Chapter Text
He stayed outside, sitting by the old truck, long after the other angels and their human had gone inside.
They...knew him. They had mentioned him. He didn't know them though, all he knew was that they were all Fallen. Originally, he had come to investigate the large disturbance earlier that day, following the magic traces to Singer Salvage Yard. The magic, Angelic Grace, was familiar at the time, and he was beginning to remember why.
He didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually, he got a call, and he answered without looking at the number.
"I found them, yes. Keep my Grace, I would like to investigate further. Thank you." He said, keeping the talk curt. He didn't trust human technology, he'd rather discuss what he heard more in-depth in person.
He had a lot of thinking to do until he met up with his brother. They had more pieces to their puzzle, but not enough to make the whole picture. Father help them because they'd get to the bottom of it all if it was the last thing they did.
Castiel's wings were different from those of his brother's, smaller and all the colors of the rainbow. They were just as soft though, Sam found, when Castiel wrapped them around him and flopped into the nest, holding his new human brother tightly.
Sam didn't bother fighting his sleep, and his eyelids were falling shut before the others found comfortable enough positions, curled around the two.
Micheal hummed as an angel entered his office, but he didn't turn.
He had finally met the elusive Sam Winchester, and for the first time in his very long life, someone did not instantly fear him. Micheal didn't know how to feel about that.
He had heard many things about Dean Winchester, all of the Winchesters actually. They were an interesting bunch, but the children especially. Sam and Dean remained alive despite every single odd being stacked against them. Both still walked the earth despite both having died before. Both were as thick as thieves, sharing such a strong bond, the likes of which Micheal had seen only once before, between his brothers Daniel and Lucifer.
Seeing as Dean was his true vessel and Sam was Lucifer's, he expected them to have the same rocky, explosive relationship he had with his brother, but no. They defied all expectations.
Sam had been raised by Dean, their father was a wayward and nomadic man, a hunter in every sense of the word. He would rather spend his time searching for the creature that had killed his beloved wife than raise his children.
In the end, Azazel won; just as Micheal had expected. John and Mary were the Winchesters he could rely on to do as they were expected, act how they should, and never break the mold both were forced into; they always fulfilled their roles perfectly, completely unaware that their free will was an illusion, and that he was playing them like puppets.
That being said, he was confused about how such obedient people had created such rebellious sons.
Perhaps, had Mary not been killed, the boys would have been raised as their parents; as playthings for a being none of them truly believed in. Mary and Sam had spent so long begging and pleading and aching to believe God was real, not because they actually believed in him, but because they were desperate to believe that everything they had lost was part of a plan greater than them. Because if those tragedies were set in stone, it meant there was nothing that could have possibly been done to prevent them, to save the loved ones they lost.
Dean and John had never shared that same desperation, Dean having shown resentment towards anything religious, but specifically angelic, his whole life.
For the same reason that Sam was desperate for God to exist, Dean refused to believe in him. Sam thought that the death of his girlfriend Jess was something God had written, something that was irrefutable and inevitable. Dean believed that God didn't exist because if he was kind and just, he wouldn't have let her die.
Both boys were enigmas that confused Micheal, because he saw more of himself in Sam in that aspect; wishing more than anything for his father to return to them, while he saw more of Lucifer in Dean; resenting their father for similar reasons. Besides that, he had meant what he told the younger Winchester of seeing Lucifer in him. Lucifer was always desperate to be something greater than what was expected of him, always wanting to do his own thing and defy their father, while Micheal was the one that had to pick up the pieces and fix Lucifer's mess; Daniel only enabled him, Raphael preferred to remain in the background more than anything, and Gabriel would do whatever he was told so long as it came from Lucifer or Daniel; he obeyed only them.
Of course, with Mary dead and unable to teach the boys how to live their lives and force them into the mold she'd been forced into, the very same mold she believed she had escaped, it left John to raise them; which he didn't even do. Sam was raised, and ruined, by Dean, who taught him to do what he believed in and nothing else, to be his own person, and think for himself.
Maybe that's why Sam didn't fear him. Sam felt practically every negative emotion under the sun for him, but not fear. Resentment, rage, nervousness, disgust, but no fear.
That certainly complicated things, for Micheal at least. Lucifer, who he had yet to locate, might have better luck with Sam, as both share the same beliefs, while Micheal knows that since he had no luck with Sam, he'll have less for Dean. If Sam didn't fear him, Dean absolutely wouldn't, and he didn't know what to do to remedy that.
Zachariah or Uriel might tell him to use a method many others had, torture one brother while the other could do nothing, but torture had never been something Micheal had particularly enjoyed. Some other angels delighted in it, not unlike demons, but he didn't. Micheal much preferred the after; seeing the effects that torture had on someone, seeing them broken down and forced back together. Plus, the goal was for Dean to say yes and to not fight him, which he'd only achieve under a true consenting possession, so both brothers were untouchable for the time being.
The showdown was on the horizon, so he'd have to think of something quick, something that would tear them apart mentally and emotionally but not hurt them physically, and it couldn't be another death. Both were smart, they knew about angels and what they were capable of, a death so soon after meeting him? They'd catch on instantly.
He smirked, and yet remained staring at one of the pictures hung up on his wall; a picture of the Winchester family together, before they were torn apart by Mary's death. Specifically, his gaze was zeroed on John.
"Is John Winchester among the souls here?" He asked, finally turning. It was Anel, who chose to take the form of a short woman with long black hair, up in a professional bun, with lightly tanned skin, wearing a white button up and a black pencil skirt. She looked down at the tablet she held in her hand, scrolling down for a moment, before nodding.
His smirk stretched wider.
"Is Balthazar unoccupied at the moment?" He asked and received a negative response. "No, he's currently out searching for Dean Winchester, who remains lost." She replied, and he nodded.
"Is Naomi unoccupied at the moment?" He asked, and Anel nodded. "Yes, she's in her office, no missions recently."
"Alright then, can you fetch John's soul and give it to Naomi? Tell her to rebuild him to look how he did a couple of years ago; she can choose how many, but more than 3. Tell hee to erase his memories of a time further than that. If he looks 48, then he only has memories up until then, nothing of when he was 49 and so on, do you understand?" His smirk fell into a flat smile, and his eyes narrowed, making the young angel flinch. She was very young, only a couple of eons old, which maybe, back before his family had betrayed him, would have made him feel bad, but now, it just brought genuine joy to his empty smile and emptier eyes.
"Yes sir, at once." She nodded firmly, hiding her nerves well, but Micheal saw how her hands tightened around her tablet and smiled wider, showing off his teeth. Anel went a shade paler, before hurrying out.
John was the perfect weapon to use, he always had a knack for tearing his children down and ruining any confidence they might have had. He was smart too, all Winchesters were scarily perceptive; there was very little that could be hidden from them. He'd find out about what they'd done in his absence, such as Dean getting sent to Hell and Sam releasing Satan, and Micheal's problem would be solved. Actually, 2 of his problems would be solved, because if anyone could track Dean Winchester down, it would be John, who had managed to track down the elusive Azazel. How did that stupid human saying go? He was killing 2 birds with one stone?
He leaned back in his chair and smirked again, eager to watch the show unfold.