lux_tuli

Title: "Rescue"

Fandom: Supernatural

Rating: Teen

Pairing(s): Gabriel x Sam Winchester, past Michael x Lucifer

Characters: Gabriel, Lucifer, Michael, Sam Winchester

Word Count: 1,246

Prompt: "When you least expect it sometimes you get saved" (statement) & “One day you and I are gonna wake up and be alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day. I promise you.” (dialogue)

Written for: Gabriel Monthly Challenge - January 2017

Originally posted: January 12, 2017

Gabriel loved his brother, even when he had rebelled against God and was cast out of Heaven by Michael, thinking back to the moments where he had just been a fledgling under Lucifer’s care but he was wrong. Wrong about humans. They were not a pile of cockroaches that were unworthy of being saved. Despite their flaws, they had their redeeming qualities.

And Gabriel would argue that probably none of their Father’s creation was perfect, including them, His obedient little soldiers, well, at least they were supposed to be. Lucifer could take just one mere look in the mirror to realize that all of them had flaws.

Lucifer had his pride and Gabriel would label Michael’s fault as being blindingly loyal, unable to think for himself. As for Gabriel’s own shortcomings, that would be cowardice.

He sometimes wondered if these faults were an intentional part of His design or just sheer happenstance. Either way, Gabriel found that angels were not that much better than humans. And the Winchesters, despite their occasional stupidity, were the type of humans that he fought for because despite their mistakes, they always tried to right them. At least they could look in the mirror and recognize their own faults rather than remain stuck in denial.

What drew him towards Sam Winchester, Gabriel was not completely sure. While most would probably look at angel and true vessel and only see the similarities when comparing the two, Gabriel could only notice how stark the differences were.

The final battle went down at Stull Cemetery. Michael wearing the flesh of Adam Milligan, the Winchesters’ half brother, and Lucifer wearing Sam, content in his true vessel. Dean would not listen to any words he said that he would be unable to stop them and it was foolish to step in the middle of two archangels battling it out.

It was foolish but there was no doubt on how much Dean cherished his younger brother. It was a shame as once upon a time Michael and Lucifer had been close like that. Inseparable, attached at the hip, to put into human terms but it was much more than that, after all for the longest time it was just the two of them before Raphael was created.

They had been mates, which for an angel was a marriage commitment that lasted for eternity. Despite all of his past relationships, most of which qualified more as flings than serious relationships, Gabriel had never felt that strongly about anyone. Mating was not just exchanging a verbal vow of commitment but you tethered your grace to the other party, though they did not have to be an angel.

It was not the ending that anyone had pictured, Sam had seized control back from Lucifer and dove down into the Cage, dragging Michael along with him. Gabriel did not think it was right to leave him down there, surely they would focus all of their fury and wrath on him, so he descended down into Hell to retrieve the younger Winchester’s soul and body.

He does not know how everyone got the idea but most people believed that Hell was ridden with fire. That was wrong, it was the opposite that was true. Hell was frigid and cold. The further down into Hell, the colder it got. The Cage being beyond even the deepest level of Hell, it was unbelievably cold.

Lucifer, ever the observant one, is the first one to notice Gabriel’s presence, greeting him in a friendly manner that shifted Michael’s attention over to him as well, “Are you the calvary?” He pressed his head against the bars as he looked at him.

“Why do you deserve to be let out?” Gabriel curled his lips into a frown, “This whole situation is just as much your fault as it is Michael’s. Perhaps being stuck in time out together will allow you two broken lovebirds to mend your relationship. So no, I’m not here for you, I’m here to rescue Sam Winchester.” He could see the human’s form curled up in the space between his brothers. A look of betrayal crossed Lucifer’s face and Michael glared.

“You would chose a human over your own family? And what makes you think that I will let you take Sam? He’s mine.” Lucifer had accused him of the same thing before at the Elysian Hotel, right after killing a good chunk of his pagan comrades. He did not know how he was ever going to show his face in Asgard again after his brother had killed Odin and Baldr.

“He might be your true vessel but he isn’t your possession.” Gabriel insisted firmly before asking, “Are you going to fight me over him, brother?” He wondered how far Lucifer would go to prevent him from leaving with Sam.

Lucifer cast his eyes over towards Michael then sighed, “I have had enough of fighting.”

“Then let me go in peace and perhaps I will reconsider my stance in the future.” Truth be told, he did not want to leave his brothers trapped down here forever but thought that it would do them some good to leave them there for a little while. Just long enough to come to their senses. Lucifer backed away from the bars, allowing Gabriel to get a better look of Sam. The Cage had only been designed to handle an archangel, certainly not two at the same time or a human so it was not much of a surprise to see Sam sitting and being unresponsive. Gabriel pushed himself through the bars of the Cage and picked up the human’s form into his arms.

As he turned around to leave, he heard a flutter of feathers and saw out of the corner of his eye Michael trying to lunge at him but Lucifer charged right at him, pinning him against the bars, which allowed Gabriel to leave the Cage without any further issue.

Gabriel landed back on earth and laid out Sam on a hotel room bed, a step up from the Winchesters’ normal fare. He debated on notifying Dean but he did not feel that either one of them were ready. It would only upset Dean to see his younger brother like this. Even after he dragged him out of the Cage, Sam remained unresponsive and he had a glossy look in his eyes that told him he was not entirely with him. The whole experience had no doubt been rather traumatic on his mind and would require time in order to recover.

He leaned forward and whispered into Sam’s ear, “One day you and I are gonna wake up and be alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day. I promise you.”

Gabriel had his fair share of issues as well, namely emotional ones relating to his screwed up family, though he knew that Sam took the cake for his issues being the most damaging. The important thing, however, was that Sam was not alone.

He would be by the human’s side until he got better, enough to stand on his own two feet and the haze dissipate from his eyes, and Gabriel had all the faith that he would. Humans were surprisingly resilient, even if their forms were not made to be as strong as an archangel. Humans were to not be underestimated.

Their sheer amount of will overcame the lack of raw strength and was one of the many reasons why Gabriel admired humans.