The relief Sam felt when Dean followed him without protest was rapidly being overwritten by concern. Dean allowed himself to be sat in the kitchen, and accepted Sam's offered food and water in silence. Sam watched his brother pick at the food and beverage while more or less in a trance of his own thoughts, eyes distant and unfocused, mouth set in a tense frown.

In fact Sam began keeping track of the hours in which Dean didn't say anything other than an occasional grunt or one syllable response to a question.

It wasn't until Cas suffered his first seizure that Dean really seemed to focus and connect with his surroundings. After a few muttered curses, Dean had the angel on his side and held him steady on the bed without restraining him at all. Sam had to admit he was jealous by how quickly Dean responded to the episode, reminded of his freeze and that Castiel, the most clueless man on earth, had been the one to do anything for Dean during his first episode.

As the convulsions faded, Dean sat in the chair next to the cot, arms crossed. "End the spell." He said, his voice quiet but stiff.

"Dean-"

The older Winchester snapped his eyes up to glare at his brother, challenging Sam to defy him.

Sam put his hands up, shaking his head. "It can't be ended." At least that was the truth. Sam knew he wouldn't be able to bluff this time, and he was relieved not to have to.

The young hunter had to watch the fallout of that decision as it unfolded over the next few days. With research done, and nothing that could possibly help anyone's medical predicament, there was nothing to keep Dean's mind from dwelling on his own compounding guilt. Cas looked so weak, as weak as Dean had been, and it was terrifying to see an angel suffering this way.

Cas deteriorated at a similar rate to Dean. At least he wasn't awake to cry out. But the seizures weren't pretty, and it was obvious when Cas, even unconscious, descended into nightmarish visions. Dean spent his time trying to think of what terrible things could be playing through the angel's mind.

His own visions had dipped back and forth between various tragedies laced with new imagined woes. His brother's death, his own. He spent some fresh time in the pits of hell and the bowels of purgatory. He felt the mark of Cain pull him back down the path of damnation and black eyes. That was where things started to twist. He saw his hands grip Cas' neck, slamming him to the ground and plunging his own angel blade through his heart. He felt the blood run down his arm as he thrust the first blade through his brother's rib cage. But the worst was watching through his own black eyes as he sliced through Mary's stomach and set her ablaze on the ceiling of the bunker, forcing her through that fate again at his own hands.

Dean forced himself out of that spiral of thoughts to tend to another episode from Cas. He clenched his eyes shut, feeling every single bit a piece of trash. He had done this. He had lost control. This was his fault.

Sam carefully kept track of time, and gave Dean a warning as he knew they were approaching the end of the spell. "Four hours to go." The end of lockdown was so close. "The spell could end any minute." Honestly, Sam was surprised it hadn't already.

The young Winchester found himself shaking with anticipation. Cas' state was distressing, sure, but he was unconscious, guaranteed to live, and to top it off he was an angel of the freakin' lord. He was truly worried for Dean.

"Is this supposed to be gradual, or like a light switch?"

Sam grimaced. "I don't know. Like I said, I couldn't find too much on the specifics of the spell."

"Great." Dean muttered. He wanted to be able to prepare himself properly.

It turned out preparation would have been useless anyway. Cas arched his back, a new seizure gripping him harder than any of those before. As Sam stood to try and check on him, Dean crashed to the ground next to him, his back arching in the same way, their seizures matching up perfectly.

Sam's heart raced as he tried to steady Dean, and shield his head from the tile ground. He closed his eyes as both men let out an involuntary scream at the pain ripping through them. And then just as quickly as it had set on, it ended.

Dean remained on the floor, unconscious, shaking, his skin as pale as it had been before the spell.

Cas sat up, his stiff posture a stark contrast to the writhing of just moments before. He swung his legs and placed his feet on the ground, looking from Sam to Dean. Without asking he leaned down and helped Sam lift his brother onto the cot he had originally rested on. "I assume it worked?" He asked.

Sam nodded, swallowing and taking a deep breath. "Three hours to go." He looked over Castiel's figure, noting how tired he looked, pain resting behind his eyes from whatever he had seen. He didn't press it though, knowing the angel was far more likely to open up to his brother later than here and now.

Just moments before the lockdown ended, Cas regained enough strength to knit the bones in Dean's arms back together, and Sam gently undid the splint. Sam didn't press about Dean's shoulder, knowing Cas shouldn't push himself too hard after everything. The angel was playing it cool, but Sam had watched the spell. It had affected Castiel more than he wanted to let on.

The noise of the bunker breathing back to life was not something you could miss. The lights surged, and the heavy sound of the bunker's door thudded back and open with a metallic crack that disrupted a fair amount of debris in the collapsing library.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief, tears actually prickling his eyes as they were released from their prison. "Come on Cas, we have to get him out."

Sam took one last set of vitals on his brother, feeling the alarm tighten in his chest as his brother seemed even more far gone than even twenty minutes ago.

The climb to the door of the bunker felt incredibly dangerous, the dust and rubble making their journey slower than he could stand. By the time they had Dean settled in the back of the impala, Sam could barely keep his thoughts under control enough to drive. They pushed forward, the hospital in their sights.