Soul Searching 1/1
He didn’t know how long he was there for, just knew that it was a while before he could catch his breath again.
A man came down the alley with the flashlight and Sam tried to hide but the flashlight beam had already hit him. Sam cringed as the man came near, thinking him to be a cop, but when he wasn’t Sam relaxed, or well, eased up a bit as he kept gasping for breath.
“Hey…you alright?” The man asked and Sam looked up to him.
“I-I don’t know,” He said as he squinted at the man, who in the light behind them was illuminated clearly, he thought he saw a flash, a image…of the man leading him and several others out of a room, the man holding a sword and acting as a buffer between them and the bloody blonde guy in the room.
The man had a hand to Sam’s shoulder when Sam snapped out of it, looking up. He couldn’t help but notice the tan jacket and the majenta shirt and jeans, and couldn’t help but feel like this guys was really familiar…
“Who are you?” Sam asked and the man smiled softly.
“Gabriel, and your name?” Gabriel asked and Sam shook his head after a moment.
“I-I don’t know…I don’t remember anything….” Sam whispered. Gabriel blinked at him but then offered a hand to Sam.
“Come on, let’s get you up and see what we can do about that,” He said with a warm smile and Sam watched the hand a moment, saw the man smile….and he melted and took the hand that was offered and let himself be pulled up.
“How did you know I was out here?” He asked and Gabriel just smiled and led them into the apartment building right across from where Sam had been sitting.
“I saw you run into the alley…I watched you for a moment before I came down, you looked like a sad abandoned puppy so….I decided to see what was up,” he said as he opened his apartment and let Sam inside and Gabriel followed, locking the door behind him. Gabriel seemed a teeny bit tense but he otherwise seemed fine.
“So what happened?” Gabriel asked as he watched Sam pace around the room, looking it over, eyes going towards the bookcase. Yet he couldn’t help but notice the walls were a light blue and the carpet a light gray maybe a little silver. The appliances are silver….and there are white couches and a glass table in the livingroom.
“I uh…I was waking up on a park bench and two cops came and I…I knocked them out. I don’t know how…instinct or something…” He said, looking back to Gabriel to see if the guy was gonna bust him, but to Sam’s surprise Gabriel just laughed.
“Don’t worry, they deserved it I’m sure. Most cops are just….they can be dicks.” Gabriel says as Sam goes and picks out a book by H.P. Lovecraft….
“You a horror fan?” Gabriel asked, an unknown smirk crossing his face as he watched Sam.
“Yeah um…I think so…I really think so…something…something about this-“ Then he’s hunching over as images cross his field of vision and he hears ‘Lovecraft’ then sees the flash of a hotel and a room…
“Hey! Hey! You alright?” Gabriel is at his side. Sam’s panting and recovering and looks up at Gabriel, apparently he had hunched over it pain….
“Do you have a computer?” He asked and Gabriel blinked but nodded and pointed to the table, to a slim gold colored laptop on the glass table. He watched Sam type furiously into a browser, looking through websites before bringing up a motel site.
“Hah! This is it!” He says as he finds the right site and shows it to Gabriel. “This is where I think I’m staying,” He says and Gabriel gets up and gets the address from the laptop after making a moment about him being a male prostitute
“I’ll come with you,” Gabriel says calmly and Sam blinks at him.
“What? You don’t know me, I’m just some guy, I could be…anybody... you gotta be nuts,” Sam said, disbelief coursing through him as Gabriel smiled at him.
“I’ve been called that…but look if I let you go off alone and you got hurt…I’d never be able to live with myself,” Gabriel said, looking genuinely worried and Sam gave in and they walked on the sidewalks down toward where Sam was apparently staying.
“So…what room were you in, could you tell?” Gabriel asked as Sam went close to the hotel and he pointed out the room nearest the fire escape.
“Quick escape, one I’d get,” Sam said absently. Gabriel raised a brow at him as Sam asked for a card and Gabriel handed it over, asking what he was going to do with it. Sam only shrugged and opened the door and Gabriel stared at him as Sam gave him back his card.
“You better not have demagnetized it.” Gabriel muttered as Sam rolled his eyes and went inside as Gabriel blinked as Sam did.
“Um…okay interesting mind of yours, kiddo,” Gabriel said as he and Sam looked around and saw a shit ton of newspaper clippings and Sam went forward looking…shocked if anything.
Gabriel started looking around and spotted a card on the dresser, “Huh well I guess we know your name….Timmy Paige….” Gabriel said as Sam turned around with a frown. That name didn’t sound right.
“Or…” He then listed off names on the cards and looks to Sam.
“Uh…no offense but this is fucking weird,” Gabriel muttered, “Freaking me out…” And Sam bit his lip.
“yeah…me too,” He mumbled as he looked around again and his eyes stopped on a picture of a blonde professor. He frowned at it and then….then he heard voices, and saw a scene no something played out while he knew he had collapsed holding his head. He saw two men next to him, an older man and a man a bit older than he is at the moment and he finds himself walking down the street. Apparently they’re looking for someone and when they turn a corner…They find the person. The woman is bleeding and has longer hair and she…she calls the old man in the baseball cap Bobby. The woman dies after telling them about some spell and purgatory and a demon and angel torturing her. Then…then she died and some dude in a trenchcoat appears and the male model older guy. The trenchcoat guy was apparently named Cas as the male model guy started yelling at the trenchcoat guy named Cas.
“Rest assured, when this is all over, I will Save Sam, but only if you stand down.” and the next thing he knew he was being touched and feeling pain and-and…
It was gone, he was panting, braced against the table in the room.
“Hey! You okay?” Gabriel looked worried and lost and just so concerned it touched Sam even as he said…
“Sam, my name is Sam,” Gabriel’s eyes widened a bit, but Sam thought he saw a hint of pride in the older man’s features even as he got up and went to the bathroom and turned on the sink and splashed water on his face and was starting to dry off his face when Gabriel spoke again.
“So uh…what do you remember?” Sam stopped and dried his face then looked to Gabriel, who was waiting.
“You’re going to think it’s strange if I said it aloud,” He says nervously and Gabriel just grins at him.
“It can’t get stranger Sammy boy.” He says, pulling a lollipop out of his jacket and unwrapping it, sucking on it.
“Don’t be so sure.” He said but Gabriel look so damned determined to hear, Sam sighs.
“Look I don’t know …it’s all pretty spotty it’s just…I remember I was with uh…” He goes over and takes the clipping about the professor down from the wall, “Two guys and uh…one was the male model type and the other was a older guy, named…Bobby…” He frowned and looked to an address book as Gabriel rose his eyebrow.
“What are you looking for?” Gabriel asked around his candy as Sam found the address to Bobby’s place.
“Ha! Found it, Bobby Singer!” Sam is excited to find that all this was really, well real and Gabriel looked to him, almost contemplative.
“Where’s he at?” He asked rather gently and Sam blinked surprised at how easily Gabriel was responding to this. Anyone else would be freaking out.
“Well there’s an address for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, huh,” He looked up to see Gabriel tilt his head.
“South Dakota? Hm…listen Sam…You can’t go there…not alone,” He said and Sam swore he could see concern and something like fear in Gabriel’s eyes? He wasn’t too sure.
“Wait you want to come with me?” Sam asked and Gabriel laughed.
“Well first, how are you going to get there, you don’t have a car AND you’re hunching over in pain every time you remember something. Hello~! Dangerous driving condition if I ever saw one.” Gabriel said as Sam just stared at him.
“Well…” He paused and looked around, spotting keys, “I guess it’s a good thing you decided to come with me. Cause you could take over IF that happens how does that sound?” Sam asked and he looked over to see Gabriel rolling his eyes.
“Fine, Sammy boy, let’s do it that way,” He said as he followed Sam out the door and into the parking lot, the two of them looking around for the car. Sam immediately spotted the Impala and grinned.
“This one is mine,” He said with a slight laugh and Gabriel frowned.
“You sure?” He asked, and Sam nodded.
“Look….Sam this…this doesn’t feel right…all those photos…everything just….I don’t think you’re going to like what you find if you keep going…” Gabriel said as he ran a hand through his light brown hair. He looked worried and anxious.
“Dude if you don’t want to come then just say so. I don’t blame you if you’re having second thoughts.”
“No it’s just….this doesn’t feel right…It feels like something bad is gonna happen and I think…whatever you’re looking for? You’re not going to like what you see, kid-“ But sam didn’t hear the rest as suddenly he heard a click almost too loud then tackled Gabriel to the ground as a gun went off and shattered the passenger window of the impala.
“What the hell was that?!” Gabriel yelped, but Sam told him to stay down as he got up and looked around cautiously.
Sam looked up to the fire escape and…He saw….himself, holding a gun? What the fuck?!
“Sam! Sammy! Sam!” Gabriel’s voice kinda distorted a bit even as Sam quickly got them into the Impala and speeding away fast.
“Okay, what the hell just happened back there?” Gabriel asked, tugging at his seatbelt and looking to Sam who shook his head.
“I don’t know, besides getting shot at,” Sam panted before sniffing, Hey, do you smell whiskey?” Gabriel blinked at the question and looked to Sam.
“Just….try and focus here Sam,” He said slowly, but Sam noticed that Gabriel didn’t deny it. Hell he probably thought Sam had a drinking habit before the whole amnesia thing.
“Right…sorry. I didn’t get a good look…” Sam said as he kept his eyes on the road and didn’t notice the frown of unease on Gabriel’s face.
“We should call the cops,” Gabriel said but Sam shook his head.
“No we should go to my friends they can help us out,” He said as Gabriel retaliated.
“We don’t KNOW if they are your friends! You don’t know anything about ANYTHING! Come on lets just…turn around,” Gabriel nearly yelled but Sam shook his head.
“No, you’re safer with me,” Sam said firmly, glancing to Gabriel, who sighed.
“How do you know that?” He asked, Sam frowned and looked to Gabriel again, noticing Gabriel sighing.
They just went on in silence after that. How was Sam supposed to explain that his instincts would protect them? He couldn’t.
Then all of a sudden light shone in his face, blinding him and he slammed on the breaks, bringing the impala to a hard stop. He flinched away from the sudden light and when he opened his eyes he saw that it was daylight outside.
“What?!” He breathed out in shock, looking around, “no way,” and he opened the door and got out looking around. He was in complete shock. How the Hell does it suddenly go from being late night to mid day?!
Gabriel got out and slammed the door, “What was that?!” He yelled at Sam, who blinked at him, looking shocked.
“What do you mean?” Sam was confused by the nature of the question. What was Gabriel actually asking?
“It’s daylight,” He said, like it wasn’t that obvious and Gabriel looked at him like he was a crazy person.
“Yeah….” He also didn’t seem sure as to how to react to this.
“It was night and now its day!” Sam said firmly as Gabriel eyed him, looking confused by Sam’s behavior.
“It was always day!” He said slowly.
“No no no no it wasn’t!” but at Gabriel’s look, like Sam was crazy, he looked around.
“What the hell is going on here?” he muttered.
“Okay….This is turning out to be one hell of a roadtrip. I swear you W-“ Gabriel started to say but Sam was paying attention to a sudden rustling in the forest to the side of them.
Sam looked back to Gabriel and blinked.
“Wait. Hey! Hey hey hey!” He saw that Gabriel was starting to walk away but Sam quickly called attention back to him, getting Gabriel to look back and raise a brow at him.
“Get in the car,” He said firmly, tilting his head back to the woods, trying to signal to Gabriel that something was out there that might not be good for their health.
Gabriel caught on and went back to the car, looking to Sam and coming over to the Impala and he growled out something about ‘stupid Winchesters’ and sat in the passenger seat. Sam went to the back and checked out the trunk and saw a shit ton of weapons in there. He was definitely overloaded…even as he grabbed and loaded a pistol and shotgun, putting the pistol in his jacket and shifted the shotgun, somehow knowing how to hold it, his instinct guiding him as he went out into the woods, cautiously looking around. For what he wasn’t sure, he just knew there was something out here that is dangerous…and that he’d likely have to kill.
Suddenly a gun, a cold gun was put to his neck and he started horribly, caught by surprise. He then turned around and with the shotgun knocked the pistol aside? But not before he got clubbed in the face with the pistol and he backed up, blinking as he saw his attacker.
“My God,” The other Sam said as he unloaded the shot gun in a showoff kind of way, “Am I really that gawky?” He asked as he threw the shotgun aside. Sam watched it with wide eyes and then looked to the other Sam, the one who was fucking attacking him!
“Howdy,” the other said like this was the most common thing in the world. Neither one saw Gabriel sneaking up, holding a gun at the ready and a sword, shiny and silver in his beltloop.
“This…this is impossible!” Sam panted as he backed another step away as Other Sam smirked at him.
“Cold, try again,” He said calmly, again neither one noticing Gabriel, they were so engrossed in their conversation even as Gabriel’s hands shook, clearly he didn’t expect that...
“I’m uh…I’m hallucinating…” He said after running his hand quickly across his face.
“Warmer, but see…Most people are awake when they’re tripping balls,” The other Sam said with a smirk. A sense of humor. Cute…well not really but still it was….interesting.
It takes Sam a moment though, to realize what the other is saying.
“I…I’m dreaming…” Yet again shock, he was feeling a lot of that lately….
“And someone just won a copy of the home game!” Other Sam, again with the sarcasm. And he started to move and that’s when he saw Gabriel, standing half hidden by a tree, staring with wide eyes. Sam swallowed and forced his gaze to stay on Other Sam….
“We’re inside your grapefruit, Sam,” He said, Sam following his movements in a bit of a circle, Sam didn’t want this other one near him…
“Some….you’ve been juiced,” He said and Sam shook his head.
“I…I don’t remember anything,” Sam said and yet again the other had the answer, Gabriel was now hiding behind the tree as now the other Sam was getting close to it…
“That’s cause your BFF Cas brought the Hell wall tumbling down…and you, the pathetic infant you are, shattered into pieces,” He points his gun at Sam, who swallows, “Piece,” Then he partially points it toward himself before letting his arm fall to his side, “Piece.”
Sam shook his head, he…he… No this couldn’t be real!
“I…I have no idea what you’re talking about…” He was too numb now to run, even if he could get his legs to work and move in anything other than circles.
“Why would you? You’re jello, pal. Unlike me,” Other Sam said and Sam took in a breath, fear uncoiling rapidly in his chest.
“Wh-what are you?” He asked, curiosity keeping him there now…
“I’m not handicapped, I’m not settled with a soul,” He said and Sam blinked at that, okay what? “In fact, I got a skip of this meatboat a while, it went smooth sailing…I was sharp, strong, that is…til they crammed your soul back in. Now look at you, same misty eyed milkstop you always were. That’s because souls are weak, they’re a liability,” He said as Sam processed all of this, feeling his throat constrict, he couldn’t breathe…Was he right? Was he a liability? Was he really weak and useless?
“Now…Nothing personal, but run the numbers. Someone’s gotta take charge around here-“ and Gabriel peeked out from his tree, shifting the gun, Sam never noticed he was stuck staring at the other…
“-Before it’s too late,” and he raised up the gun and Sam’s senses went into overdrive as the other pulled back the hammer with a click and Sam bolted, but not as Gabriel did, that was his mistake, making so much noise. Sam heard three shots and he chanced a glance over his shoulder to see a look of shock on Gabriel’s face as his right arm clutched the other. Gabriel though… his shock turned to a smirk as he rammed into Other Sam with his good arm and kicked him down, the man fighting Other Sam, who while taller somehow seemed at a disadvantage, until he pulled another gun and Gabriel cursed and sprinted toward Sam.
“GO GO GO!” He yelled and Sam obeyed, jumping over a log and hearing a thud and grunt as Gabriel leaped but lost his footing and collapsed. Sam stopped and went to help him but Gabriel shook his head.
“No! Go without me!” But Sam felt…wrong about abandoning Gabriel, so he grabbed the injured man, hefted him into his arms and full out ran, taking cover behind trees as best he could as other Sam kept shooting. Sam stumbled over to a creek and ran across it to the other side and he quickly hid behind a cropping of rocks and set Gabriel down, the man bleeding from his left shoulder.
“Oh God, I told you to stay back there,” Sam whispered, panic bleeding into his voice and Gabriel just smiled at him.
“I never listen Sammy boy,” He said as he let out a breath of air and heard the Other Sam yelling for Sam to come out of hiding.
Sam swallowed and looked to Gabriel; he searched the man, who seemed at ease around him…
“Gabriel…I know you heard what…what that…that Sam said….Am I weak? Am I really a liability?
He then paused, “Wait, why am I asking you, we barely know each other…” Sam mumbled but Gabriel just smiled and put a hand to Sam’s cheek.
“Listen to me, kiddo. Souls are not weak, and they are not a liability…Humanity isn’t meant to ever go around soul-less it’s unnatural. Souls make us who we are. Without them we are nothing, souls are strong, not weak.” Gabriel said and Sam felt comforting warmth in his chest as he nodded at Gabriel.
“Stay here,” He said as he decided and Gabriel blinked at him, “Seriously, I don’t want you getting shot again,” He got an eyeroll from Gabriel and he figured that was an okay as he left, pulling out his pistol and quickly going to the other side of the creek, going to hide behind a tree and rock on a slight slope. He got ready to shoot then paused, the other would be expecting this…. So he left his jacket behind and quickly crouched and moved along the hidden slope so when he heard the other Sam coming he hid behind the huge tree next to it, and the other shot at where Sam had just been, and while the shots echoed, Sam went and snuck up behind him, and right as the other realized he’d hit the jacket…. Sam shot him in the back.
He collapsed, Sam keeping him covered with the gun as the other coughed up blood and looked to him…
“Agh…crap…” The other muttered as Sam was freaking out. FUCK he’d just shot himself! Was he gonna die or something?
“You think I’m bad? Wait til you meet the other one,” He said before he fell back against the ground, going limp. He was dead… Sam just stared on in horror, not noticing Gabriel crossing the stream….even as a blue white smoky energy came from his double and slammed into Sam’s chest. Images and voices, names and memories flashed through his mind as the smoke kept coming at him, hot and yet cold at the same time, almost blinding him… It was all so…so overwhelming and it hurt like a bitch…
When it was over he was panting hard and he was holding his head in his hands for a long moment. He heard a twig snap, and he didn’t have a chance to look up when he remembered one of the last few things…
“If you’re watching this…I’m dead.”
“Sam?” The same person, fuck…Gabriel…was his head trying to screw with him by putting him with Gabriel?
He felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Gabriel looking up at him in worry. It was so…uncharacteristic of the archangel… He couldn’t help but want this just for a little longer, he liked how Gabriel had stuck with him, had helped him, hadn’t forced him to do anything but went along. Maybe with a few complaints but he hadn’t really objected. ..But he knew he couldn’t stay here forever or hell much longer even.
“Yeah?” He asked as Gabriel grinned at him, seeming glad Sam is talking.
“How are you feeling? Not every day someone gets to shoot himself and not die because of it,” Gabriel says with some humor in it and Sam rolls his eyes.
“I’m fine, but you shouldn’t be,” he said as he watched the Archangel grimace, “I got my memories back when I killed him…you know…he was the second piece after all…he was the one that was stronger…more the hunter…” Sam said softly…
Gabriel eyes him but not before he hunched over in pain, hands going to his chest…
“D-damn it, no!” Gabriel growled as blood stained his shirt and Sam’s eyes widened as he saw Gabriel dying before his very eyes.
“No no no no!” Sam said in a panic as he rushed forward and caught Gabriel, light, light of grace starting to shine in his eyes and definitely shining under the shirt, causing a weird glow….
“T-told you…you wouldn’t…like what you found…” He panted out…
Gabriel looked at him now, with a look of betrayal, hurt and physical agony written all over his face. Sam felt his chest tighten painfully and it was when the pained sounds came from Gabriel that Sam hugged him close to his chest.
“NO! No dying, not here, not in my head damnit!” He said angrily, determined as he couldn’t help remembering what Cas had done to Bobby…Hell he didn’t know if it would really work here…
“Gabriel! Gabriel, listen to me!” He said and Gabriel let out a gurgle of sound.
“I honestly have no clue if you’re real or not, or if this will work or not…but…You said my soul is strong right? And I remember Cas siphoning energy off of Bobby’s soul…maybe you can do the same, to heal yourself? Please! I don’t want to see you die like this!” Sam said, almost shaking Gabriel, as those eyes looking to him, the eyes that had so much light behind them, waiting to burst free and signal the Archangel’s death.
“It-…it’s” He tries to say but Sam stops him.
“I know, its dangerous…but I don’t want you to die, a memory or not,” Sam said softly yet firmly. Gabriel brings a bloody hand up, and without another word, puts it inside Sam, and FUCK it hurts like a mother fucker!
Sam’s body convulses again and he screaming this time, like bloody murder screaming, his eyes opening yet not seeing. There’s a bright light glowing in them, a kind of yellow-hazel light and Bobby’s eyes widen.
“What in the Hell?!” He gasps as Dean’s screaming at sam to stop it but Bobby pulls him away.
“Dean! You can’t stop it. Someone’s taking energy from his soul! You interrupt it now and Sam’s soul will explode!” Bobby growls and Dean instantly pales and looks to Bobby, helpless to do anything as Sam’s screams continue….for ten minutes until he goes limp and there a flutter of wings around Sam. Then out of nowhere there’s an Archangel collapsing on top of Sam, pulling his hand free of the man’s chest…and said Archangel groaning and lying limp on the floor. He seemed to be in the same state as Sam. Because no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t wake Gabriel up. They head a man coughing in the doorway and it was Balthazar.
“You might want to get him out of the wards, it’s likely what’s doing it,” He said calmly and Dean and Bobby did just that, getting the Archangel to the outside of the door and Balthazar looked him over.
“Well, looks like he’s at least partially stuck in Sam’s head…Hm…” Balthazar looked Gabriel over again before he handed a piece of paper to Dean.
“I was going to give you a hard time…but maybe…maybe we can actually go through and win, if you get Gabriel to wake up,” and with that Balthazar left.
“Bobby, you try and wake Gabriel up, I’ll try and wake up Sam,” Dean said and Bobby nodded…
After twenty minutes they gave up, they were out of time, So they rewrote the address and put it in Gabriel’s hand and the other by Sam’s head with his gun…
Sam panted hard as he looked down to Gabriel whose eyes exploded outward with hazel-yellow light.
When the light cleared they were standing outside Bobby’s house and Gabriel was on both feet and flexing his hands a bit and looking to Sam.
“He’s here…I can sense the…the despair…the hurt from here….” Gabriel whispered as Sam rubbed his chest and looked to him…
“You’re still alive…” He whispered and Gabriel smiled.
“I told you, a soul is strong, yours, no matter how battered, is still so strong Sam. You need to get in there…and kill him. Kill the last piece…and you’ll wake up again,” Gabriel said urgently and Sam eyed him.
“How come you’re here?” He asked softly and Gabriel smiled.
“I’ll tell you later when we aren’t so pressed for time,” Gabriel said urgently, “Your brother and bobby have already left to stop Cas. They need you,” He said and Sam nodded and opened the door, going into Bobby’s.
They met the other Sam and Gabriel watched in the shadows as they spoke and the other held out the knife. Sam took it, weighed it in his hand and then stabbed him. He fell like he had long since been dead, but it…it was clear he would have been from all those wounds…all that pain… Then the smoky white blue light came from that Sam and slammed into Sam, Gabriel ran forward to help brace Sam, who screamed in pain even as Gabriel pulled him into a tight embrace….
Gabriel’s eyes flew open and he was shocked at that. He realized that he…he is alive again! But then he heard Sam’s screams and he got up, saw the angel warding and simply snapped his fingers, the writing all smudged and messed up, and it allowed him to get into the panic room and he went to Sam’s side and held down the thrashing man until Sam’s eyes flew open and he looked to Gabriel. Gabriel swore he could see the fires of the cage in Sam’s eyes.
They vanished as Sam very clearly fought the memories of Hell the memories causing so much pain…
“Can you handle them for a bit?” Gabriel asked, and Sam nodded with a grunt. Gabriel then whisked them away… And they appeared right as Castiel was striking Balthazar, but Gabriel was faster, flinging Castiel back with his power before the other angel could get stabbed.
Balthazar’s eyes widened and he stumbled over to Gabriel’s side. Gabriel was holding Sam up with one arm and he put a hand to Balthazar’s shoulder.
“Go, Balthazar, you’ve done what you can…Now go,” Balthazar didn’t need to be told again as the angel fled and Castiel was staring at him.
“Gabriel…how are you alive?” He asked and Gabriel looked to Sam, who had groaned and was holding his head.
“I had a bit of help from dad and Sam,” He said calmly.
“He must hate me, and you must be disappointed…They all are,” Castiel said in a dull tone. Gabriel tilted his head and opened his mouth to say something but Sam stopped him.
“Th-thank you Cas,” Sam said and Castiel blinked and looked to Sam.
“What?” He asked and Sam looked to him, still clearly in pain.
“I said, thank you…if…if it were not for you, Gabriel would not be alive again…and I would never…have been able to put myself back together…if you hadn’t brought the wall back down…” Sam smiled at Castiel even as Crowley made an appearance and Gabriel’s head snapped to him.
“It’s a bit crowded here, and I heard Raphael coming…” and with a snap and Crowley’s snarl, they were gone and in a new location.
Castiel blinked but looked to sam again as if he hadn’t been taken somewhere else.
“I don’t understand…” Castiel said and Sam only smiled again.
“It means I am not mad at you…Cas I am not mad about it…” Sam stumbles over to Cas, who catches him before he can fall, dropping his jar, which shattered loudly.
Yet Castiel was too focused on the anomaly that is Sam Winchester.
“Cas…I forgive you for hiding all of this, for deceiving us,” He said softly, looking up at cas with his eyes as Castiel looked back…as if trying to understand by reading Sam’s mind, but even Castiel flinched when a fresh pain of remembering the memories of hell overwhelmed Sam.
“You still want me to abandon my plan…” He said slowly and that was when Gabriel intervened.
“I have a new proposition for you brother…I help you fight in Heaven. I also know some pagans that owe me favors, I can help turn the tide of this war, without resorting to cracking open purgatory,” Gabriel said as Sam leaned heavily against Castiel.
“You are…not disappointed?” He asked Gabriel, who tilts his head.
“I am surprised you were willing to take such a stupid risk, but no, I am not disappointed, I understand how desperate you have been of late…”Sam let go of Cas and went to a chair and sat in it , Hell trying its best to break him. It is painful for sure mind numbingly painful. He doesn’t see the two angels exchange looks, doesn’t see Cas nod, but he hears Gabriel snap his fingers and there are two people on the floor groaning.
Sam then felt two hands on his shoulders, and knew by how warm they are that they belong to the angels.
“Sammy!” Dean yelped as he ran over to Sam, Bobby saying something about idjit Crowley and the next thing Sam knew, he was pulling through the painful memories and he took in the sights around him, saw Dean, Bobby, Gabriel and Cas and he grinned as Gabriel flicked Dean’s ear.
“Get any closer and you will actually be kissing him, I don’t think you’re into incest now are you? “ He asks with a smirk and both Sam and Dean make gagging sounds and Dean backed off.
“So um…what exactly is happening here?” Dean asked as he looked to Castiel eyes starting to narrow, but it was Gabriel who shoved him.
“YOU are going to be apologizing for being an insufferable asshole to my baby brother,” He said in a growl and Castiel looked to Gabriel and tilted his head a bit, but then it was clear Dean had been called out when he looked away.
It took Dean an moment but he finally got up and went to Cas and apologized. Castiel for a moment seemed like he wouldn’t accept it, but then he did, surprising Dean.
“Um….shouldn’t we be stopping Crowley?” Dean asked after a moment, then Cas smirked and pointed to the spilled blood on the floor.
“That’s the real stuff, Crowley has dog blood,” Castiel said and Gabriel let out a snort before making the blood vanish.
“Well, seems he will have a much harder time then. Good work bro didn’t expect such trickery from you,” Gabriel said with a smirk and Castiel for the first time in the last few weeks, smiled.
“Wait, aren’t you going to like do something about what he almost did?” Dean asked and Gabriel looked back.
“now why would I do that? If I tried to punish him, I’d be a huge hypocrite. After all I’ve done shady shit to try and get what I wanted done. May not have been of this magnitude, but still I’ve done things I am not proud of….And seeing as Cas has been helping you mooks for….what three years now? I think he deserves a free pass this time seeing as he died twice for you guys,” Gabriel growled at Dean and Sam looked to his brother, then to Castiel, who looked…relieved and Sam went up to him and pulled him into a hug. Castiel blinked but he returned it. The angel seemed to be trying to figure out what was with Sam….That he was a lot more….lovable than usual.
“Sammy chill on the hugs, I think you’re scaring Cas,” Dean said with a chuckle as Gabriel looked over to Sam and he couldn’t help the small smirk.
“That’s his innocent soul pulling through there…” He said and they all blinked and looked to Gabriel, who got smug all of a sudden.
“Dean, you thought your brother was a softie before? When he’s just his base soul with nothing else…Damn he’s trusting, caring, all the softie emotions you make fun of. That part of him? It was the strongest,” He said firmly, “and you know what? He’s the reason I’m not stuck in his noggin right now.”
“Wait….so YOU were the one siphoning energy off his soul? We could see it affecting him but didn’t know who was doing it….” Dean said slowly and Gabriel nodded, looking pleased with himself before snapping his fingers and they were sent back to Bobby’s place, Gabriel fixing the wards in the panic room before setting it up to keep Crowley and other demons out.
Sam sat on the bed, rubbing his head as Dean sat down next to them. Cas stood awkwardly in a corner while Gabriel stood before the door.
A man came down the alley with the flashlight and Sam tried to hide but the flashlight beam had already hit him. Sam cringed as the man came near, thinking him to be a cop, but when he wasn’t Sam relaxed, or well, eased up a bit as he kept gasping for breath.
“Hey…you alright?” The man asked and Sam looked up to him.
“I-I don’t know,” He said as he squinted at the man, who in the light behind them was illuminated clearly, he thought he saw a flash, a image…of the man leading him and several others out of a room, the man holding a sword and acting as a buffer between them and the bloody blonde guy in the room.
The man had a hand to Sam’s shoulder when Sam snapped out of it, looking up. He couldn’t help but notice the tan jacket and the majenta shirt and jeans, and couldn’t help but feel like this guys was really familiar…
“Who are you?” Sam asked and the man smiled softly.
“Gabriel, and your name?” Gabriel asked and Sam shook his head after a moment.
“I-I don’t know…I don’t remember anything….” Sam whispered. Gabriel blinked at him but then offered a hand to Sam.
“Come on, let’s get you up and see what we can do about that,” He said with a warm smile and Sam watched the hand a moment, saw the man smile….and he melted and took the hand that was offered and let himself be pulled up.
“How did you know I was out here?” He asked and Gabriel just smiled and led them into the apartment building right across from where Sam had been sitting.
“I saw you run into the alley…I watched you for a moment before I came down, you looked like a sad abandoned puppy so….I decided to see what was up,” he said as he opened his apartment and let Sam inside and Gabriel followed, locking the door behind him. Gabriel seemed a teeny bit tense but he otherwise seemed fine.
“So what happened?” Gabriel asked as he watched Sam pace around the room, looking it over, eyes going towards the bookcase. Yet he couldn’t help but notice the walls were a light blue and the carpet a light gray maybe a little silver. The appliances are silver….and there are white couches and a glass table in the livingroom.
“I uh…I was waking up on a park bench and two cops came and I…I knocked them out. I don’t know how…instinct or something…” He said, looking back to Gabriel to see if the guy was gonna bust him, but to Sam’s surprise Gabriel just laughed.
“Don’t worry, they deserved it I’m sure. Most cops are just….they can be dicks.” Gabriel says as Sam goes and picks out a book by H.P. Lovecraft….
“You a horror fan?” Gabriel asked, an unknown smirk crossing his face as he watched Sam.
“Yeah um…I think so…I really think so…something…something about this-“ Then he’s hunching over as images cross his field of vision and he hears ‘Lovecraft’ then sees the flash of a hotel and a room…
“Hey! Hey! You alright?” Gabriel is at his side. Sam’s panting and recovering and looks up at Gabriel, apparently he had hunched over it pain….
“Do you have a computer?” He asked and Gabriel blinked but nodded and pointed to the table, to a slim gold colored laptop on the glass table. He watched Sam type furiously into a browser, looking through websites before bringing up a motel site.
“Hah! This is it!” He says as he finds the right site and shows it to Gabriel. “This is where I think I’m staying,” He says and Gabriel gets up and gets the address from the laptop after making a moment about him being a male prostitute
“I’ll come with you,” Gabriel says calmly and Sam blinks at him.
“What? You don’t know me, I’m just some guy, I could be…anybody... you gotta be nuts,” Sam said, disbelief coursing through him as Gabriel smiled at him.
“I’ve been called that…but look if I let you go off alone and you got hurt…I’d never be able to live with myself,” Gabriel said, looking genuinely worried and Sam gave in and they walked on the sidewalks down toward where Sam was apparently staying.
“So…what room were you in, could you tell?” Gabriel asked as Sam went close to the hotel and he pointed out the room nearest the fire escape.
“Quick escape, one I’d get,” Sam said absently. Gabriel raised a brow at him as Sam asked for a card and Gabriel handed it over, asking what he was going to do with it. Sam only shrugged and opened the door and Gabriel stared at him as Sam gave him back his card.
“You better not have demagnetized it.” Gabriel muttered as Sam rolled his eyes and went inside as Gabriel blinked as Sam did.
“Um…okay interesting mind of yours, kiddo,” Gabriel said as he and Sam looked around and saw a shit ton of newspaper clippings and Sam went forward looking…shocked if anything.
Gabriel started looking around and spotted a card on the dresser, “Huh well I guess we know your name….Timmy Paige….” Gabriel said as Sam turned around with a frown. That name didn’t sound right.
“Or…” He then listed off names on the cards and looks to Sam.
“Uh…no offense but this is fucking weird,” Gabriel muttered, “Freaking me out…” And Sam bit his lip.
“yeah…me too,” He mumbled as he looked around again and his eyes stopped on a picture of a blonde professor. He frowned at it and then….then he heard voices, and saw a scene no something played out while he knew he had collapsed holding his head. He saw two men next to him, an older man and a man a bit older than he is at the moment and he finds himself walking down the street. Apparently they’re looking for someone and when they turn a corner…They find the person. The woman is bleeding and has longer hair and she…she calls the old man in the baseball cap Bobby. The woman dies after telling them about some spell and purgatory and a demon and angel torturing her. Then…then she died and some dude in a trenchcoat appears and the male model older guy. The trenchcoat guy was apparently named Cas as the male model guy started yelling at the trenchcoat guy named Cas.
“Rest assured, when this is all over, I will Save Sam, but only if you stand down.” and the next thing he knew he was being touched and feeling pain and-and…
It was gone, he was panting, braced against the table in the room.
“Hey! You okay?” Gabriel looked worried and lost and just so concerned it touched Sam even as he said…
“Sam, my name is Sam,” Gabriel’s eyes widened a bit, but Sam thought he saw a hint of pride in the older man’s features even as he got up and went to the bathroom and turned on the sink and splashed water on his face and was starting to dry off his face when Gabriel spoke again.
“So uh…what do you remember?” Sam stopped and dried his face then looked to Gabriel, who was waiting.
“You’re going to think it’s strange if I said it aloud,” He says nervously and Gabriel just grins at him.
“It can’t get stranger Sammy boy.” He says, pulling a lollipop out of his jacket and unwrapping it, sucking on it.
“Don’t be so sure.” He said but Gabriel look so damned determined to hear, Sam sighs.
“Look I don’t know …it’s all pretty spotty it’s just…I remember I was with uh…” He goes over and takes the clipping about the professor down from the wall, “Two guys and uh…one was the male model type and the other was a older guy, named…Bobby…” He frowned and looked to an address book as Gabriel rose his eyebrow.
“What are you looking for?” Gabriel asked around his candy as Sam found the address to Bobby’s place.
“Ha! Found it, Bobby Singer!” Sam is excited to find that all this was really, well real and Gabriel looked to him, almost contemplative.
“Where’s he at?” He asked rather gently and Sam blinked surprised at how easily Gabriel was responding to this. Anyone else would be freaking out.
“Well there’s an address for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, huh,” He looked up to see Gabriel tilt his head.
“South Dakota? Hm…listen Sam…You can’t go there…not alone,” He said and Sam swore he could see concern and something like fear in Gabriel’s eyes? He wasn’t too sure.
“Wait you want to come with me?” Sam asked and Gabriel laughed.
“Well first, how are you going to get there, you don’t have a car AND you’re hunching over in pain every time you remember something. Hello~! Dangerous driving condition if I ever saw one.” Gabriel said as Sam just stared at him.
“Well…” He paused and looked around, spotting keys, “I guess it’s a good thing you decided to come with me. Cause you could take over IF that happens how does that sound?” Sam asked and he looked over to see Gabriel rolling his eyes.
“Fine, Sammy boy, let’s do it that way,” He said as he followed Sam out the door and into the parking lot, the two of them looking around for the car. Sam immediately spotted the Impala and grinned.
“This one is mine,” He said with a slight laugh and Gabriel frowned.
“You sure?” He asked, and Sam nodded.
“Look….Sam this…this doesn’t feel right…all those photos…everything just….I don’t think you’re going to like what you find if you keep going…” Gabriel said as he ran a hand through his light brown hair. He looked worried and anxious.
“Dude if you don’t want to come then just say so. I don’t blame you if you’re having second thoughts.”
“No it’s just….this doesn’t feel right…It feels like something bad is gonna happen and I think…whatever you’re looking for? You’re not going to like what you see, kid-“ But sam didn’t hear the rest as suddenly he heard a click almost too loud then tackled Gabriel to the ground as a gun went off and shattered the passenger window of the impala.
“What the hell was that?!” Gabriel yelped, but Sam told him to stay down as he got up and looked around cautiously.
Sam looked up to the fire escape and…He saw….himself, holding a gun? What the fuck?!
“Sam! Sammy! Sam!” Gabriel’s voice kinda distorted a bit even as Sam quickly got them into the Impala and speeding away fast.
“Okay, what the hell just happened back there?” Gabriel asked, tugging at his seatbelt and looking to Sam who shook his head.
“I don’t know, besides getting shot at,” Sam panted before sniffing, Hey, do you smell whiskey?” Gabriel blinked at the question and looked to Sam.
“Just….try and focus here Sam,” He said slowly, but Sam noticed that Gabriel didn’t deny it. Hell he probably thought Sam had a drinking habit before the whole amnesia thing.
“Right…sorry. I didn’t get a good look…” Sam said as he kept his eyes on the road and didn’t notice the frown of unease on Gabriel’s face.
“We should call the cops,” Gabriel said but Sam shook his head.
“No we should go to my friends they can help us out,” He said as Gabriel retaliated.
“We don’t KNOW if they are your friends! You don’t know anything about ANYTHING! Come on lets just…turn around,” Gabriel nearly yelled but Sam shook his head.
“No, you’re safer with me,” Sam said firmly, glancing to Gabriel, who sighed.
“How do you know that?” He asked, Sam frowned and looked to Gabriel again, noticing Gabriel sighing.
They just went on in silence after that. How was Sam supposed to explain that his instincts would protect them? He couldn’t.
Then all of a sudden light shone in his face, blinding him and he slammed on the breaks, bringing the impala to a hard stop. He flinched away from the sudden light and when he opened his eyes he saw that it was daylight outside.
“What?!” He breathed out in shock, looking around, “no way,” and he opened the door and got out looking around. He was in complete shock. How the Hell does it suddenly go from being late night to mid day?!
Gabriel got out and slammed the door, “What was that?!” He yelled at Sam, who blinked at him, looking shocked.
“What do you mean?” Sam was confused by the nature of the question. What was Gabriel actually asking?
“It’s daylight,” He said, like it wasn’t that obvious and Gabriel looked at him like he was a crazy person.
“Yeah….” He also didn’t seem sure as to how to react to this.
“It was night and now its day!” Sam said firmly as Gabriel eyed him, looking confused by Sam’s behavior.
“It was always day!” He said slowly.
“No no no no it wasn’t!” but at Gabriel’s look, like Sam was crazy, he looked around.
“What the hell is going on here?” he muttered.
“Okay….This is turning out to be one hell of a roadtrip. I swear you W-“ Gabriel started to say but Sam was paying attention to a sudden rustling in the forest to the side of them.
Sam looked back to Gabriel and blinked.
“Wait. Hey! Hey hey hey!” He saw that Gabriel was starting to walk away but Sam quickly called attention back to him, getting Gabriel to look back and raise a brow at him.
“Get in the car,” He said firmly, tilting his head back to the woods, trying to signal to Gabriel that something was out there that might not be good for their health.
Gabriel caught on and went back to the car, looking to Sam and coming over to the Impala and he growled out something about ‘stupid Winchesters’ and sat in the passenger seat. Sam went to the back and checked out the trunk and saw a shit ton of weapons in there. He was definitely overloaded…even as he grabbed and loaded a pistol and shotgun, putting the pistol in his jacket and shifted the shotgun, somehow knowing how to hold it, his instinct guiding him as he went out into the woods, cautiously looking around. For what he wasn’t sure, he just knew there was something out here that is dangerous…and that he’d likely have to kill.
Suddenly a gun, a cold gun was put to his neck and he started horribly, caught by surprise. He then turned around and with the shotgun knocked the pistol aside? But not before he got clubbed in the face with the pistol and he backed up, blinking as he saw his attacker.
“My God,” The other Sam said as he unloaded the shot gun in a showoff kind of way, “Am I really that gawky?” He asked as he threw the shotgun aside. Sam watched it with wide eyes and then looked to the other Sam, the one who was fucking attacking him!
“Howdy,” the other said like this was the most common thing in the world. Neither one saw Gabriel sneaking up, holding a gun at the ready and a sword, shiny and silver in his beltloop.
“This…this is impossible!” Sam panted as he backed another step away as Other Sam smirked at him.
“Cold, try again,” He said calmly, again neither one noticing Gabriel, they were so engrossed in their conversation even as Gabriel’s hands shook, clearly he didn’t expect that...
“I’m uh…I’m hallucinating…” He said after running his hand quickly across his face.
“Warmer, but see…Most people are awake when they’re tripping balls,” The other Sam said with a smirk. A sense of humor. Cute…well not really but still it was….interesting.
It takes Sam a moment though, to realize what the other is saying.
“I…I’m dreaming…” Yet again shock, he was feeling a lot of that lately….
“And someone just won a copy of the home game!” Other Sam, again with the sarcasm. And he started to move and that’s when he saw Gabriel, standing half hidden by a tree, staring with wide eyes. Sam swallowed and forced his gaze to stay on Other Sam….
“We’re inside your grapefruit, Sam,” He said, Sam following his movements in a bit of a circle, Sam didn’t want this other one near him…
“Some….you’ve been juiced,” He said and Sam shook his head.
“I…I don’t remember anything,” Sam said and yet again the other had the answer, Gabriel was now hiding behind the tree as now the other Sam was getting close to it…
“That’s cause your BFF Cas brought the Hell wall tumbling down…and you, the pathetic infant you are, shattered into pieces,” He points his gun at Sam, who swallows, “Piece,” Then he partially points it toward himself before letting his arm fall to his side, “Piece.”
Sam shook his head, he…he… No this couldn’t be real!
“I…I have no idea what you’re talking about…” He was too numb now to run, even if he could get his legs to work and move in anything other than circles.
“Why would you? You’re jello, pal. Unlike me,” Other Sam said and Sam took in a breath, fear uncoiling rapidly in his chest.
“Wh-what are you?” He asked, curiosity keeping him there now…
“I’m not handicapped, I’m not settled with a soul,” He said and Sam blinked at that, okay what? “In fact, I got a skip of this meatboat a while, it went smooth sailing…I was sharp, strong, that is…til they crammed your soul back in. Now look at you, same misty eyed milkstop you always were. That’s because souls are weak, they’re a liability,” He said as Sam processed all of this, feeling his throat constrict, he couldn’t breathe…Was he right? Was he a liability? Was he really weak and useless?
“Now…Nothing personal, but run the numbers. Someone’s gotta take charge around here-“ and Gabriel peeked out from his tree, shifting the gun, Sam never noticed he was stuck staring at the other…
“-Before it’s too late,” and he raised up the gun and Sam’s senses went into overdrive as the other pulled back the hammer with a click and Sam bolted, but not as Gabriel did, that was his mistake, making so much noise. Sam heard three shots and he chanced a glance over his shoulder to see a look of shock on Gabriel’s face as his right arm clutched the other. Gabriel though… his shock turned to a smirk as he rammed into Other Sam with his good arm and kicked him down, the man fighting Other Sam, who while taller somehow seemed at a disadvantage, until he pulled another gun and Gabriel cursed and sprinted toward Sam.
“GO GO GO!” He yelled and Sam obeyed, jumping over a log and hearing a thud and grunt as Gabriel leaped but lost his footing and collapsed. Sam stopped and went to help him but Gabriel shook his head.
“No! Go without me!” But Sam felt…wrong about abandoning Gabriel, so he grabbed the injured man, hefted him into his arms and full out ran, taking cover behind trees as best he could as other Sam kept shooting. Sam stumbled over to a creek and ran across it to the other side and he quickly hid behind a cropping of rocks and set Gabriel down, the man bleeding from his left shoulder.
“Oh God, I told you to stay back there,” Sam whispered, panic bleeding into his voice and Gabriel just smiled at him.
“I never listen Sammy boy,” He said as he let out a breath of air and heard the Other Sam yelling for Sam to come out of hiding.
Sam swallowed and looked to Gabriel; he searched the man, who seemed at ease around him…
“Gabriel…I know you heard what…what that…that Sam said….Am I weak? Am I really a liability?
He then paused, “Wait, why am I asking you, we barely know each other…” Sam mumbled but Gabriel just smiled and put a hand to Sam’s cheek.
“Listen to me, kiddo. Souls are not weak, and they are not a liability…Humanity isn’t meant to ever go around soul-less it’s unnatural. Souls make us who we are. Without them we are nothing, souls are strong, not weak.” Gabriel said and Sam felt comforting warmth in his chest as he nodded at Gabriel.
“Stay here,” He said as he decided and Gabriel blinked at him, “Seriously, I don’t want you getting shot again,” He got an eyeroll from Gabriel and he figured that was an okay as he left, pulling out his pistol and quickly going to the other side of the creek, going to hide behind a tree and rock on a slight slope. He got ready to shoot then paused, the other would be expecting this…. So he left his jacket behind and quickly crouched and moved along the hidden slope so when he heard the other Sam coming he hid behind the huge tree next to it, and the other shot at where Sam had just been, and while the shots echoed, Sam went and snuck up behind him, and right as the other realized he’d hit the jacket…. Sam shot him in the back.
He collapsed, Sam keeping him covered with the gun as the other coughed up blood and looked to him…
“Agh…crap…” The other muttered as Sam was freaking out. FUCK he’d just shot himself! Was he gonna die or something?
“You think I’m bad? Wait til you meet the other one,” He said before he fell back against the ground, going limp. He was dead… Sam just stared on in horror, not noticing Gabriel crossing the stream….even as a blue white smoky energy came from his double and slammed into Sam’s chest. Images and voices, names and memories flashed through his mind as the smoke kept coming at him, hot and yet cold at the same time, almost blinding him… It was all so…so overwhelming and it hurt like a bitch…
When it was over he was panting hard and he was holding his head in his hands for a long moment. He heard a twig snap, and he didn’t have a chance to look up when he remembered one of the last few things…
“If you’re watching this…I’m dead.”
“Sam?” The same person, fuck…Gabriel…was his head trying to screw with him by putting him with Gabriel?
He felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Gabriel looking up at him in worry. It was so…uncharacteristic of the archangel… He couldn’t help but want this just for a little longer, he liked how Gabriel had stuck with him, had helped him, hadn’t forced him to do anything but went along. Maybe with a few complaints but he hadn’t really objected. ..But he knew he couldn’t stay here forever or hell much longer even.
“Yeah?” He asked as Gabriel grinned at him, seeming glad Sam is talking.
“How are you feeling? Not every day someone gets to shoot himself and not die because of it,” Gabriel says with some humor in it and Sam rolls his eyes.
“I’m fine, but you shouldn’t be,” he said as he watched the Archangel grimace, “I got my memories back when I killed him…you know…he was the second piece after all…he was the one that was stronger…more the hunter…” Sam said softly…
Gabriel eyes him but not before he hunched over in pain, hands going to his chest…
“D-damn it, no!” Gabriel growled as blood stained his shirt and Sam’s eyes widened as he saw Gabriel dying before his very eyes.
“No no no no!” Sam said in a panic as he rushed forward and caught Gabriel, light, light of grace starting to shine in his eyes and definitely shining under the shirt, causing a weird glow….
“T-told you…you wouldn’t…like what you found…” He panted out…
Gabriel looked at him now, with a look of betrayal, hurt and physical agony written all over his face. Sam felt his chest tighten painfully and it was when the pained sounds came from Gabriel that Sam hugged him close to his chest.
“NO! No dying, not here, not in my head damnit!” He said angrily, determined as he couldn’t help remembering what Cas had done to Bobby…Hell he didn’t know if it would really work here…
“Gabriel! Gabriel, listen to me!” He said and Gabriel let out a gurgle of sound.
“I honestly have no clue if you’re real or not, or if this will work or not…but…You said my soul is strong right? And I remember Cas siphoning energy off of Bobby’s soul…maybe you can do the same, to heal yourself? Please! I don’t want to see you die like this!” Sam said, almost shaking Gabriel, as those eyes looking to him, the eyes that had so much light behind them, waiting to burst free and signal the Archangel’s death.
“It-…it’s” He tries to say but Sam stops him.
“I know, its dangerous…but I don’t want you to die, a memory or not,” Sam said softly yet firmly. Gabriel brings a bloody hand up, and without another word, puts it inside Sam, and FUCK it hurts like a mother fucker!
Sam’s body convulses again and he screaming this time, like bloody murder screaming, his eyes opening yet not seeing. There’s a bright light glowing in them, a kind of yellow-hazel light and Bobby’s eyes widen.
“What in the Hell?!” He gasps as Dean’s screaming at sam to stop it but Bobby pulls him away.
“Dean! You can’t stop it. Someone’s taking energy from his soul! You interrupt it now and Sam’s soul will explode!” Bobby growls and Dean instantly pales and looks to Bobby, helpless to do anything as Sam’s screams continue….for ten minutes until he goes limp and there a flutter of wings around Sam. Then out of nowhere there’s an Archangel collapsing on top of Sam, pulling his hand free of the man’s chest…and said Archangel groaning and lying limp on the floor. He seemed to be in the same state as Sam. Because no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t wake Gabriel up. They head a man coughing in the doorway and it was Balthazar.
“You might want to get him out of the wards, it’s likely what’s doing it,” He said calmly and Dean and Bobby did just that, getting the Archangel to the outside of the door and Balthazar looked him over.
“Well, looks like he’s at least partially stuck in Sam’s head…Hm…” Balthazar looked Gabriel over again before he handed a piece of paper to Dean.
“I was going to give you a hard time…but maybe…maybe we can actually go through and win, if you get Gabriel to wake up,” and with that Balthazar left.
“Bobby, you try and wake Gabriel up, I’ll try and wake up Sam,” Dean said and Bobby nodded…
After twenty minutes they gave up, they were out of time, So they rewrote the address and put it in Gabriel’s hand and the other by Sam’s head with his gun…
Sam panted hard as he looked down to Gabriel whose eyes exploded outward with hazel-yellow light.
When the light cleared they were standing outside Bobby’s house and Gabriel was on both feet and flexing his hands a bit and looking to Sam.
“He’s here…I can sense the…the despair…the hurt from here….” Gabriel whispered as Sam rubbed his chest and looked to him…
“You’re still alive…” He whispered and Gabriel smiled.
“I told you, a soul is strong, yours, no matter how battered, is still so strong Sam. You need to get in there…and kill him. Kill the last piece…and you’ll wake up again,” Gabriel said urgently and Sam eyed him.
“How come you’re here?” He asked softly and Gabriel smiled.
“I’ll tell you later when we aren’t so pressed for time,” Gabriel said urgently, “Your brother and bobby have already left to stop Cas. They need you,” He said and Sam nodded and opened the door, going into Bobby’s.
They met the other Sam and Gabriel watched in the shadows as they spoke and the other held out the knife. Sam took it, weighed it in his hand and then stabbed him. He fell like he had long since been dead, but it…it was clear he would have been from all those wounds…all that pain… Then the smoky white blue light came from that Sam and slammed into Sam, Gabriel ran forward to help brace Sam, who screamed in pain even as Gabriel pulled him into a tight embrace….
Gabriel’s eyes flew open and he was shocked at that. He realized that he…he is alive again! But then he heard Sam’s screams and he got up, saw the angel warding and simply snapped his fingers, the writing all smudged and messed up, and it allowed him to get into the panic room and he went to Sam’s side and held down the thrashing man until Sam’s eyes flew open and he looked to Gabriel. Gabriel swore he could see the fires of the cage in Sam’s eyes.
They vanished as Sam very clearly fought the memories of Hell the memories causing so much pain…
“Can you handle them for a bit?” Gabriel asked, and Sam nodded with a grunt. Gabriel then whisked them away… And they appeared right as Castiel was striking Balthazar, but Gabriel was faster, flinging Castiel back with his power before the other angel could get stabbed.
Balthazar’s eyes widened and he stumbled over to Gabriel’s side. Gabriel was holding Sam up with one arm and he put a hand to Balthazar’s shoulder.
“Go, Balthazar, you’ve done what you can…Now go,” Balthazar didn’t need to be told again as the angel fled and Castiel was staring at him.
“Gabriel…how are you alive?” He asked and Gabriel looked to Sam, who had groaned and was holding his head.
“I had a bit of help from dad and Sam,” He said calmly.
“He must hate me, and you must be disappointed…They all are,” Castiel said in a dull tone. Gabriel tilted his head and opened his mouth to say something but Sam stopped him.
“Th-thank you Cas,” Sam said and Castiel blinked and looked to Sam.
“What?” He asked and Sam looked to him, still clearly in pain.
“I said, thank you…if…if it were not for you, Gabriel would not be alive again…and I would never…have been able to put myself back together…if you hadn’t brought the wall back down…” Sam smiled at Castiel even as Crowley made an appearance and Gabriel’s head snapped to him.
“It’s a bit crowded here, and I heard Raphael coming…” and with a snap and Crowley’s snarl, they were gone and in a new location.
Castiel blinked but looked to sam again as if he hadn’t been taken somewhere else.
“I don’t understand…” Castiel said and Sam only smiled again.
“It means I am not mad at you…Cas I am not mad about it…” Sam stumbles over to Cas, who catches him before he can fall, dropping his jar, which shattered loudly.
Yet Castiel was too focused on the anomaly that is Sam Winchester.
“Cas…I forgive you for hiding all of this, for deceiving us,” He said softly, looking up at cas with his eyes as Castiel looked back…as if trying to understand by reading Sam’s mind, but even Castiel flinched when a fresh pain of remembering the memories of hell overwhelmed Sam.
“You still want me to abandon my plan…” He said slowly and that was when Gabriel intervened.
“I have a new proposition for you brother…I help you fight in Heaven. I also know some pagans that owe me favors, I can help turn the tide of this war, without resorting to cracking open purgatory,” Gabriel said as Sam leaned heavily against Castiel.
“You are…not disappointed?” He asked Gabriel, who tilts his head.
“I am surprised you were willing to take such a stupid risk, but no, I am not disappointed, I understand how desperate you have been of late…”Sam let go of Cas and went to a chair and sat in it , Hell trying its best to break him. It is painful for sure mind numbingly painful. He doesn’t see the two angels exchange looks, doesn’t see Cas nod, but he hears Gabriel snap his fingers and there are two people on the floor groaning.
Sam then felt two hands on his shoulders, and knew by how warm they are that they belong to the angels.
“Sammy!” Dean yelped as he ran over to Sam, Bobby saying something about idjit Crowley and the next thing Sam knew, he was pulling through the painful memories and he took in the sights around him, saw Dean, Bobby, Gabriel and Cas and he grinned as Gabriel flicked Dean’s ear.
“Get any closer and you will actually be kissing him, I don’t think you’re into incest now are you? “ He asks with a smirk and both Sam and Dean make gagging sounds and Dean backed off.
“So um…what exactly is happening here?” Dean asked as he looked to Castiel eyes starting to narrow, but it was Gabriel who shoved him.
“YOU are going to be apologizing for being an insufferable asshole to my baby brother,” He said in a growl and Castiel looked to Gabriel and tilted his head a bit, but then it was clear Dean had been called out when he looked away.
It took Dean an moment but he finally got up and went to Cas and apologized. Castiel for a moment seemed like he wouldn’t accept it, but then he did, surprising Dean.
“Um….shouldn’t we be stopping Crowley?” Dean asked after a moment, then Cas smirked and pointed to the spilled blood on the floor.
“That’s the real stuff, Crowley has dog blood,” Castiel said and Gabriel let out a snort before making the blood vanish.
“Well, seems he will have a much harder time then. Good work bro didn’t expect such trickery from you,” Gabriel said with a smirk and Castiel for the first time in the last few weeks, smiled.
“Wait, aren’t you going to like do something about what he almost did?” Dean asked and Gabriel looked back.
“now why would I do that? If I tried to punish him, I’d be a huge hypocrite. After all I’ve done shady shit to try and get what I wanted done. May not have been of this magnitude, but still I’ve done things I am not proud of….And seeing as Cas has been helping you mooks for….what three years now? I think he deserves a free pass this time seeing as he died twice for you guys,” Gabriel growled at Dean and Sam looked to his brother, then to Castiel, who looked…relieved and Sam went up to him and pulled him into a hug. Castiel blinked but he returned it. The angel seemed to be trying to figure out what was with Sam….That he was a lot more….lovable than usual.
“Sammy chill on the hugs, I think you’re scaring Cas,” Dean said with a chuckle as Gabriel looked over to Sam and he couldn’t help the small smirk.
“That’s his innocent soul pulling through there…” He said and they all blinked and looked to Gabriel, who got smug all of a sudden.
“Dean, you thought your brother was a softie before? When he’s just his base soul with nothing else…Damn he’s trusting, caring, all the softie emotions you make fun of. That part of him? It was the strongest,” He said firmly, “and you know what? He’s the reason I’m not stuck in his noggin right now.”
“Wait….so YOU were the one siphoning energy off his soul? We could see it affecting him but didn’t know who was doing it….” Dean said slowly and Gabriel nodded, looking pleased with himself before snapping his fingers and they were sent back to Bobby’s place, Gabriel fixing the wards in the panic room before setting it up to keep Crowley and other demons out.
Sam sat on the bed, rubbing his head as Dean sat down next to them. Cas stood awkwardly in a corner while Gabriel stood before the door.