I stared around me at the circle
of angels, noting that there was a lot less of them than I would have expected. I could hear them talking to each other through their minds, and even several trying to read my own mind. It didn't work of course, and they were all soon to find out why.
"I'm glad you've gathered here to hear me out...I know this isn't all of you, so I request that you spread word of what I do here to the rest of your angel brethren."
One of the angels asked "And why should we be here at all? You're simply another false god trying to lead us astray."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You would do well not to mention your fallen brother again. He has done more for you than you realize." The angel gave me a dirty look, but I ignored him. "You've been without a stable ruler for too long, and I've come to fill that position. I've spoken with Death, Lucifer, and with your former ruler Michael on this subject and it has been agreed that I am best suited for the post of your new ruler."
I looked around at the circle of angels, and they were all silent, listening. It was in their nature to follow orders, so I knew most of them were yearning for a new ruler to listen to. It was just a matter of convincing them I was it.
"I called you here to show you a display of power, to prove to you that I am not a fraud or a false God, and am true in my intentions. I hope that I do not have to smite any of you, and to prove it, I will resurrect one of your fallen brothers."
The tension in the circle tripled, and every angel was staring hard at me, waiting to see if I was really telling the truth.
I knew that if I brought back a lesser angel, it wouldn't have seemed very impressive, so my only choice was to bring back a slain archangel. Michael and Lucifer were obviously out of the question, as was the corrupt Raphael, so that left only one person.
I concentrated hard on him, and with a simple utterance of his name, Gabriel suddenly stood before us in the vessel Lucifer had destroyed. Some of the angels audibly gasped, including Gabriel himself.
He looked at every face, stopping when I stepped up to him.
"I know for a fact I was dead, because the last thing I remember was my older brother stabbing me in the chest with my own blade. Want to elaborate on how I'm here?"
"I brought you back." He looked skeptical. "Just read the minds of your brothers and sisters here, and you'll see. You'll also see why I'm here."
Gabriel was quiet for a moment, reading the minds of the other angels before he said "So you brought me back to prove you want to be a legitimate ruler...Very nice. Considering I was the only one that didn't want the Apocalypse to happen, it's a very smart decision on your part. I applaud you."
Gabriel clapped slowly and I was surprised at just how much he sounded like a human. He had to've been the most human-like of the angels I'd encountered yet.
"I know Lucifer killed you because you tried to help the Winchesters stop him. I would hope that you would follow me and help me rule Heaven, since there are no other archangels left."
"I guess that means Dean must've done away with Michael...Dead?" I shook my head.
"He and Lucifer are trapped in his cage. A lot has happened since you were killed, and I think you would be the best person to help."
"Even though I 'betrayed' Heaven and abandoned my brothers to live on Earth? You're a very forgiving new ruler. I've got no problem following you, assuming you don't go all psycho-tyrannical like Michael or Raphael."
"I won't...Give me a moment." I turned to look at the other angels and said aloud "I'm giving you a choice here. Follow me, or you can leave Heaven to live on Earth. I want things to be peaceful here again, and run the way they are supposed to. I'll give you all another day to decide."
I touched Gabriel's jacket and we were immediately on Earth.
"There is one thing I would like for you to do before we go back upstairs."
"Lay it on me, Mom." I chuckled a bit at his humor, but became extremely somber as I continued.
"Dean and Sam are undoubtedly looking for me, and I need you to check in on them and...the angel. I'll be there, but I'll be hidden to them. If they see you, they might accept that I haven't gone off the deep end, and will hopefully stop looking."
"If they've started looking for you, they probably won't stop. But I guess I'll give it a shot." Gabriel was silent for a moment. "They're using warding magic, so I've no idea where they are."
"Take my hand." Gabriel took my hand and I teleported us to where I sensed Dean and Sam were housed. I could sense Castiel's essence as well. "You won't be able to see me, but I'll still be there, so no spoiling anything."
"Yes ma'am." I masked myself and Gabriel looked around. "Nice. But you know I can't even go up to that little shack of a house, right?"
I snapped my fingers and the angel warding symbols inside and outside the house all disappeared. There was some shuffling and shouting inside, and Dean and Sam emerged from the safe house, guns in hand.
At the sight of Gabriel both brothers stopped, their faces filled with shock.
"Hey boys! Miss me?"
Dean was the first to respond. "Gabe..? What the hêll are you doing here?! Lucifer killed you!"
He nodded. "He did, and to tell you the truth, it hurt like hêll. get it?" He grinned and Dean and Sam stood, looking even more confused. "Okay, so you don't get it. Did you two lose your sense of humor while I was dead?"
"We fought Lucifer and Leviathans and angels...And what the hêll are you doing here?!"
"Jeez Dean, lighten up. Your little friend Devin brought me back to life." I noticed Gabriel glance at me, though he couldn't see me, and I resisted the urge to zap him away. "She's trying to become the new Queen of Heaven, and brought me back as a sign of good faith to the other angels. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Wait, so you've seen Devin?" Dean stepped off the porch and came to us. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
"She sent me here to check on you and my baby brother, and to tell you to stop looking for her." Dean looked confused. "She just declared herself God to a bunch of angels and demons. Do you really think things are going to be safe for you if you go digging around? I'm pretty much the new Michael up there, so I can offer you some protection, but I'll mostly be busy helping your Devin to clean up the messes Michael, Raphael, and your buddy Castiel left behind."
At the mention of Castiel's name, I flinched, and so did Gabriel. He glanced over at me again, but I couldn't reveal myself to him without alerting Dean as well.
"Gabe, do you think you can take a look at Cas? He's been a mess and we don't know what to do..."
"And you can't go hunting after Devin without him, am I right?"
Dean agreed with a resounding "Yeah!" I shook my head, disappointed. I warned them not to follow after me, but I kinda knew they wouldn't listen.
Just like I knew Gabriel wouldn't be able to do much for Castiel, which is why I didn't stop him from following Dean and Sam inside the safe house. I followed as well, and could see how purely miserable Castiel looked even before I entered the house. One of the unfortunate perks of my new powers, I guessed.
Castiel sat wistfully on a chair in the front room of the house, just staring blankly at a wall. He didn't move or even blink as we entered the room, or even when Gabriel went up to him.
"Hey there little bro, I hear you've been pretty out of it lately." Castiel looked up at Gabriel, than back at the wall. Gabriel turned to Dean and asked "How long has he been like this?"
"Since we left Washington, DC. Devin's parents had a safe house there we were using, and when Devin left, Cas completely lost it. Crying, sobbing, the whole emotional bit. On the car ride here he went pretty much catatonic, and that was two days ago."
Gabriel nodded and his eyes swept the room for me before he looked back at Castiel.
He knelt down before him and said "Little bro, this may or may not hurt, so I suggest you brace yourself." Much the same way as an angel would read a human's soul, Gabriel plunged his hand into Castiel's midsection and Castiel let out a bellow.
Dean and Sam were forced to simply watch as Gabriel looked within his young brother, all while Castiel screamed in pain. I turned from the scene, unable to watch. A tear escaped my eye and I flicked it away, and on the spot where it landed it burned a hole in the floor.
I stared at the burnt hole until Castiel's screaming ceased, and I turned to see Gabriel pulling his arm from Castiel.
Sam asked "What did you just do?"
"I just read him, duh. Little known to anyone, we archangels can do that to any lesser angel. We usually don't have to do it often, but since you're buddy Cas here has fallen, it's harder to read him. Anyway, I don't think there's anything I can do for him."
"Why not?!"
"I can't heal damage of this extent in an angel. Not only does he have this latest thing to weigh on him, but he has a year of Purgatory memories and a year of Sam's Hêll memories too! I'm surprised he's lasted this long." Gabriel stepped closer to Dean and Sam and asked "Do you know that he and Devin..?"
Dean held up a hand and said "Yeah, we know. You sure there's nothing you can do?"
"Pretty dâmn sure. The only one that can fix this is our new Mommy, and she's busy convincing the other angels to play nice for her. She's probably watching us right now though, to make sure I behave." Gabriel's snarky tone made me curl my fists, at which the windows of the house all burst outward at once. "Oops, I think she heard me."
Dean and Sam, who had covered their heads when the minor explosion occurred, stood up. Dean looked up at the ceiling and yelled "Why don't you just come down here and tell us you don't wanna help us? That you wanna leave Cas like this? You suck as the new God so far, you know!"
I didn't allow myself to be tricked by Dean's taunting. Instead, I spoke to Gabriel in his mind. You'd better watch your words. You know I can't appear to them, and you're supposed to be convincing them to give up on hunting me.
"Dean, I wouldn't be poking fun at Mother. She might just decide to send a lightning bolt your way."
"Then she can kill me! She made Cas like this and she's the only one that can help him, but instead she's decided to ignore him and go live with those feathery bâstârds up in Heaven. If you ask me, she's no better than Michael."
Angry now, I went and touched Dean and pulled him downstairs to Hêll, directly into Lucifer's Cage like I'd done with Crowley the day before.
Dean immediately recognized Lucifer and Michael, and me when I revealed myself to them. Lucifer, of course, could be counted on the give an eerily cheerful greeting.
"Dean! I figured it would be a matter of time before I saw you again. I just didn't think it would be in here. Brother, I think you have a few words for your vessel?"
Michael stepped forward to Dean, raising his hand to strike him, but I grabbed him by the arm and threw him against the opposite side of the cage.
"How many times do I have to say it...You are not allowed to kill anyone I bring here!" The Cage rumbled at my shout. I waited until it stopped to turn to Dean and say "You really want to call me cruel? I'll be cruel, and I'll leave you in here for a year just like Sam. Then maybe you'll have a little respect for the one that's spending her time trying to save your âss."
"Save me?! I'm in Lucifer's Cage! How is that saving me!?" Lucifer and Michael looked poised to strike Dean the moment I let them, and Dean knew it. He was backed up against the wall of the cage, unable to get away.
"I've made a deal with Crowley. I'm letting him live, as long as he runs Hêll and his demons the way I want him to. If any demon comes after you and Sam, I kill Crowley and start running things myself. Same thing upstairs. Any angels don't follow me or they try to hurt you, they're banished to Earth. Get the picture now?"
"Yeah, but why the hêll am I in here!?"
"To make a point. If you and Sam keep pushing your luck, this is exactly where you're gonna end up. I told you to leave me alone while I worked things out, so that's what you need to do."
"Okay, okay, okay!" Lucifer and Michael looked discouraged as I took a hold of Dean and returned him to Sam and Gabriel. I was invisible to them all again, but they all knew I'd taken Dean.
Sam rushed over and asked "Dean, what happened? Where'd you go?"
"I was in...the Cage. With Lucifer and Michael." Sam's eyes widened. "Devin says if we don't stop chasing after her, she'll stick us both back in there and leave us."
"What?!" Sam stood and looked at Gabriel and said "You have got to talk some sense into her. Even if she wants us to stay away, she has to come and heal Cas."
"There's nothin' I can do boys. She's the boss now, and from what I could see when she brought me back, you're not gonna get much help from any other angels. Not that many wanna help you anyway."
Gabriel teleported back up to Heaven and I stayed behind for a little bit to watch Castiel and the Winchesters.
Dean kicked over a table and shouted "What the Hêll!? Can we never get a friggin' break around here?!"
"Calm down Dean, shouting's not gonna help...There's nothing we can do for Devin or Cas right now."
"The fûck there is! We can summon Devin's feathery âss down here and make her heal Cas!"
"How? There is no summoning spell for God, and no weapons we can use against her. She's been God for a day and a half and already has Crowley and most of Heaven under her control. Dean, there is nothing we can do."
"We can bind Death again."
Even I nearly lost it when Dean said that. Was he really being serious?!
"Dean, you remember what Death said the last time we tried that. He said he'd kill you himself before you even got to start the spell!"
"Yeah, but it's the only thing we can do! Death can kill anyone, even God. He said that himself. So we just bind him and make him kill Devin, and hope he doesn't feel to vengeance-y."
Sam looked ready to retort when a tall, thin figure in black appeared, that I recognized instantly.
Death stepped further into the room and said "Hello boys. Didn't I warn you two of what would happen if you tried that little binding trick again?" He looked in my direction next and said "Hello Devin. Wonderful to see you again."
Dean and Sam looked in my direction as well, but I didn't appear to them. Death chuckled and said "It seems she doesn't want you to know she's been watching you. How quaint."
"You mean she's been here this whole time?" Sam and Dean both looked around the entire room, but saw nothing. "What the hêll?!"
"Temper, temper, Dean. You don't want to go all angry and get booted out when I take you to Heaven, do you?"
"You're not serious, right? After all we've done you're just gonna kill us?"
"I did warn you. Besides, I like Devin and what's she's doing. Things are a lot more exciting now than they've been in milennia."
"Great, Death has a hard-on for the new God so he's not gonna help us...Fantastic." Dean kick over another piece of furniture.
Death stepped forward to Castiel, looking down at him pitifully. "It's a shame you aren't at full power, otherwise I might kill you. Though it still wouldn't be much of a fight." He looked at Dean again. "You're lucky Dean. I'm sparing your life once more, only because our new God will go nuclear if I kill you and your comrades."
"How nice. I guess I can thank you for that, Devin." Dean looked around the room for me again, but I still didn't appear. "So, anything else you'd like to threaten us with before you leave?"
"No, but I will leave Devin with a word. God is looking for you too." I gasped as Death turned to face me. "It seems your power is so great that he is having trouble locating you. He sent me a message, saying he knows who sent you to Purgatory. If you're willing to speak with him, he'll tell who who it is."
Death disappeared, leaving both me and the Winchesters speechless.
