I'm back! Thanks to Elliej939 for being my only reviewer. Seriously, people! Throw me a bone here! I don't own supernatural in any way, shape or form. If you review, I'll give you a bonus chapter to the prequel I'm going to write when the story is on HIATUS until season 8 comes out. There's lots of cute Gabriel/family fluff!
Disclaimer: Don't own Supernatural. Pretty sure Robert Singer does.
Chapter Ten: I can't be Tamed-oh, wait. THERE we go…
Sam had asked for Demon's blood. A relatively simple request that forced Gabriel to search the world at least fifty times over for large enough hordes that also didn't have enough power to turn him into an angel-kabob. As it turns out, there weren't that many. The two nests he'd managed to take out hadn't provided enough blood for what Sam would need to host Lucifer. That and he had no place to put it so it was in an alternate dimension being stored with his wings. There was something truly wrong about that. An archangel's wings, pure and light, being stored with gallons of Demon blood. Those eedjits owed him big time.
As luck would have it, Luci had set the remains of his horde on the messenger's tail. They caught up after the second impromptu massacre and that was where he was right now. Summoning bombs of holy water and chucking them desperately into the writhing mass of anywhere from five-hundred to five-thousand of the cursed creatures. Atropos really didn't seem to like him today. Distantly hearing a sword coming straight at him, Gabriel ducked at a blurring speed and slammed a sword deep in the meat-suit's heart. Eyes flaring gold, he released the soul to Heaven and rapidly took out five more, all the while collecting every damn drop of blood that they shed.
Most of it got on his clothes and if worst came to worst, there was always the chance that his own scent would be buried under theirs. Which was pointless because Demons fight each other as well as angels. Flying wasn't an option since Sam needed the blood and incineration by angel grace didn't exactly leave much left to collect. Also, his wing had been stabbed about five minutes ago and was hurting like a bitch. There was no possibility of running with nowhere to run to except the salvage yard. Life sucks but at least he was collecting the blood. Damn, this was tiring. Gabriel summoned his Hounds, leaving Taradifayek, Qietimen, Apotrawurf, Hyftunguilter and Filqrmare to bring him mouthfuls of the sticky black gook that he now pitied the human to drink. Just looking at it was enough to make him throw up a little. The Hounds weren't exactly ecstatic, either.
With their help Gabriel managed to get about two-hundred gallons and a clear escape path. Flipping off the high-demon wasn't necessary, but it made him feel a damn sight better than the poor sods lying on the forest floor. The Rainforest was as good a place as any to field an ambush. Said Rainforest was now almost half destroyed and feeling guilty, Gabriel brought back the little animal souls and used his grace to expand the boundaries of the Earth-Eden. It was as close as humanity would get to what their ancestors abandoned. Too bad they were destroying it little by little. Oh well, not his problem. The Hounds took their fill and left for their endless fields while Gabriel was left to clean up what was left. To put it mildly, the whole thing looked worse than WW2. A snap of his fingers was all it took and the whole place was picture perfect.
Two minutes later, he was gritting his teeth and watching Bobby bleed a Demon dry. What the hell? Didn't Sam want the demon blood or did they just want to get rid of him? Clearing his throat, Gabriel got no satisfaction from watching them jump when, surprise, surprise, three shots broke the silence in the salvage yard. In milliseconds he was behind them and shaking Sam by the shoulders. "You knucklehead! Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get two hundred gallons of demon blood? Two hundred gallons from both sides of the globe! I'm sore, bleeding and likely poisoned yet here you are, not caring and apparently you forgot what you told me to do! So you'll have to excuse the minor fact that I'm about to kill you and bring you back only for Lucifer to kill you and Michael to kill Lucifer! God, this is a terrible day for me." Winding down, Gabriel settled the stunned human back on the floor and sank to the ground.
Castiel walked towards him and kneeled in front of him. Gabriel spoke in a hoarse whisper. "You should have seen them, Cas. They were going to kill each other. There wasn't anything I could do to make them stop without putting others in danger. I looked through every possible future, always getting worse and worse until nothing existed in Heaven or Earth. They knew. I told them what would happen and they kept on fighting and arguing with me and Raphael stuck in between. It was no easy choice to pick Michael because even if Lucifer was my brother, so was he. Did you know Lucifer taught me how to fly? All of my tricks? They were his. Michael helped me pick my first sword and kill my first Demon, made me the General of the Legion."
"There was no choice for me so I was the middleman for all of twenty centuries until Azazel tried to kill me. Brother turning on brother, spilling blood like you wouldn't believe. God, Cas! You should have seen the beginning! We were all crying and bleeding but they didn't notice. They didn't care. Michael is the good son and the Fall was the way he interpreted Father's orders without even consulting the only one who could see the future. The one he chose was one of the worst possible outcomes and he wouldn't listen to me anymore. The way Michael and Lucifer fought in the beginning made all the angels cower in fear until they took their battle to the skies. What I showed you was the very end. I made a deal with the horsemen that their rings would open Lucifer's Cage if I promised my service as a messenger between them. I locked up my big brother and now it's my fault that it's happening again."
Gabriel was crying and rocking silently as sobs shook him. The story he'd just told was a true one that the brothers had needed to hear. For Sam to do this was to lose the brother he knew forever and eternity with one hope of being free of the Cage. Gabriel was the only one other than God who could even touch the cursed thing without being blasted to Purgatory. He was the only hope the brothers had to be reunited and he wouldn't do it if it freed Lucifer again. The pain of losing a brother hurts but to lose them all at once was so much more than torture. Like a bullet wound that just keeps getting larger and larger until there isn't a you left. Gabriel had tried to protect the brothers from what he'd seen and they bulldozed right through every safety measure he had put into place.
Stubborn until the end. Damn it!
Castiel wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders and pulled him closer. The harsh choking sounds were slowing as he looked up, meeting each human's eyes in turn. "I won't lie to you this time. The Cage has only one way to open it. Well, two if you count divine intervention. My horn will open it quicker than Cassie can fly but it will let Lucifer back on Earth. I'm sorry Dean, if you want Sam out of the Cage again it'll be The Apocalypse: Take Two. I can't let you do that."
"You son of a-"
"Dean." Sam murmured in a calm voice. Glancing at the crumpled archangel, he said, "It's time to go."
Shaking off his depression, Gabriel leapt up and chirped, "Oh well. Time to die, I guess. We going or what? And can I get a Hershey's bar before we sacrifice Sam to my holier-than-thou big brother?"
Once again amazed by his mentor's switch in moods, Castiel absently handed him the chocolate bar he'd picked up from a gas station during one of his walks. The messenger's eyes widened gleefully as he took it and shoved half of it in his mouth. Letting out a moan he knew would disgust most anyone, Gabriel whispered to himself, "I'm going to miss this."
That's right. Gabriel had one final trick up his sleeve before Ragnarok could rip the world to pieces. The futures were brighter now than before, during the Fall. Apparently humans make all the difference. Before the brothers could take off, he grabbed Sam's arm and smiled wickedly. "Aren't you forgetting something, Sam? Oh, say, all of the blood you had me nearly kill myself to get? Unless you want to drink it out of your shoes, I suggest you get a bucket. A few hundred buckets. Chop-chop, kiddo."
In the end, the blood was emptied into Bobby's bathtub. Poor guy was going to need more than Mr. Clean to solve this mess. After the first time Gabriel lost count, but it was a lot of blood. Sam looked sick by the time his alternate dimension was empty of all but his wings and the archangel didn't blame him. Imagine drinking Tar mixed with rust and iron to form this kind of sludge that doesn't flow gently down your throat but basically oozes slowly down until it hit's the bottom. There are many culinary delights in the world and Demon blood? It's right up there with Battery Acid. Probably tasted about the same and Gabriel would know, for various unknown reasons. Sympathy would be overrated in a situation like this since there was no way he could be Lucifer's true vessel, ergo, he didn't have to drink that shit. Then again, Sam did get addicted to it. An acquired taste perhaps?
Then the fun and games began. After asking them to turn around, Sam actually drank the blood. Shuddering at the acrid taste that was suddenly in his mouth, Gabriel realized he had just licked his lips. Gagging and wondering why he hadn't washed off the black gunk, the messenger made strange faces as he patted Sam on the back. "Keep drinking, Sam-I-Am. Unless you want to turn into the poor sucker playing hostess to the devil right now, I suggest drinking it all. Seriously. Death is not a good look for you, nor will it ever be a fragrance by Armani or any other one of those crap perfume manufacturers. Trust me when I say you might want to bring a gas mask when you visit my brother. I'm pretty sure rigamortis is setting in, too, so don't be surprised if he starts cracking his-er, your-fuck, I don't know! Just don't worry if he starts cracking bones that you didn't even know you had. He's still gonna be pretty stiff after he leaves that corpse."
Sam looked pretty terrified now. Mentally slapping himself, Gabriel closed his eyes and muttered to himself, "This is why God only gave me one fledgling." Louder this time, he stated, "Now would also be an excellent time to tell you he knows about the rings. I'm not the only one who knew and they probably gave it up a long time ago. In conclusion, don't try screwing with him because Lucifer invented the meaning of the word. Well, good luck and don't kill your brother!"
That was all he said before shoving the protesting Winchesters, Bobby Singer and Castiel into the Impala. Stopping at his little brother, Gabriel pulled him into a tight hug and whispered in his ear, "Light the napkins in the bottle under your chair and throw it at Michael when they fail. You'll buy them some time when it comes to blows. Goodbye, Castiel."
This was literally the first time Gabriel had called his fledgling by the proper name. It scared him beyond words but he didn't protest when his brother shoved him into the car. The archangel looked sadly at the car as it made it's way across the bridge and onto the road and knew he was making the right decision. Hours later, when the boys were in Chicago and Dean made the promise that would ultimately decide the fate of hundreds of people, Gabriel smiled as the future became clearer. While this would take much time and effort on his part, he knew he wouldn't regret a thing. The cards will fall where they will and it isn't my right to change them. I only wish the circumstances would be better. Dean, say goodbye to your brother.
Just as he knew it would, the grand plan failed like a guy washing his car in the rain. Funny thing is, that actually happened. Anyway, Sam was banished to the back of his mind and Dean was trying to find a way to join his brother in his 'death'. Sibling fluff is nice and all except when one dies and then the other goes bat-shit crazy. By far the best example of this is when Dean told everyone he was going to try talking to Samifer(not Sam, not Lucifer, it was weird just calling him Sam, so what?). Snorting at this, Gabriel said slowly with enunciation, "Dean. Sam is Lucifer and Lucifer is Sam. Get it through your thick head that he's not coming back without divine intervention. Let me just tell you that God is a very busy person, so I'd say about…ten years at best?"
Dean roared in anger and took a swing. "You son of a bitch! God might not have time for humans but he didn't have time for you, either. How long were you rotting away inside Loki before he noticed you? That's right, dick. He 'loves' you just as much as he 'loves' us."
Gabriel laughed. He laughed because even though it did sting a little to have the one person he was doing this for other than himself was judging him for trying to rile him up. Again, there were reasons better explained later during the grand finale. While Castiel and the humans gazed at him with anger he couldn't help but wonder if they knew exactly what he had riding on what he'd put in Sam's head that day at the diner. They'll find out soon enough, won't they?
They did. Dean spoke to Lucifer and pissed off both Michael and Lucifer, hardly surprising since Michael was angriest when he was about to cry. Gabriel could feel the eldest's anguish at needing to rid himself of one of the brother he'd practically raised from a fledgling. The hurts went deep. Castiel and Bobby made it to the cemetery just in time to see the archangels advancing on the stubborn hunter. Realizing at the same time as his little brother that he had forgotten to bring a lighter, Gabriel groaned in frustration and flew to Louisiana. Snapping his fingers and ignoring the beseeching looks from his elders, he lit the candles and promptly turned to throw it at Michael. Ignoring the screams to the best of his abilities, Gabriel closed his eyes when Lucifer gave the smallest movement of his hand. Castiel burst like an overfilled balloon. Bobby shot him and had his neck snapped.
Letting the tears free as Samifer started in on Dean, Gabriel saw his eyes widen as they came in contact with the soldier stuck in one of the Impala's ashtrays. Memories that he had wedged between Sam's greatest nightmare and reality began to surface beyond Lucifer's control. Ever so slowly, the young Winchester backed away from his brother and said, "I'm sorry, Dean. I have to do this."
Gabriel watched Sam throw the Horsemen's rings on the ground but Lucifer gained control of his speech before the spell could be said. Rising from his spot on the ground, the archangel stood beside him and murmured it for him. Michael was coming back now. There wasn't any time left for goodbyes. Adam was fully healed and the vessel containing Michael was pulling them away from the hole swirling in the ground. With no emotion on his face, Gabriel shoved both of them into the Cage. Turning to face Dean, he said loudly, "Don't worry, Dean-o. I'll keep him safe. Tell Cassie I'm sorry."
Pausing time for the briefest of seconds, he let his new vessel go and returned to the waiting Loki. He could withstand this. While his true vessel crumbled to dust, Gabriel jumped into the Cage before Castiel's grace-bright eyes could comprehend what they saw. Gabriel the Archangel would protect the humans he fought for.
Even if it was just one stubborn Winchester.
Told you he had a plan. Gabriel is going to buffer Michael and Lucifer's attacks away from Sam to keep most of his sanity intact. Don't worry, our favorite archangel still has an ace in the hole. REVIEW! Put what theme you want for your extra chapter and I'll send it to you via e-mail or something.