The Forgotten Brother
Adam shot up with a gasp, heart hammering hard in his chest. He clutched at his hair; eyes squeezed shut as he willed the terrible memories away. He should have been used to the terrors. He'd been free for years, but the pain and fear still felt fresh. Fires burned his flesh. Claws of the two archangels caged with him tore open his skin and muscle. His screams echoed through the pit, never ceasing.
Slowly, Adam's heart slowed and the young man released his hold on his hair and forced open his eyes. The dream dissipated. He looked around; taking in his surroundings one more time just to be sure he was awake. He was in his bedroom at a place he had once called home. His old photos still sat on the shelves and old books and video games were still sprawled out on the floor. Even after returning home years ago he couldn't bring himself to clean up the mess.
With a yawn and a quick stretch, Adam got up from his bed and made his way to the kitchen. It no longer held the kind of life it once had, but that was to be expected. It was quiet now. His mother was gone. She no longer scurried around the kitchen, baking goodies or slapping cookies out of Adam's hand. No, instead the place was dark and cold. There was no smell of goodies or the laughter of a mother and son. It had all been stolen away.
Grabbing a bowl from the sink, Adam got started on a dull breakfast of cereal. He'd just reached the refrigerator for milk when a loud cry made him freeze. He turned, eyes darting around the house in search for the source of the noise. The crying started up again and Adam followed the noise silently, grabbing a knife from the kitchen counter on his way out. As he walked through the house the noise grew louder, leading him to the front door. He paused there for a second, taking a deep breath and clutching at his knife harder than before. He pushed out his free hand, grabbing the handle of the door and pulling.
When the door opened the crying became louder than before and Adam looked down at his feet, shocked to find a dirty child on the step. The little boy had matted brown hair and a red face with tear tracks staining his plump cheeks. His clothes were in tatters and caked in grime. Then there were the things sticking out of his back. Two wings covered in grimy feathers hung at his sides. Adam couldn't tell what color they were.
The baby angel looked up at him, eyes widening in shock at the sight of young man.
"Adam?" the baby stuttered through hiccupped breaths. Adam frowned in answer, squinting harder at the angel. He felt his stomach twist suddenly and the human's eyes widened.
"Michael?" he gasped. The archangel nodded slowly, hesitantly. Adam took a step back at first in fear, but he quickly stopped himself. What was he afraid of? Michael's a child! He's weak and small. He's vulnerable and that's all Adam can see other than the red coloring his vision.
Adam reached out with a hand, dropping his blade. He grabbed the angel by the wings and the baby angel screamed, thrashing in attempt to get away. The human just shook Michael hard, causing the angel to screech in pain again as his wings were pulled roughly.
"How's it feel?" Adam hissed at the angel. "How's it feel to be in pain? To be helpless and unable to defend yourself?" Michael continued to scream, fat tears running down his face and smearing the dirt there. "That's how I felt! You and your brother ruined my life. You lied to me and used me as your own personal punching bag." He shook the angel. "Now you're the punching bag! You're the weakling! You should never have brought me back! You should never have saved me and guess why? Because it's my turn now and you –!"
"Pwease! Stop! Stop!" Michael sobbed, hanging limp in the air by his wings. Adam stopped shaking and stared at the angel, watching in shock as he watched the angel fall apart right in front of him. "I sowy!" Michael sobbed. "I sowy! Makes it stop!" Adam swallowed and looked the angel up and down again, taking him in completely. This wasn't the douchebag angel he remembered. The thing hanging in his fist was a weak and shambled impression of the former archangel. "Pwease stop! It hurts! It hurts!" Adam dropped the angel and Michael fell to the ground, landing on his front. The archangel cried hard into the floor, wings drooping uselessly around him. Adam watched him, scowling in confusion at the angel.
"What the hell happened to you?" Adam finally questioned. Michael let out a small chuckle, but it lacked all humor. Instead it was laced with pain and sadness.
"I…kidnapped," the angel croaked, looking up at Adam, cheek resting heavily against the cold wood floor. "I was taken with my swiblings and nobody cames looking for us. We waited and every swingle day another one of my swibling vanished from the cages we was kept in." Michael shook his head slowly. "I pwayed that someone would fwind us or save us whether it be my father or the Winchesters, but no one cames. No one cames..."
"Winchesters, huh?" Adam huffed. "Join the club. Those two abandoned me too. Did they try to get me out of hell? No!" Adam growled. "No, instead it was your people and they only save me to save you. Then you healed my soul and ditched my body, leaving me here alone."
"I offwered to take you to you brothers," Michael whispered. "You saids no." Adam bit his lip. Michael was right. The archangel had offered and Adam had turned him down. Adam didn't want anything to do with his brothers. They didn't give a rat's ass about him anyway. If they did they would have found the time to help him. Sam got out so why didn't they come back for him too? No, it was better that Adam stay away from the two. He was better off alone in his empty home.
"What now?" Adam asked, watching the angel on his floor. The archangel didn't answer. He only closed his eyes and buried his face with a wing. Adam growled and paced the room. What was he going to do? He couldn't call his brothers and tell them to take the angel. They thought he was still in the pit and Adam would rather have them continue to believe that. He could dump Michael back outside or somewhere else, but then he'd be endangering others. What if some innocent person found the angel and took him in without realizing the burden and danger that came along with housing such a creature? No, Adam wouldn't do that. He would never curse somebody with the knowledge he now had of the world.
Adam shook his head. He was screwed. His only options were to take care of Michael himself or kill the guy and Adam refused to stoop that low. He didn't want to be like his brothers. They killed things without a second thought. If Adam killed Michael, he'd be one step closer to becoming a Winchester and fall in line with the family business that his two brothers seemed to believe so strongly in.
Michael let out a little gasp suddenly and Adam turned to look at the angel. He watched Michael move a wing. It was sluggish as it dragged from the floor and curled around the angel. There were feathers missing. In the spot where Adam had grabbed by the joints feathers were bent and a dark ring of purple covered the pink flesh peeking out from the empty spots. He couldn't understand it. Why did he feel so guilty? This monster had played a huge part in ruining his life. If anything, the angel deserved much worse. Yet, just the thought of that made Adam feel sick. Maybe it was that stupid cliché he'd grown up hearing about on television or in the books his mother read to him. They all talked about being the better person; to not stoop to the bully's ways. Or maybe it was because Adam felt drawn to the angel sprawled out on his floor. Though they were different species they were still the same in more ways than one. They had both been abandoned by their brothers and put through hell because of it. Most of all, they were both sick of suffering.
Adam shook himself, pushing back his pity. He let out a long sigh and knelt down onto the floor beside the angel.
"Come on," he whispered, brushing his fingers at the angel's sides. "Let's get you cleaned up." Michael opened his eyes and watched as Adam lifted him. Adam cradled the angel against his chest, careful with the wings hanging at Michael's sides. Together they walked to the bathroom and Adam got the bath ready. He made sure the water was warm and poured in some bubbles. He then turned back to the angel, stripping off the dirty rags hugging Michael's chubby form. When he did he found that the angel was covered in bruises and scrapes. There was nothing too life threatening, but it was still revolting to see on a child's body. Adam shook himself. Michael wasn't a child. He just looked like one.
Michael hugged his arms around his body, shivering in the cold and Adam quickly helped the angel into the warmth of the tub. Michael sighed, welcoming the easing warmth of the water as it loosened his muscles and soothed his body. Adam let the angel soak for a moment, grabbing a towel and finding some baby shampoo. He started with cleaning off Michael's skin. He rubbed until the dark muck and clumps of dirt were washed away, revealing skin flushed pink from the warm water. Michael kept himself occupied, silently slapping at the bubbles and cooing every second or two. Adam caught himself smiling once or twice and quickly pushed the expression back before the angel could see it. Once finished cleaning Michael's skin off, Adam moved on to the archangel's hair and wings. He squirt some baby shampoo into his hands, running it through the wisps of brown hair. Michael watched him in the mirror nearby, eyes going wide as he watched Adam move down to his wings. His eyes grew panicked at that and he shot to the other side of the bath, splashing water all over the human. Adam gasped and let out a low groan.
"What was that about…?" Adam trailed off, noticing how Michael cowered in the corner of the bath, wings pulled in tight around his shivering body. "Michael…"
"Sowy, it's just…" Michael shivered, curling in tighter. Adam held his hand out, slowly easing it closer to the angel. Michael watched him with wide eyes the entire time until Adam's hand, pressed lightly on a patch of down feathers.
"I promise I won't do anything. Just let me wash them up quick." Michael hesitantly uncurled from his spot and Adam slowly massaged his fingers through the grubby patches of feathers on Michael's wings, adding soap once and a while. After a few dunks the gunk washed away from Michael's feathers, revealing a white that almost glowed.
"I'm cold," Michael whispered suddenly, shivering again. It had been a long bath and the water was no longer warm or bubbly. Adam ran his hand once more through the archangel's wings before grabbing for the towel he had hunted down earlier.
"Let's get you out then," Adam, stated, pulling the angel from the water and wrapping him into a soft towel. Adam carried Michael to the bedroom, setting the angel down before grabbing an old T-shirt of his. It was huge on the angel, but it would work as pajamas for the night. Michael hummed comfortably and flopped down onto Adam's pillow, snuggling up against it. Adam draped a blanket over the angel's legs and looked back to the angel's wings and the bruises on them. "Uh…will those be okay?" Michael peaked out from the pillow.
"They heal." Adam nodded and sprawled out onto the bed too. The two stared into each other's eyes silently. "Please call my brothers," Michael whispered, eyes half closed. Adam shook his head.
"No way, Mike. If I do that then my brothers will find me," Adam hissed. Michael's eyes teared up in the corners and he let out a soft whimper before hiding his face into the pillow again.
"I want my brothers. I miss them," he cried. Adam watched the angel, letting out a sigh before reaching out and rubbing a hand up and down the angel's back.
"I get it," he told the angel. "I've been where you're at now. I wanted my big brothers when I was in the pit, but the day Sam broke out and I didn't I realized that I meant nothing to them. I was just the other kid." Adam sighed and patted the angel's back gently. "It's better that you learn that now before you get hurt later."
Michael let out another whimper, playing Adam's words over in his mind. Adam spoke the truth. Castiel, Balthazar, and Gabriel knew that he was locked up. They had seen him before Crowley took them back home. Yet, nobody came for him in his days of being stuck in one of Crowley's cages. He'd been forgotten, pitched away. Even Lucifer had still been remembered. He heard Crowley and the other demons talk about that in hushed whispers while cleaning off their blades of torture or just taking a break from their duties.
"Get some sleep," Adam whispered, breaking Michael from his thoughts. The angel looked up at the human, face red from trying to hold back tears. He let out a choked sob and Adam sat up a little. At first Michael thought the human was going to leave him, but then Adam pulled himself closer to the angel, plopping back down on the bed. Michael instinctively curled closer to Adam's comforting heat, clutching at the human's shirt and sobbing hard. Adam stiffened at first, but eased into the angel's touch. He held the angel close, running a hand up and down between Michael's shoulder blades until the angel cried himself to sleep.
Crowley scowled at the scene before him. He had been expecting a lot more violence between the angel and human. It was what he had planned on, but it turned out Adam wasn't as twisted as Crowley had hoped after spending so long in the pit.
"Disappointed?" a voice questioned from his side. Crowley turned, scowling when Lydia stepped into the light.
"I should have known," Crowley growled. "Why don't you go meddle with someone else's affairs?" Lydia smirked.
"Oh, don't worry. I didn't cause this," she reassured, waving a hand at the open window revealing the human and angel still embraced. "I was ordered not to disrupt you, Crowley, and I have followed my orders completely. What happened here was purely Adam and Michael's doing."
"Save me the poetry," Crowley grumbled, turning away from the view of the window. "I've got plenty of other angels left to make up for losing this one." He walked down the road, leaving Lydia alone. The witch turned her gaze from the king of hell and to the embraced angel and human. Perhaps Joshua had been right about not meddling. God had a plan for his sons and daughters. Though it was going to be rocky, it looked like little Michael was going to be alright under Adam's care.
Lydia sighed in relief and sent out a silent prayer in hope that the other angels would be blessed with the same chance too instead of being dragged downward like Crowley had planned for them.
She waved a hand at the open window when she finished then, closing it for the now sleeping human and angel.