Chapter 8: Never Surrender

Gabriel let out a primal yell and lunged at Dubbiel over Sam's body that was still tied to the chair with blood dripping down his shirt from the gash across his throat. Letting out a pulse of energy in a blinding light he knocked the lower-rank angel backwards and quickly pressed his hand to his beloved's neck, willing his powers to heal the mortal wound and force energy back into the body. Willing the heart to start beating once again.

Dubbiel tackled him to the ground before he had a chance to heal Sam. Pinning him down, there was no trace of Heaven left in the eyes that glared at him with burning hatred.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you heal him? No Gabriel, no. I'm going to take away everything from you just like you toke everything away from me. And he's only the first step."

Gabriel snapped his fingers, summoning a gust of wind that rivaled the equal power of a tornado and blew Dubbiel off of him.

"You sure like to do alot of talking Dubbi. But do YOU really think that I'M going to let you live after you touched him? You're forgetting a key factor. To kill an arch angel, you need well... MY blade." A long silver sword with a small handle appeared in Gabriel's hands and he twirled it between his fingers. "And you know what dad always said. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So let me see that pretty neck of yours."

Dubbiel sprang back to his feet, his dark curls falling into his face and bared his teeth, more like a wild, dirty animal than an angel. He ran at Gabriel who readied himself, his fist curled around his blade so tightly his knuckles turned white.

He'd never actually killed one of his brothers before and an Arch Angel's wrath was the most terrifying force in both Heaven and Hell. But with Dubbiel running towards him, his dark hair flying around his face, and Sam's body limp and lifeless in the middle of the room he froze for a second.

Over the years he'd crossed one line too many and he was finally stepping over the final line. Once he killed another angel there would be no turning back. He'd be permanently lumped in with Lucifer and forsaken by Michael and Raphael. He had the blood of countless mortals and monsters on his hands, but nothing pure like one of his angelic brothers.

He vaguely wondered if his blood would still drip dark crimson or if it burned brighter red. He wondered if Dubbiel's dark and twisted soul would bleed the same as the blood pumping through his own veins.

He brought his sword up as Dubbiel's body slammed into his own and slashed a deep gash in his Middle Eastern vessel from the collarbone down his torso. He jerked back, gripping the wound that was leaking crimson at an alarming rate. Any normal stab wound or gun shot even wouldn't have fazed his body. But the power of the blade's ability to kill an angel enhanced it so that it altered their bodies from healing its wounds.

Blood continued to seep between Dubbiel's fingers as they grasped at the long cut, glaring at Gabriel and he could see in his eyes that his plans had fallen apart and now the disgraced angel was merely thrashing around in a panic. He wouldn't die from the gash but it'd leave a scar for the rest of eternity if he somehow survived past tonight.

Dubbiel's eyes narrowed in decision to retreat and Gabriel grabbed at him before he had a chance to vanish, sending them both vanishing into thin air and re-appearing in the middle of Tokyo, Japan; crash landing onto the windshield of a yellow Mitsubishi Lancer and shattering the plexi-glass upon impact as the car screeched to a halt.

Gabriel rolled off, the bright lights from the surrounding advertisements on buildings and the headlights of passing cars momentarily hurting his eyes. The blare of horns seemed deafening all around him as he focused on his new location.

Dubbiel clambered to his feet, ignoring the screams from the Japanese couple inside of the car and ran over the top of the vehicle, jumping onto the sidewalk and dodging in-between on-lookers into a dark alleyway.

Grabbing his fallen blade from the pavement, Gabriel chased after him, jumping over a fire hydrant and sliding into a dark ally that gave him cover to vanish once again and re-appear in front of Dubbiel.

His eyes widened in panic for a second before he toke Gabriel by surprise and slammed the older angel into a dirty brick wall, wincing as he felt the blade slash across his wrist. Warm blood tricked down his clothes and splashed onto the ground between them. Dubbiel grabbed Gabriel's wrists and slammed them both into the wall behind him with a strength he didn't know he possessed, causing the blade to tumble to the pavement.

They both looked down at the blade, and then back up at each other. Gabriel shoved Dubbiel off, who merely ducked and rolled to the ground, snatching the sword and lunging at Gabriel with it.

The ginger haired angel dodged to the side, but not quickly enough. He felt the sharp steel puncture his skin as it was driven into the flesh of his forearm and the crunch as it embedded itself into the wall behind him, effectively pinning him to the wall.

The pain from the wound burned, almost unbearably. It pulsed as blood gushed out of his arm and he bit back a yelp as Dubbiel twisted the blade in his arm, leaning close.

"I'll admit, I was worried for a minute there. But I win this game Gabriel. Say good bye."

Earlier Phil has asked if Gabriel was afraid to die. After two-thousand years of watching everyone and everything around him, he could honestly say no, he wasn't afraid. He regretted that his life would be over after such a long run. He felt sorry that no one would be left to protect the innocent humans the way he had. He felt slightly offended that a being of his power could be taken out of this world so easily by a fallen angel with a grudge and his own blade turned against him. But afraid, no.

The only thing that he knew for sure was that he didn't want to live this life anymore without Sam. Sam, who was currently dead back in that unknown house. No one had asked if he had been afraid to die. But somehow, Gabriel knew he hadn't been. He had seen a multitude of emotions flicker through Sam's hazel eyes before Dubbiel slashed his throat open, and not one of them had been fear.

He'd seen love, regret, apologies and anger. But most importantly, he had seen trust. Sam hadn't been afraid to die because he trusted Gabriel to bring him back. And right now Sam was either in Heaven or Hell. Either way, he had either Zachariah or Lucifer stalking him, chasing him, harassing him, to say yes.

If Gabriel died right here and now, there would be no one to save Sam. Sam was waiting for him to rescue him, to bring him back. He couldn't let him down.

No, Gabriel wasn't afraid to die. But that didn't mean he was going to.

He smirked and tilted his head, his olive green eyes sparkling with mischief. "Good bye Dubbi. You forgot that the blade you hold may be the only way to kill an arch angel, but I'm more powerful than you. I don't need that to kill you."

He placed his other hand around Dubbiel's throat just like Michael had done to Anna before he had the chance to bring the blade down on its owner. Michael's element had been fire, but Gabriel was the angel of water.

Dubbiel made a choking noise as he dropped the silver sword as his body glowed and buckled without control. He clawed at his neck and Gabriel's hand as he gasped for air and then threw his head back and screamed an un-earthly and shrill scream as rain suddenly came pouring down over them so heavy you could barely see the pedestrians running for shelter in the distance.

With one final jerk Dubbiel's body collapsed lifelessly onto the ground in a growing puddle of water.

Gabriel stood over his body, not allowing himself to feel regret over killing a brother or remorse for the life that was gone. No one touched Sam Winchester and lived to talk about it. No one.

He gingerly leaned down to retrieve the dropped weapon and tucked it into his soaked jacket, feeling it vanish inside. The wound from the blade still pulsed painfully as his blood mixed with his wet clothing, dying his entire jacket sleeve red and dripping off the hem to splash into the puddles on the pavement.

He ran his good hand through his damp ginger hair that was now plastered to his face and gave Dubbiel's still body one last glance, one last look, a memory to last an eternity, before vanishing back to where his lover's body still laid waiting for the soul he'd fallen in love with to be returned inside of it.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Sam crouched low in the woods. The memory of his last visit to Heaven was still fresh in his mind thanks to Joshua, the gardening angel, and it was the reason he was hiding behind this log in these dark woods.

Only this time Dean wasn't here to hide with him.

He mentally cursed Heaven. Go figure this memory couldn't have shown when Dean had been up here with him. Sam cherished his memories with his older brother, he really did. He couldn't help that the memories Dean had watched him re-live had been chosen, probably out of spite to hurt his older brother by the manipulative angels that were currently trying to capture him.

His current memory that he was running amok in was when he was 16. Dean had been 20 and talked their dad into letting Sam team up with him on the hunt instead of Dad. It was a day Sam would never forget. He got to watch his older brother in action, tracking and hunting and being his partner, instead of listening to his dad bitch about everything he was doing wrong while he tagged along behind him and tried to not get in the way.

In the end, John had killed the forest spirit by himself, but Sam and Dean had been too far in the woods to make it back out before dark. So instead they set up camp and spent the night pointing out the constellations, arguing over if it was Venus or Mars that they saw in the dark sky above them, and playing a very quick game of 'I spy' that both started and ended with the same thing.

"I spy something...black."

"Fucking everything Sam. It's night time."

Dean had rolled over and playfully punched his little brother, who was still shorter than him for the time being. But the most important thing about that night had been that Dean had laid there and listened to Sam talk, rant, whine and dream about what he wanted his future to be like without mocking him or complaining.

And now Zachariah had to go and mess up the whole thing. He could go join Lucifer in Hell, that's what he could do. He was never saying yes to Lucifer. And as long as he had Gabriel by his side, he wouldn't have to. They'd figure a way out of this. They just had to.

Ash hadn't shown up like he had last time and Sam was starting to lose hope. He had died, leaving Gabriel alone in a trap with that crazed lunatic of an ex-angel. He didn't doubt his lover's fighting ability, after all, he'd been the one fighting him and seeing him in action more than once, but much longer would he have to run and hide before Gabe came for him? If he came...he didn't want to think about the un-imaginable, that somehow Dubbiel had gained the advantage and killed his ethereal boyfriend, but the idea was starting to leak into his mind and he couldn't stop it.

He couldn't run forever. Especially not alone.

Zachariah's spotlight came closer and Sam made a mad dash for a break he saw in the trees, skidding to a stop in front of the building that loomed in front of him.

It was a university and he knew within a heartbeat which memory this was.

He ran inside the doors, slamming them shut behind him and raced up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time in enormous strides with his long legs. Up ahead he could hear a voice.

"I was up all night. Lots of sex if you catch my drift."

Sam came to a stop beside his memory of Dean as a ginger haired man in a Janitor's uniform turned slightly on the stairs to smirk at them.

Gabriel. Only, it was Gabriel back before they knew what he was. Back when they didn't even know he was a Trickster and were only trying to figure out what was maiming and scaring the kids on this college campus.

Sam's heart skipped a beat as he recognized the twinkle in those golden olive eyes and the way his soft lips twisted up in that mischievous smirk. Sam at the time, hadn't remembered the Trickster as Gabe Norsen from his high school days, hell, he didn't remember until last night. But Gabriel clearly remembered him, and the look in his eyes was the same adoring look that Gabriel gave him everyday that said both 'I love you', 'I'm going to protect you', and 'I want to ravish you' all in the same breath.

He saw a flicker of pain flash through his green eyes as he turned back around and lead Sam and Dean up the stairs. This was the part where Sam was supposed to pretend he forgot something and then sneak down into the locker room but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the memory of his lover's body. He never saw the hurt in him before and he silently wondered how long Gabriel had been watching him from afar, waiting for his chance to be with him.

What if Dubbiel had killed him and this was all Sam would have left of him? Just memories from the past. If that was the case, he'd run and hide from Zachariah forever. He'd rather live up here with his memories than in a world that was ending where he wouldn't be able to make new memories.

He watched Dean follow Gabriel up the stairs. This was where his memory ended. He slowly walked back down the stairs to where the Custodial locker room was and let the door shut with a click behind him.

In the corner was Gabriel's locker and he knew what he'd find. Issues of Weekly World News with the bizarre monsters from the attacks as headlines. In plain un-hidden view, almost as if they had been purposely placed there as a clue. And now knowing the true intentions behind the pranks Gabriel played, they probably were.

He opened the locker and sure enough, there they were. He toke them out and snorted, looking at their black and white pages. Over the years he must have been running out of ideas if he had to resort to the insane jibberish that was written in these badly photo shopped articles.

Something else in the locker caught his attention, taped to the back like another clue that he had over-looked before. He reached back and pulled it free from its tape, bringing it into the light where he could see it.

It was a photograph that he didn't remember being taken of him in high school, sitting at a cafeteria table with a pale kid leaning across the table with spiked ginger hair and long bangs. Gabe was smiling at the hidden camera, not smirking- but a wide, happy, carefree smile showing his white teeth and a knowing look in his eyes while Sam looked completely engrossed in his homework on the table and he wondered how many pictures like this Gabriel had taken and how many times or places Gabriel had hidden them over the years, trying to slip Sam the hint or poke at his memories before he had given up on him ever remembering their high school days together.

He didn't even know angels toke photos. He just assumed they could pop up to Heaven and relive their memories whenever they wanted. But he supposed that was a bit more difficult with Gabriel being a wanted run-a-away.

He dug around in the locker a bit more, pulling out several candy bars and packets of M&Ms and a black jacket that was hanging on the side. Inside one of the jacket's pockets was another picture. It was another one from high school, but this time it showed Gabe leaning casually against a wall while Sam was in mid-step, walking out of a classroom that he still couldn't remember. Algebra perhaps? Gabe's head was angled towards Sam but his eyes were shifted to the side to look at, once again, the camera that Sam had never even known existed.

He shoved both of the photos into his own jacket pocket and hoped they'd remain after he left this memory. If he couldn't control which memories he saw and when, he wanted to make sure he always had a memory of Gabriel on him.

Pushing back open the door, he made his way back out into the hallway.

"This is one of your favorite memories? Really? You tried to shove a stake through me... and Dean succeeded."

Sam spun around and came face to face with a pale being with a slender, pointed face and bright emerald eyes that was as tall as he was and had bright ginger hair that fell in waves around his shoulders.

"Gabriel?"

Gabriel smirked and imitated a shallow bow. "The one and only. Ready to get out of here?"

"Yeah but...is that your real form? Where's your vessel?"

He rolled emerald gemstone eyes that were almost blinding compared to his usual dark olive green flecked with gold.

"Real form, projection of my mind into Heaven, whichever is easier for you to understand. As for my body, it's not doing so great on the floor without me in it so can we get going before we're both stuck up here? I, for one, am NOT up for a family reunion. I haven't been up here in CENTURIES and if my brothers and sisters find out I'm back it'd cause more chaos than a T-rex in the middle of drunken Australians. Trust me, I'd know."

Sam smiled, containing a laugh. Yeah, it was his Gabriel all right. Looking like something that stepped out of Lord of the Rings or not, it was his Gabriel and he was going home.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Back on Earth, the pain in his arm from his own blade's wound was still throbbing. An injury from an arch angel's sword was going to take time to heal, almost as if he was a normal human that had been stabbed by a normal sword. But all that mattered right now was who was currently bandaging up his arm, wrapping gauze around it and fussing at him to stop moving.

He'd gotten Sam back before Zachariah had been able to get to him and that itself felt like a small victory, like he had won a race and brought home the greatest prize of all. Even if he currently couldn't move his arm and he was feeling real, true pain for the first time in two-thousand years, it was all worth it.

"And I still can't believe you didn't call me!" Dean was still ranting and pacing around the room about Gabriel's escapade without him. "He's my younger brother! I was worried out of my freakin mind here!"

"Dean, I already told you, it was hard enough to get Phil out of there. I wouldn't have been able to sneak you out or keep you safe too. I mean, come on, and look at what Dubbiel did to ME." He gestured to his limp arm with his good hand and raised both eyebrows.

"Yeah, and I already told you that if I ever see that sonovabitch lousy excuse for a hunter I'm going to rip his lungs out! Manipulated by a douche angel or not, he was planning on hunting Sam WAY before he got on board with team ass-wings. I still don't see why you let him get away, I mean, considering you've never had a problem offing a human before. You're kind of a lousy excuse for a person."

"Well I'm not a person, I'm an angel."

"What's the difference?"

"I'm better than people of course." Dean glared at Gabriel so he continued. "And I already told you I don't kill hunters. But trust me; I've got a link on him. He puts another toe out of line and-" He snapped his fingers.

Dean winced and looked around quickly to make sure the snap didn't affect anything in the hotel room. He cautiously looked out the door and then back at Gabriel.

"It's not going to be raining skittles or anything if I open the door, is it?"

"Depends...do you want to taste the rainbow?"

Dean sighed and rubbed his temple. "No. I don't. Not in any way, shape, or form do I want any tasting of any sort of any rainbows of any sort...I...aurgh. I need to get out of here."

Dean grabbed his car keys and jerked open the hotel room door and shutting it roughly behind him.

Gabriel looked at Sam.

"You know he's gay for Castiel, right?"

"Oh yeah. I know." Sam laughed; his finger's lingering over Gabriel's bandaged arm and furrowed his brows.

Gabriel placed a hand under his chin and lifted his head up to look him in the eyes.

"Oh no you don't Rapunzel- I know that look. None of this was your fault. Dubbiel had issues with me way before you were even born. This was just bad timing for his revenge and you got caught in the cross-fire."

The kicked puppy dog expression on Sam's face was replaced with un-amusement.

"For the last time. You are NOT using that nickname."

"Aw." Gabriel pretended to pout. "But you're the fruit to my loops." He almost laughed out loud at the confused expression on Sam's face.

"What does that even mean? Are you...are you calling me fruity?"

"If I am, I'm calling myself loopy. Or maybe I'm just trying to tell you that you taste good."

"I taste like cheap cereal? Gee, thanks Gabe."

Gabriel sighed and smirked, twisting his fingers up into Sam's long locks of hair and bringing their faces closer together until their noses touched.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

Sam obliged by softly pressing his lips against Gabriel's, who deepened the kiss, pressing harder and rougher against his mouth. Their tongues clashed in the middle, fighting for dominance as Gabriel gently pulled on Sam's hair.

He let his hand drift out of Sam's hair and down to the back of his neck, pulling the human with him as leaned backwards and laid down on the motel bed's dark red blanket. Sam leaned down over him, running his tongue over his bottom lip and pressing his body closer to the angel's, grinding their hips together and creating friction that made Gabriel moan out loud into Sam's mouth.

He arched his body in pleasure against Sam, feeling their erections pressing hard against each other through layers of fabric and nipped at Sam's tongue which caused Sam to press against him harder and break the ravishing kiss.

"Oh God-"

Gabriel growled and rolled his eyes, pushing against Sam's shoulders with his good hand.

"Hold up- hold up. We're not doing this if you're going to call out my dad's name during sex. How would you like it if I called out John?"

"It'd be super awkward..."

"Yeah...it would be wouldn't it?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow and pretended to glare at Sam. "So what's my name?"

"Gabriel." Sam whispered as he lowered his head again to kiss down the angel's soft neck. "What's mine?"

"Rapunzel."

Sam bit down hard on his neck in response and Gabriel writhed for a second under him.

"Ok, ok! Sam! It's Sam!"

Sam smiled against his skin and gently licked the bruise that was forming on the pale skin as an apology for the attack.

"Can I cover you in whipped cream?"

"No."

"Chocolate syrup?"

"No."

"Strawberry syrup?"

"No."

"Real strawberries?"

Sam finally looked up at Gabriel. "You're ruining the moment you know."

"I know. It's kind of what I enjoy doing."

It was Sam's turn to growl. "I finally find the courage to do more than kiss you without fear of having a heart attack or my brother walking in and being scarred for life and all you can do is make jokes?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Hey, you're the one that doesn't want things to be licked off of you." He whistled. "Weirdo."

"I just don't want the sticky feeling afterwards."

Gabriel grinned wide. "Well Sammy, one way or another, you're going to be sticky by the end of tonight." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number he had easily memorized.

"Who the hell are you calling right now in the middle of this?" Sam whispered harshly, and Gabriel could see the want to knock the phone out of his hand and smash it against the wall in his eyes.

Gabriel shushed him, weakly running his injured hand down his thigh as the person on the other end picked up.

"Hey Deano, just giving you a heads up that me and Sam won't be here when you get back. Don't look for us. Ciao." He snapped the phone back shut without waiting for Dean's protesting response and ignoring the horrified look on Sam's face.

"Well, let's go somewhere a little more private, shall we?"

Grinning, Gabriel snapped his fingers, taking Sam and him somewhere that they could be alone for hours with no one but themselves. No apocalypse, no angels, no demons, no hunters or older brothers. Just the two of them locked in each others embrace, creating fresh memories for a hopeful future.

End

Ah...in the end I just couldn't write the sex scene. I'm shy lol. After all these chapters, Phil and Dubbiel seemed kind of anti-climatic but it was the only way I could see this going without getting too crazy and going on for another 4-5 chapters. And with my current tumblr addiction I feel bad enough that it's been taking me so long to update this and my other fics.

Oh well, thanks for reading through till the end, and thanks to everyone who has been commenting and following this from chapter 1. I love all of you.