Who Toils Most to Go On [Master Post]

[ratherastory]

Title: Who Toils Most To Go On
Summary: Written for the gabriel_bigbang. AU post 5.19, 'Hammer of the Gods.' Gabriel is brought before God to answer for all that he has done ―for good and for evil. He is given one last chance to redeem himself, a task that ranks among the most important his Father has ever entrusted him with: Sam Winchester. Gabriel is confined to Purgatory ―a place as changeable as it is dangerous to those not accustomed to its ways― along with the infant soul of the man who brought down the devil himself, tasked with mending it after its long ordeal in the Cage at the hands of Lucifer and Michael. Sam's work on earth is not yet done, and if Gabriel is to have any chance to return to Heaven and be restored, he must help Sam's soul to heal before Death thrusts it back into Sam's body ―which still inhabits the surface of the earth― and in the process, maybe learn to heal himself.
Characters: Gabriel, Sam, (Dean & Castiel briefly, guest appearance by God).
Rating: gen, PG-13
Wordcount: 19,574
Disclaimer: If Gabriel belonged to me, let's just say my life wouldn't look like this.
Warnings: Major spoilers through 6.11. Serious, massive liberties taken with Christian canon. Occasional swearing. Show-levels of violence. Angst.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: Um. This may well qualify as the weirdest thing I have ever written. I am totally not sure what happened here, but, well, yeah.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: I blame Show for all of this. They had to go and bring up the concept of Purgatory, and I'm sure that what I wrote here has nothing to do with what it looks like in the Show.
Neurotic Author's Note #3: I owe undying thanks to my betas, kitty_z_finn and bellatemple, without whom this fic would be a total shambles. They stomped on all my errant commas (and believe me, there were a lot of them), pointed out all my spelling, grammar and syntax flaws (oh God), and most importantly told me exactly where the structure of my story fell apart abysmally. Hopefully I have fixed everything that needed fixing. Needless to say, all remaining mistakes are mine.
Neurotic Author's Note #4: Run, do not walk, to the artwork by ani_bester, who went above and beyond the call of duty and produced EIGHT art pieces. Her line work is just gorgeous, and she has a sense of composition like you would not believe! Go forth and lavish praise! Shoo! The art has also been incorporated into the story, but you should really go leave feedback at her post.
Neurotic Author's Note #5: And of course, all my thanks to the wonderful mods of the gabriel_bigbang and everyone who has worked tirelessly to make this project a success! Kudos to everyone!


Link to art: Art by ani_bester. Here!

Prologue ―Penance
Part 1 ―Purgatory
Part 2 ―Protégé
Part 3 ―Palimpsest
Epilogue ―Passage


(Temporary note: bear with me, LJ is being a pain and keeps f*cking up my coding. SORRY!)

Comments

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD. We've never talked about this one, I've never known what the concept was going to be - this sounds SO AMAZING. I can't wait! (You know how I love this kind of thiiiiiing)

Congrats on finishing this very big project! Also, is the author's notes under the cut a new thing? It's very nice! Gives it all a cleaner finish.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

*bounce*

No, we never did. I tossed a couple of ideas at pkwench when I was in despair about ever getting this right, but I had a last-minute epiphany and this is what happened. Hope you like it! :)

The author's notes got a bit lengthy, yeah, so I think I'll be putting them behind a cut whenever there's more than two.

[bellatemple]

It's heeeeeeeeeeeeeere! I shall read the finished product just as soon as I get the chance! (Mmmmm, more excuses to procrastinate on my own writing projects. . . .)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Dude, have I thanked you enough for making the story make sense? It took forever, but I think it's decently internally consistent now. :)

[bellatemple]

Hey, it's what I do. I've been referred to in the past as the "plot sherpa" (admittedly, for an RPG, but the concepts are the same!)

And I'm sure it's awesome.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I hope so!

And thank you again. I like the idea of a "plot sherpa." It's a good metaphor. :)

[bellatemple]

It's more accessible a term than "dramaturg". Plus, it makes me want a fuzzy hat.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

"Dramaturg" works for me too, if only because I think it's much more commonly used in French than it is in English. I knew what you meant, anyway. :)

[bellatemple]

Far more, I think. I only knew the term because of a playwriting workshop I attended in college.

[canter76.livejournal.com]

You made me cry!

For GABRIEL of all people!!!

*sniffs*

Dammit. I don't even LIKE him and you made me CARE!!

And now I want Gabriel back.

*sniffs again*

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Hee! Now THAT'S a compliment! Gabriel grew on me, I must say. I think there was a ton of potential to be explored there which got shoved to the side in favour of the larger storyline. So yay for fic, right? ;)

I'm so pleased you liked it!

[varkelton]

Congratulations! Your story has been recced at spn_littlebro!