The Trickster snapped his fingers and in the blink of an eye, Castiel vanished into thin air. Before Dean could even try to lunge at the demigod, he snapped again and the Winchester brothers immediately sunk into the floor. Dean and Sam tried to claw at the carpet to pull themselves out of the quicksand that just manifested under their feet, but it seemed like the more they moved, the quicker they sank. After another moment of useless struggling, the brothers were submerged up to their shoulders and seemed to be frozen in place.
The Trickster was standing before the brothers with his arms folded over his chest. His expression was full of disapprobation as he glared down at the men.
Gabriel had gone to check-in on Aziza after she called him. That was the day she met Dean and Sam, but she didn't tell the Archangel about their meeting because she knew Gabriel would be overprotective and probably forbid her to ever leave his side again. Instead, she told him that she had some trouble with Demons and she overreacted when she called him. Gabriel's worry refused to let him do anything but linger, so he abandoned his research to hover a bit. He stayed in Tucson and did a little investigating of his own when he heard of the bodies dropping.
After a fourth victim was found and the cops proved to be completely ignorant to the obvious fact that Werewolves were hunting people, Gabriel went to uproot Aziza from her life in Tucson. She's the one who wanted to move out and live on her own. As much fun they had causing trouble as Tricksters, he knew she wasn't fond of bouncing around the States every few weeks. He was constantly busy with getting information on what she was, checking in on Balthazar every few days and now, he had to worry about what Lucifer could be plotting now that he was free, so they were moving around more often.
Gabriel dragged out letting Aziza go as long as he could, but eventually caved in. Like a bird ready to leave the nest, this independent mindset wormed its way into her head every time she was a teenager and he tried to avoid it, but it always reared its ugly head.
Aziza's been settled in Tucson for almost 3 years and he knew she made a life there. She was working at the Senior Center, she was looking into going to college and she had a boyfriend, but Gabriel had yet to meet the guy. Whenever they talked on the phone, Aziza would tell him how this Jude character was the sweetest guy and that his family was just as kind. Gabriel came to visit her whenever he wasn't investigating what she was and now that Lucifer was free, he had to keep an eye out for his brother too.
But when Gabriel arrived at Aziza's house only to find it a disaster zone and that she was missing, he was ready to bludgeon every Werewolf in the world.
He had to constantly remind himself not to panic because the bracelet he made her was still sending signals to him, telling him that she was indeed alive. All Gabriel did was follow that signal and he found her at the Red Rock motel. He was revolted by the thought of her staying in anything less than a 4-star hotel.
Now that he knew the Winchesters were involved, he wished the Werewolves had kidnapped her instead.
"Give me one reason not to smite you right now. And it'd better be a damn good one." He frowned, folding his arms over his chest.
"We haven't done anything to you." Dean carped.
"Bitch, please." Gabriel rolled his eyes at Dean, just like Aziza had done to him in the car. "You and Andre the Giant have disrespected me on soo many levels tonight. And to top it off, you stole something from me."
"What, the girl? Are you kidding me?" Gabriel simply cocked an eyebrow as his answer. "We saved her from a pack of Werewolves tonight."
The third Archangel looked to be considering Dean's words, even tapped his cheek in thought. "What if I don't believe you?"
"Ask her yourself!" Dean barked, irritated with the childish games.
Gabriel was about to call Aziza, but she heard Dean's loud voice from the bathroom and cracked the door open to see what was going on. She wished she would've brought her silver baseball bat into the bathroom with her, but she didn't think anything bad would happen. Dean and Sam had gotten rid of the Werewolves and there was nothing else to worry about.
When she saw the familiar pair of gilded wings, that were flared in aggravation, she smiled and threw the door open. Gabriel turned around in time to catch her as she ran out of the bathroom, wearing Dean's large flannel, and into his arms to give him a warm hug that made fireworks explode in his heart.
"Hey, cutie pie. Miss me much?" He smiled as they detached, but she looked behind him at Sam and Dean immobilized in puddles of quicksand. "Settle something for me. Did these brutes save you from some Werewolves?"
"Yeah, they did. Jude and his family turned out to be a pack. I would've been ripping people to pieces if it weren't for Sam and Dean."
"Didn't I tell you that all men were dogs?" Gabriel remarked with that 'I told you so' tone. She rolled her eyes at him. From over his shoulder, he looked down at the brothers. "How did you even come in contact with her?"
"We got a lead on a case and went to investigate. We saw her expel a Demon and thought she was…" Sam paused to let Dean say what he knew he was going to.
"A Were-witch." Both Dean and Aziza filled in the blank.
"And we followed her." Sam continued. "Her boyfriend and his family turned out to be the ones we were looking for."
"They saved my life, Gabe." Aziza added, but Gabriel wasn't budging.
"Stay away from her." He warned the Winchester brothers. Unseen by them, his golden wings had flared out with his growing irritability and protectiveness over Aziza. She was now concealed by his right wing and the appendage was twitching with Gabriel's growing temper, slightly smacking her in face. "If I catch either of you boneheads anywhere near her again, by Father-"
"Gabe, quit- dude, your friggin' wings!" Aziza carped and easily yanked one of the feathers from Gabriel's wings. He yelped, but immediately folded them behind his back. He knew that his wings portrayed his feelings, just like the wings of any Angel would, but he never noticed when Aziza was getting hit in the face by them unless he was intentionally doing it. When he wanted her to scratch a spot that his hands couldn't reach, he'd thrust one of his golden wings in front of her face and flap it until she gave in. When his wings had minds of their own and were in her face, she always plucked one of his feathers out. He was thankful it didn't happen often or his wings would be bare. "And before you try to banish them to Limbo, maybe they should stick around. They're pretty efficient bodyguards. They went up against three Werewolves and won! And Dean fended off two of them all by himself!"
Gabriel rolled his eyes at how impressed Aziza was at the Winchesters doing their jobs, but he couldn't help but smirk at her. She's never met a Hunter before, but he's told her about them just in case she ran into one. He never uttered a word about the Winchesters and it was for good reason. He didn't want them to ever meet Aziza because they were easily some of the most dangerous Humans on the planet.
Gabriel thought about her ability to see Souls and had to guess that she liked what she saw within the Winchesters. There had to be a familiar feeling when she looked at them.
"You don't know them like I do, Zi-Zi. The Winchesters are not the kinda men you wanna get friendly with." Gabriel sneered at the brothers, who gave him a deadly pair of glares back. "They tend to make people care about them, then once you're useless to them, you usually die. They only care about each other. Everyone else is like a condom to them. Use and throw away, never keep."
"Like you're a saint." Sam steely objected.
Gabriel smirked. "Biblically speaking, I am."
That little tidbit flew right over Sam's head, along with Aziza's previous comment about wings, because if he'd have thought about what the brunet just said, he would've known exactly what he was. Instead, his rational thinking was blinded by a growing storm of hate and rage with lightning strikes of pain. Sam just brushed off that fact as another snarky remark from the Trickster.
"You made me watch my brother die over and over just for shits and giggles." The younger brother spat.
"Don't give me the scolding Mom eyes." Gabriel told Aziza without looking at her because he knew she was going to reprimand him. Whenever he went 'too far' with his tricks, she always told him to make it right. He felt like what he did to Sam was something righteous though. "And if we're being honest, I was giggling so hard that I actually shit myself. With all the hell you and your brother have let loose, literally and figuratively, you deserved to be punished."
"I wouldn't give a shit if we were responsible for a goddamn genocide, nobody deserves to go through that! And you did it for your own sick pleasure!" Sam barked, sounding like a jail warden after getting a riot under control. Just like his brother, Sam had a side of John within him and it was how terrifying his father could look and sound when he was livid. "I could understand if it was to prevent me from doing something wrong, but you did it because I made a mistake that I can't take back! That was fucking cruel, even for a petty Trickster like you!"
Dean's eyebrows almost flew straight off his head at hearing his little brother. It wasn't common to hear Sam curse. He'd utter a 'goddamnit' or 'son of a bitch' every now and then, but he never decorated his speech with profanities just for the hell of it. Dean knew that being stuck on a Tuesday loop with him dying everyday still hurt Sam because he had to watch each death. Dean didn't remember it at all, but Sam did and from the sound of it, he remembered every Tuesday like it just happened yesterday.
Dean was used to pushing his pain deep down inside him and burying it, but Sam wasn't like that. The anguish of that experience never dulled away in him and the Trickster practically ripped the stitches out of a wound that hadn't even scabbed-over.
Gabriel and Sam knew why the Trickster had punished the younger brother with watching Dean die for those months. As soon as the Morning Star had risen into the skies, every supernatural being on Earth, Heaven and Hell knew about it. He could hear the panicked wails of the Angels and it made him remember how they were just as chaotic when his Father had suddenly abandoned Heaven. He heard the Demons cheering at the release of their 'Father' and he even heard some monsters simply screaming in fear of what was to come now that Lucifer was unrestrained.
But the most terrifying thing about Lucifer being released wasn't that his brothers were on the path to destroy each other or that the world was likely coming to an end. No, it was seeing how Aziza reacted.
She was frozen in place, stiller than a marble statue, as she stared at the sky. And her eyes had started to glow. Not just her irises, but her entire socket was glowing a pale-lavender color and that never happened before. Gabriel had tried with everything he had to get her to talk to him and when that didn't work, he went to move her, but she wouldn't budge. His only option was to sit and wait for this trance to pass.
He began to hear her mumbling things in her trance. Aziza was born speaking fluent Enochian and Gabriel knew that was the language coating her words, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. She stayed like that for a solid hour, then she fainted. When she woke up, Gabriel asked her what happened, but she looked at him like she didn't know what he was talking about.
"You did not make him suffer through that." Aziza came from behind Gabriel to stand in front of him and, of course, she had the scolding Mom eyes for him to feel a pang of guilt. Gabriel couldn't keep her stare, so he looked away and shrugged. "I should turn you into a goldfish for doing that, Gabe."
"I still have nightmares about that." Gabriel shuddered, remembering when he was turned into a fish for the sake of a 7-year-old girl's entertainment.
"Apologize." She instructed and if this was a cartoon, Gabriel's eyes surely would've bulged 20 feet out of his head. Before he could protest, Aziza pointed a finger at him. "That was wrong, Gabe. You knew it was."
"In my defense, they impaled me with a wooden stake twice." He pointed out like a child trying to convince their mother that even though what they did was wrong, it was still justified. Aziza simply put her hands on her hips and pointedly looked at her Archangel, knowing all too well that he was guilty. Gabriel dramatically sighed. "Fine, alright."
Aziza stepped to the side to reveal Sam and Dean, still trapped in the puddles of quicksand. He couldn't believe he was actually about to apologize for this.
"Sam, Dean…I guess I'm sorry for the whole never-ending, Dean-Dies-Every-Tuesday thing." It all came out in a muttered jumble of words, but it was clear enough to be heard. Aziza smiled at Gabriel, but he shuddered. "Ugh, I feel dirty."
She pat Gabriel on the shoulder, then turned to the brothers. "Your turn."
"You want us to apologize to him?" Sam asked, incredulity oozing off his words to match his disbelieving expression.
"You did try to kill him." She reminded.
"Twice." Gabriel piped up from beside her, making Sam glare at him.
"I'm not saying it's an excuse for what he did and it's not making it right, but you gotta admit that it was provoking." Aziza reasoned like the mediator she was. "You're Hunters; you had to know that messing with a Trickster wasn't going to end well."
Dean didn't even have to look at Sam's bitchface to know that Hell would soon freeze over and Jack Frost would claim the throne before his brother even considered apologizing to the Trickster and the demigod's smug look wasn't helping the situation. What he did know was that Sam wanted to keep Aziza with them and the only way to do that was to play by the rules.
"Sorry for not killing you correctly." Dean grumbled to the Trickster.
"Close enough." Aziza smiled. She told Gabriel to let the brothers out of the quicksand and the Archangel reluctantly did so. Dean and Sam were brushing the sand out of their hair or shaking it off their bodies, much to Aziza's entertainment because she was giggling at them. "So, now that we've cleared the air, how are we feeling about that bodyguard thing?"
"Not a good idea, Zi-Zi." Gabriel objected from behind her, making her turn to face him.
"You're not with me all the time, Gabe. I know you worry, so wouldn't you feel better knowing that I'm in good hands?"
"Good hands? Try murderous, self-serving hands that are soaked in an ocean's worth of blood." He scoffed. With that thought in mind, he stepped in front of Aziza to create a barrier between she and the Winchesters. He kept them in his sight, but his focus was on Aziza.
"Look, I've got book knowledge on monsters. Sam and Dean have field experience. I'm only good at exorcising Demons because I'm not afraid of them. They know how to get rid of everything else that scares me." She reasoned, but Gabriel didn't look moved in the slightest bit. She knew how stubborn he could be, but she also knew that he wasn't just going to let anybody look after her because that's what he declared his job. Aziza wanted Gabriel to focus on his research though and he couldn't do that if he was worrying about what could happen to her without protection. With a sigh, half tired from the madness of tonight and half tired from the energy she was using trying to convince Gabriel to let the brothers stick around, she continued. "I know I asked to be on my own and I was doing okay. We'd find a place together and when things got suspicious or bodies started dropping, I moved and didn't look back…but without someone to lookout for me, I'd have no other choice but to…you wouldn't want me to start doing that…would you?"
Aziza's head hung and her blonde hair partially shielded her face from Gabriel, but he could read her emotions just by being in the same room as her. If there was one thing in this world that Gabriel knew Aziza hated more than anything, it was the thought of having to kill something. He couldn't say he understood because he's fought in wars and death was something he was used to, but Aziza was not a Warrior of Heaven. She was a saintly, Daisy of a girl with a flowery touch. That's why she took it upon herself to get over her fear of Demons and exorcise the ones she came across, why she worked at the Senior Center and went to hospitals to heal people. She cherished life with such a passion Gabriel's only ever seen with his Father.
Gabriel felt bad now that he knew why Aziza wanted to stay with Sam and Dean. They proved that they could protect her tonight and it meant something to her.
"I'd never want you to, Zi-Zi. Never in a billion years would I want that." He spoke so softly to her, afraid that she was secretly crying. He gently nudged her chin up with his finger and was relieved to see that there were no tears in her eyes. He dramatically sighed as he motioned to Dean and Sam behind him. "But why them? You could've picked any other pair of Hunters in the world, but nooo. You just had to pick Dean and Sam, the notorious Winchester brothers. By Father…"
Aziza started to smile at Gabriel being the melodramatic goofball he's always been. "Obviously, I have a type."
"Yeah, extremely dangerous and a little hairy." He ribbed, smirking at her.
"Zia, we've got no problem with keepin' you safe." Dean spoke up and the playfulness between she and the Trickster died. Well, it died on the demigod's part because he was glaring at Dean like the man was insulting him by breathing. Dean honestly didn't give a shit. "You can stay with us however long you want and we'll keep you safe from monsters, no problem."
"She is not staying in this disease-drenched, bedbug infested, crusty beds that smells like goat sex, unknown stain on the carpet that won't go away, a hooker was probably murdered in the bathroom, motel room that would make Dateline go berserk." Gabriel carped, wings flaring out again and concealing Aziza. She was so tempted to punch him in the wing, but she knew how sensitive they were and she didn't want to seriously hurt Gabriel. "Not only that, but if you haven't noticed, this room only has two beds and I'd bite every finger off my hands and eat them before I allow either of you man-whores to share a bed with her."
It was Dean's turn to roll his eyes. "I'm sure we can handle ourselves."
"Bullshit." Gabriel spat, making Aziza raise her eyebrows in surprise from behind him. "Dean, I know you get more ass than a toilet seat and Sam's taking the silver medal in the One-Night-Stand Olympics."
"She wants to stay with us. Deal with it." Sam said from beside his brother with such dominance in his voice, it sent a chill down Aziza's spine.
Just by the way Gabriel's wings were twitching again, Aziza knew he was about to tell the brothers off. She did not want to get hit in the face again, so she dragged him into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Gabriel looked disgusted by the tiny washroom and he curled his wings around himself just so they wouldn't touch anything.
While they were in there having a one-sided argument because Gabriel's stubbornness could put an Ox to shame, Aziza was trying to remind him why Dean and Sam were the best things she could've ever run into.
She really did want to stay with Sam and Dean for however long they'd have her. With them around, Gabriel didn't have to worry about her being unprotected and that'd give him more time to continue his research on what she was. Besides, the brothers were kickass Hunters that would most definitely keep the monsters away and she wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.
Minutes ticked by and the brothers were eavesdropping on the conversation between the Trickster and Aziza. They weren't yelling at each other, but there was still passion in their voices and the foundation of the bathroom made their muffled words echo off the walls. Sam never took his focus off the door, but Dean had begun to pace a bit.
From the way Aziza hugged the Trickster, Dean knew they had some kind of history and that dismissed the thought of the demigod hurting her. While he was concerned about the pair being alone, he was worried about Castiel. He didn't know what the Trickster did to him and that was making him antsy.
When the bathroom door opened again, Aziza came out with a triumphant smile on her face while the Trickster looked like he was something between constipated and completely done with everything. Aziza nudged him in the arm and Gabriel threw his head back to groan.
"The only reason I'm allowing you to prove that you can be her guard dogs is because she's found something admirable about you." Gabriel bitterly announced his reluctant approval to the men. "But I will not allow her to spend another second in this oversized dumpster."
"He's not gonna stop bitching unless we're staying somewhere that's within his ridiculously high standards." Aziza rolled her eyes at Gabriel's expensive taste. She honestly had no problem with staying in the motel.
"Which means, no sleazy motels." Gabriel butted in. "After what happened tonight, I think it'd be best for you to head up to the cabin."
"The cabin?" Dean asked.
"Our safe house, basically." Aziza explained. "It's in a secluded, woodsy part of Colorado and Gabe warded it against all the monsters he knows about, which is probably all of them. And as a token of my appreciation, you'll get three hots and a cot while you're staying. I mean, if you guys want to."
"You had me sold at three hots." Dean smiled at her. Colorado wasn't a long drive away and if Dean stayed behind the wheel, he'd get them there in record time. After having the Trickster pop in on them, he was a little pumped up and he knew he wasn't just going to doze off. He'd probably stay up and clean his guns, watch TV, then stare at the ceiling until he got so bored that sleep seemed more interesting than a wall. If that didn't work, he always had a Busty Asian Beauties magazine in his duffle. Dean was ready to lunge at any chance he got to stay with Aziza, but he wanted to get conformation from his brother. Turning to him, he asked, "Sam?"
"So long as he doesn't play anymore tricks," He sent a glare to the brunet demigod and Gabriel simply smirked as he recalled how creative he was with his Tuesday loop. "I'm on board."
"Road trip!" Aziza cheered, smiling.
Dean smiled at her. "We'll crash here tonight and be in Colorado before dinnertime tomorrow."
"I want her out of Arizona in the next hour." Gabriel demanded. He didn't have to look at Aziza to know her eyes were rolling and the brothers looked completely fed up with him, but Gabriel didn't care. "You don't know who those Werewolves were connected to. What if another pack decides to avenge them because of what you did?"
"If you haven't noticed, you traumatizing wad of shit, we're Humans. We need sleep to function." Sam spat at the brunet.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes, but raised his hand. So many thoughts crossed his mind about turning Sam into all sorts of bugs or maybe, he'd make a safe fall on him like he did to Dean in the Tuesday loop. There was nothing like getting back to the basics. The thought of turning Sam into Samantha was the most provoking thought and Gabriel would've done just that, but he glanced at Aziza. She had those scolding Mom eyes again and he groaned.
Gabriel snapped his fingers and a pair of things happened at the same time. He advanced time to 10am the next day and he gave Aziza and the Winchesters' bodies the required 8 hours of sleep recommended to function. He wasn't expecting a thank you from the men, but Aziza gave him a smile that made up for it. He requested that she to go to the vending machine to get him a candy bar and she did so without protest.
"Don't have any of your whores in the cabin and keep your dicks in your pants." Was the first thing Gabriel said the second Aziza was out of the room. His heated glare was pinning the Winchester brothers in place and he noticed how defensive Dean got, how he shifted his body to shield Sam. Gabriel wasn't going to hurt either brother until he had reason to and he'd wait until that day came. If Sam thought that Tuesday experience was traumatizing, he wouldn't be able to describe the nightmarish fury of Gabriel's wrath. "Either of you use her and I'll kill you, both of you. Your deaths will be more excruciating than everything I did on that Tuesday loop."
Even if there was a thick cloud of mutual hate in the air, Dean and Sam nodded at the demigod's warning. They already knew what provoking a Trickster would get them and they weren't going to make the same mistake twice.
"Zap my Angel back here." It was Dean's turn to start demanding things.
Gabriel looked at him like he was crazy. "Your Angel?"
"Yeah, my Angel. Black hair, blue eyes, wears a trench coat. He's adorable. Get him in here."
Gabriel stared at Dean for a moment, seeing the growing fires of anger fill his eyes. He's heard the Angels talking about Castiel being associated with the Winchesters, but he didn't know the exact details. He also didn't know why the Angel in question would continue to associate himself with the brothers after pulling Dean out of Hell.
With another moment of silence to add dramatic effect, Gabriel snapped his fingers and Castiel appeared in the middle of the room. He looked around as if he didn't know where he was and Dean went to him, putting a hand on his arm.
"You okay?"
"I was a bumblebee on a world of flowers." Cas' voice was like nothing Dean's ever heard. It sounded like a fluffy cloud humming a sweet melody and when the Angel looked at him, his eyes looked like they lightened to a pale-turquoise shade with swirls of powder-blue. To Dean, Cas looked like he just came from a spa or something, rejuvenated. And the Angel even smiled. "It felt like decades had passed. It was always Spring and sunny and there was a gentle rain at night. I pollinated at least half of the flowers on the entire planet. It was just me and I was happy doing it."
Dean's brows had knitted together in confusion and he looked over his shoulder at Sam. His expression was the same and he shrugged at his brother.
It was the simplicity of the bumblebee's life that Castiel adored.
While he was a bumblebee, all he did was fertilize or pollinate flowers and plants to help them create more vegetation. It was a simple cycle. At night as the gentle rain provided water for the world, Castiel would be cozily nestled deep within a squash blossom and the warm rays of the morning's sun would wake him. Then, he'd get started pollinating the newest bed of flowers and that would usually take the rest of the day to complete. He'd take short breaks too. Sometimes, he'd just buzz around all the blossoming botany and admire his work. Other times, he'd find the same squash blossom he slept in and just relax there or he'd find a flower petal to sunbathe on. He remembered a beautiful Polyommatinae butterfly fluttering around the flowers and they would play a game of hide and seek before Castiel wanted to return to pollinating.
Cas was still smiling, daydreaming about his experience, when Dean spoke again. "You enjoyed being a bumblebee more than an Angel?"
"Not as much because I was the only bee, but if I were to be reincarnated, I'd like to be a bumblebee with a beehive of other bees who want to pollinate a world of flowers. And I'd like for the butterfly to be there with us." Cas looked to Dean with those bright eyes again. He looked so damn happy and Dean's heart was melting because Cas was so content with being a bumblebee.
"You were always a strange one, Castiel." With a chuckle, Gabriel shook his head and the blue-eyed Angel turned around.
Before he was sent to the world of flowers, Castiel didn't get a chance to realize what had walked into the room, but he knew it was something supernatural. He really didn't expect to see Gabriel standing there or that signature smirk on his face.
For a moment, Castiel honestly thought that he was still in some kind of alternative universe because that would be only logical explanation as to why he was staring at Gabriel. He had to look at Dean and he felt the Hunter squeeze his arm as if assuring him that he was back in the right reality. Cas' fingers just barely grazed Dean's and the eldest brother took his hand from the Angel's arm. The Angel took timid steps towards the Archangel with gilded wings, not wanting him out of his sight for a second for fear that this was indeed another reality.
"I thought you were dead…why didn't you tell me?!" Sam and Dean weren't expecting Cas to abruptly explode at the Trickster like that and from the way Gabriel slightly flinched in surprise, he wasn't expecting it either. He could feel the waves of anger from radiating from Castiel. "I didn't want to believe what the others were saying! I didn't want to even think that you were dead! All this time, you were hiding on Earth and I was thinking something killed you! I thought that Lucifer had killed you!"
Dean had taken a step towards the Angel in an attempt to calm, but Cas detected the second he started moving and looked over his shoulder at Dean. His blue eyes were sharpened with warning and Dean understood completely. The Hunter nodded and backed away, staying out of the situation like Cas silently asked.
"I'm sorry, Castiel. Okay? That was on me." Gabriel spoke in a lulling tone, which made the brothers' cock an eyebrow at his sudden gentleness. He sure as hell wasn't being this tenderhearted when he was slaughtering Dean. "You're right, I should've said something before leaving, but you know I'm not good at saying goodbye. And you were paired up with Uriel before I left. I thought you'd be okay with him and if not, you still had Balthazar, right?"
"Uriel was recruiting Angels to serve Lucifer when the Seals were broken and killing any who refused. He's dead." Like a dutiful soldier, Castiel reported in to a Commander on what's happened to the Angels he was associated with in Heaven since Gabriel's absence. The last Angel though…Cas didn't even want to remember how much it hurt when he discovered that the dirty-blond was also missing from Heaven and presumed dead. "Balthazar's been gone almost as long as you have."
"He's not dead, Castiel." Gabriel told him and Cas looked up at him with an ocean of hope in his eyes. "He ran away from home too. We bumped into each other a long time ago, but I've been keeping an eye on him since. He's been hiding on Earth, but he doesn't want anyone knowing he's alive. We're playing dead for a reason."
Cas nodded at Gabriel's information, but he didn't know how to feel at the moment. Yes, he was happy to discover that both Gabriel and Balthazar weren't dead. He knew that Balthazar most likely had gotten fed up with the strict rules of Heaven, which were even firmer with Michael taking over, and faked his own death. He wasn't sure what caused Gabriel to leave though. There were rumors, but Cas didn't like listening to unreliable gossip. He was very confused though. He wanted to know why the Angels thought it was just fine to abandon Heaven. They should know from their Father's desertion that it was not a good idea. That thought only made him feel like a hypocrite because he turned his back on his home too. He had a reason for leaving Heaven though. Said reason was a righteous man and his brother.
It was a drowning feeling, Castiel realized, like water was filling the room and threatening to submerge him. A lot of information was just unloaded on him, parts of his family has been recovered and it was just an overwhelming moment.
Gabriel could see the struggle Castiel was going through and he wished he could go back in time to the day he decided to leave so he could give the raven-winged Angel a head's up. He just didn't want to see how heartbroken Cas would've looked. He knew he was abandoning everything when Heaven needed all the help he could get, but he wouldn't be able to take the look of desertion from Cas.
Gabriel went to the Angel and put a hand on his shoulder. Cas brought his head up to reveal watery eyes, but he was refusing to cry. Castiel couldn't recall the first time he let tears of sadness fall from his eyes. He remembered crying in pain a few times, the most notable being when he raised Dean from perdition, but not sadness. He hadn't a reason to be mazedly sad until this day.
"Listen, I gotta get back to something important. If you ever wanna talk, get some answers, just call and I'll be there." Gabriel owed Cas that much, to answer whatever questions he had for him. Gabe knew Castiel wouldn't go telling any of the family that he was alive either, so there was some sweat off his back. If Balthazar would allow it, Gabriel wanted them to meet too. There were a lot of things that needed to be explained. "Keep an eye on Aziza, for me?"
Castiel nodded at Gabriel soft request, remembering the blonde that had come in with Sam and Dean. He stored the question of Gabriel's affiliation with the girl into his mind for later, when he wasn't experiencing this onslaught of emotions. With another warm smile, Gabriel vanished and Cas rubbed the tears from his eyes.
"You okay, Cas?" Dean asked, timidly stepping closer to the silent Angel. He noticed Cas wiping his tears away and an ache shocked his heart at the sight. He couldn't remember the last time Cas cried. He's heard of Weeping Angels, but he was beginning to think that it was impossible for Cas to do such a thing until today. "You can take a minute to get yourself together. I'll pray to you when we get to Colorado, so you know where we are. Just take it easy, okay?"
Another beat of silence passed, then Cas turned around to face the Hunter. It took a moment for his blue eyes to connect with Dean's green ones. "…thank you, Dean."
Castiel didn't look like the adorable and youthful Angel he's become so fond of. Dean was seeing a new side of him. The eyes of this Castiel looked so very ancient and tired, exhausted really. He looked like he just wanted to plop down on the nearest flat surface and sleep for a couple days. Dean could relate to the feeling.
In that moment, Dean was reminded that this was a divine being, an Angel of the Lord, a Warrior of Heaven. Castiel, against his dewy-eyed appearance, was older than anything Dean's ever known. Castiel existed when nothing was everything. He was there when God decided to make Human beings, these strange hairless apes. He's watched the hideous downfalls and marvelous triumphs of mankind. He's gone into Hell and fought his way out all for one, insignificant Human, out of the billions on the planet that were more important.
Castiel deserved to relax and if he could, Dean would've turned Cas into a bumblebee again and sent him back to that planet of flowers. He felt like Cas deserved that because it made him happy, the same kind of contentment Castiel would feel when watching the Heaven of an autistic man who enjoyed flying a red kite.
The pair shared a gaze for a moment, then the Angel was gone.
Sam and Dean gathered their bags, Aziza's bat and left their motel room. It wasn't until they stepped into the morning light did they realize that Gabriel had advanced time and that they felt fully rested.
While Dean went to the front desk to return their room key, Sam ventured over to the vending machine where Aziza was. He grabbed her knapsack with his bag of clothes and when he got to her, he smiled at all the candy bars she was holding in her shirt, but she was still pressing number combinations to get more. The cute moment ended when he remembered that she was wearing Dean's shirt, but he wondered if she still had her tank top on under it or if her bare chest was hidden beneath a single layer of fabric.
Aziza dumped her candy into her knapsack and informed Sam that Gabriel spoke to her before he left. She asked about Castiel and he told her that he was going to meet them in Colorado. They continued their idle chat as they walked side by side to the car and Sam would look down at her every time his arm brushed against hers. He's made her giggle a few times and that was enough to make him forget the jealousy he had towards his brother's shirt touching her skin.
Aziza asked if she could ride in the backseat this time and Sam opened the door for her to slide in. When he was closing her door, Dean was walking towards them and he slid her baseball bat in through the rolled down window. He managed to steal a piece of candy out of her knapsack, and Aziza playfully threatened to stick her bat where the sun don't shine if either of them took her sweets again, before he went to the trunk with Sam.
Dean peered over the edge of the trunk and he could see Aziza from the passenger mirror. Just in case she might overhear them, Dean kept his voice low as he spoke to his brother.
"All this time, Gabriel was the missing third Archangel, not a Trickster." He informed his brother.
"So, what does that make Aziza?" Sam wondered. He couldn't believe that he didn't realize who the Trickster was sooner. "Cas said nothing could conceal an Angel's Grace. The same rules must apply to Archangels, so she couldn't be Gabriel's daughter or a Nephilim. He would've told us."
"But she can't be Human either, not fully." Dean told Sam, his own mind thinking of what Aziza could be. She had to be something of Heaven, so maybe when Cas came back, he could do some more research. He leaned to the side to look at Aziza again before dropping his voice to an even lower whisper. "I don't know about you, but I say we stock up on Holy Oil."
Sam narrowed his eyes at Dean's suggestion. The first thought that came to his mind was that Dean wanted to hurt Aziza, that he thought she was a monster they had to get rid of, and he was not going to let that happen. He didn't care that an Archangel was attached to her or that Castiel couldn't see her Soul or the obvious fact that, against her appearance, she wasn't Human. He refused to let anyone or anything hurt that girl.
Dean sensed Sam's misinterpretation of his words and explained that the Holy Oil was for Gabriel, not Aziza. From what happened in their room, Gabriel was just waiting for the second they slipped up or did something he deemed wrong. Dean huffed as he watched Sam settle down and he really wanted to start teasing about his little brother's crush, but he bit his tongue.
Dean pulled the trunk down and shut. He playfully pushed Sam before he went to the driver's side and got in, starting the engine. When Sam's door closed, Dean pulled out of the motel's parking lot and Aziza leaned up between their seats to show him her phone. She had the directions to Breckenridge, Colorado on the screen and Dean memorized the route. He couldn't remember many hunts in Colorado, but he knew for sure that nothing major ever happened in Breckenridge.
With the incentive of a safe place and sleeping somewhere other than on a stiff, used mattress in mind, Dean drove a little faster than the speed limit just so he could get them to Colorado faster.
I'm late posting this chapter, so I tried to make it a little long. I really just wanted to reintroduce Gabriel since we haven't seen him since Chap 1.
Things are moving along, so I think I'll be uploading another chapter sometime this week.
I think I have a general idea of where my audience thinks this story's headed, but I might be taking it in a different direction than you think. *eyebrow wiggle*
Not sure if anyone's noticed, but if you squint, you might be able to see a little Destiel ;)
❤️I can't thank everyone enough for the responses this story has gotten. You guys rock❤️