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Michael stood outside the shop with windows advertised with Tarot cards, crystals, candles, and the like, looking for one of the many few reasons he had to be on Earth. Very few humans held that reasoning but even fewer of his siblings held such reasoning too.
He knew it was the right place thanks to his siblings gossip, but also because the all too familiar name of his little sister was printed by the shop's name. As if that did anything to calm his nerves, nerves that he would otherwise not admit to having. He'd had raised all of them, connecting with everyone again couldn't be that hard…
He shook his head, took one last look around before he stepped forward and pushed open the door. The soft bell rang out, letting his presence be known as he looked around the shop. The window display advertisement reflected exactly what covered every shelf and laid in every case, though just not what—or rather who Michael was looking for.
"Serafina?" He called, looking around as he made his way towards the front desk. "Little sister?" He called a bit louder. He waited a second, stepping back, ready to turn on his heels and out of there, but the rustle of beads caught his attention.
He turned towards the person who appeared from the curtain of beads, a box in front of their face but if the hanging colorful clothing was anything to go by, Michael knew who it was.
Serafina put the box down on the counter and turned to him with a bright grin. "Michael!" She threw her arms around him and pressed a kiss to his cheek before pulling back. "Perfect time for you to stop by."
"Actually, I was—" decks of cards were shoved into his arms before he had further time to protest.
"Help me stock these." She turned sharp on her heals.
"Sera—"
"And there's plenty more in those boxes where this came from."
"Sister—"
"Adam—my Adam," she noted, "went to pick up some things so I'm here alone and shop opens up in an hour."
"I was—"
"And this shipment came in late, it was supposed to come in yesterday but they decided to drop it off this morning so—"
"Serafina," he interrupted.
She turned back towards him. "Yes?"
He sighed. "Where do I…?" He gestured to the items that had been shoved in his arms.
"Just there." She pointed to a shelf. "And while you do that." She disappeared behind the wall of beads before reappearing with a circle of keys in her hand. "Joshua had stopped by, he uh… he left something here. Said he didn't have any use for it anymore but wanted it in safe hands." She rounded the front desk, the turning and jingling of keys heard before she lifted up a necklace. Quickly, she closed the gap between them as she laid it in his hand.
He cocked his head at the familiar design. "The Winchester's?"
She shook her head and hopped up on the counter. "This was one Joshua had made during the fall, and of course after everything, he just… yeah."
He looked down at the wielded metal that despite its simple appearance, he could feel the power radiating off of it.
"Thought you might want it," she continued. "I know it's useless but sentimental value and all that. I mean Chuck was never really anything to us angels but I know you guys have some memories, good or bad, but still memories."
"Thank you…" he took a breath. "But," he handed the charm back, "I don't have much use for it, I'll ask the other three, but… we've all mostly moved on."
"Best to make positive memories out of something new right?" She said, but looked down at the charm and ran her thumb over it, cherishing it almost as if longing for something it could have been.
"What're you going to do with it?" He softened his voice.
She shrugged. "What do you want me to do with it?"
"Well—" he eased his weight back against the counter next to her "—a part of me wants to get rid of it for good."
"Hear hear."
He lightly chuckled. "But considering events and how things usually go, I think it might be best to give it to the Winchesters, let them put it away in some box in that bunker of theirs."
"I don't visit them too often, only to see that adorable nephew of ours, so," she handed it back to him, "give it to them when you see your Adam."
He smiled as she hopped off the counter and went back to unpacking the boxes. "You know," she started, grabbing multiple things in hand and starting to shelve them, "I know we all finally got to meet Dad during that whole disaster…. I just kinda wish we could have kept that bed story image of him that you used to tell us. The one where The Darkness was just some made up bad guy that Dad locked away to keep us safe."
Michael kept his agreeance to himself and continued to stay quiet.
She rounded back to the boxes, repeating the process. "To you, he loved us; you knew he didn't, but we would never know that as long as you kept telling us that he did." She stopped what she was doing for a second before continuing. "It's probably stupid but during everything I had thought it might have been nice if we had gotten to know him before everything. I mean I see Adam—"
"Your Adam," he supplied before she had the chance to.
She smiled and let it fade with her words. "He created him—humans—and then us." She took a breath and shook her head. "It's sad when the creations are better than their creator."
"Serafina, I'm sorry that…" he struggled for words.
"What? Sorry that he didn't care about his own children?" She scoffed. "Nothing you could have done, big brother. You did everything you could do and more; probably more than we all deserved honestly."
He grimaced. "Little sister—"
"I mean, gosh… what we put you through when we were all kids. If we were human, you would probably have white hair just from raising all of us," she laughed. "From Lucifer to Anna and her Garrison to me picking on little Sammie—"
He chuckled inwardly at the memory.
"—and then the first time with The Garden." She looked towards him with a sly grin.
For the first time in a long while, Michael smiled at a fond memory of the Garden. "You discovered the Garden, or more importantly that you could interact with the humans inside The Garden."
"You were so mad." She dropped the box off the counter and kicked it to the side. "All the little ones thought I was a goner. Even some of the older ones did too, teased me about it, made me think you were gonna end me right then and there."
"Well you knew the outcome." He for one knew that her knowing of Jack wasn't just some trick of a psychedelic.
She tilted her head. "They help, but it's not like anybody ever listened to me anyways."
"Why do I feel like I should have known?"
"We'll be glad you didn't because then, Babylon, Adam, Jack." She named things off. "All the cards fell into place and well…" She stacked the last deck into place and stepped back, a content smile on her face as she exhaled. She clasped her hands and turned towards him with a flourish. "Adam should be back any minute and the shop is gonna open soon, and I know you didn't come here to buy crystals or tarot cards."
He shook his head. "It's not important, It can wait."
"Well," she said and closed the distance between them with another hug. Delicateness being much different from their first one as Michael was left not in surprise but the time to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight.
Seconds passed till they both pulled back, hands still on one another.
"I might pop home for a little," She noted. "Pick on Samandriel a bit just for old times sake."
He scoffed a laugh. "I'll see you then, Sera."
"You too, Mikey." Her hand came down his arm as she grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. The action, short lasted, as the ring of the bell above the door gave Michael the signal to take his leave.
Though as he returned to the familiar white corridors, he felt something in his hand where Serafina's previously was. He uncurled his fingers to reveal a rigid cut crystal with a thin leather strap bound around it, much the same as the other charm that was in his pocket.
Something new…
He smiled down at it and gripped it tight.