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Whispers flew throughout Heaven just as swiftly and surely as the angels did. Unsurprising, considering that the angels were the ones carrying the whispers with them.
They started just over a year ago. As the Host fought against the forces of Hell to protect the sixty-six Seals from being broken, rumours started being spread. Rumours of who, exactly, their orders came from, and questions of how, exactly, they had managed to lose as many battles against the demons as they had. When they found out the truth, the news of Uriel’s betrayal spread like wildfire, passed from one mind to the next in the span of a blink.
Over time, the rumours grew and spread. Word of Castiel standing against Zachariah, against Raphael, for the Winchesters and for the Earth was all that the angels spoke of for a good couple of weeks. As the Apocalypse loomed ever closer, more questions were asked. Whether anyone had known that Gabriel had, in fact, still been alive all these millennia. Whether the Apocalypse was truly what their Father wanted, if it meant the deaths of so many of their own. Whether or not their orders truly came from God – if they had ever come from God.
Then, Lucifer and Michael both had been plunged into the Cage by none other than the upstart Winchester that had pulled the Morningstar out in the first place. Gabriel had been slain, dozens of angels had been caught in the crossfire of the Apocalypse, and Joshua told the entirety of the Host that God had been gone for a very long time.
Heaven was thrown into chaos, and in the middle of it all, the renegade Castiel returned. He challenged Raphael’s authority, and before the eyes and minds of the collected Host, demanded that xe not try to reopen the Cage once more. He claimed that God wanted them to have free will, and that Heaven would no more meddle in the affairs of Earth.
Xxan had watched Castiel’s declaration, half-hidden behind several other angels. She had heard about his exploits during the Apocalypse, and she had heard even more about what her fellow angels thought of him.
She had never had glory or triumph connected to her name. She had never commanded garrisons or slain demons or been instrumental in causing two humans to fall in love. She was one of the minor angels, one whose gifts were of a more mundane nature. She was the angel of coins – not currency or money as a whole, nor even of wealth or prosperity. No, she was responsible for the stray coins found tucked away in forgotten corners, or that rolled out of reach and landed in unfortunate places.
She often thought of humans like coins. Sometimes they were tarnished and old on the outside, and sometimes they got lost in their journey, but underneath the wear and the age, they shined.
She was fascinated by humanity, even though she had never gotten the opportunity to go down to Earth, nor to take a vessel of her own. Regardless, she spent many of her days watching, eagerly observing all that they did and said, the joy and heartache and glory and defeat that they found in their fragile, mortal lives. So vibrant and tantalizing, but always just out of reach.
Xxan didn’t want to think that Raphael was wrong – didn’t want to think of ever questioning an Archangel. But Castiel’s words, his conviction, the stubborn set of his ebony wings and the way his quicksilver grace stood resolute, made her wonder. If God hadn’t wanted Michael and Lucifer both in the Cage, then surely they wouldn’t have ended up there. If He’d wanted one of them to kill the other, then He would have made sure that happened, right?
How, then, would it be right for Raphael to break the Cage open once more and unleash their fury back onto the world – back onto humanity, their Father’s proudest accomplishment, that which they were supposed to love and protect as He did?
Xxan sighed heavily. It would be so easy if someone just told her what to do! She tucked her shining copper wings around herself, seeking some form of comfort.
She had heard what both Castiel and Raphael had said in their confrontation. She had seen what had transpired in the Apocalypse. She had watched humanity and Heaven alike in that time. She looked out across her home that stood once more at a crossroads.
She knew what she needed to do, even if doing it would change her forever.
“Just one more step,” she whispered to herself. She spread her wings and flew to Castiel in an instant. She bowed her head and reached with her wings towards him, the tips of her feathers brushing against his.
“I stand with you, brother.”