Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, this chapter has the onscreen torture of a child as well as the whole apocalypse thing going on. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Torture in my feel-good found family fic? It's more likely than you think. (Because here it is!) As much as we all love Castiel, All Angels Are Dicks.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Old Shoes (Y); Old Shoes; Above Average Natural; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Endings; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Rian-Russo Inversion; Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC; Zed Era; Best Stories (Y); Neurodivergent; Immortal MC; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 07
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [214](Thunderstorm); Fantastic Beasts [183](Getting caught in a storm);
Other Challenges: Whumptober [D02] (Talking is Overrated; Choking)
Other MC4A Challenges: Chim [Loride] (Emerald); Fire [x3](Little Rascals; Into the Multiverse; We Angelic Beings); Garden [Meteorology (Thunderstorm)]; Hang [Phrase 03] (Outside Challenge/Competition)
Representation(s): Dean Winchester; Desi Harry Potter; Raphael; Tessa; Team Free Will as Fam
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Bad Beans; Morrigan's Tentalcles; Call Me Dantes; Forked Path; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach; Second Verse (Hot Apple; Rock of Ages; Muck & Slime; Most Human Bean; Lyre Liar; Grease Monkey; Lovely Coconuts; Unwanted Advice; Spinning Plates; Mother Hen; Middle Name; Sneeze Weasel; Nontraditional; Found Family; Persistence Still; Ladylike); Chorus (Turtle-Duck; In the Trench; Head of Perseus; Abandoned Ship; Wind Beneath; Creature Feature; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Eternal Boredom; Tomorrow's Shade; Mouth of Babes; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi);
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: War (Obstruction; Ennui; Sanctuary); TY (Enfant; Ntaiv; Kulonbozo); Wings (Scintillate)
Word Count: 950 words

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Needs and Wants
Chapter 13: Raphael
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By the time Jody had finished questioning Harry, late evening had turned into late night, and a summer storm had rolled in pretty thoroughly. The rain was falling like it was being poured from buckets. Fortunately, there was a brief lull in the storm that they were able to take advantage of to head out of the diner towards the Impala.

Dean had already had to deal with Sam blowing up his phone with worried texts. That was why he had passed off the to-go box with extra pie to Harry in order to pulled out his phone to call the mother hen as they were leaving. The mother hen was not going to wait the few more moments it would take to actually get in the Impala.

"Look, Mom," Dean drawled into the phone as soon as it connected, "we're on our way home. We had an emergency pie situation."

"What emergency calls for pie?" Sam asked incredulously. Before Dean could answer, a loud crash of thunder echoed over the parking lot. Lightning split the sky a second later. Dean might not be as smart as Sammy, but he does know which one of those was supposed to happen first. Unnatural order of things was never a good sign. Dean looked around them.

Someone was standing in the middle of the empty street outside the parking lot.

"Shit." Dean swallowed hard. He has to stay calm or the kid might panic. "Sammy, I might need someone to come pick up the kid. Raphael apparently managed to get free."

He hanged up before Sam could reply. The wind picked up as another swathe of lightning lit up the dark sky above them. The clash of thunder that followed was just as loud as before. Thankfully for Dean's nerves, it all happened in the correct order. He still could have done without the bubble of dryness around them.

"Well, well, well," Raphael said as he strode forward calmly. He stopped a few feet within the space where the rain was refusing to fall, not that the distance meant anything to a being who could fly. The angel's dark eyes swept over the two of them. Dean moved himself so that he blocked the archangel's view of Harry. Raphael smiled as if Dean was a puppy performing a trick. "Hello, Dean. I told you and that rebellious upstart that I would find you. Of course, I wasn't expecting to find you here of all places."

"If you're not looking for me, why are you here?"

"Apocalypses don't fuel themselves," the angel explained. His tone was indulgent, and it was really starting to bug Dean. Angels, demons, vampires—They all had the same arrogant attitudes about humans. "Due to you and your brother's reticence about fulfilling your roles, this whole affair is dragging on much longer than it should have. I am seeking the few sparks of power capable of being utilized."

The storm overhead surged, but the protection from the rain did not waver. Lightning arced over them, making the space around them almost as bright as the lights inside. Dean had a background thought to be thankful that no one from inside the diner had come out to check on the noise. Having Harry out here was bad enough. Getting civilians involved would just make everything worse. The outright pleased expression on Raphael's face was making Dean's gut clench with something like terror.

"You know, Dean," Raphael said like they were friends strolling through a park on a Sunday afternoon, "I was not exaggerating when I told you that Zachariah lacked imagination."

"Hurting me won't make me any more willing to let Michael make me into a meat suit."

"Of course not," Raphael agreed too easily to mean anything good. Dean shifted restlessly. "But then, you're not the only option here, are you?"

From behind Dean came the distinctive sound of styrofoam hitting asphalt. Turning his back to the threat that he really couldn't do anything about, Dean barely managed to face Harry in time to catch the kid as his knees collapsed under him. He was making desperate choking noises.

"You've made your point," Dean snapped. His arms curled around Harry's slight frame. Nearly thirteen or not, the kid was still scrawny enough to look even younger. He stared up at Dean with haunted emerald eyes that were starting to bulge slightly.

"I don't think I have actually," Raphael replied almost jovially, but he did released whatever he was doing that was making Harry choke. Dean spared a brief glare over his shoulder at the archangel. "I know about your work in Hell. The sheer artistry involved. Much more creative than your father's, but then John was always the blunter sort. Let's see if I can't replicate some of the aesthetics, hm?"

Dean didn't have time to process the claim about his father. Like someone was dragging multiple invisible knives across his skin, cuts erupted across all of Harry body. The distinctive copper tang of blood filled the air even as Harry bled in Dean's arm.

And yet Harry did not cry out or make any other noise to indicate pain. He just clenched his eyes closed. One of his hands closed around a fistful of Dean's shirt.

A set of footsteps echoed through the parking lot. Dean dragged his gaze away from the kid in his arms while he could do nothing to help. Tessa continued to walk closer at a steady pace. She still had that bright red cardigan over her pantsuit. It still did nothing to make her look soft or warm.

She was either the best damn thing Dean had seen all day or the worst.

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To Be Continued
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