"We're gonna find a way to beat the devil." "What if you guys lead the devil to the edge and I jump in?" "Yes." "Sammy's long gone." "What are you gonna do now?" " Return to heaven, I suppose." " Heaven?" "With Michael in the cage, it's anarchy there." "You're the new sheriff in town?" "It's civil war up there." "If we can beat Raphael, we can end this." "When the oil burns, no angel can touch or pass through the flames or he dies." "It's his soul." "It's gone." "When we freaks die, where do we go?" "Not heaven, not hell." " Purgatory." " And I want it." "A human soul is more valuable than you can imagine." "This is about the souls." "That angel went and created 50,000 new souls for your war machine." "Eve, the mother of all." "It's Crowley I want dead." "Well, you're too late there." "That little mook roasted months ago." "Crowley's alive." "Really, Cass, this is getting ridiculous." "How many times am I gonna have to clean up your messes?" "You know, I've been here for a very long time." "I remember many things." "I remember being at a shoreline watching a little gray fish heave itself up on the beach." "And an older brother saying, "Don't step on that fish, Castiel." "Big plans for that fish."" "I remember the Tower of Babel." "All 37 feet of it which, I suppose, was impressive at the time." "And when it fell, they howled "Divine wrath."" "But, come on, dried dung can only be stacked so high." "I remember Cain and Abel, David and Goliath Sodom and Gomorrah." "And, of course, I remember the most remarkable event." "Remarkable because it never came to pass." "It was averted by two boys, an old drunk and a fallen angel." "The grand story." "And we ripped up the ending and the rules and destiny." "But what if I've made the wrong choice?" "I mean, how am I supposed to know?" "I'm getting ahead of myself." "Let me tell you my story." "Let me tell you everything." "Hello, Dean." " Are you all right?" " Yeah, I'm..." "I'm fine." "How about you?" "Just wanted to check in." "So any word on Satan Jr. being alive?" "I'm looking, believe me." "I just don't understand how Crowley could've tricked me." "Well, he's a tricky son of a bitch, that's how." "Doesn't matter." "But if he is up and kicking then what does matter is finding him ripping his head off, and shoving it up his ass." "What about you?" "Have you found anything?" "No, nothing yet." "Where's Sam?" "He's keeping busy." "He's tracking a jinn in Omaha as we speak." "I'm headed out there right now to meet up with him." " I'd come if I could." " Yeah." "No, I get it." "No worries." "But, Cass, you'll call, right?" "If you get into real trouble?" "Howdy, partner." " What've you found?" " Found a lot of things." "For example, Eve's brain, dead as a tin kipper." "And yet for some reason, she keeps laying eggs." "Watch this." " Chocula feels every tickle." " What is that good for?" "Apart from the erotic value, you got me." "You said Eve could open the door to purgatory." "Correct." "I did." "And I'm confident that she could have if she was still alive!" "Best chance to get over the rainbow and the Winchesters killed her." " It was unavoidable." " You screwed up, Cass." "You let the hounds mangle the pheasant and now I am up to my elbows in it." "What is your point?" "The point is you're distracted and that makes me nervous." "I am holding up my end." "Ah, yes." "But is that all you're holding, huh?" "See the stench of that Impala's all over your overcoat, angel." "I thought we'd agreed." "No more nights out with the boys." "I spoke with Dean." "I needed to know what they know." "About what?" "About me, maybe?" "Because I happen to have it on good authority that your two little pets are currently trying to hunt me down!" "Forgive me but I think you might have a little conflict of interest here." "Crowley had a point, of course." "My interest was conflicted." "I still considered myself the Winchesters' guardian." "After all, they taught me how to stand up." "Hey, ass butt." "What to stand for and what generally happens to you when you do." "I was done." "I was over." "And then the most extraordinary thing happened." "I was put back." "And we had won." "We stopped Armageddon but at a terrible cost." "And so I knew what I had to do next." "Once again, I went to harrow hell to free Sam from Lucifer's cage." "It was nearly impossible but I was so full of confidence, of mission." "I see now that was arrogance, hubris." "Because I hadn't truly raised Sam, not all of him." "Sometimes we're lucky enough to be given a warning." "This should've been mine." "Please." "I'm begging you, Castiel." " Just kill the Winchesters." " No." " Fine." "Then I'll do it myself." " If you kill them, I'll bring them back." "No, you won't." "Not where I'll put them." "Trust me." "I said no." " Don't worry about them." " Don't worry about..." "What, like Lucifer didn't worry?" "Or Michael?" "Or Lilith or Alastair or Azazel didn't worry?" "Am I the only piece on the board who doesn't underestimate those denim-wrapped nightmares?" "Just find purgatory." "If you don't, we will both die." "Again and again, until the end of time." "The Winchesters won't get to you." "Let them get to me." "I'll tear their frigging hearts out!" "Gotta tell you, Redd." "For a filthy, lower-than-snake-spit hell spawn you seem to turn yourself into a damn fine hunter." "I don't know whether to kill you or kiss you." "Oh, please kill me." "That was you that dug out that nest of vamps back in Swan Valley, wasn't it?" "That was nice work." "Eight of them on one go, roped and tied." "And then you brought them to Crowley, right?" "Read the papers, redneck." "The king is dead." "Crowley's alive." "You prove it just by being, you poor, dumb jackass." "Crowley's alive, his nets are still out." "Except now he's using you schmucks to hunt his monsters." "Up yours." "Redd?" "Where's Crowley?" "No?" "Nothing?" "Oh, okay, then." "Here, hang on to this for a bit." " So, what'd you tell him?" " Nothing." "Just relax." "What's the hubbub?" "Saw Cass." "He popped in on me about two hours back." " What'd you tell him?" " Nothing." "Told him we were on some monster hunt." "He doesn't know that we're getting close to Crowley." "You know, he's our friend." "And we are lying to him through our teeth." " Dean..." " He burned the wrong bones." " So Crowley tricked him." " He's an angel." "He is the Balki Bartokomous of heaven." "He can make a mistake." "Nobody's saying nothing yet." "You think that Cass is in with Crowley?" "Crowley?" "Look, I'm just saying I don't know." "Now, look, I hate myself for even thinking it but I don't know." "Look, Dean, he's our friend too, okay?" "And I'd die for him, I would, but, look, I'm praying we're wrong here." "But if we ain't, if there's a snowball of a snowball's chance here that means we're dealing with a Superman who's gone dark side." "Which means we've gotta be cautious." "We gotta be smart." "And maybe stock up on some kryptonite." "This makes you Lois Lane." "Look, one problem at a time here." "We gotta find Crowley now before the damn fool cracks open purgatory." "So they already suspected." " Where's Crowley?" " Up yours." " And the worst part was" " Dean trying so hard to be loyal." "With every instinct telling him otherwise." " I don't know where Crowley is." " Are you sure about that?" "We can twist again all the way to next summer." "No." "No, God." "I never even met him." "I don't deal with Crowley direct." "Well, who do you deal with?" "The dispatcher." "A demon named Ellsworth." "If there was a demon counterpart to Bobby Singer Ellsworth would be it." "Oh, no, listen." "No." "I don't care." "I want you to get down to New Mexico and bag me that Wendigo." "The hell, hang on." "What?" "Because the boss says we're done with him." "FBI, Thomas speaking." "Absolutely, I sent them." "Thanks for calling to check." "You have a nice day now." "Bye-bye." "Hey, hey, hey, no." "Not in here, you frigging yeti." "Out back." "These demons would lead the Winchesters to Crowley." "And Crowley would tear their hearts out." "Oh, hell." "I had no choice." "I did it to protect the boys." "Or to protect myself." "I don't know anymore." "Hey, clear from the back." "Demons get tipped and bugged out?" "Maybe they run from us now." " Yeah, that'd be a nice thought, right?" " Yeah, if that's what happened." "Yeah." "Hiding." "Lying." "Sweeping away evidence." "And my motives used to be so pure." "After supposedly saving Sam, I finally returned to heaven." "Of course there isn't one heaven." "Each soul generates its own paradise." "I favored the eternal Tuesday afternoon of an autistic man who'd drowned in a bathtub in 2953." " You're alive." " Yes." "Castiel, we saw Lucifer destroy you." "Well, I came back." "But Lucifer, Michael?" "They're gone." "It was God, wasn't it?" "No." "It was the Winchesters." "They brought down the apocalypse." "But you beat the archangels, Castiel." "God brought you back." "He chose you, Cass." " To lead us." " No." "No one leads us anymore." "We're all free to make our own choices and to choose our own fates." "What does God want?" "God wants you to have freedom." "But what does he want us to do with it?" " If I knew then what I know now," " I might've said, "It's simple." "Freedom is a length of rope." "God wants you to hang yourself with it."" "Those first weeks back in heaven were surprisingly difficult." "Explaining freedom to angels is a bit like teaching poetry to fish." "And then there was Raphael." "You came." "I appreciate the courage that takes." "Whose heaven is this?" "Ken Lay's." "I'm borrowing it." "I still question his admittance here." "He's devout." "Trumps everything." "What do you want?" "Tomorrow." "I've called for a full assembly of the Holy Host." "You'll kneel before me and pledge allegiance to the flag, all right?" " And what flag is that?" " Me, Castiel." "Allegiance to me." "Are you joking?" "Do I look like I'm joking?" "You never look like you're joking." "You rebelled." "Against God, heaven and me." "Now you will atone." "We'll start by freeing Lucifer and Michael from their cage." "And then we'll get our show back on the road." "Raphael, no." "The apocalypse doesn't have to be fought." "Of course it does." "It's God's will." "How can you say that?" "Because it's what I want." "Well, the other angels won't let you." "Are you sure?" "You know better than anyone, Castiel." "They're soldiers." "They weren't built for freedom." "They were built to follow." "Then I won't let you." "Really?" "You?" "I'm not ashamed to say that my big brother knocked me into next week." "Tomorrow you kneel, Castiel." "Or you and anyone with you dies." "Hey." "The place is clean." "Yeah, but it's..." "It's like Mr. Clean clean, you know?" "It's kind of OCD for your average demon." "Yeah." "So, what now?" " We'd call Cass." " What?" "This is usually the point where we would call Cass for help." " We talked about this." " Yeah, Dean." "No, you talked." "I listened." "This is Cass, guys." "I mean, when there was no one and we were stuck, and I mean really stuck, he broke ranks." "He has gone to the mat, cut and bleeding for us, so many frigging times." "This is Cass." "Don't we owe him the benefit of the doubt, at least?" "Castiel, this is really important, okay?" "Um..." "We really need to talk to you." "Castiel, come on in." "But I didn't go to them." "Because I knew they would have questions I couldn't answer." "Because I was afraid." "Cass is busy." "It's all right." "We are too." "Come on." " Back to square one." " Great." "Well, what do we do now?" "Well, we caught one hunter demon before, we can do it again." "Dean!" "Crowley says hi." "Crowley sent his very best." "I was caught as much by surprise as the rest of them." "And it left me with yet another choice:" "I could reveal myself and smite the demons." "Of course Crowley wouldn't like it but on the other hand, they were my friends." "For a brief moment, I was me again." "It is good to see you, Cass." " Are you all right?" " Yeah." "Perfect timing, Cass." "I'm glad I found you." "I come with news." "Yeah?" "What?" "I firmly believe Crowley is alive." "Yeah." "You think, Kojak?" "Well, Bobby, what do you think about Cass saving our asses?" "Again?" "I think we owe you an apology." "Why?" "We've been hunting Crowley this whole time." "And keeping it from you." "We thought you were working with him." " You thought what?" " I know." "It's crazy, right?" "It's just that you torched the wrong bones..." "It doesn't matter." "We were wrong." "You know you could've just asked me." "And we should have." "We never should've doubted you." "We just hope you can forgive us." "Wonders never cease." "They trusted me again." "But it was just another lie." "It's forgotten." "Thanks." "Yeah, thanks, Cass." " It is a little absurd, though." " I know, I know." "Superman going to the dark side." "I'm still just Castiel." " I guess we can put away the kryptonite." " Exactly." "Of course I didn't realize it at the time, but it was all over." "Right then." "Just like that." " You sent demons after them?" " You kill my hunters..." " ...why can't I kill yours?" " They're my friends." "You can't have friends." "Not anymore." "I mean, my God." "You're losing it." " I'm fine." " Yeah." "You're the very picture of mental health." "You don't think I know what this is all about?" " Enlighten me." " The big lie, the Winchesters still buy it." "The good Cass, the righteous Cass." "And long as they still believe it, you get to believe it." "Well, I got news for you, kitten." "A whore is a whore is a whore." "I'm only gonna say this once." "If you touch a hair on their heads, I will tear it all down." "Our arrangement, everything." "I'm still an angel and I will bury you." " I asked myself, - "What was I doing with this vermin?"" "This is not how synergy works." "As if I didn't already know the answer." "Raphael was stronger than me." "And I wouldn't survive a straight fight." "So I went to an old friend for help." "But watching him, I stopped." "Everything he sacrificed and I was about to ask him for more." "Ah, Castiel, angel of Thursday." "Just not your day, is it?" "What are you doing here?" "I want to help you help me help ourselves." "Speak plain." "I want to discuss a simple business transaction." "That's all." "You wanna make a deal?" "With me?" "I'm an angel, you ass." "I don't have a soul to sell." "But that's it, isn't it?" "It's all of it." "It's the souls." "It all comes down to the souls in the end, doesn't it?" " What are you talking about?" " Raphael's head on a pike." "I'm talking about happy endings for all of us, with all possible entendres intended." "Come on." "Just a chat." " I have no interest in talking with you." " Why not?" "I'm very interesting." "Come on." "Hear me out." "Five minutes." "No obligations." "I promise." "I'll make it worth your while." "I was no fool." "I knew who Crowley was and what he did." "But I was smarter than him, stronger." "I see now that I was prideful." "And in all likelihood, I was a fool." "Where are we?" "You don't recognize it, do you?" "It's Hades, new and improved." "I did it myself." " This is hell?" " Yeah." "Problem with the old place was most of the inmates were masochists already." "A lot of, "Thank you, sir." "Can I have another hot spike up the jacksie?" But just look at them." "Next." "No one likes waiting in line." "When they reach the front?" "Nothing." "They go right back to the end again." "That's efficiency." "You have four minutes left." "What are you planning to do about Raphael?" " What can I do besides submit or die?" " Submit or die?" "What are you, French?" "How about resist?" "I'm not strong enough and you know it." "Not on your own, you're not." "But you're not on your own." "There's a lot of angels swooning over you." "God's favorite." "Buddy boy, you've got what they call sex appeal." "Thank you." "Get to the point." "Angels need leaders, so be one." "Gather your army and kick the candy out of each and every angel that shows up for Raphael." "Are you proposing that I start a civil war in heaven?" "Ding, ding, ding." " Tell him what he's won, Vanna." " You're asking me to be the next Lucifer." "Please." "Lucifer was a petulant child with daddy issues." "Cass, you love God." "God loves you." "He brought you back." "Did it occur to you that maybe he did this so you could be the new sheriff upstairs?" "This is ridiculous." "The power that it would take to mount a war..." "More than either of us have ever seen, yeah." "But what if I said I knew how to go nuclear?" "What do you mean?" "Purgatory, my fine feathered friend." "Purgatory." "Just think about it." "An untapped oil well of every fanged, clawed soul." "I mean, what's that over the years, 30 million?" "Forty?" "Just sitting there, plump and rich for the taking." "And how would you find it when no one ever has?" "We'll need expert help." " From whom?" " From experts, of course." "I know two eerily suited Teen Beat models with time on their hands." "No." "Not Dean." "He's retired and he's to stay that way." "Fine." "Then I know of a certain big, bald patriarch I can take off the bench." "The point is, they can get us to the monsters." "The monsters can get us to purgatory." "I know it." " And what's your price in all of this?" " Just half." " Half?" " My position isn't all that stable, ducky." "Those souls would help, just like they'd help you." "Besides, wouldn't you rather have me in charge down here?" "The devil you know." "Next." "This is pointless." "Your plan would take months and I need help now." "Granted." "Yes." "But just to show you how serious I am about this scheme how about I float you a little loan?" "Say, 50 large?" "Fifty-thousand souls from the pit." "You can take them up to heaven." "Make quite a showing." "It's either this or the apocalypse all over again." "Everything you've worked for, everything that Sam and Dean have worked for gone." "You can save us, Castiel." "God chose you to save us." "And I think deep down you know that." " I wish I could say" " I was clean of pride at that moment or the next." "There will be no apocalypse." "And let it be known, you're either with Raphael or you're with me." "And so went the long road of good intentions the road that brought me here." "Castiel, uh we need you for a little powwow down here, so come on down." "Hello." "Oh, Johnny-on-the-spot." " You're still here." " Yeah, we had to bury the bodies." "And we found a little whiskey." "Thanks for coming." " How can I help?" " Oh, look." "We, um..." "We have a new plan." "We think we've finally figured out a way to track down Crowley." " What is it?" " It's you." "What are you doing?" " We gotta talk." " About what?" "Let me go." "About Superman." "And kryptonite." " How'd you know what I said?" " How long you been watching?" "You know who spies on people, Cass?" "Spies." "Okay, just wait." "I don't even know what you mean." "What about this demon craphole?" "How is it so, uh, next-to-godliness clean in here?" "And how did Crowley trick you with the wrong bones?" "That is hard to understand." "It's hard to explain." " Just let me go." "Let me out and I can..." " You gotta look at me, man." "You gotta level with me and tell me what's going on." "Look me in the eye and tell me you're not working with Crowley." "Son of a bitch." "Let me explain." "You're in it with him?" "You and Crowley have been going after purgatory together?" "You have, huh?" "This whole time." "I did it to protect you, all of you." "Protect us how?" "By opening a hole into monsterland?" "He's right, Cass." "One drop got through and it was Eve." "And you wanna break down the entire dam?" "To get the souls." "I can stop Raphael." " Please, you have to trust me." " Trust you?" "How in the hell are we supposed to trust you?" "I'm still me." "I'm still your friend." "Sam, I am the one who raised you from perdition." "What?" "Well, no offense, but you did a pretty piss-poor job of it." "Wait." "Did you bring me back soulless on purpose?" "How could you think that?" "Well, I'm thinking a lot of things right now, Cass." "Listen." "Raphael will kill us all." "He'll turn the world into a graveyard." "I had no choice." "No, you had a choice." "You just made the wrong one." "You don't understand." "It's complicated." "No, actually, it's not and you know that." "Why would you keep this whole thing a secret, unless you knew it was wrong?" "When crap like this comes around, we deal with it like we always have." "What we don't do is we don't go out and make another deal with the devil." "Yeah, it sounds so simple when you say it like that." "Where were you when I needed to hear it?" "I was there." "Where were you?" "You should've come to us for help, Cass." "Maybe." "It's too late now." "I can't turn back now." "I can't." "It's not too late." " Damn it, Cass." "We can fix this." " Dean, it's not broken." "Run." "You have to run, now." "Run!" "My, my." "Playing with fire again?" "If you touch the Winchesters..." "Please, heard you the first time." "I promise, nary a hair on their artfully tousled heads." "Besides, I think they've proven my point for me." "It's always your friends, isn't it, in the end?" "We try to change." "We try to improve ourselves." "It's always our friends who gotta claw into our sides and hold us back." "But you know what I see here?" "The new God and the new devil working together." "Enough." "You stop talking." "And get out of my sight." "Well glad I came." "You're welcome, by the way." "You know the difference between you and me?" "I know what I am." "What are you, Castiel?" "What exactly are you willing to do?" "Hello, Dean." "How'd you get in here?" "The angel-proofing Bobby put up on the house, he got a few things wrong." "Well, it's too bad we gotta angel-proof in the first place, isn't it?" "Why are you here?" " I want you to understand." " Oh, believe me, I get it." " Blah, blah, Raphael, right?" " I'm doing this for you, Dean." "I'm doing this because of you." "Because of me." "Yeah." "You gotta be kidding me." "You're the one who taught me that freedom and free will..." "You're a frigging child, you know that?" "Just because you can do what you want doesn't mean that you get to do whatever you want." "I know what I'm doing, Dean." "I'm not gonna logic you, okay?" "I'm saying don't just because." "I'm asking you not to." "That's it." "I don't understand." "Look, next to Sam, you and Bobby are the closest things I have to family that you are like a brother to me." "So if I'm asking you not to do something..." "You gotta trust me, man." "Or what?" " Or I'll have to do what I have to do." " You can't, Dean." "You're just a man." "I'm an angel." "I don't know." "I've taken some pretty big fish." "I'm sorry, Dean." "Well, I'm sorry too, then." "So that's everything." "I believe it's what you would call a tragedy from the human perspective." "But maybe the human perspective is limited." "I don't know." "That's why I'm asking you, Father." "One last time." "Am I doing the right thing?" "Am I on the right path?" "You have to tell me." "You have to give me a sign." "Give me a sign." "Because if you don't, I'm gonna ju..." "I'm gonna do whatever I..." "Whatever I must."