Thank you so much Jenjoremy for working your beta magic on this for me. Thank you SandraEngstrom2 and Gredelina1 for all your help. Thank you all for reading and supporting the story.

Chapter Twenty-One

Being possessed by Gabriel was the polar opposite to being possessed by Lucifer. Whereas Lucifer had been cold, an icy presence through his body that had made him sick, Gabriel was warmth, comfort, and strength. The exhaustion he had felt before was gone.

"Awww, Sammy, you say the sweetest things," Gabriel whispered to him.

For a moment, Sam froze, remembering Lucifer whispering to him, but he quickly mastered himself and straightened his shoulders.

"So, this is what it feels like to be a giant. I always wondered."

"Are you going to do this the whole time?" Sam asked within his mind.

"Maybe. Probably. Almost definitely. But you might want to pay attention to something other than the voices in your head now. Our big brothers are getting antsy."

Sam's attention snapped back to the room and he heard Dean's frantic voice, "Sam? Sammy? Say something already!"

"Gabriel," Michael was saying. "I am talking to you."

Sam shook his head slowly and addressed Michael, seeing the hated presence behind the loved face. "Gabriel isn't free to talk right now."

"You're overpowering him!" Michael snarled. "Release him!"

Sam rolled his eyes as Gabriel laughed in his mind.

"Of course I'm not overpowering him. He's letting me do this. How else would it work? Gabriel doesn't have a clue of how to manage my powers. He's taking a backseat for a while."

"I don't believe you."

"Idiot," Gabriel said scathingly. "Repeat after me, Sam." He spoke the words in Sam's mind and Sam repeated them aloud. "Oiad niiso om."

Castiel cleared his throat, looking amused.

"What did we just say?" Sam asked Gabriel.

"We basically told him to fuck off."

Sam laughed loudly, drawing the eyes of the room from Michael's thunderstruck face to Sam.

"Incidentally, it might be a good idea to keep him around a little longer," Death said. "We need to draw Crowley out. We can't summon him, as a demon of his caliber can refuse the summons. We need to tempt him out somehow. Michael would be a good worm."

"Worm!" Michael said, affronted.

Death stared impassively at him. "Yes."

"What do we need to do?" Sam asked.

"Find a demon. Make sure it sees Michael and then exorcise it so it can go running to Crowley with the news he's earthbound again."

"Okay," Gabriel said cheerfully. "Let's go hunting."

"We need it to look convincing," Dean said. "As if Michael is on the run."

Castiel raised a hand. "I have an idea."

Once again, Dean was at a crossroads preparing the area for a demon to answer the summons.

He finished painting the vast devil's trap on the ground and stepped back.

"Nice work," Gabriel said in Sam's voice. "Very neat."

Dean glowered at him. "Can I have my brother back yet?"

"Nope. I need to be the one in control to snatch and grab the demon. Besides, Sam's not feeling so well right now."

"What's wrong with him?" Dean asked concernedly.

Gabriel grinned. "Flying under our influence and flying when you can see it all happening are totally different. When you can see, it's like a rollercoaster moving at sonic speed for a human. Sam didn't enjoy the experience."

Dean thought Gabriel was enjoying all this a little too much. He wished he could have brought Castiel with them, but he was keeping watch over Ellen while they were gone. Sam and Dean had both refused outright to leave her alone with Michael in the area.

"Get to it then," Gabriel said, waving an impatient hand. "Make with the summoning."

Dean took his fed badge from his pocket and tucked it in the tin. He snapped it closed and buried it under a loose cover of gravel. It would be enough, he was sure. He stepped back out of the trap and stood beside Gabriel, wishing it was really his brother there.

The demon arrived after only a matter of seconds. Dean's first thought was that the meat suit had to have been a serious bodybuilder or perhaps a wrestler before his possession. He was huge. Muscle thickened his whole body, and his neck was almost non-existent. He was dark skinned and bald, and the sneer he wore as he looked at Dean would have been intimidating as hell had he not been trapped.

"Winchesters," he growled. "And an angel stuffed inside one of them." He smirked at Dean. "I thought your brother would have learned his lesson after Lucifer."

"Archangel, actually," Gabriel said with satisfaction.

"What do you want?" the demon asked.

"Information," Dean lied.

Gabriel stepped confidently over the border of the trap and walked toward the demon who pulled back a fist and prepared to land a punch on Gabriel's jaw. Gabriel caught his wrist, though, and dragged it behind his back. The demon tried to struggle, but it was futile. Holding him fast, Gabriel looked at Dean and then they were in motion.

They came to a stop in an old chapel. The stone walls were dirty and the plaster crumbled. Birds were roosting in the eaves. The roof looked good though, and Dean thought the walls would hold at least long enough for them to complete the ritual.

Death had prepared in their absence. There was an intricate devil's trap painted onto the floor—the kind Alastair had been trapped in. Dean hoped this one lasted out better than that one had.

Gabriel dumped the demon into the trap and stepped back.

"Now can I have my brother back?" Dean asked.

Gabriel nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened, Dean saw his brother's awareness again. He smiled. "Flying, huh?"

Sam grimaced and Dean chuckled.

"When you're finished," Michael said grimly. "I have some questions to ask."

"Go for it," Sam said.

They had discussed what Michael was going to say to the demon, but it was still strange to hear Michael playing the part of being worried. It was all the more strange as it was John Winchester's voice speaking. "What is Crowley planning for me?"

"Other than to exterminate you and your kind?" the demon asked. "I'm guessing world domination."

"When will he strike?"

"I don't know, maybe Tuesday." The demon laughed. "What makes you think I know? I'm a grunt. He's the King. He doesn't share master plans with demons like me."

"Sam," Michael said pointedly.

Sam nodded and fixed his attention on the demon. He raised his hand and clenched his fingers. The demon cried out in pain.

"You're scared," the demon said when Sam released his hold on it. "You know he's going to win."

Michael glowered it him. "I know no such thing."

"Yeah, you do. Crowley's going to squash you like a bug."

"Sam!" Michael commanded. "Get rid of this filth. He knows nothing."

Sam nodded slowly, and Dean watched the smoke funnel into a column behind the demon's true face and lift to its mouth. It poured out and sank slowly down to the floor, sparking and glowing, and then disappeared.

Sam lowered his arm and took a deep breath. "Think it will work?" he asked.

Michael nodded. "I believe Crowley will be listening to his tale within the hour."

Dean was leaning against the wall, his tired eyes fixed on the devil's trap. Sam was standing straight and strong beside him. They'd been waiting past the expected hour, and Sam was starting to doubt it was going to work after all. The only other plan they had was to stake out Crowley's court and wait for him to surface.

"Patience, grasshopper," Gabriel said. "He will come. Mickey is too juicy a steak to deny." Sam rolled his eyes then stiffened as he felt Gabriel come to life inside him. "He's coming."

Sam stepped away from the wall and went to stand beside Michael just as Crowley appeared.

"Michael," Crowley said happily. "Feels like a lifetime. And Sam. Got to say I didn't expect to see you in this company. What…" He trailed off as he turned to look at Sam properly, looking through Sam's face to the archangel beneath.

Sam didn't give him a moment to even think about leaving. He raised his arm and gripped Crowley's deep red core. He felt the strain on his mind at once, and pain, and then a wonderful warmth and surge of strength. Gabriel was doing his part.

"What do you think you're doing?" Crowley asked.

Sam didn't speak, but he smiled as he squeezed his fingers tight together. He expected Crowley to cry out, but he merely grunted and then laughed harshly. "Really, Winchester, you think you can torture me? I've felt worse on a spa break."

Sam felt a moment's despair, but Gabriel quickly spoke up in his mind. "Quit with the hand wringing. So we can't torture him. Let's focus on getting him in the trap."

Crowley was standing in front of the trap, a few feet from the edge. Sam thought if he could just have enough of a push…

Gabriel forced himself forward then and took over Sam's mouth for a moment "Michael, a little help"

Sam felt a hand fall on his shoulder, and he had a moment to flinch that it was that angel touching him, but then the strength surged through him and he concentrated his will. He gripped Crowley's core tighter and began to walk forward, Michael keeping step beside him. As he walked forward, Crowley stepped back—right into the trap. Sam released him and staggered back a step. Dean laid a hand on his back.

"Nice work," Gabriel said.

Crowley's expression was thunderous but when he spoke his tone was measured. "So you've trapped me. What do you think's going to happen now? You exorcise me, I'll come right back. You can't kill me."

Dean spoke up, his very voice a threat. "We're going to cure you."

Crowley barked out a laugh. "Can't be done. It's a myth."

"Let's find out shall we?" Death said, appearing behind Crowley and snapping an iron collar around his neck.

Michael was gone, back to heaven where he swore to stay until they called him again—sworn to stay far away from Ellen. Crowley was chained to the chair in the middle of the trap with spelled bonds. His hands and chest were bound with thick chains. Dean relished the sight of the hated demon defeated, though he knew it wasn't over yet.

"This will never work," Crowley said. "You can do your hocus pocus, and try to make me human again, but when you fail, and my demons storm the place, I'll be freed and I'll make sure your deaths are slow."

"Sure you will," Sam said idly. "Okay, what's next?"

"The cure," Death said. He turned to Dean. "You will need to purify yourself with confession and then you will need to be prepared to lose a little blood."

"Hold on!" Sam said, raising a hand. "What do you mean blood, and who says it's going to be Dean?"

"Me," Dean said firmly.

Sam glared at him. "Dean, this could be—"

"Dangerous?" Dean asked. "I doubt it's any more dangerous than letting an archangel in so you can use psychic powers—which have floored you before—to deal with the King of Hell."

Sam drew a deep breath and then his expression became blank. For a moment, Dean thought he was retreating behind the mask to deal, but then he scowled and Dean realized he was listening to Gabriel—possibly arguing with him. When Dean saw him come back to himself, he said, "I have to do this, Sam. I need to play my part. I can't leave it all to you again. Not after last time."

Sam's lips pressed into a thin line and he scowled. "Okay. Okay. I hate it, but yeah, you do it."

Dean smiled. "Thank you, Sam." He turned to Death. "Confession? Is there a priest nearby?"

"There will be no need for that," Death said. "The process of confession is a conversation with God and a desire to make things right. The priest is merely a conduit for that." He pointed back at the far corner at a decrepit looking confessional booth.

Dean felt uncomfortable. He didn't want his confession to be overheard by Crowley and Gabriel.

"I can ensure privacy," Death said.

Dean nodded slowly. "Okay." He made his way over to the confessional booth and opened the creaking wooden door. He sat down and closed his eyes, and willing Death to keep his promise, he started to speak.

The door creaked closed behind Dean and then Sam felt silence descend over them as Death blocked out the sound of Dean's words.

"Now that he's occupied, there are things for us to discuss," Death said.

"Oh, here we go…" Gabriel sighed.

"There are souls in the pit that don't belong there," he went on. "Souls that my Reapers should have taken to Heaven."

Sam nodded. "We know. What can we do about it though?"

"Not a thing," Crowley said, satisfied.

"You can free them," Death said.

Sam's eyes widened. Could he really be suggesting what Sam thought he was?

"Hell yeah he is," Gabriel said.

"You think he'll last five minutes in the Pit?" Crowley asked.

"I think he lasted over a century in the Cage," Death said, casting Crowley a scathing look. "I think he can handle your measly Hell without a problem."

"Can it wait until Dean's finished?" Sam asked hopefully. "I don't want to leave him alone."

Death shook his head. "With Crowley missing from Hell, the demons will be in a state of chaos. This is our best chance of making it work."

"You pulled me from the Empty though," Sam said. "Can't you just make a stop by the Pit and, I don't know, scoop them all up?"

Death looked apologetic. "I could, but which of us do you think can protect Dean better should the horde of demons find this place?"

Sam closed his eyes. He was powerful with Gabriel, no question, but he was nothing compared to Death. He could probably take out the demons as easy as blinking.

"And you could get your mind smashed to pieces if you go back into the pit!" Gabriel said angrily. "I have blocked the experience of your hell. Don't you think the sights and smells of that place are going to be a memory jog maybe?"

Sam winced at the thought but he knew the decision was already made in his heart. He had to do it. All the people in the pit who didn't deserve to be there—like Dean hadn't—needed to be freed.

"You stubborn, martyred ass," Gabriel snapped.

Sam retreated into himself to speak. "I'm doing it Gabriel. Those people, those souls, need help, and that's what we do. You can stay here and take care of Dean. I'll go alone."

"Are you kidding me? Let you go alone?"

"Dean needs to be safe."

"And he will be with Death watching over him. I'm coming with." He must have felt Sam's remaining hesitance, as he said, "If you don't take me, I will tell Dean where you are and what you're doing."

"How do you know I won't tell him myself?"

"Because I know you."

Sam pulled out of his mind and looked to Death who was watching him. "Your decision is made?" he asked.

"I'm going," Sam said, then added reluctantly, "Gabriel is coming with me."

Death nodded. "Good. He will know where you need to go and what you need to do."

"One thing though," Sam said. "Don't tell Dean."

Death looked amused. "Of course not. Here he comes. You might want to come up with a good excuse for your absence."

"Already have one," Sam said.

The door creaked open and Dean stepped out of the confessional, his eyes red and wet. Sam crossed the space toward him and dragged him into a hug. Dean seemed surprised at first and then he returned it forcefully. When he pulled back he looked Sam in the eye and said, "I'll be fine. It'll be all over soon."

"I know," Sam said. "I've got to go check on Ellen. Will you be okay? Death's going to stay here."

Dean looked surprised but he nodded. "Of course."

"I won't be gone long," Sam said.

"Yeah, sure you won't," Gabriel snapped.

"No rush," Dean said. "Tell the others I'll see them soon."

"I will," Sam glanced at Death and received a subtle nod in response as he handed Dean a syringe and said, "When you're ready, Dean."

"Are we ready?" Gabriel asked.

Sam pulled back and let him take control as he swept them away from the chapel and Sam's brother.

"Here?" Sam asked. "This is how we get into Hell?"

"Where were you thinking?"

"I don't know. Stull maybe."

"There is a reason Crowley chose this place for his court. It has access to the pit."

Sam looked at the facade of the asylum and nodded. It did make sense, he realized, and it was easier that way, to have an actual physical point of entry rather than having to create a portal. That could have been too like the Cage for him to handle.

"Shall we?"

Sam nodded and made his way to the doors. He flung them open and grinned as he saw the demons rushing out into the hall. Their faces went from amused to stunned as they recognized Gabriel's presence.

Sam's instinct was to kill, to end the lives of the creatures he detested, but he knew that would end the lives of the meat suits, too, people who had done no wrong. He reached for the closest demon and yanked it from the meat suit. It was easy as breathing compared to Crowley. He felt no strain against his mind as Gabriel's presence empowered him. He reached for the next and the next and ripped them free. The bodies dropped one by one, some stirring but others lying perfectly still. He could hear Gabriel chattering in his mind, but he paid him little attention until the last demon he could see had been exorcised.

"You just made our trip through the pit a whole lot more complicated, you know."

Sam realized his mistake at the same moment. There would be a dozen more demons to face now.

"Oh, well," he said. "Dean would have wanted it this way."

"He's not dead you know, nor dying. He's curing a demon. Death is there to protect him."

Sam ignored him. He knew Dean wasn't dying, but it still seemed important to do things the right way, the way Dean would want them to, in that moment. Sam knew he could easily get carried away by the power he possessed with Gabriel, become less than he was morally, but if he clung to Dean, he wouldn't, as Dean had always been his steady moral compass.

"Throne room next?" Sam asked.

"Duh. Of course. Did you think the entrance to hell would be through a broom closet?"

Sam ignored him and walked on into the throne room. His first thought was panic as he saw the figure lolling in the throne, thinking Crowley was free already, but he quickly mastered himself as he saw that it wasn't Crowley but a female demon in black pants and jacket. On her finger was a white-stone ring—Famine's. She was one of the elite.

"Gabriel," she said smugly as Sam walked deeper into the room. "Tucked inside a Winchester. Nice. Is it the apocalypse again already?"

"Only for your kind," Sam said.

"Oh, I'm so scared," she said, clutching a hand to her chest. "You seem to be forgetting we demons have had something of a power-up recently. We've got a smorgasbord of souls, grace, and rings on our side now, along with our new King. There has never been a more powerful being than him."

"Someone's got a little crush," Sam said scathingly.

"What can I say? Power does it for me."

"Kill it already, Sam. Deal with it. But don't send it back to the Pit. We can't add more things to fight on the way through the pit. It's a big place and you've got to get the souls out again when we find them."

"Don't you mean we?" Sam asked him.

"Uh, short answer, no. I'll tell you about it later. Just make with the killing already."

His stomach twisting with fear, Sam turned his attention back to the demon and fixed his eyes on its swirling core. He knew Gabriel was right; the last thing they needed was to encounter an elite on its home turf, but he still felt a pang of guilt as he clenched his fingers against the pressure, feeling the resistance suddenly disappear as the rotted and ruined soul imploded and faded to nothing. The woman that had been possessed dropped hard to the stone floor.

"That's better," Gabriel said dispassionately. "Now, door on the left."

Sam walked toward the door, feeling a flicker of fear as he opened it. A wave of hot, sulfur scented air hit him and he heard an echoing scream in his mind that sounded like his own.

"Hold it together, Sam."

It was a short passage that led to a flight of stone stairs. Sam girded himself and then walked into the hot air and toward the stairs. With a deep breath and a whisper of an apology to his brother who could neither hear nor know, Sam descended into Hell. Again.

So… Sam is heading back into Hell and Dean's curing a demon. There's no way this can go wrong, right?

There's one more full chapter to go now and then the epilogue. Strap yourselves in and prepare for the end.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx