Michael looked away after a few moments, frowning as he looked at the hotel room closer to them. "Castiel survived?" he murmured, sounding surprised. "And... who else is in there?"

"Well, go figure you can tell," Sam muttered. He went over to his room and opened the door. "Hey Gabe!" There was a pause, and then Gabriel trudged out of the hotel room, a couple of golden feathers in his wake.

Michael stiffened at that. "Gabriel?" He sounded disbelieving. "You... Lucifer killed you."

"Yeah, well," Gabriel said. "Apparently Dad didn't like that." He cracked a bit of a grin. "Heya, big brother. How's life?"

Michael looked at him for several moments, tempted to hit him. Then he snorted and shook his head.

"So like you, little brother," he said quietly.

"You'd be disappointed if I were otherwise," Gabriel pointed out with a grin. "I heard how you got broken out of the Cage. Kinda surprised, big brother, it's not like you to accept that kind of help."

"There was no other way to get out," Michael said. "Besides, it seems Raphael has been getting... uppity." His eyes gleamed briefly.

"Yeah, he has," Gabriel said, nodding. "But he's not the bigger problem at the moment."

"Yes. Crowley. I heard." Michael shook his head. "Two upstarts since I've been gone." He glanced at Kyra briefly before dismissing her.

"Right," Gabriel said. "Look, not that I'm not glad to see you again, Mikey, I really am, but things are kind of different around here from the last time you spent any significant time on Earth."

"That much is obvious," Michael said dryly. "You've got a feather in your hair, by the way. That isn't yours." And wasn't that interesting.

Gabriel blinked and ran a hand through his hair, finding the feather and pulling it out.

"Well look at that," he said, vanishing it. He didn't deny the implication, though. "You're looking pretty settled there yourself, Mike."

"I've been in the Cage for a long time," Michael said quietly. "Probably now almost as long as you have had that vessel. Perhaps not quite that long, but long enough that I have lost track."

"I've had this vessel a while," Gabriel said. "But I hear time passes differently down there so you're probably right." He paused for a moment. "And Lucy's still... the same?"

"Still the same," Michael agreed, sounding tired and sad and old. "Still snarling about humanity."

Gabriel sighed.

"I wish he could see it the way we do," he said. "All of these amazing things, these amazing creatures. Honestly, even Dad's vacationing here right now somewhere."

Michael shook his head.

"Lucifer is too full of anger and hatred to see these things," he said quietly. "I doubt he ever will."

"I know." Gabriel sighed. "That doesn't mean we're not still sad for him. He's still our brother."

"He is," Michael agreed quietly. And he did feel bad for Lucifer. But there was nothing to be done.

"Speaking of brothers," Gabriel said. "Cas is in the next room." He grinned. "He finally settled, too. He's still getting used to it."

"Is he now?" Michael shook his head a bit. "I'm surprised. I hadn't thought he would stay down here long enough to settle."

"I'm not surprised," Gabriel said. "Are you kidding? Watch him around Dean Winchester for five minutes and you'll see why he stayed."

Michael snorted, because he could see Cas's marking all over Dean, but he didn't comment. Instead he moved inside and settled cautiously in a chair.

Kyra could tell he was there but she was still hiding in the other room.

Runa finally came out of the shower, skin red from the heat and the scrubbing. She set the can of salt and the rosaries on the table and changed into something comfortable, and then crawled onto her bed.

"You look about normal," Kyra said cautiously, looking at her for a few moments before going back to her tablet.