Chapter Text
The ride back home was filled with conspicuous silence and judgement as the two Winchester brothers dared not say a word. The older brother had his eyes focused on the road with AC/DC’s Thunderstruck playing on loud volume on the radio. Sam Winchester on the other hand stared outside the car window, losing himself in the scenery of the outskirts of Ohio. “what kind of coward sits back and lets something like this happen?” Dean finally said. “just because that asshole couldn’t stand up to his family, he’s willing to let the death of millions just happen?” Sam merely stayed quiet, not engaging in any kind of conversation instead letting dean say what he has to whilst he agreed with a slight ‘hm’ every now and then.
Reaching the motel, the two checked into a room and unpacked their necessities when Sam confronted Dean about the strange feeling he had of the motel. “I mean does it not strike you as odd how everyone was smiling?”
“yea so what?” dean said from the bathroom as he changed into more comfortable clothes, “these people are just happy Sam. I mean for all we know their lives are sunshine and rainbows.”
“I don’t know dude, I’m telling you, we should hit the road.” The younger brother said as he burrowed his head deeper into a folklore book.
“relax Sammy. I mean what, do you think these people are gonna kill you with kindness or oh better yet, a magical unicorn they’re hiding.”
Sam looked at dean with a deadpanned expression before putting his book aside and dean chuckled at the look on his face, “we’re only here for the night. Now get some rest, we have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow.”
Sam watched as dean buried himself inside the blanket, cozying himself before sleep eventually took ahold of him meanwhile it struggled to hit Sam, who tossed and turned for almost an hour. Unable to shake off this anxious feeling that this motel was—if not haunted—then strangely terrifying at the very least. Events of the day also held his thoughts captive. The trickster was infact Gabriel, the archangel.
Sam almost laughed to himself. he and dean had encountered their fair share of angels that were not the kindest creatures to exist but to think that one had tortured Sam into experiencing his brothers’ death over and over again only to find himself lost in a time loop, now that was purely cruel. Lost in his thoughts, Sam slowly fell asleep after what felt like an awfully long night.
The next day, he woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the window and his eyes squinted as the harsh sunlight hit his face through the narrow slit between the curtains. “hey dean, can you shut the curtains properly for me?” he requested but was met with silence.
“Dean?” Sam called out again but suffered the same response. This time however, Sam did not waste his breath but instead got up in the speed of light, his eyes searching the room for any signs of his brothers’ presence.
But what made him worried is that he found none. He could’ve argued that Dean was gone to get food but all of his things, including his wallet and phone, were in the room. Without wasting another second, Sam grabbed his faded brown leather jacket and his phone and left the room with a slam of the door.
He hurried downstairs to the main desk, perhaps he could acquire some information from the staff members here but when he reached the eerie, dimly lit corner where the front desk was at, he was surprised to find that no-one was there.
Matter of fact, no one was here at all. Sam had not seen anyone on his way down, and the spot where the security guard usually stood was vacant. “shit.” Sam muttered under his breath before running around the motel, kicking open almost every door for a sign that someone else was here, for a sign that Dean was here.
“Castiel?” the brunette called out desperately. Even if dean was taken captive, Cas could still help, right?
“Cas?!” he yelled again but this time someone else answered.
“y’know, there’s really no use in calling out his name. you’re only wasting your own breath.” A voice spoke from behind him. Sam slowly turned around, irritation and anger already taking ahold of him. his suspicion was only proven to be true when he found a familiar face staring back at him and Sams’ eyes darkened.
“Gabriel.”
“in the flesh.” He replied, flashing a smile.