"You were right." Balthazar remarked rather reluctantly.
"About what?" Gabriel's tone remained a little snappy, since his rage was still present in the simmering form. He needed a full explanation as to why the hell Balthazar screwed with history, and it had to be a decent one otherwise he wasn't going to forgive him any time soon.
Sighing again, Balthazar proposed a change of scenery. "Look, can't we go back to the barn to talk about this? It's kind of awkward stood out here talking…"
"No." Gabriel's tone was as firm as the very ground on which they stood; he was entirely wary of his friend's technique of stalling. "You will talk to me right now. Besides, the barn isn't protected anymore – I broke the sigils so I could get to you straight away."
"Oh, you couldn't wait to see me that much? How sweet-"
Interrupting his friend's infuriating sarcasm, the archangel stormed up to him so his face was mere centimetres away from his. Seething with unadulterated fury, Gabriel then clutched Balthazar's throat with deadly force and lifted him off the ground so he was hovering a couple of feet in the air. It was at this point when Balthazar finally decided to drop the satire and become serious. His expression went from a smug 'you're-not-really-going-to-do-this', to a concerned 'oh-damnit-you-really-are', to finally bordering on terrified as his air supply was cut off. He began kicking his feet and frantically attempting to struggle out of Gabriel's grip, which was nearly impossible, considering he was battling against an archangel here. Gabriel himself was still burning with all-consuming ferocity, and his facial expression was truly that which would plague children in their nightmares – his eyebrows were pulled low over his darkened eyes that glittered with evil intent, and his lips, which were usually coated in a light-hearted smirk, were set in a hard line, unrelenting and unforgiving. While Balthazar gurgled due to lack of oxygen and inability to speak, Gabriel glared with pure loathing at him.
"Don't you ever speak to me like that again. Or, so help me Dad, I will tear your world apart." Each and every one of the archangel's words were saturated with hostile revulsion and laced with completely true intentions. Once he'd finished and was absolutely sure that Balthazar wouldn't backchat him, he released his iron-tight hold without warning, causing the lesser angel to fall, along with his dignity, to the ground and land in an unceremonious heap.
"Ow." After a few moments of silence, this was the only phrase that Balthazar was capable of saying. He figured he wouldn't say sorry, since Gabriel hadn't specifically asked for an apology, but on the other hand, he was still far too humble and petrified (though naturally he would never admit it) to use any of his normal choices of wording.
As the angel lay, looking hurt, Gabriel peered arrogantly down at him. "So are you gonna tell me what happened, or what?"
Despite the nonchalance of such a question, Balthazar was now aware that he'd be threatened with physical violence again if he didn't answer, therefore he replied quickly. "Yes, yes, I will. Just don't… do that to me again, okay? I'll tell you anything you want to know, you don't have to bloody strangle me." His voice shook slightly, partly due to his throat having been squashed, partly due to lingering fear.
"Sure." Gabriel gave an eerily false smile in an attempt to reassure his friend – though actually, it only creeped Balthazar out even more. The archangel used this to his advantage and verbally prompted him. "Please continue."
Balthazar pushed himself off the ground so he was sitting in an adequate position and brushed dirt off his suit while he did so. However, he refused to stand up yet since he was still more than a little intimidated, and the distance between the two angels because of his height was his comfort zone for the time being.
"I think this would work better if you told me what you know first, then we have a starting point." Balthazar suggested hesitantly, hoping he wouldn't upset Gabriel and incur his wrath once again.
The archangel narrowed his eyes, but agreed, as Balthazar's point did make sense. "Fair enough. About an hour after you left the barn, I found myself in this strange dimension. There was this voice that spoke to me inside my head and told me I was in the afterlife. I obviously didn't believe a freaking word, but I realised that the timeline of history had somehow changed – I felt it. The alteration of the past was what caused me to have died, so that's why I was supposedly in the afterlife. I have no idea how long I was there for, exactly, but then I was suddenly thrown back into reality. I was back in the barn where I should have been, and it didn't take long to figure out that you must have been a part of it, so I came here. That brings us to this moment. Now it's your turn, buddy." The way Gabriel spat out the word 'buddy' inferred that Balthazar was currently the exact opposite of such a friendly term.
"Right, okay. That makes sense." Balthazar commented about Gabriel's recollection, before hastily stating his own version of events when he saw the archangel's 'quit stalling' glare. "As soon as I reached the three-mile border of the barn, Cas summoned me. He told me that he needed human souls for his war machine in the fight against Raphael. I wasn't sure about it, but he managed to convince me. In order to get the souls, I had to choose an event in history in which many humans died, and save them so they would create offspring in the future, meaning more souls. I chose to un-sink the Titanic. By doing so, there were repercussions throughout time, as I'm sure you'll understand…"
"Which would have changed our timelines, causing me to die. I get it." Gabriel intervened.
"Exactly." Balthazar added.
"So, what made you change it back?" The archangel inquired, intrigued by how the event (and all of time) was restored.
Sighing, Balthazar continued. "That was when Atropos got involved. I suppose it was inevitable, really – after all, she is a Fate, so maintaining fixed events is her job. She started killing off everyone who shouldn't be alive because of me changing history, and then those pesky Winchesters followed it up as a case. Because they were there, she used them as leverage to persuade dear Cassie to return things back to normal, and obviously it worked. I was going to kill her personally, but Cas told me not to. Honestly, Sam and Dean have him wrapped around their little fingers."
Ignoring Balthazar's final comment, Gabriel gave a surprised reply. "You're telling me that Castiel made you do that? To gain souls? Well damn, he really has gone off the rails." He whistled lowly, but in a shocked manner rather than an impressed one.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Balthazar admitted before eventually deciding to stand up rather than sit uncomfortably on the ground – since he no longer felt that he posed a threat, he was prepared to physically face the archangel. "You were right, Gabriel. I bloody hate to admit it, but it's true. Cas has gone too far. I think he does care more about the weapons and winning this war right now, and it's got to the point where he's almost as bad as Raphael. And yes, the reason why I argued against you before when you said exactly the same was because my friendship with Cas was clouding my judgement. I loved him too much to believe he could be anything other than perfect. You couldn't have been more accurate when you said that, and I penalised you for it because I was being a stubborn idiot."
"Are you apologising to me?" Gabriel asked incredulously, with more than a hint of humour.
"Don't push your luck, I'd never apologise." Balthazar retorted instantaneously, then winced when it occurred to him that his words could be a mistake, considering how the archangel had acted towards him a mere five minutes ago. However, Gabriel didn't react violently, or even with hostility.
Instead, he spoke softly. "I understand. And don't worry about yelling at me before – believe me, I know about being too stubborn to admit to the truth, and besides, I'm used to arguing by now. What matters is that we both agree on what's happening with Castiel, so we can take action."
Balthazar abruptly grew concerned, his face falling deadly serious. "How do you mean? What are you going to do?"
Gabriel immediately scrambled to reassure his friend. "I'm not going to hurt Castiel, you should know I'd never do that. But… We have to do something. Cas is in trouble, and we can't let it go on for much longer, otherwise everyone's in danger. The idea isn't to hurt him, we have to save him, before it's too late."
"But how do we do that?"
"That, my friend, is an excellent question."