Mother knows

Chapter 5

"GABRIEL!!" That is what Rose woke up to. She smiled, already recognising Raphael as the one who's shouting. She knew why. As she got up, Gabriel and Castiel were running away from their much older brother, since Cas was smaller, Raphael caught up to him first,

"Gabriel!" Cas yelped when he was ultimately caught, "Help!"

"Sorry Cassie, every angel for themselves" Gabriel kept running. The pout on Castiel's face made even Raphael laugh.

"Bad choice of partners there Castiel" He taunted as he dragged the struggling fledgling away. Gabriel watched from a safe distance and Raphael wandered into his room that had now been painted hot pink. He enclosed him in there so he could go after Gabriel. As Raphael went on the search, Gabriel saw his chance to free his brethren. He circled around Raphael and went to his room and unlocked the door,

"Prison break" Gabriel whispered, "Come on Cas, we're getting out of here"

"Not so fast" Raphael said, "You're going to fix my room first, the pair of you" The two were now trapped. They had to repaint everything, the walls, ceiling, floor,

"Did you have to be this thorough and thick with the paint?" Castiel asked,

"I'm an artist Castiel, I give nothing short of perfection" Gabriel said while he was scraping the paint from the floor. They were stuck doing it all day, both Cas and Gabe were tired. When they were finally finished and allowed out, Raphael put an arm each around their shoulders,

"Can I say, your pranking spree has begun flawlessly, one prank in and you've already been caught" He said,

"Cut us some slack, it's been a few thousand years since we last did this" Gabriel said,

"I catch you messing with my room again and you'll wish I let you off as easy as this" Raphael replied, finally letting them go, walking into his room to lie down on his bed. Cas gave a small smirk as they heard a frustrated growl from the room,

"Cas?" Gabriel looked at his brother knowingly,

"Run" Cas said and the pair took off, finding their safety in flight, giggling while they did,

"There's my little bro back. My protege" Gabriel put his arm around his shoulders, "Now wasn't that fun?"

"Only after hours of repetitive scraping and repainting" Cas replied,

"What actually did you do?"

"I had some leftover paint" Cas replied, Gabriel chuckled. Back in Raphael's room, he wandered out with his back and wings splattered in white paint,

"I have to say, I didn't see that coming" Lucifer chuckled,

"They're dead meat" Raphael declared. Lucifer chuckled more,

"Lighten up. The kid hasn't smiled like this since he got back from earth"

"Sure you say that now. Wait until they move on to you" Michael smiled. Rose came over to them with a smile,

"Raphael, you're covered in paint" She took his arm, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up"

That night, Castiel's sleep was restless. He tossed and turned before shooting up in his bed, breathless. He looked around the dark for a while, getting up and walking out of his room. As he walked through his door though, he wasn't in heaven. Around him looked dark and twisted, the trees around him towered over him, blocking out the sky. It was hard to tell if it was day or night. He didn't want to take another step but when he went to go back to his room, it was gone. He was just surrounded by forest,

"A dream" Cas said to himself,

"Hey Castiel" Cas jumped at the voice and turned sharply to see the Leviathan known as Dick. He realised where he was now and backed away, "Remember me?" Cas took off running but there was more of them. He was surrounded by Leviathans. He was about to scream when he was shaken awake, he sat up in Gabriel's grip,

"Cas" He said. Cas gave a sigh, not looking up at his brother, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "You were having a nightmare"

"I'm fine" Cas said,

"No you're not. You're crying" Cas put his hand to his cheek to feel tears running down. Gabriel pulled him out of bed, "Come on, tell me what was your nightmare about?"

"It's just a nightmare, it's fine. It's not real" The last part Cas said more for himself and Gabriel could tell,

"So why can't you tell me? Is it about one of us?"

"No. It was about purgatory"

"What was purgatory like?"

"Forests" Cas said getting up and walking out the room. Gabriel wandered alongside him,

"Just forests?"

"It's where all the monsters went when they died. All of them were locked in some endless hunt. Kill or be killed"

"How long were you there for?"

"A year, maybe a little more. It was hard to keep track" Cas wanted isolation now, Gabriel knew it but that might not be the best thing for him. He needed to talk this out. These nightmares had been tormenting him for weeks now,

"You had Dean though right? I mean, it couldn't have been all bad" Cas shook his head,

"I kept away from Dean"

"What? Why?"

"Because I had Leviathans following me. Keeping away from Dean kept them off his trail"

"So you were alone in purgatory for a whole year?" Cas had to cringe at the way Gabriel played it up. He himself hadn't thought much of it other than it was what he'd deserved. He knew Gabriel had a different opinion. The pair had been walking until they bumped into Raphael. Raphael had sworn vengeance until he saw how tired Castiel looked. It looked like he didn't get any sleep at all. And both seemed pretty distracted in a deep conversation that they hadn't noticed him. He furrowed his eyebrows as they walked by, looking up at Michael confused,

"Cas still has nightmares" Michael said to him,

"Still?"

"Well he's been through a lot, done things he regrets"

"We've all done things we regret Michael, but all has been forgiven" Michael nodded. It's just if Cas can forgive himself.