Castiel's light grew brighter and brighter as it concentrated around his torso, wings folding in as he flexed his muscles and closed his eyes. He could hear the deranged laughing of Dean's shade.
"Do you really think you have power here, angel?" the shade cackled. "You are in MY house!"
With that, Castiel threw his arms out to his sides, chest heaving forward and wings exploding out from behind as he and the gazebo exploded in a blinding white blast. The shade disintegrated and blew away in an eruption of grace, and where the gazebo once stood there remained only one very angry, very determined angel standing upon a patch of scorched earth the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The rain and wind had stopped, and the sky began to clear.
As Castiel centered himself, his ears began to fill with music. A familiar tune, one he remembered Dean playing for him one night in the Impala.
Back in black,
I hit the sack,
I've been too long I'm glad to be back,
Yes, I'm let loose,
From the noose,
That's kept me hanging about,
I've been looking at the sky,
'Cause it's gettin' me high,
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die,
I got nine lives,
Cat's eyes,
Abusin' every one of them and running wild.
A smile crept across Castiel's face. Good job, Sam.
Upon hearing Castiel, the REAL Castiel, make his pronouncement, Dean felt a surge of strength. He pushed back against the shade whose smile diminished and was replaced with a grimace.
"He came for me!" cried Dean triumphantly. "I doubted him, and he came for me anyhow!"
The shade shrank back as Dean pushed himself up from the bed. Just then, an explosion rocked the motel room, blinding light streaming through the crack in the curtain. The shade's wings of smoke and lightning retreated back inside of him as he covered his face and hissed.
"Attaboy, thought Dean proudly, feeling love in his heart for what felt to be the first time. Suddenly, the clock radio hissed and crackled, and familiar music began to pour from the speakers.
AC/DC? thought Dean, curiously. Then he smiled. Nice one, Sam.
He charged at the shade and threw a powerful right hook that caught it square on the jaw. The shade let out a satisfying yelp.
"D-dean, what are you doing?" mewled the shade plaintively. "Please don't hurt me." His eyes went from black back to a deep and thoughtful blue. The shade bit its lip and pleaded, "Dean, don't you love me?"
'Cause I'm back,
Yes, I'm back,
Well, I'm back,
Yes, I'm back,
Well, I'm baaaack, baaaaack,
Well, I'm back in black,
Yes, I'm back in black.
Dean wound up again and connected brutally with the shade's left eye. Dean felt a crunch under his fist.
"YOU," he shouted between punches, "ARE. NOT. CASTIEL." He delivered blow after blow, in time with the beat of the music, "YOU. ARE. EVERYTHING. WRONG. WITH. ME." Dean stood up, muscles shaking, as he glared at the battered and bloodied shade of Castiel that cowered on the floor, one hand up toward Dean. Dean's breath came out in ragged gasps. The shade slowly pulled itself up to standing, face swollen and cracked.
"D-dean," the shade sputtered, "you do this, you kill me. You kill your love for him."
Dean's breath caught in his chest, and he blinked rapidly. What if it's right? What if-
Suddenly, the door of the motel room disintegrated in a blast of blinding white that enveloped every molecule of Dean in warmth, love, and adoration. In stormed the angel, his angel, huge, glorious black wings swirling with every color in the rainbow unfurling behind him. His eyes glowed the furious blue of a neutron star as he ran at the shade, lifting him up into the air with one hand.
A voice that shook Dean to his very core vibrated outward from Castiel, the words filling Dean's head and pushing out every negative thought and self-doubt.
"NOTHING CAN KILL DEAN'S LOVE FOR ME."
And with that, the shade vaporized in Castiel's hand.
Back in the back,
Of a Cadillac,
Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack,
Yes, I'm in a bang,
With a gang,
They've got to catch me if they want me to hang,
'Cause I'm back on the track,
And I'm beatin' the flack,
Nobody's gonna get me on another rap,
So look at me now,
I'm just makin' my play,
Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way.
Castiel's light dimmed to an ethereal glow as he brought his wings in and turned toward his friend, eyes cast downward. "Dean," the angel started, but before he could finish, Dean ran at him and wrapped an arm around his waist, the other coming up from behind to run through his dark hair, magnificent in his angelic glow. Dean pressed his forehead and body against his angel's. Where there was once self-loathing, shame, and fear he now felt nothing but grace and the love of another.
"Dean," murmured Cas' gravelly voice, "do I frighten you?"
Dean's eyes met Cas' and both felt as they were looking into a deep well of endless possibilities. "No, angel. You are the most beautiful thing these sorry eyes have ever seen."
The music swelled, filling the room as the pair swayed gently in their embrace. Cas smiled sweetly as he ran slowly ran his hand up Dean's side and gently touched two fingers to his friend's temple.
"It is time to wake up."