Dies Irae (5/5)

[cashay]

Chapter 12

It was one week since that day in the kitchen and even though they had touched and kissed and even rutted against each other, no one ever tried anything more. Chuck was thankful for that, even though he had initiated their first kiss he didn't feel up to anything more.


He wasn't afraid that they would hurt him, strangely he trusted them completely even when it came to sex.


But still he enjoyed how slow they were taking it. Like they were freshly in love and didn't know much about sex, which was mostly true. After all Michael and Lucifer were still more or less virgins, and Chuck had no experience at all when it came to men.


They were lying on the couch again, Michael was sitting with Lucifer's and Chuck's heads in his lap. Lucifer was lying behind Chuck, arms around him and the prophet pulled tight against his chest.


There was some series of theirs running but Chuck didn't pay any attention, he was content just lying there and dozing off.


"Well if that isn't a sweet scene. It's sickening. Michael and Lucifer... my brothers, how far have you fallen..."


Before Chuck could comprehend what was happening, Lucifer and Michael had stood up, nearly pushing him off the couch in their haste. They were crowding in front of him, protecting him from the view of whoever was there.


"Aw, protecting your little whore are you, brothers?"


Now that he was fully awake Chuck heard the spite and the hatred, but also the disappointment in the female voice. He shuddered softly and crouched down into himself after he had sat down.


"You can't keep him from me and you know that. You have forgotten who you are and what you are destined to do. I need to remind you so you will rise again and follow the glorious road our father laid out for you, bringing about the end of the world."


But neither Lucifer nor Michael seemed to be keen to restart the Apocalypse. They stood ramrod straight, and even in the line of their backs Chuck could see the tension.


"Keep your filthy hand's off of him, Raphael," Lucifer snarled with more venom than he ever used in his fight's with Michael.


Raphael... this was the one archangel Chuck had come to hate and fear more than anyone. Gabriel had been a bit weird but okay and well, he had ended up falling in love with both Michael and Lucifer.


Her laugh alone sent chills down Chuck's back and, for the first time since he had found the two archangels on the floor of his living room, he was afraid.


"You have grown too weak. I think I need to take away your toy boy. Maybe play with him a bit myself. Too bad I don't have a male vessel anymore, it would have been so much more fun."


It was Michael who hit him at that, though it didn't do any good. Raphael only laughed more and by the sickening crack, Michael's hand had broken when it collided with her cheek.


"But don't worry there are enough of us with male vessels so your toy won't feel all that lonely."


Lucifer stepped in front of Michael, apparently trying to protect him too. He was an imposing man, even without his powers he would have frightened most people when his fury was released, but Raphael didn't seem the least bit worried.


"You will leave now and never come back. If you hurt one of them I will show you all the nice things they taught me in Hell."


Raphael simply grabbed Lucifer's throat and growled angrily as she lifted him in the air like a doll. She shook him slightly and tightened her grip around his throat until Chuck saw that Lucifer stopped breathing.


"No!" He snarled, surprised by his own desperate anger. "Let him go, you stupid bitch!"


He threw himself at Raphael, hitting her with all he had – which wasn't much – but she took no notice, simply flinging Lucifer away against the wall. Chuck felt his chest clench together in agony when Lucifer fell to the floor, and he curled around himself trying to stay on his feet.


It was so hard, he felt like something was ripping him apart from the inside, an agony so much stronger then the one he had felt when he had tried to leave the house with Michael alone. But it came from the same place.


Helplessly, the prophet fell to his knees and tried to scramble towards Lucifer who lay motionless on the floor. But before he could reach him, he cried out as another wave of pain hit him, even stronger than the one before.


The room was swirling in front of his eyes while his insides felt like they were consumed by what could only be the fires of Hell. He heard someone scream and somewhere in his pain consumed mind, he found himself wondering if Raphael had done something to hurt Michael.


Chuck would hurt her. He would make her suffer. He wasn't really sure why anymore but he knew that she had hurt someone he had loved and he needed to make her pay. He needed to. He needed to protect them.


But he couldn't move. He tried. He really tried because he had to, but the fire was consuming every part of him, he had no control over his body anymore, he was so afraid. He was alone. So alone.


He should never have been alone again. There were others... Lu... Lucifer... Michael... but he couldn't remember. He couldn't do anything. He was burning. Please someone help him!


"Stop that."


The voice was cold and annoyed, and Chuck found he wanted to feel the security of the flames again. No, not that but... there had been something else. Please! Someone... he didn't remember.


"They are dead, both of them so stop the struggling."


The voice kept talking but he still could not remember who she was. For that matter he didn't even remember who he was. All he knew were the flames and that he was alone. No, no, not alone...


"I ought to punish you for making those two useless. Without them there will be no Apocalypse. Not that it's that bad to rule Heaven all by myself but still... I need to make an example out of you."


Someone touched him and the flames roared up, angry and defiant, they wouldn't let anyone else have him. He belonged to them. They would keep him safe. They were saying they would keep him safe but they were burning him. Not alone. Safe. Safe...


"What the fuck, you stupid human?!"


She sounded angry but she had stopped touching him and the flames were calm again. They curled around him, still burning so hot but they tried to sooth his pain. Safe... The flames calmed down, they weren't consuming him anymore, just slowly taking from him. Not alone... He found himself reaching for whatever was there, hiding inside his tormentor. He tried to touch it, tried to pull it in and hold it close. Every touch was like burning iron but he was holding something… someone. Two someones, and though they were eating him up, he never wanted to let them go until they had consumed him completely. Loved...


"Now that I think about it I should just kill you."


Again she touched him and again the flames roared up, while he was still holding on to them. They were trying to burn her touch away and eat him up. Panic filled him and pain, so much more pain. Why? Why were they hurting him? Oh please someone... stop. Sh... Safe... No harm... safe... loved... loved... love...


"No... No... That can't... It's impossible you are..."


He felt like he was slowly melting away, the flames were consuming him and making him a part of them. At first he fought it but the more he fought, the more it hurt him. And they were promising him so much. All the things he had always so desperately yearned for yet knew he would never reach.


"You can't! Stop it! Stop!"


It was nearly done, he could feel the fire burning away the last parts of him and suddenly there was no pain, just two beings pressed against him, part of him. Love... Home... He was them and they were him. He was the fire now; the consuming flames had become a part of him and he a part of them. He had burned. He had burned and now he was free.


"No... No... NO!"


Now he was burning, consuming with his brothers, with his loved ones. He was burning her, not the gentle and soft fire that had consumed him, but this one was hate and revenge and justice, and they were eating her away, consuming her so she would burn forever and never find peace.


"I warned you," a mournful voice said. "I told you not to hurt them. They are me as I am them. We are one. You should have seen that, Raphael, but you didn't, now you shall burn."


They ignored her screams and pleas, her desperate attempts to flee. There was no fleeing Their rage, nor would there ever be. They were strong. They would prevail. And she wouldn't.


As suddenly as they came, the flames were gone. There was a chest pressed against his chest and a back pressed against his back. There was two strong pair of arms holding him and two pairs of lips pressed against his ears.


"Safe. Love. Home," they whispered into his hear over and over and over again. He sighed and gave himself to them completely.
Chapter 13
There was life and energy all around him. Chuck felt like he had been blind and was just now learning to see. The feeling of beings that were alive was so overwhelming; he would have lost himself in it if it wasn't for the two beings that were more alive than all the rest.


They were burning so incredibly strong, Chuck found it nearly hurt to look at them. But only nearly and he was like them now, he knew. They had consumed him and made him a part of them, and thus he had stopped being human and became something else. Something bright and strong. It felt strangely alien.


"What happened?" he croaked, his eyes focusing on their vessels, which were even more beautiful now that they were shining in heavenly light.


"Apparently Father had a sense of humor," Michael said, while Lucifer was muttering darkly and by his experiences with his cursing, Chuck guessed he was cursing said father.


"What do you mean?" Chuck asked, despite all the beauty and fire and everything, still feeling like he was likely going to trip and fall over any second, or break something, or hell, with his new powers maybe he would destroy the town. "What the fucking hell happened?"


"Our Grace was hidden inside of you. When we died we returned to it and reunited with it. But to protect you from Raphael we needed to make you a part of us so we could leave your soul without destroying you."


"Does that mean I'm an angel now?" Chuck asked, deciding to resign himself to whatever had happened to him and not question any of it for his own sanity. He was pretty sure if he really tried to grasp it that would make his mind combust or something.


"No!" Lucifer, who had paced through the room, turned around with a snarl to where Chuck had sat down on the sofa.


Michael reached out with his Grace to sooth the anger in him and Lucifer thankfully pressed into the caress. It took Chuck a few minutes to realize that he wasn't supposed to feel all of this.


"You aren't an angel but you are linked to our Graces now. You can use them – at least a small part of them – too and you can see and feel the world as we do. You are the link that holds Lucifer and I together. Our Graces are too different to exist close to each other but through you we are one again."


Okay, Michael's explanation made some sense and Chuck wasn't going to question any of it. Being the one that held them together sounded nice, like he wasn't just useless like he usually was.


Still Lucifer was pacing the room like a tiger in his cage. He felt... angry, confused and, for some weird reason, lonely. Chuck definitely didn't like that at all. Without giving it too much thought he reached out like Michael had done before and touched him with his... whatever that link thing was.


He opened himself and poured all he felt for the two archangels out into the link he shared with the two of them. Chuck didn't intend to, he just wanted to show Lucifer that he cared for him and he wasn't alone, but somehow it all got out.


When both Michael and Lucifer went to their knees, he already started to dread being linked to them – he would just fuck everything up.


"What is it? Did I hurt you? I'm sorry; I didn't want to hurt you! I..."


The prophet talked without really thinking about it as he scrambled to his feet and towards them in panic, only barely managing not to fall over the table.


"No," Lucifer whispered and, when Chuck turned to look at him, he found tears in the devil's eyes. "It's just..."


"...you overwhelmed us," Michael answered with a soft smile as he crawled to Lucifer and pulled him into his arms. For a moment Chuck felt like an outsider and then his mind was flooded with feelings from two different beings that were so much alike and yet still as different as night and day.


He didn't even notice how he went down on his knees too and how four strong arms pulled him against two bodies. He was filled with love and joy, and fierce protectiveness. Affection mixed with sorrow and fear. Sorrow for all that had gone wrong and fear of all that could go wrong.


He felt all that those two gracious angels felt for him and for each other and he found himself consumed once more. Not in flames this time but in love.


Chuck gave them back everything they gave to him, showing them all that they meant to him. And for the first time in his life Chuck didn't care what anyone would think or what would happen. If the world decided to end again, he wouldn't be afraid. Because he wasn't alone anymore and he was loved. And whatever happened, and whatever his angels feared, he knew that they would prevail.



'Maybe you aren't so much of a bastard after all, God. At least you felt sorry for what you did to them. Thank you for giving them a second chance. Thank you for giving me a second chance. Just never take them away again, none of us would survive alone anymore.'



'I won't.'



'Thank you.'
Epilogue

As the glass in Chuck's hand suddenly exploded he resigned himself to another lecture from Lucifer about how he shouldn't get angry with things. At least not angry enough to let them explode, because if he didn't get that under control it was only a matter of time until he exploded the obnoxious and biased neighbor. And neither Lucifer nor Michael would help him clean that mess.


He looked away and realized the state of the kitchen, and decided that he was probably going to get yelled at for destroying the kitchen first. He had simply tried to open up that stupid glass of pickles but it wouldn't let itself be opened and now... well... now it was decorating the kitchen walls.


“Again?” Michael asked with a soft but reprehending voice.


“It wasn't my fault,” Chuck whined softly.


Michael chuckled and handed Chuck a scrubber out of thin air. “I think you should clean that up by hand, maybe then you will stop exploding everything that won't open.”


“But why do I have awesome super angel powers if I still have to clean the kitchen by hand?” Chuck complained, grabbing the scrubber anyway.


“You shouldn't use our Graces for something so trivial.” Michael had that 'I'm an angel of the Lord'-voice again.


But Chuck simply snorted and gave his bonded a disbelieving look. “You get yourself chocolate from the supermarket when you run out of it. How is that not trivial?”


Michael looked at him like he had just insulted God, like Lucifer liked to do. “Chocolate is not trivial!”


“It is!” Chuck told him sternly while he poured affection in their bond at the same time to take a bit of the snide away. He knew that Michael took his chocolate very seriously.


Thankfully the doorbell rang before Michael could actually yell at Chuck for disrespecting chocolate. The prophet was pretty sure that if Michael weren't an angel he would have started some chocolate worshipping religion by now.


Only, when he heard Lucifer open the door and felt sudden alarm flare up in their bond, he wished Michael would have just yelled at him. They were at the door in an instant and Chuck had to try hard not to vomit right there and then. He hated angel transportation.


“Chuck! What the hell are those two douchebags doing here?” Dean snarled at him before the prophet had his nausea completely under control.


Protective as always Lucifer moved between Chuck and the Winchesters, while Michael put an arm around him. Both Sam and Dean gaped at that but Chuck couldn't care less and, just because he kinda liked to shock the Winchesters, he snuggled against the archangel holding him.


“How about we talk inside?” Michael offered while making it sound like an order.


Sam and Dean seemed to consider it before thankfully not putting up a fight but getting inside instead. That might also have to do with the fact that Lucifer just appeared behind them and roughly shoved them inside.



“I can explain all this,” Chuck started lamely and wondered if he would survive the explanation without letting Dean or Sam explode.

part 4 | masterpost