Before Elena knew it, they had been hunkered down at Bobby's for a week. She had learned so much about being a human during that time, mainly from Sam but also from Dean and Bobby. Dean worked with her more on defense strategies and offensive preparations for any potential attacks—what he called logistical tactics. He also talked her through just about any television program that came on. She was learning a lot about tone and humor from spending time with him.

Sam was helping her more with the day-to-day aspects of being a human and what the average life looked like for a person. Her vocabulary had improved dramatically in such a short time. Bobby was helping to teach her how to read English. He said she was a quick learner and would know more than him in another week or two. Elena was enjoying learning about everything this world had to offer.

Mid-morning on their eighth day at Bobby's house, Elena woke up with the feeling that something was wrong. There was an uneasiness within her that she couldn't put into words. She felt trepidation in every part of her body, as if she was on the verge of shaking as each moment passed. She tried to explain it to Dean but couldn't quite find the right words. She tried to shake off the feeling, but it stuck there stubbornly, refusing to settle and staying as intense as when it first came on. Dean finally took notice when she opted to not eat lunch.

"Whoa, come on girl, what's going on?" he asked. "You've never turned down the chance to cram food in your face."

Elena frowned at him worriedly.

"I'm telling you, I don't know what's—" she started to say before stopping.

Her eyes widened and suddenly Elena felt like she couldn't breathe, her chest tight and her throat completely closed off.

"What is it?" Dean asked, looking worried

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no," she kept saying, feeling paralyzed.

"Sammy? Bobby? We got a problem, get in here quick!" Dean yelled.

Elena barely noticed as they rushed in, the sick feeling in her stomach growing exponentially.

"Elena, what's going on? Talk to me!" Dean insisted.

She finally snapped out of her trance and looked at him.

"Castiel, he—I—we—"

Elena closed her eyes hard, trying to concentrate. She was fighting feeling like she was going to pass out, but she needed to stay alert and explain.

"Castiel is badly injured. I need you all to think of him being here, please, and we need to hold hands" she said desperately.

She didn't really understand why she said it, but somewhere inside her told her it was what they needed to do.

"Of course," Dean replied, grabbing her hand with one of his.

He, Bobby, and Sam all formed a circle with her.

Castiel, come to us. I know you can. Please, please make it here. I need you, please come back to me, she projected.

Elena felt her energy amplified by their circle, and she closed her eyes tightly, envisioning him with her. She drew on the energy, feeling it move through her body. The floor beneath their feet started to rumble but she kept her mind focused.

Castiel, please! Come to me, now!

With that last thought, a purple light exploded outward from the circle, blowing out all the windows on the first floor of Bobby's house. Dean, Sam, and Bobby dropped their hands and looked around at each other and the room, unsure if they were under attack. Elena turned away from them, surveying the damage.

"I am here," she heard Castiel say weakly from behind her.

When Elena turned back around, she almost dropped to her knees, horrified by what she saw. She could faintly hear Dean yell, "Oh my God, Cas!" and Bobby yell at Sam to get his first aid kit. Castiel stood in front of her, but barely. Half his face was swollen, and all Elena could think is that it looked like an entire side was broken. His left eye was swollen shut and there was blood everywhere—his face, seeping through his clothes, all over his arms, legs, chest. He wobbled and Elena tried to grab his shoulders to help steady him. He screamed in pain and she realized one of his shoulders was out of place, and both arms looked like they were broken in multiple spots. His human body was completely mangled, but it was nothing compared to what she saw of his ethereal one. Dean came over and put Castiel's good shoulder around his own, gripping his waist to try and hold him up.

"Castiel, what did they do to you? Oh no, your wings!" Elena cried out.

Dean looked even more worried.

"His wings? What do you mean?"

Elena looked back and forth at Castiel's broken, battered, torn feathers. There was blood coming from all over them. She held up a hand to one side and tried to see whether it was truly broken, but when her hand started to touch his feathers Castiel screamed again in pain and slumped down onto Dean, completely limp.

"Lay him down on the floor, get some pillows and blankets," Bobby told Sam as he grabbed the kit. Dean lowered Castiel onto the ground as gently and quickly as he could.

"Elena, what did you mean about his wings?" Dean asked again.

"I can see them, and touch them," she said softly. "But whoever did this to him...I don't know how to help what they did. It's horrific, they're bleeding everywhere. Both his human body and celestial one are battered, I don't know what to do!"

She sank into the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She rocked back and forth while Bobby tried to dress the wounds that he could see on Castiel's human form.

"I don't know if I can fix this," he kept saying at each new spot.

Finally, he was done cleaning and sewing all he could. Bobby looked at Dean and Sam with a worried look and shook his head slightly, unable to hold their gazes. Sam's eyes widened in shock and he gasped a little.

"No, Bobby, no. You fix him. You fix him!" Dean yelled, enraged.

Bobby looked pained and shook his head.

"I wish I could, Dean, he's my friend, too. There was just too much damage, too much wrong. I did the best I could, but I think he's gone," Bobby said.

Dean sat back in shock, mouth open in a prolonged expression of disbelief. Sam was trying not to cry. Elena just kept rocking back and forth, unable to process what had happened. She didn't know how long they were all there, silently mourning, surrounding Castiel's still form.

"I think we need to prepare him for a sendoff," Bobby said finally. "Sam, grab some twine from out in the garage. Dean, help me wrap the body, would you?"

Elena watched as Sam started to leave the room and Dean and Bobby grabbed opposite sides of a blanket. They laid it over Castiel's body, ready to roll him in it.

"No!" Elena screamed, finally snapping back to reality.

Dean looked both surprised and hurt by her shout, and Bobby looked taken aback by her forcefulness.

"Elena, honey, I know you cared about him, but we can't just leave him here. He deserves better," Bobby said gently.

"Get away from him! Get away from him, now!" she screamed again.

Dean pressed a hand against his eyes as he backed away, his grief overwhelming him. Bobby followed suit and backed away, giving her space. Sam was standing nearby, his hand over his mouth, fighting back more tears. Elena scrambled over to Castiel's body, leaning over him as she stroked his beaten face and ran her hand down his shirt. She sat back and put her legs out in front of her, pulling his upper body into her lap as best she could. Elena held his head with one arm under him and the other across him and around his shoulder. She let her head rest against his.

Castiel, I'm so sorry for what I've done. I can't lose you like this, please be okay somehow. Castiel, I think...I don't know what to think but I just know I can't lose you, please don't leave me, she told him.

There was no response, no answer, no movement. Elena felt her breath catch in her throat for a moment. He was gone. He was gone, just like her family was gone. Everyone that she had ever loved was gone. Castiel's beautiful, bright, powerful light was extinguished, all because he was trying to help her find answers. She couldn't hold it in any longer.

Elena screamed loudly from deep in her soul all of the anguish that she felt. Her body was quickly wreaked and heaving with heavy sobs, tears flowing from her eyes over his head and chest as she cradled him in her arms. She pulled her knees up so that she could press herself against him as if he were holding her, crying so hard that she started hyperventilating. She was so lost in her pain that she didn't notice when Dean and Sam started to talk, but as they kept speaking their words got through to her.

"—gotta be what it is, oh God, please let it work," she heard Sam say.

"It's not just her glowing anymore, look, Sammy, look there's white with it, too, now!" Dean exclaimed, hope filling his voice.

Elena was confused by what she heard but unwilling to break away from her pain and sorrow to look for understanding.

Beautiful, sweet Castiel, I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve this, my angel, I'm so sorry.

Elena?

She heard him in her mind and gasped, shocked enough by his voice to stop crying. She opened her eyes and she pulled back to look at him. She realized that they were surrounded in a sphere that she wasn't even aware had formed. It was almost entirely green, though she noticed a small portion had a white hue swirling. Elena looked Castiel's body over and noticed some of his wounds looked better. His human body was less battered, his wings were less bloody, there were fewer missing feathers.

Castiel? Castiel, can you hear me? Is that you? How is that you?

Elena felt the slightest movement from him in her arms.

I don't know what's happening. I feel like I can't move. It all hurts so much.

His voice was strained with pain even inside her mind.

"What's happening?" She asked Dean, Sam, and Bobby.

"I think you're healing him! Keep going!" Dean shouted back.

"I don't know what I was doing to heal him, though! What am I supposed to keep doing?!"

Dean and Bobby looked at each other and shook their heads, looking back to her with no answer.

"Elena, keep crying! I think it's your tears!" Sam said.

Elena nodded and let her pain flow freely again from her heart and out through her eyes. She allowed herself to sob uncontrollably as she held Castiel, begging for this to work and for him to be okay. She let herself feel the full weight of her life now, alone if she were able to return home, or remain like this in a completely foreign world where she might never be safe again. She allowed herself to feel the despair at never seeing her family again, their otherwise would-be eternal lives extinguished. She thought about how much she cared about Castiel and what he meant to her in such a short time, and how cruel it would be after everything she had been through if that was all the time they had.

Elena was so focused on her pain that she didn't realize Castiel was stirring and had opened his eyes to look at her. She felt his hand on her face and tried to slow her tears. It took a few minutes before she could even open her eyes to meet his gaze. She realized he looked as he had before, not a trace of the torture he endured remained. The sphere encircling them was now equal parts green and white, the colors swirling and intermingling around the two of them. She was still breathing raggedly from her crying, still too upset to try and speak aloud.

I'm so sorry, she told him.

Castiel sat up and put a hand to her cheek, staring into her once again. He looked confused at her statement, head tilted to the side.

Why would you ever be sorry?

Elena felt her eyebrows pulling together again and she braced against the wave of emotion, refusing to cry again. The sphere surrounding them disappeared.

You almost died because of me, she told him. I think you did die, actually.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head downward, shaking it and letting out a sigh before he opened them again and looked back at her, straight on.

Elena, you are the reason I am even alive right now. You didn't hurt me. You had no way of knowing what would happen. I would have gone searching for answers for you regardless of our connection, but connection is what saved my life. That is what finally broke through the sigils the demons had placed around me, preventing me from accessing my grace. I don't know how, but that connection was so powerful that nothing could stop it. You brought me here, Elena. I heard you calling for me, but I was too weak and powerless to respond or try to escape. Then suddenly I was here. You saved me.

Elena put a hand to her mouth, her mind reeling. She hadn't even been aware that she was what pulled Castiel here, she just thought she had been calling him to come. She felt intense relief that he was here and was okay. She grabbed his head and pulled him to her fiercely, their mouths reuniting finally. When they finally parted, Elena realized that Dean, Bobby, and Sam were all standing by silently, waiting for either her or Castiel to speak. Castiel seemed to notice this at the same time, and they stood up together.

"I have been healed," Castiel announced.

Dean let out a half-laugh, half-cry as he came over and grabbed Castiel in a tight hug.

"Damn it, Cas, don't do that to me again," he told him as he pulled away.

Castiel looked down for a moment and then back up, almost embarrassedly.

"I am sorry, Dean. I did not intend to be killed nor cause you discomfort over my death."

Dean looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head and smiling, fighting tears.

"It's good to have you back, man," Sam said as he came over to embrace Castiel as well.

"Aw, hell, get over here," Bobby said as he came over with open arms and gave Castiel a tight squeeze, along with a few pats on the back.

"So, what the hell happened to you, Cas?" Dean asked. "Do we need to start throwing up more protection? Is anyone gonna be coming after you?"

Castiel looked around as he considered Dean's questions.

"I believe that we are all safe for now. Why don't you all sit, this will take a while."

Quick Author's note-I uploaded a few chapters in a row a few days ago so if you read the first couple and it seemed like there was a skip, that might be why. I think I understand now how to upload and I'll just do one at a time from now on. The whole thing is already written out :) Fear was Chapter 6, Crossfire is Chapter 7