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The air was grim with dust and ash, until it wasn't, until Castiel flew to the safety of their Earthly garden and shook the remains of the World Before from his wings. He stretched his limbs and looked down into the hidden dell and the neat buildings that lay in its folds.
Gabriel manifested beside him, his wings brilliant and red today under the coat of ash. The archangel flapped them halfheartedly and then tucked them out of sight and perception, along with every other pair he had. Castiel wondered if Gabriel would ever stop to brush the death off his wings, but so far, the archangel had just manifested a different set each time they went out.
It seemed ostentatious for Gabriel to tuck away reminders of their failure with every flight.
However, Castiel was not Gabriel, and he had not failed in his courage so spectacularly, merely in his capabilities. Perhaps it was right for his older brother to mourn so, because surely his sins had helped bring them to this end.
"Brothers!" cried one of the Cupids, suddenly there in front of them, in the way of Cupids – fast and flighty, and surprisingly stealthy despite their giddiness and embarrassing openness.
Castiel endured the hug, and stood back as the Cupid hugged Gabriel. His older brother laid his Vessel's head against the Cupid's shoulder, and simply clung.
"It's alright, brother!" The Cupid consoled, patting soothingly at Gabriel's back, and stroking his Vessel's hair. "Today is a better day. Oh! And one of the humans is ready to spawn! Isn't that wonderful?"
"Yeah, Dafniel, that's great," Gabriel said, and drew back enough to give the Cupid a weary smile.
The Cupid blinked, worried in its dim way, and bent far enough to kiss Gabriel's temple. "It's a great day, Brother. Come and see!"
Gabriel slumped after the Cupid disappeared in its absent-minded and cheerful way. "Dad, I hate this... this is going to be terrible."
"The world is as it is, Gabriel. We still must serve His will, and obey His words."
Gabriel turned to glare at Castiel. "I gave that all up, Castiel."
"If you were truly disobedient, you would be Fallen. Or dead."
"Or both," Gabriel sighed. "Like Lucy."
"Like Lucifer," Castiel agreed.
They walked, like humans, down into the dell. Theophania of the Thrones met them at the great hall. She fit poorly into her Vessel, bits of feather poking through her hair and glimmers of light in her eyes.
"The human Sally is come to term," Theophania said. She looked at Gabriel, "Will there be a name to write in the Book, this time?"
"Heck if I know," Gabriel growled and stomped up the stairs and into the building.
Castiel sighed as the archangel disappeared into the building. "He is disheartened. We found no one today."
Theophania looked at him coolly. "He is our only Prophet left, Castiel. And the only hope for the humans."
"He never wanted this," Castiel said, uncertain why he was defending his brother's bad temper.
"None of us wanted this. We were promised ... Paradise."
Castiel snorted. "We were promised many things, Theophania, but that didn't mean we had the right to try to force them to come to us."
The other angel looked abashed, a little, in her badly fitted Vessel. "I was true to my Choir, Castiel. Until they were no more..."
"I know," Castiel said, and walked past her.
Inside, it was the normal jumble, the awful smell of humans pressed close, and worse things. Castiel found Gabriel in a corner, where a human woman crouched, her distended abdomen tight and rippling as the muscles contracted. There were other humans around her, holding her as she panted and screamed and looking in suppressed worry at Gabriel where he had folded himself to watch the progress.
Castiel sighed. "Is it well?"
Gabriel's eyes blazed up as he looked at Castiel and then the archangel tuned away deliberately, baring his vulnerable back to a sword thrust, if Castiel chose to turn on him.
Castiel nudged his elder brother slightly, making him open a space along the wall for his own Vessel, and settled to wait.
Perhaps Sally's child would live. Perhaps it would be human. And perhaps Gabriel would smile again.
The archangel had come to Castiel several weeks into the disaster, hauling human young with him to be deposited in heaps of cute, but ultimately intimidating, faces. He had constructed their garden refugee, and brought humans, lost and strayed, to fill it.
Castiel had watched his brother's strange behavior, and had followed him, but it had baffled him. In fact, it still often baffled him, but humans didn't seem to mind too much.
The child was born, and died, the next day. The humans rallied around Sally, and began their mourning.
Castiel found Gabriel in the far oasis, curled around himself and watching the trickling spring under the shade of trees, heavy with fruit.
"It was not your fault, brother," Castiel said.
"I'm the angel of childbirth!" Gabriel snapped. "What good am I, if I can't keep even one new human alive!"
Castiel refrained from saying that Gabriel created and maintained the hidden dells, and the oases, and kept the human communication system functioning, and purified the water, and all the myriad things that let them take care of their charges in their small sanctuaries. It did not seem helpful.
Instead, he crouched beside his brother, and manifested his wings, in the posture of a newmade, begging for attention and instruction.
Gabriel, distracted and distraught as he was, reached out without thinking, and began running his fingers over the manifested wings, smoothing feathers into place, and brushing death and despair out of Castiel's being.
Castiel leaned into the soothing action, and opened his Grace to bask in Gabriel's greater one. The archangel was dimmed, with his efforts expended in so many directions, and Castiel ventured at last to push himself against his brother's self.
Gabriel looked up startled, his hazel human eyes wide. But he bent his head in acknowledgment, and manifested a pair of his wings for Castiel. It was not the red pair, but a large blunt-tipped set, fluffier in appearance than any Castiel seen yet.
Castiel pulled Gabriel's human body close, letting his brother settle himself tucked against Castiel's chest, and reached out towards his wings. The gray-brown feathers were coated with the dust of manifested grief and more than a little despair.
He worked for some time, with the accumulated dust falling to the ground to burn the oases like embers. He would have to restore the oasis later. Gabriel merely sighed, and shifted until he was curled under and around Castiel.
"Another set, brother," Castiel finally said, having groomed out the pain from the gray-brown set, leaving them glossy and invitingly touchable.
"I shouldn't," Gabriel said, "We'll be here all week if I let you get started on my wings."
"I have already started, Gabriel," Castiel pointed out.
"Any job worth doing is worth doing well?" Gabriel drew away enough to look Castiel in the face.
"Yes," Castiel said, and pulled his brother back against his chest.
"All things done well for the Glory of God," Gabriel muttered.
Castiel was already pulling grief and despair (and anger, now) off a set of violently colored wings, scarlet and blue and yellow.
"Yes, brother."
They returned to the dell much later, the one the humans were calling Angel's Rest. Castiel was not sure if he liked the way the humans were naming their sanctuaries. Angel's Rest, Haven, God's Acre, Blessed House.
The angels had failed the humans, failed the beings the Father had created and set above all in His regard. If Castiel's superior brothers had not forced the Apocalypse, the humans would not be in such dire straits. But the humans only saw the angels who rescued them and brought them to safety.
"Is it well?" Theophania asked, when they returned. She was standing before the great hall, and watched with careful attention as Gabriel wandered off to play with some of the young humans he had rescued, weeks and months ago.
"It is better," Castiel said. Gabriel had allowed him to shake the dust ‑ grief, despair, anger, disgust – off twelve pairs of wings. It was, Castiel was sure, not all the accumulated pain that Gabriel carried with him, but it had lightened the archangel noticeably. Consorting with juvenile humans would only improve that; humans at that stage could be surprisingly comforting creatures.
"I have word from our brother Theaetetus."
Castiel nodded. Theophania would know the other angel, a member of her Choir and rank, and not someone Castiel would have interacted with, as he was a Malakh, a Messenger, not an Erel, a Throne.
"His sanctuary is doing well, though they are experiencing the same problem as we. The humans bring forth children, but they do not survive. He has heard from Tzadkiel, who is having likewise problems, and has spotted pagan deities in the world beyond the sanctuaries..."
Castiel frowned. The pagans were worrying. Those lesser gods were probably desperate, the ones who had survived Lucifer's rampages. They might come after the humans in his care, or the care of his brothers.
"I will inform Gabriel, and we will patrol the oases more often."
They found no humans at the oases for several days, though there were several cats, a few horses and cows, and a humble donkey. And a goat, that tried to eat Castiel's coat.
Then, they checked one of the middle oases, and found something that neither of them had expected.
Ragged as scarecrows, filthy and dusty and with eyes filled with weariness, were Dean and Samuel Winchester.
Castiel was astonished. Gabriel was astonished. And the humans were as well.
"Cas?" Dean said, after several seconds where they had all stared at each other in shock.
"Hello, Dean, Sam."
"You're ... alive," Dean whispered, and lurched forward. It was almost as awkward as being greeted by a Cupid, but Castiel allowed it, and tentatively patted Dean back.
Sam looked very unhappy when Dean released him, and Castiel thought he understood why. He stepped towards the tall abomination, and put his hands carefully on Sam's shoulders.
"I am glad to see you, as well, Sam."
Sam's face transformed into a human expression of joy, and Castiel endured a bone-crushing hug from this Winchester as well.
The brothers were less spectacular in their greetings to Gabriel, just nods and muttered questions about how he'd survived.
Gabriel's flat response of "I didn't," made both Sam and Dean straighten in a way that Castiel was fairly sure meant curiosity, but they held their tongues while Castiel and his brother brought them back to the hidden dell and its sanctuary.
Castiel would have left them at the entrance to the great hall, but Dean grabbed onto the sleeve of his Vessel's coat, and hissed, "What the hell, Cas? You're just running off?"
"I have duties, Dean," Castiel said. "I cannot set them aside, even for you."
The human set his jaw stubbornly, and would have argued, but Theophania interrupted from her place of guardianship.
"You called him 'Cas'... a diminutive? You give a diminutive to an Angel of the Lord?" she asked.
"Look, lady," Dean snapped, "It's a nickname, and what business is it of yours?"
"I am Theophania of the Thrones," she answered.
Castiel noted that Dean's mouth puckered and he did not seem pleased with Theophania's answer.
"So..." Sam interjected, from where he stood hanging back, "You're a... recording angel, then, Theophania?"
"I am a Throne. I see, remember, and direct," Theophania explained.
"That's great, Theo. If we need a secretary, we'll be sure to call you," Dean said.
"'Theo'?" Theophania rolled the shortened name on her tongue. "That is not the correct diminutive. If you must use one for me, the correct one is 'Tiffany'."
"'Tiffany?!'" Dean said. Castiel could understand now, the way Dean's motion grew stiff – it meant he was irritated, perhaps outraged. "The Angel Tiffany?!" the human repeated.
"Yes," Theophania said, and smiled.
Dean made an unpleasant squawking noise.
"That's... nice," Sam said. He was trying to be conciliatory, Castiel thought. Sam, unfortunate abomination though he was, was generally a more soothing presence than Dean. "We'll keep that in mind."
Sam pulled Dean away, with some difficulty, into the great hall.
"So that was your charge and his brother the abomination, Castiel," Theophania said. "I rather liked them."
Sam and Dean settled, perhaps uncomfortably, into the daily routine of the sanctuary – or attempted to, anyway. It took little over a week for Dean to ask to accompany Castiel on his rounds through the oases, because the human was not good at staying still and settled.
Sam, perhaps out of solidarity, or perhaps out of a genuine discomfort with the forced stability of the sanctuary after a life of such mobility, also volunteered to come.
Castiel had not thought Gabriel would agree, but the archangel merely tilted his head and said, "Sure, why not?"
At first, they went together, all four, with Castiel and Gabriel transporting the humans. There results were still minimal, and Castiel discovered that four apparently male humans in good health turned out to be intimidating to the occasional survivors after more than one batch of oasis sojourners tried to hide from them.
When Sam suggested they split up, to cover more ground and to be less intimidating, it only made sense. Of course, Dean wanted to go with Castiel on his rounds, which left Sam and Gabriel staring at each other awkwardly. Castiel wondered whether his elder brother would simply bolt without the human, but Gabriel had frowned unhappily and snapped himself and Sam away; Castiel could feel them traveling along the far sweep of the oases.
It was during one of the patrols of the oasis, that Castiel and Dean found someone they hadn't expected at all.
Anna.
Theophania shot Castiel a horrified look as Anna stumbled up the stairs of the hall, and went inside. She would be given food, water, care – they had a human skilled in the healing arts, who was able to do surprising things given supplies and tools. It was better than relying on the increasingly thin and faltering Grace of Castiel and his brethren.
"Castiel," Theophania said, after all the humans had gone in.
"I know," Castiel said.
"She's an abomination, and not even as innocently as Sam is!" Theophania's wings were crackling, starting to manifest from her Vessel.
"I know, Theophania!" Castiel clenched his hands. It was a human gesture, but a startling effective way of venting his feelings.
"To usurp the place of God's Chosen, is to sin in Pride." Theophania's wings bristled out, mantling up and over them both, before she contained herself and dissolved their manifestation.
"That we can Fall into humanity at all, is a mystery to me."
Theophania looked at him bitterly, "The Father left many mysteries for us. Perhaps if we had contemplated them more and thought we understood His Will less, we would not be in such a state."
Castiel blinked. He had not heard such bitterness from Theophania before. She had always been ... serene... before. But she was one of the last of her Choir – she remained, and Theaetetus, Theodosia, and Theophilus, they were all that remained of the Thrones. The rest, glorious and wise, had burned and been thrown down in Lucifer's rage.
"Sister?"
She gestured, a sharp slicing motion. "Go, Castiel. I am weary, and not fit for conversation."
"No, Theophania. You should..." Castiel paused, hesitating to broach the idea. To suggest that a Throne needed something as mortal as... "rest. I will hold your office, until you are restored."
Theophania laughed at that. "None of us will be restored, Castiel. I have seen and remember, and we diminish bit by bit. We will be less than the Cupids in time, reduced to dust and voices on the wind."
"Sister..." Castiel said, and ventured to lay his Vessel's hands against her Vessel's hands; it was a human gesture, certainly, but still very soothing, as Dean had shown him many times. He also manifested his wings, and stretched them, until he tucked his black feathers around her.
"Oh, my brother," she said. They stood like that for a long time,
Until Sam cleared his throat awkwardly behind them, in fact. The abomination had recovered more humans with Gabriel, a woman and her children, Castiel thought from the way the human clutched the young ones close and hurried them past Castiel and Theophania with wide eyes.
"What's wrong, kids?" Gabriel asked.
Theophania shuffled her feet and scooted away from Castiel. "I am... tired, Gabriel. Perhaps I should ... rest."
Gabriel's eyebrows shot up, and his attempt at good humor slid off his face. "You're tired, Theophania?"
"If you need a break, Tiffany," Sam began, "I'm sure someone can cover for you."
Gabriel glanced sideways at Sam, with a look that Castiel didn't think the abomination understood. "We don't get tired, Sasquatch."
"You don't?" Sam said, "Then I suppose the way you've been leaning on trees and walls all day is an illusion?"
Castiel drew back at Sam's words, his wings going stiff in shock.
"Gabriel?"
"It's nothing, Castiel." The archangel gestured with his hands, flicking wide his palms.
"It is not," Theophania countered. "You are archangel. If you are draining out as well..."
"I'm fine!"
"Draining out?! What do you mean, 'draining out', Tif?" Sam asked, his eyes narrowed and his question directed at Theophania. Trust Sam to determine which angel would be most likely to babble information at him like a wellspring. Castiel almost the beat his wings in frustration. That was why Thrones weren't usually allowed to interact with humans – they'd say everything that they thought of, whether it was relevant or not, whether it was good for humans to know or not. It was why humans knew certainly siguls of Enochian magic, after all – Thrones told them.
"Our Grace is dwindling–"
"Theophania!" Gabriel barked.
She turned to him. "What? They will know, now or tomorrow, or in a month, or a year. We are losing what power we have to shelter them, and then where will they be? We will have *Failed* twice over, and the Father's favorites will be no more, and we will have only this ruined mockery of Paradise!"
Gabriel responded by manifesting an mantling his wings, two, six, a dozen, twelve dozen, in a showery cascade of light and power that had Sam flinching away and even Castiel averting his eyes. When the glory and Grace faded, the archangel and the Throne were gone. Castiel could feel them faintly, at the edge of his perception, winging to one of the far oases.
Sam was crouched on the ground, blinking in shock.
"What– Cas, what happened?"
Castiel tilted his head. "Gabriel took Theophania away. She needs time, to regain her composure."
"Are you guys really...losing your Grace?"
Castiel saw no reason to deny it. "We are. Some more than others. I did not know that Gabriel was also effected until now..."
"Gabriel's an archangel, Cas. Isn't he supposed to be the most powerful of you guys?"
"Archangels are Heaven's most terrifying and powerful weapons, yes. That doesn't – was he really showing signs of weakness, Sam?"
"He looked pretty exhausted today, yeah." Sam frowned. "I'm sorry, Cas. What... what can we do to help?"
There was nothing that the humans could do...not even a demon-tainted, powerfully psychic abomination like Sam. The problem was not something that even touched their plane of existence, except in how it would eventually stop the angels from protecting them. So Castiel just waited, taking up Theophania's position until his sister could recompose and recover herself, and return to her duties.
It was Dean who informed him of Anna's state, so it was Dean who was there when Castiel reacted to the news. Unfortunately.
"I will take Anna back to an oasis," Castiel said. "She can stay there until she is delivered of the child..."
"What?!" Dean protested. "Dude, she's pregnant! You can't chuck her out into the cold!"
"It will not be cold, Dean," Castiel said, and looked at Dean worriedly. Was Dean having trouble with his sense, that he thought it might be cold, even though the world outside was sere and ruined.
"Dude! Pregnant!"
Castiel looked away in frustration. "I know, Dean. That is why I am taking her away."
Dean stopped in his pacing. "What? Why?!"
"Because the child will be one of the nephillim." At Dean's blank look, Cas turned to Sam.
"Half-angel, right?" Sam said.
"Yes."
"So?" Dean said, and shrugged in a careless, unconcerned gesture.
"It's in the Book of Enoch, Dean. The nephillim were so dangerous that God had them wiped out. He sent Gabriel to incite them to kill each... oh," Sam said.
"Yes," Castiel nodded. "The Father ordered it, and it was done. Gabriel did it. No nephillim was allowed to live; none can be allowed to live, for the order was never revoked."
"You're not going to kill a baby, Cas!" Dean said. The human rounded on him, and grabbed at his coat.
"Of course not, Dean," Castiel said. He patted Dean's arm reassuringly. "I will take Anna to an oasis and let her kill the child herself. Once that is finished, I can bring her safely back."
Castiel didn't understand why Dean and Sam both began bellowing at him. It was a perfectly functional solution that would save Anna's life. Gabriel would be willing to ignore her as long as she bore no abomination into the world.
Probably. The archangel could be surprisingly rigid on occasion.
Still, Castiel didn't think that he would kill Anna merely for existing as a human. This wasn't, it seemed, a winning argument with the Winchesters, however. It was a very frustrating conversation.
Which was cut short by a horrible shriek and angelic Voices raised in uproar.
Castiel flew to the center of the commotion, to find Anna pressed into a corner, with Theophania looking at her in curiosity and Gabriel in seething fury.
"Castiel... explain. NOW," the archangel snarled, gesturing at Anna and her gently billowed abdomen with his drawn sword.
"Cas! Help me!"
"It is an abomination unto the Lord," Theophania noted, peering around Gabriel and his numerous mantling wings. She had an open book in hand, and was scribbling frantically. "How fascinating!"
"This is Anael. She ... fell into Humanity."
"I can see THAT! What's she doing here, alive, like that."
Anna pushed herself to her feet. "The oases are for any human who wants safety, aren't they?"
Gabriel's head whipped around, and he snarled at her, "You're not human, princess. Not with that abomination in your womb."
"I am as the Father left me!"
"About to give birth to a monster?!" Gabriel mocked. "Dad left you bare-foot and knocked up on our doorstep?"
"No, the baby was later. But I woke up human! I swear."
Gabriel obviously didn't believe her, or possibly didn't care, because he raised his hand, sword manifested and poised to deal with Anna
...which was when Dean and Sam crashed into the room, of course.
"God, why are you doing this?!" Sam yelled at Gabriel.
The archangel snarled, and his empty hand lifted as if to snap. Castiel moved, to pull Sam and Dean away, not to stand up to his elder brother, who was all but manifesting Wrath as a physical substance. He did not want to see the Winchesters splatter into bloody mist, like demons and evil-doers that crossed Gabriel's bath
But Gabriel's fingers did not snap. They did not close, they opened. His blade clattered to the ground, and his knees gave out, bringing him to the ground with a terrible, pained look opening his face.
His eyes rolled up and then shut, and he slumped to the floor.
"Wha–- Cas, what the–"
"Dean, be quiet," Castiel cut the human off.
"Oh no... oh crap," Anna whimpered behind them.
Gabriel's body moved, climbing to its hands and knees, and then up into a crouch. That's when the eyes snapped open, and there was nothing of Castiel's brother in there, nothing but Glory so pure that Castiel sank to his knees, clutching Dean's hand and huddle in the protection of the human's shadow.
The body held up its hands, and flexed the fingers curiously.
"Cas, what's going on?" Dean asked, and tried to shuffle away.
Castiel grabbed at the fabric covering Dean's leg and held on. He knew it was foolish and futile, but he didn't want his only cover to walk away from him. "Prophecy," he hissed, looking up at Dean, and then ducking his head against the human.
Gabriel's body tilted its head, looking intensely at Dean in his perfect humanity, and then Sam and Anna in their tainted abominable states, and lastly at Castiel and Theophania, powerful and least, kneeling among the Father's favored.
"Castiel of the Malakhim. Theophania of the Erelim. Gabriel of the Seraphim. Hear and Obey."
Castiel clutched tighter at Dean's pants leg.
"This world is for Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve alone. They are still in My favor. You are not.
"You may not stay here, as angels, and interfere, past the turning of the Jubilee."
Castiel pressed his face against Dean's leg, and moaned.
"Where shall we go, Father?" Theophania cried.
"Into the air, into the dust, the choice is yours."
"Can we not return home?" she asked.
"The Gates are closed to you and all your kind. This is My decision. You failed Me, and My commandment unto you – except for the Cupids, no angel loved My last children above yourselves. That was the Sin of Lucifer, that was your sin. I will not have you in My sight or My city until you learn better.
"Fade or Fall, that is My commandment to you now. Become as inconsequential spirits of air, or become human earth."
"Father..." she pleaded.
But the Prophecy was finished, and the Glory was gone. Castiel looked up, to see Gabriel with tears streaming down his borrowed face, as the archangel wobbled and collapsed to the ground. He curled in on himself, a small ball of Vessel and pained Grace.
"Brother..." Castiel groaned, and scuttled across the floor.
"He's so angry with us..." Gabriel moaned.
"That... that was God?" Sam stammered.
"That was God, and he's a DICK!" Dean roared.
Dean would not be calmed, and Gabriel could not be consoled. Even Theophania remained crouched and weeping. Sam managed to shuffle Dean away, taking Anna, bewildered and frightened with them.
"Brother," Castiel said, and stretched out his wings, "Sister..."
"Oh, Castiel," Theophania whispered, "we are damned."
Gabriel said nothing, just curled tighter and pressed his face against Castiel's shoulder, hiding in the shelter of Castiel's wings.
"No," Castiel said. "We are not. We can redeem ourselves. You heard. We must choose. To Fade.... or to Fall."
"Become human?" Theophania asked.
"You heard the Prophecy."
"It's hardly a choice... either way, we will lose what we are."
Gabriel coughed, and laughed. "That's Dad for you," he said, and sit up. He ran a hand over his livid face. "Be irrelevant spirits, or be irrelevant humans, before the next Jubilee. Which would you prefer?"
"I would become human."
Gabriel looked at Castiel, shock on his face. "Why?"
"Humans often go to Heaven after their earthly existence is finished. Spirits dissipate."
"Ah..." Theophania said. "A chance to go home. The Gates aren't closed to human souls!"
Gabriel looked ashen, rising to unsteady feet and walking a few steps away. "I... I... can't."
"Brother," Theophania said. She held out her hand to him.
"We'd be nephillim. I killed nephillim, because Dad told me to. I can't become one!"
"Brother," Castiel said, and rose to his feet. He approached Gabriel where he stood, arms wrapped around himself. He placed his hands against Gabriel's tense shoulders, and mantle his wings around Gabriel's body.
"I'd be a monster, Castiel. A nephillim and a monster and I'd have no hope of Heaven!"
"You would be human and innocent and yet my brother. I would wait and look after you, if that is what you desire. We have until the turn of the Jubilee – that is many years before I would have to make a choice."
Gabriel looked up at Castiel with stricken eyes.
"We don't even know that that would work–"
"Father would not tell us–"
"The human infants die, Castiel. All of them."
"Perhaps," Theophania said, tilting her head speculatively, "the humans need angels to Fall for their children to survive, at least in the world as it is..."
It was a lesser angel, Jehosheva, who went first. The new Prophecy had been spread – by Castiel and Theophania, Gabriel refused to repeat it, in his fear and grief – to the other angels watching over the other sanctuaries.
They saw the fiery Fall of the lesser angel, and waited. Anna had her child, a living son that grew and thrived even as Jehosheva's cut-out Grace manifested as a spring of pure and flowing water. The humans built another sanctuary dell around it, and their crops and children thrived. Several of the human women found themselves pregnant, and Castiel could tell by the tenseness Gabriel exhibited around them, that one of them was carrying Jehosheva-that-was.
Eventually, that woman was delivered of her child, who did not die. None of the infants born after Anna's son died, though none were as healthy as Anna's young Kevin, or the child that had been Jehosheva. Alonzo, who had been Jehosheva's Vessel, took up with a woman who had lost her husband, and seemed to be thriving.
Life was improving for the humans, so Castiel brought up the next step.
"More of us need to Fall," he said one fine autumn day, as he brought scavenged machinery into the hidden dell. He didn't know what it was for, but Sam and Dean had exclaimed over the device, and the humans were going to need to function on their own. The Jubilee Year was not immediate, but it was soon enough.
Gabriel stopped where he was looking curiously at the human machinery. Castiel did not think Gabriel understood it better than himself, but he was not certain. The archangel had strange interests in various human activities.
"You think?"
"It must be done. Delay is...unwise."
"Oh for the love of... have you and Theophania worked out a timetable?"
"Yes."
Theophania was happy to show Gabriel her charts and plans. She was, after all, a Throne. Castiel was glad to let Gabriel argue with someone else, for a change, who was not Dean.
"You're really going to do it, huh?" Sam asked, when Castiel mentioned his decision later.
"Yes. But... I will wait." Castiel did not tell Sam of his promise to his brother. Sam and Gabriel got along fairly well for beings who had tried to kill each other, but Castiel was certain that only extended so far. He looked consideringly at the young abomination. Sam was less disturbing to angelic senses than Castiel had ever seen him. Lucifer's rage had passed through Sam without harm – or the Father had restored him afterward. Either way, he was healthy and vigorous, and seemed to be enjoying the way he no longer had to travel to hunt monsters – the end of the world seemed to have brought Sam peace.
"Oh, good," Sam said, and ran a hand through his hair. "Because I kind of want you at the wedding."
"Wedding?"
"Me and Keisha, we're getting married. I mean, not that it's going to be more than standing up in front of everybody and saying 'We're married', but it'll be an excuse for a party, anyway."
Keisha Thompson was someone Sam had been spending time with, ever since she arrived, almost the last human Castiel had ever found an oasis a year ago. She was quite small, for a human, and possibly attractive as well – Castiel really couldn't tell with humans. "I will be honored to attend."
Castiel had never been to a human wedding before. It seemed to involve a short exchange of solemn oaths and a great deal of alcohol (which Gabriel had snapped into existence) and food. Sam glowed, and Keisha looked very proud, and Castiel thought that was probably enough for human purposes. Even if Dean did try to get him intoxicated and Castiel had to shepherd his friend to bed.
"So... Sammy-boy is taken care of," Gabriel said after the humans went to sleep, and he and Castiel and Theophania were left to themselves. The archangel was sprawled on the steps into the hall, looking up lazily at the stars in their new constellations. "You just need to get someone to take Dean off your hands, and you'll be free of your obligations."
"I made a promise to you, brother, as well," Castiel said.
"Yeah... that..." Gabriel cracked his knuckles nervously.
"Brother?" Theophania asked, suddenly alert.
"Will it mess up your timetable if I Fall now, Theophania?"
"No..." Theophania said, her brows knitting together, "brother?"
"Because I kind of know a young couple who would probably make great parents..."
Castiel sat beside his brother, "You are resolved, then?"
"Yeah... I want to go home, Castiel. If the only way is as a human, then I don't have much choice, do I?"
"You always have a choice, Gabriel," Castiel reminded him.
Gabriel's expression turned sour, and he looked away.
"I will keep my promise, brother. I will look after you, until the Jubilee comes round."
"I'm just... scared."
"Oh, brother," Theophania said, and knelt down besides them both, and folded them in her manifested wings.
"I'm so scared. You don't know what humans do to their children!"
"Brother," Castiel said, "I will keep my promise."
Gabriel chuckled at that, but it turned into sobs, and Castiel could only enfold his brother and be enfolded by their sister.
They stayed that way as the stars wheeled and turned in the sky, and then finally, there was a shooting star.
"Up! Up!"
"You mean down, kid. Hey, Sammy, your kid can't tell up from down!"
Castiel watched as Sam rolled his eyes and yelled back at his brother. "He isn't two yet! He's got vertical orientation, that's enough for now!"
"UP!"
Castiel winced as the toddler managed to smack Dean in the eye with a tiny fist.
"Hey!" Sam yelled, and rescued his brother from his son. "No hitting. You know better, Gabe!"
"UP!" the toddler cried.
"If I put you down, and you going to stay right here? No going up the steps?" Sam asked.
Gabriel John Winchester, age 19 months, tilted his head and smiled in a way that even Castiel wasn't fooled by. But Sam put him down anyway. Castiel supposed it was a learning opportunity, as humans called it.
"Up," the toddler said in satisfaction, and then looked at the steps into the hall. He seemed to be contemplating the challenge of climbing them while evading his father's protective hands. The frustrating thing was, of course, that the child was good at scuttling away from his parents and guardians.
Then the child stopped, and let out a giggle, whirling around and pulling on his father's trouser leg. "Up!" he cried again.
Sam sighed, and picked him up. "I hope you get over the whole obsession with 'up' and 'down' soon, Gabe."
"Up," the child said smugly. And then, "Moose!"
"Mus? Are you sure?"
Gabe nodded, sending his dark curls bouncing, and flailed his hands vaguely, perhaps pointing around the corner, "Moose!"
Castiel watched as Sam walked off with his son, and heard the tall human greet the object of the boy's fascination, the Vessel that had carried him across continents and centuries when he had been an archangel. "Hi, Decius. You're here early."
"Salvete, amiculi. Qui agis?"
Dean grinned, and turned to Castiel. "So, looks like nerdling is taken care of for the day. I swear, Cas, that kid is going to be a complete research geek when Sam is finished. Letting him learn Latin before he learns English..."
"You and Sam are the only humans here even partially fluent in Latin, Dean. Of course Quintus Decius Mus made friends with you."
"Latin Geek From Birth, Cas," Dean stated.
"I only hope I am as fortunate in my parents when I Fall."
That made Dean straighten. "You're not doing that soon, are you?"
"No. I'm not."
"Really? Why not?"
"I am waiting for the right mother," Castiel said. "I understand the mother is very influential, but I never had one before, so I want to do it right."
Dean looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I get that. Don't worry. Some happy couple will come along, and you'll be their dream kid."
"I do hope so," Castiel said. He could wait. Dean and Anna were, as best he could tell from his own observation and cautious questions to the Cupids who still fluttered over the Earth, courting. Anna had been a good and beloved sister, Castiel had to believe she would be the same as a mother. And if he had any say, there was no one he would rather have as his father than Dean Winchester.
"It'll be a great life, Cas."
"It already is, Dean."