Author's comment: Let's wrap this up, shall we?
After having annoyed the Empty with the Homer Simpson version of When the saints go over there and when the Empty told him to shut up he proceeded to sing the Black Eyed Peas song Shut up. GGabriel was smiling widely as he sang AC/DC's T'N'T so loudly that it made Cass's body starting to twitch and the entity covered it's ears, but it was pointless. The Empty did not want to cave in once more to demands of a being so inferior to itself, but it had to admit, this guy was way more annoying than the last one. The Empty just had to get rid of him.
GGabriel opened his eyes only to find himself in the dark again. But when he blinked a couple of times, he could see the moonlight shining in on a head that was sleeping leaning against his arm. He smiled at the image of his son sitting in a chair and sleeping in such an awkward position. He glanced over at a chair near a door only to find his other son, DDean, dozing off, his hand supporting his head barely.
He slid from under SSam's grasp and gently moved him more on the bed. Thinking they must have moved him when they though he was dead, he pulled SSam's feet onto the bed, and could hear his son mumble something. He stroked his hair gently and SSam's face seemed to relax just a bit as he rolled over in the bed, hugging the sheets. GGabriel walked over to DDean, but he seemed to be catching up on some very much needed sleep and GGabriel didn't want to wake him. So he just smiled at him as he slipped out of the room.
He could hear voices of his brother's in the main hall but when he got there, the only people he saw were the Winchesters. He had walked in silently and when he found them like that, he was confused to say the least. "What did you do?!" he asked loudly and strictly making them flinch.
The boys didn't quite understand why, but they were at peace with that whole situation, so much so that they have relinquished control and were sleeping soundly within their own minds. Over the past twenty four hours they have felt a bond between them and the archangels possessing them, but for some inexplicable reason it didn't scare them. They have welcomed it and embraced it. It just felt natural to both the vessel and the archangel. It was needless to say, neither LLucifer nor MMichael wanted to leave.
But it didn't seem like that to GGabriel. It completely freaked him out seeing the faces of his sons smiling at him, but feeling his brothers' grace emitting from them. It completely freaked him out when those smiling faces ran and hugged him tightly, completely ignoring his question. "What the Hell guys?!" And the guys exchanged glances frowning at each other like they have just realized they were still possessing the boys.
Both LLucifer and MMichael looked at their brother with embarrassment and they immediately turned around and sat on the chairs around the war table. They gave each other one last glance before their essence left the bodies of their perfect vessels and returned into their discarded previous ones. Both Sam and Dean fell slowly forward, leaning on the table, still asleep. LLucifer and MMichael stretched as they got off the floor, their bodies aching from a bad position they were left in.
"Will somebody please explain to me what happened?" GGabriel asked his face still strict. "You died." MMichael retorted and GGabriel rolled his eyes at him. "Yeah, well, duh. It is obvious I knew that. I mean what happened there?" he said pointing back to the Winchesters.
By the time they told him everything, it was nearly dawn. His face didn't change throughout the explanation of the events. He knew his sons have been in trouble, but he also knew they were fine now. The only time GGabriel reacted was when he found out what Jack had done. His face turned a brighter shade of pale as they told him Jack had given SSam his grace, just for a slight chance he could bring GGabriel back. He didn't know if he was more proud at the kid and his son or worried about them. Mixing grace like that, well... It was unheard of. "What was he thinking?" a sigh escaped GGabriel's mouth.
"He was just trying to help." a voice spoke from behind a doorframe, from the library. GGabriel frowned at the wall and slowly walked over behind it. He found Lucifer sitting on the ground leaning on the wall. He saw his own LLucifer and the anger in his eyes towards his look-a-like and he sighed again. He gazed back at Lucifer and asked "Did that surprise you?"
Lucifer frowned, slightly confused by a question he did not expect. "Yeah... I could say it did... But, um... It also made me kinda... um... kinda proud at him, you know?" GGabriel smiled at him and sat beside him "Yeah, I know. Kids, right? They never cease to amaze. You keep teaching them, and one day... Poof. They actually teach you something." GGabriel spoke in general, but that last line was directed to Lucifer. The Devil looked down, thinking about what GGabriel said.
Lucifer flinched when GGabriel slapped his knee and said "Good. Well... I am starving. Let's go make some pancakes..." and he pulled Lucifer towards the kitchen, LLucifer and MMichael followed. "I will never understand your need for human food." MMichael said as GGabriel pulled out a bowl and the pancake mix and started preparing it. "And I will never understand why you don't just conjure the food, why do you have to make it yourself." LLucifer added, touching the hot pan and flinching from a burn. Not that it didn't heal straight away.
"Cuz it tastes better." a smiling Gabriel said from the door. He had heard voices from the kitchen, and when he went to see who was there, he was glad to find that his double has returned. He walked over and helped GGabriel with the pancakes. "And cooking can be fun, too." GGabriel added, and his brothers rolled their eyes at him. Lucifer caught himself staring at the first batch of pancakes, feeling the human hunger. He didn't understand this new feeling and his lower lips started trembling at the sight of food. It was obvious the whole thing scared him a bit.
Gabriel frowned as GGabriel extended the first batch to Lucifer, but then Gabriel saw something, something that made him confused and left wondering. Lucifer took the plate, his eyes wide, his lips smiling, and his expression grateful. "Thank you." He whispered, and Gabriel was taken aback by what he heard. Did he hear that right? Lucifer sat on the farthest side of the table and started eating.
His very first experience with food as an almost human was... Well, enlightening to say the least. His mouth filled with delight of the mix of pancakes and maple syrup, every moment filling him with some strange sense of happiness. Where has that been his whole life? LLucifer and MMichael sat away from him, watching and frowning. They could never understand.
SSam woke up when the sun hit his face from a window high above. His brows pulled closer in confusion and he quickly got out of bed. "Dean?! Wake up!" he shouted at his brother whilst looking around the room frantically. DDean shot up from his chair when he heard his name and nearly fell forward, still half-asleep. "Where? What?" he asked confused. It took him a moment to remember where he was and his eyes widen as he realized GGabriel wasn't there.
They both stumbled out of the room, but not before they caught themselves trapped in the doorframe for a second. They followed the voices to the kitchen and stopped frozen in spot at the door. A Gabriel stood by the stove smiling and making pancakes. "Morning kiddos. Want some breakfast?" he said, and another Gabriel leaned back from behind the first one, smiling at them too. "They're really good."
"D..Dad?" SSam spoke barely, his heart pumping hard, his hands shaking and sweating. His lips trembled and his eyes filled with tears of joy when the first Gabriel looked at him, smiling and with a sparkle in his eyes "Yeah?" Next thing GGabriel knew, he was being crushed by his son's tight hug. GGabriel pat him on the shoulder saying "It's ok, kiddo. I'm back." when he realized SSam wasn't going to let him go any time soon. He slowly pulled away only to get the air out of his lungs kicked out of him again when DDean hugged him. DDean tried to pull away quickly, feeling a bit embarrassed, but GGabriel held on to him for a second more.
Gabriel watched the reunion of a family and even though he had a smile on his face, a part of him felt sad. His family is never going to be like that, and he couldn't help but envy them just a bit. He glanced back at Lucifer who was still enjoying food, and asked himself if his brother was even worth an effort. Should he try and build a relationship with him? He sighed as he remembered the old times, when they were all in their home, happy. When everything was as close to perfect as it gets.
As the memories of his past poured into Gabriel's head, he slowly realized there was someone who needed him more than Lucifer did. Well, not someone, but some place. His home. Heaven was a mess, barely standing, according to LLucifer. So he pulled the commander of Heaven aside to ask him about the situation in this Heaven. "It's not good. I managed to break Metatron's spell and give angels their wings back, but there aren't many of them left. – LLucifer said regretfully - They will soon burn out, and Heaven will fall. Michael's grace might help power them up for a while longer."
Gabriel looked at his feet, thinking for a moment and then raised his head with a question "And if I was to return?" LLucifer looked at him smiling, glad to hear that "Michael's grace might just hold them long enough for your grace to replenish itself, which would happen a lot faster in Heaven. If you choose to stay, Heaven just might stand a chance." Gabriel would ponder over LLucifer's words for a while longer before deciding he would be the one to take the grace to Heaven and see its state for himself. He would stand by his decision even though it scared him. It has been such a long time since he has been home and he was afraid of what he might find.
But before that, he just had to ask "How did you break Metatron's spell?". And LLucifer smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "The spell was just a bowl of ingredients with Castiel's grace powering it. When I removed the grace, the spell broke." Gabriel looked at him frowning "You mean to tell me, all this time it was just a stupid bowl? How come no one found it before?" LLucifer ran his hand over his face as he answered "Metatron was smart. He hid it in the one place he knew nobody would ever look, or even go to."
"Where?" Gabriel asked and gazed into LLucifer because it took him a few moments to answer. "The bathrooms." LLucifer replied sheepishly as if it was him how put the bathrooms in the Heaven in the first place. The only thing Gabriel could do is face palm himself, thinking Whose dumb idea was that? He would find out one day in a distant future that his Father just loved taking long steaming showers singing country songs.
Despite having slept on the table, both Sam and Dean woke up refreshed, feeling better than they have in years. They felt rested and it was like a part of their ever-lasting burden was lifted away. They looked at each other and both frowned, sensing the archangels have left them. Neither would ever admit it, but they sort of missed them. They got up when Cass and Jack entered the main hall. Cass tilted his head at them, sensing they were archangel free. Dean opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by loud laughter coming from the kitchen.
They walked in just in time to see GGabriel telling everyone "...and then I sang 'Cause I'm T.N.T. I'm dynamite, T.N.T. and I'll win the fight, T.N.T. I'm a power load, T.N.T. watch me EXPLODE! – and everyone burst out laughing again – I guess I annoyed the Hell out of him." Cass frowned and asked "Who are you talking about?"
GGabriel looked up at him and shouted "YOU!" laughing, with tears in his eyes. "The junky version of you, anyway." Cass rolled his eyes, but with a smile on his face as he said "Glad to hear you irritated a cosmic being into releasing you." GGabriel gave him a wink. SSam listened to his father's story about the Empty and he couldn't picture him. He couldn't even believe the version that sat before him. He was different. More relaxed. Less strict. More fun. Less worried. SSam just had to admit, he liked seeing his father like this. He seemed so much more happier. "Pull up a chair, have some delicious pancakes." GGabriel shouted at the boys and they obliged smiling.
Later that day, Cass, Jack, Sam and Dean were saying their goodbyes to the angels of an alternate reality. LLucifer and MMichael exchanged smiling glances with the Winchesters, glad to have met them. They were more than just their perfect vessels. They were humans who fought hard, clawed their way through life and came out victorious but with heavy scars, and somehow what the archangels have seen made them proud. Made them appreciate the human kind just a little bit more.
DDean clinched to the first blade as he stared into his double and smiled when Dean told him to keep it. SSam and Sam exchanged a smiling nod and then SSam turned to Jack. "You brought me here to teach you a few things, and I never expected to learn some from you. Thank you, Jack. For everything." Jack looked up at his mentor with a spark in his eyes "No, thank you Sam. You have helped me control my powers. And even though they are gone for now, I... You thought me so much more than that. You have shown me how to be compassionate and how to show my emotions. How to let people know I care about them." And Jack hugged SSam tightly as SSam's lips curled up into a smile and he pat the kid's back, hugging him back.
"You take good care of these boys – GGabriel said to Cass – they are important to this world." Cass nodded at this, let's call it order, more than happy to oblige. "Of course I will. They are my family." and GGabriel glanced over at the boys. Even though he wasn't their father he was still proud of all the things they have accomplished.
LLucifer winked at Jack after he whispered "Don't let your old man pull you down.", but GGabriel head him. When LLucifer walked away, GGabriel whispered to Jack "Pull your old man up." He smiled at the kid's confusion, but Jack still nodded in reply. If GGabriel really thought it was a good idea, Jack might give Lucifer a chance.
The rift cracked opened and the angels smiled at them all as they went through one by one. SSam was the last to pass, and looked at them all smiling at him, and almost wished they didn't have to part ways. He stepped through and Team Free Will stood looking at the rift, waiting for it to close. After a few moments it started to flicker, powering down.
As it flickered one last time, the room filled with such a bright light, everyone had to cover their eyes. When the light faded, Jack and Cass looked, only to find that Sam and Dean have disappeared.
"Is this..." Sam asked looking around a familiar kitchen/dining room as Dean interrupted the question "It is... But how?". They were both confused, standing in a house that burned down a long time ago. Their eyes widen when a woman appeared in front of them wearing black leather pants, a black top and a long leather coat, holding a scythe. Dean frowned "Billie?"
And Billie smiled back "It is strange isn't it? You kill Death and the last reaper to die becomes the new horseman. Who knew?"
Sam looked up, shivers going up his spine "Why..." "Why are you here? – Billie asked with a smirk – you have been causing me headaches for weeks now, constantly jumping through worlds, changing destinies. Did you not know there would be consequences? Consequences of cosmic proportions?"
"Where are we?!" Dean insisted, but Billie rolled his eyes at him smirking "Dean Winchester, always with the attitude. I can tell you, you're not in your world, that's for sure. And no grace of an archangel can send you back to yours. Not this time." Sam and Dean both gulped as Billie vanished. They both flinched and turned around when they heard a bag, probably filled with groceries drop to the ground and a familiar voice asking in shock "What on God's green Earth are you doing here?!"
Author's comment: Did you really think this was the end?