A.N.

This is the chapter that will FINALLY explain all of the misconceptions surrounding the wings. Sorry about all of the confusion, guys, but it was necessary to keep everyone- including all the characters- in the dark. If you haven't figured it out yet, Castiel is basically the only reliable source of unbiased historical information in the whole story. It may help to keep that in mind.

Cheers,

deathbyinsomnia.

Dean set the table in silence, watching his mom, dad, brother, and Jess enter quietly with Crowley, Kevin, and a few other guards trailing behind. Mary Winchester beamed at Dean as he set the plates of food on the table.

"Look, you're cooking again. You always were a good cook."

"Mom," Dean smiled, fighting off embarrassment as she kissed his forehead. "I only made the bread."

"Either way, thank you, that makes it much easier since you made breakfast already. I can go help John and your brother clean. Then maybe I can help Jessica do laundry."

Dean smiled, "Well, I'll do my thing and I'll see you guys at home tonight."

"Speaking of which, where were you last night?" Sam asked, whispering as Mary fussed over Kevin's collar, temporarily distracted.

"I kind of got drunk with Cas, I crashed in his room," Dean admitted and Sam sighed.

"How bad off was he?"

Dean thought it over, remembering the second kiss they shared, the latter meant to be an actual kiss and not just "sealing the deal".

"Well, enough to where I wondered how out of line it would be to pounce him." Dean said honestly.

He knew he was sharing more than he should, however, Sam was used to it.

"And does he know about your impure thoughts about him- a boy two years younger than you?" Sam grinned, watching Dean flush in embarrassment. "You like him, don't you?"

"I'm infatuated but," Dean paused, then shook his head in dismissal "Long term infatuation? Doubtful."

Sam nodded, although not believing him entirely, "Just be careful, Dean. This isn't one of your one-time hookups."

"Gee, Sammy, I never knew."

"Don't be a smart-ass."

"Sammy, I'm a big boy, I can make my own choices."

"That's debatable."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

"Being deemed as crazy was a good advantage because once he'd started doing human trials, no one was around to debate the ethics of it." Castiel relayed, as if having rehearsed the speech many times before.

Suddenly, a knock rang throughout the room. Knock, knock, scrape, knock, knock, knock.

Castiel let out a sigh of relief, "Gabriel, you may come in."

Gabriel smiled, sitting on the bed several feet away from them, "I'll tell you once you finish, baby brother. You go on ahead."

Castiel nodded, his brother had studied the old world with him for a while but once Michael found out, Gabriel was immediately shut off from the library. Castiel, however, had the ability to sneak in since he was the flower in the attic, never to be seen, acknowledged, or heard.*

Castiel returned his attention to Adam who was still giving his undivided attention, "Everything we have been conditioned to believe is a lie. All of what we have been taught as angels has been set in stone by our predecessors to keep us in the dark and keep us in power, to keep us above the human race, even though we are no more than being exactly that- human."

They laughed and Mary shot them a sour look to which they rolled their eyes. Sam, Jess, and the others headed to their posts while Dean, Crowley, and Kevin stayed behind.

"Why, coming to see what's come to light?" Crowley cooed, amused by the twitch in Dean when irritated.

"Yeah, so what have you found?"

"Well, nothing so far. Sorry, lad. However, Lucifer's charges seem to be quarreling and have broken up, the 'blonde Charlie' ran off* and eloped with a human; word is they're going to try to live outside of Arya altogether."

"Are they crazy from love or just plain stupid?"

"According to Luci-dearest, blonde Charlie was only with Big Red because Red 'was a constant in her life and she doesn't understand the difference between platonic love and romantic love'."

"You're really good at this parroting thing," Dean uttered with mild discomfort.

"I'm a guard, it was one of my duties when I went undercover as a novice. Anyhow, I need to get to work and Kevin is a little hung over so we're going to head to our posts."

"You do that. I'll be around, so just find me if you find out anything else."

"I am at your absolute beck and call, my liege."

Dean twitched at the sarcasm and immediately felt the urge to 'punch that dickbag in the face' as he so readily repeated in his head. Dean squared his shoulders and headed into the direction of Castiel's room, itching to get away from the guard before doing some serious damage to the man's smug expression.

"How is that possible?" Gabriel asked, never having heard this quote-unquote 'theory' before about his species. "We have wings, for crying out loud, how can that be explained away?"

"Simple. They aren't what they seem to be." Castiel did not skip a beat, his eyes locked on the door on the lookout for Dean. He knew he couldn't tell him all of this just yet. Dean Winchester was not ready for this kind of news.

"Remember, Adam, how I told you they were part of the ICE project? Well, this project was not just trying to create angels, although that's what they became. The ICE project was actually the creation of the most inconceivable Trojan horse in history. Angels were created as a weapon to fight other nations, created by the United States of America. Our wings were a ploy, so we could disguise as fallen angels from Heaven and be 'nurtured' to health by the humans that resided in whichever enemy camp we visited.

Our wings were useless, only for show. I've studied the anatomy of birds- as well as their wings and DNA, as shown in the journal, and if these wings were to ever work our bones would have to be hollow- which they aren't, our mass would have to be lowered exponentially, and our wings would have to be twice the length of our height. Not to mention, our wings are located on our shoulder blades so there is no way to articulate the wings to begin with. Even on top of all that, normal angel wings resemble a bird- which is beyond extinct now- called an Ostrich. Their white feathers match exactly with the typical angel feathers."

"What are yours made of then, Castiel? They're different than ours." Adam commented, immersed in the topic.

"Mine match with a bird called a Crow; seeing them in the days before Arya was a sign of bad luck and death, which may be ingrained in the mind of Metatron, who hates me so deeply."

Gabriel stopped Castiel as the clock chimed loudly in the hall, signalling the time of the arrival of his carriage. Dean walked in, as if on cue, and bowed to the three of them.

"Gabriel, your carriage boy caught me leaving the kitchen and said 'Tell him I'm here and waiting'."

"Well that old fart can wait!" Gabriel puffed angrily, hugging his brother and Adam goodbye. "I'm going to check on 'Miah, I'll be back in a few days."

Then, turning on his heel, Gabriel bolted from the room and left Dean watching Adam and Castiel in confusion.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something?"

A.N.

*Also, Flowers in the Attic a great series, I highly recommend it.

*You do not even know how hard it was to not change 'ran off' into 'r-u-n-n-o-f-t', like in "O, Brother Where Art Thou?"

That movie is amazing.

-.-.-.-

Just for fanart purposes(wink wink, nudge nudge), Dean's feathers have the shape/color of Albino Raven feathers.

Albino Ravens are beautiful creatures, you should google a picture or two of them.

-.-.-.-.-

I've just realized this fic will be TWO YEARS OLD ON JUNE THE 6TH!

WOW!

Thanks for sticking with me, you guys!

I love all of you and in celebration, you get TWO updates for your Yule Season presents!

Please continue to read this story until the end!