Delivering Messages, part 1

Slinging the satchel over him, Gabriel made his way out of his Father's throne room.

"Oh come on, Dad, last time wasn't that bad." he exclaimed, turning around. "So I forgot to warn Atlantis that they'd get a leak. You can't take one tiny mistake and use that to base the outcome of the rest of my performances."

The next thing he knew was that he was outside and that the massive doors slammed shut behind him.

Gabriel made a peeved sound. "Figures."

He opened his satchel again to verify its contents. Yep. Seven, as always. He really did not get the fixation with that number around here, but whatever. He had a job to do, and for the sake of getting back into Dad's good graces again, he cannot afford any screw-ups. No mixed deliveries, no late deliveries, no picking up 'extra deliveries', no upsetting the clients in any means.

Sure, he can do this. He was an archangel.

He also had a selectively unreliable attention span.

Nonetheless, Gabriel secured his goods and prepared himself for the continent-hopping he had to do on Earth. He was about to depart when he saw a little blue light streaking the horizon.

A little blue light that was getting bigger and bigger and...

Gabriel was knocked onto his back as whatever had crashed into him sent them both an impressive distance away from where he had last been standing. After checking that his satchel was unharmed, Gabriel turned to look at the culprit.

It was a fledgling, one of his youngest brothers, in fact. His wings were extremely ruffled and Gabriel doubted it was because of the crash. He was a small thing; Gabriel could probably stuff him into his satchel and the kid would still have a lot of room to move around.  He chuckled at the thought of abducting one of his brothers just for the fun of it; that was certainly something he had not done yet.

His brother trembled and finally showed signs of recovering from the crash. The stun of the impact probably had not worn off yet judging by how slow the fledgling gathered his bearings. If he was in his right mind, he would have already sensed Gabriel's presence and would back off him and let out a practically endless stream of apologies for even touching an archangel.

The fledgling - Castiel, as Gabriel learned by his Grace - pushed himself up and saw Gabriel for the first time. Castiel literally fell off him in shock and began clumsily scrambling away from him.

"Easy, bro; take it easy. I'm not gonna smite you or anything." said Gabriel, getting up and approaching Castiel.

Castiel scrambled away from him again and used his wings to cover himself. Underneath them, Gabriel could hear him whimpering.

Great.

Gabriel lowered himself to Castiel's level to gently peel his wings from his face. "Hey, come on out. If I wanted to obliterate you, I would've done it by now." he coaxed, later realizing that they were not exactly the best choice of words.

Regardless, that seemed to get a reaction since Gabriel felt Castiel allowing his wings to be tugged aside. Castiel was currently staring at him with big blue eyes and Gabriel had a bit of trouble deciphering his thoughts.

"Alright, what were you doing zipping around the place like you got your wings on fire?" Gabriel asked.

Castiel glanced at his wings, almost like he wanted to make sure that they really were not on fire. "Zachariah assigned me an errand." he said quietly, refusing to look straight at Gabriel. "I was to fetch something from Virgil on the other side of Heaven, and he said that if I don't return within five seconds..." Castiel's eyes widened suddenly and he started to take flight.

However, Gabriel stopped him before he could go anywhere. "Hey, it's too late now. Your five seconds was up when you plowed into me like a comet." he said. Still, five seconds for a fledgling? All the way to the other side of Heaven? That seemed a lot to place on someone like him.

Castiel's expression morphed into utter surprise before pure, gut-wrenching fear replaced it. If he were human, he would be encountering severe medical problems by now, like - what did they call it? - hyperventilation?

"Hey, hey, take it easy there. Relax!" said Gabriel.

His brother treated his words like an order that should not be disobeyed and forced calmness into him. It was strained and fake and Gabriel wondered just how messed up Zachariah really made him.

As if on cue, Zachariah materialized in front of them.

"Castiel!" he thundered. "You impudent slacker, I thought I gave explicit instructions to - !"

He stopped immediately when he learned that Gabriel was there.

"Gabriel, sir... I-I didn't realize you were here." Zachariah said shakily, squeezing out a pleasant demeanor and bowing several times.

Gabriel snorted. "Obviously."

That caused Zachariah to stiffen in dread. "Sir, forgive me for my rude arrival. I was simply concerned over one of the fledglings under my care. I didn't want dear Castiel to get lost along the way or... accidentally hurt himself while handling  - "

"Yeah, yeah. Listen," Gabriel walked toward Zachariah until he was towering over him; he tried not to laugh when it was clear Zachariah was scared. "As of this moment, Castiel is under my supervision, and this is to be until the time I decide to relinquish him as my charge. During that period, you nor anyone else have no authority to give him any orders. Am I clear?" he asked.

Zachariah trembled, even more so than Castiel. He had questions, obviously, regarding this random order, but he was too terrified to say them. "Yes, sir. Perfectly clear!" he squeaked.

Gabriel gave him a final, penetrating glare before breaking into a smirk. "Great! Glad we had this talk! We should hang out some time!" he said cheerfully.

He snapped his fingers and Zachariah disappeared before he could respond. Somewhere in Heaven, he reappeared and landed into mud.

With that done, Gabriel returned to Castiel, who was looking at him with confusion and wonder.

"Am... Am I really your charge now, sir?" he asked, still kind of shocked at what just happened.

"Yep. And as my first order, don't call me sir; it makes me sounds like a stuck-up bastard without a real life." Gabriel remarked.

Rather than be intimidated, Castiel tilted his head. "But why, si-? Why?" he inquired shyly. "There are other angels worthier of being directly under your service."

Gabriel sat down next to him. "True. But after that little collision a while ago, I thought it'd be best for you to get your dignity back." he said jokingly.

Castiel, however, took it way too seriously and hung his head and wings down in shame. "I'm sorry." he muttered.

"Don't. I get enough apologies everyday for the stupidest of things." he commented. "Come on, flying headfirst into an archangel? That's gotta be embarrassing. And with how things work around here, I bet that already half of Heaven knows about your mishap."

Okay, he really was not good at cheering up his younger siblings.

"My point is, what better way to redeem yourself than having the very rare opportunity of working side-by-side with yours truly?" Gabriel explained, flashing him his best smile.

Castiel stared at him for a long time. "Side-by-side?" he repeated.

"You heard me. You're not my personal lackey, I'm not your power-hungry superior. It's about time we have some equality around here." said Gabriel.

To someone like Castiel, this would be the equivalent of a human child getting a gigantic unicorn for their birthday.

"I'm also doing this because you've obviously been working too hard. What, does Zachariah order you around like that all the time?" Gabriel pointedly asked.

Castiel turned his gaze to the ground, as if even speaking about Zachariah was something he should take great caution in. "Today, he is actually quite merciful." he replied.

That was merciful?

"I rest my case. You need a break, and I could use interesting company." Gabriel declared with finality.

He could tell that Castiel was struggling to keep up with this reality. "What am I to do?" he asked. Castiel still held himself with poise and spoke far too politely for Gabriel's liking. No matter, he would loosen him up.

"You're going to help me with my job as The Messenger, which, really, is just dropping off Dad's mail to a couple of humans." said Gabriel lightly.

Castiel gaped at him, his stare alone speaking volumes. "I..."

Gabriel huffed out a laugh. "What? You didn't think that an awesome archangel as myself would be associated with boring work?" he jibed.

It took a while for Castiel to find his voice. "Are you certain I should be involved?" he asked incredulously.

Gabriel thought about giving him the menacing 'Are you questioning my authority?' line just to mess with him, but he figured his brother had had enough shocks for today. "Absolutely! I mean, are you aware of how fast you are, bro? You flew so fast you knocked me down, and that's saying something. Trust me, if I know you can't keep up with me I would've just let you alphabetize the mail in the office." he remarked somewhat proudly.

For all Gabriel knew, Castiel could be trying to hide into himself again due to shame, or he could be trying to suppress a smile. He was a tough nut to crack.

Anyway, back to business. Gabriel reached for his satchel and unloaded its contents for Castiel to see. "Alright, before we go, I'll explain the basics." he began. "Messages have their own version of hierarchy, namely bronze, silver and gold."

Gabriel picked up one of the bronze Messages and held it in front of Castiel. "This is a bronze, although I think you got that part. Anyway, each hierarchy corresponds to a different content. Bronze holds ideas, like for a new invention or a new way of thinking that would revolutionize the whole joint. Just insert this into the human melon and their creative juices will start pumping like there's no tomorrow." he explained.

He got a silver Message next. "Silver, for dreams and prophecies. It's almost the same banana as the bronze except you gotta put this while the human's asleep. So that's three for the bronze, three for the silver and..."

"One gold," said Castiel, picking up the last Message. Instantly, Castiel's light dimmed by a quarter.

Gabriel quickly snatched it away from him. "Yeah, the gold. You alright there?" he asked.

Castiel looked at him blearily, wings drooping in fatigue, before his Grace replenished the light he lost and he regained his strength.

"Okay. Good. That's a close call." Gabriel sighed in relief.

"What happened to me?" Castiel asked, fear edging his words.

"You just had your life energy sucked out." Gabriel replied solemnly. He held the gold Message out, but paid in mind to distance it from Castiel; he was having second thoughts about letting Castiel help him. "Gold is for declarations. I don't just slip this into some guy's head, I have to read it to them personally and see to it that the numbskulls do what's been written. You can live without the other two, but don't ever take the gold one lightly. Whatever's in it's so important it needs the essence of life to keep the message intact. And judging by how much energy it needs, I'm guessing this is the most important Message yet, like change-the-world-forever-important."

There was silence for a long time.

"How come it's not stealing your energy?" Castiel piped up.

Gabriel smirked and stowed the Messages back into his satchel. "I have a lot of energy I can afford to expend." he said. He got up. "So, you ready?"

Uncertainty flashed briefly across Castiel's face. "Yes." he said.

"Awesome." Gabriel unfurled his wings and he noticed Castiel stumble in amazement at the sight of them. "Would you stop freaking out?" he laughed, though there was a chance he might have intentionally made them flashier than usual. "Oh yeah, you do know how to breathe, right?"

"I'm... aware of the mechanics." replied Castiel nervously.

"Close enough."

In less than a second, they were gone.

O_x

On Earth, in a rainforest at dawn, Gabriel made a perfect landing into his vessel. Castiel touched down beside him soon after. As Gabriel settled into his meat-suit and checked its condition, he noticed his brother staring at him.

"I know, this guy could use a bit of a growth spurt, but he's great anyway." said Gabriel.

"Do I... Do I have to select a vessel as well?" Castiel timidly inquired, and Gabriel had no clue whether his tenseness was because he was talking to an archangel or he was normally like this.

"At your age, not really. I doubt your Grace can handle a soul yet, let alone hearing a human's voice in your head; I can't have you being traumatized by that." he laughed, albeit it was not a joke.

Gabriel stood back a little to inspect his brother's form and essence; Castiel shrank into himself again at being scrutinized. "Hold still." he instructed.

He snapped his fingers.

Castiel looked down at himself and was more than a little surprised at his new appearance. Slowly, he raised his hands in front of him, hands with actual skin, bone and blood, and wiggled his fingers experimentally. He gave his abdomen a tentative poke, and he retracted his hand quickly as if he might upset the internal organs he now had. He wiggled his toes and took a wary first step with his new legs; that caused a lock of his dark hair to fall onto his forehead. Castiel put his hands on top of his head and apprehensively felt the hair he currently had. He let out a sound that could have been both a laugh and a cry of horror.

Conjuring a long mirror, Gabriel chuckled despite himself. "Like it? You'll drive the local virgins wild!" he said, presenting the mirror to Castiel.

Eventually, Castiel got the courage to approach the mirror and see his whole new self. Gabriel watched as fascination replaced fear in his brother's expression, which was presently much easier to read. He looked like a typical child in that get-up, albeit the white and blue robe he had on betrayed his angelic nature a tad.

"Before you ask, that's not a real human body. It's just a convincing façade that'll let you blend in and actually interact with people. And you really do need to work on your social skills." Gabriel stated, getting rid of the mirror.

It took some time for Castiel to respond. "I'm to interact with humans?" he asked diffidently.

"Call it training for when you get a real vessel, plus an excuse to have some fun." Gabriel smirked and ruffled Castiel's hair, to which Castiel reacted by going stiff and shrinking into himself.

Gabriel sighed; he really had to work on getting Castiel out of his shell, show him that an archangel can be his brother. "Alright! So, the first Message we gotta drop off is this." He pulled out a silver Message from his satchel, then gestured at a settlement located nearby.  "We'll start small first. I'll drop this off to our guy, and for now you watch over the rest of the mail." he instructed, dumping the satchel onto Castiel, who faltered for a moment. "The combined energy of these Messages is usually enough to raise the humans' senses and suspicions that something's going on, and our business prefers to work incognito, know what I mean? We can't have a whole village waking up at the same time. So just stay put, keep the energy at a distance, and I'll be back before you know it."

He went and left a flabbergasted Castiel in the dark.

Gabriel fleetingly considered showing a bit more compassion to the kid, like slowing down the turn of events or asking if he was even okay with this. Still, it was fleeting.

As morning officially came, Gabriel imparted the Message to its rightful addressee, who was sleeping on a hammock outside his hut. When he returned to where he left his brother, Castiel was gone.

If he was not under Dad's leash right now, he would be cursing up a storm that will shame the Big Flood.

This was bad; seriously bad. They were not even here for five minutes and he already lost his brother? Did Castiel just wander off on his own? No, he did not seem like the type to do something without asking permission first. Did Dad think bringing him here was a bad idea and pulled him back home?

"Greetings. Is this child yours?"

Gabriel turned swiftly and saw a woman before him, with Castiel beside
her. "Yeah, he's with me." he replied smoothly.

"I hope you don't mind that I moved him." she said. "I was on my way to fetch water when I noticed him just standing by himself. He appeared frightened and lost."

He still looked like that now, perhaps more so since a human had a hand on his shoulder, Gabriel noted. "He's just shy. My brother's not used to meeting people." he honestly remarked.

"Your brother?" The woman – Kera – looked down at Castiel, who quickly made his way behind Gabriel to hide. He was actually more scared of coming into contact with a human than an archangel! "Why did you leave him alone? This is not a safe place to disregard children, especially in darkness!"

Disregard? He was totally regarding Castiel! "Well, we're just passing by anyway. I just had to drop off something and we'll be on our way. Besides, Castiel's a big boy." replied Gabriel.

Kera put a hand to her hips and shook her head. "Would you two at least like some breakfast before you go?" she asked.

Gabriel instantly perked at that. "We'd love breakfast, wouldn't we, bro?" he responded, pulling a rigid Castiel from behind and putting him in front.

"Very well. Follow me please." she said, ambling to the right. Gabriel grabbed his satchel from Castiel, as well as his brother's hand, and pursued her.

"Hey, don't be scared, alright? It's just breakfast, then we can set off." whispered Gabriel, patting Castiel's back.

Castiel tried to calm down. "What's breakfast?" he asked a moment later.

It was getting harder not to swear. Did he at least know how to eat? Because if not, they would have an awkward situation. Gabriel was about to explain when he noticed that they were already at Kera's front door.

"Just do what I do." said Gabriel, winking, before they crossed the threshold.

While Kera prepared their food, Gabriel plopped down onto the nearest chair. He then snatched up Castiel (who gave a little squeal in the process) and placed him on top of his lap. Gabriel jiggled his leg to remove the anxiety from his brother, and by the time their food arrived, the sole expression on Castiel's face was curiosity.

It was fresh, honey-coated bread with fruit filling, plus two cups of milk. Gabriel thought that this would be an excellent 'first-food' for Castiel.

"Help yourselves. I'll just be in the next room." said Kera pleasantly as she went through another door.

When they were alone, Gabriel grabbed a piece of bread and started munching on it immediately. About halfway done, he noticed Castiel staring with his head tilted to one side.

Gabriel got a piece of bread and handed it to Castiel. After that, he continued eating his own bread, but at a slower pace so Castiel can follow: open mouth, chew, swallow.

Gabriel was already on his fourth bread when Castiel finally raised his bread to his mouth to take a tiny bite. He gradually chewed twice, and a few seconds later, Castiel's eyes widened and he let out a surprised, contented noise.

"Not bad, huh?" Gabriel remarked, watching his brother chew faster then take a bigger bite.

Once all the bread was gone, the cups of milk were next. This time, Castiel willingly grabbed his own cup. Gabriel sipped once and waited for Castiel to copy. Castiel tipped his cup, and while he managed to drink, most of the milk spilled onto his robe. Gabriel laughed; he really was like a human child.

Suddenly, there was the sound of loud wailing. Castiel was so shocked that he spilled the rest of his milk on him; Gabriel snapped his fingers to clean him up, right before Kera emerged with a baby in her arms.

"Hush, hush..." she cooed.

While Gabriel had been through many tortures in his existence, they were all currently denigrated by the sheer intensity of the baby's crying. Seriously, if he was not on business right now, he will not hesitate to stuff a potato into its mouth simply to make it stop.

"Would you care to hold him? I'll just get him his food," said Kera, stepping forward.

No. No freaking way! Gabriel had nothing against babies, but he was not going to hold a bawling, kicking, smelly, drooling, squishy lump of flesh. He was about to tell her that when Kera knelt down to Castiel. She demonstrated to him how to properly hold a baby, and when she transferred her still-crying son to him, Gabriel felt his brother's Grace leap in surprise.

When Kera left, Gabriel snuck a glance at Castiel, who was struggling with his hold on the baby. "Good luck there, bro." he said cheekily.

Castiel finally got him in the right position, and the baby instantly quieted down. Gabriel checked to see what happened and saw that the baby and Castiel were having a sort staring contest, both of them treating the other like he was the most fascinating thing in the universe; what was worst was that they were doing that on Gabriel's lap. The baby raised his hand and placed it on Castiel's chest, its eyes growing wider.

"You're not using your powers, are you?" Gabriel whispered.

Castiel shook his head.

Just then, Kera walked in; she was also surprised at the unexpected silence. "Thank goodness he calmed down." she remarked, picking up her son.

He started crying again when Castiel was no longer holding him.

Before anything else could happen, Gabriel got up, grabbed Castiel and made for the door. "So uh, thanks for the breakfast! We'd love to stay and have some more but we got places to go, people to meet…"

"Wait! Take these with you." said Kera, her right hand extended and holding something.

Wind-chimes.

"Uhm... sure. Why?" Gabriel asked, getting them.

Kera struggled a moment with her son. "For your brother." she replied.

He glanced at Castiel, who was as transfixed on the wind-chimes as he had been on the baby. Gabriel wanted to ask more questions but they really had to leave; their cover was already blown.

The second they were outside and out of Kera's sight, they flew.

O_x

They landed on the other side of the world, at the borders of a city in the desert.

"Mind telling me what these are for?" Gabriel asked, dangling the wind-chimes.

"I don't know. I didn't say anything to her." said Castiel, his tone begging Gabriel not to punish him. "But..."

"But?" pressed on Gabriel.

A hesitation. "I was gazing at something similar in another human's dwelling while waiting for you. She must've thought I liked it." admitted Castiel.

"Do you?"

A longer pause. "Yes."

Gabriel rolled his eyes, then chuckled as he ruffled his brother's hair. He conjured a small backpack and gave it, plus the wind-chimes, to Castiel. "Here, put your shiny souvenir in the pack. I can't have you jingling everywhere we go." he laughed.

Castiel did as he was told, and Gabriel put the backpack on him when he was finished. "This time you're tagging along. The entire city's awake so everyone's gonna feel a buzz everywhere." he said.

They entered the gates and were soon immersed in the crowd. There were a lot of people still out and about even though it was getting dark; instinctively, Gabriel pulled Castiel closer and quickened his steps. Soon, they reached the building where their next client was holed up in a meeting of some kind. It seemed like he would be there a while. Sighing, Gabriel sat down on the front steps of the building and motioned for Castiel to do likewise.

"We're going to wait?" Castiel asked.

"Unfortunately." grumbled Gabriel.

"Why can't we just go in?" he added.

Gabriel's lips curled into a smirk. "Dad says I should try acting within the boundaries of human rules." he replied. Technically, that was not how He really phrased that; Dad's version was more… descriptively honest, and Castiel did not need to hear that.

So they waited.

A minute later, Gabriel was bored out of his mind.

An hour later, Castiel still looked like he could handle waiting for another century. Meanwhile, Gabriel had been pounding his head against the building due to sheer boredom. He wanted to conjure some entertainment, but his form of entertainment was way too 'eye-catching' and would make the people iffy in an instant. Maybe he could light a fire inside to get the guy out the building already! The next Message was a bronze anyway; maybe it would be for the invention of a fire extinguisher or something.

Then, a little girl skipped along and stopped in front of Castiel. Gabriel raised a brow in interest and leaned forward to see what would transpire.

Castiel and the girl stared for a long time before the latter reached into her pocket and extracted a pinwheel. She then presented it to Castiel; Castiel considered it nervously then turned to Gabriel for guidance. Chuckling, Gabriel made a 'take it' gesture.

When Castiel tensely took the pinwheel into his hands, Gabriel said, "Now, what do you say to the nice girl?"

His brother looked at him, then at the girl. "I don't understand this object." said Castiel.

Gabriel slapped a hand to his forehead. "Say thank you!" he communicated mentally.

"Thank you." Castiel recovered, flustered.

The little girl giggled, kissed him quickly on the nose, then ran away squealing.

Both angels sat in silence for a while.

"What I tell ya? First day on the job and the local virgins are already all over you!" Gabriel cheerfully remarked.

Castiel squinted at the pinwheel. "But… she hardly touched me." he commented.

Instead of sighing in annoyance, Gabriel released a boisterous laugh. "You'll get the hang of things soon enough." he said, further messing Castiel's already unkempt hair. This time, Castiel actually relaxed and allowed a tiny smile.

The doors of the building finally opened and their next client stepped out. As a breeze picked up, Gabriel took the time to pause and admire how his brother stared intently at the spinning pinwheel in his hands, like a human kid watching something magical unfold.

Getting the bronze Message out, Gabriel had no doubt that having his brother along for this ride was a good idea.

O_x

While Castiel had a better endurance than most fledglings, Gabriel was an angel who was extremely hard to keep up with. Upon reaching Africa, Castiel showed signs of exhaustion and Gabriel thought a five-minute pit-stop would do them good.

Naturally, he made them camp out in a tree-house in the middle of the Serengeti. And since it was nighttime, he conjured a load of pillows too.

"Ahh," Gabriel leaned back against a pile of pillows and put his feet upon another pile. Even though he only came to Earth to work, these were also the only times he could relax decently. He was away from all the chaos upstairs; sometimes he wished he could do this forever.

Tinkling noises broke the tranquility.

He cracked one eye open and saw that Castiel was fiddling with his wind-chimes, all the way on the other side of the tree-house. Gabriel bit back a sigh; his brother was still uncomfortable around him.

Sitting up, Gabriel called out, "Hey, Castiel, come over here a sec!"

Castiel stiffened in apprehension but put down his wind-chimes and crossed over the sea of pillows anyway. Gabriel patted the pillows next to him in a gesture to invite Castiel to sit beside him, which his brother eventually took.

Gabriel wrapped an arm around his small shoulders. "So, having fun so far?" he jovially asked.

It took a while for Castiel to answer. "I'm... contented." he offered.

Better than miserable at least, but Gabriel refused to have him still 'contented' by the time the job was done. He snapped his fingers and Castiel found himself with a zebra plush toy on his lap.

"What's this?" inquired Castiel.

"A toy." said Gabriel. "Since you've been getting freebies lately, I might as well add to the pot."

It was a gift from an archangel, a great privilege very few had ever received, something which Castiel was fully aware of. "Thank you." he said, enthralled.

"Nah, forget about it." Gabriel dismissed. There was silence for a moment. "You're okay with whole globe-trotting thing, right? You're not onboard just because I said so? 'Cuz if you wanna go back, that's fine with me. I won't force you to stay if you're unhappy." he stated.

Castiel stared at him with wide eyes for a long time. This was probably the first time the kid ever heard of a non-compulsory order; it was not even technically an order. All his life he had been directly following orders and rarely had he decided on something on his own, rarely had someone considered what he wanted. And to get this from an archangel was probably blowing his mind.

"I'd like to stay." concluded Castiel.

That made Gabriel smile like a proud brother. Without hesitation, he grabbed a pillow and hit Castiel.

Castiel's 'I-don't-understand-what's-going-on' expression was enough for Gabriel to hit him again. This time, Castiel fell over. Being the unmerciful archangel that he was, Gabriel hit him again despite his brother being down.

"Come on! Are you an angel of the Lord or not?" challenged Gabriel.

Suddenly, a pillow hit Gabriel so hard he went through the walls of the tree-house and landed on the ground.

Gabriel lied there on the grass for a minute.

"You call that a hit? You throw like a human girl!" he screamed, guffawing.

He flew back up, and the first, most epic pillow-fight ever commenced.

TBC