Beginnings
"Gabriel." He sighed. "They call me Gabriel." He hated summoners. Usually the Cult of Loki are okay and after he spread the word a few years ago, they always provide snacks. But this isn't the Cult of Loki and there is Holy Fire surrounding him, which is making him more than a little...wary.
Also, he's a millennia old Archangel...not a three year old whose been let out to play.
"The messenger of God?" The woman confirmed quietly.
He nodded and she noted something down on her clipboard.
"You wanna tell me how you managed to trap me?" He added, a slight edge to his tone. He hadn't even been doing anything.
Well...
Nothing unusual anyway.
She shrugged, settling into her armchair and resting the clipboard on her knees.
"A simple manipulation of the dimensional wavelengths to attract certain free radicals." She said, as though that was supposed to mean something.
He stared at her blankly and she gave an irritated wave, rolling deep brown eyes.
"I made an Archangel magnet." She simplified. The accent was English, clear and crisp in a way he didn't hear very often.
"Huh. Thanks for the chair by the way." He added, perching on the back of his own squashy armchair. He eyed the Holy Fire warily, conscious that he couldn't escape and equally conscious that there was nothing stopping her from entering the circle.
"There's no reason we can't be civilised about this." She argued, before launching into her pitch. It was usually a pitch. People always wanted something from Gabriel. "Now, I am the Watcher, which is a grossly irrelevant title, but also the only name I'm going to give you. I am also an archivist. I ensure, or at least I try to ensure, that things happen the way their supposed to happen. Normally people run along their tracks perfectly fine and their fates are achieved, worlds saved, children born...all that rubbish. Fate and history and time lines all run themselves perfectly. Astropos doesn't have much to worry about. Unless you have free radicals." She drew in a rather large breath after that.
Gabriel did his best to look unimpressed as she continued. It was something he'd practised over time. Kept Raphael in his place.
"Now these people, and they are always people, don't have a predetermined fate. They can change the world." She snapped her fingers and a file dropped into her lap. "Your universe is of particular interest to me..." She sighed heavily. "Would you stop looking at my soul, please?"
Gabriel jerked, refocusing his gaze on the visible spectrum.
"Why are you so sparkly?" He demanded.
She gave an indignant sniff.
"As I was saying..."
"Yeah, yeah. Dimensions...stuff...Basically you think I'm one of these free radicals." He smirked. "Babe, I think you're nuts. All this crap is much more Team Free Will's shitck. Not mine."
She flipped through her folder, frowning.
"You're talking about Sam and Dean Winchester and the Angel of Thursday, correct?"
He nodded.
"Dean Winchester is still in hell at the moment?" She asked, dragging her finger down one page of what appeared to be handwritten notes.
"Baby Cas is on schedule to free his ass next week. He'll be too late to save the seal of course." Gabriel slouched into the chair properly, sulking.
The Watcher chewed on her lip, pulling a quill from nowhere and scratching a note down onto the file.
"That's all very well but none of them are free radicals." She tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "They have their destiny and they will, without any meddling, reach it." The Watcher leaned back, eyeing him carefully. "The Winchesters will save the world. So will Castiel, it'll just take him a bit of time. Their path doesn't change, Gabriel. No one's does either if you co-operate."
"Are you threatening me?" Gabriel asked, amused and slightly unnerved.
She glared at him.
"Hardly. I will, however, give you two options. Burn or live?"
"Me?" Gabriel spluttered, eyes fixed upon the Holy Fire. That would definitely hurt.
"The earth. Your personal fate is up to you." She didn't seem to care what happened to him and Gabriel bristled. "At one point you are going to be presented with a choice and that choice will decide the fate of the world."
"I am not getting in between my brothers!" He protested. "And I tried to stop it! Tried to stop that giant sized moron from falling in with demons. It's not my fault!"
The Watcher just looked at him, before banishing the folder with a flick of her fingers and getting to her feet.
"Seven billion." She told him and Gabriel blinked.
"What?"
"Seven billion. That is the approximate human population of your universe at your point in the time line. That's how many of your Father's creations will die if you don't pull your bloody finger out and come to the right decision!" She snarled at him and Gabriel watched in awe as her soul darkened with her emotions, sparking with something he didn't understand. "Now, I've had a very long day," The circle of Holy Fire around him dropped with a wave of her hand, leaving him in a basic runic entrapment. The wooden door behind him swung open and Gabriel felt some unknown force pushing at him, encouraging him to leave. "You've got almost a year, Gabriel. I hope you make your peace with the world before Lucifer comes for you because, believe me, he will be coming." She forced him backwards, a length of wood poking from one loose sleeve. "Do me a favour, Archangel. You've only got one life. Do something good with it."
Gabriel flew as fast as he could from that haunted warehouse, stretching his wings to their full capacity until he soared across the earth, scorching the ground as he passed. He'd pay for that later, he knew, but for now he just wanted away.
When he eventually stopped, his feet found themselves on a barren, rocky hilltop surrounded by burgeoning storm clouds. Irritated, his wings shook themselves out, feathers fluffing and re-folding so they lay closer to his back. Being trapped wasn't an experience he enjoyed and the very real fear that she'd intended to keep him there had almost choked him. The fact that she'd been human had only added salt to the wound.
Well…mostly human.
Gabriel sat among the raindrops as he thought, expending enough grace to ensure he didn't get wet. Bedraggled wasn't a look he did well.
The power was undeniable. Behind her deep brown eyes, raw energy had sparked her blood, filling the air around her and her hair with her...magic? Gabriel didn't have a better word for it, but her soul, what little he'd glimpsed of it, remained intact and untainted by the stain of hell.
What was she?
Humanoid, certainly, and a fairly pretty one at that, aged at somewhere between thirty and fifty. She was obviously intelligent, clever enough to engage him at least and with enough sarcasm to delight even Balthazar. Her soul was bright with kindness and compassion, although tinted with heart-breaking loss and betrayal. It had almost hurt to look at.
It was another two days before Gabriel moved again and his thoughts had not wandered once. This woman, this "Watcher" was a mystery, one he full intended to solve.
He'd needed a new hobby.
The warehouse was as it had been when Gabriel had fled…no. Not fled. Left.
Irritatingly conspicuous. Dark Victorian brick walls and windows covered with black sugar paper gave it an abandoned air, yet there wasn't one speck of decay to be sensed inside the building. People walked straight past it, none of them glancing twice at the single oak door which was set into the side. Two stylised M's were carved into the wood and he realised that she worked for somebody, had compatriots or even co-workers. He didn't bother with the door -knocking wasn't his style-just flashed himself inside.
This….wasn't right.
Vast swaths of grey concrete met his eyes, a blank space that showed no sign of the woman who was supposed to reside here.
Confused he walked the perimeter of the building, checking for changes she wouldn't have been able to hide in only two days. The hole in the floor where he'd lost his temper before realising escape wasn't possible, the runic circle…none of it remained and there was no sign that it ever had. The only footprints in the dust were his and Gabriel returned to the pavement outside, feeling slightly foolish.
What was the difference between his last visit and this one?
The door.
He'd gone through the door.
Slowly he examined the slab of wood, tracing his fingers over the grain and feeling, ever so faintly, the vestigial remainder of power beyond his knowledge. His fingers closed over the door knob and, slowly, he opened the door. It swung easily on its hinges and brought with it the scent of vanilla, dusty papers and tea leaves.
"I thought you'd be back." A voice called.
Gabriel stared at her, mere meters away, a large mug held firmly between slender fingers, undeniably not a hallucination. The warehouse was back to how it had been, filing cabinets and doors covering the concrete, large, functional lamps lighting the space from high above. The Watcher herself was dressed in an oversized maroon jumper, which covered her jeans and her bare feet tapped against the floor.
"That's why I left the door unlocked." The Watcher added, before turning away and heading off between the rows of cabinets. "Close it, would you? There's a draft."
Gabriel, very carefully, closed the door behind him, but didn't hear it lock. He spread his wings defensively behind him and cautiously followed her.
"What is this place?" He asked.
The Watcher led him to a clearing, which contained a large mahogany desk and several armchairs, two of which he recognised from his last visit. She must have set them out specially.
Kidnapping.
Whatever.
"It's an archive." She told him honestly.
"Of what?" He asked, suspiciously.
"Of everything." She sat down at the desk, setting her mug down on a coaster before waving him towards a seat. "I hope you've decided to be somewhat less defensive today?" She queried.
Gabriel ignored that.
"What are you?"
"That's rude." She chided, moving some of the papers on her desk into a pile. "Going around demanding to know what a person is or isn't. You don't see me asking if you identify as a Norse deity or an Angel, do you?"
"How the fuck do you know that?" Gabriel snapped, angry.
"It's in your file." She told him, as though that answered everything. She pulled a sheet of paper towards her and began making notes in the margins with a pencil.
Gabriel felt himself getting frustrated. He was an instant gratification kind of guy. And this was just infuriating! His wings spread behind him, meters of golden feathers shifting into a position that any bird would read as a threat.
The Watcher looked up from her desk, raised an eyebrow in scorn and went back to her paperwork.
Gabriel's inner fledgling pouted.
"HEY!" He snapped, slamming his hands down on the desk. The Watcher leaped backwards, upright in mere seconds, that slim piece of wood trained on his heart. She wasn't afraid though, merely angry and immeasurably exhausted. But Gabriel was too angry himself to really care what her soul was telling him.
"Listen, sister, you don't get to try and control my life. Tell me what I want to know or..."
Gabriel went flying backwards through the air, the subtle corona of magic which seemed to emanate from the Watcher, now alive and deadly, snapping out in tendrils which plucked at his grace like thorns. He smacked into the wall just above his doorway and felt one extended wing fracture under the impact. He dropped limply to the floor when the pressure dropped.
The Watcher appeared with a small pop in front of him, stick held loosely by her side.
"You can come back when you've learned some manners." She chided as though Gabriel was a fucking child. She shoved him through the doorway and slammed it shut behind him leaving the Archangel in a heap on the pavement.
He jumped as Angel Radio blared into life inside his head, billions of angels repeating the same phrase over and over again.
Dean Winchester is saved!
"Let's get this show on the road then." he murmured.
Gabriel didn't go back.
This woman, whoever she was, was powerful and all-knowing and there was very little Gabriel hated more than not knowing how a story ended. He could time-travel for a reason.
So he kept his distance and she didn't summon him again.
He did stalk the perimeter of her warehouse though.
There was only one door and it never opened. Unless she's had massive food stores in there, there had to be another way out that Gabriel wasn't sensing.
Those doors lining the walls have to lead somewhere, but if they do, its probably not in this dimension.
Actually, he's fairly certain the entire warehouse isn't in this universe, which brings up questions about her power that he really doesn't want to know the answer to.
Eventually he gives up, mostly but not entirely because, he has bigger issues.
The story is going exactly as its supposed to. The demons tempted Sam Winchester into freeing Lucifer from the Cage, Heaven has its vicious claws in Dean Winchester and Gabriel's youngest brother has been led so far astray from the path that he probably couldn't even see it any more.
It was a mess.
And Gabriel just wanted it to stop.
Admittedly trapping the Winchesters in TV Land wasn't his most original idea but he was getting desperate. It was only a matter of time before Michael or Lucifer worked out he wasn't as dead as he was pretending to be and then he'd be in for a whole world of trouble. Lucifer would probably be proud he left Heaven, Micheal would be disappointed which was horrible to sit through and they would both expect him to be on their side.
But if these bozos would just get the show on the road, he could get on with his life.
No problem.
Although his baby brother being following them around like a damn puppy was a pain in his ass.
"Why do you care anyway?" He demanded of the prone Seraph. Castiel was chained to a park railing in a generic mid-west town, the bustle of sit-com traffic blurring behind them.
"Because the world doesn't have to end." Castiel coughed up blood and Gabriel's wings itched. He'd practically raised the fledglings, it went against his nature to allow one of them to be hurt.
This was necessary though, he reminded himself and tried not to care.
"Yeah, it does." Gabriel snorted. "You don't get it. Winning against them? It's not possible. You're too young to remember, Cassie. Together they were unstoppable. Worlds fell to them! And now..." He trailed off, reeling at the memory of the immeasurable force which was his big brothers. Castiel glared up at him, both eyes bruised due to a broken nose. It wasn't healing, because Gabriel wasn't going to give Castiel enough grace to do it with.
"We can't just give in." He snapped.
Gabriel smirked.
"Oh yeah, Team Free Will, right?" Castiel's brow crinkled in confusion and Gabriel realised they hadn't quite reached that moment yet.
Time lines, right?
"Castiel, you're an angel." he scolded fondly. "You don't have free will."
The Seraph struggled further upright.
"But..."
"No. Stop. You're not supposed to be individual, Castiel. None of you were." Gabriel flung his hands up, pacing in front of his prone brother. The Seraph's irritation and fear were so strong that his grace was practically humming with it. Fear and...was that worry?
Angels didn't worry. Not about themselves anyway. Which meant...
"Urgh." Gabriel snapped, disgusted. "Let me guess? Dean, right? That's who you're doing this for."
Castiel flushed, shifting uncomfortably against the railings.
"I don't know what you mean." He stated and Gabriel rolled his eyes. He probably didn't.
Stupid, emotionally-stunted angel.
The Winchesters refused to listen. They wouldn't play their roles and Castiel was stuck on his "Let's find Dad" plan which was just insane. If Dad didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be and Cas would be better off learning that now rather than ending up disappointed like the rest of his children. Leave the fledgling with some faith, at least.
What was worse was that the Winchesters had figured out his true identity.
They knew he was an Archangel.
And if Bozos One and Two knew it would be long until the entire host did.
So Gabriel was going to the only option he had left and no it wasn't one he liked.
The warehouse door seemed to be taunting him, but Gabriel flexed his wings and tightened his grip on his peace offerings. Michael's way of doing things (brute force) hadn't worked, so he was going with Lucifer's brand of persuasion, which in this case included a rather large pile of gifts. (He hadn't had a lot of major influences growing up.)
More flies with honey than vinegar...or Watchers in this case.
The door opened easily and swung clear into the main room and Gabriel stepped cautiously...no, not cautiously...stealthily into the warehouse, closing the door behind him.
He couldn't see the Watcher anywhere, which either meant she wasn't expecting him this time, or she was waiting to attack him from a dark corner. Either way, Gabriel advanced past the summoning circle and into the rows of filing cabinets. He paused by one, reading the faded label.
Shift Records:1992-1999
That told him very little and he resisted the urge to go rifling through it. He was here to tempt, not annoy.
He reached the desk space soon enough and found the Watcher sitting in her chair, a forgotten mug of tea only half resting on its coaster. Her hair fell in a cascade of frizzy curls, hiding her face from view as she scratched away at a piece of paper, pausing occasionally to refill her quill from the inkwell. She didn't look like the all-powerful being who'd thrown him out on his ass. She looked...tired.
Human.
Gabriel cleared his throat and the woman shrieked, leapt a clear foot into the air and banged her knees off the desk. Wild eyes swung up to find him and that damn stick was pointing at his heart again. He tried not to take it personally.
"Hey?" Gabriel offered as the woman panted, catching her breath.
"Gabriel?" She murmured, lowering the stick. She seemed confused by his presence. "What are you doing here?" One hand pushed her hair away from her face and she staggered as she got up, knees buckling before she caught herself on her desk. "Oh, blimey." She added in a mutter, before shaking her head to clear it and trying again. This time she made it all the way to Gabriel and she frowned at him.
"What day is it? I wasn't expecting you until after the TV Land incident."
"How do you..." Gabriel bit back his demands and grinned easily. Falsely. "That was yesterday, sweet-cheeks."
"What?" The woman shrieked, rocking back on her heels. She spun around to peer a calendar pinned to the side of a cabinet. She flicked up a page and Gabriel could clearly see his name written next to yesterday's date. "I lost an entire month." The Watcher whispered, sounding extremely annoyed. "Again!" She added in a hiss. Gabriel tried to peer at the other names scrawled neatly in the boxes, but she flicked it closed before he could get more than a couple of words.
She stalked over to the nearest sofa and collapsed onto it, nose crinkling.
"That's rather irritating." She said, apparently to herself.
Gabriel set his armload of gifts down on the desk, and the noise of crinkling paper caught her attention.
"Oh, right." She mumbled. "You're here." Her eyes caught on the gifts and they narrowed. "What are those?"
"Bribes." He told her cheerfully, tossing her one present. She caught it and shook it gently, before neatly undoing the wrapping paper.
"Chocolate." She murmured, frowning. Carefully, she lifted one from the box and bit into it and Gabriel waited, wings almost humming behind him. "They're good." She pronounced at last and then whiskey coloured eyes were on him again, only this time they're a lot more focused. "What do you want to know?"
Gabriel froze to think about that. This was probably quite unnerving to people who weren't a member of the host, because when angels go still, they go still.
"Where is this place?" He asked at least and she nodded as though that was the right question.
"This is Warehouse 37, built in London mid-way through Queen Victoria's reign. Shortly after completion it was bought by the Ministry of Magic and gifted to the Department of Mysteries in the hope that they would keep their more dangerous experiments out of the main offices." She gave a slight smile. "It didn't. Anyway, at the time they were experimenting with time travel and dimension shifting. Now, dimensions they'd gotten basically down to pat. It was how they managed to fit a department with over a hundred extremely large rooms into an office space which had originally been only 20 square feet." She glanced up at him to see if he was still following and Gabriel blinked at her. "Still, they were intrigued by the idea that there were other universes out there and that they might be able to contact them, or better yet, link those universes to theirs. So they created a point which was outside of the home dimension. A pocket universe existing, to borrow a phrase from someone else, outside of time and space."
Gabriel connected the dots.
"Which is here?"
"Exactly. The doors are portals to the other Universes. That's where the magic is."
Well that...answered his question. It also brought up several more confusing ones. The Watcher seemed to be expecting this because she waved him on when he opened his mouth.
"There's a friggin' huge difference between linking with universes and meddling with them." He told her and she nodded.
"You remember I said they were experimenting with time?" He nodded. "They developed the ability to calculate pivotal turning points in a time line and the radicals which effected their outcome. And of course, being ego-inflated morons, they immediately decided that as they had developed this..." She grimaced and waved a hand through the air, encompassing the concrete floor, worn furniture and filing cabinets. "Awe inspiring warehouse, they should use it to meddle as they saw fit. This entire operation is designed to connect specifically to universes where there is a significant risk of the time line being derailed and having a result which would be to the detriment of the world. My job is to stop this from happening."
Gabriel went still again as he thought this over.
None of this was impossible, in fact he himself could do things that were incredibly similar, just perhaps not on a scale this large.
And it explained why he couldn't fly directly here. He had to pass through the doorway. Which made sense.
He was vaguely aware of the Watcher getting up and heading over to her desk to investigate the rest of her presents.
"So something is going to happen in this time line..." He concluded and she glanced up at him. "And I'm the only one who can stop it?"
"That's about right, yes." She told him brightly before biting into another chocolate.
"Have I already done it?" He asked roughly.
Something in her expression softened and she sighed.
"If you had you wouldn't be here." She told him. "It'll be soon though."
There was silence for a long while as Gabriel digested that.
"What are you?" He asked abruptly.
The Watcher gave him an irritated glare.
"Still rude!" She admonished and Gabriel rolled his eyes.
"Tell me!" He grinned at her winningly. "Please."
The Watcher rolled her eyes.
"Believe me, you are not the most irritating person I've ever met." She warned, setting aside the bag of tea Gabriel had brought after sticking her nose in it and sniffing.
Gabriel sucked in breath in mock shock.
"Hey! That's not possible!"
She ignored his pouting.
"You won't like the answer." She promised. "Now why don't we get on to why you're really here." She returned to the sofa and patted the space next to her. "Sit down and talk."
Gabriel sat but didn't open his mouth. He resisted the urge to gnaw on the arch of one of his wings, a habit he'd thought Michael's disapproval had cured him of millennia ago.
"My little brother's in love." He said instead.
There was a quiet a laugh from next to him.
"Yes." The Watcher agreed, amused. "He is. Not that he knows what it is yet."
Gabriel hummed and then swallowed his pride, which took quite a bit of swallowing and quite a bit of time.
"Do they make it?" He asked quietly, turning to face her. "Cas and...?"
She smiled gently.
"Eventually." She promised. "But that all depends on one thing."
He groaned.
"Me?"
"You."
Gabriel twisted his face in disgust.
"Urgh. What is it I'm supposed to do anyway?"
The Watcher grimaced.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you. You've got to work it out alone. The time line will remain set until you do." She patted his shoulder. "Now, I've got another shift in twenty minutes and you can't be here for that. Off you pop."
The Watcher escorted him to the door. She appeared to be tapping out the individual seconds against her leg.
"Good luck, Gabriel." She murmured before shutting the door behind him.
He'd had enough of this.
Gabriel was not a patient being. Not in any sense. He double checked his angel wards, stretched his wings, all three sets, as far as they'd go and stepped forward.
Gabriel wavered on his feet, waiting for his grace to compensate for the loss time travelling always cost him. Travelling forward was always harder than back.
Slowly, he expanded his senses, drawing the scent of soot and rot deep into his lungs. His grace told him there were...no angels. He couldn't hear the host. Angel radio was silent.
He opened his eyes and and then shut them again in horror.
Devastation surrounded him, the shattered remains of buildings towering over him, streets strewn with rubble, everything covered in a layer of soot and dirt.
This wasn't right. This wasn't what she had promised him.
Gabriel took to the skies, soaring over what had once been his Father's greatest creation.
The humans were in ruin. Most of America had been devastated, the population either scattered or infected with the Croatoan Virus. South America had fallen completely. Europe was in turmoil, locked into a war which was all too human in origin, but spoke of demonic meddling. Asia's vast overcrowding had taken its toll and Croatoan spread like wildfire. The fence line bisected half the continent in an attempt to keep the infected out. Africa and Australia weren't much better.
He went to the warehouse, only to find it had been fire bombed into rubble, leaving only the doorway still standing. The door itself was locked and immoveable. No help was coming from the Watcher.
He looked for his brother, Heaven's littlest angel and found him, a broken mess who spent more time high on human narcotics than focused on the problem at hand. He was sequestered away in a tiny cabin, still pining from a distance for a human who was dead inside.
Finally he went looking for himself, determined to know how he'd let things get so bad.
The only trace of the third Archangel, of the Messenger, of Gabriel...lay in the imprint of three sets of ash stained wings and a dust covered angel blade driven point first into the earth.
"Crap." He whispered.
What do you know that they don't?
Gabriel glowered at the slip of parchment stuck to the door of the warehouse. It started to smoulder around the edges which made him sigh and he yanked the paper down, crumpling it in his fist.
"That's really unhelpful!" He snapped, before spreading his wings and leaving.
What did he know that they didn't?
Lots of things.
He'd been around for millennia. He'd seen all of human existence, he'd seen the birth of the Earth and the Fall of Lucifer. He'd seen Michael seal the Cage around his screaming brother and distribute the keys...
Oh.
Well there was that.
The old gods were gathering.
Which was really a ridiculous thing to call themselves as A) they were younger than Gabriel and B) Some of them were still worshiped.
Also, of all the places they could choose, they picked a motel in mid-America?
Which was just...Tacky.
No, really. The floors were sticking to his shoes.
Loki did not get an invitation, something the Norse Trickster took a lot of offence to. So really, they should've expected him to gatecrash.
What he wasn't expecting was Dumb and Dumber (aka, Sam and Dean Winchester) to be trapped at the same motel. His brother wasn't with them, which was probably a blessing more than anything else. Cas was just dumb enough to get himself killed.
The old gods caught the Winchesters, or ensnared them, he wasn't sure which one was more appropriate, and had them at knife point when Loki made his dramatic entrance.
Because, seriously, how else would he do it?
The surprise on everyone's faces was worth the danger he was putting himself in.
And no, he wasn't a paranoid bastard. There was just something about being stabbed in the chest by his ex-girlfriend which really pissed him off. Dammit Kali.
The door was open this time and she was waiting for him under the lintel.
"This is it, right?" Gabriel snapped and The Watcher nodded. He could feel the Winchester's presence in the back of his mind, tugging at him. "What do I have to do?"
She laughed sadly.
"You've already made your choice." She told him and Gabriel felt the blood drain from his face. "You know what you've got to do."
"I could leave." He cried, grace flaring in panic and fear.
"You know what happens if you do." The Watcher sighed. "I'm so sorry, Gabriel. Really, I am. But this is it." Her eyes were brown and sincere but at the same time completely apathetic.
"How the fuck can you just..." Gabriel clenched his jaw, hands shaking under the strain of his emotions. And wasn't that just the problem. Emotions. "I hate you." He hissed, quietly...angrily.
The Watcher stepped backwards into her warehouse.
"I know." She whispered.
The door closed behind her and this time, Gabriel doubted it would ever reopen.
Time had not been kind to Lucifer. His wings were burnt and broken, feathers missing in large bloody patches. His grace which had once outshone even Michael's, was tainted and made Gabriel feel sick to look at it, to say nothing of the blood which covered his vessel. He landed just before Lucifer could rip the heart out of Kali, shoving the older Archangel back across the room.
"Lucy," He called, taunting his brother, Angel Blade hanging loosely from his hand. "I'm home."
For a moment they just stared at each other, as surprise and wonder spread across Lucifer's face. Apparently no one had seen fit to tell him that Gabriel wasn't dead.
Not that that news would matter soon.
His brother greeted him with open arms, a manic smile across his face, for all that his wings spread menacingly behind him.
"Don't!" Gabriel warned him, stepping backwards. "Guys!" He hauled Kali to her feet, shoving the Hindu goddess towards the Winchesters. "Get her out of here!" He ordered, trying not to take offence to the surprise in their eyes.
Sheesh, think the worst of a guy why don't you?
"Over a girl?" Lucifer pouted, looking disappointed. "Gabriel, really?"
Gabriel cast a casual glance at Kali who was being dragged out the door by Sam.
"Her?" He scoffed. "Yeah, no. Not over her."
His brother beamed.
"Good! I'd hate for you to catch something."
The Winchester's were gone now and something in Gabriel loosened, as disbelief poured in. This was his brother. Lucy wouldn't hurt him.
Don't worry, Gabriel. It'll be okay!
"Don't do that!" Gabriel snapped, slamming up shields which he'd long since forgotten to maintain. He wasn't in the habit of being around the other Archangel's and their particular brand of communication.
Lucifer pouted at him.
"I'm just trying to remind you of how close we..."
"Close?" Gabriel yelled, incredulous. "We weren't close. I followed you around like a puppy until you got yourself kicked out."
Lucifer looked hurt.
"Now, Gabriel." He warned. "You were always my favourite broth..."
"I flashed forward, Lucy!" He shouted, wings snapping behind him.
Lucifer glared at him resentfully. He'd always hated being cut off.
"And you know what I found?" Gabriel lifted his wings defensively. "My own freakin' corpse. And you know who killed me?"
"Gabriel, please." For someone covered in blood and holding a large blade, Lucifer managed to look incredibly innocent. "You know I'd never..."
"Because I don't!" Gabriel snapped. "I could get killed by either of my big brothers just because I chose the other and neither of you would give a damn!" His older brother shrugged. It had happened before, on the rare occasion Gabriel had chosen Michael over Lucifer. Even before the Fall, Gabriel had been constantly played off between his brothers. "So I'm not choosing your side, or Michael's. I'm choosing theirs!"
"The humans?" Lucifer snapped looking both confused and disgusted. Gabriel tightened his grip on his blade. He had to give the Winchesters enough time to get away. Angel proofing didn't work if Lucifer found them just down the highway and they had to read the instructions he'd left for them in the Impala.
"Yeah, Lucy. The humans. Dad's little project." Gabriel felt fear creeping up his spine, grace whirling nervously. He couldn't win this fight, he knew that before it even started.
The Morning Star sighed.
"Don't make me do this, brother." Gabriel thought he sounded genuinely apologetic.
"How about you don't destroy the Earth and I'll back down?" He snapped back, fear making him angry. This was his brother, Lucifer...
I taught you how to fly. Lucifer said wordlessly and Gabriel faltered.
"Lucifer..." He begged, before his eyes caught on the bright blue eyes of Castiel's vessel, visible for a fraction of a second in the mirror as his baby brother flickered into the room, before vanishing as Gabriel's grace repelled him, pushing him away. The wonder boys must've sent him back to see what was happening. Lucifer probably hadn't even noticed his presence. "You're my big brother..." Castiel would be okay, they all would, she'd promised him. "And I love you. But I can't let you do this."
Gabriel snapped his wings open fully, reappeared behind his brother and brought his angel blade down, aiming straight for his brother's heart.
Only Lucifer wasn't there any more. The older angel twisted away from the blade, making Gabriel stumble forward. His brother caught his shoulder and flipped him in mid-air, slamming Gabriel's back down onto the worn motel carpet. Lucifer crouched down by his side, trapping two wings under his feet as he reached for Gabriel's angel blade, pulling it easily from his grip.
"I can't let you go around with this." He murmured, holding the blade carefully in his hand. Wing's thrashing Gabriel fought to get away, but Lucifer simply put more weight on his wing, leaving his brother prone on the floor. "It could kill me, you know."
"This doesn't need to happen!" Gabriel pleaded. "Brother..."
Lucifer sighed heavily.
"You really should have listened to me," He told him, tossing the blade in hand so the point hovered just above Gabriel's heart. The younger Archangel felt very real fear in his heart, terror so potent it clogged his throat, locking his jaw together. Angels didn't go to heaven. Angels didn't go anywhere when they died.
They just...stopped.
"I shouldn't be surprised." Lucifer smiled faintly, still beautiful even in his madness. "You did get your rebelliousness from me."
An idea hit Gabriel, a terrible, horrible idea that would maybe only kill him slower, but he didn't have time. It wouldn't work...
Lucifer drew his arm back, before sinking Gabriel's Angel Blade into his chest and twisting it straight into his heart.
And Gabriel shattered and burned.
An angel crashed, lifeless, in front of the warehouse, wings singed and mangled, vessel still.
The door swung open with a bang and a figure lunged out into the sunlight, dragging the prone remains of an Archangel into the cool dark, before slamming the door and locking it with a thunk.
A/N
So this is my new Hermione/Gabriel crossover.
Please let me know what you think. I'm quite nervous about this.
Next chapter of The Family Business is almost done, A History of Soul Bonds has been nominated for "Favourite Action Fanfic" at the Fanatic Fanfic Awards, which was amazing and the next chapter is in progress.
I am officially on summer holiday so writing should pick up now I'm not avoiding Uni work.
Once Again,
Hood