Sorry this took so long, scenes like this give me a little trouble and I got caught up in homework and my Destiel shots. I feel like this chapter didn't come out the way I wanted it to and I'm sure there's some grammatical and spelling errors in there somewhere (I was typing this very late at night to try and get it done); I reread it this morning but I might have missed some. So again, apologizing for the late update and any errors that crop up.
Oh, and I posted more art on Tumblr. I tagged them "One Wing in the Fire" but if you don't feel like going there, I'll post them in my scraps on dA (hosekidragon . deviantart . com).
One Wing in the Fire (12)
"No."
The word was out and hanging in the air like an unexploded bomb before Castiel even realized he had said it. Everything seemed to freeze, curling mist hanging stationary where it was, angels becoming statues where they stood, swords still and gleaming in the morning light.
Zachariah tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, that smug smile never wavering, "Sorry, Castiel, but I thought I heard a negative connotation there. Maybe it was just my imagination?"
Castiel's jaw clenched. He could feel the Winchester brothers on either side of him, tense, quivering, poised, ready to react in whatever way was necessary. Cas knew better; they could not hope to outrun Zachariah's troop of angels. But fighting them seemed like a daunting and terrifying task. It was not uncommon for angels to hold friendly scuffles or training exercises amongst one another. But full fledged fighting was unheard of. Castiel's tainted Grace trembled at the thought of going up against this many of his brothers.
"The demon's stain on your soul has clouded your judgment, brother," Came a deep voice to their left and Cas' gaze darted for the briefest of seconds over to a dark skinned angel, wings of gold arching above his head, before they focused once more on Zachariah, "We have come to cleanse you. Everything will be all right."
"I will go with you," Castiel said slowly, carefully, "But only on your word that the Winchesters will not be harmed."
"Sorry Castiel, that's not how it works," Zachariah replied in a tone that suggested he was speaking to a retarded child, "We find a Demon Lord, we kill a Demon Lord."
"They are not even of demon kin anymore! They were never involved in the—!"
"You forget your place!" Zachariah snapped and thunder crashed under his words, church bells shattering with his breath. Castiel felt Sam and Dean flinch away from the noise.
"You are a regimental, you are a low ranker, you are easily replaceable." Zachariah continued in a low, dangerous voice, completely different from his former condescending tone, "The only reason we sought after you was because Gabriel ordered it." A sneer twisted the angel's face and there was something like a lion snarling, "You always were his favorite brother."
"Hey asshat," Dean had found his voice again, "What crawled up you butt and died, huh?" Sam made a hurried hushing noise, which Dean ignored, "We weren't a part of your stupid pissing contest with Asmodeus and Alastor, we never wanted to be a part of it. And we're not demons anymore. So there!"
Sam muttered something that sounded like "lame" and then grunted. Presumably because Dean had hit him.
Zachariah's eyes narrowed and Castiel felt the angel's power swell. Beside him, Veles growled and it sounded like the rumble of a volcano.
"But you have corrupted an angel, one of our brothers," Zachariah hissed and there was the rustling of wings and the clinking of armor as the other angels shifted, "And that is a crime for which we cannot forgive you. Demon scum."
He raised his sword and brought it swinging down towards Sam who was already making the move to duck the blade.
There was a blur of black-gray smoke, a whirlwind snarl, and Zachariah fell back with a scream as Veles leapt at him. Both of them went crashing to the ground and Zachariah's sword was knocked from his hand. Castiel leapt for it as the other angels attacked. The hilt seared his hand, the Grace in it rearing back from the thick blackness wrapped over his soul, but he held on. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he rose to his feet and swung the sword up, bringing it crashing against the blade of another angel.
"Brother!" The angel shouted, pulling back in a flurry of feathers, "You know not what you do! Fight against the demon taint on your soul, come back to yourself!"
"I am myself!" Castiel shouted in response, his ebony wings flaring wide to guard Sam and Dean, "And these boys have done nothing to deserve what punishment you see fit to give them! They do not belong in Hell!"
Fire lashed through the air, a sharp, short burst of orange and red that crackled like a whip. So the Winchesters still had just enough of that demon stain left to control fire. That would not help their case. As Castiel spun on the spot, using his wings to bat at the other angel, he caught a glimpse Dean ducking and weaving and dodging even as he struck back with thin streams of curling flames and Sam wrestling a sword away from another angel. Then he was facing his own opponent again and their swords slammed together, sending a painful, jarring shudder along the blade and up his arms. The pain in his hands built when the blades touched and Castiel didn't know how much longer he could hold on. He snapped his wings forward, intending to slam them against his opponent and catch him off guard. But the other angel saw what was coming and flared his own wings.
Diamond white feathers rammed into obsidian black, Grace smashed against hellfire, and Castiel fought dirty. He raised a booted foot from the ground and slammed it into his opponent's knee. There was a sharp crack and the angel screamed as he went down. Castiel, blinded by fury, raised the sword and made to plunge it into his brother's chest.
Someone grabbed the blade of the sword from over his shoulder and yanked on it. Unprepared, Castiel let it go with a gasp as the hilt scraped against his burned palms. Before he could turn around, a hand grasped a bunch of his feathers and pulled. Castiel shouted in pain and stumbled backwards until his foot caught on something and he slammed into the ground, crumpling his feathers.
Zachariah loomed over him, covered in deep scratches and bite marks from Veles' attack, radiating fury. He sword point was pressed against Cas' throat.
"Tainted, brother, and Gabriel still wants to bring you back to Heaven." The other angel hissed. Cas did not dare move. The sword tip burned against his skin, "You don't belong there anymore. You're fighting with demons, you're protecting the things that have killed your brothers."
"They were not involved." Cas said in a low voice.
"It matters not." Zachariah responded, "I regret that I have to do away with you myself but there is no saving you now. Good-bye, Brother Castiel."
"Good-bye yourself, you stupid son of a bitch."
A silver-gold sword suddenly sprouted from Zachariah's chest and the high-ranking angel made a strangled sort of gasping noise, his back arching and the sword falling limply from his hand to clatter dangerously across Castiel's chest before sliding to the ground. Cas grabbed the hilt, ignoring the stinging pain it brought, and rolled to his feet in time to see Dean yank the sword out of Zachariah's back and toss it to Sam. Sam caught it, whirled around, and met the blade of another angel with a resounding clang. Light poured out of Zachariah's mouth, his Grace flaring as it burst like a dying star, and then his human form shattered into a thousand shards of light that dissipated into the air.
"Dude," Dean chuckled, flashing a grin that should canines that looked a little too sharp to be normal, "That was epic."
"Dean, look out!" Cas launched himself across the trampled grass and shoved the Winchester out of the way as another angel swung down with his blade. He felt the cold steel slice easily through the some of the feathers of his left wing. Ice and fire shot down the muscle and bone and pinned his shoulder with pain, lancing into his heart. He gasped and fell to the ground, curling his wings around himself to try and inspect the damage.
"Cas! You're bleeding!" Sam's voice shouted and then there was a grunt and clang of metal on metal. Castiel didn't need Sam to tell him that. Great red globs of blood were oozing from his damaged wing. He tried to push it aside and get to his feet but the agony was dizzying and he stumbled, almost falling over again. He pulled at the strands of his Grace, trying to heal, and that only hurt him more.
Hands grabbed at the sleeve of his trench coat and pulled and Castiel, thinking it was one of the Winchesters, went with it. Until Sam shouted,
"Hey! Let him go!"
Cas yanked away from the grip and tripped over his own feet, getting out of the way as Sam charged the angel that had tried to drag Castiel away. The former angel collapsed to the ground, sharp teeth biting into his lower lip and drawing more blood, like he could stand to lose more. The pain in his hands was nothing but a numb sting compared to the thud pulsing angrily down his wing. It was almost blinding; the last time he had hurt this much was when Alastair had been torturing him and that seemed like it was ages ago.
"Cas! Move!" He heard Dean shout and he tried, he really did, but his legs were refusing, trembling under the injury to his sensitive wings and all he managed to do was trip sideways.
Hands caught him and they burned through his trench coat. Not demon hands, not friendly hand. Fevered blue eyes snapped around he heaved up the sword that seemed far too heavy in his trembling arms. The angel that had grabbed him used her wings to snap the blade from his hand and send it spinning to the ground. He looked at her, met her cold, hard, brown eyes, and begged her without words to let him and the Winchesters go.
"I'm sorry, brother," She said, her grip tightening and searing the skin beneath his clothes, "But this has to be done." And with that she spread her bronze wings. Another angel, blood and Grace dripping down the side of his face, swept up on Castiel's other side and grabbed his other arm. Castiel struggled weakly, pulling against the grips of his brother and sister, but he was no longer strong enough to fight back.
"Sam!" He shouted as the angels pulled him backwards, their wings pumping as they made to lift him up, "Dean! Help me!"
"Castiel!" Sam made a leap for the former angel but was blocked by a sword. The incredibly tall Winchester backpedaled and ducked the swing that was meant to take his head off, "Cas! Hang on! We're coming!"
Castiel felt his feet leave the ground and beat his uninjured wing in an attempt to spite his siblings but it was a weak flap that shed feathers more than anything else. He kicked his legs, pulled his arms, tossed his head, tried his hardest to get away but nothing seemed to work.
Until he remembered he had something the angels did not,
"VELES!"
The hell hound raced across the ground and took a flying leap. His iron teeth sank into the female angel's ankle. She cried out and the group dropped back to the ground. Veles was snarling and pulling and shaking his head back and forth, trying to rip the angel's foot right off. She screamed and let go of Castiel to fight the hell hound off. Cas smiled despite his pain and the situation.
There was another roar from behind and Dean slammed into the male angel, knocking his grip on Castiel off. Fire lashed through the air and the angel screamed in pain as flames licked at the feathers of his wings. Castiel started to sag to the ground when yet another hand snagged the scruff of his coat and hauled him to his feet, dragging him back so that his heels skidded across the flattened grass. He yanked back because he knew it wasn't Sam because he could see Sam struggling with another angel.
"Let go!" He wheezed, the collar of his button up shirt digging into his throat, "Let go of me!" He flapped his good wing again, battering at the angel behind him when a howl drew his attention and he saw Veles leave his first quarry to turn his attention to rescuing his master. But the angel he'd been attacking was not down for the count. She rose to her feet (or foot as she was wobbling slightly on her injured leg), raised her sword, and plunged it down into Veles' neck.
"Bastard!" Castiel screamed as the hell hound bucked, spat fire and blood, and then collapsed, twitching, to the ground, "Stop this! Stop fighting! It's senseless! We have done nothing wrong! We've done nothing!"
"They are demons," Snapped the angel that was holding tightly to him, "And your mind has been twisted by their taint. This is right. This is just."
"It is not just!" Castiel kicked out as the female angel, having retrieved her sword from Veles' neck, limped over and grabbed his arm again, "This is murder! You have no right! Let go of me! Sam! Dean!"
Again the brothers fought with a vengance, flames and swords clashing, but Castiel's feet had already left the ground again and he was being dragged away. Dean smashed the heel of his boot into an angel's face and ran across the clearing towards Cas and the angels that had a hold of him, sparks leaping between his fingers. He was shouting but Castiel couldn't hear his words because the angels had picked up speed and were rising faster and faster.
He struggled again, unbalanced them, managed to wrench an arm free, stretching out his hand, fingers splayed, reaching desperately for Dean's hand. Sam was chasing after his brother, gesturing angrily with the angel sword in his hand, his expression a mixture of rage and pain. They reached, they tried, they ran and still Cas was pulled farther and farther away.
And then, abruptly, there was a swirl of clouds and Dean and Sam were gone.
Castiel's hand remained outstretched, reaching into empty space as his brother and sister dragged him up towards Heaven.
He had wanted for so long to go home.
And now he wanted nothing more than to never see it again.