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When Castiel falls to earth, graceless, his wings remain attached. He watches as his brothers and sisters fall their wings burning and he cries. His wings ache and he looks down to see a couple feathers falling. This is his punishment, he thinks, picking up the feathers. He walks a couple of feet, his wings aching the entire time. He wonders if they will hurt until there is nothing left to them.
“Cas!” he hears Dean call and Cas looks up, shocked to see how far he has walked. Behind him is a trail of feathers. He clutches a handful to him walking over to Dean. “Cas, why didn’t you listen to Naomi?” Dean asks softly. It’s weird that he doesn’t seem angry.
Cas looks up, tears in his eyes and shakes his head. “Metatron...he...Dean he took my grace. It was the last....It was a spell and I was the last piece,” he mumbles collapsing to the ground as he begins to sob violently.
“Shit,” he hears Dean mutter and then suddenly Dean’s arms are wrapped tight around him, and Dean is slowly rocking him. “Shh Cas, it will be okay. We’ll fix it, shhh,” Dean murmurs attempting to soothe Cas. “We’ll fix it, shhh,” Dean mumbles, running his hand along Cas’ back. Cas lets out another sob as Dean hits his wings.
“D-Dean,” he chokes out, pressing closer to the man. “Dean...my wings....” he holds out the handful of feathers to Dean. “My w-wings,” he says again looking down, he’s sitting in a pile of feathers. “T-They...” he lets out a long shout as he feels the last feather fall, and his wings are gone. “They’re gone,” he says, sobbing harder now. He wishes they had burnt like everyone elses, that would have been less painful. Dean tightens his hold on Castiel, kissing the top of Cas’ head.
“Shhh, it’s okay Cas, shhh,” Dean mumbles, rubbing Cas’ back. “I’ll get you your wings back, I promise,” Dean says, kissing Cas’ forehead. It’s a steep promise for Dean to make, one Cas is sure Dean won’t be able to keep, but for now it calms him down enough for Dean to get him into the impala. Cas falls asleep on the drive to the bunker, too exhausted to stay awake any longer. When he awakes Dean is sitting in the car with him, humming under his breath.
“Dean?” he asks, his voice rough with sleep. Dean jumps slightly before turning to smile at Cas.
“You’re awake, sleeping beauty,” he jokes with a soft smile. “Come on, you’re probably still tired,” Dean says getting out of the car. He goes to Cas’ side, helps him out of the car, into the bunker and straight into Dean’s room. He settles Cas on the bed, standing back and fidgeting. Cas frowns. “Stay...um just stay right there, I’ll be back,” Dean says, dashing out of the room. Cas tilts his head watching Dean go before shrugging and laying down on Dean’s bed. He’s nearly asleep again when Dean comes back holding a small paint brush and a bowl.
“Dean?” Cas asks, sitting up.
Dean smiles softly. “Take off your shirt, and lay on your stomach,” Dean tells him. Cas is confused, but does as Dean tells him, getting comfortable on the bed. He feels Dean settle himself on the side of the bed. After a moment, he feels a slight pressure on his back.
“Dean?” he asks again, trying to look at what Dean is doing. Dean shushes Cas with a kiss to his spine. Realizing Dean isn’t going to answer him Cas closes his eyes, letting the short strokes of the paintbrush soothe him.
“There,” Dean murmurs, waking Cas up from the light sleep he had fallen into. Dean gets up from the bed, grabbing a mirror. “See Cas? I gave you back your wings,” Dean mumbles, looking down. Cas looks at his back in the mirrors, gasping. The wings Dean has painted onto his back are gorgeous.
“Dean....” his voice wavers as he starts to cry again, before he turns quickly, dropping the mirror and throwing his arms around Dean and kissing him hard. “Thank you, Dean, thank you,” he mumbles in between kisses.
Dean smiles into the kiss, holding him close, careful to not mess up the wings. “I told you I would get them back,” he says softly, kissing Cas again. Cas presses closer to Dean, smiling for the first time all night. His wings were back, and perhaps Cas thinks, leaning into Dean’s kisses, these wings were even better than the ones he had lost.