213: Houses of the Holy
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“Zachariah,” Castiel says, stepping forward. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”
He pulls his right arm back and punches the cherubim’s lion face. Then he punches the other three (the dumb ox face, the vulture’s scaly bald head, and then the humanoid face, in that order). Left, right, left. The lion yelps in pain and surprise, the ox blinks stupidly, the vulture snaps his beak in irritation, and the human face gushes liquid grace from its broken nose. Zachariah claps his hands over the dripping appendage and whimpers.
The six wings flutter and ruffle, lifting the angel several inches in the air, the silly-looking calf legs kicking uselessly before clattering back to the heavenly ground again.
“W-what?!!”
Cas glares at the sputtering angel and rubs his smarting knuckles.
Zachariah finally gets his voice back. “You miserable ingrate! I allowed you back into Heaven, after you Fell! I did that. I didn’t have to, but I did.” He shakes in anger.
“Who says I wanted to come back here?” Cas shoots back smugly.
Zachariah surges forward, grabs bunches of Cas’ shirt in both hands. “Look here, you little--”
“Little?” Cas interrupts. “I hardly think I’m little,” he says with the Dean Winchester Smirk of Supreme Arrogance. (He’s had years to practice.)
Zachariah gives Cas a hard shake. “You--”
“No,” Cas cuts in again, voice cold, “I think it’s more about you, Zachariah. You did do this. You ruined it, My Heaven, My Earth, My Creation.”
He glances down at the two human-like hands clutching his cotton shirt in a limp and suddenly sweaty hold. He tilts his head at the gaping cherubim staring at him in fear. A small, terrible smile graces his lips.
“Forget something, Zach? Like your theophory, maybe? ‘Castiel’ means ‘My cover is God,’ remember? My cover is God, Zachariah.”
He dislodges himself from the loose grip of the disgraced angel who immediately falls to his bovine knees and averts his eight eyes. He’s striding away when something catches onto the hem of his bedraggled jeans.
“Father. Forgive me.”
He looks down on the wretched mess at his feet and puts a gentle hand on the cheek of the angel’s last face, the face like a man’s. As he does so, a bright light shines out from where his hand meets the flesh.
When it subsides, there is only one pair of wings sprouting from the angel’s back, and the face under Cas’ hand is the only one he has. “Your punishment,” Cas whispers.
“My Lord.” Tears run down the angel’s two cheeks.
He leaves the former cherubim with a lighter spirit. He’s walking along a small street in the City of Heaven, humming Houses of the Holy, when he senses a familiar presence.
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Cas turns with a grin. “Michael.”
“Hey Dad.” The archangel embraces his long-absent father. “I mean,” he continues, “it was a nice showing of Your Wrath and Forgiveness and all that in one go, but still. You know everyone’s going to pick on him now, don’t you?”
Cas grins and laughs. “I’m actually counting on it. He really was acting out in a terrible way. Dick.”
Mikey gives him a knowing look. “You could have come back sooner and kept him from getting too drunk on power. I was seconds away from blowing his heads off because of the uppity way he’s been acting. Even just one. He didn’t need all four of them.”
“Well,” Cas shrugs, “I did tell you to let everything play out without our interference. Good job on not answering Dean, by the way.” He turns to his archangel. “Was that cruel, do you think? What I did to the Winchesters?”
Mikey examines the gold pavement at their feet, hands in the pockets of his white robe. “I don’t know what You were trying to prove with them, but yeah, I thought so.”
Cas sighs. “Free will. It’s always about free will. I was actually wondering if giving angels free will would be a good idea. Decidedly not. I mean, look at Luci. Look at Zach. Look at Me. I gave Myself a fresh memory and went undercover as an autistic angel and look where I ended up.” He picks at a stray thread from his fraying shirt and humphs.
Michael doesn’t say anything, just keeps walking beside him.
Cas sighs again. “But you liked it. You think it’s a good idea?”
“You know what I think about it, Dad,” Michael says mildly. “You know what I have thought, and You know my thoughts that I have not had yet. But if You really want my opinion on it, yes, I think free will for everyone is good. We just all have to understand what it is, and that we should not abuse it.”
“That’s the hard part, Mikey, that’s the hard part. Okay then,” Cas waves a hand, “Let there be free will for all creatures, big and small. Except for some of the douchier angels,” he can’t help adding.
“Dad!”
“Okay, I take it back,” Cas says in response to his son’s reproachful interjection. “Let there be free will for all.”
Mikey chuckles. “So where to now?” he asks, repeating Cas’ words to the reaper.
“Dean Winchester’s heaven,” Cas replies. “He’s gonna punch me for getting myself killed, then I’m gonna punch him for being a dick without his brother around to puppy-eyes him--oh yeah, I forgot, I have to put Luci back in time-out and bring Sammy up here--and then Dean’s gonna punch me for being a holy douchebag bastard sonofabitch and starting all this, and then we’re gonna have a couple of beers. Wanna join us?”
Mikey shakes his head in amused bewilderment. “I think you’ve gone native, Dad.” He shrugs, “Eh, sounds like fun. I choose to go with you.”
Cas cackles in delight.
They stop at a door that wasn’t there previously (but that’s not an uncommon occurrence in Heaven).
“Hey Dad?” Mikey says suddenly. “I’ve got a question I’ve been meaning to ask You for some time. What was it like looking for Yourself?”
Cas blinks at the archangel. “It was...very existential.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
*moans* Why do all my serious stories end up silly? Whyyyyy!!!!!!!! *wails and thumps keyboard in agony* fasjdhiorfhweavkn
How the heck did I end up with this from that prompt?! This is what I get for not planning the story all the way through before I started writing it.
*hides under a rock*
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Glad i found the other two parts!
I love this line You know everyone’s going to pick on him now, don’t you?” so true! LOL
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I'm glad you found them too!
Hehe, I wanted to punch Zach in the face so badly. And then Dean stabbed him through the throat, so that made it okay. But in the 5.04 AU, he was still alive so I had to fix it! Humiliation all the way!
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And yeah, Zach had it coming!
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See, that was the question I originally wanted to explore
So do it! You can always right more, and you can always start a new story! : )
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Hehe, I sort of did, and then I turned him into God. *facepalm* I guess I could always write a At The End Of It All, Part 2.2 or something, haha!
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( it is gory though, be forewarned)
First attempt http://community.livejournal.com/ohsam/148398.html?thread=1129134#t1129134
Second http://community.livejournal.com/ohsam/148398.html?thread=1129902#t1129902
It was the same type of thing though. I wrote the first attempt ( which was tyring to adhere strictly to the prompt) and then my brain kept going and was like - no you should have done this, and this and this instead, so i did.
In other words - go for it : )
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Hmm...maybe, if I think of something better.
Thanks!
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Thanks, I'm not quite sure what to make of Chuck!God, so I've used regular Chuck a couple of times, and divine Chuck in some other stories.
Now, Cas!God, I can sort of see. I mean, even Dean thought it was a possibility in 5.22 (I guess he would have believed that anything was possible at that moment).
Cas is very different from all the other angels on the show that we've seen. He's very socially-challenged compared to them, for one thing. I mean, simple sayings, references, sarcasm--they all go (or used to go) straight over his head, while all the other angels get them, and even make up their own. That's a little bit suspicious, don't you think?
So this AU rocks. We can has?
Hmm, I'll think about it. Thank you!
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I seem to be able to compartmentalize my AUs. I haven't written them all out yet, but I have whole storylines planned out in my head that don't overlap with other stories. Hmm...speaking of, I should really get them typed out before I suffer amnesia and forget my meticulously planned out multiple AUs with gritty, yet lovable characters. *snerk*
Yes, I believe I mentioned the "autistic angel" somewhere in my story. Uh-huh, here ya go:
"I gave Myself a fresh memory and went undercover as an autistic angel and look where I ended up.”
Heh, hope I didn't offend anybody. *points out Dean's lack of political correctness as inspiration*
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