"We're gonna find a way to beat the Devil, okay?" "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, I'm sure it's total anarchy up there." "So, what, 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." "The 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 of us." " It's Crowley I want dead." " Well, you're too late there." "That little limey mook roasted months ago." "Crowley's alive." "Aah!" "Really, Cass... this is getting ridiculous." "How many times am I gonna have to clean up your messes?" "You know, I've..." "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..." "Leaving nothing but freedom and choice." "Which is all well and good, except..." "Well, what if I've made the wrong choice?" "How am I supposed to know?" "I'm getting ahead of myself." "Let me tell you my story." "Let me tell you everything." "Season 6 Episode 20 "The Man Who Would Be King"" "Hello, Dean." "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm..." "I'm fine." "How are you?" "Just wanted to check in." "So, any word on, uh, 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 Djinn in Omaha as we speak." "In fact, I'm heading out there right now to meet up with him." "Well, I'd come if I could." "Yeah, no, I-I get it." "No worries." "But, Cass, you'll call, right?" "If you get into real trouble?" "Howdy, partner." "What have you found?" "I've found a lot of things." "For example..." "Eve's brain?" "Dead as a tinned kipper." "And yet... for some reason... she keeps laying eggs." "Watch this." "Chocula here feels every tickle." "What is that good for?" "Apart from the obvious 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!" "Single 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?" "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?" "'Cause 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!" "Aaaaaaaahh!" "...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, of course, I hadn't truly raised Sam... not all of him." "Sometimes we're lucky enough to be given a warning." "This should have 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 just bring them back again." "No, you won't." "Not where I'll put 'em." "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 Alistair or Azazel didn't worry?" "!" "Am I the only game 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 friggin' hearts out!" "I got to tell you, Redd..." "For a filthy, lower-than-snake-spit hell-spawn, you seem to have turned 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 'em in one go, roped and tied." "And then you brought them to Crowley, right?" "Read the papers, redneck." "The king is dead." "Ugh!" "Nng!" "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." "Mm." "Up yours." "Redd... where's Crowley?" "No?" "Nothing?" "Oh, okay, then." "Here, hang on to this for a bit." "Aaaaaaaaaaahh!" "Aaaaaaaaaaaahh!" "So, what'd you tell him?" "Nothing." "Just relax." "What's the hub-bub?" "I saw Cass." "He popped in on me about two hours back." "What'd you tell him?" "Nothing, all right?" "Told him we were on some crap 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... so 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 got to be cautious, we got to be smart, and maybe stock up on some kryptonite." "This makes you Lois Lane." "Look, one problem at a time here." "We got to find Crowley now, before the damn fool cracks open Purgatory." "So they already suspected." " Where's Crowley?" " Up yours." "Aaaaaaaaaaaaahh!" "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?" "'Cause we can twist again all the way to next summer." "Oh, 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." "No, listen to me." "No." "I don't care." "I want you to get down to New Mexico and bag me that wendigo!" "Hell." "Hang on." " What?" " No more vampires." "Because the boss says we're done with them." "FBI." "Thomas speaking." "Absolutely, I sent them." "Thanks for calling to check." "You too." "Have a nice day, now." "Bye-bye." "Hey, hey, hey!" "No!" "Not in here, you friggin' 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." "I mean, that would 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 drowned in a bathtub in 1953." "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 have 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 freakin' 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." "That'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." "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 we 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... we were wrong." "You know..." "You could've just asked me." "And we should have." "We never should've doubted you." "It's..." "I 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, right?" "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." "Come on." "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 want to 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 in the hell are you talking about?" "I'm 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." "See, 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." "No one likes waiting in line." "And what happens 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." "Ah, not on your own, you're not." "But you're not on your own, are you?" "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." "I mean, the amount of 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?" "40 million?" "Just sitting there, plump and rich for the taking." "How would you even find it when no one ever has?" "We'll need expert help." "From whom?" "From experts, of course." "I know of 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..." "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?" "50,000 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 has 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 pow-wow 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 got to talk." "About what?" "Let me go!" "About Superman." "And kryptonite." "How'd you know what I said?" "How long you been watching us?" "You know who spies on people, Cass?" " Spies!" " Okay, just wait." "I don't even know what you mean." "What about this demon crap-hole?" "How is it so, uh... next to godliness clean in here?" "And how exactly did Crowley trick you with the wrong bones?" "It's hard to understand." "It's hard to explain." "Just let me go." "Let me out and I can..." "You got to look at me, man." "You got to level with me and tell me what's going on." "Look me in the eye and tell me you're not working with Crowley." "You 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." "I did it to protect all of you." "Protect us how?" "By opening a hole into monster-land!" "He's right, Cass." "One drop got through, and it was Eve." "And you want to 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 now?" "I'm still me." "I'm still your friend." "Sam..." "I'm 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 else would you keep this whole thing a secret, huh, unless you knew that 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!" "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, I 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 got to 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 got to 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 got to be kidding me." "You're the one who taught me that freedom and free will..." "You're a freakin' 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 'cause." "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 got to trust me, man." "Or what?" "Or I'll have to do what I have to do to stop you." "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." "Edited by Scooby"