"I think it must be Gabriel's Horn of Truth." Dean stated as he turned the horn in his hands. Sam sat next to him, keeping an eye on the possible weapon. Dean looked at the edge, and ran his fingers over the Enochian symbols carved into the bottom.
The instrument almost screamed of powerful magic, but neither of the two brothers wanted to put it down. They had recently found the horn, in an old stash they believed belonged to the late Bela, and it was the only object they took away from other evil objects.
They burned every other artifact.
"Should we call Castiel?" Sam asked. "If it's an angelic tool, we probably shouldn't be touching it."
"I've done my research on this, Sammy." Dean replied. "I did a lot of research waiting for Castiel to show up last time. He came for this, but now I want to know the truth."
"So...we're not calling him?" Sam asked, this time sounding indifferent. Dean smiled, it was certainly one of the benefits to having a brother with no soul. There were fewer arguments when Dean did something he knew was unethical, because to Sam things simply needed to be logical. For whatever reason, payback on Cas seemed perfectly logical.
"Only if it's through this horn." Dean replied, feeling reckless.
He lifted the instrument to his mouth, remembering his scattered high school days where he tried playing the trumpet for a brief period, and blew.
The song that came out sounded raspy, quiet, and after a pitiful melody Dean put the horn down. Dean immediately knew it had nothing to do with his own playing skills, but something powerful behind the instrument prevented him from playing it with any quality.
"Well, that was uneventful." Dean said, and Sam shrugged. Dean placed the horn in the back of the Impala and turned the ignition.
As they drove the Impala, which had a new dent on the front that Dean constantly complained about, a sweet melody began to play. It grew louder until Dean slammed on his brakes and clamped his hands over his ears in agony. Before long, he habitually turned his eyes down and away from a light that began to form within the car.
Just before Dean's eyes closed, he noticed Sam turning to the back of the car. "Sammy, look down!"
Sam ignored Dean. After being Lucifer's vessel for a period of time, as well as having no soul that could be burned, he knew an angel's untethered presence wouldn't burn him the way it once would have. He could withstand the noise just fine, the light wouldn't be much worse.
A moment later, Sam shouted. "Dean! Holy freakin mother of nutters! Dean, look!"
Holy freakin what? Right, he has no soul to understand the embarrassment he should be feeling after that. Dean thought briefly before opening his eyes. The light was brief, only a flash that had died out as quickly as it came. He turned to the back of the car, following Sam's line of sight. Sitting there, obviously dazed, sat Adam.
"Adam?" Sam asked, looking at his half-brother in shock. Adam's eyes slowly lifted to Sam and Dean's face. Adam raised an arm and looked at it, before groaning loudly.
Sam looked at Adam's clothes as well, realizing they were old. Adam was wearing a jacket and pants made of well-worn leather, a light tan color that looked completely authentic, and very uncivilized.
When Sam looked at Adam's face a second time, he realized there were more differences that he should have already picked. Considering he was an exceptional hunter, he should have realized what was wrong immediately.
Adam's hair was longer, blonde, and everything that was not tied back in what looked like a primitive knot of rope curled in tight rings against his head. And his eyes. They were a clear blue, very unlike the hazel Sam remembered Adam having.
And the black streaks across Adam's left eye were definitely not there before the apocalypse. They started at his temple, and it looked as if they had been tattooed to look like scars moving across his eyes.
All in all, this Adam looked both primitive and wicked.
"You're not Adam." Dean said after a moment, drawing Sam back to the present and focusing his attention on the new situation. "Michael?"
"No." The boy said. He looked drugged as he looked around the car, trying to get his bearings.
"Then who are you, angel?" Dean snapped, frustrated at the angel's slow mental processes.
The angel looked down at his worn leather pants, and both brothers noticed the matching leather boots that looked as primitive as the rest of the angel's outfit.
"I told you guys. Well, I think I did." The angel lifted his head with a struggle, and rubbed his eyes as if to clear whatever cobwebs were fogging his brain. "I was in witness protection. Obviously not anymore, but you mutton-heads should get the idea."
"Gabriel." Sam and Dean said together. They looked at each other briefly, before turning back to the previously dead angel.
Sam recovered first, of course. "You're not the Gabriel we know."
"I don't look like the Gabriel you know." Gabriel muttered. "And I have to say, I'm surprised that is surprising you. Trust me, babe, I'm gonna change right back when I can."
The archangel paused, looking at Sam a little closer. "What's wrong with you?"
"He lost a piece of him in Hell." Dean replied sarcastically. "His entire soul, actually. While you were down there, did you see it hanging around?"
"Why would I go to Hell?" Gabriel asked, feeling as slow as he was. "Oh wait, I get it." Gabriel's eyes didn't leave Sam, though, and he squinted slightly. "Why don't you get it back for him?"
"You're kidding, right?" Dean asked. "If it's so easy, why don't you get it yourself?"
Shocking them all, Gabriel nodded. "Okay."
With that, Gabriel shifted to the side of the car and leaned in the corner, letting himself slump in what appeared to be a half-drugged coma.
Dean didn't want to place any hope on a former Trickster, and Sam wasn't capable of hope, so they didn't acknowledge the conversation. There wasn't much for Sam and Dean to do with an out-of-it angel, so they quietly started the car and drove to the next motel.
"Now we call Cas?" Sam asked. He knew Dean was having trouble with his friend. Every time the two friends met they were practically clawing at each other's throats. Cas had a war he needed to take care of, and Dean had a brother he was constantly looking after.
"Not yet," came Dean's expected reply. "We've never called Cas before when it came to Gabriel or Trickster matters. We can handle this one on our own too. Castiel is probably too busy anyways, he can come himself when he has the time."
The two brothers looked at Gabriel slumped in their back seat. Sam glanced between the Impala and the motel room. "Should we leave him here?"
"No." Dean gave Sam an incredulous look. "We're not going to leave something in my car that has the potential of hurting it. I already have a dent on the front of my poor baby, I'm not going to let anything else happen."
"Huh." Sam said. For the millionth time since Sam came topside, he was wondering about the soul thing. Does this mean that a car takes higher priorities than an angel? Or just in this case? "So what do we do with him?"
"We keep an eye on him. Maybe put him in a ring of holy oil for the night while we get some sleep." Dean rubbed his face. "Scratch that. He's sleeping on the floor in our room. I'm not going anywhere else tonight to sleep, we'll have to risk it."
Together, they pulled Gabriel out of the Impala, draped his arms over their shoulders, and dragged him into the motel room.
Gabriel finally woke up when they entered the door. "What happened?"
"We blew your horn. I'm guessing that's what caused all this." Dean said. "You have any answers with that?"
"Yes." Gabriel answered, and a nasty look crossed his face. "You're jerks."
A fire rose up in Dean and he let go of Gabriel. The angel slumped toward Sam, too weak to carry himself at the moment. Dean walked to the bathroom sink, splashing water on his face, before turning back to Gabriel.
"Excuse me?" Dean asked. He flipped on the lights while Sam lowered Gabriel to the ground. "Are you blaming us for this?"
"How dare you touch it." Gabriel snapped. "I was dead, and perfectly fine with that. You brought me back, you foolish dog. How dare you go anywhere near it, you flee-infested monkey?"
"Well excuse me, ugly, but I certainly didn't blow into your horn thinking I'd bring you into my life again." Dean snapped back.
"You careless, egotistical, stupid buffoon!" Gabriel snapped, and for a half a second both Dean and Sam could see a look of anguish cross his face. He quickly replaced it with a scowl. "I did what I needed to do for your war, so why couldn't you just let it be over!"
Sam leaned against the wall, indifferent to the raised voices around him. When pure emotions were involved like this, Sam didn't really understand, or care, what happened. Logically, having Gabriel back could be a good thing. The archangel certainly proved himself to be a helpful asset in the past.
"Where is it?" Gabriel demanded, more than asked, obviously looking for his horn.
"The horn? We're not giving it to you." Sam stepped in. "We haven't verified that you are who you say you are. Until then, we must assume you are tricking us."
"You never verified it before."
"Castiel verified it. Before that, it didn't matter if you were telling the truth. Now it does." Sam pointed out.
"We could call Castiel." Sam turned to Dean once again. For a moment, Dean seemed to be considering it.
"No." Both Dean and Gabriel said at the same time. Sam and Dean looked at Gabriel. He looked at them, almost pleading. "I can hear the angels talking about this new war. I don't want to be taken in again. This war is purely between angels, and I don't want to fight anymore."
"How long before you get your strength back?" Sam questioned, wondering how long they might be stuck with the archangel.
"Considering my substantial experience with coming back from the dead?" Gabriel said mockingly. After a moment, he frowned. "Actually, I do have experience with that. It'll be a week, tops, before I'm at full strength."
"Well then." Dean clapped his hands. "We wait, and figure things out."
The two brothers pulled a cot out of the closet for the archangel to sleep on, he seemed to need it in his weakened state. Nobody mentioned Gabriel's earlier half-dazed agreement to find Sam's soul, and Dean tried hard to not feel the heavy disappointment when he realized it was never an agreement at all.
Regardless of whatever happened, Sam and Dean knew it would be a long week.
A/N: I hope you all enjoy the first chapter. I'm a huge sucker for Gabriel, and I know I'm going to have some fun with this story. It's gonna be a little crazy, because I'm just going to have fun with the characters, but I hop you like it!
Please Read and Review!
