A.N. FORGIVE ME! I know I promised I'd try to update sooner but I'm just suffering of a massive case of writer's block! It feels like I'm forcing the words out and I hate that, gah. Anyway...(takes a deep breath)...someone asked if we were going to see Michael or Raphael. Surprise! Also, I used Gabriel and Lucifer's dialogue from the actual show, but I had to change it a bit to fit the context. Hope it's not too messed up. Please continue to review, I love reading your comments, and I'm in terrible need of suggestions. Although I should be able to finish the story in a couple more chapters, so let's hope my muse stops giving me the cold shoulder. Anyways, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT SO FAR.

Disclaimer: Supernatural and its wonderful characters are sadly not mine.


Dean was fuming. He'd been discussing terms with that demonic son of a bitch Crowley for about an hour and he just couldn't get out of that room fast enough. He yanked his coat from the chair and stomped out of his office. The chuckle that followed after him was just short of making him turn around and shoot the guy. As he went to exit the building, he (almost literally) ran into a tall man with a pretty expensive suit (not that Dean gave a crap, but in a town like this one clothes like that tend to stand out).

Grumbling out an apology, he went to walk around the guy when a calm voice, with a tone that almost immediately pissed him off even more than he already was, stopped him in his tracks.

"Dean Winchester." He froze, taking a long breath to stop himself from lashing out. And he was this close.

"Yeah." He didn't turn around, trying to make it evident that he wasn't planning on staying any longer.

"I believe you know my brothers, Castiel and Gabriel." Dean's stomach turned upside down, and he felt sick at the mention of those names. He couldn't stop thinking of what that psycho would be doing to Castiel right now, and thinking of Gabriel waiting out in the hospital didn't calm him down any.

As he turned around, Dean finally took his time to look at the man. He had dark hair and blue eyes, colors that made his heart clench with thoughts of his best friend. Heaving a sigh, Dean suddenly felt exhausted. He wasn't in the mood to talk with this guy right now.

"So which one are you? Michael or Raphael?" he asked, green eyes digging into stoic blue ones.

The man arched an eyebrow, as though surprised that Dean would know of the members of the Novak family. "I am Michael." The way he said it, like he expected Dean to bow down and apologize, made Dean's anger come roaring back. He was already dying to punch the guy in the face.

"Well, unless you're here to tell me that Cas is safe and that psycho's locked up for good, I'd suggest you turn tail and leave, Mikey." He sneered, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because some of us are actually trying to get shit done." He felt a brief satisfaction at the surprise in Michael's eyes and was about to turn around again and leave the pompous bastard standing there when he was addressed once again by His Majesty.

"I suggest you treat me with more respect, detective. I have done nothing for you to talk to me like that." Dean felt anger boil inside him and turned an icy glare at the man.

"That's just my point, you son of a bitch. You've done nothing to get your brother back, while we've been here busting our asses trying to find a way to save him."

Michael actually didn't rise to the bait and stayed calm, which only frustrated Dean more. "I'm trying to help my brother."

"It's been three days, damn it!" he finally exploded, taking a step closer to Michael. He knew all eyes were on them, and that he should control himself before he did something stupid; but he couldn't care less. "And where the hell have you been, huh? Waiting warm and safe at home for Cas to be delivered back while you sat quietly with your thumbs up your ass?"

Dean could see the rage in Michael's eyes now, could see him just itching to give Dean a piece of his mind. But instead he glowered coldly at him and responded with forced calm, "You shouldn't be so quick to judge, detective." He glared, "I'm worried about my brother. Otherwise I wouldn't have come here to ask you for help."

Surprised at the honest concern that was finally noticeable in Michael's eyes, Dean forced himself to calm down. Glancing around them briefly, he nodded towards his office, well aware that Crowley and Bobby were probably still in there. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, he guided Michael to the room.

Dean noticed the coldness coming from the man beside him the moment they walked in, and looked between Crowley and Michael with a confused frown.

"What is this filth doing here?" he asked, lip curling in disgust around the word.

"This filth," Crowley responded immediately, a polite smile that was betrayed by the look of dislike in his eyes, "Is the one who found your beloved baby brother."

Dean felt hatred emanating from Michael in waves, "Never took you for one to deal with the law, Crowley. I trust your business is not completely ruined just yet?"

Crowley's eyes narrowed, a short humorless chuckle heaving his shoulders up, "It will run smoothly once I've gotten rid of your satanic brother." Michael was full on throwing daggers at him, "I must admit, though, I never thought I'd see you reduce yourself to asking the help of a small town police department." He smirked, "How the mighty have fallen."

"Alright, ladies, shut your cake holes." Bobby interrupted. "Let's get down ta business." He looked at Dean, nodding at him to start explaining.

"We already know were Lucifer's taken Cas. The only problem we have right now is back up." He glanced at Michael, "We don't have many officers that are trained for this kind of intervention, and frankly most are too young or too old to go out to the field." He ran a hand through his hair tiredly. He just wanted to get his friend back, shoot Lucifer in the ass and sleep for a couple of years.

Michael nodded, back to his calm and stoic self. "That won't be a problem. Just tell me how many people you want and I'll arrange for them to be sent here immediately." Dean didn't comment on the way Michael talked about officers like they were merchandise, the guy was actually helping.

"Great. Bobby, think you can figure out the numbers?"

"Sure thing."

"Well that's one problem solved," Dean turned his eyes to Crowley, "Are you willing to send some of your people, are you coming…what's your plan?"

"I'm coming." Dean raised his eyebrows, he would've taken Crowley to be the kind of guy to sit back and let his stooges do the dirty work. It seemed like Crowley noticed his surprise and let out a breath, "That little fanatic Satanist worked for me, I need to make sure she learns not to cross me." He arched an eyebrow, "If you want a job well done…" he didn't finish, smirking in a way that make Dean feel bad for the stupid bitch that had let Lucifer out.

"Fine, whatever." His eyes turned serious, "But don't expect us to cover your ass. You go in there, you watch your own back."

"And here I thought you and I were starting to be friends." Crowley said sarcastically, his grin widening slightly when Dean rolled his eyes.

"I'm coming too." They all turned around to see Gabriel leaning on the doorframe.

"Gabe, what the—?" his question was interrupted by Michael's reprimanding tone.

"Gabriel." Golden eyes looked up to meet blue ones.

"Hey, bro." he greeted, tone lazed with bitterness, "Finally moved out of Daddy's chair? Thought you'd fly down and visit the family?"

Michael remained quiet, meeting Gabriel's glare but not rising to the bait.

"Gabe you should be in the hospital," Dean took over, stepping over to the shorter man, not liking the way he was putting his weight on the door. "Your leg—"

"Is perfectly fine, Dean-o." he finished with a small grin, "I could care less what you think I should be doing right now. If you're going to get Cas, I'm going with you. Besides, Luci needs a spanking." Dean looked at Gabriel in the eyes, could see the way he was pleading him to understand. He did understand. Gabriel had never forgiven himself for leaving Castiel alone after what had happened with Lucifer the first time. He wanted to step up to the plate and have a hand in saving his little brother; the way he couldn't do last time. "I'm done running." He added quietly, only for Dean to hear.

Heaving a sigh, he nodded, patting Gabriel's shoulder reassuringly. "You gonna need crutches?" he teased.

Gabriel snorted, back in character, "Please. With a couple of painkillers, I'll be fit to run a marathon." He paused, glancing down at his leg briefly, "Maybe."

Dean chuckled, glancing behind him to see that Michael and Crowley were discussing the op with Bobby. Looking back at Gabe, he kept his voice quiet as he asked, "How's Emily?"

Gabriel's eyes softened, "She's better. Finally convinced her to go home and get some rest; I'm pretty sure she hasn't slept since…" he stopped himself, looking down. Dean nodded, squeezing his shoulder gently.

"We'll get him back, Gabe." Golden eyes met his, and Dean met them with as much confidence as he could muster, "I promise."

Gabriel chuckled quietly, "Don't make any promises you can't make, Winchester," he shook his head, but Dean could see the hope in his eyes, "But let's hope you're right."

"We'll be ready to go in a few hours; as soon as Mikey can get our back up here." Gabriel snickered at the nickname, "Until then, you should get some rest. You come in your car, or do you need a ride home?"

"Wouldn't dream of rejecting a ride in that beautiful car of yours, Dean-o."


Dean glanced at Gabriel, unable to ignore the way he limped towards the entrance of the building. This really couldn't be a good idea, but as an older brother, he understood why Gabriel couldn't just wait for them to bring Cas out. They'd given him a bulletproof vest, and he had actually surprised them by showing them just how well he could use a gun. Scary thought.

But aside from that limp, and whether it was from adrenaline or the amount of pain meds he'd probably taken, Gabriel seemed like he would be okay. He looked to his other side to see Sam. His little brother had received all the training Dean had from their dad, and had refused to stay behind. Dean knew his brother knew what he was doing, but he couldn't help but be worried. Lucifer had done horrible things to his own younger brother, the thought of what he could do to Sammy if things went wrong made him want to send his brother back out with Bobby and their back up.

Crowley walked with them. The demon looked like he knew his ways with a gun, and Dean honestly didn't like the guy, but he didn't want him dead either, so that at least was one less thing he had to worry about.

It was quiet. Eerily so. Dean's nerves were on edge as they walked up the stairs of the old building. He had to admit it, Lucifer had chosen his hideout well. This was a mostly abandoned part of a neighboring town. He was close enough to make threats, but hidden enough that no one could notice what he was doing. Or hear the screams that came from the old hotel. He shook those thoughts away.

It was only the four of them and six of Michael's men. Crowley had informed them that Lucifer didn't really have that many people here; that they were all prowling around on the loose. He'd also assured them that getting rid of Lucifer would be like cutting the snake's head, and that his underlings should stop and go into hiding as soon as Lucifer's threat disappeared.

Their target was on the top floor.

Walking carefully up the stairs, they reached the sixth.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here." Dean tensed, gun pointed at the woman that had apparently been waiting for them, accompanied by five big and ugly stooges. Her hands were on her hips as she tilted her head and clicked her tongue playfully, "You really shouldn't have come here, boys."

"Shut the fuck up." Dean growled. He didn't have time for this. Cas didn't have time for this. "Where is he?"

She raised an eyebrow, eyes shining with twisted amusement, "I'm assuming you mean the blue eyed angel?" she smirked, shaking her head, "Oh, Clarence stopped screaming a loooong time ago," she actually seemed turned on by the fact, much to Dean's disgust. And he really wanted to shoot her right now. "Pity," she chuckled breathily, closing her eyes in a mockingly dreamy expression, "He has such a nice raspy voice."

Dean felt hatred boiling inside of him, but before he could snarl a response back, Crowley made his way to the front. The woman's smile widened when she saw him, "Crowley." She drawled.

"Whore." Crowley greeted, raising his eyebrows, unimpressed as always. Dean smirked as the smile left Meg's face — at least he was pretty sure she was the infamous Meg.

"Okay, you know what?" she sneered, nodding at the gorillas behind her. "Sic' em." She ordered, and Dean would have laughed at the fact that they obeyed like a bunch of dogs if he wasn't in a hurry. He pointed at the first guy coming at them, but Crowley was faster.

Without batting an eyelash, the demon (he had to be) shot the guys in between the eyes, and they fell to the ground with a thud practically at the same time. Exchanging an impressed look with Sam, he looked back to see Meg stare at Crowley with hatred and something akin to fear.

Crowley shrugged, "What?" Dean could hear the satisfaction in his voice, "You really thought Lucifer didn't see you as a filthy bag of pus like he sees everyone outside of his family? My, my," she fell to the floor with an agonized scream as Crowley shot her in the knee. "You really are a stupid little girl." he tsked.

Dean frowned as Meg pressed a hand to her wounded knee, trying but unable to keep the pain from her expression. Before he could say anything, however, Crowley turned to look at him and rolled his eyes. "Are you going to stay and watch the show, or are you going to be the knight in shinning armor and slay the monster upstairs?" Dean glared at him, "I told you, as soon as I found her, I'd deal with her." He nodded towards the stairs that continued up the building, "Now get going, you functioning morons."

The detective felt a pang of childish indignation and couldn't stop himself before replying lamely, "Y-you're functioning…morons."

Gabriel whistled, "Smooth, Dean-o."

"Shut up."

Sam snorted and patted his shoulder before walking towards the stairs, Dean swiftly catching up to him with Gabriel and Michael's guys on toe. He should've asked their names, but with a brief glance at them, Dean concluded that it would probably be like talking to moving statues. Or robots.

Dean busted his mind trying to think of anything other than Cas at the moment.

He stopped screaming hours ago…

That couldn't mean…No. Castiel could not be dead. He couldn't.

As they reached the eighth floor, he barely managed to duck out of the way of a bullet. It struck one of Michael's men in the chest, and Dean glanced at the man briefly as he choked on his own blood on the floor. Clenching his jaw, he searched for the attacker. His anger rose to a whole new level when he found out who it was.

"Uriel." He snarled.

And there the bastard stood, smiling like he'd been waiting for this moment his whole life. "Winchester…" he glanced at Sam, "And Winchester." He chuckled briefly before he spotted Gabriel, his smile faded, "Gabriel."

"What's up, Ury?" Gabriel grinned, although the hatred in his eyes made his expression kind of scary, "You know? Dean called you something the other day…" he glanced at Dean and winked, "What was it…I kind of really liked it."

"Junkless?" he offered, humoring him.

Gabriel snapped his fingers, "That's the one!" he threw a sly grin towards the junkless man in question, "Can't believe it'd never occurred to me before. It's so fitting."

Uriel glowered at them, obviously dying to shoot them all dead, "It's a pity Lucifer ordered me not to kill you, Gabriel. You're lucky."

A mocking snort left the shorter man's lips, "Right. Blame your impotence on my big bro. That what you do to justify kidnapping Castiel?"

Uriel's eyes narrowed, but he seemed to lower his guard for a moment, which was all Michael's remaining soldiers needed to step forward and train their guns on Uriel, who was now at a disadvantage. "You go ahead, sir." One of them told Dean, "Mr. Novak has asked us to keep him alive. We'll deal with him."

Dean nodded at them and directed a last glance at Uriel, "Karma's a bitch," he snarled, "Bitch."

Uriel took a step forward in fury, "You—"

"Don't move!" he was surrounded by Michael's soldiers (they were stuck with the term now), "Drop your weapon!"

After he heard the telltale clutter of a gun on the floor, Dean deemed it safe to turn his back on Uriel and head up the stairs to the last floor, followed closely by Sam and Gabriel. He didn't like that they were the only ones left, but he had a feeling that Lucifer wouldn't have any of his minions with him.

Just Cas.

He shook the thought away from his mind and kept going. He needed to focus. They reached the last floor, only to find it empty. As he looked around, cold sweat pearling his forehead, their breathing too loud in the otherwise quiet floor, his eyes roamed the doors of the last suites in the floor.

"Dean." He looked at Sam, who was pointing at a door far to their left. It was opened just a crack. Dean suddenly felt his throat tighten, but nodded at Sam.

"Gabe." He muttered, "I…" he licked his dry lips before turning to Gabriel, who seemed to already know what he was going to say. "Are you sure you want to go in?" he met his eyes, "You can wait here, Lucife—"

"Lucifer's my brother too, Dean." He replied in a quiet yet firm voice, "It's time for me to face the music."

He heaved a sigh, nodding numbly before adjusting his grip on his gun. He exchanged a last look with his brother and Gabriel, then walked slowly to the door. It creaked open, the noise making them wince as it shattered the silence around them. With a steadying breath, Dean stepped inside, looking around a small living room. He was fleetingly surprised at the size of the suite. It must have been a nice hotel once upon a time.

"So it's true." A voice broke the silence, making them tense. A man stood in the doorway that lead to the bedroom, leaning against the frame in a way that could only be described as laidback. He was wearing jeans and an open button down green shirt, a dark gray t-shirt underneath it. He looked so freaking…normal. His blond hair reminded him more of Gabriel than the other two Novaks he knew, although it was lighter. His eyes, however, they were a grayish blue; cold save for the slight curiosity that seemed to spark in them.

And what was worse; his hands and arms were covered in blood. Specks of the scarlet liquid stained his cheeks and clothes. Dean needed to find Cas. Now.

"The famous Dean Winchester has actually found me."

Dean stayed silent. Something about the man instilled fear inside him. Cold amused eyes moved up to look at Sam, and he felt his instincts fight to take over and shield him from the monster in front of him. "So you must be…" those eyes lit up slightly, "Sam." Dean didn't like the way he said that name, "You are…" his eyes met Dean's once again, "Dean's little brother." A small smile curled his lips up, and he hummed thoughtfully, "Interesting."

Instincts won over caution, and Dean stepped in front of his gigantic brother, eyes gleaming with hatred and warning.

"Stop harassing them, Lucifer." Gabriel's voice almost echoed in the old room.

Lucifer's eyes finally met his brother's, and Dean could have sworn he saw something akin to fondness in them; but it was gone too fast. "You defend them," he seemed surprised, annoyed and indifferent at the same time, "Gabriel. Really. I mean I knew you liked walking around commoners but," he waved his hands slightly, lip slightly curled up in disgust, "I hope you didn't catch anything."

Dean watched as Gabriel's golden eyes softened. Despite everything, Dean could see that Gabe didn't really hate Lucifer. "Lucifer," he sighed, "You're my brother, and I love you." His eyes hardened, "But you are a great big bag of dicks."

"What did you just say to me?" Lucifer walked forward, making Sam and Dean step back, but Gabriel only raised his gun in warning.

"Look at yourself." Gabriel pressed, "Boohoo!" he mocked, "Daddy's not here so now I'm gonna stomp around a slam doors."

"Watch your tone." Lucifer warned, voice quiet and dangerous. It made a chill run up Dean's spine as he watched the encounter, slowly moving towards the bedroom as Lucifer left his post, distracted by Gabriel's taunt.

"Play the victim all you want. But you and me?" Gabriel raised his eyebrows, "We know the truth." Dean paused, looking at Gabriel with a confused frown. He saw from the corner of his eye that Sam did the same. "Dad loved you best." Wow. So Lucifer was just throwing a tantrum? Son of a bitch. "More than Michael, more than me." He paused for a beat, "Probably even more than Castiel."

Dean saw a flash of something in Lucifer's eyes as he watched his brother with a dark expression.

"Then he left us all behind, and you couldn't handle it." Dean wasn't sure this was such a great idea, he didn't like the look in Lucifer's eyes. At all. "So all this…" he waved the gun around, "Is just a great, big temper tantrum." Gabriel's eyes darkened as he pointed the gun at his brother, "Time to grow up."

"Gabriel, if you're doing this for Michael—"

"Screw him! If he were standing here I'd shiv his ass too." Lucifer scoffed.

"You disloyal—" Dean was confused. Why the hell was Lucifer complaining about loyalty now?

"Oh, I'm loyal." Gabriel cut him off, seemingly taking his brother by surprise. "Just not to your messed up cause, or Michael's. I'm here because I love our brother, and you're killing him."

"I'm doing this for him, Gabriel." Lucifer reasoned, making Dean's blood boil with rage. What kind of messed up logic was that?

"How?" Gabriel demanded, "And don't tell me this has anything to do with that bull about our names and our expectations, or I might just start crying."

Sam looked at Dean in complete confusion, to which Dean could only reply with a shrug as they continued their slow advance to the bedroom.

"I was everything he wanted me to be!" Lucifer suddenly bellowed, "I fulfilled all my expectations, I took care of all of you after Mother died, I took care of Castiel…" Lucifer was trembling with fury. "And it wasn't enough. He left. He abandoned us, and what was I supposed to do then?"

"I don't know, therapy?" Gabriel joked, but Dean could see that his eyes held no humor. "Because I'm telling you, what you did to Castiel…" he clenched his jaw, "I just can't understand why. He loved you. He looked up to you more than any of us. How could you do that to him?"

"You said it yourself, brother." Lucifer replied, an odd sadness in his eyes, "He looked up to me. I didn't want him to be like me. To dedicate his life to being perfect only to have his efforts thrown in his face."

"…You wanted him to hate you?" Gabriel repeated, horrified and angered at the same time, "So you just thought you'd break him to the point where we almost lost him? Do you even realize what you've done to him?"

Lucifer smiled. It was a strange smile. Resigned to a destiny that only he knew. "Believe me brother, I do." And with that, he met Dean's eyes for a second before turning to walk to the bedroom, "And I'm not finished. I still need to break him completely. To free him from Father's hold on him."

Three guns were trained on Lucifer before he'd given another step.

"No!" Sam yelled.

"Don't you dare move, you son of a bitch!" Dean finally found his voice, which shook with anger as Lucifer looked back at him calmly.

"I'll do it, Lucifer." Gabriel warned, voice shaking as he took a few steps towards his brother. "Don't turn your back on me, I'll do it." Lucifer turned to face him, and before they could blink, he'd closed the distance between them and towered over Gabriel.

A shot rang in the air.

Dean made his way to them in alarm, but was stopped by Sam.

Lucifer's eyes were warm as he smiled down at Gabriel; sadness, gratitude and a darkness that faded from the blue orbs right in front of their eyes. His lips were tinted with scarlet as he choked out a whisper that was meant only for Gabriel.

"I knew you would, brother." he exhaled.

Gabriel's eyes were wide as his older brother stumbled against him, too small to hold Lucifer's weight as they both sank to their knees. Dean watched helplessly as Gabriel dropped the gun to the floor and clutched his brother's back like his life depended on it, shaking as Lucifer's weight became heavier. As his brother's last breath tickled his neck.

"Dean," he croaked, voice broken, "Please, go check on my brother."

Dean didn't think before rushing into the bedroom, hearing Sam's heavy footsteps behind him. The sight they found there made the air leave their chests as the blood froze in their veins.

Castiel lied on the bloodied sheets of an old bed, unmoving, his back turned towards them. He was shirtless, his mauled skin impossible to miss even in the dark lighting of the room.

"Cas?" Dean breathed, his voice a broken whisper.