Chapter One: Lost and Found
A/N: Welcome, everyone, to the sequel of Sacrifices! It's recommended you read that first before diving into this. It won't make complete sense if you don't. Picking up a little bit after we left off with Dean and Mary. Here's the one where Luci isn't a huge, evil dick (most of the time), Mary does not betray her boys and get brainwashed, Mick doesn't die, our boys can sometimes use words, and Crowley gets his line and his moment(s). I had this chapter done back in… October, I believe, but when I went back through it there were so many things I didn't like about it, so I scrapped a lot of it and rewrote many, many things. I'm so sorry it took so long to upload! *takes deep breath and claps hands together* Alright, let's do this!
Disclaim: I do not own anything you see and recognize here but my story and ideas. All other things Supernatural belong to Eric Kripke and all the other lovely people who make Supernatural what it is.
Dean and Mary walked out of the store, Mary sporting a new pair of jeans, combat boots, a tank top, and a navy green jacket. The shop owner had given them strange looks when they'd walked in, Mary in a nightgown, a bewildered look on her face. She'd shown surprise at the various outlandish clothing trends she ran into, but eventually found something to fit her tastes. Being back… It was a bit, okay, a lot, to adjust to. Finding out her boys were hunters, that they'd saved the world, that her John was… Angels, demons, the Darkness. She'd missed out on so many things, and now she was on her way to her boys' home. Oh, she couldn't wait to see Sam, all grown up… Eventually, they approached a door hidden from view and Dean pulled a key out of his jacket pocket, unlocking it and pushing it open. He led the way in.
"You live here?" Mary asked as she entered the bunker for the first time, taking in her surroundings.
"Yeah, when we're not on the road. It's an old Men of Letters bunker," Dean replied, heading down the stairs.
"The Men of Letters? They're a myth, an old hunter's story," Mary claimed, following.
"Not so much. The new duds look good," he told her, referring to her new outfit.
"Well, thanks," she told him with a short laugh. "It's better than walking around in that nightgown for the rest—" She stopped herself and paused beside Dean, catching sight of a trail of— "That's blood," Mary remarked worriedly.
"Yeah," Dean agreed, pulling out and cocking his pistol, cautiously following the beginning of the trail. "Sammy?" he called out. "Cas?" he tried. No response. He then noticed the angel banishing sigil, immediately on high alert. Going back into the war room, he grabbed the pistol hidden under the map table and handed it to Mary. "Take this," he told her. "Stay here." He left the room before she could protest, scouting out the hallways and other rooms for any signs of the intruder(s). Coming around the corner he ran into a fuming Gabriel, whose scowl vanished at the sight of Dean.
"Still alive and kicking, Dean-o?" he asked with a slight smile. Dean lowered his gun in relief.
"Gabriel, where's Sam?" Gabriel shook his head, scowl returning.
"I don't know. By the time I got here, Cas had been banished, Adam knocked unconscious, and Sam was gone. Whoever they were dragged him to the garage and got away, and shot him in the leg while they were at it…"
"And you didn't go after them?" Dean questioned angrily.
"And leave Adam here? Leave the bunker so you could panic and jump to conclusions when you got here and realized Sam was missing? As much as I wanted to, you needed to know that someone has Sam and that the rest of us were safe, as far as I know." Dean sighed.
"Alright, I get it. You look after the kid and I'll head back and see if I can find Cas."
Back in the war room, Mary, not one to stand idly by at a time like this, made her way into the library, looking around, examining things, but staying alert. The bunker door slamming shut caught her attention, and she positioned herself behind a column, listening to an approaching set of footsteps. When the intruder was close, she aimed the gun at him threateningly.
"Hands in the air. Get on your knees," she demanded. The intruder glared her down.
"Who are you, and where is Sam?!" he questioned.
"Hands, now!" she reiterated. Dean, hearing the commotion, found Mary and Castiel staring each other down, quickly defusing the situation.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Dean exclaimed, putting out a placating hand, lowering the pistol for her. "It's okay. It's okay. He's a friend, alright?" Dean looked to Castiel with pure adoration. "Hey, Cas," he whispered.
"Dean," Castiel uttered, not believing his eyes. They reached for each other, but it was Dean who pulled Castiel into a deep, heartfelt kiss that had Mary stunned and speechless, eyebrows raised. When he pulled away, his and Castiel's eyes met. "But, what about the bomb and the Darkness? What happened?"
"I'll tell you everything later, but where's Sam?"
"He's not here."
"Are you… a hunter?" Mary asked him. He turned to her.
"No, I'm an angel," Castiel replied as if it were obvious.
"Come again?" Mary repeated incredulously.
"Yeah, with a capital A. You know, wings, harp. The whole shebang," Dean told her with a grin.
"No, I don't have a harp," he glared at Dean for a moment and Dean just grinned back.
"Mom, this is Castiel, a friend. He's—
"His soulmate," he finished for him. Dean smiled wider.
"That too." Mary was still looked shocked at the turn of events, but smiled at them both, happy that her son had found his one and only.
"I gathered that," she replied happily.
"Cas, this is… Mary. Winchester." That gave the angel pause and he processed that for a moment.
"Your mother," Castiel stated in awe. He examined her for a moment before turning back to Dean. "How is this possible?"
"Amara, she… Brought her back after her and Chuck made up, as a thank you." Castiel seemed to relax after that. "But, where's Sam? He's not answering his phone, there's blood on the floor—
"There was a woman waiting for us when we came back here. She blasted me away. When I returned, I found Adam unconscious and Sam was gone. I don't know who she was. I don't know what happened to Sam."
"I don't understand. What happened?" Mary wasn't following. Blasting people away, Adam. What was he talking about?
"Okay, well, the bunker's empty, so—So they've obviously left here. You said woman—Not an angel, or, or, a demon. A, a human."
"She was human," Castiel confirmed. Dean thought for a moment before heading over to his laptop.
"When did this go down?"
"It was 2:12 A.M." Mary watched Dean open up his laptop, marveling at how a computer had changed so much. She watched in awe as Dean hacked the traffic cameras in the area, showing an SUV running a red light not ten minutes after the incident.
"Welcome to the future," Dean told her.
"You think it's them?" Castiel asked.
"It's worth a shot," Dean replied, closing the laptop. "Do you think Adam knows anything we don't?"
"Who's… Adam?" Mary asked. Dean looked to her uncertainly and Castiel gave him a sympathetic look.
"After… After you died, dad… He, uh… Met someone… On a hunt… Adam's our half brother." Mary took that in with a sigh.
"Did John raise him in the life too?" Dean again paused.
"No. He wanted Adam to have a normal life, and he did. He went to school, studying… Pre-med, I think. Honors student, had a nice apple pie life…" Mary observed him, watched him attempt to keep a straight face.
"What happened?"
"Some ghouls got to him and his mom, wanted revenge for the last time dad was in town on a case… We ganked the bastards and burned his body."
"But he wasn't dead for long," Castiel continued. "The angels needed a vessel for the archangel Michael during the time of the Apocalypse. Dean refused, so they resurrected Adam in the hopes that he would say yes, and he did. After the Apocalypse, Michael, in Adam's body, was locked in the Cage in Hell with Lucifer… and Sam. One of my brothers, Gabriel, rescued Michael from the Cage recently, when we needed allies to defeat Amara. During a fight with her, Michael was ripped from Adam's body, and Adam has been with us ever since." She was silent for a few moments, shock and confusion written on her face.
"That's—
"A lot, I know," Dean told her gently. "A lot's happened since you've been gone… And as soon as we find Sam, we'll explain everything, I promise. We just need to find out who the Hell it was that took him."
"It was the British Men of Letters," a voice spoke up from across the room. Adam stood in the doorway of the library, flanked by a determined looking Gabriel. They made their way into the room and joined the others.
"They have a British version? That's a thing?" Dean asked incredulously.
"Unfortunately," Gabriel told him. "I've tangoed with those British dicks a time or two. They're bad news and, chances are, they've been keeping tabs on you and Sam for ages now. They're resourceful, conniving, and downright arrogant… And they have Sam." Dean then looked to Adam, giving him a worried look.
"How you doin', kid?" he asked sincerely.
"I should be asking you that. I'm fine. Gabriel fixed my head and I'm still standing." His eyes fell on Mary. "Who's this?" he asked, nodding towards her.
"I'm Mary Winchester," she replied kindly. Adam's eyes widened in shock, while Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
"Adam," he replied after a moment.
"The archangel Gabriel, at your service," he told her with a smile, pressing a kiss to her hand in greeting.
"Archangel?" she asked, not believing her ears.
"Okay, let's head out before one of you makes her head explode. We can explain on the way, mom," Dean spoke up. They all agreed, and after Mary had a moment with Baby, which made Dean quite uncomfortable when he put the pieces together, they headed out.
XxX
They got out of the Impala once they reached the location of a, "Jamie Ross?" Castiel asked. The man in question turned away from the car he was working on, facing his five guests.
"Who's asking?" Castiel approached him alone, the others hanging back.
"The blonde woman that you drove yesterday, what was her name?"
"Blonde? Sorry, mate, you got the wrong—" Before he could finish that statement, Castiel grabbed the collar of his shirt and slammed him with a viscous headbutt, drawing blood, and then another. Adam and Mary were equally shocked, while Gabriel seemed to be a bit proud.
"Cas!" Dean yelled in warning.
"That's an angel?" Mary questioned. Dean gave her an, "Eh," look.
"Blonde. Name. Now," Castiel commanded.
"I-I-I don't know her name," Ross admitted.
"What do you know?" Castiel asked, right up in his face. Ross spilled, about how she had a guy with her, injured, and needed someone to drive her both back to a classified location and to a veterinarian's clinic, a Dr. Marion, he believed, that she flew in from somewhere; he gave them the tail number of the plane. With that information, the five drove out towards the clinic, stopping nearby for lunch and a place to run the tail number. According to Dean, the plane that "Evil Elsa" flew in on had diplomatic registry. Castiel sighed in frustration while Gabriel frowned.
"The government! Fantastic," he drawled sarcastically.
Right after that statement, Castiel noticed a car pulling into the veterinarian clinic Jamie Ross had mentioned. Dr. Marion admitted to taking a hundred grand from the woman to treat Sam's leg wound, no questions asked, the day before. After a threat from Castiel, and a showcasing of Mary's impressive lie detecting skills, he also told them he had the blonde woman's number. After calling her, Dean told her, with a snarl and a promise, that he would tear her to pieces if Sam wasn't in one piece when he found him. When she hung up on him without giving a response, Dean snapped the phone in two, a fiery look in his eyes that set the room on edge. They were in the Impala and back on the road before they knew it.
XxX
'Sam?' Sam's eyes snapped open. After a failed attempt at escaping and hours of torture, Sam didn't expect to hear that voice so soon. He sat up from where he was slumped at the bottom of the stairs to whatever room he was locked in.
'Gabe? Is that you?"
'Did she hurt you?' he asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to know the extent of the damage.
'Nothing I couldn't handle. She's persistent, I'll give her that. You know, she drugged me to try and get information about hunters in America, doused me in cold water, took a blowtorch to my foot. I told her to go screw herself.' Sam felt a wave of anger through their link, but sent Gabriel some reassurance. 'I'm fine, Gabriel. I just don't know how much more she's going to do.'
'When I find her, I'm going to make her suffer. I'm going to kill her in the most painful way possible, then bring her back and kill her in a completely different, but just as painful, way,' Gabriel threatened. 'We'll find you, and when we do—' The link suddenly cut out with a jolt that had Sam flinching as pain bloomed in his side and his head. 'Fucking Brits smashed into us!' was the last thought Gabriel sent him before their link went silent again. Sam hung his head. Gabriel was on his way, and there wasn't anything he couldn't do when he was that determined. Lady Bevill and her team seemed to be on him though, so his hopes of rescue at the moment were once again slim to none.
XxX
"So, round two? Anyone?" asked a woman clad in black, smirking, Enochian brass knuckles gleaming in the sunlight. She'd decked Castiel, the angel spitting out blood on the ground, and disarmed Dean, who was looking at her in bewilderment.
Gabriel was healing an unconscious Mary and a bleeding Adam. The kid did not deserve all the injuries that had come his way. Gabriel awoke Mary after healing some of her minor cuts and bruises, watching Dean and Castiel get their asses handed to them by some woman with an accent who'd hit them from the side. She picked up Dean's pickpocketed pistol, aiming right for him.
"You know," she began, "I would've thought for two strapping lads like yourselves you would've lasted a tad longer."
With a growl, Gabriel stepped out of the car, intent on giving that woman a piece of his mind (and a taste of his archangel blade), but Mary got to her first.
The woman shrugged nonchalantly. "Eh. You know what they say: Good things come to those—" Mary impaled her with Castiel's dropped angel blade (and when had she gotten up?), the gun in the woman's hand going off before she collapsed to the ground, dead. Dean and Castiel looked to the woman, then to Mary in gratitude.
"Thanks, mom," Dean told her, catching his breath as he sat up. Castiel nodded to her in agreement. She slowly lowered the blade, shocked at herself and the situation, offering Dean and Castiel hands to help them up. Gabriel walked over, healing Dean and Castiel after helping them roll the woman's vehicle out of sight. Mary took a seat in the Impala, staring at her hands, streaked with a little bit of blood. How had killing, hunting, caught back up with her so quickly since she'd been back? Adam looked to her in concern, but she told him she was fine.
Dean found her staring at her hands again when he made his way back over to the Impala. "Found her cell phone in the car. The last call was made from an Aldrich, Missouri." He crouched down in front of her so they were at eye level. "We're guessing Sam's probably around there."
"Good. That's great," Mary responded, still shaken.
"You okay?" Dean asked. She shook her head with a smile.
"No." She sighed, head in her hands for a moment. "I'm sorry. I just… I spent my life running from this, from hunting, and I got out. I never wanted this for you and Sam." Dean took a moment to contemplate her words, trying to come up with a response.
"Mom, I-I get it. I do. If I had kids, I wouldn't want them in this. But Sam and me? Saving people, hunting things, this is our life," he told her adamantly. "I think that we make the world a better place. I know that we do." She nodded in understanding, and he placed a comforting hand on her knee before getting up and taking his place in the driver's seat. Castiel and Gabriel took their seats back while Adam and Mary were lost in thought, Dean's words replaying in their heads as they made their way back to the bunker in silence.
XxX
'Gabriel?' Sam asked through their link, coming to some time after their last talk.
'Are you alright? What has she done to you now?' came the worried response.
'She injected me with some sort of spell powered hallucinogen. She was really surprised when she couldn't get anything out of me. It was supposed to be the two of us having sex while she interrogated me—' Sam felt a wave of anger come through, and Gabriel was surprised to feel a sensation like laughter in return. 'Like I said, I wasn't interested, and that frustrated her. So, she grabbed a few knives, looked through a tray of tools for something else, and started carving into my chest.'
'… Do you think she realizes she's never going to break you, or is she just that stupid?' Another sensation of laughter came from Sam.
'What, no death threats, no, 'I'm going to make her suffer for an eternity until she's begging to die?''
'I'll save the rest of that for when I meet her in person. We think you're in Aldrich, Missouri. Do you have any idea where you are?'
'A cellar, or a basement. I wasn't awake when she chained me in here.'
'We're coming for you, Sam. Bolape micaelazodo.' Be strong, Sam registered.
'Pa-id,' he replied. Always. With that, they closed the link, and Sam watched Lady Bevill come down the stairs with a smile.
"Good morning, Sam. Ready to begin again?" she asked him. Sam just glared defiantly, replying the same way he always did.
"Screw you."
XxX
"This it?" Gabriel asked Castiel the next day as he strolled up to his brother, looking at the quaint farmhouse he'd found. They'd agreed to split up and search the city for any abandoned or recently bought/rented properties. Castiel's search had led him here.
"Yes, but it's covered in warding and I can't quite locate it all. It's been cloaked." Gabriel squinted, then reached out with his grace and, sure enough, there was a fair bit of warding around the whole house. The sigils and symbols he could see, barely, were some he hadn't seen in quite some time. Those Brits weren't playing around.
"Call Dean and tell him we found the place. I'll look around some more, see if I can't figure out how to get through some of the warding." Castiel nodded, pulling out his phone.
Meanwhile, Mary, Dean, and Adam were staying in the first halfway decent motel they could find in town, Dean typing away on his laptop, Mary just out of the shower, and Adam sitting, unusually quiet, on one of the beds, lost in thought. Dean sighed, clenching his hands into fists.
"Surveillance isn't showing anything from today or yesterday," he stated aloud. 'Please tell me Cas and Gabriel have found something,' he thought to himself just as his phone rang, the caller I.D. turning out to be just the angel he was thinking about. "Hey, Cas. What've you got?" Mary sat down next to Adam as Dean talked over the phone, asking the blonde if he was alright. He nodded, not meeting her eyes.
"It's still… strange, being back in control of my body after… Everything that's happened. And now, I'm on the road with you and Dean like it's any other day and I'm just one of the boys… And now they have you back, and I just… Feel like the odd one out, you know?" Mary laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and he looked to her.
"You're their brother, Adam. From what Dean's told me, he and Sam would do anything for you. You're their family, which means you're mine too." He nodded again, not responding. "And I know I'm not your mom… But I'm here, if you need me." That was when Mary caught snippets of Dean and Castiel's conversation, hearing her name come up before the conversation wrapped.
"Okay, got it. I'm on my way." Mary stood, as did Adam, grabbing her jacket, much to Dean's dismay. "Uh… Why don't I, uh, take this one solo, guys? You know, we don't exactly know what we're walking into, and—
"We never do. We're hunters." Dean opened then closed his mouth, trying to figure out how to respond to her comment.
"Okay. I—I can't do my job if I'm worried about you," he told her bluntly.
"You won't have to be. I can handle myself… Okay? Alright, good talk." Before Dean could respond, she was out the door.
"Oh boy," he mumbled to himself. Adam began heading for the door as well, but Dean tried to shut him down. "Nuh-uh. Where do you think you're going? You're staying here."
"Are you kidding? Sam's my brother too, Dean, and I'm going with you."
"No, you're not. I can't worry about you and mom at the same time!"
"I may not be a hunter, but I'm not defenseless. I'm more useful in a fight than you think. I can help," Adam protested.
"Oh, really? And how's that?"
"Living with an archangel in your head for a few hundred years teaches you things." Dean stopped himself before he could make a remark before observing Adam. He was just as stubborn as they were. Adam wasn't about to change his mind, and he realized this with another sigh.
"Fine," he told him begrudgingly, making sure he had his keys and his pistol before following his brother out the door. The drive there was silent, with Dean constantly thinking to himself that bringing the both of them with him was a bad idea. He parked the Impala a few feet from where Gabriel and Castiel were, and the three of them got out. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Dean told the two as the three of them approached Castiel. After brief greetings, the angel filled them in.
"There's no way to know if anyone is inside, but it was rented two weeks ago, and someone had to have warded the house. Gabriel is examining what he can of the warding. It's heavy and it's cloaked, stronger than I've seen in a while." Dean went to look around, but stopped when Mary tried to follow.
"Mom, I got this."
"You can keep me from driving, Dean, not from hunting." He looked to Castiel for an assist, and the angel took pity on him, making his way to Mary's side.
"I'm locked out by the warding. I could use the company."
"At least let me come with you. If we find any warding, I might be able to help you take it down. Besides, if these people are as good as they think they are, I wouldn't expect the area outside the house to be completely safe," Adam insisted. Mary looked to Adam, then to Dean. If she couldn't look after him, at least Adam could. Dean closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten, letting it out slowly.
"Alright, come on then." The two scouted out the house's exterior, looking for other entrances, keeping their eyes out for warding.
A loud thumping noise drew them to a cellar door that Dean was reaching for just as Gabriel yelled tiredly, "Stop, Dean!" He yanked on the handles to find the doors locked while looking to Gabriel. Adam paled, looking down at Dean's feet before briefly meeting Gabriel's eyes.
"Dude, it's just a door, and it's locked."
"Dean? …Look down," Adam requested. Dean turned to him, then looked to his feet where a now glowing symbol had him unable to move them.
"Son of a bitch," he griped with a scowl. How could he be so careless? With a flash of light he was gone, and Gabriel slowly facepalmed while Adam looked on in alarm.
"Leave it to Dean to make things more complicated than they need to be," the archangel sighed. "Did you two find anything?"
"No. That trap was the first sign of any sigil work I've seen," Adam replied.
"What I could find while looking around is going to make it impossible for me or Cassie to get in unless we can deactivate it. I might be able to, but it would take time, and Sam and Dean need us." Gabriel was starting to look genuinely worried that there was nothing he could do here, but Adam looked strangely confident.
"Then let me go after them. I'm immune to the warding, and I can—
"You and Michael have one conversation and suddenly you think you're invincible, kid? Seriously?"
"No, I don't, and I'm not, but can I scout out the inside and maybe break through some of the warding. I am not going to sit out here and wait for someone to come up with a rescue plan when I could go in there and do something about this!" Gabriel looked at Adam, really looked at him, for a moment, his thoughts, his soul, his emotions. There was no denying he was a Winchester. At all. He sighed dramatically.
"Fine. You remember how you communicated with Michael?" Adam nodded. "If you need anything or you see anything, shoot a thought my way, you hear me?" Gabriel returned to Castiel and Mary's side while Adam managed to enter the house through a warded, but thankfully not trap rigged, door. It was eerily quiet, and he hated the sound of his footsteps echoing faintly through the hallway. A bit of exploring later and he was ready to turn around and tell the others that he hadn't found anything, until he came across a slightly ajar door leading downstairs.
'Gabriel?' Adam projected to the angel. 'I think I found them.'
'Stay put, kiddo. Be right there,' came the response. Gabriel let out a breath, turning to Castiel and Mary.
"I'm not really getting anywhere with the rest of the warding, but Adam says he found Thing One and Two, so that's a start."
"Well, then we have to go in there and rescue them," Mary told him adamantly.
"Gabriel and I are locked out of the house by the warding," Castiel reminded her. She looked to Gabriel, a smirk growing on his now no longer worried face.
"What is it, Gabriel?" Castiel asked suspiciously. He turned to Castiel, a full blown smirk on his face.
"Remember when the three of you thought I was just a trickster, little bro?" he asked Castiel, who nodded in confusion.
"Yes, but I don't see what that—" He cut himself off when he saw Gabriel's eyes flash emerald, pagan magic flaring to life. "Your pagan magic," he realized in surprise.
"Yup. Haven't used it in a while, but it should be able to walk right past that warding. Besides, the less enemies who know who I really am, the better."
"And why's that?" Mary questioned, curious. Gabriel made a face.
"Well, aside from you, the rest of Team Save the World, and Michael, the world thinks I'm dead. Angels, demons, every monster under the sun, has no idea I'm back, and I'd like it to stay that way. I'm, uh, not exactly in anyone's good graces, let's just say." Falling silent, he closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment before opening them again, finding a replica of himself standing across from him. With barely a thought, he sent it into the house through the front door, checking for any traps or spells that might harm them should they come inside that adam had missed. After dismantling a nasty piece of spellwork, he found Adam, waiting impatiently by the ajar door. Back outside, he said to Mary, "I cleared some protections I saw inside the first few rooms. Head towards the back of the house." She nodded to him and, after trading a look with Castiel, headed inside with a pistol held firmly in her hands, determined.
Listening closely, Gabriel heard the words, "… parts of the body most sensitive to intense pain. The eardrum… decaying tooth, below the belt, of course, and my favorite… under the eyelid." He growled lowly, eyes flashing, as Mary too heard those words, already on her way silently down the stairs before the sentence was even finished. Gabriel and Adam were right behind her. No one was keeping him from his hunter, and whoever was here was about to feel. His. Wrath. And Mary's, of course.
Cocking her pistol with a glare, Mary demanded, "Get away from my boys." Lady Bevell and Sam were both shocked, wide eyed and staring at the woman who should be dead before them, while Dean looked on with a shit eating grin.
"Mom?" Sam asked, incredulous.
"Yeah," Dean confirmed quite proudly, to which Sam responded with a bewildered look. After Mary had her drop the weapon, she tossed the keys to the shackles at Dean, forcing Lady Bevill to the ground. She went to catch Mary off guard with an attack, maybe even a spell, but another unfamiliar figure came into view and stopped her in her tracks. Gabriel strode in with his arms crossed, a sucker in his mouth, looking ready to burn the whole house to the ground if she tried anything. She also noticed Adam following behind him, frowning at how outnumbered she now was.
"Adam, was it?" she asked the youngest brother, who scowled in her direction. Her eyes fell back on Gabriel. "And who might you be?" she asked cautiously. Sam was still too stunned to speak, and Dean was too busy grinning to. Thank Chuck for small favors, because Gabriel really didn't need anyone blowing his cover. Gabriel quirked an eyebrow, an unreadable look in his eyes, before extracting the sucker from his mouth with an icy smirk.
"The name's Loki." He took a few steps forward until he was just a few inches from her face. His eyes glowed emerald with magic and his smirk morphed into a scowl as he growled, "And you're going to pay." He looked to Sam and Dean, both now on their feet and free of their chains. "Alright there, boys?" He received nods in response.
"Why does a pagan god hold such an interest in the wellbeing of a few American hunters?" Lady Bevill inquired. "Surely having them out of the way would be doing you a favor."
"Well, when the the world's ending and the Winchesters need allies, they find whoever they can get. I helped them out once upon a time and they've helped me a time or two. I owe them a few favors." His eyes fell on Sam, flooding with relief that the damage wasn't too bad. She followed his gaze to Sam. "Especially that one." She looked back to him. "The real question is why would the British Men of Letters send you to torture information out of those two? Last I checked torture, doom, and gloom wasn't really you Brits' style."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," she answered evenly.
"Desperate times for who exactly?" She huffed quietly under her breath.
"We're tired of watching the world almost end because of a few irresponsible American hunters playing with things they don't understand. First it was the Apocalypse, then a case of Leviathans, and now the sun. They've had too many close calls for my superiors to leave them be any longer."
"What, and you think you people can do any better?" Dean questioned. Lady Bevill gave him a, "Really?" look.
"Well of course we can, and we do." Gabriel suddenly looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes, then back to Lady Bevill with a raised eyebrow. With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared before descending down the stairs behind Castiel and a stranger. Lady Bevill tensed, they noticed, as the man entered the room.
"Well played," he told them as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Let me apologize for my colleague. Our orders were to talk with you, not," he gestured around the room, "Kidnap and torture… I'm Mick Davies, British Men of Letters, and I'd like to extend an olive branch. We want to work with you, seeing as how you American hunters are at least partially carrying on the Men of Letters' work." Lady Bevill looked between him and the Winchesters, cornered.
"Oh, you wanna play peacemaker now?" Dean asked. "Is that why you sicced your attack dog on us?"
"Yeah, and let me ask you something, um, Mick, was it?" Sam began. "Why would we believe anything you have to say?" Mick gave a half smile, letting out a breath.
"Let me deeply apologize, again. No excuses, Lady Bevill went too far." He sent an unimpressed look her way and she glared back. "As for how you can believe me, if I wanted you dead there are about a dozen ways I could've come in here, instead of being unarmed." He showed his empty jacket and pockets. "Not to mention, I powered down all the warding in this shack so your attack dogs could come in." He looked to Castiel and Gabriel. "I reckon either one of you could finish me off without breaking a sweat, am I right?"
"Without even a thought," Gabriel answered lowly, threateningly. Mick absorbed the threat with a gulp, pulling a card out of his other jacket pocket.
"My number," he told Castiel, who hesitantly took the card. "Take the time to cool down and just think it over. And what've you got to lose? …Except your worst nightmares." He gestured Lady Bevill over and as she went to join his side, Gabriel stepped out from behind him with an eyebrow raised.
"Um, where do you think you're going with her?" Gabriel demanded to know. She looked to Gabriel, wide eyed. Mick addressed Gabriel less confidently than he would have liked.
"We have a code we adhere by. She'll face consequences in London," he replied. Dean huffed out a laugh.
"Or how about you walk out that door and she'll face consequences right here, right now?" he asked with a scowl.
"Sorry, mate. I'm afraid I can't do that." Dean looked to Sam, then to Gabriel. Gabriel sighed, an icy grin on his face as he turned to the boys.
"Would you like to do the honors, gentlemen, or should I?" Sam and Dean looked at each other before shrugging. "Mary?" She considered it, going over to Lady Bevill and looking her directly in the eyes with all the anger she could muster, before throwing a punch that drew plenty of blood. Lady Bevill stumbled backwards from the force of the hit, clutching her nose with a grunt of pain.
"She's all yours." He looked to Adam, who spat in her face. Gabriel couldn't contain a short laugh.
"Well then." He closed his eyes, hand held out towards her, concentrating. Sam felt Gabriel's presence in his mind, but thought nothing of it. It wasn't until he felt him sifting through and removing some memories that he got a little concerned, but he didn't act on it. Gabriel had some pretty crazy ideas sometimes, but Sam knew he knew what he was doing. It was then that Lady Bevill's breathing accelerated and she fell to her knees, hands clutching at her head. Gabriel was sick of it. He's lost countless brothers and sisters, almost lost his father, and now, he'd almost lost Sam, all because of some accent in a pantsuit. She thought she knew torture? Well, she didn't know it like this. He ripped every one of Sam's memories of the Cage he could find out of his head, ingraining them in hers instead. As she screamed, he made sure she felt everything that Sam had, every single second of agony, and when she had, he opened his eyes, glowing bright electric blue, making sure she knew exactly who she was dealing with. As Mick went to intervene, Gabriel froze him in place, and, when he was finally done and she was a babbling, incoherent mess, he snapped his fingers.
She exploded into a mess of blood and guts, drenching Mick and Castiel, who simply cleaned the mess off himself with a bit of grace. Mick was shaking violently, staring at Gabriel in terror. "We'll call. Maybe," Gabriel told him. He gestured towards the door and Mary, Castiel, Adam, and the boys followed him up, leaving Mick standing alone, absolutely terrified.
XxX
Dinner was lighthearted, if a bit awkward with the memory of leaving Missouri still fresh in everyone's mind. Sam and Gabriel shared a tender moment, back in each other's arms, safe. Dean and Castiel were inseparable while Mary and Adam both ended up feeling a bit out of sorts. It wasn't until she'd put the pie on the table that she called Sam out on his intense staring. He looked away, embarrassed. Mary watched wide eyed as Dean devoured the dessert before him, Sam covering his face with an exasperated smile, Gabriel staring at the rest of the pie tin with a challenging look in his eyes, Castiel laughing fondly, Adam looking on amused. As dinner winded down, Sam and Dean insisted on getting the dishes, telling Mary to go ahead and pick a room while they cleaned up in the kitchen. They expressed the same sentiment to Adam.
Castiel helped the boys wash and dry while Gabriel snapped the dried plates into neat stacks, although a bit tiredly. When the dishes were done and the kitchen was cleaned up, Castiel and Dean headed for their room while Sam made a cup of tea for Mary. Gabriel noticed the mix of emotions in Sam's eyes, the slight tenseness in shoulders. He fixed Sam with a worried stare. "Something's bothering you," he stated. Sam sighed, setting the hot cup on the table.
"I just… I have a lot on my mind," Sam replied. "Mom—Mom's…" He huffed out a soft laugh. "I got my mom back, Gabriel. The mom I never got to know, who died because of me, who didn't want her boys to grow up as hunters, who loved her family beyond words, is alive. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet." Gabriel gave him a small smile as he continued. "We've got Adam back, and Dean and I have a second chance to be the big brothers he deserves, to give him a better life. The world isn't ending anymore, Dean's alive, you and Cas are here… The… British Men of Letters want to team up." He made a few all over the place hand gestures. "I'm just trying to process everything is all." He took a deep breath, picking up the cup of tea. "I'm going to go take this to mom," he told his soulmate. Gabriel nodded, watching him leave the room. With a flap of wings he was sat atop Sam's bed. He let himself fall onto his back, arms tucked behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought.
Sam knocked on Mary's door, cup of tea in hand, his dad's journal tucked under his arm. He'd been looking through it late one night before the Amara situation had been resolved, grabbing it before heading for Mary's room. It still felt surreal to Sam, to have his mother sitting not three feet away from him, alive and well. She accepted the cup of tea gratefully, and explained to Sam how she'd missed so much of his and Dean's lives, how she had so much catching up to do, so many blanks to fill. That's when he handed her the journal, telling her, "It helped me fill in some blanks, answer questions I didn't even know I had. And, you know, i-i-it keeps him with us, sort of."
He turned to leave, but she commented, "Dean said you got out of hunting, and yet here you are." He shrugged, a bit sad.
"Well, this is my family. My family hunts, you know. It's what we do." She turned back to the journal with a nod, thinking over his answer. "Mom?" he asked, getting her attention back. "For me, having you here…" He paused, eyes watering, trying to speak clearly. "Fills in the biggest blank." She had a teary eyed look of her own now, embracing him lovingly. Sam leaned down to return it, clinging to her a bit, feeling as if some missing piece of him had been returned. After a few tender moments they separated and bid each other goodnight, Sam taking a deep breath before heading to a room a few doors down, knocking softly.
"It's open," Adam called from within. Sam slowly opened the door, seeing Adam laying on his back, staring at the ceiling with an unreadable expression on his face. Sam watched him sit up with a sigh and went to sit next to him, concerned.
"You alright?" Adam shook his head, not meeting his eyes.
"No." He scoffed at himself. "For the first time in seven years, I have control of my life, and…" He shrugged. "My mom's gone, I'm not serving Michael, my old life is over. I just feel like… I don't belong here, like I'm just a burden on you, Dean, and Castiel."
"No," Sam told him adamantly. "Adam, you're our brother. You're family. You could never be a burden to us. Never."
"You say that now," he told Sam, voice a bit unsteady. "You have everything you could ever want, Sam. You have a brother and a friend who will always be there for you, a boyfriend more powerful than almost anything out there, and now you've got your mom back. Everything's going right for you guys, and I feel like I'm just here, taking up space, making things more complicated. I mean, what can I do? Sure, I have a few cool powers now, but I don't know the first thing about hunting or the life you guys live. Now there are other hunters who know who we are, where we are, and…" Sam sighed, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"You're right. I do have everything I could ever ask for… But I've got you now, too. Adam… Being a hunter… It's not as glorious as it seems. I mean the last time we really talked to you about it, you didn't want anything to do with me and Dean—
"But then you came for me," he reminded him. "And I don't want anyone to end up like me, captured by some monster in the dark, no one to find my body but hunters, if they're lucky enough to be working the right case." He shook his head. "No, I want to learn how to hunt. I want to help you and Dean and Castiel and Gabriel and Mary make a difference out there. We're Winchesters. We hunt, right?" Sam gave a short laugh.
"Yeah. We do… Besides, me and Dean made a promise. When you got out of Hell, we were going to be the big brothers you deserved and we would do whatever it takes to protect you." Adam finally looked him in the eye with sincerity.
"Thank you for giving me a chance," Adam told him. Sam smiled.
"Try to get some sleep, okay?" Adam nodded as Sam got up, the two exchanging goodnights as Sam closed the door on his way out. He was ready to collapse into bed when he got to his room, but paused when he saw Gabriel on his bed, staring into space, lost in thought. The archangel looked up at the sound of the door opening, beckoning Sam over. Sam laid down beside Gabriel, who wrapped his arms around him in an instant, burying his face in Sam's chest. They laid together for a little while, calmed by each other's even breaths, and though Gabriel could tell Sam was less stressed than earlier, something was still bothering. He pulled back a little to look at his soulmate.
"What is it?"
"What did you do to Lady Bevill, back in Missouri?" Gabriel didn't answer for a moment. "I felt you digging through my head, and then she was screaming…" Gabriel took a deep breath, then let it out before responding.
"I solved two problems at once. I served her justice and fixed your head. I told you I was going to make her suffer when I met her, and I did. I looked through her head, before I killed her, Sam. She's done nothing her whole life but take what she wants through whatever means necessary. She wasn't even following her stupid orders from the higher ups over in England. She would have tortured you and Dean until one of you gave her the information she needed. And enjoyed it. She thought she knew torture, so I decided to prove her wrong…" Sam thought he knew where this was leading, but pressed Gabriel to continue.
"So what did you do?"
"I… I went through your head, and I pulled out every Cage memory I could find. I didn't expect it all to go so smoothly, but I'm glad it did. I don't know if I got all of them, but if not, I got most of them, and those memories died with the British chick."
"You…" Sam marveled at the fact that that was even possible. Death himself could only erect a wall to keep the memories of the Cage from driving him mad, and yet… Gabriel had plucked the memories right out of his head like it was nothing.
"I've seen your nightmares, Sam. I've watched you toss and turn and shout and plead in your sleep, and it broke my heart. And when I thought of what she was doing to you… It was a dark move, I know, and—
"Thank you," Sam told him quietly, interrupting him, pulling him closer. "Yeah, that is kind of dark, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but…"
"You're not…?" Gabriel was worried about how Sam would react to the explanation. This… Was not how he thought it would happen.
"You were protecting me, and you've repaired the damage from years of the worst moments of my life. Did you think I would condemn you for that?" Gabriel let out a relieved breath. "Besides, if you're a bad person for doing that to her, then I'm a bad person for enjoying watching you snap her out of existence."
"I never want to have to feel you get hurt like that again. I won't let it happen." Sam closed his eyes, making himself comfortable.
"I know."
Meanwhile, Dean was currently telling Castiel about how Mary used to take him and baby Sam to the park a few minutes away from their home in Lawrence. He had a stack of childhood photographs scattered in front of him, one photo of him and Mary clutched in his hand. Castiel held him from behind, both men on their sides, an arm slung over Dean's waist, smiling as Dean recounted his story. "And when it got late and we were heading home, she'd sing Sam to sleep, and when she put him to bed, she'd tuck me in and tell me angels were watching over me…" He let out a soft laugh. "Guess she was right." It was a sweet story, Castiel thought, but he could tell something was up with Dean.
"You seem… Conflicted," Castiel commented. Dean shifted, turning to face Castiel.
"Yeah, I am. I am over the moon that mom is back. I couldn't be happier, but… So much has changed. I don't want her to feel overwhelmed with everything, and I don't want her to try and adjust too fast while we've got hunting and those British dicks to worry about," Dean admitted. "Plus, me and Sam have twenty odd years to make up for with Adam, bringing him into this life…" He rested his head on Castiel's shoulder. "I want to do things right with them, but you know how me and Sam's luck gets…" Castiel pressed a soft kiss into Dean's hair.
"It won't be easy, handling everything that's going on, but I know that you and Sam are more than capable of doing so. Mary and Adam are strong people; they'll be fine. Just take things slowly, Dean." Dean hummed in response. "Gabriel and I will be here with the both of you every step of the way."
"Thanks, Cas," he whispered, pulling his angel closer, returning the earlier kiss with one of his own. He closed his eyes, and Castiel pulled the sheets over them, Dean wrapped protectively in his arms as he drifted off to sleep.
Closing A/N: Ugh, man, so many characters in this chapter. This is more complicated than I thought it would be. I hope it didn't read like I just threw everyone in there and said, "Plot! Characters! BA-BAM! Chapter!" I swear that's how the first draft of this chapter went and I had half a mind to scrap it all as soon as I read it. Hopefully this version is a bit better. Next chapter, we'll hear from Mick, Michael, Luci, and Crowley, and a few unnamed characters to keep in mind for future reference. See y'all then, and I hope I'm doing this sequel justice so far! :)
