Did Castiel know he was lying to Gabriel? Or at the very least not giving him the full story? Gabriel wasn't really aware how good his lying skills were against angels, who tended to be a bit more in tune to that sort of thing. But whether he knew it or not, the younger angel didn't call him out on it, instead he went about answering his later question in possibly the most roundabout way Gabriel had ever heard. So, yes, in short, they were thinking of going up against the Horsemen. But the archangel couldn't help but tighten his jaw at his younger sibling's words on two fronts: one, of course it was about the Winchesters—Gabriel highly doubted that Castiel would ever think of going up against the Horsemen if it wasn't for those two. The Horsemen weren't demons—they were created by God as instruments of the Apocalypse, so technically they were on the side of Heaven. And pre-Dean Winchester Castiel would have never fathomed getting in the way of an instrument of God.

The second thing he disagreed with was Castiel's whole spiel about free will and the human right to their own planet. Sure, Gabriel supposed they had a right to live but of course, the humans that knew about their oncoming doom tried to stop it—it was nothing more than basic survival instinct on their part. But did the humans have any idea what it was doing to his family? He had just had to watch his younger brother kill three of his siblings and nearly kill a fourth over these humans instinct to continue their own existence. If the humans would just give it up and allow the Apocalypse to happen, to get over any silly hang-ups about death or the afterlife or whatever they had, let Lucifer have his little bitch-fit and have it be done…well there would be no more reason to fight, would there? Lucifer probably wouldn't be accepted back into Heaven (sure, the Apocalypse had been foretold since he was a fledgling angel but he had been a bit of a dick about it) but at the very least the fighting would stop. Why should they have to tear their own family apart for the sake of the humans?...But that was exactly the thinking that had gotten Lucifer a one way ticket downward into Hell. All of a sudden Gabriel wasn't as set in his pro-Apocalypse, 'Winchesters play your roles' way as he had been since this whole thing started up. He just didn't know any more.

He supposed this train of thought had played out on his face pretty much in real time to a brother who knew him well enough. Lucifer would have been able to read every single thought off of his expressions alone with zero doubt about his little brothers feelings. He would probably have encouraged this thought process, maybe tried to warp it to suite his needs, maybe not—Gabriel didn't know his older brother as well as he used to any more. No more then he knew if Castiel would be able to make a correct interpretation of his thoughts from his face.

"Got some of that free will for yourself there, huh?" Gabriel said with a slight smile, despite everything liking this new development in his brother, though his smile faded on his next words.

The thought hadn't entirely crossed Castiel's mind, it was still hard for him, easier to conceive the idea that he was merely bending the rules instead of out right breaking them. However that thought was pretty much out the window once you consider that as far as Heaven or Hell were concerned, there were only two ways this war would go, to either of those specific two sides; why didn't humanity get a chance in their plans? Castiel eyed Gabriel enough that it was clear the younger Angel was a little torn between wondering if Gabriel considered any air of freewill a good or bad thing in this scenario.

"Though I'd like it better if you didn't do leaping into Death's arms-this whole thing with the Horsemen is just plain stupid" Gabriel continued…

A frown settled on Castiel's brow as he listened to his brother talk, there was concern in the eyes, for more then just Castiel dislodging the pre-destined plans set in motion. Did Gabriel really worry about Castiel just 'throwing his life away' as the elder suggested? It was hard to trust his siblings nowadays, between hunting Castiel, the torture, the threats, the beating him around, the whole killing him off thing as well, Lucifer's deal, it all was getting too much.

"Have you got any idea how powerful those bastards are? How ancient they are? People say Death is at least as old as our Father…"

The hesitance in Castiel's gaze as he shifted eye contact suggested that he was aware, that perhaps he even feared the idea, yet was going ahead with it regardless. The vague flicker of apprehension grew that little brighter as Gabriel continued.

"The Horsemen can affect our vessels, Castiel, even mine, so you can forget about even getting within five feet of them let alone close enough to stop them from doing their thing."

That sounded, unnerving, Castiel's frown remained settled once more on the archangel as he finished up.

"You should know better, let the Winchesters go get themselves killed trying to stop them."

Clearly the mention of the humans dying caused some form of upset inside of Castiel, which had been attempted to be kept out of sight of the elder sibling. Whether Gabriel would be swayed by the chosen approach or still anger at the interference, Castiel could only wait, watching the others expression and inwardly bracing himself for any retaliation. Clearly there was some sort of thought process going on, though Castiel had not had the amount of time he'd have liked to grow as close to his older siblings before loyalties began to split as he would of wanted to. They all had developed so tight a bond and it was hard sometimes finding the time needed to spend with them between various chores, tasks and not to mention the different levels of Heaven each resided in and were busy watching over. Then there was Gabriel's decent to Earth and soon enough him parading around as a Pagan God, it felt like much time together had been robbed from them due to this never ending fight. Still, it was clear there was some doubt, or some sort of hesitance, something that might be able to be talked around into seeing things a different way.

"The Winchester's weren't the ones, who tore me from my vessel for speaking my mind, nor did they force me to betray my sister, and they weren't the ones who exploded me without an air of regret in their eyes." The words were strained to remain level, steady, the raw emotion bubbling deep within barely contained under the façade of composure. Anna was a sore spot, amongst all the emotional wounds that lay beneath the barriers, she was more an infection, the guilt festered more painful then that of the slice in his side. "There are three sides to this war, Gabriel. What right do we have to declare that humanity has no say in it, when it involves their home, and their families too? What makes our brethren so much better that we can treat our father's creation, his children, as ants to be stepped upon?" There was more to all this then just Dean's words which had opened the angel's eyes, or in fact that Lucifer tried dealing with. Castiel was the Angel of Thursday, by God's will he was tasked with guiding people during transition, by divine rights Castiel was a guardian of these very people that his family was threatening.

How can any of them turn their backs on the very beings that their father had them guide and console for so many countless of their generations? He hadn't been the first Angel to realize that something was off with the orders pouring down from heaven, yet it really started to feel like he had been stuck right in the middle of it all, and sometimes it felt like a very lonely place to be. Surely Gabriel could understand on some level, even if he exiled himself from their home, even if it had been by choice not to return, Gabriel had to have felt the loneliness of losing touch with the family he had grown up with, and that was all because the archangel had a different view on the matter. He didn't want to pick one side over the other, but in itself, that isolated the heavenly being and confined his options to but a few; run and hide and avoid it all.

"You're right, it wasn't the Winchesters—all that was the dicks we have to call our family! Raphael was the one who turned you into finger paint, though really he's always been kind of a douchebag. No, instead the Winchesters are treating you as their own personal holy WMD—the two of them are so busy making angsty puppy eyes at each other and lamenting their own destinies they can't be bothered to give a shit about the eventual hell they're dragging you into!" Gabriel shot back, almost able to feel his temper slowly getting the best of him.

A perplexed squint of Castiel's eyes flickered into view at the mention of being their 'WMD', though the rise of frustration quickly drowned it out. Not that Gabriel was unjust in his complaints, Castiel had more then once felt Dean had been a little too absorbed in his own problems to consider Castiel's. Some of the commentary slung the angel's way wasn't always the most pleasing or sympathetic or understanding… There had been times the two had seen eye to eye., however, and those times had been potent enough to see Castiel through some of the very things Gabriel stressed about. The archangel was furious, Castiel was still recovering from the betrayal of Rapheal's careless disposal of him back at Chuck's house. It made the situation more then just a little uncomfortable.

"And I like humans ,I really do Cas, but I'd throw them under the bus in a heartbeat at this point if it meant all of this bullshit stopped. Because in the end, the only ones that are going to lose here is us—cause lemme tell yah, unless this Apocalypse train gets back on track again all the fighting that's been going on? The deaths and the in-fighting and everything else? Just like I said back in that warehouse: none of it's ever gonna stop and pretty soon no one's gonna be left standing; they'll all have killed each other!... So I say let Michael and Lucifer have at it, it's better than Heaven destroying itself trying to make it happen!"

There was anger, real heart felt pain that burned to the core of the elder being, had things been different Castiel may not have hesitated in offering some sort of support, right now the lower angel found himself rather glued; resembling a deer before oncoming rays of light that one couldn't tell as being from a car or perhaps a sunrise.

So maybe humans were better than angels would ever be, but Gabriel had been on Earth long enough to know that the great blue spinning ball and all of the people in it were cold comfort when then homesickness really kicked in. And in the Archangels eyes it would only be worse when there was no home to go back to anymore, if all the angels destroyed themselves in the aftermath of the failed Apocalypse. To him in that moment as before the reverse of Castiel's assertions were true—just because humans were better why did it have to mean the angels had to all end up throwing themselves onto the fire just to save them?

So maybe Dean Winchester was right, maybe what he'd said back in their warehouse in the aftermath of his little TV land trick had been true: maybe Gabriel was too much of a coward to stand up to his family. Maybe it was because he had been alive to long, maybe he'd experienced to much of the Heaven he considered home, been allowed to get too close to his own family. Maybe he was the biggest coward of them all; maybe he should just join the ranks of Team Winchester and start shanking his family left and right in the valiant effort to save humanity. But where did Dean get off telling him that when he could never bare to do the same with his brother? Back in the days when Big Jonny Winchester told Dean that Sam would turn evil, when he'd been addicted to the demon blood, before he'd royally fucked his whole species over and killed Lilith, Dean still didn't 'stand up to his family'.

And besides, say they did win. Say those humans stopped the Apocalypse one way or another, the Earth got to keep all its humans and said humans got to go on with their everyday lives, and Heaven was just left to kill each other until no one else was left. Then where would either of them be? All that would be left was Castiel, those god damned Winchesters and Gabriel (if he managed to keep his ass alive and out of the fighting that is). No home. No Heaven. No brothers or sisters or Father. Just left to wander around in a world full of humans until they died, went bat shit insane or the world ended some other way. In Gabriel's mind they could take that offer and shove it up their asses. Thanks but no thanks.