“Let him go, now.” Castiel ordered; his rough voice thundering through the rafters as he countered Crowley’s triumphant smirk with a dangerous glare.

Even though Dean had personally been on the receiving end of Castiel’s superhero rescues, he’d never actually witnessed this level of sheer force before.

Power roiled off Castiel in awe-inspiring waves as his wings flared out to their full span behind him. A giant, dark mass that rippled with the same intense energy that surrounded the rest of his body.

Dean’s base instincts warned of danger. That he should be afraid of this terrible being that stood before him.

But the logical part of his brain, thankfully, jumped to the forefront and took over, erasing any inkling of doubt.

This was Cas.

Cas, who grumpily stared at the coffee pot in the kitchen every morning while sporting the world’s wildest bedhead.

Cas, who just last week had been unable to pick between the gaggle of guinea pigs at the pet store and ended up spending hours cuddling each of them in turn, until a favorite finally emerged for him to happily bring home as his own.

Cas, who, without fail, kept Dean draped in the warmth and safety of his soft wings, every night as they slept.

Cas, who saved and changed Dean’s life in more ways than he could even count.

“That’s just not possible, darling.” Crowley apologetically clucked in a voice that slithered with insincerity.

“I wasn’t giving you an option.” Castiel warned; spine straightening as his wings snapped with agitation and sent wind gusting against the quickly growing, fiery divide.

“Your preening doesn’t scare me, Castiel. Now how about we put all of this nonsense aside and resume our previous business discussions?” Without waiting for an answer, Crowley turned from Castiel and honed his attention, instead, on the bound and seated man beside him.

He yanked Dean’s head back until their eyes met, then continued with his false concerns. “I’m guessing by your shocked expression that your feathered lover failed to mention the arrangement he’d made with me. What a pity.”

“Dean!” Castiel shouted while stepping closer to the flames that stood as a widening barrier between them.

“Not another move, Castiel or I’ll snap your boy-toy’s neck before you can even think to flap your way across to save him.” To prove his point, Crowley hooked fingers under Dean’s chin and sharply wrenched him into an impossible angle that had him crying out in tear-inducing pain.

“Dean has no part in this, Crowley. Set him free and we’ll go forward with the plan to defeat Leviathan.” Castiel asked again even as his shoulders slumped in a sign of accepted failure.

The action had Crowley relaxing his agonizing hold on Dean as he became too involved in puffing up in response to his apparent victory over Castiel.

Dean quickly jumped at the opening and used it as a chance to get through to Castiel. His mind was a whirling, panicked mess of questions. But he needed to know why in the hell Castiel would join up with a shit stain like Crowley. Even if it meant possibly taking out the bigger and more dangerous threat of the Leviathan Organization.

Dean jerked his head fully from Crowley’s lax grasp and tried to latch onto Castiel’s adverted gaze. “Are you really working with this asshole to take down Leviathan, Cas?”

The insult earned Dean a rattling knock against the side of his skull but the momentary disorientation was worth it as Castiel finally met his eye.

“Dean, I had no choice. Leviathan threatened to destroy and devour everything in this city. And that included you. It was a risk I couldn’t take. You’re too important to me.” His own words seemed to reassure Castiel and defeat disappeared as he steadily held Dean’s gaze.

Dean’s heart thumped wildly in his chest at the profound admission.

The two of them could fix this. They would.

“Such a beautiful confession of love, Castiel. The perfect thing to tug right at the old heart strings.” Crowley interrupted with a disgusted groan of disapproval. “But, seeing as how I don’t actually have any...”

Dean once again, felt the clawing skitter of Crowley’s fingers at his scalp. Tearing at the roots of his hair as he was violently snatched back and his chair tipped precariously onto two legs.

Crowley's scrambling attempt to gain a more solid hold was brought to a premature end by the long silver blade that whizzed passed Dean’s face and embedded itself deep into Crowley’s right shoulder.

Crowley lost his grip completely and Dean’s chair slammed down onto the floor as the villain screamed in shocked anguish behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw Crowley stumble toward the fire that had gone from simply encircling them to angrily engulfing everything within reach.

Dean's attention was pulled away from the bright flames when Castiel leaped over the blaze that now completely separated them. His wings beating furiously; kicking up dust and debris as he landed in front of Dean.

“I’m sorry.” He atoned while snapping Dean’s bonds with ease. “I never meant for this to happen.” He soothed his large palms over the torn skin of Dean’s wrists and instantly healed skin damaged by rough, tight ropes.

“I only wanted to keep you safe.” Castiel confessed as he brushed hands over Dean’s face. All of the bruises and aches disappearing under the trail of gentle touches.

Dean flung his arms around Castiel’s shoulders and tucked his head tightly into the crook of his neck. “Cas, let’s get the hell out of here. We’ll talk about all of this once we...”

The rest of Dean’s sentence was drowned out by a loud, inhuman roar that pierced the air and rattled the warehouse walls.

“The fuck?” Dean shouted; hands over his ears as Castiel peered into the space behind where they stood.

“Dean, I need you to trust me.” Castiel announced and before Dean could respond he was shoved, hard, then Castiel’s heavy wings were shielding, protecting him from the view of what stepped out of the surrounding flames.

Vaguely still Crowley shaped, the creature’s charred skin undulated as if living things were crawling just beneath the surface. Eyes glowed red and firelight flashed off of sharp white fangs and claws. 

“This most assuredly counts as a breach of contract.” Crowley growled as he yanked the silver blade from his shoulder and tossed it to the floor.

Dean tried to get a better look at the ongoing situation but Castiel’s wings shivered and held tight against him, making it hard to see much of anything except black feathers and the tan back of Castiel’s trench coat.

“Look what you’ve done to my favorite suit, Castiel.” Crowley shouted in anger. “Just for that I’m going to slowly tear your human limb from limb while you helplessly watch.”

“As long as I breathe, you won’t touch a single hair on his head.” Castiel threatened as Crowley began to laugh.

“Alright, we’ll do it your way, then.”

Castiel reached behind himself, fingers painfully clamping onto Dean’s wrist, before he was being tossed out of the way, just as Crowley’s body made contact with Castiel. The impact sending both of them tumbling to the very edge of the fiery circle.

As the pair grappled before his eyes Dean could only watch in horror until something shiny caught his attention. Looking to his left he saw that Castiel’s blade was just within his reach. He moved across the floor toward the weapon; relief coursing through him when his fingers wrapped around the unnaturally cool metal.

“Cas!” Dean shouted; sliding the blade to Castiel, where the other man deftly caught the handle and brought it down to pierce Crowley’s flesh.

As another howl ripped through the air, Castiel staggered to his feet; moving in Dean’s direction as the warehouse around them shuddered as fire crawled up the walls and reached the ceiling.

“C’mon, Cas.” Dean held out as hand and just felt fingers brush his before Crowley tackled Castiel from behind.

“NO!” Dean’s lunge toward the fighting figures was halted by an burning beam that fell from the ceiling with a crash.

“Dean, get back!” Castiel shouted above the now audible roar of the fire.

“No, dammit! I’m not leaving here without you!” Dean responded; rushing to the other side of the room to try and reach Castiel.

“Please! Go!” Castiel implored as the fire exploded and completely obscured him from Dean’s view.

“CAS!” Dean screamed as the flames and heat burned his throat and tears streamed from his eyes. He stumbled back; arms covering his face in a weak attempt to protect himself against the fire that continued to render the interior of the building unrecognizable.

#####

6 months later

“Dean, are you sure you want to do this?” Sam warily asked; watching his brother put the finishing touches on the project that’d recently consumed every waking moment of his life.

Was he sure?

Not in the least, but Dean didn’t really have any other choice.

This was what he was meant to do.

He’d known from the moment the idea came to him in a dream filled with black feathers and bright blue eyes, just shy of the first month after...after...well, after.

“Stop looking at me like that, Sammy.” Dean grumbled as he soldered the final components to the harness’s control panel.

He hated when his little brother looked at him like he was a friggin’ 1-legged puppy.

“Are you absolutely positive this is safe?” Sam continued as Dean strapped the harness over his shoulders and locked it across his sternum..

“If you’re just gonna nag me to death, get off my roof.” Dean answered and with a single press of the button at the center of his chest, huge metal wings unfolded from the pack on his back.

The shiny material a familiar color of blue that Dean would only ever get to see now whenever the man-made appendages stretched to either side of his body.

When Dean had first revealed his intentions to Sam, the younger Winchester had immediately contacted Dr. Barnes. Relaying the troubling information to the psychologist because he was worried the plan was an elaborate suicidal ideation, instead of what it really was.

Dean’s newfound purpose in life.

Dean glanced over the side of the building then scanned the deepening hues of the sun as it set against the horizon.

Castiel had loved this city and Dean had loved Castiel.

And even though he was now gone, the city still needed protection.