Sam was still totally pissed as he roamed Heaven. What right did his father have to talk to him like he was an unruly eight-year-old, or to keep things from him about his own brother. He had no right. He was an adult. He deserved to be treated like that.
Sam's ire only continued as he walked and saw the looks of fear and hatred that continued to be directed at him by his 'family'. He'd finally had enough after one angel looked at him in a particularly scathing way. He stopped and glared back at him. "Hey! If there's something you want to say, do so already!"
The angel sneered at him in disgust. "How dare you speak to me, you disgusting abomination!"
Another angel quickly came over and took the other by the shoulder. "Vashti, you must watch yourself. You know you cannot use that word."
"I do not care about the Morningstar's rules, Adriel. My loyalty is to Michael, as should yours be. This thing here should not have even been allowed to remain living, let alone into our home," Vashti said in disdain.
"Well, I guess we agree on something. I never wanted to be here. Your best brother, Michael, insisted on it, so go blame him," Sam said with a glare.
"To keep an eye on you, or maybe even to plot against you. Maybe you ought to be careful when your sleeping. You may just find yourself executed like the monster you are!" Vashti said.
"Vashti, enough! We should leave," Adriel said as he tried to pull his brother away.
"No. I want this boy to know exactly what he is. He is trash. He is the product of an angel and a mud monkey. He should've been smothered at birth! Something I am sure will be rectified one day. You will be destroyed like you belong, you evil abom..."
"Now what is the ruckus here?" another voice said. It came from an angel who walked over and stopped right next to Sam.
"Nothing that concerns you, Balthazar," Vashti said through gritted teeth.
"Sure it does. We're all family, aren't we. Let me in on your quarrel. Perhaps I can help," Balthazar said.
"This creature is not my family," he growled as he pointed at Sam.
Balthazar shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, brother. That's no way to talk about your own nephew, is it? Shouldn't you know better not to pick on the little ones?"
Sam looked at the angel, Balthazar. He was torn between being grateful that he was defending him and annoyed at him for calling him a 'little one'."
"He is nothing but an abomination! One day Michael..."
"Michael got ousted for sheer incompetence. Learn to live with the fact that he's not head asshole anymore. Now he's just a regular asshole. Actually, not much different than yourself," Balthazar mused.
"Yeah, we all know you side with Castiel and that evil bastard, Lucifer, so it doesn't surprise me that you would defend this boy, but Michael will take care of all of them soon. He will restore Heaven to how it's supposed to be," Vashti said.
"Your more than welcome to live in that delusion if you wish, but you'll be disappointed," Balthazar said before slinging an arm around Sam's arm, surprising the man. "Walk with me, dear nephew. Let us catch up."
Minutes after being pulled away from the others, Sam pulled Balthazar's arm off of him. "Why'd you do that?"
"Truthfully, because Vashti's as arrogant dick who I've wanted to put in his place for a while," Balthazar said.
"Yeah, I can tell that much, but you could've gone at him over anything. Why did you defend me?" Sam asked.
"Because that's what family does, little fledgling," he said as they turned a corner into Balthazar's garrison.
Sam was confronted by a lot more looks of fear and hatred.
"Ignore them," Balthazar advised as he brought the kid to his room.
"I'm not a fledgling," Sam responded. He hated that damned word. Every angel who didn't call him an abomination, called him a fledgling. It drove him nuts. He wasn't a kid.
"Sure you are. You're tantamount to a toddler to us," Balthazar said as he led him into his room. "Make yourself at home."
"You didn't answer my question. Why did you defend me? Why don't you look at me the way the others do?" Sam asked. He'd asked Joshua the same question. His answer was that God told him he could be trusted. He doubted Balthazar had the same reason.
Balthazar closed the door and turned to him. "I'll be perfectly honest about it. I haven't been sure what to make of you. You are something we were all told shouldn't exist. But I trust Castiel. He vouches for you. That's enough."
"Well, aside from Cas, Lucifer, and my father, that makes a grand total of two who don't wish me dead," Sam said.
"Don't dwell on the rest of them. They're mostly self-righteous assholes," Balthazar said before going over and taking a seat on his couch.
"It's a little hard when I'm forced with them everyday," Sam grumbled. Of course, that was only part of why he hated there so much. He cold deal with it if he had Dean. His brother's absence left a hole inside him.
"You don't want to be here," Balthazar stated.
Sam laughed bitterly. "Gee, I don't know what could possibly make you think that. I'm around people who can't stand the sight of me and I can't even see my brother."
"Yeah, I'm sure it seems like some sort of steep punishment, doesn't it?" Balthazar asked.
"Isn't it? Isn't this really just Michael's way of punishing me for existing? He can't kill me so he'll make my life as miserable as possible," Sam said. It pretty much went without saying that he didn't think much of Michael.
"Yeah, you're probably right. It certainly sounds like something Michael would do. Of course, you're helping him with that," Balthazar commented.
"What?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Michael's ability to make you miserable only works if you let him, which you have," Balthazar said.
"I haven't let him do anything! I didn't have a choice!" Sam yelled.
"You had no choice in coming here, but you can choose how you deal with it. You can sulk and act like you've been handed down a prison sentence or you can make the must of the circumstances that you've been thrown into," he said.
Sam laughed bitterly. "Make the most of it? That's your advice. Make the most of what. Being around a bunch of assholes that would see me dead if they could. They hate me here."
"Some do. Some are just afraid. They've heard the stories about nephilims. They don't know what to expect from you, and the fact that you're the son of an archangel makes it even worse. That's never happened before. You're a complete unknown. But you don't have to worry about them. They can't hurt you. Most wouldn't even dare speak against you," Balthazar said.
"The dick out there sure didn't have a problem with it," Sam grumbled.
"Vashti's an idiot. He thinks that Michael can protect him if he goes for all. As if Michael even would. His loyalty is to exactly one being," Balthazar said. Michael had once had a great deal of loyalty, but it went away when Lucifer was cast out and God left. "But most are smart enough not to antagonize you. You're the son of an archangel. That alone gives you a lot of power because we all know what the archangel's can do to us. That's aside from your own power, which I assume is great
"Whatever. It wouldn't matter if they were all the most welcoming. I could never be happy here, not without Dean," Sam said sadly.
"Have you tried or have you just decided you'll never be happy? Because if you decide to be miserable, I guarantee that you will be."
Sam didn't say anything more. He'd had enough, so just wordlessly turned and left the room.