I think the rating will go up in the next chapter, just to warn you all. Also, I don't mean to do the cliffhanger thing, it just happens so please don't kill me at the end of this chapter. The next one may be a little while in coming, I've got two parts of A Path to Explode in Flames to get up in the next week and although these chapters are far easier to write (on account of the fact that I don't need to do any historical research) the next one will be 'M' rated which I always find harder. Anyway, onwards.

oOo

Simply seeing for himself that Dean is alive sends a wave of relief through Castiel. It is one thing to feel it through the bond but another entirely to see that the body of his charge is whole and relatively undamaged, even given the length of time that he has been a captive. It is also a distraction, however, seeing the friend that he cares about so deeply when he sole focus should be on the archangel that he has come to fight.

The archangel that he fully intends on killing.

Something in him bursts and flares brighter, his grace seeming to swell with awe and gratitude and relief. This is Dean's soul, he realises, and the affect that it has on both him and the sword is immediate. Castiel feels like he could topple mountains with little effort, feels like he can kill Raphael without thought where before it was an impossible dream even with the sword of souls. The sword burns brighter, glowing impossibly white in the dull room and Raphael seems taken aback by it.

"Where did you get that?" The archangel demands as he draws his own blade. At this point his followers are nowhere to be seen, but Castiel is no fool and he is well aware that Raphael could call them in at any moment. There is not question, however, about how Castiel has come to make it work. The answer is watching them from his seat, worry written across his features and concern pulsing through the link that Castiel wishes, in this moment only, that they did not have.

Such a wish is quickly rescinded when Castiel feels more than he hears Dean's warning;

-Behind you-.

His response is to spin, to thrust the sword with a certainty that he should not feel. This is his brother that he is killing, a brother who follows Raphael through fear and misguided loyalty, and he should not be so quick to run him through. Grace flares, however, and a part of Dean's soul rejoices as one of his tormentors is rendered to nothing more than a burnt out shell. His awareness of his brother's location, Castiel concludes, was also communicated through the link that he now has with Dean. With the hunter to watch his back in this way, Castiel now feels a greater confidence in his plan than he did before.

"Release him, Raphael," the angel demands of the one he once respected as the greatest weapon of Heaven next only to Michael. "Let me take him and mend the damage that your actions have caused. Dean is not a part of our war, he should never have been brought into this."

"Dean is as much a part of this as you, more so." The rage in Raphael's voice burns hotter than anything Castiel has ever heard from any of his brethren, even Zachariah. Raphael harbours a deep hatred of the hunter and Castiel cannot understand why, not truly, the actions that Castiel has taken have all been his own. "Dean was the one who talked you into rebelling, without his influence you would not have dared to turn against us. Without his influence no other would have followed you upon your return."

Castiel does not let the words of his brother distract him, for that is exactly what they are intended to do. Instead he pays attention to the bond that he has with Dean, uses it to make him aware of the threats that are approaching and to dispatch them even as the hunter's worry washes over him. This is new, different and unheard of and Castiel does not know if the bond is supposed to work like this. Castiel does not know if there is supposed to be such harmony between soul and grace when neither party wanted this bond in the first place.

Raphael does not leave Castiel to defend himself against single opponents for long, calling in more and more of his followers to help overwhelm the angel. Castiel knows his mistake here, the mistake in trying for honour before killing his brother. The mistake of simply not stabbing Raphael in the back as he should have done. The element of surprise has been taken from him, the rising levels of Dean's concern are becoming more of a distraction than an aid and Castiel knows that if something does not change quickly there will be no success for him this day.

If something does not change then this is the end of the road for them all.

oOo

When Castiel first appears Dean is almost overwhelmed by the feelings of relief and sorrow that swamp him. Bright concern and bleak determination follow and the hunter knows that these are not his thoughts, not his feelings, because all he feels for himself is relief and joy. Castiel has come for him, just as he knew that his friend would, and that makes him regret that he ever allowed Raphael's words to make him doubt.

It still hurts, however, even though the angel's presence has lessened the overwhelming need for Cas and turned it back into that senseless yearning that Dean has felt on the fringes of his awareness since he first learnt the name of the being who pulled him from Hell. Ignoring the feeling has always been the way forward, so ignored as to be almost forgotten and imagined. Now, however, it tears through him tenfold. Now it overrides all thought for but a moment and it is a moment too long. Grace burns and sears at him. Agony races through him to the bone and though he is conscious and aware it is all he can do to sit upright, it is all he can do not to scream.

It does not stop his mind from shrieking a warning at his friend when one of Raphael's flunkies appears behind him. He does not know who is more surprised that it actually worked, but it does not stop the hunter from continuing to do so as he tries to pull himself together enough to be of use to Cas.

It is not a short process, made all the more agonising by the way that his body seems so eager to give in to the exhaustion from days of pain and torture. Dean has long been able to fight off the haze of unconsciousness when he needs to, however, a necessity that has been brought about by the horror story of his life. Dean's friend is in danger and he is not about to allow his injuries to keep him from going to Castiel's aid.

Besides, they both need to make it out of this alive if they are to discuss this bond and the implications behind it. They both need to make it out of this alive so that Dean can find out if the emotions that he feels from Castiel are real or simply a reflection of his own. Part of him cannot help but hope that his affection for his friend is shared. A greater part of him is terrified that it is not and that Castiel now knows that secret that he has been keeping from even himself.

It is that thought, that worry, that drives him to his feet. That thought which causes him to pick up the blade of a fallen angel and consider it. Castiel may not share the same feelings for him, but now it is long past the point were Dean can consider not asking. Now is long past the point where Dean can live with not knowing. Too much has been shared with this bond, too much has passed between them without either one of them having a say in the matter and Dean needs the chance to make this right, he needs to know that he can.

Dean needs to know that Castiel can fix this and that they are not going to be bonded forever. He needs to know that it is alright that he wants this bond broken. Most of all, though, he needs to know that the angel will not judge him for such base human emotions as lust and desire. He knows that he has been a less than ideal friend the last year, knows that this is in part to the pain Castiel left within him when the angel left, the fear for Sam and the drive to fix the brother who no longer was. Most of all, though, the fault behind his behaviour has been his emotions, his need to hide and control them when in reality he has been terrified that his next prayer to Castiel will be the one where he is told that the angel has lost his war.

It is something that he needs to make sure never happens.

It is fortunate that he has been written off as insignificant, fortunate that he is seen as too badly injured to go up against any angel and survive. Even Castiel has written him off as useless in this moment and that is something that makes Dean see red more than anything. Cas, of them all, should know better than to underestimate Dean, should know better than to write him off when everyone else thinks him finished after all that they have been through. Still, he is unguarded and unwatched and Raphael's back is to him. It is a simple matter to walk up behind the archangel. A simple matter to thrust the blade through the ribs of the unfortunate man Raphael is wearing as a suit.

"That was for Cas, this is for me," he snaps as he twists the hilt, turning the blade inside the body and causing the archangel to jerk once before the hunter yanks the sword from the body. Around him the fighting stops as the lesser angels realise that their leader is injured, fallen and as light begins to build and flash Dean looks at his friend. "We win," he tells him and then feels his jaw drop.

Around Castiel he can see the flare of dark wings. Pain rips through him once more and this time he welcomes the oblivion that it brings with it. This time he does not want to feel.

Like I said, I don't do it on purpose. Please don't hurt me!

Artemis