Author's Note: So I'm sure we're all severely traumatized by the finale. This little ficlet inspired by this post: http (:/) .com (/) post/50564479876/usually-i-draw-cute-fluffy-things -and-then-i

Once Sam was safely seated in the car, hidden from the possibility of being hit by a burning angel-comet, Dean set out further into the woods, running as if his life depended on it. Perhaps it did – not his, anyway, but a life could be in danger, a life Dean was unwilling to lose.

"Castiel!" He yelled into the night, forcing himself to go on even as a mass of burning feathers hit the ground not three feet away from him. He knew Cas was somewhere around, he could feel it, he was sure –,

He came to a halt at a clearing where a lone figure in a trench-coat stood, looking upwards at the incinerated sky. Dean took a few steps towards him – Cas, whose shoulder were slumped in defeat. He knew that stance, something horrible must have happened – well, duh, Dean, the angels are falling, – and Castiel needed him. Finally, his fingers brushed the other man's shoulder and Dean nearly jumped out of his skin when, in a blink of an eye, Cas spun around and threw himself into Dean's arms and burrowed his face into the hunter's chest.

"Cas?" Dean asked tentatively, awkwardly hugging the angel back.

"They're burning, Dean. Burning. My family is... burning," Cas said, his voice muffled by Dean's shirt. He wasn't crying. He wasn't catatonic or... upset, really, Dean thought. He was just stating a simple fact. So Dean stated one back.

"Not all of it."

"Hm?" Cas looked up and Dean could finally see the anguish the angel felt tighten the skin around his blue eyes. His jaw was set, his bottom lip trembling, yet he held on fast to his emotions, simply staring Dean down with that piercing gaze of his.

"I'm still here, Cas," Dean offered lamely and mentally kicked himself for such a chick line.

Castiel gave him a soft smile in response.

"Thank you, Dean."

He tightened his hold on the hunter and pressed his face into the spot above Dean's heart.

"I can't feel my wings."

"What?"

"I can't feel my wings, Dean," Cas stated as if he were talking about the weather. A moment later, he finally broke.

Suddenly, Dean had an armful of crying, sobbing former angel. Sobs shocked Jimmy Novak's body like electric currents and hot tears stained the fabric of Dean's shirt.

"Shhh," Dean whispered, not knowing what to do. "Shhh, it'll be okay, we'll figure this out. You know we always do."

"I can't feel my wings," Cas mouthed, and suddenly a terrible scream tore from his lips, as if the last of his grace was leaving him together with the pain and sorrow and complete and utter devastation that exploded underneath his skin.

Cas screamed, howled like a wounded animal, thrashing against Dean and clinging to him at the same time and the hunter let him, as he slid his palms over Castiel's back where, he knew, was the rightful place of two beautiful, jet-black wings.