Chapter 24

Waiting Here

"Come on!"

Gabriel was literally – no, literally – dragging Sam and Dean out of the wyvern's mountain's cave systems. Dean was pretty sure he'd tripped at least twice now. They were set at a quick pace, but leaving the caves wasn't as easy as it had been entering. Dean had a feeling that most people didn't leave; however, he had another feeling that the wyvern wanted them gone.

Not dead though. Just… not in her place anymore. Dean could get down with that.

And then they reached the entrance, where Mary, Cas and Lucifer were nowhere to be seen. Oh, and there was a freaking torrential downpour starting to flood aforementioned cave entrance. Lightning lanced across the sky, and thunder clapped directly above them.

Gabriel didn't seem at all bothered by any of it. In fact, though he paused at the sight of the storm, it only caused a slight frown to form on his face. Then he turned to them with an oddly reverent expression.

"This is the power of the last female wyvern on Earth," he told them, looking back out at the wall of rain. "Unlike dragons, wyverns'll settle down in one place and live there for the rest of their lives. It becomes their territory, and they essentially become that area's keeper, protector, ruler, overseer, you name it."

Sam glanced at Dean, an eyebrow raised in question. Dean could only shake his head. Like he was supposed to know what Gabriel was getting at.

"The longer they stay in their claimed territory – the longer they live – the more power they get, which I suppose is a given, but I've never seen one call a storm this large." Gabriel looked back at them with gold grace causing his irises to glow. "It's spreading across the whole northwestern region of the North American continent."

Sam went bug-eyed at that, and Dean really couldn't blame him. Because, holy crap. During the Apocalypse, there were a shit ton of abnormal weather phenomena going on, and Lucifer had caused a winter-storm over LA a year or two ago. But this – the practical monsoon that they were staring at – was happening all over a quarter of the continent?

Um, excuse me, what? "So you're telling me that Mom, Cas and Luce are all out there?" Dean asked in a flat tone, not finding wyvern weather casting at all fascinating.

"They'll be fine. Let's go," the archangel said briskly.

"Hey!"

Gabriel had grabbed them by their jacket sleeves once more and started pulling them out into the rain. Dean quickly brought up his free arm to shield his eyes from a sudden onslaught of water— except he wasn't getting wet. Huh?

It was like there was some kind of invisible umbrella or a dome of sorts keeping the rain from touching them. Even the ground seemed relatively dry – in the sense that it was solid rather than just straight mud – when Dean took a startled step closer to Sam, who was looking up at the umbrella-dome thing with curious eyes. Gabriel let them adjust for all of five seconds before tugging at their sleeves again like some impatient kid.

Which, to be fair, he kind of was. If you considered Gabriel Bennett to be the baseline template for the Gabriel they interacted with on a daily basis. It really wasn't something Dean thought often about anymore since it was the norm for them now, but if you took this Gabriel and stacked him up to the one he and Sam had met during the Apocalypse – or, hell, back when they knew him just as the Trickster – they would not be the same, no matter how similar they were. And, yeah, that could have been attributed to character growth or whatever, but there was something fundamentally human about Gabriel nowadays.

It was something that Dean had recognized in Cas after the angel had gotten his grace back. It was as if there was just something about having to live as a human that gave an understanding – a new perspective – that angels couldn't get otherwise. And while that didn't change them as people, per se, it did cause a certain shift that Dean was seeing occur in Lucifer more, even if he wasn't technically fully human.

Gabriel and Mary helped with that, of course. Dean was pretty sure that Lucifer wouldn't have given a damn if it hadn't been for those two. Oh, sure, Dean, Sam and Cas had been there, too, but it was really Gabriel and Mary that had been there. They seemed to ground Lucifer. It was good for him.

But, anyway, Gabriel Bennett was Gabriel's human soul, right? Or at least the latest incarnation of it. Whatever. Well, for all the angsting it caused over the past couple of years, it had also made Gabriel playful – childishly so, as in innocent. Okay, maybe not pure innocence, but there were characteristics that came out sometimes definitely weren't something Dean would have expected to see in the archangel during those times.

Like now.

Dean wouldn't have assumed that Gabriel was being completely serious about this whole wyvern thing. The archangel wasn't exactly predictable in most cases, but getting excited, geeking out over a power display? That wasn't the archangel. That was the kid.

(Gabriel's eyes were amber, not brown. What did that say about his mental state?)

Dean supposed that the two were 'merging properly' or however Gabriel had tried to explain it to him once. Back then, Dean was just trying to get used to having two archangels in the Bunker when they weren't out entertaining themselves – albeit without causing mass destruction or starting up general mayhem. Gabriel had used the ideal of different colors of paint blending together to try and get the point across, but while had understood the concept generally, he hadn't been able to truly appreciate how the colors (personalities) were supposed to blend rather than the rigid split Gabriel had been enforcing at the time.

He could see it now though, especially more recently – with all of the body and personally mixes. The archangel had an adult body and amber eyes. The kid had an adolescent body with brown eyes. Pretty easy to keep separate, right? Right. But then came the times where Dean encountered the adult body with brown eyes, and the younger body with amber eyes. Both had displayed the alternate personality of the other, and despite the similarities, it hadn't been hard to tell them apart.

What was the defining difference now though? That was easy enough to answer: there wasn't a difference. Gabriel was Gabriel. The line between archangel and kid was gone. You could attribute some behaviors to one or the other, but it was all Gabriel.

Dean just wasn't quite sure when that had happened. But maybe that was the point. It had been seamless.

As soon as they reached them Impala, Gabriel let go of their sleeves and brought his fingers to his mouth to let out an ear-piercing whistle. Dean winced at the sound, but the signal – because what else was it supposed to have been? – wasn't meant for either him or Sam. Not two seconds later, a howl tore through the curtain of rain, and less than a minute after that, a streak of blond fur came to a stop in front of him.

"Hi..?" Dean greeted lamely.

Lobo snorted, inaudible over the rain but clearly visible through his movement.

"You can tell her we'll all be gone by the end of the day," Gabriel said, crouching down and holding his injured hand out to the wolf. "No one's going to want to stay with this storm, especially once they figure out it's way easier to leave versus entering."

Lobo butted his head against Gabriel's hand. His ears twitched once and then flattened as he tilted his head.

Gabriel shook his own head, petting Lobo once before the wolf could take another bite out of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, you stupid mutt. Take care of yourself. I'll let Coyote know you said hi next time I see him."

Dean shared a look with Sam when Lobo gave a very clear expression of smug contempt, vanishing at the next crack and boom of thunder. For all the new creatures they'd been introduced to since Gabriel barged back into their lives, Lobo had to be one of the weirder ones they'd encountered – and that included that fairy queen and the fox trickster. Maybe it was just because Lobo was a legitimate animal while Queenie and Reynard were more humanoid.

It didn't take long for Dean to get over his bemusement; it just wasn't something he cared to dwell on for more than a minute. He started up his car, letting Sam slide into the passenger seat while Gabriel kept standing outside.

"Hey, I thought we were getting out of here," Dean called out to the archangel over the rain. Thankfully the magic waterproof thing seemed to apply to the Impala, so she wasn't getting wet. And Dean assumed it also meant they wouldn't have any trouble getting out of the woods.

Glancing at them, Gabriel lifted a hand to snap his fingers, and suddenly the rain was noiseless. There was still the low rumble of thunder off in the distance as well as the constant rustle of leaves and tree branches, but the water crashing against the Impala was silent, leaving a faint ringing in Dean's ears. The archangel held a finger to his lips when Dean started to say something else.

Dean paused. Gabriel was listening for something – something Dean and Sam would be able to hear if it wasn't for the rain. But Dean didn't hear anything. Apparently, Sam didn't either because he made his own attempt to get the archangel in the car.

Gabriel visibly sighed and slid into the backseat. "There's some kind of background noise," he explained as Dean worked on getting them back onto the road. "It's like…"

When Gabriel trailed off, Dean took a moment to look back at him in the rearview mirror. The archangel's gaze was miles away, but it snapped back in sudden realization during those few seconds Dean was looking.

"Oh!" Gabriel exclaimed, eyes wide. "It's here."

"Gabriel," Sam started, but Gabriel was on a roll.

"The foreigners— the wyvern told us they were here, and Reynard already basically confirmed that it was one of them who took Michael's grace— I am so stupid! Lobo was keeping an eye on them, but she wouldn't have cared about them if they didn't have the grace with them right now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa— wait a minute. Time out," Dean cut in, being careful not to take his hands off of the wheel. "The 'foreigners' are those British Men of Letters dudes, right? I thought they gave up on America after the alpha vamp made a slaughterhouse out of their little outreach center."

"They did, but there's two of them that were sent back here last fall. We won't find them in this storm, but they'll also have to give up on the wyvern and go back to their base camp, which is why she called up a storm this big," Gabriel explained, mouth running a mile a minute.

But Dean caught the gist of it since he was used to Sam going on longwinded explanations sometimes. "So, we're regrouping and then going after these two bookworms?"

"I don't actually know where they've set up, just they've been here for a while, but yes," Gabriel confirmed. "By the way, we really are done here. Start driving back to the Bunker."

Sam was right about to ask something when Dean heard the all-too-familiar sound of fingers snapping. He didn't even have to look at the backseat to know Gabriel was gone. The sound of pouring rain came back after barely a second's delay, and he let out a sigh.

"I guess Mom and Cas know to go back to the Bunker too then," he said in the relative silence that followed.

"Can you imagine how much worse our lives could be right now?" Sam asked out of nowhere as his response.

"Dude." Dean actually could imagine very, very much worse things that could have been happening to them. "Don't even start with that kind of shit. For all we know, Lucifer could have had an evil kid to take over the universe with, or I don't know— We could be fighting Chuck."

"That's a horrible thought," Sam agreed. "But, just think— In a different universe, everything you just said is happening to some poor versions of ourselves simply because the idea came to you."

Dean shot a glare at Sam. "Why the hell would you bring up multiverse theory while I'm driving? You know I hate that shit."

"You hate it because it makes your head hurt."

"For a good reason!"

"It's not that difficult of a concept to understand—"

"Oh my— Stop right there! I swear, I will pull over and duck tape your mouth shut!"

"I was looking at one of those fan fiction sites Gabriel said hosted that book series about us on it. You know, there's a lot out there about you and Cas—"

"Motherf— That is it! You did this to yourself, Sammy—"

"—and for some reason, people ship me and Gabriel. I don't see why, though Eileen thinks it's cute, and I guess it's not as bad as me and you—"

"La-la-la! Shut up— I don't want to hear it!"

~o-O-o~

Gabriel was excited – more than excited. He was ecstatic.

He might not be able to see the full picture, but everything was coming together. Forget prophecies or whatever fate bullshit had come up over the last few months, this was it. He knew a story climax when he saw one. So what if he hadn't quite caught it until now? It just meant he was a little late to the party.

He landed, sitting, in the backseat of Mary's car, though Castiel was driving. Lucifer had been settled against the left side, head resting on the window. Gabriel stared at his brother for a moment, using his grace to check on him, before turning to meet Castiel's gaze in the rearview mirror.

"Did you get what you needed?" the angel asked quietly, startling Mary, who had been dozing.

"Gabriel," she exclaimed in a loud whisper. "I thought you'd be meeting us back at the Bunker with Sam and Dean."

"Oh, good, so Cassie here kept you up to speed." Gabriel took a moment to glance back to Lucifer's prone form. "Yeah, I've got some much needed answers. There's still plenty of questions, but one at a time, right?"

Castiel nodded his head once in agreement. "Will you be moving ahead, or are you going to catch everyone up once we arrive at the Bunker?"

Gabriel gave the angel a knowing smirk. "Aw, you know me so well. Though I am slightly offended that you'd think I'd go off without telling you guys where to or at least that I'd be gone," he said with mock offense.

"And where would you be going?" Mary prompted.

"No where, yet. I need to call in a few favors and find out where the British Men of Letters have bunkered down here in America." Gabriel paused in thought. "Well, I'm going to Lucy's first."

"Crowley might know where they are," Castiel noted.

But Gabriel had already considered that, and he shook his head. "Nah, I've already bothered him enough for the week. I'll probably end up getting Rowena to use a tracking spell or something… It's been a while since I checked in on her anyway," he added.

"Either way," the archangel went on, looking back over to Lucifer, who was still completely out of it despite the conversation going on, "I imagine things are about to get pretty fast paced, maybe even confusing. There are about five different scenarios I'm anticipating based on what we know now, but if shit hits the fan, who knows…"

"It'll be alright, Gabriel. And even if it's not, we'll make it through," Mary assured him.

Gabriel could only nod in response, unable to verbally agree. It was all he could do to believe in what she said. Because he really didn't know what he was going to do if things didn't turn out okay.

Probably something stupid, but hey, that seemed to run in the family.

~o-O-o~

"You have new orders, Mr. Ketch… Mr. Davies is no longer loyal. You are to execute him and return to London immediately."

"Yes, ma'am."

~o-O-o~

"Isn't it cruel?"

Chuck looked up from his computer's screen. "In what way? They'll have each other by the end, won't they?"

"It seems… careless," his sister elaborated.

He frowned. "Oh, now you don't like it. You were all for this not even a day ago. What's different now?" he asked, hitting the save button on the word document (just in case).

"I know you said it wouldn't be a perfectly happy ending all tied up in a bow or however you phrased it, but—" She paused, trying to find the right words. "Is it right to force these events into happening?"

Oh, so that's what it was. Okay. "Look, Amara, it was this or me pretending to mope around and killing everyone off."

"… You wouldn't be pretending to be mopey."

"Rude!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger at her. She wasn't even trying to hide her amused grin. "You're not wrong, but rude!"

The Darkness sighed. "Finish writing your book, brother."

~o-O-o~

…

Something was wrong. It was a sort of gut feeling, and Mick turned around—

to see a barrel of a gun aimed directly at his face.

Bang.

A/N: Happy New Year

(I will eventually go back and change "Cas" to "Cass", but for now I'm leaving it be because otherwise over half of it will be "Cas" while the new stuff would be "Cass" and I'd rather not throw anyone for a loop. Anyways, consistency, people.)