The final chapter. It turned out to be a little longer than I'd thought, but I'm not complaining; it was pretty good in my opinion. Enjoy!

Castiel kept track of the time it took for him to heal fully – or some semblance of. A month for his feathers to fully regrow to their former massive glory, another two for his throat and lungs to heal from the burning oil. Even after that time, he couldn't speak as well as he used to. There was still a rough edge to his words that was a constant, painful reminder of what had been done to him. That too would fade, Raphael had told him, but not for a long while.

Gabriel kept a continuous vigil over his brother, never leaving his side except to speak to Raphael or Ariel. Castiel was surprised by the pair's sudden friendship, knowing they had always hated each other. Still, he thought, if it made his brother happy, he didn't really mind. He liked Ariel, to a degree.

Castiel watched as Gabriel left to talk with the healer. He flexed his wings, bringing them around his body to hide him for a moment before stretching them out to their full span. The feathers glittered and shone golden, silver shadows sparkling. Most humans only saw the shadow of his wings, the real ones hidden from view. Few had ever seen the glory that was the shining brightness of an angel's wings.

As Gabriel and Raphael turned away from Castiel, the angel stood. It'd been three months since he'd last seen the Winchesters. He had to find out where they were, if they were alright. He had to find out if they were still fighting.

When the archangels looked back, Castiel was gone.

/\/\

Dean was asleep on his motel bed when he was startled awake. He slipped his hand under the pillow, felt the knife's handle in his grip, and looked around for whatever had woken him. He could see nothing in the still darkness, only shadows playing on the walls. Slivers of light slid past as cars drove by the window, lighting up the room for a few seconds, highlighting the face of Castiel leaning against the far wall...

Dean swore, scrambling out of bed. Sam mumbled as he woke, rubbing his eyes and looking around in confusion. By the time he saw Castiel, Dean was already with him, both staring at each other silently.

Dean couldn't help but remember the last time he'd stared into Castiel's eyes. The angel had been in agony, torn apart and broken, bloody and on the verge of death. His eyes had been full of pain, and there had been no room for anything else. Now, all Dean could see in the brilliant blue eyes of the angel staring at him was relief. Total, utter relief.

"Cas."

What else could he say? He'd nearly killed the angel. Saying sorry wasn't really good enough. Nothing was really good enough for what he'd caused Castiel to suffer through. The angel remained silent as Sam sat on the bed and watched from a distance, leaving the pair to say what they had to say.

"I'm sorry."

"I've been hearing that a lot," Castiel said, and Dean winced at the sound of his rough, hoarse voice. The voice that had been screaming, screaming in agony and defeat. The sound that had ripped
through Dean had caused everything to go numb, feel nothing but blinding guilt.

"I should have known that she wasn't a hunter. I knew Bela, I knew the signs. I should have seen it."

He tried to stop himself, knowing that if he started he would just keep on apologising until his voice gave out, and all his shame and guilt would spill out for everyone to see. But he couldn't stop now. It was too late.

"But I was too stupid to see it, and I nearly got you killed. I got you into that mess and I couldn't even get you out of it after I got you in it..."

His sleep-muddled brain made sure that what he said made no sense whatsoever, but Castiel seemed to understand. He silenced Dean with a hand on his shoulder. When the hunter finally fell quiet, the angel spoke.

"It wasn't your fault. It was nobody's. It was an accident that no one could have prevented. Alexis was already hunting me down, she had been looking for me for months. It was pure chance that she met us there. Sooner or later, she would have caught up to you and by taking you, would capture me. Nothing you did would have stopped it."

Both the Winchesters were staring in shock, but it was Dean who spoke aloud, "She told you that?"

"Yes. As she tried to make me reveal my wings she told me everything. So stop blaming yourself. I have Gabriel to deal with, and he feels twice as guilty."

Dean managed a weak smirk at that. But Castiel could still see the guilt hiding in the shadows of his soul, shining in his eyes.

"You sure you're okay?" Dean asked, quietly so his brother didn't hear.

Castiel put both hands on Dean's shoulders, leaning slightly on the hunter. There was a loud, almost deafening snap which made Dean start and blink for a moment, dazed. When he realised what the angel was doing, he bit his lip to stop from gasping in shock.

Everything around him glowed and shimmered, a rainbow of gold, silver, black and colours he didn't think he'd ever seen before. It was mesmerizing, a display of flashing colour. He knew he was probably staring like a kid walking into a candy store for the first time, but he couldn't bring himself to stop.

"Holy crap," Dean muttered.

He caught Castiel's staring blue gaze. The angel's face was painted with the splashes of colour from his wings, highlighted with silver and shadowed with glowing black. Dean didn't even know black could glow.

Just as suddenly as it had all started, the colours vanished and left Dean stumbling in dizziness of how fast everything changed. He found himself standing in the motel room, Sam staring at him from the bed with wide, surprised eyes and Castiel gone. The pair locked eyes, silent as they tried to understand just what had happened.

"What happened?" Dean asked finally.

"I don't know," Sam said "There was just these great big shadows that surrounded you – it looked like... wings."

Dean made his slow way back to his bed, sitting down heavily as he replayed the vision in his head. It all started to make sense now – what had just happened. He glanced at Sam, who looked utterly confused by the events just passed.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked.

Dean knew. He knew exactly what Castiel had been trying to prove to him, what the impressive show had meant. Why Castiel had only shown him the true nature of his wings, and let Sam see the shadows.

"He was answering my question," Dean replied, which only made Sam even more puzzled. Dean shook his head, smiling for the first time in months.

"He's fine."

Thank you very much to everyone who read this story, reviewed it, favourited it or put it on their story alert. I appreciate everything and every review makes me happy - like crack happy. Thank you!