Fic: When the Morning Stars Sang Together
Title: When the Morning Stars Sang Together
LJ Name: smalltrolven
Pairing: Castiel and Gabriel, gen
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Not my characters, only my words. Written for the 2015 spnspringfling for morganoconner who wanted gen Castiel&Gabriel. I tried to incorporate all three prompts: Feels like flying, Watching a sunrise, Music.
Summary: Set after 5.08 "Changing Channels", Gabriel and Castiel have a conversation after the Winchesters have taken off.
Read it over on AO3
~~~
“You really didn’t like the duct tape on the mouth thing, huh? Sorry about that, bro,” Gabriel said, shaking his head at Castiel’s minor bitch fit. “You’ve definitely been spending too much time with those Winchester brothers.”
“I have spent as much time with them as has been required, no more, no less,” Castiel answered, still scrubbing futilely at his upper lip where the adhesive residue from the duct tape was feeling more and more itchy by the second.
“Me thinks the man doth protest too much, or whatever the hell the line is,” Gabriel laughed, shoulder checking Castiel just hard enough to knock him off the short brick wall they’d been sitting on.
Castiel regained his balance in time to avoid falling down onto the wet warehouse floor. “I am reconsidering the wisdom of letting you out of that holy fire circle, brother.”
“Oooh, color me scared. You and I both know, I’d have been outta that in a few hours of trying. I was just letting you and those Winchesters have a little alone time, a big triumphal exit, all that jazz,” Gabriel said, holding out a hand to help Castiel back up onto the wall.
Castiel took Gabriel’s hand and yanked it forward suddenly, surprising Gabriel enough to have him sprawling on the sodden floor. Thunder suddenly rumbled, matching the anger clouding his face.
“That was rude! Especially for you!” Gabriel shouted in an immense voice ringing through the rafters of the cavernous warehouse. Startled pigeons took off in a noisy cloud of feathers through the holes in the roof.
“You, my dear brother, are and have always been the very definition of the word rude. Now, is there not something that you’d like to say to me?” Castiel asked, helping Gabriel up to his feet.
“Buzz off, killjoy,” Gabriel answered, stalking away towards the nearest open doorway. The door slammed shut in his face. He spun around quickly, facing Castiel once again. “You do know I can just blink out of here, right? It hasn’t been that long since you’ve seen me.”
“It has been quite a long time, but yes of course, I know I cannot hold you here, Gabriel. But please, tell me why?” Castiel asked, with a pleading tone that he seemed unhappy about.
“Why what, Cassie? Gotta be more specific dude,” Gabriel said, stepping back towards his former closest friend, back when he’d admitted to being an angel.
“Do not ever call me that. Why you left and never told me, or anyone where you were. I did not understand, Gabriel, although I tried for many thousands of years. I thought I had done something to anger you. But you were just gone.”
Gabriel reached Castiel’s side in a few short steps and gripped his shoulder tightly. “You, my dearest brother, were not the reason that I left. I couldn’t do it anymore, be around all the fighting, it got to be too much, knowing what was coming for this world. I’m sorry I had to leave you thinking that way, though. I really am, I hope you can forgive me, Castiel.”
Castiel searched his brother’s face, seeing past the warm brown eyes and smiling human mask to his true angelic form, the one that he’d been missing so deeply all these years. He nodded. “I understand, and I forgive you, my dearest brother.”
Gabriel hugged him tightly, looking up into his face with a huge grin. “I like you in this shape, Castiel, you’re taller than me for once!”
“I had not realized you would ever have chosen such a small vessel,” Castiel said, returning his brother’s smile.
“Hey, let’s you and me get outta this dump, go someplace and catch up,” Gabriel said, stepping back, but leaving one hand on Castiel’s shoulder.
“That would be much appreciated. I have not had a chance for many eons to speak my truth to anyone who could truly listen,” Castiel answered.
“Okay blue eyes, how about our favorite place to watch the sun come up? I’ll race ya,” Gabriel said, popping out of sight with a rustle of feathers.
Castiel looked around at the empty warehouse, checking that they’d left no traces of the angelic showdown that had happened here, and then disappeared himself.
“Took you long enough,” Gabriel taunted, leaning back on his hands and swinging his feet over the edge of Half Dome. He looked up at Castiel, backlit by the endlessly starry sky.
“Now I truly know how Sam Winchester feels,” Castiel said, seating himself next to Gabriel and carefully letting his feet dangle above the endless dark below them.
Gabriel shoulder checked him gently. “What? His big brother is just too freaking awesome too, am I right?”
“No. That his big brother is terribly annoying and that he clearly should have been the older one.”
“Is that really how Sam feels? Well that sure explains a whole lot, that kid, I tell ya. He’s a little scary really, you shoulda seen him when I had him going in Florida a while back, it was like something out of a Scorsese movie.”
“I know of your torment of Sam. He has never recovered. And he has never shared that full experience with his brother. It is one of the many unsaid things between them,” Castiel said.
“Guess we’ve got a few of those ourselves, huh?” Gabriel leaned all the way back, and flopped on the granite dome, gazing up into the infinite sky above. “Castiel, you ever wish it was all just over?”
Castiel turned to look down at his brother. “What? The Earth? Humankind?”
“No, everything. Well, us in particular, all the Heaven apocalypse angel drama,” Gabriel answered, closing his eyes tightly as if he was picturing it.
“Never. I cannot conceive of it, Gabriel. Is it something you wish?” Castiel asked.
Gabriel sighed and closed his eyes a little tighter, pain crossing his face. “Not really, I’m just tired. It all seems pointless, you know? I mean, Dad’s been gone pretty much forever now, and it seems like everyone has lost the story of what we’re supposed to be doing.”
“I…I can see what you mean. I have been…questioning, more than I should,” Castiel said, with real hesitation.
Gabriel opened his eyes and searched his brother’s face for a long moment. “I know, I heard. Don’t worry bro, I’m not going to turn you in or anything. It’s why I wanted to talk to you. The Winchesters are kinda our last chance for something different. I think maybe God left them for us as a way off the hamster wheel. And I’m going to help them if I can.”
“You will?” Castiel asked in surprise.
Gabriel managed to shrug even though he was still lying on the granite. “Yeah. But you can’t tell them, it has to be our secret. But I wanted you to know. Because you deserve to, after you’ve been with them all this time. Seen what you have. It might mean it’s something I don’t come back from though,” Gabriel warned, sitting back up and hugging his knees to his chest. He rested his chin on them, staring out across the slowly lightening valley below.
Castiel turned in the same direction, looking out at the endless horizon of mountains before them. “Then I will continue to do the same. And if you do not come back from whatever it is you have to do to help them, then I am thankful we are sharing this last sunrise.”
Gabriel turned his head to look at Castiel, resting the side of his head on his knees. He silently unfolded himself and took Castiel’s hand in his. “It always feels like flying, watching this, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. And the music that the sunrise brings, it is my favorite, it always will be,” Castiel answered, looking out over the edge of the mountains where the sky was beginning to take on the hues of early morning.