Author's Note: Because of Uni starting up again and this year already proving to be a constant stream of work and books and papers, I'm gonna try and finish this as soon as I can (and by that I mean over this weekend), and only start the other fic I have planned once I'm on holiday - Christmas or Easter. Or maybe even once I've finished Uni in May once and for all. We'll see.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter ^^

Dean was completely lost in thought as the edge of the forest loomed into view in front of him.

He still had no idea where he and Castiel were, or how to escape from wherever it was. He was equally clueless as to what the significance of their predicament was, and could only hope that answers would be provided by Castiel once he returned to the castle. He also had to find where the real Sam - and only because he knew Sam would never forgive him otherwise - Gabriel were and bring them back too. And then they'd have to get on the tails of the Leviathans, fixing whatever they'd broken in their absence.

But the sight of the cottage as he led the horse through the trees drove everything else from his mind to be replaced with an instantaneous, paralysing fear.

The building was shrouded in complete darkness, no light at all flickering from behind the windows, the shadows ominous and chilling in the dark. The door had been forced in and swung inwards with the occasional creak, breaking the heavy silence. Then Dean saw the snow-prints. One pair had been made with large boots, while the second were lines, broken here and there as if someone had been dragged against their will, and put up one hell of a fight. Both led around the edge of the cottage and out of sight.

Bile rising in his throat, Dean leapt off the horse and crept forwards, flattening himself against the edge of the cottage. He was so monumentally stupid. How could he have left Sam here by himself? The kid had obviously been attacked, that was on him, and he differed from the real Sam in so many obvious ways; the worst being, this Sam couldn't defend himself properly. Or maybe it was John that had been dragged, and Sam was already.. Dean shook his head, dispelling the unpleasant thoughts, before peering around from his hiding place.

The snow-covered fields behind the cottage stretched out in an endless white, undisturbed. The stable doors were closed and bolted, just as they had been before Dean left. The tracks continued on past the stable doors so, sucking in a deep breath and trying to ignore the bubbling fury mixed with panic rising inside him, Dean hurried forwards through the snow, following them. They led around the edge of the stable, before finally coming to an end at the outside entrance to the cottage's cellar. Steeling himself, Dean lurched forward and yanked the door open with an almighty tug, ignoring the cold bite of the metal handle on his palm.

He wasn't sure what to expect, but what he saw certainly hadn't crossed his mind.

Sam sat near the foot of the stone steps leading into the cellar, his body scrunched up and small, head resting on his knees which were tucked up to his chest, secured by his arms which were wound around his shins. He looked up in alarm when the door opened, and for a moment he and Dean just gaped at one another. Then a look of sheer horror swam into his expression and he scrambled up as both of them began to speak at once.

"Dean, get out of here! Hurry!"

"Sam, what the hell is going o- Wait, what?"

"Dean, there's no time! Quick, get going before -"

But then his eyes flitted to a spot above Dean's shoulder, and what little colour there was in his face quickly drained. Before Dean could turn, he felt something shove him hard in the small of his back, and he half fell into the cellar. Had Sam not been there to catch him, he would have slammed face-first onto the concrete floor. Disentangling himself from Sam, Dean whirled around, and promptly felt all the air leave his lungs as the pit of his stomach vanished.

John Winchester stood where Dean had just been, his bow loaded with an arrow, which was currently pointed right at Dean's chest. The hunter froze, staring in disbelief firstly at the cold expression on John's face, then at the weapon in his hands. He held it in a solid grip; there was no tremor in his grip at all. If Dean made a wrong move here, John would shoot him. Of that he felt certain.

"What the fuck?"

"Both of you have been corrupted by the beast, and it's time that vile thing died once and for all. I've organised a hunting party to take care of it with me. Don't worry," John's tone became gentler, and he managed a grim smile. "This is for the best. Once it's dead, its hold on you will vanish."

"Cas isn't a fucking monster! He's safe!" Dean spat angrily, moving towards the steps again, his fury giving him strength. But he stopped short once again when John's grip on the weapon tightened, and the bowstring was pulled back further, the smile vanishing from his face as quickly as it had appeared. "What? You gonna shoot me?"

"I'll have to if you don't settle down, Dean." John said in a sharp tone, one that Dean instantly recognised. It was the one he'd so often heard him use on Sam when they fought; the one that meant he thought he knew what was best and wasn't taking any other opinion on the subject. "I don't know what kind of mind-control that thing has subjected you both to, but -"

"Stop calling him a thing!" Dean snarled acidly, rage pumping red hot through his body. "Cas is no threat to you! Take it from the people that have spent time with him, would you?!"

"Dean's right, Dad!" Sam shouted, and for a moment, the arrow shifted to point at him instead. "He saved both of our lives!"

"Exactly! We'd both be dead if it wasn't for -"

"Silence!" John roared and it was so horribly familiar, Dean's voice failed him. "It has clearly brainwashed you into thinking those things. But don't worry. After tonight, its curse will be lifted from you. For daring to hurt my boys, I'll make sure it dies."

Dean scoffed, confidence and fear and fucking rage flaring like a flame inside him once more. "You haven't been able to find him for years. How is that all going to change now?" As he spoke, he became dimly aware of Sam retreating back into the shadows, but didn't dwell on it.

To his surprise, John smiled. "You have your brother to thank for that."

"Sam, what's he talking about?" Dean asked, cold now beginning to settle in his chest once again, partly extinguishing the raging flame. Sam had a hand locked in his hair and looked deeply distressed as he answered.

"I'm so sorry, Dean.."

"Sam, what did you do?" Dean asked, his heart thumping painfully against his ribs.

"It.. It was Gabriel." Sam's voice was just above a whisper. "He left this in my pocket, and told me that time was running out," As he spoke, he rummaged in his pockets, and then drew out a single red rose petal. For a moment, Dean could only blink at it, and then realisation, cold and leaden and achingly heavy pooled into his stomach as he remembered Castiel's dark words. 'If it is destroyed, I will die'.

"Sam," Dean began, his mouth horribly dry. "Did Gabriel tell you where he got that..?"

Sam stared hard at Dean for a moment, disbelieving that out of the whole story that was the detail Dean had focused in on. "No, of course not. I didn't get what he meant, and he didn't exactly hang around for me to ask, and I couldn't find that thing I spoke to you with, so I tried to find my own way, and -"

"And Dad followed you." Dean finished in a dark voice, turning once more to face John, "After you stole the phone, right? And then you staged that call to me to get me back here."

"I needed to get you out of there, Dean. There was no knowing what that beast would have done to you if it realised we were setting a trap. I'm frankly amazed you're both still alive."

Dean growled, a noise stuck deep in his throat, anger at himself, at the whole situation, at all the dead-ends roiling and mashing up into being shot at John. "That's because Cas isn't going to hurt anybody! Now let me out!"

John smiled grimly again. "You'll be alright boys. Just wait for me to get back."

And with that, he slammed the door shut again. A moment later and Dean heard the unmistakable clinking of a chain being fed through the handles, and the click of a lock. Panic surging through him to the beat of his heart, Dean rushed up the steps and pushed against the door with all his might. It wouldn't budge an inch. He threw himself at it again and again, but he only received a bruised shoulder for his trouble.

"Shit! We have to get out of here, Sam!" Dean yelled, flying back down the steps and searching the shadows for another way out. "He's gonna kill Cas!"

"The prince is getting married? Tonight?"

"That's a little soon, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's what I heard. An uncommon beauty seems to have claimed his heart."

Gabriel jerked awake as these voices reached his ears, and he sat up, blinking slowly. He was still in the library, with what felt like half its books spread out on the table in front of him. The one he had just been using as a pillow was thick and yellowed with age, and with a little pool of drool where his face had just been. Gross. He discreetly wiped both the page and the corner of his mouth, before sliding out from behind the table and heading for the door, wondering what had woken him in the first place.

The answer was waiting for him just outside. Ellen and two maids stood right outside the library, and all three seemed surprised by his sudden appearance. Ellen was the first to recover; she grinned down at him and his rumpled clothing.

"You on a mission to read every book we have?" She asked.

Gabriel managed a sleepy grin back at her, before he shrugged in a nonchalant way. Her smile turned sympathetic.

"Still can't speak?"

He shook his head, ignoring the nasty twist his stomach gave at this thought. Because no matter how blasé he acted about the whole situation, he didn't want to spend however much longer they'd be stuck in this world as Crowley's personal bitch. Call him crazy. And judging by the grey light outside it was barely past dawn, so that gave him just less than a day to find Sam and find a way out of this world.

After he picked a certain bone with the kid that was. Because Sam had never returned to the library to give him a hand, or even as much as an apology for running out on him in the first place. Gabriel wasn't exactly the epitome of good manners, but even he had some tact. Sometimes. When the situation really called for it that was. And if it was Sam in danger of being held captive by a manic sea-witch-octopus-demon-thing, he would have made more of an effort.

Ellen sighed and shook her head gently. "Maybe you just need a shock, so this news might work. Word is, Prince Sam has announced he plans to get married, tonight."

At first, Gabriel couldn't process what she'd said. Then, slowly, the words began to filter through his sleep-addled brain – why did he even need to sleep in this crazy place? – before there was a second, highly unpleasant lurch in the pit of his stomach. Then, his mouth fell open as he stared up at her in mute disbelief. Had he been capable of making a noise, he would have screeched, 'What?!' at the top of his lungs. As it was though, he could only splutter silently as Ellen and the maids smiled at him and nodded in amusement.

"I know, none of us saw it – Hey! Hey, where are you going?"

But Gabriel wasn't listening anymore. He stalked off down the corridor, anger now pulsing through his body. Oh, Sam was going to pay for this. After everything he, Gabriel, had done to ensure they'd get some time to work things out, Sam was off strutting about trying to find a wife?! Well, it seemed he'd been successful, despite the fact that Gabriel's clock was well and truly ticking. Kid clearly had his priorities sorted, that was for damn sure. And to make matters worse, he'd set this precious wedding date for the evening?! The same time that Gabriel could very possibly get dragged back to the ocean in the clutches of some crazy sea-demon?!

Gabriel was fuming. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd felt anger this intense before, only that he had a very sudden desire to tear the castle apart with his bare hands, and then show Sam how royally he'd fucked up by demonstrating just how bad it was to mess with an archangel. He could still feel that nasty twisting in the pit of his stomach, and briefly wondered what it could be. Whatever it was, it was only adding to his temper.

Just then though, he rounded the corner and practically came face to face with Sam Winchester himself. He had just clenched his fists to physically show the hunter what he couldn't say, when he noticed something peculiar. Sam's eyes were oddly distant and definitely glazed over, not at all their usual vibrant brown. That and he was regarding Gabriel with a cold sort of uninterested curiosity as if he couldn't quite work out what he was doing there, and it was so reminiscent of how Michael and Lucifer used to regard one another that it stopped Gabriel cold.

Then movement from behind Sam caught his eye, and he peered around the hunter's enormous frame. The rest of Sam's family were fast approaching, deep in conversation with a pretty blonde woman. Gabriel instantly recognised Jessica from the fleeting glimpses he'd seen from Sam's nightmares. Ah, so that's the lucky lady. As if feeling his gaze, she turned to look at him, and a harsh, cold smile appeared for the briefest moment on her face. It didn't suit her at all. Gabriel floundered for a moment, confused, then spotted something that made his insides turn to ice.

A black-stringed necklace hung low from her neck, and from which dangled a golden shell. The same golden shell that contained his voice. And that meant that Ruby, Meg or – urgh, Crowley – was hiding out in Jessica's body.

His anger swiftly turned to unease and yeah, a little nausea, because Sam and Crowley? Gabriel wasn't famous for his scruples, but even he drew the line at human-octopus-demon-marriage. He grabbed Sam's sleeve in order to drag him back to the library to scrawl down what he'd just realised, but to his utter amazement, Sam's mouth curled into glacial scowl, and he wrenched his arm from Gabriel's hands.

"What exactly gives you the right to touch me?" He spat in a voice dripping contempt, before turning back to John and his brothers. "Father, we must go. We have to instruct the servants on how the barge is to be decorated."

And with that, he turned on his heel and swept away, not even sparing Gabriel a glance. John and the others followed, Dean and Adam both giving him sympathetic faces as they passed, but Jessica slash Crowley's was downright smug. Gabriel had the strongest desire to rip her/him into tiny pieces, archangel powers or not, and it was so potent that he had to curl his hands into fists again to stop himself acting on it. Then, a strange, horrible aching that he'd only felt at one other time in his life filling him, he turned and left the castle as quickly as possible.

"Gabriel, this can't be true.." Balthazar finally muttered, his horror plainly evident in both his tone and face. At least he was able to speak; Castiel could still only stare up at him, mutely shaking his head.

The archangel's first idea after leaving the castle was to go back to the pier just to be alone somewhere. But that was where Sam and Crow-sica's royal wedding barge was being prepared, and it was full of the hustle and bustle of servants carrying cloth and dishes, talking animatedly about the upcoming marriage. So he'd stormed down the beach, kicking sand and pebbles out of his way, until he reached the spot where he'd first crawled out of the ocean with Castiel's help.

Not knowing what else to do, and honestly not feeling like doing anything else, he'd slumped onto the sand and stayed there, watching the sun make its graceful arch across the sky, counting down the seconds until he officially belonged to Crowley. He should really be back in the library, but for a reason he couldn't explain, he just couldn't find the energy to move.

After an hour or two, the water's surface broke as both Balthazar and Castiel practically launched themselves out of it, Castiel babbling frantically about how he'd overheard a servant talking about 'Prince Sam's wedding'. When Gabriel only hung his head, really not wanting to discuss this even if he could, the other two descended into dismayed silence.

"But.. How?" Balthazar asked after another lengthy pause, still sounding weak.

Castiel finally piped up, his voice low. "It was Crowley, wasn't it?"

Gabriel turned his attention away from them and looked instead to the sand, but it was just as clear an answer as if he had nodded. At once, Castiel's eyes burned brightly with anger, and he scowled.

"I warned you, Gabriel! I told you that he was dangerous and manipulative! I warned you that he would not be fair; that he would trick you! And you failed to heed my warnings!"

Gabriel did turn to him at that, fixing him with an ice cold glare that plainly said, 'Yeah thanks for that. Really comforting right now'.

Balthazar obviously sensed danger, because he jumped in. "Then what happens now?"

"Without a kiss from Sam before sundown tonight, Gabriel will belong to Crowley forever." Castiel explained in a marginally calmer tone, and then turned back to Gabriel. "What should we do, brother?"

But Gabriel honestly didn't feel like doing a damn thing; the wind had completely vanished from his sails. He no longer felt the motivation to do anything other than wait where he was for Crowley or one of his minions to come and get him. Ever since Sam had brushed him off so easily that morning, his willingness to fight had completely deserted him. And he had no idea why.

Bobby was distracted in his musings by Crowley tutting loudly from the table where he was sat, the book open in his hands. Grinding his teeth together, the old hunter looked up and fixed the demon with an acidic glare which was countered only by a teasing smirk. Scowling hard, he replaced the vial containing his blood back in the bowl beside the spell's other ingredients.

"Read that thing a little quieter, would ya?" He growled. "I'm trying to focus here."

"Sorry darling," Crowley practically purred, still smirking. "I just thought you ought to know that Moose is about to, well, marry me." His smirk grew as Bobby performed a rather hilarious double take, then ploughed on. "What do you think? Would a veil suit me?"

The hunter shuddered and turned back to the ingredients before him. "And cue the nightmares."