Apparently an archangel-turned-Pagan-Trickster-god just couldn't get a job done in peace any more. Said being, had been minding his own business out on the docks in a little Maine town, the cold air turning his breath to smoke as he watched a Great White Shark terrorize a fisherman who had a habit of taking more then his fair share of illegal game. He was perched atop one of the large metal structures-probably a crane or something for loading or unloading the cargo ships. The angel hadn't bothered to actually check what he was perched on-grinning down as the man screamed and scrabbled to the middle of his boat as the Great White yet again bumped the side. His little fishy was big, Bruce from Jaws big, bigger then any fish who was swimming around in the tiny little Main inlet had any business being. His friend would never believe a word of his story in the morning.
But something had Gabriel looking up, tearing his eyes away from the amusing scene in front of him to look at the inky black sky. It wasn't the sky he was looking at of course, it was the four spots of Grace, brilliant among the dullness of human souls around him, heading straight for him that he was turning his attention to. And these days that many angels weren't coming to just say 'hey'. The next moment Gabriel was standing in a more abandoned section of a dock several towns over, leaving his fishy to terrorize the man for a few more hours before inexplicably sinking back into the deep. Gabriel's initial intention had been to give his brethren the slip but as three suited men and one woman appeared around him it looked like that plan had royally failed.
"Hey guys! What's shakin'?" Gabriel asked the surrounding angels, instantly knowing them from the feel of their Grace despite their unfamiliar (and probably temporary) vessels.
"We have been sent to collect you, Brother." one of them, Abrasiel he recalled her full name being, got right down to business-her blade suddenly in her hand.
"...'Collect me'?...You guys are kidding, right?" he asked, looking around into the stereotypical stony faces of his brothers and sister," I forgot, not the kidding type. Abby, come on, you can't seriously think -"
"And yet we do, Brother, we have received Revelation that this is our task." Orphiel said from his left, "Come with us peaceably and we can keep this simple."
Although it felt good to vent some irritation towards the brothers, Castiel knew it was unfair; after all, they needed to be hidden from Angel's, and they thought he was dead. So, it wasn't like they were intentionally making things difficult, though instead of finding either boys, Castiel seemed to be finding others who seemed to need help. Not that Castiel was annoyed by the distractions, each child of God deserved his attention, it just felt that there were more important things at hand, what with the ending of the world, then the seemingly smaller things. Yet Dean's words kept echoing, that the whole point of this suffering world were the people in it, their hope, their families, their lives, their freedom, it all made life worth living. What happened when they had none of these things? Or suffered so greatly that life just didn't seem worth living? Walking amongst humans, sensing their emotions, their thoughts, it tended at times to be very depressing.
Perhaps Castiel was spending too much time on Earth already, granted it hadn't really been long at all, but there was a distinct hole in his heart, he missed home and he even missed the siblings he didn't get along with so well. Perhaps that is what brought Gabriel to mind, Gabriel, Anna, all the others that, yet of all of them, Gabriel seemed the most likely to at least listen. After what he had done to Anna… Castiel could barely bring himself to think of the matter, his betrayal was cowardice and shameful and he should have been stronger. Finding Gabriel hadn't been the easiest task after he just rescued him from Lucifer, but it wasn't impossible either, the archangel didn't seem desperately deep undercover as previously. Or maybe Castiel had just gotten that good at tracking… or maybe not, it seemed his older brother had guests and the Angel hung back to take in the situation. Yet Castiel didn't have to do much, Gabriel came to his savoury. He had been dumped by some road side, he waited but Gabriel hadn't followed so he decided to do a little digging around.
"Revelation from who? God? Please, my old man is a dustman, he wears a dustman's hat, he wears cor-blimy trousers and he lives in a council flat." Gabriel broke into the song. "Dad, did give a shit one time, he probably still does, he just doesn't show it anymore, so why pretend now?" Gabriel said, pretty sure God wasn't the one who suddenly gave a crap about him, even with the current situation in Heaven.
"Brother, it is not our place to question the Will of-" Abrasiel began, that notion of mindless obedience still drilled into her head.
"The Will of the Lord, yeah, I know. I hate to tell you this but this isn't Dad's will, you guys are following, it hasn't been for a long time." Gabriel said, turning as he heard the sound of another angel blade being slid from clothing behind him.
"Enough, Brother, your words are close to blasphemy. Come with us now before we must force you." That was Penatiel behind him, the vessel he was possessing large enough to overwhelm Gabriel's smaller frame even without the addition of Grace.
"Sorry, but that's just not gonna happen little Bro." he saw it now, that these four were going to try and drag him back to Heaven either way. Divine Revelation his ass, this was probably Raphael's handiwork (Mikey and Lucy were to busy fighting each other in the pit to care about him) or that asshat Zachariah. His own angel blade dropped down from his sleeve as he saw determination and self righteousness fall on the faces of the other angels. So this really was gonna go down then.
Angel talk for 'we will do what we are told at any cost', Castiel wondered if they had 'Revelation' over how to deal with their renegade brother… if they knew Castiel was alive again, anyway. What their current task was, however, had Castiel curiously watching. Bobby had asked for help on figuring out about these horsemen, granted Castiel knew a lot about them; their weaknesses however, not so much. With Gabriel's age and knowledge, Castiel had hoped that the self-proclaimed Trickster may have been willing to shed some sort of light on the matter. Instead, he seemed to be entertaining visitors. But Castiel knew what The Devil wanted. The boy, the antichrist, Jessie Turner. That was Castiel's biggest weapon against Satan tight now.
Maybe Castiel had not been the only one to think Gabriel could be of help, if he had just missed his chance of gaining information, Castiel was going to be rather annoyed. Since when did Gabriel even indulge Heaven's requests? Last Castiel knew the guy was going out of his way to keep his distance from everyone picking sides, especially since their previous meeting. It wasn't that Castiel didn't understand the drive Gabriel felt to have things return back to how things were in the beginning, but Lucifer had gone too far, his anger festered too deep. There was never going to be that happy family scene with them all standing tall, together, united under their father's eternal love. Even Castiel still held out the hope that his siblings would forgive him for siding with the humans over Heaven's forces.
The words caused any thoughts of leaving before discovery to vanish, the Angel's surrounding Gabriel were far from friendly looking, they were intent on carrying out their business. But Gabriel, he didn't seem keen on making it easy for them; maybe things hadn't changed as much during Castiel's absence as it felt at times. It was hard to suppress the roll of Castiel's eyes, he was fed up with it all, fed up with how they never listened, never seemed to just think about how ridiculously out of character many of these orders seemed that supposedly came from their father.
And for once in a long time, something the two Angel's agreed on, Castiel moved quietly closer, keeping out of sight of those closing in on the archangel. Force. Force. Tension could be seen visibly in Castiel's jaw, he'd let Anna get taken, and after he'd been taken, after all he had endured during that, he still caved in and let Anna be taken! Well, if they wanted to drag off another Angel, then that would just have to be the trigger that Castiel said he'd need in order to risk being discovered alive.
At seemingly some unforeseen signal Orphiel rushed him from the front in the same moment Penatiel came at him from the back, seemingly intent on just snatching him up by surprise and making a run for the pearly gates before Gabriel could get his bearings. But they seemed to forget he was an archangel, a fight was what he was created for, so before either of the angels could grab a good hold Gabriel had vanished and his brothers ran into each other.
He had been planning on landing on the other side of the globe but only got so far as the end of the dock-an Enochian binding sigil smeared on the ground had him cursing. It even had his name on it, how sweet of them. But Abrasiel's blade cutting the air inches from his chest caught his attention. She had always been a quick one. But with his attention turned to block the angel in front of him Gabriel didn't see Penatiel coming up behind him again until the angels forearm was around his throat.
"Listen, I know where Castiel is, I just saved him from Lucifer give me a break already! I know you used to follow Raphael and Castiel is the next big follower but I hate to rub it in guys, I told you so!"
Though still, Gabriel was powerful, instead of charging in recklessly, Castiel stayed back. At first there had been relief that Gabriel decided to flee instead of stand his ground, relief because at least it meant Castiel had a chance to find him on his own. He had so many questions after the night Gabriel had saved him from Lucifer. Though concerned since if Heaven decided to hunt the archangel, Gabriel would go back into deep hiding. Apparently, the Angels had thought of that too, and prepared for the risk of Gabriel just leaving without a fight. The older Angel hadn't gotten far, Castiel could sense them right outside, and with a deep breath, and blade ready in hand, the wayward Angel found himself behind a rather large bulk of a figure outside.
Driving the Angel Blade through his brother, Castiel felt the same pang of guilt as always, sure it had to be done, in order to stop the end of the world and all that, however it didn't mean Castiel was enjoying doing it, the beasts inside of him were having a ball however. "The problem with blind faith, is that you can't see the truth when it is masked by deception." The deep tones of Castiel's voice could be heard as the body fell with a brief brilliance of white light. The Angel he stabbed lay limp on the ground, lifeless with a wingspan burned out across the area beside him. A brief look was offered to Gabriel, before turning his attention to the others. "Here's a question, if what I did was so against the will of our father – it has been made clear by many… why did he then bring me back?" A steely gaze focused on Abrasiel, watching intently the female, while still being ready to defend himself. Waiting to see if perhaps the shock of his return might offer them an opportunity to just leave; he'd rather not have to fight them to the death, not unless they forced his hand. "Here's something to think about…" he added "I know what Lucifer wants, kill Gabriel and I now you might end the only chance to save yourselves."