Thanks for the follows and faves! :) And thanks for reading, as always. Here's the new chapter!

It was probably a risk, but Gabriel flew to the exact point the GPS said Balthazar's phone was. Technology was a wonderful thing. However, he just found himself in a parking lot, standing beside a red and black striped Challenger. He tried to peak into the windows, but didn't see any phone or full grown man inside. Gabe straightened up and looked at the motel it was parked in front of. It might have been around eleven in the morning, but there were no lights on in the room nearest. He considered trying the door, but finally decided to just pop inside instead. He couldn't sense anything anyway.

When he appeared inside the room, he immediately regretted it, but it wasn't in an embarrassing way. There was blood everywhere. It pooled on the floor and coated the lower half of the walls. Six dead bodies were tossed around the room, and Balthazar sat at the end of the bed, torn shirt and blood up to his wrists with an angel blade glinting in his hands. It took him a moment, but he eventually glanced over to a very confused archangel. They stared at one another until the younger spoke. "Hi."

"... Hi?" Gabe looked around the room and motioned to a few of the bodies. "Who the hell are your friends?"

"Thaddeus," Balthazar answered, jerking his head towards the body of a young looking man slumped against the wall. "Didn't ask who the others were."

The archangel furrowed his brow. "Thaddeus? The torturer guy?"

"He was working with Michael," Bal explained, then tensed his shoulders and swallowed a lump in his throat. "I-... I think I'm going crazy."

Gabriel stared at him then glanced around the room. "What was your first clue?"

"No, no, no." Balthazar began to stand, a hand going to his temple. "No. No, I mean- I mean, I really think I'm going crazy."

"Oh, right right, okay. So, this," Gabe pointed at Thaddeus, "is normal for you."

Bal opened his mouth to answer, but held his tongue for a second in thought. "... I may have been a little stressed."

"A little?"

"No, I- Wha- What are you even doing? Why are you here?"

Gabriel groaned. "Castiel was getting worried," he said while his brother tilted his head in confusion. "He's been trying to call and couldn't get an answer. I called and didn't get an answer. We were starting to think you bit a bullet."

"Oh." Balthazar shifted in place, playing with the blade in his hand. "Well, I didn't."

"No," the other shook his head, "You just lost a marble, that's all."

"I'm fine," Bal said, changing his earlier argument and holding his sword closely. "I'm just a little stressed right now. A lot's been happening. It's been a little weird, but it's just... you know... just stuff."

Gabe nodded. "Stuff. Yeah." He sighed and looked up to his brother. "Are you all right? What's happening with you?"

"I'm fine," he said again, "I'm just- I haven't really been sleeping well, that's all."

The other stared at him for a second. "You were just saying that you were going crazy a second ago."

Balthazar quickly straightened up. "Yeah, well-! I'm going through a phase! I don't know."

Gabe nodded again and looked around the room. "Yeah... Okay, look." He stepped closer to his brother, who lightly backed off a little bit at the approach before Gabriel continued. "I think you should come back. This is, uh-... You're nuts, man."

"What?" Bal blinked to him, glancing quickly around the room. "I- I can't go back. I can't leave now. It's not even-"

"If you say it's not that bad, then you're worse off than I thought," Gabriel interrupted him. "You're... definitely not firing on all four cylinders here, okay? We should get you home and around people that don't want you dead."

Balthazar blinked at him again, trying to figure out if he was being toyed with or if his brother was serious. "I- I can't- I'm not going back. I'm so close to Michael now. He knows I'm coming for him. He knows. I can't leave now. I can't."

"Would you slow down?" Gabe put his hands up to show he wasn't about to use force or anything and Bal realized that he actually had to catch his breath after a second or so. "We aren't going to abandon her," the archangel said slowly, "You need some rest from this. You're going haywire."

"You don't know the half of it," Balthazar mumbled under his breath, then looked to his brother again, shaking his head. "I can't just... leave this here. Not right now. We can't come back to this later. He has her. He- He'll- He'll hurt her or something. He'll do something to her."

"If he was going to do something to her," Gabriel said slowly, "he would have done it already."

Worry came over Balthazar and he realized how stupid it was to warn Michael. How could he be so reckless? "You don't know that."

The archangel let out a sigh and licked his lips. Finally, he shifted and looked down to his brother's chest, brow furrowing. "Where's your grace?"

Bal's hand flew to his neck, feeling bare skin instead of the thick chord and realized that the top of his shirt had been torn open during the fight. He absently glanced around to the bodies. "One of them must have pulled it off in the fight."

Gabe looked around at them and gave another great sigh. "Okay... We need to talk."

"I'm fine."

"You are so far from fine, you're not even in the atmosphere anymore, okay?" Gabriel quieted him and, after a brief pause, slowly continued. "When... you get her soul back, what do you actually intend to do with it?"

Balthazar gave him an odd look in turn, tilting his head. "I'm going to make you bring her back... Even if I have to put a sword down your throat, I'm going to make you bring her back!"

"You don't have to resort to threats," the other grumbled and rubbed his forehead. "You realize that humans are mortal, right? That they die?"

"Gabriel." The archangel looked up to face his brother, finding that he had his blade lifted in front of him as if to challenge him. "I may have to resort to threats yet. What exactly are you trying to say, brother?"

He was silent for another moment before answering. "She'd be safer in Heaven... You know it. I know it. I can even make sure-"

"You are going to bring her back to life!" Balthazar growled. "Is that what you've come here for? Try to convince me to leave her in the ground forever?"

"You're going nuts!" Gabriel interrupted, finally getting his own say again. "Look at you! You would be better off with leaving her in the ground. You need to-"

"Careful!" he warned through clenched teeth. "Gabriel, I swear if you tell me to let her go, I will kill you here!"

The archangel narrowed his eyes and Bal tightened his grip on his blade. The elder walked closer a few paces, standing straight in front of him. "I wasn't," he said quietly, "because you obviously can't let her go... You need to take your grace back, Balthazar. You need to go to Heaven with her. I know your wings are healed from the fall. You can bring her back yourself and be with her there, where neither of you will die again. You understand?"

He didn't expect that to be one of his brother's solutions. Balthazar swallowed hard, remembering that he had thought seriously about what Heaven could hold for them before. "No."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "She's going to die any-"

"No."

"Why are you so against living?" the archangel screamed, then tried to rein it back in. "I get wanting her to live out the rest of her days. I even get being willing to die for someone you love. But you're just going to hang it up, because-... I don't even know why anymore!"

"Because-" Balthazar stopped and licked his lips, realizing for the first time that he didn't like to think about all of this. "Because I can be with her..."

Gabriel waited for more. "... You can be with her. In Heaven."

"No, I can't."

Another pause went between them and the archangel wanted to strangle his brother. "... Why?"

Balthazar blinked and his eyes went to the floor, but he still held the blade up strong and steady. He had opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. He hated just thinking about it. He hated everything right now. Ever since the fall, everything had been so wrong and cursed from the start. "Sidney," he finally answered.

His brother stared at him, then looked over to the wall and stared at it for a minute before looking back to him. "Australia?"

Funny. That was funny. Balthazar really wished he could laugh at that. "She'll be with Sidney in Heaven." Gabriel's face fell as realization struck him, but the other ignored it. "I don't want my grace. I don't want her to vanish from the world. I just want her back. It'll only be for a short while, but I'll have her back. Just a little longer, Gabriel. That's all I ask... I'll find her. I'll do everything else. Please."

Gabe watched him closely, biting on his lip for a moment. "How do you not know how much she loves you?" Bal groaned and closed his eyes, wanting to interrupt but the elder kept speaking. "I know people have had different loved ones. I'm not saying she didn't like this Sidney person, but you're cutting yourself a little short here."

"Gabriel." His voice came out strained and tired. "I am not going to discuss her feelings for me with you. Don't bring it up again." Gabe scoffed, so Bal tacked on- "Please."

The archangel shook his head and sighed. "Fine," he mumbled, glancing around the room. "Fine, but you need rest."

"No," he said again, but finally lowered the blade. "I have to finish this. I'm close now. I have to... I'm sorry. I have to. I have to."

Gabriel watched him and sighed deeply to himself. Someone should be with Balthazar, at least. He shouldn't be going around alone and they both knew it. "Cas has been asking a lot about you lately," he said, raising his arm and snapping his fingers, making his brother jump but only cleaning the room of blood and dead bodies as if there were never a fight to begin with. He continued speaking like nothing had happened. "He's out with the Sasquatch brothers today. When he gets back tomorrow, I'm sending him your way. Until then, do what you want, so long as it's not drastic and stupid... Got it?"

He wanted to argue against the idea, but he nodded instead. Perhaps he really did need some sort of help...

Gabe took a breath of relief. "Good... And eat something, for pity's sake."

Bal looked back up to him in surprise, but only heard the sound of wings as his brother left. He swallowed a dry lump in his throat and took a relieving breath of his own. After a second of standing there, Balthazar slowly looked over his shoulder only far enough to see one of her shoes before quickly facing forward. When he gained the courage to look again, she was gone.

Balthazar had gotten a tip early on of where Bartholomew would be. Castiel or not, he had to get to that location before the angel caught wind that Thaddeus was dead, even if it was already too late. Old Barty wouldn't go into hiding – he had too much pride for such a tactic – but he would hide beneath Michael's skirts if the archangel commanded it.

To be completely honest, though, that wasn't the real reason why he was speeding. His grace felt heavy around his neck again and he fidgeted in place.

"Bal."

Both hands tightened on the steering wheel as he refused to look away from the road. The voice was behind him now, in the back seat, and he wasn't about to take a look now.

"I'm here."

He was losing his mind. Hearing her voice. Seeing her everywhere he went. Gabriel was right. He was nuts. Even he could admit that help was definitely needed at this point. Maybe it had been forbidden for a reason. Maybe he couldn't really handle losing her. Just one person – just one soul – causing this many problems was ridiculous.

"Bal."

He shook his head, absolutely refusing to answer her. Hearing voices was one thing. Talking to them was a whole other problem... It wasn't even a her. That thing wasn't Catherine. It was something he was imagining because of lack of food, sleep, and comfort. He had been killing his brothers and sisters since her pyre burned out and he did it alone. Of course he had screws loose.

He should have brought Castiel with him from the start. It was stupid to do this alone after what had happened. He wasn't strong enough. He should have known better.

"Balthazar."

He shook his head again, nails biting into the steering wheel. After risking a glance to the rear view mirror, he had caught a glimpse of her bloody, bruised face before looking up front again. At some point during the panic he had closed his eyes.

"Balthazar!"

Her voice right next to his ear forced his eyes open again to realize he was in on coming traffic. He quickly swerved the Challenger onto the shoulder and stayed there as cars flew past while he tried to catch his breath. She was in the passenger seat. He didn't look to see her, but she was there and finally quiet.

He wanted to believe it was her. To just sit in silence with her or look at her without having to see all of the blood. He had forgotten how much blood there had been.

With a grunt, he kicked the door open and got out of the car, pacing a bit before putting his hands on the hood, bowing his head. He risked glancing up to the horizon, but just closed his eyes and bowed his head again. She was standing on the other side of the car, watching him.

Kevin continued scribbling at his notes, as he always did. Dean, Sam, and Cas were out on a lead, hopefully getting ever closer to Lucifer, but the kid somehow doubted it. That would have just been too lucky for them, wouldn't it? For now, he focused on the stupid tablet. Perhaps he could find a way to chill out the archangels or even just restore all of the angels to Heaven. That would work wonders just on its own.

Gabriel walked into the library and Kevin wasn't successfully distracted until the angel dropped the glowing crystals on the table. The graces. Gabe seemed to be serious as well as he looked at them all.

"Uh," Kevin straightened up in his chair, peering over a lamp to get a better view, "What are you doing?"

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Balthazar's lost it," he said, as if that answered the question.

Tran blinked and placed the tablet down. "That... sucks," he answered, "but what are you doing?"

"He needs help," Gabe told him, stealing a pencil and eraser from Kevin's notebooks, placing the first in front of him and the latter in with the crystals. "I'm going to help him."

Kevin stood up, watching Gabriel take one of the graces from the pile and place it down gently next to the pencil. "How?"

The angel glanced over to him, then looked back down and pointed to the objects. "The pencil is Raphael's grace. The eraser's Balthazar's. I'm going to recreate the night Catherine died. The graces probably weren't where they were when we found them, but they were likely in the same pattern some distance away."

Kevin watched him place down another grace, spiraling out from the pencil in the middle. "Will that help at all? I mean, they sort of... drift around and stuff. Besides, Michael has her soul."

"Maybe," the other answered, putting down another pencil. "She might be gone. This probably won't help, but it'll be a start to finding out."

"What do you mean by gone?"

Gabriel stopped and looked over to him. "I mean gone..." After a moment, he went back to his work. "Balthazar's reacting too badly to this. I know he doesn't have his grace, but he did have some connection to her. He wouldn't go off the deep end unless she was severed from him completely."

Kevin watched him place down a few more graces, understanding that this would probably take some time to recreate. "Do you really think she's gone? I mean... would Michael do that to a person's soul?"

"The Michael I knew wouldn't," he answered, "but this isn't the Michael I knew. If she's gone and Balthazar finds out before we can get to him-... I don't know."

A silence passed through the library, only being interrupted with the light clinking of the crystals bumping together. Kevin grimaced down at them. "... Can I help?"

Another chapter down! Things really pick up in the next one, folks, and the ending is right around the corner. I'm so excited!

I may have proofread this late at night with a drink in my hand, so excuse my errors again.

Review and follow, etc. Thank you for reading, as always! Tell me what you think about Bal going crazy! :)