Dean was all too eager to leave behind the chthonic landscape as he felt himself pass through the newly opened rift. Once on the other side however, he instantly knew he much preferred hell. For one, hell had a floor.

He walked because it was the only way his mind could comprehend movement in the void.

The nothingness was oppressive. No walls, no horizon, just an endless expanse of actual nothing. He knew that black was just another tool for processing the abyss. There was no color, no shade, no real way to describe it. He took a deep, almost choking breath on instinct, feeling silly because there was only a construct of air. Not to mention he didn't have to breathe anymore at all.

Jack looked at him, and Dean wondered how he saw him with no source of light, but the rules of existence seemed to bend here. The hunter shook himself out of that spiral of thoughts, focusing on the mission. "Now we just say the spell?" When he got a nod he carefully sounded out the spell Rowena had dictated.

The new God watched closely. "What do you feel?"

Dean stopped, listening to his body, concentrating on sensations." He could feel it. The tug spreading from his arm and resonating through his chest. If he let go, he could walk forward as if being gently pulled by a rope. "This way." He said, beginning to push through the choking atmosphere.

Jack kept pace with Dean, keeping his senses on high alert, waiting for any sign the empty had found them. The cosmic entity was anywhere in the infinite void, and he knew it would take a bit for it to catch on to their presence.

"So." Dean started, needing to fill the silence with something, anything. "What sort of matters get the personal attention of God these days?"

"I am rebuilding Gabriel and Michael."

Dean looked up at Jack, his brow furrowing. "How? Aren't they here? Wouldn't it-"

"They are not here." Jack looked back towards where they were heading. "Chuck completely destroyed them himself."

"Then how-"

"Amara has been combing through the cosmic dust left behind of the world where Gabriel died, gathering every last atom so I can try and put him together again. I am doing the same here with Michael." He frowned. "It is... tedious."

Dean's brow furrowed, studying Jack. "I get Gabriel, but why Michael? After what he did."

"Adam asked it."

"Adam?"

"Mmh." Jack said, but he offered no insight to why his half brother would have requested he be restored.

"I thought you were trying to be hands off after you put earth back in place?'

"Archangels help stabilize heaven, just by being. Their grace is tied to heaven." He explained. "With the changes we are making to heaven, I think it will need the extra support."

Dean fell silent, considering everything that was just said. It made sense. He supposed he should just be glad that Lucifer and Raphael would remain at rest.

They walked a while further without speaking, Dean trying to slow his racing mind, but it was useless.

Jack watched the exact moment that Rowena's words sunk in for Dean. Saw the note of panic creep behind his eyes. Heard his heart pick up speed. "Dean…"

The former hunter took a second before he processed that Jack spoke. He tried to push the emotion back down behind a wall, put on a front, but when he looked up he knew it wasn't working. "I don't know what to do with all this." He admitted.

"It's too much."

"That's putting it lightly." Dean let out a half laugh, but it held absolutely no joy. "I… don't feel different... I died, I became Death and I don't feel any different. Except I can see what's really happening around us here, and I can feel the tug of the souls on earth as the reapers pull them along to their resting spots. But I'm still just me." He felt his face flash hot as he was unable to stop himself from voicing his thoughts.

"Dean..."

"I miss them." Dean said quietly. "I miss Sam. I miss Eileen. I miss-"

"We're getting him back."

"I'm not."

Jack felt a stab through his chest, but he forced himself to dampen it for the moment.

Dean gave a weak smile. "I thought… I expected heaven to be what it was. I thought it was going to be a lifetime...or an afterlife of fireworks and peanut butter sandwiches with Mom. I thought I'd get to spend another peacefully uneventful dinner with you and Sam and Cas."

Jack forced his mouth shut on another apology, knowing it would do no good here.

"Jack. I'm going to go on forever…" Alone. He felt guilty for the thought. He wasn't the only one, Jack would too. And they would have each other. And somewhere in the back of his mind he knew one day Cas and Sam would be in heaven, and they could still visit. But it wouldn't be the same, and he wouldn't be able to stay with them.

"Did you know?"

"That I wouldn't have any peace?" Dean snorted bitterly. "I should have."

"That he loved you."

The new Death flinched. "Yes."

"Oh."

The complete oppressive silence of the empty seeped back in, and they walked for what seemed an another endless time without talking. Dean was just starting to feel his grip on sanity loosen when Jack decided to speak again.

"I tried to rebuild the other worlds… undo what Chuck did." He sighed. "It didn't work. It's too broken. It's taking everything to reorder the archangels, entire realities are beyond me."

Dean gave a more sincere half smile. "It's weird… talking to you like this."

"I'm still me."

"Yeah, but you're all wise and shit now." he said, clinging to a bit of humor to keep a hold of this conversation's direction.

"Yeah." Jack managed a small smile of his own. "At least I managed to learn something from Sam."

Dean gave a brief laugh. "Are you saying I ain't wise?"

The new God met his eyes, his expression reflecting nothing but adoration. "You are plenty wise."

Dean looked away, his expression changing. "Look… Jack… I never got to apologize for what I said to Sam that night. Of course you're family… Chuck had me so spun out I wasn't seeing straight."

"I know." He continued on. "I knew even then."

"You had too much faith in me."

"That, I learned from you."

Dean lapsed back into silence, not sure what to do with that. He didn't have long to think about it before the pull in his shoulder sparked into an unbearable pain. He grunted, taken to his knees for a moment, in shock.

"Dean!?"

The hunter breathed through it, feeling it spark down to a more tolerable agony. He shakily pulled himself back to his feet, if you could call it standing in this expanse. "I'm okay… I'm good. I think we're close."

"When we wake him, it's going to get her attention immediately." Jack warned.

"I thought you said he was awake."

"I don't think he is anymore… it's hard to say, but I can't… I can't feel him right now. Like I used to be able to."

"Oh." He said absently, but he was staring right ahead. He could just make out a tan coat. Dean broke into a run.

The angel laying in the blanket of darkness looked anything but alright. Dean instantly knew that he had been awake… he was badly battered, and his eyes darted back and forth while closed, clearly trapped in the throes of some unspeakable nightmare.

"Cas." Dean breathed, sinking beside the angel, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder.

He hadn't expected the seraph to jerk awake, twisting and pulling from the touch, clearly in a panic to avoid whatever torture he expected.

"Cas! Cas it's us." Dean explained, desperation creeping into his voice.

Castiel took a moment to hear what was being said, finally allowing his eyes to focus first on the hunter, then up at Jack. "Dean?" He whispered, latching onto the sight before him. He shook his head. "It isn't you."

"It's us Cas… We're here to get you out."

"You can't trick me." the angel growled, defiant. He wasn't willing to take part in whatever new game this was. But in the back of his mind a small spark of hope ignited. That somehow they had managed to do it… to find him. He had heard Jack's call. He knew he was going to try.

Jack knelt beside him. "It can only take the face of someone who rests in the empty. It can't wear our faces."

Cas took a moment, knowing Jack was right, but it did little to calm his racing mind. "How-?"

Before he could answer, Jack's expression darkened. He tensed up, standing alert. "She knows."

Dean swallowed, his breath quickening as he focused on the task at hand. "Cas, look at me." He demanded.

Cas obeyed, eyes resting on the hunter as he tried to gather himself.

"Can you move?"

Cas shook his head. He struggled to get up, but it was as if his legs were pinned by the darkness that surrounded him. "It's got too strong a hold."

Dean's mouth was set in a line, and Cas knew he had been expecting that answer.

"What's going-"

"We're getting you out." Dean said simply. He reached into his coat, pulling out the angel blade and glass vial from his inner pocket.

"How?"

The hunter looked up at him, his eyes reflecting pure pain. He hesitated, just holding the two items for a second as he took in Cas' face. He felt his heart breaking as he looked him over. They didn't have time for this. For anything he needed at this moment. "Do you trust me?"

Cas watched him carefully, but his voice was firm in spite of his fear. "Of course."

"Cas, we're going to remove your grace." he said softly.

Jack looked over at them for a second. "You'll be effectively human. It should loosen her grip on you, allow you to move."

Dean threw a sympathetic glance at Cas. "That's it though. You won't be able to become an angel again."

Cas nodded. "Okay." He could handle that.

Dean closed his eyes as he considered his next words. "After we pull out your grace you cannot touch me. You touch me, and you're dead, you got it?"

"What?" The angel's eyes widened, and he looked as if he was about to argue.

"I'll explain later, but whatever you do, don't touch me. Do you understand?"

"Not really but alright." Cas swallowed, not liking the implications of that. He noted the strain in Dean's voice and instantly was struck with worry for whatever kind of terrible deal his friend must've made to get him out.

The hunter simply nodded, hesitating. He held the blade tightly, his hand trembling under the stress of the situation. He looked down at it, confirming the knife was in his grip and not his chest like it felt like. He was brought back as Cas' hand slid over his, helping hold it steady.

"It's okay Dean."

Dean looked up at Cas, and he made up his mind. He threw his arm behind Cas' head and pulled him close, bridging the gap and closing their mouths together. He kissed the angel deeply, trying to hold onto this moment, to convey a million words he hadn't said. He couldn't say. He felt a flash of hot guilt across his face as he realized how unfair this was to both of them, but he couldn't stop himself. Even so he could hear the distant echoes and he knew he had to pull back.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he withdrew quickly. He put his hand on Cas' shoulder and picked up the blade again. He met the angel's eyes, taking in the shocked and confused expression for only a second before he flicked it across Cas' throat, leaving a small glowing wound. He let go of the angel and held out the jar, the grace flowing towards the enchanted glass, leaving just a simple cut behind that Jack stepped forward to heal. The other wounds inflicted by the empty did not fade so easily.

Dean could only watch as Jack held out his hand and pulled Cas to his feet.

Cas turned to look at both of them. "What-?"

"Run." Jack instructed.

Dean nodded, and started off in the direction they had come from, Cas hot on his heels.

.

As the minutes dragged on into hours the hunter struggled to make sense of what his new senses were picking up. Jack was so very quickly out of sight, but he could feel the shifts in the void around them, feel as Jack engaged it in battle, feel when it struck back. He winced as he felt a particularly sharp wave of pain emanate from the new God.

He frowned, feeling like they had already run further than it took to get there. He wondered if it was an illusion of time, or if they had just wandered further than he thought. He also was acutely aware that while he never tired now, the angel running with him was starting to struggle under the strain of running.

In spite of this, Cas finally managed to put a voice to the thoughts that had been brewing in his head. "Dean, what is going on?" he asked, a note of fear in his voice.

"I-" Dean spared a glance sideways at him, his breath catching in his chest as he tried to put into words everything that had happened. "I can't. Not right now. There's too much."

"Why can't I touch you?" he pressed anyway.

"Cas-"

"What did you do?"

"Cas I-" Dean's pace slowed as the environment shifted around them. He came to a stop alongside the angel, his eyes scanning the scene now laid before them. "What the-"

Castiel looked in mute horror as they entered the memory. They were standing amongst dozens of corpses, each one of them Dean. He swallowed, his newly human senses shuddering through him with revulsion. He had forgotten just how overwhelming emotions could be.

"Jack said she could pull from your memories… he didn't say she could make new ones." Dean muttered. He looked up but froze when he saw the shock on Cas' face. "Cas-?"

Cas stuttered for a moment, pitching sideways for just a second before he crashed to his knees on the newly formed cement floor. He gasped for air, trying to force himself to breathe through it, to think rationally.

Dean was on his knees next to him, longing to reach out, but carefully keeping his distance. "Cas?" He asked again, softer. They didn't have time for this, but he didn't know how to reach him.

"It's a memory." Cas wheezed as he struggled to get a hold of himself.

"I don't-"

"Naomi." He managed.

Understanding dawned on Dean. When she had attempted to control him… this is what she had him do. "She wanted you to be able to kill me."

"Without hesitation."

"But you did hesitate."

"It was you." He managed to take a few breaths, just a touch steadier. "The real you… I knew…"

"Exactly." Dean said firmly. "You didn't. Now you have to get up. We have to keep moving. She's only going to throw more at you. We have to get out."

"Why can't I touch you?"

"Get up." Dean commanded, brushing past the question again. He rose to his feet, almost offering a hand to help Cas up, but managing to hold back at the last second.

"Dean-"

"Get up." He repeated.

The former angel managed to rise to his feet. He turned just in time to feel the blade suddenly in his hand sink through the hunter's torso. He watched in horror as Dean fell but he was snapped back by a voice just feet away.

"She's messing with your head Cas. Listen to me. I'm here, I'm fine. We have to go."

Castiel focused on the voice, dragging his feet until he could trick them back into running and he resumed his pace next to Dean.

"There's going to be more of that." Dean explained. "She can still pull memories from the grace."

"Great." Cas muttered.

The hunter couldn't help a small smile at the sarcastic response. "Yeah. Stay close."

.

Two more visions and what felt like hours more, Dean could see Cas was beyond exhausted. But they had heard the crashing in the distance grow closer, and they knew Jack and the empty were not far behind.

Each new vision was painful. Cas felt them with such clarity. He could smell the blood, see the crack. He felt Dean's skull fracture as he failed to fight off Rowena's spell. He saw the moment of pain as he thrust Dean's hand back, staying behind in purgatory. He knew he had abandoned Dean too many times.

Just as the floor pulsed blood red for a second and the sound crashed closer behind, Dean saw Cas fall. He skidded to a stop before running back to him. "We have to keep moving."

"I can't."

"Cas, we have to. We are almost there."

"You don't know that." Cas had caught on a little while ago that while Dean knew the direction, he didn't know the distance.

"You can get up."

"Dean…"

"No. No giving up." Dean snapped, shutting down whatever apology or assurance was going to come out of the former angel's mouth. "You're going to get up, right now. And we are going to go find that portal."

"Dean!" Cas watched the hunter thrown from his hands, watching in silent helplessness as the leviathans seized control of his hands back in that lab.

"Breathe through it like the others." Dean soothed, his voice soft and even, grounding the angel in this reality. "I'm right here…"

Cas nodded, closing his eyes for a second. He heard another approaching crash and he dragged himself to his feet.

"We are almost there." Dean assured him again, hoping beyond hope he was right.

They could finally see the portal when Jack was thrown past them at breakneck speed. Dean slid to another stop, his position at the ready. He turned and saw the blackness settle into the yellow eyed vision of Azazel in the last body he wore. "You come into my domain, and you steal my property." He sneered. "That, That I can't stand for."

Dean squared up, ready for a fight he knew he would lose. But if it came to it he'd give it all he had.

"You cannot possibly think you can win." It taunted, tilting its head and sounding exactly like the demon Dean remembered. "I can taste the fear coming off you, the uncertainty. And now, with what you are, I can keep you too."

Cas spared another look at Dean, trying to decipher just what it meant.

Just as it took a step forward, the nothing around them charged red again, as Jack threw his power, full might at the entity itself, blasting it back into its inky form. "Run!"

Dean turned on heel and sprinted towards the small seam, hastily shoving his hands in his pocket for the so-called magic dirt. Shaking hands opened the pouch, pouring the contents in front of the seam. He carefully uncapped the vial, letting the blue-white light pour out and touch the ingredients below. They caught alight, the grace burning brighter and brighter until Cas had to shield his eyes. Both Jack and Dean simply watched it as the ingredients burned and the seam ripped open into a gateway once more.

"Cas, go." Dean demanded, turning back and running towards Jack.

"No, Dean-!" But Jack had already sent a wave of his power thrusting him backwards through the portal. He landed hard enough to knock the wind out of him on the ground in hell. He was surprised by the hands pulling him to his feet, and he balked, looking up at the face of Ketch.

Meanwhile Dean took the angel blade out and sliced through the now inky arm that was wrapped around Jack's throat. It only withdrew for a second, but Jack managed to level one last solid blow with that window of opportunity. He grabbed Dean's arm and the two of them flew at the exit.

They landed on the other side and Rowena extinguished the burning chalice, the empty fading out behind them with one last distant scream.

Jack collapsed to his knees, winded from the extended battle for their safe passage. Dean clapped him on the shoulder. The new God gave an exhausted smile up at him. "We did it."

"Yeah." Dean said softly, his elation at the rescue tainted slightly by the terms of Cas' salvation. He turned his attention back to the battered angel… the battered human who now leaned heavily against the wall.

"Dean… what did you do?"