A Family Way
"You've got to be joking." Raphael frowns at his little sister as she finishes catching him up on everything he's missed. Though he has a sneaking feeling that a lie or joke would sound far more sensible than this chaotic mess he's been told of.
"I won't claim that I haven't had jokes encompassing years, or that I haven't faked my own death, but no. Unfortunatley I'm not joking or lying about any of this." Babe apologizes. "Which reminds me." She slaps him across the face which doesn't do too much more than surprise him. "What the FUCK, Raph? I DIE trying to prevent the damn apocalypse and you try and restart it when they miraculously manage to do so?"
"They pulled Michael into the cage. I know you don't care about her..."
"I care!"
"Then why did you leave?" Raphael demands, silencing his indignant little sister with his question. "Answer me Gabriel. You abandoned us, why?" She just crosses her arms and looks away. "Why?"
"Do you really have to ask? How could I watch you all destroy each other? I knew I couldn't stop it, but I'd be damned if I would help any of you kill each other. How the hell could you have even expected me to?"
"Because we were right!"
"Who the hell didn't think they were right? I knew what Michael would become, an angel who could just slaughter our younger brothers and sisters without a thought or feeling every bit as coldly as our brother. She became something just as frightening and horrible as any of us. How was that right? How was any of that right? I couldn't just stay and watch that happen. I couldn't participate in that. How could you? You were our healer, Raph. You served life. How could you have ever justified what we did to each other?" She challenges. Her brother is as equally caught off guard by her demands. In truth, he doesn't entirely know himself.
"Where were you?" Raphael demands, brushing the troubling questions aside. "We thought you were dead. I thought you'd...I thought you'd killed yourself...." Only the pain in his eyes keeps Babe from calling him on it.
"Well," she says slowly. "I spent alot of time at the bottom of the ocean. Until well after you stopped looking for me. Of course, in the process of leaving it I accidentally got worshiped as some sort of fish god Dagan, which was funny until it wasn't, and I had to orchestrate the theft of the ark of the covenant to finally take the resulting pagan god down. Very awkward."
"That was you!" Raphael gapes at her, beyond astonished. She just gives him a dimpled smile. "Of all the irresponsible, disrespectful..."
"I'm sorry. I took care of it. Plus I had to do some things around the time of the flood. I ended up with the aesir, set myself up as a trickster and just started having fun until you guys took over scandinavia." She frowns at him. Raphael just looks at her, unsure what massive impropriety to address first and decides to focus on an issue he can actually do something about.
"Your vessel is missing a leg." Raphael looks down at the stump, amputated just above the knee. He reaches down to replace it, but she flits back, out of reach. "Don't be foolish. You need a proper vessel."
"Nope. I like it the way it is." She shakes her head. He just gives her a confused, mildly irritated look. She can't even be sensible about something like this. "Though if you feel like repairing missing limbs, there's an angel who lost his wings who could use your help. he's waiting with the fledgelings."
"No."
"No? Why the hell not? That pool little librarian has grown so much and tried so hard and you're the only one who can do it."
"He sided with Castiel. Why should I help him?"
"Actually, he didn't side with anybody. You both kind of forgot about him entirely and he just hid in the library until it was over."
"Yes, truly an angel worth my time and attention."
"Don't be such a snotty little bitch, Raph. You're starting to sound like Luci." Things quickly degrade from there.
"Nooooo." Krissy groans, pounding the ground with her fists as Hara rubs her back in consolation. "No. Nononono. No! Nono. No, nooooo...."
"Krissy!" Claire runs over to her, sword in hand. "What happened? Are you alright? Why did they attack you? Why did they leave? Are you hurt? Is she hurt?"
"No-ho-hoooo." Krissy just clutches at the back of her head.
"She's pregnant." Hara informs the hunter.
"What?" Claire steps back.
"They were making a delivery. Their first one I think as they were apparently over excited." The angel explains further.
"W-what?" The question breaks into laughter as Claire outright looses it.
"It's not funny! I can't be pregnant! I'm a hunter goddamn it!" Krissy looks up from the ground as Claire laughs so hard she actually falls onto her butt, clutching her stomach.
"Jesus, Krissy. Didn't you use protection?"
"No, I didn't use protection!" She blushes. "Why would I ? The current apocalyptic crisis is world wide in-fucking-fertility!"
"Well," Claire clears her throat, trying to compose herself. "Let that be a lesson to you, then. The apocalypse is not a reliable form of birth control." But she starts snickering again when she says it.
"Shut up!" Krissy tackles her, punching her upper arm repeatedly. "It's not funny, you asshole!"
"O-ow!" Claire laughs, still unable to stop.
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"
"Krissy, stop!" Hara gently pulls her off Claire just as Abner and Gadreel arrive.
"What happened? They all left again. What did they want?" Gadreel asks, but the question just sets Claire laughing again.
"They were making a delivery." Hara informs him as Krissy tries to kick her laughing partner. "We learned from Asase Ya that the infertility crisis was caused by a lack of new souls causing the potential pregnancies to self abort so as not to issue a race of soulless sociopathic abominations. Apparently the storks, after harvesting the healed souls from... from the cabbage patch deliver it to the expectant mother and.... w-why are you looking at me like that?" Harahel falters as Abner and Gadreel just stare at him as if he's grown a second head.
"Is... is that a metaphor? Or related to the healing power of kisses?" Gadreel asks after a moment. Harahel shakes his head.
"Congradulations. I'm sure it will be a beautiful baby." Abner says in an attempt at consolation.
"What am I going to tell Nat?" Krissy groans, putting her palms to her eyes. Harahel lets go of her as Claire has finally stopped laughing. "This can't be happening. I just got back in the feild. I just got my partner back."
"And baby makes three!" Claire reaches up to rub Krissy's tummy until her parter punches her again. "Oh for goodness sake, Krissy. Just get an abortion."
"I would, but... it has a soul. that's... I mean... I assume that's what it was doing, implanting a soul in an already present developing fetus, right? Not... actually knocking me up."
"No, it just knocked you down." Hara says innocently. Krissy looks over at him, a fierce look in her eyes. Hara looks down and picks some grass off his robe, his face a blank mask of pure self preservation. "Yes, but it was done incredibly prematurely. Before this souls just... sort of sparked in a child. Sometimes, rarely, they didn't but usually only in a child destined to die very young. It's what enables children to stop being adorable little sociopaths as they grow older. Of course destiny isn't considered so certain anymore, so lately they sparked as soon as the child was potentially viable. No potential child has ever been given a soul in the first trimester before. Given how many miscarriages happen then, it would be incredibly cruel." Harahel looks over at Krissy's stomach. "But if you do not wish to carry, I'll do everything I can to make sure the soul is brought back to away redelivery. Being a prenant hunter is very risky and your life and soul are important, too."
"I don't..." Krissy puts her hands over her stomach. "I have to think about this. I have to... I have to think."
"Well, congradulations." Claire rubs her sore arm. "You've saved mankind from extinction. We know what we have to do now."
"Bring every sexually active woman into the abyss to get dive bombed by storks?" Krissy asks wryly.
"No, we need to find a way to get the storks out of the abyss to make their deliveries. I'm going to go take a closer look at the nursery. See if there's anything there. Look, um, why don't you go home? Get some rest, think about things. Maybe talk to Nat about this?" Claire gets to her feet offering Krissy a hand up.
"I don't want to leave Hara alone when Raphael gets here." She looks to Harahel who gets to his feet with a little help from Gadreel as he's still ridiculously prone to falling over without his wings.
"I would feel better if you were somewhere safer." Hara confesses. "In your condition..."
"I haven't even... I'm not suddenly weak and incompetant just because I now have another human being growing inside me." Krissy places her hands on her hips.
"No... I know...it's just.. if there's trouble... I don't want you to loose the baby unless you decided that's what you want." Hara clarifies. "You know you're distracted now anyway. I'll be okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'll come and see you as soon as I can. Okay?" Hara hugs her. "Gadreel, will you take her to the gate?"
"Of course." He offers her his arm. "You needn't worry, Ms. Chambers. I will do my best to make sure our little librarian is not harmed."
"Thank you." Krissy smiles. "I do wish I could see your wings though, Hara. I hear they're gorgeous."
"I'm here! I'm here! I'm sorry. The lock got stuck." Amitiel flies over, holding large masses of feathers in her arms.
"What on earth..." Claire looks at them. They're incandescent whitish mother of pearl feathers that look deceptively soft.
"I... I thought that it'd be easier for him to reattach them then create new ones." Miti says sheepishly. Harahel just looks blankly at them. "Do you want to hold them?"
"Does he want to hold his own severed limbs, you mean?" Claire paraphrases the question as Hara shakes his head. Amitiel blushes and looks down at them.
"Oh, Hara, those are the loveliest things I've ever seen." Krissy resists the urge to try and touch them. "There is no way Nathaniel's wings were prettier than that."
"Nathaniel? With the sparkly micah feathers? He certainly displayed them as if they were." Abner with the dull matte blue wings comments. "I think it's pure preference honestly. I prefer Hara's."
"Well, yeah, you do have an affinity with water." Gadreel, the firey red angel with sooty wings rolls his eyes. "But I agree. they have more.. substance."
"Can... can you put them away somewhere until... until we need them?" Hara looks away.
"C'mon, lets go toss the fluff balls." Abner puts an arm around his shoulder and leads him back to the fledglings as Gadreel takes Krissy to the gate.
"Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! Ow!" Gabriel yells as her brother pins her to the ground, twisting her arm back over her half folded wings. "I give, okay? Ow!" Raph lets go, sitting back up and puts his robes back in order.
"That was harder than it used to be. Of course I also used to have to chase you half across heaven first. Where did you learn hand to hand like that?" Raphael starts smoothing out her ruffled feathers as she rubs her arm.
"Right... I can fly again." Gabriel smacks her forehead with her uninjured hand.
"You... you couldn't?"
"I was in deep cover for most of it. I had to travel in other ways most of the time. And of course during my human stint even walking was a pain. Literally. I was constantly fucking up my false leg apparently. I had to do physical therapy. I was diabetic, it was a nightmare." She wrinkles her nose, though the whistful look on her face says something else entirely. "And anyways, the answer is my blood brother Thor taught me. Often by repeatedly beating the crap out of me like that time I shaved his wife's head. Or when I killed his brother." The second example stops Raphael's protective indignation short.
"You what?"
"He so had it coming, that... what? At least I wasn't torturing brain washing and mind wiping my own damn siblings!" She retorts at his shocked look.
"I was trying to help them! Or would you have preferred we just killed them straight off instead of trying to bring them back into the fold."
"I'd have preferred you to have taken your head out of your ass and actually maybe listened to your people when they raised questions instead of assuming you knew best! Having doubts about actions is not the same thing as falling, Raphael. Trying to make sure you're going in the right direction is not a lack of faith. And did you ever even consider that maybe the whole apocalypse thing was a... contingency plan and not a fucking goal? You know, a break glass in case of emergency, not cause the emergency so you can break the damn glass?"
"Where did you learn to speak this way?" Raphael scolds her and finishes smoothing out his little sister's bent feathers and heals her bruises.
"Don't change the subject. You were wrong, Raph. And so was Michael. you need to suck it up and accept that or we are never going to get past this an we need to. I want to. Because I can't just let you keep doing things like that even if it means you end up killing me, too."
"Are those my only options? Accept I'm wrong about everything or kill you? Are those the options you gave our brother? Because if so that explains alot."
"No. He's not as reasonable as you are." This response makes Raphael gives a twitch of a smile, though the memory makes Gabriel hunch in on herself.
"Bree, I'm sorry." Raphael puts his arms around her, hugging the painful memories away. "I would never... I know how hard that way for you. Standing up to him that way. I'm so proud of you.."
"Oh fuck you, Raph." She tries to push him away but he doesn't let her.
"No, I mean, I know how close you were..."
"Don't. Okay? I don't want to talk about it." She closes her eyes. "I missed you. I'm sorry I left. I should have tried harder to do something earlier."
"I should have had more faith in you. I shouldn't have assumed you'd run to him... or... I should have made you feel more wanted. We all missed you. We didn't even know how much. And yes, even Michael."
"Oh, sure," Babe laughs, rolling her eyes. "I'll bet she was real broken up. Did she even actually look for me? Did you? Or did you just send the least needed people out searching?"
"She was broken up. We both were. And we couldn't.... we had everyone else to look after, Gabriel. A war to fight. You were in the bottom of the ocean?"
"All that salt water. Great for hiding. Leviathan free. It's really weird down there, you have no idea." She confesses. Raphael gives a humorless laugh, shaking his head.
"The bottom of the ocean."
"Raphael. Please help us. Please help Hara. Help us set Heaven right. Metatron closed the gates. There are so many souls trapped in the veil you can hardly move around in it. We need you." She pleads, turning to face him, and attempts her most pathetic little sister pout and new and improved puppy eyes. Raphael's silent for a moment.
"No."
"Raph..."
"Not until you bring our sister back as well. Until I see with my own eyes that she's alright, I'm not leaving this place."
"Raph, even if we let her out of the cage, she's not... she's not doing so well. What if she needs a healer? What if she needs you?"
"Then bring her here to me. I assume you can bring people in?" Raphael lets go of her, crossing her arms, like the stubborn mule he is.
"Okay, fine." Babe leans back, resting on her hands.
"Okay? Fine? Just like that?"
"Raph, do you really think I ever could have thought for a minute you'd cooperate without securing Michael's freedom? Please. I sure as hell hope I'd know you that much." She rolls her eyes. "You have no idea how fricking long it took to convince everyone else it was worth it. So are you just going to sit here and do nothing, or do you want to go to a different part of the abyss and play with the fledglings?" The mischeivous grin she gives him makes him think she's not just referring to the younger angels, but actual fledgling ones. "All the ones we lost, they're here. Not all of them have hatched yet, of course, but the smallest ones have." There's an astonished hopeful look in his eyes, almost desperate that tugs at her heart.
"Where are they?" he gets quickly to his feet.
"Hold on, hold on." Babe scrambles to her feet, grabbing his shoulders. "Now, there is something else that is ultra important to me. you remember how I said a sick hunter and his partner and one of my siblings helped take care of me when I was human and rescued me when I died a second time, right?"
"Yes..." he gives her a suspicious look.
"Well, they helped me get you back, too. They're keeping the gates open for us as we speak, and it's very important to me that you don't... you know, kill them on sight or every, actually."
"It's Castiel and the Winchesters, isn't it?" Raphael says flatly. There's absolutely no one she could possibly be referring to that there might actually be a danger of him doing something like that to.
"What? Why would you... yes. Yes it is." She confesses as he gives her a stony look. "Look, I know, obviously you don't care for them. Sam is Luci's vessel and Dean is just a dick. And Cassie... well, to be fair, you killed him first and were totally in the wrong with that whole civil war thing and you know it. So just let bygones be bygones? Anyways, you couldn't really kill him as easily now anyways. He's kind of been promoted." She says quickly, her brother looking more and more pissed off with every necessary word.
"How?"
"Dad... kind of.... made him one of us. Sort of. he's still just a baby archangel, but I'm fairly certain that's the ultimate sign of forgiveness and approval, don't you? If you wanted to just... you know, pretend they don't exist and refuse to acknowledge otherwise, we can all live with that." She gives him a hopeful smile. "Please? Raphi? For me?"
"I promise nothing." Raphael scowls and looks away. Gabriel gives a sigh of relief.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." She throws her arms back around his neck and kisses his cheek. "C'mon. I'll take you to the babies." She leads him down the stairs and to the gate in the wind storm wall. Castiel's waiting anxiously on the platform, probably a bit alarmed by the previous scuffle. Not that it was much more than a light brawl, but it has been a while since the angel had been exposed to archangel vs archangel in any regard. Babe pantomimes zipping her lips shut as he opens his mouth to say something. Raphael is close behind her and barely spares the angel a glance, though the fact that he does that much instead of just ignoring him shows how startling the transformation truly is.
"Br.." Castiel goes to try and make amends, but his sister grabs him, covering his mouth as Raphael manages to start ignoring his existence.
"Not now. Just... shush. Understand?" She whispers. He nods and follows behind them when she lets him go. Babe flits ahead as quickly as she can and stops next to Dean on the platform. "They're coming right behind me. Now, do not say a damn word or I will render you mute." She threatens. "I mean it. We don't need your lip right now."
"He's agreed to help us?"
"With the expected caveat, but he still hates you three so shut it." She points at him threateningly. "Not a single word."
"I don't see why the hell I should have to pussy foot around him. We just.."Dean puts a hand to his mouth, then throat as she snaps her fingers, removing his voice as promised. he mouths a very non complimentary phrase at her as the other two arrive. When they pass through the door, Dean steps off the platform and takes his place, seething beside Castiel.
"Hey, buddy." Babe lightly punches Sam's arm when she reaches him. "Not too bored, I hope?"
"Maybe a little. Is everything alright?"
"Yep. I'm taking him to the fledglings and then we'll go work on getting Michael out of the cage. So why don't you three go back to the bunker and get a hold of Alex? I'll be back shortly." She gently places her hand on his arm.
"Alright." He stops himself from going to kiss her on the cheek, taking the hint to keep it casual in front of her brother for the moment. "Can't you just blip us out though? Do we have to... click our heels and all that?" He looks a bit embarrassed.
"Sure, why not?" she snaps her fingers, sending the three back to their bunker and turns to her brother who just looks plain horrified. "What?"
"You're in love with Sam Winchester?"
"W-what? How could you possibly get that from..." Babe is a bit too surprised to effectively demure.
"Have you forgotten Daniel? Because I haven't. What is wrong with you?"
"You... seriously? That was a crush! Just a stupid silly... We are not talking about this. Understand? At all. and unless you want me to recount my entire sexual history to you, you'll respect that." She snaps at him.
"Sexual history? You have... WHAT? Young lady what in the name of all that is have you been doing?!"
"Nothing! Never mind! It's not important. C'mon, lets go! Babies!"
"Do you have children? Did you make nephilim?"
"Oh, like you wouldn't have known if I had. I did give birth to a horse, though."
"WHAT?"
"That's actually kind of a funny story."
"Start talking. NOW."
"Well, you see, we needed a contractor, but the only one for the job was really expense, so we made this bet..."
"Shut up! What is wrong with you? How could you... why are you laughing? Stop it! Do you think bestiality is funny? Answer me, you little shit!"
"Relax, I did not have sex with a horse it was just a weird cloning accident for a joke that I have no idea what went wrong with. For Dad's sake, Raph, really. How could you think I'd do that? Seriously."
"You just told me you gave birth to a horse in a conversation about your sexual history. It's not as if I just asked the question as a random conversation starter. You... this conversation is over and we will never start it again." Raphael shudders, his feathers all puffed an agitated.
"Thank you. Shall we go?"
"Please."