A/N: Sorry about the gaps in my uploading! Freshers week at uni has been a little crazy. Anyway, on to the story. This chapter is, thankfully, unscripted but unfortunately I will have to go back to the script pretty soon. Thank you to my lovely reviewers! I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

"We used to love one another
Give to each other
Lie undercover so,
Are you friend or foe?" – T.A.T.U, Friend or Foe.

Meanwhile…

-Castiel-

The angel of Thursday sighed quietly and glanced over at his second in command in annoyance. Lucifer was pacing the room repeatedly in long strides, looking restless and more than a little frustrated himself. Castiel couldn't blame him, well actually he could. He knew what was on his elder brother's mind and was fully aware of how it would distract him from the task of dispatching Eloa as planned. He watched the devil for a while, vowing not to comment but, perhaps a trait borne from spending too much time with Dean in the past, he found himself unable to keep to his internal promise for more than a minute.

"The reason he has not broken yet is that you are being too violent," Castiel said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them as they waited for Balthazar and, in turn, Eloa to arrive. Lucifer stopped his pacing suddenly and turned to him with a frown surprisingly not angry.

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly as if thinking his words over carefully before he said them. Castiel rolled his eyes a little.

"I mean what I said," he replied "You are wondering why Michael is still being resistant to you after being bonded for so long."

"And what do you suggest?" Lucifer snapped, looking riled by his honesty. Castiel shrugged slightly.

"I found that treating Gabriel with a softer hand worked better for me," he answered. Lucifer cocked his head to one side in consideration as the younger dominant continued. "That is not to say I did not punish him for disobedience or stop taking my pleasure from him. Merely…I punished him less severely and less often, giving warnings rather than immediate retribution. I also indulged him, allowed him things I knew he would like after periods of compliance. Eventually, it was him who incited physical contact and he has been pretty much perfect ever since."

"You gave him Stockholm syndrome," Lucifer murmured with a smirk.

"What is that?" Castiel asked.

"It a psychological illness," Lucifer explained "The short version of it? Victims of, in this case, kidnapping can start to emotionally bond and care for their captors. That's pretty much it."

"I see," Castiel replied. "I suppose that is what I did."

"It's a good idea," Lucifer commented and Castiel could see he had already decided to attempt it and would begin to treat Michael with a gentler hand from now on. "I think Michael would respond better to a more 'kill with kindness' approach."

"You're going to kill Eloa with kindness?" Balthazar asked, flying in and landing beside his brothers. Lucifer snorted in amusement.

"Of course not, brother," he replied.

"Are our mates secure?" Castiel cut in before Balthazar could ask any questions. The general nodded in confirmation.

"Gratin and Holist are guarding them as you requested."

"Excellent," Castiel praised. "Was there any sign of Eloa nearby as you arrived?"

"I think she'll be here soon." Castiel turned to Lucifer.

"I think perhaps you should get into position so we can be ready for when she arrives," he stated. Lucifer inclined his head in agreement.

"That would probably be for the best. We should all prepare. We do not want to lose our chance at killing her."

"No, we don't."

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At the same time…

-Gabriel-

The youngest archangel watched Michael pacing silently. His brother was bloody and beaten, slowly healing from Lucifer's onslaughts, but didn't seem to feel the pain as he moved, ranting frantically to him about the injustice of their positions. He didn't really know what to say. He longed to reveal the truth to his eldest brother; to tell him he wasn't broken and in love with Castiel but something kept making him shy away from doing so. He wasn't sure what it was but the feeling was strong and squeezed at his gut unpleasantly when he though of confessing himself to Michael. Sometimes he thought it was cowardice that made him hesitate. After all, he had never been particularly brave. Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice Michael had stopped pacing and sat beside him until gentle hands cupped his face and tilted his head up to look the elder angel in the eyes.

"Gabriel, you need to listen to me," Michael pleaded quietly. The archangel stared at him wordlessly, sorrow flowing through him but held back from his brother's view. "Look at what he has done to you. Surely you can see that this is wrong." Gabriel didn't reply, not trusting his own voice. "Brother please…talk to me."

"You-you need to stop fighting," Gabriel said eventually, his voice shaking a little. Michael's eyes widened in surprise and he shook his head, letting go of Gabriel's face carefully.

"I will not give into Lucifer so easily."

"Michael please! I can't stand watching him hurt you. I didn't even want you out of the cage knowing this was going to be your fate. I knew the moment the plan was made that you would never stop fighting but I didn't expect to have to watch it everyday. I didn't expect Lucifer to be so violent in front of others. Just stop resisting him, pretend for me. Hell, pretend for yourself before he goes too far and really goes to town on you," the younger angel begged.

"Pretend?" Michael asked before studying him. "Gabriel are you-"

"I'm faking it Michael!" Gabriel declared without thinking, the truth spilling out of his mouth like a flood he couldn't stop. "Everytime Castiel touches me my skin crawls, whenever he talks to me I want to hide from him forever, but I pretend because I know it's the only way to protect myself and the ones I love." Michael blinked in shock before pulling Gabriel into a hug, holding him tightly.

"Brother, I didn't know," he murmurred into the younger angel's hair. Gabriel relaxed immediently, hugging back just as tight. Michael had never been one for affection so this was a rare display of emotion, one that Gabriel wanted to take full advantage of. "If I had known…I would have tried to kill him by now but I was so worried for your well-being. I did not want to break your mind or heart by doing it."

"It isn't your fault," the messenger muttered, closing his eyes slowly so he could make himself remember the moment.

"I am your brother. It is my duty to protect you Gabriel and I have failed."

"I ran away, I've lied and pretended for all my time away from heaven, how would you have even began to imagine what I was doing when in his arms with so little knowledge of my doings over all these centuries?" the younger seraph argued. Michael gently pulled away from him, still sitting close.

"Nevertheless I should have been able to tell," he replied. Gabriel sighed, knowing he was not getting anywhere with his reassuring. Michael gave him a small, faked smile. "This situation is something I must get us both out of now."

"You can't," Gabriel said, shaking his head. "Even when you're resisting the bond, it still binds you to Lucifer. No claimed submissive can escape the dominant in their mate need help from outsiders."

"Outsiders such as the one that our brothers are trying to capture?" Michael asked with a frown. Gabriel nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, they're after Eloa at the moment. She rallied up an army after my capture, hoping to topple both Castiel and Raphael in order to stop the apocaylpse restarting and free me," he explained.

"Eloa? As in Lucifer's old lover?" Michael questioned, looking uncertain. "I noticed she wasn't in the cage…"

"She escaped when Lucifer first did," Gabriel told him simply. "She is no friend of Lucifer's now. Their time in the cage changed that irrevocably. When I met her she was completely different to before Lucifer dragged her to hell with him."

"So if we are depending on her..."

"They won't get her today. She's too smart for that," Gabriel reassured him. "However, she won't beat them either especially as they have the advantage of surprise with Luci."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Michael asked, realising that he had no knowledge or power in his current situation.

"I carry on pretending and you start to copy me," Gabriel replied. "I know you don't want to but it's the only way."

"I cannot do that Gabriel."

"You have to!" the younger angel exclaimed desperately. "You know what will happen if you don't and you can't let that go down! I need you Michael."

"I will not break. Lucifer is too violent and brash. I can snub such things easily enough, as you well know," Michael replied a little testily. Gabriel glared at him.

"You can fight your own grace? Fight your own inner nature? You're strong Michael but you're not that strong. Lucifer controls large parts of your grace now remember? He has hold of everything you are and that's a hell of a lot to fight against. There's only so much I can take before I go insane Michael. If you crack…I wouldn't- I don't know what I'd do."

"I'm not going to crack!"

"You don't know that!" Gabriel yelled. They glared at each other for a long moment and neither of them spoke, each challenging the other with their eyes. Eventually Michael broke the silence with a sigh.

"I will not break Gabriel," he assured the younger angel softly. "I promise." Gabriel shook his head slightly but knew his protests would fall upon deaf ears.

"That's a promise you better keep."

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-Balthazar-

The plan was set in motion; Lucifer hidden in the shadows, him and Castiel unloading the 'weapons' from a grace portal in the wall. They had actually found and retrieved the warheads almost a week ago now but the act was needed as the final set up of the trap. All that was missing now was Eloa. Balthazar couldn't help but hope she wouldn't show. He didn't like what Castiel had become and, although he didn't want his friend to die or be damned to hell, he didn't want him to kill or damn Eloa either. This whole situation was wrong; Gabriel, Michael, working with Lucifer. Castiel had crossed the line with his actions but there was nothing Balthazar could do to make it right. The best he could do was stand at Castiel's side and try to limit the damage. They had been acting for several minutes before a familiar voice cut across their silence.

"Castiel!" Balthazar saw the angel of Thursday smirk at the anger in the usually expressionless tenor and held in a sigh. She had fallen for it and he had hoped so hard that she wouldn't. Castiel turned to face their newest arrival in obvious delight; dropping the 'weapon' he had been holding.

"Eloa," he greeted sardonically sweet. "So glad you could make it." The other angel glared at him darkly, stepping into the room properly. Balthazar frowned a little at that, uncertain of her confidence. Even if she wasn't aware that this was a trap, there was no reason for her to be so poised on her own.

"I'm sure," she replied sarcastically. Castiel blinked in surprise, not expecting the human-like tone to her voice. Only angels who had spent time with humans had that manner about them. She smirked slightly at his expression. "Oh, did you expect me to be more…monotone? Sorry to disappoint Castiel but I've been hanging out with some interesting people." Balthazar forced back a smile, realizing what she meant immediately. Castiel wasn't so lucky.

"What's that supposed to imply?" he asked.

"Where did you put the boys?" Eloa demanded in return. Castiel's eyes widened and Balthazar had trouble keeping back his smile once more.

"You dared to-"

"Answer the question! You got them out of the way but for what?" Eloa growled. Castiel's face twisted into an ugly look, eyes flashing in fury. Balthazar gave him a wary glance. This wasn't part of the plan. They were supposed to reveal Lucifer and then let him kill Eloa. They weren't meant to draw it out longer than necessary. Without warning Castiel flitted across the room, blade out and arm slashing towards Eloa's head. The female angel was ready though and, just before the knife got to her she brought her own up to defend herself.

"This," he hissed trying to force the blade down further. "And now I have even more reason. You stepped into my territory."

"The boys invited me in," Eloa replied with a small quirk of her lips, pushing back so the blade didn't move. "I think Dean's exact words were 'Screw Cas'."

"You bitch!" Castiel pulled his blade back causing Eloa to stumble forward on her knife's follow through. Balthazar saw him slash down once more and looked away. If Cas was going to kill Eloa himself then he didn't want to see it. The sharp metallic twang of metal on metal made his head snap back round. Eloa had saved herself once again, but barely.

"No more Castiel," she told the attacking angel angrily as Castiel continued to strike. She defended each movement swiftly but didn't go to counter attack. "You've gone too far!"

"You will not stop me," the aggressor snapped back. Balthazar bit his lip as he watched them, not moving to help either of them. He heard Lucifer chuckled from his spot in the shadows and looked to the floor in shame. He knew that Lucifer had enough pride not to tag team her but it didn't make him feel any better. After a moment Castiel backed down. Eloa frowned, wrong-footed. "You are not the only one with a couple of tricks up their sleeve." Eloa scoffed, looking down with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Did you steal them from Gabriel like you did his freedom?" she asked flatly, looking back at her enemy with a burning gaze. Castiel gave her a smug smile.

"No. I got them somewhere even better," he hissed "You may even know my source…" On cue Lucifer stepped out of his hiding place, a smirk painted on his lips. Eloa's reaction was instant; she dropped her blade in shock, eyes widening as they flickered from Lucifer then Castiel and back again. Balthazar couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Lucifer's reveal was pretty much the equivalent to a death sentence for her when she was already outnumbered.

"Hello Eloa," the devil greeted smugly. She backed away as he walked forward, each step he took matched by one of her own.

"Lucifer? How? Castiel please tell me you didn't-"

"I can't have you impeding my process any further," Castiel interrupted. "This was the surest way. Goodbye Eloa." He guestured to Balthazar it was time to leave as Lucifer advanced on the female angel menacingly, grinning with the anticipation. Balthazar nodded slightly, biting his lip.

The last thing he saw before flying away was Eloa's look of pure horror.

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-Eloa-

Lucifer was advancing and Eloa knew she had to act fast or she was going to die but the sheer fact that Castiel had set Lucifer free was preventing her from thinking straight. The blue eyed angel knew that releasing Lucifer was a dangerous move. His army was loyal but to seek help of the true king of hell to fight a war of God? Surely he could see that this would lead to at least some rebellion and unrest. Shaking her head slightly she put it from her mind. She couldn't afford to be distracted. Her focus had to be on staying alive. Eloa glanced around the room as she backed away from the devil. Her blade was just behind Lucifer now, forgotten by the fallen one, and she was slowly being crowded into the wall by her former lover. She had to get to it to stand even the smallest chance of walking away from this. The question was how.

"I have been waiting for this chance for a while now Eloa," Lucifer told her, breaking her from he thoughts. "After you betrayed me in the cage and we fought for what seemed like eternity, neither of us able to kill the other thanks to the spells upon the bindings. It was so frustrating not being able to kill you."

"Yeah?" she asked, trying to stall him and looking for an opening to reach her weapon. "Am I supposed to feel sorry for you because of that? You dragged me into the cage. If only one of us can be accused of betraying the other then you're the guilty one here brother." Lucifer chuckled darkly.

"Are you so sure of that? I loved you, was it a crime to want to keep you?" Without warning, Eloa darted forward, ducking past the devil as he took another step forward and diving for her blade. Lucifer turned; trying to grab her but was a second too late. She held up the knife threateningly as she got to her feet.

"You never loved me," she replied. "And I never loved you. We both know that so don't try to lie to me." Lucifer smirked, and a blade manifested in his hand; silver like her own but with engravings of gold on the handle. Eloa's eyes widened. There was only one like that in all of existence – the Archangel Michael's blade.

"You know me too well Eloa," he admitted smugly. They began to circle round each other immediately, brown eyes fixing to blue.

"Centuries of fighting in the cage taught me a few things," Eloa agreed darkly. "I see you have a new blade. I'm guessing you stole it from its previous owner." Lucifer laughed loudly, the sound echoing around the room.

"You have such a low opinion of me sister."

"What do you expect?" Eloa asked. "You're the devil."

"Hmmmm, true," the fallen said arrogantly "I didn't steal it though. See, Michael does what I ask of him now. He kind of has to, you know, what with being submissively bonded to me and everything." Eloa blinked.

"So you finally seduced him…" she realised with horror, forcing a condescending smile on her face to hide her dismay. "I would say congratulations but…we all know that he would rather be ripping your heart from your chest." Lucifer's face twisted into a scowl at her words, becoming twisted with fury as she continued. "Really, I don't know what's up with all of you bad guys. I mean, all of you seem to have to force yourselves onto the ones you want to get anywhere. Mind you, let's face it; you were never very good at seduction anyway."

"I managed to seduce you just fine," Lucifer growled. Eloa smirked at him.

"I was dark side at that point honey," she gloated. "I would have had sex with anyone who was as hot as you were back then. You know how things can get all confused when lust takes over. Plus, who would have passed up the opportunity to fuck the Morning Star?" Lucifer took a step forward as if to go for her then stopped, returning to their circling with a sudden smirk.

"You know, maybe you should show the Winchesters the real you Eloa. I'm guessing you haven't been acting quite like yourself around them."

"Leave them out of this."

"Oh have I hit a nerve?" the devil asked mockingly.

"Did I?" she retorted coolly. Lucifer glared at her, annoyed that his comment had been ignored and turned against him. "Anyway, I think that we've flirted enough," she continued with a sneer. "Castiel obviously revived you to kill me. How about you try and do your job like a good little lap dog?"

"You'll pay for that insult," Lucifer growled before attacking viciously with Michael's blade. Eloa defended herself just in time, pushing his blade away. The devil stumbled back a few steps before he regained his footing, pushing forward with another attack just as brutal as the first. Eloa repeated her move, trying for a counter attack that was swiftly blocked. Fear flooded through her when she realised they were evenly matched in their fighting. To others it may have seemed like a blessing but to her it would be a curse. Evenly matched in fighting meant they would have to rely on their angelic healing. Lucifer was a fallen archangel. She was just an angel. Her healing wasn't as good as Lucifer's.

She was going to die.