Take The Heart I Never Wanted to Give

14

Castiel knew he wasn't going to be able to run with Dean in his arms much longer. Dean was shaking from the aftershock of getting shot in Cas' arms, his skin loosing its natural tan and turning pale and his eyes fluttering as he fought to remain conscious. Castiel looked down at the area where Dean had been shot, grimacing when he realized it was still bleeding, maybe not as much as it had been, but it was still bleeding non the less. Castiel stopped abruptly, looking around helplessly for somewhere to allow Dean to rest. He sighed in relief when he spotted the redwood tree a few feet from where he stood. He quickly thanked his lucky stars he had run in the right direction and strode over to the tree, grunting as he adjusted Dean in his arms.

He leaned his back against the tree, sliding down the base of it with Dean secured in his lap. Dean was still shivering, his whole body scrunched up in a fetal position as he tried to absorb as much heat as he could.

"C-Ca-s..." Dean whispered, his voice coming out unsteady as his teeth chattered together.

"Yes?" Castiel whispered back, his voice tight as he tried not let his growing fear and panic cloud his judgement.

"I-I'm f-fuckin' f-fr-ee-zin," He hissed out, his eyes screwed shut in agony and his hands curled tightly into fists to contain some warmth in his hands.

Castiel couldn't but let out a weak chuckle and pulled Dean closer to his body, "I know, I'm sorry. We'll...we'll get out of here. I promise. Then we can wrap you up in every blanket in the castle and get endless cups of hot chocolate."

Dean looked up at Castiel, his eyes heavily lidded and slightly unfocused but there was a wobbly smile on his paling face, "S-sounds n-nice." He slurred. He sucked in a ragged breath, shutting his eyes to block out the searing pain in his side. Castiel looked helplessly down at Dean and let out a shaky sigh. The green-eyed omega was getting worse by the minute and Castiel had no idea how to help him. He couldn't carry him much further without injuring himself as well and leaving Dean by himself so he could go find help was completely out of the question. Alastair and Michael were still out there and he wouldn't dare risk Dean getting hurt further.

Dean let out a pained hiss, his body curling in on its self as much as his injury would allow. Castiel tried to sooth him as much as he could, feeling even more lost at what to do.

"Just hang on. Someone'll come," Castiel said, not truly believing his own words, "Someone'll come."

✧✧✧✧✧

"Dean! Castiel!" Sam shouted. Gabriel was trailing behind him, calling their names out as well and scenting nearby trees and shrubs for either of their scents since he seemed to have the better nose between the two of them. Gabriel bounded ahead of him to climb and uprooted, leafless oak tree that leaned heavily against another. He carefully shuffled upward about half way before craning his neck and scenting the air again for either of their brothers' scents.

"You get anything?!" Sam shouted.

Gabriel turned his attention back to Sam and shook his head, his forehead creased in frustration, "Nothing!" He climbed back down the tree and approached Sam with an agitated sigh, "I can't smell a damn thing in this forest. Everything smells like rocks and trees!"

Sam sighed as well and fisted a hand in his hair, pulling lightly before dropping it defeatedly to his side, "Where are they?" Sam said quietly.

Gabriel gave him a small shrug and shook his head, "I don't know. But we'll find them." He said, reaching over to give Sam's large hand a gentle reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah. We'll find them." Sam parroted, his hand squeezing Gabriel's own back just as reassuringly, "They must be really far into the woods if they can't hear us from here. Maybe they made it to the tree..."

"Then that's where we'll start. Come on." Gabriel said, making his way deeper into the forest.

"Wait, Gabe!" Sam called after him. Gabriel stopped and turned around to look at him with a puzzled expression, "I've never been to the tree! I have no idea where it even is!"

Gabriel merely smirked and tapped the side of his head, "That's what you got me for. Photographic memory kiddo. I looked at the maps earlier when we were in your mom's study. I know exactly where it is from here."

Sam let out an impressed chuckle and quickly bounded to Gabriel's side, "You're really somethin' you know that?"

"Oh I know. I just like impressing you is all." Gabriel said with a bright smile.

Sam chuckled briefly before putting an earnest expression on his face, "So where do we go from here?"

Gabriel recognized the seriousness in Sam's voice and became focused again at the situation at hand and pointed to his left, "We gotta keep heading this way. It's basically a straight shot except for a few curves and turns along the way. There's a cliff that leads down to the tree so once we reach that we shouldn't have any problems getting to it."

"What if we run into your brothers?" Sam asked.

"I'm not too worried about them. Knowing Lucifer he probably snuck off somewhere to stuff his face with rolls and wash them down with wine and Michael's probably too caught up with yelling at and ordering his helper around to remember the task at hand. I'm more worried about that alpha Alastair you were talking about earlier."

Sam's face darkened, his eyes flashing and his fist clenching tightly at his sides, "If we run into him I'll tear off his knot and make him choke on it."

Gabriel raised and eyebrow and cautiously patted Sam's shoulder, "I think knocking him unconscious would be a better option for now, okay?"

Sam merely growled and stalked forward in the direction Gabriel had pointed, his shoulders tense and his fists still clenched in a white knuckle grip.

Gabriel let out a small breath or air and shook his head, bounding after the extremely pissed alpha,

"I gotta really bad feeling about this." He muttered to himself.