*more to be posted Friday*
Castiel waited for Dean to return it soon became evident that he would have a long wait ahead of him, but as a soldier he was used to waiting. There were many campaigns where he and Balthazar had been pinned down in some crevice on some god forsaken asteroid or moon and had to bide their time, avoiding enemy fire.
Balthazar was the closest thing he had to family; he had no memory of his father and only a brief flash of his mother it was likely he had other siblings or half siblings but such things were not recognized in angelic society. Records were kept to prevent inbreeding and were checked when one applied for a breeding permit, but even if he knew them, he doubted it would be the same. Balthazar had saved his life more times than he could count. Castiel could understand Dean's loyalty to his brother, in that. He owed much to him.
He only hoped that when he returned and explained the situation to his friend that he would somehow accept and help him. Castiel knew that it was a risk, and if Balthazar felt it was too dangerous he would gladly allow him to back out.
Balthazar was a Power a low ranking soldier; Castiel had been field promoted to Seraph during the fall of Lucifer. While his position would provide some protection Balthazar would get the brunt of any action that was considered disobedient and while he would love his friend's support the idea of the council punishing him on his account did not sit well with him.
After the fall of Lucifer, they both had been severely punished for Haziel's dissent, yet Balthazar had gotten the worst of it because his lower rank. Balthazar never spoke of it but, Castiel knew he still retained scars from the beatings though he had never seen them. It was deemed that such punishments were not effective if the person was allowed to regenerate. Castiel still held a scar on his ribs from the savage beating, and his rank as a Seraph had protected him from worse punishment, although at the time he wished for death.
Balthazar had been the one to help him make it through, even though he had been injured more severely he forced Castiel to eat, and when it was allowed Balthazar shoved him in the regeneration pod himself, with a broken arm, even though he was not allowed to heal himself.
On his way here, Cas couldn't help but think of his friends reaction to him turning himself over to the enemy he would have called his all kinds of a fool and done his best to talk him out of it, but ultimately he would have gone with him because he was loyal to a fault. Cas had left so quickly he hadn't had time to inform his friend of his plan, but he knew that regardless of the danger Balthazar would always be on his side. Balthazar was always on his side.
Dean stayed outside for a very long time trying to gather himself, images of the things he did in hell flashing through his mind. He ignored them and stared up at the stars instead. To think Cas came from somewhere out there. He suddenly felt very tired as if the weight of the entire world fell on his shoulders.
The air was cool he could hear the swirl of dead leaves; it must be fall he guessed then he sighed heavily. He had been in prison a long time, sometimes he wondered if he was even human, he hadn't exactly been the most civilized man when he went in, and staying alive in hell wasn't just a matter of not dying. Even before Alastair he had hurt people in hell just he had always justified it as self-defense.
He knew Cas would try to leave, but he couldn't escape unless he went through his door. He sank down leaning his back against the door. He laid his arms against his knees and just kept looking up at the stars. He remembered growing up he and Sammy would take the car out to the middle of nowhere and just watch the stars. That was almost as painful as not knowing where Sammy was, not knowing what happened to his baby.
Sammy had to be alive. If Dean was, the only one left there wasn't any reason to go on. Cas said something about Sam, but he wasn't sure if he could believe him.
The whole goddamned world made no sense maybe it would have been better if he just stayed dead to the world in hell. He dismissed the thought. He had a job to do.
Shakily he stood. His legs were still telling him that he had been sitting there for a long time.
He opened the door and found Cas where he left him sprawled awkwardly on the hard concrete.
"Tell me about my brother." He said quietly
Cas glanced up to see Dean he had darkness gathered about him like a mantle he was almost like an entirely different man. Sadness lingered about him like a second skin. He walked straighter, and he seemed to have cleared his head.
Cas knew better than to be subtle.
"Uriel asked me to put you in the arena." He said firmly.
Dean showed no surprise whether he felt it or not Cas couldn't tell. He looked as tired as Cas felt.
"And?" Dean asked his voice dry
"He said it would be interesting to see what a pair of Winchesters in the arena could do." He admitted trying to put as little inflection in his voice as possible. He wanted to show Dean only the facts he didn't want him to think he was trying to lead him to any false conclusions or trick him in any way.
Dean flinched ever so slightly his hands clenched into fists at his side. Cas wasn't sure if it was the thought of his brother in the arena or the fear that Cas would have forced him into it.
"And you're sure its Sam?" he asked cautiously
Cas shook his head. "No," he admitted. "But why would he lie?"
Dean turned away. He took a swig of the whiskey and Cas held his breath, but he simply swished the liquid around in his mouth before spitting it out.
"And where do you come into this?" he asked finally
Cas tried to stand so he could look him in the eyes. Dean grabbed him about the elbow and hauled him up. He wobbled awkwardly against him and guilt flashed into Dean's eyes for the briefest of a second.
"I promised id help you find your brother."
"And you're a man of your word." he murmured speculatively watching him very closely.
"Yes." He replied meeting his eyes. Dean scrutinized his face searching for something Cas wasn't sure.
He must have seen the truth in his words because he let him go and spun from him.
"And how are you going to do that?" He asked cautiously
"I go back as your slave?" Dean spat "You come back as my partner." Cas assured quickly
Dean said nothing for several moments just watched Cas
"Why did you pull me out?" he asked suddenly it was the same doubt he had seen when he first offered to take him from hell. Dean didn't think he was good enough to be saved.
Cas wanted to comfort him. He wanted to tell him that he was a good honest man that he didn't deserve to be trapped in the middle of an alien war that he deserved a family that he deserved to be happy, but Castiel said none of those things. He simply told him his truth.
"The Oiad asked it of me." Dean nodded absently absorbing the information and coming to conclusions.
"And this is this part of his plan?" Dean asked referring to Sam.
"I don't know." Cas admitted quietly. He was in the dark as much Dean; no one had seen or heard from the Oiad in a very long time.
"What do you know?" Dean demanded angrily. Castiel decided that it was time to share all of what he knew with Dean.
"Lucifer." Castiel spat out. Dean gave him a quizzical look "Lucy who?"
Cas sighed his arms ached from being in the cuffs. Dean must have seen that for he huffed frustrated and fished in his pockets for the keys. Surprised Cas held still as he freed his arms.
The metal had chaffed at his wrists, but he was otherwise uninjured.
"Lucifer," Cas repeated wearily. "Was an archangel, a leader of our people; he wanted us to go back to our home planet." Dean scoffed "Sounds like an upstanding guy, where's the rub?"
"The fact that he is more than willing to kill everyone on earth to make that happen,"
Dean sobered. "And what about ole Lucy then?"
"His rebellion was defeated, and he was imprisoned, but recently there have been whispers of him regaining power, and no one can tell how. It was what instigated the current peace treaty between the demons."
Dean said nothing just watched him. "I suspect the Oiad plans are regarding him." Cas finished.
"Oh shit." Dean gasped.
It was a shit storm; Balthazar paced his villa frustrated by his ignorance and inability to help the situation. Cas had disappeared; he had dropped everything and left that was nearly two days ago. His place was mess and judging by the look of the door it was a tactical retrieval squad, Gabriel wasn't sharing a damned thing, hell for all he knew the angel council had already BBQ Cas's wings extra crispy, and Balthazar had no idea what he had even done.
He could only assume that it had everything to do with that damned Dean Winchester.
Aside from his looks the man was more trouble that he was worth. Of course, Cassie would be the type of man incapable of having a no strings attached shag. He had already left a dozen voice mails on both Cassie's and Gabe's cellphones, to no avail. The pesky Archangel was ducking his calls, and he could only hope that Cas was doing the same otherwise, Balthazar shook his head.
He didn't want to think about the otherwise.
He had already tried numbing his worries away with copious amounts of liquor, but sadly he was wasting his alcohol the worry was still there under the surface he just lost all his ability to filter his thoughts.
If the angelic council wasn't to blame for Cassie's disappearance than it meant he didn't trust him enough with his plans to let him know ahead of time, and that hurt, more than it should. Cassie had always been the type to have a plan; he wasn't exactly the impulse type.
Balthazar knew that Cassie wasn't telling him things, about his real reasons from freeing Dean from prison. Sure part of his story had been true yes, he took Dean as a prize because he was squeamish about keeping a slave, and he knew that Dean would be the last slave he ever needed. While he had not explicitly told him this, Balthazar was observant, and he knew his friend.
Still it hurt that Cassie was leaving him out of his life, besides maybe Gabe on a good day, Cassie was the only person he really cared about, and for all he knew he was being tortured.
It bothered him immensely that if he had thrown the urge to protect his own neck out the window Cassie might still be ok. A tactical strike like this could only have been ordered by an archangel.
Frustrated and just drunk enough not to give a damn Balthazar grabbed his coat and headed out the door.
A quick walk to his brother's might get him the answers that he deserved.
They were technically half-brothers, since they shared fathers, but all angels were meant to treat one another as an equal, Gabe had always had a soft spot for him. No one knew they were blood related not even Cassie.
Balthazar remembered his investiture, when Gabe hesitantly took up the role of archangel days before Lucifer fell. It was a very long time ago, but he remembered the events that followed because it was the closest they had ever come to having a fight until now.
It was the day; Gabe swore allegiance to the angelic order. They ordered him disavow all previous convents that he was loyal only to the Oiad and his fellow archangels.
They then ordered him to reveal any information he was privy to that might affect the current archangels and their rule.
He remembered it like it was yesterday the bitter betrayal still stung. It was from then on that Gabe was an archangel first and his brother second. He had recently been made aware that this order had not changed.
His brother's betrayal stung more than the other's Balthazar was not well liked by any of the other archangels. As he walked towards Gabriel's villa, he knew ancient history would only cloud his judgment.
As he arrived at the villa only years of carefully maintained nonchalance kept him from banging on the door like a madman.
The servant opened the door and hesitated when he saw Balthazar; it was obvious his brother had ordered his servants to turn him away.
Feigning more drunkenness than he felt he pushed his way past the servant, feeling a bit of remorse as the human fell to the ground over powered by his angelic strength.
"Gabe!" he shouted with an affected drunken slur "Come drink with me, brother!" no one would suspect they were truly related, but Gabriel would know they threat when he heard it. It was the only aspect that he had not revealed to the council while he had betrayed Balthazar's trust in telling the council something he had told Gabriel in private; he had not betrayed their relationship, for both their sakes.
The servant closed the front door and either for their own physical safety or as job security they scattered allowing him to barge unannounced into his brother's sanctuary. Once inside he paused taken back, there was synthy music playing over the speakers with a jazzy beat he recognized from a human vice known as Casa Erotica Gabe was casually dressed in a sleeveless white tank shirt and red satin boxer shorts.
Off to the side stood an alarmingly decadent array of desserts and treats some of them including two women languidly lounging on the sofa a brunette and a blonde wearing lingerie and heals.
He had a flute of champagne in one hand
To his credit Balthazar recovered quickly he had after all been in much more awkward sexual settings.
" Trying to numb the pain?" he asked his brother Gabe smiled.
"Any way I can." He agreed the tension was palpable Gabe had been avoiding him and if this downward spiral into debauchery was any indication he thought they were all fucked. Joyous
"You mind if we have a moment alone?" Balthazar asked stiffly.
"You heard him ladies," Gabe ordered waving the women away.
Gabe used a remote to turn off the music, the sudden halt of the music made the silence seem unbearably loud.
"Does the council have Cassie?" Balthazar asked. Gabe rolled his eyes "I should have guessed this was about him." he groused idly taking a sip of his champagne.
"Answer me brother," Balthazar demanded Gabriel whirled on him indignantly
"You watch your tone brother." he growled the last word through clenched teeth.
"I defended your actions to the council once for that man; don't make me do it again."
Gabe turned away from him laying his hands against the wall.
"Does the council have Castiel?" Balthazar tried again for a more civil tone.
Gabriel said nothing at first just staring into the wall. Balthazar was on the verge of asking again when he finally answered.
"No," he said quietly still leaning against the wall as if it was his only means of support.
Balthazar let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
"As far as I know," Balthazar froze "What?"
"I give up brother," Gabe muttered to the wall. "I resigned, I am tired of seeing my brother's fight" he whispered "of watching them turn on each other, Tear at each other's throats, and I can't do it any longer."
"Now you claim to value your brotherly love over being an archangel?" he demanded horrified
Balthazar drew off his black jacket and rolled up the sleeve of his gray v neck shirt he didn't need to look to know what was there neither did his brother. His voice was deadly quiet his tone rancorous
"Because of you I was branded a traitor!" he shouted the words held back for so long they almost didn't feel real.
Gabriel spun fury and indignation marring his expression "You were a traitor!" he roared sounding just as hurt.
"I know!" Balthazar howled wretchedly. His voice was quaking with repressed emotion.
"But you were my brother," he bemoaned "What I told you, what happened to Haziel, it was in confidence."
Gabriel refused to meet his eyes. "I did what I thought was right." He responded Balthazar said nothing
He deserved the punishment he received he never doubted that, but his brother's betrayal cut deep.
"Castiel is a lucky man, for the loyalty you give him," Gabe said with a bitter laugh,"If I wasn't your brother I'd be jealous."
Balthazar said nothing; it wasn't a topic he discussed. It wasn't even one he thought about.
He just kept to his routine the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else.
"What is going on?" he asked Gabe
"I told you before, the end of the world."
"What are you saying?" he demanded why was he suddenly talking in riddles?
"Someone is going to try to free Samhain."
Balthazar remembered the demon from the battle with Lucifer; he was powerful but nearly blind. His psychic abilities were stronger than many of the other demons, and he was captured because he led an army to free Lucifer, a thousand years ago.
"When?" Balthazar demanded confused by the turn of events he felt raw, like someone ran sandpaper on all his nerves.
"The thirty-first," Gabe replied.
Today was the twenty-ninth that left only two days.
"What happens if we don't stop them?" he found himself asking.
Gabe just shrugged, "There are millions of ways to free Lucifer, this fight is coming whether we want it or not. It's just a matter of time."