Chapter 2

One Year Ago:

Heaven was quiet in the first few weeks after the almost-Apocalypse. Ariel supposed that should have been her first clue that trouble was approaching, and fast. But she remained content with visiting Adam every now and then, and assessing the damage done to Heaven while she had been gone. She even found her archangel blade again from when Michael had confiscated it. She spent the rest of her time researching on how to rescue someone from the Cage without unleashing every other inhabitant there.

She had promised Dean that she wouldn't give up on Sam, after all.

Speaking of Dean, he prayed to her often, just little tidbits on how life with Lisa and her son, Ben, was going. He didn't sound good, but then Ariel supposed he wouldn't be coping well at all. He'd lost Sam, the only reason he'd kept going all these years, and she doubted he'd be okay almost instantly. Still, his nightmares lessened as the weeks passed, and he prayed to her less frequently as time went on. She didn't mind, of course; he was moving on, and she had work to do as well. It was mutually beneficial for them both.

Ariel's peace came to an end about a month after Sam had jumped into the Cage.

She was on her way to meet Castiel in his favorite Heaven. It was nice and peaceful there, and no one ever disturbed either her or Castiel there. That was when she was attacked from behind, two angels tackling her from behind. Normally, she would have been able to fend them off easily, but she was taken off-guard and in that time, they managed to transport her to a Heaven she knew very well. It was Raphael's Heaven, a cold office with stiff leather armchairs, one of which Raphael himself occupied.

"Hello, Ariel."

"Took you long enough to contact me," she grumbled as the angels released her, rubbing at her arm absently even though there wasn't any pain.

"Yes, well, I had to first be sure I knew which angels were on my side and which were on yours."

"So Heaven did split between the two of us," she noted, "Why?"

"The Apocalypse, Ariel. It was meant to happen, and you stopped it," he answered.

"The Earth would've been destroyed," she protested, "Of course I didn't want it to happen."

"Maybe it was meant to be."

"What're you saying, that you're gonna try to restart the Apocalypse?" Ariel snapped back.

"If I have to." Raphael raised an eyebrow as he got to his feet smoothly. "Will you stop me?"

"If I have to," she echoed, grimacing at the thought. "I don't want to fight, Raphael. I know you don't, either."

"Because you know me so well, don't you?" The words were harsh and cut into her like a knife. "I think you forfeited the right to claim any knowledge of me when you left our home like Lucifer did."

"We aren't Michael and Lucifer," Ariel protested desperately, "We can work this out."

"No, we aren't like them. Because I will succeed where Michael failed." Raphael's eyes were cold and the meaning of the statement only hit Ariel moments later.

"You...you don't mean that." She took a step back all the same, fear clenching in her gut suddenly. "I'm your sister, Raph, you can't-"

"You stopped being my sister the day you betrayed us for a mere chance to speak to Lucifer!" It was the first time his voice rose, and she flinched at the raw anger in his tone.

"I'm sorry," she pleaded, feeling the corners of her eyes sting. She couldn't cry, she wouldn't. "If I could take it back, I would, please-"

"Don't beg for mercy, not now that the damage is done." Raphael's jaw clenched. "You don't have my forgiveness, Ariel, and you never will. You will be destroyed if you choose to stand in my way, but you may still stand down, if you wish."

"And when have I ever been a doormat to anyone?" she retorted, swallowing back the lump in her throat. "You know me better than that."

"I do." He surveyed her calmly.

"I don't want to fight you." Her voice was barely above a hoarse whisper. "But I can't let you start the Apocalypse, not again."

"So it is war between us, then."

"Raphael-" Before Ariel could continue, before she could plead once more for him to reconsider, her head snapped sideways with the force of his blow. She crumpled to the floor, blood welling up in her mouth, and she spat it out, grimacing at the iron taste as she attempted to regain her footing. Raphael's blade came slashing down and she managed to dodge it, but not before it created a large gash across her ribcage. "Stop it!" she begged, trying to breathe through the pain, "Please, I don't want to fight you!"

"You brought this on yourself, Ariel, and now you reap the consequences of betrayal." He shoved her again and she scrambled backwards, disappearing to the meadow Castiel had claimed as his personal Heaven. If he was around, he could at least deter Raphael from engaging her in combat.

Unfortunately, Raphael followed her to the meadow, throwing another punch directly at her ribs. She could feel some of the bones snap. Winded, she collapsed to the ground, coughing up more blood into the grass beneath her.

"Raph, I'm so sorry," she rasped as he pulled her up by her hair, his blade poised at her throat. "Please, brother, I-"

"Do not call me 'brother,'" he snarled and raised the blade, preparing to strike.

"Raphael." Never had Ariel been more relieved to hear Castiel's voice. "Let her go."

Raphael dropped her back to the ground and she let herself lie on the cool grass, trying not to think about the crushing pain in her abdomen. "Castiel, always running to your caretaker's aid. Well, no more. Your little rebellion will be crushed, and the Apocalypse will recommence." He vanished with a flap of his bronze wings and Ariel spat out a mouthful of blood onto the grass with a groan.

"Ariel?" Castiel's hands were on her shoulders, pulling her up carefully, and she sucked in a sharp breath as it agitated her broken ribs. Tears that had nothing to do with the pain streamed down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," Castiel murmured, reaching up to wipe the tears away.

"He wouldn't listen," Ariel said weakly, "I begged him, Cas. I begged him to stop and he still wouldn't-" Another jolt of agony flared through her ribs and she curled in on herself, grimacing.

"It's all right. Come on, I'll take you to the infirmary and then we can plan out our strategy." Castiel carefully helped her to her feet and she leaned heavily on him. With a flap of his dark wings, they were in the infirmary, Ariel lowering herself carefully onto an empty bed. Castiel pulled down a paste from one of the shelves, passing it to Ariel. Absently, she read the label: arnica, comfrey, and turmeric.

She snorted humorlessly and Castiel gave her an odd look. "It's just...I used this same paste to heal Gabriel's broken wing once. It was the first balm I'd ever helped make." She trailed her fingers over the lid before unscrewing it and carefully lifting her shirt to apply it to the gash across her abdomen, which shone with leaking Grace.

Castiel remained on alert, glancing around the infirmary at the other occupants. Several angels were all over the place, being treated for some injury or the other. None of them took notice of Ariel, and he made sure it stayed that way.

"I'm good." Castiel accepted the container back from Ariel and helped her stand. She winced and he frowned.

"Perhaps you should rest more."

"Cas, I'm okay, I don't need-" Ariel broke off with a sharp hiss of pain and he nodded decisively.

"You're going to rest. I'll leave you with Adam, if you wish."

Grudgingly, Ariel nodded. "Yeah, take me over to his Heaven." Castiel nodded and took her hand. Ariel attempted to make the journey this time, but she couldn't even lift her wings without agony flaring across her chest, so Castiel initiated the trip. With a flap of his wings, they were in the park that made up part of Adam's Heaven. "He'll be around eventually," Ariel said as she leaned against a tree, "Just leave me here. I'll come over to the meadow when I'm better."

"And not before then," Castiel warned and she raised her hands in defeat.

"Yeah, whatever, Mom." He narrowed his eyes at her and she grinned back wryly. "What can I say? Some human things never fade." She reached up weakly to ruffle his hair. "I'm good, Cas. Watch your back, though, Raphael will be gunning for you next." He nodded reluctantly and disappeared again.

"Ariel?!" Adam was on the other side of the park, but he crossed the distance between them in seconds, his eyes wide as they raked over her and took in her injuries. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Raphael declared war on me." She tried to smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace. "Help me sit down?" Adam wrapped an arm around her waist carefully, lowering her to the grass before sitting down next to her.

"You're telling me Raphael kicked the crap out of you?"

"Knifed me, too, before Castiel got there." She tried to sound casual about it.

"Ariel-"

"Adam, I'm okay. Just give me a little time and I'll be good as new." She managed a real smile this time at his concern. "You know, you're getting awfully worried over someone you've barely known until recently."

"Shut up," he muttered and kissed her forehead. "You did save my life. Or soul. Whatever."

"Please, the only reason I did was so I could do this for the rest of eternity." She leaned up just as he leaned down, knowing what she would do, and their lips pressed together at the same time.

"Selfish," he mumbled against her mouth before pulling back with a grin, showing that he was only joking.

"Damn right I am," she replied with a smile of her own, kissing his cheek before settling back against his chest. They watched the children in the playground of Adam's memory squealing and running around for a while, Adam every now and then pressing a kiss into Ariel's hair as she let her fingers curl around his. Despite the bruises and broken ribs and cuts littering her body, she felt warm and safe.

Raphael and his war could wait just a little longer. Things were just fine the way they were.

She really shouldn't have jinxed it. The next day, she called together her side of Heaven, including Castiel. Castiel hadn't arrived yet, but the other angels who had come were far more animated than they had been since she had come home when she announced that Raphael was declaring a civil war on her. It disturbed Ariel how simple it was for angels to understand war, but not her reluctance to fight.

"I don't understand," Rachel said a few hours later as Ariel pored over a map of defensive strategies they had laid out earlier. She had dismissed most of the other angels, leaving only her and Rachel, Castiel's appointed lieutenant, to wait for Castiel to arrive. "Why don't you want to fight?"

"Rachel, we're siblings. We were never meant to fight each other - or fight at all, for that matter. We were raised to be guardians, not soldiers." Ariel looked up with a wry smile. "I guess I've been away from home a little too long, though. Things have changed."

Rachel nodded. "Not all for the better."

"Yeah, I'll agree with that." Castiel arrived behind Ariel, peering over her shoulder at the map, and she raised an eyebrow at his disheveled form. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I had an errand to run," he said offhandedly. She was tempted to question him further, but before she could, he quickly asked, "Have we got a strategy?"

"Yeah, wait for Raphael to make the first move. I still want us to sort things out, but if he attacks, we've got no choice but to retaliate and kick off the civil war," Ariel sighed wearily before frowning at Castiel when he swayed slightly on his feet. "Uhh, you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." He grimaced. "I'm just...tired from my errand, that's all."

She blinked, debating between interrogating him on what he was doing and letting him rest. The latter won out, thanks to her protective instincts. "Um, yeah, okay, that's fine. Go ahead and rest, I'll catch you up later." Castiel nodded and with a flutter of wings, he was gone again. "Does he seem a little off to you?" she asked Rachel curiously.

The other angel looked pensive, but shrugged. "Castiel's always been odd from the start."

Ariel wasn't convinced, though. "Not odd enough to be evasive."

Rachel frowned. "You don't think he's working for Raphael, do you?"

"What? No!" Ariel's eyebrows rose in surprise at the very thought. "Cas wants Raphael stopped just as much as we do, he wouldn't be on Raphael's side. He helped stop the Apocalypse, remember?" Rachel ducked her head, ashamed for the suggestion. "I get it, you were just thinking of all the possibilities. I'm telling you, though, Castiel wouldn't betray us. He's too loyal for that, to both the cause and me."

Rachel didn't look mollified by the assertion, but she nodded all the same, not daring to argue. Ariel only wished she was as confident as she sounded.

We all know what Castiel was doing, the sneaky little angel that he is...

This chapter was obscenely short, and I really have no excuse other than writer's block. Hmm. Longer and less chapters? Or short (like this one) and more chapters? Your call, guys.

On that note, I can guarantee that this will be the last chapter for a while because college has officially started and this semester is bound to be my busiest yet. I'll do my best to crank out one or two more chapters before the workload actually sets in, but I'm pretty sure writer's block will also get in the way.

I hope you enjoy this chapter in the meantime and bear with me while I study! :)