A/N: I haven't seen the finale yet and I know several other people who won't be able to do so right away, so if you leave me a review, please don't give away any spoilers!

Life hack: chase away post-season 12 blues by checking out Aini NuFire's latest fic in her series, Burn It Down! It starts out a little angsty, but you'll get closure and feels with our guys a lot sooner than you'll get anything from the show writers...

Meanwhile, enjoy some nice feelsy moments between Sam and Cas! ^_^ ...in between the blood and bruises and slowly dying thing...

Sam couldn't hold back the soft moans of pain that kept escaping him, his attempt to show no fear betrayed by the shuddering of his body. His vision was coated in a layer of red as blood dripped down his forehead into his one good eye. The other was swollen shut already, but that was the least of his injuries.

The hunter's entire lower body felt like he was back in the Cage, fire piercing the thigh of one leg and the knee of his other. His rib cage was screaming; how many ribs had Cole succeeded in breaking so far? Sam had felt at least one snap, but there were probably more.

He didn't even know by now how long Cole had been working him over. Hours? And yet Cole was infinitely patient, revealing not a hint of urgency. He was cold and methodical; Sam could tell the soldier had been trained how to inflict pain. But Sam had withstood torture before, and he would endure far worse than this and never give his brother up.

Sam could only pray that Cole never managed to contact Dean.

"You're a pretty hardy guy, Sammy," Cole said now, for all the world like they were discussing the weather, like he wasn't currently wiping Sam's blood off a pair of brass knuckles. "I can respect that. I was hoping I could keep taking it easy on you, but you're making this way worse for yourself. Tell me how to find Dean, and this will all be over."

"You'll… never find him," Sam groaned, bowed forward and good eye half-closing.

"He'll come looking for you eventually. Looks like your GPS is turned on, so at some point-"

Cole broke off, both of them gazing towards the door as the sound of a car's motor drifted in from outside. Sam's heart froze, icy dread dripping down his back before he realized that wasn't the familiar rumble of the Impala. Besides, Dean was probably long gone, probably consumed by the Mark already. But then who…?

"Finally," Cole whispered, jerking a rag out of his duffel of toys. "Gonna need you to stay quiet now, Sammy."

"No-" But he was cut off as Cole shoved the rag into his mouth, silencing his yell. Sam watched with wide eyes as the soldier grabbed his gun up again and hurried for the front wall of the barn, pressing against it so that he would be out of sight of whoever walked through the door.

The silence was interminable, Sam's shoulders shaking as he struggled to breathe through his nose, clogged with blood. His terrified gaze remained latched on the door of the barn.

When it creaked open, Sam tried to shout a warning, but it disappeared in a muffled whimper into the rag.

"Sam…?"

In the doorway, unaware of the danger he was in, Cas stood staring at the hunter with wide, horrified eyes.

SPN SPN SPN

Castiel wasn't sure what he had expected to find when he reached Sam's position. It was already all he could do to stay on his feet, to push himself forward when his head felt muddled with the cloud of slowly disintegrating grace. He supposed he really should have come up with a plan, but the quiet, steely coldness in the stranger's voice on the other end of the phone had filled the angel with urgency.

Reaching Sam, as quickly as possible, had preceded all other thoughts.

Pushing the door open with more effort than it should have taken, Castiel was met with the most chilling sight he could have been expecting.

He had found Sam, but he was clearly too late to save his young friend from the torture that had already been meted out. The hunter was covered in blood and bruises, agony etched into every line of his face. He was bound to a chair, a wad of cloth stuffed into his mouth, entire body heaving from pain and desperation.

Why? Castiel's mind clouded even more in confusion and anger as he limped swiftly forward. Why had the stranger done this to Sam?

Sam was trying to shout something, words lost in the gag. Castiel reached out and pulled the cloth free, even as his fractured grace finally pinged with the obvious fact that his exhausted mind had overlooked: Sam's captor was still there.

"Behind you!" Sam shouted as soon as he was able, but the angel never got that far.

He'd only managed to turn halfway around when a bruising pain exploded in the side of his face. As dizzy as he was, the blow was enough to knock Castiel off-balance, sending him reeling into a small table close by. The angel tried to catch himself on it, bringing his sword arm up with the foggy idea of fighting back. He needed to protect Sam…

Three faces swam into view before slowly filtering into a single image of a scowling man with fist raised. Castiel couldn't duck in time to avoid the strike. This time, he went down to the floor with a heavy grunt.

"Cas! No!"

Pure reflex drove the angel to lurch back up before his attacker could finish him off. Listing to the side and stumbling against the table again, Castiel lashed out with his blade, determined to show this man that he was still an angel even in his weakened state. He heard a grunt of pain and felt the weapon catch on cloth and flesh.

It wasn't a solid hit, though, and he was still unsteady on his feet. Castiel felt a hand latch around his wrist and yank him around, twisting his non-sword arm behind his back. He was propelled forward against the table and shoved down over it, cheek resting on the rough wood.

Before the angel could try to shrug his attacker off, something cold and hard pressed against his temple. Castiel suspected it was a gun, and froze.

"No!" Sam cried out again, with the creak of a chair. "Cole, stop, please! He's got nothing to do with this!"

"Then he shouldn't be here," another voice pointed out from right above Castiel's ear. The gun pressed harder into the side of his head. Ordinarily, the angel would have had nothing to worry about, but in his current state, a bullet to the head might just be more than he could heal himself from.

"Cole, please. We- we didn't even know him back then."

"Shut up, Sammy. You… Cas, is that right? Cas, you're gonna drop that little knife of yours, okay? And my gun isn't gonna go off and splatter your brains all over Sammy. He wouldn't like that very much. And I'd hate to think about what might happen to him if you get me all worked up."

Castiel swallowed back the shame and horror at just how easily his enemy had won, but there were precious few options at the moment. So much for coming to Sam's aid. Slowly, the angel allowed his blade to fall to the floor beside the table.

"There we go, that's real good, Cas."

The grip on his pinned wrist loosened and reached for his coat instead, hauling Castiel back up off the table. The gun didn't move from its position, though, as the man—Cole—said,

"Now real nicely, I want you to get down on your knees and put your hands on your head. Can you do that for me, sport?"

Castiel frowned at the calm condescension, but in the face of Sam's predicament, he had no choice but to comply with the request. The angel sank down to his knees and raised his hands to his head. The gun slid around, still pressing tightly to the back of his skull, and Sam was watching him with fearful eyes. Well… one eye, anyway. On closer inspection, Castiel could see how viciously the hunter had been beaten, and his blood boiled.

"Why are you doing this?" he snapped as he felt hands patting him down in search of more weapons. The bite in his voice was ruined somewhat by the fit of coughing that followed, wracking his form so hard that Cole had to grab his coat again to hold him still.

"Well, Cas, that's a long story," their captor replied. "I'm sure Sam will catch you up."

"You-" It was no use though. The exertion of the fight had wrecked Castiel's store of energy; he couldn't suppress the wet, rattling coughs… or the blood it carried from his lungs, spattering the ground in front of him. Why had he even thought he would be of use?

By the time the bout had passed, Cole had let go of his coat and Castiel was leaning forward on his hands and knees in a humiliating posture of weakness to ease the pain in his chest. His tired eyes could see the horror and alarm in Sam's expression when he finally managed to lift his gaze.

"Cas…?" Sam whispered.

Castiel's vision was filled instead with Cole's heavy boots as the man came to stand between him and his friend. Cole squatted down in front of him with an odd look. His pistol came to tilt the angel's chin upwards, but didn't remain there.

"You're the sick guy," Cole stated, expression clearing. "The one on the phone." He frowned then, blinking back what appeared to be surprise. "Man, how did you even make it here?"

"I drove," Castiel rasped, staring right back in equal surprise. "I don't understand… you- you're not a demon. Or an angel. What kind of monster…?"

Cole straightened back up and rolled his eyes. "I can see you've both been drinking the same Kool-Aid," he snapped.

"What? I've never had Kool-Aid." Castiel murmured, not sure what the powdered beverage might have to do with anything, but realizing one thing with perfect clarity: human… Cole was nothing but human.

Cole gave him an odd look, then shook his head and took the angel's arm. He pulled Castiel upright, only to urge him back down again a few feet away, close to a beam that ran from the floor to the rafters in support of the roof. With the gun still in Cole's hand, and Sam in such helpless proximity, Castiel allowed his wrists to be bound behind him around the beam by a smooth, plastic zip.

"Welcome to the party, Cas," Cole said with a grunt as he moved back around to paw through the angel's pockets.

Castiel frowned, slumping back against the support, grateful that he at least didn't have to hold his own weight up. "I fail to see anything festive about these circumstances."

"Your pal's a little slow, huh, Sammy?" Cole asked over his shoulder as he relieved Castiel of his cell phone and turned it on. "No worries. You just sit tight, okay, Cas? I can see you're not going to be much of a threat, so there's really no reason to hurt you unless you give me one. You're not gonna give me one, right?"

Castiel angled a glare up at his captor, torn between outrage and mortification, especially when Cole smiled down at him with the same blank condescension.

"Just… leave him alone," Sam whispered from his chair, also slumped and seeming disheartened. "He- he's not the one you want."

"Well now, you're right about that," agreed Cole as he turned his back on the angel and flipped his phone on with a soft beep. "Besides, there's no point in killing a guy who's nearly dead already."

The angel looked away quickly as Sam's horrified gaze shot over to him, not wanting his young friend to see the truth in Cole's words. The man only chuckled softly and went on,

"Yeah, there's no hiding it. I know the look. Seen it in too many soldiers' faces, the look of someone who knows they're a dead man walking. He'll die soon with or without me."

"Cas?" Sam whispered, his tone heartbreakingly young and gentle in spite of his own horrible wounds. Castiel continued to avoid his gaze but was too exhausted to convincingly refute the words or offer reassurance.

Cole turned back to Castiel now, holding his phone up with a frown as he knelt down in front of the bound angel. "You have Dean listed as a contact here."

The angel's mouth tightened. "Yes," he agreed, seeing no harm in doing so. "You won't be able to find him that way, though. The voice says his number isn't in service."

"Then how would you get in touch with him?" the man demanded.

Sam straightened in his chair, a low rustling at the sudden movement as he gasped out, "Cole, you son of a bitch, leave him out of this! You've already got me!"

"Answer the question, Cas," Cole snapped over Sam's protest, his casual unconcern disappearing into impatience and threat.

Castiel stared at the man, slowly shaking his head. "Don't you think-" he started, before a harsh cough forced him to pause. The angel wheezed for breath, head lolling forward. It took a moment before he'd regained enough air to choke out, "Don't you think… if I could have contacted Dean for backup… I wouldn't have come on my own, in this condition?"

Cole's hand lashed out and grabbed the angel by the collar, yanking him forward as Cole pushed his face right up next to Castiel's. "You getting smart with me, boy?"

Any answer Castiel had was lost in a fit of raspy, hacking coughs that left his chest hurting and his head dizzy. By the time it had cleared, Cole had released his grip and stood again.

"I can see you're not going to do me much good," the man conceded with a shrug, pocketing the phone. "That's alright. You can still help me out. I'm sure if you came all this way for Sammy, you probably don't want to see him get hurt, right?"

Castiel felt his heart freeze in his chest as Cole circled back around to Sam, resting a hand on the young man's shoulder. No… please, no, he couldn't let anything happen to Sam, his charge, his family, right there in front of him. He couldn't sit there and watch his friend be tortured, helpless to fly to his aid.

"What do you want?" he croaked.

"I need your help convincing Sam here to just give me the answers I need," Cole explained. He rested the gun on Sam's other shoulder, the threat obvious. "Why don't you ask him where Dean is?"

"Cas, he'll kill him."

For a moment, Castiel wasn't sure which pronoun belonged to which man, before realizing that it didn't matter. Either way, they might lose Dean. He stared at Cole and slowly shook his head.

"He isn't going to tell you."

"Sure he will," Cole replied easily. He shifted around so fast that Sam and Castiel both jumped, the barrel of the gun jamming into the wound on Sam's thigh so that the hunter bucked back and cried aloud with agony. "It won't be pretty," Cole went on, "but he'll tell me eventually."

"Stop!" Castiel snapped, maneuvering himself forward despite the weariness in his body. "He will never betray Dean, no matter what you do to him!" The angel lifted his head, eyes flashing. "And neither will I."

Cole's eyebrows rose, looking between the bound angel and the wounded warrior. Tension mounted, the air nearly crackling with the convergence of wills, before Cole suddenly straightened with a small smile.

"Like I said… sure he will."

He moved like lightning, one hand clamping on Sam's right knee while his gun aimed at the hunter's foot. The violent report from the pistol wasn't enough to cover the sound of Sam's screams. Castiel lurched forward, his lungs exploding at the maneuver, but he couldn't save his friend nor reach the man so cruelly tormenting him.

It was only luck that Castiel truly didn't have the answers Cole was looking for, because the angel knew in that moment that he would have given their captor anything to buy a little mercy for Sam. He couldn't betray Dean, but neither could he betray the younger Winchester, equally dear to Castiel. His heart crumbled as Sam choked on breathless cries, obviously trying to hold back the sounds but unable.

With gritted teeth and moisture in his own eyes, Castiel locked his piercing blue gaze on Cole and ground out, "If it's the last thing I do, I will kill you myself and save Dean the trouble."

Cole shrugged, tucking the gun and Castiel's blade into his duffel, which he then hoisted onto his shoulder. "You do that, friend," he replied. "I'm sure you two have plenty to discuss so I'll leave you alone for a while. While I'm gone… you boys should do some serious thinking about whether a monster like Dean is really worth dying for."

With one final pat to Sam's shoulder, Cole turned for the door and disappeared outside.

SPN SPN SPN

Sam concentrated all his effort on controlling his breaths, trying to keep them steady. If only the pain would stop… both legs were wrecked, and breathing only exacerbated the fire in his chest from the broken ribs. Moving hurt. Sitting still hurt. Even thinking hurt.

"Sam?" Cas murmured from his position by the beam, barely visible with nothing but a single lantern to illuminate the barn. "Sam."

"Yeah," he whispered back. "I… I'm alright." The hunter snorted softly at the ridiculousness of this lie. He hadn't felt less alright since… well, since Lucifer. A shudder trembled through his body, the agony making it all the easier to start imagining he was back there again.

"Sam," Cas said, more insistent. "Stay with me."

Releasing his tensely held breath, Sam turned his attention to the angel. Cas was watching him with pain-filled eyes and clenched jaw. But the hunter could also see the dullness in his gaze, the white pallor of his skin, and the sheen of sweat and fever. Guilt crept into Sam's heart.

"I didn't mean… to get you into this," he said with a sigh. "Cas, I'm so sorry."

"No," the angel replied, straightening as much as he could. "Sam, I'm the one who is sorry. I… I'm afraid I've failed as your guardian. Yet again."

The bitterness in his voice was more than Sam could take, though he didn't know how to reassure his friend. It was hard to concentrate through the shroud of pain. "How can you still not see yourself any clearer than that?" he asked as he shook his head. "How long did it take you to get here?"

"Too long. I followed your-"

"Cas," Sam interrupted gently. "I mean, how far did you have to come, barely able to walk, just to find me? How far did you have to drag yourself when you're as sick as you are, just because you knew I was in trouble? Wouldn't it have been easier to just give me up?"

"Give you up?" Cas repeated with a tone of anger and disbelief. "I will never give you up, Sam."

A tired smile briefly swept over Sam's face and he closed his eyes. "See? Exactly. I'd pick you as a guardian any day."

A brief stretch of silence fell, before the hunter swallowed hard and managed to ask, "Cas? He said… you were dying."

Another silence. When Sam opened his eyes, Cas was watching him with sorrow, mixed with something that looked horribly like resignation. The hunter shook his head.

"I mean, he was wrong though, right? You would have told us. We wouldn't have left you there in that motel to die all alone. We… we would have done something. He was wrong."

Still, the angel didn't answer. Sam could almost feel the weight of his world breaking apart.

"He was wrong," the hunter repeated savagely, twisting against his bonds and ignoring the bursts of fire it caused. "Dean's left me, Cas. You wouldn't do that to me, too. You came all this way…" God, the pain was too much, muddling his head. "You didn't come this far to die now. Cole doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Dean hasn't left you, Sam."

Sam heard a rustle of movement from the angel, followed by a quiet groan.

"You know... humans can be so unpredictable," Cas rasped on. "It's one reason the angels have a hard time with humanity. There's no order, no certainties but a very precious few. And one of those certainties, Sam, is Dean's loyalty to you. I don't know why we haven't been able to contact him, but it's not because he's left you."

So strong was the angel's conviction, Sam could feel some of the tension lifting from his shoulders. He supposed it was possible there were other explanations… not that it would matter, if Cole killed him and Cas before Dean could find out what had happened.

But if Cole planned on doing anything to Cas, it would have to be over Sam's dead body.

"It's your grace, isn't it?" Sam murmured, watching their angel closely. Cas fell silent and looked down.

"It… is burning out," he finally admitted in the stillness. "What I did, stealing another angel's grace and consuming it for myself…"

"You did what you had to."

"It doesn't change the fact that Theo's grace doesn't belong to me. This vessel wasn't made for it and... it can't hold it forever. Cole was right, Sam. I… I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you or Dean to see me like this, to have to watch me die. I thought… I thought I was protecting you."

No.

Squaring his shoulders, Sam lifted his head and met the angel's gaze, a fierce fire growing in his heart that had nothing to do with his broken ribs. No. They had lost enough. The world was dark enough without losing the light of the only angel who had faithfully cared for creation since its dawning. The angel who would sacrifice himself again and again for a family who could only barely live up to such devotion. The angel who would rather die than lose a human under his care.

"No," Sam said out loud. "You're not going to die, Cas, because I'm not going to let you. We're Winchesters. Me and Dean, you. We're going to get out of here, and we're going to figure this out, and you are going to be fine."

"Sam-"

"And that," the hunter growled, cutting him off. "That's a certainty, too."