Reading Between The Lines (Sabriel)

Chapter 6

As it turns out, Gabriel has reason to dislike Ruby. Sam practically disappears from his life entirely after that. Even their texts fade out over time. Gabriel manages to convince himself that it doesn't matter, though. Yeah, sure, he misses the hunter. He can't lie about that one. He can't pretend he doesn't wish he was Ruby, either, though that's one that he would never admit aloud. But Sam will come back eventually. They're friends, and friends don't leave each other out to dry.

Right?

And then, one day, Gabriel notices something impossible.

There's a shift in the power balance of the world, one too big not to notice. He's felt the world goes sideways before, but never to this extent, and certainly not leaning towards the darkness. There's only one thing that could have caused this, and it's one he'd rather not consider.

Lucifer is free.

He wasn't supposed to be able to break out like that. It was destined to happen, of course. Gabriel knew from day one that Sam was destined to be Lucifer's vessel, just like Dean was destined to be Michael's. But the fact that it's finally happening, after millions of years of waiting...

How did this happen? He vaguely remembers Sam mentioning something about breaking seals last time they spoke, but he didn't think much of it. He'd just assumed the guy meant some type of sigil or something. In hindsight, he probably should have taken off his Sam-Winchester-can-do-no-wrong glasses for just a few minutes, because that definitely sounds apocalyptic.

Gabriel makes the decision to seek Sam out, which proves more difficult than he had expected. It's not that he can't find the boy -- in fact, it would be damn near impossible not to have found him. He just can't seem to get the boy alone. Gabriel checks in on him for weeks, spending what time he isn't watching him getting the inside scoop. Word on the street is that Dean broke the first seal over a year ago, and Sam broke the last. Given how he broke the last, Gabriel is inclined not to believe it the first time he hears it, but every time he asks, he gets the same answer, so often that he can't deny it anymore.

Sam killed Lillith by drinking demon blood.

And he didn't breathe a word of it to Gabriel.

Gabriel had heard whispers that Lilltih had reemerged, which should have been strike one that the apocalypse was among them, but Gabriel had ditched Heaven long before he got the rundown on what the seals were. He'd smelled the demon blood on Sam every time they'd met, too -- though, admittedly, that was few and far between. He'd assumed it was just sex with Ruby that was rubbing off on him.

But Gabriel never brought any of that up with Sam. He'd just assumed that if Sam wanted to tell him something, he would. They'd been telling each other just about everything for a while, excluding the Trickster's other aliases. He'd been so sure that if something major was going on, Sam would tell him.

And he didn't.

But Gabriel sets that out of his mind. He's just here to talk to Sam, not to point fingers. So, when he sees Sam getting ready to leave the bar he started working at, god knows why, Gabriel is ready.

"Sam."

Sam's head whips around to look at him, reaching for his waistband as if about to pull out a gun that he doesn't have anymore. When he sees Gabriel's face, he relaxes a bit, though not as much as Gabriel had hoped. He's far more on edge than he usually is when they see each other. It's almost disconcerting.

"What are you doing here?" Sam hisses.

"Looking for you, dumbass," Gabriel says. "What are you doing here?"