Gabriel reluctantly returned to the safe bar, dreading telling Balthazar even more bad news about the situation which was already the lowest of the low. There was always hope, of course, but at this point, he pretty much needed a magnifying glass to find what remained of it.

"Any news? Or should I rather not ask?" Balthazar inquired on his friend's arrival, internally bracing himself for the inevitable.

Instead of directly answering either of Balthazar's questions, Gabriel simply stated what he'd discovered. "Cas' mind is well and truly made up. He's gonna go through with devouring half of Purgatory's souls, and I honestly doubt anything can stop him."

"Bugger." Castiel's dearest friend (well, angelic friend) cursed softly and hopelessly, picking up the half-empty glass of champagne that had been keeping him company during Gabriel's absence. "There must be something we can do…"

"Aside from punching him in the face to make him stop? Even if we did do that – well, he'd probably kick your ass, and I can't do it since I'm still under witness protection. But no, no extent of melodramatic verbal persuasion is gonna sway him. You got any ideas?" Despite knowing his request was pointless, the archangel had to ask regardless.

However, before Balthazar could even open his mouth to reply, an intense shuddering began to shake the building, smashing pint glasses and sloshing drinks about. Any human would assume it was an earthquake, but the angels knew better.

"Is that you?" Gabriel asked in a vaguely accusatory manner.

"God knows – actually, I think it is." Balthazar rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Who the hell is summoning me now?"

"Whoever it is, don't be long, 'kay?" Gabriel spoke to his friend like a mother ensuring her child would be home in time for dinner.

"I'll do my best, honey." The angel smirked, interpreting Gabriel's concern as more like a worried wife desperately awaiting her husband's return. Refusing to neglect his champagne glass, Balthazar kept hold of it while he teleported to where his summoner (in this case, summoners) was situated.

Streetlamps emitted sparks and blew out as the angel arrived in Singer Salvage Yard, atop a car roof to add to his overdramatized entrance. Once he noticed Sam and Dean Winchester stood on the ground below, staring expectantly up at him, Balthazar's tone immediately reverted to irritably sarcastic. "I'm sorry boys, do I look like a man-servant to you? No? No? Then quit ringing for me, please."

"This is important, Balthazar." Dean interrupted, equally as infuriated.

"I was drinking '75 Dom out of a soprano's navel when you called. That was important." Although this was a lie, it was certainly believable coming from the hedonist, and Dean responded with a 'not bad' expression of approval.

Sam, on the other hand, decided to get straight to the point. "Crowley's alive." When the angel glanced at him, the younger Winchester nodded to emphasise the truth.

"Well you've been scooped. Cas already told me." Balthazar acted nonchalant, stepping off the car and strolling up to Dean.

"Well did Cas tell you that he is Crowley's butt-buddy, you smug little dick?" Dean's words were slightly ironic, since he was the one acting more smug, smirking while he spoke. He obviously expected that Balthazar was unaware of Castiel and Crowley's deal, which was why he thought he now had the upper hand.

Instead of regaining his dignity by saying he knew that already too, Balthazar bit his lip and did the opposite, knowing he had to let the Winchesters have this one in order to gain their trust and make them believe he was on the same side as them. "Excuse me?"

"Handshake deal. Go halfsies on all the souls of Purgatory. He fill you in on that?" Sam piped up, laying out the details.

"Well, yes, yes. Yes, of course he did. Yes." The angel was aware that he couldn't just say 'oh I didn't know', as the brothers knew him to act above that, therefore he put on an overtly false pretence of knowing.

"Oh, yes, of course. I – I – we can read it all over your face." Sam instantly fell for Balthazar's act, so he thought that the angel didn't know about the deal.

Interrupting the on-going sass fight, it was now Dean's turn to get to the point. "Look, Crowley and Cas took two people who are very important to me."

"And I care about this because…?" Balthazar maintained his apathetic exterior.

"Because maybe there is a shred of decency underneath this, this snarky crap." Dean speculated. Although the angel casually sipped his drink, the older brother remained hopefully persistent. "They're innocent people and I'm asking for your help."

"Hmmm. I see. Fair enough." Despite Balthazar's apparent sympathy, he then vanished, leaving Sam and Dean to their own devices.

Back in the bar, the angel reappeared and was instantaneously confronted by Gabriel, who released a verbal bombardment of interrogative questions: "Who summoned you? Was it Cas? Is he okay? Did he ask for your help? Did you help him?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Darling, chill. It was only Sam and Dean. Those idiots always have to get in the way." Balthazar appeared disgusted.

"Well? What did they say?" Gabriel was eager to get the story.

"Oh, just the usual. Actually, that's not true." The angel's initial phrase had apparently rolled off his tongue, therefore he went into more detail. "They informed me about dear Cassie working with the King of Hell, nothing we don't already know. Oh, and Crowley has kidnapped some of Dean's not-family, or something. I kind of lost interest at that point."

"So, did you tell them you already knew about Cas?" Gabriel prompted.

"Of course not! I lied my way through the entire conversation. The Winchesters are functioning morons at best – the only lie they saw through was my fake one." Balthazar scoffed while mocking his least favourite humans.

The archangel, on the other hand, wasn't too pleased to hear about his friend's actions. "Why did you do that? They might be able to help."

"Help? You have got to be kidding me. They're humans, which means they're useless by default."

"Yeah, humans who managed to single-handedly avert the Apocalypse!" Gabriel pointed out validly.

"Okay, fine, so they're not completely useless." Balthazar reluctantly agreed so their conversation could progress, and also to avoid another tiff. "I suppose now they've told me officially about Cas and Crowley's little conspiracy, I can talk to Cas about it personally and pretend I heard about it from the Winchesters."

"Right, that's actually a good idea." Gabriel was vaguely surprised.

"I'm offended you expected anything less. I'll have to go now, you know we can't waste any time."

"Wait," The archangel caused his friend to stop in his tracks. "If Cas doesn't listen, which he won't, then you should go back to Sam and Dean and tell them you're on their side."

"And why the hell would I do that?"

"Look, Balthazar," Gabriel's tone grew abruptly firm. "If you help them, by finding Dean's missing family or whoever they are, then they'll trust you to take them to Cas. They might be the only ones who can help Cas now. I know you don't like it – I've never been fond of the Winchesters myself – but you have to work with them. Don't bother coming back to me until you've spoken with them, for real."

Sighing, Balthazar could see in Gabriel's expression that he was saying nothing short of his genuine word. "Very well. I'm only doing this for Cas though."

"I know."

Smiling at each other with underlying melancholy, Balthazar then flew to a nearby forest, where it would be peaceful and private for him and Castiel, and summoned his best friend via a telepathic message.

"Cas, Cas, Cas. So good of you to come." Balthazar greeted his friend.

"Balthazar. Why'd you summon me here?" Castiel acted almost suspicious, and Balthazar instantly knew something wasn't right. It wasn't like him to act so wary of a dear friend.

Fed up of beating around the bush, Balthazar took a leaf out of Gabriel's book and got straight to the point. "Can I ask you a direct question?"

"Of course."

"Are you in flagrante with the King of Hades?"

"Of course not."

Balthazar gave a hollow laugh, his suspicions (which he technically already knew to be true) finally confirmed by Castiel himself. "Always were such a terrible liar. So it's true. Alright then, why?"

"It's a means to an end. Balthazar, you understand that." Castiel's voice was ever so slightly pleading; he was so desperate for someone, anyone, to see what a terrible situation he was trapped in from his perspective.

"Oh, absolutely. But what's the end here exactly? You know, raid Purgatory, snatch up all the souls?"

"Win the war." Castiel finished, determination evident in his tone.

"And I can only assume that you'd be the vessel, correct? Suck up all those souls into yourself? All that power?" Balthazar spoke aggressively, attempting to make his friend see how dangerous his plan was.

"It's the only way." Castiel replied, but his voice was weary, as if he'd repeated the phrase many times before, whether it was to convince others, or himself.

"Or too much juice for you, in which case you explode, taking a substantial chunk of the planet along with you."

"That won't happen."

"Sure, sure. Of course." Sarcasm dripped from Balthazar's tone, but not in a humorous way this time. He scoffed at Castiel's awful plan and how adamant he was that it would go smoothly. "Just – just tell me that it's entirely risk-free."

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but I need to know. Are you with me or not?" Cas stepped close to the other angel while he spoke, his question saturated with finality.

There was a long pause while Balthazar made his decision. Chuckling once again, as a nervous way of coping rather than anything else, he eventually agreed. "Ah. You know, you may be certifiable, but fine. In for a penny, in for a pound."

Cas visibly deflated, a tiny bit of stress drifting away at the thought of at least one friend standing by his side. "How'd you hear about this anyway?"

"Oh, your howler monkeys of course. See they're just a touch worked up about that kidnapping business, you know?"

Shortly after Balthazar and Castiel finished their tension-filled conversation, the latter angel fluttered away, leaving the former to dwell on how far gone his best friend was. Although his first instinct was to return to Gabriel, Balthazar soon recalled what the archangel had last said to him.

"Oh, bloody hell. Back to the Winchesters it is." He sighed, then teleported to Bobby's house, knowing he'd find the brothers there.

The angel saw Sam first, and after putting up with a generically rude welcome, he stated his business truthfully. "I know I'm gonna live to regret this, but I'm officially on your team. You bastards."

Like Gabriel said, Balthazar then took the brothers to the place where Crowley was holding Lisa and Ben to prove he was trustworthy, then scampered since the building was angel-proof. Knowing it was time to consult with Gabriel to think up a final plan to help their friend, Balthazar went back to the bar.