Writing's on the Wall Destiel

Chapter 9

Dean stared at Castiel in horror. "Cas..."

Castiel met Dean's eyes. "Get out of here, Dean. Now."

The man holding Castiel chuckled. "You never do listen, Castiel, do you? And he can't, anyway. There are angels surrounding him. There is no way out."

"Listen, I don't care what you do to me. Just let Dean go home."

"Cas, you're the one being threatened with a blade and you're worried about me?"

Castiel choose to ignore that question, knowing how it would hold with his superior. Uriel, although being called the funniest angel in the garrison, was not funny at all. "Dean, please, go."

Dean seemed to have a struggle, his eyes flitting between Castiel and the open road. As he turned to go, he came face to face with an angel. "Son of a bitch."

"Not so fast, Dean."

"Please, Uriel," Castiel begged. "Don't do this. Just let me go."

"How bout that? Well, I for one would think that would be a terrible decision."

"You heard him," Dean snapped, reaching into his back pocket for his spare angel blade that Castiel had given him. "Let him go."

"I'm very aware I heard what he said. But see, he has this weakness. He likes you."

Dean remained emotionless. "Let. Him. Go."

"He's a disgrace of heaven. He should have been killed a long time ago. An angel, falling for another man. How very sinful."

Castiel drew in a sharp breath as Uriel began lightly tracing the skin in his neck, drawing a thin line of blood. "Please-"

He barely had time to finish a sentence before Dean revealed the angel blade. "Uriel, or whoever you are, let him go. I'm not asking again."

Uriel locked eyes with Dean for a few good seconds before he released Castiel, taking the angel blade away and pushing him towards Dean. As it turned out, Castiel stumbled as he fell and found himself in Dean's arms. The elder Winchester had somehow caught him midway through his fall. Green concerned eyes were looking into his. "Cas, you okay?"

"I'm fine." No, I'm not. His cut was stinging slightly, and he was still in shock after what happened.

Dean let go of Castiel, but made no attempt to move further, feeling suddenly protective of his best friend. "Now why don't you all just pack up and leave?"

"Why would we do that?" Uriel asked icily.

"Well, one, I've got a macho angel on my side. Two, if you kill me or Cas right here and now, I take it that your God's not going to be happy."

"That so?"

"Yeah. If he sent Cas here to drag me out of hell, then I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. And I'm guessing my angel friend here" he patted Castiel on the back "..is one of your best soldiers. You wouldn't exactly be doing a favor by killing either of us, would you?"

Uriel considered this a moment before he laughed. "I'm starting to like you, Dean. I understand what Castiel sees in you."

Before Dean could ask him to elaborate, the angel was gone. He let out a sigh of relief and turned to Castiel. "Let's go home."Castiel was never more happy to comply.

Later

Sam jumped up when Dean walked through the door. "What the hell, Dean?"

"What? I just went to a bar and came back, that's all."

"Yeah, right. Anyway- oh, hey, Cas."

"Hello, Sam, Bobby."

"What happened to your neck?"

Castiel gingerly pressed the wound. "Uh-"

"Someone was throwing beer bottles in the bar and it caught him against the neck," volunteered Dean, not ready to disclose the news about Uriel yet.

Sam could tell they were hiding something from him, but decided not to push it. "Okay. Um, any way, I found something that might make a little sense."

"What is it?"

Sam flipped to a page of the Bible and pointed. "The Book of Revelations. For war shall break when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. Dean...that's you. The war's already started."

Dean was dumbstruck. "W-What?"

"When you went into hell, you began the war. I'm so sorry, Dean. If I had known-"

"No," Dean murmured. "No!" He smashed a fist into the table, shaking to control his anger.

Castiel watched sadly as his friend struggled at containing the news. "I started it," he heard Dean softly whisper. "It was me."

Sam turned to leave the room, but cast a last sad look at Dean before he left. Castiel took his chance to walk up to Dean. "Dean-"

"God, I'm so stupid. I should never had made that deal."

Castiel touched his hand lightly. "You were stupid for the right reasons."

"That doesn't matter."

"Sometimes that's all that matters."

Dean looked up, revealing the red rims around his eyes. "Are you calling me a dumbass?"

"I prefer the word trusting. Less dumb, less ass."

Despite his emotions in turmoil, a faint smile spread on his face.

Castiel backed some distance away, to give him space. He wasn't used to intervening in personal matters anyway, so he wouldn't have known what to do. "Dean, you made the right choice."

The elder Winchester stood up. "How would you know that?"

"The greatest love one can have is to lay down his life for his brother. You did it for Sam. That's enough to be right."

"Thanks, Cas."

The two men stood in a companionable silence until Dean suddenly took two steps forward and slowly wrapped his arms around Castiel.

The angel was surprised at the contact and stiffened, but only for a moment before he reciprocated the act. Unknown to him, Dean closed his eyes and buried his face into Castiel's shoulder, appreciating the small act of comfort, if only for a moment.