Lucifer followed Michael as he left his office. He had started to wonder what took his brother away every single day. He told Gabriel he wasn't worried, and he wasn't. Michael wouldn't do anything now that he surrendered control, and even if he thought about it, Lucifer would've picked up on it. Michael could not lie to save his life. However, that didn't mean Lucifer wasn't curious as to what his older brother was up to. For the last few weeks, Michael had been gone for huge chunks of the day.
Lucifer made sure to suppress his Grace and hid his appearance as he followed Michael, so the older archangel wouldn't see or sense him. If Michael tried, he probably could pick up on him, as he was a bit more powerful than Lucifer, but there was no reason for him to try if he didn't know he was being followed.
Lucifer was perplexed as they eventually came to the training area and Michael walked inside. This was where all fledglings were taught to use their powers, but there had been no need for it in centuries. Why would Michael need it?
'There's only one way to find out,' Lucifer thought to himself as he teleported himself inside to remain undetected. Once inside, he was surprised to see Sam there. Sam looked at Michael, and did not seem at all surprised to see him. A bit pissed, yes, but not surprised.
Lucifer wasn't sure what Sam was doing meeting with Michael. Well, that wasn't totally true. He had a good idea of what they were doing. This was the training room after all. He just didn't understand why Sam would be training with Michael?
"Good. You're on time today," Michael said.
Sam scowled. "I told you I was late yesterday because I couldn't get away." His dad had chosen that time to try to talk to him about how much time he spent 'in the garden'. It was a bit hard to get away.
"And I told you that's not my problem. An easy solution would be to stop lying to your father, wouldn't it?" Michael asked.
Lucifer groaned quietly. He had a feeling that what ever was going on here, lies to Gabriel were involved. Gabriel would never have allowed this to happen. He didn't want Michael anywhere near his son.
"You should be glad I'm lying to him. He'd probably kill you if he knew you were training me," Sam said.
"Shall we start?" Michael asked as his only reply.
"Whatever," Sam said.
"You know what to do. Focus on trying to heat up the room intensively until you produce flame.
Lucifer raised an eyebrow slightly. So Sam had developed fire power. That was impressive. It was an archangel power. He couldn't help but be proud of his young nephew. Although, Gabriel was not going to be happy. The power itself was fine, but Sam had kept it from him. That was just going to make this whole situation worse. Sam was digging himself a nice, big hole right now. Not only was he lying and hiding a dangerous power from his father, he was working with Michael behind Gabriel's back. It was not going to go over well.
Sam closed his eyes and did as he was asked, though reluctantly. He still did not like this power. It was so dangerous. Realistically, he knew that was why he needed to be trained, but the other part of him just felt it should be left alone. He didn't want it to develop further.
Michael sighed unhappily. "You should have this room completely engulfed in flames by now. In fact, you should've been able to do so before now. We have been doing this for nearly three weeks."
"I'm doing the best I can!" Sam snapped.
Michael sneered. "Please. You think I can't tell that you're holding back. You are not giving this your best effort. You're not even giving it half of that. Do you have any idea what most here would give to have this kind of power?"
"Yeah, well, unlike them, I don't relish hurting people!" Sam shouted.
Michael rolled his eyes. "And you think walking around with a power you can't control will be better? Besides, I would think you'd relish the opportunity to hurt me, not that you could."
"Believe me, setting you on fire is the only thing that give me pleasure these days," Sam said seething.
"Then stop holding back! Throw your worst at me. You know what? I'll even help you out with that. You know what I think of you. You should've been exterminated the moment you drew your first breath. You're nothing but an evil abomination that should've been destroyed," Michael goaded.
Lucifer almost made himself known and laid the floor with his older brother. He knew Michael was trying to piss Sam off, but he also knew that Michael believed it, and just hearing those words directed at his young nephew pissed Lucifer off.
"At least I never went out of my way to hurt my own family!" Sam screamed, just as both of Michael's legs caught on fire.
Michael immediately extinguished the flames and smirked.
"Please tell me that hurt," Sam said.
"Minimally," Michael said. He couldn't deny that the Nephilim's power did affect him. He felt a mild burn. It was nothing compared to what a human or even a seraph would feel though.
"Good."
"How long is it going to take for you to be able to do that without me provoking you?" Michael asked.
"Like I said, you're the only one I actually want to hurt. I know you find that hard to believe given what you think of me," Sam said.
"You still don't understand, do you? You pose more of a danger by ignoring your powers than you do using them. Gaining control means that you decide whether or not to hurt someone with them. If, as you claim, you don't wish to, it won't be a problem once you have control. This power is going to unleash when you don't expect it to unless you harness it, and that goes for any other power you might develop, and there will be more. Believe me, if I thought not teaching you would be at all helpful, I'd happily let you ignore it all. Father knows what you'll do with that kind of power." Michael said.
Sam shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with you, man? I never did anything to you! From the moment I was born, you've made it Hell and I never did a thing to you! You hate me for no other reason than what I am!"
"I don't hate you. But you shouldn't exist. That is a simple fact," Michael stated evenly.
"Why? Because of some stupid rule made millennia's ago?" Sam asked.
"A rule made by God himself. My father believes your kind is a danger to everything he's created," Michael said. That was how he knew that even if the Nephilim wasn't a danger now, he would be one day.
"He did believe it," Sam corrected.
Michael sneered. "I'm not going to dignify your lie with further response."
"Fine, whatever. How about you respond for yourself then. Stop hiding behind your old man and make your own decisions!"
Michael laughed mockingly. "There are no decisions aside from his. It is his will. free will, individual choices, they don't exist."
Sam shook his head. "No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to have it both ways."
"Excuse me?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow, not understanding what the boy was saying.
"You say that I shouldn't exist, and in the next breath, you say free will doesn't exist," Sam said.
"Both statements are true," Michael said, still utterly confused. Was the Nephilim speaking nonsense?
"Free will doesn't exist, right? That means God makes every single decision, whether it be for humans or angels, right?" Sam asked.
"That's correct," Michael said slowly.
"Then using your logic, God must have decided to have his youngest son conceive a Nephilim. There's no such thing as free will, right?" Sam asked.
Michael went to speak, but found he couldn't. The boy's logic seemed sound. How was he to refute that? There was a way, he was sure. His father surely didn't want Sam Winchester to exist. He was an abomination. However, for the life of him, Michael couldn't think of a way to explain away the boy's words.
After listening to Sam and seeing Michael's response, or lack thereof, Lucifer had to stop himself from laughing hysterically. His little nephew had just shocked Michael speechless with his own logic. Why hadn't Lucifer thought to do that. It was an interesting point, one you clearly couldn't argue with, as Michael was having a hard time finding an argument.
"So like I said, you have to choose one or the other. "Either free will exists and maybe you can believe I shouldn't exist, or God makes all decisions and he decided he wanted me in the world," Sam said before heading for the door. He was done with this crap for the day. He didn't care what Michael had to say on the matter.
Michael didn't stop Sam from leaving. He was still very rattled by the Nephilim's words.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Lucifer caught up with Sam a few minutes after he left the training room. He found him heading towards the garden. "Sam."
Sam turned to see his Lucifer walking towards him. "Lucifer."
"Hey," Lucifer said as he stopped in front of him. "I thought maybe we could catch up. Would you mind joining me in my office."
"Uh, I can't. I have to meet my dad," Sam lied. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He just wanted to walk through the garden and try to unwind after what happened with Michael.
"Ah. It looked like you were headed for the garden, but I guess you got turned around. I'll join you. We can ask Michael to come as well. I'm sure the five of us can find something to talk about, seeing as how you two are getting to know each other so well," Lucifer said. There was sternness in his voice as finished talking.
Sam had begun to stiffen at the mention of Michael. When he realized Lucifer knew about his training with the archangel, he completely deflated. He was so screwed if Lucifer told his father.
"Or you can join me in my office and we'll see what happens," Lucifer said.
"Your office," Sam said quietly.
Lucifer nodded and turned in the other direction.
The walk to Lucifer's office was both too long and too short for Sam. Too long because he spent it thinking how screwed he was if Lucifer told his father, and he wondered if there was any way he could convince his uncle not to tell. It was too short because He would've liked to put off this conversation as long as possible.
Lucifer opened the door to his office and walked inside. "Shut the door and have a seat."
Sam did as he was told. He closed the door and then took a seat in front of Lucifer's desk.
Lucifer sat down in his chair and looked at his very nervous looking nephew. The anger he had when with Michael was long gone. It was clear the kid was only thinking about how much trouble he might be in. It was the same look Gabriel used to give him when he'd gotten caught. "I have to tell you, Sam, you've dug a big hole for yourself. Lying about where you've been, hiding powers, training with Michael. This doesn't bode well for you when your father finds out."
"Are you going to tell him?" Sam asked.
"I haven't decided yet. First, I want to know what happened. How did training with Michael start?" Lucifer asked. Actually, he had decided what he was going to do. He'd seen what he needed to with Sam and Michael to make that decision. But he felt Sam deserved to be left wondering for a few more minutes, plus he wanted to know what happened.
Sam explained what happened in the garden when he first saw Michael, as well as meeting him the next time and Michael forcing him to train.
"Why didn't you tell your father when Michael told you to?" Lucifer asked
"Well, for one, he didn't have any business telling me what to do," Sam said stubbornly.
"Sorry, Sam, I'm with Michael on this one. You should've told him. You certainly shouldn't have kept it a secret as some stubborn way to defy Michael," Lucifer lectured. He didn't like being the bad guy with his nephew, but this was serious. He couldn't just let Sam think it was okay to hide this. If Michael hadn't found out and forced training on Sam, who knew what would've happened.
"That wasn't the only reason. I didn't want to train this power. It scares me. I didn't want to lean how to do it more," Sam said.
Lucifer nodded. He knew that much from what he'd seen. "So why not tell him after Michael forced you to train with him?"
"Because I thought it might be better to train with Michael. I wasn't afraid to hurt him as much. In fact, I sort of enjoyed lighting him up," Sam said.
Lucifer leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Sam, Gabriel is going to find out, and he will be very angry."
"So you're gonna tell him?" Sam asked defeated.
"I didn't say that."
A glimmer of hope lit up Sam's eyes. "Well, are you?"
"No," Lucifer said after a second. He should tell Gabriel. Everything in him knew he should tell his brother. This was Gabriel's son. He had a right to know what was happening with him, especially if it involved Michael. And the wrath Gabriel would create would rival the old man's when he eventually found out. However, Lucifer had seen the exchange between Michael and Sam. He'd seen that Michael was a dick to Sam, but he'd also seen the affect Sam's speech had on Michael. Michael wasn't going to change with one speech, but there just might be hope for him with Sam's help. So he would let it continue. Though he would make sure Sam understood the consequences. "But he is going to find out, Sam, and it will be much worse if it doesn't come from you."
"I know. I'll tell him when I get this power down," Sam promised.
"Alright. I think you're gonna fall on your face, kid, and take me down with you, but I'll let you do it your way," Lucifer said.
"Thank you," Sam said before standing up and heading for the door.
Lucifer sat there, thinking he just made a mistake. This was going to blow up, big time. Like he told Sam, Gabriel was going to be pissed, maybe more so than he'd ever been.
Lucifer stood up and went next door to Michael's office. He should be back by now. Sure enough, he opened the door and saw Michael stared off into space. "Hey!"
Michael turned, just noticing his brother's presence. "What?"
"You lay a hand on my nephew's head, and I'll kill you," Lucifer warned. He then walked away before Michael even had a chance to respond.