Dean was the first to wake up, almost twelve hours since the witch hunt. He let out a huge groan as his eyes fluttered open. Cas moved forward eagerly, Gabriel not far behind.
"Cas?" he mumbled sleepily. "Sam?"
"He's fine, Dean," Cas reassured. "He's here."
Dean rolled onto his side and gazed at Sam. Then he blinked, and his eyes focused and got wide. He jolted upright and stared at Sam's wings.
"Why does Sam have wings?" he practically yelled. He looked over his shoulder at his own wings. "Why do I have wings?"
"Dean, calm down," Cas said. Sam stirred on the other bed and Gabriel flew to his side. The hunters eyes opened and he gazed at first Dean's wings, then his own, and finally up at Gabriel.
"How long does the spell last?" he asked, not at all confused like Dean had been.
"I don't know," Gabriel answered. "But I know the spell to reverse it. It shouldn't take me long to get the ingredients."
He got up off the bed after giving Sam a quick kiss and was about to fly away when Dean jumped off his bed, unbalanced and swaying dangerously. Cas held him up and the hunter gazed furiously at Gabriel.
"Wait! You can't just leave! You have to explain this stuff to us! How do we control our wings? Can we fly? What powers do we have? Do we still have to eat? How-"
"Okay, enough!" Gabriel shouted. Dean instantly quieted and Sam flinched on the bed. Gabriel sat down next to Sam and motioned for Dean and Cas to sit on the other one, which they did. "So, what do you want to know?"
"What's the deal with the wings?" Dean asked. Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. If he could just go out and get the stuff he'd need for the spell, Dean wouldn't even need to ask questions because he wouldn't have wings anymore. Still, he scraped together all of his patience and answered the question.
"The wings are exactly like an actual angels'," he explained. "Except you can't make yours invisible, and you can't fly. You can control them just like you would any other body part."
As he said this, Sam and Dean both experimentally spread out their wings as far as they could go in the large room. Sam even gave his a few flaps. A smile graced his lips and Gabriel felt his heart soar. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to leave them with the wings for a few days.
"Do we have Grace?" Sam asked. Gabriel shook his head.
"No, but you do have a few powers. Empathy, telepathy and telekinesis, if I'm not mistaken."
"What?" Dean asked.
"You can read minds, feel emotions and move things without touching them."
"That's frickin' awesome!"
Sam nodded his agreement.
"Do we need to eat and sleep still?"
"Unfortunately, yes. You aren't full angels, you just have a few powers of one."
"That sucks," Sam said. Gabriel patted his leg sympathetically.
"Any more questions?"
"Does this mean that we can see your wings now?" Sam asked. Gabriel and Cas looked surprised at the question. Why would Sam want to see his wings?
"Why?" Gabe asked.
"Why not? I've always wondered what they looked like."
Dean nodded and looked at Cas. The angels looked at each other, confusion laced on their features. Yes, wings were the most sacred part of an angel, but all angels, save for the archangels, had wings exactly alike. And all of the angels in Heaven had gotten used to the archangels' wings, so it had been thousands of years since anyone had displayed an interest in anyone's wings.
"Um, okay, I guess. I don't know if you'll be able to see them, though, so don't get your hopes up," Gabriel said. He unfolded his wings and watched as Cas did the same. They changed the plane of existence they were on to one where half-angels would be able to see them, but humans wouldn't.
Gabriel and Castiel had fully expected Sam and Dean to not be able to see anything, so they were not prepared when the hunters let out small gasps. Gabriel looked at Sam and found him staring at his wings with wide eyes.
Gabriel had to admit, his wings were glorious. Out of all of the archangels, his wings were the most beautiful and grand, no doubt thanks to God wanting his Messenger to reflect the glory of the word of God. At least, that's what Gabe assumed.
Six golden wings were spread lazily around the room, all sprouting from Gabe's back. They shone with Grace and were almost fourteen feet each in length. They were magnificent. Sam ran his fingers through the soft plumage and gently pulled out a loose feather.
It was extremely soft and strangely metallic at the same time, something Sam would have thought to be impossible. As he watched, the feather began smoking and he quickly dropped it onto the floor, where it dropped and left the imprint of a feather burned into the wood floor.
Sam looked down at Gabriel and smiled.
"Your wings are amazing," he said.
"Thanks, kiddo."
Across the room, Dean was staring in awe at Cas' wings. He had two, like most angels, but his were pitch black. They shone and rippled under the light as they moved, and Dean was entranced.
He reached out a hand and ran it over the feathers. They were every bit as big as Dean had thought they would be, if not bigger. Each one was ten feet long, the same size as his and Sam's.
"Cas?" Gabriel said from across the room, drawing in his wings loosely to his back. Dean did the same with his own wings and found it to be a really comfortable resting position for his new limbs. "Why are your wings black?"
Gabriel sounded off, concerned and a little scared. It was odd. Cas looked down, as if embarrassed.
"When I pulled Dean from Hell all those years ago," he mumbled, "my wings were covered in a strange ash that won't come off."
"I got to admit, Cassie, those are some pretty badass wings you've got. They match your hair." Castiel looked up and Gabe winked at him, earning a small smile from his little brother. "Right, now that questions have been answered and wings have been viewed, I'm going to go get the stuff for the spell."
He gave them a little wave and flew off. Sam and Dean were shocked when they actually saw the wings flap before he disappeared. They looked at each other, then at Cas. They shrugged at each other and headed out of the room.
The house they were in was huge, bigger than any mansion they had ever seen. It didn't take them long to get lost, and Cas was no help, just following them around and not offering to lead them.
"Damn Gabriel and his frickin' huge house!" Dean shouted when they found themselves at yet another living room. Sam felt something hot slam into him and he gasped, stepping back instinctively. Weirdly enough, he automatically knew what it was.
"Dean, please calm down," he said in a strangled voice. "Anger hurts."
"What?" Dean asked, not understanding.
"Empathy, remember? I can feel your emotions and anger hurts."
"Shit, sorry Sammy." Dean took several deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. Sam released the breath he had been holding and turned to Cas.
"Cas, can you take us to the kitchen? We've been trying to find it for like, twenty minutes and you haven't really been helping."
Cas started as though he had been lost in thought. "Apologies, Sam," he said, and flew them all to Gabriel's huge kitchen. Sam and Dean wasted no time in raiding the fridge. They weren't surprised that there wasn't one healthy food item anywhere, but Dean didn't care as Gabe had a huge stock of pie.
They ate until they could barely move, though Sam was careful to eat the more healthy things Gabe stocked up on specifically for him. Sam leaned forward so that his elbows were resting on the table and his head in his hands.
"What do you want to do?" he asked Dean. The two of them were sitting in the dining room, evidence of their feast still scattered across the table. Castiel had gone somewhere else in the house, saying something about Gabriel asking him to feed his dog. Sam had never seen the dog, but with a house that big, it wasn't that surprising.
"I dunno," Dean answered. "Maybe we could-" he cut off at the sound of a huge crash somewhere close by. The two of them instantly shot up and reached for their pistols, hunter instincts kicking in.
Hurt blood pain pain wound knife hurt pain blood wound stabbed need help help help
The strange, fragmented sentence appeared in both of their heads and they paused outside of a door, where they could hear something moving around.
"Did you hear that?" Dean asked. Sam nodded. "Who was that?"
"I think it was Gabriel," Sam answered. "I think we were reading his thoughts."
It took a moment for Sam's words to fully sink in, but when they did, four eyes went wide and two mouths shouted "Shit!"