Direct lines are pulled from the transcript from season 11 episode 18.
.-~*~-.
"I hate this." Sam remarked while Gabriel eyed the unhappy looking Rowena at the back of the room.
"Yeah."
"And, by the way, where the hell is Crowley? I mean, we're essentially all set up."
"He'll show at the last second. He's pissed but he's not stupid enough to try to double cross me again."
"You sure about that?" Dean asked dryly. "I mean he's holding the damned thing hostage, you'd think he'd have the decency to-"
On cue Crowley appeared on the edge of the warding in the center of the room, cutting Dean off with an elegant, "-show up? He does. Because without the bait, well... a trap really isn't a trap, is it?" Gabriel bristled slightly as Crowley shot him an annoyed look, turning a cloth covered Hand of God in his hand thoughtfully.
Sam scoffed as he eyed the thing in Crowley's hand. "That's it? Doesn't look like much, does it?"
"First impressions can be deceiving, Moose. For instance, I once thought of you as dull and plodding." Gabriel couldn't stop the smile as Sam shot a bitter glare at the demon. "Oh, never mind. Bad analogy."
"For the record, I still think this is a bad idea. Calling Lucifer down for a face to face chat? Asking him to hand Cas over? Freaking Rowena trying to create another damned body for him?" Dean acknowledged unnecessarily.
"We're aware. Which is why you aren't getting near it. The hand that giveth can so quickly taketh away." Which was part of the bitter agreement between him and Crowley. They weren't stupid. There was a lot more going on than simple vendettas. Boyfriend of moose, and best friend of squirrel. If he was honest he had a sinking suspicion that Sam might say 'yes' just to free Castiel. An outcome he'd rather avoid given the circumstances. Yet, he'd known since the moment that he'd come up with the plan.
"Yes, we… getteth it."
"So, Mummy," Crowley turned his attention to Rowena. "You were telling us your fascinating tale of resurrection. But you never did say exactly where you'd been this whole time."
Which was the part he'd been trying to figure out too. Someone like Rowena didn't just vanish off the map when the world was ending. Not without some backup plan. She wasn't stupid enough to go after Amara. So where had she been?
"Same as you, Fergus. Hiding. Once the Dark Prince knew I was alive, I wouldn't be."
"Bullshit."
"What would you know?" The witch eyed him, lifting her head just a bit as she stared defiantly at him.
"I know you better than most, Rowena. I remember a time when you came to my knees begging for assistance. Pagan, remember?"
"I am well aware who you are, Loki." She responded, raising her head snootily and glowering, "I was hiding. Your brother killed me, did you expect me to just stand around and wait for him to find out?"
"No, Rowena. I know you didn't just stand around, but I also know you didn't hole up in the middle of nowhere. You're a coward, but you aren't stupid. Since you didn't go to Dumb and Dumber or your son it begs a big question of who you went to."
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?"
"I really would."
"Well, if you must. I went to The Grand Coven. They weren't particularly happy to see me but this situation is much bigger than our petty feuds." She was lying through her teeth and the fact that she kept lying about it set off all kinds of warning bells in his mind as to where she might have been. Was she that stupid? No. She couldn't possibly be that stupid. Or could she?
"Gabriel?" Dean spoke up.
"Yeah, I know." Gabriel turned his attention to the heavy warding in the center of the room. While it could've held him for months, he knew it wasn't going to hold Lucifer for long. Maybe ten minutes… at the most.
"No mucking about like last time. The warding and the holy fire won't keep him but for a moment. If he shows up at all." Crowley reminded his mother unnecessarily.
"Oh, he'll show. He's too hungry to take Amara out, and we've got the blaster to do it."
Gabriel stepped back from the warding, and where Lucifer would ultimately make his appearance. Best that he wasn't the first thing Lucifer saw on his arrival. "In nomine magni dei nostri Satanas, introibo ad altare Domini Inferi. I summon you to make an offer. The weapon by which its bearer can crush the Darkness forever." A grin broke across his face, unable to help it. They could've prayed and it would've had the same effect but the formal summoning was so much funnier. His grin fell almost instantly as thunder crashed loudly, power ripping through the air and sending a violent shudder down his spine. Lucifer.
Then Lucifer was there, standing in the midst of some of the most powerful warding on Earth and looking perplexed, unsurprised.
"Sam, now!" Dean shouted and Sam threw an already lit match into the holy oil, forcing a flinch out of Gabriel as he was reminded of the moment the brothers figured him out.
Lucifer on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered by the prospect. His gaze flicking across the parties of the room and resting for a single moment on Gabriel before moving to Sam.
"I'm sorry. Your prayer implied that I'd be... joining the team, but I'm just not feeling the warm and fuzzy here." Then his gaze was on the Horn. "Wow. There it is. Powered up by Dad himself. Well, that bad boy plus me and baby bro... That ought to take her out all right." Gabriel swallowed as Lucifer flicked his gaze across the room, clapping his hands together. "Let's get to it. Douse the flames." No one moved, or spoke. Though he didn't look surprised, he did look distinctly annoyed. Impatiently snapping his fingers Lucifer moved a glare to Sam. "Or don't? C'mon, Sammy. You aren't stupid."
"We want to talk." Gabriel spoke up, stepping forward and drawing the attention of the brother that killed him.
"Talk about what exactly, Gabriel? Surely you aren't- oh but you are. You poor little sap."
"We want you to get out of Castiel."
"Now why would I do something like that?" Lucifer scowled, rolling his eyes. "We're at a comfortable arrangement. He holds me- for the most part, and I don't have to down gallons of demon blood every hour to keep him from rotting away."
"Because we have something you need, and you want something we have. Your self-preservation is that good, Lucifer."
"This isn't about self-preservation." Lucifer responded, scoffing. "You aren't that stupid, Gabriel. I need a decent Vessel to sustain myself and Castiel is the best option. Well, unless the muttonheads change their minds. You know I'm not going back into the Cage until she's dealt with, so stop playing this game. Let me out of the fire, before I burn it out and slit their throats."
"And stab me in the heart again?" Gabriel bit out earning an annoyed look from his brother.
"I knew you wouldn't die, Gabriel. As you said, 'your self-preservation is that good'." His older brother threw his words back at him. "I'm not leaving Castiel. We can play this game all you want, but the truth is that this will end exactly how it started. But with two less Winchesters."
"We can't kill her yet, Lucifer."
"Maybe not alone, but if me and you do it together? We did it before-"
"With Raphael, and Michael."
"Since when are you so petty? It's not my fault you decided to kill Michael."
"I killed him because you broke him! Don't you dare put Michael's-"
"Then Raphael. Oh, Gabe. You let Raphael get himself killed."
"I didn't have anything to do with that!" Gabriel responded angrily, "I was at half strength hiding in fucking Heaven because you decided to stab me in the heart. That's not on me you arrogant bag of dicks."
His hand twitched beside him and his blade manifested in his hand, a broad grin crossing Lucifer's face.
"You going to drive it through me? Kill the last of your brothers. I know you aren't that stupid, Gabriel."
"You don't know what I am, Lucifer."
"I know what you think you are, but you couldn't kill me again if you wanted to, and you wouldn't if you could. You care far too much about them to risk the universe."
"Lads! The fire!" Rowena's voice barely registered with him though. He was preoccupied with the anger burning through his grace, the grief that Lucifer's words ignited in him. He had been forced to kill Michael and Raphael… that wasn't his fault. Fucking Castiel had killed him, but Raphael had brought his death on himself. He'd insisted on the damned Apocalypse that he'd died for.
"Gabriel!" Dean shouted at him, two sets of hands gripping him by each of his arms and dragging him back. "You can't let him-"
"None of this was my fault!"
"Oh, Gabriel. It was. All of it was on you. You were the little angel that failed. I love you, brother, but you're a coward."
With a cry he launched himself forward, screaming in agony as he crossed the holy fire that had all but died in the presence of Lucifer.
It was probably the only reason he survived.
Black spots danced across his vision as heat ripped at his wings, a brush of wind sending him flying backwards into a wall and forcing him to watch as Lucifer stepped away from the now dead ring of holy fire, Gabriel's archangel blade in hand.
"Ah. Trick me? You lied to me. You know, I could have been your warrior." A toothy grin at Gabriel. "Ah. Who needs ya?" Crowley's essence dissipated from the area in a single moment. Coward. "Well. It's just like Crowley to leave right when the party's getting started. Have a seat." A wave of his hands and Sam and Dean were forced to sit, fighting against Lucifer's power fruitlessly. "As much as I get a giggle out of you two, and I do, there comes a time when every relationship has... run its course. I know. You love him. Blah blah blah-"
"Yes!" Sam yelped suddenly and Lucifer paused, tilting his head.
"Yes?" Lucifer responded condescendingly. This wasn't going to end well.
"Sammy don-" Another wave of his hand and Dean's voice was gone.
"Let him go, Lucifer. Let him go and-" Sam's voice was shaking, fear creeping into all of the words. "I'll do it." Damn it. His entire form was aching with the contact from the holy fire… There was no way he could get up. Damn.
"I can force him back into the Cage, Gabriel. My son told me to prepare for the alternatives." No. Despite everything he needed Lucifer, they did. Damn it this entire thing had gone wrong… and it was his fault.
"Isn't that sweet? You do care about your boyfriend."
"Fuck off." Sam bit out.
"As tempting as your offer is, I'm going to refuse you."
"Why?" Sam demanded.
"I did think about it, when I got here. But I realized something. I really do enjoy watching you suffer. Every moment you're awake, every moment that you breathe, you're reminded of your mistake. It's my revenge for what you did to me. If you'd just let me and Michael kill each other I would've been saved a lot of trouble. So now you have to deal with the knowledge that you let me fuck you. All because you screwed up."
"I-"
"We're done talking, Sam." Lucifer dropped into the gruff Castiel voice, "I'm going to kill Dean in front of you, and then-"
It was so sudden he almost missed it. A single, bright, flare of energy- primordial energy, and everything around him froze for a second as panic soared through his grace. Father help us. The prayer fell silent in his head as a deafening explosion resounded from the entrance to the abandoned church. Gabriel barely had time to look towards it before she came through the fresh hole in the wall, smoke spreading around her ominously as she took in the sight around her. Panicking slightly Gabriel forced himself to move, struggling to sit upright as he pressed his back against the wall, panting breathlessly as every fraction of movement caused pain to resonate across his Vessel and grace where the holy fire had burnt into him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He needed to get them out of there before she killed them but- gods it burned.
"Oh, Lucifer. Dear nephew, my, how you've changed." Amara didn't even acknowledge him and he wasn't sure whether that was for the better or for the worse. "I was tracking her when she left my side."
Rowena. Apparently she had been that stupid.
"You were safely sealed away. You're gonna wish you'd stayed there."
"Lucifer don't!" He cried, a second too late. Damn it.
Gabriel watched as the Horn flew into Lucifer's hand, power rippling across the area around them as Lucifer absorbed God's power from it.
Except there was no way in Heaven or Hell that would work. Lucifer didn't follow God, and the Hand had to be wielded by a servant of God to use its full potential. Of course that didn't matter anyway. It had taken four archangels and God to deal with her last time. It was arrogance that had Lucifer pouring grace and God power alike from his hand, flooding the Darkness with the light of a thousand stars.
It was that same arrogance that left her standing there looking like she'd been clawed by a kitten.
Because Lucifer wasn't enough. Not alone. We're doomed.
Amara crooked her finger and Lucifer was sliding across the floor unwittingly, frozen on the spot with horror slipping off his grace. The Horn tumbled to the floor as Amara cupped Lucifer's face in her hand.
"I think you and I need to have a nice, long chat."
"Cas?" Sam managed and Amara's gaze lifted, flicking across the room to rest on Gabriel where her eyes narrowed.
"I'm giving you one chance, Gabriel. Run." A flex of her fingers and both hunters were on their feet, Amara and Lucifer disappearing a moment later.
.-~-.
"So, Rowena and Crowley... like mother, like son, huh? They both took exactly one split second to take off when things started going south." Gabriel was trembling slightly as he took the beer Dean offered him.
"Yep." Dean responded as Gabriel stared at the glass, ignoring the accusing glare Sam was giving him.
"Here," There were about twenty elephants in the room that no one was touching any of them. "By the way, what's Rowena doing with Amara?"
"Being a dumbass." Gabriel responded with a tired sigh.
"Or she's playing the odds. When sucking up to Lucifer didn't work out, maybe she thought Amara was the best bet. Then she heard we had Gabe and switched sides again. Thought two archangels could do the trick."
"I thought he'd listen."
"He was listening." Gabriel responded, looking down at the burns lining his Vessel. "But he also didn't care. Lucifer came because he was arrogant enough to think he could do it himself."
"Apparently, uh, archangel plus God power doesn't trump God's sister." Sam said unnecessarily.
"No. It could've worked to weaken her, but he doesn't believe in our dick Father. He wasted that Hand."
"Gabriel-"
"Save it, Sam. You boys need to have your talk and I need to sleep."
"There's nothing to talk about and you still have something to explain. You killed Michael. Why the- I mean you said he was still alive…"
"When you opened the Cage… Mikey crawled out. I found him. He thought I was Lucifer. He was deranged, out of his mind, so I did what I had to. He had- it was a mercy killing." Gabriel licked his lips and struggled to his feet, wrapping his arms around himself and grimacing at the burning sensation that lined his Vessel and true form from that damned holy fire. Every inch of him hurt. "I killed my brother because it was the right thing to do. He wasn't coming back from the torture Lucifer inflicted on him. There was no saving him, so I killed him." Gabriel closed his eyes for a second. "I need to sleep and try to recover from the holy fire."
"I can help you walk."
"I'll be fine." Gabriel tried to brush off Dean's offered help but the moment he took his first step his knees buckled beneath him, a whole new wave of pain ripping through him and sending him falling to his knees with a barely concealed shout.
"Oh yeah, you're great." Dean huffed from behind him as he felt someone grip under his arm, tugging him to his feet.
"I don't-"
"Yes. You do." Sam came around with clear reluctance and caught him under his other arm. "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't." Gabriel responded bitterly as he reluctantly let them half carry him from the main room. "I'd forgotten how good he was at that."
"Making you forget that he's wrong?" Sam asked him tiredly. "Trust me, Gabriel. You aren't the only one." It was probably the closest thing he was going to ever get to sympathy from Sam so he took it for what it was.
"Can you at least try to walk?"
"Oh yeah. Let me drop you in some acid and see how you fare in walking." Gabriel bit back, forcing himself to take some of his weight off of the brothers anyways. It hurt like hell but they were trying to help, a concept he didn't really get. They barely wanted him there, but for some crazy unknown reason they were trying to help him.
"We're putting him back in your room." Sam grunted as they came up on the rooms.
"What? No!"
"It's the closest one."
Theoretically he could get himself the rest of the way but in a practical sense… he felt like he was about to pass out. For the time being at least he needed to let them deal with their drama.
"So? We can carry him an extra thirty feet!"
"I'm not that heavy." Gabriel scowled and Sam scoffed.
"You carry you."
"I have. Once upon a time I was an adorable little archangel with dreams of being my big brothers. Then I realized it was bullshit and ran away from home. Snagged me a little man named Jack out of the ocean and became best friends with him."
"Your Vessel's name is Jack?" Of course that was all Dean got out of his story. The name of his damned Vessel. Well, the not-name.
"No, it was Peter… or Jacob. That doesn't matter. Point is I possessed some chick and dragged him out of the ocean. I know exactly how much he weighs and he's not that heavy!"
"Yeah, we're putting him in your room or I'm dropping him." Sam retorted with a glare. So he was still sensitive about the whole Vessel thing. Made sense, but still. His reaction seemed just a bit dramatic.
"Whatever." Dean conceded, much to his astonishment. Though he couldn't really make himself care too much. He needed to sleep and the longer they talked about this the longer it would be until he could recover. "If he ruins the memory foam that's on you."
"It's not the first damned time we've put him in your bed." Oh interesting. It had been Dean's bed they'd shoved him into after Amara knocked him out? Whose idea had that been?
"That was different." Dean countered without explanation as he was heaved sideways through a doorway and walked a few more feet before being pushed unceremoniously onto a bed.
Sam left pretty quickly after that but Dean didn't do him the same favor, standing against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Did you know?" Gabriel ended up breaking the silence as he shut his eyes. Sleep was threatening every inch of his mind but he couldn't with Dean standing there staring at him. Why in the hell did girls find it sexy in those creepy romance novels? It was just plain disturbing.
"About him and Cas?" Dean asked. "Yeah. I knew. Bunker's a small place and Cas… he's not known for tact. I caught them making out in the kitchen like a year ago, confronted Cas about it. I don't care. They're grown ups, and I figure Sammy ain't got a shot with a human. Maybe Cas can stick together for him long enough to give him a chance at happy."
"Seems to be working well."
"Never called either of them smart. Did you expect Sam to say 'yes'?"
"Did you?"
Dean was quiet for a moment before sighing heavily. "Yeah. I did."
"I thought he might. Your brother's self-sacrifice streak's almost as bad as yours. I think Lucifer was banking on it too."
"You would've." Dean responded and he flinched.
"I wouldn't have done it like that. I never did what I did to hurt either of you. I did it to make a point. A point that's clearly never stuck in either of your heads. You're both idiots, but you fix your messes. You manage to impress me. Hell, you impress Lucifer. He's scared of you."
"He's what?"
"Come on. You think the bad guys come after you muttonheads for your good looks? Nope. It's because you two are the ones that always find some damned way to unravel the ungodly messes they make. You're literally the guys that all the baddies fear. You're also our best shot in this. I didn't come here because I was bored. I came because I needed your help."
"This is too much, Gabriel. Way too much. She's God's sister."
"Yeah, she is. Trust me, Dean. I know what she is. I also know what the two of you are."
"We're just hunters."
"You're the pivotal center of the fate of the planet. My dick brothers' Vessels. You'll be fine."
"Michael wasn't."
"You aren't Michael, and Sam isn't Lucifer."
Rather than responding anywhere near coherently there was the stomping of feet and a door slamming.
The moment he was alone he felt himself sinking into the blissful black void of sleep. Ah, sleep. Exactly what he needed to heal from the holy fire. All he could hope was that it was enough.
~-.-~