"See? Much better. All you need is a little distraction," Dean attempted in vain to cheer Cas up. It had been over a week since the engagement ring- or rather, angelic symbol of matrimony or whatever, had been burned into Cas's chest, and they still had no clue why. Cas insisted that Eloa must have been resurrected, but she hadn't shown up yet, and he didn't know where to start looking.

"Nothing is any better, except those two girls we saved from being vampire snacks," Castiel said. "It doesn't serve as much of a distraction watching you chop off a couple heads, either."

"I gotta say, he's right," Sam chimed in. he shrugged at the glare Dean sent him. "These hunts are becoming too easy."

"Yeah, well I guess anything is easy after you face off against the devil himself," Dean muttered. They returned to the hotel room in silence. Dean picked up his phone to order a pizza. He walked outside where Sam and Cas were packing things into the Impala, opening his mouth to ask Sam what kind of pizza he wanted. "Sonofabitch," the word escaped his mouth instead and he stumbled back several paces. "Who the hell are you?"

The girl had her back to him, and gave him barely a glance over her shoulder, then turned back to Cas and Sam. "You three are difficult to track down," she said in a smooth voice. Sam looked just as confused as Dean, but Cas seemed to recognize her. "Castiel," the girl said his name, and dean understood exactly who she was.

"Eloa," Cas breathed.

"How are you alive?" Cas asked once they were all inside the hotel room. Cas and Eloa were seated on one of the beds, Sam and Dean on the other facing them.

"God," she said simply. "I'd think you would know the answer to that. Now I have a question." She turned to look curiously at Sam and Dean. "How was I not about to find you two? Joshua told me I'd find Castiel with the Winchester boys, but I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Cas worked some kind of angel mojo on us," Dean said.

"He put some kind of angelic symbols on our ribs. No angels can find us," Sam translated.

Eloa smiled fondly at them both, then turned back to Castiel. "What happened after Michael killed me?" She asked, as though it were an everyday question. "Joshua showed me what's happened on earth; Armageddon and the battle." She winced slightly. "He-he showed me what happened, and he showed me what would have happened."

"What would have happened?" Cas asked.

Eloa nodded. "Had Gabriel and I won the battle that day in Heaven…I'm sorry, Castiel. I shouldn't have doubted—"

"Nothing to forgive," Cas said softly. He pressed a soft kiss against her temple. Dean almost wanted to roll his eyes and make some kind of joke, but something stopped him. Cas looked… Happy. Cas didn't smile much, and when he did, it never quite reached his eyes. Not the way it did when he looked at Eloa.

So Dean just cleared his throat, and Eloa looked back at him. "So, Gabriel was on your side?"

"Of course," Eloa said. "He always hated his brothers fighting. And Armageddon was just a whole new level of sibling rivalry, and if he could stop it, or at least lessen the blow, he wanted to." She turned back to Cas with an expectant look.

"After you," Cas paused a moment, looking down. "Gabriel and I attacked Michael. Would've killed him if—"

"Or he would've killed you two," Dean pointed out, receiving a sharp elbow to the ribs from his brother. He glared at Sam, and then looked back at Cas to see the same look shot back at him.

"Michael would have died," he stated clearly. Dean didn't argue this time. "He would have, if Joshua hadn't stepped in. Of course, Michael knew his part in the big picture. Gabriel and I didn't know ours, but Joshua assured us that killing each other would do no good. We each had a part to play. Gabriel left after that. Refused to stay in Michael's presence. He wanted me to come with him, but I couldn't."

"Ever the good soldier," Eloa said with a small laugh.

Cas smiled slightly, eyes darting up to meet Dean's. "Was before I met these two. Anyways, so that's when Gabriel left Heaven, came to earth and hid from his brothers and all of Heaven."

"As the trickster," Sam filled in the blanks.

"But, what I don't get," Dean said. "Is Gabriel's big part to play. He didn't do much in the grand scheme of things, did he? I mean, I get Michael obviously had his big brother battle. And you came to us, but—"

"You," Cas cut him off.

"What?" Dean asked.

"I came to your aid, Dean," Cas said. He turned his gaze towards Sam. "What I am to Dean, Gabriel was intended to be to you, Sam."

"Alright, that's complete crap!" Dean yelled.

"Maybe not," Sam said slowly. His eyes were cast down, and Dean could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"You're not really considering that Gabriel, the trickster that tried to kill us, was supposed to help you, are you?"

"It makes sense," Sam said defensively.

"How?" Dean asked.

"Remember that day that I told you kept repeating over and over again?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, we were at that mystery spot or whatever, right?" Dean asked. "And he kept killing me. Over and over and over again. How did that help anyone?"

"No, it's what he told me," Sam said. "He said that you and I are each other's weakness, and that the demons knew it."

"His methods are," Cas paused for a moment. "More brash than mine, to say the least. But he wasn't wrong. In his own twisted way, he was trying to help you, Sam. You two are each other's greatest strength and greatest weakness."

"It's hard to argue his intentions in the end," Sam said. "He died on our side."

Dean shook his head this was ridiculous. "Whatever. It doesn't matter now anyway. He's dead, and we're not."

Cas turned back to Eloa. "Did Joshua show you the battle? The seals? Everything?"

Eloa nodded. "Everything." She turned back to the brothers, and Dean saw that same fond look in her eyes that made him feel uncomfortable and relaxed at the same time. "You boys are something special, you know."

"Yeah, regulars saints and demons rolled into one," Dean said.

"I mean it," Eloa said. "Just what Castiel gave up for you two. To protect you, and help you. But more than that, you two are the stuff of legends. Stories will be written of you two for centuries to come." She smiled and looked sideways at Cas. "Of the three of you." She hesitated for a moment, and bit her lip.

"What is it?" Dean asked. She didn't answer, but Cas seemed to understand completely.

"There's a reason God brought you back," he stated solemnly. "Do you know why?"

Eloa nodded, and smiled sadly. She looked at Cas, then back at the two brothers. "Stories, and legends will be told of you three for eternity. Stories already written by prophets, being written as we speak. But there's one last story that hasn't been written yet."