John wasn't exactly startled when Mycroft Holmes suddenly reappeared in his life after about 10 months after Sherlock's swan dive, but to be honest, he wasn't surprised when it turned out to be because of Sherlock. And that was before he found out how injured his friend was. Sam had been manhandled into the car with him and was contacting Gabriel who if he wasn't already with his son, had to be losing his mind and pairing that mood with an archangel…
When they reached the Holmes Manor, Mycroft was reigning in his emotions pretty well despite the fact that his 'dead' brother appeared out of nowhere in front of him and looked like he was going to die again. When Sam saw Sherlock's injuries, he said that angels had something to do with it if he wasn't healing yet and if he was glowing that much. Not to mention the fact that as soon as the confidentially contracted medical team had left the hastily prepared medical room, Sherlock's control slipped due to exhaustion and pain that his wings manifested since they didn't work on instinct yet.
That show had left even Mycroft startled and glaring at John like it was his fault this mess had happened. This was apparent when Mycroft pulled him aside while Sam was contacting Kevin to let him know what was going on.
"Judging by your lack of reaction, you've known about this for a while." Mycroft commented, raking his eyes over his brother's ebony wings. John rolled his eyes, 'Let the questioning begin…'
"I did."
"And you neglected to tell me?" John shrugged.
"To be honest, I thought you knew. Sam told me of how he met you and that you knew who Gabriel was. I assumed that meant you knew that Sherlock was alive." Mycroft's face pinched up slightly and John heaved another internal sigh. Why did he have to deal with the Holmes brothers and their tantrums when being denied any knowledge? That reaction was pretty much the equivalent of a normal man screaming to the skies in frustration.
"So, he's been alive this entire time?"
"No. He did actually die from jumping off St. Barts. He was still human then and it was due to a sacrifice for myself, Greg, and Mrs. Hudson. That was the whole reason Gabriel appeared again. Sherlock Holmes was due to die that day so nothing you could have done would have prevented that."
Some of the tension drained out of Mycroft's shoulders while his face went back to its neutral look of disapproval at the world.
"So what caused Sherlock to appear in my office like this?"
"Last I heard, Gabriel and Sherlock were looking for a way to open up Purgatory, basically an afterlife for any supernatural creatures that aren't angels or demons. Sam's older brother and their friend Castiel and what I believe to be the King of Hell got sucked in when ridding the world of Leviathans. If you remember the disappearance of Dick Roman, he was the leader of the Leviathans. Nasty buggers. Eats anything and were planning of ridding the earth of any lifeforms other than themselves."
"Well, that explains that can of worms that the Americans have been dealing with." Mycroft replied with a sigh. "When did you find out?"
"About Sherlock being alive?" A nod. "Well, it was back in January. Sherlock wasn't exactly born again with these wings. There's something that you need to know about angels. They aren't human-like. They are actually these beings that exist as forms of light that can honestly burn out your eyes unless you have some special 'Heaven-deemed' quality. Same goes to hearing their actual voices. They can blow out your eardrums and not even realize it. How Gabriel appears is that he's actually in a human vessel, one that had to give permission for Gabriel to use his body.
"Now, Sherlock is a bit different, as per usual. He's only the second one of his kind to be born as a human and essentially ascend to angelic stature after death and apparently it's only with God's approval. His soul was turned into grace, which is what makes up an angel, hence why his wounds glowed earlier before being bandaged up. That was bits of grace leaking out. When he first woke up after Bart's, he had to transition into being an entirely different species and while he can leave his own body, it is tied to him since it still is him in a way. So, he had to grow his own wings since he was so supercharged with grace. Gabriel decided to bring me in along with the Winchesters to make sure that Sherlock's human body didn't fail while he was growing his wings, physical manifestations of his grace, because he couldn't focus on doing that while doing upkeep on his body. That's when I met the Winchesters for the first time personally."
"And that's when Gabriel and Samuel first appeared in London, Gabriel knowing I would recognize him and pull him in." Mycroft murmured. "I'm assuming that you deal in the supernatural if you had heard of the Winchesters before actually meeting them."
"I used to hunt, however then I applied for military service and got injured. Then Sherlock appeared. By then, I was sticking to the non-supernatural criminals but would be an informant for others in the London area and beyond and would have my own clients."
"A consulting hunter. What a pair you and my brother make." The elder Holmes said with a small smile and John mirrored it back. Sam came back into the room to find the two British men standing in silence watching Sherlock sleep.
"I'm guessing that this is not a new occurrence for either of you." He stated and Mycroft actually let out a chuckle.
"Not at all. Though, the extra limbs do bring a new addition to the usual fanfare."
It was then that an irate archangel appeared in the room, looking extremely angry until he spotted Sherlock laying on the bed asleep before sagging in relief.
"Thank Dad that he's not dead due to the stupidity of some idiots who haven't had any contact with the outside world since the Romans." He groaned and plopped down into the chair next to the bed while the three humans watched.
"What exactly were you both doing, if I may ask?" John asked and Gabriel lazily looked over to the shortest man in the room.
"I went back up to Heaven to take the reins since things are still in an uproar after the civil war. Since my family is still unaccustomed to not following orders, the minute a superior steps in they fall in line. Since I am now technically the most powerful being in the universe apart from my Dad and Death, it was easy. Sherlock was going to the Library of Alexandria but I forgot that it was being guarded and we didn't change the warding of Sherlock's protections so they attacked on sight. I found out about it after the fight and took the idiots to town. They're up in Heaven quivering in fear."
"Wait- the Library of Alexandria?! The one that burned down in Egypt?" Sam asked, wide-eyed. Mycroft and John were in similar states of shock however the Holmes man was less obvious.
"Well, the human one burned down. Long story, but an angel, Raziel, was enamored with humans and their knowledge and whenever a new book was entered into the Library of Alexandria, he made a copy for his own library that's still hidden out in Egypt. Raziel then had the bright idea to steal copies of Heaven's texts and eventually was caught. Since my brother Michael was in charge, things didn't end well for Raziel. Michael let the Library still exist, a just in case scenario, but since there were numerous angelic works in the library, guards were assigned from the best of Heaven's ranks to guard it. I had forgotten they would still be there since they were under orders to never leave. That reminds me, I should probably grab those enochian works and let some humans 'discover' the library." He then noticed the elder Holmes who let out a smirk.
"Pleasure to see you again, Gabriel. Perhaps you'll give me a warning so I'm not thrown into any situation blindly." Gabriel blinked before grinning.
"You know what, I'm just gonna get right on healing my son here. I see you had a lovely chat and learned how badly my family is at announcing resurrection dates with invites. I mean, I thought you would know considering we've been staying in London for the past two months since Dean, Castiel, and Crowley went on their Purgatory vacation…speaking of which: something just popped up that has a bit of my grace attached to it and probability laws state it's most likely Dean Winchester. Bye!"
The archangel was gone in a blink of an eye leaving Mycroft annoyed, John grinning, and Sam in shock.
"Something to do with Dean?" He exclaimed before groaning and putting his head in his hands. "I don't know why I expect more out of him. It's pretty much in his job description to drop hints then disappear."
John glanced over at Sherlock and smiled. "Well, he did heal Sherlock up a bit before disappearing."
Sherlock's wings had disappeared again and the more serious angel blade wounds seemed to have shrunk in size and didn't glow anymore. The grimace on his face had also smoothed out into a mask of calm. It was the honestly the first time Sherlock had been asleep since January at least.
"Well." Mycroft sighed, taking a look over Sherlock again, "Shall I call for tea while we await either news from Gabriel or for my brother to cause a ruckus?"
It turned out that yes, Gabriel had somewhere to be at that very moment (and he may owe Dean another IOU) because after reaching the portal to Earth in Purgatory, the inevitable conversation came about.
Whether to allow Dean to go through the portal without the two.
"Honestly guys, can't you survive a day or two without me?"
Crowley scowled. "It's less of surviving without you, we are both at least centuries old by this point if you've forgotten, but more of a more realistic chance of 'the demon and angel are going to be trapped in Purgatory while the human escapes by the thread once more'. It's a reasonable thing to be worried about with Winchesters." Dean turned to Castiel who grimaced and shrugged.
"Honestly, he makes a point." The human groaned.
"Why do you two decide to agree on things when it's things that could get us out of here?"
"Because we have common sense while you work on blind hope."
"Hey- I helped stopped the apocalypse on that so you shut your filthy demon mouth." He pulled out a small vile that was connected to a leather cord hanging around his neck. It glowed a bright gold and seemed to get brighter now that it was exposed. Castiel's eyes widened.
"Is that-"
"Big brother's grace? I told you he gave me the tools to get our asses out of here. You said that no one knew where the portal to Purgatory opened up on Earth? Well if I go through and use this bad boy, we have two archangels answering the emergency red phone with a rescue. There's your plan and it was planned out before we even got in this hell hole so it's not like my usual kind." Crowley's eyes widened and he whistled as he eyed the bottle of grace.
"For once, that is a sight for sore eyes. Although, you said two archangels. Short and crazy is one for sure that's confirmed but what other archangel was revived that would actually work with you bozos? Mikey is out for obvious reasons, as is the Morningstar…Raphael was taken out by Mr. Wings over here so who's behind door number 4?"
Dean smirked.
"One right off the production line and stamped with the seal of approval by the big man himself since he decided to actually do something for once and that involved getting a grandkid." Crowley's smug look turned into one of horror.
"You don't mean that the most annoying being in the universe, and trust me: the Winchester Brothers are in a close running for second since you are conjoined at the hip, but Gabriel has procreated?!"
Dean shrugged. "Yup. He's like 2 years older than I am or something. Who do you think the fake version of you was if Gabriel was with us and in sight?"
Crowley paled even further.
"A new archangel with Trickster tendencies and trained by Gabriel? I might have to hide out in Hell because being anywhere a tag team could reach me while working with Team Goody-Goody? I'd rather pay a visit back to the racks."
Dean and Castiel both rolled their eyes.
"Dude, just let me go through the portal, get the God Squad on this and then you can go back to Hell and do whatever the fuck you'd like so long as it doesn't affect Earth on a global scale. We'd prefer you more than the other fucktards down in the pit." Dean groaned and Crowley gave him a grin while batting his eyelashes.
"That almost sounded like a compliment. Does that mean you love me now? Would you like a goodbye kiss or would you rather the angel do that?" Dean growled and shoved the backpack of supplies except for his machete at Castiel and had a brief staring contest for five seconds before turning to glare at Crowley and back to Castiel, pointing between the two.
"No killing each other while I'm gone. I don't know where you bastards would go if you die but if it's Purgatory, I'm coming back and killing you."
"Yes mother."
"Yes Dean."
Dean groaned again before walking through the portal only to fall flat on his face in a pile of mud.
"Fucking perfect." He grumbled as he got up and opened up the vile of grace which flared out immediately from the vile and circled around him before shooting up in the air and disappearing.
A few seconds later, a surprised and grateful Gabriel appeared before the archangel gave him a once-over.
"Dean Winchester. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes, though you're looking a bit…earthier than usual? Did you get a facial?"
"Shut the hell up and please clean me off and get the two other idiots out of Purgatory before they kill each other."
Gabriel laughed and snapped his fingers and Dean suddenly felt cleaner than he had in months. He double checked for any sort of trick before looking back up at Gabriel who shrugged.
"You just got me out of an incredibly awkward conversation with Sherlock's older brother who just found out he was alive. Trust me, I owe you this and more." He looked around the area before humming in satisfaction. "Well it makes sense that no one could find this place. It's in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere in Switzerland. We could always get chocolate before going to repair Sherlock so we can rescue little bro and the other pissy lime I know."
"Treat me to your heart's content. I want food and an actual bed."
"Why Dean, are you asking out little ole me? I'll have to inform Sherly that he might be getting a stepdad!"
"Eww, just get us to civilization so we can wrap up this shit show."
Gabriel merely wiggled his eyebrows before snapping his fingers and materializing a flag with his grinning face on it and placing it by where Dean had appeared.
"A little reminder for only me or Sherlock where the hell this place is again so we don't have to have Sherlock get attacked by idiots who don't know how to read warding." He explained with a grumble before snapping his fingers again and the two disappeared from the dense woods.
