Title: Supernatural Omens
Author: TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: There's Dean and Sam and Cas, plus Gabriel. Then there's Crowley and Aziraphale, who have fought apocalypses before. Maybe Team Free Will 2.0 has a better chance than anyone thought.
SUPERNATURAL OMENS
Chapter Three: Conversations
Gabriel was gone for a week, before turning up again unexpectedly.
It sort of reminded Sam of that line in the Narnia books, about how Aslan wasn't a tame lion, which was pretty geeky even for him, and which Dean must never, ever hear him say. It was pretty amusing to picture Gabriel's face, though, if Sam had ever mentioned the concept of a 'tame archangel' – because if one existed, then it had to be Gabriel, despite his come-and-go habits. Tame in the half-feral way a lot of cats were, maybe, but Gabriel was still coming around for food and opportunities for ego-strokings, wasn't he?
Okay, Sam had officially weirded himself out with that one.
As usual Gabriel appeared right behind Dean, with an upbeat "hey, boys!" and an amused grin as Dean bounded forward in shock.
Castiel did much the same thing whenever he appeared, only with less evident enjoyment, and Sam had occasionally wondered if in fact all angels did have a sense of humour, and they all got a kick out of startling Dean.
Sam did have to admit, it was kind of funny.
"We need to get you a bell or something," Dean complained, which fit right in with Sam's thoughts of Gabriel-as-kitty from earlier, making him snort.
Gabriel assumed an air of injured innocence.
"I try and help you out, and this is the thanks I get?"
For some reason Gabriel had always tried much harder to wind up Dean – although weirdly, Sam was pretty sure it was actually an affectionate thing.
But then, given the number of times Dean had flushed the toilet while Sam was in the shower or put dye in his toothpaste when they were kids, the idea of tormenting someone out of fondness wasn't that hard to accept.
"Where've you been, anyway?" Dean wanted to know.
"Visiting that pal of Crowley's," Gabriel responded. "Aziraphale."
"How'd it go?" Sam asked curiously.
"I think I might be able to talk them into joining our side," Gabriel said, frowning a little. "My little brother's smarter than he looks, though, and Crowley always looks for an ulterior motive, I think. I'm pretty sure he knew I was there for a reason. Little bastard."
Sam and Dean glanced at each other at the sour note in Gabriel's voice.
"What'd he do?" Dean asked, a little too eagerly.
"Oh, Crowley just likes to press people's buttons, that's all," Gabriel said lightly. "He was always a bit annoying, and being a demon for six thousand years hasn't improved his personality any."
"Uh-huh," Dean said, his face skeptical.
"Right," Sam said, just as doubtfully. Whatever Crowley had done, it had annoyed the archangel more than he wanted to let on.
Gabriel huffed and rolled his eyes.
"He wanted to know where I'd been the last thousand years, and asked some pointed questions about why," he elaborated. "No big."
"You said Crowley was always annoying," Sam frowned. "What was he like, when he was an angel last time?"
Gabriel had to sit back and think about that one.
"I always had more to do with Aziraphale than Sachiel, not that I saw much of either of them. Sachiel was a cherub, which is kinda mid-way through the angelic hierarchy, while Aziraphale's a Principality, which is just a bit below the seraphim in general," Gabriel explained. "From what I remember, Sachiel got bored really easily, and was always sort of anti-establishment – oh, he'd do what you told him, but he was impertinent about it and was always asking questions about exactly the kind of things you didn't want him thinking about. Bit like Dean, actually."
Dean looked as though he wasn't sure whether to smirk, or be displeased at the comparison with the irritable angel.
Sam smirked.
"So, no surprise he followed Lucy, really. Aziraphale, on the other hand... back in the day he was a pretty formidable opponent with a sword. He was always a compassionate guy, and with morals of steel, one of the upright obedient ones, but he had this soft spot... Look, you ever hear about the Guardian of the East Gate?"
"No."
"That's one of the angels who guarded the Garden of Eden, isn't it?" Same asked, shooting Dean a look.
"That's right. Good memory you got there, Sammy. Well, Aziraphale was the Guardian of the East Gate when the whole thing with Adam and Eve went down, and no one noticed right away, but eventually some one realised that his sword had gone mysteriously missing, and Aziraphale was being weirdly cagey about it."
This sounded interesting.
"Apparently Father himself even came down to ask about it, and Aziraphale said – get this – 'I had it here only a moment ago, must have put it down somewhere.'" Gabriel's face reflected his incredulity at the obviousness of the lie. "Father just looked amused and didn't ask again, I'm told, but I heard later that someone worked out that Aziraphale had given it to Adam and Eve before they were tossed out, to give them some protection against the big bad world."
"So what you're telling us," Dean said, looking a little amused and a little at a loss, "is that Aziraphale's just a big softy?"
"No," Gabriel said, with unexpected vehemence. "What I'm telling you is that he'll always do what he thinks is the right thing, even if it means being sneaky and disobeying direct orders. Dean, he gave away his sword, and lied to God about it. That, right there, tells you everything. Yes, he can be a bit of a soft touch, but he's not a wimp."
"So what we might have, if they agree to help us out," Sam summarised, "is a rebellious angel who hates authority and was a demon for a while before deciding to swap sides again, and an angel who usually follows orders, but has the balls not to if he thinks they're wrong?"
"Pretty much," Gabriel agreed.
"Awesome," Dean decided.
For once Sam genuinely couldn't tell whether he meant it, or what being sarcastic.
"Well," Sam sighed, "they'll fit right in, I guess."
