Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Warning: Spoilers for the end of season 7 of Supernatural.
Gabriel hears the half scream from the other side of the world. It's filled with rage and shock and it stops abruptly. It wakes him from his healing sleep, mildly startling the goddess beside him. He leaves Kali under the boiling sun of her homeland without a word only to appear next to his friend. To a stranger the god appears to be sleeping but the angel knows better. Loki would not sleep in the remains of a broken building surrounded by fire and the stench of blood.
The angel approaches with caution whispering comforting words to the prone body. 'I'm here. If you can hear me just lie still.' He kneels, hands shaking as he reaches out with a gentle brush of his Grace but there's no response. Sam is beside him checking Loki's eyes and searching for a pulse on the paling neck. Sam tries to resuscitate the trickster but it's not enough to bring air into the still lungs or start the silent heart.
"You can't let go! You can't..."
As if to answer something grabs Gabriel's consciousness and pulls him through a void of anger and sorrow.
~~0O0~~
Gabriel drifts onto a land covered in ash and snow. He looks around cautiously taking in the barren land. He extends his Grace but there is a sharp sting as magic fights his foreign energy. He sees something flicker from the corner of his eye and braces himself for an attack. When he turns he realizes it's a pulsing red web. It leaves black veins in its wake as it grows and stretches outward devouring everything in its path.
'What could this be?'
"Don't let it touch you."
Gabriel recognizes the voice but doesn't see the trickster. "Loki? Where are you?"
"I can't stop him. It's too much, he's changing too much! You need to-"
"Loki? Loki!" He begins to panic because he can't see Loki and he's not sure what's happening. Not waiting for the god to answer, the scenery changes.
~~0O0~~
A young Loki and Thor appear hand in hand laughing joyfully as they play in the vast meadows of Asgard. The angel gasps because this is a memory. He has seen it before in the mind of his friend. As he watches them smile Gabriel cannot hate Thor, this version of the thunder god has not yet wronged his other. As he sees them rest in the grass Thor leans on Loki saying, "You and I, brother, will be together forever. Nothing will separate us."
Black and red vines cut through the images and different voices speak. Gabriel grimaces when he recognizes them as Thor's band of fools. Here, in this time, the gap between both brothers has widened and Loki is slowly being left behind. The liesmith watches helplessly as Thor moves farther away and throws biting words at when he follows. "Leave off, brother, you would not care to join us."
The memory spins.
Sif and Loki are alone in the gardens and it's a rare moment of peace. It's no surprise to the archangel that Loki is helping heal Sif's wounds and whispering words of encouragement to continue fighting. After all, there was a time when the god loved her dearly. Their silence is ripped apart by the growing venom and he hears an older version of the warrior goddess yell, "You took a blade to my hair!"
Gabriel remembers why the god had been so rash. Loki had been hurt when Sif's affections had turned to Thor and it had broken his heart.
Everything twists.
A loud howling makes Gabriel breathe, 'Fenrir.'
Beyond the large wolf pup he can see Loki's other children drifting in and out of the misty blackness. He can hear Jörmungandr's scales scrape against the hard rocks. He feels the the rumbling beat of Sleipnir's hooves race across land. He glimpses Hela clutching the threads of the living and dead. The fog eats them away leaving behind a wretched and torn Loki. The god whispers to no one, "I am Loki. I will endure."
Gabriel chokes back a cry because this is the moment Loki had lost his faith in everyone, even Gabriel.
As the memories wind around him and vanish Gabriel can't stop the alarm building inside. There is something tampering with the gods memories. It's consuming the pleasant ones and leaving nightmares behind.
~~0O0~~
In a sudden shift he's in a snow covered forest.
A small blond boy with wide frightened eyes wanders through the trees. Tears streak his cheeks as he chews on his bottom lip in an attempt to hold back a sob. Loki dressed in thick furs and dark colors steps out of the shadows. The god kneels; hand out stretched beckoning the young one to come closer and holds him in a tight embrace when the boy runs into his arms.
From the edges of the forest the red and black poison begins to eat everything away and the memory begins to disperse. The angel weaves his Grace around the memory to protect it and tucks it away in his heart to keep it safe.
"Gabriel..."
~~0O0~~
There's another shift of memories but they're grayed from decay so it shifts again and again and again. Words and half finished sentences tumble through the dark holes of venom.
"Where's Bobby?"
"You left us! You left us! After everything we-!"
"Cass isn't... We don't know if he'll..."
Somewhere in the emptiness beyond, Gabriel hears music as more voices continue to speak. 'Sketch the trees and the daffodils, catch the breeze and...'
"...a prophet?"
"Only way...three bloods... fallen."
"Kevin's gone..."
"It's demon... mine?"
"...gonna announce ourselves, big."
Another song rings through as the darkness evaporates '...in a love embrace, fire all of your guns at once and explode into space-'
~~0O0~~
When the movement stops there is a subtle change in the atmosphere and the angel knows he's closer to the now and present memories. He sees Loki sneaking through a building infested with Leviathan with Dean following close behind. Together they peer through different glass rooms searching for someone until they stop outside a lab. Gabriel realizes this is where the god had been before he was injured. He will see what was responsible for the tricksters almost death.
"You know I think this might end up the slickest little genocide in history."
When the leader of Leviathan turns away Loki and Dean effectively cut the head off of the lower ranking creature. The other being doesn't seem too upset or surprised as the hunter and god stand behind him.
"Loki. Good to see you again. Thanks for the ride into paradise."
Gabriel backs away from the walls as a mesh of red and black ivy began to creep across the room. Dean is talking but the memory shimmers and becomes translucent for a moment. The voices of the mortal and beast fade in and out as they continue to speak.
"This meeting's over."
Loki steps in front of Dean to protect him magic already swirling around them. The green mist of his enchantments scorch Leviathans skin but it's not enough.
"Do you really think your magic is enough to stop me? I've seen you. I know how to break you, godling."
The angel is stunned as it grabs Loki only to melt into the trickster's skin. The god screams and fire bursts everywhere before the room disappears. Darkness envelopes the angel and memories spin faster, all blurring colors and dead ends.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Through the blending memories Gabriel sees a familiar fluttering cape and hears a whisper of familiar chaos.
"Loki?"
The angel opens his wings letting them take him into the air. The scenery rolls beneath him, rising and falling across the ever changing landscape. The silhouette of the god travels farther away never looking back as his name is called.
The remaining memories shatter.
~~0O0~~
He crosses the gods glittering barrier with ease and sees a gray form gather around the protective dome. Invisible teeth and claws rake across the shield in an attempt to break through. The wards hold as the serpent slithers around, searching for an opening.
The angel approaches Loki only to pause when he sees red marks rippling across his left temple and throat. He scowls when black veins sweep across Loki's face making the god twitch.
"Loki? Can you hear me?" There is no response, just more silence. "Loki!"
Loki's eyes, cloudy from the toxin, begin to clear and he whispers, "Gabriel? Wha-what are you doing here?"
Something about the way his other stares at him makes him tremble. "Ga-Gabriel... you need to leave. It's too late... it's too...late... there is no-nothing. It's over..."
His voice seems to drift away. "I am... a m-monster. Y-you do not... do not need to help me. I am g-glad it will be over. It... cannot b-be undone..."
Gabriel gathers him close, "You're not a monster! There is goodness in you! There will always be goodness in you!"
"It's too late..."
"I can fix this," the angel says evenly. "I can make this stop. I can make this go away."
"No... it's t-taken too much."
Gabriel ignores him and extends his Grace. His power fights the tightening net of magic consuming the trickster and tears it down leaving a comforting warmth behind. Loki's eyes begin to shine brightly as they focus on the smaller trickster. There is relief and happiness before fear grips the liesmith.
"No! No! Stop!"
But even as he yells, Gabriel can't stop the dark magic from coiling violently in retaliation or stop his Grace from fusing with it. The last thing he hears is laughter.
"Leviathan trumps angel."
~~0O0~~
Gabriel is knocked backwards when he returns. Loki's back arches off the ground and he roars as shadows dance over his ashen skin. After a beat the angel sees the god stand taking in the dying flames around them. Loki sighs and a feral grin blooms on his face. The boy prophet hides behind the Winchesters when the god turns cold eyes toward them.
"Thank you," Black flames dance across the god's fingertips and red veins curl around his eyes. "My friends."
Gabriel flinches when he hears Leviathan bleed into Loki's voice. The angel grits his teeth, "Loki-"
"No," vicious green eyes blaze, "I'm done with you. I will do what I want and I will show everyone. I will make everything burn."
Loki bends down to meet the angel's eye level. He runs a hand through Gabriel's hair and whispers, "You will not stop me. If you try, I will cut you down with the same Grace you used to 'heal' me. I will not regret it."
Gabriel stares at the god in disbelief. He feels the roiling energies of his power and Loki's clash together inside the god. He also feels the dark pieces of Leviathan in their midst building anger and hatred into something so much more as it whips dangerously in the taller being. The god laughs as he disappears in a cloud of green-black smoke.
A/N: Oh no! Loki! Let's all thank Dick for steering our favorite god into Crazy Ville. The Tom and Loki memory was inspired by wantstobelieve on tumblr. Unfortunately, I can't post a link to the page directly.
Songs used -
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) by Don Mclean
Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf
You can skip this but I just needed to get this out to explain a few things: Since Loki is in the picture certain events happened sooner or didn't happen at all. The Leviathans that went into Loki in the earlier chapters were the ones alive in SPN season 7. Loki's magic wasn't enough to destroy the ones that went into him -it just slowed them down. Loki was pretty weak at the time so he wasn't strong enough to kill them -plus they're difficult to kill- and then got distracted searching for Gabriel.
Anyway, Gabriel did remove the Levi's from Castiel meaning Cas didn't "die" in the water like in the beginning of the season and helped Sam (only sooner) by transferring the Lucifer madness into himself which sent him into a coma thing. The only difference is Cas hasn't woken up at this point. The distraction with the impala was caused by a Loki clone not Meg. Not to mention I am NOT going to send Dean to Purgatory cuz there's no way I was going to write about another adventure to that place again. As for Bobby... I'm not sure whether I can pull off a resurrection for him. I mean Gabriel would be capable of doing this but would Bobby want to come back? I'm still debating this. If you really want him back I can try to write him back in, maybe, no promises.
Edited: 10-30-2013
