Healing
Erela's physical wounds healed slowly over the next few days and she was getting stronger with each passing hour. She went from being able to twitch her wings to being able to move the joints over the course of a day and a half. Where Cas reattached them was still remarkably tender and sore after a week.
Erela's mental wounds, on the other hand healed much slower. Everyone knew that she wasn't getting enough sleep because she would come downstairs every morning with dark bags under her eyes and tear-stained cheeks and they all heard her screaming in her sleep at least once every night. Cas sat by her bed all night and watched her and calmed her down if needed. It took Erela about a week to stop flinching every time Sam and Dean touched her or said something too loudly. She still wouldn't talk to anyone but Cas, and even then she didn't talk much. She mostly sat in her room or on the stairs or curled up in the recliner all day. She wouldn't eat or drink much either. She was improving, though. Every day she would talk to Sam and Dean a bit more and eat a bit more.
After a while, Sam and Dean got another case in the area, but they refused to leave. Cas finally convinced them, arguing that Erela might heal faster if they weren't around. Eventually they agreed and left.
Erela woke up the day they left and walked downstairs, wondering why it was so quiet. She saw Cas sitting on the couch and sat down beside him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked. She shrugged in response. "Sam and Dean are out on a case." Erela nodded. Cas noticed that she had her wings wrapped around herself, as she usually did, but when he said that Sam and Dean weren't there, she relaxed and loosened them a little.
"I… I'm broken," Erela said after a while. Her voice came out as a raspy whisper and a tear slid down her cheek. Cas wrapped his black wing around Erela and pulled her close, wiping away the tear with his thumb.
"You'll be better soon. I promise. It's a long road, but you're working on it. What those demons did to us was horrible, but you need to remember that it wasn't our Sam and Dean," Castiel told her.
"But, I can't! The… thing that was pretending to be Sam… He cut off my wings! Every time I look at Sam, I remember that and shut down!" Erela shouted, frustrated. She dropped her head into her hands.
"You know what?" Castiel stood up suddenly, turning to Erela. "Let's do something fun. Do you want to go flying?" Erela shrugged and sat there with her head in her hands until Castiel pulled her up.
"What Cas?" Erela groaned at him, meeting his bright blue eyes with a dagger-like stare.
"We're going out. Flying. It will make you feel better," Cas said sternly, as if he was talking to a child.
"Fine. Let me get dressed first," Erela growled and stormed up the stairs. She wasn't mad at Cas. She wanted to go flying, but she didn't want to leave the safety of the house. The idea of leaving scared her and that made her angry at how weak she had become over the course of three days. Erela threw on clothes and ran back downstairs.
"You ready?" Cas asked.
"Let's go," Erela replied, suddenly eager. They went outside and opened their wings and took off. It hurt Erela's wings to fly for too long, so after a short amount of time, they stopped and landed in the State Park.
"That felt great. This was a good idea, Cas," Erela said as they began walking through the forest.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," Castiel replied. "Sam is worried about you. We all are worried about you."
"Thanks. This is tough for me though. I'm still trying to find a way to differentiate between Sam and that other thing in my head. It's hard. It's so hard."