Michael marched Sam down one of Heaven's bland corridors, all white light, white walls, gray doors and a weird sense of disorientation. Sam tugged his arm away from the archangel, but Michael's grip was tight.
"I don't understand," Sam protested weakly. "What's going on?" Michael flicked him a contemptuous stare.
"I already told you-"
"Yeah, yeah. I heard that part. What I don't understand is why. Weren't you supposed to fight Lucifer, and if you won you'd have killed him. And me." Michael waved a hand dismissively.
"That was my job. Mine. And you took it from me, not once but twice. So you have to pay. If you were still human I'd have smited you where you stood. But you're not. You've an archangel's Grace inside you. And you're Gabriel's Nexus mate. So I can't touch you." This last was delivered through gritted teeth.
"I still don't understand," Sam admitted.
"You usurped my role. The only one sanctioned to kill Lucifer was me. Lucifer is God's most favored angel, and you murdered him in cold blood. So you must pay for that crime. How exactly is this hard to understand?"
"Lucifer was the fucking devil!" Sam yelled, feeling well and truly freaked out. "How can it be a crime to kill Satan? How does any of this make any sense?"
"It matters not. Your understanding is not required," Michael told him, dragging him down a much dingier corridor. The walls appeared to be roughly hewn from a pale colored rock and the only light came from small sconces carved into the walls. The cells were small and barren, with only a single bench that seemed to have been hacked out of the rock and barred doors that were more like gates. The effect was rather like a jail carved out of a cave. So this was Heaven's prison. Michael opened a cell and threw Sam inside.
"You will wait here until Gabriel comes to retrieve you." Michael said then turned on his heel and left.
"That could be a long time," Sam said bitterly. He bowed his head.
Gabriel? I hope you can hear me. I know we didn't exactly part friends but I'm in trouble. Real trouble. I'm in Heaven's prison. Please, please help me. I'm begging you.
There was no response.
Dean grabbed Cas' shoulders and shook the angel vigorously. Cas eyed him balefully.
"How do we do that, Cas? How the Hell do we find Gabriel if he doesn't want to be found? 'Cause I'm guessing he's ignoring any cries for help from Sam."
"You don't know that," Cas insisted. "My brother wouldn't leave Sam to rot." Dean spun away from his angel in frustration.
"I do know it. He's already left Sam to rot. So don't give me that." Dean barked and Cas flinched.
"You're wrong. He freaked out, that's all. He would have come around. He will, as soon as he hears about what's happened. I believe in my brother, Dean." Cas insisted, his voice wobbling and tears gathering in his eyes. Fuck.
"All right. Well, how do we find him?" Dean demanded. Cas shook his head.
"I don't know. Gabriel's very good at hiding when he wants to be. We need help." Dean snorted in wry amusement.
"And who exactly is gonna help us?"
"I will contact Jegudiel. I'm sure he will help us." Cas stated confidently.
Sam quickly established that there were no other prisoners in the few cells he could see, which struck him as rather odd. There were also no guards or any other angels at all. It was starting to give Sam an even worse feeling about this. Something was definitely off. He didn't know how much Heaven's procedures mirrored legal protocols on earth but it seemed strange that he hadn't seen a single other angel. The only one he saw was Michael, who would come and stare at him unspeaking for hours at a time. Today had been no different, until Michael had twitched and moved closer to the bars of the cell.
"Tell me again why you killed my brother?" Michael said suddenly.
"It's hard to explain," Sam said tiredly. "I told you what I could. Part of me hates him, part of me loves him. But all of me belonged to the lapsit exillis. She wanted Lucifer dead. What she wants, she gets. So I killed him."
"That's what you said before," Michael complained.
"It's the truth," Sam defended.
"It's not good enough. Are you telling me that if the stone had told you to kill Dean, you'd have slid a blade between his ribs as easily as you slaughtered Lucifer?" Michael bit out.
"I don't know," Sam replied, nauseated at the thought. "You don't understand. I don't know if you can. She grabs hold of you, breaks off a piece of you and then turns it against you. Like a second person inhabiting your skin. Like possession in a way. But you're an angel, you only understand possession from the point of view of the possessor. You don't know what it means to be a vessel." Michael looked thoughtful.
"That's true. But you didn't answer my question. Where was the line? What would the stone have asked you to do that you would have resisted? Killing Dean, killing Gabriel, killing yourself? What?" Michael's voice was getting more and more shrill.
"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe I would have done all of those things if she had asked me to." Sam admitted. "I'm sorry, you know. About killing Lucifer. I dream about it, every night. I relive the moment when I felt him die, when a piece of me died with him."
"What would you know about that?" Michael shrieked. "What would you, a pathetic human, know about devotion, about the purity of love for one's brother?" Sam watched him uncertainly.
"I have a brother," he pointed out. "I've done some bad things for him. Terrible things.
"And they are as nothing to what I have done for Lucifer. For what I would have done." Michael insisted.
"I don't understand, you know. You were planning to kill him. Wanted to kill him. I understand feeling robbed of revenge. But he's dead, which is what you wanted."
"NO!" Michael screamed, his eyes bulging and his mouth flecked with spittle. "I wanted my brother back. I wanted us to be together again and you destroyed him. Not just by killing him, no, you betrayed him in every way first. With Gabriel!"
"Not so fond of that brother, huh?" Sam commented. "It's more complicated than you're making out. Gabriel and I…" Sam closed his eyes as the pain of his loss washed over him. "I love them both. Present tense. Even though I killed one and the other has abandoned me." Michael shifted suddenly and Sam cursed under his breath, he hadn't meant to reveal that.
"Gabriel has forsaken you? Despite the Nexus?" Michael breathed in astonishment. "Why?" Sam rubbed a hand over his face.
"It's a really long story. We'd gone to Little Rock to meet with Martin Delaval. Did you know he's Tyr's avatar?" Michael waved a hand, uninterested. "We wanted to try a spell we believed might break the hold the lapsit exillis had over me. But what Dean, Cas and Gabriel didn't know was that Leliel had stolen the stone and given it to me to help me break Lucifer out of the Cage. Which I did, as you know." Michael held up a hand.
"Leliel helped you break open the Cage? Why?" he objected.
"I don't really know. She's a member of a faction called Aemeth apparently, and they wanted to restore Lucifer to Heaven, make him ruler of Heaven in fact."
Michael was utterly still and his face blank. Sam really wanted to know how the archangel felt about Aemeth, but he was impossible to read. Michael indicated that he should continue.
"OK, so once the Cage was open, Lucifer somehow managed to find a vessel that looked exactly like Nick, the poor son of a bitch he used last time." Michael looked at him like he was stupid.
"It was a construct. Some angels use them rather than a vessel. Gabriel likes constructs, for example. They are less ideal than a vessel, because they require maintenance in a way that a vessel does not." Sam wondered if Gabriel's current form was a vessel or a construct.
"Well, anyway, Lucifer found and tortured Martin and later he killed Cas. The lapsit exillis was displeased about that, apparently she had plans for him. So she decided Lucifer had to die. I killed him for her." Michael flinched and leaned forward to grip the cell bars. Sam edged away in alarm.
"Gabriel did a deal with Tyr, to bring Cas back and allow him to destroy the lapsit exillis. I don't understand exactly what happened, but the spell killed Gabriel." Sam's voice broke, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. Michael seemed unmoved, although his grip on the cell bars tightened. "Or not, I don't know. Dean and Martin brought him back somehow but he'd forgotten everything since his death at Lucifer's hands. He's forgotten that he loved me." Sam couldn't continue, just stood there sobbing. Michael regarded him coldly.
"So, Gabriel's not coming for you then," he observed. Fuck. Sam sagged against the wall of the cell.
"No. Probably not. Dean and Cas will though." Michael looked derisively at him.
"I can deal with Castiel. And your ant of a brother." the archangel told him. "It's a pity. I was looking forward to killing Gabriel." Sam flinched and Michael smiled. "If I can find him, I might still do it, just to enjoy your pain. I think watching you as I kill everyone and everything you have ever loved, in front of you, might just begin to pay for what you have done." Sam squirmed. Michael was insane, there was no other word for it. Was he always this way, had his time in the Cage tipped him over the edge or was it just grief?
Jegudiel was using a different vessel to the last time Cas had seen him. This one was a short, stocky guy in his fifties with a bushy gray beard and sun-weathered tan skin. He smiled at Cas with crooked yellow teeth and tobacco-stained lips.
"Castiel," his brother greeted him. "How goes the day?" Cas gave him a sad smile.
"Not well, brother. Not well at all. Have you heard all the latest gossip?" Jegudiel sobered.
"People speak of little else. And the factions are active again, in a way they haven't been for centuries." Jegudiel scratched at his beard.
"I thought so," Cas told him. "Actually I came to ask if you might be able to help us find someone else. Gabriel." Jegudiel's eyes widened.
"Yeah, I'd heard he was missing. But Gabriel and I were never close. Why would you think I would know where he is? You and he were closer than any other in Heaven, back in the old days." Cas looked forlorn, he thought. "But I guess he's changed a lot since then."
"Dean and I have no idea where to start. It was a long shot, asking for your help but you've always been smart and people trust you." Jegudiel preened at the praise.
"So which faction are you backing?" Castiel asked softly. Jegudiel started.
"Why would you think I would get involved in any of that nonsense?"
"Two reasons, firstly I suspect that sitting on the fence will not be an option for anyone before long. And secondly, you're prime recruitment material for exactly the reasons I just outlined about why I came to you for help." Cas watched his old friend's face carefully, but Jegudiel had lost none of his sharpness over the eons.
"I'm not affiliated currently," Jegudiel asserted. "But you're right, all of the factions have been trying to bring me on board. I've still got all of them on my dance card, except Aemeth of course."
"Of course," Cas said, although he looked curious. Jegudiel sighed.
"Look, Aemeth is weird. Nobody seems to know what they want and they wouldn't tell me when I asked. So I told them to forget it." Cas frowned in thought.
"But they are still actively recruiting?" he asked.
"Yes, sure. Why not?" Jegudiel peered at him. "You know something, don't you?"
Cas looked away, unsure if he wanted to play this hand. "Come on Castiel. I thought we were friends." Cas hunched his shoulders.
"Aemeth's stated purpose was to restore Lucifer to Heaven and install him as ruler. His rightful place as they see it." Jegudiel stared at Cas, open-mouthed.
"Are you serious? How did you find this out?" Cas gave a humorless smile.
"When I was briefly captured by Remiel, Leliel came to me. They wanted to get their hands on the lapsit exillis, and thought that I might be willing to deal." Jegudiel gave a bark of surprised laughter.
"Why on earth would they try to recruit you?" he chortled. "Surely they knew you would never subscribe to restoring Lucifer to Heaven. Of all the angels to try and call up!" Cas didn't share his amusement.
"They didn't try to recruit me, just wanted to make a deal. They'd let me out of Heaven's jail and I'd hand over the stone. Or something like that. I said no of course. But they let me out anyway."
Cas frowned, that still didn't really make sense.
"I see," Jegudiel said. "So what you're saying is, if Lucifer is dead, why are Aemeth not only not going away but actually actively trying to grow in size and power.
What's their purpose now?" Cas nodded. Jegudiel's mouth twisted. "Then I made a mistake. I should not have been so dismissive." Cas gaped at him and Jegudiel gave him a smile. "An inside man would be useful, no?" Cas bit his lip. His friend was right but it was dangerous and he wasn't sure Jegudiel was cut out for the task of spy. "I might still have a way in," Jegudiel told him. "Or at least, I know someone who might be willing to help us."
"Remiel still has it in for me," Cas warned. "Since she's in charge of Heaven right now, and head of Curia Regis, she wields a lot of power."
"That faction isn't as powerful as it once was," Jegudiel said dismissively. "With Raphael dead and Michael in the Cage, their power base diminished." He flashed another yellow grin at Cas. "So, we were discussing Gabriel. You want to know where he could have gone? All I can say from what I remember of him is that he feels very deeply. More than any other angel I know, except perhaps you. Which is probably why you were so close back in the day and why his abandonment of Sam is hurting you so much now. The Nexus will be tearing into him by now, demanding he return to the side of his bonded. He'll be fighting it of course, he's nearly as stubborn as you are. But what does Gabriel do when he's in a corner? Where does he seek solace? Answer that question and I think you'll find him."
Dean was tense and uneasy, and Cas was familiar enough with the hunter's moods to know that whatever he did or said tonight would only serve to annoy him further. He took a deep breath and braced himself.
"We need a plan of action," Cas ventured. Dean swiveled his eyes from their contemplation of his toes to the angel's face. "Some starting point to find Gabriel." Dean gave a lop-sided shrug.
"He's your brother. But I guess he was pretty good at hiding from the entire God squad for a long time. But I got nothing, unless he starts doing something that pings a hunter's radar. And I'm guessing he's too smart for that." Cas dipped his head.
"Yes, he will be keeping a low profile. And Gabriel excels at that, alas."
"Will he listen if you call out to him via angel radio?" Dean asked. Cas gave a noncommittal shrug.
'There's no way to know if he's listening or not. But many other angels will hear, some of whom we might not want to attract the attention of." Dean grimaced.
"You mean the Aemeth douchebags." Cas gave a self-deprecating gesture.
"Not only them, but yes. They will notice."
"OK, so what did Jegudiel suggest?" Dean asked, stress making his stomach hurt.
"Gabriel's not exactly a creature of habit. It's how he managed to disappear so effectively the last time he went AWOL." Dean laughed at the use of the jargon. He had to laugh at something or he'd end up crying. "But he said we needed to think about what he does when he's in need of comfort."
"OK, well I guess we start with what we know. Humans retreat into things that they like and are familiar when stressed. Comfort foods, that kind of thing. What do we know about what he likes?" Cas gave a half-hearted shrug.
"Nothing really. He likes sex, sweet things and laughing at pomposity. It's not really a lead." Cas mused.
"Yeah, I guess not. OK, so what about things he hates?" Cas considered the idea.
"He hates the cold," he noted. Dean grinned.
"Wasn't he a Norse god?" Cas frowned.
"I didn't say he was consistent. I don't know what else to tell you, Dean. My brother is self-indulgent, self-centered and self-absorbed, It's hard to know what he truly wants or needs. He's spent too long hiding his true self from the world."
"There's gotta be something." Dean asserted. Cas gave the question a considerable amount of thought.
"There's only one thing I can think of. He's got a strange attachment to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. He used to spend a lot of time there." Dean looked annoyed.
"Couldn't you have mentioned this before? Well, if that's our only lead, fine." Cas looked at him curiously.
"Most people would be delighted to visit the island. It's really quite lovely," the angel told him. Dean snarled at him.
"I don't fly well, remember." Cas looked suitably chastised.
"I want to know more about your relationship with my brother," Michael said without preamble. Sam blinked awake, wondering how long he'd been in this hole.
"Uh, what do you want to know?" he mumbled incoherently. There was a jug of water and a cup in the corner of the cell and he stumbled over to them. Drinking three cups of water, one after another while Michael watched him stonily.
"The sexual relations." Michael said stiffly. Sam stared at him, appalled.
"Why?" he stammered. "Why would you care about that?"
"Human memories are so short, so fragile." Michael said. "I watched you both in the Cage, the tension was almost unbearable. And yet, you resisted. But back on earth, my brother crooks his finger and you come. Literally." Sam shifted uncomfortably.
"It's complicated." he offered. Michael glared at him.
"You keep saying that like it means something." he snarled.
"Look, human emotions and desires are complicated. That's just how it is. And that's just normal human stuff. Throw angels and bonding and Grace anchors and magic and all kinds of weirdness is going to happen." Sam said tiredly. "I love Lucifer. Want him. Even after all that's happened. And he's fucking dead, because I killed him. I still miss him. In the Cage, things were simple. You, me, Adam, him, I knew where we all stood. On earth, things are messy." He watched Michael absorb this information.
"And somehow this means you had sex. Lots of it. You wanted it, and so did he." Michael said, his tone a mix of curiosity and revulsion.
"Yes. Weird, fucked up sex. But yes, I wanted it. And him. And he wanted me. Loved me." Michael looked ill and Sam considered his reaction. "Did you want him too?" Michael recoiled.
"How dare you!" he stuttered. "How dare you sully…" Sam raised one eyebrow and Michael backed off.
"So you did want him. But he was your brother, and such interactions were forbidden. Angels are allowed to bond, but only spiritually. What you wanted from Lucifer was not spiritual, was it?" Sam said slyly. Michael was speechless with rage and Sam knew he'd hit his mark.
"This is irrelevant," Michael said breathlessly. Sam shrugged, he had the archangel on the back foot now.
"You brought it up," he said easily. Michael spluttered. How long until Dean and Cas found him, Sam wondered. He was beginning to think that wherever they were, this was not Heaven. So if someone didn't find him soon, Michael would snap and kill him and there'd be nobody to stop him.