Dean was sat at a circular table in the basement of the house shortly afterwards, staring blankly at possibly the weirdest contraption in the world. It was made up of various bits of metal, each a different length and colour. What looked like a furnace was attached to a metal beam that ended in an axe on a joint, allowing it to swing back and forth. A chair sat behind the furnace beside an assortment of gears and levers. And stood beside this, grinning broadly, was Sam.
He was explaining just how the machine he had invented worked with so much pride in his voice, Dean actually made an effort to look interested and like he was following what Sam was saying to the letter. It was like having a much younger version of Sam but in his adult body around again. It was rather odd, to say the least. But Dean found that, in a way, he liked it. Sam had never wanted to choose the hunting life, and he'd run from it for as long as he could. This version of Sam was proof of what his younger brother could have been, had Yellow Eyes never come to them.
"So, what do you think, Dean?" Sam asked suddenly, still beaming.
"Huh?" The hunter replied eloquently. Being so caught up in his own musings, he'd been completely ignoring what Sam had been saying. Sam however, only huffed out a laugh and shook his head, apparently all too used to this behaviour.
"My wood-cutter; do you think it'll win?"
"Win? Win what?"
Now Sam sighed and shook his head. "The inventor's fair, Dean. You know? The one I entered and have been working towards for months now?"
"Oh, right." Dean lied smoothly, nodding. "Sorry Sammy, late night and all." He scrubbed a hand down his face and re-emerged grinning. "Yeah, I think you're definitely in with a shot." That was when something occurred to him. "Hey, d'you think you can take a look at this?" And he fished both phones from his pocket, laying them on the wooden tabletop. If Sam was an inventor, maybe he could work out why the phones would only allow calls and messages to one another.
The moment phone's screen became illuminated; an expression of sheer wonder and awe took over Sam's face. He scrambled forwards, scooping up his own phone from the table and admired it with nothing short of reverence, almost like he currently held all answers to the world's secrets in his palm. Dean had to resist the almost-overwhelming temptation to call from his phone, just to see how high his brother would probably jump.
"This is incredible, Dean!" Sam said, experimentally jabbing his thumb on a button and jumping when something on the screen changed. "Where on earth did you get these?"
"Uhh.." Dean began awkwardly because seriously, what the heck was he supposed to say? 'Oh, just from the future where I was with another version of you, where we hunt monsters and have a working partnership with two angels and the King of Hell'. Yeah. Right. But Sam was now looking at him with suspicion in his eyes, so he obviously had to say something. "I found 'em. Last night." It was pitiful at best, but the best he could come up at that moment.
"You found them?" Sam repeated sceptically, now eyeing the phone in his hand like a potential bomb.
"Yes Sam, I found them. What, you think I stole them or something?"
It worked. Sam started like he'd been electrocuted, and shook his head wildly. "No, of course not! I.. It's just.. Well, I've never seen anything like these things before. Where on earth did you find them?"
"What's with the third degree, huh? Just take the damn thing."
Sam's look of confusion changed to shock and then to awe in the space of a few seconds. Then, looking from Dean to the phone in his hand with the beaming smile back in place, he cried, "Are you serious?"
For the first time since he'd woken up, Dean felt a grin breaking out on his face. "Yeah, I'm serious. Take it." He'd sneak the thing away again somehow when he had to leave to get back to his original dimension, wherever the hell that even was, but until then this Sam could hold onto it.
But getting back to his own dimension was going to be a real problem. Gabriel had worked out that the angel had been luring them there; Dean had heard him screaming something about a trap to Sam. And when he was next conscious, it was to find that he had been catapulted years back into the past with no Sam, no angels, and pretty much no hope. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. And he had to start his search somewhere. His main priority right now was finding either Castiel or, as much as he hated to admit it, Gabriel. At least one of them could help figure out this clusterfuck of a day.
So Dean cleared his throat awkwardly, and spoke. "Hey, Sammy. You wouldn't happen to have seen Cas anywhere, would you?"
He wasn't sure what reaction to have been expecting. There was only a slim chance this Sam would even know who 'Cas' was, and even then there was no guarantee that he would be the Castiel Dean knew. The more likely option was that this Sam wouldn't have a clue who Dean was talking about, and he'd be back to square one. But what hadn't crossed Dean's mind at all was for Sam to go paper white, for his eyes to fly open and for him to look at Dean like he'd grown a second head.
"Are you insane?!" He whispered, and Dean was alarmed to hear a definite note of panic in his voice.
"What?"
"You are out of your mind, Dean!" Sam hissed, getting to his feet and backing away hurriedly as if Dean was highly infectious. "Talking about that.. That.. That thing like the two of you are friends!"
Dean instantly bristled, angry at Sam's derogatory manner. "I'm talking about him like he's my friend because he's my friend, jackass." He snapped. "I need to find him, Sammy! Where the hell is he?"
But Sam was shaking his head. "That's not funny, Dean." And with a slam of the door behind him, Dean was left sat at the table in confused, irritated silence.
Gabriel broke the surface of the water as slowly as possible, trying not to draw attention to himself, sticking as close to the side of the ship as he could. Castiel had pointed it out to him with a warning of caution, before he and Balthazar backed off, not willing to risk being spotted by humans. But Sam was somewhere on that ship and Gabriel had to find him, regardless of the risk. The vessel had come to a halt, giving the archangel the perfect opportunity to glide along its side, searching for a way up. Now that he was above water, Gabriel could hear voices and laughter, as well as music.
He had almost completed a circuit of the ship when he spotted a life boat hanging a little lower than the others. Gripping the sides of the boat, Gabriel attempted to heave himself in with as little splashing as possible. He didn't want to alert the humans aboard to his presence, knowing how well they usually reacted to supernatural creatures. Despite everything else in this crazy world being so back to front and upside down, natural human fear was something that would remain as strong as ever, he was certain. And he highly doubted seeing merpeople was commonplace.
With a lot of effort which he wasn't used to exerting, Gabriel managed to haul himself into the lifeboat. He lay on the cold wooden surface for a moment or two, the fins of his tail draped over the edge, breathing hard. Physical labour was definitely something he wouldn't miss when he had his Grace back. The noise of the party raging above was much clearer now, and Gabriel could see flashing lights in his peripheral vision.
Rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself up with his hands, Gabriel turned to investigate. A porthole was positioned just above his head, and through it he could see the shadows of many figures dancing. Ignoring the thud of apprehension in the pit of his stomach, he placed his hands on the wooden frame of the porthole, and used this as leverage to haul himself up high enough to peer through it.
Huddled around the edges were groups of men, talking, singing and laughing with one another. Gabriel instantly spotted Dean with his arm slung around the shoulders of a slightly shorter man with the same dark hair, smirking and swigging something out of a bottle. The stance was too relaxed for him to be the annoying, crass Winchester that Gabriel knew, so he moved on. It took two sweeps of the deck to spot him but there, huddled away in the shadows, was Sam. He looked highly uncomfortable with the whole party atmosphere, and as Gabriel watched, he shot Dean and the other boy furtive glances on no less than four occasions.
"It's really you, isn't it, Kiddo?" Gabriel muttered to himself, lowering his body back into the lifeboat to give his aching arms a rest.
Now all he had to do was get Sam's attention somehow. If he'd had his Grace, it wouldn't have been an issue; he'd have just zapped himself over to where Sam was. But obviously, he couldn't just drag himself onto the deck and approach the younger Winchester directly. Pushing a hand through his hair in frustration, Gabriel spotted movement beneath the water a moment before Balthazar's head broke the surface.
"How's it going, bro?" He asked, nodding towards the deck.
"Gotta get Sam's attention somehow." Gabriel replied with an irritated frown. "And I don't think flopping onto the deck like this will work."
Balthazar's face immediately paled. "Well, of course it wouldn't. Unless you're looking for a spear in the neck, that is."
Gabriel sighed, and nodded. So his suspicions about humans and merpeople had been right, after all. "Any suggestions, then?"
"Yeah, and a word of advice. Don't hit him too hard." Balthazar replied before shoving several tiny, wet stones into Gabriel's hand and disappearing into the darkening gloom of the sea once more.
With a shake of his head, Gabriel hefted himself up to the porthole once more. Sam was right where he had left him, looking downright miserable. Taking careful aim, Gabriel launched one of the stones across the deck. It flew through the air and came to a stop just short of the hunter. He heard the clattering noise and glanced up, but decided it wasn't worth his attention and cast his gaze to his boots once more. Gabriel tried again, but this one sailed past Sam completely and landed in the sea behind him.
"Son of a.." The archangel muttered, now getting frustrated.
On his third attempt his aim was true. The stone struck Sam on his shin and he jumped, looking up and down for the thrower, scowl now firmly in place. Gabriel remained framed by the porthole, praying that Sam would notice him before someone else did. Sam's eyes swept straight past him at first, before Gabriel saw the hunter freeze and hastily backtrack. For a moment, they stared at one another just as their brothers so often did, before Gabriel's hand slipped on the wooden edge and he fell with a thud back into the lifeboat.
"Ow.." He muttered angrily under his breath, rubbing the small of his back which had jarred at the sudden impact.
"Gabriel? Is that you? I mean, is that really you?"
The archangel flung his head back and peered up. Sam was leant over the edge of the ship, squinting down at him, so he raised a hand. "Hey Sammy. And yeah, it's me. The archangel that told you this whole thing was a damn trap, and now look where we are."
Sam's expression turned miserable once more. "I'm sorry about this Gabe, I really am."
Gabriel sighed. "Not your fault, Kiddo. We'll work this out."
"Yeah, I know we -" Sam began, then paused as he leant further over the edge. "Gabriel.. Is that..? Have you got..?"
The archangel changed the angle he was sitting at, so that his tail flopped over the edge of the lifeboat. "Yeah, it's a tail. Whoever's behind this is going to pay for turning me into a merman."
Sam swallowed heavily, only just stopping himself from saying that the sight of the shirtless archangel wasn't exactly a bad one. "So.. So it's definitely not you that's behind this, then?"
Gabriel could only gape for a moment or two, before flapping his tail and pointing at the offending limb. "Note the fins, Sammy! Why would I do this to myself?!"
"I know, sorry, I just thought it was a prank or something. Just had to check."
"Sammy! There you are! What are you looking at?" Dean's voice rang out from just behind Sam.
The hunter's expression drained of all colour, and when he spoke his tone had turned to an urgent hiss. "Go!"
Gabriel didn't really need telling twice. Rather unceremoniously, he slid the whole way out of the boat, landed with a splash and swam down towards the sand as fast as his new tail could carry him. As an archangel he was practically immortal when it came to the Winchester's capabilities. But that didn't mean his new merman body was as difficult to kill. Hell, could be as easy as sticking a perfectly normal blade in his gut. And he sure as hell wasn't waiting around to find out. At least evening had begun to fall, and the new darkness offered him a blanket to hide in. Because now that he had found Sam, he wasn't about to let him go.
Bobby was trying to focus on the book, but having a demon sniggering over his shoulder really wasn't helping.
After leaving the house pretty sharpish, he'd driven back to Sam and Dean's motel room and set up his own investigation there. Ever since, he'd tried and failed to get the book to open past what he'd already read. It wasn't until Crowley appeared to check on progress that the book emitted a faint glow and the next two pages reverted from their stone-like state. Both he and Crowley had read the latest entries, and it was afterwards that the demon's laughter had started.
"You wanna share the joke?" Bobby snarled, patience having long since snapped.
"Well, just look at the situation you have here, love." He said, still grinning. "One of your boys has had his angel viewed as some kind of monster by everyone else he knows, except him. And now the other is a prince with a little merman tagging along after him?"
Crowley then studied him like he expected Bobby to have a sudden epiphany about what was so hilarious about that, but the older hunter's scowl only deepened. "Yeah, and your point is?"
"Bloody hell, Singer, you really haven't had a life outside of hunting the nasty things in the night, have you?" Crowley sighed with mock exasperation and ignored the acidic glare Bobby now shot him. "Don't these all sound just a little bit familiar? In this case, a merman and a human? Or a man and what everyone else considers a monster? More specifically a beast? Someone's trapped your precious boys in a bloody fairy tale!"