Demon Seals

Chapter Seventeen: Revelations

I hope my American readers had a good Thanksgiving!

Have you missed Castiel's story? Well, we're returning to him and his interactions with Danielle once more. I pulled a little bit of information regarding our favorite angel from something the angel Naomi says in season 9 about Castiel. I also have an appearance from an angel we met in season 9, the guard of Heaven's prison, Thaddeus. I do not like that angel, lemme tell ya!

Danielle was contained in Heaven's prison for a full year while Sariah's superiors debated over what to do with her. Castiel tried to be content with resuming his normal duties, but he found his thoughts straying to the curious soul too often. When he dared to ask what had become of her, Sariah had simply said that Danielle was in prison and her superiors were in talks about what the next step should be for the troublesome soul. Castiel tried to be understanding of this, tried to put Danielle out of his mind, but he couldn't do it. He thought he noticed the members of his garrison whispering to each other, and worried that he had done something to cause them to give him sidelong glances, eyes sharp and calculating.

During the year that Danielle was locked away, Castiel flew over Jared's Heaven a few times. Every time, Jared was screaming for answers, for someone to tell him something, anything, about his beloved.

Castiel never answered.

"Are you up to the task of returning Danielle to her Heaven?" Sariah asked Castiel when the (strangely long) year had passed.

"Yes, I am," Castiel answered, making sure to keep his eagerness to see Danielle again hidden away. "Shall I retrieve her now?"

Sariah nodded. "Look for Thaddeus. He will release the soul to you."

Castiel didn't like Thaddeus. He delighted in torturing the prisoners inside. While he had never done more than guard the entrance during those ten years he served as punishment for not following orders, Castiel had heard enough screaming at Thaddeus' hands to worry about the shape Danielle would be in upon retrieval. He hoped the stubborn soul had endured her time well enough.

"Castiel!" Thaddeus called out when he arrived at the prison entrance. "I am pleased to see you again, brother!"

Castiel nodded. "As am I," he said quietly, hoping the other angel wouldn't notice the lack of enthusiasm in his voice. "Do you have Danielle ready for me to transport?"

Thaddeus smiled. "Indeed I do. Wait here, I will fetch her for you."

Castiel stood ready in a form that Danielle could see.

However, he didn't like what he saw moments later.

Danielle's soul was as strong as ever, shone at its core as brightly as it did the day it arrived in Heaven, but it was clear she had taken a beating during her time sequestered away in the prison. There were bruises all over her face and neck, and her arms were wrapped tightly around her torso; a closer inspection told Castiel that two ribs were cracked while her abdomen was riddled with additional bruising. It was all superficial damage, things that would have no long-term effects on the soul.

What bothered him the most, however, was the look in Danielle's eyes.

They were completely blank.

"You know, Castiel, we've never had a soul in the prison before!" Thaddeus informed Castiel, one hand tight on Danielle's closest shoulder. Danielle didn't reacted when he shook her slightly. "It's been an interesting year. I will miss this little spitfire!"

With that, he released Danielle and strode back into the boundaries of the prison.

Castiel hesitated before moving closer. "Danielle?"

There was a sudden spark of life in Danielle's eyes as they flicked up to meet Castiel's. She stared at him for a long moment before she said a single sentence:

"That was not justice."

Castiel stared at her, and knew he couldn't argue.

"You're right," he said, trying to convey his sorrow into the words the way humans were so good at doing. "This was not what I expected to happen at all, not for someone who did the work of Heaven on Earth."

Danielle's jaw clenched. "The work of Heaven on Earth," she said, and her tone of voice was dark and ugly. She stepped closer to Castiel. "Do you even know what I did?"

Castiel frowned. "The work of God," he said.

Danielle stared at him for another long moment. "They never told you, did they?" she breathed. "Your superiors say jump, and you just say 'how high?' without even thinking about the — the how or the why."

"I don't understand," Castiel told Danielle.

"No, I don't expect that you do," Danielle snorted, looking away at last.

"I know you did Heaven's work at great personal cost," Castiel supplied.

Danielle let out another snort that turned into laughter. It wasn't a cheerful sound. "Do you even care what I did or why I did it?"

"Should I?"

"After spying on me on and off for the last fifty years, I would've thought you might," Danielle answered, and how did she know that?

"You never said anything."

"You weren't ready to hear the whole truth. Still aren't," Danielle added. "I don't see how that's possible when you —" She broke off and looked away.

Castiel narrowed his eyes. "It is time to return you to Jared," he said at last, and offered his hand.

Danielle looked him over for several moments before stepping forward and placing her hand in his.

"Let's go," she said.

And with a flap of Castiel's great wings, they left the prison behind.

The next forty years passed with little fanfare. Danielle never revealed how she managed to escape beyond the boundaries of Heaven, but she also didn't try to leave her own Heaven again. The guard rotations were tightened up considerably with little time between each shift, but Danielle and Jared never did anything even remotely suspicious. Castiel didn't spy on the two souls, either.

It seemed an equilibrium of understanding had been achieved at last.

"My superiors feel that we can ease off slightly on the frequency of the shifts," Sariah informed the garrison in the ninety-second year after Danielle's initial entrance into Heaven. "I would agree. Our troublesome little soul has learned her lesson."

Castiel wasn't sure he believed that Danielle had changed the error of her ways completely after a single year away from her life partner, but he kept his silence on the matter. He knew everyone wanted the time spent watching Danielle to decrease, including Danielle and Jared.

His first shift after the decrease in guard shifts was done with Balthazar. When they arrived, Danielle and Jared were having a picnic in a manner oddly reminiscent of the very first shift the two angels had served together.

"Do you know what I find odd?" Danielle was saying to Jared with the two angels arrived.

"What?"

"God gave humans free will, right?" Danielle spread her arms out. "We can choose who we want to be, what we want to do with our lives, make choices and learn from them as we face the consequences, good or bad, but angels don't get this same freedom. Think about it, Jared. Their entire existence is based around following orders. The vast majority of them don't know how to think for themselves!"

"Why would God create the angels to be that way?"

"I don't know," Danielle admitted, twisting her fingers in her lap. "What I do know is the ones who do think for themselves? They're dangerous."

"Like that douchebag Thaddeus."

Danielle nodded. She had healed well from her year in Heaven's prison, but Castiel had observed that she still carried a faint shadow of that time in her eyes. "Lucky for us, he's happy to stay in his little niche, torturing the angels in the prison. But there are others who suffered serious consequences."

"Such as?"

"One angel named Anna chose to fall and become human."

"Angels can do that?"

"Apparently," Danielle said with a shrug. "She uh, she did it because she didn't agree with the way the angels treat us lowly souls. She thought we were so much more, and she wanted to experience that."

Castiel could feel Balthazar turning to look at him, the question he didn't want to answer in his eyes: was Danielle telling the truth? He gave a small nod in answer.

"Anyway," Danielle continued, "I'm pretty sure many angels are capable of acting of their own free will, but they're either scared to or have been brainwashed so they don't remember that they ever tried to make their own choices." She turned to look at the two angels. "Like, for example, the two angels watching us right now and their habit of spying on us after shifts."

"Lemme guess, Castiel and Balthazar?" Jared laughed. "What are the odds that they'd be here for this conversation?"

Balthazar wasted no time in making his form visible. "You knew I was spying on you?" he asked.

Castiel quickly made his form visible, too. "Wait, you spied on these souls, as well?"

The two angels stared at each other in shock.

"Cat's outta the bag!" Danielle crowed, leaping to her feet. "Now, the question is this: who is too scared to make their own choices, and who has been brainwashed so they don't remember all the times they've ever dared to go their own way?"

"I've never been brainwashed," Balthazar said at once.

"Nor have I," said Castiel.

"Sadly, only one of you is correct," Danielle replied while shaking her head. "I bet you guys can figure it out if you try." She and Jared rose. "We're going for a walk. See ya around, o winged ones." Clasping hands, they two souls strode away, leaving their picnic to fade away into nothing.

"When did you start spying on them?"

"Shortly after your stint guarding the prison. You?"

"Around the same time."

Balthazar chuckled and shook his head. "How are we to know who has been a coward and who has been brainwashed?"

"How can we be certain that Danielle is correct about that at all?" Castiel countered. "It stands to reason that she has always been able to sense even the slightest hint of angelic grace, but how can she know that all she says is true?"

"She has yet to be wrong about pretty much everything else," Balthazar pointed out.

The two angels had sequestered themselves away from the others in their garrison after their shift finished so they could talk freely. "But where is she getting all of her information from?" Castiel asked. "No angels are supposed to talk to her. We shouldn't have spoken with her."

"Maybe that Ash fellow she mentioned a few times," Balthazar murmured. "From what I gathered from my spy sessions, this other soul was skilled at breaking into all kinds of stores of knowledge."

"And Danielle has an innate skill to read and understand our language," Castiel added, seeing where Balthazar was heading. "She must have taught him our language so he could learn all there is to know within Heaven."

Balthazar was silent for a moment. "You're not planning on sharing this with anyone, are you?"

Castiel shook his head. "Are you?"

"No, definitely not. I think…" He hesitated, then barreled on to say, "I think we should keep an eye on each other, see if we can figure out which of us has had their mind tampered with."

"I agree," Castiel said. "I am glad to know that I can trust you, Balthazar."

"And I you," Balthazar replied. The two parted ways shortly thereafter to resume their other duties, both still thinking on Danielle's words.

Who had been manipulated into forgetting their attempts at free will?