Purgatory Can't Keep Us Apart

Chapter 1. In My Time of Dying

Castiel couldn't see the hellhound coming. He couldn't warn his partner until it was too late. He could only watch as Dean Winchester was dragged down, deep gashes soaking his clothes crimson, torn by an invisible beast. Cas screamed for him, tears already running down his dirt-smeared face, even though he knew it wouldn't help. He knew he wouldn't be able to get close enough to kill it with his knife, and he knew better than to act on impulse.

A second later (though it seemed an eternity to Cas) Sam ran up and shot the hellhound. Both hunter and angel sprinted to Dean, Cas pulling the dying man into his lap.

"Dean," he whispered brokenly, "come back to me. Please, Dean, don't leave me here alone. Don't leave me..."
Dean opened his green eyes as his angel's tears fell on his face, looking into the deep blue ones before him, now filled with tears. "I love you, Cas. You...can do this...without me. I believe in you... take care of...Sammy...for me..."

In all his life, Castiel had never felt so alone. After they'd burned the body, Cas gathered his ashes to keep with him. Sam drove them both back to the motel they'd been calling home for the past two nights. The angel could do nothing more than sit at the edge of the bed, cradling the jar in which Dean's remains were contained.

He longed to feel Dean's arms around him in the strong grip he knew he'd never feel again. Cas didn't want to think about everything that had just happened, but the thoughts came anyway; slipping around the edges of his mind, all the memories of moments he'd built around Dean. He thought of all the hunts they'd been on, the nights they'd shared. It had only been about three weeks since Castiel had gotten the hunter to accept his feelings, but it felt like an eternity to Cas. In a way, he supposed, it was. His time spent with Dean was the only eternity the angel cared about in all his time on earth.
It was times like these when he wished he could sleep...to get away from his thoughts, but his mind betrayed him. Fragments and shattered pictures snuck in while he wasn't paying attention.

"Cas!" Dean called, "get down here, we need you! I don't care what else you're doing, you'd better-"

"Hello, Dean." Came the angel's reply.
The hunter jumped, spinning on his heel to face the angel. "Cas, we've got a problem. Crowley's back at it, and he brought everything with him."

They found a little motel at the edge of Duluth. It looked decent, though relatively cheap.

"Evenin', gentlemen," the woman at the desk greeted them, checking something behind the counter. "I'm afraid we only have two singles open right now."

Sam scoffed, but Dean paid to keep the rooms for two nights.

"Cas, stay with me, tonight..." Dean whispered into Castiel's neck.

"Yes, Dean. I'm not going anywhere."
Dean stripped down to his boxers, doing the same to Cas. Then he crawled under the covers, pulling his angel with him, and Cas held his hunter in his arms until the sun came up, just listening to him breathing, smelling his scent. It was so peaceful that Castiel didn't even want to sleep. He was unaware at the time that this was the last time he would do so.

The next morning, the angel was interrupted from his musings when Sam burst into the motel room.

"Hey Dean! C'mon man, you gotta- woah!!! Cas, I didn't see you. Wait. What?"

"I'm sorry, Sam," Castiel replied, "Dean asked me to stay with him, and...he hasn't woken yet."

"Hold on, I'm confused. You two are a-a thing?"

"What 'thing,' Sam? I do not understand."

At that moment, Dean started to stir.
"Good morning, Dean," Cas said to him. "Your brother has questions for you."

The hunter buried himself deeper underneath the nest of blankets he and Cas had created, nuzzling into the angel's neck.

"Mornin', Cas," Dean mumbled. "Tell my brother he...can - wait, Sammy?" Dean sat up slowly, staring at Sam.

"What the hell, Dean?" The younger Winchester asked, crossing his arms. Dean rubbed his face with the heels of his hands and sighed deeply.

"This isn't what it looks like; I can explain. Actually, forget that. This is exactly what it looks like. Cas and I are together."

Sam scoffed, "as in, together together?"

"Yeah, Sammy! What does it look like?" Dean was never pleasant when he woke up in the morning. Cas had figured that out early on.

"I can't believe this," a pause, "how long?" Dean looked away, sheepishly avoiding Sam's eyes.

"Dean, how long has this been going on behind my back?"

"Two weeks, six days, and eleven hours." Castiel answered for him, looking down at his hands. "We were going to tell you, but didn't know how. Dean wouldn't let me because he thought I would be too...upfront. We are sorry you had to find out this way, Sam."

"Okay, well I'm gonna go pack up. We're leaving in 30, so hurry up. And I'd better not hear anything from next door."

Dean sighed, lying back against Cas. "Well, that could have gone worse."

Dean wouldn't let Castiel zap anywhere in case it was a trap, so the angel sat silently in the back seat of the Impala, listening to Sam describe their problem. It was something along the lines of 'Crowley's back with all his little minions, they're hunkered down in an empty warehouse, and their goal is to take over the town.'

Apparently it was an old burial ground for a cult of demon-worshipers thousands of years ago, and that gave the place special meaning to Crowley.

"Well, isn't this a surprise? Hello boys."
Castiel could hear the smirk in the demon's voice that showed quite plainly that he was not surprised.

The 'boys' turned to face Crowley simultaneously, internally cursing themselves for not being more careful.

"I hope you know that this warehouse is angel-proofed. No zapping in or out. Congratulations, you've walked yourself into a death trap."

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. "I told you it was a bad idea."

Dean smiled at Crowley, his big toothy grin. "There's a reason they call him the smart one."

That's when all hell broke loose.

The next thing Cas remembered was running. Running for their lives, away from the hellhounds that they knew were after them. The growling and snarling followed close on their heels, and the men could feel the breath on their legs. Sam turned as he ran to shoot at the beasts, falling a short distance behind.

What seemed like forever later, the two hunters and the angel burst through the front doors. It all happened in just a split second, but Castiel saw it pan out in slow motions. The moment that Dean slowed to push open the door was all the hellhound needed. Cas could only watch as his lover was slowly ripped apart by an invisible creature that he had no power against.

When Castiel came back to the present, he realized that he had curled up in the middle of the bed and cried out every tear he held.