all duct tape and safety pins inside

Title: [Born Again Verse] Prelude
Author: Foolscapper
Rating: Mature to be safe, though Teen+ may be acceptable
Characters: Castiel, Sam (will have others later on)
Word Count: 1,000+
Warnings: Sad stuff from the Cage, pain, misery, mild gore and dark themes, the usual. There may be other warnings for later chapters, and I'll warn for them on each update should they crop up. There's a lot of Sam whump as well! Aaaaand some unpleasant mental/emotional pain for a child in the story, so if little kids hurting (especially mentally or emotionally) makes you uncomfortable, might wanna skip out on this 'verse.
Summary: Castiel flies to retrieve Sam from the Cage - but when he flees with Sam, something goes horribly awry.
Author's Note:  This'll be the first real chapter story I've done for SPN, and I'm a little nervous! But I got the idea in my head and it wouldn't suffice as a short story, so I'm gonna give it my best. I'll be setting up a Masterlist for the Born Again Verse when chapter one is completed; it has a rough outline already, so it probably won't take too long. Dean and Castiel will be major POVs for a while, though I may bring in other characters or outside POV.

Castiel claws through darkness and grit and blood, celestial wings clenched against his back so that he dare not gorge them on jagged bone and metal and a palpable despair.