Castiel dreams of a little bundle of energy, a shooting star, soaring gleefully through fluffy white clouds.
He dreams of brothers, and unconditional love. He dreams of pranks and feathers, Anna's laugh, and the Morning Star, basking in his grace and warmth, he is safe and loved and without a care in the world, there are no soldiers here, as they live happily ever after in their kingdom of shining miracles.
But one day, the clouds darken, and Luci is acting strange and Gabriel stops laughing and Luci and Michael fight and Heaven trembles under their clashing wrath. He cries out and hides in Balthazar's long wings, and this is the beginning of when they start to fly away from each-other, as his two light-hearted brothers take him to a safer place. He is huddled, cold, in the empty nest, his grace dims and he forgets all about visiting his Father's new children on the ground.
Suddenly, everyone is busy, and only shadows will play with the fastest little angel, but he is not fast enough to keep up, and he is left behind on an empty grey cloud.
No-one is smiling, Balthazar won't tell him where Luci is, and Michael does not talk to anyone, he simply flys up up and away, and he is gone, like Father.
Gabriel does not say goodbye.
Out of the corner of his eye, Balthazar looks at him sadly, and in front of him, his siblings mutter under their breaths and glare, he hears words like "Lucifer's fledgling" and he hopes Luci will come and shield him again, as in the beginning when they would call him strange, or weak. But no-one comes so he flys away quickly, away from distrustful stares.
He still does not know who Lucifer is.
Time blurs, and the littlest angel finds himself in the empty nest, again. He is lying down and he grasps tightly onto memories of his brothers, and he is wont to do now. But this time, his sister is there with him. She picks him up, and takes him to a small room. She sets him down in a cold, large chair.
There is a hammer next to him.
Cassiel goes back to sleep.
He does not wake up.
.
.
.
.
Castiel trains hard everyday. He does not understand half the things his brothers and sisters say, or why they stare at him so strangely. Sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he catches one of his brothers in particular, staring at him in mild devastation and horror. But that is fine because he is an angel of the lord, here to serve Heaven and his Father, and the fastest soldier in the garrison.
Somewhere in Heaven, Naomi smirks.