Castiel, who had not been sleeping particularly well to begin with, was woken rather abruptly when Samandriel came bursting through his door at an ungodly hour of the morning.

Castiel sat up, blearily blinking away his tiredness. "I knew I should have gotten up to lock that last night."

Samandriel didn't even seem to hear him. "Castiel, you're in trouble. I don't know what's going on, but Michael says he can't trust you anymore and you need to be 'taken care of' and I think he's just ordered Zachariah to kill you and make it look like a war crime."

It all came out in one quick breath and was an awful lot of strange information for Castiel to take in before the sun had even risen. "He what?"

Samandriel took a deep breath to steady himself. "I just heard Michael telling Zachariah that he can't trust you and he wants Zachariah to have you killed and make it look as though you were attacked by either Hellacia or Purgavai. And it had something to do with Sam Winchester and Benny escaping. And the blacksmith, I guess."

Castiel's eyes widened. He hadn't expected a complete lack of repercussions, but Michael wanted him dead? That was… If it had been anyone other than Samandriel he'd have thought they'd misheard, but Samandriel wouldn't have come running with news like that if he hadn't been certain. And Samandriel was never certain without good reason.

They stared at each other, eyes large and Samandriel's breathing labored, neither of them saying anything while Castiel processed the news.

"You don't seem all that surprised," Samandriel said once he'd gotten his breath back.

Castiel grimaced. "I think I've found out too many bad things about our oldest brother to be surprised by any more of it."

"What do you mean?"

So Castiel, still thinking about Michael's newest decision in the back of his mind, told Samandriel about how he'd grown suspicious of Michael, how Queen Charlotte had confirmed those suspicions, and how there was a very good chance that Humaear was going to try to overthrow Michael, and it would be a very good thing if the rest of the Edengardian royal family took their side during it.

"What, you want Gabriel to be king?" Samandriel said at the end of it, focusing on what Castiel thought was one of the least important details.

"At least I've never thought that Gabriel would be capable of betraying an ally during a war - or ordering one of his younger brothers killed."

"Fair enough," Samandriel conceded after a moment's thought. "Did you really get Sam and Benny released?"

Castiel nodded. "Dean and I… We were friends. Are friends." He shifted uneasily, looking up at Samandriel from where he still sat on the side of his bed. He could see thoughts chasing each other across his brother's face.

"Were you and Dean…?" he asked slowly.

Castiel saw no reason to hide it from Samandriel any longer and nodded. "For a few years now. I'd tell you not to tell Michael, but I'm afraid it's too late for that."

"Michael knows? If he knows why didn't he have Dean arrested? Or executed, or exiled, or anything else?"

"He thought I may have told him things, same as how he thought Gabriel told Kali about where to attack you. So he arrested Dean's brother, for leverage to make Dean tell him anything he didn't know. Which would have worked, if I'd actually ever told him anything."

Samandriel nodded. "Makes sense. But why did you-" He shifted uncomfortably, looking around him and rubbing the back of his neck. "How come you released Benny too? I know he and Dean were friends, but he's a traitor, he-"

Samandriel's voice cracked over the word 'traitor' and he cut off almost immediately, biting his bottom lip. Castiel tilted his head curiously. "Are you all right, Samandriel?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be? Why'd you let him out?"

He was speaking quickly and Castiel didn't believe him for an instant. "You don't sound all right. Were you really that upset about Benny having lied to you?" An image came suddenly back to him; Benny's face in the dimming light, looking back at the castle as though leaving it was the worst thing that could ever happen to him.

"Wait… Where you and Benny…?"

Samandriel's eyes widened and a blush sprung from his cheeks, slowly spreading down his neck and up to the tips of his ears. "What? No! Of course not!" His voice squeaked over the words.

"Samandriel, you are a terrible liar." Castiel was smiling, momentarily lost in the moment of enjoyment at teasing his younger brother, but the look on Samandriel's face quickly dragged him back to reality. "I'm sorry. That - that must have hurt then. Thinking he betrayed you."

"He betrayed us. All of us. We trusted him, gave him a chance, and he threw it back in our faces."

"He hurt you. I understand that. But it wasn't what it looked like, Samandriel. I promise you that."

"How would you know? You were in Humaear while this was happening!"

"Dean told me."

"And what would he know? Is he just that good a judge of character?"

"Breathe for a moment, Samandriel. You may work it out for yourself."

There was a long pause as Samandriel just looked at him, confused, before his face cleared with realization. "He was trying to help Dean, since you were gone?"

The hope in his voice cut Castiel like a knife. He nodded. "He was just trying to help a friend, Samandriel. He didn't mean to hurt you."

"Funny how it happened anyway."

Castiel sighed. "Maybe I should have let him talk to you after all."

"What?"

Castiel rubbed his forehead. "He said he wanted to talk to you, but I didn't think there was time."

"He wanted to talk to me?"

Castiel looked at Samandriel to see a steadily strengthening shine of hope showing on his face. "You really fell for him, didn't you?"

Samandriel didn't say anything, but looked down at the floor, which was answer enough for Castiel. "I'm sorry, Samandriel. If I'd known that I would have made sure you knew what was going on. You shouldn't have had to go through that." A thought occurred to him that made him smile weakly. "Between you, me, and Gabriel this family could win prizes for getting involved with people we shouldn't."

"I would have thought that Balthazar would be more likely to have a problem like this than the two of us."

"Balthazar doesn't do feelings. It's not in his nature. He'd never get attached to someone enough to cause a national crisis."

Samandriel chuckled weakly, but the humor vanished almost instantly. "What are we going to do about Michael ordering you killed?"

"Okay, let me get this straight," Gabriel said, standing up from where he'd been sitting around a table with all of his siblings, save for Michael. "You," he pointed at Castiel, "found out that Michael has been betraying Humaear. You," he pointed at Samandriel, "found out that he now wants Castiel's head on a plate. And the two of you want to ride off to Humaear, get their queen's support, and stage a revolt?"

"Well, we would prefer to have as much support from Edengar as possible," Castiel said matter-of-factly. "Which is why we told you three. We were hoping you could help to rally the troops here while we try for Humaear's support. Samandriel would actually be staying here, I was hoping one of you would come with me to Humaear. Preferably you, Gabriel, since you are the heir to the throne."

Gabriel blanched at that, and Samandriel would have thought it was funny if everything wasn't so deadly serious. "Oh. Right. I am, aren't I?" His voice was more than a little bit feeble.

"What do you want the rest of us to do?" Balthazar asked, looking between Samandriel and Castiel. Castiel smiled - he'd been certain Balthazar, at least, would be behind them all the way - and, in turn, looked to Samandriel. He straightened a little in his seat. It felt as though it had been years since someone last looked to him for advice.

"Well, if Gabriel goes with Castiel to Humaear…" He looked to Gabriel, questioning.

Gabriel took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll go."

"Then the three of us," he made eye contact with Balthazar and Anael, "need to start finding support here in Edengar. We don't need armies on our side, we just have to make sure we have as few people fighting against us as possible. Balthazar, you are friendly with nearly everyone who works in or around the castle. Anael, I know you have more friends in the village than you want Michael to know about. If I get around the soldiers without Zachariah there I think I can get them to listen to me."

Anael understood first, and smiled. "You want us to start building our case with the servants and farmers and such."

Samandriel nodded. "They're more useful than Michael thinks, we can use that to our advantage."

"We can handle that," Balthazar promised.

"Gabriel," Castiel broke in, "you and I are going to have a little bit of a harder time with it. Queen Charlotte liked me, but I'm not sure I can convince her to raise armies for us."

Gabriel grinned so that all of his teeth were showing. "Isn't a good thing I'm charming then? I convinced a Purgavain ambassador I was worth talking to, the queen of Humaear can't be much harder."

"You haven't met Queen Charlotte."

"You never got to know Ambassador Kali."

Castiel smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "You all realize we're plotting treason, right?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Won't be treason if we win."

Samandriel thought that actually may have been the most terrifying part of this. They had every intention of killing their older brother for the good of their country, and then put another brother on the throne. The world had certainly changed a lot over the last year. More than Samandriel would have believed possible. More than he ever would have wanted.

Samandriel was a little afraid that it was too rash and badly planned, but Castiel and Gabriel rode out for Humaear the very next day. It was the only real choice, he knew that, the sooner Castiel was gone the better, but he was still nervous about it. Unguarded too, which insisted on dragging up worries about Castiel and Gabriel ending up like he had.

Balthazar had taken to following him around and reassuring him that they'd be fine - in his own special way, of course.

"Come on, baby brother, what's the worst thing that could happen to them? Well, I suppose they could get attacked. Or killed. Or assassinated. Or maybe their horses could go lame. But really, Samandriel what are the chances of that?"

"Balthazar? Please stop talking now."

Balthazar had sobered up since he'd been spending so much more time running around the castle and talking to people and Samandriel had learned that being sober actually made him have even less of a filter. He said the same things, but could actually hold onto a thought long enough to continue on talking about whatever it was that most people would prefer he not mention.

Michael, of course, noticed their absence by dinner.

"Where are Gabriel and Castiel?" he asked, tone implying he already suspected that they weren't somewhere innocent, like sharing drinks at a tavern.

Balthazar, now the oldest one there, shrugged. "They're grown men. I didn't realize we were supposed to be keeping an eye on them."

Michael glared at him. "Don't use that tone with me, Balthazar. Where are Gabriel and Castiel?"

He shrugged again. "No idea."

Michael turned his gaze to Anael and Samandriel. "What are the three of you not telling me? And don't say nothing because none of you are any good at lying."

"At least we're stubborn," Samandriel said, not looking at Michael as he spoke. "Almost as good."

"So you admit you know?"

Samandriel took a sip of his drink. "I'm not admitting anything."

"Samandriel."

"Michael." He was probably enjoying himself more than he should, and Anael only confirmed the suspicion when she kicked him under the table.

Michael huffed and stood, pushing away from the table. "When the three of you grow up and come to your senses I expect you to tell me where Gabriel and Castiel have gone." With that, he left the room.

The three of them exchanged glances.

"Do you think he'll go after them?" Balthazar asked.

"If he thinks he knows where they went he will," Anael answered. "So keep your mouth shut, Balthazar."

"Your lack of faith in me is hurtful. You think I'm just going to tell Michael that the two of them took off for Hum-"

"Balthazar!" Samandriel interrupted. "You think he doesn't have people eavesdropping on us when he gets suspicious? Don't say anything!" He didn't have any proof that Michael had spies, but it seemed the best answer to the question of how he'd known about Castiel's relationship with Dean. Or maybe he was doing it himself. Either way, Samandriel didn't trust that they were safe saying anything, anywhere.

Castiel and Gabriel made it halfway to Humaear before Castiel worked up the nerve to properly talk to his brother about what was going to happen if, by some miracle, they didn't all end up dead.

"Have you even thought this through?" ended up being what came out of his mouth.

Gabriel shrugged as he started a fire. "There's been some thought. Not as much as Michael would consider necessary, I admit, but I'm not an idiot, Castiel. I know the risks here. And I know that if we do succeed I'm going to be king, which isn't something I've ever wanted very much. But Michael has lost his mind, if he ever had one to begin with. He wants you dead, Castiel. I don't feel terrifically loyal to him."

"He's still our brother," Castiel said quietly, looking down at the ground so he didn't have to meet Gabriel's eyes.

Gabriel chuckled bitterly. "I'm afraid there's not much we can do about that. The important thing to remember is that family isn't everything. Not all family members are related to you, and not everyone related to you is family. And when your family starts dragging you down you have to be prepared to do what's best for you. And, in our case, our entire country. We don't need a war this big anymore than Humaear does."

All of which was true, and had, to some extent, already crossed Castiel's mind in one form or another. He sighed. "I just hope we can stop all this. What if we win against Michael but Hellacia and Purgavai won't back down? How will we be any better off?"

"We'll at least have Humaear with us. Really with us, since I wouldn't lie to them like Michael is."

Castiel nodded and the two of them sat in silence for the rest of the night, eventually going to bed without speaking. Castiel laid awake, listening to chirping crickets.

He wondered where Dean was; if he, Sam, and Benny were doing all right. Surely Gabriel would let the three of them come back if they won this fight. Castiel hadn't dared ask yet, though. He didn't think he'd be able to take the disappointment if the answer was yes but then Gabriel didn't end up as king. One problem at a time.

It was really Benny he was most worried about, for Samandriel's sake. As far as anyone but Michael was concerned, Dean hadn't done anything wrong. Sam's accusation could easily be put off as a simple miscommunication. Benny had been declared a traitor, which was a considerably harder hurdle to clear.

Castiel would do whatever he could to clear Benny's name, if it came to that. Samandriel was clearly in love with him, and Castiel knew he'd never be able to sleep at night if he knew his little brother was broken-hearted and he could have helped to fix it. Especially because it was more than partially his fault. He'd been the reason Dean was in trouble in the first place.

But again, they could only handle so many problems at once, and Benny was a problem to be handled later.

Castiel slept fitfully and didn't feel at all refreshed when Gabriel woke him for breakfast the next morning. Gabriel noticed and informed Castiel that dunking his head in cold water would likely help. However legitimate the idea might have been, Castiel didn't trust that Gabriel wouldn't shove the rest of him into the water as well, and stayed away.

It was nerve-wracking, traveling the roads with just him and Gabriel during wartime. They were casually dressed, hoping to pass as meaningless travelers if they came across anyone they'd rather not, but Castiel was nervous all the same. He'd never been so far from home without an escort before. Gabriel, who had been sneaking out of the castle since he was big enough to saddle his horse without help, didn't share his concerns.

"The thing is," Gabriel had informed him, "that people don't get attacked nearly as often as our family likes to say. Sure, we might get attacked, if we go around parading our fancy clothes and crowns and everything else, but nobody gets attacked just for being out on a ride. I'll be amazed if anyone even gives us a second glance."

Castiel had remained nervous, but thus far they'd been left alone, just as Gabriel had predicted.

Gabriel was up ahead, his horse deciding a faster pace was necessary, while Castiel plodded along behind, not paying much attention. He was still running through what he was going to say to Queen Charlotte once they reached her.

Gabriel pulled his horse to a stop so quickly that it made an irritated noise in protest and reared up a little. Once he'd calmed the animal, Gabriel turned back to Castiel, who had kicked his horse into a faster pace to see what was wrong.

"What is it?"

Instead of answering, Gabriel just pointed.

Down the hill they were now standing on, previously hidden from sight, was a steadily marching group that Castiel had no doubt was the beginning of an army. The Hellacians, going by the black, eight-pointed star on the flags they were carrying.

"Their main army can't be too far behind them," Gabriel said. "They must be scouting out the area."

"With someone important along," Castiel agreed. "They wouldn't have that many soldiers for a regular scouting party, but it's not big enough to be a full army unit."

Gabriel looked around. "Let's get some tree cover, see what we can see."

Which sounded like a predecessor to 'let's ride down there and cause trouble' to Castiel, but he followed Gabriel past the tree line all the same.

The group came steadily closer over the next half hour, until Gabriel suddenly hissed in a shocked breath of air. "Castiel. Do you realize who that woman is?"

Castiel looked out, searching for who Gabriel meant. At the front of the group, he could now see, there were two people riding just a little farther forward. Undoubtedly the important people Castiel had suspected were with the group. One of the two was a woman, and he assumed she was who Gabriel was referring to, but he didn't recognize her.

"No, I don't. You do?"

Gabriel nodded grimly. "That's Hellacia's queen. Lilith."

Michael had made a show of leaving dinner in anger, then paused immediately outside the door. His siblings were smart, he'd give them that much, but Balthazar was no expert at keeping secrets and Michael caught enough to guess that Castiel and Gabriel had taken off for Humaear.

He didn't know what they were planning, but he doubted it was anything he was going to appreciate. Which meant he needed to stop them. Whatever it took.

"Zachariah!" he shouted, storming into the man's room without any warning. "Get me some men. Gabriel and Castiel are on their way to Humaear, and I intend to go after them."

Zachariah didn't move right away, staring at Michael as though he thought he was possessed. "Now, Commander!"

The man jumped and nodded. "Yes, your majesty. I assume you want them ready to go first thing in the morning?"

"No. I want them now. Gabriel and Castiel have enough of a head start as it is, I don't intend to give them anymore of one." He spun on his heel and made to leave. "I expect my men to be ready to go by the time I reach the stables."

He didn't look back, but he heard the door slam as Zachariah raced out to follow the orders.

He was moderately surprised at how many men Zachariah had scrounged up on such short notice, but he only gave the Commander - set on his own horse, waiting to ride out alongside him - a short nod as he mounted his horse and led them away.

Riding at night was not something considered generally advisable, and certainly not at the pace they were going, but Michael had better things to worry about and the soldiers knew better than to voice their protests loudly enough for him to hear.

Even after a few days of not nearly enough rest, most of the men didn't dare object. Zachariah tried to voice his concerns about it at one point, but one glare from Michael had made him shut his mouth with an audible click.

Michael had been hoping to catch up with Gabriel and Castiel before they reached Humaear's capitol. Before they even made it to the border, if he was lucky. What he hadn't expected, an idea that had never crossed his mind, was that he might run into them as they were coming back.

But, sure enough, a few days in, Michael looked up to see Castiel and Gabriel coming straight for them, horses kicked into top speed. Both men caught sight of him and his soldiers around the same time he saw them, and pulled their horses to a stop. They exchanged glances, and looked behind them as though something had been chasing them.

Michael pulled ahead of the soldiers to meet them. They looked nervous, but they didn't run like he'd been expecting them to. "Nice to see the two of you. I was worried," Michael greeted them.

The two of them looked nervously over their shoulders again. "You can yell at us later, Michael," Gabriel said. "As big of a problem as we were planning on being, there's a bigger one coming."

"Is that right?" Michael asked skeptically. "And what sort of bigger problem would that be?"

"See for yourself," Castiel said, pointing back the way they came. "They're not far away, we only just saw them."

Michael, wary of this being some sort of trick, left a few soldiers to keep an eye on his brothers, and rode out with the rest. Sure enough, he found the threat rather quickly.

A small section of the Hellacian army marching towards him, the rest of them undoubtedly no more than a few hours behind. They were going to march right on Edengar's capitol, apparently. A bold move, but one that just might work if they didn't meet any patrols along the way.

But the part that really made Michael stop dead was the two people leading the Hellacians along. He recognized one of them from a meeting with her a long time ago - Queen Lilith of Hellacia.

The other, a man, seemed familiar, but it wasn't until he turned his head that Michael fully realized who it was.

Riding alongside the Hellacian queen, leading her army to Edengar and its unsuspecting capitol, was Lucifer, the banished prince.