A/N: Thanks to my not-signed-in reviewer, Chibi-Twan! Also, Anona: LOL that's a good guess! Is it what will happen?
There's a wonderful sketch on deviantart for this chapter, done by pajasekacka. Check out her talent, I wish I could add a direct link! :D It's called No One Hurt My Little Brother, because we all love protective Gabriel! :D
And speaking of, I think it's high time Gabriel shows up. Judging from the responses, y'all do, too. So...
Chapter 13
There was nothing worse than being helpless to help the people he cared about, and Dean had been in that position too many damn times lately. He sat on the floor, leg throbbing, unable to even shift his weight or else his own brother would have no choice but to kill him. He couldn't do anything to help Cas - again - and even though his friend was currently a Siberian Husky, Dean could see the torrent of emotions in the familiar blue eyes.
Stubbornness… regret… resolve… resignation. And if Dean wasn't mistaken, they were all going to be torn away from each other forever with the angel still stupidly thinking this was his fault.
In front of him, Sam stood on guard, one paw resting on his leg and an expression of pleading on his furry face. Dean knew Sam was silently begging him not to move, because if he was the one to kill Dean, the younger hunter would never forgive himself, even though it wasn't his fault. Across the room, the little yapper was still unconscious; no help was coming from that direction.
Dean held still, but everything in him was screaming, when the front door burst open with the force of an earthquake.
"Hey, looks like I'm missing a party!" a chipper voice spoke up from the doorway. Even Circe paused, all heads swiveling in the same direction.
"You!" Dean snarled, fighting to keep still as he registered the newcomer. His mind whirled; had Gabriel been in on this all along!? He wouldn't put it past the archangel, who was hardly a friend. "Should have known you were behind this!"
"What are you doing here, Loki?" Circe snapped. She didn't release Cas, but she'd straightened up, and the expression on her face didn't seem much happier than Dean felt... though if she was calling him Loki, he'd bet anything she didn't know her "pal" was an archangel.
Gabriel seemed completely unperturbed at the entire situation, a fact that pissed Dean off, as he swaggered into the room and looked around with a low whistle. "Boy, you really don't kid around. I'm here to collect."
"Collect?" Dean's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, collect?"
"We had a deal, Circe," the archangel went on, arms crossed as he ignored Dean completely. "You can keep the Winchesters, but I get the angel."
Cas!? Dean's mouth dropped in horror as he traded a tense look with his furry brother. Son of a bitch! "You bastard," he snarled as Cas tried to wriggle free from Circe. "You stay away from him, you hear me?"
In the middle of the room, Circe released the angel at last, though her cold expression hadn't melted in the slightest. Cas didn't move, eyeing Gabriel with clear uncertainty. The archangel turned towards Dean, though, and the cocky grin shifted to a surprisingly genuine look of anger.
"And just what," he asked in a low growl as he took two steps towards the hunter, "do you think I'm going to do to him?"
"Why don't you tell me?" Dean was furious. The mere fact that Gabriel had arranged for Cas to be handed over to him said, if nothing else, he knew Circe was after them, and hadn't done a damn thing to help. He'd probably helped orchestrate all of this! Dean didn't know why Gabriel wanted to take Cas, but there was no way he'd just abandon his best friend to the orchestrations of the Trickster's twisted imagination. Beside him, Sam let out a fierce bark that Dean knew was some sort of agreement.
"How about for starters, pulling him out of the mess that you two dragged him into!" Gabriel snapped in reply. "Don't thank me or anything! Calm your tiny mind, Dean, I'm not going to hurt him."
There was another bark, this time from Cas. The angel leaped over, sliding between Dean and Gabriel. He snorted softly and shook his head. The archangel raised his eyebrows. Whatever Cas was saying, it seemed to take Gabriel by surprise, and Dean wished he could still understand the dogs.
"Sorry, you actually don't get a say in this," the archangel said. "I'm taking you with me."
"Oh, great plan, and then what? Keep him locked up forever?" Dean demanded. Apparently Cas was refusing to leave them, the warrior now taking a step back to more fully join the brothers in an obvious show of solidarity. If they weren't in so much trouble at the moment, Dean would have felt his heart warm at the gesture.
Gabriel only rolled his eyes. "Sure, make it sound like I'm the bad guy here."
Dean stared at him in incredulity, wanting nothing more than to remind him in no uncertain terms how things had gone the last time they'd met, in his screwy TV world. Before he could, Sam whined softly and twisted to bump his nose against Cas. The angel looked at him with an answering whimper.
Though Dean couldn't understand the actual words, he could tell that Sam was for some reason siding with Gabriel. His gut instinct was to snap at his brother, because there was no way they were going to just sit by and let their best friend get spirited away by this douche-nozzle. From the corner of his vision, he saw Circe slowly approaching, though, and something made him bite his tongue.
What choice did they actually have, he realized with frustration. He didn't like Gabriel and didn't trust him for one second. But… while he fully expected Gabriel to screw with Cas, he at least wasn't likely to torture the angel for information. Dean frowned, torn. It was all well and good for Gabriel to say he wasn't going to hurt Cas, but he'd just as quickly implied he'd take the angel by force if necessary. It still amounted to keeping him prisoner. And it wasn't like he was even offering to help the two humans out of this whatsoever; he'd stand by and let Circe have them without a second thought.
But… Circe had nothing in store for the angel but pain at the hands of who knew how many pagan gods.
"Cas, maybe…" Dean swallowed, unable to believe he was about to say this. "Maybe you should go with him."
Both Cas and Gabriel turned to him with surprise. Dean looked away, jaw tightening. There was also the small matter of the archangel's very valid point: they had dragged Cas into this.
"You've got a way out," he muttered. "Take it, Cas, this might be your only chance. Just go."
With an indignant sounding snort, the angel tossed his head in refusal. Dean met his eyes once again, needing his best friend to see how serious he was. "I can't let her hurt you," he said, voice low as though Circe wouldn't hear him anyway. "Please… you're like a brother, Cas, this is my fault. You gotta get out of here."
Cas whined again, but Gabriel was staring between Dean and Sam in silent contemplation. The older Winchester shot him a glare to let the archangel know that this was not a sign of trust or approval, just the lesser of two evils. Cas was still protesting in dog language, but a sudden crash and the sound of shattering glass cut any further conversation short. Dean jumped, whipping around to see Circe standing beside a now empty end table, scintillating shards of her decorative tchotchkes at her feet, hand still curled up in a fist.
Only now did Dean see that she had picked up the knife that he had dropped.
"You," she hissed, voice low and trembling with her pent up fury, "are not… going… anywhere."
Sam barked then snarled, hackles rising, but the goddess ignored this completely. She took another step towards them, then grabbed Cas's nape once again, dragging him back towards her.
"Hey!" Dean snapped, starting to rise before remembering that she hadn't called Sam off yet. He froze, working his jaw in helpless rage. Even Gabriel had straightened back up with a veiled expression.
"Circe," he said, spreading his arms. "Babe, come on, we had a deal."
"We had a non-binding verbal agreement at best," she spat back. The goddess looked ready to breathe fire. "I've had it, Loki. I've had it with angels, I've had it with demons, I've absolutely had it with this whole damn Apocalypse! I'm done with it, and I'm going to kill every single one of those self-righteous angels… starting with this one!"
"Babe… you shouldn't say things like that."
Gabriel sounded serious now. Dean and Sam both looked back and forth between him and Circe warily, like watching a tennis match.
"Oh?! And why, pray tell, is that?"
"Because," he replied as he stepped towards her. "I might take you seriously. Circe, I told you, you don't want to get involved with this. You don't want any part of it. Now come on, for old time's sake-"
"No! I'm done!" She moved with the supernatural speed of a goddess, twisting the hand in Cas's fur and jerking up so that he stood as tall on all fours as he could, and pressing the knife blade close to his throat. Dean felt his heart seize; that blade shouldn't have been able to kill Cas, but he also should have been able to fly, or smite her, or change them back into humans. At the very least, that knife was going to hurt like a bitch.
Sam barked a high pitched sound of distress; no one moved. Gabriel's arms were still spread, hands out in placation.
"Give me the angel. You said I could have him-"
"Oh, you can have him," the goddess seethed. "As soon as we're finished. We're gathering, Loki, all the pagan gods. These three are coming with me. We'll put Sam and Dean on opposite sides of the world, keep them locked up so tight that they'll never be found, and see how the archangels do without their precious vessels! And then, we're going to sit Castiel down and he's going to answer some questions. And we're going to rip him apart, until he tells us what we need. He's going to tell us everything about the angels. He's going to tell us exactly how to kill them. And then he'll tell us all kinds of things that we don't even care about, just to make the pain stop, and when there's nothing left in his head that we don't know…"
Circe's eyes burned with crazed flames as she dug the knife blade deeper into Cas's fur, the angel whimpering with discomfort.
"…then you can have whatever's left of him."
Oh god… Dean swallowed hard, trading another horrified look with Sammy. Circe wasn't bluffing.
"Take him," he whispered, voice directed at Gabriel. "Even if she kills us. Get him out-"
"He's not going anywhere!"
There was a flash of silver and then a frantic, agonized yelp that tore through Dean's heart. He shouted at the same time that Sam whipped around with a howl. The enormous Husky slumped to the floor, snuffling in pain with every exhale; blood was already coating the soft grey fur on his side.
"Cas? Cas!" Dean yelled. "Cas, hold on!" He tried to shift forward, but Sam whirled back around again with a whine and bright fear shining in his eyes. Dean gritted his teeth and fell still, but Gabriel was already at the angel's side.
"Relax, he'll heal himself," Circe said with a sneer, holding up the knife that was now dripping with Cas's blood. "That's what makes this so much fun."
Dean didn't say a word, fuming inside, as he curled his fists and watched Gabriel run a hand over the wounded dog with surprising gentleness. Light—soft and healing light—poured from beneath his palm, closing up the bloody gash. The labored breathing eased. Cas tilted his head up towards the archangel, butting his nose against Gabriel's cheek. Dean exhaled in sharp relief, but his gaze shot instantly to the goddess.
Circe took a step back, eyes locked on Gabriel with shock and incomprehension. Gabriel straightened slowly, and only now did Dean truly see how well the archangel did fit Cas's description of Heaven's most terrifying weapon. The goddess shook her head, taking another step back.
"How did you- But, I don't- Loki?"
"I didn't want it to go like this," the archangel said, low and deep. He dropped his hand, and his silver blade slid out with a light ring. "We had some laughs, Circe, and I tried as hard as I could to protect you, but no one… no one… messes with my little brother but me."
"Your what?"
Gabriel swooped forward, archangel blade nothing but a flash. Dean jumped slightly, eyes wide in shock, as Circe grunted in surprised pain. Light poured out from the wound in her chest, a faint ringing in the air. She looked up at Gabriel with confusion in her gaze. The archangel was nothing but a marble statue as she clung to him, more and more light starting to beam out of her body, and the goddess shook her head.
"But…"
"Sorry, lover." Gabriel jerked his blade free, and the goddess exploded into a brilliant flash of light, before leaving the room in silence.
