Hey, dear readers! Just going to tell you, this story will follow most of the episodes after 'Hammer of the Gods' except for the minor fact that Gabriel will be there. And a few other very important details, but still…
Disclaimer: I only own the protective Raphael and Michael. The assholes are all borrowed.
Chapter Three: Divided we Fall
So it was with either incredibly bad or incredibly good timing that he made it there when Raphael was just a few feet away from impaling Castiel like a shish kabob. Meeting the blade with his own, Gabriel ignored his pain and growled a hoarse, "No."
It was obviously too late for Raphael to stop in time, but he tried. Really, he did. The look on his face also would have stopped Attila the Hun in his tracks and set him instantly on fire, but he tried. At least he dropped the sword before crashing into him. Gabriel was sent flying several feet back only to slam against a tree. Once again, through the pent up scream he was about to let out, he wondered just what was it about the Winchesters that made people want to die for them. Castiel and even their own father sacrificed themselves to save just two seemingly insignificant lives bound for hell. Finally catching his breath, Gabriel let himself think, Big brother Mikey to the rescue! before letting out the loudest scream of his life.
Truthfully, it wasn't faked. He had just been too winded to get a sound out, and now that he could it was absolutely amazing just how much sound could get out of one person's(or angel's)mouth under the right circumstances. As soon as Gabriel let out the scream, he found it was impossible to stop. The pain beat through the adrenaline racing through his metaphorical veins as soon as he'd hit, and now he was feeling what he had done to himself fully for the first time. None of Father's grace to act as Vicodin, or hell, even Tylenol!
Blinding agony raced through him and tears of light streaked his sharp cheeks. The screams died to choking sobs as more of his dull silver blood gushed from the blackened wounds. Raphael, after a seconds hesitation for glancing at the Winchesters, flew the short distance to his side. Before the healer could even touch him, a blur raced into him and threw him aside. Coughing now, Gabriel meekly shifted his gaze to Michael and whimpered. Just as quickly as Raphael had been thrown off, he was lifted gently into his brother's arms. Muffling his cries into the broad shoulder, he internally thanked their father for making him the youngest. Yes, it felt good to be babied again, and yes it was amazing to actually be able to look at each other without thinking of you-know-who's betrayal.
Pain finally easing, Gabriel let himself go limp in his big brother's protective hold. In response, Michael let a wing ruffle soothingly across his cheek. Sighing contentedly, he turned his head slightly to look at the Winchesters, who, to his amusement, where leaning almost entirely bent over to look through the clear hole in his back. Sam realized he was being watched, and quickly snapped back into a standing position, looking almost sheepish. Dean, ever the oblivious one, stayed staring until his brother elbowed him sharply in the ribs. Smiling wryly, he thought, Oh, goody! It's time for the Winchester's show! I swear, they are the only two people on that planet with more family issues than heaven. It's actually quite refreshing.
Now grinning broadly at the boys' obvious lack of recognition, he absently snuggled a little closer to Michael as a chill swept over him. Mumbling slightly, Gabriel peeked at Raphael to see him hovering a good fifty feet away. The pain now manageable with the extra grace cascading through him from Michael, the messenger gave his older brother a tiny smile that caused him to take a step forwards.
Almost instantly, he was stopped by Michael's patented, 'I-am-pissed-at-you-right-now-so take-one-step-closer-and-I'll-tear-off-your-wings-and-beat-you-with-them' bitchface. It was incredibly amusing how alike his brothers and the Winchesters were, attitude wise. Gabriel didn't have a doubt in his mind that Dean would keep saying no until he was blue in the face. From the looks of it, both of John's boys had a ton of Michael in them, though Sam had more of Lucifer's qualities. Not all of them bad, surprisingly. Tuning in, he caught the middle third of big brother's lecture. Stifling a sigh, he muttered hoarsely, "Here we go again…"
Yup. It was just like he'd left it
Settling in for a long wait, he heard, "…remember what your orders were, brother? Did the words 'run young Castiel straight through with a blade' make themselves known in the command I gave you? No! For Father's sakes, it's just like Gabriel as a fledgling." Mildly insulted, he opened his mouth to give a swift retort but was quickly silenced by the feathers shoved in his face. Michael continued, "It's bad enough that you disobeyed me, but to further pain our brother while he is clearly in enough agony is inexcusable. Not to mention you tried killing my vessel!" he snapped when Raphael tried and failed to get a word in edgewise. Sighing, Gabriel hastily summoned a board game and extracted himself from the Commander's tightening grip. In fact, the lecturing archangel didn't even glance at him when he gestured for Castiel and the Winchesters to follow him.
Not waiting to see if they followed his request, Gabriel stood and limped slowly towards the empty Pantheon when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. Turning painfully to see who had touched him, he was surprised to see Castiel looking at him in both awe and horror. Before the younger angel could be stopped, arms were thrown around him in a tight squeeze that normally would have left anyone gasping for air. However, with a hole straight through his chest it felt like someone had just dropped a very large, very heavy stalactite through his heart. Not that it had happened before, of course. Who was stupid enough to walk under a falling knife-like rock? "Alright, Cassie, you can let go anytime now," he whispered hoarsely.
As soon as his former fledgling had removed his arms from around Gabriel's torso, the archangel promptly fell to the ground and retched. Moments later, a moaning Gabriel croaked, "Fucking Winchesters with their bloody self-sacrifice motto…Martyr was never on my 'what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up' list, you know." After a brief and extremely awkward pause, he asked brightly, "Hey, does anyone wanna play Parcheesi?"
Castiel
Mouth open in a disbelieving and quite unattractive gawk, Castiel looked from the slightly stunned Winchesters to his sweaty, pale, malnourished former guardian with a huge grin fitted to a sharp face and face-palmed. Sighing softly, he murmured, "No, Gabriel. We do not want to play…par cheese. You are clearly unwell, brother, and that is what we must see to first. Are you capable of walking?"
Before he could say anything in response, Dean cut him off. "How the hell are you alive right now? We heard you scream, you son of a bitch! Do you have any idea ho-"
Gabriel had snapped his fingers and turned the eldest Winchester into a brick wall. Sighing again, Castiel gazed sternly at his older brother and said, "Change him back, Gabriel. He will be quiet from now on."
Smiling impishly, the archangel murmured, "But it's the same thing! After all, your boys are as stubborn as a brick wall, so why not turn them into one?" By this time, he was eyeing the nervously gulping Sam with a wide-eyed innocence made oh-so-much scarier by the wicked glint of mischief in the amber depths. Finally giving in to Castiel, he snapped and a speechless looking Winchester appeared. Blinking for a second, he took a step forward and glared at the resurrected angel.
A ruffle of feathers was all that alerted all present to Michael as he stepped closer to Gabriel. Walking gracefully, he scooped him up and asked disapprovingly, "What have you been doing, little one? Your fever is getting worse." Even as the archangel said this, Castiel was moving forward to place a slender hand on the warm skin. Concerned beyond what was healthy, he looked with pleading eyes at the brothers Winchester and murmured, "Please?"
Face noticeably twitching in the effort it took to resist the puppy eyes Castiel was subtly pulling off, Dean turned and simply started walking away. Sam, ever the compassionate one, took one long look at the three of them and followed his brother. The silence was broken by Gabriel drawling in a whispery voice, "Well, that went exactly how I thought it would. Anyone up for a game of Parcheesi? Scrabble? Shit, even Hungry, Hungry Hippo? I'm bored, Mikey!"
The eldest archangel looked so close to banging his head against the golden gates of heaven, that Castiel couldn't help but take pity on him. Sighing, he quickly located the brothers and landed at their sides just in time to hear the active arguing going on. Sam appeared to be on the losing end, trying to defend Gabriel using what little good he had done on earth as a way of saying, "Dean, he tried!"
"Tried to what, Sam? Put you in a mental institute after making you clinically insane? Fuck, no! Sammy, I mourned the guy because we thought he'd sacrificed himself to save us, not because he pulled off some goddamned trick to make it sound like he was being ripped apart by hellhounds. Gabriel might have done that for us, but he also hurt Cas! Not to mention that fricken' Herpexia commercial…okay, never mind. That was awesome. But he's still a monster, Sam! We kill monsters, not help them!"
Those words pierced Castiel right through to the core. Swallowing, he walked forward and murmured, "You should have met him before Lucifer fell. Before he was forced to kill brothers that he loved, brothers that he'd trained himself how to hold that sword. My brother was called Gabriel the Golden because he had so much light in him, strength that put even Lucifer to shame. He was my guardian and he taught me how to fly. Know before you speak, Dean."
"But Cas-"
"No, Dean. Gabriel has a reason for doing this. He always does."
Suddenly, with barely a ruffle of feathers, a sweaty and pale Gabriel slurred, "'Course ah, d-do, Cassie! I'll even…sh-ow yu."
A barely registered yell from an angry Michael was all they heard before the obviously feverish Gabriel grabbed their arms and took them down memory lane. At least Castiel hoped it was memory lane and not the future, because although the archangel had stated he was on their side, not Lucifer's or Michael's, he always did have a strange sense of humor. Not to mention a trip to the future might just kill his brother and former guardian.
Time Warp
Seconds later, Castiel landed thankfully feet-first on a red cloud. His brother had sometimes taken him on these trips if there wasn't anything important to do, so he had gotten used to the disorientation. The Winchesters, not so much. Sam landed face-first inches away from the hilt of an angel blade sticking out of the bloodied cloud. Not long after, Dean fell on top of him and forced a wheezing sound out of his silently moaning brother. Gabriel landed cat-like on his feet with a drunken giggle, until he spotted the carnage. Then, nearly flat on his face from the now blood-covered injury and misuse of what little grace he had left, he quietly sat and whispered, "Watch."
A battle was taking place in midair, forces of angels striking against each other with fists, swords and in a couple of cases, scimitars. Ferocious screams echoed through the stagnant air as angel fought and died by their brethren's hands. High above the battle, two pillars of light shone as Michael and Lucifer fought with no apparent winner. Dean gawked slightly as they made out the form of a teary eyed fourteen year old angel glowing a dim gold as he cut through fighter after fighter, golden glow getting ever dimmer. It was clearly Gabriel, dressed as he was in swirl-coated armor and fighting with two curved blades. The youngest archangel whispered apologies whenever silver-blue blood coated his body anew.
Turning to look at the silent figures of the brothers he protects, Castiel allowed a single tear to roll down his cheek. The Fall had been scarring, both mentally and physically. Especially for the archangels, who were bound together as eternal brothers to feel and think what the others were. Even as they watched, a seraphim much older than Gabriel stabbed him in the side. Not making a sound, one of the blades careened abruptly to the side to part the elder angel's head from the body. No light flashed as the angel simply sank through the clouds, a shame to heaven and those who fought to protect it. Gabriel himself sank to his knees, unable to take it anymore. Loosing a bundle from his robe, the archangel, strength of God, unwrapped his horn and played a haunting, angry melody.
Instantly, heaven began to change. It's shape wavered and shook until a chasm formed, black as death and as foreboding as the night. Castiel now understood the power behind the seemingly simple instrument that Gabriel had often played for him in moments of sadness. His guardian had created Lucifer's Chasm. Watching closer, the heavily bleeding messenger blew the horn again. Sigils surrounded him, flying in a downward spiral through the hell-bound crack in the clouds. At last, with one final note, the Legion cast their weeping brothers into the pit with merciless gazes. Michael finally threw Lucifer to the ground, both covered in blood and gore as the eldest angrily tore fistfuls of feathers from speckled white wings. Gabriel wailed and flung himself at Michael, dropping the horn like it was but a stone in the water.
Lucifer pleaded with his youngest brother, saying in his still beautiful voice that it had been all for them, that father had made a mistake when he created the vain and ugly creatures inhabiting the beautiful planet called Earth. Gabriel simply cried and, when he lost his hold on Michael, flung Lucifer into the pit himself. The screams and promises when the Morning Star fell were no longer beautiful, but thick with venom and hate that only served to cover up the fear and loneliness he felt as all bonds between the archangels and the new Mourning Star disappeared. Gabriel's streaming tears of light didn't seem to bring ant emotion to the furious Michael, who fell upon him with a scream of rage. The messenger took it all, blow after blow until he was on the ground. When the beating slowed, Michael's arms slipped around his youngest brother as tears flooded his dark eyes anew.
The youngest was now the oldest as Gabriel comforted his strong brother, though he was weak from blood loss and grief. Snuggling closer to Michael, Castiel's guardian closed his eyes and whimpered, not at the pain, but from the flinch that ran through his brother at the simple touch. Then the scene was over, replaced by a boiling volcano where Gabriel, now with Loki as a vessel, threw his golden horn over the side and used the element of water to clear a path for it straight to the bottom of the lava pit. Forming a protective layer of hard, un-melting rock, the messenger turned away and never looked back.
Again, the scene shifted but before it could form a place Michael's voice called out, "Enough, brother! You will kill yourself with all this traveling. Come with me, Gabriel."
Castiel turned sharply to see the messenger half dead and covered in blood. Hesitantly picking him up, he led the stunned Winchesters to a large area of grace. Michael himself couldn't time travel, but he could project himself through Gabriel. Softly, he whispered, "Bring us back, brother."
With the barest nod of his pale, feverish head, Gabriel the Golden, broken archangel and former strength of the Lord surrounded them with his shaking wings and sent them to be dealt with by Michael. Castiel absently summoned a Kit-Kat bar and unwrapped it for his brother. Eyes lit up happily, Gabriel snatched it and they, to, went to be lectured by an extremely pissy archangel.
God help them.
Poor Gabriel! He is, in fact, called Gabriel of the Golden Hair, but since he's not female as the Catholics show him, I called him Gabriel the golden. Also, Michael wanted to kill Lucifer but Gabriel wouldn't let him, instead casting him into hell and making the cage for when the apocalypse he knew to be coming finally took place. Alright, that's enough clarifying. Have a good weekend, dear readers!