a/n: Take a deep breath, and stop drooling on your keyboard. This author is not responsible for any damages that may occur.

Energy, Earth, Grace and Soul

S -

"So, how do we fix mine?"

His eyes fogged a little as he thought about it.

"Where are your shields?" he asked finally.

"Huh... good question." I closed my eyes briefly, thinking. When I opened them again, we stood in an endless field of flowers. Nothing but ground, blossoms, us, and starlight as far as the eye could see.

He peered around, as if they would suddenly pop up out of the ground. My own eyes went up... and up. His gaze finally followed mine. Up.

"Oh."

"Yeah," I shrugged. "Well, if you had to build a mental wall, wouldn't you make it pretty?" And here I thought I just had a kickass imagination. Apparently a useful one, too. Nifty.

"It looks intact," he said, frowing at the sky.

Now I frowned at it too.

"Can you take them down, at least a little?" he asked. "Maybe the injured part will be easier to see."

I cringed. "I can, yeah. How many people were in the room, or the area when you - "I waved a hand "came to find me?" The more people, I knew, the more unpleasant it would be.

For many, the general thought was that psychics could peer into the minds of others. And maybe some could. But for me, it was the opposite. It had taken half my childhood to learn how to keep others out. With no barriers at all, it was like having armies of people marching through my head, all their thoughts and emotions, even dreams and nightmares, along with them. If I'd taken down my barriers, totally, in the middle of New York City, I had no doubt I'd stroke out in minutes- half-angel or no. But even with a small group of people, it could be painful - taking it down totally was SO not happening.

"Four," he replied, "when I'd connected with your mind. Damon, Leo, myself, and you."

"Leo?" I asked, frowning, then eyes narrowing. "Are we in the caverns?" My heart skipped a beat, knowing how close...

"Yes," he replied quietly. "Damon made me swear to secrecy before he brought me. I intend to keep that oath." But he didn't look happy about it.

My mental head swam suddenly, knocking me to my knees. Then he was there, holding me upright with a concerned frown.

"We're out of time. Let the barrier down." He was blurry, even to mental-me. Not good.

I took a bracing breath, and pulled the wall down a little, in, like siphening it into a reserve tank. Still there if I needed it. The sky above shimmered and swam, but I didn't think it was just me. Castiel looked up, releasing me and frowning heavily as he stood. I couldn't really blame him. I probably would've frowned too, if I hadn't been so busy looking horrified.

My mental sky/shield, looked more or less the same, but brighter somehow as if the pinpricks of starlight were now polka-dots of starlight; except a portion almost directly above. It looked raw - an angry bruised color like something heavy and harsh had been dragged accross it.

"Shit," I said softly, gazing up. "No wonder it hurts. It did, now - and hurt all the more from Leo and Damon's worry and anxiety, chaotic thoughts pulsing into me like two extra racing heartbeats.

'Damnit, we need to get him out,' Damon was saying. I could barely see him, kneeling in the flowers, like a ghostly version of himself, hand clenched tight around nothing; probably my hand, though.

"Don't let him do that," Castiel shot over his shoulder. "Right now you need whatever extra energy he can give you while we fix this."

I relayed the message to Damon, watching him blink in shock and relief. He still looked worried though.

"You're bleeding again," he said grimly. "And your breathing, your pulse -" he shook his head. "Hurry," he ordered, and closed his eyes, focusing.

Damon's energy pulsed into me, all at once, and I felt stronger. I got back to my mental feet to join Castiel, still staring intently up.

"You need to bring it down here," he said. "I think you need to - to touch it to heal it."

I nodded, closing my eyes to focus. Nothing. I looked to Castiel, frowning. "I can't." He looked a little worried now, lips set tight.

"Wait!" I had a thought, and grinned. "This is mental you, too, Cas. And you're an angel. You," I said as he frowned, "have wings."

He blinked at me and raised his brows. I wonder how long it'd been since he'd used his real ones to forget that fact. And then he did have wings, shirtless suddenly, and looking like all of the holy angel he really was. He had a nice chest, lightly haired and nicely toned, but... Splendid in all his feathered glory, he stretched those mighty wings out, and out, easily 9 or 10 feet long each, shimmering grey in the dim light. I wondered if I looked as jaw-droppingly impressed as I felt.

"Kick... ass," I said as he looked back to me, a brow quirked. And not just a little sexy, too, I mused. Hell, a whole freaking LOT sexy. Wow.

Then he frowned again, his wings drooping a fraction. "What about you though?" His wings ruffled a little, tucking down and inward toward his back. I was trying to think, but those fabulous wings were sort of mesmerizing.

"Huh?" I said, still watching his wings.

"Sari!" he snapped impatiently.

"Huh?" I blinked. "Oh! Right!" I wondered if mental-me blushed. Damon snorted in response. "Shut up," I muttered. He snickered instead.

"How will you -?" Castiel began, but I simply kicked lightly, and hovered up a foot, grinning.

"Never had wings - or, not that I can remember. But I've seen Peter Pan about a hundred times." I grinned more. "If I could do this in real life, I'd never walk anywhere."

Castiel's eyebrows had raised, in surprise maybe, but went back to somber as he nodded. His folded wings shivered once before stretching out and up, beat down once, and he was airborne, flapping upward to the starry wounded sky. I gave myself a second to admire the sight of him, or maybe just lust, before shaking it off and soaring up after him.

The ceiling of my shields weren't, we found, as far off as they'd seemed before. More like low clouds, 300 feet up. But the closer we got, the uglier it looked.

Once, when I'd been learning to ride my first bike, I'd taken a nasty tumble, scraping shins, elbows, knees, even my chin as I'd rolled into the street. My left knee had taken the worst of it - an angry shave of layers of skin, gravel bits digging in deep. It began to bruise even before it had stopped bleeding, purples and greens, horrible to look at.

Up close, this was worse. From here I could see a thin layer of bluish-white, coating over it, though fading. I gave the hovering angel a curious look, sensing the energy of it.

"It was spreading quickly. I did what I could to slow it, but could do little more." His wings flapped slowly behind him, holding him steady, the individual feathers seeming to reflect the colors of my shields. Kinda pretty, really.

"Oh. So how do we fix this?" It didn't look simple, or possible at all, really.

"How would you heal another wound?" he asked in return. "A cut, or a broken bone?"

Hm. I thought about it for a second. "For a cut, I'd encourage it to scab, make my body's cells replicate more quickly, hopefully stronger. For bones, pretty much the same, but with marrow, filling in the gaps, again, hopefully stronger." I looked up at the shredded sky. "But this? It looks - torn away, there's whole chunks missing."

"Try the edge of the tear. Encourage it to grow," he suggested. I did, and watched with wonder as it knit slowly back toward the other side, glowing with fresh energy. Then, the world tilted.

He caught me against his chest, his arms holding me lightly but firmly, wings seemingly unburdened by the extra weight, flapping soft and strong behind him. He was frowning down at me.

"Ugh," I said queezily. I didn't want to do that again - wasn't sure I could do that again. I still felt dizzy.

"Your energy is lower than I thought," he said with a frown.

"Oh," I said meekly. Not good. Damon sent a sudden surge of his own, struck me like a baseball bat from within. Castiel's eyes widened, having felt it too, still holding me close. I took a shuddering breath, found I was stronger, and reached my hand out again. It knit faster still, meeting the other side, perfect, as it should be.

I could feel, almost see, Damon though - panting with exertion, drained almost completely. 'No more, or I can't anchor you,' he said.

Still not good, since there were two more visibly widening tears. And then Leo layed his oversized hand on my head, and a rush of nearly pure earth energy he'd been gathering into himself came surging through. I could suddenly feel the earth, molten core, rocky crusts, streams bubbling up, ocean tides ebbing and flowing - a living thing. Incredible, and massive.

I didn't need to touch this next tear, simply directed all that flow of pure earth at it, and watched it rebuild, again, perfectly. But Leo payed the price, collapsing unconscious next to my body, spent.

And still one more to go.

I was dizzy again, felt my mind slip, my heart skipping lazily, my breath slowing - stopping.

"Sari!" both Damon and Castiel hollered in unison. But Damon had nothing left to give. I was slipping, down into the dark.

Then came a new energy, only not. Castiel had gathered me closer, intimately close, my chest against his own, his brow meeting mine. Both his arms were wrapped around my back, but one lifted away to thread his hand against the back of my own, palm outward to the tear, fingers twined with mine.

He held me easily with one strong arm, almost naturally, eyes at level with mine - looking deeply, endlessly deep into my own.

Then came the sensation I prayed never to forget. His Grace welled up and touched my own, flowing through me, around me, into me, filling an emptiness I'd never known was there. Complete and true and pure. Everywhere his body touched my own, and beyond, glowed bright with the force of it and I selfishly let it linger within me before sending it down our joined hands and outward, out to heal.

Even as my mind swam again, my thoughts tumbling, I could see it heal with the sheer power of Grace and soul.

And then, I knew no more.

a/n: Reviews welcome and appreciated!