Painted in beautiful, brilliant colors across the horizon were the words: God Save Us! leaving a trail of slowly dissolving smoke. It was a statement, a prayer sent heavenwards by a million lost souls. Invisible to most souls, it was clearly visible to Castiel. The angel's shoulders heaved in a sigh of regret.
If he had noticed that something was wrong in heaven before, if he had taken action sooner to save the Winchesters...Too many questions and 'what ifs' swirling around in his mind. It was getting harder to concentrate on the bigger picture. The angelic man had grown attached to the Winchester brothers and through them to the rest of mankind. Thousands of years in the past, Castiel would have seen the suffering and killed to stop it. Now he would give his life to save those suffering. He understood now.
What his fellow angels could never know until they embraced the Earthlings had become rooted in his emotions. It was confusing and frightening, but ultimately it made him feel a heavy responsibility to the humans. He wished that he could turn back time, but he could not. Moving through time was different than changing a fixed destiny. Only God had that power and he seemed suspiciously absent.
What could be powerful enough to keep God away from his crying creations? Where could he be as the world came to an end and did it even matter? Castiel clenched his jaw as a wave of decisiveness washed over his host body, giving him strength. He would do whatever it took to do his Fathers will in the absence of that parental figure. He owed it to the Winchester who had befriended him only to save his life more than once. They were proof that God was not dead, simply busy with something more important. Whatever that something happened to be, the fallen angel hoped it reached a conclusion soon. Earth needed its Father.
Times were desperate.
Castiel's blue eyes closed against the pain he could feel permeating the globe. He had to focus on the case at hand. The Winchesters needed him.
-THE END