Okay, this is all kind of up in the air for this chapter because I had an idea but then I didn't like it but I couldn't think of how to change it so I just stuck with it and the result is…kind of this. Apologies if this feels like a really an easy-way-out kind of thing.

Also apologies for the lateness of the chapter, the shoddiness of the writing, and the shortness of it. Like I said, finales time and art school finales are a bitch and a half. So again, sorry for this chapter as a whole.

One Wing in the Fire (15)

Castiel tried his hardest to keep his appearance up and his hopes down. It would not do at all to get excited about a plan that might never come to fruition. So he forced himself to go through each day with a blank face and only a quiet stirring in his wings that betrayed very little besides his discomfort.

Still, old habits were hard to break and Cas found himself dozing off with the lingering desire to sleep or occasionally letting his mind wander to think about food. And he always thought about the Winchesters. Balthazar had said that they were alive but were being hunted by Heaven and Hell. If they were still alive, then Castiel would be hard pressed to find them. And that was only if Balthazar and Gabriel's so-called brilliant plan worked at all.

"Won't you get into trouble?" He asked when the three of them were gathered in Castiel room one evening. Cas' feathers were ruffled and bent out of shape from his day watching over the fledglings and teaching them to stretch their wings properly and groom the down out of them.

"Nah, we're too sneaky." Balthazar chuckled, sitting cross-legged on the couch, his wings fanned out behind him.

"And clever." Gabriel added from where he was sprawled on the floor, flipping through notes and tomes.

"But if Michael finds out, if he catches you—."

"Stop worrying about it, Cassie." Balthazar interjected, "Michael won't catch us. We've got it covered."

"What about when I leave. He will notice." Castiel wasn't letting it go. He wanted to go back to Earth to protect the Winchesters but he did not want to abandon Balthazar and Gabriel to the whims of Michael.

"It's fine." Gabriel stressed, looking up from his books, "We've worked it out. As far as Michael will be concerned, you'll simply have fallen. We're almost ready, okay, just gimmie a sec here to add the finishing touches."

Castiel fidgeted on his spot on the floor near the couch, wings twitching, uncomfortable. Balthazar scooted along the couch until he was behind Cas and then reached down and began to groom the other angel's wings. Castiel jolted and looked over his shoulder but Balthazar kept a blank face, ignoring him and keep his gaze on his work. Cas turned back to Gabriel to see his brother holding up a small glass vial ad concentrating on it with a furrowed brow and narrowed eyes.

"Gabriel?"

"Shh, I'm concentrating."

Castiel closed his mouth and leaned back into Balthazar's hands as his brother's fingers worked into his feathers. Gabriel tilted the bottle back and forth, watching the way the light hit it, and then brought it to his lips. He let out a soft breath into the vial and, to Castiel's amazement, a trail of bright blue-white light left Gabriel's mouth to curl at the bottom of the vial. Gabriel grabbed the cork and jammed it over the top before turning to the other two, beaming.

"I did it! We did it!"

"What did you do?" Castiel pulled away from Balthazar to crawl closer to his other brother and peer at the swirling light inside. His eyes widened and he looked to the archangel in shock, "Gabriel, is that…is that your Grace!"

"A little of it." Balthazar answered as he moved over beside them, "We knew there were ways of restraining Grace but no one had tried containing it before. You understand what happens when an angel falls, right?"

"Their Grace is ripped out of them," Castiel said slowly, "It…it is torn from them and leaves a wound, a gaping hole. That space where their Grace was becomes infected, corrupted, diseased. They become something twisted, a monstrosity that appears angelic in nature but is far from it. They become angry and hateful and destroyers. Like Lucifer…"

"That's why I couldn't let you fall." Balthazar clapped a hand on Cas' shoulder, "You wanted to find the Winchesters and if you fell, there would have been no possibility of that."

"This," Gabriel said, sounding extremely pleased with himself as he held up the small bottle, "Will fix all of that. When you fall, take this with you; a bit of archangel Grace. It should seal up that hole in you before any bad stuff can creep in, all right." He pressed the vial into Castiel's hands and closed his fingers around them,

"We'll cover for you, Cas. Just go find your family."

Castiel sucked in a breath, stared down at the vial in his hands, filled with his brother's Grace, and felt a swell of affection for his siblings. He spread his black wings and curled them around Balthazar and Gabriel, pulling them close so he could let his own Grace brush theirs. He had no words that he could use to express his gratitude towards his brothers.

And no words were really needed at all.

They had to wait for a week until they could set the plan into motion.

A week because it was then that Michael would be efficiently distracted with a war council and probably wouldn't notice anything unusual until several hours afterward.

As soon as the archangel had ducked into the room, Gabriel and Balthazar swept off to collect Castiel. There was an awkward moment when Remiel tried to distract Anael, failed, and Balthazar's wicked quick tongue had to weave a believable lie so they could get Castiel away from the fledglings. But it all worked out in the end and several minutes later, the trio was at the balcony Cas had tried to fall from only days before.

Castiel leaned over the railing and felt his breath catch in his throat. Before it had seemed so easy, so simple, like it was the most obvious choice in the world to climb up onto the rail and jump off, to fall and lose his Grace. It had seemed like the best choice because anything was better than suffering through the misery that was Heaven. Now he felt an inkling of fear. His Grace resisted the idea, curling inside him, shying away from the brink, and his wings trembled against his back. He swallowed and tried to take a deep breath but his throat was too constricted and all he managed to do was a shuddering, hiccupping sort of noise.

Warm fingers pressed into the feathers where his wings met his back and Castiel turned around to see Gabriel smiling warmly at him, Balthazar at his shoulder.

"It's gonna be okay, Cas," The archangel said, squeezing Castiel's feathers briefly before releasing them and taking a step back, "You're going to be fine. I promise."

"I will…I will miss both of you." Castiel was embarrassed to hear his voice crack.

"Hey, no tears," Balthazar said, plastering a wide smile on his face though the pain in his eyes said enough, "We'll come and visit you when we can. Just find those brothers, Cassie."

Cas pulled out the vial of Grace, looked at it, and then threw his arms around Gabriel in a hug. Startled, the shorter angel stumbled backwards under the display of affection. Then he smiled softly, even though the edges were ragged with sadness,

"See you later, little brother."

"Good-bye, Gabriel." Cas stepped back until he hit the railing, "Good-bye, Balthazar."

Balthazar opened his mouth, seemed to choke on his own words, and instead he simply waved, forcing that same smile.

And with that last image of Heaven, the image of his brothers smiling at him, Castiel tipped himself backwards off the railing and tumbled down into the clouds below.

And he fell.