Okay, so I finally watched the episode and have made many ideas for coming chapters. Meditation period is finally over, readers!
PS, Pull my finger! Love Cas…
Disclaimer: Not mine. No la mia. Non meu. Nid yw cloddio. Non meam.
Chapter Sixteen: Guilt and Memories Mix
Family. It holds the world together in harmony, though not always peace. They are a comfort, a catalyst and a general pain in the ass for others but still we love them will all our hearts. Until they fuck up and destroy the world, kill their little brother and completely blow the whole idea to bits, thought Gabriel reflectively. Tapping his fingers against the hotel room's silly wooden table, he listenedto the boys talking about the mother of all and tried to ignore the huge weight on his mind via Heaven. They wouldn't find anything about the Mother of All in any textbook or slab of stone on this earth.
Gabriel would know. He had destroyed every last trace of her.
In other news, Mel Gibson was not, in fact, possessed by a demon. Completely demon-free, although the Vatican might have a different opinion about the subject. Dean's theory wasn't without it's points, though. Maybe he should stop by for a visit before something the knuckleheads hunt try blowing them all to Purgatory come. Then he thought, Nope. It's too late. Joy of all joys, the boys had found another hunt in which they would ruin perfectly good clothes, slightly used bandages and a shit load of antiseptic. Woohoo. Sighing, Gabriel shoved his head into his hands and tugged at his hair. This wasn't a good time for this at all.
Ever since Lucifer's return, things in Heaven had become strained. The tension was building and building and now it was ready to explode in all it's holy glory. Some of their brothers didn't want to give the Morningstar another chance with his grace and others, those un-poisoned by the thoughts of their elders who had fought in the Fall, believed he had a place with them once more. Visions and possibilities of all the maybe's and should have's clouded his head and made for an incredibly painful migraine. Then again, considering around half of Heaven was gearing up for war against the archangels it would have been odd for it not to have made his head explode. Gabriel was afraid this would be the second Fall.
For all of us.
Swallowing hard, he tuned back into the conversation and made his choice. If it came down to fighting, he wouldn't run away. The Messenger would fight just as well as his brothers for the sake of a former fallen angel who had reconciled and acknowledged his mistake. That's only if it came to making the choice. For now, he was going with Sam and Dean to kill whatever they were pointed at. Nodding slightly, he joined in the conversation and pushed thoughts of war to the back of his mind. "So, knuckleheads. Any idea which poor shmuck found your number? 'cause ghost mail isn't fun when the person on the other end of the line is actually dead."
Exchanging glances, Sam finally said, "Um, actually, no. We have no idea, but the coordinates lead to Bristol in Rhode Island, and it seems that there's been three missing women in the past week. We were going to check it out, see if we have a case."
Then there was the argument. Ah, will wonders never cease? Yawning, Gabriel whistled a show tune and glanced between the Winchesters as the typical I'm-worried-about-you-but-won't-admit-it look passed through Dean's eyes and Sam's responding don't-obsess-I'm-fine-see? look. It was so amazingly ordinary that he didn't even have to look ahead to see the outcome which is, of course, Sam winning the stupid argument and then going on the road to nowhere.
And that's how they ended up in Bristol, in a small diner that reminded Gabriel of a bad pirate movie. That's not to say the drive down wasn't amusing, what with all the strange faces Sam was making and the peculiar looks he was giving to nobody in particular. The queen of all bitch-faces came when they actually passed the town limits and say the sign leading to Bristol. God, the look on that kid's face was enough to reduce even Michael the humorless one into a snicker fit. Unless, of course, soulless Sam had been here and accidentally murdered a few of the town's residents in their sleep while carrying a bad bottle of Whiskey in one hand. Yes, soulless Sam had been a drinker. Nice.
Snorting into his drink, Gabriel pictured the kid hammered and decided he didn't feel like ending his life choking on a straw. Laughing lightly, he looked around and completely ignored the important conversation going on in front of him. Something else was calling his attention. Mainly the incredibly hot woman with a wedding ring on her finger giving Sam sex eyes. Could he have…? Stifling his laughter, Gabriel fell from his chair in a fit of suppressed glee and convulsed silently on the floor until he couldn't take it. Finally running out of breath, he took a gasping breath and let out a childish squeal of laughter at the train wreck just waiting to unfold before his eyes.
The look in Sam's eyes told him that the kid most definitely remembered her from somewhere and didn't like it. Horror inching from every pore on his body, Sam spoke awkwardly and never made eye contact. Which only served to put Gabriel into another laughing fit at the pure teenage way he was handling the situation. Meanwhile, somewhere in Heaven the rest of the archangels were shaking their heads in complete and utter defeat. The attempt to teach Gabriel the concept of subtlety had clearly been a waste of two centuries in the effort. His garrison was laughing with him, as apparently, they had caught their general's sense of humor and decided to do more than just go along with the joke. If angels had to breath…well, let's say there would be a few less angels.
Still snickering and wiping away at the tears in his eyes, Gabriel froze when the consequences of what had just happened slammed home for him. Sam had been here before. Sam, soulless and uncaring Sam, had been to this town. As if in confirmation, Sam suddenly murmured, "I think Samuel and I have worked a case in this town."
"No shit, Sherlock. I don't think there would be a barkeeper staring at you like he's about to ask for your autograph or a married woman staring at you like the fucking Messiah if you hadn't. Things like this come in time, Sammy. Or all at once if an unfortunate series of untimely and fricking hideous events come into play. Oh, wait…" As usual, he was ignored.
Dean produced a picture from the challenge wall with a blurry but still recognizable Sam in the background. Of course he would believe his brother…but that didn't change the fact that they were so screwed.
After a not-so-graceful exit, he and the knuckleheads managed to get back to the hotel without running into any of 'Agent Roark's' sexcapades girls. Sam was, as usual, researching and Dean sat there staring at him with his brows furrowed in a way that distinctly reminded him of the Neanderthals. Gabriel was starting to think he had slipped his ballot into the wrong box for the humanoid to evolve beyond eating fleas as a nutritional beddy-bye snack when, of course, Sam had the sudden insight to what their hunt was. Apparently, he and dear old Grandpa Winchester had come across a few missing people, all men, and decided to check it out. Now the critter was pulling a switcheroo and killing the opposite gender.
Equal opportunity. It's a bitch.
And…now they were arguing about whether or not they should work the case. Smooth. Gabriel felt a tic develop in his cheek as he contemplated the consequences of dropping them both somewhere random in the space-time continuum. The drive here? Hell. Finding a hotel room? Hell. Parking? Worse than hell. The food? Hell. The heartburn he was getting from the food? Hell. The fact that right now there was a near war going on in Heaven and these two were sitting here arguing about God knows what while this list has been compiling? Take a guess. Seething, Gabriel screamed. Lights broke, walls shook and cracked while a hideous whine no doubt filled the ears of every being in a twenty mile radius. Rain pattered the ground outside in a torrent while lightning struck trees that were dangerously close to the hotel.
After a minute, Gabriel finally coughed and sat calmly on one of the beds. "Now. Dean. Here is why we aren't leaving this hunt to Bobby. For one thing, we're already here and I absolutely refuse to be stuck in a car with you two for any time longer than what is necessary. No offense, Sam, but beans aren't a good diet for you. For another, could you stop fucking arguing? I get that you're worried about Sam but tone it down so the souls that are currently damned to Purgatory aren't screeching their empathy for the kid. Are we clear?"
What followed this statement was a whole lot of silence and then what sounded like arguing. However, when Gabriel opened his mouth to scream again he was quickly told to 'calm his shit' and that it wasn't an argument, it was just a mild disagreement. Isn't it always? Muttering under his breath about comatose Sam and how things would be so much easier if everyone had voted for the Neanderthals, Gabriel sulked. The guilt fest from Sam and the admonishments from Dean about not shitting in the same crapper twice, which didn't make any sense whatsoever when you thought about it, made him want to hurl himself into the chasm and end it already.
Fortunately, it ended rather quickly and the Winchester brothers turned agents started their interrogations. Gabriel decided to go with Dean to visit the victim's friends and whatever while Sam went for the much less beautiful police men. The first missing girl was Nicole and their interview was her besty and roommate, a leggy blond with anxious eyes. Keen amber eyes darted over the room and found something spectacular…nothing. Not even dust. Fuck me, moaned Gabriel internally. He then cursed himself when a chorus of 'no's came back from his garrison. NOT literally!
Head snapping up, Gabriel squinted at Dean as he pulled a card from the glass bowl he'd been fiddling wi-oh. Shit. 'Agent Roark' strikes again. Guy down the hall, apparently. He was just investigating everyone, wasn't he? Stepping up, Gabriel took charge and murmured, "Miss, we will find her. We just need to know if there was any sexual attraction between Nicole and the agent that gave you that card."
As it turns out? Soulless Sam had been a man whore as well as a first-class drinker and murderer. The sexcapades just kept on coming, didn't they? Conversation drifted to his ears as Dean continued to talk to the roommate who still hadn't told him her name when an unpleasant tingle crept into his head. Closing his eyes, Gabriel allowed his mental shields down as he sorted through the jumble of visions that were being crammed into his skull by the coming fight. He immediately sighed and said to Dean, "Sir, we have to go. A call just came in about a possible lead on the case." He gave Dean a subtle hand gesture that made the hunter nod before excusing himself from the apartment.
"What?" he demanded as he took hold of Gabriel's arm in a tight grip. There was an obscene amount of worry in his eyes and the archangel gave a sad quirk of his lips as the next question came. "Where's Sam?"
"Prison." The answer was blunt and made Dean blink a few times before he continued. "Apparently, more than just the women remember who he was. Sammy put the beat down on a local cop and is currently being accused of the murders."
Dean stayed quiet. He remained that way while Gabriel let himself slip into a trance on the crappy bed in the hotel room to keep a constant eye on Sam. Internally whistling at what he was seeing and hearing, he tilted his head and heard the sound of a door slamming shut as Dean went outside. Something on the news that he had missed…? Sighing, Gabriel made a shocked sound in the back of his throat when he tuned back in to the Sam network only to find a woman with a set of keys. He was free. Smiling wryly he thought, You ARE one lucky little bastard, aren't you?
Ten minutes later, Gabriel was tossing the kid a beer while he shuffled through papers. All the while a countdown was going on in his head. Three, two, one…Bingo. Dean came through the door and raised his arms at the sight of Sam holding a gun to his head. "So. How does it feel to be a fugitive again?"
Long story short, Dean left again to interview more of Sam's lover's roommates while Sam went off to wherever. Gabriel? He went to Heaven. Right in the middle of a war room that used to be the Pantheon. Gaping in horror at the angels now staring at him with both sadness and hatred as they took up their weapons, he wondered just when the tension had reached the climax. Gabriel couldn't move, couldn't breath at the sudden fear that came over him. Where were his brothers? Shaking now, he looked each and every one of his siblings in the eye as they moved in on him from all sides. The fear was gone and replaced by complete and total rage. With a surge of pure grace, his wings were in a combat position and the formerly amber eyes glowed to a pure gold in preparation of dodging the blows. When it came, he was already three steps ahead.
Ducking around Zarion's trident and at the same time jumping over Kirial's sword, Gabriel's wings made quick work of the others as they beat strongly to create surges of powerful wind that brought his siblings to their knees. Taking out his own twin blades, he screamed, "ENOUGH!"
Voice echoing just as loudly as his horn, Gabriel roared, "Is this what we have come to? Fighting amongst ourselves as if the past few millennia never happened? Look at yourselves! How many siblings will we loose to a war that never should have started? You will look back on this day and wonder why you never realized how far Heaven had fallen until the day it's inhabitants caused another Fall. Every star that shines in the mortal sky was put there for a reason by Michael and the soldiers to remember what we lost that day. Now we ruin it by bringing fear and hatred back to a place once filled with glory. So shut up, sit down and for fuck's sakes put down your bloody WEAPONS!"
They sat. Older angels wouldn't dare meet his eyes and younger ones had just begun to see what they had nearly done. Gabriel heaved a sigh before murmuring, "This is why I left. We never trusted one another after Lucifer said no to Father and threw a silly tantrum that threw us all into chaos. None of us could look at each other without searching for another rebellion." Pausing to gaze at the silent warriors sitting and crying before him, Gabriel shook his head and whispered, "I thought we were better. Call me when you have resolved this war, because I sure as hell am not fighting any of my siblings."
So he left. This little hiccup could take weeks, months or even years to resolve and the Winchesters were idiotic enough to go hunting an Arachne without knowing how to kill it. Gabriel's lips twitched dryly at the hopeless little town that had so many problems and so little answers. Appearing behind Sam, he stated, "Alright, kid. Let me enlighten yo…Uh, Sam? He-lloooo? Anybody there, Sam-I-Am? No? Great. He's started to remember and you haven't told me, have you, Dean."
He didn't answer, just looked at his brother with the utmost faith and worry in his eyes. The archangel glanced back to the unmoving behemoth standing in front of the map criss-crossed with a pattern of string stemming from every piece of evidence they had. Minutes later, the look in his eyes and the full body shudder told them all they needed to know. "I remember everything now."
Gabriel was quick to reassure Dean that when Sam said everything, he meant about what happened in the town. Stepping forward, he murmured, "Sam, you really are an idiot. To become an Arachne…you have to die, first. That's what the poison's for and you just hurried along the process. Fire can kill one and, as you discovered, decapitation but the only way to kill both the mother or hell, even father Arachne and it's nest is to stab the leader in the right side of it's chest with the spear of Athena. Since there's only one of those, I've taken the opportunity to get completely and utterly grounded by Michael and procure this item for you. Off you go now! Bon voyage! Happy hunting!" He said cheerily while all but shoving them out the door before tossing an ancient rune-covered spear into the dirt at their feet.
Turning around, he sighed at the look on Lucifer's face as he lounged in a half broken chair. Taking the seat opposite his big brother, Gabriel stated, "If you even touch upon the subject at large right now, I swear I'll decapitate you."
The temporary vessel he had taken was already starting to fall apart, judging by the redness of his eyes and paleness of his skin but still here he sat. Lucifer stood up with an unreadable look on his face before sitting next to Gabriel and tugging him towards his chest for a gentle hug. It felt incredibly good. Better than the desperate strength of the one before he had shoved both Lucifer and Michael into the cage and a whole lot better than the one he had been given when his brother had killed him. Sighing, the former Satan whispered softly in his ear, "Gabriel, I know this hurts you more than any of us. We can all feel it through our bond, the pain of the holding back the flood. The battle is over." A tender look came across his face before petting the silken hair of his true form with a sudden wash of grace.
He honestly had nothing to say to that. Instead, he muttered, "I'm not running away again. I'll come home."
Lucifer smiled and vanished with the loud rustle of wings.
When the boys came back oddly quiet and covered in web, bruises and blood, Gabriel took it as a semi-successful hunt. They had lost someone that, however unimportant, shaped the way they thought. Sam especially was quiet and determined not to let anyone see the brokenness lurking behind a see-through poker face. Grunting slightly, Gabriel cleaned them up with a snap of his fingers and said seriously, "Sam. I've done a whole lot of bad things in my life that you haven't even begun to comprehend, yet Michael welcomed me home with open arms. It might not look that way but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Whether it's hellfire or holy oil doesn't matter because you have family to stand by you. No matter what you did in the past, I can guarantee even one little thing I've done can top it by far."
"How?" asked Sam softly.
"I've killed children." Muttered Gabriel darkly before vanishing again. They didn't hear him and for that, he was glad. "One day I'll tell you just what I've done to save your collective asses. Until then, sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite."
It's my birthday tomorrow! So, early birthday present from me to you, my dear readers! A bit of fluff between Gabriel and Lucifer as well as a glimpse behind our favorite archangel's mask. REVIEW!