{Fic} Stay (Awake) With Me | 3/10
Masterpost
Three: ___
Gabriel stood in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska, frowning up at the lightening sky as he listened to Sam's voicemail kick in. It was the second call he'd made, the first attempted from Heaven to give the Winchesters an ETA. It hadn't taken long by mortal standards to make the appropriate excuses and farewells, but Gabriel had felt antsy since the first attempt.
Hitting the end button on his cell, Gabriel made a mental call to Castiel.
"Gabriel. I must thank you for your support," Castiel began when he appeared.
"Yeah, yeah, later." Gabriel waved his hand dismissively. "Call Dean, find out where they are. We're going for a visit."
Castiel blinked in what looked like surprise. His gaze caught on Gabriel's cellphone and he seemed to catch onto the problem without prompt. With a minute shrug, Castiel pulled his cell from a pocket.
Gabriel crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently as he listened to the conversation.
"What?" Dean asked sleepily from the other end of the line.
"I wish to know your location."
The human sounded a little more awake with his next question. "Dude, what's wrong?"
"Gabriel wishes for us to visit," Castiel said. "Your location?"
Some halfhearted grumbling preceded the muttered address. Gabriel landed inside the motel room as Dean finished the final syllable. As the human stared at him open-mouthed, Castiel arrived, shutting off his cellphone as he did.
Dean's voice remained below normal volume as he scowled at the angels. "What the hell?" he complained, pushing himself up in bed after glaring at the clock. "A 'visit'? In case you forgot, humans need something called sleep."
Gabriel firmly shoved Castiel in the elder Winchester's direction and moved to Sam's bed. The archangel ignored the tense, low-volume argument taking place behind him as he sat on the bed with his legs stretched out next to Sam. Amazingly enough, Sam lay still on his stomach with his face turned toward the wall. A glance at the side table revealed Sam's cell and a quick check assured that the ringer was on at full volume. Gabriel felt confused why his lover hadn't responded.
The archangel smoothed his hand over the sheet covering Sam's back. His fingers encountered rough ridges where there should have been smooth skin.
"Hey! Why didn't you call me?" Gabriel demanded as soon as he lifted the sheet and saw the double lines of stitches. He made a face at the various colored bruises also revealed.
"We hunt the things that go bump in the night, that tends to have some standard hazards," Dean replied drily. In response to Gabriel's glare, he rolled his eyes. "Dude, how many times do you need to start this argument? We got this, jeez. Sammy doesn't need you to hold his hand with every little thing that happens."
Gabriel scowled and started gently brushing his thumb over bruised flesh, each touch speeding the body's recovery. "Werewolf claw marks don't quite fall in the 'little things' category."
Dean glared back. "If it was something to worry about, trust me, I'd be the first one demanding some angel mojo. The general aches and strains and stitches, though? We got this." He threw back the blankets from his bed and stalked toward the bathroom. "It's too early to be dealing with you," he muttered.
Deciding to ignore the underlying issues wrapped up in Dean's rant for now, Gabriel focused on healing the deep claw marks. He snapped away the no longer necessary stitches and placed his palm over the newly smooth skin.
Sam still hadn't twitched. Gabriel frowned.
"Shouldn't he be awake?" Castiel asked from the edge of Dean's bed.
"Yeah, he should," Gabriel muttered in agreement.
Dean rejoined them and said, "We got in late and he had the good painkillers. That sort of thing tends to knock you out." Despite the casual front, Gabriel could sense a seed of doubt bothering Dean.
Gabriel firmed his hold on Sam's shoulder and shook him. "Sam. Hey, how're you feeling, kiddo?" He repeated both actions and words a second time. And a third. Not a single change. The human's breathing pattern didn't change, his fingers didn't twitch, his legs didn't shift.
"Something is wrong," Castiel stated grimly. Dean let out a frustrated sound.
"Cool your jets," Gabriel muttered, trying to ignore the other two. He kept one hand on Sam's shoulder and brought his other up to place his fingertips gently over Sam's eyes. Sorry, kiddo, but you're scaring us here.
"What-?"
Castiel interrupted Dean's question. "Hush. Gabriel will reach your brother in his mind."
Gabriel closed his eyes and reached into Sam's mind.
~
Gabriel struggled to grasp a path of coherency from the pandemonium inside Sam's mind. Multiple threads tangled together in a dark mass, making it difficult to figure out where Sam's consciousness was currently active. Gabriel hesitated a moment before reaching out and skimming metaphysical fingers along the threads.
Monster. There's something wrong with me. Is that why Mom died? Dean says Dad doesn't blame me, but I think he does. Images of yellow-eyed demons, Azazel, and demon blood flashed along the thread until Gabriel pulled away.
Gabriel tried to move quickly through his search, knowing he shouldn't invade his lover's privacy; neither did he want to stir up memories and feelings that might have otherwise settled. He caught glimpses of memory and impressions of emotions.
Several threads seemed somehow raw. Gabriel brushed against one and was immediately pulled into a scene he recognized all too well. He stared in shock as Sam stood in Lucifer's stead in the Elysian Fields ballroom. Sam stabbed the archangel blade into the memory-Gabriel's chest. Gabriel saw Sam's eyes widen in horror seconds before Lucifer and the human split into two. Sam followed the empty vessel to the floor and pleaded with the Devil to stop.
Sammy- Gabriel stopped himself from reaching out when he realized that Sam wasn't actively reliving the memory.
Steeling himself, Gabriel moved on to a new thread, and another and another. Screams and whimpers filled the memories of Sam's time in the Cage. Gabriel struggled through darkness and fire and blood, not stopping to try and process the scenes because he could finally sense he was drawing closer.
Gabriel broke through a veil of hazy shadows and found himself staring at a row of morgue drawers. A low murmur followed by a squelching noise and a human gasp turned Gabriel's attention.
Nausea and rage battled for dominance.
"Did you know that it would take hours even under normal circumstances for a human to die from disembowelment?" Adam, the Winchesters' half-brother, stood at the foot of a metal autopsy table.
Lucifer, leaning over the middle of the table on the opposite side, gave a derisive snort. "Mortal bodies make such frivolous attempts to stay alive." He straightened up, revealing his arms covered to the elbow with blood. In his hands he seemed to weigh a stretch of uncoiled intestine.
Adam's body reached out to take a portion of the intestine. The vessel wasn't nearly large enough to block Gabriel's view of the human on the table now that Lucifer had straightened. Sam's head had been tilted forward just enough that he would be looking down the length of his own body whenever he opened his eyes. At the moment his eyes were wide and he looked all too awake.
As Sam's chest heaved with terrified breaths, bared muscle from the Y-incision expanded and contracted.
"Still with us, Sammy?" Lucifer asked, casually dropping the organ he'd been holding. Gabriel flinched away at the sound and sight of intestine following gravity and slipping off the table in loud slip-sliding plops.
Michael's vessel rounded the table to stand opposite Lucifer, and for a moment Gabriel's focus locked on his brothers. As corrupted as Lucifer's grace had become after his Fall, the Morningstar remained bright and astonishingly beautiful. But Gabriel had trouble recognizing his eldest brother, who had always been the righteous one; Michael was limned in mottled-looking light with patches of darkening grace.
The archangel who had once been canonized for his mercy reached into Sam's torso and curled his fingers beneath the human's bottom ribs. Michael's arm jerked back and bone snapped; Sam screamed.
"No!" Gabriel yelled, finally breaking free of his paralyzing shock. He ran forward and attempted to pull his brother away. The memory's figures didn't react at all. Gabriel could feel the form of Michael's arm beneath his hands, but he wasn't fully engaged in the memory replay.
Between the efforts of Lucifer and Michael, Sam's snapped ribs were pressed aside, exposing the hurried movements of lungs and heart. The human squeezed his eyelids shut but his eyes kept opening and stared at the horror scene his torso had become.
Gabriel shoved past his brothers and cupped his hands around Sam's face. "Please, Sammy. Listen to me, it's over!" Gabriel leaned in and pressed his forehead against the human's. "Please..." Sam continued to react as if Gabriel wasn't there.
Sam's terror-filled cry coincided with another loud snap of bone and a sickening squelch of human organs being handled. Gabriel clutched desperately at Sam, both physically and with his grace. "Please, Sam!" he begged. "Wake up, you can wake up! You're safe, I promise. I promise, Sam!"
"Humans consider it romantic to give their heart to their lover," Michael remarked.
Lucifer released a bark of laughter.
Sam suddenly began wheezing, little whimpers escaping every now and again. Gabriel kept begging his lover to wake, voice filled with desperation.
Please, please come back...
~
"Gabriel! Brother, you must control yourself!" Castiel's firm mental yank and vocalized command pulled the archangel out of Sam's head. "Dean, I told you - keep your eyes covered!"
Gabriel whirled and smacked away the hand Castiel had placed on his shoulder. He opened his mouth to yell but stopped when he got a good look around. He realized the room's contents were vibrating and grace light flickered across Dean, who stood in the corner with an arm over his face.
"Brother," Castiel spoke again, voice firm. "You must calm yourself."
Anger, grief, and desperation rushed through Gabriel's being at the insinuation that he could somehow be calm. He wanted to rage at Castiel for his ignorance. Dean's shout of pain finally tugged on Gabriel's sense of reason.
Borrowing a human method to calm down, Gabriel took great gulps of air and pulled his grace back into place as he steadied his roiling emotions. He folded his wings and tucked them out of human sight, but kept them close to shield Sam.
"Fireworks over?" Dean demanded gruffly after the vibrations settled and the room was illuminated only by the dawn light filtering in through the curtains.
"It is safe for you to open your eyes," Castiel agreed, his gaze only briefly turning to the human.
Gabriel snapped his fingers to set the room to rights. He resettled on the bed next to Sam and wrapped his wings closer.
"Christ. What the hell was that?" Dean asked as he came forward. He blinked furiously, probably trying to clear his sight after catching too many flashes of exposed grace. He approached the bed and Gabriel tensed, his instincts demanding that he keep everyone at bay. Fortunately Castiel recognized the body language and put a hand on Dean's shoulder to keep him back. "What?" Dean snapped, glaring at the angels. "What's going on?"
"Can you continue to contain yourself?" Castiel asked.
"Fine," Gabriel snapped. He had his grace constrained to his vessel again in a tight enough hold that he wouldn't be a danger to the humans. Even so, his entire being vibrated with tension and suppressed emotions. "I can't wake him," he confessed in a monotone.
Dean's face scrunched up in worry. "Why? What happened to you?"
"He acted like I wasn't there!" Gabriel's hands gently smoothed over Sam's torso. Carefully he let a little of his grace drift through his touch.
Castiel quietly asked, "What did you see?"
Too much, Gabriel though. It's too much to hold together. He'll fall apart if I can't figure out what to do.
"Gabriel, answer the damn question!" Dean demanded, fear and worry overriding the anger of the command.
Gabriel's wings quivered as he tensed over the memories of what he'd seen. "They did terrible things," he whispered. "Michael, he... he was instructing Lucifer." Gabriel pressed his palm against Sam's cheek and reached out. Sam. Wake up.
"Brother-" Castiel appeared at Gabriel's side, hand outstretched but not yet touching. "I do not advise another venture into Sam's mind at this time."
"You didn't see them!" Gabriel snarled, glaring at his brother but curling over Sam protectively. "I won't let him stay there!"
Dean took the opportunity to move closer. Even though he looked wary of Gabriel, who'd started to glow again with barely contained grace, he said, "You weren't reaching him, man. I'm no expert, but I think if you could've gotten Sammy up he would've reacted to the lightshow you were putting on."
Gabriel avoided the concerned stares and Castiel's readiness to interfere. This wasn't what he started with, he thought as he stared at Sam's pale, still face. But the past week's veen so bad. Does he see this every night? Father, how does he manage to function? Why didn't you tell me, Sammy?
Castiel's stance relaxed minutely when Gabriel didn't make another attempt to delve into Sam's mind.
"What else can we do?" Dean asked.
"Wait it out," Gabriel muttered reluctantly. He adjusted to lay beside his lover, his arms curled over the human. "When I can't wake him, he has to wake up himself." Gabriel's fingers found the tattoo on Sam's arm and he placed his palm over the sigil.
"Could you, I don't know, like send him vision of sugarplums or something?" Dean asked without much confidence.
"His mind's not letting me alter things," Gabriel admitted. He tightened his embrace as he remembered trying to block Sam's view of the vivisection and outright banish the memory.
Abruptly the archangel hissed, "We should have killed them." He still had trouble getting the words out, his heart heavy, but he didn't feel compelled to take them back.
Dean sat down on his bed and bitterly remarked, "I thought you were all about finding a way around that."
"If you saw what they did you'd want to unlock the Cage just to kill them!" Gabriel replied.
"Then tell me, what did you see?"
Gabriel pushed himself up a little and leaned over Sam's body as he retorted, "If Sam wanted you to know, he'd have told you. I'd think you would understand given your silence about Hell."
The human visibly bristled. Dean jabbed a finger in Gabriel's direction. "The only reason you know is because you invaded his head!"
"I'm not going to sacrifice his sanity just to respect some sense of privacy!" Gabriel snapped.
Before the argument could continue, Castiel stepped directly between them and broke the glares Gabriel and Dean had fixed on each other. "Desist!" Castiel frowned at both of his companions. "We are all concerned for Sam's wellbeing. Quarreling is not conducive to aiding his recovery."
"Have you got an idea?" Dean muttered.
Castiel dipped his head in a brief nod before facing Gabriel. "I understand you cannot wake Sam at this time, but there may be a moment when his mind is vulnerable to external interference. Together we should be able to guide him to consciousness."
Gabriel returned his gaze to Sam and frowned when he saw beads of sweat forming on the human's brow. "Better be soon," he muttered.
"Yeah," Dean echoed hollowly.
Come on, Sammy. Find your way back to us.
*
Sam felt like he was melting from the intense heat surrounding him. It was a sharp contrast to the freezing cold he and Adam had face- Not Adam, he reminded himself. Adam's gone.
"Is this fitting enough for your human sensibilities?" Lucifer appeared, leaning casually against some invisible wall with his arms crossed. He raised an eyebrow at Sam's silence. "Don't you have that quaint saying, 'hot as Hell'?"
Sam didn't take his eyes off the Fallen archangel as he took a step back, anxious to put some additional distance between them; even if it ultimately made no difference, it still offered a modicum of comfort to do something.
"You're awfully quiet, Sam, I've come to expect more from you." Lucifer's eyes narrowed, like he was trying to see into the human's mind. Sam didn't know why Lucifer would be having trouble with that now, when he so commonly invaded his mind in the past. "You've become harder to read," Lucifer mused aloud. "Did you really manage to come up with those barriers on your own?"
"Leave me alone," Sam said, voice still hoarse from screaming. Oh God, now he remembered what had come before. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself but could still feel his body trembling even in the boiling heat.
Lucifer's gaze raked over the human for a few moments before he threw his head back and laughed. "Oh Sam, you're going to make this too easy!"
Drawing strength from his anger, Sam bit out, "It's over! Go away!"
The Devil cocked his head, wearing a curious expression. "Do you think so?" He straightened up and walked forward, arms spread. His smirk widened when Sam took a step back for every one he made forward. "It's never over, Samuel. This-" he waved a negligent hand at their indefinite surroundings "-is not memory. That is what you've been dreaming about, isn't it? Memories of your stay in Casa del Diablo?"
"Get the fuck away from me," Sam hissed, trying to block the Devil's words. He was starting to realize he was dreaming, locked in a nightmare. He should be waking up by now, shouldn't he? Why wasn't he waking up?
"You don't think I could just let you leave, did you?" Lucifer actually pouted, the expression strange and disturbing on his face. "But I've missed you, Sam. Michael isn't very interesting company. You're just... so much more fun. Much more entertaining when we get to host someone like you."
Sam shuddered at the emphasis on "entertaining". His gaze darted around, looking for some escape.
"Hmm..." The Devil's thoughtful hum brought to mind several horrors that caused chills to run down Sam's spine. He tensed instinctively and flinched when he saw the amused look in Lucifer's eyes. "So he really is here..." Lucifer's gaze locked on Sam and he smiled. "Miracles don't come without cost, Sam," he murmured.
The Morningstar vanished. Nothing showy, just one second he was there and the next, gone.
"Sammy, wake up. Please."
Same turned around, looking for the angel calling his name.
"Sam, we have provided a bridge."
"C'mon, Sammy, just need you to reach out and I'll catch you."
Sam couldn't see Castiel or Gabriel so he wasn't quite sure what to do, but he unfoled his arms and spread them wide. "I'm here! Gabriel, please!" He turned full circle, slowly this time as he looked for a sign.
"I'm coming, Sammy," Gabriel's voice promised even as Castiel muttered some sort of protest. At the sense of a familiar, welcomed presence, Sam almost sobbed in relief. He saw a burst of light first, and even though he had begun to associate the sudden appearance of grace light with Lucifer or Michael, the sense of Gabriel - all Gabriel, comforting, familiar, loved - kept Sam from pulling away.
"Sammy." Gabriel's wings, three pairs shining in a multitude of colored lights, spread wide and engulfed Sam as the archangel quickly drew close. "Come on, kiddo, before my brother has an aneurysm." Gabriel's tone was teasing but his eyes and smile lacked amusement. Sam gratefully accepted his lover's hand and let himself be pulled up and away-
***
Next
Three: ___
Gabriel stood in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska, frowning up at the lightening sky as he listened to Sam's voicemail kick in. It was the second call he'd made, the first attempted from Heaven to give the Winchesters an ETA. It hadn't taken long by mortal standards to make the appropriate excuses and farewells, but Gabriel had felt antsy since the first attempt.
Hitting the end button on his cell, Gabriel made a mental call to Castiel.
"Gabriel. I must thank you for your support," Castiel began when he appeared.
"Yeah, yeah, later." Gabriel waved his hand dismissively. "Call Dean, find out where they are. We're going for a visit."
Castiel blinked in what looked like surprise. His gaze caught on Gabriel's cellphone and he seemed to catch onto the problem without prompt. With a minute shrug, Castiel pulled his cell from a pocket.
Gabriel crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently as he listened to the conversation.
"What?" Dean asked sleepily from the other end of the line.
"I wish to know your location."
The human sounded a little more awake with his next question. "Dude, what's wrong?"
"Gabriel wishes for us to visit," Castiel said. "Your location?"
Some halfhearted grumbling preceded the muttered address. Gabriel landed inside the motel room as Dean finished the final syllable. As the human stared at him open-mouthed, Castiel arrived, shutting off his cellphone as he did.
Dean's voice remained below normal volume as he scowled at the angels. "What the hell?" he complained, pushing himself up in bed after glaring at the clock. "A 'visit'? In case you forgot, humans need something called sleep."
Gabriel firmly shoved Castiel in the elder Winchester's direction and moved to Sam's bed. The archangel ignored the tense, low-volume argument taking place behind him as he sat on the bed with his legs stretched out next to Sam. Amazingly enough, Sam lay still on his stomach with his face turned toward the wall. A glance at the side table revealed Sam's cell and a quick check assured that the ringer was on at full volume. Gabriel felt confused why his lover hadn't responded.
The archangel smoothed his hand over the sheet covering Sam's back. His fingers encountered rough ridges where there should have been smooth skin.
"Hey! Why didn't you call me?" Gabriel demanded as soon as he lifted the sheet and saw the double lines of stitches. He made a face at the various colored bruises also revealed.
"We hunt the things that go bump in the night, that tends to have some standard hazards," Dean replied drily. In response to Gabriel's glare, he rolled his eyes. "Dude, how many times do you need to start this argument? We got this, jeez. Sammy doesn't need you to hold his hand with every little thing that happens."
Gabriel scowled and started gently brushing his thumb over bruised flesh, each touch speeding the body's recovery. "Werewolf claw marks don't quite fall in the 'little things' category."
Dean glared back. "If it was something to worry about, trust me, I'd be the first one demanding some angel mojo. The general aches and strains and stitches, though? We got this." He threw back the blankets from his bed and stalked toward the bathroom. "It's too early to be dealing with you," he muttered.
Deciding to ignore the underlying issues wrapped up in Dean's rant for now, Gabriel focused on healing the deep claw marks. He snapped away the no longer necessary stitches and placed his palm over the newly smooth skin.
Sam still hadn't twitched. Gabriel frowned.
"Shouldn't he be awake?" Castiel asked from the edge of Dean's bed.
"Yeah, he should," Gabriel muttered in agreement.
Dean rejoined them and said, "We got in late and he had the good painkillers. That sort of thing tends to knock you out." Despite the casual front, Gabriel could sense a seed of doubt bothering Dean.
Gabriel firmed his hold on Sam's shoulder and shook him. "Sam. Hey, how're you feeling, kiddo?" He repeated both actions and words a second time. And a third. Not a single change. The human's breathing pattern didn't change, his fingers didn't twitch, his legs didn't shift.
"Something is wrong," Castiel stated grimly. Dean let out a frustrated sound.
"Cool your jets," Gabriel muttered, trying to ignore the other two. He kept one hand on Sam's shoulder and brought his other up to place his fingertips gently over Sam's eyes. Sorry, kiddo, but you're scaring us here.
"What-?"
Castiel interrupted Dean's question. "Hush. Gabriel will reach your brother in his mind."
Gabriel closed his eyes and reached into Sam's mind.
~
Gabriel struggled to grasp a path of coherency from the pandemonium inside Sam's mind. Multiple threads tangled together in a dark mass, making it difficult to figure out where Sam's consciousness was currently active. Gabriel hesitated a moment before reaching out and skimming metaphysical fingers along the threads.
Monster. There's something wrong with me. Is that why Mom died? Dean says Dad doesn't blame me, but I think he does. Images of yellow-eyed demons, Azazel, and demon blood flashed along the thread until Gabriel pulled away.
Gabriel tried to move quickly through his search, knowing he shouldn't invade his lover's privacy; neither did he want to stir up memories and feelings that might have otherwise settled. He caught glimpses of memory and impressions of emotions.
Several threads seemed somehow raw. Gabriel brushed against one and was immediately pulled into a scene he recognized all too well. He stared in shock as Sam stood in Lucifer's stead in the Elysian Fields ballroom. Sam stabbed the archangel blade into the memory-Gabriel's chest. Gabriel saw Sam's eyes widen in horror seconds before Lucifer and the human split into two. Sam followed the empty vessel to the floor and pleaded with the Devil to stop.
Sammy- Gabriel stopped himself from reaching out when he realized that Sam wasn't actively reliving the memory.
Steeling himself, Gabriel moved on to a new thread, and another and another. Screams and whimpers filled the memories of Sam's time in the Cage. Gabriel struggled through darkness and fire and blood, not stopping to try and process the scenes because he could finally sense he was drawing closer.
Gabriel broke through a veil of hazy shadows and found himself staring at a row of morgue drawers. A low murmur followed by a squelching noise and a human gasp turned Gabriel's attention.
Nausea and rage battled for dominance.
"Did you know that it would take hours even under normal circumstances for a human to die from disembowelment?" Adam, the Winchesters' half-brother, stood at the foot of a metal autopsy table.
Lucifer, leaning over the middle of the table on the opposite side, gave a derisive snort. "Mortal bodies make such frivolous attempts to stay alive." He straightened up, revealing his arms covered to the elbow with blood. In his hands he seemed to weigh a stretch of uncoiled intestine.
Adam's body reached out to take a portion of the intestine. The vessel wasn't nearly large enough to block Gabriel's view of the human on the table now that Lucifer had straightened. Sam's head had been tilted forward just enough that he would be looking down the length of his own body whenever he opened his eyes. At the moment his eyes were wide and he looked all too awake.
As Sam's chest heaved with terrified breaths, bared muscle from the Y-incision expanded and contracted.
"Still with us, Sammy?" Lucifer asked, casually dropping the organ he'd been holding. Gabriel flinched away at the sound and sight of intestine following gravity and slipping off the table in loud slip-sliding plops.
Michael's vessel rounded the table to stand opposite Lucifer, and for a moment Gabriel's focus locked on his brothers. As corrupted as Lucifer's grace had become after his Fall, the Morningstar remained bright and astonishingly beautiful. But Gabriel had trouble recognizing his eldest brother, who had always been the righteous one; Michael was limned in mottled-looking light with patches of darkening grace.
The archangel who had once been canonized for his mercy reached into Sam's torso and curled his fingers beneath the human's bottom ribs. Michael's arm jerked back and bone snapped; Sam screamed.
"No!" Gabriel yelled, finally breaking free of his paralyzing shock. He ran forward and attempted to pull his brother away. The memory's figures didn't react at all. Gabriel could feel the form of Michael's arm beneath his hands, but he wasn't fully engaged in the memory replay.
Between the efforts of Lucifer and Michael, Sam's snapped ribs were pressed aside, exposing the hurried movements of lungs and heart. The human squeezed his eyelids shut but his eyes kept opening and stared at the horror scene his torso had become.
Gabriel shoved past his brothers and cupped his hands around Sam's face. "Please, Sammy. Listen to me, it's over!" Gabriel leaned in and pressed his forehead against the human's. "Please..." Sam continued to react as if Gabriel wasn't there.
Sam's terror-filled cry coincided with another loud snap of bone and a sickening squelch of human organs being handled. Gabriel clutched desperately at Sam, both physically and with his grace. "Please, Sam!" he begged. "Wake up, you can wake up! You're safe, I promise. I promise, Sam!"
"Humans consider it romantic to give their heart to their lover," Michael remarked.
Lucifer released a bark of laughter.
Sam suddenly began wheezing, little whimpers escaping every now and again. Gabriel kept begging his lover to wake, voice filled with desperation.
Please, please come back...
~
"Gabriel! Brother, you must control yourself!" Castiel's firm mental yank and vocalized command pulled the archangel out of Sam's head. "Dean, I told you - keep your eyes covered!"
Gabriel whirled and smacked away the hand Castiel had placed on his shoulder. He opened his mouth to yell but stopped when he got a good look around. He realized the room's contents were vibrating and grace light flickered across Dean, who stood in the corner with an arm over his face.
"Brother," Castiel spoke again, voice firm. "You must calm yourself."
Anger, grief, and desperation rushed through Gabriel's being at the insinuation that he could somehow be calm. He wanted to rage at Castiel for his ignorance. Dean's shout of pain finally tugged on Gabriel's sense of reason.
Borrowing a human method to calm down, Gabriel took great gulps of air and pulled his grace back into place as he steadied his roiling emotions. He folded his wings and tucked them out of human sight, but kept them close to shield Sam.
"Fireworks over?" Dean demanded gruffly after the vibrations settled and the room was illuminated only by the dawn light filtering in through the curtains.
"It is safe for you to open your eyes," Castiel agreed, his gaze only briefly turning to the human.
Gabriel snapped his fingers to set the room to rights. He resettled on the bed next to Sam and wrapped his wings closer.
"Christ. What the hell was that?" Dean asked as he came forward. He blinked furiously, probably trying to clear his sight after catching too many flashes of exposed grace. He approached the bed and Gabriel tensed, his instincts demanding that he keep everyone at bay. Fortunately Castiel recognized the body language and put a hand on Dean's shoulder to keep him back. "What?" Dean snapped, glaring at the angels. "What's going on?"
"Can you continue to contain yourself?" Castiel asked.
"Fine," Gabriel snapped. He had his grace constrained to his vessel again in a tight enough hold that he wouldn't be a danger to the humans. Even so, his entire being vibrated with tension and suppressed emotions. "I can't wake him," he confessed in a monotone.
Dean's face scrunched up in worry. "Why? What happened to you?"
"He acted like I wasn't there!" Gabriel's hands gently smoothed over Sam's torso. Carefully he let a little of his grace drift through his touch.
Castiel quietly asked, "What did you see?"
Too much, Gabriel though. It's too much to hold together. He'll fall apart if I can't figure out what to do.
"Gabriel, answer the damn question!" Dean demanded, fear and worry overriding the anger of the command.
Gabriel's wings quivered as he tensed over the memories of what he'd seen. "They did terrible things," he whispered. "Michael, he... he was instructing Lucifer." Gabriel pressed his palm against Sam's cheek and reached out. Sam. Wake up.
"Brother-" Castiel appeared at Gabriel's side, hand outstretched but not yet touching. "I do not advise another venture into Sam's mind at this time."
"You didn't see them!" Gabriel snarled, glaring at his brother but curling over Sam protectively. "I won't let him stay there!"
Dean took the opportunity to move closer. Even though he looked wary of Gabriel, who'd started to glow again with barely contained grace, he said, "You weren't reaching him, man. I'm no expert, but I think if you could've gotten Sammy up he would've reacted to the lightshow you were putting on."
Gabriel avoided the concerned stares and Castiel's readiness to interfere. This wasn't what he started with, he thought as he stared at Sam's pale, still face. But the past week's veen so bad. Does he see this every night? Father, how does he manage to function? Why didn't you tell me, Sammy?
Castiel's stance relaxed minutely when Gabriel didn't make another attempt to delve into Sam's mind.
"What else can we do?" Dean asked.
"Wait it out," Gabriel muttered reluctantly. He adjusted to lay beside his lover, his arms curled over the human. "When I can't wake him, he has to wake up himself." Gabriel's fingers found the tattoo on Sam's arm and he placed his palm over the sigil.
"Could you, I don't know, like send him vision of sugarplums or something?" Dean asked without much confidence.
"His mind's not letting me alter things," Gabriel admitted. He tightened his embrace as he remembered trying to block Sam's view of the vivisection and outright banish the memory.
Abruptly the archangel hissed, "We should have killed them." He still had trouble getting the words out, his heart heavy, but he didn't feel compelled to take them back.
Dean sat down on his bed and bitterly remarked, "I thought you were all about finding a way around that."
"If you saw what they did you'd want to unlock the Cage just to kill them!" Gabriel replied.
"Then tell me, what did you see?"
Gabriel pushed himself up a little and leaned over Sam's body as he retorted, "If Sam wanted you to know, he'd have told you. I'd think you would understand given your silence about Hell."
The human visibly bristled. Dean jabbed a finger in Gabriel's direction. "The only reason you know is because you invaded his head!"
"I'm not going to sacrifice his sanity just to respect some sense of privacy!" Gabriel snapped.
Before the argument could continue, Castiel stepped directly between them and broke the glares Gabriel and Dean had fixed on each other. "Desist!" Castiel frowned at both of his companions. "We are all concerned for Sam's wellbeing. Quarreling is not conducive to aiding his recovery."
"Have you got an idea?" Dean muttered.
Castiel dipped his head in a brief nod before facing Gabriel. "I understand you cannot wake Sam at this time, but there may be a moment when his mind is vulnerable to external interference. Together we should be able to guide him to consciousness."
Gabriel returned his gaze to Sam and frowned when he saw beads of sweat forming on the human's brow. "Better be soon," he muttered.
"Yeah," Dean echoed hollowly.
Come on, Sammy. Find your way back to us.
*
Sam felt like he was melting from the intense heat surrounding him. It was a sharp contrast to the freezing cold he and Adam had face- Not Adam, he reminded himself. Adam's gone.
"Is this fitting enough for your human sensibilities?" Lucifer appeared, leaning casually against some invisible wall with his arms crossed. He raised an eyebrow at Sam's silence. "Don't you have that quaint saying, 'hot as Hell'?"
Sam didn't take his eyes off the Fallen archangel as he took a step back, anxious to put some additional distance between them; even if it ultimately made no difference, it still offered a modicum of comfort to do something.
"You're awfully quiet, Sam, I've come to expect more from you." Lucifer's eyes narrowed, like he was trying to see into the human's mind. Sam didn't know why Lucifer would be having trouble with that now, when he so commonly invaded his mind in the past. "You've become harder to read," Lucifer mused aloud. "Did you really manage to come up with those barriers on your own?"
"Leave me alone," Sam said, voice still hoarse from screaming. Oh God, now he remembered what had come before. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself but could still feel his body trembling even in the boiling heat.
Lucifer's gaze raked over the human for a few moments before he threw his head back and laughed. "Oh Sam, you're going to make this too easy!"
Drawing strength from his anger, Sam bit out, "It's over! Go away!"
The Devil cocked his head, wearing a curious expression. "Do you think so?" He straightened up and walked forward, arms spread. His smirk widened when Sam took a step back for every one he made forward. "It's never over, Samuel. This-" he waved a negligent hand at their indefinite surroundings "-is not memory. That is what you've been dreaming about, isn't it? Memories of your stay in Casa del Diablo?"
"Get the fuck away from me," Sam hissed, trying to block the Devil's words. He was starting to realize he was dreaming, locked in a nightmare. He should be waking up by now, shouldn't he? Why wasn't he waking up?
"You don't think I could just let you leave, did you?" Lucifer actually pouted, the expression strange and disturbing on his face. "But I've missed you, Sam. Michael isn't very interesting company. You're just... so much more fun. Much more entertaining when we get to host someone like you."
Sam shuddered at the emphasis on "entertaining". His gaze darted around, looking for some escape.
"Hmm..." The Devil's thoughtful hum brought to mind several horrors that caused chills to run down Sam's spine. He tensed instinctively and flinched when he saw the amused look in Lucifer's eyes. "So he really is here..." Lucifer's gaze locked on Sam and he smiled. "Miracles don't come without cost, Sam," he murmured.
The Morningstar vanished. Nothing showy, just one second he was there and the next, gone.
"Sammy, wake up. Please."
Same turned around, looking for the angel calling his name.
"Sam, we have provided a bridge."
"C'mon, Sammy, just need you to reach out and I'll catch you."
Sam couldn't see Castiel or Gabriel so he wasn't quite sure what to do, but he unfoled his arms and spread them wide. "I'm here! Gabriel, please!" He turned full circle, slowly this time as he looked for a sign.
"I'm coming, Sammy," Gabriel's voice promised even as Castiel muttered some sort of protest. At the sense of a familiar, welcomed presence, Sam almost sobbed in relief. He saw a burst of light first, and even though he had begun to associate the sudden appearance of grace light with Lucifer or Michael, the sense of Gabriel - all Gabriel, comforting, familiar, loved - kept Sam from pulling away.
"Sammy." Gabriel's wings, three pairs shining in a multitude of colored lights, spread wide and engulfed Sam as the archangel quickly drew close. "Come on, kiddo, before my brother has an aneurysm." Gabriel's tone was teasing but his eyes and smile lacked amusement. Sam gratefully accepted his lover's hand and let himself be pulled up and away-
***
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