Ariel stayed with the Winchester boys for the next three days; more specifically, she stayed in Bobby's hospital room to keep him company. Nothing major had happened: there had no messages from Castiel, no sign that Michael's mood was improving, and no sign of God. He had been missing since before her punishment for her perceived disobedience. It was as if her Father was in hiding now. Who knew why… Frankly, she didn't care anymore. If her dad wanted to be dead-beat, it wouldn't be like she hadn't experienced it. He had been dead-beat to her for almost all of her life.
Being around the brothers, she felt out of place and slightly off her game because of the sigils that Castiel had carved into their ribs. Before, she could sense them and find them using their essence. Now, she had to rely on human methods to remain in contact with the brothers. She spent what time she wasn't with Bobby getting a cellphone (using her powers to manipulate the human for a moment; it wasn't like she was under a microscope anymore to use her powers only for 'good') and boning up on her Scripture.
Thinking of him, she turned her attention back to Bobby Singer. The three of them were staying near St. Martin's, but Bobby was still suffering from Zachariah's wrath: he was bound to a wheelchair. For a man who prided himself on being active and maintaining his own ways of doing things, this was a low blow indeed. He just sat mostly, either in bed on in his wheelchair, staring out the window and generally feeling sorry for himself. She had read the chart at the foot of his bed; the doctors had little hope for Bobby getting back the strength to his legs enough for him to walk. This was a mortal injury for his pride and mobility.
She heard the footsteps and quiet voices of Dean and Sam as they stood near the doorway, discussing the sigils that Castiel had carved into his ribs. Dean, in a pretence of having some pain in his sternum, managed to get a x-ray of his chest. She had taken a look: Castiel had gotten better in his work. Much neater and cleaner in his markings.
Sam's phone rung. "Castiel?" Ariel looked up as he answered. "St. Martin's Hospital. Why?"
Ariel felt him as he walked into the halls. Castiel had the same problem that she did. But apparently, the boys didn't understand that yet. "A cellphone, Cas? Really? When do angels need to reach out and touch someone?" Dean looked confused, but Castiel was tired.
"You're hidden from angels, all angels, including Ariel and myself. I won't be able to simply-"
"Enough with the foreplay. Get over here and lay your damn hands on." Bobby spoke up from his wheelchair where Ariel was sitting near him. When Castiel didn't, Bobby looked over his shoulder. "Get healing! Now!" Ariel sighed; Castiel didn't have the power. Ever since she got her warrior's brand, neither did she.
"I can't." Castiel tried to answer gently, but that wasn't good enough for Bobby.
The older hunter turned his wheelchair around so that he faced the angel. "Say that again." He spoke it like a challenge, like a gunfighter in front of the OK Corral.
"I'm cut off from Heaven, and most of Heaven's power. Some things I can do, some things I can't." Ariel bowed her head. Ever since Castiel's mysterious resurrection, he had been banished from heaven. He was now a rogue, a loose cannon like her. Zachariah and Michael couldn't have that, and so they had teamed them together, much to her growing dislike. Castiel was confused without anyone to order him around; he had lived with that structure and rigidity for all his life, and now that he was without it, it was akin to watching a lost puppy sniff around for answers. Sure, he was still an angel, but he was just a warrior now, one with no connection to the heavens.
Bobby looked at Ariel expectantly, and now it was her turn to explain. "Castiel's not supposed to be alive, Bobby. Michael doesn't know what to make of it. So, Castiel's an outsider now: still of Heaven, but just under my orders now." She knelt before him to come to his level. "I used to have the power, Bobby, but when the Council made me a warrior, they stripped me of that."
"So you're both saying that you lost your mojo just in time to make me be stuck in this trap the rest of my time?" Bobby looked from her to Cas, fury in his eyes. Ariel knew that an apology was the last thing he wanted to hear. Cas didn't.
"I'm sorry." He shrugged his shoulders and tried to make Bobby feel better.
"Shove it up your ass." He looked at Ariel, who at least had the decency to look somewhat sorry.
Dean looked behind Cas to Sam. "Well, at least he's talking now."
Bobby, who had turned his chair back to face the window, spoke up again. "I heard that!" Ariel snorted in quiet laughter.
Castiel turned back to the boys. "I don't have much time, and we need to talk." He looked over at Ariel as she began to ignore him. "Your plan to kill Lucifer-"
Dean looked at Cas with a gleam of hope in his eyes. "Great! You wanna help?
"No. It's foolish. It can't be done." Cas looked over at Ariel again, but she was focused on the color of the windowsill. She was not going to listen to the boy's plans, as she had for the last three days, on how to kill Lucifer. Whatever he had done in the past, he was still her brother, and as of right now, the only one that cared a hoot in hell about her.
"Well, gee. Thanks for the support."
"But, I believe I know someone who can help." Ariel looked over to him with a dead look. "There is someone else besides Michael who is strong enough to take on Lucifer." Ariel stood off the bed and walked over to him. "Someone who's strong enough to stop the Apocalypse."
Sam looked slightly disbelieveing. "And who's that?"
Castiel looked with that fervent look in his eyes from one Winchester to the other. "The one who resurrected me and put you on that airplane. The one who began everything." When the brothers still didn't get it, Castiel said the name. "God."
Ariel just had to laugh. She honestly couldn't help herself. Castiel looked strangely at her at the unexpected reaction.
"That's a good one, Castiel. Tell me another one." She looked at Cas with that dead look in her eyes once more; if Dean didn't know any better, he would have thought that Afriel was back. But that was impossible. "You're joking, right, Cas? God is dead." She spat out the words like venom in her mouth. "He goes off for centuries at a time, coming back only now to get me back on track. From what Michael's relayed to me, God disappeared right before my punishment and hasn't been seen since. He's dead, Cas. He's not coming back. Michael's in charge now, and that is the end of it." Her anger flared up and it felt good.
He looked at her. "Please, have faith, Ariel. I'm going to find God." Castiel refused to give up. "He's not in heaven, so he has to be somewhere."
Dean tried his normal approach: sarcasm. "Try New Mexico. I hear he's on a tortilla."
Castiel didn't get it. "No, he's not on any flatbread."
"Look, Chuckles, even if there is a God, he's either dead, and that's the generous theory-"
"He is alive, Dean." Castiel refused to give.
"- or he just doesn't give a rat's ass about any of this. I mean, look around you, man. The world's going down the toilet. We are literally at the end of days, and he's off somewhere drinking booze out of a coconut." That was when Dean had a fist connect with the back of his head.
He looked up as Ariel looked down at him with black eyes. "That's my father, Dean. No matter where he is and how he abandoned me, understand that fact."
Dean cocked his head. "Welcome back, Afriel." Castiel looked in horror at his mate. He had believed that Afriel was still enchained; he had never seen Afriel loose before, and the change in his mate's demeanour with frightening.
Afriel smiled at him. "It's good to be back. Ariel here is just such a nice suit, plus the fact that I never left her. I just became quiet under those fake chains of her's. " She cocked her head and Ariel came back.
"Enough!" His eyes wary of her, Castiel turned back to Dean and continued to ignore her. "This isn't a theological discussion; it's strategical. With God's help, we can win!"
"It's a pipe-dream, Cas." Dean looked at him.
"I killed two angels this week. My brothers. I'm hunted; I rebelled, and I did it all for you. And you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world, and I lost everything, for nothing." Cas was right in Dean's face now, his mouth tight with anger; Ariel was proud of him for actually trying to be human. "Keep your opinions to yourself." He ground out the words between his teeth.
Bobby spoke up. "You didn't come here to tear us a new one. So, what is it that you want?" Ariel went back to the bed and sat down, watching Castiel cling to dead hopes.
"I did come for something. An amulet." Castiel looked at Bobby, who was getting interested.
"An amulet. What kind?"
"Very old. Very rare. It burns bright in God's presence. It'll help me find him."
"What, like a God EMF?" Sam still looked disbelieving, but Castiel wasn't helping them out with his crazy ideas.
"Well, I got nothing like that." Bobby looked thoughtfully upset.
"I know you don't, but someone else does." Castiel looked over at Dean; more specifically, he looked down at Dean's amulet. Reluctantly, he handed over the amulet before Castiel disappeared in his search.
Bobby broke the silence with, "Well, when you find God, tell him to send legs!"
Now it was just the four of them sitting in a hospital room. Ariel felt Dean's disbelief, Sam's utter confusion, and Bobby's pent-up anger at everyone for this mess. She herself felt sadness: sadness that she had to fight Lucifer again, sad that she had to, once again, choose a side. Afriel inside of her mind scoffed at her and tried to cheer her up with thoughts of being free again.
Just then, Bobby got a call on his cellphone. Ariel looked over her shoulder as he deciphered the words, 'Rufus, River Pass,' and 'Colorado' from the frenetic message. She gave the boys one look and walked out to the car. Castiel was outside waiting for her, waiting to confront her. "Ariel, why do you believe that our Father's dead?" He cocked his head and stared at his mate. "Why did you allow Afriel to stay within you? I thought…"
"You thought wrong, Cas." She ran her hand through her hair, trying to come up with a decent answer without shaking him senseless. "Why do I believe God's dead?" She lifted up her shirt and revealed all of the damage that Kushiel had done. "If he were alive, why did he put me through this for following his orders? If he were still here, why did he let my brother go free when he knows what Lucifer will do to this world?" She raised her hands in the air and began to pace around. "He has the power to end all this, and he's doing nothing! Again!" She turned back to him. "Why did I let Afriel stay? After all that Kushiel did to purge her from me? Because she's a part of me, Cas. She's the part that helps me get the things done that need to be done. The things that you can't stomach to do."
She leaned forward against the Impala. "When I was in Hell, Cas, she was one of the only things that kept me going. To her, I started out as a meatsuit, nothing more, but now, she understands why I seek forgiveness, and I understand why she was angry at me for the longest time for being a bloody pacifist. This," she unsheathed her brother's sword from her back, "this is power, Cas. The only power that anyone will listen to."
She looked him up and down, shaking her head the entire time. "You want to go find God, that's fine. But you just need to remember, that maybe he doesn't want to be found." With that, he disappeared once more as the brothers Winchester left the hospital and piled into the car. Ariel looked them both over and nodded her head. "Let's go."
They drove for a day and a bit as they reached a busted bridge that was the only was into the little town. Dean and Sam went around to the trunk and armed themselves. "Hey, Ari!" Dean called her around to the back. "Ever fired a gun before?"
She picked up a shotgun and turned it in her hands. "Actually no, Dean." She placed the butt of the gun against her shoulder bone and looked down along the sight. As she looked over the gun and saw the boys in shock, she laughed. "Yes, Dean. I've fired a gun. Hell, I've always liked the Winchester rifle. In fact," she materialized her favourite gun, and as she ran the strap over her shoulder, "I much prefer sniper rifles than hand-to-hand." A shiver ran down her spine. "That just reminds me too much of the Great Fall."
She picked up a belt of bullets and armed herself. Looking at the stunned brothers, she smiled before taking a run and jumping over the break in the road to land on the other side of the crack. "Come on!"
When the brothers caught up with her (they had to climb down the rubble before climbing up), they walked down the main road. The cars were flipped over, but there were no people. All three of them kept their weapons ready in case anything jumped them.
Dean turned around and faced down the barrel of a Glock. Ariel was about to shoot the person full of rock salt when she saw that she had no black eyes. Plus, the boys recognized her.
"Ellen?" Sam looked unbelieving at her.
"Hello, boys." She then pointed her gun at Ariel. "Who the hell's she?"
Ariel motioned for the boys to relax. "I'm Ari. I'm a hunter like the boys." She made her voice deeper, more serious. "They picked me up on their way here; I wanted to visit family here in the town when we all found this." She felt the boys stare at her and accept her story. The less people knew that there were angels walking the earth among man, the better.
Ellen looked her over before splashing her face and Dean's face with holy water. As was normal, nothing happened. Afriel hated the feel of holy water, but Ari was able to negate the effect, using her own self like a shield to protect her other half. She didn't seem bothered by this; Dean was annoyed. "It's really us, Ellen."
Without another word, she brought the boys to the nearby church. She made them walk over salt lines and a devil's trap as a secondary test; there was a slight break in the circle and the line, letting her walk across without any problems. When all three of them passed the test, Ellen turned around and hugged Dean. "Damn, I've missed you boys." Pushing herself away from Dean, she slapped him across the face. "D'you know how much I should kick yer ass right now? You can't pick up a phone? What, are you allergic to giving me peace of mind? I have to find out you're out of Hell from Rufus?" She looked up and down the elder Winchester with motherly disappointment. "You'd better put me on speed-dial, boy, or else…"
"What's the situation here, Ellen?" Ari broke up the fight. Now was so not the time for them for be arguing with each other.
"Your guess is as good as mine, girl." She led them down the stairs into the rectory. "Rufus called me, yelling for help. Jo and I came-"
"You're hunting with Jo now?" Sam asked that question. Ari looked between the boys. An old relationship, perhaps?"
"Yeah, for a while now. Anyway, found the town like this. Went to go find Rufus and we got separated. I was just out there trying to find Jo when I bumped into you three. Tried to make a run for it, but that didn't work too well." When they reached the door, she knocked twice and told the person behind it that it was Ellen. When they got past the guard, Ariel took in the nine people waiting by the table nibbling on crackers.
"This is Dean, Sam, and Ari. You can trust them." There was one, a soldier, that looked more at ease when the introductions were made.
"What, Ellen, did the whole town go demonic?" Sam inquired, and Ellen nodded her head but her shoulders sagged.
"Yeah, Sam." She looked over to the pregnant woman. "We're stuck here." When Dean tried to make her reconsider the escape plan, Ellen shook her head. "We already tried that, Dean. It didn't work."
"Well, what happened?"
"There used to be twenty of us." Dean and Sam looked around the room one more time as Ari leaned on the wall.
"Well, we need more guns and salt. Lots of salt." The boys looked at her like she was nuts. "Guys, even I know that you fight demons with salt buckshot." Ellen looked confused, and Ari sighed. "Ellen, I lied earlier. I'm a hunter, but I'm much more."
Immediately, a gun got pointed at her face. "Explain, now."
She pushed the muzzle of the gun aside as she materialized Lucifer's blade into her hand. "Padre, tell this hunter the genealogy of angels from the Book of Enoch. How there were three: two brothers and a sister. One, the eldest son and healer, was destined to fall, one, the second son and warrior, was destined to lead, and one, the daughter, was an enigma. Well, I'm the enigma. My brothers are Michael and Lucifer. This is my oldest brother's sword." She placed it on the table for the priest to examine.
When everyone looked at her like she was insane, she dimmed the light and let her wings show as shadows against the wall before bringing the lights back to normal. Needless to say, everyone was shocked with the exception of the brothers and the priest. "So, if you're all done gawking, I'm getting more weapons." Dean and Sam followed her through the door, but she left them to have their little argument that had been brewing between them since they entered the rectory.
She entered the hunting store and cleared out the racks of shotguns and shell casings. Sam had gone to get salt, and Dean soon joined her. She placed her hand on the metal and looked at Dean.
"Dean, why do you still believe that Sam will go darkside?" That made him jump out of his boots. She placed her armload of guns back on the shelf and looked him in the eye.
"Because, I don't trust him anymore, Ari." He glared at her. "He chose a demon over me! He drank demon blood! He was the one to make the choice to go darkside, not me!"
"Maybe, Sam is hoping to do good, Dean. There is a phrase, Dean: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. All three of us know that better than anyone else. He wants to earn your trust back, but you need to give an inch, Dean." That was all she said as she gathered up the guns and made to run back to the church. "Go get Sam, Dean. Talk to him."
Later that afternoon, Ellen and Sam went on another reconnaissance mission to find both Jo Harvelle and Rufus Turner. Dean and Ari stayed behind to teach the civilians how to fire the weapons that they had commandeered.
Ellen knocked on the door and Dean let her in. But Sam wasn't with her any more. She told them all that the demons had gotten him, but he was still alive. Worse still, Rufus and Jo had become possessed. Ari furrowed her brows. How could they be possessed if both of them were wearing their anti-possession amulets as Dean told them that they always did? Suddenly, he grabbed a Bible.
The priest came over to her as Dean read from the Bible. "Dean, what are you looking for?"
"Those omens that Rufus came here to investigate: a disease on the river, a shooting star." He stopped his page-flipping and read from Revelations. "And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was wormwood. And many men died." They looked at each other.
"Shit. It's War." She ran her hands through her hair. She was shocked above... many other things.
The priest looked stunned between the two of them. "You mean, the Horsemen? This is the Apocalypse?"
Ariel spared him a glance. "Buckle up, Padre. You're in it for the long haul now." She looked around at the crowd. Her mind went through the town. "Dean! The Mustang!" As they had entered the town, they saw a cherry-red Mustang. What other mode of transportation would the Horseman of War choose to ride in this era?
Something caught the corner of her eye. A man was twisting his ring. For a split second, she saw him. He made a run for it and she followed him. Behind her, she heard shouts as Dean and Ellen were run out as well. They went to go find the other three hunters. She was after War.
She beat him to the Mustang. He had taken the form of a business man, but his face was cool and collected.
"Hello, beautiful." He leaned against his car as he took her in. "Damn, you haven't changed a bit, Afriel."
She let her demon half come out. "Hello, Tiesen." She went up to him and took in his face before kissing him. "Damn, it's been too long. Ariel here was shocked to see you again and is confused about what to do with you, but I don't give a rat's ass either way."
When she was in Hell, Afriel and Ariel were good friends with Tiesen and his brothers Gaelen (he represented Death), Chale (he represented Pestilence), and Rika (he represented Famine). They were the Four Horsemen, the harbingers of the Apocalypse and of the Anti-Christ. Ariel enjoyed the company, because Tiesen and Chale both would talk to the meatsuit as well. For being four of the most powerful supernatural beings on both sides of the schism, they were quite polite.
"How is Ariel, by the way?"
"She's conflicted. She's confused." She snickered as they talked for a moment. "She doesn't know anymore which side is the right one. Only took her the four thousand years of her service."
Tiesen looked down at Afriel with a scolding look. "Afriel, the five of us serve as a balance. That's your role, and mine, and my brothers. We are the fulcrum in this screwy world: are, have been, and will forever be." His face turned into an evil smile. "But you gotta make like a good little demon and scat. The brothers are coming."
Afriel had a sad look on her face as she let Ariel come back. With a single motion, the Sword was in her hands and Tiesen was at her 'mercy'. Dean and Sam came and sliced off the finger that held his ring. In a moment's time, Tiesen and his Mustang vanished. The siege of River Pass was over.
The three of them sat by a table outside of the town to relax. Ariel never told him what she and War had discussed. That was for her and Afriel alone.
She saw Sam leave and sighed. She had listened to the conversation from a distance. Sam and Dean were going to part ways for a while until they could trust one another again. She got up and stopped Sam, giving him a nod and her cell number. He gave her an embrace before leaving.
Turning back to Dean, she sighed and spoke. "So, what's next?"
AN: That whole bit about the Book of Enoch and the genealogies of the angels, I made that up. Sorry for the lack of updates. By next week, I will have 5.03 and 5.04 done and ready for 5.05. IG
AN: Thanks to silver ruffian for the use of the Horsemen's names. Check out his story, "The Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" for an awesome Apocalypse story!