"Wh- what?"

"God, Castiel," the other angel continued calmly.

I stammered. "Yes, I- I don't- what?"

Naomi shot me an exasperated look containing more emotion than I had seen all week.

"You, Castiel, have been chosen by God for a mission of utmost importance."

I opened my mouth, but Naomi stopped me.

"If you say 'what' again I'll appeal the decision on the grounds that you're an idiot."

"...okay," I answered hesitantly. "What is the mission?"

Naomi almost smirked. She leaned down, opened a drawer, and slid a manila folder onto the desk. She looked to me expectantly.

As I opened the file, I found myself staring down at an image centered by two emerald green eyes. Below the image was a name.

"Dean Winchester," Naomi said aloud as I read it to myself. "He is your mission, Castiel."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He died yesterday," she said. "You need to recover his soul."

Strange, I thought to myself. Returning a soul to Earth was simple and almost routine. Any Third-Class Cherub could do it.

"Okay," I answered. "What room is he in."

"He's not. He's in Hell."

I blanched. "You want me to break into Hell?"

"Well, not exactly," the angel replied. "The demons have increased security. It's unlikely a Seraph could make it through, and we can't risk an Archangel."

I nodded. It made sense. Since my brothers left, we were a bit short on archangels. "I see," I said. "Then what exactly am I doing?"

"You," Naomi replied. "Are going to sneak into Hell."

Oh, sneak into Hell? Was that it? Yes, that sounded incredibly easy. It's not as if I was essentially a glowing beacon to demons or anything like that.

I chose my words more carefully than I did my thoughts, though Naomi probably heard both. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Are you suggesting that God's plan is reckless, Castiel?" she retaliated.

"The plan is for me, an angel, to sneak into Hell and break out a human soul, correct?"

"Yes."

I muttered under my breath. "If you don't like reckless I could use insouciant, maybe."

"What?" She said with more than a hint of annoyance in her voice. She sighed. "Do not blaspheme, Castiel."

Naomi was right. My father was wise: all-knowing, in fact. If that was His plan, it seemed I would follow it with no choice in the matter.

"What about my garrison?" I asked.

Naomi smiled at seeing my cooperation. "Uriel will take over," she said.

Again I reminded myself that I had no other option but obey. Besides, Uriel was a good soldier, and I had been on this surveillance assignment far too long. Not that a visit to Hell was the most desirable change of pace. Did I truly have no way out of this?

"So you'll do it without any trouble? Excellent," Naomi said, reading my mind and ignoring what she found. "All the information you will need can be found in this file. You should leave at your earliest convenience."

After a moment she added, "That will be all."

"Right," I blurted. I turned to leave, before turning back to grab the file and exiting the office.

Walking back through the maze of grey corridors, I opened the folder in my hands.

Dean Winchester, I read to myself. Son of John and Mary, brother of Samuel. Born January 24, 1979. Twenty eight years old. Status: DECEASED. Cause of Death: HELLHOUNDS. Location: HELL.

Hellhounds. So he had made a demon deal?

I found my focus drawn back to the picture on the page. Why was Heaven bringing back someone who made deals with demons?

As I looked down at the image, I turned a corner and collided with another form.

"Castiel. You might be more careful if you were paying attention."

"Uriel," I said, righting myself and shooting him an unspoken apology. "Perfect. I need to talk to you."

He raised an eyebrow. "What about?"

"Actually, I need to talk to everyone. It's important. Can you assemble the rest of the garrison and meet me in the conference room?"

"Of course," he replied before flitting away.

When I arrived at the Conference room the other angels were already there, seated around a long, white table. They looked up at me expectantly as I entered the room.

"I have a mission," I said, sitting down at the head of the table.

From the next chair over, Uriel turned to me. "We do?"

"I do," I clarified. "You are to remain on this surveillance assignment." I turned to the garrison. "Obviously, Uriel will be in charge until I return."

Suddenly Balthazar, who had appeared up to now to be distracted by something on the ceiling, snapped to attention. "Wait, you're leaving? Like, downstairs?"

"Yes," I said, choosing not to mention exactly which 'downstairs' I was going to. Naomi never said the mission was classified, but something told me it wasn't exactly a standard milk run, either.

Another angel, Hannah, raised her hand. "How long will you be gone?" She asked.

"It won't be very long," I said, hoping I was right. "In the meantime, as I said, you will report to Uriel." After a moment I added, "And Balthazar." Immature as he could sometimes be, I could trust Balthazar with my life. He'd be useful to have keeping an eye on the garrison along with Uriel.

Without another word, I stood. The angels nodded a silent farewell as I left the room. As I exited the chamber I heard movement within, and soon Balthazar and Uriel joined me in the hall.

"Wait, Castiel-"

I spun around to face them. "I trust that while I'm gone you two will keep the garrison functioning?"

"Of course."

"I always have, Cassie."

I flinched slightly at the familiar nickname. It pushed a different angel into my mind, one whom I hadn't seen for millennia. One whom I wouldn't see again. Was I really still dwelling on that? I quickly put it out of my head.

With some concentration I could beam down to Earth alone, but I would have to take a vessel eventually. Appearing non-corporeally was possible, but draining. And besides, I would need a vessel to interact with humans, and I would need to do that when I found Dean. In any case, I was as ready as I could be.

With an awkward goodbye and a flash of blinding light, I left heaven and started on my task of saving Dean Winchester.

A/N: This story might not fit the actual canon of the show. Please leave a review if you like it so far and I'll definitely continue. Also, I don't own Supernatural.