Author's Note:

I'd really like to thank you guys, I've had a few people suddenly join this story and they've done nothing but make me feel awesome. I appreciate all of you and for the silent readers following this, I hope you guys are enjoying it too. Thanks everyone!

Angel Training World: Part 2

Cas stood with a team of other priests, he'd gotten lucky enough to wind up with Michael, Gabriel, John and Mary but there was no sign of his own team. Dean and Sam were of course MIA which meant he had to find a way to get to them before he ran into the Imperator. Tricky business, that.

"Well this is a first," John mused with a laugh as he shared a look with Mary, "I don't think I've ever gone through one of those portals and ended up next to you."

"It's strange," Mary looked at Castiel with some concern, "Is it like this with bigger groups?"

"Yeah, the portals are randomized and send us to the more important individuals of the world. We'll probably see duplicates of Dean, Sam, and myself. Possibly Jet." Cas answered matter of factly as he scanned the surroundings. Nothing looked like it was in imminent danger but then again a lot of the Void's creatures had a tendency to take incorporeal forms. "The other priests are probably-"

Cas was cut off when the ground beneath them rumbled and shots of light blasted through the air above them. "Those belong to a priest," Michael murmured and looked at Castiel more seriously, "What do you want us to do?"

"I need cover for when we face the Imperator, Dean has to be able to fight unimpeded." Cas shared a look with Michael who only nodded in return.

"So we stick with you until then," Gabriel clapped Cas on the back and made the other priest stumble a little. "But what do you want to do now? Where the hell do we start looking for Dean and Sam?"

"Figures it'd be our kids that're missing." John and Mary had a chuckle at that.

"They get it from your side of the family." Mary jabbed and John had to hold back a snort.

Castiel smiled at them, glad that he'd be part of that family once everything was said and done, but that meant that he had to put his mind to work all the more. "We need to find the significant person around here, everyone look for me, Dean, or a Sam."

The others nodded and got to it, Cas was surprised that he had even this many people listening to him, he didn't even want to think about the small army of priests fighting off the Void in the distance.

The team split up, he was alone as he searched the area they'd wound up in, he was surprised to see that it was so close to a graveyard. It wasn't often he actually went near one of those. Castiel scanned the gravestones as he walked while still keeping an eye open for someone significant.

And then a name struck him still, Cas stood at one gravesite so quietly that his entire body felt wrong. "Jet," he whispered as he read the name over and over again. Here lies Jethro E. Tull. The foreboding was too much and he started to turn away, "I won't let this be you," he squeezed his eyes shut and stalked away, "I won't let you die."

Cas called out when he spotted another blue coat, "I found him," he said and watched as the others approached moments later. They really were listening to him, he would've taken that in a bit more but a shadow flew overhead of him. Castiel looked up and followed the figure of Dean as he landed next to him, a shiny pair of wings on his back.

"Found you," Dean grinned and Castiel couldn't help but return it.

"I'm going to assume that you've met your counterpart already?"

"And his brother, they say you're needed to save the world." Dean glanced over at the other priests as they gathered around him. "I uh… who…?"

"They're like me, necessary." Cas smiled a bit and glanced over at his comrades who nodded his way, "So where are they? Why didn't you bring them?"

"Because a bunch of us are meeting at my brother's, I guess I'll need to get these guys there too though…" Dean furrowed brow and looked at them all.

"Move Cas first, the rest of us can wait back here." Michael suggested calmly.

"Shouldn't he try to move more than one at a time?" Gabriel looked at him curiously and Michael shook his head.

"In most cases yes, except we're all here with our partners, Castiel is missing his. I don't want to separate teams so he should take Cas first."

Dean raised his hands, "I get it, I'll be back for you guys later." He didn't wait for another word exchanged and scooped Castiel into the air. The priest gasped at the sudden take off but settled quickly, he was used to high speeds and heights but no winged being had ever really taken off with him before.

Dean looked down at Cas' face and as he looked away Cas saw his brow furrow, "What is it?"

"It's just weird," the angel laughed at himself, "I'm used to seeing your face but my Cas… he and I share this connection and I can feel him, hear him in my head, our spirits are bonded. But you… well I'm not used to seeing you and not being able to sense you. I can't read you."

"Surely it can't be so difficult," Cas smirked playfully and raised his eyebrows, "you're too used to it being easy. I can read you; Dean Winchester is no mystery to me."

"Maybe I've gotten soft," Dean huffed a laugh again and shook his head, "So I gotta ask, are you and the other Dean together? Like..."

"Yes, he's my boyfriend." Cas' smile widened, "Does that concern you?"

"Well yeah, I mean I was told a long time back that Cas and me were meant for each other. We're soul mates." Dean's cheeks flushed a little bit red and Cas thought for a second that his heart skipped a beat. It was weird; he thought he was done feeling awestruck by Dean.

"Was it true?"

"Considering you're with another me? Yeah I'd say so."

Castiel looked away sheepishly, his gaze falling to the ground passing below them. He expected to be soaring high in the sky but Dean didn't get much higher than the tallest buildings around them. "Why are you flying so low?"

"I could go higher but I'm kind of scared of flying." Dean half smiled at Cas and noticed the incredulous look on his face. "Don't judge, I just got these wings okay? Like, a month ago."

"Sorry, just seemed odd to me." Castiel muttered apologetically though he still found it pretty funny, "An angel afraid of flying."

"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes sarcastically, "Makes me laugh too."

They swooped down to a cute little house and Castiel let his feet touch the ground as Dean pulled away from him, "They're inside, just go in." He gestured toward the door and took off again, leaving Cas to just waltz into a stranger's place. It was different if a portal dropped him inside or if a monster had lurked in the building, but to just walk in like that? Cas hesitated for a moment but finally found the ability to get over himself.

The door wasn't locked so he just walked in and found his Dean lazing around on a couch while Sam talked to an old man that looked strangely like him. In fact it was, and Cas had to stop and take a moment to really let that sink in. In at least one reality Sam grew up to be an old man, almost 90 by the look of him. He almost wanted to cry, the sight swelled happiness inside him like he never imagined possible.

"Cas?" Dean looked up at him from his position and started to get up, "God I'm glad to see you!" He went to Castiel's side and squeezed him tightly, "I thought you'd run into the Imperator out there."

"Ditto," Cas nuzzled his cheek against Dean's and rested his head, arms tightly wrapped around his partner for comfort.

Sam approached them then, arms folded over his chest as he shifted his weight to one foot, "Where are the others?"

"Back where we popped up, the other Dean is getting them."

Sam nodded and chewed on the inside of his cheek lightly, "My idea… you think it'll really work?"

"We won't know until we try, Sammy." Dean smiled at him reassuringly, "And it's the best one we got."

"You have no reason to doubt yourself," Castiel agreed and moved to hug Sam next. It was warm and Sam reciprocated immediately, though far more brotherly than the previous, their hug had no less heart put into it. "Everything will work itself out one way or another."

"Thanks guys," Sam smiled meekly at them and glanced over at his other self, "He says that the angels are going to be fighting with us."

"About that," Cas looked to Gabriel then Sam, "How is that angels can fly around here without freaking anyone out?"

"Our races have mingled," Gabriel shrugged, his face suggesting more than just that but Castiel decided not to push it.

"So angels are normal?" Dean didn't get the hint though.

"Angels are as normal as humans, we just live somewhere else." The archangel continued without a shift or change of expression.

"Gabriel," the older Sam reached over and touched his angel's arm, "That's enough, it's long over now."

"It didn't end the way it was supposed to, did it?" Gabriel sighed, "Separation of church and state, and all that."

"It ended, that's all I could really hope for."

"I'm guessing you've all had a rough time of it," Sam the younger added as he sat down again, this time Dean and Castiel joining in. "Our fight hasn't been going the way I expected it to either."

His older self looked at him calmly and tilted his head up a little, "How did you expect it to go?"

Sam didn't have an answer for that.

"We expected to still have our best friend," Dean spoke for him and Sam had to drop his head. Castiel placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded silently to agree.

"Who was it?" Gabriel cocked his head to the side, a way that Cas had been moreso renowned for.

"Jet," Cas replied evenly, "Did you know one?" He knew there had been one but to assume he knew Sam was a stretch.

"Yes, but I haven't seen him in a while." Sam laughed softly at that, "He was a real pain in the ass, even into his old age."

"Were you friends?" The younger Sam pushed, hoping it was at least a yes.

"He saved us once, lost his life doing it." The old man shook his head, "Got it back an hour later but I never forgot the fact that he'd died for me. So yeah, I'd like to say we were friends."

Cas wanted to tell him Jet was gone but maybe it wasn't necessary, Sam probably had an idea already anyway.

The door opened again and Castiel walked in, several other winged beings behind him. Some were recognizable, like Michael, others he'd seen once or twice but Cas couldn't remember the names of them. In fact, even Dean had shown up and the other priests along with him, "Got some help along the way," he told Cas as he nudged angel Castiel.

"I can see that," Cas smiled at them both, "Thanks for getting them."

The gathering of priests and local angels settled quickly and quietly, the situation explained to them all and Sam's plan put forward again. "So to sum it up, Dean and Cas are going to fight the Imperator while I get Jet to take over his body again, hopefully that'll be good enough to knock the monster out of him." Sam said as he looked around the room at all the faces, some duplicated and some original.

"How does that get the monsters out of our world?" Castiel asked and the priests looked amongst themselves.

"There are a lot of us fighting out there right now as it is, they're taking out the monsters as they come. At the moment the Void creatures are organized and it's tough to take them out, we're hoping once their leader is removed we can kill them with less difficulty." Dean took over the explanation after Sam; his tone commanding and so different from what Cas remembered when they'd first met. "We might be here for a very short time, we might be here for ages, I don't know that part. What I do know is that we'll need you guys to take out the physical creatures. There are monsters that can only be harmed by the magic of a priest, if you come across those leave them to the high priests to take out. I need you to go after the gigas."

"Those are the giant humanoid things, right?" Michael the archangel inquired and his counterpart nodded.

"Yes, they're unmatched in strength and they tend to make the biggest messes."

One of the other angels laughed, Cas recalled his name was Balthazar, "Makes sense, the bigger they are the harder they fall and all that."

"So let's prioritize," Priest Castiel instructed, "Priests stay together, I need you to take out Void monsters that get in our way. Dean, Sam, and I need to focus on their king; if anything interrupts us this whole thing might just be a waste of time." He looked at the world's locals and couldn't have been happier which universe it was going to end in, "Can you all handle the gigas?"

"Consider it done," Angel Dean nodded quickly, "We'll keep them out of your way."

Sam watched the stall in the meeting and glanced at his other self who seemed to just be watching, watching him. "There's one thing that has to be done before we can start," older Sam said and they all looked at him, like his word was as important as anyone else's. "Where's Jet?"

"I'll find him," An angel with a staff stepped forward, one that none of the priests recognize

"Camael, he isn't the same one you knew." Castiel looked at his brother solemnly.

"But I'm the one that knew him best, I'll be most likely to see him first." Camael as he was called smiled at Castiel and gave a nod, "Don't worry, I have better judgment than that."

"How did you know him?" Sam felt his jealousy flare up, it bothered him that he didn't have the same track record as Dean did throughout the worlds, that his soul was so fickle and wound up with at least three different people while Dean and Castiel only ever ended up with one another.

"I was his angel, we fought together." Camael turned toward Sam and his expression fell to a calmness that Sam wasn't sure he even understood, "That's all it was, he was a close friend but nothing more than that, so don't look at me that way."

"I… sorry," he glanced away, "but if you find him, don't hurt him."

"Never planned on it." Camael was about to leave but priest Cas caught his arm.

"When you see him don't engage, he's dangerous and won't hesitate to kill you."

"Understood." With that he left, in a flash with almost no sound whatsoever.

They waited; an anxiety filled the room as it remained silent. Sam felt his body tense and he couldn't relax, he looked at his brother and friend, neither of them were any different. It wasn't comfortable and in the few minutes it took Camael to return they thought that maybe insanity would follow.

The archangel Gabriel took his Sam's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, "When everyone has to leave, I should-"

"Go," Sam interrupted him and smiled at the resilient expression Gabriel gave him.

"But-"

"They'll need you," he insisted and welcomed his angel's kiss as Gabriel leaned down to him.

"If you say so," he whispered and gently stroked Sam's wrinkled skin like it hadn't ever changed.

"I found him, barely managed to get away." Camael huffed the words out as he stumbled back in, his weight falling to the support of his staff, "He's on his way here."

"How far?" Dean stepped forward and Camael shook his head.

"Minutes at his pace, we don't have time to waste. There are three gigas with him."

"Move out!" Castiel shouted at his angels and they took off as easily as Camael had the first time.

"You heard him, it's time." Priest Dean looked at his people and they gave him a nod in return, they were ready.

"You make us proud, boys." John smiled and went outside with Mary who gave them one more reassuring look. Michael and Gabriel each drew their weapons on their way, a confident smile on each of their faces. Castiel and Dean both looked at Sam who took a steadying breath before running out the door with the others.

The ground shook like thunder, a fast vibration like the gigas were stampeding. And then it stopped for a moment before everything felt like it'd tear the earth apart; the angels were fighting.

Sam stood beside Dean and Castiel as they slowed to a stop, the other priests rushing toward attacking Void monsters. In all the sudden commotion and chaos, there seemed to be a calm in the center, like the eye of the storm. Jet smiled at them and Sam knew in that moment that if they failed to take Jet home, he'd probably break in two.

"Time for round two?" Jet's voice was twisted; the Imperator spoke through him like a sick puppet.

"No," Dean grinned and stepped ahead of the other two, "we're not playing a game, it's time for you to say goodbye."