'Can we trust her?' Dean whispered, staring across the room at Ezra as she flirted shamelessly with Bobby and Sam.
'Yes.' Cas answered without any inflection in his tone.
'Yes? Just like that, well okay then.' Dean rumbled, his voice thick with sarcasm. 'Who is she? And better yet, why do you trust her?' Dean growled.
'She is the last angel.'
'Oh, right. That explains everything then.' Dean replied, his arms flying from his sides in frustration. Cas stared blankly back at him for a moment before catching on that further clarification was required.
'God made all the angels. Then he decided to make this world, then the humans. When he had finished he realized that the humans needed guardians. So the archangels were made: Raphael, Michael, Uriel, Gabriel, Ariel, Chamuel, Haniel, Jerimiel, Jophiel, Metatron, Raguel, Raziel and Sandalphon. The last was Azrael. He made them to protect the humans, to love them. The arcs were blessed with unrivalled strength and power. Of all the archangels, Azrael was the most loved by all, and was second in God's eyes only to Lucifer. But Azrael was always different from us, she seemed to have a connection with the humans that none of us could feel or understand and that seemed to make God love her even more. Her kind, joyous, wild spirit was like nothing any angel had ever been capable of and all the angels would flock to her side, marveling at her childlike playfulness. She was...' Cas trailed off, struggling to find the word.
'Was what?' Dean pushed.
'Fun.' Cas smiled ever so slightly, in remembrance.
'Fun?' Dean asked in disbelief, remembering how un-fun all the angels he had encountered had been.
'Yes. Azrael, Lucifer, Michael, Ezekiel, Uriel and I spent eternities together, with our love for our little sister, Azrael, as the glue that held us together. It was a joyous time. God gave each of the arcs a job- Azrael was the tasked with ferrying the spirits of the dead to their final resting place.'
'You mean death.' Dean asked, still confused as to how this all related to Ezra.
'Yes. Azrael comforted the dying and lovingly carried them to the other side as was her charge, but when Lucifer was cast out of Heaven and sent to Hell the humans sensed it and became afraid of dying, fearful of being delivered to Hells gate. They became afraid of Azrael. Azrael's heart was broken. She had lost one of her beloved brothers and the love she had shown the humans was now repaid in hatred and fear. When the war was finally over, desolate and desperate, Azrael volunteered to be the emissary between Heaven and Hell. She would travel into Hell on her own, and showed no fear of it. We were all in awe of her, but after the first time she returned, we could see that something had shifted in her. She lobbied relentlessly for mercy for our fallen brother, but God would not hear her.
Over the millennia, Azrael was required to travel to Hell more and more, and each time she returned more isolated and saddened than before. Eventually, the spirit that was Azrael dwindled into nothingness, and God changed her name to Ezriel.' Cas stopped, sadness in his dark, lowered eyes.
'You mean to tell me, Ezra, that Ezra over there, joking and drinking it up with Bobby and Sam is the Death and an archangel.' Dean stared at Ezra, who laughed so hard at her own drunken hiccupping that she tipped backwards off the arm of the lounge chair and fell with a thud on the ground.
'Yes.' Cas replied, solemnly.
'I'm O.K.' Ezra shouted from the floor before bursting into laughter again, only one waving hand visible from behind the couch.
'So your telling me that any day of the week, Ezra could just waltz right into Hell and not a single demon would touch her.'
'Lucifer decreed her sacrosanct. Lucifer may have become jaded over the years, and hates us all now, but for some reason he still loves our little sister. So her forbid any demon from touching her. And in fact, Ezra acted as the distraction when I raised you out of Hell. Though she didn't know it at the time.' Cas added.
'This is too weird. First you tell me Lucifer and Ezra are BFF's and then you tell me you USED her as a distraction and yet you still think we can trust her?' Dean reiterated, anxiety causing his voice to rise up an octave.
'Yes. Ezra has always been loyal and has a great capacity for forgiveness.' Cas replied simply, not understanding Dean's distress.
'Loyal to who?' Dean shouted. Bobby shot Dean a questioning look but was quickly distracted by Ezra as she boisterously demonstrated how she could wave her hands and magic away all the blood staining her bike leathers. Sam attempted drunken applause, unsuccessfully.
'Loyal to God.' Cas replied with a sudden fierceness that instantly warned Dean not to question Cas about Ezra's loyalty again if he wanted to keep on living.
'Okay, you trust her,' Dean conceded, 'but why is she really here and not yucking it up with the other angels?'
'Listen, Dean. Ezra is no spy, no traitor and no liar. I trust her with my life and so should you.' And with that Cas disappeared across the room, in less than a second, to join Ezra's captive audience.