Work Text:
Michael was always a soldier; a protector. A part of that job was to help his Father. Always his Father. He had to do it with or without reasoning. For eternity.
It felt like he was always attached to Chuck, struggling to leave for at least one moment to explore the universe. Maybe the Darkness would save him.
As if she would help her Brother’s little project- no, His experiment .
Michael used to be as free as anyone else. He would constantly entertain his siblings, teach them about how beautiful Earth was. He played the harp, created a smorgasbord of animals, and even a few plants. They were beautiful, made to represent his family. He made each with care and each creation added beauty to the new planet.
At the end of each ‘day’, Chuck would take Michael for a small portion of time.
It started to only be a few hours of training, soon developing into days, weeks, months, years. He was tired, but he couldn’t stop. He wasn’t allowed to.
Over the years, Michael became colder; more disdainful. His eyes lacked the luster of wonder, love, and generosity that they used to, only to be replaced by nothing but instruction after instruction for him to follow.
No angel, not one, would be able to forget the day Michael played the harp for the last time. No one could ever forget the way he stood to attention, almost as if he was a robot, the minute he saw Chuck.
Michael was Chuck’s willing victim. He allowed Him to poke and prod, find every strength, every weakness. He let himself be dissected like some poor animal in a high school biology class.
The minute he felt as if he could no longer stand it, Chuck would just patch him up, thanking him for his time in training as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. However, the look in his eyes after each ‘session’ gave everything away.
Of course, Michael wasn’t the only one. He had observed his brothers going through the same thing; most notably Raphael. Raphael was an easy target, though. A little too easy for Chuck’s liking. And it was strange to think back on it, because Michael wasn’t upset, not at all. He was glad that his siblings were getting brainwashed.
Maybe because he was brainwashed himself and didn’t even realize what was happening until much, much later.
The others had foolishly assumed that they would become just as powerful as Michael during these ‘sessions’ with Chuck. But Michael knew better. He knew that he was always going to be his Father’s weapon, and it made the archangel happy. Happy to know that he was always going to come out on top. That he would be superior, perfect in every way possible. All other angels were irrelevant.
Lucifer was a truly interesting case, though. The celestial being believed that he could get through to his Father somehow. That he could finally make Chuck open His eyes and see what pain He put His children through.
Chuck didn’t listen, and His rebellious son was cast out; made to fall. Michael, like the perfect soldier he was, locked Lucifer away without a dash of remorse, his blank stare being the last thing his brother saw. Not once did he even pity him.
Less than a minute of time to be himself, brainwash, training angels, repeat. A tiring, endless cycle that broke Michael’s heart more and more as time went on. He would watch Chuck work with other angels, noticing how, deep down, Chuck actually cared. Maybe not much, or for what Lucifer deemed as the right reasons, but enough to treat each individual angel as if they were His world; His beautiful creation.
Michael was always His favorite, and he was more than aware of it. Chuck kept the prince with Him constantly, training him until he couldn’t work anymore and then some. If only he was the same angel that he used to be; maybe he would be strong enough to fight back. He was meant to be his Father’s sword, and his Father’s sword he would be. No matter what.
But as Michael lies in Adam’s arms, he realizes how wrong he had been. He didn’t need to be a weapon in order to be a warrior. His individuality is the most important. He feels secure with Adam, burying himself into his chest. This human- this singular human- taught him that. He is Archangel Michael, not Chuck’s weapon, and he will protect Adam with his entire being. And Adam will protect him.