The Only Thing That Can Kill An Angel Is Another Angel

[thursdays_angel]

“Others have joined me, Cas. Now, please, brother. Don’t fight me. Help me. Help me spread the word. Help me bring on the apocalypse. All you have to do is be unafraid.”

“For the first time in a long time, I am.”

And he was. Even with Uriel’s revelations and knowing exactly how deep his brother’s betrayal ran, Castiel had no question or doubt as to what he needed to do, and that made him unafraid.

This was the power of certainty.

Of course, Castiel knew that he had, at best, barely even odds of beating Uriel. Castiel was a soldier, yes. But destruction? Destruction was what Uriel had been built for.

At least he had the element of surprise. Briefly. Little good that it did him.

On his knees on the concrete floor, Castiel looked up through a haze of blood at his brother. And he was sure, in that moment, that he was going to die.

“You can’t win, Uriel. I still serve God.”

“You haven’t even met the man!” Uriel’s voice bled with rage and frustration, as he rained blow after blow down on Castiel’s head. “There is no will. No wrath. No God.”

Then, suddenly, it stopped. Castiel stared in shock at the blade that had erupted from Uriel’s throat.

And at who was wielding it.

“Maybe,” Anna said, “Or maybe not. But there’s still me.”

Uriel’s existence ended in a blaze, which, Castiel would reflect later, was somehow only fitting. Castiel staggered to his feet, looking down at his newly fallen brother.

And then at the sister who had just saved him.

Comments

[thursdays_angel]

"I wish I knew," Castiel says, fiddling with his chopsticks.

"I assume it will not be worthwhile to ask what you would do in my place?"

Anna may have saved him, but she's apparently not giving advice these days.

[hear_the_voices]

"I'd watch my back," she says.

"I'd look good and hard at any orders I received.

"And I'd figure out what really mattered to me, and I'd get ready to fight for it."

[thursdays_angel]

She makes it sound very simple.

Well, Castiel already feels the need to look over his shoulder. Though he's not sure what he'll do when he thinks he sees a threat there.

And after what has transpired in the last couple of days, he won't be able to help mulling over his orders.

As for the rest...

"I meant what I said to Uriel, you know," he said.

"I serve God. I always will. I can't walk away. I need to fight for what matters to Him."

[hear_the_voices]

"And I meant what I said to Uriel.

"Maybe He's out there, maybe He's not, but I am."

And she'll be keeping an eye on things.

"Make sure it's God you're serving, little brother, and not some middle manager."

[thursdays_angel]

"He's out there," Castiel says, firmly.

It's one of the very few things right now that he knows with certainty.

"And I will consider that."

Though how he's supposed to tell, he hasn't figured out yet.

"And what will you do? Hunt rogue angels?"

[hear_the_voices]

For one second, she actually considers telling him.

And then . . .

"Sorry, Cas. Classified information. Need to know. And you don't.

"It's safer for both of us that way."

[thursdays_angel]

He half wants to say that Anna only cares about his safety when it suits her.

He refrains.

"Be careful," is what he opts for instead.

[hear_the_voices]

"You, too, Cas."

Beat.

"More tea?"

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel answers by silently pushes his cup closer to the teapot.

They've little to say for the remainder of the meal, but that's all right. The silence manages to be companionable. They finish and depart silently and in the blink of an eye, leaving the waitress to look rather puzzled as to where her two customers went.

But not nearly as puzzled as she looks when she goes to clear the table and sees what she's been left as a tip.