(FIC)SPN_Part of Your World 2/6
Title: Part of Your World
Author: Ruby Standish
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Sam/Gabriel, Dean, Castiel, Balthazar, Bobby, Michael, Chuck, Lilith, and guest appears by many more.
Word Count:
Warnings: Rating is for adult themed subject and mild language, with befit nudity.
Spoilers: None, if you know the show and characters, then you’re good to go.
Author's Notes: This was written for the Once Upon a Sabriel challenge.
Disclaimer: I do not have anything to do with Supernatural or The Little Mermaid. I am not getting paid for this in anyway.
Summary: Prince Gabriel, of the Kingdom Above the Clouds, have just found his true love. There’s a problem though, he’s Prince Sam Winchester, of the Kingdom Below the Clouds, and he’s human. Gabriel, however, will do whatever it takes to be with him, even if that means making a deal with the Mountain Witch.
***
Gabriel was having a great day; this morning after breakfast, he and Castiel had somehow gotten away from Balthazar and outside of the castle. They made it down to just above the borderline of the clouds, where their friend Chuck had his 'camp site', or at least that was he said the human calls them.
Angels never sleep outside; so they have no need for tents or anything of that kind. Chuck though was a very odd angel, he was the only angel that Gabriel knew of that had been below the clouds and interacted with humans; again, that at least was what Chuck said. He had so many things that Gabriel had never seen above in their kingdom so he guessed that it must be true. One of those things was his brown tent that he set up inside a cave that he had found just above the borderline and that was his home. Gabriel had offered him a house somewhere in the main city of the kingdom or even somewhere in the castle but Chuck insisted that he loved it there in his tent and he didn't want to leave it. Another thing that was odd about his dear friend was his wings. Most angels were very careful with their wings, always cleaning and grooming their feathers, making sure that nothing was stuck in them. Chuck's feathers though were always ruffled as if he had just gotten out of some kind of fight; green and brown feathers sticking out at random angles. Yeah, Chuck was odd alright but he was still a good guy and friend, and he was always willing to answer Gabriel's questions about the kingdom below the clouds.
Today was great, Chuck was telling him and Castiel about the creature that the humans called a horse; an animal much like a bird only without feathers and with four legs.
"And the humans ride around on them," Chuck said running his hand through his hair. "I have a picture of one somewhere." He moved to the corner of his cave and digging through a pile of odd looking items, he threw over his shoulders without really paying attention to where they landed. Gabriel had to pull Castiel out of the way of getting hit in the head with a little wooden box. “HERE IT IS!!”
He brought the picture over for them to see, and it was the oddest of the many odd things Gabriel had seen in this Chuck's cave.
“How do they fly?” Castiel asked.
“Humans don't need to fly. They just walk around on the ground from building to building, and if they need to walk a long way between places, they ride on these horses.” Chuck handed Gabriel the picture before moving to the back of the cave again.
“But....”
“There you are!”
Gabriel and Castiel both turned to see Balthazar standing in the entrance of the cave, his arms crossed.
“I told you we shouldn't have come,” Castiel whispered to Gabriel.
Gabriel just grinned at his friend and handed over the picture back to Chuck. “Balthazar,” he started, walking to the royal adviser. “What brings you all the way down here?” He held his arms out and placed his best surprised look on. Balthazar only shook his head. It was clear to Gabriel that Balthazar wasn't in the mood right now. It was probably do to the fact that he and Castiel kept running away from the poor guy; and Michael most likely wasn't helping. Gabriel sighed, looking towards the ground, “Is there some meeting I was supposed to be at right now?”
“No, my lord, but you...” He stopped, glancing over Gabriel's, and then leaned in close. “You know you're not supposed to be down this close to the clouds. No one is supposed to be down here.” He turned towards Castiel upon that last part.
Gabriel shrugged, smiling as Chuck decided to jump in between them at that point to show Gabriel the book that he had about more of the odd creatures that lived below the clouds. His stopped talking though and turned to Balthazar as if just seeing him, “Oh hello there. Are you friends with Gabriel?”
Balthazar looked like Chuck had just slapped him across the face, and it was hard for Gabriel to not burst out laughing. “What? Who? You will address him as His Highness or Prince Gabriel.”
“Clam down Balthazar,” Gabriel chuckled, taking the book from Chuck. “Or you might start losing your feathers from all of the stress.” He flapped his wings and took a small leap to the entrance of the cave; there he sat down on the edge, one leg out in front of him while the other hung down. He paid no attention to Balthazar yelling at him as he started looking through the book.
The world below the clouds had always held his attention, ever since he could remember. There was just so much that was different than their kingdom and yet so much that the same too. He couldn't figure out why his father had made the law that no one could go below the clouds. Whenever he bought it up to any of his brothers, they would simply say that it's because of the monsters that lived down there; Lucifer would even sometimes go into telling him all of the things that a human would do to him if he ever got caught by one. How they would rip out his wings and use his feathers for human spells and other things. Gabriel just couldn't understand how any of what they said could be true, as far as he could see from all of Chuck's belongings, humans were just like angels; just without wings.
“My prince please, let us go back to the palace. Perhaps King Michael hasn't realized that you're gone. I won't tell him that you were down here if you promise not to do it again.”
“Maybe he's right Gabriel,” Castiel said moving beside the adviser. “I told you this morning that I had a bad feeling about coming here today.”
“Don't you start on me too Cass, I told you that.....” Something black caught Gabriel's attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning he found smoke rising from among the clouds. “What do suppose that is?” He stood, narrowing his eyes to try to see better.
“It's bad news, that’s what it is,” Balthazar said, moving to Gabriel's left while Castiel and Chuck went to his right.
“It's a fire, probably from a camp,” Chuck stated as he took the book back from Gabriel. “Humans sometimes come up to the border of the clouds but never any higher. I see the smoke from their camps many times.”
Gabriel stared at his friend. He's been to see Chuck many times, but the odd angel has never told him that humans came so close to the clouds and here he was talking as if there was nothing new. “You mean, there are humans down there?”
“Oh yes.”
“I thought humans couldn't breathe up here.” Castiel had his worried look on, but he wasn't looking at Gabriel but over his shoulder at the adviser standing behind.
“They can't breathe above the clouds, mate,” Balthazar said. “The air is too thin up here for them. We should report this to your brother, my prince.” Balthazar jumped out of the cave, his wings flapping to keep at a hover right in front of it.
“You heard Chuck, they never come above the clouds,” Gabriel didn't want to tell Michael about this; first off he would yell at Gabriel for being anywhere near the clouds, and then he would do something stupid about the humans. He didn't want his brother scaring them away before he could see them.
“What's that sound?” Castiel asked.
Together they fell silent, each of them listening trying to make out what is was that they were hearing and then it hit Gabriel. “It's music.”
“I didn't know humans had Graces,” Castiel said.
“They don't,” Chuck answered. “They use instruments to make music.”
“Instruments?” Gabriel asked. The only music that they had up here was the music of the angels' Graces. Every angel had a different song that only the angel themselves can hear. An angel's song only sings for others three times throughout their lives: when they are born, when they die, and when they find their soulmate. That last one was the most important. Gabriel’s father once told him and his brothers that you should always listen to your song, that it was how he had met their mother and that it wouldn't lead them wrong. This music though was different, they could all hear it and from what Chuck was saying the humans could make the music whenever they wanted to. He had to see these things that could make such a sound. He glanced at Balthazar who was still in the air. “You're right Balthazar, we should report this to Michael.”
“Oh thanks goodness.” Balthazar let out a sigh.
“Right after I go have a look!” Gabriel jumped from the cave, folding his wings behind him to get some speed. He heard Balthazar and Castiel yelling his name behind him but he didn't stop, if anything it just edged him on.
Since Chuck had shown him the first picture of what a human looked like, Gabriel had wanted to see one up close. Now here was his chance! Plus he would also get to see these instruments that his friend was talking. Gabriel had only heard an angel's Grace sing four times before, but if there was a way to hear a sound just as beautiful as any of those Graces, he had to see. Surely if humans made music like that, they couldn't be as bad as his brothers made them sound. As he flung his wings out, coming to a stop right above the clouds, Gabriel give one last look over his shoulders to where Chuck's cave was. Then, taking a deep breath, he dropped through the clouds.
For a moment he couldn't see anything, and then he was on the underside of the white boundary that he had stared at his whole life. A gust of wind came from nowhere and almost threw him into the mountain. He pulled his wings in tight behind and dropped to the closest edge. He glanced around, making sure to keep his wings in close, the winds here were stronger and seemed to be working to knock him off of the mountain. Gabriel looked up, half expecting Balthazar to come flying through the clouds to get him but there was no one. He gave a smile and then he heard it again, the music from the humans, it was coming from below him. He glanced down and found the camp was only four or five ledges down from him; he jumped behind a nearby rock, hoping that they hadn't seen him. Not wanted to risk the updraft this close to the mountain and the chance that he could be seen, Gabriel moved among the rocks, keeping low with his wings pulled tightly in behind him almost wishing that he could just pull them inside of his body.
The light from what he guessed was the camp glowed brighter as he got closer, and the music filled his ears as it was carried on the wind up to him. He didn't stop until he was only a few boulders away but he could see the camp, and what a sight it was.
Five of Chuck's “tents” stood in a circle and there in the middle was the “fire” but it wasn't the fire or the tents that had Gabriel's attention, it was the four humans sitting near the fire. They looked just like they did in Chuck's books and beside the fact that they didn't have wings, Gabriel would have guessed that he was just looking at four fellow angels. He wanted so badly to leave his hiding place, to step into the light and greet them, to ask to join in their music, but he stayed here he was and kept watching. Two of the humans were holding what Gabriel guessed were the instruments: one looked like a stick with holes running along it that the human was blowing into the top of, and the other was odd piece of wood with strings on it that the human was hitting. Gabriel wasn't sure how these weird looking items could be making such beautiful music but they were. The other two human just sat there listening to the music, watching the others as they played. Gabriel made a mental note to ask Chuck once he got back, if humans were like angels when it came to their songs and mating.
“Gabriel?” It was barely a whisper but Gabriel heard it.
He turned to find Chuck slinking up beside him, his wings still stuck out behind him although Gabriel could see that he had them pulled in. Gabriel shook his head at him, he would have to talk about grooming one's own feathers to his friend later. “Where are Castiel and Balthazar?”
“Back at my cave,” he pointed upward, moving in close to Gabriel so they would only have to whisper to be heard by the other. “Castiel was too scared to come, and I think your other friend is trying to decide if he should go tell your brothers or not.”
“He won't, he's too scared to see what Michael would do to him if he found out that he lost me.”
“I see you found where the fun was at.”
“Chuck?” He figured he would ask the question now instead of later. “Are humans the same with their music and mating?”
He quickly wished that he hadn't asked that as he jumped to cover Chuck's mouth to keep his friend from busting out laughing; Gabriel didn't think the question was that funny, he really wanted to know. Chuck softly patted the hand covering his mouth and nodded when Gabriel looked him in the eyes. Once Gabriel moved his hand Chuck glanced to the humans before shaking his head. “No, humans play their music all the time. They have a different way of knowing who to marry, um...mate with.” He added that last part when Gabriel gave him a confused look, there were times when Gabriel thought that Chuck forgot that he wasn't talking to humans or at least angels that knew as much as him. Chuck pointed to the camp, “They're probably playing this music because they're so glade that they made it up here.”
Gabriel nodded and went back to watching them, “It's so beautiful, we should have instruments in our kingdom.”
Chuck looked like he was about to say something when the music stopped. Gabriel got down lower, fearing that they had been seen but instead the humans were all looking to one of the tents. The one that had been blowing into the stick lowered it from his mouth and whisper something to the one with the other instrument.
“Prince Samuel!” One of the other two yelled. “Won't you come and join us?”
“Oh, a prince,” Chuck whispered. “They normally don't come up here.”
“Shhh,” Gabriel said but he didn't take his eyes off of the tent, he wanted to see this human prince. There was some movement from within the tent before the flap was pushed aside allowing a human to exit. He had to duck to get out and once he stood up Gabriel could see why. He was tall, taller than any angel Gabriel had ever seen but that wasn't all. This human was beautiful, more beautiful than any angel in his brother's kingdom. There was something about this human that just struck Gabriel, and he couldn't take his eyes off of him as the man moved to the fire and took a seat next to the others. Even seated he was still taller than the other humans, but it was more than just his height that held Gabriel's attention. The wavy brown hair, facial features [which ones? ‘Strong facial features’? ‘Sharp nose’? ‘High brow’?], hazel eyes… and although he wore a cloak to hide from the cold, the way he held himself told Gabriel that he was truly a prince that could defend his people if need be.
The prince said something to the two with instruments and they started anew; this one was slow and almost haunting. The light snow that started to fall only added to the effect; Gabriel and Chuck should have been heading back; if the snow got too bad, which it looked like it was going to in a few minutes, they might not be able to fly back up. Still, Gabriel stayed to listen but his true attention wasn't on the music, it was on the prince. He just sat there staring into the fire as he listened to the music an almost far off look on his face, as if he wasn't there on the mountain side with his men.
Gabriel wanted to go to him, to ask him what was on his mind, what had made him request such a sad melody. He even felt himself starting to move from behind the rock, “Gabriel!” Chuck hissed at him.
“Don't worry, I just want a closer look.”
“No, look, your wings!” Chuck was pointing to his wings and he had an almost scared look on his face.
Gabriel glanced over his shoulders to his wings and was shock to see that the gold feathers that ran through the white were starting to put off a faint glow. He quickly looked back to the human, hoping that they hadn't noticed yet. That was when he really got worried. The humans kept on playing their songs but now there was another melody joining theirs, he had never heard it before himself but he knew what it was at once; it was his Grace and he wasn't the only one that heard it.
~*~
Sam sat in his tent; he had told the others that he was going to take a nap, but truthfully he just wanted to lay down for a while because even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to sleep. He lay in his cot, staring at the roof as if he could see through it and the clouds to the stars above. It was only at rare times that the people of his kingdom could see the stars above the clouds, and those few times always seem to happen on very memorable moments. Dean and his father used to tell them that on the night of his marriage to their mother, the stars had shined so brightly, but Sam could only remember one time that he saw them and it hadn't been the best of times. It was the night of their father's passing and the throne going to Dean. Since then, he'd been wishing to see them again but only on a happier note.
He shifted in his bed, looking towards the flap of the tent; the four men, Rufus included, who had agree to come with him to see if they could find these so call angels that Rufus were telling them about, were outside playing a song that Sam had heard a few times throughout the kingdom. Although he was a little shocked that they were still outside, as it was starting to get cold and the wind was picking up. Sam was beginning to rethink if it was a good idea to come up in the first place, but the stories that Rufus told him of the angels; with their wings of feathers, each one a different color glistening in the sunlight, Sam just had to see them.
The music stopped, and for a moment Sam thought that his friends were calling it a day but then, “Prince Samuel! Won't you come and join us?” Sam sighed, they must have knew that he was still awake and listening. He waited a few seconds and then stood, wrapping his cloak closer around him as he knelt to exit the tent.
Sam believed that it had gotten colder since he went inside, but he still walked through the little bit of snow on the ground and took a seat by Rufus. “Any requests Your Highness? These two know pretty much every song in the kingdom.”
“Do they know A Moonlight Love?” Sam asked, it was one of his favorite although he believed that it had something to do with it being one of the few memories that he had of their mother before she passed away. It was a song that told of a secret love that a princess and her stable boy lover had. In order to see each other they would both sneak out at night to the forest beyond the castle's wall and meet under the moonlight. It was a beautiful song, but the second that they started playing it he suddenly thought of Dean and how his brother was probably worried about where he was at; being that Sam didn't tell him that he was going to the tavern let alone to climb a mountain.
He sat and listened as he stared into the fire; the wind was starting to pick up a little more with each note that they played and there a light snow was beginning to fall. Sam told himself that after this song he would do his best to get them to call it a night and get to the safety of the tents,. He had a feeling that the snow was only going to get worse as the night went.
The song was just as magical as he remembered it. The last time he heard it was when Dean used to hum it to him when they were little, after their mother. He was just about to make a comment about it, when he heard a new note in the song that he'd never heard before. He thought that they were changing the song, then he realized that it wasn't the two that were playing but a new player who had joined. Sam glanced around the camp trying to find where the new music was coming from. Rufus it seemed, had heard it too and was doing the same, although he had a very happy look on his face and he was waving his friends on, not to stop playing.
Sam wasn't sure if they would find where it was coming from before the snow got too bad; it was already picking up and he had to squint his eyes. Sam could tell that the musicians wanted to stop playing, but Rufus was urging them on. Sam turned to the other side of the camp and there he saw it; behind a rock along the clearing that their camp was in was a faint light glowing a golden yellow. It seemed to be pulsing with the music that Sam was hearing and just as he feared; the moment he stood to move towards the light, the wind and snow came to life, as if the elements didn't what him to see what was behind that rock.
Sam threw his arm up to cover his eyes; the musicians stopped playing as Rufus starting to yell for everyone to get to their tents. Sam moved, starting to make his way to his tent but halfway there he turned, looking back to where the glow was still coming from. He didn't know why, but for some reason he started towards it, he could hear Rufus and the others yelling at him to get inside but he didn't listen to them. The campfire had been taken out by the gust of wind blowing around him, making the glow the only light there and Sam had to see what was making it.
“Your Highness! What are you doing?”
Sam paused to turn to Rufus, who was half in his tent. “I have to see!” he shouted back, but when he turned to the rock again the glow was gone, as well as the music that they had heard earlier. Sam should have gone to his tent; the glow was gone but he just had to see, so he kept going, moving to the boulder one slow step at a time. When he finally got there, there was nothing and no one there, although right behind the boulder in the snow were some footsteps and it looked like someone had been sitting there for a while.
Sam looked around but there was nothing else in the area.
A gust of wind blow some snow into Sam's eyes and he decided that he should probably take shelter in his tent; after one last look, he headed back. The others were already in their tents, flaps closed against the wind as it beat at them with everything. Rufus had moved farther into his, but the flap was still open,. Sam was sure that he was waiting until the prince made it to his tent. He was almost there when everything went from bad to worse. A huge gust of wind came down from the mountain, bringing with it a mass of snow; Rufus shouted, and the last thing that Sam remembered was his legs getting knocked out from under him, the world going upside down and the camp leaving his view as he was pulled over the side of the cliff.
Author: Ruby Standish
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Sam/Gabriel, Dean, Castiel, Balthazar, Bobby, Michael, Chuck, Lilith, and guest appears by many more.
Word Count:
Warnings: Rating is for adult themed subject and mild language, with befit nudity.
Spoilers: None, if you know the show and characters, then you’re good to go.
Author's Notes: This was written for the Once Upon a Sabriel challenge.
Disclaimer: I do not have anything to do with Supernatural or The Little Mermaid. I am not getting paid for this in anyway.
Summary: Prince Gabriel, of the Kingdom Above the Clouds, have just found his true love. There’s a problem though, he’s Prince Sam Winchester, of the Kingdom Below the Clouds, and he’s human. Gabriel, however, will do whatever it takes to be with him, even if that means making a deal with the Mountain Witch.
***
Gabriel was having a great day; this morning after breakfast, he and Castiel had somehow gotten away from Balthazar and outside of the castle. They made it down to just above the borderline of the clouds, where their friend Chuck had his 'camp site', or at least that was he said the human calls them.
Angels never sleep outside; so they have no need for tents or anything of that kind. Chuck though was a very odd angel, he was the only angel that Gabriel knew of that had been below the clouds and interacted with humans; again, that at least was what Chuck said. He had so many things that Gabriel had never seen above in their kingdom so he guessed that it must be true. One of those things was his brown tent that he set up inside a cave that he had found just above the borderline and that was his home. Gabriel had offered him a house somewhere in the main city of the kingdom or even somewhere in the castle but Chuck insisted that he loved it there in his tent and he didn't want to leave it. Another thing that was odd about his dear friend was his wings. Most angels were very careful with their wings, always cleaning and grooming their feathers, making sure that nothing was stuck in them. Chuck's feathers though were always ruffled as if he had just gotten out of some kind of fight; green and brown feathers sticking out at random angles. Yeah, Chuck was odd alright but he was still a good guy and friend, and he was always willing to answer Gabriel's questions about the kingdom below the clouds.
Today was great, Chuck was telling him and Castiel about the creature that the humans called a horse; an animal much like a bird only without feathers and with four legs.
"And the humans ride around on them," Chuck said running his hand through his hair. "I have a picture of one somewhere." He moved to the corner of his cave and digging through a pile of odd looking items, he threw over his shoulders without really paying attention to where they landed. Gabriel had to pull Castiel out of the way of getting hit in the head with a little wooden box. “HERE IT IS!!”
He brought the picture over for them to see, and it was the oddest of the many odd things Gabriel had seen in this Chuck's cave.
“How do they fly?” Castiel asked.
“Humans don't need to fly. They just walk around on the ground from building to building, and if they need to walk a long way between places, they ride on these horses.” Chuck handed Gabriel the picture before moving to the back of the cave again.
“But....”
“There you are!”
Gabriel and Castiel both turned to see Balthazar standing in the entrance of the cave, his arms crossed.
“I told you we shouldn't have come,” Castiel whispered to Gabriel.
Gabriel just grinned at his friend and handed over the picture back to Chuck. “Balthazar,” he started, walking to the royal adviser. “What brings you all the way down here?” He held his arms out and placed his best surprised look on. Balthazar only shook his head. It was clear to Gabriel that Balthazar wasn't in the mood right now. It was probably do to the fact that he and Castiel kept running away from the poor guy; and Michael most likely wasn't helping. Gabriel sighed, looking towards the ground, “Is there some meeting I was supposed to be at right now?”
“No, my lord, but you...” He stopped, glancing over Gabriel's, and then leaned in close. “You know you're not supposed to be down this close to the clouds. No one is supposed to be down here.” He turned towards Castiel upon that last part.
Gabriel shrugged, smiling as Chuck decided to jump in between them at that point to show Gabriel the book that he had about more of the odd creatures that lived below the clouds. His stopped talking though and turned to Balthazar as if just seeing him, “Oh hello there. Are you friends with Gabriel?”
Balthazar looked like Chuck had just slapped him across the face, and it was hard for Gabriel to not burst out laughing. “What? Who? You will address him as His Highness or Prince Gabriel.”
“Clam down Balthazar,” Gabriel chuckled, taking the book from Chuck. “Or you might start losing your feathers from all of the stress.” He flapped his wings and took a small leap to the entrance of the cave; there he sat down on the edge, one leg out in front of him while the other hung down. He paid no attention to Balthazar yelling at him as he started looking through the book.
The world below the clouds had always held his attention, ever since he could remember. There was just so much that was different than their kingdom and yet so much that the same too. He couldn't figure out why his father had made the law that no one could go below the clouds. Whenever he bought it up to any of his brothers, they would simply say that it's because of the monsters that lived down there; Lucifer would even sometimes go into telling him all of the things that a human would do to him if he ever got caught by one. How they would rip out his wings and use his feathers for human spells and other things. Gabriel just couldn't understand how any of what they said could be true, as far as he could see from all of Chuck's belongings, humans were just like angels; just without wings.
“My prince please, let us go back to the palace. Perhaps King Michael hasn't realized that you're gone. I won't tell him that you were down here if you promise not to do it again.”
“Maybe he's right Gabriel,” Castiel said moving beside the adviser. “I told you this morning that I had a bad feeling about coming here today.”
“Don't you start on me too Cass, I told you that.....” Something black caught Gabriel's attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning he found smoke rising from among the clouds. “What do suppose that is?” He stood, narrowing his eyes to try to see better.
“It's bad news, that’s what it is,” Balthazar said, moving to Gabriel's left while Castiel and Chuck went to his right.
“It's a fire, probably from a camp,” Chuck stated as he took the book back from Gabriel. “Humans sometimes come up to the border of the clouds but never any higher. I see the smoke from their camps many times.”
Gabriel stared at his friend. He's been to see Chuck many times, but the odd angel has never told him that humans came so close to the clouds and here he was talking as if there was nothing new. “You mean, there are humans down there?”
“Oh yes.”
“I thought humans couldn't breathe up here.” Castiel had his worried look on, but he wasn't looking at Gabriel but over his shoulder at the adviser standing behind.
“They can't breathe above the clouds, mate,” Balthazar said. “The air is too thin up here for them. We should report this to your brother, my prince.” Balthazar jumped out of the cave, his wings flapping to keep at a hover right in front of it.
“You heard Chuck, they never come above the clouds,” Gabriel didn't want to tell Michael about this; first off he would yell at Gabriel for being anywhere near the clouds, and then he would do something stupid about the humans. He didn't want his brother scaring them away before he could see them.
“What's that sound?” Castiel asked.
Together they fell silent, each of them listening trying to make out what is was that they were hearing and then it hit Gabriel. “It's music.”
“I didn't know humans had Graces,” Castiel said.
“They don't,” Chuck answered. “They use instruments to make music.”
“Instruments?” Gabriel asked. The only music that they had up here was the music of the angels' Graces. Every angel had a different song that only the angel themselves can hear. An angel's song only sings for others three times throughout their lives: when they are born, when they die, and when they find their soulmate. That last one was the most important. Gabriel’s father once told him and his brothers that you should always listen to your song, that it was how he had met their mother and that it wouldn't lead them wrong. This music though was different, they could all hear it and from what Chuck was saying the humans could make the music whenever they wanted to. He had to see these things that could make such a sound. He glanced at Balthazar who was still in the air. “You're right Balthazar, we should report this to Michael.”
“Oh thanks goodness.” Balthazar let out a sigh.
“Right after I go have a look!” Gabriel jumped from the cave, folding his wings behind him to get some speed. He heard Balthazar and Castiel yelling his name behind him but he didn't stop, if anything it just edged him on.
Since Chuck had shown him the first picture of what a human looked like, Gabriel had wanted to see one up close. Now here was his chance! Plus he would also get to see these instruments that his friend was talking. Gabriel had only heard an angel's Grace sing four times before, but if there was a way to hear a sound just as beautiful as any of those Graces, he had to see. Surely if humans made music like that, they couldn't be as bad as his brothers made them sound. As he flung his wings out, coming to a stop right above the clouds, Gabriel give one last look over his shoulders to where Chuck's cave was. Then, taking a deep breath, he dropped through the clouds.
For a moment he couldn't see anything, and then he was on the underside of the white boundary that he had stared at his whole life. A gust of wind came from nowhere and almost threw him into the mountain. He pulled his wings in tight behind and dropped to the closest edge. He glanced around, making sure to keep his wings in close, the winds here were stronger and seemed to be working to knock him off of the mountain. Gabriel looked up, half expecting Balthazar to come flying through the clouds to get him but there was no one. He gave a smile and then he heard it again, the music from the humans, it was coming from below him. He glanced down and found the camp was only four or five ledges down from him; he jumped behind a nearby rock, hoping that they hadn't seen him. Not wanted to risk the updraft this close to the mountain and the chance that he could be seen, Gabriel moved among the rocks, keeping low with his wings pulled tightly in behind him almost wishing that he could just pull them inside of his body.
The light from what he guessed was the camp glowed brighter as he got closer, and the music filled his ears as it was carried on the wind up to him. He didn't stop until he was only a few boulders away but he could see the camp, and what a sight it was.
Five of Chuck's “tents” stood in a circle and there in the middle was the “fire” but it wasn't the fire or the tents that had Gabriel's attention, it was the four humans sitting near the fire. They looked just like they did in Chuck's books and beside the fact that they didn't have wings, Gabriel would have guessed that he was just looking at four fellow angels. He wanted so badly to leave his hiding place, to step into the light and greet them, to ask to join in their music, but he stayed here he was and kept watching. Two of the humans were holding what Gabriel guessed were the instruments: one looked like a stick with holes running along it that the human was blowing into the top of, and the other was odd piece of wood with strings on it that the human was hitting. Gabriel wasn't sure how these weird looking items could be making such beautiful music but they were. The other two human just sat there listening to the music, watching the others as they played. Gabriel made a mental note to ask Chuck once he got back, if humans were like angels when it came to their songs and mating.
“Gabriel?” It was barely a whisper but Gabriel heard it.
He turned to find Chuck slinking up beside him, his wings still stuck out behind him although Gabriel could see that he had them pulled in. Gabriel shook his head at him, he would have to talk about grooming one's own feathers to his friend later. “Where are Castiel and Balthazar?”
“Back at my cave,” he pointed upward, moving in close to Gabriel so they would only have to whisper to be heard by the other. “Castiel was too scared to come, and I think your other friend is trying to decide if he should go tell your brothers or not.”
“He won't, he's too scared to see what Michael would do to him if he found out that he lost me.”
“I see you found where the fun was at.”
“Chuck?” He figured he would ask the question now instead of later. “Are humans the same with their music and mating?”
He quickly wished that he hadn't asked that as he jumped to cover Chuck's mouth to keep his friend from busting out laughing; Gabriel didn't think the question was that funny, he really wanted to know. Chuck softly patted the hand covering his mouth and nodded when Gabriel looked him in the eyes. Once Gabriel moved his hand Chuck glanced to the humans before shaking his head. “No, humans play their music all the time. They have a different way of knowing who to marry, um...mate with.” He added that last part when Gabriel gave him a confused look, there were times when Gabriel thought that Chuck forgot that he wasn't talking to humans or at least angels that knew as much as him. Chuck pointed to the camp, “They're probably playing this music because they're so glade that they made it up here.”
Gabriel nodded and went back to watching them, “It's so beautiful, we should have instruments in our kingdom.”
Chuck looked like he was about to say something when the music stopped. Gabriel got down lower, fearing that they had been seen but instead the humans were all looking to one of the tents. The one that had been blowing into the stick lowered it from his mouth and whisper something to the one with the other instrument.
“Prince Samuel!” One of the other two yelled. “Won't you come and join us?”
“Oh, a prince,” Chuck whispered. “They normally don't come up here.”
“Shhh,” Gabriel said but he didn't take his eyes off of the tent, he wanted to see this human prince. There was some movement from within the tent before the flap was pushed aside allowing a human to exit. He had to duck to get out and once he stood up Gabriel could see why. He was tall, taller than any angel Gabriel had ever seen but that wasn't all. This human was beautiful, more beautiful than any angel in his brother's kingdom. There was something about this human that just struck Gabriel, and he couldn't take his eyes off of him as the man moved to the fire and took a seat next to the others. Even seated he was still taller than the other humans, but it was more than just his height that held Gabriel's attention. The wavy brown hair, facial features [which ones? ‘Strong facial features’? ‘Sharp nose’? ‘High brow’?], hazel eyes… and although he wore a cloak to hide from the cold, the way he held himself told Gabriel that he was truly a prince that could defend his people if need be.
The prince said something to the two with instruments and they started anew; this one was slow and almost haunting. The light snow that started to fall only added to the effect; Gabriel and Chuck should have been heading back; if the snow got too bad, which it looked like it was going to in a few minutes, they might not be able to fly back up. Still, Gabriel stayed to listen but his true attention wasn't on the music, it was on the prince. He just sat there staring into the fire as he listened to the music an almost far off look on his face, as if he wasn't there on the mountain side with his men.
Gabriel wanted to go to him, to ask him what was on his mind, what had made him request such a sad melody. He even felt himself starting to move from behind the rock, “Gabriel!” Chuck hissed at him.
“Don't worry, I just want a closer look.”
“No, look, your wings!” Chuck was pointing to his wings and he had an almost scared look on his face.
Gabriel glanced over his shoulders to his wings and was shock to see that the gold feathers that ran through the white were starting to put off a faint glow. He quickly looked back to the human, hoping that they hadn't noticed yet. That was when he really got worried. The humans kept on playing their songs but now there was another melody joining theirs, he had never heard it before himself but he knew what it was at once; it was his Grace and he wasn't the only one that heard it.
~*~
Sam sat in his tent; he had told the others that he was going to take a nap, but truthfully he just wanted to lay down for a while because even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to sleep. He lay in his cot, staring at the roof as if he could see through it and the clouds to the stars above. It was only at rare times that the people of his kingdom could see the stars above the clouds, and those few times always seem to happen on very memorable moments. Dean and his father used to tell them that on the night of his marriage to their mother, the stars had shined so brightly, but Sam could only remember one time that he saw them and it hadn't been the best of times. It was the night of their father's passing and the throne going to Dean. Since then, he'd been wishing to see them again but only on a happier note.
He shifted in his bed, looking towards the flap of the tent; the four men, Rufus included, who had agree to come with him to see if they could find these so call angels that Rufus were telling them about, were outside playing a song that Sam had heard a few times throughout the kingdom. Although he was a little shocked that they were still outside, as it was starting to get cold and the wind was picking up. Sam was beginning to rethink if it was a good idea to come up in the first place, but the stories that Rufus told him of the angels; with their wings of feathers, each one a different color glistening in the sunlight, Sam just had to see them.
The music stopped, and for a moment Sam thought that his friends were calling it a day but then, “Prince Samuel! Won't you come and join us?” Sam sighed, they must have knew that he was still awake and listening. He waited a few seconds and then stood, wrapping his cloak closer around him as he knelt to exit the tent.
Sam believed that it had gotten colder since he went inside, but he still walked through the little bit of snow on the ground and took a seat by Rufus. “Any requests Your Highness? These two know pretty much every song in the kingdom.”
“Do they know A Moonlight Love?” Sam asked, it was one of his favorite although he believed that it had something to do with it being one of the few memories that he had of their mother before she passed away. It was a song that told of a secret love that a princess and her stable boy lover had. In order to see each other they would both sneak out at night to the forest beyond the castle's wall and meet under the moonlight. It was a beautiful song, but the second that they started playing it he suddenly thought of Dean and how his brother was probably worried about where he was at; being that Sam didn't tell him that he was going to the tavern let alone to climb a mountain.
He sat and listened as he stared into the fire; the wind was starting to pick up a little more with each note that they played and there a light snow was beginning to fall. Sam told himself that after this song he would do his best to get them to call it a night and get to the safety of the tents,. He had a feeling that the snow was only going to get worse as the night went.
The song was just as magical as he remembered it. The last time he heard it was when Dean used to hum it to him when they were little, after their mother. He was just about to make a comment about it, when he heard a new note in the song that he'd never heard before. He thought that they were changing the song, then he realized that it wasn't the two that were playing but a new player who had joined. Sam glanced around the camp trying to find where the new music was coming from. Rufus it seemed, had heard it too and was doing the same, although he had a very happy look on his face and he was waving his friends on, not to stop playing.
Sam wasn't sure if they would find where it was coming from before the snow got too bad; it was already picking up and he had to squint his eyes. Sam could tell that the musicians wanted to stop playing, but Rufus was urging them on. Sam turned to the other side of the camp and there he saw it; behind a rock along the clearing that their camp was in was a faint light glowing a golden yellow. It seemed to be pulsing with the music that Sam was hearing and just as he feared; the moment he stood to move towards the light, the wind and snow came to life, as if the elements didn't what him to see what was behind that rock.
Sam threw his arm up to cover his eyes; the musicians stopped playing as Rufus starting to yell for everyone to get to their tents. Sam moved, starting to make his way to his tent but halfway there he turned, looking back to where the glow was still coming from. He didn't know why, but for some reason he started towards it, he could hear Rufus and the others yelling at him to get inside but he didn't listen to them. The campfire had been taken out by the gust of wind blowing around him, making the glow the only light there and Sam had to see what was making it.
“Your Highness! What are you doing?”
Sam paused to turn to Rufus, who was half in his tent. “I have to see!” he shouted back, but when he turned to the rock again the glow was gone, as well as the music that they had heard earlier. Sam should have gone to his tent; the glow was gone but he just had to see, so he kept going, moving to the boulder one slow step at a time. When he finally got there, there was nothing and no one there, although right behind the boulder in the snow were some footsteps and it looked like someone had been sitting there for a while.
Sam looked around but there was nothing else in the area.
A gust of wind blow some snow into Sam's eyes and he decided that he should probably take shelter in his tent; after one last look, he headed back. The others were already in their tents, flaps closed against the wind as it beat at them with everything. Rufus had moved farther into his, but the flap was still open,. Sam was sure that he was waiting until the prince made it to his tent. He was almost there when everything went from bad to worse. A huge gust of wind came down from the mountain, bringing with it a mass of snow; Rufus shouted, and the last thing that Sam remembered was his legs getting knocked out from under him, the world going upside down and the camp leaving his view as he was pulled over the side of the cliff.