CHAPTER ONE
DEATH AND ALL HER FRIENDS

"Hey, assbutt!"

Castiel finally knew the meaning of Dean's phrase 'inside out'.

Instantaneously, he felt tugged, somewhere in the direction of his liver - then it was everywhere, his body rejected himself and everything that used to be there just wasn't anymore. He could feel his veins seeping through his skin in milliseconds, could feel his insides traveling away from him like the galaxies rushed away from a central point in the universe. It crossed Castiel's mind that this sort of feeling wasn't often experienced. Did God feel this way? Like everything around him was just getting farther and farther away from Him? Like he could do nothing to stop it? He didn't have time to ponder this, though, because then there was pain. Incredible, blinding, ridiculous pain that was everywhere. It didn't matter that it lasted less than a millisecond.

Then everything turned the wrong way out and things went dark.

He wasn't sure how long he was dead. Like the last time, he lost what little he perceived of time. But unlike last time, when he had come back weakened and defeated, now he felt ... renewed. Powerful. Pure.

He opened his eyes and saw threads of colored light dancing in the sky above him. Confused, he sat up, and stared at the starry heaven that was quickly filled with red and green waves of light that undulated and threaded above him.

"Aurora borealis," said a soft, feminine voice beside him. Sitting directly adjacent to him, in a snowbank (He frowned when he felt the cold, wet snow beneath him, and raised his new raw, pink hands to his face momentarily) was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. She had wavy blonde hair that fell delicately about her shoulders and framed a thin, small, pale face that stared back at him with eyes almost as piercing blue as his own.

"Azrael?"

"Hello, Castiel."

"It's cold here." He looked her over. She was dressed in a pair of stylish dark jeans, with a brown suede peacoat that fell to her knees and was drawn tightly about her waist. It wasn't enough to withstand these low temperatures.

"We won't be long." She stared up at the sky for a long moment and dismissively waved away his concern. "You're due back in a few minutes."

Castiel stood up like a rocket, suddenly aware that he couldn't teleport back to Dean's side. It was a strange feeling - he could tell he was powerful again, but he was leashed. Another pull tugged at his navel, shocking him enough to stop him from trying to disappear. "Send me back now. The Winchesters are in trouble - Dean needs me."

"Calm down," said Azrael softly, crossing her legs nonchalantly. "He'll be fine. I just need to talk to you for a moment."

"Send. Me. Back." Castiel spat each word out with venom, surprised at the power he felt crackling at his fingertips that stemmed from his vehemence.

Azrael raised her eyebrows. "Not my decision." Her eyes flew skyward again, but this time she saw past the stars.

"God?" Castiel's voice was breathless, almost disbelieving. Azrael smiled - actually smiled - and Castiel noticed that with the exception of Gabriel, he hadn't seen an angel smile with such selflessness before.

"Both times. This time comes with a disclaimer, though," said Azrael, rising to his level. The Aurora danced above their heads, forgotten. "I'm sure you felt a change when you woke up? Well, it is true, you're changed. You're an archangel now. Like me," she added, as an afterthought. "You know my name, but do you know who I am?"

"You are Azrael," Castiel said simply. Nothing like the Horseman, Castiel thought. An angel. Where was she when the world was going to hell? "The archangel of Death."

She smiled again, her ice blue eyes sparkling. "Yes."

"is that all?" he asked, anxious. "I'm an archangel - "

"And alive."

" - and alive, thanks to God. Why am I still here? Talking to you?"

Azrael sighed a little, looking embarrassed. "I suppose it's a selfish whim of mine." She paused, and looked up to the sky again. "Have you ever wondered why you've been particularly favored by Father?"

"Michael is particularly favored by Father," corrected Castiel in a huff.

"Michael is in hell," Azrael said shortly. "You are particularly favored."

Castiel looked more than a little horrified at the implication (or the revelation), causing Azrael to giggle. "Oh, don't look like such a wet cat," she laughed, twirling about to face him. "You're not the next Michael or anything like that. In fact, you're the opposite of Michael - and Lucifer, too."

"How?"

"You value humanity." Azrael's eyes were on the sky again, but she took a few steps forward, and Castiel followed. He observed they were slowly following a snowdrifted road that wound towards a twilight town filled with small log cabins a glowing yellow lights. It was nestled below them in a kind of valley, with mountains sweeping away to either side and swiftly rising to huge, craggy mountains. Pine trees gathered closely here and there, decorating the hilltop with gently curved branches and treetops. The aurora twisted above them, making the white snow reflect and give the entire valley a red and green tinge. Castiel sucked his breath in, surprised by the peaceful scene. He had witnessed such depravity in the last few months - he had not witnessed such tranquility in what seemed like millennia.

"Where are we?" he said finally, when he grasped words.

"North Alaska," Azrael said. Castiel looked over at her again and it struck him how much she seemed like a child. Dainty, delicate, white-blonde and bule-eyed, she personnified what most people would think of when they thought 'angel', according to Sam Winchester. She was as idyllic as the setting around him, practically skipping along the snowdrifts while the apocalypse happened. "It's a town called Providence."

"I appreciate the irony," said Cas, "and the generosity. But I'm needed elsewhere. The apocalypse - "

"Didn't you hear me earlier? Michael's in hell. Lucifer's down there with him. The apocalypse has stopped." At Castiel's amazed expression, Azrael stopped and looked very serious, something Cas hadn't come to expect from her generally light-hearted few minutes that he'd just experienced with her.

"Are you -?"

"Serious? Very."

"Sam Winchester," Cas said. "He's in hell as well."

"Mmhm."

"Dean will not like that."

"I suppose not," Azrael stated, but there was a mischievous glint in her eye that made Castiel wonder if there wasn't more to this story.

"Okay, you've got my attention. Why am I still here?"

Azrael was silent for a few moments, prancing around in the snow and looking up at the light show. "Like I said, you're favored. And, well, I'm quite curious about all that."

"How do you mean?"

"Angels - we aren't really known for our good will toward men. You seem to be the exception to the rule, though. And you seem ... happy. You have a feeling about this. You have this feeling, and you have your power - you aren't ruled by your power. There aren't any rules. Why is this? How is this? How can you have all this, and still have your free will? You could destroy this countryside -" she waved her arms about the valley smoothly - "but you don't. You won't. You love humanity. You want them to live and thrive on this rock. You want them to succeed. Because you did, you didn't fight for Michael, or for Lucifer. You fought for them." Azrael leaned in close, and Castiel noticed she'd been stepping towards him the whole time. Her face was only inches from his now.

"I wasn't the only one who did."

"We aren't talking about Gabriel now," Azrael said dismissively, but there again was the mischievous sparkle, that impish crinkling of her brow!

Cas was silent for a few moments, and they stood there, in the cold, close enough that Cas could feel her warm breath on his face. "So?" he said finally, not noticing that he was now whispering.

"I want to know why," she whispered back, her face now the trademark emotionless wall he'd always been familiar with. He was pleasantly surprised when Dean and Sam readily showed their emotions. "I want ... I want to understand."

"To understand why I fought for them," Cas vocalized, now at full volume. He stepped back, frowning. "God wants me to tell you why I took their side?"

"Well," she said, drawing out the word so it sounded more like weeeellll, "not exactly. He wants you to be an example. He wants the angels to love humanity again, but - I guess I'm taking the most direct route."

"So this is a personal favor to you," said Cas, not bothering to conceal the note of poison in his voice. He was beginning to get worried about Dean, no matter what Azrael said about the end of the apocalypse.

"Don't make me sound so petty," Azrael replied, looking hurt. "I'm the only one who's approached you. Who's going to approach you. " They were still less than a foot apart. "This could be a two-way street, you know."

Cas fought the urge to use another one of his improvised expletives. Azrael was much more vexing than he had anticipated. "How is that, exactly?"

"You have great power now. Much more power than you've ever experienced. If you're not careful, you could destroy this valley by accident. I can help with that." It was Azrael that stepped back now, deepening their separation by another foot. "With control. With what you want to do, with what you can do. You'd be surprised."

Castiel recalled the simple feeling of electricity that had laced through his fingers when he had gotten angry earlier. All right, so that was plausible. And Dean and Bobby were going to need some serious assistance putting the world back together when he got back (if he got back). He looked skyward as he considered her offer. "So you want me to - explain my motives. Is that all?"

"Yes and no," Azrael said enigmatically. "I want to know about them. I want to know why they're the favorites."

"Something Lucifer never bothered to do."

Azrael gave him a knowing smile. "Do we have a deal?"

"You will summon me?"

"Yes."

"Deal."

"Then Go."

Castiel went to Dean.

A/N: So here goes my first Supernatural fic! I was really intrigued by the looooong passage of time between when Cas was killed and when he finally came back to heal Dean in the finale, since God would have probably immediately brought him back to life. He is God, after all. Anyway, this idea was born, along with what the angels would think with the aftermath of the whole shebang. I hope you all like it - please read and review!