Chapter 14
I can't believe I was stupid enough to think he would kill me, Castiel thought. The phrase kept repeating itself in his mind as he received Zachariah's torture. That sentence was the only conscious thought he could cling to during the agonizing pain.
Zachariah bound Castiel in Jim's body so that it was easier to restrain him. If Castiel could think straight, he'd feel the enormous guilt of putting such a righteous man through all this crap. Jim Novak didn't deserve this, Castiel did.
Not to mention the vessel severely lowered an angel's pain tolerance. It is easier to inflict injury to a physical body than to a form of light. And Zachariah wanted to get in the worst punishment he could.
Zachariah was pissed.
This insignificant low-rank angel had ruined his reputation. Not only did Castiel foolishly disobey direct order, he implanted a poisonous idea. Now all the inferior angels were questioning authority; there was even a rumor of God's disappearance.
Zachariah knew somewhere deep, deep inside, that this rage was because of his frustration with himself. In truth, Castiel wasn't the only one who had messed up. Zachariah's decision to let Dean go to Hell actually jump-started the apocalypse: Dean broke the first seal. This was entirely Zach's fault. He needed Castiel to take the blame, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He was going to beat the stupid low-life to his last breath, then force him to comply.
Not only was the apocalypse a tad ahead of schedule, all the angels were starting to take sides. He couldn't imagine any reason to defend the human race, but here was Castiel. And now, Castiel's friends were starting to do the same. They thought the apocalypse was "unfair". Immature idiots. If only they knew what Zachariah knew.
God was gone. But His Plan was still in place.
The Plan to give angels the power they finally deserve. What angel would fight that?
My imbecile inferior would. Of course I would get the second rebellious angel in all of Time.
This reminded Zachariah of Lucifer, and he smiled. Now that the first seal was broken, it was only a matter of time before Lucifer walked the Earth. The best part of the apocalypse is that the biggest showdown since the Creation of Time was going to repeat itself.
Michael was going to send Lucifer back. But there was a twist; the Winchesters were going to be the leading roles in the epic battle. Which meant Castiel's mission was doomed to fail: the Winchester's weren't meant to be protected. They were meant to die.
It was going to be quite a show.
Zachariah was smiling now, was he enjoying this? What kind of sick, corrupted mind did he have? The thought was fleeting, though, since Castiel was being sliced with an Enochian blade.
Castiel couldn't endure forever. He tried to stay conscious for Jim's sake, but he eventually slipped into the bowels of his vessel's consciousness, avoiding the worst of the pain.
Jim emerged into his body for the first time in months. Castiel's reaction to the torture had been Endure; Jim's was Fight.
Zachariah wasn't aware of the chills a human scream could cause. Jim was making quite a racket. At first, Zachariah thought he had just found a breaking point, but Jim's pleas quickly made it clear that Castiel had retreated to a dark place in the vessel. Zachariah hesitated. It was one thing to torture a disobedient angel; it was a completely different thing to torture a human.
Human torture was strictly forbidden. If someone found out about this, it would be blatantly obvious that God was missing in action.
Zachariah disappeared.
AN: I'm sorry about the wait! I'm writing an epilogue, college has been busy...