Bare My Soul | Destiel AU

Midnight

Castiel paced back and forth across the kitchen, biting at the tip of his thumb as he tried to think of a way to help Dean. Sam sat beside him, watching him with clear eyes of worry as the angel stopped, his agitated grace balling inside of him like a child throwing a temper tantrum. He looked towards the dorm bedrooms, letting out a desperate whine before finally turning his eyes to Sam.

"What do we do?" Castiel asked, his voice showing the fear that choked at his throat and chest. Sam rubbed the back of his neck, looking just as clueless and frustrated as Castiel felt.

"I don't know, Cas. We can try to take him to the hospital again, but I don't know if they will take him or not." Sam said, letting out a frustrated groan and standing, running his hand through his hair before looking towards the bedroom where Dean was resting. "I'm really worried, Cas. He stabbed you and said such horrible things...Dean would never do that no matter how mad you made him. Can't you try and heal him?"

"Don't you think I haven't tried that already? I can't find anything wrong! No matter how much grace I put into him, I can't find anything that could possibly cause this!" Castiel said, his hands raking through his hair and tugging harshly, unsure what else to do. He let a small few tears escape, making his ways down his cheeks.

"Maybe this is just something angels can't heal. We'll take him to the hospital as soon as morning comes, alright?" Sam asked, placing his hand on Castiel's shoulder and squeezing gently. Castiel bit his lip, trying to hold back his sobs as he felt a sudden presence of Dean's soul, trailing from the bedroom and wrapping around his grace in a soul version of a hug.

"Dean's awake." Castiel mumbled, his grace enveloping the tendril and pulling it closer, only to wince like he got stung when Dean's soul jerked back, pulling away from his body. Sam stood a little straighter, walking in the room with bated breath, Castiel following.

Dean was laying awake, staring up at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. Castiel halted, his wings thrumming in the prospect of danger. It left him breathless, and he couldn't remember ever feeling this much hatred rolling off of Dean's mind as they grew closer. Castiel reached out to grab Sam's arm, to stop him from getting too close, but Sam just shook him off gently. 

"Hey, Dean." Sam said, his voice soft and gentle as he stopped beside Dean's bed, giving the hunter a small and encouraging smile. Dean stared at him with empty eyes, his eyes dark and almost devilish.

"Get away from me." Dean mumbled, barely over a whisper and filled with a small flame of hatred burning in his soul. Sam took a step back, his hurt clear in his eyes as he looked down at his sickly brother.

"Dean? It's me. We're here to help." Sam spoke softly, reaching his hand out to his brother. Dean's face to one of angry and he lashed out with his arm, hitting Sam weakly.

"Get away from me, you monster!" Dean shouted, his voice scratching and making him break down into a coughing fit, pausing in his assault as his chest heaved and his eyes fluttered closed, struggling to remain open.

Castiel burst into tears as Dean slowly fell back into unconsciousness, his grace heaving and shuddering as he felt what hope he had slipping.

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Castiel and Sam sat beside Dean's bed, the scent of disinfectant cloying the air and making it feel hard to breath. Dean laid in the bed, an IV stretching from the rack to his hand as a nurse injected some medicine into it, swirling into the IV before disappearing into the tube.

The doctor walked in, a frown on his face as he held a file tightly in his hands. He let out a sigh, resting it on the table at the foot of the bed, shaking his head as Sam's and Castiel's hearts sank.

"We've found the problem." The doctor said softly, opening the file and pulling out three pieces of paper. He held one up, showing the image of a human's brain. "This is what a normal brain looks like." 

The doctor paused a moment before hesitatingly holding up the next two pictures. "This is Mr. Winchester's brain. As you can see, his brain is beginning to disintegrate." The doctor said in an apologetic tone.

The picture of Dean's brain showed that it was smaller than a normal brain, and the mess of the surface was ragged and black around the edges, and Castiel doubted that it was from just the pictures quality.

"Do you know what's causing it?" Sam asked, his eyebrows furrowed together as the doctor shook his head, adjusting his coat before putting the pictures away and closing the file.

"I'm afraid I've never seen anything like this before. There's just nothing we can do for him." The doctor replied, picking up the file and taking a polite step back. "All we can do now is make him comfortable."

Castiel felt his world shattering around as the doctor left, his heart beating so fast, he thought he would explode. He turned to Dean as soon as the doctor closed the door, pressing his hand against Dean's forehead and shoving his grace into the contact.

The cool blue light flooded into Dean's head, encircling his mind in an attempt to fix what was missing, to save Dean. Yet, his grace found nothing but the struggling thoughts of Dean and he cursed himself for realizing that he couldn't find the cause, and he couldn't reverse the damage already done.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and as he slowly let his grace retract back, he felt warm tears sliding down is face and dripping onto Dean's hospital gown. He turned, getting pulled into a crushing hug by Sam as Dean settled back into a deathly still sleep.