Set in a world where angels are on earth after being cast from heaven millennia ago, angel's age at the same rate as humans up until their 30th birthday then it slows down for them, 10 years aging them about 1 year. Hunters hunt them like common (but very difficult to kill) monsters. Angels don't know why they are hunted as they are.

Anyway, basically Castiel belongs to a rather large family whose father disappeared under unknown circumstances leaving Michael, at the time only 18 alone having to care for his 7 younger siblings. In the beginning chapter Michael is 24, Lucifer is 20, Uriel is 17, Anna is 16, Gabriel and Balthazar are twins and 14, Castiel is 10, and Gadreel is 7.

Whilst the family is out scavenging one day Castiel returns to a horrifying discovery. John Winchester and Bobby are involved. This leads to and awful turn of events for Castiel and his remaining family.

- (there's lots of description in this chapter by the way)

They were happy in the general sense of things, all 8 of them, Michael, Lucifer, Uriel, Anna, Gabriel, Balthazar, Castiel and Gadreel. Michael the oldest, being about 24, to Gadreel the youngest, being about 7. Had they known what was about to happen a lot would have been different, Lucifer and Michael may not have argued so much, Gabriel and Balthazar may have spent more time with their siblings rather than running off and causing mischief, Anna and Uriel may not have been as aggressive and violent with their younger siblings. But no one can truly tell the future. Well, angels can't anyway.

They had taken shelter from the raging storm inside an old warehouse. Inside a metal bin they had started a fire and were now cooking a stolen chicken over the burning embers. Gabriel and Balthazar were, unsuccessfully, trying to distract the two youngest angels from the two oldest ones fighting.

"SCREW YOU MICHAEL" screamed the younger of the two

"HOW ELOQUENT OF YOU LUCIFER, I CAN REALLY FEEL THE MATURITY" yelled the other.

Gadreel was crying now, silent tears that he had learnt to use rather than full out brawling, which would earn him nothing but a harsh word or slap from either Anna or Uriel, starting yet another fight between the twins and whomever performed the action. Castiel was much more silent and sat dead still in Balthazar's embrace, this was how he reacted to yelling, he would freeze as if making sure the fight wouldn't somehow begin to centre on him, but if he was yelled at he would focus his attention on some object or action he was doing, as if unsure how to respond and so fiddling and quietly wishing for them to go away or stop.

Gabriel had managed to stop Gadreel's tears for now, handing the youngster to his twin he moved to check on the chicken. Fully grown angels barely, if ever, needed food but as all of the angels in this group were still growing, they needed to feed like humans. To an untrained eye, Gabriel would have appeared as if he were ignoring Michael and Lucifer's fight but he was always subtly turning his body so that out the corner of his eye he could see the fighting which he hated, no one likes to see their family fight, but for Gabriel there wasn't a choice of walking away, not now anyway.

The argument ended as quickly as it had begun. By 'ended' meaning Lucifer walking out the door, his mood matching the weather. Michael tidied himself up and strode over to the cluster of six that were positioned silently by the fire.

He bent down and picked up Gadreel well aware of how awkward his movements were as result of the silence. As he held Gadreel he began to bounce the little boy up and down murmuring "there there Gaddy, it's ok" to the obviously upset child, as Gadreel began to calm down Michael crouched down and ruffled Castiels little mess of blackish brown hair nodding at him with an encouraging smile which he also shared with Balthazar as he rose to a standing position again. The room still remained silent except from the crackling of the fire as Gabriel poked it.

Sensing they were awaiting him to speak, Michael hastily asked "Gabe, is the chicken done?" craving an end to the silence.

"Yeah, it's done" responded Gabriel

"So shall we eat" he said to the group. Each head nodded back and he heard Gadreel whisper 'yes' into his ear.

The group began to rip into the chicken using their hands, soon there was a steady conversation throughout them as they sat in a circle. The main speakers being Michael and Uriel. Unexpectedly there was a sudden uproar between Gabriel and Anna.

"Give" demanded Anna holding out her hand.

"Piss off" rebuked Gabriel clutching both of his own hands to his chest.

Michael stood up towering over them both, he had had enough fighting that evening.

"What's going on" he sternly said to both of the younger angels glaring at them.

Anna, the elder, spoke first. "He took extra meat!" she said pointing an angry finger at Gabriel. With such a large family there was little to go round and everyone got their equal share, unless you were ill, you didn't get any more than you were given.

Michael through a questioning glance at Gabriel, who would have been the last person he'd expect to take extra food. Guiltily Gabriel held out his hands revealing a whole extra portion of chicken.

"Why" asked Michael, sighing he crouched to be at eye level with his younger brother who was now avoiding his gaze and licking his lips nervously.

"I…" Gabriel paused, looking fearfully into his brothers eyes, Michael nodded beckoning his brother to continue. "I was gonna' save it for Luci" he stuttered and immediately as he said it his shoulders shot up as he tensed expecting a blow, which he received from Anna before gaining another from Uriel.

"That dick doesn't deserve food, he…" Michael cut Anna off with a glare while also restraining Balthazar, who had been about to thump Uriel in response to his twin being hurt.

"STOP" he bellowed, no one paid attention. Pushing Balthazar onto the floor Michael stood at his full height of 6'5 and extended out his massive ivory white wings to their full length of 13ft, he was practically radiating power. At this all were silent. "I would expect this from Cas and Gad, not from you" he said looking down at the fearful faces of Uriel, Anna, Balthazar and Gabriel while gesturing back to the younger siblings, Castiel and Gadreel had huddled together timidly during the ruckus. Realising he had their full attention now he finished the argument, "Gabe, I wouldn't have let Luci go hungry but it's nice to see your concern. Uriel and Anna, I can see you were trying to do the right thing, Anna, but neither of you should have hit your brother, and Anna, whatever anyone in this family has done until the day you are the oldest it is my decision on the punishment. Balthazar, I admire your loyalty to your twin." Silently he held out his hand to Gabriel wanting to take the meat from him, Gabriel obliged.

At this moment Lucifer decided to crash through the door, which landed him onto an odd scene of Michael standing with his wings fully stretched out over about half his siblings, all of which looked shocked. Gabriel had two red marks on his face, Balthazar was sprawled across the floor, Uriel and Anna both looked a bit upset as if they had just been scolded, and Castiel was hugging his younger brother as if his life depended on it. The room was silent except from the crashing of the storm, all eyes fell on him.

Lucifer held his hands in a steepling position and breathed in as if he were about to say something, he paused and breathed out as if reconsidering his choice of words. The room remained silent. He breathed in again and carried through.

"I'm going to go on a whim here and say, something happened while I was gone", he stood in silence looking round the room. No one denied his suggestion. "That's a yes then" again no one answered. Beginning to feel awkward Lucifer stood in silence.

They were all saved by Castiel who jumped up and ran towards Lucifer squealing and jumped up into his arms where Lucifer caught him and lifted him up above his head with a laugh.

"Hey Cassie!" he laughed before putting Castiel over his shoulder and carrying him back over to the fire where he had to put him down so he could repeat the same action with Gadreel. Holding Gadreel in the same way Michael had earlier and with one hand on Castiel's head he spoke again, "well I can see you've eaten, but the real question is, did you save any for me?" he said it with a smile and they laughed.

"Why, aren't you to chubby already?" joked Gabriel.

Lucifer laughed, "That's sweet coming from you, sweet tooth!" Then he paused, before saying "but seriously, I'm famished, do we have any food left?"

Michael held out something to Gabriel and withdrew his wings. Gabriel quickly ran past Michael and held out the chicken he had saved to Lucifer.

Lucifer shook his head jokingly and put down Gadreel before opening his mouth, pointing to his open gob he said in a barely distinguishable voice "chuck it in my mouth". Gabriel obliged laughing while handing half of the chicken to Balthazar who had come to join him. Giggling like idiots the twins began chucking pieces of chicken into Lucifer's mouth who was having to move a lot to catch his dinner, quite literally.

Michael shook his head in wonder at the idiots he called siblings. He walked over to the younger ones and picked them both up easily. Silently he paused the game Gabriel, Balthazar and Lucifer were playing and whispered in Lucifer's ear "I'm going to put these guys to bed ok, so can you make sure no ones to noisy", Lucifer nodded at him. Although they fought a lot they loved each other and their family, plus, Lucifer, rebellious as he was, understood that the younger angels needed sleep. Quickly he kissed both of his little brother's foreheads and muttered goodnight, an action mimicked by the other siblings. Michael smiled at his brother and walked down into the basement which was just about large enough to fit all of them when sleeping. Similar to eating, until fully grown, angels needed to sleep like the humans of their age.

Michael tucked his brothers into bed under an old blanket they had stolen from a shop. Both, as it was cold, had their wings tucked round them, Castiel's were a beautiful bluish black colour while Gadreel's were a soft hazel brown, each wing set was messy as they often are with fledglings, although Castiel had just begun learning to fly. Michael smiled fondly at the memory of Lucifer pushing Castiel off a roof, although he had practically freaked at the time. Lucifer was one for the very unorthodox methods of teaching.

Each angel had their own distinct wing colour. Michael's were ivory, Lucifer's were white with red tips, Uriel's were pure black, Anna's were a snowy white, Gabriel's were golden brown, and Balthazar's were black with grey tints. Each angel's wings looked different in design too, Michaels were a set of two, the lower pair were slightly shorter and thinner than the higher pair, the shape was the same for each wing, only for the lower wings were at a downwards slant while the upper wings were at an upward slant, his wing bone curved slightly as it lengthened before becoming straight up until a bend, very similar to a falcons wing structure although his primary feathers were proportionately much longer. Lucifer, again, had a set of two, the lower pair were a completely different type to the top pair, the top pair had a sharp curve upward until the wing bend, where in an almost straight line the wings carried on until the end of the primary feathers, also the primary feathers weren't clumped together like Michaels, they were spread apart and sharper at the end, the lower wings had a flat curve on them, one that went up before going down again, the primary feathers were much smaller than the were on the top pair. Uriel only had one pair of wings and they were a downward slope until the wing bend where they would go straight down to the end of the primary feathers, which were massive starting just after the wing bend. Anna also only had one pair which curved softly upwards until her primary feathers where they carried straight out. Gabriel had two sets of wings which in shape were similar to Lucifer's only the curve on the top set was softer and the primary feathers weren't spread apart or sharp, also the lower wings curve was the opposite to Lucifer's, curving down before going up again to the primary feathers which were proportionately larger and much more prominent. Balthazar's wings were very different to any of his brethren, they went in an almost straight line upwards until the wing bend, which was soft and large, before curving flatly out and in again straight downwards to the end of the primary feathers which were long and sharp. Castiel's were an oddity as well, they were bent like a tick, the one on his right would have looked like a backwards tick to anyone staring his front, the long tail of the tick was slightly curved backward though until the wing bend where they followed a straight line at a slight outwards lilt till the end of primary feathers which were sharp, unlike most other wings the base of his were almost like a base of a circle, this was because of how the top was shaped. Gadreel's wings were very angular almost flat to start with before suddenly turning to proceed in a straight outwardly tilted line to the wing bend where the carried on a straight horizontal line till the end of the primary feathers, which on him were large and spiked although quite clumped together.

Michael, after ensuring both youngsters were soundly asleep, went back upstairs to find what could only be described as chaos. Lucifer was lying face first on the floor trying to shake off the pile of bodies on him. It was obvious that once Michael had gone downstairs Gabriel and Balthazar had waged war on their elders, resulting in Lucifer face planting the floor only to have Anna fall on him followed by Uriel. Balthazar and Gabriel were sitting proudly on top of the angel pile giggling like idiots, well, at least they were until Michael walked up behind them and picked them up by their shirts, at which point they both freaked out and began grovelling about how sorry they were and how it wouldn't happen again. Michael was almost considering letting them off until Balthazar said "well we were quiet about it", at which point he literally dropped them both down the basement staircase, they could fly it was fine.

Soon after both Anna and Uriel went to bed, leaving just Michael and Lucifer awake.

"I swear I am going to kill the twins one day" muttered Lucifer while he tended to his wings that had been a bit messed up in the pile on.

"You love them really" responded Michael. The brothers were sitting legs outstretched leaning on each other's back by the fire.

"Of course I do, but" he paused.

"Their even worse than you were"

"Hey, it's not exactly fair taking there are two of them, AND they have four older siblings, whereas I have one"

"How's that work?"

"Well, two times the people to make trouble, only one person I can properly prank..."

"But..."

"No Michael, if they're a younger sibling then you can't prank them, not properly anyway. Also when I was their age dad had just left"

"Fair enough, now come on lets go to bed" yawned Michael

"Why" whined Lucifer, acting like a three year old now his younger siblings had gone

"Because I'm older" said Michael pulling his 6'4 brother to his feet. "Now move dodo brain" he said pushing his brother towards the basement. Michael did have a sense of humour, but only Lucifer knew of it, that was how he worked, serious and occasionally funny around people and other siblings, while funny or moody round Lucifer. But that was how he was raised, to be a commander like in the military, their father had always told him "they are your troops, keep them safe and make sure they do as their told. Of course he was a little lenient, but still he acted like he was told to by that oh so great disappearing father figure.