A Long Hunt

Gone Again

Castiel was shaken awake roughly by a tall figure looming over his head. His first thought was that it might be Crowley, but he barely had enough energy to move, none the less try to stop him. His grace wasn’t healing his body fast enough, there were too many injuries to heal as fast as he normally would.

Around him, he could hear voices calling to him but everything sounded like it was being filtered through a thick syrupy pool of water. Nothing was making sense. He couldn’t even seem to remember where he was anymore. He knew something big had just happened… but what was it…

In a daze Castiel looked around him. Everything appeared to be fuzzy and unclear as he watched blurry shapes moving about, while horrible memories clouded in his mind and came back to him in painful waves of gray.

Suddenly, someone joined the taller figure and a pair of golden eyes flashed in front of Castiel's face. Seconds later he was hit by an icy cold, wet sensation that made him shiver harshly.

"Cassie, hey, baby bro, come back to us man!" Gabriel's voice finally broke into the blue eyed angel’s mind while a white hot pain seared on his cheek as he received a nice slap from his brother.

As he became more aware of his surroundings, Castiel noted that his trench coat was now doused in water, no doubt by Gabriel's hand, and he also realized that his body was aching something fierce.

As his thoughts unscrambled a memory of Dean's piercing black eyes flung itself towards the front of Castiel’s mind. Cas remembered seeing Dean staring deep into Castiel's body as he analyzed every detail and every wound that now covered him.

"D-Deannn..." Castiel's whimpered as he tried to move and find him. That all had to be a dream right? Dean still had his green eyes right? There was no way that he had-had…. Demon eyes, right?

"Woah there bucco, take it easy now." Gabriel said as he placed him hand on his little brother’s chest. "Sam, help me out with him."

"W-where is Dean!" Castiel said in a pitiful voice. “He’s not…. Please don’t tell me… that he’s…” Cas was unable to finish his question as he gazed up into the broken faces of Sam and Gabriel.

"We'll get him Cas. We'll get him back..." Sam whispered his voice was laced with pain and anger as he spoke. None of them confirmed Castiel’s question, but their avoidance of the topic was enough for him. It hadn’t been a dream at all. This was real life… and Dean was gone… again…

Cas suddenly wailed in pain as Gabriel and Sam tried to pull him to his feet.

"Bobby, we're gonna need you too." Sam rasped as Cas was quickly lowered back down to the ground.

In the distance Cas could hear footsteps coming slowly closer.

Cas felt a stinging pain in his chest and he slowly forced himself to look down at the damage he had taken from Dean.

Most of the cuts seemed pretty minor and were already healing up pretty quickly. However, Castiel’s eyes suddenly caught sight of something that would probably never heal completely.

It was a heart shaped slice that Dean had left on his skin. The wound was surrounded by dried blood while fresh red liquid still oozed from each gash. The bleeding didn’t seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. The angel blade had punctured him too deep to heal quickly.

Tears began to slide down Castiel's face as he lifted a finger to trace the wound. Yet, despite the burning pain of each slice it was not the physical pain that was causing his tears. No, Cas was crying because he had let Dean go once again. What kind if warrior was he? He was supposed to be Dean's lover, soulmate, protector and savior yet all he had brought him was death and sorrow. The only thing he had left of him now was a broken bloody wound that reflected the shattered feeling he felt in his heart.