Okay, so this will continue in the next chapter. Possibly two, depending on the feedback I get. Cheers for big brother Lucifer!
Disclaimer: No. I don't own this, nor do I own a car, a house or a college degree.
Chapter 27: Baby Steps
Gabriel sat quietly on the dock, childishly swinging his feet in the open air. Fish stared up at him with their beady eyes, wondering in their unintelligible language what and who he was. He picked up a rock and scattered them with it's ripples, scowling into the shallow reflection of his own golden image. He couldn't stand to look at himself right now. Glancing at the Golden Gates of his home, he sighed and shook his head at the poorly hidden head of black hair standing out like a sore thumb in a bush of roses. Only Lucifer would even be allowed to safely hide in a thorn bush. Raising an eyebrow and looking out over the water again, he called out, "I know you're there, Luce. I'm not thinking about suicide so call off the watchmen. It's getting really annoying." Silence. He snorted and with a jerk of his grace, grounded three covertly flying Seraphim. "And now?"
Lucifer sighed softly and came gracefully towards him, dropping into the lotus position on the other side of the dock. He eyed Gabriel with concern and murmured, "Michael put you on suicide watch and Raphael is sorry, but he didn't really look it." He snorted. "Fucking hypocrites."
"Pot and kettle, dear brother. And while you're at it, that house is made of glass so don't throw any stones.' Gabriel smirked joylessly. "Besides, we're all pretty fucked up, what with the abandonment issues, the codependency issues and Father only knows the level of anger issues walking around."
"Don't forget the mental health issues."
Gabriel laughed. "I was getting there." He fell silent after that and just watched the stars twinkling brightly above Heaven. Lucifer's own gaze was drawn to what the humans called the North Star as he waited patiently for his baby brother to end the pause. It didn't take too long. "Hey, Luci?" He nodded at him to go on. "Okay, so I know I sound like a brat and I should be grateful that you're here and everything, but it just doesn't feel real. Everything around me is always falling apart, leaving me in the dust. I've gotten used to it, but it doesn't mean I like it. After you Fell, for example." His voice took on a childish whisper. "I got used to being loved and then it was gone. Everything changed, including me." Turning to Lucifer now he stated, "I'm never going to be the Gabriel you remember."
Lucifer nodded slowly. "As long as there is a Gabriel for me to remember, then that will be all I can possibly ask for." He smirked wryly. "After all, who else would help me prank Raphael? Certainly not Balthazar." Ah, the Tart Incident. Taking a moment to appreciate that special occasion, Gabriel wondered how the holy hell Lucifer knew about the horrible accident then decided against asking. He was probably better off not knowing.
Lucifer kept talking nonsense, most of it about how it was only partially his fault that Gabriel was screwed up and how he blamed Michael for at least a decent half of it. The darkness in his eyes was deepening. Gabriel was quick to pull his self incriminating brother into a massive hug, joined shortly thereafter by the few buck naked cherubs that his brother had brought with him. Wincing at the dick directly in his line of vision, he promptly pulled both himself and Lucifer to safety by way of water. Sputtering up moments later a good twenty feet away, the former devil sighed and glubbed, "I probably should have thought out their involvement just a little bit more."Gabriel just came up laughing, though ever so slightly scarred for the rest of his immortal life. The sound wasn't as strained as it was before but nowhere near the carelessness of their youth. Which, considering how long their childhoods lasted and how he used to be certain that Gabriel's would never end, was an exceedingly long time ago. Truthfully, he missed the Gabriel that didn't know any personal boundaries and would happily snuggle any time and any where with any one. That time with Death was just…wow. Lucifer's eye twitched at the memory.
Seeing his brother swimming subtly away, he sighed and grabbed him by the hair before towing him to shore in a chorus of, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow", and, "Lucifer, I swear to God, if you don't stop pulling my hair!" Once he'd towed his brother to land he didn't bother letting go. Instead, he forced his brother to sit calmly on the ground so he could braid the mess of golden curls. He had never really grown out of the fledgling hair; the indomitable mix of curls, waves and ringlets still inhabited his brother's empty head.
Gently, he took a large chunk of hair and started to plait it. "I remember when I found you as a fledgling. Your hair was more dirt than blonde, while your wings trailed on the ground behind you when you walked. You were quite pitiful looking. That was why I even bothered to pick you up and take you with me." He was lying, of course. Gabriel knew he was lying and gave a snarky half grin while silently enjoying the attention. "You were such a quiet fledgling, you know? Didn't speak a word the entire time we were flying. Suddenly, you were up on Father's lap chattering away like a chipmunk and I was getting ready to scoop pieces of you off the floor. But I didn't."
A soft smile settled on the Morningstar's lips when he added, "The look on Michael's face was enough for me to keep you around, even if you weren't an Archangel. He's gotten that particular look many times since. I think he's missed it, actually."
Gabriel finally threw back his head and gave a booming belly laugh that still had a saddening taint of bitterness. "If he missed me, why didn't he look?"
Lucifer didn't have an answer for that. He just finished off one braid and started on another. Gabriel leaned against him a little more and he moved to support his brother's weight. He finally said after a few minutes, "We did many things wrong with you. We also did many things right and that has made you who you are. While you may not always like what we and you, yourself, has become, there is little we can do to change it." He breathed a sigh. "Many times, I have wished that we could have given you a proper childhood just to see the innocence that you managed to maintain with Castiel." Although that had been corrupted by Michael's Apocalypse Plan.
Gabriel hummed softly and murmured, "Nah. I'm okay with my life and it's not like I'm suicidal, MICHAEL! But yeah, that would have been nice," He finished with a grin after the sudden outburst in the middle. Lucifer just shook his head in exasperation and gave him a soft cuff around the head. Finished stalling, he quickly wrapped up on his plaiting and pinned his brother's hair in place. Somehow his long, curled bangs still managed to fall into place in front of his face but that was a mystery for another day. The sun was rising in Sioux Falls and he had to get back to the Winchester brothers.
Giving him a quick kiss on the forehead, at which Gabriel made a face and the exaggerated motion of wiping it away, he stepped back and watched his brother fly to Earth. There is a metaphor in there somewhere, he mused to himself.
Vote in the poll. It's tied, Goddamnit! I might end up killing them both.
Gabriel put his legs up on the stained coffee table and studiously ignored the killer look he was getting from Bobby. Eyeing the idjits doubtfully, he turned to the old man and drawled, "So, let me guess. They've been up all night drinking coffee and researching another mythical happening somewhere in the good ol' US of A. Therefore, they have probably not stopped to eat, drink, sleep or piss. Somewhere along the line, you probably hit one of them in the head with a book in the hopes to knock them unconscious and spiked Sam's coffee with a sleeping pill. He then switched them when you weren't looking at that is why you look like you have the hangover from hell."
Bobby grunted an affirmative as he gave up glaring and settled on the couch beside him. Gabriel snickered, "Sounds like a Tuesday."
Buffy references aside, he had been feeling a bit off all day. He figured it was his Winchester radar going off and promptly ignored it. He was already here; what was the worst that could possibly happen? Images of the ice roses and Lola cascaded through his mind. Twitching a bit, he looked away and walked over to see what Sam was working on. Frowning at it, he went and checked what Dean was working on. Slamming his head against the table as Bobby sympathetically patted his shoulder, he moaned out, "They're both working on different cases. Why are they both working on different cases? Can I stay home with you?"
He and Bobby had come to a truce after the whole Sam is soulless predicament and were now a step further away from killing each other than they had been before. It was a small step, since Gabriel was certain that the flask attached to Bobby's side was filled with Holy Oil, but a step none the less. Besides, it wasn't as if he couldn't just reach into the puny human's body and rip out his soul. Feeling better for knowing that, he promptly went up to the boys, picked up Sam's 20 page research printouts and poofed them into the car. "Looks like we're going to NYC, boys! Get your monster gear ready because this city is a Big One." Emphasis on the capital letters.
As for the back story of that emphasis, New York is located on a weak spot between the veil and the mortal plain. It was the place most demons escaped from when they broke the bonds that chained them to Hell, since it took less power to break through ice than it does steel. It was sort of like Buffy, except the hunters in question did not have amazing strength, speed, reflexes or boobs. Or hell, friends! Other hunters didn't count since they would kill each other at a moments notice at the first sign of demonic possession. Normal humans didn't count, either, because they usually…well, they usually died. The next thought made him freeze. Oh, dear God. I'm one of their only friends…
The signs were all there. They tolerated each other's presence, helped with weird shit that no one else would touch with a ten foot pole, he had literally helped them bury bodies and get away with murder. They had shed each other's blood and ended up in one piece, Dean trusted him with Sam, they have sleepovers at each other's houses and have brothers who are friends, too. Eye twitching miserably, he slumped slightly in the backseat of the Impala then let out a silent moan. He even knew all of Dean's embarrassing pet names for the thrice-damned car! They were friends! He didn't want friends!
The rest of the ride to the Big Apple was surprisingly quiet, filled only with Metallica's apt 'Highway To Hell' playing over the radio. He was pretty sure he nearly had an aneurism when 'I've Got Friends In Low Places' came on right after it. Ignoring Dean's swatting and grouching, he reached forward and flipped to a different station before making certain that neither of them could change the channel. It was country, which he had grown to appreciate over the years despite all of the Chevy's mentioned in conjunction with beer and women. Or, maybe because of it. All he knew was that it pissed Michael off and it got pretty catchy.
As a happy coincidence, it annoyed Dean too. Sam was actually humming along and bobbing his head in time with the music while Gabriel intentionally sang horrendously off key. His brothers had been waiting to hear him sing. (Somewhere in Heaven, Lucifer was peacefully doing paperwork while wearing noise cancelling headphones, pausing every once in a while to watch Michael falter in his sparring and Raphael accidentally rip the wings off of a cherub after a particularly high note done in a truly hideous falsetto. After ten minutes of this, in which there was no end in sight, he sighed and simply switched the radio station back to the rock channel that Dean preferred. Gabriel complained, but then again, what else was new?)
Pouting up at the clouds, he muttered rebelliously and crossed his arms over his chest while sinking down in his seat. Dean looked as though he was on the verge of praying and Sam was, well, Sam. He looked a little confused at the angelic intervention of the radio but then again, what kind of angel took the time to change the radio station? Gabriel pouted harder and contemplated going to Fiji.
The drive was full of puppy dog eyes, useless pouting, countless cuss words and many silent eye rolls on Sam's part. Oh, and a couple of pee breaks. And a near lawsuit, because of Gabriel's chronic inability to pay for things that he wants and there was an adorable little puppy sitting right there. Not to mention the little girl holding it, wearing a shirt with little angel wings on them. "A Christian!" he had cooed. Her hair had tinted gold in the sun and was, evidently, close to Gabriel's own hair color. It took a highly destructive distraction from Balthazar to fend the furious mother-with-a-handbag off of them. And a bribe.
"She was Jewish, you idiot!"
After that, they got to NYC in relatively good shape, although the grief Gabriel got for denting the hood of Dean's Baby lasted long after the boys got their customary shitty motel room. And unlike the last one, they left something not even close to chocolate on the pillows. "Dude, is that a dead rat?"
Needless to say that they got a new hotel after that. One that Gabriel chose and promptly forbid the boys from leaving until they got better taste in sleeping places. Not that he's one to talk; during the battle with the Leviathans, the Archangel's had found refuge inside one of the bodies of their enemies. It had been dark, damp, smelly and above all, formerly alive. Good times, they were not. Those had been called the dark years, because of how the Leviathan had almost swallowed the sun. It had taken thirty tries to win the war, each failed attempt announced by the blare of his trumpet as the earth shook and broke apart. Thus, asteroids were created.
Apart from that, the boys were reading up on their hunt and honestly, not even Gabriel had any ideas of what the fresh hell was going on. The murders were all over the place, from a nun to a tried and true rapist/serial killer. There were no time intervals, since whatever was doing this killed sometimes up to three times a day then left off for like, a week. There was nothing missing from the bodies. It looked as though there wasn't even a mark on them, unless you got them into autopsy and realized that their brains had literally exploded inside their skulls. He'd usually associate this with the presence of an angel, but it was done with no blood drawn whatsoever.
Fuck, he was lost.
"Okay, so we have twenty victims between the ages of 12 an 82 that have no known relation. None of them have recently met, so there goes the hopes of this being a serial killer." And really, in what world would that be considered a good thing? "The oldest is a Sister Alice Martin, who was apparently sent to America from Rome to witness the confession of some guy on death row." Sam turned to them and stated, "He was given lethal injection somewhere in Texas twelve hours later. She was supposed to return home in a couple of hours. The youngest victim is Thomas Gaylor. Neighbors said that they heard a commotion and when they went to investigate, the kid was dead on the floor with the biggest smile on his face that they had ever seen. Turned out to be one of the worst child abuse cases on record. Nothing was done about it because the father is Special Forces in the military and they thought that the screams were from the wife arguing with him. Oh, and the parents aren't talking. All they kept saying was what a beautiful place it was."
O-kay then. That made no sense, especially since they were in the crappy part of New York. The one with the hoboes, trashcan fires and the Lycanthrope pack in the warehouse across the street. They shouldn't cause trouble; they were smarter than the average hamster and knew when to duck and cover. They weren't werewolves, because they could full on turn into a wolf instead of the fang-toothed morons that went for a piece of juicy long-pig. They had full thought and didn't have to turn at the full moon.
Shaking his head and immediately crossing their neighbors off of his list, Gabriel listened to the brothers banter back and forth while he leaned his head against a wall and wondered what this reminded him of. On the bedside table, the Sarah Mclachlan song 'I Will Remember You' came on. Face-palming, he muttered, "Obviously not. God, it's on the tip of my tongue too!"
That night brought with it several thoughts. Some were about Lucifer and the conversation they had before he left while others were about a conversation millions of years ago, with hissed words and barely sheathed swords. Others were about blood, running like a river all across the earth that had stained the soil red for centuries. Screaming, deep and melodious as they were torn apart. Closing his eyes, he breathed through his mouth as the black ectoplasm of the Leviathans filled his mind to the brim, bringing shaky prayers for absolution and gurgling whimpers for mercy before being abruptly cut off. Curling himself into a ball with his bare feet held in his hands, he whispered pleadingly, "Let me fall asleep, for once. Just once."
Of course, his own head betrayed him and filled his head with guilt. All of the things that he had ever blamed himself for, from now until back when he had been just a fledgling four feet tall. Pressure built in his head and his heart, making him breathe out a breathy whine. The air crystallized around him, and startled, he whipped his head around only to be faced with absolute darkness. A small smile formed on his face as a hand caressed his cheek.
And then he fell.
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Sam snorted in his sleep, then crinkled his nose and shifted at the cold in the room. He couldn't find a warm spot. Sighing and opening his eyes blearily, he stared at the clock that pronounced it three o'clock in the morning. Sam was pretty sure that he had been sweating before he went to bed, so unless the heat had let up then something was strange about this hotel. Trust Gabriel to bring them to a haunted hotel… Letting out a puff of air that immediately became visible, he reached under his pillow and got up. Expertly cocking the gun and flicking off the safety, he immediately spotted a disturbance in the pitch dark of the room. Squinting, his eyes then widened and he fumbled to put the gun away before stumbling blindly to the figure of a toddler curled up in the corner of the room.
The darkness receded slightly, but Sam didn't notice. Busily checking the child's vitals, he noticed that he had no clue on if the kid was a girl or not. Opening the curtains and ignoring Dean's change in breathing patterns, he fell to his knees beside the kid and gently tilted it's head up before groaning. The face was perfectly androgynous. It's hair was an odd shade of gold and everywhere at once, accompanied by a set of long blonde eyelashes. He couldn't tell the eye color, since the toddler was seemingly unconscious, but he imagined them to be a clear and crystalline blue. Dean got up behind him and grunted out a husky, "Holy shit."
Sam would have liked to agree, but the toddler was waking up and suddenly, he forgot about finding what gender it was, it's name, it's home and it's family. Because blinking up at him shyly from the hotel floor was a baby angel, yawning and fisting at it's golden eyes while cream and gold wings fluttered behind him. The golden orbs moved to pierce him straight through to his soul as the baby inspected him silently. And if that wasn't serious enough, Sam was pretty sure Dean still had a gun trained on the little person. Lifting a hand to shove it down, he was interrupted by the imperiously lifted arms and wide-eyed pleading of one of the most adorable children he had ever seen.
He crumbled like the walls of Jericho.
Scooping him up, he immediately had an attention starved angel fledgling attempting to bury itself into the warmth of Sam's old t-shirt. Soft cooing brought to his attention the practically blue little toes that were scrambling at his stomach trying to get warm. Sighing and questioning his choice in lifestyle, he went back to bed and wrapped the fledgling in his blankets. Minutes later, there was a fuzzy little chicken wing in his face as it tried to take flight. The disappointed wails were pretty damned heartbreaking. Dean must have thought so, too, because without even glancing at Sam, he picked it up under the armpits and started to toss it up and down and playing airplane. Lips twitching, Sam looked back at the clock and wondered how long it would take for the angel brigade to show up.
They all fell asleep, still waiting.
Seriously. Poll. Now.
The quiet sniffling of a baby was what woke Sam up hours later. Bolting upright, he barely had enough time to catch the baby angel before he was dumped to the floor. Cradling it awkwardly in his arms in an attempt to avert the disaster of tears, he silently prayed for holy intervention in the form of Castiel…who did not want to show up. Come to think of it, Gabriel was gone, too. Maybe there was a pandemic in Heaven or something. Pinching at the bridge of his nose in hopes of quick headache relief, he promptly began searching for a Tylenol or two in the mess of Dean's bag. Coming up victoriously with half a bottle of the pain reliever, he swallowed a couple dry and deftly avoided the grabby hands of the curious fledgling.
Setting it down on the bed again, he eyed the baby curiously. They didn't look anything like the little cherubs in stained glass windows or from the old masters' paintings, but then again, mythology rarely did get anything right. Reaching carefully for the baby's wings, he stroked gently down one of the ridges and was astonished to realize that there was, indeed, something softer than Gabriel's wings had been. The fluffy down felt practically nonexistent on his fingers but the happy cooing and purring of the angel child was pretty damned substantial. It wriggled happily and suddenly, Sam felt just a little dirty. Shuddering slightly, he withdrew his hand quickly.
Dean popped his head out of the bathroom and called out, "I got Cass on the phone about half an hour ago, sleeping beauty. He said that Gabriel was missing then hung up."
Sam frowned pensively at the fledgling staring up at him with imperviously shielded eyes. "Call him again and tell him that we have a-you know what, just toss me the phone."
It rung continuously for the first four times he called. By the time Castiel answered the phone, there was a certain ruffled note in his voice as he said in his monotone voice, "Sam, I can-"
"Yes, Cass, you can. Look, I'm sitting here in a Super 8 hotel in the middle of New York holding a baby angel on my lap who I'm pretty sure shouldn't be anywhere near here. So if you could just come and pick it up, that would be awesome."
Silence, for a good minute or two, then, "A fledgling? You have a fledgling in your possession?"
"Yeah, Cass, we-"
With a feathery rustle, Castiel appeared and crouched down in front of the fledgling. He murmured to it in what sounded like Enochian, which elicited less than a fart from it. Brows furrowing, he traced a finger down it's forehead then widened his eyes. Standing up straight, he intoned quickly, "Keep him safe. I am bringing Lucifer here."
Sam stared at him incredulously. "What?! Why are you bringing the devil to pick up a fledgling? Shouldn't he just cling to you?"
Castiel shook his head instantly. "He does not even understand me, because at the time of his creation, they spoke a much older version of the Enochian angels speak now." He stared seriously into Sam's eyes. "The fledgling you are holding is the Archangel Gabriel."
Dean, now standing beside the bed, kind of stared at him for a while before dropping his head into his hands and muttering, "Shit."
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Heaven was in an uproar. Early in the morning, Gabriel's Grace had been lost completely. Michael was roaring orders at the Legion to organize themselves into effective search parties and Raphael was making a triage unit with his healers. And Lucifer? Lucifer was beyond freaking out. Yes, he had killed his brother by accident, but he was the only fledgling that he had raised himself. He was currently scrunched up with the head of one of Gabriel's hounds in his lap and searching frantically for any trace of his brother's telltale Grace. The Hound was whimpering and scrambling at the soil beneath his feet, practically begging him to find their Huntsman. He was failing.
Getting to his feet, he went over to Michael and muttered in a low growl, "This isn't working! If he was hiding himself, there would still be pieces of his Grace floating around but there aren't even remnants of power. It's as if he had never existed in the first place."
Michael sighed and muttered back, "I know, Lucifer. But there aren't many beings powerful enough to do that to an Archangel and Death and God are two of the only ones who haven't been Sleeping for the past few millennia. We must be careful about where we trespass, brother." Breaking his mood for a moment, he embraced Lucifer briefly and murmured reassuringly in his ear, "We will find him, come Hell or high water."
Snickering half-heartedly, he breathed, "I can't believe you just said that!"
Michael smiled worriedly at his brother. It may look like he was taking the disappearance of his baby brother well, but everyone knew better. He was pretty sure there were a few cherubs just dying to give him a hug and trill that stupid cartoon line that Gabriel had taught them. 'I will hug him, and squeeze him, and call him George.' Lucifer would just love that. Really, he would. He would love them straight to their deaths and happily continue on a murderous rampage until Gabriel tweaked his wings and called him Luci. And really, the nicknames only started because of how hideously he managed to pronounce their names. He shuddered. Mik, Raf and Luci. He just called Father 'da'. Come to think of it, maybe they had spoiled him. Especially with all of the extra hugs.
There was that time I went into battle with him cradled in my wing, though, he mused. Lucifer whipped around and hissed in outrage, "You did what!?"
Michael smiled awkwardly and cursed the hive mind of the Archangels.
Several hours later, Lucifer was silent. They hadn't found anything at all in all of the time that they had been looking and his little brother had simply left after the last check in. Wandering around, he spied Lucifer sitting on the dock and trailing his fingers in the water. There were tears of shimmering violet trailing from his eyes and Michael was just as protective of his little brothers as he was of his baby brother. Sitting down, he pulled Lucifer closer so that he could rest his head against his shoulder. A few minutes later, there were tearstains on his robes and a head of long dark hair trailing down past his stomach. Michael silently fused over him and Raphael showed up quietly, bringing a blanket and draping it across Lucifer's back before taking up his other side with muted dignity.
They stayed like that for a while and combined their searches, looking for the bright golden sun that they knew as Gabriel. A massive outcry in the meeting place was what ended it. Leaping to his feet, Lucifer flew to meet the young angel Castiel, who was wide-eyed in shock. As they reached him, he said quietly, "Sam and Dean have acquired a fledgling angel during the night." Raphael wrapped a hand around Lucifer's wrist to prevent him from reaching for his sword. Castiel added a tad bit quicker, "He has golden eyes."
Violet ringed eyes widened disbelievingly. "You mean to tell me that something has turned our baby brother back into a baby? Do you have proof?"
"He does not understand me when I speak new Enochian, but tried to tickle me using his Grace."
Lucifer was gone before the last syllable fell from his lips.
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Sam looked disparagingly down at the fledgling who was now sucking his thumb. Not it's own thumb, no, but his. The eyes stared up at him smugly, as if to say 'I am adorable and therefore, am above all fault.' Dean seemed to agree, judging from the fact that every time the thing cried he started playing airplane with it. And was he ever getting tired of calling it an it! There were no distinguishing features and he was not violating one of Castiel's little- or, well, older brothers. He squinted and wondered why he couldn't see it before. Gabriel. The Archangel Baby Gabriel.
And then, suddenly, it didn't matter because the Archangel Baby Gabriel was literally out of his hands. Lucifer was sitting beside him on the bed, which was creepy enough as it is. He was also cooing to his brother like a mother bird and scooping him up into the air. The toddler giggled and squealed happily before gently bonking his caretaker on the cheek. It turned into a gentle pat as the little hand started to explore the larger features. Soon, he was squirming and crying without warning. Lucifer just smiled joyfully and cuddled him closer. That was strange just to think about and Sam decided that he was going insane.
Then Dean came out and got this strange look on his face, like someone had bashed him in the head with a shovel. He should know; it had happened enough times in their Hunting careers. Gabriel turned to face him, covered his eyes with his hands and when he uncovered them, sang, "Peek-a-boo!"
It was honestly the most beautiful thing that he had ever heard. It was a clear, ringing sound that somehow managed to rise and fall in a perfect harmony instead of the usual discordant screams that human children made. Dean glanced at him meaningfully and he had to remind himself for the first time that it had been his brother who raised him. Not John, but his brother who was only four years older than him and sometimes acted younger. Glancing at Dean, he smiled thankfully, to which he was promptly given the bird and given a mouthed 'bitch'.
'Jerk.'
Lucifer interrupted their girly bonding moment by singing. Yes, the devil himself was cradling a fledgling in his arms and singing it an unintelligible lullaby. It was actually an extremely cute picture. Soon, Sam and Dean were cuddled like puppies on the bed while Gabriel was tucked safely into one of Lucifer's six gleaming wings. Twisting his lips in thought, he took a quick picture for blackmail before drawing the blankets over them. He would deny it until their dying days, and even then he'd probably still see them in Heaven, so maybe until his days were over as well. Sighing at the Gabriel-like ramble in his head, he took flight with his two other pairs of wings and took his brother home.
He was then met by Ariella,(who hasn't shown up for many chapters,) who promptly stole their brother from his wing and started fussing over him before managing to put him in an adorable little blue onesie. He gurgled unhappily at the change until she started lavishing him with pure affection. Unsurprisingly, he was perfectly okay with that. He started making happy coos and babbled joyfully up at her. Gracing Lucifer with a look, she stated, "I'm taking him to see the garrison. They were all worried about him but now, they just really want to see him as a baby. And they're right, he is the most adorable thing of life!"
Lucifer, disgruntled, followed his little sister to the training grounds where Gabriel was now completely surrounded. Aziraphael was holding him with surprising expertise, rocking him from side to side. Gabriel was starting to get fussy, though, so Lucifer quickly thanked Gabriel's bunch of idiots and tucked him back into his wing so he could sleep. He felt the tiny body curl up in the formerly well-groomed feathers and was finally at peace. At least until he made it to the Pantheon, where he was beset upon by numerous healers accompanied by Michael and Raphael, who were all very overeager to see their baby brother, though in the case of the healers, it was more about undoing the spell. Lucifer tried to shush them, but was interrupted by the quiet cries of his fledgling.
He leveled a glare at them all and stormed to their old nest on top on the Pantheon. Michael and Raphael followed at a careful distance in case he decided to throw something. Lucifer retrieved Gabriel from his wing and tucked into a cloud. He made a whining sound that compelled them to snuggle in around him in a way that Balthazar would surely use as blackmail, if he weren't currently hovering around and eagerly awaiting the chance to give Baby Gabriel chocolate.
Raphael declared him a bad influence and shoved him off of the roof.
Shrugging at the accusing stares, he simply stated "Chocolate" and all was well in Heaven.
Not so much on Earth, though. Demons had picked up the scent of tender angel flesh and were currently trying to get through Sam and Dean in order to get to it. Not like the angels responsible for the mess were going to take responsibility for their actions, oh, no. They were currently snuggled together floating on a gentle cloud looking like adorable little puppies. Meanwhile, Dean was bleeding from a gash on his arm and Sam was mildly concussed and nearly shot his brother. After that, he stuck with the knife. Sticking Ruby's demon killing knife into a female demon's throat, he grimaced at the feeling of blood gushing over his hands.
Which were suddenly full of a feathered bundle of joy.
Yelping and trying to keep the frenzied demons back with one arm while shielding the baby with the other, he hissed in his ear, "This is not a good time, Gabriel." His answer was a wet kiss on the cheek and another cuddle. "Seriously, Gabriel! Go back to Lucifer." He definitely would have preferred the old response to the new one.
The baby archangel threw back his head and wailed in crystal clear tones. Momentarily frozen, Sam stared down at him in horror and tried bouncing him up and down awkwardly in attempts to mimic Dean and Lucifer. Gabriel screamed. The hotel shook straight down to it's roots and every fixture, glass or otherwise, shattered straight into nonexistence. Birds fell dead from the sky and miles away, coyotes were howling their response. They…weren't the first to make it to the scene, though. Sam would honestly have preferred to have been eaten by wild coyotes than by what showed up next.
Led by a shining sleek silver she-wolf, there was a massive pack of over thirty pure white hounds, each taller than Sam and wider than Dean. They were all snarling, too. At him. Oh, they were tearing apart the demons like a well honed knife through butter, yes, but there was also the pack Queen that was watching his every move with the baby. The fight didn't last long and soon, he and Dean were surrounded on all sides by the strange hounds. To make matters worse, Crowley decided to make an appearance. "Well, boys, I have no idea what you did but those idiots that just attacked you are down for the co- bloody hell!" he quickly found himself the victim of a squirming little fledgling's whims, leg currently being cuddled in a stranglehold.
Sam's jaw dropped when instead of prying him away, Crowley picked him up swiftly and eyed him with narrowed eyes. They widened when they met gold. Sighing, he held the babe closer and muttered, "Gabriel always was a little too snuggly for his own good. Looks like I'm going to see Azi, aren't I." It wasn't a question, but the fledgling trilled excitedly anyways. The demon sighed. "Well, boys, I've gotta go. Family reunion, and all that." Then he just poofed away.
Sam and Dean looked at each other. Suddenly, the baby Gabriel was in Dean's arms and he gave the older hunter a sloppy kiss on the curve of his neck. Stunned, neither reacted when a cursing Crowley spat bloody murder at Gabriel but held him carefully, as if he were made of fragile porcelain. The Hounds didn't react to the King of the Crossroads holding their boy king in the slightest, although one gave him an unimpressed once-over. Sam opened and shut his mouth for a moment at the indignity of it but gave up seconds later. While Crowley waited impatiently for the Hounds to let him go, a demon crawled up behind them.
It happened so fast, it was almost impossible to see.
Plunging a knife into Crowley's back with a snarl on her lips, the she-demon made a grab for Gabriel only to be met with glowing red eyes and a furious screech as the innocent enough looking fledgling made to claw an eye out. Dean actually looked like he had just pissed himself and Sam was still mid-blink when the attack happened, so all he got was the aftermath. There was a screaming demon on the floor of their hotel room missing an eye, an arm and soon to be her throat once the baby angel on her back managed to sink his nails into it. The hounds joined in the ripping and shredding and, for them, eating of the screaming carcass. For whatever reason, either stupidity on the demon's part or genius on Gabriel's, the demon didn't evacuate in a cloud of black smoke but stayed and died in it's host.
And this was how Lucifer and Castiel found them minutes later.
Gabriel was sitting up innocently in a pool of blood that managed to soak him right through his robes, Hounds curled inwards and panting happily at the feast of demon flesh that they had just consumed. Castiel was stunned beyond movement but Lucifer just snatched him up and smirked in pride. The fledgling chirped happily and attempted to burrow into Lucifer's robes. Chuckling, the devil said the magic word. "Bath time, emei luo. You have certainly made a mess, this time. Amyntora misses bathing tiny fledglings. I think she would appreciate the chance."
A chirp from behind him made Sam whirl around, then stare in awe. A gigantic cat with the fur patterns of a cercal and the size of a horse purred happily and kneaded it's claws straight through the floor as it butted it's head against his chest. The bloody fledgling squealed and threw his arms wide, shrieking, "Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!"
The 'kitty' purred loud enough to register on the Richter scale and stalked eagerly towards her master and his kit. Taking him gently in her jaws, she trapped him between two massive paws and started to clean off the filth. Gabriel snuggled into her chest and attempted to purr back. Castiel was, by that time, moderately aware and staring at the cat in awe. She truly was beautiful, in a way that swords were sleek and shiny or a red convertible is gorgeous just before it ran you over. Deadly but in a way you can admire. She stared up at him as she cleaned the fledgling and as soon as he was cleaned to her specifications, she swiped Castiel's feet from under him and started to clean him too. Dean was on the floor on the other side of the bed convulsing in laughter while Sam just looked uncertain.
Gabriel giggled and snuggled himself into Castiel's lap. He automatically started to finger comb the tiny pair of wings laid in front of him, which drew a contented coo. Lucifer was calmly leaning against a wall while watching the proceedings with a smirk on his face. Castiel just stayed still and calmly allowed the rough tongue to scratch against both his skin and his Grace. After she was finished with him, he silently smirked because he knew exactly where she was going next. A cattish screech escaped her throat and she leaned over the now wriggling Dean to give him the same treatment. She also eyed Sam, but apparently decided his current bathing cycle was to her liking as she dipped her head to continue working on Dean.
He now realized just why Lucifer's wings were so damned immaculate.
The Hounds seemed to defer to her as well. They were content to watch the cat mutilate their master's hair and give it a thousand cowlicks and even presented themselves for grooming, once she was done with Dean. Staring with questioning eyes at Lucifer, he stated, "These Hounds were birthed specifically for Gabriel. The wolf you see is Lupa, their mother. She was the first wolf ever created but she is still thousands of years younger than my Amyntora. They all know she could rip them to shreds and they have never tried more than once to go after my cats." Lucifer smirked. "Raphael's parrots, on the other hand, are grounds for teamwork between the two. They are massive, ill-tempered things with claws the length of my fingers. They also like to pluck Gabriel's hair for their nests."
The hounds grumbled at that and Amyntora's eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of hair plucking. As if to prove them right, a monstrous parrot swooped down at an incredible speed and snatched at the golden strands that were very much attached to the fledgling's head. Before anyone could do anything, however, the powerful kick of a horse sent the squawking bird flying back to Heaven like a drunken pirate. Lucifer laughed in surprise when Michael appeared beside it and held on loosely to the magnificent creature's mane.
It was a gorgeous Appaloosa stallion with patches of cream, gold, brown and red in many different shades. There was a perfectly shaped eight pointed star embellishing it's forehead, which dipped to nudge Gabriel over onto his butt. He snorted powerfully and moved to stand to a full nine feet or so. Sam had gone horseback rising with Jess once, and he had fun watching her prance delicately on the little horse that she had been riding. He had been riding an old gelding. However, if this had been the horse that greeted him on that trip he would never have so much as looked at another horse. Ever. This one was downright terrifying, because it's eyes were pure blue and Oh, God, was it staring right at him?!
Right now, he was just thankful Raphael didn't show up and bring his favorite parrot.
Dean was, surprisingly, nonplussed and when gawked at with a certain degree of awe, he just shrugged and stated, "I saw Sleipnir once. After that, freakishly tall horses do nothing or you." And with that, he moved forward and stroked down the silky nose with a light touch and was greeted with whinnies of delight and suddenly, he realized that the horse had the countenance of…Gabriel. Dean read his mind when he asked in a slightly disturbed tone after it had eaten at least a pound of sugar, "Does he remind anyone else of Gabriel?"
A chorus of resigned 'yes's filled the air. Michael supplied, "Gabriel spent a lot of time with the animals as a fledgling, because we were always training. They seem to have picked up several of his traits and Luminis got his sweet tooth. I suspect that he has been fed several pounds of absolute sugary crap over his lifetime and he has enjoyed every minute of it." The horse pranced like a pony and Michael sighed disparagingly. "You are a warhorse, not a show horse. Please, for the love of all that is holy, remember that." The Hounds stared accusingly at Michael as the horse's head lowered and he gave out a sad whuffle. The Archangel winced, then sighed and apologized in a soft undertone as he stroked the horse's neck. "I suppose that's alright, though, since I'm not going to war anytime soon."
"On the bright side," Michael continued, "We have made brief contact with God and he said that he may be able to turn Gabriel back. He also stated that this was not, under any circumstances, his fault, although he sounded…oddly gleeful. All we have to do is take him back to Eden and set him in the oasis."
Poll. Seriously. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. You know you want to.
In short, it didn't work.
Under the watchful eyes of the animals, Michael, Lucifer and Raphael set their baby brother in the shallow waters of Eden's oasis then sat and waited for several moments. And then several hours. As the sun finally set in the sky just barely above them, Lucifer voiced sarcastically, "Well, gee, do you think he forgot?"
A wave of resignation washed over them and a voice whispered in a hushed tone, I cannot undo this. The power of Death and a Titan are on this spell and as powerful as I am, Death is more than a match for my abilities. You must convince them to undo what they have done. Pause. He is quite adorable, though. And quiet.
"It is concerning." Lucifer stated, unmoved by their Father's attempts to 'turn them to the dark side'.
…Very.
6969696969696969696969696969(I'm a Taurus, but can't make those)69696969696969696969696969
Not too far away, on a surprisingly beautiful mountaintop, Death and Gaia raised their shot glasses of vodka in a toast to each other. Her smooth chestnut face wrinkled as she thought about the possible consequences for her actions, but promptly dismissed them. She liked to think of children as a gift and a childhood an even greater boon. Gabriel had protected her Pagan children, become one and loved one, and in return she gave him what God was too scared to give. The fact that Death had joined her in that endeavor made it all the more sweet. It would seem that he had a soft spot for a very particular angel. Convenient.
Death, on the other hand, was just in it for the entertainment.
Vote. In. The. Damn. Poll. If you are reading this, then I am begging you to click on my username and take three seconds to choose one of four options. Or else I kill them all.