Shattered: The Sequel to Mirrors

Hugs and Faith

Lucifer wasn't expecting Castiel to walk through the door when Gabriel opened it. He was also pretty sure Castiel wasn't expecting to get tackled in a hug by both of his older brothers. Alfie managed to worm himself in between Gabriel and Lucifer's arms and was also squeezing the life out of Castiel. 

"Why are we hugging?" Castiel whined, but neither of his brothers released him. 

"I don't think he can breathe at this point," Michael said. "And some of us would also like to hug the angel if you wouldn't mind." Lucifer finally let go of Castiel, and Gabriel was trying to pry a crying Alfie off of his older brother. Adam ended up holding Alfie in a hug so Sam and Michael could hug Castiel. 

"I won't torture you with another hug right now," Charlie said with a grin. "I'll just randomly hug you when you don't expect it." 

"Beware, he might blow your brains out," Crowley joked, grinning at Castiel. "If it isn't my favorite angel." 

"What am I, chopped liver?" Balthazar said. 

"You, darling, are far from an angel," Crowley joked. 

"I don't think any of us, other than maybe Alfie can claim to be good angels at this point," Lucifer said, sitting down in Michael's chair before the hunter could sit down again. Michael glared, and then just sat down on top of him. 

"I haven't done anything that bad, in case anyone forgot," Gabriel said. "But that's beside the point. What's the deal, Cassie? What's going on with you? Why'd you leave?" 

Castiel looked nervous. He was pulling at the sleeves of his trenchcoat. Lucifer pulled Michael closer so he could see past him. 

"I didn't want any of you to get hurt. I...I'm dangerous," Castiel mumbled, looking up at Lucifer and Gabriel. He chewed on his bottom lip, and Lucifer sighed. 

"I'm Satan. And Gabriel left Heaven to protect you. We're your brothers. And we're going to be here no matter what. You don't get to get rid of us that easily. And we're pretty dangerous too," Lucifer said. 

"And we're not going anywhere either. You're family to me and Sam too," Michael said. Sam nodded his agreement. 

"Not that it means much, but I'm always here to help too," Charlie said. The room filled with a chorus of agreements and even Chuck mumbled something close to an apology and an offer to help, within certain limitations of course. Crowley glared at him for this, but Balthazar stopped Crowley from doing anything about it. 

Somehow in the course of all of this, Sam had disappeared to the kitchen and reappeared with his laptop in hand. He sat down by Castiel. 

"Okay, so now that the whole gang is here, I want to talk about this," Sam said. 

"I have something I need to say too..." Castiel trailed off as he saw the youngest Winchester's computer. Lucifer was seriously irritated he couldn't see it too. "Wait, you know about this?" 

"Know about what?" Lucifer grumbled. 

"Getting Dean back," Castiel mumbled. "Azazel mentioned it..." 

"Wait, you were talking to Azazel? The demons can't find him," Gilda said. 

"Yes, I'm holding him and John Winchester," Castiel said. Lucifer knew 'holding' was a code word for torturing. He couldn't find it in himself to judge Castiel too much. 

"So how do we do it?" Charlie asked. "I mean, get Dean back?" 

"I'm the only one who can do it," Castiel mumbled. 

"It would destroy your wings," Gabriel said. "I should do..." 

"No, I'm doing it, Gabriel," Castiel said forcefully. Gabriel sighed and looked to Lucifer for help. Lucifer wasn't going to argue with Cassie. If anyone could survive a trip to hell and back, it was the super-powered angel.