Sophia's Chronicles

Chapter 23: The Will of God

I traced the lonely bed with my fingers as I lay on it, facing the open balcony. The curtains danced in the cool breeze. My heart plunged into itself already. A shiver ran through my nerves as I contemplated how the final battle would go down. I could imagine Michael's bold and heavy blows clashing with Lucifer's nimble and strategic moves. I remembered the war that we fought before The Fall. It was a long and tough one, and Michael had come close to ending me several times. Lucifer had barely managed to hold off the swarm of angels. Brother turned against brother. What was once love and respect had become scorn and disgust. Many loyal angels were felled that day and Michael and Raphael casted both of us out themselves, citing that it was God's will.

God's will. An enigma to defeat all enigmas. Had He known this whole time that it would all turn out like this? War had been waged for a million years over what exactly He wanted. On one hand, there were those who said He loved humanity above all and it was our job to protect them. On the other was us, who said we were the mightiest of His creation and we should bow to no one. Whichever side one took, this tragedy would destroy not only angelkind but also humanity itself. A final fight that would leave our kin in chaos and would devastate the very species that God cast us out over. We would all lose. All of us He once proclaimed to care about would be… hurt. So what was this all for? His mind was always so unknowable.

These thoughts were too much to bear. Had I wallowed, I would have never left this bed. It wasn't like I could just stop thinking about the possibility that Michael was impaling Lucifer at this very moment. I shuddered. No, Sophia, you must not think about these things, I told myself. Now I had someone else to think about. I unconsciously rubbed my tummy, thinking about the little supernova growing in there. I didn't want this germinating life form to be ambushed with my overwhelming concerns about his or her father.

I wondered if God knew what the outcomes of His creations would be, or if He just learnt to be at peace with the natural consequences of His choices in the creation process. Again with God, I sighed. I pushed Him out of my mind and set foot on the garden instead. Flowers bloomed to greet me. Stalks eagerly shook about as the East wind blew. I waded through the assembly to reach the little stream heading the river amidst the cover of trees. The stream was a humble receiver of the small waterfall of a few feet in height. The water was crystal clear and revealed many smooth pebbles on the river bed.

Still naked, I stepped in the water and submerged myself in it, indulging in its cool embrace. Holding my breath as long as I could, I felt the world around me recede, leaving only the velvety feel of water and the muffled sound of the nearby cascade. I was in a protective bubble. Everything was so beautiful, so wonderfully tranquil, but anxiety still gnawed at me. I surfaced, running my hands through my hair to push it back before I stood steadily on the river bed. I rested a hand on my belly.

I immediately reached out to the stars above. Their undying fires rang like chimes to me, singing an ancient song of creation and destruction. I sang to them in turn to ask them to lend me their strength. I requested their celestial essences to rain onto me so that I could feed my child. The universe responded, granting me its gifts and satisfying the seed. The seed grew plump and radiant to receive all these energies. Eat to your heart's content, my love, I told it.

And in that highway of light raining on me, one single string was bursting with power. I gasped. I recognised the energy signature. It can't be. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But as I waited and the string remained, I… I couldn't doubt it any further. It was God.

My mind was racing with thoughts. I wasn't even sure how to feel about this. "Y-You bless this child?" I spoke to God for the first time in an eternity. Lucifer would be thrilled! Then I thought about it. Would he be happy to hear about it? He would be sceptical. After all this time, why now? Why would God approve of something we did just when Lucifer was walking into a fight for his life? The morbid possibilities hollowed out my chest. This child needed Lucifer. Now it was clear to me that this couldn't be left to chance.

I suddenly didn't care if Michael had to die for our new family to be one and whole. I dried myself off and put some clothes on. I took off in a straight line for Stull Cemetery.

Green pastures and yellow cornfields passed below me. For a single second though, the yellows became a blur. I blinked my eyes rapidly. Then it happened again. The blur became a smear. My head seemed to teeter by itself. I groaned, landing immediately. I leaned against the bark of a tree for support. It was only when I stood still that the dizziness became really apparent. Whenever I closed my eyes, my head grew light. Black spots clouded my vision. I took a few deep breaths to collect myself. Weird… that's never happened before.

I looked down at myself as the spell wore off, almost ashamed that such a thing should come over me just as I was about to join Lucifer's ranks in battle. Must be the baby, I concluded. Just as I was about to re-evaluate my decision, I felt a familiar mass of energy nearing me.

"There you are," a male voice said, unmistakably recognisable. My eyes widened. I spun around to face him. I remembered that smug smile. It wouldn't change no matter what vessel he wore – this one just happened to be a tall, dark man who could've been handsome were it not for the filth that now resided in him.

"Well, well, if it isn't the side of the moon that no one wants to see," I hissed bitterly. "Was being Michael's shadow getting too stressful, Raphael?"

"It's been a long time, Sophia," his husky voice elicited a shudder. His eyes were sharp and aloof as they set on me.

"It'll be longer still," I huffed, and edged away to leave. An angel suddenly appeared and blocked my path. I turned the other way. Yet another angel popped out from behind a tree. Wherever I looked, they were surrounding me. I stepped clumsily within a confined circle of space, hoping to find an opening. But none appeared.

"Not so fast," Raphael calmly uttered. "I've been looking all over for you."

"What do you want from me?" I growled. I eyed each and every angel with a glower fed by pure rage. Some of them trembled for sure, but they still seemed to have faith in the archangel that commanded them.

"Just… to talk," he gestured with his hands like all was well.

"I have nothing to say to you," I spat out. "Now tell your little slaves to back off before I burn them all to ash."

His gaze hardened. He gave a knowing nod to one of the angels. "I wasn't giving you a choice," he said.

Before I knew it, I felt tugging at my wrists. "Hey!" I yelled. It was too late. One cuff had tightened around my wrist. I grabbed it to pull myself free. It only gave the angel a chance to cuff my other wrist. Blood drained away from my extremities. I tried to tug the angel and fight. The others pounced to hold me down. As much as I shouted and kicked and punched, I was powerless to do much. Their collective grip on me and my inhibited powers made for a dangerous mix. So I saved my strength—after all, it wasn't I who would need it. Gulping deep breaths, I locked eyes with Raphael as I envisioned plunging a blade into him over and over again.


"Sit." Raphael pushed me down onto a chair. We were in God's office. It seemed Michael and Raphael had made themselves at home here. It was a desecration of what this place used to be. It used to mean a sense of security, a comforting notion that we were all playing our parts for the wheels to keep turning in this universe. But now… it was vandalised.

I leaned back into my chair, deciding to play it nonchalant. "Talk about self-aggrandization," I huffed, eyeing the familiar furnishings. I crossed one leg over the other. "Like either of you could actually fill your Dad's shoes."

"Look at you acting all brave," Raphael retorted with his lips curving up on one end. He sat down opposite me. Where God used to sit. I suppressed a cringe. "You aren't even supposed to walk the Earth. Your time is borrowed, you do realise?"

"You listen to me, you second-rate excuse of an archangel," I leaned forward in my seat. My chin tightened as I conjured the most succinct of all the acidity I had to give him. "You lay one finger on me, and Lucifer will slice you so thinly you'll be nothing more atoms."

Raphael let out a hearty laugh. "You talk a good game, Whore," he said so complacently. "But your knight in burning armour won't come to your rescue this time."

My brows inched into a frown. This time? "W-what are you talking about?" I asked. Pricks and needles were climbing up my back. Cruel images of my worst nightmare came to me. The fabric of my shirt bunched up in my palm.

"They're gone," Raphael flatly said. If I squinted, I could make out that he was unimpressed.

"Gone?" I repeated. I didn't even know what question to begin with. I just repeated the phrase in my mind. "Gone how?" I finally asked. "Both of them?"

Raphael rested his elbow on the armrest and supported his cheek with that arm. "They're not dead," he said, much to my relief. Well, it was good while it lasted. "They're both trapped in the Cage."

That took all the words from my mouth. I was speechless. I just stared at him in plain confusion for a while. "H-how did that happen?"

"The details are not clear. One minute Castiel douses Michael with holy oil, the next, Lucifer explodes the little angel," he explained. So far, it was making sense. "Then it seems Lucifer was, um…"

"Was what?" I urged him, my words sharp enough to cut the air.

"Lucifer was unable to tame his vessel. The human, Sam Winchester, somehow pried open the Cage and pulled both Michael and Lucifer down with him," Raphael waved his hand dismissively, as if all of this was too absurd to even take seriously. For once, I almost agreed with him. That was a sign by itself that something was horribly wrong. To think of Lucifer in the Cage again… I could practically see the large metal doors shutting in my face. "So you see, I had to get proactive. I've called you here to rectify the situation. I think we can both agree that this wasn't the fair fight we were entitled to."

"There's not a chance in Hell that I'll be helping you," I folded my arms. "And seriously? You want this fight? So you're just fine with your brother bargaining with his life. I always knew you were a cold-blooded creature but I thought even you would draw the line at family."

"This. Isn't. About. Family. It's about justice," he answered twitchily. "And you talk about family? You masqueraded as one of us for so long and you slowly tore my family apart. You weaselled your way into my brother's heart and what came of it? Nothing but darkness."

Clenching my teeth, I replied, "What are you gonna do, kill me? Then do it already, you coward. I'd rather not listen to any more of your whining."

"Kill you? If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it long ago. Plenty of opportunities have been presented," his eyes swept over the air as if recollecting fond memories. "But no. Why should it all end so quickly? In fact, you're more useful to me alive than dead. See, I wasn't asking you to help me open the Cage. Measures are already in place to see that it happens. What you are…" he pointed at me briefly. "…is leverage."

The muscles of my face grew taut.

"You will persuade Lucifer to surrender before Michael," Raphael added with a little too much glee. "First, it will be his head. Then, yours."

"It's going to be hard to take care of yourself without your big brother here to tell you what to do," I jibed. "Keep pretending like you have it all under control. It'll make it funnier when the angels realise you're no Michael, and that God isn't actually here!"

The angels around me seemed to share a collective shudder. Raphael certainly noticed. He fidgeted in his seat. "Well, do let me enlighten you on what God certainly would have said," his gaze darted between my eyes and my abdomen. "You and Lucifer broke the one cosmic rule He'd given us. You created." That seemed to have elicited a similar weighty expression from the angels around us. "Wherever my judgments would lead us, it would be nowhere close to upsetting the grand cosmic balance."

"That's a load of hogwash, and you know it," I retorted, rolling my eyes. "God always did like imposing all kinds of rules on us in the name of purity and love. But guess what, He didn't love any of us enough to stay and make His will clear. So where does that leave us?" I spoke louder for all of them to hear me. "We have to choose our own fates. We have to stop pretending that there's a cosmic order that He wants us to maintain. Because He clearly doesn't. He was going to let His two eldest sons fight each other to the death and take down His beloved apes with them."

"That's enough," Raphael interjected, flustered. "None of your manipulations will work here, Devil. And let me make something very clear: from here on, every breath you take belongs to me. That seed in your womb? I decide its fate. I would end its little heartbeat with a snap…" he gestured with the actual move, making me flinch. "…or I'll take it right from your arms and raise it as I please. In fact, it'd be nice to have another archangel join Heaven's ranks. I will turn your own spawn against you and watch as you bleed from his or her sword." The thought seemed to inject some glee into him, so he suddenly straightened his back, newly energised. "I'd make a good uncle, won't I?"

"You'd be a dead uncle," I scowled as I pounced forward to clock him in the mouth for saying such disgusting things. Before I could vault across the table though, the angels leapt to force me back down. Raphael didn't so much as flinch. "Need other people to do your dirty work?" I snarled. The angels wouldn't let go of me even though I was firmly sat. "Come closer to me, Raphael, if you dare."

"Oh, I do dare," he brushed off a dust mite from his collar. "I don't think it would end well for a certain Keeper of Knowledge and his little helpers, though. I hear you're still in cahoots with them."

"Raziel," I muttered his name, much to my dismay. My arms weakened. The angels took that as a sign to slowly withdraw their grip. "What did you do to them?"

"They're good angels, I'll give them that. They've made plenty of my imaginations possible," Raphael twiddled his fingers in thought. "It was just disappointing to know that they'd fallen for your tricks. At the moment, they are being re-educated of Heaven's glories. You wouldn't do anything to get them executed for treason, now would you?"

I pursed my lips tightly and looked away.

"Good girl," he said. "Take her away."

Two angels grabbed me by the arms and pulled me away, leading me down the nostalgic hallways. Scenes of times past flickered before me – the ghosts of my memories. We went down a stairway where once, when nobody was around, Lucifer held me without a care in the world and kissed me. I realised it didn't matter what had happened. He was always with me, no matter what happened. I let that thought give me strength, because where I was going – the prison doors opened before me – I needed it.

A narrow path was flanked by prison cells on one side and a wall on the other. It was dimly lit, the only light streaming in through the small rectangular windows sparsely distributed on the walls. Eager eyes of other imprisoned angels glanced my way as I was led to my cell, a slightly larger one than the others, that lay right at the end of the path. The bars were reinforced with runes and sigils to prevent my escape. After I was safely locked in, the guards took off my handcuffs.

The heavy prison entrance came to a noisy close, much like my freedom.


So this was it then. My cell. A bed on one side to lie down and a shelf on a wall with books to keep me occupied. At least Raphael tried to make it somewhat decent for me to stay in. Too bad I wasn't going to be in here for long. I didn't have a plan for escape yet, but this was Heaven – I'd practically lived here all my life. I was there when this prison was built. There had to be something I could exploit. I just needed to be patient. I sat on the bed and placed a hand on my tummy. Despite my predicament, I smiled. We're going to get through this, baby.

"A- archangel?" a soft voice, muffled, penetrated the hardy stone walls. Must be my neighbour, I realised. "Archangel Sophia? Is that you?"

"Who's asking?"

A pause. "Gadreel."

Certainly sounds familiar. "Ah, Gadreel. The… one in Eden, right?" I tried to guess. I had a vague memory of his name being brought up in a boardroom discussion. It was funny how his name had just slipped from my mind the second that meeting was over. "How have you been holding up?"

I rested my head on the pillow and stared blankly at the ceiling. "I've been paying for your sins," a mild tinge of bitterness could be detected in his voice. I could just imagine the rage building up in his hands.

"That's… unfortunate," I muttered, inspecting my fingernails.

"I never meant to let Lucifer deceive me!" he said, angst growing. Rather than anger though, it sounded more like… sadness. I sighed. "It was an accident. I don't deserve to be here."

I could practically see the tears rolling down his cheeks. Cry me a river. "Oh, don't be so ungrateful," I said dismissively. "We saved you from getting drafted in a long, tedious war. Believe me, it's a lot better in here than most places outside. You know what, you're still alive. A lot of your brothers don't share the privilege."

"But I… I'm being punished. For something I didn't even do," he insisted.

"I think the rest of us in here would say the same. I didn't do anything wrong either," I shrugged.

"B-but you fell from grace," he held onto the statement like a child holding onto a blanket. "You killed people. I didn't even do anything."

I shut my eyes in exhaustion. "Are you sure? What if you've convinced yourself that you're innocent?" I said monotonously.

"W-what?" he wondered. At the next pause, I'd hoped silence would welcome me again. I was wrong. "No, you're messing with me! Just like Lucifer did! I won't believe you. I won't, I won't, I won't!"

"Jeez," I remarked. "Calm down. I was just joking." I thought I heard weeping. I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long stay. "Hey, if it's any comfort, your archangels are just trigger-happy. Ever since The Fall, they've done whatever it takes to cement their hold on Heaven. Including imprisoning people like you so that they can deflect criticism of their own actions and pat themselves on the back. They did that to Hassiel, didn't they? How is he anyway? I didn't see him on the way here."

I heard sniffling. "You don't know?"

I sat up. "Know what?"

"Hassiel isn't here anymore. He escaped a long time ago," Gadreel said. Interesting. So I was right—there was some weakness to exploit. "I thought he'd take me with him, but I guess I hoped too much from a friend."

"Gadreel. Don't you see what this means?" I prompted. Hope filled me again. "It may also be true that we have a chance of getting out of here. You were probably sulking too much to actually do it."

"Words can hurt, Archangel," he said weakly. "I do think you're mistaken. After Hassiel escaped, the prison has been reinforced with all kinds of alarm systems. The moment anything breaches these walls, the guards are alerted."

"Is that so?" An idea clicked in my head. A meagre shot, but it was worth a try.

"Yes. Just my luck that I became your scapegoat," he sighed. "Hey, uh, I heard the news. Is- is it true? Are you… with child?"

"I am," I laid back down. "And if I promise to get you out of here, will you shut up?"


The sands of time trickled down the hourglass, always falling but never depleting. Weeks had passed like this. A nurse would visit me every now and then to deliver herbs for my child. These were the very same fed to Gravidas angels at the beginning of time, when God would use them to create new angels. I did suspect that he could have messed with them somehow, but then I realised this was Raphael I was dealing with—he'd also be standing here to watch me fall for his stunt. He would never miss an opportunity to sneer at my shocked face. In that case, this meant that he hadn't expressed an overwhelming disapproval of the new archangel. Perhaps it was too soon to judge. I always knew a sadistic monster lay beyond his distant eyes. He just needed an excuse to bring it out.

Things could have been so simple. I thought back to the mansion – the lilies and violets and roses as far as the eye could see, and Lucifer beaming at me with his radiance feeding the flora. It could've been the perfect life. Especially with this little one. I rubbed my swollen belly, smiling despite the circumstances. It was an amazing thing, to see something so magnificent and powerful growing right before my eyes. The world will be yours. The sun, the moon, the stars—I will give them all to you. The child had become more clearly a son by now. Sometimes, his tiny wings brushed against my womb. When Gadreel had finally wore himself out complaining, I filled the silence humming and reading to my baby. I had a simple plan of escape, but I needed to bide my time and wait for the right moment.

One day, it seemed I had a special appointment. The guards stormed in and cuffed me with no notice. They dragged me out of the cell hurriedly and aggressively, with no mind for courtesy or gentleness, not that I should have expected any. "Hey, be gentle," I urged. "I'm carrying precious cargo."

Eventually, I ended up in a really dark room with its only light coming from a lamp on the ceiling. I was strapped to a chair under the light. The guards refused to answer any of my questions. They simply left, their only job to deliver me here. The silence was interrupted by the slow tempo of his echoing footsteps.

Raphael's bronze eyes glowed in the darkness as he approached and stepped into the light, where I could see his face more clearly. Shadows had settled into the hollows of his eye sockets as he stared down at me. A sick smile was plastered on his face.

"I was starting to think you forgot about me, Raph," I said without wavering. "What's the matter, couldn't crack the Cage by yourself?"

"Don't you worry your little head about it," he seemed unfazed. Chuckling to himself, he pulled closer a tray of strange instruments. "Today, it's all about you. We want to make sure you're just perfect for when Lucifer sees you."

Precise glints reflected off the instruments' sharp edges. "Torture, really? You're extremely predictable, you know that?" I huffed. "I'm the Queen of Hell, honey, my husband and I torture each other for fun."

His grin widened, his head bobbing back as he huffed nonchalantly. "Not in those straps, you haven't," he pointed with his eyes. Enochian runes were engraved on the leather that bound my wrists and ankles. Classic dampening mechanism. "You do realise you have a soul piggybacking on you? What would it be like, for you to feel her pain as your own?"

I could feel Zara retracting in her seat, holding on for comfort. The sight of those scalpels was certainly not reassuring her. What you're going to feel is purely physical, Zara. You're more than that. You're a spiritual entity. These physical sensations mean nothing. There was only so much I could say. I needed strength as much as she did. We were in this together. I was confident that we could share the tenacity to get through this.

Raphael wasted no time in beginning his treatment. He picked up a small knife and began with an incision from my left shoulder to elbow. He went slowly, taking time to savour the gushing of blood. Crimson streams streaked my arm as blood dripped onto the floor. I winced, biting my teeth through the pain. He traced the incision with a finger, increasingly pressing into the wound and opening it more. I tried to wriggle away from him to no avail, the straps preventing such an escape. With a bloody thumb, he traced my lips, holding my chin up as his eyes bore into mine with a maniacal desire.

He rested the blade on my lips. "Were these the same lips you used to seduce Lucifer?" he asked. With a swift pull, the blade sharply cut my lips. A burning sensation danced on them. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. "The same cheeks which he couldn't resist?" The blade roughly slit my right cheek. "The same forehead?" Another gash.

I groaned sharply. Blood felt sticky on my face, and began to appear in my vision as it dripped from my forehead. "Did you wish it was you instead?" I said amidst deep breaths. "Sorry, but I don't think you're his type."

"The Queen of Hell, huh? Here's a crown for you," he brandished a crown of thorns and placed it gently on my head. "Unlike the Nazarene, your pain will mean nothing."

Zara, protect the child! She obeyed without question, morphing her soul as a shield over our womb. It was just in time – the thorns pierced our skull with a noisy squelch. I clenched my teeth as a beastly howl scraped against my vocal chords to release the colossal tension building up in my muscles. I could feel their sharp ends invading my brain and expanding their territory. Tears vomited down my cheeks and I thought I felt blood going their way as well. Whatever it was, I couldn't open my eyes. Not until I had the time to ignore the physical sensations. By then, I'd woken up to his eerie gaze, frozen in time, savouring every moment of this.

"You'd do well in Hell, you know that?" I taunted him. My voice began deep and low. "You think being up here in Heaven makes you so high and mighty above your brother, but deep down, you're just like him. In fact, you're worse. He had a reason to be angry. He had the Mark to push him over the edge. But you? You've always liked this. You have more darkness in you than I do."

I spat blood at him. Raphael's nose crinkled and a psychotic fury filled his eyes. "Liar!" he backhanded me. My ear rang with a high-pitched frequency. It took a while for the stinging sensation to truly set in on my cheek. By then, he'd moved on to wrapping his palms around my neck. He squeezed so tightly I thought my eyeballs would pop out of their sockets. I whimpered helplessly as I felt my trachea getting crushed. Black spots filled my vision before he stopped. I felt the bruises immediately showing as he let go, while I gasped for air. His outburst was something I never expected. It was as if he was re-enacting something he envisioned to release all his misery. This was clearly more personal than I'd first known, which was shocking by itself.

He stepped back momentarily, staring in a daze at the other instruments he had on the table. His fists were clenched, as he seemed to ruminate on something. "Who hurt you?" I asked in between gasps.

His irises flicked to me. "You did." Picking up a rod with trembling fingers, he heated it up. "Your Mother… wouldn't stop," he spat out caustically. "It's all because of you… She only came for you…"

A small pause punctuated this moment as he held up the rod and watched it glow brightly. With a gruff grip, he touched it to the sole of my foot. The smell of burned human flesh reached me before the pain did. I arched my back in my seat, my screams doing nothing to relieve the pain. Initially delayed by his uncertain hold on my body, the rod soon found other target sites, like my neck, chest and thighs. Raphael leaned in close to me when he did this, finding some unknowable pleasure in sensing my agony in as many ways as possible.

"What… what did She…" I panted desperately, my voice weak. "What did She do to you?"

The question didn't seem to register in his head, and I was too tired to even see, let alone pursue this line of conversation. I lay my head backwards, my body resigning to whatever he had planned. He roughly cupped my face with a hand so he could look me directly in the eyes. The archangel I saw then… it was like the mask he held onto for all of eternity had suddenly slipped off and I was looking at the real him for the first time. He whispered, "I thought I was doing my Father a favour, keeping an eye on you. I was the only one who knew the truth about you. He told me to keep it a secret."

"Secret?" I mumbled. "What secret?"

"You really thought a being of Darkness could just exist in a realm of Light?" he questioned, exasperated. "I kept it all to myself because that's what He wanted. But to see you and Lucifer flaunt His will in daylight? I suffered every day! When He ordered me to put you away, I thought I would get better, you know? But knowing that you were still out there, existing… it just… gnawed at me, like an infection had taken root in my home." My head began to spin. I was nodding off. He tapped my cheeks a few times to keep me awake. "Hey, stay with me, now. I was the only one who knew… so I was the only one He talked about the Vault to. I can tell He regrets bringing you home… but He still cares for you somehow…" words began to fade in and out. "… not a lie… God blessed… I know… The Fruit… everything…"

Everything turned pitch black.


I came to in the solitude of my cell. My wounds had begun to heal, but not completely. I pressed a hand to my tummy. Baby? I felt some stirring in response. That was a good sign. Zara? She was quiet. Her soul felt so thin, almost like she'd been drained completely. You did good, I told her. You protected the baby. I sensed an acknowledgement and some gratitude, but she was as weakened as I. I would leave her to recover until she was well enough to reach out to me again. A tray of untouched herbs lay near the bars. I limped over to them, the burns on my feet stinging with every step. I was eating for three, so there was no way I was missing out on this.

Every now and then, guards came down to check on the inmates. Sometimes, their gossip would be intriguing. Once, they spoke of Raphael's meeting with Castiel. "Castiel? He's… dead," I warily creaked to the guard who inspected my cell. I was barely upright and even speaking was tiresome.

"Not anymore. By God's grace, he's been resurrected," the angel said. He cursorily patted through my books and my bed. "Everyone's stunned. No one knows what to make of it. But Castiel refused to bow down to the archangel-in-charge. Said 'no' right to his face."

"What? No way," I huffed, and then promptly coughed from the effort. The angel closed the bars again and undid my cuffs. An angel with an attitude? Those were rare. I would know—I had hired some as my apprentices.

The other guard, who'd been watching from outside the cell, also spoke. "No one's ever dared to defy Raphael like that," a clear tremble was evident in his voice.

I pursed my lips. "Are you sure?" I narrowed my eyes. "I'm standing right here, you know."

"You're evil. It doesn't count," he dismissed.

"I'm telling you," the inspector said, awe in his voice. "Castiel actually did it. He got it so bad from Raphael, he landed in a random soul's Heaven. You know how protected those things are. I heard it from someone who was there. He told the angels that God wants them to be free, without a leader. The audacity on him to say such an obscene thing… I don't get it."

"But you heard what happened," the other angel replied. "Lucifer annihilated him. God put him back together. That has to mean something, right? God chose him. He's definitely got my attention."

Huh. Looked like Castiel ruffled Raphael's feathers. Interesting.

It wasn't long before I had the unfortunate luck of seeing Raphael again. I was reading an ancient book, one I hadn't seen in a while, while he stood outside the bars and watched with a quiet Schadenfreude. "Did you just come here to watch?" I flipped a page, unbothered. "Again, showing yourself to be such a productive leader."

"Actually, I'm here to take you out for a walk," he spun the cuffs around a finger. "Looks like your feet are well enough."

He held out the handcuffs through a horizontal opening in the bars. Reluctantly, I extended my wrists and he secured them. "What's the occasion?" I asked. He neglected to reply. With his hand guiding me by the elbow, he herded me around like I was some kind of animal. We came upon Heaven's courtyard, where many angels had congregated. His own loyal supporters awaited him at their head, ushering us to the elevated podium. "This isn't a walk…"

I could feel their tense, shocked stares on me. They eyed me like I was some freak of nature, some abnormality that was brought into the light after being kept as far from civilisation as possible. Seeing Raphael, they bowed their heads respectfully until he gestured to them. He addressed them all with a loud booming voice. "Shalom, brothers and sisters. Today, you have been summoned because the future is uncertain. You have all seen what happened on Earth. The Apocalypse… derailed! God's will was shirked! Do you stand witness to this? Do you stand by and do nothing?"

Their faces were bleak and disturbed. I could sense their trepidation. They really believed something was horribly wrong. They were on edge, like God would strike them at any time. Raphael's catastrophising tone didn't make it any better.

"We have been cheated on the grandest scale, by two mortals no less. This cannot be. We cannot let our Father's vision be desecrated like this. Which is why I stand here today—I ask you, my loyal brothers and sisters, to join me as I set out to make this right. You know we have taken action. We will open the Cage, we will set Michael and Lucifer free, and we will make sure they fight. And this time, we will win." He grabbed my upper arm and lugged me forward. "Lucifer will fall. There is no doubt about it. For God hath looked upon their sin, and found many more in its place. Just look at her!"

The angels saw my swollen belly. They knew what was in there. From some, I felt fear. From others, I felt ire. I just knew I didn't like having all these eyes on my child.

"Lucifer and Sophia have done what no angels are allowed to do. They were intimate and now, they have brought a new archangel into creation." I heard gasps as Raphael said it explicitly. "Creation is God's office and these sinners have desecrated it with their unholy act! We live in a dark time plagued by strife and wickedness. How they offend our Father in such nefarious ways!"

I'd had enough of this. It was my turn to speak up. "You talk so much about God's will, Raphael, as if you knew it at all!" I yelled loud enough to challenge him. He stared daggers at me, but I continued, "What if I told all of you that my child is a part of it? That's right, God blessed my child!"

Gasps arose from their ranks. "Lies!" Raphael cried out, trying to hold me back. "She deceives you! You all know she is perfectly capable of doing so!"

"I know it sounds ridiculous, so why would I say it? Unless it is true!" I argued back. "I felt Him, brothers and sisters, I felt God's blessings raining on me. You don't have to take my word for it. Come closer and feel your nephew's essence yourselves. You will know that what I'm saying is true."

I locked eyes with the first angel I saw. He looked unsure, but was willing to step towards me to accept the suggestion. That was, until Raphael shot a glare so furious at him he retreated further back into the crowd, as if trying to disappear. Nevertheless, the seeds had been planted exactly where I needed.

"Next she'll say we should all be pilgrims to Purgatory because what was once Eden resides there," Raphael bitterly remarked. "Do not take her desperate lies as truths, brethren. Can you imagine, a spawn of Beast and Woe being chosen by God? Can an angel fallen from Heaven ever be accepted into His grace again? It is a grand absurdity."

An uncomfortable shifting could be seen in the crowd. That last part certainly wouldn't resonate with angels who had seen exactly that with Castiel. Oh, Raphael, how you dig your own grave. "This child…" I said, my words becoming sharper. "…is an archangel. A miracle of Heaven. Maybe what we need is a miracle. What if what we saw on Earth is God's will? He doesn't want the apocalypse. He wants a new leader to unite all of us, so we can be whole again. Who better for the job than a cherub who knows no spite, who will grow up with counsel from all of us who've seen worse times?"

Raphael was seething by this point. He was trying so hard not to let it show, not to look weak. What had he thought? That I'd just shut up and stand by while he made a mockery of me? He must have thought the angels would be completely disgusted by me to even listen. But they had seen Castiel. They had seen God's action. And now they saw a new life sprouting within me. Life was a wonderful thing.

"Pay no heed to her posturing. The Apocalypse will carry on. We will see if the child lives or dies. What better way to know if God wills it?" he announced, composing himself. Then he gave me a sharp glower that meant bad things were heading my way. It didn't matter. I would get through this.

Raphael was just about ready to shove me into the corridor and back into my cell. It was at this opportune moment that things got exponentially better. The flap of wings caught our attention. "Raphael," a certain husky monotone greeted. I had never been more interested to see that ugly khaki trench coat. Castiel stood between us and the angels, looking up at where we were on the podium. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but he was absolutely glowing. And here I thought I'd be the only one.

I squinted at him. Wait… I saw what was happening. And I was shocked. I mean, such creativity, from an angel? Castiel's grace was absolutely pregnant with 50, 000 souls. Talk about preparing for confrontation. But why?

With such gusto, he locked eyes with Raphael and said, "There will be no Apocalypse. And let it be known – you're either with Raphael or you're with me."

He raised a palm towards the archangel. In a valiant blast of light, he cast Raphael far away. We barely saw the archangel torpedoing away. He was just gone. The blast had narrowly missed me, as was evidenced by the sharp gust of wind that brushed against me. I was speechless. Dazed, I just stared at Castiel.

Panicked mumbles swept through the crowd. Raphael's closest aides, who had been standing by so far, took off after the blast in an effort to find him. Several angels also followed them to help or anxiously returned to their posts. What was intriguing was that there were any angels remaining at all. I almost couldn't believe what I saw before my eyes. It was like the rebellion all over again.

Castiel faced his humble flock of sheep, and proclaimed, "Brothers, sisters. You have all been deceived for far too long. Michael and Raphael… they told us all our orders came from God. They've been lying to you. They don't know where God is, or what God wants!" He gave them a pause to let the news sink in. "We don't need to follow the archangels anymore. They don't know what they're doing. We should rise up against them and reclaim Heaven for what it's supposed to be—our home."

The angels still weren't walking away from him. One angel stepped forth, and said meekly, "But… how? Raphael is far stronger than we are."

"Not if we're united," he assured her. My window of opportunity was here. Finding that no guards were around me, I hopped down from the podium to face them.

"I can help," I offered. They finally decided to notice me at all, though with some discomfort. "You and I are similar, Castiel. What you're fighting for now, is exactly what I was cast out for. You need to fight an archangel? Well I am an archangel. And believe me, I am no fan of him." I held out my cuffs for rhetorical support. "Nothing would make me happier than to put him in the ground. Then Heaven is yours to keep. What's it going to be?"

I gave him my warmest smile. Unfortunately, it wasn't winning over the other angels. One step forward to him. "I don't trust her, Castiel. She only just talked about giving birth to an archangel who would rule over us," he said.

"Did you miss the part where I said God blessed this child?" I tilted my head, annoyed. "I don't lie about that. But what God wants with this child, how am I supposed to know? I'm just telling you the facts."

The same angel did not relent. "She betrayed Heaven even when God was here, and led us all into a war for eternity. If you accept her help, we cannot trust you," he said to Castiel, almost whispering in his ear. Except it was a little too loud to be a whisper.

"Oh yeah, like you're such a good judge of character. You, like the others, just blindly followed Michael and Raphael's orders," I hissed at him. "At least Castiel had the sense to think for himself. What did you accomplish with your life, that you feel entitled to tell him what to do?"

"That's enough," Castiel silenced me with a gesture. I huffed and angled myself away from them. He turned to the worried angel and said, "You're right. We can't trust someone known for betrayal, especially if that someone happens to be the Queen of Hell. I will personally see to it that she's locked away."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow. So you people aren't even going to check if what I said about my child is true?"

"Well," one angel said as they looked amongst each other uncertainly. "If God does have a plan for this archangel, it would come to fruition regardless of what you do. We'll all know what comes of it in the end."

Castiel gently kept a hand on my shoulder as he walked me back. What the angel said echoed in my mind. Why did God bless my child? What does He have in store for him? That became a worrying thought. I hoped this wasn't another one of His games.

As we came upon the guards, they saw that Castiel was coming to return me to the prison. They couldn't have known about the altercation at the courtyard, so they assumed something else. "Rethink Raphael's order?" one of them asked while opening the door to the prison. "Good on you, brother."

The guard was poised to take me off his hands, but Castiel remained. "Raphael wanted me to lock her up personally. He's… indisposed at the moment."

Though they gave him a quizzical expression, they didn't question it much. Though now I was the one with questions. The guard passed him the keys to my cuffs and cell. "Be careful with that," they warned.

Castiel gave a simple nod. An angel of few words. He nudged me forward with a hand on my shoulder. As we neared my cell, he said in a hushed voice, "Can you really defeat Raphael?"

I tried to stifle a smile. He was a smart one, I could tell. "Yes. And with your ability to rally the angels, victory is guaranteed," I assured him.

"But you're pregnant," he doubted.

"And?" I impatiently asked. He almost recoiled defensively. "Do you know what a maternal instinct is, Castiel?"

"H-how is that relevant?" he gave me those blank eyes of his.

"It means I will destroy anything that threatens the safety of my child. Right now, Raphael is a threat to my child," I said unblinkingly, nodding at him in hopes it would confer understanding. "Besides, I'm more than just a war machine. I have a lot of experience with military strategy, and I'll know Raphael's tricks."

With some heavy shifting within him, he sighed. "So how can I get you out of here?"

"Well, the door's over there, and the keys are over here," I pointed with my gaze at these obvious things.

"Not now," he insisted. "The others expect me to return you to custody."

"Angel of your word, are you?" I jibed. "Then come back in 48 hours."

I stepped into my cell. He shut the bars before me. "What happens then?"

"A routine shield maintenance goes wrong. That's where you come in, take out those fellas outside and then we're free as the wind," I suggested. He undid my cuffs. I rubbed my wrists. "Are we good?"

A sudden pause seemed to claim him. "How can I trust you?" a mild frown beset his rectangular forehead. "You'll only try to set Lucifer free. And with him, nothing but destruction can ensue."

"Oh, please," I crossed my arms. "Lucifer and I have no need to interfere with Heaven's affairs. Besides, with junior here, our hands will be a little full." He seemed unconvinced. I could tell from how frigid he was. It was like watching a robot try to display emotion. "If morality really bothered you, Castiel, would you really be standing here at all?" I wondered. "I actually admire your vision. So why don't we strike a deal like adults? You set me free to help you take down Raphael, and I'll promise to keep our paths separate. As you know, I too care about the planet and Lucifer listens to me."

A certainty settled behind his pupils. "Fine," he conceded. "But our alliance must be secret."

"What am I, your mistress?" I asked. I could sense him losing interest. "Fine, I won't tell. 'Twas a jest."