Author's Note: This chapter sticks pretty close to the episode it came from with additions and interpretations. We're not AU yet. Welcome to Chapter 5!

Chapter 5

Dean

Every time I cross over to this place, it's always in a different location. I'm starting to think it's not possible, no matter what we do, to determine where we're gonna pop out at. We're days away from where the kids, Maggie and Floyd—freakin' Floyd—say Mom and Jack are supposed to be, and about to go through a tunnel that's allegedly crawling with monster vamps.

Sam and Cass are ready, hunting knives and guns out, flares around their necks. Gabriel looks put out and pouty. He had voted not to come this way and gotten overruled. Shortcuts are always good when people we need to save are on the other side of them. We can deal with a bunch of super ugly vamps. And we'd deal with it while keeping those kids alive too.

We slip into the mouth of the cave, me in front, Sam watching the rear, Gabriel and Castiel stay in the middle with Maggie and Floyd between them, angel blades out. No one speaks, our every focus is on listening out for foreign movements. The kids behind me breathe too loud, scared out of their minds, no doubt, but making more noise than I think they should. But what can I say, 'Stop breathing'?

I hate to admit this, but maybe Gabriel was right. Not our world, not our fight. We're here to rescue Mom and Jack, and bringing along two strays is going to slow us down and maybe even get us hurt trying to protect them. But it'll be a cold, cold day in hell before I agree with an angel—other than Cass. Gabriel's different than the others, but he's still got some of that angel 'humans don't matter that much' mentality. He'd been willing to let Michael and Lucifer rumble and kill most of the human population while he sat back. Yeah, he'd given us information about the Cage, and thought if anyone could get it open, we could, but he'd left it at that. If we failed, which was a big 'if' because it was a long shot, he'd have been okay with that too. Hell, he'd gone as far as to fake his own death, so we wouldn't bother him for anymore help.

But, aside from Cass, it's more than we can expect from any angel. They're not like us, they don't feel things like we do. Though, I kind of think archangels may be a little closer to us than the regular angels. Gabriel genuinely seemed to care about his douche-bag archangel brothers. I saw in his eyes that the reason he didn't want to help us kill Lucifer wasn't out of fear or self-preservation. He didn't want to gank his big brother. He was royally pissed when I talked shit about Michael and everyone else. He reminded me of, well, me. I can talk crap about my family, but no one else better do it, because they're mine, and though I may not like them all the time, I love them. Gabriel had claimed to love his family and that it had hurt too much to watch them tear each other apart.

He'd cared about Loki too, and Kali, and those other pagan gods, though he'd been willing to sacrifice them. When Cass first came to us, he was cold, mechanical, loyal to his cause, an angel robot, but he changed for me, for Sam. I don't think Gabriel changed for anyone, think that this is how he always was. Makes me wonder about Michael and Raphael, and even Lucifer. Did they all care about each other? I chance a look over my shoulder at Gabriel. Unsmiling and tense, the new face he's sporting is alert and ready for action. Castiel told me Gabriel's vessel is thousands of years old, though it looks about 19 or 20. The archangel had taken that guy when he was just a kid. Did he care about cutting the kid's life short? Does he think about who that person was or could have been?

Castiel's vessel had been a grown, established family man, who'd said 'yes.' But who had also changed his mind—but then died. Castiel isn't a body-jacker if the body's dead, right? In that way, angels aren't much better than demons, except that the vessel has to accept them first. But even then, the poor devoted human can't have any idea what they are signing themselves up for. And if the angel never leaves, then that's their life right there, trapped until they die, knowing that their face will probably live on. No one else will ever know that they were locked inside.

My stomach churns and I turn my thoughts off, going into autopilot as we decapitate a few vamps that throw themselves in our path. So far, so good. This is nothing we can't handle, but I guess I see how Maggie and Floyd's travel group was taken out. Unsuspecting, non-hunters wouldn't know what to do if more than one vamp jumped out at them.

Hours of walking with one or two breaks in between, brings us to what seems like a dead end, but after careful inspection, I see an opening. "Guys, we got a blocked passage over here. Need to move some rocks." And when I say 'guys' I mean our resident angels. Even at quarter and half power, they are physically stronger than most humans. I sneer at Gabriel's rolling eyes.

"Yeah, I mean you too, princess," I snap.

Castiel utters something to Gabriel who stares at him incredulously before looking heavenward and following Castiel. I make a show of pushing at one of the bigger rocks and Castiel joins, his added strength making the rock seem like a marshmallow. Gabriel groans and moves to another rock, shoving it aside with barely a grunt. He could probably clear the way himself, but he doesn't offer to give me or Cass a break. Sam stands back with Maggie and Floyd, holding a flashlight on Cass, Gabriel and me as we work.

"Once we clear all these rocks, are we sure going down the rest of the path will be safe?" Gabriel asks, dubiously peering into the new opening we're making. He pops a squat on one of the rocks he pushed aside and rifles through his pack, pulling out one of those nasty Monster Energy drinks he prefers over coffee, unless the coffee's covered in whip cream and sprinkles. I would complain about him taking a snack break, but he's starting to look rundown and I learned from Cass that rundown angels start needing the same things that humans do after a while. If a surge of sugar can get Gabriel back to work, he can have it. Hell, I buy him enough of the stuff when he makes eyes at it in the store.

I do feel bad for the guy. He's a jerk and a coward, but nobody deserves to be tortured, ever. I know what it's like, after decades on the racks down in Hell. Asmodeus, Alastair, demons live and breathe pain and suffering, and for Gabriel to have been down there for centuries, I don't envy his experience. A couple of candy bars won't make it go away, but if he enjoys them and they're cheap, I'll keep restocking pantry.

"Dean…" Sam's voice sounds farther away than it should.

I look out, not seeing him… and then the inhuman snarling and human screaming starts.

I don't wait for Cass and Gabriel to fall in behind me before I'm charging to the place I'd last seen Sam. I hear Maggie and Floyd yelling and struggling. Sam throws a vamp off Maggie, killing it and proclaiming: "I got it." But more materialize, showing their nasty teeth and grabbing at Maggie and Floyd. Sam's got himself handled, I go after Maggie. I'm not letting a girl get eaten by vamps on my watch.

A bloodsucker pins me to a wall, and I fight to break its grip, looking straight at where Sam's grappling with two at the same time. These monsters are freakin' strong, stronger than they should be. Where are Cass and Gabriel?

"Sammy!" I shout as one of the vamps lunges for Sam's throat. Oh shit. Oh shit.

A flash of blue light and the lunging vamp goes up in flames. Sam's got one arm free, flailing, but not fast enough to stop the other vamp from biting down into his jugular.

Oh, Sam. Oh shit. Where's that angel fire again? Cass and Gabriel stumble onto the scene. Gabriel's eyes glow with blue light. The other vamp starts to burn, but not before he rips out….

Oh God…

Three more vamps appear, as Sammy chokes, blood spewing from the wound, and the vamps drag him away. I kill the bastard vamp holding me against the wall with strength I didn't know I had and surge toward the vamps taking Sammy away.

"Burn them up!" I holler at Gabriel, not turning around to see if he's listening to me. Where's the fire? Where's the fucking fire? A heavy weight jumps me from behind, snarling and clawing—another vamp. I throw it off.

Castiel yells Sam's name, chasing after the vamps dragging Sam away.

I sling off another vamp and whip out my shot gun, blowing off its head. I should have had the damn gun out the whole time. "Sam!" I charge toward the passage Castiel had thundered down, leaving Maggie and Floyd to fend for themselves.

"Sam!" I shout down the tunnel, my voice echoing.

A shape appears, vamp, Sam, I can't tell—and then Castiel is in front of me, grabbing my shoulders. "He's gone, Dean."

"No!" I push past him but Castiel grabs me, pulls me back.

"Dean, we don't have time," he hisses. He turns me to face him, his eyes boring into mine. "We can't save him."

I pant, staring past him into the darkness where Sam had gone. Sammy. I…they can go on without me, find Mom and Jack and do what needs to be done. I can get Sam. We'll meet them… images flash before my eyes, of that vamp ripping out…

The blood.

The amount of blood that…

Oh God.

I swallow hard, staggering away from Cass. Turning to walk forward, back to the path we'd just about cleared. Gabriel's on his knees, staring in the direction Sam had gone. Broken Angel Boy with his angel fire hadn't been enough. He'd been too slow.

I stagger past him without a word.

I can't talk now.

Gotta keep going.

Mom and Jack.

Sam would want that.

Behind me, I hear the others whispered and starting to move, to follow.

Gotta keep going.

We travel a few more hours, out of the tunnel, back across the withered lands. We set up camp because the kids and Gabriel need sleep. I sit up all night with Cass, staring off into space, glad he's not trying to talk to me. He doesn't even tell me I should sleep or eat. He lets me pack up camp the next morning without taking food or water and marches behind me with the others.

We trudge on for hours more, no one asking to stop. They might be afraid to ask and I don't know why. If they want to stop, they can. I'll just leave them behind. Find Mom. Find Jack. Make sure Cass will take them back home. Then, I go back for Sam.

Grass and twigs crunch a few steps behind me. Maggie's jogging to catch up to me. "H—hey… About your friend. I'm so…" she stops as I turn to look at her. Her pale, dirty face falls and she slows her steps, so that I'm ahead of her again.

We walk for another hour. I hear plastic crinkling—Gabriel and his damn candy. That candy hadn't helped Sam. I blink, seeing Sam struggling between the two vamps. Seeing the angel fire burn the first one that dared try to bite him, seeing the second set of flames, weaker, almost ghostly, not burning the second vamp up fast enough. Blood erupts like a small geyser from Sammy's neck. Not a bite, a gouge. That thing tore out my brother's throat before the flame ate it up. And no more flames came for the monsters that took Sam away.

I swallow hard, bile sour at the back of my throat.

We cross a wooden bridge with no rails, the only thing that lets me know we are actually moving forward. The rest of the terrain looks the same, no distinguishing landmarks, until we reach a copse of trees. Castiel grunts and I stop for the first time in hours, turning to look at him.

His face is strained. "Ah…there's warding. It's too strong."

I frown and study the trees, noticing the wooden boards nailed to a few of them with runes carved into them. Someone's been here, resistance definitely. I listen for signs of life outside of our little group as Gabriel approaches one of the runes. He touches his blade to it, scratching it, then pressing his fingers to the wood. The mark burns a bloody red that spreads to the runes, and Castiel's body relaxes.

That calls two things into question: Is Gabriel too strong for the wards to keep out—meaning archangels are too strong for the wards and meaning these marks of protection are shit against Michael. Or… is our archangel so weak he's not affected by the wards? Either way, he rendered them useless in less than a minute's time.

A twig breaks and I snap to attention, gun up as an armed man in fatigues comes out of the woods.

"Whoa, whoa," Castiel says. "Easy, we're friends. We're here looking for…"

A beautiful blond woman steps into sight, shotgun at the ready, until she recognizes Castiel. She stares then grins and comes to him, arms out for a hug. I watch her, whole and unhurt, tough and always ready for a fight.

She turns from Cass to me and suddenly I can't move, so she does.

She walks to me, wrapping her arms around me, hugging me close and saying my name. And then she asks…

She asks.

"Where's Sam?"

I swallow again. Her beautiful blue eyes are on my face, looking so hopeful, so happy and then that look fades as she asks me again. "Where's Sam, Dean?"

For the first time, since they dragged him away, since I saw his throat and the blood… warm, wet tears roll down my cheeks. I can't speak, but I don't have to.

Mom's hands on my shoulders tighten, her own eyes filling.

I rest my head on her shoulder as she pulls me against her.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. Please review!