(Heaven, some days after the Angel Initiation Ceremony)

Phoenix's POV

Is there a way to tell if you've become an angel or not? Because personally, I don't feel any different.

Maybe more exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally, but other than that, I feel the same as I always do.

No one will tell me what went down during trial 5.

I know at least four others passed out the same way I did.

All five of us are still currently uneducated about what wrong during the initiation.

The original angels and even chosen angels won't tell us.

It's extremely frustrating.

I've asked so many people what happened and why myself and four others passed out, but no one will tell me anything.

I still have no clue if we succeeded or failed.

The others that didn't pass out failed according to the rules we were given at the beginning because they weren't in the water for as long as the five of us or they panicked and got out when they saw us passing out, but now I'm not so sure if they actually failed or not.

I'm so confused.

Could that mean the five of us have passed the initiation and we're becoming angels? How does that even work?

Sighing, I roll over in my bed and shift the blanket so that it's pulled over my face and attempt to go to sleep finally.

I've been awake for almost 48 hours trying to figure out what's going on, but all I've managed to do is sleep deprive myself and get confused.

It's extremely frustrating.

Sighing, I curl up more and close my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep.

***

(24 hours later)

I've never slept for 24 hours before, but guess what? I did.

For once I had a restful and reviving sleep, with no dreams or nightmares. It felt good to rest so peacefully. I somehow doubt I will be sleeping like that ever again.

My bedroom door opens and Castiel walks in.

"Young one, I see you've finally rested well." He says.

"Mhm." I reply, turning away to ignore him saltily and pretend to be busy rearranging my pillows.

"Oh, come on, Phoenixxxxxx..." he whines, "you're not still mad about that are you??"

I ignore him. Of course I'm still mad no one will tell me if I've succeeded or failed the Angel Initiation Ceremony.

Castiel sighs.

"Come on, young one. Let's go get breakfast." He mutters, before turning to leave, but not walking out of the doorway.

I roll my eyes before walking over and Castiel starts to lead the way to the kitchen. We sit down at the table with the other original angels and the four other people who were left in the last trial.

Sighing quietly, I fill my plate with fresh fruits as well as a ham and cheese toasted croissant. I silently begin eating as those around me converse happily with one another.

***

4 hours after breakfast

Soaking in a bathtub filled with essential oils has never appealed to me until Castiel decided I was missing out and forced me to soak in the bath.

I have to admit, it's extremely nice and relaxing, minus one tingling little fact in my back.

Right between my shoulder blades there's a weird tingling almost painful but also kind of itchy sensation, but I looked in the mirror and there's nothing there.

Perhaps the essential oils are getting to my head and causing weird reactions.

I'm not sure though. Too tired and drained to give a shit, really.

I close my eyes and relax in the water for about an hour before getting out as the water starts to turn lukewarm.

I dry and dress myself in loose white flannel pyjamas and climb into bed. My back starts to ache more and the itchy sensation increases ten-fold. I scratch my back but it just causes me more pain.

"What the heck?" I mutter and remove my shirt to rub my back against the silky soft, cool sheets of my bed.

Finally, relief.

"Perhaps I'm allergic to one of the oils." I ponder to myself.

The pain and itchiness fades after a while and I cuddle up under the blankets and end up falling asleep, almost as soon as my head touches the pillow.

***

Midnight (the time when creatures of the night are most active)

I'm woken from my deep slumber to agonising pain on my back, right between my shoulder blades.

I roll onto my stomach and muffle a shout of pain into my pillow. It feels like somethings trying to rip through my skin!

Another wave on indescribable pain slams full force into my back, knocking the wind out of me as I muffle another shout of agony with my pillow.

(A/N: thank the god for pillows)

Panting heavily in pain, I stumble out of my bed and towards the bathroom. I smack my hand on the wall trying to find the light switch and manage to get the light on as another unknown force shoves hot metal rods into my back, right between my shoulder blades.

A shout of pain escapes my lips before I'm able to stifle the sound by biting my arm. I stumble further into the bathroom and turn the shower on cold.

Sweat pools on my neck and slides down my temple as I grit my teeth and yank my pants and underwear off. I step into the shower and the cold water has an instant soothing effect on the pain screaming in my back.

I lean against the wall and let the water rush down my back.Unfortunately, the cold water only soothes my back for so long before it starts to feel like something is trying to tear me apart from the inside out.

I choke out an agony filled sob and turn off the shower before stumbling out of the bathroom and onto my bed, where I muffle my screams of pain by burying my face in my pillow and pull the blankets up around my face.

Suddenly, a sharp pain rockets through my body, my screams of pain are cut off as the sounds of skin ripping and tearing filters through my mind.

I throw the blanket off my body as blood and flesh are flung around the room and huge white feathered wings spring out of my back, causing me to scream loudly in agony as blood rushes down my back and stains my white silk sheets.

(A/N: Phoenix's wings, just image they're bloodied rn 😂 and ignore the dude, I couldn't find anything else xx)

Castiel appears in my room, soon followed by God. Both their eyes widen in an almost comical manner, that if I wasn't in so much pain, I would have definitely laughed.

God and Castiel rush over to me, with a first aid kit that wasn't with them before.

"His wings are huge!" Castiel gushes. "They're like nothing I've ever seen before!"

God nods, "I knew he was special." He then gets to work carefully applying healing cream where the wings have emerged from my back, where the skin and my wings meet.

I hiss in pain as God gently applies healing cream to the raw and sensitive wound.

I feel more blood rush from where my wings meet my back, which causes me to shiver slightly, whether it be in disgust or just because of the feeling, or even due to blood loss, I'll never know.

"This is the worst case of newly released wings I've seen in all my years." God says after carefully putting a bandage around my torso and shoulders to hold the gauze around my freshly wounded back and wings in place.

"It makes sense that so much damage has been done, considering the size of his wings." Castiel replies while clicking his middle finger and thumb together and instantly cleaning the blood and flesh from the whiteness of my room.

Standing up, I pause to wince as my wings move and cause strain on my back.

"I suppose I passed the initiation then?" I ask, and turn to look at God and Castiel.

The two share secret glances before looking at me, where they surprise me with identical cheerful grins.

"That's correct, young one." God answers.

I nod slowly, "and the others?"

"They should be changing just like you have either right now, or in the next few days." Castiel answers me.

I nod again, and walk to the wall length mirror leaning against a desk I haven't bothered to use.

I admire my wings.

A soft snicker makes its way past my lips before I can stifle it.

"What's so funny?" Cas asks curiously.

"It's so weird saying 'my wings'. I never thought I would refer to something like that." I reply honestly.

My wings. My wings. It's so weird to actually say that out loud (well, in my mind).

I swear I'm going to go insane.

"How long does it take to heal from this?" I motion to my back and feel my wings shudder slightly.

"Depends on how well your healing abilities work now. They will have changed since you got your wings. It could take weeks, days, maybe even hours. It just depends on the person." God educates me.

I nod, watching Castiel out of the corner of my eye sneak towards my wings and touch them.

My wings seem to have a mind of their own as they shudder and spread out, taking up a lot of the space in my already huge room.

Cas watches awed. "Your wings are amazing. Even mine aren't anything like them. The blood covering the feathers adds to the aesthetic of them." He announces with a nod, before leaning in and gently trailing his fingers along the bloodied tips of my wings.

They shudder again and the one closest to Cas wraps around him slightly.

"This is amazing!" He breathes and nuzzles my wings.

My brows furrow without me noticing I made a facial expression.

"Young one, you'll learn how to control your wings and you'll also be unlocking all of your magic abilities as an angel, as soon as your wings and back heal. There's a school here in which you and the other newly changed will be attending." God's voice draws me from my thoughts and I look away from Castiel to give him my full attention.

"Will there be many angels there?" I question.

Priorities.

Cas lets out a soft chuckle. "There should be about 15 people in your class, everyone else will be put into different classes depending on their ages and powers. As you unlock a power, you'll be placed into the class that studies that one power throughly so you can learn as much about it as possible. Then once you've unlocked all of your powers and all of your teachers are thoroughly impressed with how much knowledge you have of them and how well you can control them, you'll be allowed to 'graduate' and become a fully fledged angel. Which means you can do whatever you want, and if you wish, you can still go back to earth to be with your human friend." He informs me, reluctantly moving himself  away from my wings, which allows them to tuck themselves comfortably near my back once more.

"Sounds like great fun." I reply with an unenthusiastic grimace.

God chuckles and Castiel pouts at my reaction.

"I'm sure you'll like angel school more than human school, young one." God states with a gentle smile.

Randomly, my stomach starts to protest angrily about being empty.

Castiel smirks knowingly. "Shall we get breakfast since we're already awake? The others will be waking soon as it's almost 5:30am now."

I nod and God smiles.

"Off you two go. Enjoy your breakfast. I have a feeling Abigail will be the next to change and I want to be there to help her through it, since you didn't make any noise until it was almost too late." God gives me a pointed look during the last sentence.

I give him a sheepish smile.

God waves to us and we wave back as he walks out of my room and down the hall towards Abigail's room, to wait and help when needed.

Castiel and I share looks before grinning at one another and walking out of my room, heading straight for the kitchen to make a breakfast feast for the two of us, and anyone else who's crazy enough to be awake at such an unholy time.