Chapter 4: The Angel Farts Rainbows
There he is.
If the situation wasn't dire, Castiel would say that he was proud of himself. Sam was gone, Dean was gone, no leads, but he found himself a suspect. Only, Castiel was always one step behind, only catching up to the dust the Candyman left for him to chase.
Time was not on his side, and with two more hours, the night of Halloween would be over. Will Sam and Dean be lost forever too? Castiel doesn't want to find out. As soon as the night had fallen, the people of the town retreated back into their homes, and the night was as eerily silent as the first night they came.
One thing for certain, Castiel knew the attacker. Or he thinks. There were mercury traces in all the candy wrappers, and if one consumed enough, it could potentially knock them out. But mercury was a cover up for something meaner and badder.
Grace.
They contained grace that had been tampered with. It was bad enough if any mortal were to come into contact with it, but if they had consumed it, who knows what disastrous results it could bring! At least he had a confirmation that heaven was somehow involved in this mess.
And then, he figured out the mystery sigil with the candy wrappers Sam was talking about. That was one mystery Cas wished he never had solved, because it spelled 'Come and get me.' How did Gabriel fit into the puzzle? He had time as his alibi.
Castiel stretched his wings to relieve a few sore spots. He had been using his wings intensively today and he didn't want to risk any injury of sorts. Castiel unconsciously bit his lower lip; it was something he did more often the longer he spent his time among humans. It would be aptly phrased, as by the mortals - The nerves got better of you. And that was what Castiel had been feeling. Queasy and jittery all from the nerves in him firing in all directions.
Just when he was about to fly around the town in low hopes of recovering his friends, he spotted a silhouette of a person on the streets. Odd… From his experience he gained in the short time spent here, humans never stepped out of their houses after sunset. Even animals are hardly seen.
So what is one man doing out here all alone?
Castiel squinted his eyes to get a clearer look. The silhouette turned and two shining golden eyes met his sky blue ones. They stared at each other for what it felt like minutes, but Castiel knew only seconds had passed, before the silhouette made a run for it.
He was baiting me.
Despite knowing that, Cas took the bait. He couldn't afford another moment to lose, it had almost been ten hours since Dean was taken. He didn't even know if Dean was still alive and the uncertainty was chewing away in his gut. He will be fine, Cas told himself, Dean's a great hunter, only the best. But even the best is only mortal, take away just the air they breathe in would render them dead within the minute.
The silhouette was fast. But Castiel was faster. Cas didn't stop to analyze if it had been the perpetor's plan all along - to allow Castiel to catch up before stringing him up and offering him as sacrifice.
When Castiel got close enough, he could make out the shape of a man under the heavy gray hood he had donned. The disguise made it difficult for Castiel to identify the person, but he had a feeling he knew those pair of eyes.
With a sudden outburst of determination, Castiel forced himself to fly faster than he had ever done and he crashed into the person and into an empty building. Both toppled and rolled over and Castiel found that he was pinning the other to the floor with his weight. Laughter echoed from under him as the man pushed Castiel off to stand up.
The hood fell off and the disguise was laid to waste.
Blonde hair, golden eyes, cheeky and sucking on a lolly.
"Well done, baby brother. You found me." Gabriel said as he raised both hands in a mocking defeat. He smirked then waved his hand, sending Castiel flying. He flew towards Castiel where his fist made contact with Castiel's jaw, sending the seraph crashing towards the floor.
"Why are you doing this?!"
"Hmm? Doing what?" A devilish joy emerged on Gabriel's face as he reared his fist back and sent another punch to Castiel's face. "I'm just feeding to your desires, Cassie. I fed those Winchesters their desires!"
Castiel drew his angel blade and held a defensive stance. Their blades made contact with a loud clash as Gabriel flew towards him again. Castiel ducked under Gabriel's looming form and rolled over to an open area behind the archangel's back. Castiel winced as he stood up and wiped the blood off his cheek where Gabriel's blade made brief contact. Gabriel's face turned sour as he spit out his candy.
"Your lovely Dean needed a distraction and here they are! A perfect distraction!" Gabriel yelled as he lunged for Castiel once more.
"Sam needed to see me! And so I tied him up with his brother and even exchanged a couple of words with them."
Castiel swerved towards the right as Gabriel charged from the left, grabbing the archangel's arm and holding it right next to his face where if he were seconds late, the blade would have taken out his blue eyes. Using the thrust force to his advantage, Castiel flipped Gabriel over and swung him onto the floor, where the archangel's body landed with a out thud.
"You wanted Dean's love! Didn't he almost confess to you moments after you both made up after the fight! Had you not been so caught up with your newly found human emotions, you would have realised that apology he gave was his own confession of love in itself." Gabriel chuckled darkly as he brushed his hands on his shirt and stood up.
"You were all so blind by your desires, you couldn't see what's in front of you."
Castiel wouldn't believe those words if he hadn't heard it for himself. Everything was laid out for them and they walked right into the biggest, baddest, most obvious trap in the room.
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"Sammy! Where is Gabriel?!" Dean yelled. He was getting to his wits end with the restraints and so far he had done more harm than good and he reckoned he should stop struggling if he still wanted use for his hands that is.
"Shut up Dean!"
"I can't believe your boyfriend turned psycho and tried to kill us all!"
"I can't believe it either…" Sam muttered. The whole time Sam had trusted Gabriel to stay in control, whatever control that angel had in the first place. And Castiel told him not to worry, he could trust Cas, right? He knew Gabriel from the moment of his existence for God's sake.
A bright red light shone from the centre of the cellar and the Winchesters had to shield their eyes from the bright light after being kept in the dark for so long. A deep velvety voice spoke, "You both clearly needed some help."
When Dean opened his eyes again, he saw a young male in a pizza delivery outfit with his arms folded and looking really crossed with them. His head was tilted upwards in a smug expression and he smirked. "The King sends his assistance and demands that you boys start packing and be on your way to slay the troublemaker." With a snap of his fingers, the restraints broke and Dean fell over from the lack of support.
"Son of a bitch!" He cursed as he steadied himself and rubbed his sore wrists. He glared at the demon and scowled, "How did you find out where we were?"
"Your brother looked up Crowley."
The answer was short and impatient as the demon stomped. "Are you ready yet? We are supposed to be on our way to slay some bastards. Or bastard. Whatever."
Dean shot Sam a look.
We will talk about this later.
"How about Cas? Is he alright?" Sam interrupted as he helped Dean stand up.
"He won't be if you dawdle."
"It took you fucking long enough to find us!" Dean cussed.
The demonling, clearly upset with Dean's outburst, stopped in his tracks and turned around to glare at Dean. He poked his finger into Dean' chest repeated, "Be thankful that I did find you before you were dead."
Dean hastily pushed the arm off and shrugged. "Hurry up and do your mojo or something. Send us to Cas!"
The demonling smirked. "Mojo? You got to walk there yourselves dickheads. I ain't parading into a war zone to get myself killed."
"You know my brother and I are still going to hunt your ass down and kill you right."
"Of course, and it will only be fair if I made the first move." With that, the demon disappeared the way he came, leaving the Winchesters to fend for and escape by themselves.
"That bastard could have left us a bloody flashlight!"
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Castiel had been knocked out of breath once more as Gabriel's elbow jabbed hard into his ribcage. He was running out of energy and was slowing down too much, causing him to take in hit after hit. Gabriel didn't seem to be intent on killing him, because if he wanted, he would have done so on the many openings he slipped. Castiel's bleeding was plenty and he wasn't sure if he should even be standing right now.
He flew as Gabriel slashed the blade towards his arm, narrowly dodging the attack. This was how it had been. Gabriel attacks and Castiel would dodge by flying. Flying was the only defence quick enough for Castiel to execute. Cas pushed himself up with his hands but the blood was making it too difficult and he slipped onto the floor once more, his angel blade skidded far from reach. Gabriel was laughing from behind him and he saw his blade being picked up.
Gabriel kicked Cas to his side so that they were facing each other and he smirked as he weighed both blades in his hands. "Time for you to say bye bye, baby brother."
Castiel closed his eyes as he prepared himself for the final blow.
Huh?
A second passed, then another, then yet another. Confused, Castiel opened his eyes. A young man - a demon, stabbed Gabriel on his side with a demon knife and was dodging the blows from the archangel.
"Damned those Winchesters are slow!" He yelled.
Winchesters? Could he mean that Dean and Sam are alright?
Castiel scowled, he didn't need saving from a demon! However, the demonling was good, that he'll have to admit.
"When you are done gawking, I appreciate a little help here!"
That drew Gabriel's attention to him again. Castiel rolled his eyes in annoyance as he drew his fist and charged for his brother. Two versus one, hardly seemed like a fair fight when the opponent is a powerful archangel in existence who merely sustained a scratch from the demon knife.
"GABRIEL!"
All eyes turned to look at the Winchesters who joined the battle. From what Cas could see, Dean was bloodied on his hands and knees and Sam had minor cuts and bruises. Dean held a sword and a gun in style and Sam had a sword.
"About time." The demonling spat. "For how long did you expect me to fight your stupid battles?"
While everyone was distracted, Gabriel took the chance and flew towards Sam. The Winchesters ducked and split up, engaging in hand to hand combat. Sam was clearly pulling his punches which caused Dean to receive a direct hit a couple of times. When Cas was close enough to Sam, the younger Winchester pulled him backwards and he threw something onto the ground. Milliseconds later, a ring of fire appeared and Gabriel cursed loudly after being slightly singed by the sudden fire,
"Holy oil." Dean smirked. "Now try to get away from that."
To his surprise, Gabriel chuckled and stepped towards the fire. He appeared to reconsider but stepped through the fire anyways. The now set ablazed archangel wasn't screaming in pain nor was he retreating. He kept advancing forward and Dean was thankful for his empty stomach as he watched Gabriel's face start to peel off.
"You aren't Gabe." Sam muttered.
"No."
The creature lunged forward to tackle Sam but the fire seemed to be causing more harm than he expected. He was literally melting, like the wax on a candlestick. Dean took the chance to slay the creature's head off his body and gagged when the head landed on the floor with a loud squelch. Their clothes were splattered with brain matter and skin.
"Is he really dead?" Sam asked.
The demon walked over to the pile of gooey mess and nodded. "Definitely."
"Well then, it's your turn now." Dean said as he tapped his sword.
"You can't kill me," the demon said. "I'm a soldier, only the best."
"And the most annoying." Crowley's voice echoed behind them. "But he is a good soldier, and given that he had completed his duty and saved your lives-"
"More than once."
"Don't interrupt when your King is speaking! As I was saying, he did save your lives, I believe it's fair to let him scoot free. Consider it a debt to be paid." Crowley finished, and without waiting for a reply, he and the demonling vanished in a ray of red light and smoke.
"Congratulations, Dean-O."
"Jesus! Would people stop appearing out of nowhere! Everything feels so surreal now." Dean cursed as Gabriel appeared in front of them.
Castiel was ready to run his angel blade through the new Gabriel when he archangel jumped into his defense. "Woah guys it's really me!" He snapped his fingers and the illusion fell through.
"What the fuck?"
The children were safe, they were never truly kidnapped. The town did exist, thousands of years ago that is. And these children did die gruesome deaths back then. But neither of them were harmed in this make up. The souls of the children were real and they were brought back for this case to be realistic for Sam and Dean. The children were on 'vacation' as they like to call it. Parties and candies and cakes, which child wouldn't dream of this?
And when Castiel brought up the bloody mess in heaven, Gabriel only laughed harder. The children were innocent souls, hence they did reside in heaven. And they had a massive food fight on during a raspberry party. Hence the puddles of mess. Everyone raised their brow in question as Gabriel wiped a tear off his eyes.
Whatever this was, it did not feel as real as what occured over the last twenty four hours. Dean was supposed to believe in tea parties and raspberry food fight now?
"Hello? Trickster here. I can make unbelievable things look and feel real."
That does it. Dean threw a punch into Gabriel's face and a loud CRACK was heard.
"That felt good." Dean said as he rubbed his sore fist.
"Not for me it didn't." Gabriel replied.
"Why?" Castiel asked.
"Well, for one, Dean was bored out of his wits. But the main reason was when I proposed a distraction similar to this, Sam shot me down."
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"No we are not doing that." Sam said.
Gabriel smirked, "Challenge accepted baby."
"Stop it Gabe, this is not a challenge. I mean it."
"But it's Halloween!"
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"You did all these over a dare?!" Sam yelled. "I can't believe you!"
"Hey stop looking at me like that." Gabriel said as he chugged down another bucket of candies. "What matters is that no one got hurt right?"
"Well I did." Sam spat. "Right here and here." He pointed to his head before patting on his chest where his heart lay beneath.
"Also, Cassie kept me updated with where you were, so nothing could've went wrong."
Sam looked at Castiel reproachfully.
"I didn't know that the angel radio was Gabriel all along…"
Sam was trying to calm himself down from losing his boyfriend and brother in a day, not to mention Cas was almost stabbed to death by the angel blade and he himself was almost killed. And Gabriel was being really inconsiderate with his loud chewing.
"Urgh, Gabriel! Stop eating already! This has got to be your tenth bucket of lollies!"
"Twelfth. "
"Precisely, keep going and you're going to get diabetes sooner than you think. It's a wonder you haven't already gotten it."
"Hello? Celestial being here. "
"You get my point."
Gabriel decided that they shouldn't drive, Sam and Dean muttered their agreements. So the angels promptly flew them back to the bunker. Where Dean and Cas scooted off to be on their own and Sam was once again, stuck with his obnoxious boyfriend that he wasn't all too ready to forgive. He had, actually, the moment the illusion ended and when the real Gabriel confessed, but Gabe didn't have to know the full story.
Two days of literal hell and another three for worrying for him? Sam decided that he deserved to throw a childish fit.
"If there was anything good that came out of this, it'll be that." Gabriel smirked as he pointed over to Dean and Castiel standing by the windows. Castiel was flushed red to the tip of his ears and Dean wasn't making eye contact. He shuffled his feet and muttered something, which must have shocked Cas, because the angel took a quick step back.
"What are they saying?" Sam asked.
"If you have to know, both of them confessed. And-"
Castiel leaned forward to plant a chaste kiss on Dean' lips before turning away. If his face could have been any redder, it would definitely be.
"Dean told Cas to shut up and kiss him already."
"You are such a dick, you know that?" Sam teased.
"I know, now I want my moose kiss."
Sam laughed as he grabbed Gabriel close by his waist and planted a kiss on his lips. "Never, ever do this again."
Gabriel chuckled, "Now, is that another challenge?"
A/N: That's the end of it! Thank you everyone for following me through this journey. The process had been arduous with a lot of plot changes and character change as well. Even during the final phases of creating the chapter, major editing to the plot was done. I'll like to thank Nejano (as she is known here) for her help in helping decide the final plot and phrasing. With that, I'll leave you be with the story. Likes and Follows make me very happy but so do reviews! Merry Christmas.
Keep Waggin'
Puppy