Castiel was overly proud of his wings, whenever he was in heaven he would present them in a way where everyone in his Garrison would see and compliment him, he would secretly revel in their words and let his ego grow a little more, though he never showed it.

The swan-like wings unfolded themselves as he wandered towards his Garrison, the natural light catching onto his neat and smooth feather, flickers of gold flashing at the light hit, leaving the angels staring at them again.

"My, Castiel, your wings look beautiful again today." An angel complimented and Cas smiled a little, nodding and thanking them before moving on again, sharply turning from the group of angels and standing on the edge of a cloud, gazing down.

Uriel came up beside him and followed his gaze, scoffing and shaking his head, shouldering Cas' wings away from him, the jealousy obvious.

"You still looking for that human, Castiel?" Uriel grunted and walked away again to leave Cas looking down through his blue eyes down at the Earth, he could see one brother but not the other and that worried him deeply. He heard rumors that the human he had watched for nearly all his life was killed and dragged into hell.

Cas refused to believe so, Dean Winchester wouldn't die that easily even after selling his soul for his brother, he would find a way out of it, yet the evidence wasn't there and Cas felt lost. Everyday he would watch the man through his adventures with his brother, battling demons and fighting ghouls.

An angel approached Cas from behind and brushed against the perfect feathers before standing beside him, his face plain and unemotional.

"Castiel." The angel began before turning to him and attempting to catch his gaze but Cas' eyes continued to scan the world, hoping to find Dean. "It has been confirmed, Dean Winchester has indeed been killed and sent to hell." The angel then left as quickly as he arrived, leaving Cas realize what he had been told.

Numbness ran through Cas, his wings folded in tightly, the feathers shaking lightly, his body stiffened and his eyes were stuck at one place on the Earth, not really looking at anything but attempting to suppress the flooding emotion right now. Angels were never meant to feel emotion, not meant to attach to humans but Dean captured him from so long ago, he felt strangely connected to him.

"I have to save him." Cas whispered to himself but Uriel picked up what he said and shook his head and scoffed again.

"Don't think such stupid thing Castiel. No Angel has ever been into hell and survived." Uriel's voice was instantly blocked from the other angels head, Cas deafened him out of his mind and stood close to the edge of the cloud. He didn't know what to do without Dean there, protecting people like he had all his life so far, the world seemed dimmer without him and it made his heart clench, so badly.

"Then I'll be the first." Castiel growled, his wings shot open, flashes of gold playing along the feathers before he fell forward and flew down, his form becoming a bright blur as his vessel was enveloped by a pure white light before disappearing, the golden shimmers of his beautiful wings disappearing too shortly after.

As Castiel crossed the two dimensions between Heaven and Hell he felt the heat hit him hard, his form reappeared in the opposite land, the smell of rotting and burning flesh, flames and smoke surrounded the area with chains spread around, souls connected to them, screaming and crying constantly, making Cas flinch at the sound.

'Just search for Dean.' Thought Cas as he tried to concentrate his thoughts, searching for that one human he needed to save. The first flicker of flame his against the angels wing, the burning sensation buzzing through his body and a grunt escaping his lips.

Another flame hit several points, burning and scarring the beautiful feathers on his wings, he paused, flapped and fell back suddenly regretting coming down, his flawless wings becoming ruined, some of the white feathers burning black as midnight, his face grimaced at the sight but then it just reminded him. Dean's here. This was more important than a few feathers.

Cas started to decline again into the deeper depths of hell, the flames and smoke becoming more fierce, the smell's starting to burn the inside of his nose as the burning flesh started to become more and more rancid, the deeper he flew.

"Sam… Help…" The cry was weak but Cas picked up on it instantly, Dean's voice was so broken it hurt Cas to listen to it a little more. Cas glanced over to his sides, the wings now covered in burns and smoke stains that would remain scarred onto his feathers forever.

"Dean…" Castiel whispered as he approached where Dean was and Cas had to try to stop himself from crying out, the chains pierced through Dean's skin were bloody and rusted, probably from someone else being there before. The human gazed up to the large black blur in front of him and started to flail, the hooks pulling at his skin, tearing away more. "Please, stop…"

"I don't want… I can't—-" Dean cried out, his bloodied skin stained beyond compare. Cas started to unhook the poor soul, carefully and almost surgically to prevent him bleeding anymore but the constant writhing of Dean made it harder.

"I'm here to save you." Cas whispered, the last hook coming loose and the weakened state collapsed onto him, he wrapped one arm around the males waist and another held tightly onto his shoulder as he began to ascend back up again.

With another person to carry up with him, the flames became harder to dodge and his body weakening at the pain he sustained on the way down, only to get it again on the way back up. Cas grunted and growled as he felt himself get half way and a chain caught the fold of his wing.

Cas cried out louder than he had since entering hell, the pain was nothing compared to anything he had felt in his time since he was created, demons attention was finally caught and their mangled states approached the angel and his human, looking to kill and retrieve.

Cas removed one hand from Dean's waste and kept the tight grip of the shoulder and started on removing the hook from his wing, the pain hitting over and over and the demons crawling closer and closer.

His wings were destroyed from what they once were, they were nearly completely black and heavily bloodied, Cas cried out lightly and finally felt the hook on his wing pull out, releasing him again. As he began to flying up again, despite the blood splattering from his wing, a demon clawed onto Cas' waist, attempting to climb higher.

"Oh no you don't you demonic scum!" Growled Cas, his hand being placed on the demons head and a holy light emanating from both hands before there was a bright light and the demon fell away leaving Cas to finally fly up as quick as possible. "We're almost there, Dean."

The flames finally began to die down and the height of hell was finally there, he regrouped his grip onto Dean and disappeared, the fresh air of the Earth hitting both of them and the smell of burning flesh was to finally filter from their senses.

"You're free." Cas' voice croaked as he placed Dean down on the ground and hovered his hands over him, the wounds from his time in hell healing over quickly like he had never been there, but the mark of Cas' accidental marking remained on his shoulder. "I guess this means you're mine." The angel whispered before his lips met Dean's forehead as he teleported him back into his grave to wake up and free himself.

"I'll meet you again soon, Dean Winchester." With that Cas returned to heaven, beaten and bloodied, his wing in the worst pain still, his feathers messy, flayed out everywhere and clumped in blood.

Castiel returned himself to the edge of the cloud he stood before and watched down on the Earth, waiting for Dean to break from his grave. Uriel approached him a time after, his eyes slightly widened at the state the angel was in.

"You survived." Uriel stated like Cas didn't even know himself, Castiel nodded in response and felt his wing sting as he spread them a little. "Your wings are destroyed." Cas smirked a little and spread his wings as far as he could without the pain being too much and turned to Uriel.

"These wings are a trophy. I went to hell and back, survived and saved someone who means the world to me. My wings are beautiful." Cas spat back, meaning every word. Wings meant nothing to him now, sure he might lose the compliments about the elegant shape and colour his wings were, but he had Dean Winchester back, and they would soon meet.