always

hospital

His siblings' cold eyes flash through his mind. The angel blade sinking into his flesh. His human flesh.

Castiel is lying down somewhere. His eyes fly open. It's white and bright and horrible, and he immediately closes his eyes.

Naomi.

She somehow found him again! In a distant corner of his mind, he knows that's impossible, but he doesn't know why. But where else can he be? His siblings must have dragged him back to Heaven to give him some well-deserved torture. But that doesn't mean Castiel can't try and escape. He'll be damned if he lets Naomi rewrite his mind again.

Castiel forces himself to calm his breathing and focus on his surroundings. He's in a bed with scratchy sheets and a stiff mattress. He's cold, and his forehead feels sweaty. There's a low throbbing pain pulsing in his stomach. He hears people walking by several feet away. Something that sounds like an intercom is barking off distantly. There's a beeping sound emanating from something nearby. The sounds are unfamiliar to Heaven. Perhaps he's in someone's personal Heaven.

His thoughts are interrupted by a strange sensation in his arm. There's something sticking into it. Castiel has no idea what it is, or what it's doing to him. Is he being injected with something? The faster he moves, the better. He can't risk giving whatever is flowing into him more time to affect him.

In one motion, Castiel sits up and opens his eyes. It's still bright and white, and his vision is a bit hazy. It must be whatever he's being injected with! Castiel quickly rips out the needle that is in his arm. He was right! Something was going inside him!

He jumps out of bed, pain erupting across his abdomen. He staggers and manages to take a few steps towards the doorway. He tries to straighten, but the pain is even worse, and he runs into the doorframe. He's breathless. Castiel allows himself a couple seconds to catch his breath and manage the pain before looking up. There's a hallway, and he steps into it.

He squints up at the signs hanging from the ceiling, but he can't read them. His vision is still unfocused.

"Sir?" someone calls from behind him.

Castiel stiffens. He was hoping he could avoid fighting for longer than this, but apparently not.

The angel continues, "You shouldn't be out of your room!"

Castiel waits for the angel to get close before striking. He grabs the angel's shirt with one hand and focuses all his limited energy on punching her in the face. He must catch her by surprise because she stumbles backward, and Castiel manages to quickly move away from her in the opposite direction. Well, as quickly as he can manage.

Castiel stumbles down the hallway and turns a corner. Several other angels are racing towards him. His adrenaline spikes, and he wildly looks around. A restroom. He sprints towards it, gets inside, spins around, and locks the door.

The angels bang on the door, and Castiel jumps. The door won't hold forever. What is he going to do!

"Sir! Please, open the door!" a man calls. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Fuck you!" Castiel responds.

He stares at the door warily. Any second now the group of angels is going to come barreling in, and he doesn't have a plan. Castiel takes a quick assessment of the bathroom, but there's nothing in here he can use as a weapon. Maybe he can take the soap dispenser off of the wall and use that?

There's whispering outside the door, and Castiel stiffens, bracing himself for an attack. What could they possibly be scheming? It doesn't take a whole plan to break a door. He strains his ears to try and make out what they're saying, but his adrenaline is pounding too loudly. He hears one of them run off. There's a sinking feeling tugging at his gut. What's going on?