Chapter 9 - Help

Gabriel was well aware that his situation was dangerous. The odds of him escaping and making it to rescue the others were practically zero. He was desperate though. One aspect of his angelic powers that was not even a little bit diluted was his ability to sense Sam. The two of them were profoundly bonded much the was Dean and Castiel were, and now that they were mates that connection was unbreakable. Gabriel could sense Sam at all times, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Sam was in pain.

He could feel the emotions and knew that Sam was being tortured, but there was also a never fading panic with a twinge of possession coming from wherever the hunter was, and Gabriel knew that Sam suffered emotionally over his fear for Gabriel's safety. Sam had the ability to bring Gabriel to him no matter where or when, but he did not have the same emotional sense of his mate that Gabriel did. The archangel felt desperately sad over the fact that Sam had no idea if Gabriel was even alive. He could hear Sam praying for him, begging him to be safe and to help him, but Gabriel could not escape his own torture.

The allure of antagonizing the archangel had faded after a few days, and Gabriel was mostly left to suffer on his own. He spent most of that time praying. He was not praying for release. He didn't believe that he really deserved that. After all, if any angel deserved to suffer for crimes against humanity, it was probably Gabriel. No, he didn't really believe that either, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to pray for his freedom. Instead he prayed for Sam. He prayed that Sam would be safe and would know that Gabriel was alive. He prayed that Castiel was safe, that his little brother would not suffer in the way Gabriel was. He even prayed for Dean, asking that the chucklehead not give in to torture and be protected from this trial. For days, Gabriel prayed, but never once did he pray for himself.

After one week of captivity, Gabriel found himself in a dream state. He looked around himself, confused for a moment as he wondered where his bindings had disappeared to. After a pause, he realized that the bright light of this dream was caused by the presence of God. A warm feeling filled him, and without words God communicated to him the message he needed to know. The light began to fade, and Gabriel came back to consciousness in the warehouse, freed. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was not free because he deserved freedom. He was free because he was selfless, and his prayers had been for his loved ones alone.

It took a minute for Gabriel to get used to being free. The holy oil flames had vanished, and the blades that had pierced his wings were laying on the ground, stained with his blood. He stretched his wings experimentally, nervous about their condition. There was some soreness, and he would probably be scarred, but he could feel his grace recovering, and his wings would heal. Focusing for a moment, he tried to determine if his grace was sufficient enough to wipe out the demons in this building. With a surge of gratitude towards his Father as his power resumed within him, Gabriel adjusted his bloody and stained cargo jacket, using a modicum of grace to clean his attire. Looking very nearly pristine, Gabriel strode out the door in search of the demons.

It was clear that they were not expecting him, and Gabriel had smote all but one within seconds. This final demon he held in an unbreakable hold, his eyes blazing as he restrained himself from killing the demon. "Where are the others?" He demanded.

"I don't know!" The demon squealed in fear, trying in vain to smoke out.

"You lie," Gabriel said, his voice low and threatening. He allowed the demon to view just the smallest amount of his grace, forming it into a piercing light that cut the demon.

Screaming in response, the demon went limp. "I don't know where they all are," he said in defeat. "The youngest Winchester is somewhere in California. I don't know where the older one is, but I think they were going to hold the other angel in India."

"Where am I now?" Gabriel demanded, not being able to get a good read on his location. The sigils in the warehouse were keeping him from fully taking possession of his range of abilities.

"Madagascar," the demon said sullenly.

"Thank you," Gabriel said sarcastically. He allowed his grace freedom then, and the demon slumped to the floor, dead. He quickly walked out the front door, reveling in the free air. He had to decide on a priority. He could look for Castiel or Sam with the information he had. How could he choose? He could feel Castiel's pain now that he was free of the sigils, and his brother's cries were piercing. By that same token, however, his connection to Sam was less muted as well, and he knew the hunter could not survive long in this state. With a prayer of apology directed towards his brother, Gabriel took flight, headed for California.


If Sam was proud of any of his accomplishments, he was the most proud of how stoic he had been able to remain during his torture sessions. For every burning, sharp, or electric object the demon attacked him with, Sam steeled himself and never let out a more violent reaction than a hiss. He knew that the point of this was to break him, and he would not allow that to happen.

Whenever a torture session was occurring, Sam focused all of his energy into praying to Gabriel. He didn't so much pray for rescue as he did for the archangel's safety. If this was his state, who knows what they were doing to his angel? Every so often Sam added in as a bonus 'and if you happen to escape, maybe you could come get me?' into his prayers, but he tried his hardest not to worry the archangel. Sam knew that Gabriel could feel his emotions through their connection as mates, and he didn't want Gabriel to waste his time and energy worrying about Sam instead of himself.

A week of various tortures had resulted in a withered and scarred Sam, his body peppered with burn marks and slashes from various forms of knives. A dried pool of blood surrounded his cage, most of it dry. He was trying to get some rest, but the way he was chained made that nearly impossible. His eyes were heavy from lack of sleep. It was times like this when he was most tempted to cry out for Gabriel, but he knew it wouldn't really work anyway. The few sigils on the walls he did recognize were designed to keep angels out. Even if by some miracle Gabriel came looking for him, he would not be able to save him.

His personal tormentor had left for the day, so when Sam heard footsteps he was surprised. Glancing up, he saw a man he didn't recognize walk into the room carrying a large ladder. He was wearing a sort of janitor's uniform, and Sam realized that he must be a professional painter of some kind when he saw the various paintbrushes hanging from the man's belt.

"Who are you?" Sam croaked.

"I am busy," the man replied, his expression vacant. He set up the ladder in front of a sigil that was high up the wall, then promptly climbed his ladder and pulled out a small can of paint, proceeding to cover the sigil in white paint.

Completely confused, Sam followed the man around the room with his eyes, watching as the man continued to cover up seemingly random sigils. After a little while of this, Sam relaxed as much as he could and moaned softly. If only he could sleep!

Moving footsteps alerted him to the man's departure, and Sam wondered what the point of that had been. Not awake enough to care, he let his eyelids droop, but somehow he couldn't attain sleep.

"Oh God, Sam!"

He was dreaming. Sam let a small smile appear on his face as Gabriel entered his dreams.

"Sam, are you with me? Wake up, Sammy, please!"

Confused, Sam didn't know how to react. Gabriel was never upset in his dreams.

"Dammit, Sam! I didn't go to all this trouble to rescue a corpse!"

Understanding flooded Sam, and his eyes flew open again to see his archangel busting the door open on his cage and popping the locks on his shackles. The smaller man pulled Sam's damaged body out, laying a calming hand on his head and rocking him softly. He ignored the fact that the hunter was naked, not wanting to look at the tortures inflicted.

"Gabe?" Sam murmured, relaxing into his angel's familiar shape.

"I'm here, Sammy," Gabriel said softly. With a thought, he flew them away from the hell hole, landing in a motel room somewhere in Illinois. He spared a quick thought to making sure they were effectively checked in. Someone walking in on them would be bad.

"Where...?" Sam glanced around, then seemed to give up, relaxing against Gabriel again.

"Don't worry, Sam, we're far away from that place. Hang on, I'm going to try and heal some of this for you, okay?" Gabriel winced as he began to inventory Sam's many wounds.

"M'kay," Sam said with a sigh, sounding content.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriel passed his hand over his mate's body, relaxing as more and more of the wounds vanished. To his irritation, several of the nastier slashes had left scars, but upon further inspection he realized they had been made with cursed blades. Sam might eventually lose the scars, but only if he kept in pretty constant contact with Gabriel's grace.

"Feels good," Sam muttered, stretching a little and wrapping his arms around Gabriel's neck. "Are you okay?" He asked sleepily.

Gabriel didn't answer at first, pulling back the blankets of the bed and tucking Sam underneath, clothing him a t-shirt and boxers with a thought. He smoothed the man's hair away from his face and sighed as a look of content settled on Sam's face. "I'll be fine, Sammy." He finally answered.

"That's good," Sam managed to reply. "Get into bed," he added, making it sound like a demand.

A smile threatening at the corner of his lips, Gabriel acquiesced clutching himself as close to the hunter as he could and allowing his wings to become invisible shields around them. "You're safe, Sam," he repeated.

"I know," Sam said happily, his words slurred with sleep. "How'd you find me?"

"The usual," Gabriel said casually. "Tortured a demon, did some research, tortured a different demon, hypnotized a man, and broke into a torture facility." His expression went dark for a second before clearing. "I'm glad I got to you in time."

"The others?" Sam managed to ask.

"I have it on good authority that my brother is in India somewhere," Gabriel said reluctantly, "but I don't know where Dean is. I'm sorry, Sam."

Sam nodded, as if he'd been expecting something like that. "S'okay," he muttered sleepily, pushing himself further into Gabriel's embrace. "We'll find them, Gabe, promise."

Gabriel simply nodded, a small smile settling on his face at the tortured hunter's attempts to comfort his archangel. "Sleep now, Sam."

"What about my nightmares?" Sam asked, concerned.

Pursing his lips, a thought suddenly occurred to Gabriel and he held up a small baggy by way of answer.

"The dream dust?" Sam asked, surprised. That felt like so long ago!

"Peaceful dreams, Sammy," Gabriel promised. "This will help you sleep."

Nodding in agreement, Sam took a deep breath of the dust and relaxed back onto the pillows, sighing happily. Within seconds he was breathing deeply, the haunted look to his face starting to fade away.

Gabriel found himself relaxing as well, and took a calming breath. One rescue had gone well, at least. He could only hope that finding Castiel and Dean would be no greater challenge.

Before Gabriel could fall into a restful stupor of his own, a caring thought occurred to him and he almost smiled wide. Sam would be proud of him when he heard in the morning. Focusing, Gabriel projected himself into a mind several states away.


Bobby rolled over, his sleep restless. He hadn't been able to do a damn thing since his adopted sons and their angels had vanished, and the barely disguised panic had been eating away at him.

"Bobby," a calm voice penetrated his troubled dreams, transporting him to a calm field and manifesting as Gabriel.

"Gabriel?" Bobby asked skeptically glancing around. "I'm still in my head, right?"

"Right," Gabriel confirmed. "I just wanted you to know that I escaped. God set me free from my chains, and I've got Sam back. I have a lead on Cas, but not Dean. When you get a chance, any research you have on demonic omens in India will help us find my brother. Perhaps the demons there will be able to shed light on Dean."

Rather than question the archangel further, Bobby just nodded. "Omens in India, gotchya. Tell Sam I said hey, and I'm glad you're both safe. Don't ever do that to me again, either."

Smiling in reassurance, Gabriel faded out of Bobby's head and back into his own, still nestled with Sam in Illinois.