The wind rustled through the trees softly, ruffling the leaves, urging them to dance their soft dance to the winds tune. The clouds above rolled, waiting for the right moment to open up and release its rains upon the land, a raindrop fell to the ground as quick as a bullet, and then another and another. The pace quickened and the wind followed suit, matching with its own power, creating a symphony of their own, the wind cracked violently, the trees shaking at its fury, the dirt soaked up the rain, mud ran over the green grass and the sky lit up with its rage.
From the ground came a soft rumble, hidden under the booming of the thunder, and a pale hand reached up from the muddy ground, fingers spread wide and clawing at the air.
Another soon followed, digging into the wet ground viciously to gain purchase, next came the head, covered in dark rich mud, hair mixing with the mucky substance, sticking everywhere and at all angles. They gripped at the ground, pulling a set of shoulders free, crawling sluggishly forward until they were free from the torso up. Mud caked on a shirt, in the small button holes, and in the folds of the sleeves, mud gathered in the waist line of the jeans they wore, and they crawled forward until their toes dug into the soft soil.
They fell to the side, with a splashing sound, rain pelting down on their head making the caked mud runnier then ever. They reached up with shakey hands, illuminated by the cracking of lightning above, and rubbed fingers over their eyes, wiping mud away as best as they could without merely smearing what was gathered on their fingers to begin with.
Bright purple eyes revealed themselves, shining in the darkness around them, looking around for familiarity of anything. Nothing stood out and they rubbed at their eyes again, smearing mud down the side of their face, not sure how they had ended up here of all places, but not willing to fight it.
The rain slowly washed away the mud, revealing matted brown hair, and boyish features.
He looked around again, frowning slightly at the emptiness of the place, he was the only one there and the only one for miles. Taking a moment to catch his bearings, he slowly pushed himself up to his feet, pale against the contrast of the mud under him, he stumbled at his first step, like a babe just learning to walk for the first time, but quickly caught himself. The next step he made was more careful, cautious, and this time he was successful.
There was no where for him to go, not really, and no one for him to go to. And yet he was drawn to the east. Something was pulling him in that direction, and he stumbled as he turned, walking across the mud covered ground. He didn't know what was there, if there was anything for him in that direction, but it tugged at him. Urging him closer.
And so he walked.
Adam Milligan was free from the cage.
They weren't sure what to think when they'd been woken up as late as they were, but a knocking on the front door, of all things. The banging rang through the bunker, bouncing off the walls, waking the inhabitants in an instant.
Dean threw his door open first, sticking his head out, his fingers already curled around the hilt of a blade. Eyes wide and alert as he tried to check off impossible threats from a mental list as he stepped into the stillness of the hall.
Across from him opened another door, Sam poked his head out, eyes asking the one question shared between all the waking minds, who could be knocking at their door at this hour.
Who knew where their door was at this hour.
Down the hall, both hunters stalking silently, another door opened. Golden eyes blinked once, then twice, and the flash of a blade waved them forward. Gabriel was silent, and neither hunter knew if that was a good thing or not, his eyes held an uncharacterisitc seriousness to them that had the two hunters on edge.
Castiel brought up the end, his door the last they crossed in front of, and he quickly fell in line behind Dean, his fingers gripping his blade tightly. Gabriel held a hand up to stop them in their advance, a warrior at his core, he listened for something that their hearing couldn't pick up and muttered a curse under his breath. He motioned for Castiel to take the left as he took the right, both taking the stairs as silently as they could, the hunters bringing up the rear.
He held a hand up as he stopped in front of door, halting them all in their tracks, he recognized the presence and he was not thrilled. There was no reason, no way for them to be here, and yet they were. Literally knocking at their door.
Dean hunched down as the messenger reached for the door handle, turning it slowly, and tugging it open. They each jumped forward a step, and froze, staring at the sight before them. The rain pelted down, soaking the fronts of those closest to the opening, and the mud dripped down the strangers soaked form. Glowing purple eyes widened at the weapons, and they stepped back slightly, stumbling over their own feet.
The Winchesters made varying but equally alarmed noises of shock, both stashing their weapons away quckly, as the purple eyes came to stay on them, staring intently.
"Adam?"
Eyes brightened considerably at the recognition of the voices, and the sound of his name, and he tilted his head slightly in greeting, looking between both hunters.
"I'm...I'm alone?..."
"Why do his eyes glow like that?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes, not for the first time that night, and turned a gaze on the older hunter. He had once joked that Sam was the smart one, and that wasn't to say that Dean wasn't wise himself, he just wasn't as quick to the delivery from the uptake as Sam was, and he felt like he was at some times explaining things to a child who tried to wrap their mind around something that was just too far out of their grasp.
But he was nothing if not patient.
"Because of the grace that has been twined with his soul, Dean please, I know your not as quick as your brother but do try and keep up."
Adam had taken a shower, in the guest bathroom, and was swallowed in an old shirt of Sam's. He fit in Gabriel's boxers, which was humorous on it's own, and was sitting at the table across from them a ways. Castiel had tried to get closer, and he'd turned a glare on him so intense that Gabriel had reacted, stepping in to tug the younger angel away, watching carefully as the boy returned to the warm broth that had been placed in front of him.
He hadn't really said much of anything else, but according to Gabriel that was fine, his silence told more then his actual words could at this point.
"Lucifer's grace is red, despite his freezing core, thats why his eyes glow as such. Michael's is blue, despite his being hot as fire, Dad thought He was poetic, or colorblind, whatever. What happens when one mixes red and blue?", he gestured to the youngest Winchester (Adam had thrown an absolute fit when he'd said that to his face) , "You get purple."
Gabriel had examined him closer after his shower, his eyes wide in surprise, as he reached out to the boys soul, and two spinning graces snapped back at him, making him jump physically away. He knew why he reconized the feeling before, but it still stumped him, who on earth would they mix their graces like that.
And then to meld it to the boys soul, and for him to show up here like he had, without either one. There was two options that was this was the outcome for, either they had been separated when released from the cage or he was the only one that had been left able to pull themselves completely out.
Either way, it didn't change what they had done, the boy was still a fledgling.
"So..Michael and Lucifer...mixed their graces together and what? Fed it to him?"
"Basically, in simple terms, yes.", Gabriel knelt slightly to get a better look, what had his brothers done, and why had they done it, "They both took a piece of their grace, not too large, but enough that it is able to jump to his defence, and melded it together. That's why its purple." he tilted his head slightly to his right, "In not so many words of course, to actually do what they did is very specific and personal, when an angel mixes their grace it can be for a number of very specific reasons."
Dean rubbed at his chin, nodding along to what he'd explained thus far, watching Sam sit across from their younger brother. The younger hunter was the only one the kid let close enough to him that it wasn't peering at him from the other side of the room, not that it was much better in Sam's aspect though, they didn't say a lot to each other. Adam was being pretty tight lipped about what happened in the cage with Michael and Lucifer, and Sam leaving him, Dean felt the guilt for making that decision but he didn't regret it.
Sam was his brother.
'But so is Adam.'
He shook his head to stop that train of thought where it was. There was no reason to dwell on choices made in the passed.
"How do we take it out."
"You can't.", Gabriel turned to look up at him, still kneeling, and turned just as quickly back to the fledgling, "You would shred his soul if we tried. Whatever their reasoning, they took their combined graces and twined it with his soul, they are one whole now. If you tried to remove one part you could do irreparable damage to the other."
Adam pushed his broth aside, ignoring Sam's soft questions, and locked gazes with Gabriel. The room came to a stand still when they made such contact and the messenger took in a sharp breath. His purple eyes were breath-taking in a way, even for him, and to feel the power from both his older brothers rolling from him as it was was alarming. It would cause the hair on the back of anyones neck to stand up.
The hunter stopped asking his questions when he noticed the boys stare, following it to look at Gabriel himself, but the messenger only paid mind to the fledgling.
"I'm tired."
It was short, soft, and meant solely for the archangel. Gabriel took a moment, shaking himself forcably from his stupor, he nodded once reaching a hand out to him.
"Then lets get you to bed kiddo."
Adam nodded silently, standing from his seat, and side stepped around the table to meet at his side. Gabriel looked down at him a moment, into his eyes, and he reached out with his grace again. This time the response was different, the grace in the boy reached back, and it caressed his gently before retreating to wrap back into the boy's soul once more.
Sam stood quickly, "We made a room u-"
"I want to sleep in his room."
Eyes turned back to the kid, Adam hadn't looked up to meet any of their gazes, fingers curling around the sleeve of the messengers sleeve. Dean pursed his lips and shook his head, that's all they needed, kid was amped up on archangel juice for some reason and now he wanted to bunk with one, no way in-well you know.
"No kid. I made you up a room, nice big bed, warm blankets, you can sleep there tonight."
"I'm sleeping in his room."
Gabriel saw the grace in the boy brighten as his temper kicked slightly, coiling and redy to strike at the offending object causing the boy such distress, he curled a hand around the boys shoulder quickly, before he made the grace snap, and smiled up at the two Winchesters, "It's cool guys, more then enough room, trust me.", he squeezed the boys shoulder once, and watched as the grace cooled again, curling back into the soul.
Dean didn't look like he liked the arrangement, but Castiel placed a hand on his shoulder, and he relented on the matter, throwing his hands up dramatically in a huff.
"Why don't you meet me there? Right down the hall there and to the left, I'll be there in a minute.", Adam looked up at him, purple meeting gold, and he nodded silently, letting go of his sleeve as he stepped off. They watched him go in silence until he disappeared down the hall, and Gabriel turned to look at the boys and his younger brother, face grim, "It might be best for me to keep an eye on him at the moment anyway. Though the pieces of grace they put in him wouldn't do much to their own power, mixing it with his soul like they did, he's super charged. We need to also find out what became of the cage, if he was the only one released, and what became of my brothers."
He turned to peer at the hall that Adam had disappeared down, "He's going to want them.", it was never heard of, not between an angel and a human, but nothing was impossible. Because being as unheard of as it was didn't so much as mean that it had never happened before.
And Michael and Lucifer must have had a good reason as to why they'd do it.
"Why would he want them?", Sam was soft, his voice small, as if he too recognized the piece of Lucifer in the boy. After all his time in the cage and under Lucifer's control it wouldn't be surprising.
Gabriel heaved a sigh, "Because a fledgling usually wants their guardian near, and in his case, his gaurdians."
"You mean...?"
"Oh yea, your little kid brother's not just your little kid brother anymore, they made sure of that. He's now everyone's kid brother.", he nodded at Castiel and himself, "Mine and Cas's. Everyone's. When Mike and Luce mixed their graces with his soul they didn't just give him a super powered battery pack and a cool new shade of eye color," Castiel's eyes widened as it truely dawned on him and Gabriel nodded at over at him, "They made him the first fledgling archangel since before the dawn of Heaven's Host."
Gabriel left them there to digest what he'd just said, not wanting to keep the kid waiting very long, and they exchanged looks once he'd turned the corner.
Baby archangel?
Should it go on? Interested in seeing some Cage!Family? How will the Winchesters react to this 'development'? Adam with Archangel grace is a yes though! And Gabriel is just yes!