Okay, who else is violently denying Kevin Tran's death? Cause I definitely am. Our little Prophet of the Lord is not dead. Definitely not. This fic explains my theory as to how he survived. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.

For Kevin Tran, life is weird. Sam's being weird, Dean's being weird, this whole damn situation is weird. Being a Prophet of the freaking Lord is super weird.

And it's about to get a whole lot weirder.

"Hey, kiddo," a voice behind him hisses. Kevin spins so fast he almost falls. There's a man behind him that he doesn't recognize, a short man with dark hair and golden eyes. "Kevin, right?"

"How do you know my name?" Kevin demands. The man sighs.

"Look, we don't have time for this," he replies. "You just need to trust me. I'm a friend, okay? I'm gonna help you out."

"Like I'm going to believe you," Kevin replies, narrowing his eyes and taking a step back. He's ready to call for Sam and Dean if he has to. The man reaches his hand out.

"Just come over to me, okay? Trust me."

"Why should I?" Kevin challenges. The man sighs again.

"I'm Gabriel. As in, archangel-of-the-Lord Gabriel."

"Yeah, well, so far most of the angels are dicks," Kevin snaps. Gabriel sighs.

"Yeah, a lot of us are, but I swear to you, I'm not gonna hurt you. I want to protect you."

"Prove it," Kevin challenges.

"Fine," Gabriel snaps back, grabbing Kevin's shoulder. A disconcerting feeling trickles through Kevin's body, and somehow he knows he's now invisible. In front of him, a figure shimmers into existence. It's him, an exact copy of him.

"What the-" Gabriel slaps a hand across Kevin's mouth, effectively keeping him from speaking aloud. A moment later, Sam steps into the room.

"Hey, Sam," fake-Kevin says tiredly. There's a pause. "Wait, do you notice anything a little off about Dean lately? Between you and me, I'm a little worried about him." Kevin's eyes go wide. The fake-him was saying exactly what he was thinking. Real-Kevin gives Gabriel a sideways look, wary.

There's something off about Sam; Kevin notices it instantly. "Don't worry about Dean," he says in a stiff voice. "Dean will be fine." Then Sam's hand is on fake-Kevin's forehead and he's burning his eyes out. Kevin almost says something, but Gabriel's hand is still clamped over his mouth, preventing any speech.

"No!" Dean runs into the room. "No, no! Kevin!" Desperate, Dean turns to his brother. "Sam!"

"There is no more Sam," the thing that's not Sam says in an emotionless voice. Dean's pinned to the wall in an instant.

"No," he whispers, the sound catching in this throat a little.

"But," not-Sam says in a pensive (and maybe a little regretful) tone, "I played him convincingly, I thought."

Dean's struggling against the barrier. "How did you-"

"I heard you talk to Kevin Tran tonight," not-Sam explains. "Alter a sigil, even the slightest, alter the spell," he adds, showing the smudges on his fingers. "Sorry about Kevin," he adds. "But ultimately, it's for the best. I did what I had to." Not-Sam takes out a slip of paper with the name Kevin Tran printed on it. He places it gently on not-Kevin's chest. He leaves the room, releasing Dean, then goes up the stairs and out of the bunker.

"Kevin?" Dean asks, his voice dead. Kevin's struggling against Gabriel's grip, but the archangel won't let go. "Kevin," Dean says again, but it's not a question this time. A tear is escaping from his eye.

Suddenly, Kevin's aware that he's visible again. "Dean!"

"Kevin?" Dean looks up in shock. "But how…"

"Hey, Dean-o!" Gabriel says in a mock cheery voice. Dean looks from Gabriel to Kevin, then draws Kevin into a rib-cracking hug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers in Kevin's ear as he practically pins him to his chest. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay," Kevin whispers back. After a moment, he taps Dean's shoulder. "Breathing is also a nice thing, Dean," he tells him wryly. Dean jumps back and almost trips over not-Kevin's dead body. His face pales as he realizes what he stumbled on.

"Oh, I'll get rid of that," Gabriel says, snapping his fingers. Not-Kevin disappears. Dean visibly relaxes, but not much.

"So what the hell's going on with Sammy?" Gabriel asks. Dean suddenly looks very small.

"The angel lied," he says quietly. "He said he was Ezekiel. He said he would help and heal Sammy. But now…" Dean looks at Gabriel desperately. "Was he telling the truth when he said there was no Sam?"

"No," Gabriel replies instantly. "Sam's still in there. Subdued and pushed out of the way, but still there." Dean heaves a giant sigh of relief. "The angel in him? He's bad news. My guess is he's allied himself with Metatron."

"Oh, and by the way, how are you here?" Dean asks, as if the thought has just occurred to him. "And, you know, alive?"

"Long story short, Daddy brought me back," Gabriel replies. "We needed someone to guard the Prophet."

"You've done a great job so far," Kevin mutters bitterly. Gabriel looks at him with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry. I was only returned to life a few days ago."

"So do you still have your wings?" Dean asks. Gabriel grins widely. Shadows appear behind him on the wall, revealing three huge pairs of wings.

"Yup."

"Six wings," Dean says in a voice that seems to imply that nothing will surprise him anymore.

"Yup."

"So what are you going to do now?" Kevin asks. Gabriel shrugs.

"Hang with you guys, I guess," he replies. "We can fix Sammy. Fix the angel issue. Oh, by the way, where's Cas?"

"Um, not sure," Dean replies, looking ashamed again. "He just called. He said he has his Grace back. Sorta."

Gabriel sighs and flutters off. Two seconds later, he's back with Castiel in tow. "Cas!" Dean gasps.

"Gabriel told me what happened. Dean, I'm sorry." To be honest, Kevin is paying a bit more attention to the blood all over Castiel's button-down. Dean seems to be focusing on that too.

"Cas, you okay?"

Castiel looks down at his shirt. "Oh. I was tortured. But I'm alright now." Dean nods slowly. It seems even he isn't totally used to Castiel's blunt ways of describing things.

"Well, we've got some shit to do," Gabriel announces. Kevin lets out a strained chuckle. He has a feeling his new archangel guardian is more interesting than other angels he's met. "Should we pick up where we left off?"