The salty sea air blew through Gabriel's feathers as he used his wing to shelter his fledgling from the sun. Even after Spencer had passed out, the group had stayed out on the beach. Right now it was the safest and easiest place for Spencer to be at. Here he could lie on the blanket that Gabriel had snapped up and relax with his wings free without risking running them into anything. Besides, the breeze would help to air out the feathers that were still damp from where they'd had to clean out the blood – a task the three archangels had done by hand. Zapping away the blood didn't work on their wings.
A shudder ran down Gabriel and he fought down the urge to curl his wing around Spencer instead and draw him in close. The kid needed to rest, not to be coddled and squeezed. It was just – Dear Father, that was a sight that Gabriel could go the rest of his existence without ever again having to witness. All that blood, Spencer's blood, all over the sand and his back and Raphael's hands. It would take a long time before Gabriel would stop seeing that, or stop hearing his fledgling's screams as he pushed the wings out in an act that resembled the any labors Gabriel had seen over lifetimes.
It had been terrifyingly like birth. When they'd taken Spencer's shirt away and they'd been ale to see the wings pushing against his back, bulging against his skin, it'd been a horrifying thing. Nowhere near as horrifying as that first slice of Raphael's angel blade against his skin. It was only the knowledge that no one was more skilled than Raphael that kept Gabriel from fighting him. He'd had to hold on and stay strong and watch as the two worked together, with Michael shielding them the whole time, to get Spencer's wings free, and then they'd burst from his back and just like in childbirth, the pain had been momentarily forgotten for the glory.
Sweet merciful Father, his wings were gorgeous. If there had been any doubt whatsoever about who Spencer was, about what he was, this would've dispelled it. Six wings lifted up from his back in a awe-inspiring display of color and light. They were the colors of the sunrise, shifting and changing, like the dark of the morning with the promise of incoming light. There were so many colors Gabriel knew he could spend a long time trying to catalogue them all. Blues and pinks and purples, dark to light, and all the shades of the morning oranges and yellows and reds. Lucifer had been their Lightbringer once a very long time ago. The Morningstar. Now they had Spencer, this quiet and brave little fledgling, and he was bringing them light of a different kind. He was the Incoming Light, the Bringer of Dawn, a promise of hope after darkness.
The sunlight shone off of Spencer's feathers and brought out the lighter of the colors. They were amazing and breathtaking. He lay on his stomach on the blanket with his wings spread free and his head in Gabriel's lap and for once, he looked at peace. His arms were up and loosely wrapped around Gabriel's waist in an embrace that had tightened when Gabriel tried to move him. Even unconscious, he didn't want to let go of the trickster. His arms stayed looped around Gabriel's waist and his cheek pillowed on his thigh.
Gabriel tilted his head up to look to where his brothers were. They still stood nearby, down by Spencer's feet, in silent awe and love of the little fledgling between them all. Gabriel brought his eyes to Raphael and waited until they caught his before he spoke. "Thank you." The words were low but they were packed full of everything else he couldn't say.
"I didn't do it for you." Raphael told him. However, it lacked the bitter edge that had been there earlier. His eyes dropped to Spencer and his wings seemed to crackle and soften. "I did it for him."
"I know, but that doesn't change it. Thank you."
They all fell silent again for a few as they watched Spencer's top wing twitch and lift, almost like a muscle spasm, only to be soothed back down when Gabriel's wing brushed over it. A vague thought passed over the trickster that he should take Spencer to meet his other children at some point. Fenrir would like him, he imagined, and the wolf's temper would startle Spencer only a bit. Gabriel had a feeling Spencer would be one of the few who would be able to see past that gruff and angry exterior, past the giant wolf form that Fen preferred to be in, to the soft person hidden inside. How any of the others reacted would probably be hit or miss. It could sort of go either way. Jor, especially, he could see causing a bit of trouble. He and Gabriel butted heads more than any of the others, though their love was no less strong, and Gabriel bringing in some fledgling he'd adopted would probably cause a bit of trouble with the Great Serpent.
Raphael was the one to bring up the one thing they were all thinking. What they'd been thinking since the moment Spencer's wings had emerged. "Well this certainly narrows down the mystery of his parentage a little, does it not?"
"Raphael." Michael said warningly. "Do not start."
The youngest of the archangels turned to look at his big brother with an air of mock innocence. "What? We both know who is responsible for this. I do not touch humans, brother, and unless you have been hiding things as well, I do not know of a time you were on earth to do such a thing. Our other brother was locked away at the time." He turned over to stare down at Gabriel, lip curled up into a sneer. "That leaves only one brother who has ever seen fit to lay with the humans."
"And who says that it has to be one of us?" Michael countered.
Raphael let out a low laugh. "Who else? You see his wings and I know you feel the power in his grace now that it is running free. That is not the grace gained from a simple seraph. He is powerful. I'd almost dare to say he could match or surpass your own when he finishes growing."
"He is the combination of two angels, something that's only been done once before." Michael said sharply. "We can make no assumptions. For all we know, this is typical for a fledgling made of two angels in human vessels."
Before the argument could progress further, Gabriel's sharp voice cut in. "It doesn't matter." He glared up at the two of them and fought hard to keep his emotions from getting out of control. Not because of them, but because he didn't want to upset the fledgling clinging to him. There was no telling what Spencer would feel right now. Gabriel laid a hand on his head, carding his fingers through Spencer's hair, and tried to keep from growling. "It doesn't matter who his parents are or how he was made. I told Mikey before and I'll tell you the same thing now: I Claimed him. He's mine. Even if we reached in and tested his grace or flew into the past to see who his parents really are, it wouldn't matter. I wouldn't give him up. He's mine and I'll fight anyone dumb enough to try and take him away from me." He spread out the wings that weren't draped over Spencer and he let them strengthen, changing the feathers from the softness that he usually wrapped his fledgling up in to the hardness that all angels could use in battle. It was an open threat and one he knew his little brother would understand.
A low growl filled the air and Gabriel was stunned to see it didn't come from Raphael – it came from Michael.
The furious archangel shoved his way between the two of them and his wings snapped high and wide in a dominance display that clearly let them know that he was done with their bullshit. "I have had enough from you two!" The air seemed to vibrate with the force of his words and the island shuddered. Energy crackled in the air as Michael looked from one to the other. "You two will stop this bickering, now. Whatever problems you have with each other can be handled on your own time. We have too much on our plates to indulge such pettiness! We have battle after battle in our future and if we do not stand united, than everything we know will fall. So cease arguing like fledglings before I begin to treat you like some. Do I make myself clear?"
It wasn't an idle threat, Gabriel knew. Despite the situation, though, he couldn't help the way his lips twitched. Sometimes it was easy to see why Dean was Michael's vessel. In that speech from Michael, the trickster could clearly hear Dean's voice. Though his would've been more along the lines of 'Stop acting like assholes and stow your crap before I kick your ass'.
On Michael's other side, he could see as Raphael's wings twitched a little in what was the angelic equivalent of him trying to hide a smile. Their eyes met over the top of one of Michael's wings and for one brief moment, the years and anger fell away between them and they were once more the two youngest archangels, the baby brothers, caught in trouble once more and trying not to laugh through one of Michael's lectures.
"We got it, bro." Gabriel said, lips still threatening to curve. He lowered his own wings and let them soften again. Then he laid them over Spencer's wings and let them pet gently.
"We do." Raphael agreed.
Michael straightened back up and nodded. "I should hope so." Drawing his wings in, he held himself at his full height, once more the calm general. "We have much to accomplish and no idea on how much time we have to do any of it. Raphael, I want you to return home and continue where I left off. Any groups foolish enough to go against my word and continue to try and push the apocalypse must be dealt with as we discussed. Gabriel, stay here and help Spencer to cope and learn as much control as quickly as he possibly can. Much as I loathe to rush him, we are under a time constraint."
"I won't push him faster than he can go." Gabriel warned him.
"You might not get much of a choice." Michael shot back immediately. "You know what we face now and what we face after. We don't know how this will work, Gabriel, or how much time we have for any of it. We cannot risk coddling him. He needs to learn, quickly. He needs properly trained – something that we will need to see to once Lucifer is handled. However, for now, we must get his wings under control so that you and he can return to the Winchesters and we can begin to deal with our other brother. Until you return, I will guard them for you."
Michael was going to go guard the Winchesters? Oh, that was such a horrible idea. Such a horrible, horrible idea. Gabriel pushed down his anger and fear about Michael's other orders – later, they could address Michael's talk of training and his attempts to force Spencer into being a warrior – for now he had to try and say something about this before Michael got them all in trouble. "Michael…"
"Do not argue, brother. We have not the time. We shall see you within a few days, I hope. Take care of him and I will take care of the humans." With no more than that, Michael was gone.
For a moment the beach was quiet. Then Gabriel blew out a breath and shook his head. He looked up and found Raphael looking just as consternated as he was. "Some things never change." Gabriel said dryly.
"And some things do." Raphael said. His voice was soft and just a bit sad. He looked at Gabriel just a moment more and then, in a rustle of feathers, he was gone as well.
Damn. Gabriel shut his eyes and briefly hung his head. He hated family reunions. No one could rip you apart inside quite the way that family could. There was a reason he'd stayed away as long as he had. He couldn't stand the fighting.
The arms around his waist began to shift and Gabriel opened his eyes once more. He looked down at the little one who was slowly waking in his lap and he knew that any of the fights were worth it. He'd put up with Raphael's taunts and quiet hurt and Michael's bossiness if it meant keeping his little sparrow alive. They had a hard road ahead and there was no telling what would happen to any of them
By the time Gabriel and Spencer returned to the Winchesters only two days later, Spencer had learned an amazing amount of control over his wings. Gabriel thought it might come from the fact that Spencer truly wasn't fighting his grace the way that he had been. He still tried to keep it close, true, but not like he had been. Before, he'd fought to keep it locked down all the time except for the tiny little tendrils that he shared with Gabriel. Now it was there, swirling and floating inside of him, lit up with the same light that showed in his wings. He no longer tried to cage it so tightly.
He reached out to Gabriel with it more, too. In a way he was more like a true fledgling. He and Gabriel touched grace all the time and Gabriel was awash in the hesitant and shy love of his little fledgling. The bond between them strengthened with it, Gabriel's Claim clear on him now. It was this open use of his grace that probably helped Spencer to learn so quickly. His instincts, when not being fought back, helped to teach him. He had an amazing control now of movement and he could pull his wings in and tuck them into the little pocket dimension all angels learned to hide their wings in while in vessels. Gabriel found it a lot easier to teach him now that he could brush their graces together and share the thoughts on what he would need to do.
But as they appeared in the latest Winchester motel room, it was sad yet not all that surprising to feel Spencer draw his wings in and keep his grace a bit closer. The new level of trust Spencer had learned didn't extend to other angels and now that they were off the safety of their island he was playing it safe. Smart, yes, but still a little sad. Gabriel had liked the openness between them. It reminded him of what it was like at home, before everything had gone wrong.
He didn't exactly get time to dwell on it, though. One look as he landed and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He looked at Dean and jerked a thumb to the side. "Who's this bozo?"
"What?" Dean looked confused by the question.
Oh, you had to be kidding him. Seriously? "You mean you don't know?" Gabriel looked to Spencer, who was staring at Sam with a look that clearly said he knew, and then he looked up at Sam himself – or, more accurately, Sam's body and whatever soul was currently riding around in it – and then back over to Dean. "Seriously. Your baby brother gets soul-swapped and you're telling me you didn't even realize it?"
The kid in Sam's body obviously didn't know a whole lot about the supernatural. He'd already looked scared by Spencer and Gabriel's arrival and now he was backing away from them like he really thought he could run. A bit of grace from Spencer kept him from going far. Gabriel sent a small swell of thanks to him and kept his focus on Dean. "I can't leave you muttonheads alone for two whole days without you getting knee deep in some kind of shit, can I? No, of course not. I go away for some important stuff and leave you in Mikey's care and what happens to you? You decide to go all Freaky Friday on us!" Tilting his head back, Gabriel glared up at the ceiling. "Great job looking out for them, Mikey!"
When he looked back down he saw that Dean was finally catching on to what was going on here. Finally. "That's not… that's not Sam?" He turned to glare at 'Sam', who was staring at them with wide, fearful eyes. "Who the hell is it, then? Who are you?"
Spencer snapped his fingers and the grace around 'Sam' changed. Apparently he'd not only been holding the kid – he'd gagged him, too. Smart one. Gabriel was always just a bit pleased to see the smart and kind of devious side of the kid when it came out.
Now that his mouth was free, 'Sam' immediately started to plead with them. "Please, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry please don't kill me!"
"No one's going to kill you." Spencer reassured him. Off to the side, Dean grumbled a low "Says who?" that Gabriel was tempted to echo. Instead of adding to Dean's threat with words, Gabriel just let his smirk grow into his best trickster grin; the one that had terrified the hell out of many mortals and plenty of gods as well.
Spencer, little shit that he was, rolled his eyes at them, entirely unafraid of either one of them. It was a nice change that Gabriel had every intention of encouraging. He strolled forward and moved up to stand in front of 'Sam'. Even though Spencer didn't look it from a distance the two were close enough in height that Spencer didn't have to tip his head much to look at him. "Ignore them for a moment. I'm telling you, unless you give us absolute reason than no one here will harm you. We just need to know who you are and what you've done with Sam."
'Sam's' eyes darted over towards them like he wasn't quite sure what to say or do.
"No." Spencer said, drawing his attention back to him. "Ignore them. They're not happy with you and you don't want to deal with them, trust me. They both care quite a lot for Samuel. I'm your best bet here in handling this in a calm and peaceful manner. I won't hurt you and I won't let them hurt you unless you give just cause for us to do so. I just want some answers. Can you start with telling me your name?"
"Gary." The kid squeaked out. That young, scared voice sounded strange coming from Sam.
Smiling, Spencer nodded a little, a silent reward for answering the question. "Thank you, Gary. Now, can you tell me where Sam is?"
"I don't want to die." Gary wheezed out. "Please, I don't want to die."
"Then tell us where my brother is!" Dean growled out harshly.
It almost made Gabriel laugh to see the glare that Spencer shot his way. Any other time and he might've actually let out that laugh. But not right now. Right now, he needed to know where Sam was so he could go get him back and fix this.
Spencer turned back towards Gary and straightened himself up a little more. His voice remained low and his grace was projecting calm around him, probably without the fledgling even realizing. "Don't listen to him, Gary. Just ignore him and focus on me. Please, can you tell me, where's Sam? It's very important. We need to get him back here, quickly, before something much worse than you can understand comes for him, or for you. Please, where is he?"
"In my – my friend's basement." Gary blurted out. "His parents are out of town."
That was all Gabriel needed to hear. He brushed a wing over Spencer to let him know he'd be right back and then he turned and took off. He'd caught a glimpse in Gary's mind of the basement when the kid had said it and he knew where to find Sam now.
It looked like he landed in just enough time, too. Right as he got there he saw as a demon in the body of an innocent girl was smirking at the stupid teenage boy in front of her, who was telling her "Uh, we have Dean Winchester."
"You do?" The demon said, gleefully. "Where?"
Gabriel didn't bother hiding himself. He smirked and stepped right up to Sam's side, dropping one hand down on the kid's shoulder. His eyes stayed fixed on the demon. "Nowhere you'll ever know, sweet cheeks." With his grace, he froze the two across from him, holding them in place and keeping the demon from smoking out.
Under his hand, the archangel felt Sam relax, some of his tension draining away, and that just made him grin. Definite ego boost right there. With Sam safely under his hand, and some pathetic demon in front of him that he wouldn't even break a sweat getting rid of, he didn't have to really worry anymore. He could appreciate the amusement in some of this. He heard Sam let out the breath he'd been holding. "Loki."
Gabriel's smirk grew. "I appreciate the effort, kid, but I'm not hiding here." He gave Sam's shoulder one last squeeze and then turned his smirk down to him, softening it around the edges. "Tell the boys I'll be back shortly. I think our little friend and I are going to have us a bit of a chat first."
There was no chance for Sam to argue. A snap of Gabriel's fingers and Sam was gone, sent back to the motel with the others. That left Gabriel free to focus on the frozen teen and the demon in front of him. "All right then." He said cheerfully. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he strolled forward. "What say you and I have us a chat, hm, sweetheart?"
Everything was in order by the time that Gabriel snapped back to the motel room. Sam was back in his own body and he and Dean were standing side by side, glaring down at the teenager – Gary. It wasn't any real surprise to find that Spencer was seated beside Gary. The kid was soft-hearted to begin with and even more so with someone so obviously young. What was surprising was seeing Michael standing at the side of the room. The archangel had his arms crossed over his chest and dark eyes were watching the scene with a look that probably seemed cold or hard to the others, but which told Gabriel just how pissed off his brother truly was.
Gabriel moved over to his brother's side and leaned back against the wall there. "Hey, bro. Who pissed in your cornflakes?"
That was very much worth the bewildered look it earned him. "Gabriel, what exactly…"
"It means 'what pissed you off'? You look ready to chew metal and spit out nails."
"As the Messenger, should it not be your job to speak clearly?" Michael asked blandly. Then he sighed and looked back over at the others, who were turning to watch them. With their audience, Michael opted not to speak out loud. 'I should have recognized that something was amiss. I was supposed to be guarding them and I missed this.'
Ah, yeah. Should've figured he'd get his panties in a twist about that. Gabriel rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath. "No harm no foul. Everyone's back to where they should be and our little demon was taken care of." He pitched his voice just enough for the others to be able to hear him, including them in their conversation. "I put a little Heavenly fear into the other two. They won't be meddling in something like this any time soon. And I got a little Hell gossip while I was at it."
"Hell gossip?" Dean perked up at that. "What'd the sulfur sucker have to say?"
Gabriel's saccharine grin made the hunter grimace. "Don't you worry, boy-o. I'll share with you two later. For now," Strolling forward, he ignored the curious looks from Dean and Michael, the terrified one from Gary, and the knowing one from Spencer. He focused right on Sam and the play of emotions that flashed over his face. Gratitude, worry, heat, affection, quickly there and gone again on his face. Gabriel's grin grew brighter and a bit more devilish by the time he reached Sam. Then, in a quick move no one could stop, he caught hold of Sam's shirt with one hand and yanked him down, curling his other hand around the back of his neck. Then he pulled him in for a hard kiss. Sam didn't even struggle. He froze for one moment, stunned, and then almost melted down into him.
"Oh, dammit!" Dean shouted out behind them. "Get off my brother!"
There was a strange sound and Gabriel could feel Spencer stopping Dean from coming forward. That was all the attention he paid, though. Why would he care about that when he was finally getting ot taste the honey that was Sam Winchester's lips?
When Gabriel pulled back, nipping on his bottom lip as he went, he was pleased to see the flush on Sam's cheeks and the dazed look in his eyes. "Be a little more careful next time, eh, Princess?"
Sam only faltered for a second at the nickname. Then his own lips quirked up just a bit. "I thought you said I was a Queen. There're no princesses in chess."
Chuckling, Gabriel winked. "Can't be a Queen without a King, sweetheart." He winked and pressed one last quick kiss to Sam's lips. "Take care of yourself till I get back, Princess. I got to talk to Mikey real quick."
He was still grinning when he turned around and almost skipped back over to Michael. His big brother was watching him with a look from Gabriel's childhood; one of fond indulgence. It told the trickster that his brother had been paying a bit more attention to things than he'd believed, or he'd caught on to more of it in their hug and grace sharing than Gabriel had meant for him. Whatever it was, he wasn't arguing, wasn't angry, so Gabriel would take it.
He brushed a hand over Spencer's hair as he passed him by and winked at him as well. "Keep an eye on these two chuckleheads till I get back? Big bro and I need a quick chat about some things and then I'll come back and explain stuff. Just, try and keep them out of trouble for me?"
"Of course." Spencer murmured. Silently, he added Be safe, please.
Always, Gabriel sent back. Then, with a rustle of wings, he and Michael were gone.
I know it feels rushed but I was thinking later on I might do a timestamp to show Spencer's weekend of wing-training. Otherwise it might take up more than one chapter. Anything less would be condensing it way too much. For now, I hope you guys are satisfied with this chapter. We're moving forward :)