Transmission from the Trickster

Chapter 10

By the time Sam reaches his brother's room, Dean is back to his usual self. He's sitting on the bed, Cas standing next to him. Whatever conversation they had been having stops when they notice Sam there.

"Where have you been?" Dean asks.

"Talking to Gabriel."

Dean scoffs. "Oh, great. Guy tries to blow my eardrums out, and you decided to, what, stop by for a cup of tea?"

"You know what?" Sam says, feeling oddly defensive of the archangel. "I don't blame him. Hell, if I was in his place, I would've done more than just screech 'til you went away." He's fully aware that he probably just started an unnecessarily huge fight with his brother, but he doesn't care.

"What?"

"Dean, you can't just take his grace!" Sam tells him. "For all we know, that's all that's keeping him alive!"

"So what? We'll take care of Lucifer some other way, but right now, Mom is our first priority, and I don't know about you, but I don't want two archangels running free!"

"This has nothing to do with Lucifer!" Sam tells him, almost amazed that he even has to say that.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asks. "The whole reason we grabbed him in the first place was to stop Lucifer and/or save Mom and Jack!"

"Yeah, but Dean, he's been trapped in Hell for so long, he lost track of time completely. I can't even imagine what he must've gone through, what Asmodeus did to him."

"Okay, what's your point?" Dean asks impatiently.

"My point is that he's already been through so much —"

"So let's put him out of his misery!" Dean finishes. "He stops suffering, and we're one stop closest to finding Mom and Jack."

Sam scoffs. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously! We have bigger concerns right now, Sam!"

Sam shakes his head in disappointment. "Looks, Dean, I don't expect you to understand, but I've been where he is. Tortured, broken. And I know how it feels to think it's finally over, that you're finally free, just to be dragged right back into it. I went through it with Lucifer and the cage, and I'm not doing it to Gabriel — not if we can help it. He's staying out of this."

Dean doesn't say anything at first, just staring at him in disbelief. Finally, he asks, "Since when are you two all buddy-buddy?"

"We're not," Sam says. "But he did die for us —"

"Yeah, and he killed me a hundred times, too!"

Cas cocks his head in confusion. "He what?"

"It's a long story," Dean says, waving it off. "We'll tell you later."

"It doesn't really matter," Sam adds.

"How does that not matter?" Dean demands. "What, just 'cause it proves my point, and you don't like that?"

"No, because he redeemed himself in the end," Sam corrects him. "He didn't have to pull us out of the fire. He didn't have to fight Lucifer. I won't pretend he's a good person because he's not, but when it came down to it, he risked his life for us when he could've just run."

"Are you getting the your point soon, or...?"

"My point is that Gabriel helped us. Now it's our turn to help him — starting by not stealing his grace, and definitely not right now, 'cause even once we've got it, we're still gonna need the Seal to open the rift."

"And if we wait much longer, he'll be strong enough that we can't take his grace, and having the Seal won't even matter!" Dean snaps. "Look, Sam, I feel for you. Really, I do. But Gabriel? Whatever happens to him, he kinda has it coming."

Sam scoffs. "How can you even say that?"

"I'm just being real," Dean says. "Gabriel is a murderer. He kills people for sport. Yeah, he's had his moments, but he's still the bad guy here, and he still has a lot to answer for."

Sam shakes his head at him. "I can't believe you. Yes, he's done some things that he shouldn't have, but so have the rest of us. That's nothing new. But Gabriel — he's scared, Dean. Scared and practically defenseless, and he needs our help. And maybe he'll end up helping us again in the process."

"Yeah, or maybe it'll end up getting us all killed," Dean adds. "Right now, the smart thing to do would be to take his grace so he can't hurt anyone, and then we'll already have it to open the rift. Gabriel will either heal like a human, or he'll die. Either way, he's not our problem, and we can get back to trying to save Mom and Jack."

Sam crosses his arms. "If you want Mom and Jack so much, go look for something on the Seal of Solomon. Once we have that, we can talk. 'Til then, I'm gonna go make sure Gabriel's okay."