Unexpected Destinies Chapter 189
Title: Unexpected Destinies
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,330
Summary: A revelation from Raziel provides Castiel with the perfect solution to an unresolved problem.
PRESENT
"That will be five hundred American dollars," the man said and Castiel blinked in surprise.
Dean had said that the blessed amulet might be expensive, but Castiel had no idea that it might be that expensive.
"Something wrong, Brother?" Raziel inquired in Enochian.
"Yes, I do not have sufficient funds with me for this purchase," Castiel replied in kind. "I shall have to go back to Dean in order to acquire more."
"No, that's okay, I've got this," Raziel stated, pulling out a wallet and selecting a card from it to hand over to the contact that Bobby had found.
Castiel frowned as the man processed the transaction. "You have money of your own?"
"More than I could ever possibly spend," Raziel responded. "It's from all of the times that Father wanted me to integrate myself into human society. Since I don't need to eat and don't have most of the other expenses that humans do, it has built up in various banks over time. If Dean had not already possessed similar funds from the Vatican, I would have offered him mine. I shall never use even a fraction of it all."
His brother's words made Castiel pensive and he nearly missed the merchant trying to hand him their purchase when the credit card transaction was done.
"Thank you," Castiel said absently before stepping outside with his brother.
"What's wrong, Castiel?" Raziel asked.
"You said that you wouldn't use the money yourself?"
"That's right. Why, do you need it?"
"It would not be for me."
"I don't mind, like I said, it's actually just sitting there in the banks, collecting interest. Not the safest prospect at the moment in these economic times."
"What do you mean?"
His brother laughed and Castiel knew that he was missing something, probably a human reference of some kind. "It's nothing. Who do you want to give the money to?"
"My vessel's family," Castiel explained, feeling oddly defensive so he rushed on to explain. "They've been left in a worse financial situation due to me and I promised Jimmy that I'd look after them as best I could."
"Whoa, calm down, little Brother, it's fine. I more than anyone understand the difficulties humans face and I think that it's noble of you to keep thinking of your vessel's family, not many of our brothers and sisters would."
"More these days though."
"That is true. So how did you want to do it? An inheritance from a distant relative?"
"I don't understand, can't we just give them the money?"
"No," Raziel smiled. "That would make the authorities suspicious and cause more problems for Jimmy's family than it would solve. But if we invent a reclusive relative living in another country, then it would be considered valid."
"If that is what we must do, then I'm happy to go along with it. What do I need to do first?" Castiel asked.
"Come, I'll show you."
/
Raphael watched dispassionately as Sam Winchester threw up into one of the bushes lining the side of the path. He knew that he'd have to clear it up once the human was done in order to prevent any potential contamination of the timeline, but that was a choice that he'd made when deciding not to shield the human as much as he could have during their trip through time.
"Oops," Raphael said, knowing that he had to give some explanation for why the trip here was so much worse than the one home would be. "It appears that I misjudged the shielding necessary to prevent an impact on your system."
The human attempted to glare at him but the effect was totally ruined by the face that Sam had to turn back to vomit some more. Raphael smiled before turning to look around. As much fun as it was to toy with the one who had caused his bond brother so much pain, they did also have a job to do here. Though the Forbidden Blossom could be grown anywhere in the Hanging Gardens, it would be best if they put it somewhere slightly hidden to ensure that the plant wasn't noticed and pulled or its blossoms plucked before their return.
"Misjudged, right," Sam muttered under his breath and Raphael wasn't sure if the human had meant for him to overhear it or not.
"Yes," Raphael replied as innocently as he could. "If I simply shielded you as normal, I risked ruining the magical properties of the herbs."
It wasn't true, but Winchester wouldn't know that so Raphael knew that he was safe. Besides, at worst Sam would complain to Dean and while his bond brother might pretend to be upset with him, he knew that Michael's vessel wouldn't really mean it. Dean might actually approve on some level even. And, if not, he doubted his bond brother would misunderstand the reason why he'd felt compelled to do it in the first place.
By now, Sam Winchester had recovered from the upset to his system and was instead staring around in awe. The reaction confused Raphael for a moment before he remembered what Castiel had said about how humans of the present weren't even sure anymore if the Hanging Gardens had actually existed or whether they were nothing more than a myth. The ability of humanity to forget things like that was utterly incomprehensible to him even though he knew human memory to be fallible. Surely those who had seen the gardens had left behind documentation of its existence. How did those get lost?
"Wow, this is... it's..." Sam began, trailing off in awe.
"This way," Raphael stated simply, having found a spot that seemed suitable.
Not checking to see if the human was following, Raphael set off for it, wishing once more that he could have brought either Dean or Kelly with him instead. Even his bond brother's cousin would have been preferable, but as Castiel had pointed out, Sam was the one most likely to get the pronunciation right the fastest. Plus, Raziel had also stated that humans tended to get desperate and made stupid decisions if they couldn't see the chance to gain forgiveness. His brother's explanation of why that was hadn't made much sense to him but he trusted that Raziel knew what he was talking about, especially since Castiel appeared to agree with their older brother.
"Where are we going?" Sam asked, slightly out of breath as the boy caught up with him.
"Somewhere more secluded, off the main path," Raphael replied curtly.
"To keep them from seeing us?"
"No, I have already hidden us from the view of any other humans. I cannot do the same with the plant though without compromising the properties of the maturing Forbidden Blossom."
"So why can you hide us like that, but not the shielding?"
"Degrees of interference and power."
"Oh," Sam replied, not sounding entirely convinced even to Raphael's inexperienced ear.
"It's like the difference between being able to bring you here but not being able to handle the herbs."
Which was true, it just didn't mean that Raphael had to lower his shielding as much as he had done. Winchester's suspicions didn't bother him as he knew that the human was suspicious of him even when he hadn't done anything wrong, so he figured that he might as well do something to earn the suspicion rather than not. Raphael soon reached his chosen spot and was pleased to see that the miniature trees planted here had been spread far enough apart for them to be able to plant the seeds among them and still have the seedlings be hidden from sight, even from above as they were on the highest level of the gardens.
"Prepare and consecrate the earth here," Raphael instructed as he pulled the vial filled with the seeds of the three fruits that he'd collected from the Garden of Eden and washed in the Water of Life out of his pocket.
"And what are you going to do?" Sam demanded, eyes trained on the vial that he held.
"Bless the seeds."
"All of them?"
"Yes, seeds from fruit borne in the Garden are quite infertile outside of Eden. Washing them in the Water of Life increases the odds of success, but most will still not germinate on Earth."
That seemed to satisfy the human and Raphael turned his attention to blessing the seeds in his Father's name. His job was far shorter than that of Sam Winchester and he pondered Michael's observation of how this spell appeared to only be possible if angels and humans worked together. It made him wonder what his Father's plan was even as he marveled at how suited it was to their situation despite having been dictated and written down so long ago. It was just one more piece in a massive jigsaw puzzle slowly coming together exactly according to plan.
The only problem was that it wasn't the plan that their Father had originally told them about. Raphael wasn't sure what to think of that. It was a strange juxtaposition of proof both for and against his Father's omniscience. The fact that the scrolls had been there, protected by his bond brother's family for generations and were so perfectly suited for their purpose spoke to his Father's power and omniscience, and yet the fact that they needed it at all proved that his Father could be wrong as well as it meant that they stood a chance of averting the long predicted and ordained Apocalypse. The thought that this spell could be a hoax designed simply to get them to confront Lucifer and thereby hasten along the prophesized fight between Michael and Lucifer occurred to him, but he soon dismissed it. Not only would there still be far too many inconsistencies with the foreseen Apocalypse, but then Castiel would not have been brought back not once but twice for helping to prevent the Apocalypse in the first place.
It was all just so frustrating and Raphael wished that his Father would just tell them what He wanted them to do. He would gladly obey and do it, whatever it was. All if this deciding for themselves was hard and filled with uncertainty. Michael's recent admission to him that his brother was starting to suspect that this might be precisely why their Father was doing it terrified him in a lot of ways. Neither of them had shared this thought with Dean yet, not quite sure how their new bond brother would react. He'd brought it up with Kelly, though, and her fearful reaction had made him sorry that he'd done so. All of the time that he'd spent with Castiel's bond mate had made him lose sight of the fact that most humans would consider any such actions on the part of his Father quite terrifying, even if they hadn't been fully sure that they believed just a short while ago. He would not be making that same mistake again as he had absolutely no desire to frighten Kelly.
The swell of magic returned Raphael's attention to the task at hand and he had to admit that Sam Winchester was good with the necessary pronunciation. There was a lot of pride that went with the skill though and that he liked a whole lot less, not that he could speak about that particular sin all too much himself. Dean had pointed out, though, that those who were prone to a particular fault could often see it easily in others (something about pots and kettles and the color black that he hadn't quite gotten) so Raphael knew that he was right even if he wasn't particularly good at reading humans in other ways yet.
Once the ground had been consecrated and the necessary herbs mixed into the loose top soil, Raphael carefully planted the Forbidden Blossom seeds and said another quick prayer over them. Along with some water, that was all that they could do. Now it was up to Father whether one of the seeds actually took hold and germinated.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Sam questioned.
"No," Raphael replied, rising to his feet once more.
Winchester sighed and did what Raphael was pretty sure Dean termed 'rolling his eyes' and he took that as a little victory.
"We should return now," Raphael stated and was inordinately pleased with the sudden wariness in the human's eyes.
Perhaps he'd be able to bring one of the others to collect the Blossoms. He was pretty sure that Kelly would appreciate seeing the Hanging Gardens.
/
Although he didn't know the Novaks personally, Raziel found himself unable not to accompany his brother when Castiel went to see them. They had set all of the necessary information into place for the inheritance to pass smoothly from their fictional person to Amelia Novak. Since they'd only really needed to fool the authorities on this end, it had been very quick and easy to put all of the necessary information into place, which was a good thing as Raziel wasn't sure that his brother would have been able to wait much longer. It seemed that the fate of his vessel's family had been weighing heavily on Castiel's mind and now that his brother had found a way to alleviate what he saw as their suffering, that Castiel was simply unable to not put it all into place immediately.
In any other brother or sister of his, Raziel would have found the behavior surprising and perplexing, but with this particular brother he could understand it. He knew from personal experience how much the fate of a bond mate could affect one and he shuddered at the thought of Jophiel having had to undergo what his vessel had experienced when he'd taken the man. He knew it wasn't quite the same, that Michael was able to sustain his host's soul, but he wasn't sure if that would have made things better or worse for Castiel the first time their brother had taken his true vessel, especially since they couldn't have known how well things would work out. So, yes, after having that experience, he could completely understand why Castiel was now feeling so concerned about the fate of his vessel's family.
The thought of Jophiel, however briefly, sent a fresh flash of pain through Raziel and he closed his eyes at the agony that was even now still unbelievably powerful. The fingers of his hands curled into fists as he fought to deal with it. Although a part of him hoped that his feelings for Jophiel never faded, there was another part of him that longed for a release from the near constant pain. Guilt followed hard and fast on the heels of that thought and he hated himself a little for having even allowed it to surface, however briefly. He would give anything, literally anything, to have Jophiel back and he would never, ever, regret having bonded with her.
"Raziel? Brother?" Castiel inquired, voice soft.
The words drew Raziel back to the present and he opened his eyes to look at his brother. The gentle, knowing look in Castiel's eyes told him that his brother had realized where his thoughts had gone and he stepped closer when one of Castiel's wings reached out and brushed gently against his own.
"It never gets any easier," Raziel admitted quietly, voicing that fact for the first time ever.
"Does it..." Castiel began, clearly uncertain of his question. "Does it get easier to remember the good times?"
Raziel paused at that, recalling the number of times that he'd thought of the things Jophiel had liked or moments that they'd shared. "A little, but most reminders make the anchor where the bond used to be all the more obvious."
"I'm sorry."
"I know and I thank you for it, Brother. I'm also extremely grateful to Death for ensuring that you didn't permanently lose your own bond mate."
Castiel bowed his head and Raziel felt a little guilty for bringing it up, but his brother and Dean had said that they were willing to talk to him about it and for that he was thankful. Strangely, though it didn't lessen the sheer agony of what had happened any, it did help to know that there were others who understood his loss even if he desperately wished that neither Dean nor Castiel had never had to experience that. He was just able to relax in a way around them that he simply couldn't with anyone else. Even his new bond brother, whom he could already tell wasn't normally someone who was comfortable with emotional topics, was always willing to reach out and comfort him or just sit with him in companionable silence.
"Now, come, or we'll miss the part you wanted to see," Raziel continued, indicating the house they stood outside of.
Both of them had cloaked themselves to human sight earlier and so now they simply flew into the Novak home. They had debated about how best to inform Amelia of what they had done and, while it had taken a while, Raziel had finally convinced Castiel that it was best to allow the news to reach her through the usual channels. His brother had wanted to inform her himself, but he'd managed to get through to Castiel that human pride might get in the way of Amelia accepting the money then. It had been surprisingly difficult to get his brother to see that given that he was sure that Dean would not have been easily convinced to do the same, but he had managed it in the end. The compromise had been for them to be here when Amelia received word of it so that Castiel could still witness the delivery of the good news.
Amelia was in the kitchen, humming softly to herself as she did the dishes. Raziel took a moment to study her and perhaps it was just because of where his own thoughts had been so recently, but he was sure that he could sense an air of grief about her. That made him angry. Angry that she had been forced to give up her husband for this Apocalypse, angry that James Novak had died and angry at his Father for arranging the use of vessels in the first place. The latter caught him off-guard but it was true nonetheless. None of this would have happened to the Novak family nor countless of other families both now and during the Rebellion if it wasn't for the fact that they required vessels in order to be able to interact with humans or to not cause them serious harm or even death by their mere, unvesseled, presence.
The ringing of the phone made Raziel jump and his brother sent him a concerned look which he tried to shrug off.
"Hello," Amelia said, answering the phone.
"Mrs. Amelia Katelyn Novak?" a man's voice on the other end inquired.
"Yes, speaking."
"I'm Brian Anderson from Major and Lang, the American law firm handling the US end of the will from your late husband's recently deceased cousin."
"Cousin?" Amelia questioned. "Jimmy didn't have a cousin."
"I believe it was a somewhat distant relation," Brian replied. "A Castiel Novak?"
"Castiel? Oh, Oh!"
"Yes, he passed away earlier this week in Asia and has left a rather large sum of money to yourself and your daughter."
The look of shock on Amelia's face made Raziel smile and he looked at his brother. Castiel's facial expression wasn't the most ecstatic that he'd ever seen, but his brother's wings portrayed the state of Castiel's emotions and he was even happier to have pleased a brother as well as having helped people who'd sacrificed for his family.
"Thank you, Brother," Castiel said, turning to look at him.
"It was my pleasure. We'll have to visit later to see how she's put the money to use."
"Hopefully they will no longer be living here then."
A.N.:For anyone who missed it and is interested, my Gabriel Big Bang fic went up in April, here.
Chapter 190
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,330
Summary: A revelation from Raziel provides Castiel with the perfect solution to an unresolved problem.
PRESENT
"That will be five hundred American dollars," the man said and Castiel blinked in surprise.
Dean had said that the blessed amulet might be expensive, but Castiel had no idea that it might be that expensive.
"Something wrong, Brother?" Raziel inquired in Enochian.
"Yes, I do not have sufficient funds with me for this purchase," Castiel replied in kind. "I shall have to go back to Dean in order to acquire more."
"No, that's okay, I've got this," Raziel stated, pulling out a wallet and selecting a card from it to hand over to the contact that Bobby had found.
Castiel frowned as the man processed the transaction. "You have money of your own?"
"More than I could ever possibly spend," Raziel responded. "It's from all of the times that Father wanted me to integrate myself into human society. Since I don't need to eat and don't have most of the other expenses that humans do, it has built up in various banks over time. If Dean had not already possessed similar funds from the Vatican, I would have offered him mine. I shall never use even a fraction of it all."
His brother's words made Castiel pensive and he nearly missed the merchant trying to hand him their purchase when the credit card transaction was done.
"Thank you," Castiel said absently before stepping outside with his brother.
"What's wrong, Castiel?" Raziel asked.
"You said that you wouldn't use the money yourself?"
"That's right. Why, do you need it?"
"It would not be for me."
"I don't mind, like I said, it's actually just sitting there in the banks, collecting interest. Not the safest prospect at the moment in these economic times."
"What do you mean?"
His brother laughed and Castiel knew that he was missing something, probably a human reference of some kind. "It's nothing. Who do you want to give the money to?"
"My vessel's family," Castiel explained, feeling oddly defensive so he rushed on to explain. "They've been left in a worse financial situation due to me and I promised Jimmy that I'd look after them as best I could."
"Whoa, calm down, little Brother, it's fine. I more than anyone understand the difficulties humans face and I think that it's noble of you to keep thinking of your vessel's family, not many of our brothers and sisters would."
"More these days though."
"That is true. So how did you want to do it? An inheritance from a distant relative?"
"I don't understand, can't we just give them the money?"
"No," Raziel smiled. "That would make the authorities suspicious and cause more problems for Jimmy's family than it would solve. But if we invent a reclusive relative living in another country, then it would be considered valid."
"If that is what we must do, then I'm happy to go along with it. What do I need to do first?" Castiel asked.
"Come, I'll show you."
/
Raphael watched dispassionately as Sam Winchester threw up into one of the bushes lining the side of the path. He knew that he'd have to clear it up once the human was done in order to prevent any potential contamination of the timeline, but that was a choice that he'd made when deciding not to shield the human as much as he could have during their trip through time.
"Oops," Raphael said, knowing that he had to give some explanation for why the trip here was so much worse than the one home would be. "It appears that I misjudged the shielding necessary to prevent an impact on your system."
The human attempted to glare at him but the effect was totally ruined by the face that Sam had to turn back to vomit some more. Raphael smiled before turning to look around. As much fun as it was to toy with the one who had caused his bond brother so much pain, they did also have a job to do here. Though the Forbidden Blossom could be grown anywhere in the Hanging Gardens, it would be best if they put it somewhere slightly hidden to ensure that the plant wasn't noticed and pulled or its blossoms plucked before their return.
"Misjudged, right," Sam muttered under his breath and Raphael wasn't sure if the human had meant for him to overhear it or not.
"Yes," Raphael replied as innocently as he could. "If I simply shielded you as normal, I risked ruining the magical properties of the herbs."
It wasn't true, but Winchester wouldn't know that so Raphael knew that he was safe. Besides, at worst Sam would complain to Dean and while his bond brother might pretend to be upset with him, he knew that Michael's vessel wouldn't really mean it. Dean might actually approve on some level even. And, if not, he doubted his bond brother would misunderstand the reason why he'd felt compelled to do it in the first place.
By now, Sam Winchester had recovered from the upset to his system and was instead staring around in awe. The reaction confused Raphael for a moment before he remembered what Castiel had said about how humans of the present weren't even sure anymore if the Hanging Gardens had actually existed or whether they were nothing more than a myth. The ability of humanity to forget things like that was utterly incomprehensible to him even though he knew human memory to be fallible. Surely those who had seen the gardens had left behind documentation of its existence. How did those get lost?
"Wow, this is... it's..." Sam began, trailing off in awe.
"This way," Raphael stated simply, having found a spot that seemed suitable.
Not checking to see if the human was following, Raphael set off for it, wishing once more that he could have brought either Dean or Kelly with him instead. Even his bond brother's cousin would have been preferable, but as Castiel had pointed out, Sam was the one most likely to get the pronunciation right the fastest. Plus, Raziel had also stated that humans tended to get desperate and made stupid decisions if they couldn't see the chance to gain forgiveness. His brother's explanation of why that was hadn't made much sense to him but he trusted that Raziel knew what he was talking about, especially since Castiel appeared to agree with their older brother.
"Where are we going?" Sam asked, slightly out of breath as the boy caught up with him.
"Somewhere more secluded, off the main path," Raphael replied curtly.
"To keep them from seeing us?"
"No, I have already hidden us from the view of any other humans. I cannot do the same with the plant though without compromising the properties of the maturing Forbidden Blossom."
"So why can you hide us like that, but not the shielding?"
"Degrees of interference and power."
"Oh," Sam replied, not sounding entirely convinced even to Raphael's inexperienced ear.
"It's like the difference between being able to bring you here but not being able to handle the herbs."
Which was true, it just didn't mean that Raphael had to lower his shielding as much as he had done. Winchester's suspicions didn't bother him as he knew that the human was suspicious of him even when he hadn't done anything wrong, so he figured that he might as well do something to earn the suspicion rather than not. Raphael soon reached his chosen spot and was pleased to see that the miniature trees planted here had been spread far enough apart for them to be able to plant the seeds among them and still have the seedlings be hidden from sight, even from above as they were on the highest level of the gardens.
"Prepare and consecrate the earth here," Raphael instructed as he pulled the vial filled with the seeds of the three fruits that he'd collected from the Garden of Eden and washed in the Water of Life out of his pocket.
"And what are you going to do?" Sam demanded, eyes trained on the vial that he held.
"Bless the seeds."
"All of them?"
"Yes, seeds from fruit borne in the Garden are quite infertile outside of Eden. Washing them in the Water of Life increases the odds of success, but most will still not germinate on Earth."
That seemed to satisfy the human and Raphael turned his attention to blessing the seeds in his Father's name. His job was far shorter than that of Sam Winchester and he pondered Michael's observation of how this spell appeared to only be possible if angels and humans worked together. It made him wonder what his Father's plan was even as he marveled at how suited it was to their situation despite having been dictated and written down so long ago. It was just one more piece in a massive jigsaw puzzle slowly coming together exactly according to plan.
The only problem was that it wasn't the plan that their Father had originally told them about. Raphael wasn't sure what to think of that. It was a strange juxtaposition of proof both for and against his Father's omniscience. The fact that the scrolls had been there, protected by his bond brother's family for generations and were so perfectly suited for their purpose spoke to his Father's power and omniscience, and yet the fact that they needed it at all proved that his Father could be wrong as well as it meant that they stood a chance of averting the long predicted and ordained Apocalypse. The thought that this spell could be a hoax designed simply to get them to confront Lucifer and thereby hasten along the prophesized fight between Michael and Lucifer occurred to him, but he soon dismissed it. Not only would there still be far too many inconsistencies with the foreseen Apocalypse, but then Castiel would not have been brought back not once but twice for helping to prevent the Apocalypse in the first place.
It was all just so frustrating and Raphael wished that his Father would just tell them what He wanted them to do. He would gladly obey and do it, whatever it was. All if this deciding for themselves was hard and filled with uncertainty. Michael's recent admission to him that his brother was starting to suspect that this might be precisely why their Father was doing it terrified him in a lot of ways. Neither of them had shared this thought with Dean yet, not quite sure how their new bond brother would react. He'd brought it up with Kelly, though, and her fearful reaction had made him sorry that he'd done so. All of the time that he'd spent with Castiel's bond mate had made him lose sight of the fact that most humans would consider any such actions on the part of his Father quite terrifying, even if they hadn't been fully sure that they believed just a short while ago. He would not be making that same mistake again as he had absolutely no desire to frighten Kelly.
The swell of magic returned Raphael's attention to the task at hand and he had to admit that Sam Winchester was good with the necessary pronunciation. There was a lot of pride that went with the skill though and that he liked a whole lot less, not that he could speak about that particular sin all too much himself. Dean had pointed out, though, that those who were prone to a particular fault could often see it easily in others (something about pots and kettles and the color black that he hadn't quite gotten) so Raphael knew that he was right even if he wasn't particularly good at reading humans in other ways yet.
Once the ground had been consecrated and the necessary herbs mixed into the loose top soil, Raphael carefully planted the Forbidden Blossom seeds and said another quick prayer over them. Along with some water, that was all that they could do. Now it was up to Father whether one of the seeds actually took hold and germinated.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Sam questioned.
"No," Raphael replied, rising to his feet once more.
Winchester sighed and did what Raphael was pretty sure Dean termed 'rolling his eyes' and he took that as a little victory.
"We should return now," Raphael stated and was inordinately pleased with the sudden wariness in the human's eyes.
Perhaps he'd be able to bring one of the others to collect the Blossoms. He was pretty sure that Kelly would appreciate seeing the Hanging Gardens.
/
Although he didn't know the Novaks personally, Raziel found himself unable not to accompany his brother when Castiel went to see them. They had set all of the necessary information into place for the inheritance to pass smoothly from their fictional person to Amelia Novak. Since they'd only really needed to fool the authorities on this end, it had been very quick and easy to put all of the necessary information into place, which was a good thing as Raziel wasn't sure that his brother would have been able to wait much longer. It seemed that the fate of his vessel's family had been weighing heavily on Castiel's mind and now that his brother had found a way to alleviate what he saw as their suffering, that Castiel was simply unable to not put it all into place immediately.
In any other brother or sister of his, Raziel would have found the behavior surprising and perplexing, but with this particular brother he could understand it. He knew from personal experience how much the fate of a bond mate could affect one and he shuddered at the thought of Jophiel having had to undergo what his vessel had experienced when he'd taken the man. He knew it wasn't quite the same, that Michael was able to sustain his host's soul, but he wasn't sure if that would have made things better or worse for Castiel the first time their brother had taken his true vessel, especially since they couldn't have known how well things would work out. So, yes, after having that experience, he could completely understand why Castiel was now feeling so concerned about the fate of his vessel's family.
The thought of Jophiel, however briefly, sent a fresh flash of pain through Raziel and he closed his eyes at the agony that was even now still unbelievably powerful. The fingers of his hands curled into fists as he fought to deal with it. Although a part of him hoped that his feelings for Jophiel never faded, there was another part of him that longed for a release from the near constant pain. Guilt followed hard and fast on the heels of that thought and he hated himself a little for having even allowed it to surface, however briefly. He would give anything, literally anything, to have Jophiel back and he would never, ever, regret having bonded with her.
"Raziel? Brother?" Castiel inquired, voice soft.
The words drew Raziel back to the present and he opened his eyes to look at his brother. The gentle, knowing look in Castiel's eyes told him that his brother had realized where his thoughts had gone and he stepped closer when one of Castiel's wings reached out and brushed gently against his own.
"It never gets any easier," Raziel admitted quietly, voicing that fact for the first time ever.
"Does it..." Castiel began, clearly uncertain of his question. "Does it get easier to remember the good times?"
Raziel paused at that, recalling the number of times that he'd thought of the things Jophiel had liked or moments that they'd shared. "A little, but most reminders make the anchor where the bond used to be all the more obvious."
"I'm sorry."
"I know and I thank you for it, Brother. I'm also extremely grateful to Death for ensuring that you didn't permanently lose your own bond mate."
Castiel bowed his head and Raziel felt a little guilty for bringing it up, but his brother and Dean had said that they were willing to talk to him about it and for that he was thankful. Strangely, though it didn't lessen the sheer agony of what had happened any, it did help to know that there were others who understood his loss even if he desperately wished that neither Dean nor Castiel had never had to experience that. He was just able to relax in a way around them that he simply couldn't with anyone else. Even his new bond brother, whom he could already tell wasn't normally someone who was comfortable with emotional topics, was always willing to reach out and comfort him or just sit with him in companionable silence.
"Now, come, or we'll miss the part you wanted to see," Raziel continued, indicating the house they stood outside of.
Both of them had cloaked themselves to human sight earlier and so now they simply flew into the Novak home. They had debated about how best to inform Amelia of what they had done and, while it had taken a while, Raziel had finally convinced Castiel that it was best to allow the news to reach her through the usual channels. His brother had wanted to inform her himself, but he'd managed to get through to Castiel that human pride might get in the way of Amelia accepting the money then. It had been surprisingly difficult to get his brother to see that given that he was sure that Dean would not have been easily convinced to do the same, but he had managed it in the end. The compromise had been for them to be here when Amelia received word of it so that Castiel could still witness the delivery of the good news.
Amelia was in the kitchen, humming softly to herself as she did the dishes. Raziel took a moment to study her and perhaps it was just because of where his own thoughts had been so recently, but he was sure that he could sense an air of grief about her. That made him angry. Angry that she had been forced to give up her husband for this Apocalypse, angry that James Novak had died and angry at his Father for arranging the use of vessels in the first place. The latter caught him off-guard but it was true nonetheless. None of this would have happened to the Novak family nor countless of other families both now and during the Rebellion if it wasn't for the fact that they required vessels in order to be able to interact with humans or to not cause them serious harm or even death by their mere, unvesseled, presence.
The ringing of the phone made Raziel jump and his brother sent him a concerned look which he tried to shrug off.
"Hello," Amelia said, answering the phone.
"Mrs. Amelia Katelyn Novak?" a man's voice on the other end inquired.
"Yes, speaking."
"I'm Brian Anderson from Major and Lang, the American law firm handling the US end of the will from your late husband's recently deceased cousin."
"Cousin?" Amelia questioned. "Jimmy didn't have a cousin."
"I believe it was a somewhat distant relation," Brian replied. "A Castiel Novak?"
"Castiel? Oh, Oh!"
"Yes, he passed away earlier this week in Asia and has left a rather large sum of money to yourself and your daughter."
The look of shock on Amelia's face made Raziel smile and he looked at his brother. Castiel's facial expression wasn't the most ecstatic that he'd ever seen, but his brother's wings portrayed the state of Castiel's emotions and he was even happier to have pleased a brother as well as having helped people who'd sacrificed for his family.
"Thank you, Brother," Castiel said, turning to look at him.
"It was my pleasure. We'll have to visit later to see how she's put the money to use."
"Hopefully they will no longer be living here then."
A.N.:For anyone who missed it and is interested, my Gabriel Big Bang fic went up in April, here.
Chapter 190