A/N This picks up after The Song Remains the Same in Season Five and is AU from there and ignores later seasons. The relationships in this are for the most part platonic. The rating is for language and this is a completed piece, chapters will be posted steadily. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

~x~


"So that was it?"

Sam was giving him that look again, that one where he thought Dean was keeping hidden deals or secrets or currently was being possessed by an archangel. Cas, broken angel that he was, was still passed out and not moving on the bed from almost killing himself for nothing. Mom and dad were factory reset, Ana was a crispy critter of an ex-angel, and Sam had gotten a pipe through his chest courtesy of their little time-traveling adventure.

At least the bastard had fixed that.

"Don't know what you want me to say, Sammy," Dean said leaning back in his chair eyeing the wallpaper. Polka dots didn't do a lot for him and he hoped Cas woke the hell up soon so they could move. Dragging unconscious falling angels around was a hard thing to explain to bystanders. Especially when they looked like they had gotten a free beating into that state.

"Dean, it was the ruler of heaven. There wasn't anything else? Nothing we could use?" Sam was looking at him, pushing at his ridiculous hair in need of sharp scissors. The kid was trying to bring 80's fashion in, Dean was sure of it. "Didn't you ask?"

All he wanted to do was scream at his brother to shut the hell up, that they were screwed and this was over.

"Oh yeah, Sam, in the middle of the carnage he sat down and we had tea and discussed how life began." Dean tried for a 'how stupid are you' look and knew it was successful when his brother scowled back. "Look, dude, all he did was monologue about how great destiny is and how he loves Luci but still has to stake him to the burned-out husk of the earth when they're done with their little fight."

Sam's face just fell, like the kid still had some kind of hope that the angels weren't douchebags with ultimate power. Even Cas was a bit of a dick but he was the best of them that they'd met so far. The rest were always so much more into mind games and reminding them how much the mud monkeys were lower than either mud or monkeys.

Dean felt he would always be amused by the fact that they hated humans to that point then had to sweet talk with menace them into saying yes to wear them around. Like the simple logic of not being assholes to get what they wanted never occurred to them.

At least Sam had shut it. There was a deep gnawing in him, that desperation that they had no way out, no chance, and maybe if he did something now he could maybe at least save Sam from being Lucifer chow, that Mike would latch onto the idea of murdering his brother in a weakened state as a tactical advantage.

That that wouldn't match Daddy's little plan, though, not like that angel would get it was worthless to try to please a Dad who had skipped out however long ago.

Christ, this whole thing was screwed up.

Sam was staring at him, kneading his lip a little, nervous and he needed a drink in a place that wasn't here. That damn angel better wake up soon so he could get gone, and Dean made himself not think about just why Cas was all passed out and suffering.

It was hard to look at Sam who kept stubbornly being here and human. Somedays, it was hard not to hate Sam for what he had chosen after all of this, even if all those damn seals would have burst open anyway because he wasn't –

"What?" Sam demanded and looked slightly worried, forehead all creased like it was trying to burrow more into his skull.

Ain't no way he was giving up on what he was thinking about and he shifted, uncomfortable under that accusing look he was getting. His fault, he had been staring too much.

Dean rubbed his knee, trying to think of a distraction to all of this.

"Nothing. Man, I hope Cas wakes up. Gonna be sick if I have to keep staring at this tacky place much longer."

"Sure." Sam's voice was quiet as he looked down staring at his boots again and Dean kicked himself.

He was dying to open the door and just be out of here, to tell Sam to come pick him up whenever Cas deigned to rejoin the waking world. To not be here but he couldn't leave them. Not right now. There was a terrible worry inside him that if he left them alone right in this minute that they would stop existing somehow. It was stupid, he knew that but it didn't help and he stretched.

"Just, all that crap has me on edge."

The kid at least nodded some of the worries smoothing out in him and Dean got the remote because it looked like it was going to be awhile.

~x~


"Hello, Sam."

He tried not to jump at that low, coarse voice. He really did because he should be used to angels always showing up behind him. It seemed to be their thing like God had been into jump scares long before horror flicks made them cliché. He smoothed his hair down turning to see the angel looking like his normal holy tax accountant self, tie always askew.

"Hey, Cas. Thanks for coming."

"You said it was important. Is it something you are hunting?" The angel was already looking around, searching for Dean, the one he actually liked. "Is your brother in trouble?"

"No. Well, not any more than usual. Think he's just out drinking." Those eyes were back on him and he felt hollowed out here like he had tricked the angel or something. "I think something's wrong."

Castiel for his part just stared right at him before walking closer, head tilting in that way of theirs when they were trying to understand something. Maybe they heard stuff and it helped. Sam had no clue other than it was disconcerting.

"Don't you, uh, think it's weird Michael just let us go? I mean Zachariah was ready to murder me to get a yes from Dean. He thinks it's just because Michael's all into destiny but they've locked him up, tried to track him down but then, when the thing that wants him has him, he just let us go?"

"Yes."

Sam nodded feeling a bit relieved that maybe his fears were justified and not fueled by lack of sleep by his helpful dream stalking Satan. Cas was quiet, still studying him like he was considering that Sam might have an armed bomb shoved up in him and Sam tried to keep his growing hysteria muffled since that might be a thing. It totally might be a thing that Michael did something to one or both of them.

"What do you remember about my older brother?" the angel finally asked.

"Nothing. I mean Anael shoved something in my chest. I never saw him."

"I see," Cas said tilting his head now the other way. Sam wondered if maybe he did that to hear different frequencies, like celestial infested humans, were easier to pick up that way. "What do you remember of the last few minutes before being stabbed by Anael?"

"Not much, really. Everything's pretty hazy past a certain point. I guess from dying?" A slight tip of that head, close to a nod. At least he was going with that as the angel tended to stand like a statue half the time. Dean was trying to teach him to shrug and to actually sit on chairs while not looking like an uncomfortable bird.

"Anything, Sam. What were you doing?"

"We were warding the house," he said trying to drag the memories back, feeling like they had been shoved deeper than they should be in his mind. "We had holy oil and blood sigils but then they were gone. The oil was just gone and the sigils were smears. And then it's kind of a big blank for the most part outside of little fragments until I woke up on a bed in our room back in the present."

"And your brother?"

"Sitting on the other bed looking all brooding."

Cas stared at him for a minute longer, enough to make Sam fidget because he knew he was missing something in all of this and it wasn't comforting. Something was off. Well, more off than starting an apocalypse and having heaven and hell tracking them while they tried to put it back in the box. Then the sound of the Impala, her smooth engine always penetrated the thin walls of where they stayed, and Cas was just gone. Not even a little flutter of wing beats.

"Heya, Sammy," Dean was saying as came into the room holding paper bags that smelled like they might have food. "What? Dude you okay? Look like you've seen a ghost."

Of course, his brother made that joke, chuckling a little, as if a ghost would be a surprise right now. Hell, it would be welcome if the earth was just haunted instead of tipping over the edge to being on fire.

"Yeah, fine," he muttered, slumping into a cheap plastic chair by the equally cheap table. "Just still a bit rattled."

"Story of our lives. But hey, no polka dots."

Sam tried to mimic his brother's grin, the one he always wore when he was worried and didn't want to show it. He was fairly certain he sucked at it but Dean didn't press, at least not yet. Sam thought he should be more worried about that than anything else.

~x~


Castiel was surprised his brother came at all. Last they had met, Gabriel had been adamant on there being no hope at stopping the coming end. All of his other pleas of assistance had fallen on deaf ears. Yet his older brother was here, staring at him as he opened his candy bar, studying him.

"Speak fast, Cassie, this is a courtesy call. I would rather not hear you whinging all up in my head."

"I require your assistance on a few questions I have."

"Shoot," Gabriel said around his mouthful of candy. "Want to get you out of my hair."

Castiel decided it would be impolite to point out he had never been in his brother's hair and asked the first, most bothersome question to him. "Gabriel, would I, as I am now, have enough power to get back from 1978?"

A low whistle as his brother came forward and Castiel raised his head refusing to flinch in the face of his brother's obvious advantage. Sharp eyes were on him now, nothing playful as he was looked over. There was that strange sensation of shame, something that had been unknown to him before his meeting of Dean Winchester. He didn't wish it to be so, he had not intentionally abandoned his family as Gabriel had, but it burned heavy all the same.

"Baby bro, how'd you even get there? Find a special on a used DeLorean?"

"I do not -"

"Never mind," Gabriel cut him off waving his candy bar in his face, wrapper crackling. "There ain't no way you pulled yourself back. Guessing you fried your egg pretty good jumping there. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Anael had gone back to kill John and Mary Winchester."

"Ah, jumping for the monkeys again, Cassie." Gabriel made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Gonna be the death of you, little brother. So what did you do there?"

"I promptly passed out upon reaching the destination when the brothers put me in a hotel room. After I awoke," Castiel paused because it was not only Sam who felt troubled by the interference in memories. "I knew I needed to go back and pushed myself forward. I vaguely recall seeing them before becoming comatose again."

"Well, you didn't make that second trip without some special sauce. Did Ana beam you back?"

"She is dead," Castiel said flatly and saw his brother's face fall blank for a moment before resuming its merry smirk. "Michael is said to have killed her."

"Woah, okay you know I definitely don't want to be around you if Mike's been near so I'm just –"

Something made him reach out and grab Gabriel, hold onto that raised hand that was about to snap himself away. Gabriel's mouth formed a hard line, something twisting in Castiel at the thought that another of his older brothers could simply explode him out of existence all over again. "Dean's the only one that saw him."

"And Dean's still Michael free? Cause, Cassie, last time I checked, heaven was desperate for his size and shape for their Mikey condom."

"I believe he is. I don't know what actually happened," Castiel finished as he let go of Gabriel's wrist the other angel still taking a step back from him, as though he had been sent as a spy to bring him home, or worse, to bring punishment to his brother.

As angry as he was at Gabriel's abandonment, he would never wish heaven's wrath on him.

"I know what you want me to do and not happening, Cassie. So bop on back to your little tribe of rejects and stop broadcasting that you know about me at all."

"Coward."

He was thrown back before he even saw Gabriel move, crashing into a nearby tree that cracked, wood shrieking at his impact. Then his brother was there, grabbing him by his lapels and swinging him up. His vessel would heal though he disliked how much more of such things he could feel in it now the closer he raced towards human.

"You have no idea what you are talking about, little brother," Gabriel said, all archangel, cruel and glorious outside of heaven's light. "Don't think you know about things you don't."

"I know that I have stood before Lucifer and told him no," Castiel responded calmly, feeling blood dripping down from somewhere on his scalp. "I know that I told heaven no and was killed, only to be brought back. I know that I will not abandon the cause no matter how hopeless. Tell me what you have done, brother, besides hiding behind your masks and mourning the past."

Something ugly was in that face looking at him now, some twisted part that Gabriel had carved into himself to fit among the heathens, to celebrate in their exuberance and excess, their ravishment of both pleasure and the flow of blood in death. It was a far cry from the bright glow of heaven's messenger, the one that guided him in his early existence and hated the cries between Michael and Lucifer before the war. The one that he had once found weeping as only an angel could at the blood that marred everything and forbade him to speak of it.

"You were never this pompous in heaven."

"Times change," Castiel said knowing that Gabriel, despite what he was now, would not murder him. Hurt him, yes. Perhaps Dean was right in his assessment that angels where psychotic but he knew Gabriel would not put a blade between his ribs. "I ask again, what have you done when us 'rejects' at least refuse to hide our faces?"

Gabriel tossed him to the ground but not before Castiel felt the quick pulse flow into him, taking away the pain of the impact while his brother stared down at him. He pushed himself up from the loamy earth heavy with life and spring but did not step closer.

"Where was that yeti he calls a little brother when all this went on?"

"Dead or dying by Anael's hand."

"What did my illustrious older brother say?"

"Dean simply stated that he spoke of destiny, of still loving Lucifer but having to kill him. That he was the good son."

"And then just sent you all skipping back through time. No dragging a screaming Dean off, no pandering for a yes, no nothing?"

"That is correct."

Gabriel had been here a long time, Castiel mused as he watched his brother actually pace in a small pattern, back and forth with hands clasped behind his back.

"That makes no sense," Gabriel managed finally. "I mean he's been about destiny ever since Luci went off the rails. That's all he was anymore." Gabriel shook his head something strangely sharp in those words and Castiel felt himself soften towards his brother. That perhaps Gabriel did have a point when he said he did not know what was between him and Michael in Gabriel's final days in heaven.

"It's all I can offer. That is why we are in need of assistance. I'm not asking you to stay, only to lend me your eyes since I am not what I once was."

Gabriel had stopped moving, looking over at him and Castiel wondered what he saw if it was pity or something else. His brother was different, but at the same time, himself. As though Gabriel had cut himself apart and reassembled everything in hopes of finding something more pleasing. A shape that would be found acceptable but still showed the harsh mauling of other's hands.

"Damn, I'm going to have actually touch the bastard to figure it out."

Castiel felt Dean would be proud that he finally managed a smile.

~x~


"What the hell, Cas?"

Sam immediately opened the bathroom door at his brother's cry and took in the sight of the trickster next to their angel, all honey eyes and slick smirk. Gabriel. Sam was fairly certain this was not the help they needed unless the archangel that had been on the lam for centuries was actually going to do something. Well, something that didn't involve putting them in time loops as part of a mind game plot.

"Relax, Deano, not here to ruffle feathers. Just came to check you out."

Ugh, Sam thought, seeing that predatory look on Gabriel's face, the waggle of those eyebrows as the archangel stepped forward. His brother, God, Dean was fast, already had a gun out.

"I will shoot you."

"Yeah, 'cause that's gonna slow me down. What part of celestial being does that thick, meat-filled skull of yours not get?"

"Cas, man, why him?" Dean's attention was to their friend who was as stone-faced as always still a few feet away. "Why'd you have to go get the mental midget who, I might add, keeps playing games with us?"

"My brother needs to look at you. Something is not right."

"Yeah, no, not going to happen," Dean was saying backing up looking for a way out. Like there was a way to outrun an angel. "Nothing wrong, so just fly away."

"He does smell a bit funkier than the last time I saw him, Cassie."

"Get out."

Dean was looking at him now and Sam swallowed because he should have been making a banishing sigil like a good little brother. He should have been doing something to stop this but he knew they were right. Things were off, didn't add up with heaven so hot for Dean and he'd been right there. Like Lucifer would care how he got his vessel. Then the whole war would have been on track and they wouldn't be here right now. Wouldn't exist like this.

"Sorry, Deano, this is gonna hurt a lot, got to take your voice for a second," Gabriel was saying and Sam was acting too late. Trying to cut his hand to make a sigil as Castiel grabbed him.

There was light and the archangel's hand was in his brother's chest. Actually in it and, damn, even falling Cas was super strong holding him back. He was trying to say his brother's name, force it past his lips as Dean's head was thrown back in a silent howl of pain.

Light laced up under Dean's skin and he was sure his brother was going to explode any moment, a feeling of energy expanding in the room to the point of suffocation as Gabriel's eyes glowed brighter. The pressure was growing, Gabriel looking like he was trembling as he kept hold of something inside Dean, and Sam feared he had failed his brother all over again.

He always trusted the wrong people.

Then that hand was out, the glow fading, and Dean slumping unconscious into Gabriel's arms. Dean at least looked peaceful, the pain that had radiated from him moments before gone and Sam hoped it wasn't a lasting thing.

"Brother?" Cas asked still pinning him down, and Sam wanted to point out he was calmer now that Dean wasn't being maimed.

"Well, shit," Gabriel said putting his brother on the bed. "Fractured and broken, a bit fragmented, but that's Mike."

"No," Sam whispered shaking his head because after everything they couldn't be about to lose. His brother couldn't have said yes or been tortured into. Gabriel was looking over his way now, something contemplative in his eyes.

"I don't think your bro said yes," the archangel said like he was choosing words so they didn't hit him so hard. "That grace in there was bound in his soul, needed to be fully released."

None of this made any sense and now Dean was in danger and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. And that didn't even begin to help with that terrible dread of where Michael actually was and who was leading this whole frigging mess in heaven. Sam pressed his face against the musty carpet and screamed.