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“Are you sure that you’re up for this?”
Sam looked at his brother who had taken his eyes off the road to study him worriedly.
That morning, Sam had jerked awake, breathing heavily. The details of whatever nightmare that had woken him slipped away quicker than he would’ve liked. Something about Gabriel?
The hunter shook his head. Of course it had been something about Gabriel. The Archangel turned Trickster had dominated most of his thoughts since Ketch had come with the information that he was alive and in Hell. They had been planning for a solid week and today was the day they were going to get Gabriel out of there.
Ketch and Cas were both already waiting in the library when Sam had arrived. The two were glaring at each other, both refusing to speak first. The silence was broken by the angel when Dean entered the room. “We should review our plan.”
Dean had huffed. “I still think we should be focusing on getting to Mom and Jack. Don’t you think it would be easier to break Gabriel out if we had Jack on our side?”
“Don’t you think it would be easier to successfully retrieve Jack and Mary if we had an archangel on our side?” Cas had countered. “I do not want to leave my brother in Asmodeus’ hands any longer than necessary.”
The older Winchester grumbled, but didn’t offer any further arguments. He wasn’t as fond of Gabriel as Sam or Cas. It had taken time to convince him that saving the angel was a necessary detour, and it had taken even more time to convince Sam that they needed to have a plan and not just rush into Hell and grab him.
Now they were on their way and Sam couldn’t keep his head in the game.
Had Gabriel been in Hell since he was killed by Lucifer? Sam should’ve known he wasn’t really dead, especially after they had been so sure before. If he hadn’t believed, then maybe he could’ve prevented—
“Hey! Earth to Sam!”
“What? Yeah.”
Dean frowned at him. “Do you even know what I asked?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Yes, Dean, I am up for this. I have to be.”
“Are you sure? I know you haven’t been doing so hot and—” Dean was cut off by the radio crackling and switching to a different station.
“So now maybe after all these years, if you miss me have no fear. I'll be here, I'll be waiting. This could be the one last chance to make you understand—”
“What is this crap?” Dean complained and switched the radio back.
The music should’ve been Sam’s first clue.
Sam had almost convinced himself that he had forgotten just how much he hated Hell.
How Sam and Ketch had gotten separated from Cas and Dean, Sam had no clue. Anxious didn’t even begin to describe how he was feeling. But somewhere in the maze of tunnels, cells, and demons, there was an angel who needed his help, so Sam kept following Ketch.
“His cell is this way. We’ve almost reached it.”
He wanted to double back and find his brother and Cas, but if they were that close to finding Gabriel…
Gabriel’s cell was nothing like the barred cell that Castiel had recounted. Instead of a bars, the door was solid iron. Ketch slid the window open and Sam peered inside. There he was, sitting on the bench in the back of the cell, his head in his hands. Gabriel looked up slowly.
The first thing Sam noticed was how bloody the angel’s face was, which really did not bode well for his situation. His eyes were wide and filled with a fear Sam had never seen, not even when Gabriel had been about to face down Lucifer.
Then Sam noticed his mouth. His lips had been sewn shut.
Oh, Gabriel, what did they do to you?
Sam threw open the cell door and rushed to Gabriel’s side. On closer inspection, the thread holding the angel’s mouth closed wasn’t thread at all, but wire. Oh, god. “We’re going to get you out of here, okay?”
Gabriel just blinked at him; Sam could see the defeat in his eyes as he slumped his shoulders. Sam wondered if Gabriel even knew he was real. “Don’t worry, Gabriel, everything is going to be alright.”
The angel didn’t respond, he just stared at the hunter blankly. Sam went back out to the hall for help, but Ketch was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he had gone to find Dean and Cas? A small whimpering sound came from beside him and Sam jumped. Gabriel was leaning against the doorway next to him.
Sam barely had a chance to wonder why Gabriel wasn’t chained to the wall before a demon turned the corner and spotted them. Sam immediately drew his blade as the demon shouted for reinforcements and charged at the duo. The hunter dispatched the demon quickly, but his friends proved to be a bit more tricky. Sam had to focus, not only on protecting himself, but on protecting Gabriel as well. The Archangel seemed to be frozen in fear. Probably not a good sign.
Sam ducked out the way of the last demon’s weapon and drove his own blade into its side. The familiar flickering of orange light flashed from the demons face. Sam turned around to speak to Gabriel and was met with an archangel blade to the stomach.
Asmodeus stood before him, grinning, and twisted the golden knife. Sam cried out in pain. Gabriel caught the human as he crumpled to the ground and held him close. Sam could faintly hear the angel humming a familiar tune as everything started to fade…
Sam jerked awake, breathing heavily. The details of whatever nightmare that had woken him slipped away quicker than he would’ve liked. Something about Gabriel?
Gabriel heard the footsteps outside of his cell. Soon, the window on his door would slide open and he would look up. Then, it was only a matter of time before Sam Winchester would die.
He hadn’t meant to start the loop.
He hadn’t known about the Winchester’s rescue plan and had made a bigger fuss than usual when Assmodeus came into his cell. Sam had apparently heard the commotion and come running.
The demons didn’t like that. Gabriel had held Sam as he bled out. It seemed counterintuitive to hum Heat of the Moment to comfort Sam when the human inevitably would associate it with the ‘Dean dying’ part of the time loop and not the apology he had meant it to be, but that was the first song that had come to mind. He could feel the life draining from Sam and then…
He was back in his cell. Sam’s blood was gone from the rags he was wearing and the manacles around his wrists were still intact.
The day had started over.
Gabriel had no idea if Sam would remember— oh, Dad, he hoped not— but he had a sick feeling he’d find out soon. He didn’t put up a fight when the Prince of Hell payed a visit that time. He waited quietly for Sam and the British hunter to appear.
Sam was stabbed with Gabriel’s own Archangel blade that day.
Crushed by a cave in on the third day.
Accidentally shot by Dean on the fourth.
Torn apart by Hellhounds on the sixth.
On the seventh day, Gabriel protested when Sam came into the cell, frantically motioning for the hunter to turn around and run. When Sam came to close, Gabriel tried to shove him back and, unaccustomed to the lack of warded manacles, accidentally used his grace.
Sam flew backwards and bashed his head against the door. Gabriel crawled over and hoped that his tears and the song he hummed was enough to convey his apology.
The day reset.
Demons got the upper hand once again on day eight.
“Hey! Earth to Sam!” Dean shouted.
Sam snapped out of his daze. “What? Yeah.”
“Do you even know what I asked?”
“Yes, Dean, I am up for this. I have to be.”
“Are you sure? I know you haven’t been doing so hot and—” Dean was cut off by the radio crackling and switching to a different station.
“So now maybe after all these years, if you miss me have no fear. I'll be here, I'll be waiting. This could be the one last chance to make you understand—”
“What is this crap?” Dean complained and reached his hand out to switch the radio back.
Sam stopped him. “Wait.”
“What, do like this music now?”
Sam frowned and listened to the lyrics. “I’ve heard this song before.”
“I close my eyes and all I see is you. I close my eyes. I try to sleep. I can't forget you.”
“Don’t know why you would’ve heard this before,” Dean grumbled, turning off the radio.
Week seven seems to favor broken bones and internal bleeding. They had almost made it out on day forty seven, but Sam’s punctured lung had him collapsing before they could make it.
Day forty seven of Gabriel holding Sam in his arms and humming what he had come to think of as their song as he died.
Day forty eight brought the return of Assmodeus, a broken leg and a severed artery.
Day forty nine found Gabriel cradling Sam’s head in his lap, the hunter paralyzed from a spinal injury. The archangel forced himself to retrieve his archangel blade. Tears and humming were still his only apology. He had to do it, he had to it start over or Sam would be stuck like this.
Gabriel pressed his forehead against Sam’s.
The day reset.
Sam jerked awake, breathing heavily. He launched himself to his feet and looked himself over. Just moments ago he had been in Hell. He had been…
He looked back at his bed. A dream? It was a dream?
But something about that didn’t seem right. Gabriel had been there. Crying. Humming. The song had been so familiar.
He knew the song Gabriel was humming.
It wasn’t the song that kept playing on the Impala’s radio, but he knew it.
“So now maybe after all these years, if you miss me have no fear. I'll be here, I'll be waiting. This could be the one last chance to make you understand. And I just can't let you leave me once again...”
Gabriel didn’t want to leave his cell.
“We’re going to get you out of here, okay?”
Gabriel shook his head. I killed you, Sam, he tried to communicate with his eyes alone. I killed you.
“Don’t worry, Gabriel, everything is going to be alright.”
Sam was supposed to head for the door. Why wasn’t he moving?
“Come on, Gabe, we’ll make it this time.”
They waited to long.
Day fifty ended with a knife in the back, Sam in the lap of an Archangel, and Gabriel humming Heat of the Moment.
Sam got Gabriel out of the cell on day sixty two.
A wrong turn was the cause of death for day seventy five.
Poison was day eighty nine.
Sam was getting sick of dying.
“Are you sure that you’re up for this?” Dean asked once again.
Sam sighed. “I’ve got to be. This time we’ll make it.
“What do you mean, ‘this time’? Hey! Earth to Sam!”
“Do you remember what I told you about the Mystery Spot”
Dean frowned at him. “The Mystery Spot? Like a time loop? How many—?” The radio crackled and switched to a different station.
“So now maybe after all these years, if you miss me have no fear. I'll be here, I'll be waiting. This could be the one last chance to make you understand—”
“What is this crap?” Dean complained and switched the radio back.
“I’ve counted forty four days, but I’m sure there’s been more,” Sam said.
“And, what? We fail and the day starts over?”
“It’s not failure the resets it.”
“Me dying again?”
“No. Me,” Sam admitted. “I die.”
Dean actually pulled the Impala over to stare at his brother. “You die. You’ve died forty four more times? What have I been doing?”
Sam shrugged. “It’s not like you’ve just been watching. We get separated. You and Cas always are gone by the time Ketch and I get to Gabriel’s cell.”
“Well then, let’s not get separated,” the older brother decided, and put the car back in drive.
Sam went to open the door when Dean’s voice cut through his haze of get to Gabriel.
“So who’s got the key?”
The key?
The key.
All those days of just barging into the cell and Sam hadn’t thought that the door should’ve been locked. Sam tried the door and it swung open easily. “It’s not locked.”
“That’s not right,” said Dean.
“No,” Sam agreed. “Stay here.”
Dean protested, but the younger brother was already moving towards the injured Archangel. “It’s a trap, isn’t it? That’s why the door is always unlocked and your chains are always broken.”
Gabriel nodded.
“How does Asmodeus know?”
“SAM!” Dean shouted.
Sam whirled around and was met with a knife to the gut. He fell backwards into Gabriel’s arms. The Archangel held him tightly as the cell started to go dark. The lyrics to the song he was humming echoed in Sam’s head.
Sam waited until they were in the car and halfway to their destination before he revealed anything to Dean.
“Are you sure that you’re up for this?”
“It’s Ketch,” Sam said, darkly.
“What’s Ketch? Hey! Earth to—!”
“He’s double crossing us!” Sam spat.
Dean stared at him. “What?”
“The reason nothing’s been working, it’s because of Ketch told Asmodeus that we’re coming.”
The radio crackled and switched channels. “I never meant to be so bad to you. One thing I said that I would never do. A look from you and I would fall from grace, and that would wipe this smile right from my face.”
Sam stared at the radio. That song. At the Mystery Spot, the song had changed on Wednesday. If Gabriel was the one doing this, if he created this loop, he was counting on Sam not to mess up this time.
Dean turned off the radio. “Sam, what’s going on?”
“Mystery Spot.”
“Mystery Spot?” he repeated. “Like a time loop? How many—?”
“Not you,” Sam interrupted. “Me. It’s been my death. We’ve failed to get Gabriel out alive every time and I’ve been dying to start over. You and Cas need to take out Ketch while I get Gabriel out of his cell. If you two can help hold off anything else on our way out, we should be able to make it this time.”
Dean took great pleasure in stabbing Ketch the minute they made it to Hell.
Castiel looked on in confusion. “We need him to show us the way to Gabriel’s cell.”
The taller Winchester shook his head. “No, we don’t. We’re in a time loop, Cas. I know the way by heart now. Listen, I don’t know if whatever you and Dean have been doing the last however many days has been helping, but I need you both on defense today. The loop is over, there’s no more resets."
Cas cleared his throat. “Of course, Sam.”
Was it just Sam’s imagination, or did Cas look… disappointed?
He wasn’t sure he wanted to dwell on that.
Sam led the group to Gabriel’s cell, Dean and Cas on guard the entire way there. The door was unlocked as always and Gabriel looked up as Sam entered.
The Archangel’s eyes slid passed him and then back to Sam’s face, projecting his confusion. Dean and Cas were back? Where was Ketch?
“Dead,” Sam answered, guessing the question. “We’re gonna make it this time, Gabe, I promise.”
Gabriel nodded. “Alright. Cas, can you help Gabriel and Dean and I can fend off—” He was interrupted by Gabriel latching onto his arm and shaking his head vigorously. “Okay, okay. Dean and Cas will fend off the demons. I’ve got you.”
Without Ketch to sound the alarm, getting out of Hell was easier than it had been in the days prior. They made it back out into the fresh air more or less unharmed. The group collapsed to the ground in relief.
Day ninety four ended with Gabriel in Sam’s arms instead of the other way around.
I'd do anything
Just to hold you in my arms
To try to make you laugh
Cuz somehow I can't put you in the past
I'd do anything
Just to fall asleep with you
Will you remember me?
Cuz I know I won't forget you