"I can feel it." Castiel touched his forehead. "There are... a lot of doors in here, and a lot of rooms behind them, but they're all locked. Sometimes I see images in my dreams... a man in a trench coat." He looked at Dean. "And another man, very tall, who frowns a lot." He looked at Sam. "And... wings. White wings, but broken."
A flicker of pain crossed his face.
"Every time I try to see more clearly, my head hurts, like needles are stabbing into it."
Dean walked over and crouched in front of him, meeting his eyes. "If I told you those weren't dreams, but your real past, would you be willing to get it back? Even if it might be painful."
Emmanuel remained silent for a long time.
He looked at Dean, then Sam, and finally turned his gaze back to Wu Heng.
"That man in the trench coat." He pointed at his own head. "When he came looking for me, he showed me a photograph. In it, he and I, along with someone else, were standing beside a black car. We were all smiling. I couldn't remember it when I looked at the photo, but inside... it felt warm."
He paused.
"If those memories are full of that kind of warmth, I'm willing to get them back. Even if there's pain, I should take that back too, because it was mine to begin with."
Wu Heng nodded and rose to his feet. "Then let's begin."
He returned to the control console and activated the formation he had prepared long ago.
But nothing happened.
Then, a few seconds later, the lights in the medical room began to flicker as the light itself changed wavelength, shifting from white to a gentle warm gold.
An inexplicable pressure gathered in