As Alatar says, bots and gods in the same place - that's an interesting scene to write.

Remember how Loki responded to hearing the bots' names initially? NOW PICTURE THAT THREE TIMES OVER.

This is the last chapter! :D Thanks for reading!

Chapter 9

The bots always seemed to wake up as one – more likely whoever woke up first had been informed by JARVIS that Gabriel was back, and had woken up everyone else – and they found him in the living room in short order. Gabriel pretended not to notice them sneaking up on him, and got dog-piled for his consideration.

"You came back really fast!" Dummy said delightedly.

"I promised, didn't I?" Gabriel gently removed Dummy's arms from around his neck. Dummy immediately climbed over the back of the sofa and plopped down next to him. Sam followed, trying to squeeze nemself into the space between the two of them.

"Dustin missed you," Butterfingers announced, unceremoniously dumping the cat into Gabriel's lap. Dustin purred, kneading Gabriel's legs.

"You said you'd come back," Dummy reminded him. "You didn't say when."

"I must've gotten better at this universal travel thing, then." Gabriel looped an arm around Sam, carefully not elbowing Dummy in the neck.

"What about our new siblings?" You asked hopefully.

"They're asleep," Gabriel said, and then grabbed Butterfingers's sleeve to stop her from dashing away. "Which is not an invitation to go waking them up. They're not used to people yet, much less you four, and besides, Sleipnir's the only one who speaks good English so far."

"How come?" Sam asked curiously.

"They haven't been able to interact with people a lot," Gabriel told nem. "Even Sleipnir's English is a little out of date, but it's all right, we already speak a bunch of languages between all of us."

"Then what do they speak?" Dummy asked.

"Old Norse."

There was a glazed look in their eyes that signaled they were looking up everything about old Norse that they could and compiling a database of vocabulary and grammar. It wouldn't be too long before they could understand it, although speaking would be another issue while they got their mouths wrapped around unfamiliar syllables and vowels.

"By 'out of date,' what do you mean?" Butterfingers asked him after she was finished. "Does he speak like Shakespeare?"

Gabriel couldn't hide a smile at the thought of Sleipnir dropping dick jokes left and right. "Not quite that old. Think Victorian English. It's not too different from how we speak nowadays."

"I was looking forward to dusting off my Middle English," Butterfingers muttered, pouting.

"You've never spoken Middle English," Dummy pointed out.

"I do now!" Butterfingers crossed her arms. "I thought I should learn just in case!"

"I was only gone for twelve hours, tops," Gabriel said. "Is that what you were doing the whole time I was gone?"

Sam looked up at him solemnly, though there was a glint of mischief in nir eyes."Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote/ the droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote/ and bathed every veyne in swich licóur—"

Gabriel put a hand over nir mouth, cutting nem off. "No, no, stop, we don't need to hear that entire thing. But that was really authentic," he added. "Brings me back to the old days when everyone did speak like that."

"Not the good old days?" Butterfingers asked.

"When nobody takes a bath except for maybe once a year if they're rich, things can only be so good," Gabriel replied. "You start developing a standard for that kind of thing once it's not the norm."

"Gross," Sam said. "Once a year?"

"People used to think dirt kept away demons and the like," Gabriel said. "If that was ever true, it was because the demons in question had standards." He could definitely see Crowley steering clear of anybody that didn't take baths.

"Do your other kids take baths?" Dummy questioned.

"Oh, yeah. Gods – and the Norse in general, really – were distinctly cleaner than most."

"Oh good." Dummy sighed in relief. "I could've dealt with it, but I'd rather keep breathing."

"Isn't that why spices were so popular?" You asked.

"Yeah, people knew that they stank, but they were pretty set on the no-baths thing. And the spices were more because the food spoiled and they wanted to cover up the taste." Not that covering the taste of spoiled food had done much about food poisoning.

"That's where perfumes came in, right?" Butterfingers mimed spraying perfume around her neck. "To cover up the fact that they didn't bathe. And the wigs." She paused, making a face. "They looked ridiculous."

"I'm not getting into that." Gabriel glanced to the side when he felt Gadreel's Grace brush against his, an alert that the boys were stirring. "Okay, if you guys don't mind hanging on for a few minutes, I'm going to see how the others are doing."

Sam leaned in, excitement radiating off nem. "Can we meet them?"

"Maybe." Gabriel brushed a hand over the back of nir head, ruffling nir hair slightly. "I'll let you know in a bit. They might not feel like it, though – being in a strange place can make people nervous."

"Getting to know people can make it better," Dummy pointed out.

"Maybe so, but we'll let them make that decision." Gabriel stood, giving the four of them a long look. "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

They answered him with four identical unimpressed stares. Even Sam, who hadn't seen everything nir siblings had, was in on it.

"You said that when you left," Sam reminded him.

"Did you listen?"

"Learning Middle English for fun seemed like something you would do," Butterfingers said.

"I didn't have to learn it, but that's a good point." Gabriel ignored the smug grin Butterfingers shot him. "In any case, I mean it. JARVIS is keeping an eye on you."

No one said anything as he left, but he did hear Sam mutter to the others, "When isn't he?"

Shaking his head and sending JARVIS a silent apology, Gabriel went to Gadreel, shooting him an inquiring glance. "All good?"

"They were quiet," Gadreel answered, leaning back against the wall next to the door. "I didn't sense any distress from them."

"Are they up, or are you just giving me an update?"

"They're awake," Gadreel replied. "Fenris seemed fascinated by the balcony, so I let him go outside, but I think the height of the building may have frightened him a little."

That was understandable, if not really good news.

Gabriel put a hand to the door, glancing back at Gadreel. "You mind staying out for a little bit longer?"

Gadreel inclined his head, eyes flicking sideways down the hall before returning to Gabriel's. "Of course not."

When Gabriel opened the door, the boys were huddled around the window, wide-eyed and whispering to each other. They all turned to look at him when he let the door click shut behind him.

"We're so high up!" Fenris said immediately, eyes wide. "You live here?"

"It's my building, as a matter of fact," Gabriel said in Allspeak. "Most big cities have skyscrapers now – that's what they're called." He grinned conspiratorially at them. "Mine's the biggest."

"You don't fall down?" Jormungandr glanced skeptically out the window. "What if something breaks?"

"Humans have gotten good at building very tall buildings," Gabriel reassured him. "If something was going to break, they've already figured out how to build these things so that doesn't happen. Besides, I'd notice before anything catastrophic happened."

Fenris and Jormungandr still didn't look convinced, although Sleipnir was nodding slowly, a considering look on his face.

Giving the outside world one last glance, Gabriel turned back to them. "Remember what we were talking about before? There are people here who would like to meet you. They're picking up Norse now. But you don't have to meet them yet if you're not ready."

They shot each other looks, an entire conversation held within a few seconds before they looked back at him.

"Yes," Sleipnir told him. "We would like to do that."

Gabriel didn't even have a chance to answer. There was a loud thud from outside the room, followed by frantic whispering and Gadreel hushing the offending parties.

"That would be them," Gabriel said dryly.

"To be fair, sir," JARVIS said, "you did tell them to not do anything you wouldn't do."

"Yes, I know, hoisted on my own petard." Gabriel put on a resigned sigh, raising his voice so the others could hear him. "No pressure, but you can see them now since they decided eavesdropping would be a good idea."

"That's okay," Fenris said, eyes on the door. "We can just kick them out if they get annoying, right?"

There was another flurry of whispering outside, concluded by a general agreement to not be annoying.

"You absolutely can," Gabriel said. "It's your space, so you can do what you want. I'd just advise against making holes in the floors or walls since it can destabilize the place. I mean, one or two holes aren't a big deal, but if you start making a bunch we're going to have a problem."

"What do you think we're going to do?" Fenris looked slightly bewildered, but also like he was suppressing a grin, which was a good sign.

"Who knows? You're all my kids. Anything could happen."

There was a sound like Dummy wanted to say something but was muffled by one of his siblings. Probably something about explosions.

"They can come in," Jormungandr said

None of the bots needed any other encouragement than that. They piled in and nearly tripped over each other when the door swung open. Gadreel stood behind them, a long-suffering look on his face. He simply shrugged when Gabriel raised his eyebrows, his look the equivalent of saying "you deal with them."

"Hi!" Dummy was up first, springing towards Fenris and beaming. He didn't reach out to touch him, though it seemed to be a close call. "I'm Dummy!"

Fenris blinked, taken aback. "You're what?" He sounded incredulous.

"Dummy," Dummy repeated, not losing his smile. He didn't seem to care that the other two were also staring at him. "It's my name."

As one, Fenris, Jormungandr, and Sleipnir turned to stare at Gabriel, horror on their faces.

"Don't look at me like that," Gabriel said. "Your names are just as weird nowadays."

"Dummy?" Sleipnir sounded horrified.

"Yes?" Dummy's smile was too innocent, his eyes wide.

"I'm Butterfingers," Butterfingers offered, an identical smile on her face. "That's You."

Sam didn't speak until they looked at nem, expressions all a mixture of horror and resignation. "Sam," was all ne said, shrugging.

"Those aren't names," Sleipnir protested, looking back at Gabriel. "They're insults. And a pronoun."

"Sam's definitely a name," Gabriel protested. "Besides, they're AIs! Which I created mostly on accident! I was also human at the time."

"And drunk," Dummy added helpfully. "You were definitely drunk."

"Unhelpful," Gabriel informed him, while Sleipnir's eyebrows approached his hairline.

"And you're all siblings?" Fenris asked Dummy, eyes flickering to the other three.

"Yep!" Dummy paused briefly, brow furrowing. Then, stumbling slightly over the next words, he added, "I'm the oldest. Sam's the youngest. But J looks like he's the oldest, only he's not."

"You named someone after a letter," Sleipnir said, sounding decidedly unimpressed.

"His actual name's JARVIS."

"Which is an acronym," Butterfingers said, knowing exactly what she was doing. She was speaking far too smoothly to not have rehearsed this before. "It stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. So, JARVIS!"

Gabriel resisted the urge to cover his face with a hand. "You're enjoying this too much."

"We take our entertainment where we can find it," Jarvis said from the door, looking far too amused with Gabriel's predicament. "In all fairness, sir, you are rather terrible with naming things."

"I never said I was good." Gabriel glanced at the older three. "These three were all named by the time I found them."

"Which I'm grateful for now," Jormungandr said. "So grateful."

"Who named you, then?" Dummy asked.

"My mom," Jormungandr told him, quite obviously leaving off a "duh" at the end. Except that wasn't Norse slang, but he was definitely implying the same kind of meaning.

All four bots looked up at Gabriel simultaneously.

"I'm pretty sure you all already know the answer to what you're about to ask," Gabriel said.

"Who was the mom?" Sam asked in a stage whisper, looking fascinated. "You didn't really do it with a—"

"Okay, no!" Gabriel shot the older three a betrayed look. They all looked back at him innocently. "Why is that always the first thing that people bring up?"

"It is rather fascinating," Jarvis said unapologetically.

"It's fake is what it is," Gabriel grumbled. "Thor probably made it up while he was drunk just to be petty. It's not like any surviving myths are primary sources." Jormungandr shifted uneasily at the mention of Thor, and Gabriel put a reassuring hand on his back.

"It's all we have," Butterfingers said reasonably. "So who did do it if you didn't?"

"How would I know? I wasn't there when Sleipnir was born or anything."

"But the myths say you did it," Sam insisted, tilting nir head and glancing at Sleipnir. "And you can turn into a horse if you want, right?"

Gabriel didn't answer, staring at nem for a long moment. Gadreel was far too amused, and even Jarvis had a hand over his face like he was hiding a smile. "All right," he said finally, turning to Sam's older siblings and fixing them with a stern face. "Who put Sam up to this?"

The guilty three glanced at each other, making faces and clearly communicating via their mental link.

"None of us did," You answered eventually, scuffing his shoe against the floor.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It's all Sam," Dummy said seriously, which didn't reassure Gabriel at all.

It wasn't as if Samael hadn't been a bit of a prankster back in the day. Or at least what an angel considered being a prankster, anyway.

But he hadn't exactly expected this.

Looking back at a far too innocent Sam didn't make him feel better. "I didn't turn into any horses," he said after a moment. "They're myths for a reason, Sam."

"They can't all be wrong," Sam protested.

"Well, nobody liked me much, so maybe take the ones about me with a grain of salt or two, next time," Gabriel said. "Besides, that one was written down hundreds of years after the Vikings stopped being a thing by a Christian guy."

Sam fixed him with a narrow-eyed look, seeming to evaluate what he'd said. "Okay," ne said eventually, huffing. "I'll stop." The unspoken "for now" shouldn't have been as hilariously terrifying as it was.

"Thank you," Gabriel said dryly. He turned back to the others, resolutely ignoring their amused expressions in favor of saying, "Everyone good? Names no longer a thing? You're going to get the same reaction from humans when you introduce yourself now."

Fenris turned to Dummy. "You mean you introduce yourself as Dummy to humans?"

"DJ," Dummy admitted. "Humans get weird if you have an insult for a name, and we can't explain how it worked to everyone." He glanced at Gabriel, adding, "Even though it's a nice name!"

Fenris didn't look any less confused by "DJ" as a name, and looked at Gabriel somewhat helplessly.

"How 'bout we finish this discussion on the way upstairs for breakfast?" Gabriel suggested, having long ago learned that food was a surefire way to distract them.

"Pancakes!" Dummy shouted immediately, making Jormungandr, who was closest to him, startle.

"Pancakes are doable," Gabriel said.

"Those are still around?" Sleipnir looked surprised.

"What are you talking about?" Fenris asked. "I've never heard of them."

"They're new," Sleipnir said. "Sort of."

"You'll like them," Gabriel assured them. "You can make them with fruits. You can also make them salty with vegetables."

"Just make sure it's not salty with fruits," Butterfingers whispered to Fenris, shooting a glance to an oblivious Dummy.

"Um…okay." Fenris followed her gaze uncertainly, clearly unsure as to what she meant.

"We may have had a few cooking mishaps from time to time," Gabriel said airily. "I'm sure J will intervene before anything like that happens."

"I'm thrilled to be placed on supervisor duty," Jarvis said dryly.

"You're the best at it, buddy." Gabriel grinned at him, before directing his attention back to his kids. "So! Let's relocate to the kitchen, because I do not have the ingredients or the stove necessary to make pancakes in my bedroom."

As the boys got to their feet, the bots eagerly scrambling to lead them in the right direction, Jarvis sidled up to Gabriel and ducked in closely to whisper, "Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes are currently in the kitchen. As are Agent Romanov and Sergeant Barnes."

Nodding, Gabriel called ahead to the kids nonchalantly, "Rhodey and the other two who you met will be joining us, by the way, along with Pepper. Which is a nickname," he added before anyone could ask about it. "She's essentially like family, so don't be too shy about saying hi."

"You gave her that nickname," Dummy reminded him, stumbling slightly over "nickname."

"I give everyone nicknames. They don't have to be good. That's why they're nicknames."

"Who is Pepper?" Sleipnir asked.

"She's a very old friend of mine," Gabriel explained. "She helps me out a lot, too. You'll like her, I promise; she's probably the nicest person in the tower."

"Except Steve," You said.

"Maybe tied with Steve," Gabriel amended. "You guys haven't met Steve yet, though."

"Steve is awesome," Sam agreed. "He gives the best piggyback rides!"

"Piggyback rides?" Jormungandr and Fenris asked at the same time.

"You mean he turns into a pig?" Fenris added.

Sam opened nir mouth to respond, only to shut it a second later and fix Fenris with a suspicious look. "Piggyback rides aren't new," ne said with certainty. "I know you had them."

"Damn, this kid's a prankster." Fenris sounded admiring.

Sam preened, grinning toothily. "You'll like him," ne repeated lightly. "He can carry you guys, too! Even though you're all bigger than me."

"Is he as strong as you?" Sleipnir looked up at Gabriel.

"Nah," Gabriel said. "He's pretty strong for a human, though. He could lift you in both forms, I bet, though giving you a ride while you're a horse would be awkward."

Sleipnir seemed like he was picturing it, though he shook his head a few seconds later.

Further speculation on the nature of piggyback rides was put to a halt as they came to the kitchen and Dummy ran in.

"Aunt Pepper!" Dummy cried, bounding over to where she was sitting at the kitchen table and nursing a cup of coffee. "Look who Dad brought home!" He slipped into Norse in his excitement. "Aren't they awesome?"

"I have no idea what you just said, but I agree," Pepper told him fondly, looking up to take in the newest arrivals.

"We're getting pancakes," Dummy continued excitedly.

Pepper raised her eyebrows. "Who's cooking?"

"If someone wants to volunteer, I won't object," Gabriel said, looking over to an amused James and Natasha. Rhodey was steadfastly looking elsewhere. "Pepper, meet our newest family members, even though they're technically the oldest ones here aside from me."

Sleipnir offered her a small wave.

"You guys are like me, then," Dummy said, bouncing on his feet. "I'm the oldest, but I don't look it. And J's only older than Sam."

"How old are you?" Jormungandr asked curiously.

"Dad built me back in nineteen eighty-seven, so I'm twenty-seven."

Jormungandr looked him over, looking somewhat impressed. "I'm eight hundred and sixty-eight," he said.

"Oh," said Dummy, looking far more impressed.

Gabriel paused in rustling through the kitchen cabinets. Jormungandr wasn't that old – well, no, counting the time he'd been…indisposed…

Huh. They must have sat down and figured out their proper ages, at some point.

"You guys picked up Norse fast," Rhodey said.

"That's 'cause we have the internet," Sam said, hopping up onto a stool besides Pepper. "And really good memories. But speaking's a little difficult."

"You're better at it than me," Butterfingers said, taking the other chair next to Pepper before Dummy could. "Even though I'm older."

"I've got better neuroplasticity than you because I'm younger." Sam stuck nir tongue out.

Gabriel privately thought it was due to something other than Sam's age or nature as an AI, but he wasn't going to bring it up.

"You're cooking?" Natasha asked Gabriel, sounding amused.

Gabriel shrugged. "No one else volunteered. I'm not that bad of a cook."

"Snapping up an entire table's worth of food isn't cooking."

Gabriel rubbed his fingers together, raising an eyebrow. "What is it, then? I'm making food, which is really what cooking's all about."

"The man has a point," Rhodey said, ruffling Dummy's hair as he sat down. "Maybe it's a bad point, but it's a point."

Grumbling, Gabriel turned back to the stove, turning on the heat and absentmindedly starting a batch of pancake mix with a flick of his fingers. "No appreciation for the art of cooking."

"I don't know what you define as cooking, but snapping your fingers and making food just appear isn't it," James said slowly.

"Cooking can be defined as 'food that has been prepared in a particular way,'" Butterfingers said, "according to Google. I think this sorta counts."

"That's a secondary definition," Dummy countered, evidently having located the page Butterfingers was on.

"Nobody who complains about my method is getting any pancakes," Gabriel announced. "You can forage in the pantry."

"Your cooking is awesome," Rhodey said promptly. "It's the best I've ever had."

Gabriel looked back at him, unimpressed. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"Is it flattery if it's true?"

"You're not exactly telling the truth here."

"I'm fine with whatever you're making," Pepper said, not looking up from her coffee.

Natasha raised her hand, somehow making it look mocking. "Are we allowed to complain if you admit that Rhodey saying it's good is a lie?"

Gabriel pointed the spatula at her. "You can go search the pantry for breakfast. I'm pretty sure we have some dried out cereal in there that Clint started and abandoned."

Natasha got up gracefully and meandered into the pantry. "I'm sure I'll manage."

"It's got bananas in it," Gabriel said. "Dried out bits of bananas."

"I like bananas."

"Including shriveled pieces of bananas that have never seen daylight?"

"Whatever works." Natasha strolled back out with her hand in a bag of goldfish. "Have fun with the pancakes."

"I plan to," Gabriel called after her, and he was going to, damn it, if he hadn't been interrupted by the sudden arrival of a local goddess.

The pancake batter didn't spill, but that was only because it had been stirring by itself on the counter. He didn't drop the spatula either, instead pointing it at Hela. "Whatever happened to an advance warning?"

After a moment of silent astonishment, Pepper covered Sam's eyes.

Sam tilted nir head. "You know I can use the cameras, right?"

"You are impossible," Pepper told Gabriel, shooting scandalized glances in Hela's direction.

"What?" Gabriel took another look at Hela and realized what had made Pepper cover Sam's eyes. Her outfit was rather revealing by Earth's standards. "Ah. You know, to be honest, I didn't even notice."

Rhodey politely looked away. "I shouldn't be surprised at this point."

Sighing, Gabriel set the spatula down and turned towards Hela. "Did you make a decision?"

Looking decidedly unimpressed with everyone around her, Hela nodded curtly. "I have."

Fenris, Jormungandr, and Sleipnir were staring at her, eyes wide. Fenris looked at Gabriel, mouthing "Hel?" and pointing at her.

Inclining his head in answer to their question, Gabriel didn't look away from Hela. "And?"

"I will come with you to this other universe," Hela announced, somehow managing to make it sound regal even though she was standing in the middle of a kitchen with seven kids and several unimpressed adults. One of whom was currently eating goldfish like they were popcorn with zero regard for how loudly crunchy they were; James was helping her finish them off. "If I am to put things in order, then I need to see how they are."

"Completely understandable," Gabriel said. He was tempted to add "but your timing could have been better," which would definitely have earned him a sharp poke from Loki if the latter had been here. Actually, he would have been poked before just for the behavior of the others. Which he had no control over. "When would you like to leave?"

Rhodey was giving him incredulous eyebrows, and Pepper was eyeing him like he'd eaten something funny (which hadn't happened that often). It took Gabriel a moment to realize they were concerned by his behavior, but he couldn't exactly drop everything and shoot them a reassuring smile or something.

Hela's smile was thin-lipped. "Would now be too much of an imposition?"

Gabriel gave her a sharp smile, thinking of Hel, waiting for him to come through on his end of this plan. "Now would be perfectly fine."

Fenris looked vaguely alarmed, most likely recognizing that smile. "Now?"

"I'll only be a moment." Gabriel tossed the spatula in the sink. "Pepper's in charge." He rounded the counter, offering a hand to Hela. "Shall we?"

Hela held his gaze as she accepted, her hand cold in his. "Of course."

In the short second before he took off, Gabriel gave everyone else in the kitchen a brief smile and a wink.

Then they were gone.

Gabriel settled easily back into the atmosphere of his old universe, but Hela gave off an air of general prickliness – no doubt she was feeling ever-so-slightly out of place.

He'd put them down in a relatively isolated area, thickly forested and probably rarely seeing any kind of human traffic. Aside from not wanting to be interrupted, the further they were from the bustle of human activity, the easier it would be for Hel to find them.

"This place is very…different," Hela said delicately. Gabriel wasn't sure whether she meant that as a good thing or not.

"It could be a nice change, depending on how much one liked where they came from," Gabriel said idly.

Hela crossed her arms. Maybe that had been too unsubtle. "Where is your other Hela?"

"Give me one moment," Gabriel replied. "I have to let her know we're here, and ask for permission first." Not that he personally planned on entering Niflheim again if he could help it; even Helheim would be pushing it, probably. However, it was really easy to send another short message pinging down the world tree to somewhere Hel would be able to hear it.

A couple of black specks, too high up to be properly bird-shaped, soared overhead. Gabriel eyed them for only as long as it took to be sure they weren't ravens, and when he lowered his eyes, Hel was there.

"Father," she said primly, dipping her head in greeting. Hela raised her eyebrows, but didn't comment.

Gabriel clapped his hands together. "I brought you a prospective friend," he said. "You know how I feel about your realm, so I thought maybe you could hash things out together?" He hoped Hel didn't mind the slight insult, but he was trying to sell this thing to Hela.

Thankfully Hel didn't react beyond inclining her head slightly, eyes flickering to Hela. "Of course." She stepped forward, coming closer to Hela and meeting her eyes unflinchingly. "I am Hel. If you would like, we could move this elsewhere."

"Hela," Hela answered shortly, her entire bearing dismissive. "Would it be too much trouble to discuss this in your realm? It would afford us privacy not found elsewhere."

Hel glanced sideways at Gabriel for the briefest second. "Of course," she said smoothly, offering Hela her left hand – her dead hand. "I'm afraid you'll have to let me guide you, since this version of Yggdrasil is so unfamiliar."

Hela's reaction to the subtle insult must have been pretty spectacular, but sadly Gabriel didn't get to see it since Hel whisked them away.

Gabriel laughed to himself, anyway. "I'll have to congratulate her on that one later," he said to himself.

At the moment, however, he had an unspecified amount of free time on his hands before he could leave – preferably with Hel in tow. What to do?

Well, he could always drop by and see Dean and Sam…and Castiel, just to be sure things were really all good on that end.

He felt vaguely guilty for leaving his siblings to deal with the mess he left in Asgard. None of them liked dealing with pagan gods on the best of days, and these gods would be especially pissed off at angels. Especially archangels like Castiel, who was still pretty new at it compared to Gabriel and Raphael. Not counting all the years he'd spent avoiding that exact responsibility, of course, even if he'd never really stopped being an archangel at the core of himself.

Gabriel shook his head, dismissing those thoughts. It was nice out, he had his kids back, and was about to bring the last one home. Now was not the time for lingering over depressing things.

What the hell. He'd go talk to Castiel – he doubted anyone could be sad around that kid.

Several seconds later, Gabriel found himself reevaluating that assumption when he located Castiel in a parliamentary building in Russia. Everything was gloomy and depressing, and even Castiel seemed dimmer in the building.

"Bro," Gabriel said after a moment, "your job sucks."

Castiel shot him a curious look, not seeming at all insulted. "How do you mean?"

"Even I don't like dealing with politicians – never have. And you're doing it on a regular basis?"

"Someone needs to." Castiel shrugged, coat rustling with the movement. "Dean helps as well, but he's…"

Gabriel couldn't picture Dean doing this. "Not exactly diplomatic?"

Castiel's lips twitched. "Blunt."

"That's one way to put it." Gabriel leaned back against the wall, eyeing the room from the sheltered corner Castiel had sequestered himself in. "I can definitely see Dean and the Russians working like a matchbox. You'll have flames in no time, which would be great in winter."

Castiel looked pained, but it was telling that he didn't say anything in protest. It was a moment before he spoke again, asking, "Why are you here, Gabriel? You left earlier; I didn't expect you back so soon."

"Yeah," Gabriel sighed, giving him a half-smile. "There's still something I need to do here, which also involved running an errand back home. If all goes well, you'll have a new tenant in Niflheim. She'll probably be a little villainous from what Loki tells me, but I'm sure you can handle her."

Castiel stared at him. "Are you telling me that the goddess Hel from this universe is trading places with the Hel from yours?"

"The other one's named Hela, actually, but yeah." Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly. "That's it in a nutshell. Niflheim needs a ruler, so I got one. Hopefully I sold it well enough that she'll be willing to move."

"You have a way with words that few do," Castiel assured him. "I'm sure it's simply a matter of time now."

"Now you're just flattering me," Gabriel said, grinning. "How 'bout we ditch this place for a little bit? Whatever business you've got here can't be that important."

Hesitating slightly, Castiel glanced back at the room and the various politicians and officials milling about self-importantly. After a moment, his eyes hardened and he nodded. "You're right. I think they can sort this out themselves."

Gabriel didn't bother asking what they could sort out, since it was most likely a human thing involving panicking about something weird and ridiculous. Like the revelation that the supernatural was real and angels and gods and ghosts were walking on the Earth with humans.

"Come." Castiel flashed him an excited smile. "There's something I'd like to show you."

They ended up in Jerusalem, hovering over what looked like some kind of parade. Gabriel didn't instantly realize what was going on until he saw the Israeli flag flying in unison with Palestine's. And in the crowd were people from both sides, mingling and unafraid. There was still some tension, but mostly there was excitement and joy.

"Did you do this?" Gabriel asked, glancing at Castiel.

"It was a joint effort. I simply helped form a bridge." Castiel was brimming with happiness and a quiet pride. "Undoubtedly there will be tensions in the future, but they've reached an agreement that is beneficial for all sides. It's a beginning that didn't seem possible before."

"You did good," Gabriel agreed, and affectionately (and gently) punched Castiel on the shoulder. "Imagine how you'd've felt about doing something like this a couple years ago."

"Doubtful that it was me, most likely," Castiel replied.

"C'mon, you've always aimed high."

"Too high, perhaps." Castiel's eyes were haunted, his mouth twisted ruefully. "This is one of the ways I can repent for what I've done before."

Gabriel was silent for a moment. "In the grand scheme of things, what you've done isn't all that bad."

Castiel shot him a disbelieving look. "I unleashed the Leviathan. You had to take care of them."

"Okay, that one was bad, but it's not like Heaven didn't purposefully make it possible for Hell to unlock the seals and let Lucifer out." Gabriel bumped his shoulder companionably against Castiel's. "What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't let your past mistakes drive what you're doing now. Apologizing and repenting is fine, but don't let it dictate everything. Those who matter forgave you, which is really all that matters at this point."

Castiel gave him a long look, which eventually turned into a small smile. "I suppose I must be grateful that you never seem to get tired of reminding me of that."

"When was the last time?"

"You were very kind, even when you had no memory of me."

It took Gabriel a bit to remember what Castiel was referring to, the memories buried under everything else that had happened after. "I wouldn't exactly say kind," he said slowly. "More like confused, and…you seemed lost. I couldn't do anything about myself, but I could help you." He grimaced. "Which wasn't much."

"You give yourself too little credit. It was what I needed."

"Yeah, but it was mostly being a decent human being while motivated by a tiny bit of helplessness."

"I've met humans who wouldn't have done what you did. Particularly since from your perspective, I was a complete stranger claiming to be your brother." Castiel's eyes looked off into the distance. "Yet you took me in and helped me. What's more, you also helped the man who broke into your tower."

"All right, that was stupidity on my part."

Castiel shot him a look, fond and resigned in equal measures. "I believe Dean would say you're hopeless."

Gabriel stared at him in mock disbelief. "What did you go insulting me for?"

Shaking his head, Castiel didn't say anything else, but Gabriel had the distinct impression he was repeating "hopeless" under his breath. Below, the crowd of people was still putting out an almost tangible aura of happiness.

They observed the celebration for a while longer, but eventually Gabriel sensed that he was being metaphysically poked at by Hel, who was wondering where he was. Castiel didn't hear it, but he followed after when Gabriel left.

"It's done," Hel said the moment Gabriel arrived. "We've made the necessary arrangements." She hesitated, nervous excitement radiating from her. "Can we leave? It's still possible that she might change her mind once she realizes what happened."

"What did you do?" Castiel asked, somewhat more suspiciously than Gabriel thought was really necessary.

"I maaaaay have twisted the truth a tiny bit when I was persuading alternate-universe Hela to come here and agree to the switch," Gabriel said, slinging an arm around Hel's shoulders. "Don't worry, she probably won't hold you responsible for it until she realizes we're related!" He flashed a grin and a peace sign at his younger brother, and swung Hel back with him the way he'd come with her counterpart.

Castiel probably still had questions (Gabriel could both hear and feel the Wait! Castiel had sent after him), but he could just pop by if he really wanted the answers. No, Gabriel was going to get going while the going was good, and while he could take Hel with him without any complications.

Gabriel went straight to Niffleheim, since the only person he needed to ask permission from was with him this time. Hel landed with admirable steadiness and surveyed the throne room (but mostly the throne – it was very eye-catching).

"Well," she said, "I suppose I already knew we had some very different tastes."

"It was the horns that gave it away, wasn't it?" Gabriel couldn't bite back a grin at Hel's resigned expression. "You've got plenty of time to remodel, at least," he offered.

"That's true." Hel eyed the throne distastefully. A chill radiated out from her seemingly unconsciously, dropping the temperature steadily. It wasn't too uncomfortable yet, but Gabriel could tell that soon Niffleheim would no longer be as warm as it had been.

"You can come by whenever," he said, sticking his hands casually in his pockets. "Tell me how it's going, maybe throw up some virtual rendering to show the kids what it looks like."

Hel looked at him curiously. "Virtual rendering?"

"Holograms." Gabriel gestured vaguely for a second before realizing it wasn't exactly explaining anything. "You'll see once you drop by. They're cool, I promise. I have nothing but the coolest new stuff."

"I'm sure." Hel gave the throne another long look, probably deciding how best to dismantle it, but she looked back at Gabriel in time to notice him shift uncomfortably. "Father, you don't have to stay just to be nice. I know how you feel about the cold."

"You've only been here about three seconds, I didn't want you to—"

"I won't feel abandoned," Hel said, distinctly amused, and then added, somewhat smugly, "I can visit whenever I want now."

"That's true." Gabriel smiled at her.

"If you can stand the cold for one moment more, though…?"

"Yeah? What do you want?"

Hel threw her arms around him.

"Thank you," she said into the side of his neck.

Throat tight, Gabriel hugged her back. "No thanks necessary," he managed, glad his voice didn't waver. "I'm just glad you're here."

Hel nodded once, face still pressed into his neck. A few seconds later, she withdrew, giving him a wobbly smile. "I'll come visit soon," she promised. "I just need to make sure everything's fine here."

"You've got plenty of time." Gabriel patted her shoulder – her right one, since her senses were a little better on her living side. "No one's going anywhere, and they'll be ecstatic to see you."

The temperature dropped another ten degrees without warning, the sudden chill startling. He barely restrained a shiver, but something of his reaction must still have shown since Hel's lips pinched worriedly.

"You can leave," she said with a small smile. "I'll see you soon."

He felt horribly guilty for leaving practically immediately, but it was rapidly getting colder, and there was no way he'd be in any decent shape to help her out. Besides, she'd suggested it and understood, so he took the out and left. But not without giving her one last smile.

The kitchen, when he arrived back at the tower, bore all the signs of having been abandoned halfway through someone's attempt at cleaning up. Evidently he'd been gone long enough for the kids to finish breakfast.

Apparently they'd still gone for pancakes, since maple syrup could be found on the countertops and on one of the chairs as well. There was also sugar spilled on the floor, but at least there wasn't any pancake mix left.

It was kind of surprising that Jarvis hadn't actually cleaned everything up, but it was possible that something had distracted him.

There was a small hiss, and Jormungandr poked his head out from under the cushion of the nearest chair that somebody had put in the kitchen, tongue flicking out.

"I have several questions," Gabriel said. "Did you bring that up here just to hide in it?"

Jormungandr retreated back under the cushion.

"That's not an answer."

There wasn't even a hiss this time, so Gabriel just left him to it. If Jormungandr had gone to the effort of dragging a chair into the kitchen, then Fenris and Sleipnir had to be up to something as well.

"Where'd everybody go, JARVIS?" Gabriel asked, avoiding a sticky patch on the floor. "I didn't think I was gone that long."

There was an electronic crackle that was JARVIS's equivalent of a long-suffering sigh. "You weren't, sir, but I'm afraid a great deal happened in your absence. Namely a food fight that had been instigated by Dummy, which was followed by a rousing game of hide-and-seek under the presumption that it would let our new arrivals explore the tower and 'learn about the modern era and its gizmos.'" The last bit was evidently a quote from Dummy.

"And you sat out, huh?" Gabriel asked, bending down in front of the chair. Only the tip of Jormungandr's nose was visible. "What about the rest of the crew?"

"While they originally intended on staying out of the game, they were pulled into it by Dummy. At the moment Captain Rogers is pretending not to notice Fenris behind his curtains, and Dr. Banner has turned off the lights in his lab for Sleipnir."

"And Jormungandr's here in the kitchen." Gabriel politely didn't mention that his hiding place was rather obvious for anyone well-versed in hide-and-seek. "Any issues with the rest of the team?"

"None so far." JARVIS sounded pleased about that. "Anything that may have come up was forestalled by Dummy and Butterfingers. Sam helped as well by demanding a piggyback ride from Captain Rogers. You provided distractions when necessary. I assume your mission went well?"

Jormungandr poked his head out at that, peering inquisitively up at Gabriel and flicking his tongue out. If he could talk in snake form, he'd probably have just demanded, Well?

Unable to help a smile, Gabriel rested a gentle hand on Jormungandr's head. "Yeah, it did. Hel'll drop by when she's ready."

Jormungandr didn't make a sound, but the way he butted his head up against Gabriel's hand spoke volumes. He would undoubtedly be grinning if snakes could do that.

"I look forward to meeting her," JARVIS said. "Shall I pass on the news?"

"Nah, I'll track 'em down myself." Gabriel patted Jormungandr. "You wanna come with me, or are you good in the chair?"

By way of an answer, Jormungandr wound himself around Gabriel's arm, shrinking slightly as he did so.

"I will take that as you demanding to come with me," Gabriel declared. "Let's hope nobody switches hiding spaces too often, or this is going to turn into an adventure."

Finding Fenris was easy enough, since he had just relocated elsewhere on Steve's floor to hide behind a different set of curtains. Namely, the curtains for Steve's shower, since Steve insisted on an old-fashioned shower instead of the high-tech setup other people had.

Steve was wandering around outside, making loud, contemplative noises and occasionally glancing at the closed bathroom door with an amused grin. He brightened upon seeing Gabriel, giving Jormungandr a friendly smile and a nod.

"Here to join the game?" Steve asked. "Peggy's trying to track Fenris down upstairs, but we haven't had any luck." He looked back at Jormungandr. "I see you found one already."

"Nah, he found me. Just wanted to share some good news." Gabriel raised his voice so Fenris could hear. "Hel's moved in, so she'll be around once she's settled and ready."

There was a faint noise from the bathroom that sounded suspiciously like an excited skitter of claws on tile, before Fenris apparently remembered that he was meant to be hiding.

"That's good," Steve said enthusiastically. "We should have a big dinner tonight, you know, try and get everyone in the same place for a little while."

"That sounds like it's a recipe for disaster," Gabriel told him. "I'm all for it. I'll tell Pepper not to schedule anything important for tonight."

"I have sent her an email notification," JARVIS announced.

"You're the best!" Gabriel aimed a thumbs up at the nearest camera.

"Thank you, sir."

"I'm guessing you're planning on telling the others?" Steve asked.

"Yep, soon as I can figure out where they're hiding." Gabriel shot him a wink where Jormungandr couldn't see it.

"Ask Bruce; I'm pretty sure he saw Sleipnir somewhere around." Steve shot him a sly sidelong look, and opened his mouth.

"Don't," Gabriel said, before Steve could speak.

"I was only going to say—"

"Yeah, plenty have," Gabriel said. "It never happened."

"Oh. Really?" Steve switched tracks from teasing to mildly embarrassed in a heartbeat.

"Yup." Gabriel took pity on him. "And as far as I'm concerned, neither did this conversation." He waved over his shoulder as he turned. "I'll check the lab – see you later!"

Steve might have waved back, but Gabriel was already gone.

The lights were on in Bruce's lab when he got there, but he didn't see Sleipnir anywhere.

"Clint and Natasha offered to show him how the vents work," Bruce said, looking up from his lab work to give Gabriel a small smile. "Or, at least, that's what I heard. I wasn't able to find him."

"Fantastic," Gabriel said. "Another kid crawling around in the vents is just what I needed."

Bruce shrugged. "If it wasn't them, one of the bots probably would have brought someone up there eventually. Besides, Sleipnir's older, isn't he? I'm sure he'll be more responsible."

"Riiight." Gabriel raised his eyebrows slowly, fixing him with a disbelieving look.

"At least he doesn't seem the type to think putting the litter box in the vents is a good idea," Bruce pointed out.

"Small victories, huh?"

"Yes." Bruce's face clearly said he was remembering how the rooms had smelled with a litter box in the ventilation system. That the cats had somehow managed to get into the system as well to use the box was something else. "So, did you want something? Did everything work out with the errand you had to run?"

"Yep. We're gonna have a big dinner this evening; everyone's invited."

"Isn't…that seems like it might be bad idea?"

"Which makes it awesome by default."

"I don't think that's how it works."

Gabriel shrugged dismissively. "I say it does, so."

"Still not how it works," Bruce repeated, amused. "Unless you feel like rearranging the universe just to be right, which I'd appreciate if you didn't do, because it would probably mess up my experiment."

"As long as you're done in time for dinner, I promise not to interfere with it." Gabriel drew an X over his heart.

Bruce shot a glance at his watch, brow furrowing. "Okay, done deal. So long as you don't come down here on the dot and mess it up because I'm 'late' by a few seconds."

"I'll give you a five minute grace period."

"Gee, thanks." Bruce shot him a wry look, raising an eyebrow. After a moment, he added sincerely, "I'm looking forward to it."

Hearing a distant clang and curse from Clint, followed shortly by stifled snickering that sounded suspiciously like Natasha and a snort that had to be from Sleipnir, Gabriel couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, so am I."

A note from Alatar!

Me and inukagome paused after she wrote that last line, and then I said "you know...that's a good line to end on." So here, sadly, we are.

To be honest, I'd be perfectly willing to write 8k of nothing but the boys getting up to Shenanigans in the tower, but hey, everything's gotta stop somewhere (of course, if you guys are persuasive enough, inukagome and I might collab again on that time-travel idea we had a while ago, once Ouroboros is finished...).

That, er, time travel idea...thingie...is more of a fun idea that I had while we were writing this. You guys can see what she and I did on thelastarchangelaskblog, and Alatar kindly found the actual link! thelastarchangelaskblog dot tumblr dot com slash post/139578879730/wizard-fallen-angel-thelastarchangelaskblog

It's more brainstorming than anything else. I have some other more important stories in mind first (which doesn't include Ouroboros since that's mostly finished and is just posting now).

Also, I feel like I should apologize... If you guys go straight to Ouroboros after reading this, it's major emotional whiplash.

Please let us know what you thought! :D