Gabriel arrived in Heaven to the remnants of a massacre. She swore violently, taking off for the palace. Landing hard, she took in the sight of Azrael and Uriel, beaten bloody and leaning heavily on each other.

"What happened?" Gabriel asked softly. Azrael raised her head. Gabriel's eyes strayed down to Azrael's sword, noting in horror that the blade was bloody.

"Castiel," Azrael answered, her voice hoarse. A dark bruise was forming on her throat and Gabriel winced, looking away.

"The Winchesters said he's calling himself the new God," Gabriel remarked.

"He came and slaughtered," Uriel told her. "All those on Raphael's side, dead."

"I saw the bodies," Gabriel sat down on a step next to her siblings. "But you're alive."

"He may have more power, but he is not an Archangel, and he is not Father," Azrael replied. "We defended the throne, as is our duty."

"He killed Raphael," Gabriel told them, ignoring the barb in Azrael's words. "He would have, should have killed you."

"No one but Father and Lord Death is exempted from my blade's power," Azrael said. "He will not claim the throne of Heaven so long as we live."

Uriel looked at her. "Why didn't you stay?"

Gabriel put her head on her knees. "I hoped that maybe Raphael was still living, that the feeling of his death was a lie." She shook her head. "I shouldn't have left." Her siblings didn't answer. Gabriel sighed and stood up. "Let me see your wounds." They just stared. "I'm not... I'm not Raphael, but I can heal decently."

Azrael offered her arms first. Gabriel winced at the deep slashes and settled her hands over them. Her eyes and hands came alight with bright green and ice blue light, her pagan magic mixing with her Grace to heal her sister. Once she finished, she turned to Uriel. He reluctantly allowed her to heal him.

A few minutes later, Gabriel stood, swaying slightly, and offered a hand to help up Azrael.

"The Winchesters are going to let me know when they find Castiel," she informed her siblings. "Until then, there's a lot to do."

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The Silver City, if possible, looked better from above. On the ground, the carnage Castiel had wrought in his madness was everywhere Gabriel looked. Nearly everyone who'd stood in Castiel's way was dead or injured. Gabriel noted with some bitterness that Naomi was still alive.

Gabriel spent the rest of the day alongside her siblings, healing angels to the best of their ability and helping out wherever they could. Near the end of the day, Gabriel heard a prayer from Sam.

Gabriel, we have a plan. Gabriel tilted her head, drawing the attention of Azrael and Uriel. Meet me and Dean at Bobby's house.

Gabriel straightened up and looked at her siblings. "Sam and Dean have a plan. I'm going to go to them." Azrael stepped toward her.

"I'll come with you," she said, but Gabriel shook her head.

"The Winchesters are expecting me," she told her. "They know me. They don't know you, and you must know that they don't trust easily." Azrael opened her mouth. "No, Az. I'm going alone and that's final." She left before her sister could say another word.

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Gabriel touched down in the middle of Bobby's kitchen, to the sound of swearing. Dean was glaring at her as he mopped up the beer he'd spilled.

"Do any of you winged assholes have a concept of personal space?" he grumbled. Gabriel grinned lecherously and sidled up to him.

"No," she purred, "why do you ask?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "If we could all focus?"

Gabriel stepped away from Dean and cleared her throat. "Right," she said, "you said you had a plan?"

"We're going to summon Death," Sam explained. "He can bind Cas's new powers and-"

Gabriel cut him off. "You want to summon Lord Death to join this clusterfuck?" She snorted. "Whose dumbass idea was this?"

Dean glared. "You don't think this plan will work?"

"Oh, having Lord Death bind Castiel's power will work," Gabriel answered. She held up a hand to silence the brothers. "If you can get him to agree."

"What do you mean?"

"I personally have never had to deal with him," Gabriel said. "My sister Azrael, on the other hand, spent years as his apprentice. Lord Death dislikes being bound and without proper sacrifice, he won't listen to you at all."

Sam nodded along. "So what is the proper sacrifice?"

Gabriel shrugged. "No clue."

The Winchesters exchanged looks. Gabriel rolled her eyes.

"Did you miss the part where I've never personally dealt with him?" she asked. "I can always go get Azrael if you'd prefer to deal with her?"

As expected, Dean shook his head vehemently. "I barely trust you, no more of you feathered bastards."

"I'll have you know I am perfectly legitimate, thank you very much."

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Dean didn't trust Gabriel as far as he could throw her, but he couldn't deny that having the Archangel's power backing them up felt nice. He could, however, say that he would happily string the Archangel up by her wings. "You have anything useful to say?"

"Don't go outside in a lightning storm," the Archangel quipped. "Also, I don't know what it is, but somehow I don't think a human sacrifice is the way to go. Stop reading weird books." Gabriel took a swig of Dean's beer and grinned down at the humans from her perch on the counter.

"This is the fifth book you've shot down as inaccurate," Sam said, exasperated. "What is accurate?"

"I don't know why you're asking me," Gabriel grumbled. "Dean's actually met Lord Death."

Two pairs of incredulous eyes landed on Dean. "You've met Death?" Bobby asked. "And what, you just failed to mention this?" He shook his head. "Idjit."

"It wasn't exactly memorable," Dean retorted. "He just sat there and ate... pizza." He sighed and looked at Gabriel. "It's food, isn't it? That's the proper sacrifice."

"Better chance than any of the last five options."

"I hate you so much."

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"Well," Bobby said, laying out an assortment of spell ingredients, "we've got most of this stuff, but we're going to have to make a run for a few things."

Gabriel leaned over Dean's shoulder to peer at the spell. "Like?" Dean asked, shoving her away.

Bobby rolled his eyes at them. "Like an act of God crystallized forever."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

"Kristölluð elding," Gabriel answered. Dean scowled at her. "Don't give me that look, I like the Icelandic words. The direct translation is crystallized lightning. What they're likely referencing is a fulgurite."

"A what?"

"Fulgurite," Bobby said. "When lightning strikes sand at the right angle, it crystallizes into the perfect shape of itself. We're gonna need a biggie, too."

"Let me guess," Dean said sarcastically. "They're rare."

"My father was big on the lightning strikes in the early days," Gabriel answered, "not so much on the tangible proof of divinity. It's gonna be hard to find one."

"I found records of an auction," Bobby informed them. "Winning bidder lives about nine hours from here."

"Road trip!" Gabriel quipped. "C'mon boys, I'll race you."

"No," Dean immediately shut down. "You're riding with us, I don't trust you not to fly off and warn Death."

"You know, you should really see someone about these trust issues, Dean." Gabriel flew into the back seat of the Impala before Dean could react.

"I hate you," Dean said a few minutes later as he got in the car.

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Gabriel poofed out of the car as soon as they arrived. It took her two minutes to find the fulgurite. It took another five for the others to join her.

"Well, let's light this candle," Bobby said. He lifted the paper Crowley gave them. "Te nunc invoco, mortem. Te in mea potestate defixi. Nunc et in aeternum!" Almost immediately, a tall, dark figure appeared, glowing golden ropes trailing from their hands.

Gabriel shifted uncomfortably as Death's presence washed over her. Dean stepped forward. "Um... Hello? Death?"

Death's cold gaze swept over the group. "You're joking."

"I'm sorry, Death," Dean said, tone respectful. "This isn't what it seems."

Gabriel snorted despite herself. She regretted it immediately when Death's eyes landed on her. "It seems," he said slowly, "that you've bound me."

Dean's brow furrowed as he looked between the two celestial beings. "We did," he agreed slowly, " but for a good reason, okay? Just, uh, hear us out. Um..." He held up the bag of takeout. "Fried pickle chip? They're the best in the state."

"That easy to soothe me, you think?" Death faced Dean with a pitying smile. "This is about Sam's hallucinations, I assume?"

"What?"

"Sorry, Sam," Death said, not sounding very sorry at all. "One wall per customer." His polite tone dropped. "Now unbind me."

Sam, to his credit, didn't flinch. "We can't yet."

"This isn't going to end well," Death warned. He looked at Gabriel. "Surely your sister taught you better."

Gabriel rolled her eyes. "I don't know if you've heard, but I skipped out on Heaven for a few millennia. Didn't really get the chance."

Dean interrupted. "We need you to kill God."

"Pardon?"

"Kill God," Bobby repeated. "You heard right." Gabriel elbowed him. "Your... Honor."

"What makes you think I can do that?"

"You told me," Dean answered.

"Why should I?"

"Because.." Dean trailed off with a look that told Gabriel she'd regret letting him speak. "We said so and we're the boss of you. I mean... respectfully."

If looks could kill, Dean would have died. Gabriel sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Would it kill you to phrase that differently?" She shook her head, looking up at Death. "Not my Father, Your Grace, they mean the false god, Casti—" She was cut off by Castiel's sudden appearance.

"Amazing," Cas said, sounding anything but amazed.

"Cas," Sam breathed. Cas shot him an icy look.

"I didn't want to kill you, but now..." He trailed off.

"You can't kill us," Dean told him. Castiel turned incredulous eyes on him.

"You erased any nostalgia I might have had for you, Dean," Castiel sneered. Gabriel raised her head to stare at the ceiling and wondered whether it was worth it to pray to her father.

"Death is our bitch," Dean retorted, gesturing to where Death was bound. "We ain't gonna die, even if God pulls the trigger."

Gabriel exchanged exasperated looks with Death. "Annoying little protozoa, aren't they?" he asked her, then turned to Castiel. "God? You look awfully like a mutated seraph to me." Castiel glared. "Your vessel is melting," Death informed him flatly. "You're going to explode."

"No, I'm not," Castiel denied. "When I've finished my work, I'll repair myself."

Death leveled a steady gaze. "You think you can because you think you're simply under the weight of all those souls, yes?" Castiel opened his mouth, but Death had already moved on. "But that's not the worst problem. There are things much older than souls in Purgatory, and you gulped those in, too."

"Odin fucking damn it, Castiel, I told you there was bad shit in Purgatory," Gabriel snarled.

"It's irrelevant," Cas brushed off. "I control them."

"For the moment," Death agreed.

"Wait," Dean interjected. "Uh, what older things?"

Gabriel frowned at him. "I already told you."

"Well, maybe I want to hear it from a more trustworthy source."

Death cut Gabriel's reply off. "Long before God created Angel and man, he made the first beasts — the Leviathans."

"Leviathans?" Bobby asked. "I ain't ever heard of them."

"I personally found them entertaining," Death mused, ignoring the muttered "of course you would" from Gabriel. "But he was concerned they'd chomp the entire petri dish, so he locked them away. Why do you think he created Purgatory? To keep those clever, poisonous things out."

"And now Cas has gone and swallowed them like an idiot," Gabriel interjected. "He's the only thing standing between the Leviathan and Earth."

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at Cas. "Enough," he growled.

Death smirked. "What a stupid little soldier you are."

"Why?" Cas demanded. "Because I opened a door that he shut? Where is he?" He pointed at himself. "I did a service, taking his place."

"I wouldn't say you took his place, exactly," Gabriel mused aloud. "You never even touched his throne."

Castiel started towards her, only to stop short as Death held out one pale hand. "She speaks the truth, little soldier, and well you know it." He stared Castiel down. "And what service? Settling petty vendettas?"

"No," Castiel replied. "I'm cleaning up one mess after another — selflessly."

"Quite the humanitarian."

"And how would you know?" Castiel asked. "What are you, really? A flyswatter?"

"Destined to swat you, I think," was the cool reply. It only served to irritate Castiel further.

"Unless I take you first."

Death raised one eyebrow and turned to where Gabriel stood with Bobby. "Really bought his own press, this one." He turned back to Castiel. "Please, Cas. I know God, and you, sir, are no God."

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Dean stood next to Sam, watching two celestial beings argue back and forth. As Cas got more and more irritated, he looked over at Gabriel.

The stupid feathered asshole was just standing there, making no move to intervene. Dean rolled his eyes and stepped in between Cas and Death. "Alright, put your junk away, both of you," he ordered, and turned to face Death. "Look, call him whatever you want. Just kill him now!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean could see Gabriel facepalming. He didn't care. "Alright," Death agreed. "Fine. Thank you. Shall we kickbox now? I had a tingle I'd be reaping someone very, very soon. Don't worry," he directed towards Sam. "Not you." Cas disappeared in flurry of wings. "Well," Death remarked. "He was in a hurry."

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Gabriel left quietly when Dean got in between Cas and Lord Death. Staying in Death's presence was suffocating, and Castiel felt... wrong.

Azrael and Uriel were sitting in the War Room when she found them. They stared intently at the display of the Earth, as though it could give them answers. They looked up when she walked in. Azrael was first to speak.

"How are the Winchesters?"

Gabriel shrugged and sat down next to Uriel. "They're trying to kill Castiel," she said simply. There was silence for a moment.

"How... exactly are they going about that?" Azrael asked slowly. Gabriel winced.

"They, uh, they bound Lord Death." Predictably, Azrael leapt to her feet, already shouting.

"They did what?!" She drew her blade. "I should kill them for their disrespect."

"Azzy, please," Gabriel rolled her eyes. "You're not going to kill them."

Uriel surprised them all by siding with Gabriel. "You can't just kill a human," he pointed out. Then he smiled wryly and added, "They're the Winchesters. They'd just come back."

Azrael sat back down. "Did you at least tell them it was a bad idea?"

"Sort of?" Azrael raised one eyebrow. Gabriel threw up her hands in defense. "Hey, I told them it would only work if they could get him to agree." She sighed in the face of her sister. "They'll let him go." Azrael sat back down seemingly placated. Gabriel looked away. "... Eventually," she muttered lowly.

The siblings sat silently for a long moment, faces illuminated by the soft glow of the Earth.