Life as a Comet
"…It's not all sparkle and speed, sometimes its crash and burn."
The Angel Castiel
Chapter One
The demons had fled, Raphael was meat paste on the floor and there was no apparent sign of any other angels in the warehouse. Dean tried to look around surreptitiously, wanting to collect himself and get a feel for just how badly they were screwed.
Castiel stood before them fierce and proud, he'd just told them to kneel down before him and swear their undying love and allegiance as if he were himself the one true God. He didn't blind them with his holy light or look down his nose, he didn't even make the slightest movement, and he didn't have to.
Bobby and Sam were stunned, confused and afraid; they didn't say a word or move a muscle.
Dean too, was afraid; for his friend had done something he'd never imagined him capable of and become something he could barely comprehend. Yes, he was afraid of what Cas might do on this power high; but he was much more afraid of what the fire of all those souls was doing to Cas. Never mind that if the God that created the angels was still out there somewhere, and not long ago they'd been told he was, then surely he wasn't going let this slide?
"I am waiting Dean; have you nothing to say?" Castiel asked far too calmly.
Dean swallowed and closed his eyes, and taking a deep breath opened his mouth to speak the truth and hope to …something… that it didn't get them all killed. He never got the chance.
"Castiel…" A voice proclaimed.
The voice, it came from everywhere and nowhere, it wasn't loud, yet it was undeniable; you could not tune it out. The sound seemed to pierce the soul, it was fierce, yet beautiful and it made Bobby and the boys want to weep for joy and quake in terror all at the same time.
Castiel looked stunned as the light in the room changed taking on a surreal quality as it became somehow alive.
"Enoch," he answered the terrifying and melodious entity that was there and yet not there as it began to form in front of their eyes.
A tower of flame appeared in the middle of the room, it carried within it an androgynous figure somehow masculine and yet with a sense of the feminine, broad of shoulder, but slim of waist, muscular and yet full of lithe grace. The figure was fine of feature, but bore upon his brow and held within' his eyes a knowledge that was truly staggering to glimpse. He had long waving black hair and fierce eyes that were green, gold and violet in consecutive circles around silvery white irises. He bore three tiers of great wings, a pristine, snowy white at the top, gold blending into a rich chocolate brown below them, and shinning ebony at the bottom. He wore a long flowing garment not entirely unlike a sarong. It was made of something that shifted as if in a breeze and was all the colors of the rainbow first one and then another melting into and out of various shades and ranges of color as they watched. It shimmered and shone as if lit from within, it covered his middle and down his legs and up over half his chest, his hair covering the other half even as it too moved in the nonexistent breeze. He was the most amazing thing Dean had ever seen, beautiful, dreadful, and majestic. When he spoke a second time the sound was musical, thunderous, the vibration and force of the cosmos forming and tearing itself asunder again, gargantuan, yet soothing, a paradox the mind could not bear.
"Our Father has sent me to escort you before the throne, you will come?" he asked.
"Why should I? Who will we find there Enoch? Will HE be there now? Will he come and take back from me all I have worked so hard for? Why does he care now, after all I've done? Why didn't he answer me when I called, seek me when I sought HIM, and stop me before I was his equal?" Castiel asked angrily.
Enoch looked sad, "Why? Why did you lose faith so quickly after so long? You were such a fine example to us all Castiel, so strong, so compassionate, yet loyal and unwavering…" he sighed and the flames seemed to dim a moment, "Don't you know he has been with you all along, right under your nose? Haven't I made that clear enough to one and all time and again, is that not my very function brother?" he demanded.
"Where is he then and where the hell has he been exactly? Why should I back down now, who will run things if he will not?" Castiel fired back, and then he struck out at Enoch and sent him sprawling to the floor, "No! I am a better God than he ever was and there is no going back now, I will not give in!"
Enoch reared back as he was struck, his eyes blazing as he got back up to his feet. He strode across the room and picked Castiel up by the throat and spoke a few words in Enochian. There was nothing showy or truly visible to see, but there was a sudden change in Cas, he seemed… smaller somehow.
"I told you he is here now; he remains in power even now as he always has. Do you think simply because you do not see it with your own eyes it is not so? Have you forgotten the very meaning of the word faith?" he asked exasperated and then the force of him seemed to increase, he seemed to have been seized by something and when he spoke again it was indescribable. Bobby, Sam and Dean had to put their hands over their ears and shut their eyes a minute as they began to feel a sense of nausea and vertigo wash over them.
"IMPUDENT CHILD! YOU. WILL. COME. NOW!"
Castiel knew without question that he was no longer addressed by Enoch; this was as Enoch himself had put it, his very function in full force. It was the very voice of God that spoke to him now through his brother as he himself had often spoken to Dean through his own vessel. Castiel fell onto his knees as tears streaked down his cheeks and he covered his face in shame with Jimmy Novak's hands.
Dean swallowed and tried to open his mouth, he wanted to do something, to take some action, to say something, to make a plea on Cas' behalf, why he wasn't exactly sure, but he did. He was terrified, they all were, but he found a courage he would never have believed he had left and slowly, carefully and with enormous effort strode the four steps it took to put himself between Castiel and this unbearable being.
"Wha…ahh...what do you want with him?" Dean asked his voice quiet, but firm even as he shook like a leaf.
Enoch turned his head and looked at Dean with sympathy and made the slightest negative shake. Dean's throat closed and he tried to nod, but wasn't sure it worked, he wasn't sure he could actually move. Enoch returned his attention to Castiel.
Cas looked up at Dean with a shocked and grateful expression and offered him the smallest, saddest smile any of them had ever seen.
"I was wrong," he said to Dean, but didn't elaborate, "I will come," he said to Enoch as he stood up.
Enoch nodded at Castiel and their gazes locked, he caught him as he fell forward into his arms. Holding Castiel close to his chest and extending his wings, he was gone in a whirl of fiery light, wind and sound; the following ordinary silence was far too mundane and utterly deafening.
They stood there, the three of them just staring at the empty space where seconds before the angels had stood and for the first time there had been something not merely powerful and scary, but actually divine about them, or so it seemed to Dean.
They stood there for how long, not one of them could have said, as if time would never move again.
"Well, are we going to stand around all night like a bunch of idjits with our thumbs up our asses? Or are we going to go look at your car and get the hell out of here?" Bobby said, finally breaking the spell.
Dean looked around and cleared his throat, "Ahm yeah, I hope it's not totaled, again!"
Sam nodded at Dean and Bobby as he followed them outside, "So …?" he wanted to ask what happens next, but suddenly realized it might be better to just shut up for now.
Dean looked over his shoulder at Sam and saw this for himself, he shrugged and shook his head, "Let's worry about the car right now, tomorrow is early enough to start worrying about hunting and generally getting life sorted out, right?" he offered.
"Ahm… right," Sam agreed nodding.
"At least," Bobby said as they tipped the car over back onto its wheels and began the repairs.
