Coveted Wings [Destiel]

Chapter 3: Facing the Past

The next day, Castiel couldn't stop thinking about what happened the night before. He was going through his day in what seemed to be a trance when someone finally commented on it.

"Castiel?" Asuka called out lightly as he sat down on the couch beside him and nudged his friend gently. "You all right? You've been kind of out of it today."

"Hm?" Castiel replied. He blinked and turned to Asuka. "Oh, I'm fine. It's just...last night made me tired and...yeah."

Asuka nodded in understanding before asking, "How did last night go? Did you find anything out?"

"I'm gonna go back to Lawrence in about an hour so I can observe him throughout the day," Castiel replied.

"Okay," Asuka breathed. He sent Castiel a smile as he added, "Good luck."

Just as he had said, Castiel left about an hour later. He drove back to Lawrence in silence, the only sound being the soft rock music on the radio. Pulling into the neighborhood where his target lived, he slowed his car down to a slow crawl as he searched for the house. Once he located it, he parked his car and shut it off.

He hesitantly got out of his car and slammed the car door, staring at the door of the house with conflicting emotions. He finally forced himself to walk up the sidewalk leading to his target's house and up to the front door. He held his first up for a second, not moving, before he slowly rapped his knuckles on the door.

He stood there for about a minute, and he began to think that no one was home when the door suddenly opened. The male stood before him with a smile, but it soon disappeared when he got a good look at who his visitor was.

The male quickly pulled out a pistol and aimed it at him, exclaiming, "You're the guy that busted into my house and attacked me!"

Castiel quickly held his hands up to show that he meant no harm. "W-wait!" he stammered. He took a deep breath before he continued, "I-I'm sorry. I can explain!" He swallowed and added, "We just got off on the wrong foot."

The green eyed male stared at him for a moment before lowering his gun slightly and motioning for Castiel to come inside his house. Castiel slowly lowered his hands to his side and did as told, walking into the house as the male shut the door behind him.

"I'm Dean, Dean Winchester. And you are?" he asked.

Castiel turned around and replied, "My name is Castiel."

"Well, Castiel," Dean said as he sat down at a table, motioning for Castiel to do the same. "Why did you try to kill me last night?"

Castiel wasn't exactly sure how to explain that he was an assassin sent to kill him, so he simply replied, "Your wings. They're mine."

Dean's eyes widened as he slowly let said appendages become visible. His eyes now held a certain sadness in them as his eyebrows creased slightly. "Wait, so... Five years ago...in that lab...these were yours...?" Castiel nodded silently. "But...how...? I-I thought that guy said that he..."

Dean trailed off as Castiel sighed and muttered, "Well, he lied."

(WARNING: Descriptive gore ahead! Please read with caution!!!)

~Flashback~

He couldn't see anything. Everything was dark. The room that he was in held a foul smell, one of metallic blood, urine, and what probably could have been rotting corpses. He gagged slightly, swallowing thickly and taking shorter breaths to keep his stomach calm.

He was lying on his stomach with his arms and legs strapped to what he assumed was a table, that much he could tell. He struggled against his restraints, but his escape attempt was futile.

Suddenly, he heard a door squeak open and hit the wall with a bang! Footsteps echoed into the room, getting closer and closer to him. He began to struggle in his restraints once more, and he heard the stranger tsk.

"Oh, this just won't do," the stranger said. "I need for you to be still during this operation, but if you can't be still..."

A sudden pain erupted at the back of his neck, making him cry out in surprise. He suddenly couldn't move; the bastard had paralyzed him.

"Now, this next part won't hurt...me," the stranger said, cackling lowly.

He felt an immense pain shoot throughout him, and he opened his mouth to scream bloody murder. He didn't pay attention to the man cackling behind him, to his palms bleeding where his fingernails pierced through skin because he was clenching his hands into fists tightly, or even to his own screams.

All he could focus on was the searing pain as knives ripped through his flesh and dug into his back. All he could focus on was the disgusting sound of tools scraping against the bones of his wings where they met his back. All he could focus on was how his wings were brutally ripped from him.

He finally stopped screaming, his throat sore as he panted hard. He felt large amounts of blood flowing from his back, and it was so much that it started to drip on the floor beneath him. He felt his grace attempt to slowly heal his wounds.

He heard rather than watched the man walk away from him and out of the room, taking his wings with him. The door slammed closed behind the man, and he was left in silence.

His eyelids slowly drooped, and he finally passed out.

~End Flashback~

(End of descriptive content)

Dean stared at Castiel with wide eyes as Castiel recited his memories to him, "And when he came back, he took my grace as well and stitched up the rest of my back. I'm guessing he gave you my grace?" Dean nodded. "Then he knocked me out, and next thing I know, I wake up next to a dumpster in a hoodie and sweatpants."

"Hmm," Dean hummed in dismay as he leaned back in his chair. "What did you do after?"

Castiel ran a hand through his hair as he realized that now was the time to tell him the whole truth. "I joined a group of assassins a few years back. We hunt criminals and the supernatural. You just so happened to appear on their radar, and I was sent on a mission to kill you. But when they told me that you had wings..." Castiel shrugged. "I thought you were one of my brethren so I wasn't going to attack you, but then I saw my wings on your back...and I just got angry."

Dean just nodded as Castiel explained. When Castiel finished, the two of them were silent. They could hear birds chirping, the occasional dog barking, and cars driving by.

Castiel finally spoke up with a question of his own, "Why did you agree to be a part of such an experiment?"

Dean blinked in surprise before he started to rub the back of his neck as he began to feel nervous. "Well..."

CRASH!