Death's Hands

Harry shook his head desperately, his frantic warnings muffled by the gag.

"Boys," Crowley offered up the angel to his demon underlings.

They were fast.

Castiel was faster.

His blade hardly faltered as he drove it into the heart of a demon. Sliding the blade out, he anticipated the next attack, spinning around and slashing the demon's throat. Angry shrieks accompanied each movement of the angel blade. Black blood sprayed across the wall and vessels fell dead once the demons were banished.

He didn't realize that he was being herded.

Crowley watched Castiel take one last step back, towards the middle of the room.

"Perfect," he smirked, flicking a lit match on the ground.

Castiel hissed and dropped the angel blade when fire licked his hand. He stumbled away from the barrier.

It was all around him, the fire.

Holy oil.

He was trapped.

Crowley offered him a sympathetic smile. "Surely you aren't that stupid." He stepped over the dead demons lying all around the circle to pick up the fallen silver sword. It felt great in his hands.

Now all Castiel could do was watch. Harry bit down on the gag to keep calm.

"I was rather hoping to catch up with the Winchesters," Crowley confessed. "But no matter. I'm sure they aren't far behind their precious angel." He approached his bruised and beaten hostage with a critical eye. "There's something special about this one."

Harry forced himself to breathe evenly despite it all. He blinked back his sweat, eyes trained on the angel marred by fire.

Castiel tried to reassure him without words, but he knew his helplessness was apparent. "It's okay," he managed to say instead.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut upon hearing the false words. He nodded quickly even though things were far from alright.

Crowley clucked his tongue and flicked his eyes between the two of them. "Well, isn't this sweet?" Now that he thought about it, he had never seen a human's reaction to an angel blade. No time like the present, as he liked to say. He could just imagine the harm caused by this holy weapon. He pressed the tip of the blade to Harry's neck.

"Stop!" Castiel demanded.

"No." He swung the blade in a casual arc.

Harry curled in reflexively when the sword cut through his shirt and bit into skin at his collarbone. He didn't even have the energy to make a sound. He pressed his face against his arm, shuddering as the blade ran down and across him to his hip. Pain and shock quickly overwhelmed his body. He sagged into the ropes. Enough. Isn't this enough? He looked down at the blood dripping onto the floor. His blood. How much more...?

Crowley took his time walking around his trembling captive. "You really are something else, Castiel." He examined the angel blade critically, wiping some of the blood off with his finger. Black and red. "Befriending humans. Making angelic enemies. Getting in bed with demons. It's all very… revolutionary. I admire you. Truly."

He stopped beside Harry and wrenched his hair back. "Here's the thing…"

Castiel saw a flash of panic in those teary green eyes. Heard a muffled sob. Felt his terror.

"You shouldn't get attached."

The blade plunged into flesh with hardly a sound, through blood and bone.

Final breath.

"No," Castiel moaned.

Crowley jerked his hand away from the silver hilt. It burned.

Castiel's world was collapsing around him, pieces shattering as the horror and reality of what was happening surged into his mind. He was helpless to it. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't. He wanted to get away, but he was trapped. Trapped inside the ring of fire while everything burned around him.

Everything…

Crowley's face fell. "Oh." He disappeared without a trace.

The demons he left behind shrieked as unbearable heat cooked the flesh off of their vessels. No escape. They were feeling an angel's holy wrath. Fatal wrath.

Castiel collapsed to the ground, hands pressed against his eyes so he wouldn't see anymore. He didn't want to see Harry like that. But it didn't matter that his eyes were closed. The image was seared in his mind. Bright tears. Lifeless tears. Endless. This pain. So much pain.

Demons burned to ash.

He curled into himself as agony and guilt washed over him. Wave after wave. Shattering the world around him until there was no fight left in him. Until there was silence around him and a storm inside him.