Every rose has its thorn

Death rode into town

Death was tired. Death was old. And Death was mildly annoyed.

He had come a long way to track down Sam Winchester's soul. And no one had made it easy for him.

The Cage in Hell transcended time and space. It was both a fragment, and an all-encompassing whole at the same time. It was abstract and opaque. Utterly indescribable.

And unless you knew precisely where to look, one couldn't just simply pluck a soul from Nowheresville like a cocktail sausage on a stick. So, Death had to comb the entire expanse, piece by piece.

It was irritating.

When Dean Winchester had asked him to rescue his brother's soul, Death likened the enterprise to a handy exercise in killing several birds with one stone. Even with the likely cost to Sam's sanity his reasons were sound, and worth the risk.

Lucifer had been impudent enough to bind him, to actually be so arrogant as to bind Death. So now he was going to take something away from Lucifer, and put that ridiculous archangel back in his place.

He ploughed on, knowing he would find the younger Winchester in the end. The mission wasn't beyond his capabilities, it was just time consuming and tedious to have to look under every single metaphorical rock. And there were a lot of them.

There...

A tremor...a crystalline fracture.

Death glided over to where the playground scrap was taking place. It didn't interest him in the slightest.

No, his dilemma was the sudden mission impossible.

Sam Winchester was bound to Lucifer on a molecular level. That was unexpected, and unfortunate. There was no way of extracting Sam without extracting Lucifer too.

He stood for a while, debating.

Held up a finger, and gave a gentle cough. "I wonder if you fellows would be good enough to call a hiatus...just for a moment...?"

Of course they ignored him. Stubborn boys. He coughed again, more insistently.

This time there was as flickering in the maelstrom, a cracking noise. The winds died down and Lucifer and Michael's grace coagulated to angel form. They both looked very pissed off.

"I know I'm interrupting, and it's quite rude of me I'm sure." Death smiled at them apologetically. "I'm only here to collect Sam Winchester's soul and I'll be on my way again." He pointed down at the quivering mess of semi-solidified atoms at his feet.

Lucifer flew over to Death. Forgot all about his brother. "No" he hissed. "It's mine...."

Michael stepped forward, lightening began to arc around him. Death raised an eyebrow at him. "Really?" He sighed like a disappointed parent.

"Lucifer, I am being reasonable here. Sam Winchester has nothing to do with your brotherly spat. Unlink him from your influence so I can take him away."

"He goes nowhere without me. Nowhere." Lucifer grinned a thousand grins. "You want him to leave then take me with you."

Already ill with undying rage, Michael screamed.

"No." Death said, simply.

"Then Sam stays here with me."

Death said sadly, "Look at him. I mean really look at him."

Lucifer looked down at the shredded mess.

Death could see a conflict glimmer inside the angel. Wondered what had happened down here between them. Pressed the advantage.

"Do it now Lucifer. Release him whilst there's a scrap of him left to save."

"You've got it all wrong old man. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. We made a deal. He has to be the one to disconnect from me."

"Then why hasn't he?"

Lucifer smiled. Long and slow.  "Give us a moment would you Michael? I have a feeling that this negotiation won't take too long..."