Back at the abandoned warehouse, the two angels Castiel had taken captive were still unconscious by the time Cas arrived again. Perhaps in addition to how young they were, they were also less powerful than the few original angels that remained in Heaven. Cas could see with his true form's eyes that the two angels were of a low rank, certainly not Seraphs like he was.
Cas paced for a while before considering texting Dean. He realized that the human would probably still be asleep, though, so he didn't bother. He tried tuning into angel-radio, but all had been silent ever since Jack took over upstairs. Maybe this new faction of angels used a different celestial frequency.
While he had the time, Cas stretched his wings back out again and flapped them a few times just to get the stiffness out of them. Sure, he used them to transport himself and sometimes Sam and Dean places, but other than that he hadn't flown in... years. He hadn't truly used his wings in any major capacity since raising Dean from Hell.
Cas's suddenly depressing thoughts were interrupted by groans of discomfort. He turned his attention to the prisoners and saw that the female angel had woken up. She looked disoriented for a moment, then glared at Cas with clear disdain.
"Why do you keep fighting us?" she asked him telepathically, in Enochian. "We are trying to save Heaven."
"Oh yeah? How do you suppose that?" Cas retorted back aloud in English.
The angel scowled and didn't reply.
"Why do you want the box?" Cas demanded, taking a step closer. "What's so important about it?"
"You should know, Castiel. You're older than most of us who are left. You even know the angel who wrote it."
Cas frowned. Was the object inside the box really just some kind of book? And he didn't know any angels who wrote books. Unless...
"Metatron," he said aloud.
The angel smiled, though it wasn't friendly in the slightest. "See? You're smart. Let us go and help us, Castiel."
"I still don't understand why you think you need my help at all," Cas said, crossing his arms.
"Jack didn't make enough of us," the female angel replied, sounding exasperated. "We can't maintain Heaven forever with just us. Eventually there will be too many souls and it'll cause a massive collapse, leaving millions of human souls to drift in the ether with nowhere to go."
"Okay... But there's no way I can help stop that, if it even happens at all," Cas said, a little skeptical.
"It will happen," the angel hissed. "And you can help stop it. Give us the box, Castiel. You can help us prevent the permanent destruction of Heaven."
"You haven't told me yet what's even in the box."
"Shouldn't those Winchesters have it by now?" the angel said with raised eyebrows. "Are they hiding it from you?"
"No, they—" Cas stopped himself before he could say anything that might possibly put Sam and Dean in danger. "Don't change the subject," he said instead. "What's in the box?"
"A tablet," the angel answered, annoyed. "An important tablet that will help us save Heaven," she added pointedly.
"Metatron was only responsible for two tablets, and those have both been destroyed," Cas said, thinking back to the angel and demon tablets.
"That's where you're wrong, Castiel," the angel huffed. "He wrote a third tablet, only it was forgotten about and overshadowed by other things going on at the time."
"And how would you know that?" Cas questioned, narrowing his eyes at the female angel. "You were just created a week and a half ago. You're an infant by angel standards."
"Where I get my information from does not pertain to you. What you need to know is that that tablet is the only chance we have of fixing Heaven. If you don't help us, we'll all suffer—humanity will suffer. You care about humans, right? Help us save them, Castiel."
The angel seemed sincere enough, like she really believed what she was saying. Cas knew better than to trust other angels, though, after having been manipulated by them so many times in the past.
"What does the tablet say?" Castiel asked, ignoring the other angel's comment.
"We can't read it," she admitted. "We have a general idea of what it says, but the exact words are written in a very old form of Enochian. Different from the other two tablets, even. This tablet was created before those two."
Cas furrowed his eyebrows and tried to piece together what the angel was saying. If this tablet had been created before the angel and demon ones had... what had come before angels and demons?
Leviathan, Cas thought darkly.
"Does this tablet pertain to Purgatory?" Cas inquired.
The female angel bit down on her lower lip and looked briefly uncertain if she should say something or not. Eventually, she said, "Yes... in a way. We were not told the specifics, though, for safety reasons."
"In case you got caught," Cas mused, smirking a bit in this little triumph of being able to get some much needed information about the box.
"We're on your side, Castiel," the angel said with urgency in her tone. "We don't want any more fights between the angels. We're all family."
Cas knew that his only real family were all humans.
"What makes you think I'll be able to read the tablet? Because I'm assuming that's what you want me to do, no?" Cas questioned, once again ignoring the angel's previous statement altogether.
"We had hoped that the Winchesters would find a way to translate it. But since you're very... close to them, we figured they would give you the information as well."
"Why didn't you just ask me directly first instead of trying to steal the box?" Cas asked with narrowed eyes.
"You were being difficult and our boss said it might be easier for us to get the box first and then... find you."
"To somehow manipulate me into helping you," Cas finished the angel's statement for her. "Yeah, no. That won't be happening again. Ever."
"Arrogance does not look good on you, Castiel. Don't underestimate us."
Cas quirked an eyebrow, "Is that a threat?"
The female angel only responded with a smug smile.
Seeing that he probably wasn't going to get any more information from the angel on his own, Cas decided to call Dean. It was nearing dawn by now, so he figured the human was probably awake.
"Yeah?" came Dean's gruff morning voice through the phone. "Wait, Cas? Why you callin' so early? Is something wrong?"
"We need to talk," he answered, not wanting to say too much in front of the other angels. "I... Get dressed and I'll zap you here. I'm giving you fifteen minutes."
"Geez, Cas, slow down. What about Sam? Should he come too?"
"Sure. Just be ready in fifteen."
As soon as Cas had ended the call, he heard a whoosh of air behind him. The female angel, still restrained and contained within the circle of holy fire, widened her eyes fractionally and then smirked.
"Castiel," an unfamiliar low voice said. "I never thought I'd be seeing you again."
Cas whipped around to face the stranger and saw a tall, lanky man—no, angel. Except... for some reason Cas couldn't see the angel's true form. Some kind of cloaking magic, perhaps. He didn't recognize the man.
"We were hoping you could be convinced," the stranger went on, taking a step closer. "But this is taking too long."
In one swift motion, the angel reached out and put his palm flat against Cas's forehead. The Seraph felt an intense white-hot pain for a brief moment and then... nothing. It took him too long to realize that the other angel was trying to pry through his memories, probably in an attempt to find information about the box.
"That won't work on me," Cas growled, swiping the man's hand away and brandishing his angel blade. "I don't know who you are and I don't care to know. But get the hell out of here before I smite you."
The stranger laughed, a loud and hollow sound. "Yes, you can certainly try. I feel it would be in your best interest, however, to let these angels go and then come back to Heaven with us."
"That's not happening," Cas said resolutely.
He then tried to shove his blade in the man's jugular, only to have it bounce off with a resounding zing sound. Cas stumbled back a few steps, nearly reaching the holy fire.
"You're... You... You can't be..." Cas shook his head in disbelief.
If an angel blade made no dent in the stranger's skin, that could only mean one thing.
"You weren't the only angel that Jack brought back, Castiel. You'll find many familiar faces waiting for you in Heaven," the stranger said, his mouth tilting up into a crooked grin.
"I'm not going back to Heaven with you," Cas repeated, trying to not let his newfound fear show.
This was an archangel, clearly. But which one? Not Lucifer, this guy wasn't nearly as obnoxious as he was. And probably not Michael, either.
That left... Metatron, technically. But Metatron would have no need for the box, seeing as he apparently wrote the extremely sought after tablet it contained.
So... Gabriel, maybe?
Except, he died in an alternate world that was destroyed by Chuck. Would he even have been in the same Empty as the other angels? Cas didn't know.
The only archangel left would have to be...
Raphael, Cas realized.
"You don't have a choice, Castiel," the archangel said sharply. "We have tried to be diplomatic with you, but, as per usual, you're being incredibly stubborn. I guess it's good to see that in all the years it's been since we last saw each other, you're still the same pathetic little Seraph with a soft spot for humans. How's Dean, by the way? I hear you two have gotten quite close recently."
Cas puffed up his wings in an attempt to look bigger than he was. While Raphael was currently residing in the body of an average, if not abnormally tall, man, the archangel's true form was nearly twice the size of Cas's. The Seraph was suddenly glad he couldn't see Raphael's real angelic body.
"Leave," Castiel said, holding his ground. "You don't scare me."
Raphael scoffed, "I should. You should be scared, Castiel. You've turned us down three times now, you know. I was really hoping it didn't have to come to this, but..." he trailed off and lifted a hand.
Blue light lit up his palm briefly and then suddenly Cas was being flung all the way across the warehouse into a hard cement wall.
"If we didn't need your help, I'd just kill you now and be done with it. As it stands, though, we do need your help," Raphael's voice boomed across the empty expanse of the abandoned building.
"I'm not helping you," Cas grunted out, standing up and brushing dust off of his trench-coat. "Go to hell."
"We already know those precious little humans of yours have the box. You know we won't stop until we have the tablet."
"You won't find them," Cas said, glaring across the room at the archangel. "They're still warded against all angels."
"Right... Except, you know where they are, don't you? And you'll be taking us to them."
"What makes you so sure about that?" Cas challenged, his hands clenched in fists at his sides.
Raphael raised a hand in the air and Cas felt an extreme pain in his lower abdomen. He began to cough quite vehemently until blood splotches were falling out of his mouth and onto the ground below him. He was doubled over from the pain and couldn't hear much over the blood rushing in his ears.
"I can make this much more unpleasant than it needs to be," Raphael said from a distance away. "Remember that I only need you alive, Castiel. It doesn't matter how injured you are."
"Screw... you..." the Seraph choked out between bloody coughs.
Raphael put his other hand up in the air and suddenly all the wind was knocked out of Cas's lungs. Even though he technically didn't need to breathe, the force of the action brought him to his knees. Maybe he couldn't really die like this, but it still felt like he was.
Cas... Where are you, man? You aren't answering your phone. Sam and I are waiting for you.
Dean's prayer cut through Cas's pain for a few brief moments. He knew he should try to zap back to the bunker, but if he left now the two angels would likely get away. Also, he didn't know if his powers were currently strong enough for him to fly at all.
C'mon, Cas. We're getting worried. Where the hell are you?
Cas forced himself to try and stand back up, though he was still violently coughing and spewing blood. Raphael gave him a quizzical look, clearly enjoying himself, but Cas ignored him and focused all his energy on getting back to the bunker. He knew this was probably a stupid idea, but he also knew that if he let himself get caught in such a dumb way, Dean would be furious with him.
One moment he was in the abandoned warehouse, feeling like he was being suffocated, and the next he was in the middle of the war-room in the Men of Letters bunker.
"God, Cas, what took you so—" Dean cut his own statement off and was abruptly hauling Cas into his arms. "What happened?!" he demanded, sounding extremely alarmed.
Cas managed to meet the human's panicked gaze before his vision started going black around the edges. "Raphael..." he murmured, possibly too quiet for Dean to even hear.
"You're bleeding," Sam said from somewhere in the background.
"Yeah, no shit he's bleeding. Get me some towels, Sam," Dean instructed his brother. "What happened, Cas? Who did this to you?"
"Raphael," the angel said again, this time a bit louder. "He... he's back, somehow."
"What?" Dean said. "How? Why?"
"I don't... he said that Jack brought more angels back from the Empty than just me," Cas answered.
He was feeling slightly better now, probably since his lungs weren't being crushed by Raphael anymore. His coughing had subsided for the most part as well, so that was good.
"Wow, um, okay. That's... okay. Are you alright?" Dean asked, still looking very worried.
"I think so," the angel answered. "I just... need to sit."
"Right, yeah. Okay."
Dean helped Cas over to a chair as Sam returned with a couple towels to clean up the excess blood on the angel's face and clothing. He probably looked worse than he felt. He was still a bit weak, but other than that he mostly felt back to normal.
"What about the angels you were watching? What happened to them?" Sam asked.
"I assume Raphael let them go," Cas replied, running a hand down his face and letting out a breath. "I did manage to get some information out of them, though. Before Raphael showed up."
"Raphael?" Sam repeated, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
Cas nodded, "Yeah. He's back, apparently."
"So he... wants the box?" Sam guessed aloud. "Why?"
"Apparently it contains some kind of tablet that the angels think they need to keep Heaven running. I... I don't know whether to believe him or not, but either way that thing can't get into the wrong hands."
"Yeah, we agree," Dean chimed in. "We haven't opened it yet... Do you think we should?"
"I think it would be safer for us to hide it somewhere," Sam said. "Where no one can find it."
Part of Cas agreed with Sam on this one, but the other part of him was starting to wonder if the tablet could have some valuable information worth reading.
"I think we should take a look at the tablet," the angel said, looking between the two brothers. "Chances are that we'll need to have it translated, but once we're able to read it and determine whether it has helpful information or not, we can go from there."
"So... you believe Raphael?" Dean said, skeptical.
"He seemed genuine enough. And so did the other angel. I mean, he was also trying to force me into helping him, but I didn't exactly expect him to be friendly."
"What makes you think Heaven is in some kind of danger?" Sam asked.
"The other angel was telling me how when Jack created new angels, he didn't make enough. She was saying that eventually there would be too many human souls for Heaven and the remaining angels there to contain. The whole thing could collapse," Cas explained.
"And how exactly would this tablet prevent that from happening?" Dean asked, still sounding very skeptical.
Cas shrugged, "The angel said they weren't told the specifics, only that the tablet had important information on how to save Heaven. I... I think it has something to do with Purgatory."
That seemed to pique Dean's interest. "Purgatory? How?"
"Once again, I'm not sure," Cas admitted with a tired sigh. "This tablet was apparently created by Metatron, like the angel and demon tablets. Except, according to what I was told, he created it before those two tablets. The only creatures that existed before angels and demons were Leviathan, and they all ended up in Purgatory."
Dean and Sam seemed to ponder this information for a few minutes. Cas didn't blame them for being hesitant to believe rookie angels and a supposedly long-dead archangel. Still, though, if Heaven was in danger of collapsing in on itself, surely they should try and do something to stop that from happening.
Right?
"All right," Dean eventually said. "Let's open the box and see what's got everyone's panties in a twist again."
