Quetzal - these chapters keep getting longer! hope you like this one! over 2,000 words of dean and cas being unbearably cute and of course a health dash of Gabriel who hasn't had to deal with lucifers sense of humor in a really long time... poor bastard.
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Chapter 4
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There was a long moment after Castiel had taken a bite when absolutely nothing happened. Dean had just enough time to wonder if Lucifer was just fucking with them before Cas made a strangled whimpering sound. Deans gaze which had been shifting to Lucifer snapped back to Cas. The angel shuddered, his pupils blown wide. Dean swore softly under his breath and shifted down the bench to make sure the shuddering angel didn't fall over.
Lucifer watched this with an unreadable look on his face. Sam shot him a look before turning his attention to Cas – who was now clinging to Dean in a way he would normally never tolerate. The older Hunter was talking quietly to Cas, trying to calm him down a little at least. Sam eyed them, a bit bemused. He could never quite make heads or tails out of those two's relationship. He knew that neither Dean nor Cas had any interest in each other sexually, but the way they acted sometimes was just too damn close for them not to be. It was a bit of a paradox. Whatever the fuck they had was not something that really seemed to have an equivalent in normal human relationships.
"Cas?" Dean asked cautiously when the angel finally stopped shivering a few minutes later. Castiel straightened slowly looking around himself uncertainly. Lucifer spoke for the first time since Cas had taken a bite. A string of something in what could have only been Enochian. Cas blinked and turned to look at Lucifer in surprise. Sam may not have known what had been said, but it had definitely been in a far softer tone than anything else he'd ever heard from him. Cas considered him for a long moment before giving a tiny smile and saying something as well.
Dean watched the exchanged with a curious look on his face. It occurred to him, that while Lucifer may have hated humans with a literal 'unholy passion' he had never hated his family. The Fallen angel probably still saw the younger angels as his little brothers and sisters, regardless of how annoyed he was at them. Dean pulled himself away from that line of thought before it went somewhere dangerous. A little pity was ok, but he couldn't risk getting to damn sympathetic at this point. Give it a few months of Lucifer not killing them all and he'd think about it.
"You alright Cas?" he asked. Castiel looked at Dean with a faintly puzzled expression.
"How could I not have understood before?" he sounded incredibly confused by the very concept. "It seems so simple." Deans lips quirked up, in a halfway smile that was really more of a smirk.
"Trust me Cas, good and evil are anything but simple. Just wait till you try and put it into practice. You'll finally get why humans can be so damn indecisive sometimes." Sam nodded in agreement.
"The best piece of advice anyone can really give you is to never assume things are black and white. There's no such thing, just infinite shades of gray." He said, he missed the look Lucifer shot him at this. It was faintly startled. Lucifer studied Sam for a long moment before nodding slightly to himself and looking back to Castiel. His eyes seemed just a hair lighter then they had been. Humanity may fuck up quite a bit, but it would seem they had managed to uncover a few bits of real wisdom over time.
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Lucifer had wandered off at some point yesterday, leaving them to continue with the hunt they had been on. A hunt which was shaping up to look like The Trickster. Dean had been nearly gleeful at the idea of getting another shot at the pagan god. Sam was less certain.
Cas was attempting to put his new understanding of good and evil into practice, and as Dean had warned him, had mostly just managed to confuse himself. Dean had just rolled his eyes at Sam and let him have at it, if he could get through to the Devil maybe he could do the same with the trickster. Dean had kinda liked the god before the whole dying a hundred times thing.
This would prove to be a mistake.
At least Sam was taking the brunt of the pranks, and Cas was, somewhere. That was what worried him the most. Cas wasn't exactly in the best of shape for this kinda bullshit. He was about five minutes away from praying to Lucifer when he finally got it. This fucker wasn't a pagan god. You don't get that pissed about anything but family. Luckily the fuckers most recent joke was going to backfire. He felt more than a little smug glee when the ring of holy fire flared to life. Loki's face was almost worth the crap he'd put them through.
"So which one are you, hu?" Dean drawled once Sam back to being human. "grumpy, sneezy, or douchey?" the angel, and he now knew for sure that's what it was glared at him.
"Gabriel," he growled, "They call me Gabriel." Dean stared at him blankly for a long moment.
"Gabriel?" he finally echoed. "The archangel, Gabriel" Gabriel smirked, and rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"The one and only." He agreed.
"How the fuck does an archangel end up as a Pagan God?" He demanded, wondering offhandedly if Sam had called Luci yet.
"Well I skipped out on heaven, got myself a face transplant, and set up my own little witness protection program. Until you two chuckleheads screwed it up!" Gabriel snapped.
"So why push for the apocalypse?" Sam asked, Gabriel snorted.
"I tried to stop it, but now that Lucifers out of the box nothing will stop those two. I just want it over with." He all but hissed. Sam and Dean exchanged a look. Sam quirked an eye brow up Dean nodded. Sam looked back over at Gabriel.
"Well, its going to be kind of hard for them to have an apocalypse when Lucifers having some big time second thoughts about it. " Sam said with a shrug. Gabriel stared at him blankly.
"Lucifer." He echoed. "Having second thoughts about the apocalypse? Pull the other one kid, its got bells on it." He snarled, eyes turning from his soft amber color, to a molten gold. Sam held his ground though, not only was Gabriel trapped but he'd dealt with a pissed Lucifer, not much could really scare you after that.
"I'm not kidding, Gabriel." He answered quietly. "And I'll prove it." His gaze went unfocused at that as he prayed to the fallen angel. Gabriel knew exactly what he was doing if the look of terror that flashed across his face was any indication.
"Uh Sam!? I don't know what he told you Sam, but that's the kind of games he plays! You can't trust him! Remember what happen last time you trusted someone out of hell?" Sam blinked focusing back on Gabriel, a more then slightly offended look on his face.
"Low blow, Gabriel." He answered. Gabriel didn't get a chance to argue further when the thunderous sound of wing beats filled the warehouse. Sam wondered if Lucifer was trying to be dramatic, upon seeing the look on his face however, he decided he was just in a really big hurry. Lucifer landed next to Sam, his gaze pinned on Gabriel who looked just shy of trying to bolt through the flames.
"Gabriel." He said quietly, that same softer glint in his eyes again. Gabriel visibly steeled himself.
"Hey bro, hows the apocalypse going?" It would seem that Gabriels default setting was 'snark', Dean thought, amused. Lucifer raised an eye brow, an amused smirk curling onto his face.
"Surprisingly bad, although not from lack of trying on your part it would seem. I admit I'm a bit surprised at you. I would have thought you'd have been helping these two as much as you could. You always did adore humans even before father told us to." Lucifer drawled. Gabriel went a little shifty eyed at this.
"Hardly," he snapped back. "I just know its impossible to stop you and Michael once you've set your minds to something. You don't listen to anyone! I just wanted it to be over! I can't watch you all tear yourself apart again, why do you think I left in the first place!?" Gabriel yelling the last part, both humans winced at the high pitched screech that that worked its way into the sound. Lucifer stared at him for a long moment looking incredibly tired.
"Sam, Dean – can you step outside please?" he finally said. Sam headed for the door without another word. Dean didn't move. Lucifer frowned at him.
"Can you get Cas from where ever the hell he stashed him?" he asked. Lucifer shot a look at Gabriel who had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. A snap of Gabriels fingers later and a rather ruffled and slightly bloody Cas appeared next to Dean. The angel blinked rapidly at his sudden change in location before taking in Dean and Lucifer and 'Loki' trapped in a circle of holy fire.
"Gabriel," he acknowledged, his eyes narrowed slightly in a way that made Dean want to snicker.
"Hey, Cassy! Have fun?" Gabriel asked with a smirk. Lucifer sighed and Dean and Cas abruptly found themselves outside. Sam twitched slightly at their sudden appearance.
"Cas! You ok?" he asked, looking concerned at the amount of blood on that angels trench coat.
"I'm fine."
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"Was it really necessary for you to hurt Castiel?" Lucifer asked after a moment, switching to enochian with the humans departure. Gabriel snorted.
"Like you really care." He answered with an eye roll. "So whats the game here then? Lull them into a false sense of security with you supposedly forgoing the apocalypse, and then start on Sam when he finally starts to trust you? 's playing dirty Luci." Lucifer sighed and shook his head.
"I'm not sure yet." He finally answered. "I don't particularly want to, but I've been on this course for so long. I'm not sure its possible to really change destiny at this point. At the very least Michael will never let it go." Gabriel stared at him silently, puzzled by the sincerity he heard in his voice.
"Let's say I believe you for a second here, what the hell could possible shake you? I tried everything, and you never listened! Not once!" Lucifer smiled wryly.
"I forgot that Sam is essentially me as a human, if anyone could find a way to change my mind it would be Me." he said sardonically. Gabriels wings twitched in surprise.
"Oh? And just what did little Sammy do?" he asked curiously. Lucifer snorted.
"He talked me into eating a piece of fruit off a certain tree." Was the dry response. Gabriel stared for a long moment before cracking up. Lucifer shot the sniggering archangel a sour look. "Laugh it up little brother, laugh it up." he growled. Gabriel tried to get his laughter under control but the moment he met Lucifer's indignant gaze he lost it again. Lucifer rolled his eyes in disgust.
"O…oh Father! That is fantastic!" Gabriel all but hooted in glee, finally stifling his laughter enough to speak – even if his lips kept twitching. "So? Whats it like? Any regrets?" he taunted. Lucifer's eyes narrowed before a smirk curled across his face.
"Plenty of them, its quiet horrific really. I can understand why Eve's first act after eating it was to talk Adam into it. Misery loves company." Gabriel stopped laughing, giving Lucifer a considering look.
"And?" he asked. Lucifer shrugged.
"Castiel seems to be doing quite well after I gave him a chance at it." he explained mildly. Gabriel sighed.
"I should learn to expect these things from you, I really should." He muttered wondering if the little angel really was alright, he had seemed kinda off when he'd stashed him in that pocket dimension. Lucifer smirked and held out the apple. Gabriel starred.
"Oh, hell no." he said backing up only to remember he was indeed trapped in a ring of holy fire –crap. Lucifer grinned and tossed the fruit into the air once, catching it.
"Now Gabriel, I did it and Castiel did it, and neither of us exploded. Although Cas was twitching a little strangely for a minute there." He added looking thoughtful. Gabriel groaned.
"Oh, come on! I don't want to and you can't make me!" he all but whined.
"What kind of brother would I be if I let you live in ignorance? Come now it won't hurt…..physically."
"THATS NOT HELPING!" Gabriel squawked.
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Quetzal – ah, siblings, no one know how to push your buttons quite like they do.