I Promise | A Destiel High School & College AU

CHAPTER 21 - There's So Much We've Yet To Do

"I'm missing half of me when we're apart."
~If I Could Fly by One Direction

"Cas?"

An immense amount of relief and joy flooded throughout Castiel. In all his life, never had he been so happy to hear anything than when he heard the deep, yet soft sound of Dean's voice.

Words had abandoned Castiel. He simply stared, with what failing vision he had.

With his breathing becoming erratic and relief surrounding his mind, Castiel reached out for Dean after they had both stood up to make sure this wasn't a cruel trick of two desperate and troubled minds. Dean let out a raspy chuckle as he took Castiel's hand in his own two and brought it to his chest. He wanted... needed... to make sure this was real.

After so many terrors haunting him in his sleep and a voice bigger than his will telling him he'd never find Castiel, Dean needed all the reassurance he could get.

"D-Dean...Dean..." Castiel said. It had been so long since they'd heard each other's voices, that they took a moment to relish the sound they had nearly come to forget.

Tears were spilling out of both their eyes as Dean brought his hand to Castiel's shoulder, then to his neck, then to his back as he pulled Castiel close.

Everywhere on Castiel's body ached, and the fact that Dean was holding him as tight as he could did not help, but he would never tell Dean to let go. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

"I thought..." Dean started. "I th-thought I lost-"

Castiel brought his hand up to Dean's hair and attempted to soothe him. "Shh..." he said. "I know. I know."

Without wasting another moment, Dean pulled away from Castiel to see the magnificent blue of his eyes. To his disappointment, the ocean-like color he'd come to see in his dreams has since faded to a light grey. There wasn't much indication of any color, considering that Castiel could only see out of one eye, vision rapidly failing.

Dean's hands found their way to Castiel's face and he rubbed his thumbs over Cas' cheeks. "What did they do to you?" Dean whispered, too upset to be angry.

Castiel furrowed his brows as the memories of the last few weeks rose to his mind. He'd seen more of his own blood than he had ever seen shed by Metatron or himself. Red had become his least favorite color.

Castiel opened his mouth to respond, but not before a figure behind Dean caught his eye.

Azazel.

In a full sprint, or what he could manage with the wound in his side, with the knife in his hand, he was rapidly approaching.

All words to warn Dean failed him, and his protective instincts took over. He pushed Dean to the ground and ran at Azazel.

He almost didn't feel the blade pierce his abdomen among the adrenaline rushing through him.

"NO!" Dean shouted, after seeing the events unfold. Castiel fell to the ground, and it took everything in Dean to not go to him, but he had a much bigger problem to deal with. Rage clouded his judgment and his eyes turned fierce.

He caught Azazel by surprise, because he was entranced by the fact that he had stabbed someone. For the first time since everything happened, Azazel realized that he may have actually gone through with his threat. It was surreal, but he didn't care.

Punch after punch Dean threw after knocking Azazel to the ground and hovering over him. He couldn't see anything but blood coming from Azazel's face and from his bruising knuckles. "You son of a bitch!" Dean yelled, releasing all the pent up frustration and worry that had collected in his mind on Azazel. He didn't even hear the roar of the Impala approaching or see Sam jump out of the car before it was parked and run over to him.