Dean.

I didn't know it was possible for me to hate heights any more than I already had, but a lot of things I hadn't thought possible had been happening lately. Castiel's scales were smooth (I was not going to compare them to ice) to the point that I constantly felt like I was going to slip off. The strong cold wind blowing against me wasn't helping, and like the wind that was created just from flying wasn't enough, every flap of his wings sent another gust up from behind. And that was saying nothing about the noise. Every beat sounded like every bat I had ever seen was flying right behind me, and being chased by bats was not a calming thought.

It wasn't a short flight either. I had never considered that, since no one ever claimed to see a dragon out hunting or flying, the dragon probably didn't live nearby.

After what felt like forever, Castiel finally landed. He changed into his half-way form so I half fell off of his back. It was getting pretty dark, so his pale skin practically glowed and his eyes shone like the moonlight glistening off of a sheet of ice. (Well, flip. There went my no ice comparisons rule.) As I looked around I realized that we had landed in the Tribute spot, and I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine.

"Why are we here?" I asked, trying not to show how nervous being back here made me. Apparently, I failed, because Castiel wrapped one wing around my shoulders. I wanted to complain that I wasn't some little kid that needed to be coddled and protected by the big bad dragon, but I had lived with Castiel long enough to know that I would be ignored. At least that was the excuse I told myself. I would never admit that having the dragon's wing around me did make me feel safer. I mean, who would be stupid enough to attack a dragon? And as for liking it, the reason most certainly wasn't because I had always been the one taking care of others with no one caring about what happened to me.

My father had never been an affectionate person (understatement) when he was alive, and my mother had died giving birth to a third child when I was six, so I had never had anyone protecting me like this. Treating me like I was actually something that mattered. Something that the loss of would be mourned. It felt strangely nice to be wrapped up and cared for.

"It is the only spot around that has enough clear ground for me to land. We will have to walk the rest of the way to the village," the dragon said, startling me out of my memories. He didn't acknowledge the wing around me or my obvious nervousness, which I was thankful for because it meant I could enjoy the protection while pretending it was annoying and unneeded. When Castiel started walking, the wing around me pulled me forward so that I had to walk almost pressed up against his side. Which I most defiantly was not enjoying.

It took a while to walk all the way down to the village, and by the time we did it was completely dark, except for the slivers of moonlight that shone through the clouds. I felt the wing that had been around me the entire walk vanish, confused, (and in no way worried or disappointed) I turned around to see a completely human looking Castiel standing next to me. It was kind of startling to see the dragon looking so un-dragon-like.

"Where should we go first?" Castiel asked.

"The house we lived at."

"Change first, so if anyone sees us you won't look out of place," he said handing me the clothing bag. I took out the clothes that I had picked out for myself. Not looking out of place wasn't really going to be accomplished with these clothes, but at least they wouldn't be hot like the furs would. Not needing to wear anything on a regular basis, the only clothes the dragon had were from his tribute, meaning that they were all expensive or flashy. No one wanted to offend a dragon or break a deal with cheap tribute. I had chosen the least 'rich person' looking things that I could find, but they still weren't what was normal in the commons of a village. I looked over at Castiel who was just standing there staring at me with his too blue eyes.

"Uhm, would you like turn around or something?" I asked.

"Why?"

"So I can change."

"How does me looking at you impair your ability to change?" he asked with that cute little head tilt. Wait did I just think he was cute? Not the time to be having a crisis about liking a dragon.

"I don't want you staring at me naked," or at least not right now. Stop thinking like that.

"I have already seen you without clothing on," sometimes Castiel's lack of understanding humans was amusing. Other times, like right now, it was just irritating.

"Yeah but... could you just... not, right now?"

He sighed and gave me 'his humans are so weird look', but did as I had asked.

I quickly slipped out of the furs and into a long green robe with a stripe of gold running along the front and a thick black sash around the middle. I also slid into a pair of sandals I had found.

"Alright, I'm done. Let's get going."

When Castiel turned around he just stopped and stared at me as he so often did. At first, I had thought it was creepy, but as he did it more and more I was starting to like it, as it gave me a chance to stare back at him without being noticed. I shook my head to clear it of inappropriate thoughts. Now was not the time to be mentally undressing a dragon. Wait? What? I was just looking back because what else were you supposed to do when a guy is unnaturally staring at you. Seriously not the time. Have an identity crisis about possibly wanting to sleep with your live in dragon friend when you're not standing in the woods in the middle of the night trying to pull off a rescue mission.

"What?" I asked. Someone needed to stop this before it went in a (currently) inappropriate direction.

Castiel shook his head, "Nothing. Lead the way."

The two of us snuck into the village and walked down the dark and empty streets. After spending three days solely in a lit room the darkness was a bit strange. I walked in front with Castiel a few paces behind me until we came to the spot where what had once been my house stood.

"This is it," I whispered.

Castiel silently nodded to me and I reached out to try the door. It opened which was worrying. Why wasn't the door locked? As I walked through the house I quickly noticed that a lot of things were different from the last time I was here. Almost everything was gone. Just a few of the larger pieces of furniture were left. The biggest thing wrong was that Sam wasn't here.

What do I do now? This was the only place I could think to find him at. I had no idea what to do next and was starting to panic. "He's not here. Nothing is here. What do we do now?" I babbled until Castiel stopped me.

"We can rest here tonight and go looking in the morning."

"Rest? We wasted enough time resting already."

"Calm down," Castiel said while placing a hand on my shoulder. "We can't just run around in the dark streets with no destination, and you need to sleep. We will find him tomorrow."

As much as I wanted to argue I didn't know what to say to the calm rational dragon, so I just huffed. We went into one of the rooms that still had a bed.

"Now get into the bed and go to sleep."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Rest with you," he said like it was obvious.

"Where?"

"In the bed."

"With me?"

"Yes. Why would that bother you?"

Like with most things he said, I didn't really have an answer as to why humans just didn't do things. We had been living practically on top of each other for the last four days. "Fine," I huffed pulling back the covers to climb into bed. Castiel slid in after me, but on top of the blankets.

"Why don't you come under?" Not that I wanted him pressed up against me all night.

"I dislike warmth and my skin is freezing. You do not want me touching you all night."

Yes, I do. "Alright."

I bolted upright. "What if someone comes in?" The place wasn't covered in dust and this bed was still here, so clearly someone had been coming and going.

Castiel pushed me back down. "Don't worry about that. I will watch over you as you sleep."

"But you said you were going to sleep."

"I will be able to sense if anyone comes in. Now go to sleep."

Almost instantly, I did just that.

I woke up to someone shaking me and a hand clamped down on my mouth. I immediately started to struggle against the person until he leaned down and whispered, "Calm down it is just me. Someone is in here so be quiet." I stopped struggling and went completely still as Castiel slowly removed his hand.

How was I supposed to keep calm at that news? "What do we do?"

"Nothing."

"What?!"

"These are probably the same people that have Sam. If we let them capture us they might lead us to him. Seeing as we have no clue where he is, this might be the only way to find out."

"Are you crazy? You want to be taken by people that hate me and anyone with me? Do you have a desire to get tortured? Because I sure don't."

"Don't worry. They won't hurt us."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I'll stop them."

"You said you were going to get captured too."

"In case you haven't noticed," he said dryly, "I am a dragon. I am much stronger than them and can control ice. If that doesn't work I presume suddenly growing wings and a tail will surprise them if nothing else, and if all of these assumptions are wrong I will just shift fully into my dragon form."

There was no more time to argue over whether this was a good idea or not because at that moment two guards came in. I could tell there were more of them standing outside the doorway. The leader let out this creepy laugh. "Well, you came back awfully quickly. Didn't expect to see you again. Just couldn't stay away from us huh? You even brought us a little friend. Now, how about you come with us calmly and maybe we won't hurt you just yet."

Castiel didn't seem to be affected by the man at all. He just got off the bed and let his hands be chained behind him. Guess I was out of options. I copied his moved with much less composer. The guards walked us through the streets until we reached the village prison. We were put in a single cell with no others around us. "Wait here," the guard said with another cruel laugh. "I'm sure Zachariah has been missing you."

He closed and locked the door and all the guards left. The cell was quite small with plain white walls on three sides and iron bars serving as a door. In front of the cell, there was a small walkway that led to a solid white door.

"Oh great. Still, think that this was a good plan. We're trapped in a cell and we still don't even know if Sam is here," I moaned.

"If this is where they brought us then it is likely the place where they would have brought Sam."

"That doesn't really help us. We are trapped in a cell!'

Castiel just gave me that stupid human look. He reached out and grabbed the middle of the chain with both hands and snapped it in half like the iron was no stronger than wet paper. The cuffs on each wrist started to freeze over more and more until they started to crack and they simply fell off of him. He then walked over and did the same to the lock on the door, before pushing it open and stepping out. When he was outside the cell he turned around and gave me this very smug look.

"Yeah, Yeah. I get it. You're a big bad dragon, and I beg your forgiveness. Now get your scaly tail over here and get these chains off of me," I snapped, following him out of the cell.

He winced at that. "I can't"

"What? What do you mean you can't? I just watched you break your chains and the lock on the door." And it was in no way extremely hot to see strength and power like that used as though it was completely un-noteworthy.

"I can break the chains off of the cuffs," he explained walking around behind me. "The problem is I can't freeze the cuffs off without permanently damaging you. We will either have to find keys or use something back at the cave." As he had been explaining, he grabbed my wrist and broke the first link off of the cuff before doing the same on the other side. "That is all I can do for now."

Well, at least now I could move my hands freely. "So any ideas for the door."

Castiel didn't bother to respond to that. He walked up to the door and just ripped the whole flipping thing off its hinges.

There were two guards standing outside where the door had been and the surprised looks they wore were absolutely hysterical. Before they could gather themselves from just seeing a door removed, Castiel smoothly slid up behind the guard on the left. He grabbed the guard's arm twisted it behind him and slammed his head into the door frame, causing him to immediately slide to the floor, unconscious. This seemed to finally snap guard number two out of his stupor. He drew out his sword and swung it at Castiel, but the dragon reached out and grabbed the hilt. I watched fascinated (because how often in one's life did a person get to see a dragon fight, not because I was slightly turned on by it.) as frost slid up the sword. The guard dropped the sword and staggered away but Castiel had already circled around to the man's side and tripped him so he fell backward. One solid hit to the side of his head and he was out. Castiel reached down to the guard's belt and pulled up a key ring. He reached up to me and said, "Here are the keys," in a voice that was far too calm for someone, human or not, that had just knocked out two full grow, well trained, heavily armored, and armed men with no difficulty.

"Remind me to never get in a fight with you," I muttered as I unlocked the cuffs on my wrists.

Standing up, Castiel gave me that confused head tilt. "Why would we get into a fight?"

"That's not... never mind. Let's just see if Sam is here so we can leave." This was so not the time to explain sarcasm. Again.

We walked out of the room to a hallway that stretched both ways and was made of the same plain white tiles as the room. "Which way do we go?"

"That way," Castiel said, pointing right.

"Any reason?"

"There is a spot in the building with a lot of people in very close proximity to each other."

"You can tell where people are?"

"Yes."

"What if it's just a bunch of guards or something?"

"Then we will leave and continue searching elsewhere."

"Alright then," not like I had a better idea. "Lead the way."

This was just like the cave all over again. I was almost immediately lost. Every single hallway looked the same, but Castiel never wavered, looking very sure of himself. We walked along in silence until he threw one arm out in front of me and whispered, "Stay here."

He moved up to the corner and stood there for a moment. Right before I was going to ask what he was doing, four guards, walking in a square formation, marched around the corner. Castiel swiftly sprung at the first guard catching him completely off guard. Not expecting to suddenly have an arm full of dragon, he fell over, knocking into the man next to him and tripping the guard behind, leaving only one shocked guard standing. With three of them tangled up on the ground and the remaining man stunned, Castiel dealt with them quickly.

"Come on. We are almost there," he told me while taking the keys from one of the guard's belt.

We went around a few more corners before coming to a door. 'Where are all the guards,' I thought to myself. Sure there were ones in the hall, but there should have been some watching the hallway with the prisoners in it. Apparently not bothered by this, Castiel fitted the key into the lock and opened the door.

The prison was just one long hallway with cells made of metal barred doors and solid walls, which had been at some point been white, in between each one. Most of the prisoners were underfed and covered in bruises and old blood from beatings. As we walked down the hall I felt like I was going to throw up. The smell was terrible, and it was hard to look at the people and know that some of them probably hadn't even done anything except made the wrong people angry, (at least some people in the prison had to be actual criminals, but there was no way tell who) but worse than that was the thought that my little brother might be one of these people that were practically rotting alive. And if he was it was because of me.

When we walked back out through the door after we had looked in every cell, I wasn't sure if I should be happy that Sam wasn't trapped here, or disappointed because if he had been we would have been able to get him out and take him home.

"Don't worry," Castiel encouraged. "We will find him."

"And how are we going to do that? He's not at home, he's not in the prison, and where else would they have taken someone that they didn't want." I was snapping at him, and I knew he didn't deserve that, but flip it my brother was gone. This had been my only plan and it had just failed.

Castiel, seeming completely unbothered by my outburst, placed on hand on my shoulder and said, "I don't know, but we will find him."

"How?"

"First we need to leave here, after that we can find a place to hide, talk, and make a list of places to look."

Standing in a prison, in the middle of a failed rescue mission, near a hallway full of criminals and scapegoats, probably wasn't the best place for a heart to heart but it was where we were having one.

"Why are you helping me? I get not wanting someone to die, but why take care of me, or offer me a place in your cave? I guess living alone might be kind of lonely, but even if that's the reason, why come here to help me break in and out of a prison? Maybe that wasn't really a big deal for you, as it clearly wasn't a risk and just a couple hours flight, but then after already doing all of this you go and essentially promise to travel all over the world for a person you've known for about four days and a complete stranger. Why?"

"Well, I am lonely. As I have not yet found a mate, I have been living alone from the time I left my parents' nest to find my own cave. I thought not living alone anymore would be enjoyable. I am helping you look for your brother because I might not have younger siblings but I understand loving a family member. I am helping you because I have enjoyed having you in my cave. Even though we haven't been together that long I think we get along well, and I can't speak for you, but I think you feel the same way. I am going to do whatever it takes to help you get your brother back because that is what you do for the people you care about."

That was defiantly the longest Castiel had ever spoken at once. That was probably more than he spoke in some conversations. With how calmly he had said everything I started to feel better, and he had spoken so earnestly about helping me that I knew he wasn't lying. I might not know where Sam was, but at least I didn't have to search alone.

It took me a minute to absorb everything that he just said, so it was a moment before I realized that he said he cared for me. A gorgeous, kind, smart, rich, powerful, and probably ancient dragon cared for me. I had no idea why anyone would care so much for me, let alone someone like Castiel, but he had said it.

We were just standing there in the hallway of a prison, so close that our chests almost touched as we breathed. We unashamedly gazed into each other's eyes, and I decided that I wanted to swim in those azure depths. Even if it froze me, it would be worth it. I was very much considering leading forward and kissing Castiel when his head suddenly snapped up.

"Guards are coming. I did not hear their approach as my focus was on our conversation."

All the panic that Castiel had just managed to take away came back in an instant. "Which way? We need to get out of here."

"We can't leave. They are coming from both ways. Just stay close to me."

The people were close enough now that I could hear the marching. They weren't playing around with us anymore. The group behind us had to of had at least ten people and the group in front was no smaller. My stomach sank down through the floor when I saw that Zachariah was leading the front group.

"Didn't expect to see you back here, and with a little friend too."

Castiel put his arm around my lower back and I slid closer to him. Not because I was scared, or needed someone to protect me. But it did feel nice to have someone else here. And there was no way I could fight these guards alone.

Zachariah began walking towards us. "I'm actually happy you're here, your little brother wasn't entertaining us anymore." Anger and fear mixed together inside me at those words. "Hopefully the two of you will provide entertainment for us in his place."

"You will not touch him," Castiel growled tightening his hold on me.

"What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"

"I was under the impression that you would do whatever I told you to do. Otherwise, why would you give up so much of the village's wealth to me?"

"You're insane," Zachariah sneered. "Get them," he ordered the guards.

A couple of them left the lines to do as told but stopped just a few paces later. Castiel had pulled me against his chest, wrapped both of his arms around me, and had shifted into his half-way form. His wings were stretched out as far as they could get in the thin hallway; his tail twitching angrily behind him. He looked straight into Zachariah's eyes and snarled, "Do. Not. Touch. My. Human.