Hello my darlings. I would like to thank jjeess001, tardis-impala-221b-merlin and thiscouldbealittlemoresonic for the lovely reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update. You guys are awesome, the response to my first chapter was a mazing, I'm glad you all like my idea.
So anyway here is the next one, I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.
Castiel was exactly where Gabriel had left him, unsurprisingly.
"Hey Cassie, me again." Gabriel sing-songed to his brother. He couldn't wait to see Castiel's eyes light up when he heard the news of his latest assignment.
"Gabriel, what now?" Castiel asked with a sigh turning away from Dean who seemed to have tensed up. Oh now he wanted to be down there to offer him whatever help he could give.
"I've just had words with Mikey, and it seems your Dean-o down there is not playing ball." Gabriel replied trying to hide the excitement he felt for his little brother, at what he was about to give him.
"What do you mean?" Castiel asked with a frown standing up so he could meet Gabriel's eyes.
"He's falling off his path. Michael wants you to be the one who gets him back on it." Gabriel responded he eyes now shining with the glee he was experiencing at being able to prolong the news.
"What? How? Do you know what path he should be walking?" Castiel asked instantly going on alert. If Dean fell from his path too far, they would not be able to get him back, and then he would never reach heaven.
"Since when did dad make anything that easy?" Gabriel responded with a roll of his eyes before he continued. "We have no idea, but as to the how, Mikey wants you to go down there and meet the guy. Guide him and-" but before Gabriel could say any more there was a swoosh of wings and his brother was no longer standing in front of him. Moving to look over the cloud Gabriel watched as his brother appeared at Dean's side. He just shook his head at Cassie's keenness. It seemed the idea of keeping the fact that they were angels a secret was gone now. Probably just as well, he would hate having to pretend to be a human all the time.
With a shrug of his shoulders Gabriel turned his attention to what was happening below. He wanted to make sure he timed his arrival perfectly. After all there really wasn't that many chances he got to proclaim himself an archangel to a human, and he was definitely going for a grand entrance.
Dean lay on the hood of his car looking up at the stars enjoying a well-earned beer. He had been working hard on the house his uncle Bobby had left him and his brother since he had returned from… no, not going there. He was back now, and with Sammy living in the town with his girl, the musty old place was now Dean's home. Which meant he was the one who had to fix the leaking roof and rotting stairs. He was also the one who had to clean out the junk his uncle had been keeping in the upstairs rooms. Then of course he would have to figure out what to do with all the old broken cars Bobby had kept that littered the front of the place. Well at least it kept him busy, stopped him from having time to remember…
He tried to cut off the thought but it was too late. The stars above him blurred into images of the faces of the friends he had lost, of the men he had commanded to their deaths. They made him grit his teeth against the pain that shot through him. The pain and the guilt that he was the one who had caused their deaths. Guilt that he alone had been the one to return from that disastrous scouting mission. Him, the one who should have been leading his men, him who should have been the first to die, or if not, been able to avenge them. But no, he had dragged their bodies back to base, half dead himself and glad that he could die with them.
Of course he didn't. He had survived thanks to the military docs and now he was back home, safely away from the war and the enemy. Fixing up a frigging house. What the hell? He needed to stop thinking about them. He needed to stop remembering this shit, he saw it enough in his dreams, and he didn't need to see it in his waking mind as well.
He needed to break the silence that was surrounding him, suffocating him. He needed it gone. Maybe he should have taken his brothers offer of dinner at his house, but he knew from experience that being round others, even Sammy and Jess, was just as bad as being alone, if not worse. They all seemed to walk on friggin' egg shells and there was the constant question of how he was doing. He didn't need it. He was fine. And if he was completely honest it also showed him all he didn't have, all he would never have.
There was no one he could talk to about what had happened, those who hadn't been there would never be able to understand what screwed up crap was in his mind. And all those that would were dead. He had got them killed.
Rolling over on the car he was about to go and turn on the radio, anything to break the lack of noise, but before he could he heard a strange sound in the night, and suddenly in front of him stood a man. Dean went on instant alert as he took in the scruffy black hair, blue eyes and the trench coat which could be hiding anything.
"Who the hell are you?" He growled while he quickly grabbed the gun he still keep with him at all times.
"I am Castiel, an angel of the lord and I have come to help you Dean." Castiel replied with a smile that he was finally able to talk to the man who he had watched for so long.
"Screw you, angels ain't real." Dean responded with a sneer as he raised the gun and pointed it at the stranger's heart. He wasn't in the mood for dealing with this wacko right now.
"I am very real, I promise." Castiel replied simply though his smile dimmed. He should have realised Dean would take it this way. He had been watching him long enough, he should have known. But he had been so keen to get down to see him, he had not stopped to think about how best to approach the man.
"Get the hell off my land before I shoot you." Dean stated simply while staying completely still with his finger on the trigger, ready to fire at the slightest sign of any aggression.
"Your weapon will do me no damage Dean, but if you would feel better discharging it at me, I give you leave to do so." Castiel responded holding his arms out to his side in what he had seen as the universal sign of surrender among humankind.
"What the-? Leave you son of a bitch, last chance." Dean spat out. This guy was off his rocker if he thought Dean's gun would do him no damage. Dean knew just how much horror a bullet could cause a body, had seen it more than once.
"I am going nowhere." Castiel stared simply. Maybe he should have approached Dean differently, but he was here now, and he needed the man to know he spoke the truth. Needed him to know what he was if he was to help him in anyway.
"Can't say I didn't warn you." Dean replied in a monotone voice his face losing all emotion.
With that Dean pulled the trigger, firing at the man with a blank face. The face of a soldier who had been taught to kill, and who had become extremely good at it. Been extremely good at defending those he cared for and his country.
The bullet shot from the barrel of the gun and lodged itself in Castiel's chest just where his heart would have been. Had he been human he would have been dead on the spot, but he wasn't. Castiel turned and looked down at the hole in his coat curiously while he considered the feeling. He had never been shot before, but it didn't hurt. It tingled slightly, but there was no pain.
"What the hell?" Dean whispered when the strange man just looked at the hole he had made in his coat and then turned his eyes back to him. What was going on?
"I told you Dean, I am an angel." Castiel responded amiably, maybe now Dean would see his words were true.
"Angels don't exist." Dean responded shaking his head. No angels couldn't exist because if they did… then where the hell were they before? Where were they when he watched his friends die?
At his words Castiel knew that nothing he could say would convince Dean that he was an angel. The only way to make him understand was to show him. With that in mind Castiel conjured up lightening which cracked and flickered behind him as he raised his wings making their blackness seen by natures light. Letting Dean see the truth behind his words with the symbol that all humans knew of his kind.
Dean sat there, his mouth fell open and his eyes widened at the sudden lightening storm that seemed to surround him and the other guy. But it was when he saw what the storm revealed that he learnt the true meaning of fear. He hadn't feared the enemy. Nor guns or war or death, but seeing wings twice the size of him and majestic in their blackness coming from the other man's back? That caused a raw fear in him at what this thing could do. Of why it was here.
But underneath it all there was also a curious fascination, a pull towards the danger he could sense from this guy's power. Cos the fact he had power wasn't in doubt in Dean's mind, he had created a friggin' lightening storm from nothing for god's sake. It was the same feeling, the same pull that had driven him to take the most dangerous missions, had made him so damn good at them. It was a feeling he knew so well, and it was a feeling he had been missing in his nice safe life, it was a feeling that reminded him that he was still alive.
"Okay Cassie, enough of the light show. Don't want to scar poor Dean-o for life now do you?" Said a new voice causing Castiel to stop the lightening and turn to the one who had joined him and Dean.
"Gabriel? What are you doing here?" Castiel asked in astonishment. No angels walked the earth, so why was his brother with him?
"You left before I could tell you everything." Gabriel responded with a shrug, though there was also a twinkle in his eyes which made Castiel wonder just what he had missed in his wish to get here quickly.
"Such as?" Castiel asked cautiously. That look, he did not trust it, it always meant Gabriel was up to something.
"That I'll be overseeing your work down here." Gabriel responded with a smirk before he turned his eyes to the human who had been silent while the two angels talked. Castiel also turned his eyes to Dean, seeing his face wearing an expression of shock. He could understand that, he had just learnt angels were real and now he was going to have to contend with the concept of archangels too, and contend with Gabriel.
Dean had been shaken out of his mind when a new voice joined them. He had seen the lightening stop and darkness had surrounded him and the angel, though it wasn't completely dark. I mean after that display he shouldn't be able to see anything, but there was a glow of soft light coming from somewhere. Turning to the new voice he found the source. Because there in front of him was standing a short guy with blond hair and gold eyes, and he was friggin' glowing like a… firefly.
"Who are you?" he finally managed to stammer out after opening and closing his mouth for a few minutes. It was obvious that the angel knew this guy, which meant he was probably one of them too, but he hadn't heard a word they had spoken, he was still in shock. In fact it wasn't until they both turned there strange eyes on him that he found his voice again.
"They call me Gabriel." Gabriel replied sweeping his arms out as if to say here I am, aren't I wonderful, not that Dean noticed. All he could think of was the name, and the only angel he had ever heard called that.
"As in… the archangel Gabriel?" he stammered because seriously? An archangel? This guy was the archangel Gabriel? They had to be shitting him, right?
"The one and only." With that Gabriel snapped his fingers making his golden wings appear behind him and light surround him.
Dean's mouth dropped open once more as the archangel did with a snap of his fingers, what it had taken the angel a lightning storm to do. Show him his wings, which were impressive. He had more than the angel did, and they were gold, they looked like liquid gold the way they shimmered, and yet each feather was defined. But then he noticed Gabriel wasn't just showing his wings, he was surrounded in light, and looking Dean noticed it came from what he could only think to call a halo around the archangel's head, though it was more a brighter spot.
"You believe now Dean-o?" Gabriel asked with a smirk as he watched Dean's face and saw the thoughts flying through his mind. Oh man, he had forgotten how much fun it was to do this. To show the humans the divine and see their reaction.
"Yeah." Dean managed to get out of his closing throat. This was all too much for him.
"Good, then maybe we should take this inside and talk, and have some cake, do you like cake?" Gabriel rattled off letting his display disappear so he was almost normal, glowing just enough to give them all light to see, or more to the point, giving Dean enough light to see. He and Castiel did not need it.
"I prefer pie." Dean murmured as he slid off the hood of his car and found himself following Gabriel to the door of his home.
"Well each to their own I suppose." Gabriel replied after turning to give him a strange look.
With that the three of them, the man, angel and archangel went inside, it was time to sort out why they were all there, and what they needed to do.