Castiel should have known something wasn't right, Heaven wouldn't just ignore that angels were being killed. He should have known something was off, it's as Alastair had said, if Lilith had been the one doing so, she would have killed thousands.
Also, all the dead angels had been from his garrison, two were a coincidence, three was a pattern. More of those were certainly suspicious and just not right.
He just didn't expect that the one doing so would be Uriel, he knew his brother had always had some... questionable morals. But he didn't expect he would go far enough to want Lucifer out.
To kill their siblings.
To try to kill him.
Fighting him had been hard, not because of strength or power difference, but because Uriel had been his friend for so long. He hadn't wanted to fight him. And much less to kill him.
But he had had no other choice, as Uriel stabbed him on the shoulder, blade going straight through one of the eyes from his true form, much too close to Jimmy's soul . He had known it was kill or be killed.
And so he killed him at the exact same time Uriel sliced his throat, grace bursting out.
He tried and failed to heal the gash on his neck, prompting him to press his hand against his neck. Funny how humans and angels were so similar on the aspect where one their literal lifelines was on their neck.
He flees, where to? He doesn't know, he just had to leave, he has a hard time focusing, he's losing too much grace, he can't heal, he can't think. He ends up crashing somewhere, it looks like a room, he can't be sure.
He clutched his neck with one hand while the other clutched his shoulder, keeping his grace from bleeding out, his true form ripples through the ethereal plane , it feels like the vessel is closing in on him , it burns and feels wrong . He bites his tongue, forehead pressed against the rough carpet, he forces himself to sit up, windows and lights exploding as pain shoots right through his stomach, he's quite sure no amount of healing will save that eye.
Father, the world is spinning and he's having a hard time balancing the vessel. Jimmy's soul resonates somewhere inside, deafening and heavy, he can't focus. He can't focus at all.
~
Sam and Dean were just about to turn the lights out and call it a night, would be leaving in the morning after the whole shitshow from today when they heard the loud crash in the room next door.
The lights flickered, tv turning on with nothing but static as a familiar, metallic high pitched ring sliced through the air, making the mirror crack.
"What the hell?" Dean was on his feet in less than a second, snatching his gun even though he knew a gun would do shit for what he suspected this was.
Yet, that didn't stop him. He quickly left the room, Sam right behind him. The noise had come from the room next to theirs.
Dean was quick to pick the lock, throwing the door open and holding his gun out.
Of all things expected, he did not expect to find Castiel there, looking like shit and leaning against the wall next to the nightstand, Castiel who's bleeding light and looks all things but lucid. The fucking angel is bleeding light. Since when could angels fucking bleed?
No. Scratch that. The past hours had let them know someone was running around killing angels.
That reminder had Dean kneeling next to him within seconds, hand hovering above his shoulder but not touching.
"Jesus, dude. What the hell happened?" He gets an answer in a language he's never heard in his entire life. The guy looks like he probably won't even remember his name if asked. "Sam, help me with him." He calls his brother over, better take him back to their room, it won't do well if someone sees the dude bleeding light.
Between Sam and Dean they manage to get Castiel back to their room, leaving him on the bed, lights flickering and mirror cracking even further as Castiel groans upon being jostled.
And shit. Shit. No one told Dean what to do with an injured angel. And while Castiel was a complete asshole today, he did heal him at the hospital.
"Sam, get me a needle and thread." He has no idea if this will work or if it will help at all, but he will be damned if he doesn't try.
Sam is quick to do as told, Dean quickly unbuttons the shirt after wrestling Cas' hold on his shoulder, and holy shit . There's a gaping wound on his shoulder, blueish light leaking out, bright enough to make his eyes sting. Totally not unnerving. None at all.
Yet, there's no time to gawk, Dean's quick to start stitching up the wound to the best of his capabilities since the fucking light makes his skin burn whenever it comes into contact with it.
But he manages.
What is a challenge is to get Cas to remove his hand from his neck, he won't budge regardless of Dean's attempts. And he's bleeding, a lot , red soaking the bed sheets.
"Hey, Cas." He calls, snapping his fingers infront of him, his eyes are unseeing, as if he wasn't really there, glowing swirls weaving through his retina, yeah, definitely not unnerving.
And shit, how the hell do you even help someone who's strength doesn't even waver? Trying to pull his hand away is like trying to move a damn house. It won't even budge.
"Move." Sam and Dean jumped at the new voice, Anna stalking towards the bed and pulling Dean away without much effort. She grabbed Castiel's wrists and as if it were nothing, removed his hand, replacing it with hers just as quick, though the small second it took her to replace his hand, light shot out, a light Anna dodged with expertise but that hit the wall behind her, leaving a scorch mark behind.
What the fuck?
"You might want to cover your ears." She states, the brothers, while still a bit lost, did as told.
Just in time for them to watch as Anna's hand glew against Castiel's neck, the reaction was immediate as he threw his head back, the metallic, high pitched ringing slicing through the air like a burning knife, clawing into their eardrums and threatening to split their skull apart. And Jesus. Windows and the tv exploded, lights bursting and lightning cracked outside.
He tried to jerk away, hand shooting up to grab hers, eyes blazing with a fury that made it feel as if the room itself was shaking, but Anna didn't even flinch.
Instead, she said something in a language neither of the brothers understood, sharp and commanding, Castiel stared at her for a moment before the glow from his eyes snuffed out and his hand dropped, eyes closing as he seemingly passed out. Angels could pass out, who would have said?
Anna removed her hand not even a moment after, no wound or scar at all. She glanced at the bandages on his shoulder but made no attempts to heal it, a hint of sadness in her gaze.
"Can't you heal that one too?" Dean asks, breaking the silence. Anna looks at him.
"I can, but I won't."
"I get that you don't like the guy, but isn't that-"
"It's not that." Anna cuts off with a sigh. "The soul of the vessel is too close to it, touching human souls with grace is not pleasant for the owner, even less for the angel if the human is being possessed by one. I don't think he will be too happy about that."
"He's unconscious."
"Oh, trust me, he will wake up if anyone touches that soul." She states matter of fact.
Neither of the brothers say anything to that, unsure about what to even say. At least Castiel seemed partially fine, unconscious, but fine.
"Did you figure out who's killing the angels?" Dean asks after a moment.
Anna doesn't answer, and then.
"Uriel."
"Come again?"
"He's the one who's been killing angels. I heard he had been asking angels to help him raise Lucifer, those who refused… well, he killed them. I figured he would go after Castiel."
"Where is he now?" Sam questions, if what Anna said was true, then that meant Uriel could turn up at any second and-
"Dead, Castiel killed him." Anna said easily, making the brothers blink, well, that had certainly not been something they had seen coming. "I should get going now." She states as she stands up.
"You should- wait, you can't leave him here." Dean protests, what the hell were they supposed to do? Anna seemed better fit to look after him.
"I'm not bringing him with me. I'm on the run, remember?"
"But-" Anna didn't let Dean finish as she just disappeared, making the oldest Winchester curse under his breath. "Fucking angels."
"At least she healed him." Sam said after a moment, looking at the unconscious angel.
Dean sighed, running a hand through his hair and throwing a look at Cas, well, at least he didn't seem at the verge of death anymore. He might be an asshole, but if his words at the park had been something to go by, Dean wanted to think there might still be some hope for the guy to open his eyes.
Thus, he sighs, walking over to Sam's bed and just flopping down.
"Dude, that's my bed."
"Tough luck."
Sam scowled before rolling his eyes and just giving up on it, he glanced at Castiel one last time, he was still a bit mad at him for having dragged Dean into that mess, but if Uriel had been the one killing angels… then Sam wouldn't put it past him to have had something to do with Alistair breaking free from his trap.
He sighed before walking over to the couch and flopping down on it, well, at least they wouldn't have to deal with that homicidal prick anymore.
A win was a win.