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The trickster, better known to his angelic brothers and sisters as Gabriel, watched as an eight year old boy with shaggy brown hair and wide hazel eyes kicked the soccer ball high into the air. His teammates watched with quiet excitement as the ball soared over the field toward the other team’s side. It bounced once, then twice, rolling to a slow stop near a boy equal in age and height with messy blond hair and big blue eyes. His name was Peter and he was on the other boy’s team. It took him a few seconds to realize that the ball had landed directly in front of him by some miracle, close enough to the goal for a clear shot. Without hesitation, he kicked the ball as hard as he could toward the goal.
As the ball once again soared through the air, the whole field seemed to get quiet, everyone watching with bated breath to see if the ball would make it or if the goalie would catch it in time. Even the parents who, in Gabriel’s humble opinion, were often loud and chattered amongst themselves throughout the game, were patient and silent, sitting on the edge of their seats to see if the last point of the game would be scored or if the both teams would end the game in a tie. The goalie, a short but fast kid, jumped to catch the ball. The ball rocket into the net just inches to the right of his outstretched hands and it only took a few seconds before everyone seemed to register that the ball had made it through, before a giant uproar of applause blasted out.
The winning team all gather around the two boys who helped score the last point, shouting and high fiving each other in excitement. More shouts come from the bleachers from parents and siblings of the winning team, drowning out the obligatory clapping of the defeated team.
Gabriel smirked as he watched as the blond haired boy hugged the other boy, the boy with the shaggy hair and brown doe eyes, otherwise known as Sam Winchester, one little brother to twelve year old Dean, who was sitting on the bleachers with his mother and father, Mary and John.
The Winchesters, who were both blessed and cursed with angels and demons watching over them.
Gabriel found it a little ironic that a Campbell - Mary Campbell to be exact - had somehow made it out of the hunting life and was settled into her normal apple life, as happy as can be. She fell in love with John Winchester at a young age and as soon as he came back from the war, they decided to get married. Of course, Azazel found them shortly before that could happen and in a series of unfortunate events struck a deal with Mary Campbell. If Azazel could feed little Sammy Winchester some demon blood when he turned six months old without interference, the Winchesters got to live happy, normal lives. Mary didn’t know the intricate details of the deal. So of course she’d say yes. If she’d known she damned her entire family with that one action, she might’ve had a different answer that night.
The trickster smiled as he watched the Winchesters hug each other. Mary looked like a normal soccer mom taking her kids out to a soccer game and then getting ice cream later. He followed them all the way to a beautiful two story house with a decent sized yard that had a large oak tree in it. The boys got out of the car and raced inside as John and Mary smiled and rolled their eyes at their children’s antics.
That night, the boys would play video games and John would watch on the couch before he’d drift off for a quick nap as Mary prepared dinner. They’d all gather at the dining table and little Sammy would chatter happily about the game he won.
“That was such a good kick, Sammy,” Dean said as he dug into his mashed potatoes.
Sam beamed. “Thanks! I mean Peter did most of the work but-”
“You helped though, right, mom? Dad?”
Mary and John both looked at each other before nodding. “You know it’s not always about the scoring, Sam,” John said as he picked up a chicken leg.
“I know, dad,” Sam said, rolling his eyes as he took a large bite of mashed potatoes.
Mary shot a look at Sam. “Hey, now. No rolling your eyes at the table.”
After dinner, Sam and Dean helped clear the table and washed the dishes as Mary supervised. John went out to clean out the car. It was all so mundane but Mary was content with this part of her life. This had been her dream since she had been a young girl. Gabriel watched from the window as Mary turned on the TV once the boys went upstairs to bed. He knew she thought she’d gotten away from hunting.
He knew that since she’d gotten married to John twelve years ago, since she’d let Azazel into her son’s nursery that night eight years ago, she thought she’d gotten away from it all. Sure she’d slip out for a few hunts nearby, but she’d tell herself that she was only taking up hunts that were in town or a town or two over, ones that threatened her family by proximity and if they extended longer than a couple days she’d call in a friend for a favor so that John wasn’t any the wiser. So that her sons could live normal lives. She didn’t wish for any of this to fall on her family.
As years passed by and the Winchesters continued to live normal lives, Gabriel knew the inevitable was bound to happen. The Winchesters had a special part to play in the grand scheme of things and as sad as that might be to think, that their lives might have already been predestined by something more cosmic than the angels, something weaved by fate and written by Gabriel’s father, well, it wasn’t his place to judge. He was just the observer in all this. He’d told himself a long time ago he wouldn’t choose sides. He preferred just watching anyway.
Unlike his brothers and sisters, Gabriel was completely hands off. Or at least he tried to be at first. He wasn’t sure what it was about the Winchesters. Maybe it was because they’d been not just blessed by the angels, but chosen by his father that he couldn’t help but feel compelled to do something when Dean went to save his little brother from a rather nasty skinwalker parading as a neighbor’s pitbull, all claws and sharp teeth, about ready to bite a wide, gaping hole into the scared but defiant little thirteen year old boy who’d draped himself protectively over his trembling nine year old brother.
Gabriel had come pouncing out of the shadows as a large german shepherd, barking fiercely, gnashing his sharp new canines at the skinwalker. The skinwalker had taken one look at him and growled before lunging at him with the strength and speed that no dog could possess. Good thing Gabriel was an archangel because there was no way a real dog could’ve won against a scuffle with a skinwalker, german shepherd or not.
After that incident, Gabriel went back to watching over the Winchesters. He’d told himself that had been a one time thing. He wasn’t going to do anything but watch. If the Winchesters came into more trouble, well, tough. If his father really wanted them to survive, he’d have set up some kind of failsafe that had nothing to do with Gabriel.
A couple months later, he saved Dean Winchester from an oncoming car. Again he’d transformed into the german shepherd and grabbed the kid by his jacket and yanked him back to safety. Dean fell to the sidewalk with a thud and a loud, “Ow!”
He’d looked around and saw Gabriel before he could walk away. He’d squinted at the dog with a frown, “You…”
Gabriel wasn’t sure what he was going to say because at that moment, a couple kids and their parents ran up to help him up. He heard a couple exclamations of ‘are you ok?’ and ‘what’s your parents’ number?’ and he took the opportunity to run off.
As the years passed by, Gabriel found himself saving the Winchester boys in life threatening situations, sometimes as the german shepherd form he’s grown fond of or other animals when the situation called for it. When Dean was fifteen, Gabriel started to notice something interesting developing with the boy. He had always figured that it’d be young Sam who’d manifest, considering he was the vessel to Gabriel’s fallen brother, and he’d been the one Azazel chose to drip demon blood into. Gabriel had been watching the youngest Winchester precisely for that reason. But Dean? He had no clue.
It was the second day of summer. The day started off normally enough. Gabriel was lounging outside the house, transformed into a stray black cat, as the boys got ready for a bike ride. Dean was watching Sam buckle on his helmet.
“You ready?” he asked just as Sam finished and got on his bike.
Sam nodded, “Yeah.” Then he glanced back over his shoulder to see Mary Winchester standing in front of the garage with her hands on her hips. “We’ll be back by lunch, mom, promise.”
“Yeah, mom,” Dean echoed, shooting Mary a grin. “You know I’ll bring Sammy back in one piece. We’re just going down to the river. I’ve packed us some snacks and stuff just in case we’re back a little later.”
“And you’ve got your phone on you?” Mary asked.
“Yeah,” Dean replied. “I’ll be sure to text you if we’re going to be late.”
There was a pause. “Seriously, we’re going to be fine, mom,” Sam said, reading the worry on Mary’s face correctly. “There’s no way Dean’s going to miss out on your apple pie.”
Dean rolled his eyes and slapped the back of his brother’s head. “Shuddup, squirt,” he grumbled.
“Ow, so mature, Dean,” Sam said, grabbing the back of his head.
Mary sighed, glancing from one son to the other. “Okay,” she finally relented. “Just call me if you need someone to come pick you up for whatever reason.”
“Yeah, sure,” Dean said. He looked over to his brother and grinned. “Ready, squirt?”
“Will you quit calling me that?” Sam grumbled, but nodded. “And yeah I am. Bye mom. See you at lunch!”
“Yeah, see ya, mom,” Dean said and kicked off. “Last one there owes doing laundry for a week!”
“Hey! No fair, wait up!” Sam yelled as he kicked off as well, racing to catch up with his older brother.
Gabriel got up and stretched, glancing over to Mary who was still watching her sons race off in the distance. Don’t worry, he thought to himself. I’ll watch over them.
He leapt off the window and bounded after the boys.
It didn’t take long for Gabriel to catch up to the boys. He knew exactly where they were headed, as it was a place they liked to go to a lot in the summers. It was a small grassy field with a lot of trees and a long fence line. Gabriel was pretty sure this stretch of land was owned by someone but he’d never been able to find a house or some kind of sign that showed it belonged to a person. The boys got off their bikes and leaned them against the fence. Dean easily climbed over the fence, before helping his younger brother. Gabriel squeezed underneath and followed the boys to the forest.
“This place is pretty cool, huh?” Dean nudged Sam after almost an hour of walking into the dense woods.
Sam looked around before finding a fallen log to climb over. “Yeah,” he said, getting ahead of Dean.
“Hey! What did I say about sticking close to me?” Dean grumbled, running to catch up.
They found the river easily and Dean stopped to look at it. It was wider and the currents stronger than he remembered. The rush of water seemed to draw in Sam however and he watched as his brother walked closer. “You shouldn’t get too close, Sammy,” he said. His mom would have his head if anything happened to Sam. Luckily Sam stopped and let Dean catch up with him. They both looked down at their reflections in the water.
After a little while, the boys walked along the river. Gabriel followed from a safe distance and once it looked like the boys were settled around a spot nearby, he found a nice tall tree to climb up and perch himself on, where he had a decent vantage point to watch over the Winchester boys. Sam initiated a game of tag to which Dean reluctantly indulged him with. After a little while of back and forth, Sam started climbing up a large rock next to the water. Dean let out a small groan under his breath.
“Really, Sammy?” he grumbled, staring up at his younger brother.
Sam just grinned from on top of his perch and said, “Bet you can’t get me up here, Dean.”
Dean started to climb and Gabriel watched quietly, hoping neither of them would fall. He really didn’t want to get up from here. Dean fell halfway to the top the first couple times and Sam looked down at him triumphantly. He didn’t think his brother could make it up here. On the third try, Dean was almost to the top and Sam decided he’d have to jump down. He started to stand and that was when Gabriel realized it would end badly if he slipped and fell. He got up and jumped down with a small thud. Dean was just about to touch his brother’s foot when Sam took a stumbling step back to the edge. He nearly lost his balance and glanced behind him to see the rushing water just underneath. “Sam?” Dean called out, realizing too late just how close his brother was to falling into the river. “Okay, game’s over. Why don’t you climb back down now?”
“Um, okay,” Sam said in a shaky voice. He bent down as slowly as he could. As he went to climb down, his foot slipped and he found himself panicking and clutching onto the top of the rock. “Dean! Dean, please help!”
Dean sucked in a shaky breath and went to grab his brother’s hand. He tried to pull Sam back up but his brother’s hand was slick with sweat and he’d been only able to hold on for a few moments before Sam was slipping through his fingers. “Sammy!” He watched helplessly as Sam fell into the water.
Gabriel wasted no time as he darted toward the river to try and pull the youngest Winchester out. He didn’t care if Dean would find it strange that a cat would come running out of the woods to save his brother’s life. He’d saved the Winchesters countless times by now, even if they didn’t realize it. He wasn’t going to let the other times he’d saved them all be for nothing. He dove into the river, flailing wet paws around as he scrambled to see where Sam had fallen. He blinked his large feline eyes as he adjusted to the freezing cold of the river. Good thing he was no ordinary cat and he could stay under the water for as long as he wanted without having to breathe.
He started to swim, trying to find the young boy but he couldn’t see anything but blackness. Then, to his surprise, not even a minute later, he heard a loud splash from a foot away and he had to shake his head to see if the image was real or just in his head. The image of Dean Winchester’s lanky body floated down just in front of him. The boy was holding his breath and squinting at him. It took a moment for Dean to adjust to the water and then he started to swim past him. Gabriel blinked again before he followed after the boy.
They found Sam down at the bottom of the river a good few feet away and it was Dean who ended up carrying his brother to safety. Gabriel kept a close eye on the boys just in case they needed him. He hoped they didn’t but had a feeling they might. He shook the water from his fur and lay on the ground next to Sam’s young, prone body. Dean shook his brother a little, called out his name, for him to wake up. Gabriel started to get up, realizing there was a good chance the younger Winchester could actually die. Then Dean started to give his brother CPR. He started to pump his chest in a desperate attempt to wake him up, tilted his head back and opened his mouth just enough for air to flow in. He tried to give mouth to mouth CPR next and Gabriel realized Dean was quickly losing his brother. If he didn’t do something soon, the Winchesters would be down a son.
He was just about to do something, when something extraordinary happened. As Dean was on his second attempt to try and revive his brother, Gabriel could’ve sworn the boy started to glow. It was faint but it was noticeable to something like Gabriel. As soon as his lips touched Sam’s, breathing air into his brother, Gabriel felt it. Dean was not only breathing air into Sam’s body but life. There was grace inside the boy and he was using it to save his brother.
Just as Sam coughed back to life and Dean hugged his brother close, Gabriel ran away.
-
Gabriel always thought that the reason why he was drawn to the Winchesters in the first place was because of their place in the universe, shaped by his father and the angels. He thought the reason he stayed with the Winchesters was because he didn’t want things to move ahead of schedule, that it was Sam Winchester and his destiny to become Lucifer’s vessel that worried and intrigued him. He never thought much of Dean Winchester, that he might’ve been chosen to not just be Michael’s vessel but protected by the archangel…well, that never once crossed his thoughts. It probably should’ve.
He found himself sitting on one of the vast mountains by the grand canyon. The longer he stayed on earth, the more he wondered just how much his brothers and sisters were missing out on this truly extraordinary gift left by their father. Most of them refused to step foot on earth because they thought it was beneath them, they thought that humanity and everything to do with it was beneath them, but Gabriel had wondered a long time ago if perhaps their father had been right to love the humans as he did. Sure they killed a bunch of their kind in wars, in the name of other gods and for greed and power, but there was so much more to humanity than that. Gabriel had spent a long time on earth. He wasn’t sure how long but he’d seen a lot, been through a lot. Sometimes he managed to forget what he was, thinking he actually was the trickster, Loki.
He’d been alone for so long before he met the Winchesters and honestly, he truly thought he was the only angel who believed there might be another way than the predestined big battle between Michael and Lucifer. He’d been afraid to pick sides but now he wondered if there’d been someone else who was just as afraid as he had been, who had needed a little push. He thought about Michael and how he’d always been so determined to follow through with their father’s plan, how he thought it was the righteous thing to do, the only thing to do.
“Don’t you get it, Gabriel? Our father wants us to do this. He wants me to punish Lucifer,” Michael had told him once upon a time, his eyes blazing with righteous fury.
But he didn’t get it. Never got it. Yes Lucifer rebelled against their father, but if their father truly didn’t want him to do that, he could’ve just destroyed him where he stood for defying him. Instead he’d made Michael push him from heaven and locked him into a cage that would be protected by eternal flames and then set into motion something so convoluted that had Gabriel wonder more than once if this whole shindig might be a punishment not for Lucifer rebelling but for Michael not rebelling, not trying to save his brother.
Either way, even if this whole thing wasn’t Michael’s doing, Gabriel knew he had to get answers. He closed his eyes and decided to do the one thing he didn’t think he’d ever do in the thousand plus years he’d stayed down here. He reached out to Michael and prayed.
His prayer was answered in almost an instant. He opened his eyes to see Michael in a random mook and grinned. “Hey, Mike. I think we need to talk.”