Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Post 5x19 season five ending AU, starts in 5x22. The Winchesters are angry at Gabriel-for leaving them when he died-giving them a bare scrap of hope-and for just being himself, Gabriel is angry at them, and himself, and Heaven and Hell won't leave things well alone. Demons run when a good man goes to war...
Chapter Three
Xxx
Gabriel didn't wake up until late afternoon, coughing sluggishly as he rubbed at his eyes. Sam was there with a glass of water when he blinked enough times to see what was in front of him. Being the only one not out getting food or checking supplies, and having the biggest target right now with being so close to Detroit, made sense to find everyone else but Sam out of the motel room when Gabriel sat up.
A low groan slid from his throat as he took the water, managing a few swallows before he coughed, passing the glass back as he fell back against the pillow.
"Wish I could get the guy with the knife…"
Sam snorted, shifting in his chair next to the bed, "You mean Lucifer who stabbed you?"
"Nah...the one in my head…"
Sam's chuckle was a bit forced, and Gabriel didn't need to open his eyes to see the flash of pain and worry he knew was on the human's face.
"You're out of grace aren't you?"
The soft noise he let out was enough to make Sam sigh heavily, dropping his head to his hands as the silence took over between them.
He had to break the quiet, voice soft and uneasy, "I've got nothin' Sammy...gotta former trickster/archangel in front of ya."
"How long?"
"Since my own blade got shoved through my chest."
The wince the human let out would have been amusing any other time given the irony of it, right now it only made Gabriel bury his face in the pillow with a sigh.
"Hey, 's not all that bad, could be worse."
"How?"
"Could be stuck with someone else, I mean we're not the best, but Dean and I can't be the worst."
Gabriel looked up at that, shrugging as he sat up with a wince, rubbing at his face and wishing he could feel the power that made him who he was...unlike Cas who was cut off from Heaven, his grace was just gone, leaving behind something hollow.
"Still sucks…"
"C'mon, can't be that bad, still kicking around, and we did what you said, got the four keys to the Cage, just gotta kick your brother back inside it and all will be good."
Gabriel scoffed, rolling his eyes as he stood up.
"What? Thought that was your great plan, considering killing them wasn't an option."
"Oh it's an option, just a stupid one that there's no hope of getting done."
"How would you know? You weren't even going to be around to see it through! We only found out about this because you were dead."
"Dead-schmead...not that it matters."
"It does matter, thanks for noticing."
"Why do you care anyway? So I'm alive big whoop! This fight is going to happen whether any of us want it to or not!"
"Doesn't have to be like that! We've got a way to stop this!"
Gabriel had to take a minute to mull that over, the Winchesters had the keys, but getting Lucifer back in the Cage…
"No…"
"What?"
"Tell me you're not going to say yes…"
"You're kidding right?" Sam shook his head, "Why do you think we're driving to Detroit?"
"Are you freakin' kidding me?!"
"Gabriel!"
"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard! What in the hell is wrong with you Sam?! Say yes to my brother and it's the last conscious thought you'll ever do!"
"You don't know that!"
"Do I? I've seen what Lucifer can do Sam! You'll say yes, he gets in, and it's over! No fighting back, no making deals, no nothing...you'll be gone, worse than dead 'cause big bro will hold on to your soul for leverage."
Sam snorted, "You think I don't know that? I know this could go south fast, but at least I'm gonna try! Better than you, you ran!"
Gabriel shook his head, starting to walk away and end the conversation, or argument technically. Too bad Sam wasn't finished.
"At least I'm trying Gabriel! How many centuries did you sit back and let things happen huh? How many of your family have your brothers killed because you weren't there?"
"Shut up." His voice was a whisper, barely audible even to his own ears.
A growl slid from the hunter, "How many pagans suffered because Lucifer got his hands on them? How long were things still ok enough that if you'd stepped in this could have been stopped?!"
He winced, trying to block out the sound, wanting to cover his ears with his hands but finding himself unable to move.
Sam was far from finished, outright yelling at him now, "What's it gonna take huh? What's it gonna take for you to realize you're as much a part of this as the rest of us? That running and hiding was never an option!"
"I said shut up Sam…"
"How far does everything have to fall before you realize you can't get back up!?"
The now former archangel turned in a flash and swung, "Shut up!"
Sam dropped like a rock, hand to his nose in pain and shock, the only bright side was that Gabriel wasn't very tall, meaning all the force that would have broken Sam's nose was wasted reaching up that high. He was heaving for air as he stared down at the taller man on the floor, hands clenched into fists as he shook in anger.
"What dya know, still got a bit of a punch."
With that he left, leaving Sam on the floor grimacing as he tried to stop the blood now almost gushing down his face.
Xxx
Shouldn't have surprised him that one of the brothers came looking for him, not that he'd gone far either, but he hadn't really been hiding in the first place. Like he'd said, he was done running.
Okay mostly...he'd gone about a mile down the road to a park around a lake, trees obscuring most of the town nearby as the sun started to dip below the horizon.
Dean being the one to sit on the bench behind him as he threw rocks out at the lake in front of him was a bit new, then again Sam was probably sore about his wounded ego and bruised face, with both Castiel and Gabriel unable to heal him it was going to leave one heck of a mark.
At least the older Winchester let him stew as he threw his handful of rocks, sitting silently until the former archangel turned and moved to join him. The minutes of silence between them was starting to get on Gabriel's nerves, he didn't like things quiet, and even the soft noises of the night like the wind and crickets wasn't enough.
"Get it over with."
"Get what over with?"
Gabriel sighed, rolling his eyes as he leaned back against the bench with a dull thud, "Say something! Anything! Gotta be a reason you're out here. No one goes looking for me without a reason."
"Never been one for reasons, at least not good ones."
That made him scoff, looking to Dean next to him with a bit of frustration at the blasé attitude.
"What do you want from me Winchester? Haven't I done enough? I screwed with you and your brother more times than any victim I've ever dicked with, and there's been a lot of assholes. What could possibly make you come after me? Half the world thinks I'm dead and want to dance on my grave, the other half wants me dead."
"But you're not." Dean's tone wasn't one Gabriel wanted to hear, quiet but firm as he finally gave an answer closer to what the former archangel wanted to hear, or maybe not considering he didn't know what he wanted anymore.
Gabriel scoffed, "Might as well be."
Dean narrowed his eyes, leaning back now to face him better, "And why's that?"
"I'm powerless...batteries are dead...out of gogo juice...drained...tapped out...running on empty…'out of mojo'...you have no idea what it's like to have lost everything Dean."
The look the Winchester gave him was priceless, but he backtracked after a minute, "Okay bad example."
"What's so bad about being human?"
He didn't answer for a minute, staring out at the lake and watching the ripples in the sunlight. "Dean, you ever been on a roller coaster?"
The hunter hesitated before answering, having no clue where this was going, "Yeah?"
"You know that feeling when the cars are falling down that steep drop? That first one after the climb, that almost freefall where you're weightless and the air flows like water."
"Yeah...what about it?"
Gabriel glanced at him, eyes glazed with a pain Dean couldn't place, "Imagine having that feeling all the time, but instead of a gravity induced drop, you're in control of it at all times, you decide when and how far to drop, you pick the stopping point if you even want to stop, you take crazy turns one minute, then a slow climb the next…"
Dean nodded, the memory of the one brief time he'd been on a roller coaster coming back, the thrill and memory was something he couldn't describe.
"That's flying."
The former archangel next to him went on, "You know that feeling just before that first mega drop? After the cars are loaded and the chains crank them up to the top, that tipping point between climbing and falling? That's what I normally feel like all the time, on the brink of taking off…of "zapping" myself to wherever I want without barely a thought."
Dean watched him closely when he paused, eyes distant as he inhaled, breath shaking as he sniffed slightly to try and stop the tears that were inevitable.
"It's freedom Dean...undeniable, unbridled, and almost indescribable freedom...something that an angel, archangel, cherub-whatever...something we can't do without, it hurts worse than anything you'll ever experience Winchester...to lose that feeling, to suddenly find yourself grounded."
"Well don't mind me then in saying I like my feet on the ground."
Gabriel choked out a snort, nodding a little, "I do too...but still...I went into the Elysian Fields with a feeling I wasn't going to walk back out of there. I died for you petty humans, for Dad knows what reasons now...and for what? Came back to the apocalypse still in full swing, my older brothers still wanting to kill each other and destroy anything and everything in the process...and I can't do a damned thing about it."
Dean was silent for a moment, looking away as he leaned forward again, "I agree with most of that...but you can do something about this…"
A broken laugh slid from his throat, sounding like he was wheezing as he shook his head.
"How?"
Dean shrugged, "Well-"
Neither expected the hunter's phone to ring and interrupt them, but Dean answered it anyway.
"Yeah Sammy?...What?...Yeah...Fine we're on our way."
"What?"
Dean shook his head, getting up and leading the way to the Impala, "Don't know, Sam and Bobby are sayin' to get back ASAP."
Xxx
Neither hunter looked happy when Dean and Gabriel arrived back at the brothers' motel room, even Cas looked upset as Sam pointed at the news broadcast on the TV.
The rundown building displayed was completely normal, just an average building in the lower sector of Detroit, nothing interesting or out of place about it.
Except the pillar of fire coming from the roof and shooting up into the storm clouds.
"Well...that's new…"
Neither Winchester saw how stiff the two former angels were until a rumble of thunder not on the television made Gabriel flinch before darting outside again.
They all ran after him when Cas followed a second later, they didn't have to go far, both angels froze in the parking lot, staring at the dark storm clouds overhead. The pouring rain at night made things damn near impossible to see, until the lightning that flashed through the clouds and air lit up the skies.
It wasn't light in the clouds, it was fire.
Every time the fire-lightning flashed, the epicenter of the storm was visible, the pillar in the center of Detroit a beacon to anything who knew what it meant.
Both Gabriel and Cas were frozen, staring at the sky in mute numbness as things went from bad to worse, the fire pillar disappeared after a few minutes more, but the snap it created made anyone within a five mile radius cover the ears at the noise. Well anyone human, Cas and Gabriel hadn't moved at all.
It wasn't until it started hailing did Sam and Dean manage to drag Cas and Gabriel back inside, Bobby was on the phone with hunters calling in panic as to what the hell was going on as demon signs in Detroit went from booming to nothing.
"We're too late…"
Castiel's soft words almost weren't heard, but all eyes were on him in a flash.
"Cas?"
Gabriel was shaking as he buckled, sitting against the wall farthest from the window, "We're too late to stop it...Lucifer's army is fighting Michael's…"
"Shit…"
Cas shook his head, "That is not all Dean, the signs are clear...the battle is not on Earth, meaning the backlash will be even more catastrophic."
"Why's that Cas?" Sam asked from where he was watching the raging storm out the window.
Gabriel had shut down at this point, huddled against the wall as he sobbed silently, arms wrapped around his legs as he ducked his head to avoid seeing anything.
The trench coated angel was silent for a minute, eyes locked on the window like the rest of them as the thunder rumbled loud enough to shake the glass.
"The battle is taking place in Heaven."