Sam took a deep breath and then lit the final candle. He said the words in the spell and then the Horseman of Death stood before him. Sam hadn't seen him since the night he watched Lucifer summon him. He knew that he was taking a risk, but he was running out of options.

"Are we free to speak?" Sam asked.

"I am bound to Lucifer and have to report certain conversations, however, if you summoned me for hypotheticals then I wouldn't have to necessarily disclose that to your other half," Death explained.

"Hypothetically speaking, if I have a friend who wants to die, could you guarantee that he wouldn't be brought back to life?" Sam asked

XOXOXO

48 hours earlier…

"Where are we now?" Sam asked. He was no longer in the operating room but appeared to be sitting across from Dean in a kitchen that looked like it belonged on some corny sitcom.

"Beats me," Dean said and then there was laughter as if it was a punchline to some joke.

"May we use your shower, our water has been turned off," three blonde-haired girls said as they walked into the makeshift apartment.

"Please do," Dean stated.

"Dean, we have to figure out how to get out of here," Sam said.

"After the shower Sam. These hot girls need to shower," Dean said and then more laughter followed.

"Please let there be a shower in here," Dean thought out loud as he opened the door.

"Thank you, Dean, we owe you one," the woman said as she kissed his cheek.

"Dean, focus…I don't want to be stuck in sitcom hell," Sam argued.

"Aww, Sammy, don't be a buzzkill, everyone loves a great sitcom," the trickster said as he walked into the apartment. Everything and everyone seemed to be frozen.

"You…I should have known it was you. What did you do to my brother?" Sam asked.

"Dean will be fine, you and I need to talk."

"Last time you made my brother die over and over again as some part of sick entertainment and now…why are we stuck in the TV?" Sam asked the trickster.

"Sam, you're wrong…it's never just for entertainment. What was the lesson that I needed you to learn last time I played a trick on you?" Gabrielle asked.

"I can't save everybody. Sometimes, I need to learn to just let people go," Sam said repeating what the trickster told him the last time they spoke.

"Very good Sam, maybe there's hope for you yet?"

"So what's the lesson this time?"

"That would be telling and that's never as fun as showing," the trickster said and then he was gone.

Sam was now on a basketball court. Dean was there as well. He could see random people talking about having Herpes and the medication that was being promoted.

"You have got to be kidding me," Sam said as he realized they were now in a pharmaceutical commercial.

"Maybe we should just play our part," Dean stated and then continued to play basketball.

Sam took a deep breath. "I uh have Genital Herpes and am doing all that I can to stop the spread," he said and then they were on some game show with the trickster as host.

He thought about what Dean said and then he realized the lesson the trickster was wanting him to learn. The trickster wanted him to say yes to Lucifer and wanted Dean to say yes to Michael. The trickster wanted them to play their parts in the Apocalypse. Sam thought about why Loki would care one way or another about the Apocalypse, but then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The trickster wasn't Loki, he never had been. He was Michael and Lucifer's little brother Gabrielle.

Sam played his part over and over again as he and his brother bounced from scene to scene until finally, Gabrielle had released them from TV hell.

"I still don't get what Loki was trying to accomplish," Dean stated as he mused over his day with Sam.

"I'm tired Dean. I'm going to go to bed," Sam lied.

"Okay, when Cas gets home, I can send him in," Dean stated.

"Goodnight," Sam stated and then he headed into his room.

When he got there, he packed his bag, locked his door, and then headed out the window.

XOXOXO

"Hello Gabrielle," Sam stated as he cast the spell that brought the Archangel to the warehouse.

"Who?" The Angel asked playing dumb.

"Gabrielle the Archangel, as in Michael and Lucifer's little brother," Sam said as he threw a lit match at the ground in front of Gabrielle.

The fire spread, creating a ring around the Angel.

"What do you want Sammy?" Gabrielle asked.

"It's not about what I want, it never has been. Why all of the games? What do you want from me?" Sam asked.

"I want you to say yes to Lucifer of course," Gabrielle explained.

"So, you want me to say yes, you want Dean to say yes, then you want us to kill one another because if that's what you are looking for, it will never happen."

"Is that what I said? I indeed want you to say yes to Lucifer, but I never said anything about Dean."

"Then what's the point?"

"I want you to say yes and then jump into a hole sending yourself and Lucifer back to the cage in Hell."

"What?" Sam whispered. Of all the things he expected Gabrielle to say, this wasn't one of them.

"The Horseman's rings form the key to Lucifer's cage. It would take some work, but it's something that you and your brother could do. Once you have the keys, say yes to Lucifer, cast a spell, then jump in the hole," Gabrielle explained.

"He's your brother."

"And I love him, but I'm not blind to who he is or the things that he is capable of."

"He hated the cage. I can't send him back there, I would rather die."

"Sam, don't…"

"I cast a spell so the flames won't die out any time soon, but the sprinklers will turn on in a few hours," Sam said as he left.

"Sam!" Gabrielle shouted as Sam walked out of the warehouse.

XOXOXO

"So could you guarantee that my hypothetical friend wouldn't be brought back to life if he died," Sam asked again when there had been no answer.

"If things were different then yes, it's something that I could guarantee, but right now your other half has blocked me from stopping him from bringing back your friend, hypothetically speaking that is."

"Is there anything else my friend could try?"

"There are a lot of reapers that assist in taking souls to their next journey. I have it on good authority that Lucifer is without his power while he's experimenting with being human. If your friend happens to die tonight then it's possible that they would stay dead. Do you understand what I am telling you, Sam?"Death asked.

"Yes, thank you for discussing the hypotheticals with me," Sam said. He blew out the candle, ending the spell, and watched as Death disappeared.

He wished that he could say goodbye to Dean, Cas, and Lucifer in person, but he was out of time and they would just try and stop him. He wrote a letter to each one of them, picked up his knife, and plunged it into his heart.