Samuel had never thought Hell would be like this. Never in all of his existence had he thought it possible. Until arriving in Hell, he had thought nothing could be worse than The Graveyard in Heaven. The place where so many of his brothers and sisters had taken their own lives.

He was so very wrong.

Hell was cold. Angels could not feel things like that, not in the human world, and not in Heaven. Even when visiting the heavens of different humans in different climates, there was no change for an angel, they did not feel it. So, at first, he had not recognized it.

However, it became abundantly clear what it was. This place was different. For the first time in his existence he felt the ice on his wings, the biting cold on his Grace. It affected him in ways he never thought possible. For the first thirty years they fought through Hell against demons for the human Soul by the name of Gabriel Novak. They fought and tore through countless bodies. They lost so many brothers and sisters Sam lost count. Still they fought, like good soldiers. Through blood and carnage and Souls of the damned, both angels and human alike. They saw it all. Samuel did not know if he would ever leave again. Thirty years in Hell had broken him apart. It had begun to make him question what was real and what was fake. Every motion in the smoke, breath of air, all of it was disorienting. Hell was a place no angel belonged.

Then he had felt the shift, they had all felt it, a shake through the deepest, darkest parts of Hell. It reverberated through Heaven, through Hell, through Purgatory, and through Earth. All of Creation shook and trembled and they knew.

The First Seal had broken.

The Righteous Man had been broken.

Many of his brothers and sisters mourned in that moment. Rather than stay, they fled Hell. Hell allowed them leave. Those that left were not stopped. It wasn't hard for an angel to leave Hell, for they didn't belong, but coming to Hell was the true challenge.

Some of the others, they were shocked, the shock was enough to stun them in battle, for them to die at the hands of demons, of the Fallen.

Only a few stayed aware of their surroundings, only a few chose to continue forth. It was their task; it was their responsibility. Here, in the dark confines of Hell, they could not communicate to Heaven. They could not ask for guidance. This was what they knew. Save The Righteous Man.

Samuel did not want to stay. His wings were frosty and his Grace was chilled, he felt the rumble of his second eldest brother from the deepest pit, the torn and tattered Grace reaching out through its domain for the first time since he had been locked away.

'My brothers. My sisters. You have failed. Join us and we will stop. Join us and you will be free. No more tragic tales of Souls, no more pain, just freedom. You need not worry, brothers and sisters. I will take your hand. Lay your weapons down, show your loyalty to me. Take the freedom, make the choice. Father was wrong. He should not have done what He did. We are meant to be Guardians to them, and we are not meant to lose them. They break us. Ruin us. Follow me. Should you choose to join me, I will allow you to see them again. I will give them to you.' Lucifer's voice rang through them all, The Father of Lies. He spoke to the angels, all of them heard his words, a few of Samuel's brothers and sisters did lay down their weapons.

No one stopped them, because the ones that went to Lucifer had no reason to fight, all they were doing was laying down.

They all knew the tales of those angels. The ones who stopped, the ones who gave in. They had lost their Souls, just as Lucifer had lost his all those years ago. It was none of their faults. They wanted it to be over. They wanted a chance. Lucifer was a chance, and it truly stunned Samuel when Uriel continued on beside him.

Samuel kept on. Some of his brothers and sisters gave up on their task, they returned to Heaven. Others continued to lay their weapons down, just to stop the fighting. They joined Lucifer.

Only two of his brothers remained by the time they found the Soul they had quested forty years for. Uriel and Balthazar.

The Soul was broken and torn and tattered from thirty years of torture.

Samuel had never seen something so bright.

He knew what it meant.

The way the Soul pulled at him, tugged him towards it, screamed at him to protect it without saying a word. The way it repaired him and reminded him to move on. Keep going.

Without a thought Samuel launched himself forward, glowing brighter than he had in years, feeling more alive than he ever had.

This was what it meant to be a Guardian.

His Grace sang with power he had never felt before; the demons dove out of the way as Samuel landed before the Soul, fear clouding their corrupted form because they knew just as well as the others what his reaction meant.

This was his Soul.

"Gabriel Novak."

The Enochian rang through the air and the Soul turned from where he was in the midst of ripping apart a Soul, scalpel covered in what the human mind could only comprehend as blood.

Samuel was unsure what the Soul saw when he saw the angel before him but the broken and tattered Soul managed a lopsided smile, "Another incubus so soon." His voice was that of a broken and shattered man, Samuel wanted to smite every demon in a hundred-mile radius for destroying what was his to protect.

"I am Samuel. I have come to here to free you, Gabriel Novak."

"And I'm Queen of Hell. Leave me alone. I have work to return to." As the human Soul turned, it flickered briefly, a darkness covering the white. Without a thought Samuel stepped up behind the Soul, wrapping what could only be described as his arms around the human Soul who began shouting. "Let me go!" He tightened his hold around the Soul. His Soul. Gabriel had to agree to leave. Angels could do little without consent. Especially when it came to resurrecting Souls. Rightfully, Sam should not have been there.

"I will not, Gabriel. Stop being a child and allow me this." Before you destroy me. Words that were not fair to speak. If Samuel could not save this Soul, if it stayed here, it would destroy him. Forty years had been spent on rescuing him. There was no reason for him to give up. Unless the Soul said no.

"Don't. I'm not worth saving. Don't save me. Save her or him. Not me." The Soul fought in his hold, not as hard as it could have. It was lying to him, lying to itself.

"Let me save you, Gabriel. Tell me 'yes'." I am begging you.

"I can't."

"Tell me yes." Samuel's voice was firm yet pleading. Samuel could not afford a no. Everything he was would be lost in that word. He would never leave Hell.

"You can't make me." Gabriel's tone was defiant, there was no sincerity. His Soul sang without noise, drawing the Grace of the angel in. Feeding him light in the darkness of Hell. It wanted him to free him. He needed a 'yes'.

"Say 'yes', Gabriel. Let me save you." Save me, before you destroy me.

The Righteous Man crumbled in his arms and whispered one word, a word that, at the time, Samuel did not realize would end his world. "Yes." Gabriel choked out, broken and destroyed.

With little thought, Samuel tightened his hold on the Soul, gripping him and launching himself from Hell. Somewhere in the back of his mind he still heard Lucifer's whispers. He heard Balthazar and Uriel calling after him. It did not matter. Only one thing did.

'Gabriel Novak has been saved!' He announced joyously as he escaped the iciness of Hell with his Soul, his human.

Piece by piece he rebuilt Gabriel Novak's body, letting his Grace flow through the corners of every inch of the beautiful Soul's human body. It was buried in a wooden crate in a small clearing in the midst of a forest. Samuel took care when rebuilding the body, healing scars from years previous. Too many scars. What would a man have done that would give him this many scars? The Soul of Gabriel Novak sang bright with power meant for him, buried in Samuel's Grace for protection from the one place Samuel had never planned to visit. Of course, there was only so much he could do here. Despite everything his Soul was corrupted and destroyed by Hell. The only reward in this was that there was hope, no matter how miniscule. There was still a chance.

'Samuel. Repair your human then return. We have orders.' Uriel's voice rang through Samuel's Grace and he felt what the other angels rarely spoke of. The desire to defy. It went against everything they were meant for. At that moment Samuel was unsure whether what he was meant for was his Soul or if it was Heaven. That moment of doubt scared the angel, it sent Gabriel's Soul from his body into the cold Earth and in a second Samuel had retaken the Soul into him, it was shaking slightly but otherwise unharmed. The only damage was the scars from Hell.

"I am sorry, Gabriel. Truly sorry. I wish I could be here upon your waking. I must find myself a Vessel. I have orders. Do not hurt yourself. I am begging you, please be careful." Taking the Soul of Gabriel into the angelic equivalent of his hand, Samuel pressed said hand to the center of the human's chest before spreading his wings, watching for only a moment as golden eyes snapped open and Gabriel gasped the first breath of his rebirth.

Samuel launched himself upwards, through Earth and leaves, leveling the forest around them as he flew.

.-~*~-.

After a briefing from the Seraph Zachariah, Samuel was sent to formally meet Gabriel Novak and explain what had happened to him. Zachariah was not a kind angel. He was one of many who had lost their Souls. The order that gave Samuel freedom to his Soul had not come from Zachariah. It had come from Hannah. A kind Seraph. One who had lost their Soul but coped.

'Thank you, Hannah.' He spoke softly to her through one of the many private waves of communication.

'You will not thank me when it is over, Samuel. Do not let yourself Fall. He will die. They all do.' Her words fell on him and the broken lost sadness in them shook him to the core of his very being. That could be him one of these days. If not her, then perhaps Zachariah, or… No, best not to think on that.

It was too late for him. Every angel knew it. They whispered among each other and he pretended he could not hear it as he took flight for Earth.

It took a week for him to find a suitable Vessel for the bloodline he was meant to follow. There were six billion people on the planet and he had never taken a Vessel in his long existence. It took a lot of searching before, at last, he found it. His Vessel was a man by the name of Jared. A poor man sitting at the side of a road in Colorado. Samuel only saw the glowing white light of the mostly pure Soul of his Vessel, felt the prayers to their Father as he sat alone and waited for the day the cold would finally take him. It was tragic, but there was little that could be done for him. Not to mention that, at the moment, Samuel needed him. This was the eldest in his bloodline.

Samuel pitied the man. If he poked into the mind of the man he saw what had happened. The man had been handed trial after trial in his life. His wife had left him and taken everything, his children, his money, his home, all of it. Still this man was faithful, loyal to the end.

"Jared Winchester." He spoke in his True Voice to his Vessel who jumped at the sound, his gaze moving around the dark alley in panic.

"Who are you? Where are you?"

"I am Samuel. I am an Angel of The Lord."

The man stood on shaky, boney legs, looking around and attempting to spot the angel. Samuel carefully allowed his Vessel to see him, in his purist form, the form only an angel's own Vessel can see.

"Are you here to take me?"

"No, Jared. I am here to ask you a question. One you must choose the answer to on your own." Angels could only possess Vessels when consent was given, it was a fact. If Jared denied him Samuel would be forced to seek out one of his children for a Vessel. Angels rarely took child Vessels, less so when they had a Soul they were seeking. It did happen. Not commonly but it did happen.

"What's the question?" Jared asked cautiously, a wise human, still careful. When this ended he would do anything the man asked.

"I need to possess your body. Control you for a time. After I am done I will return you to your life and give you anything you ask, within my power."

Jared seemed to consider this, clearly unsure, of course it was a sane thing to be wary of. Jared was a smart man.

"Protect my family. My ex-wife and children. Promise me my family will be safe."

An easy promise for Samuel. Protecting the family of his Vessel was something he would have done either way. It was such a selfless thing to ask, Samuel respected this man more for it. Rather than trying to get something from him, he chose the selfless route, asking for the protection of his family

"I will protect them. I swear on my Father I will keep them safe." The sky thundered around them and for the first time in his creation, Samuel almost would have sworn he felt Him. Their Father.

"Then Yes. I consent to you possessing me." Just like that Samuel felt the shift in the world as the Vessel drew him in, all of his power and all of who he was in to the single human body.

Samuel would never admit that it scared him for a moment. He would never admit to the freedom he felt in the body of a human. If he had, it might have sent him Falling. He would not Fall until after he lost his Soul. He could not.

.-~*~-.

Lucifer was still whispering to them. Samuel was unsure but it seemed that in the power his Soul had given him the voice had been buried in the back of his Grace. Or maybe it was the Vessel he now possessed, condensing his Grace into a single human body. Possibly, it simply was his presence on Earth, a layer too close to Hell that allowed the whispers to infiltrate him.

It was not easy to drown the Fallen Archangel out, he spoke such alluring words. Promises that Gabriel Novak would be protected. The other angels were drawn into his cause purely by the promises of being reunited with their own Souls. Heaven was forced to call angels with Souls, both present and past, home until a later date. Samuel was not called back. He had to protect The Righteous Man.

The summoning spell took Samuel by surprise. It happened not long after he had taken his Vessel. Jared slumbered deeply in his subconscious, safe and buried from the world. For the first time in a long time, Jared Winchester was content. The summoning spell was another matter. It caused Samuel to panic briefly as he was yanked away from the alley he had been standing in, the place he had picked up his Vessel, communicating with his brothers and sisters about Lucifer.

At first, he was terrified it had been a demon or one of his newly Fallen brothers or sisters, forcing him to them to make him join their cause.

That was not what had happened. When he had arrived outside the barn he felt the power radiating from the inside.

Not just the power from his Soul.

The power from sigils and warding covering the walls, ancient sigils that would have warded these humans inside from most anything, anything at all, except angels.

Using a flick of the power given to him by his Soul he flung the doors of the barn open, stepping through them and looking between the two humans. One was a simple human, insignificant compared the beautiful, bright, glow of his Soul. Even under closer inspection the Soul residing next to Gabriel Novak was dimmed, burnt away with years of age. It was likely he did not have long.

He looked back at Gabriel, his Soul. For the sake of himself he allowed himself to turn his vision to the more mundane vision his Vessel possessed. He could then see the shorter man with golden eyes this way, he did not really acknowledge the gruff older man standing next to his Soul.

A sharp sound rang through the air and Samuel faintly felt something, when he looked down he saw a bullet falling from the tattered clothing of his Vessel. Blinking, he returned his focus to Gabriel. Gabriel's Soul who was singing to his Grace again, calling to him. With little thought Samuel stepped forward until he was a few feet in front of the two men in the room.

This time he was prepared.

The older man with the dimmed Soul attempted to stab him and he caught the arm mid swing, twisting it and speaking softly, "You will not kill me." The words were spoken generally though they were targeted at his Soul. He reached over and pressed a finger to the older man's temple, sending him into a deep slumber.

It finally registered with him.

Hunters.

His Soul was a Hunter.

He heard an apology whispered to him from Balthazar at the revelation. A Hunter lived a short life. This one had already died. Samuel would be destroyed sooner rather than later. Of course, should their brother be freed, his Soul would die either way. Unless he joined Lucifer.

It made everything make even more sense. The reason he had been sent to his Soul to ask for assistance in averting The Apocalypse. It was strange that they would ask a human for help but the reason had hardly mattered. It gave him time with his Soul.

"I'll be damned if I don't try." A knife that Samuel recognized from an ancient time was in his hand and Samuel instantly feared the knife. Not because it would harm him. It could not. However, it could harm his Soul. A knife that destroyed Souls. A Hunter no doubt used it on demons. A Human would not realize the dangers of the knife. Without a thought the knife appeared in his own hand and he sent it away to the deepest ocean.

Gabriel stared at him slightly dumbfounded and a bit awestruck. "What are you?" The question was choked, stunned, scared. Samuel would never harm his Soul.

"My name is Samuel. I am an Angel of The Lord. I held your Soul and pulled you from the darkest depths of Hell." It was obvious he did not remember being saved, it bit at his Grace, a taunt. His human mind could not have truly comprehended the angel that had saved him so it had chosen to remove the memories completely.

Gabriel blinked, once, twice. "An angel? An angel pulled me from Hell?"

Without thinking he allowed the bare minimum of his Grace bleed through his Vessel for the sight of the human, his wings spreading high and mighty behind him despite the confines of the Vessel. The Soul in front of him called to him, sang for him. Destined to destroy him. As all Souls did to their Guardian.

"Bullshit." Gabriel's voice broke, just a bit.

"Heaven needs you."

"Angels aren't real." Gabriel looked fearful, only for a moment. Then it was buried under a mask of confidence.

"The Apocalypse is coming and Heaven needs your assistance." The message had been burnt into him, his reason for finding the older Novak brother. At least Heaven's reason for sending him.

"Even if you're really an angel. An angel wouldn't save me."

Samuel frowned, looking at and through to the Soul of the man he had saved. It was still singing to him in that silent way. If he looked deeper into the man, he saw what he wished he did not have to see. The broken and tattered Soul of Hell. He should have been there. He should have protected him.

"I saved you, Gabriel Novak. I am an Angel of The Lord. I saved you from Damnation and I would do it again. Believe me or not, Heaven has work for you."

Gabriel gritted his teeth, staring with defiance at the angel. "Why?"

"You are The Righteous Man. You will help us stop The Apocalypse."

"If I refuse?"

He knew what he was supposed to answer that question, it went against everything he believed and it was the one thing he would never do. "You cannot refuse. It is God's will." He tried to avoid the answer he was meant to give and Gabriel scoffed.

"Look, Sambo. God didn't save my brother when he was dying in that hospital bed. I don't owe him any fucking favors. So, try again." Sambo? It took him a moment to catch up and realize that it was a nickname. Strange.

"If you do not comply I will be forced to shove you back in Hell." Please do not make me do that. I cannot bear to do that to you. It will destroy me.

This time the fear was not concealed, Gabriel stepped back, staring at him and his Soul recoiled at the threat. Samuel wanted nothing more than to comfort his Soul. The man attached to it. He was not allowed to defy Heaven's orders. Not even for his Soul. Not unless he was to Fall.

'Samuel. We need you to return now. Handle the mudmonkey and return.'

Samuel bit back an angry remark. This was his Soul. He would remind Uriel calmly. 'I will return shortly, Uriel. Do not speak ill of my Soul.'

"What do you need from me?" The Righteous Man asked, that was all it had taken, the single threat of the one thing he would never do. Other angels would do it. The threat was a genuine threat; one Samuel would fight them on should it become a problem.

"We will be in touch, Gabriel." I will return to you. In a flutter of feathers, Samuel fled that place, returning to Heaven and leaving the sleeping Bobby Singer and his Soul to deal with the new information.

.-~*~-.

"Samuel." The angel did not look away from the dark spot in Heaven when Uriel spoke to him. Seeing the bodies of the angels who had been unable to cope was a reminder before. A reminder why he would never touch Earth. He did not want to be one of them.

Now, he had his Soul. Gabriel Novak was his Soul. It was going to destroy him. Would he become one of these bodies? Another corpse in the unspoken place of darkness in Heaven? Would he fall to Earth to follow his Soul into Hell? Would he become like Uriel? Cruel and bitter. Would he be like Hannah? Kind and pitying yet broken.

"Are you listening to him?" A hand rested on his shoulder and finally Samuel flicked his gaze up to meet the eyes of his brother's new Vessel. The one he had worn in Hell had been killed and Uriel had shed it without a thought.

"I would never follow Lucifer, Uriel. Do not think I would. Are you?" The truth was Samuel had been listening to the promises from Lucifer. In Heaven they were faint whispers, barely audible, but there. They sang through his Grace like a promise. Promises from The Father of Lies. Promises Samuel might accept should they be unable to stop The Cage from opening. Even when he was not actively seeking his brother's voice out, it was there, making itself known. Tempting him.

"The Father of Lies, Samuel. Even when Father cast him from Heaven. It was for more than loving his Soul. Remember that, Samuel. He defied Father's Will. The loss of his Soul did not do this to him. Archangels are capable of moving past them. Raphael did not break apart when he lost his." No, he just became uncaring.

"Losing his did kill Debriel." Samuel stated plainly. It had been years now since the youngest Archangel, Debriel, had disappeared from Heaven after losing his Soul. Everyone presumed him dead. It was the kind theory. No one wanted to discuss what may have happened to the Archangel if he had not died.

"Samuel, do not let this Soul consume you. Remember that it does not last. Especially when your Soul is a Hunter. Do not join these cow-"

"Do not call them that." Samuel stood before he realized he was doing it, "Not here, Uriel. Do not call them that. They were grieving and desperate. Of the two of us you should understand that."

Uriel held his gaze, his Grace flickered along the shell of his Vessel in his anger. "The Souls consume us, Samuel. It does not mean the end. Not now, not ever. They are cowards for destroying themselves. For choosing not to live with it."

"Leave this place." Samuel bit out angrily, holding his brother's gaze.

Uriel bared his teeth, "We are to go assist in protection of the Seals. Find Balthazar and take him with you to Allan, Kansas." The other angel disappeared in a flurry of feathers.

Just before Samuel could take off in his own flight he spotted something resting on the ground next to the beginning of pools of golden blood that never dried. At the edge of the dark spot.

There was something new.

Samuel had been here thousands of times, yet this was new. No angel had taken their lives recently. Not in twenty seven Earth years. There was no explanation as to why something new would be here, unless someone else had come by choice. Which never happened. As far as he was concerned, he was the only angel that came here willingly.

The object was small, about the size of a seashell, and a forest green shade that Samuel could not place though it was very familiar. When he knelt to the ground and looked closer at the item he found it was a feather, too large to belong to any angel below a Seraph. The color was familiar as well, but only just. Try as he did he could not place where he had seen the color. Carefully he pocketed the feather in the shredded clothing of his Vessel before he took flight and searched for Balthazar.