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April sized up her target, still complaining about having to be here. None of her fellow Reapers wanted to be here, but Raphael was once again laying claim to command the Reapers and therefore they had to participate in these training exercises. Which, of course, was absolute bullshit, but Death wanted to keep the angels busy, so here they were.
At least the specifics were mildly entertaining. Anna had been put in charge of this exercise, which meant she got to pick what would happen and how it would happen. She had chosen to stage a siege on Heaven, with the Reapers trying to invade and her garrison trying to hold them off. That was kind of fun, really; Reapers didn’t go to Heaven much. They helped souls get up there, and then went off to the next soul. April hadn’t been to Heaven in over three thousand years. Be nice to see what it was like.
What made this one so much fun, though… the weapons. The whole thing was being fought with snowballs. Why Anna loved the snow so much, April didn’t really understand, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that April was having a snowball fight with one of the most terrifying garrisons in the Host of Heaven.
Of course, there were rules for when someone was declared incapacitated or dead. Once one side was depleted enough, they would surrender. The Reapers weren’t doing so well, but April had a plan to fix that. If she could just kill Castiel – incapacitation wouldn’t be enough, she’d have to kill him – it would turn the tide. Ajay and Tessa were doing their best to rally their forces to make a push over by Uriel and Hester, which made for a nice distraction as April made her way to Castiel’s location. Thankfully, he was a believer in leading from the front; she wouldn’t have to get around too many layers of protection.
Her first shot had to count. This was a suicide mission; Castiel’s people would never let her get away alive. They were too loyal to him. She could get off a second shot for sure, possibly a third, but then she’d be taken out. She lined up the snowball and threw it.
It struck Castiel in the face, right between his eyes. The second shot clipped a wing. She was hit as she threw her third shot, causing it to go wide, but it didn’t matter. Castiel was down. April went down quickly, but that was okay. Ajay and Tessa ought to be able to win this, now – or at least, make it a more respectable loss.
The siege didn’t last much longer, and although the Reapers lost, it was a respectable showing. The joint debriefing session was mostly tedious, but April got called out for her lack of teamwork – going off on her own – and her contribution to the overall siege by accomplishing her mission. After they were dismissed, April found Anna. “Hey. No hard feelings about me killing your pet?”
“War’s war. You had a goal, and it worked. Maybe talk to Tessa about it next time so you don’t get called out for lack of teamwork, but taking out Castiel was the right move.” Anna hugged her. “Come on. We have a date to get to. Are you too tired of snow to go build a snowman?”
“Does it have to be a snowman?” April teased. “What is it with you and snow, anyway? It’s frozen water.”
“I know, I know, but step outside the Reaper box and pretend to be human for a little bit.” April raised a skeptical eyebrow, but she wasn’t going to challenge her too overtly. “Look around. See how it sparkles in the sunlight? It’s a magical blanket that makes a blank slate out of the world around you, just waiting for us to come in and make something of it. Like a snowman, or a fortress, or what the humans call snow angels. They’re ridiculous, but they’re fun. Snow is a testament to the humans being created in the likeness of our Father. They see the blank slate and something inside them compels them to create something, even if it’s just footprints to mark their passing through.”
April still didn’t see it. She just saw frozen water. That wasn’t what was important, though. What was important was that she saw Anna smiling and excited, instead of being the cold soldier she had to be most of the time. “Show me what a snow angel looks like?”
“Sure!” Anna found a nice blank spot in the snow and flopped down in it. She waved her arms and legs up and down, sweeping out a pattern in the snow that, April supposed, was supposed to be the wings and robe of a humaniform angel. Carefully, Anna got up and walked around to the head, crouching to draw a circle over it with her finger. “There. Isn’t it ridiculous?”
“It is.” April snuggled up to Anna. “I like the real thing better, but it’s kind of cute.”