Disclaimer. Don't own a damn thing.
Chapter 1 - Let There be Light.
"So you will bow down, and profess your love unto me your lord, or I shall destroy you."
The four of them stood in silence that way for a while. Team free will. Then suddenly the silence was broken with a cry from Sam as he dropped to his knees. He clutched at his head, the sliver of strength, that had held him up long enough to stab the angel blade through Castiel's back, dissolving. Dean was at his side instantly, Bobby running over too.
"Sam? Sammy?" Dean yelled as his brother collapsed in on himself, eyes rolling back into his head, his mouth opening in a silent scream.
Cas strode over, purposefully like always, but now still with an eerie darkness to his step. Bobby froze in his tracks, looking from Castiel to Dean, and back.
Dean raised his head, Sam was shaking now, uncontrollably and making dreadful gagging noises from deep in his chest. Dean instinctively pulled his brother into his arms, shielding him away from Castiel as he looked up at their new 'God'.
"I told you that when all this was over I would save Sam. Have you not yet learned that above all else I know what I am doing Dean Winchester?"
The question hung in the stale air for what seemed like an eternity; Dean almost opened his mouth to answer, but he didn't have a witty retort stashed anywhere. He wasn't sure he trusted himself to speak, not with his brother spasming in his arms as he did, and not with Castiel, as close as a brother, overcome with power and pushed to the brink of insanity towering above him.
Even though every fibre in his body told him to get the fuck away from Cas. Get Sam the fuck away from him, he just sat and watched stupidly as Castiel poised his hand over Sam's convulsing body. What choice do I have anyway?
Sam's body stopped jerking and raised itself up to Castiel's outstretched hand. His brother's eyes were closed now and unseeing, but his limbs pushed against the floor, against Dean at unnatural angles raising his torso in an unhealthy arch up to Castiel's palm.
"Cas…?" Dean heard himself utter. His voice cracked just as a white light flooded the room.
The last thing he swore he saw, before the white flash forced him to shut his eyes, was Castiel, stumbling backwards and clutching his chest.
Dean opened his eyes, back in Bobby's house. He was sprawled across the sofa, head feeling like it was stuffed full of cotton wool. He forced himself up, eyes darting around the room and finding Bobby and Sam, both sitting up and looking dazed.
"Sammy!" Dean all but screamed, rushing from the couch and sliding across the tarnished wood floor on his knees, hands gripped his brother's shoulders. "Sammy? You okay?" He pressed, even though it was clear that Sam was Sam again.
"Yeah…" Sam replied shakily, "Yeah, Dean, I'm fine."
Bobby rushed over, helping the two boys to their feet.
They all stood silent for a moment, Dean dragging a hand down his tired face, before Bobby muttered,
"Time to break out the whiskey."
Castiel returned to heaven. Immediately the angels lined up. It had been stupid to try and teach free will, and he might as well use the resources at his hand. Also, he found that free will was unpredictable. Wasn't Raphael's plot of his own will? Yes, best to treat the angels as the soldiers that they were.
He began to speak, giving orders and direction to his army and tried not to think about the searing hot pain he'd experienced before. The pain of something trying to escape from under his ribs, scratching and clawing inside him.