RAVEN: Angel Of Death (Watty's 2023)

Chapter 25 : Grief

"Hey kid, I heard what happened, I'm sorry for you loss" Uriel says, placing an arm around Caz's shoulders as she sits down next to her.
Castiel ignores the woman, shrugging off her embrace. If only Uriel had come a day earlier, if only she hadn't been too slow, if only she had been the one to guard Emily, if only when she had saved the kid and let her go, Emily would still be alive. Death and destruction followed her everywhere she went and now Caz was never going to see her ward for a very long time. Not while she had been bound to Earth.

Dipping her hand inside a gold box she had taken from Don Leonardo Del Piero and pulls out a Gurkha royal courtesan cigar and places it on her lips, she lights it, then takes a long drag, while exhaling out the smoke into Uriel's face. It had been the tenth one she had been smoking since the last hour.

Uriel blinks, remembering the first time she had lost her ward one thousand years ago. Fertz Enya, a seven year old boy who had been out hunting with his father and had been attacked by a wild boar which had killed his old man before his very eyes. She had been passing through the woods(invisible from human eyes) and suddenly the wild boar had ran away.

Silently vowing to protect him, she had followed him almost everywhere until one day she had been away to Africa with Mikhael on a trip to stop a band of demons. On her return she had found out that Fertz had died in a war against a neighbouring clash. And he had just been a month shy of twenty, leaving behind his pregnant young wife. She had felt so angry and had blamed herself for not saying no to Mikhael, who would dealt with the demons. It had taken almost a century for her to forgive herself.

"Will I get to see her one day?" Caz whispers softly breaking Uriel out of her reverie.

"Of course you will, we will after Armageddon" Uriel affirms with the knowledge they would only return to Heaven after the great war since they were earth bound for that very reason.

"What if I don't go back after the war?" Caz asks in a little voice, sounding lost.

"What do you mean by that Azrael?" Uriel asks sharply.

"What if I turn out to be like Samael, Afterall he was once an angel of death" Caz swallows hard, pauses then continues "What if we win and he dies and I'm asked to take over hell, and I become the very thing I loathe?"

Uriel nods, while thinking about what to say.

"Caz you are not Samael, you'd never be like him" Caz tries to interrupt her but she halts her "now before you start giving out hundred reason why you turn out like him, just know this baby sis, Samael was always a pompous ass, you are not, you are kind, and beautiful inside out and I'm proud of you sis, of what you have accomplished, you are one of the most powerful angels yet you haven't mistreated anyone" Uriel says running her hands in Caz's blonde strands.

"What if we don't win, what if I fail like I failed Emily" Caz says uncertainty and fear clouding her eyes.

"We will, you won't"

"I don't think I'm ready for this" Caz says and Uriel knee immediately she was talking about Emily's funeral.

"Me too, but here's what I gotta tell ya kid" Uriel grips Caz's shoulders and turns the other angel to face her "We gotta be there for Em's sake, then we go find Mikhael"

"Have I ever told you, I love you sis?" Caz suddenly says laying her head on Uriel's shoulders.

"Yeah a million times" Uriel grins "So tell me Caz, between Mikhael and I who do you love more"

" You of course but don't get a big head Riri" Caz smiles against Uriel's shoulder knowing what she was up to.

"Yeah, whatev's babe" Uriel says.

Both sisters sat like that for sometime until the shrieking of a bird breaks the silence.

"Hey Riri?" Caz says calling the angel by the nickname she gave her.
"Yeah"

"Thanks a lot"

Uriel nods knowing her sister meant for making her feel better.

"Anytime Caz"

***
Incase y'all wondering what Caz means, it's Castiel Azrael, as in C+AZ