Chapter 5: Death is the Final Frontier

When Adam woke up, it was to the rain and the scent of fresh earth. For a few minutes, he stared up at the gray sky and the falling drops in a daze as if from a grey-tinted filter. It was peaceful, quiet. Then he began to register cold and wet and something prodding at his side. He blinked; the last one was odd and he turned to his side, staring at a tiny boy with wide green eyes and a dark head of hair, slightly limp from the rain. His little hands kept touching his face hesitantly, reverently as if he was a fragile thing and his knees were muddied from the ground where he was kneeling over Adam's body.

That gaze was so familiar and he frowned as he tried to remember where he had seen it before.

"W-Who are you?" Adam asked, his voice hoarse. He winced, coughing slightly; his throat was dry and tasted like sand. The boy shook his head and patted his leaden arms in an effort to get him to sit up. And he would… once he could get his limbs to respond.

With a huge amount of exertion he propped himself up on his elbows and groaned, fighting dizziness for a second before taking in his surroundings and regretting it instantly. Adam clutched his head as it throbbed insistently. His eyes squeezed shut and waited until the feeling passed before opening them again. Well, that had felt like a motherfucker.

He looked around and found that he was in a cemetery and it was a rainy mid-afternoon. For a moment, he was confused before he remembered Hell and the Cage and Lucifer and Michael. And suddenly it clicked. He turned back to the boy who was staring at him worriedly and his eyes softened fondly.

"You're Michael, aren't you?" Adam asked gently, touching the boy's round face with his fingertips. The boy nodded slowly, small hand coming up to hold his fingers closer to his face. "You protected me, didn't you? In the Cage, from Lucifer."

And he remembered every second. Every moment in the Cage came back to him like a demented picture show. How Michael had cocooned his breakable soul within his Grace, cradled him with his wings and ensured that his soul felt as little pain as possible. How Michael had whispered songs in a melody that sounded like every language in the world to soothe the wounds inflicted on his being. He remembered exchanging stories of his life, insubstantial memories compared to Michael but nonetheless precious, mostly to drown out the agony and the wails as Lucifer bashed himself against the walls of his prison. And he remembered that Michael had not abandoned him for one second, not even now.

"Always," Michael whispered, gazing at him as if he had hung the moon. "I promised you."

"How did we get here?" Adam murmured and then a thought struck him. He touched his face with tentative fingertips, patted his body, and pulled at his clothes. Solid. Completely corporeal. He pinched his arm and winced when sharp pain radiated from it. "Ouch. Why am I alive? Shouldn't I be in Heaven or something?"

He scrutinized Michael's new form with curious blue eyes. "And why are you so little?"

Michael frowned at the questions and his face scrunched up in thought. Adam's lips twitched upward; he thought it was very cute. The little boy didn't answer his questions and looked as lost as he did.

"Hey, it's okay little buddy," Adam soothed and then internally grinned. Who would've thought that he would be calling Michael, Archangel and Prince of Heaven, 'little buddy'? Life worked in such mysterious ways. "We'll figure it out later."

Michael shrugged, rubbing his forehead like he had a headache. Adam cradled the boy's head in his hands, pushing back the boy's fringe to check for any bumps. Hmm, no bumps so Michael most likely did not have any head trauma.

Michael nodded reluctantly and then pointed behind him. Confused, Adam turned and saw that there was another body lying in the dead grass. It was a little boy with ashy blonde hair and skin as pale as snow. His brow was furrowed in his sleep like he was having a nightmare and occasionally a small mumble would slip past his lips.

"Is that-?" Adam breathed, touching the unconscious boy's head hesitantly.

"Lucifer," Michael answered but far from the bitter tone Adam expected, Michael sounded light as if he were stating a fact. "He's my brother."

"Is he now?" Adam whispered. The question was a rhetorical one meant to distract himself from the incoming panic attack he was going to have when it finally settled that he was alive and the Prince of Heaven and Satan were children.

Michael clutched his head again as if fighting off an incoming migraine. Eyes the color of sea glass stared at him.

"Are you okay?" Adam focused back on him in concern. The ex-archangel nodded slowly.

"We have to find Gabriel and Raphael."

"More of your brothers?"

Michael nodded yet again.

"What do we do with him?" Adam asked, pointing rather jerkily at Lucifer. He wasn't the Morningstar's biggest fan right now but a voice in his head that sounded very much like his mother scolded him for leaving a defenseless child alone in the middle of nowhere.

"We bring him with us," Michael insisted. And that was that.

"Alright then," Adam agreed. "I don't suppose you can zap us to your brothers?"

Michael's face did the scrunching thing again and after a moment of pause, the small child shook his head. The boy's palms opened and closed helplessly and he stared up at Adam with such an upset face that Adam couldn't help but hug him close.

But that left them with no plan of action. So Adam sat and thought hard.

"Let's go find Dean and Sam," Adam proposed more to himself than to Michael. "They'll know what to do. Then we can go find your brothers. Sound good?"

Michael nodded. Alright, Adam thought resolutely, now they just needed to find a working phone and hope that the Winchester brothers were still alive and kicking.

Adam pulled the unconscious Lucifer onto his back and settled the boy's lolling head into the crook of his neck. He held out his other hand for Michael who took it with a hesitant smile. And then the three boys walked out of the graveyard and into the world.

Once they made it onto the main road, Michael unerringly pointed left and Adam nodded, trusting in his sense of direction. It was a long stretch of road but the rain had lightened up which was a blessing. Occasionally, Adam's arms got tired from holding Lucifer (who still had not woken up) so they had to sit down on the side of the road and rest for a bit. By dusk, they had made it to a major highway. There was a billboard sign and under it stood a figure, obscured by the shadow.

Adam stopped immediately. Getting his face chewed off by a ghoul in his mother's form had taught him to trust nothing. Michael stood beside him but the boy did not seem afraid.

"Who's there?" Adam shouted at the figure which turned out to be a male about the same age as him. Dark circles ringed his tired eyes and he looked like he could do with a couple of decent meals and a week or two of sleep.

"You must be Adam Milligan," the boy replied and they eyed the children. His eyebrows rose so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. "Okay, totally did not see that coming. I mean, I saw it in my dreams and all but wow. They're really tiny."

He took a step forward which forced Adam to take a step back. His arm tightened around Lucifer defensively, pressing the limp body closer to his back.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Adam asked warily, putting a hand on Michael's chest and nudging him behind his legs, shielding the child. Michael resisted and stood firmly by Adam's side. He admired the child's bravery but now was not the time or place.

"Oh, sorry about that," he stared back at Adam and held out his hand to shake. "My name is Kevin Tran. I'm a prophet of God and a friend of your brothers."

"Prophet of God?" Adam repeated. Then blinked, "Wait, you know Dean and Sam?"

"Unfortunately," Kevin sighed tiredly but the word held no acid. "They put me in a bunker to translate a way to close the Gates of Hell. Dean gave me two bottles of pills and pretty much left me on my own."

"Sounds like him," Adam agreed with a snort. "But how do I know you're not some freaky monster ready to kill us all?"

"If it helps, I'm an AP student?" Kevin tried with a sheepish grin. Adam rolled his eyes.

"He's not lying," Michael piped up. Both of them turned to him. The child had a very serious expression on his face and he stared at up Kevin with a look of esteem. "He's not lying. He is Kevin Tran, Prophet of God, Translator of the Word. It is an honor."

"Right, Metatron told me about the whole archangel respect thing," Kevin commented then winced. "Until he went off the deep end."

This drew a blank look from Adam. "What?"

"Never mind," Kevin waved him off distractedly. "Come on, let's go find Gabriel and Raphael. I have a feeling I know where they are. Then after that, we can get back to your brothers in the Man of Letters Bunker and you can live with us."

Michael took his hand and followed Kevin to his car.

"Wait, who's Metatron? What the hell is a Man of Letters Bunker? And who said anything about living with you guys?"

And then Kevin smiled a very secret, knowing smile. "You've missed out on a lot during your stay in Hell. But no worries; we can swap stories about the epic fun times with the Winchester crew while we're on the road. And also, you're kinda labeled as deceased so unless you have a better plan, we're your only option as far as the living situation is concerned."

Adam opened his mouth to protest but closed it again when he couldn't think of a good rebuttal. He was going to find Dean and Sam anyway, and this scrawny boy was offering to take him directly to them. He was still leery on the whole prospect of living with his quote unquote brothers but they could sort out that situation once Adam had a meal and some sleep and could actually sit down and process everything that had happened.

Michael watched him with those big sea green eyes and he smiled back at the child, giving his hand a squeeze of reassurance. They would get through this; after all, they had gotten through much worse.

A/N: Continue?

I love Adam Milligan, snarky littlest Winchester that he is. And I love Adam/Michael because a story of love born in the pits of Hell appeals to me. But none of that in this story I'm afraid. Michael is a teeny tot so just mutual adoration now. Also, do you ever get the feeling that death in supernatural is never final? Seriously, Adam is in the next season of supernatural, not that I'm complaining. I'm actually rather happy about that fact because I love him.

So what will it be next time: Adam and Kevin on a road trip to find Gabriel and Raphael, or how Dean and Sam find a depowered Castiel and bring him to the Bunker?