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English
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Published:
2014-11-13
Updated:
2014-11-21
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6,733
Chapters:
3/?
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Less than Graceful

Summary:

Someone is picking off angels, one by one. Cas thinks he can handle it on his own but this is too much, even for the angel who helped stop the apocalypse. He and Gabriel manage to escape but not before they're poisoned. Running out of options and time, they turn to the Winchesters and ask the unthinkable.

Because free will or no, destiny has a funny way of making sure certain things happen.

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It couldn’t be later than two or three in the afternoon, though there wasn’t much in the way of sunlight in this godforsaken prison – and save for the ring of holy fire around the chair he was bound to, there wasn’t really any light. At least, it was serving as a prison now. Whatever its original purpose was didn’t matter. Right now it was perhaps the most elaborate angelic booby trap ever conceived.

Castiel had heard the talk over angel radio: angels would hear a prayer, anything from a cry for help to a promise of his head on a plate, and would disappear without a trace. There had been at least ten victims that anyone knew about, and when members of his old Garrison asked him to look into it he agreed.

He thought he’d been sufficiently prepared.

He was sorely mistaken.

The deep laughter almost seemed forced, but it was still loud enough to ring through the building. His captor was dressed up entirely in black, even going so far as to wear a mask, and for some reason they were interested in interrogating him. He couldn’t sense any kind of supernatural energy on them, and he wasn’t sure if that was comforting or disturbing. Could an ordinary human really do so much damage to so many of his brothers and sisters?

“Hey jackass, you’re not that funny.”

Cas stayed quiet, still staring down his assailant while they turned briefly to the source of the remark: Gabriel. He’d been surprised to find the archangel here, let alone trapped in a pair of ‘angel handcuffs.’ He was currently stuck to a pipe that ran up the wall of the building, but that didn’t stop him from being a smartass.

“Aww, don’t worry, if this one keeps giving me the silent treatment, you won’t have to wait your turn for much longer.”

“Oh nooooooo! Why, I’m about to piss my pants!”

The mystery murderer turned back towards Cas, angel blade still in hand.

“Would you mind holding this for me?”

Before Cas could wonder what they meant, he felt the blade run right through his left shoulder. He screamed, the blade continuing to sting for as long as it was jammed into his body. He managed to compose himself, but not before he heard another laugh from his captor.

“You know, you’re pretty cocky for a dead angel.”

“Oh please, tell me something I haven’t heard before.”

They moved toward Gabriel, but the archangel managed to keep a grin on his face.

“Alright, well, did you know I could kill you right now without breaking a sweat?”

They pulled out a flask from their back pocket and lifted the bottom of their mask slightly to take a swig. Gabe just chuckled.

“Well, call me crazy, but I don’t think that’ll happen without that there angel blade.”

He gestured to Cas, whose face was still twisting in pain, and let his cocky demeanor slip for just a second. When they got out of this, he swore that he was gonna stab this S.O.B. himself.

“Oh?” They flicked a spot on their forearm and another blade fell through their sleeve into their palm. “You know, you all have a bad habit of underestimating anyone without a halo and daddy issues.”

“Yeah?” Gabe looked from the blade to the mask and grabbed at the cuffs holding him in place. His free hand ran across the cool metal, though he was admittedly kind of terrified. An arm pushed at his shoulders, pinning him against the wall, while the blade was raised directly in front of his face. A prolonged sigh came from his captor as the blade glided along his jaw and neck, leaving scratches in a few spots that managed to sting and draw some blood. He was still fumbling with the cuffs, less focused on hiding his panic.

“Aww, what’s the matter? All that talk and nothing to back it up?” The blade was lowered and before he knew it they took a step back and sliced his stomach. He screamed and fell to his knees. His shirt had been sliced open and underneath it was a sizeable gash on his chest. Luckily it wasn't deep enough to reach his grace, but it still hurt like a bitch. His free hand was balled up into a fist but he ran his knuckles over the wound to confirm that it was healing.

"I thought Cas over there was supposed to be Heaven's biggest bad. But what about you? You just showed up here and I never even got a name."

The archangel grinned at the figure looming over him. He brought up the hand that was still balled up, his knuckles starting to grow pale. He began to uncurl his fingers, starting with the middle one, to reveal a strip of metal that looked like it belonged on the pipe. Its edge looked like it had been filed down, as if metal had been grinding against metal. The figure tightened their grip on the angel blade, as if it was the only thing keeping them alive, and the angel just grinned.

"The name's Gabriel. You might've heard of me."

In an instant the archangel was gone from his spot on the floor. Sprinklers suddenly started to rain down on everyone in the room. The masked figure began to turn around but noticed that they now had iron cuffs around their ankles, chaining them to the wall with barely enough slack to take a single step away.

Castiel grunted, going so far as to bite his cheek in the hopes that he could stay quiet. If putting the blade in his shoulder was painful, pulling it back out was excruciating. He was glad that Gabriel had been clever enough to escape, and thankful that he was helping him out as well. Cas stood up, finally getting to stretch both his legs and his wings. His shoulder still stung, but so long as he didn't move it too much he should be alright. He noticed that the cuffs were still on Gabriel's wrist despite the binding sigils being scratched out. He moved to ask about it but was quickly interrupted.

"You know you can't escape now. Even if you get out, first thing I did was pull out some grace. I can and WILL track you wherever you run, so you'd better enjoy the head start you winged-"

"Aaaand that's enough for me."

With an unnecessary snap of his fingers, Gabe shut the mouth of their masked nuisance. The silver duct tape wasn't visible, but the archangel made sure that it was on tight.

"Hope you don't mind if I keep the cuffs. I haven't been able to get freaky in a while."

"Gabriel." Cas didn't completely understand this line of logic and it honestly wasn't the best time to try and explore it. "We should go."

"Aww, but we could have so much fun little bro!"

"I can feel sigils running through the building. If we don't leave now-"

Cas didn't get to finish that sentence before his wound flared up again, this time burning twice as much as it had when the blade had been jammed into it. And he could feel something warm and sticky running down the rest of his arm. Blood.

"Right. That's not great." Gabe couldn't exactly sense the sigils while he was cuffed - they left his ability to sense angel-y things kind of fuzzy, and even now it wasn't entirely clear - but given what was happening to his brother, he wasn't about to stick around for act two. He swung Cas's arm over his shoulder and wrapped him in one of his wings. There wasn't much time to think, but he knew one place that they'd be safe and sigil-free... well, mostly.

"Hang on tight, Cas. This ride's gonna be bumpy."

And they were gone.

Notes:

If you're reading this, then thank you for caring about this fic. If you've got any comments or recommendations, please feel free to comment whenever!

I've got big plans for this thing, and I hope you enjoy what I plan on doing.