SPN: Unify 4/5
Once consent is given to an angel, it is almost never revoked. And this was an emergency.
So I flowed right into Dean, making his body jerk and his eyes close.
I opened my eyes and fixed the vampyre brute with a glare that froze him in his tracks. "What the hell...." he breathed.
Doing a quick scan of the body I was now inhabiting, I found that no blood had gone down his throat. It was all still in his mouth.
Dean was still human.
I moved every single drop of tainted blood into a wad at the front of my mouth and took a deep breath. I then blew the breath out - and the blood wad with it, smacking the bruiser right in the eye. I then spit on the ground, making certain it was all gone.
"Why?" I snarled. "Why are you doing this?"
He was wiping his eyes and he actually laughed. "Because with those looks and our power? You'd be phenomenal as a Recruiter!"
"A what?" I grabbed his throat and looked into his eyes. "Why would you need a recruiter?"
He just looked at me.
And I put it together. "You're building an army."
"It's our time," he smirked. "Our time to rule."
My eyes narrowed. "I don't think so."
He moved to break my hold, and seemed shocked that he couldn't. "How.....you're just a human!"
"Now, now - remember what they said about assuming?"
He blinked. "What?"
"When you assume something is just human?" I tightened my hold. "You die."
My power flared into him and he immolated. I dropped the smouldering corpse and raised my eyes.
There was Sam, standing at the end of the alleyway with a strange look on his face. Almost as if he was satisfied, thinking that Dean had been Turned, and then startled out of it when he saw the vampyre burn.
The churning, sick feeling in my stomach wasn't just from Dean's emotions this time. I honestly could not believe what I was seeing unfold in front of me. "You wanted him Turned," I said as I strode forward, eyes pinning Sam in place like a fly on a dartboard. "You. Wanted your own brother. Turned."
To his credit, he didn't even try to deny it. "There was a reason."
"Enlighten me," I spat, not fully realising just how much I sounded like Dean at that moment.
"There's a cure," Sam said flatly. "And this nest has ties to the First Vampyre. If we could capture him, Samuel has a plan."
"Ah," I said. "Samuel has a plan.What plan is it?"
"I don't know." And he was telling the truth. I could see it. "I just know he wants the firsts of all the monsters out there. I know he takes them somewhere - but I don't know where. And I know that if Dean was Turned, we'd have an inside window into that nest. We didn't come here with the intent to Turn him, but if it happened, I wasn't going to lose any sleep over it!"
"I know," I told him, arms crossing. "And that's precisely the problem."
Sam shook his head. "I honestly don't understand, Gabriel. I'm not seeing any problem!"
"I know," I repeated. "And that's precisely the problem."
His forehead creased in a deep frown. I could see him trying to process the logic of my repeated assertions - and failing. "I don't..."
Dean, I mentally called, blasting my plan into his mind in a fraction of a second.
Do it.
That was all the permission I needed. With supernatural speed, I surged forward and slammed my palm into that wrinkled forehead.
Sam's eyes rolled back and he folded like a house of cards caught in a tornado. I teleported us - and the Impala - to Bobby's house, appearing in his living room while Dean's precious baby landed on her wheels in its usual spot.
"What the---" we heard Bobby roar, and he came barging in. "Boys? What the hell..."
"No time to explain, Bobby." I lifted Sam into my arms like he weighed nothing. "We need to get him to the Panic Room."
I saw the directions in Dean's mind and raced Sam's body down there while Bobby followed us. "How'd you get here?"
"Angel Air," I let Dean answer, focusing on getting Sam's body locked down.
Bobby accepted that and asked, "What's the rush with the Panic Room? He get more blood in him?"
"No," I said. "It's for your protection. If he wakes before we return, he'll be almost completely insane and I don't want him hurting you until we get back." As I spoke, I shackled Sam to the cot and added a little bit of Grace to the manacles, locking them beyond any human undoing.
"We?" Bobby answered. "Is Cas here?" I looked up at him, and his eyes went wide. "Balls!" he hissed, and suddenly I was staring down the business end of Bobby's Colt.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"You get outta my boy!" Bobby growled. "Right here, right now!"
Slowly, I held up my hands in the universal 'surrender' position. "How'd you know?"
"Dean don't have brown eyes."
I nodded and stepped aside. I heard Dean say, "Bobby, it's okay. I'm not possessed."
His eyes narrowed. "Sure looks like it from where I'm standin'!"
"I'm not, Bobby! It's Gabriel!"
"It's....." The gun lowered. "You're a vessel?"
"Temporary. One-shot deal. Well, two-shot, seeing as how if he hadn't done it again I'd be a vampyre right now."
"Dean, for the love of---"
I stepped forward again. "Excuse me, but I'm heading back to see about Sam's soul. I'm gonna reinforce his sedation before I go. Good seeing you again, Bobby." I touched Sam's forehead again and then walked out of the panic room before I left Dean's body.
Behind me, I could hear Dean saying, "He's gone now, Bobby. C'mon, I've got a lot to tell you."
"Can't wait to hear this one...."
Despite everything, I found myself smiling as I flew. The smile lasted until I entered the Roadhouse and walked into Sam's bedroom, where I gasped aloud. "......okay, before I erupt on you, explain what in Creation you are doing here!"
"Repentance," Raphael said, looking up from where he sat on Sam's bed. One of his hands was on Sam's forehead and his other was on top of Sam's hand, which Jessica also held. "I thought long and hard about it - and you are correct. Father's plans, first and foremost, have always been to benefit humankind. This one? Wasn't."
I nodded, crossing my arms. "Glad you finally came to your senses, Raphael. Still doesn't answer the question I asked you. What are you doing here?"
"I'm finishing the healing process," he said. "I thought if I could speed things up, you would forgive me."
"Aw, man." I curled my hand over the back of his neck. "Yeah, brother - I do. How's it going?"
"Almost finished." He looked up at me and must have seen something in my eyes. "What happened, Gabriel?"
"His body shifted from sociopath to full-on psychopath. He began to inflict pain unnecessarily -- and to revel in it."
Jessica and Sam both winced. Raphael just nodded. "I feared as much, when I found him here."
"I have the memories." I poured them into his hand. "Sam, are you ready?"
"Not sure I wanna know," Sam sighed. "But I know I have to."
Raphael met his eyes. "I can not be gentle here, Samuel. It must be done quickly, or the memories will degrade."
Sam nodded. "I'm ready."
"Gabriel, you are better at this part than I," Raphael admitted, and I saw my brother again in that humble statement."Will you please assist me?"
"All you had to do was ask." I moved to the head of Sam's bed and smiled encouragingly at Jess. I lay the palm of my hand atop Sam's head. "Do it."
Raphael took the memories and raised his hand over Sam's open eyes. He opened his hands and the images fell into Sam's eyes like grains of sand.
A Metallica song started to spool its way through my head, and a quick glance at a pair of amused human smiles showed that it was probably doing the same in theirs.
But then Sam's smile abruptly faded as his eyes filled with tears. Raphael finished and nodded at me.
I asked, "What is it, Samwise?"
He sniffled. "He was so.... cold...."
"Yeah, he was. He didn't have your big heart guiding him."
"It's like watching a bad dream...."
I scanned his mind and saw the memories integrating very well. Once they were done, I shared the events of the last few hours with Sam.
His hand tightened on Jess's and he swore. "How's Dean?"
At that moment, I knew he was going to be all right. "Dean's okay. I have your body locked up tight. It's all ready whenever you are."
He looked up at Jessica, and his hesitation was palpable.
She smiled and leaned forward, kissing him gently. She looked up at us. "Could you leave us alone for a few minutes?" she asked.
Raphael frowned, and I grabbed his arm. "Sure, kiddo," I said, pulling him out of the room. "Let 'em say their goodbyes in peace."
Raphael sighed. "I doubt I will ever understand humans."
"But the figuring out is what makes it fun." I smiled at him.
And for what seemed like the first time in centuries - my brother smiled back at me.
Minutes later, Sam walked out of the bedroom alone. He nodded at me. "I'm ready."
"All right, then." I looked over his shoulder to find Jessica framed in the doorway. Her eyes met mine and I could read her most desperate desires in those blue depths. I smiled at her and nodded - once.
A shocked grin erupted over her face and she slid back into the shadows.
Unaware of all of this, Sam asked, "What do I have to do?"
"Take my hand." He did so. "And hold on."
I shifted us both to energy and soared us to Singer's Salvage.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The first thing I heard when we floated into the house was Dean's raised voice. "--only when it's convenient for you! I can't believe you! I'm on red alert about Sam, here, and you come for some stupid horn?"
"Dean, you must understand." A shiver ran through me when I heard the nearly-identical voice reply. "This is larger than your issues with Sam. This is larger than--"
"I don't want to hear it!"
We glided to the Panic Room. Dean was standing in the open doorway, staring down Castiel, who was standing outside. I released Sam's soul, and it glided unerringly toward his body as I interposed myself between my brother and Dean.
Castiel blinked in unfeigned shock, his eyes going huge as he stepped back one step. "........Gabriel?" he gasped.
I couldn't speak unvesseled. I didn't have to with Castiel. My disappointment with him bled through loud and clear.
He shook his head. "You don't understand, brother. I am at war, and certain - regrettable things - are required of me now!"
"You are mistaken."
Castiel whirled to face the new voice. "Holy shit," I heard Dean breathe. "Who is that?"
With a twist of his wrist, Castiel's sword was in his hand. "Raphael," he ground out between clenched teeth.
"What?" Dean yelped. "But.....but that's a girl!"
If I had been corporeal, I would have laughed openly at that.
Raphael's statuesque vessel's head tilted, sending dark hair cascading onto one shoulder. "My vessel is now female, yes," she said with an unexpected, warm smile. "And Castiel - I have not come to fight."
"You have come to kill us, then," Castiel growled.
"I have come with a message," she said, meeting his eyes. "Lay down your sword, brother. Our war is concluded."
I could see Castiel wavering - wanting desperately to believe but not daring to hope.
Gabriel.
All I could do was watch - I had promised Dean I would only envessel him once, and I had already done it twice. I could not break that promise a second time.
Gabriel!
Belatedly realising that Sam was calling me - the boy should not have had to call twice, what was the matter with me? -- I soared over Dean's head and inside the panic room.
Sam rolled his head to face me and my spirit soared when I saw an intact soul shining from his eyes. "Gabriel," he whispered. "Part time only. Yes."
With that, I flowed into him. I checked that his everything was intact and relief detonated when I found that -- except for the now faint twin streaks of sociopathy and psychopathy that scarred his mind and that, I had hope, would fade with his family's love - it was.
I settled in and filled the empty space inside of him that Lucy had cruelly carved into mind, body and soul. My selfish older brother had apparently tried to ensure that Sam would never be free of him. If separated, Sam would see and hear Lucy until he went mad.
I found that that year of soullessness had enabled that jagged wound to begin to heal. My presence and my Grace would, I had hope, heal the rest.
Ironic, that that year and four months of soullessness while his soul was being ravaged and then repaired might just have ended up saving Sam's sanity.
I released the bonds and stood up. I walked up behind Dean and whispered, "It's Gabriel."
He whirled and stared wide-eyed at me. ".....Sam?" he whispered.
I smiled. "Awake, aware, soulful, and anxious for this to be over so he can properly be back with you."
Dean nodded. "Good to see you both," he whispered - and stepped aside.
Raphael had not moved. She stood there, hands spread and palms up, listening impassively as Castiel ranted at her.
"--everything I've done!" he shouted. He was trembling, his extended sword shaking. "All the choices I made, all the deals, all the-- they were to get powerful enough to defeat you! And you.... you're just surrendering? Just like that?"
"I was made to realise," Raphael replied calmly, "that I was operating from an incorrect point of origin."
"What does that mean?" Dean demanded.
Raphael looked at me, and I nodded. "It means," she explained, "that I was assuming this early Apocalypse was Father's will. I was made aware - by Gabriel - that it truly was not."
"Gabriel?" Castiel straightened slightly from his defensive stance. "I thought I saw.... Where is he?"
I stepped around Dean, half-shielding him with my slightly larger body. "I'm right here. Hello, Cassie."
Castiel whirled to face us, his sky-blue eyes huge in a face rapidly draining of all colour. Sam, his mouth shaped, but no sound emerged.
I smiled at him. "Yeah - and no. We're both here, Cas." I held out my right hand and snapped a licorice whip into existence, biting off one end of it and chuckling. "And Sam doesn't like licorice, does he?"
"No," Dean shook his head. "Not really."
"I can tell. He's bitchin' up a storm about too much sugar." I snapped it away, then turned my attention back to Castiel, who was standing there shaking - so stunned by the fact I was inside of Sam that he hadn't yet realised he had turned his back on Raphael.
Castiel shook his head, huge eyes staring at me. "......how......after....After Lucifer, I thought he would never agree to---"
I nodded. "He wouldn't. I didn't take him over. We're here together.This is a temporary thing, until my true vessel is old enough to contain me. I think I like this sharing better than overpowering and sending my vessel into sleep. More company this way." I sobered. "Plus, I found something I wasn't expecting. Lucy did a number on Sam's body and mind as well as his soul."
"What?" Dean yelped.
I nodded. "I'm healing him. Doing him some good as he's doing me good."
"You didn't know this before?" Dean challenged. At my headshake, he swore.
"But as I said - I'm healing him. At the end of this, he'll be all right." I turned back to Castiel. "Right now, we have this to deal with."
"What is this, anyway?" Dean asked, looking at Castiel. "What happened to you, huh?"
Castiel raised his hand - the one not holding the sword - and pointed shakily at Dean. "I did it for you....I b-brought him out of Hell for you....."
"Except something went wrong," I said slowly, "and Sam's soul was left behind."
Nodding tiredly, Castiel raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed it as if it hurt. "I don't understand. I got Dean out...."
Raphael took his wrist, making him startle badly. Gently, she removed the sword from his hand and flipped it over, holding it out to me hilt-first. I took it and handed it to Dean as Raphael moved to in front of Castiel, still holding his wrist. "Yes, you did. But then, you had all of Heaven at your back. When you took out Sam, who helped you?"
Castiel shook his head. "Nobody. I... I just couldn't leave him there. I knew Dean would be incomplete without him. And Dean promised not to rescue him - but I made no such promise."
I nodded. "Which answers the question of why he could only get part of Sam out. He went in alone - which means his power was diminished."
Raphael nodded. "But his power wasn't diminished shortly after. He battled me to a standstill more than once." She looked into Castiel's eyes. "What happened, brother? Why did you suddenly become so strong?" She tilted her head. "And why are you so strong, still?"
Dean piped up, "We've been finding some of Heaven's loose nukes."
She nodded again. "Yes, those would make him more powerful - but not like this. Not enough to cause this fog in his brain and his raw power...."
I curled my hand around the back of Castiel's trembling neck and my eyes widened as I touched his Grace. "No....but an influx of tens of thousands of Hell-tainted souls would. And that's exactly what's floatin' around inside our baby brother, here."
On To the Conclusion!