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laniew1Part 1
Angels Among Us 2: Apocalypse Now
There’s a sighting of Ryan, the first one in almost a month and a half and it explodes all over the internet since pretty much everyone had all but declared him dead.
Dean would liken it to Elvis sightings, but Ryan’s not famous enough for the National Enquirer and his fans have a different outlet regardless.
They find out because Pete is nothing if not addicted to his computer and he logs into his Twitter account to tell everyone that he’s having his first cup of coffee and finds over 500@ pointing him in the direction of three grainy, cell phone pictures.
They’re awful and blurry, though it is unmistakably Ryan, he’s got a boy by his side that looks to be around twelve or so, The on-line groups are currently speculating that Ryan Ross apparently has a kid, Dean knows that kids are starting young nowadays, but Ryan would had to have been ten if he was going to have a kid that looks about twelve.
Dean, personally, would have gone with the more logical unknown brother angle but whatever.
He doesn’t look to be in any sort of danger except from maybe starving to death; he’s looking altogether too thin. Nothing a sandwich or five wouldn’t take care of.
Gabriel and Castiel still take off in a flurry of motion.
“Don’t wait up,” Gabriel calls as they disappear.
“I hate it when they do that,” Spencer mutters. “They can’t just walk out the door and then do it, no; they have to do it right in front of us. Show offs.”
Dean looks at him, Spencer’s scowling with his arms crossed over his chest looking like a petulant five year-old; Jon, who’s sitting next to him looks bemused.
“Spencer’s just pissy because they’re hopefully going after Ryan and they didn’t take him with,” Jon offers.
Nobody mentions the boy that Ryan had been with and Dean goes back to flipping through a pointless book.
This war that’s started isn’t going to be won by information gleaned from books written by people who didn’t know what the hell they were talking about in the first place.
It’s going to be won by Angels and Hunters and he has a feeling they’re going to be playing it completely by ear.
He pushes fingers against his temples and closes his eyes. The headache throbs behind his temples and he’s almost used to it now, the constant pain, though it still hurts like daggers are being shoved through his eyes; he hears a clatter of something on the table in front of him and when he reopens his eyes he can see Brendon standing there and on the table in front of him are two aspirin.
“Thanks,” he mutters.
Brendon manages a small smile and then goes back to staring at the door.
Castiel and Gabriel come back without Ryan or the boy; they both look battered and worn.
Dean dry-swallows two more aspirin and studies them.
“It was like a family reunion, you know, the relatives you don’t mind seeing but only if you don’t have to actually talk to them and the ones that you want to avoid at all costs because they might kill you in your beds, and then there’s the one that everyone showed up to see because they were the favorite and he bolts as soon as he sees the turnout so everyone makes small talk and throws punches and threatens smiting,” Gabriel says.
“Did you even see him there?” Sam asks, he sounds tired, when Dean looks over at him he can see that he looks tired too.
Sam’s exhausted and Dean’s obviously got a tumor or something and he hopes the angels have a Plan B because he’s pretty sure the tumor is getting ready to burst.
“Yeah, for about two seconds. Then Lucifer jumps out and Zachariah and Camael were there and it was like showdown in the wild, wild West.”
“The boy is not his,” Castiel says, he glances over at Gabriel.
“Blond hair, blue eyes, he’s twelve, maybe thirteen and he calls him Raphael,” Gabriel says, he ignores the indrawn breaths from Brendon and Pete, ignores Spencer’s narrowing eyes and Jon’s arms crossing over his chest. Dean had kind of forgotten that they didn’t know. “Pretty sure that the boy is the reason that Raphael was chosen to fall.”
“But the boy isn’t why everyone’s looking for him,” Dean says. “Nobody even knew about the boy until the pictures hit the net, everyone dropped everything because it was Ryan and there was finally a sighting, what’s so special about him that you all would do that?”
Gabriel exchanges a look with Castiel then steps back, arms crossing over his chest, face set in stony silence.
“There are tiers to the Angelic hierarchy,” Castiel starts; his voice is quiet, hushed, like he’s fearful of being overheard. “Father is of course at the top of all tiers; at the next tier there are seven, the Archangels, each leading a battalion of some repute, three of those seven are a step higher then the other four and report directly to Father, those three also have duties that fall upon them and them alone. Michael is Father’s Sword, Gabriel is Father’s Strength and Raphael is Father’s Healer. When the Apocalypse comes, when the sides meet face to face for that last battle, whichever side wins will need Raphael to heal the wounds of those that fall, as well as the ground upon which we stand and go to battle.”
“Ryan knows this?” Dean asks, he’s pretty sure he does. He’s also pretty sure that since Ryan is hiding out, not choosing any side at all that Ryan doesn’t want to have to make that choice.
Or maybe he’s waiting for something. Though Dean thinks it’s more that he’s waiting for someone.
Most likely the still absent Michael.
“Of course,” Castiel says.
“Michael fights and I give them all strength to continue and once we’re all done tearing each other into tiny, bloody pieces Raphael comes in and puts the survivors all back together again so that eventually we can do it all over again.”
“Ryan can barely keep himself together,” Spencer says. “You can’t expect us to believe…”
“He doesn’t need to keep himself together,” Gabriel says. “That’s what he has us for.”
Brendon is sitting on the back porch, it’s his turn to take Hemmy out and he’s waiting while Hemmy pokes around leaves and brush, pokes his nose into bushes.
He makes a whuffing noise and ambles off across the yard.
“Hemmy,” Brendon sighs, he climbs to his feet and goes to find him.
The backyard isn’t completely lit, it’s not dark yet, it’s just coming up on dusk; the trees still cast ominous shadows across the grass. He could probably call one of the guys but they’ll make fun forever if he admits the backyard is freaking him out.
He stops dead when he finds Hemmy, makes a sound low in his throat that he thinks could probably be misconstrued as a whine.
“Ryan,” he breathes. Hemmy’s on his back, Ryan’s on his knees running a slow hand over Hemmy’s stomach.
“Hi Brendon,” Ryan smiles at him, Brendon can’t help himself, he returns it, then flings himself at Ryan, tumbling them both backwards onto the ground.
Brendon peppers kisses over his cheeks and lips and nose, his hands run over his arms.
“I can’t stay,” Ryan says, he places both hands on Brendon’s face and kisses him softly, sweetly. It’s reminiscent of the first time they kissed, when it was just the two of them, before there was Pete.
Before there was Angels and Demons and a war between Heaven and Hell that Ryan apparently stands smack dab in the middle of.
“Pete,” Brendon says, he lets Ryan get them to their feet and then wraps his arms around him in a tight hug, the way that Ryan clings to him in return Brendon thinks that he’s probably starved for affection, for touch.
The boy, whoever he is, is falling down on the job.
“I can’t, you were outside and I…” Ryan kisses him again. “I shouldn’t even be here, not yet, it puts you all in danger, draws Zachariah and Lucifer closer to you then I want them.”
“We know,” Brendon says, he strokes fingers down the side of Ryan’s face, spreads his fingers over the contours of Ryan’s face and kisses him again. “We know who you are.”
Ryan laughs harshly. “I should have figured that Gabriel couldn’t keep his mouth shut, he always was the most horrible gossip ever.”
“The Archangel Raphael,” Brendon says with disbelief, he still can’t believe it, doesn’t believe it.
“It’s just a name,” Ryan says awkwardly. “I have a lot of them.”
“You shouldn’t be here, brother,” Gabriel’s voice comes from the dark, Ryan whips around, his body in front of Brendon’s like he means to protect him.
“I know.”
“And I think Saraqael was a bigger gossip then I could ever have thought of being,” Gabriel steps forward, stops right in front of them. His hand reaches out and touches Ryan’s face, Brendon would make a sound of objection but there’s nothing romantic in the way that Gabriel is looking at Ryan.
“You should go,” Gabriel says softly, Ryan nods. “We’ve got this for now, Castiel and I will let no harm come to them.”
Ryan turns, tugs on Brendon’s hands until they’re hugging again, then presses a gentle kiss to his forehead and steps away.
“Raphael,” Gabriel says, Ryan doesn’t turn to face him again. “It’ll be soon I think, are you ready?”
Ryan turns his head, grins wryly at him. “It’s been a long time brother, but I think I can manage.”
Gabriel laughs and there’s a twinkling, amused sound to it, when Brendon turns his attention back to where Ryan was standing he’s gone.
“He’ll be back,” Gabriel says, he drops an arm over Brendon’s shoulders and urges him in the direction of the house.
Gabriel leads Brendon into the house, arm slung companionably over his shoulder.
Brendon looks; Spencer narrows his eyes at him. Brendon is glowing, eyes happy and bright for the first time since Ryan went missing almost two months ago.
“What…?” he starts to ask. Brendon throws his arms around Pete, presses his lips against his and Pete makes a muffled sound. Most likely ‘what the hell’ but then he kisses Brendon back, hands coming up to rest on Brendon’s hips.
When Pete draws back, he makes a face, then licks his lips and looks at Brendon. “You taste like that lipstuff that Ryan uses,” Brendon beams at him. “You saw Ryan?”
Pete makes to head for the door and Gabriel heads him off.
“He’s gone,” Gabriel says.
“He said that he wasn’t supposed to be here, that he wasn’t going to even say hi or anything but I was outside and he,” Brendon shrugs.
“He looks okay?” Jon asks, he rests his chin on Spencer’s shoulder, arms going around his chest.
“He looks tired,” Brendon says, he looks at Gabriel for confirmation and Gabriel nods. “He was happy to see me and he gave Hemmy pets, and…” Brendon can’t seem to stop smiling, he hugs Pete again.
Dean wakes up and it feels like someone is splitting his head open with an axe. He wishes they’d get it done and over with.
He wraps his arms over his head and he doesn’t whine but that’s only because he thinks if he moves that he’s either going to throw up or scream. He’s not quite sure which.
He also might pass out but he doesn’t think that would necessarily be a bad thing.
“Dean?” he hears from the doorway, it’s Sammy and he wants to respond, he really does, he should. He doesn’t say anything, can’t.
There’s silence and he wonders if Sam is standing there staring at him, if he is that’s kind of creepy.
He knows that Sam left when there’s a flurry of movement at the doorway signaling his return and the fact that he brought people with him.
“It’s time,” he hears Gabriel say.
He should ask ‘time for what’, ask if someone had poisoned him or if Gabriel and Castiel have been working for Zachariah for this whole time and they were waiting for the tumor to take over so that he would agree to Michael’s presence in his body just to get the pain to stop.
He doesn’t, he lets darkness and silence take him instead.
When he comes to again he’s in a bright room, he opens his eyes and immediately regrets it, he makes gasping, panting noises and he sounds completely pathetic.
He feels a cool hand on his head and then a hand lifting his head, pressing a glass to his lips.
“It is just water,” Castiel says when Dean shakes his head and clamps his mouth shut. He regrets it immediately, but if he’s been poisoned he sure as hell doesn’t want anymore in his system.
“You shouldn’t be touching him,” Gabriel says idly.
“He needs liquids,” Castiel says. It sounds like a fight they’ve been having for a while.
He gives in and takes a quick swallow, then greedily downs the remainder of the glass. Castiel pats his face dry with a towel and lays his head back down on the pillow that Dean hadn’t noticed before.
“Wha?” he manages, his tongue feels like it’s two sizes too big for his mouth.
“It is okay,” Castiel soothes.
“Sam,” Dean says, it’s more a breath then a word but Sam appears behind Castiel so he knows he was understood.
“It’s okay Dean,” Sam says.
Dean doesn’t believe him because Sam looks scared and Dean can count the number of things that scare Sam on one hand.
Dean is screaming. Spencer wishes that there was something he could be doing other then sitting in a chair trying to block out the screams.
Nothing that Gabriel or Castiel is doing seems to be working and Dean is a pale, sweating mess on a pile of blankets and pillows in Pete’s living room.
All the furniture has been moved back against the walls and Dean is in the direct center of the room. When they’d moved him there instead of leaving him in the darkness of the bedroom where he’d been sleeping they’d forced everyone else in as well.
“We all need to stay together,” Castiel had said. “We are at our weakest right now, and we can not afford any interruptions.” Then both of them had cut their hands and spent almost ten minutes painting symbols in blood along the edges of every entryway.
“I’m not cleaning that up,” Pete had said. It was the last thing he’d said, now he’s sitting on the couch, fingers pressed into his ears, eyes tightly closed humming something low under his breath.
Brendon is pressed tightly to his side and he hasn’t regressed that far but he visibly looks like he wants to be doing the same thing.
Jon is in a straight-backed chair, knees drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around him. He’s watching with hooded eyes.
Alex sits much the same way that he has been since the day that Ryan vanished. Silent and watchful, with no hint of life in his eyes.
“This is taking too long,” Gabriel says. “Something’s wrong.”
“It has been a long time, there are many barriers that need to be broken through, and we do not know what safeguards Father put into place to protect his mind.”
Gabriel makes a huffing noise.
“Patience, Gabriel,” Castiel says.
“I can’t believe you’re counseling me on patience at a time like this,” Gabriel snorts.
“It will be any time now,” Castiel says.
When Dean begins convulsing on the floor even Castiel’s seemingly unbreakable composure snaps. He steps towards Dean at the same time as Gabriel makes an aborted movement forward.
“Don’t touch him,” comes a snappish, irritated voice. Spencer’s eyes fly to the doorway and Ryan is standing there.
Looking beautiful and tall and not entirely human.
It’s probably the hint of wings that keep flashing in and out of view. Spencer blinks and they’re there, he blinks again and they’re gone.
“Ryan,” Brendon breathes, he squeezes Pete’s hand and Pete’s eyes open and he comes to his feet.
Ryan spares them a smile and goes directly to Dean, kneeling beside him, Sam is across from him and the look he shoots at Ryan begs him to help his brother. Castiel and Gabriel stand on either side of him. Gabriel lays one hand on his shoulder.
He lays a hand on Dean’s forehead and it stills his movements, his eyes opening.
“Ryan,” Dean mumbles.
“Not quite,” Ryan says softly, he strokes the hand over Dean’s face, then leans down and presses a chaste kiss to Dean’s lips.
“Wha’s happ’nin?”
“It’s okay,” Ryan says, “just relax, its okay, it’s all going to be okay.”
“I didn’ give permiss…” Dean mumbles, his voice sounds heavy, like he’s having difficulty talking.
“You don’t need to give permission, Dean,” Ryan says. “No one is going to take your body; it’ll be yours and yours alone, all your memories will still be there, there’ll just be… a little more of them.”
“I don’t…”
“I was alone when I reached enlightenment,” Ryan says softly, his voice is quiet and Spencer steps forward, standing to the right of Sam’s shoulder, he thinks that if they miss this that Ryan will never speak these specific words in this specific sentence again. “My dad was a mean drunk and he raised his fists more times then not when he had a couple of drinks in him, I’ve written songs attesting to that fact.”
Dean manages to lift a hand and links his fingers with Ryan’s, squeezing tightly.
“I was seventeen, we had a three day weekend for something, parent/teacher conference or maybe there was a holiday, I don’t really remember, the days leading up to it are hazy. I’d had a migraine for almost two weeks, I was downing aspirin and cold medicine and anything that I thought would just take the edge off, dull the pain enough so that I could think, so I could spend time with my friends without thinking that beating my head against a brick wall would be a more suitable alternative.”
Ryan looks up at Spencer, at where Jon is standing next to him now and over where Brendon and Pete are standing together, hands linked, nothing but love in their eyes.
Ryan looks away, back down at Dean, strokes a hand across the top of his head.
“The last time my dad hit me was really the only time that mattered; he came home, already drunk, I don’t… I was in the kitchen making a sandwich and my dad saw me and… I’m pretty sure that I died, when I woke up, when I became aware again, I was alone in the kitchen and there was blood all around me and I know I only survived because of what I am.”
“Ya ’member?”
“I remember only the first blow that my dad landed, I remember hitting the refrigerator and going to my knees. When I woke up I remembered thousands upon thousands of years, of wars and my brothers, and I knew that I was not alone here, that I was not the only one that Father had sent here, that Michael was here as well, born to a mother that had made a deal with Azazel to save the father of her future born children’s life. The mother found a loophole in her agreement with Azazel and made a deal with Father that she hoped would cancel out the deal she’d made with Azazel.”
“Raphael,” Gabriel begins.
“That she even had to make that deal, to find a loophole was my fault, I was the one to initially bind Azazel,” Ryan says. “I buried him under rocks in the middle of a barren desert and it should have been enough to hold him, I underestimated Lucifer’s desire to be free once more.”
“Not,” Dean says.
“It’s neither here nor there, what’s done is done and cannot be undone,” Ryan says. “What it all means, is while Zachariah was trying to coax you into accepting a silent Michael, Michael was already in place getting more and more pissed off, what matters is that Michael was born, like me, to human parents. Lived a human life and seeing as how you’re not in mortal danger of bleeding to death on your kitchen floor, it stands to reason that your enlightenment would happen slightly different.”
Ryan leans forward, lays his forehead against Dean’s.
“It’s time Dean to let all parts of yourself out, you will not lose yourself but we need the knowledge that is hidden away in the section of your mind that is locked up as Michael.”
“I…” Dean says, his eyes open, light flashing in them and his back arches as he screams.
Dean is wrapped up in blankets on the couch when Zachariah knocks three times on the door. He’s been wondering when he was going to make his grand appearance and he rubs at his head.
Memories and thoughts still settling into their rightful places.
Sam touches his shoulder and looks at him questioningly.
“You can let him in,” Dean says. “It’ll be interesting to see if he can tell.”
Sam leaves and Dean looks over to where Brendon is curled up on the opposite side of the couch.
“We won’t take him away from you,” Dean says, Brendon looks at him, then over at where Pete is standing in front of a window.
“You can’t promise that,” Brendon says.
Ryan hadn’t stayed long once the gates holding Michael back had opened, he’s Dean Winchester and he’s the Archangel Michael and he has seven brothers and one of them is human and the other six are not, he has two Fathers and one mother and a multitude of siblings that aren’t really siblings but have always been counted as such.
“Is it getting any less confusing?” Brendon asks.
“Not really,” Dean rubs a hand over his face.
“Who do you think the boy is?” Brendon asks. That’s where Ryan had disappeared to, back to his post protecting this twelve year-old boy.
“I don’t know,” Dean says honestly; he has his suspicions though.
Zachariah can’t tell, he looks at Dean and he expects to see Dean Winchester so that is all sees, he’s blind to the newness of Michael stretching in his mind, holding himself in check because he’s pissed. That this little lieutenant has taken it upon himself to promote himself past the rank that he should be…
Camael stands at his side and Camael knows, Dean can tell this by the way that his eyes don’t ever leave Dean’s face, other then to meet Gabriel’s so they can share a smirk amongst themselves.
Brothers. Dean sighs.
Ryan had wanted to keep things hidden. Keep Zachariah and his followers from finding out that Michael is awake and walking amongst them once more. If Camael knows…
“I will stay for the moment,” Camael says when Gabriel and Castiel indicate that Zachariah has overstayed his welcome. “It has been a long while since I have had the opportunity for conversation with Gabriel.”
Zachariah very obviously doesn’t want to anger Gabriel; he needs him just like he needs Michael walking and talking and Raphael waiting in the wings to do his thing and he doesn’t have the sort of power that would be required to order Camael to leave regardless of the fact that he has followers and most likely counts Camael among them.
“You know where to find us,” Zachariah says, he can’t hide the scorn in his eyes when he glares at Dean.
Dean smirks at him from his pile of blankets and waves.
Camael waits for Zachariah to leave and when the door closes behind him and Castiel reappears in the door to the living room he smiles.
He doesn’t look anything like the images in Dean’s head, the only one that comes close is Ryan, he wonders if that is because Ryan is, was human, reborn in the image of Raphael.
“Lucifer grows stronger every day,” Camael says. “And Zachariah will start pushing very soon, if he does not figure it before then it will be nothing short of a miracle.”
“Zachariah isn’t smart enough to put the pieces together without someone giving him a little help,” Gabriel says, he arches an eyebrow at Camael.
“I am not telling him, I have to live with all of you when this is done, Zachariah I can do without, my brothers I would like back in one piece more or less.”
Gabriel smirks.
Ryan yells as the barriers buckle, the boy is pressed against the wall behind him and Ryan tries to press the barriers back in place even though he knows it’s futile. He herds the boy toward an exit point that is not in jeopardy of falling under Lucifer’s immediate assault.
He doesn’t know how they were found, he’s been oh so careful when he has to venture out.
There’s a small corner of the room that hasn’t been touched yet, either Lucifer is pushing his advantage by concentrating his attentions in specific areas or he hasn’t realized that the entire house is lined with exit points that Ryan (and the boy if Ryan allows him to do so, he is what he is but to Ryan’s eyes (and all other eyes) he’s also only a boy) can open with blood and power.
Ryan has one hand on the boys back, keeping them linked for now, fifteen steps and he kneels, the windows had blown out first, the barriers are the only thing keeping the demons licking at Lucifer’s boot heels from climbing through. He picks up a piece of the broken glass littering the ground and allows it to slice into the skin of his palm, when he stands again he presses his hand to the symbols on the right side of the exit point, they flare white with power and the boy grabs for his wrist when he realizes what Ryan means to do.
No one knows about the boy, just that there is one, they don’t know what his importance is and he can do this.
He can get the boy somewhere safe, he can’t go with him though, he knows this with certainty. If he goes with him Lucifer will continue hunting, if he just sends the boy Lucifer will stop hunting and maybe they’ll still have a chance to win.
As long as Ryan doesn’t break, he hopes he’s strong enough to not break.
“Raphael, I forbid it,” the boy says desperately, hands grasping for his wrists as Ryan pushes him into the portal and forces it closed behind him.
He feels the barriers crumple and it forces him to his knees as they ricochet back on him; he’s taking gasping, pained breaths, arms wrapped around his chest when he feels the hands on his head. Tilting his head back.
The body that Lucifer wears is nearly worn through, he either needs Sam Winchester to agree very quickly or he needs Ryan to prolong the life of the body he wears.
The chances of either happening are slim to none.
“My dearest brother,” he croons, he lifts the hand that Ryan sliced and studies it, drags his tongue across Ryan’s palm and grins at him, Ryan winces, tries to yank his hand back.
“Don’t be like that, dear Raphael,” he says, he links their hands together, palm to palm and stands over Ryan. Staring down at him.
“I will not side with you,” Ryan says, he pulls on his hand but Lucifer’s grip is strong and sure, there is blood on his mouth and it sickens him to know that it’s his.
“Oh, you don’t need to,” Lucifer says. “This is all going to be over very, very soon and we’ll all be together…”
“You’ll destroy everything.”
“Just the things that don’t matter.”
The boy appears when Pete has Brendon pressed against a wall. He’s kissing him, alternately biting his lower lip and Brendon is about thirty seconds away from suggesting that they take this to a more private venue before someone walks past and suggests it for them.
“Um,” the voice is young and awkward, Pete jumps back and Brendon jerks.
Pete looks to the right, Brendon to the left and there’s a wall there, or rather there was only a wall there and now there is a boy is standing there, leaning against the wall, blood on his face and arms, some sort of black powder in his blonde hair.
He looks familiar and Brendon can feel his eyes going wide.
“Where’s Ryan?” he asks. The boy is the one that was in the pictures with Ryan, the one that Ryan had to leave them to go back to.
“Michael or Gabriel or Castiel,” the boy says. “One of them, now.” The tone of his voice indicates that he’s used to having his orders followed.
Brendon starts down the hallway without even thinking about it. The boy and Pete follow.
The others are all in the living room; Dean and Gabriel are on the couch, there is a book open in Dean’s lap and Castiel is leaning over his shoulder.
Spencer and Jon are sitting in front of the fireplace; Sam is at the desk with his head in his hands.
“Um,” Brendon says, the boy moves past him into the center of the room.
Gabriel’s eyes go wide, as do Castiel’s, Dean just smirks.
“Father,” Castiel breathes.
Brendon looks at the boy and blinks, he looks really young to be God.
“Raphael was the only one that I told,” the boy says, he’s been seated on the couch, a blanket placed over his shoulders. Jon has made hot water for tea and he’s holding it in his hands. “I told him that I would need to be here for the end and asked him for his protection and his silence.”
“And he gave it,” Gabriel says.
“Raphael was always one of the ones that I could rely on to do what needed to be done.”
“It’s why you sent him back when his cover was blown originally, because your plans hadn’t changed, and you still needed Ryan to be in place when they came to fruition,” Dean says.
The boy nods, sips his tea.
“This body was dormant, the boy who it housed was in an accident several years ago, his parents perished and the body has been kept alive on life support, for what reason I do not know,” he sounds bewildered. “The boys’ soul has long since been accepted into heaven’s embrace.”
“Where’s Ryan now?” Dean asks. They keep pussyfooting around the question; they need to know what they’re dealing with.
They need to know if they’re completely fucked.
“We were staying in a house, a safe haven. We made it as secure as we could, we lined it with exit points and made the barriers protecting us as impenetrable as we were able, we made it undetectable by either Angels or Demon’s, I do not know how we were found.”
“I’d like my amulet back now,” Dean says, Castiel looks at him. “We found God, he’s sitting on the couch drinking fucking tea, I’m thinking I can put my amulet back around my neck because he isn’t going anywhere.”
“Michael,” the boy admonishes. Dean looks at him. “Or I can call you Dean if you rather, if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
“Ryan?” Spencer prompts.
“Lucifer broke the barriers on the house, as I said I do not know how we were located. He broke the barriers and Raphael got me to an exit point, I thought he was going to come through with me, I thought… I forbid him from doing it, I could tell that he thought to sacrifice himself to make certain I escaped, in this instance he is more important to Lucifer then I, Lucifer does not know that I am here, walking among you. He desires Raphael because he desires Raphael to heal the body that he inhabits.”
“Raphael is strong, he will not do what Lucifer wishes and Lucifer will not harm him, he needs him for the end,” Castiel says, the boys’ eyes rest on him and Castiel bows his head.
“Lucifer needs him alive, Lucifer need not destroy him to do him harm.”
Ryan’s asleep, or unconscious, he thinks it doesn’t matter anymore. Regardless he’s not conscious so he’s pretty sure he’s dreaming.
Because that would be the only reason that Brendon and Gabriel would be standing before him.
Ryan blinks at them through the dancing of the flames of the Holy Fire that is keeping him confined.
“Brendon,” he says. “Gabriel.”
Brendon has a hand pressed against his mouth, but Gabriel manages a thin smile and a whispered “Brother.”
“I’m okay,” he says. It would probably help if he could put some force behind it, he doesn’t even know which one he’s trying to convince.
Lucifer won’t kill him, he knows this, but he also has no qualms about taking out his anger and frustration on a target that he knows won’t die by human means. When Lucifer’s done he lets his pet demons play, he doesn’t even want to know what sort of picture he presents to Brendon and Gabriel.
He hurts, all over, it can’t be a good picture.
“We’ll…” Brendon clears his throat. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
Ryan closes his eyes, shakes his head. He should come to his feet, should move to the edges of the barrier, he can’t find the energy to do so.
“The boy?” he asks. He’s not important in the long run, in the battle that will be fought, he’s inconsequential, it’s only after the battle that he becomes a necessity.
And depending on which side wins and whatever their plans are for after the battle, he might not even be needed then.
“He’s fine, he’s safe,” Gabriel says. “He’s currently driving Dean nuts.”
“He likes to be in charge,” Brendon says, he could mean either one of them. Michael was always a bossy older brother and Ryan had loved him beyond measure. Loved all his brothers.
Even the one currently torturing him.
“Well he is, who he is.”
The battle starts and finishes with more of a whimper then a bang.
Dean’s been running scenarios for month and pretty much all of them had been hell on earth and a firm conviction that they weren’t all going to make it to the end.
Instead Lucifer attacks and it probably would have been hell on earth, probably would have been the battle to end all battles.
But then Lucifer had seen the boy and fell to his knees.
Gabriel and Phanuel go to stop the boy from moving forward, Raguel and Camael try to step between them to form a protective barrier. The boy merely glances at them and they step back, heads bowing deferentially.
He stops in front of Lucifer, the boy is twelve, but he’s small for his age and even on his knees Lucifer is almost as tall as him.
The boy leans forward, places his hands on either side of Lucifer’s head and kisses his forehead.
“You are forgiven, my son,” he says quietly when he draws back, there are tears in Lucifer’s eyes when he blows apart.
Dean reflexively closes his eyes against the light and when he opens them the boy is standing there, but Lucifer and the demons and those that were fighting on his side are gone, Zachariah has finally made his presence known and he stands off to the side.
He’s not making any snide comments, just watches the boy with wide eyes. Dean wonders if he hadn’t figured out who Ryan was protecting until just then; standing there watching the boy that was their Father offer forgiveness to one of their fallen brothers.
The boy turns and his eyes are still bright, flashing with the power of his grace.
“Where’s Ryan?” Spencer asks. Dean turns and he can see the four of them huddled together, Jon and Spencer on either side of Brendon and Pete.
The boy turns again, eyes scanning for something, probably for some sign of Ryan. When he turns back he looks at Gabriel and Camael.
“We’ll find him,” Gabriel says.
The boy nods and they’re gone. Zachariah steps forward then, his head bowed.
“Father,” he starts.
“Zachariah,” the boy says, his lips are a thin line and he doesn’t look pleased. “You have some explaining to do.”
He’s warm on either side and there’s a hand on his stomach. He’s not in any pain so for a momentary second he thinks, I’m dreaming again.
He shifts then and pain shoots up along one side of his body, up his arm, his shoulder, right to his head, his chest aches like someone had stomped hard on it and he thinks he might have a cracked or broken rib. Breathing is actually very painful.
He would curl in on himself but he thinks that might actually hurt more then just laying there as he is.
He tries to concentrate on not moving, on not thinking about the pain.
“Ryan?” he hears and he opens his eyes. Because that was Brendon’s voice and when he focuses he can see that Brendon is lying along his left side, propped up on one elbow. He’s smiling down at him, the smile is scared but hopeful; a glance to his other side is Pete, forehead pressed against Ryan’s shoulder, it’s his hand that is on Ryan’s stomach.
He’s asleep.
“Gabriel did this thing,” Brendon says, he waves his hand and it says how fluent he is in Brendon speak that he knows what Brendon is talking about. “Pete hadn’t really slept since they brought you back and he was, I thought he was going to go crazy before you woke up, so Gabriel touched his forehead and…”
“How long?” Ryan asks.
“Almost a week, you were in really bad shape when Gabriel and Camael brought you back, they’ve all been working on healing you but some of what Lucifer and his goons did to you they can’t heal.”
“My grace,” Ryan murmurs. He remembers Lucifer pulling at it, remembers him trying to suck it out to use as his own, to heal the body that he was burning through. Ryan hadn’t let him take it, but he couldn’t keep him from touching it, from damaging it.
“That’s what they said,” Brendon says.
“It’s over then?” Ryan asks, he turns his head and Brendon lays his down, their foreheads are touching and Ryan closes his eyes. It feels comfortable and familiar and is the closest thing to home that Ryan can think of.
Except for maybe Spencer and Jon.
“It’s over,” Brendon whispers, “all the bad guys are gone and the doorways are apparently sealed and most of the angels have returned to heaven.”
The boy pops in and out as they wait for Ryan to heal.
“It’ll take a while,” the boy says. “And I think that he’ll choose to remain here for the time being regardless.”
Dean knows that’s because of Brendon and Pete and Jon and Spencer.
“What did you do to Zachariah?” he asks. He doesn’t care, not really, except for the part of him that thinks that he should be banished to the far reaches of Hell for his part in freeing Lucifer.
The boy might have offered Lucifer forgiveness; Dean is unable to do the same. All he can remember is fighting and Lucifer attempting to make them choose sides against Father.
The boy smirks, “Raphael introduced me to this wonderful thing called time-out, it was on some talk show or something that we were watching and he explained how it worked.”
Dean huffs a laugh. “You put Zachariah in a time-out.”
“Well apparently I’m not allowed to spank my disobedient children any longer,” the boy quirks an eyebrow at him.
“I’m pretty sure that no one is going to call child protective services on you,” Dean grins. “Your kids misbehave they don’t throw a tantrum in Wal-Mart, they end up trying to destroy the world.”
“Raphael will need to return home for a short while, his grace was severely damaged and I’ve allowed him to remain here because being with his companions brings him peace but the longer that he waits the longer he will need to remain in order for his grace to fully heal.”
Dean sighs.
“Are you telling them or am I?” he asks. He blinks and the boy has already gone. “I guess I am.”
Ryan leaves on a Thursday, for some reason he’s bundled in a coat and scarf, Dean’s not sure why, Ryan’s not going to need them where he’s going.
He looks pale and shaky and he’s leaning against Brendon; Pete has a grip on his hand that he’ll need to release eventually so Ryan can hug Spencer and Jon.
“I’m coming back,” Ryan says, he sounds amused if nothing else. Dean is thankful someone is amused.
Brendon looks like he’s going to burst into tears at a change in the wind and Pete looks like he thinks Ryan is never going to return. Spencer has his steady face on which means that he’s scared of the same thing. Jon is the only one who looks remotely laid back about the whole thing.
“Well he’s got to fix Alex eventually,” he says when Dean looks at him.
“I could actually do that,” Dean says, there’s all this knowledge in his head that comes from being an Angel apparently; he might as well put it to some use.
Jon stands next to him, arms crossed over his chest and they watch Spencer attempt to hug Ryan without making Brendon or Pete let go.
“I’m not going off to war or anything, I’m coming back,” Ryan says again, he still wraps the one arm that Pete doesn’t have a grip on around Spencer.
They leave for a hunt about a week after Ryan leaves for Heaven’s version of a spa.
Dean hopes that he’s relaxing and getting healthy and happy again, he hopes that Ryan returns and is prepared for the four to never let him out of his sight again. Zack has started talking about handcuffs and tracking monitors again.
Dean doesn’t remind him that none of the stuff is going to do anything unless Ryan wants it to.
Doesn’t remind any of them that Ryan and Jon aren’t in their band anymore, they’ll all remember soon enough.
Sam has jogged off to the bathroom; he’s been a whiny bitch in the car so Dean doesn’t mind the space for a while. Hopefully good mood Sam will come back and leave pissy Sam in a bathroom stall wallowing in whatever put him in his mood in the first place.
“What are you hunting?” Ryan asks. Dean doesn’t jump, he doesn’t startle, the only movement he makes is to knock over the leaning tower of forks that he was constructing while he waited for the waitress to notice that someone was sitting at the table and come take his order.
“Shapeshifters,” Dean says, he arches an eyebrow. “Apparently they can turn into birds, or something.”
Ryan nods.
“You all one hundred percent again?” Dean asks. He straightens the forks, tongs facing Ryan, evenly spaced out in front of him.
“I feel fine,” Ryan says. “I wanted…”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily dude, you’re my favorite,” Dean smirks at him.
“Gabriel is actually your favorite, strength speaks to strength,” Ryan looks away. “I was more the ‘oh crap we need someone to clean up the mess when we’re done breaking our toys’ favorite.”
Dean looks at him. “No, pretty sure you’re my favorite right now, excepting Sammy, of course, Gabriel killed me way too many times to be my favorite at the moment.”
“You’re not still harping on about that, are you? I mean it’s over, we’ve all moved on… brother,” Gabriel lays an arm over the back of the booth.
“Eventually someone is going to notice that there are three people sitting in this booth when before there was only one.”
“People see what they want to see, they don’t want to see people appear out of thin air so their minds make a logical assumption that someone came back from the restroom while they weren’t looking,” Ryan says.
“Are you kidding?” Sam asks, he stops at the end of the table and stares at Ryan and Gabriel.
“Sammy, long time no see,” Gabriel says. “Have a seat; I think our waitress is coming to take our order.”
Sam manages to restrain himself from saying anything until their waitress leaves; at least she didn’t appear to recognize Ryan which means that they might actually end up with the right orders this time.
“You had to bring him with you?” Dean asks, he looks at Gabriel when he clears his throat.
“The role of Ryan Ross’ bodyguard will now be played by the Archangel Gabriel for the foreseeable future.”
Ryan smiles softly, almost to himself.
“Wow, Zack isn’t going to be pissed off about that at all,” Dean rolls his eyes.
“Zack is Brendon and Spencer’s bodyguard, not mine, or even Jon’s. It’s time he concentrated on them and not us,” Ryan says.
“You know that your guys call every day, right? And that includes Zack, wanting to know if we’ve heard anything, if we’ve seen you, if Dean can tap into Heaven’s phone line and find out if you’re planning on returning before they turn fifty.”
“I want to introduce my brothers to them,” Ryan says, “we’ll help you on your hunt and then you’ll take us home.”
“I will, will I,” Dean raises an eyebrow at him and Ryan smiles sweetly in response.
Dean feels someone kicking at his feet and from Gabriel’s grin he determines that it’s most likely him.
“Father decided it was time that we officially vetted the prospective in-laws,” Gabriel says. “I had to promise no smiting or cursing or harming, but I’ve got a whole other arsenal of things I can choose from.”
“He’s already promised that he won’t use any of his Trickster tricks,” Ryan says, he glances at Gabriel with suspicious eyes. “I’m sure that he has something else up his sleeves so I want you there as a precaution.”
“What, as a shield?” Dean asks.
“More as two,” Ryan glances at Sam. “Three against one.”
“Well it won’t be any fun if you’re all just going to gang up on me,” Gabriel mock pouts.
“We can put the hunt off, take you now,” Sam offers.
“What are we hunting?” Gabriel asks.
“Avian shapeshifters,” Ryan says.
“Really? I haven’t seen one of those since dragons became extinct. They’re normally peaceful unless their nest is being disturbed,” Gabriel muses. “We can do the hunt first, then go terrorize Ryan’s boyfriends.”
Dean scowls; across the table Ryan is doing the same.
“You’re not going to terrorize Brendon and Pete,” Ryan says sternly.
“Of course not,” Gabriel agrees. “I’m just going to make sure that they know if they don’t treat you right that there’s a special place all reserved for them.”
Brendon is the first one out of the house, Pete not that far behind. Spencer and Jon are standing on the front steps and they’re all grinning. Brendon is hugging Ryan like he might not ever let go again, Pete has his arms wrapped around both of them.
Dean thinks that Brendon might be crying, either that or laughing hysterically.
“It just warms the heart, doesn’t it?” Gabriel asks. He’s standing next to Dean, Sam has his arms crossed in front of him on the hood, he’s smiling.
“You’re not really going to terrorize them, are you?” Dean thinks he might have to stop him if he says yes. They’ve all been through enough.
“I think if anyone is going to screw things up that it’ll probably be Raphael,” Gabriel says. “We’re never good at this part for some reason,” Dean looks at him. “Finding a good thing and holding onto it, I think we’re almost always waiting for it to go away or be taken away from us.”
“I think they’ll do okay,” Dean says. He kind of has faith that the worst is behind them. Now it’s just putting the pieces back together.
Notes:
The majority of my knowledge on Archangels and their roles came from Google search and more specifically this website: http://beachangeljbsloveandlig.homestead.com/Archangels.html
Uriel is named as an Archangel on this particular website, anyone who is familiar with Supernatural canon thus far knows that Uriel was killed by Castiel and since I wanted seven complete Archangels I utilized an alternative name of Phanuel.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-03 08:05 pm (UTC)So anyway, onto the actual story, I thought this was an awesome follow up to the first Angels Among Us. I've only seen like 2 episodes of Supernatural (I always intend to watch it, but I'm easily distracted) so I can't really comment on Dean and Co. except to say that I really liked Dean and for some reason became unreasonably attached to Gabriel. I don't know if he was in the series, but if so, he's still awesome and if not, he was an amazing OC.
Onto PaTD/TYV, I really liked how you incorporated all the new stuff that went down into the fic, because who doesn't want the split to secretly be about Ryan Ross being all self sacrificing and needing to disappear in order to guard a little boy housing God and spend a couple of days following around Dean Winchester who turns out to be his Archangel brother?
: D ! : D ?
The constant Ryan-Ross-fangirl-sighting thing made me lol, as well as Zack being Zack. Ryan's boys being all worried and all "Archangel? WTF?" was nice. Jon thinking his visit was a dream, and Ryan's scene with Brendon and Gabriel. And Spencer. <333
Now on to what I really want to talk about...OMG Ryan Ross! What I really love about all of your fics is that I seem to have found someone else who obviously loves Ryan best. It's nice to see the Ross love.
Anyway, I loved:
-The Raphael thing and how you made it fit his personality so well ("I was more the ‘oh crap we need someone to clean up the mess when we’re done breaking our toys’ favorite" and “Raphael was always one of the ones that I could rely on to do what needed to be done.” Seriously, my heart.);
-Him being the one to take care of God (As long as Ryan doesn’t break, he hopes he’s strong enough to not break.
“Raphael, I forbid it,” the boy says desperately, hands grasping for his wrists as Ryan pushes him into the portal and forces it closed behind him.);
-Him being an ARCHANGEL period (“Ryan, little Ryan, who can barely take care of himself… which one of them is he?” and “Father requested this of him. Father asked him to fall, asked him to perform a task here; it’s why he’s different then Anael, why he was not hunted for falling as she was. Anael fell without the permissions of our Father; Raphael was chosen to do this.”);
-And the scene where he's telling Michael about him reaching enlightenment...
And the scene with the three brothers sitting in the restaurant together was maybe one of my favorite parts.
Ugh. This was epic. YOU are epic. and sorry this got kind of long...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-04 04:00 am (UTC)Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I'm so glad that you seemed to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-06 07:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-12 09:00 am (UTC)Ryan as Raphael was awesome (though I admit I had guessed that was him the first time Castiel stumbled over his name), especially the whole tiers of Angels thing.
I'm not sure I totally understand the final battle (if all they had to do to end it was have God show up, why wait so long?) but I did love Ryan protecting the little kid, and him explaining to Dean his enlightenment and the way he interacted with the other angels. (Gabriel Michael and Raphael at the end = ♥ . OH BROTHERS)
this is nice and rambling now, I'm sure I'm repeating myself... definitely letting my friends know to check this out :-)
(OH! RYAN + BRENDON + PETE = AWESOME)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-12 07:16 pm (UTC)I don't think I was in any way keeping it a secret who Ryan was supposed to be in this 'verse.:D I'm glad that you picked it up.
On the God not ending it sooner, I think he waited partly because he was of the hope that his 'kids' would be able to settle this amongst themselves with no bloodshed, and partly because I think he wanted to know what everyone would do. See who his 'faithful' were and who would take advantage of his absence to further their own agenda. Time out for Zachariah is probably as much fun as being sent to the pits would have been.
Thank you again for the great review!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-05 04:29 pm (UTC)I have mainlined all of your bandom fics as of today and have enjoyed them all very much. It makes me terribly happy that someone is writing a sympathetic Ryan, a very human Ryan as opposed to evil!douche Ryan.
(Loved Twin-Speak, A Life Alone made my heart hurt but happy at the same time because I LOVE Pete/Ryan, and the Dragon one! One day, if you ever decide to write a sequel focusing on Tom & Mike I will be so there!)
Once again, thank you for writing this!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 12:31 pm (UTC)