Title: Hope Dies Last

Fandom: Les Miserables, Supernatural

Summary: Everyone forgets that there were once seven archangels. Grantaire remembers, Grantaire can't forget. After all, Hope dies last. Grantaire just wishes 'last' would hurry the fuck up and happen already.

Characters: Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Gabriel, and all the other archangels (are really only in this chapter), Grantaire, (Enjolras, literally the whole cast of Les Amis and Co. will show up later)

Pairing(s): future Grantaire/Enjolras, may pair up other Les Amis later on too (but canon like Marius/Cosette will remain true)

WARNING: All canon deaths and tragedies happen as they did in canon, Grantaire is bitter AF, and hates himself, and hates God, and really hates everything and everyone at some point, reincarnation, I mixed my imagination with real religious stuff, Sorry not sorry.

Disclaimer: Supernatural, the Bible, all other religious info about angels etc., and Les Mis, does not belong to me.

AN: None of this is Betaed by anyone but me so sorry for any mistakes. This is not actually a Supernatural Fic, at all. In fact it has very very VERY little to do with Supernatural at all. Just the mentions in this chapter and Supernatural canon is like background backstory for the fic which is primarily a Les Mis AU based in the Supernatural universe but not directly impacting or impacted by it. This is based on a) the fact that I always wondered where the other archangels were in Supernatural since there are typically seven with Lucifer not included in that count and Uriel was portrayed as not an archangel which makes only 3 or 4 out of 7 in Supernatural and b) the fic "Under My Wings You Will Find Refuge" by Fiver on ao3 (or tumblr, which I don't do) that I just read a couple days ago and love. GO READ IT! NOW!

Hope Dies Last

Prologue: cannot any recall that Icarus was once an angel too,

for do we not define angels by their wings and ability to fly where no man can

Everyone forgets that there were once seven archangels. Well, some earthly religions haven't forgotten, but the other angels, the demons, all the really important beings have. The most important thing they all forget is that there really used to be eight. Lucifer, Michael, Raphael, these first three along with the last are the only ones they still remember. Uriel who stood so long with his fiery sword guarding the gate of Eden was the fourth archangel, Raguel the Angel of Justice whose job it was to cast down angels and destroy demons when they overstepped was the fifth, Remiel the Angel of Hope and Divine Vision was the sixth, and Sariel of Death and Repentance who was once tasked with watching over the souls sent to purgatory was the seventh. Gabriel the Messenger was eighth and last to be created. And so it goes, there were once eight. But Lucifer rebelled and though the heavenly Host argued they did not truly fight one another, not to the point of injury, not until after the first archangel died.

Humans say that Hope dies last. Is it ironic then that Remiel was the first to go? Remiel who was not just Hope but Divine Vision and thus knew truths and futures that none of the rest of them ever did. They all felt Remiel's death, like a shockwave, through the collective mind of the Host. When they arrived, all seven of the highest found themselves standing across from their brethren separated by the blackened afterimage, a spiraling mass of feathers and wings, horns and tails, and shapes no mortal eye can comprehend, burnt into the fabric of Heaven where Remiel was slain. Because Remiel must have been slain. There is no Blade left behind so it cannot have been a suicide, (and angels do not commit suicide because it is against their nature to undo their Father's Work in such a manner,) but only another archangel's blade could have killed one of their own. So the lines are drawn.

Lucifer and Sariel on one side, Sariel who will become Azrael when they fall, against Michael, Raphael, and Raguel. Gabriel stands neutral between the two sides. Uriel across from Gabriel refuses to fight when their Father has assigned them the Duty to guard the gate of Eden, not squabble with the rest of the Host in Heaven.

Neither side will admit to having been the first to draw their blade, especially not against Remiel, not against the most peaceful of them all who had been so desperately hopeful that they could resolve the argument without violence. Who had stopped sharing any negative Visions aloud right at the beginning, conspicuously had stopped sharing visions of the other archangels so as to not help or hinder either side, who all could see was suffering under the weight of the conflict before it had even begun.

So Hope dies first and with it the hope of a deathless end to the conflict. Host against Host and garrisons split down the middle as Michael and Lucifer divide the army of Heaven against itself. Then Raguel dies on Sariel's Blade and Gabriel disappears. Michael casts down Lucifer and the Host who fought on that side, as once Raguel would have done, and there are only two archangels left in Heaven. This is how it stands for the age of man; thousands of years where there are only two archangels, thousands of years where two are trying to do the jobs of eight.

Then, once even these two have had enough and lost their Faith, lost their Hope that their Father is still there even though without His Messenger how could they expect to receive His commands, Heaven and Hell join together to attempt the Apocalypse.

Uriel has long since lost his way. Planted the fiery sword in the ground before the gate and walked away, rejoined the Host as a simple soldier wishing for more meaning to existence and eventually turned to Lucifer for guidance and is killed by his own blade. Azrael is dead by the time the bid for the Apocalypse has rolled around, who can say if it is by another demon, something the Winchester brothers did, or Michael or Raphael. Both Uriel and Raphael held anger over Raguel's death against Azrael all these years so perhaps it was even Uriel's reason for stepping out of neutrality and into Lucifer's train of followers.

Gabriel is killed by Lucifer in the conflict, the only one of them to stand for the side of humanity this time. Then Lucifer and Michael are both cast into the Pit and locked in the Cage. And Raphael, the Healer, is left the lone archangel. But Raphael has long since abandoned the very role they were created for. Castiel consumes the souls of purgatory, without Sariel guarding and lowering their numbers by ushering them on through redemption they are like a helpless buffet laid out for feasting upon, he proclaims himself God and destroys the last of the archangels.

There were once eight. Now there are none.

Except, as everyone knows, Hope dies last.

AN: Also this chapter alone could just be a stand alone. If you aren't into Les Mis or like don't want to read any further. You could take this chapter as a weird meta about Supernatural if you wished to.