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When Cas woke up his first instinct to move was hindered by the new, tight, and surprisingly freezing cuff around his ankle. He tried to look around, but it was so dark he could hardly see. ‘That's weird.’ he thought ‘I am a divine being I should still be able to see’
Cas felt around his space and came to the conclusion that he was in a pit, lined with stone. He stood up and reached his hands above his head ‘No ceiling’ he noted as the chirping and croaking of crickets and frogs became more clear. ‘A well maybe?’ suddenly he remembered why he was there
“Witches” he groaned. They had captured him and taken most of his grace for a spell. He should have known it wasn't Dean when he got that emergency text. Dean always called, it was a faster form of communication and if he was in REAL trouble Dean would have just prayed. He barely had any grace left, Cas could feel it now. ‘ I lost consciousness after being stripped of my grace,’ he nodded to himself ‘They must have thought me dead and they threw me in here to get rid of the evidence,’ he began to sit back down ‘but why chain me if I was dead?’
“AH,” Cas yelped as he shot back up again. “What the hell?” he whispered as he squatted back down. The well was now standing in an inch of ice-cold water. ‘Oh,’ Cas realized. They chained him to the bottom of the well so that his body wouldn't float as the well eventually refilled. He felt his pockets for anything that he could use to pick the lock. He almost laughed as he pulled his phone, matches, and angle blade out of his pockets.‘They must not have recognized the angle blade and seen no need for matches or dead guy's phones and left them with me.’ Cas smiled thankful for their ignorance. He struck a match looking around, Moss covered the stone around him he must have been 20 or 30 ft down at least. Cas picked up the lock at his feet, moss grew all around and in the mechanism, there was no way he could pick it, especially not with an angel blade.
Cas pulled out his phone and checked the time 2:30 a.m. No wonder it was dark out. Suddenly a notification popped up on his phone: 5% LEFT! “ great,” he rolled his eyes. Cas quickly shifted through his contacts and called Dean. It only rang once before Dean answered.
“Cas! Where the hell have you been, man? I've been calling you for hours!” Dean yelled into the phone.
“That must be why my battery is low...” Cas said distractedly
“Cas!” Dean snapped, getting his attention. “Where are you?”
“At the bottom of a well, I'm stuck.”
Dean sighed “where are you?”
“I just said,” Cas paused and tilted his head. “I'm at the bottom of a well.”
“Where is the well, Cas?” Dean clarified rolling his eyes.
“ I don't know, but you need to hurry, my grace is almost gone, and the water is rising quickly.” it was almost a foot deep now.
“ your grace is gone? Cas, what is goin-” Dean was cut off
Confused, Cas looked back at his phone: dead. He sighed and shoved his phone back in his pocket. Cas decided he had about 3 feet of slack between his foot and the base of the well’s wall after examining the chain. “I've got maybe 10 feet before the water goes over my head, and with the water rising at this rate I probably have an hour and a half before I drown” Cas talked out loud to himself working out the math. ‘Please hurry dean’
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Cas had been already treading water for 45 minutes before he finally heard the impala's tires crunch on what he assumes is gravel.
“CAS!” Dean screamed into the night. “CAS?”
“d-Dean!” Cas stammered “I'm here” his voice was small
“Cas thank God! I brought a rope, I'm gonna get you outta here buddy” Dean said reassuringly.
“w-wont work, I'm ch-chained to the bottom.”
“Chained! Cas, what happened?”
“w-witches... they needed my grace for a sp-spell” Cas’s teeth clattered together noisily. “I lost c-consciousness after being... drained and they th-thought I was d-dead so they... through me in h-here to get rid of my... body”
“Damn it Cas,” Dean shined a flashlight down at his face. “Your lips are blue!” he raked his free hand through his hair. “I'm going to call Sammy, he's only 30 out he'll bring the right tools to get you out. OK, Cas?”
“hmmm,” Cas couldn't muster up enough energy to give a formal response. Less than a minute went by before Dean had the flashlight pointing at Cas again.
“Cas? Cas look at me, buddy.” Cas's eyes wandered up to Dean’s. “Yup, that's it. Sammy’s going to be here in 20 minutes so just stay with me till then. Alright, Cas?”
“I'm stuck in a well, Dean.” Cas smiled weakly “I can't go anywherrre... that's why you're herrre” he gave a faint chuckle
“That's right buddy, just stay awake for me”
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Maybe 10 more minutes pass and it's almost just Cas's head bobbing above the water.
“How's it going down there, Cas?” Dean hollered down the well. “You haven't said anything in a few.” he waited, but there was no answer. “Cas?” he shined the flashlight again. “Hey hey, Cas!” Dean yelled trying to get his attention as he sees Cas fighting to keep his eyes open. Cas loses and his head slips under the water.
“CAS!” Dean yelled as he threw his flashlight behind him and jumped into the water. He swam down and hooked his arms under Cas’s pulling him up to the service. The water was so high now that even with Dean helping them Cas’s head was barely above the water. Dean pushed the hair out of Cas’s face and gently slapped his cheek “Dammit Cas, wake up. Wake up”
Cas opened his eyes heavily, his pupils dilated and unfocused “Dean?” he breaths
“Hey, Cas hey!” Dean reaches the back of gases head and lifts it so he's looking at Dean. “That's it man say up,” His voice coming out a little more worried than he wanted. Cas couldn't muster responsive any type before he passed back out. “Son of a Bitch!” Dean yelled angrily towards the mouth of the well. He placed Cas’s head on his shoulder trying to keep it out of the water but the water was so damn high. They had two, or three minutes before Cas's head would be submerged completely.
“Dean?” Dean’s head, shot upward towards the noise “Dean, where the hell are you? It is nearly 4 in the morning. Why on Earth do you need bolt Clippers?” Sam called out into the night.
“Sammy! Sam down here in the well!” Dean hollered.
“Dean, what the hell are you doing in a well?” Sam put his head over the mouth of the well. “Is that Cas? What's wrong with him! What is going on?”
“No time!” Dean cut him off. “Bolt Clippers NOW!” He demanded and Sam dropped them into the water beside him. Dean fished them out of the water and dove down, searching through the black water for the chain. He knew Cas must be sinking above him; he had to work fast. Once he found them it only took two tries of the bolt Clippers to get it to snap. He pushed off the bottom of the well and shot upwards grabbing Cas on the way, he gasped loudly as he broke the surface of the water.
“Sam!” He gasped again. “ The rope!” Dean pulled Cas up and draped his arms over his shoulder.
“On it” Sam gave a short bark of a reply before throwing the rope over the well's wall. Being quickly tied the rope around his waist and called back up to Sam.
“You're going to have to pull us up! It's too slippery down here for me to climb especially not with Cas on my shoulder.” Dean said, giving the rope a tug.
“Looks like you really do have an angel on your shoulder now,” Sam laughed as he began to pull the two up out of the well.
“Not the time Sam” Dean scolded as he readjusted Cas on his shoulders
“Right, sorry” Sam nodded, helping Dean and Cas over the ledge of the well.
Dean laid Cas on the only patch of grass in the whole lot, checking his pulse and breathing. “Hypothermic, unresponsive, pulse is weak, breathing is shallow,” Dean stated, giving Sam an idea of their friend’s condition. “Start the car,” Dean ordered, throwing Sam the keys to the Impala.
Sam quickly through all of the gear into the back of the truck and started the Impala turning the heater to high.
Dean gingerly picked up Cas and threw him over his shoulder, carried him to the Impala, and placed him in the backseat then he climbed in after. “You better drive fast, Sammy” the tiers of the impala ground into the gravel as Sam sped off towards the bunker.
Once they were at a steady speed Dean began to strip Cas of his trench coat. Blazer, dress shirt, and tie. They were soaked all the way through with freezing water. Then he began wrapping him up in Sammy's dry coat.
“Dean, you said hypothermia? I thought angels couldn't get cold? And why was Castiel chained to the bottom of a well?” Sam glanced back at them in the rearview mirror.
“Some witches stole his grace, and after they thought he was dead so they threw him in the well and changed him to the bottom so that his body wouldn't float when the well filled up again.” Dean said mechanically, his eyes never leaving Cas. “Thank goodness they didn't take all of it though, or he’d be dead already.”
Sam didn't say anything he just pushed harder on the gas.
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Even though the bunker was an hour away, they got there in 40 minutes. Sam helped Dean carry Cas to the infirmary and get him squarely on a bed.
“Dean, go get out of your wet close. I'll set Cas up with all the blankets we have.” Sam nodded towards the closet by Cas’s bed.
“Thanks, Sam but I'm good,” Dean brushed past Sam and walked towards the closet.
Sam turned around and grabbed Dean's shoulder “That wasn't a question, Dean”
When Dean got back from changing his clothes, Sammy was gone, probably back to bed. He looked over and saw that Cas was buried under five or six blankets but he was still shivering. Dean smiled and shook his head as he kicked off his shoes and made his way to Cas’s bed. He gently lifted the blankets and slid in next to Cas. He snuggled up real close and wrapped his arm around Cas’s chest holding him still. Within minutes both of them were warm and sleeping peacefully.