Lurker Central

Dean couldn't see who Castiel was fighting - all he could tell that Cas was losing. A blow to the side of the head sent him reeling back, blood flowing down from his temple; before he could steady himself Dean saw whoever it was reach out and haul him off his feet, slamming him hard against the rock wall. There was a resigned look in Cas' eyes that twisted Dean into knots. "Cas, don't you give up, it's not over yet," Dean said but Castiel couldn't hear him, Dean wasn't even really there and it was too late anyway. The attacker's sword gleamed in the moonlight for just a second before Dean watched it plunge into Castiel's heart. The soft cry of pain loud in the silent canyon.

Dean felt his own heart almost stop when he saw fear flood Cas' eyes as the light began to build. Like he'd realized too late that maybe he wasn't prepared for this after all.

He woke with Castiel's final scream echoing in his ears; before he was even fully conscious he fumbled his phone out of his pocket and hit send on Castiel's number. He almost passed out with relief when he heard Cas' voice on the other line. "Dean? Is something wrong?"

"I...no, Cas, it's cool." There was no way he was going to admit out loud I had a nightmare that you died and freaked out. "Must've hit the wrong number." He couldn't hear Castiel's response over the sudden burst of static. "Where the hell are you? Your signal's crap."

"I felt the need to clear my head."

Dean was about to ask again where he was before realizing there was really only one place he could be. "I'm on my way."

***

The trip took longer than Dean had expected; some of the access roads were closed at night and Dean wound up having hike his way down and sneak past site security. He finally found Cas sitting against the wall, staring up at the wings. "Hey," he said. "Thought you might have taken off by now."

Castiel just frowned at him. "You said you were coming."

Dean shook his head and made his way over, kicking a discarded candy wrapper out of his way. "Fucking interns." He eased himself down next to Castiel. "Hanging out at your own grave is morbid, Cas."

"I believe you would know."

Dean grinned. "Yeah, maybe. Both the fake one and the real one. Couldn't resist." He glanced over at Cas. "You okay?"

Castiel let out a long sigh, still staring up at the wings. "I suppose I'm not as sanguine about this as I'd pretended."

"Look at this way," Dean said, and Castiel looked at him. "It's easy to avoid now. Just don't jump back that far in time it won't happen."

Castiel shook his head. "You don't understand." He looked back up at the spread of wings. "This only means that I traveled back knowing it would be my death."

Dean pushed aside how his stomach went cold hearing that. "Why the hell would you do that?"

Castiel's eyes cut back toward him. "I've done it before."