"Oh god my aching head..." said Dean. He had gone to sleep with Bear in the car (mostly because the hotel refused to let any animals in and he would rather have his car in one piece) and woken up in some shady hell hole. The weird thing was that the place looked like the hotel he had gone to sleep in, only run down until it was almost unrecognizable.
He remembered falling asleep. Then there was the sudden waking up to the sensation of an unfamiliar angel in the room. Whoever it was had to be powerful...they got the drop on him and did something before he had a chance to react properly after flaring his magic at them. The only ones who didn't stumble when he did that were Gabriel, Luc and Castiel now that he was used to the flaring.
And now he had a bitch of a headache.
He was going to kill whoever did this stunt.
Dean reached into his bag to pull out an all-purpose healing potion. Or as Gabriel flippantly put it, a full system purge potion. He downed one of the vials he had of it (he kept that well stocked for good reason) and felt a thousand times better.
Now that he could see straight without his head killing him, he sent out a series of pings along the telepathic connections he had made. There was only one hit, and it didn't feel right.
Something was wrong with Castiel. He took one look outside at the city he was in and grimaced. He was not walking through something that looked like it had been on the wrong end of a zombie apocalypse.
He went to the roof instead and shifted into Godzilla. He could reach Castiel faster that way.
Castiel felt like shit. His day had started out normally. Pop in a few pills, raid the well guarded alcohol stash, and try not to kill himself.
Then something strange happened that changed his routine. He felt something brush up against his mind. He sent a curious push back.
Something felt it. He could sense something coming his way. Something big.
Castiel left the 'house' he made his own and went to find Dean.
"What is it Cas?" he asked. He was not in a good mood, but he never was these days.
"Something is heading this way."
Dean went on alert instantly.
"Any idea what it is?"
"Not Lucifer. It brushed up against my mental shields, but it didn't feel like the Morning Star. Actually, it felt like you, which is odd."
"Me?" Dean repeated.
Suddenly the guards shouted in alarm as something big flew over the camp. It did a sort of loop before it doubled back, and started to shrink. Castiel wasn't the only one staring.
"A dragon?" said Dean incredulous.
Castiel felt something brush up against his grace. He pushed back, and it gently nudged him. It felt...nice. Almost comforting. He desperately wanted to curl up against that feeling. It was better than heaven had been.
The dragon landed, shrinking so it could fit the clearing better. It looked right at Cas and nudged his mental shields, as if asking him to translate. He opened them up and felt the most protective and caring soul he had ever met.
"He wants to know your name and what the year is," translated Castiel.
Dean looked at Cas oddly.
"You can hear it?"
"He's highly telepathic and the reason he came here was because I was the only one to answer his call."
"Dean Winchester. The year's 2014."
The dragon growled angrily.
Castiel acted as the dragon's voice, not bothering to censore what it said.
"'A fucking Winchester? What messed up future did that asshole angel drop me in?!'"
Dean looked at the dragon in disbelief.
"An angel?"
"'Seraph or higher, probably getting back because I killed Zachariah for torturing Castiel. If you're here then where's Sam?'"
"Who the hell are you?"
The dragon snorted.
"'Dean Harvelle. Dropped the Winchester name after one too many screw ups from the sperm donor. If you try to shoot me I'll kick your ass,'" translated Castiel.
The dragon's wings enveloped it, before they broke apart revealing...a slightly younger Dean?
"Okay, how the fuck did you screw everything up that there are demons running rampant around here? And what the hell did you do to Sam that would make him run?" demanded his other self.
Dean looked at the alternate version of him like he had a second head.
"I'm seriously confused."
Castiel was the one to clear it up.
"This is not you from the past. This is an alternate dumped here by an angel. He has natural magic, and a lot of it," said Cas.
"Probably an arch angel, knowing my luck. The fact he didn't stumble when I flared my magic at him was a big tip off. Now what the hell happened?"
"Sam said yes to Lucifer. Set off the Croatoan virus, resulting in infected everywhere. Cas was the only angel to stick with us, and now he's stuck on Earth."
Harvelle (and Dean decided to just call him that to avoid confusion) pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Cas wasn't the only angel on Earth dumbass. Has Loki tried to contact you?"
Dean's face contorted in anger.
"Asshole tried to buddy up to me about a year after, but I kicked his ass to the curb. I don't care how screwed up he looked, he deserved it after the crap he put us through."
He wasn't expecting the punch to the face.
"You threw Loki out? Are you an idjit?!"
"So what if I threw a pagan out?"
"Loki's an angel you moron! He must have trusted you a little bit if he was willing to ask you for help, and you cast him aside!"
Dean stared.
"That asshole is an angel?"
Harvelle was about to bite his head off, when he tilted his head as if hearing something.
"Looks like you're about to find out soon enough," he said cryptically.
Gabriel felt like shit, and it was only getting worse. His wings were in tatters, his grace was in shreds. He was barely able to keep his vessel from being destroyed just trying to contain him.
So when he felt the presence of someone not infected, and worse, clearly a powerful natural magical, he started to panic. He didn't want to be bound to a witch!
"Sweet mother of god... Gabriel, what happened to you?"
Gabriel barely recognized the voice. What was Sam Winchester doing here? More importantly why didn't he sense Lucifer inside of him?
Sam tried to come closer, but he backed away as far as he could considering how much pain he was in. Sam and his dog...since when did he have a dog?... didn't come any closer.
As if things could get more confusing, Sam started humming something.
It took a few moments for him to realize he was humming something in Enochian. When did the Moose learn his native tongue? Gabriel relaxed without meaning to. Then he felt something gently brush against his mind. He didn't want anyone in, but the feeling was so warm he let the shields down anyway.
Easy Gabe, I'm not going to hurt you. What happened to you?
Gabriel nearly jumped. Since when did Sam Winchester know how to use telepathy? And where the hell did he found out Loki was Gabriel? He never told them! Sensing his panic, Sam sent a fresh wave of his magic around Gabriel. The arch angel calmed down slightly, feeling the love and gentle nature of it.
His Gabriel had always said Sam's magic made him feel warm and fuzzy...which was ironic because that was how he felt about Gabriel's wings around him.
Sam kept up the humming through telepathy as he shifted to his unicorn form. Gabriel's eyes doubled in size.
It took little coaxing for the angel to curl up against his animal form. Clearly that was all the proof he needed that Sam wasn't going to hurt him. The arch angel wept as he clutched Sam's black main. Sam nuzzled him and sent healing waves of magic towards Gabriel's wings, which bleed.
Bear took point and guarded them. When Dean wasn't around, Sam was Bear's secondary Alpha. Gabriel hugged the dog when it came close, and Bear let him, recognizing his scent.
Gabriel, how bad is your vessel at the moment? Can you hold it long enough to ride or do you need to get a new one?
I'm barely holding it together as it is.
Sam made a split second decision. His Gabriel would probably kick his ass, but if it meant keeping his alternate alive he would deal with it. Besides, he could always get Dean to bribe him back into a better mood with pie.
Gabriel you can use my body as a vessel. At least until we can get you better again.
I thought you were Lucifer's vessel?
Wrong Sam. Though from that I can only guess Lucifer got out and forced your version of Sam to say yes. I only came to this Earth to look for my Dean...an arch angel was near him and Mort told me to go look for where the idjit went. Bear's just here to track him down.
Sam could feel Gabriel's vessel break down, and something enter his body. Instead of taking full control, Gabriel seemed to hug Sam's magical core like a teddy bear.
He didn't know angels could let their vessels have control. Sam nudged Gabriel with his mind, as if to give him a hug. He could feel Gabriel slowly calm down and fall asleep enveloped in his magic.
Sam looked at Bear in his unicorn form. He got up and started walking to the door. Bear took the hint without being told. They had been seeking Dean when Sam caught Gabriel's distress signal. The only reason Bear had detoured from Dean's magic was because he could sense Dean was fine...but Gabriel sure as hell wasn't.
Sam was glad Bear was so well trained. He never would have found the angel until it was far too late, and maybe not even then.
He took off at a full gallop, matching Bear's long strides with ease. As a hellhound crossbreed, Bear could go for miles once he had the scent. Especially when he was on the hunt.
It took them several hours and very few breaks, but eventually they found a camp. Bear let out a series of barks. A warning sign for Dean that he was nearby so he didn't get shot in the event Dean was on a hunt. Sam let out a loud cry, alerting his brother he was with the dog.
All clear Sammy. Bring Bear here before I shoot someone.
Sam lead the dog into the camp, ignoring the people with guns. Unicorns had a natural ability to avoid being seen. It came with the limited amount of healing powers...or in the case of a black unicorn like Sam, shields.
Black unicorns were prized above all others not because they rarer than the silver breed, which were relatively easy to find if you knew what you were doing, but because they were protectors of the herd. Black unicorns could kill people and purge the taint. Silver ones couldn't do that and had to rely on their blood to keep them safe. And a black unicorn was always the herd leader. Always.
He spotted his Dean pretty fast. He was the only one looking right at him while his double was looking for the source of the barking.
Sam dropped his cloak the second he got to his brother.
Do you have any idea how pissed Mort was when you vanished? He woke me and Gabriel up out of a sound sleep!
Dean laughed...right up until he noticed the addition to Sam's soul.
"Sammy, who the hell did you pick up?"
Sam shifted back to human.
"I found Loki. He was nearly dead."
"You do realize he'll be pissed you picked up an angel right?" said Dean raising an eyebrow.
"He'll have to deal with it. I'm not about to let his alternate die just because he might have a problem with it. Now what the hell is going on around here?"
"This moron screwed things up, and your alternate has Luc running around using him as a meat sack. We could fly back now...but frankly the idea of leaving a Winchester to clean up his own mess makes my skin crawl," said Dean flatly.
"Winchester? That...explains a lot."
"What exactly do you people have against the name Winchester?" his double demanded.
"John damn near killed Dean when he was kids. We barely escaped to the Roadhouse before he had a chance to succeed. Ellen raised us with help from Bobby. Finding out about Adam was the last straw. As far as we're concerned, we're Harvelles, not Winchesters," said Sam flatly.