A/N Apologies for the long wait for an update. An number of life things intervened, including some health issues which I'm only now getting on top of again. Updates should be more regular from here on out. Thanks to everyone who has kudos'd, followed, favorited and commented. You guys are the best.
"I don't know how we're going to survive."
Sam jerked out of the half-doze he'd fallen into on the large comfortable reclining chair Gemma had brought him. His eyes flew to Dean's face, hoping against hope that it was his brother who'd spoken. But after a moment to reorganize his thinking, he realized the voice had come from the bond. Gabriel. Oh, shit, Gabriel was in trouble and there was nothing he could do!
He could feel pain and distress echoing through the bond and the anguish of being powerless to do anything was almost unbearable. He gasped, his chest tight and tears fell from his eyes. A hand landed on his shoulder and gripped it in sympathy. He looked up into the sorrowful eyes of Crowley.
He jerked away from the demon in shock. "What's going on?"
"I don't know for sure," Crowley said heavily. "Balthazar and I aren't bonded. But we can communicate a bit, mostly feelings and pictures rather than anything coherent. Things are bad, Sam."
"How bad?" Sam gasped, the knot in his chest getting tighter.
"Michael's insane and he's drinking the Grace of other angels to survive, as far as I can tell," Crowley said with distaste. "Balthazar and Gabriel are his prisoners and I expect he's considering them an all-you-can-eat buffet right about now."
"How can you joke at a time like this?" Sam demanded, agony seeming to punch a hole in his throat.
"It's a defense mechanism," the demon admitted. "I'm in love with that half-witted angel, more's the pity. And he's going to die and there's nothing I can do."
"What am I supposed to do about it?" Sam grated.
"Well, you're not going to like it," Crowley admitted. "But I hear Zurvan made you an offer, a few days ago. To go back and fix this?"
"Yes," Sam snarled. "How the Hell did you know about that?"
"Because I told him." Zurvan's voice floated into the room.
Sam looked up and she graced him with a sympathetic smile. "I know it hurts, Sam. Michael is draining Gabriel of Grace as we speak and the trauma is echoing down the bond. He's trying to shield you but he's getting weaker and soon he won't be able to do it any more."
"And then he dies?" Sam croaked.
"And then he dies. And then Balthazar dies, and Michael continues to consume all of Heaven. Once it's all gone, I don't know what he'll do. This is not what I had in mind."
"What went wrong? I thought you were happy with this outcome." Sam said bitterly.
"Lugh," she said with a twist of her mouth. She shook her head. "Castiel miscalculated when he didn't warn Lugh about the consequences of taking on the Map of the Heavens."
"Would Lugh have believed him anyway?" Sam asked. "You forget, I was there."
"Perhaps you're right," Zurvan said. "So, are you willing to take me up on my offer?"
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to do," Sam choked.
"It's complicated, I'll be honest with you," Zurvan said. "It has to do with how you got here in the first place. Castiel was killed by a being known as the Darkness. I had already been trying to convince him to travel back in time and make some changes. Castiel's death provided me with the leverage I needed."
"I remember him mentioning that, but he said you lied to him. He thought he was going back to kill some angel called Metatron. But you sent him all the way to when he crawled out of Hell."
"A miscalculation," Zurvan said smoothly. "I didn't think he'd want to relive your demon-blood addiction again. So I lied. And he failed, you still let Lucifer out of the Cage. So I took him back to his time, but although Castiel was alive, he was still unhappy. Apparently you were hosting Lucifer in that timeline."
"I was what!" Sam said, horrified.
Zurvan shrugged. "Time manipulation is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."
"Who the fuck are you, Forrest Gump?" Crowley said in amusement.
"Dean begged me to send him back again. So I brought him back to where Lucifer had risen and you were unceremoniously dumped on that airplane." Zurvan sauntered over to Dean's bedside and trailed her fingers over his cheek, an affectionate look on her face. "He did so much better this time. I told him he needed to keep Gabriel alive at all costs, which he managed for a time."
Sam's vision began to dim, and he fell forward from the chair onto his knees. "H-h-he's dying now, isn't he?"
"Yes. We're out of time, Sam. Make your decision."
"I don't even know what I'm choosing," Sam said desperately.
The lights flickered and Zurvan hummed to herself, her eyes still locked on Sam. The building vibrated slightly, as though a large truck had gone by and if the demigod's eyes hadn't flared wide with alarm, Sam probably wouldn't have paid it any mind. A boom loud enough to make the windows rattle and set off alarms on some of the more sensitive pieces of equipment could be felt through the floor and Sam turned to Crowley for some kind of explanation. But the demon looked equally as confused and slightly worried.
"What is that?" Sam breathed.
The next sound was almost indescribable, as though it resonated at frequencies far below human hearing, but the building seemed to pulsate with it and Sam began to wonder if it was an earthquake. He'd experienced a tremor or two at Stanford, but it had never been anything like this. And then the lights went out. There was pandemonium. Some people had screamed when they were plunged into darkness. Sam could hear staff moving around and yelling for flashlights and wondering aloud why the emergency generator wasn't coming online.
Eventually, someone must have done something because weak red lights began to illuminate, bathing everything in a ghastly light. Time seemed to slow down, to the point that every movement, even blinking seemed to take an eternity.
"Oh, shit," Crowley said, and vanished. Zurvan had already made her escape it seemed and Sam was convinced now that something was coming. Something big, and powerful and angry. Fuck. That could only mean one thing. Michael was coming here, probably for Dean. Sam didn't have anything he could fight with. The hospital had a strict weapons policy and frankly they would have been little more than toys to a maddened archangel on the prowl.
He moved over to Dean and grabbed his hand, realizing that his brother had begun tossing and turning restlessly, muttering under his breath. Sam couldn't most of it, but to his shock the few words he could decipher were definitely Enochian. He had no idea what any of this meant, and he was terrified. But he would stand here with his brother, and if that meant he had to die alongside him, well that was little more than he'd ever expected. His soul ached for Gabriel, but other than send him one last message of love, there was little else he could do. He stood, head raised and Dean's hand in his, to face his fate.
Gabriel hung on a cross next to Lucifer, his Grace almost drained and his bond with Sam throbbing in pain. Balthazar was on his knees in front of Michael, pleading for his life and Gabriel wondered if Crowley knew what was happening to his beloved.
"Brother," Lucifer whispered. "This is not exactly how I planned things."
"Yeah, no shit," Gabriel managed with effort. He was so angry with Lucifer, he didn't want to speak to him. But he swallowed that rage in service to finding out how things had gone so catastrophically off the rails. "What the Hell went wrong, Luci?"
"Raphael got the drop on me when Michael and I were fighting," Lucifer rasped. He sounded exhausted and strangely sad, like part of him had already accepted he was dying. This was not the Lucifer Gabriel knew. "Stupid, I know. And arrogant. I thought I could contain his madness. I don't see how we fix this unless Dad's gonna pop up and save the day."
"Don't hold your breath," Gabriel said sourly. Lucifer gave a soft, wheezing laugh that grated on his nerves. "I don't think this is all that funny, Luci."
"Oh but it is," Lucifer contradicted. "You've finally come around to my point of view, now it's too late."
"I never said that," Gabriel denied. Lucifer made a dismissive sound. Gabriel resisted the urge to make his case and focused on the problem at hand. "We need to bring Raphael on board. You saw the look on his face, he doesn't approve of what Michael's doing."
"I doubt we can move him," Lucifer said. "But we're out of options." Unfortunately Lucifer wasn't wrong that there weren't many choices on the table. Raphael was always difficult to predict, despite his rigidity, he could make choices that only looked obvious in hindsight.
"Whispering against me?" Michael said, shoving Balthazar to the floor and whirling around, his eyes flashing. Gabriel bit his tongue.
"I was just asking Luci how he came to be here," Gabriel said.
Michael sauntered over and lifted Lucifer's head with his fingers under his chin. It was wrong, so wrong to see his brother moving that way. Easy and loose-limbed and with a strangely feral gracefulness, like a panther. "He underestimated me."
"Clearly," Gabriel agreed. A flash of irritation passed over Lucifer's face, but he said nothing. Gabriel tried to reach out to him, but either his Grace was too low or Lucifer's was. He'd just have to hope his brother could pick up on his cues. The old Lucifer, before the Fall, had been a master at that, but that was eons ago and this Lucifer was someone he barely knew anymore. "Michael, what's the endgame here?"
Michael pulled his hand away sharply, letting Lucifer's head drop in a careless fashion. He turned to look at Gabriel directly, one eyebrow raised in petulant irritation. "Endgame?"
"You've won," Gabriel told him. I'm sorry, Luci. "The Apocalypse might not have worked out the way the prophecies said, but Lucifer is beaten. So what now?"
"I intend to install Paradise on earth, of course," Michael said. He gestured around himself, a grandiose movement that really needed some kind of prop to be effective. Gabriel wasn't above theatrics, but this was silly. "Once I have disposed of my enemies here."
"What enemies?" Gabriel pressed, suppressing the desire to roll his eyes. Michael had subjugated all of Heaven, he had the ruler of Hell nailed to a fucking cross and he still wasn't satisfied. A stray memory flitted across a synapse, but when he reached for it, it was gone. He frowned in confusion. Angels didn't forget things. And then he recognized it for what it was, not one of his memories but one of Sam's. "If you want Lucifer dead, if you want me dead, we're at your mercy."
"Are you insane?" Lucifer hissed at him. Gabriel ignored him as the memory danced again and this time Gabriel was able to capture it. He watched the way Castiel had gifted the Map of the Heavens to Lugh, seen through Sam's eyes and understanding dawned. Lugh's curse, whether he understood it properly or not, was dissatisfaction. It had always been an aspect of his personality of course, but the Map had ruthlessly ripped out the joy he got from tricking people and forcing them to his will. That had been the price it had demanded. Which was why Gabriel would never mess around with something so powerful. He distrusted anything capable of overpowering him and with good reason. So now this sickness had infected Michael, who had already been flirting with paranoia and a persecution complex almost as large as Lucifer's and the result was utterly toxic.
His mind made up, he concentrated on reaching out with the last wisps of his Grace to Raphael. They had never been close, Raphael was too sycophantic and humorless to develop much of a familial bond with but surely Raph wouldn't actually stand by and let Michael kill him.
Michael cuffed Lucifer with the back of his hand. "Silence," he commanded. Lucifer glared at him, his eyes burning with hate. "Gabriel, you make a good point. Why not just eliminate you both?" He smiled that awful, cracked smile and reached out to grip Gabriel's throat. "I could kill you, Gabriel. I'd take my time and I'd enjoy it."
"Michael!" Raphael's voice boomed from the door. Gabriel sagged with relief, his brother had heard him and had responded. Maybe he could end this madness.
Michael shoved Gabriel's face away and turned to face his brother. "What is it, Raphael?" he said peevishly. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Gabriel might not have been on our side but he's not your enemy," Raphael said, his deep voice deliberately pitched to be soothing. Gabriel could feel his wariness, like Michael was a rabid dog. It was uncomfortably close to the truth. "If you kill him, you're going down a road I cannot follow."
"Of course he's my enemy!" Michael screeched, waving his arms in the air. He dropped his blade with a clatter and marched over to Raphael, grabbing him and thrusting him backwards against the wall. "Are you turning against me too?"
"No, of course not," Raphael said, his eyes wide as he struggled to appease his crazed brother. "I'm just trying to stop you doing something you'll regret."
"You are!" Michael declared. "You're turning against me!" His blade appeared in his hand and Raphael's eyes flared in alarm. But he was fast adjusting to his new reality, his blade flashing upwards and blocking what surely would have been a killing blow. Michael howled in frustration, his madness making his movements slower and less coordinated than they should have been. Gabriel had watched his brother fight many times and could see the mistakes he was making now, overreaching here, a fumbled parry there. He'd never thought Raphael as good a fighter, but here he was clearly the master. But he didn't press his advantage, whether because he didn't want to truly beat Michael or because he wasn't quite as on top of the fight as he appeared, Gabriel wasn't sure.
"If you've got any last minute tricks up your sleeve, now would be a good time to whip it out," Lucifer said hoarsely. Michael's head whipped round like a striking snake, his eyes blazing with hate. With a quick movement, Michael darted forward and buried the blade into Lucifer's chest. It happened so fast nobody was prepared for it, the pain, the burning that echoed through their shared consciousness. Lucifer screamed for Sam in his anguish and Gabriel's vision darkened with distress as he felt his brother die.
One tear escaped to run down Gabriel's cheek as Lucifer's Grace flamed out. He gasped in horror and Raphael, who had lunged after Michael in a desperate, futile attempt to stop his brother, fell to his knees in distress.
"No," Raphael said desolately. "Michael, you shouldn't have…"
Gabriel wailed, grief momentarily overwhelming his own pain and weakness. The Host wailed with him as the reverberations of Lucifer's death spread through their collective consciousness. The light of Heaven seemed suddenly dimmer, and Raphael wondered for a moment if his own vision was to blame.
"Michael," he said again. Michael was staring at Lucifer in appalled confusion, the burned outline of his wings against the wall. He reached out and touched the scorch marks, his face disbelieving.
"He's dead," Michael breathed.
"Yes," Raphael said, standing up. "You just killed him. Michael, you killed our brother. Not in Stull, in the appointed place for the battle as foretold. But here, in Heaven. This was not supposed to happen here. The Canaanite Accords are very specific."
"So?" Michael said, Lugh's Irish brogue slipping into his voice. "What difference does that make? The Canaanite Accords are already broken."
A cold feeling slipped over Raphael at this. "Yes, but that's just the enforcement. The law stands. Lucifer was due a trial by combat, the meeting at Stull would have fulfilled this requirement. This execution-" Raphael had a strangely human urge to vomit. Or cry, he wasn't quite sure. "This execution does not."
"The Accords are broken," Michael said carelessly. He didn't even seem to care that he'd killed his most beloved brother. Or was it Lugh in there now? Raphael wasn't sure anymore. "Therefore the law is meaningless. And even if it were not, it's too late now."
He was pleased, Gabriel realized in horror and he began to laugh, a hollow, bitter sound that sent chills down his own spine and Michael's head whipped round like a striking snake.
"What's so funny?" he demanded. His eyes bulged with madness, and a strange, wicked glee.
"You are," Gabriel said, wondering if he was losing his own mind. It didn't matter, the die was cast. "Don't you know it? You've just signed your own death warrant."
"What?" Michael said before he freezing as he felt the tip of Raphael's blade against his throat. He rotated his head to look at his brother in shock. "Raphael?"
"Gabriel is correct," Raphael said sadly. "You have broken our laws, and in the absence of the proscribed punishment enshrined in the Canaanite Accords, I must act in its stead. You have committed a capital offence, Michael. I'm sorry, but the law is the law."
"No!" Michael said. "You can't!" Raphael's eyes glittered and then he shoved the blade upwards into Michael's head. He screamed, rage and fury and pain and fear, before dropping to the ground. Raphael let his blade drop the floor and he walked slowly to where Gabriel hung on his cross.
"So what now?" Gabriel said softly.
"I don't know," Raphael admitted. He waved a hand and Gabriel's bonds vanished, the archangel collapsing into his brother's arms. "You can't rule here either, Gabriel."
Gabriel's eyes rolled up in his head. "Who said I wanted to?"
When Gabriel came to, he was lying on the floor and Raphael was nowhere to be seen. He rolled over and winced in pain before laboriously hauling himself to his feet. Lucifer's body still hung on that hideous cross and it made him angry and sad all at once. His brother had been misguided once, and had let a mistake and foolish pride turn him into a monster. It didn't mean he deserved this fate.
And Michael… Gabriel staggered over to where Michael had fallen and gasped. There was no outline of wings, and now that he thought about it, he had not felt the burnout of his Grace as he had when Lucifer had died. Lugh was clearly dead, but it seemed Michael had extracted himself from his vessel at the last moment. He sighed, a rogue Michael roaming Heaven without a vessel would be dangerous but it was manageable. But where had Raphael gone?
All of Heaven began to rumble and shake, so violently that Gabriel was thrown to the floor once more. He could hear the panicked voices of the Host through the hive mind as a massive sound rocked the entire dimension like a seismic event on earth. Except, there was no such thing as a Heavenquake. Or at least, there hadn't been. Who knew what other damage Michael and Lugh had wrought.
Raphael chose that moment to reappear and his aspect was not comforting. He was haggard and his eyes were wide and he seemed almost shell-shocked.
"What's happening?" Gabriel demanded.
"I don't know," his brother said in a daze. "I don't know where this is coming from. Maybe Father's coming back and he's mad."
"Honestly, I think that's what we have to hope for," Gabriel said fervently. "This is such a mess, I don't see how we fix it without Dad's help."
"It's all right for you," Raphael said bitterly. "You can just wash your hands of this and say you weren't here and it's not your fault."
Gabriel began to laugh, aware that he sounded hysterical. "You think that'll get me off the hook. Do you even remember our Father? No, I'll be getting the ass-whupping of my life, believe me. But I'll take that and more if we can fix what Michael broke."
Raphael gave him a strange look. "Something's happening."
"I don't detect any- Wait, what the fuck is that?" A bell had begun to toll, somewhere deep in the depths of Heaven's foundations. It rang four times and then fell silent.
Raphael offered Gabriel his hand and helped him to his feet. "Of course, you've never heard that before, have you? Being the youngest."
"I don't understand," Gabriel said. "What are you talking about?"
Raphael didn't answer, he just gestured for Gabriel to follow him and strode out of the room.