THEN

"who dares to summon me?" a voice asked. They all turned to the entrance where there was a tall, skinny, pale man, adorned in black robes standing there.

"I do" Dean stepped forward.

The man- Death, glanced at Dean up and down. "and who are you to-" then he broke off. Eyes widening. Suddenly he was in front of Dean, hand raised to Dean's forehead – close, but not touching. Dean was aware of how everyone in the room jumped in alarm, futilely raising their weapons at Death incase he harmed Dean.

"impossible" death murmured, his face moving extremely close to Dean's, dark eyes peering into Dean's green ones. "impossible? Improbable. Unlikely" he murmured to himself. Dean was the only one who heard his murmuring.

"What is?" Dean asked nervously, his curiousity overtaking his fear. The man leaned back, his eyes flickering over Dean's face once more, eyes going glossy as if he saw something else.

"nothing" he replied. "Dean Winchester" he stated.

"it's been a long time" death responded.

"Wait…you've met?" sam asked ludicrously.

"yes. There was a…flood" cas replied. "I saw death" he spoke stiltedly.

"Now. Kill Azazel and stop the seals from breaking. Be warned, the first seal is when a righteous man spills blood in hell. Both john and Dean Winchester fit this: do not make any deals and do not go to hell" he commanded them seriously, causing Dean to become scared.

NOW

"The angels will let the seals break, so that Lucifer and Michael can fight. It is prophesised"

"maybe they wont want it to happen. How do we know unless we ask them?" Sam asked louder, growing frustrated. Cas' eyes glowed.

"because you're speaking to one now."

"You're a what?!" John immediately lifted his gun, pointing it at Castiel who remained still and silent. Sam and Bobby followed his actions, they too lifting their guns and taking an aggressive stance. Dean sprung into action, stepping before Castiel and raising his arms wide to protect him. His hands raised pleadingly nad his eyes wide.

"hey hey hey! Get your fucking guns away from him. Cas is family, he's not gonna hurt me" he cursed.

"well Death" Bobby pointed his finger at the nonchalant entity who remained quiet, merely raising an eyebrow, " he said the angels cant be trusted. Whats to say this isn't the one that took you from your daddy and had you raised with strangers for his plan?." Dean let out a choked laugh. "is that what you think? Strangers? It seems to me that JOHN didn't protect me, and that when demons came for me Cas did protect me." He shrugged, eyes pointed accusingly at the gruff hunter. He watched John flinch back from his accusation, but couldn't quite be bothered about the harm he caused the older man. Not when he was literally holding a gun to a man he cared for.

At this accusation Cas stepped forward. As his eyes flashed, the room seemed to tremble, the atmosphere becoming thick with ozone. His presence was intimidating, so much so that even the hunters began to falter at the sight of him. "I would give my life to protect Dean. No harm would ever befall him. That I promise to you John Winchester" Cas pledged somberly. "Now, as I was saying before you interrupted me" Cas' voice grew stony, "the angels want the apocalypse to happen. It was written by our Father, and so shall come to pass. Once Michael has defeated the serpent there shall be peace on Earth" to told them, now serenely.

"And what about Earth? It becomes a battle ground and we all just die?" Sam sneered, waving his hand about. "Well gee, thanks God" he muttered sarcastically.

"Do not take the Lord's name in vain Samuel Winchester. Besides, they will ascend to heaven and live eternally in peace" he responded.

"Well for someone who apparently wants to "protect" dean you seem awfully uncaring about the whole heavy weight showdown between two archangels" John sneered. "now how about you get the fuck away from my sons before I blow a hole in your head?"

Castiel replied "a bullet will not kill me" the same time Dean yelled "shut the fuck up!." Both John and Castiel turned to look at Dean in surprise.

"Now you listen here you sonofabitch" dean swore at john. "cas has been in my life for a hell of a long time, hes protected me, stood by me when i needed him – even if i didn't want him there. Hes sacrificed the trust of his family and has forsaken them for me. For me. Id die for him, kill for him and do a hell of a lot more" he ranted. The more he spoke the more dean felt the tight knot furled in his chest uncurling. He felt freer, open. His eyes met the deep blue of cas and in them he found serenity. "if you have a problem with cas you have a problem with me. Because i sure as hell trust him a lot more than i trust anyone else in this room" he panted roughly.

"Dean we're your family. Your brother, father, Bobby and Ellen are like family-" Sam begun, eyes round with hurt.

"But theyre not. Not to me. I don't know them, i don't remember them. Hell i barely remember you two" he gestured towards his brother and father. "You have to remember that i was alone without a family when they took me in, when they gave me support and cared for me. And Cas was a big part of teaching me how to hunt, of helping me become the man i am today., so the next time any of you open your mouth to insult him, we're gonna have issues, capiche?"

Everyone in the room was reluctant to meet his angry gaze, whilst Castiel looked both gobsmacked and touched at dean's actions. Dean didn't allow this to deter him and continued to speak. "Regardless of whatever trust issues you may have, i trust him with my life okay? Now, we have much bigger issues than your anger towards angels. Cas is the only angel on our side, willing to help us. We've got a couple thousand out there who want to release lucifer and want the seals to break. We're up against time and the winged douchebags, so we need to work together."

John sighed, his eyes piercing Castiel's. Although he had lowered the gun, Dean noticed that he hadn't holstered it yet. "Okay. We all want to stop the seals, so we'll work on that together. BUT I aint promising to like him or trust him. Just you Dean." Whilst Dean looked immensely frustrated at John's words, he merely nodded so he didn't exacerbate the situation.

"Touching. Really" Dean turned to look at Death who stood there bored with a raised eyebrow. "Don't be insulted if I decide not to stay and listen to you pathetic humans hash it out. Before I leave, I would like to remind you of one important thing."

"oh yeah, and whats that?" Bobby asked, raising a eyebrow from where he stood.

"Michael" Death replied simply, his eyes flickering to Cas and Dean before settling on bobby. Dean felt a frisson of fear run up his spine. So far, no one knew that he was communicating with Michael. He planned to keep that communication quiet until he needed it. He knew everyone would blow up if he told them Michael was visiting him in his dreams – more so if they knew Michael was teaching Dean how to wield powers he had out of nowhere.

"what – uh, what about him?" Dean attempted to ask nonchalantly.

"where is he? The angels are planning to release Lucifer so they can have their Armageddon. One heavy weight is downstairs, where's the favoured son?" Silence lingered after his question.

"Uh, maybe waiting for-" Sam attempted to suggest. Castiel cut him off.

"Michael left Heaven a century ago, only a few angels know of his location. He is waiting until Lucifer is released before he arrives to fight the Deceiver."

"And has he not made any contact in the 100 years he's been gone?" Death persisted. Castiel frowned, at a loss.

"To the remaining Archangel in Heaven, Raphael, and the superiors he has made contact. I am of a lesser status so I am not privileged to his plans of the ensuing battle" Castiel admitted, only slightly ashamed of his words. "Michael will not help us. He wants his brother to be released so that he can continue what he begun eons ago."

Although Dean knew this to be false, he didn't want to contradict Cas' words. It would only open up a whole can of worms that he didn't want to Deal with. Instead, he decided to push away the issue. "lets not focus on the things we don't know, because believe me – that's a hell of a lot. Let's focus on the seals we can stop. How do we go about stopping them?"

"we look for signs the seals are breaking. Head there to stop them if they do break. But to break the rest they need to break the first seal: a righteous man shedding blood in hell. As we know that can be you or John, you both need to stay away from making any deals. Lilith must be released in order for the seals to break. The first born is currently locked away in hell, the doing of my brothers and sisters. We suspected that the yellow-eyed demon Azazel was using the special children to release her. Samuel must stay protected. We should also try to kill Azazel as fast as possible" Castiel ordered them. Dean was impressed with the way Cas delivered his speech, his natural ability to take charge was – was interesting to him. Whilst he had always known that Castiel was powerful – he was a friggin Angel after all!- seeing him commanding others was intriguing to Dean. He saw Castiel in a different light, as a superior or an – an equal, as opposed to a guardian. It pleased him to see Castiel take charge and exercise his power. It almost made Dean wonder why he felt like this. It couldn't be that? No, no, it couldn't be.

Dean

Dean stiffened, cautiously watching the occupants of the room to see if they noticed anything. He noted, almost bleakly, that Death was watching him persistently, without breaking eye contact.

Michael?

Yes. Dean, I feel the presence of a being I have not felt since – since before I

- That's Death. Death is here.

Death? That's – that's unsettling. Why is he here?

To provide information you haven't given. We have a way of stopping the apocalypse.

That's good Dean…come to think of it, I may also have a way to stop it.

What is it?

Nothing concerning at the moment. Go ahead with this plan, call on me if you need me. And don't tell anyone – especially Death- of our arrangement.

Of course Mikey.

When he felt Michael's presence disappear, Dean focused back on the group. "Sorry, I zoned out. What are we doing?" he asked sheepishly, avoiding the peering gazes of Death and Castiel. It was his father who decided to respond to his question, raising an eyebrow at Dean's daydreaming.

"We agreed to stop the apocalypse as much as possible. To do that, we're gonna kill that son of a yellow eyed bitch and this 'Lilith' as soon as we can. Then go about finding or trapping Michael so that he cant unleash his brother for the family reunion." Whilst Dean knew that Michael didn't want to fight Lucifer, he decided not to respond to that notion, still aware of Death's non relenting eerie gaze upon his face.

"Okay cool. So it's sorted, we're gonna just find two very dangerous demons and kill them. Cool" Dean clapped his hands, trying to summon some energy and enthusiasm.

"Before I leave" Death spoke once more, approaching Dean. He didn't stop until he was a hair width away, raising a long skeletal hand and hovering it over his face. Dean didn't dare to breathe, cautious of Death's actions.

"Interesting" Death murmured once more, before taking a step back and speaking loudly.

"As a neutral being, I cannot take interest nor support either side of this apocalypse. However, it may be of interest to you to find a woman named Anna Milton. She could be of use." Before he could be further questioned, he disappeared into thin air.