The first thing that Dean noticed was that he was laying on the ground with his pack next to him. Next was the smell of dirt, trees, and humidity.
"Looks like we really are going camping." He groaned as he opened his eyes and sat upright. Looking around, he saw Castiel and Crowley standing across from each other, glaring angrily at each other and not even realizing that the human was awake. "As much as I love to see you guys eye fuck each other, from what I heard about Purgatory, we probably should start moving."
Both the angel and demon looked at him.
"What? Also, are you the real Crowley or the fake Crowley we planted?"
"You made a fake version of me?! What, are you idiots befriending shapeshifters too?"
"All right, real Crowley." He got up and dusted himself off. "Either way, let's get a move on. I'd rather have more allies than enemies out here, even if it's a demon." Dean stared down the two and grudgingly, they both nodded.
"And why, pray tell, is the mighty elder Winchester leading the charge into the great unknown?" Crowley sneered and Castiel glared at him again briefly while Dean shrugged. He held up the backpack.
"Because I packed for the trip and despite your lack of warning about killing Dick Roman and ending up here, I got a tip off so I know enough to survive. That, and Sammy and I probably killed a good number of these fuglies the first time around enough to know we could probably get a trio thing going on and kick ass until we're taken out of time out. Just don't separate and we'll probably survive with what Gabriel provided."
Castiel nodded while Crowley rolled his eyes but went along with the plan as the unlikely trio began to move out of the clearing that they arrived in.
When the bright lights dimmed in the room, Sam found that out of everyone, only Kevin, Crowley, and himself were still alive.
"My apologies for the light show, I had to take out all of them at once." Crowley said apologetically while Sam and Kevin stared disbelievingly.
"…what?!"
Crowley grinned before his form shimmered slightly and a familiar mop of curly black hair and pale skin emerged. Sam's eyes widened significantly.
"Sherlock?! What the hell?! You mean-"
"That I was faking being the King of Hell so I could hijack his minions while the real one went to watch the killing of Dick Roman but got caught in the crossfire? Yes."
Sam was honestly a bit overwhelmed but took a deep breath and stared down Sherlock.
"How do we know that it isn't a double crossing? How do we know that you're actually Sherlock?"
Sherlock smirked and eyed Sam appreciatively.
"Clever. Go on, ask me a question. It's not like the usual hunter tests will necessarily work on me."
"Who the hell even is he in the first place?!" Kevin suddenly shouted and Sam managed to reign in a sigh.
"Kevin, this is Sherlock, well maybe he's Sherlock. Anyways, he's an archangel. Newest one and son of Gabriel who you met earlier. He's like the new version of Jesus apparently and like Dean, his ego shows that." Sherlock glared at the hunter who shrugged. It wasn't like he was lying.
"Why don't you use holy oil then?" Kevin asked and Sherlock shook his head.
"Unless you want me to burn to a crisp if I attempted to leave it. And someone who is posing to be an angel could easily just say that they couldn't leave the circle. And before you say that I could show off my wings, that could be easily replicated as well. Ask me a question about my life before meeting my father that you wouldn't know from reading the blog or the papers."
Sam stared at him for a moment before straightening up his posture and making direct eye contact with the supposed archangel.
"What was the one deduction you got wrong about your flat mate, John Watson."
Sherlock groaned.
"Are you both going to hold that over me forever? Harry is his sister and not brother and it's not like I could read minds at the time! Harry is a gender neutral name and didn't consider Harriet as my first hypothesis about a sibling name!"
Sam grinned at the answer and turned to the young prophet.
"Yeah, it's the real deal. He wouldn't complain as much if it wasn't him."
"I'd second that." Gabriel laughed as he appeared in the room with them. "I'm still working on the universe with him despite his stubbornness about sticking to crime and the supernatural. I did, however, get him to memorize the phases of the moon."
"That's because it relates directly to werewolves and how to deal with them-" Sherlock argued.
"ANYWAY." Gabriel cut in, glancing at his son who was huffing at him about nonsense. "Good news: ding dong, the Dick is dead. Bad news: Dean, my little bro, and the actual king of hell won an exclusive vacation to Purgatory ala murdering the head leviathan the king of Dicks himself."
Sam paled significantly.
"You mean that my brother is trapped in a world full of monsters that are going to try and slaughter him?!"
Gabriel shrugged. "It's really not much of a difference than here." Sam glared at him. "Hey, I'm just saying!"
Sherlock sighed. "My father gave him the necessary equipment to survive until we're able to extract him and Castiel. Crowley however… he may be left to stew for a while. I doubt he was happy to be pulled into the trap that he set for you and your brother. Luckily that female demon… Melissa?"
"Meg." Gabriel corrected and Sherlock shrugged.
"Whatever. Luckily she was feeling like gloating when a trickster came on the scene before I disposed of her. That way we were forewarned and your brother knew exactly what he was getting into."
Sam merely shook his head in disbelief and fell back into a chair that was luckily clean of demon remains. Gabriel sighed and gave the younger Winchester a sympathetic smile.
"Hey- your brother is gonna be fine. I even gave him a bit of my grace in case shit hits the fan. We're gonna get him and Castiel out. Crowley… possibly if he's there at the time but no guarantees there. You at least have two archangels here on your side for once. Half a complete set and we're not complete dicks!"
Sherlock snorted and Sam let out a weak smile. Kevin decided to venture into the conversation.
"So…I know who Gabriel is…but who is the archangel that isn't trying to kill us?" He asked meekly. Sherlock turned to the teen and quickly looked him over.
"My name is Sherlock Holmes. Consulting Detective. Well, I'm currently on permanent leave of absence since I died but that's a story for another day." He drawled. Gabriel grinned and threw an arm around Sherlock's shoulders who frowned except for a small quirk of smile that he was trying to hide.
"He's my son since Dad felt that it was time to step in and even up the score a bit for the humans. Last time he did that was what started the New Testament."
Kevin looked Sherlock over. "So you're telling me that he's the 'Second Coming'?"
"Excuse you. I am not as preachy as him. And I had a blog written about me and my teachings and adventures." Sherlock shot back and looked thoughtful before turning to his father. "Does that make John a disciple?"
Gabriel pondered this for a moment. "To be honest, I would say so. That would make Lestrade your version of Peter since he denied you three times before you died with the lead up to the attempted arrest yet he still believed in you." Now Sherlock looked thoughtful but Sam cut in.
"Let's talk about this later. What are we going to do for Dean and Castiel now?"
"Now?" Gabriel asked. "Now is the time for you and the prophet to take it easy and lie low for a while. At least as much as you can." Sam and Kevin both raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on guys! We have to take care of some archangel stuff that we literally can't take you on!"
"So where are we going then?" Kevin asked, sounding resigned. Sherlock's face lit up and grinned.
"I know exactly where."
"So you actually came to visit? I thought you were currently playing 'dead' by attending to your responsibilities for once."
"Come on John! That would be too boring!" Sherlock groaned and John let out a chuckle as he passed his old flatmate a cup of tea.
"So what are you actually doing here then?" The blond asked as he sat down with his own cup. Sherlock took a sip before grabbing a spoon and twiddling it.
"I came to ask if you needed a flatmate or two for a while? They need a break from their current lifestyle but need something not as… boring as the rest of this plebian world."
"So you bring them to me? I should feel honored." John replied and Sherlock nodded.
"You should be." The two sat there in the familiar space just soaking in the old feeling of just being in the same flat as one another. So many things had changed in the past couple months and it had never been just the two of them either. It was so quiet that John nearly jumped when he heard someone marching up the stairs.
"Yoo-hoo! John, are you up here?!" Mrs. Hudson called as she walked through the door with a plate of biscuits. John's eyes widened and looked to where Sherlock was sitting only to find it empty and the cup of tea gone with him.
"Yes, I'm here! Just taking in the atmosphere I guess." He replied lamely and Mrs. Hudson gave him a pitying look.
"Oh John. I miss him too. But the pain will get better as time goes by. He died a hero." She patted his shoulder and left the biscuits on the coffee table before heading back downstairs. Sighing in relief, John turned back to his tea and nearly had a heart attack when Sherlock was sitting there, sipping his own tea as if he hadn't disappeared.
"You better not do that in the future in order to make me look insane. I'll be sent to a mental institution."
"Please. As if I'd let you stay there alone. I'd pop in every now and again." Sherlock replied with a smirk and John let out a full bellied laugh before trying to stifle it before Mrs. Hudson would reappear again.
"Well thanks for that. Glad to know that you care." John said with a smile. "Now, about those flatmates?"
"Yes, well one is Samuel Winchester whom you have already met. The other is a teen who just so happens to be the current 'Prophet of the Lord'." Sherlock drawled and John blinked before shrugging and grabbing a biscuit.
"Any perks to being a 'Prophet of the Lord'?" The doctor asked, using air quotes around the phrase.
"Well, it means he can interpret anything the scribe of heaven wrote, that's for one thing. Ancient artifacts that apparently include tablets that have the power to close heaven and hell. We already located the one pertaining to Purgatory however we cannot close it yet as we currently have allies whom are trapped inside. Father and I are working on a solution to that. Otherwise? The child gets 24 hour protection detail with forces even more elite than anything Mycroft could put together."
"Oh really?" John asked, finishing the last of his tea. Sherlock nodded.
"Yes. An archangel is assigned to the active prophet at all times. All information about prophets are seared into an angel's brain upon creation. There is a list of them, you see. Only one can be active at one time and their abilities vary from prophet to prophet. The last one was Chuck Shurley, an author who worked under the author name of 'Carver Edlund'. He would have visions and then write them down and then publish them."
John let out another chuckle. "The author of those 'Supernatural' books? I always thought his information had to come from an insider due to nearly all of the correct information about the creatures who lurk in the night. So the Winchesters in the book…"
"Are the Winchester brothers, that's correct. In both heaven and hell, they are referred to as 'The Winchester Gospels'. With the way the supernatural world keeps acting out, I feel as if we'll be outed sometime soon to the public and the gospels will be canonized by Vatican after they have heart-attacks about the near miss of the apocalypse." Sherlock scoffed. John merely snorted and grabbed another biscuit.
"I'm sure they'll paint ceiling of you yet. Imagine what Donovan and Anderson would say if they knew you were the second coming." John laughing and then went into a fit of insane giggling as Sherlock accidentally inhaled the last of his tea with some of it coming out of his nose. "Bloody brilliant. An archangel just shot tea out of his nose in my living room. Clearly miracles do happen!" Sherlock didn't respond because he was honestly laughing too much and in a way he never had before.
That was the way Gabriel found them when he popped in about two minutes later.
"Clearly I missed something here." The elder angel stated and the two friends looked at each other and laughed again. "At least Sherly had enough sense to soundproof the room to outsiders when he arrived." He muttered, letting out a fond smile at the two. Clearly the reunion went well if Sherlock had finally let loose a little bit and acted less posh for the first time in his life.
Gabriel clapped his hands and let out a grin.
"Alright boys! Let's get planning for the relocation efforts of humans and an angel galore!"