"Not this time," Gabriel said, holding his blade steady in front go himself. Lucifer stopped walking, looking at his brother with a mixture of astonishment and distain on his face.

Gabriel backed up a few steps and reached down to help up Kali.

"Guys!" Kali clung to him, though Gabriel suspected that she was not aware and would deny it later. "Get her out of here." And the Winchesters would take her, he knew; they'd leave him here, and that was fine, and Dean would have the last laugh and they'd watch the video and things probably would go down the crap shoot anyway.

But that was fine. And anyway, he couldn't take the time to think about that now.

Kali was taken from his grasp, and he circled around Lucifer, keeping himself between Kali, Sam and Dean. He barely registered his brother's words until he'd made sure that the three had gotten out safely.

"Over a girl. Gabriel, really? I mean I knew you were slumming, but…I hope you didn't catch anything."

Gabriel couldn't help but smirk at Lucifer who, in his own repulsive state, found it necessary to look at him as if he were the biggest sinner in the room. "Lucifer," he said, "you're my brother, and I love you." Lucifer looked at him as though he thought Gabriel might take his side.

Ha. Not today, bro.

"But you are a great big bag of dicks."

"What did you just say to me?" And there was the first hint of malice Gabriel had heard directed at him that night—by Lucifer, anyway. The Devil began to circle around, and Gabriel did what he could to stay in the path of the door.

"Look at yourself," he spoke again, "Boo-hoo. 'Daddy was mean to me so I'm gonna smash up all His toys—"

"Watch your tone." There. There was the tone that gave Gabriel shivers up his spine. He did his best not to show it.

"Play the victim all you want. But you and me? We know the truth." The hard and hurtful truth. "Dad loved you best. More than Michael. More than me." Gabriel paused, as though waiting for Lucifer to say something. When he did not—"Then Dad brought the new baby home, and you couldn't handle it."

And there was the unholy look. The one that had only come to be after his brother's Fall.

Gabriel pressed on. "So all this," he gestured around them with his blade, "is all just a big temper tantrum."

He lowered his voice, serious for once in his long life, and pointed the business end of the weapon at his brother. "Time to grow up."

Lucifer held up his hands, as if to placate him. "If you're doing this for Michael—"

"Screw him," Gabriel said, the slightest bit surprised that he was, "If he were here I'd shiv his ass, too."

Lucifer tutted, condescending "You disloyal—"

"Oh I'm loyal," Gabriel said. Again, surprised at his own convictions. He'd spent too long purposefully avoiding them, apparently. "To them."

"To what? These…so-called gods?"

"To people, Lucifer. People."

Lucifer pretended to consider this, but Gabriel could see the hate. "So you're willing to die for a pile of cockroaches. Why?"

Why, indeed. Damn it all. "Because Dad was right. They are better than us.

"They are broken, flawed, abortions." Lucifer' expression hardened and his nostrils flared. Gabriel knew he was at the end of his fuse.

"Damn right, they're flawed," he said. "But a lot of 'em try. To do better. To forgive. And you should see the Spearmint Rhino."

Lucifer was regarding him now with an intensity that should have scared him, but in truth, Gabriel was ready.

"I've been riding the pine a long time, but I'm in the game now. And I'm not on your side, or Michael's." Gabriel smirked. "I'm on theirs."

Lucifer shook is head, and for the first time that night, looked like the brother that Gabriel had once been so close to. "Brother, don't make me do this."

"No one makes us do anything."

And like that, the familiarity was gone, though Lucifer kept his voice temperate. "I know you think you're doing the right thing, Gabriel. But I know where your heart truly lies."

Gabriel stayed still, waiting for Lucifer to make his move. And what a move it was.

In an instant, Lucifer had turned around and grabbed the arm of the second manifestation of Gabriel, sinking the raised Blade into his torso. The second Gabriel choked, gagged, looked at his brother with wide, wet eyes.

Lucifer took his face in his free hand. "Here. Don't forget, you learned all your tricks from me, little brother."

Suddenly, there was a second sharp, slick sound of a blade entering a body, and Lucifer's own eyes went wide. His brow furrowed, and he gasped. Gabriel shimmered and faded out of his grasp, and he heard his brother's voice over his shoulder. "Not all of them, Luci."

Gabriel, for his part, was suddenly at a crossroads. He felt that his blade was buried in Lucifer's back, just under the reserve of grace that would end his brother's life if he were to angle the blade just a it higher within his body.

I can't kill my brother.

Can't or won't?

Can't. I can't.

Gabriel pulled the blade free of Lucifer's body, letting him collapse to the floor. He backed up a few steps and just watched his brother writhe on the floor. He'd live, he'd live now, but instant healing was out of the question due to the blade itself, along with a few other things. Gabriel watched him bleed and clutch blindly at his chest. He knew he should. He should kill his brother. But he couldn't do it.

He needn't have bothered so much with the decision. Within a short moment, a blink, Lucifer was gone from his presence, leaving a pool of blood in his wake—the pagans', as well as his own.

Gabriel stood there alone for a free moments, brought out of his thoughts by the thunder of the impending storm. He stowed his blade, and he left. He resolutely did not look back at the motel.

He needed to find the Winchesters. They had a Devil to catch.

A/n: Sooo. I really need Gabe to come back. I haven't written anything past this, but if you all like it, I'll see what I can do.