When the angels actually live up to their hype (◕ᴗ◕✿)
The Wrath of Heaven (Supernatural AU fanfic on Ao3) The Archangel Michael hadn't planned to stay human for so long, and he certainly hadn't expected to reincarnate as Dean Winchester, the human who broke the first seal of Lucifer's cage and who by his Father's Will was supposed to become his true vessel. (AU from season 4, BAMF Michael!Dean)
Chapter 14: And Then, the Heavens Screamed
Powerful pulses rolled out across the ground in a steady rhythm as if the earth had turned into a giant living creature that breathed. Overhead, the storm clouds directly above the church began to split by some unseen force tearing them in two. The sky gaped open in precise, symmetrical lines, and the brilliant light that glowed from within was anything but natural.
Dean recognized that light in an instant—one of the Seraphim was charging a smite.
And not a simple smite, but the kind that didn't simply cleanse, but annihilated. A single, devastating strike that would leave behind nothing but a scorched crater and glassed earth. A divine nuke in every sense.
<...>
Sam barely registered the destruction. His gaze was drawn upward, mouth parting in disbelief, only now noticing the split sky Dean had watched earlier. Light finally broke through the clouds, falling down in searing beams so intense he had to raise a hand to shield his eyes. More and more poured out, threading and merging together, converging in a single, blinding column that gradually engulfed the ruined church.
<...>
The smite descended.
A shockwave detonated from the point of impact, tearing through space, bending the laws of nature until the very weaves of reality distorted. The world went white and soundless. Every window in every building and car blew up in a rain of glass. Trees splintered and broke. Lampposts crumpled like paper. People were tossed like ragdolls, some with inaudible cries, some silent forever, some with ruined eyes that would never see again.
Time stuttered and stopped. Everything was still.
Then, slowly, it restarted. The whiteness began to recede, colors flooded back, and the world righted itself. The sound returned as a cacophony of noise and screams and car alarms blearing all around. The light pillar narrowed, edges fraying into shimmering mist, until there was only a thin line left that retreated upward like a sword being withdrawn into the heavens. The clouds folded in, reforming over the rift as if nothing had ever happened.
Dean exhaled and pulled his grace back inward, releasing the shield that protected the Impala from the impact. Streets were turning chaotic, people were stumbling from buildings in panicked waves and running around, and he had to focus on the road.
"Oh my god…" Sam whispered, craning to look through the rare window again.
Nothing was left in the area they had just escaped from. Only a wide expanse of incinerated land, a few remaining structures charred and crumbling from the weakest breeze.
Dean glanced at it in the side mirror, quickly assessing the aftermath. All things considered, the smite was remarkably contained. Seraphim specialized in mass destruction and were capable of leveling entire cities without breaking a sweat. This strike, however, had been extremely precise, its firepower compressed into a tight, surgical burst.
Definitely not Uriel's style. And the other two Seraphs Dean had seen in the squad didn't seem strong enough to pull off something like that. Castiel, then.
His lips twitched into a faint, knowing smile. Yeah, it fit. Castiel, still trying to minimize collateral damage, even in a desperate fight against the Throne. Still the soldier with a conscience.
