Gabriel

A deity passing as human wasn't all that unusual in a place like Rome. Change your form, play with the humans, but they always returned home. All except for one.

Gabriel had been passing as a wealthy merchant in Rome for the last five years and was content with his life. There were parties, watching the senators plot and backstab and okay, there were times he couldn't resist pitting one faction against the other. But for the most part he lived an ordinary life. There were men and women that occasionally lingered in his bed, but no one who stayed for very long. He kept up appearances, even going so far as to hire a local mercenary to act as his bodyguard. If the rich kept guards to keep them and their money safe, then in order to blend in, Gabriel would do the same. Sam was a good man. Honest, strong, and in need of decent work before he got pulled into the military or worse.

They had been together for nearly a year before Sam found his way into Gabriel's bed. Strong and dominant and Gabriel was more than happy to let the big mercenary manhandle him around in bed.

"Think I'm going to invite the lovely lady Jessica over for dinner tomorrow. We need to talk a little business before pleasure."

Because Gabriel has a little more in mind than just talking merger.

Gabriel was used to being odd man out, the only Omega born to his small, powerful pack. But with two older brothers who were both Alphas, they were usually more concerned with their own power plays than Gabriel and his search for a mate.

Because heat when you were unmated? Sucked.

Michael would probably prefer to chain him up once a year and let him sweat it out, which is probably why he left home as his heat started to near.

If he was going to find a mate, it was going to be on his terms.

What he didn't expect was to catch a tantalizing scent at the local bookstore. Something that called up images of sunlight and pine trees and cool shade.

 Returning home was the last thing Gabriel expected, really. 

But it was nice in the Garden. Letting his grace rest in the warmth of Heaven for the first time since he'd fled. There were no fighting brothers, no sniping, no .. no nothing. Joshua kept him safely hidden while he rested in the warmth of Heaven. Letting himself drift in peace and contentment for the first time since humans had been created.

Sam and Dean were still out there, but they were safe. Alive. That's all that mattered to the dreaming archangel.

At least until the spell roiled over Heaven. Tearing the grace out of his brothers and sisters, burning their wings away as they fell to earth and Gabriel could hear every startled cry, every scream, every sound of alarm. The magic surged and swirled around him until it finally shoved and dislodged the archangel, casting him back to earth with all the speed of a planetoid.

--

"Oh my god.." Dean's choked voice as he barely threw himself and Sam clear of the fireball racing towards the Impala.

A terrible crash as Gabriel barely missed the hood of the car, landing in a giant crater in the asphalt. Groaning, Gabriel slowly clawed his way out of the crater. Mortal. Lacking his grace and his wings.

<i>Fuck</i>.

"Dean. Sammy... Sam you look like shit."

It’s been three weeks since a shooting star split the sky above Enigma. Three weeks since Gabriel had disappeared. He learned a lot of tricks since he’d left Heaven. How to stay hidden, how to keep out of sight. Even as a mortal, those tricks still served him well. He kept to out of the way bars, lived in abandoned houses for a few days at a time before moving on. Living as a mortal wasn’t that hard; he knew about eating and sleeping. It was the nightmares he forgot about. Nightmares that woke him every night, leaving him aching and hollowed out.

After a particularly bad one, exhausted and heartsick, he staggered onto the dilapidated porch, resting his head against a ragged beam and gulping in huge draughts of cool air. Lucifer. His brother. Hanging from the cathedral, bloody and broken. His brother. He …

Shit.

The air stirred around him. It wasn’t a prayer, but it had been loud enough to get his attention.

Lucifer was used to hearing his name in prayers. Prayers for protection against him; guard us, o' Heavenly Father, from the temptations of Lucifer, your fallen son. He wasn't used to being referred to as brother in those prayers, though.

He didn't recognize the mind praying - it wasn't quite the whispered tendril of communication his siblings usually used - but there was something familiar about it.

He took wing, and when he landed the air shifted and rippled around him. His eyes sought out the mortal who'd prayed to him, and his brow furrowed. The soul was strange - one he felt like he'd seen, but at the same time knew he hadn't - and the body was... familiar.

It took him longer than he'd ever admit to before he recognized his brother. His brother who he had thought was dead; back in their universe, murdered at his hand. He let out a surprised noise, something like a cry around which his true voice slipped, and didn't hesitate to step forward and pull Gabriel into a tight, relieved, heartbroken hug.

"What have you done?" whispered into his hair, voice cracking.

Gabriel’s not sure what’s taking Lucifer so long. Maybe he’s just staring because of what he’d done. Cutting out one's grace isn't exactly a clean job. The slip of his brother’s true voice makes him cringe, the high, tight sound a bit too much even for what was left of his vessel.

He wants to fight; he wants to pull away when Lucifer hugs him. He can’t. Slowly, his arms come around the solid form of his brother. Lucifer, who is alive and no longer trapped in his own mind. Lucifer, who belonged with Sam. Happy.

There might be a flip response somewhere, but he’s too damned tired, too damned heartsick to even attempt one. “It's better this way.”