Gabriel had to grab hold of the wall for the fourth time in five minutes to avoid falling off yet another trick staircase and waved his arms around to avoid plummeting down from the edge. Sure, landing after a fall couldn't really hurt him, but the simple idea wasn't pleasant. He turned on his heel and returned to the door that was his plan B. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if this guy was actually M.C Escher, too…" He muttered to himself, then opened the door, slamming it shut when he saw it was more of a very small closet than anything. "Damn it! Now where was plan C?" He backtracked again and eventually found the other door he had labeled Plan C, which led to a hallway with about ten different doors. "Oh, I am SO going to enjoy kicking his ass." He muttered. He went into the hallway and was about to pick a door when one flung open and something collided with him- rather, someone. "… Alex!"

Alexandra gawked at him for a second after stumbling back from the collision. "Gabe!" She breathed, then launched herself at him and threw her arms around his neck.

Gabriel stumbled back as well, hitting the wall hard. He grunted, then looked back at her, deciding to ignore that the action just seemed wrong. "You okay?"

Alexandra didn't answer. She just kept looking at him, stunned that she had even made physical contact.

The archangel blinked. "Oh, right, you didn't know…"

Alexandra laughed weakly. "How… when? After we left?"

Gabriel tried not to squirm. The warning bells were back. He kept ticking off things that were wrong. She just tossed herself at him. Took the whole solid-again thing in strides, No complaint or slap or anything for actually coming to rescue her and Hannah and risking everyone's lives. The real thing would've completely ignored he was solid again and went right to the 'stupid plan' thing. There wasn't even the feeling of familiarity he had started to get whenever she or one of her family members were in the room. Not to mention this Alex looked like she had gone through the ringer. If he had figured anything from Soren's latest behavior, it was that he wasn't joking when he said he wouldn't harm the Hennesseys. When the fallen angel had scratched Alex, it seemed more of a warning to the angels in a fit of desperation. He had only seen Soren touch her gently- never tight enough to harm her in any way. Something was definitely off. He sighed. Like he had said earlier, if Soren wanted to play, he'd play. "You don't look good. Did Soren hurt you-"

"Who else?" Fake Alexandra replied. "What about you? Are you alright?"

She cupped his cheek and once again, he had to struggle not to roll his eyes. So much for research. He should've remembered Alexandra wasn't the touchy feely type- physically or mentally. "Yeah, I'm fine… Xanie."

Fake Alexandra sighed, but more out of relief than reaction at the nickname, thus item that was wrong number fifteen. "Good. Look, Gabe, about when I yelled at you-"

Gabriel tried not to snort. While Soren seemed to do his research, apparently his copies of people didn't. There was no way it was her now. He hoped the Alex in front of him was just a copy and his friend hadn't been reduced to a vessel for a goon. "Don't worry about it, Al .Especially now. It's in the past. Let's just find a way outta here, because that's what's happening n-ngn!" Gabriel went wide eyed when she practically shoved him back against the wall and kissed him. Definitely not Alex. Now what? Play dumb and horny. Nothing new. He growled and turned them so she was against the wall, returning the kiss. It felt wrong on so many levels. He felt her prod at his chest and pulled back. When she smiled and went to pull him back in, he put his arm across her collarbone and pinned her to the wall with it, stepping back himself. "Not so fast, Sweetheart. Where. Is. Alex?"

Fake Alexandra blinked innocently then arched an eyebrow. "What the Hell are you talking about, Gabe? It's me."

Gabriel snarled and his hand shot up to her throat. He shoved her further against the wall and heard the back of her skull connect with it hard. He looked her in the eye. "You clearly think I'm dumb enough to not pick up the things that don't make you her. Not to mention I'm really sick of having this happen when she's either drugged or someone is just wearing her face. Where is she? Where's the real Alex?"

Fake Alexandra stared at him, fear in her eyes but it faded quickly. Her smirk was back. "Huh. Soren was confident you'd at least have me half naked by the time you realized I wasn't your precious little Alex…" She smiled and ran her foot along the back of his thigh.

Gabriel scoffed and managed to kick it off . " Well, Soren's underestimating me. Now where are she and the other girls?"

The arrogant smirk was back for a moment. She glanced up at one of the ledges.

Gabriel tightened his grip on her throat figuring it was a fluke. "Answer or I swear, I will not show the ounce of mercy I'm considering for you."

"Shit, Alex! Sam, get him!"

Gabriel froze, hearing a door swing open above them, then the Winchesters shouting- and then 'him' registered. They thought he was the fake. That wouldn't end well. He still made no move to release Fake Alex, even when the boys reached his level and ran over.

Fake Alexandra just smiled one last time, winked at him, then disappeared.

Gabriel just kept staring at the spot, even upon hearing a familiar yelp of alarm, then a fair amount of weight collided with him. He turned to see Sam stumbling back, using his arm to steady himself. "Shit, Gabriel. It's really you." Sam sighed.

Gabriel tilted his head. "What do you mean really…?" He frowned, thinking of a possibility. "Don't tell me there are two or more of me walking around, too."

Dean came up beside them. "Hell yeah. Nearly took my damn head off when you zapped some giant pillar to fall on us." He sighed, looking at where Alexandra had been. "And now there are apparently two Alexs, too. Great."

"You boys should be fine. It's Alex, Hannah and I he wants to mess with. Not you two." Gabriel replied.

Dean scoffed. "Clearly you didn't hear that fake you just tried to kill us."

Gabriel shrugged. "Distraction. Did my copy get away like she did?"

"No…" Sam replied, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Gabriel looked at him. "The Hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Means we stabbed fake you in the throat." Dean replied.

Gabriel laughed. "So you killed my copy and still thought I was the copy just now?"

Dean shrugged. "We thought we killed you the first time we met you. Coulda been the same deal."

Gabriel opened his mouth to object, then realized he had a point. "Touché."

Dean grunted. "Come on. Looks like splitting up doesn't work. Hell, we thought we were going down, and if you were going up… how did this happen?" He motioned between all of them. "Same level after ten minutes?"

Gabriel nodded, then looked around. "Fine. So… you guys wanna pick a door, because I've had zero luck."

Dean and Sam exchanged glances before shrugging. Dean motioned at the second closest door on the left. "Try that one and hope for the best?" He asked.

Gabriel shrugged, then paused. "Better idea…" He snapped his fingers and all the doors swung open. "Check them." He moved to the first door on the left and the boys took the far right two. After finding out that his door led to a dead end. He heard Dean call for Sam in a panicked voice He got back out of the hall just in time to see Dean tackle Sam, and a moment later, something that bore a striking resemblance to a battering ram come flying through the door Sam had taken.

"And now there are booby traps." Dean sighed.

Gabriel shrugged, then pulled Sam to his feet. "Then that's the one that usually leads somewhere."

Dean glared at him, then headed for the door again. He moved slowly along the wall. "Wait, what am I doing? Gabriel, get in here. Snap your fingers and undo anything that can be waiting."

"If you haven't noticed, this guy has been one upping me. We may not have that option." Gabriel replied.

"Oh well. Still, get in front of me." Dean shot back.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. He knew had it been any other situation, Dean would've had some comment about being 'too handsome to get hurt or die first.' "Whatever…" He headed down the hallway, then froze when there was that once-again-familiar feeling in the back of his head. "Hold on, guys. Someone's sending up the equivalent to a flare

Sam stopped beside him. "Our angels? The girls? Roy?"

"… Try the first two combined. It's Julie… and she's close, too."

"You sure it's not a trap?" Sam asked, and Dean shrugged his agreement.

Gabriel shook his head. "No… too… panicked to be fake. Soren's fallen too hard to even mimic that desperation." He replied. He tried to focus on it. "She's below us. With any luck the others are with her."

"And if they're not?" Dean asked.

"Then we find a way to get Julie out of here. She needs this least of all. New plan, boys." He snapped his fingers.

A moment later, they were down a few floors, but they hit something and were tossed back a few feet when they were about to touch down. They got up and dusted themselves off, then just gawked when they saw the angels, Hannah and Julie standing in cells. They were all staring back at the three of them.

"Uncle Gabel!" Julie sat up.

Gabriel waved. "Hey, kiddo." He looked at the angels, switching right back into business mode. "What blocks are up?"

Hael sighed. "Anything that could hold an angel inside here and render him powerless."

"So angel-proof but not Trickster proof?" Gabriel asked.

Hael shrugged. "I assume so."

Gabriel nodded, then snapped his fingers. He waited a moment. "One of you try to get over here." He pointed to the spot beside him. Castiel stood this time, and a moment later, he was beside his brother.

"I don't like this. It seemed too easy." The younger angel replied.

Gabriel shrugged. "Right now, I'm willing to take a chance." He snapped his fingers again and the locks on both cell doors fell off and the doors swung open. While Hannah looked around cautiously before going out, Julie hurried out and proceeded to wrap herself around Gabriel's leg.

The archangel patted her head, then looked at Hael when he joined them. "I need you to get Julie and Hannah out of here so they're out of danger."

Hannah shook her head. "Forget that. If my sister is around here, I'm not leaving her."

Gabriel frowned. "It's not your sister, kiddo."

"Yeah, the one that swings her hips when walking isn't. The one who looked ready to kick ass was." Hannah replied, and then looked apologetic when Gabriel looked confused. "The real McCoy's here, Gabe. You missed her by minutes."

Gabriel tossed his head back and shook his head. "Naturally. Oh well. If we survive this, your sister will kill me if you so much as get a scratch. You're going with Hael." He insisted, then looked at Julie. "You're not gonna argue, are you?"

Julie just blinked at him, picking up the authority he was trying to send out. She nodded after a moment, then went over to the angel who had been given the task to get her out.

Hael looked between the girls, then looked at the remaining angels and humans. "Be safe. Don't go doing what you usually do, tossing yourselves into danger. Don't. Get. Confident." He finished, focusing more on Hannah and the Winchesters with the last part.

Gabriel nodded, then looked at Castiel. "Please go with him. It's better if they have backup, and I'd prefer it be you more than anything."

"You can't do this alone, Gabriel." Castiel replied.

"I'm not alone. The boys and I make one Hell of a team when we're not pitted against each other."

Castiel frowned, but nodded. "I'll take care of them."

Hael reached for the girls. "Keep in touch." He instructed, before he touched the girls' foreheads and they all disappeared.

The remaining set waited a while before they were satisfied nothing had immediately gone wrong. Gab

Dean sighed. "Now what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do, Deano. Keep walkin' til Soren comes to us, or we keep springing his traps 'til he can't resist it."

Dean blinked. "…Wonderful. Fan-flippin'-tastic."

SPN SPN SPN SPN

Alexandra looked down when she stumbled over something. She caught herself on the wall and glared down at the culprit. The glare dropped when she realized it was a railroad spike. How it got there, she didn't know, but it was the closest thing to a weapon around, so it would have to do. She picked it up, ignoring how terribly Buffy-esque the situation suddenly seemed. She shrugged it off and turned down a hallway that led to a staircase. She headed down the flight of stairs and turned to the left. She let out a yelp when she collided with something- rather, someone. She didn't see their face, they just felt masculine upon impact, so she brought her knee up on what she guessed was his groin.

Sure enough, her assumption and aim was right, so the yell of pain was satisfying- that was, until she recognized the person it belonged to. Hair similar to Roy's, pale skin, lean body, but not her uncle all the same. "Shit, James?"

Her friend looked up at her. "Alex? Have you been here the whole time, too?"

Alexandra frowned, taking in the rest if his appearance. Usually he kept his appearance in check as much as he could. Now his hair was mussed, his eyes seemed duller than usual, and his stubble was longer than usual as wekk. "Geez, James. Since when did you have magic hair growing skills? I saw you what, yesterday? It didn't look like you had that much then."

James frowned. "Yesterday? Lexi, what're you talking about? Last I saw you was… God, I don't even know. The day we got dragged here by those demon freaks, and we got separated." He hissed in pain and started to double over.

"James?" Alexandra closed the distance between them to help him up, trying to process the new information and see what was wrong with him. She gaped at the long gash he had spanning his side from his ribcage to hip. "What happened to…?" Her brain finally caught up with his 'I haven't seen you since the last time we were here' comment. Then who was…? She frowned. Soren. Hell, there was a copy of her walking around, there could've been a copy of James just as easily. Her breath caught in her throat. There could be copies of Soren himself. That just brought things further into Hell. She turned to James- who she now hoped was the real thing and it wasn't some two-hit joke. "How did you and I meet?"

James gawked at her, then frowned and raised his eyebrows. It was one of his trademark fidget when he realized someone other than himself was right. That action was already reassuring to her. "It was four years back. You and your dad were hunting because some demon was messing with your family after your brother died. I was in town hunting the same bastard. I was chasing him down and ran across the road you and Pops were driving on. Your dad didn't hit the breaks in time, and you hit me. I went flying over the windshield, you dragged me home and patched me up. You guys trying to talk me out of calling the hospital, then you flipped a shit when you saw this-" He pulled down his shirt collar, showing a couple of lines of scars. "Wendigo attack from two years before I met you."

Alexandra stared him down for a moment, then nodded. "Have you found any way out of here?"

James shook his head. "Not at all. Anytime I think I do, it just leads to another hallway, or stairs, or anything else."

She turned around. "Damn it." She looked around, trying to see what was down the hallway they were now in.

James frowned. "Lex, you look like Hell. Are you sure you want to lead…?" He reached for her hesitantly.

Alexandra stepped back. "Hey, just because you check out okay doesn't necessarily mean I'm just gonna trust you right off the bat when I just had to beat the shit out of myself, got it? You wanna go along with me, keep a distance away."

James put his hands up. "Fair enough. You know what's going on better than I do."

Alexandra frowned. "How is that if you've been here all the time that you didn't know there were copies?"

"I've been locked down below until now. The door just… swung open. Hell, it was creepy, but I wasn't going to pass a chance to escape this place after demons used me as a carving board, Lex." James replied.

Alexandra clenched her jaw, but nodded and headed down the hallway. James followed slowly, moving along the wall for support while keeping the requested distance. She looked back at him. "Did you see anyone else? Anyone at all? Tall guy, long brown hair, maybe a guy with a worn leather jacket who was with him? What about a guy about an inch taller than me, green jacket, red shirt? My uncle Roy?"

James shook his head. "You're the first actual person I've seen in days."

Alexandra sighed. "Great. We're alone." She paused. No, that was good. That meant the boys and her sister were out of trouble. She frowned, catching sight of something in the doorway about six feet away. I just had to say something. "Dean!"

Dean hesitantly looked around the corner. "Alex? "

"Yeah. Look, it's really me, and you guys are gonna have to take that on faith, and I'll take that it's really you on faith because personally, I'm done asking questions and answering questions about experiences. Are the others with you?"

Dean looked behind him, then nodded, still looking uneasy, but Sam and Gabriel came out of hiding, and the four of them stared each other down.

Alexandra , not able to take it anymore, broke the silence. "What the Hell is wrong with you people? I knew I sounded desperate on the phone, but I didn't think for a minute any of you would be dumb enough to actually listen and come after me! Christ, you played right into Soren's trap! I appreciate the rescue effort, but it was still dumb as Hell! You guys know me well enough to know I try to do as much as I can on my own!" She finished. She frowned when she noticed Gabriel was looking at her with this look of admiration and pride, Dean and Sam had taken to gawking, and Castiel was just staring, looking confused as usual. "…What?"

The archangel looked back at the brothers, who also had growing smiles on their faces. "It's her." The three of them said simultaneously.

Alexandra set her jaw again, then her frown deepened when Gabriel looked back at her with that look again. "And you, you I'm most surprised at. I mean, I bit your head off and you still come run-" She let out a yelp when Gabriel walked over and pulled her into a hug. "ing?" He lifted her about an inch of so in the process. It was awkward to begin with based on the last events, but the inch height difference made the movement itself even more awkward. "Gabriel, put me- what's up with you?"

"No. Shush." Gabriel replied,, only tightening his grip on her. " Nothing. I just… really, really missed you… the actual you, I mean."

"Gabe, you saw me last just a few hours ago, and I screamed at you. That's not a normal person's time to forg- ooooh, you boys ran into the whore version of me, didn't you?"

"Mm hm. Never, ever ever change. You hear me? Never. I will personally mojo the thoughts that are anything similar to what your copy's would be out of your head." He replied, still managing to tighten his grip without crushing her. "I'm sorry about back there. I was dumb and angry and just being my usual idiotic self-"

Alexandra patted his back hesitantly, trying to get air into her lungs. Definitely Gabriel. "Gabe, you're forgiven. I'm sorry, too. A lot of my reaction was over the top because of Soren, anyway. Now, please put me down, because four out of us here require breathing to live."

Gabriel reluctantly did, then hesitated. Four? It was just her, the brothers and- he frowned, seeing James looking rather confused in the corner. He let out a growl and advanced.

Alexandra grabbed his arm, loosening her hold when she realized she had a vice grip on his arm. Actually being able to touch him was definitely going to need some getting used to. "Gabe, no. It's really him. It should really be him- he checked out, and he's hurt badly as it is."

James shook his head. "Mind telling me who these people are, Lexi?" He asked, motioning at the others.

The Winchesters frowned. "Haven't you been…?" They looked at each other. "Don't tell me we were dealing with a copy out there." Dean jabbed his finger in the direction of what he assumed was the outer wall of the house.

Alexandra shrugged. "He's been here since you got me out of here, apparently. James, meet Dean and Sam Winchester- yes, we've established we have 'James Dean' on our team now. The one who was about to rip your head off is Gabriel."

James arched an eyebrow. "Gabriel…?"

"No last name, pal. I'm the archangel." Gabriel replied.

James snorted. "Right. That's all we need. Some wiseass when there are apparently copies of everyone trying to kill us-"

Gabriel shrugged, then looked at Sam and Dean. "Don't say I didn't try being the nice guy."

Dean grunted his acknowledgement, then squared his shoulders. "So are we gonna find this guy or not?"

"No need."

Dean rolled his eyes, took out the Roy's pistol and turned, firing off a shot at Soren without a thought.

The angel looked down at the impact spot in his shoulder. He brushed his hand over the spot, and a moment later, the bullet fell out of him and the wound closed up. "I have to hand it to all of you- good teamwork. Didn't expect it- and Gabriel, I thought you'd still be getting used to having powers again. Who knew you'd use them so quickly?"

"Everyone but you, jackass." Gabriel replied. "You know, for a fellow egotistical dick, you sure don't give me enough credit."

Soren smirked and mock saluted. "Forgive me, then."

Gabriel clicked his tongue and pretended to consider the offer. "I think I'll skip that, thanks."

Soren shrugged. "Fair enough."

Gabriel returned the smirk, but it dropped when he saw a new look cross Soren's face. He barely had time to register the fact that he looked more angry than arrogant before he got slammed against the wall. He cursed and snapped his fingers to try and get the others out of the area, but nothing happened. He groaned and kneed Soren's stomach. The other angel dropped him and stumbled back, but the action almost seemed mocking. Gabriel saw the others head for Soren, but they got knocked back by some force a moment later. The action put the real James completely out of commission, since he blacked out in his state when he hit the wall hardest.

Soren grabbed Gabriel again using one hand, more to keep him in place. He waved his free hand, and Alexandra's copy was back, and she headed for the real one, along with the brothers.

Gabriel grunted and kicked again. This time, he missed completely, which earned himself getting tossed to the other side of the hall. He pushed himself up and checked on the other three, who were all having a hard time taking on Alexandra's copy- she had managed to disarm the brothers, save for their knives, and she was putting up a Hell of a good fight. He hated that Soren remembered that aspect of his girl. He heard Soren coming up behind him and kicked out yet again. To his own surprise, Soren went down hard. The archangel's mind started going a mile a minute. Just because he didn't have his angelic powers didn't mean he wasn't still classified as one, right? He prayed he was right and snapped his fingers again, hoping for the best. When his fingers curled around a familiar, smooth, streamline object, he figured he could die of relief, though he had to admit that situation was ironic in the worst way. He would by an angel killing blade two completely different ways. He got a better hold of the sword and pushed off, the ground right before Soren reached him.

Soren glanced at the sword and laughed. "Cute. You really think that can kill me with that after all you've seen me do?"

"Worth a shot." Gabriel replied, kneeling upright and moving his arm up to try and stab Soren square in the stomach.

The angel dodged it with an eerie amount of grace. Gabriel scowled and went to swing again, only to find his hand was empty. Here we go again. He glanced at Soren, and sure enough, his brother was holding the sword. Scratch the ironic way of dying by the sword twice- this way was just going to suck. He pulled himself together in time to dodge Soren's own swing at him with the sword. The archangel bothered to pause a moment, hearing Roy call that his task was done in the back of his head. He looked around the room. Now all he needed to do was get Soren in a relatively open area, which were quite scarce in the room they were in.

Soren smirked, then looked over the blade. "Having flashbacks yet, brother?"

"You'll have to stab me first." Gabriel shot back. Sure, that was a dumb thing to Ponce de Le-douche, but he didn't care.

Soren shrugged. "Not part of the plan, I'm afraid."

Gabriel frowned. "What?"

Soren waved his hand, and a moment later, Alex's copy was beside him.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes in confusion. That just didn't add up. Soren knew everyone knew she was the copy, so what was he getting at? He didn't have long to wonder. A moment later, Soren had turned the sword on the copy, thrusting it hard into her gut. Gabriel tried hard not to show his utter confusion, but failed miserably.

The copy let out a shriek of mixed alarm and pain, more so when Soren angled the sword and thrusted it up again.

Once she was gone, Soren brought up the sword to eye level to look it over. The blood on it disappeared as well. He ran his finger along one of the wide sides once it was spotless again. "I'm sorry, Alex. It had to be done. I wish it wasn't you it happened to."

Gabriel snapped out of his state of shock a moment later. He wanted to know why the Hell Soren had just apologized after he killed the copy, as opposed to what he expected- an apology right before death. However, when Soren looked in the real Alex's direction, all the confusion dropped- as did the archangel's heart. There was another way to ensure that copies that were created stayed true to form and seemed almost indistinguishable from the real thing. He turned around sharply. A blood bond, and if that happened, possibilities were endless with their connection. "Alex?!"

Sure enough, she looked worse for wear, and the same wound that Soren had inflicted on her copy was on her own stomach. Her shirt was near soaked through with blood. Her knees had hit the ground hard as he turned and she gasped for air. The Winchesters got down just in time and managed to get their arms under hers for support before she completely hit the ground.

Gabriel bolted over to her, putting pieces together as he did so. He should've seen the blood bond coming after he had seen him scratch her. He was a fool. Now, chances are, he was about to watch her bleed to death. "ALEX! "He tilted her chin up, trying to get her to look at him. Soren could wait.

Alexandra whimpered and looked down at the matching wound. "Didn't… didn't see that coming... Shit, that's a lot of blood…" She went to put her hand over her stomach again, but Gabriel pushed it away.

"Shut up. Don't talk. Take it easy." Gabriel ordered, snapping his fingers. Unlike Roy's wound, the thing didn't close at all. "What the Hell?" He snapped again, then glanced up when Alexandra's eyelids fluttered closed. "Alex, no! Stay with us!" He ordered. He looked over his shoulder and cursed, seeing Soren had made his escape. He growled, then turned his attention back to his task at hand. He let his hand hover over the wound and concentrated, hoping by some stretch his angelic powers would come back when he felt he needed them most. Of course, that was too much to ask for. Why now?

The brothers exchanged uneasy looks when they spotted Alexandra's eyes close again. "Alex…" Dean patted her cheek lightly.

Sam nodded slowly. "You heard Gabriel- try to stay up…" He looked at the other two, who exchanged identical defeated looks. He frowned and looked back at her. He had taken to her quite quickly. He had seen way too many allies fall, and she and her sister had been placed high on the list of faces Dean considered family and would hate to lose, least of all in front of him. He knew the other's stances on that same topic weren't far off. "You can't kick your ex's ass if you… … if you're gone. You wanna kill him, don't you?"

"Don't think… I don't think I have much… choice here, guys." Alexandra replied, then coughed up blood, just adding to the misery.

Gabriel leaned forward. "Hey, Al. This isn't how it goes. I'm supposed to annoy you to death. You're not supposed to die on my because some asshole who has an issue with me used you."

"Again, n' mu'… choice… Gabe."

Gabriel shook his head. "No. You're gonna be fine. We're gonna fix this. We're gonna kill him and patch you up, I promise you that much." He looked up. "Castiel!" He groaned when there was no response. He doubted his brother wouldn't come during this situation, so he figured Soren was cutting them off once again. He saw the Winchesters tense up out of the corner of his eye. He looked at them, and they were staring at Alex. Gabriel looked down, confident he wasn't going to like what he saw. Sure enough, Alexandra's eyes were open, staring ahead. They looked completely dull- dead dull. Shit. He swallowed hard and reached for her hand, turning it to check her pulse. He waited for a while to feel it, but it never came. He closed his eyes and put her hand down before running his own hand down his face slowly, looking into space when his pointer finger reached his chin. All different emotions hitting him at once was completely foreign and uncomfortable to him, which did nothing but increase the pain he felt.

Sam inhaled sharply and looked away.

Dean did the same, then looked at Gabriel. He would never admit it out loud, but he felt for the archangel for the first time since he thought the other was just some poor janitor that discovered a dead body. He waited a few seconds to reply. "Go kill the worthless son of a bitch. We'll stay with her."

Gabriel looked at the brothers, and in turn, Sam and Dean wondered if the angel was seconds away from crying- another thing that would've blown the brothers' minds . "You sure?" the archangel asked after a few moments of staring.

Sam nodded. "We're sure. Go- oh, no. Where's Roy?"

Gabriel flinched, then snapped his fingers half-heartedly.

The brunette man appeared beside him, and looked around, confused over his new surroundings, until he set his eyes on his niece, along with his companions' defeated expressions. He eased himself down to his knees before they had the chance to buckle. He swallowed hard, forcing back tears that were putting up a damn good fight as he cupped his niece's cheek. He turned to the others "…Soren?" He choked out.

Gabriel nodded weakly, then raised his fingers again. "We're gonna get her back, Roy." He added gently. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a score to settle." With one final snap, he was gone from the room.