Sam remembered when he first got the nose ring. It was searing pain between his nostrils after 2 winters of being in the area. The humans had said he was becoming harder to stop after a fight and the nose ring would help. Azazel had commented that at least now Sam had something pretty on his face. Sam's head and face hurt for several weeks of healing. The weight on his nose became the norm, but it became a handicap he hated Azazel for. No matter how angry or violent he was, he was never willing to pull away from his face nearly being torn off. It made it hard to breath, and if his opponent in the ring was smart enough, they used it to their advantage; tugging on it or hitting him in the face; and it HURT. His eyes would water and he had to go where it led.

It was humiliating; eating with it, having a rope tied to it, being led around when he was younger with no other lead but his nose. And Azazel would always gain compliments because of his supposed 'tame' minotaur. Sam was anything but broken though.

"I... don't know about this." Sam said once Gabriel laid out his plan to get rid of the ring. They were in some sort of rock quarry near the forest edge. Large boulders and stones littered the ground with widely spaced trees and uneven earth made it difficult to navigate. Sam remembered walking the flat fields, the dirt, stone streets, and the level ground of the labyrinth. These inclines and dips were not what his hooves were used to.

"It's fool proof," Gabriel said with so much confidence that perhaps if they weren't near a huge crop of unstable rocks -rocks larger than SAM himself- he might have believed Gabriel. Gabriel wanted Sam to wedge his nose ring between some fractured rocks and then smash a heavy rock near his face to break the seal on the metal ring where it had been welded shut on his face.

Understandably, Sam was nervous about allowing a complete stranger to do this. Sam would be nervous if his brother wanted to do it. It just sounded like pain would be somewhere in the equation and Sam didn't want to lose an eye, or his nose. As ugly as humans said his cow nose was, it helped him breathe and it was rather sensitive. Sam's finger flicked the ring a little because it was loose enough to move around, but it was also only long enough to reach his lips.

"I don't like the plan," Sam said finally.

"Well, I'm not exactly human." Gabriel raised his brows at Sam. "I don't have those tools they used to put it on you, so I don't exactly have tools to simply get it off. Don't worry, I won't damage your cute nose." Sam slowly raised an eyebrow. He was sure that was sarcasm. Sam had a small, brown calf nose that no one but his father had probably had. Of course his father wasn't exactly like him. His father had the whole head and hooves of a bull and the rest of him was a man; so his mother explained in vivid detail. No one else in the herd had a nose like him. They all had normal, centaur faces; which were a lot like humans. Dean had been good looking among the herd; even for a minotaur. Dean seemed to come out right while Sam... well, Sam didn't. Sam had two legs instead of four. He was slower than a centaur half his age. He was stronger than a full grown centaur, but that didn't really earn him points from the others. The point was, that he was never fast and never quite 'right'.

"Come on," Gabriel prompted Sam and Sam swallowed dryly. "Don't you want to breath?" Sam flicked the ring with his tongue again.

"I don't really want you pounding my face in with a rock," Sam defended mildly, taking a step from the rock formation. Sam scratched at his neck, where the neck shackle bit into his flesh. He'd been growing while in the Labyrinth and if he'd still been in Athens they would have given him a new collar as he grew. Gabriel sighed, folding his arms.

"What about the collar?" Gabriel waved a finger at the iron ring and his fingers grabbing the edge of the metal. He'd grown used to the itch beneath it and its slight rattle as it moved. It was bolted together where the metal stuck out and the other side was hinged. It had slowly began to rust over the years from sweat and water. Sam could tell only because when he rubbed it, red dirt smeared his worn fingers. "I could get that open with two good rocks." Sam slowly nodded.

"Okay," Sam agreed anxiously. Gabriel devised a no better plan, but it was away from his face so Sam was a little more flexible with the idea. The collar also hindered his breath and eating; perhaps worse than the nose ring.

Sam held the collar and leaned the bolted end that jutted out from the circle against a sharp cornered boulder. Gabriel tapped a flatter rock against the bolt, testing the best angle to strike.

"Have you ever done this before?" Sam finally asked.

"Nope." Gabriel threw him an easy smile. "So just hold really still." Sam tensed up and felt the vibrations through the metal as Gabriel struck it. Sam's ears folded back from the noise. The clanking continued and Gabriel was focused on the work, coaxing the metal bolt to bend with each meeting of rock. Sam closed his eyes, flinching sometimes when the rock would splinter.

Gabriel hit his fingers once and that lead to several minutes of cursing, but within the hour, the bolt was loose and Sam rattled it. Gabriel tossed the chipped rock away. "Maybe we can pull it open the rest of the way," Sam suggested. He hadn't been able to wiggle his fingers in between his neck and the metal before, so that in itself was an amazing stride.

"Maybe," Gabriel agreed and hopped up on a flat rock behind Sam, which was as tall as Sam's back. Sam was constantly amazed with the height and speed of which Gabriel could jump. He did it with ease and rarely used his hands for balance while on the ground. Gabriel wiggled his fingers between the collar and Sam's flesh and Sam's skin tingled with the contact. Physical contact was not what he was used to. Sam dug his fingers in by his throat and took a deep breath. "On 3." Sam hummed in acknowledgment, "1, 2, 3!" They pulled and for a moment it didn't want to give. Gabriel dug a hoof into Sam's shoulder and Sam heard the creak of metal before the band suddenly snapped open. Gabriel's butt hit the boulder and Sam panted, holding the broken strips of metal. Gabriel laughed and Sam turned around, seeing Gabriel sit up, grinning at Sam. "Ta-dah!" The hinge on the collar squeaked as Sam held it. In a moment of realization, Sam dropped it as though it had been on fire. It clanked on the ground and Sam's hands ran over his neck where the tender flesh was. Taking such deep breaths almost felt dizzying.

"It's off," Sam said appreciatively. Gabriel moved, leaning his elbows on the rock and gazed at Sam with a look of pride.

"Told you I'd get it." Gabriel was eye level with Sam at that height and Sam blinked before he slowly cricked his neck to each side, which he hadn't been able to do in years. Small pops released tension and he smiled back at Gabriel.

"I can't... believe it. Thank you." Sam was flooded with relief. Gabriel feeding him and giving him water was one thing, but helping to free him from his bonds was a completely different matter. Gabriel pointed to Sam's nose, nearly touching it.

"I can still get that," Gabriel told him. Sam took a deep breath and shook his head. He'd had enough for that day. Exhaustion was setting in and the sun was only half traveled across the sky. He'd dragged himself out of the water that morning and he'd ignored his tired bones because strangers were about. Sam rarely wanted to show how tired he was. Being tired had always made him a target in the area.

"Another day." Sam brushed it off. He'd dealt with it for years and it didn't hinder him as it once had. Having the neck shackle removed made his day as it was. Gabriel nodded, observing the sun offhandedly.

"We have been at this a while." Gabriel slid down to the level ground with Sam and headed back towards the forest. Sam looked down at the metal on the ground and didn't hesitate as he followed Gabriel.