As quickly as the pain started, it stopped, and Dean was in Purgatory.
He checked his body with his hands - his chest, torso, arms - all intact and solid. Cas had insisted on leaving his physical body topside, as it would help him fly under the radar in hell. Unfortunately, he was still wearing the same clothes. The vivid red rain jacket only served as a bull's eye target in this monochromatic realm, not to mention much too warm for where they were headed.
After shucking the jacket off, he surveyed the geography of Purgatory from the familiar cliff side outcropping. It was the last view he had ever had of Purgatory before the portal took him up, Benny's soul in tow.
Dean wondered if he'd see Benny this time.
The portal's electric humming warned Dean and he turned to see Castiel appear less than a foot away through blue sparks and streaks. The angel stood up and took note of Dean before taking a solemn moment to stare out over the same land.
"How did we do that?" Dean asked dully.
Castiel turned to his friend, alert, eyes wide and earnest.
"When you used this portal to escape, Naomi became aware of its existence. She used it to invade Purgatory and..." Castiel swallowed with distaste, "save me".
Dean nodded and tried to figure out what to say next. They were both risking the worst fate that existed for their immortal souls. Dean wanted to say something - something meaningful, something worth remembering if they failed.
"Cas-" Dean began but Castiel moved suddenly, climbing down the rocky ledges quickly and efficiently.
"C'mon," he muttered. Dean pursed his lips but nodded and followed after the angel.
When Dean landed on firm ground beside Cas, he noticed the angel's curious expression.
"What?"
"You look very odd," Castiel replied, nonplussed. Dean looked at himself: light gray suit pants tucked into brown hiking boots with thick red laces, the green snowflake sweater with his white dress shirt sticking out.
Dean shook his head at Cas, annoyed.
"Seriously?"
Cas just nodded with the slightest hint of a smirk before starting off.
As they tore through the terrain, they couldn't afford to think beyond an atavistic awareness of their surroundings. Their minds blank of any higher-level thought, they remained ever-watchful and vigilant, crossing through the land with vicious, effective purpose. They worked well and in tandem, and got lucky enough to come across two vampires with weapons first. In short order, they fought and decapitated the monsters with their own handmade blades.
Armed, they continued on, making bloody work of another vampire, a leviathan, and avoiding a dragon in its disgusting, fetid true form.
When they reached their destination, they found several large boulders covering the entire area. Dean had to sit down to catch his breath, his mind and body numb and shocked. He hadn't realized how much he'd forgotten about Purgatory. He marveled, in a detached sort of way, how he'd survived a full year here.
Sitting still as a statue, he kept watch as his angel pushed the giant rocks aside to find which ones covered the portal to hell. He heard a thin, pitched whistle, then the deeper, heavier sounds of sucking winds behind him.
"Dean," Cas said but Dean was already turning around.
It was a vacuum. A black space between two boulders, sucking purgatory's air and twigs and leaves into the chasm.
Dean swallowed and stepped up towards it but not directly in front of it. Not yet.
He looked up at Cas, eyes suddenly glistening.
"Moment of truth," Dean said, his voice breaking. He shrugged and attempted a smile before looking down at the ground. A tear fell from his eyes and landed on dead, gray grass.
Dean had never been back to hell since the hounds had taken him... and he knew the odds of this mission were in favor of a fate worse than the one he'd sold his soul for nine years ago.
"We're going to get him back, Dean," Cas said, coming closer and reaching his hand out onto Dean's upper arm again; right where the scar used to be. Dean suddenly understood the gesture with crystal clear clarity. It was and had always been a reassuring reminder that not all is lost; all things can be saved. All three of them have been saved before and can be saved again.
Dean sniffed and let out a wet chuckle, looking at his friend's hand.
"Right. I mean, you've done this before, right?" Dean chuckled wetly, blinking tears away.
Castiel tightened his grasp, his expression peaceful and determined and fixed upon him. Dean strived to pull strength from it. Castiel started moving them closer to the black portal that threatened no exit.
"There's a bright side here though, right?" Dean finally said as they stood face to face in front of the vortex, the winds gusting over them, making it difficult to hear. Cas gazed at Dean, patiently curious. "Worst case scenario," Dean shouted, his tears whipping off his face, "we'll still be together-?" Dean grinned and let out a wretched mix between a laugh and a sob.
Castiel smiled sweetly, almost innocently, at his friend through the rushing air.
"Yes," he said simply, in honest and calm agreement.
Dean frowned and ducked his head, nodding to himself, considering. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and pulled the surprised, rigid angel against him and held tight.
It was possibly the last expression of affection he'd ever be able to give if this didn't pan out and, at that thought, Dean only just needed a few more seconds to hold on.
Cas shifted awkwardly, maneuvering to get out of the embrace one arm at a time. Dean felt his heart sinking at the rejection but inwardly chided himself. He swallowed and loosened his hold, allowing the angel to step away.
Instead, he felt Castiel's free arm wrap around him - the angel's palm open and gripping his back. The angel's body softened and molded against his: relaxing into the embrace, freeing his other arm to grip along Dean's shoulders protectively.
Dean broke and stifled sobs against Castiel's neck. Castiel said nothing. He simply remained, gripping Dean, and laid a warm, comforting hand against the back of the man's neck.
Cas, too, was letting himself feel this - something pure and good with Dean - for possibly the last time for all of eternity.
They didn't part much when the time came - when the vortex started to take them in. Castiel stepped them around so his back faced the portal, Dean nodded against his chest, and Cas tilted them until the pressure took hold and they slid into the abyss.