Chapter 30! I can't believe I've gotten this far. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. It really means a lot to me. I'm in the middle of GISHWHES right now and while that's keeping me busy, I really wanted to update. For everyone else participating, happy hunting!

Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.

Chapter Thirty: Desertion

Dean walked into the command center with Tessa in tow, and Amriel immediately met them.

"Tessa? What are you doing?" Hannah asked, and Amriel shot her a look that clearly said to stop speaking.

"You want to tell her?" Dean prompted, and when Tessa didn't speak up, he pulled back the top of her shirt to reveal the sigil he had obviously cut across.

"Oh, God," Hannah gasped from behind Amriel, and the blonde fought back a groan.

"There's no God," Tessa answered proudly, "There's only Castiel."

"Okay, you're done," Dean decided, walking Tessa down a hallway and putting her in a warded room.

Amriel and a few other angels followed behind closely, Hannah saying that he had wounded her. Once this was all sorted, Amriel was going to have to have a serious talk with her about following orders, whether they're verbal or implied.

"More like defused, okay? I cut up that old testament graffiti she carved into herself. I figured that would break the spell."

"And now what will you do?" an angel from the small crowd that had formed asked, and Dean pulled out an angel blade from his jacket.

"Torture. Predictable," Flagstaff scoffed.

"We need to know if there are other bombers out there," Dean reasoned, and Hannah cut across him.

"No. I won't allow it. I know what Tessa was planning… It's horrible, but there's only one person who can punish her."

That was it.

Amriel had had enough. She was sick of Hannah undermining her every single time she had the chance, especially in front of other angels.

"That's enough, Hannah," she finally spoke, turning to face the offending angel. "I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but you are not in command here. I am your superior, and I will not have you disrespecting me so blatantly."

The blonde glared at her, daring her to speak up and defend herself. When she didn't, Amriel continued.

"I know I'm not Castiel, but I am his equal, and I will be treated as such."

"Ma'am, I mean no disrespect, but—" Hannah stuttered, and Amriel's gaze narrowed.

"But what, Hannah? Please, do continue."

"You have to understand that Castiel is the only thing holding us together," the brunette angel told her. "A month ago, half the angels in this place were trying to kill the other half. Castiel has given us a purpose, but more than that, he has given us a way to live in peace. We have rules. Order. And yes, Amriel, you are his equal, but many of us followed Castiel during the civil war. We are familiar with his leadership. If we let Dean take matters into his own hands, what's to stop one of them from doing the same? He can talk to her, he should talk to her. But leave the blade outside."

"She has a point, Dean. The blade will stay outside, and I will accompany you while you question Tessa," Amriel decided, holding Dean's gaze the entire time she spoke. She watched him stare back at her, and she silently hoped he would comply. Dean flipped the blade and without moving his eyes away from Amriel, he handed it handle-first to Hannah and walked into the room that held Tessa.

"Continue with what you were doing," Amriel told the group of angels, nodding to Hannah once, signaling for her to join them, before following Dean into the room as well.

"Okay, we'll start with an easy one," Dean started, "Who are you working for?"

When Tessa answered that she was working for Castiel, Hannah called her a liar, earning yet another scathing glare from Amriel.

"People like you, they never understand," Tessa said, staring at Hannah, "Sacrifices have to be made."

Amriel knew that she had a point, but she wasn't going about it in the right way.

"So you go after one of the bad guys, and if a few humans get microwaved, no big deal, right?" Dean asked.

"In the grand scheme, they don't matter," she shrugged. "When Castiel came to me and told me what I had to do, he said I was chosen because I was strong. Others, they couldn't handle this. They're too weak."

Tessa threw a pointed glance to Hannah, and Amriel watched the brunette leap forward towards Tessa. Before she could even react, Dean had grabbed Hannah's shoulders and shoved her out the door and into the hallway, closing the door and leaving Amriel alone with Tessa.

"You know Castiel didn't ask you to do this, Tessa… He would never ask another angel to sacrifice themselves for him," Amriel said as she sat in the chair that Dean had just vacated.

"Oh Amriel… You really think that you know Castiel? He said that you would try and talk me out of it, being the pacifist that you are," Tessa leaned forward, looking Amriel up and down before she said, "I don't know what he sees in you, honestly."

"It doesn't matter what you think. I see how hard you're trying to impress him, and it's rather off-putting," she said, not looking up as Dean walked into the room without Hannah. "What are you looking to get out of this?"

"I guess I just can't take the screaming," she finally said.

"Who's screaming?" Dean asked, moving to stand behind Amriel. She didn't like the way he was invading her personal space, but she let it slide for now as she listened to Tessa.

"All of them. The lost souls. The ones that can't get into Heaven now that it's been boarded up. I hear them, and they're so confused… They're in so much pain, and all I want to do is help them. It's my job, it's what I do.. You know what it's like, Amriel, hearing the prayers but being unable to do anything," Tessa tried to appeal to the blonde, "But I can't help them, so I suffered…"

"So why don't you just jam an angel blade in your throat and call it a day?" Dean asked, and Amriel shifted, uncomfortable with the thought.

"I thought about it, but I was too weak… Until Castiel gave me a reason to die."

"Yeah, see that doesn't sound like the Cas Elle and I know," Dean said, setting a hand on Amriel's shoulder, and she knew he felt her tense up, but he didn't say anything about it.

"But doesn't it though? And the Cas you know, would he raise an army of angels without telling you? 'Cause this Cas did. I'll tell you a secret," Tessa said in a fake whisper, "There's more out there like me."

Dean asked if she had names, and when Tessa wouldn't comply, Amriel heard Dean pulling something out of his jacket and she stood and turned to see the First Blade. Her eyes widened at the sight, Dean's hand firmly grasping the handle like it was an extension of himself, the look in his eyes that showed he was clearly okay with that, and she didn't even register that Tessa had asked what he had done.

"I did what I had to do," he spat. "Welcome to the club."

Before Amriel knew it, she felt herself being pushed into the table and fell to the ground as Tessa sprinted towards Dean, impaling herself on the blade.

"Thank you," she said, and a bright light filled the room, signaling the death of another angel.

Hannah burst into the room followed by a few other angels, and Amriel sat up on her knees, feeling the gash where her forehead had hit the corner of the table. Blood poured down her face as she watched the angels handcuff a combative Dean to a chair, duct taping his mouth shut once they had him secured.

"Ma'am, we should get you cleaned up," Hannah's voice came from the left and Amriel turned to see a look of concern on the brunette's face.

Amriel took one last look at Dean, who was obviously trying to communicate with her via a series of eye rolls and eyebrow gestures, and followed Hannah out of the room.

She was escorted to the restroom, where Hannah tried to clean the blood herself, but Amriel quickly took control, batting her hand away and staring in the mirror as she wiped her neck, cheek, and forehead.

"Did he do this to you?" Hannah asked, and Amriel looked at her reflection in the mirror, shaking her head.

"No, Tessa did. She pushed me so I wouldn't stop her from impaling herself on the First Blade," she answered, throwing away the paper towel and getting another handful and getting them wet. "I can't— I can't believe she did that."

"Are you sure that's what happened?"

Amriel turned around, pressing the paper towel against her forehead in an attempt to stop the bleeding, hissing at the pain. This cut must've been deeper than she thought.

"I'm positive," she hissed, "She ran right into his blade. She wanted to kill herself… She couldn't take it anymore."

"Well, Castiel will be here soon. Mihr called and told him that you were injured…"

"That was rather unnecessary," Amriel muttered, running a free hand through her hair to keep it away from the cut. "I guess now we wait for him to get here with Sam so we can figure out what to do next."

Amriel was standing with Hannah and Mihr around one of the desks in the main room of the command center when Cas and Sam entered. Before she could move to greet them, Castiel was standing in front of her, a worried look on his face as his eyes scanned over her.

"What happened?" he asked, and Amriel was suddenly aware that everyone was watching them.

"Tessa happened," Amriel answered, avoiding eye contact with him as he held his hand to her temple and she felt the warmth of his stolen grace heal her. "Thanks, Cas."

"Commanders, we have a situation with Dean Winchester," Hannah finally interrupted, and they followed her to the room he was being held in. "He put up a fight."

"Get out," Castiel told her as soon as he saw the state Dean was in— bloodied and cuffed to a chair like a prisoner.

Sam moved toward Dean and ripped off the duct tape as Hannah left, the door slamming behind her loudly.

"Ah!" Dean groaned, "You should've seen the other ten guys."

"They said you killed Tessa," Cas said, and Amriel raised an eyebrow. They lied to him?

"Not so much. She knifed herself," Dean explained. "Amriel was there, ask her."

Amriel watched Cas turn to face her, an expectant look on his features and she nodded.

"It's true. I don't know what Hannah told you, but that's what I told her. She's chosen to ignore me, apparently…" Amriel frowned. "She was saying a lot of things, and the next thing you know, she impaled herself."

Sam questioned Dean about the First Blade, and the two bickered back and forth about some deal they had about Dean not bringing the blade in the first place.

"All right, that's enough," Cas finally said, "Stop it."

The door opened and Hannah peered in, "Commanders, I'm sorry, but Castiel has a call… From Metatron."

The four followed Hannah into the war room, where Metatron was waiting for them on a video call.

"Why hello Castiel, and my you look lovely there, Amriel. Bet neither of you are happy to see me," Metatron greeted, and Amriel felt her skin crawl. There was something about his vessel that just creeped her out.

"Is anyone ever?" Dean asked, and Metatron chuckled.

"Dean, always with the B-grade '80s-action-moivie wit."

"What do you want, Metatron?" Sam was trying to cut to the chase, but all Amriel could focus on was Cas and the fact that he was moving closer and closer to her with every passing second.

"Just to tell Ass-tiel and his little girlfriend, there, that I'm still alive. His bomber failed."

"My bomber?" Cas asked, and Amriel could tell that he had no idea what was going on.

"The crazy guy. Big knife. Kablooey. I'm fine, thanks for asking, but Gadreel is wounded, and Tyrus, RIP. His followers are not your biggest fans, by the way. They've all come over to my team," Metatron said smugly.

"I didn't send anyone to kill you," Cas said, and Metatron told him to stop lying. "Who are you to lecture me on lying? Your deception led to the Fall!"

"I did what I had to do," Metatron said, "I have always done what I have to do, for God and for the angels."

"Sure. Yeah, you're Mother Teresa with a neck beard," Dean rolled his eyes.

Amriel watched Metatron's smug face, and she was filled with rage. He had led to the deaths of hundreds of angels, and he wasn't being held accountable for his actions. She grabbed Castiel's hand as a sign of solidarity and to let him know that she was there.

"Yeah, except for the angels you had Gadreel kill," Sam pointed out.

"Okay, maybe I got a little carried away at first, but those days are over. A near-death experience makes you re-revaluate. So, one time only, I'm offering amnesty. Every angel, no matter what their sin, may join me and return to Heaven. I will be their God, and they can be my Heavenly host."

"You're doing this for yourself, Metatron," Amriel finally spoke up. "You're not offering this out of the goodness of your heart, because you're self-serving. You want us to blindly follow you so you can feel important, because God cast you aside. Guess what. He abandoned all of us, not just you."

"What's wrong with being a little self-serving if it also benefits others, Amriel? It's not like you want to lead these angels to Heaven… In fact, do you even want to return to Heaven yourself?" Metatron asked, and Amriel tensed. How did he know that?

"Why would we follow you?" Hannah asked, and Metatron smiled, like he had been waiting for just that question.

"Well, look around. You've seen Earth and had a taste of free will. Do you like it? I mean, the way you flocked off of follow Castiel and his girlfriend tells me you need to follow someone. It's in your DNA," Metatron told them. "But Cas— he's not what you think he is. He sends angels out to die. Have you told them about your stolen grace, Castiel? How it's fading away, and when it burns out, so will you? So… No then. I'm not the best, but I'm the best you've got. You want to stay with Castiel, fine. But he's playing you, because at the end of the day, the only thing he cares about his himself, Amriel, and the Hardy boys there. You've got a choice to make, so make the right one."

The screen went black and Metatron was gone. Everything was silent as Cas turned to the rest of the angels, who were all staring at him. Amriel watched silently, realizing that he had been lying to her. He hadn't said anything about the fact that his acquired grace was burning out, and she was hurt.

"He's lying," Cas finally said.

"About the grace?" Hannah asked.

"It's complicated…" he answered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his trench coat.

"So, he wasn't lying," the brunette angel said plainly.

"He was lying about everything else. He.. you believe me, don't you?"

"I want to believe you, but I… We need proof," Hannah told him.

Cas said to name it, and Hannah told him to punish Dean.

"What?" Dean asked, and Hannah explained.

"He murdered Tessa. He broke our rules."

"That's not true, Hannah. I was there," Amriel decided to speak up. "Tessa did it to herself. There's no point in punishing Dean—"

"Y'all can go to hell," Dean said, turning to leave. He was stopped by a few angels, who grabbed him roughly.

"Dean," Cas called out, and Sam went to go help his brother, only to be subdued as well.

"You gave us order, Castiel, and we gave both of you our trust. Don't lose it over one man," Hannah said as she handed him an angel blade. "This is justice."

Amriel watched Cas take the blade, holding it in his right hand, and she wondered if he was actually going to do it. She knew he valued his friendship with the Winchesters, Dean especially, but she also knew that he wanted to take down Metatron in any way possible.

"No," he finally said. "I can't."

"Goodbye, Castiel," Hannah told him, turning to look at Amriel, nodding to her as well, then she and all of the angels quietly filed out of the war room, leaving the four of them standing alone.