Author's note: Thanks to Ghastly Eternity, my wonderful beta-reader. Thanks to everyone who actually took the time to review. I really appreciate to see that people are reading this by looking at the story stats and I love that there are still new people who put this on their alerts. Please, if you got this far with reading, just leave me a line saying why you are reading the story or if you enjoy it. Hey, I'll settle for a simple 'Hi'!
14
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Dean commented icily after Gabriel had explained his so called plan to them all.
It came down to two things, really. The first was getting the four rings of the four horsemen, so they could open Lucifer's cage again, which was the part Dean agreed with. After all, they had already decided to go for that when they had first found out that Lucifer was raising Death. The second, however, was teaming up with a bunch of creatures they would usually most likely kill on first sight – if they didn't get to them first – and that was something the older Winchester was absolutely unwilling to do.
Once again, the others looked like they were considering listening to the archangel's stupid idea and that pissed Dean off. Alright, Castiel basically always looked like he was contemplating about everything, so it was okay for him to do it. Bobby and Sam had no such excuse, however.
The older Winchester took a few deep breaths trying to remind himself of what Bobby had said earlier. They were his family and he had to trust them. He didn't have to trust the annoying little douchebag, but he could and should trust the people he considered family. At the very least, he shouldn't dismiss something all three of them wanted to give a try.
"Lucifer surely wouldn't expect us to form an alliance with the pagan gods," Castiel said carefully considering his words. Like most angels, he didn't have a high opinion of all the pagan gods that were still around, but at the very least they were a power to be reckoned with and thus might be helpful.
"What'd keep them from killing every single one of us, especially those two, at first sight?" Bobby asked indicating the Winchester brothers with a slight nod of his head. After all, they might easily get the idea that it would be better if the chosen vessels weren't around anymore and that was a chance the older hunter didn't like to take.
Gabriel didn't bother with giving a verbal reply and only pointed at himself with both his thumbs. He'd be damned if he let anyone touch the younger Winchester and yes, he'd make sure his older brother was okay, if only because it'd break Sammy's heart should anything happen to him.
"If you're so sure that you can take on an assembly of gods, why don't you just go and get rid of Lucifer?" Dean asked, actually interested in the answer and not only trying to get a rise out of the archangel. Hell, he'd been wondering why Gabriel didn't just fight the devil for a while, but the time had never been right for asking.
"I've never contemplated suicide and I'm not starting now," the archangel replied easily, trying to distract from the topic with giving a very clear answer that wasn't clear at all.
"You're an archangel, he was one, so why not?" the older Winchster didn't let the topic go and when Sam shot an interested look into his direction Gabriel knew he wasn't getting out of this one.
"Castiel is an angel as well. Would you ask him to search for a direct confrontation with Zachariah?" he answered, "Oh, who am I talking to? Of course, you would."
Maybe, they weren't even really to blame for that, though. After all, it was quite apparent that they didn't know much about angelic power-levels and what being cut off from heaven really meant.
"Gabriel, look, you can't just throw stuff like that on us and then not explain what you're talking about," Sam argued reasonably. Granted, the archangel was much more inclined to do anything the younger Winchester was asking from him, but the way in which he was being asked made an important difference, as well.
"You'd better take a seat, this is going to take a while," Gabriel started. He didn't wait for any of them to get comfortable, though.
"Heaven and hell are both powered by two things mostly. The souls that are actually there and the belief of all living souls," he explained and made a lollipop appear to have something to hold on to mainly, "Obviously, the stronger the person's belief the more power both heaven and hell can draw from it. But it starts with something really simple. The mere knowledge of the concept already gives off some power, very little, but still."
Which was why nearly unknown beings were still around, although they often had to search for new – and usually drastic – ways to up their power. Sacrifice – of the involuntary kind – came to mind.
"Anyway, they back their soldiers, especially those in active duty, up with all the excessive power they don't need to simply keep things running," he went on talking and was a little surprised to be interrupted by his brother.
"Unless, of course, one of the soldiers becomes a deserter," Castiel said in a rather neutral tone, as if he was only speaking about the weather and not facts that concerned him greatly.
"Bottom line being, they cut you off as well," Bobby put two and two together addressing the archangel. Well, that explained some things, but it brought some other questions up at the same time.
"How the hell have you been running around doing your Trickster number then?" Dean asked one of the things the older hunter had been wondering about, as well.
Castiel hadn't been cut off for that long and he was clearly losing a lot of his mojo and with that of his abilities, already. It wasn't like Cas had used his powers more excessively than his brother, though.
"Because I'm awesome like that," Gabriel replied with one of his trademark smirks, "Also, they didn't get a chance to take the very thing that makes me an archangel away. Besides, I've got a lot of fans, so to speak. And there are a couple of other things, as well."
He wasn't quite sure into how much detail he wanted to go with his story. Then again, he would have to reveal most of it rather soon, anyway.
"People believing in you specifically gives you power," Sam stated more than he asked. Really, if it worked with concepts like heaven and hell, why not with single beings? It also made sense that Castiel didn't have that advantage. The younger Winchester had never heard of an angel of that name before he had shown up and he really didn't think he was overly popular in general.
"Someone give the man a cookie!" Gabriel replied but then just snapped his fingers to give Sam the cookie himself. He didn't miss the short amused smile that gesture got from the younger Winchester and that was really good to see.
"What other things?" Dean asked suspiciously. If they were having story-time then he wanted to hear the entire story.
"The human soul is a great power-source in itself," Castiel gave an answer to everyone's surprise, "Jimmy did not get resurrected alongside me, however."
The angel wasn't quite sure what had become of the poor man's soul, but he hadn't exactly been in the shape to wonder about things when Raphael had made him explode. He hoped that Jimmy Novak's soul had found its way to heaven, but he couldn't tell for sure. Maybe, some day he would be able to return to heaven and look for it.
There was a moment of silence before the full meaning of Castiel's words sunk in and all the humans present were looking at the archangel speculatively.
"Don't look at me like that," Gabriel told them with a click of his tongue, "It's not like he's been aware of anything that's been going on since I've taken over."
Besides, it wasn't like he could have done much about it. Okay, there might have been a way to get the man's soul out of his body once Gabriel's grace had been securely inside, but at the time he hadn't had the time and the nerves to go through with it. As time had passed he just had dismissed doing anything alike at all, because the arrangement was working perfectly as it was. Never change a winning team and all that.
"Is there anything else?" Bobby asked, clearly demanding an honest answer. He was prepared to give the archangel and his ideas a fair chance, but only if he was being completely truthful with them.
"Uh, you know how you've been calling me 'Trickster' over the years?" Gabriel asked with a casual shrug, "I'd have listened to Loki, as well."
Castiel's frown was the deepest, but at the same time he looked like some things were falling into place. To the angel, they probably did as well. After all, the new identity he had built for himself was the main reason why Gabriel could disguise his angelic presence as well as he could.
"Loki," Sam repeated after the archangel, "As in, the Norse god, Loki."
And somehow the younger Winchester didn't find that quite as hard to believe as he thought he should have. Yeah, a lot of things concerning Gabriel weren't quite as Sam thought they should have been.
The archangel only shrugged and didn't elaborate. He hadn't actively planned to impersonate a god when he had left heaven and come to Earth, but the possibility had presented itself and it had seemed like a very good disguise.
Bobby was mentally going through all the lore on the character he could come up with and he had to admit that it fit what they had seen of Gabriel's powers over the years.
"So, you've been drawing power from people believing in Loki and the entire Norse pantheon, as well," the older hunter reasoned. All in all, it sounded like a quite impressive power-source the archangel had at his disposal.
"It's not quite what it used to be, but yes," Gabriel agreed with a nod. All in all, his power level was comfortably high, but it still wasn't quite good enough to compete with Michael or Lucifer. If he had to guess, he'd say that he might have a realistic chance against Raphael, but that was talking about their powers without taking their general fighting skills into account. Yeah, maybe Gabriel had skipped a few too many training lessons, but he just didn't like direct confrontations. He was more of a fan of elaborate illusions and trickery.
"And you have been using those pagan powers to mask your grace completely," Castiel added in a tone that made quite clear that he didn't approve of that aspect of the story.
"It's become a lot easier ever after I could do that," Gabriel replied ignoring the disapproving stare the other angel sent his way. Really, what was Castiel expecting? It wasn't like he could have run around with a big neon arrow over his head saying 'archangel, please return to heaven'. Being found and forced to return had been what he had been most afraid of, not other beings trying to harm or kill him. He was quite sure he could have dealt with that, with heavenly prison and reeducation not so much.
"And that's it. Nothing more. Unless, you want to hear about all the skeletons in my closet, but we'll be here until next year then," he finished with a light shrug. After all, he was old and he had been on Earth for a very long time and he hadn't exactly been an innocent little lamb even before. Besides, they all knew him well enough not to be surprised by that.
"Okay, and heaven kicked Lucifer out, but he has hell backing him up," Dean deducted from everything they had heard this far, "Like heaven's backing Michael up. Plus their individual worshippers and believers."
"'Congrats, Dean-o, that was more insight than I'd have expected coming from you," Gabriel agreed in a somewhat mocking tone, "You see why we need any help we can get now?"
Begrudgingly, Dean had to admit that he did see the archangel's point. That didn't mean that he liked the idea of teaming up with any of Gabriel's so called friends, however.
"So, what do we do now?" Sam asked to get back to the topic they had started at. It wasn't like they could just put an ad into the papers saying they were searching for pagan gods to help them battle the devil.
"Oh, I already made contact to some of the pagans. I'll tell you once something comes from that," the archangel replied, ignoring Dean's completely not amused expression at hearing that things had been set into motion without informing them first.
"But there's a couple of other things I'd like to try," he added after a moment, "So, grab your stuff and follow me, we've got some summoning to do!"
This time, Sam didn't like the sound of that, either.