An entire day was spent, scanning through books and translating Enochian spells. They stayed up all night, attempting to find a way to summon Metatron. Sam had summoned Balthazar before when he was soulless. The Winchesters tried that same spell on Metatron but it didn't provide any favourable results. Gabriel mentioned that Metatron probably got elevated to an archangel now. Or a Seraph at least, given that he holds all of heaven. Simple summoning spells wouldn't work on him.
On the second day, Dean called Kevin to ask if he had -by any chance- translated the angel tablet. He didn't expect good news but surprisingly, Kevin had been working on the tablet since they last met. Let the record show that Kevin Tran makes a hell of a prophet. He had not finished translating the entire tablet but had figured out Metatron's spell. Metatron had found a way to cast the angels to Earth by making Castiel commit a sin of the same nature as Lucifer; not loving humanity. Castiel was the only angel who loved humanity more than himself and willingly chose to side people. The other being Gabriel who was supposedly dead at the time. That was why he needed Castiel to undertake the trials. The necessary constituents for the spell were meant to taint the bond between human and angels which goes against the explicit command of God. The Nephilim was a product of love shared between an angel and a human. Cutting out the heart of the only Nephilim in existence would cleave the bond between angels and humans. He then persuaded Castiel to get hold of the device of love; the Cupid 's bow. In doing so, Castiel had corrupted his grace. Finally, Metatron harvested the defiled grace of the angel that loved humanity the most, thus consummating the cardinal sin.
As Castiel listened to the phone conversation, he was disgusted of himself. Gabriel was right. He is no better than Lucifer. He is an abomination. He hated himself for not having the foresight to decipher the trials. He slumped inelegantly on the nearest chair as his legs almost gave out. Castiel finally understood what heartache felt like. The utter devastation followed by the feeling of nothingness. Loneliness. The stabbing pain in the chest that was worse than any other physical pain. The suffocating feeling of holding your breath and being afraid to let go. Being afraid that everything will come crashing down if you as much as exhale air out of your lungs. He felt it. He felt his heart shatter and there was nothing he could do to stop himself from feeling terrifyingly hollow. Not just the empty feeling that was subsequent to losing his grace. He felt like his entire being was carved out and he was nothing but a shell. Worthless.
Sam reached out to Castiel and rubbed his back in a futile attempt to comfort the fallen angel's conscience.
Sam's voice was barely more than a whisper. "It's okay. We will find a way to undo this."
Castiel let out a shuddering breath and his throat constricted. He couldn't say a word. Tears welled up in his eyes and he closed them to force it back in. He couldn't cry. He didn't deserve to cry and pour out his anguish. He had to suffer. That was the price he had to pay.
Dean turned off the loudspeaker on the phone and put Kevin on hold. He grabbed the phone and walked past Castiel to attend the call in his room. But he paused in his stride and gingerly touched Castiel's shoulder. Castiel didn't look up. He still had his hands clutching the armrests of the wooden chair and his head bowed down. He scrunched his eyes shut.
"Someone once told me that too much heart was your problem," Dean said softly, consciously refraining from mentioning Samandriel's name, knowing that it will only serve to split the fallen angel from inside out.
Dean tightened his grip on Castiel's shoulder and continued, "I didn't believe it then but I do now. And I forgive you for that."
With that, Dean walked off to his bedroom and shut the door. He didn't wait to see the effects of his word. Which was probably for the best because no matter how hard Castiel tried, he could no longer stop the tears from falling.
Sam sat quietly with Castiel as he wept into his hands. Gabriel didn't say anything either. He just remained seated on the couch, sipping some fine scotch that appeared out of nowhere. And if he heard Castiel's incessant prayers for forgiveness from the Lord above, he made no comments and Castiel was grateful for that. By the time Dean was done talking to Kevin, Castiel had no more tears to spare. He felt numb. In his mind, he was firmly resolved to fix what he broke.
Kevin informed Dean that he could find a way to undo the spell.
"The expulsion could be undone by an angel with infallible virtue, supreme righteousness and inexhaustible loyalty to the Heavenly Host during the time of service," Dean quoted to the rest of them.
"Or some shit like that… Don't know what it means, gotta ask him later," Dean mumbled more to himself.
"He hasn't figured out the spell yet." Dean paused and raised his eyebrow at Gabriel before continuing, "Looks like a job for an archangel."
Gabriel had an unreadable expression on his face when he chugged down the remaining scotch in one gulp.
Kevin also passed Dean a ritual that could do them some good. He needed all kinds of stuffs for it though. Catnip, a sachet of rose petals, Angelica, Hyssop, the bone of an animal whose ancestors were the clean animals saved by Noah and finally a vile of an angel's blood. When Gabriel inquired what the ritual was for, Castiel told him that it should re-establish the broken connection between Gabriel and Heaven. Gabriel didn't budge an inch from his spot on the couch and absolutely refused to help. So, Dean drove for hours until he found a shop where they sold such herbs for protection. Castiel informed Dean that Noah's clean animals included cattle, sheep and goats. So, Dean stopped by a wet market that sold live poultry. The Asian man slaughtered the goat in front of him –Dean felt quite guilty because it's one thing to eat bone broths but another to watch a goat get chopped to pieces. He told the man that he wanted large leg bones and had to listen to the man lecture him on why the bones should be in small pieces to make delicious soup and the length of time he should let the soup simmer to fully extract the nutrients in and around the bones. Dean finally convinced the man to just sell him the large bones without cutting them. He left without buying any meat because he had lost appetite for any food that required goat meat as main ingredient. This tiring search for the right components cost them another entire day. Gabriel refused to offer his blood at first because he didn't believe the ritual would work but Castiel talked him into giving it a shot. Sam and Dean were exhausted –having stayed up three days in a row- and took a nap. Gabriel may or may not have materialised a couple of women in bikinis and utilised one of the free rooms to cure his boredom. Castiel carried out the ritual but nothing noticeable happened.
"Okay. This is a waste of time. I could be in Caribbean, swimming with the sea turtles in Barbados," Gabriel said as he jumped up from the couch.
"How does it feel?" Sam asked.
"What? Caribbean? Breathtaking. Beautiful beaches and let me tell you about the women…" Gabriel whistled lewdly.
"No. How does it feel to run all the time?"
Gabriel's expression abruptly turned icy.
"You must have mistaken me for your friendly neighbourhood angel, Castiel. I don't deal with your bullshit. Don't be insolent with me," Gabriel warned.
"Your devil-may-care attitude. You're fooling no one, you know?" Sam said.
Gabriel rolled his eyes dramatically and opened his mouth to retort but he stopped when Castiel stood up and closed the distance between them. Castiel tilted his head and observed the archangel with an intense stare.
"What do you think you're doing, laddie?" Gabriel asked tentatively.
"Are you hiding something from us, brother?" Castiel questioned.
The archangel snorted and looked away for a second before returning Castiel's glare.
Castiel continued, "You have not been participating in our efforts. It seems to me like you knew from the start that none of the spells would work but you led us on anyway. What is it that you're not telling us?"
"You've been smoking pot, kiddo?" Gabriel huffed out a laugh that sounded too forceful. Too fake. "Don't blame me for your failures. Not my fault that your spells are good-for-nothing."
Castiel stood his ground and waited for an answer. Gabriel intended to fly away. To his horror, he didn't move from where he stood. He tried again; he heard the rustle of his wings but nothing happened. He snapped his fingers but he still remained in the bunkers. Castiel then took a huge step backwards as though he anticipated a blow to the face and wanted to avoid it.
"What did you do?" Gabriel gritted his teeth.
"The ritual I performed successfully bound your plane of existence to mine. You can only be where I am."
Gabriel got furious and the ground shook a little from the force of his rage. The lights blew out and mugs in the kitchen shattered. The windows cracked and the hunters could hear loud, howling wind outside.
"Who's to say I won't incinerate you to a pile of ashes?" Gabriel hissed as he stepped forward.
Castiel took a few more large steps backwards and said quickly, "You need me alive to break the binding spell. You need the fresh blood of the binder to contaminate the hold and you need me to read the reversal incantation. Only I hold the key to your freedom."
Gabriel turned to glare at the Winchesters this time. Sam and Dean could predict who the next targets were and took off running further into the bunkers. Gabriel couldn't teleport anymore so he ran after them with Castiel following right behind with his pleas to spare the Winchesters. The hunters ran in separate directions with Dean running to the dungeon and Sam climbing into a secret passageway in the ground and locking the door behind him. Gabriel knew that he only needed one of them to force Castiel's hand. So, he went after the easier target –in this instance, Dean. The older hunter ran into the dungeon and locked the metal door. Gabriel tore the door off the frame without difficulty and walked towards Dean, looking like a predator. Dean had his back pressed against the furthest wall and Castiel overtook the archangel and stood before Dean to protect him –knowing that Gabriel wouldn't kill him if he wanted to break the binding. But Gabriel had no qualms of hurling Castiel across the room with a swift motion of his wrist and holding him against the wall. He was taken aback when Sam showed up behind him. Sam lighted a bundle of matches and threw it on the ground which immediately blazed into a huge circle of holy fire. The circle covered half the room, leaving no chances for the archangel to escape. Gabriel located a small opening on the ground of the corridor closest to the open dungeon. He could see now that Sam crawled into the narrow passage with a plan.
"Jesus! Give a man a warning, will you?" Dean said to Castiel as he panted for breath.
"I did inform you of the plan," Castiel answered, equally out of breath.
"Hey, I did the heavy lifting here," Sam huffed out.
"Yeah. Thanks, Sam. Perfect timing," Dean said with a big smile.
"You lying scumbag!" Gabriel spat out.
Castiel smirked, "I learnt a thing or two from my friends."
