AN: This chapter begins on a rewind to what was going on with Cas and Jack, etc, off scene.

Earlier...

Castiel felt the surge of power radiating from his sister as he held her far above the earth. He was thinking. The urge to stay with her until she was gone was quite plainly overpowering his need to flee. But her eyes met his, pleadingly, wet with fear and something else he couldn't quite place. Her hand came up to cup his cheek.

"You have to go, Castiel," she told him. "I can keep myself here. They will be safe."

"I..." the angel hesitated.

"I've spent millennia trying to show mercy to as many as I could. Please...don't let the last thing I do cause you harm."

"Mercy," he said softly. "Your name...it should be Mercy."

She smiled at him, and moments later she curled in on herself. Castiel felt the surge of energy like prickles over his skin, like static shocks all over, like when Dean had been messing around one time, shuffling his feet over the grungy beige carpet in one of the less awful hotel rooms, then shocking him and Sam with his finger. Dean had found it rather amusing, and Castiel had found it interesting. Now, though, it was everywhere and it was overwhelming and his arms let go of her of their own accord.

"Mercy?"

"You have to go!" she yelled. "I can't hold it much longer!"

"I..." Castiel found himself unwilling to move, frozen in that moment, knowing he should leave, but unable to bring himself to do so.

"Castiel!" It was Jacks voice beside him. He turned his head, and there was this flash of light so bright it couldn't only be grace, and within that same moment he found himself enveloped in a different kind of luminescence. He felt Jack's arms around him.

Then everything went dark...

*~.~*

Jack held onto Castiel for dear life, knowing there was no time to simply flee, and so summoned up something inside of himself to dampen the blow. The strength of it had knocked the older angel out cold. The younger watched the explosion before them. It was as magnificent as it was terrible; the sight something like the birth of a new universe, like something he had seen on the computer. He watched in awe of what seemed like the beginning of something amazing, and not the destruction it really was. He watched the light dance and the patterns it created.

The force of it had pushed them away maybe a hundred yards, but Jack's shield held strong. He hadn't even had to think about it. Just watched for the long minutes before the sight before him began folding in on itself until there was no sign of it ever existing. He blinked.

Castiel began to stir, and Jack let go of the need to protect them any longer. The force dropped away and Jack pulled back to look at his protector. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"You saved me," he replied. "How did you know?" Before Jack could reply, Cas's eyes widened as they darted back and forth in the air between them. "Something is wrong," he told him. "We have to go back."

He hadn't given details. He hadn't told the young nephilim that he'd heard Dean Winchester's desperate prayer to him, the terror and devastation thick in his voice as it reached the angel's ears. The heartache that was so strong that he couldn't tell how much of it was Dean and how much his own.

Castiel went back, bringing Jack with him...

*~.~*

"Caaas!" Dean screamed out once more, the strength leaving his body like blood draining from an open wound. He wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop.

And suddenly Sam was sucking in a loud breath. Dean's eyes shot to Sam's face, his hands hovering now as his heart skipped a thousand beats. "Sammy?" He swallowed against the soreness in his dry throat. Sam breathed in again, the sight of it getting Dean to do the same. "Sammy, can you hear me?" he asked, his hands moving to cup his brother's face. He watched Sam's eyes crack open, seeking Dean's face. Suddenly Sam was holding his breath, his body squirming, arching as he grunted out in pain. His breath forced out of him in a roar.

"Sam! Sam, it's okay! It's okay! I'm gonna fix you up and you'll be okay!" He panicked at the agony that had contorted Sam's face as he reached out for Dean.

"De'!" he managed as he gripped onto the front of Dean's shirt.

"I'm here, Sam, you gotta hang on for me, okay?" he instructed as he gripped onto Sam's clinging hand with both of his. Then took one away to dig in his pocket for his phone. He needed help. Fast.

Sam's breaths became panicked and labored and too fast. His eyes widening as Dean helplessly watched. He couldn't get his thumb to dial, and something was happening. Something he wasn't a hundred percent on, but knew...could feel it; an energy emanating from Sam. A small patch of skin on his abdomen began to glow and move up toward Sam's head. Dean dropped his phone to the dirt and put his hand on Sam's chest as if he could will his presence to keep further harm from him.

"S-Sam?" Dean's eyes shot between the light and Sam's eyes, asking something that Sam was no more capable of answering than he was. All they could do was watch.

Somewhere beside him, Dean heard wings. It didn't register completely, though. He was fixated on whatever was happening to his brother. That's when he realized...the skin that the light had already passed over was no longer burned; the damage no longer evident. Whatever this was, it was healing Sam.

"Dean..." he slightly registered Castiel's voice and the question in it. He could feel him there behind him, but he had no words for him right now.

They watched as the light reached Sam's throat and traveled up. Sam began to gag and cough, his body wracked in spasm under Dean's hand until suddenly the light was out of him, floating there above him, illuminating their faces.

"Mercy," Castiel whispered. It was her grace; some small part of it that had stayed behind to save one more human, one last time. Then it dissipated before them. It was gone, and Dean was still trying to catch his breath as he looked back down at Sam's now-healed body.

"Dean," Sam met his eyes. "What the hell just happened?"

*~.~*

The four of them were back at the motel, Jack and Castiel silently worrying about the men currently packing their things. Dean was still shaking. Cas didn't need to see him to know that much. He could hear it in his breaths, thanks to angel-hearing of course. Dean might've been able to fool everyone else, but this time, Castiel was aware. Unfortunately, the awareness didn't come with instructions on what to say. So he looked to Sam. "You're certain you're alright, Sam?"

Sam turned to look at him, rolling up a pair of jeans as he glanced at Dean's profile and back to the angel. "Yeah, I'm completely fine," he said with a soft smile. "I wouldn't recommend being struck by lightning, regardless of recovery time, but yeah..." He didn't miss the way Dean hunched a bit at the words, like he'd just been gut punched or something. "Eh...so maybe you guys can head back to the bunker?" He looked back and forth between Cas and Jack. "We'll get there in a couple days. Or less if Dean's got anything to say about it."

"But we can just bring you back," Jack stated. "Even the car, right, Castiel?"

"I uh..." Sam glanced between Jack and Dean for a moment. "I'm not sure if...uh. Dean?"

"Yeah, okay," he said quickly, throwing the last of his stuff into his duffle. Sam was shocked silent for a moment. Normally Dean would prefer time on the open road to clear his head.

"Good," Jack smiled, and Castiel put a hand on his shoulder and gestured him to the other side of the room. "I would be...worried," he told the angel softly. "So soon after everything." Castiel's unspoken question was answered, and he nodded in approval.

In truth, Dean was glad he wouldn't have to be on the road for the next 27 hours. There was so much going on in the wiring in his brain right now, he wasn't even sure exactly what the hell he was feeling. All he knew was that it was a lot and it was overwhelming, and he could really use a drink right now, and not driving sounded like a splendid idea.

"Hey," Sam pulled him from his thoughts, a hand firm on Dean's shoulder. Dean glanced too quickly at him and away again. "You set?"

"Yeah," he replied quietly, pulling the duffle strap over his sore shoulder and trying not to whimper at how much that had hurt to do. He met Sam's eyes then, firmly placing his mask of "totally fine" on before giving him a small, tired smile. "Yeah, let's get the hell outta here."

*~.~*

"So she's just...gone?" Sam asked Castiel once there were back in the bunker. They were seated in the small dining area off the kitchen, Sam nursing a cup of hot coffee. Dean had had his drink. Just one, in fact, before going to his room to crash. Jack had taken vigil outside of the hunter's closed door, sitting on the floor with the laptop propped on his legs as he read more about Virtues.

"Then there are no more Virtues. What does that mean? I mean...for Heaven or...I guess you?"

"It doesn't mean anything," Castiel replied. "Only that miracles...if there even is such a thing anymore...will have to come from somewhere else. My father will have to create new Virtues if He even cares to."

"And if He doesn't?"

Castiel shrugged. "I don't know, Sam." Sam swallowed, watching the angel's features as he became thoughtful of the night's events.

He realized that Cas had lost another sibling tonight, that it was still difficult for him, even when he'd killed so many, lost so many already. "Hey," Sam reached a hand out and placed it on the angel's that rested there on the table top in front of him. "I'm sorry about Mercy. Really."

"Thank you, Sam," he said, meeting the hunter's eyes. "I'm glad that fate brought us together before the end of her life."

"I guess miracles could still happen after all." His sad smile brought some comfort to the angel. He agreed, though he didn't say so out loud. Miracles indeed. Sam had no idea what had happened in that small window of time; no memory of the lightning hitting him after that first second, talk about small mercies. He hadn't seen the fear in Dean's eyes. He hadn't felt the terror and gut-wrenching heartache Cas had witnessed. He didn't even feel the ache from the nearly thirty minutes of CPR Dean had issued; all of that pain taken away with Mercy's final mercy.

Castiel hadn't even realized how much time had passed until Jack had figured it out. Being in the presence of Mercy's corporeal material as it broke down into itself had somehow altered their flow of time as opposed to anything outside of that small patch of space. Once the material had folded into itself, they were caught back up with time, sending them to Dean and Sam's side a lot later than they'd intended. Too late, perhaps, had Mercy not done what she did.

"I haven't spoken with Dean about what happened, obviously. From what information I was able to piece together, you'd been struck by lightning."

"Yeah uh...heh." Sam pulled his hand from Cas's and dropped it to his knee, the other playing with the side of the coffee mug as he recalled the incident. "After you blasted off, this weird...what I thought was heat lightning started moving slowly. Like...unnaturally. Like it had intelligence, you know? And then it started coming down. I could feel the vibration every strike to the earth it made, and...after that first hit, my ears were ringing so bad, I couldn't hear anything else. I just stood there...like an idiot, watching it hit closer and closer under everything went white and I felt this..." Sam squirmed in his seat uncomfortably at the memory. "It felt like Hell fire," he told him, meeting his eyes again. "It's the only thing close I can describe it to. Exploding hot fire stabbing into my chest...and then it goes dark from there. I only remember opening my eyes and breathing like I'd just been under water way too long, and Dean...he looked scared to death. Pale as..." Sam's eyes trailed to the table top, looking at nothing in particular.

"I saw him, too, Sam," Castiel told him. "I know he had been afraid."

"I must've looked pretty damn bad," he said with a small laugh thrown in with his words, if only to defuse the sudden tension.

*~.~*

Dean lay in bed with his arms draped over his forehead, the only position he could find for them that wasn't too damn painful. It, of course, didn't help that he couldn't seem to unclench his fists. There was no helping it. Trying to relax just wasn't happening. He kept telling himself, "He's fine. Sam is fine. He's healed and he's alive and breathing and he's okay!" Hell, it's not like Sam's never been hurt before. He'd even been dead before, for fuck's sake. Dean had watched him die before; held him while he died. He'd been devastated then, too, and once he had Sam back again, Dean was fine. Maybe a raging alcoholic with thoughts teetering right on the border of suicide right up until he got him back, but Chuck help him, he knew Sam was okay now and he still couldn't shake off the million wasps that seemed to be swarming under every inch of his skin.

He ached everywhere from his inability to convince his body to chill the hell out. His stomach most of all. His chest. Stupid aching in his chest that wanted to force the dam down. He wasn't gonna cry, though. Hell, he couldn't handle that on top of it all. Wasn't a point in it either, for fuck's sake. EVERYTHING WAS FINE!

So then why the hell was it moving up from his chest now, higher and higher like he'd vomit, but out of his eyes? He grit his teeth, then, squeezing his eyes shut with an angry grunt, forcing it back down again.
Sleep. He just needed to sleep it off, that was all...

*~.~*

Cas and Sam had eventually moved into the library to catalog the Virtue and its misinterpretation as the mythological Mothman. They'd been quietly working together, only speaking when Sam needed more detailed information about the last angel of her kind. Now and then, Jack would poke around the kitchen, then head back to his place beside Dean's door. This time, he was only gone for a few minutes before hurrying into the library.

"Um..." His hesitation caused to others to look up at him. "He's calling for you," he told Cas. "I think he's hurt. I didn't try to go in, but..." He didn't need to continue, as Dean's voice could now be heard calling out for the angel. He sounded as broken and terrified as he had at the mountain.

They shot up from the table and started toward his room. "Was he hurt too?" Sam asked, scared for the way his brother sounded right now. "Back at the mountain?"

"I don't know," Cas replied as they reached the door. He pushed it open and immediately went to Dean's side. "Dean?" The angel knelt down beside the bed trying to see the hunter's face where he lay curled up on his side. "Are you in pain?"

"S'mmy...gotta help him, Cas...please come back..." He was asleep. He was dreaming. "Sammy," he cried brokenly, and something in Sam's chest burst and he was kneeling on the mattress within a moment.

"Dean, I'm here," he told him, grabbing hold of Dean's arms to move him to his back. Dean yelled out in pain and Sam quickly withdrew his hands. "Dean, wake up!"

"I ca...I can't, Cas, please..."

Dean's dream...

It wasn't much different from before. Dean was doing compressions, feeling the burnt flesh slide sickly under his palms as he tried to revive his brother. Only this time, the pain in his arms was paralyzing. Dean didn't care about the pain. He'd keep going even if they were broken and bloody. But they simply wouldn't work now; he couldn't make them work, and he was panicking, watching as he knew his brother was dying in front of him...technically already had. His only hope was either destroyed and gone, or maybe—with their recent luck—sucked into an alternate universe in some twisted accident with Jack trying to save him. That was the only reason he wouldn't be here, right? Cas wouldn't let Sam die.

It was getting harder to see, everything blanketed in ever darkening nothingness, and with it, the air was impossible to breathe in. Dean couldn't see Sam anymore, it was so dark. He couldn't breathe, but he held his arms out to try and hold onto his brother. "S-Sam...where..."

"Dean, you gotta wake up." That was Sam. Sam's voice. "Dean, please, c'mon!"

"Sam?" Dean opened his eyes. He hadn't even known they were closed but now suddenly Sam is there, hovering, and Cas is next to the bed looking awfully concerned or...or constipated, Dean wasn't sure. Really he was just damned well struggling to get his breath, and there was too much happening...

"Dean, are you with me, man?" Sam asked.

"Get—get off me," he replied as he tried to move to sit up. Maybe sitting up would mean he could breathe. "Ahh! Sonofa..." His arms felt worse than before as he swung his legs off the side of the bed.

"You're injured," Cas said, reaching out and touching Dean's forehead.

"Okay," Dean said with an exhale. He really was relieved, but Cas just healed him and he still couldn't breathe and he didn't know what that was about. "Okay, thanks... Can you...just...back off." Cas seemed confused, but complied and stood, taking a few steps away from the space in front of Dean. Dean grabbed for the whiskey from the nightstand and shakily poured it into the mostly clean glass beside it.

Sam moved to sit beside him, gesturing to Cas to give them a minute. Cas was used to Sam's gestures now, and he silently walked toward the door, gently guiding Jack to follow. Once the door was closed, Sam returned his attention to his brother. "You gotta talk to me," he said as he watched Dean down the golden liquid. "What happened at the mountain, Dean? What's got you so messed up right now?"

"Just leave it alone."

"Hell no! Dude, I've never seen you like this. If something happened-"

"You died, Sam! Okay?" Dean shouted. Sam swallowed. He knew he'd been hurt, and his heart had stopped. He knew he'd technically died, but he didn't know much beyond that. "You were freaking dead, and yeah I guess I haven't quite reached the point where that really screwed up part of our lives where dying is pretty normal...is something I can handle well."

"But...I'm okay. I'm right here," Sam assured him.

"I know that," Dean sighed, running his hands down his face as his breath finally seemed under control. "I don't know what's goin' on with me, Sam," he continued. "I guess it was just...I dunno, man, it was different."

"What happened?" Sam asked once more, his tone calm for Dean's sake.

"The lightning hit you," Dean started. "I just stood there, frozen." He shook his head at the memory. "It was like the lightning was alive and it wanted to get real familiar with your top half." His attempt at humor didn't even work on himself. "When I got to you, you were already gone." His voice cracked on the last word, and him stopped talking for a moment just to get himself under control. "Dude, your chest was so messed up, I thought I wasn't gonna be able to do CPR. You know, for a second before I realized getting your heart to beat was a lot more crucial than worrying how many stitches you were gonna need."

"Turns out I didn't need any at all," Sam chimed in, the corner of his mouth turned up the slightest bit.

"Yeah." Dean poured more whiskey, this time drinking it a bit slower before placing it back on the nightstand.

The silence drew out long enough for Sam to think that Dean wasn't going to talk anymore.

"I'm okay, Dean. You do know that, right?" he asked, if only to break the silence.

"I tried to get your ticker tickin', Sam," Dean spoke again, pushing up off the bed to pace nervously. "I really did, and man...it felt like hours." Suddenly Sam realized why his arms had hurt so bad before. "Cas was awol. Didn't know if he'd even made it outta the blast. All I knew is with everything I was doin', it wasn't working, and if I stopped, it was over." Sam could sense the struggle this was becoming for Dean. "I thought I'd lost Cas again, and then I was gonna lose you too, and there was just-" his voice cracked, and Sam couldn't just sit there any longer.

He pushed up from the bed and drew Dean into an embrace before the older brother could protest. Truth be told, Dean was glad he did, because he'd only ever wanted to do this since Sam had started breathing again on that mountain.

"I know," Sam told him as he felt Dean shake in his arms. "I know."

And ain't it fucked up how goddamned true that really was.

~fin~

AN: That's all, folks. Here's hoping I'll get another random idea.

PS: The actual random thought that started this story, believe it or not, was Dean's arm falling asleep. Do with that what you will. lol