Author's Note: I don't own any of the other stuff, but I do own Ember and Domiel.
All of the parts in italics were taken from my other story, The Castiel Chronicles. I haven't cross-posted it to AO3, so if you're super interested you can find it here:
s/12887210/1/Angels-Will-Fall-The-Castiel-Chronicles
***Castiel POV***
January 26th
This was not an outcome that Castiel had expected. He thought back to a conversation with Naomi last April, back when Jack had been without a soul.
"Okay," said Naomi. "Let's review what we've discussed. We don't have enough angels, Castiel, and neither of us can afford a misunderstanding."
Castiel nodded. What she meant was, "We've both done serious damage to each other in the past, and we're treading a thin line, and neither of us wants to die, so we can't afford a misunderstanding." But Castiel trusted her to keep her word when it came to the welfare of Heaven, at least.
Next to Castiel, Jack nodded as well.
"Jack and I will choose ten additional human individuals who are pious, righteous, and consenting to be turned into angels," said Naomi.
Jack nodded enthusiastically.
"There will be no killing of humans for unjust or unfaithful acts, or for any other reason," growled Castiel.
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Obviously," she said.
"I will work with Jack to channel his powers to additionally attempt to bring Domiel and Gabriel back from the Empty," Naomi continued, and Castiel nodded, a flourish of hope forming in his head at the small possibility of seeing Domiel again.
It had worked. It had worked! That had been almost a year ago. How long had Gabriel and Domiel been back? Excitement warred in his stomach with worry.
Their plan had failed. Chuck was as alive as ever, and Death couldn't hide them forever.
And Gabriel – Gabriel was hurt, bad. It wasn't fatal, Castiel could tell that immediately. But it was serious. It was his wing that was injured, and if he didn't get back to Heaven he would never fly again.
"Castiel, we must get him to Heaven," said Domiel.
"I know," said Castiel, thinking fast. "Will you take him? I will join you in a moment."
Domiel looked hurt – almost betrayed – but she nodded once, and both she and Gabriel disappeared.
"Castiel, what the hell!?" exploded Dean.
He looked at Ember, and she looked… resigned. "I have to go," Castiel said.
"Now?" Dean exclaimed. "Now! Cas, you can't just go galavanting off-…"
"How long will you be gone?" Ember asked.
Castiel wasn't sure. "A few days, perhaps," he said, but he knew his face betrayed his doubt. "Maybe a week. I will be among friends, and I will come back as soon as I'm able."
"Don't you dare leave us-…" Dean exclaimed again, but Ember simply moved forward and kissed him. He hugged her and then disappeared.
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
Gabriel was lying in the front hall of Heaven with Domiel stroking his wing lightly when Castiel arrived. The wing had already stopped gushing blood and grace, the power of Heaven having begun work immediately.
An alarm was going off, rising and falling like a siren on earth. This one Castiel understood to mean, "All angels gather in the Grand Hall of Heaven immediately." Heaven had undergone many changes in the past fifteen years, but the alarm had remained the same.
Castiel didn't move. "I won't leave him," he gruffly told Domiel.
Domiel had moved to stand up, but she looked back at him, surprised. "I-…" she began, and Castiel understood. Free will was still foreign to her.
Naomi burst out of a door next to them. "Move!" she snapped at them, barely acknowledging Castiel's presence in her route to Gabriel. "No, not to the Hall, the flock is agitated enough without you two being there. In there!" she snapped toward the room next to her, a sort of cream-colored waiting room which Castiel was already familiar with. Naomi levitated Gabriel.
"What are you doing with him?" asked Castiel suspiciously as Domiel tugged him toward the waiting room.
"Healing him, obviously," snapped Naomi. "Heaven can't afford to lose the only archangel who hasn't run away on a misguided quest for fun, glory, and free will." Castiel looked at Domiel in surprise, the irony of this statement not lost on him, but she wasn't looking at him.
"I've got an archangel to heal and a flock to calm down," continued Naomi, this time looking at Castiel alone. "Please, just sit still for five minutes and don't touch anything, don't talk to anybody, and don't start any godforsaken battles!"
"Since when did Naomi curse?" Castiel asked, finally following Domiel toward a cream-colored couch.
"Since we learned that God had truly betrayed us," said Domiel sadly, and they both fell silent.
Castiel sat on a cream-colored couch and glanced at Domiel. She was staring at him shyly, but she looked away once she caught him looking.
She had been his best friend for millennia. His sister, his Garrison partner, and, after Anna fell, his superior, until her death. The last time he had ever seen her ran through his head. It had been when she had ordered him to have Dean torture the captive Alastair for more information.
"You aren't going to like what we've come up with," Domiel said after summoning Castiel to her office.
She was right.
"Please excuse my bluntness," Castiel said, anger flaring inside him suddenly. "Are you sure this is correct?"
Domiel nodded. "I double-checked, there is no mistake." She looked even more tired than she had when he had last seen her. "I was surprised as well," said Domiel. "But it is not our job to question our superiors, Castiel. Because it concerns the righteous man, these orders were given by our Father and passed down to me by Michael himself."
The fight left Castiel, and he was left with a strong sense of sadness and guilt. "Consider it done," he said, with much less enthusiasm than usual.
This conversation, and so many others, sat between them now.
"How long have you been out of the Empty?" Castiel asked her suddenly, and it came out more accusatory than he intended.
Her nostrils flared and her eyebrows knitted together, but she sighed. "Not long," she said. "A week, perhaps. We fought with the figure in the Empty for… ages." She shook her head, shuddering.
"Death made a deal with the Empty to release us, actually. I believe it was a small part of a bigger deal."
"What bigger deal?" asked Castiel, derailed from his original follow-up question. Domiel looked uncomfortable but answered anyway. "I'm unsure, though Gabriel has speculations. He believes that at the end of time, when human beings no longer exist, Death plans to feed G – Chuck – to the Empty."
She swallowed, glancing away from him. "The Empty is patient. The being there is timeless and can wait for this to come to pass."
That was a lot to digest. Would there ever be a time when humans no longer existed? Castiel supposed that there would. There would have to be – even the Sun wouldn't last forever. None of Chuck's creations, except for the angels and himself, were immortal.
Castiel decided to sit on this revelation and address any of the (numerous) more pressing issues.
"Why didn't you pray to me?" asked Castiel. "If you've been back a week…"
Domiel glared at him. "We've been busy, as have you," she snapped. "Stopping a plague. Supporting Death. Planning a God-battle. We're short-handed, Castiel, in case you haven't noticed."
She was glaring at him now, and she continued, her eyes flashing with anger and desperation. "Our father has betrayed us in ways that weren't even imaginable," she said miserably. "Raphael and Lucifer are dead, and Michael has run away from Heaven with the righteous man's brother. Gabriel of all angels is leading Heaven at Naomi's side, and you -…" She stopped, shutting her mouth in surprise.
Castiel felt a wave of sympathy for his old friend. "I… what, Domiel?" he asked.
She gave him a look reminiscent of a dear in headlights, as though she wasn't sure if she should continue. Ultimately, though, she plodded ahead. "You're mated to the Abomination," she said in wonderous disgust. "You had a nephilim. They say you broke open Purgatory and killed thousands of us. I died fighting against our superiors, against their Apocalypse, but you go too far, Castiel!"
When Castiel next went to see Domiel, he was surprised to find a different angel in Domiel's usual seat. This angel was called Zachariah. Castiel had only met him twice, but knew of him by name and reputation. He was too ambitious for an angel, some had said.
"Where is Domiel?"
"You would do better to address your superiors with more respect," Zachariah said with a sly grin.
"My apologies," Castiel said. "I was simply alarmed at her absence."
"As well you should be," Zachariah said. "Domiel was killed this morning in battle."
Castiel felt as though the bottom had fallen out from under him. He had never felt grief like this, except for when Anna had fallen, and not even then. Thousands of years they had served together… thousands.
"Don't dismay," Zachariah said, waving his hand as though he couldn't care less. "She died a good death, fighting for the seals."
No. That was wrong. "Domiel hasn't been in battle since she was made a Corporal," Castiel protested. "Can you tell me under what circumstances she was killed?"
Zachariah shot him a look of pure annoyance, then covered it up quickly. "She was killed in battle. I have not been privy to more information." Zachariah was a bureaucrat, and a bad liar, Castiel decided.
"You have new orders," Zachariah continued. "For the time being, you will cease your duties of guarding the Winchesters and focus completely on protecting the seals."
Castiel felt a stab of anger. "Who will be guarding the Winchesters?"
"They will be guarded, don't worry," he said evasively. "You will still be called upon if an angel needs to speak with them directly. As much as you have overstepped your boundaries with your previous charges, it has been proven useful in that they will respond more positively to you as a liaison. At least… so my superiors tell me." It was obvious that Zachariah himself either didn't agree or didn't care.
"Domiel said that I was cleared of suspicions," Castiel protested, against his better judgment.
"Not mine," Zachariah said. "Castiel, you are dismissed."
Castiel stood there, seething with anger. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think.
Finally, Zachariah looked up at him once again. "Do you have any further questions?"
"No," Castiel said, and he was unable to resist shooting Zachariah a dirty look before leaving.
Memories stabbed Castiel, running through his head quickly now.
"Anna, I don't understand what is going on," he told her. He held out his hand to her to communicate the memories, and she allowed it.
She swallowed, taking Castiel's hand fully, which he allowed.
"Anna, what should I do?"
Anna shook her head again. "I've told you, those days are over. You must choose for yourself."
"Surely you must know… something? You have connections."
Anna smiled. "I don't know much," she said. "But I did hear rumors about what happened to Domiel."
Castiel looked at her sharply.
"I'm sorry, Castiel. I haven't heard much… just that she was killed by other angels."
"That's impossible," Castiel said.
"Is it?" Anna looked at him sharply. Then she said, "Don't for a second doubt that it isn't every bit as bad as you imagine."
She sighed, looking at his stunned face. "Castiel, I can't force-feed you free will. You have to take it for yourself." Then she disappeared.
"Anna told me you were killed by other angels."
Domiel looked back at him, her eyes wide. "I thought that we were fighting to prevent the Apocalypse. I thought we were fighting to preserve God's creations. I refused to join them when they asked, and I died for it."
Castiel sighed. He resisted the urge to hug her. His human urges had no use here in Heaven.
"I thought as much, sister," he said, automatically slipping back into the acceptable angel terms of endearment. "I can't explain to you how much I…" He left off and finished the sentence in prayer. "How much I missed you. How much I wished you were with me."
Domiel opened her mouth to speak, but Naomi entered the room. "He's healing now," she said brusquely. "I have to go calm the flock. The protocol used to be five seraphs to watch over an archangel during the healing process, but a seraph and a cherub will have to do." And she shoved them toward a room down the hall.
Gabriel was asleep on a large, red, king-sized canopy bed. An ornate antique desk stood next to the bed, and the walls were decorated in burgundy like the bed. Aside from Gabriel himself, the bed looked meticulous and pristine, though the chair at the desk looked worn and the desk was piled high with paperwork written in Enochian. Around the bed and desk were various sweets in different variations of half-eaten. Castiel could tell that this was the room where Gabriel had spent most of his time, at least for the past week, when he could get away from other angels.
Castiel and Domiel took the traditional posts on either side of Gabriel's bed, standing still as statues.
This was how it used to be, hundreds of years ago. Angels – especially archangels – were not used to being unconscious, so any time they were due to awaken from an injury or healing procedure, they were guarded by multiple seraphs. It had been this way, ever since Raphael accidentally killed a healer upon waking up from unconsciousness, more than a millennia ago.
But this was Gabriel, and he had drunk more than one liquor store in his day, and Castiel had a feeling he was used to waking up from unconsciousness. "This is stupid," he finally told Domiel, and sat down on the bed at Gabriel's feet, removing his trench coat.
Domiel looked scared for a second, but, slowly, followed him. She sat with a straight back, however, as though ready at any minute to jump to attention.
After ten minutes with no sign of Gabriel awakening, Castiel began to grow restless. He was used to long, watchful periods doing nothing, but the silence between himself and Domiel seemed to stretch into eternity. Finally he said, "I can show you."
Domiel's eyes whipped toward his. "Show me what?"
"Everything," he said. "I didn't always make the best decisions. I didn't always make the right decisions. But I can show you everything, if you'd like to see."
Very slowly, Domiel nodded and leaned toward Castiel, who held out two fingers. He poured it all into his old friends' head – the Apocalypse, falling in love with Ember, his time as Lucifer, Jack.
An age passed. When she moved her head backward, tears were sliding down her face. She looked at him solemnly, trying to find words. "I… I understand… why you made the decisions you made, Castiel," she said. "But if it was me… I don't know if I could've made them. I'm not… I'm not there yet. Until last week, I had never even really considered that our father…" She stopped, tears now cascading down her cheeks.
"I don't know how to do this, Castiel," she whispered finally.
"You'll get it eventually, Dommie," said a hoarse voice suddenly from below them on the bed. "I've been poking at her for a week, but now, between the two of us, we'll get her to join our gang of merry angels in the end."
"Gabriel!" exclaimed Castiel and Domiel. Domiel leapt up to her post next to his bed as though embarrassed for not being there in the first place, but Castiel only stiffened and squinted at his brother.
"Relax, Dommie," Gabriel said, rolling his eyes. To Castiel, he said, "It's been a week now. I keep telling her to go get laid and join the big boys, but she still wants to wade in the free will kiddie pool."
Domiel shot him a glare, but slunk back to her previous spot on the bed.
"Domiel, I know you're not used to free will yet," Castiel said. "But you don't have to take orders from Gabriel on this. You're free to stand wherever you want. And, for the record, you're free to 'go get laid' if you want, however I would advise against it. Gabriel is known in both Heaven, demi-god, and earthly circles to be a… well, frankly, a bit of a man-whore."
"A bit?" Gabriel shot back at him. "If I'm only known as a bit of a man-whore, I'll have to step up my effort!" He grinned.
One look at the stunned and affronted look on Domiel's face, and Castiel began to laugh. Was this how he used to be? Uncomfortable with joking, and the ways of humor, and laughter, and… happiness? He suddenly began to laugh.
Gabriel joined him, until they were both laughing harder, sniggering and guffawing with relief.
And then, a miracle happened: Domiel laughed too.
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
***Castiel POV***
February 1st
Castiel touched down from Heaven for the first time in a few days. His first step was to check on his wife, though he knew she would be asleep. Fear ran through him when he realized she wasn't in their bed.
He flew to the bunker, and his fear evaporated as he found her, asleep on one of the stuffed arm chairs in the library.
Sam sat at the table, his head asleep on a large book entitled "The Angels of Heaven and the Lord". Dean sat in the chair across from Sam, his head tilted back as he snored. Kevin Tran walked into the room from the kitchen and smiled when he saw Castiel. "Hey, Cas," he said, as though they were old friends. And, perhaps they were.
Castiel smiled. He was full of the power of Heaven, and Domiel was back, and so was Gabriel, and even Kevin Tran. Sam, Dean, Ember, Eileen, and the kids were all here, alive. And for now, that was enough.