Takes place directly after Mystery Spot
"You did a beautiful job."
Gabriel flinches, but doesn't take his eyes off of Sam Winchester. Raphael stands beside him, once his closest brother. Now, he is little more than a stranger with a familiar face. God's departure has left its impact upon them all, but he regrets this one the most. Raphael used to laugh. He used to shine. Now, he is hollow and empty.
Just as Zachariah is, as Uriel is. Their souls are going black without God's presence.
Gabriel wonders if they notice, if they realize that they are no longer any better than Samael in the days before his fall.
It doesn't matter, he supposes. He cannot fight against them. It is his duty to initiate the end, as was prophesied by Michael himself.
Gabriel watches Sam Winchester, watches him hug his brother tight, as if he has no plan to ever let go. He could almost call it torture, the torment he had cast upon the vessel of Samael. Endless days of watching his brother die, helpless to save him, and then forcing him to lose him months too early.
The six months Winchester spent alone, hell-bent on his brother's revenge, left an impact. He is forever changed. Anger has seeped into his soul, has begun the process.
Gabriel feels sick and turns away.
"Do not despair, brother," Raphael tells him. "Our end is coming. The fight is almost over."
That, Gabriel thinks, is what he's afraid of.
Winchester will do anything, anything, to protect his brother, to save his brother. He will go into the deepest bowels of hell if he must. And he will succeed.
The end is coming, indeed. Lucifer will walk and Gabriel has all but handed him a perfect vessel, a perfect weapon. The world will cower, he thinks. And Heaven shall fall.
Gabriel wants nothing to do with it, but he fears that choice has already been taken from him. He has a feeling he will be seeing Sam Winchester again.