Chapter Text
Gabriel gritted his teeth, his four magnificent wings slicing through the darkening air as he transcended from the Earthly plane. This feeling consuming him was utterly infuriating, sending heat pulsing through his entire being, clouding his every thought. He felt the familiar push of the barrier separating Earth and Heaven slide over his rippling feathers and silently, so as not to attract the attention of the Seraphs guarding the gate to The Garden, he slipped through a small passage invisible to those who did not know of its existence. As Gabriel glided as quietly as possible through the narrow, dark avenue, one thought consumed him, its rhetoric poignance utterly consuming his every action:
Why doesn't Sam Winchester like me?!
Gabriel knew, on some level, that he was being pathetic. But there were many other levels to him that argued that Sam Winchester was funny, and smart, and …okay, hot. And those other levels made some damn good arguments. So he'd failed once again in his attempts to capture the younger Winchester's attention; the kid had barely even said two words to him throughout the whole arduous and angelically draining 'trapped-in-TV' experience. What was he doing wrong? Sam just looked perpetually unamused by everything Gabriel conjured up, and he was giving Sam special attention here!
Come on dude, the nutcracker… genital herpes… doesn't it seem like I might have a teensy fixation here?, Gabriel thought, annoyed.
It was hardly his fault that his big brothers had decided to go and destroy the world by having another raging bitch fit was it? And when he'd presented the facts of the final fight to Sam and Dean in an amusing, fun little package tied up with a bow, suddenly he was the bad guy!
Gabriel reached the end of the passage and began to slow, his wings beating far more gradually now. He saw the opening up ahead, taking a breath of relief when he saw it was still open and unguarded even after all this time. He edged closer and snuck through the hole, quickly standing up and taking a moment to shake out his glorious wings. That Dean had given him a thorough telling-off too. It wasn't like he hadto put up with their crap. If it were anyone else, Dean Winchester would currently be on the receiving end of a hilarious and deadly prank, but – purely because Gabriel knew first-hand what Sammy's (puppy-eyed) reaction was to Dean dying – he would leave the idiot alone.
Centuries ago, possibly longer, Gabriel had created several little 'back entrances' into the Heavenly Garden. He had been tricking long before that became his job title, though few people knew, and whilst Gabriel had enjoyed many hundreds of years of being able to 'sneak-out' whenever he pleased without his brothers catching him, over time most of these secret passageways had been sealed off. Gabriel hardly minded, even he could see it was reckless to have unguarded secret entrances into Heaven of all places – what if Demons somehow discovered them? Unlikely, but theoretically possible – and anyway, it's not like Michael and Raphael had managed to find them all. Hence, Gabriel was able to sneak into his old home after his latest run in with the Winchesters, right after they'd trapped him in a holy fire and squeezed out every last drop of information and dignity he had left.
He looked around himself curiously. This passageway had led him right into the middle of his own personal hiding place, founded by him when he was still a favoured member of the Archangelic 'merry men'. It was, technically speaking, off the map, under the radar –carefully designed to go unnoticed to his big, scary brothers as they flitted about pretending God was whispering in their ears. He'd designed it himself of course – a garden in itself, circular, and surrounded by tall, lush green trees that sealed off any views of the departed soul's paradises that lay just beyond. Gabriel would retreat here when his brothers fought, as they often did, refusing to get involved or pick a side. Sometimes they would look for him, and Gabriel would hear them calling his name (in its original Enochian form) – despite its jarring sound against the fragile ears of the souls resting peacefully in their own paradises – but he would never answer.
Gabriel looked around the hiding spot now, at the dewy blades of grass beneath his feet, remembering how he would sit for hours, contemplating a life elsewhere. But that meant falling, he'd thought then, before he'd run away, and he didn't want to fall.
"Gabriel."
Gabriel spun round, eyes wide, his Grace running like liquid silver down his forearm and pooling into the cold dagger of his Archangel's blade in his palm quicker than a blink. He took in the trenchcoat, the weary expression, the pure, innocent youth in two shining blue eyes.
"Castiel?" Gabriel's grip on the blade loosened slightly, his head tilting – an unconscious reaction. "How…"
"I admired you a great deal when we belonged in Heaven together, Gabriel. I once followed you here, back when…" Castiel trailed off, not wanting to speak of a time that was so deeply rooted in the past it was physically painful to think about. Gabriel's lips formed a thin straight line. "I come here sometimes now. It is quiet here. Peaceful."
"Private." Gabriel grumbled, tucking the blade securely away. Castiel looked up, but sensed there was no real venom behind Gabriel's words. He was flattered at Castiel's admiration. He was a prideful creature after all.
A few moments of silence passed between them, teetering on the edge between companionable and awkward. Sighing, Gabriel snapped his fingers and a wooden bench appeared in the centre of the garden; its wood a rich mahogany, framed in curled, twisting black iron. Gabriel slumped down onto it, his face brooding.
"God, those brats are annoying." Gabriel whined, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
Castiel hesitated for a moment, looking uncomfortable. Then he sighed, seeming to let all defences slip along with his rigid posture. His shoulders drooped and he sat down next to his brother on the bench, still upright but significantly less robot-like.
"They can be a nuisance at times, I will allow." Castiel agreed, and Gabriel opened one eye to look at him, shocked.
"No! Don't tell me you agree with me little brother? You, who kisses the ground before that older chucklehead takes a step?" Gabriel feigned surprise, one hand fluttering over his heart, and his jaw dropping wide. Castiel glared.
"Dean Winchester is many things. Loyal, moral, righteous, brave-"
"Cute, sexy, handsome?" Gabriel interrupted, grinning now at Castiel as he listed Dean's attributes.
"-loving." Castiel corrected, glaring again. "But he is also stubborn, and self-deprecating, and yes, often very annoying."
"Huh." Gabriel said, his arms spreading out across the back of the bench. He gazed over at his stoic little brother curiously, regarding him with renewed interest. Castiel seemed to grow irritable under the staring and snarled.
"What?!"
"You lurrrve him." Gabriel sang, delighted at the discovery.
Castiel flushed immediately, and sat up ramrod straight. All rookie mistakes, betraying his youth and inexperience. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Gabriel grinned and shimmied closer to the younger Angel, new ideas swarming in his mind already with this new information. "Oh, I think you do. You were told to clutch that pretty boy and hoist him out of the fire, but he got his scent on you didn't he?" Castiel frowned at him, but shifted uncomfortably, attempting to move away from Gabriel, who was now seriously invading any personal space he may have once had. "What happened? You get a little greedy? You smoothing out all his bumps and scrapes and leave a little claim on your hand-sculpted piece of ass?"
Gabriel was half-joking, but Castiel was immediately defensive. "It's not like that! The mark I left on Dean was a reminder of his torment, a warning to other creatures that he was the righteous man and not to be touched. Or I would come for them." Castiel's eyes darkened at the idea. "It wasn't some petty territorial claim!"
Gabriel expertly arched one eyebrow, leaning back and folding his arms. "Uh-huh."
Castiel turned away, shaking his head a little. "What you did today was… foolish."
Gabriel chuckled and shrugged a little, unable to disagree. "Mmmmaybe…" He grinned and gave Castiel a playful punch on the shoulder. "I had my reasons."
"And what were they? To terrify the Winchesters into accepting Lucifer and Michael's ridiculous plan for them? Gabriel, this whole plan is flawed, not to mention overplayed. I am certain that God would never have wanted this, he loved us. He loved them, humans, his greatest creation. Why would he support a plan that would destroy them?" Castiel shook his head, clearly unable to comprehend.
"I agree, bro." Gabriel said, shrugging again. "It's a stupid, stupid plan. But it's also the only one anyone's got so…"
"So you thought you'd just create hundreds of alternate realities and trap the brothers in there until they go through with it, even though you disagree?" Castiel asked, disbelief etched onto his face. Gabriel turned away, pouting. "Or maybe you also have a hidden agenda?"
Gabriel's head whipped back around to face Castiel, and he became immediately wary of the glint in his little brother's eyes. "I don't know what you're-"
"Perhaps you thought that your fixation on Sam Winchester had escaped my notice, brother?" Castiel asked, his small smile an ironic mirror of Gabriel's just moments before.
"Now hold on-" Gabriel began, but Castiel wasn't finished.
"Sam is a remarkable individual, it's really of little wonder why you took such an interest in him. You are similar to him in many ways. The running away, the disobedience of your father, your little… bad streak…" Anger stained Gabriel's face. "Although I do think your methods of courting could do with a little work." Castiel finished, fully smiling now at Gabriel's enraged expression.
"Oh yeah?" Gabriel spat, Castiel's final words suddenly sending the urge to prove him wrong tumbling out of him like a waterfall. He felt interest begin to spark at the edges of his mind. "…And what would you suggest instead?"
Castiel's eyes widened. "W-what?"
Ideas, beautiful and bright, swarmed Gabriel's mind, stirred his Grace excitedly, sending it coursing through his veins until his whole body was thrumming. Alone, he was near useless – Sam barely had time for him at all; he was too different in all the wrong ways, too jokey, too sarcastic, too cruel for good-natured, kind-hearted little Sammy. But Cas – once Heaven's little poster boy – he was like a friggin encyclopaedia of know-how about how to get little Sammy all riled up and romanced.
And he, Gabriel, was perfect to help Cas too! Dean was all bravado and humour-defence-mechanisms. Hell, if anyone knew about that crap it was Gabriel. He'd been at it thousands of years! It hit him in a tidal wave, a tsunami of realisation raining down upon him on a wooden bench in a hidden garden:
Alone we're useless, we don't know what the hell we're doing. But together …
"Castiel!" Gabriel suddenly cried, and Cas's petrified expression at the sudden outburst was probably an indication that Gabriel had been silent for a good few minutes while his epiphany had come to him. He gripped his brother by his trenchcoated shoulders and laughed delightedly. "Cas kiddo, don't you worry about a thing. You and I, we're gonna come up with a plan."
The Five Ways to Court a Winchester.
Dean scribbles a few words half-heartedly down on a notepad in his hand, one ear cocked towards the teenage girl he's 'interviewing' about the recent violent death of her neighbour. She can't be more than sixteen, seventeen perhaps at a push, and yeah she's cute but Dean is so not heading down that train of thought, especially as her very nervous and very stoned-looking boyfriend is sitting on the couch just behind her, watching Dean anxiously with red, watery eyes.
The girl can't half talk though, and she seems to have no trouble describing exactly what she saw when the neighbour in question ran out of his house screaming, covered in what sound like some seriously nasty burns from his kettle deciding to spontaneously combust while he made an innocent cup of tea. Dean's fighting the urge to yawn when he spots Sammy out of the corner of his eye, waving at him in the most inconspicuous way possible considering they're meant to be FBI at a crime scene. He's clutching a tiny round bag in his hand, seemingly tied at the top with some sort of twine. Sam makes a face that says 'you know what this means', and Dean does. A hex bag.
"Friggin witches." Dean mumbles under his breath, nodding slightly at Sam, "great."
"I'm sorry?" The girl asks, suddenly eyeing Dean as if he were insane. He turns his attention back to her and gives his most charming grin.
"Um, nothing. Don't worry about it." He flips his pad closed. "Okay! I think I've got all I need here, thank you for your time, Miss."
Dean makes a hasty retreat towards Sam, leaving the girl glowering after him, presumably for not letting her finish her elaborate retelling of a grisly murder. Maybe all those soccer moms have a point about kids being too addicted to violence these days, Dean thinks idly as he walks back to the car with Sam. Then he thinks about how much he'd loved films like Halloween and Friday the 13th as a kid and dismisses the thought immediately.
"So witches, huh?" Dean calls over the top of the car to Sam before opening the driver's side door and sliding in. He shudders a little once he's inside the warm Impala interior; it's an unusually cold day. "I hate witches."
Sam chuckles as he closes the passenger side door behind him, fastening his seatbelt with an audible clack. "I know you do. I'm not exactly their biggest fan either Dean, but it's not like we're trying to be BFF's with them is it?"
Dean shrugs and turns on the engine, conceding that yes, the upside of a witch hunt is that you get to kill the bitches after you've dealt with their mess.
Dean isn't even fully through the door of the room before Sam is heading over to his laptop, already frothing at the mouth in anticipation of the research he needs to do in relation to the new information they've found. Dean lets out a groan.
"Ugh, Sammy do you ever just chill?"
Sam pauses, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. "…We're in the middle of a case, Dean."
"So?"
"…So people are dying." Dean rolls his eyes in response at Sam's guilt trip, and Sam turns back to the screen.
Whatever, Dean thinks, toeing off his shiny monkey-suit shoes, I'm gonna need a beer to get through an evening of boning up on witchcraft.
He crosses to the fridge and pulls out a bottle, getting one for Sam too, though he'll probably be the one that ends up drinking it, seeing as Sam is so engrossed.
"Okay, so why do you think Regina George was a target for the witches as well as her neighbour?" Dean asks at length, sitting down on the end of one of the beds and taking a long swig.
Sam pauses his typing and looks at him, a smirk on his lips. "Regina George?"
Dean narrows his eyes at his brother. "Lindsay Lohan was a fine comedy actress in her day. Mean Girls is a classic, man." Sam nods slowly, clearly seconds away from hysterics. Dean glowers some more. " Look, whatever! I mean, we found the hex bag at her house right? So the witch wanted her to die too."
Sam sighs, storing away his discovery of his brother's penchance for chick flicks for later teasing material. He shrugs at him. "I'm not sure. Honestly, I think it might just be random. I mean it is the apocalypse after all, maybe there's just a crazy witch thinking she'll join in the party by picking off a whole street of next door neighbours one after another."
Dean furrows his brow at that, taking another long pull. That certainly seemed strange behaviour, even for the apocalypse. He's never known a hunt without some sort of motive or pattern behind the killings. Especially with witches, who were essentially humans on a power trip. He opens his mouth, about to say as much when something flashes into his peripheral vision, almost making him choke.
"…Hello, Dean." Castiel says, looking a little sheepish at having given Dean a slight heart attack. "Sam." He acknowledges.
Sam nods towards him over the top of his screen, clearly lost in Witch lore.
"Alright Cas?" Dean manages to get out after his heartbeat has slowed somewhat. "You uh- you good?" Castiel turns slightly towards him, frowning a little.
"Yes, I'm fine." He replies, looking Dean straight in the eyes, unblinking. It's unnerving as hell, and Dean starts to fidget under the scrutiny. "…Thankyou for asking me, Dean."
Dean nearly chokes again, and tries to keep from looking at Sam, who he knows will be smirking at him in that infuriating way of his.
"Cool, uh... no worries." Dean says in response, desperate to change the subject. "Uh, we're in the middle of a witch hunt. If you're not busy… you wanna stick around for a bit? Could always use angelic assistance when we're dealing with friggin witches."
Castiel's eyes light up, and Dean pretends not to notice how happy Cas seems to be that Dean has invited him to stay around for a while. Way too easily pleased, he thinks, and then feels terrible for it.
"Very well. How far have you got with the hunt?" Castiel asks, his eyebrows raised innocently.
"Kinda sounds like he's asking you on a date there Cassy." A voice suddenly pipes up from behind Dean, and the hunter swivels round, ready to tackle an enemy, to find that it's Gabriel of all people, reclined casually on Sam's bed, clearly having been watching the scene for who knows how long. "My big brotherly advice – don't put out till the second date. Especially with this womanising yahoo."
Sam looks up from his laptop just long enough to take in the sight of Gabriel and tut loudly, rolling his eyes. "I thought we got rid of you." He mumbles, scribbling something down on a pad next to him.
Gabriel beams at Sam and winks despite the younger brother having turned away. "I don't give up that easily, gorgeous."
Sam just rolls his eyes again and continues to scroll down the page of the site he's browsing through. Castiel exchanges a look with Gabriel then that Dean finds difficult to decipher, but looks almost like sympathy. Dean shakes his head, unable to remain quiet any longer.
"Gabriel just… what the hell? Get out of here! We just dealt with you, and now we're in the middle of a friggin hunt, do you mind?"
"Woah! Easy boy." Gabriel cries, chuckling and miming pulling the reins on a horse. Dean grits his teeth. "I'm here to help! Honest."
"Honest? Oh yeah, cause that's a primary aspect of your personality, Gabriel." Dean retorts, scoffing. "Last time we saw you, you tried to lock us in TV land until we agreed to become puppets for your whiny, self-absorbed siblings!"
"Yeah… okay, I'll admit that may have been a little extreme." Gabriel admits, shrugging. He exchanges another indecipherable look with Cas, which Dean finds really irritating. What, so they have angelic secrets now? Since when did Cas get chummy with this asshole? "But I apologise. Truly I do." Gabriel says, trying to look sincere. "Sorry about your jewels, Sammy!" Gabriel says, lifting his voice to try and penetrate through Sam's intense concentration.
"Not. Accepted." Sam says evenly, never taking his eyes off the screen.
Gabriel sighs, smiling a little. "Anyway, I'm sorry, I was wrong, blah blah… Can we skip to the part where I tell you that you're being played like a couple of boneheads?"
Dean tries make his confused 'what the hell' glance towards Castiel as nonchalant as possible, but this fails spectacularly given that Castiel isn't even looking at Dean; his eyes are fixed warily on Gabriel, though he doesn't appear particularly concerned.
"…What?" Dean asks at length, when it becomes clear nobody is going to elaborate. Gabriel smirks in a way that makes Dean's fists clench.
"You'd think that after all your run-ins with witches you'd be a little smarter about this kind of thing by now." Gabriel says breezily, managing to catch Sam's confused eye at last, and taking the opportunity to wink at him. He snaps his fingers exaggeratedly and immediately two squashed-looking hex bags appear on the keyboard Sam's fingers rest against.
"What the…" Sam exclaims at the sight of them, drawing his hands away in cautious fear.
"Where'd they come from?!" Dean cries, standing and crossing over to Sam in order to inspect the bags more closely.
"Under your pillows." Gabriel answers, eyebrows raised at them pointedly.
Castiel shifts uncomfortably.
"Jeez! Friggin sneaky witches. Nice one, man. I guess we owe you." Dean says, turning away from the hex bags and shuddering a little. Witches really gave him the creeps.
"Not a problem Dean-o." Gabriel says, grinning. Castiel shoots him a look.
"Yeah… thanks, Gabriel." Sam says, untying one of the hex bags and picking through the contents. "We'll destroy these, I just wanna check-"
"Okay, I'm gonna save you boys a lot of trouble." Gabriel interrupts, jumping up from the bed suddenly and striding into the middle of the room. "It's the cute prom queen." Dean's mouth falls open. "Little miss no bra? Suzie stoner-boyfriend?" Gabriel continues, searching Dean's face for recognition.
"What?" Sam suddenly cries, his voice laced with scepticism. "Don't be ridiculous, Gabriel. It can't be her, we found a hex bag in her house! She's a target!"
Gabriel swivels on his heels to look down upon Sam, still sitting casually in his chair by the laptop. He grins, a glint in his eye. "Aw, Sammy. Don't you trust me?" Sam splutters. "Look, you can either take my word for it, go down and torch the murderous bitch, or you can spend the next few hours trawling the internet to find out about Suzanne Parker's four year grudge against a neighbour who called the cops on all her 'bitchin' house parties, and also that the hex bag she strategically hid behind a cabinet in her house was a fake, intended to mislead you."
Dean glances towards Castiel, managing to catch his eye at long last. The younger Angel is chewing his lip and for a moment Dean is worried, but then Cas gives him a nod, as if confirming that they should trust Gabriel on this matter, and hell, it's good enough for Dean right now. Especially if it means no research required.
Sam glowers at Gabriel but begins to lower his laptop lid, surrendering. "Fine." Sam mutters, and Gabriel feels an overwhelming surge of success at the word. "But I'm still checking to make sure the hex bag is a fake."
Gabriel figures that's not a bad result, considering everything he's put Sam through recently.
Dean downs the rest of his beer and tries not to let his gaze keep flicking back towards Cas.
"Okay, so how bout this little bro…" Gabriel cleared his throat dramatically, and Castiel raised his eyebrows. "The first way to court a Winchester: Save their life."
"Save their life? Don't you think that's sort of… a given?" Castiel asked, sounding unsure. He was sat in the exact same position, despite he and Gabriel having been in this Heavenly garden for well over a day in Earth time. It was necessary though – they were planning an elaborate master plan for something of deadly importance.
…And so far they'd gotten nowhere. How hard could it be to think up effective ways to woo the Winchester boys? Very, as it turned out.
Gabriel scoffed, sliding further down into the bench until he was practically falling off it. "For you maybe. I'm generally more focused on endangering their lives in various, fun little ways."
"…But they are both destined to be of extreme importance. That they remain alive is surely of the utmost importance regardless-" Castiel began, making Gabriel groan.
"Okay, okay enough!" Gabriel interrupted, sitting up and raising a hand in an attempt to restore some authority. "Look, you may have saved them a few times already Cassy, but I haven't had the honour. From what you tell me about their – admittedly few – relationships with other human beings, being the one to save their lives puts you at the top of their friend list."
"It's true that they are often excessively grateful when I am forced to intervene." Castiel mused thoughtfully, staring off into the cluster of trees ahead of him. "I suppose we shall have to bide our time, watch the brothers closely, and wait for an opportunity to save them."
Gabriel stopped laughing about three minutes later, looking up to see Castiel's annoyed and confused expression staring back at him. "Oh, baby brother. I have so much to teach you."
Castiel just looked even more confused.
"We're not going to sit around in this godforsaken place that is, coincidentally, crawling with Angels ready to sell us both out to our lovely brothers until the Winchesters happen to stumble into a case that might just be dangerous enough to warrant some good ol' divine intervention."
"It actually happens far more than you might expect for two hunters as experienced as Sam and Dean-"
Gabriel cut Castiel off with another raise of his hand. "Look, the point is, why wait around for something that good, when you can just whip it up yourself?"
Castiel immediately looked horrified and stood up from the bench. "Are you suggesting we intentionally put Dean and Sam into harm's way just so that we can save them and look like heroes?"
"No! Of course not!" Gabriel cried indignantly, avoiding Castiel's steely gaze. "Well, actually, now that you mention it…"
"Absolutely not." Castiel replied, his trenchcoat swirling dramatically around his shins as he turned his back on the Archangel.
Gabriel chuckled and began tapping out a rhythm on the arm of the bench. "C'mon Cassy, I've seen how pink your cheeks go when Dean manages to choke out a thank you once in a blue moon." Castiel's shoulders remained rigid. Gabriel got to his feet slowly, making his way over to Cas and slipping an arm around his shoulders. "Think about it," he crooned silkily, "Dean's all tied up and helpless, calling for his big strong Angel to come and save him…" Gabriel risked a glance up to Castiel's face, catching a glint in his cerulean eyes. "…then BAM in swoops Castiel! You light up a couple of ghosties or demons, free your damsel in distress from his chains and ride off together on your gleaming white stallion… into a shimmering sunset… hair flowing in the breeze…"
Gabriel trailed off, his eyes glazed. At length he snapped his gaze back to Castiel, who was staring at him curiously, head tilted. "Sorry… got a little carried away there." Gabriel grinned sheepishly.
Castiel sighed heavily and lifted Gabriel's arm from his shoulders. "Alright Gabriel. If you're certain it will earn me Dean's admiration. And that no harm will befall either of them."
Gabriel tried to swallow his excitement. "Alright!" He cried, clapping Castiel on the shoulder before leaning in towards him conspiratorially. "So, I'm thinking witches."
Castiel's eyes went wide.
"Well that went spectacularly well." Castiel utters, his wings sliding back into invisibility as he touches down on the mortal plane once more.
"Oh zip it, twinkles." Gabriel snaps, fluttering into a landing beside him. "It went fine, they think we're wonderful, helpful little cherubs. In their eyes, we arrived, gave them some extremely handy pointers and made an enigmatically mysterious exit under the rouse of 'Angel business'." Gabriel pauses, cocking his head, remembering. "Man, Sammy looked all kinds of scrumptious in that monkey suit, huh?"
"Gabriel. This is not the moment to be discussing-" Castiel begins in a warning tone.
"Oh come on, what's the point of this whole crazy scheme if we can't ogle them like horny teenagers along the way?" Gabriel asks, gesturing wildly, forcing Castiel to reach out and pin his arms to his sides.
"Not now, Gabriel! This part of the plan is extremely dangerous, we can't keep bickering like this. If we let our concentration slip, Sam and Dean could die!" Castiel chastises, gripping Gabriel by the shoulder. Gabriel rolls his eyes, but lets the matter drop.
"Would you relax? It's just a witch. Nothing's gonna go wrong." Gabriel murmurs, turning back to watch the young girl in front of him, her lips moving over an incantation as her eyes cloud over with white.
The Angels chose their positions carefully earlier in the day; in a corner of the abandoned house where this witch has chosen to set up base camp, within sight of the front door, but with an excellent view of almost the entire room as well. They made sure to cloak themselves upon appearing, to ensure that the pretty young girl, who is in reality an extremely clever and dangerous witch, wouldn't suspect anything would go awry in her plan.
Now, as she finishes up her spell, sending a bolt of bluish lightning flashing through the small, debris-littered room, her boyfriend makes a whimpering, bewildered sound from behind his gag. She glances towards where he lies sprawled on a large marble table, his ankles and wrists bound to it with scarlet ribbon, his skin marred with burns from what looks to the silent Angels like candle wax.
She grimaces at him, but stands, slowly meandering over to his helpless form, a look of disgust on her face.
"What's the matter, baby?" She asks, cruelty lacing her voice. Castiel sends out a prayer that the Winchesters hurry up. "You don't like being my sacrifice?"
The reddened eyes grow wide and he whimpers again, struggling against his bonds. She gives him a cruel smile and scratches a long red fingernail down his bared chest, his shirt having already been ripped open.
"Don't worry, baby. Not much longer now. This was gonna be a quick job, but these two morons that think they're Mulder and Scully are trying to get the jump on me." Gabriel chuckles at her pop culture reference and Castiel shushes him, feeling more nervous by the second. "So we gotta wait for them to show up, for me to kill them, and then – finally – you can get an answer to the question that's been plaguing you ever since we started going out." She leans forward, resting her elbows on his chest and staring into his eyes. "Why would a girl as hot as me go for a lazy, unshaven, weed-smoking loser like you?" She tilts her head, mocking. "You're my little delinquent, baby. The best at being the literal worst scum of the neighbourhood, and that's what the ritual requires. So you can die safe in the knowledge that at least in one way, you're perfect."
The door swings open wide with a sudden resounding crash, and the witch leans back from her gentle torture to idly observe Sam and Dean storming through it, guns raised defensively, the wind howling in after them in an ironically dramatic scream.
In no more than two seconds the boys are flung across the room, their bodies smacking against the opposite wall with impressive force. She pins them there with a steady gaze, watching them groan in pain and struggle feebly against the invisible bonds she has bound them with.
"Let us go you psycho bitch!" Dean yells over the roaring of the wind, still pouring in through the open door, sending pieces of brick and wooden debris skittering across the floor. The witch sighs loudly and with a flick of her wrist the door slams shut.
"I don't think so, cutie." She says in a low voice, and it sounds way too menacing for a teenage bimbo. "Hmm, I think I'm gonna use that strangulation charm I've been itching to try…" She says quietly, presumably to herself. Dean bares his teeth at her.
Castiel, still invisible, rounds on Gabriel, his eyes flicking between the Archangel and the Winchester's plight. "We should uncloak ourselves now." Castiel says, hoping to God that Gabriel agrees.
"What?" Gabriel says, a smirk playing on his lips. "It's just getting good! Cassy calm down, we can wait a little longer." Castiel turns helplessly back to the scene in front of him, where the witch is now muttering another incantation, presumably the strangulation charm she mentioned.
"Dean!" Sam hisses, turning his face as much as possible towards his brother considering they are both plastered to the cold stone wall side by side. "What do we do? This witch is a lot more powerful than we thought!"
"Oh, you think?!" Dean hisses back, annoyed. The witch opens one eye to stare at them as they bicker quietly, her steady stream of nonsense-sounding words never faltering. "I dunno Sammy, you're the one with all the Witch knowledge!"
"I knew we should have done research! Damn Gabriel!" Sam curses, and Dean rolls his eyes.
Castiel pats Gabriel's shoulder awkwardly upon hearing Sam's slur against him, trying to be sympathetic, but Gabriel shrugs him off, irritated.
The witch finishes her spell and a loud popping sound fills the air for second. Dean and Sam look at each other in confusion, and then they start to feel it. At first it's akin to wearing a particularly snug turtleneck sweater, or a tie on a really hot day. Dean gulps and sweat starts to pool on his brow. Sam tries to clear his throat, only to find that upon inhaling, he struggles to find the air.
Soon, both the boys are writhing against the wall as invisible claws grip their necks tightly, squeezing against their adam's apples, cutting off blood and air flow. The witch laughs as if she were hearing a funny joke, before stalking back over towards her boyfriend/victim. Sam tries to reach his arm out, to do anything at all, but it's no use, his limbs are plastered to his sides, there's no hope of breaking free. In his oxygen-deprived state, Dean likens the experience to a ride he once went on at a Carnival when he was about sixteen. They called it 'The Cage' he thinks, and it spun so fast you were pinned to the walls, unable to move.
And I loved that friggin ride, Dean thinks, getting no satisfaction out of the irony of the thought.
Dean manages to suck in what he thinks will almost definitely be his last breath, and Sam is pretty certain he's going to black out, when suddenly a blinding white light fills the room, distracting both boys from their imminent deaths.
They hear a girlish scream of pure agony, and a burst of purplish flames erupts in a magnificent plume where the witch stood moments ago. Almost immediately the chokeholds around the two Winchester's break, sending them sliding down the wall and into a heap on the floor.
Sam looks up blearily to see Castiel untying the boy, still whimpering helplessly on the table across the room. "C-Cas?" Sam chokes out, his throat immediately chastising him for trying to talk.
"Oh sure, thank the novice." Gabriel says from where he is suddenly crouched down next to Sam, making the younger Winchester nearly jump out of his skin. Sam just about has time to feel relieved that he's in the hands of Angels, before a sudden commotion across the room alerts his attention.
The boy, now freed of his scarlet wrist bonds, sits up suddenly, his arms and legs ripping free of the other ribbons easily. He smiles eerily, just enough to get everyone's skin crawling and Sam looks up just in time to see his eyes go black.
"Goddammit!" Gabriel moans, sounding annoyed but not frightened, which Sam supposes is probably a good thing. "Demon, Cas!"
"How did we not see its true face?" Castiel asks worriedly, his arms raised in a stance, as though preparing to fight the demon in that awesome slamming palms-against-foreheads way.
"I am no ordinary demon." It says, it's smile growing unnaturally wide, so much so that the boy's cheeks begin to split and bleed. "I have been summoned to this place. A sacrifice was made upon the marble table; the witch you destroyed completed the ritual, and now I am free."
"Well shit." Gabriel says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Didn't think of that."
Sam rolls his eyes and tries to scoff at his ignorance, but ends up wincing in pain as his throat throbs angrily.
"Even now, I drain the life of the one you have neglected to attend to. He tastes ssssso delicious. Like a thunderstorm." Its eyes flash black again and it inhales deeply, its dark skin rippling in delight. Gabriel looks disgusted by it.
"Dean!" Castiel shouts, and begins to immediately cross to where he is slumped on the ground, eyes closed, unmoving. The demon snarls and lunges for Castiel, tackling him to the ground with an animalistic pounce. Castiel struggles against him as it claws and bites, but it is clearly unnaturally strong even for a demon. "Dean! Gabriel- check on him! Please-ugh-" Castiel aims a heavy punch at the demon's jaw, and in the split second it reacts, reaches for his Angel blade.
"I got him Cassy, don't worry." Gabriel says firmly and crosses to Dean's inanimate form. Carefully, he pries Sam's hysterically shaking hands from where they're now bunched in Dean's t-shirt and looks him deeply in the eye, reassuring him wordlessly that he will take care of his brother.
In a blink, Gabriel is gone and so is Dean, the Archangel clearly having transported him to a place of safety. Sam blinks away hot tears and stands up shakily to go and help Cas.
Castiel has managed to get to his feet and is circling the grinning demon, his blade pointed threateningly towards it. It's eyes are wide, unblinking, watching Castiel's every movement. Sam knows instinctively that this is a fight he could not win; it is between two supernatural creatures, but he has to try. He has to do something.
Dean could be dead for all he knows, the demon said it was draining his life as they all stood around, waiting for someone to make the first move. Sam grits his teeth. He rocks back on the balls of his feet. Castiel catches his eye a fraction of a second too late, and Sam is lunging towards the creature, its supernatural senses catching the movement before Sam is even halfway towards it. The demon catches hold of Sam's wrist and twists his arm, hard and fast, sending Sam crashing to the floor, his bones snapping and the sound filling the air.
Castiel's rage shimmers around him at the noise and he acts in a timeless moment, his blade piercing through the demon's chest, impaling him as he wails and falls limp.
"Sam." Castiel says, wasting no time, rushing to the younger Winchester's aid.
"I take it all back Gabriel. So far this plan of yours has gone spectacularly well." Castiel says, and it takes Gabriel a full ten seconds of staring at his younger brother before he realises he is being sarcastic.
"Shut it Cassy, it could have been worse." Gabriel grumbles in response. Castiel just looks at him.
The two Winchester's are now both in deep slumbers on their chosen Motel beds after a thorough beating, strangulation, and then an intense Angelic healing session wherein the Angels had spent several hours mending broken bones, healing bleeding wounds, preventing concussions and mending some severely damaged throat tendons. Castiel had put them both to sleep shortly afterwards as a coping mechanism for the pain they would otherwise be feeling.
"Worse?!" Castiel hisses, rounding on Gabriel and leaning down into his face. He found he couldn't care less right now about the Angelic ranking system, and Gabriel's Archangelic status be damned, he would yell at his older brother for putting these two boys in unnecessary harm. "Worse than them nearly dying from strangulation and then being forced to face what I suspect was an extremely powerful demon?!"
Gabriel has the decency to look shamefaced for a second before a grin lights up his face. "You've gotta admit, my one's a hell of a catch. Half-starved of oxygen and recovering from death – what does he do? Rugby tackles a super-demon to try and help out my idiot little brother!" Gabriel chuckles, looking down fondly at Sam's unconscious form.
"Why aren't you taking this seriously?!" Castiel cries, and he sounds desperate, upset. Gabriel frowns at him, watching as he moves over to the seat next to Dean's bed he'd been sat in diligently ever since they returned. The Angel's fingers reach out tentatively, skipping lightly over Dean's knuckles where his hand lies unmoving by his face.
"Aw, Cassy." Gabriel says, suddenly feeling bad. He materialises next to Cas, resting a hand on the Angel's shoulder and trying not to feel too put out when he stiffens beneath him. "Look bro, I'm sorry. How did I know the bitch dying would summon a demon? And I suppose…" Gabriel sighs, starting to meander away from Cas and wander over to his own spot next to Sam's bed. Not that he was doing the whole wife-at-the-hospital-bedside thing, no way. He'd just been sitting there while he was healing Sammy's scrapes. That's all. "…maybe, I got a bit carried away. I probably should have listened to you, and we should have popped out when you said."
Castiel glances up at him, meeting his eyes across the two beds, their charges sleeping peacefully in between them. "Thankyou for saving Dean." Castiel says simply.
"Ditto you with Sammy." Gabe replies, smiling a little.
It's nearly three in the afternoon when Sam finally fights his way out of unconsciousness. He blinks blearily, strands of his hair having fallen across his face, obscuring his vision. Grunting, he reaches up and pushes his hair back, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The first thing he sees when he focuses properly is Gabriel, reclined far too casually on a chair beside his bed, smirking.
"Morning sleeping beauty." Gabriel greets, and Sam's head throbs a little.
"Gabriel?" Sam slurs thickly, starting to sit up. "What's going… where's Dean?"
Gabriel rolls his eyes and gestures towards the other bed where Dean is still sound asleep, under the watchful eye of Castiel next to him. Sam turns so fast it makes his head swim and relief floods his body to see Dean safe and breathing, although he'd prefer it if his brother were conscious.
"He will wake soon." Castiel says softly, and his gravelly voice is soothing to Sam's ears.
Sam allows the Angel's reassurance to calm him, and he flops back against the headboard, still exhausted for some reason. "Man, I am glad that is over." Sam murmurs, closing his eyes.
Gabriel chuckles. "Yeah, maybe next time come up with a better plan than both of you just charging through the front door?"
Castiel shoots Gabriel a fiery look, but Sam doesn't notice, he's too enraged himself.
"What?!" Sam cries, his voice louder now. "Maybe next time you could give us the little tip off that she's not some amateur teenager with a spell book like we thought!"
Gabriel leans towards Sam, bracing his hands on the edge of the bed. "Gee, I guess I thought that with all your lifelong experience, one witch wouldn't manage to get one over on you two so easily!" Gabriel fires back, and Sam narrows his eyes.
"We're good at what we do when we do it our way, Gabriel!" Sam yells back. "You insisted we didn't need to do any research because you'd told us the whole story, so don't go blaming this whole catastrophe on us-"
"Oh wow, you know what's nice?" Gabriel asks, interrupting Sam and making him even more angry. "Seeing how appreciative you are that we not only saved your asses, but used our hard-earned grace to healthem too!"
Castiel clears his throat loudly, and Gabriel looks up into his younger brother's warning stare. Gabriel rolls his eyes again, but falls silent. Sam looks like he is about to respond to Gabriel's argument but at the sound of Castiel's loud throat-clearing, Dean's eyes began to flutter.
"Dean?" Sam asks tentatively, leaning towards his brother without moving off of his own bed. Dean rolls onto his back, his eyes peeling open.
"F…" Dean tries to say, and Sam shoots Castiel a worried look. Castiel watches Dean calmly, assessing. "F…F-friggin witches, man."
Sam barks out a near hysterical laugh, feeling his anxiety melt away into nothingness. In his euphoric, relief-filled state, he spins around and grabs hold of a shocked Gabriel's shoulder, grinning.
"I-I'm sorry Gabe… I was just nervous I dunno." Sam says earnestly, and Gabriel can't respond; Sam's face is too close to his, his hazel-fringed eyes looking too deeply into his own. "Thankyou for saving my brother."
Sam smiles at him, sincerity and gratitude pouring out of his every orifice, and Gabriel can only smile weakly back in response. Sam turns from him and slides off the bed to sit next to Dean, jabbing him on all his bruises so that he groans and tells Sam he hates him, when of course he means the opposite.
"Cas?" Dean says, once Sam has ceased his torture and sits back on his own bed.
"Yes, Dean?"
"You sit here this whole time while I was comatose?" Dean asks, his eyes closing as he rests on his back, a smile dancing precariously on his lips.
Castiel shoots a glance at Gabriel, unsure of how to respond. Gabriel just looks amusedly back at him, enjoying Castiel's discomfort.
"…Yes." Castiel says eventually, his brow creasing.
Dean grins. "You're such a good little guardian Angel." Castiel fidgets, wondering how to tell Dean that he is not a guardian Angel, and is in fact a powerful soldier of Heaven, of much higher rank than the guardians. "Thanks, Cas. I owe you again for the patch up job. And for saving Sammy." Dean reaches out blindly towards Cas and gives him an awkward pat on the knee.
His eyes closed, Dean doesn't see Castiel's face light up like he won the lottery just from that simple word of thanks and small touch, but Gabriel does, and winks.