Mumbling in Enochian under his breath, Michael watched carefully as the chains hooked into the bottom of the Cage loosened and fell, vanishing into the darkness.
They were working on the outer edges, at the bottom; By now, really, the only thing keeping the Cage up were the chains at the top. After the archangel had explained the counter spells that they had to use in order to power down the warding and get the chains off, his brothers had split, taking their respective corners and setting to work. Michael had - somewhat reluctantly - taken to the inside of the Cage, while his brothers were flying around it. It was the easiest thing he could think of to do without spreading his own wings and, despite Adam's objections, Michael, himself, had decided against that, knowing that it made the demon uncomfortable.
The rattling of chains behind him made Michael turn; Lucifer had managed to loosen the ones in his corner, and Gabriel was following suit easily enough, though he seemed a little frustrated with it. Michael just took in a breath and turned, pacing over to the other corner, which his brothers had yet to reach. He may be weakened, but he had an advantage; He knew everything there was to know about the outside of the Cage, from the chains to the bars, the top to the bottom, whereas Lucifer only knew the inside, and Gabriel didn't know any part of it. And, despite working from the inside, the archangel still had the advantage of knowledge over both of his brothers - so maybe some good did come out of sitting by, waiting in the wings, just watching his Father dutifully and patiently while he awaited his next orders.
As he set to work, the archangel noted Adam's thoughts drifting, flashing back, to how it had all began. The first few nights in the Cage had been the worst; The screams, and the torture. It had taken Michael a long time to realize what was really going on between Adam and Lucifer - to realize what his brother was really doing. Even then, though, he hated himself for it, but he hadn't particularly cared; Lucifer was doing his thing, he and Adam weren't even remotely close, and Michael was just worried about when the hell his Father would get there and let him out.
If Adam was bitter about it, Michael really couldn't tell. He wouldn't have blamed the demon, of course, but he hadn't even seemed to care, and he still didn't, now.
"Not like it was the worst thing to ever happen to me," Adam muttered, as Michael reached their arms through the bars, unhooking the chains once he had mumbled the Enochian spell under his breath, letting go and watching them fall through the darkness. "That was being eaten by those freaks." The demon's tone changed slightly, but Michael caught it. "Besides, Lucifer didn't even do anything, aside from annoy the hell out of me. I figured that out a while ago."
Michael smiled a little despite himself, but he didn't say anything. He turned, pausing, looking around the Cage. The smile slipped, but the expression on their face was more neutral than anything, venturing a few steps into the center. Adam was just as quiet, turning their head to look around, gaze flickering over the bars, eyebrows furrowing.
"Honestly can't believe we're back here again," Michael admitted quietly, and Adam exhaled.
"Me either." The demon grimaced slightly, and Michael closed their eyes for a moment. For a second, it felt like nothing had changed; Like they were still stuck in the Cage, like they had never really left, like everything they'd known on Earth had just been an illusion. It hurt - and it continued to hurt long after they had opened their eyes, frowning, to look around the Cage again. Then, with a low, shaky sigh, they turned to walk over to the entrance - only to jump, startled, as Lucifer swung himself through from the top, letting out a 'whee' as he landed. Michael took a step back, just to give him room, and Adam rolled their eyes at the Devil's antics.
"Brooding again, are we?" Lucifer asked sweetly once he regained his balance, folding his wings away with a grin and making his way over to them. Michael managed a half-sheepish smile in response, while Adam fixed the Devil with an irritated glare. Lucifer paused a little, taking a look around the Cage, and his confident steps slowed for a few seconds, only a few seconds, before he was moving forward again. "I gotta admit, you're a lot braver than I gave you credit for," he commented, and Michael blinked slightly in response.
"Which one?" Adam asked, crossing their arms over their chest, and Michael almost laughed a little bit at the question, despite himself. Definitely an accurate one. "Me or Michael?"
"Yes," Lucifer replied, smirking. The demon squinted, and the archangel actually let out a few chuckles this time, his attention shifting easily from the Cage to his brother as the Devil paced forward and spun around a few times, raising his eyes to the ceiling of the Cage, and then back down again, open-mouthed as he took a glance around what had been his prison for the longest time, longer than even Michael would dare to try and figure out. "Man… I still hate this place."
"That makes three of us," Michael sighed, with Adam nodding in agreement. Lucifer paused, looking over at them, and he fell silent for a while before simply turning away again. The Devil reached his arms out, through the bars, and brought his hands together on the other side. And, silent, he sank his weight against the bars and leaned his forehead against them, staring out into the darkness. After a moment, Michael forced himself to move, walking up beside his brother and leaning forward beside him. Lucifer didn't look up, but he tilted his head toward the archangel and demon as they reached out, looping their arms around the bars and gripping onto the outside of the Cage. Rather than looking down, however, Adam tilted their head upwards. Another burst of lightning made them both flinch, whereas Lucifer hardly reacted.
After a moment, clearing his throat, Lucifer lifted his head and looked over at them. "Gabe's getting the chains at the top, but he's gonna come get the two of you and take you to the platform first." He gestured vaguely toward the entrance before putting his arms back through the bars again. "I'm staying here. Gonna drop through with the Cage, keep it steady."
Adam blinked, and Michael just nodded slowly, understanding but still concerned. He pulled their arms out, but he held onto the bars, from the inside now, as he leaned back and looked toward the entrance of the Cage, and then back at his brother. "Will you be okay?"
"Oh, no. No, I'm going to die," Lucifer deadpanned, and Adam rolled their eyes, while Michael huffed out a low sigh and looked away for a moment. "I'll be fine. Jeez, you're such a helicopter brother now." Chuckling, his younger brother pulled away from the bars completely and turned to face Michael and Adam, reaching out and lightly punching their shoulder; Michael rocked a little bit with the movement, but a smile appeared on their face easily enough as he shrugged. Adam let loose a low, but good-natured growl, more playful than anything, and, in response, Lucifer's face split into a grin. "Oh, what'cha gonna do, huh?"
"You really wanna do this?" Adam questioned slowly, lips curling back, baring his teeth at the Devil. Michael just kept silent, more amused than anything - they were, after all, just fooling around, the way they had used to. Lucifer knew exactly how to keep Adam's mind off of the Cage, and he knew exactly how to keep Michael from stressing; He knew them both, to an even higher extent than either of them had realized. "Now?"
"Puppy's all bark, no bite," Lucifer continued to taunt the demon; There was no anger, not even the tiniest flicker of rage, but a little bit of irritation, as well as indignation, flared up in the demon's chest from the little nickname. Michael retreated a little, just to watch, biting back his laughter. "Nobody's scared of you, Adam-" The Devil cut off when Adam lunged at him, grabbing the Devil by the front of his shirt and promptly slamming him backwards into the bars of the Cage; And, in response, Lucifer's grin widened, eyes flaring a bright, hellfire red, as he shoved himself forward, taking the demon with him. And, Michael let them - one, because he knew the demon meant no real harm, and two, because with all that teasing, yeah, Lucifer had kind of earned it. And, besides - one last Cage Wrestling match couldn't hurt, could it?
And, wrestle they did; Adam managed to drive Lucifer to the ground, but the Devil knocked their feet from under them in response, bringing the demon crashing down right after him. They rolled around for a little, Adam snarling and Lucifer snickering, before the Devil finally took the upper hand once again, getting the demon into a headlock and holding him steady with ease while Adam roared, cursed and twisted, snapping his teeth at Lucifer's arm and fingers and writhing in the death grip, trying to twist away and growing more and more irritated when he couldn't.
Michael was just having a hard time not breaking down into laughter right then and there. He tried to help, taking some control and twisting sharply, himself, in an attempt to break them out of Lucifer's grip, but he couldn't - Lucifer was stronger than him, at the moment, at least, powers or not, and Michael wasn't going to waste what energy they currently had on a play fight.
Finally, Adam stopped struggling - and, even more reluctantly, he growled out a quiet "uncle" - and Lucifer released him almost at once, stepping back with a smug grin on his face. Adam spun around, poised as if to lunge again- and, in response, Lucifer grabbed onto both of his wrists, pushing him back and holding on tightly to keep the demon from getting to him. It didn't stop Adam from trying, though, not even for a second. He twisted, he snarled, he kicked, but Lucifer had him; And there wasn't much that he could do against the Devil, with all his fury.
"Come on, man," Lucifer sighed, amusement flickering through his eyes, and Adam stopped to glare at him. Michael watched curiously, still chuckling slightly, internally. "You're just wounding your pride even further, y'know." In response, Adam spit at him slightly; But, he did finally stop struggling, yanking his hands back, away from the Devil, and the demon stumbled a good few steps back and stood there, staring at Lucifer. He squinted, clearly debating whether to attack again or not - but, Michael decided that was as good a time as any to reign him back in. For the sake of his pride, and absolutely nothing else, as amusing as it was.
Lucifer was always the one to win their little fights in the Cage, Michael could recall. It was his way of distracting Adam from the delusions, the torture that he endured - not from the Devil, not really, but from the Cage itself. They fought, and Lucifer won most of the time, but for the most part, the torture came solely from the Cage. Once Adam had Transformed however, once the Cage no longer had any fear to twist and use against the demon, the delusions had vanished, but their little fights had continued on, and on, and on. But Lucifer had never tortured him. He'd never hurt Adam out of pure anger. Nor had he tortured Sam - no, that was the Cage's doing, as well. Lucifer had only tried to distract them, the both of them, tried to keep them safe from their own minds as best as he could without really letting anyone know what he was doing.
But Michael saw. That was part of the reason he had truly begun to see who his brother really was, rather than the monster that he and God and everyone else had painted him as. That was part of the reason the archangel was still holding onto the belief, now, that his little brother was still in there somewhere, the angel he had once been, and he was hellbent on proving it.
Groaning, Adam sank them back against the bars of the Cage and glared at Lucifer, who only smiled in response, victorious, smug and innocent all in one. Adam's lips curled up into a sarcastic smile right back at him, before it dropped back to a scowl a second later.
"Hasn't anyone ever taught you not to fight the Devil?" Lucifer asked playfully, with a teasing little pout in the process. He strutted forward, leaning forward against the bars beside them, looking outside the Cage. He looked upwards this time, and Adam and Michael just watched him, the demon breathing heavily as he narrowed their eyes at the Devil in response. But Lucifer was distracted now, a frown written across his face, as he tilted his head back further to look up, eyes narrowing into the distance, as if he were searching for something. And he couldn't seem to find it, because his frown deepened further. "Shoulda been here by now…"
Michael blinked, taking a second to remember that Gabriel was there, too - and that they weren't stuck in the Cage, like old times. For a moment, it had almost felt like so, but the reminder snapped the archangel back to his senses almost at once. Pushing them up, with a small grunt in the process, he moved over to join his brother, and Adam looped their fingers through the bars as they peered upwards, searching the sky for a glimpse of the youngest archangel. A quick flash of lightning made Michael flinch again, but he recovered quicker this time, more worried about Gabriel than he was about the lightning.
He could still sense him - that wasn't the problem, he was still there, but he wasn't above the Cage, he wasn't messing with the chains. Michael paused, pushing away from the bars and turning, instead, to pace over to the entrance. He jolted a little when the lightning flashed down on the Cage again, but he braced himself to move forward, blinking a little as he focused on the platform. At first, he couldn't see anything off - but then, off in the distance, there was a smaller flash of light. It wasn't the lightning; It was red, orange, even like fire. For a second, he considered that it might have been a torch, but… no, it couldn't be. It was too big. "Luci."
"Yeah," Lucifer mumbled, easing past the his brother to look. Adam wrinkled his nose slightly as Michael glanced down. Without the chains, there was no way he could get to the platform from where they were, not unless he flew. Michael set his jaw and looked back up, about to say something to his brother - but, before he could, the Devil abruptly jerked back, every muscle in his body going tense, recoiling as if something had burned him. His eyes sharpened, and burned a deep, terrifying red, lips curling back as if to snarl, but no sound left his lips.
"What?" Michael stared at him, wide-eyed with concern, then turned his head slightly to look over at the fire again. "What is i-" It took a moment of staring for his eyes to adjust, but now he could see that there were two figures; One seemed dangerously close to the fire, and the other stood a distance away, standing tall and confident. The archangel only got a brief glimpse, but just seeing the pose the figure stood in, the way they moved as they walked forward, that was the only thing he needed to see to know - deep down - who it was. His breathing hitched.
Adam inclined their head forward a little, and eased just a slight step closer to the entrance, still carefully minding how high up they were. Michael just continued to stare, slowly but surely going numb. It started with his fingertips, spread up his arms, and flooded straight through him. It was a freezing kind of numbness, something that could have easily been considered fear, but it wasn't even that - because he didn't feel a thing, not emotionally. Physically, however? He was right freezing as he stood there, and, in response, their body began to tremble, as if it were reacting to the numbness, as if to tell him it wasn't normal - not that he didn't already know that.
"Who is it?" Adam demanded, and Michael couldn't even open their mouth to respond back to him. He tried, he did, but once their mouth closed, he couldn't force it open again himself. And, so, giving in, he simply let his thoughts trail, let Adam know just exactly who he thought it was; And, in turn, the demon drew them a very faint, very tense step backwards, protective and cold almost at once. Their mouth twisted, jaw setting, but now he was silent.
"Micha-" Lucifer started, looking over at them. Michael couldn't look back over at him, no, he could only stare ahead, wide eyes tracking the figure in the distance as it drew closer and closer to the fire, as a hand rose, and as the other figure buckled to the ground almost at once. And then, with that, a horrible scream ripped through the air, it echoed around the darkness, it bounced off of the bars of the Cage, and Michael wanted to scream back in response just from the sound. Lucifer whirled around at once, cursing under his breath. "Fucking- Gabe-"
"Gabriel," Michael choked out, finally able to force their lips to move, but he didn't get much further than that. Lucifer was already dashing forward, wings spread, and almost instinctively, Michael had stepped forward to follow him, unfurling his own wings; There was no protest from Adam, not even as they neared the edge, not even as the archangel took a step forward to completely leave the Cage - no, it was Lucifer who objected, it was Lucifer who spun around, using a wing to push Michael back as hard as he possibly could, sending the archangel and demon stumbling and slamming back into the bars at the opposite side of the Cage.
"What the fuck?!" Adam snarled, more pissed off from that than anything as he pushed them up again. Michael just shook slightly, looking up at his younger brother. Lucifer's eyes were cold, still glowing red, and his hands were curled into fists, wings flapping nearly as fast as their heart was beating in their chest.
"Michael's too weak," the Devil hissed. "Stay here, and try not to get yourselves killed!" Without waiting for a response, without waiting to hear the protests as Michael opened his mouth, the Devil whirled around and, with one last flap of his wings and a whoosh, he was gone. Michael stared at where he had been, eyes wide, mouth still open, confusion and disbelief flickering through his eyes. He wanted to follow, he wanted to help them, he wanted to get out of the damn Cage. But he was frozen, still, unable to move, as if the order had rooted him straight to the ground. And now he could feel the panic rising up, the Cage seeming to close around him, suffocating and blinding, and that cold feeling intensified even further.
It was Adam who pushed them forward, movements jerky and fast.
Michael's wings were moving without his permission, and he could hardly feel them as they did; But he did feel it when their feet left the bottom of the Cage, he felt it when Adam pushed them high into the air, he felt it as they dipped, and dropped, and then abruptly stopped cold in the air. The demon grunted as he forced Michael's wings to move, miraculously keeping them up, and the archangel forced himself out of his numbness to take back some control of his wings in order to move them along with the demon. The rhythm was a bit unsteady at first; They'd never flown together, never shared control of the wings while Michael flew. But they fell into sync just as easily as they did everything else, and, once they got the hang of it, Adam lifted their head.
"Promise me something," the demon demanded, breathing heavily, not looking down. "Promise me that you can do this without getting yourself killed, Michael, because if you get hurt…"
Yes, Michael agreed immediately. Yes, I promise. I promise.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Adam breathed, swallowing hard, teeth clenching. "Go help your brothers." Michael wasn't sure what chord that had struck, but it had struck something. It wasn't an order and it didn't feel like an order, as it had with Lucifer; It felt like encouragement. And that was what the archangel needed to set him in motion.
Eyes sharpening, he moved them forward, unsteady at first. Adam kept the wings moving when Michael paused, his own discomfort seeming to fade slightly with each second that passed. The fear from being high up was dissolving, slow and steady, as the demon shifted his focus to moving the wings. And, for a moment, Michael felt proud - until Adam redirected their attention back to what was going on ahead of them; There was a third figure - Lucifer - approaching the other two. The one closest to the fire was standing back up, while the other faced Lucifer, distracted. Setting their jaw, Michael took in a breath and shot forward, keeping them moving while Adam flapped their wings, hard, fast and steady, moving them along easily.
The figures were easier to make out, the closer they got. Gabriel was standing in a ring of fire, looking pissed as he watched Lucifer and the other man standing there. At first glance, the man was completely unrecognizable; Michael had never seen his face, never once in his life. But the way he stood, the way he carried himself, the way he gestured with his hands and the way he walked as he took several steps forward, approaching Lucifer, that was recognizable. Adam was as silent as he'd ever been, and he wasn't even furious, not angry to the point where he was going to attack, himself. He was pissed, sure, Michael could feel it - but he was controlling himself enough to stay back, as if he recognized that the archangel was the one who needed to be pissed now, and the one who needed to show it for himself, without getting distracted.
But Michael's anger didn't come until long after he'd landed. It didn't come until the man turned, pausing slightly, eyes fixing on the archangel. No emotion registered on his face, nothing clear enough to read. But a grin did split across the unrecognizable face. And it was almost warm.
"Michael. My son…"
Adam's anger flared up, and for a moment, their mouth opened, as if the demon was going to say something. Michael didn't move, didn't even try to reign him in - in fact, a part of him was almost aching to encourage the demon. Instead, Adam paused, inhaled, and reeled himself in, slowly and steady retreating, just the slightest bit, leaving Michael to react for himself, at least for the time being. And, after a few seconds, the archangel did react. But he didn't react to his Father, he didn't react to His words, he didn't react to the smile.
"Gabe." Instead, without taking his eyes off of Chuck, he spoke to his brother. His voice shook, despite his efforts to hold himself steady, but he didn't care. He was still numb on the inside, and still cold on the outside, fingers tingling. He wanted to look at Gabriel, but he couldn't bring himself to move his eyes off of his Father, who now looked confused. "Are you okay?"
"Peachy," Gabriel responded shortly, breathless, but steadier than Michael was. The archangel could feel Lucifer's glare burning into him as the Devil stepped around Chuck, who was still just staring at Michael, unable to comprehend. Seizing his chance while their Father was distracted, Lucifer raised a hand, fingers snapping, the fire around Gabriel diminishing at once. The youngest archangel stretched, cracked his knuckles, and stepped forward beside Lucifer.
Chuck paused, then, turning his head toward the other two for a moment. Gabriel and Lucifer just stared back, eyes narrowing simultaneously. Their Father paused, taking a few more slow, deliberate steps toward Michael. "Well, boys, it's been a long time since we've been in the same area together, hasn't it? Hah- look at that, family reunion. Isn't this nice?" He looked toward Michael, but the archangel only stared at him, not even blinking at this point, struggling to drudge up some kind of emotion - but he couldn't feel anything. Not a damned thing. "And- heh- Mikey, buddy, how've you been, huh? Enjoying your freedom?" He took a step closer.
Finally, there was a tug.
A twinge. A pull. A drive. An answer brewing on his tongue, instinctive and obedient, as if that question had really been an order. However, as he opened his mouth, something else sparked to life, as well. Something sharp, and sudden, and hot. And it burned. It burned his stomach, it burned his chest, and that burn worked its way up to every single part of his body. Spreading across his arms, to his fingers, down his legs, and then straight up to his head. It was like fire. Like those small, flickering flames had suddenly began blazing even brighter.
And that fire - that fire - it was accompanied by a rush, sudden and steady. And he didn't fight it, not this time. He let it spread, and he let it grow, and he let it consume him, let it drive him.
The archangel blinked once, still blank, then slowly narrowed their eyes. "I was." He watched as Chuck seemed to recoil, if only for a second, clearly not knowing what to make of that response, or how to take it. Adam was silent, but he sent a rush of encouragement to the archangel, a rush of support, and that only made that fire burn even brighter. Michael set their jaw, swallowed hard, and took a deep breath in before turning his attention back to his brothers. "You guys- the-" He gestured toward the Cage, and Gabriel looked over at once. Lucifer didn't move.
"I'm not leaving you with Him," the Devil said simply, with a pointed look in Chuck's direction, and their Father feigned a half-hearted look of innocence in response.
"I got it." Gabriel threw Chuck a glance before turning, brushing past Lucifer and Michael. Chuck took a half-step after them, but that was about as far as he got; Michael stepped forward with him this time, shoulders tensing, braving himself to move just enough to make it clear that his Father wasn't going to be getting to his brother without receiving a fight in response. Chuck blinked, backing down slightly, more or less in surprise than anything else.
"Michael, come on," their Father insisted, searching Michael's gaze, as if he was going to find anything other than the coldness he was seeing there now. "You know they're using you, right? Whatever they're making you do- Mike, kiddo." Chuck spread his arms out slightly, his smile returning. "I'm here now. You don't have to work with them anymore. You can come back to me."
Lucifer scoffed, Adam did growl this time, and Michael felt something inside of him explode.
"You?" The archangel spoke the word quietly, at first, his voice no longer shaking with fear, but with rage. And that rage continued to grow, and spread, and burn brighter than it ever had before. It was from both ends, you see. When one of them was pissed, and the other was calm, they were fine. One could calm the other down with ease. But when both of them were pissed, you might as well be looking at a ticking fucking time bomb. No calm Michael to hold Adam back. No worried, protective Adam to talk Michael down from doing something he might regret. Especially not now. Not now, because both of them knew beyond a doubt that whatever Michael did now, whatever he said and whatever went down, there would be no guilt on his conscience.
Not this time.
"Yes, me," Chuck answered easily enough, in somewhat of a 'duh' tone, as he stepped forward and extended a hand to his son - only to recoil when Michael did, the archangel flicking his gaze from his Father's face to the hand that he had held out for him, nothing but disgust and disbelief flickering through his cold blue eyes. Then, finally, lifting his gaze back to Chuck, Michael cocked his head to the side, slowly, and narrowed his eyes even further.
"I was nothing but loyal to you, Father." Michael's cold mask broke, just for a second, a tiny bit of hurt finally seeping through - but then, in that same second, it was replaced with anger once again. "I was never a good brother and, perhaps, I was never even a good enough son. But I stood beside you, and I followed every order you gave me without question, and when you left us - Heaven - me - I took your place because I thought that's what you would want. I looked after my siblings. I took charge when Lucifer escaped the Cage. I struggled, day after day, to pick up the pieces of the mess that you left behind, and I wondered, night after night, if I was doing my job right and why you hadn't returned when I was trying so… so damn hard to fix everything so that you would want us again." The archangel's voice finally rose, trembling. "Then-"
"Michael-" Chuck started, almost impatient, not even a shred of guilt evident on his face - and that, that was enough to make Adam snap, a low snarl building in his throat as he cut Chuck off and took a step forward, teeth bared - and Michael let him.
"He's not fucking finished, you bastard."
Chuck stared, eyes flickering with fury, but he closed his mouth and lowered his chin. Michael took a deep breath, and Adam retreated once again, nodding faintly for the archangel to continue on - which he did, but not before backing them up a few more steps. Not out of fear, not anymore - but simply because he didn't want to be that close to his Father anymore. He didn't want to stand near him, he didn't want to be close enough to touch.
You can do this, Adam encouraged silently, and Michael's jaw set, watching his Father. You deserve to be able to stand up for yourself, halo. Don't stop now.
Michael narrowed his eyes slightly, lifting his head a little bit more, and he set his shoulders. "Then," he continued, "when I had fallen, when I was begging for you to come and save me, your loyal, obedient soldier- no…" Michael's eyes darkened. "No, your loyal, obedient servant, you couldn't even be bothered. You didn't care. You never. Cared. And now you have the audacity… to stand before me now…" He lowered his chin, clenched his teeth, and stared his Father right in the eyes, as his own slowly began to spark with a deep, electric shade of blue. "And believe that you deserve a single shred of the loyalty that I once displayed to you?"
Chuck stared at him for a long time, unspeaking, as if he didn't know what to say to that. Lucifer, on the other hand, was less than silent; He was laughing his ass off, now, clapping his hands together with a grin on his face and a proud look flickering through his eyes. Michael blinked, eyes straying over to his younger brother for a moment, but his attention was quickly drawn back to Adam when the demon started laughing along, internal but as loud as ever in Michael's head. For a moment, the archangel wanted to laugh along, but all that came out was a soft, breathless huff, before his Father suddenly sighed, shrugged, and looked away.
"Yeah, I kind of figured you'd hate me," Chuck muttered simply, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "But, hey, it was worth a s-"
"I don't hate you," Michael interrupted before he could really stop himself - but, then, at the same time, he probably wouldn't have stopped himself anyway. Lucifer's laughter ceased almost immediately, and Chuck looked up at once, eyebrows raising faintly in surprise. Adam went silent, himself, but he didn't seem startled, or anxious, or upset - if anything, his amusement seemed to grow even stronger, before the archangel had even spoken up again. "See, I loathe you." Michael narrowed his eyes. "There's a difference."
I've never been more proud of you than I am now, Adam spoke up gleefully, and Michael's lips twitched faintly despite himself, ripping his gaze away from Chuck. His Father looked mildly pissed off now, mouth opening as if to respond - until his gaze suddenly flickered past Michael, and eyes went wide, entire body locking up and his pupils shrinking.
Turning, Michael and Adam saw why; The Cage was falling.
They watched, blinking, as it fell through the air. Lucifer moved forward to Michael's side, but Adam brought them a few steps forward, hesitantly peering over the edge to finally get a look at the rift below. It definitely was disgusting, for sure; Black goo spilled out over the edges, and the entire thing seemed to writhe in the air, as if it were alive. The second the Cage fell into it, it was wrapped up in the goo, and vanished straight into the darkness - but the rift didn't close after it. And, a moment later, Gabriel had dived down after the Cage, disappearing into the rift as well. Then it finally began to close, and Michael almost went numb again, with relief.
Almost.
A furious shriek made the archangel jump; Whirling around to face his Father again, he saw that Chuck had pushed his way in between Michael and Lucifer, watching the Cage and Gabriel disappear into the Empty. "No, no, no, no, no," Chuck snarled abruptly, and, just as suddenly, he had whirled around and grabbed Lucifer by the throat. "Whatever the hell you're doing, Lucifer-"
"Get the fuck off of him!" Michael and Adam roared, reaching out and grabbing Chuck by the shoulder. The second they did so, he buckled straight to his knees with a choked gasp, startling enough to make the archangel let go almost at once. Even Adam seemed confused, at least for a second, before the realization kicked in; Of course, they had said he was injured, hadn't they? Michael narrowed his eyes down at his Father, bewildered, but he snapped his attention back to his brother quick enough; Lucifer was rubbing his throat, breathing heavily, glaring at Chuck icily.
"You okay?" Michael rushed forward, concern overpowering his anger for his Father. He reached for his brother, half expecting him to recoil - which he did, but not before giving Michael the chance to look him over, making sure he wasn't badly injured - which, he didn't seem to be.
"That's it…" Chuck gasped out suddenly, gripping his shoulder. He looked up at his sons, eyes glittering with fury, and raised a hand. None of them had any time to react; Chuck clenched his fist shut, and Michael and Adam and Lucifer were on their knees, gasping. For Michael, it felt like his blood was churning, boiling, lungs collapsing, throat restricting, blood bubbling to their lips. Adam clawed at their throat in response, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. Lucifer let out a choked, distorted snarl, and Chuck clenched his fist a little tighter to shut him up, making his way to his feet. "I tried, I really did. And Michael… Lucifer, I'd expect this behavior from, but from you?" His eyes sharpened down at the archangel. "I'm just disappointed."
Unable to do much else, and too pissed off to even consider begging his Father for forgiveness now, Michael curled his lips back and sneered. Adam grinned, toothy and bloody.
Chuck narrowed his eyes, faintly, and twisted his fist slightly to the side.
Beside Michael and Adam, Lucifer let out a choked, gurgling scream and coughed out a stream of blood. They looked over instantly, concerned, and Adam stopped grasping at their throat long enough for Michael to try and reach for his brother. His hand fell over Lucifer's shoulder, shaking, and the Devil looked over at him, meeting his gaze for a second as a trickle of blood ran down the side of his mouth, dripping down his chin, onto the platform below. Adam's gaze followed it, then slowly came to rest over the edge. Their eyebrows furrowed.
And then, suddenly, Adam squeezed Lucifer's shoulder, and shoved.
The Devil gasped, stifled and choked, as he fell sideways; Michael made an attempt to reach for him, but Adam pulled them back before he could, despite the archangel's protests.
"What the…" The hold that Chuck on both of them loosened, allowing Michael to scramble forward toward his brother, but not in time to save him as he fell; He could only watch, shocked and helpless, as his brother disappeared into the darkness, the black goo swallowing him up whole and the rift finally closing up right after him.
For a while, all of them just stared. Chuck was clearly startled, more so than even Michael was - because the archangel understood at once what Adam had done, pushing Lucifer to safety, into the Empty, to keep Chuck from hurting him - and the archangel was nothing but grateful. Still, Adam didn't seem quite… done. No, there was something else flickering deep within his mind, soft words being spoken over and over and over again. Loud enough for Michael to hear, of course, for him to make out, and Adam wasn't particularly trying to hide it from him, but the archangel couldn't understand. Or maybe he just didn't want to.
Something tugged at him, deep down within. Something shook. Something loosened.
Chuck turned back to them slowly, nothing but fury in his eyes, and raised a hand once again. Michael's pupils shrunk, falling completely breathless before Chuck had even clenched his fist. But not even from his own fear - no, from the rush of terror from Adam's end, as his soft, internal mantra grew louder, and stronger, and heavier, and Michael could finally make it out. Finally understood, as that something inside shook again, loosened.
"No-" The archangel gasped out, understanding a little too late exactly what Adam was trying to do. Chuck halted, just for a second, but the demon didn't. If anything, he got louder.
Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out.