AN:I'm sorry for the long wait. But my exams are over now so hopefully I'll be updating more!

A huge thanks to all those who reviewed my story or added it to their alert list.

Chapter 5

Sam struggled against the invisible confines that pinned him to the wall. His tired muscles ached with the pointless effort, yet he strived to keep fighting. He couldn't give up.

He watched in fear and horror as Lilith made her way towards Dean. Her mouth moved but he couldn't hear the spoken words above his hammering heart. It was time.

He could only watch helplessly as Lilith opened the door with a sick twisted smile on her face and set loose the hounds of hell on his brother.

A choked cry escaped his lips as the bloodthirsty hellhounds attacked Dean and devoured his body. Bloody gashes appeared on his brother's body and blood pooled on the ground below as the invisible dogs tore him apart. "No…Dean!" Sam screamed out as his beloved brother lost the fight of his life.

"NOOOOOO…"

Sam startled awake and nearly knocked down the table he had graciously been using as a pillow. His heart was thundering as if he had just run a marathon and his shirt was soaked in cold sweat. The sound of his breathless gasps was interrupted by Bobby's voice.

"You okay, boy?" The older hunter asked in concern.

"Yeah…yeah…just a nightmare." Sam assured him. No, not a nightmare. A memory. Sam couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine.

Feeling Bobby's scrutinizing gaze still fixed on him, he said, "Honestly Bobby, I'm fine."

Sam sighed inaudibly. "Did Dean or Cass wake up yet?"

"No. The sleeping beauties are still sleeping. Guess they need more time to recover." Bobby replied.

Sam nodded and decided that a shower was in order. Before that though, he subtly checked his phone. No missed calls. No messages. Damn.

His contact must not have found any information yet. He willed himself not to give in to a panic attack. There was still time. Miracles could still happen….Yeah right.

With another soft sigh Sam headed towards the bathroom hopefully to wash away the dirt, grime and the persistent hopelessness that seemed to have become a constant presence in his life.

Sam ran a towel through his damp hair as he came out of the shower and decided to check on Dean once again. They had shifted Dean and Cass to the panic room some time during the night.

As he entered the iron clad room his gaze immediately sifted to his sleeping brother. Sam had always enjoyed watching Dean sleep. He seemed so calm and peaceful, without a single care in the world. Lost to the world of dreams, Dean's expression always personified a child-like innocence and made him look about a decade younger.

Ofcoarse, as of late, these nights occurred once in a blue moon. Dean barely ever had the good luck to sleep through the night peacefully ever since his return from hell. His brother was plagued by horrifying nightmares every night; the extent of which Sam was only beginning to comprehend after their visit to Alistair's lair.

Hesitantly, he sat down next to his brother and ran a gentle hand through his cropped blonde hair. The past year had taken a toll on both of them, yet Dean seemed to have taken it so much worse. The weight of the world rested on his shoulders; literally.

God must have a really twisted sense of humor. Aren't their own demons bad enough to deal with that God had to dump the apocalypse on them too? Sam was brought out of his musings as a soft moan interrupted his train of thought.

"Dean?...Dean, you awake?" Sam sighed in relief as Dean let out another groan.

"Sammy?"

"About damn time."

Dean groggily registered the familiar hand that caressed his hair. Sammy? It had to be. He would recognize those gentle and loving hands anywhere.

"About damn time." Yes, the tenure of the gentle voice was definitely Sammy. Though Dean was a little confused by the sprinkle of relief that was diluted in Sam's voice. Why did Sam sound relieved?

Dean tried to get his worn out body to respond but immediately stopped as a sharp, burning pain erupted in the general region of his torso. Was he hurt? How? Had they been on a hunt? He couldn't really remember. How did he get injured?

Deciding that there were far too many questions than there were answers, and being of his usual impatient temperament, Dean ignored the persistent sting in his chest and tried to sit up again. This time strong arms wrapped around his weak body and helped him to lean against the headboard.

"Easy Dean, your body is still healing." Sam advised.

"What the hell happened? I feel like I was hit by a truck." A soft groan made its way through his lips. It took him a moment to realise that Sam's lack of answer was deliberate.

"Sam?"

"What do you remember?" The solemn, almost ominous edge in Sam's voice was enough to jerk his mind into focus. A frown etched on his face as he tried to recall his memories.

"Don't force yourself, Dean. You'll remember when you're ready to deal with it. Don't overwork your mind."

"What the hell, Sam. What happened to me? Just spit it out!" Dean yelled. Something was wrong. Dean could almost feel a sense of dread seeping into his bones.

Thankfully, Sam was saved from replying by Bobby.

"Quit your yapping, boy. And come up and eat something. We'll talk later."

And with that, the trio walked up to the kitchen; well, Dean stumbled up the stairs, stubbornly refusing any help from Sam. They all subconsciously knew that the next few weeks or maybe ever months, were going to be far from easy. Oh well, it was doubtful that the Winchesters even knew what easy was anymore.

The boys sat silently at the table as Bobby handed them plates overflowing with sandwiches. The tension surrounding them was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. No one dared to break the quiet, fearing that a ticking time bomb might explode.

Dean was aware that Sam and Bobby were watching his every move like hawks. Like he was a volcano due to erupt at any moment. He should be annoyed, he supposed. But he couldn't bring himself to care. He had more important things to worry about.

Like what the hell happened to him or why his body resembled an Egyptian mummy. Sam was being as tight lipped as a clam. Bobby was no help either. Seriously, what happened to him? And why couldn't he remember?

Finally, the watchful eyes of the other occupants of the room became too much for his already tensed nerves. What was worse was that he was too tired to even summon enough energy to snap at them. What was the world coming too? So, he settled for distracting them.

"So, how's Cass?" Having wrung that particular story from his brother when he saw the unconscious angel in the panic room, Dean couldn't help but worry. Sure, the renegade archangel had said that Cass would be fine, but still…

"Maybe he just needs more time to recover." Sam suggested. But his face betrayed the anxiousness that the hunter felt. It wasn't exactly normal for angels to sleep, after all. And Cass had been slumbering for a while.

As if Dean did not have enough to worry about; his injuries, his amnesia, Sam's secrecy about the mysterious event that caused this mess, the obvious fear and pain in Sam's eyes when he looked at him, Cass's comatose state, the unnamed demon that put Cass in a comatose state, and ofcoarse the apocalypse that was still looming around the corner; another disturbing item was now added to the already long list.

Gabriel. The runaway archangel. The arrogant trickster. Castiel's traitorous brother. Why had Gabriel helped them? Last time they crossed paths, the archangel had wanted them to surrender to his elder siblings and unleash the apocalypse on the world. Yet, now he had actually saved them from….from whatever it was that had almost killed them. Really, why couldn't Sam just tell him what had happened?

Another possibility occurred to him then; what if he never regained his memory…?

Dean shook his head at this thought and refused to even consider the possibility. Abruptly, he stood up from the table and turned to go up to his bedroom.

"Dean?" Sam asked, startled by Dean's abrupt departure.

"I'm going to hit the sack, Sam. I have a headache." And with that Dean disappeared up the stairs for the night.

Sam stared at his brother's back until he vanished through the door. His gaze fell on Dean's plate which still contained more than half of the original amount of food. A weary sigh escaped his lips.

"He'll be alright, Sam. He just needs time." Bobby assured him.

"But he doesn't even remember what happened, Bobby! I wish he'd never remember. But with our luck, it'll probably come back to him in full force. And Dean can't handle that. He's not ready. The things he had to suffer…"

"Easy, Sam, easy. If he does remember, we'll help him through it. Now, let's call it a night. We're all tired. We'll figure it out tomorrow."

Sam nodded in consent."I'll just check on Cass first."

Gazing at the unconscious angel, Sam felt a burst of pity swell in him. Cass was being hunted down by his own brethren just because the angel of Thursday was too compassionate, too virtuous and believed in humanity. Sam couldn't help but feel guilty for putting Cass in such a situation, yet he was glad that the angel was on their side.

And this was how he was rewarded with for rebelling for the Winchesters, for humanity. With another defeated sigh, Sam turned and left the panic room and the angel who was lost to the world of dreams.

When he had run away from heaven, his home, Gabriel's only motive was to get away from his broken family. His elder brothers' arguing and quarreling had broken his spirit so completely and thoroughly that he had believed that his only solace was to escape from the gilded gates of heaven.

Since then he had wondered, countless number of times, the consequences of his actions. He often speculated if the hopeless life he was stuck in would be any different if only he had had the sensibility to think before he had acted. But Michael and Lucifer had been fighting so much…

Over the next hundred thousand years that he had been disguised as Loki, he had only one regret. And that was leaving his little brother, the infant Castiel behind. For years he had tried to search for news about his little brother, begging for scraps of knowledge like a wild dog desperate for rotten food.

But all the superior magic in the world had been unable to inform him more than the fact that Castiel was alive and in heaven. This meager information had hardly quenched his thirst. Yet, he was helpless to do anything but to repent cutting off all ties from heaven.

But ever since the news that Castiel had successfully descended in hell and raised the righteous man from perdition reached his ears, his monotonous life had gained a new perspective. He had acquired a purpose in his life. He made it his mission to keep watch over the young angel and try to keep him from harm. To fulfill the duty that Michael had given him so long ago. To protect and nurture his little fledgling.

Ofcoarse, now he had failed in his self-imposed mission. Miserably.

He continued to keep watch over the sleeping angel like a guardian watching over his charge. His sentry was disturbed a few hours later by the sound of shuffling feet. He didn't bother turning around; already knowing who had interrupted his vigil.

"Gabriel?"

Sam startled awake in the middle of the night and glanced at his slumbering brother in a panicked haze. He attempted to snap out of his recurring nightmare and suppress his uneven breathing.

After lying awake for a few more minutes, he gave up on going back to sleep. He couldn't handle another repeat of the nightmare that constantly haunted him. An inexplicable urge encouraged him to check up on Cass again.

Getting out of his bed quietly so as to not wake his brother up, Sam made his way down to the panic room. However, he jerked to a stop when he noticed a figure standing over Cass's cot. His instincts compelled him to reach for the gun at his back before remembering that he had placed it under his pillow before going to bed. He cursed at himself and then gasped as he recognised the figure illuminated by a sliver of the silver moonlight cascading through the wire mess at the top that had been given the shape of a devil's trap.

"Gabriel?"

The deathly silence of the night continued for another minute or so as Sam processed the recent events through his sleep-ridden mind. He debated whether to view the ex-archangel as a threat and demand the intruder to leave; he did kill Dean, after all; or consider the archangel as their ally and let him stay.

But really, what choice did he have? The archangel would do as he damn well pleased. Sam could neither demand nor request something from him. Sam belatedly realized just how powerful Gabriel really was.

"What's the matter, Sammy? Cat got your tongue?" Gabriel teased even though he hadn't turned around. Sam abstractly wondered if it was just his overactive imagination or if Gabriel's voice actually sounded a little strange; somehow tired and…defeated. It seemed to resemble the intonation of a man worn out and rendered hopeless by the hardships of life.

Finally, Sam succeeded in voicing out a question of his own.

"Why are you here, Gabriel?"

Gabriel sighed and then surprisingly consented to give an answer instead of a witty rebuttal.

"I came to check on Cass." The way Gabriel replied, it was as if the archangel was admitting a weakness; like loving someone from the bottom of your heart was a mistake. And Sam was sure that Gabriel loved Cass. The affection and adoration he had seen on Gabriel's face as he watched over his younger sibling had definitely been legitimate. Sam had often seen a similar expression on Dean's face when his brother looked at him, in those rare moments in which Dean showed that he cared for Sam. There was no mistaking it.

" Is Cass going to be okay? You said he was alright. Then why are you checking on him? And why hasn't he woken up yet?"

Gabriel took a deep breath as he prepared to answer the torrent of questions. He was, however, interrupted by an agonising cry of pain that reverberated through the entire house. Sam's blood ran cold as he raced towards the source of the scream.

"DEAN!"

AN: I'd love to know what you think of the story so far. Do review and let me know!