Sam was convulsing. Every tendon in his arms and exposed neck stood out. His veins felt like they were being pumped with liquid fire.
Above him, Lucifer smiled and watched. For some reason the devil was wearing Marcus's hospital scrubs.
"Boy, you just take those lickins' don't you?" Lucifer mused with a smile, "Well, any meat can be cooked. You just gotta turn up the heat." He went back to the electroshock machine.
Lucifer, help me!
It hurts!
But Sam didn't scream. Fire was being pumped through his veins but he didn't scream. He would die soon. He knew it. But he wouldn't give the devil the satisfaction of hearing his screams.
PAIN!
Great black wings encircled him.
"Shh." A gentle voiced whispered, in his ear, "It's ok. You're safe."
PAIN!
A giant black figure with red eyes and feathery wings was singing softly into his ear. The voice was pure, effortless, smooth as velvet, and so full of emotion it made Sam cry even though he didn't understand the words.
"What does it mean?" Sam asked when the beautiful song ended.
Lucifer looked at him with such fond devotion that it made Sam uncomfortable. Like he didn't deserve this.
"You'd have to understand Enochian to get the full meaning." Lucifer answered.
"Can you teach me?" Sam asked.
Lucifer's eyes suddenly lit up with delight, "I'd love to."
PAIN!
Lucifer sang the song again, and the melody was so beautiful, despite the angel's voice being tight with pain. Sam threw himself against Lucifer's chest and focused on the song as he tried to ignore the agony of his own injuries. And although Lucifer's grace hadn't finished repairing the broken angel, he began to heal Sam's injuries.
Stop it! Sam wanted to cry, Heal yourself first!
But the cold grace brought such relief and comfort the protest died on Sam's lips.
PAIN!
"Why don't you hate me?" Sam whispered into the angel's shoulder.
"I couldn't," Lucifer replied, "Not when I waited so long for you. Not when I got to know you so well on Earth. It isn't your fault."
"I did this. I pulled us down here." Sam sobbed, "Aren't you angry?"
"No." Lucifer replied.
"Why?" Sam asked.
Lucifer chuckled softly, although Sam heard the repressed pain, "I was inside your grapefruit, remember? I saw everything you did and every reason that went through your head for why you did it. I couldn't hate you after that."
PAIN!
Sam was laying comfortably against Lucifer's chest. Lucifer was singing again. Sam's Enochian lessons had been going well and he could understand some of the words. It was the same, beautiful, melodious tune Sam had been hearing for some time. Sam listened. Then he gasped, tears coming to his eyes.
"It's about me." Sam whispered.
Lucifer kissed Sam's head.
Sam shook his head, tears falling from his face, "I'm not worthy of that –" he protested.
"You are." Lucifer replied.
PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!
The two were yanked apart. Sam was forcefully torn from Lucifer's embrace by an iron hook that ripped through Lucifer's beautiful, feathery wings and pulled Sam out by the stomach.
Sam screamed.
Lucifer reached for Sam but a series of iron stakes tethered him to the wall like an elaborate pin cushion.
Sam was dragged across broken glass and enveloped in burning hellfire.
The flames were so hot. The agony so intense. Sam wanted to end. To die.
It wasn't possible to endure this pain but he did nonetheless.
He wanted to cease existing…
Cold.
Beautiful. Blissful cold.
The fire subsided.
"I'm sorry, Sam." Lucifer sobbed, his hands healing the burns on Sam's body, on his soul, "I'm so sorry."
'You have nothing to be sorry for', Sam wanted to say, but his parched throat wouldn't allow it.
"It took me so long. I'm sorry," Lucifer breathed in Enochian, "I thought I could protect you. I failed you. I'm sorry."
PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!
"Tell me the word for 'archangel'." Lucifer instructed in English.
Sam panted through his pain. Lucifer was healing him again but the process was slow. The angel's grace was being used faster than it could replenish itself.
Sam wracked his brain, "The word…" he said, and the Enochian language fell from his lips.
"Wonderful Sam!" Lucifer exclaimed, "You learn quickly."
Sam smiled at the praise. He could tell the angel was tired, but that didn't deter Lucifer from his task. Finally, the pain was gone.
"All better." Lucifer said softly.
What he didn't say was 'for now'.
PAIN!
"I'm sorry." Lucifer apologized, pulling Sam against his chest and wrapping his seared, broken wings around them.
"Don't be." Sam pleaded.
"No matter how many times I find you, the Cage always pulls you away from me." Lucifer cried in despair.
"Shh." Sam placed a finger to Lucifer's lips, "No. No matter how many times the Cage pulls us apart, you always find me."
Lucifer laughed softly, "I always did like your perspective, kiddo."
Sam returned his smile, pulled Lucifer's head down, and kissed him.
PAIN!
"I'm not worth all this." Sam finally said.
It was harsh, but true. As much as Sam enjoyed the comfort he received, as much as Sam selfishly relished the cold that chased away the hellfire, it was true. And Lucifer deserved to know the truth.
For the first time since their fall into the Cage, Lucifer looked angry, "Never say that you are unworthy." He growled, "It baffles me how you can have such a low opinion of yourself. You are worthy. You were just never given the appreciation you deserve."
PAIN!
"You're the only thing that keeps me together." A kiss was bestowed on Sam's forehead, "Thank you."
Sam hugged the angel, "You keep me together too."
PAIN!
"You're the most beautiful thing I have ever beheld," Lucifer murmured as he held Sam reverently in his arms, "And I was there when the universe was created."
PAIN!
Lucifer placed slow, deliberate kisses down Sam's torso.
"So precious. So beautiful." He whispered.
Sam closed his eyes and savored the sensation.
PAIN!
Sam's soul was being held in Death's icy, ancient, long-fingered hands. But the cold wasn't pleasant like Lucifer's. It was final. Like the end. Like death.
"Sam, where are you?!" the archangel's panicked cry rang through the Cage, "Sam? SAM?!"
"Lucifer! I'm —"
Death's briefcase closed and Sam's words were cut short.