7.

Tara parked up in a quiet lot, placing the speaker box on the car bonnet while she made her preparations.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Alex's voice echoed around the lot.

"Any other suggestions, 'Charlie'?"

There was only a sigh in reply.

"Alright, then."

Tara took a deep breath, and yelled up at the sky.

"Come on, then! You win! We'll do it!"

For a moment, nothing.

Then, from nowhere, the Trickster appeared before them, the triumphant smirk back on her face.

"I knew you'd see sense eventually, darlings. Ready to go quietly?"

"When my sister is corporeal again, maybe," Tara snarked, jerking her head toward the speaker box.

The Trickster grinned.

"Just my little joke..."

And then Alex was climbing out of the car, stretching as if she'd literally been stuck in a box.

"Happy now?"

"One last question..."

Tara stared the Trickster down.

"Why didn't the stake kill you?"

The Trickster laughed, spreading her hands with a flourish like a magician.

"Well, I am the Trickster, darling."

This time it was Tara's turn to smirk.

"Maybe."

The woman's eyes had begun to narrow in suspicion, but before she could do anything, Alex had flipped open the lighter in her hand, igniting it and throwing it down at the Trickster's feet, where a ring of flames leapt up around her.

"Maybe you were always an angel."

The Trickster stared back, bursting into incredulous laughter.

"Did I push you too far and send you completely round the bend, little one?"

But neither Winchester was laughing.

"Tell you what," Tara was the triumphant one now. "You just step out of the holy fire and we'll call it our mistake."

There was a long, angry silence.

Then the Trickster clicked her fingers, there was a final burst of static, and the three of them were back in the warehouse. But the flames remained.

Looking like she was chewing a wasp, the Trickster slow-clapped.

"Congratulations. You're not as dumb as you look after all. And Holy Oil? Wouldn't have expected you to be carrying that."

She looked the two hunters up and down.

"So... what did I do wrong?"

"Mostly, it was how easily you got rid of Cassie," Tara replied.

"But as well as that," Alex cut in. "It was the way you talked about Armageddon. You're connected to what's happening, and to us that always means family."

The Trickster curled one elegantly manicured hand into a fist.

"So who are you really?" Tara asked, enjoying the moment, the Trickster's impotent fury.

The Trickster's expression changed completely, for a moment there was an almost haunted look there, before she settled into sullen.

"Gabriel, okay?"

That did surprise the sisters.

"The archangel?" Alex asked, looking their prisoner up and down.

"Yes, actually," was the annoyed reply. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"I... don't know. How does an archangel become a trickster?"

The angel folded her arms, defiant.

"I chose to. My own private witness protection. I skipped out of heaven and decided to have a little fun. Till you two came along and screwed it all up."

"And what did Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?" Tara asked.

"'Daddy' doesn't say anything about anything," Gabriel snapped, starting to pace inside her prison.

"Then why'd you leave?" Alex asked, genuinely curious.

"That's not a hard question," Tara snorted. "I mean, most angels are dicks. Can you imagine living with them?"

"You shut your mouth!" Gabriel hurled back, getting more and more angry.

"You don't know anything about my family. I love my father, my siblings. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't stand it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again!"

The three of them stared at each other, the sisters surprised at the level of reaction from the angel, who had so far seemed nothing but selfishness and gleeful spite.

Alex remembered the conversation they'd had earlier, about whether or not the Trickster would help them. Surely now they stood more chance of convincing her?

"So help us stop it."

Gabriel shook her head, convinced.
"Can't be done."

"Oh, come on!" Tara threw up her hands in exasperation. " Do you want to see the end of the world?"

"What I want is for it all to be over! Thanks to you two, I have to sit back and watch my own family kill each other! Heaven, hell, I don't care who wins, I just want it over and done."

Alex knew she was grasping at straws, but since when was that anything new?

"It doesn't have to be like that. There has to be some way to, to pull the plug."

Gabriel laughed, bitterly.

"You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two siblings that loved each other and betrayed each other."

Gabriel rolled her eyes.

" You'd think you'd be able to relate."

Alex was bewildered.
"What are you talking about?"

"You. You two. Why do you think you're the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the eldest, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the baby of the family, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, ladies. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One has to kill the other."

The Winchesters stared at her, glanced at each other, then back at their prisoner. She was looking smug again, but shot through with bitterness.

"Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Daddy flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you. Always."

Neither sister knew what to say to that. Silence filled the warehouse.

Then Tara shook her head.

"No. That's not gonna happen. No way."

Gabriel sighed, shaking her head.
"I'm sorry. But it is."

She looked almost sad now, regretful.

"Look, I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow... but this is real, and it's gonna end bloody for all of us. It's not what any of us really want, but it's just how it has to be."

There wasn't anything for Tara to punch, except her sister or the imprisoned archangel, so she settled for picking up a stone from the ground and hurling it as hard as she could against the wall of the warehouse. It struck a metal panel, the sound of the impact echoing through the room, but it didn't really make her feel any better.

Alex was clenching and unclenching her fists, uselessly, neither of them willing to accept what the angel was saying.

Gabriel took a deep breath, exhaling heavily.

"So what now? Do we stare at each other for the rest of eternity? Such as it is."

Tara shoved away her frustration; this wasn't over yet. Couldn't be. Wouldn't be.

"Well, first of all, you're gonna bring Cassie back from wherever you stashed her."

Gabriel cocked her head, defiant once more.
"Oh?"
"Yeah."

Tara directed all her anger at her prisoner.

"Or we dunk you in holy oil and deep-fry ourselves an archangel."

Gabriel ran her tongue around her teeth, resentful. But she knew she was trapped, and clicked her fingers.

Castiel appeared, looking startled and confused, but no more hurt than she had been earlier, to Tara's relief.

"Cassie, you okay?"

The angel shook herself, trying to regain her composure.
"I'm fine."

She looked over at her angelic sibling.

"Hello, Gabriel."

The archangel had put on a brittle front, cold but not entirely covering her anger, nails tapping against her arm.

"Oh, hello darling. How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Dreadful."

Cassie glared at her, but said nothing.

Tara, recognising that this would not end well in any outcome, started to walk away.
"And we're done. Come on, Lexie."

Her sister joined her, and after a long exchange of stares with Gabriel, Cassie followed behind.

"Uh. Okay. Darlings?"

There was a pleading note in Gabriel's voice, and they turned back at the door. She gestured to the fire at her feet, surrounding her.
"Are you just going to leave me here forever?

"Don't tempt me," Tara snapped back, but she put her hand on the fire alarm.

"And for the record? This isn't about some prize fight or destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family."

She pulled the alarm, setting off the sprinklers.

"Don't say I never did anything for you. Darling."

And they walked out, leaving the damp archangel to hope the fire would go out and release her.


Outside, the Impala was waiting for them, and the sisters got in gratefully. Castiel lingered a moment more, staring back at the warehouse.

Tara wondered briefly what the angel was thinking.

"All that stuff Gabriel came out with back there... you think it was the truth?

Alex considered this.

"I think she believes it. But as to what we do now? I don't know."

Tara blew out her breath, feeling the almost literal weight of the world pressing down on her.
"Well I'll tell you one thing. Right about now I kind of wish I was back in a TV show."

Alex nodded, grimly serious.

"Yeah, me too."

There was a long silence.

Tara looked back over to Cassie, who raised a hand in farewell, then vanished.

Tara sighed, started the car, and they drove away.

Whatever the future, they couldn't run from it, would have to face it sooner or later. But... well. Something was bound to change. The world couldn't end like this. Could it?


Disclaimer: Still didn't create Supernatural!

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