For All The Right Reasons (DISCONTINUED)

Prologue

Note: This is going to get confusing very quick, if you have ANY questions, please put them in the comments and I will answer. Do NOT hesitate to ask! (Another thing: EVERYONE MUST PUT "I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE" IF THEY UNDERSTAND THE REFERENCE. For the sake of my sanity.) Thank you... ENJOY!

What happened in 1983 will forever be embedded in Gabriel's brain.

The screams of his mother, the cries of his baby brother, his dad telling him to take his brother outside as fast he could, and what followed the house's burn.

No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he didn't want the nightmares of that treacherous night to flash in his brain, no matter how much he wanted he wanted his baby brother to have a normal life-- the night his mother died loomed over what he wanted.

"Beggars can't be choosers." He continuously told himself that. Gabriel could make a list of his wants, but never cross out any of them. A normal life? Absolutely not. He lost that for both him and his brother because of their dad.

Chuck Shurley was broken when he lost his wife. He had tried his damndest to save her, but the fire had been too great. Slowly after he lost her and their house, Chuck discovered a journal of his wife's. She was a hunter, and the supernatural one would see in movies was real.

He slowly whipped his boys into shape, having Gabriel look after Castiel throughout the years. They would hunt monsters and save people. Gabriel told young Castiel when he discovered what their job was using the simplest words: "Saving people and hunting things, the family business".

Despite having grown up hunting with his dad and older brother, Castiel didn't like hunting as much as he probably should've. He focused more on the idea of going to school and learning, he would even beg Chuck to stay another few months so he could finish whatever grade he was in... and it never happened.

Gabriel had a minor understanding of what Castiel wanted. Throughout the years, he watched his little brother go to school and come home beaming, spilling what he had learned to Gabriel. It made him smile that at least Castiel knew he could focus on something else. As far as Gabriel knew, he himself was a lost cause, no hope in a normal life for him.

He gave up on school quite a bit ago. Ignoring learning, he would have a few flings on the side with his fellow peers, but his focus on school was never right. Gabriel hadn't learned properly since that day in '83... His focus was forced on hunting and taking care of Castiel.

Of course, as with anything, there was a limit to what Gabriel could do to help his little brother out. Chuck would grow angry at times, because Castiel was paying attention to school more than hunting. Gabriel had stepped in before fights could occur multiple times, he'd occasionally take the hit too.

There wasn't much surprise when the letter from Stanford appeared on the motel room table.

Gabriel was the first to see it. Castiel at school, their father on a hunt... he was watching TV when someone slid a letter through the door's crack.

He looked down at the front, seeing his brother's name, then the large letters spelling out Stanford... but the word that hit him the most was: CONGRATULATIONS! He knew exactly what that meant, and while a part of him was happy, hurt and the smallest bit of anger clouded over it. His little brother was leaving him. After so many years of taking care of him, raising him... Castiel was going to leave.

When Castiel got back to the motel, the expression on Gabriel's face said it all. The white envelope on the table next to him. The eighteen year old cursed himself for not being there to hide the letter.

"You're leaving..." Gabriel's voice was almost brittle, but he couldn't break. He's never been able to, he wouldn't have himself do it. Castiel became interested in the floor. "When were you going to say something?"

The answer was, he wasn't. Castiel informed Gabriel that he was going to leave if he ever got accepted, not wanting to say goodbye to his family. But... there was a goodbye that took place, a hard and painful goodbye given to him by Chuck.

Gabriel couldn't express how angry he was with the way his dad worded his opinion. It drove Castiel away... literally. Each time that Gabriel tried to contact him, his little brother didn't answer. And it was all Chuck's fault.

It wasn't until Gabriel had to find Castiel that they were able to see each other. He was happy to see his little brother, even under the circumstances of their missing father. And... Castiel had really settled. A girl named Meg was proud to be Castiel's girlfriend. And the younger Novak, multiple times, said that he'd go back to her after helping Gabriel with one thing. He had an interview for law school, and he wasn't going to miss it.

But what happened to their mother happened to Meg, and it broke Castiel completely. He made a promise to himself that he'd find the evil son of a bitch who killed her and kill it.