Author's Warning: Have a tissue box nearby.
Chapter Three
C is for Crying
He had been nearly halfway across the world, recuperating from recent events, when he heard it. The faint cry of another angel. Normally, he would have ignored it. Except he recognized the voice of that of Castiel. The only angel who currently knew he was still kicking around.
Gabriel spread his wings and flew. He landed in a warehouse somewhere in Ohio. A small sound drew his attention to a corner of the room. With his wings flaring up in alarm, Gabriel quickly darted to his brother's side.
Castiel was crumbled on the ground. His clothes were all bloodied up and in tatters. His face was scratched up and equally bloody. One eye was almost completely swollen shut. Upon closer inspection, Gabriel realized that one of the younger angel's wings was broken.
"Cassie? Castiel?" Gabriel called softly as he reached a hand out.
Castiel turned his head at the soft touch to his cheek.
"I…I am fine…brother. Find…f-find…Dean…Sam."
Gabriel rolled his eyes, but stood up and went in search of the brothers. It only took him a few minutes to locate them.
And he wished he hadn't.
The brothers were in worse shape than Castiel. Their bodies looked like broken marionettes. Red covered the walls and floors. There was no evidence of who or what had done the damage. Sam was cradled in Dean's arms, but neither brother was moving. Gabriel slowly approached.
He was shocked when Dean blinked his eyes open and squinted up at him.
"S-S…S-Sammy?" Dean mumbled.
Gabriel touched a hand to Sam's face. He shook his head slowly at Dean's question.
"He's gone," Gabriel murmured.
A lone tear fell down the hunter's cheek. With the weak turn of his head, Dean pressed a kiss to top of his brother's head. He hugged his brother more firmly as he mumbled apologies. Gabriel glanced down and realized that Dean was losing blood fast. He reached his fingers up to the hunter's forehead, but a croaky No stopped him.
He shifted his gaze back to Dean who now had several tear streaks down his face, smearing the wet red on his face.
"I…p-promised S-S-Sam…my. I'm not g-g-gonna…leave 'em," Dean explained, his voice beginning to crack.
Despite wanting to heal the man, Gabriel granted the dying man's wish and didn't. He stayed with him as his breathing slowed down. Before he took his final breath, Dean whispered a final message to the archangel.
"Tell Cas…'m sorry."
When the foggy green gaze of the hunter closed and the last breath was taken, Gabriel let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He made a silent vow to come back for the hunters after he saw to his own brother.
He found Castiel where he had left him except he was now curled into himself with his one good wing wrapped around his body. Gabriel didn't have to be close to know there were tears streaking down the angel's face. There was no doubt in his mind that through the profound bond between the angel and elder Winchester, he had felt the moment the hunter had passed.
Like the older hunter having comforted his younger brother so many times, Gabriel pulled Castiel into his arms. The younger angel buried his face into the archangel's chest, clutching his shirt and sobbing his heart out. In the rare times that an angel cried, it was a very heart-wrenching sound. The pain resonated deep from within their Grace, breaking out in waves with nowhere else to go.
Gabriel could hear the mother of all thunderstorms crashing down around them outside. No one – angel, demon, or other – would be able to get anywhere near the area. He spread out his wings and wrapped them around himself and his baby brother. He reached out with his own Grace to further wrap around Castiel and comfort him at a deeper level.
The little angel's Grace responded and merged the connection. Despite the height difference in their vessels, Castiel made himself impossibly smaller in his older brother's hold.
"Everything will be okay, Castiel. They're not in pain anymore. They can move on finally," Gabriel whispered.
Castiel rubbed his face against his chest, smearing the mix of liquids across his shirt.
"It hurts, brother. It hurts."
Gabriel was starting to crumble. He had been determined to let the Apocalypse play out and let his brothers have their vessels. He didn't understand how they weren't there before the two brothers had died. Until he accidentally picked up snippets of Castiel's thoughts. The burning into their ribs would have assured that the two archangels could not locate or know anything was wrong.
Gabriel didn't know how long he sat there comforting Castiel nor did he care. He would stay forever if that meant the angel's heart would stop breaking.
/…/
The Apocalypse didn't happen. Events unfolded where Lucifer was lured to a location and ambushed by the Winchester brothers back into his cage. Michael arrived only after the cage had been slammed shut. He didn't understand what had happened until Sam snapped his fingers. In place of the Winchester brothers now stood Castiel and Gabriel. Castiel turned away from him, his wings folding in around him.
"How?" Michael asked.
Gabriel drew the other archangel's attention to him.
"They're dead, Michael. Your vessel. Lucifer's. Both of them," Gabriel explained.
Michael frowned.
"How?" Michael repeated.
"Does it matter?" Gabriel asked.
Michael glanced over at the silent angel. He had always known Castiel as a strong soldier angel, but here he was keeping himself shielded from the archangel. When he spoke, it was in a quiet murmur and it was directed not at him, but at the shorter archangel.
"Gabriel, I wish to leave."
Gabriel tilted his head to the side while glancing between the angel and archangel.
"Okay, Castiel. We'll go."
Without another word from either of them, the duo disappeared. With a silent sight, Michael spread his wings and returned to Heaven. He would set to it that no angel bothered the Winchester's in their little piece of Heaven.
As Michael departed for Heaven, Gabriel and Castiel laid out in an open meadow with only the flowers and stars for company. Castiel laid curled into a ball with his head resting on his brother's shoulder. It hadn't taken him long to break down into silent sobs and cry himself to sleep. He had been doing it a lot lately, but Gabriel couldn't find fault with it.
The angel was grieving for the charge he let down and for the brother he had promised his charge to equally protect. Gabriel knew, in time, Castiel would feel strong enough to return to Heaven to see the brothers. He would stay with him now and when that day came.
Author's Note: I have just got to say that writing this had me taking more than one break to keep from crying myself. I was choking up with what I was writing because the images become so vivid in my head. Sorry if ending kinda sucks.
