It's so boring over Christmas break. Whenever someone complains about school, at least it gives us something to other than this for six hours a day. My head? Exploded.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Christianity owns the angels, Robert Singer everything else. There's no me.

Chapter Seven: Dream Catcher

It ashamed him to admit it but Gabriel did, in fact, check in on the brothers Winchester. Whatever made him take just a tiny little looky-loo wasn't important. He was needed. Apparently little brother was having Lucifer induced night terrors that he couldn't wake up from and hadn't told anyone about. Case in point, he was an eedjit just for not having thought of creating barriers and booby traps inside his ginormous noggin, but he was an absolute brain-dead idiot to think that he could control the devil himself. Hell, if God couldn't do it why did Sam Winchester think he had even the slightest chance? It was like sticking a Christian into The Pit-not a chance in the world of getting out.

Yet there was something stranger than just Sammy boy's seemingly legendary stupidity. He was fighting Lucifer, not in the waking world but it was damn near close enough. Maybe if Gabriel gave him a little extra boost, the teeniest amount of protection, the kid could save what little sanity he had left to keep it together and win. Loki's abilities could get them inside Sam's head without being detected and that was without the screwing around. If big brother Luci feels any tampering, hello Purgatory, land of unfortunate mishaps and exploded little brothers.

Seriously, though. If Sam had help holding up barriers that could keep away the devil, then the world had a chance. So it all fell on, naturally, Gabriel. Humming mission impossible, the archangel walked right in on Dean holding his brother down and quickly swatted his hands away. Sam immediately started thrashing and moaning, blood dripping slowly from a wound on the left side of his head. Whistling in mock amazement, Gabriel sang, "Looks like juniors got angels on the brain. Would you like the good doctor to remove them?"

Staring at him for a long minute, Dean finally nodded his head. "M'kay. But if you start screwing around in there, I swear to God-"

"Alright, alright, no strip clubs or chocolate buffets. I get it. Jeeze, have a little faith, why don't you?" Not waiting for a retort, Gabriel swiftly entered the hideous dreams.

Everywhere he could see, there was blood. Thunder made the windows of the tiny cabin Sam was trapped in shake and rattle while lightning lit up the sky like a bad imitation of fireworks. Body parts were lying strewn on the ground like a tree shredder had gone run-amuck, some still twitching in a perverse parody of life. All in all, it was a chaotic mess of memories and nightmares better left unseen by any human being. Of course, Gabriel was no human being and he'd actually seen this come to pass. The great Egypt massacre somewhere in the BC times. Those poor sons of bitches never saw it coming, but whoo! Go Moses! Way to stand up for you're religion!

Narrowing his eyes and cracking his neck, Gabriel prepared to do battle. Not literally, since he already knew firsthand how that would turn out. No, the archangel simply changed the scenery to portray the Garden of Eden in all it's splendor. Before Luci could change it to something even more gruesome, he set the twists, turns and traps in place all ready for the devil's homecoming. Nothing was left to chance as the strongest seals and spells held together the now beyond fortified mind. Smiling crookedly, Gabriel turned to the cowering human and poked him with a conjured stick.

The scream was ear-splitting, that was for sure. He hadn't heard anything like it since he'd shaved Raphael's wings some four billion years ago, but this was undoubtedly worse since it was from complete and utter terror. Crouching on his heels, Gabriel reached out and rubbed a soothing hand over the human's back. After all, he wasn't the fledgling's favorite for nothing. Humming an Enochian song under his breath, the archangel brought some of Sam's happy memories first and foremost in his mind. Not only would it calm him but it would keep out Lucifer as well. Sighing, he added some of his own memories to the mish-mash. Shining with golden grace, they lit up the surrounding area and chased away any lingering shadows.

Ever so slowly, Sam raised his head and opened his eyes. Blinking, he watched as birds of paradise swooped down to land close enough for him to touch. He reached out. A voice beside him spoke and startled him enough to choke on his own spit. "Well, well, well! Little Sammy has finally decided to come out of his flimsy glass shell. Hey, you wanna see a Dodo bird? They weren't exactly the smartest critters on the planet, but they were as amusing as He-"

"Don't say that!…not right now," Sam whimpered brokenly. A hush fell over the garden as Gabriel stood and walked over to one of the luscious fruit-bearing trees. Plucking something from it, he walked back and dropped it directly into the palm of his hand.

"Eat it, kid. I didn't poison it and it won't grow legs and try devouring you. It's just a plum."

Sam carefully took a bite. Warmth spread through his entire body as sweet juice trickled down his scream-roughened throat. Sighing contentedly, he turned to Gabriel and asked, "Why are you helping me? You're supposed to be killing us, convincing us to say yes to end the damn Apocalypse. You have you're brothers back. So, why help?"

It was quiet for a minute as the angel thought. Sam quirked his lips and stroked the head of a peacock that had wandered into range. It cooed and shook it's feathers as his fingers made trails in it's bright plumage. Finally, the angel answered. "Because once upon a time, Lucifer and I were family. Just because he killed me, which is a big turn-off for most people, and just because he left doesn't change the fact that I still love him. He was the brightest angel in heaven before he made the wrong decision. Trust me, if you were asked to bow down to two smelly apes picking and eating fleas off of each other's backs you would have thought Father was insane."

"But he wasn't. Lucifer, he didn't think anything could be more beautiful than him and Michael. The Morning Star might have been bright but he was colder than ice. Outer beauty means nothing without kindness. That is part of what makes angels imperfect to humans. We can't forgive and forget or learn to love. It's either in us or it isn't. We, the archangels, we loved each other deeply and Luci thought he was doing it for us. He was pissed when we wouldn't kill you humans. When we tossed him in the cage, it was all different."

"My point is, Sam, that you're all Dean has to live for. I had three brothers, but he only has you. If he lost that, it would be like me losing all of my brothers in one go. It breaks the strongest souls apart in the blink of an eye, when family like that dies. I don't want to see anyone go through that, not even you two knuckleheads. And that's the most I've talked about my family in centuries. I'm shutting up now. But seriously, Sam. Think about what it would do to Dean."

Sam blinked and thought. The months when Dean went to hell for him were the hardest in his life. If he went with Lucifer into the cage, there was no going back. Lucifer couldn't get through it and there was no way he could. Dean would be broken because of him. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "Show me. What would happen if I fell with Lucifer."

"Kid…"

"No. I have to see."

It was impossible to read the expression painted on Gabriel's face. Sam could make out pieces of the mask, like pain, anger, reluctance and sadness, but others were totally new to him. Sighing, the mask fell away to show acceptance. Gabriel reached out and placed two fingers on Sam's forehead as the sigil on his cheekbone started glowing. True to his word, the angel showed him. And it was hell.

Sam stood motionless, watching Dean fighting recklessly against at least five demons. Whatever wounds he received in the fight, he let them keep bleeding when he limped to the Impala. The car, it was a wreck. Dean's pride and joy was riddled with rust, blood and bullet holes that shattered glass. His brother didn't even seem to care that he was sitting on shards of his windshield as he drove top-speed through the pouring rain. He didn't stop at Bobby's, just kept on driving while the wounds became infected. Call after call was missed, unless it was for a hunt. The gaunt face that Sam was staring at didn't belong to his brother.

Not anymore.

Castiel sometimes sat next to him in the shadow of the Impala, face impassive as he polished a gun. Cas never handled a weapon other than his own, but even as the car swerved he fired at a passing civilian. A demon in it's meat suit. It hit the heart dead center as they sped away with the screams of innocent women and children following in their wake. They didn't even slow down. Even when a tire blew on a nail discarded on the road, Dean ignored it and kept right on driving to the cheapest motel he could find. Castiel stayed with him, not having even a speck of grace left to his name.

In the cage, he saw himself being stripped of flesh and screaming in continual agony as Lucifer took his revenge on the one person who made this future a reality. Eighty years pass by in Hell, with only eight up-top. Over a thousand more to go until the cage weakens enough to let them out. Dean would be long dead, and he himself would have no reason not to lay down and never get up. So what if the world needed heroes? Someone else could step up to the plate and be the batter for once instead of the viewer.

"Stop!"

Quivering from the possibility, Sam gave in and let bile fill his throat. Coughing and retching, he cried at what he thought he could handle. But he couldn't believe what he had seen could even begin to happen. Could anyone? Could anyone believe their only family would basically become the walking dead? That Hell wasn't just a word people use to describe a bad day at work, but their entire life? Or that what started out as a merciful warrior turned into an assassin just because he believed in humanity?

Believed in Sam?

Gabriel had shown him what he had thought of doing to save his brother from a pain worse than death, only to realize the consequences were more horrendous than the decision. Sam had asked for this, hadn't he? He had asked and he received what he had hoped would be a blissful life for the only people he trusted. Instead, he was shown a living hell full of torment and the urge to bleach his brain and start again. Gabriel sighed and murmured, "I tried to tell you, kiddo. My head is screwed up, I don't need yours to be as well. There's only room for one insane guy in team Freewill."

Sam doubted he would ever be able to live normally after that. The archangel muttered, "Thankfully for you, Sammy, I'm also the angel of mercy. You won't remember any of this when you wake up, I promise. And Lucifer won't get into here again. Just in case, I left Polyhanexekt to guard you're dreams. He's surprisingly good at that. Goodnight, Sam Winchester."

The memory faded into oblivion.

Smiling softly, Gabriel opened his eyes and looked at the quietly sleeping Winchester. It had only been two minutes in the waking world instead of two hours, but he was beyond tired of being depressed. While Dean rushed to his brother's side, he quietly left the room and popped a hot chocolate into existence. Gabriel ran a hand over his face and took a sip of the sweet drink, busily repressing memories stirred up by another person's dream. It shouldn't have affected him this way or in any way but they were so alike, Sam and Lucifer. Both fighting for what they believed in and both irreparably damaged.

He truly missed Lucifer and continually felt for bonds that weren't there anymore. Instead, he tugged on Aziraphael's bond and let the soothing emotions and thoughts of his garrison flow through him. It was comparable to using gum to stop a leak in a breaking dam, but it would work for a while. Michael was another brother he could resort to. Frowning suddenly, he felt for Castiel's bond and found that the grace was incredibly dim. Gabriel hadn't found a permanent way to hold his little brothers grace since Zachariah was slowly but surely draining it, but he would.

Gabriel couldn't lose another brother, or it would destroy him.

Finishing off the hot chocolate, he stepped into the mildew scented bedroom and knocked with fake cheer on the rotting wall. Which caved in on the third hit. Blinking, he stared at it in disgust and drawled, "I always knew you knuckleheads didn't have a fashion sense, I just didn't think it would go as far as this. Do the cockroaches serve you a continental buffet, or do you eat the leftovers on the floor? Decisions, decisions…"

Dean looked like he was about to comment and apparently thought better of it. Snorting, he replied, "It's better cockroaches than Wraiths, asshole."

Ooooh, he had him there.

Some Gabriel angst there as well as some Sammy time. Wow, his head really is Hell. Poor archangel has scars on the mind. Review!