Superman Tonight (9/?)
Title: Superman Tonight (9/?)
Author: lonelyphoenix85
Rating: R overall, mainly for the odd swear-word
Genre: Pre-slash, angst, hurt/comfort
Pairing:Sam/Gabriel pre-slash, implied Dean/Cas
Spoilers: through to Changing Channels (5x08)
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2191 (this part, 17997 total so far)
Disclaimer: It only belongs to me when I'm dreaming! Bon Jovi owns the song, and the rest is property of the almighty Kripke!
Author's Note: Just wanted to say thanks to my awesome beta for this story, of_red_clouds - you're awesome!
Previous chapters: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
“What do you need?”
Well, to start with he could use a brother who wasn’t completely insane.
Oh, Cas was a freaking genius, but that didn’t exactly preclude him being a lunatic.
Gabriel had figured out why Castiel was falling so gradually. He’d also figured out what was killing him. It hadn’t even taken that long, and while he would love to point out that yes, he really was just that awesome, it had probably had more to do with the fact that they were the same thing. He hadn’t figured out why it was killing him yet, but he figured two out of three wasn’t bad for a few minutes work.
“Somewhere more secure than this - I’d set something up, but my mojo could interfere with what I’m gonna need to do. Is there somewhere we can go? Somewhere defensible, easily warded, preferably fairly secluded…”
“Bobby’s…?” Sam suggested, looking to Dean for confirmation.
“You want to take this guy to Bobby’s?”
“If you’ve got a better idea…”
“Bobby’ll probably try to shoot him.”
“It’s not like it’ll hurt him.”
“Which’ll piss Bobby off and make him shoot him again.”
Gabriel decided to speed things up a little. He could fix this, at least enough that Cas would live, but not for much longer…his brother’s Grace was killing him, and the longer he was bound to it the lower his chance of recovery got.
The more he was exposed to any Grace at all the worse his chances got, actually - Gabriel was trying hard to hold back as much as he could, but the new bond he shared with Sam was making it difficult. He’d have to be careful to keep the young hunter away from the angel for now - the kid was leaking Grace all over the place thanks to him.
It was, in fact, probably that that had finally pushed Castiel past his limits and into the coma. Not that there was a snowball’s chance in hell he was sharing that little fact with the Winchesters - they were way too fond of the self-blame game.
“Bobby sounds like a stand-up guy, I promise not to smite him if he shoots me…so, how far away does he live?”
“About an hour and a half, an hour if we push? We were on our way there when we heard about the demons in Concord…”
“Good - you two chuckleheads need to pack or can we go already? Cas doesn’t have all day you know…”
“Dean, call Bobby, tell him we’re coming, then chuck our bags in the car. I’ll grab the books.”
“Tell Bobby we’ll need a bed set up for Castiel. Lots of warm blankets,” Gabriel added.
“Can’t you just…you know…” Gabriel watched Dean snap his fingers with a raised eye-brow and sighed.
“You really did get all the brains, huh Sammy?”
“Hey!!!” He smirked at Dean’s insulted cry.
“We have to go to Bobby’s because too much mojo around Cassie right now would be bad. Snapping up a bed and blankets would be considered mojo, bucko. Make your phone call. Tell him to expect us in an hour.”
Gabriel tuned Dean’s response out, not really caring to hear the hunter gripe right now - he’d make the call, he was too worried about Castiel to ignore Gabriel, whatever his feelings were for the archangel. He faintly heard the door slam as the hunter went outside with the bags and his phone.
Reaching out with as much Grace as he dared, Gabriel poked gently at his brother again. Something was off - something other than the whole dying thing - and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“Hey, Sammy?”
“Yeah…?” the hunter responded distractedly, not bothering to look up from where he was carefully piling books into a cardboard box.
“Anything weird happen to Cas lately?”
“Define weird, dude…we practically live in the twilight zone these days.”
“Touché…anything big then, unexpected…?”
“The antichrist turned him into a toy last month…”
“You met the antichrist…?
Sam looked up as he leaned back against the edge of the desk, pulling the flaps shut on the box and taping it up.
“Yeah - Cas tried to kill him, got turned into a tiny plastic statue. Demon turned up in the kids birth-mom, trying to recruit him, but he made the right choice in the end - exorcised the demon just by telling it to get out, which was impressive. The poor kid lost everything though…ran away to keep his parents safe, to get away from it all - we’ve got no idea where he went but he fixed Cas before he left.”
“Right…”
If he hadn’t already known Lucifer and Michael were trying to rush things with this apocalypse, this was proof enough - the antichrist was supposed to be a key player, not a scared kid trying to keep his family safe.
“Anything else?” Because, interesting as it was, that wasn’t what he was sensing.
“Not that I can think of…you might wanna check with Dean though - they faced off against Raphael while I was gone a few months ago, he might’ve done something.”
“Raphael…?”
“Yeah, that’s why we already had holy oil handy. I don’t think he did anything this time, but Dean’d know for sure perhaps?”
“Okay, later I’m gonna whip us up some more hot chocolate and you’re gonna fill me in on all these interesting little stories kiddo - - - wait, what do you mean, this time?”
“Oh, uh…when I…when Lucifer got out, Cas sent Dean to try and keep me from killing Lilith. He stayed at Chuck’s to try and distract the Host. Raphael…he killed him.”
“You mean he sent him home? Pulled him outta his vessel?”
“No, I mean blew him up…Chuck was picking teeth out of his hair.”
“Raphael smote Castiel?!”
“Uh…yeah? I mean, if that’s what you call it…”
That was certainly what it sounded like, with one exception.
Angels who’ve been smote by an Archangel don’t, as a general rule, tend to be around to tell the tale.
“Did Castiel happen to mention how he wasn’t dead?”
“He had an idea - he thought perhaps it was the same thing that got me and Dean out of that convent when Lucifer was rising and put us on a plane…”
Sam trailed off, his eyes dropping to the floor nervously.
There was something the hunter really didn’t want to say, obviously.
“Which was…?”
“God. Cas thought God brought him back, and saved us - cleaned out enough of the demon blood from my system to remove the cravings, too, which is why there wasn’t more when you, you know, did your…thing. We don’t know for sure if he’s right, but - well, we don’t know anything else powerful enough, and no-one’s taking credit, so…”
Silence fell as Sam trailed off, and for once Gabriel felt absolutely no urge to fill it.
If what Sam said was true, then his Father wasn’t as indifferent as his brothers - and Gabriel himself - had been assuming.
Sam was right about one thing - there was nothing else powerful enough to bring an angel back, not anymore. The Archangels could have done it, once - all four of them at full power could have managed it working together. Now…now there was only Dad.
“Castiel’s vessel…”
“Jimmy,” Sam supplied.
“…his soul is gone. Dad didn’t bring him back with Cassie.”
That was what felt off, he realised.
That was also the elusive why.
Why what Castiel had done was killing him.
“Is that bad? I mean, the one time we met Jimmy it didn’t seem like he enjoyed being a vessel much…”
“If you didn’t have me it’d be very bad, kiddo - it’s part of what’s killing him. In this instance though, it’s just about the best thing that could’ve happened, because I can fix it - I can save his life and hopefully his Grace too, if we’re quick.”
As Sam moved to the door carrying the box of books, Gabriel called after him.
“Send your brother in to carry Cas out to the car Sammy.”
“I can…”
“No. We can’t, me or you. Too much Grace, we need to limit his exposure. Send Dean-o in, ‘kay?”
“Sure.”
SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN
Dean wanted to know what the hell was going on, and he wanted to know now.
His questions had been waved off in the motel room, and again when they loaded up the car. Now though…
Now they were in the car, and since Gabriel seemed reluctant to use his mojo for some reason, Dean could finally force the conversation.
“Hey, winged-wonder! Talk. What’s wrong with Cas?”
Dean shot him a look in the rear-view mirror.
Gabriel was sitting in the back seat with Cas laid across the rest of it, his head in the Archangel’s lap. The smaller man didn’t even raise his head as he began speaking - he just kept staring down at his brother.
If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the guy actually cared.
“He’s a stubborn, stupid sonuvabitch.”
Gabriel’s comment was more exasperated than insulting - he sounded like Dean when he called Sam a geek…half derision, half fond gratitude.
It was strange.
It also wasn’t the answer Dean had been looking for.
“That’s all well and good, Chuckles,” because, really? He couldn’t argue with stubborn or stupid - the damn angel should’ve told him there was something wrong! “But that’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“Do you know why Mikey and Luci haven’t just killed your respective asses and moved themselves into your vacant bodies?”
“Because that would be no fun for anyone and they love torturing us?”
“While that is probably true - in Luci and Zach’s cases, anyway…Mikey was always too uptight to really get much into the whole torture scene - that’s not why, bucko.”
“Angels can’t inhabit dead bodies, can they?” Sam said slowly, turning slightly to face the archangel.
“Tell me why and you get a gold star and a lollypop, Sammy!” Gabriel grinned, pulling a red lolly from his pocket.
Dean wouldn’t be surprised if he produced a gold star from somewhere as well.
“They need a vessel with a soul in it…?” Sam replied slowly, his face scrunched up slightly in thought. “You mentioned that Jimmy’s is gone, and said that was part of the problem, right? So it’s obviously important - an empty vessel is probably too…weak?”
Dean watched Sam catch the candy as Gabriel tossed it towards the front of the car.
“Beauty and brains, aye Sammy?”
*He’s looking after Cas. You’re driving. He could be really useful in the future if he sticks around… He’s looking after Cas…*
Dean clenched the steering wheel tightly as he recited reasons not to kill Gabriel for hitting on his baby brother.
“The human soul acts as a sort of cushion, a filter to keep the raw energy of our Grace away from the delicate flesh of our vessel. When dear old Dad brought Cassie back - I mentioned that it was definitely him right? No-one else it could’ve been, in case you were still wondering - anyways, when he brought him back, he didn’t bring Jimbo back…not quite sure why, before you ask…which means that for the last half a year of so his Grace has been slowly killing his vessel.”
“How? He’s not exactly got a lot of juice left these days…”
“Just because he can’t use it, doesn’t mean it’s not there Dean-o. He’s got every drop he ever had, he’s just too weak to access it.”
“So he’s not falling…?” Not that dying was an improvement, exactly, but still…
“He should’ve been - Castiel’s an inventive little bastard though. There’s no way he didn’t know he was alone in there when he came back, but apparently he didn’t waste any time crying over that particular glass of spilled milkshake. He bound himself to his vessel, to keep himself from falling - if he hadn’t, he’d have been human within a matter of hours. The vessel would’ve rejected his Grace almost immediately.”
“But if it’s killing him then why…”
“He’s died for you idiots once, you think he wouldn’t do it again?” Gabriel’s tone turned snappish and Dean blanched.
Cas had been dying since he got back, had known he was dying all this time, and hadn’t said a word?
“You Winchesters are a bloody bad influence, you know, with all your self-sacrificing bull.” The humour was back as he looked up to flash a wry grin at the brothers. “Good thing I have a good survival instinct, or I might be worried.”
“Can you fix it?”
“I can save his life, if we hurry. How much more I can do depends on a lot of things, but his life…that I can save.”
As he spoke Gabriel glanced back down, running his hand lightly through Castiel’s hair.
Watching him in the rear-view mirror again, Dean felt a pang of compassion for the Archangel holding his dying brother in his arms - Asshole or not, no-one deserved that.
Deciding he knew enough, Dean kept silent and reached over to switch the radio on instead. Noting the empty highway ahead, he pressed his foot a little harder on the gas, and wished he had the option of praying.
Chapter Ten
Author: lonelyphoenix85
Rating: R overall, mainly for the odd swear-word
Genre: Pre-slash, angst, hurt/comfort
Pairing:Sam/Gabriel pre-slash, implied Dean/Cas
Spoilers: through to Changing Channels (5x08)
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2191 (this part, 17997 total so far)
Disclaimer: It only belongs to me when I'm dreaming! Bon Jovi owns the song, and the rest is property of the almighty Kripke!
Author's Note: Just wanted to say thanks to my awesome beta for this story, of_red_clouds - you're awesome!
Previous chapters: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
“What do you need?”
Well, to start with he could use a brother who wasn’t completely insane.
Oh, Cas was a freaking genius, but that didn’t exactly preclude him being a lunatic.
Gabriel had figured out why Castiel was falling so gradually. He’d also figured out what was killing him. It hadn’t even taken that long, and while he would love to point out that yes, he really was just that awesome, it had probably had more to do with the fact that they were the same thing. He hadn’t figured out why it was killing him yet, but he figured two out of three wasn’t bad for a few minutes work.
“Somewhere more secure than this - I’d set something up, but my mojo could interfere with what I’m gonna need to do. Is there somewhere we can go? Somewhere defensible, easily warded, preferably fairly secluded…”
“Bobby’s…?” Sam suggested, looking to Dean for confirmation.
“You want to take this guy to Bobby’s?”
“If you’ve got a better idea…”
“Bobby’ll probably try to shoot him.”
“It’s not like it’ll hurt him.”
“Which’ll piss Bobby off and make him shoot him again.”
Gabriel decided to speed things up a little. He could fix this, at least enough that Cas would live, but not for much longer…his brother’s Grace was killing him, and the longer he was bound to it the lower his chance of recovery got.
The more he was exposed to any Grace at all the worse his chances got, actually - Gabriel was trying hard to hold back as much as he could, but the new bond he shared with Sam was making it difficult. He’d have to be careful to keep the young hunter away from the angel for now - the kid was leaking Grace all over the place thanks to him.
It was, in fact, probably that that had finally pushed Castiel past his limits and into the coma. Not that there was a snowball’s chance in hell he was sharing that little fact with the Winchesters - they were way too fond of the self-blame game.
“Bobby sounds like a stand-up guy, I promise not to smite him if he shoots me…so, how far away does he live?”
“About an hour and a half, an hour if we push? We were on our way there when we heard about the demons in Concord…”
“Good - you two chuckleheads need to pack or can we go already? Cas doesn’t have all day you know…”
“Dean, call Bobby, tell him we’re coming, then chuck our bags in the car. I’ll grab the books.”
“Tell Bobby we’ll need a bed set up for Castiel. Lots of warm blankets,” Gabriel added.
“Can’t you just…you know…” Gabriel watched Dean snap his fingers with a raised eye-brow and sighed.
“You really did get all the brains, huh Sammy?”
“Hey!!!” He smirked at Dean’s insulted cry.
“We have to go to Bobby’s because too much mojo around Cassie right now would be bad. Snapping up a bed and blankets would be considered mojo, bucko. Make your phone call. Tell him to expect us in an hour.”
Gabriel tuned Dean’s response out, not really caring to hear the hunter gripe right now - he’d make the call, he was too worried about Castiel to ignore Gabriel, whatever his feelings were for the archangel. He faintly heard the door slam as the hunter went outside with the bags and his phone.
Reaching out with as much Grace as he dared, Gabriel poked gently at his brother again. Something was off - something other than the whole dying thing - and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“Hey, Sammy?”
“Yeah…?” the hunter responded distractedly, not bothering to look up from where he was carefully piling books into a cardboard box.
“Anything weird happen to Cas lately?”
“Define weird, dude…we practically live in the twilight zone these days.”
“Touché…anything big then, unexpected…?”
“The antichrist turned him into a toy last month…”
“You met the antichrist…?
Sam looked up as he leaned back against the edge of the desk, pulling the flaps shut on the box and taping it up.
“Yeah - Cas tried to kill him, got turned into a tiny plastic statue. Demon turned up in the kids birth-mom, trying to recruit him, but he made the right choice in the end - exorcised the demon just by telling it to get out, which was impressive. The poor kid lost everything though…ran away to keep his parents safe, to get away from it all - we’ve got no idea where he went but he fixed Cas before he left.”
“Right…”
If he hadn’t already known Lucifer and Michael were trying to rush things with this apocalypse, this was proof enough - the antichrist was supposed to be a key player, not a scared kid trying to keep his family safe.
“Anything else?” Because, interesting as it was, that wasn’t what he was sensing.
“Not that I can think of…you might wanna check with Dean though - they faced off against Raphael while I was gone a few months ago, he might’ve done something.”
“Raphael…?”
“Yeah, that’s why we already had holy oil handy. I don’t think he did anything this time, but Dean’d know for sure perhaps?”
“Okay, later I’m gonna whip us up some more hot chocolate and you’re gonna fill me in on all these interesting little stories kiddo - - - wait, what do you mean, this time?”
“Oh, uh…when I…when Lucifer got out, Cas sent Dean to try and keep me from killing Lilith. He stayed at Chuck’s to try and distract the Host. Raphael…he killed him.”
“You mean he sent him home? Pulled him outta his vessel?”
“No, I mean blew him up…Chuck was picking teeth out of his hair.”
“Raphael smote Castiel?!”
“Uh…yeah? I mean, if that’s what you call it…”
That was certainly what it sounded like, with one exception.
Angels who’ve been smote by an Archangel don’t, as a general rule, tend to be around to tell the tale.
“Did Castiel happen to mention how he wasn’t dead?”
“He had an idea - he thought perhaps it was the same thing that got me and Dean out of that convent when Lucifer was rising and put us on a plane…”
Sam trailed off, his eyes dropping to the floor nervously.
There was something the hunter really didn’t want to say, obviously.
“Which was…?”
“God. Cas thought God brought him back, and saved us - cleaned out enough of the demon blood from my system to remove the cravings, too, which is why there wasn’t more when you, you know, did your…thing. We don’t know for sure if he’s right, but - well, we don’t know anything else powerful enough, and no-one’s taking credit, so…”
Silence fell as Sam trailed off, and for once Gabriel felt absolutely no urge to fill it.
If what Sam said was true, then his Father wasn’t as indifferent as his brothers - and Gabriel himself - had been assuming.
Sam was right about one thing - there was nothing else powerful enough to bring an angel back, not anymore. The Archangels could have done it, once - all four of them at full power could have managed it working together. Now…now there was only Dad.
“Castiel’s vessel…”
“Jimmy,” Sam supplied.
“…his soul is gone. Dad didn’t bring him back with Cassie.”
That was what felt off, he realised.
That was also the elusive why.
Why what Castiel had done was killing him.
“Is that bad? I mean, the one time we met Jimmy it didn’t seem like he enjoyed being a vessel much…”
“If you didn’t have me it’d be very bad, kiddo - it’s part of what’s killing him. In this instance though, it’s just about the best thing that could’ve happened, because I can fix it - I can save his life and hopefully his Grace too, if we’re quick.”
As Sam moved to the door carrying the box of books, Gabriel called after him.
“Send your brother in to carry Cas out to the car Sammy.”
“I can…”
“No. We can’t, me or you. Too much Grace, we need to limit his exposure. Send Dean-o in, ‘kay?”
“Sure.”
SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN
Dean wanted to know what the hell was going on, and he wanted to know now.
His questions had been waved off in the motel room, and again when they loaded up the car. Now though…
Now they were in the car, and since Gabriel seemed reluctant to use his mojo for some reason, Dean could finally force the conversation.
“Hey, winged-wonder! Talk. What’s wrong with Cas?”
Dean shot him a look in the rear-view mirror.
Gabriel was sitting in the back seat with Cas laid across the rest of it, his head in the Archangel’s lap. The smaller man didn’t even raise his head as he began speaking - he just kept staring down at his brother.
If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the guy actually cared.
“He’s a stubborn, stupid sonuvabitch.”
Gabriel’s comment was more exasperated than insulting - he sounded like Dean when he called Sam a geek…half derision, half fond gratitude.
It was strange.
It also wasn’t the answer Dean had been looking for.
“That’s all well and good, Chuckles,” because, really? He couldn’t argue with stubborn or stupid - the damn angel should’ve told him there was something wrong! “But that’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“Do you know why Mikey and Luci haven’t just killed your respective asses and moved themselves into your vacant bodies?”
“Because that would be no fun for anyone and they love torturing us?”
“While that is probably true - in Luci and Zach’s cases, anyway…Mikey was always too uptight to really get much into the whole torture scene - that’s not why, bucko.”
“Angels can’t inhabit dead bodies, can they?” Sam said slowly, turning slightly to face the archangel.
“Tell me why and you get a gold star and a lollypop, Sammy!” Gabriel grinned, pulling a red lolly from his pocket.
Dean wouldn’t be surprised if he produced a gold star from somewhere as well.
“They need a vessel with a soul in it…?” Sam replied slowly, his face scrunched up slightly in thought. “You mentioned that Jimmy’s is gone, and said that was part of the problem, right? So it’s obviously important - an empty vessel is probably too…weak?”
Dean watched Sam catch the candy as Gabriel tossed it towards the front of the car.
“Beauty and brains, aye Sammy?”
*He’s looking after Cas. You’re driving. He could be really useful in the future if he sticks around… He’s looking after Cas…*
Dean clenched the steering wheel tightly as he recited reasons not to kill Gabriel for hitting on his baby brother.
“The human soul acts as a sort of cushion, a filter to keep the raw energy of our Grace away from the delicate flesh of our vessel. When dear old Dad brought Cassie back - I mentioned that it was definitely him right? No-one else it could’ve been, in case you were still wondering - anyways, when he brought him back, he didn’t bring Jimbo back…not quite sure why, before you ask…which means that for the last half a year of so his Grace has been slowly killing his vessel.”
“How? He’s not exactly got a lot of juice left these days…”
“Just because he can’t use it, doesn’t mean it’s not there Dean-o. He’s got every drop he ever had, he’s just too weak to access it.”
“So he’s not falling…?” Not that dying was an improvement, exactly, but still…
“He should’ve been - Castiel’s an inventive little bastard though. There’s no way he didn’t know he was alone in there when he came back, but apparently he didn’t waste any time crying over that particular glass of spilled milkshake. He bound himself to his vessel, to keep himself from falling - if he hadn’t, he’d have been human within a matter of hours. The vessel would’ve rejected his Grace almost immediately.”
“But if it’s killing him then why…”
“He’s died for you idiots once, you think he wouldn’t do it again?” Gabriel’s tone turned snappish and Dean blanched.
Cas had been dying since he got back, had known he was dying all this time, and hadn’t said a word?
“You Winchesters are a bloody bad influence, you know, with all your self-sacrificing bull.” The humour was back as he looked up to flash a wry grin at the brothers. “Good thing I have a good survival instinct, or I might be worried.”
“Can you fix it?”
“I can save his life, if we hurry. How much more I can do depends on a lot of things, but his life…that I can save.”
As he spoke Gabriel glanced back down, running his hand lightly through Castiel’s hair.
Watching him in the rear-view mirror again, Dean felt a pang of compassion for the Archangel holding his dying brother in his arms - Asshole or not, no-one deserved that.
Deciding he knew enough, Dean kept silent and reached over to switch the radio on instead. Noting the empty highway ahead, he pressed his foot a little harder on the gas, and wished he had the option of praying.
Chapter Ten