Well. You guys certainly seemed to like the last chapter, so thanks for that. I appreciate all the reviews!
A lot of you seem kinda concerned over the fact that a demon plotline is going on within the Potterverse, and not just loosely connected to it via Supernatural, but don't worry! And when I say don't worry, I don't mean the problem's going to solve itself. I mean everything will be explained...eventually.
[I mean, come on. It's demons. When have those problems ever just solved themselves? I doubt any of you expected it to, though. You're smart.]
*ahem* In any case, this chapter starts off directly where the last one left off - more or less. I promise I'll try to incorporate Hermione more - we haven't been seeing her a lot lately - but that can only happen when either Michael or Gabriel gets off their butts and starts explaining stuff to her. And they're both surprisingly stubborn characters to work with, so it might take a while for her to get included more.
Sorry. I don't break the rules [most of them, anyway].
Anyway, the demon plotline is...fairly important, actually. Pay attention. I do have two archangels as my main characters - I've got to throw something in there bigger than Voldemort to keep them occupied. I mean, how big of a threat is Voldemort actually? I don't think he's even on the scale. He's just a wizard with delusions of grandeur and some serious issues.
Demons, on the other hand...
We haven't seen a lot of Voldemort, but there's a reason for that too. He's definitely the sort of leader who likes to lurk in the shadows - also, that protects himself, what with his whole 'I must have immortality' thing. Also, Gabriel confuses him and he's trying to figure out what the fuck he's going up against before he ends up in a fight with Gabriel.
I think we all know who would win that one.
Also for the scene at the end I was basically listening to this one song on repeat to get the mood right. It's a fanmade destiel song - link will be on my profile shortly, since I don't think it would turn out well if I tried to put the link here.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural
The warehouse doors opened with a creak, revealing an open, mostly empty space with sigils painted on almost all the available wall space - warding sigils, Gabriel noticed, layered on top of the devil's trap in the center of the room which currently had exactly one occupant.
The demon turned around and wow, okay, Gabriel had suddenly remembered the reason he'd avoided them for so long - other than the fact that if he ran into them then Heaven would take notice, but still.
Gross.
"Aww," The demon said mockingly, tilting their head. "You brought a friend. Can't handle me on your own?"
"Always good to get a second opinion," Gabriel said breezily, letting his feet carry him forward as he glanced around the warehouse to take a closer look at the wards. No demon would get out - or in, for that matter. Was Michael worried about being surprised by this one's buddies? He glanced back at nem. "What did you think was so special about this one?"
Michael's wand slid into nir hand as easily as nir angel blade did, and Gabriel was tempted to raise an eyebrow, except he was still in the demon's line of sight.
Magic only - really? The wand was a very clear sign; it was impossible to take it as anything else, when Michael had been so dramatic about unsheathing it. Gabriel wouldn't have dared use his Grace - it would be too obvious - but the thought of magic hadn't immediately leaped to mind.
Then Michael flicked nir wand, the demon's sleeve slid up, and what Gabriel had been about to say died in his mouth at the sight of the familiar snake-and-skull tattoo.
Ah.
Gabriel took slow steps around the edge of the large devil's trap, thinking over the implications. Was the demon working for Voldemort, or was it a coincidence? Somehow, Gabriel doubted that the first was true.
The demon had shoved their sleeve back down, and as Gabriel moved around to the back of the trap their eyes trained on Michael.
"Witches, huh?" They asked disdainfully.
"Generally, the men go by wizards here," Gabriel informed them, as condescendingly as possible - no need to be polite, after all, it was only a demon.
"I couldn't care less about what you're called." The demon spat.
"Lucky you," Michael replied coolly, "You don't need to care. You just need to answer what we ask."
"I'm not saying anything."
Gabriel laughed, and the demon's head whipped around to look at him. "And here I thought this wasn't going to be any fun," He said, grinning wildly in a way that he knew would probably unnerve both of them.
Michael didn't look it, but Gabriel didn't expect nem to. Ne reached into an inside pocket, drawing out an angel blade that ne had physically placed in there prior to entering the warehouse, since Grace was a no-no at the moment.
The demon froze.
"Nice toy you're got there." Their posture was much warier now, and from what Gabriel could see their eyes were fixed on the blade.
"Oh, this isn't a toy." Michael flipped it around in practiced fingers before letting the hand holding it rest at nir side. "Let's try this again. We ask, you answer. Why are you possessing a death eater?"
"A what?" The demon raised their eyebrows, exuding false bravado as their posture became forcibly relaxed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just possessed the first guy I saw. What do you care, anyway?"
"Yeah, see," Gabriel said lazily, posture genuinely relaxed and smirking at the demon, "That would make so much more sense if it wasn't so incredibly unlikely that this particular dude was the first guy you saw. Seriously? You pick the least plausible lie? You guys gotta work on believability. That one didn't work for a second."
"It's not a lie," The demon snarled, glaring at him, "Not that either of you would believe me. Hunters," They muttered under their breath, and Gabriel grinned the wider.
Michael, however, was giving the demon a considering look, head tilted to the side slightly. "Oh," Ne said eventually, more of a short exhalation of breath than an actual word. "He summoned you."
Gabriel's gaze snapped to watch the demon more carefully, seeing their eyes widen momentarily, and what do you know.
"Summoning, huh? Bet that was fun." If a death eater had managed to successfully summon a demon, had he done it alone, or on orders?
"Fine," The demon spat after a moment. "I was summoned. So what? I still don't know what a death eater is."
"I find that hard to believe." Michael twirled nir blade again, and the demon's eyes were once more drawn to it. "Seeing as the person you're possessing certainly does, and I doubt you'd resist taking a look through his memories out of politeness. It seems to be something you demons...lack."
"Yeah?" The demon's face twisted [even more than it already was] into an ugly scowl. "Well you can shove that up your-"
The sentence broke off in a yell as a gash opened on the demon's leg, sending them to their knees. Michael's sword had been nothing more than a blur - there was barely any blood on it.
"Some do-gooder you are," They spat. "You're damaging the vessel. Thought you were all about saving people?"
"I couldn't give less of a shit about what happens to your host," Gabriel said bluntly, spinning on his heel to continue pacing the other way and affecting a lighter tone. "Besides, what a downer you are! Refusing to say anything when we're trying to hold a conversation-"
"This isn't a conversation," They snarled, and Gabriel shrugged.
"An interrogation, then. Whatever you want to call it. Point is..." He swiveled around to look at the demon. "You need two sides talking in both."
"Fuck you."
"Well, that's not a very good attitude to have." Yes, Gabriel was purposely trying to piss the demon off - but how else were they supposed to get anything done?
"You've been attacking magical families." Michael raised the blade, flipping it in nir hand casually as ne spoke. "We want a reason."
The demon's eyes followed the blade as it moved, wary and watchful and most likely trying to figure out whether it was worth the risk.
"I'll make this simpler," Michael continued once a few moments had passed. "Give us an answer, and we'll consider letting you out earlier than however long it would take for the sigils on this warehouse to erode." Ne made a point of looking around. "Your friends - which you might not even have - would they really think it was worth it to break through all this just to rescue you?"
Gabriel can practically see the demon's mental gears whirring. They looked down, hands still clenched around the wound in their thigh, and then back up with a guarded expression.
"What is your magic?"
That...was not the answer Gabriel had been expecting to get.
Honestly, he'd expected the demon to have a bigger self-preservation instinct, because hey, what else did demons have besides that and bloodthirsty viciousness?
They kept talking, though, and Gabriel listened with a frown as they did so.
"It isn't angelic," The word was said with a sneer, "It isn't demon power. And it sure as hell isn't regular witchcraft. So what the hell do you two have?"
And there lay the key of the problem.
Magic.
Gabriel knew that Michael must have gotten it as well, and if they way ne was looking at him was any indication Michael knew he'd gotten it as well, but neither of them wanted to say anything with the demon sitting right there.
"So you killed them?" Gabriel asked dryly, arching one eyebrow. "Seems counterproductive." If this demon was really trying to figure out the secrets of magic, then why had it killed the people instead of kidnapping them or taking some such other, more profitable route?
The demon laughed, head tilting up. "Turns out they don't know what the hell I'm asking when I try," They said, jeering as if thinking of a private rude joke, "So I figured it would be easier to take a look through them and try and find it for myself. Only problem is that magic isn't a physical thing, but I have my fun either wa-"
The demon was cut off mid-word with a choked scream as Michael's angel blade was buried in their chest, orange and yellow lightning sparking through their body and outlining the host's skeleton as clearly as if it had been an x-ray. The light show lasted only a second before it faded, the host falling backwards with dead eyes and the demon dissipating into nothing without leaving the body.
Michael wiped nir blade clean in one terse movement of nir opposite hand and let it vanish back to where ne usually kept it in one smooth movement. Gabriel wrinkled his nose at the smell of sulfur that now permeated the warehouse, taking a few steps back from the devil's trap.
The demon's death had left a faint coating of sulfur powder on the ground, but none of it had gone past the edges of the trap - luckily, or Gabriel would have needed to deep-clean himself and take a shower.
He let his Grace-screen fall in the same moment, power welling to the surface again, letting out a small sigh as his wings relaxed. He was never doing that again - once was enough. Keeping his power under lockdown took a surprising amount of energy.
"There's no way there was only one of them," Michael said aloud, looking over at Gabriel.
"You're the one who went and tracked this one down," Gabriel replied shortly. "Didn't get the idea that they had any buddies?"
"I didn't see any other ones in the area, and when I tracked this one down no one else was possessed."
"You're sure of that?" It would be hard to tell in a big city like London or somewhere else.
"I'm sure. It was a small town." Michael glanced down at the host's body, as if looking at something mildly irritating and unpleasant. "The Prophet didn't say that the bodies were torn apart."
"The newspaper never prints all the information, Michael, that's one constant humanity's got down." Gabriel snorted, then sobered as he remembered an earlier part of the conversation. "So we got death eaters summoning demons now, huh?"
"Looks like." Michael vanished the body and painted sigils alike in one broad, dismissive movement, not even looking at where nir hand was moving. "Depends on whether or not he was doing it alone, but there might be more than one."
Gabriel sighed. "Damn. Just when I thought things were gonna be easy for once, now we got Voldemort trying to catch himself a demon?"
Michael smiled for half a second. "No demon's going to take a deal with him. Voldemort likes being in charge too much - whatever demon dealt with him would break the deal and kill him in days."
"If only we were that lucky." Gabriel huffed, thinking over things. "But he wouldn't make a deal himself."
"He likes power enough." Michael pointed out, but ne looked more thoughtful than disagreeable.
"Voldemort's not gonna sell his soul, not after all the crap he's done for immortality," Gabriel reminded his sibling with only a touch of irritation [see, Hermione, he was trying. Sort of]. "The whole world-domination thing is just 'cause he's outright crazy because of that crap."
"So he might be ordering the death eaters to do it for him?" Michael suggested, then shook nir head. "This is all conjecture. We don't even know if this death eater was working alone or not."
"And we can't ask the dude, because now he's dead and there's no way he'd fall anywhere except under Hell's rule." Gabriel pulled a face, annoyed that the guy had died before they'd gotten any more answers out of him. Not that he blamed Michael for stabbing the demon - he'd been about to do the same thing, pretending-to-be-human be damned.
"I doubt this demon was working with anyone else." Michael looked decisive, now - ne'd made up nir mind, and with Michael that always meant ne couldn't be swayed. "They weren't cautious enough to be listening to someone's orders - probably just doing whatever they wanted to."
Gabriel had the feeling it wasn't going to be that easy.
There was no way they were lucky enough for the problem to be dealt with that quickly.
"Where were you two all day?"
"All day?" Gabriel raised one eyebrow. "Please. A few hours, I'd say."
"You were still gone," Hermione huffed, arms crossed stubbornly. "I don't know what to think about you two! First you're avoiding each other, and then you're off doing who knows what together-"
"Interjection," Gabriel said before Hermione could finish, raising his hand partially. "I only went because I wanted to know what went down firsthand." He pretended not to notice Michael's frustration.
"Whatever," Hermione retorted. "My point is, either tell me what's going on or take me with you next time!"
"Sure."
"N - what?" Michael's head turned sharply to look at Gabriel.
"Why not?" Gabriel said, shrugging. "It's not like demons are particularly dangerous when they're like that."
"Like what?" Hermione asked, but Michael didn't seem to register it - ne were too busy being indignant.
"Are you serious, Gabriel? It doesn't matter if they're in a devil's trap, a demon's still dangerous-"
"Excuse me," Hermione said, a dangerous edge to her voice, "But I'd like to know what the hell you're talking about that supposedly's too dangerous for me."
Michael blinked, and then suddenly looked abashed, as if for one second ne'd been Michael and had suddenly reverted to Michael Corner.
"I didn't mean to say you're not strong enough," Ne answered, looking back at Hermione. "I - demons can be nasty, and you don't know how to fight them."
"So teach me," Hermione challenged. "Did you finally go after that demon?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," Gabriel replied, not bothering to comment on the implied it's about time. Hermione was fairly justified, in any case, so there wouldn't be any point in doing so unless he was looking for an argument.
"And?"
"And, it's not going to cause any more trouble." Gabriel finished, giving Hermione a flat look. "Really? You thought we'd just let a demon go?"
"How do you fight demons?" Hermione wasn't wasting any time, but Michael glanced around as if ne were still reluctant to tell her.
"Let's move this conversation more private." Ne suggested.
"No one's around," Hermione pointed out, and it was true - there wasn't a single person in the Great Hall, besides the three of them, and if you were counting humans then it was only Hermione.
Michael hesitated for a second more, then sighed. "Let's go outside," Ne said finally. "It's something to talk over while we walk."
Neither of them bothered to argue with nem - it wasn't that bad outside.
The doors creaked open easily - not because they'd been opened moments before by Michael and Gabriel, since neither had bothered with the doors and simply flown into the Hall - and the three figures walked out onto the expansive lawn.
"So what did you do with the demon?" Hermione asked as they passed near an oak tree that was a favorite among students looking for shade during what passed as the hotter months in England.
"It's dead," Michael said matter-of-factly, and Hermione paused as if not sure whether to react in surprise or not.
"Oh," She settled on eventually.
"It's not like we could put it in jail," Gabriel pointed out, hands in his pockets and posture relaxed, which belied his inner tension. Hermione and demons, contrary to his outward decision, were not two things he would have liked to mix, but who was he to say she couldn't? "Human guards would be the only trustworthy ones, and they wouldn't last a second against a really determined demon."
"Why not?" Hermione asked. "Isn't there some way you could limit their power?"
"Technically yes." Gabriel admitted. "But other demons could break in and break those traps, because again, nothing would be stopping them from breaking in. Except other demons, but no one smart enough would trust demons that much."
Hermione was frowning, but in a thoughtful way - she didn't seem immediately horrified by the fact that they'd killed a demon. "So what happened? How'd this demon get here? I mean, I got the idea that you were surprised a demon was messing with wizards."
"Some idiot summoned it." Gabriel replied.
"Just some random person?"
"Well," Michael said, reluctance edging nir voice. "No, actually."
Hermione waited for nem to finish, but Michael didn't seem inclined to do so. Gabriel sighed. "Death eater."
"What?" Hermione spun around to face him, eyes wide, and stopped walking. "Death eaters are summoning demons?"
"One death eater did," Gabriel corrected her. "There's no way of knowing whether more of them do, unless more demons start showing up."
"And you didn't ask him to find out?" Hermione demanded.
"The demon wouldn't have told us, and that's the only one we were talking too," Gabriel replied easily. "There's no way a demon would have been nice enough to let us talk to the vessel just 'cause we asked them."
Hermione pursed her lips, crossing her arms and staring at the ground, lost in thought. "What if more than just him are summoning them?" She asked abruptly.
Gabriel grimaced. "We'd have a gigantic mess on our hands."
"It's not like there aren't enough of us to fight whoever might get summoned," Michael interjected.
"I'm not talking about numbers," Gabriel shot back, taking a few steps farther along the lakeside. "My problem is, how did he even get his hands on a summoning ritual?"
"Are they usually difficult to find?" Hermione questioned.
"It depends," Michael answered. "Here, though, it doesn't seem like there have been any demons around - until now, at least. So summoning rituals wouldn't be lying around, no matter where you looked."
"Unless there have been demons here before, of course." Gabriel shrugged.
Hermione nodded. "And it's not like you can go that far back and check."
"Technically, we could," Michael admitted, "But it would be a lot of effort for just this one problem."
Hermione stared at nem. "You can travel in time?" She demanded.
"Yep." Gabriel popped the p. "Fairly easily, but I haven't done it in, maybe..." He stopped to consider it. "Let's say the last few millenia? Something along those lines."
Hermione ignored the reference to his age. "What happens if this turns out to be bigger than you thought?"
Michael made an 'eh' face. "If it comes to extremes, we'll use extremes. But for now it's been taken care of."
The mostly silent [and quite frankly too serious for Gabriel's tastes] moment was broken when Michael tilted nir head, frowned, and said "Balthazar's been looking for you, apparently."
"What?" Gabriel and Hermione frowned, too.
"Who are you talking to?" Hermione asked.
"Gabriel." Michael raised nir eyebrows as ne looked at Gabriel. "You cut yourself off?"
Gabriel made a face at nem and didn't deign to give a reply. "What's he want?"
"Oh-" Hermione looked as though she'd just made a breakthrough. "It's your telepathy thing, right? Angel radio? You can turn that off?"
"Yes to all three. What's Balthazar want?" Gabriel repeated his question to Michael, after answering Hermione.
"I don't know. He's just been trying to talk to you." Michael paused. "He sounds like he could use whatever help he's asking for."
Worry wormed its way into the back of Gabriel's mind - Balthazar was at his house, presumably, so what could have gone wrong there? The place was covered in so many wards that no one could step past the fence without Gabriel knowing - or his approval.
He was standing outside the gates in the next second.
The wards were fine, perfectly undamaged and exactly as he'd left them, so Gabriel's next step took him into the house and right next to Baltahzar, who spun to face him.
"What's so important?"
"Oh good, you did hear me." Balthazar looked more relieved than Gabriel had ever seen him, which wasn't making any sense. "You deal with him."
"Deal with who? I'm not gonna up and come every time you feel like taking a break, you know." Gabriel didn't have any qualms about letting Balthazar know how irritated he was. He thought something crazy had happened.
"Castiel."
Gabriel was nonplussed. "What's Castiel doing here? Scratch that, how'd he even end up here?"
"Do I look like I know?" Balthazar threw up his hands in frustration, dropping them almost immediately. "I just found him when I was out in London and I figured he could use some, you know, help, but this I am not dealing with!"
"Do you mind actually explaining anything to me?"
"I don't know," Balthazar retorted in utter exasperation. "He won't say anything, he's just moping around and acting like someone's just killed his puppy."
This was just getting more confusing at each turn. "And you really can't deal with this?" Gabriel asked skeptically. "It's just Castiel."
"Can't, don't want to, probably both." Balthazar held his hands up. "You go track him down or something and then you'll see what I mean. I think he's in the living room."
This entire thing was ridiculous.
"Knock, knock." Gabriel tapped at the doorframe, seeing Castiel's head rise and turn to look at him. "Balthazar got fed up with you, apparently. Mind filling me in?"
All Gabriel could see was the back of Castiel's head sticking over the back of the sofa, but he still noticed the slump. "It's nothing."
"Bitch, please. Try that one again when you're not crashed on my sofa." Gabriel scoffed, walking around the couch to face Castiel. He really did look like someone had killed his puppy. "What's with the face?"
"It's not important," Castiel muttered. He was well and truly slumped - his head barely poked over the edge of the sofa, and he was sprawled in a way that looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"Really? 'Cause your little misery fest is saying the opposite." Gabriel let himself flop down into a chair opposite his brother. "Bro. Come on. You're not even trying to act like you're not lying."
"I just-" Whatever Castiel was about to say next was cut off by a loud ringing noise.
Gabriel frowned, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, but Castiel just looked...panicked? He took a phone out of the pocket of his coat, took one look at who was calling, and blanched. What the hell was going on?
He didn't even give any warning before vanishing, letting the phone drop. Rolling his eyes, Gabriel stood up and reached over to pick it up. The caller ID made his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
Dean Winchester?
Since when did Dean fucking Winchester give Castiel that much of a heart attack? Nevermind that, since when did Castiel leave the room to avoid answering the phone when he knew Dean was on the line? Gabriel debated over answering it, but ended up just pressing Ignore.
What a tangled puzzle.
The phone rang again, later. It had rung several times, but it was just Dean calling repeatedly, so Gabriel ignored it. And it wasn't like Castiel had come looking for his phone, so he assumed that the latter didn't want to be informed that Dean was calling.
The ninth time it rang, it was Sam.
Gabriel figured he might as well.
"Sup, Winchester?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "...What is it with you and stealing people's phones?"
"I'm offended that you think I'd do something so criminal, Sam." Gabriel grinned, even though the knew that Sam couldn't see it. "Mind telling me why Castiel's being such a downer and your brother's trying so desperately to contact him?"
Sam's sigh echoed through the connection gustily. "I wasn't actually there when...whatever happened, happened, so I don't know much of what happened. Just what I can get out of Dean."
"And I'm sure that's been a regular fun-fest for you," Gabriel snorted. "So? What'd Dean do?"
"Well, I don't think it was just him." Sam paused again. "Well, actually, it probably was, but I'm saying he didn't start the thing-"
"Sam. Quit beating around the bush and tell me what happened already!" Honestly. How hard was it to just plain explain something?
Another sigh. "I'm pretty sure Castiel tried to talk to Dean about how they've been dancing around each other for, like, the last six years."
Well.
Good for him.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah." A laugh bubbled in Sam's voice. "I was surprised, too. I didn't think either of them was gonna do something like that for ages."
"So, what, Dean panicked?" Gabriel probably could have seen that coming. Wait a minute, he did. He'd predicted Dean's big 'gay' panic ages ago.
"Basically. I don't know what he said to Cas, but he was really freaking out earlier. Trying to call Cas. Which I guess he couldn't because you've got his phone."
Gabriel scoffed. "Don't give me that tone. I didn't take it. Castiel saw who was calling and freaked, too. He just dropped it and vamoosed."
"Oh." Sam sounded surprised, which Gabriel felt was personally offensive. Who said he'd stolen the phone? Rude. "Great. That's gonna be a problem."
"Let me guess - Dean's sulking, too?"
"Well, after the tenth time no one picked up he gave up. I think he's in his room. I don't know what he's doing."
"The question here is, do you really want to know?" Gabriel could think of a lot of things Dean might be doing that he didn't care about knowing, but then again he didn't care that much about the older Winchester's personal life, period.
"I can go talk to him. How's Cas?" Sam sounded honestly curious, and a little worried.
"Not great," Gabriel related. "I don't know what he's thinking, but whatever Dean said to him, it wasn't good."
"That's what I was afraid of." Sam said. "He hasn't said anything to you?"
"I got zip on this front from him. That's why I asked you."
"Fair enough. I'm going to go see if I can get Dean to tell me what he said. Can you see if Cas will tell you?"
"Maybe." Gabriel's thoughts drifted to where Castiel had gone. It wasn't like he would be difficult to find, but hopefully he was still in the house. "He's somewhere in the area. I'll find him eventually. Have fun." He hung up before Sam could answer.
Now, where could Castiel have gone?
It took Gabriel approximately three seconds to find Castiel, who was curled up in a chair. Adam was there, too.
"What's up with him?" Was the first thing he said to Gabriel, in a hissed whisper. "He wasn't like this the last time we met."
"It's a recent development." Gabriel appraised Adam, surprised by the familiarity. "You two've met before?"
"Yeah." Duh, was implied, the way Adam was looking at him. "I got pulled into the mess with Sam and Dean. Of course I've met him."
Gabriel shrugged mentally. Wasn't his business. "He say anything about what happened?"
"No, he's just sitting there looking sad." Adam made a face. "Honestly, I'd like it better if he were acting the way he was last time I met him. This is just weird."
Privately, Gabriel agreed with Adam.
He walked over to where Castiel was sitting, not bothering to alert Castiel to his presence - the younger angel would have known it the moment he landed. "Relationship problems, huh?"
Castiel's head shot up. He stared at Gabriel uncomprehendingly. Behind them, Gabriel sensed Adam slip out of the room. "How did you-"
"Sam called. Figured you didn't care whether I answered or not." Gabriel perched on the edge of the coffee table which had somehow been set up in the room. "So. Dean didn't react well?"
If it was possible, Castiel sunk further into the chair, posture tightening. His entire body was curled up, feet and legs squished close to his body. "I don't want to talk about it."
"I figured." Gabriel raised one eyebrow. "You know humans have a thing where they say talking about it works to make you feel better or some crap? I thought you liked all that stuff."
Castiel took a deep breath, even though he didn't need it. Gabriel pretended not to notice the waver in it. "It's-" He faltered. "Only something I should have expected."
"Expected?" Gabriel repeated incredulously. "What, you think he rejected you?"
"I don't see what else it could have been." Castiel sounded morose, staring at his knees, brow furrowed. "This isn't helping."
"No one said it would. I just mentioned that people thought it did so you'd talk about it." Gabriel was probably being overly honest, but it wasn't like Castiel's mood could get worse. "Look-"
"Please, just-" Castiel interrupted him. "I don't want to - to talk about it."
Gabriel might have pressed, but something in the back of his mind told him not to be a hypocrite - there were plenty of times when other people had pressed and he'd refused to answer.
He let the silence linger for a few moments, then got up. "Maybe some other time."
"You were wrong." Castiel's voice stopped him from leaving. "About Dean."
Gabriel tried for a grin. He wasn't sure if he managed it, really. "About Dean?" He echoed. "I'm never wrong, little bro - no one said how long it would take."
Castiel didn't reply, but he muttered something into his knees.
Gabriel paused, mentally wrestling with himself, then pretended he hadn't heard.
"No one said it would hurt, too."
Awww. Poor Castiel. Dean's really got a lot of problems, but I don't think he saw that one coming. But come on, dude. You should have realized this ages ago.
Read and review, please! This chapter's a bit longer, so I hope that makes up for how long it took to post it.