Chapter 4 – For Those He Loved


Sam leaned back in his chair, running his hands down his face. He groaned quietly as the monotonous ticking of the mantel clock seemed to taunt him with the reminder that every second he didn't find a solution was another second that Cas was alone in Lucifer's clutches. Yes, he knew Lucifer direly needed to keep Cas alive. But Sam knew the Devil. Their angel friend might very well wish he were dead.

Dropping his hands, Sam twisted to cast a bleary eye at the time, then exhaled a long, slow breath as he realized it was already almost four in the morning. The words on the page still open on the table were swimming in and out of focus. Maybe some coffee.

Yeah… coffee. Sam decided he could spare ten minutes to grab a snack, but then he needed to get back to it.

The young hunter pushed himself to his feet, slowly easing out the kinks and aches from having sat still for too long. At some point, he vaguely thought, he would have to sleep. There was no sense running himself into the ground, or he'd be no use to Cas.

Of course it was one thing to say that. When it came down to it, though, Sam just couldn't bring himself to stop, not even for some sleep. Not when he thought about what the warrior angel might be going through.

Not when he still saw the pain in Cas's face when his friend had saved him from Lucifer's vengeance. It's taking all my strength to keep him from killing you. But if the angel had been strong enough to take control once, Sam knew with absolute certainty that Lucifer would ensure he couldn't do it again. The hunter shuddered. And then he had banished Cas. Yes, the point had been to banish Lucifer, but even as he'd done it, Sam knew that Cas would be the one to bear Lucifer's rage, punishment for having been bested by the brothers.

He'd had no choice, though.

But now, Sam needed to bring Cas back home, which meant there would be later nights than this until he found a solution.

The hunter wandered towards the kitchen, taking the long route through the dormitory wing so that he could shuffle into Dean's doorway first. He pushed the door open as silently as possible and looked in on his brother. No need to have worried; Dean was dead to the world, several empty bottles scattered around the bed. One arm was reaching towards the nightstand where his phone rested in silent hope of news in the middle of the night, and his boots were still on.

Sam smiled sadly, then trudged forward. Dean never slept in his boots when they were safe in the bunker. Though it bothered the younger Winchester that his brother was acting so defeated, at least Dean seemed to be subconsciously in fighting mode. Sam just wished he didn't have to be.

Pulling up the blanket, Sam draped it over the sleeping hunter without trying to remove Dean's shoes. Better to just let him sleep and take in whatever solace he could find from unconsciousness. Sam's weary body longed for that as well, but… well, he still had a job to do.

Cas, he silently prayed. I don't know if you can hear me. But we haven't given up, alright? I- I know it's taking a while to find you, but we're still looking for a way to get Lucifer out of you. And for another way to kill Amara. I know you let him in, but… but there's gotta be another way, and I'll find it. I WILL. Cas, just please hold on, alright? I hope Lucifer's leaving you alone, but if he's not…

Sam's prayer trailed off as a chill rippled through his heart, remnants of an old nightmare that had never dissipated. If Lucifer wasn't leaving Cas alone, then it was largely Sam's fault, and how could he bear the pain of passing his own nightmare on to someone else? Especially when it was Cas, a second brother to the Winchesters?

I'm so sorry, Cas, he finished with a sigh, backing out of Dean's room and resuming his journey to the kitchen. But I can fix this. I just haven't found the right book yet. I'm still looking, and… and I'll be there as soon as I can.

Helplessly, Sam cut off the prayer, still not knowing if the angel could even hear them, and frustrated with how little comfort or good news he could offer anyway. Finding his way to the coffeepot on the kitchen counter, Sam threw some grounds into the basket and pushed the button. The clock on the stove said that he'd already been away for almost twelve minutes. He needed to get moving.

When the coffee was finally done, Sam poured a mug and left it black, then trudged back towards the library. An answer was here. He just needed to find it. Before Lucifer could break Cas for good. Before Dean gave up all hope. Before Sam himself ran out of strength to hold himself and his brother together.

At least the page was a little clearer, the ink staying in one place as the caffeine began to take effect. Sam took a long sip, then set the mug down and closed his eyes for one more moment.

Look… he prayed again, but not to Cas. I know you don't really want to get involved. Or at least, you haven't bothered to show up yet. And I know I'm the last person who deserves a prayer answered. But… God… Cas has done nothing but try to help, from the very start. He's given EVERYTHING. And he's your son. So… please. I'm begging you… just don't let him die.


Gabriel eyed the angel before him, satisfied that the true face he was looking at actually was his younger brother, not his older one. The eyes staring back at him held such exhaustion that the archangel felt weary just watching him. Not that he was surprised. Of course Lucifer would be riding Castiel mercilessly.

"You alright?" he demanded, appraising the angel. Besides the exhaustion, there was also the odd way Castiel stood slack, completely still from the shoulders down. Gabriel shrugged that off, though, more concerned with getting some answers.

"I'm…" Cas seemed to hesitate, a flicker of nerves giving him away. "…Fine."

Boy, Gabriel was going to have to give him some lessons on selling a convincing lie. The archangel crossed his arms, waiting, but Castiel only wrinkled his brow and murmured,

"So that's what he was doing. Resurrecting you. It makes sense."

Abruptly, the angel's face shifted, voice growling out, "Tell him how I got permission."

"Hey!" Gabriel snapped. "No prompting from the studio audience!" Although, he did want an answer on that. And with how lousy Cas was at lying, Gabriel would be able to tell if Lucifer had tortured or tricked the kid into letting him in.

Castiel—or Lucifer, rather—let out an annoyed huff, and then his face shifted again. Cas exhaled sharply, falling still, and he looked down.

"I volunteered," he said, voice low with some emotion Gabriel couldn't place. "It was the only way."

"The only way to what?" Gabriel demanded. His glare deepened. "What's he got over you?"

Castiel gave his head a minute shake. "Nothing. It wasn't like that. But… the Winchesters… they were about to send him back to the Cage. Dean would have never sacrificed Sam as Lucifer's vessel again, but I knew we needed an archangel to have any hope of defeating Amara. I… I offered. It was my idea. There, you see, brother? He gave himself to me of his own free will. Are you satisfied?"

The abrupt shift in his voice made Gabriel blink, and then scowl again as he realized Lucifer had re-surfaced. As a matter of fact, he wasn't satisfied at all.

"No!" he snapped. "Put Cas back on! I'm not done yet."

"This is infantile, Gabriel."

"Uh, you want my cooperation or not? 'Cause I'm just as happy to sit my ass down and be your literal ball and chain."

Lucifer rolled his eyes, pursed his lips, but then receded into the background again. Castiel jolted slightly as he reappeared; Gabriel could imagine that Luci had given him a shove. It was starting to piss him off him how unnecessarily rough his older brother was being with Cas, given that without the lesser angel, Lucifer wouldn't be there at all. Would some appreciation really be that hard to muster?

Gabriel ran a hand down his face, sighing. "Why, kiddo?"

Castiel didn't meet his eyes. "We needed an archangel," he repeated. "Lucifer was our only chance."

"Okay, but why you? I get it, Dean wasn't gonna let Samsquatch play the angel-condom card, but you could've found another way to spring him. What's with the sacrifice play?"

"I made the most sense as a vessel," Cas replied. He still wasn't looking at Gabriel. "I wanted to be of some service. I'm used up, Gabriel. This was all I would be good for."

The archangel's eyes narrowed, studying his little brother with masked alarm at such defeatist talk. Not that Castiel had ever been known for his overwhelming optimism, but these were the words of an angel who had already given up… and that was something Gabriel had thought Cas would never do. What the hell had he missed since the Apocalypse to have turned his staunch, fierce warrior of a brother into this hollow, exhausted quitter?

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, crossing his arms. "That's bull. What happened to you, anyway? Has Luci been telling you this shit?" He wouldn't put it past the older archangel, whose silver tongue could work more damage than every blade of the Host combined.

Cas hesitated. "I've… known this for a while."

It didn't feel like a lie told under duress. None of this was making sense, and Gabriel huffed in exasperation. He was never going to get to the bottom of things like this.

"Okay, you know what?" he growled. "You're just gonna have to catch me up. Just… show me everything since Lucifer was kind enough to kill me, and I'll sort it out myself. Alright, bro?"

The younger angel nodded, but when Gabriel leaned in a bit so Cas could touch his forehead to deposit the memories, his brother didn't move. The archangel waited a second, then raised an eyebrow. Castiel cleared his throat with discomfort, arms limp at his sides.

"I, um… I- I can't-" He broke off, a pleading expression on his face.

Gabriel took in his brother's slack posture, then rolled his eyes. "He's got you tied up pretty good, huh?" he muttered. "Forget it, I'll do it."

Reaching out, he set a hand on Cas's head, pulling out the information his brother was passing on. Everything he'd seen, everything he'd heard, all that had transpired between the Elysian Fields and the moment Gabriel had been brought back.

Had he not been a celestial being of quasi-limitless power, Gabriel's mind would have exploded under the sudden influx of information, far more than a mere human could have safely processed in the span of a few seconds. The transference was immediate, leaving Gabriel to jerk away as he sifted simultaneously through a million memories… each one more horrible than the others. What the hell?

Why had Cas been fighting a war against Raphael alone, after everything he'd done for Sam and Dean? Why had they trapped him in a ring of holy fire and left him there? Why had he been kicked out of their super-secret lair, and… and… too many damn things for him to even single them all out, all culminating with a scarred Castiel looking the Devil in the eye and whispering one little word.

All because no one had bothered to make sure the angel knew how fiercely he mattered.

"Gabriel?" Castiel asked with a note of anxiety as the archangel spun away. "Gabriel, I'm-" Then, again, his voice shifted mid-sentence, Castiel cut off with a muffled protest. Lucifer finished for him. "-glad we got that out of the way. Now do you understand the urgency here?"

The younger archangel didn't respond, breathing heavily as his fists clenched and unclenched. He wasn't sure what exactly he'd been expecting, but what he'd just seen sure as hellfire hadn't been it.

"Gonna kill 'em myself," he growled under his breath, angrily kicking his foot forward in a useless attempt to break the chain keeping him there. Those damn Winchesters! Maybe there hadn't been time to part on better terms with them, but he'd sacrificed himself to give them the chance to make everything right, and now Gabriel was wishing he'd just smote them instead. Not that he'd been that nice to Cas, himself. But it was one thing for him to screw around with the kid, and a very different thing for someone else to do so.

"You're trying my patience, little brother."

The furious archangel whirled back around, snapping, "Did I say you could come back out? I'm not done with Cas yet, so put him back on!"

There was a dangerous narrowing of the blue eyes, a clenching jaw that looked so odd on Castiel's normally stoic face. Gabriel knew he was ticking his brother off—not the safest of pursuits—but he was pretty damn ticked off himself, and even if he wasn't the almighty Lucifer, he still wasn't to be underestimated.

When Lucifer seemed reluctant to grant the perfectly reasonable request, Gabriel glowered and switched to Angel Radio instead.

"Cas!" he snapped, tapping in to the connection among angels. "Why are you still hanging around those jackasses?"

There was no response, but Lucifer did cross his arms and shift his weight in a show of immense impatience. "He can't come to the phone right now. He's already screwed things up for me once, do you really think I'm going to leave him a way to communicate with anyone outside?"

"Oh, come on!" Gabriel protested. "You've got what you want, you got a happy-clappy vessel to prance around in, why you gotta screen his calls?"

"You know, I brought you back because I need someone I can count on," Lucifer retorted, still looking dangerously close to attacking. "Not because I need someone to explain myself to. You got what you wanted, too. I let you talk to Castiel, so now you're all caught up, and if you actually care about any of us… you'll focus on the Darkness."

Gabriel still didn't feel finished, not by a long shot. He opened his mouth in preparation to give a smartass reply, out of centuries of habit, but forced himself to close it again. Antagonizing his brother, as much fun as it could be, wouldn't do Castiel any favors, and Gabriel was still too pissed off about what he'd just seen to risk bringing any malice down on his younger sibling.

"Fine," he growled out from behind gritted teeth. "What's your plan?"

"I'm still working on that," Lucifer began, but Gabriel wasn't really listening.

He would let Lucifer figure out the whole Darkness issue—and leave it to the Winchesters to bring his cranky old aunt back into play, after how hard it had been to get rid of her the first go-around. Meanwhile, his own time would be better spent working on the other sticky wicket they had here.

Namely, what exactly was the plan for after Auntie Amara was gone? It wasn't like Lucifer would just give up a perfectly good vessel, who wouldn't be able to eject him. He had to know that Gabriel wasn't likely to stand by and go along with Lucifer taking over, though. Of course Gabriel was worried for Cas, but there was his own sweet ass to consider, too.

After all, his last attempt to fight Luci hadn't exactly gone according to plan.

If only he could talk to Castiel alone. It bothered Gabriel how much his little brother had changed. It bothered him how tightly Lucifer was gripping the younger angel in his claws, not letting him hear or see or, hell, even move. He would have to find some way of communicating with Cas, which would probably require something crafty and clever.

Fortunately, he was the craftiest and cleverest of them all.

Gabriel let Lucifer keep droning on, but his own eyes narrowed in thought. The chain around his ankle was an infuriating hindrance, but not an insurmountable one. But he was going to need some allies, and incensed though he was, there were only two knuckleheads in the world who were even remotely up to the task…