A/N: Hey, everyone. This was a little thing I had written in the wake of the finale and I've finally found the time to post it. Hopefully you won't hate me for the way it ends. *goes and hides under desk*

Beta'd by the amazing Endless Secrets

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.

"Angels… They're falling."

He stared into the tumultuous sky and watched as the heavenly host fell from grace. It was a beautiful, but horrific sight.

"Cas?" Sam gasped out through the pain, bringing Dean back to his main concern - his dying little brother sitting on the ground next to the Impala. The question, though, still had his gut clenching.

"I don't know, Sam," he answered as he tried to sit Sam up straighter against the Impala, "I don't know. But right now we've gotta concentrate on you, okay?" Dean was already worried enough, but it only seemed to escalate as he waited for the response from Sam that didn't seem to be coming anytime soon - he was apparently too busy focusing on breathing through the pain, his eyes clamped shut and his nostrils flaring with each labored breath. "Okay?" he repeated, louder so as to (hopefully) ensure a response. He felt his worry lessen the slightest bit as he watched Sam try to nod, sweaty strands of his long hair falling into his eyes, but then it skyrocketed as Sam suddenly howled in pain.

"Oh God!" Sam cried out, clawing at his chest. His attempt to curl in on himself was stopped only by Dean's hands grabbing his younger brother's shoulders.

"Sam?!" The fear that had been hiding deep in his gut ever since Sam had started these stupid trials began to slowly creep its way towards his heart as Sam only continued to clutch at his chest and attempt to keep the groans from escaping through clenched teeth. "Sammy?! Hey!" Hands still tightly latched onto Sam's shoulders, he tried to shake some awareness into him. "Talk to me!"

"It won't let go," Sam growled out through gritted teeth. He took some shaky breaths as Dean waited for him to explain, confusion clearly written on his face. When Sam didn't, only continued to suck in those horrible, wheezing gasps of air, he asked worriedly, "What won't let go?"

Eyes still squeezed shut in pain, Sam ground out, "I let it go like you told me to, but it won't let me go." He opened and turned his huge pain-filled eyes to Dean and choked out, "It won't let me go, Dean." And as Dean finally realized what his little brother was saying, Sam suddenly began to gasp like he was being choked by some invisible force.

"Hey! Sammy, hey! Hey!" With his left hand, he grabbed Sam's chin and forced him to look at him. "What's going on? Sam, what do I do?" He could feel the icy tendrils of fear inside of him, spreading like wildfire beneath his skin; he watched in horror as he realized that his baby brother was no longer able to breathe.

"Won't... let me... go..." Sam gasped out between painful yet futile struggles to draw in air.

This was not happening.

"No. No, Sam. You are not doing this, you understand me? You are not doing this to me." He grabbed Sam's face, looked into his too big, too pain-filled eyes, and tried to blink away the tears that were blurring his vision as he saw the fear that was looking back at him from his little brother. Fear that never should have had to be there. "Sam! Come on, Sammy, you've just gotta breathe. You've just gotta breathe, little brother. In and out, simple as that. That's all you've gotta do."

As Dean continued his litany of reassurances, Sam's hands, which had been fisted in the front of Dean's shirt, began to slowly relax. He looked down in shock at the hands that had fallen limply into his lap, and then back up to see that his little brother's eyes had fallen shut. The fear that had been growing inside of him suddenly erupted into nothing he had ever felt before. It seized his heart and throat and everything else as he frantically searched for a pulse.

He couldn't find one.

"No no no no no no no." Within seconds he had Sam flat on his back and was delivering chest compressions as if his life depended on it. And his life did depend on it, because there was absolutely no way he could live without his little brother by his side - the same little brother who for some reason didn't think he was worth it. That was going to change because he was going to save his brother and then they were going to have the mother of all chick-flick moments and then Sam was going to understand how important he was because there was literally nothing more important to Dean than his baby brother. Nothing. As the seconds began to tick away, Dean began to beg and plead. With who, he wasn't sure, but it didn't matter as long as he saved his little brother. Because that's what big brothers do.

Two minutes passed.

Three minutes.

Four minutes.

Dean found himself well past his breaking point as he encroached on the five-minute mark. Tears streaming down his face, knees aching as he continued to kneel on the cold, unforgiving ground, he tried to keep pumping his exhausted arms.

"Sammy..." he begged, choking on the thick emotion clogging his throat. "Please. Don't do this. I can't let you down. Not again."

Suddenly his arms gave out, splaying out across Sam's chest as he collapsed on top of the still form beneath him. All his strength having been spent on trying to save him, he simply sobbed into his baby brother's chest.

"Not again."

"Oh God, not again."

A/N: *peeks out from behind desk* I know, I know. I'm cruel. What can I say? I love me a good heart-wrenching every once in a while. Anyways, please review if you've got the time and if you really want me to, I've written a happier ending that I can add as an epilogue.