think of Dean and feel a warmth within him that he assumed was hope. But in the lonely darkness those bursts of light were firing through his hurting body less often. He listened to blood drip from his body and felt it cool when it slipped away. Castiel now assumed he was dying. He had prepared himself for this moment before. When Dean asked him to abandon what he knew and follow him into the uncertainty that made up his and his brother's lives. He let Dean leave him to rescue Sam as he stood with the prophet and waited for the end. This was also a very possible road to his own death, but Castiel found himself quacking within this moment. Raphael would have smited him within seconds and scattered every element of his grace into the night.

This was different. Here he would die utterly alone. Here he was the plaything of a monster that gnawed at his sensitive flesh and sent the icy cold fear running through his body. Sensation had awakened in his body when Dean tilted back his head and kissed him by the lake. It had fired up every dead nerve in his body and even the slightest pressure of Dean's fingertips on his skin had made him gasp and shiver at the powerful pleasure granted him by the man's warm body.

Now that he was no longer drunk off of Dean he knew why the angels were punished from expressing emotion. He was doubtful and scared and more insecure of himself than he had ever been. When Dean was not there he was assaulted with so many of the negative emotions that he allowed himself to hang limply and allow his senses to dull.

"C'mon Samsquatch. We gotta get to him now. Before the monster chows him down, preferably."

Sam looked pinched at Dean. "I know. But look, we have no idea where this creature is holed up and we both know that it is smarter than you at least."

"Hey watch it you son of a bitch. That really hurt my feelings!"

Sam rolled his eyes. Dean's attempts at lightening the mood were just pathetic right now. He could tell his brother was barely containing panic at the very idea of Castiel's current fate. "Let's set up a couple of Molotov cocktails first."

"Good idea Sammy boy. Then we can properly gank the dick when we find him." Dean rummaged around in his pack and pulled out two beers. "Cheers brother, it's three o'clock somewhere, right? Dean chugged one in a minute and filled it with gasoline. "Got some rags besides the Toby Keith shirt in your bag?"

Sam frowned at him. "That's not a rag. I think he is a musical genius."

"Uh-huh. So you don't want me to "rag" on your man?"

Sam looked exceedingly pinched at this comment. "Look Dean. I know you are freaked out about Cas and everything, but you don't have to take it out on me with your crappy jokes."

Dean grimaced. "I know. Sorry Sammy. I don't want to hurt your sensitive self, but I am scared for Cas. Not to mention the fact that I hate Country."

"Hey without Country there would be no Rock."

"Without Country the world would suck a little less. Made your Molotov?" Sam nodded as he stuffed a piece of rag into the bottle. "I'm going to try to reach Cas again. Make a couple more of those."

"Sure Dean." Sam went back to work as his brother sighed and closed his eyes.

"Cas come on. I need to know that you are ok. Please give me something Cas!" Still nothing. "God damn it Cas, just pick up already! You'd better be dead if you aren't going to answer or I will just kill-Cas?"

"Dean." Dean could hear his friend's voice faintly in his head. He hoped that it was just a bad connection.

"Cas? Dude are you in my head right now?"

"Yes, but I can't keep up this connection very long. Please Dean."

"What Cas?"

"I…I think I need help."

Dean chuckled, relived that Cas was still alive enough to act like his usual self. "Okay first things first. Are you hurt?" Castiel nodded, not realizing that Dean couldn't see him at that moment. "Cas? Damn it hang in there you son of a bitch!"

"I'm still here Dean."

"So why didn't you answer?" Dean sighed and ran a hand though his hair. "You nodded didn't you."

"Yes Dean. I apologize."

"Nah don't. I can't see you right now Cas. That was cute, but don't do it again, 'time is of the essence.' Now, are you hurt?"

"Yes. I think I have lost a lot of blood but I am still currently alive."

"Good to know, I wouldn't have guessed that detail on my own." He looked worried. "Did the Wendigo…feed off of you?"

Castiel nodded again and stopped himself. "Yes he did." Dean had never heard Castiel sound so quiet and scared before. And it terrified him.

"It's okay buddy. Where do you think you are?"

Castiel glanced around, attempting to avoid looking at the grizzly bodies hanging near him. "I am not entirely sure. It is dark. I know that I must be underground somewhere and there are strange metal tracts."

"Are they rusty and in kind of a line?"

"Yes."

"Then he must be holed up in a mine shaft. What is with these creeps and hanging out in the mines with the Boonies? Stupid son of a bitch probably doesn't know that he has the Winchester's on his trail."

"No I am sure he hasn't. Wendigos don't use cell phones do they? Or computers like Sam? I am not sure how they would find out about you."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Okay Cas. Way to make me feel special."

"I am not sure how I did make you feel special, but you are welcome," Castiel responded warmly.

"Uhh yeah. Thanks Cas."

"Dean?"

"Yeah Cas?"

"Dean, when you get afraid, what do you do? I believe that I am feeling afraid right now."

"Just hang in there Cas. I'll find you. I promise."

Dean leaned against a tree as he felt his heart clench in pain for his friend, and as of last night, lover. His poor Cas was trapped somewhere underground possibly bleeding to death and it was his fault for losing him. This was on him. He had never felt more like a failure but knew that this was not the time for self-pity. This was the time to haul his ass up and ice the son of a bitch that was killing his angel.

"Okay Sammy. We need to find Cas. Any idea on where to start?"

"Well, what did he tell you?"

Dean fussed with the top of his Molotov. "I am not sure exactly, but from what he described I'm pretty sure Mr. Wendigo is shacking up in a mine shaft."

"Typical."

"Yeah that's what I thought."

Sam looked thoughtful. "Okay, so I'm sure the mine was used to export its resources and import things for the miners."

"Wow Sam. That was really insightful. Not to mention how helpful it was."

Sam looked pinched. "Look man, you need to pay attention. What helps miners get from place to place in a more timely fashion?"

Dean grinned and Sam braced himself for another bad joke or awkward reference. "The Map."

"The what?" Sam looked confused, wondering if Dean was actually being serious for once.

"The Map. It's from Dora the Explorer."

"Just wow Dean. First Dr. Sexy and now you watch Dora? There is something very wrong with you bro."

Dean looked a bit put-off. "Okay then genius. What is the answer Alex Trebec?"

"You're on a roll today. A road Dean. People build roads to get to places faster."

"Well duh Sam, and here I thought you had thought up something good."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Well, I actually have. I noticed a really decrepit looking one that went off of the fishing trail. It's overgrown but looks wide enough that it would have fit large carts and animals before the mine was abandoned."

"So we follow the road and we find Cas?"

"Yeah. Let's get moving."

The boys found their way to the river but did not stop to enjoy its scenery like before. The dragon flies flitted over the water unnoticed. Fish darted into the shallows. Everything was quiet and it would have bothered the brothers if they had paid attention. Unlike Dean, the Wendigo had already known that they would follow the path. Straight into his lair to be hung up on hooks and slowly bled out as the Wendigo removed their flesh in strips.

Pale eyes narrowed when it caught the whiff of gasoline when the gigantic one poured it into a bottle. They were up to something. The Wendigo had smelled the similar kerosene on the lamps that hunters brought into his woods. He knew that where there was gasoline fire was soon to follow. He would have to rid them of their weapons before they tried to rescue their pretty little friend.

The Wendigo knew that there was something strange about that one. He bled like the others but there was something almost…pure about him. There was an innocence about him that the Wendigo loved to tear at along with his sensitive skin. Confusion at the pain, at the newness of fear. He was another sort of creature and the Wendigo could not place what. Somewhere in his once human mind he could recall flashes of his past life. Of campfires that warmed his food instead of scaring him into a man-made hole in the earth. Of catching plentiful game in the spring and others there to share it.

Before the hungry winter, before he placed warm chunks of human flesh into his mouth, he was human and felt things he could no longer define. He was very old and had forgotten about the things that pleased humans. Now it returned to him in small increments.

He liked the deep blue of his captive's eyes. The softness of his skin. The way he smelled of lost things that lived above his dank home. He had enjoyed listening to the pleas of other captives but this one remained silent. He would hear him scream bargains at him before long. When he finally killed his two protectors then it would just be them and the darkness until either he tired of the blue eyed beauty or another spell of famine came upon him. But now it was time to hunt once more.