Second Coming, for Trope Bingo
Title: Second Coming
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: G
Characters/pairings: Castiel, Rachel, Dean
Warnings (Including spoilers): Spoilers for 7.23 Survival of the Fittest, vaguely for 5.17 99 Problems
Wordcount: 931 words
Author's note: Fulfills the Trope Bingo square 'First time/ Late time,' at least sort of.
Author’s note 2: IT HAS BEEN WAY TOO LONG SINCE I FINISHED ANYTHING! Take pity on me and do some positive reinforcement.
Summary: Angels are eternal. Humans are not.
[*]
A thousand years since the reconfiguration of Heaven, the principality Oziel gazes upon the Earth from his watchtower. He does not glow in appreciation, but a few waves of grace flutter with peace. As he is always busy with his multitudinous duties, Oziel has not taken a vessel or even flown down to the Earth since he received his commission, but the sight of it is enough to grant him a much-needed respite.
Too long a time spent in contemplation, however, can turns his thoughts morose, and so he returns to his duties. Rachel, one of the few angels returned to life by Father when He returned, awaits Oziel’s attention as she always does. She has reports of the movements of the Duftshalcer, the latest of the demonic creations released upon the humans by Crowley. The King of Hell has not forgotten the offenses he suffered during the Apocalypse and its aftermath, and to this day attacks Oziel’s suppliants in revenge.
Although he can not and would not change his actions all those centuries ago, the pleas of the humans beset by Crowley’s attacks ring constantly in Oziel’s grace. The angels under his command work with the human hunters to defeat the Hell-creatures, but Crowley himself is well-protected.
Rachel is vibrating with intensity, and Oziel indicates she may give report. “He is returned!” she proclaims, grace ringing with suppressed joy.
“Who is returned?” Oziel questions. He hopes the Christ has not chosen to attend Earth again; the last time He did so a new religious sect was born, and it continues to cause a fuss amongst the humans.
“The Servant of Heaven!” Rachel informs him, seeming surprised to have to explain herself. “The Destroyer of the Leviathan! The Righteous Man!”
Oziel’s grace gives one deep ripple. “Impossible.”
“The Bell of Jerusalem rang this morning, Oziel,” she says, glowing with happiness. “It is nearly time! Should I tell the other generals that I will take over your command for the coming decades?”
Oziel manages to conceal the shudders of anxiety within himself. “Not yet. I shall… visit the planet first. I will ascertain how necessary my presence will be.”
Rachel quiets, then approaches to tangle a few waves of their grace. Only she, one of his oldest friends, would be allowed such an intimate touch. “I expected you to be more pleased,” she murmurs. “The Heavenly souls have been locked away since Father returned. You must have missed your friend.”
Oziel moves away, back to the view of the Earth. Somewhere down there is Dean’s soul. He cannot see it. “I have waited a millennia, Rachel. I don’t know…”
“You have changed, Oziel,” she admits. “But I can still see his marks in your grace.”
Oziel flares in a sudden fit of introspection, and Rachel laughs a bright yellow.
“It is subtle. I only know where to look. You need not fear this event. Go to him.”
With a last flight around the tower to soak up the eminence of Heaven, Oziel descends.
[*]
Kaihekoa Jaye is in a forest, fighting a Duftshalci with a spear when Oziel appears. The spear’s tip is ancient Chinese jade, smeared with the blood of a werewolf, but it only wounds the raptor-like monster. When the Duftshalci manages to trip the young woman with its long, spiked tail, Oziel beats his wings once, incinerating the creature instantly.
Dark blue eyes glare at Oziel from beneath raggedly cut bangs. “About time you showed up,” she spits, vitriol at odds with the tender way she touches her knee. “The psychics have only been predicting my Heavenly hunk for eight months. Gotta say, you ain’t measurin’ up just yet.”
Oziel glances down at his vessel. It is wearing the skin-tight white suit of one who works in a laboratory with technology, and is male. “My vessel is displeasing?”
Kaihekoa scoffs. “I don’t need some lab rat angel tellin’ me how to hunt. I don’t give a damn about your prophecies; I work for me, and I work for my sibling. No one else.”
She’s trying to rise by grabbing onto a tree. Oziel kneels quickly and brushes his fingers against the swollen leg joint. In an instant, the injury is gone, and Kaihekoa gasps. “Shit, I forgot about that.”
“You remember?” Oziel asks. The young woman stares down at him, lips pursed with indecisiveness. Oziel remembers that wariness, remembers it far too strongly, and feels pain.
“Yeah. I remember you.” She answers the question he didn’t know he was asking, and as she does, her soul pulses. He stares at the mark he left there so long ago, when he dragged this soul from the depths of Hell. It reaches out to him through her eyes, and his grace reaches back.
“Will you… show me your settlement?” Oziel asks awkwardly. His people skills are quite rusty.
Kaihekoa reaches out, and he takes her hand. She drags him to his feet. “Let’s start with names. I’m Koa. All the psychics would tell me about you is that you ‘go by many names,’ and the details from my past life are… sort of blurry.”
“I-” …am God’s chosen ruler of Heaven. I am Secondsun, who nearly blinded a continent in my final battle for supremacy. I am Oziel, the Might of God. I am the principality who has protected and guided humanity for a thousand years. I am the seraphim who Fell for a human. “I am Castiel. An angel of the Lord.”
She narrows her eyes. “Yeah. I remember now. Cas.”
The centuries melt away under her gaze, and Cas smiles.
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