Changes

As the [[zombie]]s swarm them, Castiel fights them off with his [[angel blade]] and [[smiting]]. However, as the Winchesters and Castiel start to get overwhelmed, Castiel grabs [[Jack]]'s corpse and leads them into a nearby crypt for safety where they discuss options. As the zombies are just corpses possessed by the [[Hell Ghostsghosts]], Castiel suggests salting and burning their bodies to get rid of them, but that idea is shot down. The three are joined by the [[demon]] [[Belphegor]] who possesses Jack's corpse, much to Castiel's disgust and ignores Castiel's orders to get out of Jack. Belphegor insists that he can help them as he wants [[Hell]] returned to normal and Castiel reluctantly gives the demon some of his blood for a [[spell ]] to eject the souls [[soul]]s from the corpses they are possessing.

After escaping the cemetery, the group finds the aftermath of an attack by the escaped ghost of [[Constance Welch]] and Belphegor suggests a spell to create a mile-wide barrier to contain the escaped ghosts until they can find a solution to deal with them. Castiel realizes that the town of Harlan, Kansas is within that radius and the Winchesters decide to evacuate Harlan for protection of the residents. [[Dean ]] assigns Castiel to help Belphegor prepare for the spell, but Castiel refuses as he can't even look at the demon possessing the body of his surrogate son and so decides to help [[Sam ]] clear out the residents while Dean helps Belphegor instead.

:''"Even if we didn't know that all of the challenges that we face were born of Chuck's machinations, how would we describe it all? We'd call it "'life." ' Because that's precisely what life is. It's an obstacle course, and maybe Chuck designed the obstacles, but we ran our own race. We made our own moves. And mostly, we did well with that."''

With more [[Hell Ghosts]] ghosts escaping, [[Rowena]] attempts to use a spell from the ''[[Book of the Damned]]'' to strengthen the barrier. However, the spell fails as the ghosts are too strong and the barrier too weak. After the failure, [[Belphegor]] visits the rupture to [[Hell]], joined by Castiel who continues to remain suspicious of the [[demon]]'s motives. Belphegor reveals that the rupture is not a gate or [[portal]], but a tear [[God]] opened straight into Hell itself and suggests using [[Lilith's Crook]] to draw all of the souls and demons back in. Though the Crook is locked in [[Lilith's Chamber]], the Chamber was opened by God along with all of the other doors in Hell. However, Belphegor demands that Castiel accompany him into Hell as protection from the remaining demons while the Winchesters and Rowena use the [[Spells#Sanetur Acre Vulnus|Sanetur Acre Vulnus spell]] to close the rupture. Dean, without hesitation, agrees to Castiel joining the demon, much to Castiel's frustration.

Castiel confronts Belphegor who tries to convince Castiel to leave before throwing him out of Lilith's Chamber with [[telekinesis]]. Belphegor reveals that Ardat was telling the truth and Belphegor intends to use the Crook as a siphon to absorb all the souls and demons of Hell into himself to gain unlimited power. Belphegor sounds the Crook, drawing all of the souls and demons inside of it, but Castiel fights his way through the strong wind the Crook produces and beats the demon to the ground. Belphegor attempts to trick Castiel by pretending to be [[Jack]], but Castiel easily sees through it and [[smitingSmiting|smites]] Belphegor, killing him. However, Castiel's smiting burns Jack's corpse into a charred skeleton and destroys the Crook, preventing all of the souls and demons from returning. Castiel is able to climb out of the closing rupture and reveals the death of Belphegor and failure of their plan to an angry Dean. Before the argument can continue, Rowena uses the Death Is an Infinite Vessel spell to draw all of the remaining souls and demons into herself. With a final goodbye to the Winchesters and Castiel, Rowena sacrifices herself to cast Hell's denizens back where they belong before the rupture seals.

Castiel is shown to be ignoring text messages from [[Sam]]. Sam later calls Castiel and leaves him a message about the renewed threat from [[God]] and the [[resurrection]] of [[Lilith]].

After killing the djinn, Castiel dumps his body in the lake and [[healingHealing|heals]] Caleb's injured leg. However, Castiel's failing powers cause him to struggle with healing the minor injury. Though Melly questions his powers, Castiel decides that its better for her and Caleb not to ever understand what happened and thanks her for their time together. Castiel has realized that if he stays, nothing will ever change so he must return to helping people and end his vacation.

Castiel returns to the Bunker much to Sam and [[EileenLeahy]]'s surprise, telling the two that he is ready to help. Learning that Sam and Eileen were looking for signs of Chuck and the newly resurrected [[Lilith]], Castiel suggests that due to Sam's connection to Chuck through his wound, he had fired a piece of his soul from [[the Equalizer]], and in doing so a piece of Chuck may also be inside of Sam.

Dean and Castiel try to contact Eileen and Sam before they travel to Purgatory to retrieve a [[leviathan Leviathan blossom]], however they soon realize that Chuck has captured them. Dean tracks Eileen's cell phone to the Lucky Elephant casino in Milford, Nebraska, but Castiel insists that they need to go to Purgatory. Dean shoots him down, but he yells at Dean for being so stupid as they don't have anything that can hurt Chuck and finishing Michael's binding spell takes priority.

Upon passing through the portal, Castiel states that he never saw a blossom during his time in Purgatory, meaning it's the only flower in the realm. They manage to capture a [[leviathanLeviathan]] and force it to reveal where they can find the blossoms, which grow out of the soil when leviathan Leviathan die. He also reveals that [[Benny]] was killed by his fellow vampires after helping Sam and Bobby out of Purgatory. While en route, Dean mourns Benny's death and Castiel remembers how he unleashed the leviathans into the world and continues to regret his past mistakes. Dean says he knows that Castiel is sorry about Belphegor and Mary's deaths, but Castiel clarifies that he is talking about Jack. He tells Dean that he already apologized but Dean refused to hear it because he was too angry to care about his friend. He left, but Dean didn't stop him.

The trio arrive at a leviathan Leviathan graveyard riddled with blossoms and skeletons. However, the area is guarded by an angel trap. The leviathan reveals that they plan to take them to Eve so she can have revenge for killing her and her alphas. After Dean gets knocked unconscious, Castiel offers to go peacefully in exchange for sparing Dean. They take the angel and destroy the blossoms. Dean wanders around Purgatory to find Castiel, but with only minutes left before the portal closes, he stops and starts praying. He admits that he should have stopped Castiel from leaving, but he didn't because venting his anger was easier than admitting that he was wrong about everything that happened when Mary and Jack died. He says he can't control his anger when it comes out, no matter how much he wants to. He tells Castiel that he does forgive him for everything that happened. He apologizes for taking so long to tell him and hopes he can hear him. Meanwhile, Castiel has located a leviathan blossom and manages to fight off the leviathans and escape. He makes his way to Dean in the nick of time. Dean tries to apologize face to face, but Castiel says he doesn't have to, having received his prayer.

They arrive at the Bunker and start putting the spell together, and Castiel mixes his blood into the mix as Dean cannot carry the Mark a second time. They make their way to Milford to save Sam and Eileen, but Chuck forces Eileen to attack them. They pass the orb to Sam, who, after having seen what would happen if they trap God, drops the orb and allows Chuck to crush it and heal their wounds from [[the Equalizer]]. Chuck makes His leave after Dean tells Him that they'll never give Him the ending He wants.