Somewhere, someplace, a tiny glowing, golden ball erratically expanded and imploded into itself in a tiny fit of frustration. It knew that it should been somewhere doing something, but it didn't know what.

'Help…'

And there came the call again— the ball had been hearing it for what seemed like an eternity. He longed to obey the voice, to answer the call. Dear Father above why couldn't he go anywhere?

'Anybody…'

The little ball imploded again, though this time in a louder and more showy shower of sparks.

"Not yet, brother," another voice said softly. "You are not fully recovered yet."

The ball all but wailed.

"Soon, little brother," the voice promised. "Soon."

Sparking in indignation, the little golden ball rocked back and forth, disturbing the peace of the thousands of other golden balls around him. He wanted to move, and he wanted to move now.

The golden ball heard a heavy sigh before his awareness snapped into darkness, and he knew no more.

"NO!"

The little golden ball jerked awake at the word, though he wasn't sure if waking up would be the right phrase for arising from a deep hibernating but not necessarily asleep state.

"Sorry, bro," a cheerful voice said, not at all apologetic. "But I need him."

The ball had the sneaking suspicion that the two voices were talking about him.

Oh, the golden ball knew that he was a he, somehow. It was just this deep instinct inside of him, carved into his very being despite his origins.

"He cannot leave the Host until he is fully reformed," the first voice insisted. "To do so would be—"

"Nothing short of total annihilation and suicide?" The second voice snorted. The golden ball remembered that sound, somehow. As if he'd watched and heard someone else do that before countless times before. "Please. He has me- What could possibly go wrong?"

Oh, a lot of things, the ball thought warily. Slight memories were coming back to him now, of the Creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah. Faces, names, voices, and dates floated through his entire being, adding layers upon layers to him as a way to heal him. The ball knew that he was badly damaged before, but he couldn't remember how.

"I'm warning you, Gabriel," the first voice said darkly. "If this is the first thing you do after you are resurrected, you'll only worsen your reputation here."

"Nice of you to care, Remiel, brother," Gabriel said mockingly. The ball inwardly smirked, imagining the look of consternation on Remiel's face. "But in this age, reputations don't hold much weight anymore."

Remiel. The Archangel in charge of observing the Host and making sure that it was in working order. It was an intense and very important responsibility—angel had to draw on the host all the time to regain their strength, and more than a few times, an angel might find him or herself back inside the Host to be reborn.

On a characteristic scale though, Remiel was a… what was the word? A loner. Being the guard of the Host, he didn't get to talk to any other angels much. The lower ranked- ones were to scared of him and his fellow Archangels were just far too busy.

Recent developments have made things even more quiet for the Archangel With two of your most famous/infamous brothers fighting a never-ending battle in the Pit and more than a few others dead because of a recent epic war, it wasn't hard to understand why there seemed to be less angels poking their heads around these days.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have go save a few certain humans on Earth," Gabriel continued quietly and far more seriously when Remiel stayed silent. "And I need Cassie down there to help me do that."

Cassie. How many times have I told him not to call me that? The ball wondered. The golden ball flickered, and the two Archangels didn't miss the movement.

"Why him?" Remiel finally asked.

The golden ball held his breath (or awareness or whatever) as Gabriel stayed silent, as if carefully considering which words to say.

"His human is in trouble," Gabriel finally said.

"His hum- oh. You mean that human?" Instead of sounding disgusted like Castiel expected Remiel to, the golden ball could hear pure curiosity.

"Yes," Gabriel said in a patronizing tone. Gravity couldn't keep Gabriel's trickster side from emerging. "And his brother, too."

His brother… The golden ball urged his memory to come back faster, banging his head against memories of the Renaissance.

"Very well, then. Take him. Be careful."

"This is why I love you, you know?" The golden ball suddenly felt a strange swooshing sensation in his core, and in an instant, knew that he was being carried by Gabriel.

"This is why you love to use me," Remiel corrected gravely. "Goodbye, my brothers."

The golden ball barely had time to process those words before he was whisked away, falling back into oblivion.

When Castiel opened his eyes, his first realization was that he had eyes to open. After overcoming this initial shock, he tried to make out the shapes and colors in front of him, wincing when a slight headache pierced his skull.

His skull. Suddenly, Castiel became aware of a peculiar feeling- the feeling of being contained. A familiar weight weighed him down as he lay prostrate on the ground.

He was lying on the ground. To do that, he needed to have a body. Mentally… what was the word? Oh right: freaking out. Mentally freaking out, Castiel looked down at his clothes and his hands, confirming what he thought: he had a vessel again. To be more precise, he had his old vessel back; the body and outfit of what had once been Jimmy Novak, down to the tan trench coat, the blue tie, and the three- piece suit.

"You can get up anytime now," an impatient voice said in a mockingly cheerful way. Castiel thought that he could hear a slight strain in the voice, though.

"Gabriel?" Castiel blinked away the blurry vision. Carefully, he rotated his neck so that he could glimpse at the Archangel, slowly making out the brown wavy hair and hazel eyes.

"Good to see you too, Cas," the Gabriel chirped back. "How was your time back in the Host?"

"Not something I want to go through again." Castiel got up on his feet effortlessly, gazing about the forest. The green of the leaves overwhelmed him, so he decided to look up at the dark navy sky instead.

How are the two of us even alive? Castiel wondered, longing to ask Gabriel.

"We're in Sioux Falls, aren't we?" he asked instead.

"And give the man a prize," Gabriel said, grinning. The grin immediately faded, replaced by an intense and serious expression Castiel had rarely seen on his brother. "Our boys have had an incident lately…"

"An incident?" Castiel's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't remember… Wait…"

Something lurched in Castiel's gut as a memory flashed before his eyes.

"I…released the souls back into Purgatory?" Castiel asked uncertainly.

Gabriel's piercing hazel eyes sharpened. "And?" He prompted.

"I couldn't force out Leviathan." The realization struck him hard and low. Castiel sucked in a breath, reaching out a hand to a tree to steady himself. How many had already died because of the Leviathan? How many people and places have they infiltrated? How fast were they strengthening?

"How far have they spread?" Castiel asked, his eyes snapped on Gabriel.

"So far, they've only infiltrated Sioux Falls. More specifically, Sioux Falls General Hospital."

Realization dawned onto Castiel. "Sam and Dean…" he whispered, his tongue lingering on the second name. Castiel didn't want to imagine what the Leviathan would do to the two the moment they laid their hands on them.

"Oh damn... " A familiar voice spoke in Castiel's mind. The angel's breath caught.

"Dean?" He whispered, the name rolling off his tongue hesitantly yet lovingly. The voice in his head continued as if it couldn't hear him. "That didn't work—shit!"

"I'm on my way, Dean," Castiel murmured. "They're in danger," Castiel said louder and more urgently, spinning around to face Gabriel.

"So what are we waiting for?" In a violent yet rapid mini- implosion, Gabriel transformed into his pure form.

If it wasn't for the urgency and gravity of the situation, Castiel may have just stopped and gaped at the Archangel right there. Gabriel's entire being was brighter than the sun, shining with purity, strength, and power. His wings stretched out behind him, a dazzling scope of colors flashing in and out of sight. A song seemed to emit from his very Grace—a melody of pure joy and love so strong that it would even make an atheist bow down and weep. That is, if they weren't burnt to crisp by the sight of the Archangel's true form.

In response, Castiel transformed into his own heavenly form, which seemed notably dull next to Gabriel's brilliance. Without wasting another breath, the two angels ascended the heavens and flew to Sioux Falls General Hospital.

To mortals, the angel's flight would seem like teleportation. Or 'zapping', Castiel fondly and amusedly remembered Dean saying. Castiel's heart lurched and something that sounded like a tear rang through his ears, nearly making him veer off of their path flight. He glanced over at Gabriel to see if he noticed, but he saw that the Archangel seemed to be preoccupied in his own thoughts.

Mentally sighing, Castiel focused on the flight, though the concept of feeling while in angelic form stunned him. He didn't have a real heart in his pure form—how could he feel anything at all?

Before he could contemplate the question further, the two landed in the middle of a battlefield.

The first thing Castiel saw was Bobby Singer wielding a powerful- looking submachine gun, repeatedly blowing up Leviathan heads. Without thinking, Castiel summoned his blade and threw it at the one creeping up on the hunter.

Bobby jumped back, startled, as the blade whistled past his ear and into the Leviathan's face. The blade slammed into the Leviathan hard enough that the head was wrenched off of its neck and pinned to the brick wall behind it, blade buried to the hilt.

The angel summoned the blade back to him and suddenly had the urge to throw a grin at the still- stunned Bobby. Thinking it inappropriate for the moment, Castiel only met the hunter's gaze and nodded.

The Leviathan Bobby had been shooting at finally re-grew his head, taking the opportunity to tackle Castiel to the ground. Snarling with rage Castiel never knew he possessed, the angel used the Leviathan's momentum to roll so that he stradled it. Without missing a beat, he plunged his blade into his opponent's chest and screamed a command in Enochian. The Leviathan frosted over, freezing over completely.

"Cas!"

The angel ducked at Sam's warning, rolling forward and pushed his 'angel mojo' on the Leviathan that just attempted to jump at him. The Leviathan flew backwards, crashing into the bushes behind him.

"Where's Dean?" Cas summoned his blade back and decapitated another Leviathan while putting some angelic power into the blade. It would only be enough to keep the Leviathan down for about ten seconds, but that was all he could do.

"In one of the cars," Sam shouted over the sound of charging Leviathan and Bobby's sub-machine. "We were ambushed on our way out—I helped Dean into the Lamborghini a few meters down."

"Lamborghini?" Gabriel piqued up for the first time since arriving. He effortlessly decapitated a few Leviathan. "You mean the shiny blue one in the corner over there?"

"Yes!" Sam dodged a punch, jerking his knee up. The Leviathan howled with pain, dropping to the ground.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Sammy—I like that in a man," the Archangel teased, swiveling around only to be tackled down by three Leviathan. Castiel ran towards the body pile and managed to get two of the monsters away from Gabriel.

"Thanks, Cassie. Why don't you go after Dean? I can handle—" he expunged another Leviathan "—all this." Grinning maniacally, the Archangel ran to help Sam, who was fighting three Leviathan in nurse meat suits, managing to slap the hunter's ass and sneak in a leery comment before a few more Leviathan leapt at them.

Castiel dashed to the blue Lamborghini all the way across the car park, heart pumping ridiculously hard against his chest. He had to get to Dean. He had,to make sure that his human was breathing, that those hands of his still radiated heat. He had to make sure that those green eyes still sparkled and shone with warmth and life, ready to laugh, love, or fight.

He had to get to him and beg forgiveness.

Stopping in front of the car, Castiel peered inside. Suddenly, the angel forgot how to breathe.

There was a nasty gash on his human's forehead, fresh blood still trickling down from it. There seemed to be more tired lines on the hunter's face since Castiel last saw him weeks ago, and guiltily, Castiel knew that he had caused some of them. Thick dirty blonde eyelashes fluttered open, revealing iridescent green orbs.

Castiel watched, still literally breathless, as Dean whipped out a shotgun and just stopped himself from shooting. Dean's eyes widened as he saw who stood outside his window. Slowly, he lowered the shotgun, but otherwise made no move.

Blue gazed into green, both drowning in each other's depths. Castiel could not remember when was the last time he had ever felt so awed, so reverent of anyone or anything. His heartbeat suddeny spiked, leaving him even more breathless, if possible. Unconsciously, he leaned in closer to the car until he was a mere centimeter away from pushing his nose up against the window.

"C- Cas?" Dean's voice cracked, audible despite the thick glass.

Unable to speak, Castiel just nodded. I'm here, he tried to say, but his throat only constricted and suddenly went dry.

"It's really you?" Dean breathed out. In response, Castiel teleported into the car, pushing Dean down when he jumped up in surprise. Slowly, Dean looked down to where Castiel touched his arm, gaze trailing up the arm to Castiel's frozen face. Dean raised a hand, the one Castiel was not touching, and tentatively reached out to touch the angel's face.

A sharp rap on the car window made Dean snatch his hand back. Castiel felt a strange sudden hollow pang in his gut.

"We can get all touchy feely later," Sam shouted through the glass. "Now—"

"We gotta go, kiddos," Gabriel said right in Castiel's ear. Unsurprised, Castiel turned to see Gabriel, Bobby and Sam in the back of the car, the two humans looking a bit ruffled and disoriented. Even the Archangel looked a bit worn- out.

"Where to?" Dean murmured, voice barely loud enough for Castiel to hear.

Save your strength, Castiel thought to Dean, too late forgetting that humans did not have the psychic link between them as his brethren did. The angel opened his mouth to speak.

"Sure, Cas," the hunter murmured. Castiel stared at Dean, shocked into silence.

"What did he say?" Sam said, recovering from the slight teleportation.

Castiel could feel Gabriel's intense gaze on him. "I told him to save his strength," Castiel said in the smoothest undertone he could. "I know where we can go."

Just then, something slammed into the car from behind, making it fly forwards. The car flipped a few times before finally coming to rest on the concrete fifty meters away from the Lamborghini's original spot, slightly battered and scratched, but otherwise unharmed. Before it could stay in the position for long, a Land Rover literally drove over the now- rather flimsy vehicle.

Unable to take the hammering, the Lamborghini totally crumpled under the Land Rover's weight, the metal denting and flattening into something that represented a compost pile in a scrap yard.

The Leviathan driving the Land Rover jumped out, peering into the Lamborghini. When he saw that there was nothing there, he screamed, the noise terrifyingly animalistic.

"Where?" The Leviathan screamed. "WHERE. ARE. THEY?"

Several other Leviathan ran towards their comrade in a futile attempt to calm him down, only to be chopped down. Quite literally too, as the Leviathan had suddenly acquired a wicked- looking longsword.

"I will find you boys," the Leviathan snarled, depatching the last of his kin. They all lay in a bloody circle around him, slowly regenerating themselves. "And when I do, I'll flay you and your little pet angels too."

Without another word, the Leviathan spun on his heel, retreating into the cool dark of the forest.