Author's Chapter Notes:
Raguel is an archangel and the info on him is from Wiki. Part of this is base on that and the other part is just my fevered brain working overtime.
My mind wanders down strange paths.....
"So, you got a way for us to stop this without one of us sprouting wings and holding an all you can grill barbeque?" Dean tossed himself into the nearest chair and let out a heartfelt groan. The last lot of demons where serious bitches, he had the bruises and the aches to prove it.
"Well I don't know about the wings or stopping the apocalypse but I found something that might change the playing field a little. You ever hear of an archangel called Raguel?"
"Shit, you mean that there's more of these dicks? I need a beer." Dean pushed himself back up, fetched them all beers and then parked himself on the edge of Bobby's table. "Ok. Hit us with it. Who is this Raguel dude?"
"He's referred to as the 'Friend of God'."
"God has friends? I'll be quiet." Dean wilted under Bobby's glare.
"He's the archangel of justice, fairness and harmony. In the book of Enoch, he the one that takes vengeance on the world of the luminaries who have transgressed God's laws. He's the one that persecutes the ones that have fallen. In Revelations 3:7-13, Raguel watches over other angels to make sure they are working well together with mortals in a harmonious and orderly fashion according to Divine order and will. Raguel brings all the other archangels and angels to account for their improper deeds."
"So he's the angel police? Someone should sack him, 'cos really, he's doing a worse job that we are."
Bobby gave him an odd look, snorted and continued. "He ain't mentioned in the Bible, just in the book of Enoch, that's why it took so long to find him." The older hunter slid back his chair and took a drink. "I was talking to Cas about him, before he….you know, and it seems that Raguel ain't in Heaven. According to what Cas dug up, he was sent down from there to watch over the humans, to rise up against the angels that came to threaten humanity. His role was to stop Lucifer."
"Thought that was my role," Dean offered.
"What does that mean?" Sam shifted forward in his seat.
"God, from what I can gleem from various sources, set a test for the angels, he hid Raguel in plain sight, used him as bait if you like, so that he could draw out the angels that wished to rebel against him, that wanted to start the apocalypse. Raguel was to strike them down before us humans could be slaughtered. Seems he is here, now. Right in the middle of things. We just couldn't see the wood for the tree."
Dean froze under Bobby's almost apologetic stare. "What? I know that look. This got something to do with me?"
"All the other chosen children of Azazel, apart from the twins, didn't have any siblings. None. I checked everyone that I could find, only Sam had someone looking out for him. There has been other things too. You're the only one of us Dean that the demons have never managed to hitch a ride in. Don't that make you think? Every other hunter I know of, been possessed at sometime or another, hell even happened to me and your daddy. Not you though Dean. Never you. And then there was the whole killing an archangel business that sealed the deal for me."
"What? You think this dude is looking out for me? Maybe because I'm Michael's vessel?"
Bobby shook his head. "Nope. I think this dude, is you."
There was a long, long silence after that little revelation which Dean elegantly broke. "Huh?"
"April 19th 1978. Two comets. One over Kansas and the second right over here."
"And?" Dean could feel a prickle of fear start inside him.
"Just like Anna." Sam injected into the conversation.
"Just like Anna. And I think that we all know what happened nine months after that date, don't we?" Bobby looked up at Dean and groaned at the blank look. "Don't you know your own damn birth date?"
"Sorry I'm kinda stuck at the 'you're a fallen angel' part. I mean really? Me? Really? Have you heard my mouth, seen what I've done? And then there's the whole hell thing."
"What man could be more righteous Dean than one that started as an angel? A true servant of God?"
"So how did I end up as another angel's vessel?" Dean folded his arms across his chest and scowled at the hunter.
"Just lucky I guess." Bobby raised his eyebrows. "God put you there Dean! You and Sam where the bait and they took it didn't they? God knew that Sam' was going to be born and made Lucifer's vessel so he sent you ahead, his most loyal of archangels, hid you as Michael's vessel and let the angels line up behind you both. He sent you to Hell Dean, he left you there because you were supposed to break and then he raised you up. It was always supposed to be you and Sam to start the apocalypse. When Cas raise you from Hell that gave God a reason to give you your own pet angel. Someone to watch out for you. He played them all. It explains why Joshua told you that God already knew what was going on and that he wasn't going to intervene, why would he? This isn't about the apocalypse Dean, Sam, it's God cleaning house. Rooting out the bad apples from the barrel. You boys have done that now, there's only one or two apples left that need tossing and you're done."
"So that's how I could kill Zach? I'm an angel?" Dean went to stand but found his legs weren't his own and fell back against the table.
"Were an angel, still it seems that's enough to allow you to get the job done. Without your Grace thought, you are a human, same as me or Sam."
Sam interrupted. "You said that Dean's Grace fell here?"
Bobby smiled. "Seems I was always destined to look out for you boys. Wheel me out."
Standing Sam gripped the chair and pushed Bobby out to the door, stopping there when he realised that Dean wasn't following. "You coming or what?"
"Yeah." Dean finished the rest of his beer in one long straight pull. "Yeah."
The tree was right on the edge of Bobby's property, a huge oak that Dean vaguely remembered as being off limits to them as children. "You banned us from playing near this thing." He didn't approach it, just stood at a distance admiring its strength and beauty.
"This thing took four months to grow. I wasn't letting anyone touch it."
"Why didn't you say anything about the tree when we were talking about Anna's?" Dean asked curiously will still staring at the tree in front of him. His tree.
"Cause, idjit, I wasn't here. I was in the Dominican. Didn't know about Anna's Grace and the tree until I asked Sam last night."
Dean suddenly chuckled at the thought of Bobby in the Dominican and the discussion he'd had with Sam about trucker's cap and banana hammocks.
"What?" The older hunter growled at him and then at Sam as he snorted out a laugh too.
"Private joke." Dean exchanged looks with his brother and chuckled again. "So you where. So this, is my Grace?"
Bobby nodded. "Do you know what this means boys. We can win. All we have to do is to give Dean back his Grace and they can't beat us."
"I don't want to."
The elder hunter turned his head, looked into the fearful eyes of his friend. "What? Why? This is a good thing. You don't have to be Michael's meat suit."
It was Sam that replied. "Yeah, but he still ends up as something he's not." He moved over and took hold of his brother's arm. "He's Dean Winchester, Bobby. My brother. Dad's son. Hunter. Human. Not an archangel. Not Michael. Not Raguel. Him. If we're going to fight this I want to fight it with Dean as is."
"I can still kill angel's without it so, who needs it?" Dean looked at his brother, almost seeking reassurance that Sam was on board with him.
"Yeah you can." Sam smiled at Dean. "And that way I get to keep my big brother, even if he is a pain in my ass."
"Be lost without me dude." Dean joked.
"Know what, I would be."
Chapter End Notes:
Couldn't believe when I got this idea and then looked up the archangels and found that there was one that fitted the bill for what I needed. Spooky!
Not sure I liked the abruptness of the ending but I couldn't get it quite to go where I wanted.
