Dean Winchester is trying to make a plan about Rowena since she is going crazy all because Sammy had to give a damn page that made her more powerful than ever.
"You know, forget Rowena. There's gotta be some other way we can track down Gabriel and find out what the hell he's doing." he said.
He manage to bring everyone back, just him and Krench, his mom, Jack and the survivors of that apocalypse world back to this one, wasn't easy but hey, Lucifer is stuck on the other side still, so they don't have to worry about him, not unless the devil finds a way back again.
"Even though he could be any place on Earth." Cas said, his best friend.
But lately…ever since he died again, Dean has found his feelings had gotten more stronger than ever for Castiel, the angel that saved him from Hell all those years ago. He is still a nerdy angel walking in a trench coat but hey, Cas is his nerdy angel walking in a trench coat.
"Yes"
"Or, technically, anywhere in the entire universe." Cas said.
Dean nearly groaned. Yeah, just complicate it, Cas, don't I know it?
"I didn't say it was gonna be easy, but… all right, come on. Ideas, come on, here we go." Dean said, clapping his hands and drinking his coffee.
After a few minutes of thinking, he hasn't got anything. The coffee was being useless.
"I need a real drink. I'm gonna get a beer, you want a beer?" he said to Cas.
"No."
As always. It's been a while since Cas had a beer but he probably just wants something to celebrate.
"I'll get a beer." he said, getting one.
"The angels." Cas said out of nowhere.
"What?" Dean asked, his heart sinking into his stomach.
No way. Hell to the no would he be letting Cas to go to heaven again, whenever he goes to heaven, it just as hell never works out, either Cas comes back exhausted, tortured, brainwashed at one time or some other injury! Hell no.
"Maybe heaven could help us." Cas said.
"Uh, not for nothin' but don't the angels mostly want to kill you?" he reminds him.
"Yeah, yeah. This would be something of a Hail Mary." Cas said to him.
Dean nods but he doesn't say anything.
"It's a sports term. Like slam-dunk or ball-handler." Cas said.
Dean clicks his fingers and shakes his head at him. Still absolutely not, he will not lose Cas again!
"That's uh…hmmm-mmm." he said.
Cas crocks his head to the side just as he always does when he is confused on something.
"I don't think it's a good idea." he said, drinking the beer.
"Well, Dean, we don't have any good ideas." Cas said to him, sounding annoyed.
"Okay, just…Let's not just barrel through with that like, you know… like the Donatello thing." he reminds him, giving him a look.
"We had our disagreement, but we got results," he said.
Dean shakes his head at him. "That doesn't make it okay. What if you don't come back because they capture you and torture you?"
' I can't save you up there, man. I won't lose you again, Cas.'
"I hear your concerns. And yes, the angels, they loathe me and there's going to be dangers, but heaven doesn't want the world to end any more than we do. This is….this is something I have to try." Castiel said just as Sam walked into the room.
"We got a problem."
Oh, that's fucking wonderful, another problem with everything else on top such as trying to find Gabriel and worrying if Cas goes up to heave only to be tortured and brainwashed again.
"Another one? Awesome." he said, sarcastically.
"All the stuff Rowena said on the phone, Pacific Northwest, art gallery, party. I think I found her."
Dean looked at it, reading the tagline on the article. "Rich lady exploded?"
"Yeah. Local cops are calling it spontaneous combustion. Pretty much."
Cas takes the ipad, looking down at the article. "Well, that does sounds like Rowena."
"I knew it, I friggin' knew it, man." Dean said, angrily. "You gave her that page. What'd you think was gonna happen, huh?"
"She wanted to protect herself."
Dean shakes his head angrily, what if the next time someone pisses her off and she puts them under the dog spell like she has done with Cas and there will be nothing they can do to stop it because she speeds the progress of the spell up?
"Yeah, by barbecuing someone?" he asks angrily.
"We don't know what this is yet. Maybe she had a reason to-"
Yeah, this isn't right and Sam knows it, it's what happens when you become friends with a frigging witch! This isn't Harry Potter, for Chuck's sake!
"Don't matter what the reason is, that's not okay!" Dean said to them, firmly.
"Okay, I said if Rowena goes bad again, I'll deal with it." he said to him. "So I'll deal with it."
"You'd better."
He sighs, it's better than nothing but he better not die again. He wouldn't be able to take if Cas dies because he is one stubborn son of a bitch, but it's what he loves about the angel.
"Cas, you wanna try this angel thing, then go for it." he said.
He knows Cas is looking at him with uncertainty and confusion about that so he looks at his angel.
"Just don't get dead again." he said to him firmly. "Promise me, Cas."
Cas looks down and nods to him. "I won't, I…promise, Dean."
He nods, that'll have to do for now. But Dean cannot help but wonder…will Cas even be okay? He can't shake off the feeling that something bad will happen.
"Cas, wait." he said, taking his hand.
Cas looks at him with those big blue angel eyes, crocking his head to the side.
"Yes, Dean?"
"I…Damn it." he said.
He then kisses his lips deeply and passionately and he is surprised when Cas kisses him back in the same manner. God, he is so dense, how the hell did he never notice that Cas has feelings for him otherwise he would've done this much sooner, like back in that place that Zachriah had locked him in to keep him from Sam or when they were in purgatory.
"I love you, I mean it. Don't get dead, Cas."
"I won't." he said as he left.
Dean turns around to see Sam smirking. "At last, I thought you would never do it."
"What?"
"Dean, so many people notice this like years ago with you two, Bobby, mom, Charlie, Kench, Garth, Meg, Gabriel, Balthazar, hell, even Crowley noticed it. We were all betting when you would actually do it and who would make the first move. Gabe owns me money."
"You bet against me? Your own brother, Sammy?" he asked, pretending to be hurt. "Bitch."
"Jerk."
Dean finally smiles, it was nice to have some normality for once instead of all the crazy crap they've been through lately. He leaves the room to get ready. After all, they have a witch to hunt down.
…..
Castiel makes it to the park where they keep the gates of heaven nowadays. But he doesn't see anyone at all. This time he couldn't see anyone.
Then someone shushes at him and he looked up to see Indra.
"Indra?" he asked.
"Castiel. Nice blade."
Castiel looks down at it, getting nervous about the comment there about it.
"Oh…Are we gonna fight?"
"No, no, I don't…I don't want to. I..I just need to get into heaven." he told him firmly.
But the way he is acting….well, it is a bit unnerving. Why is his brother acting like this?
"Your aura's different. Oh…." Idra said.
Castiel could feel it too, ever since the kiss with Dean, he has…felt different, like he's slightly stronger.
"So it's finally happened, hasn't it? You and the Winchester man has finally got together? Finally."
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Well…you know, you two have been doing the love dance for years since you rescued him from hell and in turn, he became your soul bond. You may have brought him from hell and saved him from that nasty mark but he saved you in more than one way."
Now he is confused. But now is not the time. "Heaven?"
"Okay, what's stopping you?" he asks.
Castiel looked around to see if any angels had decided to pop down to kill him like the last time he had been here. But there are no other angels other than himself and Indra.
"Well, this isn't exactly the welcome I was expecting," he said.
"Yeah, well, we're all learning how to deal with disappointment lately." he said.
"Look, I could, uh, get it together to..battle." he said as he comes down from the park's playing bars. "Battle if you want. I mean, none of the angels are exactly with your ongoing adventures. But personally? Nah."
Castiel then noticed the bottle in his hand. "Is that a…Are you drunk?"
"Well, not yet, but if I keep drinking at a pace, it starts to at least take the edge off."
"Indra, this is an important responsibility. You're guarding the gates of Heaven." he said to him firmly.
"Oh, you think it's an important responsibility? You?" he said, laughing.
"Indra…" he said.
"Hey. Hey, between us, if you wanna just say we fought and angel-blade me right now, that'd be okay."
Castiel shakes his head, not sure whenever to take the nearly dunk angel or not.
"Is that a joke?"
"Is it?" he asked.
Castiel just looked at him in disbelief. Something wasn't right here. Indra would never be drinking himself drunk if he didn't have to. So something bad must be happening and it can't be Lucifer or Michael since they have been locked in the alternate world, not unless Lucifer finds a way back for some reason.
"Indra, what's wrong?" he asked.
HE grimnces as he asked that. "See for yourself."
HE looked at the gate of Heaven, wondering if he should just leave or not, after all…he promised Dean hewould come back.
He goes to the sandbox, where the gate of heaven is.
"For what it's worth, good luck."
He sighs and walks into the portal of heaven. When he walks through the halls, the lights keep flickering as if something wasn't wrong before, it sure is now and also no angel was around either.
"Hello?" he asked, trying to get an angel's attention as he went to the main office.
But no one was there but when he turned around, he saw Dumah standing there looking at him in shock.
"Dumah, I need to talk to you." he said.
But she says nothing on it, just stares at him. He puts his hands up in surrender.
"I know you wanna murder me and I know that you have a good reason to wanna murder me, but there are events unfolding on Earth, and, um, well…the event…is…the archangel, Gabriel, he's alive and I need to find him, he's…he has spent the last five years being tortured and his grace been stolen, he's okay, just not a 100% and I fear that his mind isn't in a good place right now." Castiel said.
Dumah looks at the other angels behind her. "Uh…Also there is Michael, not our Michael but a much worse Michael, if worse comes to be, there is a chance that he could come here with Lucifer and destroy our world. We need Gabriel's grace to close the rift for good, lock it."
One of the other angels whispers something in her ear but she places a hand up, not saying anything but she looks at him.
"It's been an eventful few weeks." he said, walking closer to her. "I know this is a long shot but…"
The lights then flickered off and on again, he looked around.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Castiel…I think…I think that maybe we could help each other." she said then she tilt her head.
"I know, me and Dean…we kissed." he said.
"You mean…that's good. But for now, please, wait here. I will not be long, I promise. I'm happy for you, I really am." she said.
She leaves him, he waits for a long time in that room but then he can hear her coming back.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's fine. I mean, actually, it's not fine because we need to be sure that Gabriel is okay and lock the door before Michael and Lucifer come through. But here we are." he said.
"Yes, well, there's a lot going on."
He looks around with the lights flickering off and on, it hasn't stopped much so it worries him.
"Yeah, I noticed. Dumah, what did you mean that we could help each other?" he asked her.
"Find Gabriel and bring him back to us, back home. And we can help you with the lock and anything else that you need." she said, shaking her head. "Battling Michael, defending Earth if need to be."
Easier said than done, after all, Gabriel can be stubborn when he wants to be.
"I can't find him. That's why I need your help." he said, stepping closer to her.
"Right. Well, then that's a problem." she said, starting to walk away.
"I don't understand. Can't you find a few angels to-" he said.
"That's enough, Castiel." said a voice he'd never thought he would have to ever hear again.
He looked to see Naomi, with short blonde hair now. He gets flashes of everything she has ever done to him, erasing his memories time again and again, making him act out Dean Winchester's death and many more horrible things.
"It's not that we won't help you. It's that we can't." Noami said.
"How are you alive?" he asked her.
"A drill in the head wasn't gonna kill me. You should know that."
Castiel clenches his hands in anger, of course not but still…
"You know, I have to admit, I was…I was relieved you were dead." he told her, shaking his head.
She just smiled at him. "We never did see eye to eye."
"No. No, we didn't, because you stole my memories and you threatened to "tear me apart" And you made me repeatedly act out Dean's Winchester's murder, and you killed many, many people." he told her, angrily.
She nods with each word but doesn't look bothered by it. "Those were simpler times."
THOSE were SIMPLER TIMES?! He'd hate to know what kind of times these are with her now.
"I am sorry" goes a long way." he said.
She just nods but says nothing for a minute. "After Metatron attacked, I had a few reliable angels spread the word that I was dead."
"So…you've been hiding?" he asked as he turned to her, not letting her out of sight.
Naomi actually did look like had just insulted her, good.
"Recovering."
"All this time?" he asked.
She looked like she has had enough of him for some reason, but he will not allow her to control him ever again, his grace may not be what it used to be but he will not be her puppet ever again.
"Well, forgive me for taking a few years to put my thoughts back in my skull." she said, angry.
He crocks his head sideways, confused.
"There's still a few holes, pardon the phrasing, but I'm mostly here." she said, she takes a breath. " I have to be."
The lights went off again and he looked around, trying to figure out what was happening.
"Do you know what powers heaven, Castiel?" she asked as she sat down.
"Yeah, us…angels." he said, not sure where this is going.
"That's right, we're all…" she said, then she looked to be thinking of how to explain it to him. "Every angelis like a walking, talking battery."
Then the light flickers again.
"And that is what happens when we run out of power."
"I don't understand." he told her.
"Well then let me make it divinely simple for you. There are a grand total of nine angels in heaven. Present company included." Noami said.
Castiel couldn't believe it, nine angels? How could that be?
"Andone or two on Earth and that's all. We are the last men and women and divine waves of light still standing." Noami told him.
Castiel shakes his head, finally understanding what she was saying.
"No, that's, um…That's not, um…" he said, then he walked closer to her as she looked at him. I knew our numbers were small."
"You wanna know why we can't help you?" she asked.
He says nothing, a suspicion settling in him on why she can't spare a few he would never trust her again after what she had done to him.
"Because none of us can leave. We're the only things keeping the lights on. Barely." she said as the lights flickers. "We need everyone, Especially an archangel. Now the others thought any archangel would do. Long story. But your news about Gabriel is, for a lack of a better word, blessed just as you are coming home. With his power, we can keep heaven running."
HE didn't want to know what she just said about him coming home, heaven was more of a past he did not want to think about after being tortured and brainwashed by the angels, the bunker….no, Dean is his home, it always has been, he just didn't know it at the time.
"And without him or me?" he asked.
"Without him, in time, we'll burn out. HEaven will crumble and all the souls that have been entrusted to our care will fall back to earth. Picture it, Castiel. Billions upon billions of ghost unleashed upon the world."
He has a horrorfield look in his eyes, haunted by the image Naomi is painting in his mind and it was…..lack of a better word, hell. Earth would be turned into a different hell, a different apocalypse.
"All that chaos. All that death."
He sighed deeply, he wanted to help but Gabriel…was tormented by what Asmeoudus had done to him through the years, he needed to rest and heal before anything else.
"Castiel, help us find Gabriel and bring him home." Noami said.
"No."
"What?" she asked.
"I said, no. Gabriel is….Gabriel is suffering from his time in hell, he was tortured. HE needs time to adjust. I can't help until he is ready and first we need to find him, to keep sure he's okay. So no. I can talk to him when we find him but.."
"I see." Naomi said, standing up. "Then this is unfortunate."
Castiel squints and he groans as he feels a needle getting jammed into his neck, he could feel his body shutting down, becoming limp as an angel catches him as he collapse.
"What-?"
"It's time to do what I should've done years ago. Don't worry, Castiel. You will not remember anything, not even your soul bond when you wake up. It's for your own good as it will also be for Heaven's good. You'll be a good angel again, MY angel, not Winchester's."
Then everything goes dark, he has broken his promise to Dean.