Lucifer almost couldn't believe this day had finally come. Yes, he had been waiting for it ever since Michael had thrown him into the pit and he had been getting steadily closer to it ever since he had been freed but now it was finally here.
And he didn't know what to think.
Their plot to get the Winchesters to say yes would probably end in failure. The Winchesters were certainly worn down but still with one last spark of defiance they would not let go of. They could keep trying until Dean said yes but at this point it was starting to get old.
Sam had said yes. Dean had not, like they had been predicting, but that was because this wasn't a real yes. Oh, it had been enough for Lucifer to take Sam's body (he could still feel him rattling around in there) but it was a trap. A very clever trap but Sam had never been made of the stuff that could stand up to Lucifer and win. It wasn't his fault and he had tried quite hard for a human. They were just an inferior species.
Now, how exactly Sam and Dean had gotten the idea that the rings of the horsemen could trap him back in his cage (and perhaps Michael had a point about Death, who was clearly working to overthrow him) was another matter. Assuming he survived the coming battle, he was going to need to go have a little talk with Gabriel. Honestly, he wasn't in the mood to fight with two brothers today even if one of those brothers was out to kill him and the other was trying to lock him back up in hell. It was too bad he hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Raphael because clearly he was the only brother not actively out to get him.
Lucifer had Sam because the Winchesters had given up on stopping them but not so much they would do the obvious thing and just give in. The Winchesters ploy had failed but they would get nothing out of Dean going to Michael and so he wouldn't. Having gotten to know Dean a little over the past few months, Lucifer was fairly certain Dean would absolutely show up to their fight but not as a vessel and the last thing they needed was his snide commentary.
Would Castiel show up? He would only get himself killed but would he really abandon Dean to do this alone? Lucifer was fairly certain he knew why Castiel hadn't shown up after Sam and Dean had been freed all those weeks ago and the answer to that lay the empty circle that had once been a fiery prison for Anna. Who even knew what had happened to her?
He arrived at Stull Cemetery early and looked around. This was a good place. There were no living humans and it was beautiful. All the dead humans were certainly a plus, too. It was a gateway to hell and it would be a shame to destroy it in the coming fight.
Michael appeared in front of him them, looking almost accusing. He still wore the body of a de-aged John Winchester.
Lucifer was overcome by a ridiculous urge to apologize. What did he have to be sorry for? He hadn't gone behind Michael's back, Sam had come to him and if Lucifer had been wrong – which of course he wasn't – then he would have been trapped in hell right now and Michael wouldn't have needed to do a thing. And anyway, they were enemies again – they had never stopped being enemies, he had to remember that – and he didn't owe his brother any explanations.
They stood their awkwardly, just staring at each other. What were they supposed to say? They had already reunited months ago and the last time they saw each other they had gotten into a rather inane argument about whether the tops of bridges were good meeting places for angels. Lucifer felt it was a little cliché at this point with all the human media depicting angels meeting there.
"Michael," Lucifer said at last.
Michael nodded at him. "Lucifer."
"I can't believe we're finally here," Lucifer said, shaking his head.
"You certainly look ready," Michael said, a bit peevishly.
Despite his decision not to, Lucifer found himself saying, "Sam came and offered himself to me so that he could try and overpower me and cast me back into hell. It seemed rude to turn him down after everything we've been through."
Michael's lip curled. "I suppose I should be grateful no one's tried to trap me in hell."
"Ah, well, the day's young," Lucifer said.
"Are you ready for this?" Michael asked.
It was so strange and yet so very Michael for him to ask if Lucifer was ready for the two of them to finally take the plunge together and try in earnest to kill one another. Would it matter if he wasn't? This was why he hadn't wanted to see Michael before this day had come. It would be hard enough to try and kill his brother even when his last memories of him were of being cast out into a cage not fit for an angel with millennia of suffering to nurture his anger and bitterness. Now he had months of regular contact with him and, for the most part, they had been able to ignore the issues that had divided them. Now it felt almost the way it had before, when they had first turned their blades against each other. Back then Michael had never betrayed him before but now the old wounds had started to fade and he had expected nothing less from the perpetual good son.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Lucifer said at last. How ready could he be for something like this? How ready was Michael? Impulsively, he added, "A part of me wishes we didn't have to do this."
Michael looked sad this time instead of blazing with righteous fury. It had been a long past few millennia. They had been so young then. "I know what you mean."
"I don't want to do this and you don't want to do this," Lucifer said. "And, as we have been reminded so very many times lately, no one can force us to do anything. Why are we even here?"
Michael closed his eyes. "Oh, you know why. We've had this conversation, Lucifer. Neither of us has changed our minds. Maybe we don't want to be here, maybe there's no higher power forcing us to be here, but neither of us has changed all that much from the last time we did battle."
"I just keep coming back to the idea of inevitability," Lucifer said slowly.
"It is a hard one to accept, I know," Michael said sympathetically.
"And yet, for all that it was apparently always my destiny to rebel and come to this, you have always seen fit to blame me just the same," Lucifer said.
Michael started to answer.
"No, no need to remind me that the fact I am the kind of person who would do something like that means you can still blame me. I remember," Lucifer said, holding up a hand. "I know you're not going to like where I'm going with this-"
"Since when has that ever stopped you?"
"But, while I don't know the specifics of how much design goes into humans, we were all designed with purpose," Lucifer said. "And I was one of the first, one of the most important. If I was always someone who would do something like that and I was always meant to rebel then someone created me to do that."
Michael's jaw worked. "You're right. I don't like this."
"I'm not wrong. I just can't see the point."
"We don't have to. We just have to do our parts."
"And my part is to try and kill you and all of Father's precious little humans?" Lucifer asked. "That seems a strange way to treat his favorites but okay."
"I can see this being a test," Michael said as if the words were being dragged out of him. "Seeing if we could resist the temptation brought upon by years of His absence and your oh so damning words."
"If everything is predetermined and you are hell-bent on not believing in free will then God would know what you would choose so why put any of us through that?" Lucifer asked rhetorically. "Why a test?"
"Just because He knows what would happen doesn't mean it's the same as having it actually happen," Michael said. "If Father always knew you would rebel, which of course He did, then is it right to lock you away or destroy you before you had done anything? Of course not. That's why he waited until you made your move."
"So no free will and it's still all my fault," Lucifer mused. "I just love how you can always twist the situation so that everything you want to believe is true and not one iota more."
"Criticize me all you want, Lucifer, it will not change anything," Michael said severely.
"Yeah, well, what if I want it to?" Lucifer asked.
Michael frowned. "I don't get your meaning."
"What if I'm sick of always having to do what everyone expects of me? I'm the goddamn Devil. Following through on heaven's plans should be the last thing I do."
"You were never doing this because it was expected of you," Michael said. "You're doing this because you just hate the humans that badly and want to destroy them."
"And what if I'm starting to think that maybe humans, of all things, aren't worth killing my own brothers over?" Lucifer asked. "Why should I give such worthless creatures that much power? Why should they cause angels to die? Don't you see how abhorrent that is?"
"I don't know about that," Michael said. "All I know is that this is a very strange time to be having this sort of revelation."
"So what if we just…don't?"
"Don't," Michael repeated, clearly not getting it. "Don't what, have revelations? I'm not having any revelations. Those are all coming from you."
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Clearly. I mean, what if we just don't fight."
"We can't just not fight," Michael said, looking like Lucifer was trying to pull the rug out from under him.
"Why?" Lucifer asked. "I don't want to fight, you don't want to fight, I'm not going to let humanity dictate my actions just because they have the nerve to exist and be repulsive and just begging to be wiped out."
Michael said nothing for a long moment and the look on his face was terrible.
"What are you going to do?" Lucifer asked quietly.
"I-I can't," Michael said. "I'm sorry. I wish I could. I don't even know why I'm apologizing. I'm not wrong here. I'm a good son and I have my orders."
"Your orders," Lucifer said contemptuously. "Michael, the closest thing you've got to orders are the vagaries Father gave you literally thousands of years ago. How do you know he hasn't changed his mind? How do you know what he would have done in the event I changed my mind about the humans? Not on what they are, mind you, but what destroying them is worth. How do you know anything at all about what he wants now? Has he contacted you to confirm what he wants you to do?"
"Well, no," Michael conceded, looking anywhere but at Lucifer. "But surely if he had meant for me to have new orders he would have issued them."
Lucifer cared deeply for Michael but sometimes he really did feel like strangling him. "And what if that's part of the test? To see if you'd follow defunct orders from a time almost too long ago to matter or if you'd step up and make your own choices."
"There are no choices," Michael said weakly.
"That's a coward's answer and you know it," Lucifer said. "You can't know what was always meant to happen until after you do it."
"You think I'm going to rebel?" Michael said the word like he'd heard some people recently say 'you're going to wipe out the entire species'. "Now? I'm not you, Lucifer."
"There's a pretty big difference between everything I've done and not killing your no longer actively genocidal brother," Lucifer said. "I mean, I acknowledge that if I were to still kill all the humans it wouldn't be so much a truce as you just letting me do what I want. And I do still want that. But not more than this. Anna and Castiel rebelled and they are hardly me either."
But Michael was shaking his head. "I'm not. I can't. You haven't changed a bit, little brother. Always blaming everyone but yourself. We were together and we were happy. As impossible as it is to imagine now, you know we were."
"I was a part of that, too," Lucifer said quietly. "It was my happiness, too, that was shattered."
"Oh, I know. We were happy. Then you betrayed me and all of us. You expected me to choose you over Father and cried treachery when I didn't. You made Father leave."
Lucifer willed himself to keep calm. Michael was just lashing out. "Now who is blaming everyone but himself?"
Michael's grace flared. "Are you saying it's my fault?"
"No, of course not. Just that nobody makes Father do anything. He made his choice and if He ever comes back he'll make another one. You're only guessing it's because of me but you'd think if it were really destiny Father would have had time to come to terms with it or something," Lucifer said.
"You're a monster, Lucifer," Michael accused. "I have to kill you."
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Well if you're going to be all dramatic about it-"
He was cut off as loud music started blaring. He and Michael turned to see Dean Winchester driving up, looking for all the world that the apocalypse wasn't imminent – well as far as he was concerned anyway – and his brother was being possessed by Lucifer.
"Sorry," Dean said, getting out of the car. He didn't sound sorry. "Am I interrupting something? Hey. We need to talk."
"Sure," Lucifer said. "What do you want to talk about?"
Dean drew back. "That was, uh, not really the reaction I was expecting."
"You are no longer the vessel, Dean," Michael snapped. "You have no right to be here."
"Hey, don't be sore just because I didn't sign on to let you use me to destroy my planet," Dean retorted. "And since this is my people you're talking about, I think I got every right to be here."
Lucifer abruptly sat down and crossed his arms.
"What are you doing?" Michael asked him.
"I won't do it."
"Lucifer, be serious."
"I am being serious," Lucifer said.
"Uh, what's going on?" Dean asked.
"My brother is being a child," Michael complained.
"I've decided that, while destroying your filthy little species is a grand goal, I do not believe the fate of humanity is worth trying to kill my brother over," Lucifer said. "He appears to be perfectly content to kill me, however."
"That is not what I said!" Michael objected. "In fact, that's the exact opposite of what I said!"
"You called me a monster."
"You are one!" Michael exclaimed. "That doesn't mean I have to want to kill you but it's going to happen."
"I don't really know where this is coming from," Dean said. "But I definitely approve. Family's all you got sometimes and you don't want to throw it away lightly. Dad and Sammy didn't talk for years because Sam wanted to off to school. The fact that they were able to reconcile by the end means the world but I can't help thinking how much more we could have had if they hadn't stopped talking for years in the first place. Maybe a lot of things could've been different."
"Stay out of this, Dean," Michael ordered. "This doesn't concern you."
"Oh, I don't know," Lucifer said, mostly because Dean was on his side and – out to kill his brother or not – he was a little annoyed at the insults Michael kept sending his way. "Haven't we spent a lot of time comparing his family dynamics to ours? You are glad that you and Sam are back on the same page, are you not? It's better when you two aren't fighting?"
"Without a doubt," Dean agreed. He looked like this was the weirdest conversation he'd ever had and like he wasn't quite sure this was real but he was plowing on through it anyway.
"That isn't the same thing at all," Michael said. "Sam went off to school. Lucifer betrayed our entire family and wanted to wipe out your people."
"Which is something that you don't care about," Dean pointed out. "And, believe me, the words 'betrayed' and 'after all I've done for him' flew around my family, too. Besides, Lucifer doesn't want to do it anymore."
"Some things you can't take back," Michael said darkly.
"Sure you can," Dean insisted. "Look, if I could get over my brother choosing a demon over me – though I'm not about to stop bringing it up in a pinch – and then starting the apocalypse then I can get over anything he's tried to do. And 'not listened to Dad' is hardly at the top of the list."
"Your father isn't God," Michael said.
"Something something 'forgive people'," Dean said. "That's in the bible, isn't it?"
"Surely you understand that your bible is hardly the bastion of truth you seem to think it is," Michael told him.
"It has some good ideas," Dean said. "Like forgive people."
"You want me to forgive Lucifer?" Michael asked skeptically.
"I want you to not kill my brother," Dean said bluntly.
"I said I'd bring him right back."
"Yeah, well, I still don't want to watch him die," Dean said. "I watched it happen once already and went a little crazy. And Sam handled my death even worse, if that's possible. Then again, if I had a Ruby who knows what I might have done? And, Sam or no Sam, I also want no apocalypse so if forgiveness is what it takes to cancel that then let's all start singing Kumbaya right now."
"I'm not going to fight you, Michael," Lucifer told him. "And you can't make me."
"Well then what do you suggest?" Michael asked, annoyed.
Lucifer shrugged. "You have two options. You can strike me down in cold blood, knowing that I don't intend to act against you and won't make any move to defend myself, or you can let me live and we can forget all about this."
"You make it sound so easy."
Easy? No, there was nothing easy about this. And, to be perfectly honest, Lucifer had no idea whether Michael would strike him down or not. Michael had always been stronger than him but he was the one in his proper vessel which changed the dynamics slightly. He couldn't say who would win a fight between them. He didn't know if his own brother, a being who had professed to not wanting to kill him mere minutes ago, would have it in him to turn this from a killing into a murder. But if he made any move to defend himself then any chance of Michael agreeing to call this off went away. Was it worth dying not to have to kill Michael?
He remained sitting. "Not easy, perhaps, but simple. I'm the one refusing to play ball. No one could blame you for me not cooperating. It's unreasonable to expect you to so casually strike me down. Gabriel will be thrilled and you know Raphael would accept your decision. And if anyone else has a problem with it they are more than welcome to take it up with me."
Michael drew his blade and held it considering out before him.
Lucifer evenly met his gaze.
Michael moved closer to him, still staring at the blade.
Dean broke the silence. "Uh, guys? You're not seriously going to just stab him while he's sitting there, are you? Are you going to just let him kill you?"
"It won't matter if he does," Lucifer said, not taking his eyes off of Michael. "Not to you. Your precious people will be fine."
"I did mention the part about not wanting my brother to die, right?"
"I'm a little more concerned about my permanent death than about your brother's temporary one," Lucifer said. "Well, assuming Michael doesn't change his mind. But I think that if he can do it he'll be able to live with it."
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Michael said. He placed the blade on Lucifer's neck. It was warm where inferior human weapons would be cold.
Lucifer just stared up at him.
The blade began to move lightly up and down his neck, like Michael was trying to call his bluff and waiting for him to react. Like Michael wasn't quite sure what to do.
This could be the end of him. Strange how the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, even harder than turning his back on everything he'd ever known, even harder than accepting the reality of Michael's betrayal, was just sitting here now. Sitting and acknowledging that he could die and not lifting a finger to stop it. But if he did Michael would never be convinced he meant it and they'd fall right back into that same old pattern again. He could die in which case he might as well die here. He could kill Michael in which case he'd almost have to destroy humanity, if they had cost him Michael. But he'd already decided he didn't hate the humans as much as he cared for his brother. If only that was a revelation he could have come by thousands of years ago. But how could he have ever expected his choices then to lead to this? No one had ever disobeyed their father before he had. How could he have suspected the cost? How could he have understood the reality of thousands of years of imprisonment without having endured it?
If he lived through this, maybe he should see what became of Gadreel.
Michael pushed the blade harder against his neck. Instead of blood, a thin layer of grace started to escape.
Lucifer just kept staring at him. He could feel Dean trying to contain himself just a few feet over.
And Michael dropped the blade.
Lucifer closed his eyes and just breathed.
Sam came back to himself to find Dean on the verge of a heart attack, his far-too young dad beaming at him, and Castiel and Bobby just materializing over by the Impala.
"Did we win?" he asked uncertainly. He looked around. "It doesn't look like we lost but I just…what happened?"
"I'm sorry I didn't come as I said I would, Dean," Castiel said solemnly. "I was as taken aback by Lucifer's declaration as you were and I wanted to see where that was going. If it came to it, of course I would have stuck to the plan."
Dean waved him off. "Don't worry about it, Cas. Sam, Lucifer took a turn for the bizarre and decided it was humanity's fault he was going to kill his brother and he wasn't going to let us do that to him. Like any of us wanted the apocalypse."
"So he stopped?" Sam couldn't believe it.
"Family is a funny thing," hisr dad said. "It makes you do all sorts of crazy things."
Dean glared at him. "Like sell your soul."
"From what I've heard, Dean, you don't really any room to judge me on that one," his dad said, jerking his head Sam's way.
"You set a terrible example for me," Dean claimed. He looked back at Sam. "So, yeah. Michael still wanted to go for it but Lucifer just sat down and said Michael was going to have to kill him in cold blood. For a moment I thought he would but…they were brothers, in the end."
"So after all this, those two yahoos couldn't even go through with it," Bobby said, sounding disgusted.
"Would you have wanted them to?" his dad asked pointedly.
"Well, no," Bobby admitted. "But all this build-up and it's feeling a little anticlimactic. I had to spend months in a chair!"
"I had to spend a century in hell," his dad countered.
"And that was your choice," Bobby said unsympathetically.
"Hey, you're the one who stabbed yourself," Sam pointed out.
His dad nodded at him. "Thank you, Sam."
"I was possessed," Bobby said. "I wasn't thinking clearly or making the best decisions."
"And my son was dying," his dad said. "How do you think my head was?"
"I think the key here is that we're all doing great," Dean spoke up. "Maybe this isn't the kind of ending we expected but the ending we were expecting was terrible. Let's not complain that we just dodged a fucking nuke."
"Amen to that," Sam said. His eyes widened. "I forgot…Dad! You're alive! I mean, Michael's been coming to see us looking like you for months but now it's really you!"
His dad smiled. "Yes well I don't intend to go anywhere for a long time and hopefully now the forces of heaven and hell will be less interested in gunning for my family."
Dean walked over to their father and patted him on the back awkwardly. "It's good to see you."
Their father just gave him a look and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, it's okay," Dean said, pulling back. "It's all good. It worked out. I can't say I was glad to have your last words to me be about how I might have to go kill Sammy but, well, it didn't come to that."
"I would have explained if I could have," their father said. "But I only had the five minutes. I didn't want you to see me die."
"Yeah," Dean said. He cleared his throat. "I, uh, can see how that kind of thing can fuck you up."
"I'll make it up to you," John promised. "Hopefully, that deal with Michael will be a good start."
"I don't know, I don't think deals with angels are ever a good idea," Dean said. "No offense, Cas."
"I think you may be right, Dean," Castiel said solemnly.
"So what are you going do now?" Sam asked. "Now that the apocalypse is off you're not really opposing them anymore. Do you think you'll go back?"
"It's more of a question of if they'll let me go back," Castiel said. "I won't abandon my friends down here, of course, but I do rather prefer not being hunted by my brothers."
"If they can forgive Lucifer – and it sort of seems like they have? – then surely they can forgive you," Sam said.
Castiel nodded. "On the other hand, Lucifer is an archangel and they were never quite held to the same standards as any of us."
"It's a little weird that you're still so much younger than you were when you died," Dean said, looking at their father.
John shrugged. "I don't mind it. I'm not exactly on the grid and it'll make it less odd when-"
There was a flash and suddenly there was a woman standing there who Sam had gotten to know surprisingly well given she'd died before he'd even reached a year. "Mom?"
Dean took off and Sam followed a split second behind him, folding their mother into a three-way hug.
"Huh," Bobby said. "I guess sometimes angels do keep their promises. Who'd have thunk it?"
"For the record," Dean said eventually, his voice sounding suspiciously thick. "THIS is how you bring someone back from the dead, Cas. No forcing them to crawl out of their grave bullshit."
Raphael had been waiting for this encounter ever since Michael had returned to heaven in a state of shock, their brother still living. He had actually been a little surprised Lucifer would go to his probably death without this meeting occurring given how hard he had petitioned for it. But now that apparently he had seen fit to just cancel the apocalypse and ruin of all their plans he had time to force a little reunion on him.
Well, if he wasn't trying to kill Michael anymore Raphael supposed he could bear it.
"Hello, Raphael," Lucifer said, sounding strangely smug.
"I see you've escaped your destiny," Raphael noted.
Lucifer shrugged. "I don't think I like destiny."
"If I had your fate I might feel the same way," Raphael admitted. "I would ask why you're here but that would be rather forgetful of me, wouldn't it?"
"You've been avoiding me," Lucifer accused.
"I've been in heaven," Raphael said. "Occasionally down on Earth to kill demons but mostly up in heaven. You haven't been welcome there. I'm not certain you're welcome here right now."
"If Michael has a problem he can come find me," Lucifer said, unconcerned. "You knew I wanted to talk to you and couldn't come to heaven and yet you never made yourself accessible to me. You were avoiding me. Don't even pretend that you weren't. Even now that I'm not targeting Michael I still had to come to you."
"You did want to kill Michael, though," Raphael said. "Excuse me if I find that a little difficult to just ignore. You turned your back on all of us and you were probably going to be killed soon enough anyway. The situation has changed."
"I don't think I'm going to spend all my time in heaven," Lucifer said. "I don't want anything to do with humans and I don't even know what to do about hell and the demons. I did hear from Crowley – he was trying to help the Winchesters kill me – and even though it's insultingly obvious what he was trying to do he can spin a convincing tale and he may be the only demon with a brain around so I've decided to spare him for now. You wouldn't think worship would be painful but then when the creatures who worship you are so wretched, why would you even want that?"
"I do not care about worship one way or another," Raphael said. "It is ultimately meaningless."
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "From what I hear, you seem to think everything is ultimately meaningless. Be more of a nihilist."
"I react to our father's long-standing and continued abandonment and our ceaseless existence by losing faith," Raphael said. "You respond by deciding to wage war on everybody and kill our brothers. Do you really think that you have any place to judge me?"
Lucifer made a face. "Well when you put it like that…"
"I'm not 'putting' it any way," Raphael said. "That is just how the situation stands and you know it."
"Well now I've seen the error of my ways," Lucifer claimed.
Raphael snorted. "No you haven't. You just didn't want to kill Michael."
He didn't even bother to deny it. "Don't I get credit for that, at least?"
"You probably would have been killed instead," Raphael said before relenting. "But yes, yes you do."
"Well," Lucifer said, sighing. "It's a start. What now that I've seen the light or whatever?"
"I don't know," Raphael said. "I have to admit I did not see this coming."
"No one did," Lucifer said. "Not even me and it was my idea. That's what makes it so brilliant, really. Michael's scrambling to figure out how to work this clear decision of mine into his whole 'no free will' framework."
"It shouldn't be hard," Raphael said. "He worked your rebellion and Father and Gabriel's desertions into it. Just because he was wrong about what was destined doesn't mean that it's not all still destiny. The only problem is that now that we've begun to work through our issues and you've taken steps towards redemption he's going to expect Father to come back and we both know that won't happen."
"It might happen," Lucifer said. "Someday."
Raphael fixed him with a look. "Really, Lucifer."
"If He were really dead, I do think Death would have told us," Lucifer said.
Raphael thought about that enigmatic creature that could destroy them all effortlessly. "I'm not so sure."
"It's fine for me if He wants to stay away for a while," Lucifer admitted. "I'm not sure I want to see Him just yet. Michael may have been the one to cast me about but I know that that, at least, was actually His command."
"At least it wasn't death," Raphael said. Lucifer's fate was a harsh one but he had well-earned it. "Since you have changed your mind, at least about the things that actually matter, killing you then would have been a terrible waste. And you did rebel against Him. Is it really so surprising He did what He did?"
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "If I was looking for someone to take His side I would have gone had this talk with Michael!"
"Just because I believe Him to be dead doesn't mean I think he was wrong about you," Raphael said calmly.
"It doesn't matter if He was right or not," Lucifer said, frustrated. "What happened to me was terrible and I'm allowed to be resentful about it."
"As long as you don't tear heaven apart again I really don't care," Raphael said. "I'm going to think of something to tell Michael when He does not reappear."
"He knows you think He is dead."
"Yes," Raphael acknowledged. "But I wouldn't like to see him lose faith, just the same. Perhaps something about how we've passed his test and he wants to see us all work together and run heaven the way it always should have been run before returning to us. Perhaps one day admitting that Father is gone won't be so devastating for him."
Lucifer gave him a long look. "You're a good brother, Raphael. Did you miss me at all?"
Raphael closed his eyes and sighed. "Of course I did. Just as I'm sure you missed me. It's just that you were never able to put that, or how you felt about any of us, above your petty little vendetta. And I'll concede it's not like I chose you either."
"I never expected you to," Lucifer admitted.
"And it wasn't fair for you to put Michael in that position," Raphael told him.
"Nothing about that whole situation was fair," Lucifer argued. "But I'm trying to move past it."
"I suppose that's all any of us can do."
Gabriel appeared then, Michael following close behind him.
Raphael didn't think he'd seen Gabriel this happy even before any of them had been torn apart. But maybe then he hadn't known just what a wonderful thing it was to have all of them together. Father was still gone but the four of them remained and weren't running or fighting for the first time in what seemed like forever. When was the last time the four of them had been like this? Or even all present at the same time. It had to have been before their father had introduced them to the little humans.
"I have to say, I'm proud of us," Gabriel announced.
"Of us?" Michael asked, sounding amused.
Gabriel nodded enthusiastically. "Of course. I'm always proud of myself, that's just healthy living. And I'm proud of you and Lucifer for finally coming to terms with each other and realizing that, humanity or no humanity, it's not worth destroying ourselves over. I've been saying that since the beginning and, I have to admit, I did not actually think this would ever sink it."
"And what about me?" Raphael asked.
"Ah, well, as for that I just didn't want you to feel left out," Gabriel admitted sheepishly.
"I see," Raphael said but he was smiling.
"I never thought this day would come," Michael said, shaking his head in quiet awe.
"You're welcome," Lucifer said.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be so quick to look for thanks," Gabriel said. "You're kind of the one who made sure that this would be such a distant dream."
"And now I made it a reality," Lucifer said. "So you're welcome."
"You just fixed what you broke," Gabriel protested.
"Which is more than anyone else was willing to do or thought possible," Lucifer said.
"Still, I don't think-"
"Just leave it," Raphael interrupted. "I would hate for all this to be settled and then flare up again and everyone takes to arms because Lucifer wasn't thanked for peace."
"Will you thank me for peace?" Lucifer asked curiously.
Raphael just blinked at him.
"I wouldn't start a war over something so trivial," Lucifer insisted.
"Did you or did you not start a war because you thought Father loved a flawed species too much?" Raphael asked.
"That's hardly trivial," Lucifer argued.
Michael raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's not what you said when you decided to just forget about the whole thing."
"You're taking what I said completely out of context," Lucifer objected.
"Hey, what happened to 'don't needle Lucifer, he'll lose it and start killing people'?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm really not that bad!"
"Lucifer has assured us he has more self-control than that," Raphael said.
"And we believe him?" Gabriel asked skeptically. "Lucifer? Really?"
"I don't know if that's a dig about my trustworthiness or my self-control but, either way, I'm offended," Lucifer announced.
"You can prove your trustworthiness and your self-control by not flying off the handle while we're opening doubting you," Michael advised. "Everybody wins this way."
"Everybody but me," Lucifer said.
"You're going to have to learn how to have people pick at you without stabbing someone if you're going to keep the peace," Raphael told him.
"But I've spent thousands of years rebelling and consorting with demons," Lucifer pointed out. "Everybody is going to have something to say to me! Am I really supposed to just quietly take all of it?"
"First of all, no one said anything about quietly," Gabriel said. "I've never taken anything quietly in my life. Even when I went off to join the pagans and was trying to hide where I'd gone, I was very loud about it."
"I mean, we didn't realize that he was leaving at the time," Michael added. "But he certainly was loud about it."
"Also, no one said anything about allowing everyone to say what they will to you," Raphael said. "When we say 'people' what we mean is one of us. The humans, definitely, although as long as you're not wiping all of them out we don't care what you do to individual humans."
"I am honor-bound to stop you from killing the Winchesters," Michael said. "But other than that knock yourself out."
"They're probably the two who would say the most," Lucifer complained.
"Then stay away from them," Raphael suggested. "Castiel, too, will probably say things but if Father is still alive, evidence suggests he favors Castiel. Are you sure you didn't bring him back to life?"
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. That's not really the kind of thing you do accidentally or forget about. And if I had changed the past you wouldn't remember having killed him. Like with Anna."
"I never killed Anna," Raphael said, confused. "Or was that the point?"
"No, it was…never mind," Lucifer said. "Gabriel, I'm mad at you."
Gabriel shrugged. "As long as you're not stabby mad I can live with it."
"What did you do?" Michael asked. "You don't look surprised."
"I'm surprised," Gabriel lied. He clearly knew what Lucifer was talking about.
"You told Sam and Dean how they could trap me back in hell."
Raphael and Michael gave Gabriel twin disbelieving looks.
Gabriel smiled uncomfortably. "In my defense, I had no idea you were planning to settle this peacefully! And as you can see, it didn't come to that."
"Only because Sam Winchester was unable to overpower me. If he were, he would have trapped us both forever and it would have been completely unnecessary. I'm doing wonderfully and, last I checked, he and his revived family and friends seem to be doing well, too."
"Then it's a good thing Sam can't overpower you," Gabriel said. "I mean, come on, Lucifer. Odds on you two actually finding common ground were frankly terrible. I still can't believe it happened. I just wanted to save your life! Is that so wrong?"
"Yes," Lucifer said immediately. "If I had to choose between death now and going back, even temporarily, then someone just stab me right now."
"You're being dramatic," Gabriel accused.
"Would you like to visit the cage and see what that's like?"
"You would trap Lucifer in a cage forever in hell as a favor to him?" Michael couldn't believe it.
Gabriel shrugged. "That and possibly saving your life, Michael, and sparing one of you having to kill the other and hopefully saving humanity."
"I will never understand you and your humanity thing," Raphael said, shaking his head.
"Maybe if you'd actually spoken to some humans, gotten to know them," Gabriel offered. "I mean, some of them suck, don't get me wrong. I've had my fun with them. Others were misguided and I had to get on the right path but we all make mistakes. But some of them are really good."
"The human that I have had the most interaction with in quite some time is Dean Winchester," Raphael said. "As Michel's destined vessel, even if that did not necessarily work out, he is supposed to be an exemplar. He helped Castiel trap me in holy oil. He insulted me and said several extremely disturbing things about Father. If that is the best humanity has to offer then I have no need to look closer."
"Eh, Dean's a little rough around the edges but ultimately he's a good guy. You might like some softer-spoken and more deferential people better," Gabriel said.
"I will have to take your word for it as I have no interest in seeing for myself," Raphael said.
Michael was smiling. Michael was standing there and watching them bicker and smiling. It wasn't as though he were miserable before. He had his moments but he had accepted the abandonment of several of their most important family members with grace and sought to carry on with no instructions the best he could. Yes he did have some delusions about actually knowing what they were supposed to do but that seemed harmless. He hadn't been terribly unhappy but it had been nothing like this, either.
In spite of all the confusion and chaos this could cause, in spite of the fact that they couldn't go through with their plans for the apocalypse after all, in spite of the fact that – for the most part – they were tired and nothing had changed…In spite of all of that, Raphael couldn't find it in himself to regret that this had happened, if only for that.
Michael noticed his attention. "What?"
"I was just thinking that I warned you that this would happen when you went to Lucifer in the first place," Raphael said.
Michael laughed. "That you did. You were against it, as I recall."
Raphael looked at Gabriel and Lucifer pointedly. "Can you blame me?"
"Hey!"
"Really, brother."
"Maybe not," Michael said, grinning. "But as for me, I think I made the right choice ignoring you. Maybe I should do it more often."
"Let's not get crazy," Raphael said. "Happy ending or not, if this sort of deviation from the plan becomes the norm then I shall have to lodge a complaint."
"With who?" Gabriel asked. "Michael, who will be ignoring you?"
"I certainly won't be listening," Lucifer said.
"Maybe," Raphael said slowly, "I will join Castiel on his quest for God."
"Was that character growth?" Gabriel asked. "I think that was character growth!"
The End!
