Sophia's Chronicles

Chapter 32: The Light of God

(Winchester POV)

Bobby's House, South Dakota - The day after the Purgatory debacle, May, 2011

The last drop of whiskey left the bottle as Dean's head tilted back. He let out a short groan as the liquid burned in the back of his throat and he slammed the bottle on the table. "Got any more of this?" he asked Bobby, who paused shortly with a concerned look upon entering the room.

Bobby simply walked into the kitchen and returned with a fresh bottle of whiskey and two cups. "God knows we need this now more than ever," he responded, pouring them both some. Dean reached for the bottle and gulped a considerable volume of its contents in one go, oblivious to Bobby's coaxing not to. Both men then sat in silence - Dean staring intently into his half-filled cup and Bobby staring at anything but the inebriated man opposite him.

"Do you think Cas is gone, like really gone?" Dean pondered.

"We both saw Sophia explode him, Dean," Bobby said, trying his best to keep the edge from his voice. At least he's still talking.

"But he came back the last time," Dean retorted. "When Lucifer did the same thing." For all his faults, Castiel was still their brother-in-arms, and Dean chose to remember him this way. The whole of last year was a rollercoaster ride with Sam and Dean getting thrown about every which way by angels, demons and monsters. He was just so tired of it all. It started with him settling down with Lisa and Ben, who had been the only glimmer of hope in his sad, miserable life of self-sacrifice for the greater good. Then Sam came back, and Castiel went rogue. Everything went wrong so quickly that he barely had time to blink. And now Cas, his once-trusted friend, was dead, a victim of his own heroism. Somewhere deep inside, he hoped Cas was alive and that there was a chance to redeem him.

"Yeah, but that was almost instantaneous. He practically reappeared a moment after Lucifer killed him. Maybe that was the only time God was willing to intervene," Bobby speculated. As much as he wanted Castiel to be alive too, he had to be pragmatic. If not him, then who else?

The sound of footsteps shuffling caused them both to look up from the table. It was Sam, conscious again. When they went to stop Castiel's Purgatory plan, Sam had found his way to the lair but collapsed on the way in, groaning in pain and losing consciousness. In the process, his hand was pierced by a broken glass fragment from some glass jars that he knocked over, which was now covered by a bandage around his palm. Dean and Bobby had found him lying on the floor when they ran out on Sophia's order. They didn't know what to expect, considering that Castiel had 'broken' the wall in Sam's mind that kept him from remembering his time in the cage – all the bruising and battering he had to endure from sharing an enclosed space with two angry archangels. Rubbing his eyes with his uninjured hand, Sam leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. "Hey Dean," he greeted. "Bobby."

"Hey, you're walking and talking," Dean managed to crack a smile.

"Yeah. I, uh, put on my own socks, the whole nine."

Dean felt a load lifted off his chest, but it seemed too good. He had to be sure. "Well, that's uh... I mean you, uh, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. My head hurts a little, but... yes, basically."

Bobby nodded in silent acknowledgement. It was great that Sam was up and looked healthy, but he knew better than anyone that things aren't usually what they seem on the surface. He had his doubts and worries, but he wanted to voice them to Dean when they were alone. After all, he had no reason to worry Sam with his scepticism if the kid was actually getting better. He didn't want to jinx it.

"Seriously?" Dean probed. He hoped to God this was real.

"Look man, I'm as surprised as you are but, yeah, I swear," Sam reassured him.

"Good! No reason putting a gift horse under a microscope, right?" Dean grinned, looking to Bobby for validation and Bobby simply nodded.

"So what happened with Cas?" Sam inquired.

Dean's smile faded almost as soon as it appeared. He averted his eyes, swallowing a lump in his throat that appeared every time he thought of his friend. Seeing this, Bobby took over. "Cas… didn't make it, Sam."

"What? How?" Sam pulled up a chair, wanting to hear more. His eyebrows creased with worry for the angel.

Bobby told him about Raphael and Crowley, and how Cas had given them the wrong jar of blood for the ritual. "And then Sophia showed up out of nowhere, with Cas," he elaborated. "Apparently she stopped Cas from completing the ritual and Cas decided to team up with her to take down Raphael at the last minute. But as soon as they got Raphael in cuffs, she… she freakin exploded him."

"Oh no," Sam remarked, a pang of loss filling his chest to hear about their fallen friend. "How did you two get out of there?"

"She let us go, Sam," Dean answered. "She told us to get the hell out of there. I still can't believe it."

"Must have had a pretty strong vendetta against Raphael if she spared us like that," Bobby postulated.

"I don't know about that, but all I know is that we still have one archangel walking the earth and she's Lucifer's… girlfriend or whatever," Dean spat out. "She may have spared us that one time but it don't mean she ain't evil."

"Not to mention that she showed up to stop Raphael with Lucifer junior," Bobby interjected. "Speaking of…" he got up and retrieved a bunch of newspaper clippings. "I know we just lost one battle but the world is still messed up," he prefaced as he spread the clippings out.

"Lay it on us, Bobby," Sam sighed as he read some of the headlines.

"Power outages, erratic weather, sudden heatwaves, it's almost like the apocalypse all over again," Dean summarised.

"Wait, this all started three days ago. That's the same time that…" Sam looked up at the two of them.

"Yeah," Bobby nodded. "When Sophia left after coming here. It's the baby. It has to be."

"That actually a thing? Freak weather showing when an archangel is born?" Dean wondered out loud.

Bobby shrugged. "Well it is the child of two fallen angels so I wouldn't rule it out."

"How did this happen, huh? The whole of last year we'd been so focused on Crowley and Purgatory that we never even stopped to think about Sophia, another freakin archangel from Hell. If Cas knew, he never told us." Disappointment laced Dean's voice towards the end.

Sam stared down at the table. He knew exactly how it happened. He had been there, after all, when Lucifer and Sophia made that baby. Biologically, he fathered this child. He gulped, a jolt of anxiety spreading through him. He didn't want to remember the time he was possessed by Lucifer. A lot of horrible things happened and all through his hands. Although his memory remained patchy, Sam distinctly recalled the feeling of helplessness watching Lucifer manipulate his body for malicious acts. It was as though he was forced to witness a train wreck over and over again, behind a glass screen and tied down with invisible shackles. The whole thing felt like a nightmare that never ended up until the moment he was resurrected by Cas.

"From the way Sophia lashed out at Cas, it seemed like they had been working together against Raphael until Cas screwed her over," Bobby interjected. "Just another mistake Cas made."

The three of them fell silent. Dean's jaw clenched just thinking about the several bad decisions Cas had made, trusting the wrong people and taking the wrong sides. If only the bastard had some faith in his friends… Dean thought. Friends. He felt his anger waver at the memories of Cas - the angel in a stupid trenchcoat and perpetual frown, the angel who tried his hardest to imitate human whims - defending him from the numerous monsters, demons and even angels that posed him harm. Loyalty seemed to come so instinctively to Cas whenever the Winchesters were concerned. To think that Cas would betray them (and for what? Power?) - it was too difficult.

"Screw this," Dean muttered under his breath as he got up. "If there's one thing I can fix, it's Baby."

"I'll come help you," Sam offered as he went to join his brother in repairing the Impala. This left Bobby alone to ponder on the implications of Sophia being free and having the child of Lucifer. What would they want? Nothing good, his hunter instincts told him.


(Sophia POV)

Sophia's house, Illinois - four days after the Purgatory debacle, May, 2011

They grow up fast. Being in Heaven, I could enjoy Gabe's slow growth from a little archangel to an older one over millennia but here on Earth, it was so different. Luciel took his first step today, a week after his birth. I had to be careful about where we stayed because the birth had attracted so much attention. There was a massive power outage in Illinois and three other states surrounding it when I had pushed him out. Having been so focused on the war and settling the tense situations I had to deal with, I hadn't even stopped to think about the amount of energy that was released in the process. During that one day I had gone into labour, reports of abnormal weather activity flooded in from all around the world, like earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes. At least Lucifer would be pleased to hear that his son carried on his torch of destroying the human race.

As for me, I couldn't care less so long as angels and what-have-you stayed out of my way. Every moment I spent with my son was a blessing. He was quiet for the most part and smiled sweetly when I held him close to me. Sometimes I sang to him so that he would fall asleep, since baby angels needed their rest. This was also the time that I deepened my connection with him. Most people didn't know, but I had this habit even during my life in Heaven whereby I slept in forests on tree branches. I wasn't actually asleep, but I was in a trance-like state where my attention was solely focused on reaching out to the life forms around me, namely trees and other forest creatures. I had become one with the forest using this method and I found that it worked even with angels – trying it out on Lucifer had made us realise that we shared such a profound bond that we fell in love. Likewise, while my son slept soundly with his head against my chest, I allowed myself to drift off to strengthen our bond and make him feel safe.

Luciel wasn't purely a force of destruction as the angels or even Lucifer would have thought. I could see from the way he looked at the world that he was like me, capable of creating beautiful things. This was what I saw today when he pulled himself to a standing position and his tiny foot thumped on the ground. The earth rumbled and threatened to quake but he didn't let it. Instead, a small depression formed around us and water sprung from where he struck it and flowed generously. It replenished the desert-like landscape of Arizona and brought relief to the thirsty creatures and heat-dried cacti. A small pond had formed. This amazed me. Whoever my son turned out to be, I knew I would be proud of him. Now it was only a matter to release his father from the cage.


The Next Day

"He's so adorable!" Pahaliah received Luc from my arms and kissed him on his chubby cheeks. I had invited the only people I could consider my friends over to officially celebrate my son's birth. It was nothing compared to a Heavenly celebration but it was still symbolic. Pahaliah looked tired, though she summoned all the strength she'd recovered to come to my house with Rahab. The sight of my son was enough to put her in a good mood, it seemed. I had half-expected her and Rahab not to come, considering all they'd been through with Castiel. I was lucky to have found them alive after I had coerced Castiel to reveal where he'd kept them in those last moments when he was dangerously close to opening Purgatory.

Though mad with desire for the power that Purgatory had to offer him, it turned out that Castiel did have a bit of a heart – must have rubbed off on him from the humans. He'd kept Rahab and Pahaliah alive in a locked room that was heavily warded in the basement of the lair, though Rahab was almost close to death. Apparently, Rahab had put up quite the fight against Castiel, even though he was up against an angel who was powered by the souls almost to the extent of matching an archangel's mojo. It must have taken Castiel a great amount of restraint to make sure he was alive and hurt him just enough to incapacitate him for a while. Castiel had hoped to use them as leverage against me when he'd defeated Raphael and needed to keep me under his thumb. When we found them, Pahaliah's face was tear-streaked from trying just about everything she could think of to keep Rahab alive during those precious few hours. She was quite traumatised and didn't speak for a good amount of time until Shemsiel used the same healing potion he'd used on me to heal Rahab and he'd regained consciousness. That was when she rained kisses on his face and they both finally admitted to having a liking towards each other. "Finally!" Dinah had exclaimed.

"Gather around, everyone," Hassiel requested. He'd brought his camera with him. Luciel's adorable mutterings and garbles made sure we were all smiles and laughs. With Hassiel's guidance, the nine of us – which included Hassiel's two wonderful nephilim children – stood together with me in the centre holding Luciel in my arms. In five seconds, a click sounded and the camera captured our image.

"So… what did you name him?" Dinah's heavily-lined eyes bore into mine with curiosity while everyone fell silent, waiting for my response.

My mouth curved up into a soft smile. "Luciel. Luc, for short."

"Light of God?" Raziel translated.

"Yes, Angel of Mysteries," I replied.

"No offense, but I never thought you or your lover would have wanted anything to do with God," Rahab earnestly remarked.

I chuckled. "That is a valid inference. But he has his father's eyes and I am strongly convinced God wanted me to have this child, so take it as a tribute to the both of them."

"To God's Light, then," Shemsiel raised his glass, and so did we. "May he usher in an era of prosperity for all of us." We clinked our glasses to his toast and downed our drinks, a special brew of Anasikara, a party drink made for such celebratory occasions in Heaven (courtesy of Raziel, who turned out to have an expertise in mixology that surprised Shemsiel pleasantly).

"Damn, Raz, I could've saved money hiring you instead of a human if you worked at my beach club," Shemsiel commented, a compliment in his own way.

"Who is whose boss now?" Raziel retorted playfully.

"Please, you'd have to pay Raziel more than you pay a human, with the skills he'd bring to the table," I chimed in. More laughter ensued.

More pictures were taken as the angels took turns to coddle Luciel. We sang songs we learnt in our youth to teach him about the origins of the universe and what Heaven used to be like. Rahab, who had remained silent owing to his injuries, mustered up strength to tell my son a story he'd heard when he was younger. Luciel, with his intense eyes and inquisitive gaze, merely looked on at Rahab with quiet attention. Hassiel's children, Sarah-Jane and Joseph, seemed to be learning quite a few things themselves. Being the overprotective parent, Hassiel hadn't let a single angel near his kids and I didn't blame him – God's soldiers didn't take too well to the idea of nephilim. Now the kids had a chance to meet uncles and aunts who actually cared about them and would do anything to protect them.

"So your father tells me you wish to move away," I started conversation with the elder nephilim.

Her light green eyes bore into mine with concern. "He told you about that, huh?"

"Hass is just worried, Sarah-Jane."

"I prefer just Jane, actually," she informed me. The urge to rebel was strong in this one. "I just want to make a name for myself and take care of myself. Dad's done so much for us already, and I can tell that the years of worrying about us gets to him sometimes. It's not that I don't care about him but… I just feel like I need to do this. Be on my own." We both glanced at Hass, who was engaged in conversation with Raziel.

"I was once like you, you know," I honestly replied, recalling the short but tumultuous time I had spent with my Mother in the beginning of time. "I'll try to convince your dad to let you have your way if you wish."

She jerked her head towards me. "You would do that?"

"But you have to promise that you'll call for me if you so much as suspect that you're in danger. Got it?" I scribbled my number on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

She held the piece of paper with both her hands and eyed it with pleasant surprise before looking back up at me. In an unexpected turn, she threw her arms around me. "Thank you Aunt Sophia. Thank you so much." A warmth spread through my chest as I comfortingly rubbed her back, my hand running through her fiery amber curls.

The whole event was touching, even if only so few of us were here and in good spirits. These were my people, my kin, people who cared about me and people who I cared about. I couldn't imagine a life without them. They were my family. I couldn't have asked for better company, though I only wished Lucifer was here. A dull ache in my chest strengthened my resolve to find a way to free him.


Amidst all of this, being the Queen of Hell was tough and demanded more time of me than raising my son. Often, I found myself leaving Luc to Hassiel or Pahaliah while I went to Hell and dealt with the issues regarding souls and demon deals. Let's just say I felt superstitious about not wanting to bring Luc to Hell – after all, it was a place of eternal damnation, which Lucifer and I were banished to for things we had done. Luc was innocent in all of this and did nothing to deserve a trip to this place. I didn't want any part of Hell rubbing off on him. Maybe this was me holding onto an inkling of a desire to be redeemed that remained after all this time.

When I first fell, I remembered thinking Hassiel's freedom from perdition was my chance at redeeming myself from my guilt. Though I did not admit it to myself at the time, a part of me was angry at myself for disappointing God, though that was what Lucifer and I had set out to do in the first place. God saved me from Amara, after all. Maybe I felt like I still owed Him for that. And after everything God had done – leaving Lucifer to suffer from the Mark, punishing us for questioning His decision, banishing us from Heaven and imprisoning us on top of all that – the fact that He allowed me to have this child made me think that He wanted us to be happy after all this while. Maybe this was Him trying to mend our relationship. If it was, I wouldn't jeopardise it by leaving Luc open to Hell's influences. We all (the angels) missed God, even though some of us were less willing to admit that. I realised that this could be something Lucifer and I would disagree on, but that discussion would have to come later.

During this time that I returned to Hell, all clues leading to Crowley's whereabouts had led to a dead end, which was extremely vexing. How was it that this one demon kept avoiding detection? One of these days, he would slip up and I would come for him – I was counting on it. My visits to Hell were purely professional, to settle administrative matters. My initial zeal to keep the throne was slowly waning with every mention of paperwork and small decision that the demons were too dumb to make for themselves. At this point, I was just keeping the throne warm for Lucifer. How could he enjoy this?

"Your Highness?" A demon interrupted my train of thought. I looked up to see Timothy staring back at me. I had promoted him to be my right-hand demon on the grounds of having worked with him during the Apocalypse and the admission from him that he had been the one to tamper with Crowley's supply of holy oil to aid my escape. Pleased and touched by his initiative, I kept him in a position of considerable power and trust. He basically covered for me whenever I couldn't make it to Hell or just didn't want to.

"Hm?" I beckoned him to go on.

"We have what you asked for." He passed me a printed report. I usually gave jobs like these to the Nalkam but I suspected they would want no part of this and I wouldn't force them to partake in work they didn't want to be associated with. This report compiled all there was to be known about the Book of the Damned, save for the contents of the mysterious book itself. It seemed like the best shot at getting Lucifer out of the cage so I was going to be deadly serious about finding it.

"This is good work. I am pleased," I thanked him. He cracked a relieved smile, adjusting his tie restlessly before bowing and taking his leave.


A/N:

Hey guys! Thanks for reading so far. I would really appreciate some feedback so it would be nice if you could drop a review or a PM. Tell me what you think of the story so far, whether you like where it's going, what you want to see more/less of, or you could ask me questions too. Your feedback really helps improve my writing and keeps me thinking! :)