Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there are continuing topics as well as reference to a canon temporary character death. Also, Gabriel gets very crude with the analogy at the end. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Two episodes into the prequel show now and already more diversity than fifteen full seasons of the original. Very nice. Still not going to redeem John in this fic (or likely any of my fics). Also I want to remind y'all both that I do have an FAQ list on my profile and that if you dislike anything about a fic, you are free to leave without comment/review. This includes chapter length, characterization, and competition inclusion, among other things.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Post Term 16); MC4A (Fall Year 5)
Individual Challenges: Feathered Friend; Red Dress; Young Again; Finders; Red Lights; Red Bull; Little Tykes; Behind Green Eyes; Red Wave; Happy Birthday; Mine; Bi Rainbow; Hunter MC; Hunter MC; Nonhuman MC; Nonhuman MC; Criminal MC; Military MC; Military MC; Neurodivergent; Tiny Terror; Immortal MC; Immortal MC; Shifter MC; Booger Breath; Claimed; Ship Sails; Zed Era; Old Shoes; Above Average Natural; Endings; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [107](Reprimand); 1000 Prompts Challenge [848](Annoying);
Other MC4A Challenges: FaB [1B](Death); Ship (Mixtape)[FaMed1 (New Kid in Town)]; Chim [Up]("The Village" - Wrabel; Life/Death);Fire [x3](Impala); Garden [Holiday (Trickster)]; Harvest [Tropes (Deaging; Secret Past); Settings (Colorado); Relationships (Brothers); Items (Chair)]; Hang [Phrase 1] (n/a); Soup [A](Annoying)
Representation(s): Winchesters; NB Gabriel; Profound Bound; Fucked Up Fairy Tales; Background Apocalypse; Annoying Siblings
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Shiver & Shake; Sitting Hummingbird; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts; Trickster's Union; Younger You; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Fizzy Lemonade; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Bast's Blessing; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Turtle-Duck)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Satisfaction; Gestation); O3 (Oath); RoIL (Satisfaction; Amelioration); Once (Moses Supposes; Santa Fe); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Avasa; Enfant); Mea (Rampant; Ennui); Wings (Bower; Scintillate)
Word Count: 922 words

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Revelations of Youth
Part 08: Raised
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"Gabriel," Castiel said, his voice sounding as exhausted as he looked. Beyond that, his tone matched the flatness of his facial expression. He slipped his angel blade back into the dimensional pocket in his sleeve, clearly deciding that Gabriel must not be a threat in this situation.

As the silence stretched on, Sam began to realize that the two angels must still be communicating. Castiel might not have been giving anything away, but Gabriel's face kept transitioning through expressions. Occasionally, his hazel eyes would flash like lightning in a distant storm cloud. Yet despite the way that Sam could practically taste the growing tension, Gabriel's hand moved gently through Dean's hair. It reminded him of the head of a mafia family stroking a cat while ordering underlings to execute enemies of the family.

Sam slammed his palm down on the rickety table beside the chair he was still stuck to. The coffee pot and tin of cheap accessories clattered as they jumped from the force. Dean flinched at the noise, pressing closer to Gabriel's side even though he did not wake from whatever mojo Gabriel had used to put him to sleep in the first place.

It made Sam feel even worse than the twin glares suddenly being directed at him from both angels.

"Whatever you're saying," Sam said, trying to recapture his annoyance at being excluded, "you need to say it in such a way that everyone can understand it."

There was a beat of silence. Castiel's gaze darted to the sleeping child version of Dean before returning to Sam. Gabriel just continued running his fingers through Dean's hair.

"My apologies, Sam," Castiel said in that flat way he defaulted to whenever he was talking to Sam without Dean around. At one point, Sam had been convinced that the angel hated as much as many of the Host did. Dean's repeated dismissals of that idea were barely enough to scratch the surface of it, though it did help Sam realize that Castiel just talked that way to anyone who wasn't Dean. "As Gabriel was reminding me just before you interrupted, you are the only one who knows how Dean came to be in his current state."

"We split up," Sam started to answer before he caught himself. That wasn't what they had been discussing before Gabriel had summoned Castiel. Pressing as Dean's return to childhood might be, there was the larger issue that needed to be dealt with first. "Wait, what about Dean thinking that I—"

"Yeah, Cassie," Gabriel taunted from the bed. "Wanna share with the Samsquatch what we were just discussing?"

"No," Castiel said bluntly. "Dean would not be pleased if I share his secrets with his brother."

There was another beat of silence. This time it felt like the entire universe was holding its breath. Then Sam slammed his palm against the table again, not caring how much noise he made or how Dean flinched again in his enchanted sleep.

"You know," Sam snarled. If he could stand, he might have launched himself at the angel. Even stuck as he was, it was still a close call. All the lingering rage from the demon blood Sam had ingested over the months felt like it was surging through him. "Whatever happened that made my brother think I was going to—" He can't even say it. Saying it out loud seemed just as wrong as it being done. "Whatever happened to Dean that would make that a reasonable expectation, you already know."

Castiel gave a solemn nod.

"How?" Sam demanded. He clenched the hand he had on the table into a fist. It took more effort than it should have to keep from slamming it down again. "How do you know whatever it was and I don't?"

"As I have told you," Castiel stated with infuriating calmness, "Dean and I share a profound bond—"

"Because you raised him outta Hell," Sam interrupted, frustrated with Castiel's dithering. "What does that have to do with, with, with anything?"

"So much for being the smart one," Gabriel quipped. Sam moved his glare onto the archangel who was still relaxed against the headboard of the bed farthest from the door. Dean made a sleepy motion with his head like a cat rubbing its cheek against a favored human. Gabriel rolled his eyes. "What exactly do you think Castiel raised out of Hell? I'm sure you did your due diligence in scraping together all the bits that the Hounds left behind to give your brother a proper send off. You hunters burn your fallen fellows when you can."

"For good reason," Sam argued. The remembered grief cooled the rage threatening to consume him. "What's burned stay dead—well, it does most of the time." He swallowed hard before looking back at Castiel. "How did you manage to get Dean back from Hell?"

"I gripped him tight and flew," Castiel said, as if that was all there was to it. Gabriel heaved a sigh. Castiel straightened his shoulders as if the sound was a reprimand. "I held his soul within my grace and rebuilt the body it remembered from scraps leftover from Creation."

"That sounds—" Sam struggled for a moment to find the right word. "—intimate."

"That's because it is," Gabriel confirmed. Castiel fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable with the amount of glee on the archangel's face. "The very essences of their beings mingled with Dad's forgotten jack juice."

"I need a drink." With that declaration, Sam pressed both fists against his eyes.

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To be continued
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