The rest of the drive was mostly quiet, they stopped for gas and food, stopping once to sleep in a motel. Dean had played the radio and their tapes on for Johnny who listened to everything wide eyed, alternating between asking them questions and staring outside.
When they stopped for gas Johnny would walk around a bit, Sam showed him a few moves to stretch out his limbs from sitting for so long in one place. Dean did scoff at them but Sam also knew that he copied it away from their eyes.
"What do you think is happening to Gabriel?" Johnny asked.
Sam looked at him, not sure how to answer that. "From what you've told me...he's in the hands of a demon." she said slowly. "The thing is, Gabriel is powerful, he's an archangel and from what I remember, he's the fourth most powerful angel."
"So how does a demon have him?" Johnny asked, copying her movement when she did a lunge to stretch out her legs and thighs.
"I don't know." she said honestly, linking her fingers together and stretching them up as she kept the position, Johnny did the same as her. "It's either very strong chains or some sort of containment or something we don't know about. Either way, we'll get him freed."
Johnny nodded at that, a thoughtful look on his face. "And we're helping him because we need him to help me."
"Mostly." she agreed, straightening up. "But...despite everything and despite history between us...we can't leave Gabriel to that, to being tortured by a demon."
Johnny nodded once more at that, chewing on his lower lip. "What history?" he asked. "You said that before, that you guys were with him."
Sam hesitated at that, rolling her shoulders back a few times. "He...did a few things with us. Some bad, mostly bad, but at the end some good." she finally said. "He's a twisted character, I don't know how to label him really. But like I said, we can't leave him where he is."
Dean came back then with a bag of snacks for the three of them. He looked at the both of them, shaking his head as they all got back into the impala and onto the road.
They spent the rest of the ride in relative silence, only breaking it when Johnny had a question that they answered. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they reached the former place of Crowley's lair. Staring up at it Sam felt a bit of a pang, remembering the demon. Apparently he had killed himself in an attempt to ensure that Lucifer was trapped in the other world.
"Never thought I'd say this but not having Crowley makes these things a bit harder." she said as she tried to think of the best way to keep Johnny safe, she had been trying to think of that almost the entire ride here but still didn't have anything.
"He'd screw us over but at least we knew what he was thinking." Dean agreed with her. "And we knew how to screw him back."
Sam nodded, taking a deep breath before they got out of the impala, Johnny quickly scrambling to join them. He was bright eyed and almost overly excited, looking at them for guidance on what to do next.
She had been the same way when she had gone on her first hunt, less excitement about the hunt and more excitement at finally being able to do the same thing as her dad and brother.
It got a bit less exciting when the ghost they had been hunting had thrown her off the staircase making her dad jump to grab her as well.
Shaking her head to focus on the present once more, Sam looked at Dean who was staring at the front of the door.
"Angel wardings gone," he said, nodding at it. She glanced at it as well, seeing that the runes that Crowley had painted were gone. Johnny was shifting from side to side, looking around and looking somewhat put off.
"I just...don't like it here." he said when Sam asked what was wrong. "It feels...bad here. Like..." he reached up to touch the side of his head. "Like something bad is in here."
"That just might be the demons." Sam said softly. She looked at Dean and nodded, falling back in place. "Alright, we're going to go in, Deans in front, Johnny you'll be in the middle, I take up the rear." theoretically, the middle was the safest place for him. "Just be aware of everything around you kiddo."
Slipping in through the front was easy, they've done it before and for some reason Crowley either didn't know or he didn't bother to close up the gap. It was sparse of other demons but neither one of them loosened their grip on their respective blades.
Stopping when they heard voices, Sam grabbed at Johnny and pulled him back, putting herself in front of him and pressing him back against the wall. The voices got closer and clearer and she glanced at Johnny, wondering if one of them was the demon he had seen. He shook his head, eyes still wide but now a bit more calmed down from the tension.
She held a finger to her mouth and turned back, nodding at Dean. Once the demons turned the corner they moved together, grabbing the demons, wrapping their arms around them to muffle their mouths, and buried the blades in their chest. Their screams were barely audible as lightning crackling inside of their bodies and then slumped dead in their arms.
In unison both she and Dean moved the bodies to the side, shoved into a small hole in the wall to keep them out of sight from anyone else. She turned to look back at Johnny who was pale and looked a bit stricken.
"You alright?" she asked, reaching out to gently touch his arm. He looked up at her and he looked so lost, so young that she stepped in the rest of the way to hug him tightly. He gripped back at her, shaking in her arms. Dean turned away to give them some privacy and be a look out.
"I'm sorry." she whispered, shifting the blade enough to stroke at his hair. "I'm sorry kiddo."
Johnny gripped at her for a moment longer, swallowing hard before he pulled away, nodding. "I'm okay, I'm okay." he told her.
Sam smiled and quickly kissed the top of his head. "Let's go." she said, falling back into position.
They passed another hallway and this time, Johnny stopped them, tugging incessantly at Deans sleeve. He pointed at the hallway. "It's this one, I recognize it."
And true to his word, there was a wooden door there, locked up with a small barred window, and runes carved into it. Breathing out slowly they made their way towards it, senses alert. It almost seemed too easy, too barren for a place that was holding an archangel prisoner. Reaching the door Sam knelt down to peer into it, eyes widening.
There he was, chained and bruised and covered in old blood and dirt. His lips were in fact sewn shut and his eyes were wide and filled with fear as he looked back at her.
"Gabriel." Sam whispered, feeling her chest tighten at the sight of him. Gabriel flinched back but then moved as best as he could towards the door, staring at her with a pleading expression. Nodding at him she leaned back to look at the door and the runes once more, eyes going to the lock. Taking the angel blade in hand she angled it where the key would go and slammed it in, twisting it to destroy the mechanism and break it free.
"C'mon Gabriel," Sam murmured, reaching for him. She gripped the chains and slid the blade along the handcuffs, snapping it clean off. She felt Johnny peer into the prison as well and Gabriel immediately looked at him, eyes wide and shaking.
"He told us about you, you're the one that summoned him." Sam reminded him. "C'mon Gabriel, work with me, we need to move fast."
Without waiting she reached out and grabbed him, dragging him out and ignoring how he flailed and shook, almost clawing to get back inside.
Better the devil you know after all.
"C'mon, let's go." she said, half carrying half dragging Gabriel away, ignoring the old grime and blood on his clothes.
"And just where do you think you're going with my angel?" a southern accented voice called out to them, making them freeze. Gabriel barely moved, breathing heavily and a small almost whimpering sound escaping him.
Sam reached out and grabbed Johnny, pulling him back to her side as well, shifting so that she was in front of him and Gabriel. Dean moved with her to cover the both of them, angel blades up as a group came into the room, including the man in a white suit and a scar over his face.
"Well, well, well." the white suited demon drawled, grinning at them before his eyes suddenly turned yellow. "Lookee what I have here."
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