When Sam became the King of Hell all the seas boiled and the mountains trembled. At least that is what it says in the testimony. Gabriel remembers it differently. It was a normal day and then Dean Winchester died. His soul went to Hell and his little brother followed him. The angels in Heaven sighed and fretted because that was not how the story had been written. Gabriel, in hiding, laughed at them because humans never played by the rules.
Sam was a hero. He would rescue Dean under his own steam and return victorious. He was no more Lucifer's vessel then Dean was made to be Michael's. His brothers were just too stupid to see it. Then Sam did something that surprised even him.
Sam's slaughter of the demons was recorded in meticulous detail. He drank their blood and grew strong and when it came to the final hurdle, the demon torturing his brother on the rack Sam snapped his body in half and burnt the essence right out of him. He let Dean down and then neither of them left. Samuel Winchester had conquered Hell. What need did he have of earth?
Some say the brothers argued but if that was true then Gabriel never heard it. Dean loved Sam too much not to give in to him and by that point Dean had been near broken by the torture of Hell. He became his brother's most willing lieutenant and follower. With Lucifer still trapped in his cage there was nothing to stop Sam from becoming Hell's king and that was what he was from that day on.
Heaven waged war against the brothers. Countless angels died or were captured. Finally someone found Gabriel, begged him to come out of hiding because the war was no longer between his family but waged against them and Gabriel could not deny that request. He led a phalanx of Heaven's finest against the brothers. It was Sam himself who pulled him from the sky, who buried his fingers deep into Gabriel's wings and dragged him down into the pits of Hell. Gabriel had thought he would die that day. He had waited for the blow that never came, Sam's hands warm where they touched him, stripping him of his armour and confiscating his sword.
"This one!" Sam had said, voice directed towards what had once been Dean but now seemed so twisted Gabriel could no longer see the righteous soul he had once been. "I'm keeping this one, Dean."
Dean had snorted, carrying an unconscious bundled across his shoulder and Gabriel knew from the black wings it was his brother Castiel. "Yeah, you keep the ugly one, Sammy. I'm taking this one home."
And that was how Gabriel the archangel became enslaved to Sam, King of Hell.
Hell is cleaner than Gabriel imagined it. He thinks that every morning when he wakes and looks around him. Cleaner and brighter and nicer but he knows that is Sam's doing. He is the boy with the power after all. He twists it to be what he wants and he prefers it to look like somewhere he would want to live. Gabriel always forgets that cannot fly and he stretches his wings first, gold feathers unfurling until the stab of pain reminds him where Sam snapped each flight feather, grounding him permanently. He is not the only angel it was done to. He had seen them break Castiel. Dean liked an audience.
He gets up, rubbing at his eyes and looks thoughtfully at the gold bands around his wrists. They look pretty, like jewellery and Sam had been kind when he'd snapped them on to him. "These prove you are mine." He's said, eyes glittering and then he'd kissed Gabriel, forcing his way into the Angel's mouth and the tenderness hat had been there melted away.
Gabriel is allowed clothes. Simple, classical because Sam likes the Greek style and thinks it's funny to see the Angels dressed like that and Dean just likes the easy access it offers when he's trying to grope Castiel. Castiel is there with him too and he greets Gabriel in the morning, eyes downcast and Gabriel would believe him when he said he disliked it in Hell where it not for the way his eyes light up when he sees Dean and he rushes to his side like an obedient dog. Castiel had been made to serve. He was practically created for this life now and Gabriel is almost jealous of him. Castiel can love Dean even though Dean is a monster and Gabriel suspects that out of the line of public sight Dean is gentle with him. Castiel never limps, never has bruises although his wings are ruffled and Gabriel can hear his cries echoing all around Hell. At first he thought it was torture, now he guesses they just have sex.
"Do you think Sam will want you today?" Castiel asks him.
"As if I care." Gabriel says and Castiel looks worried as if he thinks Sam can hear them. Maybe Sam can.
"You should care. Sam is your master now." Castiel chastises him, setting down plates and bowls and Gabriel knows that means a visit from Dean. Castiel doesn't eat otherwise.
"Sam's a jerk. He's not my master. I'm not owned by anyone." Gabriel says, sitting down at the table and he draws his legs up onto the chair, wings coming down to cover himself so he's balled up like a fledgling and protected from the world. Castiel sighs.
"They are not all bad…" He begins but the door to their captivity opens then and Dean is standing there. Castiel is enraptured at once.
"You would say that, baby." Dean beams at him. "But you know it's not true." He catches Castiel up in his arms, kissing him hard and Castiel whimpers with pleasure and wraps his legs around Dean's waist. Gabriel peeks out from under his wings and makes a disgusted noise at the sight.
"No sex in the kitchen." He tells Dean miserably but Dean is ignoring him, already laying Castiel out on the counter top. Gabriel sighs, slipping off the chair and out the door, unnoticed by his brother or the demon with him. The last thing he hears before he shuts the door on them is Dean's voice. "Whipped cream? Really, Cas?"
There are beautiful gardens in Hell now. Sam's design again. They remind Gabriel a little of the gardens in Heaven and he finds them comforting. They are tended by the souls of the damned and they seem more useful now, set to work, then they were being tortured. Gabriel understands the need for torture, the need for vengeance. Violence is justice for a life ill-spent but even as he understands that he thinks that Sam has done some good here, bringing beauty out of evil.
Sam is already in the garden reading. He's working his way through the great books of literature. He has a whole library at his disposal and willing demons to run and fetch him whatever he wants. Gabriel was vaguely disappointed to discover this was what the King of Hell did when he wasn't breaking the spirits of archangels. Sam looks up from his book and catches sight of him. He smiles and Gabriel feels a tug of his grace.
"Gabriel!" Sam calls, waving him over. "I suppose Dean is with Castiel again. I have half a mind to beat that angel. He takes up far too much of Dean's time." He studies Gabriel's face and then laughs. "You know I wouldn't, don't you? Dean would kill me!" He pats the bench beside him. "I'm reading Moby Dick. Have you read it?"
"I've read everything." Gabriel says sullenly. Sam's eyes light up in delight.
"Good. Let's talk about it then. Dean doesn't read anything. You have no idea how much I miss a good conversation."
They talk and talk until one of Sam's advisers comes to find him. Sam sighs, leaving Gabriel with a kiss on the cheek and promise to continue their conversation later. Gabriel goes back to his cage to find the plates Castiel had carefully laid out broken. Castiel is nowhere to be found. It is probably better that way. Gabriel would have to explain his smile to him and he is unsure of how to do that.
"Do you miss Heaven?" Sam asks him one day. It comes out of the blue. Gabriel is kneeling at Sam's side pretending to be a good pet as Sam lolls around on his throne, listening to reports and being bored. Gabriel has been devising ways he would take out the demons in the room so Sam has to repeat himself before Gabriel really listens.
"Huh? What? Yeah, I guess. I mean, I ran away. I don't really miss it all that much." He says with a shrug. It's Earth he misses.
Sam shifts in his seat again and reaches out to pet Gabriel's soft brown curls. "I miss home, sometimes. I miss people and normal things." He says. He doesn't talk to Gabriel again for the rest of the meeting but Gabriel knows he didn't mishear him.
When Sam commands Gabriel spreads his wings wide. Sam slides his hands through them, stroking over each broken feather and Gabriel sobs with pain and cries with pleasure. He's never experienced this before, being bought to the edge by something that is both once humiliating and so impossibly good that if Sam drew his hands away Gabriel would beg him to continue. Sam never asks Gabriel to service him during these moments. Gabriel knows that Sam is hard; he knows Sam is getting off on watching him like this – the powerful archangel reduced to a trembling wreck under his hands but Sam never takes more than Gabriel's orgasm. That alone seems to be all he needs. Sam pants for breath, a wet stain in the front of his pants and Gabriel knows that he's come untouched just from watching Gabriel get off.
He finds it surprisingly endearing of Sam.
"I think you're beautiful." Sam announces one day while they're in bed together. Gabriel stops his relentless pistoning up and down on Sam's cock and looks at him surprised.
"Your brother says I'm ugly."
"Yeah, well, Dean's an idiot." Sam says and tugs Gabriel down so he can kiss him.
Gabriel misses many things about being on earth but more than anything he misses candy. He and Castiel live on what their masters give them. Dean feeds Castiel cherry pie and milkshakes and makes crude jokes about Castiel's skills sucking cock while the angel fumbles with his straw. Sam just eats salads and sandwiches and things that Gabriel feels are beneath the King of Hell.
"You could eat anything!" He says, exasperated when again Sam brings him a fruit basket. Sam just smiles at him.
One day Sam appears with two ice cream cones. They sit in their corner of the garden, in the shade and eat ice cream. Gabriel doesn't even give it time to melt he's missed the sweet taste of it so much. Sam had picked out mint chocolate and Gabriel has finished every trace of it, licking it from his lips before Sam is even half-way through his own cone.
"I can help you with that." Gabriel pipes up, leaning across to lick the sticky mess where it's melted on to Sam's fingers. Sam makes a soft noise in the back of his throat and Gabriel forgets the ice cream and concentrates on sucking Sam's fingers into his mouth – one by one – until Sam drops the ice cream come on the floor and lunges for him. His kisses are sweet and in the shade they do something they've never done before. Gabriel holds him down, wings spread to cover and shield them from prying demon eyes as he takes Sam and Sam rocks back onto him, head thrown back in rapture.
"Gabriel," He moans and Gabriel feels that tug on his grace again. This time he lets it go and follows it, opening up his heart to the King of Hell.
It is only when the new barrage of Heaven comes that Gabriel realises what has happened. He has fallen in love with Sam. Sam is not a despot; he's not ever a particularly wicked man. Heaven and Hell have been playing out his life like a game of chess, moving him around and planning what he should do and Sam has rebelled against that. They cannot force him back into the game now that Sam doesn't want it.
He picks up his sword, goes out into the field of battle and fells his brothers without a thought.
They will not come to Hell while Gabriel is Sam's Angel. He will protect Sam now.