Sorry it took awhile (Cas and Ariel)

Castiel had found himself rather incapacitated after his run in with five of his brothers, prior to Sam and Dean's defeating of Zachariah and the loss of Adam to Michael. It had been painful but he had arrived on a fishing boat in the middle of it's catch, scaring the daylights out of a dozen fishermen. After his time in human hospital, time spent being entirely mortal, he had finally made his way to Bobby's house. He knew that Ariel was upstairs at the moment, having told Dean he was coming and asking Ariel for some privacy.

Waving off the Winchesters, he walked up the stairs and opened the door to one of the bedrooms that went unused, seeing Ariel waiting for him.

He paused for a moment before gesturing around the room,

"I would suggest not touching things in here." he told her quietly, "Bobby has no cleaning supplies... and this room really is quite filthy. My apologies but I am unable to take us somewhere else at this time."

He flexed his fingers,

"I am human now."

Castiel looked up at Ariel and his eyes locked onto hers,

"Why are you here Ariel?" he asked her quietly, "I am overjoyed to see you... but potentially saddened by the implications. Have you come to kill me and my friends as so many of my brothers and sisters have? Please say that you have not."

Ariel was so excited to be seeing Castiel once more, she was ready to finally see him again and she hoped that his new mortal state wasn't something that he was going to be angry at her about. There was nothing that she could have done to prevent it - and if she had tried she probably would have been cast out herself. The Winchesters should have at least one angel on their side at all times, it just so happened it wouldn't be Castiel any more.

Looking around one of the old bedrooms Ariel found the smell of old spice and whiskey oddly comforting, in fact it reminded her of the way that Crowley had drunk whiskey each time she had seen him. Strange that her thoughts should turn to him at a time where she was not doing anything related to him whatsoever.

Merely shrugging that thought off, Ariel ran her hand through her wild mess of hair and drew her attention to Castiel when he walked through the door to the bedroom. His state was immediately noticed by her, it was hard to ignore, and it made her heart ache to see him reduced to something like this where as before...he had been twice as powerful, if not more, than she had been.

"I know Castiel." she whispered softly, her eyes locking with his "I can see it, and I am so sorry. I hope you understand that I could not have helped you. If I had tried, they would have cast me down too and I just...couldn't risk that when I have so much ahead."

Turning her head away Ariel walked to the window in the bedroom and looked out to the scrap yard below, it was confusing seeing Castiel while he was human - he wasn't the same she could tell. It was strange to talk to him like this. When he asked her, if she was here to kill him, Ariel turned back around with wide eyes. How could he think that of her?!

"I have not! I have only helped the Winchesters and Bobby since my arrival here, and that is what I plan to do in the future." she stated a little harshly "It offends me you would think that, would you ask Balthazar the same question?" Ariel asked, an eyebrow raised delicately, but she let her anger drop it was a pretty valid concern after all.

Unable to stop herself any more, she beamed at Castiel; "I have a way to stop it all."

Castiel wasn't at the point where he regretted anything that he had done in his quest to make sure that the world continued to exist. To make sure that Lucifer and Michael didn't have to have a massive fight that would doom half of the planet to a slow death and the other half to a quick and painful one.

He... ached with the loss of his angelic powers.

Not because he hated the lack of power in his form now but more because of what that had meant to him. He had been an angel of the Lord. Even in his moments of doubt he loved God and what he had created.

"I understand Ariel." he told her quietly, "What happened could not have been prevented by any parties involved or watching. If this is the worst that I must endure to protect those boys and all of humanity then I will gladly pay this price."

He frowned a little bit when she moved over to the window. He nodded his head once,

"You must understand my hesitation before trusting you. Anna said the same thing and before this I never would have dreamt our brothers possible of such corrupt thoughts." he explained before nodding simply, "I would. I would hate myself for asking, just as I do now, but betrayal has been a common occurrence in my life as of late."

He blinked a few times,

"That is... unbelievable!" he cracked a rare smile, "Please, tell me how I can help. What is your plan?"

Ariel was happier, happier that she had apologised to Castiel and that he had forgiven her. One thing that she never wanted to do was go behind the back of one of her family members, or her friends especially if those friends were angels. Enough of them had died, enough that she had broke free from the chains of Heaven to come down here and do something about it. To try and stop the fight and the death that would be happening here.

"I will be here with you, to stop this apocalypse." she stated with a nod of her head "If the free will of the humans demands it, then we must fight to make their will possible. It was a gift to them from father, and in his absence I believe we should follow his creations desires. It is the right thing to do."

Of course she might have over reacted with being offended at Castiel for asking her what she was doing here, Ariel couldn't help but shake her head and let out a soft sigh. The betrayal that he had seen was unbelievable and it was all at the hands of their brothers and sisters, friends. It still stung that he had asked though.

"Do not worry Castiel, I understand, although I wish the situation was not as it was." Ariel admitted with a sad smile "We should not be fighting so, we should be working together against Lucifer, to stop the apocalypse. It should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. Zachariah is a fool to have done this."

With a near face splitting grin, Ariel held up her hand, upon which the ring of War sat on one of her fingers. She would learn to use it, and when she had done so, she would stop this fight. Then she would stop all other fights between her friends so that they could unite together, even without the presence of God.

"I have this, and a demon who will teach me to use it. When I learn, I will be able to stop the fight between Michael and Lucifer, and then all fights which are happening between our brothers and sisters. We can unite against the demons, and restore the world to how it was before this apocalypse began." Ariel explained her body thrumming with excitement "It is an amazing plan! Isn't it?"

Castiel had not dared to hope that anyone of his friends, his brothers and sisters, would come to his aid in this, his hour of need. Their enemies were massive and numerous beyond measure in each. There was nearly nothing that they could do against them but they had to. They had to keep pushing back. He took a deep breath,

"It is the right thing to do and it is the hardest thing to do." he explained with a small smile, "While our brothers and sister fight to do what is easy, we are fighting to do what it right and that has a power all of its own. We can win this fight together Ariel."

The betrayal of his entire family... everyone he had ever know... had been hard. But it was after the Winchesters had spoken to Joshua, when they found that God no longer even CARED, that he had felt his spirit break. Ariel was helping to stitch it back together right now,

"Zachariah, Michael and a host of others either too blind or too weak-willed to stand against them." he acknowledged, "Let's not forget... that we are not powerful angels. We were not Archangels. And we rebelled because of what we knew to be right... others should have done the same."

When she raised her hand his smile slowly fell further and further until he was staring at the ring on her finger with abject horror and terror. His sister, his only angelic ally, was going to become something so much less than even what he was now,

"Ariel... you hold the ring of a Horseman upon your finger..." he whispered to her quietly, "Do you know what it's power will do to you? It will... warp you... into something half demon and half something else... oh Ariel... the cost of your plan... already it burdens my heart."

Ariel nodded her head and she thought that the fight ahead would be a hard one, but as soon as she had finished it there would be peace on this world, peace for her family and friends and that was the one thing that was keeping her going. She knew there was a risk when she took this ring on, that it would turn her into the entities that the horsemen were - but, she would not allow that transformation from angel, to horseman to be her downfall.

Even through that, she would be able to control the urge for war, she would stop the fighting no matter what it took.

The look on Castiel's face when he saw the ring upon her finger chilled her inside. She had expected a more happy expression to be on his face - the smile of before which had warmed her heart immensely to see. Ariel knew that this ring would eventually change her being from her angelic host form to one that was foreign to her, but she was accepting of that and it was a sacrifice she was willing to make for her family, and those closest to her.

"I know what it will do." she whispered softly, stepping closer to Castiel "I know it will change me greatly from being an angel, to being a member of the four horsemen, but it will not change ME. I will sacrifice what I need to...to stop our brothers and sisters dying in their hundreds because of some foolish errand."

Placing her hand on Castiel's holding it within her own, Ariel locked eyes with him;

"If it does make me different, if it makes me want to crave the fight, the war. You must do everything that you can to stop that Castiel. I do not think it will be a problem, but, in the case that it will be...if it comes to it you must kill me to stop me restarting the very thing I was trying to prevent in the first place."

Her jaw was set, and her eyes were dark with the sheer emotion that she felt saying such a thing. There was such uncertainly - but she was certain that she would be able to control the ring, not allow the ring to control her as the other horsemen had done before her. Perhaps that change from angel, to horsemen was what was needed to have complete control over the ring itself. She would be sure to ask Crowley.

Castiel wanted to rage and shout against the world again but the last time he had done that he had drank a liquor store and nothing good had come of it. And no solution had presented itself at the bottom of the many bottles that he had emptied into himself. He swallowed thickly. Out of all of his brothers and sisters in heaven, Ariel was the one he had spent the most time with, other than Balthazar of course.

She was his little sister and the ring would twist her.

"It will change you in so many ways and those are just the ways we know for certain about." he agreed quietly, "What if... what if... what if it can change who you are? Isn't that it's main power? To change the desires and thoughts of those usually benign and turn them into those who would fan the flames of war and destruction?"

No.

No he wouldn't be able to do that.

He squeezed her hand tightly,

"I can't Ariel. Not you." he whispered to her. Tears were leaking from his vessel but he didn't know what they were at the moment and right now he didn't care, "If you feel it changing you... if you change to it's will..."

He swallowed,

"Kill me first." he told her quietly, begging her, "I will not turn against my little sister. I cannot bear the thought of it."

Ariel knew that she needed to reassure her brother that things would not change with her mentally, she would still be herself, she would still love him and her brothers and sisters deeply - there would just be things that she had to do that were not what she would have wanted in this form. It was a small price to pay in order for her family to live happily amongst each other. To Ariel there was no other way that this could happen.

"When I become a Herald Castiel, things will be different, the ring will bend to my will and not the other way around. I will control it." she whispered, but her voice was strong, she would do this and nothing would change her mind "There will be things that I have to do, wars and fights that I must allow to go on, and know that is not what I want but it is something I will do in order to keep the peace where peace is needed."

At the sight of her brother crying, Ariel didn't know what to do any more, and she wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug, laying her head on his chest. She would not allow Castiel to die - she would protect him, protect Balthazar no matter what it took. They above all others would be kept safe, if her plan failed she would even sacrifice herself to save them.

Castiel asked her to kill him, if she should change.

A stone plummeted into her stomach and Ariel felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

"Castiel please," Ariel murmured through her tears "I need you to be strong with me. It is the only way to stop the fight between Michael and Lucifer, to save Sam, Dean, Bobby, Balthazar...all of our family. Following the right path is never simple, nor easy, but it is the right things to do."

Looking up at Castiel, Ariel wiped at his eyes;

"It's not like I'm going any where, I'll still be around. I will control the ring, I will remain myself, as long as I have your strength behind me, to support me, brother." she stated, a determined set to her eyes.

Castiel didn't know much about humans and their sayings but one of them had been repeated enough and had been relevant enough for him to memorise it and right now he couldn't help but think about it. The path to Hell was paved with good intentions. She might be wanting to use the ring to end the war but who knew what would happen because of that wish.

But he would stand behind her.

"I will stand with you Ariel." he told her quietly, "We must do whatever we can, sacrifice whatever must be lost, in order to protect the humans of this world. I... thank you."

Castiel swallowed thickly as he tried to get his vessel to stop leaking, it would not doubt be making a mess of his face and he didn't want that. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe slowly and smoothly but it was difficult. All he could see before his closed eyes were visions of her turning, changing into what the horseman War had been before the ring had been cut off.

"There has to be some way... some way without that risk..." he whispered quietly, "There has to be. Sam has a plan that might just work... and this risk would not be placed on you. This burden and responsibility."

He looked into her eyes before leaning forwards with his eyes closed, resting his forehead against hers and just resting their, close to her,

"Out of all of my sisters you are the strongest in will and mind Ariel. This I know." he told her quietly, "And there isn't anything you will not be able to do with your mind and will set to it. This I believe."

Ariel could sense her brother didn't think that she could do this, that she couldn't control the ring. Despite not saying it out loud she knew him well enough that she could tell his words didn't quite match up to what he was saying to her...and for some reason it really angered her. His human mind was easy to enter into, to see what he was thinking and she was truly shocked to find that she had been right in what she had thought.

'The road to Hell is paved with good intentions'. Really?

Her resolve was wavering now that her brother, the one person she had hoped would believe in her still didn't despite her best reassurances. Maybe she would turn into some kind of monster when she took the power from this ring on but at least she was trying! At least she came up with some kind of doable plan!

It felt almost hollow to get Castiel's reply, what she had wanted to hear from the beginning after she had seen and felt that doubt in his mind. How could she think that she could do this when he didn't fully support her in this? Couldn't he see this was the only way without causing harm to Sam, deep trauma he would never be able to fix?

"I am an angel of the Lord, and it is my duty to serve humankind as our father asked of us Castiel - if there is burden and risk to be placed on anyone it should be placed on us." she hissed, backing away from him, hurt by what she had heard and what she couldn't get out of her mind "You don't believe that I can do it, you think I'm going to turn into a monster just like you think war was, how can I do this when you don't believe in me Castiel?"

Turning back to the window, Ariel hugged her arms around her chest and her vessel began to cry again, this time they were much larger sobs. All she had wanted was her brothers support, for him to reassure her that she could do this, that everything would be okay because he would make it so. All she had gotten so far was doubts and a half hearted attempt to instil some hope in her that his doubts would not come true.

Gritting her teeth Ariel furiously wiped at her tears and pushed towards the door past Castiel;

"Well I don't care what you think, I KNOW I can do this Castiel. I know it." Ariel stated to herself more than anything, to reassure herself she was strong enough to resist a temptation that would be there but would be sated by the smaller confrontations she would permit "It's time to tell the Winchesters and Bobby. They have been in the dark long enough."

As she opened the door and hopped down the stairs, Ariel saw them all gathered in Bobby's living room, and she coughed in order to get their attention.

"Me and Castiel have something to speak with you about...if you would be so kind as to listen?" she asked, with a watery smile.

Castiel felt... violated when she broke into his mind like that and he let her know that in his thoughts before she withdrew. Of course he'd be able to notice what she had done. He had once had that power as well... and it was seen as a taboo to do it to another angel without their permission. With permission is was fine but without it was a major breach in privacy.

Not that it mattered now.

He gritted his teeth a little bit in frustration as the betrayal that he had felt before crept up on him and forced him to speak,

"The Winchesters talked to Joshua Ariel... our Father doesn't even think to care anymore." he told her quietly, "I wanted there to be a way that would sacrifice no one... can I be faulted for wanting to keep looking for that? For the ideal?"

He knew she could do it.

But it seemed she would do it without him because she was already pushing him away. And why wouldn't she? He had been concerned and it had led to reservations, worries about her. That had been the sin that meant she would see him with those eyes of hers. Those eyes that sang of hurt and betrayal, all that she perceived he had given her when all he had been was concerned for his little sister, his light.

Following her at a more subdued pace, he said nothing as he stood awkwardly in the corner. She would not want his support right now - she was pushing him away.

Dean raised an eyebrow,

"Sure, we ain' got anything else to do except talk about how terrible Sam's idea is." he told her with a small, forced, grin. Sam sighed but Dean continued, "Pull up a chair."

Ariel was even more irritated with Castiel now.

Making her seem like the bad one now that he was skulking like some kicked puppy in the corner, she had needed the support of her brother unconditionally and he had not given it to her. He had doubted her ability to do this, but she didn't see him offering to take the burden from her if he was so unsure that she would be able to do it.

Feeling more hurt that he wasn't standing beside her, united as she had wanted them to be as brother and sister she swallowed another lump that had developed in her throat and she sat down on the nearest available seat when she had been bid to by Dean.

Her plan would mean the brothers could stay together for longer, and she knew that they would like that no matter how much they would protest to it.

"I have just spoken to Castiel about a plan I have to avert the fight between Michael and Lucifer." Ariel stated with a small nod in Castiel's direction, still far too angry to even think about speaking to him "He has some reservations about what I intend to do, he does not think that I can remain truly myself when I have done what needs to be done but I think differently. My idea is a solution to all of our problems."

Biting her lip softly, Ariel held up War's ring with a shameful expression.

"I uhm...am very sorry but I did steal this ring from you. I have a demon who is teaching me how to use it. I will become War, and with the power of this ring I will stop Michael and Lucifer from fighting, and I will unite the forces of Heaven to stop the remaining demons here on your planet, sending them back to Hell."

With a soft smile Ariel gave them a thumbs up; "I get to protect my remaining family, and humanity from the apocalypse by making this one, small sacrifice, everyone wins."

Castiel could tell that this plan of Ariel's would speak to both Winchesters because it meant that they would be allowed to live longer without fighting each other but they would still have reservations. Not on the same grounds that he did but close. With their impulsive desire to save everyone that they could it wouldn't surprise him if they rejected her plan.

Dean frowned a little bit,

"Sounds too good to be true." he admitted before glancing at Castiel, "You have these worries Cas? You don't think she can do it?"

Castiel blinked once,

"I know she can do it. If she can't then it's not for lack of will but because such a thing is beyond the ring's power. Which it should not be." he explained before adding, quietly, "I was merely... concerned about any side-effects. The plan relies on her will and therefore is solid as bedrock."

Sam hummed a little bit and Dean nodded before they both swore at seeing the Ring of War on her finger. Sam ran a hand through his hair,

"Jesus... that's where that went." he muttered before nodding, "I would advise you against using the power of the enemy against them, like I did with demon blood. But you're stronger than me... I'm sure you won't do something you'll regret."

Dean took a deep breath,

"Is there any other way?" he asked quietly, "Ideally without anyone having to give up something precious?"