Fic: For Me This is Heaven (Dean/Castiel)
**
The fight can be heard across the entirety of the city. Most in them hardly pay it any attention, a slight pause in their activities before they’re twitching their wings in irritation and going on with their day.
Michael and Lucifer are arguing again.
Castiel has the misfortune of being nearby them, privy to the way their wings flare out and if their voices can carry outside the walls of the citadel they all reside in then up close, they are sharp and painful. He wonders if there’s a way to escape the building without being noticed and beside him, he thinks Anael is wondering the same. They share a look and hunker down a little over their work, wings arching above and around them in a futile attempt to drown out the shouts of an old tired argument.
“You’re jealous, Michael,” Lucifer will sneer. And Michael will snap his wings at Lucifer in anger and claim to be the better of them. “I am a good son,” Michael will say, “I do what’s told of me.”
Castiel could recite the words in his head.
“Please,” Lucifer will scoff next, “They all like me better than you.”
“You think they’d get dizzy from going around in circles,” Anael whispers to him and Castiel smiles. He won’t laugh; their work is delicate, carving sigils into the armor of the cities guardians. They spend some extra time on their own and the dragons of Castiel’s are a tracery of powerful Enochian. He gazes at them a little too prideful and nearly manages to drown the heated argument out until Anael's wing collides with the back of his head.
“Anna…” he starts to warn but she cuts him off.
“Listen.”
The alarm in her voice makes Castiel tune back into the argument across the citadel. It’s the first time their fight has gone beyond harsh but ultimately consolable words.
“A challenge,” Michael says and now his voice has gone soft but still it carries to Castiel and Anael and indeed, to the entirety of the Host. They can’t not hear one of their generals make such an important and altering declaration.
Lucifer frowns and appears as taken aback by it as Castiel feels. “You must be joking.”
Michael never kids. “I am done with this, Lucifer. A challenge and I'll show you who He made in a better image.” Michael doesn't wait for the response; he turns and walks away, a flare of his wings because the brothers have always been dramatic. It's never come to anything past that.
There have been rumblings though. Quiet whispers in privacy. The great garden below them thrives with new life and occasionally angels are caught looking over the edge. From their city into the new ones that spring up below with creatures that are so like them and so different. The new child of their father who leaves his first ones unchecked because surely they're old enough. They can watch the city and each other, except Michael and Lucifer have always fought.
Lucifer is one of those caught peering over the edge into the abyss. Watching the greenery below, the beauty of it that they don't hold here in Heaven, in their own city. Which is beauty but not color. All is silver and gold and marble. While those same colors in the cities below hold a plethora more, here they do not. All their wings are silver and all their eyes are gold. All their clothes and their skin and their hair is marble and all that means here is gray. Below, those colors hold a tracery of others threaded in to make them stand out vibrantly.
Castiel had stood on the bridge once, where a waterfall careens over the cliffs and down into mist. When the mist parts, the water falls away into nothing and below, he had seen the new cities for the first time. Lucifer had joined him on the bridge and Castiel had stepped back from the edge, head bowed demurely to his superior but Lucifer's arm had found his shoulders and drawn him back.
"Do not be afraid," Lucifer told him and so together they had looked, with the spray and the mist from the waterfall ghosting along their wings.
"They are..." Castiel started and stopped, unsure if he should admit his thoughts but Lucifer must read his mind.
"Beautiful. And spoiled."
Castiel had glanced at him in surprise but he shouldn't be really. That Lucifer in that moment sounded like Michael, who has always been so jealous. They are more alike than they will ever admit, always striving to rise and become more than they're meant to. In the end, Castiel knows it will come to a battle the same way all of them know and it's there he chooses his own side, falling in line with the awe in Lucifer's gold eyes. The sympathy and the brotherhood of them.
Lucifer watches the activity below with a sort of longing. For their color and their freedom, perhaps. For the attention that falls on them even if they're unaware of it. Michael watches Lucifer with his gaze thoughtful and eyes narrowed. And on their last fight, as his parting words before he leaves the citadel, he tosses back over his shoulder:
"If you like them so much, Lucifer, maybe you should join them."
The challenge is met. Michael and Lucifer will finish their rivalry the way they were always meant to, on a battle field like the warriors they are.
Castiel doesn't expect to get drug into it but with Michael gone, he and Anael are alone with Lucifer in the citadel and his gaze falls on them.
"Castiel. Anael." They stand, setting the armor they'd been working on aside and approach. They're two of the first to give Lucifer their allegiance for they too are curious about the new worlds below.
**
The battle is held on the fortnight. Every angel is braced as if they will be the ones to walk into the citadel but there are only four that will. The rest of the Host is locked out but though they cannot see the fight, they can feel it. Those attuned to Michael, to preached defense of the golden city, will feel his determination and his pride. Those attuned to Lucifer and his sympathy and his curiosity, will feel his sorrow in this act and behind that as well, pride. In the end, it's what drives them both.
There are four angels of power within the city. Archangels who command the rest. Two generals and two beneath them, waiting to take the place of a fallen. These two walk in with Lucifer and Michael and they stand on the edges of the citadel, at the North and South. They have their allegiances as well, made on the same speeches and politics as every other angel's decision.
Raphael stands to the south and if Lucifer falls, he'll rise by Michael's side. Gabriel stands to the north and wishes secretly that Lucifer would fall so that Gabriel could go along with him to the cities below. With their colors and temptations that have snared a great many of them now. Perhaps not so secretly, when he had confessed to Anael and she in turn to Castiel.
When the battle is engaged, it draws out for an age. For weeks, months. Angels are tireless in Heaven but Michael and Lucifer push the boundaries of that, pressing until one of them falters. Lucifer is the first to bend beneath his brother’s hands and Castiel feels Lucifer's shock as the first spark of pain blooms out along his wings. With that first spark, the fight is lost. Lucifer loses his control for a moment and he finds himself cast from the citadel and indeed, from the city. To fall to the Earthly planes and the first one to fold his wings and follow is Gabriel.
Michael calls the rest of them forward, Lucifer and his followers to be thrown to the ground. God does not love them more, Michael says and Castiel dons his armor and the golden gates of the city slam shut on them. They'll never open again.
**
They fall scattered among the Earth, hundreds of them, and Lucifer calls for them to join him. They are disoriented, weakened from their fall and the unexpected affect of the different planes. Some of them crane their heads upwards, trying to catch sight of the gates they know should be there. But all they see is blue sky and a bright sun that hurts their eyes in its intensity.
Their wings, light and flexible in Heaven, are heavy and constraining here. They cannot appear where they want at will and instead flying is slow and tedious and their wings grow tired. Castiel had never known exhaustion before. He had never known his wings to ache or for the feathers to turn dirty and torn.
There are all manner of strange creatures here as well, ones he had not seen when looking down. The color of the world had blinded him maybe; he hadn't paid attention to the way of the animals that inhabited it. Some are harmless and flee when they see him, others bare long teeth but they too run when he flares his wings. And others...the ones that he had watched, the new child of his father's creation. They are more like angels in their appearance and in their speech, in their intelligence. Castiel thinks to approach them.
He's been following Lucifer's call for days and getting no closer. Occasionally he can sense other angel's across the link but he can't tell how near they are. All of them push to Lucifer but as it is, Castiel has not rested for days. He's never needed to. Now he stops, finds a cove of trees that will keep him sheltered from the elements for he has discovered as well that the heavy rainfall water-logs his wings and renders them useless and heavier than ever. They do provide some warmth from the chill of the night as he wraps them around him.
It's the first time he's needed sleep and he wakes to the sound of men nearby.
He unfurls his wings and listens to their laughter and their peaceful voices, the movement of the horses they ride. They're nearing him and Castiel quickly moves to reveal himself to them, to ask their assistance. He steps through the trees with his unwieldy wings held in close to his back but when he opens his mouth to speak to them, the noise is so startlingly great that the horses spook and the birds above rush from the trees. It's the first time Castiel tries to speak and he snaps his mouth shut with a click of his teeth.
It's too late. The men's ears bleed and Castiel watches wide-eyed as their horses throw them to the ground and leave with a clatter of hooves on the rocky ground. The men are on their knees, pained and shocked, and that's when another angel enters the scene from above. Castiel recognizes the archangel Gabriel and with swift moves, Gabriel cuts the men's throats with the blade he carries.
"Why did you do that?" Castiel cries, forgetting his voice again but there's no men around this time and any animals have fled.
"They'd only have bled to death." Gabriel's voice is more controlled, a steady tenor that speaks of practice. "There are too many things about this world we didn't know." Gabriel looks to the men at his feet, frustrated and then shakes it off. "Come along, we're nearly to Lucifer."
Nearly is many more sunsets away. They need to stop continuously to rest their wings and sleep. Hunger and thirst plague them both until Gabriel discovers they can drink from the streams and that many of the animals in the forests are good to eat. They stumble along and learn as they can and Castiel counts the days and thirteen go by before he and Gabriel, joined by then by several others, find Lucifer at the base of a rocky outcropping.
Lucifer greets each and every one of them, praising their loyalty and reassuring them. Castiel greatly misses home and he thinks even Gabriel will agree with the sentiment. When finally they are all gathered, nearly a thousand strong, among the rocks and the caves and the trees, Lucifer restores order to them. An angel isn't much without order, without a voice to listen to. Lucifer is theirs.
He questions them all about what they've learned on their journey here and knowledge is shared and stored and discussed. Made into something they can all understand.
Gabriel speaks of their voices and agrees to teach the others control. Anael speaks of the animals and it's Anael who makes the discovery of the color that has begun to bleed into their wings. Her silver wings have begun to molt and replacing them are deep red feathers. Others express similar findings and when Castiel is on his own, he takes the time to examine his own wings and finds new feathers, deepest blue and nearly black.
Everything around them is changing.
There is talk of the men, the idea of contact with the creatures that had caught their attention in the beginning. A scouting party of three angels is sent out. One does not come back; another comes back with her wing torn and bleeding, stuck through with arrows. They learn about death and mortality and the cruelty of men.
Lucifer takes them far out of human reaches. Towards the North, where ice and snow cover the landscape and no humans live. But the angels thrive in the cold and here they construct a city from the ice. Here where even the white snow holds a thousand colors within it. Where their wings turn every shade, where they lose the tint of their skin and their hair and their eyes. If it weren't for the wings from their backs, Castiel would mistake them all for men.
They grow weak and all around them, in the lands to the south, mankind grows stronger.
Lucifer grows delusional and spends many hours staring upwards to the sky, searching out the gates. What would he do if he found them?
**
Gabriel is the first angel to leave.
Lucifer speaks to him one day while Castiel guards the entrance to his temple and here, like in the citadel of Heaven, even quiet voices carry. "It's those things out there."
"This world was made for them. We're the ones that need to adapt to it," Gabriel answers. It's a tired argument, like the one between Michael and Lucifer. Lucifer's pride won't let him see Gabriel's options. The ones where they need to learn, to change.
"Gabriel, you were always so laid back. Very feng shui of you, stand back and let it happen. But they're sucking the energy from us. All of them grow strong and we grow weak." He gestures with a flick of fingers to his own pitch black wings, blacker than Castiel's, there's no real color to them at all. "We need to strike before they do. Don't argue, you know they will, they already hunt us like trophies when they get the chance."
There's no arguing with him and here, the way things are, his word is law. Gabriel leaves, shaking his head and pauses as he passes Castiel. The pitying look Gabriel gives him makes Castiel's wings lower uncomfortably and then Gabriel is squeezing a hand against his shoulder. Gabriel's eyes are more expressive here than ever in Heaven. Golden-brown to Castiel's blue. Everything keeps changing.
"Good luck with him. I'm not sticking around to see this all go to hell."
Gabriel walks from the temple and he spreads his brilliant white and gold wings, kicks up a flurry of snow around his feet and it's the last Castiel sees of him for a very long time.
**
Gabriel might be the first to leave but he's far from the last.
Six others leave in his stead, following him into the jungle of humanity.
Lucifer sends out scouting parties with more frequency. "Learn the ways of the humans. Learn their language and their customs. Learn their weapons." He sends the most loyal, those who won't falter from their path, won't act as traitors like Gabriel. Lucifer grows more and more angry.
Castiel has always been loyal. He had given his word, his armor and his trust to Lucifer. Sometimes he thinks it's naive to believe that Lucifer will handle this trust delicately. Once he would have but as this world changes all of them, it changes Lucifer the most. Castiel finds his loyalty wavering at points, as he's sent with others into the realm of man and they learn their words and how to control their voices. But they also learn the best ways to attack from above, with speed and fury.
Man learns of them as well, of their weaknesses and it isn't long before Castiel sees an angel ensnared in nets and dragged down to the ground. The angel screams but their voices have turned weak from disuse and the men only flinch. Castiel signals his team to move in, to fly to their brother's aid and before they can get there a blade is shoved home through the throat of the angel and it dies in a blast of white light.
Castiel and the others scatter.
It's the first time he sees an angel die.
**
Somewhere there is a traitor.
Man has come into contact with their words and the power in them. With their armor and their metal. Both the advantage and the weakness of their wings. Men steal their light and suck them dry, and every one of them feels it when it happens. Men will kill them all!
Lucifer preaches all of this and Castiel, like many of the others, finds himself nodding along.
It's only a short time later that Castiel and his newly formed hunting party come across one of the early deserters. The angel is only recognizable as such by the armor it wears, by the way it's standing in an open valley and screaming Lucifer's name in their tongue. Its wings are gone. Burnt away to nothing and blood oozes thick and sluggish from where the wings used to be.
Castiel kills it and as it dies in his arms, he hates humans with a passion to rival Lucifer's.
The first raid on the humans comes after. Where the wind from their wings beats down their houses and destroys their harvests. On their first raid, they kill thirty humans before a single angel falls and the flash of light again scatters the rest of them.
They return largely triumphant to Lucifer's presence, a victory made more so when an angel steps forward before them all. Zachariah who gives loyalty that rivals Castiel's but does so for his own gain. He holds in the cusp of his hands a golden light, so bright and swirling with colors that it rivals Heaven.
"I killed the human and this was in its eyes. So I took it."
Lucifer is transfixed. He dips his fingers into the orb of light and the reaction is like a sun exploding. It crawls up his arm and into his eyes and every angel takes a step back at the sudden oppression of his restored power. He cries out for more, that the humans rob them of their light - their grace - and so they will rob humans of theirs. Their souls, their strength. And the angels will take it for their own to keep them strong.
The hunts continue but as the angels grow better at attacking; the humans grow smarter at defending themselves. Gone are wood buildings, replaced with stone. Stone houses to protect the people inside. Stone walls to protect the crops and livestock. New weapons, to launch heavy nets into the air.
Castiel's wings make him perfect to scope the cities first, to find the layout of their defenses, to plot the guard stations and their weak points. They always attack at night and Castiel's wings are a match for the sky.
Anael stops him once, her hair turned fire red to match her wings, and Castiel thinks her stunning. They all are now. "What are you doing, Castiel? This isn't you. To kill without remorse or thought?"
Her words are unsettling but Castiel is firm in his loyalty, his conviction of Lucifer's words. "We have orders."
"You're hunting them without discrimination."
"As they would do to us."
"Not all of them."
He doesn't see Anael within the walls of the ice city again after that. Though he does find her once for they had been close within Heaven. They'd built their armor together, they'd traded words and smiles which had seemed rare before but were more so now. He sees her in the arms of a human male. They lie together in a creek and he strokes her wings and she spreads them for him. They're laughing and happy, and Castiel leaves the scene confused, instead of killing the man and bringing Anael home as he should have.
The sight leaves him troubled and torn. Anael's words stay in his mind.
Had he made a mistake?
**
Lucifer orders such traitors punished. A quick death is too good for them, consorts of humans, who feed man the knowledge and tools of the angels. Castiel knows that this is untrue, Anael would not betray them. He holds his tongue for fear of the new prison that Lucifer has constructed.
The cursed oil is found here, an all too human creation, which Lucifer turns on his own. Other things as well and a new language is formed, a new series of symbols to bind them. To pain them.
It's only a matter of time before the humans get their hands on these as well and Lucifer has no one to blame but himself.
Castiel keeps his head down and does as he's told. Coward that he is. He watches. He watches Lucifer and the decay of his mind as he consumes the human souls that were never meant for them. As he destroys angels with that same madness. He watches the humans and finds that slowly he begins to envy them. The humans fight to protect their own, they are family. The angels are only a hierarchy and all of them too frightened and cowed to challenge the top. Castiel watches the city and watches the raids where the angels fall with none to replace them and wonders what will become of them.
"You're not down there with the others."
A voice startles Castiel, as he stares down at a raid, high above the cloud-cover careful to stay out of the flashes of light from the dying. Gabriel hovers behind him, splendid as ever. Castiel turns his gaze back down to the fight below them.
"I find things aren't as simple as I once thought."
"You know I had more hope for you. You're slower than I thought."
Castiel frowns at the insult. "I'm unsure what to do."
"Figure it out for yourself. I'm not gonna tell you. It's missing the point if I just tell you."
"Where have you been?"
Gabriel shrugs. "Here and there. Communing with nature. You wanna know a great human invention? Candy. Try some. Every angel that's given in to it has a sweet tooth." Gabriel winks at him before he grows serious again. "Stop being so scared to take a chance."
Castiel's frown deepens and Gabriel leaves. It's all Castiel can do not to follow and to turn his attention back to the carnage.
**
Not long after, he hears news of Gabriel being taken down and held.
He spends weeks after thinking over what Gabriel had said. He seeks solitude in the forests, taking in the colors that had once caused joy in him. They haven't now for a long time and he stays until he finds it again. The shades of the leaves, the breeze, the song of the animals. He opens his wings to the winds, stands with his feet in a cold stream. He remembers Anael and her human. Gabriel's clear eyes with no aid from a human soul.
It's there that he makes his decision, before he ever meets Dean who spares his life and Castiel stays his hand in return. He is offered candy and yes, indeed, he has a sweet tooth.
**
Castiel is no longer talking to the others in the room, his gaze fixed on Dean's. “There is an energy in the Earth that a wise angel can use. Slower than a soul but more lasting and stronger in the long run. That's what Gabriel tried to tell me and others have discovered on their own. Those souls are not ours.” He lifts his gaze finally from Dean and takes in John. “And our grace is not yours.”
John and the other two are standing back, watching with contemplative frowns, and for a moment Dean feels hope spark in him. John looks between him and Castiel and his gaze softens. For a moment. Before John shakes his head and looks away.
“We must look after our people.” He turns to the general of Sarnia. “Call together volunteers and organize the mission. We ride north to the ice fields.”
“Dad…” Dean starts to protest, even knowing how useless that will be. John sees in black and white and all it comes down to is protecting his people. Even if this is not the way to do that. Winchesters have stubbornness issues.
“The way is not passable for man,” Castiel tries and John turns on him, fire in his gaze.
“This is a war. And we fight it on any front we have available. Or do you have a better idea, angel?” He sneers the word like a vile curse.
Dean is sure Castiel will back down; the angel's eyes waver a moment, but his gaze holds firm and he licks his lips. “Perhaps. I have no wish for the deaths that would come from a full out confrontation. Men cannot reach our city and men cannot kill this angel who leads us. I could not kill him. But there is one here who can.”
“Gabriel?” Dean finds himself asking in surprise, wishing he hadn't when all eyes turn on him.
But Castiel nods. “He's been waiting. It was never up to him to start things.” He looks back to John, silent and watchful. “Extend me the same trust your son has. You'll kill me if I've lied.”
“You're right I will.”
Dean almost wants to shout victory as John does what he never has before and gives in. His gaze wavers between Dean and Castiel, and in that gaze he weighs the options which are so few. Dean's hand lands on Castiel's shoulder, grin threatening his face as he glances over to Bobby who shrugs in agreement.
“What's the worse we can lose?”
The Sarnia general grunts reluctantly but John just sighs, eyes lingering on Dean's hand touching the angel and Dean's smile fades. “Anything happens to my son and I will end you,” John says. Then they cut Castiel's binds and douse the ring of fire.
Castiel cringes as he stretches out his limbs and his wings, standing stiffly from the chair and his wings fill the room until they're wrapping around Dean and Dean finds himself finally grinning as Castiel pulls him into a strong embrace.
“I was such a fool for so long,” he whispers against Dean's mouth. “I apologize for that.”
“You weren't the only one. Come on, let's go save the world.”
**
It's dusk when they leave the jail and even with hunters like John and Bobby standing behind them, there's a whole city filled to the brim with black-and-white minded hunters. John throws loops of rope around Castiel's wings and he and Bobby lead the angel as one captured through the town towards the stadium. Dean doesn't miss the way John pulls the general of Sarnia aside and he catches the quiet words for him to gather men, to be ready in case this last ditch effort goes wrong. But they will end this soon, one way or another. Dean ducks his head and walks behind them, while Castiel walks with his head up and proud despite the ropes, and the scattering of people they pass cringe away.
The ropes come off as they reach the stadium and Bobby and John stand back, hands hovering over the hilts of their blades. Castiel ignores them to stride forward and Dean jogs to catch up, whispering as he glances around the ledges of the stadium. “There's probably about a dozen hunters closing in up there, you know that, right?”
But Castiel only smiles at him for a moment before his attention is taken by the cage doors and he steps to the one with the archangel. The cage opens under his touch and the dim evening light spills in to illuminate the archangel's wings. They're arched to attack but they settle once Gabriel catches sight of Castiel and he steps out into a waiting hug.
"I was about to come rescue you," Gabriel tells him as they step back.
"I can take care of myself."
At the sound of their voices, the other angel's push open their cage doors and step out. Castiel takes them all in, sharing a fond smile with Anael when he comes to her. It's only a minute for the reunion before Castiel is snapping back to attention. "We must leave. Immediately. The hunters have discovered the location of the city."
The angel's snap to attention, taking in John and Bobby in the background. John's hand is raised in what Dean knows is a sign to hold other hunters back. John is keeping his word, giving them this chance and they can't afford to screw it up.
Gabriel takes in the situation, eyes quickly calculating before his wings settle and the other angels follow him. "Oh great, and who gave them that bright idea?" Gabriel demands and Castiel looks anywhere but at the archangel. "Got anymore while you're at it?"
At that, Castiel does look at Gabriel and if Dean were the archangel, even he'd be backing down under that stare. "Yes, actually." Castiel folds gracefully down to the ground, drops to one knee before Gabriel and bows his head, wings sweeping around to either side of him. Gabriel stares on in shock the other angels follow suit, bowing before him, exposing their wings.
The archangel looks like he's half ready to bolt as he stares at the four angels at his feet and Dean steps back when Gabriel looks across to him, hands raised. "Don't look at me; I'm not getting my knees dirty for you."
That gets a bark of laughter from Gabriel. "Get up, all of you get up. A mutiny, huh?" he asks Castiel when the angels are back on their feet and Castiel gives a single nod. "Alright. Let's get out of here then."
Castiel turns to Dean first, question in his eyes. "You know I'm coming. I'm behind you, Cas, no matter what crazy ass idea you've got in mind," Dean says while Castiel touches his face. Gabriel rolls his eyes in the background and pretends to gag. "That's who you wanna put in charge, really?" Dean says and Castiel’s eyes crease with amusement.
John's voice stops the angels from leaving, Castiel's wings resettling on his back as the older hunter walks into the midst of them, still wary and looking to each of the angels in turn. There's an angel blade at his hip but he wisely keeps his hand away from it. Dean can see how on edge the angels quickly become in his presence. John Winchester carries a reputation among the angels as well but Castiel stops any action they might take by greeting John with a respectful bow of his head. Dean catches Gabriel muttering “crafty” from behind them.
For a long moment, John just watches them and Dean thinks he might see a whole new level of appreciation there. It's respect that he takes Castiel in with. “Don't forget our agreement, angel. You bring him back whole.”
“I will. By my own life if I have to.”
It's enough of an answer to satisfy John though when he leaves, it's still with a warning, “Don't think the hunters won't be following you,” and he goes to gather an army in preparation.
“You know...” Castiel starts though his resigned gaze says he knows where this will go. “This is between angels, Dean. You don't need-”
“Shut up, feathers. I'm going with you.”
“And so are we.”
Dean looks and there's Jo. Sam and the twins all stand armed and ready beside her. Even the horses are saddled and there. Impala pulls from them and Dean welcomes the press of her nose into her hands. The angels don't scare her.
Stubbornness issues. Dean and Castiel wisely don't try to argue with them.
**
They ready themselves under the angels' instructions. Dress warmly. Bring the angel blades which can be easily hidden beneath thick furs and nothing else. The humans will slow them but perhaps this united front and this new generation are the best offer they can make to the angels who hide beneath the shadow of Lucifer's wings. Look at us. Look at how it can be. Dean looks at Castiel, donned now in his armor, and he sees how it could be.
Suddenly standing before Dean is a creature regal and powerful. Dean almost wants to bow to him the way Castiel and the others had to Gabriel. He kisses him instead.
“Gabriel can do this right? He'll kill Lucifer and then the others..."
“Will bow before him. And he will be a righteous leader and there will be peace again.” But there's doubt in Castiel's gaze. Dean meets it with silent question until Castiel looks down. “But Lucifer has consumed so many souls and Gabriel none.”
“You could help him.”
Castiel shakes his head. “That is not our law. For the others to follow Gabriel he must defeat Lucifer on his own. He'll select a second to take his place if he cannot battle. But then all would be lost for there is no other archangel or any angel who could stand up to Lucifer.”
Silence falls between them, uncertain and heavy, until Dean thumps his forehead down against the breastplate of Castiel's armor.
"How were they captured? I mean...they're all smart and hey, archangel."
"The same way I did. They allowed themselves close to humans." Castiel smiles and brushes his fingers through Dean's hair. "The last time I saw Anna, she was happy with a man. She said he was caught and killed for treason and they captured her when she was blinded in anger."
"Jesus... I never knew it was that bad."
"We'll fix it."
"Or die trying?" Dean tries to joke but there's only silence in the wake.
**
The way to the ice fields is long. The trail winds high into the mountains where Cansae rests at the base, up steep rock faces and along narrow canyon paths.
It takes a week to make it to the trail head, where the path snakes up a gully and into thick woods. The angels are anxious, wanting to move faster than the hunters and their horses can, where every hour they spend winding through trees could be another one where Lucifer discovers their intentions. But Gabriel holds them back and Castiel stands firmly at his side. If this is about anything, then it’s about uniting two races and they need to approach Lucifer together for that. The city of angels and the cities of man need to see what they can do.
The angels take it in turns to circle ahead or back, checking the way and bringing along intel of the path or the army of men sneaking in behind them. Always John Winchester's army trails them but he keeps to his word and stays at a distance.
Ahead of them, towards the angels, Israfel - the grey-winged angel - says that Lucifer is beginning to stir.
Dean stares at Castiel for a long moment but the words don't quite want to connect. They weren't fast enough. “How long do we have?” They can at least warn John and the hunters, but Castiel shakes his head.
“Not long enough.”
“Then I guess we're going flying,” Gabriel speaks up and he's already standing with his hands on Jo's shoulders when Dean looks over. It takes a moment for those words to click in Dean's mind as well and then his eyes are widening and he's shaking his head, taking a step back from Castiel.
“Oh no. No no no.”
But they don't have the luxury of argument and soon enough, Dean finds himself caught up in Castiel's arms, sure he'll throw up all over the angel's wings while the tree tops skim by too quickly under him. Jo is busy whooping delight in a precarious dangle from Gabriel's arms and when Dean chances a glance to the side where Sam is with Anael, he's grinning. The twins are as well and Dean hates them all.
Dean forgets his fear eventually, watching as he dangles from Castiel's arms. The air grows colder, the clouds low and thick. Snow begins to build up until that's all there is and there in the distance, shinning with golden light, a city rises up on the barren landscape.
“We carved it from the rock and ice for years,” Castiel whispers into his ear.
“It looks so quiet.”
“It used to be full of life. Now Lucifer suppresses us and those left within the walls wait in fear of him.”
The city looms in front of them for hours before they begin to get closer. Gabriel draws them to the side, hides them in an ice cavern where the angel's stretch and rest their tired wings. It's freezing even with the heavy furs and cloaks he and the others wear and Dean shivers as soon as he leaves the warmth of Castiel's arms. The cold doesn't seem to have any effect on the angels whatsoever.
Castiel's wing wraps around him again, feathers insulating against the chill breeze that finds its way into the cavern.
“How's the wing?” Dean asks and Castiel grimaces.
“Sore. But we won't rest here long. And I suppose you'll want to go right up to the gates with us?” His look is patiently resigned and one that Dean has seen aimed at him many times over the years. Dean only grins in reply and Castiel nods once. “You'll stand back with Israfel and Sariel.” Castiel addresses all the hunters. “If there is danger or if the fight goes on too long, they'll take you somewhere safe.”
“And warm?” Dean doesn't like the idea of standing back and letting things happen but he knows the sense in trying to join in a fight against angels is about as much as him coming here at all. Still the angel blade is tucked away beneath his jacket and he won't let Castiel face these things alone. Screw whatever laws they have. If Castiel needs help, Dean is going to be there.
“Alright, kids. Time to get going,” Gabriel calls to them from the mouth of the cavern and the angels step up to him, expectant. “You three,” he gestures at his angels, “Watch these kids - and that one in particular,” he points at Dean, “Since I'm sure he's not gonna stay put even if I tell him to.” Gabriel makes a pointed look at Dean who straightens up stubbornly. “Castiel, you come with me.”
Castiel jolts a little in his surprise, glancing at Anael. “Someone else...”
“Nope. You or no one and we're wasting time standing around here. Let's go.” Gabriel throws them a wink and he's gone into the sky, disappearing from the cavern.
Castiel stands for a moment and Dean kind of wishes they had time for...something. Goodbye? That could be what this is but the moment he realizes it, Castiel is already gone and Dean stares across the field of ice before shaking it off. He subjects himself to being hauled along by Anael, forgetting fear of the height as he fixes his sights on Castiel.
There is a gate of thick ice and iron bars before the city and not unlike the city of Cansae, a high wall of ice surrounds it, swirling with colors like marble. Dean lays a palm against it and judges it near hard as stone before Anael is drawing him back while Gabriel stands before the gates and calls Lucifer out.
The way to the city from the gate is still long. The city itself is more like a castle, with huge pillars and towers arching towards the sky. A sudden splash of black is visible against the white and shining gold, and as it draws closer, Dean realizes it's an angel. Its wings are dark as pitch, darker than Castiel's with no hint of color. They're larger as well, larger than Gabriel's.
Lucifer. And behind him a gray angel with angry eyes that sweep over those gathered with Gabriel as they land.
“Gabriel. And Castiel, I wondered where you disappeared to,” Lucifer greets them before his eyes land on the hunters, standing back with the other three angels and Dean bristles, fists clenching, while Jo lifts her head in arrogant challenge. “I don't suppose you brought a gift to make up for your absence.”
Castiel almost jerks forward when Lucifer takes a step towards Dean, but Gabriel snaps out before he can, “I challenge you,” and everything stops again.
“You wouldn't dare.”
Gabriel rolls his eyes and steps forward, Castiel matching the stride. “I challenge you,” he says again, calm and firm.
Lucifer lets out a sharp bark of laughter. “Over these things? Which you would dare to bring to my doorstep.”
“I told you once it was us that needed to adapt. Us that invaded their world. Well some of us have and we're better for it. Look at you, Lucifer, you're insane. And you lead your followers down the same path.” Gabriel glances to the angel standing at Lucifer's side, his smoldering fury fixed on Dean.
Lucifer's eyes are blazing, white in their righteous belief that he's right. “If you like them so much, Gabriel, you'll join them in the ground. I accept your challenge.”
It's all the warning Gabriel gets to brace himself before Lucifer attacks, wings and armor plowing into Gabriel's unprotected form and every bone in Dean's body screams at him to help. Lucifer is mad and powerful. But the other angel's remain still and tense. Castiel backs out of the way but Dean can see his fingers curling in the want to help.
They use no weapon save their wings, Lucifer delivering crushing blows that Gabriel staggers under. When he tries to return them, Lucifer's armor doesn't even dent. Gabriel retreats to the sky and Lucifer follows him, the rest of them looking up so fixed on the battling angels they don't see the gray angel of Lucifer's move.
A blade flashes in his hand and Dean is unprotected for a heartbeat when the angel rushes him.
He remembers Castiel shouting his name too late in warning while Jo shoves Dean hard out of the path of the angel's wings before the ground gives way beneath him and there is burning pain through his chest. A wind like a thousand angel's wings beats all at once. He has time for one last act and he grasps his angel blade and tosses it to Castiel.
**
There are still wings all around him when Dean wakes again, warm and comforting, but they don’t stop Dean from catching his breath at how he aches all over. He moans as he shifts and the noise turns questioning when he realizes that yes, he's on a mattress. And it’s not just wings that cover him, it’s blankets. It’s not Castiel’s arm beneath his head, it’s a pillow. His pillow and his bed and the familiar feel of his room.
Dean’s eyes snap open and he’d sit bolt upright if Castiel’s wing wasn’t stretched across his chest, pinning him down. Castiel…in his room. The angel is staring down at him, propped up on one arm and bright blue eyes smiling. Castiel in his bed. Dean stares at the angel and then around his room, making sure they are where he thinks they are but though it's impossible, the surroundings remain the same.
“Cas,” Dean manages on a raspy voice. “You’re in my room. Does my dad know you’re in my room?”
“You’ve been sleeping for some time,” Castiel answers with and Dean grimaces when he presses at Castiel’s wing.
“I feel like a horse ran me over. What happened?”
Castiel pauses and then begins, “We smote the devil that was Lucifer.”
**
Lucifer breaks the rules when he allows Zachariah to act.
There are angels everywhere suddenly, flooding from the city and from behind the wall. All of them raging. Such deceit. So many lies and so much anger. They see standing with these rebel angels humans that do them no harm after so much death. So much death and there's time for one more. They call for Lucifer's blood. Betrayer to their ways.
Lucifer and Zachariah are set upon and dragged down.
The angel-killing blade is heavy in Castiel's hand until he throws it to Gabriel.
The shockwave as Gabriel shoves it into Lucifer’s throat is felt across the ice field. It is greater a light than the death of any angel has ever produced and it rumbles along the ground and brings the city of angels to ruin as the ice cracks and the rock falls to pieces.
The wall goes first. Cracks run like spider webs through the side until the entire structure crumbles. Then the city, where the great towers wobble and collapse in on themselves or fall to the side to bring down the rest. There are angels that flee the wreckage as the prison is broken open, by wing or foot. Until all is rubble and at last there is a flash of gold light as the human souls pass on.
Castiel kneels by Dean's side and the rest drop as well. All bow before Gabriel. The human hunters stare on in awe.
With all angels on their knees and the humans parting before him, Gabriel approaches Castiel, looking down at Dean with a smile. Dean's chest no longer moves, crushed beneath the wing of Zachariah. There are no white puffs of breath from his mouth. Sam kneels there as well and he begs for them to do something. Save Dean because Dean saved all of them just by getting them this chance.
Gabriel smiles at them. “All of you saved us. So I'd better return the favor.”
Castiel watches as Gabriel calls upon the pure energy of the Earth and lays his hands on Dean's chest.
**
“I died?” Dean interrupts and Castiel smiles at him.
“For a moment. And your resurrection at Gabriel's hands showed the angels the truth in what we need and reminded them of the beauty and energy we saw in this world when we first looked down on it. They'll follow him until the end now.”
“And my dad?”
“John Winchester welcomed home the victorious. And he welcomed a brand new world.”
“Is it?” Dean's head is spinning.
“It is indeed. But why don't you come outside and see?”
They walk out into the sunlight and Dean stares around them. There are angels in the skies - Sariel and another Dean doesn't recognize - a breeze in the air, but there is no panic. There are smiles and laughter and an angel across the street with a child on her back as she flies a few feet into the air while the mother looks on, a little worried but trusting. Israfel.
“I'm not still dead, am I?” Dean asks, wide-eyed.
Castiel only laughs. “You aren't in Heaven yet, Dean. But perhaps we'll be there one day. And this is a good start.”
“This is incredible.”
“Dean!” That's Sam, running up to them and there's Anael who lands at his side. “You're up!” Sam bear hugs him until Dean can't breathe anymore and when Sam backs off, John is there as well and Bobby and Gabriel.
John hugs Dean the way Sam had and Dean folds against his chest and squeezes his eyes shut as John apologizes to him. Another first, one long waited for. Then Dean is passed around and slapped on the back. Castiel fairs little better and Dean gets the idea that Castiel must have waited by his side because he's being hugged by Anael and shoved good naturally by Gabriel.
Soon neither of them can take it anymore and Dean says, “Get us out of here.”
Castiel gladly obliges, grabbing Dean under the arms and lifting them both into the sky and away. He takes them to the stables, setting Dean onto the ground and Dean has to catch the angel when he nearly falls, the both of them laughing. Angels in the city are going to take getting used to. Castiel smiles at him. “I know you prefer to ride.”
Dean does and Impala is in her stall and Dean pets her for finding her way home. He saddles her up and hauls himself onto her back.
“You know this is only a beginning. This is a revolution and there's still work to do. This city may have accepted the change but others will take time and not every angel can be trusted.”
Dean rolls his eyes at the graveness in Castiel's voice. “Later, Cas. Let's just get out of here.”
He rides Impala through the side door of the wall and Castiel flies overhead. When they get into the forest and onto the grassy stretch of trail, Dean kicks Impala to lengthen her strides into a gallop and above them, Castiel's wings span across the trees.
And Dean chases an angel through the woods.
**
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