Chapter 5

Dean's spent three months with the trickster. In his mind he's classified it as neither alpha nor omega, and asexual – not that he'll ever tell Sam that. The trickster has ended up being, oddly enough, the best hunting partner he's ever had. His lack of alpha or omega instincts – as far as Dean can tell – is strangely compatible with Dean's own omega instincts and alpha mindset. Dean's managed to turn off the portion of his mind that screams how unnatural Sam is, how no being should exist without either alpha or omega instincts, and they've managed to settle down into a peaceful routine. They both find hunts, Dean drives, Sam chooses where they eat and stay – nicer places than Dean would ever be comfortable choosing, which is a large part of why he allows Sam to choose –, they stay out of bars, and Dean ignores that that Sam is awake when he goes to sleep and when he wakes, apparently only sleeping – he does sleep, Dean has seen the rumpled sheets to prove it – when there is no chance of Dean seeing. He's not actually sure if the fact that Sam avoids sleeping when he's awake is annoying due to the lack of trust it shows or just more fuel to the fire of his curiosity about what Sam's like so vulnerable.

Dean's still researching ways of escaping from a trickster. He never wants to be caught needing to get away and being unable, but he's pretty much given up on the idea that he's ever really going to need them.

It turns out it was a very good thing he kept searching.

They don't have any idea what it really is when they decide on the hunt. Or rather they have a very good idea what it is and they're also wrong.

By the time Dean figures out what it is they're already separated; Sam trapped inside the warehouse with it and Dean searching for a way in holding the blood coated stakes he's now very glad he doesn't need to spend the extra time researching about. Dean sneaks into the warehouse – silently berating himself that this is perhaps the stupidest thing he's ever done, getting in between two tricksters – relieved to see Sam unharmed. He and the other trickster are standing in the middle of the warehouse, and though they may not be fighting tension permeates the air as they speak, their voices deceptively calm.

"Well hello brother mine. Tell me, which one are you?"

Brothers who couldn't recognize each other? How would they even be able to tell that they were brothers then? Maybe all tricksters were siblings?

"The fact that you can't tell should be all the information you need to tell you that I wouldn't answer that question."

Ah, so Sam was hiding his identity? Dean wondered if Sam's reasons for hiding his identity had anything to do with why he'd abducted Dean and claimed him, the "trick on some other powerful beings" Sam was playing. Maybe the ones on whom the trick was being played was the other tricksters?

If Sam had an aversion to the other tricksters – to all that tricksters were supposed to do – it would certainly explain some of the mysteries surrounding him. Why he admired a hunter. Why he was willing to hunt himself. Why in all the time they'd been traveling together Dean had yet to see him hand out just desserts. But maybe all this time he had been. It would take a long and incredibly planned trick to catch tricksters, and what better just desserts could there be for their kind?

"True, but I have to say, it's rather impressive managing to hide your identity from me. If you won't share your real name what should I call you? I go by Loki."

"Sam."

So Sam isn't his real name. It leaves Dean sad for reasons he doesn't even understand, thinking that all this time Sam has been hiding something so everyday and fundamental from Dean.

Meeting Gabriel is like a shock of ice water for Sam. Meeting someone he knew in another universe, and who knew him, brings him crashing back to reality. This isn't his world. This isn't his Dean. It isn't like he's forgotten completely. He hasn't been treating this Dean with all the love and care he would his brother. But he has been drawing comfort from having someone so very much like Dean.

But now Sam feels faintly sick, to have let some doppelganger mitigate some of the loss he felt for his brother? To have betrayed his brother's memory like that? Yeah. But he's had a wakeup call. He'll go back to treating this Dean like the hunting partner and near stranger he is. He'll give no more misplaced affection for wearing his brother's face.

But to even start doing that he needs to get out of here. And, near stranger or no, Sam really doesn't want Dean and Gabriel meeting. Gabriel doesn't need to have any idea he's claimed Micheal's vessel, and Dean doesn't need any more strange things about Sam to question.

It's just as he's thinking this that he sees Dean. Well, fuck.

Dean manages to sneak behind Gabriel as he and Sam consider each other, unspeaking. He has a trickster killing stake, which is only going to draw more questions when it doesn't work. When did his life start liking to create cluster-fucks? Then Dean is close enough to put the stake through Gabriel's heart, which of course does absolutely nothing, well it does seem to piss Gabriel off some. He strikes back at Dean quickly, forcing Sam to block him, and, of course, this reveals to Gabriel that his grace is not the grace of some random shuck angel, no he has the grace of an archangel. Realizing this at least manages to stop Gabriel from attacking further, as he is instead staring dumbfounded trying to wrap his mind around there being another archangel hiding out on earth as a trickster.

"Micheal?"

"I'm never telling you, you can give up on getting your answers right now."

"The hell I will! You're not going to shake me till I've figured you out."

Oh god no. The absolute last thing – well not absolute last, there are things like, say, the apocalypse which would be worse – Sam needs is to have Gabriel following Dean and him around as they hunt. He's not sure he can even accurately guess the kind of chaos that would cause.

"No. You're going to leave me alone or I'm going to tell an incredibly persistent and faithful one of our little brothers exactly how to find you and that I think the only thing you need to come back to the family is a little love and persistence."

"How persistent and faithful?"

Castiel? Yeah, he wouldn't give up easy, and he would probably manage to drive Gabriel out of his damn mind.

"Very."

Sam tells him, with a smirk that tells him Sam already know that he's won. Gabriel glares silently for a little while, then just as silently transports himself away.

Sam doesn't say a word. He's not a trickster – if the stake failing to kill Loki and them being brothers is any indication – and apparently his name's not even Sam, and he doesn't say a god damned thing about it. He just ignores it, like the last half hour hasn't ripped Dean's new world apart. Some part of himself's been waiting for the other shoe to drop this whole time, but he's never expected it to be like this. Sam's closed off again, and most of what Dean knew about him is lies, and yet Dean is still worried about him. The facts may be lies, but Sam is still the being he's been hunting with for three months, the one he's comfortable around and who in all that time has always been kind. And it hits Dean then. He doesn't even know now what Sam is, but that doesn't stop him from trusting the guy. Because the trust rests not on his species, but on him being Sam – the whole fake names issue aside. He trusts the guy, likes him actually. And it's that realization that spurs him on, he doesn't need Sam to spill his guts, because no matter his species or name, he's still the same guy, and Dean trusts him.

"Hey, guess he's left town. Time to find a new hunt then."

And leaving Sam looking a little dumbfounded Dean turns with a grin and exits the warehouse. Figuring out he trusts Sam feels like a weight off his shoulders, and combining that with the fact he managed to startle Sam? Well, right now Dean feels like he's ready for anything they might encounter as they continue to hunt together.

Published: March 19, 2013