Title:Family Feud

Author: theblackrose16

Beta: elsa_kallan

Artist: rubystandish

Summary: Family is supposed to mean something. To Gabriel's family, it seems to mean war amongst his brothers and sisters. Unable to watch his family tear each other apart, Gabriel had fled to earth. There he had found his friend, Loki. Just when Gabriel had thought things might have been looking up for him, Loki was attacked and fatally wounded. His last request had been that Gabriel take his place amongst the Norse Pantheon. Suddenly, Gabriel had found himself as the new Loki, had six new children and people making offerings to him everywhere he looked. On the bright side, it provided one hell of a cover for him from his brothers that had been searching for him. The hardest part now though, would be explaining all of this to his mate, Sam Winchester.

Genre: AU | Slash

Pairings:Sam/Gabriel(Loki), Dean/Castiel

Warnings: Spoilers, language, minor character death, some descriptions of violence

Rating: PG-13

Word Count:3, 164

Written For: spn_reversebang 2011 on livejournal.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Family Feud

Two Thousand Years Ago

Family.

It meant something different and yet the same thing to everyone, be they human, monster or some other supernatural being. Family was supposed to be the one thing that you could count on, the ones that should have your back no matter what. It brought to mind pictures of love, people that care for you, worried about you.

But not Gabriel's family.

There was anger; their family was divided, torn apart. His older brothers had outright declared war on each other. His family members, his brothers and sisters, were quite literally ripping each other to shreds.

He couldn't take it anymore.

The constant fighting was too much for Gabriel to bear, he didn't want to be forced to pick a side. To him it was unimaginable. So he left. He ran away to Earth determined to stay as far away as was possible from his family.

It hurt. It hurt like nothing Gabriel had ever experienced before, being cut off from his family, but the alternative, to sit by and watch his brothers and sisters, his family, kill each other was worse, much worse.

So he grit his teeth, stayed on Earth and began hiding himself beneath layer after layer of magic, wards and protection charms, some that had long been forgotten by all but a few. He had help in the form of his friend, Loki, the Norse Trickster god. He and Loki had become friends over the centuries as Gabriel had come to earth on various assignments.

As he stood in some little nameless village in the middle of nowhere up in the snowy mountains, Gabriel felt the slight tug on his grace indicating that someone, a friend, was calling out to him. He had blocked his brothers and sisters from being able to call to him in an effort to stay hidden so it couldn't be one of them.

He internally examined the pull towards the direction of the call and realised that it was Loki who was calling him and he sounded desperate.

With a flap of his wings, invisible though they were, Gabriel flew towards where he could sense Loki and arrived moments later to be greeted by a horrible sight.

The clearing in which he had landed looked like something straight out of a battle field except that there was large scale destruction and several still burning and smoking trees indicating that it had been a supernatural battle that had taken place.

Aside from the crackling of the fires still burning, the night was eerily quiet, too quiet. The silence wasn't natural and put Gabriel on edge.

He reached out searchingly with his grace and was able to determine that whoever was responsible for the massacre and destruction had left and was no longer anywhere in the vicinity of the clearing.

There were a few bodies that Gabriel couldn't identify scattered across the clearing, some half obscured by various vegetation illuminated by the full moon, and then as he walked cautiously across the clearing, he came upon a fallen body that he did recognise.

It was Sigyn, Loki's wife. The only reason he was able to recognise her was because she was the only deity that he knew of with that particular shade of red hair. It was something that she had been trying out for the last two centuries. The rest of her was almost unrecognisable though.

There were cuts littering her body as well as several scorch marks that, if he had to guess, Gabriel would say came from either fireballs or lightning bolts. Her body was covered in mud and bits of grass. The red and cream dress that she loved to wear so much was shredded and in tatters around her body.

Unable to stand looking at her battered, lifeless body any longer, Gabriel took a step back and glanced around the clearing. Loki had to be somewhere nearby if Sigyn's body was lying there.

A shape off to the side a few feet away from Sigyn's dead body caught Gabriel's attention. Seeing the figure move slightly, he hurriedly made his way over to it, ignoring how the wet ground was soaked with blood instead of water.

Upon nearing the fallen figure, Gabriel was able to determine that it was indeed Loki and sank to his knees beside his friend.

A quick examination found that Loki was barely holding on by a thread. He had been fatally wounded and the wound was cursed, preventing any healing methods.

Gabriel helplessly laid a hand upon Loki's forehead, trying to get his friend to focus on him.

"Loki? Loki!"

Loki's eyes fluttered rapidly before he blearily opened them to half-mast.

"Gab'il?" his voice could barely be heard even in the silence surrounding them.

"Loki, what happened?" Gabriel tried to keep Loki's attention centred on him.

"You ha'e to ta'e it. Der h's to be bal'n'e," Loki tried to convey to Gabriel, managing to grab onto the angel's arm.

"Take what? Loki? Take what?"

"De p'wer," Loki whispered.

"Your powers?" Gabriel asked incredulously, finally understanding what Loki was trying to get across to him.

"Yes," Loki hissed, holding out his cut and bleeding hand towards Gabriel.

Gabriel looked down at his friend, stunned, his thoughts whirling around in his head. There was nothing that he could do for Loki. The Norse Trickster was going to die and very soon. He was also right that a balance needed to be maintained; all of his power had to go somewhere. Gabriel needed to find a way to hide from his family. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, even though he didn't need to breathe, Gabriel reluctantly conjured a blade, sliced it neatly across the palm of his hand. He grabbed Loki's offered hand with his own cut palm.

Loki managed to pull together the last vestiges of his strength to say his part in transferring his power to Gabriel.

"I, Loki, the Norse Trick'ter, son of Fárbauti and Laufey, br'ther of Helblindi a'd Býleistr. Lord of f're and pur'e'or of chaos. Fa'her of Hel, Fenrir, Jörmungandr, Nari, Sleipnir a'd of Váli. G've 'ver willi'gly and of my own fr'e will, all of my po'er, na'es and domi'ion," the last came out entirely too softly for Gabriel's piece of mind but he had to complete the ritual.

"I, Gabriel, Archangel of Judgment and the Messenger, do hereby accept and embrace the name of Loki. Norse Trickster, son of Fárbauti and Laufey, brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Lord of fire and purveyor of chaos. Father of Hel, Fenrir, Jörmungandr, Nari, Sleipnir and of Váli. Willingly accept and of my own free will, all of the power, names and dominion offered to me."

A blinding flash of light burst from their clasped hands and exploded outwards across the clearing and disappeared within seconds.

Gabriel, now also known as Loki, took a moment to acclimate to the sudden increase in his powers, hundreds of more voices now whispering in the back of his mind.

Loki shuddered and exhaled his last breath on a sigh, his hand going limp in Gabriel's grip.

Gently, Gabriel closed his friend's eyes and bowed his head in mourning.

He needed to find Loki's children, and now by extension because of the power transfer, his children.

Present Day

"…I've been Loki ever since," Gabriel trailed off, ending his explanation.

Gabriel was curled up on a bed in a motel room in Indiana with Sam Winchester. Gabriel had joined Team Free Will months before, shortly after Sam and Dean had confronted him in that warehouse.

Sam was sitting on the bed, his back propped up against the wall with an arm around Gabriel's shoulders. Gabriel was leaning against Sam's side, taking comfort in being close to his human mate.

The pair had become lovers about a month after Gabriel had sided with them. Dean and Castiel had finally pulled their heads out of their asses, ditched the denial boat and admitted their feelings towards one another. Ever since then, they spent a lot of their free time together, doing who knew what and Sam would rather not think too hard on it.

He and Gabriel had been left to their own devices together regularly and so in the spirit of trying not to alienate Gabriel, the youngest Winchester had endeavoured to get to know the archangel turned trickster better. They spent hours talking, Gabriel regaling Sam with stories of the many things and places he had seen over the centuries, people and deities that he had met along the way.

One thing led to another, it all snow balled until one night after a hunt that had gone badly and Gabriel had saved his life just in time, adrenaline still running high, the two had gotten into an argument that had led to them shouting at each other.

Neither was the type to back down, so they ended up right in each other's faces. A second later and Sam had slammed Gabriel against the wall behind the shorter being and proceeded to attempt to devour him. It had been passionate and rough, desperate with relief at not having to supress their growing feelings for each other any longer.

Dean had taken a few days to adjust to the change in Sam and Gabriel's relationship but as Sam had pointed out, if he had a problem with it then he was the world's biggest hypocrite.

While Sam was still trying to process everything that Gabriel had told him about how he had become Loki, his mind flashed to the reason that they had had the conversation in the first place.

FLASH

Sam was sitting in front of his laptop, scanning through news reports to see if any of them contained supernatural elements.

Dean had left not ten minutes ago to grab a burger and some fries from a diner two blocks over.

Gabriel waslyingonhisstomachonhisandSam'sbed, absently studying his lover across from him.

A knock on their motel room door had both Sam and Gabriel looking a lot more alert than they had been a mere second before, first at each other and then towards the door.

"You expecting anyone?" Gabriel asked his tall lover,a tiny frown appearing on his face when Sam's answer was negative.

Gabriel cocked his head to the side in an impression of Castiel before he relaxed, realising who was standing outside their door.

Sam was up, out of his seat and opening the door a second later before Gabriel could stop him. Not that it was all that important that he stop Sam, their visitors were no t a threat to them.

Sam froze as he was greeted with the sight ofsixpeople he had never seen in his life standing in front of him when he opened the motel room door. Sam thought that he could be forgiven for immediately being suspicious of strange people that randomly pitched up at his motel room.

"Um… can I help you with something?" he asked hesitantly, eyeing the strangers.

"It's okay,Sam.Let them in," Gabriel's voice spoke from behind him.

Sam took a step back and looked at his lover.Gabriel wasnolongerloungingontheirbed; instead he was standing three feet behind Sam,staring at their unknown visitors with a rare look of fondness that Sam was only used to having directed at him,Castiel and Dean.

"Dad," the only womaninthegroupexclaimed,rushing past Sam and throwing her arms around Gabriel.

Sam could only stand and watch in shock as the five men followed the woman into the room past him,each taking a turn to hug Gabriel and each one calling him "Dad".

"Err… Gabe?" the young hunter spoke, confusion colouring his voice.

Gabriel turned fromhis visitors to look at Sam sheepishly.

"Sam, um… these… are my children.

This is Hel," he began, indicating the young woman. She was shorter than Gabriel, had pale skin, ice blue eyes and a warm shade of brown hair.

"This is Fenrir and Jörmungandr," he pointed to the tall, blonde man beside him and then the young man with black hair and grey eyes.

"Nari, Sleipnir and Váli," he ended.

Nari had short, red hair while Sleipnir looked a lot like Gabriel. Váli had long blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail.

Gabriel turned back to his children with a sudden devious smile gracing his face.

"Children, this is my mate and your stepmother, Sam Winchester."

He ignored Sam's squawking for the moment, knowing that the younger man would be getting him back for it later and when he was least expecting it, in favour of answering the sudden barrage of questions his children were throwing at him.

"What?"

"When did this happen, Dad?"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"He's your mate?"

"How did this happen?"

Gabriel gave Hel a decidedly evil smirk.

"Well, Hel, sweetie, when two people really love each other, they…"

Hel's voice drowned out Gabriel's teasing explanation as she exclaimed, "Ewwww! Dad, no."

"Gabriel!" Sam objected loudly.

Sam wasn't a prude by a long shot; he couldn't be after living with Dean for all these years but Gabriel even mentioning their sex life in conversation with his kids made Sam slightly uncomfortable to say the least.

Gabriel shook his head at Sam, smiling, before turning his attention back to his children.

"What are you all doing here?"

It was Sleipnir that answer their father's question.

"We know about the Apocalypse and wanted to offer our help."

Gabriel's eyebrows rose and his mouth dropped open in surprise. Of all the reasons that he could have thought of, that was not very high on his list at all.

"I… thank you," he didn't know how else to respond so instead he said, "Why don't you all sort out whatever you need to and we can meet at home tomorrow night? I need to talk to Sam," the last was directed at the aforementioned hunter.

His suggestion was greeted by murmurs of agreement and each one of his children hugged him goodbye and then promptly disappeared until it was just him and Sam left in the motel room.

Gabriel sighed, pulled Sam onto their bed, curled up beside him and then quipped, "I suppose I have a lot of explaining to do?"

Sam snorted, "You think? For starters, how do you have six kids and have never mentioned them before now?"

"It's a long story Sam."

"Then get started, Gabriel," Sam told him.

"About two thousand years ago…"

FLASH

"So they're okay with you taking their father's place and calling you Dad?" Sam asked curiously.

Gabriel got a slightly pained look on his face that disappeared a moment later before he answered.

"Loki wasn't close to any of his children. It was one of the few things that we really disagreed on. When I became Loki and their father, I gave them a choice: they didn't have to see me again or I could try and be a father to them. They decided to give me a chance. We now have a tradition of having a family get together at least once every five years."

"You sometimes only see each other once every five years?" Sam exclaimed.

"You forget, Sammy Sam, that we are all very old. Five years is nothing to us. To us it's like once a week or two. I spend a lot of time with each of them individually, but every five years it's everyone all together."

Sam nodded his head slowly as he mulled through the new information. He occasionally forgot just how old his lover was, what with him acting like a four year old on a sugar high half the time. It just made it all the more strange that Gabriel was a father six times over.

Another thought occurred to him.

"How do they all look so human? Aren't they supposed to look a lot different?" he couldn't resist asking.

Gabriel smiled up at his lover. Trust Sam to know a little about nearly everything.

"When I became their father, I gave each one of them a gift. They are all able to shift into a human looking form so that they can blend in and be around others when they want to," he explained, rather proud that he had been able to do as much for his children.

"And the part about me being their stepmother?" Sam suddenly remembered Gabriel's outrageous declaration.

Gabriel snickered. He loved riling Sam up at the best of times and now was no exception.

"They are my children and I am their father. You are my mate ergo you are their stepmother," he informed Sam as though it was the most obvious answer in the world and now that the young Winchester actually thought about it, he really should have gotten it sooner.

"Still, do you have to call me their stepmother?" he whined, thankful that Dean wasn't around.

His brother would be having a field day and the jokes would be never ending if he ever caught wind of Gabriel calling him a stepmother.

"Sure I do, Sam-A-Lam," was the immediate answer.

Sam rolled his eyes. He'd learned by now that the more he protested against something, the more inclined Gabriel was to continue with whatever it was. It was simply easier for everyone if they didn't object too much.

"Are you going to allow them to help us?" Sam asked, on a more serious note.

"It's not like I could actually stop them all that much. As much as I want to protect them, they have a right to fight along with the rest of us," the archangel spoke softly, his voice hinting at the worry he felt for the others.

"We'll find a way, Gabriel," Sam tried to reassure him, squeezing his shoulders comfortingly.

"Course we will. We are talking about you Winchesters after all. You and your brother seem to thrive on doing the impossible," the shorter man muttered not completely sarcastic.

Sam suddenly groaned.

"What?"

"I just realized that I have to explain to Dean that he's an uncle."

Gabriel nearly fell off the bed he was laughing so hard. He almost had himself under control, when the eldest Winchester walked through the motel room door which just set him off again.

Dean dropped a bag of food on the table and eyed Gabriel's laughing form warily.

"Dude, what with him?" he asked Sam.

Sam internally winced, trying to come up with a way to start the conversation with Dean while Gabriel merely continued laughing at his predicament, alternating between looking at Dean's confused frown and Sam's deer caught in the headlights look.

Gabriel may have started out with a feuding family but now he had a new one. One where he was loved and family meant something and he couldn't have been happier.

Author's Note:I may write a sequel at a later date but I first have to finish some of my other stories. Hope you enjoyed this and a big thank you to rubystandish for the lovely art that inspired this.