**Grace Nevermore** Supernatural Fanfiction: Book Three

Part Twenty-Two: To Be Loved

Heaven

Green grass, blue skies; crystal clear water you could see your reflection in and calming tempatures that warmed the skin, giving an overall good feeling. Peace and tranquility, stillness, quietness. These were all things Sofiella loved about visiting others' personal Heavens, as well as the garden themselves.

She often found herself there, outside of the hustle and bustle of the business side of Heaven, or the wrathful, warrior side of It. She was an Angel of the Lord, but she saw things differently than her brothers and sisters. Sofiella loved man-kind, she adored watching people learn, observing how kindness helped others. She loved watching babies be born, and the enamoured look mothers gave their children, the way fathers hugged his sons and kissed his daughters. Her favorite was watching people fall in love.

Though she loved these things, Sofiella was not oblivious to the evil in the world. She had also seen people suffer, people weep and people die. It caused her great anguish when she could not save every single one of them. It was against orders, disrupted fate, but that didn't mean she didn't try. Most of the time, someone would stop her. It took her some time to learn that, even when bad things happened, even to those who were good of heart, something even better happens. However, to watch someone who was truly good get hurt or perish, still caused her heart to break each and every time— even if it was meant to be.

Sofiella laid in the grass on her stomach, leaning over the edge of the pond. It was not her own reflection she saw, but she was looking down on Earth- watching.

There was a little boy in a hospital bed, his parents' faces wet with tears as the monitors beeps slowed. She was ordered to go down there, and bring the little boy to Heaven, but she didn't want to. She wanted them to be happy, she wanted to save the boy.

Footsteps crunch the grass, but Sofiella did not look to see who approached. Her eyes were too focused on the scene playing out before her, the mother tearfully reading a book to the boy, the father choking back sobs in the corner of the room. These were the child's last moments. Soon, the tumor would consume him. "You have your orders, Sofiella," the gravelly voice grunted. "The boy should have arrived hours ago."

Sofiella pressed her lips together, pushing herself up on her knees. When she looked over her shoulder, it was revealed to the angel standing behind her that she had tears of her own. "Orders? The boy is five years old, Castiel."

Castiel knitted his brows firmly, disapproving. "He will be replaced with another."

It was true, the mother was pregnant, but she was unaware. "A life so precious cannot simply be replaced," Sofiella argued. "Father would agree, I know he would."

"It was He who gave the order. Father is calling the boy home."

Sofiella stood to her feet, her fist clenched, "I want to speak to Father."

"You can't. Follow your orders, Sofiella. If you do not take him, I will."

"How can you be so cold? Won't you just look at him?"

"I have seen him," Castiel stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. "You can either take him peacefully, or you can watch him suffer as the tumor takes the rest of his life away, but you cannot heal him. It is not within Fate's plans."

Sofiella clenched her jaw, averting her eyes.

"Do as you are told, Sofiella. Now."

She sighed and closed her eyes, a tear slipping slowly. Her surroundings shifted, the beeping of the machine growing louder, the air in the room more stiff. When Sofiella opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the boy in the hospital bed, his mother's melodic voice right next to her. It wasn't the book she was reading from anymore, but a song she was singing: "Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done," her voice cracked, and she sniffed, reaching out and carressing the boy's face, his eyes fluttering sleepily, wheezing. "Lay your weary head to rest, d-don't... don't y-you cry no more."