The Good Old Days

A Trip Downstairs

As soon as they got back all the angels made sure Castiel was okay after the incident in the arena. This burst of grace seemed to have drained him quite considerably, he was now very pale and shivering slightly.

"What do we do?" Uriel whispered to his other siblings.

They all looked over at Castiel who was curled up on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.

"We need to get Gabriel over here, he's the only one who knows what's going on." Anna took charge speaking firmly to calm everybody down.

With everyone in agreement they set out in search of Gabriel. The four of them made their way to the arena leaving Castiel curled up under a tree. They found their way back to the stadium and wandered in and out of the arenas. Eventually they saw Gabriel at the far end talking with Michael. Three of the young angels hesitated, not wanting to interrupt the two archangels, and of course Balthazar was the one to plunder on oblivious.

"What you guys doing? Come on." Balthazar beckoned them over to where he was standing.

Cautiously the other three crept forward, catching the attention of the archangels. Michael looked down on them with a hard expression, his feelings being well hidden. Gabriel in the other hand looked worried, like the conversation he was just having unnerved him slightly.

"Uh, hey guys what's up?" Gabriel greeted them making an attempt at the usual grin.

"It's Cassie, his grace exploded and now he doesn't look too good." That was the only way Balthazar could explain what happened.

"Right okay, we'd better go help him." Gabriel grabbed Anna and Hester's hands.

Gabriel turned and gave his older brother on last look before taking his angels home. Castiel had remained in the exact same position they had left him in, and as soon as Gabriel saw him the archangel rushed to his side.

"Cassie? Come on you're okay." Gabriel tried his best to comfort Castiel but the worry was clear in his voice.

The two of them sat there for a few moments with Gabriel rhythmically rubbing Cassie's back. Finally Castiel stopped shaking and he rose his head from his knees. Balthazar instantly rushed to his brothers side concern written all over his face.

"Hey Cassie you okay now?" Balthazar placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.

Castiel just nodded still looking shaken but alot better. Everyone let out a relived sigh, and turned to Gabriel for an explanation.

"Come on Gabriel this can't be normal what's happening to him?" Balthazar glared at Gabriel wanting some straight answers.

Gabriel didn't know what to tell them, no angel had developed their grace this young before so none of the archangels knew what effect this could have on him, they were all at a loss. Oh screw it they deserved to know the truth.

"In all honesty none of us really know. Every angel gets their grace sure, but Cassie here should quite a bit older. No angel in history has had grace develop this young so none of us know what to expect. But I promise you we will help in anyway we are needed you have my word." Gabriel looked down at Castiel who nodded showing he understood.

He looked up at the rest of his angels. All of them seemed satisfied with his response. This clearly meant that they trusted him and this made Gabriel truly smile.

"Right then Cassie, I'm sure your tired but I'm afraid you're going to have to stay awake. Even now you have more control over your grace than you would if you were asleep. Okay?" Gabriel wanted to keep Castiel awake otherwise he could destroy the entire nest.

"Okay I'll try." Castiel whispered shaking his head trying to stay awake.

Gabriel discussed this with Michael and they both agreed that Castiel needed to use his grace because at the moment it was just building up and not being released. That's why Gabriel was going to take little Cassie on a day trip down to earth to use that grace of his. Now that it was getting late the other angels were needing rest so it was the perfect time to take him down.

"Right guys time to rest!" Gabriel yelled at all his angels, "except you Castiel you're with me." Gabriel pointed towards the angel, beckoning him over.

Castiel trudged over, head drooped in exhaustion, and looked up at Gabriel.

"What are we doing?" Castiel yawned rubbing his eyes.

Gabriel crouched down so he was the same height as little Cassie and began to whisper in his ear.

"You and me are taking a trip downstairs. So you can use up your grace without hurting anyone." Gabriel spoke softly in order not to wake the others.

"Y-you mean earth? We're going to earth!?" Castiel's eyes went wide but Gabriel couldn't tell if he was nervous or excited.

"Yeah you ready?" Gabriel grinned pulling along Castiel.

Gabriel dragged Castiel all the way to the edge of heavan, a place that the young angles were usually forbidden to go, and lined himself up on the edge.

"Right we're gonna jump down. You can use your wings to slow down your fall. Under no circumstances will you let go of my hand okay? I'll use my wings to slow us down most of the way." Gabriel instructed looking at Castiel to see if he understood.

Castiel gave a curt nod grabbing his older brothers hand. They both stepped off the edge and plummeted to the earth.

The wind roared in their ears and Castiel gripped Gabriel's hand for dear life. As the ground got closer and closer Castiel began to beat his black wings in slight panic. Gabriel saw what his brother was doing and began to beat his own superior wings and they began to float to the ground. As soon as their feet hit the ground Castiel let out a huge sigh like he had been holding his breath for the entire way down.

"Hey you okay?" Gabriel looked over to a breathless Castiel.

Castiel just nodded and looked at the world around him.

"Oh right! Well young Cassie welcome to EARTH!!" Gabriel grinned spreading his arms wide.

Slowly, a grin began to spread all over Castiel's face and his sapphire eyes lit up in excitement. Gabriel had never seen him like this, he was usually the shy quiet one only speaking in whispers but now it looked like he wanted to do a lap of the planet. He decided to use this new found energy to his own devices.

"Okay, let's get going. Apart from blowing things to pieces grace can be useful in lots of ways. First were going to learn how to teleport." Gabriel wasn't entirely sure on how he was going to do this but he'll figure it out.

Castiel lept up in the air and blunders over to where Gabriel was standing looking to him for instruction.

"Haha, fist things first calm down a bit." Gabriel laughed at his brothers antics.

Castiel just stuck out his tongue at the archangel and took a few steps back.

"Okay. Your going to start off by teleporting to that tree over there." Gabriel pointed to the tree that stood just a few metres away. "Just close your eyes and picture the tree in your mind. Then let your grace takeover and you should pop right up." Gabriel explained slowly.

Castiel nodded and closed his eyes. Slowly he began to glow as his grace rose to the surface. One moment he was standing there glowing, and the next he had disappeared and crashed into the tree. Castiel had managed to teleport himself into the tree cracking it in two. Gabriel rushed over to the young angel who was surrounded by branches.

"Cassie! You okay?!" Gabriel picked his way over, pushing away twigs and leaves.

"Gabriel! I did it!" Castiel gasped, dusting the leaves off of his coat.

"Haha you sure did buddy nice one!" Gabriel laughed as his brother danced around in delight.

"Come on Cassie you've got to practice some more." Gabriel tried to get his brothers attention as he carried on to dance around the cracked tree trunk.