[Yes. Off. She can feel it- he's on the edge, he's considering actions he normally wouldn't, he's in a bad place she hasn't seen in centuries. It makes her cautious.]
I began by trying to kill Castiel, and wasn't using a sword.
[There's something hard-edged about the way she says that. It doesn't make the listener want to know how she was trying.]
I walked into an uneasy peace that my very presence unseated. Apparently I united Lucifer and Castiel in having a common enemy. [So much disdain, ugh.] Yours was the only truly welcome face- Gabriel's was the most surprising to see.
One of Castiel's friends, Hino Rei, inadvertently had a vision of Castiel's and my immediate future that prompted you, myself, and Lucifer to immediate action.
[Considering how many times Castiel has thrown caution to the wind with Raphael, this isn't the most surprising thing. But to react immediately upon arriving in a new world? It was too rash. However, Raphael would not do such a thing without good reason.]
Why?
[He takes note of all the information offered, and looks almost thoughtful as he speaks. It certainly made sense for there to be an alliance - from what he is gathering from this world and his siblings, it seems that one may be essential in leaving this place.]
Our brothers can be quite shortsighted.
[Which is honestly quite characteristic of them. Michael can recognize that there is a time and place for everything, and here, it is clear that they should all cooperate. At least they have learned to recognize this, if the current status quo is any indication.
[Raphael lets the flow of the conversation skip smoothly over his first question, fixating instead on the second. Her gaze intensifies- with, as only he could discern, something steely and faintly horrified.]
[His gaze hardens minutely when she ignores his question. There's a hint of warning in how he says her name, making it quite obvious he expects her to answer this time.]
Raphael.
[A sense of revulsion makes itself known within him. What kind of future had they seen to take such action?
If it was something that would prompt swift action from himself or Raphael back in their world, then in a twisted way, it made sense. Death was not permanent here, so the next step would be to strip Castiel of power to ensure whatever it was would never happen.
But Raphael clearly felt regret, so something had changed.]
[Not just regret. Bald, unbridled disgust. It's a disgusting, twisted thing, to separate an angel from its Grace. They called Anna a more disgusting abomination than even the stains that called themselves demons- and why? Because it wasn't right. An angel belongs with its Grace, anything else is a perversion of God's design.
It may have taken dying and coming back without memories to see it, but the fact that they did that to him at all was repulsive.]
We saw Castiel, moments after killing me, twisted and bloated into an unholy abomination, rise up and declare himself God.
[It still terrifies her a little to remember. Not just the vision, but the infinitely more real memory of Castiel's deadened eyes looking into her, hollow and horrible, of how empty and disturbing he was just to be in the room with, how she knew without knowing that it was no longer her brother. The moments of terror just before she died- she still remembers.
Seeing that creature again, and committing such appalling blasphemy that she wants to flinch even repeating it... they all lost their heads.]
[An angel of any caliber, especially Castiel’s, rising up and defeating an archangel? Unheard of, and yet the confirmation is coming straight from Raphael’s lips. The terror doesn’t go unnoticed, which means there is something more to this, more than just dying. Something he isn’t aware of, that happens between their differing points in time.
The new vessel, the reason why she immediately tried to kill Castiel upon arrival, why the archangels decided to rip out his grace. It is all starting to click in place, and the picture that is being painted? Isn’t a pleasant one.
Castiel had to have drawn the power from somewhere, after all.
In the midst of the incredulity, there is a pain in hearing Raphael’s fate. One he had certainly not foreseen.]
Lucifer spoke to me about what the Winchesters did.
[That they defied everything and averted the Apocalypse, sending both him and Lucifer into the Cage, to burn for eternity.]
What happened after, to lead to that point?
[For Castiel to be driven to commit such unimaginable blasphemy.]
[Finally Raphael breaks their long gaze, looking away from her brother with a distantly cloudy expression.]
Castiel instigated civil war.
[There's an odd bite in her voice, the slightest kernel of a kind of odd hate that she's never felt for anybody- not even Lucifer, as much as she abhors him. Even Lucifer and certainly no other angel has never been worth the effort of the resentment and hate she used to have for Castiel, that comes back in only occasional echoes- like now. Remembering.]
[In contrast, Michael's gaze sharpens on Raphael's face at this bit of news. Castiel and his little humans had succeeded, so there should be no reason. But Michael knows Raphael, well enough to guess that Raphael probably tried to jump start the Apocalypse again.]
How did he manage to make a stand against you?
[He has his guesses as to where Castiel obtained the extra power.]
[She all but spits it- that still disgusts her, even two years later. Souls. The utter perversion of the most perfect of God's creations, how dare he.]
[The confirmation burns with how wrong this is. No angel should ever commit such blasphemy for any reason.]
He's gotten arrogant.
[It's clear there's more to the story.]
But he couldn't have had enough souls to overpower you.
[Obviously Castiel obtained the souls from Hell, because he certainly couldn't have accessed the ones in Heaven. Even with the extra power, Castiel wasn't high ranking enough to equal Raphael.]
[To an ignorant ear, it sounds like a fantastic idea: the untapped wellspring of resources, the hidden realm of energy without the power plays of politics. Why not seek it out? Why not? Raphael, of course, always knew that Purgatory was out there- and that it must have been so well-hidden from them for a very good reason. It was built into the design. She never considered that the Leviathan were still alive or tied to the place at all, but she knew there was a good reason.
To anyone else, it sounds reasonable. To her, it was the last-ditch move of a desperate angel, hasty to end the war and the only serious threat to her. Stupid. Unutterably stupid. She should have known.]
The power of every soul in Purgatory gave him the strength to kill me, and the insanity to declare himself God.
[Pause. The story isn't over, but she must see how he handles this.]
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no subject
I began by trying to kill Castiel, and wasn't using a sword.
[There's something hard-edged about the way she says that. It doesn't make the listener want to know how she was trying.]
I walked into an uneasy peace that my very presence unseated. Apparently I united Lucifer and Castiel in having a common enemy. [So much disdain, ugh.] Yours was the only truly welcome face- Gabriel's was the most surprising to see.
One of Castiel's friends, Hino Rei, inadvertently had a vision of Castiel's and my immediate future that prompted you, myself, and Lucifer to immediate action.
[She meets his eyes properly at that, intensely.]
You will not like it.
no subject
Why?
[He takes note of all the information offered, and looks almost thoughtful as he speaks. It certainly made sense for there to be an alliance - from what he is gathering from this world and his siblings, it seems that one may be essential in leaving this place.]
Our brothers can be quite shortsighted.
[Which is honestly quite characteristic of them. Michael can recognize that there is a time and place for everything, and here, it is clear that they should all cooperate. At least they have learned to recognize this, if the current status quo is any indication.
He matches the gaze easily.]
Try me.
no subject
We tore out his Grace.
no subject
Raphael.
[A sense of revulsion makes itself known within him. What kind of future had they seen to take such action?
If it was something that would prompt swift action from himself or Raphael back in their world, then in a twisted way, it made sense. Death was not permanent here, so the next step would be to strip Castiel of power to ensure whatever it was would never happen.
But Raphael clearly felt regret, so something had changed.]
What had Rei seen?
no subject
It may have taken dying and coming back without memories to see it, but the fact that they did that to him at all was repulsive.]
We saw Castiel, moments after killing me, twisted and bloated into an unholy abomination, rise up and declare himself God.
[It still terrifies her a little to remember. Not just the vision, but the infinitely more real memory of Castiel's deadened eyes looking into her, hollow and horrible, of how empty and disturbing he was just to be in the room with, how she knew without knowing that it was no longer her brother. The moments of terror just before she died- she still remembers.
Seeing that creature again, and committing such appalling blasphemy that she wants to flinch even repeating it... they all lost their heads.]
no subject
The new vessel, the reason why she immediately tried to kill Castiel upon arrival, why the archangels decided to rip out his grace. It is all starting to click in place, and the picture that is being painted? Isn’t a pleasant one.
Castiel had to have drawn the power from somewhere, after all.
In the midst of the incredulity, there is a pain in hearing Raphael’s fate. One he had certainly not foreseen.]
Lucifer spoke to me about what the Winchesters did.
[That they defied everything and averted the Apocalypse, sending both him and Lucifer into the Cage, to burn for eternity.]
What happened after, to lead to that point?
[For Castiel to be driven to commit such unimaginable blasphemy.]
no subject
Castiel instigated civil war.
[There's an odd bite in her voice, the slightest kernel of a kind of odd hate that she's never felt for anybody- not even Lucifer, as much as she abhors him. Even Lucifer and certainly no other angel has never been worth the effort of the resentment and hate she used to have for Castiel, that comes back in only occasional echoes- like now. Remembering.]
no subject
How did he manage to make a stand against you?
[He has his guesses as to where Castiel obtained the extra power.]
no subject
[She all but spits it- that still disgusts her, even two years later. Souls. The utter perversion of the most perfect of God's creations, how dare he.]
no subject
He's gotten arrogant.
[It's clear there's more to the story.]
But he couldn't have had enough souls to overpower you.
[Obviously Castiel obtained the souls from Hell, because he certainly couldn't have accessed the ones in Heaven. Even with the extra power, Castiel wasn't high ranking enough to equal Raphael.]
no subject
[To an ignorant ear, it sounds like a fantastic idea: the untapped wellspring of resources, the hidden realm of energy without the power plays of politics. Why not seek it out? Why not? Raphael, of course, always knew that Purgatory was out there- and that it must have been so well-hidden from them for a very good reason. It was built into the design. She never considered that the Leviathan were still alive or tied to the place at all, but she knew there was a good reason.
To anyone else, it sounds reasonable. To her, it was the last-ditch move of a desperate angel, hasty to end the war and the only serious threat to her. Stupid. Unutterably stupid. She should have known.]
The power of every soul in Purgatory gave him the strength to kill me, and the insanity to declare himself God.
[Pause. The story isn't over, but she must see how he handles this.]