Chapter 2:
Tell me why it cost so much to live

"I've gotta admit, it's kinda hot... In a gritty sort of way." Gabriel continued, a smirk to the corner of his lips as he watched Sam get up from the floor.

"If you're hitting on me, sorry pal, but I'm not interested." Dean said, watching as the archangel's eyes studied him carefully.

"Who said you're the one I was hitting on?" Gabriel was quick to reply, sparing a wink in Sam's direction before turning his attention back to the man sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What do you want." Dean growled, clutching his injured side as his younger brother turned to face the archangel that had suddenly appeared. "Why are you here."

"Demanding little thing, aren't you?" Gabriel started, a usual grin plastered across his face as he caught Dean's cold, hard gaze. "Most people, start with Hello."

"We're not like most people." Sam snapped, casually wiping Dean's blood from his hands before passing the towel back over to his older brother.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed." The archangel replied, well aware of the hostility that hung in the air between them.

"Why are you here, Gabriel." Sam asked, his tone of voice demanding an answer as his eyes bore down on the archangel in front of them.

"Alright, alright hear me out." Gabriel started, his tone of voice shifting as his eyes drifted from one man to the other. "I know we're not exactly friends, or on speaking terms for that matter, but you two seriously need to get back in the game here before you get yourselves killed."

There was a moment of silence and Sam shook his head. "Like we told your brothers." He hissed, his hands instantly clenching into fists. "This is their war and we wont be a part of it... The answer's still No."

"Saying No to Michael and Lucifer won't stop them from settling their score... If you two wont play ball, then they'll just find somebody else that will." Gabriel explained. "You two are their best bet, but not their only one."

"We're well aware that refusing to be vessels won't stop the Apocalypse but Sam and I, we're still in the game... we're just not playing for either side." Dean growled, wincing slightly as he felt his rising voice resonate deep inside. "The end might be coming but unlike you, we're going to do something about it, we're going to find a way to stop them before it's too late." Dean swallowed hard as he held the archangel's eyes, doing his best not to let the pain show on his face. "So if you're here to try and convince us otherwise, then you might as well just..."

"I'm here because you're gonna need my help, OK?" Gabriel was quick to reply, his words instantly silencing the other man as if he'd caught him by surprise. "I know what you think of me but I really don't care."

"We don't want your help." Sam growled, his mind racing with everything the Trickster had put them through in the past.

"But thanks anyway." Dean added.

There was a moment of silence as Gabriel's gaze drifted back up from the injured man sitting on the edge of the bed, to the one standing there in front of him. "Boy, you two really are a stubborn pair." He started. "If you two knuckle heads are so determined to stand on your own and stop both Heaven and Hell, you're going to need all the help you can get, and right now, like it or not... I'm all you've got!"

"We don't want your help." Sam repeated, his gaze fixed on the archangel still standing at the foot of his older brother's bed.

"Not want, NEED." Gabriel clarified. "If you want to stop all of this and maybe even survive it, then you're going to NEED my help. So you can gank demons with one gun, some Latin and a fancy spell engraved knife, that's great but that doesn't exactly cover both sides, now does it? In case you haven't noticed, Lucifer's not a demon... he's an Angel."

"We're well aware of that." Dean curtly replied.

Gabriel couldn't help but shake his head as he eyed the young hunters. "Alright, then tell me boys, how DO you intend to stop the Apocalypse and save the world?" He started, his eyes narrowing on the pair as he waited for a reply.

"We're going to kill the sons of bitches at the helm, we're..."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Gabriel interrupted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "They're God's most powerful creations."

Dean couldn't help but let out a sigh as he passed his free hand over his face, well aware that the moment of silence was enough to answer the question. "We haven't figured that out yet." He admitted, his gaze drifting over to the bottle of Whisky on the small table at his side.

"Let me ask you this then, have you ever actually wondered why you can kill demons with the Colt?" Gabriel asked, pausing for a moment to give either men the chance to reply. When neither did, he let out a chuckle. "It's not rocket science, guys!" He shouted, his voice instantly filling the room. "It's because of the devil's trap carved into the handle. You carve one of those things into any one of your weapons and I guarantee, it'll kill a demon." He paused again as he watched the pair exchange a quick glance.

"Are you going to tell us how to kill an angel or not?" Dean asked, silencing as the archangel put a hand up towards him.

"You know that Sigil Castiel showed you?" Gabriel started. "The one that can send an angel back to Heaven?" He paused as the other man gave him a nod. "Instead of finger painting it in blood all over the walls, you should try carving it into the handle of a gun... That's how you can kill and angel, genius. When you scrawl it on a wall you cleanse the room, if you put it on your weapons, it'll cleanse a vessel of it's angel host, it'll.."

"If that's true then why didn't Castiel ever tell us?" Sam interrupted, his voice once again pulling Gabriel's eyes away from his older brother.

"Because Castiel doesn't know." Gabriel was quick to reply. "When you're at the bottom of the ranks, there's a lot that you don't know." He paused for a moment as he took a deep breath, well aware that the brothers still didn't trust him. "Look, you're running out of time and the only angel you had in your corner, is gone." He quietly started, watching as Dean's eyes closed for only an instant, his words without a doubt, ricocheting inside the other man's head. "You think things are bad now? Well I hate to say it, but its about to get worse, much worse... And if you want to face both sides, then I suggest you start by making weapons that can actually kill what you'll be up against." The silence that followed his words, could have swallowed the room whole. "Take it or leave it, I just thought you should know... Otherwise you don't even stand the slightest chance."

Sam couldn't help but take a quick glance at his brother before turning his attention back to the archangel in front of him. "Why are you helping us?" He asked quietly, trying to understand why someone like the Trickster would offer them anything at all.

"Because the last time we met, when you had me trapped in a ring of Holy fire..." Gabriel started, his voice dropping slightly at the memory. "You had every right to jus leave me there, but you didn't... you let me go."

"That's not the only reason." Dean said, watching as the archangel's eyes drifted away. "C'mon man, why are you really helping us?"

"I'm helping myself, alright?" The archangel simply replied. "Because if no one stops this, I'm going to die in it too..."

"Why don't you just join us?" Sam continued, catching Gabriel's eyes. "You know more about angels than we do, fight with us, we can still stop this."

"I'd rather keep my distance." Gabriel replied, bringing his right hand up from his side. "And FYI, Dean... when Zachariah sliced into your ribs, he broke the Sigil Cas carved to hide you from them. They know where you are and they know how to find you, so I suggest you start with the angels, because Heaven's not done with you just yet."

"How can we find you?" Sam was quick to ask, watching as the archangel turned to leave. "If we need you?"

"Don't call me, I'll call you."

"Wait, before you go." Dean started, feeling his breath start to catch in the back of his throat as he wrestled with the question. "Where's Castiel?" He asked quietly, looking on as the archangel turned slightly to face him once more. "I need to know..." He continued. "Zachariah used me to draw Cas in... what did the son of a bitch want with him?"

Gabriel swallowed hard as he held Dean's eyes, knowing that the answer wasn't something the other man really needed to here. "Zachariah is recruiting anyone he can... He's offering the lost & hopeless a free pass and fallen angels a second chance, if they're willing to fight for Michael & Heaven." He replied casually, studying the hunter sitting at the edge of the bed, his hand still holding a towel up to his injured side.

"And if they're not?" When Gabriel hesitated, Dean felt his heart sink like a stone.

"So if Cas refuses to fight for them..." Sam started, his bleak words filling the void. "He's gone."

"More or less." Gabriel quietly replied, his gaze drifting away. "When it comes to the Angels, you're either with them or against them, and trust me, they'll make you regret the day you were born if you're not on their side..."

"You didn't just come here to help us, did you?" Sam asked, pulling Gabriel's attention back to him. "To tell us how to kill your brothers. There's something else, something's not sitting right and you don't know what to do about it."

"Am I that transparent these days?" Gabriel started with somewhat of a smirk as he caught the younger man's eyes. "You got me Sammy boy..." He continued, the smirk vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared. "There's something wrong going on here and I'm not quite sure what it is..."

"What do you mean by wrong?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow as he took a quick glance down to his older brother.

"Corrupt may be a better choice of words." Gabriel added, nervously shifting his weight. "When Lucifer walked free, he had with him four horsemen. It's a package deal, they're freelance but they don't come out to play until Lucifer does. You guys killed one of them but the other three haven't been heard of or seen since the angels started recruiting souls..."

"So you think the horsemen are on Heaven's side?" Sam asked.

"I don't know what to think." Gabriel admitted. "They're either working with the angels or they're already dead."

Dean couldn't help but swear under his breath as Zachariah's sinister smile flashed in the back of his mind. "You know..." He suddenly started, watching as Sam turned slightly to face him. "As far as I'm concerned, a ticket to Heaven just ain't worth the price anymore. Fighting Angels in the Apocalypse is probably the closest to Heaven that someone like us is ever going to get, and the truth is, I'm OK with that..."

"Don't sell yourself so short." Gabriel was quick to reply. "You're a hell of a lot closer to Heaven than you think, Dean." With that said and the snap of his fingers, he was gone.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, those words still echoing in his head as his eyes scanned their dark motel room for any sign of the archangel that had been standing there at the foot of the bed only moments ago.

"I don't know..."

When Sam turned to face his brother, the first thing he noticed was the grin. "What is it?" He asked, kneeling down in front of the other man to pick up where he had left off.

Dean shook his head in disbelief as he pulled the damp towel away from his right side for his brother to take a look for himself. "It doesn't even hurt anymore." He declared, tossing the towel onto the bedside table nearby. Though the towel was still stained with his blood, the large gash Zachariah had carved into his flesh was gone.

"What the..." Sam trailed off as he reached out to pass a hand where the deep gash had been. Not only were the stitches gone, so were all traces of the injury.

"I bet you Gabriel had something to do with it..." Dean continued, his voice filling the silence as he watched his younger brother take a seat on the edge of his own bed, his gaze still fixed on where the gash in his side had been.

"Do you really think that we can kill angels if we carve that Sigil Cas showed us into our guns?" Sam asked, his eyes drifting over to the small clock on the dresser nearby. It was just past three in the morning.

"I'm not sure, Sammy." Dean replied, reaching under his pillow to pull out the gun he always had within reach. He swore to himself as he eyed the gun's ivory handle, etched into one side was a pentagram and into the other, a Sigil. "Damn it Gabe, this was my favorite gun..." He muttered, looking up as his younger brother reached for his own gun.

"Yeah, well now it might actually do more for you." Sam remarked, passing a hand over the symbols carved along the barrel of his weapon of choice.

"I say we head out to Bobby's first thing tomorrow and see what he can make of all this." Dean replied, tucking the gun away before reaching over to grab the bed sheets that were still tangled at the foot of his bed. "If we're lucky, he might have found somewhere to start."

"Since when are we that lucky..." Sam muttered, pulling the sheets up as he reached over to shut the lamp on the table at his side.