Gabriel hadn't volunteered for this, but generally as an angel, when the Prince said fly, you asked, how high. That didn't mean he couldn't have some fun with it, especially since Prince Chuck seemed far too preoccupied to punish him at the moment.

The Prince kept glancing at Dean. His groom was glassy-eyed and stiff, but Gabriel couldn't blame him. Getting married to Prince Chuck could hardly be an affair one undertook while sober.

Loud sounds were coming from somewhere far off, perhaps on the castle grounds. Chuck looked distractedly over his shoulder towards the chapel doors.

Then he looked back at Gabriel.

"Let's get on with this."

Gabriel grinned a little too heartily. He looked over at the grooms and at the audience behind them. There were members of Heaven's Great Council, the Royal Guard, a smattering of rich noblemen among the crowd.

What a lovely bunch of stiffs.

"Mawidge," Gabriel began, intentionally mangling the word. "Mawidge is what bwings us to-gether to-day."

"What in the Hell," said Chuck through gritted teeth.

Gabriel grinned. "It's meta, don't worry about it, your Princely-ness."

Chuck was intensely annoyed. He knew he should have asked another angel to officiate. "Gabriel, how dare y-"

There was a clamoring from outside the chapel room - shouting, sounding closer than ever, perhaps in the castle halls now.

"Never mind," Chuck said. "Continue, now!"

"Mawidge. That bwessed event. That dweam within a dweam..."

"Enough! Pronounce us as married!" demanded Prince Chuck.

Gabriel blinked. "I'm not there yet," he pouted.

"You are if I say so! Pronounce us as wed!"

Gabriel glared, then shrugged. "You're wed."

Prince Chuck looked at his Royal Guard, and spoke directly to Count Azazel. "Take care of the disturbance, understand?"

Azazel nodded. "It will be done," he said.

Then the Count lead his men out of the chapel, all of them grabbing hold of their weapons as they went.

The Prince turned back to Dean. The hunter was still under Chuck's power, in body if not in mind. There was a deep hatred in his glassy green eyes. Usually Chuck would be cheered to see Dean put up a fighting spirit (it was better story inspiration), but right now he didn't have time. Whatever was happening here was not something he had expected. Castiel was dead, Dean was malleable, so who else did he need to worry about?

Paranoia was starting to take hold. The Queen was locked up, but she was not entirely a secret. Several angels knew the truth, though not all. Which could he trust? And he had outside enemies, of course. Demons, mostly. But none would dare...

Chuck's heart was hammering in his chest. He had to make sure the Queen was secure, that his castle was safe, that his plans and precious stories could proceed as intended. He looked at Dean, who was swaying slightly.

He scowled and spoke mostly to himself. "Later, I'll have to deal with you later!"

Prince Chuck snapped his fingers, and Dean was suddenly transported back to his bedroom. Chuck's power over him was broken, though Dean wasn't sure if it was intentional or not. Unfortunately it did not matter; the door was once again locked and immovable.

Dean sighed deeply. He was starting to lose heart. He wanted to be out there, fighting, running, anything to combat Chuck. And worse, the wedding had been carried out, and he felt disgust that he was now married to a monster. Of course, Prince Chuck intended to kill him, so at least he wouldn't have to suffer the marriage long.

He felt helpless.

Dean sat on the edge of his bed and reached beneath his pillow for the note he had written.

But...

It was gone!

He looked under the pillows and mattress to be sure, but the note was nowhere to be found. Hope burgeoned inside his chest.

Dean smiled.

Cas.

Dean, however, was wrong in his assumption. Castiel had not been the one to find the note, for at that time he was still being rather unceremoniously dragged through the halls as Benny and Sam took turns fighting off guards and pulling him along.

But more on that later.

The note had instead fallen into the hands of an unlikely trio.

Rowena, Kevin, and Charlie had arrived at the castle after it had already descended into chaos. The main gate was open wide to all, and guards could be seen running this way and that, shouting at each other. It was clear there was some confusion as to who they were meant to be fighting.

"It was a burning Dread Demon Cain, I tell you!" They heard one fellow shout to a companion.

"Eyes like a mad dog," said another.

The guards were so busy prattling on about some horror they had witnessed that the trio managed to slip by quite unchallenged.

Rowena, who had some knowledge of the castle from her Remedy Woman days, lead the way. Though it was Castiel they were searching for, the intended destination was the hunter-groom's bedroom. What better place to look for the fallen angel, who was himself searching for his love?

They were not as lucky inside the castle as they had been sneaking through the grounds. Three times they were found by Royal Guards, who were much more aggressive and clever than those at the gate. They came at the group with swords ready.

Rowena was not a witch for nothing, however. She cast her spells with precision and intensity. One guard she dropped with legs so numb as to make them useless. Another she hexed with a temporary memory loss, and he promptly tossed down his weapon and walked away from them in a daze.

A third almost took her by surprise, but to Rowena's astonishment, Kevin was there with a right hook, and then Charlie yanked the guard's arms back and wrestled away the sword. That gave Rowena time enough for a spell, and she opted to put the guard into a deep sleep.

When it was done, she raised an eyebrow at her two companions. "My, you both are full of surprises, aren't you?" she said.

Kevin shrugged while Charlie grinned. "I'm keeping this," said the red-head, raising the sword happily.

"By all means," replied Rowena, and then they set off again.

Dean's bedroom was on the third floor. It was locked with a powerful spell when they arrived, but Rowena managed to undo it after a few minutes hard work.

They entered the room together. The bed was made up with silk sheets, the curtains on the window were opened to a starry sky outside, and everything was quite in order.

Much to their dismay, Dean Winchester was not to be found, nor Castiel. A dead end, it would seem.

Kevin huffed. "Great, now what?"

Rowena glanced around again. Nothing was out of place, nothing except—

The witch saw the corner of parchment sticking out beneath the pillow and immediately went for it. Charlie and Kevin watched as her eyes slid down the page, reading quickly.

Then she looked up and beamed at them. This note - calling for a witch to save the Queen, and detailing how to find her prison chamber - it was like fate. It was like a gift from, well, not God apparently, but someone far more helpful.

Once she explained it all to Kevin and Charlie, they too were renewed with energy and eagerness.

"We have to go help her!" exclaimed Charlie.

Rowena corrected her. "As a witch, the Queen requires me. But there's a chance I may fail, and even if I don't, we need all the defense we can get. I will go down and free the Queen. But Castiel is somewhere in this castle, and he still needs his grace. You two should continue to look for him."

Kevin and Charlie glanced at each other. It was a little alarming to suddenly lose the protection of Rowena's company and magic.

Rowena read their apprehension correctly. "You'll do fine, my dears. I saw the way you disarmed that guard without my help. Just stick together, alright?"

"Okay," said Charlie, and Kevin nodded his agreement. "But be careful, and try to meet us back in the front hall?"

"Aye," Rowena confirmed. Then the three exited the room together, Rowena going one way and Charlie and Kevin going another to search for Castiel.

When the wedding ceremony was over, after he'd sent Dean back to an empty but re-locked bedroom, Prince Chuck had set off at once to check on the Queen's prison chamber.

The usual angel guards were missing from their post when he got there, and it was then that the Prince finally knew terror. Hoping against hope, he hurried into the room that housed Amara's cell.

The padlock was broken to pieces.

And unlike Dean, who was currently looking for a note and feeling reassurance at its absence, so now Chuck was seeing an absence as well and feeling nothing but fury and dread.