Disrespect. Disrespect everywhere

"I have unaligned news.", Harry declared, as he, happily munching on Dean's jerky, again, marched into the room.

Castiel looked up from the book he had been staring at and squinted a little, as he now always had to do. He couldn't say for sure, but he hoped his reaction to Harry might be getting weaker. He hadn't yet told the other man, because he wasn't sure yet and he didn't like reminding Harry of that problem in the first place. It would simply trouble him without any way of remedying the situation. And Cas didn't like to trouble Harry.

"Unaligned? Dude, did you get a saying wrong again?", Dean huffed, doing his own research on a laptop across the table and completely ignoring the provocation, ever since he had started hiding several stashes of food all over the Bunker.

"I don't get sayings wrong."

"Last week you told me my music was 'hep'.", Dean objected.

"And you told me Game of Thrones was 'dope'.", Sam added and Cas really couldn't help but proudly declare: "Even I knew you were out of date, when you called that one actress a groovy broad."

"Yeah, groovy broad… man, those words don't even belong in the same decade.", Dean told Harry with fake sympathy.

Harry looked at all of them, before haughtily informing them: "I am not wrong. You are just at the wrong point in time."

"We would have to be at multiple points of time at once to make you correct.", Cas added.

"Oh, shut up and respect your elders."

Now it was Cas' time to get sneakily smug: "That status is unconfirmed."

Silence.

"Fine. You can all go to bed without supper. If you want to roast me, the roast in the oven should only be for me."

"Now, come on! No need to go nuclear on our asses!", Dean hurried, "What's the news?"

"The Darkness is gone."

"What do you mean by gone?", Sam was the first to recover.

"Gone. As in: not in this universe. Let alone on this planet."

"How is that even possible?"

"Well, we know she's a trans-dimensional being. I assume she has decided not to stay in this one. It might be a good idea to check with some contacts, but… I cannot find her. And I can assure you I've spent a lot of magic on setting up the right equipment. She's gone."

"Is that good or bad?", Cas asked, trying to figure out what that could mean. Were they safe here? Was another universe at risk? Had they doomed a world full of strangers?

"I don't know. Hence the news being unaligned as of now."

"I'll try calling Crowley again.", Dean sighed and reached for his phone, "He's been tough to get a hold on since… well."

"Then it's probably time for me to return to heaven.", Cas added, severely unenthusiastic about the prospect. Maybe he should rather call one of his siblings instead of just appearing in Heaven. They… might not like that.

Everyone gave him a worried glance.

"Is that a good idea?", Dean finally asked.

"I could come with…", Harry offered.

"Right now, no one knows about you being here. We better try and keep it that way. At least for now."

"Well, you're not going alone. Sam and I are gonna come with.", Dean told him sternly and Cas felt both happy and annoyed. He was a fully powered up Angel, not some delicate flower.

"You better try and reach Crowley, I'll be fine.", Cas declared and managed to fly off, before someone could stop him. He didn't need anyone talking him out of this idea he didn't like having in the first place.

In what would be a blink of an eye for a human, he appeared back at the playground and reached out to his siblings quietly.

"Brothers, Sisters, we need to talk. About that new power you chose to torture me about before. This isn't revenge or a trap. I just want to exchange information that might benefit us all. And I hope you'll do the same."

Then Cas simply set down and waited. And waited a bit more.

"Castiel."

He turned around and gave a cautious nod, "Duma."

"I was the one chosen to speak to you.", his sister told him, her voice neutral and unreadable as to what she thought of that task.

"Then I thank you for coming."

"You have information to share?", he carefully tilted her head and squinted lightly, "You look… different."

"I have intel that the power that appeared several weeks ago, the Darkness, has left this world."

"The Darkness? You are saying the thing we feel is the Darkness? That's impossible. The Darkness was destroyed."

"No. Only locked away. Heaven has felt her presence. Do you still do so?"

"How good is your intel?"

"Very.", Cas insisted wholeheartedly. Harry wouldn't have said anything otherwise, "What do you know?"

Duma hesitated for a brief moment.

"We know that one of them has vanished several days ago, but we don't know which one."

"What do you mean 'one of them'?", Cas asked, foreboding hitting him hard.

"One power appeared suddenly. You were… asked about that one."

"The Darkness."

"Yes. It has gone. The other one, it… grew. Over time. Over the span of several days. We can feel, but not locate it. What is it?"

Cas knew exactly what that was, but he would neither talk about Harry, nor did he want to outright lie, "I cannot feel that new power."

"Odd. Unless…", Duma squinted again, "What has happened to you?"

"Many things. As you well know."

"No, you… glow."

"I wasn't aware of that.", Cas carefully explained, his mind racing. Could Duma see his connection to Heaven? His restored wings?

"We've all felt weaker lately, with our numbers greatly diminished. Yet we can all feel that new presence. Why can't you?"

Weaker, Cas thought, he hadn't felt weaker. What was going on? Was his reforged connection somehow weakening the others?

"That other power, what does it feel like to you?"

"Divine."

Well, that was… a whole other issue.

"Divine."

"Yes. For a bit, some of us had hope that maybe our Father had returned to us, but… it doesn't feel like that. It feels different. Less powerful, but still… incredible. It seems to be everywhere at once. We cannot locate it. It is here right now. I have never felt it so strongly before."

Cas half expected Harry to walk out of the bushes surrounding them, happily waving at them or something. But nothing like that happened and Duma, who had looked around, too, turned her gaze back on Cas.

"It is you.", she declared suddenly, "It's emanating off of you. How? Castiel, you must tell me! This new power, how have you… how have you become part of it?"

"What do you mean? I'm still just an Angel!'

"Yes.", she agreed, her eyes wide with a mixture of horror and longing, "But an Angel of what?"

Behind her the Doorway opened and more Angels stepped through, looking at him with varying degrees of longing, hate… hope.

"Castiel, we are weak. We are losing power. How… How have you done this?", Duma urged, "We would talk to this new power. We… we can come to an understanding!"

Cas backed away a little. If he felt threatened, he could simply fly away. They would never expect him to or be prepared for the possibility, but they all looked so… sad.

Harry felt divine? And somehow Harry healing him had… changed Cas on a more fundamental level. Was that why he had less problems looking at Harry?

"Whatever this is about, I am sure you taking me prisoner would not help yourself with that new power.", Cas told them sternly, as four of his siblings moved to surround him. That really wasn't a lie. Cas still couldn't predict Harry well enough to anticipate what he would do, if the Angels took Cas prisoner.

Immediately the others stopped moving.

"So you do know.", Duma declared.

"I admit, I know who this power is, but not what.", Cas sighed, "And neither does he. He goes by the name Master of Death."

None of his siblings gave any hint that they recognized that term, so that wasn't helpful.

"I have told you what I can. Why don't you do your own research and call, if you have anything?"

"This Master of Death doesn't know what his powers entail or where they stem from, either?", Duma asked.

"No, he does not."

"Then…", she stopped and tilted her head, as if she was listening to someone. Which was very much an option, of course, "Then we will find out what we can and contact you, if we have answers that might please this Master of Death. And then we can come to an agreement."

Oh no, Cas thought darkly, they were all so used to following, so diminished in power, that his brothers and sisters had apparently decided Harry would be able to save and lead them. He shuddered at the thought of what they might do to 'please' Harry.

"Then be careful. Whatever he is now, as far as I know his origins are human. Or mostly human.", Cas qualified, thinking of Harry's status as a wizard, "He still places great value in human life."

"Ah, that is why he resurrected so many of them when he appeared here.", Duma stated, a calculating gleam in her eyes.

"Exactly.", Cas agreed and turned around, walking away from the twelve Angels that had surrounded him, before someone could try and stop him or ask more questions. He kept on walking down the street and only when he was sure no one was following him, did he spread his wings and fly home.

The brothers were still sitting at the table, reading. Good, they had trusted his judgement enough to let him be, then.

"Crowley says, and I quote 'The Demons are scared. The Monsters are scared. And no one knows why.'", Dean told him without preamble, "So apparently they don't know the Darkness left yet. How's the God-Squad doing?"

"It's not the Darkness they are afraid of, Dean, it's Harry."

"Me?", Harry called out from behind him, now wearing an apron and oven mitts, "What have I ever done to Hell? Except for possibly taking A COUPLE of souls."

"Committed a fashion crime.", Dean deadpanned.

"Oh, shut up, you. Don't make me ground you."

"I think the Angels are prepared to worship you.", Cas chose to just come out with it in an attempt to stop their needless bickering.

"Worship Harry?", Sam was obviously baffled, "Because he healed you or can they all feel his power?"

"They sense his power and I'd guess so does Hell.", Cas agreed, "I cannot, because apparently his powers have influenced me enough to look like him. Albeit much weaker."

"My powers changed your powers?", Harry asked, pulling one of his hands out of the oven mitt and thoughtfully scratching his beard, "I didn't mean to, but it's possible. I was a bit volatile that day."

"A bit.", Sam agreed.

"Excuse me, but can we go back to the worshipping part? What are they gonna do? Built statues of grandpa over there with his holy apron and divine oven mitts?"

Harry half heartedly threw the free oven mitt at Dean's head.