Sam had promised to stay with Castiel; and to call Dean the moment anything had changed.
"Don't worry, Dean, I'm capable," Sam told him as he sat down in a chair he had pulled between the beds. He had the old book from the other day in his hand to occupy himself; he doubted the angel's status would change much.
Dean nodded, "I know, I just…" he trailed off when he couldn't find the right words. Of course, he trusted his brother, but something inside him ached and it wasn't nerves.
Sam shook his head. "Do I have to kick your ass out of here?" he asked, despite his playful tone his face was quite serious.
"Right," Dean wallowed thickly, "I'll only be a few hours," he said before leaving.
Dean drove to a decommissioned warehouse at the edge of the city. As he pulled into the lot he saw Ariel leaning against the chain link fence. He grabbed his supplies, and went to meet her.
"Do you still have an angel blade?" Dean asked. He bent down to cut a hole in the fence.
Ariel pushed herself off the fence with her shoulder, she laughed, "do you think Heaven would let me keep a weapon that can kill its soldiers?"
Dean paused, putting the metal cutters down, "no, didn't think of that," he said as he went for his duffle. He pulled out the chrome dagger, handing it to Ariel. He didn't know what kind of fighter she was now, but as a former servant of Heaven she had to be good at one time.
Her fingers curled around the grip of the knife; it was cold under her fingertips, "Is this Castiel's?"
He rubbed the back of his neck as he stood up, "No, uh, I don't know exactly whose it is, a demon had it last," Dean said referring to Meg.
Ariel frowned as she looked back down at the blade in her hand. She thought about how many of her siblings could have fallen to a demon with an angel's blade.
"Do you mean to kill Raguel?" Ariel asked, she didn't even think about the question.
"What? No," Dean shook his head as he picked up the duffle and squeezed through the fence, Ariel followed soon after, "just as protection."
"And what about you?" She asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'll be fine," Dean muttered to himself. He would admit he was being reckless, even by his standards, but that wasn't important at the time.
Ariel reached out in front of her and laid her hand gently on Dean's shoulder. He turned around to look at her. "You can't kill him; Heaven would be in complete chaos if Justice were to disappear."
Dean scoffed, "Sweetie, Heaven has been messed up since Daddy decided to leave the kids home alone." They stopped at a side door that was locked. Dean bent down and began to pick the lock.
"You don't like angels do you?" Ariel asked to confirm her suspicions.
The tumblers fell in the lock and Dean pushed it open, "as a general rule, no," his voice was dry as he pushed himself off the ground and entered the warehouse.
"But Castiel," she started.
"Exception," Dean cut her off, trying to stop the conversation before it started.
The warehouse's winders were mostly boarded up, so it was dimly lit on the inside. It was massive, with at least forty feet to the ceiling above their heads and half a mile long in floor space. With all the twisted metal shelving pushed against the walls it was a storage facility of some sort. They walked to toward the middle of the room where a beam of sunlight shown through the busted boards.
Dean knelt down and opened his duffle. He took out a bronze basin and began to mix the ingredients for the spell: Frankincense, an angel's feather, and sand of Paradise. He had stopped at a local hoodoo place on his way there. He took out a vase of Holy Oil and poured it in a circle around the basin. The only other thing he needed was the angel's blood. He took out his knife and looked over at Ariel.
"Give me your hand," he instructed Ariel.
"My hand?" She asked, clutching it closely to her chest, "why? Don't you have Castiel's blood?"
"No, I didn't get it before he passed out. And fallen angel blood works just the same, so give me your hand," Dean asked again, words strained as they left his mouth.
She sighed and nervously held out her hand. Dean grabbed it rougher than he attended to, "Sorry," he muttered as he broke the skin on her palm with the blade of the knife. He held her clenched fist over the basin as he chanted the Enochian spell. There was a flash in the basin as they stepped back. Dean wrapped a torn cloth around Ariel's hand before he lit the holy fire.
They stood in silence for awhile, only the sound of the crackling oil filling the void. Ariel held her wounded hand close to her chest, "I told you this wouldn't work, Raguel doesn't-" her sentence was cut off when the room suddenly flooded with a bright light. Dean shielded his eyes, but Ariel stood there unfazed. When the light faded Dean saw a man, mid 30's with dusty brown hair dark brown, almost black voids, eyes. He was wearing dark washed denim jeans and a grey v-neck shirt. Ordinary clothes, on an ordinary man, not exactly the frightening angel Cas said he was.
"Who summoned me to this rock?" Raguel's vessel's voice boomed it was much deeper than Castiel's or any other angel's for that matter. Ok, maybe he was slightly frightening. Raguel looked around, his eyes falling on Dean. The cold eyes bore right through him. Dean felt a shiver run down his spine. "Dean Winchester, I should have known," Dean swallowed thickly. He couldn't look away from the angel; fear had him looking much like a deer in headlights.
"And, Ariel, it has been a long time, sister."
Ariel nodded, "It has," her voice was quiet and small. It was the first time she laid eyes on her Judge and Jury since she was cast from Heaven.
"Holy fire, do you think it can contain me?" Raguel questioned. He slowly raised the palm of his hand and then lowered it. The flames extinguished with his movements.
"H-how?!" Dean stammered. Cas was looking more and more right about his strength.
"Dean, I'm the second oldest angel in creation," his voice was calm and smooth, "Metatron is only older so he could scribe my creation by my Father," his eyes narrowed on Dean, "Nothing happens without my Judgment."
Dean scoffed, "Is that so? You know your brothers jump started the Apocalypse?"
A loud clap of thunder filled the room as it lit up. Behind Raguel shadows of six huge wings covered the whole wall. "Do not mock me, boy," Raguel warned. His wings flicked into the same reality for a brief moment. They were a classic white, highlighted in silver and gold, "one of them also killed half of Heaven's hosts."
Dean flinched, but wouldn't back down. The dumb Family First blind rage clouded his thoughts, "Because apparently civil war doesn't warrant your Judgment."
"Dean," Ariel tried to calm him down, but it was pointless.
"No, I want him to answer. He has to; he's bound here until I let him go." Dean was almost sneering at the angel, trying to provoke him.
"I was busy," Raguel said at length. His wings disappeared all together as his face softened, almost with guilt.
"Of course you were," Dean said as he rolled his eyes, wondering how many more times he would hear that excuse in his life.
"Don't roll your eyes, Dean, it's disrespectful," the angel chastised, "I was busy. So was my Father. That's why neither of us is passing Judgment on Castiel. He was only doing what he thought was necessary to stop the fighting," Raguel sighed, "Castiel is still a young angel. He was naive."
Dean stared at Raguel, his mouth slightly a gape. For the first time in a long time he found himself speechless. If it wasn't Heaven then who?
"That is what this is about, isn't it?" Raguel questioned, "why you tracked down a former Grigori solider, summoned me to Earth, because he is losing his Grace."
"How did you-" Dean stuttered, still unable to form words.
"Know? I know what all my siblings are doing at any given point in their entire existence."
Dean took a deep breath to try to collect himself. He pursed his lips together, in an attempt to focus on his words.
"Do you know who is doing this to him?"
"I do not," Raguel replied with a shake of his head.
"But you just said you knew everything about every angel," Dean pointed out, convinced that he wasn't being told the whole truth. He knew angels weren't exactly prone to tell the truth.
"Pay attention, Dean. I said I knew they are doing. Not what other beings are doing to them. It's not Heaven and that is all I know."
Dean huffed, frustrated. His tongue flicked over his bottom lip. He ran into a dead end and didn't even know where to start now. Cas was going to die, if this pain continued. Turning into human or not, no human could handle pain that made Cas scream the way it did.
"Do you," Dean spoke up eventually but his voice stayed soft. If he was any louder it was sure to break, "do you know who might know?"
"Yes."
Dean just stared at Raguel, face dead panned. All angels were the same. "And that would be?" Dean asked.
"Death," Raguel replied as if it was the only obvious answer.
"And how am I supposed to talk to him? The world had to basically be moved the last time we tried to talk to him, and I am not so keen on dying again, so." Dean rambled as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Go back to the hotel. I'll see what I can do."
"Why are you being so helpful?"
Raguel shrugged his shoulders, "I've got time now," he paused, a slight smile slipping onto his vessel's face, "And besides, I don't like to see my siblings in pain, surely you understand that."
And with that there was a sound of feathers fluttering and Raguel had disappeared. Dean stood in silence staring at the now vacant space where Heaven's most powerful asset once stood. All he could hear were Ariel's footsteps as she walked toward him.
"Let's go back to the hotel, yeah?" She finally spoke up.
Dean nodded slowly, still slightly in shock. Ever since he found out Heaven did actually exist he spent most of that time hating all angels. He had convinced himself they were just as selfish, if not more, than demons. But in the last few days he had met two, who without even asking were willing to help Castiel. The angel whose sins, he thought, were too great for Heaven to even look at him again.
Once he gathered his things from the floor, he turned to look at Ariel. "Thank you," he said without thinking, "for helping Cas."
She smiled at him, her face was gentle, "Of course, Dean, he's my brother. We're family."
Dean nodded. It always did come down to family.
AN: That was a lot of fun to write. I wanted Raguel to be a bamf, and but understanding at the same time. Which I think are the two qualities he needs as the Angel of Justice. Also yay, Death is coming. Favorite side character, ever.
Yus.
Also, with recent developments in season gr8 some things will change, and I think this is going to end up being a lot longer than I originally thought.
Thanks to all who read and REVIEW! I love you all!