There was a ringing. It took him a few dazed seconds to discover it wasn't his ears, but the alarm attached to his coat. Which meant he hasn't moved in a while. Dean didn't feel as if he could move. Every single nerve was burning, reminding him of where he lay. The flames around him cast a red hue all around him. Black patches of ash floated down from the ceiling. The stuff was smeared on one side of his mask. If the situation was a little lighter he'd be alright with comparing it to snow. Then Dean discovered it wasn't ash that blocked his view, but blood. His own, no doubt. The part of his brain that wasn't distracted by the pure agony his body was in, tried to reign in his situation. He was laying on his side, pain searing through his left shoulder.
'Dean! Dean report!' Rufus's voice filled his ears above the alarm that hung at his side.
Dean's fingers inched toward his radio. He gritted his teeth in the renewal of the burning. Darkness was starting to swallow his vision all over again. His head pounded so badly that he couldn't even think straight.
And suddenly there were hands gripping his numb arm. "I found him, Rufus. He's in bad shape." The sound of Dean's air mask was making an eerie rasp. It was working harder than it needed to. That meant there was an air leak. Only so much time before the thing malfunctioned. That was if it wasn't already.
Dean gritted his teeth as Benny lifted him from under both arms and started to drag him. His vision swirled into nothingness. It was a series of drifting in and out of that very state.
"C'mon Dean, stay with us." Benny paused, setting the Lieutenant down. "Dean!" He shook the man's shoulders effectively rousing him.
"I'm up, I'm up." Dean wheezed. His chest burned with his sides. His throat was closing up. The air had a bitter taste.
"Jesus," Benny muttered.
"We aren't... out of the w-woods y-y-yet." He was choking on his own breath. Speaking sent him into a coughing fit that caused stars to line Dean's vision.
"Hey, hey, hey." Benny tapped the side of his mask. The air was getting stale and full of smoke. "What hurts?"
"Everything." Dean managed to choke out. A thick and metallic taste ran over his tongue. Over the crackling of the fire around them, there was a screeching from above them. Something was starting to give, and Benny didn't seem as if he'd move them anytime.
"Requesting back-up. Guys I can't carry him out on my own." Benny talked to the radio. "He's hurt too- Dean!"
Dean lunged as well as he could in his state, managing to push Benny out of the way as more debris fell. The pain erupted in his chest and back as it came down on his bad shoulder. He would have screamed if he already wasn't gasping for the air that wouldn't enter his lungs.
"Shit, Dean!"
It was starting to go black again. The world was fading away.
Then it was all lifted from him. Three more pairs of hands and voices surrounded him. They rolled Dean onto his back.
"Alright boys, let's get him out of here." If Dean wasn't half out of it already, he'd be surprised to hear Fergus Crowley's voice.
Any joy that could have been there was drained from him as he was picked up. Dean's howl of pain was raspy and breathless.
"Almost there, Dean." Benny.
"C'mon Winchester, stay with us." Crowley. "Charlie and Jo have already left. It'll have to be Tessa and Meg who take him." There was a mumbling as Crowley communicated that with the paramedics from their firehouse.
The pain was becoming worse with each movement. All the little tugs and pulls, until the roof was no longer above them, but the night sky. Blurry stars dotted the black above that coincidentally was the same black that was framing Dean's vision. The men set him down on something soft, or, at least softer than the ground. People and objects blurred past them as Benny took off his mask. He groaned as he was lifted into the back of the box. The ambulance. Dean's eyes closed, fading into the darkness when there was a tap on the side of his face that didn't feel caked with dry blood.
"Eyes open Dean. You're gonna see Cas again. So stay awake."
Cas... The name caused a small smile to weakly curl his lips. He could see his angel.
"Dean!"
That adorable grin lit up his blue eyes.
"C'mon Dean."
The laugh always made Dean happy to hear.
"Benny, focus. Stats are dropping."
His calming voice.
"Meg step on it!"
Whenever Cas concentrated on his painting, deciding what to put next.
"Dean stay with us!"
How he always seems to have paint on his fingers and even on his face.
"Hold him, I need to intubate."
His angel.
"Not Like this Winchester. Not on my watch."
That smile.
"Cas still needs you, so start fighting."
The way the sunset shines behind him. His angel was here with him.
"Benny hold him down."
And so was Sammy.
"Dean, c'mon buddy."
Jody and Bobby.
"Dean."
Even Ellen and Jessica, and everyone from work.
"Dean!"
His family was with him. He'd be okay. They'd be with him in the dark place.
"Dean!"
...
Benny paced around the waiting room. Rufus gave him the rest of the night off. Someone needed to be here for Dean and Cas when the man showed up. His head raced with what had happened on the ride over. Tessa had to put a tube down Dean's throat. It had been too difficult for him to breathe on his own. Through all his years of fighting fires, of seeing comrades going down, Benny had never been this terrified. Dean had flatlined. That was before he even thought of the seizure. Benny had been around for the last year Bobby had been at the firehouse. He was even on shift for the apartment fire that ended the mechanic's firefighting career by putting him in a wheelchair. Of course the stubborn SOB ended up walking again. But this, this just felt different. The other people in the waiting room seemed calmer. But their sleepy eyes followed Benny from time to time. Eyeing the heavy coat he draped over one of the chairs. God, he couldn't imagine how Cas was going to react. The hospital would probably wake him up with the call. Hell it was almost one in the morning by now. Even Benny knew that Dean normally called or texted his husband by now on late nights. To say he was alright and Cas should go to bed. Needless to say, his heart stopped when he heard the next voice.
"Benny?"
"Cas," Benny spun around to face the man.
Cas quickly stepped up to him. Those blue eyes were glassy as he balled Benny's shirt in his fists. "What happened? I-is he... what happened?"
"Last I knew he was still kickin'." Benny looked away as he shook his head. "He and Alfie were clearing the third floor. Biggest fire we've had all year. Pressure built too high. Room practically burst, and he fell to the first floor. Hit his head hard on the way down."
Cas was now using Benny for support. The man's knees gave out as he let out a small sob.
Benny caught him, lifting him back up. "This is Dean we're talking about. He's gonna make it." Maybe it was for Cas, but maybe he was still trying to convince himself. The worst still needed to be said. "C'mon, let's sit down." Benny guided Cas to a seat. "Oh, and before I forget." Benny took a second to dig through his pocket, before pulling out a golden band and dropping it onto Cas's palm. "While he was still lucid on the ride over here, he handed me this. Wanted me to give it to you. Doc probably woulda taken it off."
Benny hated doing that, but Dean had asked him to. Silent tears ran down Castiel's face as he turned the ash smothered band in his hand.