A/N

So it turns out I lied :l I made a new chapter!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for… ACTUAL PLOT! WHOA!

Disclaimer: Beeeep. The author of this fanfiction has run out of ways to say that she does not own Supernatural. Please try again later….. El autor de este fanfiction se ha quedado sin formas de decir que ella no Supernatural propia. Por favor, inténtelo de nuevo más tarde. Beeeep.

(sorry if any of you speak Spanish. That was from Google Translate, so sorry if I got any words wrong…*grins sheepishly*)

Chapter 8

Gabriel smiled sleepily as he felt a breeze stir the air and gently ruffle his feathers, golden sunlight prodding his closed eyelids. It was one of the few moments that were genuinely peaceful. He turned over carefully, so as not to disturb the tiny fledglings that were, of course, still snoozing beside him. The heavens were calm and warm and felt exactly the way home should feel. Even Castiel's usual quiet snoring was silent. Gabriel let the corner of his mouth turn upwards slightly.

He faltered.

Wait.

Gabriel slowly opened one eye to find his sleeping baby brothers beside him. Except they weren't. They were gone.

The golden haired archangel was up with one fluid motion, panic set in his stance, fear creeping its way into his heart. Surely it was a joke. A dream. Not real. He didn't lose them. They were around here somewhere...

Gabriel took a deep breath, trying to calm his frazzled nerves. Reaching out mentally, he searched for the celestial signature of his baby brothers' Grace. Nothing. Not a trace. Without a moment's hesitation, Gabriel spread his magnificent wings and took to the sky. He would find them.

He would tear down the Heavens if he needed to.

"And that?"

"Sure, kiddo. Whatever you want."

Beaming, Castiel eagerly plucked the bag of Jumbo marshmallows from the shelf and placed it in Gabriel's outstretched hands. Finally! They were finally big enough to come with Gabriel out of Heaven! It was overwhelming, to say the least. And loud. But so new and pleasantly confusing! Nearly everything the three angels walked by had Castiel tilting his head in puzzlement or Balthazar squealing with delight. He frowned slightly, smoothing at the strange clothing Gabriel had insisted on wearing—he supposed the oversized red hooded sweater did resemble his robe a little, but the scratchy blue pants and… strange foot coverings can't really have been necessary. Gabriel was acting a bit strange, though, always holding on to Castiel's hand in a tight grip and carrying Balthazar in the crook of one arm.

"That! That!" the blonde fledgling shrieked excitedly, easily dispatching the his older brother's train of thought. Gabriel chuckled and turned to the bakery within the store.

"I'll have…. Three of those blueberry muffins please," he said, smirking as he handed the money over the counter. The woman behind the counter looked at the two fledglings, seeming like she was about ready to faint.

"Oh, they're so precious!" She burst out, smiling widely as she packed three of the largest muffins into a paper bag, "are they yours?"

"What, these guys?" Gabriel asker playfully, ruffling Castiel's hair (much to the fledgling's chagrin.) "They're just my baby brothers." Balthazar responded by unfisting a tiny hand from his purple T-shirt and waving at the woman cheerfully, sending a smirk rivaling Gabriel's in charm. The woman squealed and placed the bag on the counter, retreating to the back room.

Gabriel looked at the bag, then looked at his hand, which was enfolding Castiel's. A look of panic started to creep into the Archangel's features. Gabriel clutched Castiel's hand closer, bringing Balthazar tighter to his body, as if he lost contact with either of them, they would disappear forever. His eyes began to dart back and forth worriedly until Castiel darted forward and grabbed the bag. Gabriel looked at him with a look of utter and complete relief, and Castiel smiled back up at him.

Gabriel shot back towards the clouds, the impact of his landing making them shiver violently, which, if one considers the nature of clouds, is not a very easy thing to do.

The amber-eyed archangel was running out of options. He had overturned the Heavens, done some prodding in the Garden, much to Joshua's vexation, checked with Michael, flown as low over the Earth as he dared. His two baby brothers were nowhere to be found.

Lucifer and Raphael looked up sharply at the golden-haired archangel.

"Gabriel?" Lucifer started, shifting the younger fledgling in his arms as Uriel and Zachariah cavorted through the air nearby. Gabriel's favorite elder brother edged towards him with a wary look, "Is everything alright?" Gabriel felt the tension build up behind his eyes. The fledgling in Lucifer's arms looked at him with a confused expression worthy of Castiel, and little Ezriel just looked so much like Balthazar…

Raphael. It had to be him. Gabriel knew that his sudden change of heart wouldn't last long. He took his baby brothers.

Gabriel shook with barely controlled rage, bordering on madness.

"Gabriel?" Lucifer asked, concern written plainly across his face.

"What's going on?" Raphael asked, in an almost too confused and worried way. Oh, so he didn't know, did he?

"Where are they you son of a—" Gabriel started, before launching himself forward.

Balthazar giggled happily as he shot in the air, swinging his legs as he sat in the swing, going back and forth.

"I gon high'r den you, Cassie!" he shrieked excitedly to his older brother beside him, who merely smiled in response. Gabriel chuckled and plucked the miniscule angel from the swing, holding a hand out to Castiel to grab.

"Hungry?" he asked the two brothers, who nodded eagerly.

With a wave of a hand, Gabriel set out a picnic on the dandelion-dotted grass next to the park, jumbo marshmallows, blueberry muffins, and chocolate seeming to be the main courses.

Best. Picnic. Ever.

….

Gabriel lay on the picnic blanket as night began to creep over the world, watching with a small smile on his face as Castiel and Balthazar played about. Castiel couldn't help but notice that this was the first time that day that Gabriel had let them out of arm's reach of him.

Balthazar and Castiel busied themselves picking armfuls of the golden-headed dandelions that grew in large patches around the grass.

"Look Gab'rel!" Balthazar declared proudly, the two fledglings presenting their big brother with showers of bright yellow dandelions. Gabriel looked at the large pile of wildflowers, and then back at the two fledglings, his expression that of a broken man, but then he shook his head and smiled at them, the same Gabriel they knew. He delicately picked up a golden dandelion, spinning the stem in between his thumb and forefinger.

"You know," he said seriously, "Father's creations are really special, and with just a touch of celestial powers…" he nodded towards the dandelion in his hand.

The stem had begun to compress and change, spinning into a thin, delicate chain of gold. The two fledgling's stared in awe as their brother slowly spun the dandelion into a golden strand, only the head remaining. Carefully enfolding his hand around the golden flower, Gabriel closed his eyes. A ray of celestial light radiated from his fist, and he opened it to reveal a tiny golden pair of angel wings. Gabriel fastened the chain around Castiel's neck, the little fledgling marveling at the beautiful wings.

"Because someday, you'll be able to fly faster than any other angel," Gabriel said quietly.

"Me too! Me too!" Balthazar said excitedly, jumping up and down.

Gabriel ruffled the fledgling's blonde hair, "You too, small fry," he replied, picking up another dandelion and starting the process again.

An unfamiliar tug caused Castiel to look up. Across the field, across the street next to it, was a cozy looking house. Something in that house was calling to him, pulling him towards it. Casting a glance back at his brother, he decided he would be right back, and took off running towards the house.

"Gabriel!" Lucifer grunted, restraining his flailing little brother, "What is wrong with you? You're scaring Aziraphale!" The blonde-haired, sea-green eyed fledgling he had been holding was currently sitting on a nearby cloudbank, sniffling.

"Where are they?" Gabriel screamed at Raphael, who looked at him with a mixture of worry and bewilderment at their usually peaceful brother.

"I don't—" he started.

"Yes you do!" Gabriel shouted, "Castiel and Balthazar weren't there when I woke up! They would never wander of on their own; they must've been taken by someone they trust!" He struggled a little more.

"W-What?" Raphael stuttered, taken aback, "I assure you, I would never… I… I didn't!" he turned to Lucifer, dark eyes pleading.

"He's been with me the whole time, Gabriel! There's no way!" Lucifer told his brother.

Gabriel struggled harder, then suddenly went limp in his brother's iron grip.

"They're gone… can't… can't find them… missing… they're not old enough… dangerous… my fault…" Gabriel rambled, his eyes wild with panic.

"Gabriel!" Lucifer spun the younger archangel around to face him, shaking him violently, "Gabriel, they're not lost! We'll find them!"

Gabriel's mind hardly registered them. Where were they? What was going on? He shook off Lucifer and took to the sky without another word.

Castiel looked up at the house, which looked so serene in the moonlight. There was something off about this picture, though, and Castiel couldn't quite place his finger on it.

He shrugged, turning around.

A scream tore through the night as a window shattered, blood red flames streaming out into the night.

Castiel didn't hesitate, just opened the unlocked front door and ran inside.

…..

Gabriel looked up at the scream.

"Oh God," he cursed as he remembered what day it was, and where.

Lawrence, Kansas. Circa November 2, 1983.

Gabriel didn't wait another second, scooping up Balthazar and running for his little brother

…

There was something here that Castiel had to do, he was sure of it.

"Take your brother outside as fast as you can—don't look back!" he heard a man say.

What?

"NOW DEAN! GO!"

A young child who looked only a little older than Balthazar staggered into Castiel's line of vision. The child looked about himself with wide hazel eyes, whimpering at the flames and clutching a small, blanket-wrapped bundle to his chest.

"What are you doing?" Castiel shouted over the sound of burning. The boy looked at him, frightened a little by the random stranger in his house.

Castiel reached forward, grabbing his arm and towing through the flame-filled hallways and out the door.

The boy, Dean, Castiel guessed, was shaking. Castiel awkwardly patted his head. When it came to his own brother, he knew exactly how to comfort. This foreign child, however, he didn't know at all.

"Dean, right?" he asked. The child nodded slightly.

"This is Sammy," the boy whispered, moving the blanket to expose the face of an infant, younger than even Balthazar when he had first arrived.

"My name is—"

"Castiel!"

The fledgling turned his head to see Gabriel with Balthazar, coming towards them.

"I have to leave," he told Dean seriously. The boy nodded.

Gabriel held a hand out for Castiel as the fledgling ran to him.

"It's time to go home now, kiddo," he said slowly, in an almost melancholy tone

Dean blinked for a second, and the strange boy and the people calling him disappeared.

Gabriel flew back to their little corner of Heaven, exhausted and defeated. He would ask Father where his brothers were after he rested himself. His mind felt like it had short-circuited, his wings burned from overuse, his eyes were glassy and surprisingly dim. He was completely broken, nothing but a machine bent on one thing: finding his two little fledglings that had somehow come to mean the world to him.

The golden-haired archangel went on red-alert as he noticed a stirring of the clouds. Diving forward, he pinned down his would-be assailant.

Castiel.

What?

"Gabriel, let me sleep," the fledgling groaned sleepily, turning over.

"Castiel?" Gabriel whispered. His head shot up, searching for Balthazar. Sure enough, there he was, only feet away, "Where have you two been?" he noticed a glimmer of gold hidden in the folds of Castiel's robe, "And what is this?" he asked, gently lifting a pure golden chain with an angel wing pendant from where it was ensconced in the celestial fabric.

"What're you talking about? You gave them to us. We were with you the whole time," Castiel remarked sleepily.

Gabriel took a step back, letting the fledgling drift back off to sleep. His mind reeled in a million different directions.

A slight rustle caught his attention.

Without thought, without hesitation, Gabriel launched himself at the disturbance, tackling the intruder to Heaven to the ground. Without looking back, he grabbed the offender's shoulder in a vice-like grip and towed him as far away from his little brothers as possible.

The pair hit the ground with earth-shattering force, and Gabriel growled as he whipped around, pinning the suicidal maniac who kidnapped his brothers to the ground.

Amber eyes widened in recognition, taking in a sight that was impossible to say the least.

"Hey there handsome," the golden haired man smirked from beneath his arm, "I was wondering if we'd get any alone time." The cocky smirk faded as Gabriel refused to budge. "Oh come on," the man said again,

"You'd really only be hurting yourself."

"Who the hell are you?" Gabriel spat at the mirror image of himself, his usual fun-loving persona far from his current countenance, all steel and barely contained explosives.

"I'm you, of course," the doppelganger replied easily.

Gabriel reeled back, as if the carbon copy of himself was diseased.

"From the future, of course," the archangel continued, getting up to dust off his wings.

"What's wrong with my—our—your wings?" Gabriel demanded.

The archangel in question looked back at his wings, a dull, tarnished gray, with patches torn from it and feathers stuck up in all directions, to Gabriel's pure white ones, golden tips glimmering softly, feathers undulating in the breeze.

"It happens when you leave," Gabriel—himself—the other him (damn, this was getting confusing) replied.

"Leave?" Gabriel repeated.

The Gabriel doppelganger rolled his eyes, "What are you, a parrot? Yes, leave. Leave Heaven, moron. Good grief, I was sure I had more of a brain when I was your age."

"I would never leave!" Gabriel protested, "What about Castiel and Balthazar? I would never leave them!"

"Well, obviously you do," the other Gabriel, who Gabriel finally dubbed "other-self," remarked sarcastically, though his voice sounded a bit choked.

"I won't this time," Gabriel said firmly, "I'm not going to abandon my family."

"That's exactly what I said," Other-self said, shaking his head mournfully, "You can't change where this is going to end for you, Gabriel. It's your destiny. Things are going to go downhill from here. Way down hill. And you?" he paused, "You're gonna end up running away. Gonna be one of the things you get really good at. Trust me, you're not gonna see me again. I just wanted some extra time with the kids." The archangel's amber eyes flashed, and Gabriel suddenly saw the soul of who he was going to be. Mangled and broken, hopeless, with barely enough spark to keep going. Suddenly, a tremendous wave a fear swept over Gabriel's heart. Fear for his baby brothers, fear for what was going to happen, fear of who he was going to become. He stood frozen in place, even as his other-self walked past him in slow, dragging steps, unwilling to leave.

"Hey."

Gabriel turned slowly, acknowledging the other archangel with only a wary incline of his head.

"I think that it's time to teach Castiel how to fly."

Gabriel nodded.

"He'll need to learn soon if you want him and Balthazar to survive into adulthood."

Gabriel wished he hadn't heard the last part. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but his other-self was gone.

Alone, and with fear and foreboding creeping into his soul, Gabriel turned his face up to where he knew Father was watching.

"Where are you in all this?" he asked, letting the fat, glistening tears roll down his face.

A/N

Oh my Chuck… I can't believe I just wrote that.

I don't know, I always thought that Gabe must've been really broken to just leave everything behind the way he did.

Anyway… please review. Reviews make Gabriel more happy, and who likes a depressed Trickster?