Title: Heaven's Most Adorable
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters: Samandriel
Prompt: Written for the "January 31 Day Place Challenge"; Day 6: Heaven
Word Count: 859
Rating: K+
Genre: Family, Angst
Summary: Samandriel remembers his beginning at the end of his life.
Author's Notes: mentions events in 8.07 "A Little Slice of Kevin" and 8.10 "Torn and Frayed"
Disclaimer: I own nothing …


In the beginning, there was light, and warmth.

When new angels opened their eyes, the first face they saw, the first entity they were aware of, was their Father. He brought them into being, crafting them from pure celestial intent.

As multidimensional wavelengths, they had a unique manner of interacting with the rest of Creation, and with each other. Most of Father's other creations could neither gaze upon their true forms nor hear their true voices without suffering painfully adverse effects. Once created, they were then assigned to another angel, an older one who was charged with the task of educating the new angel, or fledglings as they were called.

Samandriel had been entrusted to the care of an angel named Nestiel, an angel who presided over foundlings – infants of all kinds who had been abandoned or orphaned. When angels were granted the ability to take vessels, Nestiel typically preferred those that were assigned the female gender. She was a very patient and understanding angel and Samandriel found it very easy to love his older sister. In the confines of his consciousness, he even held her in the same esteem one would a mother.

He remembered much of when the planet that would one day be called Earth was formed. It was his second favourite planet, after the forest world inhabited by large blue beings with tails and strange braided hair that encased telepathic tendrils.(1) He remembers exploring a coastline with his sister and his secretly favourite two older brothers – the younger, and smaller, of the two had almost stepped on a fish when the older had pulled him back quickly and explained the importance of the little creature. Samandriel had crouched down to gaze at the little thing in wonder, looking up at his sister with wide, innocent eyes. She'd look back at him with a serene smile on her face.

They'd rejoined their brothers as the eldest attempted to goad the other into pulling some silly stunt and playing what he called a "prank" on another of their siblings. Nestiel had simply shaken her head and taken Samandriel's hand in hers, leading him away from the little fish. The four had returned to Heaven and taken a walk in the Garden. Samandriel had always loved the Garden. The more he experienced of Creation, the more Heaven's Garden changed. On that day it was filled with very large exotic plants – one of which tried to eat the smaller of his older brothers. The elder had laughed clamorously after rescuing him, pulling him into a slightly strangling embrace until the younger laughed as well and squirmed until he was released. Samandriel had hugged him as well and, while she had huffed, Nestiel had joined in their laughter.

It had been a simpler time. A happier time. They did not know it then, but that serenity would not last.

Samandriel would one day come to realize that it was never meant to last. It couldn't. He would come to regret that he did not appreciate that time with his older siblings more.

While the unrest had been slowly building, the rebellion started quite suddenly. They suddenly found themselves in the midst of war and their family was fractured apart. When the dust had settled Father had gone and Lucifer was locked away. Of his two favourite brothers the elder had disappeared and the younger had… changed. He'd become a soldier. A rather elite one. Samandriel could see how things weighed on his brother. Every so often he could come back from a mission and he would be… different. Samandriel couldn't figure out how, but he was never the same.

As for his beloved sister… Nestiel had opposed the destruction of the nephilim. She had been punished accordingly. He was told that she served out her punishment in Heaven's prison.

He didn't know until much later, when he was in the clutches of the demon named Crowley and his memories had been unlocked, that the real story was that Nestiel had been killed trying to protect the youngest Nephilim children from annihilation. Their destruction wasn't Father's decree, it was Michael and Raphael's. Samandriel had been there when it had happened. He'd watched, being held back by an almost equally upset Castiel, as Uriel had struck his cherished sister down without remorse. And he remembered being sent to Naomi's office alongside Castiel upon their return to Heaven.

When they left, neither remembered they'd ever been there.

In the end, he'd tried to warn Castiel. To tell him everything was wrong. He tried to get through to the younger of his favourite brothers, and wished Gabriel, the elder of the two, were here. The archangel would know what to do. Nestiel would know what to do.

In his last nanoseconds of life, he mourned what had become of his brother… what had become of his family. Too much heart had always been seen as Castiel's problem. It's what made them reprogram him so often. But, it never had been his problem. It had been his purpose. Samandriel saw that now. And before his grace flickered out of existence, he forgave his older brother…

- 30 -


Footnote:

(1) Refers to the planet Pandora and the Na'vi from the movie Avatar.


Completed: January 15, 2017