Once again the world was ending, and once again it was their own fault. They had taught the stick-in-the-ass angel to make a stand for himself and throw caution to the wind. Dean has been the one to tell him free will was something everyone possessed and it was worth fighting for.

Stupid idea.

Now they had an insane angel on their hands, who thought himself god. A better god. One who wouldn't abandon humanity and smite everyone who didn't show his respect.

"You will bow down before me and profess your love onto me, your Lord", demanded Castiel in a superior voice, looking down at the Winchester brothers and Bobby like they were vermin, not worthy of his attention. Now that he had taken in all the souls off purgatory, there was no one left to match his power. He could do whatever he wanted. Who was there left to stop him?

Every choice was his now. Utter and complete free will.

"Or I shall destroy you." There was not a trace of humour to be found in his voice to suggest he might be kidding, not that he understood the meaning of jokes anyway. They should have taught him humour instead of freedom. Dean had only the best intentions when teaching Castiel about free will, and he had created a monster.

A monster, worse than any evil sonofabitch could ever be, because Castiel did only have good intentions. He wanted to stop everyone from fighting an slaughtering each other and if that meant killing everyone, then so be it.

"WHAT?" demanded Dean, his eyes nearly falling out of its sockets, "you completely lost it Cas! You must be kidding. Come on man, let go of the souls. Raphael is gone, no need for this much power anymore."

"I am not kidding", assured Castiel them, "I am your new God and I will destroy you. Bow down and save your lives." Castiel looked at them now. There was a hint of kindness in his eyes, pleading them to bow down. He didn't want to kill them. They were his friends but if he had to he wouldn't hesitate. Balthazar had been is friend too and he betrayed him, just like Dean had.

"Never", stated Sam defiantly. They would never be any supernatural creatures bitches again. Crowley had been a pain in the ass and he would sooner be dead than bend over for this winged douchbag. A mad gleam flickered in his eyes. They had come this far, stopped the apocalypse, defeated Lucifer, been to hell and back. They had simply come too far to give up now and loose everything they had fought for so hard.

"As you wish." Castiel nodded slightly to himself, raising one hand to deliver the deathly blow… when someone appeared beside them and vanished with the boys in a blur of motion. All they could see were two arms grabbing hold of them and then a weird rushing motion, before reappearing in an entirely different room.

A room without Castiel.

It was more of a hall than a real room, with huge ornamented windows all along the nicely furnished walls. The doors were frigging huge, towering even over Sam's massive height and you had problems spotting the ceiling from the ground.

They weren't just in a large room or a warehouse, their saviour had brought them to a freaking castle. And judging from the wide expanse of greenery outside, they were far, far away from Castiel. Like in another country halfway across the globe, far away.

"Well boys", said their saviour, clapping his hands together, "that was fun, aye?" Balthazar sat down on a large, soft-looking leather couch, reaching for a half-full glass filled with an amber liquid.

"Balthazar?" Sam wondered aloud, stammering in all the confusion, "but, but you should be dead. He killed you." Dean and Bobby weren't off any better. How the hell could he still be alive? It's like mad year, where death didn't quite take. Castiel died twice now and was still kicking, Samuel and Sammy came back from the dead, Crowley had been presumed dead and now Balthazar… it made you wonder if Gabriel wasn't hiding somewhere with his pagan friends again, eating candy and laughing his head off watching them.

Taking a swing from his glass and smiling, Balthazar put it down again, swatting with his hand in Sam's general direction, as if he tried to get rid of an annoying bug. A very tall bug with terrible hair.

"The little bugger tried, but I learned a few tricks from a friend."

The smug smile he gave them reminded Dean of someone, but he would be damned if he could remember of whom. Like there was a face in the back of your head but every time you tried to get a hold of it, it shifted out of your reach, leaving you grabbing desperately at nothing.

"What kind of tricks?" growled Bobby in his usual unfriendly manner, before Dean had the chance to follow his trail of thoughts. Not that he would have followed them anyway, this entire situation demanded all his attention. Was this a trick? Did Cas and Balthazar work together to play with them, to persuade them to give in? Were there monsters lurking in the shadows, or behind the double door? Dean's nerves were on edge. Taking a glance at Sammy he saw that his brother was thinking the same. Why on earth would Balthazar stick his neck out for them again and do something as noble as saving their sorry asses, when he was already on Castiel's hit list.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" smirked the damn angel and gave the older hunter a suggestive wink. Sam coughed vigorously, while Bobby gave him his best scowl. Dean just shook his head at their childish behaviour. It was not like they had a near second apocalypse and a megalomaniac angel who decided to play god to worry about. Just another day in the office.

"Cut the crap Balthazar. Why are we here?" demanded Dean, looking around the hall, taking in every detail and possible escape route for further use, "wherever here is."

"Lets just say a friend asked me to, I quote: 'save those bloody morons before Cas blasts their asses to hell and we have no chance of stopping him!'" Balthazar even did air quotes.

"Any friend we know?" asked Dean growing more and more impatient and irritated with Balthazar for avoiding direct answers.

"Might be." And the bugger smiled again, visibly enjoying taunting the humans.

"So", interrupted Sam, before Dean could throw himself at the smug angel and throttle him to death. "Who is so concerned about our well being that he sends you? And which of our friends even knows you? You're not the poster child for rescue missions."

"Never said he was your friend. He is more of an mutual acquaintance who thinks that you two are the only ones who can stop the loony nuclear reactor from going after him... or me."

"How noble of him", replied Dean sarcastically. He didn't believe for one minute that Balthazar would do something noble or that he had friends with a enough decency to save their lives or care for the rest of humanity. There had to be a catch in all this, only question left was: what did Balthazar gain from all this?

"Are you stupid or deaf?" snarled the angel getting up from his comfortable place on the couch. "I never said any of us was 'noble' or 'good'. All we want is to be left alone and that is hardly possible when your little boyfriend feels neglected and needs to compensate that you don't screw him enough!"

"Shut it!" snarled Dean at the same time as Bobby muttered: "Yeah right, 'cos no one who has a shred of goodness in their hearts would want to be your friend."

Sam shook his head. "How can an angel sink so low? Michael, Raphael or Castiel might be destroying the world, but they think it's the right thing to do. They have good intentions, admittedly very screwed good intentions but they are still good in their own twisted minds. But you," he jabbed a finger at Balthazar, "you're just trying to have a comfortable life. You're a self-centred, arrogant, spoiled little prat." Sam was all but shouting at the end of his speech. He might have gone a bit over the top in calling Raphael or Michael good but it got the point across.

"Oi! Shut your gob!", shouted Balthazar back, just as angry as Sam had been. He didn't need anyone to insult him, his friends or his motives. "don't talk about things you don't understand boy! I have done ENOUGH for this world and what is the thanks? I get hunted and threatened and stabbed in the back. I learned the hard way that God doesn't care and my brother like to smite for no good reasons! If I'm a bit self-centred about looking out for myself, than it's only because my brethren", he spat the word like venom, "have been out to kill me for nearly 30 years now! You don't know nothing about me or my friend, so keep insulting me or him and you can walk home alone."

"Walk home?" Questioned the Winchesters at the same time that Bobby asked, "Where are we anyway?"

Yes they noticed that they had travelled quite a distance but they thought the angel had would get them back to Bobby's sooner or later or at least bring the Impala with them, so they could get going soon. They had to stop Castiel and if possible not kill him in the process.

"Highlands", said Balthazar, all sweet and nice his voice smooth like honey.

"Highlands?" No, no, no that couldn't be good. Dean was not gonna fly again! Please let it be some other highlands. "Uhmm.. highlands as is Scotland?"

Balthazar just smiled at him. "Play nice or you can fly back home. I know who much you love that."

"You sonofabitch!" yelled Dean hurtling himself at the angel. He grabbed Balthazar' neck, pushing the startled angel against the wall but before he could throw the first punch, he was flung backwards. He ways lucky not to hit a wall or anything, just fly for a few meters through the air and crumble to the floor.

"Hands off him Winchester!" announced a man, walking through the now open double doors. Crowley walked in, wearing his usual custom fitted black suit. He bend down in front of Balthazar, reaching a hand out to help the bewildered looking angel back up.

Something shifted in the angels smile, before he grabbed Crowley's offered hand and getting up to his feet again.

"Now", announced Crowley, clapping his hands together once he made sure Balthazar was fine "let's talk business."