Chapter 11

Far Beyond My Reach

When they arrived in the main town that hosted the fae murders, Sam told Gabriel to either stay at the hotel room that Dean had gotten for the next few days or go do a bit of snooping around without causing undo attention. Only these two options were given because Gabriel still looked like a thirteen-year-old. Dean had agreed with Sam about not bringing a 'kid' along to a crime scene or to the sheriff's department.

At first, Gabriel had done the first option, fine with waiting for Sam and Dean to go on and do whatever they did while they pretended to be FBI agents. Then several hours passed, and he started to get bored. A bored Gabriel was never good. Of course, due to the circumstances, bored Gabriel did not equate to Trickster Gabriel. No, Gabriel was quickly borderlining high anxiety.

He couldn't just sit still and wait.

So... What exactly could he do in a town with a population barely reaching ten thousand that classified as 'snooping around without causing undo attention'? Well, he reasoned that since he did look thirteen, he could go to town park where the most recent murder had taken place. Even better, it was like four in the afternoon, so any parents that happened to be around wouldn't be all that suspicious about a middle schooler not being in school.

Mind made up, Gabriel left the hotel room – and seriously, Dean would have chosen the motel if Gabriel hadn't complained very loudly about the possibility of bed bugs and gross smells and moldy ceilings and/or walls and horrible reception. Gabriel figured that he should be back before the Winchesters returned and didn't bother leaving a note or anything like it. Not like Sam and Dean would freak out because Gabriel wasn't in the hotel room if they did happen to get back before Gabriel did. And on the off chance that they broke his expectations (which they did, more often than not – which probably wasn't a good thing), Gabriel would be back before they knew it. Probably. Like, more than likely. Definitely.

The park was quiet. Kind of like the whole town was, really. Gabriel had bet there'd be at least one family that still went to the park even after the unexplainable murder (well, unexplainable to them). But no. No one was there, leaving the park deserted and looking like something out of a cliché horror movie. The dead grass and bare branches he could understand – it was still pretty much winter in this part of the world. There was even a breeze that was strong enough to push the swings on the swing set, causing the chains to creak eerily. It didn't help that the place felt dead. Nope. Not creepy. Not creepy at all.

Using a quick burst of grace, Gabriel double-checked that there weren't any humans around (adult, child or otherwise). And just like he'd correctly observed, there weren't any, not within spying distance anyway. There was something else though – something like a... residual magic signature. If there was any doubt that this was in fact a series of fae murders, it was gone now.

Gabriel moved closer to the last remnants of magic that had belonged to the now-very-dead fairy. He was faintly curious as to why there had been so many fairies in one place. Surely Oberon knew better than to send so many of his people to Earth. Even just five of the fae race was more than normal for them, as they usually only sent one fairy along to accompany the pixies and gnomes and trolls and goblins and leprechauns. Then again, Oberon was getting rather old for a fairy. If Gabriel remembered correctly, the average life span of a fairy was about three thousand years, and Oberon should be around three thousand and five hundred years old... give or take. And while that wasn't necessarily retirement age for High King of the Fae, if Oberon hadn't already picked out a suitable candidate for the next High King, he would need to soon.

It took Gabriel a little longer than it should have to remember the rest of the fae royalty. First there was Titania, Orberon's wife and High Queen of the Fae. Supposedly, the next in line for those titles would be Oberon's children, except he didn't have any – none that were legitimate anyway. Then there were the kings and queens that ruled over the Pixies' Isles, the Woodlands, the Glades and the Sacred Forest. Gabriel was pretty sure that King Harlequin and Lady Quintessa – who were neither related nor married to each other despite what their titled positions suggested – were the likely candidates for becoming the next High Rulers of the Fae. It would either be those two or Queen Clarion and Lord Milori. Unless there was someone new in charge of the Woodlands or maybe the Glades, though the rulers of those areas of Avalon were relatively new themselves.

An unnatural gust of wind tore Gabriel from his thoughts. The magic radiating off of the new being in the park told the archangel that this was definitely not an angel. No... It was another fairy.

And there was no mistaking that magic signature she'd made by teleporting to the park. If that hadn't tipped him off, it would have been her colorful petal dress, though it looked different than the last time he'd seen her – more suited to be on Earth than in Avalon. Oh, if she had personally come here because of the fae murders, something was very wrong.

"Queenie?!" Gabriel exclaimed, startling the fairy queen.

Quintessa scowled at Gabriel as soon as she recognized him, which was admittedly a lot quicker than he had recognized her. "Trickster? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you," he replied with the same speed she had whipped out her question.

Gabriel didn't correct her calling him what she had. The last time he'd been in Avalon, he had still been moonlighting as the Norse Trickster, and before that he'd simply been a trickster that meddled with the fae people's affairs more than he probably should have. Of course, given the fae's nature in general, being a trickster was not a bad thing.

The fairy let out a dignified scoff, though her scowl was now gone, replaced by something not unlike fondness. "If you must know, the Fae Court has ordered our kin's deaths to be investigated. So many killings within such a short amount of time worry the High King and Queen," she told him, dropping into a sorrowful air as she glanced back to where the other fairy had been killed not a week ago.

"Someone hunted my people down, Trickster," Quintessa continued in her lilting and accented voice, her violet eyes now pointedly staring at the ground. "Perhaps if their deaths had been warranted, we could find peace. However, the fae have been careful these past years. Mischief makers we may be, but recently we've not involved ourselves in human affairs for the sake of harm. Oberon issued a law to keep us from coming to Earth unless our presence is requested."

Gabriel frowned. He had suspected as such about the murders, but he hadn't known about Oberon's decree. It made the killings all the more unwarranted. It also lead him to believe that the killer might be different from the person who summoned the fairies here. There was something else going on – something that went much deeper than a few fae murders.

"Shouldn't you be watching your back then?" he asked seriously. If the killer was still here then—

But Quintessa was already shaking her head. "Oberon had recalled all of us, fairy or otherwise, back to Avalon, and my coming here was rather discreet. You know how talented I am at the mystical arts, Trickster. I suspect you wouldn't have known I was here if you didn't know me or didn't have your… more graceful skills."

Well, that was subtle of her. "Queenie…" he tried to start before she cut him off.

"Come now, Gabriel. Everyone important knows who you really are now," she said with a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Besides, this is a good thing. You associate with the Winchesters nowadays, no?"

"Well, I wouldn't say—"

She glared at him. "It's a simple question: yes or no?"

"Yes," he answered flatly.

The fairy queen brightened brilliantly at his answer. "Then that explains the faint magic I sense coming from that car over there," she exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together in a dainty manner.

Car? Gabriel looked behind him to where Quintessa had her gaze locked onto something that had piqued her interest… And it would be Sam and Dean. Had they followed him? Gabriel would have found that notion very offensive if he hadn't realized that the sun was starting to get low in the sky. Freakin' fae teleportation magic and its uncanny ability to mess with not just space but also time.

He let out a long-suffering sigh before turning back to Quintessa. "You might want to tone down on the glowing you've got going on," he commented right before he waved the Winchesters over.

Dean got out of the Impala first, obviously having been the one spying on Gabriel while Sam took another minute to go over something on his tablet/laptop – whatever he happened to be using. When the two made it over to where Gabriel stood, Quintessa was looking decently human. Her eyes still gave her away. So did her hair. And her dress. And her wings. And the way she was hovering a couple inches off the ground.

"Uh, Gabriel… Who is she?" Sam asked cautiously. At least he was trying to be subtle about his staring unlike Dean who wasn't even bothering to cover up the way he eyed Quintessa.

"Ya might wanna give her a little bow, Sam-a-lam. She's fae royalty," Gabriel told him with a wriggle of his brows, smirking at Sam's jaw-drop reaction (Dean's, too). Dramatically clearing his throat, Gabriel introduced them. "Chuckleheads, this is the Fairy Queen of the Sacred Forest and Protector of the Fountain of Youth, Lady Quintessa. Queenie, these two are Sam and Dean Winchester, hunters extraordinaire."

Sam dipped his head a bit in a small bow while Dean's eyebrows met his hairline. Quintessa let out a soft giggle, covering her mouth with both of her hands. Gabriel inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Queenie found Sam and Dean's reactions more amusing than offensive. That would always be a good thing. Because Dad forbid you ever offend a fairy. Gabriel mentally shook himself – bad memories.

The fairy queen turned to Gabriel suddenly, a string of words in her native tongue flowing from her lips as she asked him if the hunters might help her. Gabriel mulled over the probable answer. It wasn't like Sam and Dean had any reason to not help her out. He told her as such in the same language she'd asked him in, though he was a bit rusty and the words didn't come out quite as fluid as hers had.

Still, she smiled and looked back to the two humans, who were now less staring and more frowning. "Word has it that you Winchesters are good at solving problems, no?"

"Well," Dean started after a moment and a shared glance with Sam. "That depends on the problem… ma'am."

Gabriel let a smirk cross his face at Dean's quickly added nicety. How thoughtful of him. Too bad Queenie didn't really care for those kinds of things. Not that Gabriel was about to drop Dean a hint. Nah, better to watch him figure it out for himself. Oh, this was gonna be good.

"You see, under the interference laws that were recently established by the High King of the Fae, the murders of my kin were undoubtedly illegal. I would find their killer myself; however, using magic would most likely end in my own death and going about it the human way would be a little… complicated," she concluded with a shy glance to the side, her wings flittering in another expression of the emotion.

Fairy wings. Very different from angel wings, though the concept of them was about the same. By concept, he meant how closely a fairy's wings were tied to their being. The main difference between fairies' and angels' wings being that while a fairy was effectively grounded after losing their wings, they could still use magic like they normally would. The same couldn't be said about angels.

Another big difference: fairy wings came in all different shapes and sizes and colors and transparency. The trend seemed to favor similarities to dragonfly (on the males) and butterfly (with the females) wings. Sometimes the fairy's wings were a mix, which either turned out to be a good look or a not-so-good look for the fairy. Quintessa's wings were not unlike a glasswing butterfly – having a design of prismatic lines that accented the reflective transparency at the centers of her wings, all surrounded by a violet stained-glass-like outline.

"Yeah," Sam huffed in a wary yet awed fashion. Gabriel couldn't blame him. Queenie was his favorite of the fae for a reason. "So… what? Dean and I run point while you help with the magical aspects of the case?"

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Gabriel grumbled, crossing his arms when he was ignored – by Sam and Dean anyway; Quintessa shot him a brief flash of a smile.

"As long as I have some freedoms with what I get to do, your terms are fine," the fairy queen told Sam, her smile turning on him before her eyes went dark. "Thought I must warn you, I will not tolerate any sort of hindrance in finding my people's murderer."

Somehow, Sam and Dean didn't argue with that, and eventually they all made it back to the hotel room. Well, rooms now since Dean figured it would be a bit awkward to have four people staying in one room that was only meant for two in the first place. That being said, Sam and Dean were in the original room the older Winchester had paid for, and Gabriel and Quintessa were in the other, which was coincidentally right across the hall.

A day later had them no where, and it wasn't looking good. The Winchesters had a possible suspect on the person who had been summoning the fairies, but nothing on a murder suspect. It was very possible that the murder had already left town. That still left the fairy summoner.

Quintessa was taking things rather well – after all, when one's just over two thousand years old, one tends to build a ton of patience (not that some angels turned out to be patient beings, but who keeps track of that stuff). And it wasn't like she had a time limit on how long she could stay on Earth. It was just an unspoken thing that the sooner the summoner and murderer were caught, the better.

But the day after that wound up with Gabriel calling his little angel bro. Quintessa was talking logistics about possible suitable summoning locations that were further outside of the town or something with Sam and Dean, which left Gabriel with some down time to himself.

Castiel finally picked up, a bit of crackling coming over the phone before the angel spoke up. "Gabriel?"

"Heya, Cassie!" Gabriel greeted his little brother with a forced enthusiasm. "I'm calling to let you guys know that it's looking like this case will take the boys and I a bit longer than we thought…" he trailed off, biting his bottom lip and hoping that he wouldn't have to elaborate.

"I see," Castiel murmured, sounding like he was looking back somewhere over his shoulder.

"So, uh, how's Lucifer doing?" Gabriel asked somewhat hesitantly, awkwardly.

A huff of breath broke through the speaker. "Well, we're going to watch The Greatest Showman after lunch. I mean, he's been doing fine."

Gabriel shoved aside the feeling that Castiel wasn't being completely honest with him. "That musical movie that came out in December, huh? So you found the discs I left?"

"They were hard to ignore, Gabriel," Castiel replied. He probably rolled his eyes. Hmm, Cassie had definitely rolled his eyes.

"Just— Just keep an eye on him, Castiel," Gabriel asked of his brother. "Please."

"Always, brother," Castiel assured him before ending the call.

Gabriel let out a tired sigh, putting the smartphone down on the bed. After a moment of nothing but staring at the blank wall, he dropped his upper body down on the bed, too, his head missing the pillow and landing a few inches shy of the folded back part of the bed sheets. This left him staring at the ceiling, which was quite possibly even more boring than just staring at the wall.

He lifted his legs up onto the bed and rolled over on his side, covering his eyes with an arm. Letting time and the world pass him by, Gabriel didn't notice Quintessa come into the room and gently sit herself down beside him until she rested an undemanding hand on his shoulder. She didn't speak, didn't make any movement that called for him to get up. She just sat there, her quiet presence reaching out but waiting for him to meet her halfway.

At some point, he gathered the willpower to shift his hand to rest on top of the one she had on his shoulder. Another length of time passed before she spoke, but when she did, it was still in that undemanding way, that calm air she had wrapped around herself.

"I won't ask what happened, but we all know something did," she told him softly in her native tongue, the words flowing over him like ocean waves lapping up on the shoreline. "I can see it in the way you hold yourself when no one's watching. I can see it in your eyes when something reminds you of it. Whatever it is, I want you to know that it is done. For the sake of your family and yourself, I'm telling you, let it go."

Gabriel didn't turn to look at her, and his arm still mostly covered up his face. He couldn't make himself face her either way. "It's not that simple."

"It never is. Soneri ya." Trust me.

"So nahe, vina sterli." In you, most always.

Her other hand reached up and brushed some of his hair back in a petting motion, which Gabriel found more soothing than anything. If he were to glance back at her, he would have seen the look she was giving him. But he didn't want to see. He didn't need to do so to know.

"To the few who trust you absolutely and you trust in turn, the ones who know you, Gabriel… ne sadi enuchidu viri ko miyu," she whispered. You have your heart free for them to see.

"There are only so many who should be able to see when I fall apart."

Another stroke of a hand through his hair. "Have you?"

"Dunno. Not sure," he answered shortly, focused more on the hand than any of the words. He wondered if this was what it was like when he helped Lucifer through one of his headaches.

"Leste me vif soneha, secro lidenyo lesu veha mifesi vra neha."

Speak to your inner self, and you will have the answer that eludes this you.

With a gentle hand that steadily pulled him towards oblivion, Gabriel was asleep before he could decide he had translated her words correctly. Quintessa stayed with him throughout the rest of the night and into the next day, directing Sam and Dean's attention elsewhere while she let Gabriel have a conversation he so dearly needed.

A/N: So I wasn't being wholly accurate with the descriptions of Avalon, but with Supernatural canon and everything else out there about fairies, I think I can get away with quite a bit. (Also, Queenie's wings really were based on a glasswing butterfly. The specific picture can be found by looking up "butterfly transparent wings rare beautiful" and it should be the second image you see.) And, no, what they were saying at the end was not a real language. I was just putting together letters that should equal what might sound like a cool word and then putting what I wanted it to mean after it.

On a spoiler-free side note (because my best friend who only keeps up with the show as it comes out on Netflix always hates on me when I 'accidentally' let spoilers slip out), my mind was blown when season thirteen episode thirteen came out. Like, I always inwardly hoped that what happened would happened, but not like that. For those of you who have watched the episode, what happened can't really affect this story either way since we went AU during season twelve. ;-)

Last edited: [December 20, 2018]