sabriel mini-bang (3/10)
Chapter Three: Gabriel Uses His Awesome Connections and Incredible Powers of Persuasion to Find New Recruits to Help Stop the Impending Apocalypse
There’s something you should know about me. I wasn’t just disguised as a Trickster while I was away from home. I was also disguised as Loki.
Yep, that’s right. The Norse god? Me. And let me tell you, worming my way into that club had not been easy. It would have been damn near impossible if I hadn’t spent so much time on Earth even before leaving home. I got lucky.
Which was good, really. There were a few beings I knew that I could convince to help me. Some even knew I was more than just a Trickster or Loki. They would be the ones I went to first, but I had to move fast. As soon as I started going to see all the big name powers, word would start to spread and it would only be a matter of time until it got back to one of my brothers.
I decided to go to the Tricksters first. There wouldn’t be as many eyes on them and I wouldn’t have to move quite as quickly. They would also be more difficult to persuade. Tricksters tended to keep to themselves. We didn’t cross paths often and when we did, things usually ended badly. I wasn’t even going to try and talk to Eris or Iktomi. Last time I saw Eris, we nearly levelled a town in the argument that followed. And Iktomi and I had never seen eye to eye. Sure, the humans loved him and thought he was great, but they didn’t really know him. He might have been kinder to humans than some other Tricksters, but he wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. He was ruthless, really.
I went to Coyote first. He was one of the first Tricksters I met and the one I got along with best. He was the oldest of the Tricksters and generally considered the wisest of the bunch. If a Trickster ran into Coyote, they tended to be on their best behaviour. If I could convince Coyote to help us, the rest of the Tricksters would follow easily.
The only problem was that Tricksters are a distrustful bunch. They don’t trust anyone. They’re worse than humans. Making alliances just wasn’t a thing Tricksters did. It went against every bone in their body.
And that’s exactly what I was trying to do.
I found Coyote in Arizona. He tended to prefer heat and sand, so you could usually find him in the south. He didn’t look like I remembered. Of course, that wasn’t unusual. Tricksters usually change bodies like humans change clothes. Over the years, that had gotten me quite a bit of attention that I had to put down. Sure, my vessel wasn’t like any of my brothers’, but it was still a vessel. I could change what it looked like for a time, but not long. Even then, it was still just an illusion.
Coyote looked like a Native American. Appropriate, considering that’s where his stories originated from. He was taller than I was, but I knew he wouldn’t come anywhere close to being as tall as the Winchesters. His hair was greying and he looked every bit the wise old man that the Tricksters respected.
“Hello, Loki,” he greeted as soon as I appeared next to him.
I nodded and joined him. He was standing on a ridge, a town down the hill. I knew he was planning lessons for the humans below, but I didn’t have time to be polite. “Coyote,” I greeted in return. “I need your help.”
He turned towards me and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk. “Oh?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know I’m more than just a Trickster. You’ve known for a while now.”
“I have,” he replied evenly. “Are you going to tell me who you really are?”
Damn, why did asking for help have to be so hard? “I’m an angel,” I replied grudgingly. “Gabriel.”
Coyote barely reacted. He raised an eyebrow, but only said, “Then you’re here about the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse.”
Damn it. That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. I expected to hear it from the pagans, but Coyote? This was going to be harder than I thought. “It isn’t that simple,” I said, turning towards him again. “You don’t know my brother, Coyote. He won’t leave you alone. He doesn’t care about this world. It’s just a stepping stone. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. He’ll destroy you if you don’t join him and if you do he’ll leave you to rot as soon as he’s found a way back home.”
He looked down at me, but his face was a mask. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. After a few moments of studying me, however, he smiled. “I have never seen you so passionate about something, my friend,” he replied. “What help do you need?”
I blinked, but grinned after a moment. “Thank you, Coyote,” I murmured. “I’ve already found my brothers’ vessels. What we need now is to get Lucifer off of Earth. I might have a way, but it’s going to take a lot of firepower. We’re going to need all the help we can get for it to work.”
Coyote nodded. “Whatever you need of me, friend. I will do what I can to help.”
“Thank you,” I said again. “I have to go. There won’t be much time for me to move.”
“Be swift, then, Gabriel. I will spread the word to our fellow Tricksters. Go see your pagan family. I will gather as many allies as I can.”
I grasped Coyote’s forearm and he returned the gesture. “Thank you, Coyote. Watch for me.”
He nodded. “Go, my friend.”
I was thankful to Coyote. He would have better luck with the Tricksters than I would. I would have been able to manage, but Coyote’s help was more than welcome. Most of the Norse gods weren’t pleased with me. It was my own fault, really. When I left home, I didn’t care about anything. I didn’t care what they thought of me. I did whatever I wanted and just didn’t care.
That wasn’t going to help me now. Not many of them would even stop to hear what I had to say. I did still have a few strings I could pull, though. I didn’t piss everyone off. Not completely, anyway. In fact, there were a few that I actually trusted.
There were few beings that I owed more to than Sigyn. The myths weren’t exactly true, but they got some things right. I got myself in a spot of trouble and Sigyn helped me when no one else would. She bought me enough time to escape. By pagan rites, she had been my wife at one time. But things were more complicated than that because Sigyn was one of the few that actually knew who I was.
Sigyn was different from the other pagans. She was honourable. Sigyn was a black sheep amongst pagans, but despite this she was still revered among them. You humans didn’t get much right in concerns to Sigyn. You forgot about her because she wasn’t involved in bloodshed. She never made a name for herself amongst the humans even though she loved you.
And she did. She was one of the few pagans that really loved humans.
She knew from the start that I was more than just a Trickster or a pagan. Sigyn was smart. Very smart. She was gifted. She saw things that others didn’t.
I found Sigyn in Iceland. She had always liked the cold best. She was just outside of Vik, a town on the southern coast, and was standing on the edge of a cliff. She looked just as I remembered. Long blonde hair and bright eyes. It had been a long time since I’d seen her.
“Sigyn,” I said softly. I stepped next to her and the back of my hand brushed against hers lightly.
She slipped her hand into mine. “It’s been quite a while, Loki.” She turned her head and smiled. “You’ve been busy since last we met.”
I grinned. “Aw, have you been keeping tabs on me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, darling,” she replied with a smile. “There is great talk about and you have been at the heart of it.” She reached forward and put her hand on my shoulder before kissing my cheek lightly. “It is good to see you, Wind Walker.”
I shook my head at the old nickname. Back when I was first making a name for myself amongst the pagans, I didn’t bother holding myself back much. There is nothing in the world that is faster than me when I fly. I was my Father’s messenger, after all.
“I need help, Sigyn. There are bad things happening.”
Her smile faded and she frowned. “What is it? What is happening?”
“I’m an angel,” I replied, “and my family’s brought the fight down here to Earth.”
She blinked and her eyes widened. I could tell she knew what I was getting at. “Lucifer,” she replied. “The one that was cast down. He is walking the Earth.”
I nodded. “He has to be stopped, Sigyn. He’s going to burn everything. I need help.”
“I don’t know, Loki,” she murmured, “I will not be able to do much.” She turned away from me to look out over the sea again. “You know I am not a warrior.”
“Please,” I replied caustically. “We have more warriors than we can manage. We need more than people to fight.”
She turned and studied my face. “’We?’ So you are no longer alone?”
I frowned and looked away. “Not anymore, no,” I replied reluctantly.
“Good,” she said with a smile. “I did not like the thought of you being alone for so long.” She grinned and poked my side lightly. “You sulk if you stay on your own for too long.”
I huffed out a sigh and folded my arms. “You know, if I wanted this abuse I would just stay with the Winchesters.”
“The Winchesters?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ve met up with one of my brothers and a couple of humans. And if I wanted to be mocked, I would have stayed with them.”
Sigyn smirked. “If you wanted to be pampered, you should not have come to me. You know I will not cater to your whims.”
I nodded and paused. “I’ll protect you, Sigyn,” I told her seriously. “I won’t let my brother do anything to you. I just…I want it to stop. I don’t want them to fight anymore. Please.”
She sighed, but nodded. “Very well,” she replied. “I promised to protect you in the past. I will vow to help you now.” She smiled and said, “After all, how else will I meet these humans that mock you so?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you’re going to get along with them great.”
“Who else will you ask for help?”
“Svaðilfari, Fenrir, Hel maybe, and Kali if I can convince her,” I replied.
Sigyn nodded. “I wish you luck with Kali, but Hel will not come to your aide. She has refused to leave her realm for many years now.” She paused. “Be safe, Loki.”
“What’s the fun in that?” She narrowed her eyes and I rolled my eyes. “If I’m not back in four days, find the Winchesters and tell them I sent you.”
Now I won’t bore with the details of my meetings with Svaðilfari or Fenrir. Things didn’t go so well with either of them. Svaðilfari refused to help. He said what would happen would happen and he would not get involved either way. Well, I say he said but that isn’t really true. He is a horse, after all. But it’s what he meant. Things with Fenrir went better - I convinced him to help, but it took a long time. Too long. By the time I made it to Kali, I knew that rumours were already flying.
I thought that Kali was going to be the most difficult person I would have to talk to. She was the most proud and liked humans the least and, truth be told, she wasn’t very happy with me. In fact, I would rather have gone back to the Winchesters and answered their thousands of questions rather than go meet Kali again. But Kali might be able to help us.
Surprisingly enough, I found Kali in America. Fortunately for me, I found that she was already trying to get the biggest names in the pagan world together. She wanted to go up against my brother and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
It was stupidly easy to get her help, even with our history.
When I found her, she was just with Baldur. I had decided to confront her after her meeting. Baldur and I didn’t get along very well. Like I said, your human myths aren’t accurate, but it got some things right. Baldur and I had never gotten along at all.
So I stayed hidden until Baldur left. The last thing I needed was to get into an argument with Baldur while I was working with such a limited amount of time. He would make things impossible. He really was a horrible person to have to deal with.
Once Baldur left, I revealed myself. “Well, someone’s been busy. But Baldur? Really?”
Kali turned and I had really forgotten just how withering of a glare she could throw. Kali wasn’t a woman you messed with. She would flay you alive without a second thought. “Loki,” she said lowly, “what do you want?”
I leaned against the wall and folded my arms. “Not much, really,” I replied. “Just thought you should know that if you try to go up against Lucifer with Baldur you’re going to end up very, very dead.”
Her eyes narrowed and let me tell you, that was a feat. I didn’t think her glare could have gotten any more vicious. “This is not his world. It’s ours.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I replied. “He’s stronger than you, Kali. He’ll rip through all of you like tissue paper. He doesn’t care what you think. He’s having a temper tantrum and you aren’t going to be able to stop him.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And you know this how? Who’s to say that I can’t stop him? I am the Destroyer. He will burn. I will not let those angels take this planet.”
I have to admit I didn’t like the idea of Lucifer and Kali going up against each other. Lucifer would rip through Kali. But if Lucifer didn’t have his true vessel, she would be able to hurt him. I didn’t want either of them hurt. Lucifer was my brother and while I was here on Earth, the pagans became part of my family too. I may have hated them at times and we may have been at each other’s throats most of the time, but they were still family. I didn’t want to watch them fight my brother.
“Stand with me, Loki,” she said. “You can help us take back the planet. Help us destroy this ‘devil.’”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Kali. No can do.”
She frowned. “You cannot hide from this, Loki. If we do not stop him, the world will burn.”
“I never said I wouldn’t try to stop him,” I replied. I pushed away from the wall and looked at her seriously. “But I’m not gonna try to kill him, Kali.”
“Why?”
I smiled tightly. “Because he’s my brother.”
Kali froze. “You expect me to believe that you are one of them? You, Loki? Don’t make me laugh.”
I shrugged and pulled out my blade. “Have you seen an angel before, Kali? We’re not exactly what you’d imagine.”
“That is an angel’s blade,” she murmured. She looked up from the blade and glared before raising her hand. Fire engulfed it, but I didn’t move. Kali couldn’t kill me. Fire might hurt, but it couldn’t really cause any damage.
I rolled my eyes. “Really, Kali? You’re gonna try to kill me?”
“This world isn’t yours. What claim do you have to it?”
Kali had always thought highly of herself. She never liked when something she thought was hers was taken away from her. “This world doesn’t belong to either of us,” I replied. “It belongs to the humans.”
She scoffed. “Those insects? They are only mud beneath our feet.”
I shook my head. “They’re better than us, Kali. Better than all of us.” I turned away, running my hands over the variety of candles and other knick-knacks she had set up here. “It doesn’t matter. We want the same thing, really. I want to stop my brothers from toasting the Earth. You want to stop them too. We can help each other.”
“I have no interest in helping you, Loki. Not if you are cavorting about with humans.”
I sighed and turned back to face her. “Kali, please,” I said softly. “I know my family. If you try to go up against them, they will kill you. You don’t stand a chance against Lucifer. I know my brother, Kali. You wouldn’t be able to kill me even if you tried your hardest. You’ll barely even scratch Lucifer.”
Kali studied me with a frown. After a moment, she stepped forward and looked up at me. “And you believe you can stop Lucifer? You believe you can stop him without killing him?”
I met her gaze. “Yes, I do. Coyote is helping me. Sigyn and Fenrir are helping me. One of my brothers is helping me. We can do this, Kali. I’m not going to let my family take this world.”
She blinked up at me. “Fine,” she finally said. “I will help you. No one has been willing to fight anyway. They are all so sure that nothing will happen. They are fools.”
“Yep, they are,” I replied. “And thank you, Kali.”
She glared. “I don’t need your thanks. Tell me this, at least: which one are you?”
I grinned. “Me? No one important, really.”
“Loki,” she hissed, “if I am going to join you and a bunch of humans, then you will tell me your true name.”
“I’m Gabriel,” I said with a smirk before flying off. I could just imagine the look on Kali’s face. I flew back to Bobby Singer’s place. Even though I had moved faster than I thought, it had still been about two days since I left the humans with my brother.
I landed down in the junkyard. As fun as it would be to pop in and scare the Winchesters, I knew they wouldn’t take to it kindly. And it had been a long two days. I didn’t feel like getting into it with Dean quite yet.
As soon as I landed, however, Castiel appeared next to me. “Hello, brother,” he murmured. His greeting was accompanied by a brush of his grace.
I grinned and huffed slightly before returning the gesture. “Careful, bro,” I said lightly. “I might get used to this.”
The tendril of grace pulled away. “If it bothers you - “
I rolled my eyes. “I was joking, Castiel. Relax a little.” He frowned, so I moved on. I would get him to relax eventually. “How have the humans been coping?” I had an idea of what had been going on. If I knew Dean Winchester, he would be doing his best to convince his brother that I was trying to trick him.
“Dean does not trust you,” Castiel replied. “But Sam has been arguing in your defence. Bobby has been reaching out to other hunters to ask for their assistance.” He shifted slightly and I could tell that he was uncomfortable. “They questioned me as to how you plan to defeat Michael and Lucifer.”
I had to say that I was surprised that Sam argued on my behalf. I would have thought that he would let Dean rant and rave since they just got back together again. Once again, I was surprised by Sam Winchester.
Might as well be honest, right? Sam still surprises me. But don’t tell him that. He’d use it against me and that’s the last thing I need. And Dean would try to mock me and I would have to get my revenge and then Sam would make me sleep on the couch. What? It’s the principle of the thing.
Back to the story, though.
“Did you have any success with your friends?”
I snorted. “I wouldn’t exactly call them friends.”
Castiel raised an eyebrow. “You’re lying, Gabriel,” he said seriously. “You care for the pagans.”
“So what if I do?”
He turned to me and smiled slightly. It wasn’t much of a smile, but it was the closest that Castiel probably ever got to. “You don’t need to act ashamed of them, brother. I have no room for judgment.”
I glanced at him. “Just you and me now, huh?”
Castiel nodded. “Yes. Just ‘you and me.’ And our friends.”
I laughed. “Well, if that doesn’t sound like a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what does.” I clapped a hand to his shoulder before heading towards the house. “C’mon, bro. Let’s go tell the humans the plan.”
He frowned. “And what is the plan?”
I grinned and spun around, walking backwards. “Not quite sure yet, little bro. I’ll let you know when I’ve got it all figured out.”
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten
There’s something you should know about me. I wasn’t just disguised as a Trickster while I was away from home. I was also disguised as Loki.
Yep, that’s right. The Norse god? Me. And let me tell you, worming my way into that club had not been easy. It would have been damn near impossible if I hadn’t spent so much time on Earth even before leaving home. I got lucky.
Which was good, really. There were a few beings I knew that I could convince to help me. Some even knew I was more than just a Trickster or Loki. They would be the ones I went to first, but I had to move fast. As soon as I started going to see all the big name powers, word would start to spread and it would only be a matter of time until it got back to one of my brothers.
I decided to go to the Tricksters first. There wouldn’t be as many eyes on them and I wouldn’t have to move quite as quickly. They would also be more difficult to persuade. Tricksters tended to keep to themselves. We didn’t cross paths often and when we did, things usually ended badly. I wasn’t even going to try and talk to Eris or Iktomi. Last time I saw Eris, we nearly levelled a town in the argument that followed. And Iktomi and I had never seen eye to eye. Sure, the humans loved him and thought he was great, but they didn’t really know him. He might have been kinder to humans than some other Tricksters, but he wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. He was ruthless, really.
I went to Coyote first. He was one of the first Tricksters I met and the one I got along with best. He was the oldest of the Tricksters and generally considered the wisest of the bunch. If a Trickster ran into Coyote, they tended to be on their best behaviour. If I could convince Coyote to help us, the rest of the Tricksters would follow easily.
The only problem was that Tricksters are a distrustful bunch. They don’t trust anyone. They’re worse than humans. Making alliances just wasn’t a thing Tricksters did. It went against every bone in their body.
And that’s exactly what I was trying to do.
I found Coyote in Arizona. He tended to prefer heat and sand, so you could usually find him in the south. He didn’t look like I remembered. Of course, that wasn’t unusual. Tricksters usually change bodies like humans change clothes. Over the years, that had gotten me quite a bit of attention that I had to put down. Sure, my vessel wasn’t like any of my brothers’, but it was still a vessel. I could change what it looked like for a time, but not long. Even then, it was still just an illusion.
Coyote looked like a Native American. Appropriate, considering that’s where his stories originated from. He was taller than I was, but I knew he wouldn’t come anywhere close to being as tall as the Winchesters. His hair was greying and he looked every bit the wise old man that the Tricksters respected.
“Hello, Loki,” he greeted as soon as I appeared next to him.
I nodded and joined him. He was standing on a ridge, a town down the hill. I knew he was planning lessons for the humans below, but I didn’t have time to be polite. “Coyote,” I greeted in return. “I need your help.”
He turned towards me and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk. “Oh?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know I’m more than just a Trickster. You’ve known for a while now.”
“I have,” he replied evenly. “Are you going to tell me who you really are?”
Damn, why did asking for help have to be so hard? “I’m an angel,” I replied grudgingly. “Gabriel.”
Coyote barely reacted. He raised an eyebrow, but only said, “Then you’re here about the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse.”
Damn it. That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. I expected to hear it from the pagans, but Coyote? This was going to be harder than I thought. “It isn’t that simple,” I said, turning towards him again. “You don’t know my brother, Coyote. He won’t leave you alone. He doesn’t care about this world. It’s just a stepping stone. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. He’ll destroy you if you don’t join him and if you do he’ll leave you to rot as soon as he’s found a way back home.”
He looked down at me, but his face was a mask. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. After a few moments of studying me, however, he smiled. “I have never seen you so passionate about something, my friend,” he replied. “What help do you need?”
I blinked, but grinned after a moment. “Thank you, Coyote,” I murmured. “I’ve already found my brothers’ vessels. What we need now is to get Lucifer off of Earth. I might have a way, but it’s going to take a lot of firepower. We’re going to need all the help we can get for it to work.”
Coyote nodded. “Whatever you need of me, friend. I will do what I can to help.”
“Thank you,” I said again. “I have to go. There won’t be much time for me to move.”
“Be swift, then, Gabriel. I will spread the word to our fellow Tricksters. Go see your pagan family. I will gather as many allies as I can.”
I grasped Coyote’s forearm and he returned the gesture. “Thank you, Coyote. Watch for me.”
He nodded. “Go, my friend.”
I was thankful to Coyote. He would have better luck with the Tricksters than I would. I would have been able to manage, but Coyote’s help was more than welcome. Most of the Norse gods weren’t pleased with me. It was my own fault, really. When I left home, I didn’t care about anything. I didn’t care what they thought of me. I did whatever I wanted and just didn’t care.
That wasn’t going to help me now. Not many of them would even stop to hear what I had to say. I did still have a few strings I could pull, though. I didn’t piss everyone off. Not completely, anyway. In fact, there were a few that I actually trusted.
There were few beings that I owed more to than Sigyn. The myths weren’t exactly true, but they got some things right. I got myself in a spot of trouble and Sigyn helped me when no one else would. She bought me enough time to escape. By pagan rites, she had been my wife at one time. But things were more complicated than that because Sigyn was one of the few that actually knew who I was.
Sigyn was different from the other pagans. She was honourable. Sigyn was a black sheep amongst pagans, but despite this she was still revered among them. You humans didn’t get much right in concerns to Sigyn. You forgot about her because she wasn’t involved in bloodshed. She never made a name for herself amongst the humans even though she loved you.
And she did. She was one of the few pagans that really loved humans.
She knew from the start that I was more than just a Trickster or a pagan. Sigyn was smart. Very smart. She was gifted. She saw things that others didn’t.
I found Sigyn in Iceland. She had always liked the cold best. She was just outside of Vik, a town on the southern coast, and was standing on the edge of a cliff. She looked just as I remembered. Long blonde hair and bright eyes. It had been a long time since I’d seen her.
“Sigyn,” I said softly. I stepped next to her and the back of my hand brushed against hers lightly.
She slipped her hand into mine. “It’s been quite a while, Loki.” She turned her head and smiled. “You’ve been busy since last we met.”
I grinned. “Aw, have you been keeping tabs on me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, darling,” she replied with a smile. “There is great talk about and you have been at the heart of it.” She reached forward and put her hand on my shoulder before kissing my cheek lightly. “It is good to see you, Wind Walker.”
I shook my head at the old nickname. Back when I was first making a name for myself amongst the pagans, I didn’t bother holding myself back much. There is nothing in the world that is faster than me when I fly. I was my Father’s messenger, after all.
“I need help, Sigyn. There are bad things happening.”
Her smile faded and she frowned. “What is it? What is happening?”
“I’m an angel,” I replied, “and my family’s brought the fight down here to Earth.”
She blinked and her eyes widened. I could tell she knew what I was getting at. “Lucifer,” she replied. “The one that was cast down. He is walking the Earth.”
I nodded. “He has to be stopped, Sigyn. He’s going to burn everything. I need help.”
“I don’t know, Loki,” she murmured, “I will not be able to do much.” She turned away from me to look out over the sea again. “You know I am not a warrior.”
“Please,” I replied caustically. “We have more warriors than we can manage. We need more than people to fight.”
She turned and studied my face. “’We?’ So you are no longer alone?”
I frowned and looked away. “Not anymore, no,” I replied reluctantly.
“Good,” she said with a smile. “I did not like the thought of you being alone for so long.” She grinned and poked my side lightly. “You sulk if you stay on your own for too long.”
I huffed out a sigh and folded my arms. “You know, if I wanted this abuse I would just stay with the Winchesters.”
“The Winchesters?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ve met up with one of my brothers and a couple of humans. And if I wanted to be mocked, I would have stayed with them.”
Sigyn smirked. “If you wanted to be pampered, you should not have come to me. You know I will not cater to your whims.”
I nodded and paused. “I’ll protect you, Sigyn,” I told her seriously. “I won’t let my brother do anything to you. I just…I want it to stop. I don’t want them to fight anymore. Please.”
She sighed, but nodded. “Very well,” she replied. “I promised to protect you in the past. I will vow to help you now.” She smiled and said, “After all, how else will I meet these humans that mock you so?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you’re going to get along with them great.”
“Who else will you ask for help?”
“Svaðilfari, Fenrir, Hel maybe, and Kali if I can convince her,” I replied.
Sigyn nodded. “I wish you luck with Kali, but Hel will not come to your aide. She has refused to leave her realm for many years now.” She paused. “Be safe, Loki.”
“What’s the fun in that?” She narrowed her eyes and I rolled my eyes. “If I’m not back in four days, find the Winchesters and tell them I sent you.”
Now I won’t bore with the details of my meetings with Svaðilfari or Fenrir. Things didn’t go so well with either of them. Svaðilfari refused to help. He said what would happen would happen and he would not get involved either way. Well, I say he said but that isn’t really true. He is a horse, after all. But it’s what he meant. Things with Fenrir went better - I convinced him to help, but it took a long time. Too long. By the time I made it to Kali, I knew that rumours were already flying.
I thought that Kali was going to be the most difficult person I would have to talk to. She was the most proud and liked humans the least and, truth be told, she wasn’t very happy with me. In fact, I would rather have gone back to the Winchesters and answered their thousands of questions rather than go meet Kali again. But Kali might be able to help us.
Surprisingly enough, I found Kali in America. Fortunately for me, I found that she was already trying to get the biggest names in the pagan world together. She wanted to go up against my brother and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
It was stupidly easy to get her help, even with our history.
When I found her, she was just with Baldur. I had decided to confront her after her meeting. Baldur and I didn’t get along very well. Like I said, your human myths aren’t accurate, but it got some things right. Baldur and I had never gotten along at all.
So I stayed hidden until Baldur left. The last thing I needed was to get into an argument with Baldur while I was working with such a limited amount of time. He would make things impossible. He really was a horrible person to have to deal with.
Once Baldur left, I revealed myself. “Well, someone’s been busy. But Baldur? Really?”
Kali turned and I had really forgotten just how withering of a glare she could throw. Kali wasn’t a woman you messed with. She would flay you alive without a second thought. “Loki,” she said lowly, “what do you want?”
I leaned against the wall and folded my arms. “Not much, really,” I replied. “Just thought you should know that if you try to go up against Lucifer with Baldur you’re going to end up very, very dead.”
Her eyes narrowed and let me tell you, that was a feat. I didn’t think her glare could have gotten any more vicious. “This is not his world. It’s ours.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I replied. “He’s stronger than you, Kali. He’ll rip through all of you like tissue paper. He doesn’t care what you think. He’s having a temper tantrum and you aren’t going to be able to stop him.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And you know this how? Who’s to say that I can’t stop him? I am the Destroyer. He will burn. I will not let those angels take this planet.”
I have to admit I didn’t like the idea of Lucifer and Kali going up against each other. Lucifer would rip through Kali. But if Lucifer didn’t have his true vessel, she would be able to hurt him. I didn’t want either of them hurt. Lucifer was my brother and while I was here on Earth, the pagans became part of my family too. I may have hated them at times and we may have been at each other’s throats most of the time, but they were still family. I didn’t want to watch them fight my brother.
“Stand with me, Loki,” she said. “You can help us take back the planet. Help us destroy this ‘devil.’”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Kali. No can do.”
She frowned. “You cannot hide from this, Loki. If we do not stop him, the world will burn.”
“I never said I wouldn’t try to stop him,” I replied. I pushed away from the wall and looked at her seriously. “But I’m not gonna try to kill him, Kali.”
“Why?”
I smiled tightly. “Because he’s my brother.”
Kali froze. “You expect me to believe that you are one of them? You, Loki? Don’t make me laugh.”
I shrugged and pulled out my blade. “Have you seen an angel before, Kali? We’re not exactly what you’d imagine.”
“That is an angel’s blade,” she murmured. She looked up from the blade and glared before raising her hand. Fire engulfed it, but I didn’t move. Kali couldn’t kill me. Fire might hurt, but it couldn’t really cause any damage.
I rolled my eyes. “Really, Kali? You’re gonna try to kill me?”
“This world isn’t yours. What claim do you have to it?”
Kali had always thought highly of herself. She never liked when something she thought was hers was taken away from her. “This world doesn’t belong to either of us,” I replied. “It belongs to the humans.”
She scoffed. “Those insects? They are only mud beneath our feet.”
I shook my head. “They’re better than us, Kali. Better than all of us.” I turned away, running my hands over the variety of candles and other knick-knacks she had set up here. “It doesn’t matter. We want the same thing, really. I want to stop my brothers from toasting the Earth. You want to stop them too. We can help each other.”
“I have no interest in helping you, Loki. Not if you are cavorting about with humans.”
I sighed and turned back to face her. “Kali, please,” I said softly. “I know my family. If you try to go up against them, they will kill you. You don’t stand a chance against Lucifer. I know my brother, Kali. You wouldn’t be able to kill me even if you tried your hardest. You’ll barely even scratch Lucifer.”
Kali studied me with a frown. After a moment, she stepped forward and looked up at me. “And you believe you can stop Lucifer? You believe you can stop him without killing him?”
I met her gaze. “Yes, I do. Coyote is helping me. Sigyn and Fenrir are helping me. One of my brothers is helping me. We can do this, Kali. I’m not going to let my family take this world.”
She blinked up at me. “Fine,” she finally said. “I will help you. No one has been willing to fight anyway. They are all so sure that nothing will happen. They are fools.”
“Yep, they are,” I replied. “And thank you, Kali.”
She glared. “I don’t need your thanks. Tell me this, at least: which one are you?”
I grinned. “Me? No one important, really.”
“Loki,” she hissed, “if I am going to join you and a bunch of humans, then you will tell me your true name.”
“I’m Gabriel,” I said with a smirk before flying off. I could just imagine the look on Kali’s face. I flew back to Bobby Singer’s place. Even though I had moved faster than I thought, it had still been about two days since I left the humans with my brother.
I landed down in the junkyard. As fun as it would be to pop in and scare the Winchesters, I knew they wouldn’t take to it kindly. And it had been a long two days. I didn’t feel like getting into it with Dean quite yet.
As soon as I landed, however, Castiel appeared next to me. “Hello, brother,” he murmured. His greeting was accompanied by a brush of his grace.
I grinned and huffed slightly before returning the gesture. “Careful, bro,” I said lightly. “I might get used to this.”
The tendril of grace pulled away. “If it bothers you - “
I rolled my eyes. “I was joking, Castiel. Relax a little.” He frowned, so I moved on. I would get him to relax eventually. “How have the humans been coping?” I had an idea of what had been going on. If I knew Dean Winchester, he would be doing his best to convince his brother that I was trying to trick him.
“Dean does not trust you,” Castiel replied. “But Sam has been arguing in your defence. Bobby has been reaching out to other hunters to ask for their assistance.” He shifted slightly and I could tell that he was uncomfortable. “They questioned me as to how you plan to defeat Michael and Lucifer.”
I had to say that I was surprised that Sam argued on my behalf. I would have thought that he would let Dean rant and rave since they just got back together again. Once again, I was surprised by Sam Winchester.
Might as well be honest, right? Sam still surprises me. But don’t tell him that. He’d use it against me and that’s the last thing I need. And Dean would try to mock me and I would have to get my revenge and then Sam would make me sleep on the couch. What? It’s the principle of the thing.
Back to the story, though.
“Did you have any success with your friends?”
I snorted. “I wouldn’t exactly call them friends.”
Castiel raised an eyebrow. “You’re lying, Gabriel,” he said seriously. “You care for the pagans.”
“So what if I do?”
He turned to me and smiled slightly. It wasn’t much of a smile, but it was the closest that Castiel probably ever got to. “You don’t need to act ashamed of them, brother. I have no room for judgment.”
I glanced at him. “Just you and me now, huh?”
Castiel nodded. “Yes. Just ‘you and me.’ And our friends.”
I laughed. “Well, if that doesn’t sound like a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what does.” I clapped a hand to his shoulder before heading towards the house. “C’mon, bro. Let’s go tell the humans the plan.”
He frowned. “And what is the plan?”
I grinned and spun around, walking backwards. “Not quite sure yet, little bro. I’ll let you know when I’ve got it all figured out.”
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