Trouble With The Trickster || Gabriel - Supernatural

-28-

"Aw, come on, crack a smile," Lucifer cooed as Gabe glared steely at him, positioning himself in front of me. The newest arrival walked down the hall towards us, carefully stepping over the corpse of the man he'd just killed, "Pity... I would have enjoyed torturing him..."

Gabe looked at him in disgust, "You just killed a man in cold blood and you want to cause him more pain?"

"He was a homophobe, Gabriel!" he replied with a hint of anger in his voice, "He despised my greatest 'supposed' creation... I'm rather proud of them myself, though I had no part in their making - no one can kick up a storm more than a few of 'The Gays'. That would be great name for a band, by the way..."

I laughed unintentionally at the thought of 'The Gays' headlining with 'The God Squad' and Gabe gave me a look that told me to shut up.

"I like you," Lucifer looked down at me, folding his arms, "You know a funny thing when you hear it..."

"How come I couldn't sense you?" Gabe butted in and Lucifer turned to him with a bored expression on his face.

"You're not the only archangel who can read, Gabriel. I also have a copy of that little ritual you and Balthazar performed, only mines stronger... because I'm older," he said matter-of-factly before turning back to me, "Anyway, you, my friend, intrigue me beyond anything... the fact you're standing in front of me right this second baffles me... Do you have any idea how you're managing that?"

"I don't know..."

Gabe opened his mouth to say something but Lucifer hushed him, "Oh, calm down, please... It's cold enough in here already without your icy glare..." I hadn't noticed the temperature before but as he pointed it out, I shivered involuntarily. "Sorry, that's my fault..." he apologised, "Most people assume I burn hot but it's quite the opposite, in fact."

"I know why you're here," I plucked up the courage to say, ignoring Gabe's mutters of protest beside me.

Lucifer looked at me in surprise, "You do?"

"Yes," I gulped, feeling a lump forming in my throat, "You want to use me as a weapon... to destroy Heaven and Hell..."

He seemed to consider it for a moment, placing a finger on his chin, "Now, that's where you've got me all wrong..." Gabe looked up in surprise and shock. "You see, while I may hate Heaven... and Hell, for that matter... I don't want to destroy them..."

"You don't?" Gabe furrowed his brow at Lucifer's unexpected answer.

"No, I don't. Where else would I get my entertainment from if Heaven and Hell didn't exist?" he posed, shrugging, "However-" Gabe's breathing hitched again, "Are you gonna do that everytime I say something different, Gabriel? Because if you are, it's gonna get very annoying very quickly..."

He shook his head and let out the breath as Lucifer looked at him expectantly, "Sorry... I just expected you to be trying to kidnap Beth or something..."

"Kidnapping? I'm not Crowley..." I didn't know who Crowley was but by Lucifer's tone I gathered they weren't best buddies. "I merely want to propose an arrangement, brother... a friendship offering, if you will?" He turned to me, "As I was about to say, I want you to work with me to bring down Michael..."

"Why Michael?"

"I don't know, Gabriel... Maybe because he threw me into the cage, because he tortured me for centuries because Dad like me more than him?" The malice in his voice faded as he turned to look Gabe in the eyes, "Maybe because he tortured you after I fell... and forced me to watch your screams of agony while he tore you to shreds... punishing you for what I did because he thought you might get the same idea..."

I noticed Gabe had gone very quiet as Lucifer recalled their past. I didn't believe it at first but the tears that rolled down from his whiskey eyes told me that Luci spoke the truth as I pulled him into a tight hug, shushing him as he wept into my shoulder.

"You didn't tell her," Lucifer clarified, seeing the shock in my eyes and somehow knowing that inside I saw myself as female, "You have no idea the pain I felt... knowing it was my fault... You were always a good brother to me, Gabriel, even when the others turned against me... you were willing to see past that..."

"Michael refused to stop until I confessed hatred towards you," Gabe looked up at Lucifer who now seemed a lot more human than I'd expected... I felt pity for him... "I refused... then, I ran away and Balthazar agreed to hide me - I still don't understand, though... Why did you start the apocalypse? Why did you kill me?"

"I knew you would come back somehow, brother," Lucifer said, a fond smile ghosting over his lips, "As for the apocalypse... well, I had to fight Michael somehow, didn't I? The opportunity was as good as handed to me - I couldn't waste that chance..."

"Wait," he turned to me as I remembered something, "You killed this whole town to get us here? Why didn't you just call for Gabe?"

"Oh, it's Gabe now, is it?" Lucifer laughed, his cunningness re-emerging after a sad moment of recollection, "I didn't murder this town. In fact," he gestured to the dead guy at his feet, "he's the only one I actually did kill. The rest of them all got a surprise holiday in the Bahamas for the entire week, courtesy of the Devil himself..."

"But... the reapers?" I asked, still confused.

Lucifer smiled, kindly this time instead of with his usual smarminess, "I burned a few hundred underground KKK members on a bonfire on the outskirts of town, mainly because they were pissing me off but also because I needed a way to get you here. Seems now that it wasn't necessary but, hey, I killed some assholes so everyone wins... no one will thank me for it, though... they're never grateful these humans..." He sighed in annoyance before looking back at the both of us, "So will you work with me on this?"

Gabe thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Yeah. I've been wanting to kick Mike's ass for centuries... never had the power for it, though..." He looked to me, "You in?"

Am I in to work alongside Satan and kill Gabe's archangel brother? "Yeah, sure. Never thought I'd say this but I'm on Lucifer's side in this."

The man himself chuckled, "You're gonna go far, kid. Not many people would trust me when they'd just met me..."

"I can relate to you, I guess," I thought about all the things my mother had sent those hounds to do to me as Lucifer looked down at me, half curious and half worried.

"I would've preferred there to be a different reason for your trust in me," he said, noticing the saddened looks in both mine and Gabe's eyes, "Come on, let me come in and you can tell me all about it... Maybe we can get justice for you, too?"

Just the suggestion made me buzz - could Lucifer really be the help I needed to pay my mother back for what she did?