God made angels long ago.
He made them to be his children. He cared for them, he sheltered them, and he loved them.
And they all loved him.
But, a few millenia later, God realized that He had missed one little last in the recipe for his angels. Emotions.
Emotions like loyalty, love, lust, compassion, and hurt.
So, God tried again. He made humans. His humans had these precious emotions, which made their lives much more lively and liberating, but also sorrowful and difficult.
This was when some angels lost hope.
Lucifer did not love the humans like his Father did. He would not care for them, he would not exist with them.
He felt as if he was right in his actions. After all, why would humans be preferred when their emotions just made them flawed? They lived terrible, short lives, with no reason for life. Angels were powerful. They were not burdened by emotions. They did not cry or lust. They were mighty, heavenly beings who lives in the presence of their Father, even if they had never seen him.
But, God thought differently. He did not agree with his son, and for that, Lucifer got angry. So he was cast down to hell from heaven.
That was when some angels lost hope.
Not too long after that, God disappeared.
He had not told any of his children where he went, or what he was planning on doing. He just... Left. Heaven was left in the care of the archangels, who were more than capable of ruling heaven, but they weren't God. They hadn't made and loved and cared for the lesser angels. So, heaven stayed in one piece, but it wasn't the same.
That was when some angels lost hope.
For hundreds of years, the angels were content. Many may not have been as hopeful and innocent as they had been when God first made them, but they were okay with what they had. It was good.
Until the Winchesters.
Sam, Dean, and John Winchester broke down almost every wall and security, that the angels had taken such care in preserving. They hunted monster after monster and even killed demons, something that for a long time, only angels could do.
And it didn't stop after John died. The brothers continued to impress and worry the angels. They brought each other back to life multiple times, opened a devil's gate, killed Azazel and seemingly destroyed his plans for his "special children".
But they didn't. Sam was still alive, so he carried on, unknowingly, with Azazel's plan. He drank demon's blood, and eventually killed Lilith and set Lucifer free from his prison in Hell.
That was when some angels lost hope.
But, the last straw for most happened not even a year later.
For so long, the angels had known what they needed to do and what should happen. Even with God gone, they had the playbook of humanity in their minds.
The Winchesters ripped up that playbook and burned it over an open fire.
They had all known what was supposed to happen, what would end all suffering for the humans that God had loved so much. The final battle, the show down between brothers. Micheal and Lucifer would fight, with the earth as their battlefield, and who ever won would take the earth as their domain.
Sam and Dean didn't agree with that. They wouldn't allow destiny to run its course. They squashed destiny under their size 12 combat boots. Sam took control over Lucifer and jumped into the Cage, dragging Micheal down with him.
Of course, Sam didn't feel the effects for a while after that, thanks to Castiel raising him back up. He may not have had his soul, and he may have suffered once the wall in his mind was broken, but it was a long time before he was really hurt by what he had done.
The angels felt it right away.
Not only did God leave them, but now their brother had been pushed into the very cage that he had stuck his brother in all those years ago.
And the angels were alone. No archangel would step up to take control of heaven. It was chaos, a phenomenon that the angels worked hard to keep out of the humans' afterlife.
That was when the rest of the angels lost hope.
All except one.
One angel, out of all of them, still believe that hope could be found. He still believed that there was something to work for and care for.
Castiel never lost hope.
Through all of the trials and tribulations in his long, emotionless life, Castiel never lost hope that some good would still happen. That not all was lost.
When God first made humans, Castiel was still considered young. He was one of the younger angels, and always thought of as the little brother. His true voice was still very high, just like little boys have high voices before they grow. Castiel, with his high, little angel voice, prayed to God. He told him how much he loved him, and how much he wished that he could see him, and how he would obey his wish and work as a guardian for the humans. God never talked back, but that never fazed Castiel. It never took away his hope.
When Lucifer rebelled, Castiel was disappointed. He had cared for Lucifer. He had always been a nice big brother to him.
So, when he was cast into Hell, Castiel prayed to God. He asked him to watch over his brother, even in Hell, because no matter how bad Lucifer had become, Castiel still remembered how loving he had been. He never got an answer, but Castiel was still never fazed.
Even when God left, Castiel did not stop praying to him. Granted, Castiel didn't know that God had disappeared, but he did feel a difference. He felt an emptiness open up inside of him. That emptiness didn't stop his prayers. Castiel prayed that God would go back to normal, because Castiel knew that something had changed, but he wanted to back to normal.
Even before raising Dean from perdition, Castiel was fond of Winchesters. He admired how they could act so emotionally and not be punished, when he had to be "corrected". He gazed down at the small family in his free time and sighed wistfully. And prayed.
He prayed that God would keep that little family safe. He knew that they would have a big part on things to come, but Castiel didn't want them to lose that spark that made them so joyfully human.
He was glad when he saw that they had kept it, so many years later, after retrieving Dean from hell.
Even while riding with the boys, Castiel prayed. He prayed that God would preserve these humans, that wouldn't be anymore corrupted by the horrors of the world. He prayed that God would protect them.
God always followed through on that.
When the apocalypse was ended, Castiel help tight onto his hope. He knew that he was one of the last to still have it, and he wasn't willing to lose it. He prayed that God would help him in his quest to save Sam, and that he would watch over Dean with Lisa and Ben.
Castiel always had hope. No matter what his brethren did, or what God did, or what Sam and Dean did, he stayed hopeful that there was still good left.
His hope has faded over the years, but he has always had it, even if the did not know it. Sometimes, Castiel would catch himself praying to God to help him get through this hunt with the boys, or help him find this angel. He would stop once he became aware, but he couldn't let go of the hope that had embedded itself inside of him.
He will someday lose that sweet, Godly hope. Someday, he would reach his final trial, and lose all hope for winning and for good. But, for now, he still has hope.
And that is all that his Father can ask for.
