"What the..." Dean and Sam yelled in unison, while Cas jumped to his feet. A slim, long blade appeared out of nowhere in his hand. His beautiful, cerulean eyes narrowed dangerously. The shorter man, with caramel colored hair and pretty, amber eyes, grinned like a pumpkin at him and spread his arms wide. "Hey bro! How's tricks?" His eyes found me and his whole demeanor changed. His eyes grew sad and his grin faded. "Awe hon! What have they done to your beautiful wings? Lemme see." He pulled me to my feet. He was surprisingly strong for such a small guy.
As soon as the guy grabbed my hands, Dean got to his feet. "Wait a second, Trickster! What do you want with her? Where the Hell have you been? The Apocalypse was years ago! If you survived, you could at least have told Cas. He mourned you!" Wait, what? Trickster? This was the Trickster? I stared into his eyes. He looked so serious... This guy was the Archangel Gabriel... Heaven's most terrifying weapon... "You are Gabriel?" I asked incredulously. His sad eyes gleamed and he nodded. "Yeah... I am, and I am so sorry to have failed you, sweetheart."
Excuse me? He failed me? How?! Cas stepped up, effectively separating me from his brother. "Gabriel, what's the meaning of this?" Gabriel tilted his head upwards a bit and sighed. "I guess I owe you all an explaination. Dean-o, any chance of a glass of your poison of choice?" Dean bristled at that, but he gruffly pulled up another glass and poured Gabriel a drink. Gabriel picked it up and saluted him with it. "Thanks, bucko!" He snapped his fingers and a comfy leather chair appeared out of nowhere. He plopped right down in it and sipped his drink. Smacking his lips, he looked at each of us in turn. "I'm sorry to have let you believe I was dead. I am!" he expressly said, when Dean huffed. "I wasn't playing tricks, not anymore. I got a new job in Heaven. I was supposed to look out for Gwen and those like her." Dean took a large gulp from his glass. "Sounds omnious... 'Those like her'. What is she, a freak?" Sam and Cas glared at him, and even I could not appreciate that remark. "Excuse you? I'm right here, you ape!"