A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back, as promised with some Cas and Crowley fic. This is set up to be a series of six oneshots. The chapters are individual scenes set chronologically across several seasons. They're mostly AU, but all are connected by the evolution of Cas and Crowley's interactions with each other in the actual episodes.

Huge thanks to Aini Nufire for beta reading and being indispensable as ever! I don't own the guys.

We begin in season 5... this first scene is an AU version after 5x18, after Cas carved that angel banishing sigil into his chest. Let's just say, in this AU, he didn't spend his time recovering at a hospital ;)

Enjoy! :D

Everything hurt, almost the worst pain Castiel had ever experienced, but not quite. His chest was on fire from the sigil he'd carved into it; his grace felt like it had been flayed to shreds. The angel couldn't even feel the tattered remnants, though perhaps that was only because the agony prevented him from feeling anything else at all.

It was dark, too dark, and it took Castiel a moment to realize it was because his vessel's eyes were closed. He couldn't open them; it hurt too much.

With a weak groan, the angel tried to shift, but moving was impossible. His head swam, ringing with battered splinters of grace, echoing with memory and pain.

"Hold still, Castiel. We will remind you who your true commanders are."

"No, please…"

"You don't serve them. You serve US. Put him in the chair, bind his hands."

"No! Naomi, Zachariah, don't do this-"

"Hold still, the bleeding is never going to stop if you keep moving, you sodding angel."

"No," Castiel murmured, a break in his voice. "No…"

A sigh, heavy with impatience. When Zachariah got impatient, it generally ended with Castiel in even greater torment. The angel bit back a sob, pride refusing to let it through, but he was so frightened, a fear that only his brothers could incur.

The echoes magnified, as did the pain, when something brushed against his chest that still bore the marks of his sacrifice. Perhaps it had been enough. Perhaps Dean and Sam had managed to rescue Adam. Perhaps they could still take on Lucifer, and perhaps they could win. Castiel had given his all, and now he was dying.

The darkness grew darker. Castiel knew nothing more.

SPN SPN SPN

The second time he returned to consciousness, the pain was just as strong and the weakness was alarmingly worse, or perhaps he was just more aware of it. Castiel shuddered, still unwilling to open his eyes. If he was awake, he must not be dead, he decided. He shifted, trying to move his hands, trying to sit up, but the angel could do neither.

"Awake again, are you? About bloody time. Snap out of it, Castiel."

The voice was familiar, but the angel couldn't place it. Oh Heaven, he hurt so badly. What were his brothers doing to him? More awareness was returning, enough to sense that he was flat on his back on a hard surface, arms at his sides. Castiel tried to pull his hands up again, but they were trapped. The heart in his vessel's body beat faster with fear.

"Please… not again…" he whispered, broken by the remembered knowledge that Naomi would succeed in turning him against humanity. The process would be excruciating—not physically, though that would certainly be a factor, but emotionally. "Naomi…"

"Naomi? Do I sound like a skirt to you?" A derisive snort. "No wonder you're just a foot soldier."

The rough, accented voice grated at the angel. That wasn't one of his brothers. That was-

It hit him so suddenly that Castiel gasped, his eyelids flying open at last. Just as he'd suspected: the demon Crowley stood over him, arms crossed and watching him with shrewd eyes. The angel tried to leap to his feet, but couldn't move.

"What-" he asked weakly, head twisting this way and that, trying to see what he was bound with. There were no chains, no ropes, not even an arcane symbol painted onto the stone slab he seemed to be lying on. "What have you done?"

"What I've done is save your life, idiot," Crowley retorted. "I've been keeping close tabs on those pets of yours. Followed them to Van Nuys, and followed your contrails after you pulled that stunt. I picked you up before any of the angels could. You're welcome."

The words only barely registered. Castiel's head was still spinning too much to fully focus, but one fact was becoming more and more clear: there was a demon standing over him, and the angel didn't seem capable of fighting him off… or standing up.

"Why can't I move?"

"Oh, that." Crowley's tone carried a smile, which made the angel shudder. "My personal protection, for one thing. But also, you kept trying to curl up. It was making it too difficult to get a good look at that fascinating symbol you carved."

Castiel's gaze snapped back to the demon in dismay. "Get a good...?"

"Of course." With no concern for the angel trapped on the rock slab, Crowley leaned over and peeled the trench coat and dress shirt aside so he could scrutinize the sigil. The demon pulled out a scrap of paper from an inner pocket and held it up to show a sketch of the banishing sigil. "Quite effective, that little symbol of yours. I really must look into it."

"No!" Castiel growled, shifting desperately in an attempt to cover the sigil, even though he knew it was too late. It didn't matter, as he still seemed to be bound by an invisible force, helpless to hide it away again.

"I assume," the demon mused, leaning in to examine the marks carved into Castiel's chest closer, "it must need to be done in blood. Something so powerful, it would only make sense. And since surely you would have used paint if you could, rather than these dramatics."

"Stop." Castiel tried to shift again, but Crowley ignored this to push the coat and shirt aside some more, looking around as though in search of more symbols. "Let me up!"

"Say the magic word," Crowley retorted as he tucked the sketch away, obviously satisfied that there was only the one sigil.

The angel frowned. "Why, is this some kind of spell?" There were many words that humans would consider "magic", though most were actually just some form of either Latin or Enochian. Which one would release him from this mysterious power?

Crowley heaved an exasperated sounding sigh and rolled his eyes to the ceiling of what Castiel now realized was some sort of cave. "I mean 'please', you twat."

Castiel stiffened, face tightening with fury. "Please?" he echoed with a snarl. "How dare you? I am an angel of the Lord. I do not plead with demons."

"Just as well. I wouldn't have let you free anyway. I'm evil, not stupid. Even without your power, I still have a tiger by the tail. I just wanted to see if that famous pride is really stronger than your sense of self-preservation. You'll have to re-evaluate that someday, mate. As for letting you up, get yourself up."

"What are you doing to me?" Castiel demanded, struggling. The movement only brought another blinding flash of pain, his tattered grace rippling with agony so that the angel had to fall still with a quiet moan. It took several moments of deep, shaky breathing before he could even bear to open his eyes again.

The demon was staring at him, quite unimpressed. "What I'm doing," he retorted, "is equivalent to holding you down with one hand. I presume you can see the implication there."

There were many implications. To which was the foul creature referring? None of it was good… the fact that he was merely using his demonic power to hold Castiel in place rankled. No demon should be strong enough to defeat an angel.

"Yes," Crowley said now with a smirk playing across his amused features. "I can see you've at least worked out that you're completely at my mercy, which I have to admit is a matter of personal satisfaction for me. Don't worry. I wouldn't save you just to kill you. That's not the implication I mean."

"You don't have the power to kill me," Castiel bit out. At least he had dropped his blade in Van Nuys… had Crowley taken it away from him, the angel would probably be dead already. And if the demons learned how to kill his brothers and sisters because of him, Castiel would never forgive himself.

The demon only snorted. "You can't be serious. In this condition, I expect just about anything would kill you. No, the implication I mean is, you can't even get away from me, how are you going to be any use against Lucifer? You're no good to me except that you can help fight him, and you're the only angel stupid enough to ally yourselves with the Winchesters. So until you're strong enough to get away, you're not going anywhere. You see now? Get. Yourself. Up."

"You-" Helpless fury washed over Castiel as he tried to lunge at the impertinent creature. His world exploded in pain at the sudden move and the angel cried out, blinded by the sheer agony that he shouldn't have been able to feel. Everything began to spin again, and finally it went dark.

SPN SPN SPN

When he came to the third time, the cave had disappeared and Castiel was seated in an old armchair in some dusty room. His shirt and coat still hung from him, giving him a view of his own scarred chest that had only minimally healed. It took the angel's eyes a moment to focus on Crowley, seated in a chair across from him and watching with the same shrewd, impatient gaze.

"Where… where are we?" Castiel murmured, trying to look around. His arms seemed fastened to the chair, still held by nothing but Crowley's power. He tried to push through it and free himself, but it was impossible.

"Had to move. Demons closing in and whatnot," Crowley replied, not moving from his own chair or tearing his eyes away.

The scrutiny made Castiel uncomfortable, as did the infuriating fact that he couldn't stop this demon from simply taking him somewhere else, anywhere else. "Let me go."

"Get yourself up," Crowley repeated.

"Why are you doing this? You say you can kill me, yet you haven't. Why?"

"Not out of the goodness of my heart, I can assure you," the demon said with a snort. "I honestly couldn't care less about you. Make no mistake, angel. We're not friends."

Trying to draw himself up, Castiel shook his head with icy rage at the very idea. "No, we're not. You're evil. A monster. And I'm-"

"Completely helpless still, even though it's been days. Why aren't you healing faster? I thought you angels were supposed to be invincible, to hear Lilith talk."

Yes, Castiel would have liked to believe this as well, but he was all too aware of the actual limitations of angels. Gritting his teeth, he ground out, "If you're so concerned, why haven't you helped me heal?"

"Maybe because I'm a demon!" Crowley shouted, leaning forward and gesturing towards himself. "I don't do touchy-healy! The best I could do was stop the bleeding. I can't do any more than that unless you make a deal-"

"Never."

Sitting back again and regaining his composure, Crowley tugged his suit jacket back in place. "Fine. We wait for you to heal on your own, then, and hope it doesn't take too long. Hard as it may be to believe, babysitting a broken angel is not my idea of fun. I would dump you off at the nearest human hospital, but I've already had to relocate you four times now, what with the angels on your trail and the demons on mine. So of course there's utterly no point taking you back to the Winchesters either, or this whole bloody plan is over before it begins. I might not have anything better to do at the moment, but they certainly do."

If Crowley was expecting thanks, he was going to be disappointed, Castiel thought with a low burn of anger. Not all of it was directed at the demon, though. The warrior angel had expected his stunt in Van Nuys to be his own death, but since he was still somehow alive, he needed to be helping Dean and Sam, not sitting there, so uselessly weak.

Castiel pulled as hard as he could, but the movement only wore him out and caused another flare of pain that made him hiss and close his eyes.

"Is that the best you've got?" Crowley demanded. "I'm hardly using any force at all!"

"You're not helping," Castiel spat back, eyes opening with an angry, exhausted flare of blue. He tried tapping into his grace, but it was still in pieces, floating around inside the vessel like mere specks of dust. Useless.

Human.

"I actually am," Crowley retorted. "Fine. Sit there and rest instead. I mean, it's only the end of the world- wait…" The demon froze, head tipped slightly to the side as he frowned. After a moment, he sighed. "Bollocks. It's taking them less time to catch up."

"What?"

Crowley got to his feet and strode forward, grabbing the struggling angel by his upper arm. "And, we're moving."

There was an uncomfortable whirl, so unlike the seamless, graceful flight through the ether that Castiel was used to. The Void was empty and uncomfortable, and he didn't like not being in control of the direction they took. The trip was brief, thankfully, and ended with Castiel flat on his back once again on what seemed to be an old ornate dining room table. The landing jolted his body, though, causing the angel to try to curl up in pain. His fingers twitched, hand starting to lift off the table.

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere," Crowley's voice piped up with far too much cheer, right before Castiel's arms were pinned once again. "Good, because this is without a doubt the worst holiday I've ever been on."

The angel took a few ragged breaths, eyes traveling the musty room they'd ended in, until his gaze came to rest on Crowley.

"Let. Me. Up."

But the demon only shrugged and turned away. "Get yourself up, darling. Until you can, you're useless."

Oh, how that burned, the truth of it carving its way into Castiel as deftly as the box cutter had. Time ticked on, and he had no idea how long he was kept under Crowley's watchful eye. They moved locations several times, and though Castiel was furious to be dragged along in tow of a demon, he privately had to acknowledge that being found by his kin would have been a death sentence.

Not that Crowley was doing him a favor. Even the demon professed that this was for his own benefit and nothing more, equally miffed that he needed the angel as a hammer against Lucifer. Crowley was impatient and insensitive, berating the angel for his weakness while cajoling him in the next breath to try just a little harder, because Lucifer might barbecue the planet at any moment.

Days passed, but Castiel felt no stronger. The scars faded too slowly, and even once they had disappeared, his grace still felt tattered and torn. The first time he managed to lift his shoulders off the ground that he was currently trapped on, Crowley almost smiled.

"Better," the demon approved, before shoving the angel flat on his back again with a mere wave of his hand. "But not good enough."

After another day had passed with Castiel no stronger than before, Crowley shook his head and gave the downed angel a nudge with his foot. "You know, it occurs to me that perhaps I haven't been giving you the proper motivation," Crowley pointed out. "I mean, are you even trying? Maybe I should give you… a reason, if you will."

The angel almost laughed. After everything he'd suffered at Zachariah's hands, what was this pathetic demon going to do? His skepticism must have showed, because Crowley rolled his eyes.

"Please, show some imagination," he grumbled. "If you think I meant threaten to torture you, it only proves you're an idiot. That would make it take longer for you to heal. I'm tired of waiting. Maybe I'll pop in on your pets, precious Sammy and Dean."

"Stay away from them," Castiel seethed, jerking at the invisible power holding him down. His limbs were trapped, though. "I'm warning you-"

"You'll do what? Glare me into submission? No, no, if you want to stop me, then get yourself up. Get up, Castiel."

The first touch of desperation began to cloud the angel's mind. Crowley couldn't hurt him, not really… but he could hurt Sam and Dean. Clenching his jaw, the warrior pulled harder, sweat beading on his brow at the effort.

"You must not care about them that much," Crowley mocked him, arms crossed as he smirked. "I could have been there and back already with Dean's guts on a stick, and you're just going to lie there. Get up."

"I can't!"

"Then your boys are as good as dead anyway. I'm done with this. I tried. Goodbye, Castiel-"

"Crowley!"

Tipping his head back against the pebbly ground, Castiel strained against the demon's power. His grace was still in pieces, but they glowed with the electric white-blue of his spirit. The angel released a wordless shout, back starting to arch off the floor now.

"Finally… here we go."

The angel's eyes shot open, bursting with light. Crowley was standing over him, two arms stretched out in obvious effort to hold him down now. The demon took a step back.

"You… will not… harm… Sam and Dean!"

The pain was becoming unbearable, but Castiel only doubled his efforts. Without his grace being whole, he couldn't fly, probably couldn't even smite Crowley, but he was still an angel, damn it, and he was still stronger than a demon. One arm lifted, hand clenching into a fist. He felt a wave of power trying to force it back down, but Castiel gritted his teeth and pushed harder. Though the faded wounds on his chest pulled, the skin didn't break.

With a shout, Castiel broke free at last, eyes still burning with celestial fury. The angel rolled to his feet, shuddering and weak, but driving single-mindedly towards the demon.

Crowley was prudently several feet away now, looking satisfied and smug.

"You're welcome," the demon said in a rush, backing up again with a sarcastic bow. "Go get 'em, tiger."

Castiel lunged, but Crowley was gone.

He nearly collapsed again, going down to one knee to take several bolstering breaths. Castiel hurt all over, but he was free. It occurred to him somewhere in the back of his mind that in a way, Crowley had done him a favor in keeping him away from the other angels and demons until he was stronger. Not that Castiel felt like he could take on Lucifer at the moment, but he at least didn't feel like he was going to die.

Putting Crowley out of his mind, Castiel heaved himself back up and looked around. The demon had taken him to the middle of nowhere. When he tentatively tried to stretch out his wings, they refused to support his weight. He'd have to go on foot, then.

But someday, when all of this was over… Castiel was going to pay that demon back for this.