It had been hard leaving Adam's. The brothers had to part ways with their youngest half-brother yet again, and he kept ensuring that they would see each other again, light shining behind his bright blue eyes. He had a lot of qualities that John must have been proud of; his dexterity, endurance, and amazingly pointed morals. But it seemed that his firey compassion to help the wounded came from his mom.

It had been physically hard as well. Adam's heaven was always in pleasent spring weather, and it was a perpetual 2 o' clock in the afternoon. So when the four angels came to the boudary between this pleasent little heaven and the freezing cold, barren forests, it was hard to step over into the sub-zero tempuratures. They stepped out from his green grassed lawn, and right away they passed through a barrier and the sunny house turned into a hazy, window-like two dimensional image with a slight whomp.

Wind bit into their exposed skin, and the skinny black trees didn't offer much protection from the bitterly cold gusts.

"We have to keep going, it gets better once we find the other angels. The warmth of all our graces combined will help." Castiel explained over the whistling wind. He rushed to scoop up Samandriel, who was clinging tightly to Dean's hand as the snow had come up thigh-deep on him. Samandriel clung to Castiel from the front, peeking back at Sam and Dean from Cas's shoulder, which he rested his chin on.

There seemed to be a warmth from somewhere else, Dean noticed. He felt himself being pulled to the source. He could somewhat make out two people standing in a room, but it was like trying to see through a veil of mist. The two-dimensional view of the room looked part way there, as if it could either vanish into nothing or solidify into something entirely tangible. Dean felt a jolt when he realized what this had to be; John and Mary's shared heaven! Dean felt a rush of excitement and happiness and he felt himself being drawn to the hazy image. Castiel roughly grabbed his wrist, snapping him out of it.

"Dean. You will have time to visit later. We must keep going," He warned, his deep blue eyes shining. "I'm sorry."

Dean scowled and fell back into line with the others. More and more tempting heavens kept appearing all around them, calling out with their warmth and love. It was like suffering from hypothermia and having someone standing right there with a coat, blanket, warm bed and cup of tea and having to refuse it.

They had to force themselves to pass by Jo, Ellen and Ash's heaven at the pub, and Samandriel had to resist seeing Alfie again. The worst was passing by Bobby's. The boys felt the warmth and the aura and knew it was his, but they both couldn't even bear to look at what his best moment was.

This was absolutely mentally exhausting, having something you wanted most of all and not being able to even look. Then Sam finally saw one heaven that he had to give in. Dean looked over to see the approaching heaven with weary eyes. Damn, this was torture. Where the hell were these other angels?

He saw a blurry image of what the incoming heaven was, it looked somewhat like a brick building or apartment. Suddenly, Sam's whole body locked up with one sweep, and before Cas could grab him, Sam was sprinting like hellhounds were after him to the approaching heaven. "Sam, stop! We can't-" Dean called after him, trying to grab his brother to only be restrained by Castiel again, Cas only slowly shook his head. Without him speaking, Dean understood. He should not interrupt them, and Sam would come back out. Dean knew he had enough willpower.

The window into the heaven solidfied with a muffled thump when Sam passed through the misty portal, and every detail suddenly became very real and crystal clear. Stanford University campus, Dean recognized. Oh, god. No wonder Sam had sprinted off so fast.

Sam ran faster and faster, his heart racing. Only one person was on his mind, and he just couldn't get there fast enough. He burst through the familiar dorm room door, his heart feeling like it was beating a billion times a minute. "Jess?" He cried out, and felt warmth instantly in his chest at just saying the name. That name hadn't left his lips in years.

And like magic, there she was, standing there in the dorm with a smile on her face, in a beautiful white dress. She looked more like an angel in Sam's eyes than he would ever be. Sam felt his heart melt as he saw that familiar face that he hadn't seen smiling like that for years and years. Her hair was just like he remembered it, a beautiful shining blonde with gentle curls that reached down to her ribcage. She was bright-eyed and intelligent, and she looked exactly the same from years ago, and so perfect that Sam stood there for half a second, starstruck.

Coming to his senses, Sam barrelled through the room and wrapped his arms tightly around Jess, lifting and twirling her in a circle before setting her down lightly and kissing her with all the passion and longing that had built up over the years. His deep brown wings puffed with air and shuffled, instinctively stretching to partly wrap around the small human's body.

They pulled apart, and Jess smiled genuinely and gazed up into Sam's eyes with her own innocent, bright eyes. Happy tears sparkled in Sam's deep blue eyes; he couldn't help it, he leaned down and kissed her again. She laughed waterily, tears springing to her eyes as well. Sam threw his arms around her and buried himself into a hug. God, he had missed her so much. And finally seeing her again made him realize how much he had really missed her.

"I'm so proud of you, Sam." She said with laughing eyes, stroking the hair on the back of his head, and eventually trailing down his neck and shoulder blades, and sliding a hand down the rounded tops of his glossy wings. "Look at how beautiful you are."

Sam let out a hiccup-like noise that was the combination between a laugh and sob. He pulled out of the hug and held her shoulders tenderly and looked into her lovely, lovely face.

"It was you, Jess. It was always you." He smiled, running a hand down her small face and smudging away a tear with his thumb. Jess swept her eyes to the hand and brought both of her hands up to hold Sam's massive palm between two of hers.

"I know, Sam. I've been watching. You've been so brave." Then she suddenly looked very sad, shifting her gaze to look at the ground. There was a beat of silence as she clung to Sam's hand.

"You have to go, Sam. I know you want to stay here with me, but you have to go. Your work is not done yet," She said sadly, bringing her hands away from Sam's and grasping them together.

"Why do I have to do it? I've already done enough, haven't I?" He swooped in to gave her a little kiss on the cheek, and she gave in and ran her hand through his hair slowly, softly.

"I promise I'll always be here, Sam. I'll be watching over you. But you need to help the angels now," She said softly, dropping her hand to her side, and then reaching to grab Sam's hand.

He looked like a sad, confused puppy as she softly led him out of her room, and he willingly let her tow him from her room. They walked in silence, hand in hand, as she led him to the end of her heaven.

"I love you, Sam." She said, tears springing to her eyes. It had been just as hard for her to force Sam to go as it was for Sam to leave. But Jess was wise, and with so much willpower. She knew she couldn't take Sam away when his new angel family needed him most. She missed him so much. But she knew that when this was all over, they would be together. They just needed to wait just a little bit longer. And this was the only thing that powered her to lead Sam to the outskirts of her heaven.

He wrapped her in a huge hug, putting his hand behind her blonde head of hair and pulling her close to his chest. "I love you too. I always have." She sobbed and he drew her even closer.

They stayed like that for just a little while, swaying slowly back and forth, not wanting to speak and ruin the moment. Dean, Castiel, and Samandriel could just barely see them through the now closed, window-like veil. Finally, Sam leaned down for their parting kiss, his face wet with tears. They both knew what they didn't say; they only needed to wait just a little while, and they could be together again. But that barely made it easier.

"I'll come back when it's all over," He half-whispered to her, his voice dripping with longing.

"I'll be right here. Give 'em hell, Sam." Jess reached up and softly cupped her hand on the side of his face, and Sam closed his eyes and leaned just slightly into it, wishing to keep her touch there forever. Finally, they had to part, and Sam stepped slowly through the window, looking back with sad, sad eyes. He was still holding her hand limply, and they slowly let their fingers unravel as he stepped out of her heaven. He looked back to see her usual beautiful bright smile, though there were tears in her eyes. She was so proud of him, it was obvious. But she didn't want to be selfish, she wanted Sam to go where he was needed. And she smiled because she knew that he would return for her. And when that happened, they would never have to part like this again.

Sam finally lost the touch of her fingers and stumbled back through the portal, hiding his eyes behind his hair. Dean didn't feel like Sam needed to hide anything, he knew how hard it had been for him. Samandriel struggled to escape Castiel's arms, and he tromped over to the distressed Sam and hugged his legs tightly, only to have Sam bend down silently and pull him into his arms.

She has a beautiful soul. Dean was able to catch the thought that Samandriel sent out into the air, and he felt a little bit accomplished that he was finally at least able to do something.

"Thank you," Sam said in a sorrowful voice, holding the little angel close, like a little kid in distress would a teddy bear.

"Not everyone will be as self-sacrificing as Jess. We cannot go into any more heavens for now." Cas warned them, as he began to keep trudging through the snow. At least the wind had died down a little, and snowflakes had started to fall, making it a bit hard to see anything far away.

They walked in silence for a while, the only sound the crunching of footprints in the snow, as Sam seemed to still be dazed and all conversation had ended. Sam and Dean felt a glowing, bonfire-like warmth coming from not too far away, and Castiel spoke up to announce that they were not very far away. It grew warmer and warmer as they kept walking, it was more of an internal heat that felt a lot like joy, or the warmth you feel with someone you love.

They walked just a bit further and stumbled into the pro-human camp. Since Gabriel had arrived, it looked so much better than when Cas and Samandriel had seen it last. He'd used his archangel powers to create small, white tents that easily blended into the snowy background, and angels milled about, there were about twenty tents, and just fifteen angels here at the moment. A few were injured and resting, but many others were working hard. Four were working together to carefully construct the mechanisms for a holy oil bomb, while three others were melting down an angel blade (no doubt stolen from the other side) over a warm burning fire, and pressing the molten metal into molds and creating bullets.

"Eyyyyyyy!"

Castiel heard a high-energy call from just beside him, and he was tackled by two identical, dark curly-haired boys. Isiah and Calcifer messed Castiel's hair and kept squeezing him into much too tight hugs.

"Get off!" Cas said, annoyed, as he smoothed down his hair again. "You two still act like you're three hundred years old." The two stood in front of him now, side-by-side and beaming with false-innocent smiles, Isiah's half-wing flapping excitedly. Castiel rolled his eyes. These two might have too much human emotion than they knew what to do with.

"Good to see you up and running, Cassie." Calcifer said with a twinkle in his eye. "You're probably the slipperiest fish I've had to recruit."

"We'd like to speak with Gabriel." Cas ignored the comment, looking past the boys and to the tents. "Is he here?"

"Sure is. And he's planning something, something big." Isiah answered. "You'd better bring little kewpie doll there will you too." He said, nodding at Samandriel, who looked up from Sam's arms with a surprised expression.

Calcifer caught sight of something that the other angels were doing. "Hey! Wait, you're doing it in the wrong order!" He called, and both of them trotted away, the snow crunching loudly underfoot.

Sam and Dean felt that same fire-like warmth, but this time they knew that it wasn't just indicating the presence of several angels, but it reeked of just one angel. It had a very specific feel to it as well, and they knew it had to represent a single angel, a very powerful, very old and important one.

"That would be Gabriel." Castiel explained, and lifted his head, like a cat testing the air again, and started to head into a certain direction, Dean and Sam with Samandriel in tow.

They finally approached a tent that was overflowing with Gabriel's heat, or aura, or whatever it was. Dean and Sam were surprised to find that it looked the same as all the other tents, they'd both somehow imagined that he'd erect some sort of castle for himself. Maybe he was abandoning his douche-baggy ways during the war effort.

Cas pulled back the flap softly, and all four of them leaned in to see the tent. Inside, it was more like a small, cozy house. He had a fireplace and fire going strong in the corner, and a large table with all sorts of papers with scribbles in Enochian, and a quickly sketched map. Sam and Dean were amazed when they finally saw the man's true form: he wore his usual human body, but he had six large, stacked wings, three on each side, going in a gradient with the top wings being a pleasant, chestnut brown, the middle were a shimmering caramel color and the very bottoms were a very light yellow-gold. He also had something that was so faint on the other angels that it didn't show up; a somewhat sheer, pure white, circular halo that was lightly glowing from behind his head. If Sam and Dean had known that he had looked like this when they were on earth, maybe they would have been a tiny bit more careful. He looked like he could and would be able to fuck up some serious shit.

"Oh, hello! Well, would you look at that. Sam and Dean, angels. I never would have thought, but then here we are." He said, leaning back on his chair and kicking his feet up onto the wooden table. "And you are here because...?"

"Don't pull that shit, Gabe. We need to know the plan so we can end this damn war." Dean said somewhat angrily. He knew he wanted it over so that Sam could be with Jess, but he also wanted it over so that he could finally rest for once in his damn life.

Gabriel threw his hands up, feigning surprise. "Nice to see you too, Winchester." Dean rolled his eyes and looked to Castiel for support.

"You know what I am here to talk about." Cas said in a low voice, not supporting Dean like he thought he would have. Dean felt just a tiny bit irked.

"It's a damn shame. A real damn shame. And I'm sorry, but I really don't have an answer." Gabriel replied, finally taking his feet off the table and standing up slowly.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, readjusting his hold on Samandriel. Gabriel looked at him with tired brown-greeen eyes, frowning slightly. He seemed a lot less trickstery now, and he just looked a little worn out. It must be hard trying to get the whole army together, and supplying them all with tents and supplies that had to be conjured out of thin air.

"You two should know this story very well, seeing that you lived it. My brothers, Lucifer and Michael, are trapped together down in hell. The hell that you two just closed off forever." He closed his eyes and ran his hand over his hair.

"Lucifer and Crowley aren't too happy about that, see. So, being the sneaky, manipulative bastards they are, they're trying to use Michael to get at us." He explained, coming up to talk directly to Sam. For some reason, Samandriel shrunk back into Sam's chest, and Sam was able to pick up as to why. This powerful angel reminded him painfully of the one who had come into the nursery that one dreadful day.

"How?" Dean asked. Dammit, he thought they were done with hell for good. Great, just great.

"You two are aware as to how demons are made, correct? Human souls, so broken, battered, stripped down to absolutely nothing but pure bad, pure hate, pure evil. It takes hundreds of years, typically at the hands of a few other demons. Well..."

He looked directly at Dean, and Dean's dark butterscotch wings shifted nervously. "I can see it in your eyes. You connected to the network, didn't you? You felt it too, the pain, the torture, everything?" Gabriel continued gravely.

"I...Yes." Dean answered quickly and darted his eyes away, preferring not to think about that instantaneous pain that seemed to rip every seam that held him together when he had accidentally connected.

"Lucifer and Crowley are trying to taunt us, they want us to open up hell again. And they are doing this by directing all of hell into torturing Michael."

Sam and Dean's faces dropped. They were sending all of hell on Michael? Was that even possible? It was hard for them to even wrap their minds around the concept.

Gabriel continued, now turning his back to them and pacing around in the small room. "Michael is still connected to the pro-human network, even though he's far away. He's absolutely overridden it with his pains and cries for help. I considered one option of trying to sever ties with him, but this would only make matters worse. Do you see what I mean? If a human soul, which is essentially made up of the same substance as an angel's, can turn into a demon, there's no doubt that an angel's could be corrupted as well. And if all of hell is being released on Michael, we are running out of time before-"

"Hold on. You're saying that it would result in two devils?" Sam asked, his eyes growing wide. Of all people, he knew what just one devil could do. But two? He didn't even want to imagine.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. And with two devils, both previously archangels, who knows what could happen to hell's seal. It's very possible that they could break it open again."

The five stood in silence as the idea sunk in. Now everything else they'd accomplished before seemed so trivial.

"So what can we do?" Sam spoke up softly.

"I really don't know. As of now, we're winning this civil war, because our numbers are greater, and we have better organization and motivation. Turns out emotions can be pretty useful if you want to get people fighting for a cause. And at the rate it's going, especially with me added to the mix, it might be completely over in a few years. But with Michael, there's really no telling what could happen in that situation. I've been trying to think of solutions for days. Michael shouldn't kill himself, because although that would mean he would return to the Internal Grace, that means we'd only have one archangel left; Me. And there was never, ever meant to be just one archangel." He paused, looking as if he was looking through everyone.

Dean was surprised at how easily he was able to pick up on the thoughts this time. Maybe it had just taken him a little while to get a hang of it. He could tell that Gabriel and Michael had been close, some time ago. From Gabriel's description, Michael really did act a lot like Dean. And Gabriel had definitely admired his qualities. (Dean remembered a while ago when Gabriel had said 'I like you.' He now realized it was because of how similar he was to Gabriel's brother). Then they had gotten in a fight, but they didn't hate each other. They just couldn't be close anymore when they had such starkly contrasting ideas. He could tell that Gabriel desperately wanted to find a solution to save his brother, and maybe they could forgive each other and be friends again.

"The only thing is, I'm not sure how we'd even be able to open it again. The seal you all put up is so strong, I have no clue where to even start."

The last thing Dean wanted was to feel guilty about closing up hell. He didn't know something like this was going to happen! He only wanted to save earth from the evil that was pouring into it, the evil that plagued it more and more everyday.

"You said that this war was almost over?" Sam asked again, and Dean could tell the only thing on his mind was Jess.

"I didn't say that. I said as of now, we're winning." Gabriel answered, looking tired out just by explaining his dilemma.

"How many angels are left? No offense, but this camp seems a bit miniscule." Gabriel finally smiled, that grin that seemed to fit his face perfectly, and he finally seemed a little bit more like himself after he'd been so uncharacteristically serious for the past couple of minutes.

"Oh, Sam. You're always so naive. This is definitely not the only army we have. I'd even venture to say what we have here is sort of the weak link, mostly injured and small-power angels. Oh, no, no. If you were aware, there were five angel ringleaders in this operation. Well, six now, including me. You've met two of them, Calcifer and Isiah, extreme human sympathizers and in charge of recruitment. They both had a tough job when the war had started, but now they are sort of just gathering up the strays and helping out with other things. The other three you have not yet met are three very powerful angels Melchoir, Velias and Antheniel. They have three very populous, very organized camps that are scattered elsewhere."

Gabriel made a hand motion to usher them out of the cramped tent. They went back outside, and the snowflakes were falling even faster now. "I'll get someone to show you all what to do. Unfortunately, there's a battle coming. A big one. One that might just be one of the most impactful on this war. So, we'll need to get you ready." He looked around the meager camp, looking at the angels who were now huddling around the fire and talking lightly amongst each other, working to keep making more bullets.

"I think I should send you off to a different camp to get ready, seeing that I, along with Calcifer and Isiah, have to whip this division back into shape. Melchoir is very, very good at making decisions and military tactics, but he can be a bit obscure at times. Velias is very ruthless, and a little rough around the edges, but is a damn good leader. Antheniel is extremely wise and somewhat precautious for every action that will be taken, but she usually can predict many different outcomes and is outstanding at picking the best option. She's got a great mind, although it's not as war-oriented as Melchoir or Velias. So, take your pick." He looked right at Samandriel, who noticed right away, stiffened and looked away quickly.

"I think maybe we should stay here." Castiel spoke up, and it hadn't passed his notice the interactions between Gabriel and Samandriel.

"You're the one survivor, aren't you?" Gabriel spoke directly to Samandriel, who still had his cheek turned and was blatantly not looking at the powerful angel.

"Because you were born when the split was taking place, it seems as if you were born with both sides incorporated in you. You still have both networks, although the pro-apocalypse one is laying dormant for now." He peered at the tiny angel curiously. Sam had noticed that the tiny kid had started to shake and shiver slightly, and he held him closer, slightly turning as if to shield him from Gabriel.

"He's only a kid, Gabe. As long as he's with me, I'm not going to let you mess around with him." He said angrily, still extremely bitter from his death-everyday Tuesdays at the Mystery Spot.

Gabriel looked angry, which Sam and Dean had seen just a few times before. "Do you really think I have time to dick around like I used to? He could be very useful, Sam. He could be someone who turns the tides even more in our favor. Just think what could happen if we got access to the other side's network! We could destroy them!"

Sam looked into those big, gray eyes and that little string of freckles on Samandriel's face. He felt like the little angel was somehow his responsibility, like he was really his little brother. Or maybe even like a son.

"What would happen to him? What if just be connecting to the other side he would start to...start to act like them?" When he said it aloud, it became that much more real. Samandriel could be a major weapon, that was true. He was the only angel in existence with both networks' potential inside him. But what if he turned sides? That would be horrible. Catastrophic, even. He didn't want to risk something like that.

He thought of how creepy that unemotional, cruel little girl that contained the evil demon Lilith had been. He got a flash of an image of the tiny kid Samandriel standing on the opposite side of a battlefeild, a scarily blank expression on his face as he led all the cold-graced pro-apocalypse angels to destroy them. He shuddered.

Sam and Gabriel engaged in a fierce eye contact battle, both looking at the other with narrowed eyes and angry expressions, Sam holding tightly to Samandriel and not looking like he would give him up so easily.

"He's my brother too, Sam. I have just as much rights to him as you do," Gabriel said coldly, staring down Sam with a fiery look in his eyes.

"You won't do what's best for him! You left when your family needed you, Gabriel! You're the reason there's only two archangels left, because you weren't around when the others were murdered!" Sam said acidly, and right afterwards he knew he had taken it too far.

Gabriel broke his fierce stare and looked at the ground, not saying anything for a second as tensions ran high. Instead of saying something threatening or a bitter comeback, he simply looked up to Dean and Castiel, giving Sam the cold shoulder.

"Be ready for your first training session in two hours. We'll gather the camp up behind my tent. Capeesh?" Dean and Cas nodded, looking very serious. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to call a meeting with Cal and Isiah." He pushed through them, bumping into Sam, who trailed him with narrowed eyes, holding the back of Samandriel's head protectively.

Dean turned to Sam, an angry look on his face. "Come on, Sam. Why'd you have to piss of the most powerful angel we have right now?" He scolded, but he felt bad for chewing his brother out when Sam returned his lecture with a wide-eyed look. He'd really only been looking out for Samandriel, who he'd grown pretty close with. And Dean was able to see his point, the fact that Samandriel could be a horrible weapon if he fell into the wrong hands, or if he somehow chose to go into the wrong hands.

The snow was falling so thickly now that it was hard to even see a few feet ahead of them. The four angels went to duck into the nearest available tent to shelter themselves. The only thing on Sam's mind was Jess, and how he wished he could have stayed with her instead. But his brother (well, he supposed they were all technically his brothers now) needed him, and he would use his need to return to Jess to fuel his motivation for the war.

Dean hadn't meant to, but suddenly another piece of his memory was freed from his memory block. He suddenly vividly remembered his death; he had appeared outside of his body, looking down as tears slipped from his eyes as he looked at Castiel weeping, Dean's battered body set down gently in front of the mourning angel. Current Dean felt a tug in his chest, something had happened before this, something important. But what had it been?

Dean saw his one beautiful Reaper, she reached out and softly grabbed his hand. "You're not going to argue with me this time, are you?" She said softly, smiling sadly. "No," Dean replied, weaving his fingers into hers. Maybe it really was time for him to go, it was time for him to rest. They had barely begun to walk, Dean knew he was being lead to death himself, when a molten hot light suddenly pierced the very middle of his soul. The Reaper looked down in shock, and Dean looked down at his stomach in disbelief, his hands instinctually curling toward his stomach, and he felt scared as the white-hot star started to grow and expand right before his eyes.

Dean snapped out of the memory to see Castiel staring intently at him. "You should keep your mind clear and focused for when we are going to begin training." He said simply as he went to sit down on a chair in the little tent. "It is going to be a very difficult task, even for you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Dean said dismissively, as he looked out the tent flaps to the quickly falling snow outside. Who knew the most important thing he'd do would be after he died. He looked to all the friendly faces in the tent- his little brother, his best friend, a little kid they'd picked up along the way that he'd grown to love. He prayed that none of them would be hurt. He would never admit it, but he was scared. If they thought they'd been over their heads before, they didn't know the half of it.