Superman Tonight (22/?)
Title: Superman Tonight (22/?)
Author: lonelyphoenix85
Rating: R overall, mainly for the odd swear-word
Genre: Pre-slash, angst, hurt/comfort
Pairing: Sam/Gabriel pre-slash, Dean/Cas pre-slash, Aziraphale/Crowley slash
Spoilers: through to Changing Channels (5x08)
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2287 (this part, 48315 total so far)
Disclaimer: It only belongs to me when I'm dreaming! Bon Jovi owns the song its beginning (and title) are based around, and the rest is property of the almighty Kripke!
Author's Note: Just wanted to say thanks to my fantastic beta for this story, loveinstars - you're awesome!
Another Note: I managed a slightly speedier update, yay! *grins* And I've returned to using IE as a browser purely for LJ, so that I can post properly, so I won't be linking to my FFnet account this time :-D
Previous Chapters: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
And now:
“You know, you could just call Bigfoot.”
Crowley waved a small, sleek black object at the hunter.
“You’ve got a cell-phone.”
At Sam’s disbelieving tone, Crowley chuckled.
“What, your brother’s angel can join the twenty-first century, but an old demon like me can’t?”
He grinned as annoyance flashed on the human’s face - a small victory, maybe, but still sweet. Besides, he limited himself to minor annoyances, aggravations, pranks, practical jokes, and tiny temptations these days - wouldn’t want to upset the Angel, after all.
“Unless you’ve got Gabriel’s number on there, I could care less right now.”
What exactly had he missed while he’d been out Angel-hunting?
“Who pissed on your barbeque, grumpy? You know, you called me…”
“Can you find Gabriel?” Sam cut in sharply.
*Americans. No manners at all.*
“Hey, I signed on to stop the apocalypse - again - - not to be the Winchester’s own personal 1-800-find-an-angel…you should learn to keep track of them better if you’re going to keep them around. You don’t see me losing my Angel, do you?”
Now that he looked a little closer, he could tell something was wrong.
The boy reeked of misery…it saturated every inch of his soul - and wasn’t that an interesting looking soul? He’d have to remember to have a little word with Gabriel about that later…
Holding his hands out to stop Sam from replying, he quickly continued.
“Let me call ‘Zira - I’ve got a feeling we’ll need him.”
Crowley dialled his phone, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Just as he was sure he was going to get the infernal - well annoying at least - answerphone, it connected.
[This isn’t really a good time, dear…]
Aziraphale’s voice sounded strained, his breathing heavier than normal.
Crowley tried to keep calm - after all, if anything were really wrong he wouldn’t have been able to answer at all, right?
“Angel…? What’s going on?”
[I may have…misjudged, slightly - thought I’d found the lad, but it turned out to be one of my…less reasonable…relations.]
“For Someone’s sake! Where are you now?”
[Somewhere over Antarctica I think…he’s fast, although I don’t think he’s had chance to call for back-up yet…]
Crowley hissed in annoyance. Damned self-righteous little buggers…where did they get off chasing his Angel?
“Head to Carthage, Missouri - there’s a demon infestation there, that should distract the little bugger…been meaning to set someone on them anyway.”
[But what if he’s out-numbered dear? I wouldn’t want him getting hurt…]
He held back a groan.
The little git was chasing his Angel, trying to hurt his Angel, and what was his Angel worried about?
“He can call for back-up. It’s called self-defense Angel - how d’you plan on getting rid of him? Ditch the pest and get back to Singer’s…we’ve got a brand new problem.”
Without waiting for a reply, Crowley hung up the phone and looked back over at Sam.
“You know, we’ve managed to stay off their radar for twenty years, so I hope you idiots appreciate this.”
SPNSPNSPN
He had to admit, Crowley’s plan had been a good one. One glance at the town had been more than enough to grab the other Angel’s attention, and it had been all Aziraphale could do not to join him down there.
To say that the town was infested was an understatement of titanic proportions. There wasn’t a single human left alive in the place, and as he forced himself to continue on his way he felt the rise in Grace as his brother did, as Crowley had predicted, call for reinforcements.
*At least those demons won’t have the chance to hurt anyone else,* he mused as he changed paths and headed for the salvage yard.
His brothers would likely level the whole town.
SPNSPNSPN
“There you are boy! Where’s yer idjit brother?”
Bobby headed down the steps from the porch and crossed over to where Sam was standing with the demon.
“Cas came back - he took Dean somewhere to talk.”
“He came back? Just like that?” Crowley interjected. “And never mind the poor sods scouring the whole bloody Earth for him, because he’s gotta go talk to Winchester? Well that’s just lovely. Really.”
Great, now instead of a mopey hunter, Bobby had a pissy demon to deal with.
He took a deep breath and began slowly counting under his breath. He was a few steps shy of just locking himself in the panic room and hanging a ‘do not disturb’ (spelt ‘piss off!’) sign on the damn door.
“I was getting to that…you wanted to wait for Aziraphale first, remember?”
Bobby glanced between the two, confused.
Surely Castiel coming back was good news, wasn’t it?
“What am I missing? Because it seems to me that if the angel’s back the problem’s solved…”
“Cas came back. Gabriel didn’t.”
“Did he say why?”
“He grabbed Dean, said they needed to talk, and left. Something’s wrong with Gabriel, and I don’t know what, or where he is Bobby…”
“So you called the demon…”
“’The demon’ has a name you know!”
Bobby ignored the indignant protest - he knew Crowley’s name, but if he had to put up with annoying idjits, he could at least annoy them right back some.
“…to tell him to forget Dean’s angel, and find yours instead? This is why yer daddy never let you boys have pets, you know!”
“Well, that’s hardly a very flattering comparison Robert.”
Bobby spun around to see a slightly ruffled angel standing by the Impala.
“Angel! Thank Someone! That bastard didn’t hurt you did he?”
“Relax, dear, I said he was fast…I didn’t say I wasn’t faster.”
SPNSPNSPN
“Now what’s this new problem?” Aziraphale asked as he smoothed his jacket down - it had gotten a little skewed in the storm over Russia. He frowned briefly at the singes on his right sleeve…infernal lightning!
He hadn’t flown so fast in… Goodness, it had to have been about three millennia! He hadn’t known he still had it in him, really - it was nice to see that he could still out-pace the younger generation when he needed to though, he thought with a slight smile.
“Gabriel went to find the littlest angel - the kid came back, but Gabriel’s gone A.W.O.L. now, and, well…just look at Bigfoot over there…”
Aziraphale frowned quickly at Crowley - really, you’d think his demon could at least try to be polite occasionally…what if the human was sensitive about his height? - before doing as he suggested, and turning to examine the young hunter.
What he saw…
It took everything he had not to shy away from it.
No wonder Crowley had said they had a problem.
“Samuel, do you know what’s wrong with Gabriel? Is he injured?”
“No…I mean, I don’t think so - I felt it last time, so I think he’s okay physically…”
“Just physically?”
“He feels…empty. There’s nothing there, it’s just…it’s like after M…”
Aziraphale didn’t miss what the hunter had almost said. He’d cut himself off quickly enough that Robert and Crowley seemed not to have noticed that he was doing more than pausing for breath though, which was good - he doubted Gabriel would appreciate a breach of confidence, even if it was accidental.
“It’s bad okay? I don’t know what happened, but I need to get to him, soon…”
He’d never seen an emotional wound so bad it could mark a Bond like this…but then, he thought looking closer, it had been a very long time since he’d seen a Bond like this at all. Just what had Gabriel been doing?
“We won’t be able to find him…”
As the hunter moved to object he held up a hand to stay him.
“You need to remember, Gabriel has spent the last two thousand years perfecting being invisible. If he doesn’t want us to find him,” he said, gesturing to Crowley and then himself, “then we won’t be able to find him. But, we don’t necessarily need to find him, do we? You said you need to get to him…why?”
“What do you mean, why? He’s in pain! I need to get to him, to do…I don’t know! Something, at least! Help him somehow…”
Seeing that the human was starting to get worked up again, Aziraphale decided to get to the point. There would be time for explanations later - one couldn’t expect children to understand everything quickly, after all, and Sam’s distress wouldn’t be doing Gabriel any favours.
“I can help you use your Bond to get to wherever he is…”
“Angel…?”
Aziraphale quickly cut off Crowley’s interruption with a shake of his head.
“Not now, dear - I’m a little busy…right, where was I? Oh yes, the Bond - it should be a fairly simple process if it works - but once you’re there we probably won’t be able to find you either. You’ll be stuck there, unless Gabriel is able to help you return. It’s a risk Sam…I’ve seen him hurting like this before…it took a very long time for him to snap out of it.”
“Do it.”
“Son, maybe you should listen to the angel’s warning - what if…”
“It doesn’t matter, Bobby. I need to go.”
Aziraphale watched as Sam turned back to face him, determination glowing in his eyes so strongly he almost swore he could see a hint of Grace behind it.
Gabriel definitely had some explaining to do when he got back.
“Do it.”
“Very well. I need you to listen very carefully, and do exactly as I say. And whatever you do, keep your focus - Robert, Crowley, I’ll need you to stay very quiet, dears…are you ready Samuel?”
The young man nodded resolutely - Gabriel was in good hands with this one, at least.
“I’ll need you to close your eyes,” he watched as the hunter did so without hesitation - weren’t hunters supposed to be a suspicious old bunch? - and then carried on. “Right - now feel inside, find the spot where your connection to Gabriel feels strongest…it will probably be near your chest…? Don’t speak, just nod when you’ve found it…”
It took a few moments, but finally the hunter bobbed his head in a nod.
“Now, I need you to picture it in your mind, like a rope, or a tunnel perhaps? Yes like a tunnel…now in a minute - not yet, when I say - you’re going to follow that tunnel, and you’re going to keep following it until you get to the other end. It’ll probably get harder the further you go, but whatever you do, you can’t lose your focus, okay Samuel?”
He waited for the hunter to nod his understanding again before continuing.
“Now this is going to be the tricky bit, because you won’t know where Gabriel is - when you get to the other end you’ll need to picture yourself standing next to Gabriel. Hopefully he’ll sense you and be able to help, but if he can’t then try to picture him, focus only on him and let the background blur out of focus, that should do the trick. Once you’ve got the image in your head, put it at the end of your tunnel, and walk out. Did you get all that Sam? Is there anything you need me to repeat?”
As he spoke he watched the hunter’s face screw-up in concentration, and smiled as, after a moment’s thought, he shook his head.
He glanced over at Robert and Crowley and stifled a smile at their differing expressions. Robert looked in turns worried, confused, and incredulous, but Crowley…
He smiled at the expression on his mate’s face, before turning back to the human.
“Okay. Then in that case, good luck, my boy. If you’ve got your tunnel, just start walking whenever you’re ready.”
SPNSPNSPN
Crowley watched in wide-eyed disbelief as his mate talked the human through a Bond-walk.
A Bond-walk!
The Angel needed his head examined.
“Okay. Then in that case, good luck, my boy. If you’ve got your tunnel, just start walking whenever you’re ready.”
You could’ve knocked him over with a feather when, after a short silence, the human flickered slightly, before actually disappearing.
“It…I mean…it…Angel…?”
“Yes dear?”
“Did that just…?”
“Yes dear.”
“Right. Of course it did.”
“Someone mind explaining what the hell just happened? I mean, for those of us who don’t have unearthly powers and knowledge at our disposal…like, oh I don’t know, me for instance?”
“You’re not the only one lacking some facts Singer…” Crowley said before turning back to his Angel. “That shouldn’t have worked.”
It shouldn’t have.
It really, one hundred percent, should have worked about as well as…well, about as well as a lemon drop powering a nuclear reactor, actually…
Damned humans…couldn’t just leave things alone - - - had to go messing with the laws of the universe.
Crowley liked his universe as it was, thank you very much.
He liked its laws.
“And yet it did.”
“You know something, Angel…”
The sneaky little bugger had information he wasn’t sharing…
“He needed to do something - I figured it might be worth a try, that’s all.”
“Most Angels can’t Bond-walk - the Bonds haven’t been strong enough in millennia. So how in the hel…heav…how on earth did that human manage it?”
“Their Bond is strong enough. Now who wants a nice cup of tea, hmm?”
Crowley watched in frustration as his Angel started off towards the house, the older hunter following closely behind him.
“What do you mean strong enough?” Crowley asked, catching up to them. “How could it possibly be…”
Crowley stopped dead as he realised what the Angel was implying.
“Oh…OH. You don’t mean…?”
“Precisely, dear.”
“Impossible.”
The Angel paused and glanced up at him. With a slight tilt of his head and raised brow, he replied with a smile that, for Aziraphale, was positively smug.
It was a good look on him, Crowley thought distractedly.
“No, merely improbable.”
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