Dean nearly had a heart attack when, in the middle of an apple pie an angel showed up without warning. One he didn't recognize.

The angel was male, but there was something about him that Dean immediately liked.

And that made him suspicious...right up until Arael abruptly manifested and said "Jake!"

The man relaxed.

"Commander. We feared the worst when you were captured," said Jake.

"Um, explanations?" asked Dean.

"Dean, this is Jake, one of my captains and fellow prankster. What are you doing here?"

"I came to warn you. Micheal's pushing for you to undergo the Trial the minute you re-enter heaven."

"What's the Trial?"

"Basically it's a way to tell if angels who have fallen are worthy of being allowed back into the Host. Anna likely would have had to go through that if Sealtiel hadn't immediately put her in Gabriel's garrison as 'punishment' for leaving without the proper paperwork."

"What about you?" asked Dean.

"I'll return when you and Sam die and stay dead. Our souls are only being held together because we bonded as vessel and angel. We're literally holding each other in one piece. As for Micheal, there's nothing he can do about me being allowed back. Just because I lost faith in the Host doesn't mean I've fallen," said Arael.

"By the way, who keeps sending those demons up? I've never heard Micheal swear that vehemently before," asked Jake grinning.

"That would be me," she said grinning. Jake laughed.

"Just wait until I tell the others! We'll be rooting for the Winchesters up above now that I've confirmed your with the older idjit... blame Castiel, he passed that one to us," said Jake seeing their surprise at the use of Bobby's way of saying idiot.

"How is the nerd doing?" asked Arael.

Jake's grin was predatory.

"We're this close to corrupting him."

"Bring down the garrison the second he starts quoting popular movies. We'll have a party at Bobby's," said Arael immediately.

"I'll bring the beer," said Dean. Jake laughed before he left, saying he would pass the message on to the others. They could use a reason to celebrate.


Dean slide into some no name hotel near an abandoned town. They had heard of Silent Hill, what hunter hadn't. The thing was that it had been declared pretty much off limits by the hunting community because anyone who got caught inside never came back. The hotel was at the very fringes of the border that Hunters tried to drive past as fast as they could.

He noticed some other poor bastard had driven nearby, and hoped they weren't unlucky enough to get caught in the net.

"Salt the room?" asked Sam.

"Salt and rune the room. We're at the edge of the border, and the last thing I want is to have to go Rider just to get out of that weird pocket dimension."

Sam nodded and pulled out a stone. It was his birthstone enchanted by Gabriel. Gabriel had been teaching Sam runes, specifically the ones angels used to ward places. Once he had done the area around the bed, windows and doors, the two fell into an uneasy sleep. Arael kept a strict watch over the two since she was getting pings off her inner garrison radar.

Anyone with Gabriel's unit quickly developed something of a warning system in their Grace in order to know when one of them was playing a prank. And hers was going off big time.

Fortunately she had a decent idea who it was setting it off. She had seen the information Dean had on the area, and there was only one angel in Gabriel's garrison who had that sort of humor.

Seeing the walls starting to peel off, she decided to deal with this herself.

"Betzalel. Show yourself!" she said in Enochian. Dean rolled over in his sleep.

There was a pause, but in the corner of the room the shadows manifested into a young girl. Roughly seventeen, maybe eighteen at that.

"Commander. I wasn't expecting you to show up."

"How have you been Zal?"

"Punishing a bunch of humans. These bastards harmed an innocent because she didn't know who her father was. You know how I feel about people targeting children."

"Gabriel would approve. So is this form to be your next vessel?"

Arael could sense the power of her old friend in the room next to her. The girl was glowing with it. And the few times Betzalel took a vessel, she had put the human through a trial to see if they were worth the energy she had expended to punish the humans. Gabriel had taken her into his garrison mostly because she did have a sense of humor, but he didn't want Uriel's garrison to turn it too dark.

So he taught her pranks and let her go punish the humans who deserved it.

The last time Betzelal was out, she dealt with some idiots who thought that stoning children was acceptable because of some fool was growing hallucinogenic plants in the forest. That judge in Salem should have known better than to try and burn her.

Gabriel normally didn't let her out on Earth.

"How is Gabriel?"

"Hiding out as Loki. I've only recently been able to use my Grace normally after the stunt Micheal pulled."

"Why do you think I left? Fool thought I would try to take Gabriel's place like you did, but I have more sense. They had Kirael do it instead."

"Kirael's been banished. She tried to bring Mammon into the mortal plains."

"Good riddance. Why are you here Astarael?"

"It's Arael now. Father let me change my name, since I'm not longer the angel I was. The shorter one is my partner."

"Partner? Not vessel?"

"Hell...it ripped me to shreds. I was barely able to keep from falling. Dean saved me, and in return he let me use his body to heal. By the way, Lucifer was let out."

"Shit. Thanks for the heads up."

"So do you mind if I wake them up so we can leave?"

"You can't. Not until this plays to the end. The girl, Sharon, will either accept me or I'll put her and her family out of their misery."

Betzalel was a Rit Zian. One of the angels created to heal other angels or put them out of their misery. Thing was, her morbid sense of humor caused the other angels to avoid her if possible. Only Astarael had treated her like any other angel in her garrison. Even Gabriel was wary of her.

So Betzalel was very pissed about how Micheal had abandoned the only angel she called friend.

"You've closed the rift you left for her to walk in, didn't you?" sighed Arael.

She nodded.

"Crap. Which means I'll have to make sure Dean and Gabriel's Mate survive."

"Gabriel took a mate?"

"The Sasquatch on the other bed. He agreed to act as a Container for Gabriel's Grace so I could heal, but ended up absorbed quite a bit himself. He's got enough to fly and apply runes, but that's it unless Gabriel pushes the conversion. Dean is mine," explained Arael.

Betzalel took a good long look at Dean's soul, to see if he was worthy of her best friend. What she saw surprised her.

"Angelic glue? Really?"

"Mephistopheles used me to power his Riders. Dean refused to force that transformation and preferred to act as Vessel until Zachariah forced his hand. That arrogant prick is dead by the way."

"I noticed. You absorbed his Grace didn't you?"

Arael winced, wishing her friend hadn't seen that.

"He was an asshole anyway, and I know I haven't fallen enough to become susceptible to that new power of yours because I've only gone after these zealots. Speaking of which, it seems my Vessel is about to wake up."

"If we're stuck in your pocket dimension, mind if I drag the boys through it to see the sights and explain what's going on?"

"Keep the girl alive so we can talk once this is over with. Hopefully I can finish off the last of these bastards before Lucifer picks up on my scent."

The girl vanished just in time for Dean and Sam to wake up and see the level of ash coming down.

"What happened? And why were you speaking angel?" asked Dean. He had felt Betzalel's scan of his soul.

"An old friend was nearby and we got picked up by mistake while she's scouting her next vessel."

"Old friend?" yawned Sam.

"Betzalel, an angel who specializes in ending pain. However her sense of humor left the other angels afraid of her so Gabriel took her in."

"How bad?" asked Dean.

"She's behind the incident at Silent Hill. Apparently the place is full of zealots who harmed an innocent child, and she took offense."

"Betzalel, meaning Shadow or Path of God. Ironic considering Arael means Light of God," said Sam.

He had learned Hebrew after finding out Gabriel's name meant something in the language and had been amused to find out Arael actually meant something in the language.

"Unfortunately until the girl either accepts her or gets killed, we're stuck here. On the plus side, Zal was always an amazing medic. She only ever used her killing powers on people who really, really pissed her off."

"Sold."

Team Free Will (as Gabriel had so snarkily called it once) could use a good medic. Gabriel sure as hell didn't enjoy the job, he was better with illusions and misdirection.


Dean's first encounter with 'Zal' as Arael called her, was rather odd.

She was the darkest angel he had ever met, yet she was still firmly on the side of Arael. Hearing her basic job description explained that.

He could understand the fact that angels were naturally wary of one who could end them so easily and had a rather morbid sense of humor.

Zal was mostly observing Dean to see if he was worthy of being her best friend's other half.

Seeing the Pyramid dude show up to cut his girl in half, Dean manifested the soul fire gun and aimed it at him.

"Back off or I'll blast you back to the pit," he growled.

Betzalel hummed in her throat.

"Protective. I approve of him," she said. Arael beamed at her.

Slowly the darkness came, only this time Zal didn't lift it like normally.

Sharon was getting closer to the zealots.

"Excuse me, I have some cultists to end in a rather horrific fashion."

"Exactly how morbid is her humor?"

"Remember the girl that was removed from Silent Hill after being burned alive? That set off Zal enough that she filed for permission to come down. She gave the girl power to teach those bastards a lesson and what was left of her sanity was placed in a foster home. A few years later the second mother brought the girl back hoping to find out why she kept screaming about Silent Hill. The girl got out again, but these cultist apparently figured out she was the only allowed to leave or 'kill' Zal."

"Could they kill her? If she took a vessel I mean?"

"Not a chance. This is something she picked up from Gabriel years ago. If Sharon accepts Zal, she'll release the foster parents and send these souls to the pit where they belong. Even if they did try to kill her, Zal would take control and smite every last one of them instead of playing her games."

Micheal certainly hadn't been happy when he found out Gabriel had managed to teach his little tricks to Betzalel, especially when it was combined with the angel's morbid sense of humor. Some had even called her a demon in angel form, to Arael's annoyance.

No one dared say that to her face or around any of Gabriel's garrison...they didn't want to get their head chewed off.

An hour later the darkness slowly eased up and the ashes stopped falling. A girl with blond hair walked back to where they had been waiting for this to end.

"Finished. Though with one extra."

"Feeling merciful?" joked Arael.

"He was the only one who defied the cult's teachings long enough to actually try and protect her. The parents agreed to take him in until Lucifer is put back in the cage. Once that's over with, I'll get a new vessel and let this girl live with her parents."

Sharon had been more than happy to help once Betzalel explained what was really going on and had the promise of being allowed to live in peace with her parents away from it all so long as she simply acted as a vessel. Learning you were now immune to demon possession and had a free ride into heaven despite your origins had been worth allowing an angel to take full control.


Gabriel took one look at the teenager, and then at Dean quizzically. You could literally see his thought processes as he tried to figure out why a girl not even twenty was with them.

"Isn't she a bit young for you Dean?"

Arael felt a dark twinge of amusement (she blamed Zal) when her friend flared her Grace at their Commander and he reeled back in surprise, falling over the chair he had been in front of.

"Betzalel?! What the hell are you doing on earth?" he said once he got over his shock. Sam, bless him, didn't hold back the fact he was laughing at his boyfriend.

Really, how often do the Winchesters get one over on Gabriel anyway?

"Two words. Silent. Hill."

Gabriel thought that over for a minute and realized he had sensed her touch down a few decades back.

"Ah. I take it that the cult won't be bothering anyone ever again?"

Gabriel had been unhappy to read about the cult and the fact they had burned a child alive because she had been a bastard. So the fact that she had descended to teach them a lesson wasn't that surprising.

"I finally managed to get the rest of them. The only survivor was allowed out because the girl needs someone to talk to later. I was even nice enough to let her parents out," said Zal.