Cas felt the wards splinter the instant before the hand in his grasp vanished. He staggered a bit, thrown off balance by the backlash of his grace returning. He tried to look through the debris kicked up in the aftermath of whatever it was that was rolling away over the hills. The choking air finally cleared, and they could at last take a breath. They were left in a bathroom with no roof, splintered wood groaning as it settled in place, a cracked piece of shower tile tumbling to the ground and shattering.

Sam steadied himself against the sink and watched Cas lean back on the wall. His voice was rough and somewhat shaky. "Where's Dean?"

"As soon as the wards broke, he teleported away." Cas breathed, trying to regain his footing and really take in the damage. "He could be literally anywhere."

"Damn it."

Cas frowned. "Wait." Cas said slowly. "Dean has my phone."

Sam looked up, a small glimmer of hope sparking up in spite of himself. "Is your GPS switched on?"

"Yes."

"We can use it to find him…If he didn't ditch it." the hunter muttered, trying to temper expectations.

.

Dean had felt the cabin slip away without him. He tried to hold onto Cas' hands, but as soon as the ceiling cracked and the dark tendrils of smoke leaked in, he felt himself snatched from the cabin.

He stood, shrouded in shadow, peering through the dark haze, finally coming up with the image of a woman. He regarded her carefully, ignoring the howling winds around them, unsure how to react.

He could feel the power coming off of her. The hairs on his arms stood erect, his heart feeling a heavy sense of dread when he looked at her directly. It felt wrong and yet somehow magnetic.

When she slowly pulled her eyes up to meet his, he felt like he had been shot. The shocking electricity rang through him, piercing his chest but leaving no wound. He swallowed, waiting for the pain to dissipate before he dared to breathe again.

"What are you waiting for?" He spread his arms. "Smite me. Get it over with."

The second she took a step forward the deafening howl around them fell silent, smothered by her will. She bridged the gap, stopping just short of touching him. "I will never hurt you, Dean. Just as I know you will never hurt me."

He felt a ringing in his ears from hearing her speak and tasted a copper tang in his mouth. He managed to pull a bit of bravado out in spite of this. "Yeah, why's that?"

She reached a hand up, slipping it under her dress sleeve and swept the black fabric aside. "Because we are bound." She replied, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

The hunter stared at the Mark of Cain branded across her collar bone. "Right." He replied weakly.

"You helped me. I helped you." She continued. "No matter where I am, who I am… we will always help each other." She pressed in further, her eyes never leaving him.

Dean held his ground as she reached her hand up, hovering it just above the side of his face. "You're different than I expected."

His eyes turned black as he shuddered. Even without touch, he felt the side of his face go numb just by the proximity. He felt the heat rising in his body, a feeling similar to the mark. He risked a quick glance down, confirming that the mark was still absent.

"Thank you."

He snapped his gaze back to her. "For what-"

"For releasing me from bondage.

"I'm not usually one to discourage bondage." He managed, though the quip lacked his usual swagger.

She gave a small smile. "We'll meet again, Dean."

The wind picked up, the noise swallowing any hope Dean had for a reply. Just as the pressure threatened to rupture his eardrums it was done.

.

Cas stared at the laptop screen, watching the small rotating loading logo as it tried and failed to pick up the location of the phone.

Across the room, Sam lowered his phone before walking back and sinking down next to him. "Any luck?"

"No." Cas frowned, looking up at the hunter. "It's like he's nowhere."

"Maybe he turned it off."

"It's last location is here. It should have at least shown where he landed." Cas sighed. "Charlie? Kevin?"

Sam scrubbed his hand over his face. "Neither of them are answering their phones."

"Perhaps the darkness is interrupting the signal."

"Yeah, or maybe the spell killed them all." Sam said, unable to keep his mind from turning that thought over again and again.

"Did you try-"

"Crowley? Yeah. Same story." He shook his head. "Cas, I'm really worried."

Both of them jumped when the computer chimed.

"Dean?" Sam leaned forward to look.

"He's about two miles away."

Sam stared at the computer. "Cas-"

"Go." Cas said, catching on immediately.

Sam nodded, standing. "I've got the keys." He said, glancing out the window to the stolen car Charlie left behind when she returned with him after finding the book. He fished into his pocket, digging out and tossing them to Cas.

"I'll call you if I catch up to him."

"Cas… be careful." Sam urged him.

"You too."

.

The snow covered back roads of the small unpopulated lakeside were largely unplowed. Cas took the car as far as possible, but he was forced to abandon it about half a mile from Dean's last known location. He spared it one last look before pushing forward on foot.

Without the wards, his grace kept him from the biting cold even without winter wear. However, as he slid down a small embankment, he wished he had some better footwear that might lend him even a small amount of traction in the frozen landscape. He righted himself and continued onwards.

He tried to prepare himself for what he might find. The stationary GPS did not fill him with confidence. He had come to terms with the probability that this was simply where Dean dropped his phone; That this would be the beginning of another country wide manhunt as it was right after the mark revived him the first time.

When he passed over the last hill and saw the figure face down in the snow, he was shocked.

Cas broke into an awkward run, slipping more times than not, but finally he skidded to a stop next to him. "Dean!" He dropped to his knees, clapping a hand onto the hunter's shoulders.

Dean startled awake, half thrashing before looking up and making eye contact with the angel. He squinted. "Cas?"

"Dean… are you alright?"

Dean groaned, pulling himself to sit upright. "Yeah…" He looked around, confused by the snow. "Where are we?"

Cas furrowed his brows. "A couple miles from the cabin."

"What?"

"Dean… what do you remember?"

Dean stopped, thinking back, the memories slow to trickle in. "She was there."

"Who?"

"The Darkness… she pulled me out of the cabin."

"The Darkness is a woman?"

"She said we were connected." He brought his focus back to the present. "She had the mark of Cain on her shoulder."

Cas paused. "What else did she say?"

"Nothing really. She was weird." Dean struggled to find the words to describe it. "But she had this energy about her, this… this focus. But, yeah, not a talker." He finally looked at Cas. "Where's Sam?"

"He is on his way back to the bunker. Charlie and Kevin haven't returned any of our calls." Cas admitted. "Didn't check in after-" He is cut off as Dean's hand flew out to grip his shoulder and he was pulled to the outside of the bunker with a thought. Cas reeled at the sudden unwarned change in location, and felt a small pang of amused sympathy for every time he did that to Dean before he lost his wings.

"I'm not driving. Too much salt." Dean said, standing and dusting himself off.

"Dean…" Cas pulled the cuffs out of his inner pocket.

Dean set his stare. "Cas, we don't know what's in there. I'm not going in with those, and you're not going in without me."

Cas tightened his grip, feeling the metal dig into his palm. "I don't-"

"Cas, for all we know they're all dead. Or Crowley has them all hostage. Let me help."

The angel closed his eyes for a second before taking a deep breath. He shoved the cuffs back in his pocket and pushed past the demon, pulling out his key for the front door. With one last glance backwards, he pushed it open.

.

The silence when Cas passed through the doorway did nothing to ease his concern. His eyes scanned the map room. The table was laid out with the detritus of whatever spell had ripped the mark off Dean's arm. His eyes rested on the not inconsiderable smear of blood on the wall and floor.

Dean peered over the railing while Cas took a second to pull the door shut behind them. "You stay here, I'll see what's happening."

"No, Dean-" Cas cut himself off as he watched him blink away and reappear in the map room and then jump again to the library. The angel rolled his eyes as Dean disappeared from sight. He imagined he was in and out of every room of the bunker, looking for anyone.

"Son of a Bitch!" Charlie's voice carried from the infirmary accompanied by a metallic clatter.

Cas hurried down the stairs and turned the corner to see Kevin, Charlie and Dean all inside. Charlie was keeping a close eye on Dean, still holding the threaded needle up in one hand, her other arm held awkwardly against her body. Kevin sat on a stool, bleeding from a sizable gash in his head.

He walked in, trying to ease tensions. "Charlie."

She whipped her head back to look at him. "Cas." She said, visibly relaxing somewhat. "We thought you were Sam."

Cas bowed his head in acknowledgement. "Your phones are off."

"That spell shorted them out, big time." She grandly gestured the two phones discarded on one of the counters, scorch marks around the charging port and screen completely cracked.

Cas reached out, placing a hand on Kevin's shoulder and mending the cut on his forehead. He laid his other hand gently on Charlie's good arm, healing the cracked ribs and torn shoulder.

Charlie sucked in a grateful breath. "Thanks."

Kevin nodded, still warily keeping watch on the demon out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah."

Charlie looked up at Dean. "Are you…?"

Dean's eyes flicked black. "Still got it."

"But is the mark gone?"

Dean pushed up his rolled sleeve, showing his bare forearm. "All better, you happy?" He just glared at her. "Of course, you probably lit the fuse on the end of the world so I hope you feel good about that."

Kevin froze. "What?"

Cas sighed. "That is a very long story." He took a step back, closer to Dean. "What happened here?"

Charlie put the needle back down on the table, bending over to pick up the dropped tools. "When the spell went off we got blasted off our feet. We hit the walls hard. We both got knocked out."

Kevin hopped off the stool. "When we woke up, Rowena and Crowley were gone."

"And now we have no freaking clue where they are." Charlie crossed her arms, leaning back against a counter. "Where's Sam?"

Cas moved back another few steps. "Sam is on his way here. We got here faster with Dean's help." He moved with lightning speed and without warning, the cuffs grabbed from his coat pocket and slapped on Dean's wrists in a second.

"Oh fuck you-" Dean sputtered, feeling his powers immediately reigned in under the same sigils that lined the cabin.

Cas continued as if Dean hadn't spoken. "I'll call to update him in a moment."

Kevin looked to Cas. "What did he mean the end of the world?"

Cas dropped his hands to his side. "The mark it turned out was a key, holding back the Darkness. An ancient primal force from before creation."

"From before-"

Dean sank down onto one of the chairs. "Think of her like God's twin." He threw a pointed look at both of them. "She's out now, and she's pissed, and she's probably coming for revenge. When she can't find it, I'm betting she'll just start tearing up the place."

Charlie swallowed, feeling a sense of dread creep over her spine. "How-?"

"Death spoke to Dean." Cas supplied. "He warned against removing the mark. Sam was not convinced in time."

The thick silence that followed was oppressive. Kevin was the one who broke it, with a simple quiet "Oh."

Not knowing what to say, Cas shook his head, straightening up to leave. "I'm Sorry." Cas put a hand on Dean's arm, firm pressure guiding him to stand and follow him out of the room.

"Hey… what are you doing?" The Demon protested as they crossed the map room.

"You will be contained until Sam returns and we can cure you again."

"No, Cas…" Dean threw his shoulder to one side, getting out of his grip and coming to a stop. "That really isn't necessary. I mean, we have the cuffs now."

Cas took his arm again, pushing him forward with a bit more force. "We aren't taking any chances." He tried to ignore the vivid memory of Kevin bleeding out on the library floor.

"Come on, Cas." Dean groaned, but he resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to win that argument.

He remained quiet as Cas led him to room 7b, past the filing cabinets. He allowed Cas to secure him to the chair, only putting up a half hearted struggle just out of a sense of obligation.

Cas retreated outside the devil's trap, pulling out his phone. He dialed Sam's number.

"Did you find him?" Sam asked immediately, without greeting.

"Yes. I have him."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"He is secured. He teleported us to the bunker before I could stop him, we are here now. Kevin and Charlie are alright. Rowena and Crowley are gone; Left while Charlie and Kevin were unconscious."

Sam held his breath for a second before letting a little of the tension out of his shoulders, just glad everyone was alive. "Okay… I'll be there in a few hours."

Cas hesitated. "Sam… Dean spoke with the Darkness. She is… or at least was in the form of a woman."

"Any idea what she wants?"

"No."

Sam closed his eyes for just a second before looking back to the road. "I'll be back in a few hours." He repeated. "We'll talk more then."