Title:The End
Pairing(s):Gen
Rating:PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers:5.04, 5.08, character deaths, and the F-bomb
Summary: This is how the The Trickster swallows his pride and asks Dean Winchester for help.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
Gabriel is not a coward.
No matter what Dean fucking Winchester says, Gabriel is not, nor will he ever be, a coward.
He simply has an incredibly well-honed sense of self-preservation, and if some people (Winchesters) think that's being cowardly, then fine. Gabriel doesn't care.
Really, he doesn't.
What he does care is that his idiot brother decided to unleash the Croatoan virus on the entire world. Now, Vegas is gone. Of course it's gone; Las Vegas, gambling capital of the world, the best place for the virus to spread and spread. Within a few days that place is a ghost town. More appropriately, it is a Croat town. All that remains are the Croats and the ruins, and not even the archangel Gabriel is stupid-or arrogant, or perhaps a combination of the two- enough to go into that place. This really sucks, because Las Vegas might have been one of his favourite places in at least the continental U.S.
But even excluding Las Vegas, the United States is a disaster, bombs being flung at random states, the rest being supervised by the army. The worst places are the biggest, most populated. New York, Boston, Phoenix, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, Miami, and that's just the beginning. What's left of the survivors are clumped in tiny groups, too afraid to try anything. The rest of the world feels it too-somehow the virus spreads, if by humans carrying it onto planes and trains accidently, or by demons spreading it in the form of 'vaccines'. The state of the world worsens day by day.
Gabriel feels it when Sam Winchester says yes. The shockwaves runs through the entire North America. Starting at Detroit, it passes north through Ontario, then all throughout Canada. At the same time, it goes south towards Ohio and Indiana and then all throughout USA. And Gabriel knows if Castiel were still alive (Oh Father please let him be alive) he'd be doubling over from the shock of it. He wonders how Castiel is going to break the news to the older Winchester.
Whatever chance he had now, it's vanished. The Winchesters found out his secret identity easily enough, and sooner or later someone is going to catch up with him. And with Lucifer inhabiting his True Vessel but Michael still without Vessel, it's a safe bet dear old Luci's going to be the one to catch up with him. And when Lucifer finds him, he will try and get Gabriel on his side, and Gabriel will break…because that's his brother, his older brother whom he idolized, and what does he have left to lose anyways?
But Gabriel likes humanity, and all it has to offer, and he wants the mud monkeys to win. The one problem with that philosophy is that if he joins Lucifer the humans will not win which kind of goes against his plan.
So this is how The Trickster swallows his pride and goes to Dean Winchester for help.
Camp Chitaqua is supposed to be a safe haven for survivors of the Croatoan virus. To be honest, it's a bit of a wreck, and the first thing he sees is the ruins of Dean's once beloved Impala. The thought of that car rotting away sends an unfamiliar thrill of fear through him, because Gabriel knows how much Dean adores that car, and for a minute he thinks Dean's dead, and with him Castiel (everyone knows how Castiel is with Dean). But no, the rumours clearly said Dean was in charge of his little rag-tag team of misfits, and damn it Gabriel is going to bring him back if he has to.
Dean Winchester is not happy when he sees Gabriel in his camp. Castiel just seems amused.
Castiel is a wreck. He's drugged up, and while Gabriel is a bit proud of his little bro for getting that stick out of his ass, he also yearns for those days where the stick was still firmly planted up Castiel's ass.
Dean knows this. Dean wants this too, but he's not trying to help. He doesn't care, and part of Gabriel hates him for it.
Part of Gabriel understands Dean. He knows what Dean must feel, to lose his brother, to lose everything. Gabriel doesn't know what it feels like to still have to get up and be strong for everybody else. He doesn't want to.
They accept him, and Gabriel makes himself at home.
Having an archangel on your side is a pretty good thing, even Dean will admit to that, though he won't admit to anything else. Dean once tried to make Gabriel use his mojo to turn time, to fix all of this. Gabriel can't, although God knows he wants to. After the Host left, his powers have been thrown out of whack. It's not the same with Castiel. He didn't fall, but the Host stabilizes his power, and now his power is…untrustworthy, explosive. Even Lucifer is making the demons do most of his dirty work instead of risking it. Gabriel tells that to Dean, and Dean doesn't talk to anyone (unless he's giving orders) for a week.
Gabriel really doesn't give a shit about Dean's bitchfit, but during that week he becomes more hardened, more reckless, and Gabriel feels some more of his hope-as if you can even call it that-fade.
Then Dean starts torturing again, using the skills he picked up in Hell as Alastair's star pupil on demons, and yeah, the Earth is doomed.
They don't give up, though, not officially.
Gabriel is getting better at controlling his mojo, changed his appearance once, healed a few injuries, but that's it.
Then, one day in twenty-fourteen, another Dean comes, one from two thousand nine. Quickly, he changes his appearance into a man. Nondescript, bearded; he's not willing to reveal his true identity until they meet again at TV land. Dean scoffs at him, and Castiel rolls his eyes, but Past Dean doesn't notice, and that's the point.
Then Dean finds the Colt, and everything changes.
On the last day, they go on a mission to ice the devil. Dean leads them straight into a Croat hot zone, and Gabriel, disguised, knows Dean led them into a trap. Looking around, he realises that Castiel notices too, and so does Past Dean. Gabriel also knows the Colt won't work on the Devil, but he doesn't tell. Why should he? After all, they already got here, and what's the point really? Everyone will die anyways, and maybe then he'll go back home.
They go straight into the trap, and the ensuring fight is long and bloody. Gabriel hates guns, hates how loud they are, the lack of finesse in it. He'd rather snap his fingers and turn the Croats into chunky meat soup, but he's afraid that he'd accidently explode his friends instead, so he doesn't try it.
Then he hears Castiel gasp, and he turns at sees Dean's body under Lucifer's foot. He looks almost peaceful. Dean, that is. Gabriel turns and sees Castiel being engulfed by Croats, sees Castiel give up, and he decides he can't take it anymore.
(Castiel didn't look at peace.)
He makes it into the garden just as Lucifer is almost finishing his speech, pulls out his sword when Zachariah comes and pulls Past Dean back to his proper time.
Lucifer turns, and finds himself impaled by his brother's sword. Gabriel sees as Sam's eyes widen, as the brilliant white light of the Morningstar floods out of Sam's body.
Well, damn. He didn't see this coming.