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When Castiel died, Sam thought Gabriel was going to lose it. He appeared in a spectacular clap of thunder, clash of lightning and literally threw himself at Michael, archangel sword in hand.
"You little shit, he snarled, swiping and swinging for Michael's temporary vessel's neck. Stabbing at his chest, wheeling round and snarling when Michael's sword met his out of desperation.
"Gabriel," he grunted, fending off another flurry of thrusts. "Gabriel." Louder this time, but nothing brought him out of his haze. Michael didn't want to hurt his brother, but when he mistimed a block and caught a slice to the arm, he realised that his brother would happily kill him.
"You fucking little shit," Gabriel repeated, growling at Michael. His vision narrowed to his brother. He didn't see Raphael reach to restrain him until the last second. When his older brother gripped his arm so tight that if he'd have been human, Gabriel would have lost the arm, Gabriel's head snapped to the side and took in the form Raphael had chosen. He felt Raphael's power working on him, trying to calm him down. But really, if he'd been thinking, Raphael would have grabbed Michael and ran the fuck away. Because Gabriel? If he became calm, he'd be way more vicious. Two millennia and counting of pagan god reflexes in an archangel's body. He jerked, grabbed Raphael's shirt with his other hand and flung him across the field, slamming him into a nearby wall.
"You killed him. Why? He was our little one, my little one and you fucking killed him!" Gabriel punched Michael in the face once, twice, three times, sending him flying to the ground. "You betrayed his trust, his fucking love for you and then you fucking killed him!" He pointed at Raphael who had been quietly advancing. "And you were in on it. Don't think I don't fucking know that you smote him. I promised myself I'd tear your Grace to shreds for that."
And suddenly, Gabriel wasn't a former archangel turned pagan god Loki, he was an archangel; the Archangel of Last Judgement, Captain of the Heavenly Host. And he had turned judgement upon his brothers for their act.
Raphael sagged down to Michael, reaching out one glowing hand to him. Gabriel kicked him in the face, knocking him back a few feet. "Don't try it. Don't even think about it; I'll know if you do." The words hung ominously on the air, charging it with judgement and death and wrath and fury and everything Gabriel.
Dean couldn't take his eyes off Castiel's body. He looked beaten. Was beaten. Michael had known, had been right. He would agree if only to bring Cas back. He stood and Gabriel flung a hand behind him, knocking Dean off his feet, sending him unconscious.
"Sorry, Winchester. Not. Happening."
"Gabriel, what exactly do you expect to gain here?" Raphael asked calmly. As if facing seriously pissed of archangels was a commonplace occurrence for him. And considering that they all lived together in their garden, in a way it was. Gabriel had always excelled at annoying Michael and Lucifer always found it funny. Raphael would always huff and try to restore peace between his brothers.
"Be quiet," Gabriel hissed. "Or I'll reach down your trachea and remove your lungs."
"Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel. Really. Do please retain some class, little brother."
Gabriel whirled round at the voice. Another threat. His little one might be dead, but he'd kill Michael for that and he'd protect the fucking Winchesters.
"I said it before: I knew you were slumming but you seem to have picked up some nasty habits." Lucifer stood, hands in his jeans, parallel to him and ten feet away. He had his head tilted softly, as if he was surprised to see him. Gabriel thought he probably was.
"Fuck off, Lucifer. This is between me and those dicks." He gestured with his sword towards his other older brothers and sent a blast of power at Raphael, who wouldn't fucking quit trying to heal that fucking shit Michael. He kicked Michael again, satisfied by the grunt and the sharp, wet sound of breaking bone. Archangels could not heal immediately wounds caused by other archangels.
"I'm not gonna let you kill him, Gabriel," Lucifer said softly, firmly.
"You won't have a fucking choice, Lucifer. I'll call on his Last Judgement and not even you can fucking stop that."
"Perhaps not." He strode purposefully towards Gabriel, who swung his sword round to the nearest threat. He wasn't expecting the punch he received to the jaw and the one to the stomach that knocked him down. "That, however, little brother, was for making me think that I had fucking killed you. Dick. I was sat there, mourning the loss of my little brother, and what do I fucking feel? His righteous wrath and Grace raging in this place. I thought I had finally gone mad, that the long creeping years of being locked away from anyone had caught up with me. So I come and I see you beating the crap out of Michael. I must say, I'm impressed. Didn't think you had it in you. But Michael is not yours to kill, Gabriel. He's mine. I'm sorry, but if you persist, I will have to stop you. And I won't miss this time."
"Fuck you, Lucifer." Gabriel snarled, leaping up and into a defensive pose. "I don't give a fuck about Daddy's little plan anymore. Screw the plan, screw Michael, screw Raphael and screw you! They fucking killed him. Killed him. Castiel. Tell me that doesn't mean something to you, Lucifer. Tell me that you don't fucking love Castiel anymore. And if you lie to me, I'll fucking kill you."
Lucifer's blue eyes, almost as unnatural as Castiel's, turned and took in Sam, Dean's prone form and Castiel's body. His breath hitched in his throat and he turned to Michael, eyes blazing. He exhaled softly and one cold, hard word slipped from his lips.
"Explain."
"Lucifer, stay out of this," Michael ordered, staggering to his knee. "Gabriel--"
"--you think you can fight the Angel of Last Judgement, Michael? There was a fucking reason Father forbade him to side with either of us in the last war. If he decides your final judgement is death then you'll die." Lucifer shrugged. "And one of the only people who could stop him is dead, the other isn't picking up his messages."
Michael flung a hand towards Lucifer and knocked him over, landing not far from the Winchesters and his baby brother. "I'm sorry Lucifer, you need to remain safe."
"Fucking prick," Lucifer muttered, hauling himself in an upright position, watching Gabriel in a flurry of strikes and thrusts. "Damn show off." He glanced at Sam and crept closer, stopping short when Gabriel hissed in his direction. He held his palms upright in the universal gesture of surrender and that seemed to satisfy Gabriel for now.
"Sam, explain what happened to me." Lucifer whispered loud enough for Sam to hear when Gabriel was distracted by pounding Raphael into a nice little hole that someone had thoughtfully carved into the ground.
Sam glared at him and Lucifer shook his head. "We don't really have time for your sensibilities. Right now, Gabriel is protecting from the worse of his wrath, but if they really make him pissed, he'll shed his vessel and accidentally obliterate you and your brother.
"We were hunting. There was a creature of something and suddenly, they appear and Michael made sure Dean was watching when he killed Cas. He then gave Dean an offer; they'd tried to get him to agree before in exchange for my life, but this was different, this was Cas. He said he'd bring Cas back, restore him to his glory and forgive him his transgressions if Dean would say yes. That's when Gabriel arrived and started beating on them."
Lucifer rubbed the bridge of his nose; his brothers were enough to give anyone a migraine, even an archangel. "He tried to get Dean to consent by killing our little one?"
Sam tilted his head questioningly. "Little one?"
"I haven't time to explain our long history and love of Castiel. There is something else, isn't there? Sam help me. We're not omniscient; I don't know anything that transpired to cause this." He gestured harshly at Castiel's body, and Sam thought he could see his eyes tearing.
"Cas, it seems, Gabriel said was made to be Dean's soul mate."
"And Michael and Raphael knew." Lucifer responded flatly. "Brilliant."
"Why would your father do that? Why make Cas and Dean to be perfect together and make Dean Michael's vessel? It's stupid. Pointless and Cas was always gonna loose, wasn't he? One way or another. I thought He was supposed to love your angels?"
"I do," another voice, from behind them. They both jumped.
"Chuck?" Sam started, but Lucifer's wide-eyed expression and slack-jawed shock stopped him.
"Fa... Father?"
Chuck inclined his head regally. "That is quite right, my boy. I'll come back and talk to you in a moment." He reached a hand and touched his wayward son's cheek briefly. "I have to stop your brother from killing your brothers. Honestly, your sibling rivalries will be the death of me." He stood and glare at Gabriel, moving forward slightly.
"Gabriel. Enough." And his voice boomed over the field, shocking the battling archangels into stillness and silence.
Gabriel turned, eyes wide when he saw Chuck, or God. Sam was a little confused on what he should call him now. Dean was going to be pissed.
It didn't take long for Gabriel to get over his shock, because, suddenly, he snarled and swore at Chuck, diving for him with his sword. Lucifer tensed; estranged as they were, he was still his father and Gabriel had obviously taken leave of his senses.
Chuck did nothing, just raised an eyebrow and Gabriel stopped suddenly. He struggled and shouted, but was held in place. Chuck rested his hands on his hips and sighed. "Gabriel, I know you didn't just swear at me, so I shall forgive this occasion."
"You little fuck!" Gabriel swore, and Lucifer winced. Because Gabriel, it seemed, never learned. "How could you do this to Castiel? To my little one? How could you? How can you say you love him? You don't. You couldn't have." And he sagged in whatever bonds Chuck and him in and cried, sword dropping to the grass.
"If I let you down will you behave like an adult and not like a petulant child, Gabriel? We need to have a family conversation. All of us." Gabriel didn't look up, just nodded, once, sharply. "Excellent. There you go."
The archangel picked his sword up, slid it away and stomped over to Castiel, Sam and Lucifer, pulling Cas' head onto his lap, stroking his hair. Lucifer reached out to grip his shoulder and when Gabriel didn't tense or pull away, scooted over, wrapping his little brother in his arms, making soothing noises as Gabriel cried.
Chuck sighed sadly watching them. He would deal with Castiel in a moment, but first; he turned to Michael and Raphael, who were trying to get themselves off the ground to show respect for their father. "Gabriel, I'm impressed. All these years masquerading as Loki gave you some new tricks." He ignored Gabriel's mutterings, which sounded very much like fuck you and Lucifer's grunt of pain when the older archangel attempted to silence the youngest with his hand.
Restoring his two sons to full health, he shook his head and took a deep breath before trying to sort out the mess he should have sorted out years and years ago. He had hoped his children would grow up and sort it out themselves, but he saw that his faith had been misplaced. Evidently, they needed to be under strict guidance.
"Michael, Raphael. Explain why you did this to little Castiel? You have both killed him once now, him whom you both profess to love."
"He disobeyed, Father. He refused to give us the vessel--"
"--and so he should," Gabriel shouted, voice thick with tears, anger and heart break. "You little shits kept from him that Dean was his mate so you could have your stupid little showdown with Lucifer." Said archangel merely tucked the smaller under his chin, still soothing his brother.
Chuck nodded. "I see. Michael, did it not occur to you that I might have wanted something when you discovered this bond between little Castiel and Dean Winchester? No? I gave you all a chance. A chance to change what must be."
"If it must be, Father, how can it be changed?" Raphael queried, tilting his head to one side. "It was... unfortunate that Castiel was dragged into this. The matter should have been left to the archangels to deal with."
Lucifer grunted as Gabriel struggled to get out of his grasp, muttering that he wanted to scratch Raphael's eyes out like a Fury. He dug his fingers into Gabriel's arms and held him there as tightly as he could. "Gabriel, calm down," he hissed, straining.
"I was right, wasn't I? I was." Gabriel glared at his father.
"You were, Gabriel. You were," he turned to face his heartbroken and gave a melancholy smile. "You were."
"I don't understand."
"I know you don't, Michael. You see, why would I want my children, whom I love, to fight each other to the death? I don't. So I designed a way for you to choose. You've all got free will, not just humanity. I wanted you to see that there was another way. Castiel and Dean are two halves of a whole. One soul sharing two bodies. If you looked deeply inside yourselves, you knew that it was wrong to use Dean as a vessel. At least whilst Castiel was alive."
"It would have killed Castiel," Raphael said. And Lucifer grunted again. Because, seriously, Gabriel seemed to have it bad for Raphael's blood tonight.
"Gabriel." A warning from Chuck and his struggles subsided. He hated it when his father treated him like a child and he knew if he didn't behave, he would treat him that way and he couldn't stand for Sam to see that. Not Sam.
"I had two angels who saw that, who saw the way out and threw themselves at that way. One, you killed tonight, Michael. The other would very much like Raphael to explode right now."
"You're wrong, Dad," Gabriel said. "I thought Castiel was doing what you wanted, otherwise you wouldn't have brought him back when that fucking little dic--"
"--I will not tell you about language again, Gabriel."
He flushed, but continued. "Raphael smote him. But me? Not me, Dad. I'm not doing it to follow some stupid get out of jail free card. No. I wanted my brother, my little one to forgive me for abandoning him and now he never will." He curled up on Lucifer, and burst into tears again.
Michael looked shocked. "You don't want the apocalypse, Father?"
Chuck shook his head. "Not in the way that you would have it. Take away my greatest gift to them? Michael I'm ashamed of you. No. One day there will need to be an apocalypse. One day, this world will need to end. With death comes hope and rebirth. Life cannot exist without death." He turned to Lucifer, who was rocking Gabriel like a child. "That is why you are as you are. One day you will need to destroy the world, Lucifer. But not now. Not for some stupid vengeance on a brother whom you think betrayed you. Michael still loves you, and Lucifer still loves you.
"I'm afraid that all this," Chuck waved. "All this, has to stop. Now. All the angels will return to heaven, except the earth-bound garrison. You two are grounded. Gabriel, I am unsure yet. You did leave heaven, ran away and hid from me. Took me five centuries to find you. I'm sorry Lucifer, but you have to go back in the cage. It'll be more pleasant this time for you. I promise."
Lucifer clung to Gabriel this time. Tightly and Gabriel made a protesting sound. "Why? I will destroy the world when you want, Father. Please, just let me come home. You forgive mortals their transgressions when they plead. I lay myself before you now." He meant it too. He would lay himself down in front of his father. He sighed and huffed amusement into Gabriel's hair. "I would lay myself down before you, had I not have a lapful of little brother." The last was said with loving affection and a gentle kiss to Gabriel's head.
Chuck looked fondly at them and nodded. "All you had to do was ask, Lucifer. All you ever had to do was ask. Now. I think it is time that Dean woke up."
And he did and gasped, screaming for Castiel. He staggered to his knees and fell at Gabriel and Lucifer's side accepted Gabriel's out flung hand, accepted being dragged almost on to Lucifer's lap as well as he and Gabriel clung together, looking at Castiel's body.
Michael took at step towards Gabriel, wanting to join his little brothers. He regretting killing Castiel. And he fell to his knees, feeling Raphael's arm go around him. They both knew that whatever happened, they had lost Gabriel forever now. Had lost his laughter and his jokes. Michael could almost see the transition into the uncaring man Gabriel might become without Castiel there to annoy.
He turned to his father, eyes pleading and wide. "Please Father. Bring Castiel back. I will willing trade places with him. Take my life and bring little Castiel back. Please."
"No."
Now Lucifer had to restrain both Gabriel and Dean, so Sam scooted round and helped restrain Dean.
"I will not let you take his place, but I will bring him back."
And when Castiel opened those blue eyes, and Dean pounced on him, kissing him deeply and hard, oblivious to everyone around him, He smiled and nodded.
His children would do just fine.