Gabriel couldn't stop staring at the kid. Thankfully the kid, Johnny, he corrected and reminded himself, was busy staring at the small bit of grace that he had managed to summon.

The kid was so...innocent, there was no other word for him. He was innocent and almost naive, and that part hurt the most. Gabriel knew exactly how the world worked and what was out there, he knew all too well how it would take someone innocent and soft, like Johnny, and destroy him and spit him out.

But that just made him want to protect him all the more. He didn't want to see that naivety, that innocence, be destroyed. Not just yet. It was a breath of fresh air in what his existence has been for the last...he didn't even know how long.

Teaching the kid was a lot like when he had still been a part of heaven, showing the younger angels how to use their grace and powers. It was nostalgic for something he hadn't even realized that he missed.

The kid himself too, he was never going to tell him this, but the truth was, he reminded him of how Lucifer had been. In the Beginning, before the rest of Creation and other creatures and human beings, Lucifer was...he had been different. He had been kind, soft, loving. He had been very protective over his siblings, watching over them with a guided and steady hand.

He missed that brother and he mourned for him, he knew that that brother was dead and gone, destroyed in the fire of the new Lucifer's anger and disdain.

Or maybe that had been his brother all along and the one he mourned was just the image he had created for them to believe in.

But...that was where Sam came from, his mind couldn't stop from going to the younger Winchester sibling. Everything that she was, it was what Lucifer should've been, just like Dean was everything that Michael was supposed to be.

The vessels were mirrors of the Archangels they housed, in every single way, they outshone the archangels in the goodness of their soul, showing just what they were supposed to be.

Gabriel closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to bring himself back to the present as he watched the kid try to create a pulse of power in his hands. There were no real words for whatever they did, it was all in Enochian and he couldn't translate it well. The pulse was just a way to either attack or defend, it was the easiest thing for an angel to create.

Other than using their wings. Both of which Johnny was having trouble with.

"Kid." he held up the notepad he had scribbled that on, tugging on his arm. Johnny broke his concentration, breathing heavily as he glanced up at him, eyes going to the notepad. Gabriel turned the page to show his message. "You need to calm down. You're thinking too hard about it."

All the breath came out of him and he sat down on the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs as he brought them to his chest. "I just...everything you're telling me...it's hard. I can barely do it." he curled more into himself. "Why can't I do it?"

Gabriel grabbed the pen from his ear and quickly wrote again. "Cause you're thinking too hard." he pointed at each word. "Stop thinking. Do it."

"It's not that easy." Johnny protested. "You keep talking like I should be able to just do this and breathe. I can't."

"Stop whining." Gabriel wrote to him, pointing at the words again. "And what about your wings? Still can't feel them?"

Johnny glanced behind himself once more before shaking his head. "Nothing." he said. "Are you sure they're there?"

"They're there." Gabriel wrote to him, just staring at the kid for a few moments before he wrote again. "What do you think about your powers?"

Johnny stared at the words for a long second before his eyes went to Gabriel. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when you think about them, what are you thinking? How do you feel about them?"

Johnny chewed on his lower lip, looking away from him. "It doesn't matter." he mumbled. "Let's just figure out a way for me to use them."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and wrote out another message, tossing a wadded up piece of paper at Johnny's head to get his attention. "If you don't understand them, you'll never control them. What do you feel about them?"

Johnny fidgeting, staring down at the ground, closing his eyes tightly.

"I hate them." he whispered, barely audible. "I hate them so much. They hurt mom. They hurt grandma. I don't..." he wiped at his eyes with his arm. "I hate them. I wish I never had them because if I didn't, mom wouldn't have died when she gave birth to me. The opening never would've happened so grandma would never have gotten stuck there. I can't use my powers and I hate them. I don't want them."

"So what are you going to do? Sit here and whine and cry and hate yourself? Gabriel wrote to him. "Or are you going to figure out how to use them and how to actually be able to help people with them?"

Johnny stared at the words, shaking his head as he turned away from him again. "But how do I use them if I hate them?" he mumbled.

Gabriel threw another paper ball at his head, only slightly proud that he managed to hit the side of the kids head again. "I'm not gonna tell you not to hate them, but I am gonna tell you this. You're going to have to accept them. They're a part of you whether you like it or not and for everyone's sake, it's better if you learn how to control them."

"But it's because of him." Johnny whispered, shuddering at the thought of the other being where his powers came from. "I don't want to have anything to do with him."

"That's not something you can ignore either." Gabriel wrote to him. "But again, just cause it came from him doesn't make it bad and doesn't mean that you're going to end up like him. Do you want to kill all the humans?"

"No." Johnny half exclaimed, looking half disgusted at the mere question. "I don't!"

"Then you're nothing like him."

Gabriel stared at him for a long moment before he sighed, turning the notepad over so that he could write his next message.

"It's good that you're scared of being like him, it'll prevent you from actually becoming like him. But ignoring your powers and your grace is not the answer. You can't ignore it anymore than you can ignore your arm or leg. It's there, its dormant for now, but I promise you, if you don't learn how to control it, it'll burn up everything around you."

"I don't want to hurt anyone." Johnny whispered, voice cracking.

"Then we'll work on learning how to heal next." Healing still wasn't his domain, that was Raphael; every angel knew how to heal but only the mere basics, Raphael knew how to heal the soul and grace of a being. "But we're not gonna be able to get anywhere until you stop being so afraid and start embracing the fact that your powers are here to stay."

"Are you going to control your grace or is your grace going to control you?"

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