Eden had been sat in bed, hugging her knees for two days, staring wide-eyed at the wall opposite, barely ever even blinking. Every drop of blood she'd consumed had been from a straw fed to her by either Sam, Jack or Willow.
"I don't know what else to do..." Sam sighed, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed, his brows knitted together in a state of deep concern.
"We've just got to wait until she's ready." Cas reassured him. "It will happen, eventually."
"She hasn't said a word. She hasn't slept, barely fed. What if this was too much? I mean, she was so vulnerable when Lucifer unlocked her darkness. But now? With all this added trauma? Everything she did? What if it's truly broken her, Cas?" The younger brother glanced to the Angel.
"We're not gunna let that happen. We're going to do what we always do and act like a family - get her through this just like she's always done for us." Dean approached the pair with a brown paper bag tucked under his arm, looking into the room at the catatonic Archangel of Darkness.
Sam walked in, sitting next to Eden on the bed. He went to pull her into him, but she flinched at his touch.
He glanced to the two men in the doorway, who simply watched.
"Eden, I can't imagine what must be going on in your head right now, but I really need you to talk to us - talk to me. Please... Just say something." He whispered.
A few seconds of nothing led to her slowly shaking her head, her gaze still fixed on the adjacent wall until she placed her hands either side of the bed and curled up into a ball, facing away from him.
"Did you get the thing I asked for?" Sam asked his brother.
Dean nodded, taking the brown paper bag from under his arm, reaching into it to reveal a box of burgundy hair dye.
"Showed the chick at the store a picture and she said it would match almost perfectly. She made me get two and some fancy ass conditioner - said it was because of the length of her hair, but I don't know crap about hair so maybe she was just trying to get me to spend more." He replied.
"Eden changed it with her magic, so I don't see why she shouldn't be able to change it back the same." Cas frowned.
"I had an idea, that's all. Maybe if we do something together, like dye it back, get her back to her original self in a mundane way, it might help more than her just using her magic. A little more intimate, you know?" Sam told him.
Dean nodded, giving a small mouth shrug.
"That doesn't sound like a bad plan."
Sam looked back to Eden, trying again to place a hand on her upper arm. She flinched again, but he didn't pull away, just rested it there to see what she would do.
"I can't..." A small, breathy whisper left her lips.
The younger Winchester's face darted to his brother and Castiel, who's brows raised slightly.
"Can't what, Baby?" Sam asked gently.
"I'm so sorry..." The small voice came again.
"This wasn't your fault, Vampy Pants. This was Lucifer. He did this to you." Dean spoke up.
"But, I..." Eden trailed off, her eyes welling with tears. "All those people..."
"It wasn't your fault, Baby... You're back now. Let us help you." Sam soothed, running his hand up and down her arm softly.
"I'll get the kid. Maybe he'll help." Dean said, wandering off down the hall towards Jack's room.

Dean knocked on Jack's door, seeing it partially open.
"Come in." The boy called, his voice slightly monotone.
The Winchester pushed the door open, finding the Nephilim sat on his bed cross-legged, looking deep in thought.
"Hey, Kid. Eden's a little more aware; she's talking, at least. I was wondering if you could talk to her, see if you can help her out."
Jack gave Dean a thousand mile stare, turning his whole head to do so.
"Haven't I done enough?" He asked.
"What are you talking about?" Dean frowned, stepping into the room. "Jack, you saved her. I know it cost you, but now you can do some good without draining your soul."
"You really think it'll help?"
"I know it will. You got her back. Your bond or whatever helped more than we know. Now it can do it again." The Winchester nodded.
Jack turned away, looking straight ahead of him as he thought it over.
"Okay." He eventually said, getting off his bed.

After escorting the boy to Sam and Eden's room, Dean left with Castiel and Sam went to check on Willow.
The boy sat where Sam had been previously, trying to find the right words to help her.
He held up an open hand.
"Hello." He said. "I was wondering if I could sit with you. Maybe we could talk."
Eden didn't say anything, only sat up a little on the bed, staring off into space.
"I think I know how you feel." The boy continued."I know how awful I felt after I hurt that guard and those other people. But, it's okay. You weren't in your right mind. I know you tried to warn me about what Lucifer was like and I didn't listen, I wanted to find out for myself. I wanted to have a father. But, now I realise that I have three of the best fathers I could ask for. And the best mother figure and sister, too."
"That's the thing, though." Eden uttered, finally looking at him with bloodshot, swollen eyes. "I was in more of my right mind than I ever had been in my whole life, Jack. That was the darkness we'd been wondering about all this time - the secret I'd been keeping even from myself. I killed all those people because I was in my right mind... You should... You should stay away from me. You all should. I'm not safe."
"Do you want to hurt any of us?" Jack frowned.
"Of course not..." Eden sighed. "But if my darkness comes out again, I might. And I can't live with that. I couldn't live with myself knowing I'd hurt you or Sam or Dean, Pigeon or Willow. I'd rather die than go back to being that... That monster."
"Don't call yourself that. I know how much you hate that word." The boy told her.
"I'm serious. That's how much I mean it. That's exactly what I was." She snapped. "Living, knowing that I hurt one of you boys or Willow, that would be the worst kind of torture there is."
"I hate seeing you like this..." Jack whispered after a few moments of silence. "You're supposed to be the strongest one of us all."
Eden simply nodded, resting her chin on her curled up knees.
"Even the strongest people break sometimes." She replied. "My turn was well overdue."

Just over a week later, Eden was somewhat functioning outside of the bedroom.
"Hey! Vampy Pants, there she is! How you doing?" Dean gave a bright smile as he slung his khaki duffel bag over his shoulder.
"I'm fine..." Eden sceptically narrowed her eyes. "How are you?"
"I'm good. Yeah, I'm fantastic." He nodded, approaching her. "Hey, so I'm gunna goout for a bit, see mom or something. You guys gunna be okay without me?"
"I don't see why not." Eden shrugged, giving an 'oh' as he pulled her in for a tight hug, the banging from a caged Michael ringing from his head into hers. "What's the occasion?"
"What? Not allowed to hug my future sister-in-law or something?" Dean scoffed, pulling away from her.
"No, it's just... We rarely hug. Thought there might be something wrong." Eden's gaze remained slightly on edge as she watched his shifty movements carefully.
"Na, everything's cool. I'll see you soon." Dean nodded, making his exit before she could dig any deeper.

Eden heard Sam in the Bunker archives on the phone with Mary, who had been staying with Bobby in Donna's cabin in Minnesota.
"Everything okay?" She asked as he hung up, sticking the tube of a blood bag into her mouth.
"Uh, yeah. I think so. Dean's gone to see mom. Wanted to go alone. He's been acting a little strange lately, even hugged me on his way out." Sam frowned, looking to an empty section of bookshelf in front of him.
"He hugged you?" Eden narrowed her eyes. "And the world isn't ending? It's weird... He hugged me too before I went to get this." She motioned to the blood bag. "Weird... Maybe he's making the most of everything with Michael and all..."
"Yeah, that was pretty much my thoughts. How are you doing?" He finally looked at her, walking towards her.
"I'm fine." She shrugged, earning a raised eyebrow. "I am! I'm... Doing better is what I mean. Now, why is there shelf space over there?"
She pointed to the place Sam had previously been looking, drawing his attention away from her.
"I'm not sure. Not sure I can even remember what was there." He replied.
"I'll go get the inventory." Eden sighed, turning to head to the library.
"Ah, ah, ah." Sam called out, jogging over and grabbing her hand. "You're not doing anything. You're going to go to Jack's room to relax with him and Willow. I think Willow mentioned something about a Vampire movie marathon or something - she's trying to get Jack up to date on his pop culture knowledge one genre at a time." He gave a small smile.
"Sam, I'm not just going to sit around watching bloody Twilight while your brother's taking spontaneous trips to see family and giving out hugs. Something's wrong and I want to help. It'll take my mind off things. So, please. Let me help." She looked up at him through her lashes, knowing he couldn't say 'no' when she did that.
He gave a heavy sigh, finally nodding.
"Alright..." He wrapped his arm over her shoulders and led her out of the room, closing the door behind him.

With no luck on what the missing book was, the pair started to search the Bunker for other things.
"It didn't look much like clothes in his duffel bag. Seemed a little clunky." Eden commented, rummaging around in the garage. "And there's a couple of tools missing from here."
"The Hell's he up to?"Sam frowned.
"Not sure... Maybe you should call your mum." She replied, turning to face him as he nodded and pulled his phone out ofthe back pocket of his jeans.
"We can do it on the road."
"You're letting me come too?" Eden cocked a brow.
"Unless you don't feel up to it..."
Eden shook her head.
"No, no. I'm good. We'll take my car. You can drive."
Sam nodded, grabbing the Camaro's keys from the hook by the garage door.

"Hey, Sam. What's up?" Mary answered the phone twenty minutes into the journey.
"Listen, mom, I think I should come up. There's some stuff missing from the Bunker and-"
"Sam, I don't know what's going on, but... Something is going on. Just give me some time. Let me talk to him, okay?" She replied.
"Okay, yeah... Um, yeah. Alright, mom."
Sam hung up the phone, looking to Eden, who retained a sceptical gaze.
"So... She's picked up on it too."
"Seems like it. It's bugging the hell outta me that I can't figure out what he's doing." The Winchester huffed.
"You think it's Michael? I can hear the banging in his head probably almost as loud as he can. Though... If he's found a solution, I don't see why he wouldn't share it with at least you." Eden narrowed her eyes, looking out at the pitch black road ahead.
"The only reason I can think of that he wouldn't tell us was if it was self-destructive, which is only worrying me more. This whole hugging thing, plus the spontaneous field trip seems like a goodbye, don't you think?" Sam glanced between her and the road as Eden nodded her agreement.

Everything at the cabin seemed suspiciously quiet when they got there.
They saw Dean running out of the house, pulling his gun out. He must've heard their footsteps, because he turned around, aiming at Sam.
"Hey! Woah! Easy!" Sam shouted, holding up his hands. "Dean, what's going on here?"
"It's mom. She's gone." Dean replied, lowering his gun. "I just got a call from Donna, she said Nick was here looking for her."
"Who the Hell's Nick?" Eden frowned.
"Lucifer's vessel. He somehow survived Lucifer's death and he's been on a friggin' murder spree ever since." The older brother explained.
"Excuse me?" Eden's brows raised. "Why is he going after Mary?"
"How the hell should I know? Dude's lost his freakin' mind." He scoffed.
"Wouldn't you after being a vessel to one of the most psychotic morons in the history of the universe for that long?" The Dark Angel countered.
"Alright, enough. We need to find her. Fast." Sam huffed, heading inside the cabin.

Nearly an hour later, Donna arrived, pulling up outside the cabin with a skid against the gravel and a screech of the brakes from her Sheriff's patrol car.
"Eden! You're back!" She gasped at the sight of the Dark Angel.
"Near enough." She replied, pulling the woman into a hug.
"I like the look. Silver hair suits ya." The Sheriff grinned, holding her at arm's length.
"It's not staying, believe me."
"Well, I can't wait to see you back to your old self once and for all." Donna nodded affirmingly, turning to the boys. "I got this 'Nick's' tags, I put my guys on it. They're running 'em." She told them. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Donna." Dean replied, throwing on his jacket.
"It's mine." Sam uttered. "Nick said when he left he was just gunna go home. I didn't know he was..."
"Killing people?" Dean finished for him, clearly angered.
"Sheriff?" A man's voice sounded through Donna's radio.
"Yeah. Go for Hanscum." She replied into it.
"We got that van you were looking for. A traffic cam just caught it pulling into a storage facility outside Grand Rapids." The man said.
She looked between the brothers and Eden, wide eyed.
"Copy that, I got it from here."
"How far is Grand Rapids?" Dean asked, already heading towards the door.
"Thirty, forty minutes." The Sheriff replied.
"We'll be there in twenty." The older brother called over his shoulder.
"Or we could be there now if you stop for a second and remember what I am..." Eden cocked a brow.
Dean stopped in his tracks, giving a frustrated huff as he turned back.
"And you didn't suggest that as soon as you found out mom was missing, why?"
"Give her a break, man. You know how much she's been through." Sam protested.
"She can speak for herself, thank you." Eden scoffed. "But he's right. My intuition isn't exactly up to scratch right now. Look, we've wasted enough time and who knows what Nick's doing with your mother. So, let's go."
She touched Sam and Dean's shoulders, making them disappear before she grabbed Donna and did the same.

They found themselves outside of a storage locker, it's padlock busted open.
The four ran in, the Humans' guns at the ready.
Inside, the security guard for the storage facility sat in the centre of a Devil's trap, tied to a chair. Nick had Mary pinned to a fence with her wrists bound in front of her.
"Nick, stop!" She cried out, shielding herself with her tied hands.
Sam fired a warning shot.
"Get away from her!" He ordered, pointing his gun at a slowly retreating Nick, who clutched his right ear. "Stay back."
Dean ran to his mother's aid as Eden approached the guard with a frown on her face.
"Abraxas." She stated.
"The Hell are you?" The possessed guard spat.
"Eden. Archangel of Darkness, Queen of Hell; your boss." She replied. "I've heard whispers in the halls about your disappearance. Who's doing was that?"
"Ask the blonde bitch." The Demon nodded.
Eden looked to Mary, cradled in her oldest son's arms.
"You did that?"
"Enochian puzzle box. Trapped him just after he killed Nick's family and a whole bunch of campers." She replied.
"Nice." Eden nodded her approval, spying a small box covered in Angelic symbols with a whole drilled through the top.
"Is she alright?" Sam asked his brother.
"She's good."
"What's wrong with you? What are you doing?" The younger brother re-addressed Nick.
"What I have to." The man uttered.
Sam's gaze faltered, worried for his mother. Nick seized the opportunity and grabbed an Angel Blade from a cluttered table next to him, reaching down and scratching a line through the Devil's trap before anyone could do anything.
"Showtime." Abraxas smirked, ripping his arms free of their bonds.
He stood up and raised his arms, making the Humans float into the air before he brought them back down again, their bodies making hard contact with the concrete floor below.
"Nope." Eden shook her head, reaching up to the Demon's forehead.
"Ah! Ah, ah, wait asecond. I probably shouldn't have done that; I'll give you that one. I was pushing my luck with my new found freedom." The Demon held up a finger, turning to Nick. "You want to know why I gutted your family? Orders. I was following orders."
"From who?" Nick panted, scrambling to his feet.
"Who do you think?" Abraxas retorted. "Lucifer planned the whole thing."
"I don't- I don't understand..." The former vessel shook his head, his eyes welling up. "Why my family? Why- why me?"
"No particular reason. You were chosen, but you're not special. We threw a dart at the phone book." The Demon shrugged.
Dean began to mumble an exorcism as he slowly rose to his feet, grabbing Abraxas' attention.
"Naughty." He sneered, shoving his hand up in the Winchester's direction, forcing him flying into a shelf behind him.
"Enough." Eden growled, grabbing him by the sides of his head.
His eyes went wide and his mouth was agape as black smoke poured from them. Eden opened her mouth, allowing herself to consume the Demon.
From behind, Nick lunged at them, plunging his Angel Blade through the security guard's back. It knocked Eden out of her feast. She released the man, watching his body fall to the floor.
"What have you done?" She breathed, staggering backwards with huge eyes.
"I ended him." Nick growled.
"I was killing the Demon for you. Without killing the guard! He didn't need to die!" Her back collided with the wall behind her.
"Nick, take it easy." Sam told him as the man began to back away like a terrified dog.
Mary went for him and he swiped with his Angel Blade.
A gunshot sounded, making Eden flinch, watching as the bullet went through Nick's calf and he fell to the floor.
Donna stood up with her gun in hand.
Mary took the opportunity to move over to Nick, punching him in the face before he could get up.
"Everybody peachy?" Donna asked.
Breathy, panted 'yes' and 'yeah's filtered through the room from each of the Winchesters. When nothing came from Eden, Sam looked to her, walking over to crouch down in front of her.
"Eden? Are you okay?"
"I was handling it... He didn't need to die." She whispered, still staring, wide-eyed at the security guard's body.
"I know. I know he didn't." Sam pulled her into his chest, stroking her hair as he looked up at everyone else.

Outside, Donna led a handcuffed Nick to his light blue panel van, planning to take him and it to the station.
"Donna, hold up." Sam called, looking to Dean as he silently asked to take Eden from him. Dean nodded, replacing Sam's arm around her shoulders. The youngest Winchester approached Nick, giving him a grave look. "Why?"
"I needed the truth, Sam." Nick shook his head. "I needed revenge for my family. You would've done the same thing."
"Eden had it handled. She was protecting you from having more blood on your hands." Sam huffed, running a stressed hand through his hair as he glanced back at his fiancée in the protective arms of his older brother. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I'm sorry I didn't know how."
"It's not about you, Sam." The man shook his head once more, narrowing his eyes at the Hunter. "It's never about you. You couldn't fix me because I don't want to be fixed. I was never broken."
"Yeah, Nick, you are." Sam countered, his voice soft. "I don't feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for the people you hurt, the people you murdered, the people whose faces will haunt you every night for the rest of your life... You can burn."
Donna stepped in, shoving Nick into the back of the van, cuffing him to a handrail by thedoor.
"I saw, Dean." Mary sighed, watching Donna pull out of the facility. "Donna's shed. I know what you've been building, planning. And we are gunna talk about that. We are all four of us gunna talk about that. So if you don't tell Eden and Sam... I will."
"Tell us what?" Eden whispered, her gaze fixed on the floor a few feet behind Mary.
Dean gave a heavy exhale as Sam approached them.
"Get us back to the cabin and I'll show you."

In the shed was what appeared to be a large metal coffin.
"It's a Ma'lak box." The older brother explained, closing the lid. "Secured and warded. Once inside, nothing gets out, not even an Archangel - especially an Archangel."
"Yeah, I've read about these, but no one's ever done it, they're impossible to build." Sam stammered, his grip around Eden's shoulders tightening slightly.
"Yeah, well, not so much." Dean replied.
"That's your plan?" The younger brother narrowed his eyes, lazily pointing to the box with his free hand. "You wanna be buried alive?"
"Buried's not safe enough." Dean shook his head. "Plan is, pay a little hush money, charter a boat to take me out to the Pacific... Splash. Obviously it'd be easier and quicker if Eden just zapped me there, but I figured she wouldn't be up for that, what with... Everything."
"You and Michael, trapped together - for eternity?" Sam clarified.
"Yeah."
"You do realise how insane this is, right?"
"It's the only sane play I've got." Dean replied. "Michael gets out, that's it for this world. And he will get out."
"Well, how do you know that for sure?" Sam frowned.
"You can't hear it..." Eden uttered. "The banging..."
"I can feel him in my head, man." Dean raised his voice, approaching the pair. "That door is giving. I can feel it giving."
"But there has to be another way." The younger Winchester protested.
"There's not, okay? There's-" The older huffed. "Sam, you've tried. Cas has tried. Jack... And I love you for trying. But none of its gunna work."
"We don't know that!"
"Yeah, we do."
"I haven't tried..." Eden thought aloud. "You let Michael out to play; I stab you somewhere non-lethal with my Archangel Blade, just like Michael did with Lucifer. He's dead and I heal you up. Boom. One dusted Michael."
"Yeah? And what if he escapes you again? You had that opportunity before I let him in and you failed. I'm sorry, Eden, but you did. I can't risk it happening again. This is the whole world at stake. Billie confirmed it."
"What?" Sam narrowed his eyes.
"She paid me a little visit. She said that there's only one way that this ends right." Dean began to pace around the Ma'lak box, rubbing his hands together in nervous anticipation before balling one into a fist and making contact with the coffin. "And this is it. This, right here, this box. So, she gave up the special recipe and all I had to do was the work. It's fate."
"Screw fate." Eden hissed.
"Since when do we believe in fate?" Sam looked around, anywhere but at his brother.
"Now, Sam. Since now."
The younger brother let out a sharp exhale, fighting back his emotions.
"So... You came out here to see Donna, to see mom on some- some what? Some sick, secret farewell tour? You were gunna leave and you weren't even gunna tell me. Me. Do you realise how messed up that is? How unfair that is?"
"I didn't have a choice!" Dean shouted. "Sam, you're the last person I could tell, the last person I could be around, 'cause you're the only one that could've talked me out of it! And I won't be talked out of it. I won't. I'm doing this. Now, you can either let me do it alone... Or you could help me. But I'm doing this."
Sam looked frantically around the room, subconsciously pulling Eden closer to him to the point she had to wrap both arms around his waist to steady them.
"Alright." He eventually uttered.
"Alright?" She looked up at him with wide-eyes. "When have we ever just seen a problem and just gone 'alright, let's go with this plan because it's the easiest'?"
"Well, if you can come up with a better idea within the next couple days, I'm all ears. But we're not doing your Archangel Blade plan. There's too many ways it could go wrong." Dean retorted, making his exit.
"I really don't see another way out of this." Sam sighed. "I'm begging you to find another solution... But, until you find one, I'm helping him with this."
"I'd best get busy, then."
With that, Eden disappeared.