Freak of Nature (Destiel)

Chapter 47: House Divided

Michael had half-expected his brothers at the table, having missed the speech. He expected their forearms leaned against the glass window, foreheads pressed into their arms as they watched and listened to him yell at the common folks who stood stock-still in crowds. He imagined their brows creased with some form of confliction, lips pursed with anger.

Gabriel, Michael knew, was definitely going to be a driving force on the other side. He had to be. Gabriel was selfish sometimes, but he has always been ready to speak his mind on what he thought was unfair.

Even as a child, only he and Balthazar would defend Castiel. Lucifer sometimes misdirected Michael, telling him the little boy had hidden somewhere else than Michael thought or had gone in a different direction. Lucifer was strictly neutral, and he chose his battles wisely, but he silently rooted for those he believed were right in what they were doing. So, really, Lucifer wasn't going to fight on either side, but his loyalties lied with Gabriel now.

Once, at the dinner table, Gabriel told those who occupied the table- Lucifer, Michael, and himself, the parents usually absent save for social events- that he had learned about the angel war from the tutors that day.

...

Michael had laughed, "That subject took forever for me to finish, good luck, Gabe. You'll need it."

Lucifer, oddly quieted, resting his fork back on the table and turning to look at Gabriel with a strange expression, "Why bring it up?"

Michael felt the shift in Lucifer's mood and hair raised on his arms, Lucifer was still a child but something about the look in his eyes when he got like that scared his older brother.

Michael let slip a wobbly smile, "Well that's what we usually do, isn't it? Tell mother and father how our day went?"

"Yes," Lucifer muttered, lips barely moving. "But what I want to know is why that in particular, do you have something to say Gabriel?"

Gabriel nodded, "Yeah, I think the Angels of Old were wrong to do what they did. If the bible is true, like the tutors told us, and we love humans... why did we slaughter them?"

"Need I remind you, that they used bombs to try to kill the angels and turned their own land to unhabitable drylands riddled with radioactivity? The humans were torturing the earth in order to save themselves, don't you think that is selfish?" Lucifer replied, his back straight and his eyes boring into Gabriel's.

"Sure," Gabriel admitted, his young mind plagued with the strictly adult beliefs he was trying to fight for, in the only arena that would allow him, the dinner table. "But to err is human right? It's normal. We're just like humans, Luci, if I were to hold a knife to your throat you would defend yourself- maybe even kill me. You would forget for that moment that I am your brother, you would only see me as a threat. That's why I bleed for those humans, Luci, they didn't see their mistake until it was too late and that is the worst fate a person can have."

The room fell silent, everyone returning to their food. This occurance happened one time. No one ever spoke of it again, but they didn't have to. It was engrained into their minds, especially Michael's because those words came back to haunt him now.

...

Castiel had told him the same thing and that was frightening, two voices spoke in the same tongue and they reasoned that he may eventually regret his decision. However, his doubts fell silent to the point of void. He was the leader of Arya, despite anyone's disapproval, it was his decision. He pulled a chair from the table and put it before the window, watching the Aryan streets.

He no longer felt like a leader as he looked at those in the streets, the people walking around as though nothing had changed, he felt like a spectator watching something rot from the inside out. As a boy, he once left a fruit in his chambers on accident, coming to find it under his bed a few days later, where it had fallen from his shelf and rolled under the bed. It was withered away, rotted, molding, and reeking some unsettling smell.

He hoped Arya hadn't turned into something like that forgotten fruit- destroying itself from the inside without his notice- because of his own negligence.

---

Gabriel had gathered a small group of allies, composed almost entirely of Roadhouse regulars, the Winchesters, and the Winchesters' family friends. There were less than two dozen people in the room, but the shoulder-to-shoulder arrangement of them in the Roadhouse made it felt as though the bar area was overflowing with people. Gabriel was about to speak, to begin a plan of action, when Charlie touched his shoulder in a silent gesture to let her speak first. He allowed it.

"This may or not be disconcerting to some of you," her gaze lingered a moment too long on Gabriel, giving him the silent hint he needed for his suspicions to be confirmed. He hung his head as his face slipped into a dark expression. "But we cannot directly interfere with the Leader. That is the job of only one person, and it is his decision where that leads, but whatever happens, we need to be prepared to pick up whatever pieces we must to bring Arya into a new era. One without the death of those who are different."

Gabriel nodded, gently pushing her aside to begin what he really came to say, "Dean Winchester is a mixed-blood, a hybrid, a boy with one wing. You all know this, but do not talk about it. There are journals hidden within the manor that tell of the truth behind angels. All of us, angels and human alike, were indoctrinated to believe that angels were sent from heaven by a God, a Power beyond conception, but this was not the case."

As a child, Gabriel had read the books in secret but now he felt that the information needed to be shared, "In the manor, we have the journals of a scientist who has detailed accounts of his experimentation and eventual creation of the beings now known as 'Angels'. They were created in a lab, but were created in the image of that which was described in the bible and in art depictions, with a few adjustments due to the incapabilites to fly or cloak wings. Wing cloaking were eventually covered with clothes or using a recessive trait of cloaking thanks to the scientist's early experimentations with chamelion DNA to hide them. The angels were created to be used as a psychological weapon against enemy countries, as a Trojan horse of sorts. They would infiltrate the country, their appearance giving the people peace of mind, then to be ripped away in the final moments as they destroyed the enemy territories from the inside out."

People began to whisper as Gabriel took a moment to collect his thoughts and regain his breath, Jeremiah reaching for his hand as an anchor of comfort. Gabriel took it gratefully, his palms sweaty and shaking. He cleared his throat, quieting the whispers.

"However, as people found out about this scientist's 'angels' and stole his research, killing him, and 'mass-producing' them, but with so many, they rebelled against their creators and the Angel War began. That is why this is the only land on which we can live, the rest is dead and gone. Our own folly, both humans and angels, alike." Gabriel exhaled a long breath, it felt as though he'd held it in his entire life. "Things do not end with Michael, they must be nipped in the bud. As leader of this rebellion," he laughs, trying to regain his carefree attitude. It shows readily that he is trying too hard. "More or less, anyhow," he says, glancing at Charlie. Then, the facade of humor drops at a second's notice, returning to solemnity. "I am ordering the capture of the former leaders, Metatron and Abbadon."

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A.N.

Happy Valentine's Day! So here's a super-serious chapter lmao. There's a special romantic sideshot in honor of Valentine's Day called After the War, takes place 3 years after the end of the fic. It's Samandriel x Adam. I hope you read it! ^-^

Also, I am updating early because I'm going to see Deadpool and (the real reason is) I am so excited about this chapter that I want it out there now! Please review and tell me what you think about this and the sideshot.