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Castiel first met the other angel when his Garrison was on Earth. He was shocked to realize that it was one unit of Michael’s garrison. Most of the angels among the different garrisons were equal in power, but Michael’s own was special. Many thought the angels underneath the archangel were all much more powerful than in the other garrisons.
Haniel was disgruntled by the presence of Michael’s group, but kept a calm countenance when the leader of the archangel’s unit addressed her. The head angel stepped forward, and Castiel stared at him as he regarded Haniel. It was obvious he was nowhere near the rank of an archangel like Haniel, yet the other angel stood there without showing any signs of weakness.
“Diniel. So you are the commander?” Haniel spoke out, looking at the other angel.
“You were the one that asked for the leader to come forward, so I did.”
Castiel was shocked at his casual and flippant attitude towards his garrison captain.
Haniel remained calm, ignoring Diniel’s tone.
“And what is a group of Michael’s Garrison doing on Earth? I was not told of any work of his that needed to be done on Earth.”
“We’re carrying out Michael’s personal orders. The whole garrison was not needed for the task and you didn’t need to know about it.” Diniel responded. Castiel could feel the anger rolling off of Haniel at the angel’s impudent words.
“I will speak to Michael about this. If you or any of your subordinates get in the way of our work, I will not hesitate to smite you out of existence. Remember that.”
Both parties stood in place for another tense moment until Castiel noticed members from both sides starting to disappear and fly off to return to their work. Castiel knew he should turn around to start following his brothers and sisters, but he caught a glimpse of the angel, Diniel, staring at him. The voices of his comrades, which were always present through their connection, seemed to fade from his mind as the only thing he could think was of the angel. Diniel broke their shared gaze and looked away and Castiel was shaken out of his haze by a voice next to him- Balthazar.
“Come, Cassie.” Balthazar whispered, bringing Castiel’s attention back. Castiel nodded and turned away from the commander before following the others away.
----
Castiel returned to earth several thousand years after that mission. So much had changed in his garrison since then. Castiel swiftly shut down that thought as he set about on his new assignment.
He was a soldier. His mission now was to go to Earth and stop the breaking of 66 seals that would free Lucifer from his cage. He did not expect the new challenges that appeared on the planet, like how he now had to have a vessel.
For a task he thought would be so simple, he had to spend a considerable amount of time communicating with his vessel to gain Jimmy Novak’s permission. It bothered him that humans now seemed to have troubled lives, and many had turned away from much of God’s word. Castiel had no idea what other obstacles he would face, but now that he had a vessel to walk on Earth with and his assignment was ongoing, Castiel took the opportunity to explore how much the planet had changed since civilization began.
Castiel had gone to the tops of mountain ranges and isolated islands that had not been touched by humanity. Castiel navigated waters and terrain and found himself stopping for a moment in the flat lands of Kansas when he felt a presence.
He stopped in front of a man- no; he was definitely an angel- leaning back on a dark car. He saw the angel smirk, quirk he found interesting coming from an angel.
“Castiel.” He spoke, and Castiel watched as the angel effortlessly pushed off from the car and stepped towards him. Castiel briefly noted the peculiarity of his vessel’s stance, which seemed like less of a straight line and more like a bow down the legs.
“Diniel.”
Diniel’s expression changed as a small smile appeared on his face and he chuckled.
“It’s been a long time since we first met.” he said, “I haven’t heard that name for quite some time.”
Castiel glared back in confusion, but the other angel ignored it as he pulled the leather jacket on his vessel away to examine his vessel.
“This guy’s name was Dean. I took a liking to the name, decided to keep it.”
“Diniel-”
“Dean.”
“-What mission are you on?” Castiel demanded.
“‘M not on any.” He replied.
“Then you should not be on Earth. Does your garrison know of your misconduct?”
Diniel snorted, and Castiel stopped. He could sense the bitterness radiating from the angel.
Angels don’t express bitterness.
“How long has it been since the last angelic war?”
Diniel is suddenly very close to Castiel, staring back at him. Castiel is not sure what to make of the random question.
“Hundreds of years.”
The memory of that last war is still fresh in Castiel’s mind, and it burns. That was the war where he had lost Balthazar. Balthazar was all Castiel had left when Haniel disappeared earlier in the war.
“I left during that one.”
Castiel was brought out of his thoughts by Diniel’s words when realization dawned on him.
“You deserted the Host? You turned your back on God?” Castiel stared in alarm at the other angel.
“It’s the other way around.” Diniel responds, and Castiel grinds his teeth at the vague answer. “Don’t try to lie to yourself about it, either. Where has God been this entire time? Do you fully believe in what you’re doing right now?” His eyes turn sharp in anger towards Castiel, not backing away from their close distance.
“What are you talking about?” Castiel says dismissively. Now, Diniel is only speaking nonsense. Castiel knows he should be reporting of Diniel’s location to his superiors, but he isn’t moving.
“Don’t act like I don’t know why you are here, on Earth. You’ll see, all the high-ups in Heaven aren’t carrying out “God’s word” anymore. They are waiting for Lucifer to come out-”
“You’re wrong, the Host is working to stop the breaking of the seals that imprison Lucifer.” Castiel bursts.
He’s angry, angry at Diniel for saying those words. He is a part of that mission to stop the breaking of seals, he knows it is of utmost importance in Heaven. Castiel only glares at Diniel’s unreadable expression before he disappears.
Castiel tries to forget about what Diniel said, and return to Uriel for the mission. Diniel’s words, however, remain and echo within Castiel as time passes. Castiel doesn’t know what to do with this newfound doubt.
---
The second time Castiel meets Diniel, Uriel is about to destroy him.
Soon after Uriel admitted his true plan of rebellion, he had tried to take Castiel out before Castiel could alert their superiors or stop him.
Castiel fought back against him, and Uriel continued confessing to purposefully breaking seals and killing other angels. Uriel wanted Lucifer to rise and take control of the planet, he said God was dead.
Castiel was losing the battle, he knew. He tried to dodge Uriel’s blade before the other angel pinned him to the ground. Uriel looked down at him in satisfaction of his imminent victory before a blade ran through his chest. Uriel chokes and turns to see Diniel behind him, blade in hand. Uriel barely gets a sound out before grace is exploding from his vessel and light fills the room for a second before everything goes dark again.
“You.” Castiel grounds out, and Diniel only smirks.
“I told you, call me Dean. Just Dean.”
He bends down to grab Castiel’s vessel and drags him up, seeing if he can stand. Castiel looks back at the corpse of Uriel’s vessel, imprints of wings charred into the ground.
Suddenly, Castiel is at a loss. Uriel had betrayed him and the Host. All of this seemed to be a lie. He could only think the reason how any of this could happen was because God really was gone from Heaven. Castiel feels like he is drowning. Diniel- Dean touches his shoulder. Castiel sees the look of sympathy through the gruff look. He knows what Castiel is going through, having been through the same centuries before.
“Dean.” Castiel says, and he sees Dean’s face soften.
“Come with me.” He asks.
Castiel goes.
---
Castiel doesn’t notice where they’re going, only following Dean. They finally stop in an old house in South Dakota that’s surrounded with cars in various states of disrepair. Dean makes his way to the house with Castiel a step behind him.
“Dean, I should not be doing this- I have to report to my superiors. They have to be informed of Uriel’s plan. Even now I’m disobeying orders.” Castiel tries to explain. Dean rolls his eyes at him, and Castiel is once again amazed at how human he acts.
“Cas, you’re pretty dumb.”
The blunt remark freezes Castiel in shock before he glares at Dean in offense.
“You’ve gone and left right after Uriel died. No matter what, the Host isn’t going to take you back.”
At that, Castiel feels something disorienting. He notes that it’s his vessel reacting to distress.
“Sorry I didn’t tell you that choosing me would make you a traitor; I was more concerned about getting the hell out of there and getting you somewhere safe.”
“That makes no logical sense. Leaving makes me a traitor, but if I had stayed I would have been in danger?”
“It’s because you still don’t know what they’re really after. Your ‘superiors’ have brainwashed you and everyone else into thinking you’re trying to prevent Lucifer’s escape from the cage. Michael’s behind it all; he wants Lucifer out.” Dean glares back at Castiel and interrupts him just as he is about to speak. “You don’t believe it, but you just wait. The 66 seals will break, and Michael will come down when all Hell breaks loose- if you even survive that long. Those angels are dicks, and Michael’s the biggest one of them all. He might just have you taken out because you know too much already.”
Dean stands tense with his arms crossed.
“How can you say that about your Garrison Leader?” Castiel asked.
“That’s how I know everything. I really knew Michael and about his plans to start the Apocalypse.’ Dean’s voice is derisive, but Castiel scowls even more.
“No. You have no evidence to prove that. I’m going back.”
Castiel has had enough of this. He turns back toward the door. He stops for a moment before looking back.
“I will not make any mention of you. You may return to hiding like a coward.”
After that, he flew away.
---
“I fucking called it.” Dean says right next to Castiel’s ears, which are still ringing from the blast from Raphael. “What did I say, Cas? You were just about to get blasted.”
“I realize that.” Castiel ground out in irritation.
He looked around to find that he was in the old house in South Dakota again, Dean still gripping his vessel tight from behind. Moments ago he was in Kripke Hollow, where he was going to be destroyed by the archangel.
“You should be damn thankful I pulled you out at the last second.”
“Dean, how did you do that?”
There was a lot about Dean that Castiel didn’t know. That first time he saw him, he seemed like any other soldier. Even if he wasn’t just a soldier, few angels could avoid the wrath of an archangel.
“First, how ‘bout we talk about what you’ve done, Cas.” Castiel turned away, quiet. “You finally realized some things, didn’t you?”
“Is God really gone, Dean?” The way Dean’s face fell answered his question.
---
It’s been months. As far as they knew, the Host thought Castiel was dead. He had nothing else, so he stayed with Dean.
---
“Dean, is there someone from the Host that you miss?” Castiel asks. Dean looked up from the platter of pie he was eating and stopped at the question.
“No one that’s still part of it, anyway.” Dean says offhandedly. Castiel gave him a look of confusion, so he elaborated. “Samael. We were close like two real brothers, not the angelic kind.”
“Samael was killed during the last war, I heard.” Castiel remembers. Losing another archangel had been another great loss for the Host.
Dean shook his head and took another bite from the pastry. “Samael fell. He knew I’d left and got out too, just in a melodramatic way. Drama queen.” Smiling, he took another bite.
“What happens to angels that fall?”
“They have their grace ripped away from the rest of them- literally. They get reborn as humans. Their grace falls somewhere else on Earth. They don’t remember anything about being angels, of course.”
“Did you find him?” Castiel asks, innocent.
“Yeah. Turned out to be the younger brother of my vessel. Saved him in a house fire when he was only six months old. Man, he’d be pissed if I could tell him how I saved his baby-archangel ass.”
“But, you have not attempted to locate his grace and return his memories.” Castiel asks without any inflection.
“There’s no way I could do that to him. Lots of angels fell knowing they would become human- that’s what they wanted.”
“What other angels have fallen?” Castiel asked.
“Oh, a whole lot. Gagiel, Jophiel, Sariel, Selaphiel, Remiel, Haniel, Ariel-“
“Haniel?” Castiel cut out in alarm. “Haniel was the leader of my Garrison, she couldn’t have...” The words died in his mouth; he doesn’t know what to say.
Panic seizes him and his wings tense in preparation to escape, fly as far away from here as possible. Dean, however, is faster. His wings spring forward as he pins Castiel down. They struggle for a moment as Castiel’s mind races to understand everything that has happened.
Their Father has been absent from Heaven, and those in control sought to release Lucifer from his cage. He’s been lied to for years about what has really been happening in Heaven, and they were almost successful in destroying him after he found out. Many of the angels he thought to have been killed in the wars have actually escaped- his own garrison leader has fallen.
What if Balthazar did not die either? What if he had also chosen to fall- what if he is hiding in a dark corner of the planet like Dean had been doing?
Dean.
Why is he here with Dean? Why did he meet Dean? Why did Dean save him from Raphael? The questions grew in his mind and he kept fighting against Dean, trying to get out.
Dean growls. “Dammit, Cas, calm down! Castiel, stop.”
The authoritative voice makes Castiel freeze in his place. Dean has never sounded so harsh, like he’s one of Castiel’s superiors scolding him for misconduct. He finally looks up at Dean. What Castiel really notices, though, is their wings are touching, graces almost melding into each other. Dean seems to have noticed it, too, because he hastily moves away from Castiel with his face flushed.
For the time Castiel has been here with him, he’s learned how human Dean really is. Dean had tried to teach Castiel about the finer things of humanity- food (the pie he always eats), and television (the fictitious show about medical doctors) were the main focuses.
Now, though, Castiel saw the extent of it. It made something pull at his stomach, a strange feeling that has been happening almost every time Castiel looks at him. Castiel ignores it.
“Look. Sorry ‘bout that, but I had to stop you from doing anything stupid.” Dean muttered out.
“You are nervous. Our graces were momentarily in contact, why would that make you nervous?”
Dean huffs in amusement. “We only let our graces contact others’ for a few reasons. Trying to force another down by their grace isn’t one of them.”
“It is to show affection or a deeper bond- I know that, Dean.”
Castiel could feel the air grow tense between them as Dean nodded.
“I am not upset, Dean.”
“Why aren’t you?”
The question startles Castiel for a moment. Once again the warm pull in his stomach distracts him. In the months being with Dean, Castiel has started to feel more like a human and less like an angel trapped in the small skin. In truth, Dean has changed him.
“We have formed a great bond together, Dean. We had only met once before the wars, and you are not that different from then.”
Dean snorts, “You think so? I was a dick. Always pissed off about something, took it out on the others.”
“What were you angry about?”
“Pretty much everything. Being part of Michael’s garrison wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. Michael was- and still is- a grade-A douche, but I got on well enough to rise in the ranks. A while later, I got high enough to learn the truth. Our Dad was gone, left who knows how long ago. All the assholes high-up decided to keep it quiet and make it seem like everything was still normal, like we were following God’s orders. I got punished when I lashed out about it- then I decided, ‘fuck this’ and left.”
God’s absence still deeply affected them. Castiel had tried to leave three months ago, thinking that God had to be somewhere on Earth. It made Dean upset, ending in him yelling at Castiel how it was useless and Castiel arguing that he had to try. Castiel returned weeks later empty handed (an idiom he learned from Dean) and he thought Dean would rub it in. Instead, Dean was just as devastated.
They didn’t talk about it after that.
“Cas, I-”
Dean was interrupted when something happened. They froze and both could hear what sounded like a volcanic eruption and nuclear bomb set off through several dimensions. It pulsed through their wings like an earthquake. The gravity of what was happening was crushing.
“Lucifer and Michael.”
Castiel shuddered, sensing both the archangels in what seemed to be Kansas. Both archangels were there, about to stand and battle. It was ending.
“Dean, we have to stop this.”
“Cas, we can’t do anything.”
“We have to! Dean, think about all of the humans on Earth, they will all be gone if Lucifer wins. All of our brothers and sisters as well- Samael, Haniel, Balthazar...”
Castiel and Dean stood up, doing nothing but stare at each other.
Dean hesitates before acquiescing. “Fine.”
“You will?”
By now they were both standing toe-to-toe, Dean trying to stop Castiel from once again going anywhere. Dean stared back at Castiel before he leaned forward and Castiel felt lips and grace touch.
Those were Dean’s lips and his wings, brushing over his own. Dean held it for a moment before shifting to move back, but Castiel surges forward as his wings shot out to entangle with Dean’s and their lips meet again. Dean made a deep noise before reciprocating the enthusiasm. Their wings press closer together, and the gut-feeling Castiel has had seems to burst in warmth and he finally understands what it is. They withdraw from the kiss, but their wings don’t move away.
Castiel sees the smile grace Dean’s face and it’s beautiful. Castiel’s lips still hum from their kiss and he can feel they are stretched in a smile as well.
“Yeah, you’re not going alone, Cas. We’ll go against those sons of bitches. Lucifer, and Michael.”
“The chances we even survive are virtually zero.”
Dean sends a wave of reassurance through to Castiel and plants another kiss that Castiel gladly returns.
“No matter what, we’re getting out of this.”