AN: This is mine. I am the original author reposting my fic because I some how messed up while trying to update the original. I am sorry for the inconvenience. I have deleted the original. This is exactly like the original only edited a bit more. I hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER 1

In Which Gabriel is an Outlandish Dick

The day was sunny in the town of Market Chipping and the streets were busy with the start of the summer festival. The workers in the hat shop chattered amongst themselves as they hurriedly finished their work.
"I hope there's roasted nuts again this year!"

"There are always roasted nuts!"

"Look! You can see that floating castle from the window."
"Oh, I don't feel safe going out any more."
"Don't worry, he only eats the hearts of pretty girls."
They laughed as they packed their things away, returning a few stray hats back to the stands.

"Are you coming, Castiel?"
Castiel looked up from his work and smiled at his employee from his small office. "You go on, Archie. I have some work I need to finish here." He looked down at the hat in his hands. He didn't like this new material much but he supposed it was adequate.
Archie smiled softly and shook his head. "Hard at work as always. Sure you wont come celebrate with us?"

"Thank you, but my work is very important to me."

"Suit yourself. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that he went to join the others.

Once the workers had gone all the noises of excitement had went with them, leaving Castiel to himself. He had inherited the shop from his father while his brother, Gabriel, was sent to seek his fortune as a bakers apprentice. Since Castiel's inheritance, business started to become even more popular. Castiel didn't know exactly why this was, but even he could not deny that the quality of the hats had improved, particularly those he had a hand in making. Though, he insisted that he created the hats exactly as his father had.

As he carried on with his worked, he spoke quietly to the hat. No particular reason other than hats were often easier to talk to than people.
"You're going to attract a lot of attention what with all these brilliant feathers." He said to the hat as he added a golden feather. "I bet you'll be the center of attention at any event you're worn to." He went on like this, adding decorations and speaking kind words to each hat, until the clock struck five. Castiel stretched and worked the kinks out of his neck before putting on his plain tan jacket. A shout from outside made Castiel glanced out the window and frown. He had promised Gabriel a visit but that would mean fighting his way through the crowds all the way across town. For a moment he considered not going. 'Dont be silly, Castiel.' he thought to himself. 'No good to just sit inside and waste away.' Still, he always seemed out of place in a crowd. He considered himself in the mirror. Plain suit with a simple blue tie that some how always managed to hang backwards. But that was him. Plain, simple, and a little bit backwards. He wondered if adding a hat to his wardrobe would make an improvement but decided against it. How egotistical would he seem walking around with one of his own creations on top of his head?

Castiel locked up the shop and began his journey to the bakery. The town square was more crowded then ever and he found it impossible not to step on a few feet. His cries of "Excuse me!" and "Let me through!" went ignored and Castiel thought it best to save his breath. He resorted to simply shoving his way through which, other then causing him to trip a bit, seemed rather effective.

The shoving and tripping went on for quite a long while and he was almost to the bakery when someone went to take a step back just as Castiel was stepping forward. The culprit hardly noticed that his action had caused Castiel to fall forward and slam right into another man.

"Hey, watch it." The man said turning and putting a hand on Castiel's shoulder to steady him.

"Sorry. I was uh- . . ." The man, who was dressed in an impressive suit, was peering down at Castiel with the greenest eyes he had ever seen.

"You okay?" The man asked in a gruff voice and Castiel could smell the hint of alcohol on his breath.

Castiel stood straight and hastily fixed his jacket. "I apologize for running into you." He said, "I wasn't paying attention."

"You've got to be more careful." There was a slight slur in the man's voice that Castiel had missed before. "You're going to hurt that pretty face of yours if you don't watch out."

Castiel cocked his head in confusion. The man however, just smiled back."Yes, well," Castiel stammered. "I must be on my way." He made to leave but the man called after him.

"Would you like me to come with you? Stop you from stumbling all the way to where you are going?"

Castiel shook his head, "No. I believe that in your state the stumbling would only increase." This made the man laugh and Castiel began his fight through the crowd again.

A few minutes later Castiel had made his way to the bakery which was just as busy as the square. Castiel groaned at the thought of trying to find Gabriel in the mass but there was no turning back now. He marched up to the shop determined to get in and out as quickly as possible, which might have worked if he suddenly hadn't found himself suspended in the air by his coat collar.

"Unhand me." Castiel scowled in annoyance at the grinning face of his captive. 'First the drunk and now this. People just lose all sense when it comes to these festivals.'

"Long time no see, brother!" The stranger laughed. He set Castiel back on the floor and wraped an arm around his shoulders.

"Who . . .? Gabriel?"

The disguised Gabriel grinned back at him and with ease, lead Castiel further into the shop. "You were always easy to fool, Castiel!" In the next instant Gabriel was standing in the strangers place. Those around them applauded the older brothers trick with glee. Gabriel bowed with pride while Castiel rolled his eyes with a sigh. Should have known.

"Gabriel." Castiel said impatiently as Gabriel made a cake appear out of his sleeve. He should have went into wizardry. He thought to himself.

Gabriel turned. "Castiel." He mimicked Castiel's serious tone but was smiling cheekily, pleased with his prank.

"Could we go somewhere quieter?" Castiel asked hoping Gabriel would notice his discomfort. With a shrug Gabriel lead Castiel to the back storage room which was much quieter.

"You're looking pale, Castiel." Gabriel said offering him a cupcake. "Not getting out much, are you?" Flour and sugar covered the floor and dusted the selves of the storage room. The hum of activity from the front could still be heard but it was thankfully there was no one else around.

Castiel declined the cupcake and shrugged. "I have been working at the shop. It has become very popular recently. I must keep up with all of the orders and requests that are coming in."

"Yes, so I've heard." Gabriel said biting into the cupcake himself. "You always were good with a needle and thread. Who knew you'd be good enough to keep that old sweat shop going." He finished the cake, discarding the wrapper on the floor.

"Father gave me that shop, Gabriel. He expected me to take care of it." Castiel had told him this numerous times but Gabriel refused to listen. As the oldest, Gabriel was expected to seek and gain his fortune while Castiel, the youngest, was expected never to rise above his brother's success. Gabriel however, thought this was a rather backwards way to think.

Gabriel sighed. "You can't lock yourself up in dad's office and work yourself until you're a crippled old man with a bad back. That's not what Dad wanted. Do something for yourself, why don't you?"

"I didn't come here to fight, Gabriel." Castiel sighed

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Saint Castiel. Never wanting an argument." He muttered, turning and rearranging some of the spices on the shelves.

"There's no point in it." He explained. "What's done is done."

"Dad wanted the shop to go under." Gabriel snapped turning to look at his brother.

"What?"

Gabriel sighed like it was obvious. "Dad didn't give the shop to you because he wanted you to save it. He wanted it to go under! You were suppose to make sure it did with dignity, whatever that means."

"How was I suppose to know that?" Castiel asked a bit bewildered. "What did he expect me to do once it went under?"

"You still don't get it, do you?" Gabriel laughed shaking his head. "Dad wanted you to take the money and, how would you put it? 'Seek your fortune'." Gabriel rolled his eyes again like the whole conversation was ridiculous. "I don't know why you keep insisting that dad stuck you in that retired shop for the rest of your life."

Castiel didn't know how to process this. He clenched his hands into fists and looked at the floor as though it would give him an answer. "Why didn't Dad tell me this himself?" He muttered to himself.

"Come on, Castiel." Gabriel scoffed. He had started to write crude things on the flour covered shelves and Castiel could tell he was growing bored with the conversation. "You know how Dad was. He wanted you to figure it out yourself. It didn't occur to him that you were so incredibly thick." Gabriel dusted the flour off his hands and crossed his arms.

Castiel had nothing to say to this. What he wanted was to go back to his home above the hat shop and think things through. "I need to go." he muttered turning to leave. This was all too much for him to think about right then.

"Oh! One more thing, little brother." Gabriel said.

"What is it, Gabriel?" 'What now?' Castiel thought looking over his shoulder.

"I ran into a rather strange character the other day." Gabriel was looking right a Castiel, the way he did when he was being serious. Castiel had no choice but to turned around. "She didn't take too fondly to me." He continued with a small smirk. "None what so ever, in fact."

"What are you talking about, Gabriel?" Castiel was growing impatient.

"The Witch of the Waste, do you know of her?" He asked knowing that it would get Castiel's attention.

"Yes. What about her?"

"I may have accidentally insulted her."

Castiel stared at Gabriel. "You what?" Out of the most outlandish things his brother had ever done, this had to be the most thoughtless and irrational."Gabriel, how could you!?"

"She was really quite furious, too." Gabriel went on un-phased. "I couldn't help myself, I saw her and thought well why not have a bit of fun?"

Castiel stared at his mischievous brother. What had he gotten himself into, now. This was a dark magical being he had angered. Surly he knew there would be punishment?

"Oh and, I'm not too sure but, I may have looked like you when I did it."

"You-I-what?!" Castiel's stomach dropped and he was certain he would be sick. His brother had just thrown him into the fire and hadn't even had the decency to act ashamed. "Have you any idea what you have done!?" He roared.

Gabriel chuckled, "Toodles." And with that he disappeared.

Castiel turned and looked through the crowd but it was no use; Gabriel was disguised again. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. What was he suppose to do now? He had to make a decision about the shop and now a witch was after him. This friendly visit had certainly taken an unpleasant turn.

Once he had finally made it to his living quarters behind the shop, Castiel found it impossible to think straight. Instead of finding the calm he had expected, he found his room to be stuffy. Castiel opened a window and looked out at the sun began to set. 'What am I going to do?' He had been asking himself that since he had left the bakery.

His father had wanted the hat shop to end but now that it was successful he couldn't just leave it. Could he? Now because of Gabriel he had a reason to just up and leave. It was only time before the witch found him and turned all of the success against him. Maybe he would leave. Just walk out the door and never look back. "No." Castiel muttered shacking his head. Leaving would do no good. The witch was inevitable, and powerful. Castiel paced as he thought. He thought until long after the sun had set but came up empty handed.

Thinking it would calm him or at least distract him, Castiel opened one of his books and tried to read. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. Nor did the cooling mug of tea, or the half bottle of whiskey. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. Castiel itched to do something about his situation. What he wanted to do was to go back and teach Gabriel a lesson but that never did any good. 'Why does he find it entertaining to frustrate me!' Castiel thought bitterly. 'Why did he have to shift into me when he insulted the witch?' He rubbed a hand across his face and looked around for something to do but there was nothing.

"No reason to stay in here then." Castiel went back to the shop deciding that he might as well get some work done. He gathered the finished hats from his office and began to distribute them around the shop.

"What a tacky shop." A voice said from the doorway.

Castiel stopped in his tracts and slowly turned around. A severe woman in a business suite stood in the door way looking extremely irritated. Something Castiel could relate to. He was in no mood to deal with a sour customer after hours, especially one who thought his father's shop was "tacky".

"We are closed for the night." He said. "You are going to have to leave now." It came out more rude than he had meant it to but he didn't care. He just wanted her to leave. "I believe you know your way to the door."

The woman turned her sharp eyes onto him. "Aren't you plucky. I would think that you would be more incline to hold your tongue in front of the Witch of the Waste after our last meeting."

"The Witch of the Waste? Wait, I can explain! That wasn't-" A sudden gust of wind blew through the shop and hit him full in the chest. Castiel dropped the hats and doubled over.

"There." The witch said sounding satisfied. "Maybe that will teach you to call someone a biddy old gargoyle." Castiel lowered his arms that were shielding his face. The witch was smiling and although he was certain that the wind had come from her direction, not a hair had fallen out of her tight bun. "Have a nice night." She purred and with that she left.