A/N: On to the second half of this verse! We've got four parts to this episode.
THEN
Castiel crouched low at the edge of the trees behind the Devil's Gate. The initial influx of demons had petered out some, and in the frenzy of being set free, the portal was not yet guarded. He had no idea what he would find on the other side, or even once he was there how he would hope to locate a single human soul in the vast depths of the Pit. But he was determined to try.
…
The sulfurous brume and cloying atmosphere of despair pressed upon Castiel's lungs with each toxic breath he took. Yet he did not turn back. He searched for hours, days maybe—time seemed to pass differently in Hell when there was nothing but an eternity of torment—keeping to hollows and crevices to avoid detection. But his target was not to be found in the barren wastelands of the Pit in some hellhound's den.
No, Castiel would have to turn to the black fortresses where tortured cries rose up in a discordant, unceasing chorus.
…
Staying hidden was more difficult in the confines of the enemy citadel. The crack of a whip and bloodcurdling scream made Castiel flinch where he was pressed into a darkened alcove outside one of the torture chambers. From observations, he had already learned that this particular fortress belonged to a demon named Alastair, and that the ruthless sadist was currently preoccupied with a new 'guest.'
Castiel closed his eyes and opened his senses to the pulse and throb of auras around him. Most were black, some red. Demons. Human souls condemned to this place had traces of other colors in their essences, though none pure. Opaque and dulled was all Castiel sensed, wrapped in fetid shrouds of gray and charcoal. Eventually they would be corrupted into demons.
But amidst all that cacophony was a single pulsar of brilliant green, a soul untainted and defiant, yet writhing in utter agony.
Castiel snapped his eyes open and swept down the corridor.
…
Outside the door of an isolated torture room set in the back of the citadel, Castiel stopped. A human's screams echoed within, along with the muffled musings of someone taking far too much pleasure in his heinous deeds.
Castiel glanced up and down the perpendicular aisles on either side of him, which were momentarily clear. Clenching his fists, Castiel summoned up a small flicker of grace. Bluish-white electricity fizzled along his hands. He opened his palms, and gathered the energy into a crackling sphere. Then he planted his feet apart and shot the ball of lightning all the way down the passage where it struck the wall and exploded.
Castiel ducked into the corner just as the door swung open, nearly hitting him. He heard the demon shout and more commotion from down the hall. Castiel slipped out from behind the door and into the chamber as Alastair sprinted down the hallway to investigate.
Castiel's breath stole from his lungs at the sight of the human hunter on a rack, clothes in bloodied shreds, his torso turned into a canvas of macabre design. His face was stark white, jaw clenched against the pain. Tear tracks left grimy streaks down the sides of his face.
Castiel surged forward and deftly undid the leather restraints. The human moaned, and then cried out when Castiel slung an arm over his shoulder and hauled him off the rack.
He dragged the human into the passageway, and froze when he spotted Alastair round the corner at the end of the hallway. The demon pulled up short, expression slackening in dismay for a split second before it hardened into fury.
Castiel turned the other direction and ran.
…
They managed to escape the fortress, and Castiel finally stopped in the gully of a jagged fissure. As soon as he lowered his charge to the ground, the human scrambled backward against the rock face.
"Who are you?" he ground out.
"Castiel."
Leery hazel eyes rimmed with terror bored into him. "Let me rephrase that; what are you?"
"I'm an angel of the Lord. And I've come to raise you from Perdition."
…
NOW
Gabriel stood at the edge of the war room conference table and gazed around at his assembled garrison, plus two human hunters. The archangel had to admit that a year ago, he never would have imagined himself working side by side with mortals. But the Winchesters had proven themselves on more than one occasion, and as the unofficial representatives of humanity, more or less, they had just as vested an interest in the Apocalypse as the angel resistance.
"So," Gabriel began, "Lucifer's now running top-side. Which means we need to change our strategy."
"We've lost, Gabriel," Hester spoke up. "Lucifer has risen. There's nothing left to do."
"That's the spirit," Balthazar muttered.
She shot him a dark glower. "With our small numbers, we can't even hope to defeat him."
Balthazar grimaced. "True. So, in that case, if no one has any bright ideas, I might just go find a nice winery to wait out the rest of what I'm sure will be a very short war."
Gabriel sighed. "Lucifer doesn't want to fight Michael," he said, raising his voice a tad before anyone else could chime in with their Debbie-Downer thoughts. "He never did, not directly. He'll evade Heaven for as long as possible and simply relish in destroying what's left of the Earth."
"Um," Sam spoke up, "sorry if this is a stupid question, but then how does he hope to win?"
"The earth falling into an unending cycle of death and destruction is Lucifer's idea of winning," Gabriel replied. "All he cares about is smashing Daddy's toys. You see, he was the favorite child before God created humans and such. And he's been locked in the Cage for eons; he'll happily try to wait out Michael in the hopes that Big Brother will eventually give up and surrender the planet to him."
"Not liking these forecasts," Dean put in gruffly.
"You mentioned we need a new strategy," Castiel interjected. "Do you have one in mind?"
Gabriel cocked a finger-gun at him and winked. "Glad you asked! There might be a way to stop all this. Lucifer, the Apocalypse. Of course, it's a long shot in the dark."
The angels exchanged confused looks. Sam Winchester raised his brows expectantly.
"Well, what is it?"
Gabriel folded his arms across his chest. "When God first cast Lucifer into the Cage, he had to lock it. And he couldn't just leave the key lying around for someone to easily let Lucifer out—Dad knew there were secret supporters in the ranks. So he took that key and broke it into pieces and scattered them across the globe."
"Why have we never heard of this?" Anna asked.
"You weren't supposed to. I only know the locations of two pieces, as I was responsible for hiding them. Raphael and Michael took the other two. That way no one archangel knew where to find all the pieces."
"If we don't even know where the final two are, how can we possibly use it to lock Lucifer up again?" Hester huffed.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "One step at a time. Let's start with what we've got and go from there."
"So, this key is supposed to lock the Cage again?" Sam asked. "Does Lucifer just get…sucked in?"
Gabriel grimaced. "Er, no. Someone will have to give him a push. Again, details to figure out later."
"And does that stop everything?" Dean asked next. "The whole Apocalypse? Demons taking over the earth? Angels attacking from on high?"
"Once Lucifer is off the table, Heaven won't have any reason to continue fighting down here," Gabriel answered. "And without its link to the Cage, the Devil's Gate will be weakened, and we'll be able to collapse it. It won't take care of the demons still roaming top-side, but at least no more will be making their way up."
Gabriel watched as the previously skeptical looks started turning intrigued, borderline eager.
"So," Dean said, "you can go get these first pieces?"
"We-ell…" he hedged. "That's where it gets tricky. See, no one was supposed to retrieve them. Ever. So I had to put some safeguards in place."
"What kind of safeguards?" Castiel asked warily.
"Heh, well, for starters, the Seals are warded against any angel from laying hands on their containers. Even myself. And there might be some traps along the way."
"Might be?" Dean repeated.
Yeah…Gabriel had always been predisposed to Trickster tendencies. It's what had made slipping into the identity of Loki in his own private witness protection so easy.
"You two will have to go on this mission to get the Seals," he told the Winchesters.
The brothers exchanged a silent look before turning back to Gabriel.
"Alright," Sam said. "Where do we have to go?"
"One chamber is in South America under an Incan temple, the other under a mountain in the Cascades up in British Columbia."
"Guess we ain't driving," Dean muttered.
"I'll try to make the trip through the ether less strenuous than the last one," Castiel promised.
"Since time is of the essence, I suggest you split up," Gabriel said. "Two Seals, two Winchesters." He swept his gaze over the garrison. "Any one else want to volunteer?"
"Oh, alright," Balthazar spoke up. "I'll go with the Sasquatch."
Sam's jaw ticked at the moniker.
"I've always liked treasure hunts," the angel added blithely.
"I'll go as well," Anna said.
"One angel is fine," Gabriel countered. "I want this mission to be low profile."
"Balthazar isn't exactly subtle," she pointed out.
"Hey!" the other angel exclaimed. "I resemble that!"
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I'm sure he can handle this errand."
Balthazar tossed him a cheeky grin. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Make sure it isn't misplaced." Gabriel turned back to Anna. "In the meantime, I'll be putting together some demon hunting missions for the rest of us, something to make a bit of racket and hopefully keep Heaven from figuring out what we're up to."
Anna ducked her head in assent, and Gabriel once again roved his gaze around to meet those of his brothers and sisters in arms. His heart constricted at the fear wavering in some of their eyes. The encroaching despair and resignation.
"The war ain't over yet," he said firmly. "So let's give em' hell."
After receiving the exact coordinates of the Seals from Gabriel, Castiel and the Winchesters along with Balthazar made their way out of the pocket dimension and into the woods outside.
"I'll flip you for South America," Balthazar said.
Castiel quirked a brow at him. "Why?"
"Lovely weather this time of year. Oh, and the cantinas are a blast. Little umbrellas in the drinks." He gestured with his hands as though holding an imaginary glass.
Sam's face scrunched up in confusion. "Are there actually any places left in the world with open bars?"
"No," Castiel said gruffly.
Dean shook his head. "Fine, whatever. Have fun in the jungle. It's probably hot as hell there."
Castiel frowned, and almost opened his mouth to say the comparative temperatures between the rainforest and Hell were quite different due to levels of humidity, but changed his mind. Based on Dean's tone, the hunter didn't seem keen on visiting any location with higher temperatures that might remind him of the scorching, sweaty cesspool they'd been forced to traverse.
"Any idea what kind of traps we can look forward to?" the older Winchester went on.
Balthazar shrugged. Castiel had asked Gabriel, of course, but the archangel had reluctantly admitted that it'd been so long, he actually didn't remember.
"Not the bucket of glitter above the door frame, I'm sure," Balthazar said.
Dean snorted, then turned to Sam. "Watch your back."
"You too."
"Don't worry," Balthazar chimed in. "I'll look after your gigantor brother. He's hard to lose, after all."
Sam shot the angel a withering look.
"If you run into trouble," Castiel said. "Sam can try to reach me through the bond."
Unfortunately, they hadn't had time to really experiment with the link between them. They'd learned from past experience out of sheer accident that two-way communication was possible under certain circumstances, but Castiel was curious whether it could be developed further.
That was something to be investigated at another time, however.
Balthazar stepped closer to Sam and reached out to grip the young man's arm. With a shimmer of Balthazar's grace, they slipped into the ethereal plane.
Castiel looked at Dean. "Ready?"
The older Winchester grimaced, but gave a resolute nod. Castiel took his arm, and then extended a thin film of his grace around them, encapsulating some oxygen to see Dean through the trip. Travel through the ethereal slipstreams was taxing on humans, the atmosphere too dense for their mortal bodies to endure for long. Castiel also tried to stay in front of Dean as much as possible, shielding him from the buffeting currents as they made their way north.
They exited into the woods at the base of the Cascade Mountain Range in British Columbia. A light dusting of snow sprinkled the area's thick vegetation. Out in the wilderness, it was peaceful enough to forget that war and ruin was ravaging the earth elsewhere.
Dean blinked and took a look around, then rolled his neck. "That was better this time, thanks." He shivered.
Castiel frowned. "Are you cold?"
"It's not that bad," the hunter replied. "I've got layers."
"Yes, your…flannel," Castiel remarked.
"Lay off the flannel, man."
Castiel turned away to hide a smirk. "Whatever you say."
The cold didn't bother him, and so his dark jeans and black jacket zipped all the way up was sufficient.
Castiel focused his gaze on the steep incline of the mountain, scanning through the foliage for the cave mouth where they were to enter. Spotting it, he headed that way. Dean followed, and they came to a stop at the edge while the Winchester got out a flashlight.
"What if there's a bear in there?" Dean asked.
Castiel canted his head for a moment. "The cave is uninhabited."
He ventured inside. Daylight suffused for several yards in before growing fainter, and then the flashlight beam became the primary source of illumination, running over rock walls and the path ahead at Dean's will. If it were completely dark, Castiel's eyesight would be able to adjust more easily to the one setting, but he'd have to make do for his human companion.
They pressed further in, and Castiel wondered just how deep into the mountain Gabriel had buried the Seal. And when they would come upon the traps.
There was the sudden sound of rock slipping, and in the next instant, a high-pitched squealing assaulted Castiel's ears. A swarm of fluttering dark shadows attacked in a mass of tiny claws and battering wing beats. The flashlight beam dropped to the ground and rolled as Dean threw his arms up to shield his head. Castiel swung blindly, but his opponents were too small and too many.
In as quickly as they had descended, the colony of bats had finished darting past and escaping out through the mouth of the cave. Castiel slowly straightened, blinking in surprise at the unexpectedness of that. Dean stood as well, eyes wide and pulse throbbing in the side of his neck. The hunter bent down to pick up the flashlight.
"What was that about the cave being uninhabited?" he said, apparently recovered enough from his fright to be cheeky.
Castiel shot him a glower, and resumed their trek into the heart of the mountain.
A/N: Sounds like we're in for an Indiana Jones type of episode! XD