Until We Meet Again, My Angel

Chapter 22: You're Gonna Need It

   Ugh, my head... Castiel groaned and sat up. His head was pounding, and just sitting up was hard. His shoulders felt heavy- too heavy. Opening his eyes, Castiel turned his head with great pain. Oh, it's just my wings.
"My wings!" Cas shouted.
Someone replied, "Cas?!" The familiar voice belonged to Dean, who had previously been talking to his brother.
    Dean spun on his heel and sprinted to the Angel, dropping to his knees to make eye-contact once he reached him.
"My God, Cas, are you alright?" Dean's words were laced with concern. Despite the aching pain in Cas', well, everything, he smiled- Dean wasn't too mad to care.
"Cas, Castiel can you hear me?" Dean interrogated his love, "Cas are you hurt? Castiel!"
"Yes, Dean, I can hear you, and I'm not injured too badly " Castiel responded.
   Cas attempted to stand, but his knees buckled underneath the new weight of his wings, and he hit the ground.
"CAS!"
   Dean picked his lover up from the ground, threw Cas' right arm over his shoulders, and wrapped his left arm around the Angel's waist. Dean looked at his boyfriend cautiously and asked, "We're gonna start walking, okay? Just walk to the car, that's it. We're gonna walk to the car, Cas." Castiel, breathing hard from the effort of standing (despite Dean's help), protested, "N- no. No, I can-" he grunted, "I can teleport."
"Not right now, you can't." Dean argued.
"Dean, I- okay." The Angel submitted when he noticed the look of warning on his boyfriend's face.

   Once they reached the motel, Dean wrenched the door open with his free hand, and Cas slid off of him and facedown onto the motel room's carpet.
"Dammit." Dean muttered, watching the Angel's wings bend as he fell. "Come on Cas, up we go." Dean grabbed his savior's arm and pulled him to his feet once more, only to be smacked in the face by a mass of lage black feathers. "Gah! Cas," Dean growled, "Can you do something about your flappers?" Castiel apologized and folded his wings in, making them disappear behind him, though anyone could clearly see the arches of the Angelic appendages about a foot above the Angel's head.
   As Cas threw himself onto his and Dean's bed, Sam- from his perch on a chair across the room, said, "So, Castiel. Before we talk about the wings or the falling or the giant clearing in the forest, I gotta ask..." the young Winchester walked to his bed, sat on the edge, leaned forward, and asked, "What happened? In Heaven, I mean. How did you survive?"
   Cas let out a long, tired sigh and gave up, "Alright. Well, it's complicated." Dean sat down on the bed, held Cas' hand in his, and nodded reasurringly. "Okay," Castiel began, "When Gabriel and I first arrived, we found sanctuary in the company of two Archangels-  Michael and Raphael. We told them what had happened why we were back in Heaven- and they agreed to help us. They brought us to Zadkiel; he is a wise and merciful Angel, and agreed to give us a trial. Many strings were pulled, but, despite the sympathies and efforts of the Archangels and my garrison, we were found guilty of wrongful killing of Angels and for the unauthorized rescue of a soul from Hell.
   Luckily, Zadkiel is a dear friend. We've fought together many times over the eons. Though many Angels demanded our lives as retribution, even more begged for a softer punishment. Thus, I was cast out of Heaven, doomed to walk the Earth for eternity as an Angel who can never return to my home. Gabriel was given a lighter sentence, since he's only killed one Angel, and will share my fate for one hundred years, after which he may go back whenever he chooses."
"Where is Gabriel, anyway?" Sam inquired, concerned.
"Why do you care?" Dean questioned
"He helped me- when you were gone and Cas left to find you, I was in a real bad place. Gabriel showed up and told me it was okay." Sam explained.
"I don't know where my brother is," Cas answered, "I must have lost him during the Fall. I wonder if they let him keep his Grace..."
"Grace?" Sam echoed, confused.
"Grace," Castiel confirmed, "Is a type of energy  Angels are infused with. It resembles a shining bluish-white mist. When not infused in an angel, Grace must be stored in a vial or it will fall to Earth; humans who see falling grace often mistake it for a meteorite. Grace is the source of most of an Angel's power- without it, I couldn't teleport and I'd be mortal.. However, angels without grace may still be able to tap into a few powers such as our supernatural perception and telekinesis. They left me my Grace."
"Wait," Dean stood as he spoke, "you mean that blue stuff that flew out of your mouth and into mine might give me Angel powers?"
"You inhaled Grace?" Cas asked, alarmed.
"Yeah, when we first found you it seeped out of you like breath and forced itself down my throat," Dean turned to Castiel, "does that make me part Angel?"
"No," Dean's savior answered, "but it will help you. You'll heal quicker, move faster, strike harder, and your senses will increase one-hundred fold."
"Sweet." Dean grinned.
   Castiel turned to the eldest Winchester and questioned, "How much did you take, Dean? Of my Grace, I mean." Dean looked to the side, as if looking into the past, and recalled, "Uh.... I'm not sure. It didn't feel like much but I saw a lot." The Angel stood to face the Hunter and said, "I'll need it back." Sam's eyes moved from his brother to Cas and back as he asked, "Um... will it hurt?" "Not at all," Cas said, "but I won't take it yet. You're going to need it."

   The Angel gestured to the window. Sam and Dean turned to face the window, and saw several Angels staring back at them.