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“Sam Winchester. What brings you to Heaven?” Raphael could not have been more surprised if God himself walked through the door. God at least belonged in Heaven. Sam was supposed to be in Lucifer’s Cage. Even with God having granted him salvation personally despite everything Sam had done, Sam’s role was to jump into the Cage to trap Lucifer back there. He should not be here in Heaven.
From the look on Sam’s face, he knew that, too. “I have no idea. I know I don’t belong here, but I found a crack in the Cage and managed to escape. The crack even sealed up behind me. How, I don’t know. I’m sorry about trapping Michael down there, too, but Lucifer, I’m not sorry at all. Only sorry it took so long to make it work.”
“You do realize you haven’t truly saved anything, correct? You’ve only delayed the inevitable.”
Sam shrugged, not concerned at all. “Well, we’d hoped to be able to destroy him once and for all, but even locking him back up was more of a chance than your people ever gave us. Maybe next time, whoever’s involved will be able to figure out a better solution – or the next me won’t be fooled into opening the Cage in the first place. Just because I fucked it up doesn’t mean other people will.”
“You didn’t fuck it up. You did as you were always meant to do,” Raphael said. “You have no idea how hard Ruby and Castiel had to work to make it happen, too, they both had a terrible time thanks to you being stubborn about accepting your destiny. It was too much for Castiel, even. You broke him.” Castiel had always been a little bit broken, true; he’d come off the line cracked. Too much heart, too much need to love others. Sam had taken that flaw and magnified it, exploiting it to convince Castiel that Heaven was wrong to try to bring about God’s plan.
“Not the point.” Sam perched on a table, causing Raphael to narrow her eyes at him. How dare he treat this office like one of his cheap motels? “If I’d listened to my gut, to Dean, realized that Ruby was manipulating me to convince me to do things I knew were wrong? Lucifer doesn’t get free. I let my pride get in the way of my sense.”
“And this sob story is supposed to… what? Make me feel sorry for you and let you stay? Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t, I’m expecting Castiel. You need to leave.” If Sam was still here when Castiel arrived, who knew what Castiel would do. On second thought, though, with Sam in the Cage there was a chance that Castiel might be willing to join Raphael in reopening it. Without Sam there to free, Castiel would fight even harder to keep it closed.
“I would, but where am I supposed to go? Even if I wanted to go back to the Cage, I don’t think I can. I don’t even think I can leave Heaven on my own power.” Sam probably couldn’t. Another reason for him to still be here when Castiel arrived. Surely Castiel would want to take his beloved Winchester with him when he left the office.
Raphael was just about to tell Sam to stay when another knock came. “That’s Castiel now. I suppose there’s no way for you to leave before he arrives after all.” She turned away from the door. “Come in.”
“Raphael. You… Sam?!”
“Cas.” Sam got to his feet, but then hesitated and sat back down. “It’s so good to see you.”
“That’s not what you said when I left you on Earth.” Castiel crossed the room, completely ignoring Raphael to stare at Sam. “You told me to stay out of your life, showing no gratitude that I had saved you from the Cage.”
“You didn’t… I snuck out on my own, found a crack while Lucifer and Michael were busy fucking. I was just trying to figure out what to do next when I found myself here,” Sam said, staring back at Castiel. “Are you the one who cracked the Cage? Sent me here? But I still haven’t been to Earth, so you can’t have left me there.”
“You have. I took you there myself. I took you out from under the noses of the Archangels while they were busy with each other, and brought you to your brother and Lisa. You told me to stay out of your life and walked away from Dean’s house. I would have gone after you, but I could no longer ignore Raphael’s summons.” Castiel took a step closer. “You remember none of this?”
“No, Cas, I don’t.”
Raphael decided to leave them to it while she checked on something. She descended to Earth, where she found Sam watching the sun rise… but it couldn't be Sam. He was back in her office in Heaven. This required further investigation. She made herself visible to him. “Sam Winchester.”
Sam got a gun drawn and aimed with a speed that would have been terrifying if Raphael had anything to fear from a human weapon. “What are you? What do you want?”
“The real question here is what are you?” Raphael ignored the gun to step close to Sam, peering intently at him. Even when Sam shot her, she ignored it. No matter what else Sam was, he was a hunter first, and the shots were to be expected. Castiel surely was familiar with Sam and wouldn’t be fooled by a shifter or something similar. And yet, that had most definitely been Sam Winchester sitting in her office in Heaven.
A thought occurred to her, and she reached out to Sam. She could hear Sam shouting at her as she thrust her hand into his chest. It confirmed her suspicion – the Sam in front of her was just the body. She caught his arm as he took a swing at her, using her grip on him to haul him up to Heaven with her.
Cas and Sam were still there, although Raphael had a momentary wish they weren’t, as they were kissing. She cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Castiel, I believe I’ve found the answer to the Sam confusion. You neglected to make sure the soul was with the body you carried out.”
“What?” two Sams and Castiel said in unison. Castiel recovered quickly, reaching for Sam’s body’s hand and connecting the two. Sam’s soul flickered and then streamed into the body.
“That’s that sorted. Castiel, you went to the Cage?”
“I did.”
That could possibly change things. If there had already been a rescue attempt and Michael was still down there, would it truly be a good idea to go back and get him? “Why did you leave Michael behind?”
“Because I could sneak Sam out while Michael and Lucifer had their attention on each other. You surely haven’t forgotten how much they loved each other, before the first Civil War. Are you surprised that they’ve reconnected now?” Castiel turned back to Sam. “I’m sorry I didn’t get your soul. Raphael, thank you for correcting my mistake, although I get the idea it was unintentional. What did you bring me here for?”
Raphael looked between the two. Michael might not appreciate being rescued too soon, not with the chance to have his brother back without the threat of having to kill him hanging over him. “I have an assignment for you, if you are taking orders from Heaven again. Are you?”
“That will depend. Will the orders make sense, or will there be more hidden from me to push me to push Sam and Dean toward their own destruction?”
“The order is for you to keep an eye on the Earth and make certain that this new ruler of Hell, Crowley, doesn’t start causing problems outside of Hell. I understand that he’s turning Hell upside down, but that’s no concern of ours.” Raphael turned her gaze to Sam. “I suspect that if he does start causing trouble, the Winchesters will be involved, so it would make sense for you to base yourself near them.”
“Thank you. That is an order I am more than happy to follow. Shall I begin now?” Castiel took Sam’s hand and spread his wings. From the awe on Sam’s face, Raphael got the sense he’d never seen them before. “Sam?”
“Your wings…”
“Oh. Interesting, you couldn’t see them without your soul.” Castiel wrapped his wings around Sam, holding him close. “I’ve never hidden them deliberately from you or Dean, but now you know what to look for, having seen Lucifer and Michael. Come on, I have a job to do, and I suspect you would like to see your brother now that you have your soul back and can care about him again.”