Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter One Hundred and Five - Wilted Wings

Castiel didn't arrive until the next morning.
He burst through the Bunker door, instantly seeing Dean lounging on a seat at the map table with a glass in his lap and a half empty bottle of whiskey.
"Where?" The Angel asked, jogging down the stairs.
"Room next to Sam's." Dean uttered.
Cas nodded, walking towards the bedrooms.
As soon as he saw her, a hushed gasp left his lips.
Her pale skin had greyed, her eyes had sunken in, her wings were beginning to wilt, her hair looked thinner and dulled - less full of life.
She looked... Dead. There was no other word for it. He was expecting her to look asleep or for the whole thing to be some sort of cruel joke. But it wasn't.
Sam was still in his spot next to her with her hand in his.
He never even bothered to look up at the Angel as he entered the room.
"Can you heal her?" Sam asked, his voice quiet and gravelly from crying.
"Sam..." Castiel sighed. "It won't do any good, she's already gone."
"Please, Cas. Please. I can't lose her. Please try." The Winchester begged as fresh tears burned his already bloodshot eyes.
Cas sighed again, nodding his head.
He moved round to the opposite side of the bed to Sam and leaned down, touching Eden's forehead as the Winchester raised his head to watch.
The miniscule sliver of hope they'd had that it would work shattered as nothing happened.
Cas straightened back up, gazing down at Sam with pained eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Sam." He uttered.
"No." Sam sniffed, placing his head back down on her wing. "She'll come back when she's ready. She'll heal herself. She has to."

Castiel walked back out to the War room, where Dean was pouring himself another drink. The liquid level in the bottle suggested that this was not the first he'd poured since the Angel arrived.
"He's in denial." Cas stated, taking a seat next to the older brother.
"Yeah, he's not the only one." Dean sighed, downing his drink in one. "I just can't believe she's gone, Cas... She's been around for millions of years and this is how she goes out? A little Archangel juice, a bite and a broken freakin' neck? It's stupid. It's pathetic. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to outlive all of us. No, we were supposed to be a family. All of us, together with a few of their kids causing mayhem around the place. Not this. Not to Sam. Not again."
"I wish there was something I could do to fix all of this." Castiel mumbled. "I've never felt so useless."
"I would've thought Amara felt something. But, where the Hell is she? Why isn't she bringing her back?" Dean huffed.
He threw his empty glass, smashing it on the archway to the library before removing the cork from the whiskey bottle, taking a big, burning mouthful.
"I don't think excessive drinking will make this go away." Cas commented.
"No, but it'll make me forget for a few hours." Dean retorted, taking another gulp.

Dean had eventually passed out, quietly snoring and drooling on the map table. Castiel busied himself by cleaning up the smashed glass and generally tidying the place up a bit before going to check on Sam.
Now on hour sixteen since they got back, Sam was still exactly where he had been this whole time.
"You should really get some sleep." Cas told him.
"I'm not tired." Sam replied.
"You look exhausted, Sam. Just go. I'll watch over her."
The Winchester lifted his head, finally realising that his eyelids were struggling to stay open.
"You won't leave her?" He mumbled.
"No. Go on, get some sleep." Castiel told him.
Sam struggled to stand up, having his knees bent into the same position for so long had made them stiff. Castiel walked over, helping him to his room.
"Promise me you'll come and get me if she wakes up." Sam whispered as they went next door.
"I promise. You'll be the first to know." Cas nodded.
Once Sam was in bed, Castiel went back to the laundry room, grabbing a bed sheet. He took it to the room Eden was in and draped it over her, making sure to keep her face uncovered so that Sam wouldn't be too distressed when he woke up. Cas knew he had to snap out of this denial phase at some point, and he was most likely going to have to be the one to do it, if not Dean. But for now, he'd let Sam have his peace in the thought that his love would return to him.