Before Hell (Supernatural - Castiel [M])

[PuddinPop]

*swandives into fanfiction section*

Hello~! I am back! With more fluffy Castiel nonsense!

This came from a conversation I had with BlackScatter over Skype (which actually came from an RP post, but I digress). We were laughing about the archangels having prank wars on each other and this little treasure of an idea transpired SO I decided to write it. And post it.

There's not really much sneezing in it xD but it was fun to write, regardless, so I hope it's enjoyable to read too~

This is set like, before Season 4. Essentially between Season 3 and Season 4, just before Cas pulls Dean out of hell.

There's no plot, just a lot of words and a lot of fluff.

I shall get to posting now.

Here it is~!




~Before Hell

Their orders were clear from the start. There were no anomalies within the string of demands; orders from heaven were usually this way. It was made clear from the start what the objectives were and if someone were to stray from them then they would be cast out, classed as a rebel and reprimanded in the appropriate ways – usually by means of being banished from re-entering the gates, wings stripped from their backs in the most undignified of ceremonies.

First port of call was to obtain a vessel. Not just any vessel. Not just any human. There were specifics, some strange kind of science behind it that meant that for each angel, there was only one person. None of them were ever told the reasons as to why, though in all honesty, none of them ever asked. It was ingrained into them since time began that you never questioned the commands from above. You just complied because that’s what good soldiers did. That’s what good children did. And that’s exactly what they were. Soldiers committing their lives to their Father’s wishes.

All of them had managed to acquire their vessels, some more easily than others. They never asked each other about how difficult or arduous it was; most likely because they all already knew. It wasn’t easy for any of them. Mankind had come a long way in the short time it had been residing within this planet, becoming smarter, more sceptical and distrusting. The days of each man being a God-fearing warrior were long gone and the Atheist-littered world was now standard.

Castiel considered himself lucky. His vessel was still a true servant of heaven, a God-fearing man who believed in all of them. It was difficult to try to convince him that he was a genuine angel – any scepticism was to be expected; no man was foolish enough to entrust his life into something which he had always believed in but never been given circumstantial proof of its existence. It had taken many nights, many visits to convince this unsuspecting man that he had an alternate purpose to living, that he wasn’t put on the Earth to marry and father. It sometimes plagued Castiel’s conscious that he had torn a family apart, taken from it the one fabric which was holding it in place. But he kept reminding himself of what the outcome would be, the true purpose, the commands. The end result of this plan, this mission, was astronomical, unlike anything any angel had ever seen before.

They have lived through the pyramids, the ice-age, numerous civil and world wars, yet this seemed so much more-… invasive. It was the first time that Castiel had ever been given orders to recline to Earth; he had always been the one watching the stars, observing his brothers and their interactions with certain people, hand chosen by their father to bring great injustice to the world. Castiel often wondered why his father made such inconsequential judgements of which would have dramatic effects on this planet and its dwellers; from the years of observation, Castiel had concluded that this planet had little time left, maybe only a millennia or two. And at the rate that his father’s petri-dish specimens were destroying it, it would be much shorter than that.

The explanation of the Grand Master Plan forced all the angels to be reticent, not allowing themselves to reveal too much. It wasn’t by choice, it was by order; unfortunately, this made it all the more difficult to obtain their vessels. Questions were asked, rejections were made – numerous rejections – but eventually, they had all succeeded. Every one of them.

Adjusting to being crammed into a human was definitely an interesting experience for Castiel. His brothers had all experienced it before, taking on the form of humans in prior decades (some of them even being depicted upon stained glass in certain religious buildings) but this was Castiel’s first time. To begin with, he hated the enclosed, trapped feeling that it boded; it was almost insulting to have an angel compressed inside such a small, simple being. However, it didn’t take long to adjust; his celestial prowess mostly overshadowed the lingering shreds of humanity within him, creating nothing less than a shell of a human with something as inhumane as possible dwelling within it.

There were some aspects of domineering a human that Castiel hadn’t quite yet learned to quash. It would come with time, of that he had no doubt, but until then, he was the sordid joke of his brother’s musings. They were already aware of how to possess – he hated using that word; it sounded so disgraceful, so inelegant, something in which a demon would do – a human, leaving no traces of humanity within them. And they were yet to share this information with their brother; they had made it very clear that they had all had to learn once and by doing so alone was the most effective method. Not that Castiel believed any of it; being taught something would no doubtedly be far more effective but trying to convince his brothers of that was as futile as speaking directly to their father.

It all began shortly after they were all banished to the Earth. They had stripped his vessel of all its clothes and hid them away somewhere in the galaxy. It wouldn’t have been a problem to obtain more, but being secluded to the Earth, they were forced to walk amongst the humans, and parading around without clothes would not have been advisable. Humans seemed to care a lot about physical appearances, even creating “laws” against appearing in public naked and being arrested was a mild inconvenience in which Castiel could have done without. He was lucky that humans slept so he was able to swoop in to a department store in the middle of the night; it actually worked in his favour as he preferred the tan coat and business suit which he now adorned.

Shortly following the clothes incident (which they repeated more than once but were easily bored by the hasty way in which Castiel rectified the problem) they began to toy with the reflex side of Castiel’s vessel. Humans were renowned for protecting themselves, their bodies programmed to function in ways which expelled waste products and irritants, things that were considered undesired or unneeded. It was actually pretty admirable that they were created to do all of this without consciously doing so; their bodies did all of it of their own volition, requiring the humans to play no part in the fighting of diseases or expelling waste or driving out irritants. It was lazy, really, but they had not the intelligence to perform millions of tasks simultaneously. Castiel had found himself – once again – praising their father for making such perfect imperfections.

Only now, he was no longer praising his father; if he had had more courage, he would have cursed him for creating humans to behave this way, so have such pitiful reflexes that were triggered by the most mundane things. Carbonated water created stomach spasms, certain proteins created methane to be released, minute particles created irritation within basically every part of the respiratory system; it was the latter in which Castiel had found himself hating the most. He could cope with everything else that he was contending with in terms of reflexes, but not that. It was so frequent with a high intensity, halting it being virtually impracticable and avoiding the triggers which ignited it posing an impossible feat.

“hh’kTTCH’iu!”

The usual volley of laughter shortly followed the expulsion; it had been several hours now and both of Castiel’s brothers were continually spraying the same aerosol around the room, seemingly never tiring of the reaction it sparked within their brother.

Castiel would have sworn revenge, payback on Michael and Gabriel being warranted, even deserving, but right at this moment, all he could focus on was the sting in his eyes and the flutter which had reappeared in his nose again.

“hhih’tTDZZh’uh!-TSCCHhh’!”

The feeling was overwhelming, unlike anything he had experienced before. An intense flame inside his nose, the membranes swollen and inflamed, his eyes prickling and radiating warmth, a permanent residue threatening to seep out past the edges of his nostrils, barely contained by the incessant sniffs he uttered every few seconds.

“hih’TDZSSH’iuh! DZSSHHH’uu!”

And then there was that. The immediate escalation of the irritation, the ragged breaths leading to one dragging inhale before a violent jerking of all the muscles within the vessel. It was clearly a very complicated process, Castiel being almost able to hear the nerves in his trigeminal network traveling to the vessel’s brain and creating such a chain reaction of events. It would have been more enjoyable had it not been so vexatious.

Another tsssst and a volley of laughter emanated around the room, causing Castiel to shift in his seat as the scent from the spray filled his skull, quickening his breath and shuddering his entire figure into a helpless fit.

“h’TDSSH’iu!-ktTCSHH’hh!-ehKTSCCH’uu!”

Despite momentarily aspiring for revenge, it was all empty threats. As much as this incessant irritation was infuriating, Castiel would never do anything which would cause his brothers harm or discomfort. He would rather forgive and laugh about it later than swear useless vendettas on his own family; that seemed all too human for him to feel comfortable.

It was also a relief to see them laugh again, that much was undeniable. The weight of the orders reigned heavy on all of them, and if they could be relaxed and happy, even for only a little while and even if it was at Castiel’s expense, he would have allowed them to do this as much as they wanted. Right up until their descent into hell, if he needed to.

[SterlingSilver]

PUDS. I AM FREAKING OUT. LIKE SERIOUSLY, YOU TOOK THIS IDEA AND RAN WITH IT <3. Ugh, I adore meta-fiction so much, and seeing what fic-authors can do with what's canon and what's interpreted is always a joy. SPN is an especially good subject for all things added backstory and slight AU. Pre-Dean Castiel is something I've always been really interested in, so seeing not just a fic but a FETISH FIC about this idea is just.. *rolls around helplessly from fangirl feels*

NOW TO QUOTE ALL MY FAVORITE PARTS~!.... This comment is going to be so friggin' long.

There were no anomalies within the string of demands; orders from heaven were usually this way.

They never asked each other about how difficult or arduous it was; most likely because they all already knew.

I love the way you start this fic with a tone like this. It's totally how I imagined Heaven being (or how it used to be, before Cas whacked everything up LOL). Just so simple and well written x333

ALSO LIKE

The days of each man being a God-fearing warrior were long gone and the Atheist-littered world was now standard.

I never thought about this, but it totally would be a problem if an angel's vessel didn't believe in them at all HAHAHA xDD That's a really nice detail you threw in >w<.. You're so good at interacting with the world of SPN and working into your own writing and canons~ I'd quote basically everything else that you did above that was similar to this, but then I will have quoted your whole fic xDDD. All the details, like Cas making observations about God's plans, and his thoughts about it all are so spot on. You have such a firm grasp on him as a character, which is (to me) one of the hardest things to do when writing SPN. Castiel isn't that easy to characterize, and you do it SO WELL.

Adjusting to being crammed into a human was definitely an interesting experience for Castiel. His brothers had all experienced it before, taking on the form of humans in prior decades (some of them even being depicted upon stained glass in certain religious buildings) but this was Castiels first time.

*weeping from the adorableness* UGH I SIMPLY LOVE IT WHEN CAS IS DEEMED TO BE THE YOUNGEST OR THE FIRST TO DO SOMETHING HIS BROTHERS ALREADY HAVE.. <3 <3 <3 That is seriously one of my favorite headcanons x3333. Cas being the youngest out of the other angels (which probably isn't true in canon, but whatever LOL) is like, just way too adorable to handle. All the other angels are always so fond of him or taken with him because he is different, and having him be the youngest just makes that even cuter xDDD. And even just having him be inexperienced compared to everyone else is so PRECIOUS~

There were some aspects of domineering a human that Castiel hadnt quite yet learned to quash. It would come with time, of that he had no doubt, but until then, he was the sordid joke of his brothers musings.

HAHAHAHA YESSSSS!! Big brothers giving the little one a hard time! <3 I feel like it really would go down this way too xD

It all began shortly after they were all banished to the Earth. They had stripped his vessel of all its clothes and hid them away somewhere in the galaxy.

ANGEL PRANK WARS ARE SO INTENSE HAHAHA xDD And I love how they did it lots of times but then just stopped because Cas just patiently flew away to a store and stole more xDDDDD Like, Cas never actually complains about it, just keeps fixing it xDDD. That's totally how I imagine he'd react, and I was like swooning and screaming about how adorable this whole thing is xDD

Humans seemed to care a lot about physical appearances, even creating laws against appearing in public naked and being arrested was a mild inconvenience in which Castiel could have done without.

CRYINGGGGGG xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Cas: yeah really could have done without this naked-in-jail thing, but meh

The usual volley of laughter shortly followed the expulsion; it had been several hours now and both of Castiels brothers were continually spraying the same aerosol around the room, seemingly never tiring of the reaction it sparked within their brother.

UGHHHHH THERE IS SO MUCH TO PRAISE HERE~

THE SNEEZES ARE OF COURSE WELL-SPELLED AND LIKE, I CAN DEFINITELY HEAR HOW THEY SOUND WHEN I READ THEM x333

Also, there is something inexplicably charming (and sympathy-inducing) about a group of friends that are giving a buddy a hard time with good humor. Friendly teasing (among guys especially) has always been one of those "AWWWW~" moments for me xDDD And just picturing a bunch of angels messing with Cas because this is his first-vessel initiation, and Castiel just kind of cool with it because they are having fun and everyone is nervous about the end of the world, is just really, really sweet QwQ

Yeah so to wrap up,

YOU ARE AMAZING

I AM IN FANGIRL HEAVEN

THIS FIC WILL BE STITCHED INTO A QUILT ONE DAY FOR POSTERITY

[tenderwarrior]

YES! YES! YES! When I saw you posted a Castiel fic I was hoping it would be allergic-related and it is!!!! I love this. Thanks for sharing!

[anna]

Oh wow this is fantastic, the sneezing bit may be short but there is so much packed in there, it just feels so real. Poor Cas having to put up with his bullying brothers though!

[Zuki]

Thank you so much for writing Castiel! He is my obsession right now and this fic was so well written and engaging.