Sabriel One-Shots

Gabriel Before Gadreel

Summary: Instead of Gadreel arriving in Sam's hospital room, Gabriel makes it there before him and comes to the same conclusion.

Gabriel knew the Winchesters had fucked something up as soon as he saw his brethren falling, watching from the balcony of his hide out, their burning bodies lighting up the sky.

He closed his eyes, daring for a moment to tap into angel radio. Immediately he gasped and clutched his head, the screaming of the angel's pain filling his head. Gabriel tuned out before he fell to his knees, though his body still trembled slightly. He turned his gaze back to the sky, color drained from his face.

"Oh Sammy, what did you two do?" He murmured under his breath. Of course he had ditched Heaven, but he still loved all the angels like family. How could this have happened?

There was only one way to find out.

It took him hours to will himself - to leave the hiding place Loki had graciously crafted for him. Hours of staring up at the sky, watching the last of the angels fall, and even after that watching the smoky cinders that had once been pearl white feathers or speckled chocolate wings drift through the air, the trails of holy bodies moving slowly across the lightening sky.

Finally, Gabriel turned and walked back in from the balcony, retrieving the angel blade he had stashed in his drawer years before, wanting to put behind his angel life, at least for a while. Now, he gripped the handle firmly, comfortingly familiar in his hand. Without a word he snapped his fingers and disappeared, willing himself to land wherever Sam and Dean were.

He could smell medicine before he even arrived, standing in the hall of a hospital, just outside the door of a room. The nurses of the night shift were so tired that they barely even noticed the strange angel appear, or the blade in his hand. Of all places, he admitted a hospital was not one he expected. Without knocking he swung open the door, his heart dropping at the sight. Sam laid in the hospital bed, unmoving and pale, hooked into machines that held his fragile life from the brink of death. Even at that Sam was barely breathing. Gabriel could see the damage, and it made him sick to his core. What happened to him? Dean was leaning over the bed, elbows pressing into the mattress, hands folded, and eyes closed tight as he prayed. He hadn't even heard Gabriel walk in, but Gabriel could hear him. Begging for an angel, any angel, for help. Unbeknown to Gabriel was that he had fortunately arrived before one such angel.

"Dean?" Gabriel prodded softly. Dean's eyes flew open and he stood up from his chair, staring at Gabriel, looking him up and down.

"You're dead," He stated plainly. All the emotion seemed sucked from him, his eyes not shocked or furious but just dull, maybe even afraid.

"No, I'm not," Gabriel replied. That seemed to be enough for Dean as he asked no more questions. Gabriel moved forward, slipping his angel blade in his back pocket, and looked over Sam. "What happened to him?" He asked, keeping his eyes locked on Sam, all the while trying to loosen the sudden tightness in his throat.

"He did the Trials of God. Almost. I stopped him before he could die," Dean murmured solemnly.

Gabriel let out a forced chuckle. "Well, look what good that did him," He tentatively reached out and grabbed Sam's hand - his icy hand.

"You're an archangel, can't you heal him?"

For a moment, Gabriel examined Sam. "I don't think even I could undo this damage. To be ripped apart inside and out on such a scale, it's almost impossible from the outside," Gabriel hated to say it aloud. Then an idea struck. "Unless I go from the inside."

"What?" Dean asked, confused.

"I could possess him," Gabriel's heart pounded at the thought of leaving his vessel that had served him for so long, but he couldn't let Sam die, "I would give him full control of his body of course, I'd just be in there with him."