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The Earth is very different from Heaven. In their Father’s house, the floor is cool and smooth, soft and supportive. Here, Castiel’s feet ached as sharp volcanic rock dug into them in patches. In Heaven, he had never considered ambient temperature. Here on the Earth, the atmosphere is was blazingly hot, the air thin and weak. Heaven’s halls and rooms were a testament to the Lord’s gift of colour. On this tiny speck of a planet there are only three colors; the cerulean of the sky, the deeper azure blue of the ocean and the nutbrown earth.
He doesn't think he likes this world very much. Perhaps in a few million years, something will have happened to make it more like Heaven, more interesting, but right now it is only water and dirt scorching beneath a small yellow star.
The Seraph stretched out his wings and strode down the rocky beach, toward where he knew that another of Heaven's sons was. There wasn't too much to see on this planet, so the presence of another angelic being made him curious.
When he arrived, the Archangel Gabriel, Herald of God, was hunkered down by a pool of water set some ten feet from the shore.
“Brother,” Castiel smiled as he drew closer to the huge being, “I am so pleased to see you. Perhaps you would--”
He was cut off, not just from speaking, but from actually approaching his brother, by Gabriel’s wing blocking his way, heavy feathers filling his mouths. The younger angel sputtered and staggered backward, deeply hurt by Gabriel’s rebuff.
“Careful, kiddo.” The Archangel lowered his wing, giving him a gentle smile that instantly evaporated Castiel’s pain, “Don’t step on that fish, Castiel.”
Castiel looked to where his brother was pointing. He had to bend down quite a ways to see the weak, slimy thing as it struggled its way up the beach, pectoral fins flailing at the rocks as it pulled itself toward the pool of still water.
“Big plans for that fish.” Castiel sat down a respectful distance from the little grey fish, tucking his wings in.
“What plans?”
“Oh,” Gabriel leaned forward, eyes on the fish again, “It’s going to be huge. This is a huge thing. That fish’s descendants are going to rule this land. And in… eh, 400 million years or so, two of those little fish’s descendants are going to be so important to Father’s plans.”
Castiel took in a sharp breath that he didn't need, the nonessential gesture the only way he knew to express his shocked delight at being gifted with such Revelation from The Messenger. His brother’s grin only grew larger.
“May I…?”
“Of course you can ask.” Castiel beamed as Gabriel’s wing wrapped around him and pulled him closer to the Archangel. “And hey, you know what? I’ll even answer. I know, I know, how generous of me. Stop gushing on like that, little bro, it’s getting to be embarrassing.”
Some of the time, Gabriel did not make sense. None of the time did that matter to Castiel. The Messenger could not be held to the same standards as any of his brethren. He was something else entirely. And Castiel loved him for it.
"See, a really, really long time and a surprising amount of evolutionary twists from now, one of those descendants is going to be the Righteous Man.”
The Righteous Man. The man who was destined to stop the Apocalypse and bring Paradise to all things. The Seraph shivered, all eyes drawn from the immensely glorious sight of his brother down to the grey blob of a fish. He had nearly destroyed so much of his Father’s plan with his carelessness.
Castiel almost felt ill at the thought.
“The other really important descendant will be the Righteous Man’s younger brother. The Boy-King of Hell. He who starts the End of Days.” There was a strange fondness in his brother’s voice that Castiel couldn't quite understand. Gabriel's arms crept around him and Castiel leaned into the embrace, resting his head on his brother's shoulder.
It was truly astonishing to realise that all of those things, the countless creatures that would populate this world that had been deemed special, would all come from one seemingly insignificant speck of flesh and blood and bone. Castiel felt so honored, so full of love, so happy to be here at this momentous point in time that he was worried that he might just burst from all the emotion.
The fish finally made it to the pool and clumsily flopped into the water with a surprisingly loud splash. The two celestial beings were silent for a moment, watching the ripples spread across the surface of the pond.
“The Righteous Man and the Boy King,” Castiel mused, wonderingly.
“Yup. Wanna know something else, Castiel?”
“Yes, please.”
“I am going to screw with those two knuckleheads so freakin’ hard.”