"We need to go back," Sam said urgently as they sped down the highway.

"Go back?" Dean asked, "Gabriel just risked his neck in there for us to get out of there, and you want us to go back?"

"We need to try and help Gabriel. We owe him that much," Sam said.

Kali said, "If I know Loki...Gabriel, I know he can take care of himself. We, on the other hand, do not stand a fighting chance against archangels."

Sam turned around in the passenger seat to look at Kali. "That's the thing," he said, "No one knows Gabriel. There's always something that he's not saying, something he's hiding. If he doesn't need help against Lucifer, great, but if he does need help, we need to be there for him."

Kali scoffed and said, "Honestly, after everything Gabriel has done, I'd call us even. I owe him nothing." She disappeared from the backseat with a blink of her eyes.

Sam said, "Dean-"

"I think the goddess is right on this one. How many times has Gabriel screwed us over?" Dean said, "Now, he turned over a new leaf. Super. But that doesn't mean we have to go back there and die for the guy."

"Dean, we need to go back. He could be dead," Sam pressed.

Dean snapped, "And how would you be able to help then, Sam? I am not turning this car around, and we are not going back. End of discussion."

Sam set his jaw. They needed to go help Gabriel. They were just leaving him there to die if he wasn't dead already. He knew his brother was making sense, and he knew Gabriel would be furious if Sam so willingly walked back into a room with Lucifer, but Sam had to be sure that Gabriel was okay. He sat in silence. He'd get back to Elysian Fields. He'd find a way.

Dean fell asleep quickly at the next motel they stopped at. Sam slowly, quietly crossed the room to the small motel table to search through Dean's jacket for the car keys. Dean grumbled a little in his sleep, and Sam froze. Dean would try to stop him.

Sam found the keys and carefully slipped out of the room. Dean was going to kill him if he woke up. But Sam didn't care. He needed to go back. He'd take whatever Dean could dish out if it meant that Gabriel would be okay.

Sam turned the key in the ignition and sped off back towards the hotel full of dead gods.

"Please, be alive. Please, be alive. Please, please, don't be dead," Sam said under his breath as he ran up to the front doors of the hotel. He wasn't expecting there to be an answer to his prayer, but it would've made Sam feel a lot better if a small, sassy archangel would pop up in front of him. The hotel was empty. Mercury's dead body still lay behind the reception desk. The hallway down to the ballroom was strewn with death and blood.

Sam got through the doors of the ballroom and stopped dead in his tracks.

Gabriel.

Sam ran past the overturned tables and broken lamps to where it looked like a grenade had gone off. Gabriel's corpse lay in the middle of two burnt out wings, his archangel blade sticking out of his chest.

Sam dropped to the ground next to Gabriel. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't. Gabriel had told him that no one could kill him, no one tricks the Trickster. He couldn't be dead. Then again, Gabriel had lied about a lot of things.

Sam pulled Gabriel's body onto his lap and brushed the hair from the archangel's face. "Tell me that this is just another trick," he whispered.

There was no reply.

Sam touched his forehead to Gabriel's and cried. It was just like with Jess. And Madison. And Ruby. He knew he was cursed, but it never got easier. And now, Gabriel was gone. Gabriel had been the best friend he'd ever had. He'd been there for him so many times. Sam had forgiven him for the Mystery Spot, and when Gabriel showed up to take on Lucifer, Sam had forgiven him for TV Land, too.

And Sam was going to tell him. After everything, Sam wanted to tell him that he didn't hate him, that he still loved him, that he was so sorry for the horrible things he'd said.

But it was too late.

Gabriel was dead.

Sam felt horrible. He'd doubted the Trickster. He'd had reason to doubt him, but in the end, Gabriel had been on his side.

Sam had no doubt now, holding Gabriel's lifeless form, that the archangel really had loved him.

There was still a part of Sam that expected Gabriel to spring to life, to just open his eyes and flash a playful smile. He'd give Sam some sass for crying over him.

Gabriel didn't feel dead, not really. Every time Sam or Dean had managed to kill the Trickster, it never really stuck. Lucifer was clearly more powerful than the Winchesters, but nobody tricked the Trickster, right?

It had to be a trick. It had to. Gabriel couldn't really be dead.

But Gabriel would also never willingly put Sam through this pain. Of all the things the archangel had done, Gabriel would never fake his death and let Sam believe it. Not after what Sam had told him about Jess and everyone else he ever cared about. Gabriel would know that that was a line he could never cross.

And Gabriel's dead body was in Sam's arms. All the light and laughter, forever gone.

No.

Sam clutched his fist in Gabriel's jacket. He couldn't be gone. He couldn't. There had to be a way to fix this. There had to be a way to get him back. Wherever angels went when they died, Sam would go there and find him.

It felt like when Dean went to Hell all over again. That horrible emptiness in his chest from the loss quickly filling with irrational plans to fix the unfix-able.

Dean. Dean would notice the Impala was gone by now. Sam didn't care. Let Dean get upset. Let Dean take a swing at him. None of it would hurt worse than this.

Sam pressed a kiss to lips that couldn't return it. "Please, come back," he whispered.

The hotel was silent. The silence of the ballroom pressed in on Sam with a horrible weight. He needed to leave. He needed to do something, or he was going to lose it.

But he sat there, holding Gabriel close to his chest, and shedding tears and sobs until he had nothing left.

The sky began to lighten with the first rays of early dawn when Sam finally left the Elysian Fields hotel. He'd given Gabriel a hunter's funeral. A bit of salt, a bit of lighter fluid, and a match. He'd stared into the flames until he couldn't feel anything but a tired numbness. If it weren't for Dean, he'd have nothing to keep fighting for. He was so tired of losing everyone. He just wanted it to be over.

Sam sighed, defeated, behind the wheel of the Impala as he headed back to the motel where his brother was. He'd judged Dean so harshly for being willing to give in to Michael, but now, he felt like he understood. At least the weight of the world wouldn't be on him anymore.

But Sam didn't want to say yes to Lucifer. He wanted to kill him. Now more than ever, Sam wanted nothing more than to watch the grace fade from that evil son of a bitch. It didn't matter what it took, they'd find a way to beat Satan or die trying.

Sam arrived at the motel, surprised to find Dean still waking up.

"Dude, where were you?" Dean asked, sleepily.

Sam said quietly, "Went to get coffee."

Dean looked at Sam and asked, "Well, where is it?"

Sam sighed. "Couldn't find a shop around here," he said.

Dean groaned and pulled his jacket on. "Well, that's just great," he said, "Freakin' town has no freakin' coffee. Let's get out of here."

Dean went to check out, and Sam made the beds, making sure the sheets on the beds were completely smooth and even. They hit the road in record time.

"You alright?" Dean asked about an hour into the silent trip.

Sam shrugged. Gabriel was dead. Lucifer was still on the loose. Sam wasn't within the same zip code as 'alright.'

"Yeah, being that close to the Devil was kinda jarring for me, too," Dean said.

Sam sighed. He didn't want to talk about it.

Dean made a turn and something slid across the backseat.

"What's that?" Sam asked. It looked like a DVD.

Dean said, "That the copy of Casa Erotica Gabriel told me to keep an eye on."

"And you just tossed it in the backseat of your car? He said to guard it with your life, Dean," Sam snapped.

Dean pulled over to the side of the road and said, "Whoa. Hey, everything and everyone within this vehicle is completely, one-hundred percent safe. I'd never let anything happen to my baby, and that includes everything in her."

Sam rolled his eyes but knew if he didn't tone down his reactions, he would have a lot of explaining to do about Gabriel.

Dean looked at Sam, concerned, before saying, "You wanna watch it?"

"Ew, Dean, no," Sam said, "I don't wanna watch porn with you-"

"It's probably something else if Gabriel made such a big deal about keeping it safe," Dean said.

Sam took a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right," he said, "Let me grab my laptop."

Sam got out of the car and pulled his duffle out of the backseat. Grabbing his laptop, he slid it on top of the car and closed the door. Dean grabbed the DVD and popped it in, Sam joining him on the other side of the Impala.

A red screen immediately appeared, verifying that all of the performers of Casa Erotica were at least 18 years of age. Had Gabriel really left them a porno as the last thing he ever did for them? Sam wouldn't even be surprised.

A gorgeous blonde in black, lacy lingerie and heels laid out on a bed. "Dear Diary," the woman's voice said, "Being a high-powered business president is super fun but so exhausting. Sometimes I just need to relax. I need Casa Erotica."

A knock came at her door. "Room service," came a voice with an accent.

"Come in," the blonde said.

Sam rested his hand on the laptop, almost ready to stop the DVD. "Gabriel wanted you to guard this with your life?" he asked.

"Maybe he's a fan," Dean said, "It is a good one."

Gabriel walked into the blonde's room and said, "I've got the kielbasa you ordered."

Sam froze. Gabriel had inserted himself into a porn. What.

"Mmm, Polish?" the blonde asked.

"Hungarian," Gabriel said intently and tossed the dishes to the side haphazardly. He crossed the room to the blonde, making out with the woman in exaggerated fashion, the archangel's hands exploring everywhere.

Sam didn't know what to make of this. Part of him had no interest seeing Gabriel getting intimate with this woman, but another part of him hoped that this video was somehow a sign that the Trickster was really alive.

The moaning and happy noises coming from the video made Sam extra uncomfortable. "What the hell is going on?" he asked. Sam hoped that Gabriel could somehow hear that question and answer it himself.

Gabriel in the video turned around and faced the camera. "Sam. Dean. You're probably wondering what the hell's going on," he said.

Sam's eyes widened slightly.

Gabriel ripped off his fake porn-stache and said, "Well, if you're watching this, I'm dead."

Sam tried not to react too much to that. He hadn't gotten his hopes up all that much anyway.

"Oh, please," Gabriel said, "Stop sobbing. It's embarrassing for all of us." He sat down on the bed and continued, "Without me, you have zero shot at killing Lucifer. Sorry. But you can trap him. The cage you sprung Lucifer from? It's still down there, and maybe, just maybe, you can shove his ass back in. Not that it'll be easy. You got to get the cage open, trick my bro back into it, and uh, oh yeah, avoid Michael and the God squad."

The video zoomed in on Gabriel's face. He continued, "But, hey, details, right? And here's the big secret. Lucifer himself doesn't even know. But the key to the cage? It's out there. Actually, it's keys. Plural. Four keys. Well, four rings. From the Horsemen. You get them all, you got the cage."

Sam and Dean looked at each other. That was certainly news to them.

"Can't say I'm betting on you boys, but uh, hey, I've been wrong before," Gabriel said.

Holy crap, they had a plan. Or at least part of one.

"And Dean," Gabriel said, making the brothers turn back towards the screen, "You were right. I was afraid to stand up to my brother. Not anymore."

The blonde rubbed Gabriel from behind.

"So this is me. Standing up," Gabriel said, standing from the bed, "And this is me...lying down."

Gabriel tossed the blonde's bra to the side and tackled her to the bed. The video proceeded to get much more pornographic from there.

Once Gabriel unzipped his pants, Sam had had enough. "Oh. Oh, man," he said, closing the laptop quickly.

"Horsemen, huh?" Dean said, "We got War's. We nicked Famine's. That's two rings down. Collect all four? All we need is pestilence and death."

"Oh, is that all?" Sam said sarcastically. It's not like the horsemen they'd faced had been all that easy to deal with.

"It's a plan," Dean said.

Sam had to agree with him there. It was a plan, it was a hell of a lot more of a plan than they'd had. Once they got the rings, assuming they succeeded, they'd have to get Lucifer back in the cage. That wasn't going to be an easy feat, but Sam already had an idea. It was a bad idea, but it was an idea.

The brothers got back in the Impala and kept driving. For the first time since the apocalypse started to see how the Devil was right. Sam was done losing people. He was done crying over their corpses. He was done paying for a war he didn't start. The apocalypse wasn't going to happen, not on his watch. He'd do whatever he needed to.

Sam would say yes to Lucifer. And he'd drag that vile, murdering piece of shit back into the cage where he belonged.