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Gabriel wore his trademark smirk, but Sam could see that it was maybe a little forced, a little sharp at the edges. Could see that his eyes were a little harder and didn't contain his gleeful amusement that Sam had always seen when he was playing with them.
"Let me get this straight," Dean enunciated slowly, disbelief etched all over his face. "You want to join us?"
"Yeah. Join your little crusade against my brothers." Gabriel tried for jovialness, but it didn't fool Sam, and caused Castiel to snap his head and take a step towards the archangel.
"Why the change of mind?" Dean asked, considering the awesome power an archangel could bring to their hopes of stopping Armageddon.
"Dean," Castiel started in that chastising tone that meant nothing and everything with one word. That tone that could get Dean to obey him, to shut up, to do anything Cas pretty much needed him to do.
"No, little brother. No," Gabriel interrupted turning towards Dean. "I've had dreams of Sam being Lucifer, of Lucifer being Sam. Whatever. I've dreamed of it and it is not nice."
"Yeah well, I've seen it," Dean retorted hard, his eyes getting that look of someone who has suffered so much, is so wound up that he might break if more stress is added. "I've seen it courtesy of Zachariah. What happens to the world, what happens to Sam, to Cas. And you know something, Gabriel? For all your words of waiting on the fence, you weren't there. You weren't. So, sorry if I don't believe you because you've had dreams.But I've actually lived that life, what could happen." Dean's voice rose with each word until he was all but bellowing at one of the most powerful beings in creation. And Gabriel just took it. He just took it. Sam closed his eyes and opened them slowly.
Gabriel hadn't smote anyone.
Yet.
The briefly amused look Gabriel gave him suggested he was listening to his thoughts.
"I'm sorry, Dean. I didn't know. Zachariah was always..." Gabriel hesitated, looking for a word.
"A dick?" Cas suggested softly, causing his older brother to choke and look at him protectively. Cas rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Gabriel. I'm not innocent." He glared at his raised hand.
Gabriel muttered under his breath. "You're still my baby brother."
~~~~~~~~~~
When Dean accepted Gabriel's offer with heavily laced sarcasm and mistrust (he had locked them in TV land, he kept repeating to Sam), it soon became obvious that Sam and Gabriel would be spending more time alone.
He coped with the obnoxious chewing of M&Ms.
He could have, however, done without several of them somehow flicking over the book he was reading in an impossible (if you weren't an archangel abusing your God-given powers, that is) angle.
"Gabriel," Sam complained eventually. All he received was a huff of amused laughter.
"I'm bored," Gabriel whined. Sam looked up and glared.
"You couldhelp with the research," he pointed out. Gabriel rolled his eyes.
"Why are you hunting? It's pointless. You should be focused on trying to stop my brothers."
"Well we would if we had any ideas where to start. Why don't you help with that, hmm?" Sam snapped. "Plus adding to the fact the with Lucifer on the outside, the hunters are barely coping with the onslaught on demonic activity. We have to pull our weight."
Gabriel sighed, leaned forward and snapped his hand, the book in Sam's hand moving to the table, flicking through pages until it settled on one. "It's a Will o' the Wisp. It lures innocent people to their deaths in bogs and marshes."
"Really? I thought they were fictional. Legends?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed again. "Sam," he sounded tired on that word. "Everything has it's basis in fact. They've not been heard of in a while because they tend to stay out of the way, in less populated areas. What this one is doing here is beyond me."
"How do we kill it?"
Shrugging, the archangel stood and wandered over to the table. "You don't. They can't be killed. They're energy, a concept. One legend states that they are the result of humans reneging on deals with crossroads demons. Another states that they are the fiery serpents that survived the Deluge." He sank into a chair, finger pointing on the paragraph in question. "However, they are a concept; they're not real."
"They're killing people," Sam pointed out, frowning.
"Yeah, they are. You just ward the area with iron. Their energy can't go through iron wards. With an Enochian sigil carved on the iron spikes, the Will o' the Wisps will leave the area." He sighed and frowned. "Just-- be careful. They do have an association with demons. And my brother isn't exactly subtle. This whole thing could be a trap."
"We're not going to give up hunting. Just because you said we should," Sam raised a brow. "Gabriel, if we don't do what we can to save people, to kill evil sons of bitches, then what's the point of stopping the Apocalypse?" Sam snatched the book from the Trickster archangel. "It would be nice if you explained the difference between archangels and angels. Not even Cas is sure exactly. After all, that might, I don't know... help us kill the fucking Devil!"
Gabriel looked away then snapped his fingers and unwrapping a candy bar. "I'll help you stop them. I'm not going to help you to kill my brothers." Because that's what it was about. Gabriel said he'd help them, and yet, he would never mention how to kill them.
"Then what are you doing here? What good are you?" Sam snapped, finally having had enough of Gabriel's attitude. The few bones he threw out on hunts just didn't cut it against the tricks, the mocking, the insults and the refusal to lift a fucking finger to help them.
Eyes darkened, Gabriel pushed the table out of the way, hauled Same up by his shirt and flung him against the wall, pinioning him in place. "I will help you. Father alone knows I love humanity and my dickhead brothers are insistent on wiping your race out in one way or the other but I. Will. Not. Kill. My. Brothers. Or help you kill them!" He hissed, golden light flaring in his amber eyes. Sam gasped, flailing in the easy grip the archangel had on him.
"Answer me one thing. One thing, and don't you fucking dare lie to me, Winchester," Gabriel growled, tightening his hold on the struggling hunter. He didn't need to; there was no chance in Heaven or Hell that the human was escaping him unless he wanted it. He was making a point, and from the look on Sam's face, making it spectacularly.
"Could you kill Dean? Could you stand around and watch someone else kill Dean? Or help them?"
"It's different... Dean's not... Dean's not trying to destroy the world!"
"They are still my brothers!"
"Gabriel--"
"No Sam. Just. No. I'll help you stop my brothers. I won't help you kill them."