About 12 months ago….
Bored didn't cut it. It had been nearly two weeks. Two weeks of waiting and watching the tedious life of one insignificant mortal Robert Singer. All the hunter had managed to do was eat, sleep, piss, bark out a few orders and occasionally utter the word 'idjit'. To say Raphael was not impressed with his assignment was an understatement. 'What a poor use of my time. Why couldn't a seraph not do this or better still, why not a human spy? I'm an archangel and second in command of the armies of heaven and here I am babysitting a pathetic human and all at the behest of the visions of a jittery, spineless human prophet.' Raphael paused in thought. He needed to keep these thoughts in check. It was wrong and foolhardy to question the orders of Michael. There was a reason for every order that Michael give. And if it meant him standing watching a human then he would do it without further question. But he couldn't help have doubt – what were the odds of what the prophet witness coming to pass?
On locating Robert or as the other lowly life forms would call him Bobby Singer, Raphael had thought it best to stay close to ensure he didn't 'miss the event'. It wouldn't do to be in the wrong place when this went down or didn't go down! Michaels' orders had been clear. Stick to the human Robert Singer and watch for any plotting to open portals to other worlds. And if a rift or portal happened to materialise on its own Raphael's orders were to monitor what came through it and to report straight back. It was clear, there would be no angelic intervention when the 'visitors from the other universe would arrive'. Wait, watch and report. Simple!
He shuddered at what would happen if he failed to carry out his orders. Michaels' behaviour over the past few weeks had been bordering on obsessive, even for Michael. It had been such a long time since he had seen Michael act this way. Part of Raphael welcomed this renewed sense of purpose and part of him worried as the last time his brother was this engaged and animated Heaven went to war, Lucifer died and the world burned. A what was left – this bombed out, barren dust bowl. So much for heaven on earth!
Up until the prophets' vision, Michael had been bored and though he would never mention it out loud, Michael was acting depressed – after all what was left to conquer? Raphael had felt deep sympathy for Michael – well as much sympathy as someone like Raphael could offer someone. Michael had always been the dutiful son and despite doing everything asked of him, there had still been no sign of his father. It had to have been because things hadn't happened as they were supposed to – that must have been the reason their father didn't come back.
When the favourite brother Lucifer rebelled, Michael stood by his fathers' side and carried out his orders in full. Raphael had witnessed how Michael had cast aside all bonds of brotherhood with Lucifer and had thrown him out of heaven and down into the cage. He had watched as Michael closed the cage for his father to seal over for all time until the beginning of the end. Over the centuries he watched as Michael waited out the prophecy and he witnessed the shattering of what would have been Michael's heart when 'the vessels' were not born. After this, anger grew when Hell kicked started the apocalypse ignoring Gods' plan.
But worst of all, Raphael had witnessed the change in his brother as Lucifer fell to earth; wings on fire and took his last breath. As the smoke cleared and the shadowy remains of Lucifer's wings began to blow away in the wind, it was then that Michael changed. He became colder. Colder than ever before. Things got worse as it became obvious their father wasn't going to appear now that Lucifer was dead. It was like a steady blow to Michael's heart and a reminder that he had some how failed to do this correctly.
With this realisation, Michael turned his focus to destroying any rebellion in hell as well as ruling over humanity. And that war had went on and on for years, until all that was left was a few rebels and a barren dustbowl that was earth. With the decay of their fathers' creation, Michael had become disillusioned and without purpose, but all of it changed with the prophets new vision just 4 weeks ago. Hence the Archangels' current predicament of standing stock still and invisible as he spied on a cranky all human.
'Beepppppppppppppp!' Raphael was woken out of his thoughts by an irritating beeping sound which was swiftly followed by a 'Nee Nawh Nee Nawh!' Alarms were going off all around the humans' homestead. 'Well at last, maybe something is about to happen!'
"Balls! What in hells bells is happening now?" Bobby bellowed out his annoyance at the loud alarms going off all around him. One of the younger kids who went by the name Terry or was it Kerry had let a yelp out and had run to cower in the nearest corner of the room. Bobby turned his focus back from the young boy who had the misfortune of being in the room when his warnings were triggered. "Barry, Terry, Kerry or whatever the hell your name is, there no need to cower boy, cause those bells are alarms that have been tripped way out in the Westlands. There's no need to get all scared and worked up, whatever tripped my alarms is at least 10 miles from here."
Bobby watched as the kid 'Terry' slowly got up and left his room. Bobby had not wanted to worry the boy but he couldn't help thinking about the alarms. Nothing good ever came out of the Westlands to start off with never name it had to be some sort of power surge in order to set off the wardings and his alarms. I'd better go investigate.'
Without further thinking, Bobby put his coat on and wrapped his head scarf up tight to cover his head and most of his face. It wouldn't be wise to be out and exposed as a human too much in the Westlands. There was way to many demons, monsters as well as angels flying about and any one of them would be only to happy to kill him or worse. Before leaving the relative safety of his home he grabbed holy water, his gun including angel killing bullets and his silver knife along with a few other weapons and began his long 10 mile trek out into what felt like wastelands. Little did the old hunter know that he had a silent shadow tailing him.
Raphael sensed the surge in power at least 2 miles before Bobby would actually physically see the rift. Making his mind up and without thinking too much on whether this was viewed as abandoning his post, Raphael flew, whilst invisible, directly towards the rift. On arriving his eyes widened. 'The prophet had been right. Something very powerful had somewhere come into existence and had punched a hole in the fabric of it's universe and this rift had been created. This cannot be a coincidence. It must be father's design.' With this realisation Raphael could no longer doubt Michael. Michael had been right. This was a sign. Their hard work and loyal support had paid off. God their father was giving them an amazing opportunity – one Raphael would fight tooth and nail to have Michael benefit from.
As if sensing the surge in power, the weather began to change and thunder and red lightening crashed and flashed across the sky. As Raphael looked closer at the rift that's yellowish light flashed, hummed and pulsed; he could see it was at least over seven foot tall, but how did you use it to travel? It was as he pondered this as well as other questions that there was a change in the rift as power seemed to surge and all of a sudden out of the light came through some sort of humanoid shape.
Tempted to appear, capture and then ask questions, Raphael held back from attack and kept himself in check. It wouldn't do to reveal his presence especially considering Michael's orders. So without any other purpose Raphael looked the off-worlder up and down and to his surprise he realised the new arrival was in fact an angel. But this one was not like any of the angels he knew. The wings were clipped or burned and the grace was a little battered, torn and frayed. Not to mention the uniform was one of peacetime earth clothing instead of the current angel army style uniform.
As Raphael ventured closer, he could see much clearer that this angel was an alternative universe version of their chief interrogator, Castiel. But the similarities ended with looks. It was the same vessel but everything else was different. No. No, it wasn't just different. It was wrong, it was a walking, talking blasphemy. Though still invisible, Raphael could feel his grace stir up in anger. This version of Castiel seemed tarnished and as he looked closer to within the angel's grace, Raphael saw something else. 'No.!.?! is that a bond? A profound bond?! And from the looks of the essence it's bonded to …. Is that human?'
Raphael was bounced out of his internal monologing by a movement to his right. He watched in silence as a demon crept slowly towards this new version of Castiel. As red lightening flashed across the sky, followed by thunder, the new abomination that was 'Castiel' turned around taking in the new world. "Where?" Castiel seemed to turn further around and this question was followed by another whispered "How?" But this confusion didn't last long as he turned back when he heard a growling, snarling noise from behind him.
Taking in the demon in front of the angel, Raphael watched as one abomination moved closer to another and without fear and hesitation, took advantage of the dumb look on the angels' face. Caught by shock, the angel Castiel took a punch to his face and fell to the ground. The demon seemed to sense weakness and confusion so it moved closer. This pathetic version of an angel seemed to bring his arms up into a defensive position as if preparing to protect it's upper body and head. As the demon moved closer the angel looked up at the face and was confused. To Raphael, it looked as if this angel was not used to seeing demons like this.
But just as Raphael was enjoying the little fight, a loud 'bang' went off from further back. As the demon's face lit up signalling it was dying, both Raphael and Castiel looked towards the location of the gunshot to see a human moving slowly towards Castiel. Castiel narrowly moved out of the way as the demon fell and was now focusing all his attention on the arrival of his 'saviour' who was walking towards him, gun held ready to fire. It seemed Castiel was afraid as he used his elbows to push himself away from the approaching human, but stopped when he seemed to recognise the new arrival. Castiels' forehead creased up and softly he said: "You!"
Raphael considered intervening but realised the new arrival was none other than the mud monkey Robert Singer. The archangel watched as Singer cautiously approached the angel Castiel. At first, it looked like the human was going to shoot on sight, but Bobby Singer stopped short and raised his eyebrows as if confused. The human could tell that this angel lacked the coldness and necessarily skills to lash out and harm him. Singer seemed to be taking in Castiel's appearance. "Ears?! Emmm.".
Robert Singer moved from one foot to the other and in doing so, moved his gun into a different position. Though still pointed towards the angel, the gun seemed less threatening. "Ears? I do not know what you mean? I have ears. But Bobby. Bobby Singer – it's me, Castiel. Angel of the Lord. The one who raised Dean out of hell and…" Before Castiel could finish his sentence, Singer interrupted the babbling, "Baby ears! Normally you fly boys have baby ears for necklaces and come to think about it, you normally are kitted out like a soldier ready to fight. But despite your idjit ranting, you seem different. Less evil."
Castiel's mind seemed to catch up to being in an alternative world and began to speak, "Forgive me Mr Singer. I'm not sure why in any universe I would think wearing baby ears or any type of body part around my neck was acceptable, but please believe me when I say I'm a friend." Bobby frowned further and huffed out an 'Go on'.
"I am not from this world of dust, demons and death. I'm from a different world, were there wasn't any sort of apocalypse. Hmmm. …. I take it, the apocalypse happened and there was a war between heaven and hell?" On taking all this in, the human Singer seemed to smirk, "you really aren't from around here. Are yea?" The angel smiled up at the human for the first time since they had met and he continued, "in our world, the apocalypse was avoided and the devil and Michael were locked up in the cage. Some people died, but not the scale that seems to have happened in your world."
Raphael watched on as he witnessed something he didn't think he would ever see – a seasoned hunter seemed to be trusting an angel. This was wrong. No wonder Michael was obsessed with the vision. As he listened to the alternative world Castiel talk on about how the vessels had stopped their apocalypse and had caged Lucifer back up and imprisoned Michael. It was hard to believe and take in. Anger increased within the archangel. 'How dare this pathetic excuse for an angel talk of such things. It can't be true? Surely no human soul could take back control from an archangel when it had taken control of its vessel? And what about the sword? Surely, the other world Michael was as strong as this world's Michael?'
Intrigued and worried at the same time, Raphael watched on as human and angel spoke about their respective worlds. What seemed like well over an hour had passed when both began to move towards saying their goodbye. The human was already walking away from the rift, but something coming from the rift seemed to catch the angel Castiels' attention. As Castiel looked back towards the rift it seemed to flash and bang and it was then that he noticed something about the rhythm of the flashes and bangs. "Contractions! Oh my father, the nephilm opened this. The rift and the birth are connected! So much power coming into the world.! No wonder there was a rift in space and time."
Thinking he had no audience, Castiel looked at the retreating figure that was Bobby Singer and decided there and then that he wouldn't tell Kelly about the rift. Why should he? Kelly was most likely scared enough already. She didn't need to know this. And besides, if she was having connections, she already had too much on her mind to think about. Decision made, the angel Castiel moved towards the gateway back to his world. Looking back he paused as if he felt something, something familiar but not familiar. Raphael stopped moving and his eyes widened as he took in the look on Castiel's face. 'Could this Castiel sense his presence? Surely not. Castiel was a lowly seraph, nothing more.' The angel corrected his head tilt and turned and walked back through the gateway.
Minutes felt like hours, but Raphael took some time and mulled over the conversation he had just heard between the human and the angel and the information he had just learned. He knew the human had promised to stay close by, so he relaxed as he wasn't disobeying Michael or abandoning his mission. So many thoughts were running through Raphaels mind. A nephilm… No an archangel's nephilm was about to be born. That would explain the rift and the power surge. But what about the mission?' Raphael was sure he now understood the source of the rift's power. But there was more to consider. 'Lucifer or the other world's Lucifer still existed and was free. And what about the vessels and especially the sword – all were freely walking and talking.'
Raphael watched the rift hum and pulse. It seem strangely calming, but he wasn't fooled. He knew that at the other side of this rift there were a number of possible game changers in place. He knew this, because the prophet Kevin had foreseen it and Michael's very own gift of foresight was working again and already had sensed change coming and coming soon. It wasn't a matter of 'if' change was coming; it was a matter of 'when'.
Armed with the new information, Raphael chanced a quick report back to Michael. Spreading his extensive wings, he vanished and within seconds appeared outside Michael's fortress. "You. Minion." Raphael howled at the nearest angel. He didn't want to waste too much time away from the rift just in case someone else stepped through but Michael would appreciate that it had started. "Where's Lord Michael?".
The lowly sentry raised and turned her head of to the right of the fortress building. "Lord Raphael, Michael is alone, something about needing time to plan." At once, Raphael knew Michael had felt the rift come into being. Thankful for taking the decision to report, Raphael entered the fortress and made his way swiftly down the twisted corridors and through double doors into Michael's private chambers.
"Brother. It has started. The prophet was right. A rift has appeared and an seraph from another universe has stepped through." Raphael paused and took in his brother's movements. On hearing Raphaels' words, Michael seemed to breath out and relax. "Ahh. At last, it has begun." Michael stopped talking for a minute and his face looked like he was considering options. "Tell me, what caused the rift? What else did you see and hear?"
Feeling important, but not wanting to waste time pontificating, Raphael answered: "An angel came through. It was Castiel, but not like our Castiel. This Castiels' wings were clipped and his grace was tattered. The visitor met with Singer as Kevin foresaw." Raphael stopped to consider how to update Michael on the rest of the 'news'. "And Raphael? What of my sword?"
"Michael… Lucifer is alive. No, that's not correct. The other universes' Lucifer is alive and is just about to father a child. It is the child's birth that has opened the rift, which means that it won't stay open for long" Raphael stopped talking as he witnessed a change in Michael's body language.
"An archangel nephilm is coming into being. The power that is coming into existence is huge. Whoever controls this power could destroy everything, not just in that universe but in this one as well." Michael started to pace. He did this when he strategized. There were a number of options available to him. Everything from do nothing and let it be the other universe's problem to let's take the nephilm and the sword and invade this other shiny new world and this time do it right. Or even some sort of option that fell in between these two options.
Michael paused in his pacing. 'Lucifer alive. An archangel nephilm being born. A world untouched by an apocalypse and his sword still intact. All important and if left unchecked, all could impact on his plans for this world and for the other world.' His mind seemed made up, Michael turned to Raphael and issued his command: "Raphael – brother – go now back to the rift and wait. As Kevin's vision has foreseen, the sword will arrive along with my brother. We must not interfere, we must let it happened. Go stand and watch – and remember to not be seen."
With a nod of agreement, Raphael vanished.
