Chapter 16: Revelation
Warnings/Disclaimer: Look to the first chapter
The two of them landed in a sea of color and faces that stretched the length of the hotel lobby that they had arrived in. No one even gave their arrival a second glance, and not for the first time Cerberus found herself envious of the Tricksters powers. Though considering the fact that he was actually an archangel and not a lowly gate guardian, she supposed she could let it slide, and he couldn't see souls and auras the same way she could, now could he?
Her ears flicked backwards slightly and her tail tucked halfway between her legs in uncertainty as actually she caught a good view of the humans surrounding them in between a sea of legs. She wouldn't even call them humans if the faint flickers of their auras that she could get without her full sight turned on hadn't told her so. Blue fur, horns, slit pupils—if she wasn't seeing it for herself she'd never have believed the insanity in front of her. All of her previous experience told her that humans feared the things that went bump in the night or that were different from them, but it appeared they were apparently very willing to dress up as those things as long as they could go back to their normal selves the next day. They were stuck in the middle of the mob of people for a while and eventually the conflict between what her eyes were seeing and the souls she could see began to give her a bit of a headache. Gabriel likely sensing her discomfort shoved through the crowd and drew her to a quiet corner of the lobby behind a large advertisement for some movie or another. One tap to her temple with a small application of grace was enough for the headache to vanish, and the act of kindness had her looking up at him in slight confusion and not a little wariness. He just rolled his eyes at her,
"We're partners now Cerberus, and besides," he said, extending his arms towards the busy lobby beyond them, "It's Comic Con, you're supposed to have fun, not be grumpy because of a headache!" He explained, rather dramatically before a thoughtful look appeared on his face,
"Yah know Cerb, you obviously have to change to your human form to truly enjoy this," he silenced her protest with a warning glare, "And you could probably get away with the ears and tail and such too as long as no one gets a really good look at them…" he mused and she blinked in surprise. She hadn't dared be in that form even in the apartment the past couple days for fear someone would see. She didn't think that Gabriel would appreciate Hunters or worse Demons on their trail because of a mistake made by her. The fact that he was offering now was certainly at odds with how he had been acting before bringing them here, the question was why? And with a Trickster, even one who was an arch-angel it was probably best just to ask.
Her ears swiveled back and forth quickly and she gave a quick listen in to the conversations around them just to make sure none of the convention goers had noticed them, after all not even angels were perfect and the day she completely trusted his powers would be the day they failed. Hearing nothing she pictured her human form in her minds' eye the way she had been minutes ago in Zeus's office. Fingers and toes separated from what were once four paws and became hands and feet attached to pale furless human arms, while the thick black fur that covered her dog form receded until it reached the top of her head and thinned before it cascaded down until it framed her face and reached just past her chin. The jeans and long sleeved dark purple shirt she had been wearing in the office reappeared along with the black backpack on her back. As she crouched on the ground where she had previously been standing she shot a rapid look around to make sure no one was watching before letting her ears change from the more natural human position and migrate to the top of her head, becoming pointed, furry, and canine. Her tail formed and elongated, sprouting out the small slit she had cut in the back of all her jeans just in case, covered in black fur it twitched slightly as Gabriel watched with interest as her transformation completed with her all of her teeth sharpening to match her canines. Seeing that she was finished Gabriel dropped whatever barrier he had up to keep the humans prying eyes away and she started to get appreciative glances, and awed whispers began to rise up from the people around them,
"Very nice Cerb." He murmured before he started to move confidently through the crowd and she was forced to follow for fear of being left in this strange place. Gabriel ahead of her walked with a slight swagger as if he owned the floor making people move instinctively out of their way. Following his lead she let false confidence enter into her gait and held her head high. After all, if there was one thing a predator knew, if it looked and acted like prey, it was prey. She certainly did not want to be viewed as prey or weak here, if she seemed even remotely approachable she knew she would be bombarded with questions as to her "costume" and how she came by it. Those were questions that she certainly was not ready or able to answer. She breathed an internal sigh of relief when they reached the lobby desk and Gabriel stepped up to buy their entrance tickets to the convention.
A few curious con-goers that were more courageous than the rest started to approach, their curiosity overcoming the instincts that were screaming at them to stay away from the creatures that were higher up on the food chain, though she doubted they actually knew why she and the man next to her were so off-putting to them. Gabriel noticed them at the same time she did though and he casually put an arm around her shoulders making the humans lose their gumption and they slunk back into the crowd. Cerberus on the other hand barely restrained the flinch and growl that came unbidden to her throat at the unexpected touch. Gabriel noticed her aborted reaction though and shot her a concerned glance even as he continued to charm the unexpecting woman managing the ticket counter. She glanced pointedly down at his arm and he rolled his eyes in annoyance and turned his attention fully back to the woman, the weight of the arm across her shoulders did lighten though and a few seconds later with the tickets bought he steered her lightly out of the crowd and through a set of double doors into the actual convention.
Now, Cerberus knew what comic books were, she'd encountered them in her previous trips to the surface before Hell had put her on lockdown, and Elizabeths' father even had a few framed lovingly in his office. Her knowledge of the subject of the convention did not however prepare her for the actual noise and pandemonium of the convention itself. If she had thought the lobby was bad, the actual convention was so much worse. Why exactly did Gabriel think it was a good idea to take the supernatural creature that had spent numerous years in Hell being tortured and isolated to a room crowded with hyper-active excitable humans, she didn't know. The only good thing about there being so many people was the fact that people seemed far more concerned with where they were going and not the people around them, so less people noticed her extra appendages. Those that did gave her the same awed looks and pointed her out excitedly to whoever else was in her group. Luckily for her their instincts warned most of them away from an actual approach, and for those that were brave, well the glare of an arch-angel was a terrifying thing. Speaking of which,
"Why are you being so nice to me Gabe?" She asked, looking up at him, ears perked forward in curiosity. He seemed a bit annoyed at her using the nickname in public but answered her cheerfully enough,
"Do I need a reason to be a polite host Cerberus?" He asked and then motioned to the people that swarmed and moved around the two of them, stopped as they were in the walkway,
"You've been trapped in that hell-hole, pun fully intended, for years, and yet you protest when I deign to show you such fine culture as the human social convention known as Comic Con?" He teased, though she detected a seriousness behind the exaggerated question. She tugged lightly on his fore-arm that had previously been laid across her shoulders to get them moving again, they had been garnering too many interested stares standing as they had. She walked a bit in silence as she took in and acclimated slowly to the chaos of the room around them, knowing that he would want a serious answer no matter how lightly the question had been posed. She paused for a second to look at a masterfully done painting of a faerie, despite its dissimilarity in appearance to an actual fairy, and finally answered as they once again picked their way between crowded booths of merchandise.
"Partner or no Gabe, there is a difference between letting someone tag along and learn from you and treating them to outings, if you were anyone else my dear Trickster I would question your motives." She murmured before tugging him towards the next display of merchandise that caught her eye, this one bearing items that matched up much more nicely with her timeline. This time it was he who took a long time in answering, seemingly distracted by a brightly colored sign as he thought. In the meantime she pursued the array of knives, daggers, swords, and other blades displayed on the table. One particular double-edged broad sword caught her eye, or rather not the actual blade but the beautifully crafted snarling wolf's head that made up the handle. She looked at the stall owner for permission before carefully lifting it down from its stand and holding it, testing its weight and balance the best she could without alarming the owner, the crowd, or the security official standing an aisle over. As she examined the sword, the crowd dimmed around her, even her companion becoming a distant thought as memories swept her back to her younger days.
—The clang of metal against metal as the blacksmiths sons fought in the small paddock outside their fathers' shop, testing out the newest of their fathers' blades, likely without the smiths' knowledge. Untrained swordsmen that they were she was tempted to step in and show them how it was done, after all her father had been a master swordsman. She knew that here though women were not allowed to fight with a blade, and she was late in picking up the cloth for her Mistresses new dress. Grief and anger welled up as she prepared to move on, and not for the first time she mourned the death of her father and despaired at the miserable situation she was now in; Harsh yelling words, the sting of the Ladys' hand against her cheek, and the knowledge that she was never going to do good enough.
A scraggly looking large black dog stood across the way also watching the young men fight and she stared at in curiosity for a moment, there was something different about the mutt, almost familiar—a hand came crashing down on her shoulder making her jump and the gruff voice of the Blacksmith reached her ears, scolding though not unkind,
"AnnaLee I think ya' might want to hurry on before Mistress Agnes catches ya' daydreaming." She nodded at the brusque man before scurrying off down the road in the direction of the seamstress, the black dog slipping along and following silently behind—
"-Erus, Ceberus!" Gabriels' concerned voice broke her out of her reverie and she blinked slowly, seeing the owner of the stall, some of the people in the crowd, and one arch-angel looking at her in concern. She carefully put the sword back on its stand, murmuring reassurances that seemed to placate the humans, but not her companion. He promptly steered her through the crowd and through a set of doors to an empty room with rows of chairs facing a small stage with table set up upon it. The two of them sat down in a pair of chairs at the end of the back row and she brushed off the Tricksters worried queries, irritation growing when he wouldn't let the topic die,
"I'm fine Gabriel!" she turned and snapped at him, she regretted it instantly because of the hurt look that flashed across his eyes and the bright blue that settled in his aura, she sighed and swiped a hand across her face,
"Just bad memories is all," when this didn't seem to deter him, though the blue did lighten, she decided a change in topic was necessary,
"You never did answer my question Gabe." She pointed out and knew she had caught him when something akin to panic flashed across his face, the pale green of fear swirled in and replaced most of the blue left in his aura. He glanced quickly at the door to the room as if hoping someone would enter to save him from answering, fortunately for her, no such event occurred and after several minutes of patient waiting he heaved an exasperated sigh and attempted to answer,
"Have you ever considered the fact that I'm simply lonely Cerberus?" He asked and she snorted in disbelief,
"I'm sure, you've had plenty of companions for the days and nights, Gabe." She teased slightly, after all she had seen his choice of companion a few times in the short time they had been together. She knew she had made a mistake though when his features twisted in anger and red flared violently throughout his aura. He turned around fully to face her and began to rant, his voice gaining power and confidence with every word uttered,
"I'm no simple Trickster Cerberus, I'm an Arch-angel and even with the cover of Loki, if I stay around other supernatural beings for too long, one of them is bound to notice something off. I'm much too powerful for one thing, not to mention long-lived and nearly impossible to actually kill. So yes Cerberus, while I do have "companions" as you so eloquently put it, when I finally do get the chance to let someone in to travel with me and know who I am after thousands of years, pardon me if I decide to treat them nicely so that they stick around!" He explained, eyes flashing and staring down at her in anger, and she didn't even want to make sense of all the different emotions swirling around in pools and medleys of color in his aura.
She was saved from coming up with an answer by the previously hoped for crowd of people entering the room and taking up seats around and in front of them, although there were a good two seats between the pair of them and any of the humans around them. She glanced over at Gabriel and noticed that his expression had closed off, his aura filled with a blank happy white that she now knew masked the squished muddled grey of his other emotions. She mentally cursed as she realized he would likely be aloof for the rest of the day, if only they hadn't pushed each other to the breaking point so early on, but she supposed it couldn't be helped now. More guests filtered into the room, and she wondered what sort of event was going to occur when several more people filtered in through another door and set up shop on the table on the stage. Once settled the group of five or so people all glanced at each other before a thin red haired boy cleared his throat awkwardly and took the microphone.
"Hello and welcome to the Supernatural panel, specifically that discussing specific theories on how Dean will escape from Hell and the codependent relationship between the Winchester brothers. My name's Eric, and if you find that you are in the wrong panel feel free to leave now." At the announcement a few of the people in the room and got up and exited sheepishly. Eric nodded to himself and let the last of the group leave before continuing,
"Now then, before we introduce ourselves and begin the panel I would just like to mention that we're in the process of organizing a Supernatural convention within the next few years, and that Carver Edlund himself has promised us his presence if we get everything organized, so keep a look out for that. I think that's all for announcements, time to introduce our panelists today, to my left we have….." The next hour or so gave Cerberus far more insight into the Winchester family and brothers than she had ever wanted to know, seems that prophet was pretty darn accurate. Luckily, it appeared that as of yet there were no mentions of any additional books to the series and no theories as to Deans escape that included even angelic help, which suited her rather fine as they ended with Deans entrance to Hell, and if the next series would begin with his exit, well she liked being a mythical fictional creature with no publicity outside of Homer's scribblings.
She and Gabriel wandered about the convention for a few more hours, and while numerous people still ogled at her ears and tail, Gabriel kept the courageous from actually approaching her, and she had no doubt from his side glances at those with cameras raised in her direction, that any image taken of her would summarily disappear from their albums immediately after taken. Despite all of the gawking and whispers, the convention was quite enjoyable. The costumes that some of the humans adorned were quite ornate and of good quality, even if she did not know the characters they were portraying, and the art that they created on paper and other mediums to display characters and scenes in some cases was truly exceptional. The pair stayed away from most of the other panels as after glancing at the schedule, Cerberus had realized that she knew absolutely nothing about any of the things being discussed.
Finally, even Gabriel himself seemed to tire of the constant ebb and flow of people and chaos around them and they exited the hotel where the convention was being held, with her looking fully human again after a quick trip to the restroom. His flair for the dramatic and hatred of boredom had not left him despite the busy day she realized belatedly because when she rejoined him, they were whisked off to a plush hotel suite somewhere. She was promptly sat down on a couch cushion with an excited arch-angel across from her who pompously stated,
"Cerberus, I think it's about time that you learned to properly use that telepathy ability of yours." She had no doubt that the next few hours before she was allowed to sleep for the night would be grueling.
AN:/ Sorry its taken so long to get this chapter out, on the bright side I'm already almost a page into Chapter 17 and I've got the next few chapters outlined/events in them planned. Next chapter we'll be meeting up with our favorite pair of brothers again.