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Chapter 6

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"You called him Dad." He pointed out mildly, a faint smirk curling at the corner of him mouth. Loki blinked. "I think you also just admitted to being an Archangel….but I could be wrong there."

"Fuck"

Dean was openly smirking now, if Loki was really an angel – well, that certainly explained a few things. Like why repeatedly stabbing him with things was irritatingly ineffective. Dean was pulled out of his thoughts when Loki finally seemed to gather his scattered wits and paste that trickster smile of his on his face.

"An angel? Really? Dean come on." Loki rolled his eyes, Dean just stared back with a raised eye brow.

"So, which one are you?" Dean asked. Loki huffed - a dangerous glint in his eyes telling Dean to drop it or else. Dean had never listened to such threats before however, and he wasn't about to start now. "Come on now Loki, share a little! The way you were just getting grabby with my soul I should think I deserve a little honesty!" Dean taunted.

"Dean, I'm LOKI, a PAGAN GOD." Loki stated dryly, "I'm not an angel." Now get your head out of your ass already, we've got more important things to deal with!"

"Honestly I think this is pretty important." Dean answered blandly. Loki glared sourly at the grinning hunter.

"Dean." he growled warningly.

X X X

One week later

Normally Dean would have been pissed at being relegated to the hotel room while Sam dealt with a monster alone. But just this once he would make an exception, anything to not have to experience the horror that was the convention. Seriously, Sam was taking one for the team this time. He was just glad that Cas was still off somewhere in a snit, he didn't want to have to explain this particular part of human insanity to the angel.

Gabriel was at least hanging around and helping Sam, whenever he had stopped laughing long enough to be at least mildly helpful anyways – which is to say, not much. he had been kinda surprised when the fugitive Archangel had decided to follow them around. Apparently not willing to let Dean out of his sight while he was turning into whatever the hell he was turning into. Cas was, somewhere. apparently Gabriel had really pissed him off with whatever he'd done to him while running them through tv land. The angel had been avoiding them as long as Gabriel was present. Only dropping in when the archangel had left for the time being.

So Cas was MIA, Sam was hunting a ghost and he got to sit on the lumpy hotel mattress and watch reruns of Dr. Sexy while waiting for whatever upgrade he was about to get. Chuck had been pretty hazy on what exactly was going to happen to him, only that he should be out of sight of regular humans (Sam included) and that he was going to feel like absolute shit for a few hours before it happened.

Chuck had actually glared at Becky when she'd admitted to stealing his phone and calling them. Apparently if she hadn't they'd have been in a cabin in the woods somewhere with Gabriel, not having him hide out in a crowded hotel by himself while Gabe and Sam dealt with a ghost. He'd known she was going to try it but apparently something had come up and he had been distracted when she'd gone after his phone. Strangely he'd seemed more annoyed at himself then at her for that.

So yeah here he was watching TV and trying to ignore the oddly tight sensation around his heart. It felt kinda like he'd gone and swallowed a softball and it had lodged in his throat. He shifted on the bed, kicking the blanket off his legs as the current episode ended and another started up, it was damn hot in here. He perked up a bit as the first few scenes of the episode flicked by, this was a good one.

An hour later he had messed with the thermostat three times and finally just gave up on wearing his shirt. At this point he was pretty sure he had a fever or something, the thermostat proclaimed it to be a nice 68 degrees in the room but he still felt like he was cooking.

The episode was half over when the newest development appeared, he was fucking glowing. Not like bright bright, but a faint – if noticeable, goldish glow. Dean stared at his arm warily, studying the glow, wondering if the light was of the 'burn out peoples eyes' variety. It didn't seem bright enough for that but given how differently he had been seeing things lately you could never be sure. It would certainly explain why Chuck had told him to get out of sight of humans and stay there.

Giving it up as a lost cause Dean turned his attention back to the TV, trying to ignore the growing sense of lethargy that was creeping up on him. As the glow got brighter it became steadily more difficult to keep his eyes open. Whatever the fuck his soul was doing was just about sucking the life out of him. Curled up in a miserable ball on the bed a short time later, the TV a dull drone in the background, Dean wondered if the Grace his soul had absorbed was just going to kill him.

He wasn't really sure when he finally lost the battle with outright consciousness and slipped into a sort of half conscious daze. All he knew was that he point blank could not move. A hundred demons could have blasted through the door and he wouldn't have been able to twitch a finger. The idea didn't really bother him though; he got the sense that anything that came through that door right now with harm in mind would more than merely regret it. He could dimly sense that something was in the room. His new senses where a bit odd sometimes but whatever it was felt fairly nice. At least until it tugged on warping soul.

Dean tried to mentally bat the presence away, not really having any idea what he was doing, and as a result managing little more than dazed flailing. All he got in return was a sense of amusement. Annoyance brought Dean a little closer to consciousness and he put some of the little tricks Cas had been trying to teach him into practice. The psychic tricks were (barely) on par with what a weak ghost was capable of, not that that stopped him from trying. Dean reeled a moment later – feeling a bit like he'd just tried to slug a mountain.

"Stop squirming" Whatever the hell it was huffed in faint exasperation. Dean mentally snarled at it, not willing to back down. "Yes, yes – you're terrifying, now stop that." Dean lost what little hold on lucidity he'd had for a few moments slipping back into a vaguely grumpy haze.

The odd tension in his soul change a bit, as something was tweaked again further. He wasn't sure how much time passed before whatever it was backed off. Dean only had a moment to hazily wonder what the hell that had been about as something in his chest seemed to buckle followed by the horrific feeling of both his back and moreover his soul tearing open. Every light in the room, including the tv and even the digital clock on the side table, exploded. Outside a faint tremor ran through the hotel but no signs of the light or noise escaped the room.

Gabriel froze where he and Sam had been poking around the basement. Sam paused looking back at him in concern. "Gabriel?" he asked, worriedly. Gabe opened his mouth to say something, paused, and closed it again. Looking rather poleaxed. "Gaberiel?" Now Sam was really worried. What the hell could leave an Archangel looking like somebody had just whacked him over the head with a board? Gabriel finally blinked a few times – coming out of his funk.

"Uh, right…that was…unexpected." he finally said somewhat blankly. Sam eyed him, bemused.

"And that would be, what exactly?"

"Well, dean-o just almost blew this hotel off the map. The fact that he didn't says that Dad is hanging around again. So….." Gabriel trailed off, his eyes unfocused. No doubt trying to spot God where ever he was hiding out. Sam was willing to bet that Gabriel wouldn't be able to spot God unless he damn well wanted him to.

"Right, is dean ok?" Sam asked, giving the question of whether or not God was around up as a lost cause. Gabriel frowned.

"Uh, I think so? I'll go and check on him. Make sure he didn't explode."

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Dean's mind was slow to dredge itself back out of the exhausted pit it had fallen into. He felt like a limp noodle, he tried to roll over only for a soft rustling sound and the sense of weight on his back to stop him. Dean was still for a long moment, dread pooling in his gut. No fucking way. He cracked an eye open and looked over his should suspiciously, not really sure if he wanted to know.

The arch of a half folded wing obscured his sight of the rest of the room.

"Oh wow," Dean flinched at Gabriel's words, the archangel appearing out of nowhere as per usual. "Well, aren't you a pretty bird?" he chirped gleefully. Dean glared at him. The shiny copper wings fluffing up in answer to his annoyance. Gabriel bounded over getting a closer look at Deans new appendages. It was immediately obvious, to him at least, that these were not angel wings. An angels wings were like crystallized light, Deans new penny bright appendages looked like metal. Every feather bright copper with a silver shaft. The effect was quite striking. Reaching out he poked one of the long primary feathers. The quills bent and flexed like living feathers, much as an angel crystalline feathers did.

"Dude, hands off." Dean groaned trying to roll away off the bed and only succeeding in flailing his wings around. Dean toppled off the bed with a yelp, hitting the floor with an undignified thump. Gabriel leaned over the bed to stare down at him in amusement. Dean eyed the wing on his right side in utter bafflement, the other one currently squashed under him. "What the fuck?" He demanded the feathers bristling in response to his aggravation. Gabriel snickered and reached out to grab the leading edge of the wing and get a better look at it.

He recoiled with a hiss of honest pain, a glowing silver slice on his palm. It wasn't much worse than a paper cut, but it was a real injury. Gabriel eyed Deans wings with a wary air now. Now that he was looking for it the previously soft and somewhat fluffy feathers had slicked down. A careful prod revealed the larger ones to be hard and inflexible. He considered the glinting edges carefully. Dean was packing a few thousand razor blades on his back it would seem. Razor blades that could actually do damage. Interesting. Angels could harden their wings to use them as a shield, or just bash things, but not to cut like it would seem Deans could.

"Those things are weaponized, Dean-o. Better watch that temper of yours or you'll be slicing everybody to ribbons." Dean swore softly and rolled off his other wing. Shaking the worst of the ruffled feathers back into line with an instinctive flick. He paused and frowned at the action. A little unsettled at how easy it was to move them. No different than using his arms really.

"How the fuck did I not cut myself falling on them?" he demanded, checking his side for nicks and finding nothing. Gabriel shrugged.

"Could be any number of reasons, now Dean-o, I'm pretty sure daddy was over here – he wouldn't have happened to stop to chat did he?" Dean frowned, trying to think. Nothing was really coming to mind.

"I know..well, someone was here, I don't remember much other than that, sorry."Dean shrugged, flicking a scowl at the wings that had echoed the movement. Gabriel sighed, a resigned look on his face.

"I suppose that would have been too easy." He muttered, Dean nodded distractedly in agreement as he tried to get his wings folded up on his back. They were surprisingly small and just about fit into the curve of his back. Only extending a few inches above and below. Cas's wings would probably be nearly twice the size of his own. Angel wings from what he'd seen just never quite seemed to work with the human bodies they wore. The wings were just too large. Cas's wings when folded rested with the highest joint just above his head, the primary feathers just brushing the bottom edge of his trench coat – spread out he had a more than twenty foot wingspan. It's not that they looked ungainly or anything, but if they had actual been human those wings would be awkward as hell. Honestly when people thought of humans with wings they tended to picture them like that. Dean figured his smaller wings wouldn't be too much trouble, all together his wings span was probably more like 10 or 12 feet. Dean frowned over his shoulder at the coppery wings. You know, he could probably wear a coat over these things without any real trouble.

"Hey, are these things visible? Or are they like your guys's wings?" he asked, Gabriel dragged his attention back to him from where he'd been staring at the far wall and muttering darkly. The archangel peered at him intently for a moment.

"No, they're not visible. Although you can probably make them visible without much trouble if you want. And don't worry about poking holes in your jacket those things aren't physical any more than mine are." Dean nodded and picked himself up off the ground. Surprised when the wings didn't upset his balance any. "They wouldn't, they're not physically there, their an extension of your soul. No actual weight, although you're going to need to adapt to them a bit, they will throw you off if you start flapping around when you're trying to fight or something."

"Uh, right." Dean huffed, annoyed. The wings resttling on his back with a rustle, the feathers loosing the sharpness they'd held a moment before. The sound of wing beats cut off what he'd been about to say. Cas flickered into existence. They both froze. Cas stared at the copper wings that had flared out in surprise. Gabriel glanced between them and had to suppress a snicker.

"See something you like little brother?" he teased. Cas didn't even look at him to busy looking at Deans wings. Dean shot Gabriel a look that promised pain before turning back to Castiel who had stepped forward and was running a hand through the feathers on the wing closest to him.

"Cool hu?" Dean asked. Cas looked up at him and smiled faintly.

"They are beautiful, Dean." Dean went red at that, grumbling. Gabriel laughed at him and was forced to duck a moment later when one razor sharp copper wing scythed through the spot where his head had been.

"Fuck off Gabriel." He snapped. Gabriel took a step back, hands up in mock surrender.

"I can see when I'm not wanted." He teased. "I'll leave you two love birds alone, I'm sure Sammy's started worrying by now."Gabriel blinked out, Dean could sense him flit away through that layer of reality the Cas had been teaching him to sense. He looked back at Cas with a huff of annoyance.

"they truly are amazing, Dean." Cas repeated carfully examining the silver shaft of a small downy feather near the wrist joint. Dean grumbled at that, he was not amazing.

"so, Gabriel was too busy being a smart ass to actually help, but – am I an angel now or something?" Dean asked warily, Cas frowned and did his little head tilt as he seemed to stare straight through Dean. Dean was pretty used to this behavior by now and let the Angel do his staring.

"No, you are not an angel…." Cas trailed off there frowning at him in puzzlement. "it's strange you're not truly human any more, but…. Your soul is like an angels grace, but not in of itself – angelic. It almost…" Cas trailed off again, studying him.

"Almost what?" Dean asked warily. Cas gave him a searching look for a moment before answering.

"Your soul still feels human in a similar manner that a demons soul still feels human, but while a Demon is darkness…your light – the same kind of light as an angel." Cas stopped again looking rather stumped. Dean, really wasn't sure about being compared to a demon. But the way Cas had phrased it, he wasn't saying that Dean felt like a demon. It was more like. Whatever intrinsic parts of a human's soul that stayed human enough to be identified as such even in demons was what had remained human in him. Or something like that. it was more than a little unsettling then that he was now as far off 'human' as a demon was – just in apparently the other direction.

Cas's expression brightened suddenly. "I can't wait to teach you to fly, regardless of what you may be now." Dean blinked a flash of horror cutting through him at the idea of flying. Oh hell no.

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Quetzal - so, what do you think of Deans wings? and yes, that was God dean was flailing at. we'll see more of him later. here is a comparison of Dean and Cas's wings. they really are meant to be different and it will be relevant later. so check that out if the description didn't do it for you. the image should also be with the version of this over on AO3. sta dot sh/01qn94z9spa2