Chapter Text
Castiel found his brother in an empty cinema. The room was dark and the only light there came from the screen and the sign above the emergency exit. Gabriel was sitting in the middle of the last row, a giant box of candies in his right hand. The black seats around him were all empty. He seemed absorbed in the movie he was watching: Star Wars V - The Empire strikes back, however, he showed no sign of surprise when Castiel appeared by his side in a soft flutter. He kept watching the screen, probably hoping that Castiel would leave him if he did not get his attention.
But Castiel was patient. He would have been ready to wait until the end of the movie if he had too. Troubled by his silence, Gabriel broke first.
“What do you want?” he snapped, turning to his brother.
“Good afternoon Gabriel. I came here to ask for your help,” answered Castiel with calm. The angel was wearing a tall man with messy black hair and blue blue eyes in a beige trench-coat, making him look like a holy tax accountant.
“Then save your time little brother, ‘cause I won’t accept,” Gabriel huffed, already bored. He picked a lollipop in his box and stuffed it into his mouth, already turning back to the screen.
“Dad left Heaven and he hasn’t been home in a few millennia,” said Castiel. “We’re on the verge of the apocalypse. We need to find Him before it starts. I don’t want to see my brothers killing each other in an aimless war.” Gabriel tried hard to keep watching the movie. Every muscle of his body was tense.
“Well I don’t care,” he pretended. “If Michael and Lucifer want to kill each other that’s fine, minus two douchebags in the world.” Castiel clenched his fists in anger.
“No. That is not true. You do care,” he affirmed confidently. Gabriel laughed without joy. His eyes met his brother’s eyes. He tilted his head with an ironical grin on his lips.
"And do you really think Dad would stop the apocalypse?" asked mockingly Gabriel, rolling the stick of his popsicle in his fingers.
"He is our Father, the Light, the Holy Creator of Earth, His power and His love are infinite," replied Castiel with confidence. Good lil' soldier, still loyal to an absent general, excuse of a father. Gabriel shook his head in disbelief.
"This is ridiculous. I can almost hear the majuscules as you speak! He wasn't that great, he is the one who abandoned us!"
“He was expecting us to grow up, that’s all,” responded Castiel, not destabilized. “But we need Him now, more than ever.”
“That’s still a no.”
“Gabriel…”
“Not now Cassie! It’s the best moment of the movie!” interrupted Gabriel, sounding frenetic. Castiel closed his mouth, frowning in confusion.
“ I love you! ” said Princess Leia on the screen, desperate.
“ I know, ” replied Han Solo, resigned to an almost certain death. As the movie went on, Gabriel wiped a false tear on his cheek.
“That Castiel. That. Is one of the best successes of American cinema. A masterpiece, really,” said the Archangel pointing at the screen with his finger. Understanding that he was allowed to speak again, Castiel nodded respectfully and argued:
“If the Apocalypse happens, there won’t be any movies anymore. Everything you love of your life among the humans will be destroyed. There won’t be anything left except chaos and death. No more love. No more hope.”
“Well somebody is a real ray of sunshine today,” the blond sniffed sarcastically. Castiel just stared at his brother angrily. “Ok, ok, I gotta admit that you’re right. But who says you need my help? Why don’t you just ask Raphael? Or Uriel?” Castiel remained silent a moment before finally answering, sadness in those blue blue eyes.
“I have already tried.”
“That is because they know it is impossible to find Dad. He is God remember? If he doesn’t want to be found, nobody will find him. The other angels know they’re more useful in Heaven than chasing chimeras.”
“Gabriel, I need your help,” repeated Castiel, pleading this time. “What are you going to do anyway? Watch movies and eat candies? We could be together like we were in the old time. Help me find our Father.”
Gabriel kept silent. With a snap of his fingers the screen turned black and the sound effects shut themselves down. He remained quiet for a while. What if he actually accepted to follow his brother on his hopeless quest to find God? He promised Loki not to interfere with his brothers never mentioning his father . But seriously, why would he abandon his life of freedom, doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted? He was accountable to no one.
But was it freedom, or loneliness?
His brother was looking at him with an intense gaze. Gabriel could not read his expression.
“Fine, what’s your plan?” The archangel sighed dramatically. He knew he was going to regret this. Castiel seemed to un-tense a little. It was subtle, like when the wind is just a little colder than the static air, but it was there.
“Thank you brother,” said the angel of Thursday, with a small incursion of the lips. “My plan is: We find God, inform Him that the hellhounds will in less than a month be coming for The Righteous Man, that the apocalypse is about to start, and He will stop it.” It was funny what Castiel could say with a straight face. Gabriel just shook his head, hit by how naive his brother had remained even after everything .
“Fine. Good plan, let’s… let’s do that.” He smiled at the other angel who immediately brightened. “I have a few conditions first, though,” Gabriel said, raising an index to pause him. He stood up to equalize their sizes. (Well, equalize more, not perfectly, Castiel’s vessel was still taller.)
“Anything you want,” replied the brown-haired angel solemnly.
“You must not tell the other angels that I am doing this.” He started by the obvious. The other angels shouldn’t find him. At any cost. He walked closer toward Castiel, the cinema going blurry around them, before dissolving itself into a much smaller room, probably belonging to a recently abandoned building. He needed him to understand that this was not a matter of jokes. “I don’t even know how you found me in the first place, but if they learn that you know where I am, they will want me to fight in this war, which, I do not want.” He forced a short smile that looked anything but natural.
“Revealing your position was never my intention,” assured Castiel.
“Good,” the archangel said. And then, just like that, he was all smiley and playful again. “Which leads us to my second demand…” he paused for a more dramatic effect, “I want an executive vehicle.” Castiel’s head tilted.
“I am not sure to understand.” Watching his angelic brain try to process the demand was exquisite.
“Let’s steal a car Cassie!” he exploded, the room turning a little brighter as he did.
“But that’s illegal,” protested Castiel. Gabriel laughed.